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(10/21/10 10:41pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>My interest in public policy and politics has grown out of the simple belief that solutions to some of our country and world’s biggest problems can be implemented, or at least begun, through government actions. I still cling to the admittedly naive belief that the American government can shape the direction of this society toward increased opportunity, justice and fairness. Bureaucracies move slowly, and that almost unbelievably tedious pace both depresses and encourages my general optimism. If it’s just the pace of Washington, D.C., there is a possibility we should wait a little more patiently for the implementation of policy ideas that can seriously stimulate the economy, invigorate public education and constructively restructure our broken health care system. Maybe the entire road isn’t broken. We’re just stuck in traffic.On the other hand, several months of gridlock-level traffic surely indicates a design flaw. Members of Congress are surely the only American adults who have the luxury of looking forward to recess breaks — a distant elementary school memory for most voters, 72.8 percent of whom disapprove of Congress. It is true that living in the district opens up an entirely new level of potential cynicism and disillusionment. At the same time, witnessing the political process up close has opened my eyes to a variable completely independent of the pace or structure of the federal government. There are serious issues that require legislative solutions. Fraudulent practices must be criminalized and stopped, anti-competitive business behavior should be regulated and funding must be appropriated to a host of venerable recipients. Other issues — gay teenagers committing suicide, bullying bills, defining marriage and determining the level of freedom a woman has to make choices about her body — depend as much on the culture created in homes and neighborhoods across the country as they do on government action. Public policy can only reach so far. While it can be beneficial to pursue thoughtful actions that encourage cultural shifts, there are deep-rooted cultural norms, assumptions and yes, cultural problems, that underlie many “policy” issues that are now considered as demanding of “policy” solutions. Homophobia and bullying are a recent manifestation of the cultural closed-mindedness that even the most effective policies will fail to address directly. For example, the anti-bullying bill that might be brought up before the Minnesota legislature updates the laws on the books. But what are the honest chances of some sort of legislative trickle-down to elementary school playgrounds and middle school hallways? Obviously, the laws need to be updated, and we would never ask our elected representatives to change the way 12-year-olds, college students or any American thinks. But it is the way we collectively frame issues — our culture — that will determine how our young people treat each other. Bullying laws, while essential, cannot compare to parents and teachers who teach the value of diversity and instill confidence and patience in young people. Necessary legislative updates and government actions are not enough to address the cultural roots of the problem. Next week, I will explore whether the same principle applies to other current political priorities. E-mail: swilensk@indiana.edu
(10/01/10 12:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Ah, October. Although I spend most of spring looking forward to days at the pool, and most of autumn yearning for the first snowfall and the Christmas lights on the square downtown, fall is the best season, and October is the greatest month. Most of the country idealizes the fall in New England, but the fascination with fiery colored mountains obscures the simple beauty of a Midwestern autumn.Chances are, if you are reading this newspaper outside, the air smells fresh and the students walking by are no longer in tank tops. Or it could be ninety degrees — the unpredictable nature of the season is part of what makes its brief stay so precious. Summer feels as if it were ages ago, but as the heat winds down, the next few weeks before midterms will be the perfect time to explore the outdoors. Americans have steadily spent less time outdoors each year since the 1980s, resulting in a total decrease of 18 to 25 percent of time spent outdoors since peak levels of time spent outside. During the same period, childhood obesity rates have tripled. While eating McDonalds at a picnic table won’t reduce its calories or fat, the trends are related as indicators that an increasingly sedentary America that would rather experience “mediated nature” on TV or the computer. Although I am a self-proclaimed city girl, I cringe when any of my friends not-quite-jokingly assert their determination to avoid nature. “I don’t go in nature,” would have once sounded nonsensical among a people who coexisted in close proximity with their environment. Today, it is completely possible to grow up in the United States and many other parts of the world without witnessing the quiet of dawn in the mountains or the surprisingly loud chaos of insects at night. As a society, when we spend less time outside — and I don’t mean mowing the lawn or tanning at the pool — we not only lose our connection to our planet, but to ourselves. My experiences camping and hiking have inspired my passionate defense of the earth’s resources. But they have also given me a deep appreciation for the struggles of farmers and developers to advance our cause in the face of sometimes hostile natural conditions. In fact, if you never leave the city, it’s easy to be an environmentalist. The minute you’re in the forest, the obvious tension between our comfort and the untamed wild becomes clear. If you’ve spent the first several weeks of this semester hunkered down in the Wells Library, take a day this weekend or next and go off into the woods. Drag your friend who is the most dedicated to staying within 500 feet of the nearest Starbucks and find somewhere gorgeous.In Bloomington we’re lucky to be surrounded by easy day trips: Yellowwood State Forest, Lake Monroe, and Griffy Lake, which is within walking distance of campus. Now is the time — before you know it you’ll be buying hot chocolate from some freezing student at a booth outside Ballantine. E-mail: swilensk@indiana.edu
(09/23/10 11:58pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I got fired up about a junior senator primary underdog in 2007 because of the same characteristics that are getting now-President Obama into serious trouble today. Obama was a intellectually brilliant lawyer, an inspiring writer and orator, and from my point of view, a thinly disguised policy wonk with a problem-solving approach to dealing with national and international issues. I trusted that if we elected this man president we wouldn’t be getting into any wars of choice based on emotion and groupthink. I trusted he would tackle domestic social issues with creativity and vigor.It is hard not to feel some of the widely shared disappointment, especially when the leader I worked so hard to campaign for seems irrelevant in the halls of Congress and perhaps worse than irrelevant in the rest of America. The president or his messaging and image staff is trying to fix that by taking his message to the country’s backyards in a series of drop-by meetings with middle-class, “everyday Americans.”More than his failure to extricate our army from the swamp of Afghanistan, more than his yet-unfulfilled campaign promises to undocumented workers and gay and lesbian citizens, this is what angers me about the first years of Obama’s presidency. My deep frustration started after the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, when American public opinion turned against President Obama for not displaying enough public anger. This country