But this hasn’t been enough, and what we need now is a new and different approach. We need to shift away from a time of declaration and into the era of implementation.

What does this mean? It means we have many of the right laws on the books, particularly enshrined in international covenants and agreements, but we simply haven’t been able to implement these laws properly. Even though the current debate is about social & economic rights - in particular, the rights to things like health, education, credit, water, or even “development” - the older, more accepted civil and political rights are not guaranteed in most countries, either.

Organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch - the two most prominent human rights organizations of our time - are doing amazing work in terms of bringing to light the human rights abuses taking place around the globe. However, while Amnesty’s work might result in releasing individual political prisoners, this approach to human rights lobbying and petitioning does not result in systematic transformation. While Amnesty’s lobbying might get a few political prisoners out of jail, the original system that oppressed them and their rights remains. Some might be saved, but more and more will continue to be imprisoned, tortured, or threatened in other ways.

What is needed is systematic change. The systems need to change, themselves, in order for lasting change to occur. Like any other aid organization, the work done by Amnesty is simply like a band-aid on a gashing wound if the broader system and situation in the relevant country does not change. The goal is not just to save individual people, but to change the system and address the root of the problem such that in the future, more people do not undergo the same fate.

How can this be achieved? Systematic change mostly depends on democratization and good governance. It depends on instituting leaders who are accountable to their people and genuinely want to contribute to development and positive social change for people in their countries. In countries with dictators, extremely weak or collapsed governments, or perhaps worst, genocidal governments and leaders, the efforts of human rights organizations simply cannot have a lasting effect. Both an overly strong state/dictatorship and an extremely weak, failed government are both recipes for chaos and violations of civil and political rights.

And at the local level, everyday people are being tortured, denied access to lawyers, and suffer for years in jails without ever going to trial. Prison conditions in many developing countries are terrible. I’ve written about this before. How does systematic transformation work here? Building up domestic legal systems: putting in place more legal aid lawyers, trained judges, prosecutors, paralegals, and other stakeholders who are desperately needed to end legal abuse and human rights violations. Police forces have to be trained in non-coercive interrogation methods.

We need more systematic approaches to addressing civil & political rights by changing the system, and by implementing rights standards on a local level - especially in the latter area (improving legal systems). Why is there so much focus on the former, individualized approach and less focus on systematic reform? It’s a lot harder, a lot more complex, and a lot less straightforward, that’s for sure. But it’s needed if we are to progress in systematic change in the human rights arena.

Related posts:

1. Guest Post: Why should we care about human rights?
2. How effective is advocacy and raising awareness?
3. Bringing criminal justice to the forefront of the human rights debate

I won’t stop writing. What I hope is to continue using my love for writing to make a tangible difference. Through the law and legal writing - to defend an innocent client on death row or to fight the case of indigenous people whose rights have been violated by environmental contamination. Through the news media - to give voice to those who are voiceless, who have no one to speak for them. Through research papers and articles - to bring important issues to the forefront, and to contribute empirical evidence related to human rights issues that can someday be used to guide and influence policy. Through grant proposals - to obtain valuable funding for organizations and non-profits I believe are doing good work. Through books - that will inspire more people to take action and understand some of the underlying moral quandaries behind human rights issues.

Perhaps, one day, I will realize that there are bigger and better things than this blog. That there are bigger and better ways I can use my voice to defend the poor and marginalized. All the things I have mentioned above rely crucially on writing. Writing is an important part of practically any job now, and particularly plays a huge role in the human rights and legal world.

But until I become trained, educated, and experienced enough to contribute in those areas - I’ll be using this blog as a medium to spread the word in whatever little way I can.

So don’t fear, lovely readers. My blog, my writing, and my voice is here to stay for the time being. I love writing, and I love contributing my voice in some way to the greater good. While it’s true that I am disillusioned in many key ways, I don’t think I’ve given up hope as of yet. If nothing else, I believe that social media has helped me build valuable connections with other passionate young people who care about the same issues and similar causes. This valuable community I’ve found would never have been possible otherwise. Even if I don’t change people’s minds, I know that I have become a stronger advocate myself by tapping into this community. I myself have become more dedicated, better informed, and more ready to take action. If nothing else, I’m contributing in this way to the world…right?

