Jan 23
The other day I was driving from New York down to North Carolina. As the day wore on, my stomach began to give me the all too familiar growl letting me know it was time to refuel (my stomach not the car). As I kept my eyes peeled for the universal blue highway signs titled …
Jan 19
Human trafficking and terrorism are two huge social and political issues which plague our society with the responsibility to identify and eliminate the root causes. As I stated in my first blog earlier this week, it is not enough to just educate society, monitor progress and sanction countries who do not fall into compliance with …
Jan 18
It’s the New Year, and we all know what that means; making resolutions we have no intention of fulfilling. We set our goal; maybe it’s even the same one from last year. The first day goes by and we think about it, consider it, and plan on how we’ll start on it tomorrow. Tomorrow comes, …
Jan 12
When was the last time you thought about Haiti? If you’re anything like me, it was probably a long time ago. It’s been almost exactly two years since the devastating earthquake that brought Haiti to the forefront of the international consciousness, and a lot of things have happened since then. Kim Jong-Il’s death, the Arab …
Dec 20
On Friday of last week, the House of Representatives passed a bill approving the foreign aid budget for 2012. Anticipating that the Senate will pass the bill this week, the winners and losers of the proposed budget allocations becomes clear. Foreign aid has become a big target in this economic recession, with government more hesitant …
Nov 21
The other day I was waiting in line at my local Starbucks, and noticed the coffee shop was selling what appeared to be bracelets. Upon further inspection, the bracelets claimed to be a part of a national job creation program. Anyone who purchases a bracelet for $5 or more is showing his or her support …
Nov 18
Two weeks ago the Syrian government agreed to ends its crackdown on anti-government demonstrators, a development I was skeptical of. I hoped that the Syrian government was legitimately ready to end the violence, but worried that President al-Assad’s history of broken peace agreements was a sign that he was not going to commit to a …
Nov 03
A few weeks back I went to a Garmeen Creative Lab Workshop, where Bill Moggridge, the Director of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum spoke about the new exhibition: Design With the Other 90% Cities. I was reminded of this exhibit when I was researching for my last piece on the 7 billionth person entering the world. The role of this …
Oct 04
Two years ago, I was backpacking though Asia, I found myself in Seoul, South Korea visiting friends and watching the World Cup finale. Against direct orders from my parents, I decided to take a tour up to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) along the North Korean border. Having known a substantial bit of history about the …
Sep 23
Uganda Skimming over the New York Times this morning, I noted that the first article in their global edition was regarding the outrage that Oxfam is uncovering about Ugandan settlers being displaced on behalf of the Ugandan government and an international organization. Despite being a catchy headline on a leading newspaper, unfortunately these practices are …
