Tuesday, May 24, 2011

My Shirt Don't Stink: Other World News


Yes, I said "shirt".

In DC, by the end of the day my clothes are thoroughly, um, lived in.  I bike to work and clean up the best I can sans shower.  I dash around campus, hauling books, computer, papers, and my ass.  I climb three flights of stairs to my office several times.  Now, I'm not saying I'm a world of funk when the day is done, but....

I have, on occasion, also used the "sniff test" to see whether I really need to wash some clothes.

You have too, right?

If you haven't, please raise your hand.

Um, perhaps you really should try it.


The only time I sweat here is at the gym, in workout clothes (me, not the gym). Otherwise it is from air conditioned apartment to air conditioned car to air conditioned office and back again...

The ballroom was also chilled for Professor Rashid Khalidi's talk at the Hyatt, where I avoided both pool and lounge.  Most striking to me were these comments (my interpretation):

1. The Arab Spring protests and revolutions were about the desire for prosperity, dignity, and freedom; they were against poverty, humiliation, and coercion.

2. Americans (and he is one) were often too focused on the bogeyman of Islamic extremists rather than on common human aspirations.

3. So long as the US tries to lead the "peace process" between Israel and Palestine, the process is bound to fail.

And there's more!

One of my students is from Bosnia.  In answering the question "Tell me one interesting thing about you that I won't learn in class" (I give the students a survey on the first day of class), he responded:

"I've watched people die."

The next stop for me, was the library: Here's the book I'll start later tonight.




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