Barack beyond US borders
Yesterday, I was invited to talk at the English club for a local high school here in Abengourou. No, I wasn't lecturing or anything that fancy. I was merely there to talk and have the kids asks questions in order to practice their English. There is another American girl in town from Michigan who is working on English teaching and goes to the club every week.
It's always interesting to see the perception of your country from the eyes of others who see it from an extremely distant vantage. Despite all the problems the US has, it is still, to many in the world, a mythical land of opportunity. Anyone living through the economic crisis and part of the unofficial 20% without work would probably question that at the moment, but time and again, to many people the United States is the greener grass.
Naturally, a lot of the questions revolved around visiting the US and the differences in life there vs. Côte d'Ivoire. Not easy questions to answer obviously as the US is enormous and so we tried to mainly focus on that aspect and how life in Michigan differs from life in California, which is a large topic unto itself. But eventually, the question of politics and elections came up. For those who don't know, Côte d'Ivoire has been without official national elections for 15 years, having dealt with a number of coup d'etats and other unfortunate, power hungry lunacy. So, these kids have not actually seen an election in their life and given that Obama has been in power for only a year and is African, they're fascinated by him.
It goes without saying that in America, the fascination exists as well. But, while we're now starting to look at Obama's policies and wonder what the hell he's actually doing, the man still is an icon outside of the country. Even though he's half white, it doesn't matter and I doubt that it will ever matter. He could be a complete failure and serve one term, but to these kids and to a great many people, he still represents the achievement of a dream that seems impossible.
This is all incredibly on the nose and may seem obvious, but you really don't see what mythic quality a person has until you see him/her through the eyes of others.
04 02 2010 0 comments
Tags: obama, politics, us america
Sad to be leaving, but happy to go
I have to say that while being in San Francisco for a week and a half, I'm quite happy to be leaving. I went for a walk up to North Beach two days ago to buy salami and I thought, "Hey, I won't see this place for awhile, let's have a stroll." That was a rather tremendous mistake as shop upon shop is closed. It was just sad. This city is a husk of what it was and it goes to show how intangibly debt-driven the economy is here. Although, it did make me anxious to leave.
So, that's it. A total month and a half back in the US and now I'm off again. Why am I off again? Because economically, things are really still quite down. I knew that this would be the case though as January-March in any year are a hard time to find work. Of course, I had a sunnier disposition about things this time last year, which ended up burning me. But, given the fact that my rent wasn't increased for the first time in five years and a quick perusal of Craigslist shows that yes, things are not turning around, I am tossing in the towel and leaving the country.
Heading off to Europe again? No, not this time. As much as my in-laws would probably like to have me grilling meat and watching the puppy, I'm going a bit more adventurous this time; I'm heading to Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) for five months. Yes that is in Africa (West, not South) and yes, they do speak French there. And yes, it is quite hot there. So, why on earth am I doing this?
First off, I've wanted to actually live outside the US for an extended period of time. I've only really traveled outside for a maximum of maybe three months through a variety of countries. The closest I've come to living was staying in Figueres with my in-laws and that didn't really count as I wasn't paying rent, mom-in-law did the shopping, and I was there on the three moth tourist visa which I damn near went over on. Really need to use the other passport more...
So, this will be not only the longest time outside the US, but also the first actual living in another country. It just took until I was 33 to actually pull this off (I'm a late bloomer.) This is all being made possible by #1 Fan having a temporary contract there that was will take care of basic living expenses. Seeing how the economy was heading, she did something very smart last Fall and found this position which will not only allow us to hopefully weather this economic storm, but also work on that other project that I spend so much time on, Maneno. Also, I am hoping to come back speaking decent, as opposed to chicken-scratch, French by the end of this as well. Even though it's not my favorite language in the world (the multiple 'u' sounds and the numbers kill me) it is an incredibly useful one.
Most people who read this blog probably don't read Subsaharska that much as it's about Africa and African technology primarily. This one is a bit more fun, dealing with such things as food, tea, airport frustration, and of course, toilets. Speaking of which, there should be an article forthcoming about that last item. Otherwise, if you want to see some of the more cool things I'll be doing and the people I'll be working with, take a look at that blog.
