Mad about Bush

If there's one person who probably says anything about our world and why it is the way it is today, it's George Bush. I know what you're probably thinking, "He's going to blame Bush for the Iraq War or for the financial crisis." Actually, I wasn't going to, but I might anyway. I was mostly astounded at the fact that here was a guy who, by the end of his presidency, got absolutely no one in the world to take him seriously. Here is a president of the United States who got a grenade thrown at him while speaking abroad and no one cared. They often say that the President of the United States is the most powerful man in the world. If that is true, then by the end of his presidency, Bush was the most powerful person with the least powerful opinion in the world.

A lot of people think that George Bush is evil. He's not. I've never met the guy, but I'm pretty sure that he's not out there to eat our babies and pillage our towns. Some people think that Bush didn't really care about America and simply listened to his corporate buddies. That may seem true, but I think that he did care about the direction America was moving in. He founded the White House Office of Faith-Based Inititatives and spearheaded the No Child Left Behind Act. As much as you didn't like it, No Child Left Behind forced schools to take action on tough issues they probably would not have otherwise. He spearheaded millions of dollars to combat the spread of AIDS in Africa and pushed for the retirement of the Space Shuttle in favor of the Orion program.

The problem with Bush is that he never foresaw the full extent of his actions. Sure, he had visions and ideas for the future and ways to achieve those goals, but he incorrectly predicted how his actions would affect the world. He acted on Iraq using faulty information that turned out to be incorrect. His attempts to streamline government resulted in cuts to agencies such as FEMA. While he appointed more minorities to his cabinet and group of advisors than any other president before him, he failed to fully address issues such as urban poverty. Although he promoted the free market and business growth both in the United States and abroad, many affected groups, including workers and consumers, would eventually suffer from the consequences.

Does this mean that Bush was a great president who simply was misunderstood? Probably not. I'm sure you can think of other Bush policies that haven't had the most positive impact on America. However, I think that it's important to distinguish between leaders who leave a negative impact because they are selfish and incompetent or people who did bad things because they made decisions that ultimately had negative consequences.

On the road...

So, I'm currently at a complete lack of words right now. I actually had a list of things that I wanted to write about for my end of the year blog, but as I'm currently out of town, I have no idea what I was supposed to write about. This only makes things more interesting.

For those who are curious, I'm on vacation, but I'm also looking at a potential job opportunity in the area. I will give no details at the moment, except that my potential office has a view of a satellite dish and that I'll get to do by plane what I did at the Swamp with a backpack.

The Wave

Here's a little secret I've been keeping for about four years. When I first started learning to drive, I noticed that at busy intersections lacking stoplights, people would often wave other drivers or pedestrians through. I then thought of a grand idea: what if, at every single intersection I drove up to and let someone walk or drive by, I waved at them?
What if I let every single pedestrian at every crosswalk walk in front of me?
What if, every time I crossed a crosswalk with a car stopped in front of me, I actually made eye contact with the driver, smiled, and waved?

Now, it's not like I have some crazy scheme to spread infectious happiness. I simply decided one day that I would do this. I wouldn't actually keep track, and I didn't think that four years later, I'd still think of it as a conscious decision. In fact, I don't. I actually just realized it today when I was crossing the street with a group of people. The group cut off a car and forced it to stop suddenly. When everyone else ran across the street, I turned and waved to the driver. I suddenly realized that no one else I was with ever did that, and that no one else I've ever crossed the street with has done it. They've probably never even noticed me do it.

I estimate that at this point in time, I've given well over 1,000 smile-and-waves while driving or crossing streets. The actual number is probably a lot higher. I've unconsciously brought the smile-and-wave with me on my travels to places as exotic as Quebec, San Francisco, and El Salvador.

Am I really trying to accomplish something? I have no idea. I guess I just felt that I should let people know I appreciate not being run over. It's something many people who travel on roads shared with other types of vehicles take for granted. Three years ago, I saw a skateboarder nearly get hit by a van. I thought I was about to see someone die; it appeared that he just got clipped and fell onto the ground. Rather than get up and even look at the driver who almost caused him great personal harm, the skateboarder just got back on his board and skated away. No "thanks for not killing me" from the skater. Not even an "oops, sorry man." Nothing.

I'm not trying to be a rockstar. I'm not trying to sound valiant or like an unsung hero. I'm just letting the world know that I exist - that out there, there is some crazy kid who realized that we're not alone in this world. We depend on others, even if we don't know them.

