Kim started her new job at USAID and loves it. Every once in a while she passes by the White House, since her office is a block away. This is the house she has been staying in a few nights each week; it's adorable and so comfortable: And here we are in Albany at our favorite place enjoying a powerful Spaten Optimator and a nice Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier

Kim's 32nd Birthday at Red Rooster in Harlem Thanksgiving in Exeter, NHKim's new job in 2012!

Hiking the Hudson Valley with good friends:

Brandi Carlile in Central Park:

10k on Governor's Island:

Nate's parents visit:

Hillary Clinton was in Tanzania and Kim was able to attend her visit to an urban hospital where she announce a new gender-based violence prevention initiative and to see the integrated services offered at the facility. You can even see Kim in the background of this photo:

We saw Melissa for the first time in over a year - but only for 1 day! We made the most of it. Here are some photos:

Nate's on winter break and we decided to spend two nights in Philly. We've never been there and it was a great mini-vacation! The highlights were Independence Hall, the Constitution Center, some incredible restaurants...

Last week Coach Cole and the Bathgate Bulldogs varsity basketball team wrapped up their first season in the PSAL Division B League. They had a great season, building on their first year in the PSAL (Developmental League) and ending this season with a .500 record (10 and 10). They have a lot to be proud of! They had some great wins and a few heartbreakers - including the playoff game, which ended in overtime. We're both already really looking forward to next year.

Right before we left for Philly, Kim returned from her 13th trip to Africa since September 2008. This trip was a change from what she usually does - rather than providing office-to-office support she was able to work with colleagues on a course of facilitative supervision for quality improvement. The audience included district and provincial reproductive health officers and they visited both district and provincial hospitals conduct medical monitoring, infection prevention checks, procedure observations and client interviews. The training was in Kisumu, Kenya (on the shores of Lake Victoria) and it was lovely to spend a week in 90° pleasantness.

For Nate's birthday Thursday, he played a rec league basketball game at the Chelsea Piers. Those games always seem to fall on our birthdays. But Friday we went to the Yakees - Red Sox game and then Saturday we celebrated three birthdays with lots of good friends.

...unfortunately we forgot to get photos of Chelan, except for some golf shots! But we did have a lovely visit. There was a notable picnic table construction project and we stayed at the new cabin at Newman (the old family cabin is on the right, the new one on the left).

For 4 days at the beginning of August, Kim went to Tanzania to work with two projects and observe community events such as this:

Then back in Nairobi, our last few days, we saw a few more sites such as the Kenyatta center and the view of the city.

Before that, during our fourth week in Kenya, we took advantage of an opportunity to take a road trip across the country. Kim was heading to a work assignment in Kisumu, the third-largest city in Kenya which is alongside Lake Victoria, and we decided to drive instead of fly since it’s only about as far as Spokane to Seattle. We were joined by two Kenyan friends who are colleagues of Kim’s. The drive was unforgettable. We were thrilled to get to see so much of the country. We saw quite a variety of cities, towns, and topography. Kenya is beautiful! I’m not sure what we were expecting, but the countryside is gorgeous. We dodged a few potholes, but in general the highways were in good shape. We saw all sorts of agriculture, including tea, corn and coffee. There were also a few groups of zebras and baboons near the road. We took an alternate route on the way back, which took us near Lake Nakuru and also afforded a stop at a popular roadside “butchery” barbeque spot where we enjoyed some goat leg and liver and “African sausage,” right off the grill.While in Kisumu, Kim spent a day out in the field, visiting projects that are in the surrounding communities. Nate got to tag along. We drove a couple hours outside of the city of Kisumu into some rural towns where Kim’s company collaborates with other NGOs to support Community Based Organizations (CBO). We visited two groups of volunteer mentors who go door-to-door to educate and support OVCs (Orphaned and Vulnerable Children). The volunteers provide information and some tools to make drinking water safer, bed nets to prevent malaria, HIV/AIDS prevention commodities, and education. School fees are also supposed to be provided for the OVCs. We had the chance to hear from the volunteers regarding the successes and obstacles of their work. It was just a quick glimpse into Kim’s work, but it felt like Peace Corps for a day.

