Okay, here's the deal.
My boy Andrew is volunteering in a Zapatista community in Chiapas, Mexico until next April. He sends out mass e-mails periodically to all his friends and family to let us know what he is doing, plus he submits a column to the local paper every six weeks or so. He sends Smokey and I individual e-mails sometimes, too, but the vast majority of information comes from these mass e-mails.
Anybody want to read them? He's an decent writer, and this is a way to get a glimpse into the lives of indigenous people in a developing country who have historically been treated pretty much like African-Americans in Mississippi. Not as badly as Native Americans here or Africans in South Africa, but badly nonetheless. They are improving their lives now, though, and apparently doing much better than they were able to before they essentially seceded from Mexico.
I have uploaded the first three e-mails and his first column. The links will take you directly to a pdf file; you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can get free here.
August 1 column "Land, Dignity, and Freedom"
August 20 e-mail: The universe will have its way
That's a lot of reading all at once, for which I apologize. It wasn't until I was reading the latest e-mail that I had the idea to put his stuff up on my site. Also, as he says himself, "I can't say hello in less than 1,000 words."
* * * * *
I'm off and away this weekend to my 40th (!) high school reunion, to which I am muchly looking forward. Old friends, catching up, staying with my best friend from h.s., [another] Kathy, good food, great scenery, blog fodder all around. Maybe some knitting, too...
See ya on the flip side!
