Manal and Alaa's bit bucket

 

 

By Sally Bishai

 

Dear Mommy and Daddy... I write to you this morning expressing forgiveness for your having raised me the way you did, a way that you had to have known was going to make problems for me in this world, which it has.

 

See, this world doesn’t appreciate a person who lives the way we do.

By Sally Bishai

It seems as though everyone’s passionate about something these days.

Whether sports, gourmet cooking, or human rights, it’s never a bad thing when people spend time doing something to improve themselves—or the state of the world.

As an ardent campaigner for the rights of humans everywhere, I run into hundreds of “activist types” who almost make me ashamed that I don’t do more.

They ride bicycles everywhere, and not because they can’t afford a car.

They use recycled paper in their personal correspondence, but also in their course syllabi or their indie publications.

By Sally Bishai

 

Having grown up in the States, I have more than a passing familiarity with the Law and Order-brand legal jargon that has broken and entered into American pop culture and committed assault and battery on the English language. I could probably arrest, book, and try a murder suspect (as well as prove—beyond a shadow of a doubt—guilt, via forensic something-or-other), despite the fact that I’ve never actually had even three seconds of real-life criminology training (or been arrested).

  Ta3alili Yamma: Cairo buses!

Egypt democracy activist blogs from cell

The all-new and totally re-designed Copts.com is ONLINE!

 

Hit http://www.copts.com/english/ to see the great site, and http://www.copts.com/english/CoptsWriters.aspx to see all the great Egyptian writers and thinkers the site has attracted thus far... :)

 

Anyway, God bless Copts.com, all of the Copts, and

By Sally Bishai

 

You may have already heard about the death of the godfather of al Qaeda’s Iraq branch, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. If not, guess what? Zarqawi, along with “spiritual leader” Sheik Abd-Al-Rahman and seven others, were killed in an early-morning air strike today. This may appear to be good news, but don’t leave the doors unlocked just yet..

 

(Check  http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/08/iraq.al.zarqawi/index.html or http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5058304.stm for more facts.)

 

See, just because one bad apple is out of the way doesn’t mean that the world is automatically a safe place.

According to this, anyway..

 

 

A New Egypt!!

Here’s To The Bride
By Sally Bishai (03/17/2006)

Weddings these days are ridiculously expensive. And just plain ridiculous. Call me a kill-joy, but I have a real issue with the almost-requisite wastefulness, materialism, and sexism that’s rampant in the modern-day wedding ceremony.

In proper Sally fashion, let’s begin with materialism, backpedal into wastefulness, and then bunny-hop into the sexism of it all.

According to a 2002 study done by The International Institute of Weddings, a wedding’s average cost (in the States) was $21,300.

A site called Random Musings (http://macg.metcorp.com/?cat=35) gives the following financial estimates on the frippery that goes into a modern wedding “with all the trimmings”:

Reception Site $8,000
Engagement Ring $3,000
Honeymoon $3,000
Wedding Rings $1,100
Photography & Video $1,500
Rehearsal Dinner $800
(Where did the food at the reception go?)
Bridal Gown $800
Bridal Accessories $200
(Hello, snacks??)
Bridesmaids $900
Flowers $850
Music $750 - 2,500
(What about the cake?!)
Limousines / Transportation $450
Stationery / Invitations $400
Formalwear $500
Clergy/Chapel $250

Ridiculous.

 

The following site is seeking the stories of Copts--in Egypt, in the States, from anywhere..

 

 

You can send them a tale or an article, or you can send it to me and I'll send it to them.

 

ok, most of you know that, apart from all the 'fun stuff' i do, aka 'write, photograph, direct, act, lecture, teach, and muck about,' i am, in fact, a doctoral student.

 

meaning 'in school to get a doktorah, even though it's adaby and won't add a penny to my value as a person, but anyway.'

 

*anyway,* my very cool committee chair emailed me a while back, informing me that she was to read my newest prospectus proposal 'in the a.m., over my coffee.'

 

and so i thought, 'how cool is that!'

 

not that she DRINKS coffee, but that she has a time to just sit down, chill out, and read whatever it is she wants to.

 

and then i realised, 'THIS IS WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME!!!'

 

(forsooth, don't say anything! i know you're gonna say my more basic flaws are 'judgementalism' and 'religion' and and and..