My passions for music and leadership are pretty transparent - at least I hope they are. As I've matured, I'm pulling them closer and closer together in my daily behavior. Perhaps (and probably), this is the quintessential convergence of "conviction in action," the definition I've chosen to adopt for deeper leadership in our world.
This morning I was browsing my Facebook profile when I found that one of my "friends" had discovered a video of Ben Zander that was recorded last February 2008, Classical Music with Shining Eyes. The piece is about Zander's belief in the universality of classical music and its connection to living our lives in ways that result in shining eyes in others. This is a pretty profound piece and I hope you'll take a quiet moment to view it.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Gate of the Sun - Elias Khoury
Summers are essential to my psyche because I'm usually able to read more than during the academic year. I continue to read during the other times but I just don't have the chance to concentrate. One of the books that I've been reading, and just finished, is Elias Khoury's Gate of the Sun. Khoury is a professor of Arabic literature at NYU and has written eleven novels. Gate of the Sun is the story of Yunis, a hypothetical Palestinian freedom fighter, who is nursed on his deathbed by a younger Palestinian who is the narrator of the story. The story is a compilation of many stories of Palestinians who left, or were driven out of, their homes and villages in 1948 and during the subsequent Israeli incursions into the land that was Palestine's.
Living in the Middle East has caused me to be much more curious and concerned about the circumstances of reestablishing the state of Israel and the international political controversy that rages over the unequivocal support of the U.S.A. for Israel's actions both in 1948 and today. The sense of being wronged is so deep and most Arabs believe that establishing an exclusive Jewish state was equivalent to the genocide and ethnic cleansing that was so abhorrent to all during the Holocaust. A quote from Gate of the Sun, speaking of Palestine:
"I believe, like you, that this country must belong to its people, and there is no moral, political, humanitarian or religious justification that would permit the expulsion of an entire people from its country and the transformation of what remained of them into second-class citizens; so, no - don't worry. This Palestine, no matter how many names they give it, will always be Palestine. But tell me, in the faces of those people being driven to slaughter, didn't you see something resembling your own?"
The point being made was that Palestinians were driven out of their land and were persecuted, denied their property and belongings, tortured, raped, and killed, in profoundly disturbing ways that mirrored the atrocities of the Nazis. I know that I'm going into significant political comment that may make some readers uncomfortable but the Arab world believes that the western world has never recognized the devastation that Palestinians have endured. Part of the controversy of the state of Israel is about this lack of acknowledgment and the rest is about the presumption of the rightness of a one-state solution of Israeli occupation when Arabs believe that a two-state solution is possible and is the only just thing to do.
I'm still absorbing information and trying to sort out what I think about the controversy of Israel and what solution may be conceivable. I realize that my own ignorance and inability to take a stand is part of the problem. I dare say that most westerners don't understand why the occupation of Israel has resulted in such sustained and deep intolerance throughout the Middle East. Rather than blindly and ignorantly accepting the present state is defensible, perhaps broader understanding would allow for acceptance and peace to emerge.
Help me here... What more do you know and how might a broader segment of global citizens become better informed and thereby become agents of resolution and peace in this part of the world?
Living in the Middle East has caused me to be much more curious and concerned about the circumstances of reestablishing the state of Israel and the international political controversy that rages over the unequivocal support of the U.S.A. for Israel's actions both in 1948 and today. The sense of being wronged is so deep and most Arabs believe that establishing an exclusive Jewish state was equivalent to the genocide and ethnic cleansing that was so abhorrent to all during the Holocaust. A quote from Gate of the Sun, speaking of Palestine:
"I believe, like you, that this country must belong to its people, and there is no moral, political, humanitarian or religious justification that would permit the expulsion of an entire people from its country and the transformation of what remained of them into second-class citizens; so, no - don't worry. This Palestine, no matter how many names they give it, will always be Palestine. But tell me, in the faces of those people being driven to slaughter, didn't you see something resembling your own?"
The point being made was that Palestinians were driven out of their land and were persecuted, denied their property and belongings, tortured, raped, and killed, in profoundly disturbing ways that mirrored the atrocities of the Nazis. I know that I'm going into significant political comment that may make some readers uncomfortable but the Arab world believes that the western world has never recognized the devastation that Palestinians have endured. Part of the controversy of the state of Israel is about this lack of acknowledgment and the rest is about the presumption of the rightness of a one-state solution of Israeli occupation when Arabs believe that a two-state solution is possible and is the only just thing to do.
