Short day

Beautiful piece, collection of voices: Leaving, and Longing for Home: West Virginia

Last night was an almost-allnighter, close enough at my age, but it's over! I'm happy to say that after this afternoon I will never have to set foot on that campus again. Tomorrow I'm officially no longer a student at los andes. My roommate says attending a semester there does carry the benefit of giving my snide remarks about the place heft, credibility. It's like dropping out of Emory for Georgia State, I think. Emory might be a great school in some respects, but most everyone I know who attended (all scholarship kids) came away talking funny and with either a slight sense of inferiority or a chip on their shoulders from fighting the inferiority complex. Correct me if I'm wrong!

The interview this morning with Accion Ciudadana Colombia went very well - they have a number of projects that are right up my alley, and the people I spoke with answered most of my questions before I even got around to asking them. I think the direction I'm headed in is to examine the local budgeting process, which according to these gentlemen and what I've read has been gutted in the most recent administration.

Unfortunately, when people do participate in processes that end up being completely un-democratic, as was described to me today, the sour taste the experience leaves tends to discourage them from taking part the next time around, unless there is a strong sense of community with other people who feel shut out of the process (see the Atlanta experience with the NW Corridor and GRTA, or with the congestion (I refuse to call it congestion mitigation) task force.)