We have reached the Holiday Break here at Fletcher, and this season finds me “relaxing” in Naples, Florida with my parents. Yes, I have once again succumbed to the lifestyle of Retirement Capital USA, where dinner is at 5pm, sunvisors are the apparel of choice, and shopping for the grandkids could be a competitive sport. My parents have owned a condo here for the past 11 years, and I usually visit them during vacations from school. Therefore, Naples is always associated with a break from my studies, and a place where I can escape from the books and deadlines and demands. Until now…

I have somehow managed to leave myself with a paper to write over this Holiday “Break”. I was aware that this would happen, and have been anticipating it all semester. The paper is for Professor Shultz’s class “Internal Conflicts and War”, and generally concerns the situation in Afghanistan. Although I had all semester to research and write this paper, other items (academic and otherwise) always seemed to emerge that demanded immediate attention (although one could question if a trip downtown to grab a cannoli at Mike’s Pastry Shop in the North End really needed immediate attention). But I checked out the appropriate books, did some online and other research before departing from Medford, and arrived in Naples with computer in hand, prepared to tackle this paper.

From the beach.

Then discovered that the laptop computer does not really like the sand and heat of Naples. So, rather than hiding inside and typing the days away at the kitchen table with the sound of waves crashing in the background, I packed up my computer and decided that the paper could wait another few days when I’m back at my parents “real” (non-retirement) home in St. Louis where the weather is awful and the bathing suit will be stuffed in a corner of the closet. Ergo, for the next several days, I will give in to the impulse to watch movies (may I recommend the Good Shepherd and Blood Diamonds, both fantastic movies and very Fletcher-appropriate), take long walks on the beach, savour the last piece of key lime pie after a long dinner (that still ends at 6pm), and catch up on the scintillating details of my parents’ social life. After all, who knows when I might be called upon to relate the details of so-and-so’s son spending all his money on THAT thing without telling his wife who was visiting her parents in Marco Island at the time.

Moral of the story – we can all use a vacation sometime, and it’s important to recognize when the most important decision in your life needs to be “pool or beach”?

Speaking of which…

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So I just had my first official Middlebury alumni gathering last night, at a ritzy space (not really a bar, not a hotel, not a lobby, but more like a fancied-up enormous room) in a posh building downtown. I know that the Middlebury community is quite substantial in Boston, as evidenced by the seemingly disproportionate number of Midd Kids (as we are affectionately and sometimes derogatorily known) here at Fletcher. The Middlebury Mafia is indeed alive and well in the greater Somerville/Medford area, in numbers that amaze the other students. The Middlebury alumnus in the Fletcher admissions office certainly knew how to attract like-minded alumni to these fair streets. Although she has since left us for the greener pastures of business school, the MIDD legacy lives on at the Fletcher School.

Last night was a good reminder of how important it is to have a sense of community in your geographic location. Just knowing that everyone at the event last night shared the common bond of being a Middlebury alumnus was enough to foster a feeling of community. This is the feeling that exists at Fletcher, and that I hope will follow me to in my travels around the globe. Knowing that there is a Fletcher community in DC, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Brussels, Geneva, New Delhi, and so many other cities across the globe makes me feel a little more at ease when considering the reality that I could land up in virtually any city come May (assuming that I finish my thesis and am actually allowed to leave in a timely manner).

I also have to admit that, despite how much fun everyone makes and will hopefully continue to make of the vast Middlebury presence here at Fletcher (we are plotting takeover of the school, in case anyone wants to know the real story), I am extraordinarily happy to have this other little community accessible to me when I’m looking for a change in social pace. If any Middlebury students are reading this…GO PANTHERS!

(I never really had loyalty to the “Panther”, but as it’s a rallying cry that encourages communal effervescence so I will continue to use it ad naseum).

(And my apologies for the gratuitous use of the parenthesis in this post).

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This past Friday was Fletcher’s annual Felt outing. It’s a tradition (at least since last year) to blow off some steam and stress with a trip to downtown Boston the first weekend of finals. Felt is a great dancing spot and friend and fellow classmate Emily Levasseur (MALD 07) was able to get discounted entry for all. Thanks Emily!

Enjoy the pics below and forgive the fact that they’re all of the same people…There was too much dancing to be done to think of bringing the camera to the dance floor.

Emily, Bernie, Katie, Geoffrey and Josh

Katie and Perla

Sandhya and Emily

Angie, Jason and Drew

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Ginn Library: Hour 7. Need a break from this paper. Can’t take a break, already behind schedule. What about blogging, that’s more of a duty than a break? No time. What if I use the blog to draft part of the paper? Well, it is a paper on blogs…

“Blogs have permanently and profoundly redefined the relationship between the individual and the masses.” [Powers, Ed. Sunday Tribune]

The individual who speaks to the masses no longer needs to be wealthy, powerful, credentialed or all three. The individual now speaks both to the masses and from the masses. And the masses speak back.

