What is Antonio Banderas doing in Argentina?

… and why is he meeting with (the new) President Fernandez?

In this picture released by Argentina’s Presidency, President Cristina Fernandez, right, shakes hands with Spain’s actor Antonio Banderas, center, as he introduces his wife US actress Melanie Griffith at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007.

(AP Photo/Argentina Presidency)

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Antonio-Banderas/ss/events/en/121407banderas#/071214/481/d550da21993547ceac9415e2798a6e86

Connection

Today, I drove to work in the rain and parked near a low curb, up against the hill. Schenley hill rising slick and green against the gray sky. Trees like sodden torches, leaves carpeting the grass. Stone steps. Marble hallway. Offices quiet and overheated. Pittsburgh has terrible weather, but I can’t help loving it, all the same…

…

So my boss is in Rwanda today for a Connectivity Conference.

I can’t find a link for that conference, but here’s one for a similar conference in March 2007… http://www.ustda.gov/news/pressreleases/2007/SubSaharanAfrica/SSAICTConfOpening_031907.pdf

It’s a conference about the internet in Sub-Saharan Africa, about how to bring developing African states into the 21st century as far as internet access is concerned. CMU was the most wired university in the U.S. before such things were popular, and it’s working hard to maintain that reputation, which is why (I’m sure) we’re there.

But it got me thinking: Today I was on the phone to the following places: Ohio, Chicago, Boston, China. Yesterday, Argentina and California. A couple weeks ago, a friend in Quatar. New York, Atlanta, Minnesota … And let’s not even talk about my IM destinations!

(Incidentally, for a really useful VOIP program, go here: http://www.jajah.com — good quality sound, extraordinarily low prices (.031 cents/minute to China this evening, 150 free minutes per month between Jajah members – and membership is free…)

I remember a fall morning, perhaps six months ago. I’m at the office at my internship in Argentina (their fall, spring here in Pennsylvania…). It’s early in the morning, white light coming through the windows. The office ceiling must’ve been 15 feet up, wooden floors, low desks, rolley chairs. I was in the office making coffee with Gustavo, and we were chatting in Spanish, shooting the breeze. He makes amazing coffee – something magical. I swear, if I could import people, he’d be the first. Knows his way around a coffee machine better than anyone I’ve ever met … Anyway, he was telling me that Argentines are much more family oriented than US citizens – that they live in one city, that they stay close to their families, that they don’t feel the same need to travel, that they don’t tend to go away.

I remember that when I first went to Buenos Aires, I somehow thought the city was all there was – as though you could have 11 million people living in a Manhattan environment – but then I started getting to know Argentines, started going into the neighborhoods. Went for a walk with Martín the one day, and it was like walking through a small town – wide, empty streets, low houses … and then driving out of the city, a thousand houses, a hundred neighborhoods. You can leave home and never be more than half an hour from your parents’.

I took umbrage at Gustavo’s generalization, at the time- but then I realized; we (in the US) are mostly descended from wanderers, nomads, people who leave for a new place and never return. Connectivity, culturally and perhaps even genetically (can i say this and stay politically correct? probably not. Is it late, and is it my blog, so will i? yes ;) – so perhaps even genetically, we’re predisposed to have more interest in travel.

Also, we have more large cities. Over 1/4 of Argentina’s population lives in what might as well be their only city.

So I’ve got these phone calls going. I’m texting all over the world right this minute. I was in California over the weekend. … How do we keep connectivity in a world like this?

.

I suppose I’m still trying to get a handle on why so much technology in the U.S., specifically, and why we seem to depend on it so much more than anyone else. Here’s a thought; we have the same need for connection, but we all have itchy feet. …

… I miss Buenos Aires!!!! ….

From Fodor’s

Spring in Buenos Aires is a Culture Vulture’s Delight

Buenos Aires’ non-stop artistic calendar keeps the city’s culture vultures busy and content, and now that spring has arrived in the southern hemisphere, the city is absolutely teeming with cultural offerings for visitors and locals alike.

The city is celebrating Art Week this week with an array of activities, culminating on Saturday, October 6 with the extraordinary La Noche de los Museos, when more than 100 public and private galleries and museums open their doors to the public for a free night of museum madness. Porteños love the nightlife, so expect the museums to be jam-packed until the wee hours; more than 300,000 people participated last year, and more are expected this year. The party will end with a midnight concert headlined by Grammy-nominated Argentine/Alaskan musician Kevin Johansen + The Nada.

