Student bloggers tell us what they're up to

Last week I put out the call via the student email list.  I asked students keeping a blog this summer to send me a link.  In true Fletcher fashion, the first responses popped into my inbox mere minutes later.  The blogs included on even this short list provide a great picture of the scope of students’ activities:  Some are project oriented, others travel oriented, and still others are academic.  I asked the students (all of whom will be back at Fletcher in the coming year) to provide any detail they thought would be useful.  Here’s what I’ve collected so far:

Hana Ryba Cervenka
Greetings from Malawi!  I am one of four Fletcher students doing an internship with Advancing Girls’ Education (AGE) in Malawi this summer.  The organization itself is an outgrowth of Fletcher, started by PhD-student Xanthe Ackerman some years back.  We are keeping a blog featuring stories of what we do, see, hear, and experience.  Quite a bit about food on there, too!  And Christin, the photographer among us, is posting photos.  The four interns are Christin McConnell, Anna Wolf, Rebecca Perlmutter, and me.

Beka Feathers
I’m interning for the National Democratic Institute, and my blog is (mostly) about the work I’m doing there.

Joshua Haynes

Joshua, who is spending the summer in Niger, was the last to send the link to his blog.  He said the delay was because he was putting the final touches on the design, and it is quite nice looking!  The site also includes entries from some of his previous travels.

Emily Huston
I am writing for Somalilandpress.com during my summer internship in Hargeisa, Somaliland.  My first two articles are up.

Ben Mazzotta (PhD student)
Mine is neither a travelogue nor descriptive of student life.  I was writing about cyber risk until about March, and then I did post a couple of entries about my May trip to the University of Duhok, Iraq.

Patrick Meier (PhD student)
I blog about crisis mapping, conflict early warning, civil resistance, digital activism and complex systems.

Erika (Kika) Tabacniks
I am writing a blog and posting some videos about my experience in New Delhi, India. I am living with two other Fletcherites, Ted Mathys and Brian Heilman, so there are pictures and posts about our lives here.  Jenny Marron, also from Fletcher, will join us for the remaining two months. The blog is written in Portuguese, but I plan to translate it soon.

For those who can not only ler em português but can also entender português, Erika also provides a link to her youtube videos.

Jessica Varat
I’m keeping a blog for my internship in Peru, working with the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team through the Advocacy Project.  I’m based in Lima, but traveling around a bit as well.  I write mostly about the team, but also add news from Peru, when I can.

Note that there are several other Fletcher students among the Advocacy Project bloggers.

Finally, not exactly a student blog, but an event blog written by students.  In late May, Fletcher’s Center for Emerging Market Enterprises partnered with the Kenya School of Monetary Studies, Central Bank of Kenya to co-host the conference “M-Banking 2009:  Balancing Innovation and Regulation.”  There was a conference blog, and in addition, Joshua Goldstein included info in his own blog.

Spam prevention powered by Akismet