I remember my Halloween career having three distinct eras.
The first era was the cute school-age Halloweens. My mother or my sister made beautiful custom tailored costumes. While I secretly coveted the costumes that came it the box from the Woolworths, I knew that I looked spectacular and that my mom really loved me. I remember vividly these costumes from this golden era of uninhibited, candy addled Halloween fun which after a turn at a school parade was followed by the climatic trick or treating. Some of these costumes where:
Sonny and Cher (with brother Brian)
Raggedy Ann and Andy (again brother Brian)
Little Bo Peep (small family pet terrier was lamb)
Gypsy (what girl hasn’t been a gypsy for Halloween?)
A beautiful Ghost (I had false eye lashes)
Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (better casting for pet terrier) (more…)
After reading the coverage of yesterday’s election here in Argentina, I was surprised at the tone of what I read, especially on progressive blogs. Much of the coverage focused on the Cristina Kirchner’s populist style and socialist political leanings and what a great thing that was. Yes, she appeals to the masses in her speeches and her pro-union position and the trade protections that it infers are very”populist”. She promises to continue the trend of nationalizing utilities and transportation that her husband had begun, and says all the right things about education and healthcare. But Latin American socialism and populism is different from the high functioning socialism found in the Scandinavian countries. Socialism here is plagued by corruption and patronage. It was born of opportunistic fascists not a democracy asking the government take responsibility for its citizens. Everyone here is for hire: Voters, picketers, even a futbol fan. There is no transparency and the system does not work the way it is suppose to. So lets not sugarcoat it. This “progressive” leader is not likely to solve the systemic problems that exist here. I am not sure what will, certainly the US doesn’t have the answer and lets hope they stay out of it.
I found this on Crooks and Liars: This is what $315 billion dollars looks like stacked up…the little dot at the bottom is a car. The CBO is estimating that the occupation in Iraq may end up costing the U.S. $2.4Trillion. So now multiply this little stack by 7. FUBAR to the 10th.
Its been five years since his death. There can never be too many tributes to Paul Wellstone, this one is a video by a former student of Paul’s, who now is a teacher, and her students – The Magic Green School Bus
Three new books out on Hugo Chavez; Revolutionary, Demagogue or Castro wannabe? Read the books – or read the reviews of the books
No new 2008 Copa elimination games but this goal is always worth revisiting – Messi vs Mexico
Its been a rough week for Condi between Code Pink and dancing with Charlie – Dancing with the Stars
Maybe we should start listening to the soldiers – Washington Post
When we moved here almost 4 years ago from our home in suburban Connecticut, many friends and family didn’t get it. Because we chose to leave the country and move specifically to Argentina, it was incredulous to them that we were leaving our life in the States for apparently no economic upside and seemingly a lot of inconvenience. And their bewilderment became even more pronounced when we would need to tell them Argentina was on the South American continent. I think most people in the States think South America looks like Mexico and this is what they think Mexico looks like.
Wow..its was ten years ago that you were almost born in a car.
You are a mystery to me. While your brothers and sister are so open and transparent and couldn’t lie if their life depended on it, I never know quite sure what is going on in your head. It must be funny, because when you do share your witty personality, you are the life of the very fun party. I hope you like your goodies we have picked out for you and have a fun party with your buddies next week. And I hope that the rest of the year brings more fun, farts, friends and adventures. I love you.
Today is Mother’s Day in Argentina. Not unlike in the US, it is a day marked by beautiful cards made by your children at school (and at gun point) and a family meal later in the day, usually at a restaurant. To a lesser extent here, it can mean flowers and breakfast in bed, always a standard in this North American household. (more…)
Personally, I think he is an idiot, and a dangerous one. However, in deference to the truth and not just my very well informed opinion, lets see what we can find on the internet to defend my hypothesis….
