Posts
Well, I know it's been a while since I rapped at y'all but I'm back and I've got some good news.
As some of you know, all my classes are in the evening because the school expects that students will hold jobs and find internships during the day. I've devoted a lot of time this fall to applying for different positions at a lot of places around the city.
In the last couple of weeks I secured two different internships for next semester.
The first is a 15 hour per week research position at the Hudson Institute. I'll be helping the director of the political/military section with several research projects that he has going on. Most of them focus on Russia or central Asia. It's an unpaid position but is extremely flexible. I can work from home or come in to the office. Also, research work is great to have on my resume. Ask me in mid-January how it's going.
The other is a congressional internship (paid!) with Adam Smith from District 9 in Washington. He serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee so I'm looking forward to being involved in that in some way. There will a fair amount of phone answering and mail opening but that's life. Again, I'll let you know how that's going in January.
For now I only have a couple weeks left in my first semester. I have finals in two out of three classes and big papers in two out of three as well. Classes on the whole have been very good. My European Union class is fantastic and I've learned way more than I expected to. I also have an intro to Europe, Eurasia, and Russia. That class has been up and down but I'll be happy to be done with it. My last class is a history of Eastern Europe class which has been good, but I would have liked more lecture. The professor seems to think we understand things better than we do and continually looks for in-depth discussion among the students. The only problem is that we usually don't know what we're talking about. Kim here, real quick Patrick is doing really well in his classes and I am very proud of him.
Enough about work and school, on to other subjects!
Kim's family is coming this week which promises to be a great week. We're really excited to have visitors again and Kim has the whole week scheduled out for them. Kim? Making a detailed schedule? Shocking.
We also bought our tickets home. We get in on the 18th and head straight to Walla Walla. We'll get back to Tacoma on the 24th and be at the First Pres. Christmas Eve service. Then we'll be in Tacoma until the morning of the 1st. Kim is using all her vacation days to be gone for that long. Yikes. No trips home in our future after Christmas for a long time.
22 November 2008
09 November 2008
Tuesday Nov. 4th
As some of you may have heard, there was an election on Tuesday. Kim and I watched the coverage on Tuesday night and had a map of the US on the wall. As the results came in we colored each state red or blue. We were ready to go to bed at midnight when they showed some footage taken outside the White House. There was a huge crowd (mainly college students) celebrating outside. Kim and I threw on our coats and headed down there. We walked through the crowds and watched as people celebrated. I couldn't help wondering if they knew exactly why they were so happy. Are they just stoked to see a black president or do they really expect life to drastically improve? Or was it just a chance to be a part of something historic?
Immediately follow the election a lot of emotions came to the surface. The coverage on TV immediately turned to Barack's election as historic because he's black. While I appreciate this and understand it's historic significance, many of the comment made on TV bothered me. "America has finally put its racist past behind it." Really? And if the voters of the US had decided that John McCain had better policies and would make a better president then that would mean that we still hadn't dealt with our racism?
"America did the right thing." Did those who vote for McCain do the wrong thing? Have they refused to put their racist past behind them?
I guess I loved that race wasn't an issue during the campaign but it comes out immediately following the results. I do understand how historic it is and I hope it's a great celebration for now and quickly fades to the background. I (Kim) think it will because like our friend Liz said he did not have race as his platform and it's great to rejoice in it but I think his plans and ideas do not revolve around his race.
The other thing that Kim and I had trouble with was the reaction from the Christian community. Not the wider Christian community, just the people with whom we interact. There was such a 'the sky is falling' reaction. A couple people said they were moving to Canada, apparently betraying their ignorance about Canadian social policy. I understand why someone would be worried about aspects of an Obama presidency. But there was so much angry, unthoughtful, reaction. If we are looking to involve ourselves in society, to influence society, and to make our society a more just and godly place, reacting to this election with cynicism, sarcasm, and anger is exactly the wrong way to do it.
