314: The Return, or Why Chile is Complicated
Somehow I felt like I already posted about my return... Must've been a dream; oh well...
The trip down actually took every single hour of Sunday, very little of which I slept, and all of which I spent either standing in the cold or on buses taking me all down this goddamned state and all across the municipalities of the greater LA area.
Yes.
Well, the good part of this is, I figured out (finally) how to get up to Pasadena, so tomorrow I get to visit Ryan up at Cal Tech. Much fun will ensure, knowing him...:P (This is a rather opaque in-joke, I know it...)
Meanwhile, my JanTerm class is Politics of Diversity in Latin America: Race, Class and Gender (again, YES), and tomorrow is my first-ever group presentation, on Chile. Which, btw, while looking at first homogenous, does in fact have a fascinating, if tilted, history. I found out more about the futility of politics (even when your president is female) in propogating social progression than I ever deemed psychologically safe, and the ways in which Latin American countries are in some ways more democratic than the U.S. Scary when you think of the unstable state they are in and the general suffering of their people. Not to mention the iron-clad grip of upper-class economic interests--maybe not so different from the US after all?
Okay, I got get some dinner at the Spot now. They made a mean chicken quesedilla. Oh, and did I mention the demographics of my group? One Mexican and one Hong Kong girl. Dontchya just love diverse campuses? Oh, and you know what I actually hate? Norden (our professor) is fond of asking us questions in lecture that she actually wants us to answer, and people just stare at her. Dead silence. I hate it! I always raise my hand. Meh. Makes me look better (and by that, I mean smarter). Which I'm not, necessarily, than most of these kids, but I am more vocal. Though not obnoxious as my grou-mate Chin, apparently. *shrug* People seem to like me then, don't view me as a "know-it-all". Go figure. This mean I make good teacher now? XP
(Oh, and my icon is even *more* appropriate, as we read an article on marianismo... look it up. Ramifications of Latin American gender roles? Even more stratified, complex, and amibiguous than in the U.S. Sooo glad I'm taking this class. :)
The trip down actually took every single hour of Sunday, very little of which I slept, and all of which I spent either standing in the cold or on buses taking me all down this goddamned state and all across the municipalities of the greater LA area.
Yes.
Well, the good part of this is, I figured out (finally) how to get up to Pasadena, so tomorrow I get to visit Ryan up at Cal Tech. Much fun will ensure, knowing him...:P (This is a rather opaque in-joke, I know it...)
Meanwhile, my JanTerm class is Politics of Diversity in Latin America: Race, Class and Gender (again, YES), and tomorrow is my first-ever group presentation, on Chile. Which, btw, while looking at first homogenous, does in fact have a fascinating, if tilted, history. I found out more about the futility of politics (even when your president is female) in propogating social progression than I ever deemed psychologically safe, and the ways in which Latin American countries are in some ways more democratic than the U.S. Scary when you think of the unstable state they are in and the general suffering of their people. Not to mention the iron-clad grip of upper-class economic interests--maybe not so different from the US after all?
Okay, I got get some dinner at the Spot now. They made a mean chicken quesedilla. Oh, and did I mention the demographics of my group? One Mexican and one Hong Kong girl. Dontchya just love diverse campuses? Oh, and you know what I actually hate? Norden (our professor) is fond of asking us questions in lecture that she actually wants us to answer, and people just stare at her. Dead silence. I hate it! I always raise my hand. Meh. Makes me look better (and by that, I mean smarter). Which I'm not, necessarily, than most of these kids, but I am more vocal. Though not obnoxious as my grou-mate Chin, apparently. *shrug* People seem to like me then, don't view me as a "know-it-all". Go figure. This mean I make good teacher now? XP
(Oh, and my icon is even *more* appropriate, as we read an article on marianismo... look it up. Ramifications of Latin American gender roles? Even more stratified, complex, and amibiguous than in the U.S. Sooo glad I'm taking this class. :)