Mark Hopkins & The Constitution

From Patheos:

Reverend Mark Hopkins, the former president of Williams College, urged the federal government to pass laws protecting the observance of the Christian Sabbath (Sunday). Hopkins argued that the Fourth Commandment ("Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy") should be embedded in American law in much the same way that commandments prohibiting murder, stealing, and "bearing false witness" were staples of the legal system. If that was not enough to convince naysayers, Hopkins emphasized Jesus' words in Mark 2:27—"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath"—to argue that the human body was created by God in such a way that it required a day of rest. "Men and animals," Hopkins wrote, "will have a better health and live longer; will do more work, and do it better, if they rest one day in seven, than if they work continuously." Since rest was a human right endowed by God, how could a nation with Christian roots not endorse the Sabbath?

We embrace what we like from our past and ignore the very unconstitutional thoughts of Williams's celebrated President. I am left wondering, to an extent, about how "correct" my current constitutional thoughts will seem in 50 years. Perhaps anyone who thinks the government should regulate marriage will be ostracized?

Libya

The recent political kerfuffle over Obama's intervention in Libya is the perfect Catch-22. As was inevitable, military equipment has been destroyed, and civilians killed - by us. We own this conflict in a way that no one can diminish - mission creep is going to get worse unless we have set up (privately) a CLEAR AND ABSOLUTE end of commitment.

If we hadn't intervened, you can bet the GOP would have made a huge fuss that Obama had let the rebels die (which is what would have happened by today). As it stands, they're criticizing him for getting us into another conflict, and that's one thing about being POTUS - sometimes you just have to take it on the political chin; it's part of the office's responsibility, and something I hope other presidents will emulate.

I am still an opponent of intervention - the success of Egypt is that they survived and made it work without outside help; while the dictator's survival in Libya/the crush of the rebels would have sent the wrong message, I don't think a doctrine of intervention is going to do us many favors either. These revolutions have been shown, absolutely, to work. Citizens should now concentrate on organizing for the next round of uprisings, with the knowledge that time allows evil regimes to consolidate power.

Lessons should be learned and absorbed; it's not wise for us to push this too hard, and certainly strategically stupid to open all of the rebels to charges of Western influence. We shouldn't make ourselves a propaganda boogyman, and I fear that's the ultimate effect of our actions.

Responses to Ephblog Questions

Which experiences at Williams would you like to take with you, be they educational, interpersonal, community-oriented, etc., so that those parts of your life will be part of your next steps?

Honor Committee. There is no responsibility quite so great as when which eight students control, to some extent, the near future of someone's life - if they have to make up a course, or if they might be suspended. There isn't much outside accountability for Honor Committee - we students receive advice from faculty and the Dean, but ultimately the call is ours. My honor experiences, in making deciding votes in both directions, have made me much more comfortable with less consequential decisions - I can look at a problem, make a good call, and go on with my life much more easily now. Nothing teaches responsibility like responsibility.

Storytime. I've always been a fan, but I think there's something authentic and unique in the trust of that space - hopefully, I can inspire something like it later.

And then there are the countless experiences with difference - people who have different customs or ideas, and navigating our distinctions and similarities.

How might that relate to searching for work and finding what you’d like to do, or a workplace you’d like to be part of?

Hard to say, especially initially. Williams has helped to make me a better person, but I don't feel like I've gained many occupation-specific skills here, which was probably the point.

CS 134 anyone?

Taking it right now and loving it....kinda wish I had gone for this class freshman year; I might (??) have double-majored....

This blog is not where I post the most:

If you want to read the stories that I find most interesting / worthy of note, subscribe to this Atom feed of links/articles (website version here).

 

I link all of this, and more, each day, with Google Reader's shared items feature. The feed isn't quite as visual as what's shown here, but I'm rather loathe to quote anyone on the blog proper without commentary.

 

Current Events

When I was born, there was no internet to spread word of protests in the middle east; no internet to see live video on demand of a wave of water overwhelming Japan's water walls. There was no Facebook, no Google, no Blogspot.

Yet now these things are a part of my everyday life, so much so that I cannot imagine a time in college without them. What would Williams be - could Williams be - without cell phones to help us find each other as schedules shift, or web-resources that make directory information so accessible?

But the image to the top right confirms that which history tells us - this world has always been interconnected, whether on the tendrils of a tsunami wave reaching by oceans or by the diseases carried by foreign armies that wrecked havoc on native populations (ahem-Amherst!-cough). But now we know and see it - a random dude looking at a rainbow and Zach Anner show us that, as we spend a cognitive surplus seeking hours and hours of free dynamic entertainment via screens.

