Chanting slogans, protesters had been in a festive mood before President Mubarak spoke. News and rumors throughout the day had signaled Mubarak -- for many of the young protesters, the only president they have known -- would resign. (Pedro Ugarte/AFP/Getty Images) #
I, like not a few Americans, am excited and perplexed. To help me understand these times — and you, if you like — I’ve spent the last couple hours collecting and collating the best short-term, Englishlanguage accounts I could find on what’s happening right now across the Greater Middle East and North Africa, in synchrony with (if not in imitation of) what’s been happening in Egypt.
Essay on the waves spreading from Tahrir Square, by Aaron Bady, English Department Ph.D. student in African literature from Berkeley