Cheers and jeers
I’ve been quite busy in the past week - getting over a cold, avoiding chickenpox and measles (both in seemingly full outbreak here in Meknes), crying over my broken camera, and sleeping. But have no fear - I’ve also been reading your blogs, planning for a “spring break” trip, and spending time with my husband.
Cheers to Ummahfilms.com for making awesome educational yet hilarious films about Islam (youtube has them too) which criticize the media as well as antiquated cultural practices disguised as Islam.
Jeers to this Resident Publications article for starting their article, “The Sheltering Sky of Morocco,” with this paragraph:
For some New Yorkers, the Arab world might seem the worst place to vacation these days. The troubled region yields a battery of images of warfare and Westerners being taken hostage or having their throats slit.
Cheers to this op-ed (entitled “Morocco glimpse of hope for Iraq”) in the Daytona Beach News-journal online for portraying Morocco as a country of peace which, for the most part, it is.
Jeers to Morocco on their new “solution” to the Western Sahara, chronicled here (cheers to the blog itself).
Cheers to Cat in Rabat for her fantastic article on the furan or traditional Moroccan neighborhood bread-oven.
Cheers to inthefray.org (warning: shameless promotion coming up!) for giving me my very own blog on their site, Grains of Sand.





Posted all over Rabat last week were campaign signs featuring internationally-known Moroccan actor Said Taghmaoui (left) calling for safer driving in Morocco. A television ad shows Taghmaoui with a young girl - he pins a bright yellow button on her jacket (I didn’t get a chance to read the text but Hamza tells me it has to do with driving safely and respecting children) and sends her off to school. The campaign signs stated that February 18th was a national day for driving safely. Despite obvious jokes - “You mean you only have to drive safely in Morocco one day out of the year?” - the campaign is much needed in a country with an alarming death toll from motor vehicle accidents.

