unkown histories, unknown lives

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Monday June 09, 2008 · 7:26 PM PDT

2008/06/09 · 19:26

When I was in high school, the anthropologist Leo Chavez was working in my hometown of Carlsbad, California, on an ethnographic study of a community of migrants who were living in a small valley just off of El Camino Real.

anders 75

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Tuesday January 22, 2008 · 1:59 PM PST

2008/01/22 · 13:59

So I was just talking with one of my friends. He's from Spain, and just got back from a visit there. In Spain, he told me, people talk about politics as if were a sport--all the time. He jokingly said that many people there talk much more about the upcoming elections in the US than Americans do.

Of course there is an element of exaggeration in what he is saying, but there is also an element of truth. In my experiences, it is pretty damn difficult to raise the ever-controversial subject of politics--especially among the wrong group of people. Of course, it's always pretty easy to bring up politics among friends who safely echo our opinions, right? But why is it so difficult these days to for people with opposing views to discuss politics?

anders 75

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Monday January 21, 2008 · 4:52 PM PST

2008/01/21 · 16:52

I grew up playing baseball, and I was pretty damn good at it too. I always made the all-star team, and I played up through high school. Growing up I went to Angels games as much as I could, and I was enamored with the likes of Bobby Grich, Bob Boone, Rod Carew, and Freddy Lynn. I remember watching a past-his-prime Reggie Jackson belt homers out of Anaheim Stadium, the whole stadium chanting his name. When I was a kid, all I wanted was to be a professional baseball player. It held so much power and importance for me in those days. But that didn't last forever.

In 1994, the year of the big strike in baseball, I was 19 years old. My appreciation of baseball in the previous few years had diminished somewhat, mostly due to my new interest in surfing--which I had taken up at the age of 12. The strike in '94 was the end of the line for my respect of professional sports. This had less to do with the sports themselves than the ways that our society obsessed over them and deified their participants. It all seemed so ridiculous to me...all of that money and energy being spent on a simple game.

anders 75

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Tuesday June 12, 2007 · 5:42 PM PDT

2007/06/12 · 17:42

Sometimes I wonder whether or not history matters. Being a graduate student in anthropology, I sometimes wonder whether I'm wasting my time by pondering distant, abstract realities which have no real use in the contemporary world. Sometimes it seems that maybe the past isn't all that important, and that understanding it holds little relevance today.

And then I read another headline, watch another news report, or read another book about another international problem with long-held roots. These problems, these wars, these political disasters...they didn't just appear from a black hole, you know (I know you know). As Utah Philips said, "The past didn't go anywhere." It's here, everyday, and it's critically important that we understand how it relates to our present realities.

anders 75

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Wednesday February 08, 2006 · 12:47 PM PST

2006/02/08 · 12:47

In looking at the current situation that exists between the Middle East and the United States, there are certain "analysts" who boil down the entire problem to one essential: Islam is a religion of evil, and is completely incompatible with civilization. I know, it is a nice theory isn't it? Although this "Evil Islam" theory is extremely well thought out, rational, and nuanced, there might indeed by other ways of looking at the causes of terrorism and violence that are so prevalent in the Middle East. Let's use Iraq as an example... Read More

An Anthropological White House?

anders 75

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Saturday February 04, 2006 · 9:00 AM PST

2006/02/04 · 09:00

Look, I am fully aware of that fact that Maureen Dowd is by no means the favorite writer of the conservative crowd. And there are reasons why. In this article, which was recently written for the New York Times, I think she has struck upon a great idea. The White House should consider hiring anthropologists. Let me tell you why... Read More

Debating Conservatives...or My Stupid New Habit

anders 75

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Thursday February 17, 2005 · 9:57 PM PST

2005/02/17 · 21:57

So it was about two months ago that I came up with this insane idea: Maybe if I address Conservatives politely, and engage in relatively civil debate, I will be able to better understand them, and their perspective.

I really wanted to know more about them, and about their beliefs. You see, for me personally, the national discourse between Americans has gone a little too haywire for me. There really is a lot of hatred being thrown around.

So, I started posting on a popular Conservative blog, and I made myself stick to a basic rule: maintain civility at all costs. That hasnt always been easy. (more below)
Read More

Divisions

anders 75

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Sunday January 23, 2005 · 12:27 PM PST

2005/01/23 · 12:27

I remember what some people I knew were saying right after 9/11. They were advocating things like turning the entire Middle East into "a glass parking lot" and other violent ideas. I remember the stories about Americans who were going around attacking people who looked "Middle Eastern".

It surprises me when people start to become the very enemy that they profess to be against. How quickly some of us turned from grief and shock to rage and bigotry. And it's still going on these days.

Personally, I don't subscribe to the belief that all Muslims, all followers of Islam are evil fanatics who want to kill all Americans. Some buy into it; I don't. I find that analysis to be downright assinine. To me, spreading stereotypes and generalities about large groups of people only creates more problems and does nothing to address the issues at hand. More Below: Read More

Radical Idea: No Hatred

anders 75

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Thursday December 30, 2004 · 2:28 PM PST

2004/12/30 · 14:28

(This entry is as much to myself as to anyone else.) A few weeks ago I drove down to San Diego to visit friends. My car doesnt get very good radio reception, so often I listen to anything I can get. I was somewhere around Santa Barbara when I tuned in the Michael Savage show, which I had heard of, but never listened to.

The man was so full of hatred and bigotry that I couldnt belive that anyone would listen to him. He was full of anger, spite, and venom. Any caller who expressed moderate disagreement with his views was verbally flayed and bashed beyond belief.

At that moment I recalled some of the words that have come out of the mouth of the likes of say, Michael Moore...just as inflammatory, just as sensational, and just as wrong, in my opinion. And I thought, hmmmm...If I talk about people with the same hatred, with the same one-sided, self-righteous attitude, am I any better??? Answer below. Read More

Martin Luther King's Message...Powerful Then, and NOW

anders 75

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Wednesday December 29, 2004 · 4:25 PM PST

2004/12/29 · 16:25

On April fourth, 1967, Reverend Martin Luther King gave a speech at meeting of the group "Clergy and Laity Concerned" at the Riverside Church in New York City. Their "concern" was the war in Vietnam.

King's speech was about breaking the silence.

As I read through it I was struck by how powerful King's words are, and the fact that his message resonates strongly with our current war in Iraq. The link is below the fold, along with a few excerpts. Read More

History: The Bracero Program 1942-1964

anders 75

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Thursday December 23, 2004 · 6:45 PM PST

2004/12/23 · 18:45

Yesterday I posted a diary that was about Immigration, and during the discussion I posted a comment in which I recommended "something like the Bracero Program" as a possible solution to the issue.

Well, now that I have looked into what that program really was all about, I realize that my suggestion was terribly misinformed.

Here's some of what I found, for anyone interested: (more below) Read More

California, Immigration, and Reality

anders 75

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Wednesday December 22, 2004 · 12:31 PM PST

2004/12/22 · 12:31

Wonderful. It's the season of good cheer and kindness and love. Right? Wrong.

I was just down in San Diego visiting friends, and the debate about illegal immigration is in full swing. Many people seem to feel that illegal immigrants are a drain to the economy, and that they take jobs away from people.

I've had enough. More below. Read More

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unkown histories, unknown lives

The Political Taboo

Professional Sports: Pastime or meaningless diversion from real life?

Good and Evil, Past and Present

Two Perspectives

An Anthropological White House?

Debating Conservatives...or My Stupid New Habit

Divisions

Radical Idea: No Hatred

Martin Luther King's Message...Powerful Then, and NOW

History: The Bracero Program 1942-1964

California, Immigration, and Reality