My Evening With Nicholas Kristof

I've been told that it's easy to pick a great person out of a crowd - and perhaps I had even seen a little bit of truth in it - but after 4:00 yesterday afternoon I knew the phrase to be true.

It was an oddly warm December 3rd day, with temperatures staying around seventy Fahrenheit all afternoon. I threw on a tie and walked to the E H Little Library, internally debating the speed at which I should walk with the amount of time I had until the event started. When I made it to the library, I went upstairs to the Davidsonia room - the one adjacent and connected to the Rare Books Room to wait with many other eager colleagues of mine.

When Nick arrived in the room, everyone simultaneously stood up and turned around to face him. The three lovely ladies who escorted him to the room were beaming from ear to ear, expressing on their faces what I knew I was feeling inside.

I'm Thankful for Food

My father is an excellent chef. (I say "chef" rather than "cook" because a cook merely repeats recipes and a chef makes his own.) He's incredible. Everyone loves his cooking.

Anyway, he and I have been cooking together for a while, and he gave me little cooking lessons over the summer to learn little things about cooking - little things that help a ton.

This year for Thanksgiving we tried something new. I decided I wanted to help out with the meal this year and my father obliged. The turkey was his game, but I helped out on everything else.

Africa 2012, Pt. I - subtitled: the greatest trip ever

It's the halfway point of my trip to Southern Africa, and I figured I would offer a quick update of the adventure thus far.

Quick background information about the trip: the trip is through the Davidson Alumni Association, and includes tours in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia. The group is comprised of (I think, and will check to be sure) 17 people, including one Davidson guide and one South African guide. The flights to and from Africa are July 14th and July 28th with a day of travel included in each end. 

Oh, the quotes I provide...

Greenstock was a couple of weekends ago, and it was a great success. Here's an article by my friend, Addie, from the Davidsonian. I was interviewed during the event, and a quote was attributed to me in the article. If you're too lazy to read the entire article, here's my quote:

I hope the remainder of your day is great!

Culturally Aware in 2012 Update, April 5

I figured an update on the "Culturally Aware in 2012" challenge was in order.

Would Lincoln Be Elected Today?

This Wednesday night I had the privilege of listening to an amazing speaker. My friends and I ran over to Duke Family Performance Hall and flew up the stairs to get a middle seat on the second level of the theatre, sitting at 6:58pm. We stared ahead or looked down at the crowd below as we waited for the event to begin. At 7:10, Dr. Kathleen Hall Jamieson was introduced to the crowd. Dr. Jamieson has written a total of 16 books, has been featured on Bill Moyers' show, Washington Post, CBS, and others. An article was written about her this week in the Charlotte Observer, honoring her for her work. She is Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at University of Pennsylvania. She runs a site, FactCheck.org, and a sister/daughter site, FlackCheck.org. Both are very useful tools for thinning out the deceptions and lies inherent in political ad campaigns.

The crux of her political mission is to get the false ads and lies out of political campaigns. One way she does this is through FlackCheck, where there is an option to email your local stations, demanding they only air ads that are factually accurate. Stations can turn down independent ads (those by Super PACs are to be accented here) if the manager of the station is even a little bit worried about the factuality of the ad. Jamieson believes that the advertiser has the responsibility to keep ads factual and the manager has the responsibility to turn away ads if she doubts the credibility of the ad's facts.

Acknowledging Dr. Quillen

Thursday morning, the president of Davidson spoke to a committee of the Senate. The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is comprised of members of both parties, and was having a hearing on the affordability of education - likely due to Obama's State of the Union promises to make higher education more affordable.

Needless to say, Dr. Quillen was extraordinarily impressive as always. I am so proud to be at the school that I am attending, and even more proud to have such a wonderful woman as my president. My predecessors did a wonderful job finding a new president.

I'm looking forward to Quillen's Monday signing of the Davidson Climate Action Plan and unveiling of the solar panels on Baker. Honestly, I will probably give Dr. Quillen a hug then.