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Showing posts with label educación transversal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label educación transversal. Show all posts
In recent years, some top British, German, Spanish, Australian and American gay sportsmen have come out of the closet. Would it be possible for a homosexual athlete, footballer or basketball player to become openly gay and visible in your country? If a professional gay footballer were to come out, would he be respected?
Recently, three international footballers have taken the big step: British Jake Daniels at 17: "Now I just feel like I'm ready to be myself, be free and just be confident with it all"; Australian Josh Cavallo, at 21, with a deeply moving announcement on YouTube: "I'm a footballer and I'm gay. All I want to do is play football and be treated equally. I'm tired of trying to perform at the best of your ability and to live this double life. It's exhausting, it's something that I don't want anyone to experience. I want to tell all the other people that are struggling, that are scared, don't act like someone you are not. Be yourself. You are meant to be yourself, not someone else."; and Czech Jakub Jankto, at 27: "I don't want to hide any more".
On this subject, the powerful, engaging British short film WONDERKID (Rhys Chapman, 2016), which depicts the inner turmoil of a gay professional footballer as he strives to succeed as his true self in a hyper masculine, straight environment, is a must see.
Please, give this question some thought and post your comment (anonymous or not) in English or in Spanish below.
As this Danish TV ad opens, Danes file quietly onto a soundstage, stepping into outlined areas on the floor — areas meant to define them. "The High Earners" versus "Those Just Getting By." "Those We Trust" versus "Those We Try To Avoid." Lifelong Danes, versus those new to Denmark. Divisions you will find not just in Denmark, but in any country on Earth.
However, a man begins to ask questions: "Who in this room was the class clown?", "Who are stepparents?", "How many of you love to dance?" Quickly, the "Us versus Them" narrative falls apart. People begin to step out of their so-called defining boxes. It's a heartwarming reminder that our perceived labels do not define us. If we look below the surface, we can find common ground with those we perceive as most different to ourselves.
A jewel of an advert and a moving tribute to a small great country. Advertising can indeed help make a better world.
"AT SCHOOL THEY HAVE REPLACED THE SUBJECT OF CIVIC VALUES FOR BULLFIGHTING VALUES"
British comedian Ricky Gervais has called for bullfighting to be banned after learning of the death of 29-year-old Miguel Ruiz Pérez, who died after being gored during summer festivities in the town of Lerín, in the northeastern Navarre region.
“Poor terrified bull. Ban cruel sports,” he wrote on Monday in a retweet of a Daily Mirror video showing Ruiz Pérez attempting to outrun the animal in a makeshift bullring while hundreds of people looked on.
Gervais has since posted a video on his Facebook page in which he says: “If you decide to torture an animal to death, I hope it defends itself.” Describing the people who watch bullfights as morons, he adds: “If you choose to fight a bull for fun, fuck you.”
The comedian, who shot to fame a decade ago in The Office, dismissed arguments defending bullfighting on the grounds that it was tradition, noting that slavery, witchcraft and child sacrifice were also once regularly practiced: “We’ve moved on… it’s about fucking time you stopped.”
Men attacking and terrorizing the Toro de la Vega in 2017
Gervais tweeted several times about bullfighting over the day: “A matador being killed by a bull is not the tragic bit. Torturing the bull for fun in the first place is the tragic bit.”
The video has since been shared around 10,000 times, with most people supporting Gervais’s position and calling for an end to bullfighting. Gervais is an active defender of animal rights, and recently joined a number of Hollywood stars in condemning the killing of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe last month by a US dentist. “Animals don’t have a voice, but I do. And it’s a big one. My voice is for them and I will never be quiet as long as they are suffering,” he has said.
Growing numbers of Spanish celebrities are also calling for an end to bullfighting and the use of animals in festivities. La tortura no es cultura(Torture isn’t culture) is an awareness drive initiated by PACMA, a political party that supports animal rights. Its campaign to ban the Toro de la Vega, an event dating back to medieval times in which a bull is ritually killed by residents of the town of Tordesillas, Valladolid province, each September 15, has been backed by actors and television personalities such as Dani Rovira, Jorge Javier Vázquez, Eva Isanta and David Muro.
