The Egyptian Way :: AUC Commencement - the end is near

The #AUC commencement is NOT over yet, but this is our audience at the moment. It’s a bit disrespectful. Taken on Saturday, June 15, 2013 in New Cairo.



via the ohradiogirl Tumblr 

AUC's Future Journalists :: Spring 2013 Graduates

My summer TA, Haifa, is 1 of 2 @JRMCAUC grads who is NOT attending the #AUC commencement. :-(



via the ohradiogirl Tumblr 

Cairo Life :: AUC Sports Center

Took this picture one day last week while on The American University in Cairo campus. Nov., 2012.

Cairo Life :: Sharia Ismail Mohamed

Taking the AUC bus to and from campus has a few advantages. One of the advantages is the vantage point and I'm constantly ready to takes pics from the bus window. This was taken in Zamalek: Sharia Ismail Mohamed at Sharia Brazil. Taken June, 2012.

Cairo Life :: Zamalek at Sunset

Inspired by @laurenbohn's gorgeous sunset photo of Zamalek a few days ago. Taken on the 7th floor terrace of the #AUC Hostel. June 2012.

The Egyptian Way :: Egyptian Presidential Elections - Who Will AUCians Vote For?

The Egyptian Way :: Egyptian Presidential Elections (2012) - Who Will AUCians Vote For?

Students in my Audio Production class at The American University in Cairo (AUC) produced voxpox on the topic: "Who will AUCians vote for in the upcoming Egyptian elections?

Man on the Street "I am Voting, Are You?!" by Gehadfathy
Man on the Street by NadaBadawi
Man on the Street by Tamer El Din
Man On The Street by nadinekotry
Man on the street - AUC votes by Nadine Khaled
Man on the street by Asmaa90
Who are you going to vote for? Why? by mariam 91

The Egyptian Way :: Neighbors

The Egyptian Way :: Neighbors

This is my audio entry to the Third Coast International Audio Festival's Short Docs Competition. There were some rules and requirements, but it was lots of fun.

Used Audacity for the audio editing. Also, some of the sound was provided by my neighbor Roshy Zangeneh.
 

Cairo Life :: The Big Mosque

Going to and from the AUC campus on the bus, it's hard to miss this large mosque near the 6th of October flyover. I don't know the name of the mosque, so let me know. Captured this pic in December, 2011.

Cairo Life :: Mobile Phones

Sometimes teaching colleges students is like teaching kindergarteners. You have to tell them to quiet down. You have to tell them to pay attention. And sometimes you have to confiscate their mobile phones like the ones in this picture. Taken on Sunday, December 11, 2011.

~kim
The power of positive thinking.

Lazy Journalism from the UK's Guardian Newspaper

Lazy Journalism from the UK's Guardian Newspaper

FULL DISCLOSURE: I'm an American, a former journalist, a current journalism professor teaching at The American University in Cairo (AUC).


One of the first articles I read this morning about the #AUCstrike was from The Guardian:
"Egyptian student protest hit elite Cairo university."

I quickly sent a tweet on Twitter that the article is/was poorly written and, in my opinion, is/was biased.

The article was written by Jack Shenker and has been retweeted all day. In his defense, Shenker sent me a few direct messages and tweets on Twitter addressing my issues with the article. NOTE: I'm working on a Storify about this.

However, someone took things a step further and conducted a bit more research than Shenker or his editors bothered to do. This is not my research, but I support the research below. Note to the Guardian: it's pretty simple: As a journalist and editor, you should do the basics: do some research, ask some questions and report the facts.

Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk
Guardian UK...what a disgrace...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Subject: Where are the standards? - "Egyptian student protests hit elite Cairo university"
To: reader@guardian.co.uk

Poor journalism
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/15/egyptian-student-protests-american-university-cairo

1.  Enrollment at the American University in Cairo (AUC) is 5984.  Faculty number 383.  Staff numbers are around 700.  If the entire AUC community was on campus at the same time the number would be around 7000.  This is impossible...
http://www.aucegypt.edu/about/Facts/Pages/default.aspx 

In Jack Shenker's article, he states that, "within a few hours thousands of students and staff at the American University in Cairo had joined the demonstration, bringing Egypt's most elite educational institution to a standstill." 

Pure rubbish.  It might have been in the hundreds.  To state that 1/4 to 1/3 of the entire university was involved in these protests is sensational, delusional and shows that Shenker was not present.

2.  The debate over the tuition increase of 9%:
USA - "Private College Tuition Increases 4.6 Percent for 2011-12; Institutional Student Aid Up 7 Percent" http://www.naicu.edu/news_room/private-college-tuition-increases-46-percent-for-2011-12-institutional-student-aid-up-7-percent

USA - "The 12-month change in the all items index edged up to 3.8 percent after holding at 3.6 percent for three months." 

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm 

USA - Tuition increases outstripped inflation 4.6% to 3.8%.  In short, in real money terms education became more expensive. 

UK - "Proposed tuition in the UK to jump 300% for 2011-2012" 

http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/the-uk-student-protests-continued/28177 

UK - "UK CPI inflation rate rises to 4.5% in August" 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14895510 

UK - Proposed tuition increases to outpace inflation 300% to 4.5%.  In short, in real money terms education becomes more expensive (much more...)

Egypt - The American University in Cairo raises tuition 9% 

Egypt - "Egyptian Inflation Slowed to 8.5% in August as Food-Price Increases Eased" 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-10/egyptian-inflation-slowed-to-8-5-in-august-as-food-price-increases-eased.html 

Egypt - The tuition rate at the AUC almost matches the current inflation rate of 8.5%.  When the decision was made to raise the tuition to 9% in May 2011 the inflation rate stood at 11.5% 

3. Regarding the snipers (an extremely sensitive and potentially volatile topic).  You could have gone to the AUC website and did a search for "sniper" you would have found this article. 

WEB EXCLUSIVE: AUC President says use of Tahrir campus to fire on protesters 'illegal and unauthorized'
http://academic.aucegypt.edu/caravan/story/web-exclusive-auc-president-says-use-tahrir-campus-fire-protesters-illegal-and-unauthorized 

4.  What school of journalism encourages the construction of statements such as, "On Tuesday, it emerged that striking university cleaners have been threatened with dismissal if they do not return to work within 10 days." 

Who is your source for this information? 

Abysmal reporting.  An absolute disgrace.  It's a difficult time in Egypt and poorly researched journalism absent of context does not help matters.

The Egyptian Way :: The Egyptian Revolution - Fear and More Fear

The Egyptian Way :: The Egyptian Revolution - Fear and More Fear

During the Egyptian Revolution, I chose not to leave Cairo, Egypt where I live and work.

I've been reluctant to express my opinion about my experience with the Egyptian Revolution. This is not the appropriate platform for me to go into detail about why I haven't been saying much.

However, in this short podcast (really a test of using SoundCloud's Web interface for recording), I talk about how fear seemed prevalent in the early days of the protest.

My apology in advance for the sound quality; I failed to turn off the heater in the room while I was recording.

Podcast: Jan. 25th Protests: Fear and more fear

Re: Jan 25th Protests in Egypt: Fear and more fear by ohradiogirl