On September 12th, 2010, Turkey defeated Serbia in the World Basketball Championship by a score of 83-82...Sounds like a good reason for a riot that ended up wounding three international peacekeepers. Six local officials were also injured in the riots that broke out in Mitrovica along the Ibar River. Four months after the Cities in Transition Peace Forum ended, Mitrovica remains destabilized and dependent on international forces to maintain the peace.

Peacekeepers, locals hurt in Kosovo Riots

I had intended to stop making entries on this blog since my sabbatical is officially over. Today, however, I was sent the pilot clip of the film, The Peacemaker, that is being released to audiences in the near future. The clip they used for the pilot took place on May 30th, just over a week from when I left Mitrovica. The Cities in Transition Forum ended on May 29th, but clearly, conflict resolution is still a an elusive dream for the people of Mitrovica.

The Peacemaker

Article on The Peacemaker and Padraig O'Malley

The Cities in Transition Webpage published an Al Jazeera video covering the shaky peace in Kosovo. Enjoy!

Ethnic Peace in Kosovo Video

The CIties in Transition Webpage is filled with up to the minute news about the cities that participated in the Inaugeral Forum this year. When I was checking it out today I came across a video about lead poisoning in the Roma Refugee Camp outside Mitrovica. The camp is located in a toxic field saturated with runoff waste from the Mines. It was opened in 1999 to "temporarily" house Roma refugees after the Kosovo War. Eleven years later, all of the children are living in dire poverty, and are suffering from lead poisoning. The United Nations and World Health Organization are aware of the situation, however no solution to this serious problem has been developed.

To view the video, and read about other issues faced by Cities in Trasition, click on the attached link.

Cities in Transition

On July 22nd, 2010, the United Nations Court of Justice declared Kosovo's 2008 Declaration of Independence from Serbia to be legal. Albanians in South Mitrovica are cheering in the streets, while Serbians in Mitrovica North are less accepting of the UN's decision. So far, the peace is holding....

Kosovo's independence is legal, UN court rules

I keep track of events happening around the world by following the Cities in Transition webpage. This morning I was disappointed to read the attached article, which covers another violent outbreak in the divided city of Mitrovica. The fact that the United Nations Security Council is scheduled to discuss the fate of recently independent Kosovo today is thought to be the catalyst that set the violence in motion. Serbs are blaming the Albanians, and Albanians are blaming the Serbs. In the meantime, the International Court of Justice will soon be ruling on whether or not to uphold Kosovo's independent status. The Irish Times did a good job of covering this story. I have been in contact with my friends in Mitrovica and they are thankful for the continued presence of UN and NATO forces! Without them they fear the tenuous peace would not hold.

Cities in Transition Article

My time in Mitrovica was cut short by a week and a half due to the serious illness of Libby’s grandma. Leaving Mitrovica early was not an easy task. We were faced with having to change our travel plans from within a country with limited resources. The electricity going out became more than a minor inconvenience when we had to alter our airline reservations. Changing our tickets with no accessible phone and no Internet access seemed impossible. I had purchased a local SIM card for my cell phone to use during my stay in Mitrovica, but it turned out that the SIM had been hacked. As soon as I activated the SIM, my minutes began to disappear, so I had no choice but to take it out of my phone. Replacement SIMS could only be purchased in Pristina, which was an hour’s drive away, and transportation from Mitrovica to Pristina was hard to arrange. To make matters even more difficult, we had to get from the north side of the river to the south. When we finally got in touch with Milos, a young Serbian man who was working with the Cities in Transition Team, he said he would drive us back to the south side apartment. He picked us up at the hotel and we started to drive. I soon realized we were taking the long way across the river. Milos avoided the main bridge by a good five miles, and before crossing the lesser-known bridge he pulled to the side of the road and changed the license plates to meet the requirement on Albanian south side. Although I knew that crossing the bridge was an issue for both sides in Mitrovica, this was the first time I realized just how difficult transportation between the two actually is. I was grateful to Milos for going out of his way to help us, especially knowing that this was emotionally difficult for him.







