Words and Palabras

Words shape reality, and I wonder how things would be in the states if newspapers there used "invest" instead of "spend" when they report on government projects. After all, who likes to spend anything? Maybe all those libertarians in Charlotte would finally shut up if we called the light-rail an investment. Well, probably not, since they hate spending money on principle.

But how would the repubicans fare if we said the government was investing in afterschool programs, public transit and education? Would it be as easy for them to cut programs for the poor or public works?

Spanish has a way of tearing away the veneer of English words and getting right at the heart of things. For instance, sprawl is called "desorganisacion urbana." We ought to be using the same precise language when we fight powerful developers who want to plop their stripmalls and freeways in our cities.

We are still trying to learn, and hope to make more sense of the language. I think I'm starting to like it.

Si yo fuera gorbernador de Carolina del Norte

Education has been on our minds lately. Partly because we are, essentially, back in school, and partly because being in another country for so long can bring a new perspective on your own. Also, having lived in Baltimore for 2 years prior to this, we had a good view of the general disnitegration of public education in America. As we walk to and from the city, the conversation usually ends up as a discussion of what we ought ot do with schools back home.

We tend to pride ourselves on valuing education. Certainly school is compulsory to a much older age in the US than in other countries, Mexico included, but what good is compulsory education in a rundown school with overworked, underpaid teachers? We say we value education, but we aren't willing to spend the money. So our schools fall apart, our best teachers leave the profession tired and frustrated after a few years, and our students fall further behind.

So, if I were governor of North Carolina, or whatever state we end up in, I'd put forth the following:

Pay teachers what they're worth: Who wants to stay in a profession that prevents them from ever owning a house of their own or paying off their student loans? Maybe then we can talk about requiring teachers to get master's degrees. After all, if you had a choice between going to school for 6 years to become a teacher or a lawyer, which one would you choose?

Hire more of them: The most students K ever had in one semester at a private school was 64. The most our neighbor, a public school teacher, had was 156. Which teacher is going to be able to help the ones who need the most attention?

Compulsory bilingual classes: Starting in kindergarten, all the way through 12th grade. This isn't Mayberry folks. We're not just competing for businesses and jobs with Richmond and Atlanta anymore. We're fighting with Barcelona, London, New Dehli and Shanghai. We can't be the only ones in the room who speak just one language.

History: Did you know the $ sign originated in the Spanish colonies? And, hey, what the hell was the Mexican-American war anyway? All I ever got was a paragraph and a picture of James K Polk. How can we not know the history of our 2 closest neighbors? Americans know next to nothing about Mexico and Canada, and we're the losers. Better, in-depth American history coupled with extensive North American history can corect that.

Of course, there is so much more that needs to be done, but this is a start.

Stay on Track

So I leave the country for a little while and I find out some pack of libertarian jackals have decided to try to repeal the transit tax. Turns out they don't want to face the fact that they live in a city, not some cute little tax-free small town in some idyllic Ayn Rand oil painting. Oh look, there's Tara S. kicking a dog.

You can't have a city that depends on only one form of transportation. It just won't work, and I'm tired of having to pound the truth into you people. If you don't like paying taxes for huge public works projects, you need to move. Wyoming has almost nobody around. You can shoot your guns at photos of FDR all day there and no one will try to infringe on your right to act like a moron on your own personal property.

But when you live in a major metropolitan area with about 1 million other people, you have to learn to share, and to pitch in from time to time. Things cost money folks. Roads, schools and rails aren't free, but they are all most definitely necessary.

The Great Wall of Texas

Could the republicanos please stop trying to make living in Mexico harder for us?

Sitting in the bus station in San Miguel I got to read all about the big wall they want to build along the border. The post got it right, this will do nothing more than harm our relationship with Mexico, which has gotten to be pretty high on my priority list lately, and damage the environment without doing fuck-all to actually solve the problem.

Instead of trying to build pointless barriers, we need to be working together to figure out how to make things better for both countries. Good fences don't always make good neighbors.