The women of the Congo are particularly impressive. If we think of our hearts as having room and places for individuals, then my heart has so much love and dedication to the women of the Congo. They are my inspiration for my work and they guide my passion. Without their power and their strength I would not be able to do the work that I do. It is hard at times to work on the DRC, with too many deaths, too many rapes, too much exploitation, and too much corruption, but I would place my complete and undying faith in the Congolese women. So much of the news and media that comes out about the Congo (when it does surface) is about war criminals, mineral exploitation, and other horrible atrocities. The amazing words and actions of the women in the Congo never make headlines. So, for many people, the Congo is simply seen as a failed state, but I believe that it is important to hear these voices and understand that in no way is the Congo a lost cause.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Congo Rising
This week is too important in the world to not mention the Global Summit Against Sexual Violence. As I perused the internet I came across a number of videos and articles of the Congolese speaking out against sexual violence in global conflict. As Denis Mukwege says in a recent article from AllAfrica discussing rape in war: "It's not only sexual relations without consent. It's an act of destruction. It's an act which results in the negation of the other's humanity, and it's done to not only destroy people, but the community." Dr. Denis Mukwege is one of my heroes for the Congo. Not only has he stood up for women's rights and protected and helped the women of the Congo, but also he has risked his life for Congolese women for decades. The Congo may be thought of as the worst place to be a woman, but I am confident that Denis Mukwege along with the women from organizations across the country are raising up the Congo.
The women of the Congo are particularly impressive. If we think of our hearts as having room and places for individuals, then my heart has so much love and dedication to the women of the Congo. They are my inspiration for my work and they guide my passion. Without their power and their strength I would not be able to do the work that I do. It is hard at times to work on the DRC, with too many deaths, too many rapes, too much exploitation, and too much corruption, but I would place my complete and undying faith in the Congolese women. So much of the news and media that comes out about the Congo (when it does surface) is about war criminals, mineral exploitation, and other horrible atrocities. The amazing words and actions of the women in the Congo never make headlines. So, for many people, the Congo is simply seen as a failed state, but I believe that it is important to hear these voices and understand that in no way is the Congo a lost cause.
The women of the Congo are particularly impressive. If we think of our hearts as having room and places for individuals, then my heart has so much love and dedication to the women of the Congo. They are my inspiration for my work and they guide my passion. Without their power and their strength I would not be able to do the work that I do. It is hard at times to work on the DRC, with too many deaths, too many rapes, too much exploitation, and too much corruption, but I would place my complete and undying faith in the Congolese women. So much of the news and media that comes out about the Congo (when it does surface) is about war criminals, mineral exploitation, and other horrible atrocities. The amazing words and actions of the women in the Congo never make headlines. So, for many people, the Congo is simply seen as a failed state, but I believe that it is important to hear these voices and understand that in no way is the Congo a lost cause.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Mamas
But for me, Mother's Day is more than celebrating my biological mother. My mama has always told me that I've had many mothers in my life. In different moments throughout my life whether it's been growing up, moving away, or creating a life somewhere else, I have had other women come into my life and play a role as another one of my mamas and to these women I am forever grateful. These women include my daycare providers, my Montessori school teacher, my best friend's mom growing up, and most recently my boss from a summer job. These women have made an impression on me and their involvement in my development and understanding of myself and the world around me has made me into the woman I am today.
My mama, Alex, is my main mama. My friend and my hero. She is the one who I look to for guidance, advice, and support. I hope that one day I can be as great a mother as my mama has been to me. But I also hope that my children have the opportunity and the wonderful gift of having supportive, strong, independent and caring women become mothers at many points throughout their lives.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
music
Music has always been a part of my life. A more important part in my life in many ways than other things like sports, or books even. I have realized in the past few years that my life has a soundtrack. And that's not to say that certain songs or artists represent certain specific moments in my life. But rather certain albums (sometimes songs in particular) have come to remind me of a certain period in my life. If I get an album that I absolutely love, I'll play it on repeat in my car cd player until I have not only the lyrics to every song memorized but also the order in which they play. And this album, becomes the album that reminds me of that time in my life. So now when I replay that album I am immediately brought back to that same period and the flood of memories and emotions that goes along with it.
