Random Descriptions of My Travel Adventures

Unfortunately, due to dissertation writing and lack of funds, I do not have any fun travel experiences to blog about (though stay tuned for Las Vegas in March) so I thought I would post some photos from an Argentina trip in 2005. I went to visit my friend Shayne who had just finished his second (yes second) stint in Antarctica. I flew down to Buenos Aires and we decided to visit the southern portion of the country. Buenos Aires is a fantastic city, the most European I have encountered thus far in South America. In the photo below I'm standing in front of the obelisk which divides the massive, 9 de Julio, claimed as the worlds largest avenue. A better picture (lifted from the internet) to give a sense of scale. After a few days in BA, we flew to Ushuaia which is at the southernmost edge of the South American continent in the region known as Tierra del Fuego . Not a terribly attractive town, made that much uglier by the giant date stamp in the corner of the photo below. I borrowed m...

A video of my favorite song by my favorite band from Oaxaca. The song, Son de la Barricada, is about the resistance movement of 2006. I lifted this from a blog called Angry White Kid which details the ongoing struggles occurring in Oaxaca. He includes the English translation on his website. The video is shot in a bar called Nueva Babel, one I attended frequently with friends. We saw Raices perform there twice and both times I was blown away by their music.

As a teacher, and a former slacker undergraduate student, I have seen, heard, and offered some pretty creative excuses for missing class. Most excuses are pretty run of the mill, got sick, car broke down, witnessed a shooting (yup, got that one this semester) but a few weeks ago one of my students furnished me with one of the most hilarious bits of "proof" for their absence I have encountered. Said student missed a class in which we had a quiz. He claimed to have had very bad food poisoning and I told him that if he could bring me a doctor's note I would let him take the quiz. He shows up to my office, not with a doctor's note, but with a note from his roommate . Not only was it a note from his roommate but it was on half a sheet of ripped paper. Despite the fact that I knew this guy was lying through his teeth, I let him take the quiz because he made me laugh so hard. See for yourself....click on the note below.

I should have posted these images a long time ago but never got around to it. Now that I'm procrastinating when I should be writing my dissertation this seems like a great time. The competition and the events surrounding it deserve much more explanation than I'm going to offer here but I will let the art speak for itself. A flyer announcing the competition. At the top it says "The color of the resistance" and at the bottom it reads "For the respect and freedom of expression of urban and street art" or something like that anyway. In really fine print at the bottom it says "Stop facism in Mexico, Free the political prisoners, Stop the privatization of PEMEX." This might give you an idea as to the tone of the event and the art being created. The line up of blank canvasses. Art taking shape. The evolution of a picture. An interpretation of the Oaxaca state government. At one point a skirmish broke out and the state police arrived, guns drawn. We were ...

Darren and I drove up to Salt Lake City in August, just after I returned home from Mexico, to pick up my little Mexican street dog Gretel. On the way to SLC we drove through Zion Canyon and spent the night in Springdale, the small town at the entrance to the canyon. Some photos below. The drive there. Buffalo! Inside the park. If you look closely at the bottom of photo is the traffic tunnel. Traffic tunnel. Zion Canyon lodge.

I'm currently sitting in the Mexico City airport waiting for my flight back to the inferno that is Phoenix. I'm very sad to leave Mexico and all the great people I met there but I guess it is time to head back to the real world and start writing the dissertation. Yikes. Not looking forward to that. I decided to take a taxi to the airport this morning instead of a prearranged colectivo so that I could have an hour or two more to get things in order before I left. We live right next to a fairly busy street so typically walking out to the corner and standing there less than 5 minutes is all that is required to procure a taxi. This morning I dragged my VERY heavy luggage to the corner (lots of books) and waited (sweating profusely after carrying the luggage) for a taxi to pass by. I waited, and waited, and waited, for about 15 minutes, but no taxi. Finally one came by with streamers all over it and I flagged him down. He informed me that the cost to the airport would be 120 pesos ...