Pardon the Interruption

I guess I forgot to let you guys know that I'm away for the weekend, but I should be back and blogging by tomorrow evening. I hope you all are having a lovely holiday weekend, and I'll catch you on the flip side.

Also, in much sadder news: The Godfather of Soul has passed away. RIP James Brown.

b

time to count MCs in this place to be / not 5, not 4, not 2, just 3

Here are 3 (three!) very interesting blogs focusing on HIV/AIDS and the global policies surrounding the pandemic:

Politics and Policy of HIV/AIDS
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/politicshiv/
The writing of several grad students and postdocs working on various parts of the politics and policies surrounding the HIV/AIDS pandemic

Princeton AIDS Initiative
https://blogs.princeton.edu/pai/
A great clearing house for speeches, reports, data, and analysis based out of Princeton

The Center for Global Development - Global Health Policy
http://blogs.cgdev.org/globalhealth/
An excellent resource for information about international aid, public health policy around the world, and the politics that influences both of these thing

If you have any free time, I highly recommend that you take a look. Happy holidays, everyone!

b

too many ?uestions

It's very difficult to Prepare Yourself for an adventure of the sort I'm about embark on. I can take care of as many of the logistical details as I can dream up – budgeting, insurance, communication, accommodation – but these necessary arrangements are almost besides the point; there are so many other questions that keep me up at night: How will I feel when I step into the Sinikithemba Clinic and am immediately face to face with the HIV pandemic that I've only read about it in books and articles? Will I be identified on the street as being American or white South African? Will I feel safe? Will I actually BE safe? How will I meet the people that I will eventually spend time with?

Obviously, these are questions that I can't answer from the comforts of New York City; the answers will all be revealed eventually, and probably not in any explicit way. Maybe imagining these possible circumstances acts as a sort of mental preparation, but I know that there are going to be situations in SA that I am wholly unprepared for. And that's what adventure is all about.

If that sounds melodramatic, I hope you don't fault me for it too much. When I tell people – especially those I'm not particularly close with – about my moving to Africa, their expression changes. Sometimes they get excited, sometimes worried – but almost everyone tells me, in uncharacteristically hushed voices, that it will surely be a Life Changing Experience. It's hard not to get caught up in the moment, thinking about what changes. But then I'm just back where I started, asking more questions without answers.

Bad News Bear(not)

If I'm going to infringe on his copyright, this is the least I could do to pay homage:

Joseph Barbera, Half of Cartoon Duo, Dies at 95

From the linked NYTimes article:
Though he was often asked to explain the enduring popularity of his cartoons, Mr. Barbera was reluctant to subject his life’s work to close analysis. “To me it makes little sense to talk about the cartoons we did,” he wrote in a 1994 autobiography, “My Life in ‘Toons: From Flatbush to Bedrock in Under a Century.” “The way to appreciate them is to see them.”


More news/thoughts about SA are forthcoming.

b

Visa-less in BK

Hey all -

Things have been a bit slow on the SA front for the moment. I have a week left at work, and lots to do to get everything in order before then.

Most recently I have been trying to decide if I want to go to SA on a tourist visa or to obtain temporary residence visa. It looks like the documents required to apply for temporary residence are complicated and confusing - and it's not absolutely necessary, I've been told. However, do I really want to have to leave SA once every 90 days, as I would have to do if I went on a tourist visa? I would just have to cross over the border into Swaziland, Mozambique, or even Lesotho (I think) - but I worry that I would always be running the risk of not being allowed back any number of unforeseen reasons.

Here's a map for people who are as unfamiliar with African geography as I was 3 months ago (click to enlarge)


When I asked the HIV Programmes Co-ordinator (for those who might have not realised: SA uses British English spelling), she told me that she has not known of people applying for temporary resident status, and wasn't sure of delays or bureaucracy it might entail. I'll give the SA consulate in New York a call a bit later this week; maybe they'll be helpful in figuring out this quandary.

And on an unrelated note, here are the albums I've 'picked up' (Beg, Borrow, Steal is how any good music collection is assembled at this point) since I put up since that last post:

Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
Buena Vista Social Club - Rhythms del Mundo
James Brown - Live at the Apollo (1968)
Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers - Damn the Torpedoes

And now I'm off to enjoy the last few hours of daylight of this gorgeous December(!?) weekend.

b

Mail & Guardian Online

Another quick one:

I'm adding links to articles from the highly regarded South African newspaper, Mail & Guardian, along the right side of this page. Hopefully this will provide you with some better insight into the goings on in SA, beyond what I'm telling you. I've started reading this site with some regularity (their editorial board is much more frank than anything I've seen in any US paper) and I imagine that I'll post an interesting article or two up here in the near future for you guys to take a look at.

