IN SEARCH OF THE MOST UNFORGETTABLE TREE WE EVER MET

Help me take a pilgrimage to India

2011-11-30T19:33:00.004-04:00

In the Zen Peacemakers, we invite friends and family to sponsor a bead on a "mala," to support us in our work and join us on our trips. I’d like to ask you to help me participate in the Pilgrimage to explore the Buddha’s Footsteps and social issues in India in January. I won’t be needed on staff, but I would love to participate and blog about the social issues in India. In order to promote the trip, I took on a study of the Buddha’s geographic path and guided our web community through a virtual tour of India. Because we achieved our attendance goals, our tour guide partner will wave my tuition fee, but I still need to pay for the plane ticket, which costs more than I have in my bank account. Would you help contribute to this goal by clicking above.

Online Customer Service and Corporate Social Responsibility

2011-03-10T14:20:00.003-04:00

What role does a strong customer orientation play in Corporate Social Responsibility? When I saw Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh at the Wisdom 2.0 conference in Silicon Valley last year, I appreciated his passionate concern for the customer, but I wasn't convinced that a customer-orientation alone accounts for a solid CSR orientation, as it almost seemed like he was suggesting. Nonetheless, our customers are people of course, and making them happy does make the world a better place. By looking at the effects of technology on customer service, we can start to imagine what it would take to address the needs of all stakeholders, including those who are not currently customers.

Technology enables some people:

The low cost of producing and distributing digital messages and the relative anonymity that comes with them will invite some passives to become more active complainers, particularly those who have high "customer technology readiness." We see this with the viral spreading of the United Breaks Guitars video and the Yours is a Very Bad Hotel Powerpoint presentation. Cyberbullying, online dating and blog comments all elicit behavior that is different from their face-to-face equivalents. However, as I discuss in an article I wrote about online community, there is much debate as to whether digital content about social issues enables behavior that wouldn't have otherwise taken place (such as protests in Burma, or more recently in Egypt) or whether it becomes just another form of passive consumption and distraction.

Technology use changes:

While banner ads had grown to a $9 billion per year business in 2004, by that time click-through rates had already dropped in effectiveness from 10% to .025% over the years (Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm, Ziethaml, Bitner and Gremler, 498). There were similar changes in the decreased effectiveness of telemarketing. New media makes it easier to reach more people at a lower cost, but the ability to instigate action may become diluted with time. The virality of online complaints and their detriment to sales will most likely fluctuate as both technology and our use of it change and adapt.

Implications for digital service recovery:

From the side of the firm, we need to create effective online venues that invite and respond to feedback from customers who are digitally oriented (just like we provide telephone venues for those who are phone-oriented). By providing a pressure valve that gives them voice, we channel them to share their complaints with us instead of complaining about them to others. We see a similar phenomenon is society at large. As Samuel Huntington points out in Political Order in Changing Societies, it is necessary for a democratic society to provide a legitimate arena within which to redress grievances in order to avoid violence, rebellion and revolution.

Conclusion

It is important for a company to be responsive to our customers just as it is for a democratic government. But what would it mean to apply the same type of responsiveness to other stakeholders who are not currently customers?

Studying: Online, Body & Zen

2011-01-19T01:53:00.004-04:00

E-learning
I started my first online course today in Marketing. It is with mixed feelings that I dive into the world of e-learning. On the one hand, I am excited by new possibilities created with technology. Intriguing both the educator in me and the computer geek in me is curious about what features they use to fascinate the learning experience. At the same time, I feel a bit of nostalgia. I miss the classroom experience- meeting other students and the teacher. Also, even though I enjoy spending my entire workday in front of a computer, I also love highlighting books. That being said, it doesn't make sense for me to print out many pages of course readings. We'll see how this goes. So far, there are several power point presentation "lectures." That certainly feels a bit more distant than a face-to-face lecture, which could also very well include a power point.

Anatomy
I'm also studying for my yoga finals. Guiding her through some asanas, I explained some basic anatomical concepts to my girlfriend, identifying various bones and muscles in her body. This is perhaps the other end of the spectrum from online learning. I reviewed various muscles, including their location and actions. It is astounding how many muscles there are and how they are intimately woven into each other. We looked at various reasons why it is difficult to maintain an erect back in seated poses like dandasana. In my case, it is from tight hamstrings, which run along the back of the leg and wrap up around the hip bone I think that maintaining an erect (or actually slightly curved) back can also result from weak back muscles or some tight muscles in the back itself, perhaps the erector spinae or latissimus dorsi.

Zen
I also learned today that my Zen Teacher Eve became was promoted from sensei (teacher) to roshi (a teacher of teachers). I don't see this as necessarily having a major impact as she was already teaching independently and doing a phenomenal job. Next week, we start the winter intensive. I've been maintaining 10 minutes per day of sitting, while joining the zendo schedule once or twice a week. Its been hard to attend while balancing yoga class. I often find myself rushing from Zen to Yoga and back. That's pretty funny.

Why I signed up for a business school class

2011-01-10T23:12:00.004-04:00

The board of the Zen Peacemakers recently decided to sell our property in Montague, MA. I have been living, working and training here for the better part of the last two years. Amid this period of change, various energies surge and flux as various overlapping elements of our community forge new paths. The local meditation community, which has been known as the Montague Farm Zendo, is looking into options for a new roof. Bernie, the founder, is focusing his energy on spreading the three tenets and Socially Engaged Buddhism domestically and in Europe. I am helping him with that as his assistant. I am a lame duck tenant.

When I learned about the farm's fate as well as layoffs, I felt disillusioned. The developing Montague Farm Zen House and the Symposium on this campus were dreams come true. Everything was coming together. And after the Symposium in August, the thing I feared most was suddenly happening. It was hard to avoid getting wrapped up in worrying about the significance of the daily twists and turns of a relatively high period of uncertainty in an uncertain universe.

Returning to the Auschwitz Bearing Witness Retreat in November, I felt comforted by the feeling like I was part of something much bigger than the campus I live on. I reflected on the reason I came to Montague in the first place: to be part of a Zen House, a dharma center where service to the community is viewed as a spiritual practice on par with meditation. I asked myself what I still lack to be part of such a center?

I decided to sign up for a business school class so that I could further develop practical tools to implement my beloved vision. I switched from listening to podcasts on social media marketing to listening to audiobooks on business development.

I was inspired and emboldened by my contribution to Auschwitz and Symposium registrations. And yet, it wasn't enough. As we discussed at the Symposium, Socially Engaged Buddhism needs to find a business model that is right for us in this culture in order for it to survive. My dream is a sort of a modern Buddhist Catholic Worker House. I did my internship at Haley House, a former Catholic Worker House in Boston. A modern version would mix high tech (Internet) and high touch (face-to-face) and would also be hybrid charity/social business.

While the recent past has felt worrisome, there has also been excitement of possibility amidst change. To be part of something new means standing out on a limb. Uncertainty is good training.

What do you think is necessary to make this dream viable?

Cadavers make me think of peace, zombies and cell phones.

2011-01-07T00:43:00.003-04:00

I went to the cadaver lab to study yoga anatomy. There is something extremely comforting about seeing the dead body of a Vietnam vet who died of old age. Vietnam is usually something that makes me angry. Makes me want to fight war. And not that we shouldn't, but we all die anyway. I imagined the escape routes I would take in case the body turned out to be a zombie. I wasn't sure whether it would be better to throw a chair at the zombie or just run straight for the door.

My girlfriend wants me to stop holding my cell phone by my face. Valley Advocate says they cause cancer. Cell phones could be the cigarettes of the future. The industry will certainly fight for them. Maybe its killing me or maybe these are anti-technology rumors spread by organic farmers. Everybody has preferences and everybody thinks others would be better off if others shared their preferences (including me). Sometimes, we say others will die if they don't follow our preferences. Sometimes they will. Eventually everyone will.

"The Social Network" just made me admire Mark Zuckerberg

2011-01-05T22:06:00.004-04:00

Advertising = Web Education = fun?
I ignored my to-do list today and enjoyed the luxury of focusing my whole work day on designing a web page and e-mail for Bernie's 2012 India tour. I love looking at the final version and tweaking and looking and tweaking. My strategy is to develop content that is tied to registration for a specific event, but also inherently interesting (both to me and readers). Thus, I plan to launch a virtual pilgrimage to India. This is where the old social studies educator in me comes forward.

I feel a tension between perfectionism and the drive to get more things done quicker. For example, I would like to start working on the budget management. I feel like this is an important skill that will help me be able to make the type of contribution I want to make in the future. After stepping away from my comic book for several months, my newly web-design-trained eye realized that I could say more in my comic with less words.

Is Facebook evil?
Even though Social Network portrayed him as a socially inept jerk, I left the movie with a growing admiration for Mark Zuckerberg. I felt defensive about the movie's anti-geek agenda and wasn't surprised to learn that writer Aaron Sorkin is not on Facebook. That is fine, except for that about half of Americans are on Facebook, so it is no geeky minority. I've felt a tension lately, on the one hand inspired by Silicon Valley capitalism and on the other hand, skeptical.

