----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 1:01 PM
Subject: RE: [Futurework] Natalia has
sent you an article from npr.org
What was interesting to me
about the favelas was that there is something there culturally for which
tourists would risk the gang violence.They all have paid guides to walk them
through the appropriate behavior; what to wear in a place where donning the
wrong color can inspire the wrath of the wrong groups, and where sudden
movements like unbuckling a seatbelt can be fatal. But there seems to be
enough there today for a new tourist industry--and if a lot of it is for
the tourist mentality, then at least it's providing some income where you
would expect most to come from drugs, stolen goods or prostitution or
slavery
--------------
We live in a consumer society. Now consumer-tourists are going to
the farthest reaches of the planet and to the inner reaches of society.
Bet the thrill a minute of seeing druggies and prostitutes and gang members
and street life gives them something to "dine out " on for years to
come, that is until their next touro-conusmer binge.
Arthur
*******I think you really are presuming the worst of people here, both
tourists and favela dwellers. As Ed said, religion helps to hold favela people
together, and pull them through the toughest times. The show I listened to
aired locals saying that though crime is an ongoing concern, it does not
involve the majority of inhabitants by any stretch. It is unlikely
that many tourists would be witness to much action but the impacting effects
of extreme poverty. As mentioned before, the guides, with whom a typical
tourist would be stupid to enter without, would be given the heads up about
untoward action and shoot outs. The sentry scouts are on the alert for
strangers who try to initiate drug deals, and these are strongly discouraged.
Also, I tend to doubt people (though some may be) are so sick as to travel to
the far corners of the earth to be witness to gruesome events, when they
simply might go across town. Most tourists want to sight-see, sun, and party.
And shop. They are the first to complain of the slightest anomalies, the
tiniest of inconveniences. Our island, Vancouver, totally depends on them for
a living, and I was also raised in another tourist town, bordering the US. For
all their lack of manners, and I generalize, they expect every courtesy to be
handed to them. So, I expect that most favela tourists are going to be from
the general region, and are probably familiar with the language and people, or
quite simply are not as paranoid as most would be.
Natalia
I agree that there are many pseudo-elite
schools laying claims to the inspiration of young minds. I agree that the tone
and emphasis in many courses will be guided by politics. But you still don't
get much more than the three R's in most publicly funded US schools.
I'm sorry you found Yale lacking in the
sixties. I'm sure you would be doubly appalled today. Nonetheless, I believe
it was Yale that was the recipient of an anonymous $100 million dollar
donation to cover all tuition fees for music students. Provided they don't
merely pump out marching band music, the money isn't entirely
wasted.
Private schools are the ones that by far offer
the most art programs, as well as diverse recreational ones. I cannot
argue that most will be graduating little Dubya's, and interpretation of
subject matter by those teaching is everything.
I have been mostly disappointed with modern art,
architecture, music, and literature. When one examines the rest of
society, from the lack of respect for our planet, to the lack of respect for
our fellow humans, one can easily argue the case for the lack of guidance and
leadership because of the elected's poor quality of
education/upbringing/environment.
As to favelas being unlikely to produce the
next Shakespeare or 'massive erudition', for the most part you will be right.
Most of the best of the arts has been produced by rather more secure
individuals benefiting at least from Maslow's "most basic". It has also
typically been promoted by established agents. Yet, there are the
exceptions. Excellent song, music and literature came out of the
holocaust, and two world wars. In fact, the experience
of overwhelming emotional loss or anger has been the author of many
incredible works, and many inspirational leaders. We all grow from our most
painful moments, in one way or another. My preference would be for happy
upbringings, but this doesn't necessarily result in a guarantee of
sanity. Sensitivity develops out of many different factors.
What was interesting to me about the favelas was
that there is something there culturally for which tourists would risk the
gang violence.They all have paid guides to walk them through the appropriate
behavior; what to wear in a place where donning the wrong color can inspire
the wrath of the wrong groups, and where sudden movements like unbuckling a
seatbelt can be fatal. But there seems to be enough there today for a new
tourist industry--and if a lot of it is for the tourist mentality, then at
least it's providing some income where you would expect most to come from
drugs, stolen goods or prostitution or slavery. If drugs were the only game in
town, everyone would be dead. The slavery occurs primarily when the favela
dweller gets a job on the outside. Entrepreneurs are beating the odds, and
women are the ones who weave, prepare cloth, sew, bake and cook, along
with countless other tasks from which men have traditionally
distanced themselves. Word has it the street parties are happening most days
and nights, and some can't resist the allure of a good party.
