By Pat Ryan
There’s no better place to start writing a column on international affairs than parked in front of Cookeville’s South Jefferson Avenue WalMart Supercenter, that bastion of global commerce, waiting for my family to finish their shopping. Did you know that Business Week magazine said if WalMart was a country it would be China’s seventh largest trading partner? It’s just one indicator of how connected Cookeville like every corner of America has become to the rest of the world. But that’s a story for another day’s column.
Today’s column marks resolution day – time to make good on a 2010 pledge – and time to roll out the reintroduction of what will hopefully be a recurring column that provides a little “international flair” with “local color” to the Herald-Citizen. At least that was the notion when I swapped notes with Facebook friend Buddy Pearson. His return to the editorial helm of the paper reminded me of overdue past resolutions to write a regular column on global issues.
So as Buddy reopens his new chapter at the H-C I am also committing to a new tour of duty as a columnist. I will seek to bring some perspective to international issues, to inform and hopefully sometimes to entertain. But first permit me the one time opportunity to provide some background on how I came to this task. The invitation to pen a recurring column was actually made over two years ago as a consequence of being among several Cookevillians who started the Tennessee World Affairs Council. We thought our community should benefit from educational programs and resources that shed some light on international developments, not just current events but also culture, history, geography and so forth.
The “we” includes former Cookeville mayor, Doctor Charles Womack; Mr. J.D. Parks; and in the finest traditions of nepotism my wife Connie was drafted to the cause. Actually she is very well qualified for a role in the Tennessee World Affairs Council having served in the Navy overseas, where we met, and traveled as a Navy wife through a variety of international adventures in Europe and Asia – that and she handles checkbooks better than I do.
You may have read about some of the things the Council has been doing in the two years since it was founded. The Herald-Citizen has been generous in sharing our stories of visiting ambassadors and other distinguished speakers, our academic competitions for high school students (with fantastic support from First Tennessee Bank), our seminars and symposia – some in cooperation with our great partner Tennessee Tech; our town hall meetings and receptions, our public outreach programs like international exchange student briefings (with food), our international movie nights (with popcorn) and more. You may even know that we’re located across First Street from the Leslie Town Center next to Gary’s Upholstery. For most of our time at that location we had the “Hedonism and Tattoo” shop on the other side. We could usually tell, don’t ask me why, if people walking across the street were heading for our door or on their way to the tattoo parlor. But that’s a different column.
We should probably get back to the background for this column – the answer to why does someone not only want to write a regular column on international affairs in a Tennessee newspaper but also why would someone, who already has a “day job,” want to start a non profit educational charity that seeks to educate people about international affairs during one of the worst economic downturns in American history that has resulted in very tough times to sustain a non profit organization? Well, it’s simple. When I was 17 I joined the Navy – did I mention that my wife was a Navy wife? Well I was the guy in the Navy she was married to. Anyway, I enlisted thinking that college was irrelevant – a serious mistake I was fortunate in being able to fix at night school a few years later.
When I joined the Navy they told me they would guarantee me the choice of coast for my initial assignment. I picked the East Coast so they sent me to the Persian Gulf. The Navy had some odd ideas about geography. That assignment, aboard the Middle East Force flagship based in Bahrain did two things for me. It was a very interesting time to be in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia – our mission was to visit ports – showing the flag – across the Indian Ocean. It was there that I developed a lifelong interest in global affairs.
The other thing that assignment did for me was to convince me that one of my missions in life would be to help people learn something about international affairs – because if supposedly smart people in the Navy told you they were sending you to the East Coast and you found yourself in the Persian Gulf there was definitely a need to teach people about the world.
Resolutions Past, Present and Future
By Pat Ryan
There’s no better place to start writing a column on international affairs than parked in front of Cookeville’s South Jefferson Avenue WalMart Supercenter, that bastion of global commerce, waiting for my family to finish their shopping. Did you know that Business Week magazine said if WalMart was a country it would be China’s seventh largest trading partner? It’s just one indicator of how connected Cookeville like every corner of America has become to the rest of the world. But that’s a story for another day’s column.
Today’s column marks resolution day – time to make good on a 2010 pledge – and time to roll out the reintroduction of what will hopefully be a recurring column that provides a little “international flair” with “local color” to the Herald-Citizen. At least that was the notion when I swapped notes with Facebook friend Buddy Pearson. His return to the editorial helm of the paper reminded me of overdue past resolutions to write a regular column on global issues.
So as Buddy reopens his new chapter at the H-C I am also committing to a new tour of duty as a columnist. I will seek to bring some perspective to international issues, to inform and hopefully sometimes to entertain. But first permit me the one time opportunity to provide some background on how I came to this task. The invitation to pen a recurring column was actually made over two years ago as a consequence of being among several Cookevillians who started the Tennessee World Affairs Council. We thought our community should benefit from educational programs and resources that shed some light on international developments, not just current events but also culture, history, geography and so forth.
The “we” includes former Cookeville mayor, Doctor Charles Womack; Mr. J.D. Parks; and in the finest traditions of nepotism my wife Connie was drafted to the cause. Actually she is very well qualified for a role in the Tennessee World Affairs Council having served in the Navy overseas, where we met, and traveled as a Navy wife through a variety of international adventures in Europe and Asia – that and she handles checkbooks better than I do.
You may have read about some of the things the Council has been doing in the two years since it was founded. The Herald-Citizen has been generous in sharing our stories of visiting ambassadors and other distinguished speakers, our academic competitions for high school students (with fantastic support from First Tennessee Bank), our seminars and symposia – some in cooperation with our great partner Tennessee Tech; our town hall meetings and receptions, our public outreach programs like international exchange student briefings (with food), our international movie nights (with popcorn) and more. You may even know that we’re located across First Street from the Leslie Town Center next to Gary’s Upholstery. For most of our time at that location we had the “Hedonism and Tattoo” shop on the other side. We could usually tell, don’t ask me why, if people walking across the street were heading for our door or on their way to the tattoo parlor. But that’s a different column.
We should probably get back to the background for this column – the answer to why does someone not only want to write a regular column on international affairs in a Tennessee newspaper but also why would someone, who already has a “day job,” want to start a non profit educational charity that seeks to educate people about international affairs during one of the worst economic downturns in American history that has resulted in very tough times to sustain a non profit organization? Well, it’s simple. When I was 17 I joined the Navy – did I mention that my wife was a Navy wife? Well I was the guy in the Navy she was married to. Anyway, I enlisted thinking that college was irrelevant – a serious mistake I was fortunate in being able to fix at night school a few years later.
When I joined the Navy they told me they would guarantee me the choice of coast for my initial assignment. I picked the East Coast so they sent me to the Persian Gulf. The Navy had some odd ideas about geography. That assignment, aboard the Middle East Force flagship based in Bahrain did two things for me. It was a very interesting time to be in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia – our mission was to visit ports – showing the flag – across the Indian Ocean. It was there that I developed a lifelong interest in global affairs.
The other thing that assignment did for me was to convince me that one of my missions in life would be to help people learn something about international affairs – because if supposedly smart people in the Navy told you they were sending you to the East Coast and you found yourself in the Persian Gulf there was definitely a need to teach people about the world.