Obama won this election because he has a positive and productive view for America's future. McCain came across as not having a positive forward looking program, but as simply attacking Obama. I don't want to follow someone with no idea where to go, I want to follow someone who powerfully points the way to the future. That is what the Christian community needs to do. We do ourselves no good by making thoughtless and reactionary judgments on what the next 4-8 years hold. We will have an impact when we can point the way to a future that others want to be apart of. Right now a lot of Christians aren't doing that.
Kid in a Volvo: Such a beautiful example of Swedish-American unity.
This is the crowd outside the White House.
Immediately follow the election a lot of emotions came to the surface. The coverage on TV immediately turned to Barack's election as historic because he's black. While I appreciate this and understand it's historic significance, many of the comment made on TV bothered me. "America has finally put its racist past behind it." Really? And if the voters of the US had decided that John McCain had better policies and would make a better president then that would mean that we still hadn't dealt with our racism?
"America did the right thing." Did those who vote for McCain do the wrong thing? Have they refused to put their racist past behind them?
I guess I loved that race wasn't an issue during the campaign but it comes out immediately following the results. I do understand how historic it is and I hope it's a great celebration for now and quickly fades to the background. I (Kim) think it will because like our friend Liz said he did not have race as his platform and it's great to rejoice in it but I think his plans and ideas do not revolve around his race.
The other thing that Kim and I had trouble with was the reaction from the Christian community. Not the wider Christian community, just the people with whom we interact. There was such a 'the sky is falling' reaction. A couple people said they were moving to Canada, apparently betraying their ignorance about Canadian social policy. I understand why someone would be worried about aspects of an Obama presidency. But there was so much angry, unthoughtful, reaction. If we are looking to involve ourselves in society, to influence society, and to make our society a more just and godly place, reacting to this election with cynicism, sarcasm, and anger is exactly the wrong way to do it.
Obama won this election because he has a positive and productive view for America's future. McCain came across as not having a positive forward looking program, but as simply attacking Obama. I don't want to follow someone with no idea where to go, I want to follow someone who powerfully points the way to the future. That is what the Christian community needs to do. We do ourselves no good by making thoughtless and reactionary judgments on what the next 4-8 years hold. We will have an impact when we can point the way to a future that others want to be apart of. Right now a lot of Christians aren't doing that.
Kid in a Volvo: Such a beautiful example of Swedish-American unity.
This is the crowd outside the White House.
Milton Delaware
For my birthday Patrick planned a trip out to the Delaware coast. There were a few milestones on this trip. The first was that we had never been to the Atlantic Coast before. It was great seeing it and it was strange seeing the sun set behind us while we looked out on the ocean. Another milestone was while we were driving our Civic hit 100,000 miles! The bummer was that we missed it! So we celebrated the 100,010th mile, which was still ok. And the last milestone was that we bought gas for $1.99!
While we were were there we stayed at bed and breakfast called the Governor's Bed and Breakfast. It was cool, because a lot of Delaware governors are from Milton and some of them lived in this house. While we were there it was 74 degrees and beautiful. We played in the water and went to the little shops around the coast. It was a great break from studying for Patrick and a good change of pace for me.
Patrick's footsteps heading to France instead of Hawaii. That's the Atlantic for you.
This one's for you Brett Taylor! : )
Here we are celebrating our 100,010th mile!
The beautiful drive home. A week later the colors are even more brilliant.
While we were were there we stayed at bed and breakfast called the Governor's Bed and Breakfast. It was cool, because a lot of Delaware governors are from Milton and some of them lived in this house. While we were there it was 74 degrees and beautiful. We played in the water and went to the little shops around the coast. It was a great break from studying for Patrick and a good change of pace for me.
Patrick's footsteps heading to France instead of Hawaii. That's the Atlantic for you.
This one's for you Brett Taylor! : )
Here we are celebrating our 100,010th mile!
The beautiful drive home. A week later the colors are even more brilliant.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)