Cathedrals, Bank Lines, The Disappeared And Their Killers

I really owe you more than pictures, but it’s hard keeping track of and sorting out my impressions and what I’ve been told.  People I see on the streets - what they look like, what they wear, their constant cell phone use - look exactly like the people I see in the US.  Pizza and hamburguesas and beer are among the most popular foods here in Cordoba. But these folks live among buildings that, in a few cases, go back to the 1500s.  They walk down narrow streets with little shops on every block - at least in this neighborhood - with fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs, and a few other items, that are right next to bakeries with all sorts of decadent sweets.  There’s history here (not counting the original people prior to European conquest) that makes even the US east coast seem young.

Argentina has free health care and free higher education.

US citizens have a way of feeling superior to the rest of the world, but there’s more to culture than military superiority.  Of course, this is what I’ve discovered every time I’ve been to a new (for me) part of the world.  People are people.  And everywhere you go there are very smart, sophisticated people.  People with great common sense and wisdom.  And there are jerks.  When we were surveyed at the airport by someone from a tourism agency, we were asked to rate a number of things.  I asked if we were going to be asked about the people.  No, we weren’t.  Well, I said, you should ask us.  The people were absolutely the best part of our trip.  Tolerant of my terrible Spanish and always wanting to know “De desde son?”  Where are you from?  And Alaska always elicits a smile and ‘frio.’

That said, here are the pictures.  These are two days old.  We walked up to Plaza San Martin, the center of Córdoba, Argentina’s second largest city.  While we were at the Museum of Memories, a group came in with a guide speaking in English and when we listened in we got invited to join.  It’s a company that puts on free tours - it’s up to you to decide what to pay the guide.  The group was mostly Spanish speakers and the English speakers got a much shorter version.  And two dropped out during the two hour plus tour, leaving just us.

But first here’s a picture from our 8th floor balcony.  Airbnb had a two bedroom apartment  for under $50 a night.  It’s by far the most spacious place we’ve stayed.  Well, the Buenos Aires homestay was bigger, but we didn’t have it to ourselves.            

  

I couldn’t pass up the shadows - also from the balcony.

 

This is the inside of the main Cathedral on Plaza San Martin.  If you’ve been reading the blog lately, you’ve  heard this name before.  San Martin, someone said, was the George Washington of Argentina.  But he was more than that.  Besides getting Argentina free from Spain, he did the same in Chile.  Then passed the torch to Simon Bolivar in Peru.

Here’s a view of the plaza. It’s much warmer here in central Argentina.  Up to about 70˚F in the afternoon.

    

Here’s the cathedral from the plaza.

Construction of the Cathedral began in 1582 according to Wikipedia and it was finished in 1709.  For the historically challenged, the Mayflower got to North America in 1620 and George Washington was born in 1732.

If you look closely below, you can see a long line of people at the bank.  We’ve seen shorter lines before and asked.  Someone suggested about a Friday lineup that people were getting money out for the weekend and wanted to get their money in case the ATMs ran out of money over the weekend.  In this case, it was Tuesday after a holiday weekend.  (This is here because it was on the way to Plaza San Martin.)

 

The Museum of the Memories is in a former detention and torture center from the 1970s when the government rounded up suspected opponents.


The Free Tour guide (in the red in the center) said about 30,000 people disappeared.  Tortured to death, shot, and others were  thrown out of airplanes over the ocean.  Children were kidnapped and given to other families.  I knew some of this.  Netflix has The Official Story up - well it’s here in Spanish without English subtitles.  It’s about this period.

 I was going to save this museum for a post all its own, but I have so many backed up photos I should just put it up.  It’s a chilling account.  30,000 people is a tiny fraction of the population.  But if it’s your son or daughter or husband, it’s everything.  And all the relatives and friends and acquaintances of 30,000 people is enough to spread terror among millions of others that they will be next.  Sort of like undocumented Americans waiting for ICE to knock on their doors.
 
Buzzfeed reported in May that over 52,000 people were being held in ICE detention centers.  The vast majority of these are decent, innocent people fleeing violence in their own countries.  But the Trump administration is full of heartless people who easily rationalize the evil they are doing.  Here is a picture of some of their Argentinian colleagues from the 70s and 80s.

