A Bit of Economics

29.7.08 13:10

The lunch line is long, we've had a full morning and the computer room is by far the most air conditioned room in all of Chania, so I think I'll spend a couple cool minutes talking about political economics. I want to begin, though, with a bit of advice from an American trying to survive three very political weeks amongst some of the brightest minds of Europe. My roomate mentioned to me this morning that he's been e-mailing his professors with ideas, wondering if any of his thoughts might have enough quality to make up an op-ed piece for publication, just to prove my point. So my advice is: Read about international events as much as you can, and think about how conflicts abroad (such as Israel's right to exist in the eyes of many Arab nations) can relate to conflicts at home (such as America's role in the Middle East). The lack of knowledge of the American delegation is astounding compared to the rest of the world. I have spent much of the past two weeks listening, taking in new information that these young individuals know in depth. Let me name the conflicts about which I have taken part in extensive conversation:

• Israel-Palestine
• Israel-Lebanon
• Israel-Syria...I could go on with Israel-______, but you get the point
• Greece-Turkey
• Greece-Macedonia
• Cyprus: Greek-Cypriots/Turkish-Cypriots
• Kosovo-Serbia
• America-Iraq
• America-Iran
• Lebanese Civil War 1975-1990 (I watched "West Beirut" last night. It was a very moving film about life during war.
• Egyptian power process under Gamal Abd al-Nassar, Anwar al-Sadat and now Mohammed Hosni Mubarak and the conflict between Muslims and Coptic Christians
• Divisions between Shia, Sunnia and Kurdish Muslims, along with a sect that I had never heard of - Suffi Muslim
• Countless conflicts in the countries of the former Soviet Union

If a professor asked a class to raise their hands if they had knowledge of all of these conflicts, I would not have raised my hand. In fact, I probably would have put my hands on the floor, perhaps trying to dig into the carpet to get as low as possible. These are important issues in the world. Thesis papers waiting to be written, as Dr. Armstrong would probably say. Yet Americans, for the most part, do not even have basic knowledge of what most of these conflicts are about. I am coming back to the States with many goals, not least of which is to encourage the people I am around to become more knowlegeable about the world around us. It will make us better American citizens and better people.

Now, on to political economics! We began classes yesterday (Monday) and will continue until Friday. Our exam over Political Economics with Professor Morriss and Intelectual History with Professor Sullivan will be on Saturday, and the program concludes on Sunday. Economics is a very interesting topic, and one that is important to honestly, everyone. I am really glad that I was convinced to take a basic economics course last semester, or I would be completely lost in this course. The article we are currently working on discusses the reasons why some nations embrace capitalism and thrive economically (United States, Britain, Japan) while others make the attempt and seem to fail miserably (Latin America, many countries of the former Soviet Union, China). Americans consistently give advice to other countries on how to legalize practices and make economic decisions more logical, yet the advice often seems to fail.

The theory proposed in controversial at best, flat wrong at worst. Every piece of America is owned. Likewise in much of western Europe and Japan. Every tool is inventoried, every piece of property legally recognized, every credit action accounted for. This is not true in much of the undeveloped world, much as it was not true in America 150 years ago. And this is the key difference. If an individual wants to start a business in Kansas City, she can mortgage her house, take out a loan, sell shares of investments that she may own, etc... This can be done because all of her assets are legally recognized. If an individual in undeveloped Africa, for instance, wants to do the same, it is impossible. The land that his family has developed and farmed for generations is not officially or legally his, so he cannot use it for collateral to take out a loan. The house he built is not legally recognized, so it cannot be remortgaged. The individual in Africa has just as much in terms of assets as the individual in America, but his assets are not legally recognized like hers are. The African's capital is "dead", so to say, because it cannot be used to generate more capital. On the other hand, the American's capital is "living", because it is the basis for generating more capital.

There are more readings in the coming days and more lectures that will hopefully clarify this theory. I, personally, have a couple immediate issues with it. Unfortunately, though, I'll save those arguments for sometime later, hopefully tonight. For now, it is lunch and the line is no longer long. And Iman just came in and told me lunch is souvlaki. No offense my friends, but my stomach is setting the priorities right now! Kali Orexi!

First Exam

27.7.08 13:16 Chania, Greece

Hello again. I've had a busy couple days here with our first set of exams and our cultural presentations yesterday. All were thoroughly entertaining and thoroughly long! Today's day of relax is very welcome.

