Tag Archives: Mexico

by | April 29, 2015 · 4:45 AM

Being Blonde in Mexico — The North Star Reports – by Jennifer Battcher. Sponsored by The College of St. Scholastica and The Middle Ground Journal

Being Blonde in Mexico — The North Star Reports – by Jennifer Battcher. Sponsored by The College of St. Scholastica and The Middle Ground Journal

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Living in the upper Midwest, I have never thought much about the relatively homogenous society in which I participate. Being pale in many aspects of my appearance has allowed me to fit right in with the majority of people in the surrounding areas. When I was in Mexico, I experienced what it feels like to look different from nearly everyone around. I had been in Mexico several days, paying absolutely no mind to the fact that I looked very different from most of the people there. It never even occurred to me how much I stood out from those within my group, but it certainly occurred to other people.

“Jenny, these guys want to talk to you because you’re blonde,” said a girl in my group while we were out one night. Because you are blonde. Suddenly, I felt so very noticeable and defined by this one glaring feature that set me apart from the rest. Another time, while my traveling group had dinner with a family from the area, the older ladies started to laugh and giggle as a teenage boy’s face turned red. It was translated to me that this boy was wondering if I would take a picture with him because of my blonde hair. As he stood next to me, embarrassed but defiant to get his picture, I felt very on display, again. Like my hair was shouting “I’m different from you! I’m different from you!” Not only were all the Mexican people staring as our picture was snapped, but so was every brown, black and red haired person from my group. They all stood grouped together watching me and my conspicuous hair with emotionless eyes.

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Suddenly my morning routine changed. As I brushed my hair I began to wonder if I should wear it up to hide the blondness or wear it down and embrace my peculiarity.

When I returned to my society of doppelgängers, I started to notice the few people who don’t camouflage in the snow and wonder if they feel as if a spot light shines on them and their features. Some features that stand out aren’t as easily hidden just by putting your hair up. I wonder what kind of comments and experiences they encounter, and if they ever feel like blending in with the crowd.
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Please contact Professor Liang if you wish to write for The North Star Reports — HLIANG (at) css.edu

See also, our Facebook page with curated news articles at http://www.facebook.com/NorthStarReports
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The North Star Reports: Global Citizenship and Digital Literacy, The College of St. Scholastica and the scholarly Middle Ground Journal’s online learning community and outreach program with undergraduate and K-12 classes around the world. The North Star Reports has flourished since 2012. For a brief summary, please see the American Historical Association’s Perspectives on History, at:

http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2013/1305/Opening-The-Middle-Ground-Journal.cfm

The North Star Reports publishes edited essays from our students, particularly from those who are currently stationed, or will soon be stationed abroad. Students have reported from Mongolia, Southern China, Shanghai, northeastern China, The Netherlands, Tanzania, Ireland, England, Finland, Russia, and Haiti. We also have students developing reviews of books, documentaries, and films, and analysis of current events from around the world. We will post their dispatches, and report on their interactions with the North Star Reports students and teachers. We thank The Department of History and Politics and the School of Arts and Letters of The College of St. Scholastica for their generous financial support for The North Star Reports and The Middle Ground Journal.

Hong-Ming Liang, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief, The North Star Reports; Chief Editor, The Middle Ground Journal; Associate Professor of History and Politics, The College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, MN, USA

(c) 2012-present The North Star Reports: Global Citizenship and Digital Literacy http://NorthStarReports.org The NSR is sponsored by The Middle Ground Journal and The College of St. Scholastica. See Masthead for our not-for-profit educational open- access policy. K-12 teachers, if you are using these reports for your classes, please contact editor-in-chief Professor Liang at HLIANG (at) css.edu

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by | January 27, 2015 · 3:46 AM

Bilingualism and being lost in Mexico — The North Star Reports – by Jennifer Battcher. Sponsored by The College of St. Scholastica and The Middle Ground Journal

Bilingualism and being lost in Mexico — The North Star Reports – by Jennifer Battcher. Sponsored by The College of St. Scholastica and The Middle Ground Journal

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I have great respect for people who are fluent in more than one language. Six years of Spanish and a minor in the subject have left me able to understand the teachers of the Spanish Immersion program at the local elementary school as they talk to their second and third grade classes yet completely baffled when they talk to each other. This respect for people who are fluent in more than one language comes not only from trying and minimally succeeding to learn another language, but also from my experiences in Mexico.

I travelled to Mexico on a service learning trip, and one of the activities planned for us was to go out into the city in small groups and try to find our way back to the market. As my group and I wondered around stopping people on the street to ask for directions, I felt lucky that my native language is English. Everyone we stopped to talk to was very patient with me as I butchered conjugations, piecing together questions. When they answered, my mumbled pleas of “más despacio, por favor” (slowly, please) was met with a quick switch to English if they knew it. Using the two languages, we were able to find our way.

