THE REVOLUTION OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

Julie and I used to live on a quiet tree lined street in the heart of Amman. Next door to us is a television production company called ABS, which also happens to be the Jordan arm of Al-Jazeera. So for the past week, in an effort to get on TV, small groups of about 20 or so young men park their cars in the middle of the road late at night with their stereos blasting and start chanting something. I'm not sure the literal translation, but I believe "I'm a little dumb ass, put me on TV" is pretty close. I'm in no way trying to demean the legitimate protests happening here in Jordan, but these guys are getting on my nerves.

THE SKETCHES OF AMMAR KHAMMASH

I thought I would post a couple more beautiful sketches by architect Ammar Khammash. What makes them unique is that none of them were ever built. The top two were designs for a luxury hotel in Aqaba, and the bottom one (my favorite) was for a permanent tent village to be located in Wadi Rum. Check out Ammar's website by clicking here.

WELCOME TO THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE

Yes, today I took pictures inside a chicken slaughterhouse. I think every meat-eater should visit one, not to reform them, but to have some idea of where your food comes from. The factory pictured here processes 20,000 chickens a day (which is not considered a lot), with an average chicken age of 40 days old. Islamic law states that animals must bleed out when slaughtered, so animals are conscious when their throats are cut. This way their hearts continue pumping. I was told that the worst job inside the factory is the feather station shown in the 4th photo. It's at this stage in the process that the most bacteria and germs are present. The workers employed here make around $300 a month for this less than pleasant work. That's for 10 hour days, 6 days a week. And to think I was almost upset that shooting here ruined a nice pair of my jeans (you can't take the second picture without getting squirted by blood).

VITAL VOICES

Vital Voices is an NGO based out of the US that identifies and invests in women throughout the world, providing training and resources for them to make meaningful change in their communities. They recently held their MENA conference (that's Middle East/North Africa for the acronymically challenged) in Jordan, and I was hired to take portraits and to document the conference. It was pretty interesting hearing all the struggles of women in this region. It was also quite inspiring to hear the story of the five women from Egypt, several of whom played a critical role in the revolution there. Free ipod to anyone who can successfully guess the nationalities of the two women pictured above.

MEET BASEL URAIQAT

One thing I struggle with in Jordan is being intellectually engaged. This is not due to a lack of intellectuals, but rather my lack of being very sociable. I have however met some fascinating people through my work, and I add Basel Uraiqat to that list. He is an artist/architect that I interviewed and photographed for Jo magazine. The article pretty much says it all, but I will note Basel's intensity. He's like Ayn Rand or Nietzsche if either of them had a sense of humor. He is also unique in that he is one of only a handful of people I know that truly seems happily married. His wife Basma shares Basel's passion and intensity and they really seem (excuse this Hallmark moment) made for each other. View the article by clicking here.

HOMOPHOBIA IN THE ARAB WORLD

I've been meaning to post something on this subject for a while now, but watching an episode of Glee on TV tonight gave me the push I needed. The local Fox affiliate station here recently started showing Glee, I assume because of its popularity in the States. One interesting thing about censorship in Jordan is that few if any swear words on TV are bleeped out, that is except the word gay. For the first few bleeps I couldn't figure out what was happening, but later in the show, just as the gay character was about to come out to his friend, the show awkwardly cut to the next scene. The Fox affiliate, based out of Dubai, is bleeping and cutting out any mention of the character's gayness, despite the fact that he is obviously gay. Homosexuality is not illegal in Jordan as it is in most other Arab countries, but it is not really accepted by society either. Many people here view being gay as an act against nature and a choice of the individual. But despite these massive obstacles, Arabs still manage to be gay in completely secret and underground alternative realities. One of the top Internet sites in Jordan is a gay networking site called Manjam. And in case you're still confused, Kurt from Glee is gay. That's why he wears tiaras. I can't wait to see how they edit Will and Grace.

Breaking News: On last night's episode they bleeped out the word Jewish.

MAMDOUH BISHARAT'S SHAVING RITUAL

Not everyone has a sacred ritual for shaving, but then again, not everyone has their own private hot spring in their backyard. Mamdouh Bisharat, also known as the Duke of Mukheibeh, used to hate shaving. It was an annoying daily chore until he decided to ritualize it. Now shaving is a spiritual endeavour for him. I took photos of him during this interesting process while I was visiting his house in the extreme northwestern corner of Jordan. Seeing the beautiful Golan Heights from his backyard gave me a much deeper appreciation of why the area is so deeply contested. The Israelis have occupied this amazing piece of land since they stole it from Syria in 1967.