The Argentina Post has a suggestion for Buenos Aires' dog poop problem: scoop dispensers located throughout the city. The post is really great, the suggestion is just ok. But somewhere along the way these rude dog-owners or overburdened dogwalkers need to be taught how to be more considerate. Let's face it, there are trashcans all over the city and I've seen plenty of mothers watch their kids drop candy wrappers on the street and not say a word. Being courteous is something we're taught, it doesn't come naturally.
I've been here for a year and a half now. My first date in BA was ruined by dog poop. I've learned since then. There will be no making eye contact with your date while walking. I can't walk around looking at the architecture or the trees or the shop windows. Oh no, my eyes are on the pavement lest I step in a pile of runny feces.
On one part of my block, a disgusting tower of a building is in the final stages of construction. For the past two weeks, they've redone the sidewalk in front. But since no one actually lives there yet, it's also the favorite spot for dog owners to chat on their cell phones while their pet defiles the pretty new sidewalk, the wall, the trees.
Last Saturday, I'd had it. This woman was chatting away, leaning on a car and watching her dog walk two steps and poop, walk two steps and poop, walk two more and poop. I stopped dead in my tracks and gave her a glare. When she finally looked my way, I looked at her dog and glared at her again. She ignored me.
I happened to have a plastic bag in my purse, so I pulled it out and handed it to her. She didn't pick up the trail of turds, just called to her dog and walked away. If I had been more courageous I would have followed her and told her again to pick up her dog's mess. This woman probably threw paper on the sidewalk too and no one has ever told her that the trashcans are for trash. She hasn't been taught.
So this is a call to action. Keep a couple of plastic bags with you and hand them out to dog poop offenders. Glare at them, hand them the bag, and don't back down. If it calls for a showdown, stand your ground. Look, Paris had this problem and the French learned to walk around with baggies of poop. New Yorkers learned too. I'm not going to give up on porteños yet.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Reaching Broader Audiences
I've followed Howard Zinn's writing for years. His book "A People's History of the United States," is a comic book illustration of American history meant to reach an audience that is outside of the establishment. I love the idea.
When I taught composition, I always wanted to have students create video essays. I believed that this generation is more impacted by images than words, and that the combination of images and words is an incredibly powerful medium. The challenge would have been to maintain the same standard for sources and arguments required in an academic essay (i.e citations, credible sources, well-balanced arguments, etc.). My bosses never liked the idea. I wish I could have shown them this video, "Empire or Humanity? What the Classroom Didn't Teach Me about the American Empire," based on an essay Zinn wrote for TomDispatch and narrated by Viggo Mortenson.
Will it reach a broader audience? It's been viewed almost 80,000 times and I bet a large number of those 80,000 people don't have a copy of the book. Plus, there are roughly 340 comments on YouTube. Some of them are worthless, but others resemble the types of discussions I tried to get my students to engage in. For example:
"How does one spread humanity? The problems that he identifies are real, but his solutions are too vague?"
Maybe it's all wishful thinking, but the video does prove that a message that combines words with images can be as powerful as a book (if not more powerful). What do you guys think?
When I taught composition, I always wanted to have students create video essays. I believed that this generation is more impacted by images than words, and that the combination of images and words is an incredibly powerful medium. The challenge would have been to maintain the same standard for sources and arguments required in an academic essay (i.e citations, credible sources, well-balanced arguments, etc.). My bosses never liked the idea. I wish I could have shown them this video, "Empire or Humanity? What the Classroom Didn't Teach Me about the American Empire," based on an essay Zinn wrote for TomDispatch and narrated by Viggo Mortenson.
Will it reach a broader audience? It's been viewed almost 80,000 times and I bet a large number of those 80,000 people don't have a copy of the book. Plus, there are roughly 340 comments on YouTube. Some of them are worthless, but others resemble the types of discussions I tried to get my students to engage in. For example:
"How does one spread humanity? The problems that he identifies are real, but his solutions are too vague?"
Maybe it's all wishful thinking, but the video does prove that a message that combines words with images can be as powerful as a book (if not more powerful). What do you guys think?
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Back in November, I bought an apartment with some friends here. It was a big move for me since I've pretty much lived from paycheck to paycheck my entire adult life. I was worried that if I didn't invest my savings, I'd spend everything, but I didn't have enough to buy my own place. Then I lost both of my jobs.
Panic!
