Paradise Found

Okay. I might tell a story. Everything that’s going on with tariffs and the completely unnecessary upheaval of the global economy is hitting me a bit personally, and I feel like I want to explain why.

So here goes. Back in the day, I remember first learning about globalization. Not just hearing it referenced offhand in a history class, but really, truly, comprehending it — engaging with the material in a tangible way. Senior year of high school, European History AP was first period, in the morning which — I don’t know if this was similar for you — class began at 7:20am. If you have any awareness of the internal clocks of teenagers, zero information is getting through at 7:20am, or at least, definitely not for me. Certainly not before discovering the miraculous power of coffee, which I did not, until college. No coffee for me (except when we hung out late night in diners on occasion, but that’s a totally different story for another time).

Not that I prefer vigorous intellectual activity before 8am even now with coffee, either. But it’s a marked improvement in knowledge retainment, for sure. Anyway, material in classes scheduled before 8am mostly went over my head, unfortunately. To this day my grasp of European History is shaky at best. I recall learning a lot about the Hapsburgs; they seem pretty important. When in doubt, the Hapsburg Empire was the answer. *

I mean, this isn’t great to admit; I should probably re-learn this stuff. Thankfully, Google exists for some of the gaps.

Not such the case with Government and Politics. Gov & Pol AP was scheduled ninth period, the final class of the day, beginning at a more palatable 1:30pm. A lively, post-lunch, high-energy class.

My friends and I were really into it. So, I’ve mentioned before that my friends and I were (are) nerds, and I won’t dwell too deeply on it because it’s whatever, but it does happen to be relevant in understanding how we ended up becoming so deeply invested in globalization. Basically, we had a slew of extracurricular activities, academic and otherwise, and due to the limitations of a 24-hour day, they often overlapped. Turns out you can participate in all the clubs, sports, and musical groups you want to IF you’re comfortable with said activities overlapping pretty much all the time. **

Our coaches and teachers were not particularly enamored with this overlapping arrangement, but for the most part tolerated it because we were enthusiastic participants and they preferred us on the team or in the club than off it. Coaches needed us to win meets, and choir directors needed us because we had pitch. Also, teachers generally appreciated our boundless zeal for learning. Somehow, we pulled it off. To our credit, we dove headfirst into whatever we were doing 120% while there, so that helped make up for arriving late and leaving early when schedules didn’t line up perfectly.

Anyway. We were really into whatever we were learning (or doing), it was just a thing. *** This applied to our Government and Politics class, which ended up extending beyond the classroom. A bunch of us were so into it that there wasn’t enough time in class to discuss everything we wanted to unpack, so our teachers (generously) created a political think tank after school specifically to continue the conversation. Which was awesome. Except for, you know, sports.

Political think tank and track & field began roughly at the same time, but PPT started slightly earlier. We worked it out as follows. Since PTT began at 2:15pm, at the bell we’d head there and stay until 2:45pm (technically it was meant to last an hour). We’d head to track & field and after changing arrive late, at 3pm. PPT wasn’t every day, so somehow we made it work. Our track coaches weren’t exactly endorsing this brilliant arrangement, but they weren’t forbidding it either, so fair game.

Scheduling solved. However, what was not solved was the fact that we didn’t get enough time to learn and discuss everything we wanted to. Conversations were constantly being cut short. So, the group of us who had to jet to track decided to take matters into our own hands, and continue the conversation during practice.

The hot topic we were bent on exploring that particular spring was, you guessed it, globalization. A moment for globalization. I am uncertain I even possess the words to adequately describe our obsession with globalization. It would be impossible to overstate it. We could not get enough. ****

Now, the one nice thing about our jam-packed schedules is that there was generally continuity in the conversation. Government and Politics was the last class of the day, and then the first extracurricular, directly after, was political think tank. Therefore, any topic we’d been unpacking during class, we could simply extend afterward at PTT with the group of people who actually wanted to continue getting into it.

So that all flowed nicely, up until the point where those of us who were runners had to get to track and field with enough time left to actually do a semblance of a workout. Which was fine, but we were still pretty amped up from our think tank, and couldn’t bear to simply cease the conversation. So we didn’t.

As our current obsession was globalization (obsession is not even a strong enough word, I don’t think you understand. It possessed our minds for an entire spring — and well beyond, I guess this stream of consciousness piece proves. We just thought it was so sexy, and so cool. International commerce! Trade economy! The increasing interconnectedness of a global society. Free trade! Don’t even get me started on free trade. We loved it. We loved everything about it.) we were committed to uncovering everything there was to know about it.

