Native Americans, racism, the Mob, lead poisoning, strange cancers, undeclared Superfund site, Ford: sound intriguing?
Read it and weep.
http://toxiclegacy.northjersey.com/
And then make a small gesture:
http://www.change.org/petitions/protect-the-ramapough-mountain-indian-tribeclean-up-the-ringwood-superfund-site
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Summery (sic)
It’s been a great summer up in Boston; I’m currently on my way home and I’m sad to be leaving. Especially since there are still so many things left unexplored. The better you know a place, the more things you realize there are to do. But it will be great to spend some time with the fam, some friends & take a break before things get heinously busy again. Part of me is ready to be done with college: I’m past the point where getting dressed up in ridiculous costumes to greet freshmen or sitting around playing frisbee have much appeal. The other part of me is terrified: there are still so many classes I want to take, internships I want to do, professors & friends I want to know better, research I could do. qué será será though, I really need to calm down about everything.
Anyway, here’s a brief retrospective of the summer: goals vs. what actually happened.
1. Have a cool internship
Check. Working with Cultural Survival was really great and I’m going to miss them tons. I’m thinking of coming back to help out in the fall if some other plans fall through.
2. Read a lot.
Check. 33 books and counting.
3. Learn another language!
This goal failed epically. I have no idea when I thought I would have the time to do this. This was partly me thinking it would be cool to study Portuguese again and partly this one week where I decided I should learn a language my ancestors spoke. I decided Hungarian would be cool. There is a basic Hungarian course downloaded into my iTunes. However, I still speak 0 words in Hungarian.
4. Go on a hiking trip.
While I did finally get around to exploring the Fells, a nature reserve right next to Tufts, I never made it on a backpacking trip or anything more extended than a long walk in the woods. I did however, travel home on 3 separate weekends, to Western Massachusetts for a family party, to Falmouth, MA/Tiverton, RI for my internship and to Nantucket. Not to mention getting to know Boston & Cambridge better. And I went on an epic 30 mile bike ride to the North Shore to work at a wedding. So not a terrible summer for adventuring.
5. Drink at a rooftop bar.
Boston has a lot of really cool rooftop or patio bars. Never made it to any of em.
6. Learn to Dance
Despite making it to several “Salsa Abajo las Estrellas” events, I still am a pitiful salsa dancer. At this point, I think the only thing that will really redeem this would be to end up in a serious relationship with an extremely patient Latin American dancer. Which seems rather unlikely at present. I also never made it to any of the African Dance classes at the Dance Complex that I had been dying to go to.
7. Grow vegetables.
I found some free vegetables in the street once, and was going to have a small garden except the plants died on a hot weekend when I was home. Oops.
8. Be economically self sufficient.
This is sort of a misnomer since my parents are still footing tuition, healthcare, cellphone bill and probably a bunch of other things I’m forgetting about, but I had hoped to be able to cover my rent for the summer. This went well for the first two months, until I ran out of hours at my various jobs and needed a bailout package. At least I’ve cooked for myself for the last 6 months or so.
9. Vegetarianism
In my opinion, summer is one of the hardest times to be vegetarian. On the plus side, there are tons of delicious vegetables. On the negative side, people are always barbecuing delicious things. My (delicious) infractions: linguica stuffed clams (I mean come on!!), mussels, chicken filled spring rolls, shrimp, clam chowder. But hey, what are principles without a bit of flexibility?
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Feliz Dia del Niño
Check out this amazing album of photos from Chile's continuing protests for free education, an interesting observation of El Día del Niño. I'm not 100% sure on context bc I haven't checked with any friends yet, but I'm guessing there were many symbolic layers to the event. Obviously, education is very much about families and future generations. Secondly, I would guess that the presence of children in the streets was meant to counter the violence and police brutality that have characterized much of the ongoing standoff. Lastly, Día del Niño is basically a very comercialized holiday, another day to buy presents for. So- taking your kids to a protest= promise of future education and advancement/a way to fight back against the commercialization of everything.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2316542752452.141225.1215963344&type=1
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2316542752452.141225.1215963344&type=1
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Wishing I were in Chile right now...
Completely contrary to the US students passive acceptance of massive debt, Chilean students are literally fighting for their right to quality education as a state function. Man I want to write about this more, but it's so late.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-14412646
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-14412646
Monday, July 18, 2011
Feeble Salsa Dancing & Dangerous SUVs
Today was pretty much the best day ever, despite a lot of sweating like a proverbial hooker in church & a minor fall.
I worked for my catering job and Northeastern today. Basically I just chilled out with fun staff who had multiple danceoffs and got to bring home a bouquet.
After that, I biked around the South End, which I realized was an area I didn't know that well. I wanted to hate it for being totally gentrified, except it was so damn cute that it was nearly impossible. Little brownstones and parks and sidewalk cafés...