Somebody and her mom

My first symbol of the decade is a song and its accompanying music video. It’s called “Stacy’s Mom,” and it’s sung by a band called Fountains of Wayne. Even if you’ve heard the song, I suggest you watch the video below, because it’s the focus of this article (and quite entertaining).



Now, you’re probably thinking “Chris, why on earth did you just make me watch that? Not only is that complete trash, but I can’t see why someone decent like you would like something like that.” Well, my first response is:
1. It’s a really catchy melody.
2. Yes, I know it’s trash.
But isn’t that what life is all about nowadays? It’s all catchy trash. Why do people buy iPods when there are better mp3 players out there? Because they’re shiny and everyone else has one. Why do people watch Rush Limbaugh, or Bill O’Reilly, or John Stewart, or Jay Leno, or Survivor? Because as much as they are trash (in their own different ways), we like watching them. Here’s a little demonstration of my point that you can try at home. I was watching the news the other day and decided I would play a little game. I would watch the anchor introduce a story and then imagine what I would like to know next about the topic. Then I’d watch the rest of the segment to see if what I wanted to know was actually discussed. You should try it sometime, and you will probably be amazed at how unsatisfied your cravings are. The vast majority of information we get isn't something we actually need to hear or really even want to hear, it's what we hear first and hear most pleasantly.

My second (and more profound) lesson from “Stacy’s Mom” is the reflection of society that it portrays. There’s absolutely no question as to what that kid is doing at the end of that video. Likewise, there’s absolutely no question as to what that girl’s reaction is to what she finds him doing. Twenty years ago, you couldn’t even talk about masturbation except if you were smoking pot with your buddies. Sure, there were songs out there with all sorts of lyrics relating to sexual acts (“Jet Boy Jet Girl” by Elton Motello, “Cowboys are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other” by Willie Nelson) and non-traditional relationships (“Mrs. Robinson”). However, there’s something different about today. We’re the generation that grew up with Jim and his American Pie and Finch fantasizing about Stifler’s Mom. We’re the generation in which we don’t care if you inhaled, because so did everyone else. We’re the generation that realizes that people are people, that everyone has their quirks, and that the symbolic “closed door” to the bedroom that things happen behind is closed for a reason.

What’s my explanation for this? People grew up and got real. They realized that to write songs about “normal love” or to only talk about “traditional” topics was to believe that “normality” and “tradition” never changed. I’m to break this to those to may differ, but tradition changes. And with it does society. Society never was, or never is, nor ever will be, full of the same , monotonous people. The worlds of “Leave it to Beaver,” “Brady Bunch,” “Family Ties” and “I Love Lucy” weren’t full of middle-class white families who played catch and ate breakfast together, and neither is our world today.

Does this mean that society has suddenly gone lax? Are our teachers going to be encouraging preschoolers to get gay marriages, and will it soon be legal for people to marry their dogs, cats, and vending machines? Of course not. A lot of the same limits will still exist and will probably never be changed. It will never be normal to see a grown man wearing pink eyeshadow or to discuss one’s sauerkraut fetish at the office lunch table. However, we have to realize that the way that people in a society express themselves changes with time. We may not all be harboring a socially unacceptable secret, but I guarantee you that you know someone who is.

The Blog Review of the 2000s.

In various newspapers and magazines, they’re having reviews of this past decade. From Sports Illustrated to the Star-Ledger, various editors and writers have all felt it necessary to take a look back at the past and reflect. Now, I’ve tried doing this in the past. Of course, I’ve failed miserably. However, I think that I’ve really grown a lot, and ever since I’ve started blogging, I have gotten a better feel of how to collect my thoughts on paper. Plus, there’s just so much to write about. It may be impossible to predict the future, but if you went back in time to January 1, 2000 and told someone what the world is like now, they’d be completely taken a back. Would they believe that we would elect a black man president, much less a man who would run for Congress that year and get a third of the vote in the primary? Would they believe that gay couples can marry in some states but can still be jailed for having sex in others? Would they believe that millions of Americans listen to music not on a cassette or a CD, but on a tiny plastic box that can hold thousands of songs? Would they believe that there are phones that take videos, mice that glow in the dark, and websites where your coworkers willingly post pictures of their drunken selves running around pantless at three o’clock in the morning?

Rather than make a concise and structured list like “Top 10 songs of the decade” or “Top 20 one-hit wonders of the decades” or “Top 25 Television Commercials of the 00s,” I’m going to post a series of articles about symbols of the decade. They might be people. They might be pictures. They might be videos. Whatever they are, I’ve selected them because I think we can learn a little bit about the decade from these symbols. Enjoy.

