And I thought that all I needed was sleep... ja, ja, ja.
It turns out that my body has horrible withdrawal from the motion sickness medicine. Meaning that while it keeps me from getting sick on the plane, once I'm not using it I feel worse than I would have getting sick on the plane. Not so cool. That has definitely cramped my activities here, among other things.
S and I watched Se arrienda last night, I thought it was a good film. Even S who normally doesn't like Chilean cinema enjoyed it. It's quite self-reverential in some ways (Note the characters and production of Las hormigas asesinas, which figured in Por favor, rebobinar) but interesting. It's different from the other Chilean films I've seen.
Well - it rained last night so the air is slightly cleaner, but on the morning shows they had a bit where they showed the marvelous views of Santiago and then went to show the cordillera - only to find that the mountains are already obscured again by smog. Yuck. At least we live far enough from the centro to really feel the smog.
16.5.06
13.5.06
La llegada
I have safely arrived, and much to my delight the motion sickness medicine worked wonderfully!
Sao Paulo was interesting. I can understand the Portuguese and the signs and all but when it comes time for me to say something, it totally came out in portuñol. It was entertaining, though. The flights weren't too bad, just long. I dozed a bit. It was also odd to me that everyone appeared to speak Portuguese and English. When they made flight announcements, they were in Portuguese and English. 1 out of 5 times they would have it in Spanish, too. It was sort of amusing.
Seba came to meet me at the airport which was great. What was not so great is that Santiago was under a pre-emergencia ambiental. Which meant that the air quality was so bad that there were restrictions on the cars that could be driven that day. And just our luck, the patente on the car Seba borrowed was one of the ones not allowed to drive beause of the environmental emergency. It was sick when we landed, it looked like fog until we got into it and it looked like what it was - smog. It's sunny today but the sky's not blue. Blech. Today is also a pre-emergencia ambiental. Just so you know.
I slept 12.5 hours yesterday. It was great and now I feel totally recovered from the trip. Unfortunately I fell asleep before everyone got home, but I will see them tonight. Yay!
Sao Paulo was interesting. I can understand the Portuguese and the signs and all but when it comes time for me to say something, it totally came out in portuñol. It was entertaining, though. The flights weren't too bad, just long. I dozed a bit. It was also odd to me that everyone appeared to speak Portuguese and English. When they made flight announcements, they were in Portuguese and English. 1 out of 5 times they would have it in Spanish, too. It was sort of amusing.
Seba came to meet me at the airport which was great. What was not so great is that Santiago was under a pre-emergencia ambiental. Which meant that the air quality was so bad that there were restrictions on the cars that could be driven that day. And just our luck, the patente on the car Seba borrowed was one of the ones not allowed to drive beause of the environmental emergency. It was sick when we landed, it looked like fog until we got into it and it looked like what it was - smog. It's sunny today but the sky's not blue. Blech. Today is also a pre-emergencia ambiental. Just so you know.
I slept 12.5 hours yesterday. It was great and now I feel totally recovered from the trip. Unfortunately I fell asleep before everyone got home, but I will see them tonight. Yay!
9.5.06
Joy and Terror
My school work for this semester is so almost over! Just one more read through of the last paper and I'm done! Yay! Grades are turned in (the exam was super quick to grade) and everything else is ready. I still need to finish my syllabus for the summer class but that is more figuring out scheduling for the different topics I would like to do rather than anything else. Not too bad.
I nearly had a heart attack today. After my ride to the airport fell through last week I thought I had seen the worst. But no. The airline had changed the schedule and had in the process made my flights way more complicated - literally, impossible. I was supposed to get connecting flight #3 from SP to Santiago at 9 AM on Friday, but this new itinerary didn't have me arriving in SP until 8 PM Friday! Besides which I don't have the visa necessary for domestic travel in that country... Not cool. Luckily, my experience with Orbitz customer service was exponentially more positive than my experience with Travelocity customer service. So now I have a more direct flight which means I don't have to get to the airport city Wednesday night. I'm happy about that, even though I nearly had a heart attack. And they are still issuing me paper tickets so I am worried if they will get here in time... who needs paper tickets these days? This airline is weird. But it's cheaper. And I needed cheaper.
I need to clean. My weird obsessive can't-leave-house-dirty-when-I'm-not-here thing is totally happening. Last week I was toying with moving the furniture to vacuum and maybe rearrange... If I do that, though I am pretty sure I'll wait until I get back in June. If I do that. Which is a very big if.
