My day

It’s the end of a long day, and I’m not feeling very profound or creative, so I thought I would simply tell you how I spent my day. I am reminded of Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President Roosevelt, who wrote a column entitled “My Day” each day of the week. These are collected in a book, in case you would like to read them.

Anyhow…..
6:30 off to play tennis with the Dean
7:00-8:45. Tennis. It was hot and humid, but we ran each other all over the courts as we always do. Each of us won one set.
10:15. Check in with CTE staff. Telephone conference about the portable sound system for the upcoming Board of Director’s meeting. (During this period the Senate Committee for Information Resources and Technology was meeting, however my calendar showed the meeting at 11:00 rather than 10 so I missed it.
12:00-12:30. Meeting with CTE Associate Director to discuss and plan several upcoming projects.
12:40 Meeting with new assistant to plan dinners for the fall and other aspects of her job. Reviewed piled up mail and set tasks to follow up action items.
1:50 Rode bicycle to 4620 Wisconsin Avenue for weekly meeting of Office of Information Technology Directors.
2:00-4:00 OIT Director’s meeting. Focus was on business continuity issues involving the AU computer assisted educational software, the Blackboard Learning System.
4:00-4:15 Rode bicycle back to main campus
4:15-5:45 Caught up with staff, answered phone and email messages and prepared the agenda for tomorrows Management Group meeting; held brief meeting with another Associate Director to discuss plans for Board of Trustees meeting and other issues.
5:45-6:00 Bicycled to Anderson.
6:00-6:15. Took power nap.
6:15-8:30 Office hours in Anderson Hall. Had brief meetings with four undergraduates and a long meeting with an MA student who just completed her thesis research about disseminating her findings and career planning.
8:30-10:00 Anderson Hall Staff meeting
10:10-10:30 Writing this blog
10:30-10:45 Meeting with Anderson resident director about a deferred maintenance request.
10:45-11:15. Finishing and posting blog.
11:15-11:30. Fold laundry and bed.

Reflections on the Middle East: The Tenth Imperative

I have been wanting to write something about the Middle East, but wondering if there was anything I could meaningfully add to the welter of words already out there. I often write about conflict in economic terms. This is not because the human dimension is not important, even fundamental. It is because appeals to our common humanity seem to carry so little weight in discussions, by political leaders, about what should and and should not be done.

After spending more than forty years puzzling over relationships between conflict terrorism and development; and after spending nearly twenty years writing one book, I have tried to summarize what I know in 10 lessons or “imperatives.” One seems particularly relevant to what is going on in Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine-Israel. “The Tenth Imperative, with a brief elaboration, follows:

THE TENTH IMPERATIVE:
Do realistic, rigorous, opportunity-costs analyses of military options, versus equivalent expenditures for non military options, before proceeding down the slippery slope of ‘military solutions’ to complex development problems.

Political leaders often say they ‘had no choice’, as did U.S. President George W. Bush when he invaded Iraq. This is rarely true. There are always choices. The longer the time horizon, the greater the range of choices. Chapter 20 provided an estimate of funds that might have been expended on non violent options in Sri Lanka – like providing economically relevant non-discriminatory educational opportunities for Sri Lanka’s youth. Rarely, if ever, are military options contrasted with non military ones. Development professionals sometimes joke that development assistance budgets are denominated in millions, while military budgets are denominated in billions, but the joke is not funny.

If deadly conflict and terrorism are preventable, are there sufficient resources for the task? An analysis that focuses on opportunity costs provides a compelling affirmative answer. For Sri Lanka, this was given in Chapter 20.
But Being an American, I need not look to Sri Lanka for an answer to this question. There are lessons to be learned closer to home. Consider, from the vantage point of opportunity costs, the World Trade Centre bombing of September 11, 2001 and its consequences. Consider the subsequent expenditures in the U.S. on ‘homeland security.’ Consider the expenditures, so far, on the invasion of Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq and subsequent military operations in those nations.
Following the model of cost estimates for Sri Lanka’s civil wars, I could estimate primary secondary and tertiary costs of these conflicts, but some of this work has already been done by others. A very conservative order-of- magnitude cost estimate, would fall in the range of 300 to 500 billion. U.S. dollars.

In June 2002, an Associated Press news article assessed opportunity costs for the Iraq invasion and occupation, based solely on funds appropriated, so far, by the U.S. government, $119.4 billions. This sum, the article reported, would provide 748,495 four year scholarships to Harvard University and 2,806,506 scholarships to an average U.S. State University. It would provide each resident of Iraq with $4,776, a sum roughly equivalent to eight times Iraq’s per-capita income in 2003.
Given what we know about linkages between deadly conflict, terrorism and development, were there ways of expending $300 billion, prior to September 11, that could have prevented the formation of a strong resilient al Qu’eda ; that could have prevented the World Trade Centre Bombings; that could have forestalled the need to invade Afghanistan and Iraq? Sri Lanka’s civil wars teach us that the answer is yes.

