The Esteyonage

Border Lines

2012-01-25T04:59:00.005Z

Up against it.

After the Raid

2012-01-17T08:36:00.004Z

Not guilty.

2011 Drug War Stats Released

2012-01-12T15:25:00.003Z

This article I wrote for the Toronto Star gives a bit of context to the post below. Namely, it shows drug war deaths keep escalating. And with a rocky start to 2012 (212 drug war deaths in the week of January 1 - 7), everyone I have interviewed thus far this year believes there is no end in sight. Full article here:

MEXICO CITY—More than 47,500 people have been killed in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon started his military-led offensive against the drug cartels in 2006, according to new data released Wednesday by the country’s attorney general.

The latest figures show that 12,903 people have been killed as a result of the country’s drug war between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 2011 — a 10 per cent increase from the same period in the previous year.

The report showed Mexico’s northern border region to be the most violent, with Ciudad Juárez again the most violent city. But municipalities further south, such as Acapulco and Veracruz, also rank in the top 10, while states such as Quintana Roo — home of Cancun — remain on par with Canadian crime rates.

Rumours had been circulating recently that the government would no longer publish this kind of data, due to the widespread unpopularity of the ongoing military strategy. But the death toll actually exceeded the projections of newspapers such as Reforma, whose ominous “execution meter” counted 12,359 deaths in 2011.

If government estimates stay at similar rates in the final three months of 2011, the official count would exceed 17,000 — the deadliest year yet for Mexico.

Off the Record on Human Rights in Northern Mexico

2012-01-12T05:20:00.004Z

I came across this excellent blog post today, by Dawn Paley, a fellow Canadian who covers Mexico - amongst other things. You should read the whole thing.

The pic is mine, shot in East Tijuana last year.

Royce offers me a candy, joking that it is laced with drugs. I take it and set it on the table in front of me.

He proceeds to pull out a pack of Camel Lights, and asks me if I want one. No thanks, I say. He lights up. “You want the truth about what is going on here?” he asks, talking quietly. “The truth is this place isn’t fucked, it is totally fucked up beyond all repair, de chingada madre,” he says.

Royce launches into gruesome detail about a recent massacre, fascinated, fixated by the fact that they removed the victims tongue and ten fingers, and stitched them onto his ass. “Did the press report on that?” I asked. “Well, they only reported on the tongue and one finger… Not all ten,” he said. I put my pen to paper to take note and he begs me not to, sliding his finger across his neck.

Undocumented Migrant Dies After Deportation

2012-01-08T06:01:00.003Z

Almost a year ago, I wrote this blog post about a Chicago hospital's decision to deport a man. He had been left completely paralyzed after a fall on the job site. He was undocumented. So, when unable to pay his bills, they put him on a plane to Oaxaca, headed for a hospital that everyone knew lacked sufficient supplies to keep him alive.

Sadly, this article I came across proves them right: he died on New Years Day, and never even made it to his house.

For anyone remotely familiar with the Isthmo region where he was sent to, it is painstakingly obvious that the proper medical care could and would not be provided.

I get that immigration is a sticky issue, lacking clear lines. But there must be some kind of compassion weighed in there sometimes, even if it comes at a high financial cost in extreme cases like this.

Advocate Christ Medical Center says they are reviewing their policies. They shouldn't be the only ones.

New Year, New Resolution

2012-01-07T02:38:00.003Z

Though I largely don't believe in the resolutions around such a blurry time of the year, my main one - a repeat - is to read and write more. This means writing outside of endless emails and formal articles or radio scripts (which I also hope to continue writing lots of), and not just reading endless online news about Mexico and the region: books. In the 6 days so far, this has been going okay.

Tied to this is a sincere attempt to get back to blogging, even though it seemed a somewhat dying art form in 2011.

Speaking of which, this is a short piece I wrote for Monocle about the Mexican presidential race falling in 2012. It also aired on Monocle's radio station Monocle 24, but the audio part does not get archived. Full text here:

Twelve years after Y2K proved to be just a number, doomsdayers are getting another kick at the apocalyptic can. Mayan calendars famously mark 21 December 2012 as the end-of-days. Though scholars almost unanimously decry this as a misreading of such almanacs, the topic continues to garner interest.

With Mexico’s 1 July election looming, one small group has similar ideas of walking down their own 2012 dead end. Two main candidates now hope to woo their way to Mexico’s presidency. The winner faces the immense challenge of cleaning up a country marred with widespread corruption and impunity amidst a grotesque and violent drug war...

Día de los Muertos

2011-11-03T05:42:00.005Z

Guatemala's Bomberos

2011-10-06T16:30:00.005Z

Holy no blogging lately. Wow. Just noticed its now been a month. And just when I felt I was rolling again...

Along with Makeshift Magazine - which I am in New York promoting at the moment - I've been working on this radio doc about Guatemala's volunteer firemen. This included everything from a few long, crazy, scary and fun nights on the road with the bomberos on the streets of Guatemala City, to a final recording session in a closet in Brooklyn, and a final (unexpected) all-nighter high above Manhattan, editing away.

You can listen to the doc about it on CBC's Dispatches website.

I included a few photos below from around the nights.

Special thanks to Deborah Bonello for the hook ups, laughs and Pollo Brujo sessions.

And an extra special thanks to all the volunteer bomberos who were beyond awesome to me. They provide an amazing and impressive service to a country suffering from a lot of problems, and keep smiling throughout. I hope this shines through to some regard.

Kids and families look on at a crime scene

Commander Mario Adolfo Ramirez and "Kilo" preside over the start of the night shift at Station One

Maria comforts a woman on the ride to the hospital

A bombero kneels over the body of Byron Gabriel Gonzalez, after realizing there is nothing to be done.

Photos of Guatemala's disappeared

Trying to fix a broken light in the ambulance, while en route to a call.

Cops and bomberos behind the line at a shooting death in Villanueva.

MAKESHIFT MAGAZINE Launches

2011-09-07T21:13:00.003Z

Today, I am stoked to announce the start of Makeshift Magazine: A Journal of Hidden Creativity. While we don't officially publish until our September 30 launch party at the A Better World By Design Conference, our Kickstarter Campaign and our website are now officially live.

Makeshift is a quarterly magazine and multimedia website focused on grassroots creativity and invention in resource-constrained areas around the world, set to launch September 30. It encompasses some of the ideas behind the Gettin' By series I started on this blog (and that series is how me and Ed-in-chief Steve Daniels got in touch), but looks more specifically at engineering, ingenuity and creativity with informal economies.

We currently have contributors in over 20 countries digging up stories of street-level ingenuity... and we only hope to expand from there.

We are hoping to raise money through potential readers to help us start up the business side of things. But we don't expect you to give just for free - for $60 you get a subscription for the first year, and for $125 you get the subscription, original prints form the mag and your choice of several fair trade products. For both, we will also list you as a supporter.

Any help spreading the word is much appreciated, and we look forward to your support.

Please see below for the official press release, or visit find us all over the web.

best,

Myles

Press Kit: mkshft.org/media
Website: mkshft.org
Kickstarter: kck.st/n5NJvI
Twitter: twitter.com/mkshftmag
Facebook: facebook.com/mkshftmag

Makeshift Magazine Showcases Ingenuity in Unlikely Places around the World

New York, NY – September 7, 2010. We are excited to announce the launch of Makeshift: A Journal of Hidden Creativity, a quarterly magazine and multimedia website (www.mkshft.org) highlighting creativity and invention in resource-constrained areas around the world.

As populations explode and resources dwindle, the ability to innovate under constraints has become a more pressing competency for individuals, companies, and governments. To document resourceful production Makeshift looks to the grassroots: to the garage tinkerers and under-the-radar businesses that make up the global informal economy. This sector of primarily unprotected and unregistered businesses accounts for over three quarters of employment across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. These maker-entrepreneurs are resilient, flexible, and immensely creative.

The editors of Makeshift noticed that production, more than at any point in the last century, is occurring at the grassroots. In different cultures it goes by different names: DIY in the US, jugaad in India, jua kali in East Africa, and gambiarra in Brazil. Makeshift seeks to unify these cultures into a global identity.

Makeshift is a global network of editors, researchers, journalists, photographers, and videographers uncovering stories of street-level ingenuity. The core team is based in New York, Mexico City, Singapore, and Madrid. Contributors in over 20 countries are searching for stories of street-level ingenuity.

Each quarterly issue of Makeshift will form an engaging and in-depth snapshot on a particular branch of informal creativity. The website will feature complementary media, including videos and blogs. It's a hi-fi representation of a lo-fi movement.

The inaugural issue of Makeshift, released September 30, will be themed "Re-culture: Reuse, repair, and recycle at the grassroots," featuring stories such as everyday product hacks in Kenya, industrial fabric recycling in India, improvised tools in Myanmar, recycled art in Colombia, and adaptive reuse of industrial sites in the United States.

About the Launch

Makeshift will be running a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter beginning September 7, through which readers can pre-order the magazine or subscriptions.

The magazine will launch September 30 in Providence, RI at A Better World by Design (www.abetterworldbydesign.com), an annual three-day social innovation conference at Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design. At the conference Makeshift will host a launch party Friday night at Anchor, a new office building converted from an industrial site, as well as an exhibition of makeshift objects from around the world and a panel on makeshift design.

About the Team

Steve Daniels, Editor-in-Chief of Makeshift, is the author of Making Do: Innovation in Kenya's Informal Economy and founder of the Better World by Design conference. He currently works for IBM Research in the field of ICT for development as a designer, developer, and social scientist. He has several years of publishing experience having self-published his book and founded the successful satirical newspaper The Brown Noser. Steve studied Technology for Emerging Markets at Brown University.

Myles Estey, Senior Editor and Photo Editor of Makeshift, is a writer, photographer, and producer researching the global informal economy. Previously based in Liberia, he now operates from Mexico City and searches for stories of how people get by at the base of the pyramid throughout Central America.

Niti Bhan, Editor of Makeshift, is a researcher, writer, and founder of the Emerging Futures Lab, a multidisciplinary research and consulting practice focused on understanding people at the base of the pyramid. She runs the blog REculture and is currently based in Singapore.

Media Contacts

Steve Daniels, Editor-in-Chief
steve@mkshft.org

More Information

Press Kit: mkshft.org/media
Website: mkshft.org
Kickstarter: kck.st/n5NJvI
Twitter: twitter.com/mkshftmag
Facebook: facebook.com/mkshftmag

A Tale of One Plant

2011-09-01T21:12:00.005Z

Mexico is in the midst of a drug war. And, despite the criticisms, Mexico can get pretty effective at fighting it. When it feels up to it. Enter "exhibit A."

Its a bit hard to find really good data on drug quantities heading through Mexico. Undoubtedly, coke, meth and weed move north, east and west (but mostly north) to the tune of thousands of kilos. How many thousands requires a bit of guess work.

Precise figures on how much is somewhat immaterial: its a lot.

Few would disagree that there is a lot of large-scale marijuana production in the country, and that groups that include violence and/or intimidation in their portfolio control much of this production, and turn a very large profit from it. And, that it is part of the larger "drug war" problem the Mexican government continues to "fight."

Enter "a friend of a friend," and please forgive not using this person's name. Said person lives somewhat close to a relatively touristed area, that I passed through within the past few months. This person decided that since they smoke pot occasionally, and that they're not super keen about having to buy it off sketchy people, they should cut out that option. So they grow a plant in the backyard of their middle class home.

The single plant is around thigh high when a few soldiers show up at the house. They "know" about the plant, and have come to seize it. The house matriarch protests their presence. They ignore her, say no worries, quitar la planta, and leave. Easy peasey.

Meanwhile, unknown thousands of tons of weed are being grown by the hectare "somewhere," "unable" to be found. Sure, that field in Baja that could have allegedly produced 120 tons. And other grow-ops get snagged here and there.

But while unable to detect the multiple multi-ton fields around the country, a small group of military personnel are not only able to detect a single plant in a residential yard, but also have the will to go out and seize it. Why? Maybe a neighbour, knowing no narco connection existed, wasn't scared to rat. Maybe satellite shots, flyovers or using heat sensor technology to spot the plants. Maybe to prove zero tolerance. Maybe they were just told to. But somehow, they knew, they went, they achieved.

Weed is apparently much "harder" to find when grown on larger scales. But the fact that something like this - of all the problems to which to allocate Mexico's resources - takes up an afternoon of several soldiers, falls into the realm of baffling.

As Powerlines Try to Hide a Neza Cowboy

2011-08-30T19:47:00.003Z

Early morning Neza. February, 2011

Kneltue

2011-08-26T19:54:00.005Z

Def: feeling with certainty that, against all rational odds, you are about to 'dominate the dojo'

Alt. def: waiting for the afternoon winds and sun to yield to smooth sunset waves

Rescuing a Kidnapped Child vs Comments Sections

2011-08-23T17:36:00.004Z

Last week, a story about an undocumented migrant stopping a kidnapping of a 6-year old girl became a popular one. I'm not huge on "feel-good" stories, but this was a good one. You can read the full story here, but to summarize the tale.

An "illegal" 24-year old mechanic happens upon a guy grabbing this girl off the street, throwing her in a van. He chases the van for a while, it crashes (police later found tie-down straps packing tape and other ominous things from the van). He rescues girl, takes her back home. Quoted as saying ""I knew I had to catch him. I had to get the girl back from him and take her home, back where she belongs."

Reading it, this thought crosses my mind: "this will cut the immigration-haters down a notch." Wronnnnnng!

Enter the comments section, starting with comment numero uno.

This "migrant" is an ILLEGAL ALIEN. He must be DEPORTED so he can save little girls in HIS COUNTRY.

Said commenter goes on to battle with other commenters of varying beliefs - including one who okays "this immigrant", but goes on to refer to all Cubans in Florida as "garbage bags."

A debate then ensues over a comment claiming Spanish to be "backwards," (the implication - seemingly - that nouns and adjectives are arranged differently than in English) and, ergo, stupid.

There are, of course, lots of comments in this kind of vein of "the man's a hero." But even these are overshadowed by the vitriolic debate of these commenters lashing back at those they disagree with.

So, mere minutes after a rare-indulgence into good news land, I realized I still have no handle on how people's brains work, that the debate over immigration in the US is way over my head and that often its much better for my personal felicific calculator to stay out of the comments sections of touchy articles.

If a story about a guy who frickin' risks his safety to chase someone down, and rescue a child from - what seems like - certain harm can't make people agree, "okay, that's pretty rad", what the H can?

Afterthought: Real-time comments sections remain an interesting addition to the Age of the Internets. Like letters to the editor, on speedballs. At certain times, I question whether its helpful for bizarrely-named pseudonyms to spend their time internet-yelling at each other, and taking advantage of their anonymity to spit words they might not do utter in a person-centric public forum. Other times, comments sections bring me great pleasure to peruse, and/or offer interesting insights, information or context that I wouldn't otherwise have.

Sometimes, its gotta be better to say nothing.

Correction to Below Post, via LAT

2011-08-19T13:38:00.004Z

Yesterday evening, the LA Times added this correction regarding the story they broke three days ago about ATF officers involved in Fast and Furious that affects this blog's previous post:

"They did not receive salary or grade increases, nor did they assume positions with greater responsibility," [ATF] said in a short statement.

ATF says instead that these officials moved laterally to positions in Washington.

This, of course, lessens the anger of the below post. However. It doesn't change the fact that messing up an operation like this - one that distributes guns to cartels, guns that have since been the confirmed murder weapons in several crimes, including the death of US Agent Brian Terry - does not lead to firing, suspension or any kind of reprimand. The questions about legality also remain. As does the whole Canadian section.

And while promotions may not have accompanied this move, how long until a laterally moved desk ends up with a higher pay stub?

US and Canada: Failing Grades in Mexico This Week

2011-08-17T18:00:00.011Z

Along the border fence, east side of Tijuana. April, 2011.

One ongoing beef the United States has with the world is (in)justice. "Impunity" gets underlined as something paramount to rid of, and Mexico receives no shortage of reminders about this from their northern neighbours. US officials often toss out terms like "failed state" or "narco state" about Mexico, and it seems like every day a new statement by a US government official appears saying Mexico (amongst most other nations) needs to clean up corruption, improve rule of law and fight impunity.

Enter stage right, Operation Fast and Furious. For those not familiar, "FnF" was the brianchild of the people in the department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Through government channels, it aimed to send thousands of guns to Mexico, in order to "snare" cartels. Shockingly (!!!!), this resulted in a lot more guns being in the hands of Mexican cartels, and a lot of Mexicans dying from bullets shot out of guns supplied by a United States government body. Another way of looking at this, a friend suggested, is that US taxpayers helped further arm cartels.

Finally, some ATF employees took out the whistles and blew (I read that they have been fired, but can't confirm this). And this operation - rightly - was shut down, heavily criticized, and its leaders made to testify in US Congress about what in the name of Bebus had infected their minds to such an extent that this seemed, even for a split second, to be a logical plan. (In all the articles I have read on this, it was never overly clear how exactly giving guns to well-documented users of guns would end up "trapping", stopping or prosecuting said users without causing significant harm. A lot of ATF staff must have felt this way too, hence the blowing.)

So, yesterday, the LA Times wrote that three of these same men who had to testify to Congress received heavy promotions. Pro-Motions. This, said some higher up quoted in LAT article, in order to distinguish them for "the skills and abilities they have demonstrated throughout their careers."

Paging impunity...

It doesn't take a stealthy investigative reporter to deduce that American politicians are not overly concerned with slowing the large-scale deaths on the Mexican side of the border. Nor that they are rather unwilling to do much to help Mexico curb these deaths. So maybe it should sadly not be a surprise. But... BUT, on top of this, American border patrol agent Brian Terry was killed by one of these guns in Arizona this year. Usually America goes on witch hunts for the people responsible for such actions. This time: promotions.