Hence our grand plan to learn everything we possibly could about globalization while simultaneously participating in track & field was enacted. It went like this. In our spare time between classes, or right after school before joining PTT, we’d go to the library and research as much information as we could find on the topic, and then use library printers to print it out. Then, we’d bring said printouts to track & field to read and discuss during warmups and cooldowns. *****

Thus, our master plan was realized: assemble all materials and information we could muster on globalization — as well as on any other subjects we happened to be exploring that day, and bring said printouts to track practice to study during practice. While exercising. I wish I were exaggerating even slightly, but I’m not. This is 100% a real thing we did every day, for most of the season. Our coaches wanted to murder us.

We did not care. Understanding everything we could about globalization was way more important than being super focused on a fairly standard warmup. I mean – look. To our credit. Yes, warmups and cooldowns are super important. Of course! Obviously. And yet. You totally can read at the same time you’re slogging around a soccer field for 20 mins; you actually can. I promise. We weren’t delusional to try and read at the same time as the workout component of practice — that of course, would be completely ridiculous. But while at a conversational jogging pace? Why not do a bit of research on the go?

Was the thinking. To this day, I stand by it. Nothing bad came of it. Nobody stumbled into a tree or failed to properly loosen up their muscles before a legit training or track meet. Basically, we nailed it.

But anyhow. The point of this is not that you can successfully read political theory and jog at the same time (but if you ever have an inkling to try, I assure you, you can). The point is, globalization and the international economy was deeply, deeply important to us. At the time yes, and also continues to be at present. I understand there are complexities to ensure the United States retains its own independence and prosperity amidst an ever-more interconnected world, I guess, but what I don’t understand is why globalization is being presented currently in a mostly negative light.

That seems insane to me. I know the issue is a lot more nuanced than I’m making it out to be — it’s not all sexy international commerce, yes sure — but I mean, don’t we want to be aligned and collaborating with other world superpowers? Who share similar interests and values? Is it not to our immediate and long term benefit to expand upon and build mutually advantageous relationships with strong, like-minded democratic powers? Our friends and allies?

I realize I’m simplifying things a bit but, like, what the fuck. Isn’t collaborating with our allies in symbiotic relationships, so we are stronger in a unified front against any potential adversaries, the whole point? In what universe are we not stronger together, when aligned and working together with democratic powers who have each other’s back? In what upside down, backward world are we living where that’s not obviously a smart plan?

I realize there are subtleties to said relationships to hone and improve upon and that’s totally fine. Obviously, every alliance isn’t cookie-cutter perfect. But I see all benefit and zero downside to working on improving and growing crucial relationships with other democratic countries. We are stronger together. Our economies are inexplicably tied and grow in tandem.

And that should be viewed as a good thing, not something to fear. How insecure do you have to be to be afraid of collaborating with other strong countries who are already in your corner? Like – you have them. These are your allies. And instead of cultivating those relationships, and allowing them to develop and flourish, you needlessly push them away, out of nowhere, on some misguided notion that we need to be an isolated superpower?

It’s just dumb. Dear Mr. President: You inherited a strong, prosperous economy with a solid foundation of democratic friends and alliances already set up. It’s all set! Turnkey acquisition! All you have to do is focus on continuing to grow our nation, support the people’s interests (which is obviously far from simple since we’re so divided but whatever, that’s our own problem) and not mess it up. All you have to do is not mess up. It’s yours to lose. So don’t.

* For Bio AP, the answer is hydrogen bonds. Pretty much always. Look it up, how do you think I passed?

** Actually, that’s not 100% true. Freshman year, we tried to add theater ON TOP OF sports and everything else. Our theater teacher was not having it. It got so ridiculous with missing rehearsals and/or practices that the next year she outright banned anyone from participating in the spring musical if they were also in a sport. You had to choose. Because I wasn’t great at acting, and I loved running, I choose cross country / track & field over the musical in subsequent years. Sad.

*** Side note: College was actually confusing for me at first, because I found people were generally not as intense as I was accustomed to, and it was an adjustment. I did end up finding passionate people, but also picked up bad habits (along with coffee) such as brunch and sleeping in. These were learned behaviors – at first I enrolled in all 8am classes and lived in the library. I liked getting homework done on a Saturday – then Sunday is free! But evidently no one does this in real life, I found. Also sad.

**** I keep saying “we”, which might be confusing, and that’s because typically only one AP class in any given topic was offered per year. So every student in AP Gov and Pol, for example, occupied the same classroom. If your goal was to take as many AP classes as possible, in order to accrue as many college credits as possible (or just to be in the most academically demanding classes) the result was you often hopped from class to class with the same group of kids. A lot of us were friends too – partly due to proximity but also in a large part due to shared interests. Ideas, intellectual pursuits etc. Many of us were runners. We hung out and played Risk and board games on the weekends. You know, normal high school stuff.

***** Choir rehearsals were later in the evening, around 6 – 9pm, plural because there were multiple groups. We also enacted this plan during the general chorus, which encompassed everyone under the impression they could sing, so there wasn’t much to do. You couldn’t get away with multitasking for a capella or select groups. Autopilot wasn’t sufficient; you had to try.