I'm pretty sure that 2009 wins the award for most time I've ever spent on the move - including a record 5 new stamps in my passport! I don't think I managed to sleep in the same bed for 4 weeks straight. In recent months I haven't stayed put for much more than a week. 2010 promises to be a little more stationary due to my TA commitment for spring semester....but I'll keep in motion right up until the moment it starts. I spent the last 2 weeks in Haiti, NYC, Ithaca (x2) and Chicago with plans to be between Baltimore, NYC, Ithaca and Haiti in the week to come.
Do I enjoy the constant transitions? Mostly yes - but I'm beginning to really count the costs. How do you finish a Phd when you spend a good portion of your time on the road/in planes? (Answer: not really sure yet but you you do spend at least 5+ years trying) What guy wants to date a woman who only comes through town once a quarter...actually the more relevant question is how do you even meet a man to date if you only pass through town for 48 hours once a quarter? (Answer: you don't) How do you follow through on resolutions to start balancing your check book and exercising regularly when you are not in the same city as your bank or your gym membership? (Answer: you don't...but try to reassure yourself that you have some kind of excuse even though you have internet banking and perfectly good shoes for walking outside almost anywhere)
Anyway, here's a brief pictorial tribute to the places I slept in 2009...with some hope for a slightly shorter list in 2010...
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
tainted vote
Today's Miami Herald online featured an editorial calling the UN and donor nations (e.g. USA) to address recent political manipulations leading up to Haiti's parliamentary elections scheduled for February or March next year. The longer I am in Haiti the more convinced i become that the total lack of a stable government run by honorable and decently competent leaders is the primary barrier to Haiti's development. No amount of aid dollars and donations will solve this internal poverty of leadership - and yet we continue to turn first to economic answers to Haiti's problems. In many ways money is much easier to give than genuine accountability.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
it can take a village - if you let it
Great NYT article on a program in Malawi that provides support to families who take in orphans rather than building orphanages. This was the approach supported by World Relief - the NGO I worked at for 5 years before starting my grad studies.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)