Back from Vacation

I thought I would start my first foray into the world of webblogs with an entry on why and how I became interested in the subject of Islam. Let me first state that I am an architect by training and have never had any courses on Islam, its history, its jurisprudence, or its various expressions. My interest is simple a matter of “redemption”. In the books I read and the movies that I watch, I have always been fascinated with the notion of the fall and the process of redemption. This is why I have been particularly fascinated with Westerns…

Via Joho, I found a 2nd grade class that maintains a blog. They’ve got a question that needs to be answered. The teacher who thought of this idea, using a blog to teach, should get teacher of the year. The concept is great, community teaching in a really organic form. The question is about dinosaurs and the kings of the jungles. Help them out and do your teaching duty for the day. My thoughts in their comments.

About time MERIP got a blog. Some nice stuff brewing. hawgblawg: Robin Wright on Arab/Islamic Hip-Hop. Merip has a brand new blog, launched today. I intend to contribute posts on a regular basis–but I will not be abandoning hawgblawg by any means. My first was a meditation on how Robin Wright celebrates Arab/Islamic hip-hop in her book, Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World. Read it here.