Buenos Aires’ premiere design fair opened its doors last week and will run through November 25. Casa FOA gives top Argentine and international decorators, architects and interior designers a place to show off their latest creations and spaces. This year, the exhibition is taking place in a former train station in the hip Palermo neighborhood.

Renowned Argentine silversmith Marcelo Toledo has created a jewelry exhibition inspired entirely by Argentina’s legendary former first lady, Eva Peron. The Evita: Figure, Woman, Myth collection of broaches, earrings, necklaces and more will be on display until the end of October at the Evita Museum in Palermo. The collection will tour the United States and Europe next year.

For documentary film buffs, the 9th Annual National Video and Film Documentary Festival will take place from October 6-13. Dozens of Argentine and Latin American documentaries will make their world premiere at the festival, with screenings throughout the week in the neighborhood of San Telmo.

For a one-of-a-kind experience, be sure to visit the first-ever exhibition of Argentine Arte Villero (Shantytown Art) at the Boquitas Pintadas pop-hotel from October 26 to November 24. The show will feature paintings, sculptures, music and videos imagined by young artists from the scores of shantytowns, known as villas, that line the urban belt of Buenos Aires. It’s sure to be an eye-opening experience for all.

—Brian Byrnes

Technical Help

Dear friends, family, and everpatient blog readers. I’ve been Very Very Busy.

Unfortunately, the more fun things i do, the less I tend to blog, and vice versa. This seems to have the (unhelpful) effect effect of rendering my bloggish moments fairly dull…. ;)

In any case. For those of you using gmail, here’s a Very Easy Way To View My Most Recent Posts (it will notify you and provide a link):

1. Click on “Settings” (top right of the screen)
2. Go to the “Web Clips” tab (far right)
3. In the “Search by topic or URL” box (leftish), enter the following URL: http://www.lningram.wordpress.com/feed
4. Hit “Search”
5. You should get one result, that looks like this: Al Fin del Mundo http://www.lningram.wordpress.com/feed
6. Click “Add”
7. Now when you check your google, if i’ve got a new post, it should show up. I’d recommend then going to “My Clips” and deleting anything you’re not interested in.
8. This should also work if you’re using other emails that have an RSS feed, but i’m not sure how. Look in your “help” section, or send me email and i’ll look into it :)

Let me know how it goes!

11:30pm, Feb. 25, 2007. (i.e. much later the same day)

To bed at 6am. The first alarm (being an analog clock) went off early.

The second, I never heard, although I found my phone under my covers during the mad scramble to get ready that followed. Was out the door by 9:10 (about an hour after I was supposed to *meet* people) and at the bus station (Retiro) by 9:30. Huzzah for taxis. And really cool friends who have pesos when I can’t get my online banking to cooperate. (Muchas Muchas Muchas gracias a Rodrigo : ) :/ )

We went to Parque de la Costa, which reminded me a huge amount of Kennywood, actually. Even though it’s on the outskirts of Bs.As., it’s smaller than Kennywood, and keeps to the small-town feel. Only … it must’ve been over 100 degrees Farenheit today in the sun (*edit* it was at least 40C, or 104F, as reported by various Argentines…), and then there’s the effects of the lower ozone here in South America (this is documented, i’m not just making it up, and yes, you can *tell*…) – it was hot, and very quiet. They had water misting stations up all over the place, just to stand in and stand in, even in the ride (“juego”) lines. Juego means game, but also ride (apparently). We rode … one water ride (a “Pittsburgh Plunge” clone), two roller coasters – one an upside-down roller coaster (my first!) and one a very twisty, grandiose number that was one of those where the seats hang down from the roller coaster. Also a couple of smaller rides (including a bumper-cars-in-the-water piece that i’m *sure* would never make in the states due to the number of unprotected outboard motors in rubber rafts in a small area in the hands of inexperienced personel etc…)… and then it was 8pm. (ye gods, the long lines), and we caught the train home. I’m beat, and haven’t slept nearly at all since friday morning.

I did want to add that the previous post (this morning) was heated, but is essentially what i meant to say; i felt, for the first time (for whatever reason) that the U.S. has a good sense of where diversity is going, and what it can look like, where the rest of the world may not (yet). This, if I may say so, seems a place we (USCitizens) could make a difference for the better; we’re not just *in* the debate… we’re leading the debate as it stands, for now. (it seems to me) …. So yes, there is racism (job discrimination, education discrimination, etc) in the US, but … on the other hand, we’re actively stirring the pot, allowing and encouraging dialog, etc etc. We’re doing a lot wrong, but (it seems to me), we’re doing a lot right as well.

ok, enough (unasked for) patriotism for one evening. Chau everyone.

