As of today, I believe my job search has officially begun. I had an on-campus interview today that I think went pretty well. If anything, it encourages me to brush up on my interview skills and recall those amazing answers to questions or statements like: “So, tell me about yourself.” With a federal job search workshop conducted by Tamara this past week, along with the PMF application due today, many second-year Fletcher students are also now in the throes of the job search. I’m excited and nervous at the prospect of submitting applications and conducting interviews, but I know that most of my Fletcher classmates end up in great positions. Actually, it will be fun to see which of my fellow classmates will end up in really fun positions (for example: Sashi Tharoor) and I’ll be able to say, “I knew them back in the good ol’ days of Fletcher.”

Wish us luck as we embark on this next exciting (and scary) journey back into the real world!

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I was somewhere on I84, Philadelphia and the Garden State somewhere south of me, and it was Black Sunday – forget Black Friday, shopping I can avoid, driving on the Sunday after Thanksgiving is more difficult – and I’m on the phone saying “I don’t know, I could be home in a few hours, maybe not…I’m hoping for sometime tonight.” The traffic wasn’t that big a surprise, but I realized that my modest dorm room in an ageing Blakeley Hall (how about no hot water to ease you into a Boston Winter this morning?) was the first place I had lived for more than 2 months consecutively in the last year. Despite the cold water and getting zero work done over the break, it was good to be home.

Thanksgiving break, I’ve decided, is just a nice tease for the winter vacation. Forget work, just take a breath and get ready for finals. I think I accomplished that and I’m feeling motivated to get as much done and as much out of the last 3 weeks of the semester as I can. In the name of such unprecedented motivation, I went right from my Tuesday afternoon class to Harvard Law school for a lecture by Justice S. Sandile Ngcobo, on sabbatical from the South African Constitutional Court. The lecture gave a solid overview of what SA is accomplishing in terms of its constitutional objectives of achieving and defending socio-economic rights for all of its citizens. The talk made me realize how bold and perhaps experimental SA’s approach to rights is – and it was all made lucid coming directly from a justice who had survived apartheid detention to be a part of it.

Yesterday was just as poignant, as I scrambled from David Kennedy’s lecture on law and development economics to a presentation by Nobel laureate Michael Spence on the growth of China and India. From his engaging and beautifully accessible lecture to a dinner with the economist to further the discussion, it all made for 5 straight hours of enlightening dialogue on what real economic growth requires – according to Dr. Spence: good leadership, an energetic and educated public, some risk taking, and some luck. Like Mr. Ngcobo, Dr. Spence came to us as a Tocquevillian traveler reporting on the wonders of a society really doing something right despite infinite challenges and plenty of mistakes.

Now, to try out some academic adventures of my own, I need to get going on the term paper for my International Communications course (don’t tell any of my classmates, but this is the only big paper I have left). The paper is on bloggers and their potential as an international news source that could usurp the global monopoly structure of news agencies and their foreign correspondents. As soon as I get out of another talk – currently sitting in on a presentation on corporate failures to adapt to markets (ok, this one might be pure procrastination) – I’m heading to Cambridge for a visit to the Berkman Center for Internet and Society to sit in with some of their bloggers and try to dig up the little previous research that has been done on the topic.

Exhale.

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In the mail today arrived my tickets to Iraq… what a surreal moment. The ticket jacket had a most-orientalist photo of sand dunes and the poignant inscription, “have a nice flight!”

I have been hard at work for sometime preparing and putting together to Iraqi Kurdistan for this upcoming winter. It has become some sort of tradition for me to travel to the Middle East to conduct research during the winter intersession. In the last three years I’ve had the pleasure of celebrating the New Year in Haifa, Cairo, and Istanbul. It appears that this year I will be Erbil – the regional capital of Iraqi Kurdistan and the home of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). Putting together these brief fact-finding missions is indeed a full-time job. On top of the intellectual preparation, the logistics and itinerary are complex and overwhelming. Without the support of friends and contacts in the region these trips have no chance of success. From flight suggestions and accommodations, to introductions to scholars and civil society leaders, I always depend extensively on the goodwill of the people in the region.

