Happy Holidays Links

Happy Holidays. I hope this finds you happy wherever you may be. Here’s to seeing many of you in 2013! ...plus some links.


Mexico

A taxi driver told me about this holiday festival as I was leaving Oaxaca. I wish I would have had the chance to experience it. If you’ve been, please tell me what you saw!

NY Times researchers pick up where Walmart left off. This should not be buried. (Perhaps it should not so directly expose local politicians with photos and names, but the story and practices detailed should be covered.)


Humanitarian

Some of my favorite Stuff Expat Aid Workers Like posts: "their passports" and "being based”. I’m definitely guilty of both and I know I’m not the only one. Also, I appreciated the recognition that those of us without UN laisser-passers tend to be drawn to them like shiny objects. (Dissent welcome)


Old and new friends

Facebook. It is becoming less useful for me because of things like this. I wish there were a better way to easily keep up with friends from other places.

I’m excited to move to New York in about a week. Several of the reasons why are located in Queens, the subject of a recent NYT 36 hour writeup. (But seriously NYT? a travel section on a portion of your city?)

Oaxaca: Monte Albán

Monte Albán was the center of the Zapotec civilization. It sits on a hilltop above the city of Oaxaca and has commanding views of the valley below (that also make the pollution quite visible). It’s incredible to think of people living and worshipping there for approximately 1,200 years, especially because of it’s distance above the valley with its farming and water resources. The main (huge) plaza is arranged north-south (lined with temples to the east and west) and contains buildings and pillars for astronomical and solar observations. The funeral urns from the site are bad ass and a little scary-looking, but since the afterlife for these guys was probably a little scary (as most have been normal life), perhaps it was a good idea.

Limited explanation of the usage and society is available on the placards onsite and in the museum. A guide I spoke to recommended enjoying the spiritual feeling of the site rather than seeking details about the culture since many of its aspects remain unknown (of course, much more is known than I learned during my short stay and descendants of Zapotec cultures and speakers of related languages still reside in Oaxaca state). I was amazed by the scale of the site, which is poorly shown in these photos and the powerful feeling created by it’s alignment with the cardinal directions and the movement of the sun.

A small part of the main plaza

Practicalities

• Bring plenty of water and sun protection. Guides may be hired at the entrance. 
• Buses depart from the Zócalo and southern part of the centro on the hour or half-hour. Fully touring the site requires at least two hours. (You can also visit as part of a multi-stop tour may feel quite rushed with this option.) 
• Many artifacts from the site and surrounding region are on display with explanations (Spanish only) in the Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca, next to Santo Domingo.
• The ice cream and hat vendors at the entrance had quality wares and good prices.

Temple at the north of the site with Oaxaca city beyond

Oaxaca week one

I’m currently in Oaxaca studying Spanish and eating my weight in delicious moles, tostadas, tacos, arroz con leche, helados, y mucho más. Last weekend, I took a day trip to a couple of sites in another part of Oaxaca’s central valley. We visited a huge, old cyprus tree in a nearby town, a calcified waterfall called  hierve el agua (the water boils) for the way that it appears to bubble out of the rock (though the water is not hot) and a Zapotec temple site, Mitla.

Mosaic work at Mitla

My life here is relaxed, with low-stress Spanish classes and plenty of time to explore on my own. The family I’m staying with is charming and the school (Amigos del Sol) director has been amazingly friendly and helpful. People on the street seem quite willing to speak to foreigners like me with broken Spanish (and are often keen to try out their English). There’s always something going on in the Zócalo; so far I’ve seen a physical activity fair complete with baton twirlers and overzelaous public Zumba classes, a seven(ish)-year-old singer with a band in spiffy uniforms, public chess, Paraguayan musicians, marimba players, clowns, and craft and food markets. When you get bored of any of these things, the people watching remains top-notch. There are lots of museums and sites of interest around the city, as well as some fabulous places to eat. I’d wholeheartedly recommend the city and the school.

One odd thing about living here is the surprisingly frequent noise from explosions that you hear in any direction at any time of day. My host family assures all is normal and that people are celebrating, and other people have called the explosions fireworks, but I’m a bit confused by the phenomenon. Fireworks at 10 AM? You wouldn’t be able to see them. Explosions sounding off at 11 PM on a Tuesday - why? Perhaps this wouldn’t be the best place for anyone coming directly from Syria or Afghanistan to learn Spanish. (I’m not exaggerating the frequency, I’ve heard 15 or so while writing this paragraph!)

