The Crane & The Cathedral

Back where there's no universal health care...

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 23:02:00 +0000

On the way home from every trip growing up, my father always asked, "what were the highlights of the vacation?" And so, as the closing entry for this blog, I figured I'd put up a top ten list that could serve future visitors to Tarragona. Just a bit of the best, in no particular order. 1. Walking down to the beach at Arrabaisada...or however you say/spell it. The bars on that beach have the best bravas in the land, and you can even play ping pong along the way. 2. Exploring the Roman walls around the city, especially the TV studio built right into them at the university communication's department (my office). Most amazing place to work ever! 3. Wine, potato chips, and olives in any given plaza. Why can't they make chips like that here? 4. Cafe amb llet at Diva, right on Calle Major. And a croissant de xocalat of course! 5. Rambling down the Rambla Nova around seven thirty on a Saturday, with people of all ages....(many more than in this photos:) 6. Early morning walk to the train station, with the sun rising over the water. And stopping midway for ice cream on the way back up! 7. Sardines and seafood in Serrallo, the fisherman's port. La Botika is my personal favorite. 8. Exploring the mountains and villages right West of the city. Siurana, the last holdout of the Moors from the Romans is spectacular. 9. A festival, any festival...any given weekend. 10. Those first successful conversations in Catalan! 11. (bonus) Getting pregnant, although this, of course, might not be for everyone! Thanks for joining me on my Catalan ride!

Adéu a Vilanova

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:10:00 +0000

Yesterday was my last day in Vilanova, one of many lasts this week. I stopped by and visited my friends who from the Department of Health, who had participated in the first workshop I did back in November. Eva, the famous puppet lady, gave us a slew of presents, included what may be the very first handpainted baby CagaTio T-shirt. If you don't remember who Caga Tio is, check out my post from December. I feel very lucky, as will she! I just put up the photos from last weekend in Southern France as well. Off to run some last-minute errands....and to my last English-Catalan exchange with Llum.

Wrapping up...

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:26:00 +0000

Less than one week, so probably this is the next to last post (depending on how much I procrastinate about packing.) I'm spending a few days in Vilanova this week, training Neus who will be taking over the digital storytelling program there. While it's a bit last minute, they got a grant to continue the project and the plan is to do three more trainings before the end of the year. I'm so glad they're going on with it, and I think it has a lot of potential as Neapolis officially opens and develops citizen programming. We had a super time in France this past weekend, stay tuned for photos of castles on cliffs and towns in hidden valleys.

Fireworks and BBQ's for the 4th of July? In Catalunya?

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 08:14:00 +0000

Been a busy week, thus the lapse in posts. My sister and Dan's visit coincided with the fourth, which ironically, coincided with Tarragona's annual fireworks competition. This is a weeklong event with fireworks "teams" from all over Europe competing--the winner getting to be the main firework supplier for the big Santa Tecla festival in September. We got to watch from our terrace, even from bed one night, but we came up from the beach after the biggest sandstorm imaginable crossing paths of hordes of folks armed with lawn chairs and blankets staking out a good place early on. Felt like the T in Boston on the fourth, but there was a lot more domino playing here. The week also included a visit to the mother of all cranes and cathedrals, the Sagrada Familia. Here we are, as promised wearing La Chusma T-shirts...our friend Juan's band who is collecting photos of people all over the world wearing their garb in front of famous monuments. And last but not least, our week of the fourth ended with a wonderful bbq at Bernat's place, the chair of my department. Bernat bought a house in Senan a few years ago, a beautiful village, and I do mean village, 60-70 residents, about an hour north west of here. The mayor, a bit hippie (aka perroyflautas) has installed a shade area in the main plaza with solar cells with provide energy for the town's streetlamps. One day, it would be nice to be Bernat's neighbors....After a leisurely lunch and siesta where we all retired for an hour to different rooms, (perfect:) we went to see the Vallbona de les Monges, a twelfth century convent on the Cistern Route. We had seen the other two back in the fall. Altogether a glorious day, only here can a lunch date literally last ten hours! We're off for our last mini-getaway this weekend, then one last "train the trainer" workshop in Vilanova next week before heading back to the states on the 24th. See more photos of all these and stay tuned for the few last blog postings!

Some cranes, some cathedrals...

