When Jake was a toddler he had his own style. Every day he tied his Winnie-the-Pooh blanket around neck and spent hours running back and forth across our living room, all the while looking back to see if his blanket was flowing like Superman's cape.
Now that he's older, he has a new style. He insists on going to school with button-shirt worn open over his t-shirt. For months, Kaddi and I have been trying to figure out the appeal of this look. (After all, it's not as cool as pegged pants.)
A few days ago I took him to a 'skatepark' in Kahuku. As I watched him racing across the ramps, I finally understood his new look. He's still racing back and forth with his cape behind him.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Rocking Chairs, Tube Socks, Smurf Radios
(A few days ago Kaddi was tagged by her friend Kelly of 'Barby Lane' fame. Here is her response...)
5 Things I was doing 10 years ago
1. Living at Villa Rose Apartments, near the Provo Courthouse.
2. Sitting in a rocking chair, at Villa Rose Apts and wondering why my brand new baby boy was so colic-y.
3. Wondering if a Ph.d in History would really take that long.
4. Adjusting to being a stay-at-home mom, instead of working as a receptionist for a company in Draper. I still don’t really know what they do.
(Do I get an 'F' if I can’t list 5 things?)
5 Things on my To-Do list today
1. Remember to take my pre-natal vitamins
2. Sign Jake up for Basketball
3. Get a much needed pedicure
4. Meg’s parent teacher conference
5. Take Meg to swimming practice and ice cream afterwards. I have to put this in even though we are only allowed five: watch Survivor and The Office.
5 Things I would do if I had a Million Dollars
1. Pay off student loans
2. Take my parents on a European tour and Shane’s parents somewhere to their liking.
3. Put money aside for each of my kids and give a few thousand to each one of my siblings and Shane’s.
4. Go on a J.Crew and Banana Republic shopping spree.
5. Buy a house, Buy a house, Buy a house.
5 Things I will never wear again
1. Acid washed jeans with zippers on the ankles.
2. Red nail polish. My nails are always short and if I wear red I feel like a “lady of the night.”
3. A baseball hat with my name in felt across the top.
4. Tube socks with the stripes at the top. I use to wear them in first or second grade and keep my milk money at the bottom. I think every school teacher would think twice about handling milk money if they knew where it had been.
5. A hat to church
5 Favorite Toys
1. IPOD, can’t workout without it.
2. Cell phone. My loving father bought me a new one before this new journey to Hawaii. It’s black and orange and I can take oodles of pictures with it.
3. A borrowed Wilson Hammer tennis racket. My friend lent this to me in Thailand last year for my tennis league and I absolutely loved it. I almost beat Shane a couple of times with it, but he’ll say he doesn’t remember (selective memory).
4. Portable DVD player. One of the best ideas ever conceived. Makes 22 hour journeys to Thailand bearable, 3 day drives across the states manageable and 5 hour plane rides to Hawaii do able. Whom ever invented this definitely had children.
5. When I was a kid my favorite toys were: Barbies (the heart family), personal Pac Man arcade game, Smurf radio and remote control cars.
5 Things I was doing 10 years ago
1. Living at Villa Rose Apartments, near the Provo Courthouse.
2. Sitting in a rocking chair, at Villa Rose Apts and wondering why my brand new baby boy was so colic-y.
3. Wondering if a Ph.d in History would really take that long.
4. Adjusting to being a stay-at-home mom, instead of working as a receptionist for a company in Draper. I still don’t really know what they do.
(Do I get an 'F' if I can’t list 5 things?)
5 Things on my To-Do list today
1. Remember to take my pre-natal vitamins
2. Sign Jake up for Basketball
3. Get a much needed pedicure
4. Meg’s parent teacher conference
5. Take Meg to swimming practice and ice cream afterwards. I have to put this in even though we are only allowed five: watch Survivor and The Office.