Once we reached the south side apartment I managed to Skype the airlines and arrange a flight out the next morning at 5:30 AM. This meant we had to get to the airport in Pristina by 3:30 AM, which was the next hurdle I had to cross. There are no viable freeways in Kosovo, and the roads are mostly under construction. I didn’t know where to begin to find a taxi in the middle of the night to take us from Mitrovica to the airport. I thought about booking a hotel in Pristina for the last night, but after checking with three that were completely booked, I figured this was not going to be the solution to our problem. I have to admit I was more than a little bit frustrated at this point, and I felt trapped and out of control… And then my luck changed because of the generosity of Ardiana. She happened to stop by to see if I was working at the apartment. When she saw me she knew something was wrong, and I told her that Libby and I had to leave to get home to Libby’s sick grandma. When she found out that I had a flight out the next morning she told me that her sister’s fiancé drove taxi, and that she would arrange for him to pick us up at 2AM to take us to the airport. For the first time that day I smiled, and began to feel in control again.

That evening Libby and I went out to dinner with Ardiana, and the team I worked with in Mitrovica. Padraig O’Malley, our fearless leader (not pictured), and Allan Leonard, Nancy Riordan, Cassidy Evans, Tara DeSisto (Not Pictured), Katie Adams (Not Pictured), Pat Peterson (Not Pictured) and Jeffrey Range (Not Pictured) are people I will not soon forget. After dinner I reflected on how much we had accomplished, yet I knew how much work was left before the first delegates arrive. I knew I could work on the program details from home, but it wouldn’t be the same, and I definitely regretted that.


At 2AM my taxi arrived at the apartment, and I was surprised to see that Ardiana and her younger sister had come along to keep us company on our drive to the airport. The roads were bumpy and the night was dark, but the company was wonderful, and I began missing Mitrovica before I ever got off the ground.

I could mention that the Pristina Airport looks bleak in the middle of the night, but it certainly looked safe when filled with approximately 50 NATO Troops waiting to fly home. New Troops had already arrived to replace them, since Kosovo is not yet ready to go it alone. The international presence of the EU, UN, and NATO personnel is something welcomed by some in Kosovo, and hated by others. One thing that most would agree on is that they look forward to the day when Kosovo no longer needs international assistance. I, too, will look forward to that day, for I have grown quite fond of this little corner of the world!

May 18th,

For the past couple of weeks I have run errands, written City Profiles, and basically helped lay the groundwork for what will hopefully be a wonderfully successful event. Soon the delegates will arrive and the Forum will begin. If you want to follow the events as they take place you can access the Cities in Transition web page, which will be updated daily during the conference.

Check it out at:
http://citiesintransition.net/mitrovica2010welcome

May 12




Before coming to Mitrovica, I worked with my daughter Libby to research and write the city profile for Haifa, which will be used in the program for the Cities in Transition Conference. Writing city profiles for divided cities is difficult because the truth is always layered in so may shades of gray that it can be hard to distinguish at times. Also, even if one can sift through the layers to get to the truth, it can soon be confused when one is forced to weigh in the perspectives of each faction in the divided city. It is therefore frustrating to write these things because you have to be careful not to sound biased in any way. The end product can wind up being so watered-down that it appears meaningless at best. With that said, you can imagine my delight when we got here and they told us they wanted us to write the city profile for Jerusalem, a city that is definitely divided, and a profile that had been written and rejected by the delegates at least three times. Yay… Maybe I can successfully complete this task since it is likely we will run out of time before anyone has a chance to reject the new version before the conference begins! Oh well, I signed on to this job so I can’t really complain, and Jerusalem is a fascinating case study to work on.