From PARADISE POISONED: LEARNING ABOUT CONFLICT, DEVELOPMENT AND TERRORISM FROM SRI LANKA'S CIVIL WARS
(Colombo and Kandy: International Centre for Ethnic Studies, 2005)

Insight from a fifty-year marriage

“Moving in day” brings me in contact with family units – prospective students, their brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles; sometimes grandparents. And I get to thinking about long-lasting committed relationships, especially marriages.

(Truth in advertising: I have been married for eighteen years, my second. Before that I was married for twenty-five years. My first marriage ended in divorce. Since I live in Anderson Hall during the week and my wife lives in the country home she has created for herself, it is a relationship that, while it could be truthfully described as ‘committed’ functions mostly in parallel.)

Anyhow… I am reflecting this morning on very long marriages. My parents were married 57 years before my mother died. But I want to write about another couple whose marriage lasted over 60 years. They were Quakers and members of the oversight committee when my wife and I were married. Quaker maririages have oversight committees rather than Ministers and the couple say vows to each other. I will call our friends, both dead now, Bill and Sarah.

Bill and Sarah met when Bill, a conscientious objector, was participating in the University of Minnesota project, conducted during World War II, that tested the psychological effects of starvation. Sarah was a caregiver for the volunteers. Over the years they were active in many Quaker causes, the American Friends Service Committee, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Fellowship of Reconciliation and many more. In their later years, they lived in a tiny house on Capital Hill, where they could be close to the political causes they fought for. They were “lobbyists” – the mirror image of the despicable Jack Abramov and his ilk – but that is off the subject. They were one of those couples that, literally, seemed to have become ‘one flesh.”

When my wife and I invited them to join us for our first wedding anniversary, they had recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary It was an evening of good conversation on the deck of our small home in Arlington. As it drew to a close, I asked Sarah to reflect on her fifty year marriage and share an insight that would be useful as we began our own marriage journey. She paused for a very long time and then said.

“It ain’t easy.”

'Moving in Saturday at AU - a very good day

This is my fourth ‘moving in’ day in AU’s south side dorm complex, It is the third during which I have put on my apron and nametag, mingling among students and parents, serving fresh strawberries, cheese crackers, drinks and other snacks. This was the best moving in day so far. The weather was not too hot. AU staff members have become increasingly numerous and skilled in their ability to manage large numbers of vehicles, parents and students. Kudos, in particular, to AU’s Executive Director of Housing and Dining Services, Julie Weber, who may be the best manager at the university.

What particularly struck me today was the level of civility and consideration that everyone exhibited during what can be a demanding and stressful time. I particularly enjoy speaking with parents - many of whom are now the age of my own children. I met some particularly nice ones today. They seemed able to strike just the right balance between providing support for their new first year students and encouraging independence - the process of beginning to break the bonds of parental control. It was a long and intense day, but at the end - now - I feel more energized than when the day begin.

Mingling with and supporting human beings when their are exhibiting the very best of their humanity will do that. One wouldn’t necessarily think that a moving in day would be such a time, but this one was.

'New Media:' CTE Looks to the Future

Some readers, but certainly not new AU students, will know that Dormgrandpop, in addition to being Dormgrandpop, directs AU's Center for Teaching Excellence. For more information about the Center, whose primary mission is to 'celebrate and facilitate excellent teaching and learning,' checkout our website at www.american.edu/cte. Each semester, CTE publishes a small newsletter entitled Arete, a Greek term which means, roughly, excellence. In this sememster's edition I wrote about how we are 'looking to the future.' The text follows:

Meeting day-to-day operational responsibilities require major commitments of time, resources and passion in CTE . Responsibilities include the operation of teaching-learning laboratories, Noontime Conversations, training workshops, classroom instructional support, audiovisual support, hundreds of individual consultations and much more. Our name for these activities is ‘good stewardship.’ Sustaining high levels of good stewardship is a top CTE priority.

But it is not our only priority. It is equally important that CTE staff members aggressively seek out current innovations in pedagogy and teaching-learning technologies as well as those that are just showing on the horizon. A particularly exciting area of change and innovation is new media. CTE’s New Media Center is a resource where faculty and students receive support for their work with new media technologies. More important, it is intended to be a catalyst that will infuse appropriate new media applications throughout CTE and American University’s academic programs.