Blogs have risen to social and political prominence as more than just online diaries. For many, blogs are news outlets in their own right, providing alternative analysis, coverage of under-reported events, and sometimes breaking stories of major news events and providing the main stream frame and analysis. The impact is undeniable: Matt Drudge, the Baghdad Blogger, the bloggers who called out 60 Minutes on Bush’s National Guard documents, the Tsunami Bloggers, dissident bloggers in Iran; bloggers have made their mark on online journalism and the main stream media has begun to take them seriously.

“The conventional news media are embattled. Attacked by both left and right in book after book, rocked by scandals, challenged by upstart bloggers…their audience is in decline, their credibility with the public in shreds.” [Posner, Richard A. NY Times]

In print and online media today, adaptation is everywhere. The New York Times online production employs dozens of bloggers and links to hundreds more, the back page of the Financial Times prints excerpts from their bloggers and lists their most emailed articles, and Reuters is soliciting anyone with a camera phone to be the next Pulitzer Prize winner. Through blogging and other ICT tools and applications, non-journalists are able to make an impact on the media that has not been felt since the beginning of the news agency cartel.

Ok, that’s a little better than total crap…

Anyway, to put it in context, I lay the groundwork for this whole ‘impact of bloggers’ thing with an analysis of global news flows and the news agency cartel and a review the literature that covers the NWICO (New World Information and Communication Order) debates of the late 70s and early 80s. These debates were cut off – due in large part to US and UK withdrawal – in 1983 and Northern-dominated news flows have persisted. My analysis focuses on bloggers and their potential to achieve the distributive justice in communication that developing countries called for during that debate. I’m not a blind optimist though, I use a few models in the analysis that range from ‘zero impact’ to ‘global revolution’ – something like that, you get the idea.

Ok, time to re-read what I just wrote and puke in my own mouth.

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Ah yes…it’s that time of year again. Most people are out doing holiday shopping, attending holiday parties, and busy with their travel plans and looking forward to the New Year and all the resolutions that will be made and broken within the same month. And then there’s the student population of the world, who dreads this time of year for the onslaught of exams and papers that it invariably entails. While the world sleeps, the diligent student is awake, powered by caffeine, and hunched over the laptop computer. (the non-diligent student is ALSO awake, due to caffeine-induced sympathy pains with his / her neighbors).

This semester, there is a new twist to finals, and perhaps to the entire holiday season. It is warm and sunny under these blue skies, and the perfect weather to engage in just about any besides sitting inside and studying. It makes the appeal of the library, the desk, and the indoors positively plummet. Global warming? Climate change? These terms that so many of us toss around lightly, and many here at Fletcher devote their entire academic and personal lives towards. Strange how we go out and celebrate when the weather stays warm enough for a stress-relieving jog or a game of frisbee in December. Most of us actually ignore the implications and call our buddies for an outdoor activity. Not that I’m recommending that we all assemble for a day of protest and mourning whenever there is a warm wintery day, but a reflection on the actual condition of the environment could stimulate some much-needed action among the general masses in support of environmental protection.

I, however, am currently suffering from a touch of the flu and, as such, have been unable to fully participate in the outdoor excitement that a few days of warmth in December bring. So I continue to sit in my room, in front of the laptop and surrounded by papers, with the shades drawn and the sun streaming in. It is a double-edged sword, no doubt, but perhaps it will force me to complete my projects in a timely fashion this year, instead of throwing on those running shoes and spending hours frolicking in the sun.

(I should mention, however, that I have currently made a date with my roommate to go for a walk later, “just to get the blood flowing”. You didn’t think that I would ACTUALLY let this day slip by without a little sunshine time!)

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The best way to study for exams is to not study the way I do. Since I have no papers to write, I find myself distracted and watching other students study. Ginn library has been packed recently with fletcherites and undergrads who are all furiously typing away at their computers. I am also furiously typing, but am writing long emails to friends or catching up with former co-workers via AIM.

I was initially looking forward to having a reading week, but now am just hating it since it’s simply too much time for me to use effectively. Instead of using my time wisely, I hit refresh every 2 minutes on my email, or get a snack, or fill up my water bottle, or just sit and watch other students stress. I am hoping that today will be a more productive day since I have my International Business Transactions final on Friday which is just around the corner…

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I’m currently studying for what is probably one of Fletcher’s most popular courses: The Role of Force, taught by Professor Richard Shultz. It’s a core Fletcher course for the International Security Studies field of study that most Fletcherites take in their first year. So, why, as a second-year, am I taking it now? Well, I only decided this year to concentrate on Security Studies. I’m glad I did, as it’s a very interesting field that’s taught me broad security concepts and enabled me to understand what’s going on with US National Security Policy today. It’s also a great compliment to my International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution field, particularly when thinking about the proliferation of Peace Operations in the 1990s or concepts like preemption.

The other, more important reason, that I decided not to take it last year was that it began at 8:00 a.m. *8:00 a.m.!* How ridiculous! I’d never even taken an 8:00 a.m. course in college, so I figured I wouldn’t start now. Professor Shultz always jokes that he works half days: 5:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m. And he really does, too. There are students who have seen him drive into the parking lot at 5:00 a.m., just as they’re going to sleep in Blakeley. He’s the only professor at Fletcher who starts a class so early because he has so much information he wants to teach us that the regular hour and twenty minutes two times a week just doesn’t cut it.