I was reminded of this twice in the past week. Once when my wonderful roommate sang Wonderful World by Sam Cooke, a song that my dad and I used to sing. I think he even played it on the guitar. Hearing her sing this song I was brought back to those moments, sitting in our living room in Braintree listening to Sam Cooke, Carole King, Linda Ronstadt and the like. Often my dad would play guitar, but sometimes I remember when we would put a tape or cd into the stereo and I would be on my mama's hip singing and dancing and swaying to the music. And while we no longer seem to do this as a family in such a concentrated effort, it still happens sometimes when we are in the car and all of a sudden we all break out in song.
This same feeling came over me when I went to a Brett Dennen concert in Philadelphia. A folk-pop singer from California, I was first introduced to him in high school by one of my best friends. Now more than 6 years later seeing him live was wonderful. But one of his albums played in my car the entire summer that I lived and worked at a music camp in Vermont. That summer was amazing and crazy and weird. I met some of the greatest people there and I've continued to have a place in my heart for a select group. Now when I hear that album, Loverboy, the songs remind me of the times that I blasted the radio in my car driving to Burlington or over the Brandon Gap. And it's not necessarily the songs that have particular significance to me during a certain moment in my life, but rather the memories and experiences associated with the time at which I was listening to this album that come back to me whenever I listen to it again.
This is true forever and always of Graceland by Paul Simon. This is one of my all time favorite, top-five albums. We had it on cassette when I was a kid and I memorized all the lyrics and the exact order they would come up in. If I ever need to feel grounded I listen to this album. There is something special about music and the connection that I have with it.
For some people there are smells that remind them of certain people and events. For others they can simply remember great detail and specific dates in which things happened. My relation to my life as it passes behind me is through my music.
I was reminded of this twice in the past week. Once when my wonderful roommate sang Wonderful World by Sam Cooke, a song that my dad and I used to sing. I think he even played it on the guitar. Hearing her sing this song I was brought back to those moments, sitting in our living room in Braintree listening to Sam Cooke, Carole King, Linda Ronstadt and the like. Often my dad would play guitar, but sometimes I remember when we would put a tape or cd into the stereo and I would be on my mama's hip singing and dancing and swaying to the music. And while we no longer seem to do this as a family in such a concentrated effort, it still happens sometimes when we are in the car and all of a sudden we all break out in song.
This same feeling came over me when I went to a Brett Dennen concert in Philadelphia. A folk-pop singer from California, I was first introduced to him in high school by one of my best friends. Now more than 6 years later seeing him live was wonderful. But one of his albums played in my car the entire summer that I lived and worked at a music camp in Vermont. That summer was amazing and crazy and weird. I met some of the greatest people there and I've continued to have a place in my heart for a select group. Now when I hear that album, Loverboy, the songs remind me of the times that I blasted the radio in my car driving to Burlington or over the Brandon Gap. And it's not necessarily the songs that have particular significance to me during a certain moment in my life, but rather the memories and experiences associated with the time at which I was listening to this album that come back to me whenever I listen to it again.
This is true forever and always of Graceland by Paul Simon. This is one of my all time favorite, top-five albums. We had it on cassette when I was a kid and I memorized all the lyrics and the exact order they would come up in. If I ever need to feel grounded I listen to this album. There is something special about music and the connection that I have with it.
For some people there are smells that remind them of certain people and events. For others they can simply remember great detail and specific dates in which things happened. My relation to my life as it passes behind me is through my music.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
What it means to go to a women's college
I didn’t want to go to a women’s college. As I applied for schools and received
my acceptance letters I was stuck deciding between two equally great schools,
neither of which appealed to me. In my mind I was screwed and convinced myself
to choose one and transfer after a year or a semester. I chose Bryn Mawr College because of
the two final options it was closer and freaked me out slightly less than the
other option. I spent part of my summer anxiously waiting what I had determined
would be an okay experience and I didn’t have high expectations of the
experience of college much less that of a women’s college.
It happened sometime in February my first year at Bryn Mawr.
When I fell in love. I fell in love with the people. I fell in love with the traditions. And most importantly I fell in love
with a community that I fit into and became a part of wholeheartedly. While I have never considered myself a
person of faith or destiny, I am beginning to believe that everything happens
for a reason, and that Bryn Mawr ‘happened’ for me.
