Prison
As I set foot in China, many emotions invaded my thoughts. I guess you could say I was somewhat nervous. My last visit to China involved being detained for a day on suspicion of helping North Korean refugees -- an "offense" punishable in China with up to three years in prison.
It's that time of year again -- you know, when Clint Eastwood releases a trailer for a movie that looks fascinating and completely different from the last thing he did, and your trio of reactions run something like this: 1) Hmmm, Clint's got a movie coming out -- didn't we just see 'Gran Torino' five minutes ago?
Earlier this year, I was shown around Jayyous by Mohammad Othman, Youth Coordinator of the Stop the Wall campaign, a nonviolent grassroots movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The Cambridge Police Department arrested Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. after Dr. Gates entered his own home and produced proof of his identity.
Mauritania is a land of striking beauty, with sand dunes lined against the sky, Bedouins riding camels in the countryside, and flying beetles that look like they come straight from the abyss of the Apocalypse. Mauritania is also a land of extremes-extreme beauty, extreme hospitality, and lately, extreme religion.