Foreign Policy magazine published a set of photos a few months back depicting children of the Arab Spring. According to Save the Children, there are 700,000 children in Tripoli, including this boy, whose picture I found within the FP photo essay, “It’s Their Country Too.”
Children dressed in sailor outfits smile before a performance during World Oceans Day celebrations in Taipei, Taiwan.
Nicky Loh/Reuters
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee canceled a Syrian-American performance at their national convention, set to take place in Washington tomorrow, because of his decision to play a ‘freedom’ song.
According to Politico, the song, “Watani Ana,” does not have the word “Arab” or “Syria” in it. The move to cancel his performance caused a wave of disappointment and anger by community members, especially on social-networking sites like Twitter.
I started reading Ghost Wars by Steve Coll coincidentally the day before the death of Osama Bin Laden. The book’s timeline extends from the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan to September 11, 2001.
This book is dense—589 pages reflecting on the “secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden.”
Updates to come, but from what I can tell about this book already, it is going to be one hell of a read.
Check out more information on Steve Coll. He is now one of my new favorite authors, and coincidentally, an expert in every area I find most interesting.
From the Christian Science Monitor photo of the day section:
A Kashmiri Muslim woman cries while praying after tying a thread at the shrine of Sufi saint Sheikh Hamzah Makhdoomi in Srinagar, Kashmir. According to belief, Kashmiri Muslims who believe in Sufism — a mystical form of Islam — tie ribbons and threads to the gates of shrines to get their needs fulfilled.
Fayaz Kabli/Reuters
I picked this picture out of the Christian Science Monitor’s “Photo of the Day” section yesterday, June 9, because I studied Sufism in my last semester at The University of Wisconsin-Madison. To be honest, I had never heard of this sect of Islam before taking the class. Sheikh Hamzah Makhdoomi was one of the most infamous Sufi saints. He practiced Sunni Muslim traditions in Kashmir, a region now populated with Sufis, and died in 1563 AD.
Here is one of the most fascinating articles about the journalism industry I have read in a long time. Are journalists celebrities? This article takes a look at one of Al Jazeera’s most renown journalists and his tenure with the organization.
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