What’s been happening
I wrote this Tuesday night after I got in to Amman, but still wanted to share it now I’ve found the right nexus of internet/downtime/a husband patient enough to let me use our call to blog: – Some cool...
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A note on Inspirational Quotes and Jordan River hymns
For every major trip I take, I choose a theme for my Inspirational Quotes. For my trip to the Middle East, I chose “hymns that mention the River Jordan.” This is not because my trip was a religious...
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Preventing human trafficking through economic empowerment
Presentation at Injaz in Amman, Jordan While I was in Jordan on the TechWomen trip I heard from a number of organizations working to widen different sections of the Jordanian economic pipeline. Injaz,...
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Where Jesus was Baptized (Sort of)
Photos from our trip to where many, including Pope John Paul II, think Jesus was baptized. The foundations of the church that was built where people figured Jesus was baptized, hundreds of years after...
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Measuring my Arabic
In my bio I mention that I speak enough Arabic to have a good conversation with a six-year-old. After my first full-day in Jordan, I decided to revise that upwards. I can have a solid, small-talk-y...
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(The general area) Where Moses Was Buried
The monks who live on top of the mountain near where many think Moses was buried carved this monolith when Pope John Paul II visited in 2000. The valley where many think Moses was buried. Olive trees...
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Petra
Photos from Petra–more on the geology of this incredible site later. The sandstone was unbelievable: My ticket to Petra The architecture of wind, water and stone. Intensely defensible, narrow pathways....
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Why Beirut?
I was on the TechWomen trip to Jordan, but why was I in Beirut? Last fall, my Mom mentored and worked with Adla Chantila, who is the Director of Finance and Information Technology at the Al-Mukasad...
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Bullet holes in Beirut.
All around Beirut, pock-marking stunning French facades and cutting through the bodies of statues alike, are bullet holes. Bullet holes. Nothing else; just bullet holes. Scars of the 15 year civil war...
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The Souq in Saida, Lebanon
One of our short trips in Lebanon was to Saida, known historically as Sidon. It is by the Mediterranean and had great snacks. It also has a souq, which has become a refugee camp for Palestinians and,...
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An open hand to hold God in.
On my trip to Lebanon I was privileged to hear the Ambassador from the Vatican–who my excellent book on the American Foreign Service calls the “nuncio of the Holy See”–speak to a group of high school...
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I’ll pick a cat over a castle, any day
I spent a not insignificant amount of my time in the Middle East petting cats. Cats are often present in the Arab countries I’ve visited: 2/3 the size of well-fed American housecoats, some stable...
View ArticleAmericans get more indirect the politer we are; Arabs do it differently.
While I was in Lebanon, I had dinner in Saida with two impressive women. Over snacks and crepes, we talked about a whole wide range of topics, but I finally brought up a question I’d been struggling...
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Moving in
This weekend I hosted an Ikea furniture-building party. A friend and I went to Ikea in the afternoon to buy the table, chairs, lights, and bed I’ll need in my new place and then other friends came over...
View ArticleHey guys: I’m in Newsweek
I got interviewed last summer by a reporter working on an article for Newsweek and the article just came out. I’m not ok with everything in the article (and I did not say anything ominously) but it’s...
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Fiction, Freedom and Fandom
If you haven’t listened to oral arguments in the Prop 8 or DOMA Supreme Court cases, you must. The issue of standing is important, particularly to Californians but to anyone from any state which...
View Article7 questions you should ask in any internship interview
We just opened up applications for our Summer 2013 fellowship and it got me thinking about what questions I found useful when I was applying for the 15+ jobs, internships and volunteer positions* I’ve...
View ArticleAbusing the passive voice means zombies to me
I have a new way of making bad writing more entertaining and keeping my own writing from being bad*. If you see a phrase that uses the passive voice, or, heaven save you, you’re about to use the...
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The ridiculous way I swear when I’m really angry
This is the trouble with growing up polite. When I am angry, really angry, I swear like a child. A small, pigtailed, pink-dress-wearing child. Below is an actual example from last night when I...
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We are America and we do not hate Muslims
A friend posted this on Facebook. It’s a blog of images of Americans saying something which we should not have to say, but which today‘s ignorant coverage reminded me more than ever we must say: We are...
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