|
|
|
Dear Arthur,
In this newsletter, our main focus is on this weekend's Revenge & Reconciliation Conference (including background information on our keynote speaker, Ms. Laura Blumenfeld).
We have a report on last Saturday's "prep session" for the conference, updated political information, and a poll on computer viruses directed at Microsoft.
|
Civitas home page
Kucinich and Sharpton Still in Race
MASSACHUSETTS Senator John Kerry swept through the "beltline" of the U.S. in the last week. He won in Nevada, Tennessee, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, all located between the 35th degree and 40th degree north of the U.S. Today he competes to the north in Wisconsin against remaining candidates Howard Dean, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, and Al Sharpton. Dean stated at one point that he would drop out of the race if he did not win Wisconsin; now he has tempered that statement. The polls once again favor Senator Kerry. But let's give credit to Rev. Al Sharpton and Rep. Dennis Kucinich who barrel ahead with virtually no financial support!
Link to CNN election coverage
Dr. Cecil Abrahams Gives Outstanding Presentation on South Africa
Last Saturday, February 14, we had our third and final preparation session for our 2004 Conference on Revenge/Reconciliation: Breaking the Cycle of Conflict.
We have worked hard with this conference to liven up the preparation sessions with engaging speakers and new kinds of simulations. Last Saturday, our speaker was Dr. Cecil Abrahams, professor of African and African-American
 Affairs at the University of Missouri - St. Louis. He gave a dynamic 40 minute speech on the recent history of South Africa and how the process of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established and functioned. Students responded with a number of questions and Dr. Abrahams have crisp and poignant respondents. We are truly thankful that we learned of Dr. Abrahams from his son, Alexei, a senior in our program from Kirkwood High School.
The culmination of the conference will be on Fri. - Sat., Feb. 20-21. At that time, we will look at long-standing international conflicts, such as those in the Middle East, Northern Ireland, South Africa, and the Balkans; the death penalty; war-crimes tribunals; the mafia; and much more.
The real headliner will be our outstanding keynote speaker on Friday evening: Ms. Laura Blumenfeld; author of the 2002 best-seller Revenge, the story of her personal feelings on revenge following the shooting of her father in Jerusalem. We have copies of the book for all participants and distributed most of them in previous Saturdays. If you have not received a copy of the book and our planning on participating in the conference (including the remaining prep sessions), e-mail us by clicking here. See following story for more information on Laura Blumenfeld.
By now, all students should have their "knowledge area" assignments." Please let us know if you do not yet have them.
Enrollment for the conference is now closed.
We will have a link to photos from the February 14 session as well as video from the same session posted on the web later this week.
Conference on Revenge and Reconciliation
Friday, February 20 3:00 PM - Saturday, February 21 3:00 PM at the Doubletree Club Hotel [map link below].
Click here for a Conference Description, or to Sign Up Online!
Click here for the application form!
Prep Session 1 Photos from Saturday, Jan. 17, 2004.
Video from Revenge & Reconciliation Prep Session #2
Map & Directions to Doubletree Club Airport Hotel
About Laura Blumenfeld
Laura Blumenfeld
Author of The New York Times bestseller Revenge: A Story of Hope
In 1986, Laura Blumenfeld's father was shot in Jerusalem by a member of a rebel faction of the PLO responsible for attacks on several tourists in the Old City. Her father lived, but Blumenfeld's desire for revenge haunted her. Revenge: A Story of Hope is her story.
Traveling to Europe, America, and the Middle East, Blumenfeld gathers stories and methods of avengers worldwide as she plots to infiltrate the shooter's life. Through interviews with Yitzhak Rabin's assassin; with members of the Albanian Blood Feud Committee; the chief of the Iranian judiciary; the mayor of Palermo, Sicily; an Egyptian heroin smuggler; the Israeli prime minister and the military chief of staff; priests; sports fans; fifth-grade girls; and prostitutes, among others, she explores the mechanics and the psychology of vengeance.
In the end, her target turns out to be more complex -- and in some ways more threatening -- than the stereotypical terrorist she'd long imagined.
A rare, ambitious, personal, and intellectual tour of dark urges often denied, Revenge: A Story of Hope is a beautifully written story about family, loyalty, and home, about the personal passions behind public events, and about the thin line between love and hate.
