Reflection

It's quite strange the way that Thanksgiving break is only two weeks before the end of term. Now I'm back, there's two weeks left, and yet it feels like the semester is already over. I've filled out evaluations for most of my classes and everything. It's strange to think that there's still two (very work filled) weeks of school. I guess reflecting on the semester should really be saved for my last reflection, but I'm honestly not sure what to write about for this one...I suppose the experience of going home would make the most sense. I went home one time before this, but that was after I'd only been at school a month and things didn't really feel that different. When my parents visited me for parent's weekend, I did start to feel a difference- it seemed like they were treating me like somewhat more of an adult.

According to that progression, when I went home for Thanksgiving I should have felt more mature than ever...but I'm not sure. Interacting with my parents didn't feel that different than it had during parent's weekend. Moreover, when I went to a dance over break I felt just as socially uncomfortable as I always do in those sorts of settings, even though there were a lot of people I knew there. I guess I had somehow helped that college would mature me...and I guess by "mature" I mean turn me into a bit more of an extrovert...which might have been a little unrealistic.

Don't worry, I'm back

I was home for thanksgiving and realized that while I have changed a lot, there are parts of me that have not changed at all.

I'm a procrastinator, I have been one for me entire life and unfortunately when I came back from New York today, I realized I am still clearly a procrastinator.

I went home with 5 books that I knew I had to read or finish by the end of the semester. I am now back sitting in my dorm and have 5 books that are sitting on my desk in my to do pile. I did read a few chapters of 2 of the books and am almost now caught up for one of my classes, however I am realizing that time is upon me to start trying.

(This is by the way I have ever done a blog, and for that I am proud.)

While I remain very consistent in my work habitat, I realized there were a lot of things in my life that were different or different about me now that I was back.

Me and my girlfriend broke up a few months ago and this was the first time I was back and had time to actually do things. (I am not trying to be sappy here, by the way). But its weird going back and not having her with me to do things. I have other friends in my town for sure, but for the past year and a half, I spent the vast majority of my free (and sometimes not free) time with her. I think its going to take sometime to get used to for sure.

I also know I have grown a lot since entering college. (Not in weight I hope). I made a mess in my living room and realized my mom wouldn't be impressed so I cleaned up before she even woke up. I also went shopping solely for other people (something I barely ever do), and while I saw things that I could definitely enjoy, I realized that I did not need them and decided not to buy them and was very proud of my self for doing so.

Until next time,
Sasafras

Home Sweet Home Again

After spending almost a week at home, I have come to the conclusion that things have changed back home and with my relationships, but the things that mean most to me have stayed consistent. My close bonds with my family and best friends have remained even after not seeing them that much for about three months now. I also realized moments after stepping foot inside my warm house that there's something very unique to being home during the winter holidays. This weekend I also had to say goodbye to my first car that I learned how to drive in which was surprisingly more upsetting than it should be. All in all, the coziness and comfort of being in my own home with my family and the usual rituals that take place during the holiday season immediately made me feel at ease and was the best distraction from the stresses of college.

This was also one of the first times I was with my extended family for a long period of time so I had to go through the questioning of my college experience so far. How's college? How's the roommate? How are classes? I got really good at answering these questions. It was interesting when I tried to explain Explorations to them, however, because they had a hard time comprehending the fact that I lived with my classmates. They immediately asked if that meant that all we did was study and do homework together, so I was able to enlighten them that the living component of the university college program leads to much more than homework buddies.

Now, about a week and a half and a crazy amount of work between me being at home for about a month! I can't believe my first semester of college is coming to an end...

Thanksgiving Reflection

Thanksgiving was a lot of food and fun. Lets focus on the important part, which was that it was home cooked, not TDR food. Not that I don’t like TDR, but it was a wonderful break from it. Aside from that, we went to my uncles house, which had the football game on. That’s important. After all, Thanksgiving is about the three F’s: Family, Food, Football. Anyway, watching some of the game and eating, that about covers my Thanksgiving day. Anyway, around the middle of September, I wrote a reflection on what it was like to be home after being a college. This is my follow up. It was a lot more freedom still. A lot more than I ever had at home. My curfew got moved back (yeah, I had a curfew) and usually I could go and do what I wanted to. However, there were still plenty of restrictions. I still had to keep my room clean, and help around the house. Within the first 10 minutes of my arrival, my mom and dad had told me that I would be raking the yard some time that week. It was a very interesting welcome home. Still, I didn’t mind the raking, (my dog was playing in my pile of leaves, which made it interesting) and the week sailed by. Friends all came by to see me, and we met several times throughout the week, discussing anything from the past and how our lives in college were. The general agreement was that nobody is looking forward to finals. Go figure. This would ultimately lead into a discussion of which class was our hardest and what funny things our professor did. (Don’t worry, explorations didn’t come up in the conversation) Anyway, by the second time we met, that conversation had worn itself out, and everybody started focusing on other topics, and making new memories. I think I mentioned that the high school play was last Saturday. This was interesting for me to go back and see what I left behind, not to mention hear all the stories of the drama. (not the play itself, the teenage drama) Announcing the winner on stage was a lot of fun too, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This is making me think I might try out for acting in a play here at American maybe. You never know unless you try, so I might as well. What is the worst that could happen? Anyway, I am writing this reflection while on the Amtrak train. So far I have written an outline, formatted that into an essay, had a friendly conversation with what must have been the coolest conductor ever, and met a student at Catholic University, who is sitting across from me in the café section of the car right now. I would like to proclaim my train ride productive. So basically I have learned was I am at my best when my internet is off. This is a good thing to rediscover right before finals (I knew this before, I just never tried it) So basically, whoever reads this, this week if you see me online while I am studying, walk over and slap me upside the head or yell at me for being online. Maybe that will help me to achieve better grades. In other news, I have to write a paper on the Iphone for Explorations, if you have an Iphone, come talk to me! Please? Anyway, thanks for reading, I am going to try to outline my Iphone paper now.

