Riverbend Blogging Again

Good news. One of our authors, Riverbend of Baghdad Burning (the blog and the book of the same name), has posted to her blog earlier this month for the first time since April. I had begun to worry that she and her family hadn't made it safely out of Iraq with her family.

The trip was long and uneventful, other than two checkpoints being run by masked men. They asked to see identification, took a cursory glance at the passports and asked where we were going. The same was done for the car behind us. Those checkpoints are terrifying but I’ve learned that the best technique is to avoid eye-contact, answer questions politely and pray under your breath. My mother and I had been careful not to wear any apparent jewelry, just in case, and we were both in long skirts and head scarves.

Syria is the only country, other than Jordan, that was allowing people in without a visa. The Jordanians are being horrible with refugees. Families risk being turned back at the Jordanian border, or denied entry at Amman Airport. It’s too high a risk for most families.

I'm sad that she had to leave her homeland, but glad she is with us still. If you're interested in seeing what other bloggers are saying about her reappearance in the blogosphere, you can search Technorati at http://www.technorati.com/posts/tag/riverbend+syria

Or do an "ego search" on Technorati: If you search for "HW 9" AND (Waldman OR Huffington), how many pages do you have to advance through to find your own homework?