kent shakespeare

As I understand it, Gates showed ID and cleared up that he was in hi own house... yet the cop still refused to apologize and get out. Instead, he arrested the man. He did co-operate enough to show his ID - it was the cop who did not. Who said anything about conspiracy? It's a fact of life that the wealthy and powerful tend to get treated with kid gloves. Friends of cops get treated better, too. Even relations thereof. I've personally seen it happen again and again. Generalizing about who has and hasn't been "well trained" to see x,y or z is quite frankly an ignorant assumption, one that puts your own ideology ahead of anyone else's experience. Maybe that's what you need to get you to rationalize some of the things wrong with our world. Hooray for you, but you'll have to forgive those of us who understand better. At the end of the day, a man was treated poorly by police in his own home. Maybe he just happened to be black. But if something similar happened in rural white Montana (or anywhere else in Palin's alleged "real" America), every right-winger in the land would be howling. Their silence on this matter is quite telling, no matter how you toss the "claim victim-hood" diversion.

"just trying to do their jobs" by arresting people in their own homes for no apparent legitimate reason. once the police found there was no break-in, they should have apologized and left. Staying only made it worse. there are lots of rich white people who act like douchebags whenever they are delayed/questioned for 5 minutes by authorities (even outside of their homes) who would get a personal apology from the police chief and/or mayor after such a mistake. we respect and appreciate good police who do their job well. But not all of them do - some are quite abusive little Napoleons. We all need to be vigilant of the bad sort - not assume cops are automatically of a special unquestionable ubercitizen class (that sort of thinking facilitates abuses).

I imagine the best person to ask would be your potential supervisor at that U... and/or the supervisor of the person doing a similar project. It seems to me that there would be enough room to find something new, but they would be better prepared to not only advise you, but also to argue on your behalf when your proposal comes up before their committee(s).

If I were you, I'd do your MA at UT, and that should make you a stronger candidate for funding south of the border. if you do apply to a US U, apply right to the PhD program - US schools are less likely than Cdn ones to offer much of any funding for an MA, and more programs seem lined up where you get your MA on the way within the PhD stream (as the other poster said). Unless there is such a unique program/supervisor that's caught your eye, I'm really not sure why you would want to spend the extra cash when you've got great programs close to home that are cheaper and better-funded.

Hi. I'm an American who will be starting my MA at Trent in Ontario in September. I've got a decent funding package, but will need a few $K extra, especially during the first month, and also for the summer term. My FAFSA is in and their website says it sent my info along to Trent, but the point-person at Trent hasn't gotten back to me... and it's been a few weeks. Has anyone gotten a Stafford loan for a Canadian school? how does it work? I've only had Perkins loans thus far (at a US school).

I'll be starting at Trent in the fall (History).

since I can't find a summer job, I'd love for it to be time to go. bring it on!

I recommend steering clear of any of the big-name banks; they no longer care about any customer with less than six-digits ($) in accounts. I favor small, local banks (but not all of them are good - I'd seek advice from people alrady at the school you're going to). you will probably need multiple fors of identification - a passport is always a good first one. a college/university ID is another good one. As a foreigner, you might need extra papers, too. As I recall, you may need additional proof of address as well - a bill in your name, with your current address. There may even be a multi-day waiting period while a background check is done. a debit card should be an easy acquisition. a credit card will likely be a bit harder, and in my opinion , not worth the hassle. A decent bank card should also function like a Visa, but a bank might give you a bare-bones ATM card first, before you can upgrade to a debit card.

for Quebec, there is an extra form you need (I forget which, but your U should tell you. the immigration website also lists it). US residents can get study permits at the border. I'm not aware of us needing a visa beyond a study permit (except for Quebec).

opening a bank account in the US these days takes a lot of documentation and is a huge headache, even for US residents. It's actually easier for a US resident to open an account in another country than it is at home, in my experience. if your bank card works on any regular cash network (Visa, Plus, etc), it will be easier to use your home country bank, in all honesty, and work by ATM.

I was part of the Killam program (an undergrad award handled by the Canadian Fulbright office) and got to meet a number of Fulbright recipients. There were a wide range of awards, ranging from ethnic studies, education, business, geology, poetry... it was quite a mind-boggling assortment. The only common denominator was that they were all interesting, everyone had something interesting and fairly unique. I could easily imagine your project to be on the list. I saw no particular bias against independent scholars; there were several among the group I met. good luck!

I applied to UBC, and didn't get a notice until late April/early May. It was the only school I applied to that did not accept me. Their letter said they had more than 100 applicants, but only 15 slots.