Acclaim for Laura Blumenfeld and Revenge: A Story of Hope:
"A vitally important story...Revenge is written with such forcefulness and immediacy that by the end of her story [Blumenfeld] has carried the reader through an intellectual transformation akin to her own." -Janet Maslin, The New York Times
"I was just swept away with it, by it, with the beauty of the writing and the drama of the tale." -Richard Cohen, The Washington Post
"A gripping read. Rich, graceful, intimate, and absorbing." -Kirkus Reviews
"Laura Blumenfeld has the eye of a journalist, the soul of a novelist and the passion of an activist. She brings all three to bear superbly in this gripping and haunting first book. It is a sure winner." -Thomas L. Friedman
"Read this book, not only because it is well-written and thoroughly enjoyable, but because Laura's is a message that needs to be spread." -The Harvard Crimson
"Well-written, with a sharp and lively style." - Jerusalem Post
HBO is making a movie out of Revenge. It will be directed by Julie Taymor (The Lion King), produced by Wendy Finerman (Forrest Gump), and written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Tony Kushner (Angels in America).
Laura has appeared on Good Morning America, the Today Show, Prime Time Live, Charlie Rose, Oprah, NewsNight with Aaron Brown, and The O'Reilly Factor, among others. She has been interviewed extensively on NPR, the BBC and other radio shows. Her story has been featured in numerous newspapers and magazines from The New Yorker to Jewish Week to People magazine.
Laura is currently on the national staff of the Washington Post, where she is covering presidential politics and homeland security, among other subjects.
Laura Blumenfeld holds a master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia University and has been a staff writer at The Washington Post since 1992. She has also written for The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, and The Los Angles Times. She has reported extensively from the Middle East, including Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Israel and the west bank, and speaks Arabic and Hebrew.
In her speech "Revenge: A Story of Hope," Laura Blumenfeld gives audiences a personal, and intellectual tour of dark urges often denied about the personal passions behind public events, and about the thin line between love and hate.
Laura Blumenfeld resides in Washington D.C. with her husband and two children.
Link to Laura Blumenfeld's book: Revenge
Link to book reviews on Revenge
Survey on Cyberspace Viruses and Ethics
The number of computer viruses worming their way around cyberspace has been soaring in recent weeks. Apparently, more and more viruses have been directed at Microsoft products. The creators and disseminators of these viruses say that it is ethical for them to attack Microsoft because the Bellevue, Washington-based company holds such a monopoly in so many areas of the computer industry. Our questions today relate to whether you think that it is ethical to manufacture and spread virus the Microsoft-only products.
Link to Survey on Ethics Related to Computer Viruses and Microsoft
Link to Poll on Civitas Intranet Site
Previous Survey Results (New)
Last week's question was:
It's been a while since we have had a somewhat frivolous question, so here's the one for today. Which of the following holidays or events in most important to you?
Responses:
1. Homecoming 0% (0)
2. Columbus Day 0% (0)
3. Dr. Martin Luther King Day 27% (4)
4. Valentine's Day 0% (0)
5. Presidents' Day 0% (0)
6. Prom 20% (3)
7. None of the above. 53% (8)
Total: 15
Raquel Rodriguez; Home School, 2007
Wow, what choices. Personally I like All Saint's Day, Chinese New Year, la fiesta de los Santos Inocentes, and the holiday (though technically it's not a "holiday") I love the most is the National Puerto Rican Day.
Bobbi Clemons; Home School, Office Monkey
Holidays suck.
Stephanie Minor; Rosati-Kain, 2006
I chose "none of the above" because all of those "holidays" are good and fun but i much prefer Halloween!! My next choice would be Columbus Day because, one, we get off school and two, I think it's funny we still have this "Special" Day considering he wasn't really the one who discovered America!!
Rachel Berry; Maplewood Richmond Heights, 2007
Are you crazy?! My birthday is the most important to me... presents! woo hoo! Oh yeah and you know, you can share it with your good friends by having a party and stuff... that's pretty cool. But really, the presents are what truly make it worthwhile...
Additional Links
More information about Civitas
Photo Gallery
Streaming Video [Real Media]
Web Calendar
Agendas
Civitas Intranets Site
Civitas Home Page
Previous Newsletters
Maps & Directions
Middle East Conference Index Page
High School General Assembly Assignments for 2003-2004
High School Security Council Assignments for 2003-2004
Civitas Participant Handbook
Resolutions (High School U.N.) for 2003-2004
Checklist for Writing a Model U.N. Resolution
Sample Resolution
|
|