I'm still absorbing information and trying to sort out what I think about the controversy of Israel and what solution may be conceivable. I realize that my own ignorance and inability to take a stand is part of the problem. I dare say that most westerners don't understand why the occupation of Israel has resulted in such sustained and deep intolerance throughout the Middle East. Rather than blindly and ignorantly accepting the present state is defensible, perhaps broader understanding would allow for acceptance and peace to emerge.
Help me here... What more do you know and how might a broader segment of global citizens become better informed and thereby become agents of resolution and peace in this part of the world?
Monday, June 16, 2008
Qatar in Time Magazine
If you didn't see it, Qatar is profiled in a recent Time Magazine article. This offers fascinating insights on the dynamics of change in Qatar and other Arabian Gulf countries. Incidentally, it reinforces the Miditerranean post below. Very interesting reading so don't miss it.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Miditerranean
No, I didn't misspell Mediterranean. I discovered the term Miditerranean through a conversation with a colleague today. Evidently, there are those who live in what they believe is the emerging center of global change who have coined this term. The geography includes southern Europe (the Mediterranean), northern Africa, the Middle East, and over to parts of Asia.
The point is related to what others have written or referenced when they talk about a flattened globe, emerging nations, or developing countries. Where are these emerging powerhouses located? - the Miditerranean. It feels a little strange being a citizen of the U.S.A. and realizing that there is already terminology that describes the decline in comparative importance of my country of origin. However, what it says to me is that it is very critical that I am (and others are as well) in Qatar, working with those who are building this area of the world, and creating partnerships that will allow the U.S.A. and Europe to continue to be prominent, instead of preeminent, in the global century that is upon us.
Think about it...
The point is related to what others have written or referenced when they talk about a flattened globe, emerging nations, or developing countries. Where are these emerging powerhouses located? - the Miditerranean. It feels a little strange being a citizen of the U.S.A. and realizing that there is already terminology that describes the decline in comparative importance of my country of origin. However, what it says to me is that it is very critical that I am (and others are as well) in Qatar, working with those who are building this area of the world, and creating partnerships that will allow the U.S.A. and Europe to continue to be prominent, instead of preeminent, in the global century that is upon us.
Think about it...
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
PBS piece on Education City
If you're interested in continuing to learn more about Education City and education in the Arabian Gulf, a PBS documentary does a great job with it. The documentary is balanced and provides insight on both the challenges and opportunities of this work. Enjoy...
Monday, June 02, 2008
European/U.S.A. exchange - realizations
It took a while for ideas to settle out in my head from the Student Affairs Practice in Europe tour. During our travels, I kept mulling over a number of issues and I couldn't determine which would be the 3-4 items that were most critical. After getting some distance, I arrived at three essential areas; the promise of the arts, balancing care and independence, and forming the dialectic that allows us all to learn.
The promise of the arts was very graphically demonstrated at the Universite du Luxembourg conference that pulled EU universities together. The universities who participated in the conference are attempting to implement the Bologna Declaration - the EU educational integration statement. One of our colleagues at Universite du Luxembourg, Francois Carbon, has a huge commitment to the arts and uses it as a way to involve students positively with each other. His description was most interesting because it focused solely on how it happened, as opposed to what difference it made. It became abundantly clear that Francois' use of the arts was involving students in cultural exploration that was very powerful. His students, along with faculty/staff and community members, prepared for and performed the play, "Three Penny Opera." Hearing how effective this was caused me to wonder why multicultural education is so difficult in the U.S.A. The sad reality in the U.S.A. is that universities try so hard to provide multicultural and diversity programs, only to have them poorly attended or accomplish little in lasting change. In the case of the Europeans, using the arts became a stimulus for multicultural dialogue, thus reducing the tension, engaging students with each other, and letting them learn naturally through their experience. I don't have evidence but my guess is that this strategy is far more effective in stimulating learning across and between student cultures.
Another confirming example of using arts to bridge cultural barriers is the recent New York Philharmonic trip to North Korea. If you haven't seen the CNN documentary on this, you should make a point of it. The documentary references the decades of antagonism and suspicion that preceded the tour, only to see it evaporate when exposed to the universal language of music. Wagner, Gershwin, Dvorak, and the North Korean and U.S.A. National Anthems all brought performers and listeners together in profound exploration of sameness as well as difference. Is this not multicultural education of a different, and perhaps more effective, sort?