My Endorsement for Governor

I thought I'd get back into the swing of blogging by offically announcing the candidate I support for governor of New Jersey. I have been involved in campaigns of both Democrats and Republicans for the past four years. In fact, it was four years ago this week that I first stepped into a campaign office in busy Morristown, sat down at a desk, and started calling registered voters.

Every since I started seriously learning about government and politics in high school, I have tried to formulate an opinion about what I believed was the best way to run society. Over the years, that opinion has changed a lot. But through all those years, I've seen firsthand what government can or can't do. I been the benificiary of a decades-old state-funded program designed to stimulate thte minds of some of the smartest high school students in New Jersey. I've watched my parents agonize over rising taxe, and I beamed when I got my first tax rebate in the mail. I've seen friends and relatives support candidates one day and then completely avoid the subject when those same candidates are hauled off to prison. I was astonished to see how much of my first paycheck was taken for taxes and equally amazed when I found out I had a federal retirement plan in my name.

While I still don't know how I feel about every issue being talked about right now, here's what I do know:

• New Jersey has some of the highest taxes in the country. It also has one of the highest costs of living, and virtually everything here is more expensive than many of the states I've lived in or been to recently (with the exception of gas, which still boggles my mind).
• The culture of corruption is UNBELIEVABLE. It's as if the politicians and the bureaucracy just create more bureaucracy to make it harder to fix.
• New Jersey schools are better than those in many other states in terms of the types of subjects offered and material covered. However, I feel like schools are run only to push students through them, without any personal development for the student. That needs to change.
• The state of the environment here is getting better, but it still needs a lot of work. The DEP is disorganized and just isn't innovative anymore.
• Sometimes, it's necessary to raise taxes, as long it won't negatively impact the financial base the taxed service provides to the state.

With that in mind, I am endorsing independent Christopher Daggett, former EPA Regional Administrator, and his running mate, Kean University professor Frank Esposito. I think that the time is right for real change here in New Jersey.

Patuxent!

So, I've spent a few days at a workshop at Patuxent Research Refuge in Maryland. I'm at a workshop for other interns from my program in my region. So far, it has been a great pleasure to meet the other interns, who come from all over the region (Maine to Virginia) and from various parts of the country. I also discovered how different my experience is from that of other interns. This really makes me excited for the future, because I really don't know where I could end up in a few years.

Otherwise, Patuxent was really cool. It's really unlike the other refuges I've been to (which isn't saying much) because its focus is on research. One of the coolest projects is a whooping crane breeding center, which has greatly strengthened the wild population to about 300 individuals from about 170 in 2000. We got to get a glimpse of an adult whooping crane, as well as a juvenile. Considering the improbability of seeing one in the wild, that was pretty cool.

Well, it's back to the grind for a few more days. I leave work in a couple weeks and just haven't quite realized how tremendous of an end this is. Oh well, I won't look at it that way. Until next time...

Fan mail...

So, I'm not actually going to read fan mail, because that would be creepy. However, I recently found out that the daughter of one of my 4th grade teachers (who has since retired and moved away) found my sister on facebook and messaged her saying that they saw me on TV. Now if that's not weird, I don't know what is.

I lost...

So it is now known to the world that I lost my second match of jeopardy. I'm too tired from today to provide the detail play-by-play that I did of my first episode, but I will mention a few details:

- They cut off part of my "Getting to Know You" segment. What everyone saw: Alex asking me about my Spanish vocabulary, and I told him that I had to learn various election-related phrases. He then said, "like 'Voto'" and I say "Exactly!"
What really happened: He was just joking and made up the phrase "Voto," so he was surprised that it actually meant "vote." Actually, it means "I vote," but I went with it anyway. He said something like "So, it really does mean vote?" because he was apparently astonished that he actually said something that made since. I kept saying that it did, and then we stared at each other awkwardly with the audience laughing in the background.

- I still only got one question wrong (and it was only worth $400). However, I got beaten really bad on the buzzer. Those of you who have competed in trivia competitions with me in the past know that I am really bad at buzzing in.

- Good thing I'm not going to be a doctor: I should have known where parietal bones are. I also got the measles question wrong because I misread the clue, which leads to my next point:

- In case you didn't notice, I don't pay attention when Alex reads the clue. I read the clue first because I usually finish doing so way before he finishes reading it aloud so I have enough time to think about it.

- I am a crazy better. Some people would not have bet that much in case they got the question wrong. However, I figured that 1) I'm crazy 2) I know a lot about Napoleon and 3) I already did what I came here to do (win), might as well do something risky.

I've been JEOPARDIZED!!