On the afternoon of the day I was near finishing the Jerusalem Profile, my new friend, Ardiana, stopped by to get me to go out for a cappuccino. Needing a break badly, I quickly said yes, and we headed off to a café where her friends all hang out. The unemployment rate in Mitrovica is incredibly high, and people, mostly men on the Albanian side of the river, do a lot of “hanging out.” I asked Ardiana how people afford to live with such a high unemployment rate. She told me that in Kosovo, over half of the population is under the age of twenty-five. Education and jobs are huge issues that must be dealt with by the government of this fledgling nation. Ardiana reinforced what I already knew about countries in transition. Families depend on the remittances of someone who leaves to find a job in another country. Although this helps with the immediate needs of the family, it does little to improve the long-term economic stability of a nation that is being stripped of its workforce.

After we discussed the issues that Kosovo faces today, Ardiana began telling me what it was like for her during the war. Her story is haunting, and I am afraid I cannot do it justice here. This saddens me, because it is a story that needs to be told, so I will do my best until Ardiana is able to write it herself someday.

Ardiana lived with her mother, father and four siblings in a house next door to her uncle’s family, and down the block from her grandmother’s house. She was thirteen when the war reached its peak in 1998-1999. At this time, she frequently witnessed her Muslim-Albanian neighborhood being oppressed by the Serbian government, and her neighbors and family being persecuted. She told me that soldiers would show up at the door at anytime and question people for no apparent reason. Family members were taken away and “disappeared”, never to be heard from again. People were beaten and raped, and houses were burned to the ground. In Ardiana’s case, I guess she was lucky, if being completely traumatized as a child can be viewed as luck. Around six months before the United States and NATO intervened to stop the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim-Albanians by the Serbs, Ardiana’s father was arrested during the night and taken away. Soldiers came back the next day and attempted to split the family apart. They were going to take her brother and her away from her mother, but for no reason that she can figure out, they wound up leaving them behind. The soldiers told them all that her father was dead, and then they went down the street and burned her grandmother’s house to the ground. Six months later, after the US and NATO forces had successfully stopped the Serbian occupation of what is now Kosovo, Ardiana was visiting her uncle’s house when the door opened, and her father walked in. He had been released from prison, and having been told that his family was dead, he went to his brother’s home and was shocked to find his family there. Shortly after this, her grandmother, who was quite sick, asked to be taken back to view what was left of the home that had been burned to the ground. According to Ardiana, she was at peace when she died in the shell of her burned out home later that evening.

As Ardiana told me the story she had tears in her eyes, and she got the shakes. I asked how Mitrovica could come together after such tragedy, and she said that the Mitrovican Serbs, for the most part, were not the ones doing the killing, but she added that she believes they need to acknowledge what happened and apologize. If they do that, she believe her city can heal at some time in the future, but not now, not yet.

Later that night I met Ardiana’s family, except for one brother who now works outside of the country. Her sisters made me Turkish coffee over a gas burner because the electricity was out, and her mother showed me photos by candlelight, of her entire extended family. These pictures were the only things her grandmother had been able to save when her house was burned down.

When it was time to go, Ardiana borrowed her “daddy’s” car to drive me back to the South-side apartment. Ardiana rarely crosses the bridge, never without a group, and never at night. Talking about my staying on the North side was very stressful for her, and she seemed certain that it was not safe. I was glad that we could still stay in the apartment whenever we got tied up on the South-side after dark.

There are certain events in life that don’t fade with the passage of time. For me, I am certain that the time I shared with Ardiana in Mitrovica will remain vivid in my memory forever.

Six volunteers moved to the Serbian side of the Ibar River today, so I had to leave the apartment I have been living in on the Albanian side and venture over to the north. The north side of the river is very different from the south, mostly because Americans are not automatically liked over here. Living with people who view my country negatively is just a bit stressful. This morning I participated in a group clean up of the city to get things ready for the upcoming conference. I was working around a fountain in the city center when a group of men stood up and moved the benches they were sitting on so that I could get behind them to pick up the trash. I didn’t know the Serbian word for thank you yet, which was poor planning on my part, but I knew not to respond with “faleminderit”, which is thank-you in Albanian. Instead, I used English, and I was shocked to see the reaction on the faces of the men who had just helped me. After an awkward moment of silence, one man stated that I must be Canadian, because Canadians are good, unlike the people who live south of Canada. I was somewhat isolated from the other volunteers at this point so I thought it unwise to challenge this man’s opinion. I just smiled and continued on with my cleaning. From that point on I was more cautious about making sure I worked closer to other Serbian volunteers.



