Sunday Supper: Seeds of Peace

Why am I blogging so much nowadays? First off, I've got lots of nice things going on that I just have to share. Also, it's finals time and I find I'm super chatty when I have papers piling up (and dishes, and garbage...).

Tonight was Sunday Supper, when the I-House community comes together for a dinner, a guest speaker, and some musical entertainment. I was especially excited because the guest speaker was none other than Janet Wallach, president of Seeds of Peace. My three months of working 9-5 at their Jerusalem Center really paid off! I was able to meet with Janet and two other students Marie (Belgium, SOP counselor) and Nikos (Greek, involved in coexistence orgs) before her talk and introduce her to I-House and discuss our studies. Then we headed to the reception, where my role was somewhat unclear. I was supposed to help introduce her to other resident members, but I mostly caught up with friends I haven't seen since waaaay before finals. Then, I sat next to Janet at dinner! She gave an excellent speech, and although I'm a bit biased, I was very inspired by it.

My finals are going alright, almost manageable.
Peace Ed: a paper on the Jerusalem Center, looking at its programming. Big thanks go out to the ever professional JC intern Miss Rachel Buxbaum for all my first-person sources.

Middle East Ed: I wrote my big paper on encounter programs, focusing on their historical development and questioning there efficacy. The small Middle East Ed paper is on the misuse of the terms Islam, Islamic, and Muslim. Let me tell you: Islam refers to the religion itself, Islamic is an adjective only to be used for issues of faith or doctrine, Muslim refers to the practice and followers. In use, therefor, Islamic Extremism is not a correct phrase, rather it should be Muslim Extremists. In the context of education, Islamic education is never fundamentalist, it's Muslim radical education that most people mean to say is a problem. So There. I have a presentation on the big paper yet to come...

Family Ed: Already did the presentation, which, I truly quote, was lauded as a "Tour de Force" now I just need to complete the paper which looks at memory as a definer of in-group and out-group culture.

Ed & Econ: An exam, but not until next week.

I can't be social until Wednesday, when all my papers are turned in and I can focus on the one presentation and exam. I'll be soooo relaxed then. I need eggnog...