Another Book Review: Creating a World Without Poverty

I wrote a little about this on GOodreads...so if we're pals there you've seen this already...
I was kind of disappointed with this book, given that I have a been a huge fan of Muhammad Yunus for a long time, ever since I saw a mini-documentary about him on one of the local PBS stations years ago. His micro-credit movement has been incredibly successful in Bangladesh and has changed the way people think about helping the poor throughout the world. I have been pretty excited by his simple, individualistic approach to fixing the hopeless cycle so many of the world's poorest people find themselves in. This book deals with his evolving ideas in solving the problem of poverty...and the rest of the world's problems while he's at it through something he calls "Social Business".

This newest experiment is a business which exists to provide a solution to some social problem (e.g. malnutrition) while also providing employment in poor communities. There is no profit dividend for investors - who are repaid their principle investment, all profits being returned to the business to expand their efforts for good, a self-sustaining cycle. It reminded me a lot of the LDS Church's Perpetual Education Fund. It's not a bad idea. His book recounts the inspiring example of their first attempt at a social business joint venture with Danone (Dannon yogurt).

I was kind of surprised by the scope of his vision - to eliminate all that is harmful in the world - and I found myself questioning a lot of his underlying assumptions (e.g. that eliminating poverty will put an end to all violence and exploitation, that bad things happen among people and nations primarily because of the imbalance between rich and poor, also that there is never a good reason for something like a big car...because if you don't need the space you're wasteful and if you DO need the space then you're irresponsible [for having that many children]). I couldn't help asking questions about poverty & exploitation also resulting from inadequate legal systems, vice, abuse, fanaticism, etc. not necessarily motivated by profit. That is: money isn't always the answer. A lot of his foundational reasoning is classic finite resource economics: population control, etc. But he's also a believer in abundance through ingenuity...it's a kind of "hit it from both sides" approach.

Overall, it's good thinking, they're doing so much good (check out this talk by LDS apostle Russell Ballard).

I think Muhammad Yunus needs to collaborate with Hernando De Soto and the ILD. (Mike's inspiration for his master's in Econ.) in creating the framework and opportunity for the poor to escape the cycle.

Snow Weekend

So the weekend turned out a little different than we planned. We ran into some snags with babysitting so we decided that Mike would just take the older two kids skiing/snowboarding at Solitude, and that I would stay home this time with the three youngest. Mike put Noble in an all-day snowboarding class - since this was only his second time on a board. Noble wasn't too keen on the idea - I think because he gets anxious about new situations, especially the social component. Mike took his telemark skis and also his snowboard. He spent the morning skiing with Jess, and then got on his board after lunch - and did a few runs with Noble at the end of the day. Jess in that wild hat she insisted on wearing...

Noble... Solitude

Meanwhile...back at the ranch...
My bro Casey called and invited us on a little snow hike with them. So I took the three youngest with snowshoes and met them up Millcreek Canyon. The snow was packed down, but it was still good practice for the kids in their snowshoes...I didn't use mine. We had some fun sliding down some slopes there on the sled we brought. After a while Sully had had enough of the cold and started crying - so we headed back. Tillman was kind of cold and whiny - so, Grace stepped up and actually PULLED Tillman on a sled all the way back down the trail to the car. Then while I loaded T. and Sully, crying, into the car, she (without being asked, mind you) took care of packing all the gear into the back of the car for me. Wow. (That earned her a little extra cash at allowance time...)
We met Mike's Mom and Dad at Cafe Rio for lunch - and Sully downed more chicken quesedilla than the other two kids combined. Thanks Jacque and Howard...we had fun!
I realized that even a veteran parent like myself can be easily overwhelmed by three small children when alone. It made me grateful for the help my older children are to me - and Mike...and our families.

We also cut 10 inches off of Jessie's hair Saturday night -

She'd been growing it out for Locks of Love. She was pretty excited.

Next weekend looks like more fun in the snow...we're planning on a little get away to Brian Head with Mike's parents and brothers. (woohoo!)

