How to build consumers out of citizens

The Century Of Self: Happiness Machines (Episode1)

The Century of the Self is documentary series focused on how the work of Sigmund Freud and his nephew Edward Bernays influenced the way corporations and governments have analyzed,‭ dealt with, and controlled ‬people. It asks deeper questions about the roots and methods of modern consumerism and representative democracy. It also questions the modern way we see ourselves, the attitudes to fashion and superficiality. (quoted from website)

Some points considered:

* Warning of the government against corporations misusing media and public relations’ people as a threat to democracy (~50:00)

* Ann Bernays (Edward’s daughter) saying: “To my father, the world’s fair (Futurama) was a way to keep the status quo, that is capitalism in a democracy, that marriage, that link. He did that by manipulating people and getting them to think that you couldn’t have real democracy in anything but a capitalist society [...] you would infer that democracy and capitalism went together.” (~51:00)

* Citizens as passive consumers controlled by manufactured desires (~53:00)

Caminá: faltan 22 días para la Hora de la Tierra

Un estudio danés encontró que aquellos niños que van a la escuela caminando o en bici se concentran mejor durante las clases. No es demasiado sorprendente y sin embargo, en entornos urbanos es cada vez menos común. La excusa es generalmente cuestiones de tiempo o seguridad. ¿Demasiado lejos? Sorry, la distancia no es una excusa suficiente. Si no, vean el ejemplo de Mario, un niño uruguayo que camina cada día 6 kilómetros de ida y vuelta a la escuela. ¡Eso es caminar!

Sin llegar a tales extremos, decidí empezar a cultivarles el gusto por las caminatas a mis sobrinos. Empezamos con caminatas a lo largo de la costa, que tienen la ventaja de contar con paradas para darse chapuzones y un montón de criaturas marinas para descubrir.

¿La iniciativa sustentable de hoy?

 

¡Animate a caminar!

(c) Marina Willer

Why does the title of the blog keep on changing?

The title of our blog, as you might have noticed, keeps on changing. Leaving a trace of the changes reflects the changes in direction, obviously, but also shows how the overarching goal of our trip becomes clearer as we move along.

You would think we would know what we were doing when we decided to sell everything and leave. Well, kind of. We love Vancouver and it's probably the best place in the whole world for us to live, but we felt it was time for a change. A next step.

Fadi blames that feeling of restlessness on his Third Culture Kid (TCK) status and his last name, which in Arabic means "bird." I can't do the same: my last name means"earth" or "soil" in Latin; you probably can't get more rooted than that. In my case it probably has to do with my ancestors, who kept on moving from country to country. If the records are correct, the different branches did some major moving: Netherlands, Portugal, Brazil, Switzerland, France, Italy, Argentina. And ending up in Uruguay didn't help. Either the condition of "pueblo transplantado" (transplanted people, according to Brazilian anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro) of its people, or its open, barrier-less and windblown landscape makes it too easy to want to go out and explore.

But I digress. Regardless of reasons, our moving was just the next step from a change that began more than 10 years ago when we decided to make quality of life a priority. Since then, we have been trying to live our lives so that they match more closely our values and beliefs (more about that later here and here).

As we move along, we seek (or, as it turns out, we run into) people that help us learn more about alternative ways of living, sustainable transport and energy, bio-construction, organic and urban farming, garbage and recycling, and other issues that we care about, and we also get a chance to give these alternatives a try.  

Not a bad way to learn and grow. And not a bad way to end the year. Plus an appropriate posting for the end of the year.

Our New Year Resolution? Be greener :)

Happy 2012 everyone!

 

(For those in Vancouver, if you want to start the year on a green note and let Canadian government know that we want Canadian behavior to match Canadian image, join the rally on January 1st by the Art Gallery downtown. Ahhh. I miss Vancouver).

Kitchen Series #8 - Christmas Dinner Potato Salad

Before (ingredients) and after (prepared salad)

We would have never guessed we would spend Xmas with a bunch of ex-pats from Canada, the US, Chile, Italy, Thailand, and I don't know where else, in Punta Fría, up a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

The hosts asked us to bring some salads and we prepared a nice cold potato salad that would go well with a hot summer celebration.

Cold Xmas Potato Salad

Ingredients:

potatoes

red onions

olive oil

dijon mustard

honey

raspberry vinegar

Adobe dreaming / Construcción de casas de barro

I love how sometimes life has a way to tell you you're on the right track. I re-connected with a former colleague I hadn't seen nor talked to in years and guess what she said: "Pueden venir y ya de paso conocen mi casita en construcción. Te cuento que estamos al mango construyendo una casa de barro con nuestras propias manos". Yeap. They happened to be building their own adobe house. How perfect is that?

The structure already in place: wood, stone, mud on the walls, grass and a traditional quincho on the roof

Women, violence, and media

Curious how sometimes they connect, the randomly drawn information dots:

 

Women against domestic violence (photo taken from here)

* a thousand black and purple women march in Montevideo against domestic violence and a picturesque gobbling of a president handles pro-women pamphlets, 

Desde Vancouver y Venezuela al Pinar

Del norte y del más al norte aún, cada varios años, coindicimos en el sur...

Homesteading in Baltimore

Cute Ruby on the Ferry tour of Baltimore harbour

Over the weekend we spent some quality time with good friends from our days at Michigan State University. Angie is an anthropologist who now runs a small home-based business for environmentally conscious parents (Urban Homesteaders) and Daniel is a journalist working with refugees in a local NGO.

To pass the long and frozen winter months in Michigan we had a tradition with Dan and Angie: long dinners with fondue and arghileh. Of course, muggy fall in Maryland didn't provide the proper setting to remember old times.

Instead, we walked around, went for a stroll through the neighborhood to see a little bit of their neck of the woods, played with daughter Ruby, and learned some German. Let me back up and explain something. Angie is originally from Baltimore and Daniel is from Germany. Ruby has learned both languages and, like some Arabic speakers I know, sometimes interchanges between the two, often within the same sentence. Lucía got to practice her rusty German, but for me it was sometimes a challenge!

NY, NY. Second Take: The (Mostly) Bad

NY is not an easy-going city. You don't just drop-by on NY. To visit her, you need to plan, organize, coordinate. We didn't, and suffered the consequences.

Had to get NY's metro system like the palm of my hand

All in all I was seriously underwhelmed by the big, bright apple. This might be anathema to many; certainly it is to the eight million people living there who tend to be hard core about the greatness of the city. But surprisingly it is also the case for many non-NYorkers who swear to love NY. 'How can you not?' was the accusatory response I got after I posted the 'underwhelmed' remark on Facebook.

I blame it on having missed out on everything.

Prospect Park, in Brooklyn, a recommendation by two very different sources and conveniently within walking distance from our apartment, had just held its last event for the summer and was basically closed for the season. You could still wander around -which we did, plenty, as we got lost-, but completely empty it was slightly heavier on the spooky side than on the relaxing one.

New York, New York!

Ahoy maties!

We've been in New York city for a number of days having arrived on Monday. We'll be here till Friday when we head down to Baltimore to visit some friends. And we have yet to take a day to sit and relax in one spot: we've been walking all over the place to see as much as we can of New York.