And of course, there are my pet topics. Right now, front and center, it's the emergency of gender-based violence, especially in war, that's got my priority attention, and it's an outgrowth of many years focusing on AIDS and women's lives. I have my recent and ongoing work in Rwanda and Africa that has taught me a few important things that I'm now trying to apply, both in any program work in the field, but also in my journalism.
Everytime I read anything or think about a program, I have the women I work with in mind, and it's not abstract. Is this going to be helpful, empowering, a solution? Is it going to be sustainable? Those are the kinds of questions that are at the top of the list. If not, I hardly want to go on. I'm all about what is really concretely going to move things forward for people on the ground, even if it comes from the very top. I suppose it's a constant move from the big picture to the details that really matter. Anyway, it keeps me stimulated and probing, and seeking some concrete application.
I hope you'll have a chance to follow my current work on this subject www.poxvox.com
Last year I did some blogging on PulseWire, the online portal of World Pulse magazine that I've been working on and with for the past year. My posts there tend to be a bit irregular, but the conversations you find there are exciting - many voices. So I'll be cross-posting onto PulseWire at times too. (www.pulsewire.net)
At the AIDS2008 International AIDS Conference, a community voices blog has been set up. I did a conference journal blog. So if you have it in mind to read about the behind the scenes goings-on there, or what the hot debates are, tune in to: www.aids2008.com. (That's .com mind you, not .org, which is the website of the main conference. There, you can find great daily audio and video coverage of the conference itself that Kaiser health provided: Free downloads, pod and audiocasts of sessions. Tomorrow, they are apparently videotaping the satellite I'm co-convening on HIV and gender-based violence, which is great. I'll find a way to post that up to this website if they do.
So - PoxVox... a personal blog about one of the great epidemics of our lifetime -- AIDS, Gender Justice, and Voices, including mine,about the topics that fuel Talk To The Future too.. the many intersecting critical issues of our day.
Feel free to get in touch, let me know about anything that moves you, or upsets you, or annoys you -- whatever is on your mind. I'll ask you to be respectful and civil with your posts, please, as they're public and I'm all about avoiding hateful speech, too.