Author Archives: scott

A Month Out

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I have one month left before school is out.  It’ll be nice to have some free time once classes are done, but the countdown to Reading Day only makes me say “yikes!”

I have ignored my online class like none other, so I really, really can’t slip up over the next month or else I’ll be close to a really bad grade. Not good.  Hopefully the essay I did on E.B. Sledge’s book (With the Old Breed, you all should read it!) on WWII was alright, and I hope the final paper isn’t too difficult to pull off. Beyond that, I have to keep on my discussions and hope for the best.

In my Inclusion class there aren’t any due dates for assignments, so long as everything’s done by semester’s end. That’s bad. Of the ten discussions and four clinicals that I should have done in the semester, I had done one discussion and no clinicals as of yesterday. Cranked through a couple discussions last night, and I’m going to try to catch up tomorrow. Then the clinicals, staying on task, and hoping for the best.

All of my other classes are going pretty well.  It’s just the two that I’ve slacked off on. If all goes well, I’ll be caught up on these two and moving forwards in everything.  This past Monday I went in and talked to Tom, an academic advisor for the history department and the Rotaract advisor. I’ll need to petition CTEL, but pending approval I’ll have three majors lined up in a row. Should get everything lined up with the summer internship, fall semester, and spring student teaching.  Needless to say, I’m hoping for the best.

Live from Kampala

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Thursday morning I rolled out of bed to Skype a friend in Uganda. His name is Morris, he’s the head of exchange for his AIESEC group, and hes been amazing. We talked for a bit and he explained the prospects of my internship. If I go with them, I’d probably spent a couple of days in Kampala getting used to life in Uganda, then head upstate to Gulu district. There, I’ll find myself a youth hostel to stay in and work with an NGO.

The group is called the National Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (NACWOLA), and they have been doing work for women affected by AIDS and their families by providing support, empowerment and treatment.  According to Morris, my work would include: ensuring a healthy and empowered community, improve the health status of women and children living with HIV/AIDS by providing health services, improve quality of life, help people build skills to benefit their community.

I’m trying to meet with Dr. Peskin to figure out his research trip’s main objective and see if there is any way that I can help.  Otherwise, it’s pretty much a go-ahead with this group.  Once I decide that I will be going with them, I will need to talk to them about dates and then be on my way. It looks like another step forwards in the internship process! Hopefully my decision will be made soon and I can move on with all of this.

Thinking in Tongues

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So, I’m taking a two-semesters-in-one German class right now. The beginning was easy, as most of it was review of things I still remembered. Now, we’re getting into things where I’m a bit fuzzier.  If I could, I’d be one of the uber-multi-lingual folks who can speak a half dozen languages. That probably won’t happen until the later years of my life.

But it’s interesting to compare notes on the different languages I do know.  English is, of course, my native tongue.  I know all the rules – and the many exceptions – and can speak without even thinking about it.  I can write long papers in mere minutes just by throwing caution to the wind and my hands to the keyboard. I can type this blog. Needless to say, I think in English.

Mandarin, which is hella difficult, is also pretty easy for me, generally. I fumble over the myriad articles (as opposed to our lovely English three) and I need to expand my vocabulary for sure. But, I grew up speaking Mandarin and it works just fine for me.  I don’t spent too much time translating things in my head, which is nice. Readings and writing is terrible for me, because the characters and independent from the phonetic, so I rarely think of the right words. I get the tones correct for the most part when speaking though. I think in Mandarin too.

German, which is way easier than Mandarin, hurts sometimes. Despite having a HUGE number of cognates (guess what Haus, Telefon, Auto, Familie, Universitaet, and Schule are) and some similarities in structure, I keep running into road blocks. Gendered nouns drive me crazy, and add on that German has four different cases. I was trying to help Kim with part of her German homework last night and I just stopped because of confusion – hopefully we can help each other more when we’re in class together next semester. On my way to German yesterday I talked to Joey about exactly this. No matter how easy or difficult a language is, the important thing is to be able to think in that language. I don’t think in German.

Uganda Calling

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So, another update on the internship search.

For the passed two weeks or so, I’ve been in touch with an AIESECER in Kampala who is being very, very helpful about getting me an internship.  In the beginning, his internship offers included AIDS education, community development, etc.  Things I liked but wasn’t juzzed about.  After getting my CV and a cover letter, he contacted some NGOs in northern Uganda and he thinks he’s got some bites.  It sounds like, as long as I can swing housing, I might have an internship up north.  Not completely sure what the tasks would be yet, but it would be relevant to the crisis caused by the LRA, so that’s a one up.

Meanwhile, everyone and their mother is motivating me to convince Dr. Peskin to take me along.  I’ve bugged him a little bit in the past, but I’m going to send him an e-mail requesting a full-on meeting to discuss what is ideal and what is for-real.  Hopefully I can figure something out.  The AIESEC job just might pan out, but either way I don’t think it would be better than working with Victor Peskin and Eric Stover researching Uganda and the International Criminal Court.  I just need to use persistence and persuasion and hope for the best.

