27.12.09

tempos hodiernos

Embora a distância fosse pouca, o trânsito o condenava por mais alguns longos minutos de espera. Àquele instante comparava-se a uma sucursal do inferno. Impaciente, girou o dial, contando com a sorte de escutar uma música que fosse capaz de fazê-lo abstrair daquela incômoda circunstância. Nada. Só propagandas e exaustivos jingles.

Irritou-se ainda mais quando o taxista ao seu lado obstinava a espremer a buzina, como se aquilo fosse o truque infalível para os carros desapacerem de sua frente e deixarem a pista livre. Pensou convictamente que estava cercado de imbecis trafegantes. Todo dia a mesma porcaria de convívio com pessoas que, a qualquer descuido, ficará passivo de perder o mais religioso cabaço. Isso mesmo. Estava todo mundo ali querendo comer o cu do outro. Foi daí que concluiu que o trânsito representa com expressividade viadagem dos tempos hodiernos.


(crotalo)

5.12.09

Illegitimi non carborundum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegitimi_non_carborundum

3.11.09

30.10.09

O declínio do dólar e o sorriso de Mao

Um dos filmes assistidos nos EUA ultimamente se chama “Atividade Paranormal”. Produzido em 2007, conta a história de um casal que se muda para uma casa nos subúrbios de San Diego, na Califórnia, um dos estados que mais simbolizou o sonho americano de prosperidade material. A esposa se diz perseguida desde pequena por uma entidade e logo depois da mudança coisas estranham começam a acontecer. O marido faz pouco do terror dela, mas os dois acabam chamando um especialista em demônios para estudar a casa. Há um espírito maligno que se alimenta de energia negativa na casa, diz o homem. No estilo falso-documentário de “A Bruxa de Blair”, o filme custou apenas US$ 15.000 e já rendeu mais de US$ 60 milhões à Paramount, subsidiária do conglomerado americano Viacom, também dono da rede de televisão CBS.

Além da conveniente proximidade com o Halloween, festival de origem pagã em que os americanos tentam exorcizar seus inúmeros medos, o sucesso do filme parece ecoar também o trauma nacional da recente crise imobiliária. Estimulado por incentivos tributários para os interessados na compra da primeira casa própria, e também pela magnitude do declínio no próprio valor dos imóveis, o mercado imobiliário voltou a dar sinais de vida, com leve alta no valor médio das residências. Em vez de enfrentarem o terror em suas próprias casas, os americanos podem se dar ao luxo de ver seus medos refletidos metaforicamente no casal cujo sonho de prosperidade é transformado em pesadelo. Enquanto isso, já se avizinha uma nova crise, desta vez com os imóveis comerciais, muitos deles vitimados pelas falências de empresas e surgimento de shoppings fantasmagoricamente vazios.

Desde a Grande Depressão, nos anos 30, os americanos viveram um grande período de expansão econômica irregular, mas impressionante. Mesmo com as esporádicas recessões, o padrão de vida da população continua refletindo sua renda per capita de US$ 40.000, a sexta maior do mundo. Homens como Warren Buffett, o presidente do conglomerado Berkshire Hathaway, fizeram fortunas durante esse período. Para o americano médio, essa pujança se traduziu em fácil acesso a crédito, carros e casas espantosamente grandes e baixo desemprego.

Mas agora a situação mudou e o desemprego está perto de 10%. Se estudarem os efeitos negativos da globalização na economia americana, talvez os manifestantes que costumam inundar as ruas contra o imperialismo ianque aplaudissem seus efeitos niveladores sobre a economia mundial. Cada vez menos industrializados, os EUA cedem à China o papel de fábrica do mundo e se transformam numa economia predominantemente de serviços; nesse meio tempo, os salários foram pressionados pela concorrência em nível mundial, tornando difícil sobreviver com os empregos que antes permitiam um padrão de vida confortável. Os pais estão assistindo ao mundo em que cresceram desmoronar com o desemprego dos filhos recém-formados nas faculdades, que cobram preços exorbitantes mas não servem mais para garantir o emprego. Antes forte, a moeda nacional é corroída cada vez mais pela inflação.

Sessenta e quatro anos atrás, os EUA emergiram vitoriosos do maior conflito militar da humanidade. Na cidadezinha de Bretton Woods, no Estado de New Hampshire, ditaram o modelo econômico do pós-guerra. Desde então, o combalido dólar ainda reina absoluto. É a moeda número um dos mercados de câmbio de Mogadisu a Londres. O governo americano sabe disso e tem aproveitado o peso das verdinhas para operar em US$ 1,3 trilhão no vermelho e sem qualquer lastro físico desde os anos 70, quando Richard Nixon acabou com o padrão ouro. Diferentemente do império britânico, a “paz americana” usou o poder do capital, das ideias, das armas e principalmente da moeda para ficar por cima da carne seca.

No fim do século 19, se popularizavam no Reino Unido os romances de invasão, como Drácula (1897), do irlandês Bram Stoker, em que uma estrangeiro sinistro se dirige a Londres para sugar na fonte o sangue da civilização mais próspera de então. Esse e outros livros refletiam o temor dos britânicos de que se avizinhava a decadência de sua dominância. Cinquenta anos depois, com o império dissolvido e o país devastado pela Segunda Guerra, o Reino Unido teve que pedir um empréstimo camarada de US$ 45 bilhões da ex-colônia para se reconstruir. Só terminou de pagá-lo em 2006. Hoje em dia a China é que assumiu o papel dos EUA nessa equação – segundo o Departamento do Tesouro dos EUA, a República Popular da China é maior detentora de títulos do Tesouro, com US$ 800 bilhões em agosto. Até o Brasil está nessa brincadeira: é o sexto maior detentor de Treasuries no mundo, com US$ 137 bilhões.

