A face from the past

In 1984 when we were at Rantau Abang on the east coast of Malaysia waiting to see if any leatherneck turtles came ashore to lay their eggs, I turned around to spot a teenager wearing a NC State tee-shirt. We chatted for a few minutes - his father taught at Duke in political science. I remembered the meeting for two reasons: one, we commented that we had seen no Americans on this (1984) trip which was different from our earlier trips, and two, one of my colleagues had reviewed a book of his. So today when I learned that a faculty member from Duke was giving a presentation I wondered if our paths would cross again. I googled him and his age and publication record fit the description.

I mentioned this apparent coincidence to a colleague here. When I walked into the seminar room he asked if the speaker was the same person. I pointed out that it was dark on the beach that night - not to mention that 24 years had passed. Anyway a quick conversation confirmed that indeed our paths had crossed again.

During the seminar staff came around handing out cups of coffee - if a NCSU colleagues is reading this - here is an opportunity to add a gentile touch to department/school meetings. I should point out that the Friday afternoon attendance seemed to as good as anywhere else; although I gather faculty get some sort of points for attending a seminar. The talk was on ways voting is structured, especially in ethnically divided societies. It reminded me why I don't consider myself a political science, but it also gave me time to ruminate on how to pull together some loose ends of a manuscript I am work on.

There is a by-election on Tuesday. I haven't quite figured out the details, but it clearly will be an interesting affair.