In Press to Impress: Two Hundred Years of Journalism in Brazil

The first Brazilian newspaper, the Gazeta of Rio de Janeiro, was printed in Brazil on September 10th, 1808. Three months before that the Correo Braziliense was considered the first press, although published oversea, in London, and entered in Brazil in a clandestine way, even though it was made for the elite and the monarchic (tres chic) regimen.

I once wanted to be a journalist just to have my dream gone on my first attempt to enter the most important University in Sao Paulo. But anyway, who told me I needed to become a journalist in order to be a writer, if I were already a storyteller since childhood? The day of my inscription for the exam (which for me meant almost to reach the same score as if I was to enter to the University of Medicine, almost like applying to be a doctor) a man who took care of the contenders, once he saw my choice for studies, said out loud, "One more liar in the world!" So much for an incentive to just leave it all behind. If I were to write I would write about the thruth, even if it was a fiction, it would be a fiction about the truth. I never stopped with my dream of being a writer, actually I never stopped being one, and what other people would say about to get me out of track, on the contrary, that would be enough reason for me to keep typing. That's how the introduction from this book by Paulo Coelho (see below) ressonates deep into my soul, when he says that when he thought he had given up his dream, life would sweep off the rug under his foot and get him back to what he most deeply wanted in his life: To be a writer. Don't you just hate when fate plays out its part and just press you against all the odds until you finally give up and see that it was all right?

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Portrait of Gilberto Mendes

Above, a picture of Gilberto Mendes & I in the Guarany Theatre in Santos, Brazil.
Below, his Signature:Now I am feeling really blessed. This afternoon I've got the priviledge of presentiating the presentation of many artists (all of them from my birthplace) in my birthplace but of different areas in their best performances. A pianist played an encyclopedia of different musics from the Classical compositor Gilberto Mendes, a soprano sang his compositions, mostly lyrics from other poets born in Santos, such as Vicente de Carvalho, but also from S. John (The Woman and the Dragon) and I was exhilarated to see a painter (also from Santos but who lives in California now) portraying this moment. I looked out at the window of that beautiful big maison and then I saw surfers stretching out to ride the big waves. I was riding, right, but in the web of life, in extasis being surrounded by sound, visual delight and entering into a state of bliss. It made my heart complete to know that so many wonderful artists were blessed by the green waves of the sea of Santos. And they are all Saints, or at least touched by them.
Just a shame I didn't have my camera then. But that is recorded forever in my cornucopian corneal archive. Just to take out some curiosity here is an emblematic moment from this extraordinary man and his so well deserved coronation (in life as in his career) and laureated glories in his light-crowned head:

International Book Fair

Yesterday I went to Sao Paulo with my mother to go to the International Book Fair and I stayed there all day long. I was so tired of walking there all day and carrying all the heavy books my mom wanted to buy that now I cannot even sleep so much my back hurts. There I also went to a conference lead by a new authour, and illustrator (just as I am) who spoke up about his beliefs which in a way echoed my own thoughts about the publishing media. I could keep listening to him for the whole evening. He said that everyone has a story to tell and he certainly did have a lot of his own, not to mention of other people he met (and you can view his blog here: http://walthermoreirasantos.blogspot.com/). But I was so overwhelmed by the exhaustion that I could not even speak with the contact I had with the editor. I passed right through him, saying only a brief "hello" and then leaving for I was already late to my mother's appointment. Later on we still went to see my sister rehearsal as she said she was singing just for me who won't be there when she has her presentation in two weeks. Saturday I will go to a lecture of a writer friend of mine at the local library right at the beach. She's been writing for the major newspaper here in Santos. So I kind of look up for her. Next week i will be back in Santiago. Already missing the sunny days I've been spending at the beach...

É Doce Morrer No Mar, Dorival!

It had been two month that his wife was there at the hospital. She had a heart attack, and as he waited for her to come back he also waited her call every day. Until he day she entered in a state of coma and it had been already nin days gone and he hadn't heard from her. Thinking that she was already dead and nobody did tell him, Caymmi, considered for all the grandpa of Bossa Nova, left us in his recently completed 94 years old.
Good-bye, Caymmi, you will be missed! Good-bye, long-played, so long...



