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Send me a text – remix
With some soundcloud beats, to follow my xtranormal video. I am not getting any writing done today…
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Day one in Kakuma
Our new Executive Director and board just took a trip to Kenya, and it brought me back to the first time I visited Kakuma. I hear that some of the refugees recorded a video message for me and am excited to see it. “It will make you go kkkkk,” they said, which is Somali-text for…
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Towards a post-skills economy
I’ve been meaning to write these thoughts down for a few months now, but since today some of my ideas friends have called crazy and unrealistic are in the New York Times, I’ll get it out. Now many of us can agree that Ray Kurzweil is a nut, but his singularity theory is singularly captivating.…
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Francis Ford Coppola on film
Thanks to Ted, and thanks to Francis for this interview. One of the greats gives us a lesson in film you’d be unlikely to forget. His speech shows the same honest grace that his movies do, and that he claims to strive for at the end of the interview. A man constantly striving to find…
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A silver lining on war
A silver lining of a cloud riddled with bullets – it’s still silver. When I arrived at the refugee camp in Dadaab I was bowled over the head with the monstrosity of what I saw. The millions of lives shattered in the name of meaningless political conflict had me losing hope for a while in…
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Foli Rhythm
Sent to me by Mark, it is very beautiful and mesmerizing. Is it representative of Malian culture? Respectful? Nativist? Are we watching as a participant or an observer? What does an American notice as we watch? What would a Malian notice? Either way it is a beautiful film.
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Guest Post: Sex for Survival by Liban Rashid
I have asked some friends of mine from the Dadaab and Ifo camps to to write guest posts on my blog about their lives and experiences in the camps. This post is from Liban Rashid, a young Somali man who came to Dadaab as a child about 18 years ago and has been there ever…
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Reverse shock
Jet engines rocketing for hours on end. Flexing my privilege. London UK and a hostel filled with drunken teenagers traveling around the world and partying every night. Most of them are “broke” and that word means too many things. Cold weather. Hedonism, toasted bagels with the inside cut out and veggie cream cheese and if…
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Lose our own soul
I feel that our generation is destined to gain the world but lose our own soul. We will have perfect vision, perfect hearing, perfect lifespan as the world falls to ruin at our feet.
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Sorrow and Joy we live and we love
Places have a way of blossoming open right as one is about to leave them. Three days before I am to depart Nairobi it has revealed itself to me in the glory of a thorny rose. I just came back from a two hour cab ride with a lovely man named Joseph. John’s African name…