Change

Since I came home for break, I have been wondering about change. Do things change when you go away or do they stay the same? Common sense would say that things always change, so they will continue to change when you go away. This commons sense leads to the idea that you just don't notice change until you leave and then come back. But then there is also this idea that things don't change when you go away; the you in turn change so things seemed to have changed when you return(what PTJ said in class this past Tuesday). Change is something that all college freshman have to deal with as they are at home this Thanksgiving break. Not matter which logic you feel is correct, you still will have to face some kind of change now. You can argue that home has changed or you can argue that you have changed, but either way you are going to have to make that change work or possibly face a nasty fight over the holidays. We all used to live at home everyday and not think about it at all; now we all live in a dorm in a new city with no one telling us how to live. I think that everyone in this equation has changed. Students change and adapt to being on their own, parents learn to accept that their child is truly growing up, siblings learn to live without their brother or sister, and the rest of the family starts to try to understand the student as an independent (or as independent as students can be with their parents still financially supporting them) person.
My experience with dealing with this change of Thanksgiving break has gone really well. The break has not been painful or stressful (except I got home and proceeded to get quite sick). There were no fights with my parents, grandparents, aunts, and cousins. Everything seemed to be normal and just like past holidays. The only difference that I have perceived is that I am treated more as an adult by my grandparents and aunts, but overall this break has been comfortable and normal (except for being sick). I have not encountered the awkward moments when no one knows what to do with you or how to speak to you. The break has been normal and I am thankful. I am glad that things have not changed so much as to upset the relationships within my family. I am very glad to be home. And I hope that this comfort continues and I am pretty sure that I will.

Army

I feel I must agree with Heinlein. It is my feeling that the only reason a nation can function with relative stability is that it has an army to keep some measure of control. If that was not the case, than any person with a couple of followers and some weapons could have a coop and topple any nation. The army is necessary to also stop outside invasions. This is important obviously for a nation’s survival. In World War 1 and World War 2, we were just entering the era when a nation could be attacked at any time. We realized the need for a standing army because in both cases we had to wait before we could enter the war. This waiting caused a lot of time to be wasted in our campaign and left us vulnerable to attack. We needed the security. We will always need the security. I can sleep at night knowing that there is an army defending me at all times. If not, then this world would unfortunately become chaos. It is nice to believe that socialism would work, and everybody will get along, help each other, and work together, but it didn’t work. Instead communism rose. The human thirst for power is too great. If a nation gives up its military strength, then others with strength will take it over. Unfortunately, this is the world we live in, and unfortunately, it will probably change. The need for military is important to a society in order to survive against other societies with a competing military. The idea in Heinlein’s book is perfect. Either you win, or they win, but it will be one way or the other. There is no stalemate.

homeward bound

I went home, and i am Skyping into class on Tuesday. It will be cool, I never did an official video chat before, i will be interesting to see the difference between friends and class. However, enough of my nerdiness. No, that's a lie, that's not going away. Enough talking about Skyping. I like being a nerd. Its were the fun is at. Anywho the big battle of the class this week was if only allowing veterans to vote was a good thing. Some said yes, others no, and both arguments were valid. I agree with the yes though, but not for the same reasons as others. Everybody deserves a vote, its true, but this would technically help topple many barriers, such as sexism and racism. Imagine, anybody can join, and through joining, get equal rights. That means that you are bonded through service, not through color of your skin or your gender. A problem addressed was that women in the armed forces are picked on, or abused more, or hurt and raped. Well, this would happen much less if there were more women in the army. Strength in numbers, right? More women = more power = less chance. That solves that problem. If all races are allowed into the military, and must work together, they will bond, and through those bonds, racism will be defeated. Oddly like that football movie that won't be named to protect me from any and all copyright laws. Thank you Intro to Law class. Oh, speaking of class I signed up for classes. I am on two waiting lists, but it could be worse I guess. That was an experience, the geneds are the worse to pick, because of all the sector stuff. As simple as it can get I guess, but still had me figuring it out for a half an hour. Ok, well its 2 am here in the lovely, beautiful Staten Island, and I am psyched to be home. Oh, i got to go on stage in front of my old high school and help announce the winner of the SING contest, it was a lot of fun!

Another One Bites the Dust

I read Stormship Troopers in a Flash. I will be honest, I did not read it one the first day of class because it was not the high on my list of things to do. I looked at the cover of the book and actually thought it was going to be a joke. However before class, Brad and another student were talking about how much they liked the book. I figured I might have missed out on not reading it, but that I would get around to it. (My judgement on it being a silly looking book did however remain the same). In class our discussion lead me to being more and more exciting to read the book.

Well sometime last week, I did start the book. I then finished it within 17 hours (9 of which were spent sleeping and 4 were spent doing other homework), a feat that I do not take lightly. The book was actually very intestting. I legitimetly am worried about Johniee and the outcome of the other men in his M.I. fleet. I want to know how his relationship with his dad went and I am actually curious about the intellligence level of the bugs, the brains, and their queens. If we were able to capture the queen would the war have been instantly stopped?

