Just wanted to provide an update on the latest Shelterbox action in L'Aquila, Italy to assist over four hundred people affected by an earthquake and recent, violent aftershocks.
My club sponsor even made the BBC here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/7994845.stm .
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Greece, Part One
For my school's equivalent of Spring Break, I went to Greece --- Athens, specifically, followed by the island of Santorini.
What I discovered was a land whose cities were controlled by dogs of the friendliest sort and whose islands were dotted with cats, donkeys, and only the occasional tourist. Our group found itself in the comical position of being one of only few tourists on the entire island. No one else was in our hotel, or really on our beach.
A trip to Greek's Cyclades may sound exotique, but I assure you, it was the cheapest week-long vacation I could imagine.
We start in...
Athens
Mount Lycabettus: This 1000-foot hill offers a nice view of Athens. A good way to start our trip to the city. Unfortunately, we soon discovered that a recent sandstorm in the Sahara had blown in a lot of airborne grit, resulting in substantial cloudcover.
Seasonally-questionable graffiti on the way up, but duly noted.
Through the haze, the Parthenon and Acropolis Hill.
The Temple of Zeus has seen more worshipers in the past, but the scale of what remains makes me wonder what of our civilization will be around in 2000 years.
Athenian Jenga.
What I discovered was a land whose cities were controlled by dogs of the friendliest sort and whose islands were dotted with cats, donkeys, and only the occasional tourist. Our group found itself in the comical position of being one of only few tourists on the entire island. No one else was in our hotel, or really on our beach.
A trip to Greek's Cyclades may sound exotique, but I assure you, it was the cheapest week-long vacation I could imagine.
We start in...
Athens
Mount Lycabettus: This 1000-foot hill offers a nice view of Athens. A good way to start our trip to the city. Unfortunately, we soon discovered that a recent sandstorm in the Sahara had blown in a lot of airborne grit, resulting in substantial cloudcover.
Seasonally-questionable graffiti on the way up, but duly noted.
Through the haze, the Parthenon and Acropolis Hill.
The Temple of Zeus has seen more worshipers in the past, but the scale of what remains makes me wonder what of our civilization will be around in 2000 years.
Athenian Jenga.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Difficult without Context...
I wanted to make up for a complete lack of blogging with a video from last night's school Gala. After several artistic crises, including writing a rap and a spoken word poem, I eventually settled on discussing the recession through the majesty of song.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Ireland
On January 31, several compatriots of various nationalities, interests, heights, and concepts of reality ventured to the Emerald Isle for four days. This is their brief story.
In Ireland, bars serve in a social as well as informational capacity. For example, we witnessed several tourists seeking information entering the moderately-famous Temple Bar Information Center, but after several hours inside, they seemed less able to find their way successfully.
If you look carefully, though, you can see the real ploy with the Dublin Signage. Carefully concealed is a 90th anniversary Socialist Party Meeting. Although the meeting starts out cheerfully enough (The Cuban Ambassador to Ireland speaks, a lively debate is scheduled to occur), the ending leaves much to the imagination. Drinks and live entertainment are offered, but are they free? The information center was unable to help us with these questions. Also, their food and drink options were most definitely not gratis.
Here is the "Information Center." A pleasant establishment, and a delightful place to people watch. Unlike most people watching situations, however, our group was able to do so without being discreet. Most people walking around had experienced "information overload" already. In fact, this Temple Bar district reminded me of Mardi Gras, only if Mardi Gras took place in arctic conditions and during Socialist worker movements.
This establishment does not hold itself out to be an information center. Instead, it claims to be the "oldest pub in Ireland." Unfortunately, a pub down the street claims a similar title. Confounded, our group wandered on.
It is difficult to visit Ireland without being overwhelmed by the friendly people speaking at times fork-thick English, or by other times the mountain dew that flows from Dublin.
We visited its source in the Guinness Storehouse.
The namesake Guinness apparently secured a 9000 year lease on this water supply running through the brewery with origins in the local mountains in order to make his brew. I feel that he should have thought more long term about this acquisition.
