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Contending Theories and Policy Choices | Columbia International Relations Lecture

Watch it on Academic Earth

Testing out the Bookmarklet feature in Posterous… besides, it wouldn’t hurt to sit through a lecture on IR theory!

Cu

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To Kill A Mockingbird: WSU Does Harper Lee Proud

Last evening, I was privileged to attend a superb production of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Wayne State University’s Theatre Department at the Bonestelle Theatre on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan.  Check out some pictures below:

A write-up about the play in this morning’s student-run newspaper The South End is available here.

One fascinating detail we found inside the Bonstelle Theatre was this one large framed photograph of a welcome scene (presumably into the theatre) of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, and his daughter and later PM of India, Indira Gandhi.  It may have been taken in the mid-50s would be my guess since India gained independence from Great Britain and became a nation-state in 1947.  This might have been one of many state-visits that Mr. Nehru made to the USA after that, and it is a known historical fact that his daughter accompanied him on international visits– which is how she was also possibly groomed into her later position of taking over the mantle of political leadership in India.  The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty is an epic one on the Indian subcontinent, and it was therefore quite a treat to see this unexpected photograph in the hallways of this lovely theatre.  Which, btw, is really quite an ornate building both from within and without.

The play itself was quite a treat.  The court-room drama was one of the highlights of the play, esp. the part when Atticus so masterfully makes his remarks about how everyone is really not created equal– what with the variance in natural advantages and opportunities that we might have– however, the one place where we’re all really equal is a court of law.  How true, and yet how sad that despite the equality that is available to all inside a courtroom, the outcomes of the proceedings might not always prove true and just. 

And such is life.  We win some.  And then we learn some.

Mb

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Death, Where Is Thy Sting?

Karma, take a seat / Forgiveness and redemption / Are my cup of tea!

Note on picture:  This picture was taken by my friend C. Desmond on his travels to Mexico.  This haiku was originally published in the Fall of 2009 in my private blog.

Deathwhereisthysting

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Partial Or Not!

Contradictions have / No positive solutions / Basic math concept!

Partial
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Swift-footed Time

Sonnet 19
– William Shakespeare

Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws,

And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;

Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger’s jaws,

And burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood;
Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleets,
And do whate’er thou wilt, swift-footed Time,
To the wide world and all her fading sweets;
But I forbid thee one most heinous crime:
O, carve not with thy hours my love’s fair brow,
Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen;
Him in thy course untainted do allow
For beauty’s pattern to succeeding men.
Yet, do thy worst, old Time: despite thy wrong,
My love shall in my verse ever live young.

Kitchentableflowers
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Old Main

Oldmain

Remembering a magnificent day earlier this Fall… This beautiful building called Old Main is a block across the street from my office.  I took this picture one day in mid-October on my lunch hour.  Today, the skies are not quite as blue; those maple trees have lost their leaves; and the grass on the ground is a dull brown.  But Old Main remains unchanged, and I daresay it will stay the same for a long time to come. 

There’s something quite comforting about brick-and-mortar, like that, don’t you think?

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Bird(s) On A Wire: Just Like Cohen Sang

Last Sunday evening, I was riding in the car heading westbound in town, running one last errand for the day, nay, the weekend– when we stopped at a traffic light– and I looked out the window and directly up at the telephone wires and saw the most awesome sight: a row of tiny sparrow-like blackbirds perched close together.  They were tightly packed together like a row of men’s black dress shoes on a store-shelf.

Made me also think of Leonard Cohen’s famous ballad, Like A Bird On A Wire.  Here it is!

But this morning, I stand in awe at the stark contrast in the color of the skies as I look outside my window.  Three days ago, the skies were a bright blue even as the evening sun was fast going down in the west.  This morning, however, the skies are a dense gray but with shock of snow flurries coming down in a hurry.  Each so different, and yet each so very beautiful.  Like birds on a wire!  And a show like none other– one that must go on!

Birdsonawire

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Of Mice And Men: Steinbeck Done Brilliantly

John Steinbeck’s Nobel-prize winning novel, Of Mice And Men presented by the Theatre Department at Wayne State University. A brilliant production!