This Argentinean artist, Raul Lemesoff, has transformed an old car into a mobile library. His rolling library named Arma de Instrucción Masiva ( Weapon of Mass Instruction) aims are spreading peace through literature.

Este artista argentino, Raúl Lemesoff, ha transformado en un carro viejo en una biblioteca móvil.
Su biblioteca rodante llamado Arma de Instrucción Masiva tiene como objetivo promover la paz a través de la literatura.

Source/Fuente.

Share and Enjoy

Gringo: A Coming of Age in Latin America by Chesa Boudin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

I picked up this book because of the title; I’m a big fan of the word “Gringo.” And for those of you who are about to get offended, know that I am the daughter of a self-proclaimed “gringo” and am a half “gringa” myself; to me the word just means someone from the US of A.

Chesa Boudin‘s memoir recounts his adventures throughout Latin American during a 9 year stretch. Boudin first arrived in Guatemala to learn Spanish, but eventually visited Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. For each country he recounts some of the country’s history and current situation. And amazingly Boudin happens to find himself in the middle of many of the region’s unfolding news stories. He was in Chile during 9/11, and was in Buenos Aires when Argentina’s economy collapsed. He spent some time in Caracas while Chavez was seeking reelection in 2006, and visited Peace Communities in Colombia. In Ecuador he describes the intense socio-economic divisions in the country, and in Bolivia he talks to miners who recount the hardship of their work.

In general this is another story of another “gringo” traveling through the region, there are plenty of those memoirs out there already, but what sets this one apart is that Boudin is the son of two former Weather Underground member, and his background clearly permeated everything he sees. Boudin isn’t one of those self absorbed “gringos” traveling while trying to discover their roots or who think they already know everything about the region, instead he openly acknowledges that his outside status often gets him amazing deals; He even has a name of this, it’s the “gringo wild card!” The gringo wild card allowed him to cross international boarders without hassles, got him the best seats on long bus rides, and allowed him to befriend people from every soci0-economic background.

All in all a good read.

Empece a leer este libro por el título, me encanta la palabra “Gringo”. Y para aquellos de ustedes que están a punto de ofenderse, sepan que yo soy la hija de un auto-proclamado “gringo” y soy mitad “gringa.” Para mí, la palabra simplemente significa alguien de los EE.UU.

Las memorias Chesa Boudin relata sus aventuras por América Latina durante un trecho de 9 años. Boudin llegó por primera vez a Guatemala para aprender españoly durante el transcurso de los años termina visitando Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile y Argentina. Para cada país Boudin narra parte de su historia y la situación actual. Y sorprendentemente Boudin logra encontrarse en medio del despliegue de noticias en la zona. Estuvo en Chile durante el 11 de septiembre, y estuvo en Buenos Aires cuando la economía de Argentina se desplomó. Pasó algún tiempo en Caracas mientras que Chávez buscaba su reelección en el 2006, y visitó las comunidades de paz en Colombia. En el Ecuador describen las intensas divisiones socio-económicas del país, y en Bolivia habla con los mineros que relatan las dificultades de su trabajo.

En general esta es otra historia de otro “gringo” viajando a través de la región, y ya hay un montón de estas memorias por ahí, pero lo que distingue a esta es que Boudin es el hijo de dos ex-miembros del Weather Underground, y sus antecedentes claramente filtran todo lo que ve. Boudin no es otro “gringo” absorto en si mismo que viajan para tratar de descubrir sus raíces o quien cree que ya sabe todo sobre la región. Boudin reconoce abiertamente que recibe trato preferencial por ser extranjero; incluso tiene un nombre para este fenómeno, ¡la “carta fantástica del gringo!” La “carta fantástica del gringo” le permitió cruzar fronteras internacionales sin problemas, le consiguió los mejores asientos en viajes largos por bus, y le permitió entablar amistad con personas de todas las clases socio-económicas.

En definitiva un buen libro.