I know that none of these questions are going to be answered, but I have been thinking about them since finishing the book. What are your thoughts?

Sassy

Starship Troopers/How I feel about the military reflection

I've never been a fan of the military, and I can't say Starship Troopers is doing much to change my mind. In fact, for the first 100 pages or so (describing the trials of boot camp) I thought that it was satire criticizing the harsh techniques of the military...it was quite a shock when I realized that the author intended us to view them as positive. As for my own feelings about the military...when I really think about it, I can't deny that classism doesn't play a part. My family and most of my social circle throughout my life have been middle class or upper-middle class, the majority of people I know have basically always known that college would be the next step after high school, and no one that I know well even considered joining the military. It was basically viewed as something done by people who didn't have any other options.

Some of this might be because by the time I was a teenager, the war in Iraq had caused a pretty bad PR problem for the military. That probably just exacerbated what was already there, though. At least in my liberal small town, the military has probably been looked down on for a very long time, and this is probably the case in many parts of America. Somewhat paradoxically, in the often very Jewish communities that I was part of growing up, the Israeli military was held in very high esteem even when ours was not. In Israel, all Jewish citizens are required to serve in the military, and while non-Jews can choose there are specially privileges associated with having served in the army (which reminded me a lot of Starship Troopers.) In a society where the army is something everyone has in common, it's not surprising that it is viewed more positively...but I don't know if that's a good thing for a society.

Native Americans

First of all, I am very confused what the proper term is for Native Americans. Some people say Indians is back to being the accepted term and others believe it sounds highly offensive.

I cannot say for sure whose views the Museum was built for, however I have some ideas.

First of all, I noticed the building. I grew up in the Southern-Northeast (New York). If you want to know about Native Americans and asked me, I would shout out the Iroquois in a heart beat. The Iroquois lived in longhouses and in settlements of them. They hunted for game and then used their fur for clothing and shelter. This building was not a long house. It was not covered with wood, or fake wood. There were no bunnies or even fake bunnies to be seen. This building symbolized those Native Americans of the West. It was a take off of the Native Americans who built these houses out of mud, dirt and sticks. At one point there was what felt like a cliff over hang and the entire thing reminded me of mud and rock.

If this building was to symbolize Indians, they were certainly not "my Indians."

As for Remembrance and othering, I think the building and the displays explain it perfectly. This is the Museum of the Native Americans, but honestly it took into account the ones in the west. The video in the main cinema, displayed people in the mountains and the great plains- more of the Western Indian.

All in all, I believe the museum is there to remember all Native Americans, but it does spend a much larger time giving recognition to those in the Western plains.

Reflection on the American Indian Museum

When we went to the American Indian Museum on Wednesday, I really didn't know what to expect. I figured that it would be an interesting and well kept museum as it is part of the Smithsonian, but I didn't know how it would treat the tricky topic of Native Americans in US History. My first impression of the museum was the building; it was beautiful. I reminded me so much of the years I live in Idaho and spent my summers in the Rockies. I made me want to go out West and just wander under the endless sky. I felt like I was in Marsing, under Lizard Bute looking up at the amazingly clear and bright blue sky, as I stood near the main entrance. Then as I walked around the building, I felt like I was in Idaho ( I know this sounds because I was in the middle of downtown Washington, DC but It really felt like that). I guess the outside of the building gave me the impression that this museum actually was not going to tip-toe around all of the complicated issues with Native American history and American history. When I walked in I was impressed at first as I looked at the exhibits on the fourth floor. But about ten minutes later, I realized that this was just another museum to make the US look good. The focus was not on many North American tribes, but on Latin American and South American tribes. The museum was othering the Native Americans of North America. The exhibits seemed to be saying "look how different they are, they are not us, we are very different." There were very few instances of examples of how everyone is American. The museum was separating the audience and history in to us and them. There was no middle ground. I was shocked the more and more I thought about it. I had expected the museum may have been a bit more inclusive, but it just seemed to project division. I did not see a single mention of any of the atrocities committed against the Native Americans throughout history; there were the anthropological exhibits of the past and a leap to Native Americans today. I had really hope that the museum would be open and tell the truth. I also found that the most interesting/compelling/controversial exhibit was in the corner of the museum through a back, unmarked hall way. The exhibit was called IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas. It was very interesting, but at the same time it is one of the sections of American history that is buried and ignored. Finally, the name of the museum is of great interest. The American Indian Museum. Why??? Isn't the politically correct name The Native American Museum. Why was this name chosen? I was and am extremely disappointed with how the museum dealt with the issues surrounding the community that it is dedicated to.

Violence Reflection

With the combination of the violence discussions in both this class and my sociology class, I have found myself reflecting on violence and the plausibility of global peace in my lifetime. In my sociology class, we discussed violence in terms of its social context and the role its played in societies for many years. My teacher classifying herself as a pacifist focused the lecture heavily on peace as well. In order to do this, she had us meditate for about fifteen minutes for two class periods. Asking us to focus on our breathing and block out any thought or distraction our brain tried to force upon us really made me aware of how helpful meditating could be to attaining peace. My professor described the meditation methods we did as a way to train your brain to not think or to focus on one thought solely. After trying this myself, I could very easily see how this could be helpful with peace. I tried executing these practices throughout the week. When getting frustrated or upset with something, I tried to focus my attention elsewhere or control my emotions to prohibit them from getting more aggressive or taking them out on anyone else.

