a bottle left behind...Part II

On January 5th I wrote my second post on this blog about "a bottle left behind" that I did not know what to do with.

I think it's about time to put an end to this insufferable uncertainty all you millions of people who read this blog have been in since I talked about this particular bottle and didn't ever say whatever happened to it.

Tonight is the night! Ready? Ok.





Yes. We drank it.

Cheers!

Wise, wise woman

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (17th Century Colonial Mexico)

Being a woman is tough- I'm not complaining, but only those who are can understand on how many levels this is true.

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz knew it. And she also knew how to put it in words. The following fragment from her very well known poem "Hombres necios" approaches one of the difficulties women deal with. It's a good one!

Hombres necios que acusáis
a la mujer sin razón,
sin ver que sois la ocasión
de lo mismo que culpáis:

si con ansia sin igual
solicitáis su desdén,
¿por qué queréis que obren bien
si las incitáis al mal?

Combatís su resistencia
y luego, con gravedad,
decís que fue livianidad
lo que hizo la diligencia.

Translation:

You mulish men, accusing
woman without reason,
not seeing you occasion
the very wrong you blame:

since you, with craving unsurpassed,
have sought for their disdain,
why do you hope for their good works
when you urge them on to ill?

You assail all their resistance,
then, speaking seriously,
you say it was frivolity,
forgetting all your diligence.

This is so true and well expressed, at least to the social reality I know, which is the Guatemalan; it is probably also true to the Latinamerican social reality in general. Actually, this is very much present in every culture and location in the world. Am I wrong?

What this poem points out is the inconsistency of the tastes and censure of men who denounce in women what they themselves have caused. I'm no feminist, but it is clearly unfair, no?



Here's another one of her thoughts I like:

Decirte que nací hermosa
presumo que es excusado,
pues lo atestiguan tus ojos
y lo prueban mis trabajos.

This is not a proper translation, but something close to it:

Telling you I was born beautiful
is needless I presume
since your eyes witness it
and my work proves it.

Every woman should be able to say this and truly believe it. Well, every person really.



Night Night

Giovenezza...!

"Quant'è bella giovenezza
Che si fugge tuttavia!
Chi vuol esser lieto, sia;
Di doman no c'è certezza."

"How beautiful is youth
youth which is so soon over and gone;
let him who would be happy, seize the moment,
for tomorrow may never come."

-LORENZO DI PIERO DE' MEDICI

Graffiti series: what Guatemalan people are saying today

I've decided to make graffiti a regular on this blog. In zone 1, the centre of Guatemala City, there's enough to keep me occupied for a while.

You could say graffiti gives expression to thoughts, feelings or demands that are somehow forbidden. The words or kind of language used hold a lot of meaning. Graffiti calls to intervention. A tool, a complaint, an expression...all of them.

Here's one-

Key: Abortion is illegal in Guatemala


"WE DECIDE" ("we" in the spanish feminine form)


"LEGAL ABORTION"

Building Roads to Modern Times

Piles of rock,
your insides.
I go through you.
You once allowed me,
I have abused you.
You're all around,
agonizing.
How much you give me,
how much I take.
I destroy you.
"Development" I tell myself.
What a fool I feel like.
You must be sacrificed.

Ateles fusciceps

My heart shook
as I realized it was me;
I had done this to you.
And there I stood,
heavy breathing.
How vulnerable you looked.
How helpless you were.
I could not protect you
and yet,
I had enabled you to protect yourself.
I saw how progress for me
meant death for you.
Mixed feelings made their way through my skin
as I walked away.

Roberto González Goyri

Roberto González Goyri is a Guatemalan sculptor and painter who passed away last year. He could turn anything into art.

He created the print in the image above inspired by Federico García Lorca's art: words. Beautiful, no?

www.youtube.es/elecciones08

Technology can be very helpful in making democracy a reality. Thanks to it, the power of information is now more widely shared and access to it has become significantly easier. It's a great thing transforming the world in ways we hadn't even dreamed of.