has enough political theater, so having a commander-in-chief who is a bad actor should be refreshing. Instead of rational solutions, legislative action and a quick and focused response, Americans wanted a show.So President Obama gave them a show. And he’ll give them a show again as he traipses into white-picket fence backyards and tries his best to don the mask of an ordinary plain old Joe Schmo American. The president is an extraordinary American, not an ordinary one. What has changed in this country that we would rather be led by those who best represent the mediocrity of the masses than by those who represent our gifted and talented — our overachievers? Hell, why fix our schools when having the best possible education makes you barely electable in today’s political atmosphere?These backyard meetings are a waste of time for the world’s most influential leader. We have serious problems at home and serious problems abroad and the only time our president’s job depends on how folksy he can be and how many local hamburgers he can eat is during his election. In 2008, he was able to make it to the White House with integrity. Apparently, unlike most voters, I get frustrated when Obama panders and pretends to cherish an identity he has never held and express emotions he has never felt. I didn’t vote for a president so I could watch him get publicly, visibly angry at big oil or convincingly express sympathy for those who lost their jobs. I voted for a president who understands his role in shepherding Congress toward regulating reckless industries and creating sensible economic policy. I voted for a president to solve the problems, not put on a show about them. Give us the real thing. E-mail: swilensk@indiana.edu
(09/16/10 11:13pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The shorter days of September call up my memories of Lisa Frank folders and Gelly Roll pens; contraband Tamagotchis and Pokémon binders. As Indiana slowly cools down from a hot summer and students adjust to their schedules, it finally begins to feel like “back to school.” While most of us don’t dress up for the beginning of the semester, I steadfastly heed the first-day-of-school traditions of my past. Last week I forced my housemates to pose for pictures outside our row house in Washington, D.C. before allowing them to head off to the first day of their internships. I think there is a point to the pageantry beyond embarrassing pictures. While I never wore a school uniform, the emphasis my parents put on education led me to a lifelong belief that the classroom demands a high level of respect. To this day, I do not wear sweatpants to class. Attire is literally only skimming the surface, but is also one indicator of student commitment and motivation. Robert Samuelson wrote a recent column for the Washington Post that addressed the issue. He cites test score data from the 1970s and from this decade: it has barely increased, while teacher-student ratios, early childhood education and other changing variables should have led to much larger improvements. Samuelson’s process-of-elimination analysis yields a troubling conclusion: education reform does not just mean fixing broken bureaucracies, training better teachers or continuing to throw money at the system. Samuelson blames us, the students. Even as competition for admittance to top colleges and post-secondary programs across the country grows boundlessly ridiculous, the media focuses on the crème de la crème and ignores the fact that compared to our Indian and Chinese counterparts, American students are comparatively uninterested in education and generally unmotivated. Fixing this problem is a policy puzzle that involves acknowledging and engaging with a culture of consumption that has pervasively penetrated childhood. It was hard for my fourth grade teacher to compete with my Tamagotchi for my attention, and yet, I was a devoted student and negligent Tamagotchi owner. As toys have become even more interesting (and long division has remained relatively constant in its complete lack of appeal), educators are looking for outside-the-box (but inside-the-console) ways to harness student motivation. A New York Times magazine article details the use of educational video games as part of the Quest To Learn program in New York City. Sara Corbett entertains the idea of someday turning school into “a big delicious video game.”While I marvel at the creativity of this proposal, and myself thrived in a Montessori environment that any pedagogical traditionalist would scoff at, I am uncomfortable with the idea that the only way to re-engage students is to stoop to their level. Current education reform has focused on teachers and funding. These critical changes will fall short of their potential, unless other shifts in attitudes among students also come to fruition. E-mail: swilensk@indiana.edu
(09/10/10 1:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The President’s recent rededication to rebuilding the infrastructure, economy and education system in America is praiseworthy. In the second half of his first term, however, Obama will also need to address the divisive issue of exactly who gets access to those benefits of American citizenship and how. Comprehensive immigration reform that includes amnesty is the most practical policy for addressing the current reality with respect to undocumented workers in the United States. Amnesty would forgive millions who left their homes seeking a better life in America and failed to enter the country legally While the act of granting amnesty is a last resort, the measure is critical to restoring a strong framework for future immigrants. When amnesty was granted to millions of workers in the 1980s, the measure was billed as a single chance for immigrants to change their legal status without facing criminal prosecution. Now that this policy must be pursued a second time, it is even more critical that policymakers avoid creating a moral hazard that would encourage future potential immigrants from entering the U.S. illegally. If citizens of other countries begin to believe they can break American laws as they immigrate and later be rewarded with legal status, this policy will create problems for future generations as opposed to addressing them. As the Obama administration has suggested, dismantling other incentives to cross illegally into the United States and increasing control of the borders will ensure that amnesty works as it is intended. This policy will “catch-up” the reality on the ground to a new equilibrium from which it is possible to minimize illegal entry to America in the future. Passing immigration reform without amnesty for millions of undocumented aliens imposes an economically and logistically impossible burden on current law enforcement. It requires that significant resources be applied to breaking up families and deporting residents who labor at the least desirable and lowest-wage jobs. These resources are best used to secure the borders, not to run jails and investigate families living peacefully inside the U.S. Only a bill that includes amnesty for undocumented aliens truly acknowledges the difficult reality within American borders and presents a realistic plan for amending the situation so that future immigration reform can indeed be addressed only at the borders and processes that take place there. When the legislature reconvenes next Monday, political concerns will be abundant, and for many, crafting policy may take second priority until November. While the election cycle is understandably of great concern, it might make more sense to wait to introduce this issue when lawmakers already lack the constructive mindset to make real changes. The problem is a painful one to acknowledge, and the solution is far from perfect, but it is an issue that cannot be ignored. E-mail: swilensk@indiana.edu
