Should I Donate To A Microfinance Institution?

The woman’s eyes sparkle at me from underneath her bowler’s hat. She is caught in mid action, hands deep in a mass of corn meal, kneading the day’s batch of tortillas. Her baby sits propped up on her shoulder— like some newborn quiver of potential oblivious to his immediate surroundings— wrapped tightly to her body by a colorful but worn indigenous shawl.

Of course the woman is just a picture –a greeting card really from some microfinance institution— sitting on the table next to all my other opened but unattended mail. Señora Ana Maria Villalba, the microfinance organization declares, in warm cursive script on the inside of the card, has worked her way out of poverty and started this small but thriving tortilla stall with a microfinance loan made possible by donations like yours.

Pledging ten to twenty dollars will help women like Señora Villalba around the globe break the chains of penury and reach the economic and social empowerment they deserve. Villalba’s smile, broad and genuine, and those eyes, dancing in the early morning light, are cultural ambassadors, a spokeswoman of sorts for the forgotten, unrepresented and, according to the microfinance institution, ‘unbanked.’

Ten …. Twenty bucks? That’s all it will take to help this enterprising woman in some far off land. It’s the price of a movie ticket and some popcorn, a down payment on a Sunday brunch in a trendy café in Brooklyn, an ill advised late night taxi ride to a bar I have no business being at.

What the hell,…twenty buck in NYC is gone in a flash anyway. Spent on some instantly forgotten consumption. At least this is a conscious act. Something I can feel good about. The money will be going to her. Señora Villalba and those like just you, Espera…. I am coming to help.

But hold on just a moment, who is this Señora Ana Maria Villalba, and more to the point, who is this microfinance organization that is purporting to help her? Where is my money really going? I hesitate and palm my twenty dollar bill back into my pocket. I’m torn; should I donate to this microfinance institution or not….. ?


YES. According to Matt Flannery, the Co-founder and CEO of Kiva, an online lending platform which has facilitated over $100 million in microfinance loans since its inception in 2005, making small, private donations to microfinance institutions (MFIs) “allows individuals in the developed world to loan to small business people in the developing world.” The Kiva website explains that “by combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva is creating a global community through lending.” Whether donating online through a ‘microfund’ intermediary such as Kiva or directly to a microfinance institution such as FINCA International, ACCION International or any other smaller microfinance program, the end goal of making small, individual, private donations to MFIs is the same: to empower the working poor by providing access to credit.

In its 2006 “Good Practice Guidelines for Funders of Microfinance” CGAP, the World Bank’s Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, declares that the “microlevel is the backbone of any financial system” and thus the “role of donors and investors is to strengthen financial service providers to achieve financial sustainability –which is essential to reach significant numbers of poor people and to realize long-term social returns— support experimentation, and provide capital to expand the reach of retail financial institutions when the supply of commercial financing is limited.” Indeed, all MFIs pursue multiple avenues of funding, from international official sector grants to loan financing to private donations in order to meet their financial and social empowerment objectives. However, it is the private donations to MFIs that allow lenders to create a human connection with their borrowers and have a direct impact on their lives.

Specifically, private donations to microfinance programs enable MFIs to offer a wide range of financial services —access to credit, savings vehicles, insurance policies– to poor people that were hither to deemed “unbankable” due to their lack of assets and ability to repay their loans. In addition, the capital raised from private donations, plays a vital role in building capacity in both the lending institutions and borrowing clients, where the presence of robust, financially sustainable MFIs can help to facilitate the transition of microfinance services away from informal lending and towards a nation’s formal financial system. Finally, private donations provide an important source of funding for MFIs to cover transaction costs associated with loaning to the working poor. With operating costs covered, MFIs can maintain lower interest rate premiums and thus be able to extend credit to more individuals, particularly women and the extreme poor.

In effect, while a single, private donation can have a positive, direct impact on an individual’s livelihood by providing much needed credit access to start a small business or invest in a child’s education, the aggregate amount of yearly private donations, can help catalyze a much greater cycle of systemic, economic generation throughout the entire community. According to CERISE, a knowledge exchange network for microfinance practitioners, although the relationship between social and financial performance in microfinance has been much debated, their assessment of the ‘Social Performance Indicators’ of 230 MFIs since 2002 confirms that in fact “social performance and financial performance are compatible.” Specifically, although “targeting the poor clearly implies higher costs for MFIs, other aspects of social performance —participatory models, well-adapted loan technologies and social responsibility— are positively correlated with good operational and financial performance.” In effect, microfinance goes beyond the traditional notion of social responsibility –“do no harm”— and has a genuine and attainable mandate to “do good.”