A little while after my experience at the fountain, a local shopkeeper brought bottles of water out to my group. When I thanked him, he asked where I was from, and a young Serbian volunteer answered for me—America… The man nodded his head and began to walk back into his store, but he stopped and turned back. He came up to me and asked why I was helping them clean up the city. I told him that I was working with the Cities in Transition Forum, and that there was going to be a peace conference in Mitrovica later this month, with people coming from all over the world. He paused for a few seconds and then said “good”. His English turned out to be very good, and he went on to tell me that he worried that Americans were getting the wrong story about Serbian people in the news. He told me he has relatives who live in America, and that America really isn’t a bad place, but we don’t know the truth. I wanted to ask him to tell me what the truth really is, but he turned and walked back into his store. I was left wondering about the parallel realities that exist on the two sides of the Ibar River. I thought about how the Albanians are still so afraid that the violence will return, but the Serbs are also afraid that war will return.

The issues that divide these two groups of people seem nowhere near being reconciled. The EU, UN, and NATO presence is everywhere in the city. The Serbian North is covered with graffiti calling for the removal of all international troops. The South has its own graffiti, filled with slurs against Serbia. Trust is a commodity in short supply in the divided city of Mitrovica, yet in a couple of weeks the Cities in Transition Forum will take place in this city. Participants from ten divided cities will come here. They will live in one of the three hotels being used to house the delegates. Yesterday I worked on completing the room assignments, making sure not to put delegates from Beirut in the same hotel as the delegates from Haifa and Jerusalem, etc. It is unfortunately true that Mitrovica is not the only city that has to deal with parallel realities, but hopefully after the conference, the cities that are participating will be closer to viewing their problems through a common lens. This seems a first step in the process of reconciliation.

May 8th:

It is hard to pinpoint what causes friendships to form, but it’s easy to recognize once they exists. It is also sad to admit that it’s been awhile since I made a new friend. Life is always so busy that it usually feels like there is not enough time to handle the lifelong friends I’ve already made, let alone add new people to the list. I think that is what I like most about sabbatical… it slows the pace down. At a slower pace I have had time to have conversations with so many people, and I have added to my list of lifelong friends.

This process started way back in Chicago last summer when I attended the Religion and Society Inter-Faith Delegation, sponsored by the National Peace Foundation and the Islamic Society of America. Over the course of the weeklong delegation I added many treasured acquaintances to my list, and three friends. I keep track of the acquaintances through Facebook and occasional emails, but it’s the friends that cause me to pause and think about them for no apparent reason. Of my three Religion and Society Friends, it is likely I will never see one of them again, but he will remain my friend, the “Green Sheik” from the United Arab Emirates. Luckily, Sahar Taman and Jodi Wolk live nearby, and I get to see them quite often.



During the time I spent in Boston working with Axis of Hope, I was able to add Carl Hobert to my list of friends. Carl basically has no free time, yet he manages to add friends to his list everywhere he goes. From Boston, to Phoenix, to San Francisco, to DC, to his beloved Rwanda, Carl adds new friends to his busy life, while at the same time attempting to make the world a better place… not an easy task to say the least.



When I was at the United States Institute of Peace in DC last winter, I added Dave Anderson to my friends list. Dave is the retired Lt. Colonel I wrote about in an earlier blog entry. In spite of his busy teaching schedule at the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Dave managed to provide me with the connections I needed to make my trip to Kosovo easier, and my Lebanon studies more productive.

During my time in Kosovo, I have made two lifelong friends that I will very likely never see again once I return. This fact makes me sad on a profound level because these two people have already had a huge impact on my life.

