"Chingona is a term that signifies power- a "bad ass" or strong woman. However, this term is highly contested amongst Raza Womyn because some feel that the root word, "chingar" which translates into "to fuck" continues to signify patriarchal notions of power. Others argue that there are multiple meanings of "chingar" and "Chingona," and they seek to self-define and empower the use of the term. To them, a Chingona is a strong, fierce woman. Because of the conflicting views and inability to agree on the use of the term, Chingona had not been used in any of the conference titles although it had been suggested for three consecutive years until this spring, 2004. In line with the Muxerista consciousness of the space, the women respected the different convictions shared about the term and because they had not come to a consensus, they did not use it previously. "
MUXERISTA PEDAGOGY: Raza Womyn Teaching Social Justice Through Student Activism [View in PDF] The High School Journal - Volume 87, Number 4, April-May 2004, pp. 80-94 – Article
Ali, Katy and I went to Otavalo this morning and I bought a last handful of swag, though said swag cost more than usual due to it being Carnaval out here... which in most of Ecuador means everyone throws water, flour, and foam at everyone else. Makes for messy funtimes. From there I headed straight to band practice, first time I saw my boys in about two months, and in a matter of hours my dear old moo is landing into downtown Quito.
Can I just say that life has been very very good to me lately?
And ooooooh man I am giddy with how soon I get to see my friends. For the curious folks out there, I will be touching down in Dee-troit city on March 4th at 11:46 am.
I will most likely be jet lagged to all hell, considering the first flight I´m taking leaves around 9 pm on March 3rd.
Things I am looking forward to, in absolutely no order:
- wearing high heels, long gloves, and the rest of the swanky gear I left behind - ethnic food - food with spice to it in general - Hilary Ann`s bridesmaid party - my hot tub - my family, complete with cat and poodle - visiting the K kids - setting up my dorm at K, living with the divine miss Harpe and also hopefully Brady - visiting non-K friends, including a certain whiny jew who lives in Chicago - having computer genius next door neighbor fix my lappy 500 - clothes shoppiiiiiing for jeans that actually fit me and whatnot - taking creative writing - hey have I mentioned friends yet? Because seriously. EDIT hey what about - MY CDs - MY BOOKS - Comic books for sale that aren´t Spiderman or the X-Men (no offense, theromancandle, resolute) - going out dancing for FREE at the Metro (oh please Amy don´t tell me that policy changed) - K college parties, in all of our quirky glory - being back in a country that allows abortion (for now) and is more progressive in terms of gay rights and women´s rights (not that that takes much in comparison to most any Latin American country)
Things I am going to miss horribly, also in no order:
- my host family, especially my little sister. she is wondrous. - DVDs that cost 2 dollars, often 1 dollar - manicures that cost 3 dollars, sometimes 2 - beauty shtuff in general being so cheap - my band and its boys. - getting anywhere in a cab for under 5 dollars - taking busses that cost 25 cents - being able to walk absolutely everywhere, independence in general - oh god the scenery, animals, and perpetual springtime climate - yuca, pan de yuca - yogurt the way they make it here - fresh squeezed fruit juice of every variety imaginable - cheap food. cheap clothes. cheap everything. - the stress-free schooling with minimal work
EDIT but also - drinking legally - actual youth scene outside of college campuses - excellent public transportation all around - amazing museums - shrunken heads, inca ruins, and street vendors - speaking Spanish everywhere
applied to Bodega Marine Laboratories and California Academy of Sciences for internships.
will apply to WMU ontime for an internship, though must wait til back in grasp of K ID so I can check my damn GPA and give it to them.
that´s three.
To feel safe, I want to apply to at least five, which I thought I had once I added in the LA museum of natural history and Humboldt University. Unfortunately, NEITHER are offering internship opportunities this year ... so they freaking post NOW, once most applications to universities are already due.
BOOHISS.
Furthermore, most other SIPs with a stipend will have applications due by early march... which means its too late for me to get my shit together.
DOUBLEBOOHISS.
Though hey, Rich Moii of the California Academy of Sciences seemed to like me well enough, so here´s hoping I get that... even though my favorite option is no longer available. There´s still some fun projects, possibly even sequencing black widow DNA...
but dude... once I get back to Kalamazoo I should start looking for other internships as a security net ASAP.
Just got an email from my Tropical Rainforest Ecology prof...
I got an A in the class, babes!
Victory, thy name is Lenya.
And heeeeey busy day tomorrow, what with a band practice at 4 and then picking up my mama and everlovin gmar at 10:24.... so excited that my body is buzzing.
as of ten minutes ago, this is how I look. Hey mom, maybe it will help you find me at the airport? Heh.
