Life is strange. Last week, I participated in one of the most powerful demonstrations I’ve been a part of at Cornell. I found myself crying outside of the Chi Alpha meeting as Chris Donohoe ’09 and Jarrod Schaeffer ’09 stood on the steps of McGraw Hall, addressing the crowd of 200 people after we had stood for 20 minutes in reflective silence. I was there with my mother at my side, acknowledging faces I recognized from all over campus — from first-year fraternity members to Hillel friends to radical gay rights activists — in the physical center of what has been my academic locus at Cornell. It seemed to be almost too suiting of an end to my time here on the Hill.

“If only the Palestinians had better leadership.” I often hear this point from well-intentioned, but in this case at least misguided, pro-Israeli friends and colleagues. They continue to bemoan, “If only they had a Ghandi or an MLK.”

And one can surely make a logical case about previous and current Palestinian (and other Arab) leadership missing the mark. But there are a few more interesting points here. First of all, a Ghandi or an MLK prototype a priori requires the background of either an oppressive colonizing regime or a brutally racist one. Either scenario is not quite ideal, and is fascinating to me that folks, in trying to highlight flawed Palestinian resistance, inadvertently draw this moral parallel to today’s Israel.

Two weeks ago, The Times printed an article about the up-and-coming movement for single-sex education. In the particular situation highlighted, boys and girls attend the same school, but are separated by different classrooms. The article started by relating a couple anecdotal pieces which show the benefits of being able to “tailor to each group.” Michael Napolitano, the boys’ teacher, “speaks to his fifth-grade class […] like a basketball coach.” When teaching his students “how to be a man,” Mr. Napolitano explains, “If I get in the face of a girl, she would just cry […] the boys respond to it, they know it’s part of being a young man.”

Yesterday, the World Bank announced — to my absolute shock — that the global economy will shrink in 2009.

I’m writing to take a stand that the time-honored tradition of gifts from one foreign leader to another continue despite this forecast.

I mean, where would our country’s relations with Saudi Arabia be if Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz had not lavished $130,000 of jewelry on Bush and cronies in 2003? Or … our relations with Argentina if President Néstor Kirchner hadn’t provided the First Family with 300 pounds of raw lamb?

It’s been two weeks since The Column That Launched a Thousand Ships. And I want to preface this one by saying that it is no apology, but rather an addendum.

The chaos that my column spurred, while not completely unexpected, certainly reflects a reality: It hit a sore, sore spot for many. I originally wrote it because there had not been anything in The Sun about the Israel/Gaza situation. I felt that strong feelings must be festering on all fronts that would doubtlessly explode soon. Indeed, I learned that I was not the only one whose “fire had been ignited” over break — people from all political persuasions, from all religions, took my column and used it to explode all over the place.

Note: Yesterday I received a letter from my hometown temple, notifying me that as part of the “Sisterhood” College Connection program that I’m signed up for, a donation was made in my name to a village helping to relocate Israeli youth “away from the stress of the situation.” Receiving notification that my name was so perfunctorily assigned — that my beliefs were assumed based on my affiliation with a congregation — to a unilateral cause which I never would have personally supported, re-ignited a fire of anger that persisted throughout all of winter break. Interspersed in this column are actual quotes that I received in my present yesterday from Mr. Isaac Herzog, Israel’s minister of welfare and social services (believe me, I could not have dreamed this title up.)

Two weeks ago, HarperCollins dictionary added “meh” as an official entry for its 2009 edition. Etymology: Murky. Possibly the Simpsons, a response given by Bart and Lisa when Homer suggests a day trip in a 2001 episode. Definition: refers to an apathetic response. It really has a striking similarity to “eh,” used for the same purpose. I suppose the “m” at the beginning added just that scholarly touch that HarperCollins needed.

Okay, so the mandatory intro is that last week millions of people celebrated Barack Obama’s victory. My former students in Egypt sent me emails saying, “Congratulations for the best election.” My partner, celebrating in New York City, was accosted on the street by a bawling man who proclaimed, “It was a vote by the people and their voice was heard — their voice was heard!”

And indeed the voice — and the celebration of millions of voices all over the world — was a raucous one. The significance of an Obama presidency can not be over-emphasized. But I can’t help thinking of what else the people voted for. The sound of those Californian voices who voted yes on Proposition 8 keep ringing in my head and drowning out the exuberant ones.

Last year, I conducted a lesson with fifth-grade students to create Tibetan prayer/peace flags. These flags consist of red, blue, yellow and green fabric squares with Buddhist representations in the middle and corners, and Tibetan script in the main body. They are to be hung up by an entranceway or by an airway, to spread messages of peace out.

A female student drew hers with a “Praise the Lord!” theme, and drew a few peace symbols around it. At this point, her male deskmate leaned over and asked ”Are you a Christian?” When she responded in the affirmative, he said “Christians shouldn’t draw those [peace symbols]. It’s a broken cross.”

I started thinking a few weeks ago about the idea of sin. Fitting, considering that on the holiday of Yom Kippur, Jews apologize for sins committed by our individual selves and on behalf of the larger Jewish community.

Today is Love Your Body Day, another holiday. LYBD is sponsored by National Organization of Women and celebrated across the nation. On its website, NOW writes:

“Women and girls spend billions of dollars every year on cosmetics, fashion, magazines and diet aids. These industries can’t use negative images to sell their products without our assistance.

Together, we can fight back.”