Category Archives: Self-Blogging

Resettling

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So, I might be starting my stint as an intern at a local refugee resettlement agency here. After going through the (often-times very long) process of being accepted as a refugee, many people finally find themselves resettling in the Phoenix area. When they first arrive, they get a sparse bit of help directly from the federal government and they begin a process with each state to put them on track to a new life. My task will be to make sure they know the ins and outs of life around these parts.

Earlier this week I sat in on an orientation which including getting people up to speed. The refugees in the room had almost all just arrived within the past week, and many were just beginning to figure things out. Wednesday and Friday I sat in on another, smaller orientation where the group learned about the services they are receiving from the state of Arizona. Before long, I’ll be leading similar orientations to help clients get a feel for what’s going on around them and teaching about state services, mass transit, home rental policies, the justice system, and laws.

Meanwhile, Back at the Blog…

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I have been suffering from a bit of writer’s block on this side of the blogging. Or, rather, my life has bit at a bit of a standstill so there is less about which to blog. One thing this blog has been doing, though, is getting a facelift. Backslash Scott Thoughts is almost two whole years old, and it’s been the same template (even the widgets) since day one. Over the last week or so I’ve been revamping the whole thing, top down. In addition to the cosmetic change here, I’ve been blogging at the history blog (which is now available via a handy dandy link up top) about gerrymandering, Ugandan rebels, the Bill of Rights, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and Ralph Nader.

But I am doing more than just blogging at home. We’ve been continuing to renovate the house (on which there is a pending post) and I’m going to hopefully begin volunteering with a refugee group soon, something I’ve wanted to do for a couple of years now. I’m also not quite finished with the blog makeover, so I’ll continue working on that. Ideally, you will be aghast at all of the amazing things I post in the next few weeks. Until then, enjoy the list of special ingredients.

The Longest Interlude

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The semester has begun for most, which has meant relatively little change to me. I’m entering 98 days without work right now, not counting the couple of days where I helped my mom rake a yard old school style. I’m signed up to take yet another AEPA test in two weeks, but I don’t entirely know why. The GRE is scheduled for October, and I’m wondering how exactly to prepare for that. In between, I have no idea what I’ll do. With school starting, I’ve found some reprieve in seeing a few friends between classes, and I have a few chores around the house that have yet to be done despite the longest summer ever.

I’ve taken up a hobby that really isn’t all that new. I’ve decided that I’m going to submit whole new writing samples with my graduate school applications, so I’m doing research on a new paper. I’m two pages of writing and several books and articles in and I’m starting to wonder if it’s really worth it. It’s not like my writing has improved that much. The paper only maybe passes the “so what?” test that my history professor always said to use. Looking at my list of hopeful grad schools, I wonder if this would make any difference, or if I’d get into any of these places at all.

Most of the time I teeter between being absolutely bored out of my mind and being daunted by the lamest to-do list. I’ve found myself missing the little things and plotting faraway things and living off a useless sleep schedule, all while checking off things like “go to the store” and “sweep the patio.” I’m weighing a menial job versus volunteer work as far as finding something to do. Bottom line is that I don’t know what I’m doing. I was unemployed for the first five months of this year and it was one of the greatest (most stressful) things I’ve done. The more recent three months have been a bit less eventful. I guess going to the White House beats having a student try to take pills in my class, though.

I’m thinking of setting up a routine. That way I should get my research done in a timely manner, get in some studying for the GRE, and maybe get this kitchen re-vamp underway. And there’s always the task of finding something to blog about. What ever happened to that?

Henry V at Washington, or a Letter to the Resolve Fifteen

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This is an open letter to my fellow advocates and dear friends with whom I spent a lot of time (and at the same time not enough) in DC. It’s on this blog instead of an e-mail because what I experienced this weekend really should be on the record. If you want to know why we were there, click here. If you want to see what I did with my own time, click here.

To Whom Advocating for Peace is the Most Paramount Task,

In Lawrence Weschler’s Vermeer in Bosnia, he uses a scene of human rights abuse in Shakespeare’s Henry V to analyze the massacre at Srebrenica. Since we were all in DC as a part of our advocacy against mass atrocities, I thought it was fitting that I thought of a wholly different part of the same play. What we learn from Shakespeare is that, on St. Crispen’s Day, Westmoreland wished they had more troops to fight, to which the King responded – at length – that he would rather die with those who were around him: “we few, we happy few, we band of brothers.”

There were only a few of us that were able to make the trek to Washington this weekend. I boarded my plane knowing two friends would be there, alongside a few who I only knew over the phone, and a handful of strangers. I left with over a dozen friends with whom I can share this experience. And it’s not just an experience of being able to say “I got to see David Plouffe speak” or “Holy crap I just saw Bo in the hallway,” it’s much more than that.