According to Psychologist Howard Gardner, there are seven distinct types of intelligence. They are:
Spatial
Linguistic
Logical/Mathematical
Body-Kinesthetic
Musical
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
First up, Spatial, which is defined as the ability to think, measure and relate in three dimensions. Any guesses as how me might do?????? First take a look at this-
There are fourteen official teams of presidential and vice presidential candidates running for the leadership of Argentina. Each of them running as the candidate of a different party, some of them in fact for more than one party. The cool thing here is if you run for office you start your own political party. I think I will call myself the Alianza para mas fiestas con helado. (Party for more Parties with ice cream)
The election on October 28th is the first stage. Assuming that none of the candidates garners 45% of the votes or 40% with a 10% difference between the nearest rival, there will be a run off. The polling that has been published in the last weeks has indicated that Christina Fernandez de Kirchner could win the 40% with the rest of the field sharing the remaining votes in small pieces. In reality, its seems as if only one candidate is really in play, but I will profile 4 of the candidates. (more…)
Its hard to know where to start with this. Even if the history and personalities involved were easy to define, the chaotic culture that has and does pervade the political scene is not. So the best I can do is try to give some background and identify the characters, and believe me, the word character doesn’t do them justice. Before I start, a disclaimer. This is my opinion, like the rest of my blog is an opinion. It is not meant to convey only facts nor is it intended to offend my gracious host, Argentina.
Argentina was first settled in 1502 by the Spanish. Buenos Aires was settled in 1580. Over the years the English would occasionally make themselves known and then leave or die from diseases their anglo constitutions couldn’t handle. Unlike Chile and Peru, with natural resources and Venezuela and Brazil that were fertile lands for farming, Argentina didn’t have a lot to offer except a coastline you had to sail along in order to get the the Pacific Ocean. So Argentina was really just a strategic outpost populated by some Jesuits and random people who must of been kind of odd. (more…)
I was going to write about the presidential campaign here in Argentina that is in full swing now with the elections happening on the 28th of October. However, that piece will have to wait until I have shared this with you.
High School Musical on Ice (nice shoes,dude)
If you are not the parent of a child (most likely a girl) between the ages of 4-13, there is no way you can relate to and understand how disturbing this phenomenon is. Why complicate your life this way? I would strongly suggest to skip this piece all together. I would not want to be responsible for a bad night of sleep. (more…)
One of our employees at the store has reasonable English, and because my Spanish is crap and she is studying tourism and is needing to practice her English on me, she more often than not speaks to me in English. I appreciate her effort and for the most part her knowledge of spoken English is very good. There have been occasions though where things are not quite right and I either want to laugh, cry or strangle her. It always depends on how rested I am and if I can tolerate yet another communication challenge. (more…)
Henry was chosen to represent his school at a friendship sports tournament in Uruguay. He will be playing volleyball with his classmates from BA against schools from Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru and Chile. How cool is that? Its very cool for him. What’s could be better than public transportation and a hotel with school buddies and on top of that (not literally, they are only 11, 12 and 13), lots of quality time with girls. And not to mention, I am proud of him. The fact he was invited on this trip means he is mature, a good citizen and an important part of the team. Go Henry!!
My enthusiasm has come to a grinding halt because of these parental instructions:
Drop off school gate: Friday 5:00 AM (although dark, morning, normally asleep)
Pick up at school gate Sunday 1:00 AM (middle of night, either in bed or in food and/or alcohol coma))
WTF..is this payback for them chaperoning the kids for the weekend?
This is a question originally posed by lefty-communist-Osama loving DailyKos. I certainly hope that Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize (its looking like he might) not only because he deserves it for 30+ years of ecological activism but because then he might run for president. Why you ask? I don’t know, maybe it is wishful thinking but it would be about the right time to throw his hat into the ring and shutdown the Hilary and Inc. fast. I do have a bit of a crush on Obama but he can be the Vice President. How cool would that be? Gore/Obama.
A girl can dream cant she?
For a more measured, intellectual approach to why Gore/Obama or GO 2008 is a good idea:
Today we opened the store. It was a lot of fun. We had quite a few people walk in and look around, despite the rain. I think there were a fair number of people shocked by the prices (it is expensive) but almost everyone told us how beautiful everything looked and and several neighbors, many of them gay, where very welcoming and complementary and just happy to have us in the neighborhood. (more…)
I am feeling a lot less in exile these days. But my blog is still a mess of political and personal thoughts along with experiences of living in Argentina. While I can't promise, I will try to balance talk about my kids with something more universally relevant. And sorry if salty talk is offensive but I was a derivatives trader in another life and it cant be helped.
