My experiences, thoughts and their expression: mi vida

As the hours countdown for the welcoming of the New Year, and with it many longings yet to be expressed - silent, unmentioned, unstated, tentative, incipient, quiet, but deep down real - a quick review of what could be, presents itself. Many of these are now daily newspaper, radio, TV, and Internet themes. Wars in Iraq, and the Afghanistan countryside. Africa, and its multiple national government/s crises; dislocated populations; merciless killings, hunger and starvation, AIDS, women and children abuses. The Middle East and the vicious - as in circular also - cycles of fear and revenge. Eye for an eye. Oppression, repression. Loss of hope leading to rage-blind sacrifices of individual lives. Economic radical changes throughout the world. Structurally deep changes. The tipping point to possibilities. The end of suburban ism in the States? Transformation of the car and its dependent omnipresent transportation subsystems as an integral part of modern society. The notion of capitalism cha...

This jpeg feels right. In so many ways. The year, 2008, is getting to a close. Soon, in a few hours, we will be hearing all the celebrations of the new year: TV's booming countdown screams; computer monitors in their basso:squeaky tones foretelling the future thru some acclaimed pundit's interview; living room soft music in the houses of those about to leave for a party, and many, many other variations of the theme. For many, the year has gone well. For so many, the year has NOT gone well. Both could be the riders on the horse. I was thinking of those that immigrated here in search for better horizons. Where are they now? How are they now? Now that work has shrunk, or disappeared. What to do? No roots here...maybe. But return to what? If it is bad here, how can it be there ? Hold on? Wait? Or, "Let's get past the " octavitas ", and then we'll go out and it'll be better", the faces across Home Depot seem to say. It is cold this winter, and then it...

Have a great holy day: lots of peace and joy!

Themes someway repeat themselves for some reason, many times - initially - unknown to 'the observer', that is, if one is 'aware'. Well, reading the AJC this morning, the local newspaper, I came across an article by Jonathan Todres, law professor at Georgia State University, titled " Human rights are fundamental to all ". Coincidence...? Já! Just a few hours ago this was the theme, one of the themes?, blogged about. " Concern for others was also at the heart of the origins of a milestone event commemorated earlier this month. On Dec. 10, the world celebrated the 60th. anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.", the author writes. Note the wording: ' concern for others is also at the heart ...'. Not the head. Not a reference to jurisprudence. No. In our culture, a reference to 'heart stuff' is synonymous with touchy-feely, bland, no substance, weak, pusillanimous, Hollywood, etc., etc. Note also the the wording that f...

I am participating in this year-long program, with Belgian and American (US) counterparts, and thus learning of each other's countries (US and Belgium ) and their position on Migration, Immigration, and the many sub themes that come out of that. The program is hosted by CDS International and the King Ba udouin Foundation, based in Brussels . There are approximately 42 of us, twelve US practitioners representing the cities of Atlanta , Denver and other Colorado cities, Detroit , and S eattle , while the 30 Belgian practitioners come primarily from Antwerp , Liege , and Brussels . Ref: http://www.culturalcrossing.org/program/index.html In this trip we will focus on Belgium 's Common Basic Principles, a peek view of which we had in the days before making the trip over. It is my understanding now, as I write, that these make up a framework adopted by the Justice and Home Affairs Council (the European Commission) in Nov 19th, 2004, and these were there given the...

On our visit to Brugge, Dec 6th. '08, we inadvertently walked into The Church of Our Lady. From the street level it was just another entrance...a building into which flocks of tourists were entering, and so, we followed. I had mentioned previously that tourists were gathered around an altar, looking at something, which called my attention and I grabbed Sherry's hand and started leading us there. My surprise when I saw this... I started taking more photos, from multiple angles, positioning my camera against th e railing, so that it would not shake and thus blur the image. I wanted to know more about what I was seeing, for I had a sense that this was important. I needed to hear a tour guide, someone that would put words to what I was seeing! A huge easel had a description in multiple languages, and waiting patiently as other tourists occupied the space in front of it, I took various shots to capture the  narrative. This work dates back to 1504 - 5! It is the work of Michaelange...

A n e-mail from Janvieve Williams, from the Latin American & Caribbean Center http://lacccenter.org/blog/about/ , woke me up to the fact that today the UN marks the day as International Migrants Day . Going to the UN web site... http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=29351&Cr=migrants&Cr1=# , the importance of the marking becomes vivid: "...stressing the need to ensure the dignity and human rights of the more than 200 million people worldwide who cross borders to live and work, and who make a vital contribution to their societies." 200 million! How many of those are here in Georgia? So, this is a world-wide phenomenon: not only circumscribed to 'us' in "America", feeling the need to protect our selves, our culture, our highways, our jobs from "those illegals from South of the Border"... And then these people at the UN have the 'gall' to bring up the 'need to ensure their dignity and human rights'? Aren't they...

