Inasmuch as one can actually win a conversation on the internet, I think I won a conversation on the internet today.
A high school friend posted a link to this video on Facebook about Monji Dolon, one of her classmates at UNC-CH. Although Monji has proven himself to be a skillful computer scientist, he cannot accept any of the many job offers he has received, because his parents brought him to the United States illegally when he was 9 years old. A petition to support him is available here.
I was excited to find that Monji’s video was one of a series of videos from Senator Durbin’s testimony in favor of the DREAM Act (the series is watchable here). Although I think the stories would be even more powerful if they were told by the individuals themselves, Senator Durbin does an excellent job conveying the DREAMers’ dedication to their education, work and communities. He also effectively shows how the United States will only benefit from granting these individuals citizenship.
Though most media attention on congress has been focused on the impending debt ceiling deadline, Senators Reid and Durbin sought to revive the DREAM Act at the end of June. Additionally, Maryland and California have introduced their own DREAM Act-type bills, with the California congress approving a bill to allow undocumented students to receive financial aid from private sources. Progress is being made every day, and it’s important that those of us who support the DREAM Act continue to advocate on this issue, through petitions and letters to our congresspeople.
An Update!
Back after a long absence! I’ve definitely not been as dedicated to getting this website up and running as I would have liked to be, but I’m hoping to get back into a regular schedule of posting things.
Here’s what I’ve been up to:
- Working as a volunteer English Language Teacher with Catholic Social Services in Asheville.
- Working as a server in a great restaurant in Asheville! I’m learning a lot in this position, and am enjoying the opportunity to meet new people and learn new things every day.
- Going on interviews and getting applications out for positions that align with my interests in public service.
- Researching submission guidelines and pitching articles and opinion pieces
- And on a non-professional note, training for and running two 5Ks!
And here’s my plan for this website:
- Updating the writing section with links to all of my past work, and keeping it updated as new things I write are published (hopefully!)
- Backdated posts about the editorials and opinions pieces I’ve translated so far for Watching America. Translating has been both challenging and exhilarating for me, and I definitely want to reflect on the process.
- Regular, short news and historical commentary; more “Required Reading” posts
- Reviews of books and other media I consume, whether new or old. I’ve gotten out of the habit of reviewing, but I’ve found in the past that it’s one of the best ways to keep me thinking critically about the world I live in.
Stay tuned! Those backdated posts (and some new ones as well) should be appearing soon.
Translation: "A Shock of $14.3 Trillion," O Estado de Sao Paulo
This was my first translation for Watching America, and I learned a lot from the process, not least about the deficit. (I did not realize Japan also suffered from skyrocketing debt, for example!) I also brushed up on a lot of economics-related vocabulary as well, which is always useful, but most importantly, I encountered many of the true challenges of translations for the first time.
I’ve done simple translations of short pieces in the past for school assignments, but translating a longer piece of writing, especially one with such a strong viewpoint, poses far greater challenges. As a long-time opinions writer, I know how important the choice of a single word can be in conveying the appropriate tone. How does one translate a word of such singular importance, while of course maintaining the general tone, scope and cadence of the piece? I suspect these questions may be unanswerable, but nonetheless, I look forward to continuing to grapple with them!
On a more content-related note, what’s most worth noting about this editorial is the narrative of the American deficit the authors have created— they squarely blame President Bush, and almost sympathize with President Obama’s inheritance of “an economy in tatters.”
But such sympathy is short-lived. O Estado urges the United States government to stop treating the situation like an “election issue,” and instead address it with “the seriousness expected of them around the world.” Though the recession may not fully be the fault of our current sitting government, the world expects us to see the issue for the profound impact it has not only within our country, but across the globe.
“We don’t need to repeat Chile’s repressive history,” Asheville Citizen-Times
Apropos of nothing, an AC-T reader wrote a letter about Chile’s economic growth in the twentieth century, and implied that the U.S. should follow a similar path. Of course, in doing so, the writer glossed over the fact that the regime that took power was a U.S.-sponsored military coup that killed and tortured thousands of dissenters, many of whom were nonviolent. My response (how can one not respond to something like this?) was printed today.
