Weekly Reading List - 6.28.13

Health & Fittness

• Getting Men to Want to Use Condoms & Reinventing the Condom & A Reinvented Condom, That's only Part of the Challenge - I am apparently a little late to the party on this one, but I thought it was such a great idea and challenge that it is definitely worth sharing. As the NYTimes article points out, the goal of a condom is two fold: prevent "unintended pregnancies and STDs like AIDS. Condoms cheaply and effectively prevent both, but around the world only 5% of men wear them and there are 2.5 million new HIV infections a year. To stem that tide, health experts say, the number of men regularly using condoms needs to double."
• Froome Leads Next Generation of Tour de France Contenders - The 2013 Tour de France (TDF) starts on Saturday!! 

Protests & Treason (or is it Whistle blowing?)

• Brazil's President Meets Protests with an Anti-Erdogan Response & Brazil Police Kill "Drug Traffickers" Following Favela Protest - I think this is a great quote from President Dilma Rousseff, "Transportation is terrible, education is terrible, public health is terrible...I think it's a miracle that people took so long to demonstrate" I don't know much about her, or her Presidency in general, but she seems like a smart lady, at minimum that is an insightful comment.
• Public Split over Impact of NSA Leak, But Most Want Snowden Prosecuted & Meet the Press interview with Glenn Greenwald - I had a very intersting conversation with a Canadian Colleague of mine. He was expressing his wish that if Snowden had been truly concerned with the NSA lying to Congress and to the American public, that he had just released domestic wiretapping information. Instead he actually took state secrets regarding our enemies and other foreign countries and shared it with them. The line between whistle blowing and treason, in his mind had been crossed at that moment. I have to say I agree. That's what bothers me so much. He says, "I'm a patriot" "I was worried about the lies and secrets" but all he really did was make us more vulnerable and insecure. Although kudos to him and Wikileaks and Bradley Manning for bringing this dark secret into the public consciousness for open debate and discussion.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Religion

• Extremism Rises Among Myanmar Buddhists - I remember having a conversation with a former colleague of mine about Buddhists and their amazing poise in the face of persecution. I find it very fascinating to hear of those who have finally had enough. The consequences of belief when faced with a stark reality. I will be curious to see how this evolves for their system of belief.
• US Must Separate Religion and Iran Policy - Just food for thought.

Weekly Reading List [3.22.13]

CYPRUS

• HOW GERMAN FEARS OF UNDERWRITING RUSSIAN OLIGARCHS PUSHED CYPRUS TO CRISIS
• CYPRUS REJECTS THE EU BAILOUT: WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
• ROUND TRIPS TO CYPRUS
• WHY THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK IS PLAYING HARDBALL WITH CYPRUS
• WHAT WILL ACTUALLY HAPPEN IF CYPRUS DEAL FAILS?
• EURO MAY BE DOOMED WHETHER CYPRUS STAYS OR GOES
• WHAT DO WE DO NOW? 
• THIS IS A NUCLEAR WAR ON SAVINGS AND WEALTH

FRIDAY INSPIRATION

• From Elle Luna (a former colleague) - I love her process. You can see more of her work, and read about this project at elleluna.com

Sometimes you just need to paint. from elle luna on Vimeo.

• JOI ITO PLANS A RADICAL REINVENTION OF MIT'S MEDIA LAB
• Infographic: THE WEB'S TOP BRANDS LOOOOVE BLUE
• [long read] WE AREN'T THE WORLD

Weekly Reading List 3/15/13

North Korea

• North Korea threatens to nuke D.C.: why it's especially angry this time
• New Sanctions on North Korea Pass in Unified U.N. Vote
• North Korea rejects U.N. Sanctions, China calls for calm
• North Korea leaves phone to South Korea off the hook
• Armistice dead? US and South Korea dismiss North Korea's edict

Pakistan

• In Pakistan, mob burns homes in anti-Christian violence
• Christian and Muslim Lawyers of Lahore courts protest on burning Christian homes
• Torching Christians in Pakistan
• Minorities, including Christians, at receiving end in Pakistan
• Punjab police arrest 150 suspects in connection with Christian colony attack
• OpenIDEO - How Might we gather information from hard-to-access areas to prevent mass violence against civilians?

Technology

• Pew Internet Report: Teens and Technology 2013
• What Teens Get About The Internet That Parents Don't
• Closing the Digital Divide: Latinos and Technology Adoption

Government 

• Paul's filibuster seizes the day
• Rand Paul's Filibuster and Targeted Killings
• Morning Bell: Senators Bring Stirring Filibuster Against Obama CIA Nominee
• Rand Standing

Vatican News

• Conclave Elects Pope Francis

A LOVE LETTER TO NODE...