Oh! Also, I have an address, so if you’ll send me a letter (and not unless!!) please send me an email and i’ll go ahead and email it back to you.
Also, I thought this blog entry on sex toy vs. gun sales in Alabama was very interesting and that the author made some good points : )

Learning from the rest of the world – philosophy at 6am (sorry, i’m being longwinded here)

… Sometimes I feel I’m learning more from the other extranjeros than from Argentina/Argentines. Out tonight with an Argentine and his handicapped friend (‘brother,’ i thought it was sweet, and trusting of him to bring him along in a group..) an aussie, an irlandes, a brit. expats, all save the argentines, and me, more of a wanderer-through. I often feel out of touch, out of step, somehow, with the rest of these people. They have different basic assumptions, different inherent biases (I’m not fool enough to pretend I’ve none!) and I very often have this feeling of put ting my foot down in conversation, expecting to find solid ground … and finding nothing but air.

I learned tonight that aside from Sydney, there’s little ethnic or religious diversity in Australia. (who knew?) The owner of said information byte followed it up by saying it’s just like the US, where the diversity is concentrated in our cities … and that’s true, i suppose. To a point. But … But I’m thinking of getting on the bus from Oakland to Squill in Pittsburgh, and there being people of all kinds of varieties; black, white, hispanic, asian, indian, blond, redhaired, brown, long hair and none at all (guys and girls), full-body tattoos and none (ditto), frat boys, sorority girls, goths, hippies, geeks, nerds, business kids (in suits!), doctors and residents and nurses and secretaries, grandparents, highschool kids, college students, PhD adult students, nuns and pimps, gay and straight, married and divorced … and I could probably pull 90% of those people off any crowded bus in Oakland, and add a few categories to boot.

Here on the subway… here it’s girls with various amounts of natural and suntan-based tan colored skin. Long hair, dark. skirts and sandals and shoes and little tshirts. guys in the everlasting ‘guy’ garb. a few adult men dressed professionally in suits, a few younger guys dressed more formally, a few (generally older) women in more professional garb. A few kids, half of them selling things, a few tourists (sigh, Americans generally being loud), a few students, a few grandparents.

They all have the same nose, i swear.

But, you say, Pittsburgh/Oakland is unusual, just for the sheer variety/diversity. There’s the rest of the country to contend with! But … but then i start thinking about driving the country a couple summers ago -

Minnesota. (yeah, i’m having (too) much fun with this old-pictures thing. bear with me…

Chicago, Atlanta, New York, Boston … it’s not like Minnesota’s the model of diversity, i suppose. But whether in Minnesota, or anywhere else, no matter where I’ve been in the US, there were always all different kinds of people at the rest stops, in the cars, on the streets… Even if they were all (say) white, we’re still talking people with radicallly different ways of thinking, looking, dressing. (a UPenn college student and an Amish 20-something are very very different, I don’t care *how* close their genes are …)

And New York! An ocean of brilliantly different people. (I *miss* that city)
…

So get to the point, you’re saying. So here’s the point. I’m spending a lot of time these days, I feel, either defending or explaining the US. To some extent, I think this is just me having a bit of a rough time adjusting to being the only American (it’s a lot harder to maintain that personal illusion about the US being either the best or the most-right country when you’re around non-American humans, policy and customs…) but I still feel I’m playing defense quite a lot of the time. But it struck me tonight -like getting hit over the head with a hammer – that this is something we *do*know a lot about – perhaps something we, as US citizens, even know better than Europe. Diversity, we get. We even do pretty well with tolerance, overall … some Argentine asked me about racism in the US the other day.

Here’s my answer, but skip it if you want ;)

I answered that in my opinion, there’s two kinds of racism in the US – economic (people generally don’t want to be friends with their gardener, be s/he black or white or hispanic…) and racial/profiling (illegal discrimination etc). The first can only be dealt with (i said) via the reaching of economic equilibrium; when someone else’s ex-gardener-now-manager buys the house next door, you take a fruit cake over (god save us) and say hi.

The second (i continued) is something we’re working on, but have a long way to go.

“Do you think you have racism in Argentina?” I asked.

“No, we don’t have any at all.”

… uhhuh. This is because you’re inherently good, or because racism’s pretty damn hard when you’re all clearly drawing on the same genetic pool..?

