Articles that I’ve written
On January 28th, I penned a Facebook status that went a little bit more than viral – it had over 17,000 reactions, 1,400 comments, and 32,000 shares. But it had nothing to do with Central Asia or my current work: It was all about how to call your senator or representative in Congress. Continue reading “How To Call Your Senator Or Representative In Congress”
Editor’s note: This post is a partnership post written by Josefin Åström, a Swedish colleague of mine who works with a local youth centre here in Osh through the Central Asia Solidarity Group, a Swedish NGO that supports civil society across Central Asia. The post was translated from Swedish by Josefin and I together, and is part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. From 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign is a time to galvanize action to end violence against women and girls around the world. You can learn more at the UN Women Website. -Mark
This project started out of curiosity on what girls and young women in Kyrgyzstan find important in their lives. I believe that the chorus of their voices can provide an interesting snapshot of Kyrgyz society today. As a young woman myself, I gathered that approaching the topic through the lens of fashion could be a non-intimidating way of getting access to this group in the street to start a conversation about themselves. This is why the project has been carried out in the format of a street fashion project. Continue reading “16 Young Women, 16 Days Against Gender-Based Violence”
Well, the media tour surrounding my trip to DC got a little more exciting – I got interviewed by KRBD, the radio station that I grew up listening to every day in Ketchikan, Alaska! I had the great pleasure of sitting down with journalist Leila Kheiry and chatting about Monday Bazaar, my Peace Corps service, and my time so far in Kyrgyzstan.
A former Ketchikan resident and Peace Corps volunteer recently won a trip to Washington, D.C., after his blog about volunteering in Kyrgyzstan won an online social-media contest.
Mark Jahnke lived in Ketchikan until he was about 9 years old, but he said he’s maintained a lot of ties to the community through the years.
“It still is actually the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere, so I still, obviously, think of it very close to my heart,” he said.
And, Jahnke said, Ketchikan was the start of his path toward joining the Peace Corps a little more than a year ago.
You can listen to the whole interview over on KRBD’s website.
Hi everyone!
Some exciting news, my blog on the Nomad Horse Games got reposted on the Peace Corps Passport official Peace Corps blog today! Check it out!
For those readers new to my blog who’ve followed the link in my bio, hello and welcome! My blog contains stories from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, some travel tips, some cultural notes, a bunch of recipes, and lots and lots of pretty pictures both here and at my Instagram! Take some time, explore it all, and hopefully learn something new!
And for those of you who’ve stumbled here because you’ve been invited to serve in Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz Republic officially), you’re being considered for service in Kyrgyzstan, or who are thinking about applying to join our wonderful band of yurt-loving capacity-builders, please feel free to send me an e-mail with any questions you have or post comments below or on other posts! I love making this blog a dialogue, and you might even get a full post dedicated to answering your question! There’s DEFINITELY a packing list post in the works!
With all that in mind, stick around, thanks for reading, and talk to you soon!
-Mark
This week, I published a piece as a guest blogger on the importance of international education on the blog of my friend and former teacher, Vicki Weeks. Some readers who know me recall that in 2006, I had the chance to travel to rural China with my school’s Global Service Learning program, and I would never have had the chance to go if it weren’t for Vicki. Vicki was the director of that program, and she now helps schools across the United States build their international programs to help students experience life in different settings from where they grew up. Here’s the first two paragraphs, and you can read the rest over at Global Weeks.
I wasn’t particularly curious about the world growing up. Originally from small-town Alaska, I ate nothing but grilled cheese sandwiches and Hot Pockets, and my biggest life aspiration was probably to move to Seattle when I got older. That all changed when my family moved to a small town in France when I was 9 years old.
Enrolled in an international school, there were as many nations represented in my classes as there were students. Each person I met came to the school with a different culture, a different language, and a different story. This incredible diversity was all celebrated with an annual festival called the Kermesse, where students from each country would prepare food and art presentations. Through them, I unwittingly began my quest to better understand the world. Continue reading…
Be sure to check out the rest of the post at Vicki’s website, Global Weeks.
Another postcard has gone live over at The Harvard Crimson! Head on over and check it out!
It’s 3:10 in the morning, and in the starlight, I can make out the outline on the tablecloth of bread, teacups, a tub of Turkish Nutella, and two bowls of “shirchai,” a warm soup made from whole milk, butter, and tea leaves. I sit in the darkness with my host grandmother, and as I eat my fill of the smorgasbord, I can hear the soft clinking of forks, knives, and spoons against bowls and plates across our neighborhood and across Dushanbe, the capital of the small mountainous republic of Tajikistan.
This is a piece of travel writing I wrote in 2013 about my experience traveling in Esfahan, Iran in the fall of 2012. Because of the way rights work with The Crimson, I can’t publish the entire text here, but here is the opening part:
There is something both timeless and eerily beautiful about arches in Safavid architecture. The elegant ogees appear in both two and three dimensions across the city of Esfahan, forming façades and domes, lining bazaars, and crisscrossing the Zayandeh Rud in the form of four stone pedestrian bridges.
Stepping onto a pedestrian bridge is always a thrill. I still remember when I first walked across the Weeks Bridge, looking at the cars on both Soldiers Field Road and Memorial Drive and thinking to myself, “I bet you wish you could use this bridge.” Where else in Boston can you see people dancing Argentine tango beneath the full moon in the spring, jumping into the river in the summer, cheering on the rowers in the fall, and quickly running across in a bundle of down in the winter?
Continue reading over at The Harvard Crimson!
