The last day of activities in Tempe included a daylong series of SPU workshops at the Phoenix Country Day School, where we involved five groups of students from grades 7 through 12 in an exercise to construct fictional countries. A student proposed the creation of “Perfect land”, “a place where there is no fee to get in” and where “the weather is always perfect”. It is no wonder that temperature would be an issue here, where the heat can reach 120 F on any given summer day. The proposals for new countries, which came from inner-city kids who mostly have Latino or mixed backgrounds, reflected their desire in creating places where cultural integration is a given (another of the countries proposed had “Spanglish” as the official language.
Our vehicle misfortunes continued with two unpleasant incidents: a $500 repair bill from a local shop after we took the Panamerican Van for a general checkup ( spark plugs, ignition wires, fuel injection service, change of front rotor). When we got the van back, we discovered someone had broken into it and stolen a few pieces of equipment. It was useless to demand restitution at the shop, whose manager behaved as if such thing would be impossible. Because we were ready to leave, we had to drop the matter. But Marilyn Zeitlin, our ever-optimist host, assured us: “It is an inoculation for the rest of the trip: now you will be so careful that this will not happen again”.
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El ultimo día de actividades en Tempe incluyó una serie de talleres donde los niños de la escuela fronteriza Phoenix Country Day School construyeron países ficticios. Uno de ellos propuso la creación de “Perfectland”, “un lugar donde no hay cuota para entrar” y donde “el clima es siempre perfecto”. No es de sorprenderse, dada la violencia de la frontera y de la temperatura que llegaba a los 120 grados Farenheit.
La camioneta sufrió nuevos robos de equipo, pero como había que partir, hubo que olvidar el asunto. Alguien nos dijo que era buena señal: “ahora serás tan cauteloso que quedarás inoculado ante todo robo.”