I find that people are always enthusiastic to help when they realize you are genuinely interested in their life – not from blind admiration or adulation – but from a keen curiosity and energy to simply understand the complexities of their dispositions. My won research and learning certainly would be inhibited if it were not for these immersive education experiences. I hope to make the most of my time in the region and to share my findings and experiences with my classmates upon my return.

During my travels I will update my new blog: http://semistate.blogspot.com/ – be sure to check it for photos and brief entries.

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So, for some reason that escapes me now, I decided with a friend of mine here at Fletcher to run in the Boston Marathon this April. I have never competed in a marathon before, though I have always included running in my life (notice that I did not say “though I am a runner”. It’s a big distinction…) The Boston Marathon is one of the oldest and most prestigious in the world, and is usually very difficult to qualify for. Tufts, however, is allowed to send a team of runners to the marathon with the promise that every runner will raise a certain amount of money for research. Since it’s a charity cause, the powers that be allow the Tufts runners to participate in the marathon.

Since I have always wanted to run a marathon, this is a great opportunity for me. I do not have to kill myself for years in advance, struggling to reach the minimum minutes-per-mile required to compete in these marathons. I have the benefit of training with a team, which involves plenty of group support and encouragement, snacks at the end of each run (the real reason why people decide to go with the team!), free injury treatment, and the benefit of weekly reminders that there are other people out there just as crazy as you are.

The problem is that the Tufts team trains at 7am, which is an hour of day that my body does not really operate at. I didn’t even know that my clock HAD a 7am, until I had to get up for training. Needless to say, I have not been able to participate in nearly enough of the group training sessions, although I’ve been fairly regular about running the same mileage later in the day. As the weather gets colder (although it’s almost December and the mercury is struggling to fall below 50 degrees here), the training will undoubtedly become more…interesting. Fighting the urge to pack up and head to the gym will require new skills of self-deception (”it’s not THAAAAAT cold out”, “you’ll warm up after the first 12 miles”, “running in the cold builds character”), and probably a new wardrobe.

I have also purchased new shoes from the New Balance running store in St. Louis (my hometown) over Thanksgiving break, that are supposed to be the perfect fit for my foot shape and running style. All well and good, until I realized that they also weigh enough to sink me straight to the bottom of Mystic Lake, my main grounds for training. The extra stability and support is designed to keep my feet aligned properly and relieve pressure on my back, but I do not really see the benefit if I collapse into a heap after mile 1.

So, we’ve got a tough road ahead, and some interesting obstacles to address in the immediate future. But I’ve got my sights set on April 16th, and the determination to prevail runs strong. And, the more people I inform about my plans to run the Boston Marathon, the more difficult it will be to back out. So let it be known, on the public space of the Fletcher Reflections blog…I WILL RUN THIS MARATHON!

crap.

(advice from other runners about any of the above is most welcome. we stick together)

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It’s hard to believe Thanksgiving break is over and we’re entering into December. I decided not to go home to Atlanta for Thanksgiving for a few reasons, primarily because I have tons of work that needs to get finished somehow between now and the end of the semester. Typically, I ended up not getting that much accomplished, but we all need a break before all final papers and exams are due. Right? Well, that’s my justification at least.

But, Perla (MALD 07), my friend and roommate, planned a great Thanksgiving potluck for all of us orphans who didn’t go home for the holiday. We ordered a smoked turkey from Davis Square’s famed Redbones and then waited for the other mishmash of items that appeared on our table. Although not traditional Thanksgiving food items on my family’s table, we had a great chicken dish with mole sauce, thanks to Nora (Mexico, MALD 07) and a very tasty pineapple curry dish from Sudila (Sri Lanka, MALD 07). We also ended up having 5 pumpkin pies as the Danish Pastry House seemed to be the only place open this past Thursday. Fortunately, pumpkin pie for breakfast is about the best thing ever around this time of year.

