Nostalgia and the Absence of Time

Almost every entry that I’ve posted here has been about conflicts and antagonism within my beloved Argentina. This entry will have nothing to do with that. As you will witness, this post will involve elements of childhood, senses, emotions and feelings.

I believe that time doesn’t really exist. It is only a ruler that we have in order to measure how things change from one state to another.

Some days ago, I had to look for information about a tribe called Shuar and while I was reading about their customs and music, a melody interrupted my concentration. At that moment I didn’t know why The Curse of Monkey Island game’s main theme started to play in my head, but then I realized that I had associated the tribe with the music, somehow. I searched for the song on youtube, and when I scrolled down there were comments of people discussing about the genres of the tune. The song is inspired by Peruvian music; in fact, it is calypso, reggae, Peruvian cross. Shuar people live in the triple boarder of Peru, Ecuador and Columbia, which means that there is something of a coincidence –or not. The thing is that I was beautifully flooded by a nostalgic feeling that brought bittersweet tears to my eyes.

(Click here to listen to The Curse of Monkey Island main theme)

I have to admit that my childhood was fifty percent outside, playing with my neighbors and living fictitious and real adventures, but it was also fifty percent inside, spending time with my family, playing with my toys and my videogames. And as I can recall with warts and all my quests outside, I can also do it with my claustrophilic experiences and how happy I was back then. I know that I’m part of a generation in the middle of outdoor and indoor fun: part nature and part technology. So the things that generate nostalgia in me are varied and, let’s say, weird.

The Curse of Monkey Island (1997) is a point-and-click video game for Windows, developed by LucasArts, a company founded by George Lucas (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc.). It is a graphic adventure about a pirate Guybrush Threepwood, a wannabe pirate, who has to rescue his girlfriend Elaine from zombie pirate LeChuck. I was –and I AM– in love with this game! I remember that my dad bought it to me in the store where we always rented VHSs. I was 8 or 9 years old and this video game changed my life. I spent hours and hours in the computer trying to figure out the diverse, amusing and difficult puzzles that the game presented. My sister would help me with some of them but I finished the game almost on my own. The music was one of the main attractions that the game presented. Each scenario was decorated with beautiful shiny colors and had its own music that transported me to those marvelous places.

(Here's the complete original soundtrack)

Some captures of the game...

(Here's the HILARIOUS introduction of the game, translated into spanish, just like I used to have it)

Being on the computer on winter was one of my favorite habits. I would sit down in front of the screen for hours while my grandma prepared me some hot chocolate with cookies. I can remember the weird but pleasant smell that the living room heater expelled and impregnated the juxtaposed library, where the computer was –and still is. Before my dad bought the computer, at the age of 5 or 6, I spent hours reading –or seeing the pictures of– my mom’s history, archeology, art and social science thick books. My dad played video games with me until it was late in the night, even when my mom and grandma weren’t OK with it. My dad was the one to introduce me to the world of technology despite of him being an amateur in the subject. Consequently, we both learned how to use the computer at the same time. They say that you learn messing up and that’s exactly how we did it. We both laughed a lot when we play and when we broke the PC. That’s why this particular room has always meant a lot to me.

Years have passed –although I don’t feel they have–, the old computer is gone and was replaced by a new one in 2009, and now it’s 2016 and I’m still here writing this in the same room –and yes, it’s late in the night. I still live with my family but we’ve lost two members. Grandma left us in 2000 –yeah, the year of the apocalypses– while my dad paradoxically developed a particular disease that would made him agonize for 3 long years. Of course that life without them has never been the same but the life they shared with us resides inside and outside.

Why do I believe that time doesn’t exist? Because everything seems like it was yesterday or even this morning. Things, people always change in some way, but there’s always an essence that remains. I can still feel my cheerful dad, my quiet grandma and everything I lived twenty years ago like it was very recent. A familiar perfume, a screech of a bed or a chair, a melody that comes from nothing straight to your head seem to be some of the reminders that people –those you would die for to meet again–,things and experiences will never leave you. Like friendly –and sometimes obstinate– ghosts howling intermittently around in your house, they will escort you until the end. They never were, they ARE here with you and, fortunately, they’ll never leave.

–Jorge Vallejos

 

“We don’t need, no, education” –Some teachers

Disclaimer: In this LOOOOONG entry you will find that I can be very polite, subliminal and eloquent to express the hate I feel towards some teachers and the beautiful euphemisms, ironies and sarcasm I use to describe them. In case you are not able to notice it, I’ll write all these in cursive. You’ve been warned.

