TIGblogs - Dana's TIGBlog

Urban Studies

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 13:22:00 EDT

The topic of the future someday maybe if-I ever do-it dissertation is an examination of how drug policy intersects with urban planning. In that, I am trying to understand how drugs and softened drug policy in certain city areas can actually act as an attractiveness policy for young professionals. Those young professionals are what cities want in order to improve their tax base, grow the economy and attract high tech companies. In order to attract these young professionals, not only do you have to provide jobs, but also something to do. What do these people do? They drink and do drugs. I'm serious.

Forbes just printed an article about the top cities in the US for young professionals, one of the factors being a solid entertainment industry.
If cities were to soften up on petty drug charges, such as personal possession and dealing, in certain areas, they may be able to also focus police presence with knowledge of certain activity, as well as the application of harm reduction methods. Bourbon Street in New Orleans, is a good example of concentrating drug and alcohol activity into a specific area with concentrated police presence. Although it is not the most successful of these types, there is potential. Dolphin Street in Austin, is probably a better example, but just doesn't hold the same place in my heart.

Certain entertainment drugs often are used by a large percentage of the population only once in a while, on weekends, special events or experimentally, and do not pose any type of addiction or criminal problems. Rather than crack down on something that throughout all history has failed to be supressed, why don't we work together to make people safer and smarter. Along with that, we should shape our cities to make entertainment activity safer and more contained.

"In large numbers democracy is obviously unworkable" -The City in History - Lewis Mumford (the book I am currently reading)

The Vibrator Chronicles

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 11:55:00 EDT

Ok, so I ordered a vibrator to keep me company in Costa Rica. Female Sexual Liberation! Go me!

So, the vibrator was ordered March 2nd. I finally got it into my hand yesterday, thats June 22nd - thats 2 months and 20 days later. Apparently vibrators are questionable and tax-worthy shipments that are monitored by the Central American country of Costa Rica.

About a week after I made by order on the internet, I received a shipping receipt from Fed-Ex, then about 3 days later a second arrived. Since I had to have it shipped to the International Studies Office (how un-catholic! - gasp!), they only received the slips, but not the package. I needed some Spanish speaking help to find the package, I had to let my friend Josue in on the secret that I had ordered a vibrator. He called three times inquiring to which he was informed that the package had been signed for by someone and was therefore in the hands of some happy Tica. By the way, my original vibrator was stolen by another pleasure seeking lady baggage handler out of my luggage at the airport. Those Ticas will do anything for a good time.

I sadly resigned to my fate, but after about a month, decided to give it another shot and called the US FedEx call center. Lo and behold, they had found my package! It was here.....in....Panama City!!?!
"But I live in Costa Rica!" I whined, to which I was put on hold again but then informed that no, it had been located in my hometown of San Jose. Only a bus and taxi ride away.

So, plans were made, and Taila and I rode the San Pedro bus into town, walked 6 blocks to the Alajuela bus, got off at the mall and caught a taxi to the shipping center. Why did I think that it was going to be that easy? We were sent to Tikal, the place where all the packages go. So off we went (with the taxi meter running the WHOLE time) to Tikal to show them my packing slip. "Hmmm... bueno", the man said, and without entering anything into a computer or giving us a form, said "Vayan al aduana", which of course is at the airport, and off we went. The taxi maria is running like a super-charged pleasure machine while we go to the customs office, fill out forms, get back in the taxi and back to Tikal, where we perform several other strange and useless steps. The most exciting of which is when we get to accompany the customs officer into the back room to examine the package. Its a vibrator!!! Well, Señor was quite professional about it all, but certainly gave it a good examination. I caught a scent of male hormones and giggling package handlers sneaking peeks from behind the desk. How un-catholic! What heathen Unitedstatian women!

Moving on, all we had to do was go to the bank a mile down the street to pay taxes on my vibrator in the pouring rain, then pay the equivalent of $40 for the holding fee. The taxi cost $30.

But it was finally in my possesion! The most expensive and long awaited pleasure was to be mine! Well thats of course when I find some batteries...

Where are you from? New Orleans!

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 11:08:00 EDT

In that I only have 10 more days left before returning to the United States, I have begun to brush up on current Unitedstatians events. More specifically, New Orleans events.

I have been reading some blogs about New Orleans, and realizing that:

A: Oh my god I love that city.

B: I don't think I ever want to live in New Orleans again.

C: People put the most amazing information on their blogs.

I am on mailing list run by Alan Gutierrez of Think New Orleans who connected me to a few New Orleans blogs this morning that were quite fascinating. First, I visited Da' Po Boy's blog who has done GPS murder mapping on his own using yahoo maps. He showed how murders in New Orleans are in specific neighborhoods and even more, how the murders themselves occur in clusters. In my own personal research, I have discovered that deteriorating urban space causes unhealthy activity which degrades the space even more (Hembree et. al.). This is a new line of thought because it was previously thought that poor people destroyed their spaces, not that destroyed spaces caused poverty and dangerous activity. Clearly in New Orleans, we have destroyed spaces.

