Mock Exam

Well, I think the last couple of days immersing myself in The Vietnam War paid off at least a little bit. I have a decent grasp on the topic, and a good foundation upon which to continue my studies before the actual exam in a few weeks. I just had a 'mock exam' in class, which was just a timed essay. I got to pick one question out of about 22 and write an essay on it in an hour. I answered the question, "Why did the United States decide to escalate its military commitment in Vietnam in 1965?" I think I did a decent job answering the question, at least for this stage in the game. I'll get it back next week.

In other news, I went to Esther's flat last night. We made pizza and watched a few episodes of The West Wing (she was excited because Season 5 just came out on DVD, so we were watching that) and Supersize Me, which was on TV. I really like Supersize Me. I hadn't seen it since it was in the theater, which was probably about a year and a half ago, although I don't remember exactly the circumstances in which I saw it. It's kind of been bugging me, though, so if I saw it with you, let me know - I'm curious.

This weekend should be fun. I have a bunch of random girls coming to stay with me. Not completely random: Chelsea, Maria's cousin with whom I stayed in Cork, is going to stay with me in London for the weekend, and she's bringing three of her friends. Well, I guess that is pretty random. It should prove to be fun, though!

In conclusion, I would like to conclude. Fin.

Lectures and Vietnam

Day 2 of "Summer Term" went well today. I only had one lecture even though I had thought two were scheduled. My one lecture was on poststructuralism and postmodernism in an international relations context. Pretty fucked up shit. I like it, though.

My internet is still down, and I'm beginning to fear it may be down for the rest of my time in London. I'll figure things out at the end of the week, though. Tonight I'm going to do lots of reading about Vietnam in an attempt to prepare for my International History exam. We'll see how far I can get without falling asleep.

Internet Problems and Back to School

Well, it looks like my good luck has finally run out - my internet connection seems to be gone. I don't think we've paid our internet bills for our flat in a really long time. The account is under Saro's name, so he gets all the bills. He doesn't even live here anymore (he lives around the block now, but is still in our flat all the time), plus he's currently in Iran. He should be coming back on Thursday, though, at which time I'm sure we can sort everything out. Right now I'm in my flatmate Sarah's room, using a random wireless network that I pick up from here. Unfortunately, I don't get a signal from any networks in my room. In the meantime, hopefully the lack of readily available internet access will motivate me to do some studying. I'll also be able to use the internet in the library, which is currently and conveniently open 24 hours a day, through the end of term.

It was back to school this morning. I got up early and walked to campus instead of taking the Tube, which was nice. I got pretty wet, though, as it started raining when I was about halfway there. It was good, though. It's nice to get the extra exercise. I walked home, too. It's about a 35 minute walk each way. My one class was good, and my lecture was short and just explained what the exam is going to be like. Very useful.

That's about it! If you haven't seen the pictures from my trip to Cork and Paris, the link is in a post below.

Pictures

For now, I've put my pictures of Cork and Paris in two different places online. My Cork pictures are on webshots and my Paris pictures are on my website, which I have - at least temporarily - made into a photo page. Check them out, and let me know what you think!

Back in London

Well, I'm back from my trip to Cork and Paris. I got in yesterday afternoon. What a great trip! I fell in love with Ireland, and can't wait to go back there. It's so relaxed and laid back. Nobody's in a hurry, it's quiet and beautiful. The pubs are awesome and everyone is so nice!

Paris was fun as well. It was a little more hectic, but incredible nonetheless. The Louvre was massive and a bit overwhelming, and I think I liked Musee d'Orsay better. Both were amazing, though. We also saw most of the other big sights: Notre Dame, Sacre Couer, went up the Eiffel Tower, etc.