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:36:00 +0000

Here's a start on the photos, more to come. Cross View from my office From the front

Student Websites

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 10:39:00 +0000

A selection of the multimedia reports from the class I taught in digital journalism this semester are now online. I think they did a super job, especially since half of them had never done a website before! A few might not work well in your browser, they're geared toward IE on a PC, but hopefully they'll show OK for you. The majority are in Catalan, a few in Spanish. Check them out! Anita Rondó Tarragona and Dixieland Els problemes de la part alta Historias de Movilidad Tarragona de Cine Els Via Crucis de Enviar Dinero a Casa Tens foc?

facades

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:02:00 +0000

I am not sure if I ever explained why "The Crane and the Cathedral"...it just referred to the construction they were doing on the cathedral when we first got here. And, in retrospect, I should have been taking photos of all the cranes and Cathedrals I've seen this year. From the Sagrada Familia to the smallest village, there is an amazing amount of development in this part of the world. Maybe in all parts. This weekend we were in Salou, just south of here, where the English have come en masse for the beach. There are dozens of cranes along the landscape, looks like Berlin when the wall came down. While this photo isn't of construction, it's something you see often here, a facade of a building where you can still see each individual room, bathroom, etc. It's right on the corner where I turn to go to the library, and at the beginning I was afraid to remember the street by this, since I figured it would be gone soon. But 9 months later, it's still there. At any rate, there are new cranes galore right outside my office, and I am writing this to commit myself to doing my crane and cathedral photo-essay in the next month. So there.

más maps...

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:43:00 +0000

I wrote a while back about my visit to Zaragoza, to help out with their digital mile project. They've released a beta version of a Zaragoza Directo, where folks can upload photos/and videos and geocode them so they come up on a map of the city. It's looking good, check it out!

Graduations...

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 08:51:00 +0000

Way back when, after listening to speech after speech at my sister's college graduation, I tried to make a deal with her. "Let's never go to another graduation, ever." She didn't go for it, but, ironically, skipped walking as did I when getting her masters. On Friday, however, I made an exception to check out what graduations look like here in Catalonia. And, I have to say, I am so glad I went, because not only was it only two hours, but my students looked so amazingly happy. Very contagious. So here's a short list of some of the differences in graduations that I noticed. Who knows if these are true across Spain, or even across Catalonia, evidently it's really up to the individual department, which leads me to difference #1. • Not university wide--Each department does their own thing here, so this graduation was for the school of communications, part of what made it short and sweet, fewer than 100 students. • At the bank--just as some of the best concerts and art exhibits are actually at the bank here in Tarragona, so was the graduation itself. The Caixa de Tarragona auditorium. I guess there's a difference between a bank and a caixa here, caixa's have some sort of quasi-public status and are obligated to provide social benefit. works for me. • no caps and gowns--just lots of cute sundresses and euro-suits, with the 2-3 rebel ripped jeans and sandals. • overall more informal. It's funny, I think of other countries as usually having more formality, but while there were the typical formal speeches from deans and such, the students also screened a silly video of themselves doing shots and such, wouldn't catch that at home. • a blurring of the private-public sector. Go figure, here, where capitalism is a bit more tamed, there was an event sponsor, a petroleum company, who not only had their logo projected throughout the event, but also provided one of the keynote speakers. He was pretty good, but maybe it's because of the "public relations" concentration here, it seemed strange to have a graduation speaker tell kids to go out and "sell a brand, not a product," use coke-pepsi examples, and explain that he got to travel a lot to third-world dictatorships, because that's where the oil is. Hmmm. • more class camaraderie- after the event, there was a dinner at the fancy hotel in town, not for families, not even for boyfriends/girlfriends, but just for the students in this class. Kind of nice class spirit. I ducked out early, but they might have even come home by now. That's it for the moment--I'm finishing up grading their final projects which are really super, I'll upload them at the end of the week and post a few links next week.

New Digital Storytelling Site Launches!

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:11:00 +0000

One project I've been working on virtually this year is the Stories for Change website. This site is a place where folks can upload stories during or after workshops, network, find curriculum resources, etc. The Youtube of community digital storyetlling. We just launched it, and already have over 100 people signed up and about fifty stories! Take a look, www.storiesforchange.net Become a member! Upload a story!

The Mosquito Story...

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Mon, 21 May 2007 20:35:00 +0000

You probably think I'm about to complain about the rabid mosquitoes infesting our apartment. Nope, we've gotten screens, taken care of the buggers. A few days ago I got an email from Mercé, who was a participant in the first digital storytelling training last november and works at the public health department in Vilanova. She passed on the news that they just put up their first digital story online, told, of course, from the point of view of the "TIGER MOSQUITO", public health risk and threat to all. I have had one participant create a story from the point of view of her dog, but who would have thunk that the first story created by these new cadre of Catalan trainers would be in a mosquito's voice? Take a look!

