Genio de la Música

Una canción esencial, de Fito Paez:

Al Lado Del Camino

Me gusta estar al lado del camino
fumando el humo mientras todo pasa
me gusta abrir los ojos y estar vivo
tener que vérmelas con la resaca
entonces navegar se hace preciso
en barcos que se estrellen en la nada
vivir atormentado de sentido
creo que esta, sí, es la parte más pesada

En tiempos donde nadie escucha a nadie
en tiempos donde todos contra todos
en tiempos egoístas y mezquinos
en tiempos donde siempre estamos solos
habrá que declararse incompetente
en todas las materias de mercado
habrá que declararse un inocente
o habrá que ser abyecto y desalmado

Yo ya no pertenezco a ningún istmo
me considero vivo y enterrado
yo puse las canciones en tu walkman
el tiempo a mi me puso en otro lado
tendré que hacer lo que es no debido
tendré que hacer el bien y hacer el daño
no olvides que el perdón es lo divino
y errar a veces suele ser humano.

No es bueno nunca hacerse de enemigos
que no estén a la altura del conflicto
que piensan que hacen una guerra
y se hacen pis encima como chicos
que rondan por siniestros ministerios
haciendo la parodia del artista
que todo lo que brilla en este mundo
tan solo les da caspa y les da envidia.

Yo era un pibe triste y encantado
de Beatles, caña legui y maravillas
los libros, las canciones y los pianos
el cine, las traiciones, los enigmas
mi padre, la cerveza, las pastillas, los misterios, el whisky malo
los óleos, el amor, los escenarios
el hambre, el frio, el crimen, el dinero y mis 10 tías
me hicieron este hombre enreverado.

Si alguna vez me cruzas por la calle
regálame tu beso y no te aflijas
si ves que estoy pensando en otra cosa
no es nada malo, es que pasó una brisa
la brisa de la muerte enamorada
que ronda como un ángel asesino
mas no te asustes, siempre se me pasa
es solo la intuición de mi destino.

Me gusta estar al lado del camino
fumando el humo mientras todo pasa
me gusta regresarme en el olvido
para acordarme en sueños de mi casa
del chico que jugaba a la pelota
del 49585
nadie nos prometió un jardin de rosas
hablamos del peligro de estar vivo.

No vine a divertir a tu familia
mientras el mundo se cae a pedazos
me gusta estar al lado del camino
me gusta sentirte a mi lado
me gusta estar al lado del camino
dormirte cada noche entre mis brazos
al lado del camino (x 3)
es más entretenido y más barato
al lado del camino (x 2).

Civitas Peregrina

Augustine’s civitas peregrina advocated as the only state of freedom, against the state of oppression, that of pilgrimage: tearing oneself away from places to accomplish universal mutual assistance, but also tearing oneself away from any identity (including one’s own) in order to accomplish subjective fulfillment in the boundlessness of caritas.

Women leading this transnational movement

"But there are historical stakes involved in attempting to mesh our institutions with the demands of the polynational societies that are coming into being today, around us and with us. The maturity of the second sex will be judged in the coming years according to its ability to modify the nation in the face of foreigners, to orient foreigners confronting the nation toward a still unforeseeable conception of a polyvalent community. Before reaching that moment, which will remain for a long time a distant ideal, we have a generative utopian thought - a world without foreigners."

-Julia Kristeva, "Nations Without Nationalism"

This is the mission of our lifetimes. Cheers.

The Debate Debacle

What happened last night...

I was invited to participate in the Bruin Democrats vs. Bruin Republicans quarterly debate. Although I'm not a member of either group, the Democrats asked me to debate in favor of the D.R.E.A.M . Act, along with two of their members, Flavia de la Fuente and Curtis Whatley.

After Flavia delivered our opening statement, the Bruin Republicans proceeded to make fools out of themselves. Ignoring any notion of meaningful intellectual discourse, they took a soft pro-D.R.E.A.M. Act stance and then went on to do what pleases them the most, which is to mock the plights of historically marginalized communities. They do this on a rotating basis among Blacks, Muslims, and Chicanos. It happened again last night.

Their opening speaker pretended to be a member of "MEChA" who had been invited by the BRs because they were unable to debate against the meritorious D.R.E.A.M. Act. He went to claim, in a mocking tone, that Chicanos ("and Chicanas") do not need legalization because they are already rightful owners of the land, that the border wall should be built around the southwestern United States to prevent further "white-man immigration", and other lousy generalizations that have exemplified the Republican Party's fixation with MEChA and other progressive cultural organizations over the years.

Later on the debate, they blamed Democrats over the D.R.E.A.M. Act's failure and went on to tell the crowd, partially composed of some of the hardest working student immigrant advocates with whom I have had the pleasure to work, that they should mobilize and organize, rather than simply complain afterwards. Their ignorance over the issue they claim to support was quickly exposed, as they had no knowledge of the historical background of the legislation, and of how their party's leaders had consistently prevented the DREAM Act from becoming law, just like they did with AgJobs, CIR, or any other bill for legalization.