On the way home I had an incident that made me feel like a true Bostonian cyclist. I got doored, ie someone opened their door and hit me. I almost stopped in time/only caught the very very corner, so I almost didn't even fall. No major injuries, just 2 tiny bruises. And of course I was wearing a helmet, so that was good. Honestly, I've had worse falls down the stairs. So so so lucky. But seriously, lady, if you weren't driving a BIG ASS SUV (So 2000), there would have been room for me to go by in the bike lane and you to open your door. Get that crap off the road already!
Tonight, I went with my friend Suzanne and some of her salsa dancing compañeros to Salsa Abajo de las Estrellas, a weekly free outdoor salsa dancing extravaganza. So much amazing dancing. I think I figured why I am such a terrible salsa dancer: I can't move my hips without forgetting the steps, and producing those two movements simultaneously is fairly crucial. It was so fun though: you can't help but be happy while listening to salsa.
It also kind of negated my previous point about the South End. We were gathered in a park right next to Villa Victoria, a crucial center of Puerto Rican culture and activism, and there was an amazing cross section of people who showed up for the event. Keeping culture alive, reinterpreting it, reviving it, sharing it, through movement and music. What could be more beautiful?
Side news: An article about an awareness event the Guatemala radio network is having made it into the Guatemalan press! Perhaps I will translate the article at some point for y'all, google translate obscured too much of the meaning.
http://www.lahora.com.gt/index.php/nacional/guatemala/departamental/3581-buscan-aprobacion-de-ley-de-medios-de-comunicacion-comunitaria
I had a dream last night that I went on a fact finding mission with the members of Cultural Survival to draw attention to the plight of a group of indigenous peoples. I can't remember "where" though. Triple nerd score.
I worked for my catering job and Northeastern today. Basically I just chilled out with fun staff who had multiple danceoffs and got to bring home a bouquet.
After that, I biked around the South End, which I realized was an area I didn't know that well. I wanted to hate it for being totally gentrified, except it was so damn cute that it was nearly impossible. Little brownstones and parks and sidewalk cafés...
On the way home I had an incident that made me feel like a true Bostonian cyclist. I got doored, ie someone opened their door and hit me. I almost stopped in time/only caught the very very corner, so I almost didn't even fall. No major injuries, just 2 tiny bruises. And of course I was wearing a helmet, so that was good. Honestly, I've had worse falls down the stairs. So so so lucky. But seriously, lady, if you weren't driving a BIG ASS SUV (So 2000), there would have been room for me to go by in the bike lane and you to open your door. Get that crap off the road already!
Tonight, I went with my friend Suzanne and some of her salsa dancing compañeros to Salsa Abajo de las Estrellas, a weekly free outdoor salsa dancing extravaganza. So much amazing dancing. I think I figured why I am such a terrible salsa dancer: I can't move my hips without forgetting the steps, and producing those two movements simultaneously is fairly crucial. It was so fun though: you can't help but be happy while listening to salsa.
It also kind of negated my previous point about the South End. We were gathered in a park right next to Villa Victoria, a crucial center of Puerto Rican culture and activism, and there was an amazing cross section of people who showed up for the event. Keeping culture alive, reinterpreting it, reviving it, sharing it, through movement and music. What could be more beautiful?
Side news: An article about an awareness event the Guatemala radio network is having made it into the Guatemalan press! Perhaps I will translate the article at some point for y'all, google translate obscured too much of the meaning.
http://www.lahora.com.gt/index.php/nacional/guatemala/departamental/3581-buscan-aprobacion-de-ley-de-medios-de-comunicacion-comunitaria
I had a dream last night that I went on a fact finding mission with the members of Cultural Survival to draw attention to the plight of a group of indigenous peoples. I can't remember "where" though. Triple nerd score.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Brief reflections on my bookcase and the system that produced it
O hey there insomnia, really missed you. I swear, I haven't been this mentally restless since sophomore year of college.
So my bookshelf sits across from my bed and after staring at it for a while, I decided to inspect it further.
A rough and unscientific survey of the contents:
Poetry: 4 volumes. All male. 2x communist womanizer Pablo Neruda
Music: The Rough Guide to Jazz. This is the only book I have that remotely deals with the African American experience. Embarrassing.
Literature:
So many dudes. Whiny dudes.
"I want 'my' desert back" Edward Abbey- Desert Solitaire
"Being wealthy during the Pinochet Years is such a drag that all I can do is get high "Alberto Fuguet- Mala Onda
"I just got a noble prize for coopting Mayan imagery" Hombres de Maíz- Asturías (to be fair, he wrote unbelievably well)
"Let's have a cross continental bohemian romp" Rayuelas- Julio Cortázar
Economics: 4 volumes. If you count the Euro-enamored"Wealth and Poverty of Nations" and "Small is Beautiful."
Latin America: This part of my collection has a lot of breadth. But all expat academics, minus a lone Chilean author, Manuel Antonio Garretón.
