Bear with me for a bit. (Or don't and just scroll down to JUMP TO HERE below.) I've been learning Turkish on Duolingo for a while. It's good for vocabulary and some grammar. There is a listening component that is helpful. But this is language learning like I had in Jr. high and high school. It's aimed at teaching through vocabulary and grammar. For Peace Corps training (and later with the Confucius Institute) we were taught by memorizing dialogues.
This latter method was much more effective for learning to speak. We just repeated the dialogues, over and over and over, mimicking native speakers until the sentences were imbedded in our heads. This is how children learn a language. By mimicking what they hear. And only later when they instinctively know the grammar, do they learn the rules that explain why they say it the way they do. There were also substitution drills - where the instructor would say a word and we had to use it to replace a word in the sentence. For example:
I am going to the store.
"office"
I am going to the office.
When I arrived in my town, I had lots of useful sentences that I would roll off my tongue without thinking. But when I learn the Duolingo way, with grammar and vocabulary memorization, I struggle to remember the rules so I can put a sentence together correctly.
Today as I was doing my Turkish lesson, I was wondering why they sometimes used the word üzürinde to mean 'on' and sometimes used üstünde. Googling got me to a Quora page which had several explanations. Basically they are used interchangeably said one responder. Another agreed that practically, that is the case, though üstünde means more 'above'.
JUMP TO HERE
Below the explanation of two Turkish words that mean 'on' there was another explanation of two words for 'man' - erkek and adam. These are also words I've learned and never asked why one or the other. One is longer and uses a story. One is short and to the point.
Let me put it that way, only a small percentage of all “erkek”s are also “adam”s.
Here's a famous story about the concept of “adam”ness. Once there was a boy who was good for nothing. His father, after seeing his attempts for reforming the youth frustrated, said finally “You will never be adam! “
(This is the part that is difficult to translate. The father means “upright man” when he says “adam”, but the boy in his ignorance perceives it as “great man”)
Later, the boy leaves his village and after a lot of adventures, becomes the grand vizier of the Sultan. One day he remembers his father (whom he never visited) and his harsh words. He sends a group of soldiers to fetch him, without ever telling them he is his father. So they bring the old guy in terrible condition, as if he is a criminal.
In the palace, the son proclaims “You said I would never be a man. As you can see, I am the vizier now! “
Which the father responds:
“But I never said you will not be vizier. I said you will not be “adam”. Seeing how you treat your father, I can say you still haven't become an adam!”
Erkek is how you are called when you are born with a dick while adam is how you are called when you are not a dick.
The second answer cleverly gets right to the point. Though I'm sure having read the first explanation, helped me appreciate the second.
And I immediately thought that this would be a great way to differentiate between Kamala Harris' newly announced vice presidential running mate and Trump's.
Now I need someone who knows Yiddish and Turkish to tell me whether my guess that adam is akin to mensch.
March 4, 2020, we returned from a long trip with our daughter and granddaughter and assorted family members. We'd also been to San Francisco to visit our son and his two kids. Early US COVID deaths were happening at Seattle area nursing homes. Our daughter was concerned enough to give us each an N-95 mask and drove us all the way out to the airport. (We usually just caught a train out after the ferry to downtown Seattle.) After a few days I had mild COVID symptoms, but even though I could check off three symptoms and being the right age group and coming from a COVID outbreak area and testing negative for the flu, I couldn't get tested.
I was near the end of Michael Lewis' The Premonition on the plane today, a story of 'outlaw' doctors who on their own came up with a plan for what to do when there's a pandemic. About that time there just weren't enough tests available. I wasn't sick enough to get tested. They were saving tests for people in the hospital. Premontion tells of a UCSF lab that created, with lots of volunteer help (Post-Phd grad volunteers) a way to provide free tests, but Kaiser said no because they were afraid they'd lose their contract with their regular supplier (according to the book) and a non-profit said no because they couldn't put $0 for cost in their accounting system.
