Independent Writer/Editor
Director of English-Language Content
Archivoz Magazine
Cataloger
Valley Library
Oregon State University
Naturally, I’m curious.
I have a Master’s degree in church-state studies from Baylor University, and I’ve been a library cataloger for a little over a decade. I have also written, presented, and published both in academic and popular contexts, on subjects ranging from the philosophy of higher education to the history of rural Missouri.
I’m drawn to the abstruse and the unique; I love languages and am English/Spanish bilingual. This latter stems from the fact that I grew up in Argentina, a connection that continues to be very important to who I am and where my interests lie.
My family moved to Argentina when was 10 years old. I lived there until 1996, when I returned to the US for college. I visited in 1998 and 2001; after that, almost 15 years passed before I set foot in the country again. I lived there for a time as an adult, and now I am immersed in an attempt to better understand the place I have for many years considered my second (and even my first) home.
When I landed in Argentina in 1988, the country was balanced precariously between democracy and military rule; the current president’s administration was in the midst of a fight for its political life; the currency (the austral, for the moment), and the economy along with it, was headed for a cliff with its brake lines cut; and everyone knew that the smallest of sparks could blow the whole thing to bits at any given moment.
Over the years, I have watched the country plunge into and pull out of one crisis after another. Now, over 30 years later, in the midst of a global pandemic, rampant inflation (this time the peso), poverty at an all-time high (44% at the latest count), once again the smallest of sparks could cause the whole system to explode.
And yet…there they are, carrying on. This is not a romantic observation; it is, at its heart, the question that drives my research. Who are they, where did they come from, how did they get here, and where are they headed? Will the situation 30 years from now be as similar as the situation today is to the circumstances of three decades ago? There is progress; they’ve managed to kick the military habit that dogged the nation for the better part of a century. What comes next?
This site is meant to serve two purposes: 1) most importantly, it serves as an organizational tool for my own research; and 2) I hope that it may also serve others who are interested in researching this fascinating country and its people, and wish to build a more complete research portfolio of their own.
¡Buen provecho!
Becoming Argentina 