December 2008 Volume 9 No.6 The Newspaper of the Johns Hopkins University Nitze School of Advanced International Studies

By Joseph Ho

Thomasdiscussesteaching

Melissa Thomas, associate professor in the

International Development program, received the 2008

Max Fischer Prize for Excellence in Teaching. She agreed

to speak to the Observer her teaching philosophy, her

background, and her advice for students.

What is your teaching philosophy, and what are yourthoughts on the role that a professor should play in theclassroom?

Because SAIS is a school that is mostly a terminal

master’s program, I see my role as preparing students for

the job of their dreams. I want to give them the kinds of

feedback that they would get in a work environment, but

in a warmer and fuzzier way. I also understand that not

everyone learns well in a lecture setting. I try to give stu-

dents a chance to learn in a variety of ways. Some people

learn by listening, some by speaking out loud, some by

writing, and some are visual learners.

I do see the role of a teacher as being to expose stu-

dents to all kinds of arguments. Students should see their

role as learning all the arguments in class. I don’t care

what arguments you make as long as you know and under-

stand all of them, and you can back yourself up.

What are the most challenging things for you as aprofessor?

Making people feel comfortable speaking in class.

Often, people only warm up towards the end of the semes-

ter, and then there are no more chances for them to express

their ideas!

The other hard thing is grading. I hate grading. I

don’t mind giving people feedback, but I hate grading.

Another is teaching people how to write credibly and

professionally. There is a huge line drawn between those

who can write well, and those who can’t, in the working

world. There is nothing mysterious about writing profes-

sionally—it’s not literature. It’s very structured, and there

are rules that anyone can learn.

But the way we have been historically taught writing

is that you turn in a paper, you receive a grade, and you

write another paper. In the real world, that is not how writ-

ing works. You have to write it over and over again not

just to improve it but to make someone else happy about

it for whatever reason. What people need to learn is that

getting a bad grade on a paper is not a statement of failure,

but rather that more work needs to be put in; I hope I can

convince students of that.

How do you see your research work and your teach-ing complementing each other?

I think anybody will tell you that they don’t get

enough time to do research. When I get a chance to do

research, it often informs my teaching. For some of my

classes where I have to update my syllabus frequently to

continued on page 3

Read inside:Diversions…………………..…………….....2

Letter from the editors……………......…......2

SGA update...…………………..…………....3

Chili and Clinton in D.C.............………..…..4

Imagination of crowds........…………….…...5

Soft power and race in Nanjing..……………5

Hope and espresso in Bologna......………….6

Perspectives on human rights...…..................7

Gender at SAIS column ................……...…..7

Thunderbird...............…………......…….…..8

E Street cinema.............………….......….......8

Englishman on Thanksgiving...…..…...….....9

Careers in crisis............….……………….....9

Movie review….…………………...........…10

Chinese Halloween..............….……………11

Integral Theory club.........….………………11

Ask the SAIS guy..........….………………..12

Idon’t drink coffee. Can’t understand all the hype,

frankly. But I’m writing an article about coffee shops,

which oddly enough I love, so I feel a need to say

something about our coffee culture.

I asked my friend Jared how he would fare without

coffee. “I would be cranky,” he said. “I like my coffee.”

And coffee shops? “If they have free Wi-Fi.” A good

point: free Wi-Fi means free studying, one of the ingredi-

ents of a good coffee shop. Of course, the food and, yes,

the coffee, do count for something. But with so much vari-

ety, where to begin?

I decided to investigate. Before I could start, howev-

er, I realized that my lack of coffee credentials could pose

a bit of a problem. I required a pair of coffeeophiles by my

side to provide expertise and, equally important, a means

of banter. I located two gentlemen that could go sip-to-sip

with the best of them: Chris Francke and Richard

Kaufman. As students of Middle East Studies at SAIS,

they had impeccable credentials. It was the Middle East,

after all, that had given us the coffee shop, the maqha, in

the first place.

With the Observer deadline fast approaching, time

was of the essence. We quickly headed to our first stop:

Cosi, a choice of convenience, located next to the Krispy

Kreme at the Dupont metro, and recommended by Chris

for its quality food. “Come for the sandwiches and the

pizza,” Chris proclaimed, pointing out that they even

baked their own bread. But stay for the alcoholic coffee

mixes? “I don’t know, I don’t like hot alcohol,” he said.

Richard demurred on the food (prices start at $7) and

settled for the $1.69 house coffee, black. He took a sip.

“Very average.”

I broke my taboo and sampled a hot mocha ($3.29),

which I shared with Chris and Richard. They weren’t

impressed. Coffee, it soon became clear, was not why peo-

ple come to this coffee shop. I glanced around. It was early

in the afternoon and the shop was fairly busy and active

with chatter. The convenience and sheer variety made it

easy to see why: fresh juice, desserts, student-friendly

hours, free Wi-Fi and lots of space.

By Andre Castillo

Coffee shop stopsAn irreverent comparative analysis ofCosi, the Mudd House, and Teaism

Faculty talk about genderBy Samantha Watson

The 2006 Report of the University Committee on the

Status of Women ranks Johns Hopkins University

last in its peer group for its percentage of women

executives, defined as “persons who manage the universi-

ty, the academic schools and divisions of the university,

and administrative departments.”

The Committee, formed at Johns Hopkins in 2002 to

address issues of gender equity, further found that a num-

ber of adverse experiences had created “a subtly hostile

environment that has limited opportunities, been detri-

mental to achievement, and shaped career decisions for

many members of this community, especially women.”

These “longstanding traditions and attitudes in the culture

at the Johns Hopkins University” have raised questions

about the future of women faculty and staff members, as

well as students.

Vision 2020, a plan instituted by Johns Hopkins

University in 2006 to address gender equity on campus,

aspires to increase the percentage of senior female faculty

to 50% by 2020. In addition, each year SAIS produces a

diversity report that reflects on progress made in diversity

issues, including gender equity.

Gender Equity at SAIS: Two years into

the Vision 2020 PlanCurrently SAIS is well below the 50 percent female

senior faculty the Vision 2020 plan aspires to. Only 10

percent of the 20 tenured faculty are women. Of the six

deans at SAIS, two—Dean Einhorn and Dean Wilson—

are women.

The SAIS website boasts, “The resident SAIS facul-

ty includes 65 professors noted for their scholarly accom-

plishments…” A quick tally of the names listed turns up

14 female faculty, not including language professors or

adjuncts. Only 21.5% of our faculty are women. Further

web research shows that only one department,

International Law, is headed by a woman, and three,

China Studies, Latin American Studies, and IDEV, have

female associate directors. Out of 19 departments, then,

four have some form of female leadership.

When asked her opinion on these figures, Associate

Professor of Southeast Asia Studies Bridget Welsh com-

mented, “Johns Hopkins is one of the worst universities

for gender mobility and SAIS is among the worst in social

sciences at Hopkins. At SAIS, the glass ceiling is not

being broken.”

Examination of hiring and retention practices at

SAIS points to structural concerns for gender equity.

Speaking with Dean Einhorn, it became clear that part of

the problem is the hiring process for tenured positions.

SAIS does not have a system of internal promotion. In her

continued on page 10

continued on page 7

December 2008 THE SAIS OBSERVER page 2

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

The SAIS ObserverEditors-in-Chief

Nita GojaniNiloufer Siddiqu

Jason YeAnna Yukhananov

Contributors

Ted AlcornPaul Alois

Alex BloomGraham Bocking

Masha BolotinskayaAndre Castillo

Richard DownieJoseph Ho

Matt KaczmarekBenjamin Kraus

Kevin Mazur Richard Purcell

The SAIS Observer is a news monthly written, edited, and produced by

the students of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies

(SAIS) of The Johns Hopkins University.

SAIS students, faculty and members of the administration at the

Washington, D.C. campus, Bologna campus, and the Hopkins-Nanjing

Center are encouraged to submit articles, letters to the editor, photographs,

cartoons, and other items for consideration.

Material for consideration or inquiries may be sent to : observer@jhu.edu.

The SAIS Observer is an approved SAIS student organization. Opinions

expressed in the SAIS Observer are not necessarily the views of the edi-

tors, SAIS, or the University.

The Observer welcomes accolades, denials,comments, critiques, and hate mail at

observer@jhu.edu.

Julia Romano Samantha WatsonLauren Witlin

Photos:Andre CastilloRichard DownieMatt KaczmarekMark MurrayMonster Pete of FlickrEric SeiloLauren Witlin

Diversions:Keep your eyes and ears open and contribute to the sections

below! Email us at observer@jhu.edu with submissions

The OstrichWho’s having a good month, and whomight want to stick their heads in the sandand hope for better luck next month?

LosersThunderbirdThese women showed the competitionwhat SAIS students are made of: sus-tainability. And innovation. That’s what.

Timothy Geithner

President-elect Barack Obama chosethis SAIS ’85 graduate for TreasurySecretary. Even the Dow Jones indexwas happy.

New SAIS Observer editorsCongratulations to Graham Bocking,Andre Castillo, and Samantha Watson!May your inbox always be full of newstories, and may your Observer officealways be free of ants.

People who boo costumes

One day your MBAs may get you six fig-ure salaries. That day was not November15, when it was SAIS ladies making thebig bucks—to the tune of 20 grand.

Business school students

Stop complaining just because you don’thave those sexy Palin glasses and are stillwearing your pants.

Newspapers

It’s a dying industry out there, as newspa-pers all over the country cut back onbudgets and staff. We sure are lucky theObserver doesn’t depend on advertisingrevenue.

VerbatimWhat the SAIS

communityhas been saying

Winners

This is our last issue as editors of The SAIS

Observer. After a year of satire and lighthearted-

ness, funny foods and funky dates, pranks and

investigations, we are suddenly gripped by that old-age,

on-the-deathbed, eleventh-hour need for philosophizing.

The eternal question is why. Why did we do it?

We’ve wondered that ourselves, as we pestered tardy

writers, fixed commas and headlines, and edited stories

into the wee hours of the night—even as our homework

lay unfinished.

We didn’t do this for a grade. We didn’t do it for

the prestige, or the fame: some SAIS students don’t even

know about the paper. We didn’t do it for the career

opportunities; this isn’t exactly the fastest path to The

New York Times. We certainly didn’t do it for the

money; divided by the hours we’ve spent on each issue,

our stipend pays less than the minimum wage.

We did it because we made a commitment. We did

it for the continuity. And most of all, we did it for the

love.

Sometimes it’s hard to recall why you ever decid-

ed to sacrifice your steady salary and free weekends for

paper deadlines, stressful exams, and sleepless nights.

It’s hard to remember that all of this isn’t just a network-

ing opportunity or a launching pad for your career.

Editing the Observer constantly reminded us that

graduate school is all of that, but also something more.

It’s stressing out about your future; and chilling

with friends in coffee shops. It’s criticizing the failures

of governments; and it’s gathering together—whether in

Bologna, D.C. or Nanjing—to commemorate the

momentous events in the world. It is inspiring profes-

sors, insightful classes and clubs, and students that are

intelligent, passionate, worldly, and committed.

