Katya > Recent Status Updates

I have always been struck by the story of the Bengali poet (and composer of the Indian national anthem), Rabindranath Tagore, bursting into tears on first seeing the ruins of the Parthenon in Athens, overcome not by its aesthetic grandeur or grace but by its 'barbarian ugliness'.

Ainda a pessoa mal chegou às 10 páginas e já Mary Beard se põe a traduzir Hispânia por Espanha. Que ódio de estimação terá a senhora por este cantinho à beira-mar plantado???

we must transcend the model of hierarchical and repressive societies, in which only a few give orders and the rest must obey them.(.) If we look to the early stages of industrialization, workers regarded what they called wage slavery as something akin to classical slavery.(.)Over time, this has been engrained in the general consciousness as normality, and it must be eradicated from our consciousness.
[Chomsky]

I had read then only a little of Susan’s writing. None of her work had been assigned in any course I’d taken in school, and I could remember her name coming up just once. A professor drew our attention to the fact that Philip Rieff (.) had been married to Susan Sontag, who(.) had written a book called Against Interpretation. Which, he said with a giggle, had always struck him as hilarious.

Commenting on(.) his return of the MBE, his bed-ins(.), and his appearance (with Yoko Ono) concealed inside a large white bag(.) at London's Royal Albert Hall, Lennon demonstrated his awareness of the necessity to combine political argument with the manipulation of the media: 'Henry Ford knew how to sell cars by advertising. I'm selling peace at whatever the cost. Yoko and I are just one big advertising campaign'.

(.)there has long been an implicit recognition of the role of film as a vehicle for ideas.(.)popular music has largely evaded that kind of official interrogation & in some ways this is surprising(.)the lyrics of songs as the Small Faces 'Itchycoo Park', Cooper's 'School Is Out' & Pink Floyd's Another Brick In The Wall' are among many to have contested the authority of traditional sources of knowledge & its delivery.

My generation made a naïve error. We believed that social change was only a matter of challenging modes of production and distribution in society. We did not understand the immense role of culture. Capitalism is a culture, and we must respond to and resist capitalism with a different culture. Another way to put this: we are in a struggle between a culture of solidarity and a culture of selfishness.
[Mujica]

Dificilmente poderíamos pedir uma prova mais importante dos perigos de considerar que as pessoas se dividem entre «interior» e «exterior» do que essa interminável história meio cómica e meio trágica: a opressão das mulheres. É fácil começar por definir as mulheres como cuidadoras das suas superfícies e, a seguir, denegri-las (ou achá-las adoráveis) por se revelarem «superficiais».

Boring, like servile, was one of her favorite words. Another was exemplary. Also, serious. “You can tell how serious people are by looking at their books.” She meant not only what books they had on their shelves, but how the books were arranged.

In general, the idea is that first we destroy their countries, and then we punish the people for trying to escape from the ruins—calling it a “refugee crisis” while thousands drown in the Mediterranean fleeing from Africa, where Europe does have a certain history. In fact, the so-called refugee crisis is actually a serious moral-cultural crisis—in the West.
[Chomsky]

The two awesome challenges to decent survival are, of course, nuclear weapons and environmental catastrophe. The best defense would be a functioning democracy in which informed and engaged citizens join together to develop means to overcome the threats—as can be done.
[Chomsky]

She told me that, when David was growing up, every time she did something that was the opposite of how her mother had done it (for example, encouraging him to go into her wallet anytime without asking and take whatever he wanted), she’d give herself points. “It felt so good to be able to say, I’m not like my mother.”

Her asthma would turn out to be troublesome enough that, following doctors’ advice, the family would leave New York City, where Susan was born, and, after a brief stay in Miami, settle in Tucson. She would later suffer also from migraines and from periods of anemia. She remembered drinking daily glasses of the blood that her mother brought home from the butcher (an image I found very disturbing).

“It’s always good to start off anything by breaking a rule.”For her, arriving late was the rule. “The only time I worry about being late is for a plane or for the opera.”When people complained about always having to wait for her, she was unapologetic.“I figure, if people aren’t smart enough to bring along something read...”(But when certain people wised up and she ended up having to wait for them,she was not pleased)

Exceptionalism.Was it really a good idea for the three of us—Susan, her son, myself—to share the same household?Shouldn’t David and I get a place of our own?She said she saw no reason why we couldn’t all go on living together, even if David and I were to have a child.She’d gladly support us all if she had to, she said.And when I expressed doubts:“Don’t be so conventional. Who says we have to live like everyone else?”

