An uncommon vacation.

March 16, 2007 8:06 AM

Judy's tour diary (pdf, somewhat long) isn't your standard travelogue. The author is Judy Porter, a professor of sociology from Bryn Mawr Collge. Her expertise in the fields of AIDS and poverty are apparent as she paints a vivid picture of life in West Africa, and the health and social conditions that come with it. She also set up a web page that has links to a number of photo slide shows and hand shot video footage. West Africa has been extensively discussed previously.
posted by The Straightener (6 comments total)

A very interesting read, thanks.
It's a dream of mine to go to Le Festival Au Desert.
posted by algreer at 8:26 AM on March 16, 2007

Glad you liked it. Judy's the real deal, she's on the board of directors of the non profit I work for and has helped tremendously in the implimentation of our pilot housing program. The abundance of her work has been in outreach and she has spent years going into the shooting galleries of North Philly to personally coach addicts on how to inject safely and consult with drug den proprietors on how to minimize transmission in their establishments. She has no fear. She can tell you stories that will drain the color out of your face.
posted by The Straightener at 8:37 AM on March 16, 2007

This is extraordinary. Really, really good. The diary is great, especially the section on Timbuktu. She writes clearly and concisely about the epidemiology involved.

I wish there were more pictures in the diary, the slideshows hang for me loading the song and the only way I can see the pictures is to play the memory game. (Which is kind of cool, but limited.)
posted by OmieWise at 9:17 AM on March 16, 2007

I wish there were more pictures in the diary, the slideshows hang for me loading the song and the only way I can see the pictures is to play the memory game.

Got it. I emailed her to tell her there's a problem with the slideshow, if it gets fixed I'll drop you a line to let you know.
posted by The Straightener at 11:02 AM on March 16, 2007

Thanks. I hadn't tried all of them before, it turns out that the Dogon and Bamako sets do load. All the others hang on the songs.

The pictures are really amazing.

It's a shame this isn't getting more play.
posted by OmieWise at 12:04 PM on March 16, 2007

Wow, amazing, thanks. I'm just skimming it now, but it clearly deserves a close read.
posted by Divine_Wino at 4:54 PM on March 16, 2007