This raises a few hands up for questions: If the ATF did indeed send guns through criminal channels across the border, does that not violate a variety of US, Mexican and international laws? Ie Were these officials not involved in criminal activities? And if so, why no action? Where's the Republicans trying to slam Obama through this? Where are the Democrats decrying this kind of spending on gun-running? Forget political parties, where is anyone with a rule book? Outside of - what to me is - obvious, flagrant professional misconduct, are there really no laws broken in this scenario? Really? What is this if not the impunity the US seems so quick to criticize of Mexico?

Final thought: what would the US do if a similar debacle crossed the same border from the other direction?

Oye. Read the comments section too: its all slamming.

- -

Moving Northward.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird was in Mexico this week. Amongst his chief objectives: better security for Canadians living and traveling in Mexico. This is based on a handful of murders of Canadians in the past year, plus 5 killed in a hotel explosion. And, it surely aims to protect the 1.1 million Canadians STATSCAN say traveled to Mexico in 2010.

Not an altogether bad cause, per say, but it evades a central point: Mexicans. Canada (still) has troops left from the $20 billion Afghanistan mission, plus military equipment and personnel in Libya and Syria and peacekeepers elsewhere. Yet Canada seems genuinely allergic to providing assistance to the violence in Mexico.

Then, that article mentions that Canada has given $4 million for a "regional anti-crime program, like that is a large number (!!!!). (On July 12, for example, the Ontario government gave $10 million to the Toronto Police Force to help fight crime. There have been roughly 25 murders in the Greater Toronto Area this year, and 1300 weapons seized since 2006.)

If Mr. Baird wants to make Mexico safer for Canadians, why not try to first make it safer for Mexicans? This could, for example, include offering some kind of substantial, long-term assistance with items such as security sector, legal reform or provision of intelligence, consulting, training and advising where needed or wanted by people like Mexico's Foreign Affairs Secretary Patricia Espinosa. Why is there no mention of this as even a "possibility"?

For Canada's 5th largest trading partner ($5 billion in exports, $ 22 billion imports), and temporary host for 1 in every 30 Canadian residents each year*, offering 4 mil to fight the enormous security issues in such a large country seems a joke. And an insulting one at that. Especially when this seems to be done only for the purpose of making things safer for Canadian retirees and vactioners, not because the Canadian government actually wants to see a Mexico that is safer for its residents.

* The 1.1 million stat refers to the number of trips Canadians made to Mexico. As many take several trips in a year, the number of Canadians arriving in Mexico would actually be a lot lower than 1 in 30. But since it still illustrates how much time Canadians spend in Mexico, I left it as such.

Laying Out the Wares

2011-08-15T00:27:00.004Z

Segunda Mano Vendor, Tepito. Feb, 2011.

I was waiting for a girl this morning. Plans for a search through the always fun second-hand madness near Lagunilla on the weekends delayed slightly by her "ahorita" time schedule. I posted up on the edge of the metro entrance. Sharing the perch with a young skater. Watchin.'

A woman in brown trackies and a white shall, strung out and staring. Tempting, dirty tacos. Quiet, scary dog. Two CD vendors cracking each other up over some joke. Carts of tortas de tamales. And, a man. Middle aged, in a maroon wool sweater and khakis. Delineating his sales area with a large red cloth, moving on his knees beneath a large piece of orange graffiti on a white wall.

These torreros dot all over the city, selling every last thing possible. And for all my interactions with, I realized I had never just sat and watched anyone set up. So I did.

Slowly, methodically, out of a plastic crate on wheels, he took out each piece singularly. With exquisite care, each landed in a pre-destined array. An order known only to him. A collection of goods to hopefully help him buy some of his own.

I texted myself this list in shortform:

- a 4-piece set of black, plastic cooking utensils
- a gold handheld vanity mirror, with matching brush
- black pastic watch
- an early-model point-and-shoot camera
- a black pair of dress shoes
- two grey calculators
- black cap with neon green writing
- 6 silver circles (that looked like coasters)
- a giant roll of multicoloured wrapping paper
- two plastic toy cars
- a picture frame

Weigh it Out

2011-08-14T03:56:00.004Z

On the fringe of Guatemala City's dump: a balance sheet keeps track of pounds of metal received, amounts paid, while its proprietor scours an old computer for any remaining traces.

Photos of an Unphotographed War

2011-07-30T14:27:00.006Z

Following a series of links from an article about war photography some night last week, I came across these photos on the site Military Photos: apparently, the first photographic documentation of war.

"Embedded," essentially, with an American legion pushing into northern Mexico, no one knows who shot them. They were shot as glass-plated daguerreotypes - hence the weird scratchiness - and form an eerie portrait of wars before wars were photographed and documented as thoroughly as today's war correspondents can - or cannot - get away with.

The amputation, the grave and the seated photo "Mexican civilians.." remind of McCarthy's epic dystopia from this campaign, "Blood Meridian." (Arguably the best book of the current generation.) The hollow, silvery look in the eyes, and the almost 3-D feeling of some pics are captivating.

After finding this, Ms. Scarlett Lion pointed me to another project, The Mexican Suitcase. Through a circuitous (and historically unclear) route, this photo documentation of the Spanish Civil War reached Mexico as the photographers fled the spread of Nazism and WWII. In 2007 the dilapidated boxes arrived in New York from Mexico, and are on display with the International Center for Photography.

Not as interesting from a Mexican historical perspective, but still a cool tale of keeping war photos alive. And if that's what you into, go get your procrastinate on.

Juarez Death Toll: 17 humans, 1 perro

2011-07-26T22:03:00.004Z

FOTO Crime Scene, Villanueva, Guatemala City

Yesterday, a friend linked to a piece from Tijuana's El Zonkey Show (The Zonkey being a beast unique to the once-touristed streets that would be a donkey, had it not been painted with black and white for aforementioned touristic attracting). It features a picture of a small dog with a massive bullet wound, who later died. The dog was shot by a Juárez cop, in Juárez. The story is here.

Who cares? That was my first thought. Its one pinche perro, after all, in a city with one of the highest violent crime rates in the world. This feeling was accentuated by seeing news this morning that 17 people were killed overnight in Juárez - cartel clashes, being the stated cause. (17 people is roughly 1/5 the number of people killed in Norway that has provoked an international media orgy; and 6 people less than have been murdered in the Toronto area - population 4 million and change, double that of Juárez - in the first 7 months of 2011.)

In a city that has come to be defined by its violence, can, or should, the death of a dog fit into the caring continuum?

Whether you care or not about this particular dog, a cop who's annoyed enough by barking and secure enough in his belief that no one can care that a trigger gets pulled to solve the yapping problem in his immediate vicinity, is a worrisome beast. He shoots, the yapping stops, and life can just go on. Problem solved. Now on to regulating human life in the city.

How much more "yapping" does a human have to do before the "same" cop shoots? Who has to be watching for said type of cop to care? And, how many of the 17 killed last night were actually cartel members - or any night - versus how many just dared to bark back at something bigger than them?

(HT Erin Siegal)

From a City

2011-07-22T04:48:00.005Z

FOTO: Guatemala City, pre-dawn

Guatemala City. The first night, the car in front gets knifepoint-jacked at a stoplight. Bad omen? Gentle reminder?

An expat with 40 years in the country picks me up the next morning. His eyes never leave the mirrors. We shake hands as he stares forward, pupils darting around the reflective glass. He loves Guatemala. Its just how it is, he explains. He has a big smile, and asks normal questions about my life as we drive. There are places you just don't go, things you just don't do, that's all. Letting your guard down tops the second list.

Almost everyone I talk to conveys this in some format, usually without me asking their opinion on the topic. And usually with a roll of the eyes to illustrate how the charms of the city remain under the cloud of (in)security.

Heavily tinted cars. You black out your glass cuz you fear, but no one knows who's behind the glass so they fear, so they black out their glass...

A wiry man in tight jeans who's white hair makes him seem Cuban. I pass him every day. Today, he laughs along with a stout woman selling fried food at a street stall. His eyes dutifully scan the pockets and beltlines of pedestrians. The eyes of a fast pulse, he chews gum erratically. A shotgun is slung across his stocky frame. He guards a parking lot and money changing operation, subtly feeding another feedback loop.

A local journalist tells me over lunch at his friend's house that if you work every day, and you always take the buses to work, you will get robbed once a month. He admits this is not mathematical. But reiterates it as largely true. The room confers. "A lot of people make sure to always have 50 Quetzales ($8-ish) so that they can at least have something to give." So says another friend when I ask more about this. I ride the bus just two times, with people from that barrio who ride it every day, and assure it will be fine. Nothing happens. 29 days to go.

Two women I hardly know bend over backwards to make sure I have enough contacts on my brief stay, and a few friends. Their networks respond with almost equal fervour. I can't keep up, never enough time. My hotel room has brightly dark shades of green for sheets and I disappear into a dreamless coma every time I lie beneath them.

"Quetzal?" In a taxi, leaving the working class neighbourhood that surrounds the dump, the sun is hot, my window is down. I jump at the touch to my elbow; I wasn't watching the mirror. I stare back at the kid, watching his hands. Trying to convince him that I ain't scared, he seems sad. "No." I'm glad I had the option.

Recording a political rally. Its one colonia over from El Limón, one of the worst neighbourhoods in the renowned Zona 18. Everyone is jubilant. The candidate beams smiles, and floats into the crowd. Everyone wants to talk. About a candidate that will help with security. One who promises to deal out tough love to help move the city forward, away from the 20 murders a day. About change. My payment for recording for an hour is a brief dance for a group of chanting supporters. This seems fair. When I make it out of the cloud of laughter, the campaign manager prints me out a picture. We speak in English briefly, trade biz cards, move separate ways into the dark.

Less than five minutes up the road, less than two hours later, two young men are shot eating dinner on their front porch. No one has seen anything. "Oir, ver y callarse." As such, no one talks. The cops at the scene wait for their phones to ring with more info. There are no sounds. At 8:44 pm, doctor tells me he knows of a minimum of 10 gun deaths thus far, all young men. We get a call of three more minutes later. Then a woman gets shot for allegedly not paying her extortion fee. The doctor decides he's tired, and that its time to go home; he's working for free after all.

After 11. Still early, but already late. Long shadows, empty streets. Security vehicles and taxis dominate the roads. The occasional dog. As we idle noisily at a stoplight, a woman opens the door of a Chinese restaurant, looks both ways down the empty silent streets, throws a bucket of water, and closes the door. Madonna's "Like a Virgin" is playing on the raspy speakers. I can't help but laugh, long and loud. The taxista looks at me, and laughs back, drives past a new murder scene, and to the locked front door of the hotel.

Guatemala Articulos

2011-07-20T01:46:00.008Z

View out over Guatemala city through the suspiciously cracked glass in the office of Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz, the first female to operate that onerous position

I am in the Guatemala at the moment, on the typical freelance quest: article by article, photo by photo, recorded sound by recorded sound. Below are a few articles from the past few days looking at some main issues around Guatemala.

Without a doubt, Guatemala City leaves a certain feeling of intensity in the air, and makes you want to keep an eye fixed over your shoulder.

1) First of all, if you never read this David Grann article about Rodrigo Rosenberg's murder/death/suicide, its will be a contender for best of the year. New Yorker, always on point.

2) Closely related, the Guardian's Rory Carrol documents a Guatemalan journalist with his own Rosenberg-esque video already made.

3)Geoffrey Ramsey at InSight covers one of the many cases of corruption in the run-up to Guatemala's elections.

4) An AP investigation by Christopher Sherman about Indian immigrants coming through Guatemala en route to the US/Mexico border. (HT Mexico Reporter)

5) Guatemala begins to see the violence against its journalists (see 2). A look at this by Monica Medel. (HT Erin Siegal)

Gol Dos is Always the Sweetest

2011-07-11T18:36:00.003Z

As you can tell, I had killer seats: pays to know peeps. Armed with a 35mm lens, my goal was to get one good shot whilst pressed up against the barbed wire fence in the corner of the beer-soaked nosebleeds. Impossible to capture to capture the energy of 105 000 people going fucking psycho, but worth a shot.

Props to a great game played by Mexico's next generation of footballers: great control, creative plays up front, pretty solid D. Mexican soccer fans, as usual, get an enthusiastic A+ for all the zanity that goes on - homophobic though it may be.

The overall onda at Estadio Azteca ayer puts Mexico's chances at Russia 2018 - when this generation has bloomed to join Chicharito and Giovani - as pretty solid.

In Which Mexican Street Vending Takes Its Inevitable Turn to the Postmodern

2011-07-05T19:54:00.008Z

The postmodern street vendor looks not for sales. He approaches from a cold evening of Mexico City summer rain, crossing the line of rain sliding off the overhang to stand beside our table on the patio. He holds a laminated piece of paper with his photo and a foreign news article behind the clear plastic. He carries the body language of the city's endless vendors; determined bodies contorted between resignation to the task and the desire to make the improbable sales.

The postmodern street vendor opens with an eloquent oration of his past; his place of birth, his parents, why he loves. He does not hear or understand the "no gracias" that me or my table companion offer with sheepish smiles. We want to finish the conversation that was underway; it was not the ideal time for interruption. He moves forward without pause, explaining his rise to an expert in the creation of specialized cheese; "El Quesero," it says on his piece of paper.

A minute passes. We insist again - politely, but repeatedly - that we truly do not want to buy anything. He informs us it is our loss. The postmodern street vendor tips his plastic-bag-covered sombrero, moves on. I feel baffled guilt.

We watch in awe as the speech starts again, three tables down. My phone says 8:31.

Two men in red shirts suck on Marlboros that puff into the cool air in front the standing speaker. The one man facing me wears a puzzled look of concentration. The new potential customers say not a word. The portly figure gestures at both sides of his laminated sheets. The cigarettes burn down. The men stare on. The postmodern vendor pulls out the cheese from the leather bag slung on his shoulder. His large fingers break off a piece, and place it in his mouth. He loudly proclaims it as the most delicious queso in the mundo. He puts it back into his bag, he tips his plastic-coated sombrero to the two men, and offers a regal goodbye, bowing: "les despido, caballeros, que les vaya bien, y que tengan una muy buena noche."

My phone says 8:40.

The postmodern vendor does not leave a business card. It seems implausible he has a schedule. He does not mention a store, a name brand or a type of special cheese. He does not attempt a sale in his 9 minute historia.

In fact, the postmodern vendor does not mention money, and offers no space for it to be offered. He moves to another table where he will again speak of his work, his craft, his achievements and his pride. Another table to which he will not offer goods or services, nor will he request money. But where he will again speak with passion, clarity and eloquence. Where he will speak with no trace of the insanity he is undoubtedly accused of on the regular. And from where he will again walk on to the next unpaying customer, his previous ones still trapped in a mystified silence, staring at the now confusing plates on their tables, smiling to mask their own inability to compute this unfamiliar transaction.

Drug Use Follow Up: New Crack Cocaine Laws in the US

2011-07-02T17:35:00.005Z

(this graphic comes from Good Magazine, http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web/1101/drug-war/flat.html)

Yesterday, US lawmakers made an enormous, important change in its policy on cocaine. Notorious for the hardline stance on drugs, and stiff penalties for even minor possession, Human Rights Watch reported that this retroactive law will actually differentiate between someone with a baggie, and someone with a duffel bag of crack cocaine. Along with the logical incongruities of the previous law, HRW reports it has historically been applied disproportionately to African-Americans.

Some 12 000 American inmates can now apply for reduced sentence.

How this will affect trafficking laws is unclear. Drug law reformers in the US have often argued for similar measures to be enacted in concert with tougher punishments on dealers - and more resources put into investigating the movers, not the users.

As the fantastic image above shows, there are no shortage of movers south of the border fighting to meet the needs of American dealers and their clients. Who takes the heat for this may now be slightly changed.

Drugs, Report, Drugs

2011-06-28T21:47:00.003Z

This year's UN World Drug Report offers staggering information about drugs around the world. Findable as a pdf on the Economist's website (which I found via Shannon Young), there is massive amounts of data on drug consumption, drug trafficking patterns and the numbers behind all this. Very worthwhile perusing, even if just to check out the graphs.

Prevalence of cocaine use appears to be in annual decline worldwide, though 14 - 20 million consume coke worldwide, and some places - including Mexico - consume more than they did several years ago. Surprising spikes in Oceania, and less surprising spikes in West Africa (read Tristan McConnell's recent article on this).

Prices reach into the range of $ 140 - 160/gram in Nordic countries and Australia, and the report cites $120 as the street value in the US when adjusted for purity and other variables; the UN is up on cutting, it seems. Gold fetches $48/g, as an interesting point of reference, also via Shannon Young.

"The Weed" remains the biggest player. Despite higher value coke, meth and heroin crossing the border by the ton, marijuana remains the biggest earner for the Mexican cartels (providing 60% of cartel revenue, according to a stat floating around lately). This is true amongst the upwards of 200 million smokers, and unlike coke, is not abating. North America leads the charge on consumption, but West Africa posts the second highest consumers, though prevalence is a lot lower.

While the lyrics of Nas, Biggie, Ghostface and other Wu tracks echo in my head from reading all of this, a more serious thought: At what point is there moral outrage for trafficked drugs? Potsmokers in Canada can make the valid point that they often know their growers, or that their dealer does, making the supply chain limited in its harmfulness (this is true elsewhere, but i just got back from Canada, so rolling with related conversations with people there). This can not be said of other drugs.

Cocaine, whether passing through Mexico or not, comes with blood on it. In my opinion, this is no longer debatable. Yet it remains casually consumed by almost 1 in 100 Canadians - often by proclaimed "socially conscious" people - without any of the discourse about the blood diamond-esque nature of its supply chain. Is it ever conceivable that people will think of the trail of damage that leads up to buying a baggie? Or does that kind of logic just not work with this particular type of good?

