Indy and Dakota have done a great job of summarizing the current situation in their latest post, so I encourage you to read that. Now that I’m back at home, I just wanted to add my voice in welcoming our Swarthmore colleagues Prof. Ayse Kaya, Anita Desai, Stephen O’Hanlon, and Nathaniel Graf, who are arriving in France this weekend. I look forward to their news and insights over the coming week.
And this week promises to be exciting. To use the phrase that I heard several times in the past few days, this week “the ministers arrive,” the higher-level officials with more power to make meaningful concessions and hammer out the final agreement.
I’ve really appreciated the chance to share my experiences with you this past week, and I may yet have a post or two to share as I continue to reflect and take in the events of this coming week. I remain optimistic about the outcome. I had the good fortune of hearing former Vice President Al Gore speak on Friday, and he expressed his optimism with a quote from one of my favorite poets. It really resonated with me, so I’ll let Wallace Stevens have the last word:
After the final no there comes a yes
And on that yes the future world depends.
Great quote from W. Stevens – I can think of several issues where it would be great to get to that point.