I'm still in my office at New York Cares, so that's all for now.

Peace,
b

beats, rhymes, and life

after i wrote that last post, i had to go and listen to the timbaland back catalog. and now i've incorporated it into this audio post. i'm still in the process of figuring out all of the features available in garageband, but i think i'm getting better.

also, i'm still really curious about what music people think i should be sure to get before i leave.

and now, beats:



b

It’s been a long time/ I shouldn’t have left you/ without a dope beat to step to.

I was thinking today about the music I want to bring with me to South Africa. Of course I'll bring what I already have on my computer and ipod, but there's also a whole slew of new music and music that I've always wanted (but have never purchased/burned) to think about.

Here's what came to mind right away:

the new Decemberists album
Rhythms del Mundo - the Buena Vista Social Club Band
i've only streamed the tracks, so i actually need a legit copy of the Clipse's Hell Hath No Fury
the Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
for working out: LCD Soundsystem - 45:33
the Tom Waits boxset, with something like 30 new tracks
And obviously the new Timbaland disc, which actually probably won't be released until after i leave. please don't be surprised if i ask someone to send me a copy of it, come February/March

if you didn't know how eccletic my music tastes are, well, now you know.

Does anyone have any other good suggestions about what music I should make a point of getting before I leave? (It's sort of like a Desert Island Jukebox pick - except not at all, really.) I'd love to hear what you think. Please feel free to post a comment here, or e-mail me if you'd like. Maybe we can even work out a music exchange or something. This could work out for everyone. How exciting!

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts,
b

It's only a flesh wound.

I am currently shopping around, at my father’s behest, for a travel/ex-pat insurance plan for my time abroad. As you can easily imagine, it is NO fun; the thought of spending lots of money to pay for coverage that only protects you if something awful happens to you is uniquely depressing. On all of these insurance websites, there’s some discussion of an AD&D Rider. After seeing this written in two or three separate places, I decided to look it up. It turns out that AD&D is an acronym that stands for Accidental Death and Dismemberment. Awesome, right?

I have been away from my laptop for a little while, so I haven’t had access to my camera and the iMovie software – but I promise that that a video posting is forthcoming (although, in fairness, it might be pretty lame).

I sort of assumed at the outset that everyone who was reading this knows me personally, but I am starting to doubt this for a variety of reasons. Regardless of how you might have found your way here, I hope you keep on reading.

Peace.

b

"Whooee!! We'd better put some toilet paper in the fridge for tomorrow morning" (????!)

I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you all about how excited I am about the food in SA. There is even a Wikipedia entry focusing exclusively on South African cuisine. Amongst all of these amazing foods, there is one dish indigenous to Durban that I am particularly excited about and it's called... Bunny Chow!


Durban has the largest Indian population in all of Africa (possibly even the largest Indian population outside of India!), and the cuisine has been greatly affected by this influence. The Bunny Chow - or Bunnies, as I have learned they are called - is shrouded in mystery; both the origins of the dish and the etymology of it's curious name are unknown. In doing some web research I stumbled upon this hilariously crude/amazing site, which shared the following information:

The Bunny Chow has earned itself an enduring place in the affections of Durbanites and there are many of us who couldn't exist for very long without them.

Bunnies are mostly made with quarter-loaves of bread but you can ask for a half or full loaf if you're very hungry. There is a taboo when it comes to ordering a Bunny and that is that you can't mention the word Bunny. You should ask for the Bunny you want based on its size and the curry it is to contain as in: Gimme a quarter beef! They'll know what you mean.

The Bunny Chow should always be eaten with the fingers starting with the lump of bread, or virgin, on top [see the labeled diagram above]. Aficionados treat the virgin as an appetizer for the main course and it is considered very bad form to seize and eat someone else's virgin without their express invitation. You should then help yourself to the curry and tear pieces off of the side of the loaf and dip them in the gravy. The trick here is to avoid tearing off pieces of loaf which are below the current gravy line otherwise you end up with a steaming-hot mass in your lap. For much the same reason you should check whether your Bunny Chow was made from the end of a loaf or whether it is a Funny Bunny made from the middle and, hence, without a crust at the bottom. A Funny Bunny isn't any less tasty but you do have to be careful to support the base in case it gives way and gives onlookers something to laugh about; you begin to see how it got its name?

While eating your Bunny you may sweat and blow your nose often, Say "Whooee!! We'd better put some toilet paper in the fridge for tomorrow morning" , drink beer, a soft drink or milk and throw your mutton bones, if applicable, at passing yachts, if available. You may not betray that you're in pain if the Bunny is too hot for your taste. Just relax and think of those nice endorphins you're going to get when your brain finally gets into gear. Steer clear of the gravy if you are in real difficulties as experience has shown that it is the hottest part of the curry. Stick to the meat and, after a decent interval, scrunch up your Bunny in its wrapping and fling it quickly into a bin saying, "Damn, but I could eat two more of those."

