Since the book is done for now, I am turning my attention to my applications for graduate creative writing programs. Yes, I am psyched that I wrote a guidebook/travelogue, but next I want to write something with a plot and characters and all that jazz. To do that, I gotta learn more about writing and shit.
One of the schools I am applying to requires the GRE, which I never took. (When I hustled off to policy school, the places I applied to took my LSAT score, sparing me the agony of learning GRE math.) The admissions decisions are not really based on test scores, but I still need to do well enough that the university at large agrees to let me enroll in the case that I am admitted to a writing program. I bought a study book from Kaplan and took my diagnostic exam this morning. For the 12 math questions, I basically guessed on every one. I managed to get half correct. The verbal portion went much better, although not the results were not sterling at 75% correct. I did unusually poorly in reading comprehension, so I'll chalk that up to a fluke. More studying to come.
I also learned this morning that Nov. 29 is officially recognized by the United Nations as the International Day of Solidarity With the Palestinian People. Fuck that. The same New York Times article mentions that "711,000 left Israel-controlled territory in 1948 and 1949" and in 1948, "856,000 Jewish residents left Arab countries." The World Jewish Congress submitted a memo to the United Nations Economic and Security Council in 1948about the danger facing Jews in the Middle East in response to a 1947 draft law composed by the Arab League "that called for measures to be taken against Jews living in Arab countries" including "imprisonment, confiscation of assets and forced induction into Arab armies" as well as beatings, officially incited violence, and programs. However, the memo was buried by the Lebanese ambassador and president of the council.
I don't need a good GRE score to understand how unfair and biased the world is.
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This is a tough one for me. Do the Palestinians deserve to suffer because other Arabs have acted like assholes?
ReplyDeleteBut another part of me thinks; if Arab states are so desirous of a Palestinian homeland, why don't they carve out some territory and MAKE one, already?
i am sure i don't know enough about this to make a whole lotta sense.
Suebob, you are absolutely right that Palestinians should not suffer because of the action of other states. I brought this all up because the focus of the UN and many liberals is only on the Palestinian suffering. While I wholeheartedly disagree with many of Israel's policies regarding Palestinians, I also think that Palestinians would not be in such a position if they would stop supporting leaders who refuse to settle for anything less than the destruction of Israel. I am never OK with suicide bombers, and people who resort to such tactics should not be rewarded for their murderous actions, regardless of whether or not they are justified. The civil rights leaders in the US certainly were justified in their protests and grievances. Imagine how things would be if instead of nonviolent protest, they used terrorism to advocate their cause. And further, imagine how it would be if the rest of the world set up a day in support of a people who use terror to advocate their cause while utterly refusing to acknowledge that injustices have been committed by BOTH sides.
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