Going to a women’s college means different things for
everyone. For some it means posting on the women’s
college problems tumblr. For others it means experimenting with
sexuality, breaking the bonds of our world that is undeniably
heteronormative. It means
repeatedly saying, “it’s not a girl’s
school, it’s a women’s college” to
your friends back home. For me, it
has meant those things to a certain extent, but more importantly it has
transformed me into a different person.
I have spent three years at the institution and I have become a more
thoughtful, more articulate, more confident, and more confused individual than
I have ever been before and it has been a wonderful experience. I would never trade my hours at Bryn
Mawr for any hour at a coed institution.
While I love Bryn Mawr for all the glories that I enjoy I don’t consider
myself a typical Bryn Mawr student, passionate about all the traditions, eagerly
chasing the norms down so that I can break them, and attempting to be as out of
the box as possible. Frankly I
spend the majority of my time either at the library, at the gym or talking with
my friends. All perfectly
acceptable things to do, but then, you might ask why do I love Bryn Mawr so
much? Why do I, the girl from
rural Vermont, raised by two very progressive intellectuals, then feel such a strong
love and admiration for the Mawr?
I love Bryn Mawr because of all the women. I love the environment both
academically and socially that not only supports us and pushes us to be the
best we can be, but also encourages us to be and to find who we are meant to
be. Isn’t that what college (any
college) is about? Finding
yourself and finding who you are “supposed to be” is supposed to happen in your
twenties I guess. I thought it happened when I was sixteen. That would have been early bloomer to
the extreme. And I’m glad that I’m
not the person I was when I was sixteen.
Bryn Mawr has made me a woman with self-respect for my person and the
work that I do. I have become a
more considerate person and I really good listener. I have also become a better talker, but that will hopefully
continue to improve with time. I
have learned to understand the importance of community. The Bryn Mawr community is one of the
most invaluable characteristics of my experience. It isn’t just about my friends that I’ve made here, but the
understanding that everyone who walks the hallways of Thomas Great Hall or the
cherry blossomed path has been through similar experiences that I have and
understands parts of me because we share something that has become a part of
us.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Anybody thinking of WWOOFing?
As for WWOOFing. I had a mixed experience. I'll give you some quick information now and if you'd like to know about the specific problems I had I am more than happy to tell you.
First off I think WWOOFing is a great opportunity and really does encourage immersion that is unique and challenging in ways that going to school is not. For this reason, among others I think it was the most informative experience I did while abroad. I also did it alone which forced me to become more independent and focused on what I was doing and where I was going than I'd ever had to before, mainly because I plopped myself in the middle of nowhere Normandy and trusted in myself and in the people I was with that everything would be okay.
I think it is better to do it alone, mainly because you are likely to meet other WWOOFers either on the farms or nearby. Since it is a growth experience, growing alone allows for more opportunities to put all your faith in yourself.
The main issue about WWOOFing which I would really say isn't a problem but just a quality of WWOOFing based on the nature of the program is that many of the farms are poor or have people incapable doing as much work as they would like. One of the farms I was at, the woman owed the bank 600,000 euros and could barely provide food for us much less the animals. The second farm, the woman had a medical problem that prevented her from doing manual labor (I'm still not sure if this was entirely true) and so basically hired WWOOFers to do her chores (her farm was also not very extensive and didn't produce anything or have any visitors). Both of these farms are designated "pédagogique" which meant that they were for educational purposes and therefore partially subsidized by the state. These two farms were the most difficult for me for these reasons among others. I actually ended up leaving the second farm more than two weeks early because of the bad relationship I had with the woman.
The last farm I was at was wonderful and I think that it is really luck as to where you land without any background information. This farm was operated by two different couples who shared the land and lived communally. There were other people living on the farm as well and the community was young, fun, exciting, and very willing to share the experience with me. These people were great and I still keep in touch.
The only other WWOOF experience I know about that is different was that of a friend of mine who WWOOFed in the south of France at a very primitive farm in which she slept outside on a hill with some goats and had buckets for bathrooms...
