Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar's Blog, page 17

Mo’s into MOOCs

If you’re not in the university business – either a student or professor, you may be thinking, what’s that? A Mooc, or a Massive Open Online Course, is a free class that thousands – often hundreds of thousands – of students take via the Internet. MOOCs present an opportunity to broaden the educational classroom beyond […]

Protected: Week One: Creative Non-Fiction

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How Many Lives Did That Ticket Cost?

  In the economies of the Arabian Gulf, race, social class, and occupation create a visible stratification.  Anyone familiar with the GCC will not be unfamiliar with the stories of worker abuse. Whether the domestic workers found cleaning in many homes, or the men in blue overalls hanging from the scaffolding of new buildings, the […]

Wordless Wednesday: That Coxom & Blondage Affair

We say don’t judge a book by a cover. But that’s exactly what we do. Ironic? Either way, Tom Conrad’s cover for That Coxom and Blondage Affair, does what all good covers should – make you take a second glance. Related articles That Coxom & Blondage Affair by Tom Conrad

Wordless Wednesday: The World is a Pigmentocracy

Driving in gridlocked traffic earlier in the week, a BBC Worldservice piece on pigmentocracy in Martinique resonated with me. People prefer lighter skin not only in the Caribbean but in all the former colonies. This form of reverse racism is appalling. A more traditional form of bigotry reared it’s head with the awarding of Miss […]

I Won’t Ask Why You’re Separated Or Your Baby Died

“You told her?” I said to a friend who is in the middle of a prolonged separation from her husband. My friend is a wonderful listener. One on one, we have talks of such range and depth, I often feel like I’ve left the therapist after we have lunch. Unlike me, in a crowd, she’d […]

Wordless Wednesday: The Falling Man

People have been married, babies born, and yes, many people have died on this day. This is a documentary about one of the most visceral images of 9/11/2002, that of a man who jumped from the window of one of the burning towers. So many questions about the role of the media, the circulation of […]

Vietnam/Cambodia. Somalia/Rwanda. Iraq/Syria?

I’ve been looking for a publicist. Imagine my surprise, when in the middle of a recent chat about books, author platform, and realistic publicity goals, she asked me what people in Qatar thought about the conflict in Syria. Apparently the war has finally caught the attention of the average American. We had this conversation despite […]

Wordless Wednesday: Qatar Takes Over the World

I kid you not, that was the headline of Fortune Magazine’s recent article on Qatar. What surprised me more, however, was the accompanying photo. Taken of the West bay area of the capital city, the image reminded me of the helicopter shots of another famous peninsula-like city, Manhattan. What do you think of when you see […]

Your CV is Incredible… For an Indian Woman

Yes, that was what someone said to me in a direct message on Twitter. The irony is that the sender likely thought he was paying me a compliment (since his bio lists “life coach” among other roles). Good news is that on my mid 30s birthday, I can’t be bothered to get upset about this […]