Mini Vaca in Santiago, making new friends and colleagues.

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Mini Vaca in Santiago and making new friends.

Profesora Paola Aceituno O. teaches at the Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana (UTEM) in Santiago. We are both members of the WFSF (World Futures Studies Federation).

Mixing business with pleasure can actually be quite enjoyable sometimes.

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The Santiago weather was not very kind to my hair outside today.  My “do” almost turned into a wavy Afro.  But, I think that would have been kinda cute. 🙂  Any-who, earlier in the year I was accepted into the WFSF (World Futures Studies Federation), which is a worldwide organization of scholars, researchers, policy-makers, and world-citizens who have an interest in forecasting and futures studies.  Profesor Aceituno meet during the grand discussions worldwide during the March 1st International Futures Day.  She learned that my research was in Chile and we agreed to make time to meet upon my return to continue my dissertation/visiting scholar experience this semester.  Well, fortunately for me, she was available for a list minute meeting request as I need to travel to Santiago on this past Sunday.  Today, I had the good pleasure of meeting with her face-to-face over an enjoyable lunch.  I hope she shares my sentiment that I believe I have found a new lifelong friend and colleague in this journey of academic inquiry and research.  I very much appreciated our conversations over lunch, visiting a historic area in Santiago for lunch, and moreover additional assistance in identifying more participants to take my research survey which is a part of my quantitative portion of this mixed methods study.

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As we walked, Paola showed me this above restaurant that typically isn’t open on Mondays and I immediately had a Georgia flashback to our most popular late night/early morning eatery, Waffle House.  I have literally had dreams of WoHo’s delicious and inexpensive food while in Chile and will make it my business to get some while I’m back in the US for a spell.  Nevertheless, seeing this place made me immediately feel at home in Santiago with visions of Rosco’s Chicken and Biscuit dancing in my head. Ha ha!  I have also enjoyed capturing in pictures the amazing graffiti art that I am seeing all over Chile.  Much of it always amazes me and I often wished I knew what was on the mind of the artist making these images.

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I forgot to mention that my Spanish continues to improve and is much better than when I arrived her last year.  Professor Aceituno is also learning to speak English so I offered to be her conversation partner via Skype and we can help each other fine tune our language skills as well as share academic interest.  Her academic area is in the arena of Political Science and my interest in Spiral Dynamic Theory in relation to civic engagement appear to be excellent intersections for academic collaboration.  Our conversations went so well I actually didn’t realize that we spoke very little English.  Nevertheless, she had her smartphone translator and I my purse size mini dictionary close by if any emergency translation needs arose.  Fortunately, no such crisis emerged.

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Barrio Lastarria

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The people at my hotel had told me about the wonderful a famous Chilean places to dine that were in walking distance of the Park Plaza Hotel called the Barrio Lasterria.  However, last semester I was only there for a day trying to resolve my Chilean residency registration issue with my dear friend Camila.  We had very little time for social/entertainment adventures but were able to enjoy fellow ship and coffee this evening.  Camila and I are going to hang out more tomorrow and visit the museum near my hotel which unfortunately was not open today.  Nevertheless, Paola treated me to a heavenly meal for lunch in this beautiful area of Santiago.  That was the best fish I had eaten in ages and was so sad that I was too full to finish it all.  I told her tonight I was going to be wishing I had this food late in my hotel room.  That is in fact the case as I am typing this blog post at 3:13am and looking at this meal again is making me very hungry.  I have plans to revisit the fine-dining areas with Camila tomorrow for lunch and I hope that Professor Aceituno can also join us so that I can return the favor of treating her to lunch.  🙂

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The entrada (appetizer) was a chicken and shrimp dish in a type of light cream soup base.  There were also supposedly “hot peppers” in the bowl, but I laughed as I shared with Paola how these was not nearly as hot as I like my food.  Hot Sauce and jalapeños have become a regular part of my culinary delights.  I was surprised to learn that Chilean foods aren’t typically hot in flavor as you would find more common place with Mexican foods.  But this meal was divine (¡Muy rico!).

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Professor Aceituno is also an accomplished author and she brought a present for me in the form of her latest publication to lunch.  I only just this evening realized that I forgot to ask her to sign it for me.  That is a must do upon my return to Chile.  I told her that I was going to post her book, picture jacket, and foto on my blog so I can tell everyone that I am good friends with a famous international author and scholar.  She actually, is the journal editor of UTEM’s journal Revista de Estudios Políticos y Estratégicos (Journal of Political and Strategic Studies) in Chile.  She recently extended an invitation to me to submit an article for the September deadline and we discussed my introduction my doctoral research, Spiral Dynamic Theory, Memetics, and multiple intelligences theories for the manuscript submission.  I likely will not be able to cover all of these areas in relations to civic engagement, but certainly believe I can write and introductory document of these topics for their review.

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Here is the museum Paola helped me to locate after lunch and where Cami and I will visit tomorrow.  It was quite literally in walking distance of my hotel.  I’m very excited!!