So it's official - I won $23,000 dollars on Jeopardy. For the next few weeks, I plan to turn my blog into a collections of stories and anecdotes related to this experience. For now, here's a general timeline of events from last Friday:
Friday, July 3
12:57 pm - I get the first congratulatory call from a friend in Minneapolis. I am caught completely off guard.

5:04 pm - The second congratulatory phone call, from a former kendo teammate in Chicago. I am apparently amazing.

6:20 pm - Dinner at the Hernandez household. My sister in law makes a plate of Rice CHRISpies, which are terribly ironic. I consume sugar, which is a mistake.

6:58 pm - I run downstairs to the living room to find that the show is not yet on. I commence jumping around the room and wonder why no one else is with me. I realize we only have enough room for 5 people and rush to pull by swivel chair into the room.

7:00 pm - The show comes on. Everyone starts laughing when I come on, because I couldn't stop smiling. My brother notes that one of the categories is "pubs and taverns," which he expects me to completely miss.

First few questions - I am nervous as hell. It's pretty darn obvious. Nina is killing everyone. First commercial break ends with me down by $2800. Mom is on the phone with a cousin who is a cop. Apparently his entire station is watching, and they can't believe they're watching me lose.

First commercial break - I tell America how to tell if a turtle is "pregnant", as shown below (thanks to Heather for this throwback).
I actually skip a lot of details, which makes the story even funnier because of how straightforward it seems. My family is laughing hysterically, because they had no I idea I had knew how to do this. Alex says "WHY DID I ASK?!?!?!?!" and makes this face:I am officially a hit.

By the end of the round, I somehow end up in first place, with $5600, to $5000 for Nina and $2500 for Najah. I don't really know how this happens, but I did get two of the $1000 questions. My brother notes that when Najah gets the Daily Double, I make a really angry face at her. I offer no comment.

Mom notes that we went to Quebec and EPCOT, two of my correct answers. This is a trend; many answers that I got right are associated with places I've been to.

It's time for DOUBLE JEOPARDY!!! - Najah picks "Do the right THING." I get the first clue right, and then go for BIG CITY MAYORS. I then proceed to get every single mayor in that category, include the hometown mayors of both of my opponents. Najah gets the next clue, but I proceed to finish the following category, get another question in another category, and thus TRIPLE my score in about 3 minutes' time. Note: I have been to every single city I named.

My family is stunned.

Najah gets a daily double again. My family breaks out in laughter when I apparently stare her down again.

I finally get a Daily Double. My brother, ever a mathematician, states that had I gotten it wrong, I could have risked my lead. Did I know that at the time? Absolutely not. I'm just lucky I got it right.

When all is said and done, I get only one question wrong (Persistence of Memory), answer two entire categories, and get $24,400.

7:22 pm - First text message of congratulations from a coworker at the swamp

7:28 pm - Final Jeopardy - I get it wrong, but it doesn't matters, because I win with $23,000. I then stand around awkwardly because no one wants to shake my hand and then go talk to Alex, who complains about how hungry he is.7:30 pm - Every single phone is the house is making noise. My sister is getting all these text messages from her excited friends. My aunt was having supper at a restaurant and apparently caused a scene while watching me. I get a random text message from a complete stranger and talk with several friends and relatives.

7:38 pm - Dessert and remarks from my brother about how funny I looked

7:54 pm - I get a call from friends in Boston. I pick up the phone and hear screaming. I get yelled at for getting Persistence of Memory wrong.

I look at facebook. I have 75 notifications and friend requests up the Yazoo. I get emails and facebook messages from people I have not spoken to in 5 years.

8:55 pm - I go to fireworks. Someone yells at me while I'm driving there; we find this out later.

10:20ish pm - I am spotted by my sister's friend. "It's Chris Hernandez, he's famous!"

That's all for now, more to come later.

Blargh...

So I've fallen way behind on posts. This is the end of my FIFTH week at the swamp, just less than halfway. In half an hour, I will be participating in a frog call survey.

It's so weird being back for a third summer, especially since I am continuing a rather in-depth study (the habitat management follow-up) that I started last year. A lot of it seems very repetitive, but at the same time, I think that I am getting a lot of input from refuge staff, which I am very much taking into consideration. I will be pulling some data from previous studies that also insluded forest composition data.

Well, I've gotta head into the swamp soon. Pictures to come,

Chris

Updates

So, I have a lot of posts and essays that I have completed but have not published yet. Those will be out within the next few weeks. I will be returning to the Swamp next Monday for what i hope will be another exciting summer.

