We have at last reached the final third of the book! Woo hoo!
Last Thursday we reached a milestone that finally defines Thatcher and turns him to his life of piracy. We have put him through hell and back again. I have wedged in more early 17th Century history than anyone may think they wish to know (dear editor, be sensitive to the reader but, please, be kind to me) but, Gaea, I hope readers will think Clancy and Michener and hang in there to see why I put them through the lecture. Really, kids, trust me. You'll want to know this stuff because, when all is said and done, it will make your blood boil. It may even make you sympathize a bit with those who chose the piratical life and my brothers in the hood will totally relate! You want gangsta? Thatcher was the OGP!
Interesting feedback on the
Human Rights Reports. Yeah, I am obsessive. But I am hopeful. Knowledge sparks action. Perhaps a little knowledge will inspire others to look beyond their own front porch. I'll be moving to Africa on my next report.
Pen's friend Kristen flew into
Zihuatanejo and we spent a long weekend along the Pacific coast of Mexico. I realize how much I miss California and my beaches. The Carolina Coast is beautiful but there is something about the wildness, the unpredictability of the Pacific that takes my breath away. We stayed primarily in
Troncones at the Burro Borracho (the Drunken Burro). Troncones is a surfer's paradise and I've found a little piece of land separated from most of humanity by a creek that is about two feet deep at low tide and no bridges to reach it. If the book sells, I'm buying it and building Casa Pirata del Diente del Sable, the House of the Saber Tooth Pirate. The land is ringed by mountains and the little bahia is un-navigable as a result of these massive stones spires ringing the beach that remind me of a tiger's mouth. It is simply beautiful and begging for me to build on it. We also chartered a boat for the day in Zihuatanejo that carried us out to sea and along the rugged Mexican coastline where we found a quiet little cove to snorkel and swim. The weather was magnificent and the scenery beautiful. I didn't realize how much I needed a break. I had a chance to chill and do a little pleasure reading about Robinson Crusoe, which was fitting as Daniel Defoe plays a critical role in the novel.
We are back in Patzcuaro and will start writing again on Saturday. We have a goal to try to finish the first draft before our friend Julie arrives for a visit over Thanksgiving. It will be long hours at the computer but we are fixated on the goal. Kristen is getting a taste of Mexican mountain life and how one must live without the Blackberry and cell phone. As both are digital communicators and most of Mexico is still analog, the devices are incompatible with reality. But we have the Internet and our basic analog cell phone so we aren't totally cut off from the outside world. It gives us a chance to rediscover the wonderful art form of letter writing.
I'm energized and rejuvenated and ready to push this baby out so please keep sending your love and support. It is definitely appreciated and motivating.
Currently reading :
In Search of Robinson Crusoe By Timothy Severin Release date: By 28 May, 2002
Writing this novel, which has been rolling around in my head for the last 14 years, was the primary reason I decided to put aside my broadcast career, uproot my family to a new country, remove ourselves from the temptations and distractions of work, television and social commitments and immerse myself in the wild and wonderfully unfamiliar. But continuing the education of our children was a critical concern, and we were left with the choice of either enrolling them in one of the schools here in Patzcuaro or taking on that responsibility for ourselves. There were merits in both approaches, as school enrollment would definitely give them a jump-start by immersing them into the language and culture of Mexico. But in the same instance, I had spent too many years having little time with my children, and I wanted to hold onto to those six to eight hours a day they would be gone. So Pen and I opted to home school. It would give us a chance to learn things as a family, to plan field trips relevant to their studies and to find creative ways to expand our children’s knowledge base outside of the typical classroom sphere which is more in sync with our worldviews, philosophies and interests.
Of course anyone who knows me knows how passionate I am for geography and history and chagrined at how both subjects are given such short shrift in America’s schools, public and private, elementary and advanced. I don’t blame the public schools anymore than I blame the private ones for, having employed hundreds of young people throughout the years, I was disappointed to discover how uninformed these bright young people were of the world around them. I’m not exactly sure when studying maps, places and people ceased to be a priority, but I was resolved to make that a cornerstone of the education of my children.
As any parent, we have lofty dreams and ambitions for our children but, rather than the typical "learn only what you’ll be tested on, concentrate your studies in a narrow career focused zone and major in a field that will guarantee high income and endless electronic distraction for your future" approach to learning, which seems to be the basic philosophy of the western educational system, instead we wanted to give our daughters a holistic approach to education that teaches them how to think, not what to think. I have seen so many people drifting through life with lofty titles and degrees but absolutely no idea what they want to do with them. My two favorites are "marketing" and "business" which, when I ask why they pursued those degrees, the typical answer was along the lines of, "because mom and dad and the guidance counselor thought it was a good idea." But when you probe these bright young adults, they personally have no interest in the subject and damn little idea what to do with what they’ve learned. So they worked for minimum wage in my coffee shops or radio stations hoping something would "break" in their chosen field that interested them. These smart, dedicated, well educated people, with good work ethics but little real ambition, would spend years making just enough money to pay the rent and party at the end of the day. But they were no closer to realizing their career goals because, quite frankly, they had no idea what they wanted to do with their lives and the education for which they had spent tens of thousands of dollars.
