Who we are

I was born in Alaska. Being born on top of the world affects one’s perspective. Not unlike someone born in Stockholm or Oslo, my first view of the world was from a vantage — or standpoint — near the North Pole. Indeed, I was taken as a small child to North Pole, Alaska, to meet Santa Claus as a special treat. In my youth (until about 1987) my nickname was, “Patty.” A few people still call me that….

I grew up in Vermont and Florida, during which time I spent a year in Haiti in a French-Catholic convent day school learning French. I picked up a bit of Haitian Creole (now gone for the most part, although I still have an ear for it). I have visited countries in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Africa. I spent some time living in Israel, and in France. I have lived for extended periods of time on three continents and have traveled on four. I speak French (rusty and imperfect francophone French), and people tell me that I speak Hebrew like a new immigrant. I read French well, and I read Hebrew well but slowly and in certain topics (legal language and some social science; I am not comfortable in Hebrew literature at all, although I did study it briefly). My written language is less good. I studied modern standard Arabic in the philological method and can translate Arabic into English with a dictionary (I am best with certain types of poetry). I have studied a number of languages through the first- or second-year level, making basic niceties possible (although little else) and giving me a bit of a linguist-type appreciation for language, narrative, and syntax (e.g., language and ideas construction).

I have lived in large metropolitan areas and in the most rural contexts imaginable (e.g., an Inuit village in coastal Alaska as a small child, very briefly). I often come across like a city girl (perhaps because I spent time in Paris), but I am a farm girl at heart. I grew up on a farm and love riding large ponies and gardening vegetables, flowers, shrubs, flowering trees, and grasses. As a small child, I traveled with my parents on a long Asia tour. We went to Mongolia and rode Mongolian ponies across the Steppes, a life-directing experience for me. When I first read E.P. Thompson’s, Whigs and Hunters, regarding the 18th century UK debates on enclosures, I remembered the enclosure-free Mongolian Steppes and wild ponies.

I play piano (rock and classical), and I sing (mezzo). My high school madrigal choir receive blue ribbons at state championships two years in a row (in Florida). I write short stories, musicals, and poetry, most of which is currently unpublished. One book of poetry was once considered for a national-level prize (see vitae).

I am a practicing Buddhist. Growing up in a highly secular environment, I called myself a Taoist (it is really the same thing) and was uncertain regarding my own identity in religious and cultural terms. I grew up celebrating a protestant Christmas and Easter (high church, but otherwise secular and non-practicing — both were beautiful but tended to the secular). I had other relatives who were Roman Catholic, and still others from a wide range of the World Religions. My own extended family’s broad range of religious identities is what first sparked my interest in studying the empirics, cultures, value systems, and (coexistence and debates regarding) the meanings inherent to (or that drive) religion and politics. I follow Tibetan Buddhism (Mahayana), which is similar to Zen Buddhism although perhaps a modern (and traditional), moderate-orthodox version of it. I have relatives who practice Shinto, which is also meaningful to me although I do not practice it. I took vows (similar to a child’s novice vows) as a child in a Buddhist Temple in Asia. I do not bring my religion into the classroom except if people want it identified. It does, of course, influence my thinking on issues of coexistence.

My family heritage is like that of many USA Americans: it comes from many locales around the globe. It includes direct ties in the Philippines, Prussia of old, Spain, Ireland, and a few additional places; and more distant — but family — ties in many parts of East Asia, Europe, and, more recently, some of Latin America. When the world is at conflict, it frequently affects me in at least an indirect manner. That also influences my thinking on coexistence (within reasonably bounded limits) as the eventual answer to most such questions.

I am trained in historical institutionalism on the society, culture, and qualitative methods side (e.g., state-society relations, culture and institutions, and political ethnography).

My Doctorate is an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Near East Languages and Civilizations — Modern Middle East Politics track — emphasizing qualitative, comparative, international, and historical institutional Political Science, International Studies, and some political-sociological and/or political-theoretical training (see vitae). My first two degrees are in Religions (M.A. Islam and Judaism; B.A. Judaism and Islam). I studied as an overseas student at Paris I - Sorbonne (Woods) and American University of Paris (Woods). I have been a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies (Woods); Hebrew University’s Department of Political Science (Woods); Tel Aviv University’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology (Woods); and elsewhere, during either faculty or graduate student years. I have received national-level fellowships, grants, and awards (see vitae upon request) and have served on national-level fellowship committees or review panels.

I believe that the Answer to most questions (even many religious questions) is Education and that we are each responsible to educate ourselves to the greatest extent possible — and within our reach — as country and world citizens: Knowledge is a foundation for Wisdom; Wisdom is a foundation for the power sharing and mutual understanding often necessary for coexistence. War is sometimes necessary and important. But most soldiers I have known prefer peace to war when it is possible.