It's spring outside.
Utah weather is bipolar, but just let me repeat:
It's spring outside.
I don't even mean any of this "It's spring because it's past March 20th" business. I mean honest to goodness blue skies, highs in the sixties, and people studying on the grass kind of spring.
Last week I attended the Wheatley International Affairs Conference, which meant I had to miss about four days of school. It was mentally exhausting and I got about five hours of sleep every night--and it was still fun. I went snowshoeing for the first time. Boo-yah.
But I'm still playing catch-up--and part of me thinks that I'll be playing catch up until the end of the semester.
A spring break would be nice. Heck, another three-day weekend would be nice.
But days like today make me realize that none of that really matters though. After this week, school will be completely done in less than four weeks! Only a little over six weeks, and I'll be in Africa! This weekend, I'm going to the Festival of Colors and an afterparty with a friend. Next weekend, I'm going to see Fun. in concert! And I'll be turning the big ol' 21 before the end of this month.
There is so much living to do- I've got 4.5 weeks to finish off this semester with a bang.
Good gosh, I love sunshine.
In other news, you want to hear what I've been kicking back to lately?
Well, folks, that was Just You and Me by Zee Avi. And one more--Something in the Water by Brooke Fraser.
So good.
Be happy.
That's all.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
color esperanza
I love this song. Every time I hear it I think of Guadalajara, Mexico.
I remember learning it in a tiny classroom.
I remember singing it almost every other day in class after that.
I remember dancing with Brad and the other boys in the group to this song...still in that little classroom.
Lauralee and I would listen to it all the time in our room.
We told Gabriel and Alejandro that it was our new favorite song, and Gabriel told us we had good taste. It was also his mom's favorite song.
All four of us would sing it in Alejandro's car as we roadtripped it to Chapala and other little Mexican towns.
We listened to it our last night there.
And then we had to go back to the States.
But Lauralee made it her alarm for the entire next semester.
And one of the times we skyped with Gabriel and Alejandro, we sang this song to them.
They thought it was pretty great.
I miss those two boys.
I miss Mexico.
What I wouldn't give for another night with Lauralee, Gabriel, and Alejandro right now. Tacos de la calle + salsa dancing. Churros + water fights. Miradores + car rides. Good friends + good times.
We've kind of all started to go our separate ways now. Gabriel is studying in Monterrey, Alejandro just started a new career, Lauralee is going on a mission to Guatemala, and I'm just studying away here at BYU. But when we skype each other, we've still got all the same inside jokes and nothing's changed.
They tell us we're fresa, and somehow we still tell them that they're a "big deal." They think it's pretty funny, but they tell us we've got that right. And they promise us that if we ever come back, they'll take us to Tarrascos and then out to dance. After they get us soaked.
And that's why every time I hear that song, I start to smile and I can't even help it.
Some things are too good to be forgotten.
I remember learning it in a tiny classroom.
I remember singing it almost every other day in class after that.
I remember dancing with Brad and the other boys in the group to this song...still in that little classroom.
Lauralee and I would listen to it all the time in our room.
We told Gabriel and Alejandro that it was our new favorite song, and Gabriel told us we had good taste. It was also his mom's favorite song.
All four of us would sing it in Alejandro's car as we roadtripped it to Chapala and other little Mexican towns.
We listened to it our last night there.
And then we had to go back to the States.
But Lauralee made it her alarm for the entire next semester.
And one of the times we skyped with Gabriel and Alejandro, we sang this song to them.
They thought it was pretty great.
I miss those two boys.
I miss Mexico.
What I wouldn't give for another night with Lauralee, Gabriel, and Alejandro right now. Tacos de la calle + salsa dancing. Churros + water fights. Miradores + car rides. Good friends + good times.
We've kind of all started to go our separate ways now. Gabriel is studying in Monterrey, Alejandro just started a new career, Lauralee is going on a mission to Guatemala, and I'm just studying away here at BYU. But when we skype each other, we've still got all the same inside jokes and nothing's changed.
They tell us we're fresa, and somehow we still tell them that they're a "big deal." They think it's pretty funny, but they tell us we've got that right. And they promise us that if we ever come back, they'll take us to Tarrascos and then out to dance. After they get us soaked.
And that's why every time I hear that song, I start to smile and I can't even help it.
Some things are too good to be forgotten.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
stopping joseph kony
This video has gone viral overnight. If you haven't seen it, well, here it is.
KONY 2012.