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As children, my parents always made a big deal over Thanksgiving. Now that my siblings and I are older and don’t always make it home for the holiday, we continue to do Thanksgiving the way we did growing up.

This year I spent thanksgiving with my sister, brother-in-law and 3.5 year-old niece. In addition to having the turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie, we also had kebobs, chawal, and halwa. Although not as authentic as mom’s, they were reminiscent of our traditional thanksgiving dinners. Our table was further graced by Maggie’s (F ‘08) pumpkin loaf (or pumpkin love as Greg (F’08) likes to call it) and cupcakes, a joint venture between my niece Leila and myself. Overall, it was a fantastic food-filled weekend…

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This weekend I had the great joy of attending the 5th Annual United Nations Association Film Festival. Advertised on Fletcher’s social list, this opportunity was a gateway to a whole plethora of amazing films from around the world. (In the interest of full disclosure, I should probably make known a somewhat ironic, though purely unintentional tendency of mine: I feel that my very soul has been shaped by movies like Kurosawa’s Dreams, Almodovar’s Amores Perros, and Edward Yang’s Yi yi, and yet, I haven’t seen most of the American staples — Star Wars, Gone with the Wind, Cool Hand Luke… I only saw Top Gun under threat of having my passport confiscated!)

The gem of the whole show was Mardi Gras: Made in China. From the film’s website:

Mardi Gras: Made in China looks behind the scenes of the global “bead trade” -the brightly-colored plastic beads that are thrown from floats and balconies to celebrants in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The director/producer, David Redmon, juxtaposes interviews and images of the young women working in a Chinese bead factory, located in a rural region of Fuzhou, with young American women and men celebrating in the streets of New Orleans during the annual Mardi Gras carnival. Redmon also interviews the wealthy Chinese owner of the bead factory; the owner’s American counterpart, who distributes the beads; and a long-time local resident of New Orleans, Ms. Pearl. There are no voiceover comments on the conditions or behaviors in either location; rather Redmon allows the individuals on both ends of this global market to speak for themselves.

The movie was incredibly jarring to me, and I’ve seen everything chronicled in the movie in real life, up close (with the exception of Mardi Gras festivities). One reviewer, Jessica Winter, remarked, “Redmon’s sly, engrossing documentary is an expert riposte to smug proponents of globalization. Thomas Friedman and your fellow flat-earthers! Watch this movie!” And I definitely saw how the movie could leave someone with a distaste for globalization, but the nuances of the movie were much more subtle to me. Is ‘globalization’ to blame for the lack of minimum wage, or standard worker’s compensation? If it is, is the Chinese government then off the hook? One can easily imagine that if and when the majority of China’s population demands prohibitively high wages, another waking giant will be waiting in the wings. And were it not for ‘globalization,’ how would these workers be earning their money? Would they be earning money at all? For teenagers sacrificing school to do so, is that a good thing? None of the questions raised by this movie were new ones; the movie represented but one long thread in the tapestry of globalization. But never had I seen so poignantly all of the fibers, and shades of gray, that go into one of the strands.

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It’s not that I don’t like Boston (I don’t), but I had to make another trip to New York City for the second straight weekend. Loving it though – from Chinatown to Chinatown, a reunion with the class I went abroad to Zimbabwe with, and I think I’m starting to pick-up some Cantonese. You have to love, in the age of online reservations and printable tickets, simply showing up at any hour and being able to catch the $15 Fung Wah for either city. The NY to Boston driver even recognized me and her threat of ‘I don’t wait for anyone’ at the rest stop seemed a little less threatening – even motherly.