Half of the gang on Pennsylvania Avenue

It’s the fact that I can say that not only did most of us meet for the first time at State Place & 17th Street in the early morning on Friday – and proceed to spend almost all of the next 48 hours together – but that we made true friends and learned a lot from one another during that time. It was with this group of new friends that I learned about the Fourth Estate (which I sadly missed and sounds inspiring) and shared my thoughts on America’s LRA strategy (thanks for listening, Adam). I experienced my first poetry slam at Busboys and ate the greatest sweet potato fries. I met four people whom I could never thank enough for helping me over the years via phone calls and e-mails, and I had three people bear witness to the hostel at which I stayed.

Eugene tells a story. Laughter ensues.

More than learning about USAID’s programs around the world and seeing the White House’s outreach efforts first hand, I got soaked in rain with friends – twice – and got in more than one conversation about the attractiveness of a certain former Director of African Affairs at the NSC. I talked about the ICC, heard about conflicts in the CAR, and learned about crisis mapping in the DRC. But I also learned how not to use Camden Yards as a slip’n’slide, was compared to the sorcerer Jafar, and laughed uncontrollably at somebody saying “K as in knitting.”

I am truly humbled by having the chance to meet you this weekend. We all traveled to DC, some of us flying across the Great Plains while others took buses up from the South, to hear what the White House had to say and learn from it. I have been involved with this cause for a long time in my life, but I got involved my senior year of high school. I am only 21 years old and I just barely finished my undergrad, and yet I wasn’t out of place. Some of you are still in high school and are already raising thousands of dollars and lobbying your senators and representatives for this. Some of you have been done with school and are already forging ahead into the real world, blazing the trail for advocates. You all are superstars.

While we were able to raise our concerns with several officials (spitting fire while we did it), we did even more. We solidified our place as advocates with more than just an issue or a cause, but with a passion. As I told some of you, I’m at sort of an impasse in my life where I’ve stopped cheering for Enough and I haven’t fundraised as much for IC as I used to, but I can’t stop, won’t stop, advocating for peace and justice through Resolve.

To each and every one of you who joined me in any of these escapades, thank you. We raised our voices and delivered letters, we definitely made a difference. But I sure as hell made some great friends too.

And Summer Turns to Autumn…

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A year ago, I was returning from 10 weeks of adventurous interning in Uganda, ready to get back to my job, busy myself wedding planning, and getting back in the overloaded schedule of classes. This August, I’m in a slightly different situation. I began the year by getting married (awesome!) and teaching up a storm, but the reality of my circumstance is that – except a two-week stint as a long-term sub – I’ve been unemployed for virtually all of 2011.

I had high hopes for starting a new school year tomorrow, but my hopes have so far been dashed. As school districts across the East Valley begin with their respective staffs, I’ve been getting pretty down about the prospects. During this summer I’ve applied for six positions (every single one I found) and have had no luck so far. I’m leaning on substituting, but don’t really know the reliability of that either.

I’ll be spending most of this week in Washington, DC – because unemployment is the most opportune time for vacations – and when I get back I think I’ll be hunkering down for any sort of income I can get my hands on. In the meantime I’m also trying to find ways to build up my academic resume for next year’s prospects when my wife is done with school. I have relatively no idea where I’m headed right now, so it’s been a grueling road so far. I’ll continue to jump on every teaching opportunity I can, but in the meantime I’ll be on the old-fashioned job-hunt. Hopefully things will look upwards at some point. I can’t really go a whole year without a job.

Neurotic Groceries

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It’s just about everyday that I hear somebody say “I’m so OCD!” because they’re tidy or they like things organized. In addition to the tiny detailed fact that you can’t be a disorder, that’s also not all that OCD is. But that’s not the point I’m making. The point I’m making is that I’m OCD I get a little neurotic about pretty much one thing only: groceries.

The few times Kim and I both go to the store, she ends up abiding by my routine or observing as I correct her. My shopping cart will perpetually be divided between frozen, refrigerated, and room temperature. And room temperature will be divided between will-go-in-pantry and will-go-in-fridge, will-go-to-pets, and will-go-elsewhere (toiletries, for example). As we shop, if things slide or get misplaced, I’ll frequently stop and rearrange them. When it’s check out time, I put all of the frozen things on the conveyor belt first. They are followed by refrigerated goods, room temperature foods going in the fridge, room-temperature foods going in the pantry, pet-related things, and then the toiletries and miscellany.

Unpacking groceries tends to be just as fun, but Kim often at least unpacks things and leaves them on the counter, which lets me sort things in some sort of order that I can deal with. Kim manages to play the role of accommodating significant other very well, actually.

So anyways, this is my major thing. Do you have any quirks?

On the Subject of Blogging…

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Lately, my day-to-day routine has been pretty simple. We’re working on the house a bit here and there, and I’m still on the job-hunt. But in my free time I’ve finally decided to entertain an idea I’ve had for some time, so if you’ll humor me for a moment I’ll introduce you to my more scholarly blog.

Those of you who know me (and if you don’t, you should!) know that I love history and politics and Africa. I’m following that muse with a new blog concentrating on those topics. I’m using it as a tiny platform to do some writing, but also hone my mediocre research and writing skills. So, if you’ll do me the honor, go have a look at Historically Speaking. As of right now it’s a pretty measley weblog with sparse posts on the Vietnam War, Thai politics, and air conditioning. Plus side, it’s replete with tags. Enjoy!

