This might be my last post till I return from Mexico on November 5. Here is our plan: today in Tucson in about an hour we of the Caravan will join local activists here for the annual Dia de los Muertos "pilgramage" - which is a 7-mile walk from a local church to the San Xavier Mission. I'm not sure exactly what it is all about but I believe the walk at least partly is symbolizing the walk of illegal immigrants across the Sonoran Desert coming from Sonora, Mexico to Arizona, USA.
After that we get on the road and head east down Interstate 10 to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where we are meeting some (or all?) of the other Caravans and spending the night. Then Sunday we head to El Paso, meet all the delegates and other activists for a border crossing in Juarez. From that point on we'll be staying in Mexico. My cell phone will stop working and I don't know if I'll have time to get on the Internet. Wireless access points are probably rather uncommon in Juarez.
On November 3 we head 5 hours south into Mexico to Chihuahua City, and then on the 5th we come back to El Paso. Then my next adventure, touring with my Bolivia videos, will begin.
I'm getting lots of good footage and I'm very excited about making a documentary about this Caravan and delegation. I understand that there are other filmmakers on the delegation as well, so maybe we could collaborate somehow.
Anyway, gotta go pack and get ready to go....
The Caravan continues, and has been quite an adventure. It kind of sucks that rain and cold has been following me since I left Portland. Today I woke up in this place that's hosting us in Tucson called Borderlinks and looked out the window to see foggy outside, and cold. And I mean thick, peasoup kind of fog. In Los Angeles and San Diego there were bizarrely heavy and unseasonal rains, and even as we drove across the desert yesterday to Phoenix it rained off and on, alternating with beautiful sunny spells. I heard it was snowing in Flagstaff already.
Is this El Niño? What do I have to do to get some nice hot weather?
Anyway, now to talk about the Caravan.
It has been proving to be quite the adventure. Yesterday especially was fraught with stress and weird mishaps. Some people on the trip are not used to hectic and stressful travelling. They are more the hippie back-to-the-land type (and I mean that not in a negative, derogatory way at all! I have fantasies about drastically changing my life and moving to some remote wilderness to grow vegetables. But when you do that and then you come back to Babylon, you have to be very prepared). So the very fast pace of this trip has been taking its toll on some, and the stress sometimes gets taken out on the rest of us, sadly.
Anyway, the events have been good, for the most part. In San Diego we had an amazing turnout at this big world music center. We were treated very well by the local organizers, as well, in terms of food and stuff. That afternoon we also went to a manifestaçion at the Mexican Consulate in San Diego. It was a big success, I think - the Consul came outside with his assistants to talk to us, because we wanted everyone to be present, and they said there wasn't enough room inside. He and his people were wearing very fine suits, better than any U.S. politicians or bureaucrats I've seen up close. The poor guy was really on the spot and visibly nervous and uncomfortable. We gave him studies from Amnesty International, a bunch of statistics, reports on very recent killings, and a recent article from the Washington Post about Juarez, which he seemed to be suprised about. He made all these stupid comments about how there was progess being made and how President Fox's new commission was an important first step. Jessica, our fearless leader from Mexico Solidarity Network, basically said no, the commission isn't doing anything, it's toothless. The guy was like a deer in the headlights. One other amusing thing was that as I filmed the whole thing, during the introductions the Consul turned to me and said "and who are you?" I kept shooting and just said "I'm with the Independent Media Center." He paused briefly, looking confused. He obviously had never heard of Indymedia. Then he just said "okay," turned away and his weaselly assistant took a photo of me with a tiny digital camera, and I taped him taking my photo.
The important thing with an action like that, as Jessica explained, is not what information we give him and or what we even say to him, or what he says to us, but what he says to his boss, President Fox. The idea is for Fox to hear about people in the U.S. showing up, in numbers, hear that we care very much about this issues and are going to keep pressuring him till he does something.
So yesterday we went to Phoenix, did our show and then immediately got back on the road and drove to Tucson, to avoid morning Phoenix rush hour, which is supposedly hellish. So at 10:30 at night we're half an hour away from Tucson and one of the vehicles runs out of gas. I go with Luma in the other truck to go down the road and get some. We eventually found a gas station that was open and that sold gasoline jugs and we brought a gallon back. Finally we got to our resting place here in Tucson by midnight - and we had skipped dinner.
