Category Archives: Class of 2013: Mexico/Burlington

Launch event for Aqui & Alla very successful

Blanca Z Nienhaus with her new book!

Blanca Z Nienhaus with her new book!

NEW:  Click here for review and comment about the book (in Spanish).

NEW:  Click here for the E-Net story (with pictures) about the launch event.

The book launch event for Aqui & Alla/Here & There by Blanca Z. Nienhaus held Friday, January 17th at Lakeside and was attended by many community supports and friends.  One very special guest was Francisco Javier Díaz de León, Consul General of Mexico in Raleigh, North Carolina.  He and his wife made the journey from Raleigh to be a part of the event and Sr. Diaz de Leon spoke to those present about how the story told in Aqui & Alla is shared by many from Mexico and Central America.

Mentor for the Class of 2013 Dr. Brian Nienhaus, translator for the book, accompanied Blanca as she spoke to all assembled about the book and about the gift of meeting and hearing the story of Drucila.  Drucila herself then spoke to the crowd, translated by Dr. Nienhaus, and talked more about her story and her dreams for the future.  She welcomed her mother up with her as she was speaking.

Drucila, Brian and Drucila's mother addressing the crowd.

Drucila, Brian and Drucila’s mother addressing the crowd.

A reporter from the Burlington Times-News was present and this story ran today, Sunday, January 19th, 2014.  The Pendulum also covered the event.  Read the article here.

Thomas Price, '13.

Thomas Price, ’13.

Thomas Price, Class of 2013, was present at the event as well.  He did the honor of accepting cash or checks for the book to people who wanted to purchase at the event.  Everyone was encouraged to tell people about the book and to go to Amazon.com to order it.  Proceeds from the book will go to support the Hogares Sanos partnership begun by the Class of 2013 and now being sustained by the Class of 2016 under the Mentorship of Professor April Post.

Aqui&Alla with Sr. Diaz de Leon, Consul General of Mexico in Raleigh, North Carolina, his wife and Associate Provost Dr. Connie Book in the background.

Aqui&Alla with Sr. Diaz de Leon, Consul General of Mexico in Raleigh, North Carolina, his wife and Associate Provost Dr. Connie Book in the background.

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Aqui & Alla/Here & There book launch event FRIDAY!!

All Pericleans are invited to come this Friday beginning at 5:00pm, January 17th, to the Lakeside Meeting Room for the official launch of the new book  Aqui & Alla/Here & There.  This book was authored by Blanca Nienhaus and translated by Dr. Brian Nienhaus, Mentor for the Class of 2013 and tells the story of ‘D’ a young immigrant woman from a very small village in Chiapas, Mexico.  Members of the Class of 2013 traveled to 

InvitOKelly‘D’s’ home village in January 2013 and met her brother who had lived in Alamance County before he was deported back to Chiapas.

The launch event this Friday will include comments by both Blanca Nienhaus and ‘D’ and will be attended by several members off the Hogares Sanos group that was originally formed by the Class of 2013 and is now in partnership with the Class of 2016.

Proceeds from the sale of the book will be used to support activities of the Hogares Sanos women.

Click here for the E-Net announcement of the event.

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Periclean: Colombian farmer strikes -David Gagne, ’13

Hello everyone,

I hope this email finds you all well, living incredibly interesting and fulfilling lives, and maybe even gainfully employed.
I thought I would bring it to your attention that Colombia is currently entering it’s second week of nationwide strikes over agricultural policies that have plummeted the price of potatoes, corn, and other food stuffs, while raising the price of fuel and fertiliser. The strikes are due to recent Columbia farmerEU/U.S. free trade agreements with Colombia that have flooded the domestic Colombian market with cheap imports. The area I am currently living in, Tunja, the capital city of the department of Boyaca, has been affected the worst and consequently has had the largest number of strikes. (I wish I could share pictures, but like the seasoned traveler I am I left my camera in the States).
As I’m sure you are all aware, this is not far removed to the situation to that of the Zapatista movement in Chiapas. In the interest of carrying on the Periclean spirit after graduation, I invite you all to keep up with this developing story. Here’s a BBC article to give you a quick overview.
Saludos de mi querido Tunja,
David

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

This from Dr. Nienhaus, Mentor for the Class of 2013:

Thanks, David

Some of us may wonder why the Colombian government felt compelled to enter into this free trade agreement, much as Mexico did with NAFTA in 1994.  Official explanations will be available to those who google, but for those who seek something more than official explanations, I recommend a little book by David Harvey called A Brief History of Neoliberalism.

Regards,

Dr. B

 

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Sustainability for Hogares Sanos Program

We (the 2013s) met with the 2016s today for about an hour to further discuss the sustainability of Hogares Sanos next year. It was a great turnout! Close to ten 2016s came and seemed very eager and ready to give Hogares Sanos a whirl. I think it’s safe to say the Hispanic women we’ve been working with are just as eager and ready. Our class is excited to see how the program evolves next year! Keep us updated, Class of 2016 🙂

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2013 Class Notes – Monday, May 6

1. Leaders of the 21st Century organizer, Kevin Otos, came to brainstorm and give us some tips:
-What do we want the audience to walk away with?
-How many people do we want to present?
-Celebration of our accomplishments, our opportunity to share with the audience
-Mission of the Periclean program
-Potential approach: our journey through Periclean
-Went over logistics: how to hold microphone, how to avoid pauses, “um”s, etc.

2. Evan Small also came to class, representing Elon Volunteers! (EV) in hopes of collaborating with Periclean for sustaining our program with the women.
-He sees it being a collaboration among Periclean, EV, and El Centro de Espanol (great way for students to get hours at El Centro!)
-We emphasized that consistency of Elon students is important for trust, continuity, and growth. Plus it helps break down the wall between Burlington and the “Elon Bubble”
-He seems hopeful and will be getting back to us soon

3. We are having our LAST class at Alex Lake’s house next week. We’ll have a cookout and hang out and also discuss our class resume as well as how we want to use our time on stage for Leaders.

4. Our class had planned to have a tailgate Wednesday, May 8 and then go to the baseball game with the session women. However, the game was cancelled, leading us to quickly brainstorm an alternative in class last night. It was a great example of the constant changes and curve balls that come along with the program! After some stressful scrambling, we secured El Centro for the evening, where we will have a make-your-own-pizza night and games. There are quite a few 2016’s joining us so they can meet the women. We’re looking forward to it!

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Video on Immigration

http://illegalmovie.org/

This video has a lot to do with what our class has been studying, so I thought I’d share it. Hope everyone is enjoying break!

 

Here is the trailer:

 

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POD Planning Update

On March 20th and 21st our class will be presenting about immigration to several Global classes. We have broken the immigration process down to four sections (Life in Mexico, Journey to America, Life in America, Return Home) and will be using the story of a friend of ours to add context. Isra, seen below in the red shirt, was deported about five years ago and spent most of WT with us as we travelled around Chipas and Yucatan. As of now, we are still trying to arrange a Skype session to get more details of his story; coordinating schedules has been difficult. He is also in the process of writing his story so we can at least have a written copy. We’ll keep you posted! DSC_0169

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Class of 2013 postcard from Chiapas

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Class of 2013: Mexico/Burlington

Class of 2013

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