text:
Best Wines For Grilling: Sausages
We help you pick wine to drink with the food you eat.
More Wine Pairing Tips
Best Wines for Grilling: Burgers »
Pairing Wine with Pizza »
Wines for Carnitas Tacos »
What to Drink with Steak »
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Fresh off the grill, with their casings straining to keep all the juicy goodness inside, sausages scream summertime communal eats. But what to drink? We've already rounded up our top beer choices, but you're sure to have at least one guest or family member (or, maybe even yourself) who prefers a glass of wine. So what should you serve?
Pairing Tips
Sausages are salty. Very salty. Salt loves fresh, mouthwatering acidity in wine, and a wine that seems sharply acidic on its own will mellow out with a salty dish. Many wines will work, but large, full bodied and tannic reds like Cabernet Sauvignon should be avoided. Big reds tend to be low in acid, and thus continue to feel heavy, even grating with salty foods, and their astringent tannins can clash with salt, making everything taste—and feel—rough.
Spice levels in sausages should also be considered—go just a little sweeter with fiery foods. A tongue-tingling spicy sausage will love an off-dry wine with some residual sugar, while a regular old hot dog will make the same wine taste sticky and cloying.
Best All Around Reds
Fresh and fruity with low tannins and cracked black pepper on the nose and finish, the offbeat Austrian grape zweigelt goes with just about every kind of sausage. Try the cheap and cheerful 2009 Zvy-Gelt with all of your grilled goods. (Around $11, find this wine)
Second honors go to the under-loved gamay, whose earthy structure sets up dark cherry and dried berry fruits with medium tannins and fresh acidity. Move outside of the traditional Beaujolais to the Loire Valley and try one that marries a pleasant stink with ripe fruit, like the 2009 Henri Marionnet Domaine de la Charmoise Touraine Gamay. (Around $12, find this wine)
Best All Around White
Gewürtztraminer, with its seductively spicy scent of lychee and rose water pairs well with the salt, spice, and sugar that pop up in most sausages. Try the 2009 Villa Wolf Pfalz Gewürtztraminer for its aromatic nose and round off-dry flavors. ($10-$14, find this wine)
Best With Hot Dogs
High acidity rosés cut through the salty fat of a traditional frank. We love the crisp and salinity-laden 2010 Ameztoi Rubentis Getariako Txakolina from Spain's Basque region. ($18-$25, find this wine)
Best With Spicy Sausages
An off-dry riesling packed with minerality and fresh stone fruit flavors like the 2009 Chateau Ste Michelle & Dr. Loosen Eroica from Columbia Valley, Washington will save your tongue from spicy sausages. ($16-$26, find this wine)
About the Author: Sarah Chappell is a winemonger and writer living in Brooklyn. She holds the Advanced Certificate with Distinction from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust and has contributed to Foodista, Palate Press and WineChap.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


text:
So Sam and I are currently on our charity round the world motorcycle trip (Chasing Horizons – you can follow us daily on http://www.facebook.com/chasinghorizons! Wheee! Whilst we were planning it though we both had a maaaajor hard time figuring out what kind of luggage to take with us… soft… hard… which ones and why…! We finally ended up with the below set up which as you will read is working out pretty mega for us both and hope that the following review and on going updates on their handling and capabilities will help others make decisions in the future for their own luggage solutions!
Clare: Metal Mule UTE Panniers
2 x Hard Luggage Panniers:
1 x 31 Litre Powder Coated
1 x 38 Litre Powder Coated
1 x Stainless Steel Pannier Frame
1 x Rear Rack
Secure (can remain on the bike)
Water tight (not let in a drop yet!)
Hard core and strong (takes a beating and does not warp!)
Slim Line design
Easy to load
Pannier Frame reinforces the rear subframe (weak spot for the KTM 690 Enduro R 2012)
Heavier than soft luggage
Can be bulky to carry
On my bike we have mounted the famously superb Metal Mule UTE Panniers – a quality hard luggage system. We had originally thought to take soft luggage only but after reviewing the delicate and expensive kit we are having to take and the areas we were going to be travelling through we decided that we ideally needed to have something that could take a bit of a beating and remain locked, secure and waterproof. Sam has previously had hard luggage panniers (the zegas) which were, as he put it, made of chocolate! After an off his zegas were completely warped out of shape and then for the rest of the trip were leaking. So with this in mind we were unsure as to what to really look for until we discovered Metal Mules. They are just far far superior in quality, feel and strength.
The panniers themselves are cleverly designed by Metal Mule. Taking into consideration the slightly extra girth and weightiness of the exhaust side of the bike, one pannier holds up to 31litres and the other 38litres to help establish an even balance and width to your bike. If you prefer you can have two of the same sizes but we opted for this system.
They are beautifully fitted onto a stainless steel frame specifically designed for the KTM 690 Enduro R 2012. Metal Mule also provide framing for various other motorbikes varying from BMW to Yamaha – check it out on their webby! The actual workmanship of both the panniers and framing is top quality. The panniers are powder coated to a stunning finish which to date remains in perfect condition despite some heavy usage. The actual welding and composition is smooth and sleek. The width when mounted on the bike is just a smidgen wider than the handlebars making it very slim and easy to judge when weaving through traffic or tight spots! Having been through Alexandria, Egypt in rush hour at night with them fully loaded on my KTM 690 Enduro R 2012 I can vouch 110% that they are easy to ride with and certainly not bulky at all!
To mount them to the bike, the panniers have sturdy metal holders on one side which then hook over the framing and are secured by two bolts from the interior. It literally takes a few seconds to remove them which is pretty mega! The inside lids are rimmed by a form of rubber so when they are closed it provides a perfectly water tight seal. We have ridden through weeks of torrential rains and have thrown the bikes heavily onto the panniers and yet still they have remained water tight! It's phenomenal and just shines with absolutely awesome quality. Strength wise, as said above they have taken a bit of a beating and remain completely solid. Check out this youtube clip to see how hardcore they are: YouTube Tractor Test Metal Mule
On top there is a twist shut and key lock – again very simple and smooth to do. On many occasions we have left the panniers secured on the bikes overnight without concern for their security.
The panniers we have opted for is the standard set. You are able to purchase additional features (top boxes, handles etc) but for us these were not a necessity as they are rarely carried and we tend to keep them remained locked on the bike! What's kind of awesome about these panniers are if you do decide to unmount them they make awesome seats to dine on around a camp stove!
