Everything I learned about blogging...

Recently a dear friend pull the plug or better off "signed off" on her blog. I have since started to write this post that I hope to publish soon. It is an idea I have had from the get-go when I decided to create elToronteco. It is a huge tribute to the blogs that showed me the power of this new media. Then I realized, What do I know about blogging? Not much, I guess. But what I do know is that these blogs and their authors have influenced more than my "extra-curricular" activity of blogging but the way I see and live life. The very first blog I consistently read was:

Bitácora de Mauricio Romero http://romerogt.delaermita.com/ [Español]
Nepotism-shmepotism... I believe that the melange of personal notes, rants about open source technology, the occasional political diatribe, reiki and other spiritual and material matters really describes the person with whom I share most of my genetic configuration. RomeroGT is my older brother but more than that is a great friend and a real traveling companion. Space separates us, but distance is not measured in Kms. I've been reading this blog since 2004 and I believe I started by commenting via e-mail and then I figured out how to post my comments. This blog changes its css every now and then, always looking for different layouts. On one of those layouts had a widget with recent posts from other "Blogs chapines" (chapín is slang for a person from Guatemala) and through those links I was able to discover other blogs, particularly, in October of 2006 I stumble upon this blog:

Hello from Here http://hellofromhere.blogspot.com
LD is a Canadian journalist who was living at the time in Quetzaltenango or Xela as it is also known, the second largest city in Guatemala after The Capital. The personal touch of her postings and the struggle she was having with integration of her experience in Guatemala, which was in many different levels quite deep, with her Canadian identity caught my attention. Then there was a personal link because a friend here in Toronto actually have met her a couple of Summers before while visiting Xela. One important think I learn from HFH was to always keep it personal. Not just report the news (which in LD's case is her actual job), but find something that you cannot deliver in any other way. HFH could be seen as an Ex-Pat blog, one of those transition from the "dreaded mass e-mail" to the public posting of the author's adventures in the foreign land. On the posts of HFH you can find a human side of Guatemala and the transition from being an outsider to becoming part of that reality... because Guatemala, as Francisco Goldman describes in The Long Night of the White Chickens, is a country you don't live in but you live with. And LD also showed this on a post called "Ni de aquí ni de allá" just before returning to Canada.

LD decided to pull the plug on HFH recently. She's been back on Canadian soil for more than a year and the "novelty" of living in Toronto is not really inspiring. Believe me, I know, and you can see my own sparseness in posting as such. One last lesson from HFH is that sometimes you need to live in order to blog. It has to mean something to you. It took me a year to come across a situation that merited starting a blog. In the meantime, through the Web of relationships the Internet is I was able to find two of my best friends' blogs: From Ronald Flores, well www.ronaldflores.com [Es], and from Ale her two blogs Congo Days [En] and Desde Kinshasa [Es].

From Ronald's blog I have learned that I don't have to fear to elevate the level of the conversation. From both of Ale's blogs I have rediscovered that kindred spirit I met back in Guatemala and also to dare to write in both languages. I took the single blog two languages approach whereas she keeps two separate yet equally important blogs. These two friends of mine make me proud of being a Guatemalan blogger.

The last blog I would like to mention as part of my formative time as a budding blogger is La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo (http://antiguadailyphoto.com) whose author, Rudy is one of the first great friends I have never met (although I will try again to correct this later in the year). LAGDP has given me the opportunity to craft my commenting skills (as HFH and RomeroGT did as well). It is also "concerned" with design as RomeroGT. However, one of the key lessons is the beauty of using pictures to tell a story.

I must mention two good friends (and their blogs) that I made since I started elToronteco. Carmencita, a Guatemalan woman living in California, where she grew up, is another two languages/two blogs kinda person with the recently renamed "Un viaje a las raices" (http://carmendebizet.blogspot.com/) and with her personal Xanga blog http://www.xanga.com/CarmenDeBizet/ , which heading reads "Given enough coffee I could rule the world". Carmencita is a wonderful story-teller with a good sense of humour and also with a complex identity (which is a common denominator on the whole bunch described here, me included). The other amiga is Cancun Canuck (http://www.cancuncanuck.com/) or Canucka as I call her in the blogosphere. A former Toronto resident now transplanted into that Caribbean tourist hot-spot of Cancún where she is living a life among the nativ.. I mean locals. Her insights are great, her stories are funny and human, and (I must mention it) her 3-year-old son is just the cutest MexiCanadian ever (there is something to be said about mixing the races ;-) ).

So, I might not know much about blogging. But my journey started by lurking and commenting, particularly on the blogs mentioned here. To all you guys, a YouTube dedication:

Contigo Aprendí by Armando Manzanero
Interpreted by Costa Rica's Trio Azul Kristal

Hallazgos Arqueológicos

Desde ya me estoy disfrutando la cantidad de visitantes que el título de esta mi entrada dominical creará. La verdad se refiere a un descubrimiento que hice mientras estaba buscando unas notas que tomé sobre El Principito de Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Aunque no las encontré lo que si pude "escarbar" fueron una serie de poemas, algunos inéditos y algunos de verdaderos poetas copiados a mano o en la computadora durante la década de los 90. Anteriormente había hecho mención y había compartido un par de poemas de este "Folder Español" HISPASA de pasta azul que tengo por acá en mi tierra madrina. Es divertido leer las babosadas que uno ha escrito en su pasado. Pero lo que es realmente interesante es (1)tratar de recordar/entender/relatar el origen de estos poemas y (2) encontrar cierta afinidad con el tiempo presente.

