The Vaina I’m up to

Hey everybodys,
Welp. I moved. But only closer to the sea. We?re in the service part of the program right now, meaning no more classes in a baking room. Or spanish classes in a beautiful backyard. But life is still good.

I?m working with an organization called Justicia Global.?They?re a very intentional group of students, professors, and others who are basically working for Global Justice, in case you couldn?t figure out their name. I?m currently living in the communal house in Santo Domingo, 3 blocks from the UASD (the first University in the Americas and now has 150,000 students) and 3 blocks from the sea. Each day I have some readings (Chomskey, Koten, Shiva, for those interested) about the systems that are currently in place, and how they came to be. I?m learning a lot about how poverty comes to happen, and how neoliberalism makes it worse (if you don?t know what neoliberalism is, look it up). So I read those by the sea, waves crashing and lizards crawling and yesterday a huge parade for independence day going by. I then discuss the readings with someone from Justicia Global, including professors and others who know quite a bit.

I won?t be here for long though. In about a week, I?ll be moving to the campo in San Cristobal. It?s a very rural area of the country, and very poor. I spent last weekend there, and was impressed by the hospitality of everybody (two suppers in one night…) and the beauty of the mountains. I already feel like I have family there. There, I will be working with some people from the organization on starting a series of documentaries about their work. They have the skills and interests already, and I?ll just be helping them make those into something. We?ll be working on a documentary on Convites, a collaboration of farmers. Every week, farmers get together to sing, drum, eat, but most importantly to work the land of one their fellow farmers- for free. Evidently this used to happen a lot, but now this specific Convite is probably the only one left.
So that?s more or less what I?m up to. I?m enjoying the college crowd life of the city right now. Last night went to a showing of a Cuban film, earlier in the week hung out in a park until late, tonight maybe a free jazz concert. But tomorrow, out to the Campo for the day, where I will likely be given a very big plate of yuca, boiled plaintains, eggs, salami, rice and beans, and expected to finish it. (Oh the humanity).
By the way, if you happen to be in Brownsburg, Indiana on March 10, Fuerza will be showing at the Indiana Actors Film Festival. Also, on March 25, Fuerza will be shown at the East Lansing (Michigan) Film Festival. So you know, road trip. I can?t?make it.
Enjoy life (and drop me a note). And check out the map.
Posted in D.R. 2007, old blog

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

*

Apps

ChinStr.apps is a niche hobbyist app development company, specializing in apps for birders and homebrewers and in making Big Data relevant. Read more about ChinStr.apps.