Alice Bosley's Blog – November 2008 Archive (4)

Earlier this year, Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, New Jersey came to speak about his time in office and the tactics he has used to change Newark from one of America’s ‘worst’ cities to an up-and-coming cultural center. A relaxed Stanford, grad, Booker has spent the last ten-ish years of his life working to enact change on the streets of Newark. I could write forever about how amazing Mayor Booker is, but instead I’ll just give some examples of how, by ‘being the change,’ Mayor Booker has shown us… Continue

When I was in India, I got the chance to have many long talks with Prasad Sarvodaya about whether many of Gandhi’s ideas of nonviolence were still viable in the modern world. Prasad believed that many of Gandhi’s strongly held beliefs, about homespun clothing, nonviolent lifestyles, city life, etc, could and should still be used in the modern day and by the younger generations. Is the best way to promote nonviolence in the younger generation encouraging them to spin their own clothes and live… Continue

One of the ideas that stuck with me the most from our India seminar was an idea that Professor Carson brought up during one of the speeches on Martin Luther King that he gave during the trip- the idea of ‘Great Man Syndrome’. There’s a tendency for us to remember the “great man” that was at the head of a movement rather than the grassroots movement that occurred simultaneously. This has happened for Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement, and it definitely happened for Gandhi and the… Continue

As I sit in my comfortable, (cool) American room reflecting on my three-week Overseas Seminar to India this summer, I find it not only hard to decipher what I came away from the trip with, but also to believe that the trip ever even happened. The days of Indian-style toilets, bucket showers, and constant stomach troubles seem so distant and out of place in the environment I’m in now that I find it hard to bring myself to remember those days. There is one thing I know for sure: I got more out of… Continue