Wow:
"I call myself a feminist. Isn't that what you call someone who fights for women's rights?" said the Dalai Lama to an audience in Memphis yesterday. "We all come from the same mother. That creates the basis for compassion."

I think these sorts of ideas are especially important coming from men, because the marginization of the feminine is ultimately just as harmful to them. The idea that having stereotypically feminine emotions (emotions at all, besides being hard) is not for men, is an idea that serves no one. Feminism as a rebalancing for both genders is very valuable.
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As for me-- we are still harvesting peppers! It is incredible. Loads and loads of peppers. I have to give my plot of land back October, and I'm sure they will keep going until then, since it isn't supposed to freeze.

The politics here is so bizarre. There is a big myth here that a Cornell education is far superior to education elsewhere, there's not enough humbleness and acknowledgment of what we don't have or know. I was exposed to a lot more diversity (people in all sorts of different life situations, and less likely to be rich) at my state school, and wasn't under the delusion that I was receiving a far superior education. Furthermore, the teaching is not better. The facilities for my department are not better. In terms of sustainability, they are not ahead at all. Schools like Iowa State and US Santa Cruz are actually far ahead. There are a lot of great things here, but perspective is sorely lacking.

And typical for academic institutions, outreach to community is undervalued. Published research is what counts. That's part of being in a university setting, and a reason I'm not interested in academia.