I'm in the process off putting pictures online, but I'm having some problems. I've been trying to use Webshots, but it's taking a ridiculously long time to upload the pictures. If you do it online, you can only upload one picture at a time; if you download a program you can do more than that, but the interface sucks and it's not really working for me. If anyone has any recommendations of a website that's easy and quick to use, let me know. I'm looking for something that looks nice, allows people who aren't registered to see your pictures, lets you upload multiple photos at a time, and has ample web space for you to use. I might just avoid all the hassle and make my own website, though. We'll see, and I'll keep you updated.

For the time being, though, I have my Cork pictures up. You can see them here.

Da Vinci, Maria

I finished The Da Vinci Code last night. Wow...what an incredible
read. So clever, intelligent, and interesting. It lived up to the
hype, and that's saying a lot! I really enjoyed it, and if anyone has
somehow not read it yet, that person should do so immediately. That
means you.

My friend Maria arrived in London this morning, so I will spend the
weekend showing her around this great city. On Monday we are flying
to Cork, spending two days there, and then flying to Paris. I will be
returning to London on Saturday, April 23. Stay tuned for a chronicle of
my exciting adventures!

The Da Vinci Code

Well, I gave in and started reading The Da Vinci Code. I will soon be able to fit in with just about everybody in the rest of the world. I must say, I really love it so far. I didn't even mean to start reading it today. I bought a copy of it a couple of months ago as part of a 3-for-2 deal at a bookstore, knowing that I wanted to read it eventually. So it's been laying around, and today I picked it up to see what it's all about. I read a couple of pages and was hooked! I think I'm going to finish this book very quickly. I also think that it's good preperation for my trip to Paris next week! I'll let you all know what I think of the book when I'm done.

I am, however, still in the middle of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series (specifically, I'm in the middle of Life, the Universe, and Everything, the third book). My plan is to finish those books before the movie comes out at the end of this month (!). Also on my short list of novels is Life of Pi, of which I read the first few chapters and with which I fell in love, and The Good Earth, a novel I started reading over Winter break but had to return to the library before I came back to London. Oh yeah, and there's lots of books for school, too. Yikes!

Registration successful.

I registered for classes this morning, and got into all of my classes without a problem. Well, there was a problem at first - the system wouldn't let me register for one of the classes - but it was quickly remedied by the registrar after I sent her an email. I wasn't at all worried about getting into any of my classes, as I've never had a problem in the past and since I'm going to be a senior I get to register before everyone else (except for other seniors).

So I'm excited about my schedule now. No classes before noon, and no classes on Tuesdays and Fridays. Not bad. Plus, I'm really excited for all of my classes (see a couple of posts down for details). Lately I've been looking into Masters programs in journalism. I'm not sure if that's what I want to do after Clark, but I think taking two journalism classes might help me decide. Any reasonable advice from anyone will be greatly appreciated. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Sunday, Sunday

There hasn't been too much to report recently. The Pope's funeral and Prince Charles's wedding both occurred, with the expected amount of fanfare. After a short bout of cold weather, London seems to be getting nicer again, which is fantastic news. London is truly amazing when the sun is shining. Yesterday I received three issues of The New Yorker which my dad kindly forwarded to me from home. I expect they will inspire some posts soon-to-come.

Speaking of The New Yorker, yesterday I was trying to explain to an English friend what exactly The New Yorker is all about. I had trouble getting past the sentence, "It's the best magazine on the face of the earth." I finally came up with something along the lines of, "It is a magazine filled with extremely well-written articles and pieces of literature (and combinations thereof) which offer interesting insights and perspectives relating to current events, the arts, and life in general." If anyone can come up with anything better, let me know.