A love letter to Node. from IDEO on Vimeo. 

[Just a beautiful video done by one of my colleagues, Elger Oberwelz inspired by a project he did]

Silent Retreat

The theme of this weekend's silent retreat was "The Wilderness Journey". Throughout the day there were specific group meditations around Matthew 4:1-11 and Jesus' journey in the wilderness which serendipitously intersected with my personal readings during the retreat.

For the past couple of years I have been slowly making my way through "The Gift of Pain" a memoir by Paul Brand. I decided that a day of silence in the beautiful seaside town of Bolinas was the perfect opportunity to finish the book! Dr. Brand spent his life working with leprosy patients around the world. The essence of his book is that a life without pain is actually a terrible life. He said, "If I held in my hands the power to eliminate physical pain from the world I would not exercise it. My work with pain deprived patients has prove to me that pain protects us from destroying ourselves."

'If I were to choose between pain and nothing, I would choose pain.' ~William Faulkner

When it comes to our lives, I find that "pain and pleasure come to us not as opposites but as twins, strangely joined." Everywhere greater joy is proceeded by greater suffering. "We dare not allow our daily lives to become so comfortable that we no longer challenged to grow, seek adventure, to risk." In a society that works endlessly to reduce and eliminate pain, the 'wilderness' is an essential part of our spiritual life. The wilderness for all of us is a life changing, spiritual experience; like Jesus, at the end we are free from distractions, from those addictions we use to dull or negate our pain our discomfort. Its an opportunity to learn self-restraint, to gain trust, and clarity. Anyone who wants to follow Christ, needs the clarity that only comes from the gifts of the wilderness. Emerging from the wilderness, we learn to employ those spiritual disciplines throughout our daily lives -- to live on less, to practice a life of subtraction and not addition. Lent is an annual opportunity to walk through the wilderness. 40 days to remember what life is like without the usual painkillers, the chocolate, the white carbs, the cussing, the over active social calendar, and to deal with our spiritual insufficiency.

So this lent season I'm walking through my own wilderness to embrace those painful, awkward places in my life. What will you learn in the wilderness?

"Happy are they who bear their share of the worlds pain: In the long run they will know more happiness than those who avoid it." ~Jesus

Weekly Reading List [2.15.13]

A Little of This and a Little of That...

• IT'S 2013, AND THEY'RE BURNING WITCHES [Warning Graphic photos and content]

• THE SOCIAL ARCHITECTURE OF A SEX TRAFFICKING CASE [Mild Graphic Content]

• NEO-CLASSICAL REPUBLICANISM

• HOW TO SAVE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY - “Nothing is more certain in politics,” wrote William Safire in the wake of this Democratic fiasco, “than the crushing defeat of a faction that holds ideological purity to be of greater value than compromise.” 

• WHAT GEORGE W. BUSH DID RIGHT -  "Bush did more to stop AIDS and more to help Africa than any president before or since...Bush paved the way for an era in which global health assistance has become a prominent new instrument of U.S. statecraft."

• THE ART OF INFINITE WAR, CTD - "I would just suggest that in weighing that balance, the choice is not between "infinite war" and "peace," but between "infinite war" and "persistent violence." 

• POPE RESIGNATION ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

In Case You Missed It....

JOHN E. KARLIN, WHO LEAD THE WAY TO DIGITAL DIALING, DIED AT 94.

An amazing man who has certainly changed the way we live today, check out his obituary here.

Weekly Reading List [2.8.13]

This week I want to share a few articles related to aspects of religious freedom, domestic and international.

DOMESTIC ~ Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate [part of Obamacare]

• THE CONTRACEPTION MANDATE AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
• HHS MANDATE INFORMATION CENTRAL
• A FLOOD OF SUITS FIGHTS COVERAGE OF BIRTH CONTROL
• THE WHITE HOUSE'S CONTRACEPTIVE COMPROMISE

INTERNATIONAL ~

• HIGH COURT OPENS WAY TO SHARIA DIVORCE
• CHINA: SHOULD RELIGIOUS FREEDOM BE A 'CORE INTEREST'
• HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH (HRW) URGES KYRGZ COURT NOT TO EXTRADITE UZBEK CLERIC
• FOR 40 YEARS, THIS RUSSIAN FAMILY WAS CUT OFF FROM ALL HUMAN CONTACT, UNAWARE OF WWII.