I have already mentioned Drita in my previous entries on Mitrovica, but she is worth focusing on a bit more. Not only is she open, and warm, and friendly, and loving… she is all of these things after having lived through years of war, oppression, and genocide in her homeland. Drita is quick to laugh, cry and love. She is also the one who is responsible for the five pounds I have gained on this trip. In spite of having little to call her own, she goes out of her way to make me feel welcome and special. I truly love being around her, and I will miss her when I leave.

Ardiana Osmani is a twenty-four year old Albanian woman who has lived through hell most of her life, and yet she is wonderfully alive, open, and a force to contend with. I was introduced to Ardiana on the first full day I was in Mitrovica. I don’t know why we bonded, but after a very short acquaintance she let me know her life story. Talking about what happened during the war is not something Ardiana does very often… it is too hard to cope with the memories she usually keeps just below the surface. She told me she trusted me to know her story, which makes me feel honored. Retelling her story is something I will write about in a future post. For now I just wanted to note that this remarkable young woman is my friend. She took me to meet her family, and we sat in the dark at her home--- One of Mitrovica’s many power outages--- drinking Turkish coffee and enjoying the fact that we are now friends. The rest of the story will take me awhile to process, but I will reveal it to you in this blog when I am able.

Connecting with the server is difficult from Kosovo, so the dates will be off on my posts...

May 5th:





I arrived in Kosovo three days ago, and to say that it is an intense, yet amazing, experience is putting it mildly.

I flew into Pristina in the early afternoon on a beautiful 70-degree day. I was picked up at the airport by Mia, the woman who is the Kosovo point person for the Cities in Transition Forum that will take place May 24-29th. We had a cup of cappuccino at a cafe in Pristina before picking up two other team members at the airport. By 4PM, we were off to Mitrovica, a small city in Northern Kosovo on the Ibar River. We arrived at our apartment located on the South-or Albanian-side of the river at 5:15 PM, and we soon headed down the street to “Charlie’s”, a local café, for dinner. Charlie’s is where “the internationals” hang out. Sitting at the table next to us were six NATO troops from Luxembourg and Austria. It is right across the street from the municipal building where major government meetings take place, so there is always a high level of security around here.

After dinner I went back to the south-side apartment that I am sharing with four other people who are organizing the conference with me. When we arrived home we were invited to come upstairs to have coffee with our new landlords, but only Allen (from Belfast, Ireland) and I took them up on the offer. Libby, Nancy and Cassidy decided to get organized instead. The landlords, Drita and Xhavit, hardly spoke any English, but somehow I figured out that they had recently lost a son in a motorcycle accident. I told them that I was so sorry and Drita came over and hugged me, and kissed me on the cheek, then we laughed, and hugged again. We struggled through another hour of trying to understand each other. They now know I have a newly married daughter at home, but no grandbabies yet, but that I have a grand-dog... we got a good laugh out of that one. They know that my mother-in law is Croatian, and that I know glava means head... we got a good laugh out of that one, too. They also know that I teach economics and I know their sister has two sons who are economists in Pristina, and a daughter who's an architect. The evening was very nice. I drank Turkish coffee, ate cookies and apples even though I wasn't hungry, and I got invited to drive up to Pristina to have coffee at their sister’s place. Not bad for communicating on day one!

When we got back to the apartment Allen, who has been to Kosovo a number of times, told me he was glad I had accepted the invitation. I guess Albanians pride themselves on their hospitality, and our visit would be the talk of the neighborhood for quite some time. I had a feeling saying no was not a good choice and I'm glad I followed my gut.

Right now I am exhausted, but excited. On the surface it is clear that my time in Mitrovica will be a challenge. The Muslim-Albanians who live on the South-side of the Ibar River love Americans, and credit the Clinton Administration with saving them from the genocide that took place in their country back in the late 1990’s. One South-Mitrovican woman told me they love God first, then America. They also love Presidents George Bush and Obama for their ongoing support of NATO’s mission in Kosovo. Living on the South-side will be difficult because it is seriously under-developed due to the aftermath of war. The electricity is frequently out, and the water is off for at least eight hours every day… and you never know which hours you will have water, which can be challenging if you get caught in the shower with shampoo still in your hair. Next weekend we will be moving to housing accommodations on the North-side of the Ibar River, which is likely to prove even more challenging.