South Asia/Middle East: All written by outsiders. 1 book about the Shi'ia, 1 about Islamic art & 1 alarmist/ing? view of Pakistan's nuclear program
Africa: According to my book shelf, Africa is nothing more than child soldiers & the legacy of Belgian genocide in the Congo. Cue the sad music and NGO pleas for money. Shameful.
Europe/Former USSR: Chernobyl. What a downer.
Asia: Huh? Where's that?
I was shocked to realize I only own 2 books written by women. "Wasted" is about a woman's struggles with anorexia. The other is a male voiced narrative of spiritual journey in Spain.
Using my bookcase as a metric, it's visually apparent that the university does some things well: expose us to a wide variety of topics and shape more specific interests. What it doesn't do well: expose us to non-white, non-western, non-male views. Or let the inhabitants of different regions speak for themselves. To a certain extent, this isn't really academia's fault as much as it is the myriad legacies that led to disparities in education and investigation of the problems of the other rather than engagement with one's own society.
But it does really explain why I am only becoming more truly aware of my white privilege 3 years into my college education (a lack of consciousness that of itself represents tremendous privilege).
I/we have a long long way to go.
So my bookshelf sits across from my bed and after staring at it for a while, I decided to inspect it further.
A rough and unscientific survey of the contents:
Poetry: 4 volumes. All male. 2x communist womanizer Pablo Neruda
Music: The Rough Guide to Jazz. This is the only book I have that remotely deals with the African American experience. Embarrassing.
Literature:
So many dudes. Whiny dudes.
"I want 'my' desert back" Edward Abbey- Desert Solitaire
"Being wealthy during the Pinochet Years is such a drag that all I can do is get high "Alberto Fuguet- Mala Onda
"I just got a noble prize for coopting Mayan imagery" Hombres de Maíz- Asturías (to be fair, he wrote unbelievably well)
"Let's have a cross continental bohemian romp" Rayuelas- Julio Cortázar
Economics: 4 volumes. If you count the Euro-enamored"Wealth and Poverty of Nations" and "Small is Beautiful."
Latin America: This part of my collection has a lot of breadth. But all expat academics, minus a lone Chilean author, Manuel Antonio Garretón.
South Asia/Middle East: All written by outsiders. 1 book about the Shi'ia, 1 about Islamic art & 1 alarmist/ing? view of Pakistan's nuclear program
Africa: According to my book shelf, Africa is nothing more than child soldiers & the legacy of Belgian genocide in the Congo. Cue the sad music and NGO pleas for money. Shameful.
Europe/Former USSR: Chernobyl. What a downer.
Asia: Huh? Where's that?
I was shocked to realize I only own 2 books written by women. "Wasted" is about a woman's struggles with anorexia. The other is a male voiced narrative of spiritual journey in Spain.
Using my bookcase as a metric, it's visually apparent that the university does some things well: expose us to a wide variety of topics and shape more specific interests. What it doesn't do well: expose us to non-white, non-western, non-male views. Or let the inhabitants of different regions speak for themselves. To a certain extent, this isn't really academia's fault as much as it is the myriad legacies that led to disparities in education and investigation of the problems of the other rather than engagement with one's own society.
But it does really explain why I am only becoming more truly aware of my white privilege 3 years into my college education (a lack of consciousness that of itself represents tremendous privilege).
I/we have a long long way to go.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Quote of a hot hot hot day*
*Not actually related to the weather.
"To understand the extent, reality, and sacred nature of the rights of the person without destroying society, without fracturing it to atoms: such is the most difficult social goal."
-Alexander Herzen, quoted by Tzvetan Todorov in "The Conquest of the America: The Question of the Other"
"To understand the extent, reality, and sacred nature of the rights of the person without destroying society, without fracturing it to atoms: such is the most difficult social goal."
-Alexander Herzen, quoted by Tzvetan Todorov in "The Conquest of the America: The Question of the Other"
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Quote of the day
"We need to rigorously explore the ways our interventions as 'white people saving brown people from slightly less- brown people' may maintain colonialist- style relations, may blind us to difference among these people and are integral to consolidating a subject-position as gringa."
A Finger in the Wound: Body Politics in Quincentennial Guatemala, Diane Nelson
Damn straight. I (and probably every NGO ever) totally needed someone to remind me of this. To deconstruct the anthrobabble, she's arguing that the act of intervening is how foreigners in Latin America consolidate our identity in that context aka "gringa"
A Finger in the Wound: Body Politics in Quincentennial Guatemala, Diane Nelson
Damn straight. I (and probably every NGO ever) totally needed someone to remind me of this. To deconstruct the anthrobabble, she's arguing that the act of intervening is how foreigners in Latin America consolidate our identity in that context aka "gringa"
Dirty Water, Hard Partying Armenians & 235 Years of Rugged Individualism
Happy Fourth of July! As my independence day celebrations generally tend to be amusing, I figured I would recount this weekend.