I don't have time to write more just now, but just close your eyes and imagine how appealing this all sounds. Then go put some toilet paper in the fridge for tomorrow morning. When you come to visit, let's be sure that we share one of these delicious treats. But don't you even think about touching my virgin.

b

Getting down to business.

I have been spending some time thinking about how best to share the insights contained in the e-mail I received from the woman volunteering at the clinic where I will working (see my post from 12/2) in Durban. Her name is Rachel, and I actually think that I’ll let her words speak for themselves – annotating and adding my thoughts where I feel it necessary. Her letter seems to be written for her own sake as much as for mine; she uses the opportunity of my initial letter to her as a way to set some of the things that she’s been thinking about during her year in SA to paper.

On disparities in the distribution of wealth:

“Although SA is the wealthiest country in Africa and the cost of living here is relatively high (I was surprised by the price of goods in the supermarkets and shops when I arrived) there is also a huge amount of poverty, most of which goes unseen by those who have the most money. Rich South Africans seem almost oblivious to the poverty that surrounds them, seem not to notice that the R300 they spend on a meal in a restaurant is more than millions of poor South Africans have to live on for an entire month.”

I have been reading a great deal about these disparities in wealth, and this seems to be a very well documented state of affairs, but I am particularly struck by the fact that she perceives ignorance to this situation on the part of wealthy South Africans.

On life in Durban (which is in the province of KwaZulu Natal (KZN):

“But then from an HIV/AIDS perspective KZN also represents a unique opportunity or a mammoth challenge depending on how you look at it. The province has the highest HIV prevalence rates in SA and modern Zulu culture (as well as some general South African culural norms) presents a number of obstacles to reversing this trend, not least massive gender inequality which manifests itself in scary levels of domestic violence and rape, women's inability to control their own sexual and reproductive health through negotiating the use of condoms in sexual relationships, and women's dependence on transactional sex with their boyfriends to guarantee physical, financial and food security for themselves and their children...but also people here have multiple concurrent sexual partners, the incidence of teenage pregnancy is relatively high, sexual debut usually occurs at a crazily young age, and there is a general aversion to condom use with a preference for skin-on-skin and even 'dry' sex.”

All I can say in response to the gravity of this paragraph is that I am very clearly in for a crash course in public health when I arrive.

On crime and security:

“This is a big issue in SA. I have never felt so caged as I did during my first week in SA. As you get used to the fact that you cannot go where you want when you want, you also have to deal with (mainly white) South African paranoia. I hope I've learnt to strike a balance between putting myself at risk and actually being able to go out and do things during my time here. I've gone from extreme caution when I first arrived, to being quite relaxed about security issues, to becoming more aware of security issues without letting them impede my movements too much. I'm certain I do more, go more places and take more risks than most white South Africans but it is calculated risk – I try not to carry more cash than I need and certainly don’t put more than a few rand in my bag (it's safer to split cash between your pockets), park my car where there are car guards, don’t leave anything valuable in the car and try not to expect the car to be there when I get back etc. There is crime in the UK but it was really liberating to get back to the UK, even just for a couple of weeks, and not have to deal with crime and security issues on this level every day.”

In this paragraph she strikes on the issue I am most concerned about in these weeks before my departure. I have never before spent time in a place where I haven’t felt relatively in control of my surroundings. Rachel notes that she has undergone several transformations about the way she has dealt internally with this situation during the past year - but no matter how small, a calculated risk is a risk nonetheless. Will I be able to enjoy my time in SA if I am constantly fearful of what danger may or may not be around the next corner.

On race:

“Skin colour and race still impact on almost all aspects of life in SA. For the first time in my life I was told I could not do certain things or go certain places because of the colour of my skin and that took a lot of getting used to. When I arrived, white South Africans told me that it would be assumed I was a white South African woman so I would have to act accordingly, ie. not go places that white South African women do not go! I think it is possible to work around some of these constraints (I go downtown even though very few other white people do) but I’m often conscious of the reaction I get from other people around me – black South Africans just do not expect white girls to be wandering around downtown!”

Again, Rachel focuses on how different life is for her as a white woman in SA when compared to her like in the UK. While I know that some of these issues won’t impact me as greatly because I am a man, I will most certainly be treated as a white South African – not as an American – and will have to act accordingly.

