I sat with an American businessman in the home of a Palestinian friend in East Jerusalem. We talked about the excitement and adventure of travel, encountering remarkable people and brilliant topographical tapestries stitched together to form a broad and diverse world. We concurred that travel is the best way to combat ignorance, but I expressed dismay at the fact that some people who have traversed this wide world over still seem oblivious to the fact that others exist besides themselves. The businessman sat quietly for a moment, nodding his head.

“Yeah,” he began in his cautious monotone, “we call those people Americans.”

Unfortunately, this stereotype is all too often confirmed by ethnocentric tourists who refuse to pop the confining bubbles that prevent them from experiencing the breadth and depth of the world. Many people apply thick veneers to protect themselves from the abrasiveness of a globe that tastes both sweet and bitter. The Beatles were right: “Living [and traveling] is easier with eyes closed.” Strawberry Fields will forever be more delicious without thinking about the underpaid farmers who harvest them.

The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer provides a reconstructive foundation for a renewed worldview that can be applied to travel. Bonhoeffer believes that we must learn to see the world “from below,” from the point of view of the suffering and the marginalized, those whose voices have been drowned out by the raging discordant noise of oppression. This, Bonhoeffer says, is “an experience of incomparable value.” We now see the “great events of world history”–and experience travel–with new eyes. Instead of looking through lenses of comfort and affluence, we see the planet as most of humanity sees it: beauty and repulsiveness, hope and despair, joy and pain. We see magnificent monuments honoring ancient kings but we also see sweltering trash dumps housing the present poor. It is possible to marvel at the architectural majesty of the cathedrals of Europe and still be disturbed by the exploitation of the workers who slaved away building them. It is possible to be moved by the magnificence of the earth while also being discomforted by the destruction of the ecosystem. The world looks different when we stand in the AIDS-stricken jungles of Africa, a refugee camp in Palestine, the deeply impoverished streets of India, the racially-segregated ghettos of inner-cities, or the war-ravaged lands of Sudan. We cannot ignore the disturbing underbelly of existence while we enjoy the attractive face.

Once this transformation occurs and the lens changes through which we see this earth, we can never travel the same way again. To be a traveler is to have the ability, or perhaps the responsibility, to wonder and wander. The word wonder can mean “to be filled with admiration, amazement, or awe,” and when I travel and immerse myself in the wild beauty of nature and the intricate traditions of culture, I am filled with a sense of wonder. But wonder can also mean “to doubt,” and when I travel I doubt that the present state of the earth is the only way it has to be. To wander is “to travel about, on, or through,” but we now do so with a purpose as we wander away from the framework of a tourist that only sees life from a comfortably safe distance.  As we wonder and wander we appreciate and embrace the awesome spectacles of earth while at the same time learning to experience the raw intensity felt by so many people in the past and right now. We become travelers when we see the world from below.

May we wonder and wander deliberately.

You think this will be you? Ha. Suuure it will be...

As students or recent graduates in an unpredictable economy, the omnipresent question we face daily from parents, relatives, strangers, and our peers who have majored in Engineering is “What will you be doing with that degree?”

For most of us, the answer is either quickly given without any real thought: acceptable answers being, “Oh, all sorts of things,” “Teach,” and “I don’t know, get off my back.” If you’re one of the few who don’t like those answers, the truth can only be found after a long period of deep, dark soul-searching in which you come to terms with your existence as just another Marine Biology major who only chose the field because you really liked dolphins. Now, though, that dream of learning the language of the sea and riding on the backs of aquatic animals is gone, and you’ll be lucky to find some job measuring the diameters of sea sponges to figure out the optimal number of times someone can cut up the sponges before they’re unusable.

Prospects are grim.

So, young job hopefuls are often forced to find jobs that have nothing to do with their education. In fact, that’s a nice way to put it. Finding a job that just has nothing to do with your education means you were a science major that went back and got their teaching license for middle school P.E. What I’m talking about is the low lows that we’ll stoop to in order to stay afloat nowadays. A business econ major coaching elementary school soccer or a physiological sciences major working at Old Navy for 20 years. I knew a man who had a Ph.D., and while the story ended happily with him as a professor at a university, it began with him working as a janitor for years. Years. And his Ph.D. was definitely not in “janitoring.”

I do want to address one job that I tried to be a part of in a similar fashion to these other fish out of water. This is one that you’ll find many college students are a part of, and some of them even enjoy it. Most of the people that I’ve talked to after they finished their employment, however, did not—or, at least, only grudgingly liked it. I’m speaking, of course, about canvassing for non-profits.

