Posts tagged ‘bulgaria’

December 22nd, 2009

Grades, books, disease & wanderlust

It’s Christmas week already! Wow.

Most of my grades have been posted! So far I have an A, an A- & a B-. Normally I’d be disappointed about the B-, but it was in a required foundations course that I really didn’t enjoy & it was graded on a curve. Still no excuse for a crummy grade, but I can only do so much.

I’m still waiting on my introduction to archiving class – both for my course grade & to get my paper back. The paper was about the destruction of archives as cultural genocide, specifically in Bosnia & Kosovo [more on it here & here]. I loved researching & writing it, but it’s my first graduate level paper & I’m nervous & anxious to see how I did.

While reading Archival Outlook the other day, I saw an ad for a new book, Archives Power.

Here’s a blurb about it:

Grounded in historical and social theory, this analysis of the power of archives and the role of archivists in society calls for renewed emphasis on remembrance, evidence, and documentation as a means of securing open government, accountability, diversity, and social justice, within an archival ethics of professional and societal responsibility.

I requested it from the library this afternoon [sorry to whoever had it checked out already!]. Even more exciting is that I should get it in time to participate in the reading group. The author, Randall Jimerson, is going to participate as well:

My involvement will not be to defend my book but to consider all points of view, ask more questions, and perhaps explain any of my ideas or comments that are not clear to readers. I hope the book will stimulate further questions and new thinking about the issues facing archivists as well as scholars, researchers, and citizens affected by the legal, administrative, documentary, and historical aspects of recordkeeping and archives.

It looks like a great combination of my passions!! I can’t wait to read it & see what discussion it generates [& maybe even participate]! Thankfully the reading group is taking place during the first half of the semester, so I shouldn’t be too crazy busy at that point.

It seems I might be getting sick? My armpits have been sore all day [swollen glands], I’m very very sleepy & I have a fever. Sometimes an earache. According to WebMD, I could have cat-scratch fever or the plague. [Yes, it really says 'plague.'] The internet is a reliable & accurate alternative to going to the doctor.

I’ve been thinking of Bulgaria a lot today…

krupnik

fog in krupnik

& now for sleep.
xoxoxo

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December 4th, 2009

What to do with your extra money

I have two requests for your dollars [or just one dollar, even]:

Peace Corps Project: Library Media Center

This project, headed by my good friend & former co-volunteer Jason, is to establish a library and school media center in an unused classroom of the primary school he works at. It will house important reference materials for all subjects taught, which have been recommended by the teachers. This space can will be used for students to develop questions and research the answers, as well as receive reference help from teachers. Additionally, teachers can use the resource center to incorporate multimedia materials into their lesson planning, expanding their working knowledge of modern education techniques and thereby increasing their capacity as effective teachers.

Your money will help them to purchase materials for a multimedia library, including print encyclopedias and digital reference materials. The community will also seek funding for several desks and a laptop computer. Their fundraising efforts have sought donations from students’ parents in the form of cash and used books. They have also managed to raise some money through raffles and selling Christmas cards at the village market. The community will also provide donations in the form of labor in cleaning and repairing the room.

As a former volunteer in Bulgaria and a student of information, I know that this would be an incredible addition to the town. $2, $20, $200 – it doesn’t matter the amount, anything helps!! [I gave $20, so this request is backed by some action on my part].

If you happen to have money left over…… you can give some to our fund for:

Alternative Spring Break

ASB places School of Information students in non-profit, cultural, governmental, and educational institutions in New York City, Chicago, and Washington D.C. We get no credit and no pay for this, but lots of great opportunities and experience. Students going on the trip pay $25 and have to pay for dining expenses in the week and local transportation.

The University provides rental cars for the students to travel in groups to their destination city as well as pays for housing. Your donation would help cover those expenses. We’ve been doing some fund rasining already this semester. This week we hosted a book sale and raised $2,100, we’ll be hosting a talent revue, holding a recipe book sale and dinner party and a few other events.

