Mideast Youth..a worthwhile stop

I have a permanent Google News alert that sends me a daily email with all the news items that contain the word "Egypt" and lately Google has expanded the service to include blogs. On the downside I know more about the football team of Egypt, Illinois than I ever wanted to, but today I hit a lovely upside. Following a link on a blog item regarding a recent statement by Egyptian judges against the idea of women being named as judges, I found Mideast Youth. This site is a cooperative venture by a large number of young people with various connections to the Middle East. The authors come from Egypt, Sudan, Bahrain, Iran, Israel, and a few other places as well.

Wandering around the site reading poetry, political blogs, humour and all the other things that they offer reminded me of the gatherings of young people in our house in Maadi when my children were still living at home. There is a wonderful light and breadth to young conversations in this part of the world. Politics are part of the air that they breath and most of my children's friends were multinational children, many of whom had been raised in at least three or four countries, giving them an unusual insight on life.

If you want to have some idea what young people are thinking and feeling, this is an excellent resource, and if you just want to be entertained for a bit, it's a hit as well. This is what blogging is all about.

copyright 2007 Maryanne Stroud Gabbani