July 2008 Archives
I just discovered a very interesting new Moroccan blog in English: Words for Change. Written by a 23-year-old Moroccan journalist, the blog takes on every subject from AIDS to free speech to prostitution in Morocco.
Ted Sorensen, whose recent autobiography I have just finished, was one of John F. Kennedy's closest confidants and a contributor to the formation of the Peace Corps. How appropriate then that his daughter Juliet, now also a successful lawyer like her father, was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco in the mid-90's.
I hardly think warmer relations between Algeria and Morocco are imminent, particularly in light of the parlous state of the Algerian government, but I guess Sarkozy gets points for trying.
For years my wife has reproached me for eating canned sardines, a favorite snack of mine that she cannot abide. Now, of course, the New York Times has come out with this:
Sardines: Dr. Bowden calls them “health food in a can.'’ They are high in omega-3’s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as a full complement of B vitamins.How to eat: Choose sardines packed in olive or sardine oil. Eat plain, mixed with salad, on toast, or mashed with dijon mustard and onions as a spread.
And the world's leading exporter of sardines? Morocco, of course!
Two of the premier English language bloggers on Morocco converse in this charming dialog in Global Voices. Jillian C. York, a frequent contributor to Global Voices and author of a well-known pocket guidebook on Morocco, interviews Sandy McCutcheon, the blogging powerhouse behind the wildly popular View from Fez apart from being a prolific Australian author and commentator.
In this interview, McCutcheon briefly describes the painstaking process of restoring his home in Fez, a traditional "riad," to its original quiet elegance. "Riad Zany," named for his wife Suzanna, also an author and a photographer, serves not only as blogging headquarters for the View from Fez but also as locus for frequent concerts of traditional Moroccan music.
Asked for his views on the country's future, McCutcheon expresses optimism tempered by mild concern over the competition that Marrakesh and Casablanca pose to his beloved Fez. This short interview repays the reading, but for the real low down on McCutcheon's immersion in Morocco, one need only turn to his blog.
Al Qaeda is reportedly injecting new life into the bloody Algerian insurgency with guns, men, money, and new tactics.