Hierve el agua from above

Hierve el agua from below

And finally, to inspire a little salivating:

Duck tacos at Los Danzantes restaurant

Not recommended

Sometimes we come across books that just aren't our style. These two books are well researched and contain interesting information, but for me they fell flat, one for lack of an overarching argument, the other for its dogmatism. They also reminded me how important engaging writing is for non-fiction works. If you’re fascinated by either topic, these might be interesting books for you. But I think they could have used an additional edit to highlight the good information they offer in a more interesting and approachable or organized manner.

Mark Kulansky’s Salt: A World History includes encyclopedic detail on different cultures’ and eras’ usage of salt, as promised by the title. Unfortunately, it lacks an overall narrative other than the idea that salt is indeed important and regularly veers off for sections that seem only tangentially related to the overall topic. Since the information doesn’t come together to support an overall argument or theme, I found it difficult to remember many of the details presented. I read the first third, then a couple months later made it to halfway though. I enjoyed the chapter on India since it seemed to track a story arc better, then had trouble finding the point of the subsequent chapters. I do plan to finish the book, at some point...perhaps.

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America, by Timothy Egan, was more engaging than Salt. It tells the story of early conservation efforts, the establishment of the U.S. Forest Service, and battles between different land users in the Rocky Mountain West. The devastating fire season of 1910 challenged the Forest Service’s claim to be able to control wildfires, but also gave the rangers a chance to demonstrate their skills and value to their communities. Egan spent an inordinate amount of time describing the deaths by burning and smoke inhalation of a variety of groups and individuals trapped in the mountains during the main fire blowup. One or two of these descriptions would have sufficed, if combined with a sense of scale of the injured and deceased. Instead, the gruesome descriptions go on for a good portion of the book. Egan’s moral criticism of western workers in boomtowns as being lazy, alcoholic, and lecherous, particularly in comparison with his description of the noble forest rangers seemed heavy-handed and unnecessary. Egan’s research could make the case for the value of the Forest Service without the good vs. evil dynamic he uses to characterize many of the key players and sides in the disputes. He manages a bit more nuance when describing Gifford Pinchot, Teddy Roosevelt’s Forest Service chief, and President Taft, but his often repetitive descriptions of even these figures could have used some editing. Parallels between the era’s social conflicts and differences of opinion regarding the environment and today add interest and strength to the book. 

Links: free market flights, Congo news, and wacky science questions

Travel 
“Why, after all, should an industry that has ingeniously used free-market principles to squeeze the most revenue out of each middle seat be protected from competing in a real free market?”
asks Clifford Winston in a NY Times op-ed. 

Humanitarian humor
Wronging Rights highlights the Radi-aid campaign. Africa for Norway. Awesome. (HT Marc, Françoise, and Wronging Rights)

Scarlett Lion with another amazing photo.

Congo 
M23 rebels recently took the town of Goma in Eastern DRC. These documents offer a little background on the group, who is behind it, and what might happen next. Stay tuned. 

The UN Group of Experts report has finally been released and has some serious criticisms of Rwandan and Ugandan participation. 

Background from Texas in Africa about the Group of Experts report on the M23 rebel movement. 

Congo Siasa has the latest and the background on the situation in Eastern Congo. 

Wacky science
I enjoyed these NPR articles and becoming a fan of Krulwich Wonders:

Attaching cameras to chickens’ heads to see if they see the world more smoothy than humans. Why not, right? I don’t think this is enough to make me feel better about seeing chickens in their boxes bumping down dirt roads on the back of motorbikes. 

A cool project looking at biodiversity and an additional scary view of US agriculture. 

New York, on paper and in person

So much has been said about New York City, and yet . A few weeks ago, I was lucky to have gotten to see the city while visiting some wonderful friends. Mostly I walked around Manhattan and Brooklyn until I got tired. I took pictures, but not as many as I would have liked. I ate a ton, but there’s always more to be tried in a city of the world. I saw the city in beautiful light, from the Staten Island ferry, the 7 train, the sidewalks of Cobble Hill, and the High Line, but there is so much more I’d like to explore. These are some favorite places I explored thanks to my knowledgable friends.

Windows along the High Line

• Spa Castle - a multi-story Korean spa destination a shuttle ride from central Flushing. It was well organized (with a lot of rules, but they definitely make sense), most relaxing, but also brilliantly kitschy. You wear matching uniforms (a t-shirt and giant shorts-pink for girls and blue for boys) in the sauna areas and can order dumplings, a margarita, or steamed corn-on-the cob. A novel experience. 

