Update from Illinois

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

I've been enjoying reading everyone's news. What variety so far (back-to-back nuclear disarmament and guns)! I miss our weekly meetings (even when they were over video-conference), but it's great to hear about your adventures and opinions, and I hope to hear from the rest of the group too.

Nothing super exciting in my life so far. Tomorrow is the first day of my second semester: some more Russian history, a class on microhistories, and a first-year research paper. Currently, my research deals with the introduction of western European languages into Russian society in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In two years I should be done with courses and starting on my dissertation. In short, I will be in Urbana for at least the next six years, with sporadic trips to Russia, so you're more than welcome to come and visit.

I've started a blog of my own, My Present and Thoughts, with mostly random musings on history and culture, although I haven't been that good at writing on it regularly. I've been meaning to do a post sometime on the random connections between my current activities and my year with AmeriCorps; if I do, I'll leave a link here.

I hope to see you all again soon!

Stephen

Buns and Guns; Thanksgiving at the Ingersolls

The first picture is my uncle, then the buns and guns motif, finally my uncle and my dad...in the kitchen of my house.

Apparently my dad is now into guns. My uncle was in the army for decades, and is also into guns. I'm not quite sure how to respond to this...

Don't let this inhibit any of you from visiting me in Wisconsin...I swear it's much friendlier than these pictures imply!!!!

Bangor Base: Disarmament of Nuclear Weapons

A year ago, Father Bill "Bix" Bichsel and four trespassed onto Bangor (Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor and Strategic Weapons Facility-Pacific). This Friday, they will be arraigned, and sentenced to possibly 10 years of prison and a $250,000 fine.
Bix has been a friend of my family's and community's for a long time. This is not the first time he has been in trouble. It is, however, the first time he has been in trouble with the workplace of my husband's parents. I was actually legally on base this Saturday, and was given a tour. I didn't mention my connection to Bix.

So what is so bad at Bangor that people are going to prison over?

"The Trident submarine base at Bangor, just 20 miles west of Seattle, is home to the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S. arsenal, housing more than 2000 nuclear warheads. In November 2006, the Natural Resources Defense Council declared that the 2,364 nuclear warheads at Bangor are approximately 24 percent of the entire U.S. arsenal. The Bangor base houses more nuclear warheads than China, France, Israel, India, North Korea and Pakistan combined."
"The base has been rebuilt for the deployment of the larger and more accurate Trident D-5 missile system. Each of the 24 D-5 missiles on a Trident submarine is capable of carrying eight of the larger 455 kiloton W-88 warheads (each warhead is about 30 times the explosive force as the Hiroshima bomb) and costs approximately $60 million. The D-5 missile can also be armed with the 100 kiloton W-76 warhead. The Trident fleet at Bangor deploys both the 455 kiloton W-88 warhead and the 100 kiloton W-76 warhead."

Also, Desmond Tutu has said about this group: “We know that nations need teachers, schools, books, drinking water, productive farm land, food and shelter. We do not need weapons of war, and we do not need nuclear weapons which threaten to destroy all of God’s creation."

What exactly did they do?
"The defendants entered Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in the early morning hours
of November 2, 2009, All Souls Day, with the intention of calling
attention to the illegality and immorality of the existence of the Trident
weapons system. During the action they held a banner saying."Disarm Now
Plowshares : Trident: Illegal + Immoral", left a trail of blood, hammered
on the roadway and fences around Strategic Weapons Facility - Pacific
(SWFPAC) and scattered sunflower seeds throughout the base."

On the other side of it, the guards at the base were ordered to shoot on sight, and were very young men. THey were likely scared, and didn't want to shoot anyone. However, they also didn't know if these trespassers were planning on getting to the nuclear arms or not, or trying to set off any weapons. Which, to me, shows the danger of even having them.

It's really sad and mixed up and confusing.

to hijab or not to hijab

I recently got invited to a Muslim wedding and have been advised to dress modestly, hijab would be best. I'm a bit torn here though. My friend (a female) is not muslim, nor is she converting, but is marrying a muslim man. Apparently only men are allowed to marry out of their faith. Here are some of the rules on the website of the mosque where the wedding will take place:



Parties wishing to get married at XXXXX Mosque must comply with the following requirements before making appointment:

1. Marriage will not be performed between a Muslim female and a non-Muslim male.
2. Approval of the Marriage by respective fathers or recognized Muslim guardians shall be demonstrated prior to the performance of the marriage. This condition especially applies to the bride. Written permission from the Parent / Guardian of the bride consenting to marry.
3. An agreement on the Dowry (Mahr) to the bride between the bride’s guardian and the groom must be completed.
4. Marriage performance/reception shall conform to Islamic standard; no alcoholic beverages, no drugs of any kind, no sensual music, dancing or singing, no free mixing of men and women and immodest dressing
5. Two Muslim male witnesses.
6. Presence of the ‘Wakeel’ (guardian) of the bride at the time of marriage

There are some rules on here that, in my opinion, seem oppressive and unnecessarily outdated. By the way, I did not add any of the bolding or italics, that's straight from the mosque's website.  I have somewhat of a superficial understanding of Islam and its treatment of women and would love to learn more, but I do feel that some of the tenants of Islam conflict with my personal values. I'm definitely planning to attend the wedding and promise to not mingle with men or dance sensually. But do I hijab? I don't know. I want to out of respect for my friend and her new family and a general respect for people's religious views. Any thoughts? -Alex

Looking for Something to Do

My friend introduced me to this website, which happens to be run by Alicia Silverstone.

Anyway, when I saw this post I thought, "That's something an AmeriCorps person would take on in their community, or on their campus."


Remember how we would get that little baggie of vegetables from the taco truck that nobody ate? I actually do order takeout pretty often, so I'm going to start it personally, but it would be cool if the restaurants in my block changed their policy to asking whether or not people wanted the plastic, rather than just assuming and giving it to everyone.

Besides that thought, I hope everyone is doing well! Miss you all.

H is for Reunion

Yesterday, a couple of us got to visit the new recruits. They fed us food acquired from the neighborhood walk. We talked about how awesome we are and how impossible it will be to match our cohort. Truly, it's an amazing new bunch. How badly I miss the rest of you -- Summer

International Yummy

Hey guys! John and I got back from the Honeymoon. It was so fun and we had a great time- my first big adventure to Europe.
Anyway, I'm probably going to post like a million photos on Facebook, so I thought I'd just put some yummy food photos on this blog, since that was the best part of the trip (in my opinion). I've already decided my next trip is going to be an official "eat your way through _____" trip!