So, a note of explanation.
For the past six months or so, I've been using this blog as an outlet for my thoughts on a variety of issues or events.
As I said in my subtitle, this blog was to be: "A collection of my thoughts on the world, foreign policy, social justice, politics, theology, etc as I continue on my academic journey. This blog is meant primarily as a personal forum for me to track my thoughts and questions as I research and learn about a variety of issues. Feel free to comment or suggest any point, argument, issue, or philosophy you think I should consider!"
I entitled the blog "Thoughts of an Emerging Academic/Activist/Adult" because those are the worlds I see myself slowly entering through my passion for learning, acting for justice, and becoming a person who learns from her past and continually shapes a new future.
Now, the blog moves into phase two...changing into more of a travel blog chronicling my travels in Morocco this semester for friends, family, and those who want to keep up with what i'm up to. (hopefully i'll have some interesting stories to tell).
Who knows what the title of the blog will be when I get back...but I hope if nothing else, it is still a place for me to share my thoughts, wonderings and questions. If you happen to visit and read, feel free to comment. Thanks!
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Break Reading List
Here's what I've been reading the past month or so...some have made appearences in past blog posts, others haven't.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
Snow by Orhan Pamuk
Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
Living the Sabbath by Nomran Wizba
America and the World in the Age of Terror Edt by Daniel Benjamin
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
Snow by Orhan Pamuk
Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
Living the Sabbath by Nomran Wizba
America and the World in the Age of Terror Edt by Daniel Benjamin
Friday, January 05, 2007
What to do with my life
Why is it that just when I get comfertable with the idea that I don't know what I'm going to do with my life or even what I'm going to do after I graduate...everyone else starts freaking out and demanding answers?
This is Alanis Morrisette ironic here, ya'll.
For all of you wondering out there:
I don't know what I'm going to do with my life, yet.
I'm pretty sure God doesn't want me to know yet.
(And I if I don't get to know, sure as hell you don't get to either)
But I will figure it out, and I do have plenty of ideas.
I am a planner. I will have plenty of job opportunities and I will have the experience I need to be competitive for at least some of them.
So calm down. Deal. God will show us all in good time.
And in the meantime, please stop asking?!?
This is Alanis Morrisette ironic here, ya'll.
For all of you wondering out there:
I don't know what I'm going to do with my life, yet.
I'm pretty sure God doesn't want me to know yet.
(And I if I don't get to know, sure as hell you don't get to either)
But I will figure it out, and I do have plenty of ideas.
I am a planner. I will have plenty of job opportunities and I will have the experience I need to be competitive for at least some of them.
So calm down. Deal. God will show us all in good time.
And in the meantime, please stop asking?!?
Monday, January 01, 2007
Paul Farmer
In whatever direction my life unfolds, I hope that I find a way to mesh what I know intellectually and academically, with the call of my faith, and my will to act. If I could do that, maybe then I could help make a difference in some aspect of this world.
If you haven't read Mountains Beyond Mountains, you should.
People told me the same thing, and I didn't get around to it until this break, so don't worry if it takes awhile. But sometime when you need a good read, one that inspires a bit of hope but is still well-written - you should check it out.
The book follows the story of Paul Farmer, a MD who graduated from and works for Harvard, but also built and practices in Haiti, the poorest nation in the hemisphere. The story tracks his life work, his drive and passion, his faults and his disappointments, his good deeds and the way he and his team at Partners in Health changed the way tuberculosis and the poverty-stricken are treated in the medical field.
It's sort of amazing. In a way you could consider his focus global. He ended up spending a great deal of time, energy, and his career in a foreign nation treating people that he'd never met previously and seemingly had no connection with. And in the course of his career, he changed the medical landscape both in the treatment of a deadly disease and in the way he went about changing it.
And yet, for Paul Farmer, Haiti was his community. It was his backyard, his family, his friends. He had a global focus. He didn't think that it was fair that people in the first world could afford medical care and the poor couldn't. But it him hardest when he visited Haiti and so he stayed and attempted to help fix the problem.
It's what Prof. Schaefer elluded to at one of our SALT forums last fall. The need for people to go where they feel called and then stay...
That takes a lot of courage. And a very special call I think. In one way I'd like for there to be more people like Paul Farmer. In other ways I understand the danger of it, the need for people to invest in their communities at home, the harm people can do to cultural understanding, the problems that can be created.
But mostly its just inspiring to see that he followed his path with a fiercity and a determinedness and he made a difference. He healed so many, created an organization that does great work and then affected his field worldwide. Amazing.
--------------------------------------------------------------
If you haven't read Mountains Beyond Mountains, you should.
People told me the same thing, and I didn't get around to it until this break, so don't worry if it takes awhile. But sometime when you need a good read, one that inspires a bit of hope but is still well-written - you should check it out.
The book follows the story of Paul Farmer, a MD who graduated from and works for Harvard, but also built and practices in Haiti, the poorest nation in the hemisphere. The story tracks his life work, his drive and passion, his faults and his disappointments, his good deeds and the way he and his team at Partners in Health changed the way tuberculosis and the poverty-stricken are treated in the medical field.
It's sort of amazing. In a way you could consider his focus global. He ended up spending a great deal of time, energy, and his career in a foreign nation treating people that he'd never met previously and seemingly had no connection with. And in the course of his career, he changed the medical landscape both in the treatment of a deadly disease and in the way he went about changing it.
And yet, for Paul Farmer, Haiti was his community. It was his backyard, his family, his friends. He had a global focus. He didn't think that it was fair that people in the first world could afford medical care and the poor couldn't. But it him hardest when he visited Haiti and so he stayed and attempted to help fix the problem.
It's what Prof. Schaefer elluded to at one of our SALT forums last fall. The need for people to go where they feel called and then stay...
That takes a lot of courage. And a very special call I think. In one way I'd like for there to be more people like Paul Farmer. In other ways I understand the danger of it, the need for people to invest in their communities at home, the harm people can do to cultural understanding, the problems that can be created.
But mostly its just inspiring to see that he followed his path with a fiercity and a determinedness and he made a difference. He healed so many, created an organization that does great work and then affected his field worldwide. Amazing.
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