on-campus lectures

These past few days, there have been a few guest lecturers to our campus, of important significance. As a Middle East Studies student, I had the opportunity to attend these lectures to expand my knowledge and become engaged in current topics in the region. Yesterday's guest was the Egyptian Ambassador to Israel. I hesitated going to the lecture because I though it was going to be some random speech on Egypt (which I am interested in dont get me wrong). As it turned out, his focus was on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (my major area of interest) and how this conflict/relationship affects neighboring countries, and ultimately the Global Community. [[personal tangent: that just reminded me of one of my past jobs, as a DJ for World Music Radio, our tagline "playing music for the global community"]] Anyway the lecture was VERY informative, inspirational, and expanded (or perhaps focused) my research interests immensely. Many of my classmates were required to be there and loathed the presentation (they are crazy i think), but for me attendance was optional, as I'd only heard of the lecture minutes before. It was an excellent last minute decision, and furthered my Global awareness.

Today, the Jerusalem Bureau Chief of the New York Times was here, and gave a lecture about coverage of the Israel-Lebanon 2006 war, the Israeli-Palestian conflict, as well as issues concerning Gaza and the West Bank. He also talked a bit about being a reporter in Gaza and what precautions he feels are necessary for his security and his safety. It was amazing to hear how he, as an American, has established himself here and is a major player in the media coverage of the Middle East, from a somewhat impartial outsider perspective. Immediately following the lecture I was impressed to introduce myself to him, and inform him of my dual MA in Mass Communication/Media and now Middle East Studies. While he did not have much time left to chat, he promptly gave me his business card (which appeared to be the last one, conveniently located in his suit pocket) and asked me to be in touch via email.