The here and now... and what and why

Complacency is a trap. At least that’s what I was thinking when I up and left the comfort of a Yankee prep school gig, where I taught music, amongst other things, for 28 years. There was also that life long career as a composer, musician and artist.

First, it was a year in St. Thomas, USVI, working as a reporter and shooting photography and then, a year in San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Time passed.
More time passed and a year back in the Athens of America followed by a hasty return to Oaxaca where it is all happening.
A couple of years in San Sebastian Etla and now, just down the road in San Pablo Etla. Life is good.

Click on an image to see it larger.
For additional photography please visit my flickr page.
You can find my music on Jango (World & latin - Worldbeat) and at iTunes and most online stores.
¡Soy consciente de todas las tradiciones del Internet!
If you are coming to Oaxaca, please contact me for tours or advice.

Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo
The view from Corazon del Pueblo

The hereafter re me

My photo
Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
Musician, photographer, videographer, reporter, ex-officio teacher, now attempting to be a world traveler

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Gracias, maestros.... not

The zocalo in Oaxaca is one of the most beautiful spot in the city.... sometimes.  This ancient park has been the central meeting spot for hundreds of years.  Here's what it looks like today, filled with tents as los maestros, the teachers, have once again established a planton, a sit-in (sleep-in,) closing the space off to everyone else.  And they brought with them the vendors that are a part of the union's movement.  It's ugly and not at all representative of what Oaxaca has to offer.
Of course, for the most important cultural and economic weeks of the year, weeks in which Oaxaca is the destination for tens of thousands of tourists, the teachers do their normal thing.  Ruin things as much as possible for as many people as possible.  Listen, I am a former teacher, but I have a very hard time supporting the antics and tactics of Sección 22 del Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (SNTE).  They march, they blockade, they act like nothing else matters.  All they seem to do is piss people off while at the same time doing an even greater disservice to the children and their families for whom they are supposed to be serving.  They have shut down roads, shopping malls, governement offices, all during the busiest month of the years.  Can we talk about chaos and inconvenience?  Nuf' said.

I am not sure what this newspaper is about, but I like the Freddie Kruger image, because sadly, sometimes, it's a nightmare.... but not on Elm Street.
Meanwhile, the government protects the protesters while ignoring the pleas of the majority of the population who have said repeatedly, "Ya basta!"  "Enough already!"

3 comments:

Nightreading said...

I'd like to make sure I understood correctly: those people under those tents are teachers, TEACHERS??? If so, I am so glad my daughter is not one of their pupils....

They should know better how to fight for their rights without interfering with the history and the culture of that beautiful city...


For me it looks the same when I see in my native St. Petersburg names of the new restaurants in the historic center of the city. Those names loosely translate from our jargon into something like "Mother of that S.O.B." And I get so infuriated and sad in the same time...how could they/us allow that to happen???

Anonymous said...

Well said! I love your "sleep-in" comment.

I went to the zocalo last night and thought Oaxaca never looked uglier. Of all the years here this is the worst I have ever seen. Tents packed around the kiosk, bottles of pee. Vendors covering every inch all the way to Independencia. At one point I was trapped between vendors and the wall with no way out. Muchisimas people because it's Guelaguetza time. And.....a calenda!!

Joan

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