Continuam as reuniões, mas diferentemente de Bretton Woods, não surgem soluções; no máximo algum líder mundial pede a fundação de uma nova ordem. Mas essa ordem ainda não apareceu em definitivo; o sistema de bancos centrais iniciado após a Grande Depressão parece ter freado o ímpeto devastador da crise. Talvez a solução surja de um camponês da China que abandona a fome do povoado e, tal qual retirante, vai buscar um emprego nas fábricas do litoral. Ou talvez de uma vila africana, como Wangari Maathai, queniana ganhadora do Nobel da Paz de 2004 que inspirou um movimento responsável por plantar mais de 20 milhões de árvores.

O total de reservas chinesas em Treasuries aumentou quase US$ 230 bilhões desde agosto do ano passado. Até agora no ano, a China já cresceu 7,7%. Na nota de 100 iuanes, Mao até parece sorrir.




Links em inglês:

Reino Unido quita dívida da Segunda Guerra com os EUA:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/britain-pays-off-final-instalment-of-us-loan--after-61-years-430118.html

Maiores detentores de títulos do Tesouro, segundo dados do governo americano:
http://www.treas.gov/tic/mfh.txt

China ultrapassa o Japão em investimento nos Treasuries:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/18/AR2008111803558.html

Biografia de Wangari Maathai, no site do Prêmio Nobel:

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2004/maathai-bio.html

28.10.09

Como a Goldman Sachs faturou com a quebra da AIG

Among the proximate causes of AIG’s failure were previous calls for collateral made by its credit default swap trading counterparties, including Goldman Sachs. They were entitled to pressure AIG on its prices and demand more collateral; I had publicly challenged AIG’s prices myself more than a year earlier. These actions gave a major push to AIG’s subsequent credit downgrade, which tripped contract triggers that AIG had unwisely permitted its more clever counterparties to insert. (The credit default swap market is not standardized.) This meant AIG had to come up with collateral equal to the entire remaining amount of the credit default swap contract. Unfortunately, AIG was essentially bankrupt at this point and it couldn’t meet its obligations. The government could have stepped in and renegotiated its contracts. [Goldman’s “hedges” might have disputed whether a reduced payment triggered a restructuring event, if applicable, in their contracts.] But that isn’t what happened.

via ZeroHedge

29.9.09

Beatles e Taoísmo

Without going outside, you may know the whole world.
Without looking through the window, you may see the ways of heaven.
The farther you go, the less you know.

Thus the sage knows without travelling;
He sees without looking;
He works without doing.

(Trecho do capítulo 47 do livro taoísta Tao Te Ching, escrito pelo filósofo chinês Lao Tzu em 600 A.C. Forma o bojo da letra da canção "Inner Light", dos Beatles)

29.7.09

lúcida vox

Jânio Lopo, da Tribuna da Bahia

O ideal mesmo é que os debates se deem à base de ideias. Isso é o que dizem os chamados intelectuais, embora empolgante é quando o pau come apareçam os podres de cada candidatura. Wagner pode ser o rei da cocada preta (ou branca), mas não há bem que sempre dure nem mal que nunca acabe, como diria minha finada avó. Afinal, um dia a casa cai. Leio nos jornais e, como observador meio atento, assisto conversas mil, da oposição e da situação, sobre o desempenho de Wagner. Nem tudo são flores.

Há os que defendam ardorosamente uma mudança radical no primeiro escalão do governador, principalmente nas áreas tidas como fundamentais, imprescindíveis ao dia a dia da população em geral. Wagner está careca de saber disso. Se não mexe na equipe é porque lhe ensinaram erroneamente, que não se bole em time que pode estar perdendo. É um conceito um tanto quanto perigoso. Mas cabe ao governador mantê-lo ou redefini-lo o quanto antes. Se ele quer glamour (entenda por glamour a reeleição) as chances estão todas em suas próprias mãos. Afinal, como diz a personagem de um programa humorístico “ tô pagando!...


17.7.09

Salvador 2009

A capital do Estado da Bahia goza de uma oferta no mínimo curiosa em matéria de jornal impresso. O vivente pode comprar o Correio da Bahia (manchete de hoje: lançamento do filme de Harry Potter) por R$ 1, a Tribuna da Bahia por R$ 1,50 (capa -um buraco no canal de contenção do Parque Costa Azul, até um pouco mais relevante) e o A Tarde (criação de empresas cresce 18%. (o) ) por R$ 1,75. Um mercado bem segmentado e com boa flutuação.

11.7.09

EUA, México e o ciclo drogas/armas

Para entender a guerra contras as drogas no "México": do New York Times

30.6.09

Unabomber manifesto

Publicado nos maiores jornais dos EUA em 19 de setembro de 1995, no auge da campanha de terror concebida por Theodore Kaczynski para derrubar o sistema tecno-econômico com bombas pelo correio.

40. In modern industrial society only minimal effort is necessary to satisfy one's physical needs. It is enough to go through a training program to acquire some petty technical skill, then come to work on time and exert very modest effort needed to hold a job. The only requirements are a moderate amount of intelligence, and most of all, simple obedience. If one has those, society takes care of one from cradle to grave. (Yes, there is an underclass that cannot take physical necessities for granted, but we are speaking here of mainstream society.) Thus it is not surprising that modern society is full of surrogate activities. These include scientific work, athletic achievement, humanitarian work, artistic and literary creation, climbing the corporate ladder, acquisition of money and material goods far beyond the point at which they cease to give any additional physical satisfaction, and social activism when it addresses issues that are not important for the activist personally, as in the case of white activists who work for the rights of nonwhite minorities. These are not always pure surrogate activities, since for many people they may be motivated in part by needs other than the need to have some goal to pursue. Scientific work may be motivated in part by a drive for prestige, artistic creation by a need to express feelings, militant social activism by hostility. But for most people who pursue them, these activities are in large part surrogate activities. For example, the majority of scientists will probably agree that the "fulfillment" they get from their work is more important than the money and prestige they earn.