• Bluestockings - an self-proclamedly activist book store and organizing space in the Lower East Side. I found inspiration in every direction, buying one book but leaving with enough reading and gift ideas to keep me going for months. 

• Theater for the New City - we saw a production of A Bicycle Country, which is now over, but the strong production, small theater, and ticket prices made me want to check out some of the other shows in these small cooperative spaces. 

• Union Square farmer’s market - Many of you have been here or go regularly, but I can’t resist singing the praises of the quality of the available produce. The prices were even impressively good for the location.  

It was a treat to see how my friends live in this city and to imagine the life I could have there. The best part was getting to spend time with people I enjoy each day I was in New York. Thank you guys.

What does this city need?

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New York stars in these two novels, both of which I highly recommend.

In Teju Cole’s Open City, a Nigerian-German psychologist explores his thoughts, past, and relationships while walking around the city, meeting with old friends and teachers and commenting on music and art. The result is a meditative but melancholy look at the city and at our thoughts with many  beautiful moments.

My brother and I heard Cole speak as part of a writer’s workshop in Moscow, Idaho in September. I was impressed by his ability to express complex ideas in artfully simple ways. His answers to questions regarding the writing process and about politics were equally poetic. He seemed like the kind of person who could talk about anything over a pot of tea.

My favorite book about New York (and one of my favorite books ever) has been Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann. The book tells the interwoven stories of several characters surrounding the 1970s wire walk between the World Trade Center towers. I identified strongly with these characters, as different as they were from each other and from me.

What are your favorite books about New York or your city?

View from the High Line 

Seats on the Staten Island Ferry

A few more city photos here. 

Big questions for young people (and the rest of us)

Several years ago, a librarian friend who repeatedly schooled me at scrabble mentioned that she preferred young adult fiction to serious, proper fiction. After reading these powerful but accessible books, I see her point. Sometimes the nuance of adult fiction get in the way of asking bigger questions, even if those questions still deserve nuanced answers.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, tackles poverty, death, and the challenges of growing up with humor and grace (and even illustrations). A friend gave me a copy while I was traveling and I finished it within a few days, but was sad to reach the end. The chapters are small vignettes that could almost stand alone, suggesting the “diary" aspect of the book. The narrator is a cartoonist and every illustration adds depth to the narrative by distilling his ideas about the people around him and situations in which he finds himself into cartoons. This book makes me want to read more about challenges for Native Americans  and life on reservations in the United States, but I doubt that anything I read next will be as charming.

I know I’m several years late to this party, but I finally read the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. My initial reaction was that the premise was identical to Battle Royale and therefore thoroughly unoriginal. But, I kept hearing good things about the writing and am interested in food politics, so I bought the first book. I was drawn in by Collins’ ability to weave a fascinating dystopian world, stayed for the action adventure, and ultimately appreciated the self-doubt. The books are page-turners, manipulating and motivating readers as we expect, but they also indict the ideas and modern realities of valuing rich lives over poor ones and the media-driven worlds of politics and entertainment. Poverty and the politics of food are important throughout the trilogy and the characters are affected by the violence that surrounds them and in which they take part. Although the series is over-the-top dramatic and extremely violent, it contains satisfying ambiguity within the main characters themselves and the sides in the battle that envelops them.

I also finally read Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow, both by Orson Scott Card. The fundamental good and evil struggle--to save humanity from destruction by hive-minded “buggers”--in these books is lightly, if ever, challenged. However, the drama within a child’s head in Ender’s Game and the descriptions of the battles between students at the school are fascinating. We see the school and experiences of the boys through their thoughts and learn about the surrounding circumstances in selections of conversations between the teachers and administrators in both books. Ender’s Shadow is not a book about a boy like Ender’s Game, since the main character thinks like an adult from age four when we meet him; it adds another dimension to the first story. Despite the fact that you know the outcome of Ender and Bean's games and battles, Card creates tension and develops the parallel story well. I like that I was wondering how much I bought into the Ender’s Game telling of events while I was reading Ender’s Shadow.

Perhaps I’ve been more willing to embrace the good and evil narratives because of the major and rather terrifying election that is looming. Enjoy a brief escape with any of these books; it might just be better than reading a newspaper or turning on the television for the next several days, at least for those of you who are also in the US.