Want to come to Yale with me? Well, maybe not exactly TO Yale, but hopefully the next best thing.
For the next four months I will be at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, on the Yale World Fellows Program. I’d like to share this experience with you as much as I am able, so I have decided to do a couple of video blogs every week to bring you up to date with what is happening here. One blog per week will be an interview with one of my colleagues on the program, and the other will be my own thoughts and reflections.
I won’t post a full transcription of the video, but I will publish the rough notes that I use as a prompt while I am talking to camera. Any resemblance between what I plan to say and what I actually say will be mostly accidental! Regard them more as show notes than as a full-blown blog post.
So here we go, my first video blog from Yale….
Experiences so far since arriving in New Haven
– first impressions of the town – contrast between rich and poor
– Elm City Market – cooperative
– settling into apartment on High St
Off to a flying start:
– Dinner party with power couple Charles Vogl and Socheata Poeuv and PhD friends
– Meeting with Julie Newman and colleagues at the Office of Sustainability to explore ways we can work together, likely to include moving Yale away from single use plastics
– Lining up meetings with some professors of psychiatry and neuroscience, research into attitudes towards climate change
– Very interesting and wide-ranging meeting with CJ May, resourcerer about waste management at Yale
Met some of the world fellows at dinner:
– Martin Sturgeon and wife Victoria
– Daniel Weisfield, one of the three US fellows, and his wife Atara
– Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, feminist and scholar from Nigeria
– Paula Escobar-Chavarría, journalist and author from Chile
– Réda Oulamine, human rights lawyer from Morocco, and his wife
– Ruchi Yadav, activist for human rights and women’s rights in Delhi
Goals for the program:
– extend global network of contacts
– academic credibility to underpin future campaigning with regard to policy-makers
– time out to study, acquire knowledge, especially interested in motivation in relation to environment:
- Why are we not acting in our own long term interests?
- Why are we so hooked on consumption when it’s not making us happy?
- How can we use the growing knowledge of neuroplasticity, the science of how we respond to external stimuli to rewire our minds, to find a way to shift our culture to a different value system that prioritises happiness, and indeed our long term survival, over short term financial and material rewards.
So not knowing anything about the Yale World Fellows Program I looked it up, very impressive Roz–congratulations on being selected! And for the rest of you, here’s a link to the “about” page of the Yale World Fellows Program: http://www.yale.edu/worldfellows/about.html
Thanks Bob, regards, David Church
Thanks, Bob. I should have thought to post that link myself. Grateful to you for meeting the need!
What a generous and interesting idea. I hope you enjoy every moment of your four months. You certainly seem to have hit the groung running! Thanks for sharing Roz. Regards, David C
Brilliant, Roz! Nice to see and hear you. I’ve never really thought about attending Yale or any other Ivey League school for that matter … but am hereby accepting your offer ;-))
Thank you for including all of us in your new adventure. I look forward to hearing your experiences and reflections. You surely will create a rising tide for all who follow.Well done, Roz! Enjoy!
Thanks, Doug!
Very good! Looking forward to hearing about the great adventure Roz 😉
Love… Love… Love seeing and hearing you account your fast paced experiences, Roz. I look forward to learning along with you, as if I am attending Yale vicariously through your senses.
Enjoy your semester, and I look forward to giving you a hug when Caitlin and I come to see you in the Fall. Those gorgeous foliage would be so amazing a backdrop!
Looking forward to meeting you and your daughter, Gina.
Yeah Roz….. loving your diving in, all feet, arms, heart and passions flying…. with your usual appreciation of all those who contribute to Life… and to your life. Great stuff.
Looking forward to touching in with your observations and learning as the weeks flow on, and to getting to know some of your fellow Fellows….
Much love from Tyddyn y Pwll in Wales… which has just hosted another wonder-full gathering… and is here to welcome you, as always, when you return to these shores…
Thanks, Romy. So sorry to miss the annual TYP anniversary party. I will make it there one of these years, when not on the ocean or at Yale!
Sounds as if you are off to a flying start! Will look forward to your reports.
Good for you, Roz, you seem to be in the right place. May I suggest that you include some study of the costs of any changes that you contemplate? So many well-meaning actions produce side-effects and costs that are even less desirable than the problems they were intended to mitigate. A good foundation in economics is always valuable – I recommend Thomas Sowell’s work. Have a wonderful time.
ALOHA ROZ FROM OREGON… So good to hear and see you on this blog! CONGRATULATIONS on your accomplishment getting into this program
and your upcoming adventures!!!!! MAHALO for sharing… sending hugs
and energy for the EARTH, the OCEANS and YOU! ALOHA, Carol
Ahoy, and, like a bad penny, I turn up. Wishing you luck with your latest, though I’m a bit surprised you are not filming the life of “The Amazing Richard” I guess that deal did not fly.
Well, do take care and beware The Whiffin Poof.
Yours truly, Texino
U R so amazingly funny, Tomas ❤
Hope you are well. Cheers!
Texino, you have me stump. TWP??!
Good to hear all’s well, Roz. Thanks for keeping us in the loop. Can’t wait to hear all about it. I love your three goals. Very smart. And you are right, the name Yale holds a lot of power and will come in handy.
Why only 4 months? Is it a 4-month long program?
Yes, just 4 months. They might start asking questions if I tried to stay for longer!! 🙂
We are so excited for you. I remember creating a particularly lovely limerick way back when about how dry land will offer a different but good kind of rowing.
The room was full of PhDs, but one light shined particularly bright–Roz!
Roz The Whiffin Poofs are a famous a capella group of “Gentlemen Songsters” Quite a tradition at Yale. Now beware “The Bones Men” and do well, my Friend.
TT
Props to you Doug!
Howdy Roz, I see by this new setup in the comments section that you are a MOD. Does that mean you are a Manager on Duty? Chuckle. Or perhaps you will be seen riding around New Haven on a pimped out Vespa Scooter listening to the Specials dressed in a black suit and tie with a black pork pie hat. If you are don’t forget to stop by Pepe’s for a slice of pizza, if it is still there, and have a cannoli down the street at the bakery. Cheers, Steve
I’m a Mod? Really? Cool! So you haven’t seen me in my pork pie hat already?!
OK so where’s the picture of you with 20-25 of your closest friends whizzing across campus on your vespas reaking havoc? One with the pork pie hat will be ok too. Have you heard the jazz tune Goodbye Porkpie Hat? I think it is by Mingus. It really does say MOD in green next to your name now when you post. Oh, of course, duh! It must stand for moderator. ha ha Cheers, Stephen