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This year, July 4th was a little different for me. Instead of spending it in Wethersfield, Connecticut, I had the opportunity to spend it around Tepoztlan as part of a busy day at Catalyst. Although I had initial apprehension about spending this special time abroad, I was happily surprised with how the day played out.
Like always, we woke up relatively early and headed to our morning activity. I started off my morning with doing some relaxing yoga taught by Serena, an intern working with us here at Catalyst. We then had a quick breakfast before heading to the common area for our journaling activity. Today, unlike other days, we took a break from our busy schedules at Catalyst to sit down and stay silent for a couple of minutes. After this time, we wrote about the feelings this quiet time evoked. Once we had our daily check-ins, we were set to continue our Wednesday.
We soon walked to El Mango to begin our lessons for the day. We started off with a lesson about the interesting connection between pleasure and technology. Specifically, we spoke about the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, and further how it affected the scarcity of things that bring us pleasure. We then learned about the systems thinking that helps us understand these kinds of shifts in effects and even culture. As the Catalyst team is super active in teaching us, we were able to break into teams to analyze a real-life situation using systems thinking. We eventually concluded by connecting these cultural shifts, as analyzed with systems thinking, to how drug use has evolved other the years from ritual practices to completely commercialized.
Following this lesson, we began learning about the United Fruit Company, and their negative impacts on various Latin American countries. To wrap up this lesson, we compared this legal, but problematic market, to that of illegal cocaine. The activity was fittingly called, “Bananas & Cocaine”.
We returned to the grounds for lunch, and were welcomed with a great meal. Following some after-lunch free time, we returned to the common area to welcome our workshop guests. We were fortunate enough to be taught the historical importance of the radio, as well as be shown the art of using podcasts to spread political messages.
Quickly following the end of our Podcast workshop, our group was surprised with a trip to the only movie theater in Tepoztlan. We watched a short documentary that is part of the Dirty Money series about the HSBC’s history with money laundering. Not only did we watch a wonderful documentary, but the movie theater was so nicely decorated with film reels in every corner. This excursion was honestly a wonderful way to end our long way.
Every day at Catalyst we tackle various, deep topics, but our strong community truly allows us to handle these long days. Even on holidays like July 4th, the Catalyst team made me feel like I was right at home with my family. I think that is what is truly special about Catalyst: youth from all over the Americas are able to create lasting bonds that are able to break all prejudices to create one big family.
Jenesis, Connecticut, USA
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Este año, el 4 de julio fue un poco diferente para mí. En lugar de pasarlo en Wethersfield, Connecticut, tuve la oportunidad de estar en Tepoztlan como parte de un día ajetreado en Catalizador. Aunque al inicio me dio un poco de pena pasar este tiempo especial en el extranjero, me sorprendí gratamente por cómo se desarrolló el día.
Como siempre, nos levantamos relativamente temprano y nos dirigimos a nuestra actividad matutina. Comencé mi mañana haciendo yoga relajante impartido por Serena, una pasante que trabaja con nosotros aquí en Catalizador. Luego tomamos un desayuno rápido antes de dirigirnos al área común para realizar nuestra actividad de escritura de diario. Hoy, a diferencia de otros días, tomamos un descanso de nuestros apretados horarios en Catalizador para sentarnos y permanecer en silencio durante un par de minutos. Después de este tiempo, escribimos acerca de los sentimientos que este tiempo silencioso evocó. Una vez que tuvimos nuestro check-in diario, estuvimos listos para continuar con nuestro miércoles.
Caminamos a El Mango para comenzar nuestras lecciones del día. Comenzamos con una lección sobre la interesante conexión entre el placer y la tecnología. Específicamente, hablamos sobre las Revoluciones Científicas e Industriales, y cómo hubo una escasez de recursos que brindasen placer durante estas épocas. Luego aprendimos sobre el pensamiento sistémico que nos ayuda a entender este tipo de cambios en los efectos, e incluso la cultura. Como el equipo de Catalizador es muy activo en enseñarnos, pudimos dividirnos en equipos para analizar una situación de la vida real utilizando el pensamiento sistémico. Finalmente, concluimos conectando estos cambios culturales, analizados con el pensamiento sistémico, con la forma en que el uso de drogas ha evolucionado desde su uso ritual hasta su uso comercial.
Después de esta lección, comenzamos a conocer la United Fruit Company y sus impactos negativos en varios países de América Latina. Luego, para finalizar esta lección, y nuestro tiempo en El Mango, comparamos las ventas aparentemente legales de esta compañia con las ventas ilegales de cocaína. La actividad fue apropiadamente llamada, "Bananas & Cocaine".
Regresamos a la casa para almorzar, y nos dieron la bienvenida con una gran comida. Después de un poco de tiempo libre después del almuerzo, volvimos al área común para recibir a los invitados de nuestro taller. Tuvimos la suerte de que nos enseñaron la importancia histórica de la radio, así el arte de usar podcasts para difundir mensajes políticos.
Jenesis, Connecticut, EE.UU.