7.2 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Haiti

Just over a month after the assassination of their president, and 11 years after their last disastrous earthquake, Haiti was struck by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake.

This caused obvious extreme damage to the physical infrastructure of the country itself, but even more damage to the safety and wellbeing of the inhabitants of the island. Numbers currently report just over 300 deaths and 1800 Haitians injured by the eathquake. With a government in complete disarray and a geological foundation lacking stability, how can a country be expected to find its footing again? This is the question that the leaders of Haiti will need to face. For now, it is immediately unclear who those leaders will be. This poses a clear issue, especially when one factors in the growing issues of gang violence and widespread poverty across the country. Although international nonprofit organizations like UNICEF are and will continue to offer aid to Haiti, the effectiveness of this outside support is somewhat contingent on the Haitian government ability rally and ready themselves to confront the crisis. Having never fully recovered from the devastating 2010 earthquake, the Haitain economy cannot reasonably be expected to sustain the rebuilding, rehousing, and medical care that will be required in the aftermath of the earthquake. While it would seem that fiscal contributions to the country would carry great weight, without a clear leadership system, it is unclear to whom or where to actually donate the money.

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Vishakha Desai Offers the Poly a New Perspective on Identity

On November 11, the Poly community was lucky enough to speak with and hear from the distinguished author and intellect, Vishakha Desai. With her book, World as Family as the framework for the discussion, Poly students were given the opportunity to engage with Desai through the Q&A structured event. I was deeply moved by Desai’s perspective on identity. When reading her book, I found myself having a difficult time understanding how her mother was able to be both an ardent feminist and advocate and a woman who maintained her cultural tradition. To me, it seemed as though Desai’s mother’s feminism would be hindered by practices and values she chose to maintain. When given the chance to ask Desai about this dichotomy, she explained that identity does not have to be so clearly defined. We all have many identities, she shared. For Desai, she is an American-Indian, an Indian-American, a New Yorker, a woman from India living in New York, and so on and so forth. None of these i...

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International Musings

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