Dominican Republic’s mountains mean money, top official says

Reblogged from Repeating Islands:

 Dominican Republic joined yesterday’s International Mountains Day celebrations with several activities to mark an event held since 2003, when the United Nations set aside every December 11 to raise awareness on their sustainable use, DominicanToday.com reports.

Environment minister Bautista Rojas said, the government seeks to harness the potential of the country’s eco-mountainous territory as part of a national strategy to promote ecotourism, whose economic contribution he affirms are significant for any State.

Read more… 145 more words

Video: Depression in Our World

Reblogged from BROTHA WOLF:

Thanks New Black Man

This video describes the stigmas and struggles of people in black communities dealing with depression. The panel includes Bassey Ikpi, director of the Siwe Project; Dr. Jeff Gardere, psychologist and author; and Terrie Williams, author of "Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We're Not Hurting."

Read more… 7 more words

This is an essential view!

Higher Ground

Reblogged from Ourstorian:

The extraordinary global musical collaboration featured below is Episode #52 from Playing for Change, a foundation dedicated to providing music education for students in impoverished communities. Be sure to check out their blog for tour information, fundraisers, and other Playing for Change activities and events.

Read more… 4 more words

More of this please.

POC as Costumes

Reblogged from BROTHA WOLF:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Recently, famed tennis star Caroline Wozniacki appeared on a tennis court with the bra and shorts stuffed to make herself look curvy. It is said that she did it to impersonate another famed tennis star Serena Williams, particularly her natural curves. Many people were amused by this stint. Others, call it being racist. Word on the street is that it's not the first time female tennis players mocked Williams' figure by doing similar things.

Read more… 719 more words

I find this of poor taste, and perhaps even racist. What is the use of it? This blog explains it better:

UN's Ban launches bid to stamp out cholera in Haiti

Reblogged from Repeating Islands:

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched a $2.2 billion initiative on Tuesday to stamp out cholera over the next decade in impoverished Haiti, where an epidemic has killed thousands of people and been blamed on U.N. peacekeepers, Reuters reports.

Cholera has killed some 7,750 Haitians and sickened almost 620,000 since October 2010.

An independent panel appointed by Ban to study the epidemic issued a May 2011 report that did not determine conclusively how the cholera was introduced to Haiti.

Read more… 318 more words

Ricky Martin at the U.N.: On Stigma, Fear and the Dangers of Homophobia

Reblogged from Repeating Islands:

Recently (December 11, 2012), Puerto Rican superstar Ricky Martin proclaimed at a U.N. conference on homophobia that he wishes he could come out again so he could tell people struggling with their identities that “it’s just beautiful – you find love.” Martin said that “for many years, I lived in fear … because I was hating myself, because I grew up listening to a very crooked concept: `You’re gay.

Read more… 235 more words

I like how some artists find their way to the top and then turn their eyes to social justice!

Letter: Response to ‘Weekly column promotes ignorance’ – CollegiateTimes.com

Letter: Response to ‘Weekly column promotes ignorance’ – CollegiateTimes.com.

My letter to the editor.

I meant to be clear that satire and comedy are indispensable for sustaining a fair society, but as a laugh could help level power, it could also help in the opposite direction if steered toward marginalized people.

The original article, which attempted to produce laughs out of Puerto Rico‘s latest plebiscite, had the title of “Puerto Rico, America’s ugly stepchild” before the editors changed it on the online version.

Danny Mota’s response last week came from his heart, and as such is a good example of the effect this type of bad taste “satire” produces in others.

Both of our reactions did not attempt to address the issue of Puerto Rico’s status. Instead, it was about how “funny” can become “sour” when not meant for constructive criticism.

But perhaps we were not clear enough in saying that not all laughs are made the same. Our reactions to the article are not because hypersensitivity, but because we have seen where this path leads to.

 

Filed under: Media, Unites States

Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution – Simon Schama – Google Books

Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution – Simon Schama – Google Books.

Schama, a well-known art historian, jumped ships to write a highly evocative and detailed history that should be central to the Black Atlantic. He did so after his popular work on A History of Britain, which should have given him the research background he needed to have written this work. It is arguably a history that only a British scholar could have written, and thus, a much needed one against the blinding American patriotic narrative. We should expect that his critics are not a few–we will get to that later, and mostly from the United States’ side.

I regret not having read it before.

In a way, this is a “British Atlantic History” done in reverse to what has been happening from the United States shores, which has emphasized the position of the former British North American colonies (i.e., 13 colonies) within the broader context of the English-speaking Atlantic. Schama, instead, raises the voices of those who has been writing about Blacks outside of the traditional U.S. patriotic paradigm by showing, more evocative than most, how for Blacks the rhetoric of freedom was clearer from the British than from the U.S. Patriots’ side. In doing so, he is able to help revise U.S. Black History.