(09/03/10 12:06am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As our plane descended into Moscow’s Domodedevo airport, the peat smoke from wildfires across the country greeted us before the wheels touched the ground. The airport wasn’t air-conditioned, and there were no special procedures in place to remedy the fact that every terminal was hazy and smelled like someone had decided to start a bonfire in the baggage claim. California has wildfires too, and although I like to think that in the U.S., which places a premium on consumer satisfaction, someone might have thought to provide masks or set up ionizers in the airport, our airlines do not seem all that incredibly devoted to pleasing their customers either. As soon as we hit the highway in our American-made Ford van, I felt like I was right back in the United States. Volkswagen and Lexus dealerships lined the highway, the roads had wide lanes and clear signs, and the drivers were more cautious than in any other part of Europe I have visited. During my short time in Moscow and my slightly longer time further afield in Tyumen and Khanty-Mansiysk in Siberia, I was continually struck by the eerie similarity between my home and this country I had always perceived as incredibly foreign.In Tyumen, our partner university’s classrooms were equipped with technology that many IU classrooms won’t have for years. In every city I visited, SUVs were the preferred form of transportation, and residents enjoyed a variety of ethnic cuisine from Italian to Georgian to Mexican. And most people didn’t speak a second language. Russia shares this emphasis on technology, love of oversized cars, varied dining options and disregard for foreign language acquisition with its Cold War adversary. I would guess that years of being a global superpower caused America and Russia to develop somewhat similar national attitudes. I saw differences also: whereas an oil spill off the coast of the U.S. this summer sparked national and international outrage and a tremendous clean-up effort, there are areas of Western Siberia where we could drive right up to several oil pipeline leaks. The companies and the government do not engage in remediation efforts, only occasionally covering up the oil with piles of sand, which actually impedes oil breakdown and dispersion. These cultural differences are the typical fare of international travel, but in this case, the atmosphere of the cities I visited, the overall priorities of the people I met and the pace of every day life in Russia felt more American than in any other part of the world. During the Cold War, it might have been those very similarities that made Russia such a threatening enemy in the eyes of the American public and policy elites — we often dislike in others what we truly dislike about ourselves. Today there are many shared priorities for Russians and Americans on the international stage and in terms of average citizens’ most basic hopes, and a stronger partnership promises benefits for both countries. E-mail: swilensk@indiana.edu
(04/28/10 3:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>There comes a time when a situation is so overwhelming that you’re not sure whether there is a path forward anymore. Academically, that moment of truth often comes during I-might-be-DEAD-by-the-end-of-it week, or during finals week. Last weekend, when I lost my phone in my sofa, I learned a couple of important strategies for moving forward in the face of truly trying adversity. I have a small, weird, little Blackberry that I’m certain no one produces anymore. Despite its overly compact structure, my mother refers to it as my “other limb” for my apparent inability to function without it. Phone dependency could be another whole column — but suffice it to say that after coffee, it’s one of the few things I definitely couldn’t make it through the day without. Last Wednesday night, my friend and I were enjoying what was certainly a quality television program when I heard my phone vibrate from beneath the cushions. Digging the phone out is a minor inconvenience, but never something to really complain about. It’s like a normal homework assignment: no one loves when it needs to be done, but your friends would probably get annoyed if you whined about it. After several minutes of devoted digging in the depths of my sofa, it became apparent that my phone had escaped into a tiny crevice inaccessible to the human hand. It turns out that my couch is made out of a wooden frame, which, beneath the arm of the couch, forms a solid and enclosed wood box.My phone had been consumed by a furniture black box. For a few minutes, this was hilarious. Then I started crying, and with the help of an electric screwdriver, a hammer, some nails and a hanger, we began to disassemble the couch. What we really needed was a saw, but we were forced to craft a phone-retrieval strategy with what we could find in my high school graduation present tool kit. Lessons: your friends are your best asset. If you plan on prying couches open, you would be advised to make friends who lift weights, as I did. Also, even the best of friends — the ones who will help you dig your phone out of the couch frame at 1:30 in the morning — might not realize you really need help unless you lay it out there loud and clear. When you reach the point of tears, you can give up and pay the price. Usually the price of giving up is higher than the price of carrying on: In my case, it would have been a new phone and one of those universally hated “My couch ate my phone — need your number” Facebook groups. But it wasn’t until I realized just how dire my couch-phone debacle really was that I decided to take serious steps towards fixing it. In any situation in which giving up seems like the only option, remember that there are 100 solutions to every problem, and if you love something enough, you’ll find a way to dig it out of a sofa. E-mail: swilensk@indiana.edu
(04/19/10 10:02pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>One of the important lessons from the volcanic catastrophe that has been plaguing Europe is that Americans cannot speak Icelandic. At all. The offending volcano’s name, Eyjafjallajökull, makes me very glad this week that I write a column and do not host a radio show.But the degree to which we all fear the onomatopoeic eruption of syllables speaks to a deficit of American cultural proficiency that must be immediately addressed in foreign and domestic policy initiatives. Foreign policy has been notoriously unimportant to American voters, and this has fostered a political environment that wakes up to national security threats only when they show up on our end of one of our very convenient ocean buffer zones.In the next century, Americans will experience an attitude adjustment with respect to the world beyond our borders. Otherwise, “declinists,” who predict the demise of American hegemony and leadership, will see their somewhat depressing predictions come true. How exactly does a failure to pronounce the name Eyjafjallajökull necessitate urgent policy measures to prevent the collapse of a world system favorable to American interests?It may be hyperbolic to say so, but it starts with the fact that volcanic ash anywhere means lost profits and celebrity schedule adjustments everywhere. The Atlantic and the Pacific aren’t so vast anymore. It took massive amounts of volcanic ash to disrupt frequent trans-oceanic flights that are now taken for granted in international business. It’s also problematic, though, that American interest in the rare natural phenomenon has deteriorated to stories about celebrities (who are finally experiencing the endless waiting and frustration that characterize all air travel for normal folks). If we want the world to continue to care about America, it’s time for Americans to start giving caring about more than pro wrestlers and bands. Cultural proficiency means that when there is a giant cloud of volcanic ash, the response isn’t, “But the drummer is going to be late for a big concert in California!”The character and level of interest would certainly be even more disturbing if the event had taken place in any other part of the world. It’s easy to see why, when many American schools still offer German, French and Spanish but fail to teach Arabic or Chinese.Our paradigm shift must start with language education: Americans must become proficient in the languages that will drive the world in the coming decades. Initiatives should expand to include cultural ambassador programs that would bring musical, theatrical and other groups from abroad as official emissaries to the U.S. This approach could be especially effective with respect to an often misunderstood region of the world, such as Sub-Saharan Africa.Even the most culturally proficient populace may never be able to handle Eyjafjallajökull, but this deficiency is good reason to start the push toward an America that is more knowledgeable about the languages, cultures and issues across the oceans.E-mail: swilensk@indiana.edu