I nearly had a heart attack today. After my ride to the airport fell through last week I thought I had seen the worst. But no. The airline had changed the schedule and had in the process made my flights way more complicated - literally, impossible. I was supposed to get connecting flight #3 from SP to Santiago at 9 AM on Friday, but this new itinerary didn't have me arriving in SP until 8 PM Friday! Besides which I don't have the visa necessary for domestic travel in that country... Not cool. Luckily, my experience with Orbitz customer service was exponentially more positive than my experience with Travelocity customer service. So now I have a more direct flight which means I don't have to get to the airport city Wednesday night. I'm happy about that, even though I nearly had a heart attack. And they are still issuing me paper tickets so I am worried if they will get here in time... who needs paper tickets these days? This airline is weird. But it's cheaper. And I needed cheaper.
I need to clean. My weird obsessive can't-leave-house-dirty-when-I'm-not-here thing is totally happening. Last week I was toying with moving the furniture to vacuum and maybe rearrange... If I do that, though I am pretty sure I'll wait until I get back in June. If I do that. Which is a very big if.
6.5.06
whoosh...
I have the first draft of my paper completed. This is excellent. Unfortunately I have a tendency not to use English syntax - it's been ages since I've written a long paper in English - so the first half definitely needs some help in terms of style. But that is what tomorrow is for. Ja, ja.
I can't believe that this time next week I'll be in Chile. I'm so excited! Despite the fact that I still don't have a tan and am going to winter. That part sort of sucks, but I'll be in Chile! With S! I can watch my teleserie on TV as opposed to on my computer, I can drink tons of tea and eat it with toast, I can sleep all day... and play PS2. Yes, yes, I will be returning to Battlefront II. We haven't conquered the galaxy quite yet.
I can't believe that this time next week I'll be in Chile. I'm so excited! Despite the fact that I still don't have a tan and am going to winter. That part sort of sucks, but I'll be in Chile! With S! I can watch my teleserie on TV as opposed to on my computer, I can drink tons of tea and eat it with toast, I can sleep all day... and play PS2. Yes, yes, I will be returning to Battlefront II. We haven't conquered the galaxy quite yet.
3.5.06
Not the liberal academic establishment!
Any time I might feel like the academy is a safe place for the open exchange of ideas, I have to find something likethis.
Some guy went through a bookstore criticizing textbooks. He especially dislikes textbooks talking about African-Americans, Hispanics, Women, Sex, Marriage... I think you get the idea. Just get a load of his conclusions:
Balance. Fox News calls itself balanced. There is something called expanding your intellectual horizon, and that might actual entail reading something you don't agree with and that might provoke you to consider thinking in a different way.
By the way, I came by this site (one among many) via a Google search of textbook bias studies. I guess this particular individual might have issues with writers I might choose to assign one day, too. He doesn't have to take my class. If he believes that by second guessing the textbook selections of professors in disciplines that he most obviously despises (note his comment on Gender Studies) he will get an education, I am afraid he is missing out on a great deal more of higher education than that which he fears his liberal peers are missing.
Some guy went through a bookstore criticizing textbooks. He especially dislikes textbooks talking about African-Americans, Hispanics, Women, Sex, Marriage... I think you get the idea. Just get a load of his conclusions:
Against all these liberal textbooks, we at the OBO challenge liberals to produce any examples of conservative textbook bias. In the entire TIS bookstore, we found only one book that might fairly be called contemporary conservative: Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Amusingly, this seems to be the only conservative work known to academic liberals, who often suggest I read it, once they get over the shock of encountering a conservative. The profound ignorance of our faculty probably explains their impoverished textbook selections.
Recall that this University is state-funded. Should taxpayers and parents support the wholesale indoctrination we’ve exposed here? We are not arguing for an all-conservative textbook selection. We demand balance: the kind of balanced education that liberals never receive, and that conservatives can achieve only by heavy independent reading. One day, we shall have it.
Balance. Fox News calls itself balanced. There is something called expanding your intellectual horizon, and that might actual entail reading something you don't agree with and that might provoke you to consider thinking in a different way.
