What is this?

These are journal entries and emails from my travels in South America in the winter of 2001-2002. My idea was to publish a book on my travels. But I keep not doing that, not only because of a busy life but because somehow it doesn't seem like a good idea to put that much more paper into the world. Plus, what if no one wants to read it?? I will be posting the manuscript I have been working on for the past few years in segments and in some sort of order, so that you can read through from beginning (oldest post) to end (newest post), or just pick out interesting bits and pieces.

Themes: political awakening, feminism, relationships, travel not tourism, post 9/11 international travel, anthropology, etc.

19 November 2007

They run with smiles on their faces

On the state of student protests, Ecuador 2002

They run with smiles on their faces
dodging tanks and tear gas
they run like children
playing hide and seek
they throw stones at police
in a game with no end
they take classes on the side
studying engineering in any form
optometry, general high school
anything so they can forget
anything to earn money and get ahead
send their children to the US
they run with smiles on their faces
because they get a day off school
they scatter unorganized
while they taunt la policia
they break windows and rip up streets
angry about what
they run with smiles on their faces
playing hooky from school
while the revolution stands cold
they pick their fights carefully
so they can sleep easy
so they can drive cars and wear nike
and then one of them is dead
killed in “battle”
carrying a fake gun and wearing rock wounds on his head
and now there’s a real reason to fight
but everyone’s confused
and they still run with smiles on their faces

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