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A couple of days ago I decided to go offline. It has been quite the experience; considering the fact that I've realized what I already knew a long time ago: How time-consuming the cyberspace is. We long for acceptance and recognition from people we hardly know. Our entire lives are held hostages to this massive yet insignificant world that we willingly give it the power to control us. Personally, I've grown a compulsive routine of going back-and-forth through virtual data -via Facebook- trying to catch up with people I care for; isn't it easier to talk to them face-to-face? Perhaps not. Social Media has made our lives harder, has made our conversations robotic to the point where it could ruin relationships based on our different reception of messages. However, my life is not better floating around this humongous space. During my hiatus, I've paid more attention to the smaller details around me. I was able to analyze some of the problems I have and I've evaluated...

لا مفر مما أنا فيه الآن، عشرات الأيام في قلب الأمواج العاتيه ظننتها كافيه لقهر فكرة الموت بداخلي لكن كم كنت مخطئاً!! الخوف يتسرسب بعروقي مع كل خطوه اخطوها علي ظهر هذه الجزيرة الملعونة... يا الله أفكم البلاد و الجزر في عرض البحر لم تشاء الأقدار أن أفقد مسعاي بالبحر و من بعد ان ظننت ان بساط الطريق عاد تحت قدامي أجد نفسي محاصر بين براثن الموت المؤكد فأن لم يكن بأيدي الغرق فسيكون بأسنان قاطني هذه الجزيرة ... أنا ادعى قصي، القبطان قصي. قد جبت أعالي البحار مع طاقم من أشجع البحاره علي متن هيلانه، سفينتي حتي جاء اليوم المشؤوم الذي اطاح فيه بحر اسكندرون بطاقم سفينتي كله و بالمؤون و باكثرية المعدات في عرض البحر تاركاً وراءه ضحايا ليتخير منهم الموت من شاء و تاركاً رفات البقيه حتي يعود ليقبض روحهم بعد عذاب طال او قصر . من بعد اول لطمة ثم تابعتها الثانية لم أشعر بشئ آخر إلا بعد ان افقت.. لقد فقدت الوعي حين سقط في الماء علي ما يبدو، اشباح تطارد مخيلتي و نظري يحاول استيعاب ما حدث لكن لم يدم طويلاً حيث وجدت نفسي علي أعتاب شاطئ و محاصر بأشلاء محطمة وسط نهر من الدماء مختلط ببحر بارد لا ي...

I've often asked myself: What is life all about? And each time I ask this rhetorical question, I get the same answer: Life is the small smiles that we have in our little moments of joy, the wide grins that fill our faces when our hearts are full of happiness, the bits and pieces of ecstasy that touch our bodies and make them tremble; life is all about the heartbreaks, the shattered hearts, the outstretched flashes of devastation, and the brief moments of glee that follow the shattered pieces of our hearts when they are brought together again. Life is when we fail, fall and get up once again. It's the past memories haunting our present, and the fears of carrying on and losing those memories. The satisfaction of victories and the unhappiness of our defeats. These and more are what make life, life.   One cannot take a glimpse of one of those and say that's it. One must suffer greater loss, and bear through the pain, then emerge victorious on the other side. Love is ...

إذا كان مجتمعنا قاتل لإحلام الرجاله فما بالكم بالستات؟ للأسف الشديد المجتمع العربي كله مُعادي للستات ومتحيز ضدهم على نطاق واسع. أغلبنا أتربى على فكرة ومذهب ان الستات كلهم عورات وإن البنت مهما بلغت وارتفعت درجات ومراحل تعليمها فمكانها الطبيعي هو بيتها، مع زوجها وأولادها، وتتحول من كائن مستقل إلى كائن له أهداف محددة من قديم الأزل ولا يجوز الخروج عنها بأي شكل من الأشكال علشان "عيب" في حين انه مش "حرام".  غالباً أي بوست بيقول نفس الكلمتين دول بيستشهد بأمثلة شهيرة للستات وصلوا للعالمية وتفوقوا على نظرائهم من السادة الرجال واغلب الأمثلة دي سبحان الله بتكون غربيه. بس انا مش هضرب أمثلة على الأقل مش في الأول كده.  من حوالي 14000 سنه وشوية فكه كان اغلب البلدان العربية الموجودة وقتها بتعامل الست العاديه على أنها سلعه. مادام مش من علية القوم يبقى على طول يتحط عليها sticker  مكتوب عليه سعر وحالة البضاعه وده طبعاً لو البنت من دول اهلها ما دفنوهاش... وعلى حد علمي الوضع في مصر وقتها مكانش مختلف بشكل كبير اوي الست وان كان حالها احسن شوية إلا انها ماخرجتش عن نفس الإطار. من...

The following story was thought of in a writing activity by students of American Council Egypt.  They came up with the outline and plot, and their teacher (Mahmoud Kabbary) polished their plot into what you are about to read. The students are: 1-  Abdelrahman Ragab Abdo 2- Youmna Ragab Abdo 3- Alaa Adel Ramadan Once upon a time in the town of Evesham, north of Cotswold, England, lived a genius along his peaceful protégé. Both were men of science, who worked their entire life experimenting new theories of Astrophysics. In the Genius's mind, he believes in a life which exists up there far away in space. And he wanted to prove so. Years passed until one day, they came to the discovery that changed their lives forever. They've approached what seemed to be a contact attempt from an extraterrestrial species. For months to follow they've kept the "contact" alive. Trying to get more details of what is happening beyond the horizon of their expectations. 3 months...

Every time someone asks me what I study I get nervous. Should I tell the truth or lie? Should I polish it without getting looks of disgust or empathy or try to overlook the question by joking about it? It's a long frustrating process of keeping my dignity intact. Here in Egypt, you either live with a chip on your shoulder or you don't. You either carry a stigma or you don't. A piece of paper with the word "certificate" written on it means more than you do. Unfortunately for me, I do carry a chip on my shoulder, and it shows every time someone asks me about my education. I find myself in a tight corner, explaining myself. The stigma of Higher Institute for Social Work. Although anywhere in the world it definitely is NOT something to be ashamed of, but here in Egypt we prefer to disagree . To those who don't know: The profession of Social Work is one of the most prestigious professions in the world. Not for less than the true effort made by men and women,...

Whether there's a God or not; whether there's a creator behind this universe or it was created by a mere coincidence, it does not matter. Because the fact of the matter is; we all have something in common. Whether you believe in a holy spirit and a son, a 600-pound man, the one Almighty, an animal spirit, an adventitious occurrence or simply believe in none. We all have a thing or two in common, but the most obvious thing is we all have a belief . Wanting to belong to something that is bigger than life is cemented in our nature as human beings. Some of us find that serene feeling in worshiping a specific God. One or more for that matter. And some others find their serenity in choosing to deny the existence of a certain or all deities. But all in all, I strongly believe that beyond our different reasons to embrace contrasting ideologies or the fact that we love to head-butt one another for no apparent reason. We all have an aspiration to look up to the skies above and kno...