Mom, Thanks for sending the flash. After having to mess with the electronics of the thing to get it to work with a digital camera, I finally got to test it out on Annah this morning. Annah and I will be working on a small project together documenting veiled woman and finding out why they cover their hair. We’ve already heard a number of different reasons, but we want to record them explaining their beliefs so that we can share it with you all. Too often the west sees these women as oppressed, but the reasons will surprise you.

The Amman demonstration was surreal in a few ways. Getting caught up in a march with a bunch of men whose idea of person space is much different from what I’ve grown up with was one thing. Listening to a crowd of people chant anything as dedicated as this crowd chanted, “God is the greatest,” is another.
But there were subtlties, like the crowd of women who followed in the rear of the march chanting just as loud and as dedicated as the men, some who were working their way up towards the front.
The strangest aspect of the demonstration was the way it ended. One wants to imagine something with the energy of a thousand people erupting into something ecstatic or uncontrolled. That’s what it feels like when you’re in the middle of all this controlled chaos
But this flow of people moved, stopped and dispersed as calmly as the water in a stream would tumble past a rock.
For more images from the demonstrations please go to my main site and click on the “essays” section. There you’ll see an “Amman Demonstrates” section.

Amman is not immune from the talk of the town about these infamous cartoons. They too are upset at the lack of taste in the criticism of their beliefs.
This demonstration in downtown Amman was very peaceful. The crowd of nearly 1000 people made their way from a mosque not far from my house to a modern section of the city where they continued to voice their disagreement with the West and their love for God, only the Arabic word for the all mighty is “Allah”. You say poe-tae-toe, I say poe-tah-toe.

Michael Specter-What Money Can Buy
“It was only when I dug into it a bit that I came to understand that better health leads to lower populations with more resources,” Bill said.
This is a well written story from the New Yorker about philanthropy and whether it can make a difference or not. The writer gave a good look into the life and mind of Bill and Melinda Gates. One thing that blew my mind was reading that it was Melinda’s idea to fight for world health. Bill was caught up in trying to fight world population rates.

A friend Will Raynolds and I were supposed to go to the Dana Nature Reserve today to work on a small story about those living within a national park, but due to poor weather conditions we called the trip off. It snowed in Amman for the first time since I’ve been here. I saw a bit when waking up this morning.
Will lives in Irbid, a town to the north, and in order to get to Amman you have to pass through a strip of mountains. The road passing through these mountains was closed due to the snow.
This an unpublished image from the last time Annah and I went to the Dana Reserve. It is of a local family who farms tomatoes on the arid land.