Javier Sicilia's Caravan Against the Violence

2011-06-09T15:23:00.002Z

When journalist, poet and author Javier Sicilia's son was kidnapped and killed while exiting a bar with his university friends, Sicilia spoke loudly, critically and eloquently. He quickly found himself the spokesman for the movement to protest the widespread violence, and Calberon's "war on drugs" strategy.

After a large march in the city a few weeks ago, their most recent action is a caravan that left from DF a few days ago, and arrives in Juarez today. Major English language networks seem to have chose not to cover this march. However, Mexico Reporter's Deborah Bonello had this report for AFP on Sicilia's path to "accidental hero" and is in Juarez for Sicilia's arrival.

Radio journalist Shannon Young blogged that another massacre at a rehab center to Torreón cast a shadow over the march's arrival in that same city. This marks at least 5 rehab center massacres in the past two years - to which there is no real explanation - and highlights what Sicilia and his supporters are up against.

The big question is what results the recent outcry against the Mexican government's strategy can - or will - have on the amount of violence in the country.

Tiempo

2011-05-30T21:44:00.003Z

I ask the man when he last worked. His feet curl with toughness against the pavement, and I judge my own bare feet as weak. Oaxacan heat yanks the sweat out of me. He tells me about his career of slaughtering bulls with his hands and a large knife, every day. Of drinking a small amount of their blood each time. He once received hell from his daughter when he taught her daughters - his granddaughters - this ritual.

"Tiempo no es muy bien amigo," he said out of nowhere; time is not a very good friend. Everyone in the proximity laughs along with the faded twinkle in his eye. He smiles, turning away.

His wife says he hadn't worked for 20 years. His second oldest grandaughter interjects to explain that their concept of time was not exceptionally accurate. Everyone nods. No one attempts to correct the statement. (If indeed it was false)

He asks what the boards were for, and I said surfing. Nods. I don't elaborate, but list a few places I had been. More nods. We talk random stuff at low volumes, the heat receding slightly with the sun on a nameless corner of a nameless town. Everything turns grey blue. I leave.

Now the only one awake. Coffee spilling with every poor attempt to anticipate when and where the topes, potholes and road detritus will appear. Girl Talk slams out at volume, working in tandem with the coffee to keep the eyes open until a 3 am trade-off for the wheel saves me at a shimmering PEMEX. I wake up in the back at 6 am, and watch Ixtapalapa's over and underpasses zoom by in the fluorescent lights and the roar of commuter traffic. A 9 am meeting looms.

Tiempo no es muy bien amigo. I laugh lightly through the exhaustion.

A Tale of Two Taxis

2011-05-11T05:02:00.002Z

Horror stories on Mex City taxi kidnappings do not come up short. I'd just read one in Daniel Hernandez's rad book, 'Down and Delirious in Mexico City.' More frightening, two personal accounts by friends of a narrow escape, and not such a lucky finish.

I got in the taxi at 8:30ish, after a final work call. En route to organize all things for travel. I had all my shit; cameras, compu, external hard drive, "applebottom jeans and the boots with the furs." Rain came up while flagging, so feeling stoked when dude stopped. It became clear quickly that he had no clue which way was up. Got the bad vibe feel. Dude started to talk all soft on his phone, head turned down. His ID placard thing didn't match the face. Mild panick. Told him to pull a Larry sporadically, which he did. Raining. Watching for tailers. Changed routes again two mins later. False security, but got to destino safe.

Next morning. Flagged a random cab with a partner in crime. Minimal chit chat, but arranged for a pick up to airport a few hours. A few minutes in we're talking about John Lee Hooker's influence on Eric Clapton and the Stones, Leadbelly's dissonantly caterwauling, hitchiking to see the Beatles live in Chicago in the 70's and how some Reggaeton ain't half bad, but mid-90's rap will never be replaced in the beats department. We got stuck in traffic. Dude explained his massive vinyl collection, and how he saves all his money driving cabs to buy tunes and to travel (been everywhere).

I messed up the departure terminal, and felt glad i did; Doors stories. When the ride finally ended, we, exchanged numbers; him saved as Carlos Santana, me, M(i)yles Davis. AND, we might go see Jethro Tull when they come to town next month.

He saw them in 1972, and described it as "impresionante."

March Against Violence

2011-05-09T00:36:00.004Z

Frustration with Mexico's violence hit an apex last month. While thousands have been killed or disappeared in the war on drugs - including family members of powerful movers in Mexico - the death of the son of prominent poet, journalist and author Javier Sicilia lifted the anger up to new levels. He immediately spoke out with eloquent anger about the lasting bloodshed, and criticized the government.

Thousands listened, and mobilized to echo his thoughts.

Al Jazeera already has a decent account of the march, and I'm sure many others will soon.

I went by for a bit, and just couldn't help but thinking what the hell cartel bosses around the country were thinking watching this all play out on TV. I kept thinking about a friend's cynical perspective that they would see this as a joke. That the government - who most appealed to - can't fix the real problems.

Despite all the positive energy, and thousands of people, I couldn't shake that somber thought.

One Bit of a Long Story: Tim Hetherington

2011-04-20T18:45:00.005Z

(LURD rebel says goodbye before battle)

Tim Hetherington died today in Libya doing what he does best: covering conflict. At present, there are varying reports that Chris Hondros also died. I hope the reports saying he was in very critical care are correct, and that he pulls through.

Hetherington, along with James Bradbazon, covered the end of Liberia's civil war by walking from the Guinean border to Tubmanburg to team up with the LURD faction, who's advance on the capital largely forced Charles Taylor to fall.

The photos from this, and the several years Hetherington spent after this documenting Liberia's return from violence are captured in the amazing book Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold.

I first read this book on Glenna Gordon's couch in Monrovia, in the summer of 2009. Then I bought three copies of it. It's ability to capture kind, sincere, soft moments amidst the carnage of Liberia's civil war and aftermath, and to document a completely hidden reality are unparalleled. It completely and totally altered how I thought about, and now see, journalism. Talking about this book with Glenna on numerous occasions that summer played an absolutely massive role in deciding to take the photography side of my work more seriously. This in turn forced me to develop not only my technical skills, but more so, to really, truly realize all the work and - again, more so - thought that has to go into every single frame you even think of publishing.

Of course, living up to these ideals remains very much a work in progress for me. But truly disappointed to see someone I admired so much pass away.

(a man canoes past a beached ship near Greenville, Liberia)

Solid Articulos

2011-04-19T23:38:00.003Z

I realized while dodging Mexi Traffic the other day, that since twitter became my primary news source, I had kinda ceased posting articles on my blog. Actually, truth be told, I got two emails from readers saying that, and I remembered it lost in a traffic-weaving trance near g.Mancera and o.Mundial.

So, while a bit late, here are a few truly excellent articles from out of Mexico last week, that are not really time sensitive.

1. Limes and Crimes (Nacha Cattan, Christian Science Monitor)

Any casual reader of this blog knows my love of informal economies. This one talks on how cartel influence jacks prices of a classic Mexican staple: el limon.

2) Tamaulipas (NYT)

A few days after talking to a photog en el norte about how Tamaulipas is basically a no-go zone for journos, Elizabeth Malkin and Damien Cave wrote this sobering account of a region almost completely blacked out from media coverage, and virtually out of government's control.

3) Not Speaking to You (Jo Tuckman, Guardian)

The indigenous language Ayapaneco is dying. Two people still speak it. They aren't talking because they don't really like each other. (Amazing find.)

4) How Cartels Work (Guy Lawson, Rolling Stone)

Gotta admit, was a bit disappointed on lack of depth here, but still some solid general info on how outgunned everyone is at dealing with the drug trade.

5) Stephen King on Writing (James Parker, The Atlantic)

I'll be the first to admit that I am no Steven King fanatic. Read a few books, a few stories have stuck with me over the years, but he's not my number one. This article, however, is a great little insight on how one of the greats deals with the onerous creative process of writing, flipping ideas around to shake one out.

Gettin' By - Performing in Tráfico

2011-04-13T23:49:00.002Z

This is part of a series called Gettin' By, that looks at street-level jobs, and the basic economics behind them.

Profession: Traffic Performer

Location: Some of the infinite busy intersections within the megacity.

How it Works: Light turns red, cars reluctantly stop. A captive market stares from behind their windshields. On any given day, all shapes and sizes appear at the cruzero, performing a wide range of "talents" - of which the skill level range is graphically unplotable.

In Tijuana the other day, Spiderman juggled on stilts while Wonder Woman danced on the side for a bit, then collected from the line of windows.

There are an unbelievable amount of clowns: forlorn clowns, juggling clowns, unicycle clowns, scarily happy clowns, downright scary clowns. (Seriously, if anyone has a real explanation for why there are so many clowns, I am on a 'want to know' basis).

Also lots of jugglers, the odd music thing, kids running around, breakdancing (not always distinguishable from the former, as skill level varies), traditional dancing and - amongst myriad other thangs, but pictured above - fire dancing.

A good traffic performer needs 'the force' - the knowledge of light change speeds. You want to max out your performance time, so as to please the commuters. But countless - 80%, if I had to guess - boogey right up until the light changes, leaving almost no time to pass by the cars for collection. Then they complain about making no money.

Usually drivers offer up whatever shrapnel they have in cup holders, sweater pockets or purses. 3 - 5 pesos is about average, though generosity or showmanship can lead to more. There's myths about people being passed 500 peso bills, but its mainly stoned teenagers singing that tune; old hands know its a metal game.

Add up that metal, and 200 pesos is the standard 5 hours for "Rico", seen above, but he doesn't do much else. An animated clown performer juggler on Gabriel Mancera said he makes about 250 in 3 - 4 hours, in between school and heading home. An older accordion player somewhere en La Del Valle said he would make about 200, but in closer to 3 hours in the evenings, after he finishes work. Where one person performs and another collects, rates double, even triple. More car windows, more pesitos.

Risks and Dangers: Pederestrianism is an 'at your own risk' thing across DF. Standing in front of a line of implicitly aggro drivers, and dodging between them as they accelerate in anticipation of la verde brings obvious risks. Robbery hits a few, as do cop shakedowns. Breathing unfiltered fumes all day on sunny pavement has its down sides. But, putting personal health at risk for a few bucks is not uncommon.

Security Light: Clearly One of My Favourite Things About Mexico

2011-04-11T04:53:00.005Z

There is a line. People are patiently enduring it. I enter the waiting. I try my best at patience.

Conceptualize the word "disinterested." Now, juxtapose that onto a Mexican man in his forties, wearing a black vinyl jacket "Seguridad" written in yellow, black pants and a forward-leaning meshback. He holds a metal detector.

Person one arrives at his presence. He scans them. They beep. Person two arrives, and again beeps as he scans both their person and their bags. "Pasale," he says to both. This repeats. Often.

I eventually arrive, a bag full of cameras, one pocket with a recorder and a mini tripod, another with tons of change. Bueno. He nods. I beep with every movement of the detector.

"Pasale." His expression does not alter.

I walk on.

Frontera Foto

2011-04-07T22:16:00.001Z

Barbara la niña hugs Tomás el gato. Borderland, east Tijuana.

Zapatista Migrant Workers hit Cancun

2011-04-02T19:18:00.005Z

A worker waits for bus repair in Ococsingo, Chiapas, before heading to look for work in Cancún, Quintana Roo.

This story had been on the back burner for a while, lost in the shuffle of busy schedules. But we got it out, and is now available on the site for PRI's The World.

Grant narrates the radio piece, and I narrate over my photos on the slideshow.

Special thanks to CLP for their support and funding.

Gettin' By - Diableros

2011-03-23T16:42:00.006Z

This is part of a series called Gettin' By, that looks at street-level jobs, and the basic economics behind them.

Profession: Diablero; Cart Puller.

Location: Mainly in and around marketplaces, or wherever a lot of street commerce and trade happens.

Usually identified by the Mexican chifle, or whistle, or by yelling "diablo, diablo, diablo," while running full speed under a heaving load in a space with barely enough room to side step, or otherwise remove yourself from momentum - and thus harm's - way.

Breakdown: First of all, the carts are called diablos, or devils, and thus the dudes pulling them, diableros. I've heard a few theories on why the cart is named as such, but the most common is just that they are buggers, weighing down on your back.

Diableros pay 10 - 15 pesos to rent the diablo for the day, and some have to pay a líder, who controls the flow of those working in his/her zone.

"Diablerismo" (which is not a word) employs almost exclusively young men. Its a pretty intense job. Load sizes and distances vary the price, but a weighed-down load, like above over a medium distance can fetch as much as 30 - 50 pesos, or 3-4 ish bucks. Most short trips tend to be around 20 pesos.

If you walk through any of the downtown market areas, its a sea of these dudes, running alongside traffic, deeking through each other, the infinite pedestrians and the parade of vendors rolling on the edges of the busy thoroughfares.

But, each diablero usually has to wait quite a while for each trip; "hurry up and wait" in full effect.

Some - usually those with clients - can make decent cash. But the most anyone has told me they make regularly is 400 - 500 pesos (though they admit to having the occasional big days during 'la temporada," La Navidad). More common for the younger guys is in the 250 - 300 range.

Many of the older dudes who have been on it forever, seem to have fallen into a rut of making 50 - 80 ($6 ish) during the week and 100 - 120 pesos, or around $10. They blame the increasing presence of box stores and supermercados in Mexico, which drives people away from street markets and tianguis - especially those selling produce - and seem resigned to that fate.

Minus 12 pesos for transport to and from, daily eating needs and the fact that most have families, and that is not stretching very far.

Point of Reference: A crew of older guys I talked to put in 10 pesos each, and share a lunch of tortillas, beans, chile and 2L bottle of coke that a woman in the neighbourhood prepares for them.

ps. Popeye now works as a diablero...

Night Time, Dominoes

2011-03-23T01:04:00.002Z

A group of men sit outside their car-parts shop, playing dominoes. The kid stands lookout.

Doctores, Mexico DF

New York Times

2011-03-18T00:41:00.009Z

Rumoured to happen for months, the NYT finally announced that it will put up a paywall. I have been meaning to blog about my full out support for this for much time. But suffice to say I am beyond stoked about this, and hope it encourages other media companies to do the same.

Free content is great in the sense of my insanely tight budget and thirst for news. But its not right. Do you know how much time and resources goes into getting stories from the field? Or how much work goes into being writer/photographer/editor? News, and I would argue especially photojournalism, give the illusion that its relatively straightforward to source and produce. Its not. Getting original stories - especially off the beaten path or in tricky, dangerous places - is frustrating terrain, that requires lots of ground work. Which requires cash, and people who can do it. Well.

The Times, more than any other outlet, brings together the best of the best, and creates a truly top-end product (which is not to say that I like every writer/photog/section there, but they each bring impressive skill sets.)

As my friend Jina Moore cleverly wrote earlier today, of NYT's prowess:

The Times is the journalism world's valedictorian that is also hot and good at sports -- the do-all, take-all that inspires as much consternation as adoration. Of course,the hot valedictorian graduates after four years, and the rest of us mortals never get to relish in watching his/her undoing. The Times has been around 140-or-something years, with a long record of excellence and also a rather fat file of mistakes.

Track record's such as the Times should be respected, not taken for granted by clicks of the mouse. While I do think the $15/mo fee could be a bit lower and still be fair, the continued assumption that we deserve to know about everything told with the highest standards without paying cheapens how we view the work.

I have long since been frustrated that amidst the trumpets heralding doom in the world of journalism, everywhere from The New Yorker to the Guardian to GQ to the Globe and Mail to Reuters and AP continues to pass along all this work for no fee.

Lunacy.

If you appreciate how much goes into producing this work, and (on an mildly selfish tip) the worth in paying the people who do it fairly, you should be supporting companies who produce it. 15 bucks is not all that much loot for most Times readers to receive professional quality work.

Enter Jina again:

Subscribing to the Times -- or to your local newspaper, or to other media outlets you think do important and needed work -- is not your usual financial transaction. You're not trading $15 for $15 worth of goods. You're supporting an enterprise, one that sometimes disappoints you and sometimes provides a service that's literally impossible to put a price on. You're helping to provide a public good -- journalism -- at a time when it's in the interest of the powerful, everywhere, to see it die.

One time.

- -

On Times-related note, Lyndsey Addario, Tyler Hicks, Stephen Farrell and Anthony Shaddid went missing in Libya on Tuesday. On a post this afternoon from NYT, their whereabouts remain unknown. Let's hope they are doing okay, and for a speedy release.

Please note the photo at the bottom of the NPAA article and check out Addario and Hicks' photos and essays on covering Libya, last week on the NYT Lens Blog. Commitment to the core and excellent photos that, for some reason, were delivered to us for free.

Photos From Ivory Coast/Liberia

2011-03-09T00:45:00.003Z

A few weeks ago, I posted a complainy-type post on twitter, asking why almost no photos were coming out of Ivory Coast, despite the escalating violence and growing refugee situation.

My gudfren' Glenna Gordon, was recently commissioned by UNHCR to get up there, and do just that. Unsurprisingly, she came back with amazing photos. And, as far as I know, the only ones from there.

This photo essay came out on BBC last week. (Though you cannot link to individual photos, '4 of 8' is a stunning shot.)

Today, Glenna posted another 15 or so on her blog. My favourite is above (i think the Butu'o crossing from IC to LIB). But they are all excellent, and tell a story not being told much, in lieu of the more news-friendly revolutions up north.

(admittedly, wish i was there covering that right now.)

Gettin' By Comes Back... with Tamales!

2011-03-03T01:13:00.001Z

Remember when I used to write semi-regular posts called 'Gettin' By', that looked at (informal) street sellers in Monrovia, and how they make money despite the purported 85% employment rate at the time? And then, how I said I was going to keep it up in Mexico, but then I only wrote three posts?

Well, I do. It is still a topic that greatly interests me, and that I actually spend a lot of time engaging with here. But I let the blog posts slip, mainly due to time. Mexico's street selling/informal economy - like I noted months ago - is really different than where i started in Liberia. To sum up: its massive, more organized, more diverse, more service based. But ultimately, just as essential.

Hanging out with a lot of vendors lately, I have a few lined up. So here's one to start, from a few months ago in Ocosingo, Chiapas.

GETTIN' BY - TAMALES

Profession: Tamale Vendor

Location: There are many ways to spot a tamale for sale. Sometimes vendors set up with a large steel pot near a market, store, metro stop or other busy area, often in conjunction with luke warm café or atole. Carts retrofitted to stack these pots onto are equally, if not more, common. They are either pushed while walking or powered by a bicycle.

Anyone in Mexico City is well aware of the sales pitch. Every night, between 7:30 - 10, the carts pass by, blaring the classic recording: tamales, oaxaqueños, tamales calientitos!

(jaja... not joking, as soon as i wrote that, dude biked by on the street, blaring it out. Classico!)

Breakdown: First and foremost, tamales be the bomb. So a lot get sold. But the range is huge.

In the photo, Sylvia sells at the 'pirata' bus station in Ocosingo, Chiapas. She sells 3 small ones for 13 pesos, and tends to clear 60 - 70 in a 10 hour day. Net profit: 80-ish pesos a day (3 - 4 hours selling, 2 - 3 hours preparing + a few times a week buying supplies and travel).

The morning tamale vendor near my house packs about 100 big'uns. 10 pesos each, served in bread (una torta de tamal). They offer other products, but claim to claim to make 600 + pesos in a morning, after all expenses. This gets shared between the 3 people involved.

In my favourite small town on the Michoacan coast, the two tamale ladies plod their course each day, and make 50 ish pesos a day off visiting surfers. This jumps up on weekends and exponentially during Navidad o Semana Santa. Interestingly, their new sales pitch is that they sell them at 6 pesos each, or 3 for 20. I usually go for the three, just cuz.

Point of Reference: In Ocosingo and rural Michoacan, cost of living is quite low. Many earn the Mexican minimum wage, which is 50 pesos/day; $4. Five pesos can get enough corn flour for daily tortillas for a small family. But gas still costs 9 pesos a liter and drinking water about a peso a liter.

In Mexico City, 3 pesos gets you on the Metro. 30 pesos buys you the cheapest comida corrida lunch, and a plain t-shirt at a street market, 40 pesos.

Treeplanting Movie

2011-03-01T00:49:00.004Z

Don't remember who took this shot, but a classic: distraught, sittin' with homies, waitin' for trees on the cutblock. Pre-work, at the end of the 2005 season.

I used to plant trees. A lot of them. Though most people don't believe, an average full day for me in my final years fell around 6000 trees, with the occasional bigger day. 1.1 million trees in total, lifetime. This life is long over.

My friend Jason Nardella hit me up today with good news: his documentary, 78 Days, about life at my old company is reaching its final stages, so see the trailer here.

It was mainly filmed the year after injuries forced me to quit; an event that falls into the 'mixed blessing' realm. But, set in the crazy town of High Level, Alberta (once my summer home), it will feature several true blue amigos, the crazy life I loved, but could never live again.

ups, Jason. Looking forward to it.

The Border

2011-02-11T23:00:00.005Z

pic of a border in Oaxaca, but not THE border

"the border is a line of barbwire and spiked pillars that seems only to serve as a symbol of one man's futile lifetime endeavors, his attempts to define Mother Nature's boundaries, as well as man's national claims to a piece of what no human can ever call his own possession. Men will always be willing to fight and die in follies of nationalism, but they will never be able to continually control their own borders."

- border patrol agent Lee Morgan, quoted in Ed Vulliamy's 2010 book 'Amexica'

Read this book. Its like the non-fiction, modern day equivalent of McCarthy's Blood Meridian, with a touch of The Border Trilogy. Truly, truly impressive reportage.

Why, the Chicago Tribune wrote about a paraylzed undocumented worker...

2011-02-08T06:54:00.006Z

a man looks out as a bus of migrant workers heads pulls away from Ocosingo, Chiapas, headed to Playa del Carmen and Cancún in search of work.

Yesterday, the Chicago Tribune published a story about an undocumented migrant worker named Quelino Ojeda Jimenez who became paraplegic after a fall on the job site. He spent several months in hospital, at a point when he couldn't breath without assistance, nor move. They he got deported.

The article says:
"His abrupt departure, which Ojeda says was undertaken without his consent, outraged a group of Mexicans living in Chicago who had rallied to his aid, tending to him in the hospital and encouraging him not to give up."

and then a few paragraphs later:
"Now, the 20-year-old man is in a Mexican hospital that is so resource-poor that it is reusing filters for the breathing machine needed to keep him alive. After an investigation completed late last week, Advocate Health Care — the largest hospital network in Illinois — acknowledged it never obtained Ojeda's permission to transfer him to Mexico."

It seems the Mexican Consulate was not informed until very late in the game. But the article (and follow up) quotes reps from the hospital and the med evac company who say they followed procedure, and made the right move(s). (Yet, they admit they did not tell the patient; they refer to this as "an oversight.")

The editor insinuates that the article drew a lot of feedback. This should hardly surprise. Its emotional, for one. It brings up health care in the States - a hot topic. And it also deals with one of several sticky areas of deportation laws: what happens when undocumented worker is severely incapacitated while working in the US?

It would make sense that the Tribune might write a follow up with a bit more depth, a longer look at the many sides of this debate - pros, cons and what have you, including from readers. Puzzling to me though, their follow up took a different angle, justifying why this was a news piece. (Its actually called "Why we Wrote About a Paralyzed Undocumented Worker Sent Back to Mexico")

POV's of me, Chicago Tribune or its readership on US health care or immigration laws aside, I remain intrigued about why this news has to be justified. Better explained, or flushed out, sure.

Its not an isolated incident - as the article points out. It deals with important issues and it affects lives. And it is certainly not cut and dry what the right move is in that situation. Plus, it seems some basic rights were not considered, namely that of a paraplegic patient to at the very least be informed of his deportation. Unless I am missing something, those seem like pretty good justifications for a story (granted, it was not quite as newsworthy as Aguilera or Black Eyed Peas post-Super Bowl gossip).

The peeps at Wronging Rights (via @wrongingrights) responded quick to my earlier tweet linking to the article:

"If you put a white person on a plane to Mexico without his consent, that's kidnapping. Why is it an "oversight" when you do it to a Mexican?"

I think that is valid question. Perhaps even more relevant though is this: if this were a British national from a poor family (as Ojeda is), that could not afford to get them back immediately, hurt while working under the table in the US, would they ever be transported without seeking consent? How would public reaction differ if this had happened to a Brit, Canadian or Aussie?

Buried Photos (blanco y negro)

2011-01-27T16:09:00.006Z

Following up on 'yesterday's' post (actually a few days ago), a few black and whites from the past year around Mexico that never got published.

Zapatistas sing their hymn at a community meeting. (Balaclavas are on because I was taking pictures, not because they always wear them: Zapatistas generally do not show their faces in public)

Grant 'Twiggy' Baker - a legend of the big wave surf scene - catches a macker on the gnarliest day I've ever seen. His friend, professional surfer and videographer Noel Robinson, died on a wave shortly after this pic.

Standing guard: a staple of Mexico City rooftops

A machine shop near La Merced, Mexico City

Holding court in Tepito.

A favourite hair style, sported by women in an indigenous town in Chiapas being relocated to new 'sustainable cities' by the gov.

Union Representatives speak to a crowd on the anniversary of the worst day of violence in the 2006 occupation of Ciudad Oaxaca. Security forces, accused of killing or disappearing dozens of protestors and organizers, were nowhere to be seen - except as an effigy hanging from the gazebo in the Zocalo.

Betters and afficionados keep a close eye on their bets and birds. Ciudad Oaxaca.

From same night as above shot... I just love dude gettin' his gallo strut on.

A woman sitting by a freshly decorated grave in Lo De Soto, Guerrero. I was hoping she would move her face a few inches out of the shadow, but she never did.

Pushing goods for sale and someone to sell them down a side street in Tepito, Mexico City.

"Juan" steers a boat through the forest swamps deep in the Lancondon Jungle. He is among the last people still speaking Lancondon Maya, which many believe to be among the oldest languages in Mexico.

Buried Photos (en color)

2011-01-24T21:20:00.012Z

Upon returning to Mex a few days ago, one of my tasks has been organizing photos and cleaning up hard drives. To spice things up for myself (I don't love such tasks), I decided to pick out some pics that I still like, regardless of their lack of journalizing sellability. Then I decided to post them.

These are ones that did not make the cut for publishing, but they all caught my eye in one way or another.

Today, colours. Tomorrow(ish) black and white.

Jesus on display in a narco town in rural Michoacan.

A man 'gets his lean on' as evening comes to the used goods section in the back of Tepito, Mexico City's largest black market.

A Lacondon Maya child rests on a tree after chasing his cat away. The Lancondon Maya are the most direct known descendants of the Maya, who managed to escape detection until the 1960's. There are about 1000 left, and fewer who speak the language. Sadly, this story never got published.

A woman arranges flowers with her daughter in Cuajinicuilapa, Guerrero, the unofficial capital of Mexico's remaining African descendants.

A girl dances on the top of grave, singing to her friend below.

Grant rejected it from a slide show we did together, an editor rejected it, and no one else seems to love it but me. A Zapatista man (who can't show his face on camera) rests on a cross during a hilltop meeting in Chiapas

Two roosters mid battle on the floor of cockfight in rural Oaxaca.

Jesus fixes his get-up, as part of an odd media frenzy at the main protest against the UN's climate change conference in Cancún. Tons of riot police blocked the road. It felt for a bit like it was gonna get intense. But then, protesters just took turns standing in front of the riot police, denouncing the UN and such - to the media's delight.

An alleyway in Ciudad Oaxaca.

Chuy squeezes out of a sweet mid-morning barrel peeling off the rocks. No, I will not tell you where.

In the afternoon glow of a cemetery on Dia de los Muertos, en Guerrero... Blurry colours

Gettin' By - Selling Zapatistas

2011-01-11T18:26:00.003Z

One interesting offshoot Mexico's Zapatistas is the small economy of indigenous who have used their popularity to make money - small money. Me and Grants did an article on this a while back.

We also spent two nights drizzly nights hanging out with Anna in front of the cathedral. She makes a living selling Zapatista dolls. During the days, she makes the dolls at home - a skill taught to her by a person of unclear origin. Sometimes she makes it out to walk around a bit in the day or evening, looking for tourists who might buy them. Mostly though, she comes out at night - after 10 pm is the only time local authorities allow indigenous sellers to lay out their blankets and sell their goods.

On good days Anna brings in a few hundred pesos; $ 20-ish US being the high end. Lately, its been more like $ 6, and sometimes nothing. The days we hung out with her, it hovered closer to $ 3.

You can hear Anna's voice on this co-produced radio street vendor profile for World Vision Report.

Article Series: Big Year for the Environment

2011-01-06T21:39:00.003Z

Ever been confused about the environment, and all the talk about it? Not just in the 'does driving to the store mean I am killing baby swans et al.' But more in the 'I have no idea what any of these talks mean for the countries and ecosystems that will be affected by changing climates and weather patterns.

I'm not purporting that this will solve your woes, but a four-part series I did for World Politics Review came out Tuesday. The series focuses on the four major pillars of the Cancun agreement, and what will need to happen in 2011 to keep the Kyoto Protocol alive and enact all this proposed/promised assistance for the developing world by richer nations. (You can likely expect a blog post about this last issue in the coming days).

For those who have a subscription to WPR, these are the articles.

1) The Kyoto Protocol

2) REDD +

3) Finance Mechanism

4) Technology Transfer

That Which Happens

2011-01-03T18:39:00.005Z

(just down the street a few days before)

On Dec 1, I woke up with serious back pain - a regular visitor to my life, caused this time by a twisting fall clearing the ball off my keeper's goal line. I forced myself to work, which on this day, meant interviewing and taking photos in a rough, working class neighbourhood. I was thinking (mistakenly) that the next day was the two year anniversary of my blog. Feeling pretty good about work that day - and life in general - I thought about funny shit I would never write, and ambled through the waves of back pain.

My interview with a group of teenage thugs was going pretty well. They kept cracking hilarious jokes. The sun in the cool air made for the perfect temperature.

Someone grabbed me from behind - though not very hard - and another guy appeared right in front of me. I shrugged off guy one, and pushed guy two away. At this point, the gun appeared. I got that weird feeling of clarity that always comes to me when intense things go down: whatever is happening all just stops, and I feel really alert and focused. I weighed my options. I thought about running into the crowd. I thought about charging the guy - I really sincerely doubt a trigger would have been pulled, and I have no doubt I would win in a fight. But, he lifted the gun up, yelled some shit that I wasn't listening to (focused on my potential options), and cocked the trigger.

The mini-gangsters I had been photographing took a scared step back out my periphery. Now left standing alone against two with a gun, I had another moment of clarity. And in those brief segundos, lost roughly 3 grand of camera and recording equipment and a day's worth of photo and audio.1

People I knew chased after them. Then I spent 20 mins in Mexi surrealism; me in the back of a cop car, cops talking on their cell phones, and me meant to inform them if we happened to drive past the ratones. We ended up stopping, sitting on the back of the cop car, and just talking about regular shit. Predictably, this chapter ended with them saying it was not worth my time to report it. I called a friend, got on the metro, and went home to lie down.

(Violent) theft is a scenario I have played through several times - though it never results how you thunk it. Ever since the first two times I took pictures in Liberia resulted in threats of violence from crowds, its been pretty constant. Much of the past few years have been spent working in areas with some degree of poverty and/or tensions, and my security tends to involve not much more than contacts I make in these neighbourhoods, and "common sense." I'm always doing 360 degree checks, watching who's watching me. I keep exit routes mentally mapped, and never face one direction for long. I rarely pull out my camera when I don't know (and trust) at least one person in short radius.

Talking about this with a journalist I had just met at the Cancún conference, she scorned me for not rolling with an armed detail. I think this is, um, dumb, and the "discussion" that ensued on this topic quickly ended our very brief professional relationship.

Beyond the fact that I literally can't afford it, guns change everything. Surely I would not arrive in Mogadishu and just be like "who wants to be in a pretty picture?!", but having a hired gun with you has its affects. Sure, you can extract information, but its different. You become a potential threat to your subjects. You hold a superiority that changes the dynamic of an interview; how you see interviewee as much as how interviee sees you. And, you wield the threat of death over people who want to steal a material object from you. This, to me, does not work, though I recognize certain circumstances call for it.

Without launching into a diatribe about how much security expats tend to demand in situations they decry as unsafe, I do really still think that reporting is best done with a limited amount of official protection units (ie building localized contacts and confidence, not showing up for a day with gun-toters), and I don't plan to change that approach.

Had this happened January 1st, I believe "bad omens" would have been the standard issue comment when referring to my annual prospects. A whole year to try and recover. But, it happened at the end of a year, allowing me to pack it away with what by all measures, was a fairly frustrating 12 months.

Now, after hiding from the internets for a few weeks, 2011 starts off with a challenge: "make money-money make money-money, make." I need to hustle my way outta debt. Despite its obvious downsides, I like this challenge - I got tons of ideas that I need to find homes for.

I just learned that 2011 is prime number.2 So bring it on, bitches.

FN1 If you are looking for a deal, somewhere on the streets of Mexico City a Canon 5D with a 24 - 105 L series lens likely sells for well below market value.

FN2 I learned this from Chris Blattman's Twitter feed when I checked back in to the interconnected webbing last evening.

Refleciones de Cancun

2010-12-14T18:49:00.003Z

I am still not entirely clear on exactly who pulls the strings around massive UN fandangos such as that which blurred past me in Cancun. Judging by the frantic questions, shrugged shoulders, vacant looks and puffy eyes that i repeatedly encountered, my vague understanding is not unique.

My biggest qualm is that I'm not sure that I see the connection between ministers of nearly every country you have ever heard of - and some you may not have (Kiribati, eg) - making very similar statements to a half-empty room of yawning delegates (who are doing nothing besides preparing their own statements) and the parade of closed door meetings where the various aspects of this years deal are fought over tooth and nail for every syllable.

But somehow, from some room, drafts started appearing at the documents booth. And out came the red pens of observers tracking every potentially significant piece of minutiae in the laborious syntax of UN meets legalese. Meetings being recalled to alter the word 'involving' to including. Hopes raised by the strategic addition of the word 'compelling'. Its all a bit overwhelming, even for someone who likes words a lot (me).

My hopes were dimmed, my blood pressure boiled, by how much of the final meeting was dedicated to apologizing to the Bolivian delegation for problems with UN security while entering the meeting (actually, i would like to know what the carbon footprint of stalling a meeting like that is). Not joking, this topic was returned to 8 times, with pathetically PC diatribes from the COP pres and other delegations of apology, condolence and 'sincere' hope that 'we' could move forward. Good grief. Climate change people; the central topic.

Bolivia fought tooth and nail to show it did not support the final document on this topic. Though severely implied, from what I remember, the word 'veto' did not leave from their Salón's (their chief negotiator) mouth. Pretty fun to watch. I'm not sure on the legal ins and outs, but he seemed pretty certain that it could not pass with his disapproval. No one else seemed to think this. A point reaffirmed by the sound of the Ms. Espinosa's, who thanked him for his comments several times - but none so dismissively as when her wrist directed said gavel towards its thumping point.

It all ended a bit surreal for me. Some bizarre hybrid of rave in the late 90's, and restless morning dreams I imagine people who unwillingly work in corporatelandia have as their alarms beep on expensive bedside tables. After sleep briefly forced my hand around 3 am, I woke up on the carpet under the "Biology of Mexico" exhibit in the atrium, arms wrapped into my backpack, confused as all hell. Bolivia was back on the 'big brother' screens in the press conference room. I couldn't find my friends. People were giving each other massages and hugs - but they were wearing suits and using big words. Everything seemed really glowy and blurry - no doubt a function of collectively no sleep. People asked me questions in english I couldn't understand. Calderon gave his final words from 'Big Brother.' I finally found one friend, but passed out under a stairway amidst a fallen mosh pit of journalists and civil society members scattered about. I somehow forced out the end of an article, and went searching the main plenary hall for a more robust, clear conclusion to it all. I found more suit-zombies, a sea of coffee cups and a distinct feeling of utter confusion. I gave up, and took the shuttle bus back to my hostel with a truly interesting selection of national delegates passed out at every angle possible. When I woke up at the final stop, the sun had beat me.

