Back to Jordan

I can't believe that this spring will be three years since my last trip to Jordan.  It was almost fourteen years ago, December 2003, when I made my first visit there for a three week State Department grant-funded trip to study Islamic/Arabic culture.  Since that time I've probably passed through Jordan a dozen times, and I never thought I could possibly stay away for three years at any one stretch.  Happily my friend and colleague Cyndi and I will be leading seventeen students there in March as part of my Heroines & Heroes class.  We'll be reading parts of the Arabian Nights and discussing the work's complex relationship with the region.  Obviously, I'll have much more to say about the trip in the coming months.  It feels great to be going home.

The Petra money shot: a bedu riding a camel down a Roman road with Nabataean ruins in the background.