thisthis

there is a calmness, here, in these noises. on a houseboat on lake Dal, kashmir, india. men's voices, cantor as earlymorning exchanges for fresh eggs, fish, flowers.

thisthis is my morning, and it is where i truly belong. herehere there is no contradiction between a past of unfaithful fringes and a future of one love; this is peaceful water ripples left by hand-rowed boats. this is women in hijab saris floating by. this is peace.

There Are Places Where Men Dominate.

arriving at the Kashmir Airport, customs/ security is nothing less than dozens of armed, uniformed officers standing in tow, and nothing more than unabashed staring at the short, pale women in a flowing skirt and tank top.

i'd thought i was fully covered with my long-sleeved jacket on, but i misestimated the scale.

i find myself more often in discomfort here-- there are far less non-Indian tourists than i'd anticipated-- and women. i do not feel physically threatened, or for my things, but i feel as if i am a novely, a unique and foreigh thing. perhaps in the states we treat burka'd women the same way, but at least they have something to hide behind.

all around, young people ask me for my photograph. at the Taj Mahal, boys in their teens and early twenties snapped pictures of me discreetly on their cell phones-- their friends posing as blockers. i caught many of them; i glared.

my tour guide/ 'security guard' warned me of this after it happened. i asked why. he said, 'because you are pretty.'

i countered, 'because i don't look indian?' 'yes,' he said, 'that.' but i suspect it is less not being indian and more not wearing a long, loose, flowing sari with a scarf appropriately covering my chest.

a Beautiful woman today on the plane likewise asked if she could take my picture. 'you are sweet,' she said.

later

'i love your fair skin,' said the jewelry man. 'i washed my hands so hard, but they are not like yours.'

~there is a man here whose eyes i have long known.~

'this is so pleasant,' i think,
sitting a top a bench, facing hapgar's tomb-- a mini Taj Mahal.
the breeze is just such, as i watch tour groups come in and go out. birds sing songs, and yes, this is what i had imagined india to be.

there was a faint familiarity already with this country-- no surprise to see the women in their saris, men in khakis and sandals. even the poverty is to be expected.

-later-

from chicago to chennai: policymaking on a backpacker's budget.

we worry about you.

"we worry about you going (to india) by yourself," they said.

"i'm not by myself; they have one billion people," i replied.

dreams of ayiti(indi)

my night was fitful-- of you. dreams of an island country: returns there as a backpacker or as part of a group. you are a guide. the place is not safe.

but you, you were all over. your presence pervaded my night.

a Kashmiri, here, smiled, deliciously, and extended an invitation to visit the mountains, the lake, the muslim place. i found you in the smile, the dark of an Indian stranger.

International Development Policies in Practice

In the fourth and final installment of the Career Services 2009 "Real World Perspectives" series, three panelists spoke to students about the variety of careers in international development. Harris School mentors Bill Hunt, Tom Derdak, and Rachel Bronson shared their experiences in working in policy and on the ground within Chicago's international development field. The talk was co-sponsored by CIAPP, the student Committee on International Affairs in Public Policy.

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President of UChicago Argonne Addresses Students

Speaking on one contemporary energy issue-climate change-Rosner said, "Certain topics are so controversial, that it is quite difficult to find any two people who agree on that topic." He was shocked when he realized that some scientists were willing to downplay the impact of climate change because of partisan agendas. "Energy should not be a partisan issue-it's a national issue. This means that we [scientists] need to speak the truth, no matter how inconvenient."

There is a misperception that energy issues have not changed over the last 50 years, he said. "Our energy problems of today are not the same as those of the 1970s. Then the problem was an international political problem; today, it is not just politics," but reliance on cheap and easy energy options that pollute. Rosner said that now the challenge is to craft good policy in response to climate change.

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Public Policy Benefits from Lobbyists, Say Experts

"My concern is that the word 'lobbyist' gets battered," said Larry Suffredin, Cook County Commissioner for the 13th District and a lobbyist. "I experienced this last year, when I ran for State's Attorney. My four opponents blasted me for the clients that I represent. But I won't apologize for them, because I believe people have the right to be represented."

Kevin Conlon, president of Conlon Public Strategies and a lecturer at the Harris School, added, "lobbyists provide a level of insight to a policy area that ... a staffer [cannot]." Scientists, for example, regularly travel to Washington to lobby legislators on the issues affected by their field of expertise.

