When I woke up this morning the public radio station was broadcasting news about the election in Iraq. What was interesting to me was that they were not talking about who might win the election. That isn’t news, apparently. What seems to be newsworthy is whether people are voting, or not. I began thinking about how courageous a person would have to be to vote in a situation where there was a real threat of death. Voter turnout in the U.S. is typically part of the election day coverage, but here it is reported as an indicator of voter apathy. I wonder if more, or fewer, people would turn out here if some of the polling places might be bombed.

It may have been just a coincidence, but I was looking at the Blogger “Blogs of Note” list and saw one called Baghdad Burning that is authored by a woman living in Iraq. It’s a gem! I read her most recent post about living with short water rations for over a week, and then I began to look through the rest of her entries. Riverbend, the author, is documenting her experience of living in Baghdad during the American occupation. An excerpt from August 17, 2003:

Waking Up
Waking up anywhere in Iraq these days is a trial. It happens in one of two ways: either slowly, or with a jolt. The slow process works like this: you’re hanging in a place on the edge of consciousness, mentally grabbing at the fading fragments of a dream… something creeps up around, all over you- like a fog. A warm heavy fog. It’s the heat… 120 F on the cooler nights. Your eyes flutter open and they search the dark in dismay- the electricity has gone off. The ceiling fan is slowing down and you are now fully awake. Trying to sleep in the stifling heat is about as productive as trying to wish the ceiling fan into motion with your brain. Impossible.

The other way to wake up, is to be jolted into reality with the sound of a gun-shot, explosion or yelling. You sit up, horrified and panicked, any dream or nightmare shattered to oblivion. What can it be? A burglar? A gang of looters? An attack? A bomb? Or maybe it’s just an American midnight raid?

- posted by river @ 8:02 PM

The Beginning…
So this is the beginning for me, I guess. I never thought I’d start my own weblog… All I could think, every time I wanted to start one was “but who will read it?” I guess I’ve got nothing to lose… but I’m warning you- expect a lot of complaining and ranting. I looked for a ‘rantlog’ but this is the best Google came up with.

A little bit about myself: I’m female, Iraqi and 24. I survived the war. That’s all you need to know. It’s all that matters these days anyway.

The literary quality of this writing, coupled with the immediacy of a voice that is speaking directly from the heart about her homeland and her life in a time of crisis will bring me back for more. When we listen to U.S. news reporters speaking from their hotel rooms, we have to wonder how close to the situation they can actually get. This blog is like a journal, but not merely personal. The political commentary, humor, anger and frustration are all qualities that are not present in an “objective” news report.