If I didn't get a chance to meet up, I'll make sure to do so in July and will be happy to see a lot of folks again after so much time away, although I will be online just as much as here in the US and I have a SkypeIn number for those wishing to call as well. Au revoir!
27 01 2010 0 comments
Tags: california, in to africa, san francisco, us america
Spanish 'easy open' technology still in beta; maybe alpha
If you glance below, you'll see the result on my tempting fate and using the 'obertura fàcil' (or 'abre fácil' in Castellano if you will) tab for a package of pasta. Didn't turn out so well. This is not a surprise. Spanish food vendors know that 'easy-open' is the shit because they see it everywhere in the US. But that being as it may, they still have some back-to-the-drawingboard time to spend on their actual implementation of non-knife-needed packaging systems. Of course Spaniards are no where near as fat as Americans, so maybe it's for the better that you gotta fight to get at your food in Spain.
29 11 2009 0 comments
Tags: food, packaging, spain, the europe, us america
The approach of a people
Every other day, I've been trying to go on a run around the castle above my in-laws house. Unfortunately my knee has been giving me problems lately, so I haven't been running as much as I'd like. This period of idle exercise time has made for an idle mind and there was something that was pissing me off every time I'd go for a run which was the graffiti that some bored kids had decided to spray on the back of a power substation tower. Naturally, it was pretty weak graffiti as it was painted by pretty weak hoodlums. In theory it wasn't that big of a deal, but it was getting to me as it had been there for a long time.
I went down to a general store on the Rambla, bought a can of cheap white paint, went up the hill and painted over it. All told it took about 20 minutes of my time and a couple of Euros of my money. No one saw me paint over it and no big deal was made of it. I did it because it bothered me and because no one else was doing anything about it. I did it because despite my split nationalities, I grew up as an American and my grounding in all things practical lies with the can-do attitude of the US.
This is an element of the US that I like a great deal. By and large, it's missing in many Europeans countries. It's obvious why as all of us in the US are descended from those who came to the country with this spirit in mind. There is a downside to this way of doing things though in that can-do leads to a head down, self-centered manner of thinking that is concerned about the individual first and everything else second. It doesn't have to, but it is often the case. When it gets out of hand (and up until the recent economic meltdown, this attitude had gotten so out of hand) it was rending at the foundation of the country. One can only hope that in that strife, there is progress and advancement; not just dead-end polemics.
As way of an alternate example, Spain is a great deal different than the US. Beyond canonization of the pig, this is a socialist country. Yes, for an American that brings up all kinds of allusions to the Red Scare, but socialism is an absolute necessity. It's just a shame it has been forever tainted in American English by shortsighted individuals half a century ago and now as a very thinly-veiled racial insult towards Obama. But Spain looks after its people. If those in power don't, they are quickly not in power. People don't tolerate a malfunctioning government. They expect that if they're ill, the state is there for them or when they're unable to work, again, the state is there. Education is free because it is for the society. This is sorely reminded of when seeing that my former university in California is now $10,000 USD a year to attend when it was 25% of that a when I graduated nine years ago.
The society like the one in Spain seems ideal. But much as how the can-do individualism of the US can too far in one direction, so can the faith in the state. People get complacent. They stop fighting for what they get and those who are power hungry slowly erode away all that was gained. So you end up with some American-Croat with a can of paint going nuts on cleaning up the neighborhood because not only is the local government not cleaning it up, no one is even calling anyone to come clean it up.
Every two or three days I make a run for croissants (and occasional xuixo, god those are good...) and I pass the Rambla in Figueres. There, beneath the shade of the trees in the lingering breaths of summer in an atypical November sit the old men discussing the latest construction projects and the old women talking about how bad their son's wives are. I watch it and realize that as important as I think painting out some minor graffiti is, if in Spain there exists Death's Waiting Room, then help me find a number so that I may sit on a Rambla bench and wait my turn when I grow old.
26 11 2009 0 comments
Tags: catalonia, spain, the europe, us america
U!S!A! Love makin' not OK!
I just caught a glimpse of this poll which placed American men as the fifth worst lovers in the world. Someone the Russians actually placed better than the Americans, which I find to be a stretch given that the rates of spousal abuse as massive over there. I guess when not beating, they find time to caress gently. The best for me was that the English were nearly the worst because they let the women do all the work (somehow this wasn't the case in Russia) and that the Germans were the worst due to stinking up the room. So much for the stereotype of anal retentive cleanliness.