In any case. there was over a foot of snow in some places in my driveway when I shoveled at 8am. We watched the cab drive by looking for an address. We couldn't catch his attention, but he stopped down the block and asked someone who was out. We caught that guy's attention.
There was a lot of snow. Wednesday afternoon there hadn't been any.
Getting through security at 8:45am wasn't bad. It felt both odd and familiar as we walked through the airport to our gate. Soon we were on the plane. We had an empty middle seat, though the pilot kept saying it was full. Finally at the very end, someone showed up and I moved to the middle seat as a barrier for J. (Usually I'm at the window with my camera, but it's COVID. But my neighbor had a good mask on and I saw a Providence screen, then a UAA screen on her computer, so I'm assuming she has a good understanding of the virus. But still being that close to so many strangers can be uncomfortable. But I just dismissed the anxiety - I was on the plane and I could either enjoy the ride or have a miserable trip. I chose option A.
But we weren't leaving that fast. We had snow on the wings and had to be deiced first. But another plane was ahead of us.
Here's our snowy wing. And it was really a low cloud cover.
Finally our deicer is on the way. Our window wasn't very clear.
Our turn.
We got to the 10,000 foot level still shrouded in flat opaque gray clouds. It was a full ten minutes before we emerged above it and saw blue again.
It turned out that our seat mate had missed her 6:30 flight to Portland because the security line was so long. So she'd had to wait around for our 10:30 flight which was delayed over an hour and still had to get to Portland. Which I guess explains why she showed up at the last minute - they had to see how many empty seats there were.
I'd semi decided that we'd skip the train - we'd been cooped up in a plane full of masked, but potential COVID spreaders, and I didn't need more of that. And we were an hour late. And it was raining pretty hard, so we took a cab which we'd never done before. The cab driver asked what time our ferry left. It was 4:18 at that point. "We won't make it - it's at 4:45." The cab driver assured us we'd make it, and we did. After eating another of the sandwiches we'd brought along (the food service on the ferry was shut down), I needed to get outside. But it was raining hard and the wind was blowing. But I found a protected spot in the back. (As I typed that I thought do ferries have a front and back - since cars come in one end in Seattle and they leave out the other end on Bainbridge Island? So, I checked with you know who and got this answer to the same question someone asked at sailnet in 2013:
"Washington State Ferries have a pilothouse at each end, so when the boat is ready to leave the dock, the crew moves to the new front of the boat. Sometimes they do turn around or back in, but that is because they loaded cars at the end of the load that need to be offloaded first. That mostly happens on Lopez, Shaw, and Orcas islands and sometimes on Vashon island. Most of the routes are point A to point B though."
Well, here's the view from the back (for that trip anyway) of the ferry looking towards downtown Seattle.
What a pleasure to be met by our daughter and granddaughter after all this time. My son-in-law is off on a business trip in Nairobi,
Today begins two days of discussions amongst the Africa Eats investees on how to speed up the growth of their solutions, how to fill in the gaps African businesses face, and to make Africa Eats more than the sum of its portfolio companies.#hunger#poverty#Africapic.twitter.com/WxisPMmsd6
We got our mail in ballots the other day and when I opened mine I was surprised to see so many presidential candidates on the ballot.
Ballotpedia lists six of these candidates. James Janos, it turns out, was nominated by the Alaska Green Party. Ballotopedia lists another Green Party candidate - someone nominated by the national Green Party.
But since none of these candidates was invited to the presidential debates, I'll give Alaskans a bit of background on the lesser known candidates with links to more information.
Roque De La Fuente
"De La Fuente was a 2018 Republican candidate who sought election to the U.S. Senate from California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming.[2][3][4] He was defeated in those states' primary elections. The United States Constitution does not establish specific residency requirements for United States senators, stipulating only that a senator must be an "inhabitant of the state for which he shall be chosen." Residency requirements vary by state."
Jesse Ventura is a former professional wrestler, actor, political commentator, bestselling author, naval veteran, television host, and politician who served as the 38th governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003."
