November 30, 2008
Scribblings of a
Peace Corps Volunteer Redux
Hello and welcome to the new blog, almost the
same as the old blog. I know I won't get
fooled again. For some of you there is
no change as you were sent an email every time I posted an entry. For others, you'll no longer go to the blog
and see there hasn't been any action.
All my news will come to you via personal email. In many ways, this will be better. It's sorta like an investigative reporter
going from a major network to PBS.
You'll see and read things here that never would have made the public
blog.
Many of you may wonder what caused the closing of
the blog. Well, it was basically one
post from way back at the beginning of November; the one about the party on
Teachers Day. Seems some of my
non-drinking co-workers (the royal English staff) took offense to being lumped
together with some of their counterparts (the vodka guzzling proletarian
Russian teachers). They thought
everybody who read that post would automatically label them alcoholics. This led to me not being invited to any
function where they'd be present for fear that I'd write something libelous or
sleazy about them. Then they didn't want
to be in the same room with me at school because they found other posts which
offended them. It became a bit of a
witch hunt. There was one about the end
of Ramadan where I omitted an important fact—a fact no one told me about when
Ramadan was being explained to me, yet I was somehow supposed to miraculously
know about it anyway when I wrote my entry.
In a couple of posts I mentioned how cool it was that so many Kyrgyz
people know so many songs. I meant it as
a compliment. Well, it wasn't according
to the cultural sensitivity patrol. They
said when people read about how many songs Kyrgyz people know, is it because of
their cultural pride or because they drink vodka at so many parties. (During the two-hour meeting we had the other
day to clear up these misunderstandings, i.e., my blatant insensitivity,
everything always found its way back to the teachers Day post.) I'll admit that I made some mistakes in a
couple of posts. I should have asked the
extra question. That I didn't was
negligence on my part. Was it
intentional? No. Did it matter to my detractors? No.
I don't want to ramble forever about this,
although I could, but I knew I was going to lose this battle from the start
when one of my peers—They're not my peers, dammit. They speak and teach incorrect grammar. I'm better than they are! Now, that's insensitive. And I would never write anything like
that. However, I honestly believe they
feared I would. Sorry for the
digression.—when one of my peers said that upon returning from visiting another country, she only relates the good things she experienced. Yeah, I knew victory was out of the question
after hearing that.
Lose the battle, win the war. I deplore censorship and now I don't have to
adhere to it. That said, I'm not out to
expose all things bad in Kyrgyzstan, although as a developing nation there is
no shortage of negatives. I will
continue to educate and entertain in a professional manner, highlighting the positives whenever I have the chance. And also rest easy knowing the eyes of a
small group of educators won't be looking.
Finally, I want to say two things. First, if you don't want to receive these
emails, simply let me know and I'll remove your name. Second, please DO NOT forward these emails to
anyone. Read and delete is what I hope
you will do. The more people that see
them, the greater chance the wrong person will see them. Did you know the Peace Corps tapes some of
the phone calls their staff makes to volunteers? We're not supposed to know that but the
Country Director's assistant is a good friend of mine and she told me. Who knows what they'll do to keep an eye on
us. The Kyrgyz PC folks know I've shut
down my blog and they know why.
Basically, I ain't trustin' nobody but a few.
All my Best,
Michael
If two of
my family members had listened to my “read and delete” desire, I would not be
sitting at my laptop writing this book. Why? Because shortly before I left
Kyrgyzstan my computer crashed and I lost everything, blog posts, emails,
photos. My niece and sister had saved them. I’m eternally grateful.
Also in the book: more indepth analysis of why I truly believe the attack on my blog was personal and how it changed the way I interact with people I've just met, both home and abroad.
