My big news? Baby Mariel!

There have been some exceptions, but during that time we’ve looked mostly outside of our own community to find “news.”

Though we always cared about finding the stories that were overlooked by mainstream media and bringing them back to you–as often as possible by reaching out to someone on the ground for a first-person dispatch like this one– we recently realized how much news is being overlooked within our own community.

In the three years since Matador was founded, we’ve created a large, tight-knit community of travelers and writers around the world who are living what we call the “Matador vision” every single day. That vision is to:

“…raise questions and share ideas and information in a way that isn’t bounded by geography or culture but ripples out from one traveler to another worldwide. Over time, these connections, dialogues, and relationships are affecting positive changes and creating new opportunities in the real world.”

Living the Matador vision looks different for each of the 12,000+ members of the Matador Travel community, the 1.6 million + people who visit our blogs each month, the nearly 8,000 people who follow us on Twitter, and the 70+ students enrolled in our travel writing school, Matador U.

For new member justdanny, who is currently serving in Iraq (which has a “hell of a sunrise,” he says), living the Matador vision means figuring out how to use the time and experiences he’s had at war once he gets back home. For HittheRoadJACK, it’s figuring out how to “hold on and continue believing in this dream” of living in their RV and “taking photographs and sharing our stories with others,” even when nothing seems to be going their way.

So long story short: go get your travel news elsewhere. Check Global Voices Online for politics and world news. Check other travel blogs for fare deals. And stay here to learn more about the incredible people who make up the Matador community.

Community Connection:

Want to contribute to Matador? Read our submission guidelines here.

If you have a story about what’s going on in your part of the world or if you want us to celebrate your good news, send me an email at julie@matadornetwork.com.

[Feature photo: qrtzcntrl]

Some of us were on tonight and saw the tweet, “It’s a girl” and couldn’t wait to say congrats:

Welcome to this world, nena! You’ve got viaje in your veins. Love- Sarah

“Wow! A baby girl! I’m so, so happy for you and Francisco. You guys are going to be amazing padres! -Ross

Julie, I’m so excited for you! Good luck and congratulations on this new journey! – Michelle

Yeeaaaa Julie! We are all so proud of you and can’t wait to meet the newest, littlest Matadorian!

Thanks for not Tweeting Live from during your new child’s birth. Congratulations! –Andy

“Come here, little one…” Here’s to hoping the baby makes it way out soon! Many congrats, Julie
and Francisco — Christine

bienvenida mariel from David Miller on Vimeo.

Photo courtesy of JoAnna Haugen

You’re probably already familiar with JoAnna Haugen, an active member of Matador.

She’s a Matador contributor, having written the popular article “5 Things You Should Know Before Joining the Peace Corps” for MatadorChange.

She’s an enthusiastic and supportive student in Matador’s travel writing program, MatadorU.

She’s an active blogger, writing here on Matador and on her own self-hosted blog.

She was one of the Roads Scholars, using her travel stipend to explore the U.S.’s national parks and to write about her transformative experiences at Burning Man.

So the Matador team was stoked to wake up this morning to an e-mail from senior editor David Miller, who shared JoAnna’s latest blog–and good news–with us. JoAnna has won the 2009 Wine Food Travel Scholarship, awarded by the International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA). In addition to being awarded a one week trip to the Caribbean in the dead of U.S. winter, JoAnna was given a one year membership to IFWTWA and will have at least one of her articles published in Global Writes.

Best of all, JoAnna’s decided to start a new writing project: her two weeks notice at her day job. She’ll be pursuing travel writing as a full time career.

And Matador will be pulling for her all the way!

Community Connection:

Interested in connecting with people like JoAnna? Set up your MatadorTravel.com profile today to meet other passionate travelers. You could also consider joining MatadorU, a 12-week curriculum developed by the Matador team where we teach you all you need to know about the history, craft, tools, and future of travel writing.

Photo: ClickE

Well, the Westin Resort Aruba has the answer to that question.

In an effort to up its occupancy rate, the Aruba Westin is running a unique promotion: couples who conceive a child during their stay will receive a “Conception Credit” worth $300 USD, which they can use for a return visit in 2010.

I would have paid money to be at the marketing meeting where this promo was dreamed up.

If you want to take advantage of the offer, there is some fine print: You’ve gotta get it on before December 18, 2009. In addition, once you return stateside, you’ll need to get a note from your doctor indicating that “the likely conception date took place around the time of [your] stay at the resort.”

No word on whether child care is provided on your return visit.

Community Connection:

Interested in outlandish tourism promotions? Read about the “Best Job in the World” or check out how one traveler is taking advantage of JetBlue’s All-You-Can-Jet Pass.

Photo: illuminating_9/11

Remember Muntadar al-Zaidi?

Nah, I didn’t think so.

How about the Iraqi “shoe throw” journalist?

Yes?

Well, al-Zaidi IS the journalist who famously threw his shoes at President Bush during a December 2008 press conference. He was subsequently arrested and sentenced to three years in prison.