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Above is a very beautiful statue of an angle that was directly across the street in a nearby park adjacent to the museum.  The guard allowed us limited access inside today (as they were closed) so I took this photo of the unique column structures made out of people on the upper level inside the atrium of the museum.

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I was able to return to my favorite loft apartemento at the Park Plaza Hotel on Huerfenos in Santiago.  Man!!  I love that place.  Initially, I was placed in a standard room not realizing that they had given me an upgrade upon my first visit there.  I was not happy with the standard room as I usually do all of my hotel and travel bookings on Orbitz and I selected the more expensive option thinking I was getting the loft.  But, I was wrong and initially very sad.

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However, hotel worker Marcello came to my rescue and explained to the hotel manager my disappointment.  As a result, they moved me into the loft the next day for the rest of my stay in Santiago for no additional charge.  How cool of a blessing was that?!!  I think I’ve now found my favorite hotel in Santiago. 🙂

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Park Plaza Hotel knows what’s up, and that a black woman needs her body lotion. We’ve got to resist the “ashyness”. Ha ha!

The cherry on top for the evening is visiting with my first and longest friend in Santiago mi querida Camila.  She had a ton of laughs over coffee and sandwiches this evening and I had to get a picture of her with her minion t-shirt on.  She loves those little creatures!  Ha ha.

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Introducing the first and only Chilean who does not like the Pharrell “Happy Song”, yet at the same time loves the “Despicable Me” minions! Brahahhahaha Mi cariño Cami. 🙂

¡Hasta mañana todo el mundo!

Viaje a Santiago en un día de lluvia (Trip to Santiago on a rainy day)

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Viage a Santiago en un día de lluvia (Trip to Santiago on a rainy day)

kinda fun trip, but not really.

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A family emergency has required I make a quick trip on to the United States.  No worries, all is well, but you gotta be there when the family needs you.   I was able to multitask and turn my visit to Santiago into a business trip as well.  I hope to have a little time to myself before heading out on Wednesday and see some things in Santiago.  I hope today’s rain isn’t a sign of what is to come for the next week.  I am too afraid to check the weather forecast right now.  Eh!  I’ll check it before bed.  Nevertheless, I was able to schedule a meeting with a fellow member of the World Futures Studies Federation.  We’ve talked online and tomorrow will be our first in person meeting.  I need help with getting more research participants out of Santiago universities and I certainly hope she can help me with that effort.

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One of the biggest shockers to me when I initially arrived in Chile last year was that there were pay public toilets!!  This one is in the Talca, Maule international bus terminal and you pay at this window.  The folks were nice enough to take a picture for me.  After paying they give you this weird piece of metal that goes into that slot on the right.  It then allows the turn-style to rotate and you can then enter the bathrooms.  This would never work in Cleveland or New York, ’cause I know people who would simple jump that gate unless there were police stationed around it. lol  There are about 500 Chilean pesos to every $1 USD, so it cost a little over 50 cent to go to the toilet.  But, I think there are also some baños (bathrooms) that are free, however my friend Camila told me, “You don’t want to use that one!”

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Well, after my laptop died last semester at the end of my first trip to Chile, I purchased a new Dell XPS15 and they had a deal where you could also get their Venue 8 Pro tablet.  It’s really awesome and runs full windows programs just like my laptop.  The downsize is there is not a lot of space on the device so I had to by a 64G micro SD card.  Nevertheless, I have had more problems with my laptop than with this device, but Dell has been cool about providing me with service in Chile.  I was able to load a bunch of my movies on the SD card so I’m watching TuPac & Janet Jackson in Poetic Justice and Laz Alonso in Miracle at St. Anna (an old Spike Lee movie).  Laz Alonso es el tipo de hombre de mis sueños {long sigh and girly giggle}. 🙂  I still have to watch Baby Boy and Boyz in the Hood.  It’s so funny watching these old movies again because I see actors that I hadn’t notice before when I first watched these.  Perhaps I’ll save those other two for the long plane ride home.

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Janet Jackson & Tupac Shakur in the movie Poetic Justice (1993)

 

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Laz Alonso (far right and second from the left) in the movie Miracle at St. Anna (2008). Him so handsome!! 🙂

 

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I always try to get a nice picture of the Andes Mountains coming into Santiago while riding the bus. Pero nunca no puedo.

 

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This is a little better picture of the Andes Mountains. Not a bad shot considering I’m on a moving bus.

La vida de una mujer extranjera en América Latin – Cosas diferente y el mismo

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La vida de una mujer extranjera en América Latin - Cosas diferente y el mismo

The Life of a foreign woman in Latin America – Things different and the same.

  Are  racism & misogyny losing ground?

Some of you might be aware of the recent scandal happening in the United States relative to NBA team owner Donald Sterling. For those unfamiliar with the event, he was audio recorded in a spat with his “girlfriend” (mistress) who also happens to be of a Mexican and Black racial identity background. Sterling was caught in a peppered stream of racists and misogynistic rants that would make most octogenarians’ shutter (Sterling is 8o+ years old). His visibly younger paramour, appears to have also had a sexual relationship with Sterling because in the audio tape (Google it if you want to hear it as I do not want to embed that messy link on my blog) he graciously extends to the woman an offer to sleep with other black men that she would fancy. The only caveat relative to his sexual invitation was that he forbade her to bring such black associates to his basketball games. Moreover, he admonished her to work harder at being a more delicate, desirable woman, and to use white women as her prototypes.

