The artwork at the top of the page is a section of a painting by the artist Sadiq Toma. He is a former Iraqi who left Iraq in the late seventies. There isn’t much about him on the Web, not even a Wikipedia entry. I’d link you to some sites, but the best one I’ve found so far is a PDF file.
***UPDATE: Sadiq Toma has a page now. I’m linking you to the gallery of the stuff I like there (gallery 2).
As for me, I am an American woman who has never visited the Arab world, though I expect to someday. I am not of Arab descent and I am not a Muslim.
Regarding the name Snarla, she is the feline classmate of Bongo the one-eared rabbit in Matt Groening’s comic, Life in Hell.
Okay, more about me:
My presidential hottie soulmate is Abraham Lincoln.
I am a caramel crunch doughnut.
When it comes to federal rules of civil procedure, I am 28 United States Code Section 1332!
I’m a fruit bat.
In the hopes that this makes Lou Dobbs’s head explode: my grandmother didn’t speak English until she started school.
I’m a US Army veteran.
Anonymous Arabist وين الناس 
This blog will be a good forum for discussion on this important contemporary issue. Thanks for starting this.
K
killish helluwa!
My hair: Short and sassy. I hope to have a new picture soon! 🙂 I never thought hair could effect a person’s attitude or self-esteem so much…
Kudos to your blog it is really cool; I am an American of European decent, but I do speak Arabic and I think this a great channel of communication into the wonderous Middle East..
تتكلمين بالعربيـــــــة؟
Great stuff on martyrs, and why US is not considered a martyrdom loving society, or however the quote was re Arabs. good for you! tahani
Hello my name ıs Aron and I am currently ın Turkey, Marmarıs and I wanted to get an arabıc tattoo before I leave.
And I was hopıng you could help us translatıng, because me and my gırlfrıend want to get arabıc tattoo ın Naskh style on our shoulders.
What we want to be translated:
“One lıfe, Lıve ıt”
Cheers, Aron A Bjornsson
Hi Aron, I’m sorry, I don’t know a good, idiomatic way to say that.
Damn, but what about just our names?
Aron
and
Hilma
Thanks ın advance, Aron
hi Snarla, my blog links to yours a lot whenever i write things in Arabic so i was happy to see you commenting on my posts!
Hi snarla. Excellent blog. I was hooked by the chipmunk pix!
hi there,
i just ran into your blog and i thought of a book that might interest you, given your ‘about this blog’ description.
there is a book called “reel bad arabs” that has a pretty full list of movies and media that reflect how arabs have been portrayed by hollywood for quite some time… worth checking out if it interests you.
best wishes always 🙂
Hi Natacha, thanks for the recommendation. I keep meaning to write about that book and I’m glad you reminded me. I just thought about it this weekend as I was talking to my mom about how Americans perceive Arabs.
YO, Snarla add me to ur blogroll please???
Thanks!
Khadija
Khadija, I added you a while back, when nobody was reading my blog. Now I’ve had 5,000 visits in 3 days. And thanks for commenting on that post–I had no idea the kind of attention it was going to get.
I had a friend from Jordan tell me these 2 words and what they meant, but I want to know from you what they mean. I want to see if she is messing with me. Can you e-mail me the response because the words were not something I want shown on your site if they mean what she told me they mean. Choot and gaand. These were her spelling of them.
Thanks
You forgot to add ‘I am interesting’
This is a cool blog, skimmed through it.
Hello,
I was wondering if you accept guest post for your blog. If you do, I would like to submit a few. I’m a recent college graduate, with an English major, looking to build out my portfolio. I can write on a wide variety of topics and am sure you would be happy with the quality. Please email me back if you are interested. Thank you for your time.
– Kathleen Hubert
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002374243662
Your “About this Blog” should read “… how Arabs are portrayed in American media.” Other countries have different viewpoints.