41. For many if not most people, surrogate activities are less satisfying than the pursuit of real goals (that is, goals that people would want to attain even if their need for the power process were already fulfilled). One indication of this is the fact that, in many or most cases, people who are deeply involved in surrogate activities are never satisfied, never at rest. Thus the money-maker constantly strives for more and more wealth. The scientist no sooner solves one problem than he moves on to the next. The long-distance runner drives himself to run always farther and faster. Many people who pursue surrogate activities will say that they get far more fulfillment from these activities than they do from the "mundane" business of satisfying their biological needs, but that it is because in our society the effort needed to satisfy the biological needs has been reduced to triviality. More importantly, in our society people do not satisfy their biological needs autonomously but by functioning as parts of an immense social machine. In contrast, people generally have a great deal of autonomy in pursuing their surrogate activities.

26.6.09

Philip K. Dick on Robert Heinlein

In 1963, Dick won the Hugo Award for The Man in the High Castle. Although he was hailed as a genius in the science fiction world, the mainstream literary world was unappreciative, and he could publish books only through low-paying science fiction publishers such as Ace. Even in his later years, he continued to have financial troubles. In the introduction to the 1980 short story collection The Golden Man, Dick wrote: "Several years ago, when I was ill, Heinlein offered his help, anything he could do, and we had never met; he would phone me to cheer me up and see how I was doing. He wanted to buy me an electric typewriter, God bless him—one of the few true gentlemen in this world. I don't agree with any ideas he puts forth in his writing, but that is neither here nor there. One time when I owed the IRS a lot of money and couldn't raise it, Heinlein loaned the money to me. I think a great deal of him and his wife; I dedicated a book to them in appreciation. Robert Heinlein is a fine-looking man, very impressive and very military in stance; you can tell he has a military background, even to the haircut. He knows I'm a flipped-out freak and still he helped me and my wife when we were in trouble. That is the best in humanity, there; that is who and what I love."

21.5.09

Gregory Rabassa e Edith Grossman

Os dois maiores tradutores americanos de português e espanhol discutem a literatura latino-americana.

http://www.pen.org/audio_archive/Grossman_Rabassa.mp3

14.5.09

Fake News Corporation

Al Nite Lang, legendary editor of the What’s News column, was found dead in his house yesterday, said the New York Police Departament. People familiar with the situation said the cause of death was palm oil overdose. A spokesman from Dow Jones declined to comment. News Corp. stock fell 1.100,354/265%, dragging the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its lowest closing ever, at -1,890.93 points.

9.5.09

work in progress

A modernidade é um tema explorado pelos dois autores, mas com objetivos totalmente opostos. Para Wright, a modernidade é um elemento que redime e representa sua crença no progresso do mundo ocidental. Mas no conto “The Gilded Six-Bit”, de Hurston, a modernidade é uma força corruptora. Eis uma história que pode ser interpretada facilmente pelos moldes da tradicional narrativa de traição e perdão num relacionamento, mas cujo sobretom de crítica ao materialismo permeia o conto inteiro, a começar pelo ritual semanal do casal, em que o marido, ao chegar do trabalho, chacoalhava moedas e chocolates nos bolsos, inciando um jogo erótico complexo que simboliza o fato de que a felicidade no casamento é diretamente relacionada à capacidade do marido como provedor. Quando um charmoso homem do Norte chega à provinciana Eatonville, trazendo consigo a sedução da riqueza aparente e da modernidade urbana, ele impressiona tanto o marido que este acaba usando sua própria bela mulher para tentar se afirmar perante o novo “rival”.

Neste conto, Hurston critica não apenas a idealização do materialismo, mas também o comportamento da esposa, que permite ao marido usá-la como um objeto e dominá-la financeiramente, um tema que se repete na obra de Hurston. No clássico “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (1937), ou “Seus Olhos Viam Deus” em português, uma das poucas obras dessa geração publicadas no Brasil, Hurston descreveu as convenções sociais que aprisionavam as mulheres, mas ofereceu a libertação através do amor e da aventura.

Beware of the sucker's rally!

Do Financial Times

The granddaddy of all bear markets, 1929 –1932, had six false alarms with an average gain of 47 per cent. And Japan’s ongoing bear saw the Nikkei rise by at least a third four times in its first four years with 10 more false dawns since then.

Bear markets typically end with a whimper rather than a bang, casting doubt on the latest recovery according to Hussman Econometrics, which analysed numerous US market bottoms and bear market rallies. With the exception of the 1987 crash, the month before the lowest point of a downturn saw a gradual descent. By contrast, bear market rallies were preceded by steeper declines and had sharper rebounds. Another characteristic of bear market rallies has been modest volume on the rebound compared to the decline. The current recovery fits the pattern of bear market rallies in terms of volume and the “V” shape of the trough. Analysts at Bespoke Investment Group noted that there have been only seven other periods in the past 110 years with rallies of similar magnitude for the Dow. Three preceded the Great Depression, three came during the Depression and one in 1982.

15.4.09

The oath

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

(Should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should remove any non-religious headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute.)