“I find it abhorrent that people can enjoy the suffering of animals,” says Dani Rovira, star of last year’s hit Spanish comedy Ocho apellidos vascos. A demonstration is planned in Madrid for September 12 to call for an end to the Toro de la Vega.
Musicians and other artists have thrown their support behind a planned music festival in Tordesillas to coincide with the Toro de la Vega.
El País in English, August 19th, 2015
"AND THAT PATRON SAINT, DOES HE KNOW WHAT YOU DO?"
According to writer and
philosopher Alain de Botton and those at The School of Life, books are valuable
because they expand our knowledge and understanding, validate our feelings and
actions, and inspire our lives.
If you’re one of the
non-book readers that says, “I watch the
news, I read stuff on the Internet, I scan a magazine article once in a while,
so I don’t need no stinking books!”, maybe I can change your mind with
these ten psychologically beneficial reasons to start the habit.
1) Reading saves you time
Sometimes it may seem like
reading is wasting time, but it’s actually the ultimate time-saver because it
gives us access to a range of emotions and experiences that it would take years
and years to experience in person. Reading is the best reality simulator
because it takes us through so many more situations than we will ever have time
to see for ourselves.
Reading also acts as a
time machine. By picking up and opening a book we can hear great people and
writers from the past speaking to us, mind-to-mind, and heart-to-heart.
“A great book should leave
you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several
lives while reading.” ~William Styron
2) Reading gives us
opportunities to experience other cultures and places
Reading reveals aspects
of the lives of people in other places like India or Ireland, giving us
insight into many ethnicities, cultures, lifestyles, etc. By reading, we become
more aware of different places and the customs of those places.
“The more that you read,
the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll
go.” ~Dr. Seuss
3) Reading builds
compassion
Reading books takes us
into another person’s world and allows us to see through his/her eyes. Books
give us truths about human beings – their behaviors, their emotions, how they
interact – that’s hard to get any other way other than reading about it. Not
only that, authors can relate their experiences, feelings, and knowledge about
these things because it goes into what they write.
“The best moments in
reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of
looking at things – which you had thought special and particular to you. And
now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone
even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.”
~Alan Bennet
4) Reading improves
creativity
Reading about the
diversity of life and exposing ourselves to new ideas and more information
helps to bring out the creative side of our brain as it absorbs new ideas and
ways of thinking.
“Books are a uniquely
portable magic.” ~Stephen King
5) Reading helps reduce
feelings of loneliness
We often can’t say what’s
really on our minds, but in books we amazingly find descriptions of what we
think about. In the best books, it’s as if the writer knows us better than we
know ourselves, finding the words to describe the delicate, weird, and unique
goings-on inside of us, which helps with feelings of being the only one that
thinks like that. And being entertained through reading can help us forget
about our own troubles for a while.
“We read to know we’re not
alone.” ~William Nicholson
6) Reading cures boredom
If we’re feeling bored,
all we have to do is pick up a book and start reading. What is bound to happen
is that we’ll become interested in the book’s subject and stop being bored.
Think about it, if we’re bored anyway, we might as well be reading a good book,
right?
“Many people, myself among
them, feel better at the mere sight of a book.” ~Jane Smiley
7) Reading prepares us for
the future
Many books are about
life’s challenges and ways of dealing with it and the people around us. They’re
a tool to help us live and die with a little bit more wisdom, graciousness, and
sanity. More often than not, reading a book has made the future of a person.
“Today a reader, tomorrow
a leader.” ~Margaret Fuller
8) Reading engages the
mind
Reading uses our brains.
While reading, we’re forced to reason out many things that we’re not familiar
with, using more of our grey matter. Plus, reading improves vocabulary. While
reading books, especially challenging ones, we’ll find many new words we
wouldn’t see, hear, or use otherwise.
Reading also improves
concentration and focus because with books we focus on what we’re reading for
longer periods of time compared to magazines or Internet posts that only have
bits of information. And since we have to concentrate when reading, like a
muscle, we’ll get better at it. Similarly, reading helps stretch memory muscles
so it also improves memory. Research shows if you don’t use your memory, you
lose it.
“Think before you speak.
Read before you think.” ~Fran Lebowitz
9) Reading increases
self-confidence
The more we read, the more
we learn. With more knowledge, our self-esteem builds.Strong self-esteem helps with
self-confidence. It’s a chain reaction. And being well-read, people will look
to us for answers, which makes us feel smarter.
“A word after a word after
a word is power.” ~Margaret Atwood
10) Reading always gives
us something to talk about
Reading books keeps us out
of embarrassing situations where we don’t have anything to talk about. We can
chat about the latest Stephen King book we’ve read or discuss the stuff we’re
learning in the business or psychology books we’re reading. The possibilities
of sharing become endless.
This summer, 15,000 young Europeans will get free train tickets to travel within the EU. The DiscoverEU program seeks to counter populism and promote Europe by making cultural exchanges more accessible.
The EU on Thursday launched its project to grant free Interrail tickets to European youths. The initiative hopes to help deepen young people's European identity by providing accessible travel between countries.
Some 30,000 European 18-year-olds will be eligible this summer to travel for up to 30 days to up to four different countries within the EU at no cost. The DiscoverEU project provides only the free rail access; young people would have to pay for accommodation, food and other expenses on their own.
The initiative was approved in March, when the EU's executive branch earmarked €12 million ($14.7 million) for the project. The idea was originally proposed the European People's Party Group (EPP) leader Manfred Weber, who introduced it in the European Parliament.
Fostering a European identity
DiscoverEU sees the free rail passes as an investment in European cultural identity. The project conceives the idea of Europe to be "above all, about people connecting and sharing emotions." By providing free rail tickets, the EU would be helping enable Europeans to connect and share with people across the Union at a very early age.
The advocates at DiscoverEU also believe that the program can help "counter the current growth of populism" by helping young people experience the advantages of free movement, see the reality of neighboring countries firsthand and explore what it is that unites Europeans.
Application required
Since the earmarked funds are only able to fund 15,000 tickets, young Europeans must submit an application through theEU's website for youth programs to win. Those interested would need to apply in June during a period of two weeks.
A quota system and a quiz on EU heritage, culture and current affairs will be used to select the first 15,000 ticket recipients.
If selected, participants would have to carry out their travel between the months of July and September of 2018. The tickets would be distributed by the already-existing Interrail program, which has been providing discounted tickets to European youths since its inception in 1972. (Source: Deutsche Welle)
Polish artist Pawel Kuczynski creates satyrical paintings filled with thought-provoking messages about the world today. From politics and war to social media and screen addiction, Pawel's work covers a wide range of issues. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential contemporary artists in his genre and has received more than 100 awards and distinctions. Check out some of his best works below. A few of them might be hard to decode, which in my opinion, makes them even more compelling.
Earlier in my academic career, I used to advise students to focus on science and engineering, believing that they were a prerequisite for success in business. I had largely agreed with Bill Gates’s assertions that America needed to spend its limited education budgets on these disciplines, because they produced the most jobs, rather than the liberal arts and humanities. This was in a different era of technology and well before I learned what makes the technology industry tick. In 2008, my research teams at Duke and Harvard surveyed 652 U.S.-born chief executives and heads of product engineering at 502 technology companies. We found that they tended to be highly educated, 92 percent holding bachelor’s degrees and 47 percent holding higher degrees. Hardly 37 percent held degrees in engineering or computer technology, and just 2 percent did in mathematics. The rest had degrees in fields as diverse as business, accounting, health care, and arts and the humanities. We learned that though a degree made a big difference in the success of an entrepreneur, the field it was in and the school that it was from were not significant factors. YouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki, for instance, majored in history and literature; Slack founder Stewart Butterfield in English; Airbnb founder Brian Chesky in the fine arts. And, in China, Alibaba chief executive Jack Ma has a bachelor’s in English. Steve Jobs touted the importance of liberal arts and humanities at the unveiling of the iPad 2: “It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough — it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing, and nowhere is that more true than in these post-PC devices.” With this focus, he built the most valuable company in the world and set new standards for the technology industry. Logitech CEO Bracken Darrell, who majored in English, also emphasized this. I recently asked him how he turned his company around and caused its stock price to increase by an astonishing 450 percent over five years. He said that it was through relentlessly focusing on design in every product the company built; that engineering is important but what makes a technology product most successful is its design. The key to good design is a combination of empathy and knowledge of the arts and humanities. Musicians and artists inherently have the greatest sense of creativity. You can teach artists how to use software and graphics tools; turning engineers into artists is hard. And now, a technological shift is in progress that will change the rules of innovation. A broad range of technologies, such as computing, artificial intelligence, digital medicine, robotics and synthetic biology, are advancing exponentially and converging, making amazing things possible. With the convergence of medicine, artificial intelligence and sensors, we can create digital doctors that monitor our health and help us prevent disease; with the advances in genomics and gene editing, we have the ability to create plants that are drought resistant and that feed the planet; with robots powered by artificial intelligence, we can build digital companions for the elderly. Nanomaterial advances are enabling a new generation of solar and storage technologies that will make energy affordable and available to all. Creating solutions such as these requires a knowledge of fields such as biology, education, health sciences and human behavior. Tackling today’s biggest social and technological challenges requires the ability to think critically about their human context, which is something that humanities graduates happen to be best trained to do. An engineering degree is very valuable, but the sense of empathy that comes from music, arts, literature and psychology provides a big advantage in design. A history major who has studied the Enlightenment or the rise and fall of the Roman Empire gains an insight into the human elements of technology and the importance of its usability. A psychologist is more likely to know how to motivate people and to understand what users want than is an engineer who has only worked in the technology trenches. A musician or artist is king in a world in which you can 3D-print anything that you can imagine. When parents ask me now what careers their children should pursue and whether it is best to steer them into science, engineering, and technology fields, I tell them that it is best to let them make their own choices. They shouldn’t, I tell them, do what our parents did, telling us what to study and causing us to treat education as a chore; instead, they should encourage their children to pursue their passions and to love learning. To create the amazing future that technology is enabling, we need our musicians and artists working hand in hand with our engineers. It isn’t either one or the other; we need both the humanities and engineering. Vivek Wadhwa is a Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School.
El teléfono móvil se ha hecho tan imprescindible en esta sociedad moderna que parece haberse convertido en un apéndice humano. Y regular su uso (su abuso) se ha transformado en una necesidad para algunos Gobiernos. Francia, entre ellos. El primer ejemplo lo ha dado el presidente de la República, Emmanuel Macron, que ha prohibido los celulares en las reuniones del Consejo de Ministros. Antes de iniciar las deliberaciones, los miembros del Ejecutivo depositan sus celulares en las taquillas. Ni se consulta el correo ni se repasa el Twitter ni se mandan wasaps mientras los ministros consideran atenta y detenidamente los pros y contras de una decisión antes de adoptarla.
Con el precedente del Consejo de Ministros, Macron quiere ampliar la prohibición de los teléfonos móviles a otros ámbitos. El principal: la escuela. Los alumnos adictos a los móviles tendrán que aprender a desenganchar al menos durante su estancia en el centro. No solo en las aulas sino también en el recreo. Francia presenta esta medida como una “desintoxicación”. Favorecerá la atención a las explicaciones del profesorado, combatirá el bullying y mitigará la ansiedad de esos adolescentes esclavos de la tecnología.
Los estudios demuestran que los móviles acentúan el ciberacoso entre los escolares, facilitan su acceso a la pornografía y contribuyen a su aislamiento social. Son una nueva forma de adicción (bautizada como nomofobia). En defensa de que se prohíba por ley su uso, el ministro francés de Educación, Jean-Michel Blanquer, ha dicho de los celulares: “Son un avance tecnológico, pero no pueden monopolizar nuestra vida. No se puede progresar en un mundo de tecnología si no sabes leer, escribir, contar, respetar a otros y trabajar en equipo”.
