"John was giving one of his Mixtec friends, who had been living in Tennessee, a ride back to Mexico in John's car. On the day they were to leave the friend showed up with three television sets, a hair dryer, a chain saw, a gasoline lantern, two 'boom boxes', a microphone, and sundry other electronic equipment, all used and most of it not working very well (if at all). After spending quite some time trying to fit the load in the car, John turned to his friend in frustration and said 'I can't believe you want to bring all this junk back with you, especially since your town doesn't have electricity.' Later, when John visited his friend's house in an isolated area of the Mixteca, he saw all these items in the house, with most of them set up on tables and shelves almost like museum pieces. These were meant to be artefacts of the man's travels, and they were meant to display his ability to consume Western electronic gear. Six months later John gave the same friend ride back to the United States. This time it was John who filled up the car, with pottery, bark paintings, woven rugs and blankets, straw baskets, and papier maché figures. His Mixtec friend, after spending eight hours balancing a large pot on his lap, got out of the car and using almoust the same language John had used six months earlier, said in frustration 'I can't believe you bought all this junk to bring back with you, especially since you never use any of these pots for cooking!'"
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