We also tried another type of meditation where we were asked to breathe in someone's pain and suffering and breathe out their remedy whether that was happiness or comfort. We were asked to do this for someone we loved, someone who annoyed us or whom we didn't like, the other members of our sociology class, and ourselves. For me, it was most difficult to do this for the members of my class. I tried to ponder this thought and came to the conclusion that my difficulty stemmed from not knowing my fellow classmates well enough to know their pains and sorrows (this class is about 60 people). I surprised myself at how composed I remained when I was asked to do this for someone who I was not fond of.

After exploring this short meditation experience, my thoughts about the attainability of peace dramatically changed and became more optimistic. I started to believe that violence could be stopped, not without immense difficulty of course, but that the possibility was available. I often find it is these personal experiences that have the most profound impacts and am glad that I was exposed to this as it has been very helpful.

Violance Solves Problems

I would love to say that the pen is more might than the sword. But I would be fulling lying if I said this.

There are about two examples I can think of where this might not be the case:
1) Martin Luther King JR- He was very very good, especially with speeches that encouraged peaceful protest.
2) The Dalai Lama- He is a rather peaceful guy and he spends the vast majority of his time discussing peace.

After that, I am hard pressed to think of many examples of nonviolent "heroes".

The United States is considered by many to be the most powerful nation in the world. We are involved in "conflicts" in multiple countries in multiple parts of the world. We established peace talks between North and South Korea, but currently have the De-Militarized Zone in between them that is patrolled by the US soldiers. Why? In truth, even we know that our pen might be mighty but we prefer our weapons to back us up in the end.

There are a handful of civil wars around the world at this moment. The vast majority of them have either had UN peacekeepers enter the area, or have had sanctions pushed on them. If ideas other then force were the ultimate decider, I believe these events would be over. However no nations have stepped into these wars yet and interfered by use of force and as a result, the death count continues to rise on both sides of the line.

My last point brings me to organized crime. Many gangs control their neighborhoods in certain areas and the "Mafia" controls others. Both run with an iron fist and full control over the area. These crime syndicates are willing to kill almost anyone who stands up to them and it is with this threat that they are able to continue to rule the streets.

Violence! What is it Good For?

Violence, exertion of physical force so as to injure or abuse, as good ol' Webster defines it, is not the answer although it seems to be at this point in our history. While this seems to be the case since in today's society it has been able to solve some issues, I still don't believe that it is the sole factor or by any means the best way to go about a conflict. For example, our country has been in practically constant war since the Civil War, with some wars being more favorable than others. War and fighting had become part of our cultural to a degree although I do not believe this makes it part of human instinct. Instead, I believe that competition is instilled in humans which then leads to violence instead of the idea that violence is part of human nature. Due to this, I strongly disagree that "the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst" (Starship Troopers 27).

Actually, the other day in my sociology class focusing on the third world we talked about violence and peace discussing the possibilities for the future and if peace could be a part of that future. Our class came to the conclusion that peace was possible, but would be very difficult and would take years and years to establish. Peace can be defined as living harmoniously with others in one's environment, but it also incorporates being at peace with oneself and having the strength to accept one's place in the world and not act aggressively towards situations. Also, because violence is equated with justice in our society, it becomes more common than in other societies. For example, many people who I talked to felt much better knowing that the sniper was executed, feeling like his justice was served by being killed.

While violence becomes a necessary part of politics, mechanism of state and its control, and going to war to protect its citizens. I believe there are other ways to try solving such problems. While they may be extremely challenging to try to instill among people globally, I do not believe that these contrary options to violence should be completely dismissed as proposed in Starship Troopers.

Violence is not the answer. However, there is no better one....

There is an element to the quote this week’s blog is about that is completely true. In the end, violence will settle many things. Most major disputes thus far were settled only after war. Appeasement in World War II, compromises in the Civil War, and embargoes on North Korea have taught use that other types of diplomacy do not work the way that violence does. They are not as effective as going in with weapons blazing, and coming out victorious against a now decimated country.
For those of you that think I am die hard serious, think again. Obviously, you should take that as the most extreme statement in agreement with the quote. Now that I wrote that, I am going to take that entire paragraph, and try my hardest to prove it wrong. Lets start with my poorly ordered examples. All of them are true. Appeasement did not work, compromises before the civil war had people only counted as 3/5’s and has an imaginary line separating freedom from slavery, and N. Korea is still ever so insistent on making nuclear weapons. Yet, for the two past occurrences, war was the final, action. Because we, as a people, like to believe that we can solve of differences in a more humane matter. In a “mature” way. That “mature” way is, as I am sure many of the Leadership Gateway students have discovered first hand, the United Nations. Yeah, we are definitely going to need to think of a new solution, just ask the gateway students. The UN needs to be stronger. But until that happens, there has to be a way, right?
Well, let’s think. War, as we look at it, leads to treaties often establishing that one side won, and another lost. But how can we get to those treaties without violence? Trade is a factor to be sure, but only if that country is dependent on it. Trade embargoes do not work on N. Korea because, quite simply, their leader couldn’t care less how his people are affected, as long as he looks strong. So obviously, that route is out. How about through helping them in exchange for them not making weapons? Seems win-win for them, better relations with other countries and their people are helped. However, once again, the influx of new ideas would hurt the leader’s image, so that is out. Can you see a way to stop N. Korea from making these weapons? I can’t not without violence on our part. That’s never a good thing.
But that does not mean I don’t maintain hope for the system. Diplomacy must work now. There is no other option, because violence now is difference from the violence of the Civil War and WWII. Don’t misquote me, those wars were terrible, and resulted in too many brave men killed for defending against bad ideas. Slavery and concentration camps are bad, and by the way, no offense to the Southerners who see it this way, but in no way was it a war of Northern Aggression. It was a war of unity. Sorry for side tracking from my rambling thoughts. Anyway, now with the birth of these ultra destructive weapons, war is no longer viable as an option. War means billions of deaths. Diplomacy is the only way.
So how do we make this work? I can’t say for sure yet. Foreign Service has to be able to bargain better. We need to get people to understand that sometimes, there can be no winner. Sometimes, there are only losers. That’s what a bargain sometimes is. But in the end, saving billions of lives from war is a good win. Take it from me, in 50 years; people would look at you as a hero. Those who are willing to give up the short run to make the long run better are going places. And if we can get those people who are tough (we cannot give everything away, that wouldn’t work but reasonable, we can survive without violence. Obviously, in the case of N. Korea, if they allowed us to have U.N. watchdogs in there at all times to make sure there is no proliferation, and in turn we took away the trade embargo, both sides would win. And potential war would be averted.
Of course, this rarely works. No matter how hard we try, there will be people who take things to the extreme. There is nothing to stop this. Nothing. Can we try to bargain? Sure, of course we can. Will it work. 99% of the time it will not. And unfortunately, violence may be the only way to stop these people from hurting others. It might be. I am afraid that it is. I have not seen us get far with bargaining with extremists, they won’t listen. No matter what.
I guess what I am trying very hard to say is that violence is not the answer. It is just the only solution we have right now.