We arrived in Nairobi in the evening of July 5th. We are here for five weeks while Kim is on an assignment for work. We are lucky to have an extremely comfortable arrangement for the summer as we are house-sitting for someone who’s in the U.S. for vacation. Our first few days in Nairobi were spent settling in, learning our way around our neighborhood (we know the city a little: Kim has been to Nairobi a few times and we were here together this past April for a week), and doing some grocery shopping. Kim will be quite busy this summer. (Actually, in Kenya we’re a bit south of the equator so we’re actually here for the winter. It’s quite comfortable, consistently in the low-to-mid 70s.) She’ll be working with local staff to help support a variety of local projects. Nate, therefore, is in charge of shopping and cooking and has thus far made good use of the barbeque. There’s a car here that we can use. Traffic in Nairobi can be horrendous and, at times, a bit chaotic. We also have to learn to drive on the left side of the road. However, we’re going to take our chances. We went out with the driver from Kim’s office for a few hours on our first Saturday in town to practice driving on the left and to get a feel for the city. We passed the test. It does take 20 minutes or so to get the feel for driving on the left to re-set the instincts involved when making turns. Of course the roads are narrow and full of pot holes, so that adds some extra excitement. One eye on the oncoming cars, one looking out for potholes to dodge.

We had a great outing our first Sunday in Nairobi to the suburb of Karen (Blixen), named for the lady in the Meryl Streep/Robert Redford movie, Out of Africa. We visited an elephant orphanage where about 17 baby elephants (ages 5-28 months) live. These elephants have been orphaned due to their parents dying for being killed by poachers or other reasons. They raised them until they are about three years old and then reincorporate them, slowly, into the wild. We also visited a giraffe center where a few giraffe live. There’s also a museum where Karen Blixen lived, so we checked that out. While Kim has been busy with work, Nate had the chance to visit a local organization that provides street kids and orphans with a home and education. There is also a golf course very near where we are staying, so Nate investigated that as well. On Tuesday July 13th, we flew to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for a five-day visit. Kim is working to support two local offices that have programs throughout the country involving family planning and HIV/AIDS. Whad the chance to enjoy some great Ethiopian food at a few different local spots. While we have spent time in poor countries, and seen poverty up close in the Dominican Republic, as well as in Kenya, in Addis Ababa the poverty is on another level. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, and this is reflected by the relatively dismal state of the infrastructure in its capital city. The condition of the roads and buildings, and the state that the urban poor find themselves in, is much more difficult in comparison to capital cities in other developing countries we have seen. That said, it is a comfortable city to walk around in the sense that it feels, and has a reputation for being, a relatively safe city. We are here during rainy season so there has been some rain each day and since we are at 7,500 feet in elevation, temperatures are mostly in the mid 60s. Addis is very green, covered with lots of trees. Nate has spent some time relaxing at the hotel, but also getting out to wander about the city and visit some local museums, including the National Museum which has a lot on the historical archaeological discoveries that have happened in Ethiopia. He also had an incredible opportunity to visit some garden projects run by the USAID Urban Gardens Program for HIV-Affected Women and Children. A former colleague of Kim’s runs the program here in Addis. Nate visited two local schools, a primary school and a secondary school, where students who have been affected by HIV (usually one or both parents have HIV or have died of the disease) have the opportunity to develop gardens within their schools. (Funding comes from PEPFAR, so it is target towards individuals who have been affected by HIV/AIDS.) The schools donate the land to the program and students are trained in agriculture and grow vegetables. The food is eaten by the students’ families and also sold to local stores—providing these kids and their families with healthy food and some income. However, this is just the start as the gardening program is used as an entry point to also provide business and health education to the kids, as well as providing them with emotional and psychological support—not to mention a sense of community within the youth group they work on their gardens with. Nate also had a chance to get a sense of the two public schools he visited, where conditions are appalling and classes crowded beyond belief (one school housed 3,000 students, with an average of 60 or 70 kids per class). However, it was an incredible opportunity to get a glimpse of what seems like a remarkable, sustainable program.

Karen Blixen's House.... "I had a farm in Africa...." Out of AfricaAnd then we went to the baby elephant orphanage and fed some giraffes.

Nairobi!!

Our summer house

Driving lessons - left side of the street

Andy's visit, NYC

7 . 3 . 2010New York, NY

7 . 3 . 2009

Wolfeboro, NH

7 . 3 . 2008

Spokane, WA

7 . 3 . 2007

Enriquillo, Dominican Republic

7 . 3 . 2006Victoria, BC 7 . 3 . 2005

Spokane, WA

She just lives way too far away... This is when I met her for the first time.

Clock project - 9 mangoes for 9 o'clock - get it? 5 Toes for 5:00, Dos Bohemia for 2:00.

Visit from the Coles, the High Line and Opera!