Ultimately, with a touch of process time, I think the outcome is decent. But to me, remains in similar limbos as always: no one's bound to anything, and its not abundantly clear to me 'what' exactly countries are going to do to make any improvements.

Now, back in my freezing house in Mexico City, I hope the people that matter - people who make political decisions in their respective countries, especially the big emitters - seemed a bit more clear on how things had ended, and that they are taking back concrete realities to work towards, not just the hazy feelings of 'what the eff does this all mean?!?' that I know for a fact I was not alone in feeling.

Deforestation Deal

2010-12-12T15:00:00.003Z

The end of UN conference was raucous. More on that later. I stuck it out until the bitter 5 am end, partially cuz I wanted to, and partially to put the finishing touches on this article, and make it as accurate as vague UN info allows.

Looks most specifically at forestry's role within the agreements from Cancun, mainly packaged under REDD + (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation).

African Unity at the Climate Change Conference

2010-12-10T01:32:00.002Z

Through some late night determination, I got this sucker through. A story about African nations working together to have a voice in the conference - a voice that rivals the major players like China, the US, India, Brazil and the EU.

Its on the (great) PRI show, The World.

Slowness

2010-12-09T18:39:00.002Z

the title of this blog post remains the central theme of complaints from people. A woman from the north of Kenya on the delegation that I walked to the Africa group meeting. The Sudanese forestry delegate that I sat with on the morning bus, and has now turned down 4 of my requests for interview. My 4 am taxi driver the other night.

Last night, nine buses stood in line to take, running, engines on. That was for just one of the 9 numbered lines. This figure does not include the several smaller lines that patrol all lados of the conference. The other night, I took the number 5 shuttle bus back to my hotel. I was the only one on it. I don't understand.

People always complain about airplanes being bad for the environment. They cause 2% of global emissions - same as the IT industry (which mainly comes from their massive servers storing all your retarded emails that you will NEVER re-read, all the back issues of Gardener's Monthly and basically everything you ever click on throughout the world wide internets. What? You don't believe me? Go ahead, snoop around

After working for roughly 26 hours straight, I drank two beers and ate a bag of chips in 9 minutes. I felt very desperate before; worse after. A girl I never met made me a sandwich. I felt bad after the first consumption, better after the second, then bad again when I drank two coffees to combat all the ills. What a tangled web we weave.

Felipe Calderon is currently talking calmly about how we need to act quick on climate change. I am not wasting finger strokes on that.

Ohhh... here comes Zuma. Guess what he's gonna say.

c'mon, guess

"Felipe Calderon and Mexico have done a great job."

One thing I would like to know but never will: how many trees go into printing receipts that people will never use every year? (HT Nab, for starting that thought process 10 years ago)

The president of Nauru just narrowly escaped my efforts to nab him.

Finally, a question that no one seems able to answer here: who the fuck is actually making the decisons around here? Who signs where? I have yet to figure this out.

Climate Change Protests

2010-12-09T18:34:00.002Z

Article on Global Post about the two alternative conferences at Cancun, and the march they held yesterday.

not from the main event

2010-12-07T06:05:00.003Z

brazil’s booth has cleavage-popping blondes posing with business casual crowds for iphone pictography. Mediocre food costs exhorbitant amounts. I ate lunch with the delegate for Malawi. He is exceptionally nice man. The sandwich he ate cost 80 pesos, my salad 90. I was not happy about this. Malawi’s GDP works out to roughly 20 pesos/day.

Everyone seems to want the talks to go somewhere. Everyone wants their voice heard. I could not estimate how many thousands of voices I heard, or saw lining up, pining tob be heard today.

I ran into my friend Yurfee from Liberia. That remains a highlight of the conference.

Sitting on a couch. In the table in front there are three 3 - 5 inch stacks of pamphlets about various things that could be construed as related to the environment. Without moving my head, I can see 8 other tables. In my backpack, there is roughly one inch of various pamphlets forced onto me. By only moving my eyes, I count 17 backpacks. Deforestation counts for 20 % of GHG emissions; transportation, 15%.

I think too many people confuse ‘question and answer’ periods with street corners, and themselves as preachers.

I put my notebook down and turned around to face the urinals. When I turned back again it was gone. Livid. Happened to see a lost and found sign while exiting. They had it. Restored faith, diminshed anger.

Me CC Article

2010-12-06T21:22:00.004Z

An intro article about the climate change conference, (COP 16) from a couple days.

A more personal interpretation falls below.

bye!

2010-12-05T23:18:00.002Z

(all calm on the western front: boothdom)

i wonder what visiting peoples think about the mexican army, masked and toting AK’s patrolling the town on the back of broken pick ups. as they rolled by my bus, that was my first cancun COP 16 thought.

half empty conference rooms with monotone jokes told through european accents. endless booths with endless stacks of paper. the especially overpriced ‘international’ food that seems to follow the UN around. lots of suits and lots of laptops.

'it should be picking up steam’ this week.

lot of people at a big important conference, lost in the labyrinth of open space, people who are too environmentally important to smile back a hello and conference times scattered around the various venues.

somewhere outside, the lone wind turbine lops around listlessly, providing the dubious claim to COP’s sustainability. “efficient vending machines” dot the concrete horizon. from the TV, the representative form the maldives proclaims his dedication to the conference, followed closely by costa rica’s rep, and, presumably, everyone else. who goes against the grain on that one? the loud volume echoes through the open space.

so many people straight up lied to me regarding directions/instructions that I suspect a plot.

exhibit A, finding a friend in the media department.

arrive, ask an official. for the listed address. “see that building? walk past the left side of it. easy.” person at said building, pointing exactly where I came from. “follow the signs that way”. fine (to his credit, there were signs.) Enter the exception to the rule, the helpful (read: informed) lady, who says, “back that building, take a bus to NIZCU. this is Azteca.” upon arrival and at my request of where the media center is, the response from three members of welcoming committee. 1) upstairs to the left 2) upstairs to the right 3) ‘todo derecho’ - there is “no media center along the outside of this building”. I select option dos, and select an appropriately labeled door. “Yes, she [my friend] is two doors down, toca”, followed by, “oh, around the corner, number 614.”

that is about half my story. i just don’t feel like going on.

now, stalking international officials from obscure countries. everyone seems to be adhering to sunday being the lord’s day. a few people on laptops, one inspecting shots on his camera, and presumably a focus group in the corner. its unofficial boss lady likely doubles as an advert for type A.

the alternative conference and march (part one) earlier today. a lot more types than A.

where is Africa in all of this? any country... where are you?

i’ve run into three blasts from the past in 2 days. hoping for more, but aware that my hoping negates the chances.

i just got an email transcript of president Calderon’s speech today. he used tortilla machines as an allegory for making small changes to move along.

then he said a lot of things that I sincerely hope will happen here. starting tomorrow of course. Its still sunday.

Environmentals, Cancun and Twitter

2010-12-04T00:06:00.004Z

(quick: spot 10 things I hate about Cancún in this photo... from the final day of our Zapatista trip)

I once swore I would never go to Cancún (let "once" equal 100 times). Yet, tomorrow will mark the second time in three months that I will grace its presence. The first being after following a group of Zapatista migrants up to find work in Playa del Carmen, and discovering a whole network of indigenous migrant workers searching for non-existent work amidst the slowing tourist growth.

Tomorrow I start covering the final week of the climate change conference, COP 16. An article I wrote on the topic was to come out today, but I haven't seen it, so no link.

I'm pretty excited about the conference, and do legitimately think there is potential for progress. This opinion may change upon seeing the process in action, but my opinion is based on talking to lots of people, and reading tons o stuff. ie not on nothing.

If you are looking for more info, The Guardian has probably the best overall site regarding the conference on their very comprehensive Environment page.

As a side note, I have been surprised at the lack of commentary about Cancun, of all places, being the host.

And, speaking of Cancún hypocrisy, I am experimenting with something. Its called Twitter. Gonna try it out at the conference, and see what I think. Please feel free to follow me @esteyonage. I currently have two followers.

Finally, I just think the whole Wikileaks thing is fascinating. Form all angles.

A Day in the Life

2010-12-03T04:49:00.005Z

(the standard cooking set up in the Zapatista zone, where beans and tortilla is always what's cookin', with the occasional taste of the below)

(a rare treat of an addition to dinner)

If you've been reading this blog the past little while, you are more than aware that I spent some time in Chiapas with my beloved henchman, Grantimus Maximus.

I almost forgot to put a post up about this story we did. If you knew how much work and planning and waiting and cajoling and (literally) begging for permission and editing and traveling and sleeping on doors and eating nothing but beans, and how much money we got at the end of all that, you would understand the extent of this sacrilidge.

Thus, I present to you 'A Day in the Life of a Zapatista Community' for the World Vision Report. Grants on the mic for the radio part, and a short photo gallery by moi of very normal life amongst a community known mainly for its balaclavas, guns and mysterious leader.

Sometimes good things require lots o work. I think this one is good. Also one of my favourite stories to actually do. Super fun day, that day, with the usual cast of unbelievably friendly peoples making it that way.

(a woman who made us delicious tea one night, stands by her kitchen stove)

(in a nearby village on a separate day, the community put on their masks to show off the Zapatista himn, which is still sung regularly, though without masks. The masks are worn so as not to show faces and to maintain the idea of equality)

Friday Night, '74

2010-11-27T03:26:00.002Z

God I love Mexico City's old signage, even with an onslaught of wires in front of them.

If I had seen this sign in Tepito at this exact hour on a Friday night in 1974, I would already be inside boogeying. It still got me hype in 2010 though.

Forgotten Moment

2010-11-25T21:22:00.002Z

Someone - and I can't for the life of me remember who - told me something that interested me greatly. A country in East Africa with very strict laws regarding importing foreign goods. And, cuz of this, a market exists where you show up, say what you need, and it gets made out of whatever. The example I remember them giving was a comb made by cutting a piece of an engine block off, and fixing it like so.

I think you are a person that reads my blog, and also a friend. Who are you? More importantly, what is this place called? Mail me!

Or, if you are reading this and were not the one telling me, but do know what I am taking about also please email me - esteyonage@gmail.com

finally, anyone know about something similar happening in Mexico? Maybe at one of the big dumps or some'n?

Werd!

Afro-Mexicanos

2010-11-20T01:22:00.005Z

(harmonica player in Cuajinicuilapa)

In one region of Mexico where I surf a lot, there's still a remaining community of African descendants. Usually they are called 'Afro-Mexicanos' o 'Afromestizos'.

Grant and I went down there to spend day of the dead in the region with our friend Eduardo Anorve, a super rad local journalist who knows a ton about the region and its people.

(three maestros keep the beat for the devils in El Quiza)

You can listen to our radio report on the top of this page, and view the audio slideshow lower down.

Though we split duties to a degree - Grant records sound, and I take photos - its again a 100% collaborative effort of co-writing, researching, producing etc, including advice on what sounds/photos we end up using. Which I really like.

That is all. Hope you like.

(Paying respects in the De Lo Soto cemetary)

Fallacious Conneciónes

2010-11-15T16:24:00.003Z

As most Canadians have likely heard, a hotel explosion over the weekend in Playa del Carmen killed five, including a child. CBC has more info if you are curious.

Unfortunately, though perhaps not surprisingly, this seems to have tipped the delicate balance of Mexico tolerance a tad further towards the dark side. Though it could go on to be proved wrong, it currently looks like an accident, and no one has claimed responsibility. It was not the Zetas, it was not a rampage, it was not Al Qaeda. This does not - or at least should not - reflect on Mexicans as a people, and should have no bearing whatsoever on how Mexico as a country is viewed; though it seems this is exactly what is happening.

Canadians seem incensed not just at this, but at Mexico, Mexicans and anyone who even dares to set foot in the country. In their anger, seem to be forgetting a crucial aspect of this: it was an accident.

Surely, Mex has problems with violence that are unheard of in Canada. And yes, for Canadians who have died in Mexico, its a personal tragedy: its horrible for any family to lose a loved one unexpectedly, especially when its through violent or unexplained means.

But a few things about this anger seem largely overlooked. One is that places like Quintana Roo (home to Playa del Carmen, Cancún and surrounding area) have a murder rate LOWER than Canada. This stat doesn't necessarily apply to this situations, other than the fact that false assumptions are often made.

I would be fascinated to know what the murder rate is of Canadians who travel to Mexico. Thousands upon thousands of Canadians travel to Mexico every year, largely to engage in some form of hedonism. There has been a few gruesome murders in the past few years, but is it any higher than murder rates within Canada? Sure, Canada is nice and all, but violent murders and attacks on innocents are far from unheard of (and work out to around 2/100 000 per annum). And, on top of this, roughly a third of the Canadians believed to have been murdered in Mexico in the past few years were also believed by (Canadian) police to be part of the drug trade in Canada.

Overall, for number of Canadian tourists who travel to Mexico, are more than 2/100 000 actually murdered? I would love to know.

Sites such as Mexico Vacation Awareness play up the increasing fear, listing American and Canadian vacationers who have died in Mexico. But as you read down their site, a very different trend appears. Cause of death: fall from balcony (this is bizarrely common on this site). Cause of death: drowning. Cause of death: dune buggy accident. And, dotted amongst these accidents, a few murders.

If a Canadian goes to Mexico to enjoy the 'the sun, surf and low prices', why is it then Mexico's fault when said person gets wasted at their resort and falls off a balcony? Or, doesn't take into account their own ability, and drowns in the ocean? (Being a surfer and an ex-competitive swimmer, I still have moments where currents and waves pummel the crap out of me, and stuff a bit of humble pie at me: the ocean is a powerful beast, especially if your swimming skills fly half mast.)

Mexico is indeed very dangerous in some places, exponentially mas if "you got a foot knee-deep in the crack game." But people take risks, drink a lot and act dumb as possible on vacation; often in combination. This is dangerous. And on top of this just like everywhere, innocent mistakes are made in news places, and accidents happen as a result.

When people you know die, anger and sadness are natural and justified responses. But, judging from the massive comments sections in the Globe and Mail and CBC, there's some serious lack of understanding about where these emotions should be directed.

Getting Up To The Border

2010-11-09T14:42:00.004Z

(screen shot from the trailer)

I usually have a reverse-magnet type of reaction to any kind of celebrity talking about anything other than their house/spouse or other stuff that just shoots through the 'ignore filter'. I managed a little patience when Gabriel García Bernal showed up talking about migrants in Mexico.

Maybe I'm still enamoured with his sliding cameo as Ronaldo in that World Cup commercial and I tend to like the movies he is in, but in all fairness, aside from facilitating decent quality interviews, he stays pretty out of the picture, and 'The Inivisibles' touches on some worthwhile themes. Most notably the human impact of trying to reach the States.

Really what I think what kept me interested was GGB's quote early in the trailer I watched the other day about a topic conveniently forgotten in the majority of Mexican outrage against US immigration policies: "Its essential that Mexico sets a good example of how to treat immigrants to be consistent with the valid demands that we make of the United States."

Though mild improvements have been made in recent years, Mex is meant to have among the toughest official immigration laws. It is also incredibly dangerous for migrants. Not only does the government do very little to help the migrants, gov. employees from various apparati are often implicated in wrong doing (Immigration authorities were accused in organizing the massacre of 72 migrants last month, and police are often accused of at least turning a blind eye to all abuse against the migrants).

The vids are with Amnesty International so have that angle to them. But their look at some personal stories along the dangerous, arduous and often fruitless journey towards the US goal makes them well worth the watching.

See the various short docs here.

(its not letting me embed for some reason)

Risk v Photographic Perfection

2010-10-31T02:03:00.003Z

(photo from from the NYT lens blog, linked to below)

In the few days I took off to catch the last south swell of the season in Oaxaca, legendary photographer Joao Silva was severely injured in Afghanistan. You can read more about what happened on the NYT site, but Silva came to prominence covering South Africa's transition from Apartheid with three other SA fotogs. This is captured in the book the 'The Bang Bang Club', which is not the best written book in the world, but certainly vale's la pena to read simply to see the level of commitment to journalism those guys had, and a unique angle on the final stages of Apartheid.

You can see some of his recent work with NYT on their awesome lens blog (which also has a short article highlighting how much respect Silva has in the journo world), or check out his professional site

Hope he pulls through all good.

Commericalism v Zapatism

2010-10-28T17:49:00.005Z

(Zapatista dolls for sale in a street market in San Cristobal)

Article on Global Post by me and Grants, looking at how the popular image of the Zapatistas has been used for commercial purposes around their support bases in Chiapas, with a small photo gallery.

Tijuana versus Redemption

2010-10-27T21:22:00.003Z

(rooftop miscellany somewhere in Mexico City)

Courtesy of one of my 'burros reversados', i received some smuggled goods: Harper's and the New Yorker. They were both delicious to read, on a few days away from the interwebs of distraction.

With a bit of luck, one of the articles was one I had come across the intro of on the New Yorker site via Alexis Okeowo, a super interesting feature on a controversial attempt to clean up Tijuana, was in this print issue. The clean up effect, led by a former Army Colonel Julian Leyzaola, seem[ed] to have the desired effect of stopping some of the insanity that was Tijuana in 2007 - 2008 but at the expense of tearing apart more than a few innocent, or at least 'not-guilty' lives.

Writes William Finnegan:

During the last three months of 2008, nearly five hundred people were murdered here, many in gruesome public displays: decapitations, dismemberments, corpses left hanging from bridges, piles of bodies with their tongues cut out. There were daylight shoot-outs between gangs using automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenade launchers in downtown streets and shopping malls.

