On the Ground in Haiti with Nicholas Kristof

This week, students in my course on the developing world will begin to assess the problems they've studied in developing countries to come up with a project that they will either carry out or one they could conceivably carry out in the future. In today's New York Times, Nicholas Kristof introduces Sasha Kramer and Sarah Brownell, two young American women running a bare bones non-profit organization in Haiti. Their project addresses both sanitation and agricultural issues. Watch the five-minute short documentary about their work here.

Societal Breakdown in China?

Special thanks to Xujun Eberlein, who translated this important article by Sun Liping. Sun is a sociology professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing and this essay is currently very popular on the Chinese Internet. The essay provides some keen and controversial insights into contemporary Chinese society, as well as some observations that clearly transcend China. Consider the following passage, which with a few phrases changed could characterize contemporary life in the US equally well:

"Society has lost the ability to think long-term. Vested interest groups formed on bureaucratic capitalism pay overly great attention to short term interests; they have neither the ancient emperors' responsibility toward their descendants, nor the nobleman's detachment and transcending spirit. There is a tendency in our society for an exaggeration-syndrome over short-term problems to co-exist with a numbness-syndrome over long-term behavior. For every problem at the moment, each bush and tree looks like an enemy soldier; Problems concerning our descendants and society's long-term development all meet with a blind eye. 'Get drunk today when there is still wine' becomes institutionalized behavior. With resource and environmental issues, they drain the lake to catch all the fish."

A Gut-Wrenching View of Hyperinflation

Victoria, one of the students in my "Developing World" class, a few weeks ago shared her family's experiences with hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. This short segment (referred by student Matt M.), documents the rapidly worsening situation of the collapse of the Zimbabwean currency. Sam Chakaipa, a native Zimbabwean, recently returned to his home village and documented the dire situation, where currently only gold is accepted for exchange of goods. The film appears to have been picked up by The Guardian.

My Next Car . . . er, Plane?

This post strays a bit from my more common themes. Few people know that I hold a private pilot license (although I haven't flown in years). If vehicles like this are available when I hit retirement, I just might have to get my ticket current.

Podcasts in Chinese

I'm often asked to direct people toward advanced listening material in Chinese. Adam Schokora at 56minus1.com has compiled an excellent intro to a variety of podcasts in Chinese.