| How did you start BrazilMax?
I moved to Brazil in 1986. My first job was as editor of an English-language
magazine published by a Brazilian firm. In 1990, I moved into
straight-up foreign correspondent work and did stints with The
Financial Times, Business Week, Institutional Investor, Advertising
Age, Variety and others. By the late 1990s, I was primarily working
as a freelance contributor for sundry magazines.
In 2000 blogs
didn't yet exist. But BrazilMax really started as a pre-blog blog.
I began posting articles about things that interested me that
I couldn't place in mainstream magazines and newspapers. I knew
there was an audience for this stuff, but I couldn't convince
editors. The new technology allowed me to do an end run around
the gatekeepers, so I did. But I really had no clear-cut objective.
Word-of-mouth brought modest critical acclaim and a reasonable
audience base. As the project grew, it began eating up more and
more of my time. A couple of ads had come in over the transom,
but they were hardly enough to sustain a website, let alone a
household. By 2002 I decided that I should either make BrazilMax
into a business or drop it entirely.
The choice was easy. I hired some guys to help me do a design
and technological overhaul, adopting a data management system,
and I repositioned BrazilMax as an online travel guide. My own
interests are eclectic, and travel allows me to write about pretty
much anything as long as it pertains to some place:
History. Politics. Food. Sports. Music. Art. You can work it all
into travel writing.
I also think that tourism, when done right, can serve as an important
form of cultural exchange. And it can be subversive in the sense
that the person-to-person contacts aren't controlled by politicians
or corporate bigwigs.
What is roots tourism?
Shorthand for what we feature on BrazilMax. In one sense, it
is self-explanatory. People just seem to get it. Just like they
intuitively get the term "roots music" - even if they're
not familiar with the particulars of a given style or rhythm.
The idea encompasses anything that allows travelers to delve more
deeply into nature, local culture or whatever.
The term also consciously assumes the point of view of the traveler
and addresses the quality of his or her experience. Many terms
that get bounced around at conferences - like "responsible"
and "sustainable" - implicitly assume the point of view
of the host society or community. Nothing wrong with that, but
that's not my audience. My audience consists of travelers, so
I try to understand things from their perspective.
Can you tell us about your podcasting?
Our main audio content at this point is BrazilMax
Radio, an online program with a music/interview format. It
emerged from the need to promote BrazilMax
Music, our legal download system in partnership with the Massachusetts-based
online retailer Calabash Music. Guests on the program have included
top Brazilian musicians, composers, film makers and writers. Sometimes
we do live acoustic sets. As I learn how to produce audio segments,
I want to include "on the road" travel vignettes. I
also may want to get into audio tours at some point, but that's
another story.
We've also got a video project, with a pilot in production. We're
developing that in partnership with TV PUC, the video production
unit of the Catholic University in São Paulo. The working
name is Secret Brazil. The programs will be based on BrazilMax's
content. I'm the host.
Can you recommend any news site in English for those
interested in Brazil?
I might not be the best person to ask about this because I get
all my Brazilian news from Portuguese sources. Having said that,
there is no Brazilian equivalent of the Buenos
Aires Herald. All of the major news agencies -- AP, Reuters,
and the BBC -- do pretty good coverage of the country. I'd go
to them for breaking news.
What is your favorite guidebook to Brazil?
The guide I use myself is the Guia Quatro Rodas, published in
Portuguese in Brazil. In English, for people who want something
more comprehensive, I usually suggest Footprint's Brazil Handbook.
For people who want something with a bit more attitude, I tend
to recommend Rum and Reggae's Brazil. For people who care about
food (and who doesn't?), there's Joan Peterson's Eat
Smart in Brazil.
The major brands seem to be going the way of the rest of the publishing
industry. I have met, virtually or personally, many of the authors
of the major Brazil guidebooks. They're smart people who are trying
to do their best, but I get the sense that they aren't getting
much help from their publishers. The major publishers, and even
some less than major ones, seem to have adopted an assembly-line
approach. Editors who don't understand a place set the parameters
and send an equally unprepared writer into the bush to fill in
the blanks. This may make sense from a business perspective, but
I don't think it serves the traveler very well.
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