at the latin american studies' class we talked about guatemala. apart from invention of the maya, their trajes, tourism and civil war, about the search for the authentic defined as the "really real" in the beauty contest where the winner is the one native maya woman who speeks ancient tongue which nobody understands (lengua), who can dance son, the traditional maya dance, and who has the original traje, the traditional dress of maya guatemalans. they also say rather political speeches in spanish... about the oppression of the indigenous by the ladinos, about the right to land etc. it seems that being against the system, being oppressed, being dissatisfied with the government and having the revolutionary potential becomes part of the "authentic maya" image. revolution is popular. and they do not speek about any particular cases so the authorities have nothing to worry about. only the general tendency to be rebellious. but neither this content of their speeches nor beauty is actually important in this contest of the mayan queen. it's authenticity. the jury is comprised of an athropologist, two linguists and some other politician. and the winner recieves a spanish dictionary as the main prize. one more article was about the murders in recent years... augmenting in guatemala, as well as brazil and peru and mexico. in guatemala more than a thousand women have been killed this year... found raped and beheaded and with the bodies totally distorted. and nobody investigates these crimes. however, there are no statistics as to how many of them are the maya and how many ladinos and foreigners... still, probably the most are maya. i talked to my guatemalan friend at the turkish feast yesterday and he said that it's not that dangerous anymore... "if you go to the tourist areas", he added.



i also found out that in one of the university's newspapers there is a section about crime at brandeis. what do the police do. here is the report from the last week:

Police Log
Posted: 9/12/06
Medical Emergency

Sept. 4-A student in North Quad was reportedly intoxicated, but he refused care.

Sept. 5-A caller in North Quad reported a female in the bathroom vomiting and feeling dizzy.

Sept. 8-A caller reported an individual with a knee injury on the athletic fields. The male patient was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital by ambulance.

Sept. 9-An ambulance responded to a report of an intoxicated female in North Quad.

Sept. 9-A caller on the athletic fields reported an individual with a shoulder injury. An ambulance transported the individual to Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

Sept. 9-A caller in Gosman reported an individual had received a head injury playing tennis. BEMCo treated the patient with a signed refusal for further care.

Sept. 9-A caller in the Village reported she had a sharp pain in her stomach. BEMCo responded and treated her with a signed refusal for further care.

Sept. 10-A caller from North Quad said he had too much to drink and was throwing up in the bathroom. BEMCo and Residence Life were notified, and the individual was transported by ambulance to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care.

Sept. 10-A caller from the Foster Mods reported an 18-year-old female was feeling faint. The individual was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital by ambulance for further care. Residence Life was notified.

Sept. 10-A report was received of an intoxicated male in North Quad. He was transported by ambulance to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care. Residence Life was notified.

Sept. 10-A female with a cut on her knee was transported to the Waltham Urgent Care Center.

Larceny-Theft

Sept. 7-University Police received a report of a past larceny on Charles River Road, which had already been reported by Waltham Police.

Burglary

Sept. 5-University Police received a report that an iPod was stolen from a lab in Bassine.

Disturbance

Sept. 4-University Police responded to a report of loud music in Ziv Quad. The music was shut-down.

Sept. 5-University Police received a report of loud music from the Charles River Apartments.

Sept. 5-A caller reported loud music and yelling in the Charles River Apartments. The residents complied when asked to quiet down.

Sept. 8-University Police responded to a complaint of loud music in Ziv Quad. The individuals quieted-down when asked.

Sept. 9-There was a report of intoxicated individuals screaming and yelling in Castle Quad. They were dispersed.

Sept. 9-A caller reported loud music coming from Rosenthal Quad. University Police didn't find the noise.

Sept. 9-A caller reported an individual playing the drums outside a building in the Charles River Apartments. University Police advised the individual to go inside.

Sept. 9-A caller reported loud noise in the Charles River Apartments. University Police found the noise was coming from an unregistered party. Residence Life was notified.

Traffic

Sept. 8-A vehicle was stopped for driving the wrong way on a one-way road by the Castle.

Sept. 10-A motor vehicle crashed through the fence in front of Gosman. Numerous vehicles in the front of G-Lot were struck. Waltham Police, Waltham Fire and AMR responded. One individual was taken to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital. The vehicle that struck the fence was towed, along with another one, by Pilgrim Auto.

Trespassing

Sept. 7-Trespass letters were issued to individuals living on campus between Edgewater Drive and the Charles River Apartments. Waltham Police assisted in the scene.

Miscellaneous

Sept. 3-There was a report of two suspicious white males with baseball caps in Ziv Quad. University Police discovered they were both actually pizza delivery men from the Prospect Street Café.

Sept. 6-A caller reported smoke by a bike rack in front of Gosman. University Police found it was actually steam.

ordinary university life. too many parties. and two many car accidents recently. yesterday when we were walking to campus with eva and justinas who came to visit me after the "work and travel usa", there was a serious accident down the south steet.

nine eleven. five years have passed since the day in early september when i got back from school and was doing homework of geopolitics and dad called me... to watch tv and see something too incredible to believe on cnn.



five years is already an anniversary. brandeis marked it rather silently... with many american flags in front of the shapiro campus center where students are writing their papers all night, some lecture by professor linenthal, well-known for his books on the establishment of the holocaust museum in washington and the oklahoma city memorial.