The Serbian population in the North does not have the same feelings of gratitude toward America. Many in the North see the US as supporting the occupation of their home, and of bolstering what they consider to be an illegitimate nation—Kosovo. The North benefits from huge funding from Serbia, which does not recognize Kosovo’s independence. Because of the external support from Serbia, the roads on the North side of the Ibar River have been resurfaced, and infrastructure repairs are further along than in South Mitrovica. Both sides receive funding from the EU and many international NGO’s, but the Serbs focus their assistance on North Mitrovica, which gives the North an edge in reconstruction. I believe living in the North will be an exercise in diplomacy.

The conference I am participating in will bring together delegates from ten divided cities including Mitrovica. It will attempt to extend the dialog between the populations of these divided cities for the purpose of promoting peace and reconciliation. This concept is a lot to wrap one’s mind around late at night, but it is what I came here to do. For now I shall sleep, and tackle what comes next tomorrow.

I am sitting here in my hotel in London and I realized that I haven't sent an update in a while and that it might be a while before I can again. I leave for Kosovo at 4am the day after tomorrow, so I only have one more day here in London. It is amazing how fast time can go, and yet going home is still so far off. Ireland was absolutely amazing. I saw so much, and I can't wait to show all of you my pictures. London has been pretty cool, too, but I wish we had more time to see everything. Today I watched the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace- which was actually pretty boring until the end when the marching band played the theme from the A-Team for some random reason (that's ok, I like random). After that, we went to Apsley House, which has been the home of the Dukes of Wellington since the first one (who fought Napoleon at Waterloo). Now, part of the house is a museum. We saw a whole bunch of the first Duke of Wellington's war trophies , and even the sword that Wellington used during the Battle of Waterloo. It seemed there was more of Napoleon at Wellington's house than there was of Wellington. In one room, there was a whole bunch of sets of china that were given to the first duke or that he claimed as trophies after defeating Napoleon- including the set of china that Napoleon offered as a gift to Josephine when they divorced (she refused it). In addition to being one of the greatest military minds Britain has ever produced, the first Duke of Wellington was apparently a huge art collector, so the entire house is filled with paintings, which was pretty awesome to see. Later, we (my daughter Libby is with me) got on a random bus and actually found our way to the British Museum where I got to see the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles (the carvings and statues that used to encircle the top of the Parthenon). We didn't get a chance to see much of anything else because the museum was closing. But I think that I will have to come back to London for the sole purpose of seeing everything in the British Museum.



I have to mention that a highlight of my trip to London was the evening I spent with Breck Alum Susan Hill ("07). Susan took me to an amazing Indian restaurant, and we spent the evening reminiscing about Breck, and talking about her exciting Business Internship in London offered by Washington University in St. Louis.



London was also a place for the politically minded person during the time I was there. Great Britain held elections and voted Gordon Brown out of office, David Cameron was voted in as the new Prime Minister, however, Nick Clegg, a Liberal Democrat earned enough votes to hang the Parliament, leading to a new coalition government.

Also, people protesting the ongoing genocide in The Democratic Repuplic of Congo staged a demonstration outside of the United States Embassy.


A large protest was held just outside Parliament causing the streets to be closed, and buses to be re-routed. The topic of the protest was unfocused, and people showed up to protest everything from Great Britain's Foreign Policy, to corruption in banking and government.


Overall, the London leg of this trip has been far too short, but at least I will get to spend 4 more days here when my month in Kosovo is over. But for now, I have to sleep. I will be writing you from Kosovo soon.

I just finished packing up my hotel room, getting ready for my flight to London tomorrow. It is hard saying goodbye to Ireland after having spent such a wonderful time here these past couple of weeks. I spent most of my time in Dublin, walking from one end of the city to the other, with day trips to Glendalough, Wicklow and Killkenny.









