Invisible Paths
with both hands
This feeling is what I want to hold on to with both hands, a brief, fleeting sensation like music. The sweet moment of waking up, in the sun flooded room, Tribo de Jah's reggae, days spent in quiet companionship, finally catching a glimpse again of a long-lost secret place.
fundamentalists, God, and contraception
This is a bit old, and, yes, in German (sorry). I just remembered this article, when I was discussing fundamentalism with Joaquim and Laura (his flatmate) yesterday.
I find it scary, sad, and generally simply confusing that there are these fundamentalist christian groups (especially in the US) who claim to do things in the "name of God", but really...
And as mentioned in the article, there are pharmacists, who, under the influence of these groups, refuse to give out contraception...
Pro-life, huh?!? Hmmm, what about young girls' lives when they get pregnant, what about thousands and thousands of young people's lives when they infect themselves with HIV/AIDS?
Maybe I am just dense, but I do not get these christian fundamentalists.
asking questions
A few days of pondering after my "question" meeting with Tom, here is the deal:
I am going to learn how to ask people questions, so that they tell me about themselves, their issues, and indirectly deliver the solutions to their problems themselves. Noble cause... well, I am sure it will bring me further in life.
So, there are "na�ve" questions, which "sophisticated" people may overlook, like: "How does that work?" "Why is it important?" "What happened?" (James knows I am really good with this question! James,
what happened?!?)
These questions are the hardest in the world, because I always dive in and try to fix the problem with some kind of straightforward, pragmatic solution, that then obscures other and maybe even better solutions. So, if the issue at hand is an ice berg, and I am in a helicopter circling above, trying to get a complete overview.
Overview overview overview...What is the issue?
When ...
- does it happen?
- will the consequences be felt?
- must it be resolved?
Why...
- is this a problem?
- is it important?
- did it start?
- does it continue?
- did it now work?
Who...
- cares about it?
- is affected by it?
- created it?
Where...
- else does it happen?
- else can I learn from?
Then define the issue, problem, and its glass walls: "What have
you done?" "What would
you do?'' "How would
they react?"
In the end, it is about "passing the buck" to the other... "What else?" "What do you think?" so that they get talking.
And, it is always instructive to have a nice fruitful dialogue with yourself... "Why have I always done it this way?" "What is affecting my perception? What might happen if it changes?" "What possibilities may exist that I haven't already considered?" "What problems may be caused by solving this problem?"
"What is stopping me from solving this problem?"
infinita tristessa
Something made me feel incredibly bad today. What a fine institution my university is. What a place of international integration and understanding. OH, and always looking at issues from different perspectives to get a good, unbiased view?!
I received this from Michael by email today:
-----Original Message-----
From: Undergraduate Administrator
Sent: ? 13/04/2005 11:40
To: Economics Department Undergraduates
Cc:
Subject: FW: This Wednesday's Meeting at the LSE!
Wednesday 13 April at 7pm.
This meeting, of the LSE Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! society,
will be remembering Deir Yassin and the struggle of the Palestinian people.
We must defend the struggle in Palestine against Zionist occupation and against the apartheid wall and recognise the role that Britain and the Labour Party have always played in the oppression of the Palestinians.
Come to the meeting to learn more and discuss these issues and to find out about regular activities in support of the Intifada.
All welcome, entry free, in
Room H103, Connaught House, LSE, Houghton Street WC2 (nearest tube Holborn)
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael
Sent: ? 13/04/2005 16:54
To: Undergraduate Administrator
Cc:
Subject: RE: This Wednesday's Meeting at the LSE!
Dear Sir/Ms,
A group of students from the department of Economics (including myself) could not wonder why are we getting political material to our LSE email accounts from the department of Economics.
LSE is hosting many events, however, such political meetings are advertised by the LSESU or LSE events. It is the first time that the department itself is promoting such event.
This event is highly political and has little to do with economics (if at all). Moreover, the email is taking a stance on sensitive issues using words such as: "Apartheid wall" ?
We would like to get a clarification on this issue.
Kind regards,
Michael Sprung
-----Original Message-----
From: Undergraduate Administrator
Sent: ? 13/04/2005 17:08
To: Economics Department Undergraduates
Cc:
Subject: Event on Wednesday 13th
Dear All,
I've been getting a few abusive replies of you, even threatening replies. Basically I get a lot of event information where I pass it out to student either to Graduates or Undergraduates.
They are usually vetted before being sent out. It might have been my mistake to send out that event but I'm a person who believes in free speech and thought nothing of it. If it was the other way round, I would have still distributed it.
Due to this i I will take better care on what I distribute in the future.
For those I offended I apologise.
Thanks
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael
Sent: 13 April 2005 20:54
To: Undergraduate Administrator
Cc: various economics professors/undergraduate & graduate tutors
Subject: Politics in the Economics department
Dear Sir/Ms,
We still did not quite understand how this event went through the department. It is the first time in 3 years that we received a promotion for a strictly political event from the Economics department. The connection between Economics and the event is indeed far fetched/non existent. Moreover, we are sorry to hear that you received abusive replies. We do not believe that our reply was abusive nor do we believe that when one starts apologizing for acting wrongly should he start his apology with mentioning "abusive replies and threats". This does not add much credibility to your sincere apology.
In addition, with respect to your "apology", you wrote:
1) A lot of event information is passed to undergraduates/graduates - Economics students NEVER got a political event promotion in the last 3 years.
