Panel: Democracy, Dissent and Digital Media in the Arab World

One of the greatest things about Washington, DC is the abundance of incredible learning opportunities that you wouldn't be able to find anywhere else in the nation. This city is filled with a striking wealth of intelligent individuals, knowledgeable on topics that really impact our world today. While my main purpose of being here this semester is to write for the Daily Herald, I've gotten the chance to have some great learning opportunities. This morning was one of them.

I attended an event today at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill about the effect of social media on the revolutions in the Arab world. I was pleased to find that the speakers went far beyond what we've been hearing about the so-called "Twitter/Facebook revolutions." The panel included Egyptian journalist/blogger Mona Eltahawy, Washington's Al-Jazeera bureau chief Abderrahim Foukara, Amira Maaty from the National Endowment for Democracy, who was in Egypt for the revolution, and Georgetown Internet studies professor Michael Nelson.

Rep. Schiff

Congressman Adam Schiff (D - CA) also made a quick appearance. While all the cameras shot up when Schiff got to the podium, the real meat of the presentation came from the panelists. Schiff's speech was pure, tailored government jabber.

Of the group, my favorite speaker was Eltahawy. An Egyptian, her comments were much more passionate than the others, while still being incredibly interesting, educated and informative. She said this is not the Twitter or Facebook revolution, and was frustrated with those who referred to it as that. It's about people. "Facebook and Twitter did not invent courage," she said. "They allowed a means to express that."

Her views were supported by Georgetown professor Nelson. "At the end of the day, the Internet is not causing the revolution," he said. "But it is enabling it." Though governments may block social media sites, the top 10% who know how to use the Internet well get around it via proxy servers and spread information to the rest of the population. Others combat social media censorship by communicating through dating websites or online games. While people in the Arab world have been so successful in mobilizing via the Internet, using it to set up a government is a whole other monster. President Obama is a good example of this. He ran the most successful online presidential campaign our nation has ever seen, but his use of the Internet while governing has not been as stellar.

Al-Jazeera's Abderrahim Foukara stood in support of traditional media as well as social media as an important force in the Arab revolutions. "Social media has been no surrogate for mainstream media," he said. "It took conventional media, primarily TV, to connect the dots social media set up." In some parts of the Arab world, the illiteracy rate can be as high as 60%. The Internet does nothing for that group. If the revolutions end up being successful and lead to democratic rule, Foukara pointed to a new talking point: why were these people forced to live under tyranny for so long? This brings the conversation onto an international playing field and Foukara says it can't be done on simply social media.

Foukara also threw in some patriotic, American references, always present in DC, saying the foresight of the US Constitution to prevent tyranny resonates with the Arab people.

Fear was also expressed at attempts to regulate the Internet, make it less open and disallow anonymity. The ability to publish work anonymously needs to remain intact for revolutions to take place. Such anonymous publications were a staple in our American Revolution, and the Federalist Papers.

The presentation ended on an interesting note: a comment on how the Arab world stepped up to solve their problem rather than just arguing and playing the blame game. They got things done. I hope to see a little more action like this in Congress. Not violent protests on the hill, of course, but action to move forward and solve our nation's problems rather than looking back to rag on those who caused them.

Restaurant Review: We, The Pizza

Coming from a college town, and as a Chicago native, I'm used to being spoiled with a plethora of pizza joints, and often some pretty good ones. Now in DC, I'm in a bit of withdrawal. I've been here for over a month and have found only one pizza place, and tonight I ate there for the first time.

We, The Pizza is located on Pennsylvania only a few blocks from my apartment, making it very convenient. I had heard only great things from my friends in my building, who had already tried it. Personally, I wasn't that impressed.

Like I said, I'm from Chicago, so I'm a big deep dish fan. Personal favorite is Giordano's. So naturally when I saw a thicker looking pizza at We, The Pizza, that's what I went for. I ate a slice of their Sicilian Pie, a cast iron pie pizza with chunky tomato sauce, mozzarella and fresh basil. It was $5 for a very thick slice, and with a drink the total was $7.77. For me, that's a whole meal and a decent price for DC. It wasn't bad, but it was not my favorite. I honestly would prefer a generic brand, like Domino's or Papa John's. The ingredients were spaced very randomly on the pizza. A giant chunk of tomato here, a glob of basil there. Just overall it was not impressive. I'd like to try some of their other varieties though. Could have been just the slice I had, but my roommate didn't appear too impressed with her slice of sausage and peppers pizza either.

I like the name, cute, creative. All these DC restaurants do cute, patriotic puns. As a visitor here I'm a fan. The atmosphere though is kind of dry and dull. I was hoping for a little more excitement from the name.



The Facts:

Menu: We, The Pizza offers more than just pizza. They have pasta, salad, wings, subs and gelato. They also serve specialty sodas and beer.

Price: Pizzas aren't unreasonably priced, especially for DC. Slices range from $3-$5. Medium pies are $16 and large are $18.

Location: 305 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20003; closest metros are Capitol South or Eastern Market

Hours: 11:30 a.m. - 11 p.m. Monday-Saturday, Closed Sunday

You can eat in, order to go, or do curbside pick-up

My Rating: *****

Miss Thompson goes to New York too

Since most everyone in Washington DC seems to be employed by the government, the city practically shuts down on government holidays. Since this past Monday was President's Day, I took a weekend trip with some friends from my building to visit New York City.

