Here, There, Everywhere

Although my teeth have safely navigated metric tons of the small stones frequently stored in cooked rice here in Indonesia (i.e. they don’t wash their rice very thoroughly), a hidden bone in a piece of chicken thought to be boneless led to the splitting of a tooth presumed to be sound. I am annoyed to have no pictures of the dental facility I then visited — a small room built onto the side of a rather nice house, not tall enough for me to stand in, and a small plastic chair in the waiting room (with a magazine on it!).

One nice feature of Indonesian dentistry is that, maybe since most people are relative(to, say, a government bureaucrat or adult film magnate)ly quite poor, they have to work pretty much all the time. Apparently most dentists (of those that work at public hospitals/clinics during the day) work additional hours in the morning (from 6 – 8 AM) and evening (from 5-8 PM). Pretty packed workday! If you’ve got customers (judging by some teeth I’ve seen, many do not – poverty + dental care do not go hand in hand). But it also contributes to the the home facilities being less than modern — probably something picked up from their day-job when it acquired new equipment (which, based upon my experience, must have been around 1972). Anyway, F(supply, demand, PPP*) = cheap dental care.

Quality: Uncertain, seems OK though, and a definite improvement over a broken tooth. Low point: painful drilling against exposed nerve. Bright side: (besides it being the cheapest dental work I’ve ever had, or about 2 days wages for a day laborer[!]) a very friendly dentist who just chattered away at me the whole time, and the fact that she was working late.

* This reminds me: why haven’t any ambitious econ grad students developed an alternative PPP scale for grad researchers in foreign countries? It’s high time we really know what a Big Mac is costing us in Kuala Lumpur when we are buying it with nearly tapped-out government loan money.^

^Why are interest rates near historic lows, yet student loans are still pegged at 7%? Is the answer Obamacare?

A biogas plant under construction

We’ve spent the last few days traveling around the Indian countryside, far removed from any big city trying to see if there’s a difference between the more suburban areas and those that are truly rural.  It was lovely and I decided that I definitely prefer the calm of rural India to the overwhelming activity of the city.  This preference is new for me… I’ve always been a city person in the past, perhaps it was just the fact that it was finally cool for the first time since I’ve been here.  Either way, it was beautiful and peaceful.

It’s great to actually get out into the villages and see what it is I’ve been reading about, and what it is we’ve come here to work on.  To recap biogas plants for everyone who’s not in the know: currently, the people are reliant on wood, agricultural by-products, or dung for energy for cooking.  They burn these things in open “stoves” and place pots and pans directly above the fire.  This technique causes both health and environmental problems as these fires burn very inefficiently and create lots of smoke.  Biogas burns just like normal gas you would have in your home in America… turn on the gas, light a match and BOOM! Instant macaroni!  The way it works is that you take the dung from your animals (usually cows) mix it with water and put it in the biogas plant (basically a big concrete dome in the ground).  Out of the top you have a pipe that transports the gas into your kitchen and the other end of the plant comes a liquid slurry that when dried, is very high quality organic fertilizer.

It’s a great idea that, like so many development initiatives, looks great on paper.  But, also like nearly all of those initiatives, something gets lost between the academic’s brain and the implementation in the field.  What we’re seeing is that many people that have installed a biogas plant, have it break and then never repair it.  It’s very frustrating because the initial program works, but then people lose interest or fail to take responsibility for it breaking.

As our professor says, “if it was an easy problem to solve, it wouldn’t be worth studying.”  At least this problem will keep us busy.

Biogas VICTORY!

Last Thursday, I found myself sipping an oatmeal porter in the Highland Brewing tasting room. Our associate director was wearing a spotted cougar ear headband. I traded notes with a US Fish and Wildlife Service biologist about the cultural significance of mountain lions in Western North Carolina folklore. Just another day at work…wait, what?

This summer, I am working as a conservation tax policy analyst at the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC), a regional land trust based in Asheville, NC. After working to push new conservation tax legislation through the NC General Assembly, my biggest project at work is now helping SAHC and local tax assessors to implement the new policies. This includes assessing the land trust’s real property holdings and strategically enrolling in various tax exemption programs to limit their tax liability. On a typical day, I’m reading old property surveys, looking up tax records, searching for recorded conservation easements and property deeds, and reading land cover GAP analyses and habitat management plans.

