According to the Daily News, Columbia University is becoming an increasingly unfriendly place for pro-Israeli students. And a lot of the harrassment and anti-Israel rhetoric is coming from the professors themselves.
Here's a couple of choice anecdotes: Joseph Massad, professor of Arab politics, once asked a student who was an Israeli military veteran how many Palestinians he'd killed. And Hamid Dabashi calls Israel "a military base for the rising predatory empire of the United States." That's a nice balanced viewpoint about the Middle East, don't you think? Just the kind of attitude I'd want from the chairman of the Middle East and Asian languages and cultures department. Nice, Columbia.
Giving professors academic freedom has always been a hallmark of the top American universities. But where's the line between extreme political viewpoints and outright bigotry? And how nasty are things getting when Jewish students feel hounded while studying in New York City, home of the largest Jewish population outside of Israel?
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To counter that crap, happy news- well, hopefully. Hamas, out of the kindness of its non-existent heart, has called a temporary cease-fire to aid in the choosing of a new Palestinian leader now that Yasser Arafat is dead. And Ariel Sharon has made noises indicating that he'd be willing to negotiate with Mahmoud Abbas, the interim leader and favorite to win the Palestinian election, about a cooperative rather than unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
I can't even begin to express how bizarre it would be if the final peace process came to fruition under the watch of Ariel Sharon. But as long as there's peace, I don't care if it's Ariel the Disney mermaid doing the negotiation.
What I'm reading today: The Four Loves, by C.S. Lewis
Don't you love llamas?
What I'm reading today: Love and Friendship in Plato and Aristotle, by A.W. Price
There are few things more pitiful than a salad bar with no vegetables. Brother, can you spare a tomato?
What I'm reading today: Everything for Sale: The Virtues and Limits of Markets by Robert Kuttner
Best news I've heard all month. Good riddance, you prick.
A small, naive part of me is hoping this signals some kind of turnaround in the administration- away from reactionary extremism and towards the kind of conservatism I can at least understand, if not necessarily advocate. Every little bit helps.
Man, has this been a weird autumn for baseball. The Red Sox won the World Series, Derek "worst shortstop in baseball" Jeter won his first Gold Glove, and now Roger Clemens has won the National League Cy Young Award.
Okay, that last part isn't so weird- Clemens has won so many postseason awards, giving one to him is like a yearly tradition. But dude- the guy was retired. He's 42 years old. And Randy Johnson, who probably deserved the award more, is 41. Gotta love those old guys. So, uh, anyone really think Clemens won't come back to the Astros in January?
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In other news no one cares about, the cast recording of Parade is really good, even if Carolee Carmello has a mild case of Julia Murney syndrome- lovely timbre but an occassionally nasty bleating vibrato. "The Old Red Hills of Home" and "A Rumblin' and a Rollin'" are especially good.
Some of the orchestrations in the OBC of Les Miserables are frighteningly outdated. But I guess hearing a score again for the first time in 10 years can be startling that way. And the songs are still good, even if Colm Wilkinson made me cringe sometimes. :)
Between the lynching and the persecution and people getting shot left and right, I really have a penchant for depressing musicals, don't I?
What I'm reading today: The Human Body Shop: The Engineering and Marketing of Life, by Andrew Kimbrell
Congratulations, American electorate. You've finally made me lose me pitiful little mind. Oh, and Bush? I hate you. And Democratic party? You guys suck.
Bush isn't this amazing uber-politician. He's a crappy President. I mean, really crappy. And you couldn't take advantage of that. In 2000, he was a mediocre candidate, and you couldn't take advantage of that, either. You guys stink. Come up with your own frickin' vision instead of just saying you're going to do it like Bush but different. When your whole campaign platform is based on not being the other guy, you're letting the other guy set the agenda. And that doesn't work.
Assholes, this is what you get when you choose your primary candidate based on "electability," because of the medals on his chest instead of the words coming out of his mouth and the ideas in his head. How "electable" does Kerry look now? Morons.
I'm sick and I'm tired of trying to comprehend why any person in their right mind would vote for that war-mongering, budget-blowing, bigoted, smirking little chimp of a man, let alone more than half of the American people. I'm sick and tired of being told that I'm the one who's detached from America because I don't get the people in the red states. Maybe they need to understand me. I'm American, too.
And goddamit, I'm sick and tired of being patient and telling myself this is the beginning of the end for the conservative political era we've been in since Reagan. I'm tired of looking at historical trends and telling myself that the next few Presidents will probably be relatively weak Republican mediocrities, until one of them is so awful he'll prompt the beginning of a liberal cycle. I'm tired of reassuring myself that much of my adult life will be spent in this liberal cycle. Because history is nice, but I don't want to wait 8 years, or 20, or more, for it to happen.
I wanted history now. And 5 hours of staring at CNN and not doing my homework and realizing that these things are bigger than me, and bigger than you, and bigger than John Kerry and George Bush, just makes me sad. And very, very tired.
I know I'm not supposed to give up hope. There's still Ohio, right? Right.
Yeah, right.
I hate everything.
Please, please, let this election be over. I'm so nervous I can barely sit still, and the more I think about the possible consequences of tomorrow, the more I freak out.
I have a midterm tomorrow, and two big fat homework assignments due the day after. I have four forms of identification ready for the polls. I have nine books out from the library. I have a giant stash of chocolate chip cookies. I keep telling myself my hands are shaking from the coffee I drank 4 hours ago.
I really, really need this election to be over. Or better yet, this whole week. Because I don't know how much more of this I can take.
What I'm reading right now: Richard II, by William Shakespeare