So I started college this week at Columbia Union College in Washington DC, and so far everything has been good. I guess at first college is supposed to be pretty hectic, and already I'm starting to feel the pressure. To tell you the truth, I'm a bit lost amongst this cosmopolitan city. Due to the fact that Cleveland is located in the West (or was West in the 1800's), it has the benefit of being a recipient of the Northwest Ordinance, and therefore has pretty straightforward streets that practically only go in one direction. DC on the other hand, does not, and also has the pleasure of having multiple streets with the same name. Needless to say, I'm lost.
But other than that, college has been pretty good. Me and my roommate, James, actually have a lot in common, the only major difference is that he's a bit more disciplined than me when it comes to getting stuff done. I'm a true procrastinator at heart. But its a really good match.
My printer doesn't work, but I did call text support and talk to a wonderful guy in New Delhi. He told me all about India, like what happened with the Mumbai train bombings, to festivals, to the best time to go to India (during our Fall). Then I told him all about America, like Broadway, Las Vegas, the origins of Thanksgiving, and the craziest day of shopping (the day after thanksgiving). It was a good tech support call, yet my printer is still broken.
Well as of late, I have been doing a lot of packing and moving. My family is moving to Columbus, and I am packing up and moving to DC for college. As soon as its done, I will be back (probably around Wednesday or Thursday, maybe sooner). Until then, I leave you with a picture of Maria and I driving through the valley. This whole college thing has got me looking like a deer in headlights!
"If Mohandas Gandhi were a typical North American activist these days, he would probably be wearing a three-piece suit and working in a plush office with his law degree prominently displayed. He would have little time to lead protests, since every other week would be spent meeting with donors – and those power lunches would hardly go well with fasting. He would be careful to avoid salt marches or cotton boycotts, so as not to offend key donors. To sharpen his annual pitch to foundations, he would be constantly dreaming up new one-year projects on narrowly focused topics, perhaps a one-time conference on English human-rights abuses, or a documentary on anti-colonial activities in New Delhi. To ensure that various allies didn’t steal away core funders, he would keep his distance and be inclined to trash talk behind their backs. In short, there’s little doubt that the British would still be running India.
The problem with activism today is that it is largely funded by grants and gifts from rich foundations and individuals. The long-standing assumption that you can take the money with few strings attached, and then run, needs to be fundamentally reexamined."
So recently I've been saying a lot of Goodbye's lately, as you may have noticed. First it was to my kids at Dewitt, now slowly but surely my friends are leaving and going off to college (or countries), and so more Goodbye's are dispensed. Today my dear Italian friend Nicola left after spending a couple great weeks here in the States. I dearly enjoyed having him here, and I look forward to hopefully seeing him this January in Italy for New Years. Lunches are so dull now when you've lost your favorite Italian to talk philosophy and current events to. Chow (or ciao, lol)!
In other news, I recently discovered that I like the music of Will Oldham. I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out, I've had his CD Superwolf for a long time and never bothered listening to it. But, he's inspired me to bring out the guitar again and start tabbing. I go through musical phases where I like certain things, and despise others, then go back and like the things I despised, and despise the things I liked. Weird. I think I'll post some other favorites later, but for now I leave you with an acapella version of one of my favorite artists, Sufjan Stevens, Chicago. If you haven't heard him yet, I recommend starting off with his Illinois CD first, but my personal fav goes to Michigan (although Seven Swans is pretty high).
(O and this is done by the Carleton Singing Knights)
