Soapbox for Chris Stevens

Reading: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins

Libyan child with a sign reading " Sorry People of America this
not the Behavior of our ISLAM and Profit"

The recent attacks on the American Consulate which resulted in the death of four American weighs heavy on the Peace Corps community. Not only does an attack on American citizens abroad strike a little too close to home, Ambassador Chris Stevens was as a returned Peace Corps volunteer who had served Morocco. But in light of all of that (and the sound bits, rumors, responses, etc.), it is important that we remember the difference between the actions of a few individuals and how we project our reaction to those onto an entire community. It would be unfair to judge the entire Christian community because of the recent shootings in Colorado and Wisconsin, assuming that is, that the culprits where Christian. (It is interesting to note that the religious practices on non-Muslim murderers is seldom mentioned in mainstream media these days.) Likewise, it would be unfair to presume the same for the greater Muslim community. That is how we end up in endless wars and unsolvable conflicts. It would seem that the citizens of Benghazi wanted to make that known as well.

And since I'm already standing on my soap box, I will leave you all with this -

Reading: Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy

Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción, Cuenca

Since I have been spending a fair amount of time in mass while at the same time reading Joyce and Tolstoy, both who write a great deal about religion, I figured I’d leave you all with this nice Tolstoy passage from Resurrection. It seems so fitting for Catholicism here.

And none of those present … seemed conscious of the fact that this Jesus, whose name the priest repeated such a great number of times, whom he praised with all these curious expressions, had forbidden the very things that were being done there: that he had not only prohibited this meaningless much speaking and the blasphemous incantation over the bread and wine, but had also, in the clearest words, forbidden men to call other men their masters or to pray in temples; had taught that every one should pray in solitude; had forbidden to erect temples, saying that he had come to destroy them and that one should worships, not in a temple, but in spirit and in truth; and, above all, that not only had he forbidden to judge, to imprison, to torment, to execute men, as was done here, but had even prohibited any kind of violence, saying that he had come to give freedom to the captives.

That is all.

Two Months In

Reading: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

Main street, only street, Chimbo de Venecia

Seeing as I have been in site for a full two months now, I figured I should probably give some time to explain what I have actually been doing for the last two months in Chimbo de Venecia. Pictures included.

My official project from Peace Corps was to work as a liaison between the NGO ACDI/VOCA and the local ag-organization of cacao farmers in the community. However, in typical Peace Corps fashion, ACDI/VOCA has effectively lost all of their funding for the region of Ecuador that I am in and the ag-organization that they had been hoping for me to work with in essentially non-existent. Fortunately, my counterpart/host dad is the closest thing Ecuador could produce to the Energizer Bunny, which has left me with a handful of small projects to occupy my time with these last two months. Yet, I still have to start my CAT tools… :)

Lost In Translation

Reading: How To Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons

One of the last Spanish classes I took was one on how to work through the art of translating. Basicamente, the gist of the class is that translation is quite difficult, especially when trying to convey the nuances of a culture. This can create a whole host of humorous situations, so others that are frustrating and then a handful of others that are just unfortunate (watching Blade 4 with subtitles). And so I give you – Things That Translate and Things That Don’t:

Translates: Harry Potter Movies
Ecuadorian kids seem to be just as infatuated with HP as Americans (not limited to children). Consequently, I’ve watched HP 1-3 and 7p1 in the last two months. Luckily, it seems to be working as a great integration tool, plus it’s a pleasant reminder that I can actually understand Spanish even though I still don’t understand the coastal butchering of the language.

Doesn’t Translate: The Idea of Reading the Harry Potter Books
Most of us in my generation grew up eagerly anticipating each new release of one of the HP novels. So when they finally hit the big screen, we knew exactly what was going to happen – the movies were just buttresses to the vivid imagery that enchanted us in print. However, the thought of reading a HP novel is completely foreign to most Ecuadorians. Perhaps this is due to the fact that a culture of reading is much more prevalent in the United States then it is in Ecuador. Books here are crazy expensive and I’ve only had one encounter of leisure reading since I’ve been here. This is bad news for HP because not only is British humor lost in translation from English to Spanish, most of the gritty details are lost in the translation from text to film.