Just take a look at the articles in this issue.

We feel honored to have had a chance to bring

some of that amazing SAIS community to your

doorstep—otherwise known as the metal stands in the

Rome and Nitze lobbies.

Now we pass along that responsibility to the next

team of awesome editors: Graham Bocking, Andre

Castillo, and Samantha Watson. We’re confident that

they can continue our tradition of irreverent humor,

commentary, in-depth journalism and April Fool’s jokes.

And this issue already tells us why they do it: to

have their bylines on the front page.

We hope you enjoy this December issue as a break

from working on your twenty-page paper, trying to

understand why that curve is upward-sloping, or cram-

ming fifty years of American foreign policy into two

nights of studying.

Remember, the Observer is always there for you,

whether for enlightenment, or procrastination.

21

75

78

6

5

16.4m

7.2

372.57

200

By theNumbers

Tables of food atthe Internat ionalDinner

Fl iers posted forthe dinner

Student helpers a tthe dinner

Enter ta inment actsat the dinner

Hours of enter ta in-ment

Total re ta i l sa les ,in dol lars , forBlack Friday andBlack Saturday

Percentage amountby which saleswent up, comparedto 2006

The average dol laramount shoppersspent during BlackFriday weekend

Zimbabwe’s GDPper capi ta in 2007

“Give me a balcony I’ll

give you a dictator.”

— Anonymous professor

“In order to honor the recently concluded election cam-

paign, I’ll pretend to answer this question by saying some-

thing related to that.” —Anonymous professor

“Would I sit there and watch

Keith Olberman? No, because

I'm just an elegant dude.”

—Anonymous professor

“This is like Bush’s preemption. You’re doing this uni-

laterally. You’re not negotiating with inflation here.”

—Anonymous professor, explaining an inflation rule

Jerry Yang

Another CEO bites the dust. This Yahooexecutive turned down a deal fromMicrosoft, then watched his companyflounder. Thank goodness we only google.

Best Halloween costumesBest Team: “Little Girl CatchingFireflies.” Best Man: “ThomasFriedman Without Pants.” Best Woman:“Sexy Sarah Palin.” Most PoliticallyIncorrect: “Underage Gymnast.”

“It’s like those magnets on the fridge... You can just

rearrange the words—peace, democracy, equality,

movement, liberation—and get the names of African

rebel groups.” —Anonymous professor

“...if you have a bias towards

clean air, i.e. if you’re human.”

—Anonymous professor

“Forget freedom of speech, this is Europe.”

—Anonymous professor

“Don’t you love the ‘SAIS effect’—when getting

anywhere in the SAIS building takes ten times

longer than you thought it would because you stop

to talk to people....” —Anonymous student

“I have a feeling my sense of humor will be the

least favorable thing in the course evaluations.”

—Anonymous professor

December 2008 THE SAIS OBSERVER page 3

Merry SAISmas!

If you’re like all of us at SGA, your semester is about to end with the sort of gen-

tle grace reserved for apocalyptic Jerry Bruckheimer summer blockbusters (Can we

interest you in a little Armageddon?). We’ll spare you the panic-attack-inducing enu-

meration of the tasks we SAISers will be tackling in these waning days, but rest assured

you are not alone . . . unless of course you’re care-free and quiescent.

Yet even as the semester is closing up, we at SGA plod forward. First, thanks to

the Deans for participating in a very fruitful forum the week before Thanksgiving. Not

only were cookies wolfed down with refinement, but students managed to weigh in on

language proficiency, the Business Office, study space, professor performance and

much more. Second, we also thank Career Services for joining us in a second open

forum this past Tuesday. If you missed out on either, the minutes are posted on the SGA

website.

Changes to note: first, the operating temperature of Nitze has been reduced to try

and keep the upper floors more comfortable. Please let us know if this helps. Second,

in an effort to help decrease school-wide emails, the SGA has been working with

Communications and SAIS faculty and staff to streamline event-advertising proce-

dures. As part of this move, the Monday Blues-er is now only for announcements and

major off-campus events, directing you to the SAIS Insider Calendar for all on-campus

events. Feedback on these changes is welcome. Finally, Kenney Auditorium and even

the Rome building can be available if there is not enough study space in the upcoming

weeks. Let SGA know if demand is far outpacing supply.

Past and upcoming events: we hope you came and got your snack on and your

dance on at the biggest festival of the fall semester, the International Dinner. To take the

edge off exams, on Friday, December 12, the SGA will be serving up the final Happy

Hour of the year (tear). Finally, for those needing some culture to soothe the fiasco that

is finals week, that same night the SGA and Dean Einhorn will be co-sponsoring tick-

ets to see the National Symphony Orchestra’s Holiday Program at the Kennedy Center.

Looking forward: first, please take the time to make the most of your class eval-

uations. Since SAIS moved to the electronic submission system, response rates have

dropped, and we want to reverse this trend to get the honest skinny on each and every

class. Second, the SGA will also be sending you a comprehensive survey of all student

services. We will be basing much of our second-semester work on this survey, so please

do it up pretty.

As you look toward January, know that an on-campus SAIS Inauguration

Celebration is being tentatively planned to follow the January 20 swearing in of my

counterpart on Pennsylvania Ave—more info in the coming weeks.

Finally, for those with chronic problems accessing the wireless network, SGA and

the IT department will provide a service desk in Nitze lobby throughout the first week

of classes next semester just to help you get your laptop surfing at full speed.

Please do let us know what you need, especially in this stressful time.

Cheers!

Ben Krause,

SGA President

SGAmonthly report

The student government chimes in with

announcements and remindersBy Ben Krause, SGA President

continued from page 1keep track of the field, it keeps me updated in my field so that I can engage with other

practitioners.

How would you describe the differences between the working world and academia?I have a friend of

mine who used to teach

tradecraft at the CIA. He

used to start his classes by

telling people, “This is not

school, you are not students

and I don’t care about your

self-esteem.” Now, that is

rather harsh, and if you are

not lucky, you will find

yourself a boss who is like

that. Having people to men-

tor you is not something

you can count on in the

working environment.

School gives you a

chance to learn how to do

your best work from people

who care about your suc-

cess. On the other hand,

school is an artificial envi-

ronment with assignments

that are structured for you.

The world is a wide open

place where you can create

your own objectives.

Could you give us a preview of the book you are working on?The purpose of the book is to explain how low income country governments work.

Right now, I hope that my book will be a trade book, rather than academic book, acces-

sible to a large audience who might find the topic interesting but might not know any-

thing about low income countries. There is still tendency to think that low income coun-

try governments are little broken United States of Americas. I think they are substantial-

ly different, not only in terms of their fiscal envelope but also for political, historical and

economic reasons. My hope is that if more people understood these governments better,

we would make better foreign policy.

How did you become interested in your current field of work?My undergraduate degree is in computer science, and then I went to law school. I

knew nothing about development or developing countries at all. Shortly after taking the

bar exam, I had a sign-up bonus from my new law firm and I decided to travel. I went to

a certain developing country with a classmate... There, I saw a country that seemed to be

completely devoid of rule of law, and that was what really made me wonder what made

legal systems work... As I went back to school to get my doctorate, I started thinking

about it more broadly as a question of governance and political economy.

What advice do you have for students who are interested in the development fieldbut find it difficult because of financial constraints?

I am not sure if I have good advice about financing education. Obviously, master’s

degrees are very expensive. In some cases, I have recommended people to do doctorate

degrees because it is easier to find funding. The fact that we don’t have sufficient finan-

cial aid or loan forgiveness programs is a particular problem for students who would

want to go into development and the NGO sector.

Marry rich, that’s all I can say.

What general word of advice do you have for students?One of the most important things that I would like my students to know is not to

take the things that they are assigned to read or told in classes as gospel, but to look at

the political economy of the discussion—who gets to talk, who doesn’t get to talk, and

what the are institutional interests of the people talking.

Joseph Ho is a second-year M.A. candidate in African Studies.

theatres. Recently I saw “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” one of Woody Allen’s new films.

It was excellent; I think he basically reinvented himself and his movies are again inter-

esting.

Woody Allen’s last two movies have a very different feel from his earlier work.

For example, both “Match Point” and “Vicki Cristina Barcelona” do not have Woody

Allen in a starring role, or even a cameo appearance. Both movies also have a much

darker feel to them, but retain much of Allen’s sense of irony and his great feel for pick-

ing the right type of music for each scene—which is especially prominent in “Vicky

Cristina Barcelona.”

There are also a couple of other exciting movies that just opened. “Slumdog

Millionaire” is directed by Danny Boyle, of “Trainspotting,” “Millions,” and

“Sunshine” fame. Simon Beaufry, the author of The Full Monty, wrote the screenplay.

The movie is about a kid from the slums of Mumbai that is on his way to winning

India’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” I watched the trailer and was captivated by

the cinematography.

Milk is also getting rave reviews. This movie is based on the life of Harvey Milk,

a neighborhood activist, who was one of the first openly

gay politicians elected to a public office—San Francisco

Board of Supervisors in 1977. Although he was murdered

a year later, his actions deeply changed the landscape of

American politics.

Every Friday and Saturday, you can also check out

some of your favorite classic films on the big screen, such

as “Ghostbusters” and “The Big Lebowski.”

And for cash-strapped students, there’s an added

bonus: all students get a two dollar discount. Just have your

J-card ready and you’re all set to go.

E Street Cinema is located at 555 11th Street, a fewblocks from the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro stop.

Masha Bolotinskaya is a first-year M.A. candidate inMiddle East Studies and Russian and Eurasian Studies.

Melissa Thomas

The E Street Cinema is one of my favorite movie theatres. It has a modern, sleek

look and cushy seating. With eight screens, it is not that small—but it still has

that small movie theater feel. The staff is friendly, the facilities are clean, and

they even have gourmet coffee, cookies, and chocolate in the café.

As you walk through the door, you usually catch a whiff of fresh brewed coffee

and join throngs of people eager to watch all kinds of off-the-beaten-track movies,

something that makes this theater distinct from others in the city.

The Cinema evokes the long-forgotten sense that making movies is not just big

business, but an art form, “art for the sake of art”—as the MGM logo reminds us at the

beginning of each of their flicks.

This gem carries all kinds of movies that you do not normally find in big movie

By Masha Bolotinskaya

E Street Cinemapresents film as art

Irolled into Ben’s Chili Bowl around 2:00 a.m. on

Election Night. It had already had a pretty full

evening. My evening too had been busy. After watch-

ing some of the early returns come in at the SAIS party in

the Nitze building, I had gone to a party at a friend’s apart-

ment in Mount Pleasant. On the way, my cab driver, an

Ethiopian immigrant and naturalized U.S. citizen, talked

with me about the significance of Obama’s election to him

as a man of color, and as someone who had come to this

country from abroad. At the

party, I stuffed myself with

beer, Indian food and chocolate

chip cookies, shed more than a

few tears during Obama’s vic-

tory speech, and then enjoyed a

glass of champagne. It was a

historic night, and I wanted to

enjoy myself to the fullest.