Slow Learner

Between when our old computer bit the dust and now, our iTunes libraries/playlists, etc. have been all messed up. I haven't dared to sync the 30G with the computer even though we have lots of new music to add because I'm using it as my reference as I rebuild what we had before. Anyway, as a result my old running playlists have been lost - and that's probably a good thing because I'm a creature of habit. Now I get to create fresh new playlists. Also, in the last few months, the ancient 1st generation shuffle that I've used to run and snowboard with for years died suddenly. This also, turned out to be for the best. Mike got me a new nano for Christmas along with the Nike+ chip to keep track of my miles, etc. Only problem is, I'm slow with technology. The first time I tried it out I was annoyed by it, because I couldn't make it work right, my headphone jack was a really tight fit with it - and so I ended up messing with that the whole time too...it seemed to get in the way of just running. Since then life's been so busy that I haven't even been out running. Today Mike and I got out for a short 2-miler with the dog, and I was successful with the chip. Once I had it working right I really liked it. I should get one for Mike...he was on fire today.

Me...beet red...cooling my heals on the front porch after my maiden voyage with the Nike+

Saturday we're heading up to Snowbird with the kids. First time this season...I'm sad to say. I told Mike that we can't let this season go by without at least going once to make Jessie's 5th grade passport worth it - and he has a couple of passes to use up too. I'd like to make it to Solitude as well - it's our favorite. Life is pretty busy though - and taking 4 kids to the slopes is pricey, so we don't make it as often as we'd like.

Say It Ain't So

Yesterday I succumbed to social pressures and to my own sense of parental responsibility and gave my son a haircut. Not one of those token trims he's had along the way, but a REAL haircut resulting in a shabby version of the classic little boy look.

Here he is at breakfast this morning...we didn't get any photos yesterday in all the commotion.

Yes, it was traumatic for him. He had no idea what all that prickly fuzzy stuff falling in his face was, sticking in the tears running down his pudgy face. I have to hand it to him, he handled it better than either of our other boys at his age. Maybe that's because they had already experienced a few true haircuts by this time. They were more calloused, wiser to the world and more prepared to fight back. Sully, like some isolated animal species never before seen by humans, and with no natural inhibitions, willingly submitted...and then bam! - we had him. Now he's had his rude introduction to the "real world" ...he'll be a little less trusting in the future.

**I miss his mop.**

Days Like These

The best way to begin the day...Mike waking up snuggled with SullyIt's one of those days when you wake up and you're not sure about getting out of bed because it's so overcast outside it seems like bedtime all day. Our nights and days are kind of messed up anyway with Mike working nights for the past year (I still don't know why investment firms have so many traders working at night when the market's only open during the day).

View of the mountains from the kids' school when I picked them up today.

Other stuff we've been doing:

Neighborhood laser tag smack-down (Noble and his buddies).

School productions:
Jessie at the performance of Pirates! (This actually happened while Mike and I were in Mexico...so thanks to Mike's mom for taking pictures.)

The kindergarten world geography/culture presentation. Tillman is the little Indian chief to the right of his teacher.

We start them early around here...Sully doing a little house work.

Grace hanging out...looking sweet.

Random Funny Stuff (and a tangent):

Noble's discovered the Classic Rock/Oldies station on his radio. It's hilarious to listen to the stuff he's rocking out to in the basement. A sampling from today: Keep on Rockin' Me Baby (Steve Miller Band - good one), Free Falling (Tom Petty - I love Tom Petty), Sweet Home Alabama (Lynard Skynard - Mike's a huge fan). He also likes to break into the vast library of cd's we have. His recent fav: Toad the Wet Sprocket, although Oingo Boingo is his all time favorite. Of course, the A-Team theme music is always his first choice on the iPod.

It's funny to watch your kids' musical tastes develop. Jessie's partial to country music - which isn't totally surprising given that she's hanging around the barn all the time. Noble's definitely more of a rocker....just because he loves to jump around. Whatever music they choose to listen to on their own, they've all been involuntarily exposed to a lot of everything since their infancy (we are pretty eclectic that way). They all seem to tolerate a lot of different music. I think that's good.

All you'll ever need to know about the economy.

I heard a story about this the other day on NPR while I was picking T. up from school. I had to shush Tillman a bunch of times (not easy to do...he physically CANNOT stop talking sometimes) so I could hear it.

Apparently a TV producer got together with an Econ professor from George Mason U. ,who puts out a weekly podcast, to lay out the fundamentals of modern Economics. The prof. jokingly suggested they make a rap video.

Accurate AND hilarious.