The second blog I read today is from Ashley Morris, who asks "What Country are You From?", to which she states "New Orleans". I borrowed the title of my blog from her too. The reason I did this is because I am asked where I am from all the time here in Costa Rica since I have an accent. At first I said, "the US", but since the Ticos are pretty savvy about the States, I started saying New Orleans. What country is Dana from? New Orleans (also called Destructo-land)!!

Time and my Dodge Aries

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:14:00 EDT

When I was in High School, this song by Harvey Danger was really popular. I memorized all the words and bounced around singing them, while cramming 9 people into my 1989 Dodge Aries (which by the way is the coolest car ever) and sneaking into playgrounds to drink 3 beers amongst the 9 of us. You know, things like that. Now, about 10 years later, certain memories are hazy, but I clearly remember the line "If you're bored then your boring", and how much that means to me.

I AM BORED

My childhood mind is racing in circles, incapable of entertaining myself, wishing my mom would show up with a project all set up, or a trip to the park. My adult mind is trying to fill the time, weighing practical actions against each other and coming up with piles of dust. When I was a child I kept a journal. Why do I not now? Where does all that time go? I keep telling myself, only three more weeks, only 18 more days, etcetera, etcetera, but then once I lose those days, Ill never get them back, and I won't even have fuzzy memories attached to them.

Costa Rica as Periphery

Mon, 28 May 2007 19:06:00 EDT

I officially have one month left of school in Costa Rica. While I have been able to endure the daily joys of undergraduate hormones rushing about, I have also managed to learn quite a bit about social movements and Costa Rica. Which for me, the most most poignant moment occurs when pieces of the puzzle begin to fit together and information relates to my experience within society. After all, the study of the social quagmire is impossibly reflexive. In the field of sociology we often study about centers and peripheries. In the most simple sense of this concept, the center is the dominant power, the periphery can be seen as a reflection or a diluted copy of the original. However, this relationship can also be understood as one of control and dominance, in that the discourse of the center is so powerful that it drowns out the voice of the subjugated group. In fact, this is exactly what Patricia Hill Collins was talking about when she looked at male centered forms of knowing through a feminist methodology.

Specifically speaking, looking at ideas using feminist theory forces us to examine the social construction of knowledge, from a male dominated viewpoint. Men have always had the power, they created the discourse, which created the knowledge that we accept as true. Therefore the way we understand the world is through mens eyes.

Hill Collins uses the feminist methodology to understand what she called the matrix of domination, the foundation for Black Feminist thought. Not only are women all over the world oppressed on account of their position on the periphery, but Black women are subjugated twice, because of their oppression as people of color.
In Costa Rica, Ticos have, like all countries, their own system for sorting class, race, color, appearance, intelligence etc. However, as a nation, they are peripheral to the dominant cultural and mass media machines of the Western World. This is yet another point within the matrix of domination. However, rather than discussing the personal implications, on a social scale, Costa Rica has adopted cultures and personality that often reflects the mainstream, dominant and current leader in the world race, but in a diluted way. Globalization creates and destroys, but is unavoidable as we all live within the capitalist system (thanks Marx for reminding us). However bulldozing by dominant cultures is dangerous and we should all be aware of the voice coming from the periphery, It may be difficult to hear, but can provide valuable and perhaps better knowledge that has been subjugated from centuries of capitalistic competition.

Suicide

Mon, 21 May 2007 11:08:00 EDT

In my Sociology of Development class here at the University of Costa Rica, we studied North and South Korea as development idols, The Asian Dragons, as they are often called. In the 50's Raul Prebisch and CEPAL, or ECLAC in English, developed a plan to bring Latin America out of the drudgery of sub-development, though a program called Industrialization through Import Substitution. This import substitution strategy was to follow 5 steps that brought Latin America into competition with the world market, by increasing its technological industrialization. In this way, the countries of Latin America could supply themselves with household goods like radios, and eventually more advanced products, without relying only on the export of primary goods, and the import of technology.

The problem with this strategy is it didn't work. Latin America moved on to structure their economy on Dependency theory of Theotonio Dos Santos and Gunder Frank, by becoming more socialist and attempting to remove themselves from the world market altogether.

All the while however, the Asian Dragons were applying Import Substitution strategies, and having great success. The problem was not the theory, it was its application along with historical and cultural idiosyncrasies. The point is, the Asian Dragons have improved the quality of life for their people, increased their GDP, and become a major competitor in the world marker, as well as having strong investment power.