Reflection: What we don't always know about our textbooks...

I really enjoyed Ambassador Quainton, our last guest speaker. While I found his entire lecture engaging, one part that really struck me was his explanation of Samuel Huntington's view on American identity. Apparently, Huntington believes that American identity is essentially Anglo-Saxon and that it is being ruined by "people who don't look like us." Only last week, I was reading a book by Huntington- "The Third Wave" which is about the most recent "wave" of democratization in various countries. I did not have any information about Huntington when I read the book. Now that I know about his views on American identity, I see the book in a different light- is he an advocate of democratization mainly because he thinks that it is an Anglo-Saxon/American creation (although that's debatable) and since Anglo-Saxon culture is superior democracy should be exported to the rest of the world? I even started to question why my professor would have assigned a text by such a racist man, although I know that is irrational.

In the future, I plan to look up authors before I read their books. I have only been in the habit of sometimes reading the biography in the back of the book, but of course that is shaped by the way that the author wants to be presented (his/her front!) and isn't reliable. I realize now how important it is to know an author's views before reading, because they often play a major part in shaping the text. While I did learn that sort of thing in High School English with regards to fiction, I didn't really think of it in terms of non-fiction. Obviously Michael Moore and Ann Counter are very opinionated in their writings...but it didn't really occur to me that the guy writing the textbook about democratization is too.

Arlington and its relationship to Death

Dear Diary,
On Wednesday, I saw the presidential motorcade, a decoy, and either the presidential motorcade again or Biden's motorcade. It was amazing. I know I was supposed to be observing about the community of Arlington, but that was very much of a challenge due to the security that was in place. So instead I focused more on the general people around me. Specifically, I was impressed with all the people in military uniforms who were at Arlington. Besides the members of the various color-guards/ honor-guards, there was also a large presence of what looked like young military college aged students. I imagined them being on a class trip much like the one we were on.

What made me think, was that I could have been one of those men. My friend kyle is in the Air Force Academy, I could have applied to it or any other branch of the military. I looked around Arlington and thought that I was glad I didn't have to worry about going to war, and as a result I did not really worry about being another white grave or unknown solider buried there. But I wonder if the men in uniform did think about that; I wonder if they realize that there was a very good chance they would come home, but because of the path they were on, there was also a chance they might one day be brought to Arlington for a final resting spot. Its a little morbid when you think about it I guess, but I wonder if being in the military and going to Arlington just gives people the "willies".

It in a way makes me think about when people know where they are going to be buried or they pick out their own coffin before they die. I would want to know I was being buried somewhere nice, but I don't think I would really want to think about my death and the absoluteness that surrounds it.

Until Next Time,
Sasafras

Identifying with a group.

Reflections might just be the most helpful thing. After all, they help you take a point in your week and think it through while typing it. It helps I think. This week was one of those weeks where everything could go wrong. But, some parts of it were a relief. The Arlington Cemetery visit helped to put things in prospective. So many people were there to pay respects to those who died fighting for our country. I got to go on an expedition with Ana to section 51, where my great uncle and aunt are buried. By the way, it was fitting that one of my descendants is buried in area 51. I thought it was funny. Anyway, it was quite the trip, and it was cold. But none the less, your great adventurers trekked to section 51 and visited the grave. While there, I have to say I was overwhelmed. I didn’t expect to be overwhelmed, but I was. I guess the idea that I had a link to such an important place, such a great place, was amazing. I never knew my uncle or aunt; they died 20 years before I was born. Yet, I felt I should visit them, because I was here, and since I live in D.C., I should visit them, since they probably don’t get many visits. I don’t know if it matters, but I felt I should do it. Anyway, we arrived there, and I knelled and said my prayer. As we walked back, I felt part of something more. I guess it was because I was part of the very thing veteran’s day was about. Thanking our living and dead for their contributions to our nations, and there sacrifice for our freedom. I identified with the people there that day, because I felt I was taking part in the same thing they were taking part it. It was a feeling I knew others also felt, and I could have probably talking to anybody at the cemetery about it and they would have agreed with me.