It’s hard to be very nuanced in just 200 words (the word limit for letters to the editor), so I tried to highlight two things: the number of opposition tortured, killed and incarcerated; and some of the “fine print” about Chile’s “economic miracle.”
Chile’s economy, which typifies both the good and bad of the free market approach, is not the only example of economic growth in Latin America; nearly all of the economies in the region have seen significant growth this past year, and not all of them follow the standard free market approach. And there is evidence that economic success does not have to come at the cost of a country’s poorest citizens. One example: in Brazil’s 2010 elections, like the US midterm elections, social programs factored greatly in the debate, but the pressure was on the presidential candidates to continue and expand those programs, not to cut them.
Brazil, Chile, and the rest of their neighbors all have a long way to go in reducing inequality, but then again, we in the U.S. are kidding ourselves if we think we don’t, either. Full text of the original letter and my response after the cut.
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Chile offers road map to economic prosperity
In 1970, Chile had the strongest economy in Latin America. However, a socialist president bent on redistributing wealth was elected and enacted massive subsidy/stimulus programs, printing money to pay for them. Uncompetitive government subsidized industries with strong unions were taken over. Within three years, Chile’s economy crashed with high unemployment, debt and inflation. Once a leading exporter of agricultural goods, food shortages caused rioting.
In 1973, a new regime instituted free market reforms. Chile stopped printing money, reduced government size, eliminated burdensome regulations, investment restrictions and reduced protectionist tariffs. Subsidized companies screamed they would go bankrupt. But most found alternative ways to sell competitively on world markets. Government balanced its budget and privatized government enterprises. These market reforms attracted investors. Over the next 16 years, Chile had the strongest economic growth in the world. Per capita income rose 1,000 percent.
The first year of transition contracted the economy by 25 percent and unemployment rose as businesses closed or retooled.
Will our elected officials have the guts to do the same done despite the initial pain?
James F. Davis, Hayesville
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We don’t need to repeat Chile’s repressive history
The letter “Chile offers road map to economic prosperity” (AC-T, Feb. 4) grossly misrepresents Chile’s history of development. The writer conveniently ignores that the “new regime” of 1973 was instituted with significant intervention by the CIA, and led to extreme oppression of the population. Human rights groups estimate 3,200 individuals were killed, with another 28,000 tortured or incarcerated.
Although Pinochet’s policies stimulated the economy, they did so mostly for the benefit of its wealthiest citizens. By the late 1980s, some economists estimated Chile’s poverty level at nearly 40 percent, with the middle 60 percent of income earners seeing the greatest negative changes. Because of its increased integration into the world economy, the country suffered greatly during the 1982 recession, experiencing a 14 percent GDP decline and 33 percent unemployment rate. Even as Chile’s economy continues to grow, it remains one of the most unequal economies in Latin America.
The Chilean military regime is just one of countless authoritarian states that promised and provided great economic improvements at the expense of human life. Any stimulus which does not account for the needs of our most vulnerable citizens is not true “reform,” and any government which tortures opposition into silence is certainly not worth emulating.
Adrienne Langlois, Asheville
Required Reading: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Tumblr is a great platform to share links, but sometimes, sharing one link just isn’t enough. As a former history concentrator, I’m of the opinion that the more perspectives one reads on a particular subject, the better.
Nowhere is this more true than regarding the dialogue surrounding Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. All over the internet, radio and tv today, people have been evaluating, appropriating and discussing Dr. King’s legacy in different ways— some thought-provoking, some offensive, some inspiring, all fascinating. This is by no means comprehensive, but I wanted to share a few of the more insightful and challenging pieces and happenstances I encountered today.
I’m not sure whether Required Reading will become a regular feature, or if it does, how long I’ll keep it up. I’ve tried to source all of these things correctly— if you’re the original owner of the content and I haven’t correctly linked you, let me know!
On to the links:
Via the fabulous blog Racialicious, three attempts to dismiss and/or appropriate King’s legacy. King, like many former radicals, has been increasingly sanitized and reappropriated by those seeking to gain a broad base of support— many forget how radical his messages really were, both in their time and today.
