Reviewed by Dr. Marwan Asmar The latest offering by Saleem Ayoub Quna, Cultural Guide to Jabal Luweibdeh, is designed for locals, foreigners living in Jordan and international visitors aware of the diversity of this Amman neighborhood. The author, a long-term resident of Luweibdeh, describes the book as a necessary cultural guide, to highlight the richness of the Jabal that is right in the downtown yet has its special system, local economy and societal rhythm. Quna starts the guide with a specially-drawn map of Jabal Luweibdeh, highlighting its cultural centers, churches, mosques, public buildings, political parties, associations, embassies and much more. He says the Jabal is a mesh-mash of activity comprising a living society of schools, medical centers, a hospital, hotels, pharmacies, galleries, restaurants a well-known theater and a library frequented by the people of Luweibdeh, professionals, workers, artists and novelists who fall in love with the architecture of the place. The...

Written by Ahmad Sahli Shari3 Thqafeh (Cultural Street in Shmesani) is a very unique street. I go there almost daily, and this street means a lot to me and many other people. Skateboarders, rollerbladers, foreigners, tourists, art galleries, families – there’s something special about it that gives it reason to be named "culture street." To some it may be overlooked as just another business area, but for Ammanis it means much more. I’m one of the skateboarders often seen there; I can’t go more than two days without going to Culture Street. Skateboarding is an activity that is growing quickly in Amman, mainly influenced by the overall development and growth of Amman as a society, and its increasing exposure to a Western lifestyle. Despite this perceived acceptance of Western culture, pedestrians and Ammani citizens in general still look down on skateboarding,...

 

The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour in Jordan Palestinian Aron Kader, Egyptian Ahmed Ahmed and Iranian Maz Jobrani

 

17, 18 and 19th of November Doors open at 8, show at 9pm The Courtyard

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Video Montage of Jordanian feature film, Captain Abu Raed. ...

Written by Philip Mainwaring

[Editor's note: Part three of three. Read part one and part two.]

She had not reappeared on this visit. Now that Abu Nimr had a house of many rooms I presumed that she was cloistered away upstairs in some private corner. Abu Nimr organised the pouring and serving of coffee. He wheezed rhythmically as he set about arranging the cups deliberately, with those familiar, decisive movements of his long, elegant fingers. I took out the gift I had brought and placed it before him; the red Swiss army knife that he had asked for. I had had his name engraved on the plastic handle, in Arabic. He took it from me silently with a short nod of his head. In the midst of his newfound riches he turned the knife over and examined it in minute detail with a thin smile playing on his...

Samar Haj Hasan Khalifeh is hosting a discussion for Jordan's Youth Public Participation at the Masrah El Balad facilitated by Mr. Mohammad Al Wakeel. Discussion begins at 7:00pm. AlBalad Theater Tel.+9626 4652005 Fax.+9626 4652015 E-mail:raed@arabttc.org P.O.Box:7990, Amman 11118 , Jordan...

Join NaNoWriMo! Written By: Nicole Bovey Al-Hakawati Has a cat got your tongue? No, I don't suppose so around these parts. Folks are pretty leery of cats. Have you lost your muse? Never found it? The month of November would be the perfect time for you to try and find it. November is National Novel Writing Month. Not national to Jordan, but none the less, writers from all over world are signing up now to challenge themselves to writing a work of fiction from November 1 st through the 30th. The writing marathon is sponsored by a non-profit organization out of Oakland, California, just across the water from the City by the Bay. In 1999, a haphazard group of wanna-be writers started the practice in the month of July. By year two, they had a website and a Yahoo group to connect them and moved...