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Archive for January, 2008

Teachers and Girl Students

I have had several conversations in the past in which someone has introduced a new idea or way of thinking to me and I was resistant because it was new or different.  I thought they were wrong, and maybe even told them so.  But the idea settled and became comfortable, and years later I have come to see the wisdom or value of the ideas I was originally opposed to.  I rarely have the chance to go back and tell them they were right; maybe they wouldn’t even remember the conversation, as they were gentle talks and not argumentative or tense. I hope that some of my conversations here are like that.  I hope that if I can gently say “Things can be different.” some people will think about options and make up their own minds.  Even if right now they are saying “No, they can’t be different”.  Subjects I find myself hoping will have this kind of belated response are often about democracy, beating children, or male teachers sleeping with their girl students. It is very common here, even in the best schools like the ones I work with, for girls to sleep with their teachers.  Note who is…

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Sinful Vegas, But Always with a Smile

In a blog post last week, I talked about how Las Vegas has no soul or spirit.  Because the city is full of  industry icons and techies this week, CES week isn’t really representative of everyday Vegas. And while I still think the city feels soulless, here’s a reason to come. The quality of customer service in this country is sub-optimal and seems to be getting worse. Whether it’s the outsourcing of airline telephone banks, filthy public restrooms, or rude or indifferent people behind the desk looking out at you with half-closed eyes too bored even for contempt, it can be disheartening to have in front of you a modern day of phone calls and errands. Come to Vegas. People who work at the resorts and casinos are friendly and eager to help. It seems that as soon as a question forms on your face, someone shows up and asks if they can be of service. From what I could see, this treatment isn’t reserved for the folks who look like they have money, but is available to everyone. In addition to the benefits in helping you get things done, find your way, save time, etc. etc., it’s also…

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Empty Las Vegas

Las Vegas is all about propagating desire and promising its satisfaction, but there is an unbridgeable gap between the two, because the house can’t afford to deliver on that promise too often and because when the customer does “win” there is no connection with anything that has to do with heart, or spirit, or achievement.  Walk through a casino and look at the grim, unsmiling winners, glazed and consumed. Even in New York, which is a place of madness, one can find the space to be still and real.  I once had an afternoon nap on a bench outside of a skyscraper at Sixth and 50th.  The flow of traffic became running water, the taxi horns were raucous birds, people’s footsteps as fallen leaves.  The city orientated with my interior compass and so we found each other. This does not happen in Las Vegas.  Perhaps this is the price when a city’s only purpose is entertainment, unbalanced by other energies.  Yet it is different from the land of Disney, also devoted to entertainment and also unreal.  As Disney perpetuates a world of childhood dreams, Vegas delivers its translation for adults, with pleasure instead of magic, money in place of enchantment,…

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My Travelogues

In addition to international microfinance, I also want and intend to make international travel a key component of this blog.  I have spent much of the past several years traveling abroad, and in the course of doing so have written reams of travelogues, travel stories, anecdotes, cultural observations and the like.  Until now I had shared them only with a relatively small group of friends and family.  Now the time has finally arrived to share them — or at least excerpts of them — more broadly. So this is just an FYI to let you know what is coming.  I plan to post many of my previous travelogues periodically to this blog.  They can be found under the category “Travelogues,” and I will also provide the year in which the travels were undertaken and the major places/countries visited (to the extent that makes sense:  managing 70+ countries may prove to be more daunting than I thought!).  As you read them, please keep in mind that I was a younger (and depending on the circumstances, more naive, more risk-seeking, more gullible…) April than I might be today.  I can’t say I would necessarily write the same travelogues today, but I do…

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Festive Graveyards in Mexico

Cemeteries are just a little snazzier in Mexico than they are in the States, don’t you think? They are actually more festive in many countries; just look at the time commitment and acts of love people have made to contribute to the gravestones of those they love.

Microfinance in 2008

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