3.4.09

G-Force: Berlusconi e a Rainha



A cena foi mais ou menos a seguinte: Berlusconi grosseirão gritando "Mister Obama" no fim da foto grupal com a Rainha da Inglaterra, Obama respondendo, educadamente (Mister Berlusconi...) e a Rainha passando pito no italiano: "What it is it?!".

2.4.09

G-force 2009

Terminou a reunião dos líderes do mundo.
Lula, Obama e Gordon Brown fizeram as pazes
com Hu Jintao e Medvedev, e decidiram ressuscitar
o FUNDO MONETÁRIO INTERNACIONAL.

Isso me lembra De Volta para o Futuro. Voltamos
aos anos 80. Vou deixar o cabelo virar mulet
e tirar a poeira do meu terno de ombreiras.
Parecia a liga da justiça.

Do Economist:

Financial markets rallied after the G20 news, though this was as much because of sprigs of good economic news emerging, as the harmony that was displayed. This was despite disappointment that the European Central Bank had cut its main interest rate on Thursday, by just a quarter of a percentage point, to 1.25%. American unemployment figures on April 3rd , which could be shocking, may puncture some of that optimism, and should temper any temptation among G20 leaders to claim success. Their efforts to reflate the world economy may have avoided a 1930s-style Depression so far. But rising joblessness and years of pain may lie ahead as banks, businesses and households in the West continue to struggle to pay down their debts.

17.3.09

The Times They Are A-Changin', by Bob Dylan



Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

Copyright ©1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music

14.3.09

Porgy and Bess, Gershwin e Billie Holiday: you go to my head



Selo inspirado na ópera-jazz de 1935 "Porgy and Bess", the George Gershwin, sobre a vida nas favelas de Charleston, na Carolina do Norte. Ouça aqui a ária Summertime em versão de 1937 na voz de Billie Holiday.

livros e leitores no Brasil

Antes de se discutir as mazelas da literatura no Brasil, é preciso admitir a cruel realidade: mais de 50% da população adulta não têm estudos ou estudou no máximo sete anos. Apenas 4% estudaram 15 anos ou mais, ou 5.524.947, segundo o IBGE.

Apesar das dimensões atuais e da expansão do sistema educacional observada nas últimas três décadas, 1,2 milhão de crianças e adolescentes (3,95% da população de 7a 14 anos) ainda estavam fora da escola em 2000, e mais de 35,8 milhões de jovens e adultos (30% da população com 15 anos ou mais) possuíam menos de 4 anos de estudos1, encontrando-se possivelmente em situação de analfabetismo funcional.

Em 2006, foram publicados cerca de 40.000 títulos, totalizando mais de 350 milhões de livros por ano. É livro pra caramba.

Entretanto, pesquisadores da UFRJ1, apontando inúmeros problemas no setor, além do alto custo do livro no Brasil, citam queda de 51% nas aquisições do governo, no período de 1995 a 2004. Segundo dados da pesquisa, o governo compra menos e a preços menores: em 1995, comprou 130 milhões de livros, num total de R$ 1.261.000,00; em 2004, 135 milhões de livros e gastou 529.000,00. Em 1995, pagou R$ 9,70 o exemplar, em 2004, R$ 3,92.

Pode parecer muito, mas segundo a clássica pesquisa "Retrato do leitor do Brasil", de 2001, as "informações parecem configurar um ambiente em que a leitura não é socialmente valorizada, em que o livro não tem um lugar assegurado".

Os dados da pesquisa confirmam a necessária e estreita relação entre leitura e educação e, objetivamente, com a escola, primeira encarregada da alfabetização e do letramento. Esse vínculo natural torna-se imperativo num país com as desigualdades sociais nos níveis existentes em nosso país, onde a família não exerce o papel de primeira e mais importante definidora do valor da leitura.(SIC)


Mas há um dado interessante nessa pesquisa, também amparada no censo do IBGE em 2000. Cerca de 60 milhões (35%) declaram gostar de ler em seu tempo livre. Uns 38 milhões dizem fazer isso com freqüência. Levando-se em conta que a pesquisa envolve não apenas os adultos mas também os alunos da rede de ensino público, surge a imagem de um país com muitos jovens leitores, subsidiados pelo governo, que compra mais de 130 milhões de livros por ano. De vez em quando circula um mito de que só existem 30.000 leitores no Brasil ou coisa parecida. Existem muitos leitores por aí. O livro é que é caro, provavelmente por causa das pequenas tiragens. O problema não é ganância dos empresários do setor, pelo contrário, é até um pouco de covardia na hora de quebrar os dogmas do que é um livro no Brasil - formato, preço, logística de produção local em vez de centralizada. A distribuição é cara devido ao péssimo estado da infra-estrutura brasileira de transportes, portanto os buracos na estrada e o preço do óleo diesel comem boa parte do custo de um livro chegar a Salvador, por exemplo. Some a isso a concentração da indústria gráfica e da imprensa no Sudeste.

Precisa-se de uma política pública de incentivo à leitura, que envolva bibliotecas e escolas. A União e os governos estaduais têm que admitir que a realidade do gasto anual por aluno no sistema não corresponde ao que deveria ser. Boa educação cria leitores. Em vez de discutir os méritos da auto-promoção ou do uso da internet como veículo de divulgação da literatura, a intelectualidade brasileira deveria estar conduzindo debates muito mais profundos sobre os problemas do país e os meios de resolvê-los. É muita alienação, de ambos os lados. Fica configurado o mesmo vaidoso ciclo de embates entre as gerações literárias, um clima de ataques, cada um cumprindo seu respectivo papel na ordem das coisas - em eterno loop modernista, mas falta a desordem e o impulso de reagir dos pioneiros.