Thus, donating to a microfinance institution has the dual benefit of economically empowering and improving the social well being of the borrowing client. A small, individual donation has the power to attain the important double bottom line of financial sustainability and positive social impact. Kiva concludes that private donations to microfinance programs connect people, create relationships beyond financial transactions and build a “global community expressing support and encouragement of one another.” Ultimately, donating to a MFI is not some faceless onetime act of charity, but rather a “person to person lending” strategy that empowers lender and borrower alike and has a tremendous multiplier effect on the financial, economic and social realities of the lives it touches. In this regard, making a donation to a microfinance institution is the most versatile and impactful way to invigorate the development process and address the devastating effects of poverty.

NO. In “Microfinance Misses Its Mark,” Karnani (2007) warns that “we should not romanticize the poor as entrepreneurs” and thus overstate the effectiveness of microfinance. Karnani contends that “in fact, most microcredit clients are not microentrepreurs by choice but would gladly take a factory job at reasonable wages if it were available.” Put into context, this statement speaks to a broader argument about the limited utility of microfinance vis-à-vis other alternative methods –namely investing in social, education and health services— to lift people out of poverty and ignite sustainable economic growth. Microfinance is not a cure all, and, according to Rosenberg (2010) in “Does Microcredit Really Help Poor People?,” microfinance’s success in expanding the income, consumption and the health, education and social empowerment of its borrowers is mostly anecdotal. There is no clear evidence to show that the hundreds of millions of microfinance clients throughout the developing world actually realize microfinance’s purported goals of economic and social empower. In sum, making a private donation to a microfinance institution (MFI) is neither an effective nor an efficient way to alleviate poverty or to empower people. Private donors and poor borrowers alike would be better served if donations were channeled to more fundamentally systemic development and poverty reduction schemes such as improved educational systems and job creation.
In itself, the reality of direct person-to-person lending which MFIs promote when soliciting private donations is dubious at best and raises transparency and accountability issues. Testimonials of why individuals from the developed world decide to donate are paired next to photographs of enterprising individuals from the developing world who have used their newfound line of credit to improve their lot. However, the question must be asked whether or not a donor’s contribution actually goes to the stated projects and people shown on the website. In the words of Kiva’s own Co-founder and CEO Mathew Flannery, there exists an “historic tension between the donor/lender desire to ‘know where my money goes’ and the recipient organization’s need for efficiency.” Private donations frequently end up ‘backstopping’ a MFI’s overhead costs. Although this is essential to a MFI’s operation, this is not the stated reasons for soliciting private donations. More than a case of “donor beware,” this is an issue for full disclosure.

Often times, microfinance is touted as the key to unlock the potential of the poor: with access to credit, the working poor will unleash an entrepreneurial spirit that will lead to economic engagement, personal prosperity and community cohesion. Karnani (2007) argues however that “the vast majority of microcredit clients are stuck in subsistence activities where a lack of skills, vision, creativity and persistence to be entrepreneurs” ultimately causes their microenterprises to fail. Investment in education, job creation and improvements in labor productivity is a better way to create long-term success. Moreover, there is a darker side to microfinance that must be given due consideration. Credit, no matter how ‘micro’ or well intentioned, is still a form of debt. For the donor, the private monetary donation may be viewed as a one-time act with no intention for repayment or return on investment. For the borrower however, no matter how poor she is, once the loan is taken out, the principle of the loan plus interest must always be repaid. This is finance, not charity.

In addition, the formal, rigid requirements of group lending or intense communal peer pressure that microfinance uses to ensure timely loan repayment can trap borrowers in a state of ‘loan recycling’ where new loans are taken out to repay outstanding ones. Rather than empowerment, microfinance has caused further economic indebtedness. Finally, although contrary to its intentions, microfinance can actually disempower women. Female borrowers may be granted access to credit but it is their husbands who retain control of the loans.