Eventually the party began to wind down and I was ready

to go home, but there was one other stop to make before-

hand.

Ben’s Chili Bowl, for those of you who are shame-

fully ignorant of the legendary establishment, is a

Washington D.C. institution. Opened in 1958 by Ben Ali,

an immigrant from Trinidad, and his wife Virginia, Ben’s

is a “greasy spoon” restaurant located just off 13th and U

Streets in the historic center of African American culture

in D.C. It survived the 1968 riots, the construction of a

new stop along the Metro’s Green Line just across the

street, and the ongoing gentrification of the surrounding

neighborhood.

Ben’s is a happy place under any circumstances, but

the mood there on Election Night was nothing short of

euphoric. The sign behind the counter that had listed Bill

Cosby (the restaurant’s patron celebrity) as the only per-

son eligible to eat at Ben’s for free had already been

updated to include “the Obama family.” After waiting in

line for at least half an hour, I ordered my usual—two chili

dogs and a side of chili fries—and headed home, my night

complete.

What lies aheadHaving prattled on about my revelry on Election

Night, allow me to humbly offer a few brief thoughts

about what lies ahead. Those of us

who were thrilled by the election

results would be wise to temper our

excitement with an understanding

of the challenges Obama will face.

His administration is going to pro-

vide some disappointments—per-

haps significant ones. In part, this is

because the jubilation over his vic-

tory is so intense, and the expectations of him are so high;

some degree of letdown is unavoidable.

More fundamentally, governing inevitably requires

choosing certain priorities over others, as well as making

compromises that aren’t to everyone’s liking. Many peo-

ple understand this in the abstract, but they aren’t so for-

giving when it actually happens. Already there has been

some grumbling among those on the left who are less than

enthralled with Obama’s cabinet nominees.

In particular, Obama’s relationship with Congress

may prove to be more difficult than expected. Democrats

decisively control both the Senate and House of

Representatives, but Obama will face competing pressures

from the party’s different factions. Deeply frustrated by

the events of the last eight years, liberal Democrats are

impatient to begin undoing the Bush administration’s poli-

cies. However, it is the influx of moderate and conserva-

tive members of Congress (both in 2006 as well as 2008)

that has returned Democrats to the majority. One of

Obama’s biggest challenges will be finding a way to

resolve—or at least sidestep—the differences between

these two groups whenever possible.

The experience of the last Democrat to occupy the

White House should serve as a cautionary tale as to how

fleeting electoral success can be. When Bill Clinton took

office after defeating Bush the Elder in 1992, he promised

to “focus like a laser beam” on the nation’s slumping

economy while seeking ways to bridge the ideological

divide between liberals and conservatives. Meanwhile,

many political observers assessed that the GOP’s social

conservatism had alienated mainstream voters and con-

signed the Republican Party to the political wilderness

indefinitely. (Sound familiar?) But just two years later, an

electoral tsunami swept Republicans into power in both

the Senate and House of Representatives for the first time

since Eisenhower was president.

Difficult jobHistorical analogies are imperfect at best, and I don’t

expect Obama to repeat the many miscues that plagued the

Clinton administration.

I’m more hopeful right

now about the country’s

political leadership than I

can ever remember. The

President-Elect is smart,

focused, and his decisions

since winning the election

have been very encourag-

ing. But let’s not allow our euphoria over his victory pre-

vent us from recognizing that he is a human being, not a

savior.

Every president over the last four decades experi-

enced significant turbulence during his administration,

and there is no reason to believe Obama’s will be any dif-

ferent. It is telling that the Clinton-Bush years represent

the first time the U.S. has experienced consecutive two-

term presidencies since the beginning of the 19th Century,

when Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James

Monroe each occupied the White House for eight years.

Whether he serves one term or two, Obama has a difficult

job ahead of him, and his many enthusiastic supporters

(like me) are not always going to be happy with his deci-

sions. We should not be afraid to acknowledge that fact,

even as we celebrate the historic event we all witnessed on

November 4.

If you have thoughts you want to share about any of

the above, or if you know how I can score tickets to the

inauguration, feel free to shoot me an email. We can dis-

cuss the matter further over some chili fries at Ben’s.

Richard Purcell is a second-year M.A. candidate inStrategic Studies.

By Richard Purcell

December 2008 THE SAIS OBSERVER page 4

Elections in Washington D.C.

Clockwise from top left: SAIS students following the elections

in the Nitze lobby. Waiting for Obama’s acceptance speech in

Lucky Bar. Celebrations in U street. SAIS students celebrating

in front of the White House, left to right: Mark Murray, Richard

Sawyer, Nat Kretchun, Andrew Polk, and Matt Kaczmarek.

I stuffed myself with beer, Indian

food and chocolate chip cookies,

shed more than a few tears during

Obama’s victory speech, and then

enjoyed a glass of champagne.

His many enthusias-

tic supporters are

not always going to

be happy with his

decisions.

Reflections on chili, compromise and Clinton

December 2008 THE SAIS OBSERVER page 5

When the networks announced that Barack

Obama was the president-elect of the United

States, there was a palpable shift in the political

commentary that had been droning on for the last eighteen

months. The pundits and political scientists who had built

whole careers on hypotheses about the contest’s outcome

were suddenly confronted with the inviolable reality of a

decision.

With nothing left to predict in the future, they turned

back to the past and rendered up the first histories of the

election, explanations for why it came to pass the way it

had. The question on everyone’s lips was: “What did the

election mean?”

A contest of ideas?The purpose of an election, like any other contest, is

to make a legitimate judgment about which contestant is

superior. An apparent conclusion to draw about a losing

candidate is that his political

ideas, or ways of expressing

them, were poorer than those of

his opponent.

Some conservative writers

acknowledged as much in the

days that followed. They con-

fessed that the political ideas

motivating the Right had become

haphazard and unbalanced, ill-

fitted to a changing electorate.

The core principles of the party would need to be recali-

brated, rethought.

Other writers were not so quick to concede. The

principles of conservatism were still sound, they argued;

the obstacles facing the McCain ticket — the Bush legacy,

the Crisis — would have shipwrecked even the sturdiest

Republican candidate. That Obama himself had embraced

fiscal responsibility and moved toward the center regard-

ing his policies in Iraq was a validation of the vitality of

their own ideological stance.

Doomed love affairAnd then there were those who argued that the con-

test had not been a test of ideas at all. Obama’s supporters

had not really preferred his policies, but were merely smit-

ten with him. And this love affair, like all others, would

end in heartbreak. Citizens might cast their ballots with

their hearts instead of their heads, but once the ebullience

of Election Day had passed, they would begin coming to

their senses.

During the week of the election, Fouad Ajami wrote

in The Wall Street Journal that America’s typically sober

and skeptical political process seemed to be giving over to

“the politics of charisma.” And for an electorate that is

content to draw on its own imagination to fill in the

blanks, “a leader does not have to say much, or be much.”

Ajami was drawing on the parallels he saw between

the Arab political culture of his youth and the crowds that

met Obama at every step in his campaign—which culmi-

nated in a live audience of 240,000 at his Grant Park

acceptance speech.

Of course, modern politics is staged as a spectacle,

and John McCain and Sarah Palin drew similarly impres-

sive audiences to their rallies. But for Ajami, the crowd

was merely a metaphor for the multiplicity of Obama’s

supporters, their impossible diversity. Impossible because,

we are left to intuit, no single leader can

earn — and then satisfy — votes from all

ends of the political and economic spectra.

A columnist for The National

Review summed up this sentiment: “It is

an exceptional politician who can win the

support of Louis Farrakhan, leader of the

Nation of Islam, and Kenneth Duberstein,

former chief of staff to President Reagan;

of William Ayers, an unrepentant terrorist,

and Christopher Buckley, son of William

F. Buckley, founder of modern intellectual conservatism;

of Rashid Khalidi, an Israel-hater, and Edgar Bronfman,

former head of the World Jewish Congress. Here’s a not-

very-bold prediction: a year from now, someone is going

to be sorely disappointed.”

Theories of electionsOne can envision the election as a political scientist

might see it: a zero-sum game for power in which leaders

fashion themselves to please the broadest possible swath

of the electorate, and voters cast their ballots for the can-

didate who will bring them the highest returns. Economic

self-interest trumps all else; hedge-fund managers and

blue-collar workers have no reason to be in the same boat

because a single candidate cannot possibly satisfy them

both. Ajami adopts this viewpoint in asserting that

Obama’s coalition “has no economic coherence.”

Yet this was the surprising coalition that propelled

this candidate to victory. And it does herald the possibili-

ty — or even the inevitability — of disappointment.

Obama addressed this aspect of his own nebulous popular-

ity in the introduction to his second book: “I serve as a

blank screen on which people of vastly different political

stripes project their own views.”

But disappointment is a reality of social life. No sane

voter would actually expect a candidate to fulfill every

one of her personal

interests, along with

those of her hundred

million fellow vot-

ers. Even setting

aside the realities of

bureaucracy, the

contingencies of his-

tory, and the limits

of the possible, citi-

zens everywhere

understand that the

political process necessarily entails compromise.

Leadership and compromiseElections are both a crossroads for the future, and a

signpost of the route we have traveled. They mark a point

when our politics takes a new direction, even as they

reflect the evolution of our national interests. We are still

too close to the event to test Ajami’s assertions that

Obama has been peddling “the illusion of a common

undertaking,” and that voters have merely been duped into

buying it.

But one must wonder if the rhetoric of unity that

characterized the victorious campaign does not in fact

belie a real desire on the part of the American people for

collective change. Isn’t it possible that there are values

shared by people of different class, color, and creed; and

that a political consensus is possible across such divi-

sions?

Leadership is not merely the quality of satisfying the

desires of the majority. Instead, it pertains to one who can

inspire all of us to compromise some of our personal inter-

ests in order to come to a common agreement. Not seeing

the reality of the election as such would imply a terrible

fault of imagination.

Ted Alcorn is a first-year MA candidate in InternationalPolicy.

The imagination of crowds

Desire for change trumps economics

Soft power and race in NanjingFormer Observer editor and current Nanjing studentAlex Bloom reflects on what the election of BarackObama means for China, and for the rest of the world.

Obama’s victory means that the rest of the world is

going to be well-disposed to U.S. initiatives for a

short time, and that presents an opportunity to

mend some important alliances, especially in Europe.

While other countries may not believe that an

Obama presidency will be substantively different from a

Hillary or a McCain, there is tremendous diplomatic

potential when the president is part-black, part-white,

with ties to the Muslim, Asian, and African world.

There is also the inspirational quality of a country

where the “downtrodden minority” can get majority sup-

port and ascend to the nation’s most powerful office. This

quality may seem sentimental, but cultural appeal is

power. It’s soft power, which is very real.

Most realists would agree that soft power matters;

China ― which is led by realists ― certainly does.