Retrospectively it would have been nice to have read reviews of the farms that I was thinking about before I inquired so that I could read about other WWOOFers experiences. Some countries do have this...France does not. While this may have been helpful, there could have easily been people that enjoyed the farms where I had difficulties. I think a lot of it depends on the personalities of the WWOOFer and the farmer.
n.b. A friend of mine asked me about WWOOFing and as I was writing to her I thought I'd share my experiences with you. It has almost been a year since I started WWOOFing in Normandy last summer so I think of these as words of attempted wisdom. If you'd like to know more, please let me know.
First off I think WWOOFing is a great opportunity and really does encourage immersion that is unique and challenging in ways that going to school is not. For this reason, among others I think it was the most informative experience I did while abroad. I also did it alone which forced me to become more independent and focused on what I was doing and where I was going than I'd ever had to before, mainly because I plopped myself in the middle of nowhere Normandy and trusted in myself and in the people I was with that everything would be okay.
I think it is better to do it alone, mainly because you are likely to meet other WWOOFers either on the farms or nearby. Since it is a growth experience, growing alone allows for more opportunities to put all your faith in yourself.
The main issue about WWOOFing which I would really say isn't a problem but just a quality of WWOOFing based on the nature of the program is that many of the farms are poor or have people incapable doing as much work as they would like. One of the farms I was at, the woman owed the bank 600,000 euros and could barely provide food for us much less the animals. The second farm, the woman had a medical problem that prevented her from doing manual labor (I'm still not sure if this was entirely true) and so basically hired WWOOFers to do her chores (her farm was also not very extensive and didn't produce anything or have any visitors). Both of these farms are designated "pédagogique" which meant that they were for educational purposes and therefore partially subsidized by the state. These two farms were the most difficult for me for these reasons among others. I actually ended up leaving the second farm more than two weeks early because of the bad relationship I had with the woman.
The last farm I was at was wonderful and I think that it is really luck as to where you land without any background information. This farm was operated by two different couples who shared the land and lived communally. There were other people living on the farm as well and the community was young, fun, exciting, and very willing to share the experience with me. These people were great and I still keep in touch.
The only other WWOOF experience I know about that is different was that of a friend of mine who WWOOFed in the south of France at a very primitive farm in which she slept outside on a hill with some goats and had buckets for bathrooms...
Retrospectively it would have been nice to have read reviews of the farms that I was thinking about before I inquired so that I could read about other WWOOFers experiences. Some countries do have this...France does not. While this may have been helpful, there could have easily been people that enjoyed the farms where I had difficulties. I think a lot of it depends on the personalities of the WWOOFer and the farmer.
n.b. A friend of mine asked me about WWOOFing and as I was writing to her I thought I'd share my experiences with you. It has almost been a year since I started WWOOFing in Normandy last summer so I think of these as words of attempted wisdom. If you'd like to know more, please let me know.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
The Carter Center, Summer 2013
As many of you know this summer I will be spending ten weeks in Atlanta, Georgia as an intern for The Carter Center. I am thrilled at this opportunity and I couldn't be more excited to start my first day of orientation in one hour. I have dreamed about an opportunity like this since I was sixteen. It was then that I realized my passion for human rights and sub-Saharan Africa. At The Carter Center (TCC) I will be able to combine these two passions as I work on the Human Rights Program focused on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). As I know more about what I will be doing I will post so that you, as my readers, can know what we will be doing at TCC.
What I can tell you so far is that we are working on country-based programming in the DRC centered on villages affected by mining in the Southeast of the DRC. For those of you that are French speakers the research that is complied by grassroots, local, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on the ground is found on the Congo Mines website, affiliated with TCC.
The only other interesting information I can tell you thus far is that I will be visiting Plains, Georgia sometime in June to see Jimmy Carter's peanut farm. And while I will be missing the annual peanut farm, I am looking forward to see President Carter in his "natural habitat."
What I can tell you so far is that we are working on country-based programming in the DRC centered on villages affected by mining in the Southeast of the DRC. For those of you that are French speakers the research that is complied by grassroots, local, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on the ground is found on the Congo Mines website, affiliated with TCC.
The only other interesting information I can tell you thus far is that I will be visiting Plains, Georgia sometime in June to see Jimmy Carter's peanut farm. And while I will be missing the annual peanut farm, I am looking forward to see President Carter in his "natural habitat."
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