Via Jezebel, another one of my favorite blogs, who posted their own great required reading post, from which this link comes: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech upon accepting the first Planned Parenthood Federation of America Margaret Sanger award. King was given the award in 1966 “for his courageous resistance to bigotry and his lifelong dedication to the advancement of social justice and human dignity.” In it, King emphasizes the role of family planning as a means to stability and security for African-Americans.
NPR’s great program Tell Me More had a fantastic MLK-themed episode today that crammed a lot of thoughtful and important perspectives into one hour. Highlights include Nichelle Nichols (best known as Uhura on Star Trek), Cornel West, and the discussion of “the new civil rights movement.”
Another great post from Racialicious (via my wonderful friend Sarah) with two powerful quotes about the misinterpretation of King’s messages. We absolutely cannot forget that King was a radical, both in his time and today, and cannot reshape his message into something that would make us more comfortable—as so often happens in conventional retellings of all histories.
From hip-hop video blog www.illdoctrine.com, “10 OTHER Things Martin Luther King, Jr. said.” We do both Dr. King and ourselves a disservice by remembering him only for his (nonetheless important) “I Have a Dream” Speech. King’s call for change in society went far, far deeper, and with so much work left to be done, there is absolutely no reason for us to get lazy now!
Rio Holds Lessons for Tourist Draws Like Asheville- Asheville Citizen-Times
My guest commentary for the AC-T compares the tourist-driven decisions of two very different cities, and gives an overview of Rio’s recent arrastões. I would have liked to give a more nuanced portrait of the arrastão situation— there are many perspectives and lessons one can take away from that week— but I wanted to make the column relevant to my hometown and the issues it faces as a tourist economy. Link and full text after the jump!
Rio Holds Lessons for Tourist Draws Like Asheville
by Adrienne Langlois
Guest Commentary, Asheville Citizen-Times, January 14, 2011
When thinking of comparisons to Asheville, Rio de Janeiro may not spring to mind in the traditional sense because of its differences in size, climate and demographics. But like Rio, Asheville is a strong regional presence that’s gained more attention as a tourist destination in recent years — Rio for its upcoming hosting of the Olympics and World Cup, Asheville for recent visits by high-profile figures. Despite their differences, both Rio and Asheville depend heavily on tourism, and, consequently, positive media attention.
Rio braved bad press last month as the international media picked up a story of renewed violence in the famous city. On November 21, after a slow but successful campaign to secure the favelas — Rio’s impoverished shantytowns — the relative calm suddenly broke. In a series of attacks known as arrastões, bandits held up buses and taxis in scattered locations, robbing passengers before setting vehicles on fire. While no one was killed in the arrastões themselves, gunfire between bandits and military police injured and killed a number of civilians as the attacks escalated.
Overwhemingly, international coverage of the attacks, which focused on Rio’s readiness for those upcoming tourist events, missed the point. The true problem behind Rio’s arrastões was not a failure to protect tourists—no foreigners were injured in the attacks, which occurred in the city’s North Zone, away from tourist areas— but, rather, an overprioritization of tourist-focused projects. In preparation for the upcoming influx of World Cup and Olympic visitors, Rio established 10 police pacification units to provide order, services and protection normally supplied by the drug traffickers. However, the project was initially implemented in the wealthy, touristy South Zone, where drug violence was far less intense.
As the government secured these calmer areas, it pushed traffickers into the North Zone, where most of the drug violence was already concentrated, and where the majority of the city’s working class lives. In retrospect, a boiling over of violence like the arrastões seemed inevitable, and might have been avoided by a more holistic approach to municipal security.
Rio’s arrastões may seem otherworldly in the placid Blue Ridge Mountains, but our city can learn a lot from the recent attacks. Certainly, Asheville does not face the same security issues as Rio. But because our local economy is, like Rio’s, heavily driven by tourism, many of our civic decisions are as well.