Turning the channel just a “skotch”, in my Twitter news feed on yesterday I saw that a Brazilian soccer player who is a member of Spain’s soccer team, suffered the indignity of a racist taunt. Someone threw a banana onto the playing field in proximity of the athlete, to suggest that he was a monkey, in an effort to insult him. His response was to pick up the banana take a bite of it, and  go back to playing his game. Ha ha, kudos to him for keeping it classy!!  Today, on my friend Fernando’s blog, The Talking Violin, I had a chance to better understand the story. That was because when I searched for an image of the player (Daniel Alves), who someone thought looked like either a monkey or of Black heritage, he appeared visibly to me as neither… But, what does that mean? What does “looking” Black mean such that it is internationally viewed as something to be feared or chided?

So last night, in my idle internet surfing time (which happens a lot as you try to complete your dissertation), I decided to create a fake magazine cover of myself with a Facebook photo I recently took (see above). What was most interesting to me (in my pseudo-scientific study) is how many people liked the picture and some indicating that I looked Latina. This is not the first time that someone thought I was Latina just from my picture. At first, I thought it was because I was studying in Chile and someone might have assumed I was of a Latin background. Some here in Chile have wondered if I were Columbian.  In actuality, my father always told us about our Native background with his side of the family coming from Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma. Like most multicultural/multiracial groups you are defaulted to what is considered the lower sociopolitical group (at least historically in the case of the United States) if you have only a “hint” of non-white blood.

The irony is that things are changing in our World.  Most anthropologist and social scientist who study race in the United States project that the “appearance” of a so called minority persons will continue to become quite ambiguous for distinction as either Black, White, or Other. So what will that mean for power and privilege dynamics in the future? Will Blacks be threatened to have their metaphorical “Black-pass” taken away from them if they do not boldly with raised fist proclaim to the world “I am Black!!” Will it also require the refusing to accept any privileges or opportunities that a non-black ambiguous appearance might be afforded? Some people may choose that route, but I think many will not because many people are not always consciously aware of how race, in some cases, has subliminally impacted their lives and how others perceive them based on phenotype expressions.

How many times has someone responded in a pleasant manner to you, in spite of your “blackness” or “whiteness” because you reminded them of a prototypical Black that they are comfortable with engaging (e.g., Oprah, Colin Powell, Barack Obama, Beyoncé, or Aunt Jemima). I was not being snide about that last character reference, because many people view the image of a smiling, robust, Black woman (especially cooking some pancakes) as safe and inviting.

But, here’s the good news, and where I introduce my dissertation theoretical framework of Spiral Dynamic Theory and Memetics. Below in a hierarchical framework introduced by Clare Graves, who found in his research that adults go through stages of developmental change moving from simplicity to higher order thinking and problem solving. Additionally, the framework oscillates between more individualist worldviews (right side) to more collectivist worldviews (left side) which are subsuming systems and remain a part of your cognitive toolkit as you advance through the spiral. Graves primarily developed the first 6 levels of the framework before his death in 1986. Myself, along with other scholars and practitioners’ of the Gravesian-Spiral Dynamics frameworks, are seeking to better define the higher order levels (of memetic worldviews in my case) in this diagram.  I am specifically looking to expand on this theory and framework in my civic engagement research.

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I am encouraged that the NBA decided to ban and fine monetarily Donald Sterling for his horrible remarks and actions, suggesting to me that perhaps we really could be making a higher order change on issues of race. The NBA sent a very strong message that the community (collectivist “we” worldview) of basketball would not find the actions of people like Sterling welcomed moving forward (Green vMEME). In the very short past, I would have expected more of a business decision were Mr. Sterling would have received maybe a public tongue lashing, possible fine, but still be allowed to retain his rights as owner and money maker in the league (Orange vMEME). I was pleasantly surprised by the NBA’s response yesterday to the incident.

Additionally, celebrities and fans of Brazilian athelete Daniel Alves took to social media with an outpouring of support towards him in the form of pictures of their eating bananas and metaphorically thumbing their nose at the racists. I also interpreted that as an Orange-to-Green memetic shift, because in the recent past, although some people might have thought the behavior shameful, they would not have been willing to risk their own social positioning in speaking out on a world stage in opposition to such negative and offensive racist behaviors. Bravo to them for shunning the, “I don’t want any trouble for myself” syndrome.

Nevertheless, it appears that in both of these instances, folks were willing to say I am not going to sit idly by and give this racist conduct a pass… Enough is enough, and we are looking to a better future and not to be shackled to an ignorant past. So to revisit the original question regarding misogyny and racism, I think the above two cited responses certainly signal positive horizons on issues of race, but women, and misogyny (as per usual) will likely be a little lower on the social re-engineering strategic agenda. But of course, I could be miscalculating. Let’s hope that is in fact the case. 🙂