A snow day! Sort of...

A message that an Argentine friend left on my facebook page (loosely translated):

“Hi Amanda, the school is still taken, for now there are no classes tomorrow. I don’t know if the teacher will have it in the hallway or the street…but I’m letting you know so that you have an idea of what’s going on. “

...The school is “taken?”

Yes. As in, taken hostage. During my class last Tuesday, a group of students came in shouting about a disaster that had just taken place in the sociology building a few blocks away. A beam had crashed from one of the ceilings of a classroom. The government’s disregard for the school that hosts 28,000 citizens became appallingly apparent with this incident, and the students were pissed.

"Facultad de Ciencias Sociales"

The group urged us to demand better resources from La Presidente Kirchner, including the completion of a building that was scheduled to be up and running over six years ago, but isn’t even halfway finished. At this point they were basically screaming, and they called for us to march for justice with them…before I knew it, my friend Agustina had packed up her stuff and left.

Since then, the school has been “taken.” What does that mean? Well…

The building is inaccessible. Classes take place in the street, or not at all. The students regularly meet to maintain their momentum, delivering stump speeches and distributing fliers. I’m anxious to see if the government will respond, and how. In the meantime, I do my schoolwork from home and brag to anyone who will listen about how rugged I am for attending UBA, the public school with attitude—and a sense of humor:

"Public classes in the street (it's more safe)" ha. ha. ha...

a street "classroom"

a map of the "classrooms," a.k.a. the circles of desks in the middle of the road

"ask about classes here"

The class schedule for the block period. If you look closely you can see my class (AURELIO --> TEORICO Opinión Pública) and, written next to it "NO DA!!" which means it was canceled.

a class being held in the hallway while people pass by

every stairwell is blocked. But even if I could somehow reach my classroom...

all of the desks are in the street.