There’s door-to-door work or jobs standing in busy public places. It’s basically going out into the city with a clipboard and the manifesto of whatever your organization is at the time. This sort of thing is usually political and it’s not uncommon to run into several different types of canvassers at a time in a large city: Save the Environment, Gay Rights, Get So-and-So Elected, Protect the South American Lesser-Beaked Juju Fly. The list is pretty much endless. The idea is to get the message out, garner support for whatever the cause is, and usually rope people into donating money, sometimes monthly.

I lasted two days before I had to quit. I had no other job at the time. I literally and knowingly went into unemployment solely because I could not deal with that job. Don’t get me wrong, the people I met there were nice. Most of them were fun people, I really supported the cause, and I do think of myself as a pretty good salesman (you’re not technically selling anything, but essentially you’re selling your company or views or yourself, since usually you’re asking for money). But I looked at the two days I had worked and thought about my life continuing to do the same thing every day for a year. I would be dropped off in the middle of some neighborhood, and from 2-10 P.M. I would go door-to-door asking people for money. There would be some rich people who gave less than they should have and some poor people who donated more than I expected, but these people were few and far between. The majority of the people were just normal people, and people who invited me into their homes thinking all I needed was their signature. We would talk about the day’s events, and how much they believed that my cause was right. And then they would tell me about their own problems: How they had just lost their jobs, or they had $30,000 in medical bills to pay off, and sometimes both of those things. Sometimes they would have no furniture and sometimes there would be far more people living in the house than there should be. Then, after all of this, I was supposed to ask them for over $100 per month. I was supposed to continue pushing for money despite their insistence that the electric company was shutting off their lights next month. I was supposed to continue to browbeat them until they slammed the door in my face. And so, from 2-10 P.M., I would feel like the world’s biggest jerk. And that is no way to feel for 8 hours every day of the week.

It takes a special kind of person. Not a bad person. Sometimes it’s necessary to get funding like this for the things you deeply believe in. I can’t say this sort of thing is wrong, and maybe I’m portraying it too harshly. But I do know that if it takes a special kind of person to do this, then I am not that person. I am willing to do a lot of work—difficult work, tedious work, work with long hours. One thing I know now, though, is that you’ll never catch me canvassing.

Natalee Holloway, 19, was last seen leaving a nightclub with three men in Aruba when she disappeared in 2005. In April, 23 year old Aubrey Sacco went missing while hiking alone in Nepal. Traveling is dangerous, but that doesn’t mean young women should stay home – they just need to be careful. Beth Whitman, solo women’s travel expert, tour leader, travel writer, and founder of Wanderlust and Lipstick, answers my questions on how young women can avoid danger abroad.

Beth Whitman has been traveling around the world for over 22 years, from backpacking through Nepal to riding a motorcycle from Seattle to Panama alone. In addition to sharing travel tips and wisdom on her website, she has written two Wanderlust and Lipstick guidebooks: The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo, and For Women Traveling to India. She also leads women-only tours to Bhutan, Vietnam, Cambodia, and India (where I met her). If anyone knows how to travel safely, she does.

1. Do you think it’s more dangerous for a woman to travel alone than a man?

“Not necessarily. I think it all depends upon the destination and the person. A man who is unaware of his surroundings at a “safe” destination can be more at risk than a woman who has her act together in a place that might be considered dangerous. In general, a woman may not have the strength to defend herself, but if she’s taking all the right precautions she can avoid most potentially dangerous situations.”

2. What should young women do to stay safe while traveling? Should they travel with companions, avoid getting drunk, not hike solo in Nepal, etc.?

“There’s almost always safety in numbers so that’s a good one to point out. But if a woman is traveling on her own, she would do well to keep her wits about her by not getting drunk and not accepting any food or drink from a stranger. The biggest key is to get educated about your destination and whether it’s safe to walk around on your own and if it’s even safe to be out at night (with or without companions). Having said that, the recent disappearance of Aubrey Sacco in Nepal is worrisome. Though there have been political flare ups in Nepal in recent years, I wouldn’t have thought it to be a dangerous place for a woman to travel. But accidents and disappearances can happen anywhere.

A woman should listen to her gut and avoid any situation that feels the least bit wrong.”