Between last week and this one, an exam called “Aprender” is being taken all over Argentina addressed to students who are in the last year of primary school and last years of secondary school, with the purpose of knowing the current estate of education. This, believe it or not, generated controversy and some devote teachers and some hard-working teacher guilds opposed to this exam arguing that it does not consider the context of each student/school/etc. People –teachers, education professionals, etc.– that agree that this exam has to be taken, state that it is necessary to have a base from which to start in order to solve any education issue.

To begin with, I have to say that I’m getting really sick and tired of writing about “friend or foe” stuff and the competitiveness on every aspects of our confrontational country. We even have to disagree on this exam that, more than an exam, is a kind of census that can tell us whether we’re OK or NOT OK. For God’s sake, IT’S JUST AS SIMLPE AND LOGIC AS THAT! It’s a diagnosis for our sick –in many ways– country. As Fernando Iglesias, an Argentinian philosopher, said in a TV show: “It seems that those teachers, when they go to a doctor, ask them to tell them their diagnosis but refuse to be checked.” I interpret that in a double sense, because, from my experience, I know that many workaholic teachers take medical leave thanks to their friendly doctors in order to extend their holiday’s period. Returning to the topic, if logic cannot cope with some teachers’ powerful, beyond-logic and magnificent minds, there might be some mysterious reasons why those teachers don’t want their students to take this exam.

I know that some of the questions that are being asked on the exam, apart from basic education questions related to Mathematics, Grammar, History, etc., are related to “Does your teacher yell?”, “Does your teacher treat your classmates well?” and things like that. And I totally agree on questions like than being made. Schools are cloisters where children and teenagers spend most part of their time and we have to know, on the whole, what is happening inside classrooms and schools. If we are so concerned about security, we must know what children and teenagers have to say about schools and teachers and how are they being treated.

My little experience as a teacher is mostly full of joy. I’ve had a great time with students but I cannot say the same in relation to most of my colleagues. The majority of teachers don’t seem to love their job as much as I do. In fact, I don’t know why they have decided to be teachers, to begin with. Every time I talk with students, they tell me that their teachers, for instance, English teachers, would give them some paragraphs to translate without having been taught how to do it, nor even the basic stuff and then they, teachers, would come and sit on their desk and start using their cellphones or computers. And what is starting to become a cliché is the habitué of teachers to tell their students that they don’t care if they learn or not because, at the end of the day, they will get paid anyway. And no, this is not a euphemism; it is words more or words least, exactly what they say to them. These sophisticated and eccentric creatures, so-called teachers, don’t seem to be concerned about the future of their students. They don’t consider students as human beings, as subjects, as existences but just simple papers of an office work where they have to wait anxiously fingering their time-killer cellphones and computers until it’s time to leave and get paid. I HATE THEM!

 

I think that I’ve been pretty obvious, but in case you missed my point because I distracted you with my resentment towards some of the high lineage of responsible highbrow specimens under the name of “teachers”, I think that the mysterious reasons why they don’t want to take the exams have to do with their behavior towards students and the educative institution and the lack of respect they have for their profession. Do they feel THAT guilty so as not to let the Estate take a census? Coincidence?

To conclude this not-so-brief piece of writing with undercover anger towards my colleagues I would like to contrast my negative conception with my positive one. I’ve also known teachers that love their students and want their best for them and do their best for them. They know that the future of a person is in the palm of their hands and won’t let them fall. They’re well aware of the consequences that the lack of responsibility can lead to, in relation to students. They understand that a student that is not going well at school or fails in an exam –any exam– is capable of improving. They also understand that their behavior, the student’s, is a consequence of a social context where they had to react in order to survive. They know that students are not the ones to blame. I identify with those kinds of teachers that, unfortunately, are the few. I feel that that is my responsibility as a teacher. It’s something I have to do.

-Jorge Vallejos

Sexism is dead(ly)

Lately, we’ve been bombarded by social networks, media and newspapers with protests and marches related to diverse feminist groups, women that –supposedly- ask for security and people in general from all over the country in a –supposed- common purpose which is to “do something” about the “women being killed by men” issue. The aim of these movements is fair, justifiable and understandable but the problem is that there are some things that do not coincide and lead social order to crumbles.

First of all, one of the main issues here are the confusing objectives that some of those groups have. At one hand, there are pacifist groups of women that ask for social welfare, protection and the fulfillment of woman rights. These groups can be diverse and, although they can have discrepancies, their main aims coincide. But on the other hand, there are some “active” groups that tend to force society to believe and do what they do by violent manifestations and acts. The incoherence of this mixture that results from the unorganized (re)union leads to controversial social effects and destructive aftermaths like vandalism, violence towards representatives of the Estate, disruption of social order, etc.