Os que se exercitam a perscrutar as acções humanas em coisa alguma se acham tão embaraçados como em conjugar umas com as outras e mostrá-las à mesma luz, pois comummente elas se contradizem entre si de modo tão estranho que parece impossível terem todas saído da mesma loja.

Latin America is a collection of fragmented countries. We have mestizo people, we have indigenous populations and African and Mediterranean blood. Latin America is a synthesis of refuge, oppression and slavery and yet, being born late, it endeavors and struggles to build hope for all humanity.
[Mujica]

É um maravilhoso testemunho da fraqueza do nosso juízo que ele dê preço às coisas pela raridade ou pela novidade, ou ainda pela dificuldade, quando a estas não se juntam a bondade e a utilidade.

[...]

A bruteza e a sabedoria coincidem no modo de sentir e de suportar com firmeza as vicissitudes da fortuna humana: os sábios domam e dominam os males, os outros ignoram-nos.

O nacionalismo pai de muitos processos de descolonização, formidável - é uma força libertadora para os fracos, mas nas mãos dos fortes transforma-se numa ferramenta opressora.

A Jewish state was a mistake, and once established, it became a state like any other. On the left, we were in favor of cooperation between the Jewish working class and the Palestinian community. That was part of the Zionist movement back then, although it’s hard to believe today.
[Chomsky]

Os recursos necessários existem, encontramo-los neste esbanjamento depredador da nossa civilização. Há poucos dias, num quartel de bombeiros da Califórnia, fizeram uma homenagem a uma lâmpada elétrica que está acesa há cem anos. Há cem anos que está acesa, amigos!
Quantos milhões de dólares nos tiraram dos bolsos, fabricando deliberadamente porcarias para que as pessoas comprem,comprem, comprem e continuem a comprar.

selvagens são por nós chamados os frutos que a natureza, no seu curso ordinário, produz por si, quando, em boa verdade, são antes os frutos que artificialmente alterámos e que desviámos da ordem geral que devíamos apelidar de selvagens.

[Diana Dors] stylist was a wonderful character called Ricci Burns(.)
"Ricci, what would you do with my hair?" one of the fashionable ladies on his chair would ask.
"Madam," he'd declare with mock seriousness, "this is a comb, not a magic wand."
And if Ricci received a tip that he considered ridiculously small, he'd hand back the coin with an air of concern:
"Excuse me, madam. I think you need it more than I do."

Receio bem que tenhamos mais olhos que barriga, e mais curiosidade que capacidade. Tudo abarcamos, mas nada senão vento asimos.

Unless you were there, it's difficult to imagine just how radical rock 'n' roll sounded at the time. The only music that was played by the BBC, which had the monopoly over the airwaves, was as safe and proper as the mellifluous accent spoken by the Queen's equerry. (...)Rock 'n' roll, on the other hand, sounded sexy, unpredictable and dangerous. Which is why parents feared it... and we loved it.

O homenzinho médio das nossas grandes cidades deambula entre os bancos e o tédio rotineiro dos escritórios, às vezes temperados por ar condicionado. Sonha permanentemente com as férias e a liberdade. Sonha permanentemente em pagar as contas, até que um dia o coração deixa de bater e adeus. Haverá outro soldado prestes a ser engolido pelo mercado, a garantir a acumulação.

Arrasamos as selvas, as selvas verdadeiras, e implantamos selvas anónimas de cimento. Enfrentamos o sedentarismo com passadeiras de correr, a insónia com comprimidos, a solidão com equipamento eletrónico... Somos felizes afastados do que, desde sempre, nos constitui como humanos? É preciso fazer-se essa pergunta.

Não me ocupo de dizer o que se deve fazer no mundo - já há bastantes que o dizem - mas de dizer o que eu nele faço.
(...)
[»É assim que eu procedo; tu, faz como achares melhor.» Terêncio, Heautontimorumenos, I, 1, 80]