It is difficult to choose which event I enjoyed most during my stay. Glendalough is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to, and Dublin is an amazing city. It is election time in Northern Ireland and the rest of Great Britain, so there is a constant political buzz that I have found compelling. I went on a walking tour of the sites of the 1916 Rebellion, offered by a medieval historian from Trinity College, which was quite fascinating, and I kept thinking how great it would be to bring my students to this place. The history behind every castle, church, monument, pub and library feels alive. I spent one afternoon at Marsh's Library, which is the oldest public library in Ireland, talking with a gentleman about the history of the institution. He showed me where they used to lock patrons up while they read to prevent them from stealing the books, and he noted that, sadly, this practice had to be stopped due to fire codes in the modern age. Near the "cages" there was a display on Jonathan Swift, author of A Modest Proposal and Gulliver's Travels, among his many works. Swift was the Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in the early 18th century, and a benefactor of the library. I found the National Gallery of Ireland to be the most accessible art museum I have ever been to, and I had to keep myself from reaching out and touching the canvases of the masterpieces exhibited. These are just a few highlights of my experiences in Ireland.







Two weeks is simply not enough time to see everything I want to see, yet it is all the time I have for this visit. I can't wait until next time. For now, I will have to set my sights on what London has to offer!

I got to Dublin last Wednesday on one of the last flights out of London Heathrow before the ash from the eruption of the volcano in Iceland made it impossible for flights to or from most airports in Western Europe. It is amazing the impact of this event. Hotels are overbooked since people can’t leave to go home, while others are arriving by ferry for planned vacations or business trips. Ireland is in the middle of the effected area, and travel between Eire, the UK, and Western Europe is still down. The news is filled with stories of stranded travelers, and visuals of the ash fallout.



It is reported that over 17,000 flights were canceled today, but it looks like some flights will resume tomorrow. I don’t have travel plans until the 27th of April when I am booked to return to London before travelling on to Mitrovica, Kosovo on May 2nd. I am optimistic that everything will be back to normal by then!

As for Ireland, I am having a great time! My favorite part has been talking to random people…the cab drivers, hotel desk clerks, and pub keepers…about the upcoming vote on the Lisbon Treaty, politics in general, and Irish history. Everyone has an opinion, but they have been expressed in a well informed, and relatively open-minded way. One cabby told me to visit the Kilmainham Goal in order to understand the role the British had played in Irish history. He made sure to emphasize that he didn’t hate the British, just the British Empire.

There have been three violent outbreaks in Northern Ireland that are getting significant airtime on the news. Everyone I have talked to about it firmly believes that the perpetrators of these acts are thugs, and that the peace will hold. The general consensus (at least from my limited observation) is that it will take a couple of generations for true healing to penetrate the society, but that the process for such healing is in place.

On a lighter note, my second favorite thing about Ireland is the ever-present street musicians that play every genre of music from traditional Irish, to rock, to country, to classical harp. Ireland is big on harp music--the harp is the national symbol! Other wandering performers from poets to magicians also stroll the streets, making every day entertaining.

I will continue posting regular updates over the next few weeks of travel. Feel free to comment any time. I will close now with an assignment for those who wish to take it on. Look up the Lisbon Treaty so you know what everyone over here is talking about. Also, Google the 1916 document, “Proclamation of the Irish Republic” and read it. It is a one-page document that is beautifully written. I read an original copy, one of the sixteen surviving documents, when I visited the Trinity College Library, an amazing site to behold!

The attached link gets you to the Palestinian Center, which contains video links to lectures given around the country. On February 9th from 12:30-2:00pm, Bill Corcoran will be speaking in Washington DC on the subject "Gaza One Year Later: Picking up the Pieces."
You can view the lecture live through this blog, or watch it later. The Palestinian Center is an independent think-tank "...committed to communicating reliable and objective information about the Palestinian political experience to American policy makers, journalists, students and the general public." (The Jerusalem Fund web-page)

Palestinian Center Blog