Reflection - Week Eight

Wow, it's already October, already midterms, and I've already been to my church weekend AND a Bar Mitzvah this month!  It was nice to kind of slow down, and what an interesting way to do so in World Politics!

I had never played Risk before this class.  I wasn't sure what to expect, other than to be able to chill.  I found myself instead really interested in the game, to the point where I joined discussions about it on the floor, trying to strike deals and work on alliances.  There was a point where Fiona and I had 5 or 6 different people in our room just talking about Risk strategy.  I was amazed at how much people got into the game.

The coolest part about this game of Risk was that everyone has different goals and different methods of accomplishing them.  I was surprised when we allied with yellow (the religious extremists/ New Guinea) because I couldn't see a value in them, but they ended up having a power that helped us tremendously.  Twists like that keep the game interesting and

Reflection: Week Eight

I was thrilled to attend the opera Salome this week at the Kennedy Center largely because I wanted to enjoy something other than politics for a day. When your life is bombarded with politic theory and general election projections, melodramatic theater is sometimes just what the doctor ordered. Ironically, even with all the majestic costumes, haunting music, and larger-than-life performances, I could not seem to shake my political analysis lenses for a night. I appreciated the pure art to be sure, but found myself fixated on one theme throughout the entire production.

Oh Salome, where do I begin with you? You are surely a show designed largely on shock value and the manifestation of hyperbole on stage. When the opera began, I instantly recognized the story of Herodias and her daughter from the Bible. I was immediately transported back in time to my small Catholic high school, where I sat in the back of my theology class rolling my eyes at this story in the Bible. In my opinion, the story of Salome and John the Baptist is a perfect example of religion and society’s preoccupation with the classic "Eve and the apple" projection. In literature, plays, and folklore, woman are often cast as the incarnation of evil, either as uncontrollably passionate young maidens or manipulative temptresses. Salome just takes the sick and twisted nature of women to a whole other level. In the opera, Salome and her mother are portrayed as manipulative and selfish even in their best moments. While Herodias and Salome are cast in this light, the pedophilic King Herod who makes sexual advances on Salome comes out looking more like a buffoon than anything else. John the Baptist of course is the saint that righteously refuses the persistent advances of Salome.

I thoroughly enjoyed the melodramatic night of watching Salome rolling around the floor with John the Baptist’s bloody severed head. It certainly cured my political stupor even if my feminist tendencies surfaced from time to time. After all the tragedy of Salome will always look better on stage at the Kennedy Center than from my shabby old theology classroom back in Frederick, Maryland.

Reflection on week 7

Having no class on Monday and no lab on Wednesday this week was all about the simulation. I was in the AIAM group which represents international auto manufactures which meant we obviously wanted to abolish the tariffs and domestic content requirements. Before my group and I started researching reasons to get rid of the tariffs and content requirements, my personal viewpoint was to keep them. I never had a real reason for wanting to keep them because I didn’t know much about the issue.

Before I started researching for the simulation I thought that keeping the tariffs and content rules would help keep American jobs. After finding information for my group’s presentation my opinion started to change and I realized that getting rid of these tariffs and content rules would actually help to not only keep jobs here but also create jobs and help the economy out as well because it would lower the prices on cars sold and promote innovation which would help the environment.

Going into the project I never thought that my views would change. I thought it was really cool and am glad that a project for class could change my views on something.

Reflection: Week Seven

I was surprised by the challenge presented by the complexities of the auto-manufacturing debate simulation this Thursday. I am admittedly not very well versed in economics, especially concerning auto-manufacturing. So I enjoyed the opportunity to research something completely outside my usual political interests. After studying the issues involved in this domestic v. foreign auto-manufacturing debate, the issue’s relevance to IR theory became increasingly apparent to me. Before participating in this simulation, I would have never made this connection.

At the end of the simulation, the professor standing in as president (I am blanking on his name even though he was fantastic) made a comment that really resonated with me. He mentioned that sometimes students become frustrated with studying strictly IR theory at the beginning of their SIS major because they come in wanting to know the answers to the War in Afghanistan, the economic crisis, and global warming immediately. However, he explained, given that theory is the underlying theme seen throughout all these political issues, a complex understanding of different IR theories is essential to our progress as IR students. As a pragmatist that could study case studies and facts all day, I considered this a really helpful reminder.

Needless to say, I am very excited to move into the next section of World Politics that deals with application of IR theory. However, the recent simulation acted as an important reminder of the omnipresence of IR theory in every nook and cranny of our political discussions.

Reflection - Week Seven

The simulation was pretty fun.  I loved working with my group to develop our position and try to defend Ford.  The issue is really personal to me, as I am from Michigan, therefore most of my friends and family have ties to the auto industry.  My uncle, for example, could be laid off from Ford any day.  The industry IS Michigan's economy.  That's what we know.  It is very important to me.

Also, simulation started in our leadership gateway class this week.  Eventful things in my group, refugees, included Saudi Arabia leaving, Russia arguing to get them back, and a couple of agreements on the side.  It makes me miss model UN in high school and is very fun.

Finally, stay tuned for another post comparing the third Harry Potter movie/ characters to nations in our world.

Reflection of Week Six:

This week we talked about marginal groups and problems they could cause for the establishment. This shows us that the government needs to include everyone’s opinion in their decision and policy making. Marginal groups can become problems anytime they want to. In France and throughout the rest of Europe there have been bomb threats on tourist sites such as the Eiffel tower and other cities throughout Europe. This is thought to be a response to Frances new legislation of the banning of Burqas. There was a similar situation in Moscow Russia when a there was a terrorist attack on the subway system in the form of a bomb by a group known who want Chetznia to break away from Russia. The Chetznians would be considered a marginalized people.
Now the marginalized can become a problem whenever they want, which is a problem. They could and a lot of times do resort to violence as see today and throughout history. There will always be groups of people who will be mad at the governments of the world, but we could help make the problem smaller by keeping their interests in mind when we make our laws and policies.

Reflection - Week Six

Embassy Follow-Up:

Well, Here we are, two weeks later, and Ari and I have still not heard anything from the Israeli Embassy.  We are going to send a paragraph to PTJ so we can get the ball rolling.  We really want to go, but of course I had to pick one of the hardest countries to randomly bump into the ambassador of.  That's just my life.

Class this week and my concerns:

This week we were engaged in some fascinating discussions about IR theory and the alternatives there are. While I listened to everyone else make really bright, interesting points and raise fascinating questions, I felt oddly like I had nothing to say.  I often feel this way in discussion and it really worries me.  It just seems like everyone else is a little more... I don't know, more intelligent, more well-read, more put together than I am.  I think this has to do with some procrastination on my part, and I hope to make it better in the near future.