Beyond microfinance’s stated but frequently unmet empowerment goals, there are two economic realities that often go overlooked. (1) Donor driven external funding is intrinsically unsustainable. It is highly susceptible to donor fatigue and exogenous shocks which could shift donor attention away from their microfinance pledges (i.e. the call for donations after a devastating natural disaster). Rather than rely on private donations, MFIs should seek financial self-sustainability through strategic government subsidies or for profit business models. (2) The quintessential microfinance success story is one of a woman taking out a small microfinance loan to buy a sewing machine. From there she embroiders her way out of poverty. However, what happens if her sewing machine is stolen or damaged? Her engine of income generation is gone, yet her loan remains. In short, there is real risk associated with microfinance lending and borrowing. In comparison, investment in education, particularly literacy, produces fully transferable, lifelong skills that cannot be stolen.

Although microfinance can play a strategic role in extending credit to those without and thus help develop a formal system of financial services, it is not the appropriate tool to generate broadly felt, reliable economic growth across the community that it claims to be. When deciding to make a private donation, do not donate with the intention to lend but rather donate with the intention to promote and to invest in social services. Education not credit. Employment not credit. To address the root causes of poverty, private donations geared towards these indispensable services will provide a far greater return on investment than a small microfinance loan ever could.

Señora Ana Maria Villalba, I am now well informed yet still indecisive….
The promise and mechanics of microfinance seem sound, but the risks are all too real. I would love to pull up a stool in you your stall, buy a tortilla or two as you pluck them off the skillet and talk it over. But here I am thousands of miles away forced to make a decision.

Paraguay: 200 Years of Movement Under the Cover of Darkness: Independence at Day Break

There is a saying in Guarani which states that “only the stars and the poor move at night.” Far removed from the rest of the world in the heart of the South America, Paraguay offers ample room to journey across both its expansive night sky and through its open countryside. With 200 years of independence, Paraguayans have had an equal amount of time to take this journey on their own accord. As the sun rises on the dawn of May 15, 2011 —the date of the Paraguayan Bicentennial — curtailing the mobility of the celestial and the penurious alike, it will illuminate an enigmatic country and complex culture shrouded in a simple agrarian way of life. This project reflects upon how Paraguayans, a people of deep indigenous roots permeated by modernity, articulate and celebrate their own identity and independence. It examines what Paraguayans choose to include and honor as part of their national character while at the same time exploring what Paraguayans are reticent to recall, recognize, and redress. Neither the Guarani Indians nor the present day Paraguayans have left much in the way of physical testament —no ancient ruins or modern urban metropolises— to a great civilization. Instead, throughout history the strength of Paraguay has been its people, its language and its culture. This holds true today as Paraguay prepares for its bicentennial celebration. This project asks where do the Paraguayans find themselves 200 years on and where do they see themselves heading.

Daybreak in the Paraguayan countryside is a busy time. As the first rays of sunlight make their way through the cracks of clapboard houses to the dirt floors and soot stained kitchens, they are met with the rising smoke of rekindled open-hearth fires. Having drank their mate –a traditional hot tea infusion of water and yerba mate leaves— together in the predawn darkness, Paraguayan women busy themselves preparing the day’s first meal while the Paraguayan farmers –men of all generations— grab their hoes and machetes and head toward the field. Breakfast, simple tortillas of fried dough and boiled mandioca, will come later, wrapped in cloth and brought out by a child before he makes his way to school.

This scene is as accurate a portrayal of Paraguayan agrarian life in 2011, as it was centuries earlier in both 1911 and 1811. To be sure, radios, cell phones and motor cycles have been added to the morning routine over the last 200 years, yet living under straw roofs, cooking over open wood fires and scratching out a living with manual farming techniques still remain staple characteristics of rural life. Much has changed, really come and gone, in Paraguay throughout two centuries of independence –an early period of prosperous, self imposed economic self reliance, a devastating ten year war against Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, a national railroad system, a Pyrrhic victory over Bolivia in the Chaco War, the 54 year Alfredo Stroessner dictatorship, rapid exploitation of natural resources, the start of a fledgling democracy and most recently, the hand over of power from the Colorado Party to the Liberal Party after 61 years of single party rule. However, for many Paraguayans living in the countryside, much more has remained relatively unchanged.