It is only 8am and Jessica has already run off somewhere to do a TV interview. Ramona Morales, the mother from Juarez that is with us, has another interview at 9:30. Then at 2 we have an event at the university, and then the main one for the public at 6 tonite. This has been pretty much what every day has been like. Crazy hectic fast. I don't even like to travel this way. I know it's for the sake of the success of the Caravan, but I wish there was another way, a way to live values of peacefulness and awareness and care while also fulfilling the goals of the Caravan. The problem is always that time is money, I guess, and time is time. Every hour we relax is an hour not getting closer to an event, or to Juarez itself, or giving an interview, or what have you.
Well, at least I'm getting good footage. I kind of wish I was some kind of muckraker that could tape all the trials and tribulations we're going through too, and reveal some of the inner workings, so as to make the documentary a sort of drama with interpersonal tension and stuff. But I'm too nice of a guy to do that, and also I'm PART of the Caravan, not just covering it. I guess one might say I'm "embedded." Oh well.
Too many spam comments to deal with while travelling. When you only get an hour on the internet a day, if that, and 30 minutes is spent dealing with spam, that's not acceptable. so for now, no comments. if you need to get in touch, use email, if you know it, or my contact handy form.
Things are so rushed. I wish I had more time to report on what is going on as it happens. I wish I had time to post to multiple indymedia sites as we go. News is developing all the time. well, anyway, here are the Juarez Caravan Routes for you to look at.
We are rushing off to San Diego in about an hour....
I am typing this, offline, sitting in a meeting room at a Catholic retreat center called Casa de Maria, near Santa Barbara. It seems like there should be internet access here, but there is not, at least in this building. So I am typing this now and hopefully later today I will be able to post it. I’ll be at the UCLA campus this afternoon so I imagine I will get wireless access then
I am here because I am now part of the Caravan for Justice in Juarez and Chiuhuaua(sp?) City and this is the second day I’ve been on it, though it is the 8th day since it began in Seattle. We had an event in Santa Barbara last night at the Casa de la Raza, and we’ve been hosted for the night at this retreat center, which is beautiful. It’s in the middle of a grove of live oak trees, there’s a babbling brook and quiet paths that wind between the buildings and trees.
(update: now I’m at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown L.A.! The hotel has donated 2 rooms to the Caravan! there is wireless access here in the room but only if I sit on the floor by the bathroom. hilarious. They also appear to have given us the cheapest rooms they could, it’s pretty small and basic. my opinion of the Biltmore’s opulence has decreased today.... but hey, it’s better than sleeping on a floor in some activist’s tiny apartment or something...)
My involvement with the Caravan began sunday night, actually, with the caravan’s presentation in San Francisco at New College. It was a moving and inspiring event, with Ramona Morales, the mother of one of the many murdered women in Juarez, giving a detailed and personal testimonial of what happened to her daughter and what the situation is. The next morning I packed my bags and left Station 40, the wonderful collective housing warehouse space that hosted me for 3 days, and I walked a couple blocks over to meet the rest of the Caravan. We got on the road at about 8am and headed south on the 101 (or as non-Californians say, “highway 101”).
On this leg of the Caravan, the west coast leg, are 2 cars carrying 7 people and a cat. There’s Ramona; me; Jessica, who is a staffperson at the Mexico Solidarity Network; Swaneagle, who lives in rural northeastern Washington; her 11-year old daugther Taina; Luma, from Arcata; Luma’s cat, Ruba; and Nicole, from San Francisco.
It’s exciting and very interesting participating. The drives each day are not a large number of hours at all, and with such interesting people to talk to the time goes quickly. Ramona knows no English at all, and so I am in the position once again to be wishing that I knew more Spanish, and kicking myself that I have not really practiced my Spanish or learned anything else since I returned from South America 7 months ago. I hate myself for this, and I find myself thinking constantly of it, and how I would like to do something drastic to force myself to learn more, like go to Chiapas right after the Caravan and my tour are over, and study at the spanish school in Oventic.
Last night at the Santa Barbara event this desire to entiendo español was even stronger because it was attended by almost all latinos. In fact only 2 people in the audience out of about 80 admitted to needing translation into English of Ramona’s speech. Of course I do know enough Spanish to get some things, like the chants that were being chanted afterward during the march and vigil down the street (like “women united, will never be divided”, etc), which was beautiful and inspiring, to see 50 or 60 people with candles, out in force in their community, showing their solidarity with the women of Juarez. The event was so different from the one in San Francisco, which was much more academic and white.