Share and Enjoy

Sometimes is seems like all my friends are trying to learn or improve their Spanish, which I love, and encourage as much as I can. So here’s a tool that might help you all!

El Castellano.org is a site that tries to gather web resources that will aid in learning Spanish, both the European and Latin American versions of it. The site offers various dictionaries, including one specialized in Argentine Spanish and another for botany. There are also a couple sections that explain certain parts of the language where new learners might easily be confused; for example the difference between “dentro” and “adentro”. It has a number of stories related to the language’s history, including information on Nebrija, author of the first text of Spanish language grammar (1492) and the first Spanish language dictionary (1495).

You’ll also find links to other websites this group recommends, and links to Spanish language radio stations around the world, so you can start educating your ears. There’s a page titled Spanishpoint where you’ll find links to (mostly) stories about the language around the world. Some of the current entries include a discussion about the use of a “neutral” version of the language that can be used across all of the Spanish speaking world, and an article on the Spanish spoken by Jews in Spain back in the 15th century. You’ll also find a lot of other random stories there.

Interestingly, the site was established by a group of Spanish speaking people from around the world, having members in Argentina, Spain, Uruguay, and Brazil.

And a few stats to encourage you to learn more Spanish;

• Spanish is the official language of 21 countries around the globe.
• It’s an oficial language to the UN, the EU, the OAS, and NAFTA.
• Spanish is the 4th language in the world in terms of number of speakers, with 330 million of us.

Bueno y después de leer esto, seguro, pronto podremos seguir esta conversación en español.

A veces me parece que todos mis amigos están tratando de aprender o mejorar su español, cosa que me encanta, y promuevo cada vez que puedo. Así que aquí hay una herramienta que les podrá ayudar.

El Castellano.org es un sitio que trata de reunir recursos de la Web que ayuda en el aprendizaje del español, tanto el de Europa y como el de América Latina. El sitio ofrece varios diccionarios, entre ellos uno especializado en español argentino y otro de botánica. También hay un par de secciones que explican ciertas partes de la lengua que los nuevos alumnos a veces confunden fácilmente; por ejemplo la diferencia entre “dentro” y “adentro”. Además encontrara una serie de historias relacionadas con la historia lengua, incluyendo información sobre Nebrija, autor del primer texto de la gramática de la lengua española (1492) y el primer diccionario de español (1495).

También encontrará enlaces a otros sitios web de este grupo recomienda, y enlaces a emisoras de radio en español en todo el mundo, para que puedas empezar a educar a sus oídos. Hay una página titulada Spanishpoint donde encontrará enlaces a (la mayoría) historias acerca de la lengua en todo el mundo. Algunas de las entradas actuales incluyen una discusión sobre el uso de un español “neutral” que se puede utilizar en todo país de habla hispana, y un artículo sobre el español hablado por los judíos en España en el siglo 15. También encontrará un montón de otras historias allí.

Curiosamente, el sitio fue creado por un grupo de personas de habla hispana de todo el mundo, incluyendo miembros en Argentina, España, Uruguay y Brasil.

Y algunas estadísticas para animarle a aprender más español;

• El español es el idioma oficial de 21 países de todo el mundo.
• Es una lengua oficial de la ONU, la UE, la OEA, y el TLC.
• El español es el idioma en el 4 º del mundo; somos 330 millones.

Share and Enjoy

Argentina made history yesterday by electing their first woman president! Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, wife of the current president Nestor Kirchner, and former senator for Buenos Aires won a solid 45% of the vote. She is considered to be center-left, and populist in her politics and is often seen as the new Eva Peron (Evita). Curiously this is the very position Eva Peron worked so hard for more than 50 years ago, but for which she was not allowed to officially run for. She took would have come to office while being married to the current president.

Fernández de Kirchner’s main issues while in office is likely to be the country’s economy. Argentina suffered a major economic crisis in the early 2000, from which it is still recovering. In her acceptance speech she also spoke about the impact women have in the country and who she hope to continue working with them.