In other news, I will be on Jeopardy on July 3rd. That's right, JEOPARDY!. This is something I have wanted to do since first watching the show when I was a little kid, and I finally got the chance to be on it. Of course, I'm not going to tell anyone how I did, so tune in to see for yourself.

Earth Day '09

Being a student of the sciences, I feel compelled to comment on today's auspicious date: Earth Day, of course. I'm going to start off by saying something that I hope will be very clear. The media always talks about climate change, and everyone else argues about whether or not it is caused by humans. The sad thing about this debate is that with all this arguing, nothing is ever going to get done. If the earth starts to "cool" for 2 or 3 years, it will be all over, and the media (and likewise, the majority of the American populace) will stop caring about recycling and watch Youtube videos of 47 year old Scottish women singing.

Regardless of who you think is causing climate change, one thing is true: We are killing the planet.

Think about all the ways humans have negatively impacted the environment: from shoddy agricultural practices that overfished the seas and sucked the nutrients out of millions of acres of land to a dependence on disgustingly dirty fossil fuels that have contaminated the skies.

Sure, you may not believe that the greenhouse effect is all it's cracked up to be. But what do you think happens to all the chemicals release by the millions of cars and thousands of factories on this planet?

Sure, you may not think vegetarianism is the right thing for you. But considering that one pound of beef requires 4 gallons of petroleum to consume, is eating meat a sustainable lifestyle?

Look around you, world. We're destroying natural forests to build homes and then wondering why there are coyotes and deer on our lawns. We're clearing thousands of acres of the jungle to make farms for plants for biofuels and wondering why the rainforest is disappearing. We tell our kids to eat 5 servings of fruit and vegetables and three servings of meat a day, forcefeed it to them, throw the rest we know they won't eat in the garbage, and then throw the trash in a landfill where it will never decompose because landfills are anaerobic environments (the result of tons of garbage piled on more garbage).

What can we do to fix it, you ask. EVERYTHING. You can't just build a few windmills here and recycle a bit in one city there and actually expect anything to be accomplished. In order to really put the world back on track, there needs to be a unified approach that attacks environmental problems of all sorts from all directions: energy use, food consumption, sustainable building practices, clean water and efficient sanitation, correct demolition and disposal practices. All of this and more has to be done and has to be done well. Otherwise, no real change will have occurred.

That's all for now, look out for more posts in the future.

PS: In writing this post, I realized that I could not express all my ideas into something you could read in one setting, so look out for my next post on environmentalism.

Scenery

Pictures of beautiful scenery, both edited and unedited. Not just me gloating, but also to give an idea of what El Salvador looks like.

La Libertad, a seaport town
The mist hovering above the city of Santa Tecla.

Awesome pictures from a trip to the Pacific coast.

A building in San Salvador

Lake Ilopango, west of San Salvador; we went to a coffee cooperative and had lunch prepared by the mother of one of the cooperative's board members

Election day: a quick but hopefully comprehensive run-through

So here is the long-waited photographic and video account of Election Day 2009, Santa Tecla.

Before I get into a narrative, here's a breakdown of the terms I will use:

Voting table: actually consists of a table staffed by 4 people, the ballot box, and a cardboard booth, the anaquel; there is also a Padron de Exhibicion nearby, which has the names of everyone who votes at that table

DUI card: the national ID card. everyone who votes needs one, and the entire adult population is eligible for one automatically

People at the table: There are four of them: the president, secretary, Primer Vocal, and Segundo Vocal. There are two from each party, and they can't wear party colors.

The President: checks people in and stamps their name on a list, inspects DUIS, and checks fingers for ink (see below); Sits second from the left

Secretary: signs and stamps the ballots; rips off the perforated corner of the ballot and gives voters a crayon - the person then votes

Primer Vocal: rightmost person; gets the crayon back; asks the voter to sign his/her name on yet another list of voters (or stamp if they can't write)

Segundo Vocal: degreases the thumb of the voter so there is no dirt on it, gives them a piece of toilet paper to wipe it off, and then makes the person dip their thumb in indelible ink

Vigilantes, Supervisor, and the Jefes de Centro: there are a certain amount of each of them from each party. I listed them in order of authority. Vigilantes are concerned with assisting voters, but they also watch out for corruption or suspicious activity, especially by members of the opposite party. Supervisors and the Jefe also do the same. They are decked out in obnoxiously obvious party gear.

Legal Representatives and Human Rights Ombusdmen: they are more directly involved in preventing corruption. and making sure people can vote

JEM: Junta Electoral Municipal, the local elections authority.

