So long Prague, RFE/RL (for now)

Well, today was the last day of my internship at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and this Saturday I leave Prague for Leuven. It’s been a great experience. I really felt part of the Central Newsroom team and I really enjoyed interacting with the various language services so closely. The company is far from a perfect or uncontroversial place, but it’s remarkable how many positive things it’s accomplished over the years, and continues to accomplish. I’m happy to report that I’ll be remaining on board as a stringer, one of the company’s only two in the Brussels area, where I’ll be continuing my WikiLeaks beat, and hopefully expanding into cultural and European political reporting, as well.

And as for Prague, the city is also remarkable in its own way. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get to know many Czechs (unlike my previous experiences in Israel, Belgium, and South Africa, where I worked hard to get to know the locals, this time around I was mostly with expats) but I was nevertheless able to get some taste of the city. On the one hand, there’s its obvious dark side, which Kafka knew so well — the desperate drug addicts, the lethal bureaucracy, the burden of history — but on the other hand, there is still something pleasant and welcoming about it. One could easily fall into the city’s embrace, and a warm embrace it often is.

Most of all, my two months here have taught me about the humanity of journalism, the foibles and hopes of news reporter and news maker alike. It also helped re-focus my mind and my heart. I can thank Keith, Andrey, Tolkun, Larisa, Salimjon, Daud, Alaa, Mohammed, Naz, Mike, Ron, Luke, and Jay for this, but most of all, Peter and Camilla. I can also thank Assange in a way. And it’s not lost upon the mystic in me that last week was Rosh Hashannah, and that my journey back to Belgium this Saturday precisely coincides with Yom Kippur. Inshallah, I am going back atoned, refreshed, and renewed. But whatever happens this coming academic year, I am thankful for all the goodwill that has flowed toward me this summer.

A conversation between the Baroque and Gothic

Here’s what these two architectural styles would say to you over a cup of coffee…

More Prague

My friend Larisa and I spent a weekend exploring some of the nicer parts of Prague. Of course, I had to mark the occasion with a good stretch, sort of like how a dog needs to mark new territory with its scent. Below is a gallery of some of the sights, including the Senate park, which includes a very strange and creepy owl’s cage, some river shots, and even a picture of my namesake.

Baroque and brothels

Aesthetically-speaking, Prague is very impressive. It’s a veritable wild game reserve of Baroque and neo-Baroque architecture. The various German and Catholic authorities that have ruled here simply went crazy for the style. Even the huge Gothic cathedral in the center of the city’s famed castle has a Baroque steeple, a later (tragic) addition.

Truth be told, I don’t like Baroque. The idea behind it doesn’t sit well with me, because it strikes me as an ideology of exuberant wealth and power, entangled with a celebration of the rationalist modern state (consider the eye in the shining pyramid motif).

I also can’t avoid the feeling of, well, kitsch. Indeed, I think growing up, Baroque was my mental model for kitsch. The fact that crammed in between all the fancy architecture here in Prague are pimps and drug pushers, hunting after young male sex tourists, only reinforces my dislike for the style!

At any rate, click “Read More” to see photos of some sites that, well, scream, “BAROQUE!!”

Crossing the Charles Bridge

Well, I finally arrived in Prague!  On Friday I went to Radio Free Europe’s headquarters, where I’ll be interning for the next two months, and then yesterday I wandered around Prague’s center.  I took lots of shots, but I don’t even know half of what I photographed, so after a few more tours, I’ll collate everything together.  But one site that needed no introduction was the famed Charles Bridge.  It’s absolutely breathtaking.

Leuven today, Prague tomorrow

Since returning from the Netherlands over the weekend, and then watching the brutality of the Dutch national team on Sunday, I’ve been having a hankering to watch Mel Gibson films, especially the Mad Max trilogy.  These were old favorites from childhood and remain so into adulthood.  Incidentally, whenever I go to the Netherlands, especially the Hague, I always end up with an itch to watch or read something apocalyptic…

Anyway, tomorrow I head off to Prague for two months.  I’ll be interning with Radio Liberty, otherwise known as Radio Free Europe from its communist-fighting days.  As much as I intrinsically like Leuven, I’m welcoming the temporary change of scenery.  I need to be somewhere more metropolitan and older to recharge.  As to the internship, I’m actually not sure what I’ll be doing exactly, but whatever I end up doing, I’ll try to take it easy, get my groove back after what has been a very rocky year and a half in Europe.

And I’m also reliably informed that Czech women are beautiful.  I’ll soon be able to scientifically verify this. 

No rest for the weary

This past week: chaos in Southern Kyrgyzstan — quite possibly the second largest story this year for neweurasia after, of course, the revolution in said country — Russian philosophy exam postponed to next week, massive Metaxology/philosophy of God exam on Friday, working on an editorial for Transitions Online today and tomorrow, and also studying Russian philosophy tomorrow.

Next week: Russian philosophy exam on Tuesday, editorial for Transitions Online due on Wednesday, term paper comparing Averroes and Ockham on theology (what a dumb idea that was) due on Thursday.  If all goes well, I can deflate on Friday, unless of course Kyrgyzstan has other ideas.  And then?