Archive for the ‘Elsewhere’ Category
I can’t believe I’m posting about George Clooney
It has come to this. But maybe the “it” isn’t me… Hold on, we need some context: Clooney recently had a dark-night-of-the-soul (or of the red wine, depending) with Time Magazine’s Joel Stein, about Darfur: “But now, just three weeks back from having a 14-year-old border guard shove a machine gun at his chest, after [...]
A pretty drastic-sounding AIDS treatment
The Rwandan government recently decided to recommend male circumcision as a method of dealing with a rising AIDS rate. There have been studies that show the procedure reduces transmission from heterosexual contact by 50 percent or more, so now Rwandans–of all ages–are being encouraged to undergo the procedure. A worry expressed in this news story [...]
My preferred felony
Let me tell you about the child I’d like to steal. I can’t steal this one, though, not only because stealing babies is illegal, and very wrong, but also because I know his mom, and that would just be awkward. This little story is a flashback to America, to my trip to California in January. [...]
The civics of capitalism
I ran into an article today that raises a point similar to one that troubled me earlier, about the seeming panacea of purchasing power. This is a fantastic, if a bit lengthy, piece from 2002, a diary of one woman’s regular calls to the White House Comment Line. By the end of her phone tag [...]
Geography jokes
These satire places are great at them — but only because we, as a collective nation, appear incredibly stupid. The latest take on the “Americans don’t know where anything is” style of humor comes from this Onion video, which is indeed, alas, hilarious: “The United States gave billions of dollars in aid to the wealthy [...]
In Real News from the Region…
This will be a hopefully frequent “feature” on the blog, where I’ll break with my more fun, writerly self to objectively share news from the region, in that more traditional news voice. Think of me as your RSS feed for things you didn’t know you wanted to know about Central Africa. You’re welcome. Among the [...]
I am a freelance journalist and multimedia producer who covers human rights, Africa and foreign affairs. [