And another one gone, and another one gone, another one bites the dust. That’s been my theme song all day. I just submitted a 5,000 word essay (that’s 20 pages double-spaced for all us Americans) and I feel like I just kicked the crap out of, well, something. Yeah, I kinda had the whole year to do it, but of course I procrastinated till pretty much this last week. I ended up finishing it and emailing it to my prof 30 min after class started. (During our class break, he checks his phone for email and informs me that he received my essay). To be honest, I was a little disappointed cause it wasn’t my best work, and I hate submitting mediocre stuff. But it’s done and over. Now just two more essays to do – one 7,000 word and one 7,500 word – all due within the next month. AHHHH!!!!
Well, not much has gone on since, I guess, the last week. Umm…I learned a few more ways to choke someone in Karate. I mentioned presenting my thesis paper at that development conference a few weeks ago. Well, that’s a definite now. It’s set for December. What’s even more cool is that my professor wants me to consider having it published as an article in a journal that he helps produce. Yeah, it’s a small publication that no one has heard of, but still.
Oh, and one more thing. I GOT AN IPHONE!!! Not the new one. No way. I just bought the first version used off of eBay. And I can justify it because I can now sell my iPod and cell phone, which makes up for the cost so I am not really spending anymore money. It is beyond cool. I feel like James Bond with it. All it’s missing is a laser. But now I waste too much time being obsessed with it. Curse Steve Jobs for making such aesthetically pleasing devices. Well, that’s it for this week.
For all you nerds out there, if you really want to read my essay, I’ve attached it below in PDF. Plagiarize it, and I will beat you down with my beginner’s white belt karate skills. Anyways, here’s my intro/abstract so you know what it’s about. The title is “Approaches to Internal Conflict Resolution Southeast Asia: A Broad Analysis of the Philippines and Thailand.”
Within Southeast Asia, overall interstate conflict has decreased significantly over the past few decades and the region as a whole has maintained relative peace and stability. However, intrastate conflicts have risen as we find governments in protracted conflict with their citizens, claiming more casualties than interstate warfare. As the grievances of marginalized groups are expressed violently, governments are inclined to respond with tough policies of suppression, which only exacerbates tensions. Despite multiple regime changes and varying attempts at stability, these violent conflicts still continue. Among the wide spectrum of literature seeking to explain such conflicts and offer viable resolutions, there is a general consensus that alternative approaches to traditional security need to be taken. I agree that different perspectives should be considered, but also propose that attempting to identify a key issue is problematic in itself. Since the nature and causal factors of internal violent conflicts are never single-dimensional, states need to take a more delegable and comprehensive approach through the enlistment of all avenues of engagement to address all possible reasons for protracted conflict without the exclusion of any. Only by expanding current security frameworks to include human security, as broad and indeterminate as that concept may be, can states both reach a peaceful resolution and effectively sustain internal stability.
Keep in mind that it will start off decent and then gradually decline in quality, ending in utter crap. The conclusion I wrote in like 2 minutes cause I just needed to send it in.