Colombia at it's best

Our group in class is working on a presentation on Colombia.  Before I started doing research on the country, all I knew about the country, or thought I knew about Colombia was that it is a country with a lot of drugs and drug cartels.  All I had heard was bad things.  However, I also knew several people from Colombia who are fantastic and really good friends.  I don't know what I thought Colombia would look like or what really was there but after researching and looking at pictures, Colombia is a very beautiful country.  Our presentation can only be 10 minutes and we have to shorten things so that we use our time wisely, but I want to share some of the pictures that I found.  For me, this was a great cultural experience that helped me see a side of Colombia that I had no idea existed due to my ignorance.

Week of September 21, 2012 Partner Interview....

First of all, terrible title for a post, but, I am trying to put some things on my blog that I didn't put on their when I should have.  My posts will probably be  a little out of order as I try and play catchup with things....kind of like my life.  Here is what I wrote about my report with Julie:

I had the opportunity to interview Julie Leitner about her thoughts on the book Harvest of Empire.  During her reading she found that some of the lows had to be the mass killings.  The brutality and the sheer number of people who lost their lives was amazing.  The high would have to be the history the story provided.  “It gives me a better understanding of what really happened.  The history books touch lightly on these topics, but do not by any means provide the detail of Harvest of Empire.

            Julie felt that some of the story highlights were the mention of African slaves in Latin America.  Slavery in America has been discussed and dissected time and time again but the mention of large amounts of African slaves who did hard labor harvesting gold, sugar, tobacco and cocoa is not really talked about.  We discussed how the history books we grew up with never mentioned that the Amerindians were not part of the labor force in the English colonies either.

            One thing that Julie learned that she did not know before was how property ownership was handled.  Per Spanish tradition, a family’s ownership of land and urban holdings is by far more different than the English.  The property is handed down from generation to generation but owned by the eldest son.  Other family members could be assigned partials but they could not own it.  Whereas the English, would give ownership to each child.

            When asked what she would like to learn more about, she would like to know more about how Cuba played a great deal in history.  It is mentioned over and over again, that Cuba is a parcel of land that everyone seems to want.  She would like to know why?

Deferred Action

I started hearing more and more about this new policy that the Department of Homeland Security has issued.  I don't much about it and I am still learning, but what I understand about it, is that if someone was brought to the US as children, and do not present a risk to national security, and who qualify following several guidelines, they will be considered for relief from removal from this country.  As a person who works at a Spanish Immersion school where we may or may not have undocumented families, I feel this is a very important issue to talk about and discuss.  I know in our class, the whole topic of illegal immigrants and the border is a very hot topic.  I am not sure how I feel about the whole issue.  From what we discussed on Tuesday night, it makes me feel like Americans that hire illegal immigrants are the one's breaking the law and they should be the ones that are punished for it as well.  I think one thing that I have really been thinking a lot about lately is the whole idea of immigration.  Our country is made up of immigrant families.  Yes, there are some that have been here for generations, but we are all part of families that immigrated here and took over the lands that we live on, and now we have a problem with letting people in, that are coming to the US for the same reasons our ancestors came here, a better life.  Really?  I will vent more about this in my final overview of the class...  it's a heated conversation I know.  But here is what I found on Deferred Action:

Immigrant Law Center and Deferred Action

Rodrigo y Gabriela

I wanted to share one of my absolutely favorite bands.  It is Rodrigo y Gabriela.  They are a duo from Mexico that specialize in playing fast acoustic guitar.  I heard them first on David Letterman and loved them right away!  My brother plays guitar in several bands and I love hearing him play.  I had to share this group with him and although I have never been able to see them live, he has and his phone call at 12:30 a.m. to me, made me extremely jealous! :)  However, he did hold his phone up so I could hear them to for about 30 minutes.  I hope you enjoy them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENBX_v1Po1Y

