Yemen Stories

Here is a submission from Mohammed Al-Rumim, who you can follow on Twitter at @mohammedalrumim: "She covered her head as the Crown of life, while her eyes stared at the years of struggle and challenge! I'm talking about a Sabria girl from #Taiz city - #Yemen." When we first envisioned this blog one of the things we discussed was the power of images.  A single picture, tied to a few sentences to provide context, speaks volumes.  I love this picture that Mohammed sent along, not only because, well, it is a beautiful picture, but also because her eyes hint at a very profound story.  I hope she "visits" us again.  The life of women in Yemen is a story that I hope we explore on this blog.

The following is a submission by Mohammed Alzaeem, who you can follow on Twitter at @mohammedalzaee1 "This is a YouTube link of a music piece titled Love & Peace composed by Yemeni Musician Ahmed Fathi.  It is a dialogue between Arabic Oud and western flute.  He played it in Washington in 2009.  I'm sure you'll like it." Mohammed Alzaeem is certainly correct: I really like this piece.  I love the fact that Mohammed sent along a music piece, not only because of the beauty of the piece, but also because I hope that our discussion will follow many different paths.  In introducing his song Ahmed Fathi states, "We hope through this piece to improve, to enhance, the Arab portrait and the Muslim portrait, of the people here, and the future for our children."  This is a noble goal, and one that I'm sure we all share.

The following is a submission from South Yemen Untold, who you can follow on Twitter at  @Free_S_Y:  "Here goes: the media only tells one side of the story.  We don't seem to matter though though what is happening now is largely about us." As I've talked to folks inside of Yemen we've discussed a goal of having a blog that doesn't actively take one side or the other, although, obviously, all of us have opinions and loyalties.  In the end the political challenges that Yemenis face is part of their day to day life, so providing a platform to discuss their frustrations is not necessarily taking a stand on any side.  In this case folks from what used to be South Yemen (and, truthfully, many of them even object to the term South Yemen because it implies a connection to the rest of Yemen that they don't feel) report that as ignored as Yemen is by the world media, southern Yemen is much more ignored. To convey their frustrations they sent along a Yemeni