Thank you!

It was so wonderful to see so many of you guys on Saturday night. It's a shame that it will probably be a while before we get to hang out again like that - unless, of course you have a little extra cash to spend and could join me for a week or two in beautiful South Africa. (The official slogan for the South African board of tourism is 'impossible', a very smart marketing campaign with an intuitively set up website.)

Big ups to cb who graciously provided me with some excellent tunes to bump to in SA. Some early highlights are:

The Beatles - Love
Miles Davis - Tribute to Jack Johnson
Wooden Dinosaur - Down home, Far out
Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards

This has provided a welcome break from my usual mix of soulhiphopmotown(withahintofindierock).

I will leave you to return, once again, to the difficult choices surrounding which t-shirts I want to have with me. (Do I want to bring my favorites? Will they just get destroyed by abuse? How did I get so many t-shirts in the first place?) Another FWP that I'm just going to have to suck up and deal with.

I'm leaving tomorrow night; any last minute phone-calls, e-mails, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Talk to you guys soon.

b

Milestones

According to Google Analytics, I received my first visitor from the 15th different country last night. Here are the places where this blog is being read (so far):

US
Canada
UK
South Africa
Peru
Senegal
Thailand
Argentina
Finland
Sweden
Germany
Japan
Turkey
Republic of Korea
and, lucky number 15: FRANCE!

This suite of tools from Google has some really interesting features; I'll be sure to share any other exciting numbers or milestones I come across.

Picking titles for a blog entry is absolutely impossible. By the time I finish writing, the original title never makes any sense. The end.

I really should be packing, but it is has proven difficult to pare down the collection of clothes, books, toiletries and electronics that make up my life. My life, it seems, was never meant to be packed into a bag and sent across an ocean for the better part of a year. Now, before anyone starts feeling too bad for me, please note that this is probably the single best example of what we at the 'herst referred to as a First World Problem.

First World Problems occur at the intersection of entitlement and affluence, and I feel as though I am becoming more attuned to them in myself and others as I prepare to leave for SA. As an American - and as someone who has generally inhabited a wealthy, relatively insular community for the first 23, almost 24, years of life - I worry that I am prone to these circular reaffirmations of privilege. I hold out some hope that this upcoming experience will start to loosen some of these ingrained attitudes about what should or should not be taken for granted. This is an issue that I do not take lightly, and one that will be interested to examine when I am face-to-face with the public and health policies of a country balanced between the First and Third Worlds.

Who knew that this post would turn into a serious preview of what I'm hoping to Get Out of my time in SA? Certainly not me. More à propos of my procrastination from packing, I have this sneaking suspicion that I have forgotten to invite someone to tomorrow night's party (not to be confused with Last Night's Party). If you are planning on coming, please make sure that everyone else you know who might want to say Hi is coming along as well.

Dropping Mad Science

Writing a blog has been a particularly hard thing to do thus far. I try to write about things that are going on in my life - particularly South Africa related things - and I try to write about things that might interest you guys. And I am starting to get the idea that these two criteria are not quite compatible at the moment. My life in the US isn't all that interesting for the time being; I spend my time doing things to get ready for SA, worrying about things I have yet to do for SA, or hanging out with my friends/family. These three activities: not so interesting to read about, I imagine.

Maybe some of the things I have been reading about will interest you? There was just a great article in the New York Times Magazine on Sunday about the possibility of a treatment that could cut HIV infections in Africa in half. This is an interesting use of a public health answer to provide some solution to a question that seems to be baffling the biomedical community. I have also been reading about this interesting study published in Science magazine that confirms that education and religious beliefs can be accurate predictors of your belief in evolution or creationism. The study also makes some other interesting points about how are beliefs are formed. I'd recommend checking it out if you're into that kind of thing.

I think that should be all for now; keep those RSVPs a comin'.

b

If Prince were here, at least it'd be Purple Rain

In Vermont with Ariel for the long weekend. We had a couple days of good skiing at Stratton and Okemo so far, but this morning it was raining, so we decided to take the day off and rest our sore quads, calves, and backs. (I'm very glad I got a chance to go skiing before I leave.)


Shopping ensued, and I purchased 2 pairs of pants (one pair for $3.50) and two polos at the Banana Republic outlet here in Manchester, VT. These are probably the last purchases for my trip to SA; the HIV Coordinator at the McCord Hospital said the attire is "not formal (don't need shirt & tie), and it is VERY hot in January. But don't be too casual. Perhaps smart-casual is the thing to aim for." I own very few clothing that meets the "smart-casual" bar, especially for the hot weather (it turns out that when she says VERY HOT, it really only gets up to the low-to-mid 80's. Can't be as bad as 95 in New York City, can it?).

