South America
August 5, 2009
- These days political torture is being much examined in the news: its use by the recently defeated Republican Party team of George Bush, its purposes, its physical effects on those tortured, its success (or lack of same) as an investigative device. Questioning and torture, we have learned, frequently go hand in hand, and Jacobo Timerman knew quite a bit about that.“Are you a Jew?” A ...
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May 22, 2009
- Among the many, many unusual kinds of poems that Pablo Neruda wrote, his Elemental Odes are justifiably celebrated. He produced an abundance of them, odes to just about everything including the most domestic of everyday articles. . . innumerable objects, pieces of homey flotsam, the stuff of every day life and his constantly wandering thoughts about how they could be shown in verse. One that I ...
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May 22, 2009
- The Uruguayan writer Mario Benedetti died in Montevideo on May 17. A novelist, essayist, short story writer, poet and apologist for tango, Benedetti wrote more than sixty books and has long been considered a major figure in Latin American writing of the last half-century. He was also a political figure, having been pursued by the Uruguayan military junta in the 1970’s for his indiscreet ...
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April 4, 2009
- Last night we decided to take the coastal route on the bus ride home from Vina del Mar. We got off far enough from the steps that lead up to our house for a chance to walk along the breakwater. The tide was high and waves splashed over the rocks, their last wisps directly below us. The moon lit the clouds, mottled like doeskin, and the rocks held the sheen of water and foam. We found a ...
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February 23, 2009
- I recently co-wrote and appeared in a stage show entitled "Tango: A Romantic Ritual". It was video-taped and is available from Social Dance Cultures. I was interviewed for the show as well, and I hope you'll take a look at these few portions of the conversation.
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February 22, 2009
- I recently co-wrote and appeared in a stage show entitled "Tango: A Romantic Ritual". It was video-taped and is available from Social Dance Cultures. I was interviewed for the show as well, and I hope you'll take a look at these few portions of the conversation.
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February 21, 2009
- I recently co-wrote and appeared in a stage show entitled "Tango: A Romantic Ritual". It was video-taped and is available from Social Dance Cultures. I was interviewed for the show as well, and I hope you'll take a look at these few portions of the conversation.
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February 5, 2009
- As the tango says: Así se baila el tango,sintiendo en la cara,la sangre que subea cada compás,(Thus is tango danced,feeling in the facethe blood that riseswith each rhythm.)I’m involved in two major Argentine tango events in the San Francisco Bay Area on Valentine’s weekend. Please join us. . .¡Milonga de amor! At The Ferry Building (at The Embarcadero and Market Street in San Francisco), ...
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January 1, 2009
- I look at you. You are there looking at me,but I won't let your eyes penetrate.I listen to you, but your words won't capture me. When we are far away, I feel the air cut me inside.Your distant laughter feels like a sprinkle of rain in spring,a smooth arrangement of music.Your young scent mixes with jasmineand lifts me through fresh clouds.But today your words are like the echo of ...
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December 28, 2008
- This is our dear friend Susana. A summer goal is to translate her poems. As I wrote in my last posting, there are challenges living in a different country but to leave wonderful people like her will be very difficult if we decide to go home. Susana is one of our hijas, along with another young woman named Pamela, whose family we hope to be staying with in another week or two down in the south ...
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