I hope so. And I hope you’ll all stay with me in this journey!

Related posts:

1. Forget all the rules, and write what you love
2. Blogging for Jolkona
3. Happy Thanksgiving!

First of all, I want to say I’m sorry! I don’t think this blog is all that popular, but I’m still sorry to anyone who follows these posts. I’ve just been incredibly busy with schoolwork, my senior thesis (my first draft is due very soon…too soon! I’m completely freaking out.), my school activities, and job hunting/flying across the country for interviews. It’s all getting to be a bit much, and I simply have put this blog aside for the time being. I think my sanity is a bit more important, as is figuring out what I’m going to be doing after graduation. The application and interviewing process is incredibly tiring, and I haven’t even really gotten started yet! This is absolutely insane, and I’m simply trying my hardest and praying to get my dream opportunities.

I’m also getting a bit “disillusioned” with this entire blogging and social media business. There are days when I just want to make this anonymous and get rid of my Twitter, Tumblr, and any other social media platform I post on. Why? I’m tired of the game of “personal branding.” I’m tired of people, including myself, focusing on pumping out online content without putting in the same effort into achieving change or results offline. I’m tired because I don’t want to have a resume full of fluff, and no real accomplishments. I’m very ambitious - I have great dreams to better the world, and to change the status quo. Part of this certainly is increasing awareness of human rights online, but this, I have realized, is a very minute part of my “mission,” if you will. Far more important for me is actually doing good work to ensure that I’m making a difference in some concrete manner. I’m tired of trying to change people’s minds online. To be honest, there is no way in which some random stranger reading my blog will suddenly start caring about human rights or development issues. No way. People gravitate towards content they already care about. The people who read this blog already care. Those who don’t care simply aren’t going to start caring by reading this blog. I’m pretty much preaching to the choir. What am I accomplishing by doing that? Maybe, instead, I should dedicate my time and efforts to some way in which I can achieve concrete change. If I volunteered for every hour I used to spend on my blog, I’m pretty sure that would be way more beneficial to the world. I’m not saying I’m going to stop blogging, but I am cautioning against putting so much effort into something that does not yield many concrete benefits to the world.

Finally, I’ve also been thinking quite a bit about my own role in this vast world. Perhaps this existentialist crisis of sorts stems from my current status as a graduating senior, seeking to make sense of her next steps. As I plan to jump into the real world, I have to have a clear sense of what I want to accomplish, what I want to work towards — what my ultimate goal is. Is my ultimate goal a world where torture does not exist? A world without poverty? One where each individual is guaranteed access to legal representation? Or perhaps, one in which the global South has joined India and China on the developmental path (i.e. high growth rates, “pro-poor” growth)? One in which there is no more violent conflict? Of these multitudes of questions, which one is the real one I seek to answer and dedicate my life path towards?

Since I’m currently taking a class called “Aid, Governance and Development in Africa,” the question about growth rates jumps out at me. It seems like the ultimate question we as human beings have to grapple with is the question: why are some countries rich and some countries poor? What happened in between to allow some countries to achieve high growth rates, ultimately resulting in high development and low poverty rates — while others have been left behind to struggle with stagnant or even decreasing growth? How can we ensure that ultimately, all developing countries are able to consistently achieve levels of growth high enough such that they are slowly but surely able to reduce poverty and stay on the “train” to development?

But I’ve realized that this question is so immense and so vast, and so important, that while I can dedicate my life to it, I’m not going to. Why not? I can’t. I’m not a development economist, and I don’t intend to be solely a scholar. Simply put, economics and statistics isn’t my biggest strength. But whoever you are - if you’re reading this, and you’re out there - please listen. If you’re good at math, please take up this question. Dedicate your life to it. We need to solve this question of paramount importance in order for humanity to survive, and I want you, anonymous person out there reading this, to study this.

Since my strengths really do lie in writing and the legal arena, I think this is the cause I will take up. I know it’s a peripheral cause. I know that economic growth can help solve problems related to human rights and related to the development of legal systems. But, I will take up this secondary cause nonetheless. Why? I know the formula economic growth isn’t going to be cracked anytime soon. In the meantime, it makes sense to dedicate effort to ensuring that all men, women, and children have access to justice and are safe from the vagaries of a malfunctioning justice system. If I can go through my life knowing I have made some contribution to this area, perhaps it will be enough — even if I know I haven’t altered the underlying structures allowing poverty and human rights violations to occur (i.e. economic growth or lack thereof).

