A Rant About Israel

I think what’s going on right now in Gaza is absolutely shameful. Israel has ramped up its violent attacks on Hamas and the Palestinian people, and more Palestinians have been killed in the last few days than have been killed on the Israeli side in the past few years. There is also talk of Israel blocking food and medical aid to Gaza, which at this point is desperately in need of both. The US media is very selectively reporting on what is going on. And for Obama to stand up in front of the world and defend Israel’s right to self-defense?! He could have so much influence on Israel. He should cut off aid to Israel in any form until it stops its offensive. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict has been going on for so long, and both sides should be moving toward a mutually satisfactory, peaceful solution, not bombing the crap out of each other.

…these are the kinds of things you, too, will begin to rant about if you become a Korbel student. The more I learn, the more worked up I find myself getting about international affairs, especially when human rights abuses are involved. For example: did you know that the US has still not officially recognized the Armenian genocide of 1915? We are too afraid that we’ll lose out on our strategic relationship with Turkey if we do. It was bad enough that we did nothing during the genocide itself, but it’s even worse that we have continued to shelve our morals in favor of political interests. I find this to be so, so shameful.

Please pardon the rant…perhaps the craziness of finals has gotten to me. The good news: most people are finishing up and flying to their respective homes for Thanksgiving. People are starting to bask in the glow of free time that Winter Break brings. Tired grad students are collapsing on their beds and watching hours of mind-numbing television to recover. It’s the best of times, and the worst of times here during finals week. I currently have two more pages of my paper to go, so I will leave you with these thoughts. As always, thanks for reading.

Week 9 and Feelin’ Fine!

It’s currently mid Week 9 here at Korbel, and people are feeling the crunch. With ten weeks in the quarter, most of us have papers due and exams that take place next week, so it is high time to study, study, study! The snacks in my cabinet are already starting to accumulate in anticipation of long nights in front of my computer.

Snacks of the sort you might see on my plate during finals time.

Final exams at Korbel take various forms. The format of your final exam will depend entirely on the classes you are taking and the professors you have. For one of my classes, I have a traditional, closed-book, closed-note in-class exam. Study beforehand, come to class and write the exam for an hour and a half, and BOOM–done. For another of my classes, I have a big long paper (which is, as of right now, still of indeterminate length….scary). It will be assigned this week, and we will have about a week to complete it. Open-book and open-note. For yet another of my classes, we have the same kind of paper and open-source format deal, but we only have 24 hours to complete it. It will be posted at some ungodly hour of the morning, and due 24 hours after that time. Having not yet actually taken any of these exams, I feel as if I must withhold judgment. I am one of those students whose strength is in writing, so maybe the papers that I have time to polish will work to my advantage. HOWEVER, the open-book and open-note format is daunting because it means that the quality of the work the professors are expecting shoots way up. So you see it’s a give and take. Luckily, if you hate one exam format, you most likely will not encounter it across the board.

The big reward for finishing up with finals is Winter Interterm, which is deliciously long. It lasts from approximately Nov. 20th through January 7th. AMAZING. People do different things during Interterm–some take classes, some travel abroad through DU’s International Service Learning programs, some go home, some stay in Denver. I personally will be staying here in Denver for most of Interterm (including Thanksgiving), working on my summer internship search/applications, and continuing on with my current internship at The 1010 Project. The thought of having oodles of free time on my hands is, admittedly, very appealing. I am actively looking forward to Interterm, as it will provide a respite that I am sure many of us desperately need. I also hope to do more exploring of the Denver area while we are on break. Thus far, I have only had the chance to go clambering around Red Rocks, which was absolutely breathtaking:

One of the many beautiful views from my hike at Red Rocks Park

For now, though, I must continue to push through and get maximum amounts of work accomplished. Good night for now!