In light of the Paris and Beirut bombings and the every rising feeling of insurmountable death and global terror, it feels like most people are searching for some solution. Some hope. Some escape. Much of the global terror and war of today are tied to religious disputes, which can cause confusion given that many of the main religions and spiritual practices around the world appear to preach justice and kindness, not death and destruction. Mark LeVine’s November 2015 article “Go ahead, blame Islam” for Aljazeera offers instead the idea that religion IS at the heart of the violence- this terrorism isn’t contradictory to scriptural code but a clear stem from it.

first, i want to paste some of my notes from our small group yesterday in which we "occupied olsen":

olsen: she charts the types of silences that writers and women experience

I’ve been reading assiduously about ISIS. There are a couple of good articles that track terrorism back to environmental issues, which I’ve shared with some of you (because they might give you a hand up with your papers), but want to share one of them with you all:
https://plus.google.com/+YonatanZunger/posts/RN2yx54bxPa

As I began reading Eva's Man, new silences emerged. As I was reading, I understood what the author was saying, but the jumping from place to place confused me. There is silence in not knowing, not understanding, not responding. I keep thinking about gender as well and a silencing by way of ignoring consent, overpowering by numbers and masculinity, and fear. There is silence when Freddy and his buddies see Eva and he says, "There's Eva, we can get some" (19). Eva speaks no words. She runs. She is silenced, because her consent doesn't matter. The boys outnumber her and feel so powerful because of their masculinity. Before he moves to Jamaica, Freddy says he will miss Eva, but he doesn't respect her (21).

Surfing Wikipedia today for my Technology in Education and Society class, I stumbled across the Bryn Mawr College page. Listed in the basic information section is our motto: Veritatem Dilexi--"I delight in the truth." 

            Doing the Rich reading this week has me thinking especially about gendered silences in literature, and the way that these translate into our daily lives. I feel like every time I read a female character in a novel, especially a classic, she is deemed powerful because of her ability to conceal, to keep secrets. I think of Rigoberta Menchú, a woman who was empowered by her silences as a member of a marginalized community even outside of being a woman. But I also think about characters in classic literature like Jo March from Little Women. Jo was daring and clever and meant to be a groundbreaking literary character, and yet, by the end of the novel, she has repressed her obvious queerness in order to conform.

I admire how you so strongly believe in action; I too, believe in doing, rather than just thinking about solutions. I also admire that you're trying to solve multiple issues at once with one solution. Ambitious, but admirable. Perhaps we could collaborate and think of plans to hire minorities who come from poverty to help out with the problem of extinction? I am a little skeptical; rebuilding all the buildings and hiring more people to work in polluting factories to produce "green" materials may improve the environment in the long run, but might increase extinction rates in the meantime. However, activists, like you, Griffith, and all others, are the kind of people we need more of in this world.  

I was very moved by our conversation out in that chilly garden today -- and moved by Madi's vision of our "re-claiming" that site, of  Thomas's private display of wealth, for a discussion of the environment, racism and social justice...

Coupla things came up that I wanted to follow up on:

I mentioned several articles which I'd found useful in trying to make sense of the reaction to the bombings in Beirut and Paris;