Check out my most recent blog entry at ILRF's labor rights blog about sandblasted jeans. If you've got some time, look at some of the other stuff on the blog and ILRF's website. As you may or may not (but hopefully are) aware, some crazy stuff is happening around the world lately and a lot of it is intimately linked with workers' rights. The political unrest shaking things up in the Middle East and North Africa was sparked by a man in Tunisia who set fire to himself after he was refused the right to sell vegetables on the streets. And closer to most of your homes, thousands of protestors in Wisconsin have been flooding the capital opposing cuts to workers' benefits and the rights of unions. It is quite an interesting time to be working at a labor rights organization!
p.s. We got up to about 75 degrees the other day. It is now hailing. wah.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Baklava and Post-Conflict Education
Disclaimer: I'm writing this entry for the sole purpose of procrastinating working on my research paper.
I have had baklava at least once for the past three days. This week we officially began our case study of the Cyprus Conflict, with readings, lectures, and guest speakers. On Friday, our guest speaker was a former PCR student (from this point forward when referring to my seminar class I will refer to it as PCR [Peace and Conflict Resolution]) named Ruya of Turkish origin who grew up in Germany. She had taken the class one year ago and went on the Cyprus/Greece/Turkey trip so she shared with us her research project, some pictures from the trip and told us about her current job-working at the Permanent German Mission to the UN. Her pictures were absolutely gorgeous and it was interesting to hear about the trip from a perspective other than our Professor's.
In the afternoon on Friday, Ruya taught us a few words in Turkish (which I already forget) and our Professor gave us homemade baklava.
On Friday night, lots of people from my class hung out outside of class. We have a really great group of classmates and its nice to step out of the classroom/group project/ stressful environments and just relax together. Its also great that for the most part we're all getting along really well so far seeing as we'll be spending 3 intense weeks traveling together.
On Saturday I went on a book chase around the city, to 2 libraries and 2 bookstores. I got my DC public library card and then found out that the libraries we went to didn't have the book (don't believe everything you read on the internet!). Then the bookstores we went to only had 1 copy each. The book that we were in search of is We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families, a book of stories from the Rwandan Genocide. After the search, I had my second helping of baklava in 2 days at Zorba's Cafe in Dupont Circle. I cannot wait for the immense amounts of fresh seafood, falafel and baklava that await me in Cyprus, Greece and Turkey.
Today has been spent in AU's School of International Service building "doing work" on my research project. (The third serving of baklava was left-overs that my classmate brought with us to help with our studying).
The Post-Conflict Education part of the title of this blog post is about my research project. By the end of the semester, I will have a very large research paper on the current state of Post-Conflict Education around the world and in Cyprus specifically with recommendations for how the development of the education system in post-conflict areas (particularly history curriculum building and teaching methodologies) can contribute to peacebuilding measures). Yay! If you know of someone who happens to be an expert in the field of Post-Conflict Education or a specific conflict or you come across books/articles about the topic, please share!
Love to all!
I have had baklava at least once for the past three days. This week we officially began our case study of the Cyprus Conflict, with readings, lectures, and guest speakers. On Friday, our guest speaker was a former PCR student (from this point forward when referring to my seminar class I will refer to it as PCR [Peace and Conflict Resolution]) named Ruya of Turkish origin who grew up in Germany. She had taken the class one year ago and went on the Cyprus/Greece/Turkey trip so she shared with us her research project, some pictures from the trip and told us about her current job-working at the Permanent German Mission to the UN. Her pictures were absolutely gorgeous and it was interesting to hear about the trip from a perspective other than our Professor's.
In the afternoon on Friday, Ruya taught us a few words in Turkish (which I already forget) and our Professor gave us homemade baklava.
 | |
| Homemade Baklava and Turkish Language Lessons |
On Friday night, lots of people from my class hung out outside of class. We have a really great group of classmates and its nice to step out of the classroom/group project/ stressful environments and just relax together. Its also great that for the most part we're all getting along really well so far seeing as we'll be spending 3 intense weeks traveling together.
On Saturday I went on a book chase around the city, to 2 libraries and 2 bookstores. I got my DC public library card and then found out that the libraries we went to didn't have the book (don't believe everything you read on the internet!). Then the bookstores we went to only had 1 copy each. The book that we were in search of is We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families, a book of stories from the Rwandan Genocide. After the search, I had my second helping of baklava in 2 days at Zorba's Cafe in Dupont Circle. I cannot wait for the immense amounts of fresh seafood, falafel and baklava that await me in Cyprus, Greece and Turkey.
