Great article on Obama and reading

The New York times ran this article on Obama and how books have influenced his life and work. Highly recomended read.

From the article is a list of books that have influenced him,

A Reading List That Shaped a President

Some of President-elect Barack Obama’s favored reading matter as mentioned in this article:

* The Bible
* “Parting the Waters,” Taylor Branch
* “Self-Reliance,” Ralph Waldo Emerson
* Gandhi’s autobiography
* “Team of Rivals,” Doris Kearns Goodwin
* “The Golden Notebook,” Doris Lessing
* Lincoln’s collected writings
* “Moby-Dick,” Herman Melville
* “Song of Solomon,” Toni Morrison
* Works of Reinhold Niebuhr
* “Gilead,” Marilynne Robinson
* Shakespeare’s tragedies


I'v read "Self-Relianace", "Team of Rivals", "Gilead", lots of the Bible, and some of Lincoln's stuff. I can see how those works influenced Obama, because they all influenced me as well.

first post in a while

I havn't posted in a while. Been busy traveling and adjusting to life in Armenia. But today I was back at school, and it was good to see all the students again. Today I helped teach a group of 4th graders how to read English and helped a friend with an application to join EarthCorps, an enviromental program in Seattle. It felt great to get back into volunteering and helping people.

Back to Armenia

I am here at the Atlanta airport waiting for my flight to Paris. I had a wonderful vacation, got to spend a lot time of time with my family, friends, and girlfriend. But now it is time to go back to Armenia.