We carry all our electronics, including laptop, spares and camera equipment in them and for us the peace of mind that they remain secure and safe from being nabbed or taking a bash (I do have a habit of hugging trees with the bike when offroading) it's just magnificent. Being a girl and slightly less muscular than the boys I was initially nervous they would be weighty but they're actually fairly easy to carry if you are required to and I find they only a positive impact on the handling of the bikes!
A great investment. Overall, the Metal Mule Utes are a fantastic and most awesome quality hard luggage system and we are so glad we have them for our Chasing Horizons round the world motorcycle trip. Take a peek at the http://www.metalmule.com for more information. If you need to find out more details or have any specific requirements, drop Metal Mule an email or give them a call, they are stupendous there!
Sam: Enduristan Monsoon Saddle Bags
Soft Luggage Panniers
30-60 Litre adjustable volume per bag
Total Weight: 3.0kg
Water Proof (not let in a drop yet!)
3 Protective Layerings
No Rear Rack required
Light weight
Easy to remove and load
Potential vulnerability to slash and stash thieving (frequent occurrence in some of the third world countries we are travelling through)
Not lockable (must remove and take with you when visiting insecure areas)
On Sam's bike we have the superbly constructed Enduristan Monsoon Saddle Bag soft luggage system. Having never travelled with soft luggage panniers before other than roll tops we were unsure how it would work with our style of travelling but so far the Monsoon Saddle bags have proved to be absolutely perfect! As the carrier of our camping equipment and food it is important for our panniers to remain watertight and easily accessible/transportable. With the roll top design the Enduristan panniers have worked a treat, snugly fitting varying amount of bits and bobs we use daily and remaining 100% waterproof despite enduring weeks of horrendous weather.
What is particularly awesome about the Enduristan Monsoon Saddle bags is their construction and usability. They are neatly shaped by a tough but light weight impact plastic running from the front to the back of the panniers. Not only does this provide additional protection from stones flicking up but it also gives the panniers a decent yet flexible shape to help you organise your gear inside as opposed to a floppy like bag. As well as this you also have separators on the inside and rather cleverly they have a bright red lining making it pip squeak to spot your bits and bobs you've packed no matter the light conditions!
They have so far endured a couple months of constant usage which has included some heavy riding, severe sand and rain storms and the odd brush with the chaotic traffic in and around Egypt. Due to their cordura material and awesome design they have remained unscathed, waterproof and shapely.
The unique design requires no rear rack although we have ours seated over our Adventure Spec Rack for the KTM 690 which pulls the panniers a bit further back and enables us to then rokstrap additional luggage on top. If you are to use no frames and have a rather toasty exhaust we would recommended purchasing a heat shield just to keep it lifted off and prevent damage! Fortunately for us our new KTM Basel Quest 690 bike kit has moved the exhaust into a position where this is not required!
They are held on with adjustable velcro and ROKstraps making them reasonably quick and easy to clip on and take off. With rubberised handles they are very comfortable to carry around too!
Overall they are a superb design and are proving to be rock solid! At such an affordable price they exceed in quality and well considered construction, particularly when in comparison to leading competition such as the Giant Loop. It is very evident they have been designed by a well seasoned motorcycle travel enthusiast who is incredibly helpful and friendly in every way if you have any enquiries.
As an addition, both Sam and I have the Enduristan Tornado Roll top bags and the Sandstorm 2S tank bags which again are just supremely fantastic quality and are surviving a good deal of use and abuse! A top quality brand! Check out their website for a full list of their products: http://www.enduristan.com
We will upload some videos and pictures whilst we are going along! If you have any questions in the meantime though don't hesitate to pop us a message at email@example.com! If we do delay in responding it's only because we're in the middle of no where with no wifi so hang in there with us or alternatively contact Enduristan and Metal Mule direct – they've been really superb with helping and advising us! :DShare this
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
|May 21, 2003
|Attorney General Terry Goddard
|Media availability
|Flagstaff City Council Chambers
211 W. Aspen Avenue
Flagstaff, AZ
|Friday, May 23, 2003
Following testimony—time available between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m.
Attorney General Terry Goddard will be available for the media following his testimony during budget hearings at the Flagstaff City Council Chambers. He will be talking about the impact of the budget on the Attorney General's Office…and how it could affect law enforcement, seniors, child protection and consumers in Arizona's communities.
A similar rally today in Phoenix on the budget garnered over 250 participants, with remarks by Republican and Democratic leaders and community activists.
If you'd like to schedule time to talk one-on-one with the Attorney General, please call Dianna Jennings at (602) 542-8019.


text: I wasn't there, but I did get the call. Congrats on reaching 1000 finds. I have been on alot of them and really enjoy the times we have been on the road. Great choice on the milestone cache. Thorne Head Challenge. Was it challenging? Now on to the next milestone......1500!


text:
Gurkka.com is an affiliate of Global Noble International Corporation (GNIC) that aims to sell online GNIC's wines and spirits product line as well as brands from other suppliers including wine and spirit accessories (i.e. wine glass, cork screw, bottle stopper, etc.) and lifestyle products (i.e. hotel accommodations, magazine subscription, etc.) Every purchase of Gurkka.com members will entitle them to either freebies (if main or guest products) or discount (if promo bundles) while their continuous buying will earn them points and redeem rewards (i.e. gadgets, appliances, discounts, gift certificates, etc.) depending on the membership level they were able to reach within the purchase cycle.
Parent Company: GLOBAL NOBLE INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION (GNIC)
GNIC has been in the business of consumer-goods distribution since Year 2003 and has imported and distributed varied consumer products that ranges from packaged-paper industry, confectionery product segment, white-salad dressing product line and since the Year 2005 ventured in the wines and spirits category which until now kept on growing in terms of liquor brands that now ranges from whisky, brandy, cognac, tequila, liqueurs and wines from famous sources in the world like USA, Scotland, France, Mexico, Ireland, Chile, Australia and South Africa, among others.
In its more than 10 years of service, armed with the commitment of introducing world class quality brands to the Philippine market, GNIC had established a reputation in the industry and nurtured healthy working ties with various sector from financial division to the logistics and warehousing sector. For GNIC, customer satisfaction is our utmost priority.