5 Things I would do if I had a Million Dollars
1. Pay off student loans
2. Take my parents on a European tour and Shane’s parents somewhere to their liking.
3. Put money aside for each of my kids and give a few thousand to each one of my siblings and Shane’s.
4. Go on a J.Crew and Banana Republic shopping spree.
5. Buy a house, Buy a house, Buy a house.
5 Things I will never wear again
1. Acid washed jeans with zippers on the ankles.
2. Red nail polish. My nails are always short and if I wear red I feel like a “lady of the night.”
3. A baseball hat with my name in felt across the top.
4. Tube socks with the stripes at the top. I use to wear them in first or second grade and keep my milk money at the bottom. I think every school teacher would think twice about handling milk money if they knew where it had been.
5. A hat to church
5 Favorite Toys
1. IPOD, can’t workout without it.
2. Cell phone. My loving father bought me a new one before this new journey to Hawaii. It’s black and orange and I can take oodles of pictures with it.
3. A borrowed Wilson Hammer tennis racket. My friend lent this to me in Thailand last year for my tennis league and I absolutely loved it. I almost beat Shane a couple of times with it, but he’ll say he doesn’t remember (selective memory).
4. Portable DVD player. One of the best ideas ever conceived. Makes 22 hour journeys to Thailand bearable, 3 day drives across the states manageable and 5 hour plane rides to Hawaii do able. Whom ever invented this definitely had children.
5. When I was a kid my favorite toys were: Barbies (the heart family), personal Pac Man arcade game, Smurf radio and remote control cars.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Scenes from a Midterm
In my first experience as a full-time faculty member, I am learning a lot about my chosen career. I am learning that professors do quite a bit more than I though they did. I am learning that I love my office more than I've every loved any material object before. (I love it so much, I want to take it behind the...) And I'm learning that the most important part of a successful class curriculum is to write instructions so precise, so meticulous, so Byzantine, that it will hold up under a Johnny Cochrane cross examination...if he weren't dead. This is because if there is ever any possiblity of interpreting instructions wrong, the students will choose that interpretation.
Case in point: Yesterday morning I picked up my History 201 midterms from the testing center. I left explicit instructions that students were to type their essays on the available computer. I thought this would make it easier for the international students who might not have the best English handwriting. Despite these instructions, some student wrote their answers on the test sheet itself. Others chose to write on the back of pamphlet from the Housing office. Why, in the name of sweet Lou Pinella, they had these pamphlets I have no idea. So now I get to spend my time cutting throught the jungle of paper-products searching for hidden treasures of student essays.
It gets better...
To give the students a fighting chance on the essay, I give them possible questions in advance. On Friday I handed the students a review sheet that contained three possible essay questions, and informed them that only one appears on the test. This forces them to study the themes for all three essays, which is supposed to be the idea behind testing anyway. There was a question on Socratic philosophy, centralization of government in empire, and land reform. Here is the exact question that appeared on the test:
During the course, we study the problems that occur when a wealthy minority monopolizes land in any society. A ruler’s attempt to enact land reform often leads to his overthrow. Write an essay comparing three civilizations that tried to enforce reform programs and their results. Explain which program was the most successful and why.
A good World Civ essay should challenge the students the student to contrast and compare different civilizations, and cultural responses to the problems that are universal within the human experience. We've spent lots of time talking about land reform with Solon in Athens, the Gracchi brothers in Rome, and Wang Man in China. I thought it was the most obvious question, and the easiest to answer given the class lectures.
The day after the midterm I received an email from a student. Here's what it said:
Bro. Strate,
In class on Friday you told us there would be three essays on the exam, and we could choose one to write about. But when I got to the testing center there was only one essay and it wasn't the one I studied for. I wrote an essay about Socrates because that's what I studied. If I could be graded on that essay that would be very good of you. Please let me know if you would like to talk to me about this.
And this is the way I read it:
Dear Bro. Strate,
I didn't pay attention to the review sheet. I didn't listen to what you said in class. I only wanted to spend time studying for one essay, and even though it wasn't on the exam I still wrote about it. Please look past my total disregard for instructions and protocol and give me a good grade anyway.
I now enjoy the dilemma of deciding how to respond. This attitude of indifference among students, that others should compensate for their own lack of preparation, is quite maddening. The best thing I could do in this situation is send a clear signal that this type of behavior is not acceptable at a university.