On Saturday, some friends & I were going to go to Haymarket to the market to get vegetables, but then we rerouted and decided to go kayaking on the Charles! We had the best weather imaginable so it was a great adventure. Renting kayaks from Paddleboston, based out of Kendall Square, is actually quite affordable, at $18/hr for a double or $12 for a single cockpit, $1 drysack rental. A nice spot of exercise with fabulous views of Boston for about the same price as going to the movies. After that we never really made it over to Haymarket, but we walked back through Cambridge/Somerville, encountering a wild turkey yet failing to encounter the Union Square Farmer's Market. O well. That night, we had a bbq/fire pit which slowly devolved to the point where we were chilling on a porch with the 2 Irishmen who are subletting from one of my friends, trying to get them to remember our names and make their jokes slightly less offensive to women. Typical night for Slummerville, I suppose. The firepit was awesome though.
On Sunday, I refused to do anything productive all day except read Kim Barker's "Taliban Shuffle" (still haven't totally digested how I feel about it) until I went to a catering around 8. I thought it rather odd that a dinner was starting that late, especially since it was a holiday weekend, but it made more sense eventually. Apparently, it was for an Armenian Awards Convention of some sort. I'm not entirely sure the details because all the posters were in Armenian. At least initially, I ended up serving food to the room they had set aside for all the kids, which was a terrible idea because it got rather rowdy. I felt like I was in a video game- dodging small fast moving objects while trying to get to a certain point. Or maybe babysitting. Definitely not your run of the mill catering experience. Kids running around, all the gorgeous adults drunk, a bunch of people making loud speeches in Armenian, a hooded religious figure, kitchen staff creepin' (Señorita, I love you!): it was rather chaotic. Dios mio.
Things got even more wild once they started blasting music with a live band. It reminded me of a Bollywood score, speed up, with extra string instruments thrown in for good measure. Eventually, everyone was dancing in a circle and then all these guys started breakdancing and then dancing with carrying men on their shoulders AND carrying another guy around the waist. Then they started waving various flags. By this point, it looked more like a mob celebrating election results than what I'm used to as a dance party. Quite unexpected but a good reminder that life is to be enjoyed. a lot.
So then it was time for independence day. I decided to be nice to America and spend a day without criticizing stuff, which is hard because pretty much all i do is read about reasons one should criticize american power and influence. (We know you can be better!!!) But anyway, turned off my brain & threw on some red white n blue & went to a bbq (i ate veggie burgers though). Then we watched fireworks over the Charles which were AMAZING. it was quite good & far more laid back than my all night partying yeah yeah Chilean independence day. but 2 independence days in twelve months? Maybe I should make that happen more often.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Happy song!
MEXICO 2/11 | The Plastics Revolution | Saturno - Light Of Day - Money Talks | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.
Why am I awake right now? Today was my day to sleep in! it's ok though, this music makes me want to do happy awake things!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
What I did at work this week
-Researched (a.k.a stalked using the internet) Guatemalan/Mexican concession owners of multinational corporations.
Results: Holy crap! There is no way we can possibly hope to influence these people! They own everything! And are absurdly powerful!
-Tried to make a drunk guy who stumbled in our office at 10:30 in the morning leave without being rude. SO AWKWARD. Luckily, the rest of the staff are much more used to these things, as the office seems to draw "interesting characters." I wasn't there to witness it, but apparently a slightly off kilter fellow wandered in last week, claiming that he was a novelist, and needed people to give him ideas for book characters.
-Researched major figures at World Association of Community Radio Stations (AMARC) & drafted letters to them, inviting them to participate in an event in Guatemala City in August to push for the legalization of community radio stations there
-Transported documents about an ongoing court case in Panama regarding the displacement of the Ngöbe people by a dam to our lawyer at Harvard Law School. By bicycle of course :)
(Two side comments:
1. Harvard Law School is super liberal! At least the professors are. I had not quite expected that. I hadn't seen so many "No human is illegal" stickers in quite some time.
2. There is absolutely no security at Harvard Law School. New plan to find successfulintelligentboyfriend: Do homework at Harvard Law School. )
-Translated(somewhat poorly I'm afraid, but it was English to Spanish) a document about film making for a workshop we're sponsoring in Guatemala. Then I also "translated" the images used in the booklet, changing them from reflecting white urban realities to a rural/indigenous Guatemalan context. This was a lot of fun, since I got to look through all of the amazing and gorgeous photographs in our Flickr account.
-Briefly pitched in Cultural Survival's weekly wiffleball game, continuing to prove that there are many reasons I didn't play sports involving hand eye coordination.
Results: Holy crap! There is no way we can possibly hope to influence these people! They own everything! And are absurdly powerful!
-Tried to make a drunk guy who stumbled in our office at 10:30 in the morning leave without being rude. SO AWKWARD. Luckily, the rest of the staff are much more used to these things, as the office seems to draw "interesting characters." I wasn't there to witness it, but apparently a slightly off kilter fellow wandered in last week, claiming that he was a novelist, and needed people to give him ideas for book characters.
