

Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy
Get ready for a very heartfelt and honest blog post. Design Cause is my baby and the thing I care most about in my life right now, but I would be willing to bet most people don't know that. This is because I never talk about it. I spend at least 75% of my day thinking about our first project in Cameroon; how the money can be raised, how to involve more people, how to get people excited about it, and how to further that into more projects so we can help more people, but I hard


Differing Perspectives - the Tourist, the Volunteer, the Expert, and the Local
Traveling is a passion that runs in my family – my grandparents have been to every continent (including Antarctica), my sister is currently living in Spain, and my aunt had an amazing destination wedding in England. As for myself, I've studied abroad, gone on volunteer trips, and been a tourist in countries all over the world. I have to say, though, that out of all the different traveling experiences I’ve had, being a tourist was actually my least favorite means of exploring


An Open Letter to Architects
Anyone that knows a thing or two about architecture has heard about Le Corbusier, a world-renowned Swiss architect who changed the face of architecture in the early 20th century with architectural gems such as the Villa Savoy and Unité d'habitation. His five points of architecture rocked the industry and lead to massive changes in the way spaces were created and the materials that were used. In almost every way Le Corbusier was a trailblazer and a master architect, which is w


Service Trips and the Challenge of Cultural Differences
Everyone has heard of, or maybe even been a part of, a service trip that benefited a community in a far off country. They went for adventure, to learn about a foreign place, and to feel a strong sense of achievement and fulfillment from helping those in need. The only problem with this model is that it only looks at working in the developing world through a simplistic, transactional sense, where the volunteer presumes that their work will directly produce a positive outcome.