I think this is Important

Update 04/27/10: After a little research I found some additions to this story were necessary (they are in parentheses).


Written by Lisa Katayama

Elham Al-Qasimi en route to become first Arab woman on solo mission to the North Pole

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 01:09 PM PDT

This is Elham Al-Qasimi. She is a 26-year old from Dubai who is currently en route to the North Pole. Elham is on a solo mission to get there over three weeks on cross country skis — if successful, she will be the first Arab woman to do so. Her endeavor is a bit too aggressively sponsored for my liking (every other photo of her seems to show the brand name of her skis, her gloves, her Land Rover beanie) but I am nonetheless rooting for her success, and excited to see a local hero defy traditional female roles to do something totally empowering and out of the box. You can track her progress via her journal; she's also @polarbent on Twitter.

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Somehow this doesn't fit with anything going on in the world right now. It's like Amelia Earhart heading out around the world in that plane with the world on the verge of the second great war.

Is it legal for Dubai women to even drive cars? (Yes)

It's surreal.

She's already on her way? Why didn't I hear about this? Has any one ever trekked to either of the poles alone - successfully? (Yes, it happens all the time - and she not alone.)

Link to BoingBoing article with lots of comments.


I took this right out of the BoingBoing gmail feed - cut and paste - no edits. Just to see if it could be done - and because like the title says...



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