Communication between any government and its "people" is fundamental at all times, but the "people's" greatest opportunity to be heard comes during election preliminaries: candidates are then willing to listen, it is a moment to speak up. YouTube's groundbreaking initiative in Spain elecciones08 proved the significant role technology can play in democracy today. 600 user questions were submitted to the elecciones08 channel; 600 people were able to speak directly to their candidates and express their needs and concerns. 53 of those questions were posed on TV in interview series & TV promotions that reached an audience of over 30 million people.

It's the first time Spaniards got an opportunity like this, and they used it. Good for them.

gun control: yes? no? maybe?

Guns. Weapons. The debate on whether their creation made the world a safer place or the exact opposite is still on- even though I think it's rather logical if you think about it.

Right now there's a turmoil in Guatemala about a bill that aims to regulate the acquisition and the bearing of guns by civilians: their rights and the limits of those rights are to be set by the Congress any day now.

This is -no doubt- a very complicated issue, especially in a place like Guatemala: a country that ends the day with close to twenty killed- and yes, I mean every day.

I think it is fair to say that it's easier to believe that the way to survive this reality is by having your own guns to 'protect' yourself, instead of looking at the whole picture. IT IS a bit more complicated than that, I believe.

Gun-trafficking- the amount of illegal weapons owned by Guatemalans is ridiculous, and most crimes are committed by unregistered weapons, but even if they weren't, the registration system we have is so pathetic the police would have to go through piles and piles of paper to locate a single gun.

The bill in question doesn't even come close to approaching this out-of-control weapon situation we have and have had since...mmm...forever? Well, at least for as long as I've been around- but it's something. It is time to start discussing this important matter: people are scared, the State of Guatemala isn't capable of granting us protection and safety, but I don't think that arming ourselves, our whole society, is going to change that: it hasn't up until now, maybe it's time to change strategy, no?

This bill doesn't forbid civilians to carry guns, it only states what kind of guns they're allowed to. I'm very ignorant on the weapons theme, but I've heard people who know more than me say that the bill needs a lot of changes. Well, changes should be made, there should be an agreement, but above all, we should start building a safer society- not through guns. Perhaps we should start demanding more of the authorities (it is their job to protect us after all- we literally pay them to, right???) and helping them know how to protect us: technology is the safer shot, no?

Anyways, I've been thinking about this and I saw a car with a rather interesting bumper sticker today, it made me want to write about it.

kids! stop fighting!

Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela need to make up. Colombia should apologize to Ecuador for the display of Colombian military action on Ecuadorian territory, and Venezuela should stay out of it.

In other words, I mean to say: Álvaro Uribe should to accept he shouldn't have done what he did without the knowledge and cooperation of the government of Ecuador, and accept the possible sanctions. Rafael Correa should accept his apology. Hugo Chávez should be smart about this and look at the bigger picture: a divided Latinamerica does Latinamericans no good.

dream girl

i love the dave matthews band, and i'm especially crazy about "dream girl". there's something about that song that touches me; here's the video:

more numbers

53, that is the number on my mind tonight. 53 is the number of people that got on a bus friday and got nowhere. they no longer exist. they died.

i wonder where they were going. home perhaps? was someone waiting for them? who knows.

life's unfair, that's no secret. still, it never ceases to amaze me. and death- it's scary. you never see it coming and then, suddenly, you're gone.

who suffers, really, are those left behind: those whose only choice is to accept and let go. and to forget, if they can.

the public transportation situation in Guatemala is ridiculous. we're so irresponsible...i can't even imagine how many guatemalans have died because of negligence and lack of interest. the buses are in precarious conditions, that is something everyone can see. not only do they pollute horribly, but they're also a tremendous threat to our safety. and the drivers---they're usually very unqualified to drive such vehicles. let's put aside the fact that being a bus driver in Guatemala means risking your own safety in many ways(another problem that needs to be solved)...still- drivers are responsible for many peoples' lives, and should be better prepared.

what happened to this people is a tragedy, one of many that took place in Guatemala on friday night.