Con toda discreción me pregunto ¿será que no he crecido emocionalmente en estos 10 o 15 años? ¿será que la historia, mi historia, es circular? ¿por qué es que no puedo escribir palabras tan "apasionadas" en estos días (en los que no sale el sol sino tu rostro)? ¿será que estoy viendo "micos aparejados" (lo cual realmente es una imagen grotesca y perturbadora)?

Bueno, les dejo unos cuantos poemitas para que uds. juzguen si el patojo que le gustaba gastar tinta tenía algún futuro como escribidor o si al menos iba a tener suerte con las patojas. ¡Ay si uno pudiera re-escribir la historia! Hago una vez más el énfasis que estas líneas fueron escritas circa 1994 (a principios de la U pues).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Las palabras se posan
sobre tu cabello,
sin embargo,
sigues indiferente
a su vuelo de cortejo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
En tus ojos
una noche
soñé que sumergía
mis labios
en busca de ti
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
El mundo y tu sonrisa
tan pequeños
y aun así tan inmensos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ama la noche a sus estrellas
Aman los árboles a sus nidos
Aman los ríos a los peces
y sus orillas a las serpientes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inútil,
la distancia,
rellena las cavidades,
de mi corazón palpitante
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Estas allí,
con tus ojos de siempre
y tu mirada de "nunca"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Llené mi alma
con tu mirada
y no la he querido vaciar
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hoy me levanté con la impresión
de haber conocido al amor de mi vida...
...otra vez
______________________________________________________________________

Overdue | Pride

On my shared items I have added a note from elPeriódico, the Guatemalan newspaper I use almost exclusively to keep connected and informed about what's up in my motherland. This is my interpretation and reaction of the news as a self-exiled middle-class Toronteco. The news headline reads as follows (my own translation from Spanish):

Presidents vetoes restitution of death penalty

Executive affirms that the decision is based in the fact that the decree violates six articles of the Constitution and because it would freeze relations with supportive countries

A couple of notes: (1) How hard it is to translate a headline from the beautiful Spanish language into the practical English language. (2) The "executive" refers to the section of the government headed by the president and conformed by the different ministries in charge of the actual functioning (execution) of the government, as opposed to the "legislative" (in charge of spitting out laws) and the "judicial"(in charge of enforcing the laws through the different courts).

I honestly have to say that I have not followed this issue closely. Apparently, the previous Guatemalan government left the death penalty "in the air" and it was up to the new government to figure out what to do with it. It seems that the "legislative", that is the Congress, approved the restitution of the death penalty. Both the current "executive" and the "legislative" are dominated by the same party, thus it is interesting that the president vetoes something approved by his own party. However, that is his prerogative and I simply can applaud any sign he can give of being "in power".

During my quarter of a century growing up in Guatemala the death penalty was a non-issue. It existed, it was enforced every now and then, it was even broadcast on the news at noon. I learned compassion, thought, through the eyes of my Tía Luz who served somewhat as our nanny and to whom I am in debt for who I am almost as much as my parents. Her reaction to anyone being incarcerated or taking in by police, or worse, anyone who was in death row was Pobrecito ("poor little guy"). Compassion for a criminal is something that is not often seen, particularly in Guatemala where the sole mention of the "Human Rights" in relation to common criminals provokes the outcry of the general public as a way of letting people get away with their wrongdoings. Now that I think about it to put it in black and white pixels Human Rights have so many different meanings in Guatemala. On one side we have the issue of the genocide of those who were fighting against the government (blowing up the extremely necessary and scarce infrastructure of the country, I must say to echo my "maternal" point of view); those who are seen by the international community as criminals against humanity, the masterminds and executors of the massacres during the civil war and even after the peace accords of 1996. And then we have the Human Rights of the common criminal (or even the organized one) which are completely disregarded by the common public. Linchamientos ("lynching") was (is?) a usual way of the people of taking the law into their own hands, as democratic as an open town hall. Out of frustration, the general public chased the criminal (be it someone who was stealing a pair of sunglasses or someone being suspected or trying to kidnap a baby), beat him/her up almost to death, until "the authorities" arrive. Is in this context that Human Rights are looked down by Guatemalans, not in the context of the massacres.

Thus, this double standard (death people have Human Rights, but criminals barely alive don't) permeates the discussion of the death penalty in my dear motherland. The compassion instilled by my Tía Luz and encouraged by this country I live in now (my brother calls it my "godmother"-land) have created a very clear position about the death penalty: It is NEVER justified. To give anyone (the people, the judges, the government, the church) the power to decide over someone else life is to give them absolute power, and you know what the saying says, human nature will tend to be corrupted by this power. The death penalty is there along the proliferation of nuclear weapons, is better not to have them regardless of their appeal and potential "usefulness". Revenge is usually the motor behind those who cry for the death penalty, not justice and neither it is the welfare of the many (even though "getting rid" of a few bad apples might seem "good" for society).