Fernández de Kirchner will be joining the only other woman currently in office in Latin America, Michelle Bachelet of Chile. Hopefully these two women are some kind of proof that Latin American is leaving some of its machismo behind and moving in a new era.

You can read more about Mrs. Fernández de Kirchner from an article in the Guardian, or another article from the BBC. You can also visit her official site, or get her basic bio from Wikipedia.

Image from www.cristina.com.ar

Share and Enjoy

Today is the 40th anniversary of “Che‘s” (June 14 1928-Oct 9, 1967) capture and execution (Oct 9th) in the Bolivian mountains. After studying medicine in Argentina, and later traveling throughout Latin America, Ernesto Guevara met his destiny in Mexico and joined a group of young idealist who would come to overthrow the Batista regime in Cuba.

After helping win a revolution “Che” became Cuba’s National Treasurer, a bizarre position for a man who seemed mostly concerned with loftier notions of freedom and equality for all. Still, “Che” has a number of opponents, many of whom had to sufferer through his harsh and often inflexible treatment towards those he felt weren’t helping improve this world.

I’ve read a couple of biographies on “Che,” and while I admire him for having the courage of his convictions, and for being deeply committed to improving this world, I’m also bothered by how he (like many other guerrillas, and revolutionaries) was able to distance himself from the people closest to him in order to help “save” others. “Che” fought for people in distant lands whom he had no direct connections to, like Cuba, the Congo and Bolivia.

You can read more about the celebrations taking place today in places like Cuba, Argentina and Bolivia in an article from the BBC. The BBC has a second article today recounting the story of his capture and execution. There’s a whole wealth of information on him on his Wikipedia entry.

The Guardian has a great set of images of “El Che” from around the globe.

Image info here.

Share and Enjoy

Several nation leaders in Latin America seem to be waking up to the fact that International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) loans aren’t truly benefiting the majority of people there, so they are joining forces to create Banco del Sur. Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay have become the founding members to Banco del Sur , which is promoted as an alternative to the IMF and WB. The bank which is to begin functions in 2008, is being promoted as coming from Latin America, for Latin America. The idea originated with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and is being largely funded with Venezuela’s oil money.

Lack of faith in organizations like the IMF and WB started to gather momentum in Latin American during the 1990s, and this perspective was further solidified after Argentina disregarded IMF advice and defaulted on their loans, which lead to economic recovery. Those opposing this regional bank proposal argue that it is only one more ploy by the emerging left in Latin America, still IMF loans have steadily been declining in the region during the last decade; they currently stand at around $3 billion after being at $50 billion just five years ago. Latin American countries have also been turning to other regional initiatives such as the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) for loans.

Some former and current employees of the IMF and WB explain that maybe this is a wakeup call to these institutions to make more of an effort to customize the services they provide throughout the world. Apparently the IMF has been impacted enough about this to have had to sold some of their gold reserves. This also means that the USA treasury is affected as well, since they are the largest IMF shareholders.

I would like see the Banco del Sur actually succeed and create some wealthy competition.

“… there is life after the IMF, and it’s a very good life.” -Nestor Kirchner, Argentine President

You can read more about this from an article in the Christian Science Monitor, and an article in Upside Down World.

Share and Enjoy

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is a non-profit organization trying to address the lack of resources many Third World Countries struggle with and how these affect education and hinder technological development. Keeping in mind that many countries can only afford to spend $20 per child per year on education (compared to about $7,500 that the USA spends), OLPC tries to circumvent traditional approaches to the situation, and instead want to make available the tools that can allow children to explore and learn on their own. OLPC feel that efforts should continue to build school and train teachers in the poorest corners of the world, but simultaneously wants to try a more direct approach. The idea is to transform these children with personal laptops into teachers. Each child can explore the world on their machine, and will later be able to teacher elders and other children about what they have learned; in this way the entire community can benefit.