Esther Esqueleto and NAFTA

So, we had this fantastic field trip to one of my favorite places last week, El Burrito Mercado.  We were given an assignment to look around and find one thing that we could research and write about.  We have been studying NAFTA and how it affects people in the US and in Mexico.  I bought a Dia de Los Muertos paper mache doll.  Here is the story that I wrote about her:

My name is Esther Esqueleto.  I am originally from Mexico.  I am used during Dia de Los Muertos.  Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican celebration that takes place November 1 and November 2.  It is one of the largest celebrations in Mexico and is even bigger that Christmas.  It is a time for people to celebrate, remember and pray for the souls of their loved ones who have died.  I am the skeleton of an upper class woman and I am one of the most popular figures of the celebration.  I am an iconic symbol that is produced in mass quantities in different forms of production.
I am made from paper mache, usually by an indigenous person, who will make hundreds or maybe thousands of them.  If they were to sell me in Mexico, they would maybe get around 10 cents each from natives, or sell me for about $1 or so to tourists.  However, companies will buy me in bulk for usually 10 cents each.  After I am sold to these buyers, they will take me and sell me to markets in the United States for about $1 each.  When I was purchased at El Burrito, I sold for $7.95 plus tax. 


It is sad how people are affected by big business and governments decisions.  Last week I also had the opportunity to interview my partner Julie about her week and the readings we had in regards to NAFTA, here is what I found out.

I had the opportunity to talk with Julie about her week.  She was disappointed because she had sent some questions to one of her contacts in Mexico and hadn't heard back from him yet.  She was really looking forward to hearing from him, as she had many questions for him about his country, lifestyle and culture. 
We also discussed the readings we had.  We both felt that it was a difficult thing to read about and even more, a problem that might not have any simple answers.  Julie was disturbed by the reading where it talked about the people that were poisoned because of the toxic dumping in the plants that were built in Mexico and the suffering people went through.  However, as a business woman, we also talked how she said there were people here who would lose their jobs as well if things changed.  It's hard to figure out the answers. 

Selena

I was able to watch the movie Selena this past weekend.  I think my most memorable quote was by her father, Abraham.  In one part, he is discussing with Selena and her brother what it's like being Mexican American.  He says, "  We have to be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans, both at the same time!  It's exhausting!" 

It made me really think about how I look at Mexican Americans.  I really hope that I don't expect that from anyone.  What does he mean more American than the Americans and more Mexican than the Mexicans?  

It seems sad that he has to try so hard to impress both groups so that he is able to fit into the society in which he lives.  Do we all do that?  I think at some point we all do things to fit in, but to be judged by two cultures so harshly and not really fit into either fully, has got to be challenging.  

What a tragic story, of a woman who had her whole life ahead of her and it was cut short the way it was.  

Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration

Adams Dancers

This was a great weekend. I had the opportunity to attend St Paul Public School's Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration on Friday October 5.  The evening included several dance groups, art projects, food and a salsa band with salsa dancing. There were about 300-400 people from the community.  It was especially exciting to see a couple dance groups from the school that I work at.  The children work really hard during the school year and during the summer to learn dances from Mexico that they share with others at events such as this one.  I also met several new people and caught up with old friends I had not seen in awhile.

Adams Dancers

Aztec Dancers

Crafts

Adams Dancers

Enjoying the celebration

Salsa Band

I think that fascinates me, is the celebration of their culture.  It is so important and the celebration is a lot of fun.  I think, as we have been discussing in class, most Americans don't celebrate much of their culture.  Yes we have baseball, apple pie, and fourth of July, but what is our culture.

Aztec Dancers

Adams Dancers

Adams Dancers

Culture, according to one source, Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.  I know in my family, we have our beliefs, values, experiences, etc that we share, but I am not sure we necessarily celebrate it.  My family has a family reunion every year, where for one weekend, about 300 of us get together and celebrate our family.  I think that is part of a cultural thing.  However, I think we have our own "cultures" within our own homes as well.  Things we celebrate just as families.  Maybe that is more traditions, but I think traditions can help define us and our culture as well.