Why SAFRA is Important

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As I type this, I am watching the Health Care debate in the House.  Today, the House will be voting on budget reconciliation.  To most, this is a healthcare vote.  For quite a while, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act was considered for budget reconciliation.  Instead of leaving it in the dust for healthcare reform, it has been attached for reconciliation and may (probably will) pass today.  Now, my opinion on the health care reform bill is a little iffy. I like parts and I dislike parts.  But I’m all for SAFRA and here is why:

SAFRA would increase the number of Pell grants and amount of Pell grants to students.  Especially with the current crisis in higher education, Pell grants just don’t cut it.  They need to be greater in size and in distribution.  SAFRA does this.  It also caps interest rates on Stafford loans, something that hasn’t yet become an issue but will in coming years.

In addition to this type of assistance to students, there is also good news for our budget.  By dropping subsidies for loan companies, SAFRA could save tens of billions of dollars.  This will be done by cutting out a very costly middleman in favor of direct loans.  In my opinion, there aren’t a lot of negatives for this piece of legislation.  It will help students in a time when higher education is being hit from all sides.  SAFRA is a step in the right direction.

Busy Week

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So, eleven days after being stricken ill, I think I’m feeling all better!  Which couldn’t be better, because I have a lot I want or need to do right now.

Last night, Kim and I dropped off all of our stuff for taxes. Things were a little complicated with the house and whatnot, but I think everything’s in order and it will be nice to get money back in the future.  Tonight, Kim and I are meeting with the first of two or more florists, and tomorrow we’re officially picking our photographer!  We’re a little under 300 days out from the big day, so it’s good to be finalizing a few decisions.

In addition to wedding planning, I’m trying to figure out this internship business.  AIESEC is still a running option, and I’ve been in touch with an AIESECer (and Rotaracter!) in Kampala that’s helping me out. I’m really hoping that I can figure out a way to do research with Peskin, though, so we’ll see if that goes anywhere.  On top of internship planning, Kim and I are hoping to do some stuff around the house and I am hoping to make some headway with club work, including some arts ‘n’ crafts and some lobbying.  Needless to say, it’s a busy week.  I’ve got a to-do list that’s getting more and more intimidating, but hopefully I’ll be crossing quite a bit off by week’s end.

Under the Weather

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So, since nine of the past eleven posts are about Africa and six of the past seven are about activism for Africa, I thought I’d give you a break.  And complain about being sick instead.

I like to think that my immunities are pretty strong.  I don’t get sick too often, and when I do it usually lasts a day or two. Other than being sick for a few days this passed Christmas, I probably hadn’t been sick for a year or two. But today I find myself fighting day eight of some kind of illness.  I joke that it’d kill a lesser man, but it’s probably killed me a few times over.

The lethargy of last weekend was kinda lame. And the stiffness and aching are none too fun either. But the kicker is the constant coughing.  I’ve been having fits of coughing all week and it is just driving me nuts. This week I spent about 2 hours in school out of my 20-something. And I worked for 9 hours.  I actually went to the doctor! This is something I haven’t done since I was in early elementary school, I think. About a hundred dollars later, I was home and still sick. Today I find myself on day five or a six-day pill regimen, and I’m feeling moderately better.  I still have a long way and only two pills to go, so we’ll see.  Maybe I’ll cough this illness away.

Victory.

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Big news for my friends in Oklahoma and across the country, as well as for us here in Arizona.

On March 9th, 41 days after he put a hold on the bill and 262 hours after activists began camping outside of his district office, Senator Tom Coburn from Oklahoma released his hold on the bill.  Just a few hours later, it passed the Senate with unanimous consent.  The compromise they reached was pretty simple – changed some language to make it more direct that the $40M would be offset and not add to the deficit.  Coburn sticks to his principle, we stick to ours.  So, so excited to see this go through the upper house.  Now we just need to turn to the House of Representatives, where we only have 162 co-sponsors so far.

Speaking of which, here’s the personal victory.  In June my friends met with Representative Harry Mitchell’s staff in DC.  I’ve met with his staff twice here in Tempe.  After all of this, my friend Kristi met him at a fundraiser and mentioned the bill – he said he had never heard of it.  Demoralized, I sent a few follow-up e-mails to his staff and voila!  He co-sponsored yesterday!  I’m such a happy camper right now.  Nationally, we passed the bill in the Senate and my friends in Oklahoma managed to do the unthinkable.  Locally, a few good friends and myself put this obscure African bill on the desk of our representative and convinced him to put his name on it.  It’s a good day for activism.

I want to leave you with a little evidence of how commited people are.  The circles are the homes of people who ended up in Oklahoma City for 262 hours in the rain.

The Hold Out came from all over! (Picture by Rachel Bryan)

“It pierces your heart”

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Tuesday night, the ASU campus hosted the Invisible Children roadies. I met up with them and helped set up in the Memorial Union, and we just kinda hung out for a while. I met the new roadies and the two Ugandans with them, and I also got to catch up with some familiar faces.

I talked to Richard, a Ugandan from IC’s Mentor Program, a bit before the screening and he seemed like a really interesting fellow.  Easy to talk to.  Then I greeted some familiar faces before starting the film.  I’ve probably seen this movie over twenty times. The crane shot still just floors me. And Jacob crying is still one of the most  heart-wrenching things to behold.  If you haven’t seen this film, I feel that you need to.

After the screening, a former night-commuter from the film spoke to us a little. After he spoke, his mentor spoke for a while. Richard is very well-versed.  He reminds me of my maternal grandparents with all the proverbs and deep thinking. Hell, he invented proverbs as he spoke – comparing people to light bulbs and turning life into a highway.  And while I didn’t record the Q & A, I got most of their addresses beforehand.  I hope you enjoy: