Desapego

"En todas las almas, como en todas las casas, además de fachada, 
hay un interior escondido"

Raul Brandāo

Cayó el sol a sus espaldas. 

No se fijó siquiera en los colores del cielo ni en mirar para atrás. 

Se había despedido sin remilgos y su camino era recto. 
Sentía vergűenza delante de aquella muchedumbre. 
Cuánta preparación, cuántos deseos habían compartido.

La conexión que los había unido durante medio año se iba desvaneciendo y estropeando con el paso de cada minuto. 
¿Porqué tenía que ser siempre así?, se preguntaba.
 Si cuando estaban solos, todo era perfecto. 
Nuestra burbuja de placenta, le llamaba él. Sin embargo, delante de otros ya eran varias las ocasiones en que se transformaba en otro. 
No lo aceptaría más y por ello decidió marcharse. 
Abandonó aquella reunion, que en realidad, se había organizado  para ella.

Se topó con muchas piedras en la senda. Era difícil esquivarlas. 
Sobre el hombro llevaba un bolso enorme de la FNAC que había comprado años atrás en Barcelona. Ahora aquella tela solo arropaba los restos de sus 29. 
En la mano, una lata de cerveza caliente. 
Bañada en sudor caminaba, determinada y deseando sentir hálito. 
Concentrada en la pena que sentía, no se detuvo a mirar sus aledaños. 
Aquellos jardines que hace unos meses yacían muertos bajo la nieve, 
ahora daban abundantes frutos.
 Rosas fucsia pequeñitas susurraban al costado de cerezales, manzanos y suntuosos arbustos. 

Finalmente llegó a su destino. Aquel pequeño apartamento donde vivía. 
Encendió la luz y vio que tenía los pies cubiertos de barro y tierra. 
La pedicura que llevaba se le había hecho mierda. 
Sumida en un gran sentimiento de frustración y coraje, decidió que las cosas tenían que cambiar. 
Nadie la había seguido, ni siquiera mitad del camino... ¡ni una cuarta parte! 
Había vuelto sola. 
Y comprendió en ese instante, más que nunca, que sola tendría que continuar. 
Que aún faltaba mucho por recorrer.

From the Indignados to Occupy Wall Street: New Protest Movements and the Crisis of Democratic Capitalism

Wrocław recently held its yearly Global Forum, under the name: Reinventing the West: Prosperity, Security and Democracy at Risk? Important speakers from all over the world were reunited to discuss different topics related to European politics, democracy (or lack of it), and the socio-economic crisis. One particular Break-Out session caught my attention from the program. Three speakers, two from Poland, and one from Barcelona were invited on this occasion to analyze the new protest movements that have been taking place all around the globe as a reaction to the public outrage incited by the present critical situation confronting the democratic system.

It is not doubt that capitalism and democracy as we know it is in crisis. A system that benefits only a few and is detrimental to the great majority proves to be more than flawed. As a result, new-class warfare has begun to stir up in different countries around the world in the hope of creating change. Elżbieta Matynia, a Professor from the New School for Social Research in NYC was the first speaker to share some of her ideas related to the Occupy Wall Street movement and its parallel to the Solidarity movement initiated in Poland as a result of the communist regime.

Are these manifestations capable of creating change? According to Matynia, the Occupy Wall Street movement, overwhelmingly humanitarian and powerful in nature, is trying very hard to be all-inclusive with regards to the issues it pursues and its membership. It is also surprisingly analogous to other movements such as the Solidarność in Poland or the reaction to apartheid in South Africa. When the good of society is at stake, the system reveals itself to be nothing but anti-democratic and to be working completely against the original values that comprised for the American dream ideal. There is no longer liberty and justice for all, nor is hard work paying off. In fact, according to Professor Matynia, ¨in the US, student debt is now almost twice as much as credit card consumer debt!¨ The ¨moral bankruptcy¨, of the system, as Matynia calls it, that is taking place in the US is very much similar to the privatization of nomenclature once communism collapsed. Both manifestations pursue the same objective: to create a government accountable to the people.

Jordi Vaquer i Fanés, the Director for the Barcelona Center for International Affairs, was the second speaker invited to take part in this session. Similar to Matynia, he described the present situation to be a ¨bubbling up of subterranean movements¨ that has been taking place not only in Spain and the US, but also in Italy, Chile, Mexico, the UK, Israel, etc. He mentions key factors that in his opinion have lead to this popular outbreak or ¨outrage¨, hence the word indignados. One of them is the rise of xenophobic populism; another is the fact that mainstream politics offer no real alternatives for the people. ¨Governments change, but the policies don´t¨, he says. People have become merchandise for bankers, politicians, and corporations. Levels of disappointment and moral outrage are sky high and the 15 Indignados movements that have been created demand the system to stop austerity by providing democratic renewal, greater political transparency, and better control of finances, housing and mortgage rights, and lower university tuition fares, among other things.

Contrary to other movements, the Indignados, according to Vaquer i Fanés, has been effective not only because of its message and ability to communicate, but because this movement preaches by ACTION, directly targets corporations (not politicians), and reflects a transnational inspiration. He believes this movement will make a difference in contributing to the austerity and growth debate, the revitalization of democracy, the changed relation between the media and political discourse, and the incorporation of new agenda issues, among other things.

Last but not least, Jacek Żakowski, an eminent Polish intellectual and journalist, was the third speaker to expand on this topic. His contribution was more inclined to analyzing these movements from a social and moral perspective. He described the present situation as being an ¨inter-generation conflict, not fully about freedom or money, but more so about the dignity of the young generation¨.  The journalist created a parallel between the younger generations, and the baby boomers, which account for one third of the population. For ¨us¨, he says, referring to baby boomers, good jobs, full-circumstance employment, and housing were provided for those who worked hard, while the younger generation does not have these opportunities. In Poland, for example, he described the youth as being European as well as Polish, and anti-Catholic, or non-church practitioners- something completely different than what the baby boomer generation stood for. ¨30% of this youth¨, he says, ¨will leave Poland in the next 10 years¨. ¨The worst thing of all is that this doesn´t necessarily mean they will have a better economic life, although they will opt to staying abroad, because their quality of life will probably be better than in their homeland¨.

What does the future hold for our decaying democratic capitalist system and the movements created in search of its transformation? Nothing is certain, although one thing is for probable: these movements have initiated a global outraged reaction that will, with time (probably lots of it), and hope, contribute to an international reform to place middle class citizens´ rights as a priority for all.  

Mi nuevo amigo

Hay días en los que estar en un país donde no se conoce casi la lengua y todo a los alrededores es tan poco familiar, que uno se agobia. Y aunque adoro esta ciudad, necesito muchas veces transportarme a otros rincones. Por suerte, esta semana conocí un nuevo amigo. Se llama Dolnośląskie Centrum Filmowe (DCF) y es un cine nuevo donde sólo se pueden ver pelis independientes. Precisamente esta semana se está llevando a cabo un festival de cine internacional y en las últimas 48 horas he presenciado dos medias pelis, medios documentales que han sido capaces de transportarme y concientizarme sobre muchos temas variados de la vida y la ciencia.

La primera de ellas se titula PROJECT NIM (2011). Es una producción británica filmada en los Estados Unidos y cuenta la historia de un psicólogo de la Columbia University que en los años 70 se dedica a investigar la similitud entre los primates y los humanos, sobre todo con relación a la comunicación y la lingüística. La peli se centra en un proyecto de investigación en el que el científico intenta probar si es posible que un chimpancé, criado desde su niñez en contacto directo con humanos, sea capaz de aprender a comunicarse de manera básica utilizando el lenguaje de señas. Nim, un chimpancé recien nacido, que ha sido arrebatado de su madre, es su sujeto de estudio.

Durante 90 minutos el director, James Marsh, nos hace el recorrido de la vida de Nim iniciando en el momento en el que es llevado a la casa de una familia hippie de 7 hijos en Nueva York, donde la ¨madre¨ le da el pecho, lo visto como a un niño y el chimpancé es criado como un hijo más.

Con la ayuda de una maestra va aprendiendo señas básicas para comunicarse. En un principio Nim se muestra cariñoso y contento de estar en su nuevo hogar, pero poco a poco, la historia va tornándose más violenta, triste y trágica. No contaré más detalles ni cómo termina el documental. Sólo diré que merece muchísima pena verla... sobre todo por el sentido humano, el parecido enorme que compartimos con estos seres y por las cuestiones éticas que involucran los experimentos con animales. ¡Seguro que llorarán y se reirán a la vez!