Jo Jorgensen
"Jo Jorgensen is the 2020 Libertarian Party presidential nominee. She was nominated at the Libertarian National Convention on May 23, 2020, becoming the first woman to lead the party's presidential ticket.[2][3] Her running mate is entrepeneur and podcaster Jeremy "Spike" Cohen.
Jorgensen framed her campaign as an alternative to Democratic and Republican policies she said created trillion-dollar deficits and led to involvement in expensive and deadly foreign wars. "Big government mandates and programs created these problems. To solve them, we need to make government smaller – much, much smaller," her campaign website said.[4]"
Brock Pierce
"Brock Pierce is an independent candidate for president of the United States in 2020.
Pierce is an entrepreneur with experience in Blockchain technology and digital currency. He co-founded the cryptocurrency Tether. He also launched several philanthropic efforts, including the Brock Pierce Foundation and Integro Foundation.[1]"
Don Blankenship
"Don Blankenship – United States President – Alaska Constitution Nominee
Other:
Don Blankenship is a coal miner who rose to become CEO of Massey Energy Company. Blankenship said, 'I am running for President to let people know how dire the American situation is and what must be done to fix it. We cannot survive as a country if we do not stop the Republican and Democrat nonsense.'”
I have voted third party on occasion, knowing that my vote in Alaska would have no impact because I live in a red state. But this year, it doesn't matter. Every vote counts, even if it isn't reflected in the electoral college.
I've been seeing some terrific films. Each deserves its own post, but I've almost gotten rid of my cold and so I'm not giving up sleep to post.
Last night's showing of Nae Pasaran was introduced by Alaskan-from-Chile, Pauline Larenas-Bajwa including a brief quote from poet Gonzalo Millán's The City. This was the only film I got to see before the festival began.
It was much better on the big screen without distractions. (When I saw it the first time on someone's home big screen tv, I was sitting next to a window with a bird feeder and nuthatches and chickadees were making constant visits.)
The director, Felipe Bustos Sierra's father was a Chilean journalist who was exiled during the Pinochet years. Sierra grew up in Belgian and lives now in Scotland. So this is a very personal film for him. It digs deep into the story of the Scottish factory workers at the RollsRoyce plant who refused to repair the jet engines of the Chilean Air Force in solidarity with their union brothers in Chile. Sierra interviews some of the workers who instigated the boycott and then he goes to Chile to find some Chilean Airmen who flew those jets, as well as members of Allende's government who were imprisoned and tortured by Pinochet. It's an inspirational story about how people far away can fight tyranny and Sierra brings it full circle with messages from the Chileans to the workers.
It was followed by Straight Up - a film about a gay man who thinks he might be straight, since he's never really had a satisfactory encounter with a man. Todd finds his soul mate in Rory - an attractive young lady whose interests and fast wit are a perfect match for Todd's. Except for sex. There's lots of very fast paced and smart dialogue, between Todd and Rory, Todd and his therapist, and between Todd and his friends who think this relationship is crazy. A lot of what I liked about the film came from the charm and wit of Todd and Rory. And it's a reminder that people don't fit the neat labels we try to use to categorize them.
James Sweeney and Katie Findlay
Writer, director, and star (Todd) James Sweeney, who is originally from Anchorage, was there with co-star Katie Findlay (Rory) took questions after the showing.
Here they are in the Bear Tooth lobby - they still are obviously good friends.
I didn't think to ask James if naming the character Todd had anything to do with his own last name of Sweeney.
And tonight (Sunday) I got to see my favorite film so far - Laugh or Die. Which takes place in a Finnish prison camp in 1918. I said in an earlier post that it was a WWI film, which is technically true. But more accurately for the film, in Finland there had been an overthrow of the new democracy by those who wanted to reestablish the monarchy. They threw their fate with the Germans. Those who had fought to regain the democracy had lost and many were prisoners, including a troop of actors, the most famous of whom was billed as the funniest man in Finland.
This comedian Toivo Parikka is played by Martti Suosalo, a wonderful actor who dominates the screen. His weapon is his humor and the camp commander tells him if a visiting German general is entertained, he and his troop won't be shot.