So, that was a brief snapshot of what’s going through my mind. There’s the big picture things - like which question should I dedicate myself to? And the detailed little things - like finding a job.

Again, I’m sorry this post isn’t incredibly thorough or eloquent or peppered with statistics about some human rights violation. But what it is, is directly from the heart. From my addled brain directly to this blank Wordpress page. I haven’t forgotten my dear blog, and I will return to it soon. Until then, cheers! Don’t forget about me either.

No related posts.

There is a lot of talk of personal branding these days: is it good or bad? How can you build a network of people who respect your personal brand? How can you join a group of people with the same interests to help you make professional connections?

But while we are busy trying to carve an online space for ourselves and create a community of supporters who rally around our “brand”, we forget that the online space we inhabit is also continuously is defining us - and indeed, changing us in ways simultaneously subtle and not-so-subtle.

For instance, when I first got into social media - Twitter, blogging and the like - I was interested, yes, in human rights issues. But the interest was not as full blown of a passion as it is now. Why the change? I attribute much of it to the network I tapped into, which in turn started shaping me.

I began following more and more human rights activists, non-profit leaders, social entrepreneurs, and others in the social space. As I began following people incredibly passionate about bettering the world, it made me a better person. I tapped into these networks, engaged in conversations, and sat back and listened to some of the smartest people in the world debate issues in the human rights, social change, and development arena. And by becoming part of the conversation, I became more and more passionate about these issues myself.

Social media, the blogosphere, and Twitter helped me find my singular passion. Before Twitter, there were always many ideas and many interests swirling around in my head. But after I began actively engaging on Twitter, I learned more fundamentally, who I was. By choosing who to “follow” and dedicate my brain space to — and by choosing who to “unfollow” and ignore — I realized what I personally cared about most. What issues, careers, and industries resonated with me the most.

Social media made me a better person. By surrounding myself by people who genuinely cared, and not only that, cared in an intelligent manner (and yes, there is a distinction) — I began caring more. And more intelligently.

What’s true in real life is also true on the web. Surround yourself with good, smart people, and you will become more like them. Your friends can exert a positive influence on you and make you a better person, or you can fall into bad company and go downhill.

This may sound overdramatic to you, but I swear it’s not. Some people are born knowing what they want to do: be a doctor, a lawyer, an accountant even. They are lucky. I’ve never been that way. I have always had too many interests to narrow down to a single career that would define who I was for the rest of my life (a scary thought, right?). My passions didn’t always fit into the traditional career path. Social media helped me jump into the conversation and find what I really wanted. By finding many more outside my small real-life social circle doing exactly what I loved for a living, I felt my career interests to be validated. I found the courage to follow my heart, knowing that many others out there were also doing so, and sometimes breaking free of societal constraints in the process.

You don’t just create an online network that mirrors your own traits — your online network defines you, and even has the power to change you fundamentally.

Are you engaging with people who make you stronger, more brave, more caring, more intelligent, more informed?

Do you push yourself to join networks that challenge you to be better and to achieve your dreams?

Stop tweeting about what you had for breakfast, or your horrible job. Start conversations with those who intimidate you, with those who you breathlessly admire. Be bold. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll get there too.

How does your online community define and shape who you are?

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2. Feature Friday: United Prosperity
3. How to get a summer internship in a nonprofit

And even at the low end of that estimate, it is still a big number. Typhoon’s Morakot, Ketsana and Parma, plus a tsunami in the Samoa Island Group, plus both of last Fall’s earthquakes in Indonesia, combined did not reach a death toll of 30,000.

According to MSF, there are no working hospitals in the country; the National Palace and other major government buildings have collapsed; many of the U.N. offices have been damaged and U.N. officials killed. My prayers go out to all those affected by this disaster. I cannot even really fathom the magnitude of pain these people must be going through.