.  The guide mentioned that the detention center that houses the museum is right next to the cathedral and part of the cabildo - the main government building of the province.  Both were complicit.  

Here are a few more memories.

This giant (5 or 6 feet high) fingerprint is made up of names of the disappeared. There were several more such fingerprints on the wall.    

A courtyard in the detention center.

A poster about one of the young women who disappeared.

Another victim.

And interrogation room, I think.

The difference between what happened in Chile and what’s happening today is great.  We still have enough accountability that people aren’t being actively and intentionally  tortured or thrown out of airplanes into the ocean.  But it’s not because some of the people in charge wouldn’t do those things if they could.  They did it at Guantanamo.  We still have some safeguards.  But being locked up indefinitely without adequate food and, bad sanitary conditions, having your kids separated from you, is all pretty terrifying by itself.  We’re watching the cold-bloodedness of Mike Dunleavy in action.  He would have gone along with the men in the picture above.  And I’m guessing the 22 legislators who went to Wasilla and refused to vote to override the vetoes  have moral compasses that don’t recognize evil either.         

      

How To Talk To Your Cat About Gun Safety And Other Books At Elliott Bay Book Company

There was a book I couldn't get in LA, San Francisco, or Anchorage.  But Elliott Bay Book Company said they had a copy when I called.  It's a surprise for a relative, so nothing here yet.  

But here are some other books I saw on the shelves.  Remember books?  

HOW TO TALK TO YOUR CAT ABOUT GUN SAFETY -  Zachary Auburn

From the Preface:

"My fellow purrtiots,
You hold in your hands the only book in print today with the courage to tell it like it is.  To stand up to the idolaters, the liberals, the international bankers, and the secret kings of Europe who want to destroy America and replace it with their one-world government.  To bring about our downfall, these villains have targeted what is surely our greatest national resource:  our cats.  They know that no other cats in the world are as cute as ours.  American cats have the softest bellies, the fluffiest tails, and the loudest purrs.  We are the greatest country in the history of the world, and we have the cats to match.  Our enemies know they have no chance of defeating us while we stand tall with our cats by our sides, and so for years these scoundrels have worked in the shadows, trying to weaken us and our cats.  Stripping from ur cats their Second Amendment right to bear arms!  Undermining the faith of our kittens by teaching them the lie of evolution!  Addicting out feline friends to the scourge of catnip!  The cats of America are under siege . . ."

BLANKETS,  Craig Thomson

From DrawnandQuarterly:

"This groundbreaking graphic novel, winner of two Eisner and three Harvey Awards, is an eloquent portrait of adolescent yearning; first love (and first heartache); faith in crisis; and the process of moving beyond all of that. Beautifully rendered in pen and ink, Thompson has created a love story that lasts."

RAD WOMEN WORLDWIDE  - Kate Schatz

From Advocate:

Rad Women Worldwide tells fresh, engaging, and inspiring tales of perseverance and radical success by pairing well researched and riveting biographies with powerful and expressive cut-paper portraits. Covering the time from 430 B.C.E. to 2016, spanning 31 countries around the world, the book features an array of diverse figures, including Hatshepsut (the great female king who ruled Egypt peacefully for two decades), Malala Yousafzi (the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize), Poly Styrene (legendary teenage punk and lead singer of X-Ray Spex), and Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft (polar explorers and the first women to cross Antarctica). This progressive and visually arresting book is a compelling addition to works on women’s history. 

WE CAME TO AMERICA - Faith Ginggold

From Kirkus:

"Known for her trademark folkloric spreads, Caldecott Honoree Ringgold showcases the arrival of people immigrating to America. By way of luscious colors and powerful illustrations, readers embark upon a journey toward togetherness, though it’s not without its hardships: “Some of us were already here / Before the others came,” reads an image with Native Americans clad in ornate jewelry and patterned robes. The following spread continues, “And some of us were brought in chains, / Losing our freedom and our names.” Depicted on juxtaposing pages are three bound, enslaved Africans and an African family unchained, free. The naïve-style acrylic paintings feature bold colors and ethnic diversity—Jewish families, Europeans, Asian, and South Asian groups all come to their new home. Muslims and Latinos clearly recognizable as such are absent, and Ringgold’s decision to portray smiling, chained slaves is sure to raise questions (indeed, all figures throughout display small smiles). Despite these stumbling blocks, the book’s primary, communal message, affirmed in its oft-repeated refrain, is a welcome one: “We came to America, / Every color, race, and religion, / From every country in the world.” Preceding the story, Ringgold dedicates the book 'to all the children who come to America….May we welcome them….'”

