Archive for the ‘Shoptalk’ Category
Why this rocks: J. Lester Feder on same-sex marriage in South Africa
First and foremost, it’s about South Africa. There’s no universalizing paragraph linking the issue in South Africa to the rest of the continent; where there is that link, it’s subtle and sensical, connecting the South African story to other stories because they are actually connected, not because the piece, to exist, has to say something [...]
Happy International Women’s Day!
I wish I was in Bukavu today, where I’ve met so many strong, amazing women fighting against not only the horrors (rape) we often hear about but against gender-based discrimination and violence, and fighting for a new way of imagining women in the world — with their own voices, strongly and clearly sharing their own [...]
Why do we still get violence against women so wrong?
This week, the American Congress finally resolved its squabbles and brought itself to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. It was a fight, as many others will tell you. But there’s another battle still to fight, and that’s how we talk about violence against women. On Thursday, TIME magazine published a photo essay by Sara [...]
A preliminary PEPFAR roundup (and come add your ideas)
On Wednesday, the Congressionally-mandated evaluation of PEPFAR — the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief – was released. It’s nearly 700 pages long, and I haven’t but skimmed its major headings. But I’m interested in what the reaction has been, and since no one seems to have done it yet that I’ve seen, I thought I’d round up some response [...]
Things you should read this weekend
Tristan McConnell’s series of stories from “the new Mogadishu” for GlobalPost. I think the piece on underpaid city cops is my favorite. Spend some time with his slideshow, too. (And if you haven’t you should read McConnell’s piece on Somaliland for VQR. I told you why last week, but here’s a new reason: there are [...]
If your only lens on Africa was the war on terror, what would you see?
An article in The Washington Post got Mohammed Ademo heated up. Ademo is the cofounder and editor of the Oromo citizen news website Opride.com, a recent Columbia j-school grad and an occasional email penpal of mine. When he read the Post’s piece on the leave of absence of Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s long-reigning prime minister, he [...]
I am a freelance journalist and multimedia producer who covers human rights, Africa and foreign affairs. [