Due to changes in the class schedule this year, Role of Force began at 7:45 a.m. every Monday and Wednesday. Serves me (and a few other second-years) right for not taking it last year. But this year is no different from other’s: every Monday and Wednesday an entire classroom full of students would enter the Hall of Flags dutifully at 7:45 a.m.– on the dot–and listen with rapt attention to Prof. Shultz’s lectures.

As a plug for him, I’d highly recommend checking out his new book, co-authored with Fletcher PhD student, Andrea Dew: Insurgents, Terrorists and Militias: The Warriors of Contemporary Combat. I read the chapter on Chechnya for his other class on Internal Conflicts and War and found it great–easy to read, but packed full of information.

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I’m not trying to freak anyone out here, but I think the academic calendar is wrong. I mean, I’m pretty sure tomorrow is not my last day of classes. I’m pretty sure I have months until my research papers and essays are due on December 21st, right? Ok, good. Then I’ll keep providing distractions for everyone because it seems like the library is packed every hour it’s open (which, apparently isn’t enough for some students…but congratulations, there will be extended hours for Finals’ Week – that’s like months from now, right?). I just sent out a great one – a seasonal game where you guide a bunny through the air and attempt to ring bells. Trust me, it’s incredibly addictive. Oh, and try testing your knowledge of global geography – this is a very Fletcher distraction, in fact we had more than one student obtain a perfect score…none of those students were American. [Have to thank my friend CrazyMonk for both of those]

Ok, ok, I’m not all games. These distractions are just blinks in a day of wide-eyed research. I actually spent close to an hour today lying down between library stacks as I searched for books on that blog-paper I mentioned last week. When I finally surfaced it was dark and I thought for a moment that maybe we really were closing in on finals week…then I found this: The 50 Greatest Commercials of the 80s. Finals week? That’s years away. [Thanks, Kottke]

No really, I got so much done today. I read hundreds of pages on the UNESCO debates of the late 70s about News Agency domination and news-flows that are detrimental to the group of 77 non-aligned nations and I know more about Reuters than Rupert Murdoch. Next step is to figure out how blogs could be the threat to News Agency domination of international journalism that UNESCO never was. Finally, research meets procrastination – guess I won’t need all 5 weeks to finish this paper.

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One of my long-time mentors, conductor Benjamin Zander, had a rule he shared with his students. If they made a mistake – whether it be that they came to rehearsal late, unprepared, or had offended their colleagues in some manner – he insisted on a three-step rectification process. First, one must apologize. Second, one must clean up the mess one’s mistake caused. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, one is not to repeat that mistake ever again.

As all of us at Fletcher await the release of the Iraq Study Group report momentarily, it strikes me that our country’s leadership could learn from Maestro Zander a lesson or two. The administration and those who played a leading role in getting our country into this morass have yet to acknowledge their mistake, have yet to even begin presenting a reasonable plan to clean up the mess strewn across Iraq and the broader Middle East, and few of us are convinced that our leaders are so scarred by their ill-advised policies that a similar mistake is beyond the realm of imagination. Beyond hampering the reconstruction and reconciliation in Iraq, the obduracy of the administration is causing deep schisms within our own society. The law of unintended consequences has peaked its sinister visage again. From rising rates of domestic abuse and gun violence, to a fractured economy, and misallocated social priorities the effects of the Iraq war reverberate beyond the blast-walls of the Green Zone. I hope, though with little enthusiasm, that tomorrow might begin a new day… may it begin with a simple apology, so that we can get to the work at hand.

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This week is looking fierce! I have stacks of past-due reading to catch up on as well as problem sets for both Development and Microeconomics in addition to a policy memo on Cameroon. I didn’t realize how poorly timed missing class the Monday after thanksgiving was considering that was the day Professor Block lectured on a few critical components of the Salter-Swan model that I spent the weekend trying to learn on my own. I’m at a familiar point in my studying; on Friday I was clueless as to what was going on and spent the day copying definitions from the textbook so as to get the terminology down. By Saturday, things were still hazy but snippets were coming together. Currently, I’m slightly confused by some of the relationships in the model, but am nearing the apex of understanding. So long as I’m there by Wednesday’s policy memo deadline, I am comfortable with my progress.

Next week will be more relaxed. Since none of my classes require final papers, the week will serve as a reading week for my four finals, which will be on the 18th-21st of December. Of course, next semester I will be fulfilling my two DHP requirements as well as starting on some courses on Southwest Asia and Islamic Civilization so I’ll probably have all papers and no finals. While I still have no idea what I will ultimately be focusing on while at Fletcher, I’ve decided to make it a priority to take courses with professors that are known to be amazing lecturers whether they fit my fields of study or not so I don’t miss out on the best that Fletcher has to offer. From this strategy I am convinced that a few field of studies will present themselves. While perhaps not the wisest strategy, I feel I’ve played the conservatism card too often in life and am using this method as an opportunity to explore some arenas that I otherwise would never take. Isn’t that what higher education is all about anyway?

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