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silentwordsfrommyeyes
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Name: Allie
Country: United States
State: Georgia
Metro: Cumming
Birthday: 12/31/1987
Gender: Female
Interests: [music][clarinet][Spanish][French][Portuguese][politics][CNN][travel][Boston Red Sox][accumulating great deals of wealth][government][LOST]
Expertise: [Spanish][politics][history][being one badass Jew][pissing people off][music][sing-alongs][being awesome]
Occupation: Student
Industry: Government
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  so allies like
MSN: come_out_and_play14@hotmail.com
Member Since:
10/29/2003
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| Maybe I'll write more in this. But probs not.
New semester, new craziness. And there's 2 inches of snow-ish and people all think I'm insane. Granted, if I had grown up with snow, I would think I was crazy too. Hrm.
I'm dually going on a mini-vacation this weekend. For one, I'm protesting (which is ridiculously relaxing, you should try it). Washington DC this Saturday is going to be packed with people protesting the war. The last time I went to a big DC protest, it was 2000 and I was 12. Granted, I was more of a politically aware adolescent than most adults are, but that's beyond the point. Most political activities I've been up to of late has been more small scale. Newspaper interviews, phone banking, canvassing neighborhoods, holding up signs at press conferences... that sort of thing. I love the collective effervescence of group protesting, though.
Secondly, I am spending the weekend with one of the most wonderful people I have come to know. Sadly, geography makes it that we can never be anything but friends who occasionally get together. He goes to law school in DC but his family lives in Boston, so he comes here for breaks and stuff but not enough for us to ever have a relationship or anything. Which is sad, but something I'm kind of used to by now. I don't want any more long distance loves...
Tomorrow Jimmy Carter is going to speak about his latest book, and considering all the word and press we as petitioners to get him here have gotten (I've been quoted in the Boston Globe and everything ;)), it's exciting. Afterwards Dershowitz is going to give his rebuttle. Norman Finkelstein might be there... and if he is there, his "close, personal friend" (coming directly out of an email with a political group I'm involved with) Noam Chomsky might be as well. And that means I might cream myself. For hours. I had to miss Howard Zinn last week which was tragic but tomorrow will make up for it.
And yeah. This will probably be the last blog for forever. Again.
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| Anth 1a Introduction to Comparative Human Societies
BASSO,
PORTRAITS OF "THE WHITEMAN"
LEE,
DOBE JU/'HOANSI
GAMBURD,
KITCHEN SPOON'S HANDLE
LAMB,
WHITE SARIS+SWEET MANGOES (by the professor)
PODOLEFSKY,
APPLYING CULTURAL ANTHRO.:INTR
BOURGOIS,
IN SEARCH OF RESPECT
$159.25
Econ 2a Introduction to Economics
MANKIW,
PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS
$149.35
Pol 15a Introduction to International Relations
CRAIG,
FORCE+STATECRAFT
NYE,
UNDERSTANDING INTERNATIONAL CO
GADDIS,
COLD WAR
ART,
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS (by the professor)
$143.95 (not counting the Craig book because the bookstore doesn't have it)
Span 105a Advanced Spanish Conversation and Grammar
ROJAS,
GRAMATICA ESENCIAL-W/CD
$80.00
USEM 30b Development of Play, Art, and Creativity
PALEY,
BAD GUYS DON'T HAVE BIRTHDAYS
POTOK,
MY NAME IS ASHER LEV
GARDNER,
EXTRAORDINARY MINDS
HACKER,
RULES FOR WRITERS-TEXT
CONROY,
BODY+SOUL
ROSENWASSER,
WRITING ANALYTICALLY
$126.30
Grand total:
$658.85
Holy Buddha
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| First off... I'm Jewish- not Israeli. That's something that many people have been mistaken me for of late. I feel more of a connection to, say, Spain and England, than Israel, and I surely will never be as embarassed to be connected to them as I am right now of Israel.
"Ground to a Halt
By ROBERT PAPE
Chicago
ISRAEL has
finally conceded that air power alone will not defeat Hezbollah. Over
the coming weeks, it will learn that ground power won’t work either.
The problem is not that the Israelis have insufficient military might,
but that they misunderstand the nature of the enemy.
Contrary to
the conventional wisdom, Hezbollah is principally neither a political
party nor an Islamist militia. It is a broad movement that evolved in
reaction to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in June 1982. At first it
consisted of a small number of Shiites supported by Iran. But as more
and more Lebanese came to resent Israel’s occupation, Hezbollah — never
tight-knit — expanded into an umbrella organization that tacitly
coordinated the resistance operations of a loose collection of groups
with a variety of religious and secular aims.
In terms of
structure and hierarchy, it is less comparable to, say, a religious
cult like the Taliban than to the multidimensional American
civil-rights movement of the 1960’s. What made its rise so rapid, and
will make it impossible to defeat militarily, was not its international
support but the fact that it evolved from a reorientation of
pre-existing Lebanese social groups.
Evidence of the broad
nature of Hezbollah’s resistance to Israeli occupation can be seen in
the identity of its suicide attackers. Hezbollah conducted a broad
campaign of suicide bombings against American, French and Israeli
targets from 1982 to 1986. Altogether, these attacks — which included
the infamous bombing of the Marine barracks in 1983 — involved 41
suicide terrorists.
In writing my book on suicide attackers, I
had researchers scour Lebanese sources to collect martyr videos,
pictures and testimonials and the biographies of the Hezbollah bombers.
Of the 41, we identified the names, birth places and other personal
data for 38. Shockingly, only eight were Islamic fundamentalists.