 La segunda historia está basada en un pueblito palestino llamado Bil´in y narra las vivencias de un campesino llamado Emad Burnat y su resistencia no-violenta en contra de las acciones de la milicia israelí. Emad y Soraya, una palestina criada en Brasil, viven en Bil´in, un pueblo separado por un muro construído por los israelíes sobre las tierras de los campesinos, y tienen 4 hijos. Cuando nace su cuarto hijo, Emad compra su primera cámara y a través de los años se dedica a documentar la resistencia encabezada por dos de sus amigos junto con la crianza de sus hijo.

Su vida y la de su familia no tardarán en verse fuertemente afectadas por los hechos que se producen en Bil´in. Arrestos diarios, bombardeos y ataques violentos por parte de los israelíes son la orden del día. Su primera cámara es destruída a causa de esto y así consecutivamente hasta llegar a la quinta.

Con cada aparato vemos desdoblar un capítulo en la vida de este hombre que sólo busca la paz para su familia y volver a vivir tranquilamente en su tierra. Sin más, Five Broken Camaras (2011), es una magnífica crónica del sangriento e injusto conflicto israelí-palestino y no cabe duda de que levantará grandes pasiones en quienes tengan la oportunidad de presenciarla.

 ¡Gracias al buen cine por ser capaz de transportarnos a rincones desconocidos y hacernos comprender mejor el mundo!

Respiro de la multitud

En el mundo desborda la presencia de humanos. También de carros, celulares y cemento. Falta aire pulcro y paisajes y personajes sacados de cuentos. El que viaja y verdaderamente conoce algo sobre el planeta cada vez tiene más claro lo difícil que es encontrar un lugar especial que no haya sido explotado por otros viajeros en busca de una experiencia ¨diferente¨. Europa Occidental ya no da de qué hablar. Sur América se ha puesto de moda, especialmente países como Brasil y Argentina. Y recientemente lo más ¨in¨ es el sureste de Asia. Cuando estuve en India en 2007, mi amiga Andrea y yo raramente nos topamos con algún turista. Unos años antes cuando viví en Malasia y viajé por Tailandia e Indonesia, aún se podía conseguir escapar del mar de turistas. Ahora, sin embargo, hay cada vez más occidentales ocupando estas zonas. Muchos países asiáticos se han convertido en una especie de circo cultural que recibe más visitas anuales, incluso que lugares como Disney. En cada esquina es común chocarte con un mochilero o alguien en busca de un hostal.

Soy muy crítica con este tema, lo reconozco. No me gustan los turistas en masa, ni las guías, ni los menúes en inglés, ni los mochileros. Sin embargo amo viajar, soy 100% odófila y llevo 12 años de mi vida dedicándola a esta actividad. Siempre que puedo, procuro irme a descubrir nuevos destinos lejos de las multitudes.
 En esta ocasión, mi razón para viajar era refugiarme en el sol, la playa. Buscaba escapar un poco de los días grises y lluviosos de la primavera en Polonia. Con un presupuesto limitado, Ryanair resultó ser la mejor opción en cuanto a líneas aéreas y entre los destinos directos desde la ciudad en la que vivo, encontré un nombre exótico. Sin más, compré un billete, hice una reserva en un hotel barato, me dediqué a leer un poco sobre el lugar, conocer la cultura y lugares de interés...

 Llegó el día de mi partenza y algunas horas más tarde, pisé suelo nuevo. Una joya de lugar. Todo lo que el real viajero verdaderamente busca de una experiencia en el extranjero. Se trata de Creta, la isla más grande de Grecia y la quinta más grande en el Mediterráneo. Con una superficie de 8,300 kilómetros cuadrados, una costa de 1,040 y una población de 600,000 habitantes- con lo cual, siendo de Puerto Rico, resulta ser mucha tierra para pocas personas. Ocho días de sol mediterráneo, algunas playas de piedras, otras de arena y unas en las que mientras tomas el sol es posible observar montañas nevadas al otro extremo.

Creta me renovó con caminatas rocosas entre cabras, impresionantes acantilados, mar turquesa, olivos, naranjos y carreteras serpentinas.

Creta es vida. Un lugar para recordar que recomiendo a cualquier viajero que aprecie un país donde el presente encuentra el pasado. Donde a pesar de haber crisis, la gente aprovecha los atardeceres para sentarse con una cerveza y jugar bargammon entre amigos. Donde las ensaladas realmente griegas no llevan lechuga, donde el aceite de oliva va con todo. Donde a las 7 de la mañana puedes encontrar un agricultor local que te prepare un cafecito en su bar. Donde caminas por una costa infinita, te mojas los pies en el agua y no ves a nadie. Donde los días no tienen horas y no importa más nada aparte de ese momento.