It is Saturday, December 6th, and we are on our way to Brugge, or Bruges in English, or Brujas, in Spanish. We are enjoying the early morning train ride, in a spacious cabin, clean, with large panoramic windows, thru which the morning sun makes itself present, as if making sure we are finally awake. The ride is “ a trip”: exciting, another adventure, traveling along unknown paths, depending on the mercy of English speaking commuters and/or train station staff for guidance.  A quick Wikipedia search provides some highlights: Bruges ( Dutch : Brugge) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium . It is located in the northwest of the country. Along with a few other canal-based northern cities, it is sometimes referred to as "The Venice of the North ". Check out this link for more information on 'Brugge': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruges .  Bruges was greatly expanded in the 1970’s and early 1980’s and has...

Catching up with life, as it seems to whiz by so fast these days. We have returned from a very neat trip, and have started catching up with so many other fronts: a box full of mail (mostly commercial, junk mail, that is , and Yes!, a whole carton, maybe 3 X 3 X 2, that a friend and neighbor, Chris, was so nice to collect our mail while we were gone. I wish there were a way to "unsubscribe" from all that junk mail, and sales offerings!).  Another front, work, with many e-mails and tasks to catch up with. House cleaning and picking up, washing and drying of the clothes taken on the trip, putting away the luggage, and restoring the house to its original state, etc., etc. On top of all that, the season with its multiple drives, activities, invitations from dear ones, calls, mail, cards, etc. So the strategy has been...one thing at a time. Just focusing on one thing, getting that done, or addressed, and moving to the next one, till balance is re-established. It is...@#$%^&*......

It is early Saturday morn', but as regards yesterday, Friday...wow! The good news, the luggage was found somewhere. Sherry was able to track it thru the wonders of connectivity. Upon arriving at the hotel at the end of the day, they informed us; how appreciative I was to be able to think of waring a different set of clothes...but mind you, I am not protesting! We took a tour of the city. The heavens were coming down with lots of constant water showers. and it was cold... We saw highlights of the city, including the Atomium...neat!, and the EU's G overnment building -  fantasti c! Saw Brussel's Arc de Triumph (sp?) - reminded me of WW II. On its side there was an airplane museum with all sorts of neat airplanes: the mist of rain, the dreary looking set tin g, and the war planes, felt awkward. Got out of there quick! Went for a nice Belgian Waffle: the local version of Waffle House! wow! A waffle, with bananas, chocolate (melted on top of it)...and a great cup of coffee. What...

It has been an adventure. I am writing from our room in a super neat hotel Sherry came across, with a superb Krups cup of coffee in my hand. The hotel used to be a Dominican convent, and it is now a Carlton property...pretty up there! Well, a day later, after the start of the travels, we arrived. ATL, the busiest airport in the world...? (I would have called Chicago, or Heathrow busyiest...) foretold us problems were 'in the air'. When we arrived at the gate in Atlanta, the posting read: FLT 4443 leaves at 1:15 pm. It is now 2:00 pm". I read that and laughed, and told Sherry. She did not understand my humor. I replied that "we were already gone; we were not there", for it was 2 pm and our flt left at 1pm".  Silence. We went to get a bite to eat: the great and healthy 'junior cheeseburger' availed from an ATM look alike machine. The wonders of technology... Well, our plane did not leave at 2:00, though we started boarding then. It was more like...

It is Dec 2, and tomorrow we will be leaving for Belgium, arriving at Brussels the morning of the 4 of Dec. A few days later, a meeting starts - reason for the travel to Belgium - for a 4 day conference on Immigration. This is hosted by the Kingdom of Brussels and the State Dept., thru a facilitating agency : CDS International. A group of Americans and Belgians have been sharing for a year thru visits to each other's sites, thru talks, reports, and plain sharing, their knowledge and experiences in their work, which is intimately associated with immigration and its consequences in today's society. Belgium is intent in the integration of society, addressing the needs of myriad of groups and the problems associated with that. Generally, we in the States are concerned with the issues around border crossing and the presence of 'unfamiliar' faces in our neighborhoods, and dealing with ways of making "those illegals" "go away". Recognizing that the problem ...