I've Been Tagged by Karin!

I felt extremely humbled and honored yesterday when my friend Karin imparted me the nomination for the "Thinking Blogger Award".

It seems that the concept of this award/tag was firstly instigated at the thethinkingblog.com website. It has spread like spider net from one blog to 5 others and so on, based on a simple criteria which is to pick '5 Blogs That Make Me Think'.

The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote.

Now I find myself in the dilemma of selection, not that I can't rely on my own gauges and parameters, but because I have so many blogs in my mind that I would like to nominate, which makes the 'pick and chose' process even harder.

Anyway, after a lot of differential thinking, taking into account the criteria of nominating, and keeping in mind that most of those who I would otherwise like to nominate have been either selected or prone to be cross-selected by others (mind you, this Tag has fallen in the pool of Syrian bloggers and it will definitly spread like a fire in a pile of hay!)

I present you with me five nominations (without any particular order) for the 2007 'Thinking Blogger Award' :


Drum roll please!

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1- BuJassem :
Bu Jassem is an enlightened, humble and down to earth Arab young man, he's an Emirati who's now living in the UK for his studies. His blog is a world of varieties; he talks politics, movies, music... I like to call him 'A Great Arab Ambassador'. He usually replys with an equilvalent compliment, the ensued exchnage of praise goes on and on! He's also a talented pianist!


2- Simply Lujayn:
Lujayn is a very smart girl, she and I hail from the same city (Aleppo), and although she's started blogging recently; I am quite impressed by the volume of 'thoughts inducing' dose that she's been able to present through her few posts so far, and I am positively sure that she has lot more to offer in the future.


3- ChenZhen’s Chamber:
I've been lurking at this blog for quite sometime. It is owned and maintained by ChenZhen; an American from Minnesota. He probably doesn't know me at all, I actually can't even remember how I stumbled across his blog. His 'main course' is politics: analysing news from Iraq, compiling queer and off-stream stories from here and there, all embellished with smart (and sometimes humorous) commentary.

4- Mohannad Abou Hammoud:
Mohannad is a Syrian guy, I've also been following his blog closely (and silently!) for quite sometime, and although he writes mainly about things related to his speciality. He doesn't fail to come up with an interesting and eye-opening post every now and then. In fact, if I can contrive a 'best post of the month' award I would certainly vote for this post of his.



5- أنا بموت على حلب

This blog serves as a diary for Ruth McDonough, an American girl who's crurrently residing in Aleppo for her Arabic learning. She narrates her stories and support them with details and photos. It's great pleasure for me to read about my own city from an eye of a westerner. I specially enjoy reading the different encounters and little events that take place under the vaulted roof of old Aleppo's alleys. In fact, I find it quite appropriate to call Ruth: 'The Aleppine Raconteur'!

Congratulations to all of you champs, you are the best!