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My heart has always been with the larger world – the world beyond ours. Some find despair in eternity. I find eternal hope.

I’m taking an environmental science class this semester – very fascinating. Get ready for me to be even better at debating you on why Climate Change is real.

Hey all – im subletting my 2nd floor room in Harlem/Morningside from the 20th to the 13th of January (if you need a place a day or two before or after, you can stay possibly as a guest – i wouldn’t. Ideally, looking for someone who can stay the entire time, but portions are alright too.

It’s one bedroom in 2-bedroom apartment – the larger room (very spacious) with a full size bed, sheets and sleeping provided. Fully furnished apartment with wireless internet, but no TV or cable (we’re not big TV people here). I have a roommate but he will only be here for a day or two during that time, so you’ll basically have the place to yourself.

Asking $50 a day for up to two people. Space is fully furnished, with a full kitchen. Full bed in the bedroom and a futon in the living room.

I’m at 115th and Morningside Avenue, right across from Morningside Park (great park view), down the hill a five minute walk from Columbia. Near the B,C, and the 2,3 stations – nearest is 110th on the B,C train – Central Park is also just a five minute walk. Photos of the apartment below!

Respond by posting a comment if you’re interested – they’ll only go to me and won’t be posted publically.

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I couldn’t stop laughing at this Glenn Beck parody by Jon Stewart. Too Funny.

I wrote this article a while back for a project I was doing at CCSF. My inspiration was two part – firstly, the sad story about the two Americans journalists abducted in North Korea, and my own interest in journalism as an avenue for change. Let me know what you think! 

Lisa Ramaci remembers that day well. First, she got an email. Then, six hours later, a phone call.

“I know what it feels like to get that phone call,” said Ramaci.

It was August 2nd, 2005, just three days after Ramaci’s husband, Iraq- based freelance reporter Steven Vincent, had penned a scathing op-ed in the New York Times on the increasing infiltration of Islamic extremists in the Basra police force. That day, Vincent and his Iraqi translator, Nouriya Itais, were kidnapped off the streets of Basra, in southern Iraq, by men in police uniforms, interrogated, tortured, and then five hours later, shot on the outskirts of the city. Itais survived, but Vincent did not.

Ramaci, who was married to Vincent for 10 years, believes that his groundbreaking work – he was the first journalist in Iraq to uncover Iraqi death squads – was his undoing.

“He was killed because they didn’t want what he was doing. Killed to shut him up.”

As Vincent’s story shows, Journalism can be risky. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an international organization dedicated to raising awareness about journalists under siege, 41 Journalists were killed due to their work as journalists in 2008. Already in 2009 eleven journalists have been killed, with Iraq still leading as the world’s deadliest place to be a journalist, but countries like North Korea, China, and Iran not far behind.

This issue shot to the forefront with last week’s kidnapping of two journalists working for Current TV, headquartered in San Francisco, on the North Korean-Chinese border. CPJ and Reporters with Borders, which works to raise awareness about press freedom internationally, have issued a petition calling for Laura and name’s unconditional release.

But the vast majority of those killed aren’t western journalists, or even foreign journalists, but locals reporting in their home countries. This is as true in Iraq as anywhere else.

“It’s mostly the local Iraqi press who are killed and abused, at a higher rate than western writers, but the media tends not to cover those local reporters,” said Tala Dowlatshahi, the New York bureau director for Reporters Without Borders.

After her husband’s death, Ramaci was disgusted to find out how even families of Iraqi journalists killed while working for wester new organizations were not given compensation.

“They put their lives on the line for western readers. We don’t know what the families go through. It speaks of an utter loss of humanity, if they’re killed, to look away, and to send no help to their families,” said Ramaci.

In the end, Ramaci doesn’t think that much could have been done to protect Vincent, or future reporters working independently in war zones. “If they want you, they will get you. In every single war, journalists are killed. They put themselves on the line.”

