The Leroy Weekend Times - Feb 19

Editor's Note: LWT will not be published next weekend due to travel plans and a congested schedule. Instead, a double edition will be published on Monday March 7, and will feature content from travels to Santiago, Arica, and possibly Iquique or San Pedro as well. Thanks in advance from both staff members here at LWT.

A Tale of Two Cities

I used to wonder why Viña and Valpo were considered two separate cities. After all, the unofficial dividing line is pretty arbitrary and runs right through the middle of my neighborhood (I fall just on the side of Viña). There’s no interruption or break in the city, yet people firmly maintain that they are two distinct areas. It took me some time to figure out why, but living here for a bit shows the difference night and day.

On the surface there is the development of each city. Valpo is a historical city of Chile, home to Pablo Neruda’s house and UNESCO World Heritage protected cerros (old neighborhoods) amongst other sites. The cerros are protected for good reason: they’re incredibly unique. Each has an iconic ascensor, a cross between a cargo elevator and a tram, which have been ferrying people up the steep hillsides since the late 1800s. Valpo’s origins as a working class industrial port city shows in the architecture of the older districts in the city. Most of the houses were built using old corrugated aluminum shipping containers, which were free and offered outstanding protection against corrosion and the threat of earthquakes. But since corrugated aluminum is pretty ugly on its own, an underground graffiti industry formed to spice the place up. Whether it can actually be called graffiti or not is questionable; the artwork in some places is stunning. Whole murals that stretch for blocks are common, and artists today continue to repaint and improve.

Viña, on the other hand, is a new development altogether. Apartment towers and hotels make up the majority of the skyline. Its streets are lined with restaurants and shops, clubs and travel agencies. Valpo was built as a home by sailors and dockworkers; Viña was built as a foreign destination by entrepreneurs. Unlike Valpo, Viña has a full scale shopping mall and a shiny casino. Basically, it’s everything you would expect out of a white sand beach, upper class vacation town.

The differences between the two cities become more interesting when you start talking to the people about each. Valparaiso begrudgingly takes tourism and foreign development as a necessity for its economy, but really wishes it could do without. After all, Valpo has been on a long, slow decline as a result of modernization. The golden age of the city was during the California Gold Rush of the mid 1800s, when the city shipped huge amounts of supplies to the west coast. It was also an important stop on the route ships took when going around the southern tip of the continent. However, the transcontinental railroad in the US and the opening of the Panama Canal eliminated both of those roles, and the city has never been the same since. Chilean Porteños (residents of Valpo) are surprisingly pessimistic about the future of the city, despite an economy that is shifting for the better. One guy I talked to for a class assignment was less than thrilled about growing tourism and industry, thinking the city’s culture was being eaten away, and besides, ‘tourism brings capitalism’.

Viñamarinos, on the other hand, are pretty optimistic about their future. Although residents get annoyed by the swaths of quicas (high class snobs, essentially) that flood the city, they realize that that is a blessing for them as well. The economy is expanding rapidly, and regardless the beaches are always free. Valparaiso is slowly moving in that direction, to open up and meet the challenge of globalization while preserving its past, but it is certainly a challenge and the results might not be everyone’s idea of success.

Some of the graffiti decorating old town Valparaiso, showing the corrugated aluminum construction as well.

Entrepreneurial Idea of the Week

Once you’re finished building my Orbitz Bus website, take an idea straight out of Valpo and go start building clubs in old abandoned subway tunnels.

In Brief

Have you ever been in a city and suddenly had the urge to get together and have a barbecue on the roof of a 16 story building? Well, sometimes you get to do just that. I met this Dane in language class who shares an apartment on the top floor of an old commercial building in Valparaiso, which happens to have a great balcony on top. We gathered all the students we could find, and with 6 countries represented (France, Germany, Denmark, Norway, US, Chile), held a full Friday night asado from one of the highest points in the city. Word.

Speak Chilean – Words of the Week

Flaite [fly-tay]: noun, Chilean word for the type of person you find in rap videos – spiked up hair, stark white Nikes, long shorts, incomprehensible speech. Can also be used to describe places where these people like to hang out.

Huea/Huevon(a) [way-uh/way-vone(a)]: noun, word for a person or thing. Very commonly used. Comes from the word for testicles. In other words, in Chile, everything in the world can be (and is) described as testicles.

- LWT -

The Leroy Weekend Times - Feb 12

From the Editor

Everyone has about a week off at the end of the month in between language class ending and real class starting. Most people are heading south, but I decided I’ve seen enough trees and lakes and mountains. Instead, I’ll be taking a bus north through the Atacama all the way to Arica. I’ll go see some salt flats, the real desert, and a few volcanoes before flying back. Look for some really boring pictures of sand but hopefully some interesting writing. For now though, we’re long overdue on some current pictures. The first three are here in Vina/Valpo, the second two are from back in Cordoba.

The Sounds of Valpo

The music pauses for a brief moment, and my watch beeps midnight.

Chancho! Piedras! Chancho! Piedras!