Ham sandwiches...or, hurrah for the nice IT folks!

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Fri, 18 May 2007 09:58:00 +0000

It's that time again. That end of the semester time when all walk around slightly dazed, bleary eyed, quivering mouse-exhausted hands. I've assigned my students a multimedia documentary as final projects...the type of assignment that involves a lot of creativity,hours of hours of editing, and extreme patience with our friends the computers. They've been getting into it though, even giving eachother feedback on their blogs without prompting from me. I had fond nostalgia the other days as one of my students with limited media background looked at me pleadingly and asked, "are the technicians available to help out?" Another responded, "I think we'll be buying them a lot of ham sandwiches." When I was immersed in my own multimedia first projects, I remember all the promises of beers (not ham sandwiches) and cookies to my technical friends and saviors. It's somewhat of a relief now to be in the position of critiquing storyboards, suggesting resources, and telling the panicked ones that they'll still pass even though their video doesn't play in their final presentations. Anyway, a shout out to Duncan who got me through my thesis, one for Isidre and Jordi who have been inordinately patient with me and my students, and best of luck to all of you finishing up projects everywhere. I'll be wrapping up my end of the year DVD myself in a few weeks, so I'm with you. On another note, does anyone know why "voiceover" in Spanish is "voz en off"?

American Shots

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Mon, 07 May 2007 11:11:00 +0000

This weekend I went to a video workshop run by ACSUR, a Spanish NGO focusing on social justice with strong connections in Latin America. They are running a series of "video for North-South relations" courses, over 90 hours of hands-on production combined with theory about globalization and the role of media in social change/development work. Most of the folks in the class are from local NGO's or city workers, and there are several counties throughout Catalunya covering the costs of the courses so they're free to participants. All very cool. Saturday was a kind of videocamera 101 day. But there's always something new to learn. While I am familiar with close-ups, medium shots, wide shots, on Saturday I was introduced to the "American Shot". This includes some headroom, head and shoulders, and cuts of the person just about at the knees. Why the "American shot" you ask? As did I. I was told that it refers to making sure that the shot includes the pistols hanging from the pockets, old Western style. Basically, the "American shot" means make sure the guns are in the frame. Everyone wanted to know what we call it in the US, but I pleaded ignorance. IT's kind of like a "cocina americana" which are all the rage here. It means a combined kitchen/dining room thing. What do we call those? Have others heard of this american shot? After all, I do seem to have skipped film school. Incidentally, I did not take this photo. It is Roan Atkinson, British actor and American shot model.

the puente continues

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Tue, 01 May 2007 12:26:00 +0000

This weekend was another "puente" here. I think I've explained the concept, basically it means "bridge", as in, if you have a day off on Tuesday (mayday) of course you have Monday off too. This holds for Wednesday as well. Since I normally teach Mondays and Tuesdays, that meant we were off to Cadaqués, where Dali lived for most of his life plunk on the Costa Brava.(that's his egg on the roof in the photo above) Since we had packed all kinds of umbrellas and raincoats and boots to ward off the rainy forecasts, we had a sunny if overdressed weekend! Smack dab in the middle of hordes of french tourists, just thirty kilometers south of the border, we had a super weekend of hiking and beaching and got to see the house where Dali and his wife Gale lived and built, having for once in my life planned ahead and made reservations. The tour itself was a bit surreal, there were eight of us, Catalan, French, and English speakers, and we had a different tourguide in every room of the house where they attempted to explain Dali's bizarre mind in each language. We got the gist though, and it beat the Dali museum in Figueres on the way home yesterday, which packed us in like sardines, unable to deal with the line to see the Mae West installation. Perhaps another surrealist test. Take a look at our photos from April here!

And it's almost ready...

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 09:55:00 +0000

Remember back to my hard hat tour in September? Well, Neaopolis opened its doors last weekend for the first time, bands, conferences, etc. There will be 1,000 kids running through the halls for a science fair later in May, and we're hoping to have the digital storytelling lab up and running in June (before I'm up and running:) They've also been talking about setting up a local IPTV (as in internet television) based on these two models that look interesting, Joost (commercial, for profit) and DemocracyTV, (non-profit, independent), both of which are moving towards that thing we've been hearing about for years, the streamlined, computer, television experience. At the moment, they're more like youtube, but with high quality, full screen programming. Check them out. Vilanova's proposal would be pretty cool if it comes through,featuring local content both professionally and citizen-ly produced, could be the future for public access.

Happy St. Jordi!