Ambassador Quainton

In class today, Ambassador Quainton was our last guest speaker. I feel that he was the perfect person to end the series of guest speakers. I found him extremely fascinating. My roommate joking said that he was the only speaker that I really enjoyed because he is from SIS. I guess that could be part of why I enjoyed class today so much, but I think it has more to do with the fact that he has dedicated his life to the Foreign Service and done exactly what I want to do. Ambassador Quainton also brought up some very interesting points about American identity. He pointed out how most Americans tend to view their identities in terms of the future. The whole idea that Americans set out to change the world. This is in contrast with how most of the world views its identity. Most other people view their identities in terms of the past and their culture's history. American tend to forget history, as do the former colonial powers. Ambassador Quainton also mentioned how the US views itself as a whole. Traditionally the idea of the US has been a "melting pot", but now there is a new idea of a "salad bowl". This means that the US does not need to be and is not a homogeneous mixture. People do not need to bury and forget their history and culture to become American as in past centuries. The final point that Ambassador Quainton made that I found interesting was the idea that in diplomatic relations the US really does need to become a good listener. The US is all to willing to lecture, but not listen. I found today's class to be fascinating.

Arlington National Cemetery

Visiting Arlington National Cemetery was somewhat of a bizarre experience for me. With the cold rain beating down on my face, I meandered through the winding walkways that led me to the several tombstones, each displaying a name of a lost war veteran. The biggest emotional response I felt was when I witnessed a group of about four people huddling together, arms around each other, gazing down at a tombstone. They stared blankly ahead as one of the men they were with slowly knelt down to place a bouquet of flowers by the grave. This image seemed like the the epitome of grief and the classical picture that comes to my mind when I think of mourning. It struck me that this type of intense emotion was essentially on display for all passersby, but that's obviously unavoidable at a national cemetery on Veteran's Day. I also felt strong emotions when I saw men and women in uniform walking around the grave sites. I felt a certain strong feeling of gratitude that made me want to personally go up to them and sincerely thank them. However, being shy and respecting their privacy of course I did not.

I always feel like in times of public or general grief, people tend to come together and forget about any differences that may separate groups of people. I definitely felt this concept in practice during my visit to the cemetery. It was somewhat understood what everyone was experiencing and for some reason I felt closer to people, acknowledging with a head nod or smile, those in uniform or those who were visibly upset. When something effects everyone in one place, there is a sense of unity that I have always experienced and this included my experiences at Arlington.

Reflection

The last two posts really resonated with me. While it seems like both of you had a very stressful week last week, this is my "hell week." I've been dreading the second week in November for for quite a while: ever since I wrote down my assignments for all my classes and realized I had a paper due Monday, a test on Tuesday, and a paper due Thursday. Thankfully, I now at least have the relief of being done with the first paper, but I'm now in the position of trying to study for the test and write the second paper (which is still mostly unfinished) at the same time. The stress is further compounded by the fact that having relatively few assignments per class compared to high school means that the ones you do get are worth more- the paper due Monday was 30% of my class grade, and the test I'm taking tomorrow is 25% of my grade for that class.

So, what have I learned? Well, for one thing I'm learning that my confidence in my academic skills and preparedness for college was temporary. After doing well on my midterms, I was pleased with myself, perhaps to the point of overconfidence. I started thinking (...just a little prematurely) about what classes I would take if I joined the honors program next year, and when I met with my academic adviser to plan my classes I asked him if I could take just one 300 or 400 level class next semester to challenge myself (not surprisingly, the answer was no.) Now, as I struggle with these papers, I feel quite humbled. I found the first paper more difficult than expected, and was quite sure it was awful until others read it and reassured me somewhat. I'm finding the second paper much more difficult than expected- it's not so much that the material is hard as that I have fairly limited experience writing a research paper, and I don't think I've ever written one with footnotes (as opposed to parenthetical citations) before. Basically, I've learned that, believe it or not, college is hard. I shouldn't be overconfident.

Reflection

So this past week was VERY stressful. Having a second major essay due for my writing class, my ethnography rewrite to complete, and a psychology test to study for had me in over my head. And yet, I made it through and now have a weekend getaway to look forward to. This weekend I am going to Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland with family and friends. I am so excited obviously to be with them, but almost just as excited to be in completely different environment - one that is peaceful, relaxed, and calm. It will be such a nice way to in a sense hit refresh for my brain and clear all of the stresses I experienced this past week and get a weekend of relaxation to cleanse myself. I know I'll need it as I work hard until thanksgiving break and then in the home stretch of the semester.

Still boggles my mind that this semester will be over before I know it. It seems to just be one thing after another in college. It's so fast-paced which makes it overwhelming but exciting. After all registration for next semester classes is coming up and then it will all start again soon!

My week...

I spent my entire week running around, and my entire weekend sleeping. I have not really felt that intense college pressure that I had heard about until this week, but it defiently hit me this week.

Besides my final ethnography, I made my own supreme court case and prepared for a debate on it, I wrote my Anthro paper, and tried my best to study for and do well on my psych test. Im not compaining and I got it all accompished, but I had a very stressful week in the process.

I am not really sure what we are doing for my groups "group project", I am sure we will get together and talk about it in detail soon, but I think we are all sitting around and waiting for someone else to be responsible and take charge of the group.