On the Subway with Rachel and Abby

We had a great trip! I have a newfound appreciation for DC's metro system. New York's subway was incredibly complicated! Thank God for the iPhone subway map app. Without it we would have been completely lost. DC's metro is clean, whereas New York's smells like pee. DC also has these convenient little signs that say when the next train is arriving, and you usually don't have to wait too long. In New York, they don't have these signs and you often have to wait FOREVER!



We got into the city on Friday night after a very long ride on the Megabus. I would not recommend the Megabus to anyone. It is cheap, but it is terribly disorganized. Also, they tell you you'll get to ride nice, double-deck buses with nice seats and WiFi, but both on the ride there and back, we ended up on standard coach buses with tiny, uncomfortable seats, no leg room and no WiFi.

Times Square with Abby and Garrett

When we finally reached New York, we got to our hostel in South Harlem. Sketchy neighborhood for sure, but inside it was very nice, especially for the $20/night price! Address was 242 W 116th St.

After a slightly scary trip to Mama's Fried Chicken down the street from our Harlem hostel, we hit up Time's Square. We found one of my favorite Belgian beers, Hoegaarden at an Irish pub there, and a wide variety of massive margaritas at Chevy's.

Saturday, day 2, we visited Chinatown and Little Italy. The good purse shops on Canal Street were unfortunately shut down, so I didn't make off with any cheap "Chanel" handbags. We ate brick oven pizza and drank wine at a restaurant in Little Italy. We headed up to Times Square again, where we visited Toys R Us and the M&M's store. That night we hung out around Columbia and some bars there. We missed 25 cent wings at the Lion's Head by minutes, but we did get to make a quick stop at Tom's Restaurant, you know, that restaurant they're always at in Seinfeld :)

Day 3 was a busy one. We hit up the Staten Island ferry, which gave us incredible views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. We walked to the financial district where we all grabbed the bull by the balls. Then headed to ground zero, which, nearly 10 years later, is still core shaking to see. We had dinner at Ruby Tuesday's in Times Square, which was not cheap like your typical Ruby Tuesday's... this was fancy shmancy Ruby Tuesday's. There I achieved by goal of drinking a cosmopolitan in New York City :) 

Our final day we spent in Central Park. It had snowed the night before, so it was absolutely beautiful. Overall, it was an incredible trip.

US Rep from Illinois in New Zealand for the quake

And I got to cover it!

Click HERE to read my latest story "Area congressman in New Zealand when quake hit."

Front page byline! Asian carp

Click HERE to read my first front page story, entitled "Asian Carp Called the Biggest Threat to Great Lakes in Years."

Here's a YouTube video where you can see Asian carp in action.

The real way to learn economics

Of the many many subjects I have studied, from kindergarten in 1995 to college, by far my least favorite has been economics. I've never been able to wrap my head around it... until recently that is.

My high school econ teacher was wonderful. He tried to explain the subject using analogies involving dolphins and tucking his hand into his shirt sleeve when talking about the "invisible hand" theory. He made econ fun, but it never fully sank in. In college, my professor was an evil little man whose 8a.m. class was the first and only class I have fallen asleep in. The class gained a notorious reputation for being impossible, even among the engineering brainiacs down the hall from me in the dorm. Needless to say, I didn't learn much from this class either.

So when I walked into the Rayburn House Office Building for an interview about the implications of China's economic surge on the Illinois manufacturing sector, I was pretty nervous. I had done my research of course, but my previous failures in the realm of economics still daunted me. When the interview was over, I was shocked to hear a complement from the Congressman on how much I seemed to know on the subject. He said I was well prepared. When I returned to my apartment to write the story, I discovered from my notes that I had actually conducted a good interview on economics! And when I wrote the story, I knew what I was talking about!

So moral of the story, for me at least, the best way to learn economics may not be from a text book or amusing analogies, but to throw it in the context of something you do understand or enjoy, like politics. Or maybe it's to have to talk to a US Congressman about it haha.

My story ran on Sunday. Check it out HERE!

AT&T fails in our nation's capitol

When it comes to living in Washington, DC, there is severe draught in bars.

No, I'm not talking about local watering holes, there are plenty of those. I'm talking about cell phone reception.

I was beyond excited to receive an iPhone for my 21st birthday this past December. Getting this "life-changing" device, however, meant switching from my T-Mobile plan to AT&T. Owning an iPhone really has been a life-changer. In many ways it has made my life a lot easier. Props to Apple for an outstanding product.

But AT&T... we need to have a chat.

I expected to have reception issues when I went back to Columbia, MO for college. I did on T-Mobile, everyone does on every service... it's the middle of Missouri. You have to drive two hours to get to any sort of civilization. But Washington, DC??? It's the nation's capitol, and yet I'm experiencing the worst cell phone service of my life. Yesterday I attempted to conduct an phone interview in my apartment, located directly on capitol hill. I ended up having to reschedule it for today when I could be in my office on a landline because my iPhone kept cutting out. I just don't understand how the capitol of the greatest nation in the world, from where countless communications are essential to transmit each day, can have worse telephone service than Columbia, MO.

In the end, I would never trade my iPhone back for my old Samsung that did nothing but text. I rely on my iPhone for DC Metro schedules, emails, news and Twitter updates. It's my calendar, my alarm clock, my weather service, my camera and my map for the many many times I get lost.

But as a journalist, I need to make and receive calls. So step it up AT&T. If you were president, you'd be impeached.