painful to write...

I fully realize that this post gives away a certain amount of my own pretension, but I will write it anyhow. When I looked at the New York Times this morning, I felt a certain emptiness in reading this story though not to the extent of many of those interviewed within. To those who know me well, crosswords are indeed a key aspect of my stress relief, along with another personal trait that may explain why the AARP sent me a "New Membership Incentive" email last year. I should have taken that tote I guess; it came with a free book of crosswords.

10 sheikhs psychoanalyze the pope...

Tell me if you've heard this one before?

(Un-)fortunately, it's not actually a joke, but rather something crazy good that I will be looking at all summer long (i.e. my job).  No, really.

So yesterday was my first day at the Arab West Report (check it out!), and despite being rather difficult to find (i.e. although it is ten minutes from where I live, I ended up needing to take a taxi ride as Google Maps failed to deliver on the place name that my office indicated it was kind of near.  Once I made it there, I had to wander around for a while looking for something called "Kinderwonder," which took a while, then from there was supposed to go find the office.  As it turns out, it was on the second floor of an apartment building.  It would have taken a while longer but I ran into a coworker.), I love it.  Basically, my job for the summer can all be explained with something I inherited.  I inherited an almost complete data set of newspaper articles that mention Pope Shenouda III from the late 1990s through the present.  I am systematically reading these, then looking at the media portrayal therein.  What Pope Shenouda III emerges?  Well, I can't tell you that yet as it is literally my job, but one day.  One day.

The other part of my job was the part that meant I was there for 10 hours.  Yes, 10.  Why?  Because after my time technically ended, we went to a lecture sponsored by my boss by two Nobel Peace Prize nominees (Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye) at Cairo University where Obama will be speaking.  These two rather spectacular clergymen from Nigeria reconnected to their spirituality to point towards an end to the religious sectarian violence of their country and reconnecting their respective fellow believers to do the same.  Spectacular opportunity to meet them.  There is even a movie about them, which is part of what we watched.  Before they spoke that is, which was way, way more incredible.

I like my job.