Naturally this all led up to my Spanish wife getting the last laugh as Spanish men are considered to be the best lovers in the world. I'm convinced this is merely due to the women who thought this being there on holiday, drunk, and suffering from heat stroke during the love making. Naturally, this brings me back around to this video to prove my point and to try and sooth my annoyance with this poll that must have only been taken by Northern European gay men because then, sure, Spain is probably the best, not that I would know.
30 09 2009 0 comments
Tags: love makin, us america
That pretty much sums up the times
I admit it. I play the lottery. Yeah, it's stupid. Yeah, it's a waste of two dollars a week. Yeah, I could spend that $104 on one really nice dinner a year. But, it's something I've done on and off for the last 15 years and as far as dumb vices go, I rate it pretty low. Plus, I'm a sucker for the "what if..." factor that they prey upon all us suckers with.
Lately, as the economy is truly way deep down, stuck up on the second bend of the crapper, it appears that I'm not the only person getting a hit of Lottocaine twice a week. Right after the draw, they post the numbers on the website. This in turn means that you see the image below for about two hours after the draw. There really isn't anything wrong with the website except for the fact that a couple million people are hitting it at once. Obviously, "what if..." has devolved in to "dammit please..." these days. Not a good sign. Not at all.
17 09 2009 0 comments
Tags: economy, errors, stupidity, us america
How will we remember this?
I didn't even really get what the Twitter trending topic of dc912 was until the end of today. I suppose part of me realized what it was, but part of me was just unwilling to believe that thousands of people would descend on the capitol of the US to decry the establishment of a government health care system for the country. Why we, the richest and most powerful country in the world don't already have one has been mind blowing to me for years.
You see, I grew up without health care. My family had "too much" income to qualify for the free health care and not enough income or the blessed qualifications to get our own policy. My father worked as a glass blower in a studio that thought itself above offering health care to the employees. My mother worked as a part time teacher at a community college who, while offering a fantastic package for their full time workers, gave nothing to the part time staff, saving no end of money. I grew up ahead of my time, not being scuttled to the doctor every time I sneezed and having to "walk off" twisted ankles and the like. I suppose growing up this way is one of the reasons I can pop a blister or for that matter, trim my own nails.
As the years passed, my brother and I were lucky. A couple of cuts that needed stitches here and there, but no serious problems. My parents paid for everything out of their own pocket. Some 25 years ago it was still costly, but somewhat possible to pay your way. I doubt the scar that was 16 stitches on my arm would cost less than $2,500 to be dealt with today which is two months of rent for me in San Francisco and nearly half a year for others in the state.
Sadly, it was my father who finally got burnt by the lack of insurance. For years he had suffered digestion problems that the doctors we could afford to go to would label as Irritable bowel syndrome. As it turns out he had Carcinoid syndrome which is a particularly nasty thing as is slowly grows benign tumors mostly around your digestive system. The tumors don't kill you though as in the more common cancers. What kills you is slowly having your crucial organs being unable to function with most often the liver first to go.
Over about five years, I watched my father slowly waste away. You know how gaunt Steve Jobs looks these days? Well, picture a man about 185cm (6'1") and 100kg (220 lbs) who was incredibly strong losing all his muscle and dropping to about 2/3 his original body weight because every time he ate he was unable to digest the food and was literally starving to death. I'd visit every couple of months and each first impression of him scared the hell out of me as he declined in health, but I couldn't let him see it because he pressed on, never complaining about his body as it crumbled upon him. A stronger person, I've never known.
It does turn out that there is a cure to carcinoid. It's a once a month injection that costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $4000. That was nearly twice as much as my father made in a month and while he tried desperately to qualify for Medical (our medical system in California for the poor) the condition worsened until one day, while seated and gently carving a new piece of art, he had a fatal heart attack that ended his five year battle with a disease. My father, a happy and satisfied man; an American living a rural Californian community free of toxins, eating a healthy diet, not smoking, only drinking socially, and exercising regularly, died from a completely curable disease at the age of 60 in the United States of America simply because he wasn't able to afford the treatment or even be granted the ability to know earlier in life that he had this curable condition.
