An Evening to Remember,

Last night I attended a book talk with Dave Eggers, Samantha Power, and Valentino Achak Deng. Eggers is the author of “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” and the recently published novel “What is the What”. It is this last work that was the subject of the book talk, and was the reason why a few hundred people gathered at the beautiful Memorial Church in Harvard Yard on a cold and snowy February night.

“What is the What” is the story of Valentino Achak Deng, one of the famed Lost Boys of Sudan. These boys were children of the genocide in Sudan of the 1980s and 1990s, who spent many years in refugee camps in Kenya and Uganda before being resettled all over the world. A large number have been resettled in the United States (the exact figure escapes me now), and have been attempting to carve out a new life for themselves as children of conflict away from their homeland. Some of their stories have been publicized in the media, and various aspects of their resettlement and integration into the American social fabric have received attention. Their story, however, is not uniform, and all too often in the desire to paint a “broad picture” these individual voices get lost.

“What is the What” highlights the individual voice and the individual story of Valentino, a Sudanese refugee who was resettled in Atlanta. He and Dave Eggers established contact through a mutual friend, after Valentino expressed his interest in telling his individual story. After a series of meetings, Dave decided to drop all other projects and pursue Valentino’s story. Eggers quickly decided that writing a simple oral history would not suffice in this case, since it may not be widely read by the American public. He therefore decided to fictionalize parts of Valentino’s experience, and turn his story into a novel using the powerful literary tools that he possesses. What resulted is an absolute masterpiece of a story, that explores many different dimensions of the Sudanese refugee experience as lived by Valentino. The story travels back and forth between Valentino’s childhood days fleeing the genocide in Sudan and living in a refugee camp in Kakuma, and his current struggles finding himself in America. The imagery is tremendously powerful, devastating, humorous at times, and certainly memorable.

Last night, Eggers and Valentino came to Harvard for a book talk that was mediated by Samantha Power (author of “A Problem from Hell: America in the Age of Genocide”), a professor at the Kennedy School of Government and chair of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. For over two hours, Eggers and Valentino discussed their meeting, the process of writing the book, the painful journey that it took them both on, the current situation in the Sudan, and the message that Valentino has or represents for the wider public. What amazed me most was the tremendous poise and balance of Valentino as he discussed the horrific events of his childhood, and the difficulties of transitioning to the United States. He has a very simple and powerful message: that society should listen to these stories. And consider them carefully. Not necessarily in order to facilitate policy changes or increase aid, but simply to increase the relationship capacity of human beings, and to increase our collective awareness and humanity.

Seeing Valentino at the front of the church, an accomplished and poised man, reaffirmed my faith in the power of one individual to touch many. I recommend this book to all who consider themselves part of “humanity”. Thank you Dave Eggers, and thank you Valentino.

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This morning, I heard one of the longest segments on the Balkans on the BBC (through NPR) that I’d heard in a while. For 5-7 minutes, which is quite a long segment in radio time, various commentators discussed the reactions to International Court of Justice’s declaration that Serbia should not be held responsible for the genocide that took place in Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995. This was a big day in the Balkans with many Bosnian Muslims upset and many Serbs feeling exonerated of responsibility.

Although I’m pleased to see the Balkans receiving so much coverage today, it’s surprising, as only weeks ago Kosovo* pretty much received its independence and very few media outlets took notice. That’s not exactly true, of course, but I did have to search The New York Times and The Washington Post to find any mention of the Finnish diplomat Marti Ahitsaari’s, who is the UN’s Special Envoy to Kosovo, plan for Kosovo’s future status. Even my friend Teuta (MALD ‘07) from Kosovo said I was one of only two people at Fletcher to speak with her about the announcement.

While I understand most of us are preoccupied with other newsworthy events taking place in current hot spots like Iraq, Afghanistan or Iran, it disheartens me that little attention is given to an area of the world that only a few years ago was stricken with violence and hatred. I’m not saying I want everyone to be up to date on the latest news from the Balkans, but I do wish major media outlets paid more attention to the major occurrences in the region.

So, I guess, to answer my own rhetorical question: I still care about the Balkans and I know there are others out there who do, too. I am writing my thesis on Kosovo’s future status and the process of how independence will be implemented. I know it’s not necessarily the sexiest topic, but it’s interesting to me and I find it helpful to know the ins and outs of a conflict well, so that I can apply lessons learned to other conflicts. Although it’s going to be challenging, I’m looking forward to puzzling through the recommendations I will make at the end of my project.

With Serbs and Albanians facing deadlock in the last round of negotiations on status and a few violent attacks in recent weeks, it will be interesting to see what the coming months will bring.

*N.B.–I say “Kosovo” as opposed to “Kosova” because technically, Kosovo is still the internationally recognized spelling. I’m sure, within a matter of months, I will be saying Kosova.

