Photographic Memory

Tue, 11 May 2010 02:42:11 +0100

Today was our first day in action here in Tucson. Our close knit group was divided into three and eight of us went to Cesar Chaves Middle School. This is a school comprised of grades 6-12 with about approximately 150 students. Here we began our photography workshop. With the assistance of the University, we were provided with 14 cameras, 2 video-recorders and printers to fasciliate this workshop.

When we first arrived to the school, we were all take aback at the outer appearance. Coming from more affluent institutions, our school buildings were made of brick, concrete and steel. However these buildings were portable trailors placed ontop of stilts. Had it not been for our guide, we would have passed the school grounds, mistaking it for a construction site.

When we entered the school, we were greeted with beautiful smiling faces that were eager to get to know us and see what we had in store for them. I had to opportunity to have a female senior in high school and a male sophmore. The senior had aspirations to attend cosmotology school and be a dental assistant. The young man was fascinated by airplanes and wants to join the air force and fly commercial planes.

We were all instructed to show the students how to use the camera and what makes a great photo. That did not take long and before we knew it, they were showing us around their school grounds. My children, as well as another team member, Faith, wanted to take us to their other building which was a little ways down the street. They bragged about their ground-breaking Mariachi Band (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariachi).

As we toured their school, I fell more and more in love with these kids. We talked more of their dreams and aspirations, and even about their homeland Mexico. They were so opinionated and knowledgeable about the current debates and I was so happy that they were comfortable enough to express themselves to me. I affectionately called them "My Babies" and suggested that we should be pen pals.

Once we all concluded our picture taking for the day, we told the students to choose one photo they would like to print off. We showed them how to print it and add special effects. The duration of our workshop lasted about 2.5 hours and we enjoyed every minute of it.

Today, for me, for all of us, it was reinforced that one's environment does NOT determine one's CHARACTER or QUALITY

The letter that changed all our plans

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:02:34 +0100

It seems fitting to begin this blog with the letter that threw all of us into a tailspin. On April 1st, 2010, the University of Michigan withdrew our permission to travel to Mexico. We have a big challenge ahead--to make this the best trip ever.

Hi all--

I want to let all of you know that the university has withdrawn permission for us to go to Mexico. As we've talked about, Nogales has experienced a lot of violence recently. In the past few weeks, the situation has just become way too volatile and, while the violence is targeted, the possibility of being caught up in a dangerous situation is just too high.

Here is the text of their decision: "The ITOC committee met yesterday to discuss the safety and security situation in northern Mexico. We reviewed reports from the State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), which provides incident reports and analyses on security risks for international travel. On Tuesday I also spoke with the head of the US citizen affairs office at the US consulate in Nogales. On the basis of these reports and my conversation with the consular official, ITOC has concluded that the recent increase in killings, gunfights, armed robberies, roadblocks and other serious incidents in Nogales and other parts of northern Mexico, and the increasing unpredictability of where and when such incidents occur, makes conditions too dangerous to allow University-sponsored student travel. I am emailing you some reports concerning problems in the Nogales area that make clear the risks of travel to the area. We realize that this is a disappointment to you and your GIEU students, and we hope that relocating the Nogales portion of the project to the Tucson area will still allow your students to observe and understand the extraordinary and tragic turbulence that is gripping the US-Mexican border."

WE WILL still work with Borderlinks, but in the Tucson area. AND WE WILL still work on the desert portion of our trip--that does not change at all as a result of the university's decision. Everybody has heard the saying that the Chinese character for crisis is the same as the character for opportunity (is that true, Jessie?). Let's look at this as an opportunity to do something even more amazing.

Now, for the good news: We got the technology grant for the photo workshops and I've asked Borderlinks to find us some kids. We also can have some more free range travel. Finally--the restriction of never going out at night has been lifted.

I hope each of you will inform your parents right away so that those who have been worrying about your travel to Mexico can begin to relax. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me or Libby by phone. You can call or you can text anytime. We'll have a long talk about this on Thursday when we meet (at 7:30 am, room 3752, good breakfast, remember?).

Sherrie