At the country’s cultural heart is the indigenous language Guarani. Although banned under the Stronata –the period of Alfredo Stroessner’s dictatorial rule – but now recognized by the 1992 Paraguayan Constitution as an official language, Guarani prevails as Paraguayans’ most amaranthine and identifying characteristic. Spoken as a first language by over 90% of Paraguay’s six million strong population, the Guarani language determines the cadence and rhythm of Paraguayan life. The Guarani name for the language itself, avane’e, can be effectively translated as the people’s language. While in comparison, the Guarani name for the Spanish language, karaine’e, translates to the man’s language. This semantic distinction poignantly demonstrates just how fundamentally Paraguayans identity as individuals, a community and now as a nation with their native language. More fittingly, Paraguayan campesinos capture this same sentiment in contemporary conversation. “Why speak Spanish,” they quip, “When all the good conversations are in Guarani.”

Mingled together, the sunlight and smoke of the early morning kitchen scene represent the competing hope and hindrance of independence in rural Paraguay. Throughout the generations, although Paraguayans may have enjoyed 200 years of independence, they have also endured 200 years of subsistence. According to World Bank statistics (2009), Paraguay’s per capita gross national income (GNI) is $2270 and 20.5% of the Paraguayan population lives below the national poverty line. The overwhelming majority of these poor Paraguayans live in the countryside and rely on small scale farming to subsist. By definition, in a subsistence farming existence no one goes hungry. On the contrary there is always just enough food to go around. This however is a specious and over simplified statement of affairs. Although easily defined, the term subsistence farming lacks the details to truly understand and empathize with the gravity of its meaning. “Just enough” must be met three times a day, indefinitely: where a belly is full but not satiated. The term also belies the immense humanness of the situation. Even the remote fear that there will not be enough to eat puts tremendous psychological pressure on a person and their household. By no means do people starve in Paraguay. With good soil, favorable weather and hard work Paraguayans can produce enough to eat. There is however, in many rural communities, an acutely felt reality of chronic hunger.

As the vitality of a new dawn wears on into the heat of midday; then fades into twilight and exhaustion as the sun sets once more beyond the horizon, the stars and the poor return to trace their midnight arc across the darkened sky. Thus, although Paraguayans have a culture and language uniquely their own, Paraguay remains a country characterized by the enervating routine of subsistence living. For most Paraguayans it has been a hand-to-mouth existence for nearly a dozen generations. Thus, Paraguayan’s gnawing sense of physical hunger reflects not merely a lack of production potential but a desire to have their voices heard and the hunger to truly exercise their independence earned two centuries ago.

ORIENTEERING ORIENTATION

It is the early 15th century. The august figure of Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal stands silently on the shores of the Algarve Coast. With scores of cartographers at his employ and shipwrights at his command, he is caught in the final moment of reflection which immediately precedes action. The cliffs fall away to the ocean beneath him. His gaze remains transfixed on the ships out to sea. Caravels –ships of his own design— bob rhythmically in line awaiting their instructions. Shallow keeled and equipped with lateen sails, these newly constructed vessels possess the ability to sail into the wind.

Over the next century, these ships will venture far down the African coast and eventually out across the Atlantic. With expectations high, Prince Henry raises his hand and grants permission to set sail on the journeys that will redefine the world.

The sextant, celestial navigation, even the ability to fix longitude and without question a system of global positioning all will come later, much later. Equipped with only an intrepid spirit of exploration and the art of dead reckoning, these Portuguese explorers must place their trust in a compass –an instrument crafted centuries before by the Chinese— to find their way there and back.

Fast forward five hundred years and modern urban explorers tend to whip out a smart phone and effortlessly lock in their GPS coordinates. A simple “Get Directions” click and they are on their way, weaving through cross town traffic, down the shoots of the NY C subway system and springing up once more in parts unknown.

Transporting themselves to and fro from one side of the metropolis to the other, most New York City inhabitants no longer give much thought to the hows of their navigational prowess. Instead, when the delightful British accented voice speaks up with timely advice to turn right, these stylish denizens of urban living follow suit without question or concern.
Much akin to the University’s storied past however; New School Recreation travels countercurrent.

On Sunday afternoon, with cell phones silenced and ‘smartness’ returned to the naturally endowed variety an unassuming band of students traveled to Muttontown, Long Island to test their navigational skills. A straight shot out the Long Island Expressway, Muttontown, the name itself a holdover from the colonial era of exploration, was site to the Long Island Orienteering Club’s Orienteering Meet.