I did have a lot of fun in our Wednesday lab watching the skits and performances for the other groups. I did not exactly enjoy learning how to read it (in fact I thought it was a bit of a joke) but I thought the rest of it was actually excited.

One thing that I did remember just now, I was very cururious about what PTJ had to talk to the students about with out their teacher there. Anyone else?

Individualism- Past and Present Leadership

Lately we in class we have discussed the individual in the modern world, the community in the modern world, the individual in the ancient world, and the community in the ancient world. I have some simple comparisons for this. First, let me state that the people of the past and the people of the future are similar. Creon is like many politicians today, thirsty for power. However, I am quite sure that our politicians wouldn’t throw a girl in a cave nor deny burial rights. Civil rights have forced changes among the people of the past and the present. But these changes are nothing compared to the similarities that still exist. In both the modern and past people are power hungry. It is sad to think that we have not changed a little, have not tried harder to become better, and have remained all the things we abhor. Power is something that must be taken with wariness, because if taken with open arms, the best intentions will be ensnared by paranoia and greed. This is a world we live in; this is a world our ancestors lived in. Democracy is the closest we have to fixing this, but it is nowhere near close. I find the best individual as a leader is the person who doesn’t want the power, but who wants to do good in the world. It is somebody who worked their way up the ladder doing the things they felt were right. If you want to find an effective leader, a strong leader, a righteous leader, you look to the person who did the most wanting the least. That is the true quality of the individual leader.

Institutional Identity Crisis

I can't believe it. I really can't believe it. I am sitting here in shock and I really can't believe it. I just got off the phone with my mom and she was telling me about my high school when the shock set in. I guess I was mentioned in an article about AP Scholars in the local paper and someone told my parents. When my mom saw the article, she decided to look up my high school and to her surprise the school's website had a countdown to the day when they become Middleburg Academy instead of Notre Dame Academy. There is actually a count down clock on the home page of the website. The website even declares “The clock is counting down… on July 1st, 2010 our name will be Middleburg Academy. The Dragons are off to a great start in the 2009-2010 school year. Our dynamic and diverse community is happily engaged in a variety of challenging classes, exceptional visual and performing arts and competitive athletics." Not only are there many people, including myself, who find this proclamation seriously disturbing, but it the result of a very complicated political and financial struggle that has torn the high school attended apart. The once Catholic college prep high school is now not Catholic and attempting to copy one of the other college prep high schools in the area ( a school that I looked at and felt that was cold and nothing that I wanted, so I went to NDA). But other than me finding this disturbing and shocking, the school is in the middle of a serious institutional identity crisis that has been predicted by may to be the end of the school all together. The school has lost the core of its identity as the Board of Trustees threw the school's Catholic history down the toilet and managed to ruin the school's reputation and community in one fell swoop. With one decision made by the Board of Trustees, the school was sent into chaos and a crisis. The school I graduated from no longer exists. The school that I graduated from has become something that I don't even recognize and has no clue what it's identity is. NDA is lost and confused, and it saddens me that my high school has fallen apart and will never recover to be the same. The administration and the Board of Trustees have destroyed one identity and have failed to come up with a new one. How can an institution spiral into such and identity crisis? Was there no solid identity to begin with? Or did the Board of Trustees and the administration just destroy the school's identity with a proclamation issued from on high?

Wealth and Towns

I do not think how a society deals with its poverty or its total wealth should be the chief indicator of the health of the society.

However, I think it can tell you a lot about the town. I was trying to come up with other important things, and I thought of "crime rates" (serious and non-serious crime), school status, and general neighborhood friendliness. The problem is, all of these things in someway or another come down to wealth. It has been statically proven that unfortunately crime goes up in areas with low socio-economic status. Good schools often come with higher taxes which again equates to money. Lastly, (though this is completely an opinion) people in bad neighborhoods (those with out money) will probably have worse neighborhood relations because they will be working long and hard hours, which in turn will leave less time for them to spend building up relations.

Therefore I do not think that we should look at the wealth or poverty levels of a town to determine if it is a good town. However if you want to get a general feeling about it, in a very very stereotyping and essentialist way, it is concievable that just looking at the median income would tell you what you need to know.

Poverty Line Skewed

I feel that this is not true unless in large numbers. Every country will have its poor. It is mostly inevitable. However, if there is a country with a large percentage of people living under the poverty line, there is a problem. The country needs to do more then to support them, and help them out. However, there are huge problems with this logic. The US has a much higher poverty line then many third world countries. This causes the numbers to be skewed (thank you, statistics). So USA’s statistics may say they have more people in poverty than a third world country, but the USA has more people, and a higher poverty line. So the USA, as a society is better off than other societies, yet based on statistics you would never know it.

Litmus Test?

I'm not 100% positive, but overall I'm inclined to agree with Bellah & co. that the way in which a society deals with poverty and the distribution of wealth is the most important test of how healthy that society is. The healthiest communities are those with the smallest amounts of inequality. As the gap between the rich and poor increases, as it has in the United States, a community becomes less healthy. The problem with trying to create equality in order to create a healthy society is that those in power (responsible for creating an equal society) are often unwilling to give up power. Also, preventing poverty requires fairly high taxation for good social services to care for the elderly, mentally and physically disabled people, etc.