On Pacificism and Darfur

I've spent some time over the past eight months studying, and struggling with, the case for pacifism, especially in an international context; by this I mean the belief that the use of force by a government against another state can never be justified. The case for pacifism is rooted in respect of human life, the fact that each individual is unique and cannot be replaced, and that killing is therefore never justifiable. The problem with pacifism arises, however, when you encounter situations in which the loss of some lives are pitted against others. The best example of this is genocide. If people are getting killed, and will continue to get killed without intervention, one is left with a painful calculation: weighing the deaths of the victims of the genocide against the potential deaths which would result from intervention - those of military personnel, civilian bystanders, aid workers, and the genocidal regime. At some point, this calculation makes intervention worthwhile, even when the sole consideration made is that of respect for human life. There is an additional argument for pacifism, however. I have come to the conclusion that the only way pacifism can be tenable is by way of this argument: any use of force by a government adds to the legitimacy of force as a socially acceptable response or solution to conflict; the problems and consequences of this increased legitimacy outweigh any evil, death, or destruction that would be stopped by way of forceful intervention. The advancer of this argument would also have to believe that even the worst cases of genocide and mass extermination should be met only with means short of force - probably sanctions and negotiation (with an irrational tyrant). It is for this reason that I believe the case for pacifism does not hold much water. Instead I consider myself what is commonly termed a pacificist; that is, one inclined to nonviolence but willing to accept that there may be, and indeed are and have been, situations in which force is necessary. I appreciate the pacifist movement and believe their hearts are in the right places; and I think that, despite the flimsy argument on which they stand, their movement is a positive force in the world, championing a noble cause - the advancement of nonviolent means as legitimate responses to conflict and wrongdoing, and the scorning of force.

That was a bit of a longwinded introduction, but my point is this: if indeed there are times when force is needed, such a situation currently exists in Darfur. The genocide in Darfur has so far resulted in the death of 300,000, the displacement of 1.5 million, and 200,000 fleeing the country to Chad. Even though Bush has called this atrocity genocide, he has not exhibited the leadership to stop it. The White House has not even taken a position on a related bipartisan piece of legislation making its way through Congress, The Darfur Accountability Act. This act, sponsored by Senators Jon Corzine (of New Jersey, of whom I am very proud) and Sam Brownback (a Republican from Kansas), aims to do the following: 1) reconfirm that genocide continues to occur in Darfur; 2) offer specifics about how the genocide can be stopped, including establishment of a no-fly zone over Darfur; 3) increase economic aid to the African Union (AU) to help their efforts in the region, and encourage other international donors to do the same; 4) provide military and tactical support to the AU by giving them whatever they need - technical assistance, better equipment, better transportation, etc.; 5) provide details as to what a new Security Council resolution should include, including sanctions; 6) impose an arms embargo on the government of Sudan; 7) call on the Secretary of State to begin a campaign to stop the genocide; 8) call for the appointment of a Presidential Envoy for Sudan; 9) call for accountability of those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes by way of a competent international court of justice; and 10) call for the freezing of assets of these criminals, as well as the refusal to grant travel visas to them, and provide pressure on other countries to do the same.

The inactivity of the international community in making efforts to stop this genocide does nothing but help the Government of Sudan to allow this to continue, and encourage the perpetrators of these crimes to continue their terror. This must stop. I have contacted my congressmen about these atrocities and urged them to support The Darfur Accountability Act, as well as to display leadership in advancing this cause; I encourage you to do the same.

To read the text of The Darfur Accountability Act, click here. Nicholas Kristof, Op-ed writer for the New York Times, has written many urgent, moving articles on the crisis in Darfur; see a list of his columns here. There are a host of other good websites for more information, including The Genocide Intervention Fund, Save Darfur and DarfurGenocide.org.

Fall '05 Course Selection

Over the past week I've been selecting classes for next semester. Where it stands now, I'll be taking the following classes:

--GOVT253 - U.S. Judicial Politics/Lecture, Discussion
Explores the relationships between the courts and other sectors of the American political system. Studies how judges are selected, how courts handle civil and criminal cases, judicial policy making, and how interest groups use the courts. Mr. Miller/Offered every other year

--PHIL154 - Recent Continental Philosophy/Lecture, Discussion
Introduces five contemporary European philosophical movements: hermeneutics, deconstructionism, critical theory, structuralism and poststructuralism. Prerequisite: two courses in philosophy or permission of instructor. Mr. Overvold/Offered periodically

