The Gift of Fear

In the middle of his show that aired on September 24, 2009, after playing a clip of schoolchildren celebrating Barack Obama’s being the first black President by singing a song (during Black History Month) to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic that lauded the President’s accomplishments, Glenn Beck encouraged Americans to “listen to the gift of fear: it’s there for a reason.” Wow, thanks for the inspiring words Glenn. I can’t think of a less helpful thing to say to an already terrified public mired in the midst of a recession that, while slowly lessening its grip on the American economy, remains a painful reality for many of those who have already or are about to lose their jobs or houses, not to mention the other things they already fear thanks to the 24/7/365 inundation of information that is omnipresent in today’s society. (more…)

The Fate of Europe: Lisbon and Ireland

There were many things that I noticed as different and new my first day here in Dublin.  The weather, for one, was so different from that of the hot, dry, stifling Central Valley, or that of sunny, sea breeze-swept Santa Barbara. Cars are driven here on the left side of the road, ice tea is nowhere to be found, and I, aged twenty, was able to drink legally. But what struck me the most were the political posters. I soon learned that on October 2nd of this year, Ireland will vote on the Lisbon Treaty for the second time, with massive implications for the future of Ireland, the European Union, and Europe itself. (more…)

An Introduction to ‘Going Dutch’

Hi!

My name is Sarah and I have been living and studying in the town of Maastricht, Netherlands at University College Maastricht for a little over a month now. “Why are you going THERE?” was the question I was asked over and over again by friends and family. How did I end up in this small country that is only an afterthought to most people? Truthfully, that was the first question we all seemed to want to know about each other when I initially met the other UC students on this program. For many of them? Certainly the idea of the “legality” of certain drugs. For myself? Not so much. The simplest answer is that I wanted to study in a country where I could enroll in an immersion program in a local university, but have everything be taught in English. You might be surprised, but those requirements seriously limit one’s options. I had always heard amazing things about the Netherlands, but nothing too specific, maybe because I have also heard that Dutch culture is hard to pinpoint. Armed with only this knowledge before coming here, you can imagine that I was a little nervous and had absolutely no idea what to expect. My goal by the time I return home in December? Be able to better explain what being Dutch is all about. (more…)

The Music Video

Long story short, I have a friend who works at a radio station where she met a Ghanaian guy who has connections to the relatively famous Ghanaian hiplife group called 4×4. I had heard of these connections through the grapevine but didn’t think too much about it until my friend asked me, “Hey, so do you want to be in a music video?”

To which I responded soundly, “Hell yes, I want to be in a music video!” (more…)

Pleasant Greetings From the Emerald Isle

Hey everyone!  This is my first installment in my travel-log-blog about my year-long stay in Ireland.  In the last week, I’ve traveled from Dublin to Dundalk to Carlingford to Knowth and New Grange and back to Dublin, and it has been one amazing journey.

First off, Ireland’s nickname “the Emerald Isle” is not without merit—everything is green!  Coming from dry, drought-stricken central California, where the landscape is not but the gold of dry (and flammable) grasses and the brown of bare soils, the view from the plane was incredibly striking-nothing but the different shades of green in the fields and forests, and the occasional dark brown of moist, peaty soil.  Here, where there is both adequate rain and adequate sun, any seed that lands in even the slightest bit of soil can grow and bloom, be it in the ground, the cracks in the pavement, in gutters, or even up on chimneys!  Plant life abounds in Ireland, whereas in California, save for the irrigated gardens and lawns and groves, everything is brown and dead until the first rains of winter. (more…)

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