Alumni Update: Mike SchwartzTerm: Studied Casa in Fall 2003 Graduated: from Gonzaga University '04
Update January 2006
Reflection on Casa: The Casa program provided a safe and accessible way to live alongside and accompany the poor of El Salvador. By enabling comparatively affluent U.S. undergraduates to interact and share with the poor of a Third World nation, the Casa undoubtedly helped shape men and women for others. The “praxis” of living in a specific community was valuable, and the friends I will always remember. Unfortunately, the educational piece lacked the historical accuracy and detailed analysis of injustice necessary to form a critical understanding of the Americas.
Reflection: Capitalism is a major obstacle in the way of meeting basic human needs, let alone human fulfillment. The world has never before seen a larger disparity between the ultra-rich and the poor. Signs of the effects of such inequity are everywhere apparent. Through a deep faith commitment in God and gradual efforts at self-improvement, I approach the world and try to make a world befitting of Kant’s “Kingdom of God on Earth.” The beauty, synchronicity, and glory of it all sometimes overwhelms me, and I cannot help stand in awe. I am so grateful for every day.
Current Work/Volunteer Position: I finished one year of teaching for Sacred Heart Nativity School. The experience was invaluable and I learned that more than anything I want remain in an education, perhaps as a university professor. I currently work part-time at the Sainte Claire hotel in San Jose while studying to take the GRE and return to graduate school. My hope is to get a PhD in Latin American history with a focus on U.S. foreign relations since 1899 (Spanish-American War).
Update: To build a solid background in my field and ensure time to read which may not be available during the rigor of graduate classes, I have been reading and noting various progressive texts. The most valuable of these have been Noam Chomsky’s “Understanding Power,” which I highly recommend and believe to be his definitive work, and “Stolen Continents,” by Ronald Wright which details 500 years of conquest in the Americas. The majority of my time is spent at various café’s in Santa Cruz researching, writing, and appreciating just being alive! I hope to return to graduate school Fall 2007.
Contact Email: mschwart@gonzaga.edu Website: http://michaeljohnschwartz.com
Favorite quotes: “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” ~Rumi
“There are no magic answers, no miraculous methods to overcome the problems we face, just the familiar ones: honest search for understanding, education, organization, action that raises the cost of state violence for its perpetrators or that lays the basis for institutional change -- and the kind of commitment that will persist despite the temptations of disillusionment, despite many failures and only limited successes, inspired by the hope of a brighter future." ~ Noam Chomsky |
E-mail this page