(04/12/10 10:06pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Starting tomorrow, you will see students handing out T-shirts at locations across the IU campus, perhaps a noticeable (free clothes) but not exactly an infrequent occurrence.On Thursday, you might encounter surprising responses from this particular set of T-shirt-wearing Hoosiers. They’ll be participating in the National Day of Silence, an event held across the country every April to draw attention to the daily silence of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth who are afraid to fully express themselves. The day of silence provides a meaningful and non-traditional way of experiencing the discomfort and entrapment of restraining one’s speech. The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network’s 2005 National School Climate Survey found that “four out of five LGBT students report verbal, sexual or physical harassment at school and 29 percent report missing at least a day of school in the past month out of fear for their personal safety.”The experience of silencing oneself can be a powerful source of motivation to work for the policy and cultural changes desperately needed to reverse those striking statistics. The Day of Silence is a unique form of activism. It is not a rally nor a sit-in, fundraiser, film-screening or other event. There is an agenda solely of recognition and empathy, not of win-or-lose policy goals. It draws attention inward to the internal conflict that arises whenever humans want to speak out but cannot do so. There is value in experiencing this alone, even if it’s the only form of “activism” you do on the issue of GLBT rights, or at all.The Day Of Silence also provides the perfect occasion to take action since anyone can participate without needing to be educated on the movement’s history or be knowledgeable about policy options. It’s an opportunity to feel and shut up rather than to analyze and incessantly debate.To participate at IU, pick up a T-shirt and a silence pledge card tomorrow from tables at Woodburn Hall, the Sample Gates, the Kelley School of Business, Willkie, Wright, Collins, McNutt or the GLBT Student Support Services office on Seventh Street. Then, participants will wear their T-shirts on the following day (April 15) and refrain from speaking. Students will also be given a card that explains why they are silent for the day. On Thursday night, there will be a “Breaking the Silence” reception at 6:30 p.m. in the Oak Room of the Indiana Memorial Union. Help out your silent student friends tomorrow with respect and understanding. Spread that respect and understanding beyond the Day Of Silence, and their choice to shut up will have done much more than foster their own inner awareness.Silence is another form of shouting this week, and whether you participate or not, be certain to listen for a quieter form of crying out for acceptance. It might turn out to be just as powerful as the endless stream of speech and debate encouraging society to embrace difference.E-mail: swilensk@indiana.edu
(04/05/10 9:13pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>If you have any intention of being remotely employable after you toss your cap and take some nice photographs in front of the Sample Gates, chances are that you have sought, are seeking or will seek an internship during your time at IU.In 2006, 83 percent of graduating seniors had participated in an internship, and that was before the recession hit and firms started to recognize an eager market of potential workers who did not need to be paid. Because of the economic downturn, jobs were cut left and right. But as any intern knows, there are still photocopies to be made, inter-office memos to be delivered and phones to be answered. However, the U.S. Department of Labor sets standards that must be met in order for an intern at a for-profit company to go unpaid.Non-profit organizations are not subject to the same requirements because interns can be legally designated as volunteers. Among the most unrealistic of the current standards: the employer cannot benefit from the presence of the intern.While I don’t dream of wiping the door knobs in order to prevent swine flu, the task assigned to a college intern interviewed by the New York Times, I do hope that even as an undergraduate I will have the chance to make a real contribution.Even the best reform of the laws governing unpaid internships would fail to address the most disturbing reality underlying their growing prevalence. A certain amount of financial security is necessary before a student can consider taking an internship instead of a job. Even paid internships often don’t offer the compensation many students need in order to make ridiculous tuition payments or buy extremely high-priced textbooks. In a world in which 76 percent of firms reported in a survey that relevant internship experience was the primary factor in decisions to hire college graduates, it’s time to devise policies that will uphold basic principles of fairness while still allowing employer and intern to garner mutual benefit.College interns should not be seen as low-skilled labor. Most of us would only bother to pursue an internship in an area we know something about.Some good government effort on further job creation and economic stimulus could incorporate requirements that would give the doorknob-wiping jobs back to currently unemployed janitors and at least some of the phone-answering and envelope-addressing back to the currently unemployed administrative assistants. Then interns can do what they were always meant to do: learn.Internships are a valuable introduction to a field of potential employment, to the work environment and to professional mentors. Educational institutions should work to make the experience available to all undergraduates — not just those whose families will happily forego a summer’s earnings. Internships need a little reform by the federal government, perhaps including measures that could be introduced as economic stimulus or job creation, as well as continued effort on the part of colleges and universities to increase access to financially feasible experiences. I’ll be in Washington this fall. Maybe the Department of Labor would be interested in my unpaid contribution. E-mail: swilensk@indiana.edu