Dowlatshahi disagrees. She believes that proper training, often lacking, can help to prepare journalists for the most difficult situations, and that Iraq is improving, slowly, but steadily. 

“In Iraq, as the Government continues to establish itself, and becomes more democratized and developed, an inclusive press will be essential to cover recovery,” said Dowlatshahi.

She also believes there is a direct link between Democratization and press freedom.

“In every country that is militaristic or communistic, with a government that threatens open society, journalists are killed and abused,” said Dowlatshahi.

What is one of the worst countries in the world for journalists, according to Dowlatshahi? North Korea, where Ling and Lee are currently awaiting trial with a potential sentence of 10 years of manual labor.

Like Ling and Lee, Vincent often could be found on the front lines. An art critic until one event changed his life – September 11th, Vincent gave up his job to report on what he considered more pressing and timely issues. Two years later he was in Iraq.

“He wanted to do something after 9/11,” said Ramaci.

The Newseum, a museum in Washington DC, seeks to honor the historic role Vincent and his colleagues have played with their Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial, a multistory glass pane structure, with over 1800 names engraved of every known journalists killed in the line of duty, from 1837 to the present. 

And there is plenty of space for more. Because if history is any key, as long as there is a story to be told, there will reporters like Vincent who will seek it out. At the same time, there will always will be those, like his still-unnamed killers, who will do anything to stop it.

Alright, I know I tend to focus on politics here, but no non-sports topic can get me as riled up as the god-damn BCS.

Maybe it’s cause during my first year at USC, we were ranked #1 in both polls. And #3 in the BCS.

This year, USC is just sitting on the outside. Instead, you have the top four teams being Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida. Conveniently, they’ve played or will play each other in a perfect 1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3 playoff. To top it off, the games were played at neutral sites so there is no home field advantage arguments. Let’s look at the results.

SEC Championship Game, #1 Alabama vs. #4 Florida. Rightfully (barring any rivalry week upsets) the winner of this game will go to the BCS championship. Though I still hate that Florida is in even though they lost to a lesser ranked team AT HOME than USC, I’m willing to turn the eye.

The other game already happened.

Red River Rivalry, Texas 45, Oklahoma 35. Decisive victory for the Longhorns.

So obviously the title game matchup should be – Alabama/Florida vs….Oklahoma?!

…

Yes, that makes perfect sense.

One more stat – let’s look how those two teams did the last time they made the BCS title game, against yours truly USC Trojans.

2004 – USC 55, Oklahoma 19

2005 – Texas 41, USC 38

Here’s to chaos (Auburn over Alabama, OSU over Oklahoma, Mizzou over Texas, and FSU over Florida). And a playoff.

I trust Barack to make the right choice.

That being said, I’m a little scared of the chattering classes in DC.

Evan Bayh? Tim Kaine? Bleh.

Obama needs a reinforcing pick, not a Joe Lieberman esque attempt to fill-in-the-holes.

So, Barack, in my opinion, you have to do what Bill Clinton did – a reinforcing pick. And there is only truly one I can think of, so here, I am announcing my top choice for Barack Obama vice president.

Ready?

It’s a Governor. From a large square state, who’s a proven outsider and knows to win, with popularity, in a red bastion.

Figured it out?

No, it’s not Kathleen Sebelius, though I would be happy with her. I want Governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana.

Schweitzer would be a superb, reinforcing pick. He represents change from out west, a down to earth, incredibly popular and effective Governor of a deep red state that could actually go for Barack. What more, he speaks Arabic and knows the middle east intimately, having lived there. He won’t overshadow Barack on foreign policy (he was agains the war from the beginning) and will be an effective Governing partner.

The big negative is his support for liquid coal, but we’ll get over that. So Obama, I hope that you are truly playing it close to heart, and that you will not listen to the chattering class and pick a true VP. Not Kaine, not Biden, not the worst of them all, Evan Bayh. Let’s aim high – and really change the Democratic party. Governor Brian Schweitzer. Our next Vice President.