Point one: I recently wrote something that pissed off a whole bunch of Chileans. Then it was translated, and it pissed off a whole bunch more. If you need to see what it was, go back a blog post. I’m done fanning those flames. But the issue of why I, a foreigner got to write that piece, was touched upon. Kneaded, even.
Point two: When at a friend’s house about 7/9ths of the way through the meleé, I was waxing soliloquistic (while my friends watched me rant and rave and wave my arms and make those funny faces I make) about how the internet is a democracy, and if people want to opine they just should, and how anyone can have a platform and blah blah blah. And a friend of mine looked at me and said, “you have a platform because you’re lucky” and I thought grrrrr, no, I worked for this platform, and she didn’t correct me (because I was just thinking it, not speaking it), but somewhere along the way someone said something about education, and I remembered that yes, I am lucky, both in formal education (see undergrad, graduate school) and informal (family culture that encouraged free expression, reading, debate). And dammit I hate when she’s right. So my platform is partially a product of luck. Stinking good luck.
Point three: I have recently been made editor at MatadorNetwork‘s Abroad blog. I have worked with them for a couple of years, most recently as “editor-at-large” though no one really knows what that means, and I now have 500 business cards with the equivalent of “thingamawhosis adjuster” written on them. However, I was happy to be an editor-at-large, because this is a great team of people, and it was a leap up from my former title of intern/contributor. Now though, I have a whole section that I’m (mostly) in charge of, and I’m re-honing my editing skills and finding ways to be (mostly) gentle with people’s precious words, in the case where the piece fits Abroad and is close to what we’re trying to throw down/put up/phrasal verb of your choice. I’ve published some pretty prose lately, but you can’t tell which stories I’ve edited just by looking. I quite liked this one on no longer feeling like an expat. Probably because it struck me, in light of point one, how I kind of forget I’m an expat sometimes, too.
Point four: I love stories, written and in audio. I love listening to people talk. Not necessarily newscasters nor pundits, just people. I have been listening quite a bit lately to The Moth, which is some fine storytelling. And last night, I came across the site Radio Ambulante, which does something This American Life-like, but in short form, and in Spanish, and so, so good. It makes me want to do radio. Or have a job where I can listen to radio all day long. (but sometimes writing is not consistent with this, sadly).
In summation: and because I like to zip things together in tidy little packages, I have taken points one through four, but mainly 2-4 as food for thought that I want to think more about platforms, and who has them, and who doesn’t, and how to help people who have stories to tell get their thoughts, whether spoken, written, or visual (or auditory) out there. I’m not sure what that will look like. On the one hand, I “have” Abroad, and I can publish people’s writing there (submission details here). On the other hand, I have this blog, where I am unlikely to have guest bloggers, just like I am unlikely to invite you (well, most of you) into my home. I could, but I’m not seeing it yet. Maybe I should. Pam does, and it works for her.
I’m mostly saying this about the stories because I want you to know that I am thinking about voices, and how to get more of them heard (not just my own). I’d love to know about the sources of your favorite voices (including your own), or projects you know that are getting people airspace, or print space. I don’t mean social media hyped-up stumble uponned people, (no hate, just saying, they’re famosillos already).
And that is where my brain goes while my body is fighting what appears to be acute viral bronchitis. Thank you Dr. Google. And thanks for reading.
The usual idiocy of confusing education with intelligence, so let’s just play with those three for a moment: idiot, intelligent, educated.
David Cameron is highly educated. And an idiot.
Evo Morales has very little by way of education. And is not an idiot, is intelligent.
Is an intelligent idiot possible? No, don’t think so.
Is an educated idiot possible? Yup, meet ’em every day.
Now that education can be of the hard or soft variety(as you point to in your post) but it’s all the same after a while.
So go “grrr” at your pal if you want, but all s/he is displaying is the lack of understanding between what makes a person who can get past an interviewer and a person that rises and makes themself a star. Seriously, screw formal education as a social benchmark, once and for all. Boring boring boring.
yes but… In Chile, “educated” becomes a synonym for “has access.” Which makes for a circular argument. And I was still irritated. Why is everything someone has accomplished attributed to good luck, as opposed to hard work? Has no one, ever, in the history of time worked hard for something and gotten it as a consequence? It seems to me that they weren’t giving out platforms at the end of my academic career, it’s something I came upon quite on my own. Ahem. so I guess I’m not over it. Perhaps I shall continue to grrr, just a little.
In my case, I can’t winnow out which parts of my relative success are related to formal education, but I know that parts of them are related to being from the kind of family where your opinion was important, and were we had long talks about everything. That was part of my “formación” and I think it influences who I am today, though you say the “hard” and “soft education” are the same after a while.