 (Click here to read about this image)

Another issue is the “friend or foe” position in which some people want you to be. This is something that I’ve already stated in my previous entry about such competitive and bipolar country Argentina can be. If you don’t believe what they believe, then you are against. If you disagree with what they state, then you are the enemy. If you are not with us, women, you are men. And this is absolutely not the way to deal with any subject. To be organized and to reach any end, we need to take things seriously. Gender violence –and violence in general- is a delicate question to deal with and not a championship between rivals that has to be won.

The last point that I would like to express is the misconception of a “chauvinist society” that, lately, we are continuously hearing everywhere. This is not a chauvinist society. Like it or not, there are many changes that this society has gone through over decades of social evolution and revolution and we shouldn’t determine it as chauvinist. I think is a total lack of respect for the people that have fought over the years and the ones that have died for making a change. Of course that we’re still need to change plenty of things, there’s a lot to do, but “woman”, “men”, “sex”, “family” and many other concepts have changed and are consider totally different than they were ten, twenty or fifty years ago. We are in the right path, so let’s not spoil it, ok?

Here's a thought by Tomás Abraham, an Argentinian philosopher with whom I agree, about the so called "Chauvinist society". Click here!

All in all, I think that violence is an urgent and totally relevant subject to deal with and I’m well aware that women along with children and old people are the most vulnerable part of our society and that all of them have to be protected. But we need to come clean, to clear things out and to establish equality and social order to reach what we all want to reach: social welfare. Men and women as one, because "we are in this together now".

-Jorge Vallejos

"To kill a cannibal"

Three weeks ago there was a relevant event that riveted the attention of everybody. A thief stole a butchery and the butcher chased him back, ran over him and then an angry mob hit the thief several times. An ambulance drove the thief to the hospital but there he died because of inner hemorrhage.

The topics of these past three weeks until now have been "Would death penalty be a solution for this?", "It's okay to deal out justice with our own hands?", "Who is the victim in the end?", etc. These topics and the vast yellow press have been boosted by more events like "the butcher's" on all over the country.

So, my idea for this entry was to express some thoughts that are running through my brain. I'm going to analyse three topics that are different but related in some way, that construct a whole idea.







(Click here or the image to watch the news about the butcher, in case you live isolated from this "civilization")

A matter of taking sides?

As we all know, our country has the bad habit of divide into groups whatsoever. This is nothing new and historically, we have lots of examples that confirm that it has always been like that: : Unitarianos vs. Federales, Radicales vs. Peronistas, Peronistas vs. Peronistas, Boca Junior vs. River Plate, Caramelito vs. Panam, and so on. We have the habit of creating a conflict or a situation in order to clash. This may have to do with identity, our identity, which is diverse and confusing, but that's another issue that I will talk about some other time.

Currently, there seem to be a side which defends thieves argumenting that they do it because they need to do it, because they can't find a job and there's no other way out for them. So this seems to be a justification, a circumstance and a reason to steal from other with the risk of killing or dying while trying.





The other side state that, giving the chance, we should kill the thief because he can kill us first while he's stealing our possesions.

The thing is that if you believe in death penalty or justice by our own hands you "belong" to the "right wing" and you're a neo-nazi, fascist, pro-military, etc. but if you defend the thief and justify him, because material things are no worthy, you're from the center left/ left wing and you're thinking the right way because you're in favor of human rights and the right to live, yadda yadda, yadda.

Considering these sides, my question is: Is it a matter of taking sides? Can't we just talk objectively and stop thinking the way some groups are wanting us to think? It's a total shame that we have to condition ourselves, our way of thinking and even the reality that surrounds us and the way we see it and live it, because of a reduced group of people with power who wants it to be that way.

Media trivializes the issue.

As we also know, media is profiting from this kind of events and from the fact that it is aware of how much shock can cause in people expecting on the other side. So media just take it as a massive income based on rating and a constant bombardment of questionable information while people are worrying more and more about what to think and what to do.

Channels like TN, C5N, Crónica, etc., webpages like minutouno.com, infobae, etc., "journalists" like Nelson Castro, Victor Hugo Morales, Gustavo Navarro, all they just intend to make money with controversial news and predictable opinions -from one side or the other- underestimating people's capacity to think by themselves and to tell what's right from wrong.