THE BATTLE FOR HOME - Marwa Al-Sabouoni


From The Guardian.

". . . With so much of the country destroyed, what will the future look like? People close their eyes, and they wonder: is it even possible to imagine such a thing?
Marwa al-Sabouni believes it is – and her eyes are wide open. A 34-year-old architect and mother of two, Sabouni was born and grew up in Homs, scene of some of the most vicious fighting. Unlike many, however, she did not leave Syria – or even Homs itself – during the war. The practice she and her husband still (in theory) run together on the old town’s main square was shut up almost immediately: this part of the city quickly became a no-go area. But her home nearby somehow survived intact, and her family safe inside it.
“I’m lucky,” she says. “I didn’t have to leave my home. We were stuck there, as if we were in prison; we didn’t see the moon for two years. But apart from broken windows there was no other damage.” She laughs, relishing my astonishment at this (we’re talking on Skype, which feels so strange, the cars in her street honking normality – or a version of it – with their horns). . . "

ATLAS OBSCURA: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders - Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras, Ella Morton

This book is divided by continents and then countries.  I randomly opened to a page to a 'hidden wonder' I'd actually been to.  On India's northwest border with Pakistan, outside Amritsar, there's a bizarre, but uplifting ceremony held each sundown when the flag is powered at the border called the
Wagah border ceremony.  A couple pages later was another choice Indian attraction we had visited - Jantar Mantar, an observatory built in 1728, in Jaipur.  The Alaska entries are less compelling.  The Eklutha cemetery and the Adak National Forest sign are definitely unique, but not quite of the same magnitude as those Indian entries.






NEIN - Eric Jarosinski

From Publishers Weekly:

". . . Nein is not no. Nein is not yes. Nein is nein," he explains. The slim manifesto is divided into digestible, tweet-length aphorisms (each on its own page) with a hashtag for a title. "#TechRevolution/ Turn on./ Log in./ Unsubscribe./ Log out." Jarosinski also includes a hilarious glossary of Nein-ish words and phrases. Performance art, for instance, is defined as "six doppelgangers in search of a selfie." Technology particularly draws his ire. He calls Instagram a "marketplace in which pictures of your cat are exchanged for a thousand unspoken words of derision." There are gems on nearly every page. The book might seem tongue-in-cheek, but Jarosinski's cynical aphorisms about philosophy, art, language, and literature hold plenty of truth. . . "

Eiffel Tower Pieces

We're in Paris, so naturally, I'm going to avoid the stereotypical things to do. Like go to the Eiffel Tower.  We spent our first morning wandering near our hotel - getting ten packs of public transportation tickets (carnets0 that are good on subways and busses and maybe something else.  We also got a sim card for J's new phone and walked the huge cementscapes at the  La Defense that our friends here in Paris and one of the books I'm reading  talked about with disdain.

But the magnetic pull of the Eiffel tower was too much and we used two of our new tickets to take the metro to the Eiffel Tower.  Here are some shots I took as I walked round it.  And then there are some extra shots - like the view from the plane landing Monday night and from the rooftop dinner Tuesday night.

People lined up to buy tickets.  It didn't look too bad. 

 

This was the nicest view, from the north.
















Look carefully and you can see a couple of people on their way down from a climb up the tower.   You may have to click on the image to focus it.

He saw me with the camera.  I signed could I take his picture.  He signed ok.  I took the picture.  He put his hand out for money.  I offered to delete the picture.  He nodded no, that was ok. (Yes, I'm assuming the clown was a he.  But we assume about everyone don't we?)

