I’m the TA for the Stanford Design Program’s intro design class (ME313 – Human Values and Innovation) this quarter. It’s a class I took in the first quarter of my grad program and found it to be a very formative experience – an indoctrination into the culture of design and a crash course in its [...]
Today is my last full day in Kuria and it’s been perfect. We were invited to the home of Peter Mwala, one of our boda drivers. He lives in a nearby village named Taragwiti, a little past the turnoff to the Nuru granary. I’d passed by it on a boda several times and waived to [...]
Anyone who has traveled in the developing world has encountered some level of disorganization, a redefined sense of time, or in its subtlest form, a different way of doing things. I believe that to be successful in life or travel in these regions of the world, you simply need to learn to roll with it. [...]
It’s not the first time I’ve seen a person with leprosy. However, a simple experience during my walk for groceries yesterday reminded me of the nobility of the human condition. I walked down the main road of Isibania, a rather seedy border town, but our closest source of shops and supplies. I’m always guarded as [...]
It’s funny how as I sit here in Kenya I feel so far removed from my “other life” back in the States, yet it still comes flashing back sometimes. Often at really unexpected times. I picked up a pen to write a couple of notes on a printout this morning and it just happened to [...]
It’s been almost a week since Foundation Team 4 left and the house has been much quieter. Before they went on their way, however, David had asked our security guard to make him a handful of arrows. Though he wanted to go with the poisoned variety, we convinced him of all of the ways that [...]
On the whole, the food in Kenya is turning out to be much better than I expected. For those of you who remember, I had a bit of a run-in with Kenya’s equivalent of Delhi Belly last time I was here. I blame some combination of meat and grease and while the grease is somewhat [...]
I have now been in Kuria for almost a full week. As with any new experience, the variety and newness has made it feel much richer than a mere 6 days. I arrived safely by bus after spending my first night in Nairobi. Aside from a rooster in a box, some baby chickens mingling with [...]
<written July 2, 2010 ~10am PDT> Sitting here in the San Francisco airport, watching as people sleepily sip their coffee and browse the morning paper, there’s a sense of calm routine to it all. For me, however, today represents everything that routine isn’t. It represents a departure, and not only in the literal airline sense. [...]
As graduation weekend draws to a close, I can’t help but reflect on how far we’ve all come. The second years now hold masters degrees. They presented brilliantly at Annenburg, each telling a compelling story of their two years in the loft and at Stanford. I’m inspired by their journey and am equally looking forward [...]