Tarnished Golden Rule

Public discourse in Peru is lively, ubiquitous, and wide. Politicians rule the media roost. And in this plethora of discussion you would think that just once in a while one would hear an opinion maker saying something...anything...about how people treat one another. For instance, I know of no program whatsoever, including sponsored by USAID which centers on making people more aware of their responsibility for good behavior or considerateness in their everyday ongoing actions. I'm more and more convinced that for developing societies, this is of huge importance. The tendency to do things to only benefit oneself, out of ignorance, desperation, arrogance or whatever condemns the rest of society to expend a tremendous amount of time, energy, and money. More anon.

Always drugs

Living in Peru for two decades, the ongoing topic of drugs is ever-present. The last year the public written conversation has had to absorb the actions of other Latin American (Latam) actions re the regularization or legalization of drugs. A blog in today's NY Times What Will Mexico's New Drug Law Do? highlights several 'thinkers' thoughts on the subject.
     I'm always troubled by the almost zero lack of information about the millions of drug users who are NOT addicted, who have done it for years, including alcohol use. How do they manage their non-habit? How did they learn to use drugs in moderation and keep it that way? Where are the surveys and polls of these people? I've searched including the MAP site, which collects articles on drug policy and can't find it. Is this not worthy of research and study?

Good Morning, Merry Sunshine!

Hi there! That's my morning greeting to friends, and frankly, just the saying of it at least puts me in a good mood! So that's why the blog title...in case anyone ever gets the urge to go back to this first post.

This post is written in Miraflores, Lima, Peru by an expat American who's lived here, or at least existed here (!), for 20 long years as a freelance journalist. That's good enough for now.

So why the blog? Well, beyond a couple of projects, my interests seem to roam at time far & wide, at other times very narrowly focused. I wind up plaguing my friends with emails generated usually from various web sources always hoping they are helpful, informative, but I think to corral them mostly all here is a much better idea, and less a burden on friends. I do have a blog oriented solely toward one project which you can note in the side column.

Obviously more personal notes, admonitions, observations I'll keep to emails personally directed (to the great relief of some friends.) Sometimes the posts will be of interest to any old friends, sometimes just to my Peruvian friends and colleagues. I'll be toying with the idea of putting up a parallel Spanish-language blog, but that will be a little further down the line when I've more time. So that's the intro. Anon.