one year ago today

UNMEDIA blog started a year ago today! Here's the obligatory link to my first post. Which is shorter than this paragraph. I'm proud to have been one of the first liberal blogs in the BSphere. AndI was surprised by how much my writing turned towards Islam here - in some ways, the blog has been an outlet for my subconcious, a means of drawing out my own convictions. Blogging has made me rigorous, critical, and self-aware. Without thi blog, I probably wouldn't have engaged in the ardous process of actually having an informed opinion - such as why I am against war on Iraq.

Since this is a purely symbolic event anyway, I'll take the opportunity to plug two new blogs that have recently started and who I look forward to reading over the next year to their own blogiversaries.

L'Atitude - this blog is written by my younger sister Zahra from Chicago. She is currently working towards her Masters' degree in English, and taught schoolchildren for one and a half years in Cairo, Egypt. She has a true gift for writing^[1] and her writing is part travel diary, part human observation, and part reflections on the simple wonders in everyday life. She is new to the blogsphere and thus probably isn't aware of the magnitude of the compliment, but I consider her writing superior to Lileks.

Epicycle - this blog is written by a dear friend of mine, Murtz, who has a PhD in physics and is currently working in London. Murtz is a true intellectual, and he embraces life with zeal, wit, and good humor (or as he would spell it, humour). If his past writings are any indication, he will have plenty of insight into the intersection of sccience and islam, as well as some off-the-wall zaniness and free-association. He just hasn't posted much yet, but he will be one to watch...

For some closing birthday jollies, here's the funniest thing I've read on the Internet since AYBABTU.

^[1] whom she partly credits to the same AP English teacher in high scholl who nurtured my own writing ability, Joe Prendergast, at Rolling Meadows High School. Thank you Mr. Prendergast for my disciplined aversion to the weak phrase, "deals with" in my writing. If only you could have helped me with my typos.