Buruma Reaction

First of all, my reaction to the Buruma book. I had to read the chapters over again as I read the book at the beginning of the quarter and have now entirely forgotten the specifics of what was in which chapter. However, a new perusal of the book was interesting. For one, I’d really like to comment that Buruma chooses some awesome quotes from everything said during or after the trial. The quotes seem to put it all in context—here are these people who are still at a loss: how could such a thing happen in our country, to such a person, by such a person. They seem confused and somewhat disoriented and Mohammed’s illogical speech, stated calmly and with hardly any tribute to the pain of anyone hurt by his actions, certainly didn’t help matters. I thought that was a very interesting part of the book. I also found the foray into Mohammed’s background to try and explain some of his actions interesting in a different way. One comment I found particularly interesting (and yes, I have now used interesting three times in the last three sentences) was Buruma’s note about Mohammed’s reaction to 9/11: “Violence, he told friends, was not the solution” (p208). Somewhat ironic, no?

As a side note, I find a cactus memorandum as extremely amusing for some reason.... And I have absolutely no idea what questions I have for Phil Shekleton. Mainly because I don’t really know what his talk is going to be about. Well, I suppose I will find out tomorrow. ^_^

Hmmm…I feel like sleeping. I guess I will be posting the interview assignment in the morning…