Jordan: Bloggers Celebrate Their Country · Global Voices
Betsy Fisher

March 12, 2011 marked the fourth annual Blog for Jordan day. Jordanians, foreigners living in Jordan, and Jordanians living abroad, all pitched in to write about their love for Jordan and their hopes for its future.
SimSim wrote a list of Jordanians’ demands, which read in part:
The People want more freedom of speech !
The People want to know where the money goes !
We r all Jordanians ….. The People want equality, No biased and No mind manipulating
Iconic Jordanian heritage – the Monastery at Petra. Image by Flickr user betta design (CC BY-NC 2.0).
Rain, too wrote about the desire for change in Jordan:
بحلم باليوم اللي بنوصل فيه كأردنيين لاختيار صحيح لمين بيمثلنا و بيحكي باسمنا
Qwaider compared the unrest across the Arab world to a tsunami, saying that Jordan would undoubtedly be affected, and must move past Jordanian/Palestinian identity divides:
The waves of human will and might are breaking shore in every Arab capital, and despite my solidarity with all my brothers all over the Arab world, today, I dedicate myself to my small nation of Jordan. Small in size, but great in every other aspect.
It's time for Jordan as a nation to grow out of its infancy and embrace modern statehood, which has room for everyone. From the Iraqi immigrant who landed 60 years ago, to the descendants of Kurds, Persians, Circassians, Chechnyans, Bosnians, Afghanis, Pakistanis, Egyptians, and yes, Palestinians.
Saraj al-Madi also focused on identity issues, writing about his experiences with discrimination as a Palestinian-Jordanian.  He concluded affirming his love for Jordan:
نعم أنا أردني من أصل فلسطيني … ولكنّي إنسان مسلم عربي قبل هذا وذاك … مستعد لدفع حياتي ثمناً لرفعة الأردن وآمنه و آمانه … أدعوا الله كل صباح ان يتقدم الأردن بأهله و شبابه وناسه ليكون من افضل دول العالم … فمن شرب من ماء الأردن و اكل من خيراته لايمكن إلا أن يحب الأردن …
Jim Wright blogged about his warm welcome as a foreigner living in Jordan:
As I move around the kingdom in search of history and stories I meet a great many people; shop owners, neighbors, family friends. I am innundated with invitations to their homes for meals or coffee. When chatting in the street someone will inevitably press a cup of coffee or a juice into my hand. When stopping in small shops to browse, the owner or manager will invariably prepare coffee to enjoy as we negotiate. Everywhere I go I am received as a friend, completely without suspicion or mistrust. Coming from the West, it took some time to accustom myself to this unique hospitality.
Kinzi wrote about her appreciation for Jordanian men:
From a khalto’s [aunty's] point of view. I am usually highlighting the worst acts of gender-specific violence, but rarely affirm the best of male Arabness found in the majority of our friends. And my readers :).
Who? Arab men, Muslim and Christian (Atheist too?)  men who have used their strength to protect, undergird, supply for and delight in the women in their lives. Men who know when to fight, how to fight fair, when to cry, what is worth raging over and what is best left til later to fix. Men who are devoted God-fearers, who would never dream of striking a woman, and who know how to build women up and free them to be their best without abandoning them in the process. Men who are not intimidated by female strength, but inspired by it.
Three Beans introduced her reasons for loving Jordan with the following words:
Ahhh, Jordan. It's that time of year again, spring breezes blow, the region goes haywire, and Blog About Jordan Day come around.
Haitham focused on Jordan's best environmental asset:
Actually, I believe that if the Nile was God's gift to Egypt for real, then passive solar design is definitely his gift to Jordan. By simply positioning the buildings in the right direction, and installing cheap shades, we can save up to 60% of our energy bills. It is that simple. No need for futuristic technologies or piles of money.
Ali opted to post a video instead of writing an entry [Ar]: Ali's Blog for Jordan Video Post
5hadz blogged his opinion that the best kind of reform does not target the government, but of each person.
We live in a country with no natural resources at all, the only thing that we have is ourselves, the first thing we should reform should be our own selves. I can sit here all day and speak of how beautiful our country is, how beautiful Jordan is, but that would not bring about change… I will not sit aimlessly, watching as we’re fed lies about change and reform when all I see is different asses on the same old seats.
Khadijah boasted about Jordan's rich history:
فعرفت الممالك العمونية والأدومية والمؤابية والنبطية واحتلها من بعد المصريون والآشوريون واليونان والفرس والرومان إلى أن انتهت إلى الإسلام في الفتوحات، ولم تنسَ كلُّ هذه الحضارات أن تترك وصمتها على أرضه في القلاع والحصون والقصور والمسارح وغيرها.
Rand wrote about her newfound discovery of the Jordanian blogging and Twitter spheres:
And while other bloggers are getting creative in blogging about Jordan, I’m gonna blog about something I only discovered last year in Jordan, its bloggers!
My blog turned one year old last January, and during this past year I have had the pleasure to get to know many amazing bloggers and tweeps, and actually meet some of them as well.
Follow Blog for Jordan day on Twitter at #B4Jo.