Soap Opera Status...   To most people that watch TV, the shows that they are tuned into are much more than just characters dramatically delivering doses of daily diarrhea. Instead, most people pin their most precious hopes on these actors, hoping they can escape. Here's a guide to do it in just six simple steps.              Why are you an Iraqi single?   Do you get harassed by your mother’s friends for being single? Does your mother burst into tears about your marital situation and make you feel guilty for not being married? Do your parent’s friends (by order of your parents) sit you down and try to find out why you’re single? If you've answered "yes" to any of these questions, read this.           Ahmed   For Iraqis in the diaspora, poverty and chaos is something that they have never had to see or experience. From a land that sits on one of the largest oil reserves in the world, poverty is very difficult to fathom and hard to accommodate in for in the 'New Iraq'.           Sex. Sex. Sex.   Are we told that we must have sex, or are we told not to have sex? Is the decision to have sex a matter of free choice, or is it imposed on us? What would happen to us if we don't explore our sexuality, and who defines it? Here's the article, and the response.           Universality   Being grounded by the straps of ideology is an affliction consuming the minds of millions. Striving for an advanced state of humanity is something that  builds itself on the commonality of struggle and analysis.           Natural Competition   One of the most central arguments for capitalism is that humanity is inherently competitive and hence a system that celebrates competition is only appropriate. This argument, among other arguments that are tacitly accepted as rule of law that is beyond contestation, does not withstand scrutiny.           Contemplations   Traveling through the wasteland that has consumed Iraq is a thought invoking experience, to say the least. The stories of passersby are enough to shake the intellectual existence of any audience. Harir snakes her away along the banks of the Tigris in Baghdad.           To be or not to be...   The colors of Iraqi existence can be blinding at times, leaving you dazed and pushed around. Wake up and live your days sober, with straightforward thoughts. Read it unedited and unapologetic. Take a look at how your everyday is not all yours.           Garden of Eden   Habitat is meaning and existence. To have it stripped away is to have both of those destroyed. Such was the case with the Marshlands. Another example in Iraq's catastrophic history. Recently, efforts have been made to reincarnate the marshes into their rightful setting in the south of Iraq.           Plasticity   A paper car, a wooden computer, and a steel tooth brush set in a sandy jungle. That is my reality. What is yours? This article touches on the epic of a war torn nation searching for a smile beneath the rubble, and amidst the plastic.           Civilization   Western leaders speak of protecting the “civilized world”. This is interesting, given that civilization began some 5500 years ago in Sumer, a lush stretch of land in the south of modern Iraq.