(03/29/10 10:16pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Passover, which began last night at sundown, is the most widely celebrated Jewish holiday amongst both religious Jews and otherwise unaffiliated Jews. Passover’s ability to compete with a commercialized Christmas-substitute, Hannukah, might seem surprising. The observance of Passover involves an often drawn-out retelling of history before the meal and then a week of abstaining from bread, pasta and other wonders of the modern diet. Popular opinion has ordained that Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) has more to offer than eight nights of presents in December, President Obama has even introduced the ritual meal (seder) into the White House.The celebration of Passover revolves around storytelling and a ritual meal. Both of these arts have been widely forgotten in the world of the 24-hour news cycle and fast food. Trends such as the podcast “The Moth,” which champions the power of telling a story, and a growing Slow Food movement suggest that society is beginning to re-affirm what observers of Passover have long acknowledged as they gather around the table, listen to the reading of the Haggadah, which tells of the Jews’ exodus from slavery in Egypt, and join with family or friends to enjoy a carefully prepared meal. Rituals such as the seder can be spiritually meaningful and certainly establish meaningful cultural and communal ties among those who observe them. But there are many rituals in Judaism, and many people who don’t hesitate to order the ham and cheese sandwich 364 days of the year still find their way to the seder table sometime in late March or early April. I suspect the universal messages of freedom, redemption, and social justice are a large part of what has made the holiday so compelling in every century and every locale where Jews have lived.At the seder last night, Jews around the world remember the (probably) mythical story of their enslavement under a despotic Pharaoh, and how a charismatic leader and his God led the oppressed to an opposite shore of liberation and peace. There are many oppressed peoples around the world, and a shortage of burning bushes and miraculously parted seas. The Jewish tradition of recounting that, “we were all slaves in Egypt” personalizes the narrative and created a collective memory of the importance of the freedom struggle for all of humankind. This tradition calls up the image of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marching arm-in-arm with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. It might help to explain why the anti-Genocide Save Darfur movement was fueled in large part by the work of Jewish activists. Everyone can take something from the traditions that make Passover so popular — tell stories, eat slowly, imagine oppression as if you had experienced it, and then work to end it. At my seder this year, we focused on how this ancient story can inspire us to abolish tyranny in its modern manifestations. We looked inward at the chains that still prevent us from achieving inner freedom and wholeness. Strangers became family, history became present and social justice became a personal imperative — and then, we ate. E-mail: swilensk@indiana.edu
(03/22/10 9:40pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Numerous events of the last several weeks have called up our national collective memories of what took place in New Orleans at the end of August 2005. First, in January an earthquake struck Haiti. The natural disaster destroyed entire communities, and images of pain, desolation and hope touched people all over the world. The media brought reports of government helplessness and massive displacement reminiscent of the days after the levees broke in New Orleans.A month later, the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl. It’s probably not popular to remind any Indianapolis Colts fans reading that the country rallied around this underdog team and their city.New Orleans cheered “Who Dat” and paraded as only New Orleans can. In stark contrast to the devastation in Haiti, everything we saw on TV after the football game suggested the city was experiencing a well-deserved happy ending. While recovery seemed far off in Haiti, the Saints’ victory and the ensuing celebration led many to think that closer to home, in New Orleans, recovery had been a success.New Orleans and Haiti weren’t really the same story. In Haiti, the destruction was due to a natural disaster. In New Orleans, while we still refer to the event as Hurricane Katrina, it was really the failure of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that caused massive flooding, tremendous destruction of property and loss of human life.The federal government hesitated less in responding to the crisis in Haiti than it did in the days immediately after an American city was submerged. This is still shocking, but perhaps it is evidence of a lesson learned.There are more lessons to be learned. Four and a half years after Hurricane Katrina, the St. Bernard Project reports that 11,000 New Orleans residents are still living in temporary housing, with 1,000 families continuing to dwell in carcinogenic trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.Recovery is slow. Contrary to the triumphant media frenzy, there is much work left to be done in rebuilding the Gulf Coast. At the current pace of rebuilding in New Orleans, it will take 10 to 15 years to restore housing for those who lost it in the floods and have since returned. There are long years ahead in Haiti, as the initial international consciousness dies down.On the other hand, the Saints’ victory was a lesson for those who work toward recovery or fight against poverty and especially for those who take a cynical eye toward prospects for development and recovery in Haiti.The work is slow; New Orleans was a poor city before the catastrophe, and it is still a poor city. Haiti was among the world’s poorest countries, and development there will take several years.But the people of both devastated areas continue to find joy and cause for celebration. This resilience should encourage those who have engaged in efforts to rebuild Haiti and New Orleans to continue the work long after the media and general public forget that it needs to be done.E-mail: swilensk@indiana.edu
(03/09/10 12:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>My mom came to visit me last weekend, and there was a quilt convention at the hotel where she stayed. I usually don’t think too much about quilts, or about the varieties of esoteric gatherings that take place at convention centers across the country every weekend. While we enjoyed playing “spot the quilters” at various locales around Bloomington (homemade looking vests were usually the giveaway), I was also thinking about something I needed to write and about the surprising way that quilting might just apply to my life after all. For a scholarship recommendation, a teacher asked me to write a bit about any extraordinary extracurricular achievements or contributions to community service or academic research that have defined my (almost) three years at IU. When she asked me to do this, rather than enjoy the honor of being recommended for this award, I sank into a regretful depression. I walked around campus wondering why I haven’t single-handedly saved a species of monkeys, or identified a new strain of a disease, or published a book, or ...I’ve done quite a few things in my time here, dedicating huge chunks of time to one student group or another before getting distracted by school work, friends or family. But it’s honest, not modest, to admit that this assortment of leadership positions and honors appears unfocused and, while rewarding for me, not extraordinary in any one area. My resume is a widely woven quilt of interests and passions. The pressure to identify one area of focus and achieve within it reaches beyond scholarship competitions and affects the way many young people approach life and learning. By the time you make it to IU, it’s time to choose a school and a major. It’s fantastic that IU encourages freshmen to enter as exploratory students, but this weekend was also “Direct Admit Weekend,” a special opportunity for those students single-minded enough to apply directly to an IU school to be congratulated and wooed.Society and IU reward ambition, direction, and focus — as well they should. I admire students who enter college with a goal and pursue it with tunnel vision. But if no other institutions do, universities should wholeheartedly encourage diversity of interest and acknowledge the importance of breadth, not just depth, of achievement. I have a vision of the college campus as the apex of exploration and self-discovery. I’m happy that in the last few years, my interests have veered into directions I never would have foreseen.I’m happy I had the chance to try things out and decide they weren’t for me. I regret that the broad range of activities that I’ve participated has in some ways kept me from devoting enough energy to achieve one “extraordinary” outcome.But if my college experience looks more like a patchwork quilt than a single-color blanket, I’ll look back and remember a diversity of experience and the numerous times I had the chance to shape and re-shape my identity. And really, when’s the last time you heard of a single-color blanket convention? It’s just not as exciting. E-mail: swilensk@indiana.edu
