Listening to the podcast now, I want to know the answer to my original question. In the penultimate episode of Serial 2, narrator Sarah Koenig hones in on this politicization of Bowe’s rescue, and what that means for military strategies, political compromises and diplomatic negotiations today.
Serial 2 Trade Secrets Response
After listening to Episode 9, I found out that peace talks with the Taliban have hit setback after setback, and some have seemed especially calculated and intentional. For example, the leaks about the U.S.-Taliban peace talks; when the Afghanistan High Peace Council head and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani was assassinated, right before international peace talks were set to begin in late 2011. Then in 2013, the Afghan government, the U.S., the Qataris and the Taliban are working to allow the Taliban to have a political office in Qatar. Then the Taliban violates the ground rules and labels the office as the ‘Islamic Emirate.’ Karzai is upset, and the Taliban feel humiliated over a misunderstanding. Talks halt again.
Serial 2 Hindsight, Part 1 and 2 Response
In the Hindsight episodes, Sarah Koenig explores the idea that Bowe was unfit for military service. In Part 1, Bowe’s prior military history, his entering the U.S. Coast Guard and being discharged on a psychological diagnosis after a breakdown, is told. In Part 2, Bowe’s admittance to the U.S. Army after his previous medical and mental health based discharge is scrutinized, as well as the diagnosis of Bowe having Schizotypal personality disorder. By the end of Hindsight, Parts 1 and 2, all of this history is applied to Bowe walking off of OP Mest, and how his irrational and potentially dangerous behavior could be explained.
Serial 2 5 O’Clock Shadow Response
In episode 6 of Serial 2, narrator Sarah Koenig digs more deeply into primary source accounts from people who were involved in the same missions Bowe was, and with Bowe himself to probe how he arrived at the decision to walk off of OP Mest to FOB Sharana.
Serial 2 Escaping Response
From the third episode, Escaping, it looks like Bowe Bergdahl is at least 60 (and probably much more than that) away from FOB Sharana, in Pakistan. Wherever he is held, especially in Pakistan, it is far from any metropolis, and far from U.S. personnel. In the third episode of the Serial 2, the listener begins to feel a sense of the vast aloneness Bowe felt in captivity, and two escapes he attempted in the first year of captivity. I was much harsher in my opinion of Bowe when I had only heard the first part of the story, but now hearing about this first year and how much he suffered, he was still a young, twenty-three year old guy, not much older than me. I do not think the media treatment of Bowe, the sensationalization of him was at all deserved.
Immigrants in America
First titled “Immigrants in America”, this post was a video exploration of the stories of Syrian Americans during the 20th century. In first history course during my first year, I wrote about migration from Syria across the Atlantic ocean, but not what life was like when they arrived. These videos help to contextualize that work, […]
The power of a liberal arts education
This essay is my proudest achievement of first year. In my Leadership 101 course, I learned the power of communicators to leave a meaningful legacy. I was in the midst of considering my second semester, in the first phase of reflecting on an intense growth experience. I was considering my future college life, galvanized by […]
What can country’s cuisine teach you?
This post was written in my first year at Agnes Scott, as I prepared for a Global Journeys trip to Iceland. We were tasked to write about an aspect of Icelandic culture, and a dish in particular that we were curious about. Iceland is known for many foods, some of which I tried on the […]
Moving from the Netherlands to Georgia
In 2015, I moved to the Netherlands. I had decided to take a second junior year in high school so I would know the place I graduated from before heading to college, and after my senior year, I ended up taking a gap year too. That time was the best investment in myself and preparation […]
A letter from my first semester
The following is a short ‘about me’ essay assignment for my Leadership 101 course, from my first semester at Agnes Scott. In The Role of Writers as Moral Leadership, we identified our leadership skills and ways to develop our moral role in society as writers and leaders. This essay encapsulates my outlook when I began college: […]