Got any voices you think I should be reading or listening to? That was what I was after. 🙂
Bless you Eileen, it’s always an occasion to watch somebody from a fairly pure meritocracy wrangle with the “unfairness of it all” in LatAm society. Sadly i don’t have that problem, being a Brit 🙂
Any voices you should be listening to? Your own, my friend, your own. It’s far better than the vast majority.
Is your friend Chilean? If so, from her point of view, you might look very, very lucky.
From my point of view, I think you were fortunate to have been brought up in a home where it was safe, even encouraged, to express yourself, but I also think that you have worked really hard to be as “lucky” as you are.
Am I jealous? Maybe just little, but now, as an adult, I have the same opportunities to be “lucky” that you have. It’s up to me to take them.
Yes, and I agree, that I have been very lucky. But it’s also part of a national sport here, the chaqueteo (pulling someone else down, in this case, by the jacket, I suppose), to say that people get things that they don’t deserve. I’m all over the map on this one, both lucky and hard-working (at times), and also, revisionist in my memories of my childhood. There were lots of times when no one’s opinion was needed or heard.
And I agree about taking opportunities. Thanks for dropping by.
I agree with you. Chaqueteo is a national sport in Chile. And I say this as a Chilean. It is very annoying that whoever manages to get a little bit over the average is either “ninguneado” (I cannot think of a proper English term for that, any ideas?) or attacked until that person goes back to “normal” or leaves the country.
At this point you have probably found out that many of the Chileans that leave Chile not because of economical problems, but because it is next to impossible to get recognition for what one does. It is depressing, “rett og slett” as the Norwegians say.
Now, the discussion between “fortunate” and “lucky”. I guess that anybody can be “lucky” but not everybody can be “fortunate”. Anybody can win the loto, yet not everybody can work on what they want. Some have been both lucky and fortunate, but those are few and far away between. In your case I think you are one of those cases. You were lucky to visit a country that enchanted you and fortunate enough that you found a way to live where you want doing what you want! That is not a bad deal if you ask me 😉
Finally your post about pissing of Chileans. Some people were offended because you are not Chilean and yet you dared to comment on us. But I think most of the comments pointed to the fact that the article seemed a little bit superficial when dealing with a very touchy subject as Bolivia. A few years back it would have been Argentina and “Laguna del desierto”, or the three islands. It all comes from a misunderstood feeling of patriotism.The sickest of all weirdness that we Chileans have is the fact that we think we are in the wrong continent. It is something that you learn from school and gets into your blood. I would say that more than 90% of Chileans would vote to move the country to Europe if that was possible. Of course when we were there and realize that Europe is not much better than what we have in South America, we would vote to move the country somewhere else. In short, take things with a grain of salt. There are subjects that are complicated no matter how you present them, and the relation between Chile and our neighbors is one of them. It is not your fault you didn’t know, it is one of the things you learn by experimenting.
As a final note I’ll leave a link to one of my favorite comic sites, and a particular one that might fit this situation.
Orbiter
The ACB1s have and everyone else in Chile has not, that thinking is “the problem” and is so last Millennia. If someone wants a platform they have to work hard to build it not have it given to them like the ACB1s except. It’s a slow evolution to awareness, I believe they will get there.
Well, let’s consider what Mao Tse-Tung thinks about the chances of slow, evolutionary change between socioeconomic orders, Lee:
I really don’t get it what am I missing???
Ermmm.. get well soon! 🙂
And a little bit of introspection is never a bad idea!
I’d say it’s a lot more than luck. You have to build a platform and a education is just the tip of the iceberg..it comes from something deeper.
And if you want a job where you listen to the radio all the time you should consider a…radio taxi. You could run that Cal y Canto to Independencia route. Or maybe one of those pirate cabs that charge travelers 200 dollars airport to the Sheraton? You’d get some good material for the blog.
Education, common sense, optimism, and taking chances. Looks to me like you have all of the above. *grin*
The subject of luck is an interesting one. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, in contemplating how blessed I feel living with my husband and toddler in Patagonia with an amazing work/life balance.
Although you were fortunate to be born into circumstances that encouraged your creativity and growth, luck only gets a person so far. After that, my two cents worth are that it’s a matter of natural talent, hard work, and getting to know the right people. It’s only through challenging ourselves that we grow and find ourselves presented with “lucky” opportunities.
Bottom line, though you may be “lucky,” don’t underestimate your value, since if you don’t appreciate how much you rock, who will?