Fright

Thoughts of being nothing without my expectations and dreams have been here, within
But I am me, with the insides out, a bit real, still me
What scares and threatens may as well liberate
Through anger and ache, from past to fate

Grip

The problem with yearning for something
Is that one day you might get it
Or leave it

Letting go of something can be just as painful
As holding on to something going wrong

It’s time

May the new year signal the beginning of a new era of justice, equality and… freedom.

Happy 2012!

Have a creative one

Possibility

Words don’t stand for anything.

Even the most cogent and pithiest ones leave room for wild interpretation.

And therein lies their beauty.

#EuSouGay Project

A series of degrading events to the gay and black communities have been raising Brazilian people’s awareness on homophobia and hate crimes.

It is not that it didn’t exist before, but once gay people started becoming more visible in society, homophobia and all the related problems finally turned into a matter of discussion.

Two guys I know were recently attacked during a celebration on the University Campus. Although the aggression was not so physically damaging, its impact on the psyche of minorities is enormous. What’s most shocking is the fact that the attack took place inside the most liberal of all faculties, up until then a haven for individual freedom of expression.

People who’ve been fighting for years to feel comfortable being who they are and dating whoever they want began to feel threatened again. This is a major drawback.

However, in one way or another, the sectors of society who believe in equal human rights are fighting back.

I’m supporting an artistic initiative called Projeto #EuSouGay (IAmGay) which targets homophobia and intolerance through showing the world that we have a voice.

If you wish to participate in it, no matter your sexual orientation, you can send a picture of you holding a card with the inscription #EuSouGay to projetoeusougay@gmail.com. The pictures will ultimately be turned into a short film directed by award-winning director Daniel Ribeiro.

The ongoing project

Let us all unite in fighting hatred and prejudice.

Order

Everything must be in its right place.

Objects as well as feelings, each entity should be where they belong.

With the help of brilliantly insightful Miranda July, I will give it a try.

Importance should be given only to things that matter.

Reminder

Yesterday, this really sweet shy and nerdy guy I know who has just come out was kissing another guy at the university cafeteria. I was so touched by the fact that one can finally do this without fear of being bullied that I just felt I had to share my joy about it here.

On the other hand, I know it is sometimes a long journey before we can have the freedom to do it in such a well-deserved carefree way.

I know many of you may have seen this elsewhere but I decided to post it anyway.

Just as a reminder that we are not alone.

There is light out there.

Log on to ItGetsBetterProject to find out more about this fight for hope.

Enjoy

A weekend of intense, focused work awaits me.

The good thing about doing what you like is that that doesn’t feel as bad as it sounds. It takes just a bit of drive to get through these two days into another busy week.

Since I am human, I know for sure my breaks will be filled with music, so I thought I could share my latest discovery with you – a tip by a friend:

Sweden’s Familjen

Along with fellow Nordic acts Sigur Rós and Casiokids, these guys sing in their native language.

I love the idea that music is somehow above and beyond nations and tongues, so that there would be no need to make it necessarily understandable via English.

Ha en trevlig helg!

Wear purple

Yesterday was a day chosen by the gay community (through GLAAD) to raise awareness about gay bashing and bullying. Spirit Day, as it is called, is also meant especially for everyone to show their support for gay teens who took their lives because of anti-LGBT harassment.

As I stated here earlier this month, growing up as a gay teen can be devastating if one does not have the support from either parents, school or friends.

Originally, I was going to post images of paintings by a Brooklyn-based artist whose images often raise questions about racism and tolerance but I decided to do something aiming more at inspiring those troubled teenagers to envisage a brighter, love-filled future ahead of them:

I love these images because they not only reflect the possibility of finding love in homosexuality but also how  open-minded gay love can be.

No matter how badly homosexuality may be portrayed, affection and tenderness are still there – perhaps just around the corner, to be felt.

These pictures by Robbie Fimmano were used in an extended watch feature called Kissing Time on last April issue of Interview magazine.

