Ramadan 2013

So here concludes the first day of fasting of Ramadan this year (well, about 30 minutes at time of post until breaking of the fast).


This year, I'm fasting in honor of and in favor of a few things:

1. The people of Syria. 
2. Peace in Cairo.
3. Help to the poor in America.
4. A few personal reasons.

SNAP and Preserving Our Poor

Over the past couple of weeks, I've worked on research into SNAP; visited the offices of Durbin, Harkin, McConnell, and Bachus for meetings with staff or Congressmen; and watched the House debate on a renewed Farm Bill which cuts over $20,000,000,000 from SNAP.

And I've had enough.

I'm very grateful for the members of Congress and their aides for meeting with groups of people last Tuesday, but I'm very disappointed in this Congress. Republicans seem out to cut everything they possibly can, and the Democrats seem to be sacrificing their integrity in the name of "bipartisanship" and "compromise" (from which they both are getting horrible deals out of this bill).

Amerika

As you may know, I'm away for the summer interning for Bread for the World in Washington, DC.

Oryza and I decided in order to keep in touch in a schedule that would allow neat conversation, we would start our own two-person book club.

The first book in our (probably two-book) series is Franz Kafka's unfinished first work, Amerika. It's the story of a young Russian who is banished by his parents to America after some business involving a housemaid. The entire text is supposed to be so picturesque and strange in its depiction of Kafka's America, and I'm very excited.

4/15

There are some things we may never understand.

The brothers of Kappa Alphi Psi Fraternity will be holding a moment of silence at the flagpole during common hour tomorrow. Remember that any student in class next to you tomorrow may have been greatly affected by the events of today's marathon.

Let's keep our brothers and sisters both within and without our Davidson community in our thoughts.

My Experience with Dinner at Davidson

First of all, this post should be sort of considered a follow-up to an article I wrote for the Davidsonian last week, which you ought to read here.

If you're too lazy to read it or just don't have time, essentially I talked about the affordability of higher education in the United States and how higher education is getting more and more unreachable every year for more and more Americans.

I realize that while my article didn't have a necessarily bleak outlook, I didn't really provide too many solutions to the woes of American higher education, specifically when it comes to affordability.

This is where the Davidson Trust, Student Trust Awareness Committee, and Dinner at Davidson come in.

Why I Changed My Profile Picture

KONY 2012, End Slavery Now,countless breast cancer awareness campaigns.

They've all had facebook-based social cyberactivism as a primary proponent to their cause.

I've been a critic to this sort of cyberactivism, because it seems to me that it never accomplishes much beyond fulfilling our desire to be ahead of the latest fad. While I generally support the causes these campaigns have been lead for, the method is one I typically don't agree with.

And so, while I believe in marriage equality so passionately, I was set on not setting my profile picture to the now-ubiquitous red equality sign.

It was just too cliche. Everyone was setting it for this two-day Supreme Court case, and then would carry on with their lives as soon as the case was over, no matter the outcome. 

My mind was finally changed when I saw a few responses to this campaign.

So this is twenty

Yesterday, I turned 20 years old.

(Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. I'm trying to get through all of the posts on facebook, and if I haven't thanked you yet, I promise I'm getting there!)

While birthdays don't mark major changes in a person's chemistry or personality or really anything at all beyond what number that person answers questions about age with. This birthday, I feel, may be bigger than that.

On the Indian Sexual Assault and America

I have just returned from a group meeting for Davidson's chapter of Half the Sky, where we discussed the gang rape of a 23-year-old student which has gotten a lot of media attention recently. The discussion was both thoughtful and one which has opened my eyes.

A little bit of background first:

The Indian girl was with a male friend of hers after a movie. She and her friend boarded a bus to go home. The bus had been taken over by six young males. The couple knew something was wrong when the driver took a wrong turn and wouldn't let the two off of the bus. The six males then proceeded to rape the woman and beat the man. The woman was impaled with a pole and eviscerated. When medics found her, the great majority of her intestines were outside of her body. She was taken to a New Delhi hospital, where she stayed for ten days before being taken to a Singapore hospital, where she died three days later.

Her rape and eventual death have ignited massive protests all over India, and has attracted international attention.

There are hundreds of different lenses and analyses to see through or conclude from the horrific acts, the following protest, and the rhetoric being used by a number of different actors in the month following her rape and eventual death.

I'm an American male, so I will offer my perspective as one, and provide analysis particularly interested in American action/policy.

An Update on Guns and Policy

If you haven't heard yet, Mr Obama signed presidential orders for measures to reduce gun violence this week. Mr Biden and Mr Obama made their statements live on PBS Newshour, which was streamed live and then put on YouTube, which you can view here. (There are a few glitches from the recording, so be prepared for odd noises in the first 7 minutes or so.)

President Obama effectively shifted the responsibility to Congress on a number of initiatives, offering his arguments for them. A few things he hopes for:  more extensive universal background checks, 10-round limit on clips, mental healthcare reform, and an assault weapons ban.

Mr Obama cites Reagan, who wrote to Congress asking them to "listen to the American public and to the law enforcement community and to support a ban on the manufacture of military-style assault weapons."

Obama understands our right to bear arms, and supports that. He believes we can keep this right while ensuring the safety of our children and fellow Americans. With rights come responsibilities, and we are obligated to allow others their right to life as we allow ourselves.

All peachy-keen, right?

On Guns in Schools

Consider this half-way a response to Rep. Phil Lowe's recent opinion piece featured in the Greenville News, located here. 

Honestly, when I first heard an argument for arming the teachers in schools I thought the person was joking. A chuckle to myself and a few replies later and I realized the opposite. It's so shocking to me that arming teachers in schools is now becoming something many representatives are considering supporting through legislation.

I have maintained relative silence about control and gun rights (though my Twitter and Facebook have sometimes indicated the opposite), but I strongly believe that it would be foolish for us to arm our teachers.

On My Decision to Take a Fifth Course

It is very likely that I will be committing Davidson suicide this semester in deciding to take five classes instead of the normal four.

As it so turns out, a class I wanted to take in the future will probably not be offered at Davidson following this semester. In the interest of learning so much the back of my head explodes from all the brain I've developed, I've decided I need to take this fifth course to ensure I get everything in.