I'm Just Sayin'

Updates on what's happening in my life. Thoughts about current events, politics, books, and anything else that I find interesting. Intended for those who know and love me.

Name:
Location: Albany, New York

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Harsh Review

I like reading book and movie reviews from good media outlets because of they way they phrase their harshness so eloquently -- something academics rarely even try to do. While I would prefer to have reviews of my work written by someone with poetic style, it wouldn't be worth the price of having them read by a gazillion people all over the world.

Today I was amused by the NYTimes' review of Sex and the City, a movie which I have no intention of seeing given my previous post on this subject. In fact, the review nicely summed up my distaste for the show even before it went to the big screen:

There is something depressingly stunted about this movie; something desperate too. It isn’t that Carrie has grown older or overly familiar. It’s that awash in materialism and narcissism, a cloth flower pinned to her dress where cool chicks wear their Obama buttons, this It Girl has become totally Ick.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Summer Has Begun

Although the semester ended almost two weeks ago, I was so caught up with end-of-the semester stuff (graduation, grading, conferences, etc.) that it took me a while to really appreciate that summer was here. And let me just say: Welcome! I was so burned out the last couple of months that I just couldn't wait for the semester to end.

We celebrated the beginning of summer with a great Memorial Day weekend. For starters, we headed to the drive-in to see Indiana Jones and Iron Man. I have been anxiously awaiting the new Indy movie for months and I was not disappointed. (Okay, to be honest, it would have had to have been truly awful for me to be disappointed. I have had a crush on Harrison Ford since Star Wars premiered when I was seven and the Indy movies came out when I was becoming fascinated by archeology in my pre-teen years, so I was predisposed to love this movie. Dr. Jones is also a U of C alum, and probably the coolest "person" to hold that distinction.) Iron Man was also enjoyable, although I'm not a huge fan of the superhero movies. Despite all of his personal problems, Robert Downey, Jr. is a pretty remarkable actor.

We also took a trip up to the Adirondacks, which is never disappointing. There will probably be a separate post on that outing. We often talk about other places we'd like to live in the country (not that we're unhappy here, but the nature of my job means that moving is always a possibility), and I have to say it would be very hard for us to live far from mountains again. We were always drawn to them while living in the flatlands of the midwest, and now we're spoiled by being close enough to go to the mountains on a whim. I'm not sure I would want to give that up.

After having the first three-day weekend I've had in a very, very long time, I'm back to the grindstone. Lots of work to do this summer as I'm now at the halfway point of my tenure clock. That sounds daunting, doesn't it?

Monday, May 12, 2008

When Is It Okay to Invade?

I'm still obsessed with the disaster in Burma/Myanmar, despite other tragedies vying for my attention like the earthquake in China or the tornado deaths in the U.S. With the death toll now over 100,000 (the population of the city of Albany), and likely to rise significantly due to collateral deaths from lack of clean water, food, shelter, and medical supplies, some have begun to speculate as to whether the U.S. should invade* the country to provide humanitarian aid to the dying civilians. I am deeply disturbed by this idea.

On the one hand, it's awful to sit back and watch the death toll numbers rise due to the ignorance and hubris of a corrupt and inept military regime. On the other hand, this kind of policy decision is a really slippery slope. Which crises warrant invasion and which can we ignore? If we invade Burma, why not Sudan or countless other countries where people are dying needlessly? We also can't just swoop in, oust the junta, drop off the Red Cross, and leave the country without a significant investment in rebuilding the country's government and infrastructure. Let's face it -- our efforts at nation-building in Afghanistan and Iraq have hardly been successful. Destabilizing another country without a long-term commitment for rebuilding is probably just as disastrous as not doing anything.

For now, I think the best the U.S. can do is continue working through the U.N. and Burmese allies like China to pressure the junta into doing the right thing. Here are other suggestions for helping the people in Burma through humanitarian organizations.

*The NYTimes republished an opinion piece from 1990 which asked this same question about Burma then. It's sad how little has changed in nearly 20 years. There's also a discussion about this topic on a good legal studies blog called Controlling Authority.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

What's in a Name?

I've been following the cyclone disaster in Myanmar closely today. It is such a terrible tragedy for a country with so few resources to begin with. The current death toll estimate of 22,000 is the size of the city of Ypsilanti, Michigan or Ithaca, New York. It's so hard to wrap my head around destruction so massive and so sudden.

What I find interesting about the coverage of this event is how the two major newspapers that I read regularly refer to the country. The New York Times calls it Myanmar, the name that the military government declared in 1989, while USA Today uses Burma, the previous name. The United Nations recognizes the name Myanmar, but the United States does not. I understand that the U.S. does not want to officially recognize the name change so as not to legitimize the military regime. However, after almost 20 years, I'm not sure that we're really making a statement with this issue any more.