Happenings, Happenings the World Over

Today I had my second meeting with my PhD advisors. Yes, I have officially begun! It's a scary prospect to think that in three years I have to have finished my project, complete with an 80,000- to 100,000-word thesis. It's going to be a comparison of the revolutions and resulting constitutions in what became the United States and Belgium. Not entirely obscure, but definitely not a run-of-the-mill topic. Each meeting reinforces why I am here, why I have always wanted to be here. Talking about the project, the things that may (or may not) prove relevant, the directions my research could take, the possibilities of further research is not just engaging, it is purely enthralling. To a degree that I find rare in other corners of my life. I remarked to one of my supervisors today that I'm genuinely intrigued to see where this will all lead. At this point, from this vantage, none of us can really see the clear path - no roadmap has been hammered out yet - but the elements are beginning to surface through the murk and the mud. In many ways, academic work takes on a life of its own. Everyone always says that, I realize in typing it, but there's a very good reason: it's true. You cannot tell where a project will go until you are in the middle, or possibly near the end. And that is a pure joy. People sometimes liken a PhD thesis to someone's child, usually jokingly. But, like children, someone's thesis takes them to unforeseen intellectual spaces, challenges their limits and their sense of self, and grows into something quite different from what was perhaps expected. I'm just at the beginning. (In the child analogy, probably still pregnant, really.) Already, though, I am excited and ready and rearin' to go. Ah, the sweet smell of academia. How I missed you these past (4) weeks. [NB: the break was welcomed with open arms.]

In other news, I finally browsed the NY Times today for the first time in quite a while. Not having internet at home (crazy flat-moving going on... too much to mention) means my forays onto the wonderful worldly web have been fairly specific, short, and sweet. But today I have some time and so news came to the top of the heap. The first article to jump out at me was one on the general anti-establishment nature of recent uprisings the world over, and a sister article about the protests in Israel. It was interesting to consider the idea that the world at large is moving beyond the governmental structures we know so well. It was a joy to everyone to see the use of Twitter and Facebook during the election protests in Iran over a year ago, and it seemed everyone in the West could unite in condemning state shut-downs of internet access to stop peaceful organization through social media. Hell, the very fact that I can write about social media on this here blog says a lot, considering this girl only got Twitter to follow the great Rachel Maddow. That all made sense without necessarily impinging on our own little worlds. But that first article I mentioned puts forward an interesting premise: that even in the West now, people are going around normal "democratic" processes and using social networks to take matters into their own hands. The article emphasizes a true disappointment on the part of the public when it comes to the effectiveness of their governments and the legitimacy of their voices in elections and polls. It struck me as I read that we are at the precipice of a brand new world, one that could potentially exist without traditional structures and nation-states made up of vast, intricate systems that require cloak-and-dagger diplomacy and special ops forces. Are we as humanity moving beyond the nation-state? Is there about to be a break that, for students of the future, will represent a new fall-line, demarcating the start of a post-Treaty of Westphalia universe? I doubt anything that drastic will actually come to fruition, but the implications are mind-numbingly awesome. How tantalizing to think of tearing down structures that have given Wall Street, bankers, and career politicians the power that monarchs, viceroys, generals, and career diplomats used to have. [You didn't think I'd be able to leave my study of 18th-century revolutions out of this did you?]

[Side note: my Twitter feed just popped up with this tragically hilarious (and relevant) article from the Onion.]

In truth, part of why all of this caught my eye to the degree it did is because I've recently been on some outings with a charming PhD in Education student whose interests lie in social media, technology, etc. and the implications for education. Interesting stuff. I don't get on the Twitter all that often and I don't use LinkedIn or any of that jazz, but I realized that maybe in letting that kind of thing pass me by I'm doing more than sitting in a comfortable cocoon of insulation. Maybe I'm missing out on something. Maybe not.

Whatever the status of the world and its revolutions, Edinburgh is proving itself splendid as ever. An Indian summer has descended upon us, and I welcome it with open arms. Today I actually sat in the Meadows in a tank top... I think I even got a little tan. Being a funded student has meant that I can finally take a little advantage of this fantastic town. In the spirit of revolutions, the other night involved a fantabulous dinner at Pancho Villa's in the Canongate and dessert at Chez Jules (both extremely highly recommended). I'm looking forward to the next three years. For their academic fun, their opportunities, and for the chance to know and love Edinburgh even better.

Pray Me to Death

I spend my mornings watching the Rachel Maddow Show on itunes. Given the time difference, I have to wait till the morning after it airs to see her show. It's a nice way to wake up, drink some tea, find out what's going on in the world and especially American politics. Today's episode brings up some ridiculousness. I mean ri-di-cu-lous: Rick Perry.

Rachel loves election politics. The more out-there a candidate is, the more she eats it up because she just finds it so entertaining and so hilarious. So Rick Perry and his wooing of a possible presidential run is one thing she keeps her eye on, and then reports to the rest of us. His latest thing? A prayer meeting. He's invited all the governors of the other states to a day of prayer in Texas and his website has all kinds of videos inviting the "American people" to join him, either physically (and then - boy-oh-boy! - financially with a donation) or spiritually from wherever they happen to live. One of the conservative sponsors of the event has a list of all the pastors attending this thing online. They've also conveniently compiled a bunch of these pastors' videos. Oh. My. God.

I refuse to watch these people's videos myself - I won't give them the satisfaction. Also, I'm not a fan of vomiting. But having seen the clips Rachel highlighted (so as to make a point about the company Perry keeps), these people are insane. Not the usual "you're-on-the-right-I'm-on-the-left-so-we-disagree" kind of crazy. One of them thinks Oprah is the harbinger of the Apocalypse. Another thinks God sent Hitler to Earth to move the Jews back to the Middle East. Another thinks there's a harlot who comes around to the nations of the world, sleeping with their leaders and causing chaos. Apparently, her sleeping with the sun god caused Japan's economy to tank. This is serious wack-o territory.

No large portion of the population will take those kinds of things seriously. But what annoys (or worries?) me is that Rick Perry is translating these ideas into the background of his more mainstream packaging. A prayer meeting to fix the economy?! In his video, Perry literally asks people to pray for the economy to get better because, after all, government never actually gets anything done. Politicians just sit around like fat cats. It's prayer that will turn this recession around for good.

Seriously?! I'm all for people praying (in private or with their own community). If you feel better afterwards, if it makes you calmer or more confident, go for it. I'm not going to judge. But praying without then doing anything for yourself? This is when I get too annoyed to look these people in the face. When someone walks up to you and says something along the lines of, "I got a parking space today because I prayed for one," it makes me want to punch them. No. You got a parking space because you drove around until you found one. "If I pray hard enough, I'll get funding to go to college." Not if you don't fill out some applications, you won't. By all means, pray as you fill out the funding. Pray after you send in the application. But you have to do some work yourself, too. This idea that we can all just passively go through life, always counting on someone else to do the legwork just makes me so annoyed. That's the real crux of this issue for me: you're not faithfully expressing some all-mighty maxim of Christianity, you're being lazy. You're waiting for me to go out and vote, or pay into your retirement fund, or call my Congressman/woman to get a jobs bill on the floor. Stop praying and start working on something.