I predict Obama’s honeymoon in some countries

may end when he imposes a few restrictions on free trade

“to promote jobs for American workers.” I would have

predicted this would especially be the case in China. But

actually, people seem to understand that problem ―

especially now that Chinese jobs are moving south to

Vietnam.

The other issue is racism. On the one hand, a lot of

people here are pretty racist ― many will candidly say

that they think blacks are scary or violent, and that black

skin is ugly. (They are also scared of Xinjiang Muslims

and Tibetans.)

But most Chinese also have no interaction with

black people. There are Africans who study in big cities,

especially Beijing, but in most parts of China the only

black people are criminals in Hollywood movies.

On the other hand, Chinese people learn in school

about the history of slavery and racism in America, which

they condemn harshly.

So overall, this election has had a big and positive

impact, visually and inspirationally, on Chinese people.

At least, on the ones who paid attention to the election.

(As in the United States, a minority of denizens ― usual-

ly students, professors, and taxi drivers ― care about

other countries’ elections. Part of the reason is that nei-

ther Obama nor McCain was expected to have vastly dif-

ferent policies towards China. Sino-US relations have

depended more on economic and security interests than

anything else, all rhetoric of human rights aside.)

One of the Chinese professors here spoke on elec-

tion night, and he said “I have a dream that some day

China will have such an election.” Regardless of my

views on whether China should democratize, I was sur-

prised that they would hold that ideal in a country where

most people that I speak to consider democracy fairly

messy, risky, and unstable. Perhaps not all leaders in

China are realists.

As for the rest of the world, I think a lot of people

expect relatively few, but highly significant, policy shifts,

such as shutting down Guantanamo and perhaps repeal-

ing parts of the Patriot Act (or just letting it expire).

These will go a long way to demonstrating a more

“humble” kind of commitment to respecting democracy,

as opposed to imposing democracy abroad.

Also, Obama is expected to engage in more interna-

tional cooperation on climate change, and have more

involvement with the UN generally. An undersecretary

from the State Department who deals with more than

forty international organizations came to speak here

recently. He said his job “just got a lot easier.”

But I recognize that new administrations tend to

bring about only gradual, subtle shifts in policy ― noth-

ing like the dramatic changes promised in campaigns. So

what major change might actually occur in the short

term? Middle Eastern leaders have had a field day using

the Bush image of a tough, wealthy, bigoted, anti-Muslim

American to reinforce their autocratic rule. The best thing

that could happen with the election of Obama is for the

symbol of a black, Islam-friendly man attaining highest

office in the U.S. to weaken anti-American sentiment in

the Middle East and parts of Latin America.

Alex Bloom is a second year MA candidate in ChinaStudies.

By Alex Bloom

By Ted Alcorn

Political ideas motivating

the Right had become hap-

hazard and unbalanced, ill-

fitted to a changing elec-

torate. The core principles

of the party would need to

be recalibrated.

Disappointment is a

reality of social life. No

sane voter would expect

a candidate to fulfill

every one of her person-

al interests, along with

those of her hundred

million fellow voters.

December 2008 THE SAIS OBSERVER page 6

By Julia Romano

A lot of espresso, and hopeStudents at SAIS’s Bologna Center react to

election night abroad

Speranza. Across passports and partisan aisles, hope

is what students at SAIS’s Bologna Center were

feeling after the presidential election night abroad.

Or, more aptly, “election dawn abroad” pointed out

Scott Long, a first year student. But the six hour time dif-

ference did not deter Long or some 70 other students and

faculty from camping out in the school’s auditorium to

watch election coverage on American Forces Network

until the early morning hours.

Undoubtedly, inducing

insomnia is an easier and cer-

tainly more delicious task in

Italy, and students prepared

themselves for the long night

with a double dose of espresso

and for many, — SAIS being

SAIS — beer.

Night of prideBut the evening was also sobering. “I was really

proud to be able to share the experience and watch what I

think will be an historic election night,” said Iwan Davies,

the SGA president in Bologna.

Davies, who is Welsh, embodies why, on this elec-

tion night, a quintessentially American event had an inter-

national accent. “Irish, Dutch, Austrian and Italian stu-

dents all stayed up through the night, and were as emo-

tionally invested in the outcome, if not more, than a lot of

the Americans,” Long said. “It was a pretty good indicator

of the possible influence this election could have on the

image of the U.S. abroad.”

E stata una bella serata. “It was a beautiful evening,”

said Giovanni Faleg, an Italian

one-year diploma student. Like

many, Faleg believes this her-

alds positive change for transat-

lantic relations. “We have high

expectations, we Europeans.”

But Faleg admitted that he

“was a bit disappointed in the

fact that maybe [he] just saw one side of American poli-

tics — not really the Republican part of Johns Hopkins

backing McCain,” [awk. reword?] as those gathered in the

auditorium, at least the most vocal participants, were

largely pro-Obama.

“When the CNN headline flashed on the screen,

‘President-Elect Barack Obama,’ I just burst out crying,”

said Vi L. Nhan, an immigrant from Vietnam, who says

she calls the United States home. Nhan was one of some

twenty students to travel to Rome for an election returns

party hosted by the American Embassy. “I have never

been more proud to call myself an American, and without

any hyphenation. I felt such an immense pride that my

adopted country was able to overcome all barriers and

elect a man whose policies I won't think twice to defend,”

she said.

“I'm very proud of my country,” said Theodore

Reinert. “Leaving the American embassy party in Rome,

walking out of the building, I had a swagger in my step,

and the sun was shining all day.”

Not so bright outlookFor some, the immediate outlook was not so bright.

Clint Hougan, a self-titled “die-hard conservative,” said

he remains “optimistic.” Hougan hopes to be part of the

Republican renewal process, and is looking forward to

seeing how conservative Americans rebuild and renew

their cause, but is also interested in seeing what the

Democrats will do “to lead this country in a new or better

direction.”

“Being a Republican, there was of course the ‘agony

of defeat,’” said Jerrod Vaughan, who characterized his

election night experience as one of “mixed emotions.”

Vaughan also attended the American Embassy gathering

in Rome, surrounded, he said, “by a host of Obama-crats”

who offered condolences and criticism alike. “I have

respect for the Obama campaign and what it had accom-

plished. It certainly was one of the most memorable and

historical moments in our nation's history.”

What nextSince election night, Vaughan has been mulling over

“those inevitable questions:” What will come in the next

four years? What does this ambiguous idea of “change”

really mean?

“Most importantly, what is left of the Republican

Party?" asks Vaughan. He believes that this election will

provide the catalyst for change for a party that “has

become too com-

fortable being in

power.”

Reflecting a

sentiment that seems

to transcend parties,

Vaughn said: “After

two weeks the emo-

tions of frustration

and disappointment

have developed into

feelings of hope and

belief, not just in the

Republican Party's

ability to reinvent

itself, but in the quintessential American ideal of democ-

racy.”

In the weeks leading up to the election, students

rushed to send in absentee ballots, some paying exorbitant

rush delivery fees, but, as one student said, “it was worth

it. I couldn't tell my grandchildren that I didn't vote for

Obama.”

European-American citizen Annie Magnus was

happy to send off hers. “I felt I was contributing to some-

thing big,” she said.

Now, an ocean away and some weeks removed, post-

election excitement has calmed at the Bologna Center, and

the greatest buzz is coming again from too much espres-

so. But still, students, faculty, Americans, and internation-

al students alike are asking over lazy afternoon cappucci-

nos, “What next?”

“Americans and the world should watch closely and

keep the same critical eye on such concentrated power in

the hands of one political party in the next two, four or

eight years, just as they did the last eight years,” Hougan

said.

Julia Romano is a second-year Bologna student inInternational Law and Conflict Management.

Bologna students after the elections, dressed up, and with

espressos, beer and wine.

Irish, Dutch, Austrian and Italian

students all stayed up through the

night, and were as emotionally

invested in the outcome, if not

more, than a lot of the Americans.

Americans and the

world should watch

closely and keep the

same critical eye on

such concentrated power

in the hands of one

political party in the

next two, four or eight

years, just as they did

the last eight years.

December 2008 THE SAIS OBSERVER page 7

seven years at SAIS, Dean Einhorn has taken part in only

two appointments of tenured faculty. The rarity of

appointments makes it difficult to change the current com-

position. In one of the two tenure appointments, Dean

Einhorn said the search committee pursued an unnamed,

highly qualified female candidate, but this person

remained uninterested.

Does the fact that structure limits changes in faculty

makeup justify inequities in numbers and leadership

roles? And what makes SAIS unattractive to female can-

didates, such as the one Einhorn referred to?

SAIS faculty are hired either as tenured faculty or

junior faculty. Junior faculty are on a non-tenure track and

come into their respective positions knowing they have a

maximum of eight years at SAIS. Melissa Thomas,

Associate Professor of International Development,

described the opportunity available in this system.

“As a practitioner moving to academia mid-career,

the junior faculty position gives me up to eight years to

build a publication track record instead of either trying to

compete with newly minted Ph.D.s for assistant professor

jobs or getting a tenure track job as an associate professor

with the expectation that I would somehow have a tenure-

worthy publication record after three years.”

On the flip side, however, this means that the major-

ity of SAIS female leaders are here for the short-term.

This excludes them from contributing to the long-term

direction of the school. Despite recent initiatives to

include input from junior faculty, Welsh pointed out that

such meetings have been rescheduled and given little pri-

ority, while Academic Board meetings with tenured facul-

ty remain the focus.

Since the majority of SAIS’s limited faculty diversi-

ty is in the junior faculty positions, the marginalization of

this rank is effectively marginalizing diverse voices.

Prospective female candidates must weigh the opportuni-

ties of an eight-year personal career boost against the lim-

ited capacity for broader contribution to the school.

Women in Non-Faculty Roles While the SAIS 2008 Diversity Plan identifies the

composition of full-time faculty as the greatest challenge

for diversity and gender issues, it demonstrates that SAIS

is currently above the curve for percentages of female

staff members.

Welsh highlighted this dynamic as

a problem. “Women hired at SAIS are

at the lower ranks. SAIS's numbers

come from women not in positions of

power—untenured faculty and female

clerical staff. Most of the program coor-

dinators at SAIS are women, and there

is extremely limited mobility for these

positions. Junior faculty are on contract

and have no real mobility within SAIS,” she explained.

The SAIS Diversity Plan has also “identified salary

inequities between the sexes,” though there are initiatives

to rectify this. Welsh confirmed, “I have witnessed the pat-

tern of the ‘male buddy’ system in hiring practices. A

much more qualified woman candidate was ignored in

favor of a less qualified male appointee. SAIS ignored

concerns about the issue since structurally it gives its pro-

gram directors essentially carte blanche in hiring staff.”

At the February 2007 JHU Diversity Leadership

Council meeting, Einhorn was praised for her progress

towards diversity in the recent appointments of three

African-American women in the Human Resources,

Financial Aid and Admissions departments. But Einhorn

said she did not consider the appointments’ effect on

morale and gender equity at SAIS.