The Other Lobe (of the Brain)

Now that my Ph.D work has concluded (yes!), I have reestablished communication with the former Dean of Arts and Sciences at Northeastern University, Dr. James Stellar, a neuroscientist, who recently created this very interesting blog called ¨The Other Lobe¨. Here´s the latest entry written by both of us in which we establish an interesting correlation between BICULTURALISM (bilingualism) and the hidden cognitive part of the BRAIN...


If a Rose is a Rose*…, when is a Reflection a Reflection?

By Sarah Platt and Jim Stellar

Sarah was an undergraduate at Northeastern ¨University when I was Dean. We always had these great conversations. Then a few years intervened but now we are back even though she is in Poland where she just finished her PhD degree in Public Communication from the Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. She wrote in disagreement with an idea that I expressed in a previous blog that “students who studied abroad independently engaged in much less reflection that students who went as a group led by a faculty member.” She wrote the following, which I find fascinating.

I guess I disagree with this because in my experience (I went on 4 study-abroad and international fieldwork projects during my 4 years in Northeastern), I always went independently and in comparison to those students who went as groups, I had a COMPLETELY different experience, and in my opinion, a more enriching and reflecting one.

First, I believe that going abroad independently allows for reflection with locals. When you are alone, you are forced to embrace the culture in a more direct way, speak the language, learn the customs, etc. This allows for direct reflection with yourself and the local people and culture. In my experience I noticed that students who went in groups, only spoke in English, hardly connected with the locals, only went to touristic places, and lived their lives abroad in a very similar manner as they would in the US. I believe that when you transport yourself to another country, it´s not really just about being somewhere else, but about reinventing yourself as one of the locals, disconnecting from your homeland, and learning from these experiences. When students study abroad in groups, many of them are only able to partially disconnect and partially take in the experience if they still hang out with their friends from the US, speak in English, and are not completely open to their new surroundings.

Then again, I guess I might be an exception and my experiential education experience probably does not reflect the majority of cases, but I believe that the real way of maturing and learning from fieldwork does not necessary come as a result of group study abroad trips or group projects.

You might be an exception. You came to Northeastern with a background from Puerto Rico and in that way are like many of my current students at Queens whose families have immigrated from a place that spoke a different language. To what extent do you think that starting bi-cultural background matters in a student’s need for peer reflection and why?

I think that every person´s experience must be evaluated independently whether he or she comes from a bicultural background or not. Some people are more open to intercultural experiences and are willing and happy to embrace them completely, while for others, it is a harder process. Coming from a bicultural background, however, definitely influences one´s way of viewing other manifestations of life in foreign countries and the way in which one digests and reflects upon these experiences. I think that, in a way, individuals who come from bicultural backgrounds are used to being outsiders because they are neither 100% part of one culture nor the other. This may make them adapt easier to experiential ed projects abroad and cause the way in which they reflect upon these experiences to be a more introspective process (with oneself) rather than a collective one (among peers).

I wonder if anyone has studied how being bicultural leverages experiential activities in college where those activities occur in the culture of family origin. One would think they would get more out of them because they have all these schemas for operating in that culture of origin, and then one might think that they would be no better than monoculture students when operating in a different culture. But you suggest that because they do not belong 100% to one culture or another, they may make adaptations easier and thus learn more. This fascinates me from the perspective of the books I have been reading on the “Hidden Brain” or the brain as “Incognito” (out of consciousness) or the “Thinking Fast and Slow” process that seems to suggest much of our thinking is automatic, unconscious, and rapid. The role of reflection could be very different in person with the “Incognito” part of the brain that grew up in another culture. Does this make any sense to a person like you who is bicultural?

According to an article published recently in the New York Times, bilingual (and therefore, bicultural) persons demonstrate more advanced cognitive skills than persons who have only been exposed to one culture and language. The article also points out that there is ample evidence that in a bilingual’s brain ¨both language systems are active even when he is using only one language (…) This interference, researchers are finding out, isn’t so much a handicap as a blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles¨. Returning to your question regarding bicultural students and their ability to adapt in intercultural and experiential ed projects, it might be possible to note that if the cognitive skills in these students are in a way, keener, this will in turn allow them to develop quicker problem solving abilities that may also help them adapt quicker to different environments.