What has impressed me is the extent this disaster has reverberated through social media channels. Through Twitter and blogging, people shared their sentiments about the disaster. Citizen journalism was at its best, with Haitians reaching out to provide news updates via Twitter despite chaos, confusion and damage to regular communication channels. People across the globe have, amazingly, been able to follow the developments practically in real-time. Earlier today Daniel Morel created a Twitter account, @photomorel, and posted a series of shocking high-quality photos depicting what exactly was happening in Haiti. @marvinady has also posted photos of the devastation; these were some of the first photos of the devastation. Hashtags #Haiti and #Haitihelp are being used to keep tabs on Haiti updates.

Social networking sites have provided something incredibly important that the New York Times or BBC simply cannot provide: a human connection. By following someone on Twitter and seeing their pictures, we feel closely connected to them. Social media, by connecting people, has allowed for an outpouring of empathy that simply isn’t possible through the mainstream media. We’re getting information as it happens from those suffering or witnessing this destruction. It’s not some abstract natural disaster - it’s happening to real people. People we can identify and follow on Twitter and via blogging. This intensely human connection is social media’s most powerful tool.

Social networks have also proved invaluable in gathering much-needed donations for relief efforts. Wyclef Jean took Twitter by storm and mobilized followers to donate to his Yele Haiti Foundation even before most NGOs started their relief efforts. Today afternoon, Yele was the #1 trending topic on Twitter, followed closely by the Red Cross at #2. Non-profits have creatively utilized social networks to make donating as easy as possible. The Red Cross and the IRC have both created ways for supporters to quickly donate $5 or $10 by texting to a certain number; these messages have been Retweeted, spreading like wildfire through the social web. These text message campaigns have been very successful, raising millions in the past couple of days (some are a scam, but these two are not — so do make sure you check out who you’re texting to).

This was truly a social media response, and I’m proud to see my fellow citizens working together to disseminate important news and ramp up donations. This is social media at it’s best: people collaborating and reaching out to do something good.

Immediate disaster relief is vital, but we can’t forget that the hardest work is yet to come. This earthquake will have a devastating longer-term effect on Haiti. Already a poor country, Haiti will suffer immensely from the aftermath: failed and broken infrastructure. It will be difficult to pick up the pieces and rebuild the country again. While I’m glad to see the impact of social media, I only hope the momentum lasts enough to provide continued support for future rebuilding efforts. So keep Haiti in mind even after a few weeks when the situation may not be all over your Twitter of Facebook feeds!

Here’s a quick roundup of some excellent posts to keep up with news on Haiti/figure out where to donate:

• Change.org War & Peace: Haiti Rescuers are Racing Against Time
• UN Dispatch: Haiti’s Coming Public Health Challenges &  Haiti Earthquake: The Day After Part II
• Helpful tips on what to do about Haiti and who to donate to, from an experienced aid worker
• Some background thoughts from Marginal Revolution: Why is Haiti so Poor?
• Aidwatch has a nice post on navigating the complex terrain of disaster relief
• Good Intentions are Not Enough: good post on wisely choosing NGOs to donate to
• Make sure you check out Haiti.Ushahidi.com for crowd-sourcing disaster map, news, info

My personal recommendation for donations is Partners in Health:

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1. Feature Friday: United Prosperity

We find that human rights prosecutions after transition lead to improvements in human rights protection, and that human rights prosecutions have a deterrence impact beyond the confines of the single country. We also explore the mechanisms through which prosecutions lead to improvements in human rights. We argue that impact of prosecutions is the result of both normative pressures and material punishment and provide support for this argument with a comparison of the impact of prosecutions and truth commissions, which do not involve material punishment.

If the article’s findings are correct and the statistical methodology is sound, then this is a great finding and can really help international justice move forward more confidently in the future. I am especially impressed by the finding that the normative impact of prosecutions has actually resulted in deterrence, since many have argued that international justice has not been communicated well on the ground, thus resulting in little impact on deterrence. More quantitative studies should be done on this particular question to further confirm these conclusions.

One of the questions that I had when I first read this was whether there would be a difference between post-conflict transitional justice and justice during conflict - such as the intervention of the ICC. Certainly, post-conflict transitional justice is often undertaken by regimes that are willing to prosecute members of a previous regime, and it would be understandable for those countries to ultimately have a better human rights record. However, the same cannot be said for international bodies undertaking prosecutions during a conflict, as indicted war criminals could simply exacerbate repression and continue to flout international law.