With highs around 20 degrees Fahrenheit and wind gusts blowing snow horizontally, we thought it was perfect beach weather. So, we visited Bray, which is just a few miles outside of Dublin City.
See the hill top in the distance? Keep it in mind.
The small dog pictured frolicking on the Bray Beach was part of a larger pack of Bray Strays, a menacing group of canine miniatures whose ferocious lust for flesh could only be satiated by taking beach-side photographs of their wanton leader.
After escaping, I posed beside the sea. I also wrote a new definition of 'Cold' in my unabridged dictionary, which I could easily carry under my coat.
Camo-feet.
The diligent reader will recall the hill top in one of the previous photos. After little deliberation, myself and friend decided the time was right to tackle it. The following pictures represent a two hour journey to the top, and at times, the last photographs I believed I would take.
The steps up the mountain began innocently enough. Here, they are nice and concrete. It is as if the hill is beckoning us forward.
Quickly, though, it seemed to us that Irish national funding priorities did not include concrete staircases into the hilly wilderness. As we ascended, it became clear that A. Guinness' water supply was slowly coursing its way down the mountain into Bray and into my socks.
The path continues. The smallish Irish evergreens appeared to part their ways as we approached, revealing a small path. The originality of our idea began to seem less so.
Almost to the top.
The top. My friend recommended that we repel down. Unfortunately, the wind was too strong at this point, and we were left frozen in place for several minutes. Truthfully, I have never felt wind like this. It was like a wind tunnel at the top.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Delayed!
This morning, I drank Dr. Pepper in excess, swathed in Starbucks Mocha, and looked at pictures of Wal-Mart. In short, I was emotionally prepared to leave for Grenoble.
Unfortunately, an hour before I was to leave for the airport, American Airlines called. Actually, a robot representing AA called and wished me an automated sorry for the inconvenience. The robot told me that my plane was canceled due to technical reasons. Aside from the growing role of robots in our lives (flying ones, ones on the telephone, etc), I guess it was safer that I didn't get on a technically deficient plane. I think a bailout is in order for the industry.
I am leaving tomorrow and departing through O'Hare rather than Dallas. Perhaps I can sell Congressional seats during my time in Illinois. This will put me in Paris around 9AM on Sunday, after which I hope to be on a train towards Grenoble shortly thereafter. All had to be rebooked. No big deal.
Unfortunately, an hour before I was to leave for the airport, American Airlines called. Actually, a robot representing AA called and wished me an automated sorry for the inconvenience. The robot told me that my plane was canceled due to technical reasons. Aside from the growing role of robots in our lives (flying ones, ones on the telephone, etc), I guess it was safer that I didn't get on a technically deficient plane. I think a bailout is in order for the industry.
I am leaving tomorrow and departing through O'Hare rather than Dallas. Perhaps I can sell Congressional seats during my time in Illinois. This will put me in Paris around 9AM on Sunday, after which I hope to be on a train towards Grenoble shortly thereafter. All had to be rebooked. No big deal.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Cultural Awareness
Ok, something more serious. I submitted this for a cross-cultural communication assignment.
Although the United States and France are both highly developed, G-7 member states with significant cultural, economic, and linguistic ties, Hofstede’s model reveals significant cultural differences.
These differences are most dramatic in power distance and uncertainty avoidance. In terms of power distance, French society is more hierarchical than is American culture. French organizations, according to Hofstede’s model, could be predicted to be more vertically-organized than organizations in the United States. This is because the model predicts that power is less-dispersed through an organization in France than it likely is in an American organization.
The higher sense of power distance in French culture manifests itself in several ways. First, it manifests itself linguistically. At the very least, to vouvoyer is expected with those in authority in France. The direction of the causal arrow in this sense can be debated, but it is clear that the French language reflects and reinforces the idea that authority figures be given not just respect, but also an additional verb tense to describe their actions. Although most languages in the world have such a tense, it is interesting to note that English, whose American speakers are noted for their flat organizational structures, simply does not contain a notion of such a tense. English speakers such as me awkwardly try to create one (you all in the North, ya’ll in the South), but still do not encapsulate any of the respectfulness of “vous” in our attempt to pluralize the second person singular.
