can you tell what country this bit is talking about?

It’s the week preceding presidential elections. Candidates attack one another’s credibility. Activists push to boycott the vote. Traffic and pollution choke the cities. Leftists support a no-win idealist. Preachers guide their flocks toward political starboard. The media have fallen under the grip of standing power, and should they defy it, they’re imprisoned. University students promote human rights, while fundamentalists deny them. It is a culture in love with cinema. With Brad Pitt. Angelina Jolie. And anything Steven Spielberg. It is a nation of nuclear power, where the lobbies of the religious right effectively blur the lines between church and state. But it is also a country of good and hospitable people. And when the local team wins a big match, there is dancing, kissing, drinking and drugs in the streets. Women are graduating the campuses in higher and higher numbers, occupying government in higher and higher numbers.

when i read it, i thought the US. here is the source (and the answer). perhaps it’s a bit extreme to say that the country spoken of in the piece is the same as the US, but…we should not believe that we are so different that we ignore our own problems.

part of working on group projects is learning to work with other people. this summer, i had 2 polar opposite group projects.

the first group was one of the best groups (if not THE best group) that i’ve ever worked with. almost everyone got along in a very professional manner, and the project was a complete success. whenever someone would screw up or make a mistake or had to miss a meeting, it wasn’t a big deal because people are who they are. everyone makes mistakes and sometimes, shit happens.

the second group was one of the most difficult groups i’ve ever worked with. near the end of the project, i made a HUGE mistake, and fowled up some of the deliverables. i admitted my mistake and apologized, but my team was not very forgiving (or at least, didn’t seem to be to my face). not only did they forbid me from doing any more work on the project, but 1 dude berated me repeatedly in front of everyone. i’m very relieved this project is completed.

one of the biggest lessons i learned this summer (in addition to my work experience) is that a BIG part of working with a team is knowing when to forgive a mistake. granted, there are still mistakes that you get fired for. but there are MANY more that must be forgiven. No one is perfect. People make mistakes. And, indeed, shit happens. The trick is knowing how to deal with all that shit.

Unfortunately, they don’t really teach you that in school. That’s the whole point of group projects, but no one teaches you how to resolve issues and become better team players. I’ve seen the same people in many of my classes making the same mistakes over and over again with group projects.

here’s an interesting letter to senator clinton re: her call for an investigation of violent and sexual video games.

“everything bad is good for you” has been on my “books to read” list since i saw the author, steven johnson, on the daily show. he had some EXCELLENT points about how parents and other authoritative systems are over sheltering their children.