At this point, you may be wondering how beer tasting fits into that job. I should mention that as a craft beer enthusiast, the prospect of spending the summer in Asheville, which has the highest per capita concentration of microbreweries in the country and was recently crowned “Beer City USA” by craft beer demigod Charlie Papazian, held a certain undeniable allure. I knew this internship would offer me an exciting opportunity to analyze the impacts of conservation legislation on local and regional land trusts and to broaden my knowledge of conservation finance, but I never expected beer tourism would be anything more than an extracurricular pursuit.

Back to me and my coworkers at Highland Brewing. To be honest, the phrase “strategic partnerships” used to invoke a lot of eye-rolling on my part. I understood the meaning of the term in an abstract sense, and definitely even recommended using them in a policy memo or two this past year, but I largely considered it a buzz word like “synergy” or “innovation” or “civic engagement,” terms so hackneyed and overused at this point that they have ceased to have any real meaning.

But local land conservation organizations have a bit of a publicity challenge on their hands. You can’t exactly go around putting up billboards to advertise lands you have protected from development. 90% of the forested lands in North Carolina are privately owned, but most people know very little about the role of nonprofit conservation organizations in landscape preservation. And while many people are familiar with federal protections for national park lands, they are generally unaware of how closely nonprofit land trusts work with government agencies such as the Forest Service or Fish and Wildlife Service to protect contiguous landscapes, safeguard critical habitat corridors, or coordinate regional land use planning objectives.

Enter the strategic partnership between SAHC, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Highland Brewing Company. “For Love of Beer and Mountains” includes seasonal beer releases from Highland, SAHC-guided hikes through protected mountain ridges, and educational events led by Fish and Wildlife Service experts. This summer’s release of Cattail Peak, an organic wheat beer, was accompanied by a Fish and Wildlife talk at the brewery about cougar (Puma concolor) identification and tracking efforts in the Southern Appalachians. In July, we’ll lead adventurous hikers to the summit of Cattail Peak in nearby Mount Mitchell State Park.

To borrow a term from office-life philosopher Michael Scott, this strategic partnership is pretty much a win-win-win for all parties involved. In a city with a very strong independent beer culture, using six-packs of organic microbrew is a highly effective channel for disseminating information to the public about SAHC’s conservation efforts. At an elevation of 6,584 feet (one of the highest points east of the Rockies), the view from Cattail Peak will afford hikers an unparalleled perspective on unique ecological treasures that SAHC is working to protect, like spruce-fir forests and endangered northern flying squirrel habitat in the 400 million year-old Black Mountains. The Fish and Wildlife Service gets a broad public platform to explain its collaborative efforts to manage wildlife habitat in the region. And Highland, which promotes itself as a sustainability-minded brewery with strong roots in the Blue Ridge Mountain community, gains credibility as a progressive conservation and stewardship partner.

One of Asheville’s popular tourist-grubbing slogans is “Altitude affects attitude.” I can’t say for certain whether it’s the beer or the altitude talking, but I’m not rolling my eyes any more at strategic partnerships.

Main lesson: Don’t write a blog about your internship if it contains details about a project that may not be appropriate to share publicly yet. Oops. Here is an edited version.

I’m a MPP/MBA student, but my first year at Duke was purely focused on the MPP. I really had no idea what I was specifically interested in when I first started, but soon my interest in social policy and child/family welfare developed. I became fascinated with the American version of poverty (because we all know that it’s very different from the rest of the world); the contributing factors and consequences are beyond complex, frustrating, but oh so full of opportunities. Through one of my classes this past spring semester (Poverty and Inequality – I highly recommend it to those Duke MPPers out there), I realized that tax and fiscal policy is actually interesting! Shocking, I know. But really, it’s interesting because it drives EVERYTHING. Duh, you say, but I bet you haven’t thought about it as much as you think you have. So, I thought, what better opportunity to learn more about tax and fiscal policy than to intern with the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center for the summer? I’m working with Bob Tannenwald, a Senior Fellow from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities out of DC (MassBudget is a satellite group located in Boston).

Before I get into what I’m actually doing this summer, I have to note that working in downtown Boston is amazing! I really honestly always used to scoff at the idea of working downtown, playing dress-up, and parading around the city like I’m some powerful professional…but really, it’s kind of fun. It is, however, only fun because it’s the summer time, Boston is right on the water so it’s easy to walk to the harbor, and there is a ton of (outdoor) stuff to do and see. Plus, a major bonus is that my commute is literally 10 minutes door-to-door because I’m only 3 stops up on the train from downtown. Yay sleep!