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:45:00 +0000

Today is another fiesta in Catalonia, el día de San Jordi, the Catalan Valentine's Day. While we don't get the day off, it's a big deal here. The tradition is for men to get women a rose, and women to get men a book. While Andrew got me a rose, I adapted the tradition and got him a ham and cheese croissant. On another totally different note, I was in the library at closing time a few weeks ago. There's your typical announcement over the loudspeaker about 15 minutes before the doors lock. A few minutes later, Spanish pop begins to blare over the speaker system...it's the craziest thing ever, a regular DJ moment at the public library. Everyone continues checking out their books, blissfully ignoring it. The little things.

When you're one of a handful of folks from the U.S....

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:33:00 +0000

...in a small city in Catalonia, and tragedy strikes at home, and you happen to be in the journalism department, people expect you to have something profound to say. Some way to explain why on earth a kid would go on a shooting spree on a college campus. Yesterday I got a call from the local paper asking me to write an article, from the "perspectiva norteamericana" on the Virginia shootings. I was slightly overwhelmed at the thought, but did agree to be interviewed. Unfortunately, there really wasn't much to say, was there? Like people from everywhere, I'm deeply saddened, horrified, and disturbed. But when asked questions such as, "But why do people defend the right to have guns," or "What makes someone do this..." I certainly have no particular insight. So here's the interview, not completely true to what I said, but, I guess, if complete accuracy was my goal I should have written my own article. Some day before I leave here, it would be nice for someone to ask me to explain a really good phenomenon that happens in the U.S. We do have some after all.

A trip around the world

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 09:37:00 +0000

With the typical scrambling and last minute madness, on Wednesday afternoon we completed the second workshop. I believe I mentioned (this is like when you can't remember what you've told people, except, if I weren't so lazy, I could just go read my previous posts) that every single one of these stories was about travel in one form or another. When we gathered in the room next to the computer lab at the end of the day, it literally felt like we were flying through photos and sounds and foods of everywhere. While it was a bit frustrating to be in yet a different lab, things went more smoothly than last time. The group was energetic, and they were clearly into their stories because for the first time all year, I witnessed as half of them passed up the absolutely mandatory coffee break to keep editing. Since some work in the libraries, other in the museum, other with the City, they have a wide range of plans on how to create more stories, and keep the process going. Hopefully, we'll have another workshop later this month at the grand opening of Neapolis! While some didn't want the stories online, here are a few examples... Take a look....

Click To Play

Bea describes how she finally visits NYC, after cancelling her first trip planned for right after September 11th. This story is in Catalan.

Click To Play

Carolina learns that Japan is more than what appears in the comics. This story is in Spanish.

A new kind of photo

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 09:34:00 +0000

This weekend we went up to the zone of Osona, where you would swear you were in Colorado from the cliffs and canyons. I'll post photos soon, but one unexpected highlight was a public exposition in Vic, a small city we passed through on the way home. A few years ago, a friend gave me the book, "The Earth From Above," which is an amazing compilation of aerial photographs by Yann Arthus Bertrand. I'm sure many of you have seen it. Evidently, the photographer wanted to make his photos accessible to the visually impaired, so he collaborated with some others to turn the images into 3-D renderings. They're amazing...and I am surprised I haven't seen anything like this before. The descriptions (in English and Catalan) explain what is happening, where the light is coming from, etc. You can read more about it here.

Toy Soldiers

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 10:41:00 +0000

I made it home for the seder last week. Typically, we end the service with "next year in Jerusalem," but in recent years this has morphed into "next year in peace." One of our guests responded with a "fat chance" to the closure this year. At first, I (and some of the others at my side of the table) were a bit taken aback. But then, I thought about it a bit. Basically, since neither plan calls for withdrawing from Iraq before July of '08, in fact, we are absolutely guaranteed not to have peace next Passover. That's a pretty depressing thought. So maybe we need to adjust how we close our service. Or maybe we need to adjust our foreign policy. Or maybe a bit of both. This is the latest from Code Pink. Check it out.

workshop time!

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 15:27:00 +0000

Just got back from the first day of the second workshop. This one is with a group of folks who work with Vilanova's department of culture, in the City, public libraries, museums, etc. Fun group, and despite the fact that the theme of the stories was left completely open, they all chose to do stories about travel! I think I'm going to get to see a lot of fun European photos (plan my summer vacation) next week. Andrew came along to help get the computers up to par, and on the way home we stopped off at the gelato place conveniently located halfway between the train station and our apartment (right after climbing all the stairs). It's been closed since October. Question of the day: How do ice cream parlors in Boston manage to stay open year round when they close for 5 months here in sunny Tarragona? I will ponder this over my next few gelatos.