how is a trategy to be momorialized? does the voice of the survivors mean more than the one of the historians who see the whole picture and all the sides? why do these deaths count more, why are the names of these people read aloud every year to remember and the other deaths in the world just don't matter? like the iranian plain that was shot down by the us some time ago? and what if someone is forgotten? and who are the survivors? those who suffered injuries or also those who were luckily late? or the citizens living in the neighborhood? and who should decide on how to memorialize the tragedy? the government, the united nations or people who live in downtown manhattan? discussions on leaving the wound open and deleting it from memory. and students... telling where they were five years ago and how what looked like the hollywood-style movie on the screen changed their lives... in colombia, in new york, in india. for the "museums and public memory" class we have an asignment... to collect some memories and some reflections... "generation 9/11" i'll call it, although i only have three so far - simon's and tathagata's, his indian roommate's, and bernard's. bernard is from new orleans. katrina took his father and his home. he was just sitting in from with a mug of coffee when i asked him about 9/11. i don't know him. but he looks sad. one of those late night encounters that mean a lot, that make you think. and that never repeat again.



but i did meet one artist from haiti on campus today... nobody was buying his postcards and paintings. but i liked them... and he told me some stories about how to create what is real although never seen.



dances in paradise. on september eleventh.

kad isivaizduotumet, ka reiskia mokytis gerame amerikos universitete. visu pirma, niekas per paskaita neisvardina comto ar locko ideju, civilizaciju raidos stadiju ar kitu ivairiausiu klasifikaciju, kurias taip megstama itraukti i lietuviskuosius egzaminus. jei paminimas rousseau ar tacitas, tai reiskia, kad butina perskaityti bent viena jo veikala... visa. net antropologijos istorijai skaitom viska, pradedant "germania" ir hobbeso "leviathanu". kiekvienam kursui kiekviena diena taip tenka kazka skaityti... sunkiai pavargusioms akims lakstant senoviskos anglu kalbos sakiniais. toliau - paskaitos. ar seminarai, net nezinau, kaip teisingiau pavadinti. per juos aptariam tai, ka perskaitem. aptariam is esmes ir toli grazu ne turini. be to, destytojai neatsigina studentu klausimu... nespejam ismokti to, ka turim, nes visiems kyla daugybe klausimu ir minciu. arto, gaves darba pradinej mokykloj, siandien pasakojo, kad mokiniai taip pat be galo aktyvus ir nori viska zinoti... per ispanu kursus, destytoja is haicio turi aiskinti kiekviena smulkmena, nes studentai nori zinoti, kodel ir kaip. ir klausia po kelis kartus to paties. dar idomiau tai, kad kiekviena diena vienas destytojas atsinesa i auditorija visokiu idomiu sokiu kaukiu is burkina faso, keistu formu mediniu skulpturu bei kitu eksponatu, kuriuos interpretuojam ir su kuriais zaidziam. kita destytoja vakar rode "krikstatevi", o siandien - charlie chaplin "modern times". galiausiai, mokslai nesibaigia niekad. konferencijos, seminarai, muzieju lankymas, filmu ziurejimas - visa tai mokymosi dalis. tokio intensyvaus mokymosi, kad uz jo nieko nebelieka. tik tu ir gyvos knygos. mokytis, mokytis ir dar karta mokytis. visu kailiu:)



dar siek tiek apie mokslus. siandien "boston globe" raso apie nauja valstijose populiaria mada - mokytoju blogus. kur mokytojai apraso juokinga istorijas apie tai, kaip vaikai kazko nesupranta... arba apie tai, kad uzdraude klaseje vartoti zodi "stuff". tevai skaito mokytoju blogus, kiti mokytojai skaito, ir mokiniai taip pat. taciau "new york times" pastebi, kad vis daugiau studentu jav nebaigia universitetu... ir kad mokslas per brangus, tiesiog neikandamas skurdesniems gyventojams. bet massachusettse turbut daugiausia universitetu visose valstijose... kazkur skaiciau, kad ju cia yra simtas dvidesimt du. ir, kaip jau rasiau, mokslas yra madingas. o mados reikalauja auku:))) jau eisiu... dar daug puslapiu si vakara laukia...

mmm... rytas... turbut pirma karta per tiek savaiciu issimiegojau... puodelis arbatos ir sumustiniai su lasisa ryte... kelias i universiteta... nemokamas "the new york times" numeris... siandien apie imigracija... apie tai, kaip socialine gerove teikiama nelegaliems atvykeliams, kuriu kelionems per meksikos siena skiriami istisi romanai ir politologines studijos... ir dar apie meksika, calderona, artejancius kongreso rinkimus ir dar apie tai, kad irake vis daugiau zmoniu stovi eilese, noredami pasikeisti savo vardus... niekam nebemalonu buti sadamu... o jei dar sadamu husseinu al-majidu... "kad likciau gyvas", sako vienas laukiantysis gimimo sertifikatu kontoroje. kaip visada, pora straipsniu apie irana, keletas apie pietu afrika... beje, ka ten veikia putinas? palestina... zoroastrizmas cikagoje... tropines audros... verslas, kultura... ir atskiras priedas maistui. jau knygyne pastebejau, kad didele dalis antropologijos ir net sociologijos veikalu pastaraisiais metais skiriama valgymo iprociams. yra viena iseitis - "eat organic". bet jau turiu fetos, tad manieji vargai baigesi. o kas namie? saugumo departamento paslaptys... pasitrauke pociunas... bet nieko naujo apie uspaskicha, nei apie mazeikiu nafta... svarbios mazo krasto problemos. skotu sirgaliu siautejimas... ir rudenisku oru dvelksmas, lietui ir perkunijai vejant lauk vasara. metas eiti... spaudos puslapiai uzverciami. mokytis ispanu.