Today has been spent in AU's School of International Service building "doing work" on my research project. (The third serving of baklava was left-overs that my classmate brought with us to help with our studying).
The Post-Conflict Education part of the title of this blog post is about my research project. By the end of the semester, I will have a very large research paper on the current state of Post-Conflict Education around the world and in Cyprus specifically with recommendations for how the development of the education system in post-conflict areas (particularly history curriculum building and teaching methodologies) can contribute to peacebuilding measures). Yay! If you know of someone who happens to be an expert in the field of Post-Conflict Education or a specific conflict or you come across books/articles about the topic, please share!
Love to all!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
I'm bad at this whole blogging thing.
It's been almost two weeks since my last update and I sincerely apologize. If you've talked to me since I've been here you know that I'm a bit of a busy, tired, jumbled mess right now. Transitioning to a new city, new school, new type of program, meeting so many new people and trying to coordinate and meet up with friends from home who I'm closer to this semester than usual have all been exhausting. Don't get me wrong, I'm also really enjoying all of this. (this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, I would get bored if I didn't have so many things going on)
So some updates on what I've been up to these past two weeks:
It has only flurried once or twice and most of the snow has melted. According to the little weather widget on my computer's dashboard this week is looking very nice (the lowest temperature being 46 degrees on Wednesday and a high of 69 degrees on Friday!). The nicer weather has definitely made me happier.
We've continued to have really exciting guest speakers. 2 weeks ago was an exploration of Peace with guest speakers from the Fund for Peace , The Alliance for Peacebuilding , and the Minorities at Risk Project at the University of Maryland. Then this past week we spent on our first case study, the Bosnian Genocide. We read the book, Love Thy Neighbor and then skyped with the author, Peter Maass who was in New York. Then we skyped with Elmina Kulasic, a survivor of the Bosnian Genocide who is currently a Master's student in Hungary and met with Ajla Delkic , another survivor and current Executive Director of the Bosniak American Advisory Council. Elmina and Ajla are both in their 20s and were children during the war in the Balkans. It was a nice change of pace from the mostly older white men that we've been meeting with. A couple of people in my class were talking about how it was much easier for us to relate to Elmina and Ajla than most of our other speakers. Then we skyped with a couple in Sarajevo, Vjeko and Azra who were the kind of people that you feel immediately comfortable around and want to spend lots of time with to learn all about the amazing things they've done in their lives (they started out as architects and have done projects ranging from education initiatives to women's empowerment and employment and so much more). At the end of our discussion about Post-Conflict Bosnia, our professor asked them to show up the puppies. They had week old multi-ethnic (in keeping with the peacebuilding process in Bosnia, of course) ADORABLE puppies that they showed us.
My life here is full of these little 'how in the world did I get here?' moments. Skyping with multi-ethnic Bosnian puppies, meeting with a speaker who almost single-handedly ended a border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, hearing stories from my professor about how he had a personal meeting with Nelson Mandela (in Swahili, which is one of about 5 languages that he speaks).
I've done some more museum-ing(not enough though!) and been trying to experience DC food. I went to Ben's Chili Bowl which was recommended to me by a foodie friend from USF and also accomplished my goal of trying Ethiopian food last night!
Now that I'm about 5 weeks into my semester (HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!), 2 weeks away from Spring Break(during which I'm going to Williamsburg, VA to visit with my Dad and brother, and about 4 1/2 weeks until I leave for Europe, I've started getting more serious about my research project. I'm looking into Post-Conflict Education and how it can contribute to the peace process, focusing mainly on Cyprus(since I can do research in country by talking to students, teachers, and academics working in field). I'm actually really excited about the project and will probably use this paper as a starting point for a Senior Thesis next semester at USF. Its actually kind of funny how perfect the topic is for me even though I've never really considered it at all. Growing up, I was convinced that I wanted to be a teacher. Then, for the past few years I've been really interested in aid and development work. I almost haphazardly chose my major's concentration as Peace and Conflict studies just because I knew I didn't want to focus on government and politics(the other popular concentration within my major at USF). However, I'm realizing now that I'm so intensely focused on Peace and Conflict Resolution this semester that it actually is what I feel very passionate about. Education kept popping up in my interests and work (through a job as a literacy tutor in San Francisco, an internship with an NGO focused on girls' education, etc) and then I got here and kind of fell into this research project that perfectly melds together Peace studies and Education. Who knows where this is all leading but hopefully it leads to more travel!
