Whose Lives Matter
24 November 2014 – A grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri has decided not to indict officer Darren Wilson, the white policeman who shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen […]
ArtWatch Africa – Cultural Rights are Human Rights
Stone Town, Zanzibar I. Seeking out the spirit of human rights Three weeks ago I spent seven days with artists, cultural activists, and human rights advocates from sixteen African countries […]
Instagram*, Hidden Costs, and the Price of Doing What’s Right
It’s been a hard week to be living in a foreign country without the support of family and close friends. Not someone who is easily shaken up, I was a […]
A Number of Disturbing Events
a poem comprised of quotes from the third and final presidential debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney what are our priorities? various forms of chaos isn’t there a risk? […]
Live from Occupy Wall Street – May Day 2012
I have always enjoyed the fact that my birthday falls on May Day. In my younger years, I felt that it carried both reason and resonance, setting the tone for a […]
These Days
That will be $207, the woman at the counter says, and what a discount. Divorces use to run a lot higher, but with the economy what it is these days […]
Pick a Side: Kony 2012 and the problem of “Good” vs. “Evil”
We all know who Joseph Kony is now. Does it matter how and why? And what does it say about us that it took Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 video to […]
Show Me Where It Hurts
Three weeks in a row, after we have made the obligatory trips to Café du Monde and the French Quarter, I drive […]
For Salma
The hardest part about traveling is surely the friends you leave behind. Today I learned from my dear friend Brian that Salma, our neighbor and friend in Bagamoyo, Tanzania in 2007, […]
New Orleans: A Developing Country in America?
“This isn’t America. New Orleans is like a developing country.” In the four weeks I’ve lived in New Orleans, I’ve heard this statement from nearly ten different people. Glancing around […]
A New Look at Need: Microfinance from Tanzania to New Orleans
This post first appeared on the Kiva Fellows Blog at fellowsblog.kiva.org on Oct. 1, 2011. In 2009 when I told friends and family I was moving to Tanzania to study […]
Do Not Be Daunted
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither […]
‘Malaika’ guitar chords, lyrics, and translation
‘Malaika’ is one of the most famous Swahili love songs, often attributed to the Kenyan musician Fadhili William. He first recorded the song with his band the Jambo Boys in 1960. […]
‘Tanzania Nakupenda Kwa Moyo Wote’ guitar chords and lyrics
‘Tanzania Nakupenda Kwa Moyo Wote’ is a beautiful Swahili song that I heard often while living in Tanzania. It is also featured in the documentary “Darwin’s Nightmare,” a film about […]
How We Are Entertained
In Afghanistan the ancient sport of buzkashi is played by men on horseback and the decapitated carcass of a goat. The object is to toss the cadaver into a circle […]
