I'm back in California. I got in yesterday afternoon, after spending two wonderful weeks back in Santo Domingo. When we pulled into our street, Shawn (one of the big bro's) came running out to keep us from parking in the driveway. My younger bro, Noah, had covered the whole thing in chalk:
Welcome Home, Hannah!
Good Job graduating!
Use a condom!!!
Good luck with the baby!!!!!!!
PS: why didn't you bring Destry???
"You know, just to get the neighborhood gossip started," so Shawn. Well, just to stem the rumors: I'm happy to report that my IUD works just fine. Oh, family.
I had a wonderful time in the DR. The truth is, it didn't feel like any time had passed, even between me and Maicol. His English has gotten so good. We were really able to have conversations in both languages, which was fun. We spent a day at the beach, hung out in the capital before his English classes, or just spent time at his family place in the campo. I also spent a lot of time with his family, curling up in bed with his younger sister and chatting, or going out dancing with all 4 siblings--it was a blast. As usual, I've coming back slightly malnourished after surviving on rice and beans, and beans and rice, and rice mixed with beans, and did I say beans with rice? I love it.
Oh, more exciting news: I participated in two of the Cartonera workshops that Doris Sommer was giving in the capital. I hadn't quite realized how prestigious the event was going to be: not only did it include tons of local artists, writers, musicians, etc., but also various secretaries of education/culture, etc. The event got a lot of press. For those of you I haven't rambled on to about this, the Cartonera/Paper Picker Press (in English) program is an arts-based education initiative that started in Buenos Aires and Lima. It uses creative/artistic approaches to encourage kids to enjoy reading and to approach literature critically. Basically, it uses music, dance, painting, etc. as a way of approaching literature and creating enthusiastic readers. It's an incredible program that grew out of small, grass-roots publishing houses. It's now spread across Latin America and even into Africa (Ghana) and for the past 2 years I've being dying to get one started in the DR.
So, while Doris (who leads up the Paper Picker Press at Harvard) was in Sto Dgo this week, I managed to set up a breakfast date for her and the director of the foundation where I interned last summer. I was a little worried because they are both such strong women, totally used to dominating any situation and controlling the spotlight. But apparently, they both made it clear that neither would bow down to the other within the first two sentences: when Arelis sat down, Doris asked her straight up, "Why didn't you come to my workshops yesterday?" and Arelis pointed her finger at Doris and said, "Doris, darling, don't be a teacher!" From there, they got on brilliantly and it looks like they'll be collaborating to start a Cartonera in the DR!! Which means--who knows??--maybe I'll get to go back to work on that. Wouldn't that be a dream come true? (Apparently, Leonel (the Dominican president) also met with Doris and is enthusiastic about the program. But then, I'm always slightly suspicious of how sincere he is--after all, this is a guy who is talking about starting "e-government" in a country that doesn't even have regular electricity, never mind computer access.)
Other than that, I'm glad to be home. I miss you all and send you abrazos y besotes.
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