Filed under: Abolitionism, Atlantic World, Caribbean, Colonialism, Historiographical Research, Imperialism, Slavery Tagged: Slavery

Dominican Republic Pledges to Cut Emissions by 25%

Reblogged from Repeating Islands:

Dominican Republic stated its commitment at the UN Summit on Climate Change in Doha to cut its emissions by 25% before 2030, calling it “an ambitious goal” for a developing country. It is also the third country in Latin America to approve a carbon tax.

In a news conference held the last day of the UN Summit on Climate Change, Dominican delegation chief Omar Ramirez said his country will reduce its emissions of 3.6 tons per capita per year, with a population of 10 million, to 2.8 tons by 2030.

Read more… 157 more words

This is truly a remarkable step for the environment. I wonder, however, what is the other side of the coin: what is the criticism from the Dominican opposition.

Using tragedy to promote dependency

I wrote the post below in response to an attempt to use Camacho’s death for partisan purposes. The original post I read appeared in the otherwise admirable blog “Repeating Islands.” But it had first come from Time.com, written by Tim Padgett

“I am surprised to see such a partisan and pro-colonial (and ahistorical) post in this blog. The pro-statehood movement on the island has been on an evangelical-like impetus that ignores the facts for the “positive” vision.

The main reason Puerto Rico, as well as much of Latin America, has sunk into what it seems as social disarray (as seen in the surge of violence) is in fact because of its colonial status and the neo-liberal policies affecting the entire region. Adding Puerto Rico to the integral political structure of the colonial master (statehood) would not only miss the goal of producing a solution to the problems affecting the region, but it would simply be impossible.

Understanding the nature of nation-building and nationalism would help explain why the U.S. would find it impossible to assimilate the island as an equal. There are plenty of historical examples that would also highlight the foolishness of this idea. France in the Caribbean is perhaps the most salient one, where the colonial territories have been integral and full members of the French political apparatus (unlike Puerto Rico’s “commonwealth” status, which by the way, it reads radically different in the Spanish version).

And yet, the French “Overseas Departments” have not been nor will be in the same social or political level as the rest of France. They are rather dependencies “well treated,” or better yet, “people hanging from the borders of the more progressive nation that is France” (which happens to thrive at the historical expenses of their colonial possessions). No wonder the French have not accepted them as real social equals.

The U.S. seems farther behind the French in admitting this possibility with Puerto Rico–even less of accepting Puerto Ricans as full members of their society (in the continental U.S., they are considered “immigrants” in the process of becoming “Whites” as the Irish and Italians once were, if they are willing to shed away most of their cultural traits and join the “melting-pot”). So, there are enough evidences showing the final destination of the “statehood” pipe-dream.

Puerto Rico has a long history of reactionary and pro-colonial support, and this post seems to follow in such a tradition (this thought also relates to plantation owners in Cuba who sought union with the U.S., and discredited Dominican caudillos who wanted the U.S. to re-colonize their country in the 19th Century).

Yet, there are also traditions of more genuinely native and more creative lines of thinking that put a premium on emancipation, collaboration and fair equality rather than on pernicious social hierarchies. I suggest that we tap on these latter traditions, improve on them and rethink our future more brightly than joining a cause of futile begging for acceptance.”

Filed under: Caribbean, Colonialism, Dominican Republic, Imperialism, Puerto Rico, Unites States Tagged: Caribbean, Colonial Gaze, Colonialism, Imperialism, Independence, Post-Colonial, Puerto Rico, Statehood

Is This the End? - NYTimes.com

Is This the End? - NYTimes.com.

The topic of the environment has gripped me since Al Gore's documentary. Increasingly, I see it bearing in everything I do.  Notwithstanding my dedication to protecting the environment, the critical scholar of religion in me emerged while reading this wonderfully written piece.

The obvious: the current environmentalist rhetoric (the movement for protecting the environment), its sense of urgency, its totalitarian impulses, together with the movement's tendency towards fragmentation, fits naturally within the Western eschatological tradition.

And perhaps, this is even more so within the United States' model. Those familiar with the Millenarianism texts of the so-called Second Great Awaking, particularly those of the Millerist type (William Miller), will recognize the similar emotional effect of doom. It was not until the disaster-like pitch subsided and gave way to more practical and social concerns (i.e., social health, family issues) that these movements became lauded reforming forces in society (i.e. Adventism).

Some of the most interesting current environmental literature seems closer to a particular action-driven Abolitionist/Anti-slavery rhetoric. The 1820s began seeing a grassroots reaction against the traditional gradualist approach. Some Black and White anti-slavery/abolitionists began putting forward freedom projects with broad appeal among Blacks that challenged the status quo (Unfortunately, social and political structural problems particular to the U.S. highjacked this collaborative movement).  Abolitionism, in all its forms, is doubtlessly part of the Christian eschatological tradition, but for the most part it placed more emphasis on a rhetoric of action than on annihilation. This  experience may serve us well today.