Nairobi National ParkNate's Spring Break

Dar es SalaamKim, for work, April 6-20

Sometimes I feel like I won the lottery. I go to work every morning and I still feel thrilled when I surface from the subway and see Macy’s in front of me, then I look to the left and see the lights of Times Square and walk down 34th to my midtown Manhattan office. We go to a Broadway show every other month. We live on an incredible street, in an amazing apartment. I run in Central Park. I’m married to the greatest man on earth. He never stops making me laugh, helps me get through each day, is always up for an adventure, and is very handsome. He also makes a perfect pot of coffee every morning and brings me flowers all the time. I think his job is the most interesting work in the world and he makes a huge difference every day. I think my job’s pretty interesting too – in fact, I’m challenged, inspired, and am continually learning new things every day. When will our luck run out? Knock on wood…

I had a pretty fantastic life before meeting Nate but things have only gotten better since then. For the both of us. We’re a good team. And I don’t know if we could do the things we’re doing now if we hadn’t already been through what we’ve been through in the past 8 years. Fortunately those challenges were things that we chose, rather than happening to us – we’ve dodged illness and financial instability, and we’re both grateful for that, for sure.

I get thoughtful when I’m travelling for work, going weeks on end with few people to talk to besides coworkers. My coworkers are pretty awesome, but I do miss our friends too. But it’s worth it because my company does great work. I really do believe that. For example, I’m in Kenya for two weeks and not only are we delivering an integrated package of health services to one of the poorest provinces with the highest HIV rate in the country, but we’re also circumcising a large number of men and reducing the spread of HIV, and providing livelihood skills and education to kids in this region. What I do is more office-y, putting agreements in place, managing communications from NY to our country offices, working on new bids and closing projects out – but I get to see my colleagues who are doing the especially difficult yet important work on the ground. I work with people that really do care and are approaching this in the right way.

Anyway, back to winning the lottery. It’s hard to be away from Nate, but the tradeoff has been that I have visited Africa 9 times in the past 20 months!! And I’m able to make the decision to come (and to bring Nate with me on two of the trips) at the drop of a hat because we're so supportive of one another but also are completely honest. I won’t always be able to do this; when we have kids, or if circumstances change, I am happy to know that I’ll have no regrets. Moving to NY was a huge transition but it has been the best decision we’ve ever made. Doing Peace Corps was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I am so grateful we did it – no regrets. All the other decisions along the way were also risks, but have turned out to be good choices: the decision to work for Planned Parenthood, to go to Willamette and UW, to study abroad in Chile, Ecuador, Spain, to not take the job in Honduras and stick with Nate instead, to eat delicious food even when it’s bad for me, to spend ridiculous amounts of money on things like travel and concerts, to run two marathons, to marry Nate. I’m a lucky gal.

Sometimes it’s harder to be this positive. For example, living on the other side of the country from our families can be hard, but just the other night I was reminded of how far technology has progressed when I could call my parents and shed a few tears about being a bit lonely and not being able to fall asleep, and they were there to comfort me. I called them from Tanzania!! For free!! Not to mention flying to visit has never been cheaper. Even though I’m living in a constant state of jet-lag, I guess there’s a positive outcome from even my more negative moments.

Life’s good. I am grateful for all my blessings and realize how lucky I am. I am so happy. And counting down the hours until Nate arrives in Nairobi (and to Africa for the first time!).

So, as I sit here on a Friday night in the Nairobi Holiday Inn, sipping some South African Pinotage and watching Al Jazeera with baboons on the roof above me, and getting ready to call Nate… I’m content. Tomorrow I’ll get to explore a bit of Nairobi and learn a bit more about this country and continent that I’m falling in love with and that I think Nate will love too.

The trip to L.A. to visit our sisters was fantastic:

Gonzaga - LMU Heartbreaker

Santa Barbara

Hiking in L.A.

Snow Day 2010!

Visiting Zanzibar Health Facilities Stone Town, Zanzibar Mikumi National Park Rural Iringa

This is the first time I’ve had a chance to really think about the tragedy in Haiti. The death and injury caused by the earthquake breaks my heart….POVERTY breaks my heart.

I’ve only heard slivers of information about it since I’m currently travelling in rural areas of Tanzania since the earthquake occurred. I’m worried about our friends (especially those we met when we lived in the Dominican Republic) who may currently be in Haiti and who have family in Haiti. I fear that violence and disease will be the next killers. I cannot begin to understand how relief workers will be able to provide the level of resources needed, when they are starting with such mass chaos. This is my field of work, and I have no idea how the international community will respond. Or who will be coordinating this effort. If we cannot even coordinate effective international development assistance in non-emergency situations, how can it be coordinated in Haiti? The international community needs to accept the role it has historically played in reinforcing and worsening the poverty that has caused so much suffering –including unfair loans that have lead to decades of burdensome debt repayment, and Haiti being somewhat ignored in development programs because the poverty is so severe elsewhere. Poverty is severe in the majority of the world because the rich continue to become richer, as the poor become poorer. This gap has only widened, even when billions of dollars in foreign assistance has been pouring into places like Africa, Asia, and Haiti.

