29 march quicklinks

i'm too distracted for a theme right now, but you'll get a treat if you read all the way through to the end...

my friend suren is the lead singer of a pretty popular nepali rock outfit, karma band. he's in the states right now, and is performing it boston. check it out:

with that said, go because the concert should be fun, NOT to donate to japan. smarter, more experienced people than i have have already talked about why the rush to give to japan is a bad thing. in fact, the japanese government has restricted the donations it will take, so do your research if you want to give. while my parents were here, we were talking about what impact means, and i cited donations to japan as a major example of how donors need to stop getting what they think they want, and be educated about what is really needed.

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seriously, if you like telenovelas, you'll LOVE hindi serials. emily does a break down of her new favorite, where bollywood gets on the sexy vampire bandwagon. and if that's not enough south asian cinematic goodness for you, check out the truly glorious awkward bollywood tumblr [h/t the ajnabee].

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for those of us who can't get the basketball on tv (and have a robust nerdy streak), check out march madness for development economists and democrats vs. dictators.

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a view from the cave has a good critique of the nyt coverage of voluntourism. he's basically said it, but still... it's amazing. it's like completely different people wrote the introduction, which has the most glancing, lip-service note on the critics of voluntourism, and the actual description of the trips. for instance...
intro:

"But the idea of “volunteer vacations” has been met with controversy: many not-for-profits say that the logistics of putting people on the ground disrupt the flow of care, and that fly-by-night foreigners are stealing long-term jobs from locals. These eight organizations are challenging that perception."

and, later:

"Project Brazil places volunteers in the Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro for 15 days to assist at a day care center with children 6 years and younger. Community Development in Peru sends volunteers to build efficient traditional cooking stoves and work in a women’s weaving co-op near Cuzco."

[does incredulous double take]

for more voluntourism discussion, check out my friend david's article, published in the latest SINHAS, on "The Anatomy of Ephemeral Healthcare: "Health Camps" and Short Term Medical Voluntourism in Remote Nepal" [update: forgot it's not available online. send me an email and i'll see if i can hook you up]. seriously, homeboy spent eight months in humla. he deserves a medal.

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and in the latest from our corporate overlords...the US gvt bends over for GE, both the company and the crop varieties. i am not hopeful for the results of the wal-mart sex discrimination case, which gives the supreme court the chance to "keep up with the joneses", as it were, in terms of america's hottest two political trends of the year...whereby the only thing you can do more intensely than love corporate influence is hate women.

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on the bright side, there's always delicious, delicious pop music. trust me, watch this video. it's brilliant, and not even in a rebecca black so bad it's good kind of way:

elegies III

i don't know whether it's coming from a house or a store, but there is one place on my walk home from work, just as i come up this little slope, past the intersection, where i am always engulfed in the smell of fresh ground cumin.

 

"elegies" is a series of no-particular-format posts i'm writing as i begin the countdown to my departure in june, after nearly two years in kathmandu... mostly musings on life and love and transition, what's gone before and what's coming next. i will never use pre-ground spices ever again.

coming soon to a computer near you...

parents visiting (yay) + being sick (boo) + work nuttiness (meh) = posting negligence.
BUT i'll be back later this week with all sorts of goodies, including: reflections on jim ferguson 20 years later, further elegies (SO EMO), a veritable orgy of quicklinks, and, a higher power (my boss and the fine folks at WFP) willing, an update on the research deal.

for now, though, big ups and happy spring to you all.

elegies II

i hadn't planned on, well, planning my next move, but a few things cropped up on my RSS feeds, and so i applied. now i have nightmares about interviews. it's overwhelming to consider the sheer number of possibilities (not to mention constraints), and to play out the the domino-effect that my choices now may have on my whole life path. i do find that this paralysis in the face of options is mitigated by my youth, relative to many of my other friends and fellow itinerants in kathmandu. one of these recently said:

"The other evening, I found myself once again wondering what it was that I was being called to do with my life and I decided that it was to walk in the light.

This afternoon I started this blog because I wanted to know what, exactly, we meant by that"

check it out.