It is revealing that The Economist editors chose ‘A Survey of New Media’ as the subject of their most recent technology survey (in the April 22-28 number). Replacement of an ethic of passive receptivity with an ethic of active participation, made possible by a broad and rapidly expanding spectrum of information and media technologies, especially for young men and women under age 30, is its overarching theme. In an ‘on-line author interview,’ Economist technology correspondent Andreas Kluth writes, ‘In the participatory era, media will no longer be delivered one way from a media company to an audience...but by audience members to other audience members… It becomes a conversation among the people in the audience.’
Who are these ‘people in the audience?’ Among them are today’s and especially tomorrow’s AU students. ‘Last November, the Pew Internet and American Life Project, found that 57% of America’s teen agers create content for the internet – from text to pictures, music and video. Among the new media technologies described in the article are Web logs (blogs) such as Blogger and Live Journal, interactive networks such as Facebook and Myspace, online newspapers such as Ohmy News International, Podcasting (increasingly including video applications), participatory, interactive resources such as Wikkipedia (which is only one of many Wiki applications).

CTE intends to stay abreast of these new technologies, in close collaboration with faculty and students. My analogy for our role is the agricultural extension agent. CTE staff members will be AU’s new media extension agents, with a commitment to making these exciting technologies accessible to all: humanely, appropriately, and effectively. We welcome your ideas and your feedback.

The St Francis Prayer

I referred to the St Francis Prayer, which I now include in my daily spritual practice. It is available elsewhere on the web, but I wanted to provide it here. My blog on quiet time and prayer was getting a bit long, so I decided on a separate posting. The St Francis prayer goes like this:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

Oh Divine Master
grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life

A Useful Guide to Quiet time and Prayer

I recently finished reading 'A Sacred Primer: The Essential Guide to Quiet Time and Prayer.' This useful little book was written by one of my close friends, Elizabeth Neeld. It provides guidelines for what Elizabeth calls a ‘daily spiritual practice.’ Quakers have no problem sitting in silence. Friends' unprogrammed meetings are an hour or more of silent listening. And meditation also plays and important role in Buddhist practice. I had long set time aside, many mornings, for reading and meditation, but, nonetheless, found Elizabeth’s book to be helpful. It might be helpful for Dormgrandpop readers, as well. Here are three of the guidelines I have put to use.

1. Create a sacred space – a space that you set aside for your spiritual practice (even though it may be used for other purposes during the day. I create a sacred space by turning off the lights in my apartment and lighting the Christmas tree lights that decorate a five foot high Sri Lankan ceremonial oil lamp. The lamp is always lighted, too, when I entertain guests.

2. Have a ritualized beginning and ending to your spiritual practice. I begin with what is known as the St. Francis Prayer and end with the Lord’s prayer, though my quiet time often includes readings from other religious traditions.

3. Be willing to pray out loud and have your prayers be a candid conversation with a loving God. Elizabeth’s suggestion to regard God as a loving friend, with whom it is possible to share anything has been a breakthrough for me. Interestingly, she uses the Psalms to illustrate this showing how they cover a range of human concerns: praise, joy, despair and even requests that God strike down one’s enemies.

A Sacred Primer is also rich with examples and writings describing diverse spiritual practices, spanning millennia of human experience. The books message: a daily spiritual practice is a resource available to all of us as a source of peace, strength and connection to a higher power

Resident Assistant (RA) Boot Camp

One of the most responsible and demanding jobs at American and most other universities is one of the most unsung: Resident Assistant (RA). The typical RA is a full time student, typically a junior or senior, who lives in a dorm and serves as a combination friend, mentor, and disciplinarian for about 40 students. Anderson Hall, the largest AU dorm has 18 OR 19 RAs this year. On Monday, they arrived for 10 days of training. Days begin at 8:15. After a day of training, the RAs return to their respective ‘halls’ for additional meetings and training. When that wraps up, their may be more work to be done: decorating bulletin boards and posting student names on rooms; compiling resident inventory forms (RIFs) and a myriad of other tasks.

I thought it might be of interest to list just a few of the topics that are covered in the ten days. This is my ninth RA traning – an abbreviated version is held at mid year – so I am getting to know them pretty well.
• The residential education program
• Community development and programming
• Publicity
• All women’s communities
• Working with transfer students
• Working with honor’s students
• Mediation and managing conflict
• Working with students of color
• Crisis response and emergency procedures
• Serving as an agent of the university
…and much more

When the training is complete, the new and returning RAs are expected to have mastered a set of “competencies.” I think the list is illuminating:

Accountability
Attention to Detail
Collaboration
Communication
Diversity
Flexibility
Global Sensitivity
Initiative
Innovation
Integrity
Interpersonal Relationships
Planning and Organizing
Problem Solving/Analytical Skills
Reliability
Resident Focus
Role Modeling

The Anderson RAs are almost among my closest student friends on campus and the students whom I admire, respect and learn from the most.

