Mom Blog Crusade From The Living Room

Check out this great story in the New York Times. This is a story about a homemaker mom blogger and her fight for a Yemeni journalist's life. Jane Novak who knows (or at least when she started knew) nothing about Arab culture or language. She is a stay at home mom (wish I was) who has become such a popular person in Yemen that the papers sell more copies when her face is on the cover. Her outspoken blog on Yemeni affairs is banned there because the government officials have dubbed and villified her "An American Agent, A Shiite monarchist, a member of Al-Qaeda or "the Zionist Novak." She has been targeted by the Yemeni government largely because of her fight for the life and freedoms of journalist Abdul Karim al-Khaiwani. He is on trial for writing a story about a bloodbath in the northern part of the country and he is a supporter of freedom and democracy. Novak has worked hard in his defense contacting politicians from both the U.S. and Yemen, human rights activists and journalist from around the globe. She has a petition for al-Khaiwani's freedom. The penalty for his crime is usually death and the verdict is expected tomorrow. Novak and Khaiwani have become friends despite the language barrier because he wrote her to thank her for her fight on his behalf and the letter touched her so deeply it prompted her to fight further. He addressed his letter to Jane Novak the American journalist and political analyst. She didn't have the heart to tell him she was just a stay at home mom who agreed with his point of view and supported his freedom until much later because she did not want to make him lose hope. When she finally told him the truth about herself he said he became even prouder of her and her work. The story touched me a bit so perhaps it will touch you too.

New York Times homemaker mom blogger fight Yemeni journalist life Jane Novak Arab culture language outspoken villified freedom Abdul Karim al-Khaiwani writing democracy politicians activists globe petition death verdict friends hope proud

Barack Obama and Project Vote

An effort to register over 100,000 new voters. Obama after getting out of school when he could have done much more (for himself) with his Harvard education spent time in Chicago getting voters registered and to the polls. He didn't do this with all sorts of fanfare or for a bunch of money. He did it because he believed in it. He continued further beyond just getting people to register to vote he helped call people and motivate them to actually come out and vote. He is ready to bring the message and do the work. I think it is important to remember that Barack is not all talk. He is more than a great orator as some people claim. He is the guy who has privilege and an interesting balance of not having it. He participated in his life in grass roots efforts to help people in this world. These are the things that I hear people who don't support him complain about. They complain about him not having any experience and him being all talk. I don't believe that at all. I think that the unique experience that he has over other politicians is that experience of living in both worlds. Most politicians live in a world of privilege and have their entire lives. Barack is not different accept that he has also lived in a world outside of privilege. He has taken his privilege and tossed it out the window until bed time so that he could go into the projects and be on the same level as the people. What is the benefit to that? The benefit is that he is able to see things from the point of view of the people instead of simply a politician. He speaks from the point of view of the people and that is what we like about him. We know he hears our voice because he has come to our neighborhoods when it wasn't a direct political or financial benefit and he hung out with us and told us how much he cared and that he believed we deserved to be heard. He is still saying it today and those I've spoken to who don't support him can only seem to come up with arguments that he is all talk or that they don't connect with what he says. Odd that the same things he says are things I've heard the people who claim a disconnect say when we are simply sitting around drinking coffee and talking without the benefit of an election coming up. Now all of a sudden when it is black against white and boys against girls they can't seem to see past the colors and genders to actually listen to the fact that he believes in the same things they do and the difference between he and Hillary is that he has been seen in the neighborhoods working when it wasn't benefitting him immediately or directly in that moment. Hillary shows up for sound bites and photo ops ever since I've known about her. Where are the videos on You Tube of her hanging in the hood without the media on a day when there was no election for her or someone related to her?



Obama Chicago vote important grassroots support politicians privilege