October 18, 2012 By Jasmin S. Kuehnert In a blog I wrote several weeks ago, I mentioned the new law passed by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran that bans women from 70 plus majors at colleges and universities in the country. The new law has sent angry shock waves throughout the country […]
ACEI BLOG - HUMAN INTEREST
Adversity and Ingenuity: Partners in Creation
October 11, 2012 Human beings have shown amazing ingenuity in fashioning musical instruments, often in less than ideal conditions. Many of these instruments were conceived and designed by people at the bottom of the social spectrum, most of whom were slaves in the Americas. Here are four examples that demonstrate amazing creativity by people who […]
Muslims from Abroad at US Catholic Universities
September 27, 2012 With all the US flag burning going on in the Arab world and Muslim nations these days, one question I have is where do they get these American flags? There seems to be a never ending supply of US flags in the very regions of the world that seem to despise all […]
5 Things to Know about U.S. Community Colleges
September 13, 2012 Many individuals and groups overseas seem to have a distorted view of U.S. community colleges thinking that their academic programs are inferior to those offered by four-year colleges and universities. In fact, even our visa officers at U.S. embassies seem to have a skewed opinion of community colleges when it comes to […]
The War on Women: From USA to Iran and around the World
August 23, 2012 There is a war going on; it is against women and it’s on a global scale. From the outrageous remarks on “legitimate rape” made by US Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), to the arrest of the three feminist rockers of the band Pussy Riot in Russia accused of speaking out against […]
OUR RICH ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE
August 16, 2012 The other night I read–well, actually just perused—Malinowski’s Kiriwina: Fieldwork Photography 1915-1918–an amazing book about the Polish-born father of modern cultural anthropology’s stay in Papua and the Trobiand Islands. He went to New Guinea and studied the inhabitants there with unprecedented rigor. I also listened to an Argentine pianist named Bruno Leonardo […]
The Theater of Horror: From Aurora to Abadan
July 26, 2012 On July 20, 2012, I woke up to news of the horrific shootings that took place at the movie theater in Aurora, CO. In the wake of this carnage, we are left with the question as to why this happened? What would possess a person to commit such a monstrous and cowardly […]
Living in Rennes
July 19, 2012 I arrived in Rennes, the capital of Brittany, as an exchange student in September 1975. I was a 19 year old sophomore, who, along with 29 American students from my college, would be living with French families and taking classes at the university. My host family, the Louis, were a clan of […]
Geography: Do you know where you are?
July 12, 2012 Geography: from Greek “geographia,” lit. “to describe or write about the Earth.” It happened sometime during my junior year at college in San Diego. I was studying at the library for a midterm when a handsome boy (a business major in his senior year) whom I’d seen around campus, asked if he […]
The Voyager Spacecraft: Amazing, Musically & Otherwise, after 35 Years
June 28, 2012 The other night I hosted a dinner party. One of our guests worked at JPL. I brought out my copy of the box set Murmurs of Earth, published by Time Warner about 20 years ago. It’s one of the box sets I saved when moving and downsizing last summer, because it’s rare […]