What I Think About What Other People Say (WITAWOPS)

I never parroted the obligatory land acknowledgments. Everyone opened with one: teachers, presenters, even meeting participants doing introductions. I didn’t get the point. I always wanted to ask, “That’s nice. So… are you giving the land back?” But I held my tongue. Instead, I’m unpacking these statements through the WITAWOPS lens: What I Think About What Other People Say. Let me know if this resonates — or just makes you uncomfortable. Image by Freepix My Disclaimer (or Bias, if you prefer) I grew up in Kenya — on land taken by white settlers and later sold to brown Indian-Kenyans like my family. Now, I live just outside Seattle — on land taken by white settlers and sold to brown Indian-Americans like... also my family. In both cases, the land wasn’t bought from the pre-colonial residents. So yes, I’m complicit. And no, I’m not pretending otherwise. Let’s get into it. What Do I Think: Let’s start in Indiana — my first U.S. home. From Indiana University Indianapolis : “IU Indianapolis...

  Djibouti is not a country commonly known to the average person—unless they, or someone close to them, is a United States military service member. Nestled in the Horn of Africa, this small nation left a lasting imprint on my heart when I deployed there in September 2023. A Glimpse into Djibouti A former French colony, Djibouti has a population of approximately 994,974 people. The nation is 94% Sunni Muslim, with minorities practicing Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. Its ethnic composition includes 60% Somali, 35% Afar, and 5% other groups, such as Yemeni Arabs, French, Ethiopians, and Italians. While the Afar people speak Saho-Afar, a Cushitic language, Djibouti’s official languages are French and Arabic. As of 2024, women comprised 50.39% of the population and the men comprise 45.30%. During my deployment, I was eager to understand Djibouti’s society and culture. As a Muslim woman, deeply invested in supporting and educating women worldwide, I longed to learn about ...

On December 9, 2024, I published this post that was really focused on whether or not America would do the right thing and allow Syria to reboot. This week, I am excited and proud to acknowledge that America set off in the direction I was hoping for. We have begun the complex process of lifting four decades of sanctions and gulf states have offered to pay off some of Syria's debt. Image designed by freepik.com What I said in December: Title: Mistakes: Can we correct, repent, offer reparations, and remember? Today I explore whether we can and do forgive past leaders for their mistakes. “ The American administration made many mistakes against other peoples. Will every American citizen, every American soldier be asked: “Why were you with them? Why were you with them?” He will respond, saying that there was an administration, and there were inherent circumstances unique to this time and place that imposed on me to be here. Administrations are making bad decisions. The American people ca...

This post presents verbatim excerpts of a Department of State Office of Inspector General Inspection Report on Kenya in 2012. I did not make them up. Please visit the page https://www.stateoig.gov/reports , enter Kenya in the first field (Keyword of Phrase), select “inspection” in the Category drop down, and open the August 2012 ISP-I-12-38A report (not the 2018 report). Enjoy. The Ambassador has lost the respect and confidence of the staff to lead the mission. Of more than 80 chiefs of mission inspected in recent cycles, the Ambassador ranked last for interpersonal relations, next to last on both managerial skill and attention to morale, and third from last in his overall scores from surveys of mission members. The inspectors found no reason to question these assessments; the Ambassador’s leadership to date has been divisive and ineffective. The Ambassador has damaged the cohesion of Embassy Nairobi’s country team by underscoring differences between offices working directly with Kenya...

I met Sudan—the world’s last male northern white rhinoceros—at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in central Kenya in 2009. He had recently been relocated from a zoo in the Czech Republic, in a last-ditch effort to breed him naturally. I had just arrived in Kenya myself, representing the U.S. government through USAID, and embarking on a number of exciting projects.  Sudan lived another nine years before a leg infection made it impossible for him to stand. At 45, he was euthanized. For me, he is a symbol of our power over other species although at one point, the dating app Tinder dubbed him the world’s “most eligible bachelor.” ( CNN ) Photo of me with Sudan, Ol Pejeta, 2009 (real, not generated) Sudan was a northern white rhino, a distinct subspecies now functionally extinct. Only two females remain—his daughter and granddaughter—both also at Ol Pejeta. In contrast, the southern white rhino population has rebounded from around 100 in the early 1990s to nearly 20,000 today across Africa, tha...

The world feels like it's in crisis. We live in an age marked by deep anxiety and disorientation, where it often seems that everyone is out for themselves. The moral lessons we were taught in childhood—that kindness matters, that community is sacred, that we are all connected—now feel hopelessly idealistic, even quaint. At worst, they seem like relics of a fairy tale no one believes in anymore. As adults, we find ourselves in a society that doesn't seem especially caring or communal. We are measured and judged as isolated individuals—through exams we sit alone, performance reviews that magnify our personal wins and failures, and a culture where the most self-interested often rise the highest. It's as if we know, deep down, what an ideal society could look like—but it remains just out of reach, elusive in practice. A Philosopher’s Answer: Nasir Khusraw and the Universal Soul At this juncture, I’ve found unexpected solace in the writings of the 11th-century philosopher-poet N...

I was released from the federal workforce twice in the past 2 months. How did this happen? Thoughts and musings from a federal employee who technically doesn't have a job. DISCLAIMER: This is the experience and views of myself alone, published under my first amendment rights. It does not reflect the beliefs or views of any one federal agency nor the United States Government as a whole.  What Other People Say " A majority (56%) say government is “almost always wasteful and inefficient,” while 46% say it often does a better job than people give it credit for"- Pew Research Center, January 7, 2025 "The employees who have so far survived the Trump administration's federal defenestration project are morose. For some, the new workload is untenable. For others, chaos reigns. Scientists have been unable to purchase mice for research, while human-tissue samples have sat on dry ice, unsent, thanks to worker layoffs. Lawyers at the Education Department are racing though a ...