If I give this person the grade they deserve - zero - they have no chance of passing the class. This failure, in turn, may result in academic probation, which could jeopardize their visa and require they return to their native country.
What would you do?
Case in point: Yesterday morning I picked up my History 201 midterms from the testing center. I left explicit instructions that students were to type their essays on the available computer. I thought this would make it easier for the international students who might not have the best English handwriting. Despite these instructions, some student wrote their answers on the test sheet itself. Others chose to write on the back of pamphlet from the Housing office. Why, in the name of sweet Lou Pinella, they had these pamphlets I have no idea. So now I get to spend my time cutting throught the jungle of paper-products searching for hidden treasures of student essays.
It gets better...
To give the students a fighting chance on the essay, I give them possible questions in advance. On Friday I handed the students a review sheet that contained three possible essay questions, and informed them that only one appears on the test. This forces them to study the themes for all three essays, which is supposed to be the idea behind testing anyway. There was a question on Socratic philosophy, centralization of government in empire, and land reform. Here is the exact question that appeared on the test:
During the course, we study the problems that occur when a wealthy minority monopolizes land in any society. A ruler’s attempt to enact land reform often leads to his overthrow. Write an essay comparing three civilizations that tried to enforce reform programs and their results. Explain which program was the most successful and why.
A good World Civ essay should challenge the students the student to contrast and compare different civilizations, and cultural responses to the problems that are universal within the human experience. We've spent lots of time talking about land reform with Solon in Athens, the Gracchi brothers in Rome, and Wang Man in China. I thought it was the most obvious question, and the easiest to answer given the class lectures.
The day after the midterm I received an email from a student. Here's what it said:
Bro. Strate,
In class on Friday you told us there would be three essays on the exam, and we could choose one to write about. But when I got to the testing center there was only one essay and it wasn't the one I studied for. I wrote an essay about Socrates because that's what I studied. If I could be graded on that essay that would be very good of you. Please let me know if you would like to talk to me about this.
And this is the way I read it:
Dear Bro. Strate,
I didn't pay attention to the review sheet. I didn't listen to what you said in class. I only wanted to spend time studying for one essay, and even though it wasn't on the exam I still wrote about it. Please look past my total disregard for instructions and protocol and give me a good grade anyway.
I now enjoy the dilemma of deciding how to respond. This attitude of indifference among students, that others should compensate for their own lack of preparation, is quite maddening. The best thing I could do in this situation is send a clear signal that this type of behavior is not acceptable at a university.
If I give this person the grade they deserve - zero - they have no chance of passing the class. This failure, in turn, may result in academic probation, which could jeopardize their visa and require they return to their native country.
What would you do?
Sunday, October 21, 2007
But do they have Arby's?
To celebrate our purchase of a new camera we went to try it out at Foodfest yesterday. The international clubs all are required by the university to provide their native foods at World Foodfest, one of Laie's best community activities. We headed over their with our friends the Pecks and I saw two of my students in the Tonga and Brazil clubs. Here's some highlights.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The Burman Furor
The article quoting my expertise on Burma was published this week in the student newspaper. The university paper is called Ke Alaka'i, which apparently is Hawaiian for 'run-on sentence.'
You can visit the newspaper website to read the story, and you can also order an autographed print copy from 301NIH for only $7.95 + s&h. Also look for me to appear on CNN's 360 with Anderson Cooper tomorrow at 6 PM.
You can visit the newspaper website to read the story, and you can also order an autographed print copy from 301NIH for only $7.95 + s&h. Also look for me to appear on CNN's 360 with Anderson Cooper tomorrow at 6 PM.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Life on the K-Side
Many of you have sent in multiple requests for Kaddi to set up her own blog. Although I haven't succeeded in convincing her to do this, she has finally agreed to make what I hope will be the first of many contributions to 301NIH.
