Rhythms, Drums, Spanish, and Farms!!

Music: Rhythms, Drums, and Organs

Monday morning brought the excitement of a new mission – our music of Oaxaca class. With only a vague idea of what to expect that evening (as class was not until 5 pm), we spent our day wandering around Oaxaca and wondering what our teacher, Sergio, might have in store. By 5pm we had made our way to the Zocalo to meet up and walk to our new class room. Between the Zocalo and our class we met at another park to meet Sergio and Ruben, who would be with us the rest of the week. After introductions we marched onward to our final destination—the class room. It was not your ordinary class room, as we would find out throughout the rest of the week with classes taking all across Oaxaca. The room was reminiscent of dance studio with full wall mirrors on three sides and light colored hard wood floors. As we gathered in the room we uncovered more information for our mission that night. We began doing group activities that included creating rhythms with your body, and later with your voice. Some of us caught on quickly, while others not only confused the rest of us, but themselves. We then moved on to activities where we mimicked a partner and filled our class room with wonderful music we were creating with just ourselves as we moved around the room.

On Tuesday we filled our day with things around Oaxaca as we waited for class again at 5. We had been told on Monday that if we have instruments to bring them to class. When we got to class we learned that we would be talking about Ancient music of Mesoamerica and music making with traditional instruments and rhythms. Ruben and his musician friends, the group PASATONO, played a few songs for us to help us understand the different sounds of different parts of Mexico’s music history. After, we were all given an instrument and taught a rhythm. We all then combined our sounds and had an awesome jam session.

On Wednesday, the 3 credit crew journeyed to Tlacochahuaya to see an 18^th century organ preserved in its original style.

We also learned about the role of the church in music during the Colonial period and 19^th century. After seeing the church and learning about the organ, we listened to the beautiful music that it creates. Then, we learned about the restoration of the church and had a tour of some of the restoration processes going on within the church. We discovered that over the years the church had been expanded and redecorated. Our tour included seeing parts of the church from different stages in its history.

On Thursday and Friday we ventured early to class for our drumming workshop. We met at the Zocalo to walk to Alebrije Ignacio Carrillo’s house. He is a musician that was teaching us about coastal music and rhythms. Each of us had a drum and we learned different counting techniques, and rhythms as we learned about music of Oaxaca and its intertwining with Afro, and Caribbean style flavors. We ended each workshop with a jam session and we ended

Fridays workshop with another guest, Lorena, joining us to sing while we drummed.

This week of music has been full of information and fun and we are all looking forward to the coming weeks and what they have in store for us.

Much love,

Ashley H.

Spanish Track: La Historia de México - Week 1

This week, all eight of us from the spanish track began a mexican history class at the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez. We began the first class learning about Mesoamerica and throughout the week each 4 hour class was dedicated to a different period in Mesoamerican history; the Preclassic (2000 BCE–200 CE), the Classic (200 CE–1000CE), and the Postclassic (1000 CE–1697 CE). Each night we are assigned readings from the book, Historia de México, and are asked to share a question we have with the class.

In lecture each day, we discuss the previous nights' reading in more detail, learn new material, and watch films about relevant topics such as the Olmec culture and influence on other societies, the advancement of various societies throughout the different eras, Tenochtitlan and the Spanish conquest of 1521, etc.

The classes are long and challenging, (especially since we're learning history in our second language!) but are packed with interesting information about important parts of Mexican history and are taught by two amazing professors, Francisco José Ruiz Cervantes and Edmundo López López.

By the end of the following week, we each have to write a paper about an important part of Mexican history and present for 10 minutes about one topic that we have learned in class. We still have much more to learn but have already accomplished so much.

Hope everyone enjoyed hearing about our week!

Abrazos y Besos,

Ashley, Sarah, Michaela,

Natalie, Mickey, Marisa,

Joe, Danielle

FOOD SYSTEMS

Where we had previously studied Oaxacan cuisine with Cynthia, with Vern we were able to delve deeper into understanding the systems put in place to allow for such Oaxacan cuisine, the successes and the struggles within the agricultural sector of Oaxaca. We have had a great week filled with many trips surrounding the concepts of a farming system, a food system, agro ecology, sustainable agriculture, and a better understanding the various systems of labeling (organic, fair trade, etc.). We have achieved a greater understanding of these concepts through various trips in and outside of Oaxaca City, through deep conversation with Oaxacans in various areas of our study.

On Monday we went to the Abastos market and observed the process of selling the various items. Each small group was assigned a section (vegetables, fruits, meat, other) to observe in the market and to ask vendors questions to better understand the value of price as well as the course food takes from its initial place of production to the Abastos market.

On Tuesday we went to Noxtitlan to visit CEDICAM, a non-governmental organization working to provide information on the sustainable agriculture and reforestation to about 30 indigenous Mixta villages. Here we learned from Eleazar and Phil largely of the characteristics and importance of corn. We learned about traditional agricultural practices and about milpa, recognizing how truly important it is to not sacrifice quality and mother earth for efficiency and profit. Community is the driving force that creates the most sustainable success.

On Wednesday we went to ITVO, a federally funded agricultural college and research institute. Dr. Javier Lopez discussed with us the goals of the organization and showed us a tour of the student-run tomato greenhouse. The main priority of the college is naturally education, secondly to apply their research to give technology to farmers. In the future they hope to sell such information to industrial agricultural companies. We also discussed with students at the college their possible futures in agriculture and we shared a bit about us as well. With less governmental jobs available for these students now, they will likely bring their knowledge back to their hometowns. In the afternoon we visited a local farmer who grows peanuts in particular and discussed his family’s particular diversified production practices that work well and discussed the challenges he faces in terms of water and land use as well in Oaxaca’s climate.

On Thursday we visited a wholesale tomato greenhouse grower where a farmer shared his knowledge of pest management and discussed the particular difficulties in terms of the market prices in Abastos, causing the farm to reflect on various possible strategies for future growth. Afterwards we returned back to the city and went to the Sustainable Harvest office, a company that works with coffee producers in Central America. In fact, they even sell their coffee to Vermont’s Green Mountain Coffee! In the office we learned about fair trade, and the various services the company provides to better the quality of production and life of coffee producers. At the end, we even had the opportunity to do some coffee tasting, yumm!

Finally on Friday we went to a very inspiring land not far from the city with aninteresting history. We discussed with a man not much older than us named Renee about his ability, along with 24 other young community members, to reclaim land, start a quale farm and a vegetable garden, raise many cows among other animals, reusing the compost from the animals as fertilizer, build a greenhouse to provide free sustainable and organic gardening practices, started a publically owned market for local farmers, and are in the process of building a new restaurant! They also have an office where they use their technical skills to create communal projects and have been very successful in their own project of governmentally funded reforestation in the area. Though they have had their struggles over the years with the government and with massive flooding, they have a wonderful philosophy that we can learn much from. This group is called COVORPA, or Comité Voluntario de Reforestación y Protección al Ambiente (Volunteer Committee for the Reforestation and Protection of the Environment). Afterwards we went into the city and discussed the week over pizza!

Thank you professors Vern, Oliver, and Louisa for a great week! If you would like more information or would like to see some great pictures, please go to this website that Vern has assembled: http://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/Oaxaca/class_images.html

Brittany