NOW...SOMETHING OTHER ~

• RAINBOW ORIGAMI STREET ART

Weekly Reading List [2.1.13]

A couple of weeks ago John Kerry said something that I found very interesting. He said, "China is all over Africa. I mean ALL over Africa...They're in places where we're not in the game and we've got to be in it." In light of China's own growing economy, and their habit of buying up our big debt, and their lack of concern for human rights, I think this is VERY important. A few days prior to that Secretary Clinton said "This pandora's box of weapons coming from North Africa...is one of our biggest threats." She also insisted that more attention needs to be paid to AFRICOM, because she predicts increased demands in the future. 

In a report, "The Next Chapter, President Obama's Second Term Foreign Policy" in their summary they state that "In the coming years, US foreign policy is likely to be driven more by economic, developmental and diplomatic tools rather than military ones. When the military is engaged, Obama will tend towards its targeted use through such mechanisms as drones, Special Forces and action in cyberspace. Given the strong desire by the US public to pull back military forces, and their high cost, Obama is very unlikely to deploy them in large numbers except as a last resort." "The challenges and contraints that the US will face in projecting power abroad will also make it more important, and more likely, that the US will seek to collaborate with key partners, international institutions and other stake holders in order to achieve its objectives." I think we are already seeing this policy trend taking shape in the current conflicts (Libya, Syria, Mali, Yemen, etc.) 

I could go on and on with stories, stats and commentary both positive and negative, and I wonder will 2013 be the year of Africa?

• AFRICA: CLINTON ANNOUNCES $86.5 MILLION IN PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS

• EMERGING CHALLENGES IN AFRICA REQUIRE FLEXIBILITY

• US WEIGHS BASE FOR SPY DRONES IN NORTH AFRICA

• AL-QAEDA IN AFRICA: AFTER ALGERIA AND MALI THE DIE IS CAST FOR NEW STRUGGLE AS TERROR SPREADS LIKE A VIRUS

• MANAGING MALI

• ERITREA: WHEN IS A MUTINY NOT A MUTINY?

• TRAPPED BETWEEN AFRICA AND SAUDI ARABIA

Check out some of these social enterprises and indivisuals who are doing amazing work in Africa - 

Catapult Design

IDEO.org

The Witts

As Louise Arbour from the International Crisis Group said, "If Africa's dividends of democracy, prosperity are not shared, they can trigger a huge conflict." From the cross-roads which way will the continent go?

Life changing weekend....

I have been passionate about issues of justice and concern for the poor and oppressed for most of my life. Over the past 29 years that passion has found many different outlets and modes of expression; for example, this blog, or volunteering, even some of my jobs. One of the things I have been exposed to over and over again is the world of human trafficking; trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation or bonded labor.

Last weekend I went to a conference, the Freedom Summit. Over 35 anti-trafficking organizations (most from the Bay Area) were present. It was AMAZING! It's great to see so many organizations working together. I like that the conference focused on doing things. 10/10/10 was the mantra of the weekend. What can you do in 10 minutes? 10 days? and 10 months? In the spirit of accountability and transparency, I wanted to share what my 10/10/10 are; as well as, a few other reflections and things I learned.

First, I learned about a new missionary. Well an old missionary that I am new to discovering. Her name is Alice Harris. She was a missionary in the Congo. To curry diplomatic favor King Leopold II of Belgium agreed to allow several missionaries into the Congo in 1898. Several were outraged at what they saw, the brutal forced labor system. When they returned home they spoke openly and often about the atrocities, Africans whipped to death, rivers full of corpses, and piles of severed hands. Alice Harris, a British Baptist took photographs of what she witnessed. Here's a great article if you want to know more; click here. I am moved by the simplicity of her witness.

Several of the speakers expressed an excitement, an appreciation and a reservation about the growing tide of interest in anti-trafficking. Did you know President Obama's speech on trafficking at the Clinton Global Initiative was the longest speech against slavery since Lincoln (watch it here). There are more organizations coming into this space everyday, the attorneys general are coming together to create consistent state by state legislation; it really is amazing. But as so many speakers pointed out enthusiasm does not equal success. Fighting for freedom is messy - freedom is a maintenance issue and maintenance is not a sexy issue. So how do we sustain this movement over the long haul?

Did you know 70% of native born trafficking victims are foster children. 70%! That is a SERIOUSLY high risk group of children. I attended a workshop focused specifically on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC). If we had a spare bedroom I would have signed us up on the spot to help home one of these kids. But its so hard. These kids need so much love, and so much more than love. I don't know that we could really help, but I want to. I think those kids deserve it. Most end up in group homes (I've worked in one, it's not a cool place), and those over the age of 12 almost never get adopted.