K-Side
(not eastside, not Westside, just one women’s experience and struggles of living in a Mormon Ghetto)
I have tried to deny the fact that we indeed live in a Mormon ghetto. Shane has tried to convince me of this since the day we moved in. It wasn’t until today after seeing a few grocery carts from our local store in yards of several tenants that I realized, we do indeed live in a Mormon ghetto. Now this is a ghetto like no other. I do not fear for my children. I am not afraid that they will be approached on the swings to experiment with drugs. I’m not afraid that they will be tempted by young hooligans to spread graffiti on the walls of our buildings and I am not afraid that they will be attacked when coming back from the candy vending machine. What I am afraid of is that they will not want to seek after college degrees like their father, for they will fear that all their hard work and sacrifice might have them end up in a Mormon Ghetto. Hopefully when Jake is married with children of his own and Shane and I have purchased our very first home in Nebraska, our kids will realize that all the sacrifice and student loans are so worth it.
All joking aside I must paint the Mormon ghetto in its true light. Our kids can play outside all day and I don’t have to fear for their safety. Most of the people here are very kind and I’m sure more than willing to lend us hand if we were in need. Our kids friends are a hop, skip and jump away and there is no need to set up play dates. The kids their age are not running around with cell phones, IPODs and designer clothes, shoes etc. but are having good ole fashion outdoor fun, football games, bikes, skateboards, playing in the dirt, activities that 10 yr. olds should be engaged in. Aside from the shared Laundromat that I have to lug load after load of laundry too, aside from the non-air- conditioned apt. no dishwasher, apt. furnished to look like the inside of our church building, one bathroom, crying babies 24/7, ants , you get the picture. Aside from all of this it’s an alright, o.k. , could only do it for one year place to live.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
I believe the children are our future
I'm a little concerned about my afternoon World Civilization classes. The students are just not taking the class seriously. Many of them don't attend regularly. Yesterday when I started my discussion of Plato's Apology and Crito, only eight of of possible thirty students were in class. Many of them come late, they leave during class and come back, or they leave early. They don't turn their cel phones off and they carry on conversation in class all the time. I don't know if there's a cultural issue, or if it's just the afternoon time slot (the classes are MWF at 2 & 4 PM), or this is just how things work at BYUH.
I've tried threatening, I've tried attendance quizzes, I've tried making the class more interesting, and now I've resorted to my final strategy - failing people. I just got the first quizzes back form the testing center and they're just short of disastrous. Out of thirty possible points, several people scored less than ten. In our department meeting at the beginning of the semester the Chair asked us we needed to give out lower scores in order to combate grade inflation. The way things are going right now I should be able to help with that.
The attitude of my students was reflected in a recent exchange at the end of class on Monday. After my lecture I was cleaning off the whiteboard and turned around to see a student waiting to talk to me. Even though this was probably only the third time he'd attended class, I recognized him from his skater attire, his goofy oversized baseball hat that he wore sideways, and his overwhelming sense of entitlement. Here's what ensued:
Me: What can I do for you?
Slacker: I need to pick up a review sheet for the quiz tomorrow.
Me: There is no review sheet. There's only three questions on the quiz.
Slacker: Well...how am I supposed to know what to study?
Me: You study the things I lecture about in class, you can use the text to review.
Slacker: What?!
Me: We also did a review on Friday. If you came to class you'd know that.
Slacker: (rolls his eyes, shakes his head, and walks away mumbling)
After that performance I couldn't wait to get the quizzes back, I sorted through them all to look for slacker's quiz. He answered only one of the questions and scored six out of thirty. I have no doubt the next time I see him will be two weeks before finals when he shows up at my office and says "Yeah...I'd like to pass this class, so what do I need to do?"
Oh well, I've got bigger problems right now. I went to Giovanni's shrimp shack in Kahuku yesterday and had some scampi. Now Kaddi won't come near me because apparently I have butter and garlic oozing out of my pores. I may need to go soak myself in the ocean for few hours today, or else I'll be sleeping on the couch again.
I've tried threatening, I've tried attendance quizzes, I've tried making the class more interesting, and now I've resorted to my final strategy - failing people. I just got the first quizzes back form the testing center and they're just short of disastrous. Out of thirty possible points, several people scored less than ten. In our department meeting at the beginning of the semester the Chair asked us we needed to give out lower scores in order to combate grade inflation. The way things are going right now I should be able to help with that.