Boca do inferno (ou fogo que nunca apaga)

Do flog de John H. Bradley



In the heart of the Karakum desert of Turkmenistan the Darvaza Gas Crater or The Burning Gates give off a glow that can be seen from miles away during the dark night. The large crater is a result of a Soviet gas exploration accident in the 1950’s. It was created when a Soviet drilling rig was drilling for natural gas fell into an underground cavern resulting in a crater which today measures roughly 60 meters in diameter and 20 meters deep. The huge crater was set alight shortly after being discovered and has been burning ever sinse. The smell of burning sulfur can be detected from a distance and becomes quite strong as you near the hot edge of the crater.

13.3.09

Judicandus homo reus and Air (let's get classical)

Aria "Lacrimosa", do "Requiem" de Mozart.



"Air", de Bach
(do youtube)

The "Air on the G String" is an adaptation by August Wilhelmj of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Air". The air is usually played slowly and freely, and features an intertwining harmony and melody.

The original piece is part of Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068, written for his patron Prince Leopold sometime between the years 1717 and 1723.

The title comes from violinist Wilhelmj's late 19th century arrangement of the piece for violin and piano. By transposing the key of the piece from its original D major to C major, Wilhelmj was able to play the piece on only one string of his violin, the G string.


10.3.09

Antidote for alienation

“Uncle Tom’s Children”: fast paced and powerful writing to help you with all the soul-searching going around

Saying you’re too tired to have a conscience is not a good excuse for avoiding “Uncle Tom’s Children”, the book that shot Richard Wright to fame in 1940. Is understandable if you say you don’t like violence or hate, but be aware: sometimes, people can manage to transmute these things into something beautiful and mind opening.

Wright was critical of this power after the book’s success, and tried to write something that would be truly provocative for its time. He complained about rich banker’s daughters reading it and relating to its suffering, and perhaps he was being too ambitious, but we can never condemn too much of the right kind of ambition in a writer: “Native Son”, his attempt at transgressive art, he even questioned the guilt of enlightened bourgeoisie and its true responsibility on oppression. He failed miserably, since the novel, his first, allowed him to become one of the most successful black writers of his era.

Is curious how the most solitary of all pursuits, at the same time, takes you somewhere you had never been, to meet a whole thicket of new people. Tonight, for it took me about six hours to crack Wright’s collection of five short stories, I met a southern pastor and politician, saw him wade into a swamp intimidation and social unrest; a lonely, tragic wife; a black boy who escapes miraculously and another who doesn’t; and many more so forth.

Wright is a fast guy with an aggressive sense of dialogue and scenes that will materialize easily in your imagination. He also bends the rules sometimes, as when he piles too many coincidences in the story of a certain Mr. Mann trying to save his family during a flood in New Orleans. Or when he drifts into a stream of consciousness by the cheating wife that barely helps us feel like the one struggling with an overwhelming baby and isolated emptiness. These are brilliant stories with minor flaws that only people who read too much will feel bothered about. I can’t guarantee you won’t be angered by Wright’s ideological and deterministic sprees, though.

But he will surely crack open your head with the story of Dan Taylor, a southern pastor divided between the politics of being powerful in a Dixie town during the Great Depression, and the needs of his hungry people. He has heat coming on from all sides: the powerful whites want him to calm the insurgency, first using political tactics and even torturing him later on to make their point, while the communists say that if the demonstration is too thin and fails to achieve its goal it will be the reverend’s fault.

Meanwhile, things are getting testy at the congregation, where the spiritual sub-leaders want Taylor to take responsibility for leadership and one of them is even challenging his power. In the end, the pastor finds the solution after trying to explain his son what has happened and the true meaning of it. He must teach him right, thinks Taylor. Then he summons up a brilliant lesson about religion and being powerful: the people. “Even the Reds cant do nothing ef yuh lose yo people”, says the pastor in delightful vernacular.

Read it, digest it, keep it or give it to someone else who you think might really like it. But don’t sit around not being aware of what has happened and share an hour of two with someone else’s creation. And think. That’s what it’s all about.

3.3.09

The complete stories, by Zora Neale Hurston (New York, HarperPerennial, 2008)

To read the edition of the complete short stories of Zora Neale Hurston (1891 – 1860) in chronological order is perhaps one the most enlightening aspects of this collection, because it gives us the opportunity to follow her evolution as a writer through the span of almost 40 years. She starts with stories that overflow with the lightness of fairy-tale but matures into the brutal social fabric of family and community life, artfully exercising a vernacular vocabulary that gives her work historical significance and a unique flavor.

The published stories also have a striking difference to the unpublished ones in terms of toning down the ebullient sexuality of her prose. There are some structurally complex stories, like “Spunk” and “The six-gilded bit” that evoke some of the main themes in Zora’s imaginary: love, justice and redemption for the oppressed. The small-town intrigues of “The Eatonville Anthology” reminded me of “Winnesburg, Ohio” (1919), by Sherwood Anderson, but expressed in a way that was particular to the culture from where it sprung. “High John the Conquer” is a symbol of peaceful resistance and a fantastical renovation of old slave myths – the slaves sing to make the work lighter but also to avoid bowing to the master and to maintain an integrity of the self.

The mystical church described in “Mother Catherine”, with its collage of religions and traditions, is a place of laughter and well-being that faithfully depicts the ambient one can find either in the Cuban Santeria or the Brazilian Camdomblé, where the spiritual leader is someone who is closer to the faithful and religious experience can be a naturally joyous endeavor. The structure that Hurston chose to frame the short story is also very elegant, bringing us into this world by bits and images. Only after she has immersed us in the sacred grounds is that she briefly introduces herself as the narrator. I thought that was an absolutely organic way of starting such a vivid portrait.