When I started on May 16 (yep, only one week after finals were over, bleck), Bob and I discussed what I would be working on this summer. He was still finishing up a project, but would soon be moving onto a project concerning taxation and entrepreneurship. What he asked of me was to conduct a literature review to get a broad understanding of the major drivers of entrepreneurship (other than taxation), then continue on to looking at the prevailing “myths” regarding the relationship between taxes and entrepreneurial activity. (Note: entrepreneurship is a really hard word to write over and over again).

I went on my way and starting reviewing papers that he already had stacked up (a big stack) and then also looked online to find more general thoughts and ideas on potential drivers of entrepreneurial activity. But, alas, Bob’s current project came calling and now I get to help out with conducting research and trying to educate the masses.

This is where I have learned a lot. I’ve realized that policy research work is very much an addition to my learning about perfection in life, work, and school. Here’s why: There is a serious difference (and serious struggle) between explaining and exposing factors  that you are trying to argue. In looking at the data in an attempt to support Bob’s points, it sometimes raises more questions than it answers. But the important thing to remember is that it doesn’t matter! We just need to expose other potential causes of what we are trying to argue. The most important thing for us is to gather enough evidence to say “hey now, you didn’t really take this into account, and this is a very important factor! (snap)”

Some other things I’ve learned in this process: 1) Census data is actually not as great as you’d hope it’d be and it’s inconsistent over the years; 2) statistical models really can’t account for everything (yes, I’ve been doing regressions!!); 3) Having access to Duke’s library online is sooooo helpful.

All in all, I’m enjoying my internship so far and I am definitely learning a lot about what’s out there, who’s out there, and how to best use all of that information the world has to offer.

I hope all the other Duke MPPers are enjoying their summers and internships! Miss you and catch you on the flip side.

Last Thursday was an excellent day at work. Two particularly notable things happened: First, I was given a meaningful, substantial project to work on. Not to say what I’ve been doing is not meaningful (most days I’ve been helping to prep for our single company events), but I suppose this work was more intellectually stimulating for me. I’m helping the commercial specialists update and produce market research reports that U.S. companies can use to inform themselves on particular sectors of the Italian market. We use publicly available information for the reports, but the information is often translated and then presented and synthesized in a more digestible format. 

The first report I updated was for the Cosmetics Market. The beauty sector here is highly saturated with Italian products and Italy actually runs an enormous trade surplus in cosmetics. The Made in Italy mark is highly desirable in most high-end luxury products, and cosmetics is no exception. This makes market entry very difficult for American suppliers of finished goods, but can be profitable for those looking to export inputs. Also, I did not know that products made with animal content cannot be sold as cosmetics in the EU. I find this very interesting because its not as if no one consumes animal products in the EU, so what makes the difference to put something that on my face that contains an animal product than to put it in my mouth? I need to do some further research…

I’m also working on a report regarding the Boat Accessories Market. To tell the truth, I never even thought about the existence of this market prior. Of course I know that boats need sails, ropes, cabin fittings, but I had yet to think about things like how boaters use GPS systems to navigate. And since Italy has over 5,000 miles of coastline, it seems fitting that a substantial market would exist here. 

Right now I am on the train to go to the Rome airport, and we just passed the Fiera di Roma. It’s a huge exhibition hall, fairgrounds, and event venue outside the city. It’s fitting that we just passed there because one of the other issues I’ve been working on is solar power. I had the pleasure of meeting an executive from a company that makes flexible solar laminate. Unlike panels, the laminate is very similar to laminate flooring in that it comes in large roles, can be cut to size, and can be integrated directly into building material. This company had installed their laminate on all the roofs of the Fiera buildings. What ingenuity! Take what could be considered as worthless real estate and transform it into a profitable enterprise, which can yield returns via cash or electricity used for the building itself. For example, think about how much electricity air conditioning uses. Now think about when we use it–in the summer–when the sun is its strongest! Pure genius in my opinion. 

However, the best part about this meeting was that one of the specialists came right out and said how he did not like solar power…or renewable power in general! He will be the lead on the promotional event, which I find ironic and hilarious. Apparently he is a big fan of nuclear power (which means the recent referendum didn’t work out too well for him!). 

The other event of note at the embassy was that the Walsh University choir (from Ohio) performed in an outdoor portico at the embassy! The day before they had even performed for the pope! They sang accapella for nearly an hour, primarily religious music from all over the globe, but they ended with the Star Spangled Banner. A breeze swept through the portico during the song and I got goosebumps. The reason I am living in Italy, working for free, helping American commerce came to mind…and I felt extraordinarily patriotic. 