I have done a good job taking notes during class lectures and keeping up with my readings, so when it came time to begin serious studying for the exam on Thursday evening, I felt well prepared. Thursday, I studied for 4 or 5 hours over the Good Society materials, trying to engrain in my mind the idea of the marvelous and the murderous, and how their tension leads to the formation of a good society. Friday, starting around 3, I began studying conflict management, which I was not as comfortable with. I re-read each reading, taking careful notes and talking with people about how they interpreted texts. The studying ended around midnight, marking the most intense day of studying in my life up to this point. (Europeans definitely have better academic work ethics than your average American)

After studying was finished, Mohamed (I call him Ashiri) Iman and I found ourselves hanging out on the roof! It felt like a television show. But it was a lot of fun. Sarantis joined us the night before, and we went up again Saturday night, so it's becoming something of a tradition. Stars here are pretty nice, definitely better than in Kansas City (though probably not as clear as Bartle) So Ashiri, Iman and I talked the night away until around 2, when we decided we should probably get some sleep before the test the next day.

The test began at 11am, so I had time for a good breakfast and a quick final review. I'll admit, I was a bit nervous going into the test, until about 10 minutes before. I convinced myself that if I didn't know the information by now, I would not know it in 10 minutes. And if I did know the information now, 10 more minutes of studying would not keep me from forgetting anything. So I threw on the iPod, started dancing around like an idiot, and I think aced the test. We'll see what the grades say, but I was very confident walking out of the room. I was the second to finish, even though I re-read all of my answers 2-3 times and made some changes.

And then came cultural presentations. Hopefully, a video of the American performance is on the way. I'm told there were multiple people who got it on camera. The Americans decided the best way to show our very diverse culture was a presentation of the evolution of dance (a popular YouTube video) We danced our way from the 50's with Surfin' USA and The Twist to the 2000's with Crank dat Soldier Boy. I know I'm a bit biased, but it was freaking awesome!!! The Americans were one of the few countries that decided to go purely for entertainment. We did not give any information about our country, we did not try to explain our invasion of Iraq - we just danced. We had the entire group up, clapping and everything. Very fun. Then I got the honor of joining in the Greek presentation. They performed a traditional Greek wedding, so I was the chanter. After the wedding was complete, we began some traditional greek dances (which Katerina, the other Greek American and I taught to the actual Greeks...) The plates began to break, the music continued the play and we all had an incredible night of dancing. By 4am or so, I was dead tired and headed to bed.

I'm heading into town today to get some food and look for Addison's baptism dress. The concept of buying a dress for your goddaughter is harder to explain than I expected! I usually try for a couple of minutes, then end up just saying that I need to go shopping for a gift for the family.

IIPES is officially one week from being complete. I won't lie, I'm not looking forward to the end. I have met many incredible people, and I hope to continue the friendships once the program is done. But like all things, nothing usually quite lives up to the actual experience when everyone first met. I guess all good things must really come to and end....

Except family :-)

Much Love

Alec

A Little Fun In The Sun

21.7.08 0:12

What's up?!

I realized today how much I miss hearing that! No one here says it, so I decided I would start. Maybe I'll get a trend going...

Contrary to what it may seem like from my posts, they actually do let us out of the classroom every once in a while. Today was especially, well, AWESOME, so I thought I could tell some stories.

Most days, we get out of class sometime in the early to late afternoon, around 3-5. If we are done at 3, we try to head to a beach, but I've only been twice. The beaches here are crouded. They are very different from what we see in the states (granted, living in a KC I'm not really an expert on beaches...) The beaches are covered with seats that have umbrellas. They are sectioned off and decorated to different themes and colors. These are how we describe to each other where we are, because they are on every portion of every beach. So we hang out by the "Mythos" umbrellas, or the "Distijl" umbrellas, or near the "Milos" club. Each set has a bar attached to it, which is the catch. The umbrellas and chairs look wonderful, but to enjoy them, you're expected to also enjoy a nice drink or two or seven. Which wouldn't be bad if the drinks did not cost 7.50 euros ( a little over 11 USD)

So the beach is really nice, though it's not really my favorite. We all hang out and play games in the water, and usually drop by a bar for a drink - emphasis on singular here!!! I fell asleep listening to music on Saturday...

Alec - 0
Grecian Sun - 1

My back hurts quite a bit now! Yes, mom, I did wear sunscreen :-) Saturday ended with a formal dinner. It was the last night for a high school group that was doing a program at MAICh as well. The menu was great - and very international. Regular salad, greek salad, feta, guacamole dip, salsa, lamb, barbecque ribs and greek potatoes. And of course, since we are in Greece, bountiful bread and wine! The dinner ended around 11 PM. Some people went downtown, but I decided to stay. The greeks started dancing, so I joined that for a while. We walked around campus. I had an hour or so conversation with Saef, an Egyptian, about how to organize a Model United Nations convention. Dr. Armstrong, get ready. I'm coming back to the states motivated to get one of these organized at Jewell. Saef, Mohammed al-Ashiri and Sarantis Michaelopolous have all agreed to come to America and help if it works out. How about those names???

