This Week in Gratitude: Underdogs, Public Diplomacy, and CSI Marathons

1. My husband and I watched the Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots with my parents. Though both from New England, my mom was rooting for the underdog Eagles and my dad was staunchly for the Patriots. Weifang was rooting for whomever played the better game. I was also for the Eagles in light of being tired of the same teams always making and eventually winning the Super Bowl. Plus, as my dad put it, I wanted to use this game as a metaphor for the current state of politics where the little guy is often overwhelmed by the better equipped (largely because of money spent on resources) establishment; in this case an establishment that has also seen its share of controversy in recent years. So imagine my happiness that the Eagles did their mascot justice and played an almost perfect game to victory. If they could do it, I thought, we can do this year in the midterms and other facets of making sure the establishment doesn’t always win. However, I would ask that during our victories we don’t harm our cities as that is never a good look. The other side should never be able to find a fault with our anger or our celebration since both emotions are valid and need to be taken seriously.
2. For the first time in a while I was able to attend an event that I myself was not hosting. Although I helped my colleagues who did put it on by helping them get a room on the Hill and connecting them with speakers including my director it was nice to just sit back and listen to what was being said (albeit with occasional social media posting as that job never ends). While these speakers were largely preaching to the choir, it was nonetheless wonderful to hear about all of their activities for promoting global citizenship and studying abroad. I can only hope that very soon I will be sitting up with them on the dais and speaking about what I am doing to make a difference rather than just listening.
3. I took a much needed sick day on Friday to just relax and stay at home until my fencing class. While taking a break from studying and eating my lunch I was flipping channels and came across a marathon of CSI episodes. While it was partly because I will be going to Las Vegas with Weifang soon another part of me was excited to just sit back and watch a show for nostalgia’s sake. Sometimes that is truly what the doctor ordered.