JED: the departmental elections authority

Now that that's done, here's a little summary of what I did. I won't put specifics as to violations and things like that because of legal reasons, but ask me personally if you want to no more about something. This is somewhat copied from my journal that day, hence the style of writing.

05:20 We arrive at the city of Santa Tecla. Four of us from CIS go into this one big school (whose name I am currently forgetting). The other two are in a second school. I randomly pick a table to observe very closely throughout the day, though I will also walk around.

06:30ish: My table is very efficient and very friendly. I introduce myself and explain that I don't speak Spanish well. This sometimes becomes an issue throughout the day, but I understand enough to do my job well.

10:00ish: Avila, one of the candidates, votes at the table behind me. The press goes crazy. He is surrounded by a huge posse of people.

That's the side of his bald head in the picture, which is all I ever saw of him.

10:30 I eat breakfast.

11:30 We're back in the voting center. This is the busiest time of day for voting, as the following picture shows. The building on the right is one voting center. Behind the trees on the left is another. Down the street and around the corner is the third. I am standing on a pedestrian bridge, the right end of which is a street that is the fourth voting area. The tents are various vendors selling all sorts of greasy foods and cold beverages. It's like a carnival without the rides.

During the afternoon, I went to the other two voting areas. The one in the street was very compact. Basically, it was a row of tents all behind this one:

People were basically walking on the sidewalk until they found their voting station and then walked in. The legal representatives' tent is the one with the green roof off to the right. This is part of the voting area in another school. You can see a voting booth on the left and a side vew of the tables.

Below, I narrate the close of voting. The last hour was relatively uneventful and calm, so I was getting bored at this point.

I took more notes of the ballot counting that I did of any other point in the process, so I'm going to elaborate on almost none of that here. However, I will say that my voting table remained in very good spirits, even as the votes were being counted. In fact, they got yelled at by a supervisor for being too loud. Of course, everything got loud in due time. As each table finished, the vigilantes from each party that one the table would give a little cheer. Eventually, as the other 76 tables finished counting, the cheering collected to one big mass of yelling people as they waited in line with the results and ballots to be check in by the JEM.

The last thing that happened was the passing of the ballots from the stairwell at the end of the building to the truck outside. The time: just past 19:30.

Disclaimer

For those of you wondering why some of the dates, times, and orders of my posts don't make sense, I have absolutely no idea why that is happening.

How I edit

Some people have been wondering how and why I edit pictures. There are a couple reasons for this. For one thing, I am a bad photographer. I've never taken a photography class, and no one has ever taught me anything. I only started when, two summers ago, I was asked to make a photographic guidebook to wildflowers. Thus, I got pretty good at taking pictures of things that don't move, and the kind of pictures I took were mostly informative and not really artistic.

This is a picture I took of a group of students, probably high school, in front of a wall painted with the name of the FMLN, the main left-wing party. It's a pretty decent picture, but it was hard to take because it was taken from a moving vehicle (and my camera isn't very good when it comes to photographing moving things). As a result, it comes out a bit blurry.

When editing or enhancing pictures, I think about what it is I want to enhance. One of the things I really loved about El Salvador is that, while some people who saw me would give the "Oh, it those Americans" look or simply ignore us, there were random bouts of extreme friendliness, and this was one of them. The sign in the background accents the presence of the kids, but it's not really the subject of the picture. This is how I edited it:
In contrast, here's a different presentation for the same picture. This one has a really dark and ominous tone to it. You can't see the faces really well, which makes it look even more creepy and emphasizes the presence of the figures, but not necessarily their identities.

To end this on a happy tone, here is cheerful picture of a flower that I can't fit anywhere else.

As someone who started out documenting and photographing flowers, I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get much of a chance to see the nature and that we went there during the dry season. All the more reason to come back in the future.

Dancing

The Whirlwind of El Salvador - that's the series that this picture is from. It reminds me of how El Salvador has so much going on:

• the class struggle between rich and poor
  
• an ideological battle between political extremes
  
• the melange of natural beauty, tragic legacy, sheer poverty, and forthright perseverance

The day after these pictures were taken, a woman was sitting near this dance floor descrived the dance as "eclectic", with everyone dance to the same music, but in all different styles. Being on the floor myself, I saw it all: people who had been dancing salsa for decades and others who had never danced in their lives. Salvadoran, American, Mexican, Australian, French. Backgrounds in flamenco, ballet, country line, all together in a dignified mess.

The same with El Salvador. Time moves at the same pace for everyone. The same things happen to everyone in a small country like this: earthquakes, wars, election, globalization. Yet there are so many different human forces here: the evangelicals with their ever present symbols of the star of David and menorah; the predatory capitalists in their gated mansions and pristin shopping malls; the farmers int he hill tending their plots by hand; the Base Christian Community and their message of love in the face of despair.