In a city like Asheville, tourist-focused projects can be a good investment, provided the money is well-spent, but all too often, such projects are implemented in haste. An unforgettable example is the recent tourist sign debacle, where the Tourism Development Authority spent $1 million on wayfinding signs designed and constructed in Pennsylvania, only to see them start peeling in a matter of weeks.
Beyond the signs’ poor construction, the project was a perfect example of well-intentioned but poorly thought-out tourism infrastructure. Even if properly constructed, the signs would have done little to bring in new tourist revenue; the TDA might have been better served by prioritizing projects designed to bring more visitors to the area. And if the TDA deemed the signs a worthy investment, they could have chosen local manufacturers and designers to implement the project, further enriching Asheville’s economy.
Not to say that tourist cities can or should solve every problem affecting residents before allocating funds to tourist-centric projects — far from it. Visitors bring in revenue that can fund projects for residents and entice more tourists, provided the money is spent wisely. And many projects, such as increasing downtown parking, provide a boon for residents as well as visitors.
Often, however, a successful resolution of a problem threatening tourism means cities requires shifting funds and focus away from tourist projects — as Rio did last month, to great success. Across the city, law enforcement stepped up as supplementary federal troops arrived to support police. Incarcerated drug lords believed to be orchestrating the attacks were moved to distant prisons. Most importantly, the government conducted a successful raid to secure the Complexo Alemaõ, one of the most dangerous and largest groups of favelas in the North Zone.
At last, Rio’s working class is being offered the security they deserve — for the moment, at least. The fight to secure Rio has just begun, and it remains to be seen whether the government has learned its lesson. As Rio’s security situation unfolds, tourist cities worldwide should take heed of the lessons it provides, and prioritize the needs of the people who make their cities worth visiting.
(Source: citizen-times.com)
This video of Shaq conducting the Boston Pops has been making the rounds today, and while there’s no denying its entertainment value, I feel somewhat torn while watching it. On one hand, the video confirms that Shaquille O’Neal is truly up for anything (see also: Kazaam, his rap career) , but on the other, it perpetuates the stereotype of composers that they do little more than flap their arms. Unsurprisingly, the orchestra plays “Sleigh Ride” in perfect time, clearly ignoring their maestro. This isn’t an unreasonable or particularly miraculous occurence— I know from experience that pops music can be played with little to no direction by a decent orchestra— but newcomers to orchestral music might easily assume that a conductor has as little value for an orchestra playing Brahms as it does for one playing the theme from “Beverly Hills Cops.” And any musician who has had to play challenging music under a bad conductor knows, the guy at the front of the stage really does matter.
Ultimately, I do think this video has merit beyond the humor value of seeing Shaq hand’s making a baton look like a toothpick and bob his head along to some unknown beat (how is he doing that head thing?) As one commenter pointed out, Shaq seems to be having a lot of fun, and his enjoyment of this admittedly goofy scene could get a lot of kids who admire him interested in music as well. And honestly, pretty much anything that gets kids excited about music is a good thing.
Also, it’s pretty great that Keith Lockhart has a personalized Celtics jersey.
Richard Holbrooke: 1941-2010
I was extremely saddened to hear of Richard Holbrooke’s death yesterday after emergency surgery. Holbrooke was a shrewd advisor who had a hand in the negotiation of almost every international conflict since Vietnam. He was also an incredibly gracious man— I had the opportunity to meet him in a small group of students at his (and now my!) alma mater in 2007 when he was working on Hillary Clinton’s campaign. There, he was humble, funny and excited to meet with young people interested in making a difference in the world. In the increasingly complex world of international relations, he will certainly be missed.
Other obituaries at NPR and Brown University’s website can be found here and here.
If I told you that when t comes before the i sound it’s pronounced like the English ch, and d follows the same pattern to sound like the English j, or if I mentioned that x always sounds like sh except when it sounds like z, you might well give up entirely, so I won’t.
—From “Pronouncing Names”, a preface from Orson Scott Card’s Speaker from the Dead, which explains how to pronounce the Portuguese words that pepper the text. It also explains my general attitude towards Portuguese pronunciation rules; I’m not sure I’m ever going to understand what happens with the letter x in this language.
