2011-03-24
I’ve read many books over these past few months, including Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Madeleine Balchan, another GCY Fellow, had read the same book in high school, the following is an excerpt from a discussion we had about the parallels between the book and our GCY experience. Naomi: Brave New World is set in...
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A post written in October… Had someone given me the chance to return to California today, I may have taken the person up on her or his offer. There were a few things I could depend on today: the fact that I would be going to school, the intensive heat, and my body’s capability of...
Read More2011-03-23
A post written in October… “Life is not in the pulse, but in the heart” “La vie n’est pas dans le poulse, mais dans le Coeur” Today, I was nervous for the first time since I began my GCY experience. This feeling of uncertainty hit me as I sat at a table in ACI Baobab...
Read More2011-03-23
Aïsha, a little girl who attends the school across the street, is not part of my family, but as she lives in the next village over she eats lunch with us on school days. She is a reticent pair of open eyes that stares unabashedly and eerily never seems to blink. Sometimes I try to...
Read More2011-03-23
A post written in October… As my first month’s supply of malaria medication comes to an end, I am becoming aware that I have been living in Senegal for almost a month. I’ve been living in Senegal for a month, and I still cannot make up my mind how this change has warped my perception...
Read More2011-03-22
identity – the set of characteristics that somebody recognizes as belonging uniquely to himself or herself and constituting his or her individual personality for life Imagine that your identity was taken from you. Specifically, imagine that five defining factors of your identity were taken from you: your gender, your age, your economic status, your...
Read More2011-03-22
A week ago, I was selling crème glaces and frozen ginger juices for my work at a soccer tournament. The first game had the local girls team, Mama Nguedj, playing against a team from Mbour. What struck me is that during the game the girls were laughing. They seemed to be sacrificing competitiveness for enjoyment....
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