The website name - Gurkka.com - came from the word Gurkha/Gorkha which refers to military units in the British or the Indian Army enlisted in Nepal. Gurkhas are considered to be naturally aggressive in battle and possess qualities of courage, loyalty, self-sufficiency, resilience, trustworthiness and reliability, that's why they are highly depended on to protect.
To this day, Gurkhas still protect royalties in the United Kingdom and serve in the British Military. Besides the UK, other countries have also recruited Gurkhas into Military and Police forces including Singapore, Brunei and Hongkong. You will see Gurkhas working as Security Forces at the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, as Royal Guards in Qatar and as Soldiers in Indian Army and Malayan Armed Forces.
Gurkka.com aims to create an online selling portal that is committed, reliable and trustworthy to gap the usual fear and hesitance of Filipinos towards online buying.
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Merlot has a softer taste than Cabernet Sauvignon. It has a rich plum and berry fruit flavor with refreshing acidity and low to medium tannins. ...Read More
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Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape often described as having a fresh green fruit aroma and flavor; it produces intense, fruity, and light to...Read More
Syrah or Shiraz is a dark-skinned grape used to produce powerful, deeply colored red wines that have the ability to age. Wines from made from syra...Read More
Pinot Noir produces a lighter red color and body than Cabernet Sauvignon but it has a good aging potential. Wines made from this grape can have a ...Read More
There are more than 10,000 varieties of wine that exist in the world today! Source: www.roundbarnwinery.com/wine_faqs.php ...Read More
Booze and the brain TRUE OR FALSE: Alcohol destroys brain cells FALSE. Alcohol doesn't actually kill brain cells. I...Read More
You can pour 4 to 5 glasses in a regular 750ml bottle of wine, filling the glass halfway through. Source: www.roundbarnwinery.com/...Read More
The science of wine and winemaking is called oenology. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WInemaking ...Read More
Chile and Argentina are the South American countries that are known for their good-value red wines! Source: www.rd.com/slideshows/...Read More
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The Mesopotamians were known to produce the first wines in 6,000 B.C. Source: wine.about.com/od/winetrivia/a/winetrivia.htm ...Read More
V.S.O.P. stands for Very Superior Old Pale. It means that the youngest blend of brandy is stored for at least four years but the wood age is much ...Read More
BOURBON 1. In 1964, the U.S. Congress recognized bourbon as a "distinctive product of the Unite...Read More
V.S. stands for Very Special. It means that the youngest blend of brandy has been stored in the casks for at least two years. Sour...Read More
X.O. stands for Extra-Old. It means that the youngest designated blend of brandy has been stored in the cask for at least six years, but on averag...Read More
Robert Parker is the most influential wine critic known today. Max Lalondrelle, fine wine buying director of Berry Bros & Rudd says: "Nob...Read More
Red wines are fermented on their skins, while white wines are pressed, separating the juice from skins before fermentation. Source...Read More
Oak does wonders for wine because it has a tendency to pull the tannins, acid, and alcohol into a perfect balance. Oak adds another dimension to t...Read More
The Scottish people spell whisky without an 'e' to save time on writing and have more time drinking. Other whiskey producing countries lik...Read More
France, Italy, and Spain are considered "Old World" wines. Some countries have been making wines for thousands of years. "New World...Read More
The first written mention of Scotch Whisky was by a French friar named John Cor Exchequer Rolls of Scotland in 1495. Source: en.wi...Read More
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text: Sijun Forums :: View topic - [CRIT] Some comic coloring going on here Log in to check your private messages Sijun Forums Forum Index >> Archive : Sep99 - Dec00 View previous topic :: View next topic Author Topic : "[CRIT] Some comic coloring going on here" FlinthawkmemberMember #Joined: 14 Oct 2000Posts: 415Location: Los Angeles Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2000 4:05 am Hey, I posted the beginnings of this a week or so ago, post long since buried so I'm starting a new thread (btw, how long since the last reply would you stop posting to a thread because we all know how much we don't enjoy seeing a thread from half a year ago pop up for no reason). Anyway, I got bored so I grabbed the inks of Joe Mad's Batman and Superman stuff and decided to see how my painting style translates to comics. I took some liberties with the colors of their outfits and whatnot since this is mostly for fun but I was curious what any of you pro or up-and-coming pro colorists thought of my rendition. Of course I'd like to hear anybody's comments as well Well, critique away... and here's one where I lightened up the colors a bit since the first really drowns out Mad's pencils. Hopefully I'll get a few comments before I go ahead and finish the last panel on the page...wanna hear what people think now incase there's something I can incorporate into that last section. -Flinthawk Back to top mykscholzeGuestMember # Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2000 5:41 am Looks very nice you have an interesting style keep up the good work ------------------ | |- Michael Scholze -| | Back to top ZosomemberMember #Joined: 23 Dec 2000Posts: 132Location: Stuttgart, Germany Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2000 7:26 am Flinthawk- Looks really good. I'm not sure if light from the moon would be that hard though. Personal preference perhaps. Anyways, good stuff man! Back to top RagnarokmemberMember #Joined: 12 Nov 2000Posts: 1085Location: Navarra, Spain Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2000 7:49 am Neat, great, etc. I like the tones you have chosen and IMHO the moon looks ok, maybe too blue, and the effect on superman is ok too, it adds to the mood. Maybe the contrast between the highlight zones and the not-hit-by-the-moonlight (tm) zones must be greater, but that's up to you Back to top FlinthawkmemberMember #Joined: 14 Oct 2000Posts: 415Location: Los Angeles Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2000 12:11 am Hey thanks for the comments guys...actually didn't expect to get any since I posted this in the middle of the night. I think I may fool around with the effect of the moon a bit, there's more glow than I think I really wanted going on. I'm thinking of upping the contrast on Superman as well...he's not looking like he's in the dark or maybe I just need to darken him more...dunno, I'll play around with it. Does the background in the first panel read ok though? I fear I might've painted in too much of it to allow it to stay in the background. Anyway, if anybody else has some comments I'd like to hear them as well. -Flinthawk Back to top SeraphirememberMember #Joined: 21 Sep 2000Posts: 216Location: griswold,ct,usa Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2000 12:49 am I was going to say that I thought the moon was too bright. It becomes the focus of that panel, and I'm sure that it's not supposed to be. I think you should try to bring Batman into the foreground more in the second panel. Superman's blue outfit is bringing him out alot more than Batman is. Perhaps finishing coloring the buildings in that panel will seperate batman and the background more. But now with the large amount of black and contrasting against the moon and superman, he's being pushed back. I really like the first panel, I have no suggestions. Nice work. ------------------ The Groove is in the Heart! Seraphire Michael Jon Birkhofer Seraphire's Cafe/Digital Evolution Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Sijun Forums Forum Index -> Archive : Sep99 - Dec00 All times are GMT - 8 Hours Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Digital Art----------------Digital Art DiscussionWork in ProgressGallery/Finished Work Miscellaneous----------------Random MusingsArchive : Sep99 - Dec00 You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum Powered by phpBB © 2005 phpBB Group


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Topic: FAVORITE character through the sw films?
