I’ve lost the Wonder Woman theme and moved on to a slick, yet professional look. Thanks goes to Bryan for redesigning my site and helping all of us at coolmojo. Hopefully this will inspire me to write more–probably as a procrastination technique as I stress over my dissertation.
Another great procrastination technique is cooking a nice Sunday breakfast. Here’s my favorite Sunday morning gluttonous ritual:
Smash a container of soft tofu and mix in chopped red onion, some nutritional yeast, sprinkle of soy sauce, salt and pepper.
Fry up the tofu in a pan.
Add in some soyrizo (a vegan chorizo), mix and fry until done.
Sometimes I add salsa, chopped bell peppers, and green onions.
Goes great with some hash browns and a glass of yerba mate.
Makes vegan and non-vegans happy on Sunday morning.
I am amazed and grateful that this site has continued to see an increase in visitors despite my time away. You may have wondered what happened to me during this past month. Well, I came back from Oaxaca at the end of March and jumped right into teaching a class of 600 students with nine teaching assistants. While I am definitely having fun with the experience, I had difficulty with devoting time on any project that wasn’t vital to my life or career. But this blog is important. I am grateful for the community that I have met because of it and the outlet it provided me during my time in Oaxaca (particularly from October to December of last year). I will return to Oaxaca for about four more months in August to complete my dissertation research. So, I write this informal note to say that I have missed you and I will do my best to write more.
I am happy to finally be back in Oaxaca. This is a wonderful place with a vibrant cultural life. I was here from October to December of last year, allowing me to witness the political uprising in the streets. During that time I only saw a few tourists, which put a heavy strain on the local economy. However, personally, it was nice to avoid a lot of the tourist traffic. Today, my apartment building is bustling with tourists and others who make Oaxaca their home for the winter.
The zocalo (the historic center, here in the capital) has changed too. When I was here last, the barricades were only open to foot traffic around the zocalo. When I walked through the zócalo today, down Independencia street, the cars zoomed along past me. I saw only a few city cops at some of the entrances to the zócalo. They guard a few metal barricades that are not in use. Around town, the city has erected multilingual orange sign posts and maps of the city. Workers are still trying to remove graffiti from the stones inside the zócalo. They use high powered water hoses to remove the paint. My last trip ended around Christmas time, and so the city planted red poinsettias with messages thanking Governor Ulises and the federal police (PFP). Now, the plants are gone. Replacing them is simply bark and fertilizer. As much as I had problems with the messages, I prefer the poinsettias. We should remember that years ago, the zócalo didn’t look like this–covered in concrete and dirt. It used to be beautiful courtyard of greenery. This is another legacy of the governor.
Meanwhile, the prices of staple goods have increased. I thought that I would not notice the change, however it is quite significant. Usually a bag of fruits and vegetables at the market cost me about 50 pesos. I spent 70 yesterday. Bread is also significantly pricier.
People have asked me if it is possible to be a vegan in Oaxaca. The answer is a strong “Yes!” For lunch, I wandered down to the organic farmer’s market at El Pochote and ate a handmade veggie burger (one of the best I have ever eaten). I crossed the street and bought a few more items at a cooperative organic market. I bought vegan chocolate and some soy roles with fake meat. I have never seen anything like this dish, and so I look forward to eating it later.
I am in the process of posting photos…but I am having some technical difficulties…please be patient. I have some amazing photos from an art gallery that recreated the APPO graffiti.
Starting this Thursday, I will finally be back in Oaxaca, enjoying the elotes, mole, y chocolate. I can’t wait. Soon you will see fresh reports and pictures from Oaxaca.
For the past week, I couldn’t get away from the graduate student world to write one darn blog. I have so much to tell you about…especially about the rising tortilla prices that are connected to the unbalanced trade agreements with the U.S.. I promise to get to this. Thank you for your emails with questions of, “hey, why aren’t you writing about the corn and tortillas? People are protesting in the street!” That is a good question. After six years of graduate school life, I can tell you that grad school allows a person just enough free time to get wrapped up in things that are much more fun than grading and writing papers. And then everything comes crashing down because everything is always due in the same week. In my department, the professors tend to leave you alone and allow you to work at your own speed. But every once in a while I will receive an email from an administrative staff person informing me that if I am not at a certain level in my research, then I can’t work, I can’t receive funding, and my life comes to a screeching halt. However, things have worked out in the end. If I can write another 60 pages in the next couple weeks, I can probably advance to candidacy in the beginning of February.
In any case, this is all just to say thank you for giving me a week off. I have missed the blog world more than you know. But soon, in the next couple of days, you will see a fresh new post on tortillas, corn, and trade.
And I will take this opportunity to say thank you for enjoying my pictures. I would love to hear from people who have looked at them. The picture forum doesn’t allow for comments, which is a shame. But please feel free to email me and let me know what you think and if you are using them for anything. I will be returning to Oaxaca at the beginning of February. I would also love to get suggestions on local events that may be coming up in February and March in Oaxaca or Chiapas, especially anything to do with activism, corn, organics, and local organizing.
Thanks for continuing to stop by my blog. I have taken some time off to spend the holidays with my family. But I will be back in 2-3 days with continued updates and analysis about Oaxaca. I am starting to plan for my return to Mexico, even though it feels like I just got back. I am wondering about the friends I made in Oaxaca. I hope everyone is doing well.
You can catch me on the radio today. I will be discussing my research in Oaxaca.
I will be interviewed live on KCSB news at 5pm. If you live in the Santa Barbara area, you can tune into 91.9FM, but if you are out of the area you can listen to the webcast at www.kcsb.org.
I am back in California, home sweet home. But I do miss my home-away-from-home in Oaxaca. I won’t be here for long, though. I will be returning to Oaxaca in January to continue my research. But don’t fret, I will maintain this blog while I am here too. I still have ideas for blogs and critiques that have been building up for weeks, just waiting to get out. I will continue to read the local Oaxacan newspapers and report on the current situation. I want to thank those who have helped me get this blog rolling in just a few weeks. The support has been phenomenal for my photos and analyses. I also appreciate your concern for my safety. Many people may not realize this, but there is a wonderful community of researchers, students, activists, and ex-patriots in Oaxaca that are extremely supportive of eachother and are quick to lend advice. I thank them for their help.
Last night I was on a local public access television program called Third World News Review. You can listen to it on the radio through a webcast on KCSB today (Tues) at 7pm. It will also be replayed a few times this week on channel 17 (Wed at 7am and Noon, Thursday at 3pm, and Sunday at 8am and Noon). I spoke about the APPO movement and my ideas on the role of the media in the movement.
My technologically-proficient boyfriend designed this website for me so that I may blog about my adventures in Oaxaca. This is a new skill I am trying to learn, so give me time. I hope these posts are as useful to you as they are to me.
I came to Oaxaca on October 14 and I am still here. With an MA in Sociology and a concentration in social movements, globalization, and gender, I am fascinated with the current situation in Oaxaca. I am working on my dissertation for the PhD (in actuality, a book). My primary goal in Oaxaca was not to study the APPO, it is rather to study the movement to protect the biodiversity of seeds, particularly maize. However, a study of the effects of NAFTA, globalization, capitalism, racism, and the activism against it, is a study of many movements with many different groups involved. I am interested in these connections, the discourse around it, and particularly women´s role in this movement and discourse. I welcome any suggestions you may have as I begin this project.
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