I know its still only February but I've been starting to consider what I'm going to be doing this summer and I still have no clue where in the world I will even be. So, here are some options and if you (I don't even know who reads this) want to lend a vote/suggestion, I'd love the advice...
1) Move back to SF early in the summer and work as a tour guide at USF and hopefully intern somewhere. (pro: make money giving tours, con: fog. fog. fog.)
2) Stay in DC and work/intern here. (pro: gorgeous summer weather/free fun things to do in DC, con: expensive to live in DC, lots of competition for work/internships)
3) Live somewhere in CT and attempt to get an internship in NYC. (pro: get to spend time with lovely CT friends, con: expensive living/commuting)
4) Live with Dad/broski in VA. (pro: spend everyday at the pool, con: no internship opportunities)
5) Do something completely different like this trip to Israel/Palestine. (pro: continue learning and traveling, con: $$$)
Love to all!
So some updates on what I've been up to these past two weeks:
It has only flurried once or twice and most of the snow has melted. According to the little weather widget on my computer's dashboard this week is looking very nice (the lowest temperature being 46 degrees on Wednesday and a high of 69 degrees on Friday!). The nicer weather has definitely made me happier.
We've continued to have really exciting guest speakers. 2 weeks ago was an exploration of Peace with guest speakers from the Fund for Peace , The Alliance for Peacebuilding , and the Minorities at Risk Project at the University of Maryland. Then this past week we spent on our first case study, the Bosnian Genocide. We read the book, Love Thy Neighbor and then skyped with the author, Peter Maass who was in New York. Then we skyped with Elmina Kulasic, a survivor of the Bosnian Genocide who is currently a Master's student in Hungary and met with Ajla Delkic , another survivor and current Executive Director of the Bosniak American Advisory Council. Elmina and Ajla are both in their 20s and were children during the war in the Balkans. It was a nice change of pace from the mostly older white men that we've been meeting with. A couple of people in my class were talking about how it was much easier for us to relate to Elmina and Ajla than most of our other speakers. Then we skyped with a couple in Sarajevo, Vjeko and Azra who were the kind of people that you feel immediately comfortable around and want to spend lots of time with to learn all about the amazing things they've done in their lives (they started out as architects and have done projects ranging from education initiatives to women's empowerment and employment and so much more). At the end of our discussion about Post-Conflict Bosnia, our professor asked them to show up the puppies. They had week old multi-ethnic (in keeping with the peacebuilding process in Bosnia, of course) ADORABLE puppies that they showed us.
My life here is full of these little 'how in the world did I get here?' moments. Skyping with multi-ethnic Bosnian puppies, meeting with a speaker who almost single-handedly ended a border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, hearing stories from my professor about how he had a personal meeting with Nelson Mandela (in Swahili, which is one of about 5 languages that he speaks).
I've done some more museum-ing(not enough though!) and been trying to experience DC food. I went to Ben's Chili Bowl which was recommended to me by a foodie friend from USF and also accomplished my goal of trying Ethiopian food last night!
Now that I'm about 5 weeks into my semester (HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!), 2 weeks away from Spring Break(during which I'm going to Williamsburg, VA to visit with my Dad and brother, and about 4 1/2 weeks until I leave for Europe, I've started getting more serious about my research project. I'm looking into Post-Conflict Education and how it can contribute to the peace process, focusing mainly on Cyprus(since I can do research in country by talking to students, teachers, and academics working in field). I'm actually really excited about the project and will probably use this paper as a starting point for a Senior Thesis next semester at USF. Its actually kind of funny how perfect the topic is for me even though I've never really considered it at all. Growing up, I was convinced that I wanted to be a teacher. Then, for the past few years I've been really interested in aid and development work. I almost haphazardly chose my major's concentration as Peace and Conflict studies just because I knew I didn't want to focus on government and politics(the other popular concentration within my major at USF). However, I'm realizing now that I'm so intensely focused on Peace and Conflict Resolution this semester that it actually is what I feel very passionate about. Education kept popping up in my interests and work (through a job as a literacy tutor in San Francisco, an internship with an NGO focused on girls' education, etc) and then I got here and kind of fell into this research project that perfectly melds together Peace studies and Education. Who knows where this is all leading but hopefully it leads to more travel!
