Introductions and Ice-breakers

So we few, we happy few, we band of siblings, as it were, gathered all together and awkwardly stood around trying to figure out who we were. Luckily, there were these little cardboard signs that had our names an institutions on them. The leader of the group, an intense man with little hair, asked us to introduce ourselves. Lo and behold, we went around the table and each person recited what was on our cardboard cards sitting prominently in front of us: name and institution. I must admit that I am irritated by presenters who read their power point slides, so I thought I would add my research interest, misguided geek that I am. Everybody else just read their card. This made me worry about the dreaded ice-breaker. I so did not want to have to describe myself as some kind of carbohydrate rich dessert, but my fears were unfounded: it was a rather more mature ice-breaker. We were to interview someone not sitting next to us, and then introduce that person. I think that is a pretty good ice-breaker. However, they gave us a list of questions in case we couldn't think of what to ask. They consisted of questions like, "what was your first job", "what do you like to do in your free time", "what are you looking forward to" and such. Most everyone abandoned them summarily and had conversations about teaching. That was a relief!

Then the past ambassador to the Middle East, David Mack, addressed us. What an amazing person! He must have been in his 70s, and he was intense, energetic, well informed, and opinionated. He had been around long enough to have no illusions about human nature or the functions of diplomacy: he was an utter pragmatist and quite the Obama fan. His opinion is that the United States will benefit from listening more and focusing on common interests rather than trying to be a global nanny. He really said that. Then he did some hilarious Henry Kissinger imitations.

Then we talked briefly about the colonial history of the Gulf area, and some of the important pieces of political intrigue such as how the Gulf area has important geography issues. If you are from Iran, you say, "Persian Gulf" and if you are from the Gulf states, you say "Arabian Gulf" and if you want to be safe, you just say "Gulf" unless you are talking to an American who might get confused and think you mean "Gulf of Mexico" when you say "Gulf", so you need to qualify that. This is the same in Ulster where you communicate political orientation by whether you refer to Derry or Londonderry. Or the US where you refer to the Civil War or the War Between the States. Or the Webster Avenue Cafe where you refer to Budweiser as "Beer" or "Carmel Water".