This video might not be related to content usually posted on this blog. Not overtly related at least. However, I think in light of all that is happening all over the world, and in my life, I have found this to be the most important video I ever stumbled on. Not an exaggeration. Please watch, wholeheartedly:
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World, we need to talk. Something is quite off and I believe I know percisely what it is. A ‘world-affairs-eureka-moment’ if you will. I will skip the extensive scientific research and methodology which got me to my forthcoming ground-breaking discovery; you just have to trust me on this one.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are separeted by date-zones. Yes, that’s right, just like we have different timezones, we also have different date-zones. Now you were not alive back when homeboy who said the world is flat got laughed at, nor perhaps when they put a man on the moon (It happened. they didn’t photoshop it, there was no photoshop back then, duh!) But you are here today, alive and witnessing all that is happening. This is your chance to subscribe to this ‘theory’ early on and become a pioneer of world-affairs theory (look for this major in a college near you soon.)
You see, we are all perfectly acquainted with the variability of time-zones across the world, even children understand it. Yet people seem to think we all live in the exact same date-zone even though all evidence points to the contrary. What evidence? Allow me to elaborate: It is presumably 2011 worldwide*, yet a woman in Saudi Arabia is jailed by an unjust King because she operated a motor vehicle. Young men across the Arab World are reported missing and enduring M-rated (M for Medieval) torture chambers, even ordered to die because they disagreed with a dictator. There is no way it is 2011 in this region, while it is simultaneously 2011 in say, Canada. No way. Have you seen Gaddafi? He’s got 1600s written all over him.
This concept of date-zones is spanking new, albeit already rationally irrefutable. the only plausible adjustment is that perhaps 2011 is the average year taken from all the different date-zones of the world now. I will investigate this and let you know–where is Einstein when you need him right?
At this point, we can either adjust our calendars, or really prove we all live in 2011 by striving for acceptable universal human rights for all of us. Please don’t be the annoying guy at college lectures and insist that the concept of universality of human rights is ethnocentric, flawed, bla bla bla. No, you either let all women drive in 2011 or you change your calendar. Either way, something’s gotta give.
*Additional scientific proof that it is not 2011 worldwide: Rapture, FGM advocates, some people still use PC/IE, etc…
Below is the AlJazeera documentary on Sudan that aired on May 9th, 2011 in case you have missed it. Sorry– no English subtitles!
The first thing you need to know about Khalid Wad Albaih is that he is über cool. The second thing is that he reads the Sudanese Optimist. Correlation? I think yes. Khalid is the genius behind some ingenious cartoons about current events, with many cartoons focused on Sudanese issues. His cartoons, cleverly dubbed “Khartoons” (Khalid+Khartoum+Cartoon) are always on point, powerful, and thought provoking. Some will make you laugh, some will make you tear up (especially if you’re a drama queen) and some will make you think: “How on earth did he think of that?” and admittedly, some will make you think “why didn’t I think of that dammit?”
Khalid’s artwork has been featured on Aljazeera amongst other news outlets such as Channel 4 News England, Brazil daily newspaper, and AlSudani daily news paper. The well known Egyptian art critic Salah Bisar featured Khalid in articles published in 7awa and Masr Alyoum. His work can be found all over facebook and Twitter profiles, where many people found that his Khartoons were perfect expressions of their opinions and emotions. I have first come across his work when many of my facebook friends put up a catching profile photo shown here. One person had put up a link to the rest of his cartoons and I found myself very intrigued by them. I had the pleasure of randomly meeting Khalid a few weeks ago and promised that I will propel him to super-stardom through this blog of 7 billion readers. (Side-note, when we met, Khalid pulled up The Sudanese Optimist blog on his iphone which caused me to get superexcited and blurt out THAT’S MY BLOG…. Anonymity fail!)
Khalid Wad Al Baih is a noteworthy Sudanese talent that deserves major support and exposure, and I am so proud to see one of our own cover world events in such a unique and interesting way. He is also a member in www.refugeeclub.com a Sudanese artists group and just got accepted to the cartoonmovement.com the #1 Internet political cartoons publisher.
Be on the lookout for Khalid’s designs to be on t-shirts soon. To learn more about Khalid’s work visit his website, his flickr page, and make sure to follow him on Twitter.
