Up with People Cast A 2008 Blog

The Street Sweeper

Hot and dirty

Physical labor

Exhaustion and satisfaction

Cleaning the city, making it look nice

~Sanna Lindberg, Sweden

In San Luis Potosi, the cast went to a specially arranged “Viva La Gente” party. I had purposely put my hair into a Mohawk for the occasion, which attracted a lot of attention. Amongst those who called me over to talk to them was a group of locals. One of the girls in the group told me that she had a son that looked like me because I’m Asian and her son has ‘slanty eyes.’ She put her fingers to her eyes and elongated her eyes. Her sister joked that maybe I was the father. Awkward. I got to meet her son the night we left San Luis. He may have looked Asian but I’m pretty sure he’s not my son.

 ~Ren-Horng Wang Taiwan/USA

A lonely old man without a home

Desperate and so alone

A victim of society

No one really wants to see

Sometimes it makes me wonder

Sometimes I just don’t care

How can we make ourselves aware?

 ~Unknown 

My host mother in Monterrey was out of a “scout family” so on host family day, we went to her family’s ranch with a bunch of her scout friends.

Jessica Rojas (USA) and I hung out in the afternoon and took a nap before dinner. When we woke up our host mom was gone and we were left ALONE among the scouts that barely spoke English. Fortunately Jessica speaks Spanish. Apparently our host mom’s dog had eaten a toxic toad and the dog along with our host mom came back later. The evening ended around the campfire with (Spanish) games, slightly translated by Jessica.

~Maiken Hansen, Denmark

 Ciujuain

Juan

Old, in pain

Sunbathing in the wheelchair

I made him laugh with a Swiss story

Friend

~Ilona Raymann, Switzerland

Our last Mexican show in San Luis Potosi was going off without a hitch as the track for Estaremos kicked off.  The only problem was that Molly Robertson (USA) didn’t start singing until two measures after her cue.  After much quick and intense debate, I convinced Amador, the drummer, that we had to shut the multi-track off to save the song.  As the backing string section accompanied by synthesized twinkles disappeared into nothing, beads of sweat forming on our foreheads more from nerves than hot humidity, the band continued on to play the rest of the song, not sure of what would happen.  The feeling that ran through me, brought on by that very performance of a translated song about unity, turned out to be the highlight of my Mexican tour; playing stripped down and bare, having the audience appreciate the musicianship, and bearing witness to a sea of lit cell phones waving through the air as the band became what it was meant to be:  one.

~Molly Essington, USA

Certain people couldn’t move or talk

A faint remnant of a young past

Rarely talked to as a person

I wanted to change this today

These people were us.

Always remember who created the past

So we can create a better future.

~Johan Verbeek Wolthuys, the Netherlands

Litter

Hopeless apathetic

Effects tossed aside

Plastic wrapper krinks offensively

Dereliet