Twenty-seven were from leftist political groups like the Lebanese
Communist Party and the Arab Socialist Union. Three were Christians,
including a female high-school teacher with a college degree. All were
born in Lebanon.
What these suicide attackers — and their heirs
today — shared was not a religious or political ideology but simply a
commitment to resisting a foreign occupation. Nearly two decades of
Israeli military presence did not root out Hezbollah. The only thing
that has proven to end suicide attacks, in Lebanon and elsewhere, is
withdrawal by the occupying force.
Thus the new Israeli land
offensive may take ground and destroy weapons, but it has little chance
of destroying the Hezbollah movement. In fact, in the wake of the
bombings of civilians, the incursion will probably aid Hezbollah’s
recruiting.
Equally important, Israel’s incursion is also
squandering the good will it had initially earned from so-called
moderate Arab states like Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The countries are the
court of opinion that matters because, while Israel cannot crush
Hezbollah, it could achieve a more limited goal: ending Hezbollah’s
acquisition of more missiles through Syria.
Given Syria’s
total control of its border with Lebanon, stemming the flow of weapons
is a job for diplomacy, not force. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan,
Sunni-led nations that want stability in the region, are motivated to
stop the rise of Hezbollah. Under the right conditions, the United
States might be able to help assemble an ad hoc coalition of Syria’s
neighbors to entice and bully it to prevent Iranian, Chinese or other
foreign missiles from entering Lebanon. It could also offer to begin
talks over the future of the Golan Heights.
But Israel must take
the initiative. Unless it calls off the offensive and accepts a genuine
cease-fire, there are likely to be many, many dead Israelis in the
coming weeks — and a much stronger Hezbollah."
Saying Israel "has a right to defend itself" is a cop out. Of course it has the right to defend itself.. but is bombing a relatively peaceful city full of people who for the most part bitterly opposed Hezbollah going to help? Of course not. Lets say that you were a Druze, living happily with your family in a nice apartment with a prospering tourist business. One day, two men are captured by people completely unaffiliated with you, your people, or your country. Within weeks, your apartment building is in ruins, your business destroyed, your family refugees in their own country with family friends dead or wounded. Now, honestly, who are the good guys in this situation? The Israelis bombing you? No, of course not. Instead, it would be Hezbollah, shooting rockets back at Israel. You might not agree, but hey, at least they're doing something. Maybe Hezbollah got your uncle medical care or gave your daughter a glass of water and some food. Who cares what their morals are, they're the ones helping you.
Now imagine you multiplied by half a million... a figure that is constantly growing. Not all of those people are going to turn to Hezbollah, but more will. People who have formerly vehemently despised Hezbollah and it's doings now might not think it's so bad. And that's real life, people. Fighting terrorism by bombing without discrecion for innocent people and property and rolling tanks in doesn't win you any supporters among the despaired of the country. It's like raking the bottom of the sea.
In other news, how bout that Mel Gibson? Now I am totally justified in thinking he's a shitty person and refusing to watch Braveheart (see that Pete!). His BAC was .12. That's not even that high! Hilarious. Silly Melly. Hope your new movie bombs. Plus drunk driving definitely gets you a front row seat in hell. If God exists in the Christian form as Mel seems to believe, I sure don't think he'd look too fondly about those proclaiming to be loyal to Him and yet risking the lives of His creations, including your own, by recklessly self indulging. Smooth move, Jesus Christ superstar.
And on the home front, I've seriously been blowing my money. I spent $40 today on foundation and some makeup brushes. >.> Whoops. And I still need to replenish my makeup as I threw out everything I had.
I also hennaed my hair.. but it's only a smidge redder. Most people wouldn't be able to tell. I still have enough for a new treatment though.
Really have nothing more to say.
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| So.. I've got all my collegey stuff sorted out now.
I'm in Gordon Hall which is a coed dorm (as in coed by room, not by floor, and coed bathrooms)! Score! I have some friends on my hall which is cool. I'm also in the quad I wanted right next to the building where most of my classes are and a bit closer to Waltham, but no biggie since the campus isn't that big to start with. My roommate is from Cleveland and is a lot like me in terms of music and some interests- though she's majoring in bio and theatre which is about as different from me as possible. I think we'll get along pretty well.
Classes:
POL131- Social Movements in Latin America MWTh 10:10-11:00AM
POL15- Intro to International Relations TF 10:40-12:00 PM
SPAN105- Advanced Conversation and Grammar MWTh 11:10-12:00 PM
ECON2- Intro to Economics MWTh 1:10-2:00 PM Rec.T 6:30-8:30PM
USEM30- Development of Play, Art, and Creativity MW 3:40-5:00PM Writing 4:10-5:00PM
PE- Uecki-Ryu (karate) W 6:30-8
So.. definitely a demanding schedule... but all things I'm interested in. Spanish is going to kick my ASS. I tested out of all the typical freshman (and sophomore...) Spanish classes based on my SAT2. So, basically, I can't take a 30 level course because it wouldn't count. Technically, that doesn't matter because I don't need any Spanish credits to graduate, but meh. I'm freaking out. I have friends in half of the classes, so the only ones that might be awkward (and also me being the youngest) are social movements of Latin America, Spanish, and karate.
I SHOULD find out about Mosaic this week too.
But in any case, about a month before I go to Disney and then a week after that, I go to Boston! I'm so excited.
In other news... I want to henna dye my hair. Anyone want to join?
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| So I'm looking through pictures of R-day at West Point for Mikey and Marshall. 
Looks like Marshall in the back left. And could that be Mikey behind the girl? He's looking down so I can't tell, but it looks a LOT like him.
There weren't any other pictures with either of them... and I went through every one. :( *sob*
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