By the way, I came by this site (one among many) via a Google search of textbook bias studies. I guess this particular individual might have issues with writers I might choose to assign one day, too. He doesn't have to take my class. If he believes that by second guessing the textbook selections of professors in disciplines that he most obviously despises (note his comment on Gender Studies) he will get an education, I am afraid he is missing out on a great deal more of higher education than that which he fears his liberal peers are missing.
the news junkie strikes again
I'm peeking out from paper-land to note a few thoughts that have been bugging me the past few days.
First off, I home Ollanta Humala doesn't win Peru's election. That would be one of the worst things that could happen to Peru. Not that Alan Garcia is much better, but all in all, Peru would be better off without a leader who I see as a Peruvian mini-Chavez.
Continuing in the Latin American news vein, people in this country need to pay attention to what is happening. Bolivia's president, Evo Morales (who I dislike for a lot of different reasons... I'll perhaps post more on that later), has decided to nationalize natural gas. He sent the military to "protect" the refinery installations, built and run mostly by foreign companies like Petrobras (Brazil's state-owned gas company). I think this was a mistake on Evo's fault. We'll see how things pan out.
On a positive note, Zacharias Moussaoui gets to live in prison rather than being killed by the state. I'm pleased with the outcome; how can we claim any tenable moral position when we kill our prisoners? Phew.
And I submerge...
First off, I home Ollanta Humala doesn't win Peru's election. That would be one of the worst things that could happen to Peru. Not that Alan Garcia is much better, but all in all, Peru would be better off without a leader who I see as a Peruvian mini-Chavez.
Continuing in the Latin American news vein, people in this country need to pay attention to what is happening. Bolivia's president, Evo Morales (who I dislike for a lot of different reasons... I'll perhaps post more on that later), has decided to nationalize natural gas. He sent the military to "protect" the refinery installations, built and run mostly by foreign companies like Petrobras (Brazil's state-owned gas company). I think this was a mistake on Evo's fault. We'll see how things pan out.
On a positive note, Zacharias Moussaoui gets to live in prison rather than being killed by the state. I'm pleased with the outcome; how can we claim any tenable moral position when we kill our prisoners? Phew.
And I submerge...
29.4.06
Travel writing that pains me
Oh, Travel writing. There is so much potential in it – for me, namely, to learn about places that I might not otherwise learn about, or to see what another traveler thought about a place I am familiar with. Usually it’s not the best reporting available on the subject, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
The New York Times has an article in today’s paper (actually, tomorrow’s) about traveling to Easter Island, which belongs to Chile. I found the piece rather steeped in the author’s own personal journey: I am glad it is good for you and that you found peace there. Good for you. I thought it was a bit too mystical for my own tastes, but I’ll readily admit that my knowledge of Easter Island comes from random guide books and a Chilean teleserie, Iorana, that is set on Rapa Nui.
I tend to forget that it is a Chilean possession except for when Iorana is on or I see the television weather broadcast. There is much to be said for staking out national territory through the weather broadcast; on Chilean TV, you get weather for all the regions of the mainland, plus Rapa Nui, Islas Juan Fernandez, and Antarctica.
The author of this particular piece, however, mentions that a traveler to Rapa Nui must go through Santiago to get there. So does everyone else who talks about traveling to Rapa Nui, for the most part. Most people leave it at that. However, this travel writer regales the reader with his own perception of Santiago. I quote:
Thank you so much for telling us about your version of Santiago. I’ve never managed to get to the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, but one day I will. And then I will report back. Everyone is obsessed with the Mercado Central – except for people like me who don’t eat seafood. That sort of gets in the way. By the way, thank you for couching all your references to Santiago in terms of your visits to other places – is the Museo extraordinary because it features things from outside Chile? We must, of course, know that you first tried the baby eels in Madrid. Look how well traveled you are.
“Santiago itself is a little grubby”: What other part of Santiago were you referring to in the rest of the paragraph? For someone who makes such a big deal about boning up on the place you are going to visit, he definitely didn’t do too much research into Santiago. I’ll admit that my cuñada refers to Santiago as Santiasco and that there are parts that are prettier than others, but for a city of 6 million, it’s not too bad. People smoke all over the place, there are stray dogs that people are quite fond of, there are people selling things on the street. Depending on the time of year, it can be a bit dusty or smoggy. But grubby, I would not use to describe an entire city. Not only is this author betraying his woefully limited knowledge of the city, he is also reducing an extensive area to one adjective that, in my opinion, doesn’t describe it. “Grubby.” I might say smoggy, dusty, in some areas dirty, but grubby, to me, implies decay and a lack of interest in maintenance.