...and later:

But are the dirty cops the one's being purged?...Purges proceed by their own blinkered logic, particularly when they are conducted by torture, and are themselves subjected to corruption... Numerous people said it was all an espectaculo - a show. The intended audience was the public and "Obama". The latter is a shorthand for the many US agencies funneling more than a billion dollars into the Mexican government's anti-drug initiative through the Mérida Initiative, which places much needed emphasis on fighting public corruption, particularly in law enforcement.

A very well-written article, that highlights the root of the problem for Mexico - where and how to start really eradicating the problems - it butted up hard against reality this weekend: Tijuana saw 14 people gunned down on Sunday, at a rehab center, the first killing of such a size in the city for a couple of years. And two other killings of the same size in Juarez and Tepic, and an attack on a newly opened police station in Nuevo Leon, that caused all 14 police officers to immediately resign.

Goin' Big vs A Bad Reputation

2010-10-18T14:18:00.003Z

Despite the cloud of violence hanging over it, on Sunday, Mexico pulled off an amazing feat: the world's largest enchilada, laid out for the offering in the 'burb of Iztapalapa.

This is not Mexico's first foray into the grandiose. Christmas saw the world's biggest Christmas tree hoisted up near the Angel de Independencia, during Semana Santa, officials created a series of fake beaches in the city, bragging over the record breaking use of water (while neglecting that at the time, many of the fringes of Mexico City were on water shortage rations) and last weekend, and an enormous "invisible" (read: clear) swimming pool was hoisted up for display on Reforma, one of the city's primary arteries. And, of course, the heavily-criticized excesses that marked the celebrations of 200 years for Mex, just over a month ago.

Interestingly, Mexico - City at least - seems fascinated by trying to pull off extravagance. In the article I read about the enchilada, there's some telling logic that might explain this trend.

"With this Guinness record we are showing the world that Iztapalapa [the burb the enchil was created and eaten in] is a high-level tourist destination," said Mexico City tourism secretary Alejandro Rojas.

There's a lot to be said out of such a short quote. One is that - and call me crazy - its a formidable series of faith leaps to draw a map between a giant enchilada and 'high end tourism'. Not to put any firm judgment calls on Iztapalapa, but its not the very first thing that comes to my mind when i hear the term 'high-level tourism.' Japanese package tours surfing the net this morning are now thinking 'well, if they got a giant enchilada, we just got a new stop for the bus!'? I don't think so.

Inertia. Consider that Mexico's international image basically revolves around decapitations, killing mayors, drug traffickers and the inherent dangers of setting foot anywhere in the country. I mean, like, the Jonas Brothers couldn't even come and play, and the San Antonio Spurs werenn't allowed to leave their hotel room when they played an exhibition game last week.

Mouth watering though it may be, its not clear how one giant enchilada can clear this up, and bring Euros, Pounds and dollars to the concrete jungle's suburbia. Dozens, perhaps, but not just one.

Zapatistas v The Modern Era

2010-10-14T02:38:00.007Z

"In the first light of dawn on New Year's Day 1994, indigenous campesinos wearing ski masks and toting assault weapons stormed major towns in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas. By midday, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN, in Spanish) had introduced itself to the world as the new face of social revolution.

The nature of this face -- or more accurately, the lack thereof -- immediately distinguished the movement. Black balaclavas, worn at all times in public, along with the rugged attire of the indigenous population, captivated the lenses of the world's media. So did the eloquent dispatches explaining the need for the movement's existence -- and for the masks. "In order for them to see us, we covered our faces; so that they would call us by name, we gave up our names; we bet the present to have a future; and to live . . . we died," its leadership would later explain.

This is the latest of our - myself and Grant Fuller - articles to be published from Chiapas, a 3000-word feature that came out in yesterday;s edition of World Politics Review, that offers a brief overview of the history and modern context. Its part of three features on modern Mexico, the theme for this week. To read the full article, you need a subscription. Luckily, you can get a 30-day trial here, and if you like, sign up after. Lots of solid article from around the world on that site make it well worth the while.

Time versus Husslin'

2010-10-14T02:22:00.005Z

Apparently I seem unable to keep track of time, nor keep regular blog posts on the 1's and two's. Hijoles.

Its cuz my schedule looks shocking like that of Rick Ross, circa 2007 (see above, care of some genius with a shit load of time on their hands, crates of hip hop records, and a graphical mind. Props to the Nate D-Oh-double-G for the pass.... not that Nate Dogg... nor that one. The other one.)

Age versus Rebellion

2010-10-07T17:56:00.004Z

Standing behind his home, one of the elders of the community watches his sons build a new house for the growing family

Our recent trip to Chiapas to look into what has happened to the Zapatista movement was partially inspired by the fact that media coverage on the movement had largely dropped off in the past five years. One of the things that really interested us were people that had been part of the movement since the beginning - which was actually 1983, not 1994 as is often assumed - and still behind the idea of the social revolution regardless of age.

That stupid quote you always hear 'if you're not a Communist at 20, you're an idiot, and if you're not a Capitalist by 50, you're even dumber' (or something slightly more eloquent) always bugged me. More for the reason of assuming that cuz you are old you can't want to fight for change than for dividing the world into limited groups.

Anyways. Our article out on Global Post today looks at some of the older generation in the movement, looking back on what they have accomplished.

For many reasons, Zapatistas prefer not to have their full faces shown in photos; making for slightly challenging conditions, but hopefully working out in the end.

See it here

Versus v Versus

2010-10-07T17:51:00.003Z

A more severe versus, late night at the cock fights

After an internet absence at the start of this month, theme for post this month is versus. This is partially a shout to my years as managing editor for Capital Magazine, where 'versus' was one of our regular sections, and partly cuz I like things squaring off.

Eyes of the World --> Mexicali Blues --> China Cat Sunflower

2010-10-05T13:46:00.003Z

Hey. Even though its not September, this is the last of Grateful Dead-titled posts, going out as a mini-set, based on mixed requests to Tom, Adam and Raftissimo that I didn't get to individually due to lacking internetation.

Mexico is nothing if not a magnet for bad press these days. Not that its totally unwarranted, as there is some heinous stuff going on in the country. Landslides that turned out to not be all that real meant a higher than average few days of 'friend emails': are you okay? Swine flu last year, oil spill this year. Drug war, drug war, drug war.

A friend was in Canada on a business trip a few weeks ago, and, in pleasant chit chat, happened to mention to a store clerk that he was Mexican, and would soon be heading back home. "You couldn't PAY ME to go to Mexcio!" was the response.

Not surprising, in some ways. If there's an image constantly presented to you by your streams of information, that image will shape in your mind. This is hardly a groundbreaking insight, or a shock to anyone who takes a cursory glance at daily international news out of Mexico. Massacre this, mass grave that, drug kingpin this, and pretty soon a 120 million people spread across a massive geographically and culturally diverse country become painted with the same brush; an international opinion is formed as a result of this.

Unfortunately, while its not as blanco y negro as its portrayed, there are a lot of heinous things happening. But, there's an infinitely bigger middle zone.

I spent the last week in small town that I've spent a decent amount of time on and off in the last few years, surfing the mornings, writing in the afts and eves. I love the place, not just for hedonistic reasons of surf and such. Its quaint, remote, friendly, rustic there's lots of pride in the people for what they have, and super rad people at all levels of the town.

Into the mid-90's, local politics and 'job choices' meant it was quasi off limits to tourists, though a few hardy surfers took the risks for the pretty stellar waves it produces. Some paid the price for that decision. It enjoyed a bit of a heyday from 99/2000 until last year, when a series of kidnappings, road blockades and a gunpoint robbery of several tourists cast its shadow, leaving the temporary mark staining so much of Mexico right now.

This leaves the town in a place that I think a lot of cities, towns and states find themselves. Places made up almost exclusively rad people, who for the most part just go about their daily lives. But with a contingency that threatens the status quo, and renders the general population without much they can do but try to get by, best they can. You can see that people want to say with all their hearts that its safe, but there's the hesitation in their eyes. They want to say its safe, because everyone they know personally has good hearts, good intentions and works honestly to put food on the table. But they can't ignore things like when news filtered into the town one morning about a 4-hour gun battle 20 mins up the road the night before. Or that one of the community members - a good and honest kid, from what I knew of him - will soon be coming home in a body bag, after an attempt to make it to the US took unknown turns for the worst.

People are not living in constant fear here like in the same manner that is happening in some of the border towns, but you can see it wearing down on everyone through the casual smiles and the handshakes, the empty restaurants or the small talk in the tranquil plaza at night. This constant grinding reminder of the risks of life around them is not what they want, and, more importantly, not at all who they are.

One afternoon, this was on my mind. Under the insanely powerful afternoon sun, a nearby river was pushing the brown, silty river water from the mountains into the clear blue ocean. With almost no wind, and no current this left a near straight line out to sea, dividing blue from brown. With one of the local kids - a super smiley high schooler, who works his family's farm when not schooling, surfing, or repairing boards - we were sitting right on this line. For about an hour with just the two of us, the waves would pops into view, breaking across this axis of brown and blue water. The more powerful rights offering a faster but shorter ride across the brown water, (demanding a quick kick-out before dying over a shallow bed of rock and sand), the mellower lefts offering slightly longer rides up and down the crystal blue shoulders of the waves.

We'd take turns with the sets (of waves) when they'd come, and talk about school and waves and girls and surfboards and Canada and whatever else while we waited for more waves to show up. This is the life everyone in town kept trying to convince me still exists. Out in the waves, it certainly feels that way. Even in town, it never feels dangerous.

Sitting in the water, its hard to accurately evaluate real life on shore and the risks involved. Its that neverland that still exists, despite it all. For right now, my reality is making a quick decision: will I go for the faster right or the mellower left on this incoming wave?

And I can't decide if I feel guilty or lucky about that.

It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry

2010-09-24T00:48:00.003Z

(Migrant Workers Wait for Work in Cancun)

Following the Dead theme of this month's post, I was originally thinking of calling this post "Casey Jones (Riding That Train)," but then changed last minute. Entonces, como prefieras.

Lots of talk surrounding migrants in Mexico, after the most significant one-day attack, left 72 Central Americans dead. For those of you who haven't read the lamest book in the world, called 'Enrique's Journey' or seen 'Sin Nombre' (which is actually a lot better than I thought), homey Grants has a piece on World Vision Report (a great program) about following a young Guatamelteco trying to reach his parents in the States. Tis plenty cool, and a snapshot into life on the trains and the motivation that bring countless thousands up to the US every year. Listen here, while you work, rest or play (trademark: Mars)

On a different train, my homey Ras in Halifax sent me this pretty dope video about DF. For a city that has a rep for being run by wild dogs and gangsters, its a really fascinating take on what is a really a much more diverse, clean, funky and tranquilo city than you have been perhaps made to believe. Literally just watched it, but wanna know more about the peeps behind it.

Back in Liberia, a cool radio feature about land claims on RFI, by Rosie Collyer. Been really fascinated by radio lately, and following a lot of land claim stuffs. But, also Rosie, unlike the litany of people who seriously owe me emails, asked me for some contacts and such a while back, and I said 'please send me the reports, as I'd love to see them.' And, months later, out of the blue, she did just that. That kind of stuff gets me stoked, and inspired me to do a bit of my own house cleaning in that regard.

So, to close with a GI Joe Public Service Announcement: Write people back when they write you, even if to say "no", o lo que sea. (You know who you are)

One More Saturday Night

2010-09-19T04:33:00.004Z

(example A of why I don't have FOMO)

Theme of blog posts this month is songs by the Grateful Dead

Basically, it comes down to this. I think I grew out of FOMO long ago; though a nagging feeling of missing out seems to always creep around when working on a Saturday night. No matter the fact that I want to be working on what I am working on, or the fact that I have no desire to be 'oout and aboout' (as Americans insist I say it), it feels weird everytime.

As an independent contractor with low overall income and decently high overhead there's always a fine line between working enough to 'Get By' and working too much. Throw in loving your job, and that line gets blurrier: my laundry list of "to read", "to write," "to learn more about", "my god, I need to know tons about that RIGHT NOW" and "fuck, that's due tomorrow?" may fluctuate, but it never subsides.

This is not a complaint. Just an observation that, when living in one of the biggest - though not necessarily the liveliest - cities in the world, there's some overarching feeling that, if young, thou shalt be partying lest ye be judged. Without getting into post-modern discussions on meta-narratives, some force definitely exists on evenings such as this. Sometimes I like it, sometimes i doont.

Anyways, for anyone else who was typing stuff et al tonight, this next Modelo Especial's for you.

Footnote: You will note that it is currently Thursday. For some reason a) this post did not do what its 'sposed to (post), and b) I did not do what I 'sposed to (notice). Despite its lack of timeliness, enjoy. Also, last night's late arrival to casa might damage some aspects of this post, or reinforce an underlying premise: Wednesday's the new black.

Not Fade Away

2010-09-17T15:17:00.005Z

The first of the reports our recent trip to Chiapas came out yesterday on the BBC/PRI show The World. ('We' being myself and my oft-talked about partner in crime, Mr. Grant Fuller.)

Although we split all responsibilities and expenses on the trip straight up, the exception is that photos are mine, and audio recordings are that of Grants. Reporting, writing etc son joint efuerzas.

You can hear the radio report and see the audio slide show on 'The World's' website, or you can go directly to our story via this link.

The Common Language Project, who helped us out a ton with getting down there, logistics and encouragement, also has a link to the slideshow on their website.

Grant's sweet voice laces the radio piece, that is a brief overview of the Zapatistas in 2010. I narrate the audio slide show, which looks at the new generation of Zapatistas, growing up in the region's autonomous schools.

Dancing In The Street

2010-09-15T01:19:00.004Z

This month's theme of blog post titles is "Grateful Dead Songs" (including frequent covers; this one originally by Martha and the Vandellas, allegedly written after seeing a group of mixed-race kids playing in a fire-hydrant's spray during the Detroit race riots)

Lots of talk about the big 200 b-day coming up. If you know nothing about Mex, this might help, or simply look below.

The raddest part of Mexico's anniversary is that of "El Grito", or the scream. Not to be confused with Munch's (check spelling) artisticness (ibid), it represents the start of the fight for independence from Spain on Sept 15, 1810. Warming up my lungs.

While the amount of dancing may be negotiable, largely due to crowdedness, all bets are on that shit's gonna get wild. From chatting to taxi drivers and taco vendors/eaters this afternoon to many of the 8 billion people I have interviewed in the past few weeks, a common complaint seems to be the opulence of the planned governmental spectacle(s) in relation to needs of people in the country... You may have noticed the litany of examples to support the idea that this is not a new phenomena.

Flipping through the airline magazine (Aeromexico, obvi, as Mexicana still seems to exhibit signs of being muerta), it caught my eye that, among the floats, performances and thousands (millions?) planned for the celebration, 8 tons of gunpowder will be required. This will be - presumably, and hopefully - for the 16 000 planned 'detonations' of fireworks, of which will be presided over by 13 shamans of unknown origin.

Unclear where that falls on the wants/needs continuum.

Greatest Story Ever Told

2010-09-10T12:42:00.005Z

(The theme of titles this month is Grateful Dead songs)

As you may have heard, Mexico's bicentennial is coming up rapidly - September 16. With a lot of people knowing virtually nothing about Mexico, there is 'bound' to be a frenzy of knowledge-seekers around the world early next week trying to avoid the stigma that they know nothing about what happened in either this 200 year period, or the millions that preceded that.

So, as a limited time offer, I offer you a chance for you to beat the rush, and look hip to NAFTA's southern-most member, with a few suggested 'point-counterpoints' for Mexi-centric conversations. Use Google if you are more interested, cuz I ain't linking shit today, (and there is some really interesting stuff out there)

Precambrian era

Like most places, not a lot happening.

Point: "Perhaps the first crustaceans and coral-thingys from the Precambrian era where a part of the oil spill that devastated the gulf."

Counterpoint: "Remember when it was called the Cryptozoic era?"

Maya y Aztecs

We're talking around the hundreds, and then then teen-hundreds as the respective peaks of Mexico's best-known empires.

Point: "I mean, the Maya never explicitly SAID that the world will end in 2012, its just that there calendar resets."

Counterpoint: "Three sisters: corn, squash, beans. What's so freekin' hard about that?"

Mex v US

In the 1840's, lots of aggression turned into a war in which the US wanted more resources, in this case, territory (sound familiar?).

Point: "If the US had not won, Mexico would have Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Vegas and Aspen Ski Resort, amongst other things."

Counterpoint: "It disappoints me that Cormac McCarthy's gritty dystopia about cowboys in the Mexican-American war (Blood Meridian) is being turned into yet another movie. I feel like it damages the credibility of his arresting pose.

Music

Marriachi, Salsa, Cumbia... Nortena, Reggaeton. Today, its all there; every style of music new and old can be heard on a stroll of any city, and its all awesome.

Point: "One of the most dominant theories is that the word Marriachi came from the platform people used to stand on when they played in colonial villages."

Counterpoint: "Mexicans can dance-o!"

Revolution

The official revolution anniversary is November 20th, but undoubtedly, lots of nostalgia for Zapata and Villa will abound. (In all seriousness, the Mexican revolution is super interesting and well worth reading up on. At least read the Wikipedia feed about it.)

Point: "Does the Townes van Zandt song "Pancho and Lefty" sometimes seem like a modern metaphor for what happened to Zapata?"

Counterpoint: "What if he hadn't been..."

Modern Conflicts

The EPR has had its share of flare ups, but the Zapatistas in Chiapas are the most notable modern revolution. However, casulaties in the 'War on Drugs' dwarf all those in the various organized movements put together, and for this, it has hogged all the attention in the news. (note: please continue to check back as reports on the Zapatista movement in 2010 are produced by me and Grants over the next while.)

