A Bank Robber, a Dark Horse, and a Man Without a State…

1. Two Years - For the last two days I’ve been working on my Peace Corps “description of service” — a document which basically summarizes everything I’ve done during the past two years. While it’s a bit of a tedious project, going back and trying to fit all of the classes I’ve taught, projects I’ve completed, and relationships I’ve formed, into one comprehensive narrative has also been really rewarding. For while I’ve spent a lot of time looking at the bits and pieces, I think this is the first time I’ve ever stepped back and really looked at the last two years as one body of work. Turns out I’ve done a lot more than I thought… or at least enough to fill eight pages.

2. A Look Back – Writing my description of service also led me to go back and look through some of my old blog posts from my first couple of months in country. I haven’t done this in a while and doing it now, right as I’m preparing to leave, is very strange. It almost feels like I’m reading the diary of a completely different person. Here are a few highlights…

• While the first month here went by quickly, thinking about being here for two more full years still sounds ridiculously daunting.
• So after three days of visiting my future Cambodian home (I will return for good in three weeks) I can assure you that the Cambodian hangover has set in. I am certainly not over the hump I once imagined I was and am only now beginning to realize how interesting a ride I’m in for.
• For all of the adaptations I’ve had to make thus far, adapting to the pace of life here is by far the hardest. Living in New York I felt like there were never enough hours in the day to get everything done. Here, in this rural town, I feel almost the exact opposite. Although I am teaching English for a few hours everyday at school and my schedule will definitely fill up more in the coming weeks/months, for now I really have very little to do during the day. My options are basically limited to going for long walks, sitting and having coffee in the market, reading in my room, or trying to practice my Khmer with people in the streets.

3. Camp Counselor Mode – Right now I’m still “teaching” for about 45 minutes every afternoon, but at this point in time I’m not sure how much “learning” is going on. In the last week we’ve spent a day playing Bingo, finished a 500 piece puzzle, celebrated my birthday, and most importantly… watched selected scenes (very selected, I promise) from Jackass 3.

4. A Man Without a State – The other day I realized that I’m going back to America with an expired drivers license and no passport. (I can get home with my Peace Corps passport, but I have to give that up as soon I arrive.) Does anyone have any idea how I can get a driver’s license without having a home address? Am I going to have to take another driving test if I try to get one outside of New Jersey? Am I going to be able to get into bars?

5. Shameless – Has anyone seen this show? I watched the first three episodes this week and I’m pretty into it. William H. Macy is great and the plot lines are pretty engaging.

6. The Forever War -  While I’m definitely happy to hear that Obama is starting to draw down our numbers in Afghanistan, it’s still important to keep in perspective that even if everything goes according to plan, when the proposed withdrawal is over  we will still have  about twice the number of American troops in that country as there were when George Bush left office and Obama was inaugurated.  As Glenn Greenwald writes in a MUST READ blog post (Today in Endless War), “That’s what “withdrawal” means in American political parlance: doubling the number of troops fighting a foreign war over the course of four years.”

7. What Are Our Priorities? - The House recently “voted to eliminate funding for homeless veterans, slash community health centers serving low-income families and pass a fiscal year 2011 budget that would force 800,000 Americans to lose their jobs, yet taxpayer-funded sponsorship of NASCAR racing teams was protected.

The Army spent $7.4 million on a single NASCAR team sponsorship in 2010, according to Pentagon data.That same team deal cost the Pentagon $11.6 million the previous year. The National Guard spent $20 million in 2010 for its sponsorship of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 car and Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 car. The previous year, that contract was for $32.7 million. The National Guard spent another $16.04 million to sponsor the FLW Outdoor College Fishing tour, which sees college fishing clubs compete for scholarships and prizes. (Daily Kos) 

8. The Dark Horse - Right on the heals of his New Jersey announcement, Matt Bai has an interesting profile on the Republican dark horse, Jon Huntsman: Jon Huntsman Steps Into the Republican Vacuum.

“Huntsman’s bet is that some critical mass of moderate Republicans and independents – and there are still plenty of both in New Hampshire – can be persuaded to rally around a less ideological candidate who isn’t going to get personal or shape-shift, even if they don’t love all of his positions. If he can instigate a McCainian uprising in New Hampshire, where the lack of a competitive Democratic race this year should make for a heavier turnout among independent voters on the Republican side than in either 2004 or 2008, the fuse might then burn right through South Carolina and Florida, where Mary Kaye grew up and where Huntsman has based his campaign. … Is he just trying to get a little experience in the arena, in advance of 2016? Is he hoping for a bank shot to the vice presidency? Does he just want to be heard? Huntsman laughs off such questions. ‘That would suppose we actually had some master plan,’ he says. ‘Who knows where you’re going to be in 2016? Who knows what your family’s going to look like, what your health’s going to be like, what the world’s going to look like? Those things are impossible to forecast or to plan around.’

I’m not sure if a Mitt Romney clone is going to be the one to take Romney down, but I think it will interesting to have Huntsman in the race. I wouldn’t be surprised if he made some noise in the next year.

9. Just Sad - Have you seen this? This 59-year-old truck driver, who was having serious medical problems robbed a bank (he asked for $1) just so he could get the treatment that he couldn’t afford. I don’t know what to say about this, except that something is seriously wrong when the average joe has to become a criminal just to get a checkup. Is this really the best our country has to offer?

10. Bon Iver – Special thanks to Allegra Love for telling me to download Bon Iver’s album For Emma, Forever Ago. For the last three months it’s been one of my favorite albums and now I’m anxiously awaiting the new album which has just been released. In the meantime I’ve been watching the video for the new single, Calgary. Take a look…