(02/22/10 11:27pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I consider myself an environmentalist, even though I wouldn’t list that among my primary identities. When I was in elementary school, a small college near my house installed a single wind turbine on its campus as a symbol of their commitment to alternative energy. I was so enamored by this spinning giant that I dreamed of attending a school with a wind turbine.We all know how this story ends — IU boasts a prominent coal plant, and there’s not a turbine in sight. While IU has a long way to go in building a sustainable campus (a goal championed by student groups and administrators alike), the jump from cheap, energy-producing coal plants to rooftops of solar panels clustered in fields of wind farms is obviously not happening overnight.President Barack Obama has acknowledged the need for an energy policy that will serve as a bridge from dirty, foreign fossil fuels to clean and domestically produced energy sources. On Feb. 16, the president announced federal loan guarantees that will support the construction of the first new nuclear power plant on U.S. soil in almost 30 years.Before Obama began to push the national dialogue in this direction, nuclear energy often seemed to be the missing link few wanted to discuss. In many circles, renewable resources dominate the discourse, and many ignore the high costs that make solar, wind and hydroelectric power infeasible options for producing the majority of America’s power in the next few decades. While these groups tend to point out the high cost of nuclear energy, part of that is because of the more than 20-year lapse in building new plants. Construction like that which Obama announced last week will make use of technologies that should bring those costs down.In addition to cost, the critiques of nuclear energy production from staunch supporters of wind and solar tend to overstate the environmental impact of nuclear plants by including the secondary impacts of nuclear energy as a carbon source. But producing wind turbines and solar panels also creates emissions, and nuclear plants are already significantly limiting American carbon output. The admittedly biased Nuclear Energy Institute found that, “By using nuclear energy rather than fossil fuel-based plants, electric utilities prevented 689 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States in 2008.”While the Obama administration has yet to reveal a proposal for dealing with spent fuel after dismissing the unpopular plan of storing waste in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, last week’s announcement should be welcome news to a wide range of Americans who will reap the benefits.Environmentalists who are realistic will recognize the value of nuclear power as a domestically produced and cleaner alternative to coal and natural gas. Workers in Georgia, where the new plant will be built, will enjoy steady paychecks, and policymakers may even be able to bring Republicans on board with an energy bill that focuses on nuclear as a clean, domestic source of energy. E-mail: swilensk@indiana.edu
(02/15/10 9:52pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In some ways, it’s no surprise that Helene Hegemann, whose first novel was just chosen as a finalist for the Leipzig Book Fair prize for fiction despite serious concerns about plagiarism, is only 17-years-old. While many more mature fiction writers aspire to receive the widespread acclaim that has characterized Hegemann’s entrance to the literary world, a shift in generational attitudes and practices around plagiarism are what make it less surprising that the story revolves around such a young woman. Most mature fiction writers have not stolen entire pages of prose from other authors and then defended their action. The New York Times reports that Hegemann sees herself as part of “a different generation, one that freely mixes and matches from the whirring flood of information across new and old media, to create something new.” Plagiarism is nothing new, and it may be that as more and more information becomes readily accessible to more people via the Internet, we are simply able to identify plagiarism that would have gone unnoticed in years past.I think something else is going on — we are the generation of “copy-paste.” We write papers with our sources open in neighboring windows on the same laptop screen, and we have access to more of other peoples’ ideas than ever before — without even getting off the sofa. In a 300-level political science class, we spent nearly an entire day of lecture reviewing how to effectively write without any risk of being accused of plagiarism. No professor would spend that amount of time nailing home what should be a completely assumed skill, unless her students had shown a desperate need for a review. It’s tempting to say new technology has created a blurry zone around what used to be a more clear-cut line defining plagiarism. Helene Hegemann certainly seems to think so.But technology hasn’t changed one relatively non-controversial societally held moral: stealing the words and ideas of others is wrong and cannot be permitted.The Leipzig Book Fair should immediately rescind its consideration of Ms. Hegemann’s novel, as the literary community should be a leader in condemning plagiarism. Professors around this University should crack down on cases of academic dishonesty.My guess is that if a professor or teaching assistant actually gave the big old F every time they wondered about a very familiar paragraph in a paper, our copy-paste generation would quickly learn how to write originally and cite appropriately.Technology, in fact, can be the key to encouraging authentic composition. Easy access to information makes it possible to verify whether that familiar passage is indeed some other scholar’s work, or a case of déjà vu.Web resources make citations simple, and where all else fails, Turnitin.com inspires exactly the kind of fear that forces students to interact with their sources appropriately.Helene Hegemann’s defense is indicative of a real problem that must be addressed at every level of the writing community. In our own University classrooms, ambiguity should not be tolerated, and plagiarism should be regarded for what it is — not, as Hegemann suggests “mixing,” but theft, pure and simple.E-mail: swilensk@indiana.edu