“I’m not aware that gender or race had any discern-

able role in these appointments. We truly hired the most

qualified candidates. Because of this we may have not

been as aware of feedback loops in the areas of gender and

diversity or equity.”

An auspicious environment for women?

Einhorn also affirmed her belief that in all depart-

ments at SAIS, both men and women are flourishing.

She did not cite gender equity as a major concern,

suggesting that the numbers reflected the infrequency of

appointments and small number of faculty in general.

“Given the laws of small numbers, I think we have

to pursue the best,” Einhorn said.

Thomas said that the num-

ber or presence of other females

on the faculty have not affected

her morale, and described her

experience at SAIS as a good fit,

and without sexist encounters.

Welsh also admitted receiving

tremendous support from the

SAIS administration.

But, at a minimum, are the scholarly contributions of

female faculty being valued and recognized?

Thomas explained a continuing barrier she faces in

the academic world.

“One of the sexist assumptions with which I have

sometimes been confronted is that my work must focus on

gender issues because I am a woman. There's a lot in that

package: first, that gender issues could only be of interest

to women. And second, that women could only be inter-

ested in gender issues. It’s often a simultaneous dismissal

of the relevance of both gender issues and of any possible

intellectual contribution I could have. I find this assump-

tion so annoying that I admit that I have deliberately

avoided intellectual engagement on gender issues, just out

of sheer perversity.”

I leave the question to you: is gender equity a prob-

lem at SAIS?

Samantha Watson is a first-year MA candidate inInternational Policy.

Western and Chinese perspectives on human rights

By Paul Alois

Last spring while working at Amnesty International, I helped coordinate a cam-

paign on human rights in China timed to coincide with the Olympics. During

many of our events, Chinese citizens came and staunchly defended their govern-

ment’s human rights record. Our experience mirrored that of many Western human rights

NGOs at the time. In the run-up to the Olympics, human rights had created a verbal

“clash of civilizations” between China and the West, with both sides criticizing each

other in increasingly shrill terms.

Had it not been for the Sichuan earthquake redirecting the world’s focus, relations

between the West and China would have turned very ugly. I felt frustrated that our efforts

only further alienated the Chinese, so I decided to better understand their perspective.

Soon after arriving at SAIS, I organized a group of American and Chinese students

at SAIS who were interested in human rights. After sending quite a few emails back and

forth, we sat down and had a four-hour roundtable discussion that was honest, produc-

tive and cathartic for everyone involved. It became clear that our contrasting perspectives

on human rights stem from dramatically different worldviews, especially regarding the

relationship between the individual and the state. (By state, I am referring to modern,

centralized, law-based forms of government.)

In the West, human rights are defined as liberties that individuals have vis-à-vis the

government, such as freedom of speech, right to a trial, suffrage, etc. Beyond that, many

SAIS gender

Currently SAIS is well

below the 50 percent female

senior faculty aspired to in

the Vision 2020 plan. Only

ten percent of the 20 tenured

faculty are women

continued from page 1

Westerners consider the state the greatest threat to their freedom, as opposed to invading

armies, religious institutions, or ethnocentric power groups.

While this may appear ironic, given that Western civilization produced the state, it

makes historical sense. The state paradigm traces its roots to the Treaty of Westphalia in

1648, during which the West outlawed war by dividing Europe into discreet, independ-

ent political units. It took 300 years to sink in, but today no Westerner fears invasion.

Furthermore, the state sees its members as citizens with equal protection under the law,

and therefore protects marginalized religious, ethnic, and political groups. While this

trend has also been slow to develop, today almost all Westerners feel that they have equal

rights. Essentially, the state has been so successful at providing international and domes-

tic stability that it created a context of peace that had never before existed, with

Westerners free to demand increased individual rights.

In China, human rights are seen as protections that individuals have vis-à-vis local

power groups. As one Chinese woman put it during our conversation, “The basic unit of

social organization is the family; most Chinese have no conceptual way to think about

society in the Western or modern context.”

The average Chinese fears exploitation by corrupt local governments, industrial

interests, and powerful families. Many Chinese consider the state the only entity capable

of protecting them, and therefore have a vested interest in the state maintaining its

authority.

This is also backed up by historical experience, as the state only appeared in China

in the late 1970s under Deng Xiaoping. It emerged after millennia of feudalism and a

generation of upheaval under Mao Zedong. Despite the state being the most powerful

political unit in China today, it can barely control a country of 1.3 billion people who

rarely think beyond the local level.

Chinese people care about human rights just as much as Westerners. However,

because the Chinese consider the state as the provider of freedom, human rights advoca-

cy in China must take a different approach.

The Chinese students in our discussion pointed out a few ways that Westerners can

promote human rights within China. First, focus on issues that average Chinese people

and the Chinese government both care about, such as women’s rights, rural development,

judicial reform and corruption. Second, partner with the central government rather than

work against it. Third, consider China’s history, culture and local conditions. Fourth, do

not magnify the voices of lone dissidents who often are at odds with average Chinese.

Finally, do not get involved in domestic politics; the Chinese still remember being invad-

ed.

Paul Alois is a first-year M.A. candidate in International Policy and International Law.

Pro-China and anti-China demonstrators in San Francisco.

December 2008 THE SAIS OBSERVER page 8

Thunderbird: 5 Steps to Next Year’s Win By Samantha Watson

The winning team. Top row, left to right: Victoria Wilson and Sarah Austrin-Willis;

bottom row, left to right: Caroline (Levy) Levington, Kimberly Wattrick, and Lauren Witlin.

On November 15, 2008, a group of five SAIS stu-

dents took first place out of 138 teams competing

in the Sustainable Innovation Summit hosted by

Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale,

Arizona. As the only all-female and non-MBA school

team, they beat out 10 other teams in the last round of this

international competition.

The team, comprised of first-year Sarah Austrin-

Willis, and second-years Caroline (Levy) Levington,

Kimberly Wattrick, Victoria Wilson and Lauren Witlin,

had a unique and successful experience. The Observer dis-

cussed the competition with Levington and Witlin, and

given their responses, we have devised the following five

steps for success at the Thunderbird Competition. Next

year’s team, take note!

Step 1: Oxymoronic and Seasoned

LeadershipThe first step to winning the Thunderbird competi-

tion is to find a leader that has both leadership and

Thunderbird experience, and is engaged in studies that at

first glance may appear contradictory.

China and socially responsible business is the oxy-

moron that was the specialty of the championed leader of

this reigning SAIS team, Kim Wattrick. What says social-

ly responsible more than millions of bright-red, lead-laced

Elmos made in China? How better to understand the com-

plex problems of sustainability and business than to study

worst and best case scenarios?

A seasoned Thunderbird competitor and leader of the

Socially Responsible Business Club at SAIS, Wattrick,

working closely with Wilson, had the acute ability to iden-

tify team members with complementary academic attrib-

utes.

Levington made it clear that Wattrick’s experience

and expertise helped their success. “Kim was a great

leader. She was a natural source of guidance because she

participated in the competition last year. We looked to her

for all of our expectations.”

Witlin agreed. “Kim was crucial to providing us with

key guidance in answering the questions. Whenever our

ideas started drifting from addressing the question, Kim

would always reel us in and keep us on point, highlighting

the need for our answer to be comprehensive and, most of

all, do-able.”

Step 2: The Ideal Team: Brilliant, Female,

and Perfect Strangers Team members should come from a variety of aca-

demic backgrounds, and should have complementary aca-

demic qualities. But they need not be friends, nor do they

even have to see each other for most of the competition.

However, unlimited cell phone minutes and a well func-

tioning internet connection are definite prerequisites.

“Two of the members I had never met before, and

one of them I only met afterthe first round question was

submitted because our schedules never lined up,” Witlin

said.

This year’s team, a diverse group with different

functional and regional expertise and experience, did have

a lot going for it, and future teams should follow suit.

Austrin-Willis and Levington are dual degree

International Development and MBA students, while

Wilson concentrates in International Development,

Wattrick in China Studies and Witlin in Japan Studies.

In addition to having varied backgrounds, the mem-

bers’ skill sets were unique.

“Kim and Victoria had strong regional backgrounds

in the areas being addressed in the questions,” Witlin said.

“Caroline had experience with the organizations we decid-

ed to leverage. Sarah was amazing with financials. With

so much talent, I sometimes felt like I was the weakest

link! But the other ladies assured me that my writing and

marketing skills were an important part of the process as

well.”

Did we mention humility is a requirement for team

members?

Step 3: Its all about the theme song “I'm bringing sexy back. Them other boys don't

know how to act. Come let me make up for the things you

lack…”

With an unlikely yet appropriate theme song like

Justin Timberlake’s “Bringing Sexy Back,” how could

these ladies do anything but rock the Thunderbird compe-

tition? They complemented each others’ strengths and

weaknesses and blew those MBAers out of the water for

their lack of understanding of international contexts.

And they did it all with style. What could be sexier

than referring to your Intro. to IDev notes to refresh your

memory on food security issues? And aren’t late-night

Thunderbird presentations and practice sessions in PJs

everyone’s secret fantasy?

“Because the powerpoint files and written reports

were due before we arrived in Arizona, we had plenty of

time to practice our presentations when we arrived at

Thunderbird,” Levington said. “The coaching that we

gave each other to make our presentations more effective

was an invaluable experience. It was the best kind of con-

Missed ConnectionsDid a tie-clad SAIS guy set your heart a-flutter?Did a SAIS gal win you over with her perfect IS-LM curve, but you were too shy to make yourmove? Don’t worry; now you can find them againthrough the pages of the Observer. Send your postsand replies to observer@jhu.edu. As always, weput the Relations back in IR.

We played ping-pong in the Nitze basement last

week, and I beat you three games in a row. I’m

sorry that you had to go punch the lockers for a

while. You have a really cute angry face. Let’s have

a re-match, and I’ll make sure to soothe your ego

this time.

I sat next to you at the International Dinner and we

bonded over our love for fine German sausages and

radish kimchi. You were totally hitting on me the

whole time. Then you brought up your kids. That

was a joke, right? Call me!

You: the girl with the sexy walk and sleep-deprived

eyes. Me: the only guy in the Nitze cafeteria after 1

a.m. Let’s share some tea bags tomorrow night?

I confessed my eternal love during our practice for

Persian proficiency. But you thought I was making

a joke in Spanish, and laughed... Wish me luck on

the exam?

structive criticism. In the end, we heard from the judges

and other participants that our presentations came across

as confident and polished, and we could not have done

that without those amazing peer coaching sessions. I will

seriously look to these girls again if I give another big

presentation in the future!”

Step 4: You actually have to answer the

questionsWhile it seems much less exciting than worrying

about the leadership or picking a rocking theme song,

there is actual work involved in winning the competition.

It’s important not to underestimate this.

“We worked so much on this that it felt like another

class sometimes,” Levington said. “But I think we all had

the sense that if we were going to compete, we would give

it our all. If we were going to do it, we were going to go

for the win.

“We also had a lot of fun working together because

we really challenged each other, so it was very interesting

and intellectually rewarding. And these were just plain

great women to hang out with anyway. I can't say it was

fun all the time, but even when we were exhausted we

were still respectful of each other.”