I’ve spent the week touring communities that are AS poor, if not poorer than Haiti, but are not victims of a recent natural or man-made disaster. Which is worse – chronic malnourishment, disease, structural violence, government corruption and international corporate opportunism, or acute disaster? Focusing on the acute disaster will not lessen the effect of long-term debilitating poverty, which actually kills more people. My heart breaks to hear about the thousands of people who died in collapsed buildings, and it also breaks for the people who die early deaths because of extreme poverty – poverty that CAN be alleviated, it just cannot be alleviated anytime soon given the way poverty alleviation efforts are currently operating.

This is what I’m talking about, taken from an op-ed in the NY Times:

“Hence the current state of affairs: at least 10,000 private organizations perform supposedly humanitarian missions in Haiti, yet it remains one of the world’s poorest countries. Some of the money that private aid organizations rely on comes from the United States government, which has insisted that a great deal of the aid return to American pockets — a larger percentage than that of any other industrialized country.

But that is only part of the problem. In the arena of international aid, a great many efforts, past and present, appear to have been doomed from the start. There are the many projects that seem designed to serve not impoverished Haitians but the interests of the people administering the projects. Most important, a lot of organizations seem to be unable — and some appear to be unwilling — to create partnerships with each other or, and this is crucial, with the public sector of the society they’re supposed to serve.”[1]

That pretty much sums up what I worry about and struggle with in thinking about my career, every day.

Before working in Africa, I thought that maybe aid-funded infrastructure in Africa might be better than in places like the Dominican Republic or Haiti, since so much development money has been sent here. BUT IT ISN’T. And then I wonder why the DR’s health facilities are SO BAD, given that the economy is so much stronger than countries in Africa where I now work. Even transitioning economies like the DR cannot seem to fix their weak health systems. With or without international assistance. And there may not have been an earthquake that killed 50,000 people in one day here in Tanzania, but I’ve observed the living, working and health conditions of people who will die early deaths here – completely preventable deaths – and the extremely difficult lives they live before then. I am troubled by these questions every day. This is my career and I can’t come to terms with all of the challenges that we face.

Here’s a snapshot of where USAID’s money goes: http://www.usaid.gov/policy/budget/money/

I’ve seen incredibly strong and resilient communities in these countries, especially when I lived in Vicentillo, Dominican Republic. In Haiti, people will move to safer areas. People will subsistence farm, seek medical attention where facilities are still functional, find their extended families, and they will get through this. And there ARE some very inspirational programs, funding mechanisms, organizations and people working in this field that are making a real difference.

But I’m tired of the spin we put on our work. This is a life-and-death wakeup call. We could be doing better. All the efforts rich countries could be doing to lessen the gap between the rich and the poor need to be better. We HAVE to do better.

This is all quite depressing and pessimistic. But I do see reasons to hope. And I do believe that my work, my organization’s work, and international development writ large will rise to the occasion and do better. But in the wake of the Haiti disaster, I am having a hard time tapping into that optimism.

[1] Kidder, T. Country without a Net. New York Times Op-Ed. 13 Jan. 2010.

We spent 9 days in Washington for Christmas and enjoyed Andy's wedding, seeing many family and friends, the Christmas Carol in Seattle and the 25th in Spokane.

Andy's rehearsal dinner

The wedding... Seeing Willamette friends in Seattle... Spokane...

On Veterans day we moved from the 5th floor to the second floor. It's a very similar apartment, but has higher ceilings, a 20' balcony, and a loft in the bedroom. The most important change is not having to walk up 4 flights of stairs anymore with laundry, groceries, or anything else.

We had a Holiday/Housewarming party this weekend ...

Four months of early mornings, late nights, hundreds of miles and two pair of running shoes. One goal: conquer five urban boroughs *

Week 18 (June 27th): 6 miles

Week 17: 8 miles – Podcasts begin to become a very important part of my life – I’ll spend hundreds of hours with Slate gabfests, Fresh Air, and “Stuff you Should Know” over the next weeks

Week 16: 8 miles

Week 15: 10 miles

Week 14: 8 miles - on an early run this week I saw Jenna Bush with her secret service agents running in Central Park.

