McLauchlan's North Macedonian Musings: February 2018

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Kosovo - 10 years of Independence

My daughter has several poster-sized maps in her bedroom, including one of the US where we have marked off the US states where she has traveled and a map of Europe where we have marked the countries where she has visited.

When we returned from Macedonia, she took the sharpie to mark the countries we visited -- Macedonia, of course -- and the other Balkan nations where we traveled, including Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, and Kosovo. She realized that Kosovo was not included on her map -- and so she carved out Kosovo.

I was impressed - her map looked fairly accurate. We did have a fridge magnet featuring the map of Kosovo in the mineral trepca on display - so maybe she remembered from that?

In any case, I didn't think that this map was that old, but I suppose we did get it after her first European trip, which was in 2006. (She actually learned to walk when we were in Lancaster, England.) I can't remember when we first started this map -- 2006? 2007? or after the first Fulbright to Moldova in 2010 or 2011? Regardless, the need to draw in her own Kosovo sparked a new discussion about the war and Kosovo's independence in 2008. (Of course, when we were traveling around Serbia none of our maps included Kosovo as a separate country (!), so she is fully aware that not every map of the Balkans would include Kosovo. Still, I think she assumed that a map purchased in the US would include it?)

at one point we had those transparent arrows, so we could comment on where we had visited without concealing parts of the map...this is still a work in progress...

at the Bill Clinton statue on Bill Clinton Boulevard in Pristina, Kosovo

#Clinton25 - Clinton Presidential Center - Cabinet Room exibit: Kosovo

We have enjoyed visits to the Clinton Presidential Center before -- in 2004 when we went for the opening ceremony and in 2011 when we went for the 20th Anniversary of President Clinton's announcement that he would run for the presidency. Now we were heading back to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of President Clinton's election: #Clinton25. (November 2017... sorry, took me a while to post this...)

What fun reconnecting with old friends from the campaign trail and from the Administration - and, of course, seeing President and Secretary Clinton -- during the three days of events and activities.

Wonderful to see Secretary Clinton at the book signing -- here, pictures from our meeting in 1995 (in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House) and at the book signing in Little Rock in 2017...about What Happened in 2016...

every day of President Clinton's schedule from every year of his Administration is on display in binders (in the permanent exhibit section) -- I showed my daughter one of the days where she could find me on the schedule -- and here is a collage that also includes a picture of the event (in 1998)

Can you find your mother on the President's schedule? :-) (Hint: she was not a "McLauchlan")

picking up our packet of materials and schedules for the 25th Anniversary events -- we enjoyed lectures and receptions and exhibits

the conversation with President and Secretary Clinton, moderated by James Carville

You can watch the event on C-Span; https://www.c-span.org/video/?437347-1/president-clinton-marks-25th-anniversary-election

my daughter has a "passport" from the Presidential Libraries...even though we have been to the Clinton Presidential Library before, she did not have it stamped (we visited pre-passport; she also has stamps from the Carter Center and the Kennedy Library)

On this visit to the Clinton Presidential Library we once again enjoyed the permanent collection/exhibits as well as the Mandela exhibit

However, this time, as we were in the Cabinet Room, we took a special interest in the interactive Kosovo exhibit.

There is a full scale replica of the Cabinet Room at the Clinton Presidential Library, and you can learn more about the exhibit here:
https://www.clintonlibrary.gov/museum/permanentexhibits/cabinetroom/

Unlike on our previous visits to the Clinton Library, this time, when we looked at the map and the exhibits, it is with new perspective -- after having lived in Macedonia and traveled around the region (Kosovo, Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, Croatia) - and after having learned more about the crisis from those who experienced it and who have studied it - and we come to this exhibit with a greater appreciation of the actions taken by the Clinton Administration.

there were 3 different policy areas you could explore and learn more about the decisions made in the Cabinet Room -- we selected the military operation in Kosovo

See https://www.clintonlibrary.gov/

A few other highlights of our trip-- visiting the Museum of Discovery, the River Market, Historic Arkansas Museum and Little Rock Central High School (on the 60th Anniversary of the Little Rock Nine)

did you know there were WWII Japanese Internment Camps in Arkansas? Here are pictures on an exhibit in the Historic Arkansas Museum

Learning more about the Little Rock Nine at Central High School

the Visitors Center has been re-done since the last time we visited Central High School

the Arkansas State Capitol

loved flying in and out of "Bill and Hillary Clinton Airport" in Little Rock -- and we enjoyed the exhibits after we got to the airside terminal

Friday, February 9, 2018

Seminole Beacon -- Macedonia Delegation Day -- Mayor Leslie Waters

Thanks again to Seminole Mayor Leslie Waters for welcoming the delegation to Seminole -- and for declaring Macedonia Delegation Day.

Here's a picture from the City Council Meeting in the Seminole Beacon.