hamthrax.

Fact: There have been no confirmed cases of H1N1 in Egypt.
Fun Fact: That doesn't stop the government making poor decisions and adding to the international crisis of crazy.

The mandatory slaughter of Egypt's around 300,000 pigs was more than a step against the infection of the Egyptian community by this (common, highly treatable, blown out of proportion, other suitable adjectives inserted here) virus, and is a political move to reinforce the social, economic, and political marginalization of already poor communities within Egyptian society.

Egypt is a mostly Muslim nation, about 90% of the population, the remaining 10% are members of either Eastern Orthodox Christian Churches, Catholic, or Coptic. Now while the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Egyptians are, on the whole, fairly wealthy, Coptic Christians are split between the upper-echelons of Egyptian society and the absolute lowest, one of which is the zabaleen, the Garbage-Collectors of Cairo who live in a small section of the city called Menshiyat Nasr, or Garbage City. This community is by far the poorest and most disenfranchised in the entire capital, and it is often cited as a result of the members of the community being Coptic and raising and eating pigs, an act prohibited by Islam. The pigs serve as both assistants in the disposal of the organic waste that they collect, and a food source, and by killing the pigs they are only furthering the divide between Muslim and non-Muslim society, keeping the poor poor, and adding to the panic that people are facing on an international level. This targeting of this community creates a further mistrust in the State, which after all these years of being confined to a smaller and smaller physical space while participating in demeaning physical labor, is both expected and counter-productive. This community needs schools and opportunities to participate in the direction of their own development, not pig slaughters and police violence.

On another note, the Association for the Protection of the Environment, an NGO that I have briefly worked with during my time here, works within Menshiyat Nasr, providing a health center, a daycare, a primary school, and a craft center that uses recycled cloth and paper to make everything from embroidered tapestries to wedding invitations and handbags. And, randomly, these handbags are now selling at Marc Jacobs' flagship store in New York City. Though, in my opinion, they picked the ugliest ones possible.

Dialogue.

Last week, AIESEC Egypt hosted the third Middle East North Africa Exchange and Leadership Development Seminar, and kicked the whole thing off with a Global Village, an event that allows delegates to share aspects of their culture through food, music, pictures, or anything like that. Now, I wasn't able to attend the conference because of school, but I was able to go to Global Village and see the twenty countries represented taking over the Corniche in Gezira. It is strange to think that it was two years ago that I was in Morocco, participating in the same thing. So much has changed since then, but its incredible to see familiar faces so much later.
(Gail from UAE and David Ziser from Kansas/Oman and me and the beautiful Denise from GT). A note on my t-shirt: My 19th birthday present from Katie Mitchell, a Ramblin' Wreck shirt that has the song on the back - this shirt has been worn to every conference and global village I have ever attended as a member of @GT. I am in love with it.)

As there was only one delegate representing the US, which was a little disappointing, but given the financial constraints of the conference and travel to Egypt is a little understandable, we helped deck out the table. Oreos, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter and jelly, Pepsi (although I was upset that our friend from @Madison bought Pepsi and not Coke...my Atlanta roots were pained by that), a Braves hat, and as much Obama stuff as I had in my apartment. Which was cool when people asked for pictures with us, the table, the flag, and Obama's picture.

Which brings me to the role of the Global Village - to learn about other cultures, build relationships, and use that knowledge to create conversations that may one day change the world. Which is just what Obama is doing. His message to Iran exemplifies just that, the willingness to learn about a culture, reach out to them, and begin a dialogue that will initiate change. It's a small step towards a bigger leap, and the man keeps making me proud.

This is exactly what we need around the world - the creation of dialogue. The inclusion of two parties contributing equally to a conversation about the world. And that doesn't just mean speaking, it means listening, too.

For example, the conflict in Israel and Palestine is many things. Complicated, important, heartbreaking, horrifying. But more than anything, I think it is something that changes in definition depending on who you ask. Before coming to Egypt, I was unsure of everything - I had read about it, and knew basics of the conflict, but my understanding of it has completely changed now. Not because I have chosen sides, but because I have had the opportunity to listen to both of them, learn from both of them. And it is increasingly frustrating to find people who refuse to initiate dialogue from a standpoint of being fair and balanced, from both sides.