I know its still only February but I've been starting to consider what I'm going to be doing this summer and I still have no clue where in the world I will even be. So, here are some options and if you (I don't even know who reads this) want to lend a vote/suggestion, I'd love the advice...
1) Move back to SF early in the summer and work as a tour guide at USF and hopefully intern somewhere. (pro: make money giving tours, con: fog. fog. fog.)
2) Stay in DC and work/intern here. (pro: gorgeous summer weather/free fun things to do in DC, con: expensive to live in DC, lots of competition for work/internships)
3) Live somewhere in CT and attempt to get an internship in NYC. (pro: get to spend time with lovely CT friends, con: expensive living/commuting)
4) Live with Dad/broski in VA. (pro: spend everyday at the pool, con: no internship opportunities)
5) Do something completely different like this trip to Israel/Palestine. (pro: continue learning and traveling, con: $$$)
Love to all!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
I miss San Francisco. A lot.
This semester is flying by already. It feels like its been forever since my last post (which was Friday) but also like I just got to DC a few days ago.
Here's a little update that I started 2 nights ago and never posted...
On Thursday night two WSP (Washington Semester Program) kids and I went to Georgetown to celebrate a Connecticut friend's birthday.
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| Me and the Birthday Girl! |
 |
| In front of the White House, right after the police tape was put up. |
Saturday some friends and I wandered around DC in search of a protest in support of the Egyptian protests. We got to the Egyptian Embassy too late so we just wandered and checked out the other embassies near it and then decided to randomly head downtown. We ended up finding the protesters at the White House just as the group that had started at the Embassy finished its march to the White House. It was one of the first times that it actually hit me that I was in DC.
Sunday I went and saw The King's Speech which was amazing. I normally don't really like going to see movies in theaters because I think its too expensive and that I should be doing other adventure-y things, especially in a new city but its really freaking cold and if you haven't noticed yet, I'm really, really busy so its nice to just sit in a movie theater and watch a good movie.
Yesterday and today I had my internship which was tiring. Exciting, yet tiring.
Today while I was working, I legitimately almost broke down in tears. Which, if you know me, shouldn't be too much of a surprise. Except that it surprised me because it was brought on my an extreme attack of homesickness for San Francisco. I share an office with a staff member at ILRF and today he had a conference call with someone that I know in San Francisco at the Not For Sale Campaign and they were talking about how the person in my office is going to SF sometime soon. Then, I was listening to music on my computer and a song came on that reminded me of that amazing city by the bay and that is when my homesickness hit. I'm pretty sure all of my friends here are sick of hearing about SF so I'm going to go on a little rant here to express my extreme love for the city.
I knew from the beginning of high school that I wanted to go to school in SF, even before I knew what schools were there. I distinctly remember a conversation with someone when I was in my sophomore year in which I talked about moving to SF for college. Then, I remember doing my first google search of Jesuit colleges (with FordhamU and FairfieldU so close I had heard many great things about those pesky Jesuits). When I saw USF on the list, I was excited. When I saw USF's website, its mission, its program offerings, I was positively giddy. The day I got my acceptance letter to USF, I had to babysit for a high school teacher, I told him about it and even though I said that I would wait to hear back from other schools, I knew in my heart that I was going out west. For the past 2 and a half years I have lived in San Francisco and loved every single thing about it. One of my roommates this past semester, Kate, and I have had many, many conversations about our love for San Francisco.
I came to DC this semester for a few reasons. One of those reasons was to figure out if I could come back to the East Coast after graduation. I've been here for not even a month and I've already decided that I'm moving back to San Francisco ASAP and, most likely, never moving back. When its Spring here and I talk about how much I've started to love DC, please remind me of this post.
I have a long 3 days of classes coming up with lots of reading and writing and researching and meetings, yay! I feel like I've done a bad job of keeping in contact with all of my amazing family members around the country, I hope you're all reading this and know that I'm thinking of you always and love you all!
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