Earlier today I published an article here on The 195, cross-posted it on MideastYouth.com, and got a lot more attention for it than I bargained for. My twitter feed was flooded with tweets and messages, I received some angry comments, and I even got a personal email from somebody in the government. Some highlights from throughout the day:

“‘Wasta is the way of life and won’t change anytime soon…unfortunately!”
“Fuck off and never come back”
“Hope you will indeed come back to the Region one day!”
“putting you through the humiliation and testing your anger level is part of the visa process”
“i dont think you should be in Kurdistan if you cant handle such situations”
“Another fantastic article!”
“so what did KRG say? Delete your article or get deported?”
“i thk KRG mailed u 2 corrupt u”
“When we writte something like that we get death threat but fortunately u got a an email , u know wt i mean”
“maybe she can still get a death threat.”
“welcome to the media world. not much different to political life”
“In kurdistan anything is possible money and power has made our politician blind”

I may have portrayed Kurdistan in a negative life and depicted myself at my worst, but I stand by what I wrote because it’s a truth that should be told. Wasta may be worse elsewhere in the Middle East, but to use that to justify anything would be mistaken. Yes, things have gotten better and not worse, but signs of improvement should only be a sign to raise our voices louder for change.

The truth is, I love Kurdistan, and no matter how agonized or angry I may get at times, I wouldn’t feel so passionate if I didn’t feel so strongly about the place. Of course I’ll be back here, and I don’t think I ever really doubted that.

Today has been a testament to the power of words, and of social media to spread them. I had perhaps the best day yet in Kurdistan after teaching both a journalism class and an English class to some extremely bright, ambitious, and kind students who give me so much hope for the future of Kurdistan. Negative articles may always get more attention than positive ones, but it’s the promising and happy memories that will stick in my mind when I leave Kurdistan, and that’s what I’ll be thinking of when I make plans to return next year.