Podcasting since 2004; Conversations, conflicts, adventures and monologues from around the world.
Should the show go on if Pol Pot and other key members of the Khmer Rouge are dead? In this program I discuss the history of the KR, the plan for an international tribunal, and what function a truth and reconciliation type court serves a society shattered by mass killing on an unimaginable scale. Once again this program is recorded on the road, this time from a hotel room in Coimbra, Portugal.
Part of being in Portugal means visiting very old relatives in very old little villages. I’m an expert at that since my parents and I have been doing this practically every summer since I was a toddler. Naturally it is a very interesting and enriching thing to do mentally and spiritually, for the obvious reasons. But the sad and confusing thing underlying much of the emmigrant-family dynamic, is what happens to the elderly who stay in the country of orgin.
I’m referring to caring for the elderly… who will do it.. who can do it.. and how to handle it if you live on the other side of the ocean, or.. say.. europe. A daunting issue.. with lots of mixed feelings, guilt, fear, bittersweet moments. It is rather amazing to see how some families do it. While it is depressing to see how many elderly are left stranded in tiny towns, isolated from the world other than kind hearted neighbors who check up on them occasionally.
It leaves me planning in my head… daydreaming.. of how to handle different scenarios. And being one of the few younger generation located somewhere in Europe (as opposed to the US) I think of myself as the first line of emergency response, should anything ever happen here in Portugal. But what kind of emergency response would I be? How equipped am I to handle whats needs to be done in that moment of need?
But as I mentioned earlier… this is not just about me or my family. This is a global tradition.. handled in so many different ways. It is the way of the world that individuals or families migrate to a new country for professional, political, financial, health, etc. reasons. Lots of attention is given to that reality. But what of the older generation seemingly left behind. How do they cope with being so far from their children and younger family?
Well, it has taken me some time to finally release this videoblog… and beware it is very big (15 min. long).
My frisbee association in Amsterdam hosted this tournament last month… voila a videoblog of the fun.
Considering all the pain and sufferring in the world.. at this very moment. I present this vlog as one of the few examples these days of many nations and many cultures coming together peacefully thanks to a common bond – ultimate frisbee.
The family upstairs lives in Switzerland. The other family upstairs, their car has French license plates. Apparently the other apartment that’s for sale in this modest little building, that guy is Canadian.
We’re all Portuguese, mind you. But this is the reality of Portugal, especially in the summer. A population that probably has more people living outside its borders than the 9 million+ living within those borders. Where every town has its emmigrants, who are like clockwork when it comes to being present in the summer time.
While the alarmist and often xenophobic governments of European nations scramble to adopt some tough policies against refugees. Following the alleged death of the proposed European Consitution. Despite all the hoopla about how Europe isn’t really one block and the dream is far from reality… many of the Portuguese are living the reality. Beyond Europe, they have long made the globe their menu of destinations, in search of a better quality of life, or… just better paying jobs.
Out of the criticisms one can have of Europe, and I’m aware of how long that list is. The one thing I see first hand, almost everyday whether I’m in Lisbon or Amsterdam, is that people are making it their business to be European. Politicians and Diplomats can and will continue to sit around pouting about things they won’t budge on. Disagreements regarding foreign policy or mobile phone roaming costs may go on indefinitely in parliaments. But outside, multiple generations, including my own, are exercising our freedom and ability to move country, learn languages, and then move again if we so choose. At some point we cease to be just Portuguese or French or Maltese, we gain a second if not third identity. It is not one of patriotism or nationalism or even supranationalism. It is the freedom from old borders or language barriers or cultural limits. We have become the living breathing myth that so many so-called important people denounce… European Citizens.
If I can find internet, tomorrow I’ll talk a bit about Raul Castro and how I like his baseball cap.
Due to internet restraints, I don’t have the means with which to research and do full shows. In this program I pace around the apartment and discuss Israel-Palestine and media coverage of what is happening. Mostly about the bizarre and pathetic things going on.
Later this week I’ll have an interview or two. I wish Portugal would hurry up and modernize so that I could have better net access without having to trek all over town.
I left Lisbon about 4 years ago for Amsterdam. I had only been working here for a year.. but the city and I had a love affair that stretches back to the first time my parents allowed me to stay here on my own back in 1997. I was seventeen and allowed to stay in this little apartment on my own, and enrolled in summer courses at the university of lisbon. Some organization called the Portuguese-American something funded my education here, which made things even better, making it so I could have some money to travel around the country with all the great friends from school. I think it was back then that I knew I wanted to leave the US and live in this city.
My how things change. The metro now has a fully automated turnstyle system, which seemed like a joke that would never work 4 years ago. The once compact metro system not stretches far beyond any area I’ve ever been to. Once abandoned and forgotten apartment buildings now look like luxury lofts with blindingly beautiful paint jobs. My beloved late night book shop has moved and shrunk in size, but remains a centerpiece in the night life world for those who like books more than overpriced cocktails.
And yet. Things are as they always were. That same cat still sits in the windowsil down my street. My dear Elsa is still serving lunch at my favorite english pub. And that same blind guy is still tapping his stick and he moves from metro car to metro car in search of spare change. With its occasional flashes of modernity, Lisbon still remains Lisbon. Old, gritty, delicious, and romantic. Yup… it still has its magic.