The relationship between French and power distance also manifests itself in the form of linguistic institutions. For example, the Academie française is charged with the definition and preservation of the French language. This cultural authority, to which millions of Euros are required to be given every year, guards the linguistic gate against the barbarian menace of foreign lingo creeping into French expressions. In 2003, email was officially made into courriel (with the acceptable usage of mél as an abbreviation for message électronique). Although courriel is used rarely in France, the presence of such an institution and the spirit under which it operates suggests vastly different idea of the authority’s role in social institutions than that of the United States. Witness the late 1990s and 2000s in American English: website, to blog, blogging, to surf (the internet), surfing, to friend (someone). Such verbs and nouns becoming accepted rapidly in American English attests to the flexibility (for good or bad) of English to a changing world whose words need not be approved by elites.
Perhaps I have made too much of these linguistic considerations. Few French speakers, in my experience, use the word “courriel” (Though our friends in Quebec do). However, the existence of a linguistic body such as the Académie française and a native French person’s innate distinction between those he/she uses the vous-form and those he/she does not suggests something powerfully different in the way French citizens regard their relationship to others. English’s Mister / Mrs, “Yes Sir,” and “No Ma’am” still do not reach across French’s power distance between a person whose very actions constitute a different pronunciation, spelling, and the very sense of being that verbs encapsulate.
Beyond linguistic manifestations of higher power distance than is characteristic of the United States, French culture also exhibits its preference for power centralization through its governmental institutions. I have personally experienced this in my application process for my Carte de Séjour. In order to be a legal student in France for over ninety days, I have to submit myself to a two-stage medical checkup.
The second of these stages was particularly interesting. After waiting for a few minutes in a state-run medical clinic, I was greeted by a doctor and escorted to a consultation room. There, I was interviewed for 30 minutes regarding my family’s medical history, my medical history, and my personal habits.
It was a linguistically interesting process --- describing medical problems in the past tense, trying to achieve some subtlety in French as I described my diet and why it really was not as bad as it sounded – was challenging.
However, I perceived an immediate disconnect between myself and my doctor in terms of the doctor/patient relationship I was used to in the United States. I did not seek out this doctor for medical treatment or advice, as I would have in America. I was assigned this doctor by the state in order to both certify my health in the country and something far more interesting: to give me counseling.
I mentioned that I have seen doctors in the United States for counseling, so what made this session any different? It was the fact that I was assigned this person, a complete stranger, to describe my personal and family history to. She was looking out for my best interests, it seemed, or at least those interests deemed the best according to the French state.
This is the most interesting dimension in terms of power relationships: I was (and still am) a ward of the state. She imparted medical wisdom on me, not as a counselor in the traditional sense, but as a learned person, walls full of degrees and with a long waiting list, to whom I was required to report.
Yes, many people in America have similar doctor-patient relationships. The doctor sits at the corner of the room, listens occasionally, and leaves after fifteen minutes. But many do not. The family doctor, with whom there exists a voluntary relationship, counsels many counsels well, and counsels as a friend.
And it is not as if I did not appreciate the advice of the state-provided doctor. She was friendly and listened attentively. But I can no more call her my medical counselor than I can call a stranger my friend. Power distance expresses itself in areas outside of the boardroom.
Elements of individuality differentiation, another point in the model, also exist in this medical example. As a foreign student, I was assigned this particular doctor, as I have mentioned. I had to attend a session with her, regardless of the state of my health. Because a level of medical care is provided to all in France through taxation, it makes sense to consume this health care because it has already been paid for.
Broadly speaking, the American medical system does not contain this notion. This is well known and not interesting in itself. In terms of individuality, however, the American system reflects the individualist notion that people are not obligated for the health needs of other people.
