Senior year brings many things and among them is the dreaded senior thesis. But I might be a little bit weird in that I find my thesis topic to be fascinating; after all, I get to talk shit all day. By now you are probably wondering why on earth is this website, that is supposedly an appropriate presentation of my senior thesis project, is called “Talkin Shit”… well the answer is in the tagline! Well that’s not completely explanatory, let me explain. Excreta, human waste, poo, whatever you want to call it, are all euphemisms for shit and I don’t just say so, development professionals in water and sanitation also say so!
My fascination with being able to use the word shit to talk about my field of study all goes back to my first water and sanitation conference June 2010. I was attending Rotary International’s WATSAN (Water and Sanitation) conference in Montreal, Quebec Canada. After interning freshman year at charity: water, which deals with water issues and hygiene in developing countries, I enveloped myself in the world of water and sanitation issues. After all, who wouldn’t be alarmed to learn that approximately 4,500 children die per day from water-related diseases!
But back to my first conference. I was at the opening session and giving the keynote was UNICEF Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (2007-2011) Clarissa Brocklehurst. While I can’t say I remember all of the details of what she said, I won’t forget one thing; she said the word SHIT, at least like 3 times. The first time, I didn’t think I heard correctly. I said to myself, did she just say the word “Shit”? Well she certainly wasn’t the first to say that word, and definitely not the last. From then on I knew that this was standard jargon in WATSAN sector. And they were right, why euphemize a human action that is inherently gross yet natural, but even more, why euphemize an action that is getting people into trouble the world over when they don’t contain it properly.
So here we are, shit talkin’ or talkin’ shit. Navigate the site, read about my thesis, see examples of great solutions to issues of sanitation, and ask questions should you need/want to.
To learn more about me, read my autobiography here.