But apparently, this has caused intellectual pressure on Koreans, and they want to kill themselves. In fact, so many are considering, or researching the possibilities, that the government is taking steps to make discussion, or the aiding of suicide illegal. The International Herald Tribune has a great article about this phenomenon, that inspired this post. One of the measures the government is taking is making posts about suicide illegal, erasing them or arresting people who aid or want to kill themselves, with or without the company of others.

I have never known anyone who has killed themselves and hope to never have the experience. I can say though, losing a loved one is the most awful thing to happen, and can destroy a part of you. However, I don't agree with the grand theory that each person's life is precious and should be protected, managed, or legally bound to life. What I believe is that everyone else's is to be respected, but yours belongs to you, not the government and not your family. In Korea, advertisements argue suicide on the grounds that your life is important to your family. I agree, and I want to keep my family around living with me too. However, ultimately, one's life is one's own, and for the entire stretch of it, your life is yours, and you have to be with you, not your family.

I hate to see more and more freedoms dissolved as we march towards heavy government control over our own bodies. Even the US, a country where we are free to express ourselves and supposedly have the right to happiness, we are not allowed to end our lives. In Korea, maybe the lives and bodies of Koreans belong to the government, so they can maintain high economic status, and if that is the case, that, is what the government should say in those ads.

Utilities

Thu, 03 May 2007 23:49:00 EDT

Do utility companies have best practices? Are Latin American utlity companies simply reflections of the best practices of large North American conglomerates or are they just large North American conglomerates? In Costa Rica we have ICE, our public utility company. In 2000, the government wanted to open up to foreign competition, but the people had large and violent (only for Costa Rica) huelgas y marchas to protest the Combo de Ice.

We had a large gas fire the other day at a gas plant. It was one of 6 in Costa Rica. This may affect the supply of gas within the country. It took quite a bit of water to put out that fire. We are in a drought which has affected out electrical supply on account of the hydroelectric systems. But we had to use extra water to put out the fire. So now we have a water, gas and electricity shortage. Everyday the electricity goes out for some prescribed time. However, it is sometimes according to plan and sometimes not. Ahhh...the pleasures of third world living. And they say that there are more North Americans here per capita then any other country outside North America. Must have been all those fancy tourism brochures, because it sure isn't that safe down here.

Sounds of Costa Rican Mornings

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 10:31:00 EDT

I guess people break into cars a lot in Costa Rica. Now, I can't claim to have intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the mind of a tico-car thief, but they don't all wait until 7:00 in the morning to try their luck, or do they? My hypothesis is that Ticos just don't know how to use their alarms. Every morning at about 7, those alarms start to ring. For about 5 minutes they scream into the crisp San Jose morning, until finally are shut down. But why do they go off, do the owners of the car try to open them? Are they actually in danger? Are they so sensitive that children and dogs set them off? Also, why do people from Costa Rica push the alarm button on their car constantly? They just walk around with their finger on the button, clicking away, all day. Are they afraid maybe it didn't lock the last 12 times? For this I have no realistic guess. Of course, Ticos also love construction, which means hammering and yelling and ringing metal noises from roof pieces dropping to the ground, 3 stories below, all day, every day since I have been here.

And the sharp little sound sprinkles of course consist of our very own Roosevelt security agent and his safety whistle. He rides a bike for 12 hours a day through our neighborhood blowing his whistle to let us know we are safe. And our cars...and my ears....good thing he has a stick and a bici....

Entre Costa Rica y Nueva Orleans

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 19:39:00 EDT

Bored is a relative term. Why do we feel bored, and is there any possible reason to feel that way when we live in this post-modern electronic metropolis? Not only am I confined to utilize the internet from the boring and lonely privacy of my own home, I now can go to the park or a restaurant or a coffeeshop and be social as well as plugged in.

Well, that was before I moved to Costa Rica. Even when I was alone, I didn't have to be. I could get in my car and go to a bar or restaurant, or see a movie, even walk around and shop. I could call up a friend and talk or invite them out. I could even bring my computer somewhere and be alone without being all alone. Now with the absence of a phone and car, at least I have my computer. Ah, what would I do without the internet? Well, I can't bring it anywhere. So here I am stuck in this weird place, gringolandia, the island of English speakers in the middle of a Costa Rican urban sea. While I moved to Costa Rica to learn Spanish, everything I need to do is confined to my four walls, with the exception of 9 hours of class per week.

I can vouch that being a non-native speaker is certainly alienating. However, it is now also pretty obvious that it is possible to function in society with very limited literacy. I am probably 1000 times better off than the aliens living in the United States who have little to no formal education, and speak virtually none of the native English language. I now have much more sympathy for the Peruanos y Guatalmaltecos that have come to New Orleans looking for work, but more than pity, I understand. I understand how it feels to walk down the street and not know whether to say adios, buenas, hola, como está, or if for some reason one of those may be inappropriate or rude even. I understand how it feels to check out at a grocery store and stare in stony silence because I am simply too nervous or tired to attempt small talk. However, at least I can say it, if I have to, if I have time, if I am feeling brave.

