March 27, 2006 issue - In the reams of commentary about newly inaugurated Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, two statements are systematically repeated. The first contrasts the supposedly conservative nature of Chilean society against the fact that Bachelet is the first woman to be elected president of a major Latin American nation. The second hails the popularity and stature of former leader Ricardo Lagos, elevating him to the ranks of Latin American elder statesmen. Both items of conventional wisdom deserve closer scrutiny.
Today has been awfully productive for a Sunday. This morning (ok, my version of morning, which occurred at about 11:30 am...) the girl in charge of our apartment dropped by to pick up a bill and ended up staying for several hours. For whatever reason she feels an obligation to explain Colombian history and society to us, and we ended up talking about the situation at the national university, where she has been a student for four years now.
I ended up taking notes and getting good information that should help shape whatever we end up writing. She invited us to watch a documentary about students being "disappeared" from a university in Argentina in 1976 after protesting tuition increases called "The Night of the Pencils" (NYT review).
Then later in the day I learned from a friend that some European countries, Holland in particular, initiated their own American-style educational reforms a few years back -- tuition increases, switch from combined bachelor's/master's degree in 5-7 years to a four year degree, etc. This should help with the international context for a paper.
And finally, my grandmother is doing better! Very happy about this. Love you GG.
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