In France, however, the individual is obligated by the state to pay for the health needs of strangers. These strangers, such as me, may not have paid a single euro of state taxes into the national treasury. So, the French system reflects the idea that people, regardless of income or need, should be provided with a level of health care by other individuals who do pay taxes.
Finally, the French tax system reflects the notion that individual efforts are, in percentage terms, more subject to the needs of others than the American tax system. Because French citizens are taxed at a higher marginal rate than Americans, the state has determined that individual labor ought to be redistributed at a higher rate to other individuals. Thus, in terms of Hofested’s own analysis, French people project their feelings of collective identity more strongly through a taxation system that links their productive labor more highly to other individuals.
As such, one could say that the individual works less for himself and more for others in France than in America. Put another way, because more taxes per hour of labor are incurred by French workers, French citizens work more hours per year for the benefit other people than do Americans. Judging by higher French marginal taxation rates, I find this to be a tenable conclusion independent of one’s ethical judgments whether or not such a system is ethically good or ethically bad. Such a judgment, while potentially interesting and certainly desirable, is outside the scope of this paper.
This idea of more apparent concern for the poor, or at least, less-well off, is also a characteristic of relatively lower level of masculinity in France. Thus, less masculinity, though not as differentiated from the United States as power distance and uncertainty avoidance, is also a characteristic of France vis-à-vis America. French express a preference for more equalization between the sexes through positive gender discrimination laws in areas such as political parties. Specifically, a 1999 French law mandated equal men and women in all but the smallest elections throughout France. Due to the higher preference for masculinity, such as law would have been less likely to pass the legislature in America. Because sexual inequality in France is not seen as beneficial, traditional barriers for women in the workplace have gradually been eliminated in order to equalize their participation in society. Taxpayer-funded crèches and payments variable to the number of children a family contains have freed women to work outside the home away from their “traditional roles,” as such. Laws such as the 1999 gender equality law have allowed them, at least de-jure, better access to elected bodies.
Finally, having examined the differences between in the United States and France in terms of power distance and individualism, I will now move my analysis to uncertainty avoidance, the other drastically-different characteristic the model predicts between the two countries.
I have already discussed how the state acts as an arbiter in medicine in France and how this relates to power distances. But the state also plays an important role in minimizing uncertainty in French society. To the extent that individuals in France support this idea and maintain it through voting for representatives who keep uncertainty-minimizing policies around, the idea that uncertainty should be minimized to a greater extend that allowed in the United States reflects French values in this area.
French contractual law is a perfect example in this arena of uncertainty. The typical French contract requires three signatures of the same document, each with “lu et apprové” written near the signature line. Additionally, to minimize even more uncertainty in contracts, significant portions of the contract must be re-written by the contractee in order to assure absolutely that they have understood the terms of the agreement. Such time-consuming procedures reduce ambiguity in order to control social and legal behaviors.
This practice is different in America, where boiler plates, though extremely long, are rarely read and never re-written. Mortgages (though perhaps less so now!), tenant agreements, and sales verifications are many pages long yet frequently contain post-it notes indicating where to sign. “Read and approved” is simply not as values as signed in the right places as quickly as possible. Reading, then, is really not practically mandatory in so much the deal terms were clearly discussed and both parties trust one another. Of course, the higher the dollar value, the more such contracts are scrutinized.
Thus, the French appetite for risk is less than that of Americans. They demand contracts that are well-read in order to maximize both parties’ knowledge of the contractual terms.
Although the United States and France are both highly developed, G-7 member states with significant cultural, economic, and linguistic ties, Hofstede’s model reveals significant cultural differences.
These differences are most dramatic in power distance and uncertainty avoidance. In terms of power distance, French society is more hierarchical than is American culture. French organizations, according to Hofstede’s model, could be predicted to be more vertically-organized than organizations in the United States. This is because the model predicts that power is less-dispersed through an organization in France than it likely is in an American organization.
