Just arrived in the inbox (emphasis mine):

To: SIPA Student Groups

While on patrol this morning Post 15 PSO Patterson noticed three animals in front of Lewisohn Hall. Sgt. Galan responded and spotted one animal and identified it as a coyote. Sgt. Gillis contacted 911 and NYPD responded. NYPD spotted one of the animals and confirmed it was a coyote. The one coyote that was seen by NYPD and Sgt. Galan went behind the CEPSR build and it is believed exited the campus. An additional sighting by facilities was called in to base at approximately 1000 hours this morning. The undersigned responded and was unable to confirm the sighting. Patrol units were advised if they see any possible coyotes while on patrol to notify the base and maintain a visual but not to approach the animal.

For Your Information,
Sgt. Oakley

I would like to take this moment to point out that, while being raised in Kansas, I never once spotted a coyote.

Posted in crazy, new york | Leave a comment

Cliff Stoll (who helped catch a ring of computer hackers/Soviet spies in the 1980s) and Jonathan Zittrain (principle investigator at the OpenNet Initiative) are speaking at Harvard’s Berkman Center tonight. Subject: When Countries Collide Online: Internet Spies, Cyberwar, and Government-sponsored Skullduggery.

I’ll be sequestered in the industrial-sized kitchen of my co-op, chopping vegetables to make stir fry for my 27 roommates, but if you’re free, check out the live webcast at 6pm EST to find out how governments are using the Internet, how far their online spying has gone, and what the legal implications of state sponsored network espionage might be.

Posted in ICT, berkman, international politics, technology | Leave a comment

Wandering children of Kansas away,

By mountain, by desert, or sea,

Feasting or fasting, at prayer or at play,

Whatever your fortunes may be,

Open the doors of your hearts to the breeze,

Prairie wind never are still,

Hark to the surf in the cottonwood trees,

The breakers that boom on the hill.

Open your soul’s windows–let in the sun–

The prairie sun gay with delight.

Where’er your wandering pathways have run,

Come home tonight.

Come home where Kansas lies under the stars

Twinkling back beauty and joy;

Come and let homely love poultice your scars,

Leave off your restless employ.

Come home where summer winds billow the wheat,

Where golden tides cover the sands;

Come–let your heart’s longings hasten your feet

And home love unfetter your hands.

Come where the tawny sunflower eagerly bends

A tawny frank face to the light,

So do our hearts seek the joy of old friends–

Come home tonight.

Posted in lawrence | Leave a comment

I’m liveblogging Secretary Clinton’s speech on Internet freedom at The Morningside Post. You can follow along over there or below:

Posted in ICT, internet censorship, u.s. foreign policy | Leave a comment

I am proud to share a birthday with Global Voices Online (December 11 — mark it in your calendars, ladies and gentlemen). I celebrated my 25th with friends and ungodly amounts of cheese, while GV celebrated its fifth with a series of wonderful retrospectives.

Me?  I’ve been holding off on writing my Global Voices anniversary post for the silliest of reasons:

On the left is me, a bit disheveled after ziplining through the Atitlán Nature Reserve near Panajachel, Guatemala. On the right is Jeremy Clarke, who, in addition to being rather fetching in an orange helmet, happens to be both the first person in years to convince me to publicize my Facebook relationship status and the code and design wizard for Global Voices. (Bonus: the neon green thing in Jer’s right hand is GV Ferret, Global Voices’ unofficial mascot.)

When I posted about WordCamp NYC without mentioning Jer (he spoke at the event), I was promptly called on it by David Sasaki, who happens to be another member of the GV community. It feels wrong for me to slather love on Global Voices (which I’ll do shortly, no worries) without also mentioning Jer.

So: I mentioned him.

The thing is, Jer’s not the only person at Global Voices with whom I’m fallen totally, head over heels in love. GV is full of people who routinely challenge my perceptions of the world, remind me that the rest of the world is both indescribably different and infinitely more the same than I could ever imagine, bring awesome things to my attention and overwhelm me with their creativity and mad dance skills.

I’ve been a part of this beautiful community since May 2007. Over the last two and a half years I’ve had the privilege to meet and become friends with some of the most dedicated citizen journalists in the world. I think Jill puts it well:

These people, once strangers on the Internet, have become some of my closest friends. They are colleagues, people I trust, people I go to with questions, for news.

I’ve also been consistently awed by the scope and power of citizen media, from coverage of Obama’s election to the Beijing Olympics to the death of Michael Jackson.

For Hoa Quach, knowing GV-ers are out there, covering the world’s underreported stories, allows her to breathe easier. For Thiana Bondo, GV gathers the whole word together. For Lina Ben Mhenni, GV is a family and a school.

