Ewww, can someone please explain this to me?

The people at Grameen consistently give me reason to have a genuine smile on my face. This evening, I had my first Happy Hour with the crew -- learned of poker games they want to organize (love it!), interesting travel that are planning (jealous!) -- all while enjoying a chocolate martini (mm-mm-good). The beauty of DC is that I could have a martini after work, be able to hop on a metro (and therefore not drive in traffic), and get to another event nearby. Only trouble is the martini, combined with too many afternoon teas, meant I had to find the ladies room when I got to the event. When I walked in, there was a woman in the stall yapping away on the phone. Why? Why? Why? What's the deal with people talking on the phone in public bathrooms? Why should I have to feel awkward that the person on the other line is having to hear bodily functions? Why should that person on the phone be subjected to those bodily functions? Is it just me? Is there not some sort of sanitation rule against being on a cell in a public bathroom? I managed to escape the bathroom with only a slight feeling of ickiness. But a major wish that that someone will get me a cell phone zapper for my birthday this year.

The Cornell event, entitled A Meeting of the Minds: Shaping Policy on Changing Times, united 600 alumni at the Ronald Reagan Institute an to hear the current president of the university and 5 professors speak on the role academia can take in the financial crisis. Bottom line for Cornell is that the crisis has hurt its endowment, but the university is pulling at its expenditures to keep to stay in budget. For academia's role in the broader economic crisis, their answer was deeper:

• Security: In our country we take many forms of security for granted (financial, food, physical, and other forms of security). Therefore, when any one of the forms of security is shaken, we look to assist the newly hurt (or the newly less rich) to regain our feeling of security. The consensus in the room was that our focus should be on helping the persistently insecure.


• Academic Relevance to Policy: According to these professors, it's critical that the latest hot topic in policy-making should not be the pre-occupation of their research. There are times when research they begin years prior, at some point becomes a hot point in policy. Ultimately, they believe that academia's relevance to policy is in developing future leaders who have the flexibility in thinking to be good policy makers.


• Bottom 10%: At the open Q&A, a few people in the audience got on their high horse, chastising the panel about being in their ivy towers and not bringing enough attention to the security of the bottom 10% of the world. The panelists retorted that CU continues to be a leader in United Way donations, it's the biggest employer between Albany & Buffalo in upstate New Tork, and is facilitating cross-school, industry, and labor initiatives to do even more. Another professor also pointed out that one of the greatest things the university can do is to bring AWARENESS of poverty to the university students. As things like our highway system & gated communities segregate us in discrete socio-economic bands, it is through education that students can start to make the connection to what it means to live in poverty within their own backyard.

After the talk, I approached Alice Pell to learn more about her work in raising African people out of poverty and achieve economic sustainability. She, in turn, recommended that I read the work of Chris Barrett, who has documented some of the chronic reasons the poor remain in poverty. Who knew that the answer to why people remain poor had already been answered? And, why hasn't this been shared more broadly so we can go about resolving the identified issues? I linked the materials here, so I can reference them later! I also decided to introduce myself to the guy who was president when I was there: Hunter Rawlings. He smiled and asked me if I was putting the degree to good use. I responded that "Cornell's degree cost me too much damn money to not put it to good use." Do I really dress that badly, or look that crazy as I walk around, that the world thinks I am a fuck off? I'll assume not, though I'm sure a few folks will contest that assertion later. In the end, I cut off the conversation with him because I had just wanted to say hello and see how tall he really was... not to get into a deep conversation.

Ultimately, this evening gave me another sense that DC is full of people who are well read, aware of what's happening in the world, but are somehow disconnected to the rest of us. Either through their additional knowledge they take for granted that the rest of us must already know what they know. Or alternatively, that through their knowledge they are going to save us from ourselves. In any event, I enjoyed myself yet again and look forward to another event-filled weekend.