Illness and Literature

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Today would be a first official non-work day, given I technically went in on Friday (for all of half an hour) and yesterday was Memorial Day. Kim is at work and I’m trying to choose one of the many tasks to do. And can you believe that – after spending four and a half months working with almost 190 high school students – I start feeling unwell at home with one spouse and three animals? Yesterday I was pretty convinced it was allergies, today I’m not so sure. Either way I’m less than efficient right now.

I went for a jog with Cindy – that’s what you do when you’re feeling ill, right? – and now I’m holed up at home looking for something to pass the time. I recently started Dambisa Moyo’s Dead Aid: Why Aid is not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa, which has been interesting so far. But also, I’m going to immerse myself back in literature instead of just academic writing. Enter the Internet.

The 2011 shortlist for The Caine Prize for African Writing was just announced, and there are five pieces of literature that are in the running; each is available in pdf form on the website above, and I’ll be reading them. I know absolutely nothing about African literature, and I’m not much of a literary critic in any country or continent, really. Last week, Aaron Bady said he would be blogging each piece and asked others to join him, and I felt more than inclined to involve myself. Needless to say, he’s much more well-versed in African literature (since that is what he studied for his PhD) than I am, so my blogging will be much more amateur. If you’ve got the itch, feel free to join us and a a handful of other bloggers who will be writing about the Caine shortlisters, and feel free to read both my and Aaron’s accounts as we press forwards.

We’ll both be reading one piece a week since the prize is announced in five weeks. In the meantime I am either going to continue with Moyo’s book or pick up Elizabeth Griwold’s The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam, which I picked up a few months ago when she came to speak at the CSRC. But, as I continue the job search and the redecorating project, I’ll need more things to read. So, question for the reader: what should be on my summer reading list?

What the Internet is For

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Over the last week, and really the last few months, I’ve been expanding my internet reading. Out of the dozen or two blogs I’ve been perusing, I can’t remember which one said that the internet began in its adolescent stage of instant messaging, pornography, and video games, and that it’s about time the internet grew an interest for long articles (Google Scholar) and academic work (TED Talks). This brings me to what I’ve been trying to corral into my browser: academic blogs.

And I’m doing all of this heavy reading right at the end of my undergrad. It’s an interesting culmination to think about. I’ve spent the last three years trying to find the most eloquent way to slaughter Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations,” only to find poetic critiques of orientalism on WordPress. I’ve been tip-toeing the whole peace versus justice thing with Peskin before finding pretty strong arguments for one or the other. And, probably the most important, my slow shift on activism.

Through most of college I debated whether I’d find my calling in activism or academia. More recently I’ve been leaning on the academy or even shifting on over to development. Over the last year and a half I’ve been running headlong into the reality of how activism and development have great potential – and squander it. In Uganda I ran into some critiques of Invisible Children, and in McElwee’s course I encountered some really strong rebuttals to the Darfur-is-an-ethnic-conflict and the conflict-minerals-are-barely-the-problem narratives. I only wish I ran more into the Darfur-is-a-genocide rebuttals, as I’ve only just been trying to unearth more of that now. Anyways – all of these topics have resurfaced in the last week or two in the blogosphere, and it has been enthralling to say the least. I find myself learning and re-learning some great arguments, and also seeing some of the established media in an even more critical light than usual.

I’m starting to get the hang of this internet thing.

In Which I Spend the Whole Day Reading Blogs

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As far as reading blogs goes, I have a relatively small committed reading list. I read random blog posts when I get linked to them, but beyond that I’ve been reading Angus Johnson’s Student Activism for like a year. Over the summer I read Bill Schabas’ daily account of the ICC Review Conference, which turned me on to his (and his students’) Human Rights Blog. And in recent months I’ve begun following Zungu Zungu both on Twitter and WordPress. Beyond that, it’s been friends’ blogs for the most part.

A week ago I ran across another random blog post. Like a glance at AidWatch (a great blog on development) or a peek at Reclaim UC or Those Who Use It (both activist blogs about the crisis in the UC), it was nothing out of the usual. It was a blog post in defense of the humanities – something with which I whole-heartedly agree and advocate.

Today, I spent an estimated eight hours reading blog posts on PhD Octopus from today back to the end of 2010. It’s a blog made for me, essentially. It’s about contemporary issues in politics and academia, and its contributors are all History PhD candidates. Just this year they’ve touched on contemporary topics like the protests in MENA and the string of union-busting as well as made historical connections including Lincoln’s views on labor and the history of marriage. Go have a look! And when you’re done, here are a couple of other blogs I’ve read occasionally but not enough.

U.S. Intellectual History is a blog with a pretty self-explanatory name. The contributors have even begun to set up a society and host an annual conference on the fascinating subject.

Just last week AidWatch came to a close. It was a blog run by William Easterly (the economist and NYU professor) and Laura Freschi. I have enjoyed a lot of posts and plan to peruse the archives regularly.