As a result, I guess you have three options: you avoid getting involved on issues like this one, ignoring completely "what is happening in the world"; you resign to fall in the clishés of the informations and opinions and conform with that mediocrity or else you absorve content from the media and opt for a cartesian doubt and a critical thought. I prefer to stick to the third one, if you ask me.

Death penalty is not the way.

It's impossible for me to justify a thief in any case -and I can't believe people justify thievery- because I've know plenty of poor people that never occur to them to go out and steal because they couldn't cope economically with their basic needs. In my opinion, a beggar has dignity but not a thief.

We cannot ignore the reality that surrounds us: there is a latent danger and nobody seems to be doing anything about it. Without being paranoical, you can feel the danger every time you go for a walk and you realize you are a walking target but you have to live your life with and without fear anyway.

Although it's a fact that people are evidently not protected by the Estate, death penalty is not the solution to an issue like this. Why do I think so? Let's take EEUU. There are a lot of cases where a person was sentenced to death and years later authorities realized they've judged him wrongly and he was actually innocent. So just take OUR country, our slow and flawed justice and all the corrupt people on high positions who have the power to do what they will: it would be a chaos, worse than this one we have now. And even if we were a "clean" or "tidy" country, the fact of sentence someone to death would turn us in the same monster we want to beat. As Friedrich Nietzsche stated:

“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.”

As a conclusion, I would like to say that the best way of dealing with issues is debating them objectively. We should stop thinking that there's someone who's right or wrong about things or a group of people that is going to lead us to come to fruition and we should try to be more democratics. Democracy is not led by politicians or by the media but by ourselves: the people.


-Jorge Vallejos

The Importance of Being Cordera

A month ago or so, a lot of people including media were scandalized by an audio made public which contained some statements by a famous singer. The audio was about him, Gustavo Cordera (ex-former singer of Bersuit Vergarabat), who was talking to some students of Journalism from a private university. This "interview/class" was, according to the Headmistress Ingrid Beck, who authorized the interview, meant for the students to have an interview with a famous star in order to feel motivated with their carreer and this, "by no means", was made to be public because of a privacy deal they, Cordera, the institution and the students, had made beforehand. (Yep, that was a long sentence...)

You can listen to the interview clicking the link below, BUT FIRST!, you must be warned that the following content is extremely explicit:

Cordera's thoughts about rape. Luckily, I think that this is the shortened version.

I imagine that, if you have heard it or you just heard it here, you must be nodding or facepalming yourself in disgust, but let me ask you something: did you even care what he had to say about "rape" and everything before this came out? I don't think so. Well, I didn't. However most people were surprised over his words and feminists and other groups wanted to crucify him or wanted him to be punished..

Before I continue -and before you possibly freak out beforehand- let me tell you that I won't be defending him or what he said but only writing what I think about him, his statements and the reactions they caused.

I want to analyse some different points so here are some attractive subtitles to introduce them.

1: We (most of us) already know Cordera

2: People wanting to punish him?

3: Who cared? Who cares? Who will?


First of all, most of us have listened to Cordera's band and most of us have sung at least one of their songs without even thinking about  the real meaning behind them. Among other genres, I listen to rock music -I don't mean that this kind of issue happens only with this genre- and I sometimes go to gigs and I know some rumors about him and some of the artists named in the audio and there's a high percentage that what he says about them is probably true. In his live shows with "La Bersuit", Cordera used to invite girls -I couldn't specify their age- from the audience up to the stage and made them -not against their will- go topless or nude and sometimes he kissed them, touched them and viceversa. Although this doesn't justify what he states, this is already known by the community so it's nothing new. Nevertheless when this audio came out everyone went nuts and couldn't tollerate his statements.


Here are some words from Erica García, a female rock singer who uses to make apology of infidelity, drugs, easy sex and other cute stuff and seems to believe she has enough moral authority to share with us some thoughts against -in some parts- Cordera AND to take advantage of such a controversial issue TO ADVERTISE HER NEW WORK. Coincidence?


Secondly, Cordera's interview with the students from TEA was supposed to be PRIVATE. They signed an agreement that everything they talked was meant to be OFF THE RECORD there wasn't going to be edited -as it was- and/or published -as it was, indeed-.

Here's Headmistress from TEA talking about the agreement, denying it at the same time, and talking about "being professional" when the student that made this public wasn't and she, as the highest in hierarchy, never took responsibility but washed her hands and took profit from the scandal. Coincidence?

Our Constitution is VERY clear about this: Our moral acts are reserved to ourselves. So, why punish him? Why not only ignore him? Indifference may be the best of the solutions in cases like this.