Step 5: Prepare Your ‘Surprised Face’ and

Not-So-Responsible Consumer Plan“The moment when they announced that we had won

was unforgettable. Even though we knew we had given it

our all, it was a big surprise. It felt like our hard work had

truly paid off” Levington recalled.

After you use your well-practiced surprise face (if

you are reading this article, you know you’re going to

win), you and your teammates will receive a $20,000

check to divide equally between you.

Don’t slack off like the current team members: you

should have a definite list of non-responsible consumer

choices ready to list in your ensuing interview. If you are

prepared, you won’t have to justify not opting for more

responsible consumerism.

“I'm trying to be smart and save half of it at least, but

I'm also allowing myself to indulge in a few personal

gifts,” Witlin said.

“The responsible choice would be to put it toward

tuition or repayment of student loans, and we'll probably

do some of that,” Levington added. “I have a consulting

trip to Vietnam coming up in March, and so my first pur-

chase was the plane ticket, and I'm saving some of my

winnings to travel for a week after the consulting project.”

Samantha Watson is a first-year M.A. candidate inInternational Policy.

As the financial crisis looms large throughout the

global economy, many of us undoubtedly find a

certain degree of comfort “riding out the storm”

amidst the flora of Nitze courtyard and improving our

future job prospects with a SAIS education. In some ways,

it seems like there couldn’t be a better time to be in school.

And if you are anything like me, your financial planner

goes by the initials ATM and your “portfolio” consists of

two economics finals and a few term papers.

One can only make so much fun of the crisis howev-

er. In one way or another, it is affecting all of us. Many of

us do have savings and portfolios that we are deeply con-

cerned about and more than a few

of us have serious loans that we are

carefully tracking. If you are an

international student like me, I am

sure you have been watching the

exchange rate fluctuations of your

respective currencies with a hawk-

ish eye. And then there’s the small

matter of finding a job in the ever-nearer future.

Many of us chose SAIS because we knew the quali-

ty of education, alumni network and reputation of the

school would be of significant help in getting our foot in

the door and on the way to our richly imagined careers.

However, given the gravity of the current situation, how

has the job market changed since we first got here? Should

we be preparing to settle for something different or less

than what we expected?

Clearly, the answers to these questions will depend

on how the economy fares over the coming months and

years. Despite our thorough knowledge of useful concepts

like Ricardian Equivalence, we can only wait and see.

Having invested so much time, effort and money in a pro-

fessionally focused education, however, it is best to pre-

pare ourselves for whatever reality we will face in the job

market.

Many students at SAIS, particularly those hoping to

pursue a career in finance, are already being confronted

with troubling hiring freezes and the worst industry job

prospects in years.

Nonetheless, Career Services has not seen a major

spike in the number of SAIS graduates coming to them for

help with the job search, perhaps a positive indication of

the toll the economy has taken on job prospects.

The crisis has no doubt had different effects on dif-

ferent sectors, but the job market as a whole is clearly

more competitive. Many people who are forced to look for

new positions are highly qualified with significant work

experience. However, a lack of work experience is not

necessarily a liability in the current climate. “People with

more experience typically expect a higher salary, and with

firms reluctant to spend money, inexperienced workers

may have some advantages,” explained Michael

McKenzie, Senior Associate Director for Career Services.

While changes in the private sector over the past few

months have been generally observable, the situation in

the public sector is less clear. The

school has seen a jump in the number

of presidential management fellows it

recommends, from 80 to 100, likely

due to people diversifying their port-

folios.

Determining the effect on the

public sector is made even more

opaque because of uncertainties surrounding the new

administration. McKenzie said, “The presidential race has

certainly made things uncertain and the passing of a con-

tinuing resolution can have an effect on new hiring. We

also don’t know how the assistance package will impact

the government’s overall budget and the policies of the

new administration could certainly affect hiring. It might

mean that the government job search could take a little

longer.”

Securing a position in the non-profit sector could

also be more difficult due to the uncertainty of future

funding. With private funds hurting and credit tight, future

funding for grants and other projects is more uncertain,

which is likely to have a negative impact on new hiring.

Still, there is little reason to become jaded just yet.

The present crisis provides an opportunity for students to

add new credentials to their resumes, and they should

think seriously about developing new skills through sum-

mer experiences, skills courses and other opportunities

around the school. “This is a time to retool in response to

what the market demands,” said McKenzie.

When I asked Mc Kenzie what advice he had for stu-

dents who might be apprehensive or frustrated with the

job market, he said that there were three things students

should keep in mind. The first was to recognize what was

in one’s control and what was not and refrain from getting

frustrated over things that one coul not change.

Second, start early. “Do not ignore your job search,”

said McKenzie. “Build a network, refine your message

and try and understand exactly what it is that you want out

of your future profession.”

And finally, ddo not put all your eggs in one basket.

“With any job search, contingency planning is a must.

When things don’t work out you need to have a backup

plan because it can be very frustrating starting again from

scratch,” cautioned McKenzie.

Graham Bocking is a first year M.A. candidate inCanadian Studies.

December 2008 THE SAIS OBSERVER page 9

By Richard Downie

English perspective onThanksgiving

As the nights draw in, the weather turns unpleasant

and the leaves tumble down, my fellow countrymen tend

to retreat indoors and drink themselves stupid, hoping the

winter will pass by quickly. Americans, on the other hand,

seem to do a good job of staying chipper throughout the

dark months by embracing the festival spirit. First, we had

the fancy-dress jamboree that was Halloween, then that

most quirky of quadrennial festivals, the presidential elec-

tion. But I was particularly looking forward to my first

Thanksgiving in the United States.

I wasn’t particularly sure about the origins of this

autumn celebration but a trustworthy local told me that it

began with the early settlers, who, delirious with relief

after escaping the poverty, pestilence and brutality of

England, held a spontaneous knees-up to mark their

arrival in the land of plenty. They were massacred by

Native Americans shortly before dessert (a delicious-look-

ing pecan pie).

Despite the early glitches, Thanksgiving has evolved

into one of the best American traditions — an excuse to

load up on food and booze, trade insults with family mem-

bers and fall asleep in front of some sport on the televi-

sion.

To ensure I got my debut Thanksgiving just right, I

consulted jailbird Martha Stewart’s website for some

homemaking advice. She made me realise just how ill-

PART 3. Festive Fun:

An Englishman writesprepared I was for the big day, so I jettisoned my studies

temporarily. Instead, I devoted all my energy into perfect-

ing my interpretation of Martha’s chestnut stuffing (may

contain nuts) and followed her precise instructions on

designing turkey-stencilled napkins and runners (a sur-

prisingly easy and stylish way of sprucing up the

Thanksgiving table).

As it turned out, I was invited out for dinner so — to

my great relief — my meal was prepared by a profession-

al (although the napkins weren’t as festive as I’d hoped).

For me, it was a bit like Christmas minus the crap

bits – the present-buying, the dirge-like carols, the holiday

specials on TV and the whining children. Putting pumpkin

(a vegetable, if I’m not mistaken) in a pie and eating it

with cream struck me as a questionable culinary move.

But the rest of it I would give a big thumbs-up.

All of this good-natured fall frivolity struck me as far

removed from Britain’s big autumn festival, Bonfire Night

— a semi-anarchic carnival of destruction and burning

which provides an excuse to scare small children, animals

and the elderly with loud fireworks. A peculiarly eccentric

event, it marks the cack-handed attempt by a Catholic fel-

low called Guy Fawkes to blow up the Houses of

Parliament and displace the Protestant King. He was

caught red-handed and following a brief trial, which was

preceded by a longer spell of light torture, he was hung,

disembowelled and cut into quarters (just to make sure).

In an attempt to reconstruct what might have hap-

pened if his dastardly plan had come off, people up and

down the country set off fireworks and generally burn

Richard Downie’s Thanksgiving dinner.

Shall I compare thee to a recession?

Thou art more predictable and less short

Dare you trust the advice so Keynesian,

And laissez-faire regulations abort?

More true than mortgage backed securities

In colla’rlized debt obligations.

You never trusted rating agencies;

Our love never suffers from stagflations.

So stay free from moral hazards today,

Our love will never create a bubble

Sub-prime arbitrage schemes, them keep away,

And we'll do without fiscal stimulus trouble

So long as man can spend or dollars make,

In global trade, like our love, profits you’ll take!

With apologies to Bill Shakespeare.

Alden Pyle is a 2nd year MA candidate in Strategic Studies.

Alden Pyle’s Poetry Corner

Recession love

Careers in crisisBy Graham Bocking

Many students at SAIS are

already being confronted

with troubling hiring freezes

and the worst industry job

prospects in years.

stuff, including effigies of the unfortunate Mr. Fawkes.

While early Bonfire nights were marred by ugly revenge

attacks on Catholics, the festival has evolved into an

inclusive, multi-denominational celebration in which peo-

ple of all faiths stand an equal chance of having a rocket

shot at their face.

What this orgy of organised destruction says about

the British, I don’t know. But next Thanksgiving, when

you sit down to your turkey, be sure to offer up a brief

prayer of thanks to your forefathers for trading in one

dodgy festival for a much better one on this side of the

pond.

Richard Downie is an MIPP candidate.

continued from page 1

Sampling D.C. coffee shops

“I would study here,” Richard said, despite the (admittedly mild) noise.

I finished the mocha and we strolled down to the Mudd House at 1724 M Street. A

recessed maqha, it was quieter and smaller than Cosi, with a charming Southwestern

décor and friendly service.

Richard picked the 100% organic house coffee ($1.50). “It has more body,” he said.

Chris added that it was almost as good as Starbucks, but not quite. We tried the mocha

($3.35), which had the taste of real chocolate, and agreed that it was quite good and

worth a try. Ditto the hot cider ($2.45).

Open only on weekdays from 6:30am to 5:30pm, it’s clear that the Mudd House is

Andre Castillo and Richard Kaufman sipping their tea at Teaism.

December 2008 THE SAIS OBSERVER page 10

While the gap in the political relations of the United States and Syria has

widened in the twilight of the Bush administration, the people of these coun-

tries face at least one common problem: the difficulty of getting access to

politically-charged Syrian films. Never mind that the reasons for this difficulty are total-

ly different in each country — a tight censorship regime in Syria, and a general lack of

demand in the U.S. But people in both countries recently had a chance to see one such

film, “Out of Coverage.”

Our opportunity came at the Arabian Sights Film Festival, which occurred last

month in Washington. One of thirteen contemporary Arab films screened at the festival,

“Out of Coverage” is at once a beautiful portrait of Damascene life, slapstick Arab com-

edy, and political commentary.

The film follows the life of Amer, a Damascene man whose time

and loyalties are divided between his nagging wife and the beautiful

wife of his wrongly-imprisoned friend.