Despite the long sentence, his total time was reduced to one year since he had no prior criminal record, and local authorities agreed he could be released three months early in recognition of his good behavior. He is scheduled to be released from a Baghdad prison tomorrow.

Though no one’s arguing that serving time is pleasant, al-Zaidi has been enjoying some unexpected benefits as the result of public support of his actions. In addition to continuing to receive his salary from the al-Baghdadiya news agency, al-Zaidi has allegedly been bought a house and has received multiple offers from parents who are eager to give their daughters’ hands to him in marriage. He (and his shoes) were also nominated as BBC’s Person of the Year.

Other promises–such as the Emir of Qatar’s pledge to buy al-Zaidi a golden horse–haven’t yet materialized.

No word yet on al-Zaidi’s post-prison plans, but his boss at al-Baghdadiya says he expects al-Zaidi to return to journalism.

Community Connection:

Are you a member of the armed forces who has served in Iraq or Afghanistan? Join Matador Travel today and start sharing your stories with our community.

Photos courtesy of author

Properly, it is called “Once de Septiembre,” and it might seem to Americans that Chile is recognizing “our” September 11th. In fact, an art display just steps from the presidential palace, and in front of the country’s left-leaning newspaper, La Nación’s headquarters is a small art show, with front newspaper pages depicting the events that transpired on September 11th, 2001. Beside it is a small photo exhibit of peaceful New York, with the towers still standing.

But the story in Chile predates “our” September 11th by nearly two decades.

September 11, 1973 was the day on which the military coup, or golpe militar, changed Chile’s political reality. President Salvador Allende died during the attack on La Moneda, the presidential palace, and this day began nearly 17 years of what is commonly referred to as the bloodiest dictatorship in Latin American history, headed by Augusto Pinochet, with links to the U.S. government.

Over the course of the following nearly two decades, thousands were killed or “disappeared,” and tens of thousands incarcerated. Some 200,000 people went into exile. Many went to Europe if they could, such as current President Michelle Bachelet’s family, which fled to East Germany, or to neighboring Latin American countries such as Peru and Argentina, if they could not.

For those who stayed, many were “internally exiled,” relegated to far-flung zones with little or no contact with their families. Neighborhoods were redrawn and residents of encampments scattered into the periphery of the city, where new, poorly-served areas would be constructed. They exist to this day.

People in Chile blame the dictatorship for some of society’s ills, for the class-based oligarchy that exists in current day Chile, for the rifts between families and lost sons and daughters, parents and grandparents. But among Chilean society also walk Pinochetistas, supporters of the dictatorship and what it stood for, and the relative economic stability they say it has brought. It was these people who mourned Pinochet’s death in December, 2006, holding vigil outside of the Escuela Militar, while smaller anti-Pinochet demonstrations rocked other areas of the city.

Since Pinochet’s death, the demonstrations to which Chileans have become accustomed on September 11th have shrunk in violence and timbre in recent years. Though violent demonstrations take place in some of the poorer, more densely-populated outlying areas, the activity around the Moneda and in more central areas has been tense, but civil for the most part.

People place red carnations and notes to and for the disappeared or killed, around the statue of Salvador Allende, and in other key spots. All the while the police keep crowds moving, keep the teargas poised for launching, and the guanacos, or water cannons, are ready to be fired should the need arise.

Community Connection:

Matador contributing editor Tom Gates writes about experiencing September 11, 2001 in “8:46 am, 9/11 Manhattan.”

Cuban artist Juan Antonio Picasso paints at his studio in Havana. Photo: Julie Schwietert

Despite the Obama administration’s stated commitment to improving Cuba-U.S. relations and reviewing U.S. foreign policy that prohibits most Americans from traveling freely to Cuba, actual policy changes have been slow in coming. The so-called travel ban remains intact for American citizens who are not from Cuba themselves or who do not have family in Cuba.

Fortunately, some organizations have been granted licenses to lead authorized trips to Cuba, and the Katonah Museum of Art, located in Katonah, New York, is one such institution. Museum administrators are now accepting reservations for a trip to Havana scheduled for January 17-23, 2010.

From the museum:

“Participants will spend the week immersed in Cuba’s… vibrant artistic culture through visits to museums, cultural centers, holy sites, and tours of the studios and homes of 14 Cuban artists led by Chelsea [New York] gallerist Alberto Magnan. Artists to be visited include contemporary surrealists Sandra Ramos and Los Carpinteros.”

In addition to the studio visits, trip participants will travel just outside Havana to the Cuban estate of American writer Ernest Hemingway and will have free time to explore Havana on their own. All participants will be lodging at the upscale Parque Central Hotel.

For full itinerary, rates and more information, contact Jacqui Potente at 914-232-9555, ext. 2968.

Community Connection:

Planning a trip to Havana? Check in with Matador’s Havana expert.

Prime Minister elect Yukio Hatoyama. Photo: World Economic Forum

You know, the wacky game show hosts humiliating their guests; super-high-tech robots about to usher in a new dawn of pampering; or geisha girls, earthquakes, and tea ceremonies typifying the “otherworldliness” of the Land of the Rising Sun. Maybe, just maybe, for a fleeting moment the world caught a glimpse of the real Japan last Sunday.

