She Tried to Throw a Broom at Me

July 19, 2009
San Cristobal De Las Casas, Mexico
Elevation 2349m



San Juan Chamula, a village that is outside of San Cristobal. Its market day. It's 6:30 am, I make myself leave my warm bed, grab my cameras and thank god there is coffee at this hour, I get on a collectivo and head out.

The market is the size of the town square. I am the only foreigner here. You can buy everything here. Pots and pans, live poultry, shoes, clothing, yarn, some sort of animal pelt, bread, produce, shoe polish, flowers, just about everything. This market has no structure or logic in the way that its laid out. I think the vendors just arrive, they find an empty spot and they lay their goods down. As the day wears on, it gets harder and hard to walk through the market. I am constantly walking in between stalls or forced to jump over a pile of chiles so that I don´t get run over by the carts, people and poultry. There are children every where; some are crying, some are breast feeding. There are dogs roaming looking for a scrap off the butcher´s table. I saw this one boy trying to shove a giant piece of salted dry fish into his backpack...it made me laugh so hard as the fish is clearly bigger than his bag.

The shooting today is a little easier than it was yesterday. The people are still resistent but there is so much going on here that they pay less attention to me. Although this one woman did try to throw a broom at me. She won´t even let me take a picture of her chickens. Oh well....

I smile at everyone I see, I greet them good day. The men return my smile and are a little easier with me being there, the children seem to respond to my hellos as well. Howeve, the women just look at me and well....they just look at me. I guess my charm only goes so far here in Mexico.

This town, San Cristobal, Chiapas, it reminds me so much of Tibet, I don´t know why. The market is make shift at best; tables, tarps, ropes and nothing more. All of this choas and beauty will be gone by mid-day. The morning is wearing on and I have done 4-5 laps around, in and out, the tourist are starting to arrive, its time to wrap it up. Just as I am about to finish the last few frames on this last roll of film, I see a pile of red delicious apples imported from good o´US of A. Red Delicious apples sitting pretty amongst fruits and veggies that are just in from the hill side. I guess you can´t stop progress/invasion.

I stop at one of the many ¨stalls,¨ grab a seat in the tiny chair and have a hot horcheta and a tamale for breakfast. The warm horcheta makes me think of porridage and it reminds me of home. I guess when you grow up with nothing, your taste for peasant food (as my mother likes to call them) never really goes away.

A Prayer Answered

Sept 23, 2008
Los Angeles, CA

Have you ever had experience of wishing for something to happen and it does? I spent my teenage years as an atheist because of all the anger and frustration of youth one naturally experiences. It seemed to fit, its made sense then that there could be no higher being, a greater power, or to quote Nietzsche, "God is Dead." But as I gained in years, a faith of sort found me.

I am certainly not a declared religious, I don't attend service and I don't particularly subscribe to the preaching of any one sects. There is no name for my god. As a matter of fact, I am rather disgusted with most organized religions and the men who conduct morally questionable businesses in the name of their faith.

Whether the reasons for my "prayers," "wishes," to come true is due to the power of a higher being or simply as self help book would like to call "positive thinking" I know not. Yet prayers are answered.

Which then leads me to a greater metaphysical questions, does god answer all prayers? I can't help but think of the pilgrims of Tibet or of the poor and suffering, of those who fervent pray. Are their prayers ever answered? It would seem to logical that if their prayers were answered, then they would be better off than they appear. I am not sure. I don't pretend to understand the greater design, or if there is one. I think I will simply be thankful for my blessing and do what I can to make this world a better place.

I am however, interested in any thoughts anyone may have on this matter.

Angry Youth, the New Generation's Neocon Nationalists

August 2, 2008
Los Angeles, CA

In a recent issue of The New Yorker (July 28) there is an article about the Chinese students who rejects the West. The article starts with a discussion of this 6 minute anti-Western video posted on a Chinese website. The reporter, Evan Osnos then goes on to talk at length with the Chinese student who is the creator of this video clip. The student, Tang Jie describes how him and his friends get around the government blockage of certain western media websites in order to get a sense of the news being reported by the Western Media, he says "because we are in such a system [of media censorship], we are always asking ourselves whether we are brainwashed."

Wow! I wish American public are as this self-aware of the lies and the biased coverage that we are being fed by the media.

Then Tang Jie added, "but when you are in a so-called free system you never think about whether you are brainwashed." My thoughts exactly! He is right on the money and I am impressed with such acute level of awareness of the Media's function as a propaganda machine.

Tang Jie goes on to talk about the recent Tibet violence and how he was disappointed in the coverage by Western Media and how he felt it was inaccurate. "Tang couldn't' figure out why foreigners were so agitated about Tibet - an impoverished backwater, as he saw it, that China had tried for decades to civilized."

Wait, impoverished back water that another has tried to civilize. Is that not the standard justification for any and all acts of unjust war, occupation and conquests? We were just recently in Tibet and I am not sure that the Tibetans are feeling the benefits of China's effort of "civilization" - who is drink the cool-aid now?

The article progressed onto Tiananmen Square and its 20th Anniversary next year. "The students in 1989 were rebelling against corruption and abuses of power. Now a days, these issues haven't disappeared but have worsened...however, the current young generation turns a blind eye to it. I've never seen them respond to those major domestic issues. Rather, they take a utilitarian, opportunistic approach."

Wait - is he describing Americans? I guess Communist or Capitalist, we all suffer from apathy.

"The problem is that we didn't know what a good government would be. So we let the Chinese Communist Party stay in place. The other problem is we didn't have the power to get them out. They have the Army!"

Do we all simply suffer from the inability to dream of Utopia? Of perfection? We do not know what would be better than George W so that he has stayed. We cannot imagine exactly how to build a better society so we have done nothing as long as gas is cheap and distractions are plenty. But wait, you are afraid of the Army? I have seen the Chinese Arm and Police and I cannot say they strike fear into the heart of men. Yet again I can't say that I am afraid of Chief Wigum either, yet American military is still feared around the globe.

The article ends with Tang and Evan Osnos waiting along the Olympic torch route, "the crowd's enthusiasm seemed to brighten Tang's view of things, reminding him that China's future belongs to him and to those around him. When I stand here, I can feel deeply, the common emotion of Chinese youth, we are self-confident."

Are we self-confident? Do we feel like the future belongs to us? Or are we simply too cynical and opportunistic to rally any kind of nationalism and care enough to act on behalf of our future? Communist or Capitalists, the problems of our future seems strikingly similar.