Being in a constant state of stress and panic for work has become so natural to me I don’t even react anymore. Is that paradoxical? Probably. Yes, Friday evening. And my boss just told us we have only been working on 1/4 of the full workload for last two weeks. And I’m actually a bit excited. I think I must have a tendency to torture myself. Well, I’m excited because I suddenly got a much bigger picture idea about how […]
Sometimes I wonder if it really isn’t such a good strategy to attract so many young, ambitious, talented, able-to-see-in-multiple-perspectives, progressive people into development work. Development is a big industry. It’s an important industry, in my opinion. It is still an industry, with mechanical inputs, and not so predictable outputs. Yet, the problems we try to fight are so vast and complicated, that I’m not sure being an industry would actually make much of a difference. This thought came about when […]
A discussion worth remembering, from yesterday. Academics is changing. It is more and more about doers who want to connect the world of theory with the world of real world experimentation and hands-in-the-mud implementation. It’s about being critical and radical, but being able to communicate and persuade others. It’s about being idealistic and stubborn, but being able to live with the frustrations and fight until the end. It’s about not losing the bigger goal to prestigious ivory towers. Not letting […]
My generation – especially youth who are for whatever reason attracted to the activist lifestyle; especially those coming from a North American perspective – are often taught that we have the potential to change the world. To make an impact. To save the earth and humanity from an apocalypse. Throughout my high school and university years, I was also fed a steady diet of such propaganda. (I’m using propaganda here without a negative connotation.) I don’t disagree, nor do I […]