That would be the Japan that just voted out of office the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which apart from an eight-month period, has been in power continuously since 1955.

Is this a revolutionary change? Or just cosmetic?

The numbers speak of an electoral earthquake: In the 480 seat lower house of the Japanese parliament, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) took 308 for themselves, leaving the former party of government with a rump 119 seats and less than a third of the popular vote.

Ah, this is all about change. True, that was a strong element of the election. Talk to just about any Japanese person and they will tell you they are proud of finally changing the party in power. But there’s more to it than aping Obama or just rejecting what went before. In the next breath, that same voter will tell you, “But you know, in Japan, the bureaucrats run everything.”

And this was the key issue identified by the DPJ and went a long way to explaining its victory. But a war on bureaucracy doesn’t mean the perfunctory criticism of public sector budgets and cliched cries of “Cut the red tape!” common to elections throughout the West.

In Japan, the bureaucrats really do run the show. The ministries keep their ministers under tight rein and keep the private sector beholden to the bureaucrats, who can make or break companies by awarding lucrative contracts or revoking a key license. The diligent bureaucrat then gets a nice retirement with a cushy job in a company that he (and it’s always a he) was supposed to be regulating. This is standard operating procedure, for a recent example click here.

That incestuous relationship is ignored as an unwelcome but bearable fact of life when the economy is growing, but with years of economic stagnation and (official) unemployment rates at a postwar high of 5.9 percent, voters had a right to feel old ways just didn’t work anymore.

Did that mean voters turned their back on the free market and the right? You might have read throwaway lines about the DPJ being a hodgepodge party of the left – the unions back the party after all. Does this mean the country has veered away from the US and into the arms of China, as conservative commentators in the US fear?

Well, left and right tags aren’t that helpful. The man who will become Prime Minister on September 16, Yukio Hatoyama, has some powerful relatives. He is the grandson of a former PM and is married to the heiress of the Bridgestone fortune. In short, he’s no Red, and neither are the senior members of his party, many of whom started their careers with the LDP.

Sure, the victors offered voters nanny state payouts – more cash for farmers; a higher minimum wage; $250 for each child, every month; slashing school fees; and axing freeway tolls (there is a toll on every freeway). But what they didn’t offer was the massive dam projects, the concreting of local scenic spots, or the bridges to nowhere that are the beloved policy tools of the LDP and the bureaucrats to stimulate the economy. Already, the future’s looking bleak for the cement mixers.

If the election meant anything lasting, it was this: the interests of the consumer won out against the interests of the producers for the first time in living memory in Japan.

There’s just one catch. To pay for all the promises, the DPJ is banking on reining in the bureaucrats. And they may have other ideas.

Community Connection:

Get your fill of Japan content by checking out the Japan section of Matador’s archives.

Matador Trips co-editor Carlo Alcos.

Wend invites Matador members to submit photos on the theme of hiking or trekking in order to be entered into its September Friday Photo Contest.

September’s weekly prizes include Kaze stainless steel vacuum bottles. The grand prize is an Eco Ether sleeping pad from Pacific Outdoor.

Click on over to Wend for all the details.

Feature photo: dms_303

Gustav Mahler

Either way, the message is the same: peace through music. This week, the World Orchestra, made up of 95 musicians from 35 countries, will be playing both to commemorate World War II and to celebrate 200 years of peace.

On September 1, the World Orchestra performed in Krakow, Poland, in a concert marking the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II. The program included Mahler’s “Symphony no. 5 in C# Minor”, as well the world premiere of a commissioned piece called “Prelude to Peace,” by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki.

The orchestra will follow this somber event with a celebration in Stockholm, Sweden on September 2 at the Baltic Sea Festival. The festival’s theme this year is appropriately named “peace and reconciliation,” chosen for the 200th anniversary of a peace treaty between Sweden and Finland.

The World Orchestra for Peace was founded by the highly influential conductor Georg Solti, a Jewish-Hungarian who was forced to flee his homeland at the start of World War II. He first organized the orchestra at the request of the United Nations to celebrate their 50th anniversary in 1995.

The idea had been brewing in Solti’s mind since a concert at Buckingham Palace three years before, when 13 of the world’s most prolific musicians came together and performed in celebration of his 80th birthday. Solti later said, “I could not escape one very essential idea. Isn’t it amazing that we musicians can produce a united Europe or more… even a united world. Why can’t the politicians?”

Sadly, Solti passed away in 1997, and Valery Gergiev, the Principal Conductor for the London Symphony Orchestra, has led the group ever since, giving concerts in cities like Moscow, Berlin, Beijing, Jerusalem, and Budapest.

The World Orchestra is an elite organization which only admits musicians by invitation. These citizens, representing dozens of cultures and languages, sit side by side, often unable to communicate with words but still in perfect harmony. As Solti said, it would be nice if one day politicians could do the same.