(Here's the words and an analysis of our almighty and wise National Constitution. I recommend you to click here and give it a read)

What is more, he wasn't making an apology of rape or violating the laws, he was just criticizing the law -like it or not, correct or incorrect- and this is not illegal at all. Each one of us has he's own thoughts -and the right to talk- about lots of things and yet we're not making it public for obvious reasons. We might share it with a friend or relative -though there's no need to sign a contract... So far, hopefully.

So this level of conversation he had PRIVATELY with the teachers and students is totally comparable with the level of a simple chat of two drunk guys wasting away and talking about life in the backyard at 3 am. with nobody else around listening. I insist, I'm not saying that I agree with him or defending him, because I don't need to. I REALLY DON'T CARE ABOUT WHAT HE HAS TO SAY ABOUT ANYTHING AT ALL. I'm just worried about hipocrisy and contradiction inside our society and how stupid we might be to listen and pay attention to a person like him.

To conclude my point I have to say: If you never cared about Cordera's thoughts, why would you care now? Does it make any difference? Does he say or represent what all men think, are and/or should think? As I said, I don't. But of course that I really care if something illegal is being done in front of my eyes and I would report it to respective authorities.

PLEASE, Don't pretend this society is respecting the laws, rights and moral at its best. Not even education in general, family, schools, etc., is taking care on matters like "rape culture", "chauvinism", "patriarcal society", or else, and they -WE- should be. But when something like this happens, when an audio of an ordinary man "that is famous" comes out we go crazy.

My simple message, and to conclude with the question "Who will?", I want to say that YOU should. If you're interested on making a change in this "macho" biased society, if you hate women being treated as inferiors than men, if you're triggered by some statements from a mediocre thinker with a big mouth like Cordera, then educate people. Talk to children, adolescents and adults about respecting each other, no matter what sex they are. TAKE CARE. Because if you don't, nobody will.

I hope I have made my point clear. But if you consider that I'm being offensive, obnoxious or trespassing the thin line of legality... whatever you do... (don't tell anyone!)

Jorge Vallejos

"What kind of people is TED bringing in now?"

                Disclaimer:

Before reading this piece of mediocre psycological essay about some neurotic guy being totally honest and self-aware of his inner, deepest and darkest thoughts, PLEASE!, be aware that you'll encounter some unpleasant statements about people and some cold auto-annalysis that you may not feel identified or even enjoy. So if you suffer from socio-cultural susceptibility I warn you that this is not something for you to read. Thank you!



           Every person judges according to their senses and how these have been molded by family, society, culture, etc. The way how we've been rised and learned how to know a person before hand, the social retina made of compliments and mockings that our relatives, friends and classmates are some of the possible reasons why we put on practice everytime we meet, see and talk about a person. We cannot avoid judging or pre-judging even if -even when- we want to. It's a natural -or naturalized- condition that is complex to annalyze by us and even more, to be annalyzed by others.



           When I started to watch the TED talk, that old woman wearing that funny dress, the weird way she spoke and the slight movements she made, honestly, I thought to myself "What kind of people is TED bringing to their talks now?" Yes, I know, it's a terrible and violent statement that I suddenly auto-corrected as I also thought "C'mon, you haven't watched a single minute of the clip, just pay attention!" As I said before, and as a matter of justification -if I can even do that-, we all have our judgements naturalized and -that's why- we all need to chill out before opening our mind/mouth.


Then, little by little, I started to feel pitty for her. Lidia Yuknavitch's stories seemed to be taken from a cheap short-film made by a desperate youtuber looking for its view number 100, but you could tell in her glary eyes that it was all true: she had gone through serious struggle along the years. The apparent result that we percieve as 'funny', 'weird', 'dissastrous' was right there, in front of our eyes, in her soft gesticulations, in her difficulty to pronounce simple words, in her nervous manners.

I must admit that her experiences didn't impress me much. As I mention before, they were 'normal' events in which most people are involved every day and still we never notice. What riveted my attention was the way she stood tall amongst them after all the constant pain and vehement agony and how she managed somehow to achieve her dreams.

What I admired in this woman is how she admits and recognizes herself as a misfit. Despite dealing with some outrageous events, she didn't have to change her attitude and appearance towards life and society but went on immutably strong and determined.

I'd like to finish this entry by stating that the huge value on accepting who we are is proportional to how much are we willing to analyse and reconfigure our own naturalized judgements towards ourselves and everyone else.


Jorge Vallejos