Help me pick a card

Since I have been completely uninspired recently, and I am trying to pick a card for my blog, I thought I'd ask for your input, hoping that that would make my decision easier rather than more difficult (though I should know better...). I had asked my brother for a design, and got 6 instead (don't ask me what happened to No. 2; I never saw it!). Which do you prefer?

1 3 4 5 6 7

Tagged

I've been tagged, by Hashem. So, here it goes...

1- Do you like the look and the contents of your blog?
Yes... Sure, it's a template, and the buttons to the right are out of control and the links need reorganizing, and one day I hope to give it a rehaul... But it's kinda like me that way ;)

2- Does your family know about your blog?
Absolutely! Actually, my brother was my first reader and critic. I even made a blog of our correspondence (when we used to write more often) called "Dear Theo,". I also started a blog, "losing3it", of my sister's writings, hoping that she would catch the blogging bug and start writing again... But.

3- Can you tell your friends about your blog? Do you consider it a private thing?
Most certainly (not that many of them care!). I consider my blog, like my poetry, a private/public thing. On the one hand, blogs are as personal as they get, but in a way they are guaranteed anonymity by their sheer volume. Similarly, my poetry is often a way of casting some very personal thoughts in a very public light.

4- Do you just read the blogs of those who comment on your blog? or you try to discover new blogs?
I mostly read the blogs of those who comment on mine, and some of those who comment on those I read. Like most people, I imagine, it reaches a point where there are only so many hours in the day, and even those blogs I enjoy I don't always have the chance to catch up on.

5- Did your blog positively affect your mind? Give an example.
Most definitely! I was in a huge depression when I started writing poetry "seriously" and started my blog. Not to say that that alone got me over it, but it definitely did help.

6- What does the number of visitors to your blog mean? Do you use a traffic counter?
I do use a traffic counter, but I don't check it that frequently. Comments mean more to me, but the counter reassures me that there are more people reading than commenting...

7- Did you imagine how other bloggers look like?
Of course. And boy was I wrong in some of my assumptions! (For some reason, I imagined Eve to wear a hijab, and she didn't...). That's why I appreciate it when people have some semblence of themselves as their avatar.

8- Do you think blogging have any real benefit?
Obviously, or else I wouldn't be doing this, would I? Not that I think it will solve the world's problems, but--as much as I hate the word--it is "fun"!

9- Do you think that the blogsphere is a stand alone community separated from the real world?
Yes, bloggers only exist as figments of the imagination! What sort of a questions is that? A "stand alone community separated from the real world"? Like, whatever... Next!

10- Do some political blogs scare you? Do you avoid them.
I guess I avoid the political blogs that would scare me. But I can certainly imagine their existence out there: right-wing, conservative, bigoted, etc.

11- Do you think that criticizing your blog is useful?
Maybe. If you care to know my more detailed thoughts about the value of criticism, I refer you to "Back-scratching", a post on Poet`ship (a blog of poetic discussions, amongst other digressions, between me and my friend Katy).

12- Have you ever thought about what happen to your blog in case you died.
Yes, since I read this question, in Arabic, at MysteriousEve. Not that anyone can tell, or I'd care much once I'm dead, so I just brushed it aside... "and legion the things I would give to oblivion."

13- Which blogger had the greatest impression on you?
I have to admit, this is easy for me to answer: most definitely Katy.

14- Which blogger you think is the most similar to you.
I'd like to think--even though she writes in Arabic--it's Eve.

15- Name a song you want to listen to?
Fairouz's "Wahdoun".

16- Ask five bloggers to answer these question on their blogs?
Scheherazade
Ziad
Cecilia
Fouad
Katy

A Call to Action for All American Citizens & Residents

Tell your government that you don't support this!

"And there was no doubt of the missile which killed all those children yesterday. It came from the United States..."
Robert Fisk, The Independent (07/31/06)

Congress voted on resolutions calling for staunch support of Israel (see above). Here’s your chance to make your voices heard in Washington. Click here to tell your government what it should do with regards to the Israel-Lebanon Conflict, and that you oppose the resolution of support for Israel. Please make sure to invite your friends and family to do the same. Thank you!

"The darkest places in Hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis."
--Dante

Going Once, Going Twice . . .

The Ringing of the Bards begins here on Sunday! If you'd like to join the Carnival, make sure to send me a link to a poem you've posted within the last 2 weeks by midnight Saturday. The e-mail is archmemory @ yahoo . com (make sure you remove the spaces).

Also, there still is no host for next week's Carnival! So, if you haven't signed up already, please do so soon. It's simple, easy and fun (and your Frequently Asked Questions are probably already answered). Let's keep this going!

-Ashraf

Celebrating in New England!

Writing from the impossibly green Vermont, from the lovely Stone Boat Farm, where we're celebrating the 4th of July...

And not to far from here, from her post in Cape Cod, the amazing Katy (henceforth known as the Katyssima) is celebrating this week's Carnival, with all the flair and drama she could wring out of it!

Next week's carnival is right here, so please send me a link to your best (from the last two weeks) to archmemory (at) yahoo (dot) com. I look forward to reading it!

Have a happy 4th!

Ashraf

Now's the time to get opinionated!

Okay, tutti! I need your feedback again. I had asked you earlier (<--this is a link!) to help me pick poems for a submission; now I need your help to pick one for a competition. The competition is this coming Saturday (May 21), and there's even more material now to pick from. (There's more material to pick from than appears under the "Previous Posts" section to the right; the "Archives", below that, hold material all the way from November 2002. And if you click on any older post, even older material apprears, as if by magic, under "Previous Posts"!) I certainly do not expect anyone to go through it all; one way to sift it is perhaps to go to the results of "Round 1" (<--this is also a link!) which has links to each of the older "candidates". But I do hope, no matter how you do it, that you take the time and share your opinion. So, go ahead, dig in, and let me know what you think, either by leaving a comment, or by writing me an e-mail at archmemory@yahoo.com . And many thanks in advance!

POLL / Preliminary Results

I had asked for a favor: I've been thinking about submitting some of my poems to Slate Magazine Online, and I needed help to pick 5. Now here are the contenders for "Round 1":

Leaves (August 12, 2004)
Comfortably Numb (August 3, 2004)
Piece of Damascus (April 15, 2003)
Iodine (March 19, 2003)
Absence Materialized (January 4, 2003)

The runner-ups are:

3 votes:
I Write (October 10, 2003)

2 votes:
Exit (August 6, 2004)
Life (July 18, 2004)
Ghosts (June 22, 2004)
Remnant of You (February 21, 2004)

1 vote:
Puki Says (August 11, 2004)
Sunset (August 1, 2004)
Grief (July 14, 2004)
Antequerra (July 9, 2004)
Tomorrow (October 10, 2003)
Vomit (October 2, 2003)
Life on a Beautiful Day (April 16, 2003)
Pieta (April 15, 2003)
Holes (April 15, 2003)
Pieces of Me (April 10, 2003)
Breathing Corpse (April 4, 2003)
The Memory of Me (January 22, 2003)

I'll keep you posted on what becomes of "Round 1". Again, if you do not agree, there might be more rounds; so VOTE! Any suggestions would help. Older poems are filed by month under "Archives" to the right. Also, if you have any editing suggestions/comments, please do not hesitate to post them/let me know; I do take them into consideration. And many thanks in advance!