The higher sense of power distance in French culture manifests itself in several ways. First, it manifests itself linguistically. At the very least, to vouvoyer is expected with those in authority in France. The direction of the causal arrow in this sense can be debated, but it is clear that the French language reflects and reinforces the idea that authority figures be given not just respect, but also an additional verb tense to describe their actions. Although most languages in the world have such a tense, it is interesting to note that English, whose American speakers are noted for their flat organizational structures, simply does not contain a notion of such a tense. English speakers such as me awkwardly try to create one (you all in the North, ya’ll in the South), but still do not encapsulate any of the respectfulness of “vous” in our attempt to pluralize the second person singular.
The relationship between French and power distance also manifests itself in the form of linguistic institutions. For example, the Academie française is charged with the definition and preservation of the French language. This cultural authority, to which millions of Euros are required to be given every year, guards the linguistic gate against the barbarian menace of foreign lingo creeping into French expressions. In 2003, email was officially made into courriel (with the acceptable usage of mél as an abbreviation for message électronique). Although courriel is used rarely in France, the presence of such an institution and the spirit under which it operates suggests vastly different idea of the authority’s role in social institutions than that of the United States. Witness the late 1990s and 2000s in American English: website, to blog, blogging, to surf (the internet), surfing, to friend (someone). Such verbs and nouns becoming accepted rapidly in American English attests to the flexibility (for good or bad) of English to a changing world whose words need not be approved by elites.
Perhaps I have made too much of these linguistic considerations. Few French speakers, in my experience, use the word “courriel” (Though our friends in Quebec do). However, the existence of a linguistic body such as the Académie française and a native French person’s innate distinction between those he/she uses the vous-form and those he/she does not suggests something powerfully different in the way French citizens regard their relationship to others. English’s Mister / Mrs, “Yes Sir,” and “No Ma’am” still do not reach across French’s power distance between a person whose very actions constitute a different pronunciation, spelling, and the very sense of being that verbs encapsulate.
Beyond linguistic manifestations of higher power distance than is characteristic of the United States, French culture also exhibits its preference for power centralization through its governmental institutions. I have personally experienced this in my application process for my Carte de Séjour. In order to be a legal student in France for over ninety days, I have to submit myself to a two-stage medical checkup.
The second of these stages was particularly interesting. After waiting for a few minutes in a state-run medical clinic, I was greeted by a doctor and escorted to a consultation room. There, I was interviewed for 30 minutes regarding my family’s medical history, my medical history, and my personal habits.
It was a linguistically interesting process --- describing medical problems in the past tense, trying to achieve some subtlety in French as I described my diet and why it really was not as bad as it sounded – was challenging.
However, I perceived an immediate disconnect between myself and my doctor in terms of the doctor/patient relationship I was used to in the United States. I did not seek out this doctor for medical treatment or advice, as I would have in America. I was assigned this doctor by the state in order to both certify my health in the country and something far more interesting: to give me counseling.
I mentioned that I have seen doctors in the United States for counseling, so what made this session any different? It was the fact that I was assigned this person, a complete stranger, to describe my personal and family history to. She was looking out for my best interests, it seemed, or at least those interests deemed the best according to the French state.
This is the most interesting dimension in terms of power relationships: I was (and still am) a ward of the state. She imparted medical wisdom on me, not as a counselor in the traditional sense, but as a learned person, walls full of degrees and with a long waiting list, to whom I was required to report.
Yes, many people in America have similar doctor-patient relationships. The doctor sits at the corner of the room, listens occasionally, and leaves after fifteen minutes. But many do not. The family doctor, with whom there exists a voluntary relationship, counsels many counsels well, and counsels as a friend.
And it is not as if I did not appreciate the advice of the state-provided doctor. She was friendly and listened attentively. But I can no more call her my medical counselor than I can call a stranger my friend. Power distance expresses itself in areas outside of the boardroom.
Elements of individuality differentiation, another point in the model, also exist in this medical example. As a foreign student, I was assigned this particular doctor, as I have mentioned. I had to attend a session with her, regardless of the state of my health. Because a level of medical care is provided to all in France through taxation, it makes sense to consume this health care because it has already been paid for.