The best part, for me, is that this writer has to link his perception of Santiago as “grubby” (which I disagree with) with the dictatorship. How well you know your history! Yes, Chile had 17 years of dictatorship. It has also had 17 years of democracy since the fall of the dictatorship. In fact, Chile had elections this year and - guess what?! A woman is President. Did this author see the ghostly stains of past events grubbing up the city? Yes, the dictatorship was horrible, something that anyone who knows me has probably heard a lot about. But Chile is very different now. Santiago has changed a lot even in the past 3 years. His linkage of his view of Santiago as “grubby,” already problematic, becomes even odder in his explanation of his perceptions.
In short: Way to disparage a city without really getting to know it and unnecessarily simplifying its history! Congratulations!
Perhaps I am being too harsh. However, for an article supposedly about Rapa Nui, the attacks on a city that’s really not that bad are, in my opinion, unwarranted.
The New York Times has an article in today’s paper (actually, tomorrow’s) about traveling to Easter Island, which belongs to Chile. I found the piece rather steeped in the author’s own personal journey: I am glad it is good for you and that you found peace there. Good for you. I thought it was a bit too mystical for my own tastes, but I’ll readily admit that my knowledge of Easter Island comes from random guide books and a Chilean teleserie, Iorana, that is set on Rapa Nui.
I tend to forget that it is a Chilean possession except for when Iorana is on or I see the television weather broadcast. There is much to be said for staking out national territory through the weather broadcast; on Chilean TV, you get weather for all the regions of the mainland, plus Rapa Nui, Islas Juan Fernandez, and Antarctica.The author of this particular piece, however, mentions that a traveler to Rapa Nui must go through Santiago to get there. So does everyone else who talks about traveling to Rapa Nui, for the most part. Most people leave it at that. However, this travel writer regales the reader with his own perception of Santiago. I quote:
Since you'll be spending a day in Santiago both before and after your visit to Easter Island, there are a few things you should experience there. There is the extraordinary Pre-Colombian Museum in the center of town with quite amazing pieces from the various cultures from Central Mexico right down to Patagonia. And not far from this museum is the wonderful Central Market, a great wrought-iron structure having in it huge fish markets as well as seafood restaurants. If you have never experienced the tiny nail-size baby eels sautéed in olive oil and garlic (which I first enjoyed in Madrid) just forget you're eating eel and have a wonderful meal. Santiago itself is a little grubby but what else would you expect after nearly 20 years of military dictatorship, fortunately now ended. The Santiago Crown Plaza Hotel is central and quite comfortable.
Thank you so much for telling us about your version of Santiago. I’ve never managed to get to the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, but one day I will. And then I will report back. Everyone is obsessed with the Mercado Central – except for people like me who don’t eat seafood. That sort of gets in the way. By the way, thank you for couching all your references to Santiago in terms of your visits to other places – is the Museo extraordinary because it features things from outside Chile? We must, of course, know that you first tried the baby eels in Madrid. Look how well traveled you are.“Santiago itself is a little grubby”: What other part of Santiago were you referring to in the rest of the paragraph? For someone who makes such a big deal about boning up on the place you are going to visit, he definitely didn’t do too much research into Santiago. I’ll admit that my cuñada refers to Santiago as Santiasco and that there are parts that are prettier than others, but for a city of 6 million, it’s not too bad. People smoke all over the place, there are stray dogs that people are quite fond of, there are people selling things on the street. Depending on the time of year, it can be a bit dusty or smoggy. But grubby, I would not use to describe an entire city. Not only is this author betraying his woefully limited knowledge of the city, he is also reducing an extensive area to one adjective that, in my opinion, doesn’t describe it. “Grubby.” I might say smoggy, dusty, in some areas dirty, but grubby, to me, implies decay and a lack of interest in maintenance.
The best part, for me, is that this writer has to link his perception of Santiago as “grubby” (which I disagree with) with the dictatorship. How well you know your history! Yes, Chile had 17 years of dictatorship. It has also had 17 years of democracy since the fall of the dictatorship. In fact, Chile had elections this year and - guess what?! A woman is President. Did this author see the ghostly stains of past events grubbing up the city? Yes, the dictatorship was horrible, something that anyone who knows me has probably heard a lot about. But Chile is very different now. Santiago has changed a lot even in the past 3 years. His linkage of his view of Santiago as “grubby,” already problematic, becomes even odder in his explanation of his perceptions. In short: Way to disparage a city without really getting to know it and unnecessarily simplifying its history! Congratulations!