Anyways, Saturday night finished about the normal time for a night to finish here in Greece...maybe 4 or 5 AM! Sunday morning brought a bus ride to Iraklion and Knossos to see the ruins of the ancient Minoan civilization. I have some incredible pictures of a culture that was so advanced for its time. The most impressive technology was their pipe system. There is a water spring 10 KM away from the palace. The Minoans dug a pipe system from the mountain spring to Knossos with clay pipes buried 4-6 ft. deep. This brought running spring water to the entire palace year-round. And when they were done with the water, they could simply put it into a bowl-looking thing that drained into a nearby river. The drainage system was something else! It weaved all around the palace, going into rooms and under walkways. Very neat stuff. We had lunch at a cafe in Iraklion and got to walk around the harbor area for a couple hours before heading back. I've made friends with some Egyptians: Mohammed - I probably spend more time with him than anyone! Yasmine - she looks like Mimi from rent, and really likes Aladin...:-) Iman - She calls me her guardian, even though she's 23. Shahir - he has probably the biggest smile I've ever seen to go along with a cackling laugh. Saef - funny, funny guy. He's like my Egyptian Theo... Jayla - Jayla is so much fun. We chill like there isn't a care in the world. And a Lebanese guy named Ralph - he does unbelievable voice impressions. He started talking today like he was California, and I would never have guessed that his first language was Arabic.

So we all hung out in downtown Iraklion before catching the bus back to Chania. A pretty terrible dinner, a shared cigar and just a little studying followed. And then we sang! I felt like I was at EOYC singing with Lynn. Probably 40 0f us were circled up, huddling around sporadic lyric sheets. Tal from Israel, Edward from the States and Ralph from Lebanon were on the guitars. Chris Carr, if you're reading this, we sang "Killing Me Softly", and I wished you were here at that moment!!!

All in all, a wonderful day in a wonderful place. I think I forgot to mention that we had a day off of classes today, which made it even better. But it's back to grind tomorrow....today, actually....with the beginning of our Conflict Management course. We have finished the course on the Good Society and will have our exam over that this coming Saturday, along with the exam for Conflict Management. Good times here in Chania!

Good night!

What is Justice?

17.7.08 23:07 - Chania, Greece

Welcome back.

Classes continue here in Greece, and for the most part, they continue to impress me and my colleagues. Our first week is focused on the class taught by Drs. Collins and Ambrosio - The Good Society. Overall, it discusses the question of what goes into constructing a society that functions to provide justice to its citizens. Collins and Ambrosio do a wonderful job of connecting each days lessons and structuring the lecture so that ideas build upon each other. This helps make connections between theories, like the theory of the marvelous and the murderous that I discussed in my last post. We have all been walking around Crete, seeing a beautiful beach and commenting, "That's marvelous!" It has become something of a joke, but it is also the basis of a set of theories on justice that make a lot of sense.

Let me provide a few definitions as I see them before I continue. They are, by all means, up for debate. However it is important to understand how I use these words to proceed with this dialogue:

1.) Dialogue - Structured bi-lateral communication that, unlike debate, requires that each side understand the others opinions and arguments. Agreement is not necessary, but empathy is.
2.) Education - The devolopment of one's conscience through the family, the local community, formal educational institutions and life experiences.
3.) Deliberation - The very real act of taking into consideration the theory/ideal (what should/would/could happen in the best circumstances and without human error) and the practice (what happens when ideal is completely forgotten) to make a decision concerning any individual situation.
4.) Conscience - Our individual belief system and education that guides what we view as marvelous and what we view as murderous. We hope that for any instance, we have the time to deliberate. If that time is not available, however, we hope like hell that our education has brought our conscience to a point where we make the right decision on instinct.

OK, continuing on...

It is important in our lives to accept that no decision we make will be completely obvious. That is the ideal (marvelous), but it is not realistic. Likewise is the knowledge that no decision, when thought about unemotionally, is entirely impossible to make (murderous), which gives hope. How then can humans living in a society full of stupid, often ignorant men and women, come to conclusions that make sense not in a bubble of individuality, but in our relationship to society as a whole and other individuals who fill our lives? The theory proposed from Greece here is best described a sequential growth. The individual first must be a philosopher (a lover of wisdom), in order to question everything in his world. These questions have no concrete answers, but we hope to live our lives as an answer to these questions. Difficult concept, I know. From this constant state of questioning, individuals proceed to make the attempt at being as whole an individual as possible by questioning ourselves and questioning those around us. The questioning of those around us leads to a dialogue, when it becomes absolutely vital to have empathy towards the opposition. The lack of empathy between sides is what keeps conflicts like Israel-Lebanon and Serbia-Kosovo so volatile.

