Friday, March 18, 2011

Weekly quiz

I'm going to sound like a broken record, but I need to thank you for your loyal readership. (Who remembers what a "record" is?)

We have set pageview records for seven straight days. Our readership this month is up more than 50% from last month, which was well up from January. Such participation on your part helps motivate us.

A small request: If you have a question that you think we should examine in a post, consider sending us a note or posting a comment. If there is a technique you think we should use, send us an example. If we are doing something wrong or just badly, tell us. We are brand new at this, and we can learn from your social media expertise.

An update on the admissions process: Many of you have been interviewed already. Some will be interviewed in the next few days. The Bologna Admissions Committee will meet before the end of the month, and all candidates will be notified in the first week of April by email.

Now, the quiz.

What does this photograph depict? And what does it have to do with SAIS?




Next week we hope to have posts on cooperative programs, our various concentrations and a mock interview session held in Bologna this week to help current students prepare for career chats.


7 comments:

Andreas said...

Dear Mr. Graves,

wow, this was a difficult one! Even though it was relatively obvious that this must be a part of the former Berlin Wall, it was not so easy to find out what it might have to do with SAIS.

However, I think I have the answer: It must be the segment of the wall which can be found at SAIS Washington (and which was given to SAIS by the Berlin Senate in 1997 according to Wikipedia ...).

Regards,
Andreas

P.S.: Does it say "FRED" or "FREI", the German word for free?

Francesco Cuomo said...

Could it be a piece of the Berlin wall?
And it stands now in SAIS Washington, as explained here, http://www.jhu.edu/~gazette/1999/nov0899/08berlin.html

Anonymous said...

Hello,
This segment is from the Berlin Wall. It is in front of the entrance of the main building of the Paul Nitze School in Washington, DC. It was provided to the Johns Hopkins University by the Berlin Senate. On the bottom of the segment it is written: "It stands in tribute to the success of the German-American Partnership and as a reminder that freedom can never be taken for granted".
I see this segment and i think of its importance every year when i participate in the Model UN Conference, held in the Nitze School.
D. Georgieva

Unknown said...

I think I know. This is a section of the Berlin Wall that is now located at the courtyard of SAIS Washington. It was a gift from Germany to SAIS. The second significance is that actually the word “fred” (of freedom) written of the wall actually reflects the idea of what SAIS is educating its students about.

Zhikica Pagovski

Unknown said...

Hi,

This looks like a piece of the Berlin Wall. It is on display outside of the building entrance of the campus in Washington, DC and was gifted from the Senate of Berlin in 1997 to the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at SAIS.

Regards,

Alexander

Nelson Graves said...

A tough quiz, five correct answers and none wrong. That's commendable, to say the least. Well done, Andreas, for being the first -- again. Indeed this chunk of the Berlin Wall stands in the courtyard in front of the Nitze Building at SAIS Washington. (Where might you have briefly seen the plaque at the base of the Wall?) Francesco has given the link to an article explaining the history of the slap of wall. The man who found the piece for SAIS, Jack Janes, thought (hoped?) he saw the word "FREI", which is "free" in German, scrawled on the concrete, but it is actually "FRED". Sometimes reality is more mundane that we want it to be. Still, it's an impressive piece of history. And you are an impressive set of readers. Thank you.
P.S. I'd ask, "Where were you when the Wall fell," but I realize that most of you were too young....

Nelson Graves said...

Apologies, I meant "history of the slab of wall" (not slap). Clumsy fingers on a Saturday morning.

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