These laptops are designed for use by the world’s poorest children. They run on open source software, keeping in mind that while all children won’t become programmers, they should have the opportunity to continue growing without constrains by their equipment. The machine itself is designed to run on very low power, and some of the earliest models were powered through cranking, or with a foot-pedal. The display must also be sunlight-readable, since most children will be outdoors when working on their laptops. The machine itself is small, light and has a handle for easy carrying. It also has a monitor which rotates, allowing for others to participate.

This program was first designed to involved governments into buying laptops for children, and initial conversations involved proposals for Brazil, Argentina, Libya, Nigeria and Thailand. Recently Uruguay and Rwanda have also joined in. Currently the program continues to grow through donations by individuals, businesses and foundations.

If you want to learn more about the project visit their site and their wiki. You can find information on donating and participating here.

04.03.07 – I just found a webcast by Walter Bender, president of OLPC, discussing this project; you can access it here. There is another webcast by Nicolas P. Negroponte, chairman and co-founder of OLPC,which can be accessed here.

04.17.07 – The OLPC interface runs on a lightweight version of Fedora Linux, called Sugar. You can take a look at it here.

07.15.07 – Intel has just joined forces with OLPC, after creating competition for each other, in trying to offer low cost computers to children in the developing world. Currently there is no talk about changing processing chips, yet the idea is to develop a variety of low cost computers in the future that can function of a variety of platforms. Intel has been producing the Classmate for sale in developing countries at a cost of US $200.00. You can read more about this in an article by the BBC.

07.23.07 – After much anticipation and testing, OLPC is posed to start massive production, explaining that they finally have orders large enough to make the project viable. You can read more about this at an article by the BBC. And here is another article explaining the different components of the laptop and how they work.

06.08.07 – It seems that everyone is in a rush to grab a piece of the computer market in the developing world. Today the BBC has an article about other major computer producers rushing towards this market, although they differ form the OLPC project in that these other companies are out just to make some money. Beijing based Levono has announced a low cost computer that can be plugged into the TV

10.29.30- Uruguay just became the first country to buy a large number of these computers to make available to children 6 – 12. They hope to make these laptops available to every children in the country by 2009. You can read more about this in an article from the BBC.

11.15.07 – “Give One – Get One” has started for the USA and Canada and will run until November 26, 2007. You can order yours here.

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) es una organización sin fines de lucro tratando de resolver la falta de recursos vivida en muchos lugares del Tercer Mundo y cómo estos afectan la educación y obstaculizan el desarrollo tecnológico. Teniendo en cuenta que muchos países sólo pueden gastar $20 por niño por año en educación (en comparación con cerca de 7.500 dólares que EE.UU. gasta), la OLPC intenta sobrepasar los enfoques tradicionales de la situación y en su lugar desea poner a disposición las herramientas que pueden permitir a los niños explorar y aprender por su propia cuenta. OLPC sienten que los esfuerzos deben continuar para construir escuelas y formar maestros en los rincones más pobres del mundo pero a la vez quiere probar un acercamiento más directo. La idea es transformar a estos niños con computadoras portátiles personales en profesores. Cada niño puede explorar el mundo en su máquina y más tarde será capaz de compartir este conocimiento con sus maestros y otros niños, de esta manera toda la comunidad pueda beneficiarse.

Estos portátiles están diseñados para uso con los niños más pobres del mundo. Los computadores funcionan con software de código abierto teniendo en cuenta que si bien no todos los niños se convertirán en programadores, si deben tener la oportunidad de continuar creciendo sin limitaciones por su equipo. La máquina en sí está diseñado para funcionar con una corriente eléctrica muy baja y algunos de los primeros modelos se cargan a través una manivela, o con un pedal. La pantalla también debe ser legible bajo luz solar, ya que la mayoría de los niños estarán al aire libre cuando estén trabaja en sus computadoras portátiles. La máquina en sí es pequeña, ligera y tiene un agarradera para facilitar su transporte. También cuenta con un monitor que rota, lo que permite a otros a participar.