There’s only so much that someone can write about these short stories with too little time, but it has to be noted that some of the unpublished work in this collection do Ms. Hurston more justice as documents than literary works, being in a very incipient state – I’m talking about the last two stories, “The seventh veil” and “The woman in gaul”. They seemed more like fragments of a future romance than complete stories in themselves. Overall, the book presents a strong sense of Hurton’s modernistic experimentations and of her own fictional universe, while allowing us to glimpse her evolution as an artist and researcher.

28.2.09

21.2.09

The Prairie

Trying to advance the romanticism of Walter Scott, James Fenimore Cooper brings forth much deeper meaning to the traditional capture and pursuit novel. He shows the
end of America's youth, the inevitable march of progress and ecological disaster. Some of his characters and settings (like the rock in the middle of the prairie) evoke donzel in distress umbilical structures, but he is aiming for a little more.
But his reference is either theater of painting, and explores this when describing a painted shirt worn by the indian. The long, implausibe dialogs are part of the game.

20.2.09

African-american modern poetry

(do site de James A. Emanuel)

Reared in the “Wild West” of the USA; earned Columbia University doctorate; had professorships in New York, France, and Poland; published 345-plus poems (in 13 individual books, 145 or more anthologies, and many journals); 32 literary essays; a now-classic anthology; an autobiography; a pio­neer book on Langston Hughes; book reviews (some in The New York Times) and a CD (poetry with saxophone accompaniment).

In 1992, created a new literary genre, jazz-and-blues haiku, later read often, with musical background, in Europe and Africa (efforts basing the Sidney Bechet Creative Award given him in 1996). During 1995-2000, placed at least 6,000 documents in his The James A. Emanuel Papers in The Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C




Experience

"To all things great and glorious":
his wine moved to his lips.
"There are so few," she answered;
her brim touched his fingertips.

They stared the fire into an ash;
their glasses bent their hands
while they, enchanted wistfully,
re-travelled many lands.

Sonnet for a Writer

Far rather would I search my chaff for grain
And cease at last with hunger in my soul,
Than suck the polished wheat another brain
Refurbished till it shone, by art's control.
To stray across my own mind's half-hewn stone
And chisel in the dark, in hopes to cast
A fragment of our common self, my own,
Excels the mimicry of sages past.
Go forth, my soul, in painful, lonely flight,
Even if no higher than the earthbound tree,
And feel suffusion with more glorious light,
Nor envy eagles their proud brilliancy.
Far better to create one living line
Than learn a hundred sunk in fame's recline.

16.2.09

Brock family

Um homem que dirigia uma picape rumo ao Capitólio, onde fica o Congresso dos Estados Unidos, foi preso ontem na entrada do complexo. O homem, que dizia ter uma encomenda para o presidente Barack Obama, foi detido com um rifle em seu veículo, segundo a polícia. Ele foi identificado pelos policiais como Alfred Brock, de 64 anos, de Winnfield, Louisiana.

Brock foi acusado por possuir uma arma de fogo não registrada e por posse de munição não registrada, segundo a sargento Kimberly Schneider, porta-voz da polícia do Capitólio. O suspeito não fez nenhuma ameaça explícita ao presidente, acrescentou Schneider. A polícia fechou por um breve período a entrada norte do Capitólio, enquanto a picape era inspecionada. Não foi encontrado nenhum outro material perigoso e o veículo foi guinchado.

(Agencia Estado, 11/02/2009)

10.2.09

"Black Boy", by Richard Wright (New York, Harper Perennial)

Wright ends "Southern Night", the first part of "Black Boy" with his dreamed escape from the brutal south. "This was the culture from which I sprang", he states. He ends his profound narrative of growing up in a society of ignorance and hate with a hopeful note, albeit a naïve one. On reaching the north, Wright feels the onset of a "second childhood". Adulthood increased his responsibilities to his family, but also granted him a degree of freedom. Nonetheless, he finds again the same mechanisms of oppression when working on the hospital, after the Great Depression had set in. When he discovers the brotherhood of the John Reed club and its communist agitators, Wright is once again embraced by a family, but this time it's also a political structure and ideological machine. Always a spirited and free-thinking man, Wright clashes with the paranoid leaders and is again cast away from his family. Not surprisingly, he is antagonized by the white secretary of the party's leader on the last scene of "The Horror and the Glory": he has encountered the same system of hate and exclusion from which he fled. But this time, the older Wright is imbued with a strong sense of purpose. He has understood the true "hunger" of America, has seen the first seeds of rebellion against materialism. His denouncement of the persecutory ways of communists is ahead of its time and certainly a factor that influenced publication of only the first part, a neatly fitting modern story of slavery, suffering and self-determination. The second part gives the whole book a different, more profound meaning, increasing the layers of his struggle and bringing forth the true universality of life's tragedy that permeates the mood of "Black Boy",
an "inexpressibly" sense of true humanity, of hunger for life. Wright receives tempting offers from the party leaders in exchange for his loyalty, but he already has discovered his true hunger, that is to "hurl words into the darkness". The formation is complete – "Black Boy" can be read not only as poignant tale of freedom from slavery and mental servitude, but also as a writer's beautiful bildugsroman, as proposed by Mikhail Bakhtin: "the dynamical unity of a character's image".