One of the most exciting events happening in Sudan this year is TEDxKhartoum. Liscenced by TED, TEDx events were “created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading,” the TEDx program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. TEDx events are fully planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis.”
TEDxKhartoum efforts are being lead by Anwar Dafa-Alla, who has been active in the social media realm for quite a while now. In person, Anwar is an uninhibited ball of energy, and it is quite easy to see how he has spearheaded this massive effort to organize the event in Khartoum, a city where planning even the simplest event might cause ulcers, aneurysms and post-traumatic stress disorder. He has been flown to attend TED conferences in the US as he is a rockstar volunteer translator, translating more than 500 TED talks into Arabic. The man is on a mission to prove that Sudanese are not lazy and boy is he exemplifying it! For example, what should have been a quick business lunch with Anwar, turned into a near-death adventure across the streets of Doha, where pedestrians are a rare species. Ball of energy I tell ya!
The event, held on April 30th, 2011, will feature 17 speakers spread-out from 9AM through 5pm. A social gathering will be held at the Rashid Diab Arts Center.
The Sudanese Optimist will be attending TEDxKhartoum, and live blogging the event through Twitter, and as I promised Anwar, my camera will also be in attendance to take pretty photos of the event.
You can register to attend the event here. If you do not already, please follow me on Twitter here to get live updates throughout the event.
I cannot wait to visit Khartoum, and yes, I will be wearing pants!
The Sudanese Optimist, like Al jazeera and natural gas, is now located in Qatar. I realized that I have not been updating my blog, to the extent that I received a frantic email asking why my FAQ states I’m 23 yet still in college? Fear not dear readers, I am not a senior citizen college student. I have graduated back in 2009 and I am now a superstar career girl working for…emmm….okay enough personal information.
The move to Qatar proved to be a fantastic decision–I could not be happier to have left the United States after so many years there. I have been more connected to world events living here than I have ever been back in the US, and even when I was much more active in the social media world. I became even more acutely aware of how disconnected the US is when I spent the month of March there, and felt as if I’m receiving trickles of the news rather than the whole story, and biased trickles at that. Okay, I have to admit, I was vacationing in the US and might have tuned out a lot of information, but still… My hope is, if you’re in the US, please diversify your news sources heavily, and now that the NYT has shown it’s true jewish colors (i kid) and began charging online readers, there’s more reason to seek news concerning issues outside the US, from sources outside the US. Common sense you say? Just look at all the ignorant comments found in unfortunate abundance all over the internet. Also, if you can stomach it, check Twitter’s trending topics and you’ll see that Bieber Fever easily out-trends important world events, because the Biebs and Rebecca Black receive more airtime than current events. Unless you auto-tune the news, then the US is all about the Zenga Zenga guy.
So yes, The Sudanese Optimist is now in Doha, Qatar enjoying the heat, the bad customer service, and the occasional cup of Karak. Most importantly though, I am enjoying “blogging offline” which is discussing issues that I normally would have blogged about, directly with the residents of Qatar. Some of the smartest and most interesting young Sudanese people reside in Doha, and there is a constant influx of some of the most influential people to the city. I’m happy to have been blogging offline, but will definitely be sharing what is worth sharing with the rest of the world through this blog, especially that I feel, as a blogger, that I am lucky to be in the right spot, at the right time.
*Note: The Sudanese Optimist does not drive a Land Cruiser.
I’d like to dedicate the following poem to (president) Hosni Mubarak….
He’s climbin in your windows
He’s snatchin your people up
Tryna rape em so y’all need to
Hide your kids, hide your wife
Hide your kids, hide your wife
Hide your kids, hide your wife
And hide your husband cuz they’re rapin everybody out here
You don’t have to come and confess
We’re lookin for you
We gon find you we gon find you
So you can run and tell that,
Run and tell that
Run and tell that, homeboy
Home, home, homeboy
We got your t-shirt
You done left fingerprints and all
You are so dumb
You are really dumb–for real
You are really, really, really, really so dumb
So dumb, so dumb, so dumb, so
Bout 5’9″, 5’10”, Coffee complexion
Low cut like a Caesar with some little waves in his head
Clean cut, very smooth face
You are so dumb
You are really dumb–for real
You are really, really, really, really so dumb
We gon’ find you…
The Sudanese Optimist 