Perhaps I am being too harsh. However, for an article supposedly about Rapa Nui, the attacks on a city that’s really not that bad are, in my opinion, unwarranted.
28.4.06
26.4.06
Famous Authors I Admire
Today two great things happened. The first is somewhat bittersweet - the last day of my favorite class. I really just adored this particular course, it had a wonderful reading list and a really positive classroom environment. Not to mention that I learned so many things about the nitty gritty details of the profession. I got to present my paper, which I was really nervous about (as always) but I think it went alright. At least I got some really good feedback on it and I am proud of it. My classmate's papers were quite good as well. I'm not very good at giving feedback when I hear a paper orally, however. I'm definitely a visual learner - it's better to have the words on a page in front of me. So I feel sort of badly in that they gave me a bunch of great feedback but I don't think I helped them as much as they helped me.
Second great event. Tonight was a lecture by Famous Author I Admire (FAIA) who has been visiting here. FAIA is a writer that I admire and that I enjoy to read. I really respect FAIA as a person, also as this person is very articulate and is what I would imagine a writer would be - engaged in their work, conscious of the world around them and the influences that matter to them, among other things. Well FAIA gave a wonderful (and very enjoyable, many laughs) lecture on the way Famous Female Poet influenced their writing. As FAIA is one of the authors I am interested in and he/she also spoke about the condition of other writers from said country who I am also very interested in, I got up the nerve after the lecture (though not in the Q&A) to ask him/her a question. As background, let me note that last summer Seba and I were going to hear a public lecture by Another Famous Author I Admire (AFAIA) and that I had been excited about for ages. When the time came to go, however, I started freaking out (hyperventilating might be a better word), feeling sick to my stomach and unable to go. So, this step of actually speaking to FAIA is a big deal, considering I couldn't even go hear AFAIA speak without my stomach rebelling. So I ask my question, FAIA gives an interesting and gracious answer, I thank him/her and head out. Why is it, then, that I feel like a grand idiot for having asked this question? Why am I in shock and have a desire to cry irrationally for being an idiot? This was a question that is pertinent to what I want to do and was definitely related to what FAIA was talking about. Does anyone else have this sort of reaction to people they really admire?
It's a lot easier for me to speak with famous people I don't know anything about. But that doesn't get me anywhere, now does it? Suggestions to get over this fear would be greatly appreciated.
Second great event. Tonight was a lecture by Famous Author I Admire (FAIA) who has been visiting here. FAIA is a writer that I admire and that I enjoy to read. I really respect FAIA as a person, also as this person is very articulate and is what I would imagine a writer would be - engaged in their work, conscious of the world around them and the influences that matter to them, among other things. Well FAIA gave a wonderful (and very enjoyable, many laughs) lecture on the way Famous Female Poet influenced their writing. As FAIA is one of the authors I am interested in and he/she also spoke about the condition of other writers from said country who I am also very interested in, I got up the nerve after the lecture (though not in the Q&A) to ask him/her a question. As background, let me note that last summer Seba and I were going to hear a public lecture by Another Famous Author I Admire (AFAIA) and that I had been excited about for ages. When the time came to go, however, I started freaking out (hyperventilating might be a better word), feeling sick to my stomach and unable to go. So, this step of actually speaking to FAIA is a big deal, considering I couldn't even go hear AFAIA speak without my stomach rebelling. So I ask my question, FAIA gives an interesting and gracious answer, I thank him/her and head out. Why is it, then, that I feel like a grand idiot for having asked this question? Why am I in shock and have a desire to cry irrationally for being an idiot? This was a question that is pertinent to what I want to do and was definitely related to what FAIA was talking about. Does anyone else have this sort of reaction to people they really admire?
It's a lot easier for me to speak with famous people I don't know anything about. But that doesn't get me anywhere, now does it? Suggestions to get over this fear would be greatly appreciated.
25.4.06
Latin America's Left Turn
For those of you who may or may not be interesting in Latin American politics among other things, you all should read Latin America's Left Turn by Jorge Castañeda. Let me know what you think about it.
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