My fellow Americans… check out the HPR’s interactive Obama mad libs below! Enter the words in each category, hit submit, and scroll down to see Obama’s latest masterpiece of presidential oratory. Obama: Country: Place: Exotic Place: Title: Controversial Subject: Ordinal Number: Good Thing: Good Thing: Obvious Tradeoff: Cataclysmic Event: Number (8): Major Policy Initiative: Bad Event: … Read more
Don’t be fooled by Darfur’s disappearance from the front pages An ominous calm has fallen over Darfur. The guns of the militias are mostly silent, and the roving bands of village raiders have all but disappeared from the western Sudanese province. But these developments are far from signs of peace or security. Seven years into … Read more
Below, you can enjoy interactive Biden and Gibbs Mad Libs. Once you hit submit, scroll down to see their speeches. Biden: Rambling, interminable anecdote: Contradiction of Administration Policy, Miss Manner’s Guide to Etiquette, Laws of Physics: Convoluted Apology, Vaguely Offensive Story: Gibbs: Reasonable Statement Bearing no Relation to Anything he Said: Minority Group: Mainstream Group: … Read more
Corruption in Africa will not end until civil society repairs itself In the 2002 Kenyan presidential campaign, Mwai Kibaki promised his countrymen an end to the corruption that had defined Kenyan leadership for decades. The messageresonated with voters and earned Kibaki an astonishing 62% of the vote. But after eight years, corruption in Kibaki’s Kenya … Read more
High expectations mask tough realities On May 15, 2004, Nelson Mandela wept on stage when South Africa was chosen to host the 2010 World Cup, and then-president Thabo Mbeki declared that “South Africa’s time has come.” Experts worldwide predicted that the World Cup would be a transformative and unifying moment in the country’s history and … Read more
A critical look at China’s investment in Africa. Despite China’s emergence as an economic powerhouse and political force, Western leaders still frequently decry China’s authoritarian regime, trade violations, and human rights abuses. But there is one region of the world that does not judge China by the same demanding standards: Africa. The partnership suits both … Read more
Lessons from a trip home during J-term This past winter, I returned to my home country of Ghana after over a year and a half away at school. I spent the month engaged in an anti-malaria project in some slum communities near Cape Coast, Ghana. This project was the brainchild of Ahoto Partnership for Ghana, … Read more
When I join in one of those omnipresent ice-breaking sessions, I am sometimes asked to share my most embarrassing moment. I always draw a blank. This is not because I have never been embarrassed in my life. Rather, I have too many stories of embarrassment. While many of my middle-class friends were having fun on … Read more
Media narratives about backwards Africa say more about us than them. Almost without exception, the images that frame the Western portrayal of Africa are horrifying. Africa, Americans are told, is a barren place of unimaginable poverty, starvation, disease, and violence. Rather than the second-largest continent in the world with a dynamic collection of fifty-six different … Read more
Of all the events of the recent financial crisis, none shook the American establishment as profoundly as the fall of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. News articles described the firm as an “institution” of American capitalism, employing adjectives such as “venerable,” “legendary,” and “iconic.” Commentators proclaimed the downfall of independent investment firms, certain that the … Read more