A return, of sorts.

1 June 2010, 09:40

It’s been almost a year. 277 days, my last post tells me. I got caught up in my book proposal, which came together very nicely (although it did not win), and then, as pretty much anyone who actually reads this blog will know, I got pregnant. First trimester symptoms with an intestinal parasite to boot, plus commuting by Greyhound to a city not actually served by Greyhound took it’s toll, and there you are.

So now I’m about 8 months pregnant, and I’m on leave and bored, and so ranting (um… blogging, ya) seems like a way to pass the time. I don’t promise I’ll keep it up more than I ever do, but we’ll see how it goes.

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the drone of the inner narrator

10 March 2008, 09:24

I’m now at the stage where I keep thinking of things to write about and then forgetting them again. I’ve written 134 pages of fieldnotes since I got here, and that number will likely be much higher over the next three months because I’m averaging more a week now than when I first got here. I’m saying this to introduce the idea that I wouldn’t mind writing longer blog entries, but I don’t really know what people are interested in, and the sound of my own inner voice is becoming wearisome. What are you wondering about my trip? Is there anything you’d like to hear more about?

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"The Cost of Life"

2 August 2007, 16:01

The Cost of Life is an interesting strategy game in which you have to assign tasks to a Haitian family in such a way that they are able to pay for their present needs, save against risks (such as injury, illness, or hurricane), and invest in the future through community building and education.

The game is obviously intended to be educational, and to inject a bit of reality into the notion that hard work always pays off. The availability of jobs and schools varies from season to season, and user-fees at the schools and medical centres are serious drains on the family’s resources, amplified by the lost wages that the time in school or at the hospital costs. There is a huge disincentive to educate the daughter, since she is capable of making adult wages from the beginning. Vocational training is a bit of a gamble, as are the very expensive capital investments that allow for increased earnings over time.

What I would add to the game, personally, would be a “policies” section, where you could set tax rates and add or remove things like state-run medical or school facilities, and paid job-training during times of low employment etc. It would be interesting to see if different policies would allow for significant gains (or if there would be significant losses).

All in all, it’s pretty fun and well thought out for an educational game.

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