Just Hanging Around
Trip Start
Jun 11, 2005
1
5
33
Trip End
Sep 01, 2005
Guanajuato,
Mexico
Thursday, June 16, 2005
There are quite a few more people staying at the hostel now. There's a girl staying there that is a writer for Let's Go (Ironic? No. Interesting? Yes.) She's pretty cool. I knew Let's Go was a Harvard publication, but what I didn't realize is that they only hire people from Harvard to write for them. Actually, they don't even hire them. They just pay for your trip. It looks like it's a lot of work. I don't know how great of a deal it is. But I told her about Cliff's bigotry toward her publication. She wasn't heart broken or anything. So a couple of guys from my dorm and I have hung out with her the last few nights
01 Quiet Street
. Watching her research and collect information is an interesting process. But she has to go to EVERY bar in town which is kind of a pain in the ass. Everyone I've met here is pretty cool. Wait, I've got another Cliff story...
The uber liberal Cliff asked me if I listened to rap music. I said yes. He looked shocked, like I just told him I eat live baby seals with a grapefruit spoon. I have to point out for journalists and journalism students, censorship is an interesting subject. It's a First Amendment thing. Anyway, Cliff says he thinks rap music should be banned, not only from public airwaves, but it should cease to be created and no longer exist. I said that was a pretty rash solution and that whether he liked it or not, it was as much of an art form as other music and was a protected form of expression. He told me he didn't like it because it encouraged violence. I said so did war and clandestine military operations across the globe. He looked at me like the baby seal was still in my lap, but this time with disgust and disdain.
The other day I was on a bus that was stuck in traffic. I was staring out the window and watching this woman setting up an impromptu vegetable stand on some stone stairs leading into a little alley
02 Old Woman
. I watched as she engaged in a sisyphus-like struggle with these bell peppers. She would place them on the top and they'd tumble down the few steps to the ground. She'd pick them up, place them on top of the pile, and they'd bounce down once again. Watching other's misfortune has never entertained me. I don't like watching people get kicked in the groin, or get beat up on cops, or any of the other sadism that entertains a lot of people. So watching this woman struggle with her vegetables didn't please me. Except that she wasn't at all bothered by it. In the minute I watched her, she never altered the way she placed the peppers back on the pile. She never made a special effort to keep this same result from happening again and again. I guess it was just a part of her day. Neither good nor bad. It's just something she does. And sheŽll continue to do it. Day after day. Month after month. Year after year. Well, I can't find a school here, so I'm probably going to end up in San Miguel for a month. It'll be cool though. Not real authentic, but it will be fine. I just finished Providence by Daniel Quinn (the Ishmael guy). It's pretty good. A little self-indulgent at times, but it's good. That's it. I'm out.
