Me speaking on NPR's Tell Me More

Here's the link to a little round table discussion that I was a part of this morning on NPR's Tell Me More, during which we talked about Obama's speech in Cairo:

http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=46 (Then click the link that says "Listen to Thursday's show)


Hope you enjoy!

Revival.

I finished a couple of essays about two weeks ago, and have been having an especially difficult time constructing sentences ever since, let alone paragraphs. It's all a swirl of emotions these days, with no concrete insights or even anecdotes, largely induced by some great music I've been listening to. So tonight, I've decided that rather than attempt eloquence, I'll recommend some songs that I've recently acquired and have come to love. I hope to return to my regularly scheduled programming in the next few days.

Suggested Playlist:

Bon Iver, Lump Sum
Bon Iver, Skinny Love
David Byrne & Brian Eno, Strange Overtones
David Byrne & Brian Eno, Glass, Concrete, & Stone
Neko Case, The Needle Has Landed
Neko Case, This Tornado Loves You
Edie Brickell, Picture Perfect Morning
Edie Brickell, Times Like This
Daft Punk, Something About Us
Daft Punk, Digital Love
Amos Lee, Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight
Amos Lee, Sympathize
MGMT, Electric Feel
MGMT, Time To Pretend
Death Cab for Cutie, Grapevine Fires
Death Cab for Cutie, Summer Skin
Laurent Wolf, No Stress

my essay in The Christian Science Monitor

Here's a link to my essay in The Christian Science Monitor, which is about living in the US with a dual ethnicity:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0206/p19s05-hfes.html

Israel's Extensive PR Campaign

My Huffington Post article on the war in Gaza:

Israel's Extensive PR Campaign

Beirut

Though the restaurants and clubs are thriving, parts of Beirut are still scarred. Here is the "city view" from The Palm Beach Hotel, which is right near where the bombs that killed PM Rafik Hariri were detonated:

My Huffington Post article

Here's a link to my article on The Huffington Post, which is about my experience of traveling through the West Bank and Israel as a Palestinian-American:

Finding a Wall of Paranoia and Fear in Israel

Techosomatic.

Lately, I can't seem to get enough sleep. Today in particular, I simply could not stay awake. I went to bed last night at 10:30, and despite numerous soundings of my alarm clock this morning, I didn't wake up until 10:53. You'd think I would be wide awake after over 12 hours of sleep, but I could barely function. I drank my usual pot o' coffee, bathed, got dressed, made a tuna melt, went through Gmails, and then fell promptly back asleep for an hour and a half.

As my fatigue has taken hold, my blackberry has shown signs of fatigue as well. Even though it's been getting it's usual 8 hours of charge every night, for the past few days, its battery is half-empty by noon. And after a couple 15-20 minute calls, the "low battery" message appears on its screen, the bars all conspicuously absent from the battery icon in the upper left-hand corner.

They say mental or emotional factors can take a toll on the body, but can any of these have an effect on the cell phone? Are my Blackberry and I, like twins, so interconnected that when something happens to one, the other is affected? Is my chronic fatigue spreading to my phone, or is it the other way around: as my cell phone battery depletes, I too, am depleted. Who's the chicken and who's the egg here? Depending on which way the causal arrow points, I'm either going to have to start on the NoDoz or pay a visit to T-Mobile.