Broadly speaking, the American medical system does not contain this notion. This is well known and not interesting in itself. In terms of individuality, however, the American system reflects the individualist notion that people are not obligated for the health needs of other people.
In France, however, the individual is obligated by the state to pay for the health needs of strangers. These strangers, such as me, may not have paid a single euro of state taxes into the national treasury. So, the French system reflects the idea that people, regardless of income or need, should be provided with a level of health care by other individuals who do pay taxes.
Finally, the French tax system reflects the notion that individual efforts are, in percentage terms, more subject to the needs of others than the American tax system. Because French citizens are taxed at a higher marginal rate than Americans, the state has determined that individual labor ought to be redistributed at a higher rate to other individuals. Thus, in terms of Hofested’s own analysis, French people project their feelings of collective identity more strongly through a taxation system that links their productive labor more highly to other individuals.
As such, one could say that the individual works less for himself and more for others in France than in America. Put another way, because more taxes per hour of labor are incurred by French workers, French citizens work more hours per year for the benefit other people than do Americans. Judging by higher French marginal taxation rates, I find this to be a tenable conclusion independent of one’s ethical judgments whether or not such a system is ethically good or ethically bad. Such a judgment, while potentially interesting and certainly desirable, is outside the scope of this paper.
This idea of more apparent concern for the poor, or at least, less-well off, is also a characteristic of relatively lower level of masculinity in France. Thus, less masculinity, though not as differentiated from the United States as power distance and uncertainty avoidance, is also a characteristic of France vis-à-vis America. French express a preference for more equalization between the sexes through positive gender discrimination laws in areas such as political parties. Specifically, a 1999 French law mandated equal men and women in all but the smallest elections throughout France. Due to the higher preference for masculinity, such as law would have been less likely to pass the legislature in America. Because sexual inequality in France is not seen as beneficial, traditional barriers for women in the workplace have gradually been eliminated in order to equalize their participation in society. Taxpayer-funded crèches and payments variable to the number of children a family contains have freed women to work outside the home away from their “traditional roles,” as such. Laws such as the 1999 gender equality law have allowed them, at least de-jure, better access to elected bodies.
Finally, having examined the differences between in the United States and France in terms of power distance and individualism, I will now move my analysis to uncertainty avoidance, the other drastically-different characteristic the model predicts between the two countries.
I have already discussed how the state acts as an arbiter in medicine in France and how this relates to power distances. But the state also plays an important role in minimizing uncertainty in French society. To the extent that individuals in France support this idea and maintain it through voting for representatives who keep uncertainty-minimizing policies around, the idea that uncertainty should be minimized to a greater extend that allowed in the United States reflects French values in this area.
French contractual law is a perfect example in this arena of uncertainty. The typical French contract requires three signatures of the same document, each with “lu et apprové” written near the signature line. Additionally, to minimize even more uncertainty in contracts, significant portions of the contract must be re-written by the contractee in order to assure absolutely that they have understood the terms of the agreement. Such time-consuming procedures reduce ambiguity in order to control social and legal behaviors.
This practice is different in America, where boiler plates, though extremely long, are rarely read and never re-written. Mortgages (though perhaps less so now!), tenant agreements, and sales verifications are many pages long yet frequently contain post-it notes indicating where to sign. “Read and approved” is simply not as values as signed in the right places as quickly as possible. Reading, then, is really not practically mandatory in so much the deal terms were clearly discussed and both parties trust one another. Of course, the higher the dollar value, the more such contracts are scrutinized.
Thus, the French appetite for risk is less than that of Americans. They demand contracts that are well-read in order to maximize both parties’ knowledge of the contractual terms.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Strasbourg Two
This clock inside the cathedral depicts Peter's denial of Jesus through moving figures and most shockingly, a crowing rooster. At 12:00 sharp, the show starts. A huge crowd gathered for the event. The silence was interrupted by the crowing rooster, and the quiet of the cathedral was broken by laughter each of the three times. The rooster noise was in need of some repair.
If I ever slip into a coma, at least I can design car color patterns.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)