Now, if I had the ability to see beyond human basic needs, or if I could reduce their lives to the level of products and commodities, I may be better able to understand their stances in all the issues debated prior to the D.R.E.A.M. Act. But I can't understand them, and in a way, they seem to be unable to understand the hypocrisy of their party. There was no response given to the accusation that their party stays in power by playing on people's fears. Blame immigrants. Blame "gays". Blame the poor. Blame minorities. Even if you know the legislation makes sense, do not enact it if it benefits those who you can use to advance your corporate agenda.

I don't know what else their student group does. I only hear about them every once in a while, often because of their incendiary programming. And I'm not here to talk to them, because what they do does not need my validation, or deserve my recognition.

I want to talk to all the members of MEChA, IDEAS, Dreams to be Heard, Conciencia, LASA, SURGE, Espiritu, etc. All those of you who in different ways put their efforts day in and day out for something greater than themselves and to empower the Latino community. Also, to those in the crowd from VSU and APC who were there to support, and to the Bruin Democrats for giving us the opportunity to touch on one of the issues that students of color in this country are still affected by. I know it gets tough sometimes, but even in the worse times, there's hope and an opportunity to teach others about what our families and communities do, and what they need.

Thanks to all those that came out last night, and la lucha sigue.

Duerme soñando

Decidieron ni discutirlo. La Opinion: Bloquean debate sobre el DREAM Act

"La gente solo observa la ropa y los hechos,
mas nunca sienten lo que hay dentro de sus pechos.
no existe entre ellos una real conexión,
pues creen tener siempre la razon?
la razon justa y procesadora,
de lo correcto que se hace cada hora.
Pero en este sueño tu estas sumergido,
mas no te sientas nunca afligido,
porque con en este sueño tu estas protegido,
y aunque te sientas un poco distante
tu alma lo dice a cada instante."

I'm not strong enough for this.......

Let me tell you

I am writing here because I am failing this damn class, not caring about comparative politics, missing out on life, and overall disappointed that this is going too fast for me to stop it, or control it.

I will be coming back more often.

Evo trying to end "El lamento boliviano"

Many years ago, Argentine rockers Enanitos Verdes cleverly summarized their agonizing love feelings in comparison to Bolivia's age-old cry over being poor and land-locked in ocean-happy South America. The lyrics, from "Borracho y Loco", one of my favorites:

Es mi situación/ una desolación/
soy como un lamento/ lamento boliviano/
que un día empezó/ y no va a terminar/
y a nadie hace daño.

Loosely translated:

My situation/ is a desolation
I am like a lament/ a Bolivian lament/
that one day started/ and will never end/
and it doesn't affect anybody.

Well, it definitely affects sweater-boy Morales, who will make his sea demand in the First ever Land Locked Summit in Cuba. Bolivia used to own an exit to the sea through the Lauca River, until Chile claimed it along with the Atacama province in the War of the Pacific (1890s).
Also happening in Cuba this week, Iran's Ahmadinejad makes his nuclear proliferation pitch to all the other Non-Aligned Nations in a more important summit.
With Castro and Chavez also making appearances, I'm sure Bush is thinking he could kill four birds with one stone on this one.

To all this, what is CNN Español showing? Fall fashion, of course.

Guglear o no guglear, esa es la cuestion.

El confuso estado de la lengua castellana se ve reflejado en la última propuesta lanzada por los directivos de la Real Academia Española, quienes estan discutiendo si deberían aceptar el término Guglear.
I used to be a language purist, back when I was a Argentine teenage brat frowning at the use of "troca" and "parquear". But I like this one, Guglear, derived from the recently added English verb to google.

Me voy. Facundo necesita guglear imágenes pornográficas. :)

Delayed World Cup review

As it turns out, Italy won the World Cup. I was happy to see them earn a well-deserved victory over the Germans in the semifinal and remain assertive in the penalty shootout. Penalties, as it has been said for years, are a sub-par way to decide who the victor is for a competition of a somehow related activity (soccer). Alsa, FIFA is a pussy and will never adopt a more creative tiebreaking method (like, say, forcing teams to gradually remove players from the field, thus creating more scoring opportunities). The truth is, the game's purists are a bunch of repressed girliemen who won't even accept simple innovations such as the addition of a second on-field referee. Just give them their old-time football and it's good enough for them.
On a personal level, I was crushed, disappointed, depressed after Argentina's quarterfinal loss in, of course, a penalty shootout to Germany. For some reason, I always get the right feeling before these things. I was sure we would beat Mexico in our Confederations Cup penalty shootout last year, but some reason (maybe Franco, maybe Lehmann) I knew going in that Argentina's world cup was over. See you all in 2010, hopefully I will be wandering the streets of Johanessburg as the games take place.
Last, thanks to Zinedine Zidane for saving Marco Materazzi's life. A true hero of world football.