-Researched major figures at World Association of Community Radio Stations (AMARC) & drafted letters to them, inviting them to participate in an event in Guatemala City in August to push for the legalization of community radio stations there
-Transported documents about an ongoing court case in Panama regarding the displacement of the Ngöbe people by a dam to our lawyer at Harvard Law School. By bicycle of course :)
(Two side comments:
1. Harvard Law School is super liberal! At least the professors are. I had not quite expected that. I hadn't seen so many "No human is illegal" stickers in quite some time.
2. There is absolutely no security at Harvard Law School. New plan to find successfulintelligentboyfriend: Do homework at Harvard Law School. )
-Translated(somewhat poorly I'm afraid, but it was English to Spanish) a document about film making for a workshop we're sponsoring in Guatemala. Then I also "translated" the images used in the booklet, changing them from reflecting white urban realities to a rural/indigenous Guatemalan context. This was a lot of fun, since I got to look through all of the amazing and gorgeous photographs in our Flickr account.
-Briefly pitched in Cultural Survival's weekly wiffleball game, continuing to prove that there are many reasons I didn't play sports involving hand eye coordination.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Look Who Graduated
the one in the middle <3 Congrats to Audrey Clayton, Bernards High School Valedictorian 2011
"No queremos migajas, queremos sentirnos libres": Some thoughts on my internship
*"We don't want crumbs, we want to be free"- From a song by the amazing Anita Tijoux
Apologies de ante mano (beforehand), I sense an insanely long post coming on. Amazingly, I've already been working with Cultural Survival for over 2 weeks now. It's been a highly emotional experience, which I think will be apparent as I talk about it more.
The office staff and my fellow interns are really truly warm, intelligent and amazing people and I'm excited to continue to get to know them better throughout the summer. The office is super relaxed, which I'm learning is a working environment that I really value. A lot of the staff live far away and commute to the office only when they have to, so there's a changing cast of characters throughout the day(s). And just being around the office environment of a non profit provides an inside look and learning experience. Just from overhearing conversations, I'm getting a sense of the complexities of the politics of charity navigator ratings(somehow ours went down despite the % of dollars going directly to work increasing), the sometimes awkward dance with potential funders, the cycle of asking for donations, and shifting an organization to be relevant in the digital age. There are always funny surprises too, such as people leaving letters outside the office reading "What about the Indo-European tribes?" or a woman trying to donate her goat farm to us??????
I should give some background about my specific project, the Guatemala Radio Project. At the best moments, it feels like I'm part of an important struggle for human rights, a dramatic complex dance of David and Goliath. At worst, I feel like a imperialist hack, meddling where I don't belong, in a cultural context I don't fully understand, and for what, self aggrandizement? A sexy sounding job title? As if the US didn't have its own struggles and problems.
May have gotten slightly carried away with the hyperbole there...
ANYWAY, the actual projects I am working on are incredibly varied, from creating maps & video content to screening audio to translating/transcribing documents to testing a phone system to transmit radio messages over the air in real time. Lots of Spanish. Which is sorely needed, after I realized how bad things had gotten when I tried to talk to my old language partner the other night. The biggest project I am working on right now, however, involves a project to legalize community radio stations. Despite provisions in both international law and Guatemala's 1996 Peace Accords, Guatemalan Communications Law does not actually allow for frequencies to be allocated by any means other than expensive auctions. As a result, Mayan communities have limited access to media. And thereby are excluded from other important forms of information, such as news, health info, political info, especially in regions that mainly speak Mayan languages. So what we are trying to do as a last hurrah before elections in September is get the Junta Directiva of the Guatemalan National Congress to put a bill, Initiativa 4087, on the agenda to be voted on, which would provide a definition of community radio stations, creating a framework to legal challenge the shutdown of radio stations and simultaneously allow for their expansion. To do this, we are figuring out who is important politically and has power over the agenda: both political actors & sponsors of commercial radio stations, many of whom are internationally owned corporations or subsidiaries. Most of what I did today was look up the history of Coke (can anyone say depressing?) and Domino's pizza in Guatemala which made me realize how consolidated the world's corporate ownership is, yet just decentralized enough to avoid responsibility. Realizing some of this interconnection made me feel less like an interloper. Consider these linkages: Bain Capital is founded by Mitt Romney. Bain Capital buys Domino's Pizza. Domino's expands in Guate. Providing them with capital to advertise on commercial radio stations. When commercial radio station owners hear interference from other stations, they get the police to crack down on "piratas," pirates, because they have paid to use the waves and the others have not. Community radio station struggles to get back on its feet again if it can at all. Disparities in power abound, but I just indirectly connected a US presidential hopeful to a Mayan villager in about 5 giant leaps. Small freakin world.