Under a canopy of sun struck yellow leaves dappled with flares of red and strokes of orange, the New School students learn to orient a map and read a compass. Working in teams of two, each student is tasked with finding a series of orienteering controls --kite like objects hidden in the wood—in the shortest time possible. Whether by trail or rough shod through the wilderness terrain, the mission is to seek out and find, to search and discover. Lost. Hidden. A Needle in a hay stack. These are relative terms. Compass in hand, map at the ready, quick wits about them: this first group of New School Orienteerers have become the newest reincarnates of the millennia old tradition of exploration.

Prince Henry the Navigator watches intently until the ships disappear over the horizon line. His expression softens and he permits a smile. There is hope on the horizon.

For us however, as the magnetic pull of the Earth spins the compass needle gently northward and life’s journeys begin to intertwine with its destinations, in which direction does your compass point?

A DANDY OF A DAY HIKE

Sunday, November 7 Bear Mountain State Park

With the sun warm and bright, the air crisp and cold and not a cloud in the sky, New School Recreation struck out for a Sunday afternoon hike.

Hiking on Sunday? Absolutely. Stealing a day back from a weekend shortened by school work; our New School hiking expedition ventured north to Bear Mountain State Park. Fifty miles beyond the city limits along the Palisades Parkway, Bear Mountain State Park commands the high ground above the mighty Hudson River.

Fording streams and navigating boulder fields, we tramped, glided and danced our way under the deciduous canopy caught in its annual moment of autumnal explosion. Reaching the summit of West Mountain, we ran the ridge and drank in the views of the vast expanse of forest cover on fire with autumn’s finest palette strokes, the broad views of the august and meandering Hudson River and in the distance, on the horizon, the great pillars of urban progress: the New York City skyline.

The smell of smoke titillated the nose –conjuring up nostalgic moments of bygone adventures— the late day sun sparkled the eye and the westerly wind chapped the checks. The elements although challenging, created the environment to put a song in our hearts and a smile on our face. Do tell, pray tell? As the clocks roll back and darkness settles in for the long winter months, will you get outside before the last autumn leaf falls to the ground?

The 'GUNKS

Commitment Problems…
"Come Work Them Out With Us”

October 23, 2010: On an exquisite autumn day, alive with the sky’s deep celestial blues and the yellows, oranges and red fires of fall foliage, eight intrepid New School students ventured out to one of the East Coast’s premier climbing meccas, The ‘Gunks, for The New School’s first ever Rock Climbing Trip. A balanced blend of seasoned climbers and some new to the sport, our New School group hooked up with the climbing outfitter, High-Xposure, to began our vertical adventure. Climbing a mix of challenging routes–some over 80 feet tall–each climber tested their physical strength, mental fortitude and commitment to climb.

Learning to read the rock face and trust their fingers as they climbed upward, each climber pushed beyond their comfort zones to reach new heights. From the warmth of mid-morning to the last lingering lights of dusk, we climbed to our hearts’ content.
Returning through undulating corn fields illuminated by the natural glow of a rising moon to the City’s bright lights, our group was tired, but content, challenged but confident.

SEVEN TENTHS

Seven tenths of a mile won’t get you very far. On the border of Rockaway Borough and Rockaway Township however, it will get you around Park Lake. More than just taking you through two adjacent towns that paved seven tenths of a mile brings two communities together.

Constructed in 2001-2002 as a joint project between Rockaway Borough and Rockaway Township and with the support of the Rockaway Rotary Club, the Park Lake pathway is a perfect example of a community service project well planned, well executed and well used.

Pavement by its nature is inert. On its own accord, it doesn’t go anywhere and certainly doesn’t do anything. But pouring seven tenths of a mile of pavement around Park Lake has created something of value that is active and alive.

Towns by definition are communities but as the world has progressed our communities no longer have to be our towns. Moving physically from house to car to work to school and back to house again and now digitally through cellular phones and the Internet, we have the luxury to define community however we want. Our communities could certainly be our next-door neighbors but then again, we aren’t required to know their names.

The Park Lake pathway counters this trend and brings contact back to human connection and interaction. Converting a marginal space, the edge of the lake, into a focal point it allows people to congregate, to walk, to run and to exercise. In doing so, the pathway offers the place and creates the opportunity to share in each other’s daily lives. Effectively, it turns a dead zone between two towns into a cohesive communal hub. All that out of seven tenths of a mile of pavement.

