The Hope

I just had my first transition meeting with my successor as LCP, Gina. It went really well, and I look forward to our future meetings. I am so excited for her, too. Sitting with her and talking about where she saw our LC going and what she wanted to do, I couldn't help but feel totally unaccomplished in my term...which was a bit depressing. But I had to catch myself. While I may not have achieved the strong, kick-ass status within my year, I have by no means failed. One of my goals I outline earlier in this semester was to lay the foundations for future generations to take the LC to great heights, even if I am not necessarily there to experience it. Tonight's meeting made me realize that I may just be successful with that.

Gina has got everything our next LCP needs, drive, motivation, strong leadership skills , and a clear vision. I know she'll get a lot done. I can't wait to see where things are this time next year. I know that there are great things in store for this community (my baby).

It's very strange when you reach that point where you realize you have gained so much experience and you begin to look at new members through different eyes, you begin to think "I remember when that was me" and realize that you are the older member that you once found in those who are now gone and graduated. To see how this organization is changing, it is a very different experience.

It's a microcosm of life; it helps to put a lot of things into perspective. Things change, you have the power to influence the new direction, but you also must be willing to let go and pass the torch to the next generation...all for the greater good; Not for your success and glory, but for the success of an idea, for maintaining a common belief that unites people

Crash and Burn by Savage Garden

I know it's cheesy, but I like it:


When you feel all alone
And the world has turned its back on you
Give me a moment please
To tame your wild, wild heart

I know you feel
like the walls are closing in on you
It's hard to find release
And people can be so cold

When darkness is upon your door and
you feel like you can't take anymore

(Chorus)
Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and Fly away with you into the night

If you need to fall apart
I can mend your broken heart
If you need to crash
then crash and burn you're not alone

When you feel all alone
and a loyal friend is hard to find
you're caught in a one way street
with the monsters in your head

You're hopes and dreams are far away
and you feel like you can't face the day

Chorus

Cause there has always been heartache and pain
and when it's over you'll breathe again
you'll breathe again

Hoping this weekend will help make things better...

The consequences of some of my mistakes are rearing their ugly heads. And I keep getting swamped with work that just doesn't seem to be as important to me as this - right now - but that other work is important for my future, which makes it feel all the more burdensome. I just hope that it's not too late for me to achieve my goals, I hope that I haven't just been another contribution to the problem by wanting so much to have the solution...

Peace...not Prejudice

Ay dios mio, I need a hug. A thousand things to do in a short ammount of time and working in a system that makes it difficult to motivate others to help me.

Let's start with the positive, I already had a bitching session earlier with my roomies so there's no need to continue that here. Hokay, so last week, a group of students put up satirical posters about Islamo-Fascism week that were immensely offensive to Muslims and Arabs. This event, despite the anger it initially caused, was probably one of the greatest things to happen in recent weeks.

Because of these posters, several student orgs (including AIESEC) gathered together and decided to DO something about this. The posters (and all of the media attention it brought) jolted us back to the realization that stereotypes are alive and well and that there are a lot of prejudicial issues still brewing on our own campus. To combat this, we're putting on events during the same week as the Islamo-fascism events and calling it "Peace...not Prejudice" Now, we decided this on Monday (3 days ago) and the events start next week (about 3.5 days from now) which didn't leave us a whole lot of time to get organized. But never underestimate the power of collective resources and motivation. True, I've been organizing much of this on my own in the name of AIESEC cause it's mid-terms and there's no time to waste and there are not many who are as motivated/knowledgable enough to help at this stage. But I really think that the week will be a success and once I figure out all of the logistics, more people will be able to help out.

It's just really great to see a bunch of orgs finally coming together like this, to promote something meaningful and recognize our similarities rather than ignore each other cause of our differences. The downside is just that it's a lot of work to take on in addition to the paper I need to write, the 2 presentations I need to plan, the session I'm co-facilitating for Roks, Subgroup, another event I'm helping to coordinate in addition to the 2-3 events AIESEC is participating in during this PnP week and everything that goes into last minute planning.