In a couple of occasions I have been reminded in Canada that my country of origin still practices the death penalty and thus it is placed within the box of "medieval" justice systems (along with our big partner to the South). And that is why today I feel pride to share the news that come from my motherland. A president, regardless of the public opinion and the political cost, is saying that the death penalty has no place in a modern civilized society, it is unconstitutional (although so it is abortion, but that is a horse of a different colour) and in order to be part of the global village Guatemala has to find real solutions to its problems with violence and crime. Violence cannot fight violence. Today I am proud of this overdue position.

What do you think about the death penalty? Is it still applied where you live? Isn't it just a short-term lazy measure to combat criminality? Who has the moral solvency to decide over the life of someone else?

En solidaridad

Vivir en un país con tendencias socialistas (aunque con un gobierno Conservador por el momento), me he ido acostumbrando a las amenzas de huelga por todos lados. Si no son los trenes, son los maestros, o los policías, o los trabajadores de los cementerios (como el año pasado hicieron en Montreal por meses). A finales de este año se vence nuestro pacto colectivo en YorkU y ya me voy preparando mental y emocionalmente a mostrar solidaridad con mi sindicato (CUPE - 3903: Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 3903) y a votar para darle al equipo de negociación el arma de llamar a huelga si el empleador se muestra intransigente con nuestras "demandas". He aprendido conceptos en inglés que no puedo traducir sin tener que explicar, como "work-to-rule", que se refiere a una acción sindical en la cual uno se niega a realizar labores o tareas que uno hace usualmente pero que no son parte del contrato o del pacto colectivo. El otro es "lock-out", el cual es lo opuesto a una huelga. En una huelga los empleados son los que dejan de trabajar, en el "lock-out" el empleador le echa llave (a veces literalmente) al lugar de labores y no deja que los trabajadores entren. En ambos casos existe una situación de contención laboral.

Escribo esta entrada como respuesta a un tema reciente en la Bitácora de RomeroGT sobre las amenazas de huelga que el magisterio en Guatemala (el sindicato de maestros y maestras de escuelas públicas) esta haciendo para resistir la profesionalización de dicha carrera. Hay varios puntos que quise hacer en un comentario, pero creo que me pasé del número de palabras permitidas y mis elocuentes palabras fueron perdidas en el ciber-espacio. Ni modo. Pues aquí les van mis saetas social-demócratas:

No creo que sea apropiado o realista que un sindicato utilice la amenaza de huelga para modificar algo como el pensum de estudios. Esta es una situación técnica del "negocio" del empleador. Los empleados en la planta de la General Motors no le dicen a GM cómo fabricar carros, pero si les están cortando las horas de trabajo (y por ende el salario devengado) una amenaza de huelga o la huelga en sí puede ser una forma de crear presión para mantener los derechos ganados con anterioridad. Algo que no sabía hasta hace poco es que, al menos por estos lares, el sindicato no nos puede llamar a huelga mientras exista un pacto colectivo vigente. Pero siempre dejan (tanto sindicato como empleador) que el contrato se termine para empezar negociaciones. Es un juego de ver quien guiña primero, o aquel juego de "un serio" en el cual quien sonríe primero pierde.

Por otro lado es triste que una organización representando a trabajadores del estado esté en contra de la profesionalización de su campo. Una mejor capacitación puede consituir mejores oportunidades de trabajo. El problema sería si este cambio pone en peligro empleos ganados honestamente y trabajados arduamente. No existe nada inherentemente malo en tener un sindicato magisterial fuerte e influyente. El problema es la falta de respeto por las leyes y las reglas del juego. Qué los más afectados son los padres y los alumnos, pues ni modo. Esa es el arma que los maestros tienen para reclamar condiciones laborales justas. Otro defecto del sistema es que los dirigentes sindicales utilizan a las bases como un ejército en contra de un gobierno electo democráticamente para tratar de mangonearlo. Espero que en este "pulsito" el gobierno central se ponga los pantalones para marcar la actitud de poder para el resto de los cuatro años que apenas comienzan.

Y ese es "otro rollo", ¿por qué debe ser un total trauma para la población el cambio de gobierno? ¿Por qué no existen (más) entidades estatales semi-autónomas que puedan continuar con su trabajo diario y no son afectadas por el cambio de guardia? Creo que la idea de superintendencias llenas de personal capacitado y tecnócratas es una de las mejores soluciones a este problema. Además pueden ayudar a la descentralización de las funciones del estado.

