west uptowner

a brief word, originally uploaded by plastictaxi.

Once we had put up Nohayquiensepa I relaxed my mind, but before I left Bogotá I was involved with a number of other projects we were facilitating. One of these is IXOK' - a story about an indigenous woman surviving the Mayan Genocide in Guatemala in the 80's. We put this show up in a theatre called La Macarena.
After a quick rehearsal in the space I headed back to our hostel - and saw our poster, partially covered, on a post. I took a quick snapshot - quick because I never know how the young men acting as military police will react to a camera. but they wandered into the frame just as I snapped it. They were closing in on the homeless person scuffling next to the post. I didn't get to see what happened next - probably nothing, I hope nothing.
I had a few moments of feeling utterly hopeless in the face of larger issues while in Bogotá - one afternoon I packed into a cab with just enough money to get me where I was going and back, and just as we got onto the highway that skirts the city along the mountainside (the circumalar, which offers great views of the city) I realized that I didn't know the town, barely got by in Spanish, had no local cell and that every phone number I had was out of date - i.e, no way of phoning for help. At that point I had no choice but to trust the driver - a kid who liked to play with the door lock button in time to the music on his radio while waiting for streetlights.
And now I'm back in Toronto, again feeling a little helpless as the new mayor decides to trash our transit plans for an unaffordable fantasy that will not work, and all the jobs waiting for my attention leap in unison into my field of view.
Lucky me I love my work.

# posted by trev @ 3:55 p.m.