(01/26/10 12:04am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It’s the beginning of the third week of classes and I have already used my entire semester’s print quota.IU students are allotted a certain number of pages per semester they can print. The cost of those pages is factored into tuition and is paid for by a portion of the nearly $200.00 student technology fee. I’m certain there are plenty of irresponsible ways to quickly deplete the given print quota. In fact, the University Information Technology Services Web site provides a helpful list of tips to avoid using up your allotment. It also informed me that few students print more than 200 pages per semester. I’m already pushing 700.Maybe I happen to have a statistically improbable group of friends who print unusual amounts of readings, but I think the increasing amount of people I know who quickly use up this “free” printing allowance has more to do with the changing nature of technology.Instructors are increasingly making readings available via Oncourse, and in doing so, theoretically help students save significant sums on textbooks. I’m fairly certain that the lower textbook costs offset the fairly cheap cost to print more than the allowance. The cost per page of over-quota printing is $0.04. The broader shift toward electronically provided course materials should prompt serious consideration of the current printing allowance.There is a psychological component to the print quotas. As I diligently double-side my hours’ worth of reading and writing assignments, I watch my “remaining pages” quickly disappear. While most of us rarely spend more than IU’s suggested budget of $650 on textbooks, it’s actually wise to set that figure so far in the sky.Anchors and incentives play a role in students’ decisions about how they will study. Because the University sets such a high anchor for the cost of textbooks, more students are likely to purchase all of the required books, rather than pursuing cheaper options. If IU suggested that $200 was a typical amount to spend, students would perhaps return a few of the books to the shelf.UITS should follow suit with print quotas. If print quotas were set higher, even at an initially steeper cost to students, I wouldn’t stop to reconsider every time I print a reading. As professors give our wallets a break, IU should consider policies to encourage students to stay organized and read thoroughly by reducing the negative incentive of printing more than the quotas. It’s a slight psychological shift, but incentivizing less-than-ideal work habits is a regrettable action.
(01/19/10 1:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Since 1998, IU students have enjoyed their only official three-day weekend in remembrance and celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is unclear to me why Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day and other American holidays go ignored by IU students and faculty while state and federal employees observe a day off. That said, it may actually be fitting that IU marks MLK, Jr. Day with a seriousness that is not applied to other holidays – we have a lot of work left to do here when it comes to race relations. While I see a real commitment to reaching the goal of a diverse IU, I don’t always think the resources available for working toward that goal are being wisely distributed.IU has students from all walks of life: Our student body is diverse in a wide way, representing 125 countries and many races and ethnicities. Additionally, IU is big enough that whatever your experiences and background might be, chances are if you look around enough, you can find at least a few other people like you. In fact, a variety of University-run student centers, student groups and living-learning communities in the dorms exist to help you do just that.IU is too good at helping students navigate toward others with similar shared experiences and not good enough at pushing students toward dialogue, living and becoming true friends with the students most unlike them.The thrust of King’s celebrated dream requires this interaction – a joining of hands across differences. When I came to Indiana, I was told by friends and extended family that I should live in the Northwest neighborhood, and my dorm resembled a heavily Jewish suburb.Having grown up in the city, I was uncomfortable in this environment where people’s backgrounds so closely resembled one another. For some, this familiarity probably contributed to an easy transition to college and facilitated social and academic success. Programs for students of a similar ethnic or racial group provided by the Office of Admissions or Residential Programs and Services provide a similarly comfortable and familiar setting to call home at IU.But working toward healthy racial interaction isn’t going to be comfortable. IU is too segregated, and many students who never make an effort to break out of that familiarity are deprived of socially critical experiences. RPS should be brave enough to abandon the neighborhood request. They could still honor roommate requests but randomly assign students to different areas of campus housing. This might forcefully eliminate some of the “character” of certain neighborhoods that I see and bring opportunity for true integration and interaction between students. Obviously, yesterday was a day to appreciate the hard work of every office on this campus that works for diversity, but I encourage some real thought about how this University can nudge students not only to acknowledge and celebrate their own background but also to engage in the real and interactive work of true diversity.
(01/11/10 3:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Our culture’s propensity to propel something utterly idiotic into the collective consciousness is actually nothing new, but the success of MTV’s hit “Jersey Shore” is a perfect example of the phenomenon.As someone who is both Jewish and an Italian citizen, I would imagine, but cannot in any way confirm, that the chances of me growing up anywhere other than New Jersey are quite low. In fact, I was raised in the land of Garrison Keillor, far from the glorified hair gel, Bumpits and tanning beds of the state formerly known as “the armpit of America.”The antics of the eight housemates on the show should only serve to confirm the less-than-favorable characterization of the Garden State but are in fact so fascinating and entertaining that I estimate I spent equal parts of winter vacation watching the show and studying for the LSAT.Hopefully, the brain cells I lost while examining whether or not Snooks actually uses a Bumpit were rebuilt by those torturous hours of logic games, but I doubt it.A satirical column in the New York Times last week suggested five not-so-serious reasons why the MTV hit isn’t as bad as it seems. But the sarcastic knocks at the show all but obscure the real reason why the stars and producers are making bank. These television geniuses, without even expecting it (really, who could have foreseen?) have perfected the ratio of cultural stereotypes, alcoholics, catfighting and stupidity needed to produce the perfect reality series. The real reason to love “Jersey Shore” is that it’s incredibly entertaining.I believe its broad appeal must be understood on multiple levels. There are those who take the characters seriously, empathizing with the crew’s barely masked jealousy of Sam and Ronnie’s somehow continued relationship, or perhaps themselves taking up the suggested regimen of Gym-Tanning-Laundry. On the other hand, the comedic value of the show cannot be underestimated. I personally laughed my way through the entire hour of the sixth episode, only to surprise myself by the slightest twinge of a genuine “awh” when Ronnie won back Sam for what must have been the 15th time in six episodes. As a proud Italian myself, I hope the easy mockery of these self-proclaimed Guidos and Guidettes maintains its comedy without taking on any real ethnic or cultural bias against the nationality that brought all of you pizza, pasta and my own preferred brand of overpriced bottled sparkling water.Finally, Jersey Shore has created an entire nation of cultural anthropologists. The group of intellectual Ivy Leaguers with whom I welcomed 2010 with were actually willing to put up with my insistence on watching the New Years Eve special only because they could apply every sort of anthropological and ethnographic analysis to the unique customs and group norms portrayed by the characters. It takes a pretty decent television show to appeal to the wide swath of American viewers that “Jersey Shore” has drawn in – in my opinion, that’s the real reason that 2010 promises to be the year we live as one nation under Guido.