--ENG202 - Feature Writing/Workshop
An introduction to the art and craft of feature writing. The feature story is a rendering of reality into words, which, when done well, has its feet in both journalism and literature. We will discuss the elements of the feature story as well as its various types and formats. We will learn how to find and develop stories, how to perform background research on subjects and how to interview. Course work will include reading and discussing feature stories and assigned texts. Students’ stories will be read and discussed in class. Prerequisites: verbal-expression course; first-year students by permission. Mr. Dempsey/Offered every year

--ENG105 - News Writing/Workshop
Covers the basics of news writing, from reporting an event to writing an obituary. Students learn how to collect information, conduct interviews and organize writing into crisp news copy. Class work includes weekly deadline writing assignments. Homework: weekly writing exercises based on textbook examples and field assignments, as well as readings from texts and daily newspapers. First-year students by permission. Mr. Connolly/Offered every year

I might also take Spanish pass/fail as a fifth class.

I'm really excited about all of these classes. Judicial Politics is with Professor Miller, my advisor, whom I like a lot. I'm looking forward to taking another philosophy class - especially one concerning recent philosophy, covering such topics as critical theory and deconstructionism. And I've always been interested in journalism (indeed, I'm considering going to graduate school for journalism), so Feature Writing and News Writing should suit me well.

My schedule, if I indeed stick with these four classes, would be as follows:

Monday:
12:00-1:15 U.S. Judicial Politics
2:50-4:05 Recent European/Continental Philosophy
Tuesday:
OFF
Wednesday:
12:00-1:15 U.S. Judicial Politics
6:00-9:00 News Writing
Thursday:
2:50-4:05 Recent European/Continental Philosophy
6:00-9:00 Feature Writing I
Friday:
OFF

You'll notice that, in addition to having Tuesday and Fridays off, I also don't have any morning classes. Not a bad schedule by my estimations. Registration is Monday; we'll see how things go.

Let's Talk Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan has been in the news a lot lately, but I feel that most people, including myself, do not know much about the country, or what has been happening there. The following is my attempt to rectify this fact.

Background†
Kyrgyzstan is a former Soviet Republic which achieved its independence in 1991. It is located in Central Asia, bordered by China to the southeast, Tajikistan to the south and west, Uzbekistan to the west, and Kazakhstan to the north. Its area totals roughly 200,000 square kilometers, or 77,000 square miles, which is a bit smaller than South Dakota. Kyrgyzstan has a population of just over 5 million, and its capital is Bishkek. Take a look at these maps of Kyrgyzstan, The Caucasus and Central Asia, and Asia at large.

What's been happening‡
On March 24, 2005, mass protests culminated in the takekover of President Askar Akayev's presidential compound. Akayev had ruled Kyrgyzstan since 1990, about one year before it gained full independence from the Soviet Union. While he was originially championed as one of the most democratically-inclined leaders in Central Asia, as his tenure progressed his motives became increasingly questionable. His hunger for power showed itself in the form of quelling the opposition and rigging elections. Such a rigged election was held at the beginning of last month, which was seemingly the last straw. Protests were held, one of which got violent and somewhat out of hand, ending with the takeover of the president's compound. Akayev subsequently fled to Kazakhstan and then Russia, at which time a power struggle ensued. Both the old and newly elected parliaments claimed legitimacy. At one point, both parliaments were meeting on different floors of the same building, each considering itself legitimate. Eventually, the lower house of the old parliament decided to step down, and urged the upper house to do the same. On Sunday, April 3, 2005, President Akayev signed an agreement to officially resign, and the following day he stepped down. This paves the way for presidential elections which are tentatively scheduled for June 26.

