Friends, Romantics, Countrymen,

  I am very pleased to report that I have finished

three courses and moved into my own apartment.  You

may remember my discussion in the last report about

the “too good to be true” apartment.  After several

weeks of complex negotiations and myriad fees, I

signed my first ever apartment lease during the last

week of July, and moved in on August 5th.  My lease is

for 18 months, so I expect to remain in this spot for

the duration of my time in Buenos Aires.  I have now

been here for a week and am very pleased with the

setup.

  I have posted some pictures of the apartment on my

website, www.seanegan.org, along with some snapshots

from the housewarming I hosted last Saturday.  The

apartment is on the seventh floor of a large apartment

building on Avenida Córdoba, a main Buenos Aires

thoroughfare.  I am still technically in the Barrio

Norte neighborhood, though right on the border, as the

buildings across the street from me belong to

Balvanera.  Only a few blocks away is the Once train

station, which lies at the heart of Buenos Aires’

largest Jewish neighborhood, home to what I have heard

called (though I have my doubts) the world’s only

Kosher McDonald’s (no cheeseburgers).  The apartment

is about nine blocks from Av. Puerredón y Rodríguez

Peña, the center of gravity for the American students

in the program.  School is either a 15-minute bus ride

or a 20-block walk away.  

  As the photos indicate, the apartment opens into a

large space, divided into a living room and a dining

room.  The far end of the room opens to a small

balcony, on which my landlady left a little garden of

potted plants whose care I have agreed to provide.  A

fully-equipped kitchen is located off the main room,

though I confess that due to the wide availability of

tasty and thrift-priced take-out, I have not yet put

the kitchen through its paces.  A hallway off of the

main room leads to the study, where I now sit typing

this, as well as the main and guest bedrooms and the

full and half baths.  Both the study and main bedroom

offer small “French” balconies.   The apartment came

fully-furnished, with such treats as a television set

and a small stereo system.  I can hardly complain.

  Since moving in, I have made a few of my own

adjustments.  I have posted two “Pelican Publishing”

prints, as well as an Abbey Road street sign. 

Yesterday morning, “La Nación” newspaper began

arriving at my door, and I had my DSL installed

yesterday as well.  This morning the housekeeper

arrived for the first time and spent four hours

getting the place back in ship shape. Those of you

familiar with my penchant for tidiness may find it

hard to imagine there was any cleaning to be done, but

she managed to find a few dusty nooks and crannies. 

She’s been coming weekly for the last several years,

and knows the place inside and out, so who am I to put

her out of work?  I also now have a real phone

(54-114-962-4398) and anyone looking to address

postcards or care packages (preferably containing

goodies such as salad dressing, salsa, and other items

unavailable in stores here) may address them to Av.

Córdoba 2645, 7° Piso, No. 22, Buenos Aires,

Argentina.  

        Despite the many complications entailed in acquiring

and moving into the new pad, I have managed to

complete three courses in the “winter” session at

UNSAM.  My first course, Ideas and Political Culture

in Latin America, was tough to follow, as all of the

readings and lectures were in Spanish and I was still

getting the rust off after my two-year hiatus from

Latin American life.  The next two courses, Case Study

Methods and Theories of Democracy and Autocracy have

been, much to my delight, in English.  The methods

class was very technical, and difficult to follow at

times, despite the best efforts of an able and very

much engaged visiting professor from Georgetown. 

Prior to enrolling here, I had never taken a political

science course before, so I was behind the curve from

the start, but I managed to understand the materials

well enough to design a research project.  Since

you’re dying to know, the project would investigate

why states (or trading blocks) engage in international

trade conflicts, such as the Banana War and the

European beef over hormone-treated livestock, while on

other issues such as intellectual property and

agricultural subsidies, the cannons of trade war

remain largely silent.  Is a puzzlement.

  The most recent class, also taught by a visiting

Georgetown prof., was much more interesting.  We read

political development literature from the second half

of the 20th century, and learned that Latin American

dictators and military juntas cited the work of

authors like Harvard’s Samuel Huntington to justify

their efforts to “stabilize” their economies in order

to allow for both economic and political development. 

They often found receptive audiences in such folks as

Henry Kissinger.  The professor, a Middle East expert,

also used the materials to analyze the prospects for

democracy in such places as, well, Iraq.  At the risk

of being called a racist by the Neocons in Washington,

(that’s what they do when critics suggest that Iraq

doesn’t lend itself very well to democracy) the

professor predicted a gradual withdrawal of U.S.

troops over the next few years, and either a Shiite

autocracy or civil war to follow.   After discussing

our final readings about the grim prospects for

democracy and development in the Middle East, the

whole class collectively sighed in despair.  The

professor’s final remark was inspiring, “When you look

at what’s happening over there, it makes the mess in

Argentina look great!”  

  My next two courses will cover health policies in

South America’s Southern Cone and the history of the

European Union.  Stay tuned for details.  In other

news, I will be hosting my first visitors in one week.

 Longmeadow Lancer (’97) Izzy Gordan will arrive on

the 22nd of August, accompanied by special lady friend

Abby for a one-week visit.  The red-carpet is being

prepared as I type.  Also Noteworthy are the

developments in the lives and careers of two of my

recommenders for this program, Holy Cross Profs.

Bertram Ashe and Nicolas Sanchez.  This reporter has

learned that Prof. Ashe has accepted a position at the

University of Richmond (go spiders!), while Prof.

Sanchez is following up his successful bid for the

Framingham School Board with another run for public

office (further detail unavailable at press time).  

  Well, that about covers it.  Do check out the web

site and accept my apologies for allowing a month to

go by since my last writing.  Also, apologies to those

of you who received an embargoed early draft of this

letter, as much of this may look familiar.  We’re

investigating who’s responsible for this leak and are

hoping that Robert Novak, among others, will be more

cooperative than he’s been in recent investigations. 

Also, in case you were wondering, I did get to watch

the next President of the United States give his

convention speech last month.  Help is on the way!

   Ciao,

       Sean