Housecleaning time: a long-overdue removal of all the old posts, i.e., the course assignments for which this blog was created. Whether to delete the blog itself remains an open question. (Is it even possible to delete it, or do old, abandoned blogs hang around forever like lost souls in an Internet version of limbo?)
Part of the joy of housecleaning is redecoration; so, first off, a Profile Photo - a drawing borrowed from Dave's ESL Cafe, originally with the idea of attaching it to resumes sent out for overseas job postings, which, annoyingly for reticent folk, invariably require the applicant's photo.
The Profile Photo image fits in with the overall Hispanic motif (the header is a photo of a section of a street-art mural in Los Angeles). The Hispanic motif is itself a coincidental coming together of randomly-chosen elements that happen to be Hispanic - and which, by the way, coincidentally happen to fit the season. Even the 'lost souls in limbo' metaphor has an accidental seasonal fit: following Halloween (which is nearly upon us), according to the Catholic liturgical calendar, are All Saints' Day (November 1st) and All Souls' Day (November 2nd); the latter day is designated to remember and honour the dead, and is a major event in all Hispanic cultures.
It's obvious I'm attracted to some aspects of Hispanic culture; 'random chance' doesn't explain the appeal of this motif as opposed to others - butterflies, say, or weapons of mass destruction. The choice, subconscious and unintentional as it was, likely is a subcurrent of socio-economic and political reality: cultural issues are at the forefront of much of public life these days.
In the US right now, the upcoming mid-term elections have focused on the economy and the role of government. An increasingly strident and acrimonious public debate has arisen, in which a disquieting number of religious, ideological, racial and other differences are being played upon to foster an atmosphere of xenophobic intolerance.
This isn't happening only in the US, of course; the global economic situation is such that people in every part of the world live in fear and uncertainty, as well as with the anger that arises from an individual sense of one's own helplessness in the face of economic catastrophe. Sadly, this is the precise situation in which anger fosters bigotry and xenophobia, and which therefore has an even more destructive impact on the most vulnerable members of society than the merely economic impacts (which are horrendous enough by themselves).
More posts on cultural issues may follow. Or not. But it's a concern.
