Aya

Please come by to Project Nomad’s site for discussions and update.  I will post alerts here for a while but please make sure you check there periodically as well.

 UPDATE:

First, thanks to all of you for jumping in with both feet. 

Cold_Spring has sent an excellent piece, thank you!  Cigaal has taken a well-thought out and extremely important step of learning more about ’scapegoating’ and effective responses.  We will learn whatever we can to move forward.  Scapegoating  is the mouthpiece for bigotry and racism, and has preceeded much violence against minority groups. 

Seems like the Tennessee article will be our trial run for the Somali Bloggers’ Lobby.  This article has received some rebuttals from local and national people and rebuttals are best when close to the issuance of the article.  Nonetheless, it is very useful in spreading the word about Brian Mosley as he will no doubt continue his campaign.  It is also important in helping us iron out the process and use this like a fire drill.  We will time our response and efficiency from this trial run.

So, in the spirit of collaborative work, we need a campaign lead, an editor, and a researcher.  The lead will co-ordinate this particular response (contacting writer and editors, connecting with the researcher, and then being the spokesperson to the recipients of the letter).  The editor will take the 2 responses already submitted and give about 2 days for more people to submit their work.  Once all contributions are in, the editor merges the salient points in the letters/submissions into a brief but powerful rebuttal.  The researcher for this project needs to look up human rights agencies, journalists’ associations, and other agencies who should hear about this particular letter. 

Ready for work, team!

Let’s do this practice/real run and improve upon our process.

Since we’re beginning, I will delegate for this run only but will open the floor in the future for other to organize and delegate.  We will rotate roles for every rebuttal depending on interest.  This will give all of us a chance to practice every aspect of lobbying.

Campaign Lead:  Isseh

Editor: AMTAF

Researcher: Open for candidate interest.  If you are in the US (or anywhere) and have a couple of hours to dedicate to researching and calling around, please respond here or send me an e-mail.

I would like us to be brisk and efficient in our response to these assaults.  I would also like us to invite our friends not in the UK, US, and Canada to participate with their own alerts and contributions.  There seems to be a tide of xenophobic sentiment in previously decent places.  Here in the US, the land of slavery and systemic bigotry, it is as everyday as ayeeyo’s laxoox.

You guys rock!

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Carry arms!

 This is my first project alert and I’m hoping that it will be of interest to some of you very smart people.  Lurkers, damn you!  If you do nothing else, join in the projects.

 In the past few months, I’ve had more than 1 person send me an article that defames nomads.  These 2 articles are an example (1 & 2).  It is no secret that we do not have a strong lobby here in the West that speaks out against biased attacks by the media. 

I would like us nomad bloggers to consider forming a virtual lobby that prepares rebuttals through letters and e-mails wherever one of these defamatory pieces surfaces.  Think of the ADL.  It seems like a passive thing to do but a pen can only be defeated by a pen.  There are political and economic tides that launch an unrelenting campaign against the weakest members of a society.  Black, muslim, sort-of-new comers are a very easy target.

I propose that we have a system of response:

1. Someone reads/hears of the article and sends me or the friendly nomad corner folks word. 
2. We organize and delegate volunteers to write, edit and send out the response to the editor of the publication.
3. We use our contacts to spread the word by sending copies of the letter.
4. We seek support from friends/contact who are non nomad in our rebuttals.  The world is too large to close it off to only us. 

Bloggers are the present journalists of the world.  Sure, we got as much respect as George Michael in a ‘No sex in public’ meeting, but we’re still journalists.  Some of you are brilliant writers, AMTAF is one and she has graciously signed on.  I don’t mean to call you out and put the rest of you on the spot but I will do it anyway from now on so sue me. 

In the future, I will post a Project Alert on the blog but keep the discussion to the tab in the top right side of this page so please, always check in there and jump in with both gnarly feet. 

I would like to keep this general page for my navel-gazing.  In Aya world, she is the star, the director, the cleaning lady, and the creepy asshole who pretends to replace lightbulbs while he collects bodies of little children in his basement.  Ya hear me?

Not going to update….

 Will not update…

I miss you, people.  

I’m done with the project that’s taken me out of my apartment (which is on the market as of yesterday at 3p.m. eastern time).  I’ve spent the past couple of weeks putting together my last report which is due in February.  Between reports and travels, stress and unconsciousness, I haven’t seen friends or blogged/read blogs. 

I put my place on the market but don’t think that I’ll be able to sell it.  The area I live in has the highest mortgage default rate and the lowest house sale blah blah.  That means I’m screwed and nobody bought me a Mickey D dinner.  Sigh. 

I went home for the holidays and got the same round of ‘when are you getting married?’ and a fresh batch of ‘don’t you want to have children?’ to join the rest of the familial, snide xaarness that happens in these gatherings.  The kids thing is a new one this year with the extended family experiencing its own little baby boom.  Double sigh. 

I always love seeing my grandmother, though.  She has these colourful sheets and aromatic bags she tucks away for months till I see her again.  No matter how many times I tell her that I can’t wear them in my snowy city, she insists that I take them.  I always smell better coming home.  She also had this secret, yellow concoction that her posse of octogenerian trouble makers prize so much.  I caught a whiff and my knees couldn’t carry me.  I felt a certain kinship with WWI boys who died of mustard gas poisoning.  Ah ayeeyo, if only I could unleash your secret potion on the cadaan people I work with. 

 All is not doom and gloom.  I made my last student loan payment on January 15th.  I am FREE, people.  May all of you tortured by this inhumane presence in our young lives be free of it soon. 

I had to sit on my hands and not spend a penny after that payment.  I am getting that camera, though.  Yay!  I promise to have some great pictures from my soon to happen travels and some to go along with my name-and-shame practice of stalking neighbours.

 How’s everyone doing?