Heikki Kujanpää
And we had director Heikki Kujanpää at the screening and up on stage afterward for Q&A. One
person asked what "based on a true story" meant in this case. He acknowledged that the wars were true and there were lots of prisoners, but the specific story was fiction.
I also enjoyed The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open, and I hope to write about it later.
The Anchorage International Film Festival begins this Friday.
Here's a quick overview of the second half of the Narrative Features. The first half is here.
[UPDATED Dec. 6, 2019 - I've confirmed that Those Who Remained will be showing - Thursday at the Museum at 7:45pm]
Laugh or Die
Director: Heikki Kujanpää
Finland
103 minutes
Showing: Sun, Dec 08, 2019 6:00 pm Bear Tooth Theatrepub
"In a detention camp in 1918, a group of Finish actors are sentenced to death. When an important German general arrives, the camp’s vicious commandant forges out a cruel plan: The prisoners have to perform a play - and if they can make the visiting general laugh, they will be spared. Due to the brutal conditions within the camp, this goal seems to be impossible to reach. But after some time, even the commandant’s wife starts to sympathise with the prisoners, watching them rehearsing dressed up in woman’s clothes."
"Todd's truth is that he doubts he's the gay man he thought he was. Years of failed dating, and a disgust/fear of the bodily excretion that is the primary ingredient in a Dirty Sanchez, have brought him to this point. Clearly, as he tells both his sarcasm-prone therapist (Tracie Thoms) and his befuddled friend group, he must be straight. That in itself is another deflection, though it will take a feature film's length of time to identify the real culprit. (Hint: It's the L-word — not that one.) Until then, he'll work through his hang-ups with struggling actress Rory (Katie Findlay), with whom he meets-cute in a library and who proves to be in almost every way his soul mate.
She's the Hepburn to his Tracy (don't you doubt that Katharine and Spencer get name-checked). And the duo grow closer as they play house in the sunlit California residences that they look after to make ends meet. The pair heatedly dissect Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" and participate in an uncomfortable "Truth or Dare" evening. They even go to a party dressed as Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman in the movie version of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which begets an exegesis on the sublimated homosexuality of Newman's injured character Britt."
This film's world premier was October, 2019 at Mill Valley Film Festival, so we're seeing it pretty early on. In the interview below it is touted as a great family film - it's showing Saturday morning at the museum.
"The title character is obsessed with his electronics and hardly leaves the house. But when his grandmother dies and his grandfather moves in with his family, Marco’s life is turned upside down and he’s forced to play outside. When “Nonno” introduces him to bocce and the neighborhood crew of elderly Italian men, Marco finds a connection to other people “in real life” -- and inspires a team of neighborhood kids to put the devices down and band together to take on his grandfather and his pals. 'This film is really about getting kids up and off their iPads and into the world," Gambuto said. "This is my love letter to Staten Island and all the communities involved in it. It is quite possibly everything I wanted from this experience.'"
Here's part of an interview with the director and other members of the film crew after the premier at the Mill Valley Film Festival in October of this year.
Showing: Tuesday Dec 10, 2019 6:00 pm Alaska Experience Theatre - Small
For St. Louis fans, this is done by a St. Louis native in St. Louis. It's also fairly new (this year) and hasn't been seen by that many folks yet. From St. Louis Magazine:
"Just as writer/director Cody Stokes’ career began to take off in New York City—meaning that he was traveling a lot—his first child was born. The St. Louis native began thinking about what it means to be gone and miss things back home, from his, his wife’s, and his child’s perspectives. He knew he wanted to make a film about it. But rather than create a simple kitchen sink drama about fatherhood, he set it in a world beyond, made it exciting, turned it into a crime thriller. “I wanted people to feel like they’re going to watch some sort of Liam Neeson movie but by the end be completely moved,” Stokes says. And he shot it in St. Louis, having moved back home with his family. The Ghost Who Walks screens as part of the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase later this month."