You can´t really see because of the lighting in here, but what was once a smallish freckle on my cheek is now, thanks to the power of filthy equator sunlight, much more like a beauty mark. Makes me feel like a retro movie star.
So, internet no longer exists at my hostparent´s house, and my laptop´s wireless card has decided to not function properly.
So I´m at a net cafe when I should be using deliciously free intarwub. BOO.
My host sister is still the coolest person ever, and continues to be my Batman-viewing partner as well as assistant room-cleaner and tickle fighter.
Really, though, I just got on to post that I had the coolest subject title in an email today, from my college´s announcement system of all places: it was titled "Earthlings, Secrets".
Unfortunately, the email did not live up to the title.
Based on the past two weeks of my life, I have concluded that the Galápagos islands are pretty much the best places ever. I laid out on white coral beaches with baby sea lions and hermit crabs, walked down lava tunnels that were beyond pitch black, swam with sharks and pufferfish, and saw about 8 different species of iguana. Today we visited the Charles Darwin Research Foundation, dropping in on Lonesome George, who is a local legend. See, George is the last known member of his species, and so efforts are being made to get him to reproduce... but he doesn´t want to. Put female turtles in his pen (same genus, different species), and he shows no interest, nevermind that most turtles will try to mate with rocks. They even imported some fancy smancy attractive Swedish biologist to, um, manually stimulate said turtle in order to get his sperm and perform artificial insemination.
No luck.
Now, if that didn´t make you laugh or squirm yet, consider the fact that turtle sex takes two to three HOURS, and so this lady, for six months of her life, spent two to three hours every afternoon and evening servicing this turtle. And if that weren´t bad enough, she didn´t even succeed.
Worst job ever.
Now, he´s on a special diet to boost his sex drive. Apparently, papayas are good for boosting male hormones -- and interestingly enough, have the opposite effect on the ladies. Unfortunately, they taste pretty gross.
There is a whole lot of effort being put into getting this turtle to mate, and some hilarious articles out there, one of which is from newsweek -- I recommend employing the power of Google or NexusLexus or somethin´somethin´.
Speaking of turtles, this afternoon we´re heading out to Tortuga Bay to get some final swimming in before we head back to Quito tomorrow morning. I am going to miss these islands...
So, our boat is amazing. Large and white and with perfect deck chairs for soaking up sun. Also, warm showers with perfect water pressure. Also also, I have never slept so deeply in my life.
I belive I am experiencing what one would call "the good life".
Snorkeling every day, playing cards every night, and amazing adventures with friends. No complaints.
Today we went to the post office barrel originated by pirates, which, if it functions properly, should result in hand-delivered postcards to the parentals and also Ben. After mailing our cards, we went into this giant cave formed from lava, deep underground, that leads out to the ocean. All of us stood there in the dark, then got real cutesy and formed a circle holding hands, taking turns saying what we like about every person in the circle. A personal favorite of mine was, after Ali talking about admiring the way I attack life with enthusiasm, Alex commented that I "get a lot out of life... and the most out of death."
Tonight, we're having an anti-talent show where we show off things we're horrible at. I'm attempting to do a push-up. Alex, Sean, and Eric are going to do a thug rap dissing on all of us, and I've been recruited to give them sweet tattoos. I already drew Alex a chestpiece of a skull smoking a blunt that says "thug life"... the things kids do for fun these days.
heh.
Basically, everything is perfect. Right down to sunsets over turquoise water.
Laura Andersen, Director of Human Resources, alerted the Center for Career Development of a fabulous internship opportunity which she thought would be wonderful for a K graduate. The internship occurs for 3 months in the summer and involves writing about science and technology for The Economist Magazine in London.
Please note that applications must be received by The Economist by Thursday, February 22. So don't wait if you're interested in doing something out of the ordinary over the summer!
***************************** The Richard Casement internship From The Economist print edition We invite applications for the 2007 Richard Casement internship. This is for a would-be journalist to spend three months of the summer working on the newspaper in London, writing about science and technology. Our aim is more to discover writing talent in a science student than scientific aptitude in a budding journalist. Applicants should write a letter introducing themselves, along with an original article of about 600 words that they think would be suitable for publication in the Science and technology section. They should be prepared to come for an interview in London or New York, at their own expense, but a small stipend will be paid to the successful candidate.
... of course, I'm not technically a senior. But depending on when the program is, I might be able to do it... I should at least look. Because HELLOOOOO writing in LONDON.