The attitude of my students was reflected in a recent exchange at the end of class on Monday. After my lecture I was cleaning off the whiteboard and turned around to see a student waiting to talk to me. Even though this was probably only the third time he'd attended class, I recognized him from his skater attire, his goofy oversized baseball hat that he wore sideways, and his overwhelming sense of entitlement. Here's what ensued:
Me: What can I do for you?
Slacker: I need to pick up a review sheet for the quiz tomorrow.
Me: There is no review sheet. There's only three questions on the quiz.
Slacker: Well...how am I supposed to know what to study?
Me: You study the things I lecture about in class, you can use the text to review.
Slacker: What?!
Me: We also did a review on Friday. If you came to class you'd know that.
Slacker: (rolls his eyes, shakes his head, and walks away mumbling)
After that performance I couldn't wait to get the quizzes back, I sorted through them all to look for slacker's quiz. He answered only one of the questions and scored six out of thirty. I have no doubt the next time I see him will be two weeks before finals when he shows up at my office and says "Yeah...I'd like to pass this class, so what do I need to do?"
Oh well, I've got bigger problems right now. I went to Giovanni's shrimp shack in Kahuku yesterday and had some scampi. Now Kaddi won't come near me because apparently I have butter and garlic oozing out of my pores. I may need to go soak myself in the ocean for few hours today, or else I'll be sleeping on the couch again.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
The October Mailbag
301 nights
I can't believe how lucky you guys are to be living in Hawaii! There's so much to see and do. What have you done so far? Have you been to any of the other islands?
M. Gibbons
Bangkok Thailand
Since we didn't have a car our first month here, we have not been to see many of the sites. But I'm proud to announce that is about to change, as we have recently purchased our very own motor carriage. It's a 1997 Saturn something-or-other, with four doors....actually, three and a half since one of the door panels is falling off. It's dark green with an interior that appears as though it were once made of leather. I would have included a picture, but in order to pay for the vehicle we traded our digital camera straight across.
There's a good chance we got ripped off.
Dear 301NIH
The blog does not have enough information about Kaddi's pregnancy. How is she doing?
K-money
Hamden, CT
Kaddi is feeling better about life here in Hawaii now that its getting cooler. We all sleep better. She's also trying to get a note from her doctor so that our apartment manager will let us have air-conditioning. But pregnancy has also given a heightened sensitivity to odors, which is causing discomfort. The other day I was eating some Buffalo Wing and Blue Cheese Doritos (It was a Flavor COLLISION!) and the blue cheese smell was too much for her to take. She made me finish eating my chips outside.
At least she positioned the TV so I could watch it through the screen door.
Dear Hawaii man,
I can't believe you describe your neighbourhood as a ghetto when you live in Hawaii. Have you ever even been to a real ghetto?
LaQuanda Willis
Oak Park, IL
To be fair, I refer to our neighbourhood as the Mormon projects. And for the most part, I stand by this description. It's not a scary ghetto since it's full of good people who are completing their education and raising their families. But it's also low-income housing units with toys and furniture strewn all over the place. It's the kind of place where people roll up in their SUV's blasting polynesian music, and where you can hear your neighbour yelling at his kids or singing in the shower. It's also the kind of place where you can walk out to your car and find a half-naked (if you're lucky) kid sliding down your windshield.
.JPG)
Can somebody put some pants on this kid?
301NIB,
Are you exercising enough? When you come up to the reunion next summer we're going to be doing a lot of hiking and outdoor acitivities. You need to cut out the junk food and get on the tread mill.
Camp Impeesa Man
Magrath, AB
I confess that I have not been as active as I would like since arriving in Hawaii. Maybe I should start running - you know that Bill and Ryan just finished a marathon in St. George? I'm very proud of both of them, Bill particularly for finishing his first marathon in good time. But Ryan's marathon completion was even more emotional for me. During the 2006 marathon in Logan Utah, Ryan experienced severe chaffing from a cotton-poly blend t-shirt and lost both his nipples. The doctors said he would never run again. He was devastated.