The crowd gathered at the Baron Marina chants at the lead singer’s request. There’s something about a rock concert held in an outdated shipyard that just seems right, natural. The drumming reverberates deep off the concrete dock and the surface of the ocean, and the cymbals sound like they were just cut from a shipping container. The band clearly enjoys the atmosphere. Nearby, the modern port continues its 24/7 work unloading freight from the Hanjin, no doubt out of Asia. Maybe the crews working on the ships anchored just offshore are watching the show too.

Behind the marina, the Valpo Metro train blasts its horn as it rounds a curve and slowly air-brakes at the station. Dogs and birds scatter as the train unloads and reloads and a loudspeaker announces the schedule. Vendors are ready nearby hawking completos, italianos, and other late night foods that are always 15 minutes of pleasure followed by 4 hours of pain. In the street nearby, performers juggle flaming bowling pins at a red light in hopes of a good tip while a small group dances nearby. It takes a moment to observe the organic rhythm of it all, as people flow from the arriving train which scatters the dogs to the buses followed by the vendors who sell and performers who dance and sing, stopping the bus until the light turns and another bus pulls in to take the people from the next train.

Away from the traffic, a quieter group sits on the sand beach and takes in the night. The waves are small tonight but each one still makes itself heard before fizzling out and dying on the beach, then returning to the water. The ocean is snores but doesn’t sleep. Seagulls gather out on the dark water to float and prune their feathers. Maybe the seagulls can’t comprehend it all. But somewhere far away, a band is playing, a crowd is chanting, cranes are lifting, dogs are barking, trains are rolling, vendors are selling, traffic is flowing, waves are crashing, and watch beeps midnight.

In Brief

On my Chile bucket list was ‘experience a tremor’, since I’ve never felt one before. I didn’t think it would happen so soon though. I was sitting in film class and there was this low, deep boom outside. I looked over at the window, and then there was this vibration hit the room. There was a split second before I realized what was going on, and then it was over as quick as it started. It was the coolest thing. The other guy in the class was from California and our teacher is obviously Chilean, so they thought nothing of it. I couldn’t stop smiling.

Back in Business

Almost exactly one year ago, I started an email conversation with an entrepreneur I had met earlier in November. We came up with the idea of starting a mentorship and discussion group for students interested in starting their own businesses. The group launched in the spring and remained small, but the people who were there felt like they got a lot out of it and really enjoyed the group. A couple of the members graduated and left the area at the end of the year having entrepreneurial success. One moved to Detroit to work on his start-up Paper Feet (unique flip flops made from recycled billboard material); another moved off to open a private practice in psychology. I didn’t have the time or energy to rebuild the group again in the fall.

But even though they moved on from college, people still wanted to take part in the meetings, so last week Foresight Entrepreneurship was reborn from its own ashes. Thanks to the flat world, we can connect on live video between Chile – Atlanta – Detroit – Ann Arbor – Flint. I was ecstatic. The group I helped assemble liked the product enough to restart it themselves almost a year later. Plus, I once again get my weekly dose of entrepreneurial boot, even thousands of miles away from the source.

There are some simple ways to avoid a standard 9-5. Abhi, our advisor, runs a small business connecting old-school muscle car sellers and buyers. Just one connection picks up 2-4 grand, and takes, in total, about two full days’ worth of work. This is how it operates: 1. Abhi gets a phone call from contacts who run car dealerships, or finds a good offer on Craigslist. 2. Talking with the seller and requesting detailed photos and information, Abhi determines whether it’s a good car to sell. 3. Abhi’s partner finds an international buyer whose currency is a favorable exchange on the dollar. 4. Abhi signs a purchase agreement, ships the car, end of story. Abhi and his partner can operate the business wherever they happen to be in the world.

Building something like this is probably the best way to avoid getting stuck in one career in one location, and thereby having your success tied to the success of the people and organizations around you. There was an article I liked in Matador called How Generation Y is Getting Screwed and What You Can Do (http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/2011/01/03/gen-y-getting-screwed-what-you-can-do/). Basically, it says young people are having benefits cut far more heavily than any other sector, face a stacked job market and higher taxes to cover government spending that they will never see. The message is – get out. Now. Go elsewhere in the world and find other ways to make money and do good things. Building a solid mobile or even automated business is a golden ticket. Sounds like fun to me.

- LWT -

The Leroy Weekend Times - Feb 5

The New Generation in a Flat World

Reading through Friedman’s The World is Flat has been an interesting look at today’s world from an outside perspective, that is, from someone who had to go through all the recent changes instead of being born into them. For example, Friedman finds it incredible that a businessman can use the internet to find answers, videoconferencing to talk to others around the world, or other mobile tools for collaboration. Well… duh? How did they ever get by otherwise? In some ways, my generation is kind of like China or other developing nations in that we don’t have to change our infrastructure. We, like China, never installed landlines. We started with cell phones instead and never looked back.

While that is certainly a good thing from my perspective, there’s plenty of new worry to go around as well. First of all, it’s important to question whether or not the school system I went through has adequately adapted to all of this. Are graduating students today prepared to work in a flat world, or does the system still produce students for the old-school workforce? Second, how can American students who want to earn an American wage compete with the incredible mass of newly trained knowledge workers in the developing world who can do the job for ‘the Walmart price’? I kept waiting and waiting for Friedman to tell me what I need to change or adapt in order to play by the new rules.

