a note on name.

although the title "healing veins" maybe sounds a little dark, it's actually a reference to eduardo galeano's book "open veins of latin america." the book is galeano's attempt to trace the generations of exploitation latin america has face since being discovered some 500 years ago. although widely known as a journalist, galeano approaches latin american history more critically and poetically than most traditional journalists or historians. it was written over 30 years ago but continues to be relevant today in the context of our increasingly globalized world.

as part of my thesis at gallatin, i looked at the centuries of colonization, neocolonization, liberalism, neoliberalism, and a bunch of other -isms that for better or worse have escaped me. i looked at cycles of power and theories on how and why power is established, distributed, and manifested in basically ever action we take as members of any given society. blah blah blah today, globalization is the $10 word everybody is afraid of, the end of cultures, individuality, and all the things that make us different and interesting, the hand homogeneity. well, it just don't have to be so. more than ever, we're better equipped with ways to preserve and to continue to evolve in order to exist as distinct peoples and individuals. so "healing veins" is my attempt to convey this message.

i feel this sentiment a lot in argentina. after the economic crisis in 2001 and the subsequent devaluation of the argentine peso, argentina has been forced to look internally rather than abroad. more on this a bit later ....

so, yea, title of blog is hopeful. word.