Hi friends...

One of the things I love about working in business & human rights is that I started when it was just a baby field and as a result have a lot of friends who are also colleagues - with the number growing each year. I hope that this will become a place where people actually comment & we can develop a community discussion on issues within the field.

I'm committing myself to one blog post per week (check on Mondays) on an issue I find interesting, frustrating, or in need of greater research. Occasionally, I also hope others will join me as guest posters. I will also post any calls for papers or conferences I hear about or see, and any new papers I or my friends produce.

I plan on this blog being an extension of who I am and how I conduct myself in the world of business & human rights (but without some of the excessive swearing). Here is some general guidance on my worldview and on what you can expect here:

1. This blog is centered on business & human rights only. If you want to read my other views on other human rights issues, you have to go here: Essex Justice League. Be warned, though: we allow ourselves to swear a lot more over there. That blog brings together other Essex-y people to discuss any quick (or not so quick) issues we need to vent about or want to raise awareness of.

2. I don't really do formality -- and I don't have enemies. I only have two categories for people: friends and non-friends. If I've had a beer with you at some point -- or a tea if you don't drink alcohol -- and you haven't insulted me or made me lose respect for you, you're probably a friend. When on here, my friends will generally be referred to only by their first names (their last names may appear in parenthesis). I'll provide links so you can find out who they are elsewhere. I realize this isn't normal in the academic setting but I still find it weird when I am introduced by people I've known for years as "Dr. Tara Van Ho." I'm Tara, a girl from a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, who planned on being an 8th grade English teacher until life intervened and made her into a human rights lawyer. I am who I have always been, and titles don't change that for the better or worse.

If I've met you for a few minutes only, I'm really sorry but you're probably still what others would call a 'colleague' and I'll need to be a bit more formal when discussing you. But next time we're in the same city, let's grab a beer (or a tea) and become friends.

3. Now, schmaltzy "I'm just a girl from a Cleveland suburb" aside... I'm not one of those people trapped into thinking all opinions are of equal worth, and I'm not going to pretend to be that on my blog.

Let me tell you an illustrative story. I used to have a car that I loved very much. Her name was Glinda. (I firmly believe that inanimate objects should carry the gender of their owner, so my car was female but my brother's is male.) Despite owning Glinda and loving Glinda, I must admit that I knew nothing about taking care of her beyond how to fill up the gas, when to change the oil, how to change a tire, and where to go to get her checkups. I took good care of Glinda - she lasted for years.

But just because I owned a car and took good care of it, doesn't mean my opinions on cars are particularly valuable. If you bring me your Mercedes and say "there's a problem here - what is it?" I can give you an opinion on what's wrong -- it's probably the alternator or the carburetor, but you might also want to check the lugnuts under the thing at the bottom...  How valuable is that opinion? I'll let you take a guess... Now imagine you're a mechanic and you tell me I'm wrong about the alternator and there is no 'lugnuts under the thing at the bottom.' If I insist that I'm right and your "opinion" about the alternator is just "wrong," I would hope I would lose some credibility in your eyes.

Same rule applies here. I welcome an open dialogue, civil discourse, and lots of questions. Let's be honest and humble about all the things we don't really know, and where we need to grow as a field. But if someone starts trolling or ignoring the answers of those with more knowledge or experience in this field -- and I hopefully won't be the most knowledgeable or experienced person commenting here -- I'm probably going to start deleting comments just so we can keep it interesting for those within the field.

4. I am trying to be realistic about my time constraints. Those that know me well know this can be a challenge for me. Everything always gets done but sometimes it causes me undue stress to do it. So, don't expect a fancy blog for another few months. I'm starting off basic. That should be clear from the title of the page. My friends Nadia (Bernaz) and Larry (Catá Backer) have fun titles to their pages, and at some point maybe inspiration will strike and I'll join them in that realm. But for now, "Business and Human Rights" will suffice. This will be a project that hopefully grows slowly over the next year, and with time will come more fancy bells and whistles.

So welcome. I hope you enjoy and engage.