But i desist from the idiotic irony. It’s nearly 6am and this is all bothering me.

Here’s the thing; I suddenly felt, not the youngest (culture speaking) in the group, but the oldest, surprised by how little ‘diversity’ – or, perhaps, mixing? – there is in other countries. Felt that I had something worthwhile, although I’ll still have to turn this idea over (and will), to see how it fits in the matrix. Moreover, I suddenly felt that, for all its bad points, the US has a great many good ones; not the least, that I still get wierded out to get on a bus full of faces of one color/nose palate and fashion sense. Suddenly, I was the littlist bit homesick.

… So sue me : )

A couple of thoughts:

1) Eggs are not liquid. That’s right, they look like a liquid, but then they’re bad and you go to pour them down the drain and it turns out they’re actually a solid in disguise, and you have to spend lots of time running hot water and hoping you won’t cook the whites in the drain…

2) I am not 19 any more. SHOCK!!! No, really; went out last night (this is a story…).

• Went to my Pasantia/internship, got back around 4.
• Did some yoga and went swimming (on my roof; I’ll get the pictures up soon, i promise!).
• Went shopping (a highly functional black skirt, and a lacy green shirt, for the fashion-conscious amongst you)
• 10:45pm, Paseo del Sol for beers and olives/cheese/pepperoni/chips with some friends and my host brother, who’s leaving this afternoon to go backpacking in Patagonia for 2 weeks.
• 1am: VIP/non-extranjero section of Club Mumm with three Argentine girls who were wonderfully sweet and got me in for free; and some poor escort Argentine male who had an ear infection and whose girlfriend wasn’t along… On the way in, a guy in a muscle shirt doing a slow-style hip-hop exhibition all alone on the floor, looking like he ought to be in Cirque du Soleil. Lights in cubist forms, purple/orange/black, latticing over his body.
  • Incidentally, argentine girls all seem to color-coordinate and i can’t figure out how the heck they do it. These three were all dressed the same, in jeans, white shirt, and jewelry… although one had a bubble watch and a sporty sense to her and reminded me a great deal of KJ, a marine who used to live in the house in PGH a while back…
• 2:30am, out on the floor at Club Mumm - it’s a hip-hop club and people are dancing like they mean it. Music loud and the lights are edgy, mobile. An Argentine falls in love with me and then moves on.
• 3am: a Very Tall Uruguayan kisses me on the way out of the club.
• 3:15amish: taxi back to the apartment. I’m still in shock about the kiss. Charlene (my new roomie, 19, blond, American/Miami) and a guy from Chile are just going out. I change and go out with them.
• 4am: after getting taken for a spin by the taxi driver, we wind up at club Nice, a techno/trance place in viejo Palermo. Beats on the floor, the whole place smelling of cigarettes and weed; a lot of hippies, a lot of people who think they can dance. An Argentine who looks exactly like my friend Dan Swanton falls in love with me. His friends try to set us up and ask if he can kiss me. I say I just want to dance.
  • The lighting’s all wrong at this place; strobe lighting and moving greens/blues switching to house lights – yellow, static, like being at a beer swilling house party in Oakland somewhere. When the DJ keeps his hands off the lights and his mind on the music it’s much better. Music loud and stacatto, the stage all fog and lights, people in costume (a girl with horns, another with a long dangling tail, etc) prancing around. None of them can dance.
• 4:30, backbend into space, hands, elbows, rings sparkling in black/white/blue strobe light. I love trance, even mediocre trance. It’s like dancing inside the music, instead of just to it. Someone offers me a ‘j. A black Argentine (!!) with an Afro asks my name. A passing German (?) tells me I’m beautiful. A passing Argentine feels me up. Someone steps on my foot. This club is full of extranjeros, and it shows; the crowd is on average a lot taller than the club in the VIP section at Mumm. I’d just been getting used to feeling taller, too…
• 5am, Charlene and the Chilean (whose name i’ll remember eventually) get wierded out/sick of the scene, and we head out, get in a taxi, go back to the apartment.
• 5:30am: i check my email (yeah, i’m a CMU student, sue me) and go to bed.
• 8:30am: Charlene gets up and goes to drop her laundry off and go to class…. Like I said; I’m not 19 any more. It’s not that i’m hung over, even (drank nothing at club Nice, and half a beer at club Mumm) just that … how to say it; sleep is higher on my priority list than it used to be.