I think designing web content is fun and it has allowed me to reach thousands of people cheaply with messages that I think make the world a better place. I visited Silicon Valley for the Wisdom 2.0 conference last year and I've been listening to podcasts from the Valley as part of my business self-education (ever since my organization faced layoffs and pending loss of our property, my home, because we couldn't pay the bills, I've been much more attentive to money matter.) I admire the fact that these are folks doing what they love, influencing millions and being successful. I was pleased to see Zuckerberg join Bill Gates in pledging to donate half of his wealth to charity.

But, as I experienced at the Wisdom 2.0 conference last year, I am troubled by what seems to be a superficial embrace of social enterprise. I'm not convinced they are doing a thoroughgoing analysis of the effects of the cycle of production and consumption on every level. I just can't quite buy into the "invisible hand" dream that if I just do what's most profitable for me, it'll actually be more profitable for everyone.

Blogging > Journaling

2011-01-04T22:32:00.003-04:00

Just my personal blog
I'm trying something new today. Instead of writing in my journal, I'm going to blog. I'm going to dust my old blog off the InterWeb and dive in. After all, this is "just my personal blog," not my professional, important Socially Engaged Buddhist blog....which I've been neglecting lately. Blogging is funny for me. I love doing it and I also hate it. I feel such a strong drive to share and yet I get so hung up on perfectionism. So I'll just blog instead of journal tonight. Maybe I'll do it tomorrow as well.

Overcoming the fear of offending
I assisted in Yoga class today. As a member of the Teacher Training, I have to do 10 classes assisting. I really don't like assisting. I feel embarrassed to touch people who I do not know. I feel less embarrassed with my fellow teacher trainees, but even one of them told me "Just get in there! You know what you are doing. Don't be afraid." At least I am feeling less and less afraid every time I do it. I also felt some anxiety because I bluntly told a business associate why I don't think they are doing what they need to do in order to move their web traffic to the next level. I thought it had to be said, but it was still difficult.

Support my Participation in Auschwitz Retreat!

2010-10-04T18:52:00.022-04:00

I have raised $1250 to cover my plane ticket, expenses in Krakow and part of my registration fee. Please contribute towards the remainder of the fee!

Why do I want to go to Auschwitz?

Two years ago, I came to Montague, MA to train at the headquarters of a group called the Zen Peacemakers. After my training, Bernie Glassman hired me on as staff. To put it simply: I love this place and the people here. I cherish the practices and teachings and want nothing more than to plunge in more deeply. While many Buddhist centers focus mainly on meditation, founder Zen Master Bernie Glassman has lead the Zen Peacemakers into the streets and social services as a sphere of active practice, bearing witness to all of society and taking actions to heal it. The deepest fuel for this work comes from witnessing humanity's greatest atrocity: Auschwitz.

What happened last time I went?

As I explain in a series of blog posts at Elephant Journal, attending the Bearing Witness Retreat at Auschwitz last June was very powerful for me. It opened my heart and clarified my vision.

What is special about the next trip?

This November, we are initiating an innovative element of bringing together young adults to bear witness together at Auschwitz from Israel (both Jewish and Arab), Palestinians, Poles, Swiss, Italian, Americans and others. Bernie asked me to serve as Young Adult Coordinator for the retreat, but because there is no funding to cover this roll, I am raising money to participate.

Frequent Flier Miles: Do you have frequent flier miles with an airline or partner that flies to Poland? If you would be willing to donate them to help me get to Poland, you would take a significant chunk out of how much I need to raise.

Why should you support me? (Here's 10 reasons)

10. Join me: I will take you on the journey with me by naming a bead after you on a 'mala,' or prayer bracelet, that I will create and bring with me on the retreat. A $300 contribution will be represented by a large bead and a $50 contribution will be represented by a small bead.

9. Spiritual Practice: Donation is a spiritual practice for both giver and receiver. As far back as the time of the Buddha, it was the practice of lay congregations to support monks through donations of food and clothing. There are parallels in most traditions.

8. Receive updates: While it took me several months to edit my journals from the last retreat into blog posts, I will send close friends and sponsors correspondances during the retreat itself. I see this as a relationship. Not just a donation.

7. Support young adults: My experience teaching high school for two years and directing a residential teen summer camp will inform my role as U.S. Young Adult Coordinator in caring for the emotional well-being of young adult participants.

6. Inspire me: Participating in the Auschwitz retreat last June had a profound and beneficial effect on me. It opened up my heart and deepened my presence in working in service.

5. Invest in my future: I value this path deeply: from starting Seminary two years ago to working the past several months as founder Bernie Glassman's Assistant to my current role as Marketing and Communications Coordinator. I am comitted to this work as a vocation and know that the practice of bearing witness at Auschwitz will move me further along that path.

4. Get the word out: As the editor of the Bearing Witness Blog and regular contributor at the Elephant Journal, I will eventually share my experience with a wide audience.

3. Heal society: Registration fees support the charity work of the Zen Peacemakers, including building future retreats and offering free community meals and wellness offerings for low-income families.

2. Innovate fund-raising: I hope to use this experience of online fund-raising as a pilot to create a new scholarship-raising structure for Zen Peacemakers program participants.

1. Build a future of peace: As Zen Peacemakers staff, I hopes to apply lessons learned on the retreat towards building future retreats with a greater number of young adult participants. I believe that bringing together Israeli Jews and Arabs in the practice of Bearing Witness and listening to each other could contribute to a more peaceful future.

Want to learn more?

Watch the video below to learn more about the retreat or read the reasons below to learn why I invite you to support me. Thank you. View Retreat web page to learn more about it.

Participation Budget

$800 = plane ticket to Poland
$1,000 = retreat registration fee (includes all buses, food and accommodations at the Dialogue Center in Oswiecim and operational expenses)
$60 = paypal fee
$100 = hostel in Krakow

$1,960 = TOTAL

Don't want to pay via paypal?

Please call me at (413)367-5269 with any questions.
You may also write a check to Ari Pliskin and mail it the following address. If you do this, please notify me by e-mail as soon as possible.
177 Ripley Rd.
Montague, MA 01351
ari@zenpeacemakers.com

Disclaimer: Unless otherwise requested, funds not used for this retreat will be donated to support the humanitarian work of the Zen Peacemakers.

It's not just about money:
I would like to share a message with you from a $10 donor who means just as much to me as the $100 donors:

"You do not know me, but I just received an email from my uncle Ike that explained your need for your trip. Though I am a Christian and do not share in your religious beliefs, I did make a small donation as I support your efforts and the humanitarian work that you are doing. I hope that you raise enough money to cover your expenses and I will be praying for safe travels for all of you as you make your way to Poland and back."

This process is about getting diverse groups involved and creating peace.

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I realized the power of yoga by mistake...

2010-04-05T23:44:00.001-04:00

When I lived in New York, yoga was part of my fitness routine that I did once a week. With my membership at the New York Sports Club, I also did boxing once a week and lifted weights twice a week- one day for chest and arms, the other for abs and back. After a few weeks of suffering from a cold, I decided to cut out the “rigorous” lifting and boxing to let my body rest and recuperate. Not able to break my gym habit, I kept going several times a week and just did yoga (I later learned that the persistent cold was actually a sinus infection).

After a week of frequent yoga, at one moment, I noticed something was different. A stressful thought came up, heart speeding up, pressure welling up in my chest. And I breathed. The rush of anxiety passed through me. I calmed down. I felt a tinge of distance and perspective- a moment of choice. It reminded me of the feeling of holding an asana, feeling the desire to flee or give up and just holding it and breathing. My mind was trained to have a better automatic response to stress. It felt lovely.

Coimcs as a Tool for Learning Spanish

2009-03-26T00:11:00.002-04:00

As a social studies teacher, my students appreciated the innovative ways that I used comics in the classroom. I have found that comics are even more powerful and appropriate at a tool for teaching foreign language. I developed a method of using comics to teach a foreign language while teaching Spanish at SummerBerg camp in Tiffin, OH, where I also served as director. Working with a cartoonist the previous summer, I developed a course that teaches kids how to make comics. This method will help participants ace standardized foreign language tests, prepare for trips to Spanish-speaking countries and build appreciation for other cultures.

The first reason why comics serve as an effective tool for foreign language acquisition is because of the combination of words and pictures. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, the images in a comic provide the reader with a critical base of information. Once the images provide the reader with a context of setting, atmosphere and character, they must complete the essential task of interpreting the text. While school typically focuses on verbal learning, using a medium that combines verbal and visual information supports verbal learners to develop visual intelligence and vice versa.

The second reason why comic books are an effective tool is because they increase student engagement, which manifest in careful reading and lively conversation. Because many learners find comics more exciting then typical school materials, comics facilitate increased attention and engagement. Unlike watching a movie or listening to a song, readers can pace themselves at the appropriate speed and reread passages until understanding is achieved. Because most text in a comic book is dialogue, the comic book format facilitates reading out loud and developing conversation skills.

The final reason why I have found comics to be an effective tool is because my passion about comics and personal experience with Latin American cartoonists inspires students to because enthusiastic about engaging with another culture. Comics served as a powerful gateway into Latin American culture for me and I enjoy sharing that with students. While traveling through South America, I met cartoonists who wrote and illustrated stories about local politics and history, tales of sci-fi and adventure and also autobiographical accounts of the daily lives of teens. These stories provide unique insight into life in another society.