(Via Homotography)

Look out

With a greater concern over the latest trend rather than what History bequeathed, Brazilian cities are spaces where all kinds of architectural influences can be found.

Nowhere can this be seen more readily than in Rio. The former capital and once most important city in South America, the city is home to a myriad of styles, influences, tastes and ideas, all cramped together – sometimes side by side.

From organic shapes and historical Brazilian Baroque to monstrous concrete blocks and wholly inappropriate glass buildings, Rio is a surprising treat on the eye of the curious.

Some of my favorite :

It is so relieving when one learns to appreciate what’s not obvious – life does become more beautiful when one finds beauty where one least expects it.

Rio de Janeiro is a great school for that.

Maturing ideas

The rise of teenage power of influence  has drawn my attention for quite some time now. Art after art, young people under the age of twenty have been conquering new territories and making waves as well as their voices heard in the past few years. Their ideas and views of the world, albeit undoubtedly fresh, have yet to prove their force. Do they really deserve so much interest?

If they are like 20-year-old Xavier Nolan‘s I Killed My Mother film, the answer is a resounding yes.

Written at the age of 16, the script is a painstakingly rich depiction of a young man’s suffocating relationship with a confused single mother. Xavier is not only the brilliant writer but also the outstanding actor and promising director of this truly emotional story.

The 2009 much awarded film was followed by another tale of dangerously close relationships, this year’s Les amours imaginaires (Heartbeats):

Nolan’s films achieve the unexpected success of portraying the unclear depth of youth in a sophisticated yet simple way.

But do all manifestations of adolescence deserve equal credit?

Well, much like teenagers’ own lives, the final answer as to whether the attention is indeed generally merited is a very decided maybe.

Teen Beauty from B or Diversity and Politics

I was actually going to write about my disgust for French politicians and their racistic, demagogic and economically-driven anti-immigrant policies but it just sickens me too much. I want to remain optimistic today.

In order to brighten up the day, I then chose to post here another pretty Brazilian guy who’s got a lot to show (pardon the pun).

Jonathan Dalcin is not 18 yet but his manly teen looks have gotten him quite a lot of attention in the last São Paulo Fashion Week, which was when I first saw him.

Jonathan’s foreign last name is a reminder of how important it is to keep doors open to diversity and natural integration.

Openness towards foreigners strengthens a land and not the opposite. Xenophobic laws which seek to create a single and thus illusory notion of citizenship do not contribute to any country’s identity.

To be governed by narrow-mindedness is to deny different people the chance to help build an innovative and more beautiful future. Let us not remain static.

As for Jonathan Dalcin, thank goodness his family came.

Pictures by Vitor Shalom via MadeinBrazil.

A little on Lula

The ends justify the means.

This aphorism, shrewdly turned into political treatise in Machiavelli’s famous book The Prince, is the line that perhaps most accurately describes the Brazilian president’s take on power.

Yes, his personal history is inspirational as it is surprising, given the fact that Brazil has always been ruled by people issued from the much self-centered and selfish economic elite. And the foreign press loves him for it.

What a disappointment did we, critical and observing people, have when his government and an alarming number of people in power were repeatedly connected to countless and outrageous corruption scandals.

Mr Lula was at first able to convince the population (rather successfully) that he was not personally connected to those criminals. But as the scandals became to emerge, one after the other, the circle began to close down on him and it soon seemed odd that he was the only person still morally innocent.

By that time, most of the smart voters and democratically friendly press started doing the math: many of the corrupt individuals in high government posts had been selected by the president himself. How naïve can one actually be?

But the economy is doing well; the world crisis hardly hit Brazil and poor and uneducated people finally have some hope for a better life and living. Things, in general, are improving. Wouldn’t it be best to put that all aside?

No, never. Besides the fact that this is not how a democracy should work, rotten by filthy schemes which some might choose to ignore as long as things are going well, corruption is very likely the most important problem Brazil as a country has to face.