What is your favorite character if you had to choose one character who would it be?
And what do you like most about that character?
And what movie do you think he or she is coolest in?
I would have to say BOBA FETT you know he will get the job done
no matter what it is or how hard it is.and hes the BOMB in ROTJ.
[color=#FF0000]{MW}-"death and destruction to our enemies!"[/color]:cool:


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Volleyball Rekindles Belmont Rivalry Tuesday in Kean Hall
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – After starting the OVC slate 0-2 this past weekend the Tigers look to build momentum against their cross-town rivals on Tuesday.
Over the weekend Tennessee State played host to Eastern Kentucky on Friday and Morehead State on Saturday. The Tigers were unable to pickup a victory falling to 0-2 in their OVC schedule.
On Friday the Tigers and Eastern Kentucky went toe-to-toe to begin the conference season for both schools. The Colonels came through with a straight sets victory even though each team manage to answer each other's runs throughout the night. Senior outside hitter Naomi Wells led TSU in kills with 17 as the Tigers out hit the Colonels 34-29.
Tennessee State returned to action Saturday for a tilt with three-time defending OVC regular season champion, Morehead State. The Eagles would prevail in the matchup winning in straight sets. Although, freshman Arijana Anderson would shine in the match recording a career high 13 kills including a seven kill third set. While racking up her seven kills in the third frame Anderson would post a .700 hitting percentage.
TSU will look to get on the board in the OVC standings when they welcome preseason east division favorite Belmont.
Junior outside hitter Naomi Wells will lead the offensive attack for TSU in Tuesday night's showdown. The Huntsville, Ala. native having another stellar season for the Tigers as she ranks the top 10 of the OVC in numerous statistical categories including leading the conference in kills and points per set.
The Bruins come into the contest with an 8-10 record and a 1-1 mark in conference. Belmont split their matchups this weekend dropping their conference opener on Friday to Morehead State 3-0 following the loss with a 3-0 win over Eastern Kentucky the following day.
Belmont is lead by a pair of preseason All-OVC selections in seniors Hannah Miranda and Jen Myer. Miranda is a setter for the Briuns racking up an OVC leading 680 assists while ranking second in assists per set averaging 9.86 helpers.
Tuesday's first serve is set for 7 p.m. in Kean Hall and admission is free to fans of all ages.


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The humanitarian industry is a relatively new one in its current form. This makes it an interesting, frequently exciting one to be involved with, as it's constantly changing. This can be a challenge, too.
I like to joke that the earliest disaster preparedness and response on record is Noah's Ark. Then of course there's the story of Joseph (he of Technicolour Dreamcoat ™ fame), who interpreted Pharaoh's dreams of skinny cattle devouring fat cattle as an impending famine and subsequently requisitioned harvest surplus which he then redistributed to the hungry when said famine eventuated.
Humanitarianism as we know it today has, for better or for worse, become an industry, and has developed quickly from a relatively fringe activity best left to hippies and missionaries, to a multi-billion-dollar a year sector attracting a wide range of skilled and experienced professionals. It's unique, dynamic and, certainly from an insider's perspective, fascinating. But the way things look today haven't popped out of nowhere. Over the last century and a half, the humanitarian industry has been shaped by a number of key events and moments that have given rise to its current dynamics.
1. The Battle of Solferino (June 24th 1859)
At the height of the Austro-Sardinian war, a Swiss businessman by the name of Jean-Henri Dunant travelled to the small Italian town of Solferino, where he witnessed the aftermath of a battle that left forty thousands dead and wounded. So struck was he by the plight of the casualties, many of whom were abandoned and left to die, or executed by the enemy, that he forewent his business plans and spent the ensuing days helping to organize medical care for the survivors.
The experience so moved him that upon returning to Geneva, he wrote up his memories, recommending the establishment of a movement of trained and neutral volunteers who could administer medical aid to the casualties of battle, and treaties offering such people protection. His recommendations became the foundation for what was to become the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as well as the first Geneva Conventions.
The Committee's proposals, initially signed and endorsed by 12 nations in 1864, recognized the need for national committees of volunteers to provide medical assistance on the battlefield, but also enshrined the neutrality of wounded soldiers. The agreed international symbol, as laid out by the signed agreements, was a red cross on a white field- the inversion of the Swiss flag, itself a symbol of neutrality.
This notion of neutrality, and of non-combattants offering non-partisan support to the injured victims of warfare, became the founding tenet of modern humanitarian organizations, and the ICRC continues to this day to occupy a unique status under International Humanitarian Law and within the rules of warfighting. The Red Cross Code of Conduct forms the guiding set of 10 principles that most major NGOs voluntarily adopt as their core values, particularly enshrining the primacy of the humanitarian imperative, neutrality and impartiality.
2. The Aftermath of World War II and the Marshall Plan (1945, 1948-51)
Following the victory of the allied forces first in the European theatre, and subsequently in Asia, most of Europe in 1945 had been devastated. The extent of destruction caused by warfare and bombardment, the loss of millions of men at the peak of their economic productivity, and the diversion of years' worth of resources into the machinery of war, meant that both society and economy across the continent was decimated.
Conversely, because it had stimulated its economy through the production of wartime assets without suffering any destruction of its mainland infrastructure, the USA had become the first country in history to economically thrive under conditions of warfare (a dynamic that has echoes today in how the economy operates while America is at war). In order to shore up its wartime allies, to assist with the vast humanitarian needs of post-war Europe, and no doubt to maintain the health of its key trading partners, Harry Truman's government put together an economic recovery package of unprecedented proportions. It would see some USD 13 billion invested across western Europe.