At minimum, I can pass this along to other K kids.
so this keyboard does not have apostraphes, question marks, or exclamation points, so my entry will have to be very unenthusiastic. Also, not very funny.
I r leaving on big boat for six days in ocean. Hopefully, we will not sink but instead return triumphant from seeing more sharks and possibly penguins. Which rhymes.
Love to all and possibly a bit of gloating over floating around in 80 degree weather while you shake in snow.
So, we went out to Jatun Sacha today, which is a center that works on the reforestation of native plants as well as other community projects, and I was stalked by dogs.
Seriously.
Every other student there was a self-proclaimed dog person, and I, the lone cat fancier of the bunch, was the one followed by both of the farm's dogs. They followed me the whole time I was walking, and during lunch both of them slept at my feet, one using my shoes as a pillow.
...this makes sense HOW?
Any other not-dog people out there tend to get followed by canines?
Also, the flies up there leave bites that you can't feel but bleed like crazy. I look like freak midget vampires have gang-suckled me.
Also Also, I registered for my classes. Yeeeeehaw! I am really excited about creative writing.
Today has been the best day of all of Study Abroad, so far. We left at 8 am for Isla de Los Lobos, which is where even more sea lions hang out -- we snorkled with them, at least 20 of them, and it was incredible. There was a rope tied down to a nearby rock, and four or five of them were playing tug of war with it, and all of the babies were swimming around us, spinning in summersaults and occasionally just stopping, mid float, at the bottom of the water to stare up at us. One of them was very curious, and came up and sniffed at all of us, so close that its whiskers were tickling our skin -- it started by snuffling at my outstretched hand, then when I turned it swam around and started inspecting my shoulder.
We also walked around the actual Isla de Los Lobos, where the female marine iguanas were digging nests and laying eggs, and the males were doing the headbob courtship business. The frigate birds were also courting, so we saw a giant black bird soaring around with its red throat pouch puffed out and rippling, balloonlike, in the wind.
After the isla, we sailed out to Leon Dormido for some more snorkeling, where we saw a fur seal, three green sea turtles, lots of galapagos sharks, some manta rays, AND a hammerhead. Also, a pufferfish. Apparently we had incredible luck, because normally the water is too murky to see much, and hammerheads aren't around that often. Ali got a great picture on her camera of me swimming after a green sea turtle (her camera's waterproof), so once that gets uploaded post-trip I will definitely be posting it.
At our final stop we went to the best beach on San Cristobal, with ultrafine white sand, perfect turquoise water, red mangrove trees and an amazing view.
... of course, my skin is now only slightly less red than a cherry slurpee, but it was all immensely, incredibly worth it.
We drove out to la loberia today, which is a beach where lots of sea lions sunbathe on the rocks -- and there were tons of babies, which are, I am fairly sure, the cutest creatures ever to exist ever. Lightfoot crabs were running all over the rocks, and a bit further down we ran into a marine iguana, which reminds me of a miniaturized godzilla. Or a reptilian bouncer for some exclusive club. This thing is all muscle. We swam around for awhile, with one of the sea lions briefly keeping us company, but mostly it was just great to walk around the rocks and check out all of the sea lion babies. By the way, these animals are all LOUD -- constantly bleating, shrieking, whining, and roaring. Unless they're soaking up sun, during which they flop belly up like a dog or cat and lay in lumps that blend in with the rocks.
The weather was amazing today, with lots of sun but no overbearing heat, and the water is still a perfect turquoise that you can see through. Makes me pity you Michiganders back home flopping through snow. If it's any consolation, I'm thoroughly sunburnt, and not for lack of putting on sunblock. It's that whole Equator-line sun strength... it destroys me.
I got a letter back from the California Academy of Sciences -- my dream REU working on the tree of spiders is no longer an option, as the professor involved withdrew, but they said I am in their database for the other projects I listed as alternate choices. I have not heard anything from Bodega Marine Lab yet, but I will keep you all posted.
Today the kalama-kids all went snorkeling, and lemmetellyou we saw some amazing things, including giant schools of tropical fish, a sea tortoise, and urchins. My favorite thing, though, was when sea lions would slide into the water and then dart around us in circles and paths, sometimes coming within inches of our faces only to swerve away if we reached out a hand.
We climbed frigate hill, a large mound of volcanic rock, and from there hit the second snorkel site, which is where we found all the sea lions. We had ascended during the rain, and by the time we were heading in from our swim, there was this fantastic rainbow over the hill. Also, a giant pelican and heaps and heaps of sea lions. And of course, the requisite blue footed boobies.
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