I was unsure about the theory up to this point the first couple days. I saw Plato's theory that those in political power should live like a philosopher, a lover of wisdom, a constant questioner. However, in Plato's "Apology", which covers Socrates trial, Socrates says that "human wisdom is worthless". I made this connection: politicians should be philosophers, which are lovers of wisdom. Wisdom is inherently the admission that we, as humans, do not have the answers to the questions that we are required to ask, and is therefore worthless. I concluded that this could only mean that constant questioning would lead to innaction. This is where the concept of deliberation becomes relevant.

Deliberation is the acceleration of dialogue to a process of making a decision, with the full knowledge that your decision will not live up to the ideal, but it will also not live down to the practice. As individuals, we must take ownership of our education so that we can form our own consciences and make wise decisions in moments of trial. For example, Martin Luther Kind Jr., when deciding to disobey what he viewed as an unjust law, deliberated the consequences. The ideal was political and social equality for all peoples, but the practice was segregation. To break the segregation law would mean a period in jail, but this period had the potential to awaken the public to the issue. King asked the question of the American people, "This brutality, this segregation of humans, is occuring in your country. Are you OK with that?" Inherent in his decision to break this law is the acceptance that the answer from the community may be "no". The solution may not occur in the lifetime of those who try to change cultures. But if, based on our conscience and our education, you as an individual belive that your action will open an opportunity for the betterment of society (not of your individualality, necessarily), then it is your duty to take that action, accepting the consequences of the rule of law.

If every individual lives by these principles, democratically electing leaders who govern and decide policy by these principles, we will (ideally, of course) build the Good Society.

I would love to hear comments or questions (which I give no guarentee of providing a good answer for!) to these ideas. Eventually, this will all turn into a research paper back in the States so your comments will greatly help me (and hopefully you!)

Kalinikta.

First Questions First

15 June 2008 - 1:48 Chania, Greece

Hello everyone! This post marks the end of my first academic day in IIPES. It consisted of formal orientation, and 3 lectures lasting a total of nearly 4 and a half hours. All but the last were very interesting and I had no problems maintaining focus. The last, however, given by an Italian foreign policy expert, rough. I explain in a second.

The professors for this first section are Dr. Collins and Dr. Ambrosio. Both are long-time professors at Georgetown University, meaning that are both very articulate, intelligent and passionate about what they teach - Dr. Collins, Philosophy, Dr. Ambrosio, Shakespeare. Today's lectures, which are tag team taught by the two, covered ancient Greek philosophy. We discussed the basis of philosophy, which literally means to love wisdom. To love wisdom, one must seek truth and justice by asking questions, seeking the reality of the circumstances that we are found in. Every question, every situation can be simplified many times over. For example, we can look at the question, should abortion be legalized? Before this can be answered, we must ask what is abortion? What stage of conception? Are there exceptions for extreme situations? Each of those questions can be simplified further? Is the definition of abortion related to religion or secularism? When, in the development of a fetus, does fetus become human? (Continuing on this question, what is human?) If abortion is related to religion, which one? If not, what set of laws? This can go on and on, but the idea from Plato, a student of Socrates, is that the act of questioning is more wise than the action of those in power, who have not yet found answers. We must continue to ask the first questions first, in hope that we will possibly live our lives into the answers. This is why Plato and Socrates never became involved in politics, resisting the urgings of the Athenian population.

For every situation, there is an ideal, a theory that explains what will happen in the most perfect of situations. Then there is the practice, what will happen when humans live these situations, and essentially mess up the ideal theory. Reality is somewhere in between the two. Reality is the decisions that those in government must make without fully answering the first questions first. Marvelous and murderous. Ideal is marvelous, but practice is often murderous.

One of our readings was simply beautiful, in describing the constant conflict between the marvelous and the murderous. I will paraphrase as best as I can. There is, as you most likely know, conflict between the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland. So the story goes, a bus of workers was stopped by an armed group. There was only one Catholic worker among those being bussed home. When the group was taken off the bus and lined up, the armed fighters asked if there were any Catholics. The one made a motion forward, but felt the touch of a hand, "as if to say 'Stay in line. We will not betray you.'" This touch of the hand, the connection between two ethnicities so at odds, is the marvelous. And yet it is so closely connected to the rifles in the arms of the soldiers, the murderous. The story continues, the Catholic made his step forward, and was pulled away. Immediately the row of Protestants remaining were shot dead by the Catholit militants. Marvelous and murderous, seperated by seconds in time.

