Sept. 26th Community Work Day
Join entreAmigos and the amazing volunteer group from the Yoga Institute. We will be working together in the new Bodega! Bring your tools.
Sept 8. Scholarship Student Welcome
EntreAmigos will be welcoming scholarship students for the 2009/2010 school year and presenting their backpacks, school supplies and uniforms. This in an administrative event but please feel free to join us in celebrating the bright futures of these kids!
what to do with me?
I ended up being the construction boss on this project a little by chance and a little because I’m too strong headed not to be. The amazing design team of SanPa had helped us come up with a great plan, they are all really talented people and they poured huge amounts of energy and expertise into our design but… they were all volunteers and all leaving for the summer.
We considered hiring a builder but I couldn’t ask anyone to do a project like this as a donation and the commission costs and coordination factor seemed too high. Really, I’m just too hands on and too convinced that we could do more with our budget than anyone thought and if we didn’t or couldn’t, I wanted to be the one to have screwed it up. The responsibility was mine from the beginning, so I might as well shoulder it and make things happen. If pure will wasn’t enough to make it happen, no worries, because I have remodeled several homes here in my real life job as a designer/decorator and to top it all off I was practically raised on construction sites because my father was a builder. There wasn’t anything really new to me, or so I thought.
Perplexed.
Perplexed is not a word I use very much in my daily life, I don’t think its a word that I’ve ever used very much until this summer. Now, I use it all the time or If I don’t use it, I think it, or think others are thinking it, or can you even think about being perplexed? …maybe its just a state of being and if it is, then its the perfect descriptive state for me and everyone on this project.
Here’s the thing. Mexican machismo culture doesn’t really provide a model for having a girl boss. I mean, the woman might be the boss in many ways or many places, and even Mexican men will admit that but that recognition doesn’t extend to the construction site. The construction site is like a male stomping ground, there are all sorts of hierarchies of maestro vs. chalan or peon and a pretty complex and subtle code of who tells who what to do, when and why. There are plenty of cuss words, sexual humor, even a fist fight or two just to mix things up… and then the girl boss shows up and it just doesn’t fit anywhere into the model. To make matters worse, SHE is correcting, making changes and talking about things that have to do with cement and heavy machinery and even worse, you have to listen to her because she’s paying you. perplexed.
And then, because I’m female and intuitive and emotional, I tune into the perplexity and try to figure out how to approach my maestro in a way that doesn’t disrupt the power structure, lets everyone continue on full of machismo and pride while still getting the job done… and I am then wholly and completely, perplexed.
Its not to say that we aren’t getting along just fine and getting the job done. We are. We’re just all doing it, while wondering what to make of it, and what to do with me?
Sept. 5th Community Work Day
Join us 9am - 1pm in the bodega for a day of renovation projects. Bring your favorite tool and you will be able to choose from a variety of jobs going on in the new home of EntreAmigos.
August 20th Artist and Design Competition Deadline
Final deadline to submit your plans for the Bodega Art & Design Competition and a chance to exhibit your work in the new location of entreAmigos.
August 6th Artist and Design Competition
Local San Pancho Artists are invited to kick off the Bodega Art & Design competition with an informational meeting about the plans and vision for the new home of entreAmigos. It is a chance to compete for the opportunity to exhibit your work in the design and renovation of the bodega space.