Whether due to the plan itself, or due to the simple mechanics of post-war recovery, industrial output did increase substantially during the plan's lifetime, and was deemed in many corners to have been a great success. The Marshall Plan laid out a framework for international foreign assistance that became increasingly the norm, with large bilateral or multilateral grants or loans provided to countries with struggling economies in order to lift their productivity and stability.
As well as normalizing the concept of foreign assistance on such a large scale, another interesting side-effect of such a large humanitarian crisis was the need to have capacity to deliver support, and so the US government agreed to allow private charitable organizations provide emergency relief to war survivors. Although the charity was not a new concept, this gave new impetus to non-governmental relief agencies, and many of today's largest NGOs appeared around this time. CARE, which is an acronym for "Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere", in fact originally stood for "Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe".
A third impact of the end of the Second World War was of course the founding of the United Nations (UN), to replace the defunct League of Nations that had failed so miserably to prevent World War II in the first place. This occured in 1945. As well as spawning a host of international agreements on everything from trade to human rights, the UN also gave birth to a spread of sub-organizations with specific mandates. Among the most pressing in the post-war years was the plight of the tens of millions of refugees forced from their home in the fighting- and thus was born the International Refugee Organization (IRO) in 1947, which three years later became the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), one of the most dynamic and critical international organizations in the humanitarian field today.
3. The Biafran Airlift (1967-70)
In 1967, civil war broke out in Nigeria following a series of coups, counter-coups and ethnic killings, and the ethnic Igbo in the south of the country declared their own homeland, the state of Biafra. The Nigerian government responded by blockading Biafra, and a humanitarian crisis resulted, with millions of civilians caught up without food and medical supplies.
In response, a huge humanitarian operation was launched, and a mix of well-meaning volunteers and mercenaries, funded by charity organizations, began flying food and medical supplies into Biafra. The mission was fraught with danger- the Nigerian airforce would shoot down any relief flights claiming (most likely accurately) that weapons were being smuggled to the resistance. Flights were flown in at night, without lights, and landings orchestrated on roads in the bush where supplies could then be delivered to starving civilians.
By war's end as many as three million people may have died, mostly due to a mixture of starvation and disease. The involvement of humanitarian actors, however, has subsequently been condemned. Not only did the relief flights facilitate the smuggling of weapons to the Biafran rebels, but some critics claimed that the relief assistance merely gave the Biafrans the resolve to hold out longer, exacerbating the humanitarian situation rather than surrendering and allowing the seige to end. One report put the toll due to humanitarian action at 180,000 dead. This was the largest and most high-profile instance to that point of humanitarian intervention being arguably partisan, and also contributing significant harm, not just good.
Another important cameo played out in the Biafran civil war. Red Cross workers were allowed to work in the war-affected areas to provide medical assistance, but under the guise of neutrality were not allowed to speak about what they were seeing. Witnessing atrocities against civilians committed by government forces, as well as attacks against humanitarian staff, this enraged some of the volunteers. Most prominent among these was Frenchman Bernard Kouchner, who felt strongly that the Red Cross's stance on neutrality was an ethical compromise. He determined to establish an organization that was free of any government influence and could speak out on behalf of those affected by crisis, and the NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) was born. MSF remains one of the foremost NGOs to this day, and is fiercely independant and proud (to a fault…?) of its independence from government, military and even international organizational influence. The actions of Kouchner and his peers also set a precedent for relief agencies advocating on behalf of the rights of the victims of conflict and injustice, not simply being silent responders.
Biafra introduced a whole new complexity to the idea of 'neutral' aid agencies on several fronts.
4. The Ethiopia Famine (1983-5) and Live Aid (1985)
From 1983, a combination of failed rains, civil warfare and the purges and collectivist policies of a communist dictatorship had pushed Ethiopia into one of the worst famines of the 20th century. By its end, 8 million people would be affected by famine, with between 500,000 and one million deaths. Images of its victims, made famous by BBC reporter Michael Buerke's dispatches from the field, were broadcast onto TV screens across the western world, making the Ethiopian famine the first to really be witnessed by a western audience.
Galvanized by public sympathy, a group of some of the most popular musicians of the day joined together, led by the enthusiastic Bob Geldof, to form Band Aid. They recording a song to raise funds for Ethiopian famine victims, 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' which became a Christmas Number One in the UK charts in late 1984. In 1985, Geldof again coordinated efforts for a fundraising concert, held simultaneously in the UK and the US, which ultimately garnered an audience of a little under 2 billion people worldwide and raised an estimated $150 million.
The Ethiopian famine and the subsequent fundraising efforts marked a watershed moment in the history of aid fundraising. Large amounts of fundraising money were no longer just the domain of governments, nor were charities restricted to small pockets of whatever they could raise through collection baskets and faithful donors. Furthermore, the idea of a world out there- the third world- experiencing hardship was suddenly projected into peoples' homes and made a part of their day-to-day consciousness. Since that time, people- particularly in the west- have remained aware of third world disasters. It is part of the collective experience and expectation that there is a poor world out there that suffers things that people in the west do not tend to.
On the up side, this has made the job of convincing people of the need to give easier. There is also a downside. Since Live Aid and many of the confronting images that were broadcast to shock people into giving, people have slowly become increasingly desensitized to images of suffering. The awareness-raising and media campaigns for the Ethiopia famine also represented the major incursion of shocking images into the public space, to the detriment of the dignity of survivors which has taken years to break down (and is still a challenge in some sectors).
5. The Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2004) and Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS)
The civil war between the Government of Sudan (GoS) and the southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) ultimately resulted in two million deaths and four million refugees. Africa's longest-running civil war, and possibly the most destructive, it too resulted in devastating images of famine as population groups were forced from their homes to settle in large, unsanitary camps where food supplies were precarious and disease rampant.
The international community established Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), a consortium of UN agencies and three dozen NGOs, in 1989, with the aim of delivering assistance to the mainly southern displaced people in camps both within and outside Sudan itself. A logistics airhead was set up in the small Turkana town of Lokichoggio, in Kenya, from which a vast operation of airdrops and relief deliveries was flown into Sudan. At the height of operations, Loki was the second busiest airport in Africa. OLS remains functional today, although not to the extent it was through the 1990s.
The civil war in Sudan was in part a proxy of the Cold War, and as such western allegiences found themselves favouring the southern rebels, both in terms of ideology and in terms of potential access to oil and mineral revenues in the long run. This was reflected in the huge amounts of funding that were invested in OLS, enabling such a massive aerial logistics operation. The offshoot of this was the explosion in budget of many of the NGOs party to OLS, catapulting some of them into the massive organizations they are today.