It's been put out by Invisible Children, in an effort to raise worldwide awareness about Joseph Kony. Joseph Kony is a horrible horrible person. Joseph Kony is the leader of the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) and has abducted thousands of children from their homes and forced them into either child soldiery or sex slavery. Children are often forced to kill their own parents, so that they have no homes to return to. Joseph Kony is either completely insane, or perhaps worse, knows exactly what he is doing and is just some kind of heinous monster. Joseph Kony needs to be stopped.
Child soldiery. I remember watching this movie back in 2010, and crying my eyes out. I felt so helpless and so distraught. Even though the Salvadorean Civil War took place years ago, I knew that child soldiery is still rampant today, and it just broke my heart. I wanted to do something so badly. It's hard to do something by yourself. It's an emotional topic. It's why the KONY 2012 video is so popular. And not going to lie, I teared up a bit while watching the video too. It's really hard to see people in pain. And these children--the victims-- are most definitely in pain.
However, I think that it's really easy to jump on the bandwagon before you really look at what you're supporting. I do support and respect the efforts of Invisible Children to raise awareness about Joseph Kony. I definitely think that the world needs to know about him. People in general should be aware of what's going on in the world around them. Ignorance is not bliss, and I'm a firm believer that ignorance does not give you a lack of responsibility to your fellowmen/women. And in this respect, KONY 2012 has been a huge success--the world now knows about the existence of one of the most miserable human beings to ever grace the planet.
I remain skeptical about the rest of it. It's easy to get caught up in all the fiery rhetoric (i.e. Save the Children!), without actually thinking through the solution. Because here's the thing. There is no easy solution.
Grant Oysten, a polisci student in Canada, references some of the problems in his tumblr (http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/). While I don't agree with everything that Grant says, I found it very interesting.
First of all, I'm skeptical of the organization. Invisible Children is supported in part by private donations--donations that were given to stop child soldiery. As a non-profit organization, their finances are available online (you can check for yourself at CharityNavigator). I found it a little shocking that the filmmaker of this film gets paid $90,000 a year. The three ranking executives also get paid $88,241, $89, 669, and $84,377. That's outside of equipment, film production, and travel expenses. Furthermore, while their main goal is advocacy (primarily film-making), apparently only 32% went to direct services. They also have refused to cooperate with the Better Business Bureau as well as refused to have their finances externally audited. Although I am sure that they have done a tremendous amount of good, their lack of fiscal transparency makes me rather hesitant to support them. If I made a donation to help child soldiery, I would have wanted it to go directly to helping victims, and I'm not 100% sure that's what would happen.
Secondly, direct military intervention (supported by Invisible Children) would be extremely complicated. Grant mentions that "U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has sent multiple missions to capture or kill Kony over the years. And they've failed time and time again, each provoking a ferocious response and increased retaliative slaughter. The issue with taking out a man who uses a child army is that his bodyguards are children." I don't know what the right way to deal with this is. I just think that a lot of people haven't thought this through. Are we prepared to take down some children for the greater good of all children? It's a moral paradox. Could you do it? I don't think I could.
Speaking of direct military intervention, I found Grant's point on the idea of "rescuing" or "saving" Africa as reeking of the concept of "White Man's Burden" very interesting. In terms of development, White Man's Burden is anathema to me. I hate this idea of "We the West are going to save Africa." I strongly disagree with SAPs (structural adjustment programs) and some other policies of the IMF and the World Bank. Sustainable development has to come from the people, hence why I do support bottom-up development and the human capability (as opposed to human capital) approach.
However, in terms of human rights violations, I'm not sure yet where I stand. I just did research recently for a paper on U.S. policy and genocide, and I argued that although the U.S. should try to work through the UN, that we (along with every other nation) bear the R2P (responsibility to protect) and should intervene militarily in instances of genocide, should the UN fail to act. However, I argued that knowing fully that military intervention bears some pretty heavy consequences, including accusations of military interventionism (when the world is already suspicious of the U.S. because of Iraq and Afghanistan), and thus increased volatility in its role in world politics. Perhaps you could argue that the world would support our actions, and perhaps you are right. But is the U.S. ready to take on the role? The U.S. either entirely ignored (or waited until it was too late to respond effectively) counts of genocide in Bosnia, Rwanda, Armenia, Cambodia, and Sudan. Two main reasons were politicians not wanting to expend political capital and cost.