3. What do you personally do to stay safe when traveling alone?

“I usually don’t go out at night (which, admittedly, has limited some of my experiences) and I’m careful as to who I talk to. If I am in conversation with someone, I usually make up a fictitious traveling partner (such as my husband) and make sure the person I’m speaking with knows that I’m expected back at my hotel by a particular time.

“I’m also hyper-alert about my personal belongings so that I don’t seem unaware. Having grown up outside of New York City, I think I bring a certain sense of street smarts that many women might not have. If a woman is shy or hesitant to be on her own in a foreign place, I highly recommend taking a self defense course. Whether she uses it or not, taking a course may give her enough confidence as she walks around that a would-be thief might pass her by.”

4. What advice would you give to college girls for spring break and summer vacation travel, where a Girls Gone Wild atmosphere might come into play?

“Well, you can have just as much fun (and actually remember things!) if you don’t get blotto during that spring break. Seriously. Safety should be a woman’s number one priority, whether going out locally or while on vacation and drinking heavily can make things go from bad to worse really quickly.

“Stick with your girlfriends and don’t put yourself in any sort of iffy circumstances. This might sound boring but it’s better to take some precautions than to have your travels end on a really sour note.”

5. Have you ever been in a really dangerous situation while traveling, and what did you do to get out of it?

“The most dangerous situation I’ve ever been in was in Cambodia in the early 90’s. There was no real government installed at the time and there were four factions vying for power – so no one knew who was in charge.

“I chose to travel overland (which was actually illegal at the time) from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. I was in the back of an open-ended pick-up truck and we kept getting stopped by the local military. On one occasion when we were stopped, a rifle-toting man was talking to me in Khmer and stroking my arm. I had no idea what he was saying and just kept repeating, “No understand.” He was drunk and was laughing back at me, “No understand.”

“The driver finally came around to the back and gave the man some riels (the local currency). We drove off while the military guy was pulling out a hand grenade. He didn’t pull the pin but I can honestly say it was the scariest time in my life.

It turns out he was looking for US dollars.”

To read more travel tips on everything from how to pack, to health on the road, to solo adventure travel for women, check out WanderlustandLipstick.com.

The “Up2 You” Video Challenge asks you to make your own video and rendition of Dave Stewart’s “Stand Up to Cancer” anthem and upload the video on YouTube. It could win you a Takamine guitar or flip camcorder worth between $350 and $4000. Check the website for more specific details, of course, and be sure to submit your video before July 30, 2010. One of the best parts is that there are no fees involved.

There are three rounds for the contest, the final round being judged by a few celebrities – Laura Ziskin, Dave Stewart and Jesse Dylan. And, there will be five total winners who will either earn a valuable prize or honorable mention and their face on the YouTube web page.

Anyone who is looking for a way to pass the summer months and help fight cancer has nothing to lose here. Having a musical background may or may not help your chances, but at least you have something to anticipate and work for up until September 1, 2010, when the winners will be announced.

Feel free to share your experiences with the contest with the rest of us. For those of you taking it on, good luck!

According to the June 1^st article in the LA Times, UC Berkeley officials are asking new students to volunteer their DNA in an effort to foster discussion at fall orientation. Over 5000 swabs will be sent out this summer, and while no one will be penalized for refusing, genetics ethics groups are concerned that students will feel pressured to join in for fear of alienating future professors.

So what are they testing for? Nothing important, it turns out: gene variations that control reactions to lactose, folic acid and alcohol. These specific genes were selected because they were not “traumatic” and could be ignored with students no worse off. The results of the DNA tests will only be known to participants and the samples will be destroyed.

Every year UC Berkeley has an “On the Same Page” program for incoming students in which they are usually asked to read the same book over summer for discussion in fall seminars. This year, program coordinators wanted to engage students more actively in the cutting edge issue of genetic science. At orientation, faculty members will lecture about what the DNA results mean, things like blushing after drinking, or how lactose and vegetables affect peoples’ bodies differently. September seminars will have scientists, sociologists, ethicists and lawyers discussing genetics with, what program coordinators hope will be, a group of unusually well-informed students.

Is this “Big Brother” trying to control people’s lives? Is this how the world of Gattaca began? Are we flinging headlong into a genetically engineered dystopia? Don’t these sound like awsome essay prompts?

I think that’s the point. Playing with students’ DNA makes them think, whether they agree, disagree, are enthused, or angry about it. If college is a place in which ideas should be challenged, perspectives debated, and minds opened – then UC Berkeley seems to have accomplished all that before the school year has even begun.