In conclusion, there are several reasons that I have found Spanish-language comics to be a powerful tool for supporting student learning. The combination of words and pictures provides an appropriate scaffold for language learners. The format of comics facilitates engagement in a variety of forms. Comics also provide a rich and fascinating window into other cultures. As an added bonus, students also discover how kids like them around the world are using self-publishing in print and on the internet as a low-cost means of personal expression.

Summary of Explorations of Comics in South America

2009-03-23T09:50:00.003-04:00

While traveling through South America in 2006-2008, getting to know local cartoonists and their work was one my richest experiences. It all started at a book fair in Mendoza, Argentina, where I met Cristian Mallea, visiting from Buenos Aires. I sent him an e-mail begging for an unpaid internship and he invited me to a comics convention in Montevideo, Uruguay. At the convention, Montevideo Comics, Latino cartoonists maintained a tight-knit community amid of sea of kids enthralled by Japanese comics.

Back in Buenos Aires, I visited a class taught by Cristian and his colleagues to children and teens. I also met the other cartoonists in the publishing collective to which Cristian belongs. Following in their teachers' footsteps, the students create their own comics and publish them with photocopiers and on the web. One of the students illustrated a script that I wrote about the Holocaust (page: 1, 2, 3).

After leaving Buenos Aires, I visited various cartoonists along my route, contacting friends of Cristian. I met an autobiographical cartoonist in San Luis, Argentina. In Chile, a cartoonist explained the status of publishing there and I attended a museum exhibit. In Bolivia, I attended Vinetas con Altura. In contrast to Montevideo Comics, this convention focused entirely on artists from Latin America.

Inspired by the Bolivian gathering, cartoonists in Buenos Aires organized Vinetas Sueltas, presenting independent comics from Latin America and also inviting four European artists. Through these travels, I met a variety of talented cartoonists, all of whom present their works on the web. One of the most exciting books I found was the first Chilean graphic novel, which I translated and reviewed.

Back in the States, I seek to develop the power of comics as a gateway of intercultural exchange. I guided kids in Spanish class through translating some Bolivian political cartoons. I translated Destino Invisible, also about the Holocaust, by Gervasio, another of Cristian's colleagues. The first few pages of which now appear as a free webcomic. I also created a Spanish-language blog in order to help latino cartoonists navigate the American market.

Bolvian Political Cartoons

2008-07-24T11:48:00.007-04:00

I used the following Bolivian comic strips while teaching a Spanish class in Ohio. The high school students translated them into English with me. After translating the strips and some songs, the girls presented to the rest of the camp. The strips are by Joaquín Cuevas of Bolivia from the collection "Unoffensive".

The first strip caught their attention because it deals with something close to home.

The final comic comments on the Bolivian movie "America Visa" in which a Bolivian tries to get the proper documentation to enter the United States. The girls were surprised that it is so hard to immigrate into our country. We also translated Manu Chau's song Clandestino about a wanderer who left Africa for Europe struggling to seek work without papers.

Page 3

2008-07-14T00:35:00.000-04:00

The Second Page EVER

2008-07-11T01:16:00.003-04:00

OK, here is the second page... might still need some work in terms of clarity, but I'm excited to share it. Constructive feedback welcome. Penciled and inked by the talented Laura Dattoli.

My first page ever!!!!

2008-07-08T02:37:00.003-04:00

OK, kids. This is the moment you've all been waiting for. This is the first illustrated page of my script. It is about my grandfathers struggles in Nazi Poland (no mice though). That is him and his first family. It was illustrated by Laura Datolli, a student the workshop of La Productora in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Stay posted for more.

4th of July

2008-07-06T03:11:00.004-04:00

As I walked from the dorm to the park to watch fireworks, some drunk local started talking to me. He mentioned that his license was taken away.

“If you walk down the street and kill someone, what happens?”

“You go to jail.” I answered.

“But in Afghanistan, what happens?”

“They give you a medal”

“I joined the navy in 1994 and I got a medal. They gave it to me because they just changed the name. This is the longest war in history. They just keep changing the name. Persian gulf, dessert storm…”

“Why’d you join?”

“Well, I wanted to join the marines, to travel over seas.”

“Why?”

“Because I hate this place and wanted to get the heck out of here.”

Historietas

2008-06-30T04:06:00.000-04:00

While Latin American creators of comics, which they call historietas, face the same market forces that we do here (domination by superheroes and manga), they keep producing quality art, often publishing it themselves. My encounter started in August of 2006 at a book fair in Mendoza, Argentina, where I met Cristian Mallea of La Productora, a self-publishing collective based in Buenos Aires. Cristian served as my guide to the rich world of contemporary Latin American comics. I visited La Productora’s workshop regularly and traveled with them to conventions in Uruguay and Bolivia (Viñetas de Altura), where I met cartoonists from all over Latin America.

La Productora are considered to be part of the younger generation compared to the Argentina’s classical creators (Lalia, Alberto Breccia, Oesterheld etc.). Their work appears in the newly revived Fierro magazine. Angel Mosquito, another member of La Productora and Mallea run a comics workshop for local kids and teach at the newly formed Comics Design program at the University of Palermo in Buenos Aires. La Productora’s political anthology Carne Argentina was translated into French and presented in an exhibit on Argentine comics at Angouleme, France.

My incomplete list

Bolivia

Joaquín Cuevas makes a funny political strip as well as narratively solid silent comics.

Frank Arbelo (born in Cuba)

El Marco Toxico

Argentina

Cristian Mallea

Angel Mosquito: appears on the website Historietas Reales, which showcases the work of a number of contemporary creators.

Gervasio

Thomas Desscance: Born in France. Publishes comic magazines Revista Ex Abrupto and, with others, Suda Mery K,!, which that mix European and Latin American cartoonists.

Salvador Sanz

Ernán

Peru

Jorge Perez-Ruibal has a wild and detailed style that mixes humor and vulgarity.

Mexico

Ricardo Peláez

Colombia

Joni B and Nomás are part of the team that produces the free pamphlet Robot, which includes comics and prose humor.

Uruguay

Rodulfo Santullo publishes a number of talented artists.

Guacho

Chile

As a member of Ergocomics, Cristian Reyes is a talented creator and staunch advocate for Latin American comics.

Cristiano makes autobiographical and political comic strips.

Brazil

Fabio Zimbres’s comic that I bought reads like a Brazilian James Kochalka, but he does other stuff to.

Viñetas Sueltas

2008-06-30T02:41:00.006-04:00

Before I left Argentina a few weeks ago, I attended a comics convention in Buenos Aires. Thomas Desscance organized the event. Receiving funding from European consulates, the convention hosted guests from Spain, France and Germany. Convention panels focused on foreign as well as regional comics scenes. Local European cultural centers hosted exhibits of the visiting cartoonists work.

I sat on a panel that Cristian facilitated about comics throughout the Americas at the convention Viñetas Sueltas in Buenos Aires (pics below). I’ve met more cartoonists then I could quickly rattle off, but I’ve included a brief list below with some of my favorites (and links to their websites). As in my previous entry, I am focusing on using my blog to share Latin American comics with English-speaking readers.

The convention floor. In addition to the row of stands on the left, there was another smaller row on the other side of the room. Impressive for the event's first year.

Exhibits were prepared of the work by artists visiting from Europe, both at the convention and at separate art galleries.

The Productora table manned by Angel Mosquito and Gervasio.

Our Pan-American panel with convention coordinator Thomas Desscance on left, next to panel facilitator Cristian Mallea.

Our panel (from left to right): Joni B (Colombia), Me (USA), Rodulfo Santullo (Uruguay), Chiqui Vilca (Peru) and a cartoonist from Brazil.

The audience.

Guests gather for the farewell.

The guests from Galicia, Spain: Brais Rodriguez (left) and Ablerto Vazquez.

Enjoying the exhibit of Peruvian artist Jorge Perez-Ruibal (bottom left).

A traditional locro at Mosquito's house to celebrate the Argentine national holiday

The First Chilean Graphic Novel

2008-06-26T01:01:00.028-04:00

Here is one gem that I found at convention Viñetas Sueltas in Buenos Aires in May. Published in 2007, Road Story is a comics adaptation of a short story by Chilean Alberto Fuguet (whose accomplishments include translations into several languages and one movie). As in David Mazzuchelli’s adaptation of City of Glass, cartoonist Gonzalo Martínez uses the unique language of comics to build upon an already rich work of prose. While collections of serialized political or humorous comics are common in Chile, it is less usual to publish a longer narrative story, in this case 127 pages.

A paragraph from Jack Kerouac’s On the Road including the line “I didn’t know who I was” introduces the story opposite the splash page. While Kerouac transformed travel into a lifelong journey of searching for "It" or finding Enlightenment, this adventure is a road trip with which middle-class Americans may be more familiar (though both trips certainly share the virtue of being doused with more than enough booze). As the opening line states: "Simon feels that all this is a parenthesis. Parentheses are like boomerangs, he believes. They even look like them. They enter your life suddenly and cut off your past from your present with a clean precise blow."

