A Village Away from Home

From KUOW.org ...



"Imagine what would happen if you picked up a village in rural Mexico and transplanted it in Seattle's suburbs. Something similar is underway in South Seattle – a village within the city is emerging. The Seattle area has recently become a top destination for the indigenous Purepecha people from the rural hill–towns of central Mexico. Their native language, culture and traditional lifestyle are vanishing in parts of Mexico, but reappearing here. In this five–part series, A Village Away From Home, Reporter Liz Jones traces this migration trend from the Mexican sierra, to Seattle's fast–paced suburbs."

[I'm quoted in one of the segments, in my capacity as a Spanish interpreter, because I interpret for many Purépecha people at White Center Public Health.]

Rally to End the War, Bring the Troops Home!

Wednesday March 19th at 6pm, Westlake Plaza
4th Ave & Pine St. in Downtown Seattle
Join Jobs with Justice and our other membership organizations to mourn and protest the 5th Anniversary of the Iraqi war.

The U.S. Government has been at war in Iraq since 2003. In these five years our government has spent over $400 billion on the Iraq war. Tax dollars that normally would have gone to healthcare, education and affordable housing instead are being diverted to pay for this war. In Washington State over $10 billion have been diverted to the war. In

Seattle alone almost one billion dollars has been diverted.

That means that Washington residents are losing out on affordable and quality healthcare, education, housing and living wage jobs.

End the War Now! Bring Home the Troops Today!

Honk Fest West!

THE RADICAL MARCHING BAND FESTIVAL


COMING TO SEATTLE MARCH 21 - 23

Jake in Algeria

My friend Jake is doing research in North Africa, and has posted a fascinating summary and photos of his recent trip through the Sahara. Here's a snippet of his writing:

To get by, Tuaregs have had to adapt their traditional practices of trans-Saharan trading to the new globalized economy. Instead of salt, cigarettes now come across the open desert, often in small convoys carrying a million dollars of the contraband. Instead of gold, drugs are coming from South America to West Africa through the Sahara to Europe; a billion dollar trade, and every local official up to the highest generals has a finger in the pie. Instead of slaves, waves of desperate African youth try to reach the shores of Europe on their own, via long and perilous journeys through the Sahara. They work their way from desert town to desert town to make enough money to pay for the deadly passage to Europe, either the straight of Gibraltar from Morocco or Italy from Libya.

Click on the headline above for more.

RAFFLE TICKETS! GREAT PRIZES!

To raise funds for my upcoming research trip to Spain, I have put together a raffle that will be drawn on Saturday, April 5. The prizes include:

Latest additions:

The Spanish Table Cookbook, from the delicious store by the same name

Bicycle tune-up (an $85 value!) ~ 20/20 Cycles (Central District)

Chocolate bars from Theo Chocolates ~
all locally produced & Fair Trade Certified
* One Origin Ivory Coast 75% cocoa bar
* One organic Coffee & 65% dark chocolate bar
* One organic Fig, Fennel & Almond 65% dark chocolate bar

One hour massage ~ Elizabeth Chaison, LMP (Capitol Hill)

Pitcher of sangría ~ Gaudí, a Catalan restaurant (Ravenna)

$20 gift certificate ~ BluWater Bistro (five locations)

"This Is What Democracy Looks Like" DVD ~ Corrugated Films/Jill Freidberg

"Grain of Sand" DVD ~ Corrugated Films/Jill Freidberg

"A Little Bit of So Much Truth" DVD ~ Corrugated Films/Jill Freidberg

Crab enchilada dinner for six, with wine, delivered ~ Bernal

Two hours of Spanish lessons ~ Natalia Morales

Two hours consultation and help in organic gardening ~ Backyard Bounty/Leonard Wainstein

Photographic print, "Cairn" ~ Carina del Rosario

"Who Are We? Investigations & Findings. A Workbook with 7-inch record"
~ Vis-À-Vis Society

Tea and handcrafted mug by Barbara Dunshee ~ donated by Shelley Gillespie

Bound story-collage, "Jenkins' Memory Store" ~ Shelley Gillespie

$20 Gift certificate ~ Café Rozella (White Center)




Tickets are $2 each. More prizes may be added before the drawing date, so check back here. Some restrictions apply (e.g. many prizes must be redeemed in Seattle). Please email me for details at jeremy at riseup dot net.