Home town controversy

Scanning through the headlines on the Guardian website, I found this story, which scared me a little. I used to live around the corner from that school and I think it all boils down to the fact that girls aren't allowed to wear jewellery there. To go to court claiming religious intolerance is just mad. Lydia Playfoot should be a character in Harry Potter...

...speaking of which, I saw the new Harry Potter film on Saturday. The women liked it, the men were apathetic. It wasn't that bad, though (says he in apathetic mode).

I've also just finished another translation, which came in at somewhere over twelve thousand words, so not bad for a week's work. Although I paid the price by being utterly unbearable on Sunday.

Neurótica FM and other stuff

I've just finished a translation for Neurótica.FM, courtesy of my friend Omar. It was great looking up stuff like Effective radiated power for that one. Hopefully, it'll be useful for him.

Classes are looking a bit slack at the moment, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my school will find something useful for me to do. We've got a meeting on Friday with the company running the "virtual study group". Apparently, we have to work on our collective teaching strategy!

I'm stuck in a Chinese restaurant off Tlalpan in the novel at the moment, so I'm hoping I get some free time soon to finish writing that chapter. I imagine the waiters must be getting pretty impatient too.

Translations and photos

I see that one of my translations is now online. It's always weird to look back at translating work again - I end up feeling there are things I could have done better, and some I don't remember writing at all. Still, it's nice to see it published.

Here's a photo of the Zócalo in the city centre, which I snapped on my mobile the other day. No reason, just felt like taking a picture of something so magnificent as I passed on my way back home.

The State of Oaxaca

This is an e-mail I received a couple of weeks ago from a friend whose family lives in Oaxaca. What follows is my humble attempt at translation:

Dear Friends,

Surely by now you have all heard about the incursion/repression of the PFP [Federal Preventive Police] in Oaxaca. The reason I’m writing this e-mail is to tell you that it is not true that the PFP has returned peace to the state, as [President] Fox and some media are saying. My people are going through the worst moments of their lives. The conflict is not the fault of a few ‘louts, thugs or idlers’ (among other commonly used descriptions); the movement arose from perfectly valid motives such as better wages, living conditions, etcetera. This has now gone beyond any leader. Today, nobody wants to go outdoors and people are afraid of being killed. Meanwhile, Ulises [the governor of Oaxaca] maintains his refusal to stand down.

I want you to take a look at Oaxaca and judge what's happening objectively. Don’t be satisfied with what’s being said on television. Yesterday, for example, Denise Maerker interviewed the leaders of the APPO [Popular Assembly for the People of Oaxaca], the teachers and Abascal [the Home Secretary]. She questioned the former and asked nothing of the Home Secretary. Her duty, in my opinion, is to give information about how things happen, not point fingers or make accusations (it was obvious whose side she was on).

Please give this some thought. Why hasn’t Fox sent the PFP to places such as Chihuahua, Guerrero or Michoacán, where drug traffickers have free reign to instil fear in the citizens? Those are places where I believe a firm hand is necessary, not this intimidation of the people of Oaxaca.

Finally, my friends, I leave you to reflect. I feel that it is my civic duty to inform you (my family is living through this, I’m not making it up) and I ask for your moral support.

Nonantzin

Translated by El Pinche Británico