January 2022

Guardian article on remittances

New construction in San Francisco El Alto Guatemala

This January 21, 2022 article in the Guardian pinpoints the reasons why the government of Guatemala has no reason to try to stop immigration to the United States. The title gives a tidy summary: “Guatemala’s economy buoyed by record $15 billion sent home from workers overseas.”

I’m not here to debate immigration from Guatemala to the U.S. I’m simply sharing reasons why it happens and why it happens on such a large scale.

Says Paul Briere, a former congressional representative in Guatemala who once headed the country’s commission on migration: “[The political elite] won’t make the effort to stop migration, they won’t make the effort to combat corruption, they will not make the effort to combat inequality, they will not make the effort to combat poverty, because they need that to be the situation. They need these people to leave Guatemala.”

As the article states: “The amount of money Guatemalans living abroad send home to their families reached record levels in 2021. Remittances rose to more than $15 billion (£11bn) in 2021, an increase of 35% on the previous year. The unprecedented rise prompted experts to question the political will to tackle the migration crisis when remittances from the US contribute so much to the Guatemalan economy.”

An estimated 2.9 million Guatemalans live in the U.S. Remittance analysts estimate that Guatemala sees between 2 and 2.5 million remittance transactions every month. The infusion of so much money from outside Guatemala effectively lets the government off the hook from delivering quality infrastructure, education, and healthcare.

Anecdotally, when I visit Guatemala, I am astonished by the housing construction projects—enormous two-story cement block homes funded by private remittance money. There’s a huge difference between communities where families receive remittance money and communities where they don’t.

Millions of people are poor in Guatemala, but Guatemala is not a poor country. “Where is the government in all this?” I often wonder when visiting underfunded schools and homes that lack clean drinking water. “Why are they not providing their citizenry with basic needs?”

Read the article to understand why.

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Mateo’s Perspective

My son Mateo is on the radio! His short 2-minute essay, Meeting My Birth Mother, aired today on KQED-FM Perspectives.

Mateo wrote the piece as an assignment for his Language and Composition class. His teacher, Mr. Hettleman, submitted the Perspectives of several students to KQED and Mateo’s was one of two that were chosen. Thank you to Mr. Hettleman and all Mateo’s teachers for encouraging our son.

Here are the first two paragraphs of Mateo’s Perspective. You can listen to it here.

Hand-in-hand my mom and I walk along the colorful cobblestone streets of Antigua, Guatemala. I am 7 years old and we are on our way to meet my mother— the mother I haven’t seen in almost seven years. As church bells chime, we hurry towards the bus terminal.

My mom— my adoptive American mom— hired a searcher to find my Guatemalan birth mother. Today is the day I meet her.

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Textile project

It’s no secret I love textiles from Guatemala and over the past 20 years I’ve collected a few. I collect from passion—patterns or colors that catch my eye—and while nothing I own is particularly historic or valuable, each piece carries a story—where in the country it was made, the meaning of the design.

Mostly I buy at the market in whatever place I happen to be, but often I end up with something because the artisan approached me directly with a piece in hand or I’ve watched them at work and bought fresh from the loom.

On rare and special occasions, I’ll be invited into someone’s home—a woman will walk up and say simply, Follow me, and the next thing I know, I’m standing in her kitchen or sitting in a chair beside her bed, and after we chat and visit, she opens a cabinet to reveal her hand-crafted treasures.

Although I’ve been great at buying textiles, I’ve been less good at organizing them. After returning to California from a trip, my habit usually has been to open the door to a closet downstairs and toss my latest acquisition on top of the pile, without any order or reason except to keep the piece safe from direct sunlight and moisture.

This fall before it started to rain, I resolved to tackle the chaos. I pulled out my textiles, grouped them into categories—huipiles, cortes, belts, rugs, bags, aprons, pillow and table covers—and laid them on a table outside on our deck so they could air. After, I photographed the objects, folded and stacked them into bins, and recorded the contents into a file on my laptop.

Now when I open the closet downstairs, instead of bracing myself for an avalanche, I survey my project with satisfaction.

I feel happy.

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20 years

My first marriage in my 20s lasted five minutes and ended when my then husband left me for his coworker. Soon after, I went through early menopause which meant my body stopped producing eggs and I’d never be able to create a baby.

Over the next 14 years, I moved from NYC to California and worked at five different jobs. My handful of relationships never panned out. Although none of my beaux revealed exactly why, I had my theories. I was too much of everything: too dramatic, too sensitive, too crazy intense.  

I manifested Tim before manifesting was a thing. Back then, we called it envisioning. I envisioned a man who was kind and funny and smart. Smart enough not to be scared off by a woman too dramatic, sensitive, and crazy intense. A woman who couldn’t have children and wanted to adopt.

Today Tim and I celebrate 20 years of marriage. And I’ll tell you, despite my carefully curated online persona, over the past 20 years–like everyone–we’ve faced our challenges, as a couple and a family. If Tim is my rock, I may be his tidal wave. Yet somehow, we balance each other. We hold on and never let go.

Happy anniversary to the love of my life, my soul mate. Here’s to another 20!

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California Staycation

Inside SFMOMA

This is only the second year we’ve stayed home over the Christmas holidays. In the past, we always drove 10 hours to San Diego to visit my parents and family. It’s nice. We like it. Tim and I take long walks with our dog, Charlie, while the kids get to hang out with friends.

We’ve made a few day trips. One to SFMOMA, where I used to work, to see the Joan Mitchell exhibition. And the other to Monterey Bay Aquarium. A little too crowded for me in these days of Covid, but outside was nice.

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