Current Location: Florence, Italy
Current Coordinates: 43° 49' 60 N 11° 19' 60 E
Listening: You Enjoy Myself, by Phish, 12/30/94, Madison Square Garden, NY, NY
Reading: Origins and Evolution of the European Union, by Desmond Dinan, 2006
I've been in Florence now for over a week and have not yet had a chance to post anything. In part, this is because of the overwhelming orientation program which has trotted us all over the city from gallery to piazza to churches and to other places of cultural significance. It is also because I have spent most of my free time getting to know the people I will be living with for the next year. And lastly and most frustratingly, it is because I've not been able to get a single good night's rest because of the nightly bongo drumming crowds that gather just outside my window in Santo Spirito square on the steps of the Church of Santo Spirito. This goes on until 3 and 4 in the morning and it needs to stop soon if I'm going to get any work done.
A brief overview of my living situation and the program structure:
I live in an 16th century Palazzo that has been restored to house JMU's international program offices in Florence. There are computer labs, classrooms, a full kitchen, and seperate flats for faculty and the resident manager. The palazzo is known as "Palazzo Caponi" because of the family that used to own it--Caponi.
There are 16 people in the program--4 guys and 12 girls. For the fall term all students are subject to the same curriculum and are in the same classes together. However, in the spring, each is allowed to choose a track that examines a specific area of EU policy. Then in the late spring in the early summer there is an opportunity for an internship here in Florence. There is also the option to complete a comprehensive research project.
Now to the interesting stuff:
For the past three years of my life I have spent my days surrounded by people who were either 15 years older than me or 15 years younger than me (teaching, working at a church). It's taught me a lot about people, young and old. I've learned to spot great people when I see them. I have also learned to identify and manage some difficult personalities as well. All this being said, I feel incredibly lucky that I now find myself surrounded by 15 great personalities. Instead of managing personalities, I am able to enjoy them. Finally, a break from managerial responsibilities!
But there is a different challenge now--one that I've dealt with in the past but in a much less intensive setting. Whereas earning undergraduate degrees in the U.S. today is much about self exploration and greasing the rails to affluence, graduate school requires you to pour yourself into your work. I'm not saying that college wasn't a worthwhile experience. I'm just suggesting that it was a much easier and carefree one.
We have approximately 800 pages of reading and 12 hours of classes a week. If I'm not eating, running, sleeping, or in class, I'm going to be reading. I look forward to when the bongo drums stop so that I can finally get into a routine.
Why I'm here:
Seven years ago today I was freshman at JMU. On this very morning while walking back from class I remember encountering a car that had a piece of poster board taped to the side window that read,
"EXPELL ALL MUSLIMS NOW!!!!!"
At this point I knew that something was seriously wrong. I had heard whispers of conversation about a plane hitting the World Trade Center on the way to class, but hadn't been able to check any news. When I got back into my dorm room I saw the images that we are now all too familiar with.
In my last post I talked some about the tension between image and narrative. Today I invite you to consider the extreme tension between the images from 9/11 and the ensuing narrative. I'm reminded of a song that became popular shortly after the tragedy--"Have You Forgotten?" by country artist Darryl Worley. This is an overtly jingoistic song that suggests that our personal connections to 9/11 (where we you?) and the images of destruction themselves are worthy impetuses for American unilateralism and the war in Iraq. The message here is "fall in line." This typifies the hyper-nationalist response to September 11th, 2001 that was popular in America.
But are we really dealing with the images if we react this way? Doesn't this song and the popular response rely upon the use of binaries to make sense out of what happened? (See op-ed piece from this post). Isn't it a vast oversimplification to suggest that on 9/11,
"America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and
opportunity around the world. "
sic, President George W. Bush to the Nation, 9/11/2001
????
I believe America has yet to deal with the images of devastation from 9/11 circumspectively. While embracing a narrative that ennobles our roles as victims of atrocity, we have been unwilling to come to terms with our impact on the globalizing world on economic, political, religious, and social levels. We continue to cling to the myth of American exceptionalism--a myth that I believe is the source of the tension between images of destruction from 9/11 and the popular narrative of American infallibility and invincibility.
Perhaps what we're really dealing in America is an identity crisis. Because the world is so complicated to us now, we cling to familiar (but outdated) images of American identity.For instance, why do many southerners still hold strongly to a flag that represents a nation that no longer exists? Perhaps this is why Conservatism has become so popular in America--because of an unwillingness to reach an objective understanding of what America actually looks like in the midst of competing national, international, and global narratives. We can't look forward clearly for looking backwards towards a mythical era of American prosperity, dominance, and exceptionalism. We can't get back into The Garden people, and we can't recreate it either.
So now I believe that it is an issue of perspective. I feel strongly that in order rebuild American identity in the face of the many global challenges we are facing, we must look outwards and begin to examine our great country from as many perspectives as possible. While faithfully chasing an ideal of what America can be, we must fearlessly confront the reality of what America already is.
So, it is my faith that has led me here to Florence, Italy where I will humbly begin to deal with some of the tough questions about American identity that I posed above.
Stay tuned. This one should be a fun ride. I know I'm certainly going to have a blast.
--Paul
PS--The Sarah Palin narrative is another example of The Right's preference for popular yet empty narratives. I get that she's a good idea for the GOP in the election, but if John McCain truly had the safety of America at heart, would he put this woman second in line to the most powerful position in the world? It's like a bad disney movie.....
I assume that there are contingency plans for a puppet presidency. The Right has demonstrated over the past 8 years that they are all too comfortable with this dynamic.
PSS-- Barack Obama is a Jedi.
"We are the strongest nation in the world today, [but] I do not believe we should ever apply that economic, political, or military power unilaterally. If we'd followed that rule in Vietnam, we wouldn't have been there. None of our allies supported us. If we can't persuade nations with comparable values of the merit of our cause, we'd better re-examine our reasoning."
Former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara (Kennedy, Johnson)
quoted from The Fog of War (Film) by Errol Morris, 2003