We have a different type of security structure,
with security systems and police that may protect us. You could say that that
defensiveness, much like that of the Bush government, has been the direct
cause of aggression and subsequent guilt. Rio's favelas have a system in which
they don't tend to worry so much about their property being stolen because
their neighbors are extremely close, watching and ready to protect, but they
are all in the same boat. Religion has been central to the culture, and Ed's
point of this aspect affecting behavior has validity. They also have little to
lose--which puts a different value onto property, putting it into a clearer
perspective if one is to value that which has no price.
The people and their unfortunate circumstances
were there before the gangs. The gangs did not bring the people, though it can
be argued that the gangs have led the people into worse predicaments. The
people didn't just come up with a whole new culture, though their experiences
there would add or subtract to something already vibrant. Quite a
sophisticated self-policing and scouting system has arisen which does a fairly
good job of warning people of imminent gang activity and police
retaliation. Most will stay indoors, or abandon activities in certain areas
when word gets out, or if gun shots are heard. They have learned to cope, and
given this, without the myriad restrictions we have in our society, many will,
I think, emerge as very powerful and even very sensitive people. I think it
unwise to underestimate what may come from this new frontier. Europe, Asia,
and America all went through extremely violent pasts to arrive at where-ever
they are at today. Some is unwholesome, some is good, some is
great.
Should you wish to review the findings of the
Spring trip by Avril Benoit, check out May 05/06 of CBC Radio One. This was an
excerpt from a series, done after the book Ed has recommended. I realize
Planet of Slums is an important work, and was discussed on the series, but it
is possible that the author is overlooking the cultural history the people had
to have brought with them to these slums. I wasn't suggesting that anyone was
well off, apart from the drug lords, but that in Rio, at any rate, something
is stirring, refusing to succumb to despair.
I bow to your personal experience, Ed, but you
were there some years ago, and in a different location. Is Sao Paulo on
the coast? It doesn't appear to be on my ancient maps. But more to the point,
people never remain inert for long. Things had to have progressed, apart
from the violence. As an outsider, you lived in fear to begin with, but I
marvel that you lasted that long. Was protection was provided for you as a
special consultant/researcher? Did you sleep behind cardboard? The people in
Rio are used to it, you were not. The kids laugh and play, but you would have
been constantly comparing what your kids have to what these kids haven't.
Perhaps Sao Paulo was more oppressed than in today's Rio favela.
Certainly, it's a crime to humanity that these
places exist, but I for one will be watching how they are going to change the
world in surprising ways for the better.
Natalia
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, May 21, 2006 3:49
AM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Natalia has
sent you an article from npr.org
Quoting Darryl & Natalia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
>
American socialization has been shaped by the market place, by the
cold
> demands of corporate agendas--which at the last count very much
included the
> military agenda. If culture was still encouraged at
school, which is
> unlikely at all but the elite private institutions today,
My experience at Yale in the mid 60's and elsewhere leads
me to think you are too optimistic here. If culture is
encouraged at "elite" schools, it is mostly, from my experience,
in the hypocritical way that honesty is also encouraged:
Don't cheat but if you get a low grade you may suffer
badly for the rest of your by-your-poor-performance-likely-
shortened life. The most important thing about the Iliad
is remembering who did what to who to answer questions
on the final exam. In this regard, the only reason the Iliad
is "higher" than a MacDonalds menu is that people generally
find it harder to memorize the facts in it and therefore can be
tested more "rigorously". Dickens is surely one of the
greatest authors because his books contain lots of difficult
to remember facts unlike, e.g., Sophocles' _Oedipus at
Colonus_, which clearly states: "Best of all not to have
been born; second best to have seen the light and go back
swiftly whence on came. The feathery follies of
his youth once past, what trouble is beyong the range of man?..."
[Sophocles didn't know about the SAT's....]
Shame on those who use high culture to hurt persons
[No, I am not talking about the Nazi leaders here but
about "our" teachers who are proud of being "tough"]
and thereby teach by example if not by their bocal (I believe the
Spanish word for mouth is "boca") effluents that
culture is truly anti-life.
\brad mccormick
then a revival of
> appreciation could occur. A steady diet of
math and computers leaves the
> soul rather empty, and the misguided
concept of having possessions to fill
> the emptiness inside
results.
>
> Culture, much like sports and outdoor recreation,
seem to have their very
> specific place, not to mention their price.
It's become rather cost
> prohibitive, unfortunately especially for
the young. Street musicians are
> now licensed, theatre and opera are
a costly occasion, and pro sports is
> costlier than the arts.
Enjoying the parks can cost a pretty penny too. It
> seems that the
only things the feds fund freely these days are corporate
>
concerns.
>
> Interesting how the Favelas in Rio are actually
doing well culturally. So
> much so that their main source of income
has become tourism. The CBC Radio
> One toured a few of the major
world cities' illegal communities, and
> discovered a vibrant
community in Rio. People there live in relative safety
> because
neighbors watch out for each other. Most people abide by a code of
>
behavior that, once understood, inspires a general sense of trust, and
apart
> from gang violence, most people make the time for song and
music, art and
> even architectural accomplishments out of low cost/no
cost material. Women
> particularly have been thriving because of demand for arts and
crafts.
