In the News...

I feel like this post is long overdue, but it's really just because so much is going on that I always have too much to say! This was our first full week, which for me consists of Mon/Tues internship days and Wed/Thur/Fri class days. For now, I'll just focus on Thursday.

The morning started with class about the underlying themes of the semester- International Environment and Development. The class is half environment and half development, but really one can never separate the two. We discussed questions such as "what does development look like?" "what is sustainable over time?" "what should be our priorities?" and "what, if any, are our responsibilities?" Tough stuff for day two. Classes fly by here though, and as much as I love all the great field trips we go on, I love the classes just as much. Weird, I know.

So after class we were off to the Newseum (News Museum, obv). This is said to be the "best museum in DC" and I agree that it is definitely worth checking out. The heavy hitter exhibits include the largest part of the Berlin Wall outside of Germany and a piece of the antenna from the World Trade Center. Both exhibits are very powerful and unlike typical exhibits very personal because these events happened in our lifetime. The whole museum is very modern and I have to say has some of the nicest DC employees I have met so far. The top floor has a terrace that overlooks Penn. Ave. with an incredible view of the Capitol. Up there is a section of front page newspapers from THAT DAY all over the country. They also have the Day's headlines from places like Japan, France, and Russia. I have no idea how they pull that off, but its wicked cool. The Newseum doesn't directly relate to IED class, but they had an exhibit with the Pulitzer Prize photos that did relate and, like the rest of the museum, are definitely worth checking out.

In a class about Environment and Development, we could not ignore the breaking news of Haiti's earthquake. My professor has a lot of connections to Haiti and quite obviously it is a case study for understanding the many challenges that come with development work. Under the best circumstances, Haiti could finally receive enough donations to build their country's infrastructure to a level they never had before. Not to mention rebuild the many hospitals and schools that did exist and are now part of the rubble. That kind of relief is only possible with all of our support though.

To put in prospective the amount of aid that is actually being sent to Haiti, consider this: As of Thursday the total WORLD donations to Haiti was about $120 million. The US Department of Defense spends $120 million every 20 minutes.

As much as I'm going to love this semester, my class is bound to be a depressing one. On Friday we discussed Activism which A- I am a pro at and B- is very fun to learn about. If we turn our sadness into action then I can be hopeful. Speaking of, I have a group project to raise money/ supplies for a school we will be visiting in Ghana. Updates to come!