It’s been a week since I got here and it feels like it’s been a month. I’ve gotten some of the basic work done: a literature review and setting up the logistics of the field work. I’ve also had the pleasure of learning to eat with my hands and to see one of the holiest sites in India, plus the occasional Hindi phrase or two. All this without any terrible bathroom incidents…it can only go downhill from here.

After reading that sitting at a desk all day is as bad for you as smoking, I’ve been experimenting with ways to combat the onset of cubicle fatigue. To that end, I’ve been doing my best to build spurts of activity into my day. Some of my methods–not all of them successful–appear below.

• Taking periodic breaks to walk up and down my building’s flights of stairs while reading tweets on my phone. I have yet to fall down, but I definitely see it coming. Luckily the maximum number of stairs I could possibly tumble down is in the range of 8-10 stairs, which is nothing. And no one ever takes the stairs in this country, so if I do fall, no one will see. And if I seriously injure myself and really need assistance, I can just tweet for help.

• Going into the men’s room, waiting for it to be empty if others are present, and then proceeding to go buck (the human version of this, kinda). Gets the heart rate up for sure. Especially if someone walks in while I’m going buck.

• Standing instead of sitting and using my cubicle’s storage shelf as a desk. Which I’m pretty sure freaks everyone else in this block of cubes out a little bit.

• Taking laps around the building–and the Extended Stay America next door–during my lunch break. Mind you, I walk at a brisk pace; I don’t run. And I often carry my lunch box with me. Which I’m pretty sure mildly freaks out everyone in offices with windows as well as those staying in the Extended Stay America.

• Wild, elaborate stretching within the confines of my cubicle.

• Pacing back and forth while on conference calls. Sometimes while doing these shoulder exercises that I need to do to help heal my recently-separated left shoulder. It’s not as weird as it sounds. I swear.

• Standing in lieu of sitting during all-intern meetings. I’m pretty sure I’ve been silently labeled as the weirdest of the interns.

• Repeatedly getting up to check and make sure that my lunch is still in the fridge (something I haven’t been doing, but that I could certainly start doing if I wanted to). I mean, no one here has ever tried to steal my lunch. But it did happen to me when I was a teacher in St. Louis (someone–another teacher, mind you–stole my tuna salad sandwich… out of my lunchbox). And I think about my lunch a lot. So maybe I’ll start checking in on it periodically.

• Taking the long (can hardly call it “scenic”) route to the fax machine and/or copy machine.

Suggestions welcome in the comments section.

Developing questions for community hairdressers:

CH1. Do you prefer to cut hair

1. Evenly across the head => QUESTION CH3

2. Illogically and/or arbitrarily

3. Other ___________

CH2. Why do you cut hair in this fashion?

1. No/poor training

2. Personal amusement

3. Cultural apathy toward hairstyles

4. Other ___________

CH3. How do you decide upon the prices you charge?

1. Based upon competitors’ prices

2. Cost of doing business, plus profit

3. Random assignment of price to service

4. Other ___________

Greetings from Geneva! I have been here for over a week now, and am very happy with my decision to participate in Duke’s Geneva Program. The lake is beautiful, the chocolate is amazing, and the opportunities to meet and network with other young professionals from around the globe are many. Best of all, my internship is exactly in line with my interests, my supervisors are great, and I am consistently inspired to learn more languages!

My internship with with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which is located at the Palais des Nations (where there are indeed peacocks that freely roam the grounds). I work in the Emergency Services Branch’s Field Coordination Support Section (FCSS), which trains and mobilizes international search and rescue units and emergency management expert teams. The network, called the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination system, is able to deploy a team to anywhere in the world within 48 hours of a disaster in order to assess the situation and help coordinate the influx of international aid. At the moment, I am helping develop training materials for a two-week UNDAC induction course in the Americas Region, which will take place in Panama in June. I’ll also be working on projects for the Africa-Middle East-Europe Region, and have had the opportunity to attend a number of meetings and panels, including a Flash Appeal to increase aid to Libya, a briefing for the new Resident Coordinator for Chad, a meeting with Qatari foreign ministry officials interested in sponsoring an UNDAC team member, and the launch of an OCHA policy report entitled “To Stay and Deliver: Good Practice for Humanitarians in Complex Security Environments.”

I will try to write another update soon, but in the meantime, I look forward to reading about other Sanford intern experiences from around the globe! I wish you all an amazing start to the summer!