As we near the imminent environmental crisis an increasing number of films and publications will hammer on our sense of guilt and fear, pressing those primal buttons of horror, and crippling those who consume it. In a way, we have been here before. The inevitable result, unfortunately, will be what is currently starting to happen:

Running against the pro-environmental education is an ever growing dubious yet popular literate of deniers. And then, there is the large majority of people who simply cannot be bothered with issues they feel out of their control.

Instead, we should develop a rhetoric that would accompany a broad and practical campaign for change and reform. It should be one that empowers people and clearly show them a path they can take. Shedding the extreme sense of doom for a more action-led vocabulary should be the first step.

Coming Back from the hole. Entrando de nuevo al mundo

Hypothyroidism can be a profoundly crippling condition. Even with medication, it can swing you to extremes and leave you shattered. Yet, it should not paralyze me. After about two years of conscious efforts against it, the path is clearer, and this I say daily to myself:

"Simply retrying will not do. The essence of coming back is recapturing the dreams once lost; it is becoming inspired so intensely that you would feel it in the bones; It is remembering wisely: remembering the victories with bliss so it would be easy to repeat them, but coldly citing the failures to learn from them without letting them get to you; it is believing in yourself so it would seem you are going to explode with the urge of getting things done; it is falling into routines that would help maintain this attitude; it is surrounding yourself with people who believe in you and keeping those relationships healthy; it is plowing away each day with doable challenges and celebrating even the smallest of the accomplishments; it is getting to work right now!"

New Season, New Rules

I’ve imposed a 5-email-message-a-day limit for the summer.  I often spend hours a day thinking about and composing emails, and it seems unnecessary — the task expands to fill the time available.  So with this modest limit (something a don’t think I’m too likely to bump up against on a regular basis) I hope that I end up checking and reading email less, and generally free my time for better things.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Also, I’m not sure why the post author doesn’t show up.

Hello world!

Welcome to Blogs@VT Sites. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

How I’m Spending My Summer Vacation

I’m typing this on a new computer.  After months of FDI sessions (several more in the GIS track than I needed to qualify for the computer), weeks of stress whether they would deliver it, and days of prodding and begging our department IT administrator so I could get it and take it on my summer research, I now have a 15″ MacBook Pro sitting in front of me.

This is a huge stress relief because my old one was in such bad shape.  I’ve got a 13″ MacBook I bought with my dissertation completion fellowship in 2009.  Last summer it fell of a ledge while I was in London and I’ve been living with a big spiderweb of cracks in the screen ever since.  Add in a few instances of my son pulling it off surfaces in Rome and we were in rough shape.  Over the last month it started to randomly blink off, forcing me to restart.  So, I’m in much less danger of ruining my students’ presentations, as I worried would happen on the last day of class, for example.  Now I’ve got to download all of the software and add-ons I use, like Dropbox, my new trial of DevonThink, Mozilla Thunderbird for email, and the like.  So while it is a relief, it’s not that exciting, because it takes a lot of time to get things up and running.  I’m not sure why ITSU doesn’t just ask if I want to import my existing system, THEN install all of the software, which would make things a lot easier.  As it is, I can’t just use my last Time Machine backup or it would get rid of all of the software they have installed, some of which I want to use.  Soon I will be using some VirtualMachine software to run Windows and I will install ArcGIS on my machine, as well.

All of this is to say that tomorrow is the first day of summer.  Within the next hour I should have my grades submitted and attention will turn to frenzied packing so I can get to Evanston this weekend and see my wife and son.  For the summer, my plans are to make some serious headway on my book manuscript.  This will involve two two-week trips to Boston for research, and possibly a week to either Washington, DC, or Austin, Texas.  In addition, it will involve several Detroit Tigers baseball games, as I haven’t seen the Tigers play since either the Spring of 2010 or maybe Summer 2009.  It’s been too long and it’s good to be able to take public transportation to Comiskey U.S. Cellular Park to see my childhood team, even if they’re the away team.

When I’m not sharing child care duties privileges with my wife, I plan to do some research down at the University of Chicago, too, despite the 90 minute commute it entails from Evanston.  And blogging! [EDIT: And learning Javascript]

Welcome, all

Hi, everyone.  This is the first post on the group blog for the junior faculty in history at Virginia Tech.  Look how easy it is.  This is set not to be Google or search engine-indexed, so you can participate in relative anonymity and without fearing your words will last for all time.

The Residencia Today

The Residencia Today

Picking up an old half-baked article and getting it ready for publication. I think the argument still stands: the Spanish La Residencia de Estudiantes was not the radically political institution it seems to have been, 1910-1936.

It cannot be denied that great minds, many of them liberal and some even radical, found in this institutions a refuge and stimulus. But compared with other truly radical pedagogical and political movements of the time, La Resi comes short of being the subversive institution some people still remember it to be. Moreover, in its ideological foundations we found sinister anti-democratic ideas that relate well to the long Spanish reactionary tradition.

Filed under: Historical Research Tagged: Conservatives, Dicatoriship, Freethinkers, Liberals, Pedagogy, Radicals, Spain, Spanish, Spanish language, Students