tickets were only $5 a head. thinking it would be formal, i wore a tie and loafers. everyone else showed up in shorts and soccer jerseys. most people brought red and yellow slips of paper, which they mercilessly waved in the air when they thought the contestant was “foul”. not my pun. as the night wore on – thanks largely to the cheap bear provided by Sagres, proud sponsor of Miss Cabo Verde 2003 – the red cards were accompanied by uncouth gestures and slogans. my nice clothes and white skin fooled the “security” into thinking i was a reporter, so i got a few pictures:

           

KING
  O sleep, O gentle sleep,
  Nature’s soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
  That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down
  And steep my senses in forgetfulness?
  Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,
  Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee
  And hushed with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber,
  Than in the perfumed chambers of the great,
  Under the canopies of costly state,
  And lulled with sound of sweetest melody?  (III, i, 6)

after leaving fogo (and cha das caldeiras), i went back to Santiago for a week of back-to-back interviews. among my victims were representatives from the UNDP, Peace Corps, RAFE, CV Ministry of Education, ACDI/VOCA, US Embassy, Piaget University, and Cisco Systems. with the help of these people, i have put together an annotated list of digital divide resources, which i will be updating regularly. other watson-related observations and analysis will soon be posted to the front page of senorjosh.com. in other matters, my time in cape verde is rapidly drawing to a close, and i’ve been squeezing in a lot of sightseeing. i will let the pictures do the talking this time:

GLENDOWER:
  I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
HOTSPUR:
  Why, so can I, or so can any man;
  But will they come when you do call for them? (III, i, 13)

There are a very large number of online resources available to those working in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) development. The following annotated list of websites introduces some of the most informative and well-maintained of these resources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive collection of links; for such lists refer to these compendiums. Please email me if any of the links are broken, or if you think I have omitted an important resource.

• Portals
• Where to obtain equipment
• Free training materials and curriculums
• International organizations
• Reports and policy briefs
• Articles of interest
• Newsletters
• Other collections of links to external resources

Consider, even, an Africa unconquered altogether. Imagine those first Portuguese adventurers approaching the sore, spying the jungle’s edge through their fitted brass lenses. Imagine that by some miracle of dread or reverence they lowered their spyglasses, turned, set their riggings, sailed on. (7-8)

this past weekend i climbed a big volcano. i don’t know anything about volcanoes, but this is what the Bradt travel book says: “Of all the volcanoes in the world, I know of no other where the evidence of a giant lateral collapse, involving hundreds of cubic kilometres of rock, is so spectacularly preserved. Even for professional vulconologists, this is an awesome place.” considering the grueling 4,000ft ascent (with an average 35 degree incline), the book’s description strikes me as anticlimactic, but conor gately may beg to differ. here are some pictures of (1) the volcano from horseback the evening before the ascent, (2) looking northward (at me) off the rim, and (3) descending the south face:

             

Back when I was preparing for the interview part of the watson application, I was advised to prepare an answer to the question, “What do you imagine yourself doing on a typical day?” They ask this question, I am told, to make sure the applicant has envisioned himself doing what he says he will do, down to the mundane details. So, back in November, I closed my eyes and tried to conjure up an image of Josh in South Africa, Josue in Cape Verde, Zhou Xuehua in China, etc., and did my best to imagine what I would be doing from day to day. The problem was, (1) I did not really know what any of the countries were really like, and (2) I could never quite see how I fit into the picture. When the interview came and he did, in fact, ask me that question, I stumbled through something about haunting the local community centers and internet cafes and talking to users about yahoo, ebay, maybe even globalization – I can’t really remember.

chefe	hernando & felix	graduation from computer class	me & some peace corps

i am still experimenting with the frequency with which i will update this page. right now, it feels like a lot has happened without comment, so i will do a quick catch-up. this entry is, in other words, destined to be particularly boring.

I do not want this brief foreword to be a Bright-Sayings-of-the-Children essay or the kind of eulogy that any fond and bereaved parent may be forgiven for trying to put on paper. (5)