Things are looking up for my LC in many ways, teetering on the edge in others, but I'm really hoping that after these events, and especially after the stress of these next 2 weeks. I'll be able to stop, take a breath, look around and be satisfied.

I could still use that hug though...

Dear World...

Dear World,

People are ridiculous...seriously, really, incredibly ridiculous. A lapel pin? really? really? This is almost as bad as the 24 hour baby-daddy coverage over Anna Nicole...And people wonder why I hate CNN/Fox News/American TV Media in general.

I just thought you should be aware, World, some pretty idiotic people occupy your planet.

Wake up call

My Politics and Cultures of the Middle East professor gave us some really sage advice the other day in class. He basically asked what sources we read to learn about the issues in the Middle East, outside of BBC and New York Times, and asked us why we weren't reading articles on Al Jazeera or local sources like Dar Al Hayat or even sites from parties like The Muslim Brotherhood or Hamas. He called us all out and it was really refreshing. He said, "You guys are going to be policy makers one day, you'll be working or interning for me [he works for the State Department] and I want people who can think about these issues and know about them. You are taking this class because you have a strong interest in the region, this class doesn't really fill a requirement so obviously you all want to be here. So take advantage of the resources available to you and the time you have here in college to educate yourself and try to understand what's really going on in the region."

That's not what he said verbatim, but essentially that's what he said. It isn't very often that professors here will call students out and make them realize, or at least remember, why they're going to college in the first place. It's so easy to fall into routine and let it carry you through your college experience. He reminded me why I'm bleeding my parent's dry in order to go to this school in DC, which I needed cause I've always been a lazy academic (not trying too hard, getting through by being average).

anyway, this is a really awesome article I read today on Al Jazeera:
Ahmadinejad's message to the world

Pause for poetry

So this is a little poem I wrote over the summer. I don't know who I was addressing, probably my imaginary friend, he doesn't have a name, but I call him Angel...or maybe I was just writing to myself, i'm not sure

If we were two
and you were you
and I was just myself
What do you think we would do?

would we eat? would we drink?
would we laugh? would we think
that life is nothing but grand?
Or, do you think
we'd cower and shrink
and bury our heads in the sand?

For the world is more than just us two
and all the things we could possibly do
would be but a blink in time.
But without such blinks,
the world, I should think,
would rather quickly go blind.

So, if we were two
and you were you
and I was just myself
what do you think we would do?

What do I study? Oh, just you and your country

As I sit in classes with titles like World Regions: Problems and Prospects or Development Anthropology or even a class like Politics and Cultures of the Middle East at my comfy university in Washington, DC, no more than 5 blocks away from the World Bank, IMF, and the White House, I think about the people I've met. The people who I consider good friends living in these "developing" countries, who have experienced things I've only read about; Things I have broken down and analyzed with classmates like a dead frog in high school biology. I think about them and wonder: what would they think of this lecture, or that reading? How would they talk about this issue?

As an International Development major, it's even weirder for me to think that somewhere, someday, I might be given a job that requires me to go to one of these countries to tell them what they should be doing to "develop" themselves and be confronted by my friends who've grown up there and know the country in a much different, much more personal way. There is a difference between helping a friend approach a problem and telling him how to fix it, and too many classes, too many books, too many powerful people approach it like the latter rather than the former.

It just bothers me sometimes to sit in a class and listen to some of these lectures thinking that half of the students in there aren't really going to experience a country firsthand or get to know a certain culture until they're already fast-tracking themselves through the state department, under the assumption that they know all there is to know cause they interned in an embassy once or Aced their way through the Elliot School of International Affairs or they studied abroad in Cairo their Junior year. I guess it's a pretty cynical look at my school, but I just wonder sometimes...

On a more positive note, I'm just 2 teacher reccommendations away from a completed application and 1 faculty assessment away from a submitted petition for Tunisia!