I was laughing pretty hard in the car, and thought: THIS is perfect for Mitch-darling. Economic theory (Keynes vs. Hayek) + RAP = what could be more awesome? Married to an econ/finance boy, I've developed a hobby interest in economics (purely theoretical. I don't understand a thing Mike says about investment mechanics, tools, etc.) One of my favorite documentaries of all time is Commanding Heights. But this is even more sweet. Nerd-rap.

Noble-ism: Big Head

From last night: Don't think I haven't thought about all the sweet moolah that could be made selling t-shirts of the stuff he makes up. There's got to be a way to harness genius like this. Hahahaha.

Where do I start?

Wow.

THAT was a cool trip. I've been wondering since about half way through last week how best to chronicle our adventures. I don't know what else to do except to launch into a full explanation... follow the links to see the pictures. Sorry this is long...

A little background - (in case you were unaware): my sister and her husband are archaeologists. Bruce has a project going, in its second year in Chiapa de Corzo. They've been down there for almost 5 months, with about 4 to go. So we went to stay with them, hang out with our little niece and nephew, see the site and do lots of off-the-beaten path stuff.

We stayed at Holly and Bruce's beautiful colonial era (17th or 18th Century?) house in Chiapa de Corzo for several nights (more photos here). They made a space for us in the hallway/courtyard. Their house is a few blocks from the center of town. Which was very convenient for visiting the markets, historic buildings, and enjoying the month long festival of St. Sebastian, going all night, every night we were there. Two of Bruce's assistants, Carlos & Hoover, live at the house with them. Nice guys. Hoover has a habit of singing early in the morning.

Chiapa de Corzo is an old, old city - predating the Spanish, though they made it a colonial city when they came. Our first day we walked around a little before Carlos drove us up to Tuxtla in the NWAF suburban, dropping us off at the Regional Museum of Chiapas. We saw lots of cool artifacts, one of them: The earliest example of the Mayan long-count, found at the site where Bruce is excavating (8th Mayan cycle). Day 1 photos.

The next morning (after trying to sleep through an entire night of fireworks right above the house) I went with Holly down to the open-air market to buy produce. Later on Hoover drove Mike & I and Holly& kids up the plateau into San Cristobal, the town Holly and Bruce just moved from. San Cristobal is more of a resort town: more well-to-do. A few dozen gringo ex-patriots live there and some dreadlocked touristas were hanging around, for the proximity to native villages and the Zapatista/Che Gavara atmosphere.

We had a great time in the textiles markets there, good food, colonial churches. We stayed in a great little hotel, and Mike and I went to a performance of Palenque Rojo. Bruce's project artist, Ayax, wrote the production about war between Palenque and Tonina, and designed the costumes. Bruce pulled a few strings, scoring some sweet seats for us at 1/2 the price. Day 2 photos.

We began day 3 with breakfast at a little bakery with really good croissants, as well as the usual Chiapan chocolate. Holly and I made a second visit to the textile markets, then took a taxi to meet Mike, Bruce and the kids at the New World Archaeological Foundation (NWAF) - where Bruce gave us a tour of the lab there & showed us a few artifacts from last year's dig. From there Bruce drove us deeper into the highlands along a very windy road, scattered with tope's (speed bumps that the kids got a great thrill out of whenever we slowed down suddenly and then lurched over, screaming "Tope! Help! Tope!") to Tonina. Tonina was AWESOME. It sits out in the middle of large tracts of ranch land, pretty isolated from much else. Not too many tourists make it out there. The museum is great, and there's a little mom & pop restaurant at the edge of site serving beef from their own cattle ranch. After a few hours at Tonina, we drove on to our stay for the night: the Santa Maria Guest Ranch, a 19th Century ranch in the middle of nowhere converted into a cool 8 room inn with top notch service. We arrived late at night, starving. The staff informed us that the restaurant kitchen had closed - but then offered to warm up some soup for us. That sounded perfect. The next thing we knew the guy was carrying a table on his back out onto the veranda in front of our rooms, then chairs, then candles, steaming bowls of outstanding vegetable soup (made from the veggies in their own gardens), tortillas, fresh squeezed OJ, & Chiapan chocolate. If there was ever a meal that hit the spot... (Day 3: NWAF, Tonina, dinner at the Santa Maria Guest Ranch)

Sunday we left the guest ranch, went to church in Comitan, then on to hike up El Chiflon to see the falls. Beautiful aqua blue water.

