cwilliam24477's blog

For some time now, despite my many Jewish friends and neighbors, despite my ties with Israel, I have been astonished and appalled by the treatment of Palestinians by Israelis. I have wondered over and over agian at the hatred and the violence perpetrated by one people against another.

So...a while back I wrote about how Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was rewriting Japanese history. Not long after his resignation his replacement, Yasuo Fukuda, is at it again.

Today's New York Times featured one of the most heart-wrenching photos I've seen in a long time. A Congolese woman, Maria Shuluba, age 53, partially covers her face with the worn blue sweater she is wearing. She was raped by armed militia men. 

About a month ago, I spoke against the 8-period day. I hear it’s now called a 9-period day, starting at 7:30, with an optional first period. Sounds like the same thing to me.

It is a sad thing to walk through Columbia’s halls and see so many studies. They are noisy and unproductive, merely holding-cells for apathetic students who often cut them anyway. It’s a well-known fact that the vast majority of detentions are awarded to students who have cut their study halls.

As Columbia students trooped back to school in September, they encountered many changes. There were new Board of Education members and a new principal. The custodial and security staffs had been outsourced. Scaffolding encased sections of the building. But there was another, more subtle change.

Today, when I opened my newspaper, a distinctly disturbing headline caught my eye: "Denial Reopens Wounds of Japan's Ex-Sex Slaves." 
WWII-era Japan is well-known for its atrocities, including the killings of thousands, perhaps even millions, of non-Japanese civilians.

This year, my high school introduced a Women's Health course and I, like the "political aware" and "socially responsible" student that I am, enrolled. We're now a mere three units into te class and I have already been shocked repeatedly. I have seen 5'6", 54-lb 30-yr-olds.