Five Questions for Mid-Career Teresa Carrasco-Velez
by Mia Zuckerkandel on December 10, 2008 in Five Questions for Mid-Careers
Two jobs changed Teresa Carrasco-Velez’s life.
She got the first job when she was 17. While at that job, Carrasco-Velez met her husband. He was the son of a co-worker, and that co-worker encouraged her son to drive Carrasco-Velez to her night school classes. She didn’t like him at first. But over time, that changed. Now they have two children, a 16-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl. Read more
Five Questions with Mid-Career Student Joe Negron
by Mia Zuckerkandel on November 19, 2008 in Five Questions for Mid-Careers
Joe Negron has a Blackberry, but he keeps track of his schedule on a scrap of paper. There isn’t a lot of free time in that schedule, because in addition to taking classes, Negron is also running for a seat in the Florida State Senate, advising more than a dozen clients at the law firm where he is a partner, and spending time with his family. His wife and his two younger children, who are both teenagers, moved to Cambridge to be with him this year.
This isn’t Negron’s first run for public office. From 2000 to 2006, he served in Florida’s House of Representatives. In his last term, he was the chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
This summer, Negron was a John McCain delegate at the Republican National Convention. Negron was an early supporter of McCain’s bid and says he helped raise a lot of money for the GOP presidential candidate. Read more
Five Questions for Mid-Career Student Naye Bathily
by Mia Zuckerkandel on October 29, 2008 in Five Questions for Mid-Careers
Naye Bathily describes herself as a “global citizen.” She was born in the U.K., grew up in Senegal, studied business in the U.S., and, until she came to the Kennedy School, lived in Paris while working for the World Bank as a parliamentary liaison. Bathily speaks four languages fluently: Wollof, French, Soninke, and English. And she is proficient in Arabic. Read more
Five questions for Mid-Career Student Ichiro Motozawa
by Mia Zuckerkandel on October 15, 2008 in Five Questions for Mid-Careers
[Editor’s Note] In an effort to bridge the perceived “divide” between mid-careers and other programs at HKS, the Citizen is debuting a new feature that will introduce mid-careers to the community.
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It’s not unusual for someone to recognize Ichiro Motozawa on the streets of Tokyo. Often, they say he looks like a famous Japanese comedian. But in fact, he’s a news anchor for one of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) television’s satellite channels.
Before he came to HKS, Motozawa woke up at 3:00 a.m., got to the studio at 5:00 a.m., worked for twelve hours, then went to sleep at 9:00 p.m.
So which is easier? Life at HKS or your job as a news anchor?
I was exhausted when I was in Japan. In the morning, I anchored the news. Then, in the afternoons, I covered [Japan’s] Parliament, the Diet. When the Diet wasn’t in session, I narrated a science program for junior high school students. I had to study, science, politics, everything. But here, there are so many readings in English, so that is difficult for me. Here, I have the difficulty of cultural differences and language differences.
What’s the biggest challenge for you at HKS?
Class participation. There is a Japanese proverb that says “Silence is gold. Eloquence is silver.” When I am on television, I can use just a facial expression – an implicit expression – to make a point. But here in the U.S., we have to express ourselves in discussion style. Always talking, talking, talking. Speaking, speaking, speaking. That is tough work for me.
What has surprised you about living in the U.S.?
I was surprised to see America’s globalization, the interdependence of country and country, people and people. In Japan, we can understand internationalization, which is different than globalization of America. Because we are a homogeneous society, foreign people are a minority. In the U.S, this is a country that is a mixture of various cultures, peoples, and religions. People who are different from me are right beside me. When we want to meet different people in Japan, we have to search them out. We tend to think the next person is similar to me, the next person thinks as I think. But in the U.S., the next person thinks totally different things – and acts freely. The Japanese people care about what the surrounding people think. They see each other through mutual observation. American people do not care so much about other people’s views and act freely.
Which U.S. news anchor do you like the best? And the least?
Jim Lehrer. He’s seems more neutral, more impartial than the other anchors. Fox News is biased, I believe. But the U.S. is a country that has a free market for ideas. So, I think it’s good that right wing channels, such as Fox News, exist.
What have you been doing for fun since you’ve been here?
I’ve been to Walden Pond, like Henry Thoreau. I imagined Walden Pond was isolated, apart from crowds. But when I visited, there were a lot of people swimming in it and boating. I thought, “Oh, my gosh. This is my sacred place. Why are there so many people here?” My holy image of Walden Pond was destroyed. [Laughs]. But it is still a beautiful place. The foliage – the yellow and red leaves. I really like that.