This happened six years ago and I bring it up not to tug on heartstrings, but to prove a point that America is letting itself die. It is unconstitutional not to have a national health care system in place. It is wasteful monetarily not to have this system and eventually replace all the redundant systems we currently have for the old, poor, military, and government workers. It is also wasteful as we pay for all those who seek primary care in our emergency rooms or overworked clinics.
To all those who marched in Washington DC, I can't be angry or even frustrated with them. Anyone who puts a Hitler mustache on a picture Obama is so easily led astray that you can't be mad at someone like that. The same goes for all those in this Tea Party group who oppose a national health care system. They're unable to truly understand how this system will not only save the country money, but will also personally save them or someone they care about some day as more and more of us are without any form of insurance.
Don't get me wrong, I think we should most definitely pay for a government system. It should not and cannot be a free system. People misunderstand this about the systems in Europe; they aren't free. People pay for them through deductions from their paychecks. And if you have no paycheck and are poor, then you don't pay, but obviously you still get access to health care because it is a fundamental human right that was written in to the constitution of this country over 200 years before this became an issue. That's how important it is.
I have suffered my own personal losses, worked to get past them, and voted in those who are working to make a system such as this possible. I have done what I can as a citizen and now can only wait to see how the pieces may fall. My only concern in all this is for our collective memory of this period in history. How will we remember this? I can only ask in that once the votes are counted and if it fails, we have a monument be erected to all the politicians and how they voted. Something permanent beyond a file in a public record stored away and out of sight.
We need to remember all the No's of the 111th Congress and all the Joe Wilsons out there. Their stupidity must be remembered and their names become part of our common vernacular for "fool" or "crook" as they are cursed by the 99% of us at the "bottom" who will lie dying in the street, smirking one last smirk, and remembering how great America once was, just before we lost that chance to stop an inevitable decline if we are left helpless to heal the citizens our nation.
Write to and call your national senators and representatives. Tell them they will not serve another term if they vote No and stop national health care.
12 09 2009 0 comments
Tags: health, obama, us america
Let's stop using 'maybe' because it means 'no'
It seems that when people want to stop trolls on a website, they turn to only allowing a positive message to be shared. At first, I agreed with this somewhat, but then realized if you don't allow the negative in, then some aspect of the positive gets co-opted to become the negative. I mean, you can't really define the positive without the negative, so they both have to be there. But there's one other outcome of artificially skewing the positive which is the overuse of "maybe".
I've found that the US loves "maybe". It's not negative and it's not positive. It's completely noncommittal which is great for people who always want to portray an image of either being open to everything or being part of everything. Having the "maybe" allows them to do just this while fitting in a teeth whitening session around their daily activities and it allows Americans the ability to look like positive can-do people while actually being some of the flakiest people in the world.
I say end the "maybe" because really, it means "no". Let's face it, it's either "yes, I can do/come to that" or everything else. I can't count the number of times I've been part of some Evite or Meetup where there are a third "yes", a third "no" and a third "maybe". How can you plan an event other than to assume that all those "maybe" are actually "no" and if they were to show up (they never do), you just have to tell them, "Well, I didn't know you were coming."
I've actually written in to the support teams at both these groups to allow "maybe" to be taken out if you're constructing an event. They refuse to do it which is ridiculous. I think Evite even wrote back to me along the lines of, "We appreciate your feedback, but the majority of our users prefer the 'maybe' option." That's fine. Anyone who wants to use it can, but I just want to get rid of it on what I'm doing so that planning is actually possible instead of trying to generate an illusory buzz about your event.
I have to admit that the Plague of Maybe is something which is much more predominant in the bigger cities in the US. In my hometown if someone doesn't want to attend something, they'll say, "No, I'm not coming. It sounds gay and I think you're a asshole." While blunt, I appreciate this so much more than a "maybe". So come on, let's stop using "maybe".
