With many of us teachers, and the school a great pride of the 88-family community, we visited the local school on the way out of town. What to note except the pride and effort, our respect for these kids, that Friere was in the library, that kids were texting or playing games on cell phones in class, that I wished they were learning English not Spanish but maybe that's my issue, and that everyone wears flip-flops. We told them the story of the student from Rio Branco at Andover, invited questions. One girl asked "how long did it take you to get here?" And then as if to challenge the nervous system, we went to Brasilia... (click to read more)
An attempt at history: Envisioned by big-planning and beloved Brazilian president Kubitschek in the 60's, Brasilia was a planned capital designed to spur the Brazilian economy by making the capital more geographically centrally located. And so he commissioned a planner (Lucio Costa) and an architect (Oscar Niemeyer, now 104 and still going strong) to construct a capital on the savannah. Rivers got dammed in the shape of a bird and the city was laid out in the shape of an airplane. Federal buildings created the spine of the plane; residential complexes on the wings, all white and futuristic and seemingly uninhabited. Every apartment was the same; if you knew someone's address you knew the exact size and layout of his living space. Supposedly rumors still abound that the CIA killed Kubitschek, who died in a mysterious car accident. After a late dinner of serious conversation that ended at 11:30, we toured the city, no traffic, delirium only adding to a sensation of the bizarre...
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