Through New Eyes

Last week I had the joy of a visit from a very dear college friend. I also had the pleasure of meeting her friend, who was visiting the States for the first time from Austria. In an attempt to show her as much of the northeast as possible, we trekked into Boston to do a little exploring. We had a great afternoon just spending time together in the city, but it proved to be so much more than that for me. It turned out to be an excellent lesson in perspective. ;)

One site we visited in the city was the Holocaust Memorial near Fanueil Hall. It's always been a favorite of mine in Boston, and I didn't think much of it as we approached. However, as I was walking through the memorial, I started to see it in new eyes: if I were from Austria, how would I see this memorial? Would anything strike a chord in me as I read the names of places that were so much closer to my home? I began to wonder how my new friend had learned about the Holocaust and what she thought of the memorial.

After we finished at the memorial, my friend asked her how she had learned about the Holocaust in Austria. I was fascinated when she told us that they didn't focus on it more than another topic in history...growing up outside of Boston, we rarely made it past the Revolutionary War in any of my history classes. :) I guess I had just assumed that they would have studied it more in depth due to their geographical proximity to where it had taken place. After a brief but interesting conversation, my friend asked us to clarify how long World War II lasted - which as a former history major, I figured it was a seemingly basic question. Without thinking, I said 4 years, and at the same time, our friend from Austria said 6 years. We looked at each other a bit puzzled for a moment, then realized our "error." We were both correct, but she was speaking from a European point of view, and I was speaking from an American point of view. It really made me pause and think critically about how I perceive things, and how very American my perspective is about world events.

It's the little moments like these that speak volumes to me about perspective...how important it is for us to have these small conversations with others that have far-reaching effects on our perspective.

Memorable Monday

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.”

– Robert Louis Stevenson

Famine in Somalia

Here in the southern coast of Virginia, I've been a little more than discouraged at the ridiculously hot and humid weather. Being from the New England area, this kind of heat is completely foreign and further stereotypes the southern United States in my mind. Of course, something that is gradually gaining airtime on the news is the recently declared famine status of Somalia. This means that over 30% of children are suffering from acute malnutrition and at least 2 people a day are dying on average from starvation, malnutrition, and inadequate water supply. In some areas, four children under age 5 die every day. Every day.

Part of the goal of Perspectives is to not just encourage one another to see life from a different vantage point, but to experience and really feel a shared humanity with people who live in different parts of the world, participate in different cultures, speak a different language, practice another religion. The Somalis are us. A different tribe, but all the same beings.

Read more about the U.N. declaring famine in Somalia and find out what you may be able to do to help.

Memorable Monday

Peace is not an absence of war; it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.
~ Baruch Spinoza

Top Posts of the Week (Jul 10- Jul 16 )

Here are this week's top three most viewed posts at Perspectives:

1. "Test Drive" a Religion?

2. Arab Spring Births New Country

3. Saudi Arabian woman's battle for marriage


Keep an eye out for our weekly Memorable Monday quotes, and more posts as we seek to bring you new perspectives and broaden your own.

Tid Bits

In case you missed them, here are some interesting happenings from around the world this past week:

Comic-book author creates Arab role models to encourage children who may otherwise be persuaded by extremist views.

McDonald's really does try to adapt to it's surroundings. McFalafel? I'd rather buy it from a vendor, too.

Courtney's never one to miss out on some Jane Austen news. But, for the record, she was never able to get to the Austen manuscripts the Bodleian already had, even thought she was studying Austen at the time. (She's not bitter or anything, no, never!)

Tweeting and Flickring cartography

One of the pictures from the article shows San Francisco,
with a discernable Golden Gate Bridge. The maps, which
depict Twitter and Flickr usage, use blue dots to represent
Twitter, orange for Flickr, and white for both. Check out the
link embedded in the post to check out the original article
and more of these amazing pictures!

The way we communicate and, indeed, the way we learn about other people, cultures, and religions, has been completely changed with the mass usage of social media. With both Caitlin and I being Twitter users (our main blog page has real time tweets), this world map of Twitter and Flickr users draws some interesting conclusions on where people have embraced such technology en mass.