Also, I'm really looking forward to seeing as many of you guys as possible next Saturday night. Hopefully, I'll be sending around some e-mails about the party in the next few days. I'm not exactly sure who is reading my blog at this - relatively early - stage, so I want to make sure that everyone knows what's up. My apologies if you are doubly invited. E-mail me or leave a comment on the blog if you think you can make it.

Hope you all are having amazing 3-day weekends, and I'll be back in NYC for my final week by tomorrow night.

b

You're Invited

BEN'S LEAVING FOR AFRICA! LET'S PARTY!

SATURDAY, JANUARY 20TH
Luca Lounge
220 Avenue B
(Between 13th and 14th Streets)
8:00pm and beyond (though we might head elsewhere at some point)

Directions:
Take the L to the 1st Ave stop.
Walk 2 blocks east and turn right onto Ave B.
Luca Lounge is halfway down the block on your right.
We'll be in the back.

RSVP Encouraged
Feel free to bring friends

I got a visa, I got a visa/ I got a visa, hey hey, hey hey!

I think that about says it all. For those of you keeping track at home (or those who read my earlier post), I decided to get a tourist visa - which, it turns out, doesn't even require a visit to the South African Consulate. This visa can be extended by either leaving the country every 90 days or through an application to the Home Affairs office - both of which can be done in a single day. Applying for the temporary residence permit proved to me too much of a hassle, and I think having an excellent excuse to leave the country every 3 months will prove to be a good thing.

I have also been spending some time trying to track down books, movies, &c. about life in southern Africa, and South Africa in particular. Most of what I have found - Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, the books of JM Coetzee, Cry the Beloved Country, Mandela's autobiography Long Walk to Freedom - center around a South Africa in the midst of Apartheid. And while these books give me a great deal of historical perspective on South Africa, I wonder if these books are now dated in a particular way.

Part of me feels that this books might still be relevant, and it is obvious to me why, for 45 years, fiction and nonfiction work coming out of South Africa focused on the issues of Apartheid. However, with the democratic elections of 1994 and 1999, I am hoping that the dialouge in South Africa has progressed some since these books and movies were penned.

Have any of you read books or seen movies that address post-Apartheid South Africa? I would love to hear about them - good, bad, or otherwise.


I also wanted to let you know that I'm currently deciding between the Friday the 19th and Saturday the 20th, but that my going away party will be at the Luca Lounge between 13th and 14th streets on Avenue B in the East Village. Hopefully I'll have a finalized date for you guys by tomorrow - check back here soon.

pre-depar(ty)ture (too confusing? alternate title: PARTY!)

I've been pretty busy as of late seeing friends and family - presumably for the last time before I skip town. Almost everyone I have seen has independently recommended that I host a Going Away party in the coming weeks, and I think this sounds like fantastic idea. I like parties; I like friends; I'm going to miss New York and everyone here terribly.

I was thinking that the night of January 20th would probably be best. And while I haven't figured out where I want to have it - though I'm leaning towards a place in the East Village, my old stomping grounds - please let me know if you might be interested in coming. I'll be sure to post the rest of the details as soon as I have some time to call some places and get this thing organized.

I'm going to be away for the weekend; driving my brother back up to school in Providence and then heading over to Amherst for some pre-application interviews/conversations. Talk to you guys soon.

bdazzle

Don't cross the Flickr streams

Oh, I almost forgot - here's the link to my Flickr stream where I'll be posting photos while I'm in SA:

Bad News Bearnot

The stuff up there is kind of random at the moment; just some shots from Chris' birthday and New Years Eve celebrations at the moment. More interesting material is sorely needed.

Talk to you guys soon,
b

Welcome Back!

It's about damn time that I post something new up here. That week of vacation hit, and I lost of the blogging inertia I had been working so hard to cultivate.

I've just left my job at New York Cares (which is quite sad, really. It had been a wonderful experience over the past 16 months) and now have a lot more free time on my hands. However, this time is being spent by doing things like picking out/up a new pack, looking for voltage converter sets, cleaning my room of the detritus I accumulated in my last apartment.

Also, I've been preparing lots of the materials I'll need to begin applying to medical school this Summer. While it certainly is a bit early for me to be working on it, it is much easier for me to take care of some of the first parts of the long and tedious application process while I'm still in the States.

I'll be landing in South Africa in 3 weeks time; thinking about it like that makes me a bit dizzy - with all the positive and negative connotations. (That's a picture of central Durban up there on the left. It looks absolutely beautiful, doesn't it? )

I hope you all had wonderful Holiday Seasons, and you'll be hearing from me again soon. Keep it thug.

b

ps. For those who are subscribed to the feed of this blog, I've set up my del.icio.us account (it's a cool social bookmarking site) to send out updates with any new sites I tag. You've probably been receiving them for the past few weeks, but I just thought I should fill you in.