Maria reciting Border Towns by Roberto Duran

Maria reciting Border Towns by Roberto Duran
Originally uploaded by nathalie pahud-briquet.

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Downtown Oakland, CA

Downtown Oakland, CA
Originally uploaded by nathalie pahud-briquet.

J’observe en relisant mes lettres du début de l’année que je suis moins dans la découverte, c’est impressionnant, je commence a m’habituer a ce qui m’entoure et peu a peu a me fondre dans la masse, ce qui me distingue encore c’est mon accent francais et aussi ma manière de m’habiller. Le fait de vivre a Oakland a aussi pousse les choses dans ce sens, le travail la journée, le yoga a San Francisco en fin de journée et retour a la maison. Sortir seule le soir n’est vraiment pas recommande ce qui limite un peu mes découvertes. De plus j’ai pas mal explore le collège et photographies les élèves sur toutes les coutures. Il reste les week-ends quand je n’ai pas trop de travail. Vendredi passe pour la première fois j’ai découvert le centre d’Oakland de magnifiques bâtiments modernes en verre jouxtant des bâtiments de brique du début du siècle pourtant la ville semble souffrir, de nombreux commerces ont fermes leurs portes a la suite du crash des dot coms dans la région. Il y a peu de boutiques, pas de magasins de luxe et a plupart de petits commerces arborent des grilles devant leur devantures . La population est majoritairement noire et asiatique.
Au collège je commence a découvrir les intrigues politiques et a prendre conscience du fonctionnement de l’institution. C est intéressant mais épuisant pour les enseignants qui doivent enseigner et en même temps lutter pour maintenir des représentants digne de supporter leur travail dans l’école. J’entend parler de vente des terres sur lesquelles se trouve le collège pour construire un parking et de corruption.

Spring

Big hug
Originally uploaded by nathalie pahud-briquet.

We have had nothing but rain for a few weeks and it has been a big change from the wonderful weather we had over the winter. I feel really tired and I am looking forward to the spring break on Friday. I shall be heading off to Santa Cruz with David to a beach house that my friend Rita has lent us. I haven’t had time to do any traveling in the US since my trip to Santa Monica last August and the meeting in Little Rock AR in October.
So far school has been great. In my basic writing class the students have a fairly good level of English and they seem to enjoy writing their papers online. I managed to raise money to buy cameras through

my photography website

so that some of the students write online and illustrate with pictures from their lives

their blogs

. I really enjoy doing these activities with them, but the class periods are short, 60 minutes and I find we could do with more time.
One of my most dedicated students,

Amaranth

has already had two pictures published in a local newspaper and that’s really rewarding. My whole idea with this project was to have my students explore the world around them through photography and write about that. Explore and meet people. We have a plan to go and walk the Golden Gate Bridge together, we haven’t been able to make it up to now, but I hope we will be able to make it before the semester is over.

Johnny

my homeless student from last semester has moved to the Bridge Class and he is trying to improve his writing skills and to find a place to stay. He used to come to my class during his free time, but there was an incident lately in one of his class. He came to class drunk and I talked to him about it, he was in a total denial of his state, I think he did not appreciate the fact that I told him the truth I haven’t seen him since. I hope I shall get a chance to talk to him soon.
In my critical thinking class we had an interesting debate on abortion. It was interesting to hear the different points of view from students from the different cultural and socio economic backgrounds. I am really impressed by the power religion still has on my students in the USA. I think one of the reflection that struck me most came from a Mexican student who claimed that American youth was infantilized and that in her country having a child at a young age, working and being poor was possible and kind of normal. The rest of the class kind of agreed on the fact that it was best to be able to have control over one’s body and life.
The most difficult thing for me here is still probably the fact of not being able to go where I want whenever I want. Some places are really dangerous and it is true that it really refrains my photographic safaris around here.