Pigs, Dogs, and Snakes

Tuesday night I went out with a bunch of friends to the Bourgeois Pig, a tiny little wine bar in the NYU area. It was Beth's idea since it was half price on bottles of wine, which was perfect since it turned out to be Brittany's birthday. Beth brought her boyfriend and one of his friends, and we met up with Mike and Armen. It was pretty wonderful, and might turn into a Monday night (or maybe every other Monday night) hangout. Highly recommended is the dark chocolate fondu and the good company.


(Pictured right: Streett answering questions)
Wednesday was an intense one, full of last minute readings and classes. Brittany and I ended up discussing reading for fundamentals of Peace Education at Hillel. We talked right up until Hillel started an Israeli program that we stayed for. Shanan Streett from Hadag Nahash (Hebrew Site) one of Israel's biggest band. He discussed his politics, living in Israel (specifically Nachlaot, the neighborhood I lived in this past summer), and inspiration for his songs. Probably the band's most famous song the "Sticker Song" was written by David Grossman, an Israeli-author who's very well known. The lyrics are entirely made up of bumper sticker slogans that show the wide range of political and religious feelings in Israel. There's even a curriculum based on the lyrics, that I'm going to have to look into.

Today I ran around and registered for classes. I've got a line up that balances a lot of reading with light loads and courses I'm really interested in and ones I see as more necessary for grounding. They are:

Education and Economic Development
How do developing countries approach education? Does education have an impact of development? How unequal are educational opportunities worldwide? How illiterate does a country have to be?
The Family as Educator
What are the Creative Intelligences that families use? What are your grandparents views on education? Have they impacted your opinions? Do you have any pictures of your Jewish grandmother on a horse?
fundamentals of Peace Education
Development Ed, Ecological Ed, Human Rights Ed, International Ed, Conflict Resolution Ed, Disarmament Ed, Mutlicultural Ed... Holisim, Peace Keeping, Peace Making, Peace Building...
Education Development in the Middle East
Development of education in the region where although there's a shared language, religion, and culture, none of those things are actually shared and there is huge disparity between the nations and tons of conflict

Yeah, is it silly to say I didn't realize Teachers College would push the education aspect do much? Where are the fun filler courses? Brittany has one course with a funny professor who apparently analyzes sarcasm within society, I'm hoping to take him next semester.