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Student Tracks Colombian Migration and the Labor Force

Calderón-Mejia and her coauthor, Ana María Ibáñez Londoño from the Universidad de los Andes, found that in Colombia internally displaced persons (IDPs) typically moved to escape armed conflict--leaving violent, rural parts of the country for safer, urban areas--rather than to find better jobs, schools, or other opportunities. "What's going on here is that you see an increase in the speed of traditional rural-urban migration," compared to other developing countries in Latin America. Nearly 8 percent of the Colombian workforce migrates out of necessity, not choice.

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The Recent Revolution in Cultural Economics

Part of the policy problem today is that the [answers to the] question 'What is culture?' are not as well defined," he said. "Is YouTube culture? Are blogs culture?" With the Internet, Cowen continued, consumers are now using new technologies to substitute for older forms of culture. Instead of going out to the opera, people may watch a short aria online. Said Cowen, "You see more activities that fit on the fringe of culture."

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i have never learned more

lately

where i've been lately:

Glaser on Foreign Policy
Obama and Post-Racial Politics?
Chicago South-Side and the UChicago
Media Ethics in an Online World
Fellowship Students on Summer Internships
Women's Choices and Population Growth
Journalist on Georgia-Russian Relations
Shirin Ebadi on Iran

it's okay...

Mentors Advise Students to Communicate Policy Effectively

Traditional careers for writers used to be in print journalism and the television news media. But today's multinational corporations and "new media" outlets have broadened the space for both communications and marketing.

Jonathan Dedmon and Ann McCabe-Harris School mentors-shared their experiences in public and private sector communication roles. Dedmon opened with a central question in the field: "One of the key concepts in communications is the notion of an 'audience.' Companies have many audiences that will impact how you write: investors, the media, customer relations, franchisees, and governmental agencies. What you need to consider is who are the important audiences, and how do you reach them?"

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Glaser ‘Not Optimistic’ about Obama’s Foreign Policy Challenges

Charles Glaser, Emmett Dedmon Professor in Public Policy, met with members of the student group, the Committee on International Affairs in Public Policy (CIAPP), on January 15 to discuss the national security issues facing President Barack Obama. Given the international challenges that he is inheriting from the former president, Glaser said, “President-Elect Obama is in about as deep a hole as he could be.”

Full article here.

when i'm gone

there's no place in this world where i'll belong when i'm gone.
and i won't know the right from the wrong when i'm gone.
and you won't find me singin' on this song when i'm gone,
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
and i won't feel the flowing of the tide when i'm gone.
all the pleasures of love will not be mine when i'm gone.
my pen won't pour out a lyric line when i'm gone,
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
and i won't breathe the brazen air when i'm gone.
and i can't even worry 'bout my cares when i'm gone.
won't be asked to do my share when i'm gone.
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
and i won't be running from the rain when i'm gone.
and i can't even suffer from the pain when i'm gone.
can't say who's to praise and who's to blame when i'm gone,
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
won't see the golden of the sun when i'm gone.
and the evenings and the mornings will be one when i'm gone.
can't be singing louder than the guns when i'm gone.
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
all my days won't be dances of delight when i'm gone.
and the sands will be shifting from my sight when i'm gone.
can't add my name into the fight while i'm gone,
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.
and i won't be laughing at the lies when i'm gone.
and i can't question how or when or why when i'm gone.
can't live proud enough to die when i'm gone,
so i guess i'll have to do it while i'm here.

Race and the American Voter

...Said Taeku Lee, of the University of California at Berkeley, “Whenever I heard someone describing Obama as a post-racial candidate, I bristled. What is ‘post-racial’ being cast against?”

The panelists agreed that what people mean when they describe Obama as a “post-racial” candidate is that he appeals to large segments of white voters while being non-white. However, Cathy Cohen, of the University of Chicago, pointed out that initially black voters were hesitant to embrace Obama. “His legitimacy was brought about by white voters in Iowa and New Hampshire” who voted for him in the primaries.

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Local Aldermen Call for Improved University-Community Relations

Shortly before the Thanksgiving holiday, Chicago aldermen Willie B. Cochran and Toni Preckwinkle addressed the relationship between the University of Chicago and the surrounding community in a talk to Harris School students. The two aldermen agreed upon the need for the University to develop a stronger relationship with its surrounding communities, especially regarding its recent land acquisitions in Washington Park.

Speaking about the history of the area, Cochran said that the Woodlawn community was stable until the 1950s, when demographic changes and divestment ushered in a new era. “Gangs game in, arsons took place, and homicides occurred, and it destabilized the community.”

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