It can't be assumed that catching Kony will be easy. Direct military intervention is almost always costly. Many of the same people who are advocating action by posting this video to their wall are the same people who bemoan the national debt deficit. Do they care enough to increase that same debt deficit? Do they care enough to face the possibility of starting another "war" (i.e. like the search for Bin Laden)? Because unless we all do, the likelihood of direct military intervention passing on Capitol Hill doesn't look likely. And perhaps this is where the video will actually cause change.
One could argue that Invisible Children supports the Ugandan Army, who have fought against the LRA. So maybe direct military intervention isn't necessary--the U.S. could simply provide support to the Ugandan Army. However, the Ugandan Army has also been accused of looting and rape. Do we really want to support that? It's a moral paradox, and what's more, we've faced it before. African dictators have used peacekeeping missions to draw attention away from their own crimes against humanity through making themselves invaluable to major powers. For example, although Sani Abacha (dictator of Nigeria from 1993-98) committed numerous human rights violations, the U.S. had to take very cautionary action against him as they needed Nigerian troops to continue serving as peacekeepers in Liberia. A similar situation could be extremely compromising, especially in this case.
In short, I don't know what to do. I don't have any answers.
I am grateful for KONY 2012 if only because it has raised awareness of the issue. I agree wholeheartedly that something should be done. However, I think that the video would be even more helpful and life-changing if it awoke a dialogue on what should be done rather than hundreds of thousands of people just jumping on the Invisible Children bandwagon, and leaving it at that. These problems are extremely real, but they are also extremely complex--and I think that we have a responsibility to thoroughly research the problem and potential solutions before we advocate any kind of action.
In the words of Grant, "Let's keep it about Joseph Kony, not just about KONY 2012."
KONY 2012.
It's been put out by Invisible Children, in an effort to raise worldwide awareness about Joseph Kony. Joseph Kony is a horrible horrible person. Joseph Kony is the leader of the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) and has abducted thousands of children from their homes and forced them into either child soldiery or sex slavery. Children are often forced to kill their own parents, so that they have no homes to return to. Joseph Kony is either completely insane, or perhaps worse, knows exactly what he is doing and is just some kind of heinous monster. Joseph Kony needs to be stopped.
Child soldiery. I remember watching this movie back in 2010, and crying my eyes out. I felt so helpless and so distraught. Even though the Salvadorean Civil War took place years ago, I knew that child soldiery is still rampant today, and it just broke my heart. I wanted to do something so badly. It's hard to do something by yourself. It's an emotional topic. It's why the KONY 2012 video is so popular. And not going to lie, I teared up a bit while watching the video too. It's really hard to see people in pain. And these children--the victims-- are most definitely in pain.
However, I think that it's really easy to jump on the bandwagon before you really look at what you're supporting. I do support and respect the efforts of Invisible Children to raise awareness about Joseph Kony. I definitely think that the world needs to know about him. People in general should be aware of what's going on in the world around them. Ignorance is not bliss, and I'm a firm believer that ignorance does not give you a lack of responsibility to your fellowmen/women. And in this respect, KONY 2012 has been a huge success--the world now knows about the existence of one of the most miserable human beings to ever grace the planet.
I remain skeptical about the rest of it. It's easy to get caught up in all the fiery rhetoric (i.e. Save the Children!), without actually thinking through the solution. Because here's the thing. There is no easy solution.
Grant Oysten, a polisci student in Canada, references some of the problems in his tumblr (http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/). While I don't agree with everything that Grant says, I found it very interesting.
First of all, I'm skeptical of the organization. Invisible Children is supported in part by private donations--donations that were given to stop child soldiery. As a non-profit organization, their finances are available online (you can check for yourself at CharityNavigator). I found it a little shocking that the filmmaker of this film gets paid $90,000 a year. The three ranking executives also get paid $88,241, $89, 669, and $84,377. That's outside of equipment, film production, and travel expenses. Furthermore, while their main goal is advocacy (primarily film-making), apparently only 32% went to direct services. They also have refused to cooperate with the Better Business Bureau as well as refused to have their finances externally audited. Although I am sure that they have done a tremendous amount of good, their lack of fiscal transparency makes me rather hesitant to support them. If I made a donation to help child soldiery, I would have wanted it to go directly to helping victims, and I'm not 100% sure that's what would happen.