However, they addressed these questions as well, finding that prosecutions under civil wars do not have a different impact on repression than those in peace; indeed, prosecutions during civil wars may even lead to greater improvements on human rights records than prosecutions during peacetime. This is an incredible and truly groundbreaking finding, because it has applied statistical methods to the peace v. justice argument that has thus far been based on mostly qualitative case studies.

Indeed, I do think that many people are coming to the conclusion that the peace versus justice is a false dichotomy. While there was at first much backlash regarding cases in Uganda and Sudan, ultimately those who are indicted are responsible for massive human rights violations; while “peace” might depend on them temporarily, it would probably be best in the long-run if those responsible are simply taken out of the picture. I think the question now shouldn’t be whether we should wait to indict a war criminal or not, but should be about the enforcement of these arrest warrants. Faster and more efficient ways of apprehending war criminals would not only contribute to the deterrence effect, but it would also reduce the possibility of an indicted perpetrator continuing to wield power and exacerbate conflict at home.  Certainly, the challenges are numerous — but I really do think the next step should be to innovate better ways to arrest war criminals and gain international cooperation for their work, rather than to continue the debates about peace versus justice.

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2. Guest Post: Why should we care about human rights?
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Along with its increasing popularity, the demand for learning about social enterprise has shot up. Many top universities are beginning to teach social enterprise, either through individual classes or even through majors and concentrations. Here are some examples:

• Duke’s Fuqua School of Business actually has an MBA Concentration in Social Entrepreneurship!
• Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management has an MBA Social Enterprise (SEEK) Major, a very comprehensive program
• NYU’s Wagner School has a Social Entrepreneurship undergraduate minor
• Stanford’s School of Business has an Executive Program in Social Entrepreneurship
• Yale’s School of Management also has a Program on Social Enterprise

And there are many, many more examples of cutting edge social enterprise programs.

But here’s where I question this approach: can we actually teach social enterprise? A while ago, I read the excellent book “How to Change the World” by David Bornstein, and the book discusses Ashoka’s original methodology of discovering social entrepreneurs. The social entrepreneurs they found were people who understood a gap in their society or community, and then found some way - often an innovative way - of addressing that gap and ultimately benefiting society and individuals. These social entrepeneurs are incredibly hard working, often laboring in obscurity and with low pay to solve social issues. They are driven by their unwavering passion and grand vision of how the world should be. From the website:

Perhaps our most important criterion, entrepreneurial quality is the defining characteristic of first class entrepreneurs. It defines leaders who see opportunities for change and innovation and devote themselves entirely to making that change happen. These leaders often have little interest in anything beyond their mission, and they are willing to spend the next ten to fifteen years making a historical development take place.

It seems to me that social entrepreneurs are people who are incredibly passionate about a new or better way of solving a social problem.

It also seems to me that many of the highly successful Ashoka fellows don’t have MBA’s or advanced degrees that teach them about social enterprise. Instead, they succeed because of their deep understanding of a social issue and of the needs of their beneficiaries, or those they ultimately hope to help. This strong understanding does not come about through an MBA, but is the result of being part of the society or communities you are aiming to help or reach. It comes from going into the field and speaking extensively with rural farmers, women lacking access to credit, or refugees trying to make a living in IDP camps. It comes from immersing yourself into these communities and learning so much about the needs of those you want to help that the solution crystallizes before your very eyes. Read Paul Polak’s book, “Out of Poverty” to understand how simple and powerful solutions can be found by simply going into the field and understanding local needs.

The most important thing for a social entrepreneur’s success is a vision of how precisely to solve a problem. If you have a strong vision and a good method of achieving that vision, success is possible. Second is resilience, determination, passion. Social entrepreneurs have to be highly driven to follow their vision above all else, despite innumerable obstacles in their way.

Surely an MBA in social enterprise can teach you about the workings of the market, or how to write a business plan, but aren’t these things you can pick up eventually? On the contrary, you can’t teach someone through school how to gain a vision, or how to be relentless and passionate.

Wouldn’t it be more worth it for aspiring social entrepreneurs to pursue graduate studies in the specific field they want to affect change in, to understand the needs of their clients or beneficiaries better?

Do those who study social entrepreneurship in the classroom eventually become social entrepreneurs? Or are social entrepreneurs those who have a vision and the passion to see it through, regardless of educational background?