Where we are now*
When these events began last month, many were claiming that we were seeing another domino fall in a global movement towards democracy, following the examples of Ukraine and Georgia. As time has gone on, however, many are frustrated that, instead of such a democratic uprising, this might have simply been a coup. Student activists had been hoping for a peaceful uprising and were frustrated when the protests got out of hand, violent, and ended up with the seizure of Akayev's compound. Furthermore, they feel like they were pushed aside by professional politicians, who quickly stepped in. Some claim that events unfolded too quickly, without time for civic education.

So currently we are left with a split between two factions who will face off in the presidential election next June: Kurmanbek Bakijev, the acting president who represents ths south and is allied with the judiciary, and Felix Kulov, the former security chief who represents the north and is allied with Parliament.

Another question is whether this so-called Tulip Revolution will spark uprisings in other Central Asian, former Soviet states. Pro-democracy protests have since occurred in Belarus; however, these were quickly put down by security forces. Perhaps leaders of these authoritarian countries are learning to keep a tighter leash on the free expression of their population.

Sources:
†CIA Factbook: Kyrgyzstan; EurasiaNet: Kyrgyzstan
‡NYTimes: President of Kyrgyzstan Sign Resignation Deal; CNN.com: Kyrgyz opposition seizes power
*NYTimes: Kyrgyzstan's Shining Hour Ticks Away and Turns Out to Be a Plain, Old Coup; NYTimes: What Would Happen if Russia Exploded in Protest?

Opening Day

The baseball season started yesterday as the Yankees played the Red Sox. I was most pleasantly surprised to find that the game was on British TV! It was on pretty late (first pitch was at 1:05 a.m. London time), but I watched it anyway. The Yankees did a pretty good job of putting the universe back in order after last October and beating the Red Sox 9-2.

The team the Yankees put together for this season looks to be much better than the last couple of years. Randy Johnson and Carl Pavano solidified their starting rotation, they filled the holes in their bullpen, and their offense is as potent as ever. Tino Martinez returned in good style last night by making a spectacular play at first base. It should be a great season. Go Yankees!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycyle, REFILL

My generation never knew the days of the milkman and his refillable milk bottles. Perhaps this is why the concept of refillable containers never really seemed important to me. An article I read in The Observer Magazine (a magazine supplement to the Sunday newspaper, The Observer) changed my view.

Single use containers create huge amounts of waste. In addition to this, they also allow the distance between what we consume and where it comes from to grow. And while recylcing is indeed a worthwhile cause, products made from recycled materials are typically inferior products; refilling is the better option.

The responsibility for refilling containers should be put on both producers and consumers. Producers should make containers conducive to refilling, and provide the necessary services to have these containers refilled. For example, Ecover (www.ecover.com), a European company (with some North American retailers) that produces environmentally friendly cleaning products, provides many retailers with large vats of detergent from which they can refill consumers's empty bottles. Other companies sell highlighter refills and refilled printer cartridges.

If refilling for the same use is not practical, producers should make an effort to create containers that can have other uses. Furthermore, they should provide consumers with potential uses when they're done with the product's original purpose.

Consumers should look to buy products designed for refilling and reusing, and make an effort to do so. They should be creative and try to minimize their waste, which has tripled in the last twenty years.

The trend towards "smart," single-use pacakging is bad for the environment and bad for consumers. It is also another example of the detrimental trend towards speed that is encompassing our world. Globalization is a thrown thrown around so much it has become meaningless, but staying local is still important, and refillable containers are a great way to do so.

Read the article here.

Spring is a Time of Renewal

Okay, so I've decided to actually get serious about this blog. Well, serious meaning regular updates. I currently have a lot of time on my hands - more than I know what to do with - so I should be able to keep up with it, at least over the next few weeks. I've also (I'll admit it) been reading people's livejournals, and that has also inspired me to keep this up. Plus, I'd like to keep up some kind of scheduled writing, and this might be one forum I can use to do that. Content of this blog, I expect, will include personal matters (things going on in my life, what I do, movies I see, etc.), as well as news items and current events that catch my eye. I hope you all enjoy it, and post lots of comments!