genesis

I thought I'd provide a bit of background for anyone who happens upon this site over the next few months (years?) and wonders how I got here, how this was possible, and all that.

In the fall of 2003 I entered my senior year of college at Haverford, which is just outside of Philadelphia, PA. I was an Economics major with a concentration in Latin American studies. (Aside: a 'Concentration' at Haverford was basically the equivalent of a Minor, except for the addition of a "long paper" project during the penultimate semester. Alongside the requisite major thesis this essentially gave me license to complain about my work-load all year long.) According to my professors in the two disciplines Economics and Latin American studies was a rare combination, although the two seemed quite marriable to me. Allow me to explain...

Between high school and college, I had spent two months in rural Costa Rica working on a sanitation project with the Costa Rican Ministry of Health in cooperation with a US-based organization called Amigos de las Americas. Later, as a junior in college, I spent a semester at la Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa, Mexico. The primary cultural shock I experienced in both cases was that of economic disparity. (Incidentally, I don't care for the word disparity because it sounds too much like "despair" and in neither case was what I experienced necessarily sad.)

I was fascinated by what we take for granted in the United States: when I returned from Costa Rica, I spent several hours wandering the fully-stocked aisles of a brightly-lit, excessively air-conditioned supermarket in Minneapolis, unable even to blink my eyes.

Yet, when I traveled to Mexico - a country that allows free trade with more than 20 other nations - I found the abundance of US- and European-made hair products (in particular) even more astounding, considering the small percentage of the population that can actually afford these luxury goods. When I begun to realize that the likely source of money spent on luxury products in Mexico was actually earned "illegally" in the United States, I felt compelled to find out why.

So there I was, a senior in college, just back from a summer research assistantship with a think tank in Washington DC. My head was full of plans to pursue a Masters in Latin American studies, I spent hours scouring the library for books and articles on Mexican-US trade and labor economics, and I saw myself becoming the premier economic expert on trade globalization and free market labor issues.

And then the corporate recruiters came knocking...

Six months later I had a polished resume, a new black suit, and smart-glasses to match. I was flown hither and thither to be interviewed by rich and powerful people in tall buildings, and I caught the fever. When an offer was extended for a two year consulting program in Chicago, with opportunities to travel all over the world on projects and an entry-level salary that was more than I had ever imagined, I said "yes" to the corporate world.

Suffice it to say, I didn't last long.

(I fully intend to disclose all the juicy details of that experience in a sort of memoir-slash-guidebook for young women; I'll be working on that project on the side over the course of my travels this year. Details to come...)

In May of 2006 I quit my first job - quite the occasion - and started working part time at a folk music school in Chicago. I knew I wanted to be learning, working toward some sort of graduate education, helping others get educated or find their calling, and just generally "figuring things out". I considered several career directions: applying for PhD programs in economics, attending the Unitarian seminary at U of Chicago, becoming the lead singer in a blues-soul outfit, obtaining a degree in ethnic dance, becoming a high school teacher/coach, and so on. Everything sounded great, but still I wasn't ready. Something about committing so fully to that first job only to find near-complete dissatisfaction - well, it'll make you a bit more hesitant the next time around.

There was one nagging thing that had been in the back of my mind ever since that summer after high school: I knew I wanted to do another project with Amigos de las Americas - this time as a supervisor. In December of 2006, I was accepted and the adventure began to take shape...