Tea time!

This weekend, I read Three Cups of Tea, the story of Greg Mortenson’s epic mission to build schools in Pakistan and later Afghanistan. Perhaps it’s because I was raised by two urban public school teachers, or maybe it’s because I live with a teacher and seem to surround myself with educators everywhere I go, but I was floored by this novel. It’s well written, which I’m sure is in large part due to David Oliver Relin, but I think Sarah Palin* could have written this story and it still would have been compelling.

I admit I’m behind the curve on this one. This book has been out since 2006, but it’s better late than never, right? It’s just so inspiring to see children so eager to learn. And it’s so refreshing to see an informed, compassionate perspective on the Muslim world. I couldn’t agree more that the real way to effectively combat terrorism is through education. Why is that such a hard thing for our government to comprehend?

*[Side note: Palin just announced her replacement for former State Senator Kim Elton. Elton left Alaska to be part of Obama’s Dept. of the Interior, and the only name that Democrats submitted to Palin as a replacement was Rep. Beth Kerttula. Kerttula is awesome, but she publicly stated that she didn’t think Palin was qualified to be VP during her presidential bid last fall. Big surprise, Palin decided to reject Kerttula and has instead named Tim Grussendorf to fill the empty senate seat. Plus, she used up almost all of the 30 days she had to name a replacement, leaving Juneau without representation right in the middle of our legislative session. Vindictive much? Now there is the potential for the senate to reject this selection and the process would start all over again. This comes after Palin has created a big stink even with state Republicans by not accepting Obama’s stimulus money. The circus show continues…]

Okay, so that’s my political rant for the month…