I knew that I couldn't stand back and watch my dear cousin give up his passion for distance running. A preliminary test confirmed I would be a perfect match, and I donated one of my nipples so that he could return to the sport he loves. Yesterday, when I heard that Ryan had completed his first marathon since our surgery, I felt as though a small part of me had run right along with him.
Mr. Mack Strate,
We appreciate your concise yet evocative review of our recent publication The Rural Juror. In the absence of other media coverage, informative and entertaining blogs like yours are the engines driving the success of this novel.
After perusing your blog I think your family's year in Thailand would make the subject of a very insightful and amusing book. If you decide to pursue such a project, I hope you'll consider our firm for publication.
E. Benes
Pendant Publishing
New York City
I have thought of writing that experience as a book, but right now I'm involved in another project. I'm writing a fantasy novel about Sarah, a high school girl who moves to small town to live with her father. In her science class she meets Blair, a brooding young man who's as good-looking as he is mysterious. Despite Blair's efforts efforts to keep his distance, he and Sarah gradually grow to care for each other. Sarah suspects Blair is not like the others kids, that there's something unusual and powerful about him. It is only after she's fallen in love with Blair that Sarah learns his terrible secret...
I can't believe how lucky you guys are to be living in Hawaii! There's so much to see and do. What have you done so far? Have you been to any of the other islands?
M. Gibbons
Bangkok Thailand
Since we didn't have a car our first month here, we have not been to see many of the sites. But I'm proud to announce that is about to change, as we have recently purchased our very own motor carriage. It's a 1997 Saturn something-or-other, with four doors....actually, three and a half since one of the door panels is falling off. It's dark green with an interior that appears as though it were once made of leather. I would have included a picture, but in order to pay for the vehicle we traded our digital camera straight across.
There's a good chance we got ripped off.
Dear 301NIH
The blog does not have enough information about Kaddi's pregnancy. How is she doing?
K-money
Hamden, CT
Kaddi is feeling better about life here in Hawaii now that its getting cooler. We all sleep better. She's also trying to get a note from her doctor so that our apartment manager will let us have air-conditioning. But pregnancy has also given a heightened sensitivity to odors, which is causing discomfort. The other day I was eating some Buffalo Wing and Blue Cheese Doritos (It was a Flavor COLLISION!) and the blue cheese smell was too much for her to take. She made me finish eating my chips outside.
At least she positioned the TV so I could watch it through the screen door.
Dear Hawaii man,
I can't believe you describe your neighbourhood as a ghetto when you live in Hawaii. Have you ever even been to a real ghetto?
LaQuanda Willis
Oak Park, IL
To be fair, I refer to our neighbourhood as the Mormon projects. And for the most part, I stand by this description. It's not a scary ghetto since it's full of good people who are completing their education and raising their families. But it's also low-income housing units with toys and furniture strewn all over the place. It's the kind of place where people roll up in their SUV's blasting polynesian music, and where you can hear your neighbour yelling at his kids or singing in the shower. It's also the kind of place where you can walk out to your car and find a half-naked (if you're lucky) kid sliding down your windshield.
.JPG)
Can somebody put some pants on this kid?301NIB,
Are you exercising enough? When you come up to the reunion next summer we're going to be doing a lot of hiking and outdoor acitivities. You need to cut out the junk food and get on the tread mill.
Camp Impeesa Man
Magrath, AB
I confess that I have not been as active as I would like since arriving in Hawaii. Maybe I should start running - you know that Bill and Ryan just finished a marathon in St. George? I'm very proud of both of them, Bill particularly for finishing his first marathon in good time. But Ryan's marathon completion was even more emotional for me. During the 2006 marathon in Logan Utah, Ryan experienced severe chaffing from a cotton-poly blend t-shirt and lost both his nipples. The doctors said he would never run again. He was devastated.
I knew that I couldn't stand back and watch my dear cousin give up his passion for distance running. A preliminary test confirmed I would be a perfect match, and I donated one of my nipples so that he could return to the sport he loves. Yesterday, when I heard that Ryan had completed his first marathon since our surgery, I felt as though a small part of me had run right along with him.