Spring and summer would be the obvious choice to demonstrate how well used Park Lake pathway is. The days are long, the weather agreeable and people tend to be outside. On the contrary, it is the dead of winter which shows the true value of the project. Despite the short days, frigid and otherwise unmerciful weather, people, a dedicated few albeit, still come out to walk, run and enjoy that seven tenths of a mile of pavement. When lampposts were added a few years ago, even darkness could no longer keep people away. In short, the use of Park Lake pathway is not a restricted, seasonal activity but has become part and parcel of daily, community life.

Passing by and counting the number of pedestrians quickly shows the popularity of the path but how can the impact of the Park Lake pathway be quantified? After nearly eight years of existence what is the return on investment?

Although the social benefits of the project cannot be given a dollar amount, current value of the path far exceeds the initial $100,000 cost of construction. Instead the Park Lake pathway can be measured in the number of foot steps taken, laps clocked, dogs walked, conversations had, acquaintances made, friendships created, rekindled and resurrected. It can be calculated in as many heartbeats, exercise routines accomplished and appreciative views of the beauty of our hometown recorded.

The Park Lake pathway is a true community service project success story. With an appropriate amount of infrastructure investment, Rockaway Borough and Rockaway Township have identified and addressed a felt need of the local population. With equal and equitable access for all to its use two towns have created one community.

Community is exactly how we choose to define it, being conscious of this point, lets get out there and walk our seven tenths of a mile of pavement.

The Great Sultan Was Furious

The Great Sultan was furious. Fuming he paced deliberately back and forth across the centuries old mosaic pathway tucked deep within the inner sanctum of his private residency.

Ringing his hands and rubbing his chin as if to wash his frustration away, his body was rigid and his jaw tense.

Although his thoughts were varied and subtle, his emotion rendered his articulation simplistic, almost elementary.

“There was No Time. No Time At All,” he stammered.
Talking to himself as he had long since silenced and dismissed his closest and most trusted advisors. But he was desirous to reprimand the world, the forces of present circumstance, this newfound reality in which he had found himself. He was determined to be heard.

His steps along the pathway became more deliberate and volatile with each passing moment. Every motion a jab or a kick at an unforeseen enemy either past or present.

“No time,” he snarled with increasing volume and conviction.

The impeccably manicured courtyard said nothing in response. The tiles of the great mosaic held their ground beneath his feet and kept their silence.

The Chamber of Council as the courtyard had come to be known in backroom parlance had witnessed this spectacle before. The arguments and events forever remained the same: obtuse and oblivious to the tides of power. Only the main character changed. The perceived lead role. The so-called head of state, ruler of unforeseen horizons. The true political marionette if the truth be told. The one destined, doomed, to pace the mosaic maze.

And change, change he did. Swifter than one would think.

“No Time!” the Great Sultan erupted. The echo of his words reverberated through the covered colonnade. “No time to marshal the forces, recoup the advantage, to mount a counter attack…” his words trailed off. But thoughts of an emperor, well, they never cease.

Reaching the edge of the walkway, he stopped, turned and kicked a loose tile from its inlaid dwelling. The kick was forceful and altogether damning. The tile, hand crafted and set in place in a long forgotten age, was abruptly propelled into an awkward arc of motion.

Centuries of perfection dislodged with a spiteful strike. Years of shaded symmetry upset due to the ill-tempered nature of a self-professed king.

As the tile skid across the worn and uneven surface, tink, tink, tink, the Great Sultan’s comportment changed. Anger subsided, overtaken by a fiercer sense of urgency. An urgency that coupled together an uneasy mixture of fear and realization. Deep within the emperor’s own heart and mind, there was a growing comprehension of the shortcomings of his design.

The Great Sultan stood stock-still. The tile had come to rest upon pieces of similar style. Imperceptible to the naked, unobservant eye but fixed upon intently by the author of its destruction, the tile remained motionless. Silent and pathetic, there it sat, an outcast and orphan.

The Sultan snapped to and glanced down toward the tiny but seemingly infinite black hole that he had just created. A man made ripple, a deliberate imperfection, punched into the serene mosaic sea.

“A single year,” He changed his invective, examining the dark cavity more closely. The rebounding echoes off the burnished tile the only thing to take notice.

The hole stared back at him with the constancy of death. A chink in the armor, a hole in his woven masterpiece of power he could not help but ponder.

In a single year he had risen like a storm out of the west. Seizing the imagination of peasants and princes alike, cities and countries.

Like a bolt of lightning followed by a torrential rain upon a scorched and barren earth thirsting for change, he moved swiftly into power. The timing was his and he would fulfill the mandate.