Para finalizar quisiera relatar una de mis experiencias sindicales en el Canadá. En los últimos meses del 2007 CUPE 3903 llamó a una campaña de "work-to-rule" para reclamar dos "injusticias" que sus miembros han sufrido. Una era un cambio en la forma en que los departamentos de post-grado (una de las "unidades" de CUPE 3903 somos estudiantes de maestría o doctorado que trabajamos como auxiliares de cátedra) iban a imponer los límites en terminar nuestros programas académicos. Esta situación ya estaba siendo solucionado antes del comienzo de la campaña. La segunda causa de esta campaña es que YorkU dejó de darnos una de las becas (ayuda financiera) que eran asignadas de acuerdo a necesidad financiera. Esta situación no se ha solucionado, pero creo que la campaña ha perdido momentum. Por mi parte me desilusioné al reflexionar que la primera razón no sólo ya estaba siendo negociada, sino que no tiene nada que ver con nuestro papel como empleados de YorkU y más en nuestra relación como estudiantes. No es el lugar del sindicato en protestar esta cambio, sino el de la asociación de estudiantes (si, también soy parte de la "Graduate Students Asociation" por default, uno no tiene alternativa). Y ¿qué constituye esta campaña de "work-to-rule"? Pues simplemente se nos pidió que no contestarmos los correos electrónicos de los estudiantes o de los catedráticos sobre cuestiones referentes a las clases. Durante el otoño mantuve la campaña, pero ahora en el invierno me parece demasiado y no siento la presión del sindicato o el apoyo del resto de auxiliares (al menos en mi departmento).

El sistema de sindicatos y empleadores no es perfecto. Pero teniendo reglas claras puede resultar altamente positivo para los empleados al mismo tiempo que se garantiza el mantenimiento del servicio o producción que es la base del negocio del empleador.

Privacy, anarchy, and the law-abiding citizen

"(...)considero que Guatemala representa la irupción del caos en el orden occidental. Pero Guatemala es, de alguna forma, una manifestación tan radical de la disrupción del orden que se torna adictiva" p.209.
From "Un paseo en primavera" by Ronald Flores.

Pues I feel compelled to write a "real" comment (as opposed to one of my usual insidious tirades or cryptic diatribes)about a post in LAGPD entitled "Street photography or voyeurism?" , and when the comment reached three paragraphs I decided to make it a post. First of all I wanted to state that I am also grateful to Rudy for the pictures that give colour to my every day routine and warmth to my sometimes freezing (particularly with wind chill) reality.

The now-forgotten first post in elToronteco dealt with the issue of cameras on public transit. I want to expand my opinion about the issue of privacy. I have this conviction that privacy on public places is overrated (and to some extent an oxymoron). How can we expect not to be photographed or videotaped when we are on a space where anyone can see what we are doing? Technology has made available "recording" devices more accessible and more wide spread. As I have said in previous postings, I am not a lawyer, but "expectation of privacy" seems to me a gray area. I say, if I go into a "public" washroom and I get inside a stall and I lock the door I should "expect" not to be observed; but if I am crossing an intersection or paying for a chocolate bar at a convenience store I cannot claim that I was going on my "private" business and thus I should not be taped or photographed.

My second reaction was to the comment by One Way on the post in question. It is about the effect that legalism has on our behaviour. In the Euro-Northamerican reality we live with fear of lawsuits and breaking the ever changing/evolving laws. I say this because of the mention of children in photographs and the need for parent/guardian permission. In Guate, and that is my humble now-outsider opinion, issues of privacy and respect for the subjects of pictures are more a kind of "respect" or "manners" more than following laws. In the 90s, when I was taking a university course in Pre-school children observation we had assignments that required us to do exactly that, observe children, sometimes with their parents, in their natural environments (read Malls and Food Courts, as well as day cares and schools). I was not taking pictures of them, I probably would have if I had a camera phone, I don't know. But I was taking notes about their behaviour! Now that is voyeurism at a professional level. I was not required to do so, but I occasionally approached the parents and explained what I had just done. I also remember doing observations in day care centres where the only credential I presented was my word that I was a psychology student at so-and-so university. In Canada, to do research, nowadays, before I am able to see a child in a school I had to go through bureaucracy from my university, the school board, the school in question and have the permission of the parents. We also get the consent of the child and assure them that they can withdraw from the study/activity at any point. I believe this last thing to be the most important and essential. The rest is just legal covering-your-butt paperwork.

I honestly don't know which societal approach is better. The lawsuit paranoia or the relaxed naiveté. However, I do think that Guate is the paradise of anarchists that one of the characters on Un paseo en primavera, a foreigner, says (see epigraph above). I recently was put on the spot for being "law abiding". I have the feeling that it is a reaction of having grown in the midst of chaos. It might have been exacerbated by the laissez faire approach of my beloved parents, to whom I am grateful for not only having given me roots, but also wings. I cannot deny, though, that in Guate laws are not respected, and that is the default (the norm pues). I know I will get comments on this blunt statement. Again, is it good or bad? Isn't a society in which its citizens "decide" by an implicit agreement what is proper behaviour one that is more "free"? Is living in constant fear of being sued healthy? And, has it changed at all in the past decade? Is Guatemalan society more law-abiding than the one that I left at the turn of the century?