Week 13: 13 miles – my second time making two loops around Central Park (my first time was in 14° freezing cold weather in January for the Manhattan half marathon – the water cups were frozen)

Week 12: 10 miles

Week 11: 15 miles – Lake Chelan at 4:30am, 105° daytime heat

Week 10: 12 miles - Spokane – Centennial Trail, Beyoncé enters my playlist

Week 9: 18 miles – HOT and HUMID in NY – ran in my office for 6 miles on the treadmill and the rest on the Hudson

Week 8: 12 miles – Tanzania Training Run

Week 7: 19 miles – ran after work – got home at 9pm. My coworkers get wind that I am training for the marathon and start to ask me about it – I start to have a fan base!

Week 6: 13 miles – Queens Half Marathon, hours before I get on a plane for Ethiopia. The run was stressful since we arrived so late, I was worried about missing my flight and so we start with the pack at mile 3 and then pick up the last 3 miles running to the subway. We officially ran 13 miles – just not with the time that’s reported online.

Week 5: 20 miles – Ethiopia training run, on a treadmill at 7,726 feet above NY's elevation – "Unthought Known" by Pearl Jam enters my playlist, perhaps the best song ever for running.

Week 4: 13 miles - I almost didn't make it back to our apartment; I nearly fainted in the projects that are between our house and Central Park.

Week 3: 20 miles - Staten Island Half Marathon - with Nate, who I beat by 1 second (plus I ran up Manhattan Island for the last 7 miles, and I saw a minor celebrity on the way home, a "correspondent" from the Daily Show.)

Week 2: 15 miles – Empire State of Mind enters my playlist – way before it was performed at the World Series, for the record.

Week 1: 4 miles - at this point I've made at least 60 passes by Grant's tomb, 110 loops around Central Park, 110 runs through Columbia's campus and have trained in 2 hemispheres, on 2 U.S. coasts, 50 miles on treadmills (not desirable but were necessary) and Nate was my sidekick in two half marathons and my water boy on many runs ... I'm READY!

Week 0 (Nov. 1st): MARATHON!!! To be continued….

* I stole that line from the marathon guide magazine so I thought I'd better not plagiarize

I had a really fantastic day today. First, I slept through the night for a full 8 hours; so rare for my trips to Africa since the time difference is so significant. Yesterday I awoke at 2am and didn’t fall asleep again, even with my over-the-counter sleeping pills, so 8 hours last night was glorious.

Then, I had lunch at the house of the sister-in-law of my driver. It always humbles me how hospitable just about everyone is in the countries where I have visited – how spontaneous, how generous, and how unassuming they are. Of course, one is always skeptical when in the same sentence the inviter both asks me to find him a woman who can help him get a visa to the U.S. and he also invites me to “his family’s house” for a coffee ceremony. And I actually backed out on the invitation in the first place, but then re-thought it and asked if the offer was still standing (the offer for coffee, not the visa!). So we ended up at a HUGE house; I learned that it had been built 40 years ago by the sister’s (Samiya’s) parents, who at the time, were the middle men between the coffee farmers in Ethiopia and both Folgers and Maxwell House. So they were big money in the ‘60s and ‘70s. The house reflected it. But after the big money came, the 13 kids left for the U.S. and none wanted to return except Samiya, who now lives there with her 2 daughters, some servants, and some really old and sparse furniture.

I ate sheep – perhaps for the first time. It’s a little slimy and gristly. I had it with yellow brothy sauce and red spicy sauce. They also served up intestines but since Samiya had lived in the U.S., she knew that I would politely decline. Whew – thank goodness that was one cultural barrier I didn’t have to battle. They fed, and fed, and fed me, just like everywhere else I’ve been invited to eat. And I love to eat, but I had more than my fair share of sheep today.

The coolest part of the lunch was the coffee ceremony, which I’d never really participated in before. They toast the raw beans over the coals, right in the small room, and it gets full of smoke. Then they grind them and brew them in an unfiltered pot, pouring it from a fancy kettle that tends to keep most of the grounds out of the brew, but not all. We had dates and cookies before, and popcorn after – which is traditional. Two of the things I like most: coffee and popcorn (not usually together, but that was fine with me).

What really made this day special was a stop at Layla House, an orphanage where Adrian and Sean, from LCHS class of ’98 – go Tigers – adopted a baby girl a few months ago. After asking where it was located, at 3 other orphanages, we finally found it. It’s run by an adoption agency in Port Angeles, WA, and although I wasn’t able to have a full tour (I’m going back Monday), I did get to sit and talk with a mother who was visiting and picking up her adopted daughter. She’s from Seattle, and we talked at length about adoption, Ethiopia, Seattle and moving from coast to coast. I’m looking forward to seeing more on Monday.

What a fantastic day.

Back to school for Nate - the new 9th grade class seems to be incredibly different than last year's - different being a very good thing - and the first week went very well. We're having a rainy weekend and recovering from a very exhausting last week for both of us with good friends visiting.