One more thing, before I get to my 10/10/10. One major part of trafficking is supply and demand. So let's talk consumption. What do I buy? Where do I buy it? And what impact does that have on the world? A couple of organizations to look into. Slavery Footprint is a website where you can learn more about bonded labor and its impact on the things you buy. You can even take a short quiz to learn how many slaves are working for you, and then hopefully make some life changes. Another organization that I learned about for the first time last weekend is Trade As One. Which is now offering a subscription box of goods you usually use, but that are sourced ethically! SO COOL!

Ok, my 10/10/10
In 10 minutes I...

• Found the Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Facebook page and Liked it, so I can get updates about what is happening here!
• I took the Slavery Footprint quiz and found out how many slaves I have working for me.
• I programed the National Human Trafficking Hotline into my phone (The number is 1-888-3737-888).

In 10 days I...

• Talked with the Families and Youth minister at my church to find out if there are any Foster Families in our church that I could support/encourage.
• Followed up with some folks from the CSEC workshop to again get connected to the foster care community in Marin.
• Reached out to Justin Dillon who founded Slavery Footprint to see if he would be interested in coming to where I work to talk about supply chain and consumption. He is!! Eeek. So excited.

In 10 months I plan to...

• Continue to network in my county to find out who is working in this space, and since the more I dig in the more I realize there aren't many/any find out what can I do to change this.
• Begin to take the knowledge I have about supply and demand and my own consumption patterns and make a significant change in where I buy clothes, groceries, and how I in general spend my money.
• Continue to raise awareness of a variety of justice issues at work.

Whose with me?! What are your ambitious goals for 2013? How are you going to change the world around you?

Weekly Reading List 1.18.13

Mali, Mali, Mali...

Background/Context/Additional Info.

• MASS RAPE, AMPUTATIONS AND KILLINGS -- WHY FAMILIES ARE FLEING TERROR IN MALI
• BEHIND MALI'S CONFLICT: MYTHS, REALITIES & UNKNOWNS
• FRENCH STRIKES IN MALI SUPPLANT CAUTION OF U.S.
• FRANCE IN MALI: THE END OF THE FAIRYTALE
• MALI: ANOTHER CHANCE TO LEAD FROM BEHIND
• CARTER CENTER: GUINEA WORM COULD MAKE A COMEBACK IN MALI
• MAP OF NORTHERN MALI: FRENCH INTERVENTION

The battle that rages on.

• FRANCE GETS DEEPER IN MALI WAR: ARE THEY READY?
• ISLAMISTS PROMISE FIGHT ACROSS SAHARA, BUT RESPONSE DISJOINTED
• AS RESCUE OPERATION CONTINUES IN ALGERIA FATE OF HOSTAGES REMAINS UNCLEAR
• HOPE IN MALI RISES WITH INTERNATIONAL MILITARY INTERVENTION
• I hesitate to put up too many articles about the battle itself because it seems to change daily if not hourly. If your interested I'd recommend following a couple of people on twitter for more up-to-the-moment information - 
• @BlogsofWar
• @joshuafoust
• @DaveedGR
• @SarahJSchles
• @texasinafrica

Weekly Reading List 1.16.13

Religious Freedom

• STATE DEPARTMENT EXPRESSES "SERIOUS CONCERNS" ABOUT AMERICAN PASTOR SAEED ABEDINI'S IMPRISONMENT
• THE WEEKLY NUMBER - "...nearly one-in-seven countries (15%) were affected by current religion-related wars or the continuing displacement of people from previous religion-related fighting."
• NORTH KOREA CONFIRMS ARREST OF "KENNETH" BAE, an American citizen, on charges of committing "hostlie acts against the republic."
• PAKISTAN: MINORITY RIGHTS DAY -- YEAR 2012 PROVED TO BE A NIGHTMARE FOR RELIGIOUS MINORITIES
• RIGHTING THE WRONGS OF BLASPHEMY LAWS

Anti-Trafficking

• SLAVERY'S GLOBAL COMEBACK
• WALMART'S HUMAN TRAFFICKING PROBLEM
• HOW MOBILE PHONES AND THE INTERNET FIGHT (AND HELP) HUMAN TRAFFICKING
• IS DELHI SO DIFFERENT FROM STEUBENVILLE?

Fun!!

• Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum OBJECT OF THE DAY - "Discover a different object from the Museum's collection every day of the week!"
• SCIENCE OF PERSUASION -