Secondly, direct military intervention (supported by Invisible Children) would be extremely complicated. Grant mentions that "U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has sent multiple missions to capture or kill Kony over the years. And they've failed time and time again, each provoking a ferocious response and increased retaliative slaughter. The issue with taking out a man who uses a child army is that his bodyguards are children." I don't know what the right way to deal with this is. I just think that a lot of people haven't thought this through. Are we prepared to take down some children for the greater good of all children? It's a moral paradox. Could you do it? I don't think I could.
Speaking of direct military intervention, I found Grant's point on the idea of "rescuing" or "saving" Africa as reeking of the concept of "White Man's Burden" very interesting. In terms of development, White Man's Burden is anathema to me. I hate this idea of "We the West are going to save Africa." I strongly disagree with SAPs (structural adjustment programs) and some other policies of the IMF and the World Bank. Sustainable development has to come from the people, hence why I do support bottom-up development and the human capability (as opposed to human capital) approach.
However, in terms of human rights violations, I'm not sure yet where I stand. I just did research recently for a paper on U.S. policy and genocide, and I argued that although the U.S. should try to work through the UN, that we (along with every other nation) bear the R2P (responsibility to protect) and should intervene militarily in instances of genocide, should the UN fail to act. However, I argued that knowing fully that military intervention bears some pretty heavy consequences, including accusations of military interventionism (when the world is already suspicious of the U.S. because of Iraq and Afghanistan), and thus increased volatility in its role in world politics. Perhaps you could argue that the world would support our actions, and perhaps you are right. But is the U.S. ready to take on the role? The U.S. either entirely ignored (or waited until it was too late to respond effectively) counts of genocide in Bosnia, Rwanda, Armenia, Cambodia, and Sudan. Two main reasons were politicians not wanting to expend political capital and cost.
It can't be assumed that catching Kony will be easy. Direct military intervention is almost always costly. Many of the same people who are advocating action by posting this video to their wall are the same people who bemoan the national debt deficit. Do they care enough to increase that same debt deficit? Do they care enough to face the possibility of starting another "war" (i.e. like the search for Bin Laden)? Because unless we all do, the likelihood of direct military intervention passing on Capitol Hill doesn't look likely. And perhaps this is where the video will actually cause change.
One could argue that Invisible Children supports the Ugandan Army, who have fought against the LRA. So maybe direct military intervention isn't necessary--the U.S. could simply provide support to the Ugandan Army. However, the Ugandan Army has also been accused of looting and rape. Do we really want to support that? It's a moral paradox, and what's more, we've faced it before. African dictators have used peacekeeping missions to draw attention away from their own crimes against humanity through making themselves invaluable to major powers. For example, although Sani Abacha (dictator of Nigeria from 1993-98) committed numerous human rights violations, the U.S. had to take very cautionary action against him as they needed Nigerian troops to continue serving as peacekeepers in Liberia. A similar situation could be extremely compromising, especially in this case.
In short, I don't know what to do. I don't have any answers.
I am grateful for KONY 2012 if only because it has raised awareness of the issue. I agree wholeheartedly that something should be done. However, I think that the video would be even more helpful and life-changing if it awoke a dialogue on what should be done rather than hundreds of thousands of people just jumping on the Invisible Children bandwagon, and leaving it at that. These problems are extremely real, but they are also extremely complex--and I think that we have a responsibility to thoroughly research the problem and potential solutions before we advocate any kind of action.
In the words of Grant, "Let's keep it about Joseph Kony, not just about KONY 2012."
Sunday, March 4, 2012
new girl.
I've been trying to nail down summer housing for my R&D internship in Minneapolis this summer for the past couple of weeks. It's been slightly frustrating, to be completely honest.
There was this one room that I was really interested in. Beautiful wood floors in the bedroom (I am SUCH a sucker for wood floors), queen sized bed, single room, great kitchen and living room, only four people in the apartment--and a great price.
The leaser emailed me back to answer my questions, giving me some further details on the apartment--and letting me know that I would be living with three hilarious, albeit respectful, dudes.
I don't know if you watch the show New Girl. I don't...yet. But it's got Zooey Deschanel in it, who I love, so I'll probably end up watching it this summer. Well, the entire premise of the show is this--Zooey ends up rooming in a house with three other guys, and she, the boys, and her best friend form some sort of adorably dysfunctional family.
Sounds great, right? Here are the problems.
#1) My life is not, never has been, and most likely will never be a tv show. Meaning, really funny on tv = probably pretty awkward in real life. Sad day.