It was amazing to see old friends again who shared the seminal experience of studying and living in another country, a lot like Fletcher actually. Likewise, our international experience somehow lead us to where we are now. IR grad. programs, advocacy and NGO work, the Africa desk at the State Department, and documentary film; somehow we still bring that experience with us to everything we do. I’m lucky to be able to relive it everyday too, discussing the impact of (or lack there of) the Internet and cell phones on Africans in my International Communications course and the wrangling between Low-Income Countries and the International Financial Institutions over national ownership of macroeconomic reform in Managing Economic Reform in Developing Nations with Professor Kwesi Botchway today.

Prof. Botchway’s course is especially cathartic for me. As the former Finance Minister of Ghana, he often colors his lectures with anecdotes on his own negotiations with the World Bank and gives a true insider perspective on the subject matter. I suppose ‘anecdote’ doesn’t really convey how effective these tangents are or how insightful they seem to be based on my experience as a student and NGO worker in some of the nations we discuss. Prof. Botchway shows me what was going on behind many of the development projects I observed in Sub-Saharan Africa, revealing the historical context and politics that influence reform a great deal more than real altruism and desires for prosperity in the region.

So, back in time to dive into some reading and brilliant lectures before another Boston exodus due to turkey-worship requirements in Philadelphia. Actually, a nice history of Thanksgiving was sent on the Fletcher Social List today – turns out the holiday was created by Lincoln during the Civil War, intended as a time for reflection, thanks and peace. While Abe urged the nation to “implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation,” I like to think of Thanksgiving as our most secular of holidays and a brilliant opportunity to truly recharge amongst those most important to you – especially if you make the wise choice and skip the mall on Friday.

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I am currently in the process of pulling data for Professor Hunter’s research paper entitled ‘Does electronic disclosure affect contributions to non-profit organizations?’ The topic is of interest to me since in the for profit world, increased electronic transparency is proven to have a positive effect on investor confidence and net income. However, since non-profits in the U.S. are not required to have audited financials or provide other disclosures typically required of publicly registered for-profit companies, data gathering has proven to be a slow and painful process.

I began pulling data from Charity Navigator and Guidestar, two non-profit databases, about 3 weeks ago. In this time, I have pulled complete data for about 5 NPOs. This is slightly concerning as by Christmas, I need to have pulled data for approximately 300 non-profits. The only problem is, I don’t know if it’s even realistic for me to be able to finalize data for 100 non-profits by then since there are about 150 fields of data that I need to fill for each non-profit on my list.

At the same time, I feel a lot of pressure to not let Professor Hunter down. She has looked out for me since the second I walked through the front doors of Fletcher. In addition to being my academic advisor, she has helped me out with my CPA examination studying, career advice and other opportunities. I just feel somewhat overwhelmed right now with my other obligations, but am willing to sacrifice a fair amount of time over Thanksgiving to devote to this project. I am hoping that maybe my MALD thesis might related to a similar topic, in which case, it’s worth the pain now in order to reap the gains later….

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One shortcoming in the field of international development that occurred to me while working abroad is the lack of a regional specialty among many working in the field. I’m certainly no exception. While I have some academic background in African politics and decent knowledge about Cambodia, I haven’t taken the time to really get to know in great depth a country or region to the degree I feel I should. I think that it’s a failing on my part, but indicative of a larger disciplinary issue; one that causes significant problems in the field.

There’s a trend now for people in careers with an international focus to develop a topical specialty – security, post-conflict development, gender issues – without developing a comparable regional understanding, which leads to problems in implementation that isn’t always culturally, historically or politically sensitive. I don’t think this was the case as much during the Cold War where a regional knowledge was perhaps considered more politically important, and I wish that emphasis would be re-promoted, if not as a major focus of graduate education, then at least a part of intensive pre-deployment training from position to position.

One really fascinating and inspiring part of studying at Fletcher is meeting so many students who have developed a very deep understanding of particular countries and regions beyond their own. It’s always exciting and interesting to be discussing an issue in class and for a student to be able to discuss the intricacies of particular policies or programs in particular countries – to move from the abstract to the real; exactly what Fletcher is supposed to be about.

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