So, I went on vacation, took a lot of pictures, and started writing some fiction.
I was writing this blog(albeit infrequently) and the one for our loft, editing the thousands of photos I'd taken in California, and meeting weekly with a writing group. I felt like I was spending all my time at the computer. Not much of a life. So, I deleted my Facebook account and stopped writing Inspirosity (unable to actually give up on this blog, just holding off on it for a while). With no Facebook to distract me, I've finished two stories and learned all sorts of neat Photoshop tricks.
Our loft is constantly booked and a few neighbors are asking us to manage renting out their lofts. We're considering expanding our site to add personalized tours and other services for tourists. So, now I'm learning about website design and management.
When I lost my jobs, people kept asking me if I was doing alright and I'd answer, "yea, I know it will all work out. It always does." But I wasn't sure I believed myself. Lo and behold, it is all working out.
The best part is that without a job, I've been able to hang out with the people that rent our loft and I've joined a really cool social networking site for travelers and hosted a few people in my apartment. Meeting other people who love to travel, to experience new places, to learn new things, is what makes life so great.
Since I'm inspired again, guess I'm back.
Panic!
So, I went on vacation, took a lot of pictures, and started writing some fiction.
I was writing this blog(albeit infrequently) and the one for our loft, editing the thousands of photos I'd taken in California, and meeting weekly with a writing group. I felt like I was spending all my time at the computer. Not much of a life. So, I deleted my Facebook account and stopped writing Inspirosity (unable to actually give up on this blog, just holding off on it for a while). With no Facebook to distract me, I've finished two stories and learned all sorts of neat Photoshop tricks.
Our loft is constantly booked and a few neighbors are asking us to manage renting out their lofts. We're considering expanding our site to add personalized tours and other services for tourists. So, now I'm learning about website design and management.
When I lost my jobs, people kept asking me if I was doing alright and I'd answer, "yea, I know it will all work out. It always does." But I wasn't sure I believed myself. Lo and behold, it is all working out.
The best part is that without a job, I've been able to hang out with the people that rent our loft and I've joined a really cool social networking site for travelers and hosted a few people in my apartment. Meeting other people who love to travel, to experience new places, to learn new things, is what makes life so great.
Since I'm inspired again, guess I'm back.
Friday, April 18, 2008
No Fair Winds in Buenos Aires
Close your windows and stay indoors. Buenos Aires is under a black cloud of smoke brought in from the burning grass fields north of the city. The smoke is heading towards Uruguay and without any rain and little wind, it looks like we're going to have burning eyes and scratchy throats for the days to come.
Airports, ports, bus terminals and highways have been closed. Firefighters are having trouble breaking through the cloud of smoke by helicopter or airplane to put the fires out that have spread over thousands of hectares. Once again the government and farmers are in disagreement as the government accuses farmers of illegally starting the fires to prepare their fields for grazing.
The smoke today reminded me of Cairo. The picture above is of the view from my window on a clear day and on a smoggy day. We used to say that it didn't make much sense to quit smoking when you live in Cairo because you basically inhale the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes a day. I know it doesn't make much sense. But it also didn't make sense that in October every year the farmers set fire to clear fields when Cairo is already one of the most polluted cities in the world.
These pictures are of the polo field here in Buenos Aires taken last week and today. October in Cairo, April in Buenos Aires. Either take up smoking or get a surgeon's mask.
Airports, ports, bus terminals and highways have been closed. Firefighters are having trouble breaking through the cloud of smoke by helicopter or airplane to put the fires out that have spread over thousands of hectares. Once again the government and farmers are in disagreement as the government accuses farmers of illegally starting the fires to prepare their fields for grazing.
The smoke today reminded me of Cairo. The picture above is of the view from my window on a clear day and on a smoggy day. We used to say that it didn't make much sense to quit smoking when you live in Cairo because you basically inhale the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes a day. I know it doesn't make much sense. But it also didn't make sense that in October every year the farmers set fire to clear fields when Cairo is already one of the most polluted cities in the world.
These pictures are of the polo field here in Buenos Aires taken last week and today. October in Cairo, April in Buenos Aires. Either take up smoking or get a surgeon's mask.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Eternally Polished
I loved dolls when I was a child. I loved dressing them up and fixing their hair. I’d wash it, dry it, braid it, cut it, you name it. Using the hairdryer wasn’t a great idea. The plastic locks got scorched and after the haircuts I’d given them, my dolls typically looked like they’d gotten stuck in a paper shredder.