Amer’s daily routine and outlook parallel that of many ambitious

Syrians with limited professional opportunities; he simultaneously

holds three jobs: baker, Arabic teacher and taxi driver. Though frus-

trated by the demands of all of these jobs, Amer is unburdened by the

freedom of movement that they afford him, as his wife is never sure

exactly which job Amer is doing at any given time.

This latter aspect is reflected in the title of the film, which comes from the mes-

sage that plays when one tries to call a person who has switched off his or her mobile

phone or gone ‘out of coverage’ in Syria.

The ambiguity between these states allows Amer to make himself inaccessible

when convenient—which he often does to avoid the incessant demands of his wife,

Salma, and spend time with his imprisoned friend’s wife, Nada.

The portrayal of Amer in “Out of Coverage” ranges from subtle to caricatural.

Amer develops a relationship with Nada because he has spent ten years financially sup-

porting and caring for her while his best friend Zohair, Nada’s husband, has been a polit-

ical prisoner.

The moral complexity of Amer’s devotion to Zohair and fondness for Zohair’s

wife is masterfully demonstrated by Amer’s slightly-too-long glances and inadvertent

physical contact with Nada as he helps her with routine duties like dropping her daugh-

ter off after school and delivering her groceries.

This subtlety vanishes when Amer learns that Zohair is soon to be released from

prison. Amer becomes a poor man’s Raskolnikov, deliriously driving his taxi around the

same square and repeatedly stopping to ask the confused cigarette vendor unintelligible

questions. The abruptness and silliness of this behavior are the filmmaker’s effort to mix

serious anguish with comedic effect, but make Amer appear simple and erratic.

The character development of the two women in Amer’s life has similar highs and

lows. When Nada visits Zohair in prison, he asks her how she is sustaining herself and

which of his old friends assist her. She answers that only Amer continues to help, and

the looks they exchange evoke the tensions that drive the whole movie.

Both Nada’s feelings of commitment to her husband and her attraction to Amer are

thoroughly developed and build to a love scene that is surprisingly explicit given the

conservative social mores of the Arab world.

Salma, by contrast, is rarely depicted doing anything but haranguing Amer to fix

things around the house and get a more stable job. Her attempts to seduce her husband

are forced and strike the viewer as mechanical expressions of physical urges, devoid of

real affection.

Overall, however, the film’s most important characters come off as complicated

and realistic.

The political and emotional heaviness of the film is counterbalanced by its

comedic interludes and snapshots of Syrian life. The film opens to a breathtaking view

of Damascus and its hinterlands from a ferris wheel on top of Mount Qassioun, which

towers over the city. Amer’s work at an Arabic sweet shop, his break for tea at a café in

the old city and his navigation of hordes of screaming Syrian school children in their

characteristic pink and blue aprons provide vivid

images of bustling, vibrant, contemporary

Damascus.

I was not sure whether Amer’s Japanese stu-

dent of Arabic was meant to entertain Arabs—who

find foreigners trying to learn their language hilari-

ous— , or those foreigners themselves. As a member

of the latter category, I found him hilarious. Like

most foreign students, the Japanese student studies the formal Arabic used in media,

business and government, which is very different from the Arabic spoken on the street

and in people’s homes. Thus the advice the student gives to Amer about the women in

his life comes out in the Arabic equivalent of Shakespearean English. The stilted, almost

pedantic exchange highlights both the comedy and absurdity of Amer’s situation.

Farcical comedy also has a large place in “Out of Coverage.” A person searching

for common ground between Syrian and American cultures need look no further than a

shared love of feces jokes. While resting against a tree to transcribe a long shopping list

for Salma onto his arm, Amer is showered from above by diarrheic birds.

Similarly absurd is Amer’s taxi driving. At one point, a prospective passenger

refuses to tell Amer where he wants to go, insulted that Amer would inquire about such

personal business. To get this fare, Amer lets him drive and the ‘passenger’ promptly

drives the car into the middle of the highway, parks it there and exits without explana-

tion. This silly, slapstick humor would have no place in a similarly serious American

film, but somehow fits into this tragic yet idealized picture of Syrian life.

Though “Out of Coverage” was produced last year, it had been neither screened

nor distributed on DVD in Syria until last month, when it made an appearance at the

Damascus International Film Festival, and won the Best Arab Film award.

There is a deep irony in a government’s denying its average citizens access to cer-

tain materials while simultaneously lauding those same materials. This irony carries a

clear message about politically-relevant art in Syria: say what you like, as long as only

foreigners and an elite too small and docile to cause any problems can hear it.

Somewhat like Amer’s life, artistic expression in Syria is fraught with challenges.

Both, however, provide insight and enjoyment to their foreign viewers.

Kevin Mazur is a first-year M.A. candidate in Middle East Studies.

Film review: “Out of Coverage”By Kevin Mazur

A clear message about politically-

relevant art in Syria: say what you

like, as long as only foreigners and

an elite too small and docile to

cause any problems can hear it.

geared toward the business crowd. It offers a smattering of food, mostly sandwiches ($7

and up), some breakfast options ($5 and up), and a small selection of coffee drinks and

smoothies, plus free Wi-Fi.

Richard enjoyed the relative quiet: “If I were with a girl, I would come here. It’s

easier to have a conversation here.” Chris echoed the sentiment in his best Turkish val-

ley-girl accent: “Çok güzel ya!”

Very nice.

On the other side of Dupont Circle, we found Teaism at 2009 R Street, which serves

no coffee. Fair enough—in the Middle East maqha, tea predominates as well. Teaism also

offers a slightly more formal setting with quality Asian-style lunch and dinner offerings

(open late) to complement its variety of quality teas. Teas are served in pots only and

range from $2.50-4.50 with over twenty options to choose from, including one tisane tea

by the name of “World Peace.”

Chris, Richard and I passed on World Peace and ordered the Ceylon and Yunnan

Gold. By this point, I could feel my heart rapidly beating in my chest. The caffeine was

clearly having an effect on me. With heightened mental acuity, I naturally launched into

a diatribe on the ambiguity of the word “terrorism” in U.S. foreign policy. Richard, an

honorable veteran of the war in Afghanistan, was game, and we sparred in the maqha.

Chris changed the subject back to a discussion of Turko-Persian linguistic similarities

while my mind was caught up in a game of mental football.

Chris mentioned the word kursi. It caught my interest. I don’t know why. I begin to

parse his every word. The subject changed, but I couldn’t let it go. “What does kursi

mean?” I asked. “Basically, it’s a heated chair that…” he began to answer. But by this

point, I’d already begun to analyze the meaning of the word chair, attempted to translate

it into Spanish, wondered why I hadn’t studied Spanish enough to know the darn word

for chair, and cursed my high school Spanish teacher for failing to help me understand

Mexican Spanish rather than Castilian.

By now Richard and Chris had begun discussing something else, and I wondered

why I couldn’t keep my attention for the thirty seconds necessary to hear the answer to

my question about chairs.

This, I realized, was why I don’t drink coffee.

Andre Castillo is a first-year M.A. candidate in Middle East Studies.

The day I found my Halloween costume was both

disconcerting, and quite satisfying. It really started

to take off around 4 p.m., when I set off ― for the

third time in two days ― to look for a store that sells face

paint for Halloween. I was dead set on being a scary ver-

sion of Huanhuan, one of the five Beijing ’08 Olympic

mascots ―specifically, Huanhuan, the red one.

But finding face paint had proven difficult: it was

unavailable in the import stores, the Walmart, the cosmet-

ics stores, or the art stores.

Finally, someone advised going to the Confucius

Temple section of town. I should have thought of that

myself; it is a ridiculously commercialized area.

Since I had wasted hours that morning biking to

Walmart, I reluctantly opted to take a taxi rather than walk

or bike, to limit the time damage in case the trip was in

vain.

Shopping in Confucius TempleI found the Confucius Temple area just as I remem-

bered it from my brief visit in

2003 ― extremely kitschy,

filled with inflatable animals

and fake lanterns, cheap eater-

ies, and touristy shops selling

wooden and plastic swords,

beads, scarves, and chess-

boards.

A few promising-looking

places sold children’m

Halloween-esque masks, but

no face paint.

By the way, there is no word for face paint in

Chinese, so I had to repeatedly approximate with the

expressions “draw my own mask” and “clown makeup,”

which did not expedite my quest.

Chickens and the Halloween storeEventually I happened upon a hole-in-the-wall with

no name that had an array of colored wigs on its front

door.

I stepped inside. The salesman and owner were

wearing sorcerer and witch costumes. Bingo!

This store specialized in Halloween paraphernalia ―

which was really perplexing because China doesn’nscele-

brate Halloween. What do they sell the rest of the year?

The store was tiny but had all I needed, and more.

Oh, so much more. They had shelves of Halloween-

themed gag toys, such as soap that gives off “blood” suds

in the shower, spicy-flavored tea bags, motion-activated

coffins that pop open, and electric-shock toys.

I got zapped about eighteen times because I didn’t

know which toys were which. Incidentally, the voltage

was way too high to be safe.

Finally, I settled on a face paint kit, fake blood, and

fangs.

Before I could pay, the owner asked

if I would like to eat something, and

handed me a plate filled with little round

meatballs. At first glance, that is.

Upon closer examination, the meat

balls were actually cooked, fetal chick-

ens. Yes, pre-birth chickens.

No feathers yet, but each one had

perfectly formed bones and a long saggy

neck, and it was curled up in an egg-

shape.

Seeing me cringe, the shopkeeper suggested I just

close my eyes and try one. And so I did.

I’m sorry to say it was delicious. Alex Bloom is a second-year M.A. candidate inChina Studies currently studying in Nanjing.

Walking into a meeting of the SAIS Integral

Theory Club was a bizarre experience. At the

whiteboard, club founder and discussion leader

Paul Alois stood in front of a four quadrant graph.

“Fear is at the same level as the reptile brain,” he

said.

For the uninitiated, Integral Theory “is an attempt to

synthesize all human

knowledge into a sin-

gle meta-theory,”

Alois said.

For example,

what connects

bananas, space-time,

Fascism, and the

muppets? Integral theory tries to develop a cognitive

framework within which each of these ideas can coexist

— their relationships more clear, our world better under-

stood.

As the club’s advertising flier notes, “Being alive in

2008 is very confusing.”

In Alois’s words, “Integral Theory asks one simple

question: how can the insights from hard science, psychol-

ogy or sociology, and contemplative spirituality be ‘inte-

grated’ into a single meta-paradigm?”

No snootinessDespite its lofty agenda, Alois and his bi-weekly reg-

ulars stay away from the snootiness of a philosophy T.A.

hangout.

Although Alois guided the discussion to cover the

key areas of Integral Theory, questions from newbies are

welcomed. And comments were offered for everyone’s

benefit, not just to demonstrate the breadth of any partic-

ular member’s knowledge.

Perhaps the best example: the beer brands were

familiar, not some microbrew the vice-president discov-

ered on his post-undergrad

pilgrimage to Nietzsche’s

hometown.

Chance to thinkStill, the Integral

Theory Club offers a

chance to think, an exer-

cise all too rare in the SAIS educational agenda. No one

joins this club for career networking purposes. Your work

experience in the Peace Corps or at Lehman Brothers will

not give you a leg up. And there’s no discussion of policy

or pragmatism.

