Ideas, Investigations, and the Highlands

We started this week off with a couple fascinating lectures about Entrepreneurship and Investigative Journalism, respectively.

Very aptly, the lecture about Entrepreneurship took place in the good old Strathclyde Technology and Innovation Center. Our presenters were Dr Niall McKenzie and Mr Bernd Wurth. Mr Bernd Wurth started out the lecture to tell us about a bit about Fulbright actually! He's a Fulbrighter originally from Germany who studied in Texas and now in Glasgow. Bernd started by telling us a bit about his own postgraduate work in Glasgow but went further to make sure we knew the benefits of being a part of Fulbright. He called this new network of friends and potential collaborators from all over the world the "Fulbright Bond" and implored us to take advantage of it in our lives as entrepreneurs and advocates of social enterprise.

The rest of the presentation was done by Dr McKenzie who focused on strategies of openminded thinking and increasing our ability to come up with new ideas. His motto is a quote by Linus Pauling that says "the best way to get a good idea is to have lots of them." The quote really struck me as both true and highly applicable, no matter what your area of study. He advocated for addressing multiple viewpoints when it comes to coming up with ideas along with deferring all judgments, and challenging assumptions. This all sounds good and well, but it's much more difficult to apply to daily life. For instance, one of his examples was challenging us to turn "IX" into the number 6 with one stroke. Think about this while you read the rest of the blog...I'll tell you the answer at the end.

After going through different strategies for creatively coming up with ideas, he split us into two groups and put a chart of a business model in front of us and challenged us to come up with a viable business that advances social enterprise and entrepreneurship using our new strategies for ideas. Our group developed a plan for an app like Uber or AirBnB that would allow people to rent out adventure equipment like kayaks or bicycles on the same sharing model. The other group came up with a plan for an eco-friendly gym in which the equipment powered the gym itself thereby addressing both environmental and fitness issues at the same time. I was quite impressed with both groups' ideas and ability to flesh out a business model with such little practice.

Daniel and Patty presenting "Ecofit," their idea for an eco-friendly gym

The next lecture was all about Investigative Journalism and was vastly eyeopening to the profession as a whole. The lecturer was Dr Eamonn O'Neill, an extremely prominent investigative journalist in Scotland who also happens to spend a lot of time in the States. Thus, he was able to provide many critical insights about the differences and similarities between the U.S. and Scotland. My favorite of these insights, although mostly unrelated to journalism, was when Dr O'Neill noted that Scotland knows America, but America doesn't know Scotland. He pointed out how seldom the average U.S. citizen travels outside the states and even if they do, Scotland isn't a typical destination. As a history major, this observation particularly struck me. How often are we, as history students, taught a historical perspective other than that of the U.S., England, France, or Germany? Almost never! Unless of course, you study history at a higher level. And then there's the other side of it: Scotland knows America. So the relationship between the two countries is simply fascinating. Although we didn't delve into the reasons for any of this, having this perhaps obvious statement, pointed out was quite thought-provoking.

Right, investigative journalism. Dr O'Neill described investigative journalism in two key ways: firstly, as trying to make people care about things and secondly, in the words of Carl Bernstein, "...simply the search for the best obtainable version of the truth." He complained about the bad reputation journalism has in popular culture, and rightly so. Throughout his presentation he gave us countless examples revealing the critical importance of investigative journalism. He did admit that some journalism is disreputable and is simply churned out without any true fact-finding or investigation. He also noted that the U.S. has some of the best investigative journalists because of our constitutional right of "freedom of speech." The U.K. doesn't officially have this freedom of the press, and U.K. investigative journalists are more restricted to functioning within the system.

Everybody after our lecture from Dr O'Neill

The last thoughtful part of Dr O'Neill's presentation I'll discuss is the insight that some people only do the right thing when it's more painful to continue doing the wrong thing. He says one comes to realize this when working as an investigative journalist, especially when uncovering stories concerning government officials. As he rightly points out, many corrupt government officials continue their misbehavior until they are worse off misbehaving. In a way, investigative journalism turns these people away from doing the wrong thing by making it less painful to do the right thing. Yeah, it's a sort of dismal way to look at the world, but it's certainly a fascinating insight when considering the role of journalism in society.

Also, if you're looking for movie recommendations from a real-deal investigative journalist, look into All the President's Men, Pelican Brief, Citizen Four, The Insider, and Veronica Guenn.

That night, Michael's Aunt told us about a theatrical event going on at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Glasgow hosted by a Fulbrighter! Talk about the Fulbright Bond! So we all headed over to the CCA to experience the "Stage to Play" event. Essentially local playwrights, directors, and actors get together to perform one scene from a play the playwrights are in the midst of writing and then accept feedback from the audience of Glaswegians! What?! How cool is that? We saw three really amazing scenes that gave us more insight into Glaswegian culture than anything else so far - as the arts typically do. The first was about the 1959-1960 New Year's Eve in Glasgow! So through this play, we learned about Glaswegian traditions such as the city's bells tolling at midnight, there being something called a "first step" through the doorway (I think it's just the first person to cross the doorway in the new year), and it being bad luck to take a drink before midnight! It was a lovely story about the importance of family, the transition from 1959 to the new decade of the "swinging 60s" (making us consider the fact that the decades of the 20th century have different reputations than they do in America), and the deep history of Glasgow.

