I was mentioned in Kuwait Times :o)

A friend of mine brought my attention to this article in Kuwait Times about bloggers (it doesn't say when it was written)
(please note the bold part especially :o)

By Velina Nacheva

One of the world's most famous bloggers got sacked this summer because of her online postings: a train of events inconceivable for Kuwait's bloggers. The news of the 33-year-old British secretary working in Paris known to muse under 'La petite anglaise,' who had been fired by her company because of her personal blog, served as testament to the almost recently developed cult following for the anonymous online diary.
Gone are the days when every diary scribbler would keep the events of the day well-hidden under the pillow or locked away from the world for years. Now everyone be it conservative or liberal, men or woman, rich or poor, available of PC and hooked to the Internet, could put his/her thoughts into the WWW for the whole world to see in an instant.

Bloggers in Kuwait - bold women and men alike- are growing in numbers by the day. They blog in English and Arabic and are au courant, outspoken and unafraid. Having no censorship and willing to express themselves young professionals blog reflecting on the most pressing issues of their days. Others turn to blogging as a therapeutic means. It is like seeing a shrink, one blogger once posted. A third group would blog to inform others. In Kuwait's blogs some diarists show empathy with the suffering of children in Ethiopia and Somalia, others ponder on the journalists' murders around the world while a third group feels and writes about the social responsibilities a society has to its people and the world. The wasta phenomenon has its stand in bloggers' write-ups, too.
A week's review of the country's most recent blogs feature discussion stretching from types of music, exotic places to visit to a myriad of personal critical decision to be made; or talk about what is hot and what is not.
For instance, a 21-year old female Kuwaiti apparently shuttling between London, US and Kuwait, posts on her 'Kuwait femme' anything and everything from slogans, comedy clips to poems, landscapes from abroad and depicting strong nostalgia for London. I for one, caught a glimpse of the words this Kuwaiti blogger uses when focusing on the twists of life captured in verse. Similar feelings grab you when riveting on the excess of images Anything Goes blog features.

The shtick 'A Kuwaiti Online' blog takes the lead in the rank of popularity among journos and those readers and fans of Big Brother who want to be informed on the spot. The bloggers of Kuwait provide numerous tips from the so-called "school of experience." Predictably, from traffic and lack of parking lots to the wasta phenomenon, HR challenges and recently published books.
Blogger, self-identified merely as kwtia (no gender attached), has focused on spreading the word of assistance for Lebanon in the aftermath of the crisis by providing links to a couple of relief organisations. Evidently expressing an inclination to the British media, A Kuwaiti Online, blogger in English is concerned with a South African newspaper tagged 'controversial phenomenon.' Another muses on the death of journalists abroad while on the job.

Expats blog too
The blogosphere of Kuwait is not restricted to Kuwaitis. An expat living in Kuwait blogs, mostly on cuisine and family matters, in his 'Indian in Kuwait' posting. Adrian is Taurus and sounds writing exclusively for friends and relatives as he has ignored the downside of no longer being anonymous in his blog by posting the picture of his daughter Sabu who just had a Bday.Words of homesickness also draw bloggers closer together.
A fan of Silence of the Lambs and Snatch (thumbs up for that one), a 28-Lebanese who lives in Kuwait, blogs on 'Fonzation in Kuwait' about missing home and the disapproval of having cars parked on sideways. Referring to himself as Fonzy, the blogger sounds workaholic juggling three jobs - one being in the field of corporate banking. He recently had a Bday surprise put together by his closest people living in Kuwait. One thing about Fonzy is his constant questioning of the irregularities he comes across and his meticulous capture of them with a skilled eye for detail, a camera and a great doze of sense of humour.

Social netting
Kuwait's blogs resemble a mini society of followers who discuss, criticise and learn from each other. Originally from Hungary 25-year old blogger writing at "Q8 Sultana's" posts beautifully selected illustrations of sightseeing spots in Kuwait. Her blog boasts words of encouragement - by fellow bloggers of Kuwait- for posting a mini tourist guide online.
Behind 'Beyond Q8iya' blogger stands a 22 avid poetry reader with an occupation "in the works" who thinks that a blog "gives you the chance to say whatever you want and to hell with it.. it's almost therapeutic to say everything you wouldn't normally say." Listing finance, investment and politics as her top three interests it is hard to take her "in constant evolution" motto as a clean slate.
"Your people want to make a statue in your honour. What will it be made out of and what victory will it commemorate? Ice, so that it melts, because by the time it's done I would have changed my mind..." she posted.

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