This club typifies what graduate school should be

about — namely an interest in expanding one’s mind.

The subject matter is not easy. Alois’s background in

the subject offers a lot of help to his inquisitive team-

mates, but discussion often derails into debates about

whether “complex thought can exist without language” (it

can, sort of), or whether “infants can understand ‘good’

and ‘bad’” (Integral Theory says probably not).

The wave of the futureThe atmosphere was friendly, and the meetings only

go long enough for the un-drunk beers to warm to room

temperature.

“I would like to spend every other Friday hanging

out with my friends, having deep discussions, and drink-

ing a beer or two,” Alois said.

If that’s not enough to encourage you to try a meet-

ing, you should also go to avoid letting your world view

fall behind.

“My interest is far from unique,” Alois said. “I hon-

estly believe that in 100 years the founder of Integral

Theory, Ken Wilber, will be as famous as

Nietzsche, Hegel, or Sartre.”

No doubt the best evidence that this club is

worth a second look: so far all one-time attendees

have returned for more.

The Integral Theory Club meets every two

or three weeks on Fridays in Nitze 507. Contact

Paul Alois at aloispfa@hotmail.com for more

information.

Michael Tanenbaum is a first year M.A. candidate inChina Studies.

December 2008 THE SAIS OBSERVER page 11

All Chickens’ Eve: Halloween in Nanjing

SAIS Integral Theory ClubWhat connects bananas, space-time,

Fascism, and the muppets?

Alex Bloom, a.k.a. a scary Huanhuan,

the red Olympic mascot.

Four quadrant graph that “synthesizes” all human knowledge.

By Alex Bloom

By Michael Tanenbaum

There is no word for face

paint in Chinese, so I had to

repeatedly approximate with

the expressions “draw my

own mask” and “clown

makeup,” which did not

expedite my quest.

The Integral Theory

Club offers a chance to

think, an exercise all

too rare in the SAIS

educational agenda.

No one joins this club for

career networking purpos-

es. Your work experience

in the Peace Corps or at

Lehman Brothers will not

give you a leg up.

December 2008 THE SAIS OBSERVER page 12

Ask the SAIS GuyBy Matt Kaczmarek

The SAIS Guy answers your questions each month on

love, life, and President Bush’s freedom agenda. Today’s

topics: finding balance and winter break plans.

Dear SAISGuy: So here we are, three months into school, and I still

haven’t figured out how to manage my time. I’m a first yearadjusting back to life on campus, and it seems as if everytime I turn around there’s another school or social event.We pay a lot to go here, so I want to take advantage ofschool programs. But I also want to do well in my classes,

spend time with my friends, and maybe do an internship. How can I balance? — Beleaguered in BOB

Dear Beleaguered:

This was a big issue for me last year. I felt like every time I checked my email there

was a great event with free food to attend; that every time I drank a beer I was betraying

that pile of reading on my desk; and the worst came after I began a non-SAIS relation-

ship. Like most of us here, I feel your pain.

It is impossible to take advantage of every single event or commitment. The key —

just as you’ve said — is balance. Here are my suggestions for making the most of your

two years at SAIS:

1. Keep a schedule.

Yes, I mean a calendar, but also a routine. It’s a lot easier to feel that you’re balanc-

ing multiple commitments if you can fit them all into a regular routine. Set a time each

day to either be on campus or start working from home. If you worked before coming to

SAIS, this will be easier. You can get a lot done — and even socialize a bit — on quiet

mornings in the Nitze cafeteria.

And if you put aside a morning each week for ‘sleeping ’til noon’ or avoiding the

weekend laundry rush, you won’t feel nearly as disappointed about the inevitable oppor-

tunity cost of not doing work.

2. Commit regular time each day to the things that matter most to you.

For me, these include going to the gym and watching the national evening news —

a holdover from working in politics. I can usually find a two hour break in the day when

I know I wouldn’t be productive anyway, and head to the gym. Although it makes me a

huge dork, I Tivo the news so I can watch it over a quick dinner whenever I get home at

night. I also make a point to eat lunches and dinners with friends to ensure some social

interaction in an otherwise very busy day.

3. Pencil all potential opportunities into your

schedule.

I’m guilty of this one, too: it’s easy to delete

emails about school events and then regret not hear-

ing about them. Some people think going to school

events is lame, but a lot of effort goes into arranging speakers like the CEO of Pepsico

International or the First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF. Aside from providing a

fresh, on-the-ground perspective on topics you’re discussing in class, outside speakers

can provide unique insight about life after SAIS.

My advice is to scan every events email as it comes in. If it interests you, don’t

think about whether or not you can attend; just make a note in your calendar. As the day

approaches, make your decision given the rest of your time constraints. Even if you can’t

make it, at least you’ll feel informed about what is happening.

4. Come to school in smart or business casual.

It always helps to be prepared in case an unexpected event or professional situation

could lead to a future opportunity. I got an internship offer based on asking a tough ques-

tion about the need to reduce agricultural subsidies to Congressman Charlie Rangel last

year in Kenney.

At SAIS, anything can happen (well, except for proper building temperature regu-

lation).

And yes, I fully endorse your Missy Elliot-style track suit or Princeton sweatpants

for days when you’re barricading yourself in the library to write a paper.

5. Think of your future.

Imagine looking back on your SAIS experience five years from now. What do you

want to remember? This isn’t undergrad anymore. No one is telling you what you have

to do (except Dean Harrington and his needlessly complicated matrix of degree require-

ments). And no one is telling you how to prior-

itize.

Interested in a specific field? Focus on

the related skills courses, clubs, and network-

ing opportunities. It may feel like you’re con-

straining yourself, but the effort will likely be

rewarded.

Want to build an international network of

friends and future contacts? Make an effort to

attend formal and informal social events —

such as your friends’ Thursday pub nights (even if you have work to do on Friday). Enjoy

occasional long weekend brunches, and feel better about achieving a balanced experi-

ence.

6. Don’t feel bad about taking time away from SAIS.

You should never feel bad about taking a little time away from school, especially to

meet new people or date. If you’re like most SAISers, after graduation you will be work-

ing long, career-driven days and perpetually exhausted, no matter if you’re in Ikea-

inspired offices or refugee camps.

The days ahead will likely get more intense, not less — and with less time to meet

as many diverse and interesting people, both at SAIS and in greater D.C.

7. Try to attend the big SGA-sponsored events.

Five years from now when you meet a fellow SAISer in Kiev, what else are you

going to bond over? Sure, classes and professors — but also happy hours, the interna-

tional dinner, prom at the Italian embassy. Think of it as an investment in your future that

also happens to be a good time.

The bottom line

I’ve noticed that the most satisfied students at SAIS seem to be those who take their

classes seriously, but don’t start and end with those eight hours of class per week. They

attend events around school, are involved in their programs, and build meaningful per-

sonal relationships.

Is it easy? Of course not. But is grad school supposed to be? We don’t always suc-

ceed, least of all me. There will always be things you wish you could make time for. Just

don’t let yourself get overwhelmed.

Do what you can, say no to things, and enjoy yourself. To paraphrase Dean Einhorn,

“If undergrad is about changing the individual, graduate instruction is about giving the

individual the tools to make an impact, to change the world.” It’s up to you to figure out

what you want from SAIS. Now go make it happen! — SAISGuy

Dear SAIS Guy: I still haven’t decided what to do for winter break. I want to go abroad, learn some-

thing, and have fun at the same time. Any suggestions? — Cooped up in the Cafeteria

Dear Coop:

I’m glad you asked. Winter break presents more than four weeks of opportunity.

Smart SAISers generally use the time to go abroad with their departments, visit family

and friends that they haven’t talked to during the 15 wild weeks of the semester, sleep,

and eat.

My suggestion? The aforementioned are all nice, but how about something a little

more exciting… like espionage.

Just imagine, a short term contract from the CIA, MI6, China’s MSS, or my person-

al favorite: India’s RAW (like credit risk firms a few months earlier, they may be look-

ing for some new talent these days). Imagine the international mayhem you could create,

the exciting places to visit, the hot new spy gadgetry you could bring back to enliven the

spring semester, the women/men.

Yes, SAISers, freelance spycraft is certain-

ly the way to go for winter break. While the

James Bond enterprise is doing its best to recre-

ate a fictional network of evildoers, plenty of

potential villains exist in real life. Just imagine

cave hunting for Osama bin Laden on the border

between Pakistan and Afghanistan, bringing peace to the eastern Congo, or kickboxing

with an army of evil, short-selling investment banker ninjas on a Virgin Atlantic flight

between here and Zurich (in Upper Class, of course).

Use that medical evacuation insurance

The opportunities are endless. Best of all, SAIS provides us with complimentary

medical evacuation insurance! It’s best not to wait until summer: international espionage

is best conducted while you’re still covered by the student health plan.

For brainstorming your itinerary, I recommend mixing the metropoles of OECD

members with a good selection from Foreign Policy’s index of failed states, and a few

emerging markets thrown in for good measure. For background research, you could not

be better located: see the International Spy Museum, the Newseum, and of course,

Professor McLaughlin.

Gadgets may be trickier to procure since the Sharper Image liquidated earlier this

year. But I’m told you can find anything at Filene’s Basement. For tailored clothes, take

a test drive of your loaned Tesla or Audi R8 up to New York for the night.

Your winter break: pirates and Russian tanks

Interesting people, exciting work, luxury hotels, and pirates. The life of a consult-

ant? No. Your winter break — and the topic of your French presentation next semester.

You could spend your break on the couch at your parents’ house watching reruns of

“Saved by the Bell,” or you could spread unrest in Raoul Castro’s Cuba, rescue FARC

hostages in Colombia, transport suitcases full of cash to Christina Fernandez de Kirchner,

broker a power-sharing agreement

between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, wres-

tle oil tankers from Somali pirates, drive

a Russian tank into Ukraine just to see

what happens, trigger a nuclear war

between India and Pakistan, squat the

tarmac in Bangkok, discover iron ore

deposits in the Australian outback, race the border between the Koreas, visit Aung San

Suu Kyi, and make it back to Rio in time for New Years’ Eve.

Global? Surely. Dangerous? Maybe. But just another four week winter break for the

rest of us. Have a good trip. — SAIS Guy

Coming next month: the top ten things to do at SAIS before you graduate.Suggestions? Email them along with questions for future issues tomatt.kaczmarek@jhu.edu.

Matt Kaczmarek is a second year M.A. candidate in Latin American Studies. Or at leastthat’s what he wants you to believe.

“Is it easy? Of course

not. But is grad school

supposed to be?”

“I fully endorse your Missy

Elliot-style track suit or

Princeton sweatpants for

days when you’re barricad-

ing yourself in the library

to write a paper.”

“International espionage is

best conducted while

you’re still covered by the

student health plan.”

“Interesting people, exciting

work, luxury hotels, and pirates.

The life of a consultant? No.

Your winter break.”