É doce morrer no mar / Sweet it is to die in the sea
Nas ondas verdes do mar/ In the green waves of the sea
É doce morrer no mar / It's sweet to die in the sea
Nas ondas verdes do mar / In the green waves of the sea

Saveiro partiu de noite foi/ The boat left at night
Madrugada não voltou /Early in the morning he didn't come
O marinheiro bonito/ The handsome sailor
Sereia do mar levou/ The mermaid took him

A noite que ele não veio foi/ The night he didn't come was
Foi de tristeza prá mim/ It was so sad for me
Triste noite foi prá mim/ Sad night it was for me

Nas ondas verdes do mar/in the green waves of the sea
Ele se foi afogar/he drowned
Fez sua cama de noivo/He made his bed of groom
No colo de Iemanjá/ In the arms of Yemanja
É doce morrer... (Dorival Caymmi/Jorge Amado)

Le Coq Sportif

Le coq loves the Olympics

Episode 11/18 : Starace à Pékin
envoyé par lecoqloveschina

The Olympic Games started and I am already mesmerized by so many events in and outside the television set. Imagine joining the whole world together to celebrate a happy time and right then make a war. It sounds totally surreal that in time where all nations are battling the good fight (sports in general are supposed to make you feel good even if you loose it) you gain the knowledge that there is a war inside a country. My condolence rises and goes to all the Georgians, all the widows, sons and daughters who just became orphans, and the numbers increasing of people suffering in the world augmenting each and every day. Sometimes my heart just wants to explode with all that, but I know I would be of any service to all if I keep sadness in my heart. So I just leave a prayer in the air, hoping it will float on other people's heart and give relief to the ones who suffer most.

Besides taking a look or two on the games, I've been busy working on my audiobooks, arranging some new tunes, composing music and songs along with my tales for kids. It's been fun! Hope I will soon share that here to you and make a heart or two happy too.

Don't keep walking in your life with sadness in your heart.
Live each day with happiness and make it a brand new start.

Nao atravesse a vida carregando tristeza em seu coracao.
Viva cada dia com alegria e faca disso uma linda cancao.
Ana Antunes

A Car Crash

Last week I took a brief trip but only two days after I left I had a car crash. The car is totally damaged, couldn't run anymore. I have contusions and I am under lots of pain both on my abdomen and on my back and arms. Funny thing is the reaction I received from many people who were simply curious to see how it happened and didn't even think of helping out. I even overheard people saying while I was still trying to recover my breath that, by the sound of the impact, they thought the car had rolled over and gone down the hill. People passed fast by car, all looking, some even laughed, I saw a woman on the passenger side smiling, just fascinated on the state the car was left. Crazy world we live on! Humans have such a fascination for accidents, they can be oblivious to many things, but when it is about people hurt and total wreckage they cannot help themselves. But I do believe in a few people who really make this world goes round. There were two women (mother and her daughter), that I later called them "Angels sent from Heaven" who were disposed to make all the calls necessary to help me out. They even offered something to drink and some biscuits (for it was late and I didn't have lunch yet, which was good or the food would be thrown out anyway by the shock). They told me they both had suffered car accidents, one of them when little daughter was only two years old. And thanks for the seatbelt (and especially from God) that I am here now to tell the stories. Here I leave some photos of the car I was in: Although only the automobile was under the influence of alcohol (I had just filled the tank full) oil was spread on the road, and there was still the danger of an explosion. The impact on my chest hit so strongly that I could not breath, and I had to leave the car to be able to restore some colours over my face. I have contusions and a long mark like a knife cut from the seatbelt on my chest and neck. That's why I always recommend to use it at all times!

Later on, when I felt strong enough to walk to the police station, I saw a man bringing a penguin that he found on the beach, yes, in a tropical weather. I caressed his head, and it was cold as an ice cube. I took out some sand from his right eye. I applied some REIKI energy over his body and talked to him saying, "We will both be all right!" The small penguin was so tired that it remained lied quietly inside the box, just waiting for the rural police to take it to be fed, wounds treated and then sent to the local Aquarium to later on (in two months) been taken back to Argentina. They are coming like thousands, swimming all the way up from Patagonia and reaching as further as the north of Brazil, victims of the global warming which has been debilitating the eco system and melting the ice cap in the poles. I even wrote an article for a magazine about that. Hope they publish it. I am really concerned about the way things are rapidly changing, and looking forward the day we will drive cars moved by magnetic fields or on trails not only for ecological reasons but for our own safety.