(12/09/09 1:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In any economy, a healthy amount of inflation is an indicator of steady growth and signals the vigor of the entire system. But too much of a good thing can be dangerous, and hyperinflation is a major economic woe. Of course, so is deflation. This semester, I’ve experienced both – and they’ll end up on my transcript. The various people who give grades at IU will soon issue their final judgements, and as they do so, they should keep this in mind:Grade inflation might be happening more quickly in the United States than anywhere else, but most of us will be applying for graduate school and jobs in this country and competing with our peers who graduated from similarly grade-inflated institutions. Any grade “deflation” meant to combat the trend would result in a generation of IU graduates struggling to compete in the job market. Most would agree that economic decision-makers are doing a fine job keeping hiring prospects rare enough as it is. On the other hand, an “A” probably shouldn’t be the default for satisfactory completion of bare minimum course assignments. In one of my classes this semester, projects required a third-grade level of mental sophistication. A student received an “A+” for turning in a giant cardboard cut-out of a pizza. Discussing inflation or deflation calls attention to the fact that grades at IU are hardly a homogeneous product. In that same department, the grading was such that an “A” not only denoted academic excellence but was actually unachievable. Exchange rates further complicate the issue, as grades do not always transverse borders with the ease of currency. Many of my friends have studied abroad at institutions in Europe where the highest levels of grades are intended to be impossible to achieve. Whether or not the more “difficult” system is actually preferable to the one generally accepted in the U.S. is a question that cannot be adequately addressed by a single institution. To reduce the rate of grade inflation here would require a top-down agreement by some regulatory body – grades don’t yet have a central bank, so such a policy is unlikely to occur in our time. Also, no single school has a real incentive to cut back the number of excellent grades it gives out faster than all other schools, as each institution can help its graduates in their pursuits by arming them with a high GPA. However, as each school lowers its standards, high grades that once helped students secure bright futures will be devalued. If inflation gets to that point, the values of grades will have to be systematically re-evaluated. At this time of the semester, all we can hope for is fair grading that takes the system for what it is, recognizes a little bit of healthy inflation without going overboard, and maybe – just maybe – includes a little stimulus package this year.
(12/02/09 8:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Spirited political debate was as much a part of the Thanksgiving tradition as turkey and gravy around my family’s table. Soon after the pumpkin pie was served, someone brought up the public option. My relatives deteriorated into shouting, irrational quasi-experts who actually thought they might change the minds of their opponents. For a minute, I thought I was in Washington. Although the health care reform debate drags on in the capital and across the country, foreign policy takes center stage this week as President Barack Obama unveils a military surge he hopes will “finish the job” in Afghanistan. While this plan garners little public support at home, increased American military engagement anywhere raises questions about America’s national image everywhere. Recent news from Cuba and Iran should serve as an important reminder that although America is grateful to see the bellicose Bush administration writing memoirs instead of memos, the rest of the world is still registering the change. A conservative lawmaker in Iran hinted that the country might consider pulling out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty just as the International Atomic Energy Agency censured the nation for its stubbornly protected nuclear program. Many agree that fear is a major factor motivating Iran’s nuclear progress. As a paranoid Ahmadinejad presents a fallacious narrative of American aggression toward the nation and Islam, any signs from the United States that their fear of military action might be warranted will be extraordinarily dangerous. Joseph Cirincione, a policy analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said, “No nation has ever been coerced into giving up a nuclear program, but many have been convinced to do so by the disappearance of the threat.” Despite the Nobel Prize and unprecedented diplomatic overtures, the shift in U.S. policy apparently doesn’t mark the disappearance of the threat in the eyes of Iran’s policymakers. In Cuba, similar paranoia prevails among policymakers. Recently, Cuban military leaders reported that there “exists a real possibility of a military aggression against Cuba.” In both cases, Obama has offered vocal reassurance that the United States has no plans of military action in Cuba or Iran. That’s not even considering the dubious feasibility of asking the military and the country to fight and fund yet another war. It’s out of the question. So why the disturbing gestures of military preparation in these countries? While the Nobel committee recognized the shift in leadership style from crusader Bush to pragmatist Obama almost immediately, America’s not-quite-allies might need a little more time. The worst-case scenario: Cuba or Iran’s fear of American military involvement eventually becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hopefully, America’s new policymakers will avoid the trap of fear run awry, and continue to prove that this administration’s approach will be a significant change. Obama will need to be especially careful this week, as the decision to send more troops to the Middle East could and will probably be misinterpreted and misrepresented by already paranoid leaders. He will only stand a chance of assuaging fears around the world if his White House continues to place its faith in cooperation and diplomacy before coercion and force.