Subtly using characters' experiences to hint at a broader social context, Road Story is a telling window into both the pan-American dream and its dark side. After a failed marriage, protagonist Simon sold his business and left his home in Chile. Retracing a path that Fuguet once traveled himself, Simon drives around the American Southwest and dips into Mexico. As seen below (click to enlarge), using awkward camera angles that don't reveal the character’s face, Simon contemplates his accomplishments. A book he edited for his father's company is tossed aside amid a bottle of Gatorade, a symbol of American consumption familiar in South America. (Before I cheaply inserted English text using Paint, captions had typed letters while world and thought balloons were hand-lettered.)

Similar to Jason Lutes, Martínez subtly creates a sad, yet endearing tone and enriches the story with visual motifs that illustrate the character’s inner struggles. For example, Simon's changes in hair style reflect his fumbling self-image. In the flashback below, thawing frost on a windshield serves as a metaphor for his growing awareness that his wife Natalia was cheating on him.

While Jessica Abel’s La Perdida reveals the misguided entry into Latin America of a half-Mexican girl born in the United States, Road Story (the original title of the Spanish-language comic) shows how oddly comfortable a Chilean is in the United States. Indeed, Simon thinks that the United States colonized his subconscious.

The story works because of poignant prose narration complimented by austere drawings. There are also a number of moments, like the illustrations at right and below of how Simon met and married Natalia years earlier, in which images alone communicate key developments.

As Simon travels, Road Story concisely takes the reader through a process of healing, a very human process with painfully real moments, expressed in ways that are both blunt and naked while also subtle and understated. While wandering, Simon links up with a Bolivian woman, Adriana, who was “made in the USA”. The relationship between Simon and Ariadna develops infused with uttered clichés and made-up identities. A scene in which Simon is rudely awakened by the suicide of a hotel neighbor eerily foreshadows a later scene in which Adriana nearly drinks herself to death.

The art is straight-forward and utilitarian, if at times uninteresting. By the end of the story, the reader may tire of looking at Simon's frowning mug. The entire work stays true to the mood of parenthesis. Ultimately, Simon closes the parenthesis. But does he really acknowledging the cause of his problems? While Road Story critiques consumerist culture, it is the nuanced perspective of someone ingrained in it, enjoying its benefits.

Compared to its neighbor’s, Chile is a country who has historically had closer economic and political relations with the

United States

and it is a place with a substantial middle and upper class. In 1988, when the pro-capitalist CIA-backed dictator Pinochet allowed elections for the first time since his coup in 1973, he narrowly lost, winning 44% of the vote. By contrast, the Argentine dictators only received about 10% of the votes when they tried to continue their rule once elections were held. Chile is a country that deals with the complicated legacy of economic "success". Were it to be translated in English, Road Story would be a fascinating treatment of familiar issues with the twist of the perspective of the developing world.

For the first 10 pages translated into English, check out: http://wordswithoutborders.org/graphic-lit/from-road-story/

Unanswered Questions

2008-06-25T02:19:00.027-04:00

It is time we consider some of the underling questions that the media conveniently hasn’t addressed during this election cycle. We must remember that we don’t live under a regime where top offices are stolen by shrewd political manipulation. We live in a republic, where the presidency goes to the leader who wins the hearts and minds of voters. In an environment of free speech, statesmen compete to sell their intellectual treatises to the public.

I mean, voters actually spend money on politicians’ books! Nonetheless, while we listen to sound bites touting the great differences between candidates and search the candidates' memoirs for evidence, we should also remember the ways in which our options are defined and limited. While Obama became a millionaire with Dreams from my Father, McCain revealed his views with Faith of my Fathers. They both wrote about their fathers!! What about their mothers? And let’s face it. Is there really that much of a difference between dreams and faith?

But all cynicism aside, in every election, we have the moral responsibility of ignoring hangups based on idealistic fantasies (dreams and faith, you might say) and choosing the best of all options. Nonetheless, I think we need to ask: is America ready for a Hawaiian president? I mean, I know our nation has come a long way since the 50^th state was added to the Union in 1959 and I have no doubt in my mind that Americans born outside of the continental US are just as American as everyone else, but there are a lot of ignorant people in this country. And those ignorant people may ask: what next? A Puerto Rican president? Representatives from every country disproportionately influenced by the American government?

Do you really think continental Americans will let an islander win? Hawaii is pretty far into the Pacific, much closer to Asia then the rest of the United States and much of Hawaii claims Asian descent. But most importantly, what will happen when people actually start looking at Hawaii’s state flag and realize that it contains the union jack? We all remember what happened in Georgia. Do Hawaiians secretly maintain allegiance to the British Empire? That empire expanded until the sun didn't set on the land it controlled...and look at it today. Might that be a bad example?

If we elect someone more representative of the world than of the Brady Bunch, we may risk losing our belief of having ended history and having achieved the purest, more perfect socio-political system. We may have to acknowledge that everybody isn’t the same and that the whole world no longer wishes they could be like us.

As we move forward during this historic moment, we must be sure that we press politicians to address the real issues at play and we must not get wrapped up in petty politics and cheap sensational news coverage.

Why Obama?

2008-02-05T03:10:00.001-04:00

The last eight years have been a dark time in the United States. George W. Bush used protecting heterosexual marriage and abortion as rallying cries to prove his “values” while giving tax cuts to the rich at the expense of the poor and middle class. Basically, he used rhetoric of discrimination to gain support from a minority of politically active conservative Christians. After the 9-11 attacks, he extended his divisive policies to a global level. His administration used faulty information to win domestic support for poorly planned invasions with unrealistic proposed goals. Furthermore, it did this undiplomatically against the United Nations, with only a handful of supporters in the world community.

Now, life is economically harder for most Americans while we waste tax dollars on military engagements that do nothing but increase resentment for the United States and further threaten our security. For a moment in 2004, it seemed like Americans might get excited about John Kerry. For many people, it was enough that he was not Bush. Other’s needed something more. Bush’s greatest legacy may be causing so much disappointment that he opens the door to fundamental leap in progress in the history of the nation.

If we want to restore the middle class, we need a Democrat in the White House. Americans already began to realize the failure of Republican leadership when they elected a Democratic congress in 2006. We need to take it further to see the full fruition of that process. Only the Democrats propose a tax plan that respects the poor and the middle class. Only the Democrats propose health care reform that could improve the quality of life of millions. Only the Democrats recognize the contribution that immigrants make to the United States.

The Democrats did better on the economy and on foreign policy before Bush and there is reason to believe that Hillary could usher a return to previous success. The Clintons have been hardened by years of fighting for things that have benefited many Americans. Nonetheless, getting that far in politics comes at a price. Politicians in the system owe their status to powerful moneyed interests. Furthermore, on foreign policy, Hillary does not represent a strong enough break with Bush. She supported the invasion in Iraq. She supported the drive to label the Revolutionary Guard of Iran a terrorist organization and she called Barak Obama naïve for suggesting that he would just talk with our enemies. Yes Hillary has experience, but what is the value of experience in a flawed system? What is the value of experience if she hasn’t fully used it to break from the past?

Obama’s charismatic speech at the 2004 Democratic convention catapulted him to notoriety and made his candidacy possible without the dirtying process of a slow rise through the American political system. The movement arising in his support represents a real opportunity for positive change. One thing that conservatives are right about is that government cannot fix everything and the vitality of society is measured by the voluntary, active participation of citizens in public life. Obama got his start working on the streets of Chicago and his message continues to be one not only of presidential promises, but of a call to action. Reminding us of historical leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy, he is succeeding. Early in the campaign, Democrats raised more than Republicans for the first time and Obama raised more than Hillary. Furthermore, he did so piecing together small contributions that rivaled Hillary’s weathered machine. He is also partially responsible for record turnout at Democratic primaries in which he has received the support of both Democrats and independents. He is inspiring people to get involved who never before believed that they had a voice.

Finally, Obama offers a vision of America’s role in the world that best promotes national and global security. With Bush’s overly simplistic ‘us vs. them’ rhetoric, flagrant unilateralism and two invasions that have destabilized dangerous regions in the world, he fed into the hands of U.S. critics like Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Not only was Bush unwilling to practice diplomacy, he was not capable of seeing the world from another perspective. He led our government and people down a disastrous path of myopia. When Bush proposed creating a Palestinian state, nobody could believe that Bush would do anything but harm another nation for our own perceived benefit. Barack Obama lived in a foreign nation. Like many Americans, he has family from other nations. His love of this country is based on direct knowledge of alternatives and of this nation’s unique opportunities. He is someone who could realistically find common ground with foreign leaders and find workable cooperative solutions to problems like terrorism, global warming and globalization.

We are at a unique point in our history. America’s actions have fostered dangerous resentment around the world. We cannot continue to favor special interests at the expense of most Americans. We cannot continue a short-sighted policy of paranoia, arrogance and aggression. We need to have the moral courage to take responsibility for our actions, return to the inclusive ideals of our nation and take action for change. Barack Obama is the best candidate to lead that process.

Dear Wine Spectator,

2007-12-15T01:08:00.000-04:00

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Dear Wine Spectator,

I have only recently fallen in love with wine, and it is clear that, among the many allies available to consumers in navigating the thousands of bottles available, you are one of the most beloved. In the 2007 year end issue, in which you provide the most detailed explanation of your blind tasting method to date, you say that tasters are only told the region and variety of the wine without beyond told the winery. It is laudable that individual tasters initial reviews so that consumers could see how different tasters differ.