--------------------------------------- Those Who Remained (Someone To Live For)
Director: Barnabás Tóth
Hungary
89 minutes
Showing: Thursday, Dec 12 7:45pm
Museum
Another film only recently shown brings us a post Holocaust story of survivors.
"Many films deal with the suffering of the Holocaust years, but far fewer focus on those who managed to return from the camps. The achingly tender Hungarian drama “Those Who Remained” fills that gap. Perceptively directed by Barnabás Tóth, it taps into a deep well of honestly earned emotion as it tells the story of two traumatized survivors whose relationship helps them to heal and provides them with someone to live for. Set in the period between 1948 and ’53, the period drama also takes on the purges of Hungarian politician Mátyás Rákosi’s Communist regime. Following its world premiere in Telluride, this exquisite, poignantly performed tale will be released in North American by Menemsha Films. After the war, the gentle but haunted Dr. Aládar “Aldó” Kőrner (Károly Hajduk), 42, returns to his ob-gyn hospital practice. His wife and two small boys perished in the camps, and he lives alone, with only his medical journals for company, until Klára (Abigél Szőke), a 16-year-old force of nature, storms her way into his life."
---------------------------------------
Vanilla
Director: Will Dennis
USA
87 minutes
Showing: Tuesday Dec 10, 2019 8:00 pmAlaska Experience Theatre - Small Everything about a film is how it's carried off. Here's a snippet from one reviewer who thought it went well:
"We have an odd couple on the road, so funny stuff happens – and this is a funny movie. Naturally, the audience is waiting for the two to jump into bed together. But Vanilla is fundamentally a portrait of these two people, both comfortable in their ruts. Elliot is posing as an entrepreneur, and Kimmie is posing as a comedian-in-the-making; something is going to have to shake up these two so each can grow. Kimmie seems utterly intrepid, but we learn that she can be paralyzed by self-consciousness, just like Elliot. Vanilla is written and directed by its star, Will Dennis, in his first feature film. It’s an impressive debut, rich in character-driven humor."
[This post is not what you were expecting. Nor me. It began as a way to step back and remind folks that there's more than US and UK politics happening in the world. While we were in Argentina this summer we learned a little about their presidential elections. I thought I'd offer bit of Argentine politics for folks. That led me to the political trap video that's near the bottom, which is worth a post all of its own. It's very catchy, even without understanding the lyrics. Be sure to watch it. Will this sort of thing be part of the US election in 2020? I've also added the lyrics and a translation.]
I don't see much coverage of the Argentine presidential election this October. On our visit in June and July people all agreed they were being squeezed by high inflation and life was getting harder. Argentina is a country with a history much longer than the US and in the early 1900s was one of the wealthiest in the world. People are sophisticated. They have free health care and university education. Current President Macri has imposed harsh economic restrictions. People we talked to were not shy in voicing their opinions for one candidate or the other.
"Argentina’s first-round vote on October 27 will see the election of president and vice president, and nearly half of congressional seats (130 deputies and 24 senators). While President Mauricio Macri is in the running for a second term, Argentines chose who else will appear on the ballot in the August 11 primary elections, known as the PASO. The main obstacles to the pro-business president of the Together for Change coalition are Argentina’s economic recession and a peronist front. He polls behind center-left Alberto Fernández, who's running mate is former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
Some 33 million Argentines are eligible to cast the compulsory vote, which will go on to a November runoff if none of the presidential candidates wins at least 45 percent, or 40 percent with a 10-point margin over the runner-up."
"On September 29 the Argentine province of Mendoza will elect its governor and renew one-half of its bicameral legislature. Mendoza is Argentina’s fifth most populous province, and one of only five provinces (out of 24) currently governed by a member of President Mauricio Macri’s Together for Change alliance. A Together for Change victory in Mendoza would provide a glimmer of optimism for a dignified loss by Macri in the October 27 presidential election against Peronist Alberto Fernández (and against Fernández’s vice presidential nominee, former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner) as well as provide hope for some Together for Change down ballot success in congressional races. In contrast, a defeat would foreshadow a potential shellacking on October 27 and demoralize the Together for Change forces even more than they already are. . ."
