It's been a while...

Hello there!
Well the evidence of the time constraints of working full-time and attending grad school part-time are palpable; my last blog entry was September 17th. My apologies to all of you who have been left in the dark about what I've been up to, or whether I'm even still a functioning human being. The answer is yes, I'm functioning (for the most part), and am experiencing nearly excessive personal enrichment. I'll define 'personal enrichment' as a process of learning about: myself, New York, waitressing, limitations of etiquette, realities of politics, value of friendships, and much, much more. Let me just say, it's been an interesting past few months that have been filled with absolutely wonderful experiences (ie. Mom visiting New York for the first time) to the growing pangs of becoming an adult.
So without further ado, I'll jump right into a topic we've been discussing inexhaustibly: globalization. If you were one of the protesters at the 1999 WTO summit in Seattle, Washington this term probably evokes strong feelings, but even if you weren't you still may have some thoughts on it. If you have any interest, I highly recommend the article "Globalization and It's Discontents," by Joseph Stiglitz, former Chief Economist at the World Bank and current professor at Columbia University. It was published by W. W. Norton & Company, June 2002.
And with globalization comes the discussion of development. Here is a quote that I read recently that stuck a chord: "In illuminating the contentious link between development and violence, we are deliberately posing the question of whose vantage point counts. Is it possible to give primacy to the perspective of those excluded and victimized by development? How do forest dwellers, traditional fisher people, women and men eking out a living in urban slums, tribal and indigenous communities, contract workers, domestic workers far from home, displaced and migrant people, sex workers and orphans and refugees understand development given the violence of their everyday exclusion, exploitation, discrimination and marginalization?" S Kothari &W Harcourt, 'Introduction: The violence of Development', Development (special issue), 47 (1), 2004, p. 6. With these words echoing, I suggest you read Marianne Marchand "The Violence of Development and the Migration/Insecurities Nexus: labour migration in a North American context." It is particularly crucial for those of our society, a society of immigrants I might add, who are so content in condemning "illegal immigration."