Honduran Enchiladas…Yum!
My ESL students noted that today marked two months of classes. Time flies. I think I’m getting the hang of this. It’s as much a learning process for me as it is for them. Today, my student Luz brought Honduran enchiladas for everyone. Delicious! Carlos brought all kinds of candies made with goat milk, or leche de cabra, and Marbella brought drinks. My Mexican students said the Honduran enchiladas were the equivalent of Mexican tostadas.
Honduran Enchiladas... So Good!
Dulces for Everyone
A Few of My Wonderful Students
Another sign of a great day: The sunrise in my neighborhood.
Abstinence: Not Just for Sex Anymore
Political pundit Jacques Berlinerblau of Georgetown University is not voting this year. Does that make him an ungreat American?
He’s exercising “ballot abstinence” to emotionally distance himself from the election and offer an objective point of view.
“The best political analysts, I think, are the ones whose criticism is omni-directional, as opposed to focused on one party or idea or candidate,” Berlinerblau says. He’s all about being able to put himself in someone else’s shoes, to examine diverse perspectives. He wanted audiences to trust him and not pigeonhole him as a radical Leftist university professor. That image, he says, is a growing perception the public holds of scholars.
Put Yourself in My Shoes, They All Say
Berlinerblau’s perspective reminds me of Purdue University’s Mohan J. Dutta, who spoke to my graduate PR class two years ago. Dutta advocates a culture-centered approach, in which you try to understand the point of view of the culture of the person or group you seek to influence. To truly listen to someone, you must be willing to fully consider her point of view without unyieldingly grasping your own as if it were sovereign. Dutta speaks of coming to the Unites States from Calcutta and realizing the Eurocentric hegemony evident in U.S. scholarly work. Read the rest of this entry »
Links Extravaganza 10.13.08 – On Choosing Not to Vote
Why I Choose Not to Vote in Our Present System | It’s polarizing and makes us think in extremes, Bradley Lehman writes.
“Choose Not to Vote” an Option on Your Ballot? | A Florida senator hoped so last year.
Involvement More Valuable Than Vote | “If you continue to vote between two evils, you start to no longer recognize evil.” Op-ed from The Towerlight at Towson University.
Obama Explains His Non-Vote | Yes, Obama, too, once chose not to vote. From MSNBC.
Still Undecided? Don’t Vote | “Casting a ballot tricks you into believing you have as equal a stake in the power structure as the rich and connected.” Op-ed from the Baltimore Sun.
Voting: Civic Duty or Stomach Curler?
Still can’t decide who you’re voting for? I’m with you. But many have already cast their ballots, with early voting taking place today in parts of the U.S.
How are you supposed to feel after you vote? Like you did your civic duty. Like you deserve a pat on the back. You voted for progress, you voted for ethics and moral things, you vot
ed for freedom.
But think about a bill that goes through Congress to address a pressing problem. A killer solution in the bill will usually be accompanied by pork projects, good or bad.
When I vote on Election Day, I’ll vote based on an ideal or two that I really believe in. But my vote will be a vote for ideals and the baggage that comes along with them.