We could not envision that for our children. While we can be forgiven for being typical parents and fantasizing their futures as doctors, lawyers, captains of industry and, from time to time, the first female Commandant of the Marine Corps and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff just before becoming President of the United States, we realize that these are our dreams for them, not theirs. What has been our goal is to throw a lot of different things at them, to expose them to art, science, religion, politics, music, sports, culture and business to see what piques their interest. Abi is ten and Elea is five, so we’re still ferreting out where their passions lie. But "passion" is the hallmark of what we are seeking to uncover. What are they passionate about? What subject most intrigues them and pulls them back when they are not being prompted to do so? And what aspect of that subject not only intrigues them but also is within their capability to learn and master?
From Abi, we are getting a sense of a passion for the written word. As for Elea, it is art and seeing the beauty and magic of the world and attempting to illustrate it for us. To many parents this may be all well and good but certainly not something to pin your hopes and future on.
We could not disagree more.
Since they were babies, we have driven home this simple philosophy: find something you love and something you are good at and you will find a way to make a living from it. To us, happiness is much more important than wealth accumulation. To us, it is much more important that our daughters live lives filled with joy and purpose rather than the material trappings of success. That was a decision that my wife and I discussed ad nauseum before marrying and before choosing to have children. It is also why we chose their names as well so they would begin life with sources of inspiration rather than something that was cute and typical.
Abi was named for
Abigail Adams, America’s second first lady and its first suffragette. She was John Adams’ chief advisor in those years leading up to the Revolutionary War and worked tirelessly to provide for the family’s economic future. She was a savvy businesswoman, despite the limitations imposed on colonial era women to participate in business endeavors, while John put aside his law practice and amassed incredible debt to help bring this country to fruition. But, perhaps the most potent influence she had on John was her admonishment for John to "remember the ladies" as he and Jefferson were crafting the
Declaration of Independence. For, as Adams argued, how can America truly be a nation of the people when over half of its citizens had no right to participate in its birth and growth or lived their lives in chains? He lost out to the southerners who felt freedom for the poor, the minorities and women would somehow impinge on their sense of propriety and entitlement, being free, white, landed and male. It took another war and almost 90 years to wrestle power from that misogynistic, class- and race-centric power base and to begin the long path toward universal suffrage. Abigail Adams was the first American woman to insist upon it and one hell of a namesake for my first daughter.
Elea was named for
Eleanor Roosevelt, arguably the most important first lady in American history. Benefiting from the long line of American women who came before her, she proved how powerful and capable women could be in advancing America to the preeminent role it enjoys today. As her husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was debilitated by polio, he could not move freely, so Eleanor became his eyes and ears; first during the Great Depression, where her first-hand accounts of the suffering of the average American fueled Franklin’s creation of the New Deal that brought America from the brink of economic ruin. She was his emissary to the front lines of World War II, representing her husband the president as she traveled throughout wartime Europe and the Pacific, assessing our successes and shortcomings and encouraging the men and women fighting the forces of Fascism and Imperialism, letting them know that America loved and supported them. Even after Franklin died, Eleanor continued to serve America, selected by Harry Truman as one of America’s emissaries to the world conferences held in San Francisco that led to the creation of the United Nations. From her endless travel abroad, before, during and after the war, she saw first-hand the face and effects of totalitarianism and dictatorship. She saw the death and destruction that resulted when people do not control their countries and futures and when dictators are allowed to control the masses and to quell liberty, freedom and democracy for the sake of security and centralized power. These observations inspired her to push the agenda, inspired by America’s Declaration of Independence and the Bill Of Rights of the
U.S. Constitution, to create a
Universal Declaration Of Human Rights that served as the first agenda of the burgeoning United Nations. This action, driven passionately by one American woman, changed the face of our world and touched off the second great wave of democracy worldwide. I could not imagine a better inspiration and namesake for my second child.
It was for these reasons that we crafted the curriculum that has been the cornerstone of Abigail’s education in Mexico. Rather than treating each primary subject as separate entities, we blended math, geography, science, civics and writing, combined with teaching her how to use the internet to research information and to take in multiple and diverging viewpoints and analyze them into her own opinion. After each report, which requires map reading and plotting, analysis of Gross Domestic Product, education, key industries, natural resources, economic structures, democratic and governmental forms and structures, international alliances and issues and the history of a nation, she makes an oral presentation of her findings. She then crafts them into a very concise written report including pictures and links to government and media resources and posts it on her
Country Report pages.