31.1.09

US$ 240

Leituras do semestre para "Hurston & Wright" e "The Western" (seis créditos).
Clique na imagem para ampliar. Começa já com a autobiografia de Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on the Road, e The Sovereignity and Goodness of God (?!?), de Mary Rowlandson, relato do seu tempo de cativa entre os índios na Nova Inglaterra no século 17 - cheio de mapas e figuras, com textos históricos sobre as guerras dos ingleses contra os índios.

30.1.09

TROLLING

Patrulhando o blog dealjournal, sobre os bônus bilionários de wall street enquanto a economia mundial ia pro buraco.

I had a so-called “Managed Portfolio” at Merrill Lynch. The so-called “manager” was named Scott MacDonald at Merrill’s Modesto, CA office. He blindly dumped my money with BlackRock and tried repeatedly to get me to move the remainder of my cash into equities at the peak. He and Black Rock lost 40% of my money. I fired them all switched my entire account to Fidelity in December. I’ve made all but 10% back - even in the turbulent environment. The justice is both Merrill and Black Rock have imploded and the dirt that sleuced their clients are out looking for jobs pumping gas. Luv ya guys. If you want to make money - DO NOT give it to an advisor. They don’t know a thing. They’re just puppets and yes-people. Study - pick - and invest yourself.

Comment by Jeff - January 29, 2009 at 6:25 pm

The problem is this: we drank the capitalist kool-aid, and now we’re screwed. We thought we could command high salaries and outsize “bonuses” when in fact we added little value and contributed to the giant house of cards. PowerPoint, management-speak, team players, corporate ambition - all that stuff is so OVER now. I always tell this to my ass-kissing corporate friends: Live by the sword, die by the sword. Just a few months ago, there were thousands of “world killers” at banks and hedge funds who thought all the false profits were real. Where are those idiots now?

Comment by C. Brewster Rhodes, IV - January 29, 2009 at 7:08 pm

Jeff. There is no way you made back all of your money ex-10% since December. Be honest with your comments.

Comment by SR - January 29, 2009 at 7:27 pm

20.1.09

A posse, diretamente da minha sala de estar

Passei a maior parte do discurso inaugural de Obama no metrô, com vontade de ir ao banheiro, na companhia de uns poucos nova-iorquinos mal humorados. Depois sentei no colombiano pra comer empanadas, a tempo de ver que Obama terminava de discursar.

Continuei assistindo de casa. No almoço presidencial, um acontecimento ominoso: o colapso do senador democrata Ted Kennedy e de um senador republicano. Ted é o último dos três irmãos que entraram na política, junto com os já falecidos John F. e Robert "Bobby".

Nos degraus do Congresso, chega a hora da parada militar. Tropas em uniformes
do século 18, tocando flauta e tambor, desfilam num anacronismo simbólico de que o presidente é também o comandante das Forças Armadas - tradição desde o general George Washington. Apenas um presidente quebrou a regra implícita de apenas dois termos, criada pelo próprio Washington. No entusiasmo da revolução contra os ingleses, chegaram a sugerir coroá-lo rei da América. Humilde, não quis. Durante a Grande Depressão e a Segunda Guerra, contudo, Franklin Delano Roosevelt se elegeu quatro vezes e morreu no poder, em 1945, após 12 anos de governo. George W. Bush se despediu da equipe de governo numa festa melancólica no domingo (?!) de noite. O repórter da Slate conta como foi. Adianto que estava frio, a comida era churrasco texano e tinha cerveja da Anheuser-Busch Inbev (aka Budweiser). Os caras da slate fizeram um especial humorístico de despedida do Bush (em inglês).

Depois da parada militar, o presidente aperta a mão do oficial de cerimonial que
liderara a apresentação das tropas. Quebra de protocolo; deve bater continência. E assim o faz, depois de ser lembrado pelo próprio oficial. A tv exibe um plano aberto da limonise presidencial, um Cadillac blindado negro, produzido pela quase falida General Motors. Na frente do carro há dois agentes secretos de óculos escuros e terno preto. A cena adquire um tom fúnebre. Me lembro de JFK, assassinato presidencial que completou 45 anos ainda muito mal resolvido. A limunise presidencial parte para a parada. Gritos histéricos. A esplanada em Washington está lotada com 2 milhões de pessoas. A temperatura começa a cair. Zero grau.

Entusiasmados jornalistas entrevistam crianças comoventes, mais gritos histéricos, bandeirolas na rua. A última posse de Bush, em 2004, atraiu 900.000, mas a multidão de Obama já ultrapassa os dois milhões. Desisto de assistir, mas fica na boca um gosto de rito. Enquanto o novo presidente segue para a parada oficial, para os gritos enlouquecidos, Bush e sua mulher deixam a Casa Branca de helicóptero, à moda de Nixon. Vacilante, Bush dá um aceno rápido antes de entrar no helicóptero. Evita o ar triunfante e fatalista de Nixon em 1973, ao renunciar por causa de tanto jogo sujo. Bush não olha para trás; as portas do helicóptero se fecham rapidamente, a nave decola, as câmeras voltam a sugar a luz das celebridades do momento.

http://www.slate.com/id/2209137/
http://www.slate.com/id/2208448/

17.1.09

E-Mail Note: ‘I Landed in the Hudson’



By JAMES BARRON
Published: January 15, 2009
The New York Times

Bill Zuhoski had settled into Seat 23A of US Airways Flight 1549 as it lifted off from La Guardia Airport and began climbing over the East River. Somewhere over the Bronx, the plane jerked, but Mr. Zuhoski figured it had run into some low-altitude turbulence.

Then a flight attendant asked for a fire extinguisher, saying there was a fire on board. The next thing Mr. Zuhoski knew, the pilot was telling the passengers to brace themselves, and he was locking arms with the passenger in Seat 23B.

