my current worry

Zoe doesnt like to nap anymore. She has slept fantastic at night lately, but not so much during the day. I got great amounts of work done in her 3 hour morning nap of time past. But apparently she believes she has outgrown that. I am a bit worried about the dissertation proposal that I am presenting the second week of may, which has tremendous amounts of work to be done - work that first requires a few brilliant solutions to be worked out, which requires time. But this evening my family arrives (which of course means that today and yesterday my bits of time were spent cleaning) and then on Sunday Zoe and I will get in the car and drive back to Nebraska with them. Yes, Baltimore to Omaha. Its going to be a very, very long drive. When I get back there will be about two weeks to do all that brilliant dissertation stuff. I hope the fates are on my side, because it will take serious amounts of luck.
Meanwhile, even when I have a moment to do so, I cant seem to think about International Organizations or academia. Just not in the groove.
When Im back I will tell the story of the long road trip, cd recording, brother's star role in his musical, and Zoe's first plane ride - all planned during this grand adventure.
wish us luck.
please.

Social Entrepreneurship, and an ode to Natalie Portman

The New York Times Magazine this week has a great article called The Celebrity Solution. Traub writes about the power that celebs have to get interviews, to raise awareness of issues, to raise money, and controversy. While it is may be absurd that being an actor should give one some authority that allows them audience with politicians, royalty, policymakers, movers and shakers, absurdity doesnt matter as much as truth. And in truth, a movie star can bring all sorts of money and influence with no more than a brief mention of a cause, the wearing of a t-shirt, or a life's dedication -- the spectrum of celebrity cause involvement is wide. I can not help but to love the portrayal of Natalie Portman,who is hollywood's sole microfinance celebrity promoter. Portman, as portrayed, knows that the extent of her influence is bizarre, and yet uses it. I am interested in the fact that she uses it to promote Finca, one of the many microfinance organizations. Microfinance, or microcredit, has seen a huge boom since its incarnation and success with Yanus, his winning of the nobel prize, the publishing of his book, and the UN' year of microfinance in 2005. The current debate in the microlending world is over its commercialization - the entrance of for-profit lenders into the game of credit for the poor. The whole topic is fascinating. Is giving credit to the poor a "human right" as Yanus argues, or a simple expansion of capitalism into a new market, taking advantage of and profit from, a sector that has the least to give? I believe that microcredit is an incredibly powerful development tool when done properly. The current question is whether or not for-profits can do it properly, as well as, or even better than non-profits do. Can you promote development while profiting? There are a ton of new businesses that seek to do so. These "fourth sector" organizations profit and promote, save the world and self sustain. I am currently (supposed to be) writing a conference paper on this very topic: the blending of non-profit and for-profits and the implications for International Politics.
This post has struggled to stay on point, there are just so many aspects of celebrity philanthropy, microfinance, fourth sector, social entrepreneurship, and Natlie Portman to talk about. The Ecorazzi regularly posts about Portman; her vegan shoes, how Toby Maguir veganized her, etc etc. And in a final note: I just watched The Darjeeling Limited (which I loved to pieces) and the pre-movie with Portman and Jason Schwartzman was fantastic too.
and in a final final note: if i wasnt writing a dissertation and raising a baby i would be one of the social entrepreneurs in the slide show in the NYT magazine (or like them). (or want to be anyway).

struggling

i am really struggling with motivation, feeling a huge immobile mental block. there is no good reason that i should not be able to do academic work right now, the baby has not arrived and may wait weeks to do so. i am not busy. part of the problem is what i am supposed to work on, which is a paper for a conference at the end of march on a topic that is interesting for sure but not precisely what i already know about. the abstract i sent ages ago turned out to not be the line of inquiry i have followed since...that's the problem with sending abstracts before you write papers. i want to attend the conference to listen to other people, but if i am going to go i should participate, as Ive been invited to (and it doesn't hurt the cv of course). cant participate without writing the stinking paper. I'm also seriously unsure about leaving my new little baby behind - there is a chance the husbub may come along so we could bring the babe. that would be great. though involve buying another plane ticket. i already paid for the conference so if i bail now i lose money. but i am seriously doubting my ability to pull off this little feat of writing. this is what academics are supposed to be good at - one of the few things we are supposed to be good at - and i seriously doubt ill get it done. really disappointed in myself for finding it so impossible and knowing it will only be harder if i wait. unless the baby serves as some sort of muse - but I'm not trying to be a poet. so its doubtful.
usually going to a new location, a coffee house generally, helps. but the car wont start. uhuh.

Boo

Happy Halloween!
I have spent all of Halloween working away on my dissertation prospectus. Deadlines haunting me. Interrupted intermittently by ghosts and goblins asking for treats. Actually though, there havent been many ghosts or goblins. Maybe half of the kids have had costumes, and those were usually not much more than funny glasses or a garbage bag with arm holes. What's the deal with not dressing up? At least put on funny clothes out of your parents closet and some crazy makeup, or something. I remember making some crazy computer costume out of a giant cardboard box and markers/glue etc that my best friend and I both wore so that one of us had to walk backwards and when one said "treat or treat!" we then turned around and the other said "trick or treat!" we probably looked absolutely ridiculous but at least we were creative. but as my tim said, seems the real spirit of halloween is not creative costumes but "give me candy or get egged." I shouldnt be so negative, there was some creativity, and everyone was friendly (no eggs).
Back to my very own ghosts of dissertation past present and future.

unraveled

research design is like a loosely knitted sweater. last week i had what looked like a nice pretty cardigan, but i looked closer, tugged at the sleeves, and found one loose string.

i pulled it.

i tried to stitch up the hole. but it didnt hold.

im left with unraveled yarn and a conundrum.

sometimes i think i should be a journalist. i would like to study the world and tell you about it without the bother of the theories and hypotheses that are so hard to construct. i would like to "run barefoot through the data," as they say.

but were supposed to wear theory-laden shoes.

shoes suck.

thinking about profit and public goods

in a class on research methods yesterday we were talking briefly about UNAIDS, the innovative new integration of several UN organizations (WHO, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP and others) to tackle HIV/AIDS. i am starting research on global public-private partnerships and UNAIDS is a significant example, and so i mentioned that private organizations are also part of this project, like coke for example. as people expressed skepticism about the role of for-profit organizations joining public-policy projects, i threw out some of the reasons this happens not infrequently, but all the time. huge on the list is brand image and 'giving back'. but i also said that coke explains its attempt to rid africa of aids in rational homo-economicus terms - if AIDS (continues to) decimate the market in africa, coke loses that market. ooh, that caused quite a chill and exclamations of "wow thats callous." the truth is, well there are several truths. one truth is that coka-cola is the largest private employer in africa and it trully is in their economic best interest to provide treatment to their workers and systematically cure the continent of the decimating pandemic. another truth is that they, and other companies participating in their own projects for global improvement of some sort, have been pushed to do so by vocal demands by consumers. brand image is incredibly powerful but not impenetrable and their sensitivity to protest campaigns is a significant tool regularly and necessarily exploited those concerned about corporate (ir)responsibility. and because we raise hell the coca-colas of the world partner with projects as promising as UNAIDS. we shouldnt expect them to do it for reasons beyond economic rationality, instead we should continue to shape their incentives. that takes constant observation and pressure. with vigilant skepticism the for-profit world can be a powerful (indeed at many times necessary) partner in the pursuit of public goods.

(i am really happy with the direction my research is going! still a whole lot of ground work to do before i get anywhere near a full proposal, but im increasingly excited about the issue area, so im pretty sure i have at least that much right. thankgoodness.)