In a healthy community, people care about each other and are willing to make some sacrifices so that no one has to suffer. The other extreme is a community in which the few people with power care only about keeping their power and gaining more, no matter how much everyone else has to suffer for it. I'm not sure that everyone would agree that the former is the definition of a healthy community (especially if they think humans are inherently selfish) but the latter is undoubtedly unhealthy. A community that does not care about the members of the community who are suffering in poverty cannot be a true community.

Poverty and Wealth in Communities

I disagree with the idea presented in this book that communities are defined by how they deal with the economy. I think there are more and different components that help “test” how well a community is doing. For instance, to me a community is more prevalently based on the interactions between the members of the society. In my opinion a more valid test would be whether or not members of the community strive to help their fellow community members. Depending on the frequency as well as the extent of the helpfulness, if any occurs, would indicate to me how well a society is being a community. In some ways this concept of looking out for one another could relate back to certain aspects of wealth and economy. For example, the wealthy members of some communities strive to better the lives of others in their neighborhood who are less well off financially. Therefore, it is true that the economic factor is one of importance; however I believe that it is not the sole most important aspect of a community and is easily overshadowed by ideas such as helpfulness and consideration for others in a specific group population.

In my opinion, the definitiveness of a true community is one that is comprised of respect among all of its members and considers the needs of the group as a whole. This theme can be applied to poverty since this concept is one of importance in “testing” how well a community works together. However, my point is that there are many other aspects of a community that are not tested when merely the concept of poverty and wealth are considered.

What poverty says about our society

I would have to agree with Bellah and his co-authors on the idea that how a society "deals with the problem of wealth and poverty" should act as "litmus test . . . for assessing the health of a society." I'm not sure if it is the most important measure of how a society, but it definitely should be combined with other "litmus tests" when we look at the health of a society.

The way a society deals with poverty says a lot about any society. Poverty is one of the 'plagues' of society and an issue that every society has to deal with. The way a society deals with and handles poverty is a very strong indicator of a society's values. If a society as a whole was to ignore poverty and say that those who are poor are responsible for their own poverty would obviously not value compassion and selflessness. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a society that only concentrates on alleviating poverty would value the greater good of the group (not in utilitarian terms, but as a community that could possibly be oppressive) and not value the individual. In the somewhere middle is American society. American society does try to alleviate poverty , but at the same time there is more concern for the individual and individual preference. Right now in American society, there is a culture of individualism (expressive individualism and utilitarian individualism according to Bellah et all). This culture of individualism has led to many of the community aspects of American society to collapse. Americans do not treat their poor well and the rest of the world has noticed, although many Americans have not. If we were to measure American society based on how we treat our poor, we would be a very sad society.

Another Week Down

As always I get nervious for these weekly blog updates. It isnt because I cant talk- clearly I enjoy talking; instead I just feel that I have nothing that interesting to talk about.

So here are some updates on my life and my thoughts.

I felt very bad for bringing the class off topic when we discussed the purpose of WAMU, however I think it was very intersting that no one could think of any clear purpose for it. It seemed that every idea we could think of (besides AU simply being alturastic and promoting the arts because it wanted to) we were able to shut down. I like these philosophical conversations and I hope we have more of them.

I had a great weekend and loved Halloween.

However I am also just starting to get nervious that my work is starting to pile up and I need concentrate and step up my game.

Until next week,
Sasafras

Money, Money, Money

In class today we stumbled upon the topic of WAMU as well as how our tuition money should be spent. Stemming from this concept, the discussion about whether or not we as students should have a say, and if so how much of a say, in the matter emerged. To start out, it is clear that this topic is one of an extremely complex nature. For this reason, there are discrepancies among students, as well as administrators and board members I would argue, concerning what the funds should be used towards. Being a student myself, I empathize with the emotions that the money that we pay to run this school should be used to in some way benefit us. The extent of how direct these methods are can vary I would believe. For example, the money could go towards providing teacher’s resources which help students, or they could go to the refurbishment of school buildings which helps students and faculty, or the money could go towards raising faculty’s salary which would solely benefit them.

As you can see, there are many options when it comes to student’s tuition especially because American University does not have an endowment. Personally, I believe that the money that we pay to the university should go towards something that will benefit the student body. This is because that leaves a broad range of options and does not have to completely exclude other people on campus including faculty and administrators who play key roles at American University.

Prioritizing

This probably isn't going to relate that much to what we discussed in class, but it's what I've been thinking about this week...

...there's a very big Jewish convention next week in DC. Both President Obama and the Prime Minister of Israel are going to speak, and my mother really wanted me to go and was willing to pay for it. Thursday was the last day I could have decided to sign up for it, and I didn't. The convention is from Sunday-Wednesday of next week, and I have a paper due on that Monday, a test on Tuesday, and another paper due Thursday (and now the Ethnography revision on Sunday.) I also didn't feel like I'd fit in that well with the rest of the convention, considering even the people my age who are there will be leaders and I am not (yet at least, although I'm kind of scared of the idea.) But my first reason for not going, that I'm prioritizing my school work, is kind of making me think about my priorities in general.

I came to college very anxious about the academics, and so far that's been going better than expected. That said, I haven't lost the nervousness that I felt when I wrote a few weeks ago about writing my Ethnography and how I shouldn't have waited so long. Especially if I want to go on to a career in academia (or law, or most other jobs...) I need to learn not to procrastinate and to prioritize. I actually think I'm already fairly good at the latter, but sometimes I worry that I actually overdo it and miss out on important other experiences (like seeing President Obama speak.) In the long run, though, I think I probably made the right choice.