Just a quick update on things in Brazil

Things are going well here in Brazil. I know it's been a while since I posted but really not all that much has been happening. I have my classes, reading, writing, etc., Caroline has her classes, reading, writing, etc., so there really hasn't been much time for much else. We hit up the parks and things but often just forget our cameras. I've taken so many pictures of Brazil that I don't know what else there is to take pictures of. I'll find something, though, because I know no one likes coming here without pictures of beautiful Brazil.
Anyway, recent happenings in life... let's see.
Well, my two articles are getting published in the Social Science Journal at Winston-Salem State. I'm going to post them here pretty soon just because that's pretty cool.
I also got a big volunteer position with Human Rights Watch, translating articles written in English into Portuguese. So it's pretty cool. It definitely helps me with Portuguese because the articles are so technical and stuff that I'm learning lots of new verbs, words and sentence structure. So that's pretty nice.
Anyway, since I'm in Brazil I wanted to post what I wrote to Human Rights Watch as part of my volunteer application.
I had to give them a translation sample, so I figured I would translate the paper I wrote about torture in Brazil. Why?
Torture = violation of human rights
Brazil = Portuguese
Human Rights Watch = for human rights
Translation position = translating into Portuguese
Makes sense right?
Anyway, here are the first paragraphs, along with links, to the papers. The first one is in Portuguese, the second one is in English.
Check'em out and I'll promise to update more. Thanks.
Also please check out my other blog, Policy Reform in Action. I've been working on getting it up to speed and trying to get visitors, so please check it out.
Anyway, onto business.

Português

"Percepção e Verdade – A imprensa dos Estados Unidos, a ditadura militar Brasileira, e tortura, 1964 a 1971"

Em um período de vinte e um anos, o regime militar no Brasil deixou uma marca horrível na história dos direitos humanos do país. Os primeiros oito anos representaram um período excepcionalmente ruim na história do Brasil devido à falsa percepção do mundo ocidental que permitiu a permanência da ignorância durante o governo sangrento e tortuoso do Brasil que dominou o poder no período. Desde o golpe do Estado em dia 31 de Março de 1964 gerou tortura contínua e aposentadorias forçadas de 68 professores universitários em Abril de 1969, táticas invasoras e muitas vezes brutais de opressão foram utilizados contra o povo brasileiro. Entre os afetados estavam intelectuais influentes que meramente discutiam o clima político do país. É possível encontrar testemunhos das vítimas de tortura e também artigos dos intelectuais que queriam disseminar a verdade, documentos estes que foram ignorados pela população norte-americana, manipulada pelas mentiras e maquinações que objetivavam alterar a realidade dos problemas encontrados no Brasil. Esta percepção falsa gerou uma ignorância dos verdadeiros eventos ruins que estavam ocorrendo naquela época no Brasil. Esta pesquisa quer mostrar como o desenvolvimento lento do interesse por parte da mídia de massa nos Estados Unidos permitiu a permanência da brutalidade no regime militar do Brasil por um tempo maior do que se poderia supor. A hipótese desta pesquisa é a de que se a população norte-americano tivesse o conhecimento da situação urgente e pressionasse o governo americano a ajudar no término das violações dos direitos humanos no Brasil, o governo americano teria tido um incentivo mais forte a intervir e teria buscado pelo fim desse regime brutal, que o mesmo ajudou instalar.

Link is right here for anyone wanting to read the full document.

English

"Perception & Truth – The United States Media, Brazil’s Military Dictatorship, and Torture, 1964-1971"

In a twenty-one year span, the Brazilian military regime stamped a horrifying black mark on the human rights record of Brazil. The first eight years represented an exceptionally poor era in its history because the West’s false perception of events further extended the ignorance of Brazil’s bloody and torturous government. From the 31 March 1964 coup through continued torture practices to the forced retirement of 68 university professors in April 1969, invasive and often brutal tactics of oppression were used against people in a wide spectrum of Brazilian society. Among these were influential intellectuals and those merely intelligently discussing Brazil’s current political climate. There are many testimonials from torture victims and many articles from the intellectuals who sought to spread the truth. The U.S. public ignored scholarly articles and testimonials of the regime’s practices, while cover-ups, half-truths and lies were aimed at altering the reality of Brazil’s problems. This false impression created an ignorant perception of the truly evil events occurring at this time in Brazilian history. This research aims to show how the slow development of interest on the part of the U.S. mass media allowed the brutality behind Brazil’s military regime to continue far longer than it should have. Had the U.S. public been knowledgeable of the urgent situation and pressured the U.S. government to help put an end to Brazil’s human rights violations, the U.S. government would have had stronger incentive to step in and put an end to the brutal regime it installed.

Link to the full document is right here if you're interested in reading the full document.
The important thing to remember is that the English version is much longer than the Portuguese. I only translated 15 pages for the submission. I included all the important stuff, I just left out pieces that I didn't think was really all that important to include in the translation.
Anyway, check'em out. You guys should enjoy that stuff.
It's important to come to this blog and enjoy the pictures AND learn something about Brazil.
So hopefully you learned something!