Sorry for the grim post; as excited as I am about my departure, there are also some very serious issues that I would be remiss not to consider and discuss. I also don’t want you to get the impression that everything that Rachel wrote to me was about the negative aspects of SA - she also shared a great deal about the beauty and diversity of the culture and scenery. But I guess I should save that for another moment, as this post has gotten a bit unwieldy. Thanks so much for hanging in there and reading through to the end.

I hope you have been enjoying my first bunch of posts, and I’d really love to hear any feedback you may have. My e-mail address, for those who don’t have it, is in my profile.

Peace out.

b

It's all Geek to me.

Hey all -

I'm going to be trying out a whole bunch of new features on this blog in the coming days. The first thing I'm trying out is feature that will let you 'subscribe' to my blog. You just click on one of the links below, and using one of several different programs you will automatically get sent my updates when I post to my blog. This is a good site where you can learn more about how Feeds work

Maybe no one will use this feature, but damn the torpedoes, ludicrous (Ludacris?!) speed ahead!

Subscribe in a reader

To the left, to the left...

Hey Guys -

Those audio posts have a handy counter embedded in them, so it actually looks like people are listening! Or maybe it's just the same creep who can't get enough of my voice - I'm not pointing fingers but I have my suspicions.

I just have time for a quick post right now. Just enough time, in fact, to present you with Ariel's sage advice to me on why on shouldn't get breast implants while I'm in South Africa. Ignore the cheesy Bruno(Ali G's character)-esque music - I was just trying out some of Garagebands' features. DO NOT, however, ignore the cameo made by the inimitable Beyonce.



I'll try and write more when I get home this evening. Until then....


b

Let's see I can harness the power of my new(ish) Apple toys...

As promised, my first audioblog. It took me a longer to figure that out than I thought I would. ** NB The technophobic should stop reading now. ** The site that I was testing as a host for my audio files (imeem.com) currently only accepts .mp3 files. However, I couldn't figure out how to get Garageband to export as an .mp3 file - only as an .m4a. This means I had to import the song into my iTunes, convert it to an mp3, and only THEN could I post it to my site. ** EXIT GEEKmode ** Sorry, you can start paying attention again. I just needed to vent for a minute.

What you (hopefully) hear below is just a rough draft. I know I can use Garageband to do some pretty cool editing stuff, but I just wanted to prove that I could do this first.

Not too much SA-related has been going on the past few days. Mostly moving lots of my stuff back to my parents' house. I did get a very long e-mail from a woman who is currently volunteering at the same clinic I will be at through an UK agency called VSO (she described it as the British Peacecorp). The e-mail exhaustively describes her time in Durban and at the McCord Hospital. She's very insightful, and even share lots of observations about the social, economic, and cultural climate in Durban and South Africa. I haven't really had time to digest it all - but once I do, I'll be sure to share the insights that seem particularly interesting/important. She used to (and will continue to, i assume, when she gets back to the UK) produce TV dramas, and her tone is refreshingly straightforward and pithy.

a'ight, here goes. just push play:





Big ups.

b

Playing for Peace

This morning I got a rejection letter (well, it was an e-mail actually) from the only other international job I had been seriously considering. The job was with this interesting NGO that starts basketball leagues in regions with histories of ethnic and/or religious conflict - bringing children from both sides of the conflict together to play on mixed race/mixed religion teams and participate in a seemingly well-designed life skills curriculum. Coincidentally, they run a basketball league in Durban, SA and I was initially very excited about the possibility of working with them as a Program Director. However, as things came together with this public health position at the McCord Hospital in the past month, I had almost given up on the NGO job. But it's still never fun to get rejected.

I'm actually thinking about writing back to my contact at the NGO and letting him know that I'm going to be in Durban anyways. I wonder if they might let me volunteer some of my time to help them out with their programming. We discussed it briefly during my interview when I mentioned that there were some public health positions in South Africa that I was also looking into. It would be really great to see the work that they are doing, and I would love to have the opportunity to meet a group of other young Americans to hang out and hoop with. I don't have any idea what my daily schedule will be like when I get to Durban, but I can't imagine that there's any harm in asking if they might be able to use some free labor.

These first few posts have been pretty formulaic, I think. I can't tell yet if it's a good thing or a bad thing. At Amherst we have a blog-esque site called PlanWorld and I had done some writing on that, but this seems to be a different beast altogether, and I guess I'll just figure it out as I go along.

Finally, does anyone have any good digicam suggestions? I need a new camera before I leave, and I can't figure out what kind I should get; the only things that are important to me, i think, are the size of the camera (very small) and the lapse between pushing the button and the picture actually being taken (very short). My brother has a Cannon Powershot Elph and he seems to like it, but that's about all I have going for me at the moment. Thanks for information you guys can share.

Audioblogging will commence tomorrow? Saturday? Stay tuned...