Point: "I heard Subcommandante Marcos said last year that 'the Mexican people wake up every 100 years', but I doubt he meant that there will be an armed uprising for the third '10 in a row (1810, independence, 1910, revolution.) I mean, can you even have a 'surprise revolution' in the modern world?"

Counterpoint: "Everyone always says that the drug war is the bloodiest conflict since The Revolution, but they seem to forget that the Cristero Wars in the 20's killed roughly 90 000 people, more than three times the current tally in the 'War on Drugs." (note: I only became aware of this truth through a recent blog post by Gancho, who runs a great blog about Mexican issues.)

Ramble on Rose

2010-09-08T16:22:00.006Z

A door with the EZLN insignia painted on it. Our bed for 5 days.

Life on the move, a familiar feeling. In some ways, its always nice to have more of an option than wet shoes and a stinky clump of clothes in a waterproof back pack. In some ways, not.

The highs and lows of constant movement, and trying to secure interviews/access while navigating places you know very little about have rapidly yielded to the relative predictability of a home office, internet, kitchen, and other such accoutrements. Its certainly easier than waking up on a floor, door or bus with the constant rain pounding. I'm not sold that its better, but its certainly easier.

Three weeks on the move with my homey Grants. All over southeastern Mexico, moving in and out of completely different spheres of existence to the point where permutations of culture shock become the norm. Zapatista leaders, international sunbathers, paramilitaries, migrant workers, NGO spokespeople, club goers, street vendors; all in a day's list of interviewees. Parts of which will be coming up in various reports over the next few weeks and months.

Having reigned in the madness of constant motion for now, time to adapt to productivity on the compu-nator, the interwebs and their own respective forms of madness.

Thanks a lot to Common Language Project and their supporters for helping us with the travel funds needed to get to the region, where - suprisingly - there are other really important and fascinating things happening in Mexico that are not the drug war.

Secretly, part of me wishes to still be on the move there, despite the bottled up exhaustion and the need to produce all the findings. That is the point, after all.

Comes a Time

2010-09-08T15:50:00.004Z

One thing I like, but occasionally tire of, is naming things. Crafty subject lines, blog posts, article names, my endless haikus. So, I have decided to start a new, um, thing (?) on The Esteyonage: theming post titles by month. This will not change content, but may ask a little bit of thunking to sort out the connections.

Gettin' By will be the exception.

Due to a re-invigoration of my dormant love for their eclectic mix of country twang, melodic rock, incredible skill/innovation, (commitment to) musicology and storytelling lyrics that inspire much of my guitar-playing habits, the rest of September's blog posts will be Grateful Dead songs (including songs they covered frequently). I know 100% for sure of two Dead heads who have this blog on their Google Reader. We'll see how this gels with the rest of you.

Note: For those who a) know nothing about the Dead or b) think they are a nothing more that a bunch of useless, drug-addled skids, Time had a pretty decent slide show on the 15-year anniversary of his death in aug, or the internets is full of psychotically-obsessed fan sites that will tell you ten times more about them, their music and "its meaning" than you ever wanted to know.

Love 'em or hate 'em, they're galdarn unique, and that's something in my books.

Don't Worry, Its Safer Here

2010-09-03T01:21:00.003Z

Naturally, an article about how Mexico Is Safer than Canada caught my eye (props Pat). While there's a pretty critical flaw in the 'argument' - largely that the author points to the state of Yucatan of having a lower crime rate than Canada's average of 2.1/100 000 to 'support' this argument - he makes a decent overall point.

"the extreme violence around its border with the United States colours people’s view of the rest of the country, though much of it is pretty quiet. A third of Mexico’s states hover around 5 murders per 100,000, about the same rate as the United States. Another third are around 8 per 100,000, similar to Thailand, for instance."

Its easy to see how quickly Mexico's overall average of 14/100 000 get skewed by the fact that places such as Ciudad Juarez saw 336 murders in the month of August (in fairness, Juarez is the worst). Its pretty narrow minded to derive from overall stats of a gigantic, populous country the idea that the whole place is at war. No matter how much media tends to focus on body counts et al, giving the impression that its all 'et al'.

That's all I'm saying.

ps I heard that Barrack "acknowledged" today that drug cartels remain a central threat to stability in Mexico. Can't seem to find a source for that though.

Two Articles

2010-08-29T02:42:00.005Z

A couple online articles from recent times, both from Global Post.

With (amazing) photos from my longtime homey, Mr. Adam DeWolfe, Surfing in Puerto Escondido.

A perfect combination of ocean dynamics and sandbank shape allows the wave to break in such a way that it creates a tube large enough for a surfer to crouch or stand in, and — ideally — speed back out of before the tube closes, crashing the wave over top of them. The bigger the wave, the bigger the tube, the bigger the thrill — and risk.

“Pleasure or punishment,” laughed Moises Cortez Villalai, a local surfer and owner of a surf shop up the coast. “Either you make it out of the tube, or you get crushed by the force of it.”

A little further north on the southwest coast, the lesser-known history of Mexico's African descendants.

The common story goes that somewhere off Mexico's southwest coast, a Spanish slave ship crashed in the 1600s. Its human cargo fled to shore, adapting to a new life of freedom.

Hundreds of years later, descendants of these ships are the reason for the distinctly African features of villagers living throughout what today is known as the Costa Chica.

Follow Up on Disturbing Massacre

2010-08-29T02:08:00.003Z

Wall Street Journal's article about regarding the recent massacre of 72 migrants brings an even more harrowing dimension to this event that makes it all a little worse. Writes DAVID LUHNOW And JOSé DE CóRDOBA at WSJ:

"Early in the day, news spread fast that a prosecutor from the northern state of Tamaulipas charged with investigating the massacre of the migrants near the Texas border had disappeared along with another state official involved in the case, stoking fears that both men have been killed, officials said.

The state attorney general's office in Tamaulipas said Roberto Suarez and another state official disappeared on Thursday, shortly after they were assigned to the case of some 58 men and 14 women from Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador and Brazil allegedly killed by a drug gang.

Mexican media reported that Mexican marines had found Mr. Suarez's body dumped alongside a highway. But a spokeswoman for Mexico's navy said she couldn't confirm that report"

Not sure why the Navy has to confirm this, but nonetheless. A scary dimension to an already horrific situation in the northern state of Tamaulipas.

Disturbing Massacre

2010-08-27T04:32:00.002Z

72 migrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Brazil and Ecuador were kidnapped, and summarily executed two days ago in the violence-ridden northern state of Tamaulipas. Some original reports on this were fairly misleading, suggesting that this was the discovery of another mass grave, similar to the one recently found in Taxco - I only realized late today what had really happened.

Though migrants face risks of all dimensions passing through Mexico in an attempt to reach the US, this is the largest single attack on record, and a gruesome articulation of how risky those travels can be.

AP has the most informative story on this for now, that I am linking through the NPR site.

"The national rights commission estimates nearly 20,000 migrants are kidnapped each year based on the number of reports it received between September 2008 and February 2009 — numbers the federal government has disputed...

...In an April report, Amnesty International called the plight of tens of thousands of mainly Central American migrants crossing Mexico for the U.S. a major human rights crisis."

Follow Up on ADD

2010-08-26T15:47:00.004Z

In relation to my internet reading problems, got some great email feedback yesterday. Most notably, a 'gud-fren' who I think suffers from a form of ADD bred from hyper intelligence, put me on to this piece from NPR, "Digital Overload: Your Brain On Gadgets." There's a written and audio part.

"The average person today consumes almost three times as much information as what the typical person consumed in 1960, according to research at the University of California, San Diego," the article starts.

"And The New York Times reports that the average computer user checks 40 websites a day and can switch programs 36 times an hour."

Most interestingly - in the sense that I 100%, 'amen brother,' agree - is this:

While out in the wild, the scientists — skeptics included — noticed something significant happening on the third day they couldn't use their hand-held devices, computers and mobile phones.

"You start to feel more relaxed. Maybe you sleep a little better. Maybe you don't reach for your phone pinging in your pocket," Richtel says. "Maybe you wait a little longer before answering a question. Maybe you don't feel in a rush to do anything — your sense of urgency fades.

This all reminded me of a great article I read in the Atlantic a while back, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

Says author Nicolas Carr:

My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

A few full disclosure points

1) From the time I read that Google to now, the internet-ADD is much more severe.

2) As I started re-reading that article, I clicked over to write this post

3) Aforementioned friend caught me on Gchat, and our ensuing conversation spanned killings in northern Mexico, a huge south swell that just rocketed up the Pacific coast and our mutual desire to have the focus of, say, an Honore de Balzac, loined in monastic cloth, toiling with the pen uninterupted through the night. Instead, we were on Gchat late night when I was trying to finish off an article pitch email.

sigh

Trying to Read vs The Interconnected Webbings

2010-08-24T16:25:00.003Z

When I have "a helluva lot" to do, I can be very focused, and exceptionally productive. Though, admittedly, not always. When I have a "medium lot" to do, no fixed deadlines, that is when trouble begins. Trouble not in the sense of having nothing to do, and ceding to the impulse to give a 4am "yes" to offers of another drink, but instead, of internet ADD.

As of about a month, I have been making an effort to get through a laundry list of long-form journalistic articles I have collected and flagged over the years. This was partially spurred by a message on a writer's list serve I'm on, partially from being sick of my rule to only read in Spanish and partially by the fact that I really want to work on more long-form stuff. Because its awesome, and - at various times - great examples have made me stoked on Russian literary buffs, Mexican hit men and rambling through various permutations of "the woods."

For those interested, longform.org is a great source [c/o Glenna], and Kevin Kelly has a great list of "best magazine articles", though its a bit heavy on the Foster Wallace Factor and light on other recent genii. Also, paying 16 bucks to Harper's (for example) gives you full access to their archives, same with lots of others, like Rolling Stone, Atlantic etc.

In lieu of living in places that don't sell mags that fit this realm (at least not in my idioma materno) the internet is theoretically a great resource. Which I find challenging.

Examples.

Hunter S. Thompson's "The Kentucky Derby is Deprived and Decadent" and David Foster Wallace's "Federer as Religious Experience" remain amazing articles despite, a) that I have read them both before and b) their authors were under-utilized and and overrated as "underrated prophets", respectively. Inexplicably, I kept clicking away during the time it took me to read them - forgot to send an email, "maybe I should check if I have an email", remember to look something up, other such bad excuses.

This drives me mental, breaking up the flow of these and other great articles. But I keep doing it. And doing it. Though I barely refrain from the want to kick box myself with cleats on, it just leaves me feeling defeated by the internets, and morally deflated. And printing is not the answer, cuz after working for 5 years in Canadian clearcuts planting trees, I end up loathing every paper I wantonly use.

So I reiterate: stupid interconnected webbing.

Note: For longer-term Esteyonage readers, this is very different from Musical Stockholm Syndrome, mainly because it lacks Akon's unbearably catchy beats (i still love you), but it is still a form of subjugation.

There's not the kind of denouement to this blog post that you may expect in great long form journalism. Other than I am experimenting with this site Read it Later, which is similar to another one called Instapaper. They both let you store for later, when you gots the time-oh! If you suffer from this problem too, initial tests with these products have found this relatively successful.

It should be admitted that I was - blissfully - offline the whole last week walking around in mud, sleeping on a door nailed to two planks, and other such things that I love. This likely spurred this post.

Wait. Is that a denouement?

Maybe this will be. I just want to read without fricking stopping before I go mental and/or strap on the cleats. Is that too much to ask?

Little Things

2010-08-18T07:19:00.003Z

Definitely, one of my favourite "little things" about Mexico, is unknown peeps saying to you 'provecho' (enjoy your food, ou bon apetit) as you are eating, and then later returning the favour.

I mean seriously, that's just enjoyable.

More food stuff below.

Gettin' By - Tacos

2010-08-17T04:29:00.008Z

Tacos Guisado in all their deliciousness.

This post is past of a series called Gettin' By that I started when I lived in Liberia, looking at how peoples make ends meet outside of statistics in the informal sector - something that really fascinates me. I have just started trying to apply this to Mexico - a totally different economy, but my current place of being.

Profession: Taco Vendor

How it Works: There’s nothing quite like falling into stereotypes. So, Getting’ By Mexico, appropriately starts off with selling tacos.

Tacos vending has a foot in all parts of the economy: registered street vendors, established taquerias (taco restaurants), illegal payouts and of course, thousands exist out of the stats: from the back of pick ups, out of houses and on makeshift plastic tables all over. There are no signs: only the smell, and the local rep.

Undoubtedly, these are among the best providers of food en el mundo. And for anyone sitting outside of Mexico, thinking “oh, yeah, I’ve had tacos, they’re alright,” you have not. Nothing outside the borders of Mexico is a taco. Fact. (small exceptions provisionally granted to pockets of California until I return to re-sample)

Tacos come in a million shapes and sizes and serve as the fuel for Mexico. In general, tacos refer to some delicious fried meat on an open corn tortilla with onion, cilantro, salsas, lime and, occasionally, other guest toppings.

Actually, Tacos Pastor, not Gyros...

...Final Product = something like this

Tacos rarely dip below the 5 peso mark, or 40 cents, no matter the vendor. You can find them costing up to 25 pesos in taquerias of fancy-pants parts of Mex City. Or 12 pesos, maximum on the streets, but for a whopper of a taquito. Though not a perfect rules, cheaper = tastier.

Tacos are a volume game. Vendors churn out thousands on the popular routes – near office buildings, metro stops, busy intersections etc. Two separate vendors parked outside downtown metro stops say they usually churn out roughly 1100 - 1400 in their 12 ish hour work days.

A few ma/pa opps on back streets in Oaxaca (near my existential crash pad) said they usually send out about 200, but only sell in the evening, from darkness to a few hours later. Others I simply didn’t have the heart to ask cuz I have literally never seen anyone eating there.

Costs hack away at this potential income. A huge amount of this is spent on product – meat ain’t cheap, and even all the toppings add up. With the exception of some of the trucks that role up and just start hawking, everyone seems to pay some kinda levy to some kind of entity for setting up shop, no matter how unofficial it may appear.

In general, the unofficial taco vendors I talked to about this say that in exchange for providing unadulterated, delectable bliss to the mouths of Mexicans, 150 pesos is a decent net for a nightime stand, per person, but can be more like 300 - 1500 Mxn ($25 - $120) for the operators of day-long shows, though I imagine there are a LOT earning significantly less, especially the young-uns often helping along. (mainly in Oaxaca City, though a few places in DF too).

Variables: I've never heard of it happening, but a lot of these places look like their propane source could easily be a block-flattener with the smallest of errors.

Also, while delicious, working with fried meats, corn torillas fried in fat and a cooler of cokes is a quick way to Mexico's largest problem: obesity, and all its side effects (pun intended, obvi). Of course, this could have the opposite effect, and make you hate tacos, and that risk should not be overlooked.

Price Point: Taking any bus in Oaxaca costs 4.50 pesos, or a bit less than 30 cents, while going to the gym costs 50 pesos.

The War Against Prohibition

2010-08-10T18:16:00.002Z

First of all, who knew former Mexican President Vicente Fox had a blog? This has got me wondering about how many former heads of state have blogs. Tips on that appreciated, and props to Gancho for pointing me in that direction.

More interesting, Fox's blog post from yesterday (in Spanish, obvi) pushes the idea of drug legalization in Mexico. (Google Translator can help you out, but will offer lots of "the he what saws" et al)

"We should think about legalizing the production, distribution and sale of drugs," Fox writes. "In this sense, legalizing is not to say that drugs are good or won't harm those who consume them, this is not the idea. More so, we have to see it as a strategy to strike and break the economic structure that allows gangs to generate huge profits in their business that in turn will serve to corrupt and increase their boundaries of power."

Were it to play out cleanly, the potential benefits of implementing such ideas are enormous. It would erase a need for a war on drugs, while bringing huge revenue to Mexico (assuming regulation would come with taxation).

There are, of course, major risks in doing this, and the growing pains would be no less than excruciating: a lot of people make their money off the current status quo of an illegal drug economy.

Another major hitch in this plan is the US. No WAY anyone at present - including the O-bomb - could maneuver through that political maelstrom.

So for now, just another kick at the "how it would work" can, courtesy of Sr. Fox.

Familiar Feelings

2010-08-09T17:26:00.002Z

In the same town again. The same hotel was full, so I came to the same second one. This hotel has a room - the same one. Mottled pink climbs most of the way up the wall’s height, where it changes to a white that contains enough patches of colours - mainly browns - that calling it white seems wrong. Wobbling fan noises draw attention to the purple hair ckip still stuck on its power cord. A bird still chirps outside the window. I think the same one. The same broken bus is there, with perhaps the same people hanging around under the street. And the same muggy heat refuses to be beat by the listless fan.

Yet again, tired of jarring, swerving roads and the endless game of trying to find the right people to interview, the right images and of guarding my precious few pesos. Of killing time because I have few options. Of email cafes and taco stands and nodding off and waking up in another foggy mountain town that will never have a name. Of going for a run just to shake off the “jar-jar-bangs” of potholes and topes (footnote: worker steve, c 2002) and to see straight again. And hanging out on street corners with people who just feel like rapping, and who I will never see again. And being back in this anonymous room, in an anonymous hotel where I am - conspicuously, it seems - not a member of a large Mexican family. Dilapidated pink walls, maroon door, and all my wordly possessions - that is to say a camera, a computer, a change of clothes and my surf board. All in a 6 x 12 space.

I am smiling as exhaustion finally kills me for the day.

Two Homies, Two Books

2010-07-30T14:18:00.004Z

My friend Erin Siegal is in the midst of writing a book about illegal adoption. Through the lens of one specific case of adoption from Guatemala to the US, Finding Fernanda: A True Story of Crime, Corruption and Faith examines the pain on both sides of the equation, and the complex forces that drive this industry. (read a summary here)

Erin has done A TON of research, and continues on this track. Actually, when I met Erin, I was surfing. I would go out, she would be working. I would come back. Working. Go surfing again, come back. Working. Eat. Working. etc. Often she wouldn't even talk to me if i said hi, or would occasionally shoot a 'stop being idiots' glance at me and her partner in crime if we were laughing hysterically about nothing, much too close to her (fair enough). Dedicated to the cause is the point I am making.

