Elections

Although it’s hard to believe, it’s been almost a full week now since the American elections. I was hoping to get some cool photos of the candidates’ speeches with Arabic subtitles, but, alas, the satellite cable in my apartment building was (and still is) down. What lousy timing! Consequently, I relied on the BBC World Service on AM radio for most of my election news, supplemented by online speech transcripts and news stories.

I didn’t need a radio to hear the reactions of my students, however. As soon as I opened the door on Wednesday I could hear excited voices and squeals from down the hallway. I knew right away that it was my lively class making all the ruckus. I must say I was a little proud of them—heaven knows Lebanese young adults (which most of them are) have plenty of their own concerns closer to home, but my students showed me that day how keenly interested they are in world affairs. From outside the classroom I could hear them saying “Can you believe it?! Obama’s elected! President Obama! I hope he doesn’t get assassinated!” Given the frequent assassinations that plague Lebanese political life, that last remark struck me as especially poignant. Though I was moved by the students’ excitement and engagement, I didn't want election talk to take over our class time. When they asked me if I was excited about the election’s outcome, I simply told them that I was excited that it was MY class making so much noise that the whole building could hear them. They laughed, and we got down to the business of early American literature. Even though “Bartelby, the Scrivener” was on the syllabus for that day, the work of Phyllis Wheatley--a slave who with the support of her owners published a volume of poetry--was more on the class’s mind, which was fine with me.

While the happiness about Obama’s win seems nearly unanimous among students, Beirutis, and the Middle East in general, I’m told that the Lebanese sectarian fractures will come to the fore very shortly in another election: those for AUB student government. The first inkling that these elections may not be US-style apathy-fests that came when I got the email from the administration asking faculty to refrain from scheduling exams during elections. "Why?" I wondered. I then learned from my colleagues that the different parties involved in student government are just junior versions of the major contenders in Lebanese politics, and that students can be quite impassioned about the election results. In the past, student elections have actually been cancelled in order to reduce the tension. Those elections are coming up during Thanksgiving week; I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, I think it’s safe to say that none of the candidates will be talking about moose hunting or Joe the Plumber. While that should be a relief, it actually makes me a little bit homesick!

(Since I don’t have any cool election-related photos to share, I’ll show you a couple night scenes. Here's some of the folks hanging out on the Corniche on Saturday evening. I tried to photograph the throngs of roller skating, biking, and skateboarding kids, but it was so dark that they all came out blurry.)




(And here is an ancient [Roman?] column sitting outside the museum on campus, with a cat sneaking up on it.)