This article was written by "Mark P. Jones[who] is the Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies and the Director of the Center for Energy Studies’ Argentina Program at Rice University’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy."
That, of course, gives me a chance to post some Mendoza pictures from last summer I didn't post yet.
The fountain in the huge Parque San Martin
Vistante Winery - Mendoza is the center of the Argentine wine industry
Mendoza is also a center for olive oil. This picture is from the Pasrai olive oil factory.
And here's a more personal reporting style that leads this post in a different direction from Americas Quarterly:
"BUENOS AIRES - “He can’t stop coughing/working 12-hour-long shifts/he makes two meager coins a day to support a family of four/and don’t talk to me about meritocracy, don’t be funny, don’t screw with me/because without opportunities/that mierda doesn’t work.”
It’s hard to miss the frustration driving the lyrics of “Canguro,” a song written by 21-year-old Argentine trap star Wos, whose criticisms of the status quo under President Mauricio Macri have struck a chord with many. Debuting just days before the August primary election that delivered a blow to Macri’s reelection prospects, the song quickly climbed the charts and has racked up over 44 million views on YouTube.
Wos is among a cohort of young public figures who have used popular culture and social media to mobilize opposition to Macri among youth. The demographic has been hit particularly hard by the recession under the current government. In the second quarter of 2019, unemployment among ages 14 to 29 rose to 18.6% for men and to 23.4% for women, according to the latest government figures."
Here's Wos' video. With the introduction above you can get a good sense of the power of this song even without understanding Spanish. It says it has 50 million hits since August 8. That's about six weeks.
Here are just the lyrics from Genius.com. I've added a Google Translate English version in purple.
[Letra de "CANGURO"]
[Intro]
Hoy no voy a salir y voy a quedarme en la' nube' donde nadie sube
[Estribillo]
(Uah) No vengas a molestar, dicen que está todo mal‚ bueno
(Uah) Yo estoy más que bien acá y no te pienso ni mirar‚ ciego (Ciego)
Vamo'‚ repriman la mierda que tienen guardada en el pecho
Traguen y callen hasta estar desecho', párense siempre derecho
"Cállenlo, sédenlo‚ que haga lo que quiera, pero sáquenlo" y
"Cállenlo, sédenlo‚ que haga lo que quiera, pero sáquenlo"
Ey, háganme caso, ¿o no tienen claro que soy el rey?
Háganme caso que soy la ley, dame mis blíster', mis Parisiennes, wah
["CANGURO" lyrics]: [Enter] I'm not going out today and I'm going to stay in the 'cloud' where nobody goes up [Chorus] (Uah) Don't come bother, they say it's all wrong ‚well (Uah) I'm more than good here and I don't even think about you ‚blind (Blind) Vamo '‚repress the shit they have in their chest Swallow and shut up until you are wasted ', always stand straight "Shut it up, know it‚ do what you want, but take it out "and "Shut it up, know it‚ do what you want, but take it out " Hey, pay attention to me, or are you not sure that I am the king? Listen to me that I am the law, give me my blister ', my Parisiennes, wah
[Verso 1]
Patada de canguro, golpe duro
No vamo' a parar con esto, negro, te lo juro
Traje cianuro pa' meterle' en el trago
Cinco minuto' acá y ya estamo' causando estragos
Un mago nos quiere hacer desaparecer
Pero esta plaga rara nunca para de crecer
Somo' de los pocos locos que andan buscando placer
Y aunque quieran vernos roto', no damo' brazo a torcer
No para de toser, trabajando doce hora'
Cobra dos moneda' al mes pa' mantener cuatro persona'
Y no hables de meritocracia, me da gracia, no me joda'
Que sin oportunidades esa mierda no funciona
