At a Stanford cafeteria table back in August, I had my first meeting with my Team Leader, Sol. I had thirty minutes to express my interests and passions and to explain exactly what I wanted out of this year. Although I probably made very little sense at the time, art was at the forefront of my mind. I wanted to spend this year exploring the influence art has on empowerment, human potential, and economic development, for despite my lack of direction, the way these concepts floated around in my head made my face burn with excitement. I imagined myself immersed in an African, European, Latin American paradise, of…

I always say that you can make anything at all a metaphor for life. So I challenged myself to actually do it.  This whole experience is turning me into a callus. What do I mean?
Well first of all, what is a callus? It is a buildup of dead skin on a certain part of your body. Its just an adaptation your body develops over time in response to use of that part of your body. For example, guitar players often have massive calluses on their fingertips from holding down the strings. Another type of people who have calluses are…

As I was thinking about what other fascinating aspect of my Ecuadorian life I could recount to all of you back home, I realized something. I have told you about my stint as a thief in the eyes of those in Pano, how annoying and perhaps powerful it is to have to give away half of your food to anyone that passes by, but I have yet to tell you what I do all day, and that seems like something you all should know.
Pretty much everything about my job here came as quite a surprise to me. When I…

HIGH, LOW, HIGH GO!
Chimborazo has not been the easiest place to live. Basically the last 4 months have been a struggle. From people switching families, difficulty with apprenticeships and weight gain. But through all these struggles we have grown closer as a group. In our group we refer to the good things as “highs” and the not so good things as “lows”. So in this blog I will be sharing some highs and lows that I’ve had in the last for months in my community with you.
We always start with high and end with high to end on a positive note, so here we go!…

Kim Asenbeck and I are developing a project to address this problem, captured in this video. BAND (a Brasilian news channel, http://www.band.uol.com.br/…) went to Uruguai to bring attention to the open-sewage and litter problems. Children are playing in the sewers, getting hurt or even dying; people are bathing in and drinking the water, bringing them to tragic deaths as well. It is a serious hazard, and the litter is bringing dangerous bacteria and rats to the community. Someone in the community posted a photo to the Mayor’s Facebook, and only a few hours thereafter, the BAND news crew