"To the Brandeis Community

The events that took place yesterday at Virginia Tech have shaken academic communities
throughout the nation and the world. I have written to President Charles W. Steger to express
our community's deepest sympathy and condolences. I have asked that our Brandeis University
flag be lowered to honor the memory of those who lost their lives at Virginia Tech. Our thoughts
and prayers are with the members of the Virginia Tech academic community and the families and
friends of all those who lost loved ones in this terrible tragedy.

In the days ahead, we will learn more about the events that took place leading up to this national
tragedy. We are at this moment reviewing our own safety and crisis communications procedures.
I want each and every member of the Brandeis community to know that the administration has in
place an emergency procedures program, which we update regularly. This plan has been
developed in cooperation with safety officials from the City of Waltham, including the Police and
Fire Departments, the State Police and relevant federal officials. The Brandeis Senior
Administration is meeting with me to discuss any additional safety measures or procedures we
may wish to consider in light of the Virginia Tech tragedy.

During this very difficult and anxious time, I encourage you to talk with one another, and seek
out the resources we have on the campus to help deal with the shock and sadness we all feel.
For students, I suggest you speak with residence life professionals, members of the chaplaincy or
with a professional in the counseling center. There will be services and vigils in the next few
days at Brandeis and elsewhere. I encourage you to attend and share your grief and concerns.
There will be a solidarity prayer vigil at 5:00 p.m. today in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium.

In the meantime, be assured that we are doing all that we can do to maintain a safe and secure
community at Brandeis."

Jehuda Reinharz, President of Brandeis


I have spent the second evening watching reports from the campus of Virginia Tech. Why on earth did it take so long for the police to arrive? Students from a room, which they barricaded with a table and so prevented the shooter to come in, sent e-mail messages to BBC News, but could not make someone to come in almost an hour... Another thing that strikes me is the answer - people have been suggesting that students should have been allowed to have weapons on campus, so that they would have been able to protect themselves. What? A response to a gun massacre is more guns? Crazy country...

BBC announced the international day of action for uniting efforts to free their reporter Alan Johnson, who disappeared in Gaza a month ago. Online petition, demanding his release, can be signed here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/6518185.stm

Back in 1620 the pilgrims of "Mayflower" entered the Cape Harbor near Provincetown and there the first Thanksgiving was held with the Mashpee Wampanoag Indians. This is how the United States was founded. Cape Cod, the historically rich peninsula in Massachusetts, and its Atlantic coasts were our destinations for the Good Friday. National park rangers were smiling and warmly greeted our company of four (Simon, Uli, Regina and me) and we spent hours alone trekking more than fifteen kilometers in sand and wind. It is so much like the Baltic sea!

I just received an e-mail from Diego (my Fulbright friend from Chile who is studying astronomy at Harvard):



Hi Ieva,

It's been a long time uh?

I'm right now in Hawaii (it is 1:44 AM and is your 7:44 AM -if you're in Boston). I'm at the observatories in the top of volcano Mauna Kea.

Nothing more amazing could I imagine! A note from a friend at the top of volcano in the middle of the Pacific observing the formation of stars...

Morning. This time it was not my alarm clock that woke me up reminding of yet another day of lectures. I heard a knock on my bedroom door and it was Sebastian, the old friend from Berlin, who came to visit New England. He brought Andreas, a friend of his, and so the two spent the weekend in Boston, but today left for New Hampshire, Maine and then Canada. So I went to Brandeis to hand in my Master’s paper draft. Enough of Turkish-Armenian dialogue for the moment, although I am aware of the fact that I still have a month to submit the final version and in May get a certificate in a black gown graduation ceremony. I don’t really care about that since I will stay here for at least five more years. It is ironic, since I was never sure and still am not sure whether I do want to get a Ph.D. Or, to put it better, I don’t know whether I really want to remain in the academia. Studying was never enough for me, but here it is pretty much all I do. And only read about the world everyday in “The New York Times”. Today in the post box I found an interesting offer from TIME Magazine – an annual subscription for only fifteen dollars. Not even mentioning that I get “National Geographic”, watch BBC and CBS news and yesterday became a member of American Anthropological Association, which means I will get some more magazines to read. Never thought of it before, but living here is like being in the center of the world. All events and names and places which were so distant before are circling around. But the world is big... In small Lithuania it was much easier to contribute to the matters of the state and society. Looking through the headlines… five African peacekeepers killed in Darfur… Britain and Argentina mark the anniversary of Falkland war… wild magnolias are getting extinct… I guess today I will read… Have two books on corporate social responsibility and some texts on oil politics in Nigeria and Ecuador. Sounds familiar? The last few weeks I was only learning about participatory approaches in development and so asking the Heller students for help. John (my roommate from Ghana) gave me kilos of papers… Now it turns to business strategies and so my other roommate knows more about it. Anthropology seems all over the place. But no deep interest in anything somehow… I even stopped writing here because I feel I don’t have anything more to say. It is a feeling that destroys me. Nothing seems to be that inspiring. Maybe I just need holidays and that is what we have now. Ten days - no classes. It all started Thursday night when with Ahmet and Sezer and Seyit (I almost know more Turks than Germans now) we went to the opening of the Turkish Film Festival at Boston Museum of Fine Arts.



“Ice Cream, Ice Cream”: Mediterranean coast, grapes and watermelons, gangs of kids and top-less Europeans on the beach, but it was all about an old ice-cream man, who was trying to stay in business by competing with sellers of mass-produced ice-cream. In the reception afterwards we got baklavas and wine. Friday we celebrated the first part of Simon’s birthday, Saturday watched “Escape from New York” and Sunday the Germans cooked dinner as the starter for a long evening with rum and Turkish delights. But I don’t know what to do today… Maybe get a ticket to New York? But it might be worse than here. I need something very different. And I want to go home. Less than two months left. Some days ago I even spoke with my grandfather about the coming spring… and with Goda, who told me she had been in the opening of an exhibition with some of my dad’s paintings. Why am I writing all this? Time for lunch. Some Greek salad…