OLS also became an unwitting party to the conflict. Food aid became a weapon in the war on the ground, and was used to tactical advantage by both sides. By feeding humanitarian information to OLS, belligerents could influence where food drops were headed, and because populations would move to where the food was, they could thus influence the movement of people to their advantage in the field. It was an ugly ploy that cost the lives of thousands.
OLS' involvement in the Sudanese civil war was a turning point in the humanitarian industry. As it became clear that the impact of food aid was having a detrimental effect on the people it was supposed to be helping, it began to become clear to the aid industry as a whole that they could no longer act out of the right motivations and still be operating with a clear conscience. The aid industry could no longer feign innocence- it was clearly becoming complicit in the conflict- and nowhere has this been more obviously demonstrated than in the Sudan civil war, and the ultimate secession of South Sudan as a state. With the humanitarian sector essentially propping up the southern government- even to this day- there is little doubt that South Sudan is a state that was created by the intervention of humanitarian actors. I have not seen any studies that suggest what the humanitarian impact might have been without OLS intervention, but I wonder whether the war would have lasted as long or cost as many lives, and I am utterly convinced that, for better or for worse, South Sudan would not be a state today.
The high profile of OLS, particularly the drama of large-scale airdrops, also had the unfortunate side-effect of cementing in the donor public's mind that this was what aid was about- truck-and-chuck. It's an assumption that twenty years on, the aid industry still struggles to re-educate the public about, making it hard to raise funds for other less appealing but often far more relevant issues such as human rights, advocacy and institutional capacity-building.
6. The Rwandan Genocide (April-July 1994)
During a hundred day period in mid-1994, Hutu extremists slaughtered over 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in a calculated, cruel campaign of extermination. Based on old ethnic tensions, a history of tit-for-tat killing sprees, a hate-fueled propaganda message, and the meddling and inaction of international powers, the Rwandan genocide remains one of the darkest stains on the concience of modern history.
The Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front, at the time a rebel army, swept across Rwanda and eventually brought the killing of Tutsis to something of a denouement. The Hutu extremists, together with nearly two million ethnic Hutus, fled ahead of the advancing front and found themselves in dire camps on the rocky lava flows of eastern Zaire. Unable to dig pit latrines, and living in deplorable conditions, cholera broke out and killed tens of thousands of the refugees in a matter of weeks.
While the international community had stalled and stalled again during the genocide, images of Africans dying by the thousands on TV screens now galvanized them to action, and millions of dollars worth of aid was flown into the Hutu camps around Goma- while survivors of the genocide were still receiving scant attention. As dollars flowed into the camps, the orchestrators of the genocide and their militias consolidated control over the population (and the aid resources), preventing the return of Hutus into Rwanda to begin a reconciliation process, and even launching attacks back into Rwanda (which the newly-installed Rwandan government returned with gusto). Eighteen years on, fighting continues to plague the forests of eastern DRC (as Zaire has since been renamed), with vicious slaughter of civilians and proliferation of horrific rape a daily occurence, while old scores are settled by both sides. The invasion of Goma by the Tutsi-backed M23 rebel group this week is the latest chapter in this story.
The failure of the international community to act to stop the genocide (something that could have been done with the right political will), and then the subsequent outpouring of international sympathy and support to the very purpotrators of that genocide- all in the name of impartiality and the primacy of the humanitarian imperative- remains the blackest spot on the history of the aid community. The concepts of neutrality, impartiality and humanitarian imperative all took a beating, and where at one time they might have been considered black-and-white standards, since Rwanda there has been a new appreciation for the shades of grey they embody.
The Rwandan genocide was one of three humanitarian interventions that went horribly wrong in the early 90s- the others being Somalia (1993) and the former Yugoslavia (1992-95). In the former, aid was appropriated by warlords and used as a weapon against a suffering populace, ultimately leading to a catastrophic peace-enforcing intervention. In the latter, UN forces with a sketchy mandate struggled to make sense of the deep-seated hatred of the belligerents, their biggest failure being the murder of 8,000 men and boys by Serb extremists in the beseiged muslim enclave of Srebrenica- even while a battalion of dutch peacekeepers stood by and did nothing.
The aftermath of these failed interventions gave rise to a whole new understanding of the complexity of aid and the potential for humanitarian assistance to be outright unethical. Approaches such as Do No Harm, which are mainstream today, were birthed from the Goma debacle, while standards such as the Sphere Project arose, in part to try and ensure that humanitarian actors were singing from the same songsheet and not tripping over each others' toes.
In addition, the highly complex nature of operations following Rwanda began to make it clear that aid work was no longer just about well-meaning do-gooders with a social conscience. Humanitarian actors needed to be able to work within the highly complex contexts which aid found itself being delivered in- to be able to work both with the technical aspects, and also the political ones. Where up to and throughout the 1980s it was generally enough to have a heartbeat and a willingness to work in the field, the fallout from Rwanda, Somalia and Yugoslavia saw a push towards the ever-increasing professionalisation of the aid sector.
Ultimately, Rwanda served as a deeply humbling experience for the humanitarian industry. If nothing else, it robbed the industry of the moral high ground, and forced it to accept its place as a player within a political landscape, often to the detriment of the people it purports to support. No event before or since has communicated this message so clearly.
7. The Bombing of the Canal Hotel (August 19th 2003)
Following the September 11 attacks on US soil, the United States led a 'coalition of the willing' against alleged terrorist targets, first in Afghanistan from late 2001, and subsequently in Iraq from early 2003. While the aerial assaults and troop incursions quickly broke the conventional forces of both nations (where they existed), the result was a bitter and drawn-out insurgency overlaid on a highly complex set of tribal and sectarian divisions that has turned both nations into two of the most unstable places on earth today.
As coalition forces swept through different parts of each country, the UN and NGOs flooded in behind them to pick up the pieces- providing humanitarian assistance to areas that had been difficult for them to reach in prior times due to political and security restrictions. With pro-coalition governments in each nation ostensibly supporting the foreign presence, humanitarian space opened up rapidly, and was quickly filled by humanitarian actors.
The net effect of this to the anti-western belligerents- who saw the coalition invasion of their homelands as an occupation and who framed it as an attack on Islam- was to view (not entirely without cause) the presence of western aid workers as simply a second wave of the occupation. While the first was a military presence, the second was a cultural colonization that sought to unravel conservative social norms with western notions of human rights, gender equality, tolerance and so-forth. The humanitarians became the enemy.