I was and will be trying to cover this event and all the events on the Caravan and Delgation as a videographer and independent journalist, but also trying to be part of them, to bear witness and stand with the others in solidarity. I believe it is so important for men to be part of this too. I was surprised to be the only man on this leg of the Caravan, but I’m glad I can be presente. I feel as though perhaps I am not emotionally prepared, as a man, as a white male middle-class privileged activist, to do this, but I am trying and I’m sure I am learning.
Gotta plug my most recent video again. Only about 9 days till the election - this little 3-minute thing is my look at people's fears.
Great article in the New York Times Magazine called Without a Doubt, about Bush's religiousness and how it has effected his administration. Pretty scary stuff.
Today started with a disaster that happened with one simple mistake that could have potentially been tremendously costly. I picked up my iBook rather quickly and forgot it was plugged in, and evidently the shear force was enough to damage the power adapter's plug. So it wouldn't charge the computer. At the time I didn't know whether it was the adapter or the jack on the computer. If it was the adapter it would have been 80 bucks to replace; if it was the jack, there's no telling how much it would have been to repair, and who knows if there would have been time before I have to leave town on Monday. I was freaking out and furious with myself for such a stupid blunder, starting to panic and wondering what I could do.
I decided to go over to Postal Station 40 where some Indymedia folks live that I met the other day. I knew that Ali had a powerbook and by plugging in his adapter I could at least test to see whether my problem was with my adapter or my computer. When I got there I found out the possessive verb was definitely past tense for Ali - his powerbook had been stolen 2 days ago! Someone had snuck in through the adjoining yoga studio somehow and grabbed it. He was bummed big time about it, of course, but, he still had the adapter, and obviously it was of no use to him now, so he gave it to me. I plugged it in and the iBook started charging! I was in luck, doubly so. I felt horrible to be benefiting from Ali's misfortune, and what a bizarre coincidence. But given that both unlucky events had happened, it was some sort of strange good luck on my part. I was saved from a world of hurt by his even bigger world of hurt.
I hung out for awhile there and then I went with Ali and Liam to distribute the new issue of Faultlines around town. Faultlines is the Indybay newspaper which comes out monthly. We dropped off little piles of them at cafes and stores around the Haight and the Mission, and went downtown to bring them to striking hotel workers, because there's a front page article about the strike in this issue. It felt great to show our solidarity by bringing them this media that reports on their situation, and see their faces light up when they saw the story. Some even recognized people in the photo. They've been locked out for 3 weeks now and continue to picket every day.
Now tonight, in about 2 hours, I have my screening of the Bolivia videos at ATA. I feel pretty exhausted after running around delivering papers, and I still need to print out some recent news stories about Bolivia to have on hand at the screening, and do some other preparations, and eat dinner. whew. well, wish me luck....
I've been a fan of Eugene Chadbourne's music for about 15 years now. He recently played in Portland and reminded me that of the 10 or so times I've seen him play he has always been amazing. He had a profound effect on my guitar playing and musical conciousness, and I've always admired the way he was very political while at the same time exploring the outer limits of freely improvised music. His work swings between psychedelic noise-freakouts to hilarious, biting, satiric commentaries on war and politicians. ( a great example of this is his recent song "New New New War War War")
So I was unsurprised but very pleased to see his article in the current issue of Signal to Noise Magazine, which has a cover topic of "The Artist's Role in Waging Peace."
Eugene's written some other great essays with political or social relevance. This one is cool for the perspective he offers as a citizen and artist who is getting on in years, because he looks back on his life and all the presidental candidates who have run in elections and lost or won that he remembers, and who he and his friends and family voted for or against.
Then he says:
I mention all this... to establish the history I have experienced as well as provide a backdrop for stating that I see differences between all these people. I talk to people that don't, though, some of whom are really wondering if they should vote at all. The present compelling arguments to the effect that all politicians, all rulers of all countries, are total motherfuckers. However, as for them convincing me that I should be giving up the act of strolling down to the nearby recreation center and voting for various public offices, from sheriff to president, I'm sorry. Voting is something I would really miss, just like the political side of my music.[...]
It is a concern, although not really a surprise, when the type of people that read or write for a magazine such as Signal to Noise express skepticism about the process of voting, based on these kinds of issues. Surely there is a difference between John Kerry and George Bush II - surely there is, if we are expected to understand the difference between two guys who both play free jazz on the alto saxophone!