Having traveled abroad, it is clear that Americans suffer from acute myopia when dealing with world culture. Be it Hollywood, music or literature, with the exception of a few lucky Brits, we just don’t bother (or aren’t exposed to) foreign influences. This is due in part to our innovation and vitality of our ability to produce products, but also our ability to market them. In addition to helping local producers, you have done a lot for getting Americans into French and Italian wines.

In terms of your tasting, I can’t help but wonder: isn’t one of the signs of being a wine expert the ability to guess the region and variety? The famed 1976 Paris wine tasting that put American wine on the map was revolutionary precisely because the judges were blind to the region of origin of the wine. I am left wondering if I can trust Wine Spectator to inform me about the next revolution. It is great to promote our once underdog domestic industry, but are you bringing to readers attention wines and aspects of wine that they wouldn’t otherwise notice?

Have you made efforts to explain what criteria judges use to give points? How do WS judges differ from each other? How do WS judges differ from judges at other magazines? Other countries?

You say that you tasted 15,000 wines this year and that most of those wines were sent to you by producers. Do you have relationships with producers in other countries? What percentage of the wines reviewed are from other countries? Is it the same percentage as the percentage of wines produced by those countries?

How do WS tastes reflect popular tastes in the U.S.? How do they influence popular tastes?

I am going to buy and read the next issue, in which you treat the “science of blind tasting”. If I don’t see adequate answers to these questions, I think I’ll just limit my reading to the pile of magazines I peruse while sitting at Borders after buying nothing but a cup of coffee.

Sincerely yours,

Ari Pliskin

Ecological Farm

2007-09-11T00:16:00.001-04:00

North of Lima, I did volunteer work at a self-sufficient, environmentally sustainable farm called Eco Truly Park. I learned about organic farming, alternative energy sources and recycling. I helped with daily responsibilities such as cleaning the kitchen, weeding the garden, moving materials and guiding educational visits, like the field trip pictured above.

Oasis

2007-03-30T12:25:00.000-04:00

Alter Colca, I headed north, running into my American friend again. We went though Nasca together, didn’t fly over the lines because we wanted to save money but we saw them. They are pretty cool. We went to the Chauchilla cemetery.
After that, I went with him to the Huacachina Oasis outside of Ica. We did sandboarding. You could see me gracefully mastering the slopes.

Colca Canyon

2007-03-30T11:48:00.000-04:00

I did 3-day tour of Colca Canyon, in which we hiked down the canyon and then hiked back up…easily one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.

We saw a lot condors.

This is my international tour group. From left to right: Portugal, Portugal, Peru, Argentina, United Kingdom, United States, Chile.

Tiwanaku

2007-03-30T11:43:00.000-04:00

I visited Tiwanaku, ruins of the center of a pre-Inca civilization. Seeing the site made me want to read more about the culture. On the way there, I met a guy from Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We ended up running into each other a bunch of times more and became friends. When I hung out with him, or watch an American movie, I feel like I was reencountering my own culture, getting back in touch with my roots (from last year)…taking a break from getting in touch with my latino roots.

Return to Cochabamba

2007-03-30T11:29:00.000-04:00

After Oruro, I returned to Cochabamba, Bolivia where I started my journey. I hung out with Jorge, the friend I made in August. It was really nice, because this time, I can actually talk. I also went to some Andean parties and met some local comic book artists. We climbed up the hill with the Cristo and saw a local group of singers filming a music video.

Carnaval

2007-03-30T11:22:00.000-04:00

Carnaval was really fun and so was the trip over there. I met up with Adina and we danced all night with the Bolivians. I love Bolivia!! Then, I got sick with a fever and we went to a hotel and watched TV. Below is a letter I wrote to my grandfather in Spanish about this experience.

Muy rápido después de que me fui de la Argentina me aburré de los otros gringos y empecé de juntarme con puras latinas. Vine en Oruro con un grupo muy amable de chilenos quienes encontré en San Pedro de Atacama y quienes trabajan haciendo shows y vendiendo artesanías viajando por las plazas de Suramérica. Yo gastaba muy poco guita andando con ellos, pagando menos que US $2 diario para alquilar un lugar en el piso de una residencial para poner mi bolsa de dormir y siempre combinando recursos para morfar.

Lo pasamos muy bien en la ruta a Bolivia y acá en Oruro también, tocando instrumentos andinos (y mi armónica yanqui), charlando sobre un montón de cosas y cagando de risa. Fuimos al Carnaval y bailamos con Bolivianos en la plaza con bandas de trompetas y instrumentos así hasta después de que subió el sol! Pero, como saben, lo costó a mi cuerpo. Me enfermé con fiebre y anoche Adina y yo dormimos en el único lugar en cual pudimos encontrar calefacción, unas de los lugares más lujosos de la ciudad! Tomé mi primer ducha caliente hasta que me fui de la casa de la Argentina y tuvimos la oportunidad (con cable) de disfrutar otro tipo de cultura.

Mientras recuperando, vimos un encuentra entre Chávez y Kirchner. Parece que la canal de tele del Gobierno de Venezuela viene a Bolivia. Para fortalecer conexiones entre los dos países latinos, Chávez leyó algo bueno que dijo Perón cuando se murió el Che sobre él. Quizás tenés razón, zede, cuando decís que los nuevos socialistas son nada más de demagogas en la tradición de Perón. Otro parte de la lección me recordó de Bush. Chávez criticó el presidente de Costa Rica (contra quien él luchó para el banco en el UNO) porque el llamó a Chávez un dictador pero quiere mantener relaciones con el. Me pareció como Chávez quería decir "si no eres con migo, eres contra migo". Igual, en una manera, espero que Chávez y Evo etc. logren en unos de los objetivos que dicen que quieren lograr aunque temo que no son realistas o que el costo del éxito (la concentración del poder en un hombre) los costaría más a los pueblos que el éxito mismo los ayudaría. Pero, no puedo negar que esos socialistas nuevos han movilizado poblaciones ignorados por la historia de sus países. La situación es muy complicada y como siempre, quiero seguir aprendiendo.

La única cosa que tengo que admitir es que usé la corrección de ortografía (spellcheck) para escribir este mensaje. Y, el único otra noticia mala es que mi acento argento esta blandando y mezclando. Me siento como traidor a la patria de mi familia! je, je. Por ser gringo, soy muy influenciable. Abro mi boca y en unas frases salen cosas argentinas, chilenas, bolivianas y, obviamente puras gringas. Pero lo tomo como un complemento cuando, inmediatamente después de conocer alguien me dicen que no pueden creer que soy gringo por el acento y la aparencia.

San Pedro de Atacama

2007-03-30T11:17:00.000-04:00

So I went to San Pedro in the North, part of the Atacama desert, the driest in the world. After an enjoyable trip sandboarding, I didn't feel very motivated to do tours. Instead I hung out with a bunch of Chileans working in the town. I met some cool folks and traveling to Oruro, Bolivia with them for the 5th largest Carnaval in the world.
Pictured above is a skull from a San Pedro museum. Various cultures practice deforming the head. If wonder what effect that had on the way the deformed people thought?

Untitled

2007-03-30T11:08:00.000-04:00

Different Perspective on the Universe

2007-03-30T10:58:00.000-04:00

This is an image of Orion viewed from the Southern Hemisphere.

I remember getting off a bus in Bolivia, back in August and being taken aback by the brilliant sky. I realized that the constellation the Southern Cross is only visible in the Southern Sky and thought 'wow, I am now looking at a whole different perspective on the universe!!' I connected the dots to construct a giant cross spanning the entire sky and wondering if I had found it.

Because the night sky in northern Chile is among the clearest, the region boasts many important observatories. At a tour at one of them, on top of Mount Mamalluca, outside of Vicuña, I learned that the Southern Cross is much smaller than I thought. The guide used a laser pointer to show us various constellations. I also learned that I was misinterpreting my favorite constellation, Orion. I didn't take account for the fact that in the south, everything is reversed so I imposed his head onto his feet and his feet onto his head. Good metaphor for traveling to a new region, eh?

Valparaiso: Pablo Neruda's bathroom

2007-03-01T15:39:00.001-04:00

Here I am taking a picture of myself in the mirror in Pablo Neruda's bathroom, part of a museum dedicated to the poet in Valparaiso. After my visit, I went to a café with some guides that work at the museum. I ended up sticking around longer than I had planned. The city reminded me of a mix between San Francisco and Brooklyn. It is a hilly city on a port with colorfully painted houses and interesting people. It also has a grimey, urban edge and several universities. It was my favorite place in Chile.

Comics in Chile

2007-03-01T15:00:00.000-04:00

In Santiago, I visited another contact that Cristian gave me. Carlos Reyes met me at the subway station and accompanied me to his house. Carlos is part of Ergocomics. Winning a contest for a government grant, Ergocomics has published yearly non-fiction collections about Chilean comics, among other things.

Carlos shared info from his vast wealth of knowledge on Chilean comics, including self-publishing. Often times, he explained, the money creators make from sales barely serve to publish future works and there is little money to dedicate to PR and business relations. As a result, distribution is the among the largest challenges.

