It was a good Thursday

Thanks for dragging me to the concert. It turned a dull day into a Wagnerian experience.

The strange obsession of faith in life

Last Sunday I went to Milton Nascimento concert at Berklee. I have always liked Milton Nascimento but I would hardly consider myself a die-hard fan (as I am a Caetano or Chico Buarque fan).

However, to my complete surprise, I knew most lyrics of the songs and - even more surprising - seeing him performing live gave me goose bumps. His songs were a part of my early childhood: one of my first memories is my mom listening to his LP Ponta de Areia in our living room in the first house I have ever lived. My emotional memory is more linked to Milton Nascimento than I thought, all those images of my childhood flooded my mind thanks to the concert. It made me nostalgic and with saudades from my family.

Bonus soundtrack - Para Lennon e McCartney/Maria, Maria - probably two of his most famous songs, from where I took the quote. And it kind of fit me - I have a strange obsession of faith in life.

A tender moment in a chilly day

Bride and Groom Lie Hidden for Three Days
Ted Hughes

She gives him his eyes, she found them
Among some rubble, among some beetles

He gives her her skin
He just seemed to pull it down out of the air and lay it over her
She weeps with fearfulness and astonishment

She has found his hands for him, and fitted them freshly at the wrists
They are amazed at themselves, they go feeling all over her

He has assembled her spine, he cleaned each piece carefully
And sets them in perfect order
A superhuman puzzle but he is inspired
She leans back twisting this way and that, using it and laughing
Incredulous

Now she has brought his feet, she is connecting them
So that his whole body lights up

And he has fashioned her new hips
With all fittings complete and with newly wound coils, all shiningly oiled
He is polishing every part, he himself can hardly believe it

They keep taking each other to the sun, they find they can easily
To test each new thing at each new step

And now she smoothes over him the plates of his skull
So that the joints are invisible

And now he connects her throat, her breasts and the pit of her stomach
With a single wire

She gives him his teeth, tying the the roots to the centrepin of his body

He sets the little circlets on her fingertips

She stiches his body here and there with steely purple silk

He oils the delicate cogs of her mouth

She inlays with deep cut scrolls the nape of his neck

He sinks into place the inside of her thighs

So, gasping with joy, with cries of wonderment
Like two gods of mud
Sprawling in the dirt, but with infinite care
They bring each other to perfection.

This is not America

I live in a overly-educated, refined, rich bubble. We feel safe and protected (except from the robberies and the oh-so-scandalous murder). But this is not America.
The other day we were leaving the Friday night party at the museum and one of us suggested eating at Burger King. The clever answer that another one gave was:
"I don't live in the US, I live in Cambridge".
Latin-Americans always felt close to American culture: movies, candies, brands, music - all the imperialistic propaganda (this is an ironic joke). However, after 1 year living here - do I really know America?

Bonus track - David Bowie (LOOOOOVE him - I could do a whole series of posts based only in his song titles)

Belonging

I have never lived more than 5 years in the same house. I have packed and unpacked several times - and still now I have things scattered in many boxes in many places. I'm not afraid of changes - even when they are difficult.

I have rarely missed the feeling of belonging somewhere.

However, this weekend I had the feeling of belonging. Interestingly enough it wasn't belonging to a place but belonging side by side with people. And it felt so good.

Boston

I'm not a big fan of Boston. There - I said it!
However as I start to discover some neighborhoods as the South End, I start to appreciate the city a little bit more. Of course, the cheese, wine and prosciutto may have helped. And the fantastic dinner with good friends that we cooked after.

But I think I'm beginning to enjoy the city for the city itself.

The First Fridays at the MFA, the ICA, the bakeries, the little shops with tons of character, the beautiful buildings, the good restaurants.

Not so much the winter, though. That's too much to ask...

Bodas de Ouro - 50th Wedding Anniversary

I have a lot of theories about the world. This should be already very clear for those who know me as I'm constantly saying "I have a theory that xyz is happening because..." and then I go into rather long digressions about life.

One of my theories is the "marriage wave" - as I'm surrounded by wedding invitations from friends, co-workers and acquaintances, I'm left to ponder why they happen at the same time. But, as I'm a cynical daughter of divorced parents, I believe that this is only the first "marriage wave" - about half of the marriages will end in divorce. Therefore we will have a "divorce wave" and people will remarry afterward on the "second marriage wave".

As I'm approaching 30 and I expect at least half the marriages to end in divorce, we will see very few 50th Wedding Anniversaries when we get old.

I went to see Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project here at Harvard a couple of weeks ago. The concert was amazing, I had a great time in great company. Yo-Yo Ma received an award at the end of the concert for his effort to promote education and art. The award was named "Thelma E. Goldberg Arts in Education Award" because it was the 50th Anniversary gift that Thelma Goldberg's husband (HBS professor Ray Goldberg) gave to her - an award to foster art and education with her name.

I thought that this was one of the most beautiful gifts that someone could offer a loved one after a 50 years shared life. They not only wanted to celebrate their life together but they also wanted to share their passion to arts and education with the society. I have to say that I think that couples that after 50 years want to celebrate their marriage are one of the things that make me emotional (yes, this is my kind of kitsch).

And then I dawned me: the probability that I will ever have a 50th Anniversary are very very slim. And that is kind of sad.