Back to the beautiful picture from LAGDP, and it is beautiful: the colours, the angle, the people, the objects, the light, I can go on and on. It is evident that Rudy HAD to ask for permission or at least let Jacques (now we even know his name) acknowledge his intentions because he is very close. But that probably was not 100% necessary for the couple passing by, and yet the post is tagged making reference to them. I hope my post doesn't make more waves than it is intended to, just some tumbos to feed the dialog about privacy and geographical differences in terms of laws, expectations, and customs.

Episode 6: A New Hope

It just happens that tomorrow is the "Toma de posesión" (the equivalent to what in the U.S. they call "Inauguration Day" or something like that) of the new Guatemalan President, Alvaro Colom. As I said in my pre-run-off post[es] I am just too happy to be 3,000 Km away from my motherland. That is because even though there seems to be a new hope, well, that the official party is called the National Unity of Hope (UNE for its initials in Spanish), there is also a lot of expectation and uncertainness. As it has been portrayed within and without the borders of Guate, the future government will be the "first social-democrat" government of the new era of democratically elected presidents since 1986. It will actually be the sixth such president of what some call the Second Republic (cf. "La Tercera Republica"[es]). I've been "without" Guatemala for too long and now I don't recognize any of the names of the new cabinet and have to rely on what my relatives tell me about political figures.

I do remember Alvaro Colom and his first bid for the presidency back in 1999, and before that as the head of one of the social funds the government created as a short-term solution or as part of the commitments with the international community previous to the signing of the peace agreements of 1996. I remember all the hoopla when he was ordained a "Mayan Priest", which coming from the ladino ethnic background (not really Mayan, not really White, not really nothing, the group to which incidentally I belong) is not only uncommon, but at the time probably even "frown upon" by the dominant elite. So he might have had a good start on stepping on people's toes, or on knowing what to do to get the favour of the many, whom eventually elected him. Again, being outside the borders of the unreality that Guatemala is, (to borrow a phrase from Nothing is permanent[es]) might give me a skewed view of my beloved motherland. Thus I rely on two sources: My relatives and online Guatemalan newspapers (mainly Prensa Libre and elPeriódico). From the first source I can tell that one of the most fierce critics of the new government, my mom, already gave me a couple of hints that there might be reason for "hope" or at least to give the future president, "the benefit of the doubt".

From the second source I selected a few headlines from today's Prensa Libre(PL), the original articles are in Spanish and I have loosely translated the headlines:

The country gets political relevance
Here PL makes a description of the previous "pass of the torch" events in the recent history of Guatemala and the international delegations that have been present. Comparatively it seems Guatemala is the place to be for the who's who of Latin American politics. Even the president of Venezuela... imagine Hugo Chavez himself, the saint or devil that negotiated recently the release of hostages from the FARC, one of the last of the guerrilla groups in the continent. You would think that North American media would be all over Guatemala... but no headlines yet. Also, the president of Taiwan, who just had a political defeat back home is already in Guate for tomorrow's event. So, indirectly, yes, Guatemala is in the news "up" here, just not mentioned by name.

Uphill road begins for Colom
This was the main article of the print edition (pdf) of PL for today, Sunday 13 January. It is an extensive piece on all the promises and expectations that a left-leaning government made and will have to live up to. I like the picture of Alvaro Colom getting a haircut that accompanies the article. It makes him look like a little kid preparing for a recital or something. I think this is the right time for an inside joke: You would think that a social-democrat leader would look like Jack Layton , but really, Alvaro Colom looks and feels more like Stéphane Dion. The Air Farce would have a field trip with a government lead by someone like Colom. And Guatemalans in general actually do. Just look at some of the other headlines:

The end of the reign of the mustache
It seems that the head of state of Guatemala for the past 40 odd years has always had a mustache. Go figure. More interestingly, when I checked this article earlier today there was a full essay on why this could be, including a great insight that mentioned the Spanish Conquistadores and now it has been reduced to a simple bland paragraph sprinkled with factoids. Hopefully the print edition kept this good insight that the digital version lost.

Nicknames haunts presidents & Sparrowhawk will succeed Rabbit
Two almost identical pieces of journalism, but with different titles. The art of redundancy at its best. Both (or either) of the articles fail to be as funny as their titles promise. I would have never thought, though, that I will read on a respectable publication that the nickname of a former president was Marrano (Pig), which it was, but hey show some respect. Oh, yes, this president tried to abolish the congress and become supreme dictator and then had to run to Panama to avoid being tried for corruption and whatnot. Still, he was voted in by the people at some point. History aside, it seemed very tamed to call the future president "Sparrowhawk" because it is his nahual or guiding animal (remember that Alvaro Colom is an ordained Mayan priest after all). Where is the irreverence shown towards former presidents? PL is no fun!

Ok, so good luck Guatemala and congratulations to the new government and now is time to take care of business. Since I haven't been called back to occupy any ministerial position I guess my time to be repatriated hasn't come yet (wink wink). Maybe on the next government...

The little country after Mexico...