#2) I am not the adorkably charming Zooey Deschanel.
So while part of me relished the idea (and actually considered it quite seriously) of doing something so deliciously different and shocking (hello, I go to BYU), I ended up deciding to ditch the idea. I'm sure that my parents (and probably some of my friends) are relieved.
So instead, I'm living in a cute, old house close to Dinkytown. I still have my precious wood floors, a beautiful bay window, and although I am sharing the room (I think the girl I'm sharing with will be gone for about half the time though), I think I'm gonna love it. The pictures I got kind of reminded me of some of the beach houses I used to clean way back in high school. I mean, the countertop is painted purple. Epic. I'll be living with 4-6 other girls, and the rent is way cheap. I'm actually pretty pumped about living here. I feel like it's got character.
So I'll still be the new girl, even if it's not Zooey-style. That's okay.
Basically, this internship dealio is coming together.
Well, coming together as in I know that I'll be a research and development intern for Land O'Lakes and that I now have a place to live.
That is about all I know, but it's all I really need to know at this point to be absolutely thrilled about this summer. Even if it is post-Africa.
There was this one room that I was really interested in. Beautiful wood floors in the bedroom (I am SUCH a sucker for wood floors), queen sized bed, single room, great kitchen and living room, only four people in the apartment--and a great price.
The leaser emailed me back to answer my questions, giving me some further details on the apartment--and letting me know that I would be living with three hilarious, albeit respectful, dudes.
I don't know if you watch the show New Girl. I don't...yet. But it's got Zooey Deschanel in it, who I love, so I'll probably end up watching it this summer. Well, the entire premise of the show is this--Zooey ends up rooming in a house with three other guys, and she, the boys, and her best friend form some sort of adorably dysfunctional family.
Sounds great, right? Here are the problems.
#1) My life is not, never has been, and most likely will never be a tv show. Meaning, really funny on tv = probably pretty awkward in real life. Sad day.
#2) I am not the adorkably charming Zooey Deschanel.
So while part of me relished the idea (and actually considered it quite seriously) of doing something so deliciously different and shocking (hello, I go to BYU), I ended up deciding to ditch the idea. I'm sure that my parents (and probably some of my friends) are relieved.
So instead, I'm living in a cute, old house close to Dinkytown. I still have my precious wood floors, a beautiful bay window, and although I am sharing the room (I think the girl I'm sharing with will be gone for about half the time though), I think I'm gonna love it. The pictures I got kind of reminded me of some of the beach houses I used to clean way back in high school. I mean, the countertop is painted purple. Epic. I'll be living with 4-6 other girls, and the rent is way cheap. I'm actually pretty pumped about living here. I feel like it's got character.
So I'll still be the new girl, even if it's not Zooey-style. That's okay.
Basically, this internship dealio is coming together.
Well, coming together as in I know that I'll be a research and development intern for Land O'Lakes and that I now have a place to live.
That is about all I know, but it's all I really need to know at this point to be absolutely thrilled about this summer. Even if it is post-Africa.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
llama lovin
The other day, Jenny and I went to Pizza Pie Cafe with a couple of friends. Johanna (one of the Cambridge PAs from this past summer) is visiting the U.S.--and she's here in Provo, UT of all places. She's getting the real Provo experience--down to the J-dawgs (which is about as BYU as you can get).
After lunch, we went back to my place, and Jenny decided to go back up to campus. About five seconds after she had left, I heard a knock on my door.
I opened it, and it was Jenny.
"There are llamas outside. I just thought you should know."
I was actually thrilled to know. So we went and hung out with the llamas for a couple of minutes, and it was great.
I'm also currently trying to find housing in Minneapolis this summer. It's a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. But it's getting there.
My hair's finally almost long enough to put in a ponytail. SO EXCITING. New goal is to grow it out and then donate it. One more thing I'll get to cross off from that ever-growing bucket list in my head!
After lunch, we went back to my place, and Jenny decided to go back up to campus. About five seconds after she had left, I heard a knock on my door.
I opened it, and it was Jenny.
"There are llamas outside. I just thought you should know."
I was actually thrilled to know. So we went and hung out with the llamas for a couple of minutes, and it was great.
I'm also currently trying to find housing in Minneapolis this summer. It's a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. But it's getting there.
My hair's finally almost long enough to put in a ponytail. SO EXCITING. New goal is to grow it out and then donate it. One more thing I'll get to cross off from that ever-growing bucket list in my head!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)