If you want a different perspective of the conflict than what is usually reported in the US, check out this discussion started by an Israeli university on the role of their military in the conflict. For the full description, take a look at Haaretz, a left-leaning news center in Jerusalem. It is a step towards recognizing the need for developing an honest dialogue on both sides.

I'm shwya in Love with this.

a little late for Valentine's Day.

"If there is no love in the world, we will make a new world, and we will give it walls, and we will furnish it with soft, red interiors, from the inside out, and give it a knocker that resonates like a diamond falling to a jeweller's felt so that we should never hear it. Love me, because love doesn't exist, and I have tried everything that does."

- Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated

Skills I had in the job search.

toothpastefordinner.com

Filling out applications, writing cover letters, stressing about the direction of my professional future? not exciting.
Toothpaste for Dinner? always exciting.

the Adventure Hat.

The Adventure Hat: (n) a hat like object worn in adventurous situations or to create an atmosphere of adventure when situations are already ridiculous. For example: Siwa Oasis, Egypt. Where, during a New Year's Eve party, you are forced into participating in a bellydancing show.
And take obligatory tourist pictures.
And make friends with the locals, who take you on tours of their town by Donkey Cart, introduce you to their families, impart local sensibilities, and tell you that you, and your hair, cause problems. This one's name is Gom3a.
And go sandboarding in the Great Sand Sea in the Sahara with some Bedouin men that sing you Arabic love songs.
And have breathtaking incredible moments. Like watching the sunset over the dunes and remembering how incredibly small you are. What a way to ring in the new year.

told you so.

Just in case you didn't believe me, this is the I told you so part.

"Essentials of Spontaneous Prose"

1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for your own joy
2. Submissive to everything, open, listening
3. Try never get drunk outside your own house
4. Be in love with your life
5. Something that you feel will find its own form
6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
7. Blow as deep as you want to blow
8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
9. The unspeakable visions of the individual
10. No time for poetry but exactly what is
11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest
12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
14. Like Proust be an old teahead of time
15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog
16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
17. Write in recollection and amazement for yrself
18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea
19. Accept loss forever
20. Believe in the holy contour of life
21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
22. Don't think of words when you stop but to see picture better
23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yr morning
24. No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge
25. Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
26. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
27. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness
28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
29. You're a Genius all the time
30. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars, and in the middle, you see the blue center-light pop, and everybody goes ahh..."

As ever,
Jack

methods of Procrastination.

1. Never underestimate the power of celebrity obsession driven news.
2. Pretend to be a nerd. Or a monkey with some darts.
3. Facebook Lurk.
4. Decide that now, more than any time in the past six months, is better than any to finally upload some photos.
5. Laugh out loud.
6. Pick other classes with less pressing deadlines to do work.
7. Read-a-book read-a-book read a GD book.
8. Plan Thanksgiving dinner.
9. Decide, instead of forcing yourself to sit and work, that you can do research at the beach instead with some sweet new friends.
10. Research future career options that may or may not be dependent on you getting a good grade on this work you continue to put off.
11. Sleep.
12. Update your blog. Then obsessively check if other people have updated theirs.
13. Wash, rinse repeat. Go back to number 1.

Current Obsessions.

1. that new Katy Perry song.
2. Attempting to upload my pictures on the Facebook and Flikr. (failing, miserably)
3. These little gems.
4. Figuring out what happens when I get home in 7 months (stressycows.)
5. Love Lockdown and wishing I were as cool as Kanye West.
6. missing people, like tons.
7. the Existential Crisis of my Cairene life.
8. Finding a way to write and read more.
9. the Elections.
10. figuring out where to travel for Eid al-Adha, Thanksgiving, and Winter Break.
11. Moneys, and how horrible they make my life.
12. Convincing people to come and visit me.
13. Figuring out how I can meet Russell Brand.

Ramadan and a New Blog.

Day three of Ramadan was full of sleeping. I will include more, I think, when I have time to think about what doing this means to me, and what it is like to be in Egypt at a time like this. It is pretty amazing, that's for sure though.

The ladies of my apartment have started a blog of our own, named aptly for the craziness of the city that we live in. We promise to update the world about the life, the drama, and everything that goes along with through it. Check it out.