The perils of the wind

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 16:08:00 +0000

What is the correct thing to do with a pair of someone's underwear that have landed on our roof? A few months ago, in our other apartment, we lost a pair ourselves when hanging them out to dry and when we came home they were hanging on our doorknob. Don't ask how they knew they were ours. But these, we have no idea whose they are although they're rather pretty.

RENFE and me

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 17:54:00 +0000

I've been avoiding this post, not wanting to complain too much, but I'm afraid the time has come. RENFE is the Regional bla bla bla, basically, the public train system here. And while yes, it can get you almost anywhere you want to go, there's no guarantee it will get you there in time. And it just seems to be getting worse. A few weeks ago, frustrated commuters finally stood in the tracks blocking other trains until someone came out and told them that a train would indeed take them home. The problem has been compounded around Barcelona lately, where they're building the new high speed station and working around the airport as well. It's all kind of a blur to me, but every time I've gone to either Barcelona or Vilanova lately, I've had to wait 30-45 minutes. And then, there's the fact that during rush hours they consistently seem to put on the shortest trains, with only a few cars. This leads to what I call the "Who is the most decrepit?" game where if you are lucky enough to get a seat for the 1.25 hour ride, you must be constantly vigilant, making sure there's not a tottering old woman nearly passing out in the aisle, too proud to ask you for her seat. You can try glaring at the teenagers in the next seats, but that's not too effective. It's just about 20-25 percent of us who keep an eye out, evaluating our own exhaustion and guilt factor with those poor souls standing in the aisle, we've all been there. And then, of course, sometimes I just fall asleep, and I become the most mentally decrepit of all, and I lose the game. It's tough, but somebody has to play it.

Al and Monica

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:48:00 +0000

The first time I was in Spain, hmmm, maybe almost ten years ago, my friend Naomi and I were prancing around the country blissfully when people started to giggle and hiss, "Monica...." at us. I remember finding some internet cafe in Barcelona to read the Starr report. As "US cultural ambassadors" we were snickered at, patronized, and generally felt sorry for. But I don't think we were hated. I was in Barcelona again briefly about a year and a half ago, when anti-Americanism was strong. I remember sitting with a group of journalists from the conference I was attending over one of these three hour multicourse meals. They asked me repeatedly, "But how?".... I did my best to explain the schism of red and blue, but mostly I hunkered down in my wine and olive oil. But this year, you know, I haven't gotten too hard a time. That is, until Al had to get his photo taken with his indoor pool. I was buying Maya a scarf at a little store which led to a discussion on climate change with the owner, and all of a sudden...the outrage. "That Al Gore, that ex-president, coming to OUR country and telling us what to do, when he uses more energy than anyone..." It was all over the papers here, and while I'm not surprised since I come from a place where it's a mandate to have an affair or two while you speak of family values, people here don't quite get it. It's a good thing my feet are my primary mode of transportation here, even though I haven't won an Oscar, I might never hear the end of it. At least nobody is hissing "Goooorrrreee" at me. Speaking of gore, a group of my students just did this really nice photoessay for the class about the end of Carnival, which involves some kind of funeral recreation as indeed a bit creepy, we caught just part of it. Take a look:

Participatory Journalism

noreply@blogger.com (tasha) — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:33:00 +0000

I know you're all chomping at the bit (not) to know how my class is going. However, I'm not going to put too many details here since my students know my blog and we don't want them reading too much about themselves:) But one thing that this class is allowing me to do is some in-depth comparison of online US and Spanish media. Since I'm always looking for references and examples from here, I've gotten to see and think a lot about the differences. For the next few weeks we're looking at participatory journalism and I spent way too much time last week making a little comparison chart of which online news sources offer what kinds of options for participation. I looked at the NY Times, the BBC, El País (biggest paper in Spain) and La Vanguardia (biggest paper in Catalonia) and the clear clear loser is...New York Times. Out of the four, the NYT is the only one that doesn't have discussion forums, doesn't let readers upload or suggest new items, you still can't personalize your home page (although that's coming) etc. etc. Basically, all you can do is write letters to the editor or comment on blogs. Maybe this isn't surprising, since in my humble opinion this is NOT a progressive paper despite the hype. Look at what the BBC is doing--they have a whole section where readers can upload photos or videos on newsworthy items, or El País, where there is a section called participation where readers can ask questions in interviews, etc. etc. So even though I've discovered that people do drive and get married here, progressive is as progressive does, when it comes to participation, we have a long way to go. And, incidentally, not only are cars much smaller, but there are also gas stations that offer biodiesel throughout the country. Not just the hippies, it's a way of life.