time to post your photos!

just married
Originally uploaded by jbracken.

You'll get a nagging email soon. We organized our wedding camp photos into sets at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bracken/.
And you can share your photos at the our boda group here, http://www.flickr.com/groups/ourboda/.

The Photos are Up

with the shepherd's friends
Originally uploaded by jbracken.

most of them anyway
we still away your photos, please visit flickr.com to share!

My friend Carla, the refugee in Florida

Carla and her husband and baby couldnt make the wedding due to their move from SF to the Miami area. Her report on her first month there (I guess Other means Ecuadorian):

Just a little taste of our culture shock...
>
>ONLY IN FLORIDA...
>
>1. We drove 6 miles to the nearest Mexican restaurant.
>
>2. The waitress at the Mexican restaurant was Dominican (the cooks were
>Mexican!!!).
>
>3. The rice and beans were outside the burrito.
>
>4. The horchata was made from quaker oats instead of rice.
>
>5. We went to a Wal-mart asked for something in English and the employee
>did not speak English.
>
>6. You go to a store and EVERYBODY speaks Spanish (even the White people
>..and they're not Cuban).
>
>7. 98% of the radio stations play merengue, salsa, bachata o regueaton
>(we're not complaining about that!!!).
>
>8. You see signs at stores that read "SE HABLA INGLES"...as soon as I take
>a picture of one I'll send it.
>
>9. If rice and "habichuelas- dominican style beans" are not part of your
>daily diet...you're not in Florida.
>
>10. You're either Cuban, Dominican, Haitian, Puerto Rican Colombian or
>Other.
>
>THE MOST SHOCKING THING....YOU SEE GW'04 SIGNS EVERYWHERE!!!!

Things we didn't do in wedding preparation...

:: CHICAGO DANCE ::
I just learned of this place, which offers wedding prep dance classes, "ncluding "'First Dance' choreography." It was one of the things that slipped from the list. Still, we managed OK-- especially when the Dr. Dre song slipped in by accident.

Can you spot Preston?

Watch the 80s style video, and picture Jeff and Preston's Boda dance-off.
IFILM - Viral Videos: Breakdancing with Mr. T: "Synopsis
Creating is a way of making your mark. Perhaps no one exemplifies this philosophy better than Mr. T, who rocks the body electric with some stone-cold amateur breakdancing."

Torres Velasquez familia

DSCN1761
Originally uploaded by Cameron/Duff.

I miss the midgets

Missing lunch

DSCN1957
Originally uploaded by Cameron/Duff.

For those of you who didnt get to sample the Ecua delicacy of cuy, Cameron and Katie found plenty.

Cameron's blog

Cameron has notes on his trip, on on the ol' Cusin:

Transcendent Duck: "and then to Hacianda Cusin which is one of the nicest places I have ever stayed. Great food, wine and talking, until late. I feel somewhat spoiled staying here"

Katie enters the classroom in Ecua

Kati Rose blogs her first day in a Ecuadorian school room.

Luna tells all.: "A band of 8 year old boys in school uniforms began calling me Karen, then grabbed me and told me they had a pistol. They informed everyone that they were taking the American hostage-as they guided me to the office. on the way children chanted 'Hola, hola' in unison. When i informed them that my name was not karen, but Katie, the chorus 'Kati (without the e)' filled the air. Finally they ushered me into the office and shut the door behind me, but then a small dirty hand opened it, snuck in, and grabbed my shirt."

Wendy & the AIDS marathon

Wendy Ortiz is seeking pledges for her run in the LA AIDS marathon.
Click here to pledge.

She writes:

I have until Nov. 18 to raise my goal so there's time...but you could still be the very first person to sponsor me!

If you rather use a paper form I can send you one as well. Just let me know.

Calvin Trillin on dining in Cuenca

The specific tradition I had in mind was serving fanesca in restaurants for the week before Good Friday. I had assumed that I might have myself a four-fanesca weekend, but the only new fanesca outlet I’d found was at the unlikely venue of Trattoria Novecento, an Italian restaurant whose menu items ran toward mozzarella in carrozza and chicken Milanese. I’d half expected the waiter to come around and adorn my soup with grated Parmesan and extra-virgin olive oil, but the fanesca I got was palpably authentic—proof, I surmised, that the Trattoria Novecento, like so many New York restaurants of whatever ethnicity, had at least one Ecuadoran in the kitchen.

Katie's Journey

Katie's blogging her Ecua trip.
In one post, she describes her and Sarah's Cusin bike trip:

Eventually we turned around to meet the wedding people in a distant field up another stone filled road for a barbeque. i was enchanted by la fritada- salty pork from a pig grilled on a spit. Sadie said later, "no matter where you go, you should always take a bike ride- you see so much more that way." I couldn´t agree more.

Wendy's Culinary Reviews

Wendy's reviewing her Ecua dining experiences at her blog. She promises to report on Cusin later, but to date:

But what was most delicious in Quito? The homemade bbq at the Proaño residence (otherwise known as "La Posta") the first Sunday of "wedding camp." Amazing! We are on a search now for a choripan that can beat what we had that day (so far, no luck).

Guest-Authors

Three of the boda guests recently finished, or are finishing books.
Here are some details:

Jeff Hornstein: A Nation of Realors: A Cultural History Of The Twentieth-century American Middle Class

Pamela Barnett: Dangerous Desire: Sexual Freedom and Sexual Violence since the Sixties


Tanya Erzen: Tanya has a new book coming out; her previous one was Zero Tolerance: Quality of Life and the New Police Brutality in New York City.

Culture Shock Story: Tanya Erzen

Here's Tanya's story of American re-integration, shared with permission: (as you know, she's a big football fan.)

----Original Message-----
From: TANYA ERZEN


Well, I'm back in Columbus. It's hard to believe I was in Quito yesterday. Here's my culture shock story: I waited for 4 hours in newark to get a flight back to columbus. I'd noticed that the plane was unusually crowded- it was overbooked, and I couldn't figure out why. Then, at the end of the flight I realized that all these people were coming to columbus for the osu football game this weekend. The airline employee kept saying, "we have so many people, we don't know what to do." Meanwhile, the woman next to me has a 2 month old baby and a 2 year old so I'm helping her carrying her stuff. She says how hard it is to travel alone with kids, and then tells me that her husband is in Iraq, hasn't ever seen their baby, and won't be back until next May. As we're talking, the redneck behind us(dressed in buckeye red) is talking about where he's going to party before the game. GO USA!

Katrina Coverage: This American Life

I'm a fan, but not a fanatic, of public radio's This American Life. This week's show, devoted to stories from New Orleans, was the best Katrina coverage I've seen since returning on Tuesday. This week, you can only hear it on the radio, by the end of the week you will be able to hear it here.

Our boda fotos

DSCN1832
Originally uploaded by Cameron/Duff.

We created a flickr site for Our boda, http://www.flickr.com/groups/ourboda/. View and share as you like.
Also, Bill posted his fotos here, http://equigsador.shutterfly.com.