Instead, I have to figure that out on my own. At least Friedman is optimistic that all of these new rules will benefit the majority of the people; that the rising tide of educated workers and higher standards of living in other countries ‘creates more room at the top, not less’. The critically important thing, therefore, is to make absolutely sure to catch the wave instead of getting run over or left behind. I see two keys to making that happen: global fluency, and the ability to be creative in a collaborative or group setting.

Friedman emphasizes that the flattening of the workforce fundamentally means a change to a horizontal or collaborative style of work where the individual is greatly empowered. It’s like the shift in computing from giant central mainframes to a decentralized structure where ‘the network is the computer’. Rather than having towering corporate structures dictate what, when, and where, corporations will be made up of a widespread network of groups and individuals who collectively control the company. To succeed in that environment, the individual has to be able to bridge national and cultural borders. People will need to expand their own world to include more than just their home city, state, or country.

In today’s business, outsourcing has grown from base manufacturing to include many services and high end manufacturing as well. Unless you’re willing to work for pocket change in the developing world, workers need to have mobile skills that can’t be sourced, like creativity, research, and open-ended analytical skills. And with the spread of technology, those skills will be best put to use in collaborative settings with diverse groups. Combining those skills, I believe those who can network effectively across boundaries will find themselves on top of the wave and on top of the new flat world. That’s not an easy thing to learn, but probably worth the while.

G is for Gringo, aka Never Let an American Order the Beer

That place looks alright to me, yeah? Alright, we can relax there until the other guys come. Well, lets go then, we look ridiculous standing in the middle of the street here. Fine. Do you guys have ID? Uhhh… Wait, since when did they ask for ID? This is South America! Besides, can’t you go to a bar and get a Coke, seriously? Well, does anybody have a drivers license or something? Really, nobody? We’re blockin the entrance here, lets move. Whatever, just go ahead in. Alright cool. Gra-ci-as.

There’s no seats here. Look, the only table has two seats. Do you want to go somewhere else? The dude just let us in. Guys, we’re still blocking the entrance here. Well what do you suggest? I dunno. We look ridiculous. No, you look ridiculous. Seriously? Here, those guys are leaving, lets take that table. Alright cool. We’re short one seat. Somebody ask that table if we can take that extra seat. Go ahead. I don’t speak any Spanish! Yo no ha-blo espanyol. Well who speaks good Spanish here? Whatever, I’ll go. They don’t understand a word she’s saying do they. Nope. Nada. Crap! Guys the whole place is starin at us right now. Somebody go get some beer. Here, let me do it.

Those bottles are huge. Well yeah, that’s what it is here. Wait, what? These two are fine. Is it any good? I got some pisco too, I wanted to try it. I hear pisco sour is good. Yeah, I ordered two of those. Uh, wait, why are they bringing us more beer? Hold on, let me go ask. Are you sure? Yeah, I got it. I want a picture! No, no, no, next time were here maybe, but not now. No, this will be quick. Un, dos, tres… queso! It’s whiskey. You don’t smile when you say queso. Ok put the camera away. More beer! What? I told them we only wanted two! Really? This is what, six liters of beer? Well what do you want me to do, huh? Here comes the bartender and waiter. They’re laughing at us. What?

Guys, there’s a reason they call you gringos! Yeah, I suppose so. Mas cerveza!

Who knew?

I had an assignment for my Culture and Conversation class this week called Identifying Stereotypes. We were supposed to ask our host family and local friends what they thought of Peruvians, Bolivians, Argentinians, and other Chileans. I couldn’t believe the results. Apparently, back in the 1870s, there was a war between Chile and (Peru and Bolivia), and people are still really torqued off about it. They called Peruvians every name under the sun. People said Peruvians say the same about Chile. If a Chilean were in Peru, apparently they would hide their accent and say they were Argentinian instead. Bolivians weren’t as bad, because they are ‘lazy and don’t care what happens’. Finally, Argentinians are ‘just plain arrogant’. So much for political correctness.

Most of the Chileans surveyed were pretty proud of themselves and had lots of good things to say about other Chileans. But later, in class, we read the results of an extensive survey on Chile which said that, like Argentina, Chile as a country is very insecure about itself underneath the pride. Maybe we can set up a heart to heart amongst southern South American countries, then go out for coffee afterwards?

Strange, strange stuff.

Editor’s note: I’m transfixed by what’s going on in Egypt right now. I don’t know why, but I’ve never been so interested in a faraway event. I sat on my computer for hours as it broke out, watching blog posts and live news and twitters. I feel like something really transformational is underway, potentially for the whole Middle East. I could be wrong. Regardless, I tried to write about it, and flopped. I don’t know what to say about the whole thing, except that I really hope this turns out in the best way. By the way, if you want (truly) unbiased, fantastic coverage of the events, don’t go to CNN or Fox or whatever. Go to Al-Jazeera English. You’ll be surprised.

- LWT -