Young girls today don’t have to learn about hairstyles the hard way. American Girl Place, a shop in Los Angeles, has a hair salon for the dolls, a hospital to repair a doll after say a bad haircut or an amputated limb, a cafe where moms and daughters can dress up and have tea, and enough clothes and furniture for the dolls to fill one of those old Sears catalogs from the 70s.
This grooming obsessed culture is not just hard on young girls. Trying to stay real in such a narcissistic world can be rough for all of us. I live among the world’s most cut upon and waxed bodies. In my neighborhood for instance, let’s just take the four blocks immediately next to mine, there are four tanning salons, ten hair salons, and five salons that specialize in waxing alone.
Health insurance policies for the wealthy in Buenos Aires include one free plastic surgery per year. It’s hard to know what’s real and what isn’t. Foreign tourists take advantage of the highly skilled, low-cost sculpting the city offers. You can get your surgery done the first week and then take in a cruise through Antarctica to complete your recovery before going back home with a tighter face, bigger boobs, a higher butt, or smaller labia.
For those weary of the knife yet still desiring a new look, one guidebook’s list of 25 things to do in Buenos Aires lists "A Brazilian" as number 12. I thought they meant sex with a Brazilian, which seemed an odd recommendation. Then I remembered having read about Brazilian waxes being a lot cheaper here in Buenos Aires.
At first the obsession with polished, fuzz free skin and Baywatch bodies reminded me of Isaac Asimov’s book The End of Eternity in which one of the characters had no body hair because he came from a time when beauty was defined by one’s lack of hair. Could Asimov have known back in 1954 that some lunatic mothers in the States would be taking their 8-year-old daughters for their first Brazilian? (I really am grateful we’re talking about wax.)
Plastic as Buenos Aires is (Argentina ranks third in the world, after the US and Mexico, for number of cosmetic surgeries), I haven’t heard of mothers taking their prepubescent daughters to remove the one or two pubic hairs they might have. I don’t see 13-year-olds in hair salons exposing themselves to dangerous chemicals for a few streaks of blond or red. And graduation presents tend more towards a watch or nice piece of jewelry than new boobs.
Grooming rituals will probably always change, but I hope some of the "back to nature" movements that are changing the way we eat will have an influence on the way we see ourselves. In the meantime, check out one of the best articles about attitudes towards the body I've ever read, Horace Miner's "Body Ritual among the Nacirema."
Young girls today don’t have to learn about hairstyles the hard way. American Girl Place, a shop in Los Angeles, has a hair salon for the dolls, a hospital to repair a doll after say a bad haircut or an amputated limb, a cafe where moms and daughters can dress up and have tea, and enough clothes and furniture for the dolls to fill one of those old Sears catalogs from the 70s.
This grooming obsessed culture is not just hard on young girls. Trying to stay real in such a narcissistic world can be rough for all of us. I live among the world’s most cut upon and waxed bodies. In my neighborhood for instance, let’s just take the four blocks immediately next to mine, there are four tanning salons, ten hair salons, and five salons that specialize in waxing alone.
Health insurance policies for the wealthy in Buenos Aires include one free plastic surgery per year. It’s hard to know what’s real and what isn’t. Foreign tourists take advantage of the highly skilled, low-cost sculpting the city offers. You can get your surgery done the first week and then take in a cruise through Antarctica to complete your recovery before going back home with a tighter face, bigger boobs, a higher butt, or smaller labia.
For those weary of the knife yet still desiring a new look, one guidebook’s list of 25 things to do in Buenos Aires lists "A Brazilian" as number 12. I thought they meant sex with a Brazilian, which seemed an odd recommendation. Then I remembered having read about Brazilian waxes being a lot cheaper here in Buenos Aires.
At first the obsession with polished, fuzz free skin and Baywatch bodies reminded me of Isaac Asimov’s book The End of Eternity in which one of the characters had no body hair because he came from a time when beauty was defined by one’s lack of hair. Could Asimov have known back in 1954 that some lunatic mothers in the States would be taking their 8-year-old daughters for their first Brazilian? (I really am grateful we’re talking about wax.)