Dar es Salaam and the office

Kim spent last week in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, working with one of the organization's largest programs, on their annual workplan. It was an intense orientation to workplanning, having never done this before, with long days and long conversations about next year's activities. Kim visited the Embassy and the USAID mission, and was lucky to escape to relax in Zanzibar over the weekend.

Team in the city: The South Seaport We ♥ Governor’s Island Governors Island Is:

- A former military post, with roles in the Revolutionary War, and virtually every other major U.S. military engagement including the War of 1812, Civil War, both World Wars, and the Gulf War.

- A unique park-like setting minutes away from the financial capital of the world.

- A National Historic Landmark District featuring 18th century fortifications, pre-Civil War arsenal buildings, Victorian and Romanesque Revival housing, as well as early 20th century neo-classical architecture. For almost two centuries, Governors Island was a military base - home to the US Army and Coast Guard. Due to changing needs in operations, the Coast Guard closed and “mothballed” the Island in 1996. New York’s leaders recognized the Island’s potential, and in 2003 the federal government sold most of the Island to the people of New York for one dollar.We spent the day on the island and it is now one more reason why we're loving living in this city. We've been almost exclusively eating our dinners in the park since it has been so hot (which is great, and nothing in comparison to our two years in the DR) but our apartment is only cool in our air conditioned bedroom. Picnic dinners are the best. We finally framed and hung some art from Kelda that we love. We're getting our place decorated....slowly....even after living a year here!

http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/best-of-america-9-honorable-awards/article141276-2.html10 Reasons to Love Our Country

What makes America great? Discover our country's strength, spirit and goodness through these amazing individuals.

Best Twist on Outward Bound

Validus Preparatory Academy, a public high school in New York City's South Bronx, takes a get-up-and-do-it approach to learning—and life. When studying evolution, ninth graders examined cell phones from the past 20 years to see how features have adapted. Outdoor science and social studies classes may have kids testing water in the Bronx River or mapping the history of a nearby park. In an area with soaring rates of asthma and diabetes, students get a gymful of cardio equipment. Validus, founded in 2005, is an Expeditionary Learning School, affiliated with Outward Bound and funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In June, the first class of seniors graduated, with 80 percent expected to receive diplomas and many bound for college. That's a proud accomplishment in a city with a 55 percent graduation rate and a neighborhood among the country's five poorest congressional districts. The hands-on method is key, but so is school size. With only 432 students, Principal Brady Smith knows everyone. "Crews" of students and advisers meet four times a week. Social worker Andrea Hines is "like our Dr. Phil," says Thaddius Mcfarlan, 15—able to solve any problem. "This school feels like a family," says Juliris De La Rosa, 18, a 2009 grad who's headed for Lehman College. "The teachers push you to figure out what you want to do in life. They even help you find a summer job." Adds Ahmed Hunt, 19,?"I think they'd probably find a kidney if you needed one."Pictured above are education all-stars De La Rosa, Smith, Hines, Hunt and Mcfarlan.GraduationValidus Celebrated its first graduation this week with Bronx Borough President as the commencement speaker.

Kim spent a week in Addis Ababa, her second trip this year, to work with the local staff in drafting partnership agreements with local organizations. Guaguas are the same everywhere!

First, an article about Gramps Cole in the Atlantic. Nate had been hearing about that Grant study, which started back in the 1940's on the news recently, so he was pretty surprised to hear that Donald was part of it! Very cool.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905u/donald-cole

Only two weeks of class left, the last day is June 15th and then there are state tests until June 26th. The school year is ending well. It's exciting at Nate's school because they just had their first ever prom and first graduation is in a couple weeks (we're going to the latter). They've had quite a rowdy group of 9th graders who are still adjusting to high school but he feels like he's definitely holding his own, making a difference, and that he's made a good connection with most of the students. Over the past month or two he's done a lot more collaborating with the other 9th grade teachers, which makes the work both easier and more interesting. For instance, they had students working on a project for which they would work on different pieces in Nate's class, science class, and in English class. This inter-disciplinary approach is an idea on which the school is based and also makes the work more relevant and authentic for the students. After a challenging, first-year-in-the-Bronx start last fall, Nate thinks he's made a lot of progress on his teaching--adjusting expectations and goals to what the students' needs are. He's teaching summer school for 4 weeks, basically all of July. We think it will work out well--he'll be collaborating on teaching with some friends from his school, and it's only 3 hours of teaching 4 days per week. He's not sure what he'll teach next year yet--it will either be 9th grade government & economics again, or 11th U.S. History (it depends on who else is coming back in the department). He'd be fine with either.

