no one wins

Alrededor de 8 de cada cien niños y niñas dominicanos tienen retardo irreparable, por una falta de atención al tema de la alimentación.

El porcentaje de niños menores de once años obesos en el Reino Unido pasó del 9,9 por ciento en 1995 al 13,4 por ciento en 2004.

Around 8 of each 100 dominican kids are irreversibly retarded due to a lack of attention to their nutrition.

The percentage of obese kids under 11 in the United Kingdom went from 9,9 percent in 1995 to 13,4 percent in 2004.

.............metro de santo domingo

foto: A. Despradel (2006)

Una vez más, encima de las heridas que a penas tratan por sí mismas de curar, otra incisión (quizás la más profunda) deja a la ciudad en carne viva

flying

copacabana beach.feb.2007

I am flying, today, tomorrow
yesterday, i was

the ground is not mine

no time
its gone

yo y mis en santo domingo

Soy yo y mi hija y mi hijo y mi mujer y mi trabajadora y mi balcón de mi apartamento en mi torre llena de mis vecinos (y sus carros) y mis carros en mi solar, en mi torre, tras mi verja, sobre mi vista al mar

nice things..... cosas bien

umbrellas.sombrillas
light bulbs.bombillos
typewritters.máquinas de escribir
pencils.lápices (a lot) (mucho)
cristals or jewelery stones.cristales o piedras para joyas (not real ones, just anything that looks like them) (no tienen que ser reales, solo que parezcan)
watches.relojes
bikinis
flags.banderas
beards.barbas
coffee makers.cafeteras
hardware stores.ferreterías (maybe because there you can find most of the other things I like) (Quizas porque venden la mayoría de las otras cosas que me gustan)
cotton.algodón
notebooks.cuadernos
boxes.cajas
scarfs.bufandas
bikes.bicicletas
small chicken.pollitos
handbags.bultos/mochilas/bolsos
(to be continued) (continuará)

boo

I was in Amsterdam some days back. Sunny day-rainy end. City and memory collide. Calm and rediscovery of the same place everytime.

fuerzas//forces

algunas vienen de dentro
y se oponen unas a otras
otras vienen de fuera como brisas de un huracán
aveces de un golpe
aveces en minúsculas dosis que poco a poco cambian las cosas
tantas en tantas direcciones
parecen solo crear
silencio


some come from within
and oppose each other
others come from outside like the winds of a hurricane
sometimes in one go
sometimes in minimal doses that little by little change things
so many in so many directions
seem to only create
silence

beginnings

- You have to fill your life with beginnings: of books, of relationships, of school terms, of jobs, of anything
-Why?
-Because that is the only way to fool boredom and depression

What about endings? (They both asked at the same time)

puntos cardinales // cardinal points

no hay punto cardinal para el centro

venir de ahi es venir de ninguna parte

de nada sirve un paraiso

en el mundo de las grandes ciudades

las playas son muy suaves

el calor no aprieta como el frio

las brisas de todas partes

vienen de los puntos cardinales

a los que no se pertenece

pasan refrescan y se van

nadie toma en serio una isla

mucho menos un fragmento

a nadie le interesa un paraiso

en el mundo sin eternidades

no sirve de nada

no vale de nada

venir del centro

//

There is no cardinal point for the center

coming from there is coming from nowhere

there is no use for a paradise

in the World of the big cities

beaches are too soft

and heat isn’t tight like the cold

breezes from everywhere

come from the cardinal points

to which there is no relation

they pass by and leave

nobody takes an island seriously

even less a fragment

no one is interested in a paradise

in the World without eternities

it is useless

it’s worth nothing

coming from the center

Nothing like stoping on your way, turning back and finding a known face... (click on them)

Oido en una cancion//Heard in a song

La pasion es indolente
y la soledad es fiel

Pasion is merciless
and loneliness is faithful

(Caifanes)

Realization #1756 in the 'Victim of circumstances'* section of the 'Life for dummies' book

1756.- Love sometimes plays a dirty game.

*tragedies.... either funny or beautiful, you decide

unapologetical

In a book by Michel Foucault called ' Tecnologies of the self ' he explains the processes by which western philosophy and religion have tried to solve those existential riddles that lie between the poles of one's own mind. It's funny how in most cases these tecnologies to figure oneself out rely on tortuous, sensoring and painful processes that somehow are supposed to bring an internal light or thruth out. But actually these rituals or exercises have tamed and constrained the limits of our will and imagination all through history and have resulted in making us the perfect canvas for robotic-non-critical masterpieces . It seems to me that we have inherited an outdated fear of the freedom and power latent in our brains and it would be nice that we got over it. Religion and (maybe to a less extent) philosophy should either grow out of that kind of notions or simply disappear. Maybe un-learning 'how to think' is a good start.

estoic therapy//terapia estoica

There is hope in the refusal to indulge in hope
(or is it faith in the power of habits?)
A heart can get used to anything
no matter how sad or absurd (or both)

Hay esperanza en la renuncia a la esperanza
(o es acaso fe en el poder del habito?)
un corazon puede acostumbrarse a cualquier cosa
no importa que tan triste o absurda (o ambas)

24

Why am I sad?