A thought flashed through his mind: “How do you brace yourself for impact when you know your plane is about to crash?”

Other passengers on Flight 1549 — what was to have been a 2 hour, 13 minute flight to Charlotte, N.C. — had heard what sounded like an explosion. Elizabeth McHugh, a project manager for a company that installs information systems in hospitals, called it “a big bang.” Karin Hill, a college student on her way to Denver, called it “a loud thud.”

In the row ahead of Mr. Zuhoski, Jeff Kolodjay of Norwalk, Conn., saw the flames spurting out of the left engine. They were 3,200 feet above the Bronx.

In Seat 16A, another passenger, Fred Baretta, saw the same frightening scene. John Howell, a passenger from Charlotte, thought he understood: “We hit a flock of birds, a massive flock of birds,” he said.

What followed was perhaps even scarier. “There was just a lot of silence,” Mr. Baretta told CNN. The big jet’s engines had died, and the plane was now gliding ominously over one of the nation’s most heavily populated areas.

“The question was, how close to the buildings were we going to be?” said Ms. McHugh, the information-systems project manager.

But the flight crew still had some flying to do. Another passenger, Alberto Panero, said the jet began a turn.

“I figured, ‘Good, we are going back to the airport,’ ” he said on WABC-TV. “The next thing you know, he said on the intercom, ‘Brace for impact,’ and that’s when I knew that we were going down.” Some smelled smoke. Some smelled the tangy, troubling scent of jet fuel. And Mr. Zuhoski wondered where the plane was heading: “We didn’t know if we were hitting water or if we were hitting land,” he said.

He said there was a tremendous impact when the plane splashed down — his glasses were knocked off. But Ms. Hill, the college student, said that until water poured in, she did not realize the plane was in the water. “It felt like we were landing at the airport,” she said.

Many passengers rushed toward the back, thinking that was where the emergency exits were, Mr. Zuhoski said, but that part of the fuselage seemed to be sinking, and flooding, faster. “I started to get, you know, close to my neck underwater. I just thought I was going to drown right there.”

He stripped down to his underwear, the better to swim to safety. As the crowd thinned out, he crawled across the top of the seats and clambered out. He said he believed he was one of the last people off the plane, and he swam to a dinghy that was bobbing in the Hudson.

Everyone else in the dinghy had their clothes, and everyone was dry. They huddled, and each peeled off something to outfit him. Soon, they had all stepped off the plane and headed for shore — some to Manhattan, some to New Jersey, all relieved, all ready to replay the experience.

Sheikh Ali was waiting at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport for Matt Kane, a co-worker aboard Flight 1549, and did not know why it was late.

So Mr. Ali sent an e-mail message from his BlackBerry: “Where are you?”

Mr. Kane’s five-word response told the whole story: “I landed in the Hudson.”

15.1.09

Gastronômica

Não Comerei da Alface a Verde Pétala

Vinicius de Moraes

Não comerei da alface a verde pétala
Nem da cenoura as hóstias desbotadas
Deixarei as pastagens às manadas
E a quem maior aprouver fazer dieta.

Cajus hei de chupar, mangas-espadas
Talvez pouco elegantes para um poeta
Mas peras e maçãs, deixo-as ao esteta
Que acredita no cromo das saladas.

Não nasci ruminante como os bois
Nem como os coelhos, roedor; nasci
Omnívoro: dêem-me feijão com arroz

E um bife, e um queijo forte, e parati
E eu morrerei feliz, do coração
De ter vivido sem comer em vão.


Extraído do livro "Para Viver um Grande Amor", Livraria José Olympio Editora S. A.- Rio de Janeiro, 1984, pág. 84.

pesadelo do sistema

O cidadão Pedro Rodrigues Filho é muito considerado em sua comunidade. Na Penitenciária do Estado, em São Paulo, é uma espécie de ídolo. Num ambiente em que 16% dos moradores já mataram alguém e as pessoas têm apelidos como Fumacê, Leprinha e Nego Baitola, é a ele que chamam, com reverência, de Pedrinho Matador. Maior homicida da história do sistema prisional, ele se orgulha de ter assassinado mais de 100 pessoas, inclusive o próprio pai. E, para que ninguém tenha dúvidas, tatuou no braço esquerdo: 'Mato por prazer'.

ÉPOCA- É verdade que você espancou Hosmany Ramos (cirurgião plástico que se tornou assaltante de banco e assassino)?
Pedrinho - Tive uma guerra com ele. Bagulho particular. Ele me mandou um bolo envenenado pela teresa (corda que liga uma cela a outra pela janela). Comi e comecei a sangrar pela boca. Só não morri porque tinha um monte de leite em pó que eu comi rapidinho para desintoxicar.

ÉPOCA - Aí você o espancou?
Pedrinho - Não. O Hosmany fez isso porque eu tinha uma treta com ele antes. Tinha um rapaz que tentou uma fuga e o Hosmany delatou. Fui falar e ele me deu um soco na boca. Pra que soco na boca? Já era! Eu já ia matando ele, mas o pessoal separou.

ÉPOCA - Em Taubaté você prometeu matar o Maníaco do Parque.
Pedrinho - Isso. O que ele fez estraga a gente que está preso. Ele fez uma barbaridade. Matou um bocado de menininha indefesa. Eu tenho ódio.

ÉPOCA - Tem algum arrependimento?
Pedrinho - Não tem nada. Só matei quem não presta.


(texto de RICARDO MENDONÇA, com fotos de OTÁVIO DIAS DE OLIVEIRA)