It's not even a country

I was watching the Golden Globes on Monday night and in the foreign films cateogry one of the nominees was a film called, "Paradise Now," from "Palestine." And I thought - and then said to Jen - "Palestine is not a country. I don't understand why they name Palestine as the country." I mean, I am sure it will some day be a country. But at this moment it is no such thing. And then it won! And to be honest I was pissed off. Not because it should not have won - I haven't seen the movie so I don't know for sure. But I do know that the movie is about suicide/homicide bombers. And I know that in his acceptance speech, the filmmaker said that winning the award was some kind of recognition and endorsement of "the struggle." And I was pissed. Because let's face it, he is probably right. Hollywood is nothing if not political and is always doing its best to make a statement of some kind. So I am certain that this award was in fact some kind of statement about the situation in the Middle East and let me tell you, it was not meant to be friendly towards Israel. Which brings me to my next topic: a fantastic movie I recently saw - Munich.

MUNICH
Wow.

Back to school
School started last Tuesday. My schedule is still up in the air. My new job is no longer a sure thing. But I have to say, I am the happiest I have been in a while. It was nice to see people all week (though admittedly there were plenty of people I was not thrilled to see!). I definitely overdosed on a few of my classmates (who shall remain nameless) this week but for the most part I enjoyed the rapprochement. Tomorrow is when school will really kick in, though, because my hardest classes are my Monday classes and we didn't have school last Monday (MLK Jr. Day). So tomorrow brings the challenge of Financial Modeling and Global Strategy...wish me luck!

I also think this semester will bring another independent study my way. I talked to Kellie and she agreed to sponsor me. So I may work with Libby on a research project related to women in CSR. I am not sure what it would entail - and am therefore not sure if I want to do it or not. Libby and I are going to discuss it this week. I may also have an opportunity to do another SRI-focused independent study, which would be cool because then I could conceivably be an "expert" in the field and, well, it's always fun to be an expert (or at least to be thought of as one). That project, if it happens, would be for KLD Analytics - a huge player in the SRI field. I would love to work in SRI so it might be worth it!

Check out the Winter 2005 issue of Business Ethics Magazine. (NOTE: You cannot actually get to the articles online but you can order it here!). There is a piece about Kellie and Haas and bringing ethics and CSR to the mainstream at business schools. I was interviewed for the article and I am heavily quoted. I have to admit, this article makes me sound pretty cool and makes Haas sound like an awesome program - if not the program - for people pursuing a CSR-focused MBA. No wonder Kellie agreed to sponsor my independent study!