The focus on care versus independence in European and U.S.A. higher education results in a very stark contrast. Europeans repeatedly expressed their confusion related to the degree of oversight institutions in the U.S.A. exercise in order to care for their students. There were so many examples where European students are expected to behave as adults, take adult responsibility, and suffer or learn from the consequence of their actions. The safety nets and care provided by student affairs and other staff/faculty seemed incongruous with the goal of fostering autonomy and self-sufficiency. There is another side to this question and that is which system is most successful in graduating students. Although most of our European colleagues were not able to provide figures, it seemed apparent that there is much less attention placed on student success as measured by graduation rates. But what is the best measure of student success - gaining a degree or being responsible for one's own learning and progressing through university at a pace that is balanced with family, work, and launching oneself as an adult? Probably there is a middle ground where Europeans could take more care but there is likely to be increased "success" of students in the U.S.A. if they were required to take more responsibility for their own learning and life.
The importance of dialectic is my final realization and it is the result of the other two. Whether it is multicultural learning or helping students become successful, it is respectful dialogue that helps us all progress toward the models that will allow us to achieve the most. Throughout the two weeks traveling with my colleagues, we consistently expected to go into European settings to help "them" learn how to implement student affairs principles and practices only to find out that what they were already doing had significant merit from which we could learn as well. This is mutual and appreciative inquiry, maximizing curiosity, and the evolution of practice that can help us all do our best in fostering student learning. We all hopefully learned a lot!
The promise of the arts was very graphically demonstrated at the Universite du Luxembourg conference that pulled EU universities together. The universities who participated in the conference are attempting to implement the Bologna Declaration - the EU educational integration statement. One of our colleagues at Universite du Luxembourg, Francois Carbon, has a huge commitment to the arts and uses it as a way to involve students positively with each other. His description was most interesting because it focused solely on how it happened, as opposed to what difference it made. It became abundantly clear that Francois' use of the arts was involving students in cultural exploration that was very powerful. His students, along with faculty/staff and community members, prepared for and performed the play, "Three Penny Opera." Hearing how effective this was caused me to wonder why multicultural education is so difficult in the U.S.A. The sad reality in the U.S.A. is that universities try so hard to provide multicultural and diversity programs, only to have them poorly attended or accomplish little in lasting change. In the case of the Europeans, using the arts became a stimulus for multicultural dialogue, thus reducing the tension, engaging students with each other, and letting them learn naturally through their experience. I don't have evidence but my guess is that this strategy is far more effective in stimulating learning across and between student cultures.
Another confirming example of using arts to bridge cultural barriers is the recent New York Philharmonic trip to North Korea. If you haven't seen the CNN documentary on this, you should make a point of it. The documentary references the decades of antagonism and suspicion that preceded the tour, only to see it evaporate when exposed to the universal language of music. Wagner, Gershwin, Dvorak, and the North Korean and U.S.A. National Anthems all brought performers and listeners together in profound exploration of sameness as well as difference. Is this not multicultural education of a different, and perhaps more effective, sort?
The focus on care versus independence in European and U.S.A. higher education results in a very stark contrast. Europeans repeatedly expressed their confusion related to the degree of oversight institutions in the U.S.A. exercise in order to care for their students. There were so many examples where European students are expected to behave as adults, take adult responsibility, and suffer or learn from the consequence of their actions. The safety nets and care provided by student affairs and other staff/faculty seemed incongruous with the goal of fostering autonomy and self-sufficiency. There is another side to this question and that is which system is most successful in graduating students. Although most of our European colleagues were not able to provide figures, it seemed apparent that there is much less attention placed on student success as measured by graduation rates. But what is the best measure of student success - gaining a degree or being responsible for one's own learning and progressing through university at a pace that is balanced with family, work, and launching oneself as an adult? Probably there is a middle ground where Europeans could take more care but there is likely to be increased "success" of students in the U.S.A. if they were required to take more responsibility for their own learning and life.
The importance of dialectic is my final realization and it is the result of the other two. Whether it is multicultural learning or helping students become successful, it is respectful dialogue that helps us all progress toward the models that will allow us to achieve the most. Throughout the two weeks traveling with my colleagues, we consistently expected to go into European settings to help "them" learn how to implement student affairs principles and practices only to find out that what they were already doing had significant merit from which we could learn as well. This is mutual and appreciative inquiry, maximizing curiosity, and the evolution of practice that can help us all do our best in fostering student learning. We all hopefully learned a lot!
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