Last year they voted me the “Most Respected Anderson Staff Member” and one of two staff members with the “Most Anderson Spirit.”

There are few awards of which I am prouder.

Choosing new Siamese Cats - and acknowledging our mortality

When my wife and I returned from Sri Lanka in January of 1989, we added two Siamese kittens to our family. Inspired by a retreat we had recently completed at a Benedictine Monastery, we named them Benedict (Bene for short) and Bede. Three weeks ago, after nursing Bene through infirmities of old age for more than a year we put him to sleep and buried his remains in the woods where he had loved to roam.

E…, my wife, then qualified us for adoption at Virginia’s Siamese Cat Rescue Center, a process only slightly less complicated that qualifying for adoption of a child. Last evening we began scanning twelve pages of pages of cats ‘available for adoption’ on the Center’s web site. E… thought we should choose a pair of kitten’s, as we had in 1989, though we were both drawn to older cats, whom we thought might be less appealing to prospective adopters.

Some simple arithmetic lead us to reconsider. We are, respectively 68 and 70 years old. The normal lifespan of a Siamese is 16 to 18 years, which would place us in our early to mid eighties when new kitten arrivals would be likely to compete their lives. Without trying to prejudge the future, we decided that giving two six year old cats who appealed to us a home (they were only up for adoption as a pair) would be a good choice.

We are waiting to hear from the Rescue Center and from their foster parents.

Thinking of those who tend Japanese rock gardens

Some years ago, a close friend and I were deeply into Zen Buddhist practices. (Buddhism, Sri Lanka’s dominant religion is still occupies an important place in my life.) For me an embodiment of Zen is the rock garden of Kyoto’s Ryoan-ji temple. The garden is fifteen stones, arranged on a bed of raked white sand. I am told that raking the garden, to ensure its pristine appearance is the most important daily task of a Buddhist monk.

I have no such responsibilities, but it seems useful to bring that monk’s focus and discipline to my own early morning tasks: cleaning the kitchen, ensuring that at least one new surface in my apartment is uncluttered and conscious, ironing, folding laundry, sewing on a missing button…. The challenge, rarely achieved, is to bring to each task the concentration that monk brings to his task. To the degree that discipline can be attained, I believe any tasks, however mundane, can be given dignity and meaning.

Notes on creativity

One of our most creatively gifted staff members completed a five year tour of service in the Center for Teaching Excellence and its predecessors, yesterday. As some readers know, I always being our weekly Management Group Meeting agenda with a quotation that is intended to convey a useful context for the meeting and the week.

For this week I found a great website on creativity: www.creativityforlife.com. Here are are the quotations I chose to acknowledge and celebrate his contributions.

As the season of believing seems to wind down let me gently remind you that many dreams still wait in the wings. Many authentic sparks must be fanned before passion performs her perfect work in you. Throw another log on the fire. 
(Sarah Ban Breathnach)

To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.
(Henri Bergson)

Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.
(Mary Lou Cook)

There are two ways of being creative. One can sing and dance. Or one can create an environment in which singers and dancers flourish.
(Warren G. Bennis)

My sainthood nomination: mothers who travel with small children

(This was written on the 12 hour flight from Colombo to London. Yes there was a mother with a small child in in the same row, but the child was beautifully behaved and the flight was peaceful. I complemented the mother as we disembarked, which she seemed to appreciate).

We have all faced this circumstance on one or more international trips. After surviving the rigors of long lines and sterile, inhumane airport shopping malls, we settle into our seats for an eight to fourteen hour trip hoping for a nap, some reading, catching up on email, a decent meal (in business class at least) and, hopefully, even a decent glass of wine.

Instead, in adjacent row or nearby is a family with one or more small children. Often they start crying when the plane takes off. On some flights (a particularly horrific flight from Delhi to London – and not business class either – was one) several cried throughout. This can be frustrating of course, but one has to sympathize with the mothers who have been willing to endure the rigors of lengthy international travel with small children. Airports are almost as unforgiving ans air planes. It is almost always the mothers, of course, who are front and center in the child care role.

Whether or not the children are sqalling, the mothers deserve at least a medal if not a sainthood nomination.