Patagonia Vacation, part I

Hi again, all. I know it’s the 9th, and not the 5th, but things have been hectic; i’m trying to move, living out of a suitcase, working 5+ hours a day (which somehow feels like a *lot* more than ) and trying to have a social life. Mostly it’s the looking-for-an-apartment bit that’s really getting me. In any case, i’ll post a few pics now (3am for me) and then I’ll try and get some more up tomorrow. So…

the above is a picture taken of the sunset behind some trees as we left Buenos Aires, about 2 hours into a 16-hour trip. The sun is setting here between 9 and 9:30 (use this link to check the weather here!). After the sun set, the moon came up. After the moon set, we were far away from the city (Buenos Aires has between 11 and 12 million people, over 1/4 of the population, which is something like 39 million total in Argentina…). The stars came out, and the milky way lit up like a road in the sky. I’ve only ever seen the sky like in a few places (indulge me ;) –

At Sea, December 2003: on the deck of the S.S. Universe Explorer (below, one of mom’s pix!), late at night. Somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the captain turned off all the lights, and we lay on the top deck and counted how many galaxies we could see…

October/November 2003: From the bank of this river, in Tanzania. The stars were so bright they reflected in the water and showed the crocodiles moving below the campsite. Here, there were two fires far in the distance, and no other lights…

August 2004: From this porch, at the beach house, on family vacation…

~**~

I can’t actually think of any more right now, but … what I meant to say was that every time i see stars like this, I find myself thinking about all the stories and legends involving stars; they’re so much more believable, and ancient obsessions with stars make so much more sense when you see stars this bright. Stars have less power in a culture where we never really see them at all…

But enough with random pictures ;) On with the story!! We made it to Mendoza without incident, and walked the four blocks or so to our hostel, hostel Lao:

Mendoza is really a lovely small town, with these wonderful shaded streets and the typical marble-esque tiling on the sidewalks, interlaced with the aforementioned corrugated brick. This is just to the side of our hostel (to the right in the above photo, different day) I loved the old trees, and the wide streets and sidewalks. It’s worth knowing, too, that Mendoza’s actually in a desert climate; the city is fed by a system of culverts etc (think Roman-era technology), which you can just see to the right of the roots of the trees in this picture. The (famous) vineyards are watered the same way.

We checked our bags and then headed out to do a Bike’n'Wine tour. Here’s the group getting ready to head out (me taking the picture: Colby, Will, Sarah, Josh, Julie, Cynthia):

In any case, it’s actually nearly 3:30am here, and I have to get up for work (friday!) so i’ll add more as i go. Please do leave me notes, comments, feedback; more or less pictures, more or less commentary? Let me know if you’re reading – it totally encourages me to stay active on here.

Peace, all :)

2am and work tomorrow

… J (my host brother) is terribly, terribly hot when he speaks English. It’s almost irritating (!)

…

…

I told him he has a “buen accento” and left it at that…

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… also i have a date tomorrow (with a redheaded Argentine), so wish me luck!!!

La Boca – this post primarily for Nathaniel M.

First, please see below to the 14th for a (backdated) post regarding a horseriding adventure…

Second: Yesterday (Sat, 20th), I was at La Boca with some friends. La Boca is a district/neighborhood of the city that I think would probably be a lot better without the heavy tourist influx. But then, we were part of the influx, so it’s hard to say for sure ;) Went with four brazilians and a guy from switzerland.

This part of town felt less polluted to me. We walked down from the bus stop at Constitution (about 30 minutes). Entered through this plaza/park on top of a hill. There was a nice view of this lovely old church…

Joao, Alex, Niara, Laerte, Natti, Rodrigo (me taking the picture). Church in the backround to the left…

Then we walked down and into the town. Lovely details everywhere…

flower detail on a gate

~**~

Lamp shadows (later in the day)

We went to Estacion La Boca, which is the old train station. As Laerte said this guy said (so i’m not actually sure), the old train station was moved/removed in order to build … the stadium? I think. In any case:

Me at Estacion La Boca

More of Estacion La Boca. Note the stadium top and right …

~**~

So La Boca is best known (i believe?) for Boca Juniors, a futbol/soccer team. Here’s me at the stadium (gotta have some human interest, right?! ;)

~**~

The museum…

~**~

We had lunch in this open air feria/market later. I walked around through some of the Ateliers and saw some cool paintings. Liked this one especially:

The artist signs him/herself JANI

And … heading home:

Hopefully i’ll have more thoughts next time, and not just pictures ;)