Plastic as Buenos Aires is (Argentina ranks third in the world, after the US and Mexico, for number of cosmetic surgeries), I haven’t heard of mothers taking their prepubescent daughters to remove the one or two pubic hairs they might have. I don’t see 13-year-olds in hair salons exposing themselves to dangerous chemicals for a few streaks of blond or red. And graduation presents tend more towards a watch or nice piece of jewelry than new boobs.
Grooming rituals will probably always change, but I hope some of the "back to nature" movements that are changing the way we eat will have an influence on the way we see ourselves. In the meantime, check out one of the best articles about attitudes towards the body I've ever read, Horace Miner's "Body Ritual among the Nacirema."
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Meatless in Buenos Aires
The two-week strike keeps going. Farmers, protesting massive taxes (41% for soybeans), have barricaded roads and stopped shipments of beef, dairy products, and other grains. The beef aisles in the supermarkets have been shut down and covered with tarps. Butcher shops are empty. Chicken prices have skyrocketed. We're all eating pizza and we may soon have no cheese for our pizza.
Yesterday a protest in Plaza de Mayo turned ugly. I asked a taxi driver and a friend of mine their opinion of the protest. Both said the government sent in their bankrolled protesters to beat up the others. The called it a mafia and voiced concerns that Argentine President Cristina Fernandez won't be able to handle the crisis. Neither wanted to think of what that would mean to the country.
According to the taxi driver and my friend, the problem isn't only that the taxes are too high. Argentina is one of the few places where the dollar is still strong. They claim that farmers and the government are enjoying the weak peso as exports grow. But the farmers aren't seeing much return. What's worse, the taxes, which the government claims are meant to disperse the money to sectors more in need, are not going back to those sectors. Corruption.
I used to think that the word corruption was overused here as if it were thrown around to explain all of the country's problems. Now I realize I have no idea what I'm talking about. Would the government actually send in paid protesters to beat up the legitimate protesters? Do they think people will believe that the farmers aren't in agreement and some farmers would beat up the others?
Regular citizens showed they too sided with the farmers by honking their horns ALL NIGHT LONG. More horns honked than when River or Boca when a match. The strike can't go on much longer, but I have no idea which side will retreat. One thing is certain, yesterday I had the worst empanada I've had since I got here. Don't eat meat until this is over.
Yesterday a protest in Plaza de Mayo turned ugly. I asked a taxi driver and a friend of mine their opinion of the protest. Both said the government sent in their bankrolled protesters to beat up the others. The called it a mafia and voiced concerns that Argentine President Cristina Fernandez won't be able to handle the crisis. Neither wanted to think of what that would mean to the country.
According to the taxi driver and my friend, the problem isn't only that the taxes are too high. Argentina is one of the few places where the dollar is still strong. They claim that farmers and the government are enjoying the weak peso as exports grow. But the farmers aren't seeing much return. What's worse, the taxes, which the government claims are meant to disperse the money to sectors more in need, are not going back to those sectors. Corruption.
I used to think that the word corruption was overused here as if it were thrown around to explain all of the country's problems. Now I realize I have no idea what I'm talking about. Would the government actually send in paid protesters to beat up the legitimate protesters? Do they think people will believe that the farmers aren't in agreement and some farmers would beat up the others?
Regular citizens showed they too sided with the farmers by honking their horns ALL NIGHT LONG. More horns honked than when River or Boca when a match. The strike can't go on much longer, but I have no idea which side will retreat. One thing is certain, yesterday I had the worst empanada I've had since I got here. Don't eat meat until this is over.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Symbolic and More: Obama '08
Back in December Andrew Sullivan wrote an article in the Atlantic Monthly, "Goodbye to All That: Why Obama Matters." I don't always agree with Sullivan, after all, he did endorse G.W. in 2000. But his December article made the point that an Obama presidency would symbolize a turn in American politics that would help us restore our damaged image. I couldn't agree more.
But symbolism is not reason enough to vote for Obama. There's much more substance to the man and his campaign than mere hope and symbolism. Change is a big part of it and something I think Clinton does not promise. Lawrence Lessig's 20-minute video (embedded here below) on why he supports Barack Obama puts it better than I ever could. Enjoy!
But symbolism is not reason enough to vote for Obama. There's much more substance to the man and his campaign than mere hope and symbolism. Change is a big part of it and something I think Clinton does not promise. Lawrence Lessig's 20-minute video (embedded here below) on why he supports Barack Obama puts it better than I ever could. Enjoy!
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