Anne Krapu: There Aren't Enough Hours In The Day

Something that we can all agree on is that there are only so many hours in the day, and priorities have to be made and acted upon accordingly.

My weekly spot on SAB started as an experiment. One accusation often leveled against Millennials (that I think is legitimate) is that we need to spend some time out in the world learning about how it works before assuming we know how to fix it. After having spent five years in flashpoints like Kosovo, Russia, the Persian Gulf and China, as well as rising powers like Brazil, I approached SAB with the suggestion of writing a column focusing on international security and cultural issues. There is a lot more common ground on foreign policy than local issues — Raise your hand if you think the Saudis are doing a great job managing themselves or as a regional players. Anyone? Nope, didn’t think so.

[mks_pullquote align=”right” width=”300″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#000000″]I’ve been picked up by Matador Network to write about travel, culture, and security, and that outlet is more in line with my long-range plans. [/mks_pullquote]

At the time, however, there was little input from progressive writers on SAB, so it was agreed that I would try a weekly spot focusing on North Dakota centric-issues despite being 7,000 miles away from the area (and a 14 hour time zone difference). ND politics is a hobby at this point in my life and not a passion, but one of my faults is that I will talk to anyone (with the exception of hippies with guitars and anti-vaxxers who want to talk about anti-vaxxing arguments). So, the last two months of dialogue were a result of that agreement.

To be sure, there are serious discussions to be had about the future of North Dakota and voters deserve to be informed. Independent media should play a major role in this process. Anyone who has been paying attention to international news lately, though, is well aware we are headed for extremely turbulent times. I’ve been picked up by Matador Network to write about travel, culture, and security, and that outlet is more in line with my long-range plans.

I thought about trying to do both publications, but it’s just not possible to do a decent job on either while teaching 180 students, coaching extra-curricular activities, completing my own graduate credits, and learning survival level Mongolian.

I want to thank everyone who participated in the conversation. It got heated at times, but I am really grateful for the opportunity to have had a glimpse into this online community.
Happy Thanksgiving