The Collateral Damage of War

Attached is an article that I ran across while browsing cnn.com. It is about how schools reopened in Gaza after a cease-fire was established between Israeli forces and Hamas rulers. Now I am not mentioning this to open a battle about who is right and wrong in the violence overseas.

I am just saddened that the education of thousands of children is hindered because of the violence of the adults around them. It speaks volumes about what our world has become and where priorities lie. And if this is what is being taught through everyday life it makes one doubt whether things will be able to change for the next generation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090124/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

Applications 101

Yeah!! Graduate school applications have been going out...finally! Seriously, these things are like full time jobs: write this, apply for this, have someone else fill this out, these are the following qualifications, blah!

So I am quite happy that three of my six applications are complete. The next three will hopefully be complete in a week and a half. There is a lot of research that has to happen long before a school can be added to the "apply to" list. What is the program specifically? What do the faculty specialize in? Finances coming into the school and out to the students. What city is the school in or near? What do friends, family members and former students think of the school?

There is one person I can point to who is specifically slowing me down as I try to reach the finish line. That person is my mother. With every school that is checked off of my list another is added. You see, she has this way of asking a question, that is really a demand disguised as a suggestion (every mom does it). She has recently used this maneuver multiple times to get me to adjust my school list. Originally my list included four schools, all with excellent Master's programs in my field. Then my mother got involved.

For the last month she has been pressing me about one school in particular because it is close to home. After ignoring her for a month I finally went on the school's website to do my research on the programs offered. Although the school does not offer what I am looking for they do have an international business school, so they were added to the list. Next came two entire states that my mom thought would be nice to live in (seriously, this is what I am dealing with). So I began a search for graduate schools in each state and then a specific program search. This resulted in another school being added to my list after passing all of my requirements.

So now I am up to six schools and have another three schools to research. Yet if it means applying to the right program I can not complain. And after much wailing and gnashing of teeth (on my part) my mom is finally satisfied as well. As she says, she is just looking out for what is best for me.

QUOTE: Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

While searching for a quote to use in my personal statement I came across this:



Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
-Martin Luther King Jr.


I like how it refers to that silent connection we humans share and so often forget about. Let us not forget that we are connected and no matter how different our lives may be we make up mankind.

I Miss Africa

I miss Africa. I speak of the general continent and not a specific country because in my moments of reminiscents I miss default things found throughout Africa. I think I took a lot of these things for granted while I was there. I know that somethings even annoyed me but now I would give almost anything to enjoy them once more, right now.

I miss the music. The random music that makes you laugh out loud at the bizarreness of the situation. One musical memory I hold dear is hearing Kenny G playing from a tape player in Motete, Lesotho. Motete is a mountain village located 5 hours away from the nearest city by a very winding mountainous rode. Or the four hour bus ride I, along with Nathan and Nicole, took to get to Semongkong. We were tortured with accordion music that entire bus ride, but now I realize how much that was an experience in African randomness.

I miss accelerated friendships. I think of the time I was stranded on a Liberian beach and was given a ride by some Doctors Sans Medicine (Doctors Without Borders) people that I met that day. They could relate to my need to get back to town before dusk and although we’d only known each other a few hours drove out of their way for me. I miss having an unspoken bond with a total stranger because of circumstances that we all share living in a foreign country, on the continent of Africa.

I miss Africa. I miss her people. I miss the friends I made. I miss the work that was often too tedious but always worth it. I miss my children – all the babies I “adopted” that found a spot in my heart and made me feel at home. Mary. Khotso. Prince. James. Kangaroo. Rose. I miss them the most.