Stories about Ideas from November, 2006
Interview with Kosoof, a leading Iranian Photo Blogger
Arash Ashoorinia is a leading photo blogger whose blog, Kosoof, won the Reporters Without Borders prize in the BOBs (Best of the Blogs) competition organized by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Arash's photos have been published all over the world in publications and on web sites such as the Washington Post...
China: What pols blog, where subways end
Hexun blogger Guan Jiantao on a city in eastern China's Jiangsu province, where twelve senior government leaders were told to take up blogging, in their own names, following the flood of feedback to municipal Party Secretary Zhang Shixin's recent blog post, in which he criticized the hygiene, spitting, littering, picking...
United Arab Emirates: Road Toll
Moryarti explains why Road Toll is the solution for horrible roads traffic between Dubai and Sharjah. “If you live in Sharjah, you pay less rent, but in return you get stuck in traffic for at least 3 hours more every day. But with Road Tolls, main roads will clear out...
Bahamas: Better living through travel
“. . . until we understand why people travel, unless we can step into their shoes, we are going to stay right where we are, and other people are going to catch us up and grow taller,” writes Nicolette Bethel, making the case for Bahamians to become different kinds of...
Shock and Tragedy in UCLA, Murder in Iran
According to reports in the media, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a UCLA student, was repeatedly stunned with a taser and then taken into custody after he failed to exit the CLICC Lab at the Powell Library at UCLA in a timely manner. Community Service Officers had asked Tabatabainejad to leave after he...
Singapore: Official Cupid Disbanded
Coffee and Cigarettes welcomes the demise of a government sponsored match making agency and questions some of the other “top-down” initiatives in Singapore.
Puerto Rico: Going to America
Tinta Digital examines (ES) the issue of emigration from the Puerto Rican point of view.
Afghan Whispers:War, Drugs and USA election
According to media insurgent activity in Afghanistan has risen fourfold this year. Afghan Warrior says operations against terror should be expanded in Pakistan.He adds for the first time the Pakistani Air Force conducted an air strike against suspected Taliban in Bajaur, a tribal area of Pakistan, which killed over 80...
Caribbean, Africa: The concept of fine art?
Afro-Caribbean musician Rasheed Ali ponders the question: what is the concept of fine art in Africa? “For western thinkers and art collectors there may be a sense that these arts pieces are devalued by there sameness. Yet upon further examination we find that the style of many art pieces has...
Slovenia: “The United States of Greater Austria”
The Glory of Carniola posts a 1906 map of an imaginary entity called “The United States of Greater Austria.”
Jamaica: Poet Shara McCallum
The subject of Geoffrey Philp's latest installment in his “In My Own Words” series is Jamaica-born poet Shara McCallum.
Barbados: Independent or no?
The Caribbeat says that Barbados is not an independent country.
Interview with Jordan Halevi, a Canadian Researcher on Iranian Blogs
Jordan Halevi (online alias) is a young Canadian researcher who has conducted a survey on Iranian blogs. In this interview conducted by Global Voices‘ Farsi language editor Farid Pouya, he discusses, among other things, his research project and the Iranian reaction to the questions in his survey. FP: Can you...
Cuba: 5 questions with Sandra M. Castillo
The latest installment in Geoffrey Philp's “Five Questions” series is an interview with Cuban writer Sandra M. Castillo.
Iran:TinTin in Tehran
In Forever Under Construction blog, we can discover one of Zartosht Soltani's art work:TinTin, famous reporter in comic books, in Tehran, an imaginary cover for TinTin's trip to Tehran.
Trinidad & Tobago: A geographically isolated communicator
Trinidadian blogger Karel McIntosh is interviewed by the Forward podcast about her experience as a public relations professional in the Caribbean and as a “geographically isolated communicator”.
Jamaica: Marley/Rastafari survey
Geoffrey Philp publishes the results of his Bob Marley/Rastafari survey and posts an “In My Own Words” piece with Jamaican writer Donna Weir-Soley.
Jamaica: An absent skill
Francis Wade tries to put his finger on the thing he believes makes Jamaicans an “unreflective” people: “Our reluctance to pursue these inner questions leaves the wild contradictions in our lives firmly place. It therefore means that they never get resolved on a national scale.“
