End of the Year Message

I'm really enjoying this blogging thing. I didn't know where this was going to go when I started, and right now it's a weird hybrid blog, which I kind of like. I think I'll continue to keep it light on the personal details, but bring my life into it more when I talk about racial and political issues and when adoption and fertility milestones come up. I'll also keep discussing local stories, like the Rashad Head case (no major update yet) and international ones that deserve more coverage, like human rights in Oaxaca.

Right now the next milestone is coming the second week of January, when we'll have another homestudy visit. I'm prepared for a long wait. After my father recuperates and goes back to Japan on March 13th, matching will begin. The agency warns us to expect a wait time of nine months. I doubt that's the exact average wait time, but it's a resonant number for obvious reasons.

In Oaxaca news, below I'm putting some faces to the events. My prior posts on the subject were Teaching and Learning in Oaxaca, Message to the Mexican Consulate and Oaxaca Solidarity.

The man on the right is Dionisio Martinez, one of the artists in the email I sent earlier. He's being interviewed after his release from prison in Nayarit. This is dated December 26th. He had this to say, which was very heartening: "The worst fear for me once in Nayarit was that the people had forgotten us. I would say, “And what if the people aren’t doing anything? And if the people haven’t protested?” Because we were detained in the most critical moment of the movement. We were detained when the movement was in its worst moment. The first news of hope was when some representatives arrived to tell us that all over the world there were demonstrations of solidarity, calling for our release. This news nourished us; it was like a tank of oxygen. With this we knew that in fact in the United States and in many embassies around the world they were fighting for our release. I feel that this pressure influence on those who granted our release."


Here's Brad Will, the American who was shot down in Oaxaca and filmed his own death. There is more info here at Friends of Brad Will.



Lastly, here is a satirical poem my mother emailed me, by Peter Kuper, a cartoonist living in Oaxaca City.

Police Navidad

Twas X-mas night in Oaxaca and all through the town,
not a teacher was stirring (they're in jail, not around).
The graffiti of protest has been covered with paint
and police roam the streets to enforce that it's quaint.
All barricades gone, tear gas dissipated,
burning buses removed and encampments have faded.
It's like nothing has happened,
Gov'nor Ulises pretends,
no cheating, nor violence, he'll declare 'til the end.
But the people know better, they'll never forget;
and the deeds of Ulises will haunt like the debt
that won't ever be paid, though would ease with his leaving,
and return of the money that he took with his thieving.
Then maybe, just maybe, things would start to be right,
and the wronged of Oaxaca might enjoy X-mas night.

Happy New Year every one who reads my weird upside-down blog and everyone I know from the forums and other blogs! I've already learned so much from everyone out there! Let's all keep learning from each other. May you and any and all of your children have the year you need and want to have.