It's about time...

So it's about time I started writing a blog... I'll let it evolve rather than explain my vision for it.  Tonight I just had many scattered thoughts that I needed to collect:

• Went to see my Nana in the assisted living home.  The last time I saw her, she was at the hospital.  So she's looked better than the last time, but in general she is quite sickly and hurting :(  The best quote from the day, which she said to the physical therapist when she saw the 1 pound dumbbells from afar: "they're heavy! I told you they were heavy yesterday!" lol
• Then my mom and I went to her house to give food to the adorable dog, Penny, and the perpetually scared cat, Pharaoh.  We also gathered a number of her valuable items and collections and packed it into the car to bring to our home.  It was a strange thing to do, because we don't expect her to ever enter her house again.  So we're taking them partially to keep them safe from the potentially sticky fingers of the many people who have keys to the house and also partially to put it our own apartments and rooms to enjoy and remember her.
• After dinner with Mom and Dad, I put some effort into writing a 10 page paper due at the end of break for my favorite political science professor, Dr. John Entelis, at Fordham.  Well, he was my favorite until he assigned a paper to write over break :(  I've been challenged lately to be sure to focus on learning rather than the degree or grades.  I've also been inspired to study hard, to know so much that I can demonstrate why the common misconceptions are false and to "not be afraid to be better than anyone else" -- not that I feared that, but it was inspiring to remember that it's worth the investment of time and energy.  
• Although I sometimes question why I'm devoting so much time to reading stacks of books and writing countless double-spaced pages on international political economy and development issues.  I keep reminding myself that it's a blessing to be able to learn, especially as I read about illiterate populations and the incredibly large development problems their countries suffer.  And also especially as I look at a blank Word document and realize that I have to fill it with words and ideas and a thesis and try to make sense too, and I wonder why I'm in graduate school. And then I think of my Nana and of the rapid pace in which life happens.  And then I think again of that paper (first of five, that I was hoping to write during this week of Spring Break).
• The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is a confusing place.  Everyone writes from their own perspective, many of which are mutually exclusive.  Many of them are writing from fundamentally different worldviews, leading to many "wrong" perspectives.  Seriously though, if they contradict each other, they can't all be right.  And things happen there at such a high rate that it's nearly impossible to keep up...especially because the various media only publish one perspective, and I'm trying to find multiple perspectives and distinguish between them.
• If you haven't yet read DailyTruthbase.blogspot.com, do so.  It's definitely worth your time, if you want to know the book you say you believe (or choose not to believe).  Do you feel comfortable standing for (or against) something that you haven't taken the time to read and study for yourself?  Given the last bullet point, it should be obvious that you can't believe everything you hear about the Bible (especially from people who teach/preach it for a living - 90% of them haven't read it cover to cover).  So don't count on them.  Look into it for yourself.

So, about that paper: I have an outline, but no actual text yet, and I was hoping to draft it tonight.  Adios amigos. Buenas noches