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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Photo Shooting

It's pretty nice that Paulo Coelho, a worldwide celebrated writer, shows the step-by-step of how to make a cover. As models, we've been in so many photo sessions that it's hard to keep track of our works and we even take for granted all the hard work from measuring the light to keeping the model still, to have the patience to not scream to the person, "Don't move... Don't move, DON'T..." (Too late!;)


Talking about covers of magazines, I once was sitting in the VIP room of Lima's airport, waiting for my plane (from Varig airlines) when I saw a magazine... and look who was on the cover?? Only my favourite author!! (And he would never guess, magician as he is;) then, my plane arrived, and what was my surprise when I saw him descending from the same plane that I was about to catch. Tell me about synchronicity! It was in 1998 and the magazine I was reading had an interview about Paulo Coelho's upcoming visit to Peru. I don't need to mention that when I saw him walking in the landing lane I started to jump like crazy (or like a bunny groupie, as his last name itself means Rabbit) and yelling I called him, "Paulo Coelho, Paulo Coelho". I swear you I thought he had heard me screaming at the top compartment and through the sound-proof windows, as I saw him stepping towards my direction. Then a big woman (I wonder if she was his agent) grabbed his arm and redirected him to the exit. At least I can sing the FADO (Fate) that I was once THIS close to him... To quote Maxwell Smart, "It was this close!"