"elegies" is a series of no-particular-format posts i'm writing as i begin the countdown to my departure in june, after nearly two years in kathmandu... mostly musings on life and love and transition, what's gone before and what's coming next. 

elegies I

i'm having a beer with my roommate and another friend on the front porch of my house. my parents are arriving in kathmandu the next day. i'm excited, if slightly anxious about justifying my last year and a half of life decisions to them. i describe to my friends (s. is nepali and j. is an aussie who's been here long enough to know the ropes) some of the ways i've tried to describe life in kathmandu to my parents.

"i tell them, it's like... in the states, if you were to, say,  accidentally step on a dead animal or get run off the sidewalk by a motorcycle bearing down on you from behind...that would be an extraordinarily bad day, like a need-to-go-debrief-with-a-friend-over-multiple-beers level of disruptive. here, it just...is. unpleasant perhaps, but nothing out of the question"

s. laughs and j. says, "well, i'm ok with all of it, except not having electricity when the [cricket] world cup is on." he holds his computer up, squinting at the screen as he tries to register a better wifi connection.

the power cuts out. without the light pollution, the stars are brighter than you would see in any urban area in the states. i hug my knees closer to my chest.  from late february through mid-april, kathmandu has dry and warm and bright, playing-hooky to lie in the sun kind of weather, but it is still gets a little chilly at night.

"mm yes. we do lead a charmed life," i say, taking a sip. i am very much serious.

"elegies" is a series of no-particular-format posts i'm writing as i begin the countdown to my departure in june, after nearly two years in kathmandu... mostly musings on life and love and transition, what's gone before and what's coming next.

17th march quicklinks

this week: scandal! mystery! but mostly... links that really grind my gears. featuring...

MISOGYNY!
...yet more victim-blaming in texas and elsewhere.
...so you think workplace discrimination is dead, and feminism obsolete?

POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY!
...yes, it's much easier to cut the $600 child tax credit than raise taxes on the top 1% of taxpayers who might make a campaign contribution, isn't it gov. snyder?
...i can't even think of something sassy, i'm so furious.

CORPORATE INTERESTS AND THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR HEALTH AND OUR EARTH!
...wait, you mean that your obvious cost-saving strategies in farmed meat production might have massive externalities that will be passed on to me? NO WAY.
...but, but... agrobiodiversity preservation and integrated smallholder farming systems aren't nearly so profitable!

INTELLECTUAL LAZINESS!
..."the Japanese have resources because they are rich, and it was their social solidarity that helped get them there". wait, say what there, easterly?

fortunately, i also discovered the good man project magazine, "a gathering place for thoughtful men with a conscience," which i suspect will be a soothing addition to my google reader.

through the google scholar rabbit hole...

...it gets odd. like foucault meets UFO kinda odd.

click to embiggen

11th march quicklinks: first, kill all the journalists

...not really. but many of the links i have from this past week have an element of critiquing the media to them, so i thought i'd pluck the low-hanging fruit, theme-wise.

totalitarian kitsch: i'm as guilty as anyone else of this particular offense. in light of the recent oppressive quashing of revolutions, the sometimes outrageously hypocritical responses to them, and the disheartening and infuriating revelations about US intellectuals' roles in the rehabilitation of dictators' images, can we afford not to re-examine the role that we, as media purveyors and consumers, have in downplaying the crimes of dictators by painting them as wacky but harmless, or even sort of adorable? the ajnabee has some thoughts.

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from bitch media, a guide to getting past the terrible, sensationalist coverage that too often characterizes scientific reporting, particularly on gender, race, and culture. [h/t christine]

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speaking of feminist media i enjoy, jezebel reported on the follow up to the DKE fraternity rape chant at yale, where they've done an admirable of committing to seriously looking at the university's culture and policies on sexual misconduct and misogyny. most of the post is the email sent from yale college dean mary miller, who deserves a LOT of credit for getting things rolling in a legitimate way. the fact that she was the master of my residential college (SAY WHAT? SAYBROOK!) and, briefly, my advisor, shouldn't invalidate it when i say that she is a feminist and general baller of the first order. i DO wish that the article had given more of a shout out to the yale women faculty forum, which submitted the original report with recommendations for reforming sexual misconduct policy at yale even before the DKE incident (full disclosure: i drafted it). but still. heady times.

