All Entries in the "February 2009" Category

Which Muslim country should the President visit first?

Ba-rock star in the Muslim world
By Sean P. Brooks
Where shall the healing begin? Let me rephrase, in which Muslim capital should President Barack Obama deliver his long-promised speech in his first 100 days to the over one billion believers of Islam?
As a partisan for then-candidate and now President Barack Obama, I will admit that the [...]

Englishman at a SuperBowl Party

By Richard Downie
I’m told that everyone watches the Super Bowl, even the President himself. So, I decided to join a bunch of Steelers fans for the evening, make inane comments, and glug cheap beer while they got increasingly tense and irritable.
Games are more fun when you back one of the teams, so having neither been [...]

What was the Western Enlightenment?

By Paul Alois
The Enlightenment was a time of great change in Europe as new art forms, technologies, political systems, and religions emerged. While every Westerner has learned about the visible changes of this period, few people understand that the Enlightenment was a development in consciousness itself, not a mere shift in ideas.
In fact, most of [...]

Ask the SAIS Guy

By Matt Kaczmarek
The SAIS Guy answers your questions each month on love, life, and SAIS. Today’s topics: the top 10 things to do before you graduate, and New Year’s resolutions.
Dear SAIS Guy:
First semester flew by. Give me a rundown of the things I need to do to make the most of my SAIS experience. – [...]

Dating experiences at SAIS

Be my valentine?
My first assignment as a writer for the SAIS Observer.  I could think of no better opportunity to talk to SAISers’ about dating and first dates.
With lots of cultural diversity at SAIS, everyone has their own understanding about “dating” and how to handle the electricity of seeing that person. Besides that, managing the [...]

Political Crisis Recedes in Canada

By Jamie Huckabay

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper successfully passed his federal budget on February 4th with the support of the opposition Liberal Party, marking a return to the uneasy status quo in Canadian politics. The fate of the Conservative minority government has been in doubt since the three opposition parties attempted to form an unprecedented [...]

New York Career Trek Addresses Gender Issues

By Jessica Lamberston and Samantha Watson
Career Service’s New York City Career Trek examined gender issues in an unprecedented way this January. More than 75% of alumni speakers on the trek worked on engaging women in development, tools for empowerment, and gender focused strategies. Meanwhile, the alumni discussed general career advice, family roles, accommodating settings for [...]

International Policy Practicum puts students to work

Around the world in a 1000 words
By Nikolas Foster
Ahh, the International Policy Practicum. More fodder for the first day of school verbal sparring along the lines of: “What did you do over break? Oh, I went to the moon.” Excellent material for hyperbolic talk in the annual contest to out-travel our fellow students.
So where did [...]

A stomach’s eye view of inauguration

Musings on the events, crowds and food of inauguration weekend
By Kevin Cross
The 2009 Inauguration of Barack Obama was supposed to be an extraordinary event. Meaning should have suffused everything, the weather, Lincoln’s Bible, the colors of scarves and ties, Vice President Cheney’s wheelchair, the collapse of Senators Byrd and Kennedy.
Only a transcendent context could move [...]

Reflections on Inauguration Day

Cold, Tired and Squeezed
By Gabriel Serrato
In early January, I was considering my options for getting out of town. I could rent out my apartment, make some quick cash and take a nice vacation leaving DC to the befuddled masses for the weekend. The swearing-in of President Barack Obama was going to be accompanied by [...]