He goes on to talk about Kerry's past as a Vietnam veteran against the war, and says
... the existence of [Vietname Veterans Against the War] was one of the most important developments in turning America against this horrifying war... perhaps Kerry will revisit this important contribution to our society on a grander scale if he gets elected... if not, we are going to need a hell of a lot of musical relief. I'm ready.
I've been a fan of Eugene Chadbourne's music for about 15 years now. He recently played in Portland and reminded me that of the 10 or so times I've seen him play he has always been amazing. He had a profound effect on my guitar playing and musical conciousness, and I've always admired the way he was very political while at the same time exploring the outer limits of freely improvised music. His work swings between psychedelic noise-freakouts to hilarious, biting, satiric commentaries on war and politicians. ( a great example of this is his recent song "New New New War War War")
So I was unsurprised but very pleased to see his article in the current issue of Signal to Noise Magazine, which has a cover topic of "The Artist's Role in Waging Peace."
Eugene's written some other great essays with political or social relevance. This one is cool for the perspective he offers as a citizen and artist who is getting on in years, because he looks back on his life and all the presidental candidates who have run in elections and lost or won that he remembers, and who he and his friends and family voted for or against.
Then he says:
I mention all this... to establish the history I have experienced as well as provide a backdrop for stating that I see differences between all these people. I talk to people that don't, though, some of whom are really wondering if they should vote at all. The present compelling arguments to the effect that all politicians, all rulers of all countries, are total motherfuckers. However, as for them convincing me that I should be giving up the act of strolling down to the nearby recreation center and voting for various public offices, from sheriff to president, I'm sorry. Voting is something I would really miss, just like the political side of my music.[...]
It is a concern, although not really a surprise, when the type of people that read or write for a magazine such as Signal to Noise express skepticism about the process of voting, based on these kinds of issues. Surely there is a difference between John Kerry and George Bush II - surely there is, if we are expected to understand the difference between two guys who both play free jazz on the alto saxophone!
He goes on to talk about Kerry's past as a Vietnam veteran against the war, and says
... the existence of [Vietname Veterans Against the War] was one of the most important developments in turning America against this horrifying war... perhaps Kerry will revisit this important contribution to our society on a grander scale if he gets elected... if not, we are going to need a hell of a lot of musical relief. I'm ready.
Organizing this screening tour of the southwest continues to be a big pain in the ass. There are a host of reasons. Email problems on both sides, lack of equipment, contacts, experience... I'm starting to think it was a mistake to even try. If it comes together, will it even be worth it? I'm even thinking of calling the whole thing off, it's such a mess. Although I know that some people in Arizona and New Mexico have been putting time and effort into helping me out and I would hate to let them down. But I still have zero, that's NO, confirmed shows set up, just a bunch of maybes.
Right now it looks like:
But I don't really know if ANY of those will really happen.
Tonite is the show here in San Francisco. It will be my litmus test. However, I'm not sure what the test will mean. If it's successful it will encourage me to do these other shows. At the same time if it's REALLY successful maybe I won't NEED to do any more Bolivia fundraising and I won't NEED to do the other shows. However, I doubt the latter. I will be happy if 30 people show up at ATA tonight.
In a way I just want to cancel the tour and go to Guadalajara instead, y apprendo mas español.
Yesterday was a day of making contact or almost-contact with people, here in San Francisco, across the Bay, and elsewhere. I got a call from someone at the Flagstaff Activist Network, which I've been trying to contact for 2 weeks about doing a show in Flagstaff. Later I met some bay area indymedia people at their cool collective dwelling, which used to be a huge postal station. Then I met some cool people at the Longhaul Infoshop in Berkeley when I went there to watch the documentary "The End of Suburbia" -- which is an amazing and very disturbing look at the fact that the world is running out of oil and we (as in, the "developed world") are going to need to start learning to live very differently. Then I got a call from another bay area indymedia videographer. Then I found out that rabble is in town and wants to meet. And I heard from a friend of a friend who is helping me set up a show in Santa Fe.
So, I feel good, connecting, and seeing connections start to bear fruit.
Well I guess this may be old news, but if you haven't seen it yet it's worth the bandwidth to check out Jon Stewart's brutal exchange with CNN Hosts
of Crossfire. So totally awesome, like something you just dream all your life of seeing someday on national television, where somebody in the media biz somehow slips through the armor and just explodes with the truth. I wonder if he's suffered any career repercussions....