On August 19th 2003, a truck bomber drove into the compound at the UN headquarters in Baghdad, based out of the Canal Hotel. 22 people were killed, mostly UN staff, among them Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN Special Representative to Iraq, whose office was allegedly specifically targeted. One hundred were wounded. The attack was claimed by al Qaeda in Iraq. It was followed a month later by another bombing at the same site, and then a month after that, by a coordinated series of bombings that also targeted the Red Cross compound, killing 12. When it became clear that the humanitarian industry was no longer considered neutral by the belligerents but was being specifically targeted, NGOs and the UN withdrew rapidly from Iraq and began remote operations, based mostly from Jordan.
While aid workers had suffered incidental attacks, particularly while carrying out operations in active conflict zones, and had even suffered occasional deliberate attacks (for example the killing of six Red Cross workers in Chechnya in 1996), this was the first time that the industry had been targeted by a high-level campaign sending such a clear message. It did not mark the end of such attacks, either. Among other subsequent high-profile deliberate targeting of aid workers include the murder of 5 MSF staff in Afghanistan in mid-2004, the abduction and execution of CARE's Iraq program director Margaret Hassan in November 2004, and the murder by militias of 17 ACF workers in Sri Lanka in August 2006. Roughly two hundred aid workers a year are victims of violence while on operations.
The Canal Hotel Bombing essentially set a precedent that said the humanitarian industry was no longer a neutral, impartial body but a party to the conflict, and as such a legitimate target. The industry has not been the same since. Aid workers now go through intensive security training before deploying to insecure areas. Aid agencies are jumpy about pulling their staff from hostile situations. Where once an aid agency's logo might have protected them from violence, there are many places in the world where it is now seen to be something that puts them at risk. Significant portions of NGO and UN aid budgets are now spent on security, and in some parts of the world, NGOs struggle to differentiate themselves from military actors and government contractors who are agents of foreign policy and do not hold to humanitarian principles. No single event in the last ten years has had a bigger impact on the landscape of humanitarian action in insecure environments than the August 2003 bombing.
8. The South Asian Tsunami (December 26th 2004)
Early in the morning on December 26th, an enourmous tectonic rupture beneath the Indian Ocean triggered an earthquake of magnitude 9.2, generating a gigantic tsunami. The wave struck the Indonesian region of Aceh first, where the wave height was estimated at as high as twenty metres coming ashore, before other devastating waves washed up against southern Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, and eventually even the east coast of Africa. More than 230,000 people died and five million were impacted.
The event made the term 'tsunami' a household word as shocking images of destruction emerged on television sets and the toll grew almost hourly, almost defying belief. Western audiences, particularly struck by the devastation on the tourist beaches of southern Thailand, where thousands of European holiday-makers were among the casualties, poured sympathy and money into the subsequent relief response. Ultimately, $14 billion would be provided in international humanitarian assistance.
The public response to the disaster was unprecedented and overwhelming. NGOs quite literally received more money than they knew what to do with- and while one (MSF) publically closed its appeal once it had reached an amount it felt it could work with, most others continued to allow the funds to flow in, creating a massive surplus. The result was an organizational disaster as agencies tripped over themselves to try and spend their funds in a timely manner, squabbling over response sectors and geographical areas in order to stake out their territory and not dissapoint their donors. Many smaller NGOs popped up specifically in response to the tsunami with no knowledge of the humanitarian sector or its standards, and coordination across the board became at points nearly disfunctional.
The massive response to the tsunami- an admittedly enourmous natural disaster- occured against the backdrop of a number of other major world crises, particularly the war in Darfur, but also a devastating conflict in DRC, both of which were suffering from a paucity of international attention and funding. This frustration was exacerbated by the fact that the actual humanitarian needs following the tsunami were not as great as the scale of the event itself might suggest. While the death toll was high, the damage was limited to relatively narrow coastal areas, and the countries most affected (Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Thailand), while overwhelmed, all had some national capacity to cope. Nor were the majority of survivors at the same level of risk as those in IDP camps in Dafur or eastern DRC.
This reality led NGOs into a period of considerable soul-searching, and the revamping of fundraising processes, particularly around the concept of raising too much money for a crisis that did not need the funding, and how that funding might be redirected. The issue of transparency around NGO spending became a prominent theme.
The single biggest criticism, however, remained that of coordination. Although the UN's cluster system had begun to be piloted, the failures within the humanitarian community in this regard created a renewed impetus for focusing on collaboration. In the years following the tsunami, the UN's Humanitarian Reform program has become mainstreamed, and coordination between major humanitarian actors is now the norm- if at times still flawed- in any significant humanitarian response, and the central role of UN OCHA is largely undisputed.
The vast amounts of money raised and the numbers of humanitarian actors involved did however create a prime testing ground for a number of cross-agency initiatives. Humanitarian accountability, for example, was piloted across a range of response programs, while the notion of interagency evaluations also gained traction. Existing humanitarian standards such as Sphere were given a rigorous outing, and found to be largely robust.
Other knock-on effects of the tsunami response relate particularly to donors. The disaster set a new precedent for a shocking event against which all other disasters would be measured. It demonstrated just how fickle western donors could be (not a new truth)- the outpouring of assistance was demonstrably linked to people's identification with Thailand as a holiday spot. It also raised the issue of donor fatigue. So many people had given significant amounts to the tsunami response that it became difficult to fundraise for any other disasters, including areas of arguably greater need, such as Darfur.
9. The Haiti Earthquake (January 12th, 2010)
When a large (7.0) and shallow earthquake struck near Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, it was that city's vulnerability rather than the enormity of the quake itself that resulted in the scale of catastrophe that ensued. Between two and three hundred thousand people died, as many more were injured, and a third of Haiti's population affected. Against the backdrop of a fragile political and economic state with entrenched poverty, and the intensity of destruction within the city itself, the impact was devastating.
Because almost all major infrastructure in Port-au-Prince was damaged or destroyed, aid floundered reaching the survivors. Reporting on the disaster was fast. Within a couple of hours of the quake, it was headline news, and details were pouring out aided by social media. Within twenty-four hours, most major networks had journalists and film crews on the ground filing reports, and the world's giving public, again shocked by the scale of the tragedy, began to give.