Y no, no hace falta gente que labure más
Hace falta que con menos se pueda vivir en paz
Mandale gas, no te perdás, acordate dónde estás
Fijáte siempre de qué lado de la mecha te encontrás
[Verse 1] Kangaroo kick, hard hit I'm not going to stop with this, black, I swear Cyanide suit to get him in the drink Five minutes 'here and I'm already' wreaking havoc A wizard wants to make us disappear But this weird plague never stops growing Somo 'of the few crazy people who are looking for pleasure And even if they want to see us broken ', I don't dare' arm to twist He doesn't stop coughing, working twelve hours' Charge two coins' per month to 'keep four people' And don't talk about meritocracy, I'm funny, don't fuck me ' That without opportunities that shit doesn't work And no, you don't need people to work anymore It is necessary that with less one can live in peace Send gas, don't get lost, remember where you are Always notice which side of the wick you found
[Verso 2]
Dice: "What up? Esto pega como coca"
La gente baila loca, el cuello se disloca
La droga en lo' dedo', que vaya de boca en boca
Sentís como te choca, esa vaina subió la nota
Salto como una pulga, empezó la purga
Largo todo fresco como un PXXR GVNG, hijo de…
Otra vez con sed entre fiebres y migraña'
Vuelvo a soñar con un viejo en el medio de una montaña
Me miró y me dijo: "De la vida nadie se salva
Y eso de la juventud es solo una actitud del alma"
Qué virtud extraña, ahora me queman las entrañas
Mi mejor conversación la tuve ayer con una araña
No sé qué hora es, ni me interesa
Acá siempre son 4:20, y estamo' de la cabeza, con simpleza
Birra barata y mala en lata, má' la planta santa esa
La que calma el cuerpo y te lo desestresa
El hood está de fiesta, el culo se te tensa
Entiendo que te molesta, la empatía te cuesta
Y si ahora gritamo' y cantamo' en modo de protesta
Es porque preguntamo' bien y nadie nos dio una respuesta
Se creen dueños, salgan del medio, lo digo en serio
Fuera la yuta que meten al barrio, le tira a los pibe' y le mata los sueño'
Bueno, juego, del underground, del agujero
Estamo' agitando de nuevo, sacando pa' afuera a eso' carroñero', ñero
[Verse 2] He says: "What up? This hits like coca" People dance crazy, the neck dislocates The drug in the 'finger', that goes from mouth to mouth You feel how it hits you, that pod raised the note I jump like a flea, the purge began Long all fresh as a PXXR GVNG, son of ... Again thirsty between fevers and migraine ' I dream again of an old man in the middle of a mountain He looked at me and said: "No one is saved from life And that of youth is just an attitude of the soul " What a strange virtue, now my insides burn I had my best conversation yesterday with a spider I don't know what time it is, nor interest me It's always 4:20 here, and I'm right in the head, simply Cheap and bad canned birra, plus the holy plant that The one that calms the body and unstresses you The hood is partying, the ass tenses I understand that it bothers you, empathy costs you And if now I shout 'and sing' in protest mode It's because we asked 'well and nobody gave us an answer They believe they own, get out of the way, I mean it Out the jute they put into the neighborhood, he throws the kids 'and kills them the dreams' Well, play, underground, hole I'm 'waving again, getting out' that scavenger 'outside, ñero
[Estribillo]
(Uah) No vengas a molestar, dicen que está todo mal, bueno
(Uah) Yo estoy más que bien acá y no te pienso ni mirar, ciego (Ciego)
Vamo', repriman la mierda que tienen guardada en el pecho
Traguen y callen hasta estar desecho', párense siempre derecho
"Cállenlo, sédenlo, que haga lo que quiera, pero sáquenlo" y
"Cállenlo, sédenlo, que haga lo que quiera, pero sáquenlo"
Ey, háganme caso, ¿o no tienen claro que soy el rey?