And then disaster strikes. Tsunami, cyclone, hurricane, epidemic, tornado, earthquake, blizzard: simply living has never been safe (though I live in a pretty calm part of the world for this stuff), and we never know when each gallon of drinking water will become invaluable. Life on a Japanese Street was completely ordinary until the water swept through.

I worry, sometimes, that we're living in that sort of moment, that an oncoming environmental disaster will truly push us back in years to come, to an era where these were the true good ole' days, but then I remember the incalculable human spirit - that we can accomplish wonders, sometimes, even in the midst of horror. That courage is possible in the face of death and despair.

And so, we move onwards with our lives,waiting until the next crisis comes to us, and hoping that we might be equal to it. I don't know if any of this makes sense - its pretty late - but the upshot is that I think things will always happen, and I'm glad to have an education that will help prepare me to deal with many of them.

Questions from Ephblog

When Senior Mom e-mailed me, I wasn't too sure if I wanted my words back on Ephblog's front page, but given that I would have answered anyone else's questions, it seemed unfair to single one blog out.

What career paths are you considering?
Williams has been very good at showing me what I'm good at (innovating policies and practices in pursuit of some goal, listening to people, making decisions responsibly, enabling others to pursue their goals by connecting them to resources, learning the intricacies of an organization and leveraging that knowledge for good, helping people, keeping confidentiality) and what I'm bad at (stepping back and getting perspective during moments of focus, saying what I mean without communication foul-ups, stressing out with incorrect feelings it's all on me, getting enough sleep). Unfortunately, none of this points to a clear career path.

At the present moment I want to end up doing some sort of governmental work. I believe that technology offers a huge opportunity to increase efficiency and reduce the costs of governmental administration, but only if those policies are pursued with intelligence, and I want to be someone who raises different ideas and possibilities that allow our governments to do a better, cheaper job, especially for a citizen with a grievance but little institutional knowledge of the body s/he must appeal to. All of the potential of technology disappears if people don't use a system's capabilities.
If all of that indicates a clear occupation, I would appreciate knowing what that is, because I surely haven't a clue. :P



What are some of the job options you feel would contribute to this path?
Some possibilities include lawyering, or working in fed/state/local gov't. But those are guesses.

Dream job?
I think being a federal inspector general would be amazing, as long as I was working in a cooperative agency with a strong initial culture of ethics. There are all sorts of horror stories to be read about experiences of whistle-blowers in some of the more problematic environments.


What's your first priority - where you want to live, or what you intend to do?
What I want to do is much more important, at least initially. However, the internet can be a temptation: we think that Skype and co enable strong and lasting connections, but my practical experience indicates that proximity is still very important. I would hope to end up back in my hometown at some point - I have too many roots in Atlanta and Washington's allure may not be that strong.

Job Fairs?
A few, they were helpful experience in conversations and such, but I haven't seen much to pique my own interests.

Has the Alumni Association played any part in your career planning?
Not beyond the career mentor network, which has been helpful in terms of advice.


Any particular mentors you'd like to talk about?
At Williams? Not particularly. I've appreciated my mentors because unlike my peers, they have offices I can wander into, but I don't know if they've been particularly helpful career-wise.

Are personal connections proving particularly valuable?
Not really. I value each of the contacts Williams has provided, but "particularly valuable" for a senior equals "provided direct job-help," which hasn't happened.


How valuable has your Williams degree proven thus far, in preparing you and in opening doors?
 I would say that my experience indicates that the Williams name is very valuable in some fields (esp. when a firm sells itself by saying its staff all went to top-tier schools), and has gotten me a few neat interviews via the OCC, but certianly isn't everything.


How do your cohorts seem to be faring in their job searches?
The only people who talk about it are those who have jobs, so my only impression is that I'm the last to get a job, which obviously isn't true. Most consulting/banking stuff was done with in the fall, and grad schools decisions are coming now. Each field has a time of heavy hiring.


Do you have plans for an advanced degree?
MPP/MPA, mayyyyyybe JD, but I think we have too many lawyers and that a good LSAT score does not a happy law school experience (or wise law degree) make, despite how much I enjoyed Mock Trial.


