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."

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.

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!

moon river

As Holly says in Breakfast at Tiffany's, "Thursday? It can't be! It's too gruesome!!"


Thursday does have a way of sneaking up on you. It's like all of a sudden, you realize that it's almost the weekend, and you still have the week's worth of homework to do. Bummer. 


I'm a hardcore procrastinator. I'm also a hardcore perfectionist.

The result is often a tad pathetic--as I usually always end up desperately writing and/or frantically cramming a mere twenty-four hours (slight exaggeration possible here) before the deadline. In all seriousness, late days (and fees) were created for universities to turn a profit on people like me. 

But while I'm busy not doing my work, creating my own problems, and increasing future stress levels, I occasionally happen to stumble across little gems such as this. 

Moon river, wider than a mile

I'm crossing you in style some day.

Oh, dream maker, you heartbreaker.

Wherever you're going, I'm going your way.

Two drifters off to see the world

There's such a lot of the world to see.

We're after the same rainbow's end-

Waiting 'round the bend,

My huckleberry friend,

Moon river and me.

All I really want to do right now is travel all over the place and have lots of adventures. As school is currently in session, I content myself with getting excited about going to Africa. 

Also, I'm tentatively planning a backpacking trip to Asia for summer 2013. Erm, excuse me, tentatively planning as in crossing my fingers AND my toes that it actually happens. 

shots and chik-fil-a

This has been the weirdest winter. It was so beautiful today--sunshine and puffy clouds--and so warm that I was walking around with no coat on. With weather like that, there's no way in heck that you can just sit in the o-chem lab, so I decided to take care of my vaccinations today.

I drove to the clinic with my windows down and the music loud. It was absolutely epic. I felt like I was a senior in high school again.

I got five shots. I'm such a baby that every time, I'd just bite my lip and look the other way. The nurse kept asking me if I was okay.

But then I went to chik-fil-a, and let's face it, that place can make anything better. Spicy chicken deluxe sandwich, waffle fries, and an ice dream, por fa.

Bring on the vaccinations.

P.S. For lent, I'm going to give up the CougarEat. Not. even. kidding. It'd be nice to still like Subway and L&T by the time I graduate. Which isn't likely if I keep eating there every other day. Oh, and it's probs going to make my bank account a little happier too.

valentine's day

I woke up to discover that Rachel had made orange rolls for everybody for breakfast.

So I ate an orange roll and...

um, a piece of dark chocolate cheesecake. At 8:30 in the morning, I am so not joking. What else is a girl to do on Valentine's Day?

I arrived at work to discover a bag of Lindor truffles with my name on it sitting on the table. Yeeah.

I got chocolates and all that jazz for my roommates and sealed them in #400 cans. I ran home to drop them off, and found that my home teachers had gotten Emily B. and me a chocolate cake with the words TEXT ME. So funny. Inside jokes=mah fave. 

My boss couldn't stay for lab meeting, so she declared that one hour party time. I got paid to eat raspberry sherbert, pralines and caramel ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, and brownies for an entire hour. And watch Modern Family and Kid History. 

Pretty epic Valentine's Day for a single lady, ay?

Except for now I'm sitting in the periodical section of the library, listening to my Love Songs station on Pandora. And reading about and trying to write this paper on genocide. It's a little weird. 

raw chicken

Sometimes I like to think I can cook.

And then I whip out the pre-cut, pre-boned chicken breast out of the fridge.

Illusion spoiled.

Well, today, I helped to cook a full on chicken. 

As in, a whole chicken in the bloody bag, with everything still inside it.

Aaron, who was in charge of this entire food science dinner, gave us (Holly and me) full responsibility of this particular chicken, as he had five other chickens to cook. Brave man.

We had to rinse it out in the sink. Holly gingerly touched it as I cut the bag away from it. She took a deep breath, and then picked it up and held it over the sink. We both squealed a little bit, I think. Raw meat is just so gross sometimes. I started running the water. 

"Um...Aaron, should we take everything out?"

Before he could turn around, the chicken excreted (nasty word, isn't it?) its neck out of its back side. Holly gasped, and I started laughing so hard I couldn't breathe, as the chicken kept popping out giblet after giblet. 

By this point, I had tears in my eyes. I felt like the boys sitting behind me in nutrition100 the other day who couldn't stop giggling while the teacher discussed constipation. 

After I had regained control, we proceeded to clean the chicken out, baste the inside with butter and tarragon, and browned it nicely on all sides. We poured broth all over it and then popped it in the oven.

It sure smelled lovely.

Mission completed.

P.S. I also helped to cook custard. I'm well on my way to becoming a chef.