Carlos, who is a writer, and his collegues do not limit their art to comics. They also produce works in graphic design, photography, prose, poetry and other artforms. Pictured above is Carlos with one of a series of pamphlets that serve as an example of how they mix various media. This particular pamphlet illustrates a trip to a comic convention in Bolivia.

After meeting with Carlos, I went to an exhibition of Belgian and Chilean works. Guests of mixed age and gender attended. Some works (see photos) took advantage of the museum setting to experiment with novel formats.

Aregentine Asado in Chile

2007-03-01T13:54:00.000-04:00

When I first arrived in Santiago de Chile from Argentina, I found myself much more comfortable with the Argentine tourists. For one thing, I could understand them when they talk and they could understand me. I was dying for a mate and trying to explain to some gringos what makes it so amazing when I was some women drinking mate at the hostel. I asked if I could joing them and I ended up hanging out with them and a bunch of other Argentines for the next few days.

We made an Argentine asado. The blonde and I are the only non-Argentines.

The buses are part of a set designed as part of a story with a giant marrionette.

Autobiographical Comics in the Provinces of Argentina

2007-02-02T17:56:00.001-04:00

Rodrigo: The crocodile?
Son: no
Rodrigo: The ball?
Son: no!
Father: Salvi, something has to go.

When I arrived at the house, I was first struck by the fact that Rodrigo Terranova isn´t as ugly as he draws himself to be. I got a taste of the world behind the autobiography. Rodrigo´s son was wearing a Spider-man mask and I came along for the ride to drive him to a friends house. Rodrigo met Buenos Aires comics creator Cristian Mallea after winning a national contest and Cristian suggested I contact him. Along with Cristian´s collegue Angel Mosquito and several other artists, Rodrigo contributes weekly to a Historias Reales, a blog of autobiographical comics. These guys are like Argentine James Kochalkas.

Rodrigo´s father moved from Buenos Aires to the city of San Luis (the capital of the province in which I spent the last month) to pursue a job in industry. The national government had channeled some funds there in order to more evenly spread economic activity through a nation. Like his father (and mine), Rodrigo works in a factory today and he often thinks of Harvey Pekar´s comics about mundane aspects of everyday life to get him through the day.

Rodrigo tried teaching workshops on comics, but didn´t find it terribley fullfilling. He said he could, however, see himself doing it with a smaller, more committed group of students. In terms of grander visions of pushing forward the natonal artform, Rodrigo sees his role as making the best comics he can. Between work, a wife and children, he hardly has time to do that.

While being in San Luis sometimes makes him feel out of the loop, he likes the slower, more managable pace of life and connection to his wife´s family who is from the region.

Rodrigo reads English and you could contact him at supermancos@yahoo.com.ar

Dirty hippie

2007-01-26T01:15:00.000-04:00

OK. Here is another one.

Jessica: so are you a dirty hippie now?

me: no way. i shower
or dip myself in a pool or creek
several times a week

and i guess i did go to see a band that played a lot or bob marley covers
oh no!

Jessica: HAHAHAHHA
yes you are a hippie!

me: no, but i arrived in Santiago de Chile and i was like "aaah, noisy streets and polluted air. Feels like home."

Free movie for teachers

2007-01-26T01:00:00.000-04:00

I got this e-mail from a Summerbridge listserve (a summer program I taught it). I have no idea what this movie is about, but free can´t be bad.

Dear Friend, I have some amazing news to share with you!

AMC Theaters and Paramount Pictures have agreed to let teachers across the country see “Freedom Writers” for free for one week! Between January 26 and February 1, AMC Theaters will be celebrating teachers and spreading the Freedom Writers’ message by allowing teachers nationwide to see “Freedom Writers!” I urge everyone to tell a teacher to go see “Freedom Writers” at an AMC Theater near them! I also encourage teachers to bring their class, their co-workers, or even their families to this special film that is touching the lives of millions. Please help the Freedom Writers and me encourage educators everywhere to take advantage of this very unique opportunity! Please see AMC's press release for more information and be sure to forward this email to everyone you know (especially teachers!)

For further details, go to http://www.amctheatres.com/promos/freedomwriters/.

Thank you for your support and I hope you enjoy the movie!

Erin Gruwell .

Don´t cry for Argentina, Ariel

2007-01-25T18:45:00.000-04:00

Today, I think a cut-and-pasted gmail IM conversation will serve to share what is going on more than something I make up.

me: well, now that i left argentina
i feel more connected to it
and i feel like less of an outsider with argentines
because i was there for 4 months

Jill: that's great. you've made a new home

me: yeah, very self-consiously and deliberatley
trying to connect to my roots

Jill: chosen homes are often the best

me: yeah, even when people make fun of me for trying too hard to adopt an accent
and say i sound italian

but to me argentines sound italian

but yesterday i was talking to chilenos in the hostel and they first guessed i was argentine and then said i must have lived there for at least 1 year

i took it as a compliment

Jill: that's awesome..congratulations..on your italian

Merlo Routine

2007-01-24T00:36:00.000-04:00

I found a comfortable routine in Merlo. I enjoyed it for a while and today I left. I wrote the following description of my routine while I was still practicing it: I wake up between 9 and 10 when the bird chirping and heat makes it difficult to keep sleeping in my tent. I brush my teeth as I stroll through a path in the mini-forest. I take a quick dip in the pool to wake up.

While listening to poetry in English on my i-pod, I do some landscaping work on the property for a few hours.

I eat lunch with the family.

I go to a cyber café to revise a comics script that I wrote during a School of Visual Arts course in New York.

I eat dinner with the family and hang out with them until going to bed.

Before going to bed, I practice my rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" on my harmonica in my tent.

I occasionaly go up the mountain to bathe in the creep or go on a hike. I go to yoga on Mondays and Thursdays. On weekends, I might go to the bar and see a band.

I was feeling pretty lonely and useless when I left Buenos Aires. It takes time to construct a life in cities. The nature, laid-back pace, physical activity and good company here have rejuvenated me. I´m ready to hit the road again, this time alone.

My landscaping

More Mountain Fun

2006-12-29T13:12:00.000-04:00

Argentine Student Comics

2006-12-24T14:38:00.000-04:00

OK, the comment (in Spanish) for the December 15 post was made by a young woman at the comics workshop described in the December 19 post. She says thanks yada yada. Even if you can't read spanish, you can click on her name, which will provide you a link to her profile and blog that displays her comic art, or you can just go to http://chica-cinica.blogspot.com/. It is worth checking out.

To the mountains

2006-12-22T10:47:00.000-04:00

So I left Buenos Aires for mountainous Merlo, San Luis to hang out with my cousins. A few minutes after arriving, my cousin Tania invited me rock-climbing. I really enjoyed it. At night, we went to see Tania and her sister Paloma perform in a dance/theater/modeling show advertising local stores. I set up a tent in a wooded area in the back. The next day, we took a little trek to a look-out point.

Comics in South America III:The Next Generation

2006-12-19T16:00:00.000-04:00

Because of limited job markets, many Argentine comic creators, including Productora artists Cristian Mallea and Angel Mosquito, started offering workshops for students of all ages. I visited these workshops a couple times. I volunteered to translate some key ideas from a comics essay on manga, or Japanese comics, from Scott McCloud’s new book Making Comics and lead a chat on the topic. About 10 students and 3 Productora artists/teachers attended.

I started by asking “What are your favorite comics?” Students responded first with a mix of Argentine and alternative American comics. Ony two were fans of manga. ‘Did I overestimate the popularity of manga?’ I thought. ‘The whole reason I selected this topic was because it treats slavish imitation of manga and Cristian talked about how pervasive that phonomenon is. Was he talking about the kids that they haven’t had a chance to influence? Would I be preaching to the choir?’. I focused on broader questions like “What is the nature of cultural interchange from an Argentine perspective?”.

Productora artist Mosquito quickley noted that Argentina is a “cultural colony” and a student said that the interchange is not mutual but one-way, from countries like the U.S. and Japan into Argentina. Another student pointed out that many Argentines even have prejudice against local stuff. Nonetheless, as artists, the students explained that that they like to mix and match, taking what they like from all over the world to develop their own style.

We made a list of traits unique to manga before looking at McCloud’s list. As we read through the chapter together, I pointed out panels that contain relevent pictures. After the chat, one student told me that he had never thought of the topic that way before.

After my presentation, they returned to business as usual and I got to see part of the learning process. The students and Mosquito sat in a circle. Mosquito went through each student’s work critiquing and complementing it as students chimed in occasionaly: “This looks rushed”, “Why did you choose an old style train?”. While teaching can be tiring, Mosquito and Crisitan enjoy seeing kids grow over the years as they apply the tools they learned in class to their own ideas.

Comics in South America II: Independent Publishers

2006-12-19T13:06:00.000-04:00

One of the best parts of my time in Buenos Aires was the opportunity to get to know some independent comic book creators. I was going to write a blog with all this background information, but then I thought ‘Who would want to read all this stuff?’. The answer I came up with was people who search for ‘Argentine Comics’ on wikipedia. That page, after all, was of the only places I could find from the U.S. to learn about Argentine comics before I left. So I put a bunch of info there. Basically, these guys invited me to conventions, their workshop, dinners, parties, taught me about local culture, lent me comics etc. It was really fun. Enjoy these pics and links of the convention and their workshop.