What can we learn from El Salvador? Frankly, I don't know. Or at least, I can't summarize all that without taking too long. Perhaps, in the course of these writings, both you and I will learn.

No worries...

I am working on my first official article of the El Salvador series and editing pictures for the first few essays. I should have it out by Sunday night EDT.

Back in Cleveland

I arrived back in Cleveland yesterday afternoon after a very long day. I almost thought we wouldn't make it out of El Salvador because a truck broke down, completely blocking the highway, on the way to the airport.

I'd like to let everyone know that although I'm back in the US, my work is not nearly complete. I took scores of pictures and several videos of my experience, and I hope to put many of them on this website in the next few weeks. I am preparing a few short reactions, reflections, and maybe even a little poetry to go along with the visual media.

Over the course of 10 days, I met with dozens of Salvadorans from all walks of life. Each one of them made it very clear that it was my duty as an observer not just to observe elections, but to go back to America and tell the world what I saw - not just in terms of elections, but in terms of the story of humanity that is reflected in the hearts and minds of the millions of people in this small Central American country. So here begins a new chapter in my El Salvador experience...

Election Day!!!

Hey everyone,
So, I have been awake since 3:45 this morning (It is now 11 at night). I´ll definitely be elaborating on my day in a later post, but right now I would just like to say that I cannot truly express all the feeling I am undergoing right now. As you may have heard, Mauricio Funes won the presidency. This is a momentous ocassion for many Salvadorans, as is communicated by the drone of car horns I can hear from the computer room in the hotel. I have been amazed at the story of the Salvadoran people for this entire trip, and watching people vote in this election is truly an honor. I really can´t express just how amazing it has been to see democracy here and now to watch the people of El Salvador enter a new period in their history.

Less than 12 hours to go...

This is a quick update before I go to bed (we leave for the target city at 4 in the morning.) Today, we met with members of the JEM, the local elections board, to talk about their expectations of us and watch them deliver the ballots to the polling places. As before, I can't elaborate on every detail due to privacy, security, and time constraints, but I would be happy to chat with anyone afterwards. Since the JEM is made up of representatives from both of the parties contesting the election, it was very interesting to see members of the two parties interact, often in a heated discussion, about various issues regarding the election.

Well, I'm going to bed soon, so wish me luck and watch for El Salvador in the news.

¿Que tal?

Much of my day was spent in the municipality where I will be observing. For safety and privacy reasons, I will not reveal what city that is until after the election. However, it a city with a recent history of relatively calm and safe elections. One of the unique things about El Salvador is that there is a national office of the Human Rights Ombudsman, who is assisted by various regional human rights ombudspeople (PDDH in Spanish). These people generally assist people who feel that there rights are being violated, whether they are civil rights, voting-related, or even social rights such as owning land. The PDDH in this municipality was really welcoming and informative, and he explained that there will be dozens of observers from his office in the city alongside the six of us.

This weekend will be chaos. Tomorrow will consist mostly of visiting local elections officials. Sunday, however, will be a mess. Since voting begins at 7am, we will have to be at the voting center hours before to observe if there are any irregularities during the setup process. Voting ends at 5, but similarly, we can´t leave until all the ballots are counted and the results sent to the national elections central for the TSE (Supreme Election Tribunal).

Well, I´m off to bed now. I hope everyone from school in enjoying the last days of break.

PS There is absolutely no reason for the title of this post except that I figured out this keyboard has the ability to do the punctuation marks common in Spanish but not in English.

Only a few more days to go...

I´m back at the hotel after nearly an entire day of observer training. I´m so excited to get to observe the democratic process here, but I´m also rather intimidated by the situation. The process of running elections here is rather complicated. Each voting table is staffed by four people, two from each party. Each person has separate jobs designed to document each voter, but the process could quite easily be corrupted (and has been in the past, which is why there are hundreds of observers like me here). There are also various elections officials who will be observing each table, as well as ¨vigilantes¨ from each party who also help monitor elections. With all the party officials around, it could be quite hectic but rather fun as well.

Yesterday, several of us met with representatives of two cooperatives, a coffee producer and an artists´ workshop, as well as analysts from an economics watchdog group. It was absolutely fascinating the hear the stories behind the people who produce both products and to learn about the difficulties of operating a small business in a country with an economic situation that hasn´t always been friendly to them.