Este programa fue diseñado por primera vez para negociar con gobiernos involucrados en la compra de computadores portátiles para los niños. En la conversaciones iniciales incluían propuestas para la participación de Brasil, Argentina, Libia, Nigeria y Tailandia. Recientemente, Uruguay y Rwanda también se han unido. Actualmente el programa sigue creciendo a través de donaciones de particulares, empresas y fundaciones.

Si desea obtener más información sobre el proyecto visite su sitio web y en su wiki. Puede encontrar información sobre la donación y participar aquí.

04.03.07 – Acabo de encontrar un webcast por Walter Bender, presidente de OLPC, hablando de este proyecto, se puede acceder a él aquí. Hay otro webcast por Nicolas P. Negroponte, presidente y co-fundador de OLPC que se puede acceder aquí.

04.17.07 – La interfaz de OLPC funciona con una versión ligera de Fedora Linux, llamado Sugar. Puede echar un vistazo a aquí.

07.15.07 – Intel ha unido sus fuerzas con OLP, después de hacerse la competencia unos a otros, para tratar de ofrecer ordenadores de bajo costo a los niños en el tercer mundo. Actualmente no se habla sobre el cambio de chips de procesamiento, pero la idea es desarrollar una variedad de computadoras de bajo costo en el futuro que puede funcionar de una variedad de plataformas. Intel ha estado produciendo el Classmate en venta en los países en desarrollo a un costo de EE.UU. $ 200.00. Puede leer más sobre esto en un artículo de la BBC.

07.23.07 – Después de mucha anticipación y las pruebas la OLPC se plantea comenzar la producción masiva, explicando que finalmente tienen órdenes lo suficientemente grande como para hacer viable el proyecto. Puede leer más sobre esto en un artículo de la BBC. Y aquí hay otro artículo que explica los diferentes componentes de la computadora portátil y su funcionamiento.

06.08.07 – Parece que todo el mundo tiene prisa para tomar un pedazo del mercado de las computadoras en el mundo en desarrollo. Hoy la BBC tiene un artículo acerca de otros productores importantes de la computadora guiadas a este mercado, y aunque difieren del proyecto OLPC, en que estas otras empresas simplemente buscan ganar dinero. Levono, basada en Beijin, ha anunciado un equipo de bajo costo que puede ser conectado a la TV

10.29.30-Uruguay acaba de convertirse en el primer país en comprar un gran número de estos equipos para ponerlos a disposición de los niños entre 6 – 12 años. Tienen la esperanza de que estos portátiles estén a disposición de todos los niños en el país antes del 2009. Puede leer más sobre esto en un artículo de la BBC.

11.15.07 – “Give One – Get One” ha comenzado para los EE.UU. y Canadá, y se extenderá hasta el 26 de noviembre 2007. Usted puede pedir el suyo aquí.

Share and Enjoy

This week I got to meet Dan Hazen, Associate Librarian of Harvard College for collection development, and what a treat it was! I was most interested in learning about his involvement in international programs to promote libraries. We talked about PLALA (Program for Latin American Libraries and Archives), which he co-founded with Norman Fiering from the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, and Ignacio de Larramendi, head of Fundación Histórica Tavera. The initial committee, along with a grant from the Mellon Foundation set out to provide help, at the most basic level, to small libraries and archives throughout Latin America. Grants tend to be around $10,000 and are used for projects such as buying shelves to get material off the floor, to fix leaking roofs, or in some cases for converting collection to microform. This program has also been effective in encouraging others to help out. In Argentina, Fundación Antorchas has taken the challenge and has matched a few of PLALA’s grants in the region (sadly they have since gone out of business). They have created their own competition for microfilming projects. Libraries and archives that have benefited from these grants have also publicized them, and have therefore created renewed interests in their institutions and collections.

Hazen’s enthusiasm for the library world is positively infectious and has been greatly inspiring. I’m going to start working on getting my own hands involved in similar initiatives.

- This post was approved by Dan Hazen -

Share and Enjoy