Let me give an example that really sums up a lot of the ethical hurdles I've been pondering. This week, I was assigned the task of finding high quality examples of radio broadcasts about health that a specific funder had provided support for. In some ways, the series was great because it provided simple, easy to understand information about a variety of health problems. However, our sponsor, unnamed, happens to be founded by a conservative catholic, who is completely opposed to birth control and discussions of abortion so I was instructed to avoid anything seemingly controversial. This censorship in order to make the donor happy kind of pissed me off, especially since it was completely hypocritical since we had actually funded several spots, for example, about condom use, with their money. It also illustrated how, in order to fund something we feel is important, i.e. health information spread by radio, we covered up a discussion about the future role of women's reproductive rights in a very traditional country. Similar example of this pragmatic approach: asking Otto Perez Molina, a former military general cum politician generally believed although not convicted of crimes during the Civil War against Mayan villagers to support our campaign. This may or may not get you where you need to go, but boy it feels sleazy to me.
I got really mad though at one point when I listened to another radio broadcast from the same series about dengue fever. Follow with this example for a second. I've been thinking a lot about a study Paul Farmer did in Haiti, in which he surveyed sick patients in a rural Haitian village to see if they believed voodoo was responsible for their illnesses. A trial group who were given money for additional food and other such items fared far better in the long run, regardless of whether or not patients believed it was voodoo or microbes that made them sick. Back to the case at hand, it's clear that mosquitoes cause dengue, and in some ways those are easier to avoid than invisible microbes, alongside the eradication of sources of stagnant water. The thing that upset me though was that the underlying inequalities that lead to stagnant water in Guatemalan villages were completely unaddressed, which in a sense implied the patronizing notion that villagers only don't take action against dengue because of ignorance. How about a gigantic storage bin filled with stagnant water because your family, who despite technically having access to clean drinking water, only actually have access via a pump for 2 hours every day and therefore have no choice but to store what they can for future use? Or poor housing conditions with leaky roofs? Or how about chronic malnutrition rendering people vulnerable to disease despite lower middle income country status?
The problem is, you can't fundamentally address these inequalities without calling for a radical change to the order of things. And that's already been tried. But dark humor aside, this is one of the questions this summer's work has posed to me: is it enough to say you are working for social change if you are unwilling to deeply confront the issues that cause the problems you are trying to remediate? Are fair trade, corporate social responsibility and unenforceable human rights utter bullshit, vain attempts to justify a system that arguably isn't working for most people? Can we justifiably pressure corporations to not destroy indigenous homelands with massive infrastructure projects when our own consumption is fundamentally linked to the need for power? Is international partnership and collaboration an actual reality given the immensity of the disparities in wealth and power and influence?
I will say this: as tired and overstimulated as my brain is right now, longing for this weekend in the verdant pastures of New Jersey (intended unironically), I don't ever think I will want the sort of job I can stop thinking about when I leave the office. I doubt I'll be "selling out" for a while yet, although I think its pretty clear from the rant above that I'm not entirely sure how much more integrity the non-profit sector has anyway.
Apologies de ante mano (beforehand), I sense an insanely long post coming on. Amazingly, I've already been working with Cultural Survival for over 2 weeks now. It's been a highly emotional experience, which I think will be apparent as I talk about it more.
The office staff and my fellow interns are really truly warm, intelligent and amazing people and I'm excited to continue to get to know them better throughout the summer. The office is super relaxed, which I'm learning is a working environment that I really value. A lot of the staff live far away and commute to the office only when they have to, so there's a changing cast of characters throughout the day(s). And just being around the office environment of a non profit provides an inside look and learning experience. Just from overhearing conversations, I'm getting a sense of the complexities of the politics of charity navigator ratings(somehow ours went down despite the % of dollars going directly to work increasing), the sometimes awkward dance with potential funders, the cycle of asking for donations, and shifting an organization to be relevant in the digital age. There are always funny surprises too, such as people leaving letters outside the office reading "What about the Indo-European tribes?" or a woman trying to donate her goat farm to us??????
I should give some background about my specific project, the Guatemala Radio Project. At the best moments, it feels like I'm part of an important struggle for human rights, a dramatic complex dance of David and Goliath. At worst, I feel like a imperialist hack, meddling where I don't belong, in a cultural context I don't fully understand, and for what, self aggrandizement? A sexy sounding job title? As if the US didn't have its own struggles and problems.
May have gotten slightly carried away with the hyperbole there...
