Interests meme!
Leave a comment here and I'll pick one or a few of your interests and you should tell in your journal why you're interested in this.
gileswench asked me why I'm interested in Ukrainian politics, model United Nations, literature, and Xander.
Ukranian politics: I'm Ukrainian-Canadian. My family's been here about a hundred years, and I don't speak the language, and I've never been to Ukraine (planning to go in a year). But I grew up on stories about my grandfather in the underground nationalist movement during WWII, and my heritage is important to me, so I claim the right to be a hyphenated-Canadian. I like to keep up with what's happening in Ukraine, since doing so helps bolster my claim to my hyphen, and also, it's just plain interesting. I love politics, I get all excited about elections, and policy-making, and throne-speeches etc. I get excited about Canadian politics. Eastern European politics are an entirely different game, one that can literally be life-or-death. There are mysterious deaths.There's this East/West divide in the country, where some people are more nationalistic and see Ukraine as part of Europe, and really want Ukraine to join the EU, NATO, the WTO, etc; whereas others feel loyalty to Russia, or even want to be part of Russia again (which just pisses me off, since I've met the generation that fought for Ukraine to be independent, and... well, they failed at the time, but the point is that they still fought and died for it). So there's that tension. There's the oil thing, and the dispute over Black Sea oil, and the pipeline that runs through the country to Europe, and the fact that Russia can cut off their oil supply if they so choose. There's big business, and mafiya involvement - like, blatent involvement, not the kind we're used to here. There's the fact that the economy still isn't among the safest in the world. There are some truely insane and ruthless personalities. And all kinds of Russian interference, 'cause Russia can't let go, and that's getting really scary, considering the direction Russia seems to be headed in politically. And have I mentioned mysterious deaths? Of journalists, political figures who are witnesses in major trials, etc. It's politics to the extreme.
Model United Nations: If you haven't heard of MUNs, it's basically a bunch of students getting together, each representing the foreign policy of a particular country, and debating issues as though at the UN, writing and passing resolutions, etc. It's the debate team with role-playing. I've been involved with the MUN that takes place at UofT for the past four years now, actually helping to run the thing. It takes a lot of work - research, staff training, organization, administration, etc. But it's also some of the most fun I've ever had. It's great to see people come together to try to sort out the world's problems, seriously taking into consideration all the political factors involved.
literature: I'm mostly interested in the English canon; I haven't read a lot of newer works.
Xander: Xander is my huggie-bear. He's brave, and loyal, and has such a good heart. And he's funny! So, I *heart* him.
gileswench asked me why I'm interested in Ukrainian politics, model United Nations, literature, and Xander.
Ukranian politics: I'm Ukrainian-Canadian. My family's been here about a hundred years, and I don't speak the language, and I've never been to Ukraine (planning to go in a year). But I grew up on stories about my grandfather in the underground nationalist movement during WWII, and my heritage is important to me, so I claim the right to be a hyphenated-Canadian. I like to keep up with what's happening in Ukraine, since doing so helps bolster my claim to my hyphen, and also, it's just plain interesting. I love politics, I get all excited about elections, and policy-making, and throne-speeches etc. I get excited about Canadian politics. Eastern European politics are an entirely different game, one that can literally be life-or-death. There are mysterious deaths.There's this East/West divide in the country, where some people are more nationalistic and see Ukraine as part of Europe, and really want Ukraine to join the EU, NATO, the WTO, etc; whereas others feel loyalty to Russia, or even want to be part of Russia again (which just pisses me off, since I've met the generation that fought for Ukraine to be independent, and... well, they failed at the time, but the point is that they still fought and died for it). So there's that tension. There's the oil thing, and the dispute over Black Sea oil, and the pipeline that runs through the country to Europe, and the fact that Russia can cut off their oil supply if they so choose. There's big business, and mafiya involvement - like, blatent involvement, not the kind we're used to here. There's the fact that the economy still isn't among the safest in the world. There are some truely insane and ruthless personalities. And all kinds of Russian interference, 'cause Russia can't let go, and that's getting really scary, considering the direction Russia seems to be headed in politically. And have I mentioned mysterious deaths? Of journalists, political figures who are witnesses in major trials, etc. It's politics to the extreme.
Model United Nations: If you haven't heard of MUNs, it's basically a bunch of students getting together, each representing the foreign policy of a particular country, and debating issues as though at the UN, writing and passing resolutions, etc. It's the debate team with role-playing. I've been involved with the MUN that takes place at UofT for the past four years now, actually helping to run the thing. It takes a lot of work - research, staff training, organization, administration, etc. But it's also some of the most fun I've ever had. It's great to see people come together to try to sort out the world's problems, seriously taking into consideration all the political factors involved.
literature: I'm mostly interested in the English canon; I haven't read a lot of newer works.
Xander: Xander is my huggie-bear. He's brave, and loyal, and has such a good heart. And he's funny! So, I *heart* him.