Holly

Last week I purchased my flight itinerary for my study abroad in South America next quarter!  I worked with a real human being travel agent, and he was able to find an amazing deal on flights to and from South America, as well as within Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.  I also received my confirmation for the language school where I will be studying Portuguese in Salvador, and now I am in the process of applying for my visa to Brazil.

But before I take off to the other side of the world, I have to save some lives in the desert.  I will be spending one week at the U.S.-Mexico border providing humanitarian aid to migrants crossing the desert in Arizona.  I will be traveling with a group of students, and we will be spending spring break with other college students from all over the country.  The organization we are volunteering with is called No More Deaths (No Más Muertes), and their mission is “to end death and suffering on the U.S./Mexico border through civil initiative: the conviction that people of conscience must work openly and in community to uphold fundamental human rights…” (http://nomoredeaths.org)

Since 1998, over 2000 human beings have died while trying to cross the desert into the United States.  No More Deaths provides water, food and medical supplies to migrants by organizing drops along known migrant trails.  They also listen to reports of human rights abuses against the U.S. Border Patrol.  I am really looking forward to this experience!

This week in my Latin American Studies Seminar we are discussing the Chilean military coup that took place on September 11, 1973. There is a particularly interesting connection between the U.S. and Chile and the date September 11: both countries reacted to the different events that occurred three decades apart with violence. In Chile, a coup backed by the United States assassinated the democratically-elected president, Salvador Allende, which began the military dirty war against “subversives”. Countless innocent civilians were subsequently kidnapped, tortured, murdered and “disappeared” by the government. In the U.S., the Bush Administration responded to the attacks on 9/11 by turning around and declaring another kind of “dirty” war. How many countless Iraqis have been subsequently kidnapped, tortured, murdered and disappeared due to U.S. action? How much violence can one country inflict onto another or onto itself?

At times I feel devastated by the history I encounter, and I am forced to think critically about why certain histories are omitted from general knowledge. The one pattern I seem to be encountering over and over in all of my studies of Latin America is that if something bad happened to a country, the U.S. is more than likely the root cause. I just finished reading a book for this same class about the School of the Americas, which is a military training institution that imports soldiers from all over Latin America in order to receive U.S.-style instruction in all things military. Graduates from that school have gone on to commit terrible atrocities in their native countries, all backed by U.S.-sponsored policies of dictatorship and violence. Many of those people that committed vulgar acts of violence have been asked back to the SOA to present as guest speakers. Talk about a culture of impunity… Astonishing.

I had the opportunity to attend a demonstration against the School of the Americas when I was in Santiago de Chile in 2007. The rally was held outside the former presidential palace, La Moneda, next to a memorial statue of Salvador Allende. I had no idea at the time how relevant my participation in that event would be to my future studies in Latin American history. Given enough time and an open mind, one can begin to see all the interdisciplinary connections in the world.

Memorial Statue of Salvador Allende

I have faith in Chile and its destiny.

No more envoys of Chilean soldiers to the School of the Americas

The first week of winter quarter has passed and I am busier than ever!  Along with the Portuguese, Spanish and the Latin American Studies seminar, I am also in the University Singers and the Women’s Choir.  I really can’t get enough of choir.  The repertoires in both classes are going to be challenging and beautiful to sing.  I think everyone should make it a goal to sing with a choir at some point in their lifetime.  Choir is a true team effort group activity because it doesn’t matter if the person next to you can’t sing on pitch.  In every choir I have ever sang in there have always been enough strong voices to support the more inexperienced singers.  This helps everyone to feel safe singing, allowing new singers to relax and start developing their musical instruments.  I’ll post performance information when all the details are available!

Along with my 18-credit academic work load, I have not been able to resist joining another important cause:  the UW Latin American Studies Association (LASA)!  It is a student group that used to exist on campus at UW, but the efforts disbanded, or likely graduated, and it has not been active for several years.  I have volunteered to organize a Latin American film series to be sponsored by LASA, and my first film presentation will be on Friday, February 13!  I will be showing a movie from Argentina called Valentín about a little boy in 1960s Buenos Aires who tries to play cupid and find a new mother for his father.  It should be easy to market the event since it’s over Valentine’s Day weekend, which would be a great way to get the film series rolling since it’s FREE.

Ok, I’m off to work at the restaurant now!  Because on top of all that stuff, I have to earn a living, right?  You might be wondering, when am I going to have time to study?  Don’t worry, I have several hours of concentrated reading time booked for this evening, along with good break chunks throughout almost every day while on campus.  Though one thing I have sacrificed this quarter is any hope of a personal life.  Not going to happen, but that’s ok.  I have a graduate school application deadline on February 1 and then an independent study abroad academic contract to plan for spring quarter in Brazil.  It will all be worth it when I’m in Bahia…

It is only Tuesday and I am already loving both of my language classes. Portuguese 105 is crazy intense! We are cramming an entire textbook into 10 weeks! It’ll be awesome though. My professor is a language maestra and native speaker from Brazil. She’s animated, fun and gets everyone engaged because she’s so smart! Que legal! (That’s Portuguese for cool!)

And Spanish 406! Bueno, I know that most people cringe if you combine the words advanced and grammar, but oh my gosh this class is the missing link! It is the key to all these little, tiny, almost inconsequential grammatical mysteries that still sometimes leave me scratching my head wondering, how DO I translate that to Spanish precisely? I mean, I’m finally studying the nuances of the language. This past year I feel I have reached a plateau, only really maintaining and yes, unconsciously enriching my knowledge of Spanish. But this class… oh yes, this is the next step up. This is the stuff that grammar geeks crave in any language. And it all begins with a simple sentence… una oración simple.

Today was the first day of my Latin American Studies seminar called Struggle, Voice, Justice: The Cultural Politics of Violence in Contemporary Latin America and it’s going to be amazing too. I had contemplated dropping a class this quarter, but I think all of my classes are fascinating, relevant, and I’m lucky to have the opportunity to work with these amazing professors–all of which are women this quarter (even my choir professors)!  I’m sure I will have moments throughout the quarter where I will hate myself for this decision to do 18 credits, but it will all be worthwhile in Spring when I’m studying Portuguese IN BRAZIL!!

Até logo!