i love that dirty water

swimming in that river, as everyone told me it would, backfired on me.

that nasty brown river called my name again during another rainy season downpour. a couple of us, jumped in, amidst the lighting into the muddy, trash-filled river. what a wonderful place. in a sky of grey, a muck of brown, i could barely see 5 ft in the chaos. I felt like Forrest Gump ¨when there was rain that flew in sideways...and sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up.¨

lets go back to an important fact of the story. that day, my parents sent me in some new shoes, Crocs. almost like sandals, but as Jon told me during Bonarroo, they were perfect for mud and concerts. so with this storm, with the lightning, in the muddy river, i went out in my new shoes.
they were as Jon described. I was outrunning my friends outside the river in the mud, my feet were invincible. to quote the best movie of all time again ¨i could run like the wind blows.¨ with the storm, the water was rising fast, we played a game of tag with a couple kids who were already at the river. as i was dodging being tagged, the river conjured up the its strength and bit my shoe right off of my foot.

i plunged under to find it in the mud, but the water was moving too fast, and the lightning picked up. it was getting dark and we had to leave. i walked away from the river with one, brand new, shoe.

for three straight days, as standard searches go, we went back to the river to look, unsuccessfully. digging up mud stained my fingernails for a day for two. in the mud, we found about 30 bottles of coke, tree limbs, a couple dead fish, and about 20 other shoes. but not mine.
it was a lost cause, and i accepted the fact that i just contributed to another peice of trash in our polluted river.

....

this all happend last month. and last week, one of my friends invited me over to tell mea story. he told me, as Joseph and I were walking past the river, i through a ball of mud at him, then he threw me off a 2 meter cliff, and i landed on that expensive shoe of yours. IT WAS FOUND

after a chicken dinner for everyone in the search party, it would seem like i learned my lesson, right? i know swimming in the river is dumb and i forgot to mention the rash i got on my back too (possibly how i wound up with those amoeba's and worms in my system as well) but then i thought....

the river is where my neighbors go if they want to go swimming. they dont get in their car and drive to Fradette´s or Provencher´s pool. they dont get in the car and do to Hampton Beach, much less do they go to their parents´ lake house. they go in that nasty, dirty, polluted river behind our houses. So Ive got my mind made up, and this year, I will too.

futbol

latin.
community. life.

heat, caged windows, salsa music, futbol
lonely nights, long conversations, looking at the calendar
how many chapters will be in my roller coaster day?

once again, i find myself a stranger in a strange land. but at this point in the year, im pretty well known in my community. im best known for being the ¨gringo en la cancha.¨ that translates to the white dude who plays soccer. futbol. 7 days a week. every day. i play, futbol. but lets start from the beginning...

i first was introduced to futbol in my after school program. every else was doing it. and from anyone who knows me, i fold like oregami under peer pressure. so like a lot of other things in my life, i just took what Keirkegard would call a ¨leap of faith¨and i jumped in head first. and after playing futol a couple days a week, i became addicted.

5 days wasnt enough. I needed to find more games. so i started playing sundays too. on the streets. there is always something on the line. food, drinks, money, and pride. and today, i started a league on saturdays to get my fix in 7 days a week.

and so thats where i spend my free time. and thats how i became to feel like a part of my community. and futbol has opened new doors for me. to friendships. to casas. and to a new vocabulary of trash talking that is centered around ¨tu madre¨.

so futbol is a huge part of my life down here now. and it is how i have gotten to meet my community. and it is why i am periodically turning my head as i am writing this to some of my new names ( dan-yell, dan-i, dan-yell-ito, gringo, jefe, pana, amigo, ñaño) as my new friends pass by and see me through the steel bars of the internet cafe. some stop in. a couple of the younger kids have eagerly watched my type everyword.

i miss home. i miss home a lot. but today i am happy being a stranger in this strange world.

Babylon Burn Down

Updates

• I just led another retreat group from St. John´s Prep (Danver´s Mass). This was a great for us, and I feel that the highschoolers all left inspired to continue a life of faith and service
• Tutoring now in math, english, and FRENCH (I hoped it would come in handy down the line)
• Soccer everyday, on the weekdays we play on a concrete court at Semillas, the weekends we play on the street
  
• I used to eat lunch at home, making eggs or eating left overs. Now, Ive been eating at Damien House with the women, and often, Ill get pulled into a neighbors house for a second lunch, the standard is a bowl of soup and plate of chicken and rice.
• 100 degrees everyday
• Reading Liberation Theology (faith in making a prefferential option for the poor)
• Listening to Bob Marley (the same idea as above)
• Re-growing the beard

The days are long. Hospital in the morning, spending time with neighbors in the afternoon, then the afterschool program, and then hanging out with friends guaruntees that the days are always full. A lot gets thrown at me here, but Im learning to take it day by day. More importantly, Im learning to appreciate each new day as a gift, no matter what gets thrown at me.

But you guys dont want to hear about how busy my life is here... Arent we all busy?

Lets talk about ¨Babylon Burn Down.¨ What does that even mean? It stands for hope, from the Judeo-Christian tradition, Rastafarian especially. It means that amist all the suffering in the world, there is hope. Babylon, will burn down. Martin Luther King Jr. said it the best in accepting his Nobel Peace Prize... ¨I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, Other-centered men can build up.¨ I am inspired that Garrett, David, Melissa, and Nora are heading down to Haiti in May. Jon is practicing microfinance (small loans to those oppressed by lack of resources and opportunity) in Kenya. God calls us all to bring down Babylon. There is so much work to be done in the US! First in our hearts (no bad mind, no hatred, no envy, no grudge) and then in our action. Out faith must have praxis, or it is a dead, and selfish spirituality. I have faith that if we all act in love and make a preferrential option for the poor, Babylon will burn down.

What is Babylon then? In Duran... Babylon reigns when I meet a child, living in a cane house with 13 other people, mainly chldren. She is 13, and we practice multiplacation in a park. She has a one year old on her lap and there is a 2 year old to her side. We try to focus. She wants to learn, she has been out of school for several years now. 13 years old and illiterate, so we practice math. We practice multiplying numbers by 2, and then by 10, the easiest. Then the neighbors come and interupt. They want attention. Then her mother calls, she has to go by food for dinner. This child has more responsiblilty than I do! Born into a life of struggle and poverty, will she ever has a second to be a child?

Or what about my friend who has played the game well. She is smart, beautiful, and ambitious. She grew up in Duran and was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to school. She excelled. She was given another opportunity and got a scholorship to go to college. She excelled there. A bachelors degree! Coming from a child in Duran?! Finally, against all the odds, she made it, the promised land of having a college education. Today, she is unemployed. She has no connections and there are no jobs available. Imagine the heartbreak. You played the game right, worked your hardest, took advantage of every opportunity that came your way, and still no opportunity. The system just doesnt work.

Thats Babylon. And thats why we need to change.

Do we give up faith in a more just world and just focus on getting ours? Thats the temptation of our life. Thats Babylon Burn Down- God, give me the courage to dedicate a life for a more just world.