2) You wrote "usually vetted" - We demand to know why that process did not take place this time as well.
3) You wrote "It might have been my mistake to sent out that event" - might have been? if not your mistake than whose mistake was it ? is this an apology or perhaps you are claiming that this was not a mistake at all?
4) You wrote "Freedom of speech" - LSE got many other bodies that advertise events in the name of free speech (LSESU/LSE events). That is not the issue here. By sending that email, you associated the whole department with certain political ideas. The Economics department is not a political body but an international body focused on the study of Economics with no prejudice towards individuals of a certain faith/nationality (correct us if we are wrong)
5) "If it was the other way round, I would have still distributed it" - The department repeatedly refused to advertise political events of the Israeli society (and quite rightly so, see previous points mentioned above).
6) "For those I offended" - We demand an apology for the act itself and possibly a distribution of a file containing the Israeli perspective of the so called "apartheid wall"/Counter Terrorism wall.
Kind regards,
Michael Sprung
-----Original Message-----
From: Departmental Tutor
Sent: ? 15/04/2005 12:41
To: Michael
Cc:
Subject: RE: Politics in the Economics department
Dear Michael,
At the time the Undergraduate Administrator sent out her apology, she was understandably upset, and as a result it was not precisely phrased. She was upset because of the abusive messages she received, one of which actually threatened violence to her. She assures me that she did not find your e-mail to be abusive and was not referring to it in her apology.
The general practice in the Department, both by the Undergraduate Administrator's predecessor and another Departmental Administrator, has been not to circulate messages to our students unless they are specifically of interest to economics students rather than to LSE students as a whole. This has excluded not only political meetings, but also social events by LSE societies. In fact, at the last Departmental Staff-Student Committee meeting, a Departmental Administrator raised with the student representatives whether they were happy with policy of not circulating general announcements, and they agreed.
The Undergraduate Administrator has only joined the Department recently, and apparently the policy was never spelled out to her. The mistake was compounded because the announcement was initially sent to her predecessor who did not open and read it herself. She just forwarded it to the Undergraduate Administrator, who assumed that she was intended to circulate it.
You can be assured that it remains departmental practice not to circulate political messages to our students, and I am confident that it will not recur.
Best wishes
London is a village
How many times has it happened to me that I have met friends randomly in London? Quite a lot.
Today was another of those great moments of awe at the thought of meeting someone so unexpectedly. I was waiting for my father who came to visit this weekend in Liverpool Street Station, and was looking at all the people coming off the train, trying to find him. Then I saw a guy with blond hair, kind of sticking to the front, and somehow had the feeling he looked like... and then he looked at me with light blue eyes, and at that one instant, just a split of a second, I knew that it was mutual recognition... the guy not only looked like, but actually
was Brodie from AI! How fun!
While we were chatting, my Dad arrived, and now Brodie is the first AIESECer ever to have met my father!
What a strange village London is.
London renting
This house never ceases to amaze me. Not a single day passes without some kind of breakdown of some appliance or similar domestic incident. At least I have become good friends with the mice in the kitchen, we have somehow arranged our lives with them now. After they went through that tiny hole at the bottom of our old fridge and ate whatever they could find in there. We have a new fridge now, after I made a scene to our landlord, and keep everything edible in tupperware... no more bags, cartons, paper.
Then, last year in early summer, there were the ants, who discovered the honey jar. Our fault, really. Why did I leave that honey jar on the kitchen top?
We did have some trouble with the boiler, but that is just normal, and it is actually possible to look through a crack between one of the window panes and the frame. Well, fresh London air aplenty.
While I was in Colombia, and Ben and Dama in Germany over the summer, the hot water tap broke at 1am (when my sister was washing dishes), and the main water tap could not be turned, because someone had stuck tiles to the wall so that there was not enough space for a full rotation of the tap. My sister and the other girls staying here at the time had to call an emergency plumber to fix it, and it all turned into a big drama, with video footage to prove it.
Then the washing machine started leaking, which I noticed when my feet got wet after just having started it. Two weeks later "Comet" delivered a new (well second hand) one, which fell apart in the street when the delivery guys picked it up to carry it upstairs. Another two weeks later we received a different second hand one, which has been fine so far, until it went into "test mode" two days ago and refused to wash.
We also had our kitchen taken apart and an electrical stove put in... I preferred the gas one, but I guess it was just a question of time for that thing to explode, so I won't complain. I also think it disturbed the mice, because I haven't seen any in the last two weeks.
Oh, and the roof... last year in October and November I had water running down my walls. Rain. So yes, they did work on the roof, but just a week ago, it rained into Dama's room. Through the place where the light comes through the ceiling... the water was running down the cable of the lamp, and drip-dropped off the light bulb. Now, if you turn the lightswitch on, it makes a rather strange noise. So I won't. There is still the desk lamp.
Same with the kitchen light, the switch broke (no, not the lightbulb!!), but semi-dark kitchens are romantic.
At the end of the day it does not matter. We are lucky, because in the end things tend to get fixed more or less. And it is just kind of normal. And this place does have its charme. And a roof on which we can sit in the sun if and when it shines. And the bikes fit into the entrance downstairs.
Perfect really.
55 days
I have only 55 days left in London. Minus 8 days in Berlin. Minus 6 days in Switzerland. Makes 41. Give and take a few days for head-over-heel moving action one weekend or another. What a strange feeling.