ANYWAY, the actual projects I am working on are incredibly varied, from creating maps & video content to screening audio to translating/transcribing documents to testing a phone system to transmit radio messages over the air in real time. Lots of Spanish. Which is sorely needed, after I realized how bad things had gotten when I tried to talk to my old language partner the other night. The biggest project I am working on right now, however, involves a project to legalize community radio stations. Despite provisions in both international law and Guatemala's 1996 Peace Accords, Guatemalan Communications Law does not actually allow for frequencies to be allocated by any means other than expensive auctions. As a result, Mayan communities have limited access to media. And thereby are excluded from other important forms of information, such as news, health info, political info, especially in regions that mainly speak Mayan languages. So what we are trying to do as a last hurrah before elections in September is get the Junta Directiva of the Guatemalan National Congress to put a bill, Initiativa 4087, on the agenda to be voted on, which would provide a definition of community radio stations, creating a framework to legal challenge the shutdown of radio stations and simultaneously allow for their expansion. To do this, we are figuring out who is important politically and has power over the agenda: both political actors & sponsors of commercial radio stations, many of whom are internationally owned corporations or subsidiaries. Most of what I did today was look up the history of Coke (can anyone say depressing?) and Domino's pizza in Guatemala which made me realize how consolidated the world's corporate ownership is, yet just decentralized enough to avoid responsibility. Realizing some of this interconnection made me feel less like an interloper. Consider these linkages: Bain Capital is founded by Mitt Romney. Bain Capital buys Domino's Pizza. Domino's expands in Guate. Providing them with capital to advertise on commercial radio stations. When commercial radio station owners hear interference from other stations, they get the police to crack down on "piratas," pirates, because they have paid to use the waves and the others have not. Community radio station struggles to get back on its feet again if it can at all. Disparities in power abound, but I just indirectly connected a US presidential hopeful to a Mayan villager in about 5 giant leaps. Small freakin world.
Let me give an example that really sums up a lot of the ethical hurdles I've been pondering. This week, I was assigned the task of finding high quality examples of radio broadcasts about health that a specific funder had provided support for. In some ways, the series was great because it provided simple, easy to understand information about a variety of health problems. However, our sponsor, unnamed, happens to be founded by a conservative catholic, who is completely opposed to birth control and discussions of abortion so I was instructed to avoid anything seemingly controversial. This censorship in order to make the donor happy kind of pissed me off, especially since it was completely hypocritical since we had actually funded several spots, for example, about condom use, with their money. It also illustrated how, in order to fund something we feel is important, i.e. health information spread by radio, we covered up a discussion about the future role of women's reproductive rights in a very traditional country. Similar example of this pragmatic approach: asking Otto Perez Molina, a former military general cum politician generally believed although not convicted of crimes during the Civil War against Mayan villagers to support our campaign. This may or may not get you where you need to go, but boy it feels sleazy to me.
I got really mad though at one point when I listened to another radio broadcast from the same series about dengue fever. Follow with this example for a second. I've been thinking a lot about a study Paul Farmer did in Haiti, in which he surveyed sick patients in a rural Haitian village to see if they believed voodoo was responsible for their illnesses. A trial group who were given money for additional food and other such items fared far better in the long run, regardless of whether or not patients believed it was voodoo or microbes that made them sick. Back to the case at hand, it's clear that mosquitoes cause dengue, and in some ways those are easier to avoid than invisible microbes, alongside the eradication of sources of stagnant water. The thing that upset me though was that the underlying inequalities that lead to stagnant water in Guatemalan villages were completely unaddressed, which in a sense implied the patronizing notion that villagers only don't take action against dengue because of ignorance. How about a gigantic storage bin filled with stagnant water because your family, who despite technically having access to clean drinking water, only actually have access via a pump for 2 hours every day and therefore have no choice but to store what they can for future use? Or poor housing conditions with leaky roofs? Or how about chronic malnutrition rendering people vulnerable to disease despite lower middle income country status?
The problem is, you can't fundamentally address these inequalities without calling for a radical change to the order of things. And that's already been tried. But dark humor aside, this is one of the questions this summer's work has posed to me: is it enough to say you are working for social change if you are unwilling to deeply confront the issues that cause the problems you are trying to remediate? Are fair trade, corporate social responsibility and unenforceable human rights utter bullshit, vain attempts to justify a system that arguably isn't working for most people? Can we justifiably pressure corporations to not destroy indigenous homelands with massive infrastructure projects when our own consumption is fundamentally linked to the need for power? Is international partnership and collaboration an actual reality given the immensity of the disparities in wealth and power and influence?
I will say this: as tired and overstimulated as my brain is right now, longing for this weekend in the verdant pastures of New Jersey (intended unironically), I don't ever think I will want the sort of job I can stop thinking about when I leave the office. I doubt I'll be "selling out" for a while yet, although I think its pretty clear from the rant above that I'm not entirely sure how much more integrity the non-profit sector has anyway.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Life Updates
Things are going swimingly.
I paid my rent for the month. I had a lovely trip home to see the family. I have a mentor. My "summer home" is a slight step up from my previous lodgings: I am no longer living in a converted porch, the basement pipes are not covered in asbestos, there is free laundry, a big backyard with grass and a grill, a dishwasher and I have an absurdly large queen size bed.
I started my internship with Cultural Survival officially yesterday. I really like it so far. Everyone is really relaxed and there is no apparent dress code for the interns. We get to hang in this cool basement/library near the kitchen or upstairs at a giant table. We got delicious banana bread that one of the staff members, Polly, brought in.