So I'm up early way before my host and I go down the street to the cool café to get a snack and caffeine and get on the internet, and the place is totally full. There is not a single table free, and of course half of them have laptops on them. It's 9 am on a Sunday morning and people are ensconced in their neighborhood café, studying or doing their bills or downloading porn, I don't know. I was so exasperated. What are all these people doing getting up so early, in the Mission, on a Sunday? I shouldn't complain much because 3 more blocks away is another café that is just as good, with plenty of room, just not as trendy. So here I am. But I just had to vent about that....
Yesterday I flew to San Francisco and immediately found out about a screening of videos by Alex Rivera at Galeria de la Raza, in the Mission. Alex does amazing work that is mostly concerned with immigration and border issues. It's very informative and hard-hitting yet really humorous at the same time.
There was really good discussion afterward, with lots of really informed and thoughtful comments from the audience. It's great to just drop into town and be surrounded by such great people and work.
The last piece was a longer documentary work about Mexicans living in the U.S. who not only send money back to their home towns (remittances) but who organize in order to pool larger amounts of money and do public works in those towns. One group in New Jersey organized and funded the building of a baseball stadium in a little town in the state of Pueblo.
In the discussion afterward Alex said that remittances total about 15 billion dollars, which is second only to oil in Mexico's economy!! My friend José then mentioned that the Mexican government is underwriting IMF loans with this money.
Mexico is an amazing place, and more specifically, Mexico and its relation to its big neighbor to the north. Those money figures are even more interesting in light of what I've recently read about the drug industry: that it accounts for $30 billion in Mexico's economy - more than the oil industry!
So here we have two "wars," two issues that are "hot button" topics to politicians in the U.S., the War on Drugs and the War on Illegal Immigrants, and they are both total lies. If either of these wars were ever "won" by the U.S. - which is impossible anyway, but let's say they were - Mexico's economy would seriously crash.
One day to go and I'm off away from home for a month. The planning and the wrapping up stuff here has been driving me crazy, as I think I've already blogged.
Anyway, here is my schedule so far:
October 16 Saturday: fly to San Francisco.
October 17 Sunday: a friend's wedding.
October 21 Thursday: Screening the Bolivia videos at ATA.
Then on the 24th I hook up with the Juarez Caravan:
October 24 San Francisco, CA: 7-9PM, New College of California, Cultural
Center, 766 Valencia St, San Francisco
October 25 Santa Barbara, CA: 6PM, Event at La Casa de la Raza, 601 E.
Montecito, 805/965-8581
October 26 Los Angeles, CA: 6-9 pm, UCLA Public Policy Building, Room #1246,
Parking: Next to Lot 3, contact: ccjohnso@ucla.edu or 310-709-1864
October 27 San Diego, CA: 2PM: Protest at the Mexican Consulate, Downtown
San Diego, India Street.1549 India Street, SD 92101 619-231-8414. 7-10PM:
World Beat Center,2100 Park Blvd, 92101-4752
October 28 Phoenix, AZ: 7PM Phoenix College Theater in central Phoenix, 15th
ave and Thomas Rd, joseph2627@yahoo.com, 602/665-2450
October 29 Tucson, AZ: 6PM, Armory Park Senior Center, 220 S. 5th Ave,
520/770-1373, kat@derechoshumanosaz.net
October 30 Tucson, AZ: 8:30AM, St. John's Church Parking lot to San Xavier
Mission, Caravanistas will participate in Dia de los Muertos Border
Pilgramage with local human rights groups. Caravan then travels to El Paso.
October 31 - November 5 - Delegation to Juarez and Chihuahua City
Then my tour of the Bolivia videos starts:
nov 6 el paso -> santa fe
nov 7 or 8 show in santa fe???
nov 9 show in albuquerque at Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice.
nov 11 flagstaff show ??
nov 13 phoenix show?
nov 14 tucson show ??
Then I think I'll fly back to portland from Tucson. I was thinking about L.A. but decided I don't want to go to L.A. I'll be lucky if I get all these dates figured out.
I don't know why I make my life so hard. Well, no, I do, I just sometimes wish I didn't do it.
I've been spending a crazy amount of time trying to organize this tour of the southwest. calling people over and over and over, emailing, etc etc. this is why bands hire bookers, i guess. i've been thinking about calling off the whole damn thing.
the stress of this and all the other things i'm trying to get done before i leave in 2 days is likely the cause of my feeling sick tonite. like, fever and splitting headache sick. godammit. this always happens when i travel, i get sick either right before i leave or just at the start. it's gotta be because of the stress. i need to relax and get some sleep and just start lowering my ambitions.