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This experience made me realize how incredibly terrifying it must be to arrive in a country of which you don’t speak the language and no one can understand you. Most people we talked to know some English, and my group knew some Spanish, yet we still managed to find ourselves awkwardly wandering through an adult film store on the suggestion of someone to “take a shortcut through this building.” What a privilege it is to fluently speak a language that is well-known across the world.
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Please contact Professor Liang if you wish to write for The North Star Reports — HLIANG (at) css.edu

See also, our Facebook page with curated news articles at http://www.facebook.com/NorthStarReports
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The North Star Reports: Global Citizenship and Digital Literacy, The Middle Ground Journal and The College of St. Scholastica’s collaborative outreach program with K-12 classes around the world. We acknowledge North Star Academy of Duluth, Minnesota as our inaugural partner school, and the flagship of our program. We also welcome Duluth East High School and other schools around the world. The North Star Reports has flourished since 2012. For a brief summary, please see the American Historical Association’s Perspectives on History, at:

http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2013/1305/Opening-The-Middle-Ground-Journal.cfm

The North Star Reports publishes edited essays from our students, particularly from those who are currently stationed, or will soon be stationed abroad. Students have reported from Mongolia, Southern China, Shanghai, northeastern China, The Netherlands, Tanzania, Ireland, England, Finland, Russia, and Haiti. We also have students developing reviews of books, documentaries, and films, projects on historical memory, the price individuals pay during tragic global conflicts, and analysis of current events from around the world. We will post their dispatches, and report on their interactions with the North Star Reports students and teachers.

Hong-Ming Liang, Ph.D., Chief Editor, The Middle Ground Journal, Associate Professor of History and Politics, The College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, MN, USA

(c) 2012-present The North Star Reports: Global Citizenship and Digital Literacy http://NorthStarReports.org The NSR is sponsored by The Middle Ground Journal and The College of St. Scholastica. See Masthead for our not-for-profit educational open- access policy. K-12 teachers, if you are using these reports for your classes, please contact chief editor Professor Liang at HLIANG (at) css.edu

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by | September 21, 2014 · 3:35 AM

In The Mexican Mountains — The North Star Project Reports, sponsored by The Middle Ground Journal. By Jennifer Battcher

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In The Mexican Mountains — The North Star Project Reports, sponsored by The Middle Ground Journal. By Jennifer Battcher

I spent two weeks traveling in Mexico with a group on a service learning trip. One day, we visited a family of artisans in their home in the mountains. Their house was one room and the walls were made of branches. The floor was dirt. It was one in the afternoon and the family was just finishing their first and only meal of the day – tomatoes and lettuce. It was very important to them that they provided enough places to sit for all of their guests and, as I sat down on the bed in the corner, I couldn’t stop myself from wondering if there were bugs in the mattress. The father of the family knelt on the dirt floor and wove palm branches as he spoke to us about how his family members are artisans. As the branches bent and twisted in his expert hands, he talked about the baskets and other things they made to sell in the city. It was amazing to see all the things they could create by twisting palm leaves.

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I was sitting next to their daughter, who was holding her beautiful new baby boy. The father explained to us how they were having trouble affording formula for the baby, which they needed because the mother was unable to produce enough milk. As I looked around at their stick walls, dirt floor, and meager meal, I saw up close what absolute poverty looks like. Of course, I had been prepared to see this. After all, the purpose of our service learning trip was to educate us about these types of conditions, and we had visited other families in other parts of Mexico already. However, I saw something else in that house that I wasn’t expecting to see and it was overflowing from every inch of that one-room home. It caught me by surprise as I saw it on the father’s face, in the mother’s actions. I saw it as the family showed how they make baskets out of palm branches. I saw it in every corner of that dirt floor, every small proud smile of the new mama as she accepted compliments about her baby: This house was brimming with happiness. In the midst of terrible poverty was a calm and steady joy. They were together, they had their family, and they were happy. I will never forget that family and, as I settle into my life, getting older and acquiring more stuff, I keep them in mind. They had such contentment with so few possessions to call their own, so certainly I can be happy without the latest fashions and trendiest styles. This family is wiser than most and understood a concept it takes some people many years to figure out. Stuff will not fulfill your life; material things do not bring happiness. People, family, and experiences bring happiness.
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Please contact Professor Liang if you wish to contribute to The North Star Project Reports — HLIANG@CSS.EDU

For all of the North Star Project Reports, see https://mgjnorthstarproject.wordpress.com/
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The North Star Project Reports: The Middle Ground Journal’s collaborative outreach program with K-12 classes around the world. We acknowledge North Star Academy of Duluth, Minnesota as our inaugural partner school, and the flagship of our K-12 outreach program. We also welcome Duluth East High School, Duluth Denfeld High School, Dodge Middle School and other schools around the world to the North Star Project. The North Star Project has flourished since 2012. For a brief summary, please see the American Historical Association’s Perspectives on History, at:

http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2013/1305/Opening-The-Middle-Ground-Journal.cfm

https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/january-2014/embracing-oa-universities-adopt-open-access-policies-for-faculty-journal-publications

The Middle Ground Journal will share reports from our North Star Project student interns, particularly from those who are currently stationed, or will soon be stationed abroad. Student interns have reported from Mongolia, Southern China, Shanghai, northeastern China, The Netherlands, Tanzania, Ireland, England, Finland, Russia, and Haiti. We also have students developing presentations on theatrical representations of historical trauma, historical memory, the price individuals pay during tragic global conflicts, and different perceptions of current events from around the world. We will post their dispatches here, and report on their interactions with the North Star Project students and teachers.

Hong-Ming Liang, Ph.D., Chief Editor, The Middle Ground Journal, Associate Professor of History and Politics, The College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, MN, USA

(c) 2013-present The Middle Ground Journal. See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

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