It was my intention to have her seek out the positive aspects of each nation so people would be inspired to learn more and perhaps add it to their future vacation and travel plans. But we are not giving her a Polyanna picture of each nation. She is learning the cold and hard facts of each country and the relationships between its leaders and people and the relationship with their neighbors and the rest of the world. But we likewise want to stress that, despite the deplorable state of politics, economics, and religious oppression, no matter how devastated a place may be as a result of its past or present or the ravages they have experienced at the hands of nature and mankind, there is beauty everywhere. But only by becoming aware of those unpronounceable dots on a map can we begin to understand them. Once we understand them and all they have experienced and are experiencing today, we can't help but develop compassion, empathy and love for them. And when we feel for them, we want to do what we can to make life better for them. One small beginning is to take the time to bother to learn about someplace you’ve never heard of and to have the basic respect for seeing these people as more than their politics and the leaders who govern them. When we stop seeing people as charactures but rather as living, breathing, caring human beings who merely want for their families what we want for our own, perhaps we can stop loathing, hating or ignoring them. When we see the humanity, we begin to realize that we are all in the same boat striving for the same basic goals.
I hope you will read her reports, look at her pictures and follow her links and be inspired to add these places to your list of things to do. I also hope you will follow the link I will be establishing is a series of companion reports that give a more detailed picture of the state of human rights of that nation as modeled on the principles of the 1948 Declaration.
I will be using data from the
U.S. State Department,
Amnesty International,
Human Rights Watch and
Freedom House, an organization co-founded by Eleanor Roosevelt over 60 years ago. The reason why I am culling multiple sources is because, quite often, you discover very different findings, particularly from government funded resources who will parse data to the benefit of their allies and to the detriment of their opponents. I will also investigate each nation’s own view of their human rights endeavors as well as the viewpoint of "Shadow," or independent commissions established in that country, as well as the viewpoint of opposition or exiled bodies where an absence of democracy limits such free exercise within the confines of that nation’s political atmosphere.
The intent of these reports is not to indict or cast blame but merely to inform. Those who believe I have an agenda beyond the one I am stating may meet it with opposition. My agenda and mission is simply:
To inform and provide perspective with the hope of creating understanding, inspiring positive and empathetic change and to provide positive models in the hope of offering alternatives to those nations requiring human rights reform as they had agreed to in the Declaration of Human Rights.
It may have been my intention to escape the distractions of the real world, but coming here has only brought me closer to it. Rather than feeling distracted, it inspires me. For I see that light shining in my child’s eyes as she pushes through the challenges we’ve placed before her as she comes to grip with both the tragedy and beauty that is this magnificent and lonely planet called Gaea.
Fridays in a place like Gringolandia, here perched on a hillside overlooking Patzcuaro, are certainly a refreshing change from the ordinary. Back in North Carolina, I would be hurrying through the endless paperwork on my desk with the hope of squeezing in a little show prep before going on air for two hours of talk radio battle royale! If I got out of the office before 8 p.m., it was a minor miracle. I would settle into my desk at home, realizing I was sequestered for a weekend of paperwork and repeated trips back to the office for copying, collating and getting my promotions department ready for the new week. Thank God for Jackie. She managed the overwhelming number of events in the field, typically a handful of car dealership remotes and a few dozen van hits, so I could be blessed with a weekend of paperwork.
But here, in Mexico, it is different. Pen decided to at last brave driving my Land Rover into town for much needed shopping and to give me a little quiet time. I had a lot of mail to get to and seldom have time alone so it was a nice change and a chance for Pen to trust herself behind the wheel of that big Discovery on these narrow little mountain streets. We wrapped Chapter Nine last night so I'll use the afternoon to pull the tons of data I've collected for this next chapter and review it this afternoon while Abi works on her report on French Guiana.
I had a number of add requests from bands on the My Space profile so I always listen carefully (the old A&R music journalist in me just can't help himself) and was pleased to find a band out of Caracas, Venezulela called Embas. They're eclectric rock with gypsy violins (always a plus for me) and a Dave Matthews kind of feel. Check them out on my song profile
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=45845011But as I was adding my music, I see Arturo and Jason, the Mexican Artist and the American Doctoral candidate heading to Arturo's carrying an accordian and concertina. So I turned down my recorded music and, sure enough, the two have been giving me a private concert of freeform squeeze box music with Spanish and French overtones. Arturo has been fascinated with my studies of the Acadian region of colonial America, that region now called Maine and Newfoundland, and their migration to French held Lousiana where French music fused with Spanish and African to become Cajun and Xydeco. So, I've been entranced with their improvisational fusion as Arturo plays very emotional French stylings while Jason counterposes with these lively Spanish rhythms and I must tell you, it is blissful!
So this is Friday in Gringolandia. It is cool and crisp and the sky is clear and sunny, making the mountains appear to virtually float above Lake Patzcuaro and as I write, my writer friend Dave and I (he's sixty or so with a white beard and long hair each reaching mid-torso with the Bible of Bamboo as one of his writing credits) are being treated to a private concert of these adventurous Mexican and American minstrals. What a phenomenal way to get ready for another long night of writing.
It is magnificent and awe inspring!