Stuff you see in Mexico: truck load of clowns on the way back into Chiapa de Corzo

We had to hurry to drive back into Chiapa de Corzo that night so we wouldn't miss the Parachico dancers. The St. Sebastian festival goes on all during January, the Parachicos dancing a couple of those days. Parachicos dance in commemoration of the rescue of the Chiapanec townspeople from famine by a grateful Spanish colonial woman who's son had been healed in Chiapa de Corzo. When she heard that the town was suffering from famine she sent her Spanish servants with food; when they arrived they danced to make the children happy. The blonde fro wigs and masks with facial hair and blue eyes are supposed to be the Spanish servants who danced (para chico). It is a really cool festival. Check out this quick video of one of the small processions. It was tough getting into town with all the traffic, and the house was right in the thick of the festivities. We were swarmed by thousands of them after dark. So cool. (Day 4 photos)

We spent Monday morning visiting Bruce at the site in Chiapa de Corzo. It was nice of Bruce to make time to show us around - we loved it.

Down in the famous axe pit of last year

The site is pre-Mayan, Zoque around 700 B.C. Afterward, Holly and the kids went with us down to catch a river launch up the Sumidero Canyon - a spectacular canyon with 3,000+ ft. walls, alligators, spider monkeys...etc. Our last night we took the kids down to the center to ride on a few carnival rides and to sample some sweets from the local vendors. It was great to relax with them... Again the music went strong and loud until about 2 AM - but with an iPod in you can sleep through almost anything. More pictures from this day.

We left the house at 5:30 the next morning to catch a 7 AM flight out of Tuxtla to Mexico City - and then home.

Thanks Holly and Bruce. We had an incredible time.

...Like a Pollo With it's Head Cut Off...

...that's me (Mike will have to correct my Spanish if I used the wrong word for chicken).

You cannot believe how complicated it is to try and leave 5 kids, 3 pets, a house, church callings, job, volunteer demands at the kids' school, etc. for a week. Well, maybe you can believe it...and you're also thinking "That is why parents with young kids should NEVER leave town on their own." Still I have to say, taking 5 kids with us to the backwaters of southern Mexico would be even MORE complicated (& scary). By the way, thanks so much to all who will be helping out with it all so we can go.

Before next week I have a list about a mile long to get through, including a birthday party for a six year old boy - the obligatory Star Wars themed party that somehow we have avoided till now. I just couldn't refuse him...he has always been such a good sport about having kind of an unfortunately timed birthday (i.e. right after Christmas when I'm all partied/gifted out). He's put up with years of kind of lame, last minute birthday recognition...and I've been promising him this one for more than a year. (You're awesome, Tillman.) Today he and I took some time and transformed a basketball pinata into the Death Star (to be destroyed in a triumphant battle on Saturday by eight enthusiastic 5-6 year old boys).

I don't know how much it actually looks like the Death Star...but close enough.

My favorite part was listening to him repeatedly use the correct Spanish pronunciation of the word "pinata", emphasizing the "t".

Anyway, hopefully I can get through the next few days without forgetting anything critical. I may not be posting for a little while. Until then...(I just thought of the song they always sing at the end of the Lawrence Welk Show - you know what I mean.)Auf wiedersehen!

Kicking Back for a Week

Jupiter in heaven - snowshoeing with the fam

It's been quiet our last week of Christmas/New Year's break (actually it's been the opposite of quiet - with 5 kids around the house). We did some sledding (both the downhill and vehicle-towed varieties), enjoyed a little more time with Grandma Tiede before she heads back to New Mexico this next week, saw some movies, ate out, watched a little football, shot some guns (Mike's dream date. He's watching Ted Nugent shoot guns on tv right now - I'm laughing my head off.) - stuff like that. Mike and I rung in the new year at home listening to our neighbor fire off seriously illegal fireworks (our house was shaking from the concussion with each launch), and waiting for midnight to go pick up our daughter from HER New Year's party (I guess when you get to a certain stage in life you switch places with your kids). Today we broke out the snow shoes for the first time this year - just a quickie up Yellow Fork. Even though we weren't out long the kids and Jupiter had a great time.

It will be tough to get back into our routine next week: school, music lessons, etc. I know a few kids who aren't happy about that. But in some ways I'm looking forward to it. Sleeping in is great and everything...but having a schedule has it's benefits too (like getting more done). Happy 2010!