"Every time I look at Time magazine or The New York Times I find myself skipping over the articles on, for example, Ethiopia. Out of guilt I make myself go back and read them, imagining how uninteresting the same kind of articles of Guatemala must seem to the average citizen of the world"
From The Long Night of White Chickens(p.150) by Francisco Goldman

The most recent post in HFH motivated me to start putting down some of the ideas I have been brewing about Guatemala and its violent past, present, and unfortunately, future. LD (the blogger behind HFH), as a freelance journalist reporting from Guatemala earlier in the present decade, probably saw or was more aware of the tragedy that is living in my motherland for millions of people more than what I experienced in the almost 25 years I spent there. Probably is the stoicism or cynicism you develop from having been born in such a violent society. Probably it was that I was fortunate (as is my family still, knock on wood) of having been somewhat spared by the effects of the civil war. However, on a lighter previous post on HFH, where I tried to contribute to a list of things that makes you Guatemalteca/o one of the thoughts that came immediately into my head and I didn't add to my comment was this:

You (know you are Guatemalteca/o if you)or someone you know has been kidnapped, carjacked, mugged or assassinated.

That seems to be the common denominator to the Guatemalan experience. And the issue is that I could mention the couple of encounters with common violence that I had almost ten years ago and they are dwarfed by the level of terror (or complete numbness) that the population of my country of origin, that little country after Mexico lives in. More than once I have repeated to people here in Canada when I see the blank look in their eyes when I say Guatemala: "there is Canada, then the States, then Mexico, and then Guatemala". It is not as frequent as I used to think, and really one cannot know the exact location of every single country in the world. But, what is really shocking is the lack of coverage there is about Guatemala.
A link on the HFH post lead me to an article on the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail titled "Anatomy of a shootout". It seems to be the first of a series of articles about Guatemala AND the role of Canadians (mainly NGOs) in the process of bringing peace and safety through a proper judicial system to the third world nation that I love with all my heart. It reads like an update on the post-war crime and violence situation, with that little "feel-good" Canadian section on how good we are helping the poor them. For me is hard to digest because I am "we" and I am "them" (or was, at least). As LD points out, the attitude of many Canadians is that of "if it is not affecting me why should I care". There is even a comment by a reader, mentioned by LD, that blatantly states "In reality who really cares what happens in Guatamala(sic)" unless these savages decide to start crossing borders in mass all the way up to Canada like Mexicans did recently landing into Windsor, and God forbid if then they decide to ride up the 401 Highway and come to Toronto, wouldn't that be awful.
As LD says:

"And unfortunately, that's probably the opinion of a lot of people-- this is happening far away from me, what does it really matter? And sometimes those are the people I was thinking about when I was reporting from Guatemala. Did anyone really care when I did those reports? Are those the stories that, when they came on the radio, were basically like background music, as people did whatever else? It's always so much easier to "sell" a local story-- someone being killed down the block or whatever else is going on down the street. People's ears perk up when they hear about something they know, when they can visualize the street or area or city. But when there's killing in Pakistan or Kenya or Guatemala, some people just don't care."

I agree and I think it must be even harder to "sell" Guatemala. Because it seems to me that Pakistan and Kenya are more on the spotlight these days for their eruptions of violence. Guatemala's violence doesn't seem to have much echo maybe because it is a chronic problem, not an acute response to an event. Maybe because there is no clear "enemy" anymore. Because more than 10 years after the peace accords in Guatemala there is no face we can put to the "parties" involved and thus no mediation is possible. I remember years ago hearing someone saying that humanity doesn't see issues as "problems" until they can see that there is a potential solution, the example given was illiteracy. In any case, maybe there is no solution to the situation in Guatemala. Maybe we should lose all hope that a new government can do anything. Maybe it would have been better for an alleged genocide (take your pick) to become president of my motherland so that the rest of the world could look back at the little country where I left my umbilical cord buried. Yes, there is a new government being sworn in next 14 of January in Guatemala. But not even a comment by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez that he won't attend the ceremony for fear of a potential U.S. backed assassination attempt against him in Guatemala made the national media here in Canada take notice. RomeroGT (click here for post in Spanish) is making a call to fellow Guatemaltecos/as to embrace citizen participation, because democracy doesn't end with putting an X on a ballot. He is also urging people to understand the ideology of the "left leaning" or "social-democrat" people that will become the official party.
Guatemala is a hard sell product. I know it. But I hope that little by little there is more awareness and attention to what is happening, and has been happening for decades, if not centuries, in this third world country. Is not an issue of "Human Rights" as they are usually portrayed, but of Human Dignity. The issues that underlie the current situation won't be solved with a new government, or with social cleansing, or with revenge, or with hand me downs to the poorer masses, or with polarizing the society between urban and rural areas. I have no solution either to propose. What I feel is that there is something missing in Guatemala, a national identity, and that cannot be achieved without before having education, work, safety, health, justice, peace.

I am joining the circus...

