1.  What do you like the most about Colombia?
The people, of course.  Well, anybody would be interested in all of Colombia's natural and archaelogical attractions.  I have loved my visits to Cartagena, Santa Marta, and La Ciudad Perdida, for example.  But I most enjoy getting to know people and finding out what's really interesting about them.  And as I do that, as I get to know Colombians very well, I forget about cultural differences and just think of them as friends.  I think I have as many friends in Colombia now as I do in the United States.  

     I will never forget this mechanic who worked on my (always broken) car in Santa Marta.  His name was Tani, a tiny brown man who was so skinny you couldn't see him if he turned sideways.  I thought my car had a complicated problem, and he could have taken all my money, but he fixed it for $10,000 pesos.  

    I came back a few days later to ask for help with another problem.  It was Christmas Eve, and he was sitting in a plastic chair outside his taller all dressed up in a suit.  I said, "Tani, my car is leaning to this side.  What's wrong?"  He put his Aguila down and said, "Well, you gotta understand, a car is like a person.  If you bend over and pick up 100 kilos, you're gonna say oh.  But if you pick up 200 kilos, you're gonna say OHHHHH!   You just have a lot of stuff in your trunk, and that's an old car."  He wanted me to stay and celebrate Christmas Eve with me and kept ordering me beers from the lady in the tienda next door.  I just kept giving them back to the lady when he wasn't looking.  Then, when I left, he leaned in the car window and grabbed on to my hands and was yelling, "Goodbye, goodbye!  I want you to know that Colombians are good people!"  I assured him that I did know.  That's an example of why what I most enjoy is getting to know people.

 2. What song reminds you of your childhood?  
Well, probably just about any song that doesn't remind my students of their childhood.  Okay, the first one I think of is "Dancing Queen" by Abba.  My cousin had an Abba album on an 8-track tape.  Do you know what that is?  Oh and "Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder.  My sister and I used to go by little 45 records (Lord, I bet you have no ideat what they are) at a nearby record store.    Anything by the Bee Gees reminds me of those days, although I wasn't a Bee Gees fan.  And Neil Diamond.   Any good old South Carolina beach music reminds me of my middle school years.  I'll make a CD of that for the emisora one day.  Now did you really want to know all this, or are you trying to make me seem old?

3. What character of any book would you like to be?
Well, I still haven't read Harry Potter, so I'll have to choose someone else.  Sigh.  Right now, I think I would agree with a lot of my students and choose Huck Finn, or maybe I'd go with Mr. Emerson in A Room with a View.  I love that man.  I admire Huck for his courage in spite of his confusion, his willingness to go to Hell rather than accept a sick civilization.   And I just adore Mr. Emerson for revolting against everything phony and repressive about his society, and for teaching young people to follow the impulses of their hearts, for teaching them that what we live for is love, for making them understand that although love is not the body, it is of the body, and there's nothing wrong with that.  I also love Phoenix Jackson in Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path."  She may be poor and old, but she stays alive to care for her little grandson, much as my grandparents lived to take care of their children and grandchildren, and that's paradise. 

4.  What's your favorite outfit?
Whatever I put on in the dark at 5:30 AM looks great.  Everything matches at that hour.  And by the time I get outside the building, I realize that everyone must be saying, "Oh, you can tell poor James doesn't have a wife."

5. What's you favorite Disney movie character?
Was Mary Poppins a Disney movie?  Well, I just loved her.  Her accent reminded my of my art teacher, Marty Adams, who was from the Low Country of South Carolina and didn't speak like people from my town.   Also, it certainly goes in her favor that she could fly.  And by contrast, my most hated movie characters were the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz.  I am not kidding when I say those things still give me the creeps.  Flying monkeys are worse than bats.

6. With which student (of any generation) do you identify with?
I love all my students.  Some people don't think that's possible, to love a random group of people, but you love your family, don't you?  Did you choose them?  I get to know some students better than others because they are open to me, telling me all about their lives, their hopes and fears.  But I hope it's obvious that I enjoy getting to know them all and keeping in touch with them after they graduate.

7. If you knew you were dying tomorrow, what would you do today?  
The first think I thought of was to run down Calle 74, take a left on the Septima then a right on 73 until the novena.  There I would take a right, run into Crepes and Waffles and eat ice cream until I exploded.  And I mean avellana, almendra, crocante, and chocolate rochelle.  If you can remember those flavors, my birthday is December 9.  But I think what I would really do is call my family and tell them I love them.  They have made everything possible for me. 

8. What supermodel or actress would you choose for a date?  
Now, if I go out with a supermodel or actress, she is probably not even going to think about letting me take her to Crepes and Waffles, because she will be too worried about her weight.  Will you let me opt for someone with Magu's cariño, Margarita's love for Bo, Mireia's intelligent humor, and Blanquita's friendliness and tostacos?  Oh, and let me not forget Ana Maria Restrepo's persistence.   She kept after me until I answered these interview questions.

9.  What's something you will never understand about Colombians?
I will never understand why they don't have a better image of their own country, and why they don't understand the tremendous power they have to get things done.  How many times have I had to explain to a taxi driver why I wasn't afraid to come to Colombia?  And I have to do it with friends too!  I never had a negative image of Colombia before I came.  It was all mystery to me to be discovered.  But I suspect many Colombians never believe me when I tell them that.  I think it's a mistake to assume that other people have a bad image of you or your country.  If they don't, your assumption only blinds you to reality.  I think Colombians need to believe in themselves, in their talents.  There is no problem in this country or in the world that cannot be solved by people who work together.  Degrading poverty, corruption, and social division can't stop people who believe.  But our nature is not to believe that we can make a change. 

10. What would you tell a North American teacher to convince him/her to come and work at Los Nogales? 
I would tell that person that I love the country and the school and the people, and that I get up every morning excited about my job.  I would say that I like the school so much that I would rather be there than leave during my tarde libre.  I would say that Luisa has given me a lot of freedom to teach what I love to teach, to choose the books I can be most enthusiastic about, and that way my students have a better experience.  I would tell how many students and their parents have become my friends.  And most importantly, I would say that I could never find students anywhere in the world that I would enjoy more than the ones I have now.