Worldview Magazine - Fall 2007 - (Page 30)

Show off the Peace Corps logo with T-shirts & sweatshirts in adult and child sizes. Also tote bags, mouse pads, chef’s aprons, greeting cards, writing journals, kitchen magnets, buttons and more. Buy everything you need online at www.cafepress.com/ pcorpsconnect and help NPCA to inform, connect and engage. Preparing Leaders for the Challenges of the 21st Century Change the World Distinguished LBJ School alumna and nonpro t founder, Sharla Megilligan, helps support educational development in impoverished areas of the world. The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs announces a new Master of Global Policy Studies degree to prepare graduates with the skills, tools, and knowledge to become leaders in an increasingly globalized world. Curriculum highlights include: • Global policy and trends analysis • Concepts of international conﬂict and cooperation • Contemporary international history • Policy tools in international affairs • Comparative cultures and governments • Global civics and ethics Graduates will be prepared for international leadership positions in governments, for-proﬁt businesses, and nongovernmental and international organizations. For more information go to: www.utexas.edu/lbj The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public A airs The University of Texas at Austin 30 Fall 2007 I admired the way death brought support and compassion. But as I grew more familiar with it, I viewed it less as a heartfelt response and more as protocol–procedural measures that families take on, be it in the name of tradition or an attempt to gain temporary stature. In one wave of deaths–in Rincon they occur en masse–my host family was also stricken. A day after one of the town patriarchs passed away, my family received news of a cousin’s death. I remember being startled by the sudden rise of chanting that ﬁlled the house. e cousin, I later found out, was born and raised in Portugal, had never been to Cape Verde let alone had any contact with my host family. Yet here his soul was being eulogized as if he was a beloved son lost at war. I watched my host sisters, arms to the sky, pleading and desperate, trance-like in this illusion of misery. I watched others enter, women who a few feet from the house laughed and chatted, morph into similar caricatures. ey were stage actors engaged in an ostentatious ruse. My assessment took on an added dimension when asked why I hadn’t cried. At ﬁrst, I wanted to explain, but feared cultural insensitivity. I responded with a simple catch-all, “I didn’t know how.” But as I thought more about it, I started losing this carefulness and tried to deﬁne my notions of grievance. Despite my attempts, I was continually labeled thoughtless. e ﬁrst eight days after a death mark the most intense period of mourning. ough much like the crying it is a peculiar sight because, typical of most large-scale activities in Cape Verde, it tends to provide an excuse for a party. Periods of mourning are distortions, bizarre instances that draw celebration from loss. is isn’t to say that the atmosphere is carnival-like, just that the somber tones I normally associate with death are donned at speciﬁc occasions, as part of the unsaid protocol. e rest of the time, the moments outside the house, with these large numbers of people, things appear wholly disconnected to why it all occurred in the ﬁrst place. http://www.cafepress.com/pcorpsconnect http://www.cafepress.com/pcorpsconnect http://www.cafepress.com/pcorpsconnect http://www.utexas.edu/lbj http://www.utexas.edu/lbj

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Worldview Magazine - Fall 2007

Worldview - Fall 2007 Contents Presiden'ts Note Lafayette Park Introduction Interview Commentary Editor's Note Letter from Rumbek, Sudan Listings Letter from Yekaterinburg, Russia Letter from Codaesti, Romania Letter from Catia La Mar, Venezuela Letter from Gumare, Botswana Letter from Ridder, Kazakhstan Letter from Rincon, Cape Verde Letter from Port Au Prince Another Country Community News Giving Back Opinion

Worldview Magazine - Fall 2007

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