Any musings about the fact that you will soon be leaving Williams?
This spring has been about handing over responsibility: explicitly handing over my slight powers over Goodrich and the Bell Tower, charging underclassmen to continue some of my efforts, and passing on the knowledge I've gained (and storing it, for the next freshman who procrastinates by reading archival documents). The reality of leaving, though, hasn't really set in. Williams is obviously something that I will appreciate more in absence - we only notice the mountians when they no longer surround us, and the people who are no longer nearby.
Then again, I've had my time in the petri dish and there are '15s out there who need a college to call home. I'm proud of what I've done here, and will gladly take my leave to allow them their own Williams experience.

Pray For Japan

It was the 7th largest earthquake in recorded history. Millions are saved because of good engineering there, but hundreds or thousands are dead. Two passenger trains (whole trains) are missing.

Security

Physical security is important; I've been blessed to live in some wonderful places without much present crime. However, security for planes, trains, and public areas is now verging on the rediculous.

Life has risks, and the more we embrace them the more realistic our expectations will be. Trying to build a security wall around the entire US is foolhardy, and will ultimately hurt us more than it helps us.

Too much

Sometimes, one's to-do list gets so long that just starting in on it is scary.

I want to:

• Update my resume
• Look at Route 2
• Fill out two more applications
• Finish arranging things for the bell-ringing hiring process.
• Read the Atlantic
• Meet three people for coffee, dinner, and hanging out tonight.
• Go to the class I'm auditing.

Whoo!

Much has happened....

Well, readers, my apologies for not getting back to you sooner.

I'm having a fantastic last semester, complete with intrigue, fine cooking, the usual school politics, and wonderful friends.

I'm attending 6 classes this semester:

• Computer Science 134 (or CS 1 for those outside Williams), which is a lot of fun and very enjoyable. Definitely a class I wish I'd taken sooner.
• Political Economy 402, a senior seminar where my group is investigating access to higher education in the United States, and will travel to DC to interview experts on the matter.
• Political Science 233, a course in international law that I need to complete the major with a great professor. It certainly seems like IL is like a playground with a bunch of kids trying to establish some sort of government/hierarchy, with lots of little forums and meeting places scattered around.
• Economics 229, a course on law and economics where we debate which parties to lawsuits should be hit for the benefit of all, and more...

I'm also auditing two courses, one on memory and identity, and the other on constitutional law, which are both fantastic, unless interrupted by a shattering gutter that throws lots of snow off of the roof and swings a huge block of ice in front of the window for the rest of class.......

More later - I must be off to lab! But, if you want to read more of my thoughts about Jerusalem, click below...

Today

Still havea  backlog of stuff to write. Today:

• Settler
• PLO Rep
• Tour of "the wall."

But I need to give up the computer.

In which I come close to harm...

The Old City of Jerusalem is eerily quiet at night. The shops are closed and everyone save a handful of male Arabs have deserted the streets, with the rare tourist, female, or soldier on the way home at night. It's not a comfortable place for females to walk alone - I get comments asking if I'm lost that could easily be much more threatening, and while I don't have that experience, I have felt useful as an escort of sorts coming home.

Last night, I chose to come home ahead of the group to talk with an NGO volunteer who had gone to an Ivy league school in order to pick his brain (surprise, surprise, this school isn't very different from Williams in some ways....) but as we approached the intersection where we were to part, we heard shouting. Loud shouting.

It was the kind of noise that suggests volume even at distance, and which carries tones of chaos and anger. We cautiously rounded the corner and saw, about 50 feet down the alley, a fairly intense street fight in progress. There were at least 10 combatants, joining and leaving the conflict, which seemed to be mainly between 3 guys. I have no idea about the cause. We walked closer, maintaining distance from the conflict, which moved down the alley a little, and stopped with some Palestinian women standing in the front of a shop. It's florescent lights were easily the brightest light in the alley, and I hoped that I could wait out the conflict there; there was no convenient path home that I knew save the alley in front of me.

The guy I was with chose to get out his iPhone and surreptitiously film the event, which disturbed me, not just because it wasn't his business to film without permission but also because I felt it put me and, by proxy, myself at risk. He chose not to stop, and I regret not taking a harder line besides non-verbal cues with a few comments. Guys were getting through down, running up and down the alley, and getting pushed into metal shop doors; the slam reverberated up and down the centuries-old narrow stone street. I convinced my companion to withdraw, and he used his iPhone to find a twisty path home to northward. Apprehensively, I followed it back and managed to find my way through the turns to the Austian Hospice, and to sure safety.

There's no moral to this particular story and no special lesson: it's only one of many, many experiences that I simply don't have the time to write up. Today, I went to an eccumential lutheran service and we met with three bereaved people who are seeking peace from both sides, despite the loss of a daughter and husband to the conflict. These experiences were also intense, but they will have to wait.

Good night.