Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Interesting article from Frank Rich


The article's dated by a month or more, but lately I've been thinking of similar issues though from the perspective or field-level Malawi.

What both Mr. Rich and I are wondering is why does it also have to be some internationally funded bi/multi-lateral organization--cumbersome at inception, more or less doomed from the get-go--that gets to try to improve the situation out here in Malawi? How about this instead: a company, delivering a product or service at a profit that creates a market to which small farmers can sell, using these profits to reinvest in the business to open up further opportunities for small farmers? Doesn't seem so bad, so whimsical, though the domain of small farmer economics seems forever dominated by non-governmental/non-profit organizations.

As Mr. Rich quotes Dan Pallotta in his article, "Want to make a million selling violent video games to kids? Go for it. Want to make a million helping cure kids of cancer? You're labeled a parasite."

Something to think about--maybe even a future possibility.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Starting a new blog

It's a new year; I need a new blog.

Sharing might not always be net-positive, but I'm fairly sure that I've over-erred on the cautious side: I've kept a lot bottled-up on my computer's disk space. 

New approach: the creative writing I've been doing, the thinking I've been scribbling down, the photos and videos I've sampled are all going to find an outlet here. My general philosophy on sharing ideas is that likely half the value is simply in the decision to share and in the intellectual honesty that is created. The other half is the benefits of new perspective, where less is less and more is really more. 

It's all going to be here, at this site. And all of it will be made better through reader feedback.