A single year he had reached out with open arms to enemies and allies.
Only to discover that now, after the crushing and unexpected defeat of a far-flung vassal state, his own hands were tied.

His adversaries, by no means worthy or even indefatigable, had cut to the chase and curtailed his maneuvers. The stage was set for action, he ruminated, grand action. But the fire had gone out before it could catch.

The Great Sultan’s eyes smoldered with intensity. The choice was before him.

To yield to a chastened form of governance or to yoke the discordant, dissident factions under a single degree of discipline.

To resign to compromise and cooperation or to reign mightily in the face of opposition and adversity.

No Time. There was no time for further thought. The Great Sultan stomped deliberately on that unblinking black hole and strode forcefully out of the courtyard across the variegated tiled walkway.

The mosaic remained silent but diminished. Another piece was no longer interlocked in its original place. The luster of it kiln fired glaze covered once more with the dust, grit and grim of the footsteps of ephemeral emotion, power, want and desire.

“The Mall of Missteps,” the tiles sighed as day gave way to twilight.

Odessa To Istanbul By Bike

SPACE TO LIVE

Let’s be honest, some people take up more space than others.

Beyond the pure physicality of volume, height, width and mass some people just take up a certain space incongruous to their size.

Whether it’s a protruding elbow jabbing into your midsection on an already cramped and crowded bus, a sticky, sweaty leg pressed up against your own or an individual stepping into the boundaries of an unmarked but clearly defined area deemed as personal.
People sprawl, they expand, they spread themselves out, they can be either big or small, simply stated they just take up space.

Space. The area, which an object occupies, or conversely the physical distance between objects. What is yours? What is mine? What is shared?

Each culture can provide an appropriate response to each of these ideas. Beyond culture however, there lies a more fundamental question, which oddly enough pairs together practicality and perception: How much space does one need to live?

The short practical answers would be “Enough.”
The longer, more perceptive answer would be “As much as it takes.”

The space that we need to live. How much is necessary? How is it determined?
These are grand assumptions, that tend to be taken for granted and reckoned more on what we want and what we can afford rather than what is of absolute necessity.

In terms of residential real estate square feet or meters are used. While agriculture will talk in terms of hectares. A hectare is a one hundred square meters or for ease of mental imagery, two professional size soccer fields placed side by side. Each are valid units of measure which present quite contrastive implications.

Suspending the effects of location on overall cost, a house of a certain size will fetch a certain price proportional to the amount of space it takes up. Two floors, three floors, 1500 sq feet, 2500 sq feet, 5000 sq, feet etc. Correspondingly, the larger the tract of arable land, the higher its asking price.

Here is the rub however, unless you reside in a doorjamb, the laws of physics dictate that you can only be in one room at any given time. Across time however, again being honest with ourselves, within our own particular domicile we like to move around.

Leaving the one room farm house firmly in the American past or precariously constructed in the developing world countryside, the basic components of a modern house include a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom and a common room. A bedroom for each corresponding family member has become de rigueur in today’s house hunting experience, the outsized master bedroom accommodating the matriarch and patriarch of the household of course.

Now, what else is needed: a living room? a den? a formal dining room? an attic? a basement? a garage (of the two or three car variety)? a front hall? a sun room? a breezeway? Perhaps we can even add in a walk-in closet.

The point is not affordability, for that is an easy one to answer, we can afford the house or we cannot, if not to put into practice. The point rather is of necessity: How much space do we truly need to live?

Again, the practically minded answer says “Enough,” while the perceptive answer says “As much as it takes.” Both can indeed be right, but which is most appropriate?

Stepping out of the front, side or back door and returning to the agriculture landscape a farmer is perplexed by the same question: How much space do we truly need to live:
One hectare, two hectares, five, ten, twenty hectares?

His query becomes a bit more specific and consequential however. Will the crops I produce from a certain hectare of land be sufficient to feed myself for the entire year? Will it be sufficient to feed my family? How many pounds of seed are needed to produce a certain ton of crops. How many rows of crops should be left for future seed supply, while how many should be dedicated for animal feed? These are questions most college educated individuals and over eager real estate agents could only guess at but subsistence farmers must get right year in and year out for continued personal survival.

Being tied to the land makes the calculation of one’s Space to Live obligatory. It is essential to their existence. Fortunately, for most of us, our own Space to Live calculation can be taken with much more leisure and luxury.