For the last few days indyblogs has been down. They had a hard drive failure. It's odd because I sort of felt like people looking at indyblogs were my main audience. I don't know how many people look at this blog but I feel like most of them get here via indyblogs. So, it's weird.
Excellent article about the situation in Juárez and that situation as an example of a problem throughout Latin America.
great quote:
“We have a lot of people here who are like the Taliban,” she said. “They don’t make us wear burqas, but they kill us. It’s part of the despotism of the border region. They also don’t want to let us into factories to educate women. They say we might organize unions, and they’re deathly afraid of authentic unions.”
Also, here's a great page of Coco Fusco's with lots of information and photos on Juárez. There's a link to page about a FloodNet action coming up to demand a stop to the femicide, October 31 and November 2.
Wow, I just discovered this great site,
WhiteHouseTapes.org . An online archive of speeches and other recorded conversations of 6 presidents, from Roosevelt up through Nixon. Wow. What a great resource for samplehounds and researchers.
Two different incidents have made me think "where the hell have you been?" today. Maybe I shouldn't go into it in too much detail, but in general I just am so surprised when people I thought were aware, politically, show themselves to be clueless. Stuff about free trade and neoliberalism that I just sort of take for granted in this little hippie radical bubble i'm in, and someone comes along and says, "oh wow, i hadn't heard of that, gosh, that's horrible." And I'm like.... "ummm... duh!"
On the other hand, I guess people who are against voting or who think there was never really a moon landing probably think that about me. But that's not a valid analogy, because you can point right to the thousands of pages of NAFTA, for example, and it's obvious that some of it is really really bad for humans. That's not theory, it's demonstrable fact. It's much harder to prove we never landed on the moon.
I just wish some people would spend as much time learning about oppression in its many forms as they spend learning new recipes to cook. If all the people who talk about that excellent salmon bisque they had at Chez Disposable Income spent that time and energy and money actually trying to make the fucking world a better place, we'd be a lot further along, I am sure.
In a way, the upcoming election is just a big big distraction, a spectacle that is taking up a lot of attention that would be directed elsewhere.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those folks who is against voting. I've always voted and I think for this election it is even more important to vote, and I've talked to a lot of people who feel the same way, some who have never voted in a federal election who feel that they must this time. But voting is just the base level of involvement in civil society. You gotta do at least that, but you should do a lot more.
Lately it seems like the "a lot more" is eclipsed by watching debates and other election-related crap.
I've been involved with setting up and promoting 2 screenings of a film about the disappeared, murdered women in Juarez, Señorita Extraviada. The first one was this tuesday, which conflicted with the vice-presidential debate. About 8 people showed up. The second one we stupidly scheduled for the same night as the last presidential debate, next Wednesday.
And every activist meeting I go to people say things like "oh the turnout was good considering it's election season." sigh.
In related news, PriceGrabber has a special election 2004 section. At first I saw it and thought it was just a crass new area for selling election-related crap, like stickers and t-shirts and yard signs, or something. But no, it's actually pretty freaking useful and almost radical in terms of excellent uses for web technology - it allows you to search for candidates and find out how much money they've raised for their campaign. Brilliant!! And it shows that Kerry has now raised more than Bush. That's pretty surprising.
Also today Mark Morford, that favorite spastic columnist of mine, writes along these lines, and expands out to an even bigger picture. But I swear I was intending to blog this general idea even before I saw his article! really!!
I wrote a few months back about my involvement in Collaborative Technologies. I was so hopeful back then.
Now, well, I'm not quite at "regret mode" yet, but I'm pretty disillusioned and disappointed. The project that was the proof of concept is STILL not done, just keeps stretching on and on. The project management has been dismal, and I have not been paid more than 10% of what I'm owed, in 5 months of work.
My travel plans were dependent on being paid for this by now. So I'm really upset. I'll write more about this later. I can't think straight enough to really analyze what went wrong and why.
I just discoverd this great site about subtitling and other international accessibility issues for radical video. It's called
SubVideo
Couldn't come at a better time, as I have finished adding spanish subtitles to a major video of mine, which makes it my first bi-lingual video. Exciting.
www.BloodForOil.org
is a great repository of anti-Bush, anti-war graphics, for signs, posters, stencils, etc. very cool.
Yesterday I was pointed to this video and song called (didn't know I was) unamerican. It's not the sort of music I generally like - it's sort of folksy, smarmy stuff - but I was suprisingly moved while watching the video. And the "Waking Life"-style animation in some parts was pretty cool.