If GV has been anything for you in the past five years — birthday buddy, matchmaker, friend, news, family, school — please consider showing your support.

Posted in global voices | Tagged: GV5 | 4 Comments

Uganda’s proposed anti-gay legislation has gotten a lot of press since its contents were made public in October. I think this is fantastic, especially as the coverage becomes increasingly focused on how this bill is partly a proxy for American culture wars, in terms of both American evangelical support for the bill and American LGBT activist opposition.

Amidst all the media hubbub, however, I’m concerned that there has been so little discussion of LGBT-related laws elsewhere in the world. Uganda is considering the death penalty for certain homosexual acts (including those committed by people with HIV and/or for “repeat offenders”), yes, but homosexuality itself carries a death sentence in eight other countries right now, none of which have been mentioned in any of the articles I’ve read on the subject in the last three months.

World Homosexuality Laws via Wikipedia

In case it’s hard to see: being gay is punishable by death in Iran, Mauritania, parts of Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, the UAE and Yemen.

It’s easy to sweep these countries under the rug as being full of crazy Muslims and ergo impossible to dissuade from executing gays. It shouldn’t be, though — especially as we continue to blame American Christians for promoting Uganda’s hate-filled bill.

I’m not saying the US should drop everything and focus its relationships with these countries on the way they treat their LGBT populations. The US obviously has bigger issues to tackle (as do bloggers and journalists who pay attention to these countries).

Still. Every time you read something new about the bill in Uganda, please try to remember the other eight.

P.S. A ton of other countries enforce punishments for homosexuality ranging from a few months in prison to a decade or more of hard labor. Check out the full list on Wikipedia.

Posted in GLBT, human rights | Leave a comment

How to celebrate the new year, from GayUganda:

I looked at the trans guy, and I decided that, even if dancing with him outs me fully, his feelings do matter.

He wants to dress, flamboyant, flashy in Uganda. That is an expression of what he is, of what he feels. He might not fully understand himself. He might know less about what he is than I do know. Life is a journey, and he is still discovering what it is. In a place and hostile to gender role crossing like Uganda, his is a difficult journey. A very lonely journey even when he seems to be so confident and bright, a kingfisher bird amongst weaver birds.

I didn’t take pity on him.

I understood what he felt. And, I understood what I felt. And, we danced. Right there on the floor, with other guys around us, looking on.

The music flowed, life pulsed, the lights throbbed. And, we were in heaven.

Read the full post here.

Posted in GLBT, uganda, ugandan blogosphere | 1 Comment

My next piece is up at Global Voices Online:

Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 still awaits a final decision by the country’s Parliament, but the country’s Daily Monitor newspaper reported Wednesday that President Yoweri Museveni has “assured the US State Department of his willingness to block the Bill”:

President Museveni has reportedly assured American authorities that he will veto Ndorwa West MP David Bahati’s proposed anti-gay law, a position that breaks with his recent stance and the statements of officials in his government.

Read more »

Gay Uganda and AfroGay, both of whom have been blogging tirelessly about the threat the Bahati Bill poses, are featured in the post.

Posted in GLBT, global voices, human rights, museveni, uganda, ugandan politics | Leave a comment

My biggest frustration with grad school so far has been how difficult it is to bring what’s happening in the real world of ICT and development — mobile phones for health, Ushahidi, debates over what online privacy means for activists — into the classroom. With the exception of a few phenomenal professors, much of the SIPA academic world seems disconnected from the entire field. In my opinion, this is a sad mistake.

Photo from codiceinternet on Flickr.

It’s also why I am so excited about Policy Making in the Digital Age, a conference that The Morningside Post is sponsoring at Columbia in February.

Policy Making in the Digital Age will bring together faculty and students at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs with the wider Columbia and New York City communities to explore trends and future implications in ICT and development, privacy issues, open governance, and humanitarian affairs.

We’re building a fantastic line-up of experts to discuss everything from how new media can help in crisis to the intersection of technology, business and culture in different countries. Know someone you think we should invite? Let us know at editor [at] themorningsidepost.com. Want to come? Mark your calendar for February 27, 2010, and check the conference site in late January for more details.

Posted in ICT, ICT for development, SIPA, digital activism, mobile phones, new york, technology, the morningside post | Leave a comment

Bloomberg is reporting that the Ugandan anti-gay bill will no longer include the death penalty or life imprisonment. The revision is an attempt “to attract the support of religious leaders who are opposed to these penalties,” according to ethics and integrity minister James Nsaba Buturo.

Posted in GLBT, uganda | Leave a comment