4/29/10 Blogs to write

When an idea strikes for a blog entry, I like to jot it down so I don't forget about it. If I don't have paper and pen handy - as I often don't - I type it into my phone, as a "draft message". (Yes, I text enough that I can jot things down pretty quickly with just my thumbs and a candy-bar sized phone.) But when I'm sitting in front of my laptop, I'm usually thinking of other things, so the messages in my phone stay unwritten. The number of notes I've written myself has gotten so ridiculous that I'm running out of phone memory. So in order to clear some space in my phone, I'm transcribing the various blog ideas. Originally I was writing it just for myself, but then I realized that these little notes are kinda entertaining all on their own. (For one thing, it cracks me up that these notes are written in three languages. Yeah, my head is a linguistic stew...) A few I've already written, a few are so telegraphic that even I don't know what they mean any more, and hopefully the rest, now that they're publicized, I'll be prodded (not to say shamed) into writing. Y'know...soon.

Those that have already been written get hyperlinks. Hopefully, within a week or so, they'll all be linked to actual blogs. Inshallah...

The law of the mikka.

So, are you Ali's wife?

Squished muffins.

WOTD tesarut.

That's why I got a dog.

Walnut bullies.

Moroccan and American on my shoulder.

I will zayd and return.

Ama - you used to come all the time now wallu Kautar.

Lincoln and Condy.

COSers stamp out.

Kitty transportation.

Soyoun's service.

Pizza place.

Teach Hsb arabiya lbiya.

Zaka sadaka.

Montez-vous parlez francais?

Popcorn &

7passengers-like you said.

Voluntaire de la paix?

Makeup w Ama

Barbarians 'betes'.

Adxllsg' addug' - aud Rebha.

On birth control.

4am waiting.

Narrow-bedded sandstones as grave markers so they can Point Due East! Of course!

Buta tanks of milk line the road.

Peanut butter and maple syrup.

If any sound especially intriguing to you, lemme know and I'll write those first. I do take requests. :)

In the same vein, during a chat-conversation, my sister recently asked me to write some posts reflecting on things I've learned over the past two years. Since that's an awfully big (and vague) request, I asked her to be more precise. Here's her list. Again, if there are any that you especially want to read, be in touch (via email or hitting the comments button), and I'll tackle those first.

Her: I think that covering up women is a sign of repression. I'll fight for a woman's right to dress as she sees fit, but I would prefer that women don't veil themselves at all.

Me: I used to completely agree with you, but I see more layers to it now (no pun intended)

Her: interesting. that sounds like it would make a good blog entry.

Me: hmm

Her: I know that you have a lot of finishing up stuff to do, but you might think about at least writing notes about stuff that you know now that you 'thought' you knew before and your new perspective is very different

Me: gimme ideas

Her: madrassahs

* veiling for women

* sexual harassment - how it's different for foreign women - how it's different btw large cities and the bled

* in general, the thousands of ways that the bled is different from the big cities

* when folks visit Morocco, they usually never leave the big cities, so even though they might travel around the world, they'll just see the European front that Morocco shows Westerners. Morocco absolutely has European-like cities, but it has many more places that are totally unique

* feral dogs and how 'pets' are treated, in general

* how MANY women are totally deprived of schooling

* and how that's slowly changing

* what folks can do to help (if they're so inclined)

* which NGOs are helping and which are not, & why