I’m really excited about this opportunity! Right now I’m interested in the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, but more and more organizations are signing up, so we’ll see.

darpa balloon

If you see any red balloons like this, please let me know!!!
SI is participating in the DARPA Network Challenge. There’s no prize or money involved, just lots of bragging rights. Here’s a description of the challenge:

The DARPA Network Challenge is a competition that will explore the roles the Internet and social networking play in the timely communication, wide-area team building, and urgent mobilization required to solve broad-scope, time-critical problems. The Network Challenge winner will be the first individual to submit the locations of 10 8-foot balloons moored at 10 fixed locations in the continental United States. The balloons will be in readily accessible locations and visible from nearby roads.

It’s Friday!! One class left until the weekend, then just one week until the end of the semester!

Enjoy the sunshine & snow [if you were lucky enough to get any last night!]

xoxoxo

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November 24th, 2009

Clocktowers, harmonicas & making the best of today

Some days are just the kind of days you want to skip.
But so it goes.

On days like this, I try to make an effort to appreciate the little things. A favorite indulgence of mine is lattes from Comet Coffee. For $3.02, a little cup of joy is mine! They serve wonderful coffee, artfully brewed & presented.

Another joy of mine are the infrequent days I get to hear the infamous “diag harmonica guy” playing music outside of the undergrad library. As a way to unwind from his job as a lab scientist, he sits outside playing music with a harmonica & a washboard. It’s unique & his enjoyment & contentment are contagious & I find it soothing. Perhaps some day I’ll stop by & tell him how much his music & presence mean to me.

Here’s a wonderfully serendipitous find from today:
Stefan Kanchev was a prolific Bulgarian graphic designer who passed away in 2001. Today while browsing ffffound, I came across some postage stamps he had designed in the 70’s. After some exploring, I found one he made of the clock tower in Botevgrad, the town where Joel and I lived during our Peace Corps service.

us, in the Botevgrad town center

Botevgrad clocktower stamp

Other happy news is that it will snow soon! Making this news even better is the fact that we’re having another load of firewood delivered tonight, meaning the freezing temperatures will be much more bearable in our uninsulated apartment.

Oh! I began this draft hours ago & now, finishing up in the undergraduate library, I am looking out a window, enjoying a wonderful harmonica performance by the aforementioned scientist. Here’s to good things happening today!

Cheers!

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November 22nd, 2009

Illiteracy & Democracy in Bulgaria

Here are two recent articles about Buglaria I found interesting. The issues talked about in both of these had a huge impact on my Peace Corps service there.


50% of Bulgarian High School Graduates said to be “Illiterate”
The country has no formal literacy benchmarks, but information from university entrance exams shows that about half of the country’s high school grads are struggling, based on their grasp of spelling & grammar rules. Although I personally can not speak to that statistic since my Bulgarian was at a second grade level, it gives another reason why teaching English was so challenging – they hardly comprehend the rules of their own language.

Bulgaria Still Stuck in Trama of Transition
As Germans celebrated the fall of the Berlin 20 years ago this month, Bulgaria has done very little to celebrate the removal of the communist leader Todor Zhivkov.

To explain the amnesia of Bulgarians about their Communist past, and apathy about their democratic present, Bulgarian commentators are using a biblical metaphor: Like the Israelites, the Bulgarians will have to wander the desert for 40 years to be cleansed of the sins of Communism. “Twenty years have passed and we are in still the middle of the desert,” said Edvin Sugarev, 56, a poet and former anti-Communist opposition leader. “And we’ll be waiting for another 20 years.”

“People got their freedom, but they don’t know what to do with it,” he added, “because it’s more comfortable when someone tells them what to do, where to go and what is right and wrong.”

Additionally, they are the poorest country in the European Union, their EU funding was suspended because of corruption and they are tied with Romania for most corrupt country in the EU.

When asked about democracy, 76 percent of Bulgarians said they were dissatisfied. Questioned whether free markets made people better off, only 37 percent of Bulgarians agreed

Although all of this is rather pessimistic, I think that once they emerge from this time of transition, Bulgaria will be doing well. It’s a beautiful country with beautiful people, it’s just dealing with a major attitude problem at the moment.

The road

Krupnik

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