Security wears a lot more clothes today than the guy with the horse in the background

From across the Seine

There were lot and lots of towers for sale starting at 3 for a Euro to 5 Euros each for the smallest.

And in addition to towers, selfie-sticks were for sale in abundance too.  Here two young men take their picture with the tower in the background across the river.

This was our first view of the tower flying in Tuesday night.  It's a  little below and to the right of center.  Click to enlarge and focus.







We could see the tower and the rising moon again after a rooftop dinner with the people we're here to celebrate a significant birthday with.













When you look carefully through a lens, you see a lot more than when you just look.  Of course, if you paint something, you have to look even more carefully.  One of the things I noticed through the lens was the gallery of names on all four sides of the tower.  When I get a chance I'll do a post on them.

Poppies And Other Anchorage Garden Tour Shots And Thoughts

This morning started with an airport run and a goodbye to our daughter and granddaughter who were here for a few days.  My three and a half year old sweetie helped me out in the garden while she was here.  Such a joy.

Then we realized, oh yeah, today's the garden tour, something that always stirs the gardening juices and gives me at least a few new ideas.

This year's tour was different from past tours.

First, there were four gardens in Eagle River (about 15 miles out of town) and three in east Anchorage.

Second, there was an institutional garden unlike any I've seen in Anchorage.

We decided to shoot out to Eagle River and then hit the ones along Muldoon.

Our first stop had a bad start.  There was a big red political sign for a representative who was too conservative for the Republican Party's taste.  (They kicked her out of the majority.)  But I think any political statement like that, no matter the party or candidate, is out of place.  Yes people have the right to put up signs, but the garden club has a right not to use their home if there is a sign.  The homeowner can take the sign down for five hours or choose not to participate.

The Eagle River gardens had some interesting features - a big rock covered hill in one, a formal set of
landscaped walls that the garden club rep said was build to keep the driveway from collapsing, some windows place here and there in the garden, and the POPPIES.  The poppies were in our last ER garden.  The individual flowers were so light and graceful and delicate and the colors were wonderful.  But you can see for yourself.

 They were perfect.  The shapes, the colors, the folds, and curves.  Looking at them was like a meditation.

The poppy yard - these were actually only a small portion of the garden - was my favorite of the Eagle River gardens.  This wasn't a show garden, but a garden of love.  We talked to the gardner and it was clear that she just liked making all this stuff flourish.  She wasn't spending lots of money, but she was rescuing and rehabilitating.  My kind of garden.

And then we headed back to town.  The first stop was just off of Muldoon - the inner courtyard at St. Patrick's Church.

Or, as the brochure says, "The Cloister at St. Patrick's."

This is a place you would never bump into.  You almost have to already know where you are going.

That brochure also says:

"The Cloister is intended to be a place of pilgrimage for all Christians - and for anyone who is seeking a place of prayer and inspiration, a place of peace in the midst of life's struggles, or a place where they can more deeply encounter the living God - who is love."

The Cloisters, as you can see, are angular and the gardens confined within this elegant concrete and glass space.  There are several water features. The brochure calls them  'fountains' which conflicts with my notion of water shooting up.  Here it moves horizontally and down.  Being able to say "The Holy Spirit has called the people of St. Patrick's  to undertake a major building project . . ." surely must have helped when raising the money to build this space.

You can also spend eternity here.















I'm glad we save the Cloister and the two houses east of Muldoon for last.  They were both unique gardens that looked like everything had been there a while.  They combined local plants and settings with more traditional garden varieties.  One had recycled mirrors all around the backyard which gave guests extra views of the plants.   And other stray items, like bowling balls.


The last house we visited, a few doors past the mirrors, was a quiet and lovely garden that backs onto the military base forest.  I was taken by the leaves on the false sunflower - which turned out to be Sunburst Heliopsis.

A thought that's been bubbling to the surface these last couple of years is for the garden club to change the date of the tour in the future.  By always being at the end of July/beginning of August, the tour highlights the same flowers and neglects those flowers that bloom earlier in the summer.  But I also realize that more things are likely to be blooming now.  Perhaps and end of June preview for the big tour.