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From high above the bright lights of Medford, on the 7th floor of the Cabot International Center, I’m at the Symposium on The Future of Iraq: US Exit Strategies. Judging by the bios, this will be a very Anglo affair, with three journalists with BBC in their bios and a BU professor of British foreign policy. Hoping for lots of “cheers,” “brilliant,” “queue,” a tea time, and perhaps a way out of Iraq. In fact, the woman hosting the event (sorry, I’m in the corner, can’t read any of the name tags, just showed up, only know the Murrow Center is sponsoring the event and they haven’t updated their webpage since the last surge in Iraq, so don’t blame me for missing some details) thought I was British just because I said the word “brilliant” earlier. Anyway, here’s who is here:

Eric Goldstein – BU – British Foreign policy – academic
Ibrahim Warde – Fletcher – Islamic Banking Prof
Bryan Bender – Journo – lots of folks
Mathew Bell – Journo – BBC and freelance public radio
David Mazower – Journo – BBC world service

Ok, lots of introductions, re-hashing recent op-eds on Iraq, reviewing the details of Blair’s recent announcement to withdraw British troops…must admit I’m not all that into this…I’m checking the news at this point – some interesting stuff though, if you’re interested in issues of Internet censorship – and I am: the transitional government in Somalia, backed by international powers to replace the “extremist,” “intolerant,” Islamic Courts Union, has banned the media from reporting; Guniea has gone a step further and turned off all the media, including the Internet; while Turkmenistan has actually broken a barrier of censorship and opened its first internet café. The cases of Somalia and Turkmenistan are particularly interesting because they’re really not what we expected.

And we’re off:

Damn, first one talking is an American who works for the BBC – robbed of one accent. O.k., the Prof is faintly British, maybe Scottish…sorry, at least I say words like ‘brilliant.’ Basic commentary:

‘Partition feels like the only way forward’
‘Partition is probably not the best way forward’
‘There were miscalculations…’
‘There were more miscalculations…’
‘There were wrong assumptions about the reality of religion…”

Ugh, another American who works for the BBC.

Despite missing accents, a nice balance between the two academics and the two journalists.

Finally, a right British accent from a humble BBC World Service journalist. This guy actually launched BBC radio’s Have Your Say, which is a pretty cool listener-driven radio show. Apparently he’s kind of like the tea time portion of the panel: we’re stopping everything to hear some clips from his radio show and it appears he’s pitching it. Ok, this is getting pretty meta now – I’m live blogging and the BBC Have Your Say guy [David Mazower] is speaking, meanwhile, someone is apparently live blogging with his name.

Back to work – Mr. Mazower’s tangent was interesting and I’m impressed with the work he’s doing, but the panel on US Exit Strategies continues…

Some question, some answers, and shockingly no way out of Iraq. I did get 1.5 British accents though and a pseudo-tea time. Jokes aside, I think the most significant moment of the symposium was David Mazower from Have Your Say playing audio of a discussion between two listeners on the show where one, a Kuwaiti, admitted to killing an Iraqi out of sheer vengeance after the Gulf War. The other listener actually posited that he had assisted the very people who initially humiliated him [Saddam] through this murder. Quite an exchange and could have done a lot to bring the discussion back to earth, but in the end it was just tea time.

Thanks to Open Net Initiative for a some of the news on media censorship.

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Kate was right in her last post; getting down to DC on Wednesday for the DC career trip was a nasty, nasty affair. Like most Fletcherites, my flight down to the District was canceled due to the weather, though travel was not to be deterred. A friend in a similar situation called to say that a bunch of students were planning to hop on an evening Amtrak for the eight hour trip south, so on I went over to South Station to join the Fletcher faithful. “This is what the military tries to achieve with esprit de corps,” Nick said; “getting a bunch of individuals to do something as a group they would not otherwise do on their own.” Indeed, it did feel a little foolish to be getting on a train for the night after several hours in the airport as the midterm work piles up to see panels about jobs where we pretty much know what the panelists will say. Luckily, though, we headed down to DC anyway, suits and books in tow, and we were not disappointed.

My main goal for the trip was to learn about career fields in which I don’t have much experience as of yet. One of those was met by a panel of Fletcher alum (mostly) who work in the field of environmentalism and energy policy, with panelists representing non-profits, the private sector and government, working on everything from energy policy to conservation to wildlife. My particular concern in entering this field is my lack of a background in the hard sciences, and it was helpful to gain some advice on careers in environmentalism that don’t require a scientific degree.

Next, I saw a panel on careers in conflict resolution – clearly a fast growing field – again, made up almost entirely of Fletcher alums. One thing I was really impressed to observe (on both panels) was the level of excellent, influential jobs to which alums have risen just a few of years out of school. Very encouraging.

The next afternoon, I went to a three-on-one lunch of Nooshi noodles with a Fletcher alum who works in the field of wildlife conservation – a fantastic networking opportunity with a really helpful, generous alum who shared with us tons of advice, contacts and career stories. These alum lunches are a new feature of the annual OCS career trips, and I think definitely a worthwhile addition.

So, despite all the time taken for travel, the DC trip was definitely a wise move. Great networking, great advice and definitely helpful (if a little daunting) to be forced to think about life after Fletcher for a few days.