Trabajadores que viven en Nueva Orleans ahora, no tienen esa comodidad. Pero los ocupamos para renovar nuestra ciudad y reedificar nuestras comunidades. Sin ellos, una Nueva Nueva Orleans sería imposible. Ellos pueden llevar cosas pesadas, usar martillos y gatear sobre techas. Buena suerte para ellos que no pueden pagar salarios normales a nuestros ciudadanos, y prefieran encontrar gente extranjera para abusar.

So it seems quite funny to me that people who can not speak the language, y no conocen a nadie can leave their friends and family looking for work and worth in a bizarre and prejudiced place - and they just do it. They up and leave - in hoards. And when they arrive, unitedstatians accuse them of taking jobs away from them. But now, to the point - life is virtually impossible, absolutely sad and dare I say alienating - and they are accused of not learning the language and moving in packs. They are accused of sullying the streets of New Orleans with their temporary food carts (I bet those aren't checked by the health department!), and hanging out on street corners. Well I know now that living in a foreign city is difficult enough and I imagine finding work is even more difficult. How would one go about calling on the telephone, reading ads, or finding the place of business without the language? By my approximation, standing on the street corner wearing work clothes may be your best bet.

I have plenty to do. Also coincidentally, I like being alone. It requires much less exertion to sit by myself and write in English. However, I use the word bored as a leftover from childhood. Really I am feeling anomie. Durkheim's anomie, yup that’s it. We all feel it from time to time, but when communication is difficult, anomie is absolutely amplified. I wish I had more friends that spoke Spanish and I could practice and therefore make it in this Costa Rican world. I wish life was easier and more fun. I have the same wishes as anyone who is an alien, a foreigner, what have you. We just want to be able to be able to be able...and survive...and maybe have some fun...

Cacao in Costa Rica

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 12:43:00 EDT

In Costa Rica, President Oscar Arias is currently deciding the economic fate of the nation. The TLC or Tratado de Libre Comercio or in English what we call The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) has been born out of the corpse of its predecessor, NAFTA to play a game of restructuring with the Costa Rican economy. After what this country went through in the eighties with the World Bank and Structural Adjustment, you can see why so many people are so upset about the possibility of having a collapse again. The middle class almost disappered, campesinos got screwed over as prices fell dramatically, and it even changed the cultural sturcuture of families that had traditionally been large, but now were down to 2 to 3 kids each. If the TLC passes, prices for local produce could change dramatically. Several things can happen, all of which will harm some sector of the population. First of all, some prices could go down for produce, because it can be imported cheaper. However, this would hurt Costa Rica in the long run because the local farmers would have to drop their prices to compete or search for external world markets.

On the other hand, businesses would be allowed to enter that can compete for better prices for services, especially for utilities, which is now controlled completely by a public entity, ICE. However, in 2000, Costa Rica had violent (for this country) huelgas y bloqueos contra del Combo de Ice. El Combo de Ice was the government's proposal to privatize the public utilities company ICE. In sondeos publicos, a majority of the public thought the services remained affordable, consumer service was acceptable and they preferred to keep ICE as a public entity. So if the TLC does pass here, ICE remains private, but will more or less be destroyed as cheap foreign competition moves in.

In my Sociology classes at the UCR, the students are impassioned about fighting the TLC. Just look at what NAFTA did to Mexico, they say. They want to fight against the TLC like their parents fought against ALCOA in 1969. Costa Ricans have a history of winning when its the citizens against the government. We'll see how this pans out.

In my experiences in Costa Rica, I have had the chance to sample all sorts of interesting fruits, like grandilla, maracuyá, limón dulce and cas. However if the TLC passes, all of that stuff may find better markets outisde of Costa Rica, and cheaper fruit may be shipped in. The other day, I bought a new and exciting looking fruit like thing.

My friend Josue who is from Costa Rica, told me is was probably cacao, which it turned out to be! Since 70% of cacao is grown 10 degrees from the equator, the TLC will also affect the price of chocolate, not to mention coffee. I did some research on the internet about cacao beans and fruit and cracked mine open to reveal the beans. First you let them ferment in the heat for a few days. After that you spread them out to dry in the sun. So far we at the stage of fermentation. More news to come.

The beginning of something great

Sat, 31 Mar 2007 17:21:00 EDT

Although I am sure I have jumped into the kayak without a paddle, I know there are tools out there and I'll just have to discover them. As a reference to my trip to Nicaragua, when I refused to go out in the kayak without a paddle, because there was no paddle to find, blogging may or may not work for me, but at least I won't get a sunburn.