Matt
My blogs
| Location | Los Angeles, CA, United States |
|---|---|
| Introduction | The idea behind this blog is to create an accessible synthesis of political issues in the Middle East and Central Asia. I'll be looking at current events and setting them into the historical context, or at least connecting some dots with other current issues in the region. Please, ask me questions. If there's something going on in the region and you're curious about it; from the U.S. political response to the religious context, please ask. I'm not promising I'll know the answer, only that I'm up for the challenge of finding out. Isma is Palestinian Arabic for 'listen' and is generally used to emphasize a point which is about to be made. So listen, and hopefully this blog will contain some things worth hearing. |
| Interests | Alternative economies, counter industrial development, sustainable systems for ecology and independence. |
| Favorite books | Fiction: Zeitoun by Dave Eggers; Life of Pi by Yann Martel; The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey. Non-fiction: Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Charles Smith; Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat; Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. Autobiography: Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley; Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour; Jarhead by Anthony Swafford. News: Ma'an News Agency; The New York Times. |