Nate's now a ping pong coach. Several of the teachers, along with the principal (who is virtually unbeatable), have played quite a bit of ping pong after school throughout the year, occasionally getting some kids involved. A couple of weeks ago, another teacher and Nate worked together on a week-long "intensives" class on chess and ping pong and from that they've put together a squad. They took a group of 7 boys down to a tournament in lower Manhattan and one of the two teams ended up winning! There are apparently a handful of teams scattered throughout the city at various high schools. They have a really solid contingent of boys from Ghana who, since they don't have a soccer team yet, are pretty big-time ping pong players. It's a great game, the kids like it, and it doesn't take much money or space. They're hoping to expand it as a regular club (or maybe even a varsity sport--it may happen...) for next year. He's also going to coach girls' basketball next year, although it is, for some reason, difficult to get girls to come out for it. They've been having some girls-only open gyms lately, but only with small interest (it's literally like in Peace Corps, trying to DRAG people to participate in stuff!). They're hoping to get it going more solidly next year.

In other news, Nate's rec-league basketball team that he plays on won the championship tonight. They did bring in a ringer for the playoffs (but so did other teams), but we have to say that Nate carried them with some pretty steady three-point shooting--not bad for the old guy on the team.

It turns out you can go hiking even if you live in NYC without a car--we took a train up north a couple of hours on Memorial Day and did a 5-hour hike along the Appalachian Trail (the train literally drops you off right in on the trail). We're hoping to do it regularly throughout the summer.

Another thing you can do is go to the driving range: Kim got Nate a punch-card to a driving range down in lower Manhattan and we both went down there early Sunday morning (it's cheaper before 9 am on weekends and we're talking Manhattan prices here), taking the clubs on the subway and the bus (only in New York...), and hit some balls. We were both pleasantly surprised with how we were both hitting them. Nate may get out to play my first round of the year later in the week with a friend, weather permitting.

Kim is going to do a week-long trip to Ethiopia next week. We both feel like the amount of travel has been just right and it's a pretty great opportunity.

We're looking forward to our vacations this summer--we'll be up in New Hampshire the week of the 4th of July and then we'll be in Washington State for the first two weeks of August.

We have a lot of very talented and creative people in our lives - we're so lucky! Please visit them all and buy their art!

Melissa Watson www.sidewaystree.etsy.com/

"For the last two years I lived in that small Caribbean village, surrounded by crystal blue waters, mountains of coffee, and sideways trees. I was working as a Peace Corps volunteer, and over the course of two challenging, amazing years I came to realize how fully the act of creating feeds my spirit—as well as the joy and empowerment that can come when others share in that creation. In the Caribbean I stuck mainly to supplies found in nature—smooth white beach stones, driftwood, seashells—but after being reunited with my tackle box of beading supplies (and moving inland a few hundred miles) I’ve turned my focus back to jewelry. It's a joy. I hope you enjoy exploring my etsy shop, and I also hope that every time you spot a sideways tree it brings a smile to your face!"

Kelda Martensen, http://keldamartensen.com/home.htmlKelda Martensen is a print, paper and book artist currently living in St. Louis, Missouri. Her work has been exhibited across the United States and in Germany, Korea, Lithuania and Denmark. "I explore a personal, political, and global narrative with use of symbolic pattern and irrational landscape. My prints carry an implied narrative of displacement and a quest to make one’s journey one’s home. Though personal in allegory, my work is essentially human as I interpret universal questions of individual and collective memory, cultural history, and natural wonder."

Nathaniel Willson, http://www.nathanielwillsonphotography.com/

My mission is to provide high quality professional photographs of all aspects of an architectural project from the earliest stages of planning through to the grand opening of the structure or space in order to promote the significance of all the companies and individuals involved in said project."

Kirsten Gunst, http://kirstengunst.com/

"In the 1980's my personal jewelry collection was a variety of outrageous neon baubles. In the 5th grade jewelry making became my new way to make money, which mostly consisted of attaching earring hooks to charms from my plastic charm necklace. As I grew older I taught myself how to make the jewelry I had seen in stores. I dabbled in Fimo clay, glass beads, macrame, and seed beads all before I was 14. My jewelry took a new turn after I landed a "dream job" in college at a bead store. Now, using semi-precious and precious stones with sterling silver and gold, I am excited to see the different stages my jewelry has gone through.

All of my stones are carefully chosen, and I consider the properties of the individual stone as well as its beauty when making a new piece. Many cultures believe that gemstones focus the earth's energies and have distinct healing properties. The traditional properties of the stones used are noted in the description of each piece.

Making jewelry, for me, is therapeutic and fun. I hope you find something you like!"