Ultimately, there are certain business principles that can be taught to make the lives of social entrepreneurs easier and more efficient. However, social entrepreneurship itself cannot be taught; such success ultimately depends on qualities gained outside the classroom - vision, issue understanding, and passion.

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Local prisoner support for the ICTR is very low. The U.S.-based Internews Network has shown what are known as the “Arusha Tapes” in Rwandan prisons to give genocide suspects a view of what has been happening in the ICTR trials and to encourage debate on Rwanda’s own judicial process. Ironically, while the tapes are meant to generate support for the tribunal, they have had opposite effect on local prisoners. The reactions to the tapes have revealed concerns among the prisoners over the absence of the death penalty at the tribunal and the luxurious living conditions of the tribunal prisoners as compared to those of the Rwandan prisons. The issue of the death penalty is significant because it is used by the national courts in Rwanda but not at the international tribunal. One prisoner replied, “why is it that the tribunal gives them more lenient sentences than us, they are the ones who told us to kill on radio . . . how come we are paying the higher price?”

The objections and shock registered by the prisoners to the Arusha Tapes were reflected in their support of the Gacaca process as an appropriate and fair judicial process. Awareness and acceptance of the community courts is evidenced by the high and increasing number of confessions among the prisoners, numbering in the tens of thousands, and a willingness to provide testimony and evidence against other genocide suspects. (p. 62)

The above quote really highlights how those who are most responsible are often given luxurious situations in comparison to the rest of the perpetrators. However, the truth is that national justice sectors - especially in Rwanda - are simply not well equipped to try thousands of genocidiares in a relatively short time period. That is why more funding and assistance is necessary to immediately begin building up national justice sectors as well. If all the funding and attention goes to international tribunals, then national justice systems do not develop simultaneously as most people seem to hope - but simply continue to be underdeveloped and lack the resources needed to try massive numbers of perpetrators.

That’s why, in Rwanda, Gacaca seems to offer a promising alternative which requires much less funding since it is based at the community-level. However, Gacaca suffers from it’s own problems - most dangerously that it is fueled by the same ethnic tensions that resulted in the genocide, lacks due process and does not always provide ‘fair’ trials to the accused, and can result in another form of “victor’s justice.” This isn’t necessarily the most promising route to take in the long run, and the international community shouldn’t forget about national justice sectors while looking at alternative mechanisms like Gacaca.

Still, the idea of communities trying those responsible for the genocide and then reintegrating the perpetrators into their societies is indeed powerful - and can seem a more fair alternative to allowing perpetrators to languish indefinitely in national prisons. It is certainly a step forward, but is by no means a panacea.

Also, happy new year to all!

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This is the time of year for reflections, and I’m certainly no exception to the rule. So here goes (though I don’t usually talk much about myself on this blog):

In 2009, I finished studying abroad at the London School of Economics and fell even more deeply in love with London and LSE. I also continued working with the Student Microfinance Development Initiative (SMDI), a student-run nonprofit which I helped start up. SMDI connects student volunteers with microfinance institutions, and spending so many late nights and long strategy meetings working on the organization was one of the best experiences of the year - I learned so much about microfinance, became part of a team, and met some incredibly passionate and intelligent students. While at LSE, I also visited The Hague, Netherlands with the ICC Student Network. There, we met with representatives from the Coalition for the ICC and Special Court for Sierra Leone. We sat in on the trials of Thomas Lubanga and Momcilo Perisic (at the ICTY). We even met with Chief Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo. This incredible trip immersed me into international justice, which has become one of my main passions today. While abroad, I also traveled to Spain, Ireland, Scotland, Greece, and within the UK to Oxford, Bath, Canterbury, Leeds Castle, Brighton, Windsor, Stonehenge, and Stratford-upon-Avon. And at LSE, I got to see the Queen from afar, as well as hear lectures from Navanetham Pillay, Bernanke, and Paul Collier! It was the most amazing time of my life!