On the odd occasion that me or one of my companions laughed, it was at the misspoken words, stuttering, and interesting voices that some of the speakers had. We all turned into little kids sitting in the back of a class room, laughing at anything so long as we didn’t have to hear the speaker. Then I thought, perhaps the graduation ceremony is supposed to represent the final lecture for students… but is that right? Do graduates really have to endure the multiple lectures that come with graduation?

This past weekend, as I was sitting through my brother’s graduation ceremony, I witnessed a couple of beach balls were being tossed around – back and forth they bounced across the football field being used for the graduates’ seats. Although this may seem disrespectful to the person with the microphone, this wasn’t the worst. If the ball dropped, then there were lines of students who kept starting the wave; it may have only gone half-way through the graduates, but the desperation for entertaining themselves was evident.

When I asked my brother how bad it was sitting in the sun, he told me the worst part was the boredom. He, as well as plenty of other graduates sitting around him, was busy texting anyone and everyone just so he had something to kill the time.

I realize that graduation speeches are part of the tradition of ceremonies, but why is it so hard to ask for a ceremony that could be remotely enjoyable? I have known graduates who opt to skip their whole ceremony because they cannot stand the idea of sitting through the speeches.

I realize that coaching the speakers would be an crazy idea, but something should be done when it comes to actually keeping people’s attention. One of our own bloggers wrote a post about what is typically appealing in a graduation speech. In my own opinion, I wonder why we bring in guest speakers who no one cares to listen to? Sure, these speakers have respected lives and accomplishments, but that does not make them good speakers. I bet a local comedian could give a more interesting speech, certainly more lively and light, than the speakers I’ve heard.

Frankly, I think that schools should have more students give speeches at graduation and fewer special guests, who no one has heard of or cares about. At least students have the ability of keeping things a bit more upbeat since they know what it is like to sit in the stands while multiple people take the microphone and drone on about success and determination. Students have the ability to provide heart and insight that other speakers don’t. Graduates are filled with excitement, which would hopefully come through a speech.

I had the idea that, since student speakers are usually chosen based on their academic achievements, maybe schools could also set up some sort of speech contest, for students who think they can provide a lively and entertaining speech for graduation. Or the school could take polls from the student body throughout the year, asking what they would more likely enjoy hearing about or who they would want to speak; anything that would make the graduation seem like it was aimed more for the graduates than the faculty.

I’m not suggesting that the graduation committee bring in jugglers or magicians to entertain the crowd, but no student wants to sit through another dissertation. What is so wrong with trying to liven things up a bit? It’s either that or watching graduates toss a beach ball over their peers’ heads.

Does anyone have any grad ceremony memories, good or bad, that they would like to share? Better yet, does anyone have any recommendations for what could make graduation ceremonies more tolerable?

BLEEP!

How would you react if after class one of your friends said “this paper is really going to f— up my GPA”? You’d probably glance right over the profanity, right? At Hind Community College, one student was punished for saying the f-word outside of class because a professor overheard him.

Right off the bat, you’ve got to admit this sounds a bit ridiculous. People are walking down streets, through malls, and in high schools talking like swearing is a dialect and suddenly a college student can be written up for a misdemeanor because of slip? Hind Community College is an exception for punishing swearing, most universities don’t have a policy for profanity as it is, according to USA Today, “violates the First Amendment rights”.

But when is the line between Freedom of Speech and outright rudeness crossed? In high school, students can be given detentions for swearing or disrespecting the teacher, but do college students play by the same rules? For example, is swearing in class okay because of your First Amendment rights, or should you refrain because it infringes on the rights of other students.

On a wider scale, another recent debate involving public profanity came from the new sitcom premiering next fall, “$#*!” My Dad Says” – based off the popular Twitter feed “Shit My Dad Says.” Starring William Shatner, the show’s title has been publicly denounced by parent groups. “Tim Winter, president of the Los Angeles-based PTC, said he was aware that CBS was developing a series based on the Twitter sensation, but ‘we couldn’t imagine that a network would actually name a program either with an expletive or with the expletive ostensibly bleeped out.’” CBS does maintain this show will be family friendly, though with Shatner’s character being “a curmudgeon who dispenses politically incorrect opinions and advice to his son,” I’m tempted to question if we consider “politically incorrect opinions” family friendly.

So if TV has to watch their mouth in public settings, should we?