PICS OF MONTEVIDEO COMICS

A bunch of writers, artists and friends getting together for asado before the convention Montevideo Comics.

Lugging the merchandise to the convention, carrying mate (very Uruguayan), neighborhood kid, yawning…

Crisitan Mallea of La Productora sipping some mate in front of his stand.

Creators Tomas Dassance and Laureano Alvarez selling their goods.

Calero, Uruguayan artist who worked on Captain America, drawing pictures for fans. In the back, a blow-up of a page from Crimenes, that Calero created with Rodolfo Santullo under independent label Grupo Belerofonte.

PRODUCTORA TALLER PICS

Productora artist Jok taking color lessons from Pablo.

Gervasio, Aón and Mosquito at their computers.

Productora members and me worshipping the almighty futbol: (from left to right) Cristian Mallea, Aón, Jok, me and Angel Mosquito.

Top 10 musicians to which my old roommate Sean introduced me (in order of awesomeness)

2006-12-17T15:23:00.000-04:00

10. X

9. Kevin Coyne

8. Flamin’ Groovies

7. Pogues

6. Zappa

5. Tall Dwarves

4. Half Japanese

3. Pere Ubu

2. Modern Lovers

1. Roky Erickson

Comics on Schools in Argentina

2006-12-15T04:23:00.000-04:00

(escuela = school)

In the above comic excerpt, you get a sense of how a couple of Argentines see Argentine schools. This image comes from issue #2 of the recently initiated second volume of the legendary magazine Fierro. In this particulary story, cartoon versions of the writer and artist (Carlos Trillo and Oscar Grillo) are mysteriously transported back to their childhood lives and forced to relive that world with an adult perspective.

The school I visited (in which my cousin teachers) was formatted a bit like the one above, with dilapidated classrooms surrounding an inner courtyard. Note the prominent Argentine flag.

You could read about the original Fierro in the Rennaisance section I added (along with the Self-Publishing section) on the Argentine Comics Wikipedia page.

Bye, mom

2006-12-13T18:09:00.000-04:00

My mom packed up and left Buenos Aires for the United States.

Volunteering III

2006-12-12T00:48:00.000-04:00

Above, you could see the place where I've been volunteering. At one point today, I had to take away the materials to get kids to listen. After that, they achieved the two objectives that I explained (to color in the objects according to directions in English and to politely request materials if another student has what you need.)

New York

2006-12-08T23:35:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I see this add with the Manhattan skyline. It makes me miss New York and everyone in it. I'm ready to leave Buenos Aires.

Cada dia hablo mejor

2006-12-08T00:20:00.000-04:00

Algo raro me pasó hoy. Fui a un shopping y hablaba con el hombre quien me mostraba la ropa cuando, en vez del tipico “De donde sos?”, me preguntó “Sos de España?”. Pasó dos veces en dos tiendas. No tengo ni idea porque pensaban eso! Siempre trato de hablar en el dialecto glorioso rioplatense. Quizas pasó porque aparezco occidental y no hablo reyanqui, pero tampoco hablo bien porteño.

En un asado en la casa de Dani, el primo de mi madre, aprendí cosas Argentinas muy importantes. El es muy orgulloso de de sue parrilla, pero no es por ser fanfarrón; el lo diseñó y es bellisima. Después de empezar a morfar, dije “Eso es la carne Argentina de que he oido!” Dani tambien me contó historias de mi bisabuelo y me enseñó cosas importantes de la cultura. En una manera muy generoso, me dio muchos oportunidades de llamarle ‘boludo’. Finalmente llamélelo y él se reió mucho. Aunque mi abuelo traté de enseñarme que significa esteinstitutción Argentino (el boludo), tuve que vivir acá para entenderlo.

Muchas veces, el orgullo que merece la Argentinidad (que recibí de mis abuelos) me ayuda en conectar con la gente. Pero, muchas cosas todovía me cuesta. En este post podés ver que no escribo perfecto sin diccionario ni ayuda. Tampoco sé si es rudo llamar a alguien boludo en el internet, pero imagino que todos entienden que lo digo con cariño y amor.

Tambien tomo mate cada mañana.

Volunteering II: More teaching English in Argentina

2006-12-06T00:45:00.000-04:00

For my past few times volunteering, I was the only teacher and I made up the lesson from scratch. There are usually about 10 kids, ages 8-12. On one trip, I used flash cards that other volunteers designed and focused on vocabulary, pronunciation, numbers and asking “how many…?”.

Before leaving, I asked the kids “Why is it good for you to learn English?” Not feeling ready to engage them in a conversation about the role of the U.S. in the world, I provided personal examples to their responses (work, travel, school, etc.), explaining how I enjoy the same benefits while learning Spanish. I then asked them what they wanted to learn next time. Their list included types of vocabulary as well as basic verb conjugations.

I taught myself the present simple, present continuous and past simple tenses on wikipedia before designing a lesson on them. The lesson I attempted was too challenging for a few students and I didn’t get past present simple tense. I have a few more sessions with these kids. If anyone out there has any tips or websites, don’t hesitate to send them my way.

A Post on Posting

2006-12-05T02:34:00.001-04:00

I’ve been writing in my journal since 7^th grade, but this blog is the first time I’ve shared my writing with anyone outside of a classroom. Building on the advice of friends and remembering that I don’t read long-winded blogs, I’ve been writing shorter, more frequent posts. That last (big) post about Montevideo took so long because I wanted to check some facts, but I eventually thought it was better to just keep writing. Other times, I get distracted by Internet bells & whistles.

When these things happen, I think about James Kochalka. He is my favorite current comics artist and Internet journal writer. Reading his daily postings, you get a sense of what he is about and you also see a lot of crap. You see him complain about his crap too. In short, James rules!! You can check out the link above, but to really appreciate him, you have to read the collected works.

Comics in South America Part I: Japan on the River Plate

2006-12-05T00:31:00.000-04:00

I went to a comics convention in Montevideo in October. Buenos Aires publisher, artist and writer Cristian Mallea invited me to the event after I met him at a book fair in Mendoza. I spent the weekend hanging out with his friends, most of whom are also independent local creators. I’ll write a post on them later.

At first glance, the most striking aspect of the convention was the presence of teenage boys and girls dressed up as characters from Japanese comics, or manga. Another blogger who I met, who does statistical work for a local newspaper, explained that manga enjoys a growing 60% of the local market, with American super-hero comics dominating the next most significant share and South American comics thriving in more specialized underground markets. It was clear that Japan has successfully exported one of the most impressive aspects of its comics culture: a broad appeal to both genders. If Japan could only export its diversity of genres and appeal to all ages, that would be another step in the right direction.

The attitudes of the local creators towards manga ranged from amusement to bitter resentment. Cristian questions whether the preoccupation with costumes serves any broader purpose. The kids, he says, just buy what they see on TV, consume it uncritically and close themselves to other comics. Furthermore, most kids don’t even read the best stuff produced in Japan.

At one of the convention’s organized chats, another local creator said that all manga is the same. One costumed kid got really flustered and asked the creator if he had ever read manga. He admitted that he hadn’t.

Over dinner, I suggested that perhaps folks who want to push the art form forward need to build bridges to move the kids to a higher level instead of fighting to change what kids like. Cristian said that it took me five minutes to figure out what it them years to figure out. Cristian and his colleagues struggle with this goal in the workshops that they teach to local students. I’ll save that topic for another post as well.

Visiting Schools

2006-12-04T02:40:00.000-04:00

My cousin Martin works at a couple low-income schools outside the city of Buenos Aires and I accompanied him to work last Tuesday. Because Martin had to run from one school to another , we didn’t have time for lunch. At the second school, Martin passed out a quiz in which 14/15-year-old students worked in groups to answer questions about an excerpt from “Brave New World”. He would have preferred for them to work alone, but students had to share because of a lack of books. As I snuck away to grab a bite of food, a woman who works at the school stopped me and asked who I was. She told me that we must notify the authorities before visiting. After I ate a milanesa sandwich and returned, the same woman entered the classroom to inform me that the vice director wanted to speak with me. The vice director was very excited to share his views with a yanqui educator. A few times, he asked me questions and answered them before giving me a chance to do so. Among other things, the man drew me a graph to explain some basic ideas.

He started with a circle representing the “universe of education” and then drew several lines converging on that circle. He explained that within education, we find various disciplines and the teachers that teach them. However, in order to succeed, there needs to be some force to unify the potentially disjoined experience. That force is a “concept of national identity”.

Argentine Family Singing Luna Tucumana

2006-11-27T20:43:00.001-04:00

Family Reunion

2006-11-27T00:40:00.001-04:00

My mom greets a cousin she hasn't seen since her last time in Argentina, before I was born.

On Saturday, we had a big family reunion at my grandmother’s sister's house. It was great to see my mom and family smile as much as they did. The evening climaxed with everyone singing Argentine songs, including "Luna Tucumana" by folk legend Mercedes Sosa. My mom knew the words to the songs. She really felt at home. I, remember hearing the song at the Mercedes Sosa concert (the last concert performed at Teatro Colón, where my grandparents used to go on dates, before it closes for a few years for renovations). I of course, didn’t know the words.

