!Salud!

Last night, William and I went to the !Salud! event in the HUC. There was free food before the show (including delicious popcorn) which helped bring in a bigger crowd, but was nowhere near as large as the crowd at the Anatomy of Hate event. The !Salud! movie was about Cuban health care, and the impact that the Cuban doctors have made in Africa.

The Cuban health care system is much different than the US health care system in that the the Cuban health care system deals with everyone on the island, and the doctors know you more on a personal level. One quote that stuck out to me was "when you start viewing patients as money rather than as human beings, you have lost sight in what it means to be a doctor". I starting thinking after hearing this quote, that this is why people become doctors, until they start realizing the monetary value. The Cubans are now accepting study away students from all countries to take part in their medical school program for free. The crazy part about this situation however is not the free tuition, but rather the mindset that the Cuban government has for the students after they graduate. They want the students to go back to their home country in order to fix their own problems, and help their own people.

I applaud the Cubans for their Humanitarian effort, and will be following any stories dealing with the Cuban medical program.

The Anatomy of Hate

Last Thursday on March 25th, UAB had the privlage to watch Mike Ramsdell's new documentary "The Anatomy of
Hate" with an after movie live debate between the UAB Free Thoughts group and Life 180. First I want to point out that
the documentary was one of the best I have seen in the past few months. The movie focused on why we hate, and what causes fear in our lives. The movie focused on domestic problems (what the general public views it as) here in the US, such as white supremacy groups and Fred Phelps, Westboro Baptist church, as well as foreign issues such as the on going war in the middle east. We were shown emic as well as edic perspectives, and the movie was put togeather in such a non-biased matter that you could truthfly see what was really at the core of the problems. The main idea that Mike Ramsdel wanted us to understand was that all of our hate, was caused by our fear: of the other, and what we think they want to do to us. Religion, politics, and culture teach us what we should hate, or love, and with these groups you begin to create seperation between yourself and those that are not like you. The movie showed us that we still need hope in order to move past these dark times, and with a better understanding of those who are different, we now know each other a little better than we did before.

The Buddhist Experience

Last week, William took me to his Buddhist temple along with Jamie. It was a small building with nothing (which I saw) on the outside to indicate what was going on inside. When we walked inside he asked me to take off my shoes, and place them next to the shoe pile as you walked in the door. When we arrived we sat down with a group of 15 who were already in the middle of a discussion. They spoke about the problems in the world, and how we all need to know peace, and not to hate, even your enemies. After about 20 minutes, the discussion was over and it was time for meditation. We each picked up a pillow to sit on, and a meditation book showing what we will be reading for the day. The meditation was fascinating. The room was so quite, and I began to enter, what I thought was a type of Zen mode (even though this was Tibet Buddhism), where I closed my eyes, listened to the monk, and came to peace. After meditation, we put back the pillows and had tea and crackers while William showed Jamie and I the different areas of the temple (which was a lot smaller than I pictured). Jamie and I had the chance to ask many of the people there about their thoughts on Buddhism. What I found most interesting about their statements is that with all religions, you almost feel as if you being overwhelmed with other people trying to covert you, while with Buddhism, they even say that "it's not for everyone".

I enjoyed going to the temple, and I would like to point out that I too, am a fan of karma.

Quail Eggs and Squid

A few days ago, William and I went to a Vietnamese restaurant in Homewood. The menu had many appealing items, but I was looking for something different this time. William and I came across a dish which had quail eggs and squid in it. We both ordered this dish, along with an appetizer, wanton chips with chicken(very delicious). When our main course arrived, we were hesitant in trying it out, but after about 30 seconds I scooped up a quail egg, and ate it. It had a strange taste to it, but it was OK. Not something that I would order again, but OK. The squid was up next so I scooped some up and ate that as well. I actually liked it! I would still prefer it breaded like calamari though. After the meal I felt a little weird. I don't know, maybe it was the quail eggs.

Intro/Culturally Prescribed Lens

Hello, my name is Sean Moffett. I am a 20 year old student at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. I am majoring in International Studies with a concentration on Europe (specifically Germany). I am currently living at home with my parents, Dean and Joan Moffett, my brother Dillon, and my grandmother Mary.

I moved to McCalla, Alabama when I was five years old from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania due to my fathers work. I moved to Hoover, Alabama five years ago and attended Spain Park High School and graduated in 2007. I began college at Jefferson State Community College in Hoover, and transferred to UAB in the Fall of 2009. I became interested in Anthropology in the Spring of 2009 due to an Anthropology class that I took at JSCC. Learning about other cultures became fascinating to me, and I took an interest in Europe due to my German heritage. I began asking my parents "what do you know about our family and where we came from?" but the only answer that they could tell me was "we have German and Irish roots" which was too bland of an answer for me. This was my turning point in life where I began searching for answers, and became fascinated in the history of the world. With learning about one study, I became interested in another, and before I knew it, I realized that I have a lot to learn about the history of the world and why people are so different but at the same time, the same.

When it comes to Anthropology, I am most interested in religion. I was born Catholic, and attended Catholic school from age 5 until age 14. When I was 19 years old, I began labeling myself as an Atheist. I could not continue to have faith due to so many flaws in my religion. I began realizing the similarities between all religions of the world, and how my life was filled with Christian propaganda ever since I was born. I could not fathom the idea that one man was watching over me at all time, or that God would allow tragedies to occur such as the Holocaust or the 9/11 attacks. With the millions of starving children around the world, and the horrible incidents that are happening in Darfur today, how could a God allow this to happen? These ideas are only the beginning of how my beliefs were turned around. Today I consider myself to be a "no label", because to be called an Atheist, it suggests that I have an idea of where I will go after I die. Some Atheists will disagree with that, but for now, I am sticking with "no label".

This was about as brief of a paragraph that I could come up with. Stay tuned.