As a bit of a foodie, I have to say that I am enjoying the food so far. Rice and beans are pretty much everywhere, but the local fruit and vegetables are also delicious. There are a lot of foods here that I haven´t had in a long time or don´t eat too often (like papaya, avocado, and fried plantains), so I´ve been pretty excited about that.

The next few days I will be spending in the city I will be observing in, so I may or may not be updating this often. As a final note, I´d like to let everyone know that I will be publishing detailed essays and photos on this website after my trip.

Until next time,
Chris

Live from San Salvador, it's Tuesday night!

Hello everyone,
It's been so, so, so, so busy around here. I don't have enought time to tellyou all about everything I've done so far, but it's all been so amazing. From the food to the weather to meeting other observers to seeing the places that made history, I have really enjoyed a lot. Please keep an eye out for El Salvador in the news come election day (Sunday). This might be a really close election and could have major worldwide consequences. Since I'm too tired to write coherently, here's a random list of things I have done

• swum in the Pacific Ocean
• prayed at the gravesite of four American women killed during the civil war here
• eaten my share of rice and beans
• seen more campaign posters than you can shake a stick at
• partially renewed my Spanish abilities
• stood on the steps of the National Cathedral and watched the hectic Sunday afternoon in balmy San Salvador

That's all for now. I have no idea if I'll actually update this, so check back soon.

Chris

And we're off...

I am writing this is my last moments of last-minute packing and housekeeping things. Our flight leaves for San Salvador this afternoon, with a stopover in Houston.

Here's a brief overview of recent Salvadoran history:
The Salvadoran civil war and the violence associated started in the late 1970s when the incumbent president was deposed by a junta. The junta then formed a government that suffered from both intra-party friction and large external opposition from the rest of the country. Soon, a series of attacks began, both carried out by armed rebels in opposition to the government and by the government to quash opposition. The most notable victims of the violence included Archbishop Oscar Romero, an outspoken opponent of human rights abuses, and a group of four American missionaries including Jean Donovan (a Case graduate) and Dorothy Kazel (a native of Cleveland). The civil war continued, with much bloodshed and violence, until 1992. Since then, the economy has struggled to imrpove because the of tremendous impact that war had on the infrastructure and social fabric of the country.
The two main parties in El Salvador are ARENA, which has held the presidency since 1989, and the FMLN, which was formerly a revolutionary organization during the civil war.

That's all for now, as I've got to finish doublechecking everything before I go.

El Salvador

So, as I mentioned previously, I will be leaving for El salvador this Saturday as part of a delegation that will be monitoring elections there. I will be one of 15 people from the Cleveland community, including 9 Case students, going through Cleveland's own Interreligious Task Force (IRTF) on Central America and the Centro Intercambio y Solidaridad (CIS). We will also be visiting various government institutions, learning about the tumultuous history of that country, and meeting with various people involved in the electoral process. I am extremely excited for this unique opportunity.

At this webpage, you will find collections of various photos and essays of my reaction to the political process. If you are new to my blog, you can also check out some of my older posts, my photography, and some of my digital artwork. I hope to get in at least one more post before I leave discussing a brief history of El Salvador.

I would like to thank everyone for their continued interest in my work. I have always had an interest in world politics and in the overarching connections between diverse societies. The country of El Salvador has seen so much happen in its tumultuous history, and I see this as more than just a trip abroad to see another country. For me, this will be a lesson in humanity, its weaknesses, and its strengths.

Batch of photos

So, I've been getting back into photo editing and computer art. I took a bunch of pictures over witner break, and I've finally had the time to edit and touch some of them up. Here's a lookat some of my favorites. Somehow, I can't get my pictures too show up on here any bigger without clicking on them, which makes them gigantic.

This one was edited for contrast, and some other things. One of these days, I'm thinking of having a "before and after" post to show the types of things I change.
I loved the fusion of architectural influences in St. Augustine. The two main forts were both originally built by the Spanish but later occupied by the British and Americans. All the old building were made of coquina, which is fossilized, crushed shells.
That's all for now.

Getting real

So, I now have an actual reason to update my blog. From March 7 to 17, I will be participating in a delegation to El Salvador to observe their upcoming presidential election. I will have more details on this later, but I will basically be using my blog to describe my experiences there and my reactions to the electoral process.

In other news, I participated in my second ever kendo tournament yesterday. I lost both my individual and team match, but I definitely feel more confident about my abilities. I got some pretty good strikes in my first match, though I watched both of my opponents later in the tournament and concluded that they were both far above my level (my opponent in the team competition won the sandan division). Unlike in my first tournament, I have a pretty good idea of where I need to improve (compared to just knowing I need to do better), so I look forward to competing again soon.