Liz Teich, http://etcmodernvintage.com/

"etc... is a unique line of modern-vintage jewelry by Liz & Kim Teich. The designers take vintage/antique pieces and update them with a modern twist, so every design is one-of-a-kind. Objects are recycled in new ways: watches on necklaces, cuff links as earrings, chandelier crystals and foreign coins no longer in circulation used as adornment, etc. Nothing is wasted...even old watch bands now become stylish bracelets. Everything is hand-made with restored and reconstructed pieces, which range from the 1800's to 1980's, including the chains."

We had our wedding album hand-made by a bookmaker in Seattle, Julia Weese Young, http://www.juliaweeseyoung.com/.

Our good friend Amelia's mom is a printmaker: Mimi Williams, http://www.mimiwilliamsprintmaker.com/index.php

http://www.engagingmen2009.org/42?locale=en_US

The Global Symposium on Engaging Men and Boys in Gender Equality is taking place in Rio de Janeiro, March 30 – April 3, 2009. Four hundred fifty participants from around the world are sharing their work in applied research, policy, and program development. Their work challenges rigid gender norms and engages men and boys in reducing violence against women and girls, promoting sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, and fatherhood and caregiving.

The four day Symposium promotes exchange, debate, and planning for action. The event includes:

Plenary and breakout sessions on men and violence; men and health; and men, caregiving, and fatherhood;

Skills building workshops, abstract presentations, and a Global Village showcasing the work of NGOs, United Nations agencies, governments, foundations and universities; and

An analysis of current advances in policy that engages men and boys in gender equality. The Symposium will also develop a “Call to Action” for governments to implement policy that engages men and boys in gender equality. The final results of the Call to Action as well as key conclusions from the Symposium will be available after the event on the MenEngage website .

They held an anti-violence march during school (all students and staff took part), in large part due to the two members of our current senior class who have been victims of gun violence in the past 10 months.

If you'd like to check it out, here are links from three different reports:

http://www.news12.com/NewCDA/articles/media_pop?region=BX&id=227125>

http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/95307/bronx-students-demand-end-to-gun-violence/Default.aspx

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=6702371

MAPUTO, MozambiqueA batik that shows:♥ - condom = SIDA (AIDS) Checkers with bottlecapsTrain Station

Setting up the office

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa

Larry Bird's Shoe

(ouch!)

We were at Jake & the Nathan's townhouse when Matt Cameron hit 4 homers in 1 game with the bat on the right.

It’s Christmas season here. It has been for about two weeks now. So we put up a decoration. Just one. ¡Feliz Navidad!

Two nights ago we went to Opening Day of the Dominican winter baseball league – it’s finally baseball season and everyone is pretty excited. A group of men from our community took us to the closest stadium, in San Pedro de Macoris, the city which has provided more major-leaguers per-capita than any other in the world and is also the hometown of Sammy Sosa. So I guess that naturally makes the Estrellas “our” team. However, the Estrellas have a record for being terrible, so we will probably shift our loyalty to Licey, one of the teams in the capital. That night, the Estrellas won against the Gigantes del Cibao. As we entered the stadium, all the men packing their pistols just walked right through the gate while Kim was detained and had to show the contents of her purse.

Speaking of Cougars and Huskies (and Mariners and Seahawks for that matter) – good thing we’re as far away from Seattle as possible this year. It must be depressing to be a Seattle sports fan right now….

In other news, we personally met the First Lady of the Dominican Republic last week. We’ve also already met the Vice President, the US Ambassador, and the head of USAID here, so that just leaves the Big Guy and then we will have made the acquaintance of all the major players in Dominican politics. She was visiting a center that had been constructed to benefit income-generating activities for rural women in this province. Kim passed two letters to the Primera Dama, asking for her help to bring a technology center to Vicentillo. It’s a long shot, but worth a try.

We’ve also been busy with work here – after a year we have finally become significantly productive and successful. Nate’s working a lot at the school – teaching in the mornings and helping small groups of kids that the teachers send to him in the afternoons. We’re also starting a major project this week that’s supposed to encourage community activism and awareness (about the environment, health, poverty, social issues, etc.) through art. The big draw is that we were able to buy 10 digital cameras through a grant we received. The kids seem pretty excited about all of this. Kim is continuing with her women’s health trainings and also working at the provincial hospital twice a week in the infectious disease unit.

We traveled to New York at the beginning of the month and it was just what we needed. We got to visit a few friends, enjoy cooler weather, read newspapers in English, and eat familiar foods as well as do all the touristy things. We returned to the chaos of Santo Domingo, refreshed and ready to get back to work, while at the same time missing the organized chaos of NYC.