(Central Park, NYC) You can’t hide behind the fence if you’re going to play.
Recently I received an unsolicited invitation to a one-week ‘international student conference’ in Singapore. The sender had hijacked a facebook group for another student conference I had attended and spammed its list of members with this invitation. Prima facie, the invitation looked pretty good. They offered to pay return airfare to Singapore for all participants, and international travel is typically the largest cost component of participating in these kinds of events (the rest is usually sponsored).
Continued…
Posted in Singapore.
By qui tacet
– May 27, 2010
(Pyongyang subway station) Maybe I should be a journalist instead.
I recently submitted my thesis to the political science department for honors consideration. I wrote about political competition in autocracies, using the natural or accidental deaths of dictators as natural experiments for succession conditions. My findings weren’t earth shattering – statistical significance is not practical/policy significance – but what I learned through the process was valuable.
Continued…
Posted in College Life, Essays & Writing, Politics.
By qui tacet
– April 14, 2010
(Kaesong city) The socialist market economy in action.
I was the last of the tour group to board the train to Pyongyang at Sinuiju, and all the cabins were full, except for a cabin of mostly middle-aged Chinese men. Across from my seat was my Chinese roommate for the tour, a college student from Anhui. As I sat down, my fellow passengers were pointing at one of the guides, the fair lady in a yellow hanbok who never smiled. 朝鲜美女 (trans. Joseon beauty), they laughed, come and join us. If she had heard them, she pretended not to.
Continued…
Posted in Korea - Pyongyang Diaries.
By qui tacet
– February 28, 2010
(Beijing) It’s been a fun ride
My final semester, in full quant gear. It’s time to man up and math up. If I have to get out of school, I’m going out with a bang, not a whimper.
Continued…
Posted in College Life, Economics, Politics.
By qui tacet
– January 14, 2010
(Sun Yat-sen memorial, Zhongshan) Cigarettes in vending machines, probably not such a great idea.
There is a graceless human tendency to wish upon others the ills visited upon oneself. Instead of pointing successors towards short cuts, you relish seeing them clambering through identical hoops.
The author of this particularly insightful observation was describing her experience advising a prospective journalist. She was asked for advice about how to write a book about Africa in a thoughtless way that was not conducive to actually receiving the desired information (it provoked the sentiments quoted), but she offered some very different and still valuable wisdom. In other words, the person got what they needed, but not what they wanted to hear. Unfortunately, it’s more likely that her wisdom was ignored by the intended recipient.
Continued…
Posted in College Life.
By qui tacet
– December 29, 2009
(Dongdaemun, Seoul) Where does my future lie?
Dear qui tacet:
Thank you for your interest in Boutique Consulting Firm.
After reviewing your qualifications and our present requirements, we regret that we will not be pursuing your application further at this time. Our decision only reflects an attempt to match the talents of prospective employees with our current openings.
Continued…
Posted in Business.
By qui tacet
– October 24, 2009
(Chifeng city, Inner Mongolia) Senior year. Gotta work like a dog.
The penultimate semester of my undergrad days. Minimum number of classes, maximum attention to each.
Continued…
Posted in College Life.
By qui tacet
– September 27, 2009
(Balinyouqi town, Chifeng prefecture, Inner Mongolia) So more people can hear her story…
Congratulations! In the face of a very difficult selection process, one of your photos was selected to be included in the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and Columbia University’s Photography Society’s upcoming exhibition. This is a strong testimony to your talent, as we received over 130 photos submitted and had room for only 25. The jury was very impressed by your work and looks forward to including it in the exhibition.
Continued…
Posted in China Trip, Development.
By qui tacet
– September 19, 2009
(Hong Kong IFC. View from RED Bar) It’s a long way up, and a long way down.
Congratulations! I’m happy to say that we’ve finished reading through all 1500+ applications, and your name has come out on top. You should all be extremely proud of your accomplishment, as this was the most competitive year in Business Today conference history (our acceptance rate was even lower than that of Princeton itself)!
You come from over 20 countries and 100 colleges; You speak more than 50 languages, you’ve started your own businesses, you’ve won international awards, and you are all around world-class students. It didn’t take me long to realize that I wouldn’t have been accepted to my own conference.
This will be my third time at Business Today, and I’m looking forward to seeing old friends again. I wish that more of my friends from GIS had been accepted, though. Some of them are far more accomplished than I. Unfortunately, I suspect the selectivity of the program rises proportionally with the cost of flying the candidate over, and for me that’s a $2.25 subway ride.
Posted in Business, College Life.
By qui tacet
– August 29, 2009
(Sheung Wan, Hong Kong island) Names matter.
Those of my readers from Singapore or familiar with its customs should be aware of a particular social institution known as, among other similar names, the ‘government scholarship’. However, this term is highly misleading, not only to foreign observers but also many Singaporeans, as the institution has only a passing resemblance to what the rest of the world understands the term ‘scholarship’ to mean. Here I propose a different name.
Continued…
Posted in Education, Singapore.
By qui tacet
– August 12, 2009
