Academics never die

Yesterday evening I went to library in search of some books for a paper I'm writing on the Rhetorical lives of Tiberious and Caius Gracchus. Since most of their speeches haven't survived, I was left to find the best collection that remains, a translation from the historian Plutarch. In my search, I came across a series of books that were old. Most of the books I walked out of the library with were published in 1909 in England, with frayed edges and water marks in places. The books in my backpack were around during two world wars, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, and various natural disasters and historic events throughout the world.

In 1909, someone not unlike me got their book published, and 100 years later, a graduate student they never met, who their children and grandchildren never met, walked out of a library in Southern California with their words. I couldn't tell you who my great-grandfather was on either side of my family. That's probably a depressing commentary on me, but I don't think it's that unique, either. Relationships, even close ones, fade away as generations pass. Knowledge, though, lasts at least a little longer. There's a form of community in graduate school that I hadn't experienced before. I am a scholar, and I hope to be a master in my field. If I'm very lucky, I hope to one day write something that someone I'll never meet, who my children and grandchildren will never meet, will carry out of a library half a world away at 10:00 PM on a Tuesday night, relieved to have finally found just what they need.

Why President Obama won

My greatest political hero, the man I admire most in history, is Andrei Sakharov. If you don't know who he is, Sakharov was a hero of the Soviet Union, the man who was primarily responsible for bringing nuclear weapons to Russia, who then became one of the biggest opponents of their use, leading the perestroika and glasnost movements that ultimately brought down the USSR after his death. He spent almost three decades in exile where he and his wife Yelena were harassed, threatened and intimidated daily by KGB agents.

But, right before he was exiled, Sakharov went on vacation to Crimea, not far from where my site was in Ukraine. While on the beach with his family, a man came up to Andrei and shook his hand, telling him that he was proud to be a Soviet man like him and that he agreed with a letter Sakharov had signed (along with many other concerned scientists) against the use of nuclear weapons.

Two weeks later, that same man who had embraced Sakharov on the beach voted, along with the rest of the Central Committee, so send the Sakharov's to Siberia indefinitely. Yelena was furious when she found out, screaming and throwing things, while Sakharov just sat in his kitchen quietly. Finally his wife yelled at him, "WHY AREN'T YOU ANGRY? This man betrayed you! Don't you hate him?" Sakharov replied, "I'm not angry...I'm thinking about it."

The easiest thing in the world to do is react to something with emotion, to punch back. It feels good, and sometimes people will love you on for it. But, the job of statesman, of true leaders, is not to react, but to think. To consider.

I believe Barack Obama has shown a willingness and ability to do that, highlighting not only his tremendous potential for greatness, but also why he won the Nobel Prize today. Do I have my frustrations with his administration? Absolutely. Would I vote for him again? Yes--because I think it's what Andei Sakharov would do.

Graduate School

It's a series of difficult but do-able goals. I like my friends and what I'm doing, teaching in particular. Hope all is well with you all. Also, the Blazers start playing soon. Yay!

Howdy from LA!

Jessica and I are in Long Beach and everything's awesome. Don't worry, our new city is not on fire. In fact, when I mentioned that fear to everyone in the first class I taught yesterday, everyone laughed, so I guess it's no biggie. The weather has been pretty hot, but we've set up a pretty effective series of fans in the apartment that work fairly well. Speaking of the apartment, it's perfect for us, and we keep accumulating furniture from various people (including our neighbors, who, when moving in a new couch, literally knocked on our door and gave us their old one).

School's been good, if challenging. Since I'm new to the discipline, they'll be some growing pains, but I'm confident that I can handle it with the help of my supportive friends/fellow grad students, and the professors who are all incredibly smart experts in their field. It's a lot like Peace Corps Training in that there's so much work all the time that you never really finish, you just stop reading at some point. The teaching is going well, too--teaching college seems to fit. I make them laugh a lot, and they come to class and do their work. Everyone wins.

As for the speech and debate team, I've already been blown away by home talented and dedicated everyone is. There are about 15 coaches. 15! The most I ever had before this was 2! And most of them have done really well at nationals!!!! Like, won national titles and been in multiple final rounds!!!!!!!!!1111oneoneone Basically I'm surrounded by the freaking Navy SEALS of forensics, and I'm just trying not to be Private Pile. The kids are amazing, too, and I fully expect a fantastic year.

Jessica's working now, too, which is great, so everything's going well. We already have a few "wow, we're really living in LA, this is awesome!" stories, and our friends Tim and Megan, who've been absolute lifesavers (in both the candy and ocean senses) are really adventurous so we'll probably have a few more this year!

Anyway, I love and miss you all.

And the Emmy goes to....

Me: You know what tomorrow is?

Jessica: Umm...packing?

Me: No--it's the weekly "time to get hammered and watch 'more to love' on ABC!" night!

Jessica: You're not allowed to watch that show.

Me: What? Why? I really want to support their movement, both in the political and exercise senses.

Jessica: What you just said makes you a terrible person.

Me: OK, so let me get this straight--you watch the little people on TLC and love every minute of it, but when I want to watch the big people on ABC, I'm an asshole? Welcome to hypocrite town, population: you.

That new car smell...

Jessica and I bought a car today--a 2009 Hyundai Elantra! Talk about making real-life, adult decisions! We checked our budget (about a dozen times), and decided that we could afford the investment. Our piece of mind about car reliability (the Volvo we were driving wasn't looking very stable), plus how awesome the car was in general, made up our minds. We got a pretty good deal on it, too, so our payments are totally reasonable. I realized during the test drive that it was the first car I had ever driven that wasn't old and busted, so it was really, really nice! We also lined up an apartment in Long Beach, and we're planning to drive down in about a week and a half. Road trip! :-)

Where have I been?

Sorry I haven't updated in a while--I've been busy working and lining up stuff for Long Beach. Jessica and I are moving down there in a few weeks and we're super excited. If you want more of my awesome, swinging hilarity, please check out my basketball-related posts on http://2ndroundreach.com/. I'm "T-Mac" in the twitter feed, also.

Here's my post about why the Raptors can suck it, here's my long winded and angry rant at Blazer GM Kevin Pritchard, here's my 2009 Draft Day Quiz, here's my 2009 Playoff Awards, and my first collumn about the Orlando Magic fast break. My collumns go up every Tuesday, so if you like basketball and my sense of humor, check it out. My collumn tomorrow is really funny.