Kristof and Parks in Africa

New York Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof and Casey Parks, the winner of the Win a Trip with Nick contest, are on the ground in Africa, reporting on their experiences via blog, vlog and column. (Unfortunately, it’s all currently behind the TimesSelect wall, though some of it will appear on mtvU in the future.) “I know I picked the right person for this trip, because her entries are actually more interesting than mine,” Kristof writes. “I’m delighted to be shown up!” Kristof isn’t in danger of losing his job, but he is onto something. Parks’ blog so far is a compelling mix of mundane things like music playlists, you-are-there descriptions and heartbreaking reportage and reflection.

I have thought myself so humane in the past because my heart broke over the slightest glint of poverty, because I cared about genocides in other countries. Tonight, I read my e-mail: Prudence passed away at 5 p.m., and I recognize the distance I have kept. I don’t know how to live and have these realities constantly close at hand, but I know that I cannot live anymore with them as a story, as a facts-and-figures news article that speaks but does not move. I cannot hear of tragedies and blanket them under the term “tragedy,” because even that has become a cliche that is so easy to recognize, it’s now too hard to understand.

If you can’t access TimesSelect, check out this interview of Parks by Lisa Mullins on The World.

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