Over the summer, I got an internship grant from Northwestern and moved to Geneva, Switzerland - the world’s peace capital - for a summer internship with International Bridges to Justice (IBJ), an amazing non-profit that works to reform malfunctioning justice systems and end torture in the developing world. I worked on so many exciting things, mostly related to online communications. I got to visit the UN headquarters in Geneva, learn a teeny bit of french, visit the Alps and some beautiful Swiss towns like Montreux and Aigle, lounge by Lac Leman, and experience the beautiful Fete de Geneve! I somehow got featured on Fortune for my internship (believe me, it was sheer luck - but still cool!). It was an amazing experience, and I have become very passionate about access to justice issues. More recently, I raised $1,274 for IBJ for their fundraising campaign, and was very happy with the outcome (thanks to all that donated!).

The Swiss Alps (taken by me)

After that, I returned to the U.S., experienced reverse culture shock (or maybe I just missed London!) and started working on my political science senior thesis, which is on transitional justice mechanisms in Sierra Leone and Rwanda. It’s challenging but fascinating. Last quarter I also took an amazing class on Sudan with the former US Special Envoy to Sudan! I also became the Co-President of Amnesty International’s NU chapter, so that has been exciting and also time-consuming. As the year wraps up, I’m applying to jobs and fellowships in the hope that I’ll have some exciting options for after graduation.

In 2009 I bought my own domain name and created this website! This year, I also fell in love with social media. I really became addicted to Twitter and to blogging, and learned the value of an online community. Never before have I been able to connect with so many other intelligent young people who share the same passions and interests. Social media has really impacted my life and taught me a lot - and I have made some great friends and met some wonderful people through the process! I started the Be the Change series, in which so many Gen Yers came together to share their thoughts on social change issues. It was an inspirational affirmation of the fact that my generation does care about the world.

Of course, there have been some failures too, but all in all this year was an amazing one. All my experiences have helped me figure out what I ultimately want to accomplish in life and have made me much more independent. I have truly grown as a person. But for some reason, it feels like this year has gone by too fast. I’m not ready for the next year - which will bring with it uncertainty and numerous challenges. I have only one wish for 2010: to find a job I love! If this happens, all will fall into place

Wishing you all a happy 2010 with more successes and growth!

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I have spent many column inches and airtime talking about the shoulda, woulda and the couldas of life. And don’t get me wrong – I enjoy it! But I also ask myself how much of a difference it makes. As someone committed to making a tangible difference in the world, I’m becoming much more interested in, and committed to, work that provides solutions to an issue and is forward thinking.

Ultimately, what impact can blogging, writing, and researching can have? It’s something I personally struggle with.

Today, we are constantly bombarded by information - whether it’s from the news, from blogs, from Twitter, or from other social networks. There hasn’t been any other time in history when people have had access to so much information so quickly and so easily. Of course, the American news media contains many flaws - far too much trivial coverage, and far too little on important issues across the globe. But, true understanding is just a Google away, regardless of the topic’s coverage in the mainstream media. What can I add through blogging, by adding my voice to this cacophony? Am I doomed to be lost in the web streams, or is my writing actually of value? Is it worth spending my time writing about things, rather than actually doing them?

When it comes to academic research, I certainly love reading a really good paper on transitional justice or aid or governance as much as the next person. While research certainly is necessary, I am again left to wonder what effect that has on the world. What I find more urgent than new research is the need to properly and fully implement all the findings and solutions that are already out there. We already know what needs to happen - and we need to start making these things happen. It seems that the more critical need is here, in the implementation stage.

The impact of writing depends on luck. Writing can reach people, but there is no guarantee it will. The impact of writing depends on the rise of those who will listen, learn, and implement your thoughts or solutions in the “real world.” One person might take something away from your writing, or a million people might take action because of it. Rarely, however, does the latter happen. But by being the implementer, you can begin affecting change immediately.

I want to make an impact in this world, but I strive to reconcile this with my own love for writing. I care about human rights and development issues, but first and foremost, I have always had the answer “Writing” at the tip of my tongue when anyone asks me simply: What is your passion? I have always had a propensity for words - whether it is through poetry or blogging or academic papers.

I want both: to be an implementer, but also a writer and thinker. Is there some way to incorporate both into life and career? How can we bridge this divide between: theory and practice, writing and doing, talking and solving. One or the other might be satisfying, but only a combination might be truly fulfilling.

Related posts:

1. I miss writing
2. Forget all the rules, and write what you love
3. I’ll never stop using my voice