Háganme caso que soy la ley, dame mis blíster', mis Parisiennes, wah
[Chorus] (Uah) Don't come bother, they say it's all wrong ‚well (Uah) I'm more than good here and I don't even think about you ‚blind (Blind) Vamo '‚repress the shit they have in their chest Swallow and shut up until you are wasted ', always stand straight "Shut it up, know it‚ do what you want, but take it out "and "Shut it up, know it‚ do what you want, but take it out " Hey, pay attention to me, or are you not sure that I am the king? Listen to me that I am the law, give me my blister ', my Parisiennes, wah
I don't have pictures, because these moments came when I didn't have my camera out, and because I'm hesitant to intrude in intimate moments, but let me give you several examples of the caring I saw among people in Argentina.
1. People greet each other with hugs that include cheek to cheek contact
I don't know the rules of who hugs who like this. Certainly family members, but also work colleagues, friends, and even we received this treatment from people. This contact is male-female, female-female, and male-male. I think this - I want to say intimacy, but maybe it's because my US cultural perspective sees it that way - physical contact breaks down barriers that handshakes can't.
2. I saw lots of fathers really enjoying being with their young children
Men would have their kids on their shoulders, or mock battle with them, men would become little kids themselves in their play with their children. And there was an obvious love that sparkled in the eyes of parent and child and showed in the natural smiles they shared. I'm not saying there aren't cold fathers in Argentina, just that I saw a lot more pure love showing than I see in the US.
3. Mate bonding
I've mentioned mate in a few posts already. It's a kind of tea that Argentines (Uruguayans and Chileans) drink from small gourd cups through metal straws. I guess gourds were the original cups, but they also use ceramic cups. Everywhere you see people with their mate cups and a small thermos to replenish the hot water.
Bus drivers, people walking down the street, teachers, everybody drinks mate and it's a ritual. People don't toss their mate cups the way Americans toss their latte cups.
But I'm talking about mate again here because people share their mate. They share their metal mate straws. The only thing like it I can think of in the US would be people sharing a joint.
Here's the bus driver on one of our tours adding hot water to his mate.
And here he's sharing his mate with the guide.
4. Airplane Safety Video
Aerolíneas had an animated safety video - all the stuff about seat belts, oxygen masks, that we see or hear every time a flight is about to take off. What made this animation different was that when the mother put the child's oxygen mask over his mouth and nose, the mother lovingly and ever so fleetingly (and unconsciously) she strokes the child's cheek. And when the mother is shown helping the child get on his life rest, again, she reassuringly tousles his hair.
I've never seen anything like that in an airline safety message before. And while there are commercials that show that sort of thing, I don't think I've ever seen one as natural as this. I could be wrong, but I felt like the artist just put the love into the animation and no one objected. Though it's quite possible they spent hours debating this. But for me, the outcome was one more example of a human bonding that I saw lots of in Argentina. (We weren't in Chile or Brazil long enough to make such observations.)
OK, that's it. In this time of great interpersonal nastiness unleashed by the US president, I thought it important to shine a little lot of these acts of love. I have no illusions that Argentinians aren't capable of evil - they demonstrated that in the 70s and 80s. But these moments of caring did catch my attention.
We’re back in Mendoza to get a flight this evening to Santiago. I was showing Alberto the post I did about his hotel, when I noticed that another post talked about all the missing posts. So I’ll try to share some pics that haven’t made it up here because of time.
Argentina has some serious keys. These are the ones we had in San Juan for the eclipse, but we had similar ones in Buenos Aires and Mendoza. Only the hotel in Port Iquazú had a magnetic card to open the door.
Eclipse Light - One thing I learned from the eclipse is that the sun is really, really bright. I thought I’d take pictures of the landscape at different points during the eclipse. But it wasn’t until the moon was almost completely blocking the sun that there was much difference.
There were se veral pics that looked like the one above.
Eventually it got a little darker.
Then much darker. The next ones were dark enough that the exposure was so long that they are blurred. Just take my word for it, the pictures aren’t worth seeing. Plus, the camera tries to adjust and make it look lighter than it really was. At times like this I yearn for my old film Pentax camera.
Then the new brightness as the sun came back out.
It was extremely rocky where we watched the eclipse. Everywhere was like this pic below.