True, no one can control your language. If you want to throw around the f-word like a definite article no can exactly stop you, but I don’t think anything is without consequences. Even the police, if you’re truly disrupting the peace, will interfere and I’m sure your professors will find away to get you out of their class if they’re against it.

More importantly, though, a little common sense should come first. If you’re sitting around the campfire with your friends – go ahead, no one’s going to here you, but think about a job interview – you wouldn’t go in swearing, would you? How about on your first day of work? Would you swear in front of your baby sister? Your nephew? Those neighbor kids you baby-sit for in the summer? In class, I think it shows respect for the professor not to use profanity, especially words that are directed to him or her.

Where do we draw the line between Freedom of Speech and profanity? Should there be a line?

In a recent article in The Washington Post, one author points out that what most people think are common difficulties or solutions to college admittance are not exactly accurate. It is no longer race that stands as the big issue, but social class. Regardless of students’ ethnicity, it is the income of students’ families that play a big part in their admission stats.

Although the notion of class discrimination is not completely explained, many of us know or can speculate on the common reasons. For example, I have noticed that students who come from lower-income families are more likely to need to work full-time to help out their families, which means students cannot devote as much time and attention to their studies.

If that were not bad enough, a more expensive education can actually be advantageous to students, as well. However, what are the chances a family who is struggling to afford an education in the first place can pay extra for a more expensive school? Though I have already discussed the reasons for advantages in attending prestigious schools in a previous blog, it is unlikely these advantages can be offered to every economic level.

These points are not intended to cause strife between the advantaged and less advantaged students, but rather to call attention to the recurring need for our government and schools to put in more effort to even out the playing field. Obviously, the students who are struggling to get an education are still struggling as much as ever.

Yes, financial aid and grants are offered as a means of helping the lower-income students. However, with the high standards that are expected from the high-end universities, there does not seem to be much chance for struggling students to catch up. There are websites that help put some of these expectations into perspective, though it does not help things to look hopeful for the economically-struggling students.

Despite the hopeless in appearance, I do believe that hard work and determination can still help students succeed. Does anyone have their own perspective to share on this issue?

School uniforms may seem boring, but they definitely save on clothing, and sometimes spark the creativity of kids who accessorize to look different every day. Students in the United States might complain about their uniforms, but some kids halfway around the world would wear love to wear them, accessorized or not, because it means they can go to school in the first place.

The Uniform Project brought school uniforms, education and sustainable fashion together. The project was simple: one girl, with one dress, for one year. As part of a fundraiser for the Akanksha Foundation, one girl, Sheena Matheiken, wore the same black dress every day for a year, making a different outfit every day with reused accessories. Money donated to the project over the year went to fund expenses for uniforms and education for kids living in Indian slums, and at the end of the year, more than $80,000 was raised, which is enough to send 223 kids to school.

Read the rest of the story at our sister site Globalshift.org.

Despite still being considered “students” the work that these studious individuals are putting in along with their own studies deserves more recognition. In essence, grad students can be looked at as interns; however, even interns have rights, though few industries recognize this fact (as was pointed out in a previous blog here on Studentstuff.com). Then, shouldn’t grad students have rights, too?

I remember earning minimum wage as an undergraduate when I worked as an intern in college. Wouldn’t it make sense that grad students are entitled to earn more since they already have a degree? Considering there are many institutions that actually dissuade their graduate students from working outside of the school (more specifics on About.com), it would only seem fare to compensate these students a bit better.

Though some schools, like Brown University, have explicitly stated that grad students are not considered workers, there are other schools that are finally recognizing grad students’ efforts as real work. For the rest of the schools who have not joined in this opinion, apparently it is up to their students to band together to fight for their rights. And now, they may get some support from the National Labor Relations Board.

According to a recent article posted on Gradschools.com, two new union lawyers, who have been appointed by President Obama to the National Labor Relations Board, are expected to show more sympathy for the plight of graduate students than others before them.

Obviously, schools are on a stricter budget lately and are doing their best to cut costs at every corner, yet some of us fail to recognize that these graduate students are struggling in the same economy, as well. The pressures of a grad student are so severe that there are even websites dedicated to supporting them, like Grad Resources.

I don’t necessarily think that grad students deserve full-benefits or a high salary, but they do deserve more than minimum wage if they are going to juggle their studies as well as work for the school. Everyone deserves proper credit and rights for their labor.

So, what do you think? Should grad students have union rights? You can give your vote at GradSchools.com, and you can let the rest of us know your opinion by adding comments below. I would especially love to hear feedback from some current graduate students.