Outside In - A View from Mexico
Saturday, April 05, 2003
ChevronTexaco Willing to Develop Iraqi Oil
http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=YNQXPTZLE2MHQCRBAEKSFFA?type=businessNews&storyID=2513411
Aw, gee, REALLY,,,? Aren't those Texaco guys just the BEST? This warms my heart, honestly,,,
Friday, April 04, 2003
Ok, here's a hoot. It's an opinion/humor piece entitled "Privatise This War!" from the Manchester Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,929421,00.html
Let me air a very personal gripe. Our business offers both internet services and long distance calling services via the internet. Naturally, we get a fair number of people here calling back home to the States, Canada, and Europe. Most of them are wonderful people and delightful to talk to. Some of them (very few) are actually creepy and it is tough for me to deal with them with my usual helpful customer service manner when my skin is trying to crawl off my body and run out the door. The worst ones, however, are what I would hope would be perfectly ordinary, decent folks back home but, for whatever reasons, come in here positively reeking with body odor. To me, that is extremely discourteous and I can't imagine why anyone would do that. Sure, this is a hot climate with plenty of humidity and, if you're gonna be outside for any period of time, you will sweat. But I don't think that is any reason for coming into a public place stinking like a pig. Interestingly, I have never had one Mexican come in here smelling bad. What does that tell you?
Thursday, April 03, 2003
So, it is now being reported that coalition forces have captured the Baghdad airport. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,929054,00.html
The NY Stock Exchange has been on the rise and the media is more "optimistic" now after days of hand-wringing. I say, let's get this damn thing over as soon as possible. The pictures of Iraqi families and children caught up in this nightmare are tearing me apart and I'm sure I'm not alone. I have been compiling a photo album of these families and children from the media to remind me how precious life, love, and family really are. We forget so quickly and return to our own mundane little problems.
I can't help but stop and think of my three children and two grandsons and how I would feel if something happened to them. We are so incredibly fortunate to not have to face daily terror and death all around us. In fact, with the exception of 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, we never have. But that should not make us blind to the suffering a great deal of the rest of the world experiences regularly
Wednesday, April 02, 2003
Our shop is located within a block of the cruise ship terminal. It's always absurdly easy to tell when a ship is in port, thanks to a sudden and steady parade of guides popping out of late-model suburbans and vans, opening doors, and dragging pasty-white, shorts and sandals-wearing, camera-toting, gray-hairs to the ridiculously over-priced jewelry store across the street. In case you didn't read between the lines, these cruise ship "adventurers," who are only in town for less than 12 hours, HIRE a guide and a van which, at most, takes them around a five-block circuit. Some of them, to whom I'll give a little more credit, actually walk around on their own. But, even then, I have to laugh watching them. They always have expressions on their faces that look like they're expecting to step in something bad at any minute.
Terry Neal has some thoughtful comments in today's Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10000-2003Apr2.html
By the way, if there is anyone out there who actually reads this, feel free to e-mail me at bobstapp@yahoo.com.
It's another lovely morning here. We moved into a new apartment last evening - quiet, roomy, trees and birds outside. Did I mention QUIET? For the first time since I moved here, I am truly looking forward to going home each day.
The nightmare continues in Iraq. I just finished reading an article in today's Manchester Guardian by Arundhati Roy. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,927849,00.html)
What a passionate, articulate, and thoughtful writer HE is! I am troubled sometimes when I find myself in strong agreement with such perspectives. Does that make me anti-American? My rationalization, if indeed it is one, is that I couldn't be possessed of such strong feelings if I didn't care about my country. Or am I just bullshitting myself?
Will the war continue to reduce the already low number of tourists visiting here? We are in the low season already which, with the exception of the massive influx of Chilangos (local slang for who everyone here agrees are the rude, self-centered, totally obnoxious vacationers from Mexico City) over Holy Week, will continue through mid-October. Can our business hold out that long?
Tuesday, April 01, 2003
After I came to work this morning, I walked from the store over to the bakery/deli that is run by two delightful French women. On the way, in the middle of the Zocalo - the central plaza of the city, I had to wait while a few hundred blue-and-white clad elementary school children were herded through to a large assembly in front of the bandstand. They were all carrying "no to war" and "yes to peace" signs and were being escorted by many parents and teachers. They were adorable. As they were passing me, I could hear whispers of "Americano, Americano." I would smile and say, in return, "Si, soy Americano" and give them the thumbs-up sign which would immediately turn them into a sea of wide grins. Afterward, I got tears in my eyes. I couldn't help it.
more under-reported news from the Manchester Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/dailybriefing/story/0,12965,927233,00.html
Another day and my country fights obstinately on in Iraq, Powell is making an obscenely overdue, insultingly short, olive branch-bearing visit to Turkey and Brussels, and Iraqi military and civilians and US and British military and journalists continue to die. The pictures of wounded or dead children and bereft families are appalling. Is this the glory of human civilization in the early 21st century?
Monday, March 31, 2003
I am impressed with how much many Mexican nationals here know about what's going on in the world. Contrary to the "dumb Mexican" stereotype, many of these warm-hearted people are in fact often more informed than many of the good citizens of the U.S. Just as an example, the basic TV cable package comes with BBC News as well as CNN en espanol. While doing errands and daily business, I am often questioned by shopkeepers and clerks about my feelings on Iraq or whether I think it is dangerous right now to travel to the States. When I respond, as I always do, that I am very unhappy with my President or that it is no more dangerous to travel around in the States than it is here, they are usually surprised and then allow as to how they feel the same way. How much of this is the ingrained Latin American custom of "telling the gringo what he wants to hear" and how much is sincere, I can't really say. It seems pretty sincere to me, tho'.
OK, I'LL GIVE IT A GO...
I wrote my first, second, and third letters to a sitting United States President last year, 2002. Considering I'm 55 years old and have been politically aware most of my life, by doing so, I startled even myself. But I can no longer sit quietly by watching my beloved country foul its own nest. Hence, this blog. For whatever it's worth, I have decided to add my small voice to the choruses clamoring to be heard.
I am not writing solely for the people in the U.S. In fact, I sincerely hope that will not be the case. I moved here to Mexico last November in fulfillment of a life long dream to live outside the U.S. and, so far, the experience has given me incredible validation for my thinking. I would like to share that thinking as well as the thinking of some very thoughtful people I regularly come in contact with. These voices are clear, articulate, and impassioned. If and when this blog gains readership, I will be more than happy to air many and diverse opinions.
What I will not tolerate is flaming. Intense, spirited discussion, yes. Personal attacks and invective, no. God knows, I myself am fully capable of degenerating into mean-spirited and foul-mouthed mud-slinging. Strong feelings and passion sometimes lead a person there. However, I pledge to do my very best to refrain and will insist that others do the same.
I have a long and checkered past and personal history. I will also refrain from boring all of you to tears with my chronicles. I am, however, open to answering questions so feel free.
Bob Stapp