All of us with Sarah Rose, a Fulbrighter who did her year in Glasgow! She was hosting the Stage to Play event. #FulbrightBond

The next scene was about a shopkeeper in a rail station shop and her interactions with her regulars. It definitely highlighted the centrality of public transportation, namely trains, so much so that businesses can function in the stations. Again the relationship between regulars and shopkeepers. This reminds me of how small Scotland can seem to me, as someone from the U.S. In fact the other day on our trip to the highlands (more on that in a moment), our staff contact, John, ran into a friend of his who lives across Scotland just by chance. People really seem to know each other all over this country, revealing a sense of community and wholeness that the U.S. simply could never have.

The third scene was between an Islamic State terrorist of 17 years old holding a police man hostage. The scene went deep into the terrorist's background revealing that he had grown up Jehovah's Witness. The scene was a fascinating commentary on the psychological impact of religion and the rather drastic results. Given how hugely religion has shaped this country's history and still affects it, it wasn't hard to see some of the inspiration for this scene. However, after Matt, one of my peers, talked to the writer of the play afterward, she said she was inspired by how working in the economic world of market schemes and the like can brainwash a person as effectively as a religious belief can. (Do note this is how the writer felt, not how I, nor the Fulbright Commission, feel about religious beliefs.)

Either way, the nature of this event and the truly insightful dialogue between the Glaswegians and their fellow playwrights, directors and actors reveals the liberal nature of this city and its vast appreciation for the arts.

So after our night of Glaswegian theater and culture, we came back to the flats to rest up for our day in the highlands!

On Tuesday, we got up early and hopped on our bus to the Highlands! The trip was centered around the Glencoe Massacre and the Appin Murder and we were guided by Dr Allan Macinnes, a retired professor from the University of Strathclyde who has actually been working for the government to uncover the truth behind the murder! But first, the Glencoe Massacre. So, remember the Jacobites? They were pretty upset when William of Orange and his wife Mary (Protestants!) took the throne after James II (A Catholic Scot) was essentially forced to leave. So, as we know, there were uprisings across Scotland including the highlands. After it was clear that the Jacobites would not be successful for the time being, William of Orange offered a pardon to highland clans if they took an oath of allegiance to him in front of a magistrate. So when the MacDonald clan of Glencoe was a little too close to William's oath deadline, some rather prominent lowlanders who had some beef with the highlanders ended up convincing William of Orange the MacDonald clan needed to be "extirpated." Thus, a regiment was gathered from a neighboring clan, the Campbell's, and the massacre ensued killing 38 MacDonald's. There still remains some deep animosity between the two clans today as a result.

A small monument acknowledging the Glencoe Massacre

Dr Allan Macinnes telling the story of the Glencoe Massacre - it was a bit rainy, but we didn't mind

So we hiked up close to Signal Rock, where the signal was given during the massacre and Dr Allan Macinnes told us a much more detailed version of that story. It's all very confusing actually. But the highlands are really really stunning. As I told Patty in all serious, the Scottish highlands are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Just look:

Here's the whole squad stopping off at a common stopping point for travelers in the highlands throughout history. It's a point between Glen Kinglas and Glen Coe. It was so commonly used that there has been a stone with the kind words "Rest and Be Thankful" for passing travelers. 

After learning about the Glencoe Massacre, we drove even further into the Highlands to learn about the famous Appin Murder. Dr Macinnes had particular insight into the murder since he's been researching it for the government for a number of years. Basically, a member of the Campbell clan, Colin Campbell, was shot twice, allegedly by a marksman far away. The man arrested and hanged for the crime was James Stewart, despite his pretty obvious innocence. Thus, in an effort to figure out what really happened, Dr Macinnes has been up and down the hills of the Highlands where it took place using the little evidence they had (mind you, this murder happened in 1752, people) of different times and testimonies. Essentially, Dr Macinnes explained why he thought it was possible that Colin Campbell's own nephew was the one who killed him. He had many reasons for this possibility, but the main one was motive. Mungo Campbell, Colin's nephew, was able to take over Colin's job and status after his death. That's motive if I've ever heard one. Anyway, Dr Macinnes says his work will be published soon, so we can all read more about it then.

The stone commemorating the spot where Colin Campbell was murdered! 

After our lovely afternoon in the highlands, we headed to a gorgeous manor on Loch Lommond owned by the University of Strathclyde! We were provided a wonderful meal, a lovely view of the Loch and even greeted by an authentic bagpiper! We certainly felt like we were getting the royal treatment. So, after a very delicious haggis appetizer, a wonderful meal and an overall lovely day, we headed back to Glasgow, full and quite exhausted.

Me, Patty, and Nina at Loch Lommond

All of us and our bagpiper outside the university's gorgeous manor at Loch Lommond

So, did you solve Dr McKenzie's challenge from the beginning of the blog? How do you turn "IX" into the number 6 with one stroke? The answer is to add an "S" to make it say "SIX." That's what I call thinking outside the box. Well done if you solved it before getting to the end! You're a creative thinker.

The next blog will feature what we learned from a truly phenomenal lecture about the Scottish legal system and our trip to BBC Scotland! Get excited! I know we are.

Cheers till then!