I know some of you already think I am in a circus or that I am really just a clown. However, this is serious, I have made some important decisions lately. After hours, days, weeks, months, years of reflecting on the need I have of a change I have come to the conclusion that I am not made for Grad School. Thus, I have decided life is too short and what I really want to do is to be a playwright and, as my intuition told me more than a decade ago, in order to do so I need to be an actor first. I did some amateur theatre in university as part of the Grupo de Teatro de la Universidad del Valle de Guatemala and eventually my one and only play was presented a couple of times, so there is a precedent of success on this avenue. I am selling all my stuff and sneaking out of Canada so my debtors don't catch me.

You see, life is the best school, and I have learned to play all these different characters throughout the years. Why not apply this knowledge and become a professional actor? I haven't decided yet if I am going to try my luck first here:

Although everyone tries to "make it" in that city and I haven't found the taste for musicals yet. There are alternatives, like trying to be part of the Guignol theatre in this other city:


But then again, my absurd delusions of grandeur would push me towards other cities, with the dream of acting or presenting my plays in places like this:


But really I will have to learn other trades like pickpocketing and work in areas full of unsuspecting tourists, like this one.


And then again, being around so many "artists" I may pick more than pockets and make my own paintings. This city above might feel too passée and the market too crowded. I will eventually will move to other places, like a nomad or a gypsy and sell my work in plazas like this one:


It seems I have a plan. I just need to stick to it.

Por inocentes
No, I am just pulling your leg! Because today is the Day of the Innocent Saints, which is the Guatemalan (do other countries celebrate it?) equivalent of April fool's day. El día de los inocentes actually has quite the macabre origin. For those of you who are Christian and/or paid attention in Sunday School or in Cathecism class, you will remember that Joseph had a warning from an angel telling him to take his wife and newborn child away to Egypt because Herod the king was murdering all the children under the age of two (I think) to get rid of potential competition. Herod had been alerted (unintentionally) by the Maggi of the birth of a new King and started the bloodshed. Well, the "Innocent Saints" are all these babies and toddlers that gave their lives to protect the Newborn King.

I have so many emotional imprints of trying to come up with good tricks to play on my brother and the rest of my family for the Day of the Innocents. There is usually a tongue-in-cheek column or fake news piece by some smarty-pants journalist that comes out this day. So, there you go, your "Traditions from Guatemala" minute along with some "exotic" photographs and a Bible lesson, what more can you ask from a post?

Home for the holidays

‘Home’ has become such a scattered,
damaged, various concept in our present travails.
From "At the auction of the ruby slippers"
by Salman Rushdie‡

No, I am not catching a plane at the last minute to visit my family, my beloved family, in the warmer (everything is relative) Guatemala, my motherland. Neither have I bought a "home" a marketing term for a "house" (Aeronica, the Nicaraguan national airline, had a nice slogan: "Your origin, your destiny". Another great example of the marketing of this "blessed word") . (Un)fortunately I have not found or outbid for the ruby slippers either (more on this below). What I am doing is making a conscious decision of staying home. Settling down is a phrase that comes to my mind, though not in its common use. The Spanish term "sentar cabeza" literally means "to seat your head down". That is what I am doing, putting my head on the ground and calling whatever piece of ground I am standing in HOME.

Home is a high commodity. It trades at inflated prices particularly around the end of the Gregorian calendar year. After getting my citizenship in 2005 I decided to visit my family as soon as work let me. I compared ticket prices for traveling at the end of December, against traveling in February, for Reading Week. The ticket was a third cheaper for Reading Week (OK, it was approx $400 less but 1/3 sounds more dramatic). In that time of my life, coincidentally, I was still saying "home" to refer to my motherland, little did I know that I was near the end of a period of denial of my Guatemalan identity.

Thus, becoming a Canadian citizen started a struggle within myself about my newly acquired dual citizenship, and thus the emergence of an authentic mixed identity. I haven't been introduced to terms as Native Informant or Migrant Hybrid yet, but events would unfold during 2006, after my visit to Guatemala, that will lead me to the changes that occurred in 2007. I think right now that in February of 2006 was my last trip home to Guatemala. Last August I went to my dear "country of origin", where I do feel at home. I decided to start calling it my motherland, "mi matria", because it conveys the welcoming attitude of a mother, of my mother, towards me.

During Spring and Summer of this year I started to play with the idea of the ruby slippers. Where would I end up if I put them on (they would look cute on me, wouldn't they?) and say those magic words "There is no place like home"? Would I end up like some Star Trek transporter mishap, my particles scattered all over the universe? Would I end up in someone's arms? Would I implode in my own self absorption? I have no answer yet. Must of the people on my blogroll share this conflict with me one way or the other. We have left parts of our heart spread in different parts of the world. We have crossed borders, inside or outside our countries, for different reasons and stay longer than the length of a vacation or a work contract or a study period. We have invested our emotions and thoughts about these multiple cities, provinces, lands and nations and their relationship towards our selves.

