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Published: October 26th 2008
Currently obsessed with the song...
Bandolero by Don Omar and Tego Calderon
While I´m waiting for my chat date with the other latin living wife, I actually have time to read through some emails and check out the news and ruminate about schtuff.
.....
it's kind of a relief in a way.
she was a little too malinchista for me.
do you guys have that term down there?
Sent at 3:37 PM on Sunday
me: yup we do
not sure if that´s the word
but yes
Arielle: where you want to hang around foreigners and put them first and adore them and the like?
me: okay no
that might exist
but no
i was thinking of the opposite of machismo
Arielle: we call it malinchista after La Malinche
me: it´s like mariasimo
or something like that
Arielle: after the wife of Cortez.
she was native
me: where housewives are hardcore and take their strenghth from the virgin, hence maria in the name
and run the world from their kitchens
and lay the smack down
Arielle: and is accused of having enabled him to conquer mexico because she worked as his translator and sold out her people for wealth to be his wife and to help him overcome obstacles here.
me: amonng the family
haha
yes i can see how that word would be ap
apt
Arielle: dude that's cool wha't the word?
there's another version.
me: and i am going to use it
i don´t know it-s like marianismo
marianisimo
Arielle: that she was a beautiful young girl who was forced into being his translator and mistress and would have been killed as quickly as the rest. or that she was doing what she could to protect her family. that's a hazy version. everyone loves to vilify a woman.
hey!
speaking of villians.
i saw the curse of the golden flower with gong li.
me: we are having a very scholarly convo here, btw
Arielle: dude. that movie is fucking bomb.
me: dude isn´t it fucking awesome!
Arielle: yes. we're smart.
so intense and beautiful.
me: um ps
Arielle: and tragic.
it's more shakespeariean than shakespear.
me: our convo just degenerated into ¨dudes and fucks
haha
Arielle: (hows that for scholarly...except of course for me mispelling shakespeare incorrectly)
me: i´m copying this convo
.....
Just read an article on yahoo news entitled ¨Trash is turning into key power source for New Jersey¨... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081026/ap_on_re_us/green_garbage. And I was just thinking how cool that is, and then I was thinking, wait, we just learned about bio-digestors here. And it´s basically the same principle. You dig a hole, put this special kind of plastic bag in it, put an in-put hole and an out-put hole, fill the thing with cow crap and water, hook up piping from the bag into the house and to a stove, and then methane gas that´s created by the cow crap and water is used for the gas stove... in place of buying tanks of gas or using the firewood stove (the most common) and feeding into the severe problem of deforestation here.
So yes, methane gas is the way to go. I want to seriously look into other bio-digestores that use the human crap from the latrines instead of from cows. Also, there have to be ways to hook it up for electricity, too, and work the system beyond gas stoves.
These are the things that I think about now. Who´d a thunk it? Me, dreaming of engineering and becoming an electrician as part of my work for the next two years.
Actually, that´s not how Peace Corps service works. In theory, I shouldn´t be DOING any of it, I should be finding the information, passing it on, and training my community members in how to do it.
I am the facilitator, the connection maker, the networker, the one who connects the dots.... so the Nicans can learn how to help themselves so that when I leave in two years, the projects can carry on without a Peace Corps Volunteer. Hence, SUSTAINABLE rural development.
(ednote... part of a wifely conversation)
Arielle: and he's not jealous of you. he supports your friendships and your weird hobbies (rugby and shit hole energy sources)
me: hahaha
.....
We had a charla the other day on school gardens and on nutricion. If you´ve never heard of the marango (milanga) tree, you should google it. The thing is like one big multi vitamin.
And then we watched a documentary called ¨De Nadie¨about the migration of Central Americans to the USA. It didn´t follow any of them into the States, but was basically about all of the borders they have to cross before they ever get to the US-Mex border, the gangs - especially MS-13 - who run the system, and about how getting across Mexico without getting robbed, raped, dismembered, or killed is the biggest part of the battle. It was a really moving documentary full of heavy stuff.
As a side note, I wasn´t all that sure about JHardCorps at first, but I like him and Bulldog more and more every week and I will be seriously sad to see them go after we finish training.
.....
We´ve been talking about racism in my Spanish class lately. The conversation began when we started talking about the upcoming elections, and then it moved on to racism in general, politics, and racism the world over. Actually, it started because we were tlalking about the diversity charla we all had to attend last week. In general, I feel that talking about diversity is beating a dead horse. But that´s just my opinion. I was so not looking forward to the same old, same old. But it was an interesting and well thought out charla with some thought provoking activities.
It´s odd here because we 23 aspirantes get to know each other pretty well. It´s like freshman year of college and having a customs group of freshman on a hall. Except we´re not that petty. And we´re different ages. But it´s that much more intense because we ONLY get to see each other. Every day. For 3 months. My point is that we are thrown together and have to get to know each other pretty well. But we´re all so busy and dealing with our own stuff that it´s hard to really get to know anyone´s full story.
At any rate, the diversity charla brought up touchy subjects we all found out a lot more about each other. It was good. A little long, but good.
So back to racism. Here´s an interesting email I received...
A question of perspective :
Obama/Biden vs McCain/Palin, what if things were switched
around?..... think about it.
Would the country's collective point of view be different? Could
racism be the culprit?
Ponder the following:
What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including
a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?
What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?
What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe
disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while
he was still married?
What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain
killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?
What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five?
(The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption
in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings
and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)
What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?
What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included
discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?
What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many
occasions, a serious anger management problem?
What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?
What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?
You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality,
do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes
positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in
another when there is a color difference.
Educational Background:
Barack Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in
International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude
Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)
vs.
John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899
Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism
Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in
the land as well as our standing in the world. You make the call.
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Mom
non-member comment
Oh, Molly,.....
Baby!! The world may think that your brother, Ben, is Steve's little clone and that I had nothing, by the looks of him, to do with any of it,........BUT,........YOU ARE MINE!!!!!! Ha Ha! You got my heart and sole! Love you!