two posts in one day from the girl who NEVER posts. something strange is in the air. But i just had to share this.....

The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour!

NIAC is handing out a limited number of FREE tickets to the Axis of Evil comedy show in Washington D.C. on November 11 to NIAC members!

Ahmed Ahmed (Punk’d, Farhenheit 9/11, The Wall Street Journal), Aron Kader (Premium Blend, The Shield, Newsweek)) and Maz Jobrani (The Interpreter, Friday After Next, Curb Your Enthusiasm) will be performing their hilarious comedy at the Lisner Auditorium at GW University.

Like “The Real Kings of Comedy” and “The Blue Collar Tour”, “The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour” features standup comics who have similar ethnic backgrounds. However, what makes this show so important is the timing.

Given how Middle Easterners are portrayed today in the media, these three comics, who have either been born in the US or grown up here, have taken it upon themselves to show a positive face of their people. Having come up at Mitzi Shore’s World Famous Comedy Store in Los Angeles where legends like Sam Kinison, Jim Carrey and David Letterman came up, these comics cross over well into the mainstream.

Where: Lisner Auditorium at GW University, 730 21st Street, NW Washington, DC

When: Friday November 11, 2005

Time: 8.00pm

Cover:  $30, $25, $20; Reserve tickets online or by calling 202-397-SEAT

The Houston Astros are heading to the World Series!!!! The city erupted last night. It was like a flashback to the good old days of "Clutch City" after the Rockets back-to-back win. I remember the night the Rockets won because everyone was out in the streets with brooms, since we had "swept" the other team. There were no brooms last night, but the same vibrant feeling of communal pride in our mosquito prone concrete city was still there. 

much love to the 'stros.  

I am forced to start posting again because I feel a moral obligation to show the world that Scott Blasey, lead singer of the Clarks, and Aaron Hammer, Rice class of 2004, do in fact resemble one another. Sure, Scott is darker and older, but c'mon guys, can't you see it?

Here are a few of my favorite pics from South Africa:

This is George, the baboon I met in South Africa. I was awefully close to George when taking this picture. Later I was told that George is not a big fan of cameras. Sorry George. Does this picture scream National Geographic or what?

This is the marvelous Table Mountain and the city of Cape Town at its base.

This is Bishop at Capetown's Clifton beach. Clearly, he's hard at work on his Watson fellowship project. Can't you see the renewable energy failures in the background. Wowza! (sorry Jeff, I just had to share this photo. I love it too much.)

Here are the Stellenbosch winelands. Absolutely divine.

And here is a typical street in the township of Khayelitsha, one of South Africa's fastest growing townships. The wineland above is at most a 30 minute drive away from this township.

Finally, this is Cape Point, where the currents of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet.

Spain pics will be up soon.

Tommorow is the first day of school. Oh, the anxiety.

Do we really have the right to migrate?

Up until South Africa I would have given a resounding yes. People have the right to movement. It’s one of our most fundamental rights. Article 13 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (1948), states, "everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State" and that "everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country".

But while in South Africa my view was challenged. An increasing problem at the moment in South Africa is that with affirmative action more and more of the white population is finding it difficult to find employment. Since many of them have the resources to leave the country, they do, heading mainly to the United Kingdom or US on grounds that there isn’t enough opportunities for them in South Africa. I heard a lot of people, whites and non-whites, say that this was a lame excuse and these whites were only migrating because now they’re finally facing competition in the job market. Yet instead of staying in the country and working to create employment opportunities for themselves and those even more unprivileged than themselves, they take the easy way out, board a plane, and turn their backs on a country that needs their skills and capital.  

So my question to you -- do we have the right to movement, no matter what the motives, economic or otherwise? Or do we have a moral responsibility to our communities of origin?

more on spain later.