One of these fellow migrants who actually returned to the motherland, Ronald, my dearest friend and dialog partner, directed me towards a short tale by Rushdie found on "East, West" that also made reference to the ruby slippers. I recently read it. I reproduce below the paragraph that starts with the sentence I chose for my epigraph:

‘Home’ has become such a scattered, damaged, various concept in our present travails. There is so much to yearn for. There are so few rainbows any more. How hard can we expect even a pair of magic shoes to work? They promised to take us home, but are metaphors of homeliness comprehensible to them, are abstractions permissible? Are they literalists, or will they permit us to redefine the blessed word. p. 93 ‡

Home as an abstraction... not as a place... not as some walls and a roof (and hopefully a fireplace) with some doors and a lock. Not as a land, the land where our umbilical cord is buried, or where we grew up. Safe haven, security base are terms borrowed from attachment theory that are intimately related to home. And yet, the idea of this security base implies exploration. What home doesn't know is that exploration will lead to the finding of other homes. Of places where we feel safe, where we grow up.

Home is not Canada for me... neither is Guatemala... is not Toronto, or Waterloo, or zona 18 or zona 14 in La Capital. Home is here, wherever I am, wherever I decide to live, love, and thrive. And therefore, for this year, maybe after many years of not doing so, I'll be home for the holidays.



---------------------------------------------------------------

‡ Rushdie, S. (1994). East, West: stories. New York: Pantheon Books.

Los Buenos

Este próximo domingo es la segunda vuelta electoral en Guatemala. Este proceso electoral es el segundo en el que no participo desde que emigré a Canadá. A pesar de que legalmente y apasionadamente me consideraro guatemalteco, estoy consciente que es por mi propia decisión que he renunciado a este derecho de todo ciudadano que es el poder votar. Esta entrada esta dedicada a ustedes, los que sí pueden votar, los que "se quedaron", los que "no se han ido", y a los que "regresaron". Ustedes, mis amigos, amigas, hermanas, hermanos, ustedes son los buenos.

Con el peligro de ofender a varias de las personas que más aprecio, quienes como yo viven y dejan vivir afuera de las fronteras del país que nos vio nacer, tengo que aclarar que no es que nosotros no somos buenos. Hablando exclusivamente de mí mismo, aunque quienquiera puede verse aludido o identificarse con mis sentimientos, tengo la certeza de no ser de los buenos, tanto como no soy de los malos. Simplemente soy. No tengo bando ni condición... a veces hago mis maldades y al parecer tengo mis buenos momentos. Vivo en una sociedad "post" en la cual me he convertido en un híbrido migrante, que más allá de ser "igualado", defino la normalidad de este país y esta ciudad. Particularmente he tomado uno de los tantos caminos que se me presentan para escalar la pirámide social. No creo que mi ruta sea la mejor ni la peor, y a veces no sé si tiene destino o si el destino es la ruta.

Volviendo a ustedes, los buenos, los que son más y habitan dentro de las fronteras de la República de Guatemala. Ustedes tienen una oportunidad este domingo de demostrar que la democracia vale la pena. Desde la lejanía y sin derecho a voz les diré que me ha dado tristeza ver la situación política guatemalteca. La falta de liderazgo, no exclusiva de Guatemala, es impresionante. El divisionismo, el oportunismo, la violencia, la corrupción, la desilusión, la apatía, no son nuevas situaciones. Y no por eso dejan de ser trágicas. Por eso quiero exhortarlos a que voten. Voten por quien quieran. Llevense una su choca y echénla a la suerte. Hagan el "tin marín" si quieren. Estoy seguro que en la boleta de la primera vuelta tal vez lo tuvieron que hacer de todas maneras.

Pero voten con la consciencia y el compromiso de que estos próximos cuatro años su participación no se va a desteñir como la tinta "dizque" indeleble. Voten pensando en un proyecto de nación. La nación que nos hemos negado, unos por cómodos, otros por opresores, otros por oprimidos... otros porque nos fuimos. Hagan escuchar su voz. Desde lejos, desde aquí donde los saludo, les puedo dar mis dos centavos acerca de mis sueños para Guatemala. La Guatemala que anhelo para mi familia, porque mi familia forma parte de los buenos.

Dos cosas puedo decirles de lo que pienso acerca de esta nación de la que les hablo. La primera es que en esta nación no cabe el concepto de limpieza social. Aberración Macartista que la guerra civil, como extensión de la guerra fría, dejó olvidada dentro del sistema anacrónico guatemalteco del siglo XXI. La segunda es que un movimiento indigenista no es la solución. Estoy convencido que dentro de los guatemaltecos que se identifican ancestralmente como pertenecientes a pueblos mayas tambien son más los buenos. Pero mientras no pongan de lado el divisionismo y el odio no podrá nacer una Guatemala unida. Claro, es fácil hablar así para un ladino pseudo-criollo que vive en el extranjero. Sin embargo, la realidad no deja de ser realidad por la falta de calidad o calificación de quien la expresa.

No digo que cuando esta nación guatemalteca emerja inmediatamente volveré a ejercer mi derecho de vivir en el territorio en el que nací. Pero al menos tendré paz en mi corazón y no me sentiré como que estoy huyendo de Guatemala y dejaré de sentir esa resaca moral cada vez que tomo un avión hacia y desde La Aurora. Tal vez algún día hasta vuelva a ser de los buenos.