Hotel Rwanda

Hey everybody,

I haven't been here for a while. I guess that's what happens when you are writing your thesis - the outside world goes on a little bit of a hiatus. Well, here is where I am now.

Thesis word count - 16200. That's about 65 pages. I'm getting close to done with my complete draft. Hopefully this weekend sometime.

I've been pretty tired of my thesis - understandably I think. I mean, I have put tons of work into it and have been getting tired of working on it. However, last night I had an experience that rejuvenated my desire to work on it and reminded why I'm doing what I'm doing.

Last night the Willamette Events Board movie was Hotel Rwanda, a true story about the actions of a hotel manager during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. This genocide was one of the greatest atrocities of the last half of the last century, not only because of what happened but because of the West's lack of interest or commitment to intervene. In his recently published memoirs Bill Clinton calls not going to Rwanda the biggest mistake of his Presidency. I'm glad to see 800,000 lives came before Monica Lewinski but I'm a little surprised.

Anyways, Hotel Rwanda will not be the easiest film to watch, but it is important. As you watch it, think about how the refugees that flooded into neighboring Zaire during the genocide that killed 800,000 spurred a new war there that killed well over a million. Then think about the fact that a few hundred thousand have been killed in a genocide that is occuring RIGHT NOW in the Sudan and won't stop unless the West acts differently than it did a decade ago.