Later that night, I ran into some Pennsylvanians at a bar and did a little Cleveland-Pittsburg football rivalry thing. It was nice getting to act out a script with people I don’t know. Granted, I could care less about football, but it was nice for a moment.

Volunteering

2006-11-26T04:50:00.001-04:00

At volunteer English teaching, a couple of French women and I taught a few lessons on numbers in English in a Comedor (soupt kitchen/community center type thing) in Zona Sur of Gran Buenos Aires. The kids were kind of silly, generally sweet and wanted to learn something. We had fun. It felt good to be teaching again. A few were syblings and they hit each other when they got frustrated. I may not have the imperative tense down, but the "teacher look" transcends all languages.

My mom's old house

2006-11-25T14:02:00.000-04:00

So my mom arrived in Buenos Aires on Wednesday. She hasn’t been here since before I was born. We visited the house that she lived in until she left

Argentina

at 16 in 1966. While anticipating her trip, my mom dreamt at night about entering her house, but didn’t expect to do so because her sister didn’t have luck with the residents who lived there a few years ago. Adina rang the bell anyway. Luckily, the house was being worked on. A painter let us come in and look around. I saw the bedroom my mom shared with her sister, the rooms where they lived (confined to one floor), the backyard etc. My mom told me that her father (who was and is a doctor) decided to leave

Argentina

in order to pursue greater economic opportunity. I haven’t been in the houses they lived in when they first got to the

U.S.

, but the house my grandfather currently lives in is certainly much bigger than this one. We were all very, very happy to have this opportunity.

Documentaries make life better

2006-11-22T07:00:00.000-04:00

I couldn’t help but rent “24 hour Party People” (which isn't actually a documentary, but historical fiction), as any semi-responsible student of the social sciences must understand the historical context of his or her cultural experiences. While I was being born in 1982, New Order record sales funded the legendary Haçienda nightclub in Manchester as the Argentine military junta tried unsuccessfully to wrest the Islas Malvinas from British control. As I saw many Malvinas-era Argentines doing in the documentary “Republica Perdida”, fans chanted “Argentina” before the New Order concert on Saturday. By the end of the show, they were chanting “New Order”.

Rock n' Roll - 1
Dictatorships - 0

My mom arrives soon.

Manchester comes to Buenos Aires

2006-11-21T01:46:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday, I went to Personalfest, a very popular annual music festival here in Buenos Aires. I started at the main stage with Ian Brown of the Stone Roses and then strolled to the second stage for NYC's the Bravery. There is nothing like a tight pristine suit, wry pretentious lyrics (“Your words are like knifes in my ear”) and inflated egos to remind me of home (one of them, at least). My sister and I passed empathetic glances while a band member tried to thank the audience in Spanish.

As we returned to the main stage for New Order while the Bravery was still playing, my sister said “I hope they play that song about that about that soldier who wants to see his family." She got her wish. Lead singer Bernard Sumner (who turned 50 this year and dressed humbly for a rock star) announced that “Love Vigilantes” is a “vehimently anti-war song”.

Near the end of the show, a band member declared “Ian Curtis lives” before playing “Atmosphere” by J oy Division during the encore (after Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis hanged himself, the remaining members formed New Order). I don’t know if it is just me, but “Love Vigilantes” always reminded me of “Atmosphere”. Sumner didn’t try to speak Spanish and he rightly assumed that Argentine fans would eagerly and aptly accept his invitation to sing along to the main verse of “Love Will Tear Us Apart”. Perhaps my expectations for New Orders synth super hits were too high, perhaps those songs depend too much on production or perhaps darkness is just beautiful; for me, the Joy Division songs stole the show.

Come On Pilgrim

2006-10-31T17:59:00.000-04:00

COMING SOON: reports from my adventures with international comic book writers and artists as well as some vignettes of local youth culture.

Rush of Blood to the Head

2006-09-02T23:22:00.000-04:00

Traveling through the mountainous Cuyo region of Western Argentina (focusing on San Luis and Mendoza provinces), Abe and I conquered air, land and water.

Caverna de Las Brujas (Cave of the Witches). Outside of Malargue, Mendoza.

Rafting in Rio Atuel. Valle Grande, outside of San Rafael, Mendoza.

Rappelling. Valle Grande.

Horse-back riding. Valle Grande.

"Just put on this gear and run down the mountain until you fly."
Paragliding in Merlo, San Luis.

"Do you like Adrenaline?" the instructor Juan asked me.
"Si" I answered.
Next thing I knew, we were spinning. Really fast.

Relaxing in Parque San Martin in the city of Mendoza.

I met Cristian Mallea of La Productora independent publishing collective, right, at this event sponsored by the government of the city of Mendoza. He invited me to an event at a local comic store later that day and eventually to a convention in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Ancient Melodies of the Future

2006-08-15T15:26:00.000-04:00

INCALLACTA RUINS

The thing I loved the most about Bolivia was the fact that while the reach of Western culture was certainly palpable, so was the presence of indigenous Andean cultures. Conquered by the Incas in the 15^th and 16^th centuries, the Bolivian altiplano in which Cochabamba lies served as the breadbasket for the Inca empire. Today, most Bolivians identify as at least partially indigenous.

I tasted Andean culture in various venues. Visiting a local school [below], I saw kids perform traditional dances and act out plays organized by Foundation for Sustainable Development volunteer Liz Shriver. I didn’t need any lessons beforehand when people invited me to dance to Andean panpipes at a party. At a concert of the Cochabambino folkloric band called Los Kjarkas, I clapped to beat with the rest of the audience so hard that my hands hurt by the end of the show. The audience also sang along in Spanish and in Quechua, the language of the Incas. In a mix of European and traditional culture at the Festival de la Virgen de Urkupiña [above right], troupes from all over the country played horns and danced in costumes.

Last January, Bolivia elected their first indigenous (specifically Aymara) president, Evo Morales of the party MAS, Moviemento al Socialismo. Fulfilling a campaign promise to divert local resources towards helping the nation’s large poor population, Evo irked a few nations and impressed others when he nationalized Bolivia’s natural gas on May 1. After spending a month in the most indigenous nation in South America, I went to the least indigenous one.

Hello Cruel World

2006-08-04T20:23:00.000-04:00

NURSING A BLOODY NOSE AND
CHEWING COCA LEAVES IN UYUNNI

The first stop on my journey was Cochabamba, Bolivia. Cochabamba is the 3^rd largest city in the poorest nation in South American. I chose Cochabamba because my friend Rebecca Kirchheimer was the second in command at the Foundation for Sustainable Development there . I lived as her roommate for the month of August and left the city for an excursion to Uyuni, where I saw enormous salt flats and to Inca ruins at Incacallacta. It certainly took my body some time to adjust to the high altitude and dry air. I got headaches and nose bleeds every day when I first arrived. As the locals do, I tried drinking Coca tea and chewed on Coca leaves to alleviate the symptoms.

DALI

Living abroad made me think about what it means to be American. After losing at a Bolivian dice game one night at Dalí, a Bolivian friend of mine beat me at poker. Losing at an American game irked me. After salsa lessons with some European friends of mine from my Spanish school, we all went bowling. At the bowling alley, I did a better job of representing my country.

At bowling, I was the only one who cheered vociferously when people got strikes and I got a higher score than anybody else. I cheered for myself too. After the game, a Swiss girl named Mirjam asked me “Why do you have so much pride for the United States?” She couldn’t piece together patriotism with the sharp criticisms of the Bush administration that I also expressed. In Europe, she associates national pride with the right-wing. “I love American superheroes, rock music,” I shared my gut response. “There are also some political traditions that I’m fond of.” I continued my list in writing the next morning on the bus to class.

On the way to Dalí after watching a documentary on the indigenous Guaraní, a Bolivian friend named Jorge once asked me “Do you think that the people who slaughtered the natives of North America went to Hell?” “I don’t believe in Hell”, I answered.

Different Class

2006-07-06T15:26:00.000-04:00




















Last summer, I had the pleasure of directing the first
sessions of the FivePoints academic program at
Union College.  Pictures from our first summer will
soon be available on the online program catalogue. I've
been working via internet to build on the program
description in the old catalogue to better reflect our
approach.  If you click on the link now, you will see our
first catalogue with pictures borrowed from related
programs and our first set of course offerings.  Our
course selection will be modified for next
summer, including the addition of a Comics and Graphic
Novels class, which, of course, I am very excited about. 

One of my staff members gave me the song below on a mix CD.  
The lyrics are kind of corny, but I think they speak to some
of our goals.  Mixing elements of Bob Dylan and Nirvana, 19
year old Willy Mason took the indie world by storm with the
following song:

I wanna be better than oxygen
So you can breathe when you're drowning and weak in the knees
I wanna speak louder than Ritalin
For all the children who think that they've got a disease
I wanna be cooler than t.v.
For all the kids that are wondering what they are going to be

We can be stronger than bombs
If you're singing along and you know that you really believe
We can be richer than industry
As long as we know that there's things that we don't really need
We can speak louder than ignorance
Cause we speak in silence every time our eyes meet.

On and on, and on, and on it goes
The world it just keeps spinning
Until i'm dizzy, time to breathe
So close my eyes and start again anew.
FROM "OXYGEN" BY WILLY MASON