A Holly, Jolly Christmas

Thanks to everyone for a great Christmastime. It was sad to leave, although obviously I was eager to get down to Florida. I never get into the spirit early enough, and in the end I feel ambushed by all the Christmas spirit. I'm not sure what I could do to change things except putting up a Christmas tree in my apartment in Somerville--and judging by the state of our few other surviving plants, it would be an act of cruelty.

This was the first year, however, where it has been as clear to me that the act of giving gifts is symbolic. It's really entirely secondary. I can imagine the three shepherds, undoubtedly not very confident in social situations, standing around and saying: "So. Do we just go? The Angel said it was important, so we've got to go. Did he say anything about what to bring? Is this a bottle of wine type situation?" Frankincense, amber & myrrh were social afterthoughts. Pure formalities.

It is funny how customs develop.

The End

As of 12:30pm, the deed is done. I turned in a 28-page paper yesterday (150 footnotes, by the way) and finished my three hour exam this morning, and now I'm done.

Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday!

You'll see my papers when I get my grades back.

Creativity and Incivility

I'm actually rather humorless when it comes to people throwing things at my President, even when I'm not a tremendous fan of the particular President.

Still, I have to admit that I am continually impressed by the creativity of internet denizens.

The Democratic Deficit in ESDP Operations

That was the name of the op-ed I turned in yesterday for EU Foreign Policy. If you want to ready any of these things, just let me know and I'll find a way to put them online. They're real barn-burners.

End of the Semester

"The Merida Initiative: A Development Perspective." That's the name of the 30-page paper I just turned in to my Law & Development class. Over a hundred footnotes, one graph, and hours and hours of hard work.

Sadly, it's not a very good paper, or at least not as good as I would have liked. But, I couldn't have gotten it done (such as it is) without the work I put in over Thanksgiving. So thank you for being understanding.

Now all I've got is an(nother) op-ed, a twenty-page paper, and a three hour exam. Then I'll be home on the 20th. I can't wait to see you.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was great--thanks from both Irene and myself. We're already looking forward to next year.

Until then, though, I'll be looking forward to coming home for Christmas and seeing everyone (including Jacob and the Captain).

ps. And remember to put up the rest of the football photos, Dad!