How should we measure poverty?
The United Nations is starting to rethink that question. The UN Development Program yesterday unveiles this year’s Human Development Report and the Human Development Index…
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Happy Birthday 1325, or, Why women in Burundi won’t let me be cynical about (some) UN resolutions
If you’ve never been to a birthday party for a Security Council resolution, well, get out your party shoes. Today is the 10th anniversary…
Read MoreSometimes, a girl’s gotta stick up for change
Check out what I think will be a debate over at change.org, between me and the new editor of the Human Rights blog. (Awkard…
Read MoreMedia training dollars run amok?
Thanks to @penelopeinparis for highlighting this great opinion piece from Tom Kamara, editor and publisher of Liberia’s New Democrat newspaper. Kamara questions the utility…
Read MoreNow crowdsourcing: Best & worst journalism about rape
If you’re a regular here, you know I manage to find myself mired in commentary about journalism on rape once every three or four…
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Muslims wear things!
Including hot little tennis dresses, cargo vests, cowboy hats, track suits… and, in the case of the founder of Pakistan, a monocole. Oh, and…
Read MoreIf you’ve got a radio, you can hear my voice
I have a short radio essay, “The Music of Language,” about the cacophony and the calm of working across a handful of languages, on…
Read MoreDear Muslims, ask not what Juan Williams did to you, but what you can do for Juan Williams
National Public Radio just fired Juan Williams, one of its long-time contributors. NPR fired him for saying this, on FOX News’ Bill O’Reilly program:…
Read MoreA poetic pause for “The Brown Man’s Burden”
TexasinAfrica recently pointed me to a poem I hadn’t seen before, and I basically think it should be required reading for anyone in aid,…
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Can diamonds be a (socially responsible) girl’s best friend again?
Recently, I learned about The Clarity Project, an effort to bring fairly-mined, fairly-sourced diamonds into the jewelry market. Impressed by the venture and the…
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