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neelika jayawardane offers a very cogent, and rightfully indignant criticism of a newsweek "guide for seize-the-day types" on where to travel before the next revolution hits. as if the general premise weren't in pretty poor taste, and the descriptions weren't rife with essentializing Orientalist crap, jayawardane points out that the authors don't even seem to have a very good sense of the political situations they're commenting on. the description of nepal's current status is sparse and sort of unobjectionable, except for the sort of weird, historical non-sequitor about china, which didn't actually border nepal until the annexation of tibet (with whom nepal HAD fought several previous wars), at which point CHINA chose to close the border. [h/t blattman]

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and (one of) my internet crush(es), scott gilmore at PDT, has a serious gripe with selective coverage of kidnappings, and how that affects the safety of aid workers.

happy weekend!

where my nerds at?

a list of  color-related idioms in other languages...

...and from the warwick economics summit, a statistical analysis of why this man does not have a girlfriend:

Watch live streaming video from warwickeconomicssummit at livestream.com

life's little pleasures

as i was walking home from work yesterday, a small, colorful, slightly broke-ass truck covered in tarp passed me, bumping this song. and you know what? my life was a little better for it.

teach for...pakistan?

sorry! went all MIA. applications, filing what will hopefully be my first travel article, and a viciously tainted falafel (at what proved to be a really awesome wax tailor concert), have set me back a bit.

in the meantime! another south asia gig for those of you with some teaching experience (and possibly a death wish)....

Millions of children in Pakistan face the dual problem of educational inequity: limited access to schools and poor quality of schooling, and are thus denied access to educational opportunities that would enable them to improve their life prospects. Teach For Pakistan is a nationwide movement of outstanding graduates and young professionals who will commit two years to teach in under-resourced schools and go on to become life-long leaders working from all fields to expand educational opportunity. The Teach For Pakistan Fellowship is a two-year paid position during which Fellows are placed as full-time teachers in low income public and private schools in Karachi. The experience you will gain with us is compatible with the pursuit of a very broad range of personal and professional goals. Through this program you have the potential to transform the lives of hundreds of children and families, and shape the future of Pakistan. Join the Teach For Pakistan Fellowship to start the movement to end educational inequity. More information

more nepal jobs

ACDI/VOCA is "currently seeking a Deputy Chief of Party, a Grants Manager, and two Regional Program Managers for an anticipated USAID-funded, multiyear Partnerships for Local Development project in Nepal. This program will target six districts in the East and will focus on strengthening these communities to better direct their own local development through 1) stabilizing initiatives that facilitate enabling environments; 2) building capacity to identify and have access to resources to engage in participatory activities, 3) supporting new local government units in the targeted communities to function effectively. This position is contingent on ACDI/VOCA being awarded the program." more details after the jump.

nepal-related development gig

if you're job hunting, check out this new post for executive director of dZi foundation, a colorado-based community development organization that does some really great work in nepal. full job description after the jump.

awesome video day.

as if making up for the fact that i'm still writing a soul-burying USAID grant, teh internets (specifically jezebel) served me up two awesome videos to watch while i ate my lunch momo at my desk and tried to make sure our capacity building plan for local partners was adequately expressed in our impact logframe.

the first is actually pertinent to my last post on consciousness and reggae and hip-hop. two ten year old girls calling themselves watoto from the nile lay down the track "Letter to Lil Wayne".

"...a direct statement of justice from Watoto From The Nile. Growing tired and fed up with the constant degredation of Black women inside of Hip Hop music, they voice their views and opinions on this melodic track"

i already knew that old spice's BRILLIANT "the man your man could smell like" ad campaign was done without any CGI (except for the diamonds part in the first one, i think), but it was still really fun to watch this behind the scenes segment (additional brilliant marketing strategy) on the making of the new commercial.

 

the almost impossibly dreamy isaiah mustafa isn't the ONLY reason these are my favorite commercials of all time (except for maybe this), but let's just say i've never been so glad i learned how to do screen grabs.

desktop background, anyone?