May 01
Social justice, good. Charity, bad. At least that’s always been my philosophy. It’s simple. Straightforward. Easy to follow. Maybe that’s the problem. This personal philosophy first developed sometime around my sophomore year in college. After participating in several break trips, and spending a lot of time reflecting on systemic social problems and injustices, I grew …
Apr 22
Regular readers of this blog will know that Myanmar has long been one of my favorite topics. I’ve written many times, often quite hopefully, about what the future may hold for this isolated country as it begins to open up economically and socially. New president Thein Sein has made serious moves towards reforming the military-ruled country, …
Apr 04
According to a report conducted by the Coalition of the Homeless last month, a record high 50,000 people slept in New York City’s shelters this January. Fifty-thousand people. More people are now homeless in New York City than at any time since the Great Depression. Want to know an even scarier fact? Almost half of …
Apr 02
Social technologies have broken the barriers of space and time, enabling us to interact 24/7 with more people than before. Most people spend their time sending emails, chatting with friends, posting videos or pictures, to being informed of the latest events. Everything can be done through Facebook, and Twitter. New social networking sites pop up …
Mar 25
I’ve written a lot about the opening up of Myanmar and Bhutan and their possibilities for sustainable tourism, so today I thought I would look at another isolated country: Cuba. Travel between the United States and Cuba has been forbidden since February 8th, 1969, just a few months after the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis. …
Mar 18
Social media has become a fact for civil society. The ability to become involved with a social cause is literally at the tip of our fingers. Internet applications such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube facilitate the creation and exchange of user-created content on today’s social movements. Hype can be generated on social issues with …
Mar 05
In Palestine, there is a city by the name of Jenin located in the West Bank. A majority of the city’s population is made up of Palestinian refugees displaced from their homes. Thousands of young children, teenagers, and college age youth grow up within the walls of this refugee city, and the future they look …
Feb 28
In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the country’s focus is on stricter gun control. This week Congress is expected to debate the broadest the broadest gun control legislation in a generation. However, I think ammunition control should be at the forefront of this debate. It is essential to focus on the gun control, but …
Feb 18
The CDC recently released new data indicating that the United States’ persistently high rates of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies are incurring billion of dollars in medical costs. This has been an ongoing issue that is hitting young adults the hardest. Health officials explain that, although these high costs are preventable, Americans are not …
Feb 06
When people hear the words donating to Africa, or missionary work in Africa, it is often associated with doing “good”. However, this is not the case in Uganda. Some extremist American Evangelicals are spending their “missionary time” and “donations” supporting the antigay sentiment sweeping Uganda . Their “missionary time” is spent asking Parliament to speed up …
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