As I know a lot of Esteyonage readers have interest in adoption, and email me about it here and there (keep it up!), I thought I would mention this: Erin's project is currently on kickstarter, a site that helps raise money for developing projects. One really cool thing is that if you give money to the project - even $ 10 - you get updates on the project, about what Erin is working on at the time, and other developments in the book. If you think that is rad, this is the link to the project. I guarantee any money will go directly into hard work.

On a side note, while making dinner for my roomies the other day, I listened to a This American Life episode called 'No Map', where the second half is about an unjust adoption from Samoa to the US.... it damn near choked me up. Love that show.

Another friend, Roberto Abadie, has just published a book on the unregulated world of drug testers. The Professional Guinea Pig: Big Pharma and the Risky World of Human Subjects reflects months of Roberto's work living within communities of people who often test drugs. More so, this book is the product of his obsession with this topic, and is a more "official" follow up to a multi-year study he did following anarchists who use money from drug testing as a means of survival (yes, I think it would be a pretty interesting addition to the G-by series).

Says Roberto in an article in the Chronicle,

"Throughout my life, I had been studying drug users and how they understand risk," he says. "That's what I thought I would do as a medical anthropologist...

...When I first found this topic, I was so engaged with it that I couldn't sleep."

I just heard yesterday that Time is doing something on this book, so look for that. Also, you can buy it directly from Duke Press, or, of course, from the bigger places.

Wyclef Jean for President (not joking)

2010-07-27T00:37:00.006Z

I got this pic from here Props to 'le liz' for noting me to this.

Last night, I learned how to play Woody Guthrie's "Jesus Christ for President" on guitar. Today, I learned that Wyclef Jean (of Fugees fame) will be running for president of Haiti. Joking? nuh-uh

Naturally, I instantly morphed back to days of sharing walkman ear buds and ciggies outside my high school, listening to "the fugee-la."

I don't really feel much like commenting in general, so let's just bring it back to 'Clef, at the peak of his (and all Fugee members') game, in 1996, and just 'enjoy'.

"For me to get a chance, grab my pen and revamp
Do a cameo while everybody do the dance.
Quick now, cause you runnin' out of lucka
Playin' Mr. Big, I'm gonna get you sucka.
While you munchin at your luncheon, I'll be planning your assassination
Then hit you like the Dutchmen"

Mexico v Liberia: An Informal Comparison

2010-07-23T17:24:00.003Z

If your wordplay is on point today, you will have caught that this is a post about the informal economies of Mexico and Liberia (my two latest places of residence), not just a sweeping comparison. This, because it applies to my blog series 'Gettin' By' that I started in Liberia, about how people make a living in the economy that exists outside of formal statistics; the informal economy. As I now live in Mexico, I plan to continue it here.

Ever since arriving in Liberia with the “knowledge” that 85% of its residents were unemployed, I have been suffering from a minor obsession about how people with little to no money make it from day to day, and how life works outside of statistics that make limited sense to me - a country can't survive if 15% of the population works. This interest cranked my knowledge of the informal economy – which keeps Liberia afloat - from 0-ish to “strong-ish” relatively rapidly, though I’m still learning tons.

It also led to the development of ‘ Gettin’ By’, the blog series that looks at how people making up this 85% make a living in the informal economy: makeshift jobs, temporary employment and the endless people selling goods and services along the streets of Liberia. Basically, people doing what the statistics say they don’t: working to make sure they have cash for their families.

Obviously, this is not unique to Liberia. (Some studies have estimated that the informal economy accounts for up to 60 - 70% of employment in the developing world). But in Liberia, the years of war took a heavy toll on the ability of businesses to even exist, let alone provide dependable jobs, so the problem is – temporarily, at least – more acute than most places, and a larger percentage of people need to devise their own means to create employment.

Mexico is a vastly different country than Liberia, no matter how you cut it, and I’m not about to play a “this, but not that game” with the two

One comment from surfers I know along the coast always struck me during my trips here over the years: “Mexico is a third world country” (usually said in some permutation of Mexican expletives). While I don’t particularly gel with “Third World” terminology in general, I also never really agreed that Mexico can be considered in the same demographic category as somewhere like Liberia.

Intense poverty exists in all regions of Mexico, and is particularly prominent in many regions, most generally, the south. But intense wealth, a manufacturing sector and a middle class that has some level of economic security and material possessions (surfers, eg) are also common throughout. A $ 13 500, GDP means its roughly 25 times that of Liberia, though Mexico also has the largest differential of what the rich earn vs the poor, which skews this statistic (so says the 2008 OECD report "Are we Growing Unequal?"). Death by preventable or treatable diseases exists with significantly less frequency than in West Africa, and infrastructure reaches all over the country: beautifully paved roads, electricity and running water exist in all cities, most towns and even some rural locations. Not that this reflects an exact definition of whether a country is developing or not, but Mexico, as a whole, has a lot of development currently lacking in Liberia.

Nonetheless, the “Third World” perspective has a point. Mexico still has somewhere in the range of 7 million living on $2/day or less – twice as many as live in all of Liberia. From goat farmers in the inhospitable deserts of Baja (thanks for saving our asses, guey!), to hand net fishermen on Oaxaca’s coast to coffee growers in the jungles of Chiapas, to street hawkers all over, there are a ton of Mexicans living with very little safety net, or guarantee of income. Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Quintana Roo show especially low demographics in health, education, infrastructure and economics, and (likely) do a lot to skew the overall demographics of Mexico as a whole.

Officially, the minimum wage sits around 50 pesos, or $ 4 and change (exchange rate is in the mid 12’s these days; $ 1 US = 12+ pesos.) This is not an overly encouraging wage, especially when this can theoretically involve long days in factories making goods to be shipped directly to the States, or you have a family of four to support. In reality, this wage does not really exist; few would agree to work for less than $ 100 pesos a day, especially in the cities. Why? Because one, you pretty much can't survive off that if you have dependents, and two, you can easily make that in the numerous means available within the informal sector.

Please see following post, Gettin’ By Mexico

Gettin’ By Mexico

2010-07-23T15:39:00.007Z

Every night I was surfing off the end of this jetty, dude would reel in these massive cavalas with a frickin' hand reel off slippery rocks, and selling them in town. Last summer, I pulled up an eight inch bass with a hand reel on a calm lake, and let me tell you, it wasn't that easy...

[Note: this the second of a two-parter about switching 'gettin' by' - the series at how people make a living outside of formal employment - from Liberia to Mexico. Please see above post for more info.]

These differing realities mean Gettin’ By in the informal sector comes with very different dimensions in Mexico than how i started writing about Gettin' By. In some ways its completely different, but in others, its just the same: when lacking the ability for gainful employment, people find a niche in the grid. To me at least, Mexico offers a fascinating new dimension to the puzzle.

The biggest difference is that Mexico is incrementally more regulated than Liberia, on all levels. Way more formal employment exists (unemployment officially sits around 6%, though all major indicators suggest that 25 % underemployment accompanies this), and many seemingly informal jobs require permits, registration and a date with the looming giant that is Mexican bureaucracy. Also a much larger, and very organized, illegal economy exists, and provides a massive amount of money. I have found no reliable stats on this.

To unskilled workers, there's not a ton of gratifying options. Anyone you talk to will tell you this. Even university or college grads, tradesmen and other skilled labourers complain lack of options or room to move up in their professions. As the wage status quo means that a lot of these jobs do not come with salaries that don't fit the amount of work or needs of the workers, carving out your own niche can be a more effective means of making money. Cost of living is also substantially higher, so wages come with lesser buying power, and you need more to ‘get by.’

From a documentation perspective, the illegal economy complicates things greatly. In fact, it is not abundantly clear to me yet exactly where the traditional informal economy begins and the illegal economy ends is complicated. ('Informal economy’ is not meant to include the illegal economies such as drugs, prostitution or organized crime, even though such means of earning money do not get measured by traditional economic institution, and it is a very important means of Gettin' By that supports a ton of people worldwide: “black market”, for example, has a different connotation than a money-earning trade not counted in census data.)

Many normal, 'self-starter’ appearing street jobs are actually very controlled by, uh, other forces. Thus, the first people I approached about their seemingly informal jobs had no interest in talking to me beyond the superficial "how da body?" type stuff, and adamantly opposed the idea of photos. Lesson learned.

But everyone I have spoken to about this agrees: the informal economy is massive.

Despite the image of Mexico being constantly immersed in a drug war that prohibits people from leaving their houses, life thrives on the streets throughout most of the country. From the smallest pueblos to the endless colonias in the massive concrete jungle of Mexico City, markets rule. And there’s always something for sale at street level.

Busy intersections always have someone hawking something in the stopped traffic, and markets and street stands are everywhere. And what, you were walking home from work thinking 'where will I get a broom at such an hour?' Luckily the truck with brooms and the ever-present megaphone just drove by. And then you took a bus and were thought, "ooops, I forgot to buy pens:" guess who appears but the dude selling packs of pens for a special price (always with the special prices). And then you got off the bus, wishing you had brought a snack: bang! Tamales, pescadillos and bags of fruit, literally inches in front of your face, and, luckily, a sidewalk full of dubbed movies that you can take right home and watch after dinner (along with a million other things...)

Services also play a bigger role in Mexico’s informal sector. Taking advantage of the needs of the relatively large middle to upper classes, offering additional or temporary labour keeps millions of Mexicans able to pay bills.

I’m still feeling things out, but from what I see, this is the landscape of Gettin’ By in Mexico. Posts about individual people and what they are doing to accomplish this outside of more traditional forms of employment coming soon to an Esteyonage near you.

How are Things In Guatemala?

2010-07-21T20:52:00.004Z

Hanging with two journo friends in March this year, they kept saying that Guatemala was headed down the tubes to the next failed state. Yes, they had both worked there recently, but I take such things with a grain of salt. But had been reading some pretty troubling stuff ever since.

There's a great article in Foreign Policy about how Mexican narco influence may be rendering my salt grains unwarranted.

"Just how bad is it?" asks writer Steven J. Dudley. "Last month, Guatemala's president, Alvaro Colom Caballeros, welcomed the courts' removal of the newly elected attorney general for his alleged ties to criminal groups that, among other nefarious activities, sold adopted babies on the black market. Days earlier, four severed heads were placed in strategic locations in Guatemala City with messages pinned to them warning of a similar fate for the minister of the interior and director of prisons. This was the drug gangs' way of firing back against a recent tightening of regulations in Guatemala's jails. And, in the midst of the chaos, the Constitutional Court approved the extradition to the United States of a former president accused of embezzling millions in public funds. Just another day in Guatemala."

(Read full article here.)

For posterity, I shot a quick email to a friend working there to inquire if it really is that bad.

The quick reply. "Yes it is"

What the monkey?

2010-07-21T20:34:00.004Z

Though smuggling and Mexico seem relatively synonymous terms in any scan of today's news media, monkeys rarely appear as the noun being smuggled. And, while the illegal animal trade in Mexico thrives, if it is a monkey being smuggled, its certainly not 'on person.' And on the rare occasion it is, it is certainly not in bulk.

That's right. A man was caught trying to smuggle 18 monkeys strapped to himself. Not joking.

Roadside Assistance v TED

2010-07-18T14:26:00.006Z

I spend a lot of my time as pictured above (way too much): on the side of some backwoods road, praying that someone will eventually stop, and that someone will know a little something about cars. Usually, this does not happen, and McGyver tactics are employed to reach the closest pueblo.

Though probably best not to go into all details, the latest escapades take the cake. A mix of anger, frustration, hopelessness and the feeling of life wasting away beyond your control, lost to the hands of mechanics somewhere on a mountain road, only to achieve nothing; the van got left behind, the story unfinished.

As this uselessness plodded its course, TED talks in all their eclectic shapes and sizes filled rooms in Oxford, wrapping up yesterday. (If by some chance you are not familiar with TED, please take the time to at least download some talks from their rad site, or through their itunes podcast).

After gaining interest from my homey Jenny Stefanotti's Twitter feed from the conference, I went looking for more info (she started blogging again, fyi).

Ethan Zuckerman won. Ethan, who runs an unbelievably informative blog (that, admittedly, often flies over my head on the technology side of things), took it upon himself to do what appears to be live summaries of most of the talks. They are currently the first 40 posts or so, and well worth the read.

From Tan Le's helmet that can allow brains to accomplish tasks without using the body, to Wikileaks - a site i can't believe I didn't know about - that publishes leaked documents at rates that make journos shake their heads, to encouraging accounting for human rights in the supply chain, and even making origami out of hate mail received after starting a campaign called 'From 52 to 48 with love' that encourages caring dialogue between regular Dem and Rep people and putting said origami on plants or cats. (see below)

If you're in the mood for stimulation, reading Ethan's summary notes will certainly teach you something you didn't already know.

Guaranteed cooler than being stuck in small towns with Mexican mechanics.

Sin Booze

2010-07-03T21:40:00.002Z

At midnight last night, all bars, cantinas, clubs and tiendas of all kinds stopped hawking booze in Oaxaca. Not permanently, but because Mexican laws dictate no buying or selling of booze in the day of or before an election. Obviously this doesn't stop people from drinking, but certainly makes it tougher to realize sporadic urges.

The 'pre-midnight stockpile rush' - which seemed to still be going strong shortly after 1 am near my house - certainly lent a bit of weight to the idea that short-term prohibitions do little curb net amounts consumed. ´Wasted´ would be a good way to describe the somewhat large crowd slumped around the abarottes.

Mex is certainly not alone on this front. Ecuador has a three day, pre-election ban, as do many others across Latin America. Same deal with some US states. Its an interesting connundrum, trying to think about how much trouble this law actually averts, and pretty tough to calculate accurately. With the somewhat heated political race in Oaxaca and occasionally high tensions, it doesn't seem like the worse plan. Plus, no one seems to complain about it (except for the fact that today, with all bars closed, the Spain/Paraguay game was nowhere to be found, and I wasted a LOT of time seeking it).

As propaganda continues to hurl from all sids, perhaps it is good that a few less borachos wander the streets for a day or two.

Still Mad, RE; ghana

2010-07-03T21:26:00.003Z

Not suprisingly, got some pretty scathing emails regarding Uruguay´s deliberate hand ball to block a goal at the end of extra time. Truly a disgrace on all accounts. (For what its worth, i thought FIFA rules said you can call an intentional hand ball that blocks a sure-fire goal an actual goal. I skimmed the rule book yesterday, but didn´t have the time or patience).

Definitely my favourite communique, from a normally very (com)passionate, non-sporty person, reminded me why I love sports on the international stage.

And I quote:

"i fucking hate uruguay. i am never ever ever going there, and i hope i never have to do any work that contributes to their development.

fuck"

Still laughing about this, though actually pissed about how that can't be called differently.

Oaxacan Elections

2010-06-29T18:56:00.005Z

It was a rainy day in Pizzaville for all those who watched the 'big' game here on Sunday. Mexico losing to Argentina isn't exactly against all odds. (PS Big ups to Ghana!)

On to bigger things, in Oaxaca at least.

Gubernatorial elections in Oaxaca and several other states are around the corner has emotions running high. Yesterday saw the assassination of a gubernatorial "shoe-in" candidate in Tamaulipas, a border-state, and illustrates the gravity of some of these elections.

These violent undertones are presently absent in Oaxaca, though regardless it will mark a changing of the guard from Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, whose violent past has made him an unpopular leader.

Most of this discontent stems from the decision to unleash military and police forces on a powerful protest held by APPO, a local teachers union, in 2006. This led to dozens of deaths and disappearances, most notably - in American/Canadian media at least - the shooting of New York Indymedia's Brad Will by police forces. Something far from forgotten on the streets of Oaxaca.

Thousands of APPO supporters have occupied the city's Zocalo for the last month, living in tents, demanding better wages and improved worker's rights for teachers. As of today, they intend to be there until the July 4th elections, which has some people worried. However, their 70 000 person, June 14th march - photo above, date in honour of the worst day of violence in 2006 - stayed remarkably tranquil, especially considering the numbers.

As tensions rise with elections coming, all hopes are that this calmness will remain.

Tweet Tweet, Twitteros

2010-06-25T17:18:00.003Z

Twitteros in Mexico - those who 'tweet' - have been the subject of much debate lately. At the heart of it is the potential use of Twitter for clandestine purposes. What seems to have started as authorities cracking down on people in DF - Mex City - using Twitter to avoid drunk driving stops has spread to the drug world. The bigger concern is that cartels are using the social networking medium to communicate and evade law enforcement. But, even talk of dismantling the uber-popular Twitter in Mexico has obviously caused a debate to spring up. There has been lots of interesting media coverage on this lately.

Global Post has an interesting summary on this with some good internal links for context, and CNN offers a pretty harrowing portrait of those using Twitter as a means to speak out against the cartel violence in their areas - something nearly impossible to do in person - and of citizens offering tips when gang roadblocks are set up, or narco-violence breaks out near their homes.

Time's article on Twitteros from a few months back best illustrates the overall issues at stake.

Mexican drug cartels apparently use Twitter and Facebook not only to communicate with one another, but also to spread fear through local communities. Recently in the bloody border town of Reynosa, people associated with one cartel used tweets to terrorize Reynosa by posting messages that created panic among residents and halted normal activities as the threats circulated online. One such message read, "The largest scheduled shootout in the history of Reynosa will be tomorrow or Sunday, send this message to people you trust that tomorrow a convoy of 60 trucks full of cartel hitmen from the Michoacan Family together with members of the Gulf Cartel are coming to take the city and take everyone out alive or dead!" Schools and shops closed that day.