Mr. Mack Strate,
We appreciate your concise yet evocative review of our recent publication The Rural Juror. In the absence of other media coverage, informative and entertaining blogs like yours are the engines driving the success of this novel.
After perusing your blog I think your family's year in Thailand would make the subject of a very insightful and amusing book. If you decide to pursue such a project, I hope you'll consider our firm for publication.
E. Benes
Pendant Publishing
New York City
I have thought of writing that experience as a book, but right now I'm involved in another project. I'm writing a fantasy novel about Sarah, a high school girl who moves to small town to live with her father. In her science class she meets Blair, a brooding young man who's as good-looking as he is mysterious. Despite Blair's efforts efforts to keep his distance, he and Sarah gradually grow to care for each other. Sarah suspects Blair is not like the others kids, that there's something unusual and powerful about him. It is only after she's fallen in love with Blair that Sarah learns his terrible secret...
He's a Scientologist.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Myanmar, I hardly know ye
Tsunami warning for Burma's generalsA few days ago I received a call from the student newspaper wanting to interview me about the current situation in Burma. While I agreed to meet with student, I thought "I don't know anything about Burma. Nobody knows anything about Burma!" Fortunately, I have lots of experience with pretending to be more capable and knowledgable than I really am. Just in case, I spent the next hour reading all the press articles I could find about Burma. I even re-watched the Seinfeld episode where J. Peterman abandons his catalog and heads off to Myanmar just to see if I could pick up anything special.
Thankfully, my anxiety was all for naught. When the studenr reporter arrived at my office her first question was "What is a junta?" After that, I realized I was probably in the clear. We talked for about twenty minutes and I provided come very general background concerning the 1988 student massacre, Ang-San Suu Kyi, the Myanmar-Burma controvery, and the military dictatorship that has ruled for forty years. The next edition of the student paper comes out next Wednesday, and I'm very interested to see how she quotes me. I hope I sound smart.
The protests in Burma started in early September after the military decided to raise fuel prices for consumers. A few days later it really gathered momentum when the Buddhist monks began rallying support and speaking out against the government. This made things much more complicated. You can't just shoot hundreds or thousands of monks the way you would shoot university students. People really get upset. Nevertheless, this hasn't stopped the army from killing a few monks here or there when they thought no one was looking. There's even been video footage of a Japanese journalist being shot. The speed of the protests caught the government off guard, and at the beginning there were photos and video footage broadcast on the internet. But now the government has tighter control over the media and is preventing the export of information. No one is really sure what is happening in Burma.
All my student are asking me what will happen. Right now it appears that the military has locked everything down, including the monsteries, and is prepared to ride this thing out. It's difficult for the internation community to put pressure on Burma, because the country is so isolated. Popular protests like this only succeed because the strain of shooting civilians causes the army command the splinter, refuse to follow orders, and eventually back down. Burma's army has never shown any such signs of conscience. It is likely this situation will end just like the protests of 1988.
"Cornered but unbeaten: the true leader"
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Suspense: thy name is Grisham!
When Susan Landon, a corporate accountant from Memphis, is selected for jury duty she dreads following the monotonous proceedings of an armed robbery trial. That's before she meets fellow juror Jake West, a plaid-shirted mountain man from Snelford, Arkansas. Soon Susan is spending weekends at Jake's remote cabin, where he teaches her the symmetry between legal principles and outdoor survival techniques. But when the trial takes a dramatic turn Susan will be forced to decide between her career, her new love, and her job. Does she have the willpower to sacrifice everything for The Rural Juror?This is the first novel from new author Kevin Grisham. Unlike his brother John, who writes mainly legal-thrillers, Kevin is building a following around an exciting new genre known as Romance-legal-adventure-thrillers. This book will make your pulse race right before it steals you heart. I started reading it on the plane to Hawaii and had a hard time putting it down. The main problem with this book is that it can be difficult to find. You may have to buy it online, or you can just wait for next year's release of the movie version, starring Tea Leone and Kevin Sorbo.
And if any of you are thinking about possible Christmas presents for me, I'm eagerly anticipating the relase of Kevin Grisham's second novel, Urban Fervor. It's the perfect stocking-stuffer.
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