Let us consider some key aspects. Brazil is one of the richest countries in the world, both in production standards and in natural resources. Basically everything the country needs is produced here (including self-sufficiency in oil supply) and there is an increasing trend for technology to be local as well. Why is there still so much poverty and low living standards in so many areas around the country?

The solution, my friends, is plain and simple corruption. Tax-payer money never reaches the areas it is mostly needed.

Mr Lula is leaving power soon and although it doesn’t seem that his overall intentions are bad, he keeps on taking the morally reproachable path.

His political party’s candidate, aka his successor, was literally manufactured by him. A former sullen minister turned into smiling candidate who is suddenly personally responsible for all the government successes – including those fostered by the previous oppositional administration. Moreover, public money is spent on her campaign regardless of the fines she is forced to pay.

Lula and his protegée, Dilma Rousseff

And what does the outspoken and brilliant rhetorician President Lula say about this? Please hold your laughter when you read this, but his answer frequently goes:

“the press only focuses on the negative”.

As long as the power is in his or his friends hands, everything is justifiable.

Well, not really.

How to divert attention

The French Government is carrying out an expulsion of Roma (Gypsy) of its territory. Legally, these people are European citizens, which makes the manoeuver illegal according to EU law.

Earlier this week, the EU Justice Commissioner, Viviane Reding, allegedly compared the actions fiercely defended by Nicolas Sarkozy to Germany’s policies of expulsion during World War II.

Right served him.

Not so many people are aware of the fact that other ethnic, religious and political minorities were also persecuted during the third Reich: gypsies, Africans, homosexuals, Jehovah Witnesses, communists and even people with mental illnesses suffered during the regime.

The French government is going through a major political crisis linking the president with illegal moves involving obscure campaign money donations and power influence. Not to mention the economic crisis, also rather clumsily handled.

Creating an outrageous scandal based on right-wing populist measures with racistic ideals is quite an effective way of distracting the people’s attention, is it not?

No matter how big our prejudices might be, we must not repeat the errors of the past, even if they seem like the easiest way out of a crisis.

We must be smarter than that.

Der Eintänzer (2009), by Rebecca Horn

Isolation has never solved anything.

Culture-specific

If there is one label I really dislike, it is the one people use so often to express their lack of knowledge about something: exotic. Isn’t that word just another way of saying weird?

And isn’t weird something that WE do not think normal? As far as I know, what one person considers different is what he other person judges usual. And vice-versa.

So, having said that, here are some of my favorite animals from the lovely cerrado:

the most endearing ant-eater

Most of these are a rare sight, especially for those like me who live in the city. You have to go into the countryside to be able to see these creates, most of which are also extremely shy to human contact.

capibaras

Capibaras are an easier species to be spotted. They are rodents which reproduce like rabbits and are as big as dogs, making them quite easy to be noted. These quiet-looking animals love to live by the water and are good divers too.

a greater rhea

Greater rheas are the South American cousins of the ostrich. They are very graceful birds who can run really fast across the fields. A wonderful sight for those who look careful.

Animals, especially large ones, are such a common source for myths and inspiration across cultures it is a shame we don’t stop to pay attention to them in a more proper way.

When you think about it, most people grow up listening to various stories about the mythical animals in their surroundings. In one way or the other, they end up being part of who we are.

To my greatest delight I came across some of Estelle Hanania‘s photography works today, and basically liked them immediately:

from the Parking Lot Hydra series

When I first looked at these pictures, I thought about North American indigenous people. But Estelle is French.This made me recall the fact that falconry was a crucial part of French middle-age life. Children there must listen to lots of stories concerning falcons and the brave men who used them for so many different purposes.

More from the 2009 series

Exotic or however we may choose to call them, beasts of all shapes and colors have always been present in the arts we produce. And even though artists might not depict them in obvious ways, our lovely companions on the planet will continue to be part of our psyche, even when we live very far from them.

It’s all in the culture.