I though "Reluctant Entrepreneurs" had some great ideas about micro finance and entrepreneurship. Something specific I liked that was mentioned at the beginning, was the idea that you don't need to have a lot of money to start something up. I think a lot of times we think of entrepreneurship as something for people with trust funds or a lot of means, which is false. In "Reluctant Entrepreneurs" the author shares the story of the women who sell sand, making money off of something that otherwise would have no value. This article makes the point that the poor often have better solutions for poverty, since they know what they need better than anyone else. Overall, I think micro finance is an incredibly interesting topic, and I love reading these kinds of articles.

Something else that struck me in this article was the last paragraph, specifically the last line, "but we are kidding ourselves if we think that they can pave the way for a mass exit from poverty." This made me think about if there will ever be a 'mass exit' from poverty, and if it is even really possible.

For the next article, "The Parable of the Black Sheep", I agree with Stacie that the article seems to imply that poor people like being poor. I was particularly annoyed by the quote "it seemed to me that their circumstances were driven more by the choices they had made than by the ecosystem." However, something I did agree with was the authors idea that the best time to work your way out of poverty is when your young. I think is probably easier to have the energy to get out of poverty when your young, as opposed to when your older, once your already used to the routine of your daily life.

Another thing I disagreed with in this article was that the author kind of implicates that it is somewhat easy to jump out of poverty, stating that it only takes a "little bit of courage". I disagree with this because I think in a lot of situations, you need more than just a little bit of a push. I think to make your way out of poverty, you must have the right kind of support group or mentors to push you to go above and beyond. I think in many situations it can be hard to find that kind of motivation or support group because so many people look down on poor people, and think they are inferior.

This chapter, "Game-Playing: rethinking Power and Empowerment" allowed us to broaden our ideas about power. What I liked most about this reading is that it allowed me to think about the relationship between fair trade and power.

I think power is definitely an interesting topic because it can be positive and negative, and we see it in everyday life.

The negative side of power, in this reading, was referred to as 'power over' or domination, defined as "the power of an institution, group, or individual to carry out their will despite resistance, or to get others to act against their own will." Another view of power that the article stated is "a liberal view that human beings will seek to dominate, out compete, or annihilate others to maximize their own personal gain." I think there are definitely parts of this kind of power in the business world, where the main goal is to make it to the top and make sacrifices, like the success of others, for your personal gain.

The positive types of power were referred to as 'power with', 'power to', and 'power within'. 'Power with' is the power to achieve something with others that one could not do alone. 'Power to' is the power to do something whether or not you are in a group. 'Power within' is self-empowerment. I think that all of these types of power definitely need to be combined in order for Fair Trade to succeed and be carried out.

I also took note of and liked Gaventa's Idea, which was "the synergy which can emerge through partnerships." The 'power with' idea reminds me of much of what we are doing in our class with our different projects.