Post-Fieldwork

Eighteen months of living in Latin America has come to a close for me. Coming back to the United States has not been easy. Reverse culture shock has certainly been a real phenomenon for me. It's hard to describe how something like that actually works since much of it is quite subtle.

When you have (reverse) culture shock, you feel slightly on edge and don't know why. Your interpersonal communication feels like a series of mismatching signals. You forget how to do simple things like ordering food, exchanging pleasantries, and simply being courteous. You realize you've forgotten internet passwords, ATM passwords, system.

I think now that one cost of adapting to a new culture is the residual effect of unlearning parts of your native culture. To embrace a new set of conventions when you live abroad, you have to open your mind by de-emphasizing your own cultural practices. But when you return, that means that you have a mix of material to work with, and this can be confusing.

Lance gets third

More than any other prior Tour de France, this year I had the opportunity to watch much of the race over the internet. Since I've been writing my dissertation, it was easy to listen along and focus on the last part of the race each day.

A month later, I think that Lance Amstrong's performance was pretty amazing, and I think that his attitude serves as an excellent model for young athletes who are trying to understand the meaning that inheres in sport. Although there was quite a bit of debate over how well he was able to shoulder the role of domestique, or as a helper to team leader and eventual champion Alberto Contador, I think he did well. It could not have been easy, despite being nearly 38 years old, for the seven-time champion to ride in a support role when it was clear he had more left in the tank. In the end, he seemed to be genuinely content -- without denying that he wanted to win -- with his third place finish. Since the "winning is everything" attitude is so prevalent in sports, I think his will to reach the podium was a timely reminder that it's the journey as much as the destination that we need to keep in mind.

Family Trees

The roots of Modica family, which I cut and pasted from Ancestry.com, stretch back to Sicily and then to my father's maternal side. It turns out my great-great-grandmother was Delfina Rodriguez, born in Colombia.

1880 United States Federal Census
about Francis B. Modica

Name: Francis B. Modica Home in 1880: Henniker, Merrimack, New Hampshire Age: 37 Estimated Birth Year: abt 1843 Birthplace: Massachusetts Relation to Head of Household: Self (Head) Spouse's Name: Delfina F. Father's birthplace: Italy Mother's birthplace: New Hampshire Neighbors: View others on page Occupation: Pres. R. R. Co. Marital Status: Married Race: White Gender: Male Cannot read/write: Blind: Deaf and dumb: Otherwise disabled: Idiotic or insane: Subscribe now to see this information. Household Members: Name Age Francis B. Modica 37 Delfina F. Modica 31 Francis Modica 7 Isabel Modica 4 Patrona Nates 30

View Original Record Get all the details available on the original record image.

Leaving Oaxaca

These are pictures from our last opportunity to eat at our favorite seafood restaurant in Oaxaca. Since Oaxaca City is not too far from either the Pacific or the Caribbean, it doesn't take too long to get fresh and delicious seafood in town.

Extending your life expectancy

If you are 33 years old, how many times have you:

• Eaten breakfast? Probably around 12,000 times, if you eat each day.
  
• Seen a full moon? It's likely around 925 full moons you've seen.
  
• Brushed your teeth? Somewhere around 22,000 times if you brush twice a day.
  
• Felt your heart beat? Let's say it beats 65 times per minute - that would be somewhere around more than 1.2 billion times (1,127,412,000).

Maybe since I'm getting up there in years, these figures are taking on new meaning.

There is another important fact about heart beats in particular. It has been shown that many animals, especially mammals, have about 1 billion heartbeats in their lifetime. An astute post on "conserving your heartbeats" reports that running and other endurance exercise add to your life expectancy:

"Each year I spend as a runner costs me one week of heartbeats, but the improved fitness adds 13 weeks to my life expectancy for a net of +12 weeks. Another way to look at it: Every month of regular running adds one week to my life! Diving deeper yet… assuming I run 3.5 times per week, that means that each run adds 12 hours to my life. How’s that for a good investment?"

The author explains that while it might seem that exercising effectively "uses up" your heartbeats faster, the gains that are made through the lowering of your resting heart rate are considerable.

The two sides of Palenque

Last month's visit to Palenque was educational in two ways: witnessing how Central American migrants ride on the top of freight trains, and seeing the majesty of the Mayan ruins sitting atop the Chiapas jungle. The hoards of eager tourists paying money to see ancient ruins contrasted starkly with Central American migrants mounting the top of the train to make their way through Mexico toward economic opportunity - only a few kilometers away.

On Friday, we visited a migrant shelter near the town of Palenque, which has seen an increasing number of migrants as the more southern route through Tapachula has become more dangerous. In this picture, you can see migrants climbing aboard the freight cars.





The next day, we woke early to the sounds of howler monkeys. After returning to our little cabaña in the jungle lodge, we saw river otter float by from our back porch - who knew there were otters in Chiapas! We then spent the next five hours or so exploring the archaeological ruins of Palenque, a major urban center of the Mayas.

Not all help is good help

The trouble with Jerry Lewis, who recently won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is that "rather than working for equality and social inclusion of disabled people, [he] portrays us as hopeless, pathetic, eternal children."

As another person described during the 2009 Oscar ceremony, "there were protests and people from the community trying to explain this. But paternalism is a very strong force, especially when it backed up by millions of dollars a year, major corporate sponsors, and an ego that can’t live with the fact that his career was over 40 years ago." In other words, people who do not favor Lewis face an organized and powerful network of supporters.

Jerry Lewis has strong detractors and supporters on both sides, but at least in the 21st century, it seems like his version of "helping" has reached the end of its useful life.