They also began to ask questions. Within seventy-two hours, criticism was being ladled out that the emergency response was too slow, that international responders were not doing enough to get aid to the victims. The ever-accelerating news cycle, aided and abetted by Web 2.0, was looking for ways to build on the story. People, not understanding the complexity of aid as anything more than truck-and-chuck logistics, grew rapidly frustrated with what they saw as unacceptable delays.
The Haitians too played to the media. Savvy and well-connected themselves, they understood the potential of broadcast images to rally support for their crisis, and there were numerous reports of crowds playing up and becoming aggressive only once the news cameras were on the scene.
Crowdsourcing of disaster response information came in to play. Use of text messaging, combined with web-based crowd-sourcing platforms, triangulated the location of trapped victims and directed search-and-rescue teams to dig them out. The question of whether this was a good thing or not remains unanswered.
Haiti became the world's first participatory disaster in many ways. Not only were people following along with information in near-real time- and contributing to it- but so too people felt that they had a right to get directly invovled. While the South Asian Tsunami had generated a lot of startup NGOs, the scale paled compared to what happened in Haiti. Due to its proximity to the US, as well as strong ties through the Haitian diaspora there, thousands- literally- of well-meaning but thoroughly unqualified citizens filled suitcases with money and flew on over to Haiti to contribute to the relief efforts. At one point, there were reported to be over ten thousand NGOs operating in Port-au-Prince.
While the UN coordination mechanisms had become well established by the time of the Haiti earthquake, they were insufficient to deal with the sheer number of 'humanitarian' actors, leading to accusations of poor coordination. In fact, most major humanitarian actors were coordinating reasonably well under the circumstances. The problem was, the influx of do-it-yourself do-gooders had no knowledge of the standards of behaviour developed to manage exactly this sort of issue, and simply did their own thing. Ironically, despite nearly thirty years of increasing standardization and professionalisation of the aid sector, Haiti marked a return to the days where anybody with a heartbeat, a will, and a wad of notes could carry out aid work.
From its humble beginnings as a simple set of agreements around the treatment by volunteers of wounded soldiers a hundred and fifty years ago, the humanitarian sector has ballooned into a high profile, multi-billion-dollar and increasingly professional industry. The clear-cut principle of neutrality has been built upon, and then increasingly nuanced as the implications of high-value aid resources flowing into conflict and post-disaster settings has become increasingly understood. Aid workers have gone from being unsung heroes protected by their badges, to targets in an increasingly violent playing field.
Increased critical awareness of the impact of aid has led to the development of more and more standards and tools to unpack that complexity, while tragic mistakes have lent a sombre, self-critical and often cynical edge to the notion of international do-gooders.
The expectations of a giving public have shifted too, from a time when charity was the domain of churches and old ladies, to today where major emergencies become causes celebres among teenagers or corporate businessfolk, and revenues are measured in the billions. So too as the world has shrunk, ease of travel has increased, and communications media has accelerated, the giving public is increasingly interacting with disasters in near-real-time as they unfold, creating expectations often unrealistic at best, very often ignorant.
Aid now operates in a highly politicized environment with rapid changes, almost incomprehensible flows of information, and a vast and shifting range of constituents, all of whom require satisfaction on one level or another. With every major disaster or event, the aid world changes, and the goal-posts shifts.
For all its failings over the decades, one thing that stands out is that the aid industry- like many of the people who have to respond on the ground- is by very nature flexible and adaptable, changing as its circumstances change. It's made its mistakes, and it remains a deeply flawed sector. But for all that, I couldn't see myself in any other.
What do you think? Are there any other key events in the history of humanitarianism that you feel have had a major impact on the development of the sector?


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The reasons I have an only child are many, and many of them are extremely personal. But with the debate swirling over the increasing number of parents who are playing around with gender selection so they can get that one baby girl or that one little boy they say they "need," I think it's time to open up a little.
We have a multimillion-dollar industry on our hands with people paying as much as $18,000 to ensure they get the "right" answer come sonogram time. I don't get it. And yet, I do. I've been there.
I have an only child because I couldn't guarantee a girl the second time.
When I got pregnant, it was with one thought and one thought only in mind: we wanted to have a baby. Any baby. Well, our baby, but still ... there was no grand plan for a boy or a girl. After five years of marriage, we'd simply decided it was time to make this a party of three. And after several months of trying, voila. Pregnant.
My husband wanted to know the sex of our baby. I didn't care. As it would turn out, we were met with a stubborn little baby in the ultrasound room (ah, her German heritage already kicking in). Crossed legs meant the sex was staying a secret. But my husband was convinced I was carrying a girl. My OB/GYN was convinced I was carrying a girl.
Although I didn't tell anyone at the time, I knew it in my bones. I knew she was a she, but I worried that telling people would somehow ruin things if I was wrong. What if I gave birth to a boy and people were disappointed? I couldn't put that kind of pressure on a son. I really, truly, honestly did not feel like I would be disappointed with a son.
Then she arrived. Ten fingers. Ten toes. And no penis.
It felt meant to be, and as I spent more time mothering a daughter, I fell into a groove. I could do this! I had girl parts. She had girl parts. I knew how things were supposed to work. It was more complex than that, of course. There was something about being a woman with a female child that made me feel empowered, like it was my responsibility -- even more so than my husband's -- to teach this little person that girls can do anything they set their minds to.
It will sound like a cliche, but I felt like a piece of me that I never knew was missing had returned, and I was whole.
Naturally, when you have an infant, you start talking about the next one. Will there be a next one? Like I said, our reasons for stopping right there are many. Some are too personal for a blog. But I can't deny that the gender of our first played a big role. My baby changed my mind about parents wanting to pre-determine the gender of their baby.
We had the girl we didn't even know we wanted (well, I didn't know ... my husband always wanted a girl). If we were going to do it again, we'd want another girl. But nature doesn't work that way. There is no guarantee. My grandparents had five boys before finally getting girls.
I don't believe in gender selection on a personal level. I can't put my finger on why; it just feels wrong to me. So we decided to stop right there. We have just one child, the girl we wanted.
And yet, with the way I feel about my daughter, I have to admit I understand the moms and dads who "mess with nature" for one gender or the other. Some are cuckoo for cocoa puffs. But for some, it's really about finding that missing piece of themselves.
Do you have a hankering for one gender over the other? Did it come after you fell in love with your baby?
Image via Jeanne Sager


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