USA baseball caps for the rest of us?

Mar 14, 2005

At work, I learned today of a new branding effort by the federal government to let people around the world see how U.S. foreign assistance touches their lives; also today, George Bush nominated his advisor Karen Hughes to be under secretary of state for public diplomacy. (This not too long after we read that the administration is trying its hand at prepackaged news.)

My first impression of the USAID brand is positive. Part of my orientation today included an overview of the massive efforts of the U.S. to fight HIV/AIDS (hence my job). I’m eager to learn more, and do more, and not just in the way the bureaucrats deign. As a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, I know that Americans make their mark on the world in many ways – my own branding of mistersugar is my way of bringing part of the South Pacific to the U.S. (the third goal of Peace Corps; see the Third Goal blog).

(Why the title? I regularly wear a cap that says USA, although it is sponsored by a credit card company. With the new bankruptcy legislation, there’s no freedom from our debts, I guess.)

EDIT: Added second paragraph.

Anton Zuiker ☄