I get chills reading that last paragraph over, mostly because of the essense of its message, but also a little because it comes from my mind. So rarely does information come into our lives that is so gripping, so intense that a wooden chair with very little space in a room that is at times too cold and at times to hot very like home. But this is what I experienced today, and hopefully is what I will continue to experience for the next 2 and a half weeks.

The conversation is wonderful, the people are unique, the beaches are breathtaking and the future visits are already being planned :-)

Καλινίχτα φιλεναδά (Good night friends)

Alec

12 July 2008 - 15:44

What an incredible first day! With my travels completely...and I mean COMPLETELY behind me, I have met some incredible people already. I will profile a few very quickly:

Vasileios - Vasileos (surely my dad is a big fan!) is from Athens. He is the first Greek that I met in the program, and is very nice. I was introduced to him as a fellow Greek the last night after orientation. He is helping me learn Greek!

Babi - pronounced like Bobby, he is taller and also from Athens. For anyone who knows him, Babi reminds me a lot of Devon Groussis (PC Cosmos).

Fay - Local product of Chania. She is your stereotypical Greek woman - mix between the energy of a girl my age and the warmth of a yaya. But we could not talk too much...her and Babi became quick friends last night :-)

Saranta - Saranta arrived late yesterday and hasn't slept in 2 days. Maybe this is why we connected so easily this morning! We have been talking all morning about Greek politics, Greek soccer teams and everything in between.

Niko and Sofia - Both are also Greek students, but we haven't been able to talk much. Niko probably speaks the least English of any of them. It is very broken, so he remains quiet when I am participating in the conversation. When I am not in the conversation, the group quickly switches back to Greek, with Vassili or Saranta filling me in on what I do not understand.

I could continue this list for pages. But I won't today. I am sure I will make many more friends outside the Greek community. They all spend most of their time together, which I think is unfortunate for them. It is a comfort to be around people who speak your native tongue and can converse about things of which you are very knowledgeable. It is hard to start meaningful conversations in a language which not everyone speaks very well. Conversations require your full attention and lots of questions. But this is good. My Brazilian friend, Armando, who studies in Italy, and I like to jump between groups of people to make sure we are never in the same group for too long. I seem to be making good connections so far, and have only had a few conversations with Americans. Ariel, my roommate, also joins in the on the group-hopping. He is absolutely fascinating. And he has a girlfriend who lives in Chicago, so I am already hoping that that will result in a visit to Kansas City for him in the future.

Orientation began last night and continued this morning. We learned the history of the island of Crete from a Greek woman who spoke only broken English. It was a session that repeated itself far too often and went on far too long. I hope future sessions are more interesting!

Tomorrow (Sunday) we have an early breakfast followed by a bus tour of the Island. We are staying on the western side of Crete this week, but next Sunday will travel to Knossos in the middle to east side of Crete, near the port city of Heraklion (pronounced Iraklion). The tours should provide more great bonding time and wonderful picture opportunities.

Classes are done for the day, so I think I'm off to the beach! Yes, be jealous. :-) Crete is beautiful, and you should all try to make it here sometime in your lives. I have been thinking a lot already about the personal value of traveling abroad, but I will discuss that in a later post.

Kalinichta (Good night!)

Hello from Greece

Hello from the homeland!

Today is 11 June 2008 - 14:19 local Chania time (2:19 PM) It is my first day of IIPES (International Institute for Political and Economic Studies) in Chania, Greece. The journey here, both literally and physically, has been long. But it appears to be worth the struggles.

A wise man once said that the first time is always the hardest. I do not know who this wise man is and I do not want to meet him! His prophecy has made life very difficult for the past couple of days!!!

Suffice to say, my travels were not so smooth. I am in Chania, at the University safely now, and very relieved about that. This morning brought an early bus ride to the University, made more difficult by the signs all being in Greek, a language which I unfortunately cannot read or speak well. But I am here and moved in. I have met my roommate. His name is Ariel Baum, and he is from Israel. We have been walking around campus most of the day, talking about our backgrounds and such. We have already had a very insightful conversation of socialism vs. democracy vs. autocracy and compared each others religions. We both admitted very quickly that we were concerned about meeting others with harshly clashing views. We also played ping-pong (he won) and ate lunch together - Moussaka :-). Sorry mom, it was better than we have at the festival!

Well I'm dead tired, so I'm off for a nap in my luxurious living quarters. Yasas from Greece!

Alec