Bounded in a nut shell

I had a long series of tedious dreams this morning. You know the kind I mean? Like: I dreamed I was trying to buy Justin a ring, but couldn't find one I liked. I dreamed I was looking for a Vietnamese restaurant but kept getting lost, so I was just circling the same street over and over (and my feet hurt). I dreamed I finally got to the restaurant and kept reading the menu over and over, but nothing was vegetarian.

I always wake up annoyed after dreams like that. I could be dreaming I can fly! I could be dreaming I have superpowers! But instead my subconscious chooses to keep retreading a boring street, wearing uncomfortable shoes. Stupid subconscious.

News roundup: RAND symposium, CMC campaigning

Apparently RAND's Initiative for Middle Eastern Youth had a symposium on "Creative Use of the Media for Tolerance and Understanding" here yesterday. It sounds like some very interesting issues were raised, including:

• Bahrain's "muzzling" of reporters and particularly bloggers,


• Disparities in freedom between young men and women in the Gulf,


• Honor killings in Jordan, and


• The role of the Internet in exposing youth to new ideas.

In more local news, there have been a spate of articles relating to the upcoming Central Municipal Council elections here in Doha. For example, two candidates have made public statements about how to solve the problem of the masses of single male workers living in Doha. (Al Emadi: Make them live elsewhere. Al Jefairi: Recruit single women expats. Al Jefairi has also publicly disavowed the face veil.)

Today's article on the election is most interesting for the subtext on the role of tribes in these elections.