This, surely is very good. But it is not Bach or Josquin,
or Kant or Husserl, or Palladio or Louis Kahn....
and never likely will be.
The rough and tumble of the streets cannot produce "massive erudition"
and
connoisseurship. Callouses help one to survive at the price
of desensitizing, etc.
Perhaps high culture does not deserve to exist?
\brad mccormick
It's
> as if we have been provided assurance in this new dark
age, as a result of
> their budding successes, that arts and culture
once again prove to be the
> foundation of society and economy. I'm
sure that Ray has been following
> closely.
>
>
Natalia
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Not that I would suggest that America must fall to its knees and be
deprived
> of all things material so that it could at last appreciate
the life that
> still pulses deep within...
>
>
Natalia
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message
-----
> From: "Brad McCormick, Ed.D."
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Cc:
<[email protected]>
> Sent: Saturday, May 20, 2006
2:41 PM
> Subject: Re: [Futurework] Natalia has sent you an article
from npr.org
>
>
>> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
>> > Natalia thought you would be interested in this
story: NPR : Tiny Houses
> Find a Friend on the Gulf Coast
>>
>
>>
>> I heard this one. Some of the houses are
70 sq/ft -- but also in
> "daddy's"
>> back yard so that the
tenant can use the facilities in the big traditional
>>
house.
>>
>> The Unabomber certainly was a proponent of
small houses -- but with
>> self-sufficiency.
>> Today's
NYT has a fine article: "Bigger Housese, Longer
Commutes"
>>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/realestate/21cov.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
>>
>>
I think the problem is largely that Americans' socialization --
even
>> many with
>> PhDs -- does not cultivate in them a
love for high culture but rather a
>> lust for more square
feet.
>>
>> I knew the son of the person I consider one of
the important writers of
>> all times -- not comparatively, but
irrespective of comparison: Hermann
>> Broch.
>> "Broch's
son" lived in a one bedroom apartment with his wife on the
>> upper
east
>> side of manhattan. It was a small apartment: the
kitchen was especially
>> small,
>> perhaps 5 by 6
feet??? But it was a place filled with the culture of
>>
pre-WWII "Vienna" (and also a few chotchkies(sp?)). I am sure
there
>> are MacMansions in Westchester that are furnished to a
higher level of
>> culture than Broch's little apartment -- I am
sure of this because I
>> believe there exist persons in our
society who have both a lot of money
>> and also a
>> lot
of cultivation -- but I suspect these are few. Broch's little
>
apartment
>> was tight on square feet, but rich in "the life of the
mind". I loved
>> visiting
>> him and his wife -- I
would always get a glass of fine cognac (well that
>>
would
>> probably be available in many of the MacMansions...), but
I would
>> savor to look at the details in the apartment: the
lovely japanese
>> screen on the
>> libing room wall, the
cigarette holder on the table (not that I smoked),
> the
>>
bookcase, the poster of his father from Surkamp Verlag (sp?).
>>
Aristocracy reduced to having to count its pennies, probably,
but
>> a graciousness that generates a world of meaningful symbols,
not just
>> "space". Of course, the symbols were meaningful
*to me*, and
>> another might have found it all not really serious
compared to
>> acquiring another company or exceeding wall
street's
>> expectations by a quarter
percent....
>>
>> Was man made for the Sabbath, or was the
Sabbath made for man?
>>
>> Was man made for space, or was
space made for man?
>>
>> Of course, given my druthers,
I'd like to live some place
>> like Katsura, or even just an
apartment in one of Trump's towers
>> (there was once a piece in
the NYT about an apartment in
>> Tudor City across from the UN, a
"triplex", where the owners,
>> went away each weekend -- no, not
to the Hamptons, no, not to
>> the Berkshires -- but to their
*third floor* for the weekend -->
>> now *that's* where I'd like
to live. But if I can't live there,
>> I'd rather live in a
small place where I had the leisure to savor
>> my Glenkinchie in
my Kakumi Seiho sake cup, than be
>> putting in sweat equity to
earn square feet on the road.
>>
>> Why is it better to be
a kamikaze pilot than to have
>> a long commute? Because the
kamikaze pilot only
>> has to make the trip
once.
>>
>> \brad
mccormick
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
> <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5366823>
>>
>
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>>
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>
>> >
>>
>>
>>
--
>> Let your light so shine before
men,
>> that
they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
>>
>>
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes
5:21)
>>
>> <![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick,
Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
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>>
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>>
>
>
>
_______________________________________________
> Futurework mailing
list
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>
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt
5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes
5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. /
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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