Lucas Camilo

First, we want to thank everyone for all the thoughtful messages in response to our last few posts.  It wasn’t easy to publish those challenging reflections, so hearing from you was much appreciated.

Meanwhile, it’s been a big week for us, with Krista doing Spanish interpretation for Salvadoran anti-mining activists in town and Burke nearly getting arrested at a raucous protest at the DC City Council.  The Salvadorans were here for CISPES actions targeting the Pacific Rim gold mining corporation and are from the rural communities that would be destroyed by the toxins the mining would bring.  Their testimonies were courageous and inspiring (and only slightly challenging to translate).  A good recent article about the court battle over the mining permit is here.

While Krista was interpreting at a press conference, Burke was a block away at a protest of the City Council’s budget cuts, part of a city-wide coalition that busted into the Council’s breakfast meeting to demand higher income taxes for the wealthiest citizens of DC.  The action forced council members to vote on the proposal, and it fell just 2 votes short, a victory of sorts.  Here’s some good radio coverage if you’re interested (featuring Burke):

[audio:https://lucascamilo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/SOS_spectrum_today2.mp3|titles=SOS_spectrum_today2]

It’s been good for both of us to feel that we’re still very connected to the issues we care so much about, and Lucas seems supportive.  For two days he was home most of the day just with Florence, one of his nurses, and he did great.  He’s getting his second tooth (his bottom right tooth), and he even played along as we tried to get a shot of it.