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My subject line could be on overstatement, however, thanks to the New England weather. We’ve finally had our first real snow storm of the season, which is great because I love the snow, but this wasn’t the nice, soft snow that I love. Rather, it was the icky, sticky, sleety variety that eventually turned to rain and wrecked havoc on airport traffic. For, you see, the Fletcher Office of Career Services (who, I think, do a great job in facilitating our job and internship prospects) planned the annual DC career trip for this week. But our plans have now been somewhat derailed and most Fletcher students weren’t able to fly to DC today. We were all frantically e-mailing each other on our Social List to see who’s flight had been delayed or canceled or who was going to be able to make it to DC today. The infamous/famous Social List is an e-mail list that almost everyone in the school is a part of and facilitates our communication. We’ll post everything from the latest commentary on Iraq, which will be debated over several e-mails, or advertise the next party, or, as the case may be, see who’s interested in sharing a cab to the airport.

Fortunately, most of us will be able to get to DC by tomorrow. OCS is going ahead with most of the panels for Thursday and fortunately the weather should be fine for Friday when we’ll all be going to site visits to check out different organizations, corporations or government agencies that we may want to work for some day. I actually won’t be going on any visits Friday because I have a pretty important job interview. If all goes well, perhaps, I’ll share more about it, but for fear of jinxing the day, I won’t say anything at this time. But, please wish me luck!

And forgive the lack of posts recently. I always find the last parts of anything–last semester, last month in a job, last week of living some place–kinda stressful. There’s always more to be done than time in the day and it’s no different in my last semester of Fletcher. With a thesis to be finished (or started?), a job to be found and time to spend with friends, I’m finding it difficult to find inspiration for posts. I will try to be better.

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So, one of the major attractions of the Fletcher School is, undoubtedly, its vibrant social scene. This is usually marked by group outings to sporting events or concerts, dancing in downtown Boston, gathering for group dinners, and, of course, the all-important HOUSE PARTY. With regards to the HOUSE PARTY, there are several forms that one can look forward to enjoying. One version is the standard fete, with the usual suspects and the usual libations, perhaps involving some music and some games. Another version is heavy on the dance element, which usually involves ample floor space and a well-planned lighting scheme. Yet another incarnation of the FHP (FLETCHER HOUSE PARTY) leans towards the gaming aspect, with such favorites as Beirut (a.k.a. Pong), “Never Have I Ever”, and various and sundry card games making an appearance. And then, last but not least, is the time-honored THEME PARTY.

The theme parties at Fletcher usually involve a substantial amount of dressing up in character, advertisements centered around that particular theme, and extensive decoration of the party locale that corresponds with that theme. Since my arrival at Fletcher 18 months ago, I have seen such themes as James Bond, 1970s Disco, Crazy Hats, 1930s Gangster, International Pajamas, and many more that escape immediate recollection. This past weekend, there was another installment of the FHP, with the central theme being Everything 80s. Now, I’ve been to many themed parties in my 18 months here, but the 80s party will most likely go down in Fletcher history as one of the most memorable.

For this party, I dressed as the Indian Jane Fonda, complete with leotard, headband, legwarmers, and scrunchies. Other people dressed as characters from the Cosby Show, Top Gun, ChiPs, Flashdance, and most people simply brought out their flashy jewelry, jean jackets, and big sunglasses. Since most of us grew up during the 80s, it really was a stunning flashback to those grade school moments, and all of those photos that we would like to destroy but our parents will not let us. I have to say that I was highly impressed with the ability of the Fletcher community, especially all of the international students, to dress up beyond my wildest expectations. It is another indication of the strong and vibrant community here, and is a testimony to the fact that dressing up in costume is fun, no matter which region of the world you call home.

Rest in Peace, 80s. A piece of you lives in all of us.

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Although the new semester started three weeks ago and I’ve found the rhythm of a new schedule and new classes, the work related to those classes isn’t exactly as intense as it’ll be during mid-terms and finals. So, the first few weeks are a good time for the old exra-curriculars that are so much a part of the experience here as well. And it’s a good thing I have the time now, because organizing Africana night has practically been THE curriculum for the last week. The actual night – when we celebrate African culture and basically throw a big party complete with continental food, entertainment, and education – is this Saturday, and those of us involved will be more than happy to have participated in such a successful event, but probably a little relieved that it’s over as well. For my part, I’m performing in a play written by fellow student and Africana organizer Abdul-Rahman, I’m putting together a slide show of relevant student photos, and I’m responsible for the AV/Technical duties.

Like Liz, I still found time to read Thucydides last week and am enjoying Professor Drezner’s class as well. I’m also pleased that another one of my professor’s has a blog: Professor Trachtman, who teaches International Legal Aspects of Globalization.

In related news, Tufts has established a great new tool through Spark.net that allows students to start blogs and wikis. I’ve initiated the wikis for The Fletcher School and The Fletcher Ledger and am hoping this becomes a resource for all the students. It really has a lot of potential when you consider the need for networking in a community like ours where people are constantly asking questions like ‘do you have the books for this class?’ ‘How do you find your grades online?’ ‘How many pizza places are their in Medford and who’s the best?’ A wiki would be a great place to find answers, where they could be constantly updated while being preserved for all time – they’re like a beautiful dump: you can throw everything in and you can get anything out.

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