Do you use Twitter or Flickr? Why or why not? Leave us your comments!

Memorable Monday

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.
~ John Lubbock

Arab Spring Births a New Country

Maybe some of you have heard, or perhaps this is breaking news for you, but we've just welcomed another country into this world. South Sudan raised it's flag at a ceremony yesterday, amongst cheering crowds and the playing of their new national anthem. While the road ahead for the Southern Sudanese people is still uncertain, there is much hope stirring in the public opinion.

It will be particularly interesting to see how those who will now be classified as a unified Southern Sudanese people integrate. As you can see on the map to the right, South Sudan does not contain one dominant culture, but rather a mixture of both homogeneous and heterogenous cultures. This may distinguish the future of the new country from Sudan, which is predominantly Arab Muslim. We'll be keeping our eyes on this fledgling of a country, particularly on the new border lands (the map gives away a little on how some of the Arab majority areas have been legally separated from from Sudan, and one can safely assume that the separation of lands, families, tribes, and cultural groups are not as neatly set apart as may be implied by such a nicely color-coded map).

The United States was one of the first handful of countries to recognize South Sudan, with President Obama speaking words of encouragement to the new nation. (On a completely unrelated note, one could take his speech and replace "South Sudan" with "Palestine"; we can only hope that such encouragement of autonomy can be universally given by the United States, but that is yet to be seen)

Have you heard about the birth of South Sudan, or have other government protests of this Arab Spring captured more of your attention? Post comments and thoughts below, we'd love to hear from you!

Top Posts of the Week (Jul 3- Jul 9)

Here are this week's top three most viewed posts at Perspectives:

1. "Test Drive" a Religion?

2. Saudi Arabian woman's battle for marriage

3. Memorable Monday #2


Keep an eye out for our weekly Memorable Monday quotes, and more posts as we seek to bring you new perspectives and broaden your own.

"Test Drive" a Religion?

I recently came across an article on the BBC website about a program called "Muslim for a Month." Through this program, individuals can travel to Turkey and "test drive" Islam for a month. To read the full article click here. (A few days late, I know...like the last blog post stated, I'm on the road = limited internet...very sad. But this was too good not to share!)


While there is certainly some controversy with he idea, it is possible to find some value in it as well. In an age of increased globalization, it is more important than ever to have an understanding of people who are different from ourselves. An experience like this may not only deepen one's understanding of people and cultures but can also lead to a deeper self-awareness of what one believes. 


This article really hit home for me, partly because it has so much to do with what our blog is about. As one respondent in the article mentioned, she felt she had a misunderstanding about an entire culture and religion. Personally, I would love to try a program like this and think it would be unbelievably enriching, though I know there are probably some family and friends who would disagree. 


It's almost time for me to hit the road again, but I'd love to hear from you...would you try this program? Do you think it's blasphemy of sorts to "test drive" religions? Share your thoughts below...we'd love to hear from you! 

Happy 4th!

For whatever the Fourth of July may signify for you (you mean there can be more than one perspective on what many call "Independence Day" here in the US?!), we hope that today was filled with joy and relaxation. Here at Perspectives we've been enjoying food, family, friends, and fireworks (although the latter has been rained out for Courtney, and Caitlin is enjoying the holiday on the road). For those of you who have the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution memorized, we hope you enjoy the following clip; to those of you who are a little fuzzy when reciting the first paragraph of the document (join the club), we hope you find this encouraging...

[Thanks to John Fea for blogging on this earlier today. The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Don Knotts Recites the Preamble to the U.S. Consti...: "HT: James Rice"]

Memorable Monday

"Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living."

~ Miriam Beard

Saudi Arabian woman's battle for marriage

Dave Lee has written a touching piece for the BBC World Service detailing one woman's struggle for autonomy. While media attention has focused a lot on the plight of some Saudi women to gain driving licenses, this article brought to my attention a different struggle that is no less entwined in one's personal identity. 

Read more here about one Saudi woman's desire to marry the man of her choice, and the familial, and now legal, struggle that is very much shaping the rest of her life: Saudi Arabian woman challenges male guardianship laws