26 08 2009 2 comments
Tags: internet, language, us america
Single American dudes, if you're lonely, head to Cape Coast, Ghana
Man, I am so thankful that I'm married and don't have to think about these things anymore, but for any single guys out there who are feeling a bit lonely in the US, don't spend money on internet dating or strippers. Buy a plane ticket to Accra and then haul your ass over to Cape Coast. Now, I realize that this may seem random, but all I see are piles of American girls in the restaurants doing internships or whatever and there are no guys around. This is the single scene any loser in the US could hope for. While I have no damn to give as what you do, here might be some helpful pointers:
The Accent
First of all, these girls are more than likely not going to want to meet an American. They're here for a few weeks or months getting their "International, African experience" for their resumes and most likely they have an American guy back home. Pointer: fake an accent. Try something from Southern Europe and make it sleazy. Try and keep it generic and chat the girls up a bit to figure out somewhere where they haven't been. If you can get away with Sicily, great, as you can make any kind of tacky Godfather references you want to. Really, if you've gone all the way to Ghana to meet American women, you should have no shame in doing this, so go with it. Be warned though that if you take advantage of the next point, this goes to hell.
Passport Stamps
Any girl in Ghana is a "world traveler" and you can better have the entry and exit stamps to back it up. If you don't, fake them. I have no idea where to get "fake" passport stamps, but again, your shame is non-existent, so work on this. Keep in mind that a stamp showing-swap is the first step to bigger and better swaps.
Keep a Diary
If you've gone with the fake accent, this is great because you can write some crap "dialect" in the diary that is nonsense. If not, you will have to write real stuff in English and that could nearly be work. Watch the diary angle closely. Bring a couple of them too, making sure to rough them up and look travel-worn. I recommend Moleskins even though Miquel Rius are better just because any "thinker" from the US writes in Moleskins. Make sure you only write your sweet nothings about one girl per diary.
Ghanaian Clothes
You gotta get something "African" like a shirt made out of the cloths they produce. I recommend the Obama shirt which I'll hopefully be able to hunt down. If you wuss out on the full shirt, go for a scarf, but whatever you do, don't go for the vest. Outside of hipster circles, vests get you no pootie.
Love the Children
Wherever you walk, kids will want to cling on to you. I find it sweet, but there's a reason that I'm married. You are single and you need to make sure you walk around and test out your reactions with the kids before you make some kid of awkward moves in from of a girl. A couple of test "kiddings" in more remote areas of town where the girls don't venture are highly recommended. Just remember that if there's no love for the African children and no love for you.
Also on this note, make sure to stage some photos of you hugging children and being generally interested in "stuff" in the country (a sad, compassionate face at the Door of no Return is a good start) and have these sitting on your digital camera to show any girl your casually start talking to.
Talk the Talk
Say things such as, "we need to shed light on the problems", "let's work to empower these people", or my favorite, "I came because I wanted to give something back". All of these statements are full or crap, but really, so are you, so let it fly like kids throwing dried cow turds in Iowa.
Keep in mind over everything else that if you really do fly to Ghana to hook up with American women, you really don't have much going on. You should go to any depths to get laid (short of anything illegal, pervert) and again, have no shame. Maybe I'm wrong and there are scores of dudes that are workaholics, hiding out in the offices somewhere, but it sure doesn't look like it and the odds are better here for a straight American loser than just about anywhere else in the world, even San Francisco.
12 08 2009 0 comments
Tags: ghana, in to africa, us america
Classic meets classic ringing the death of US music
The trends in popular music these days revolve solely around remixes in the US. There is no new music that rises to form a front of the new aesthetic unless you count the faux punk rehash that is coming out of the hipster set. I find nothing new nor enjoyable in what they produce. It is meant to be loud, brash and ironic with little shown in musical craft.
For me, popular music pretty much heaved its last breath in the US in the early 1990s. The wave of grunge that came about was shaped a great deal by previous waves before and grunge acknowledged them and built upon them, bringing something new to the mix. It wasn't a remix, but apparently, now it is.
This mashup of Nirvana's "Teen spirit" and Rick Astley's "Never gonna give you up" is nothing short of genius. Who knew that the two songs would meld so well? Unfortunately this is also telling to the state of music in not just the US, but also Europe to a great deal. The best things coming out are those that have already been done.
What's the alternative? I'll tell you that it is not within our borders. We have to look internationally to where musicians still work their asses off to get know. Africa. There are a great many musicians coming out of the continent, specifically Nneka whose song Heartbeat is just fantastic. She's Nigerian and before you think that this is going to be some drum circle crap that your dreadlocked, cannabis-smoking neighbor would be blasting, let me tell you that it ain't. It's damned honest music that anyone who still has taste in the craft of notes and words should listen to.