I spent most of yesterday getting acquainted with the staff, the office and the specifics of the Guatemala Radio project. Because I am lazy, see link here for now: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/current-projects/guatemala-radio-project Basically, though, I just read a ton of back issues of Cultural Survival's magazine. My head was swimming with new things when I left: violence against Papuan women, Leonard Peltier, Guatemalan mining laws, the silence of the US, Austrailia and Canada on indigenous issues in international law, conservation refugees, etc.
The other interns are really cool too, ranging from grad students with families to intinerant travelers to another Tufts senior. Everybody brings really unique things to the table, which I'm excited for.
All in all, shaping up to be a good summer.
I paid my rent for the month. I had a lovely trip home to see the family. I have a mentor. My "summer home" is a slight step up from my previous lodgings: I am no longer living in a converted porch, the basement pipes are not covered in asbestos, there is free laundry, a big backyard with grass and a grill, a dishwasher and I have an absurdly large queen size bed.
I started my internship with Cultural Survival officially yesterday. I really like it so far. Everyone is really relaxed and there is no apparent dress code for the interns. We get to hang in this cool basement/library near the kitchen or upstairs at a giant table. We got delicious banana bread that one of the staff members, Polly, brought in.
I spent most of yesterday getting acquainted with the staff, the office and the specifics of the Guatemala Radio project. Because I am lazy, see link here for now: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/current-projects/guatemala-radio-project Basically, though, I just read a ton of back issues of Cultural Survival's magazine. My head was swimming with new things when I left: violence against Papuan women, Leonard Peltier, Guatemalan mining laws, the silence of the US, Austrailia and Canada on indigenous issues in international law, conservation refugees, etc.
The other interns are really cool too, ranging from grad students with families to intinerant travelers to another Tufts senior. Everybody brings really unique things to the table, which I'm excited for.
All in all, shaping up to be a good summer.
Friday, May 27, 2011
And even more blogging!!
>Yeehaw today is awesome. I went cold turkey on caffeine. I opened a bank account. Pending my first article, I got a freelance agricultural blogging gig. AW YEAH. And it even pays a little cash money. Hopefully I will be able to rise to the occasion, given my scant experience in journalistic writing beyond scheming up absurd headers for my high school newspaper such as "Write here, write now." (It is upsetting that I have probably misplaced important information about world events to remember this).
There's this really cool organization called Seedstock that is working for the promotion of innovation and research into sustainable agriculture practices. When I talked to the founder, Robert, he explained that he was eventually looking to have an institute at a university but is using this aggregation of information as a first step.
Check em out!!!
http://seedstock.com/
There's this really cool organization called Seedstock that is working for the promotion of innovation and research into sustainable agriculture practices. When I talked to the founder, Robert, he explained that he was eventually looking to have an institute at a university but is using this aggregation of information as a first step.
Check em out!!!
http://seedstock.com/
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Notables & Quotables: May 15- 21
"And basically I found out all the frightening things in life happen quietly and naturally"
-Zoya Danilovna Bruk, in "Voices from Chernobyl", an amazing journalistic project by Svetlana Alexievich
"Just because you love silence doesn't mean you have nothing to say"
-Kader Attia, quote seen at visit #1 of the week to the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA)
"Obviously those aren't fake flowers. That wouldn't be up to our standards, DUHHHH"/
I'm going to go *********** insane if I can't find it"
-Truly insane, though frequently amusing catering supervisor.
"E-Dog, get those plates"
-New highly amusing nickname from catering coworker
"This night reminds me of/everything they deprived me of"
-Nicki Minaj, "Moment for Life," song played at the absurdly over the top prom I catered at the ICA. Irony has never been more lost.
"How many dates have you gone on with people you've met at a truck stop?"
-Lead singer of Georgia Overdrive, at TOAD in Porter Square, a tiny but charming bar with free live music where my friends & I are quickly becoming regulars
-Zoya Danilovna Bruk, in "Voices from Chernobyl", an amazing journalistic project by Svetlana Alexievich
"Just because you love silence doesn't mean you have nothing to say"
-Kader Attia, quote seen at visit #1 of the week to the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA)
"Obviously those aren't fake flowers. That wouldn't be up to our standards, DUHHHH"/
I'm going to go *********** insane if I can't find it"
-Truly insane, though frequently amusing catering supervisor.
"E-Dog, get those plates"
-New highly amusing nickname from catering coworker
"This night reminds me of/everything they deprived me of"
-Nicki Minaj, "Moment for Life," song played at the absurdly over the top prom I catered at the ICA. Irony has never been more lost.
"How many dates have you gone on with people you've met at a truck stop?"
-Lead singer of Georgia Overdrive, at TOAD in Porter Square, a tiny but charming bar with free live music where my friends & I are quickly becoming regulars
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