The article goes on…¨Bilinguals, for instance, seem to be more adept than monolinguals at solving certain kinds of mental puzzles (…) The collective evidence from a number of such studies suggests that the bilingual experience improves the brain’s so-called executive function — a command system that directs the attention processes that we use for planning, solving problems and performing various other mentally demanding tasks. These processes include ignoring distractions to stay focused, switching attention willfully from one thing to another and holding information in mind.”

There seems to be scarce research regarding this topic, although fortunately, this leaves space for further reflection and debate on the relationship between the brain´s other lobe (nature) and culture (nurture)…

This last comment sums up what we both think, that there are brain processes that operate below conscious awareness that can be exercised by experiences that compliment what we study in the classroom and in college, that operations (such as being bilingual) in that other lobe of the brain can have a significant impact on the kind and type of learning in which a student engages, and that culture and programs of colleges and universities can do much more to leverage this kind of learning to strengthen what we called at the beginning of this blog, “educating the whole student.”

*borrowed from Gertrude Stein’s 1913 poem Sacred Emily


(Original entry is posted in http://www.otherlobe.com/)

THANKS TO HIM

Exactly seven months ago I left San Juan. Several plane rides and 19 hours later, I landed in Wrocław. With little expectations in mind, a taxi drove me to the Ołowek dormitory, which would be my home for the next months. One man was the reason for me to come to Poland. His name: Ryszard Kapuściński. I had been reading his books for six years and once I enrolled in a doctoral program in Navarre, Spain, I decided to convert him into my main research subject. I had been planning this trip for so long and to finally make it happen was a dream come true. From my first symbolical encounter with Kapuściński (symbolical because unfortunately I was never able to meet him in person), I knew that in order to obtain a better understanding of his work, his life, and his thought, I had to set foot in his homeland. There was no other way to do it.

For the next months I taught a journalism workshop at the University of Wrocław and interviewed as many people as possible, connected to my research subject either directly or indirectly. Although the language barrier was definitely an obstacle many times, never before in my life had I met so many open, gentle, and warm people willing to aid me in this process.

One of these persons was Kapuściński's widow, whom I recently met. Accompanied by one of Kapuściński´s good friends, Piotr Załuski, I visited Mrs. Kapuścińska in her home in Warsaw. This encounter marked a summit in my research project and in my personal life. As we entered her home, Alicja greeted us warmly and invited us to some tea and cake. We sat in her living room and listened to her stories in perfect Spanish, which she learned during her time living in Mexico. Shortly after Alicja lead us upstairs into Kapuściński´s retreat, a cellar which he converted into a library and office. I had seen many pictures of this office in the press and books, and anxiously waited for the day to arrive in which I would see it with my own eyes. "Everything you see here is exactly the way he left it. To me he is still travelling and will return one day", Mrs. Kapuścińska said. "Thinking in this manner has helped me cope with his death a little better".

To say that Kapuściński´s working area looks like a bookshop is an understatement. The word museum or library would probably suit it better. Hundreds or maybe even thousands of books sit on the shelves, tables, on the ground, and even on the stairs. Reporter notebooks hang from the walls. Some written till the last page. Others empty. Many pages include excerpts of his unfinished works that he was never able to conclude due to his sudden death in 2007.
Pani Alicja toured me around the library where I found books in different languages and related to every possible subject I can think of: anthropology, politics, religion, spirituality, philosophy…
I was lucky enough to see some of the handwritten notes he took while travelling through Peru and other southern American countries as a correspondent for the Polish Press Agency. I saw the elephant figurines he collected while voyaging through Africa. His watches. His impressive pen collection. Newspaper cutouts and funny quotes he posted on bulletin boards. Files he organized alphabetically with periodicals. An upstairs area where he selected books and other material that he planned to use to write his unfinished books. In sum, possibly the richest collection of intellectual material I have ever witnessed.

Before leaving, Alicja kindly autographed one of her husband´s books I brought along with me.

Kapuściński is for me a symbol of Poland. Of everything I love about this country and the reason why I initially came here. And to Kapuściński I am incredibly grateful, because now I understand him and his people a little bit more. I now realize that I do not want to leave, although my research and dissertation are completed. I have found a home away from home outside of my warm Caribbean island, and with each waking moment I continue discovering more things I love about this country. All thanks to my teacher, who more than a journalist, a writer, and a traveler, was a person who observed and wrote about the reality in which he participated with the intention of making the world a better place.


*All photos were taken by Piotr Załuski*