There used to be a ladder to success. It was the college→good job→marriage→house→family→cushy retirement. Sure, not everyone made it, there were a few broken rungs near the bottom but that was the guiding light to the good life and enough people made it that it seemed within reach. A few people questioned this ladder as [...]
On January 1st 2011 I found myself in a circle of women at a polygamous wedding, chatting feminism with the first wife as the new young bride entered the household covered in intricate henna designs. On January 26th, one day after my birthday, I stood alone at the famous Casablanca mosque, hiding my bright Nigerien [...]
May 7th Seattle Airport This morning I woke up at 5:30 am to get on a plane to New York. I sat next to one of those inquisitive elderly types that love to ask young people questions about their life. Somehow I found myself relating my entire life story. At the end of the flight [...]
This weekend I went to Austin, Texas to attend the Clinton Global Initiative, a youth conference put on by Bill Clinton’s foundation. I went with three other members of the UN youth network I’m a part of. Like the rest of the participants, we made a “Commitment to Action,” a project that we pledged to [...]
I didn’t do any homework today. College students tend to use that phrase a fair amount. Usually the sentence is completed with because I watched six episodes of Lost or because I talked to Joe for two hours or because I was stalking people on Facebook. My sentence is a little different. I didn’t do any [...]