Si prosperan los planes de Macron en el próximo curso quedarán proscritos estos aparatos en los colegios. La medida tendrá gran impacto (el 90% de los niños de 12 años o más tienen móvil), aunque muchos dudan de que se pueda llevar a cabo eficazmente. Sus detractores aseguran que el proyecto de ley es una mera “operación de comunicación” que no tendrá efectos puesto que la mitad de los centros escolares ya prohíben los smartphones en sus instalaciones.
Queda por ver si los colegios que no respeten la ley serán sancionados y cómo se arbitrarán los sistemas para que los docentes la hagan cumplir a rajatabla. Si Francia aprueba este difícil examen, con el que quiera lanzar un mensaje “de salud pública”, países como Reino Unido e Irlanda podrían seguir el mismo camino.
Viajar mucho sin llegar a conocer nada,
tener acceso a gran cantidad de información pero permanecer desinformado y
tratar de unificar todo bajo una sola lengua no hace a nadie más universal.
Todo lo contrario.
En 1794 el escritor saboyano, aunque ruso
de adopción, Xavier de Maistre escribió un delicioso relato, Viaje alrededor de
mi habitación, en el que se describe de modo autobiográfico la vida de un
oficial que, obligado por una convalecencia a permanecer 42 días encerrado en
su cuarto, viaja con su imaginación por un territorio riquísimo en referencias
y en pensamientos. El protagonista del texto es un verdadero cosmopolita, un
ciudadano del mundo en el sentido literal, a pesar de que está recluido entre
cuatro paredes. Me acuerdo con frecuencia del libro de Xavier de Maistre cuando
escucho los balances que muchos hacen de sus travesías del mapamundi en viajes
organizados, y en los que se plantea una situación inversa a la del argumento
literario de aquél: recorren vastos espacios pero su imaginación —o su falta de
imaginación— los atrapa en un territorio pobrísimo, tanto en referencias como
en pensamientos. Consumen grandes cantidades de kilómetros aunque, como
viajeros, atesoran una escasa experiencia de sus viajes. Son, por así decirlo,
la vanguardia de los provincianos globales y, en ningún caso, al contrario del
oficial convaleciente de Xavier de Maistre, son cosmopolitas ni aspiran a
serlo.
El provinciano global es una figura
representativa de una época, la nuestra, que empuja al cosmopolita hacia una
suerte de clandestinidad. El cosmopolita, personaje en extinción, o quizá
provisionalmente retirado a las catacumbas del espíritu, es alguien que desea
habitar la complejidad del mundo. Es un amante de la diferencia, ansioso
siempre de explorar lo múltiple y lo desconocido para volver a casa, si es que
vuelve, con el bagaje de los sucesivos saberes que ha adquirido. El
cosmopolita, al no soportar la excesiva claustrofobia de la identidad propia,
busca en el espacio absorto de lo ajeno aquello que pueda enriquecer su origen
y sus raíces. El hijo pródigo de la parábola bíblica encarna a la perfección
ese anhelo: el conocimiento de los otros es finalmente el conocimiento de uno
mismo. El cosmopolita quiere saber.
El provinciano global quiere acumular
mientras, simultáneamente, elimina o aplana las diferencias. Hay muchos signos
en nuestro tiempo que señalan en esa dirección, sin que se adivine cómo el que
todavía posee la vieja alma del cosmopolita pueda oponerse. Por su
espectacularidad y por su carácter reciente el turismo de masas es, sin duda,
uno de esos signos. Cada vez se elevan más voces proclamando el carácter
pandémico de un fenómeno que, paradójicamente, en sus inicios se consideró
liberador porque el igualitarismo del viaje parecía la continuación lógica de
la creencia ilustrada en el igualitarismo de la educación. Sin embargo,
cualquiera que se pasee por las antiguas ciudades europeas o, con otra
perspectiva, por las zonas aún consideradas exóticas del planeta, puede
percibir con facilidad el alcance de una plaga que está solo en sus comienzos.
Los centros históricos de las urbes ya son casi todos idénticos, como idénticos
son los resorts en los que se albergan los huéspedes de los cinco continentes.
La diferencia ha sido aplastada, dando lugar al horizonte por el que se mueve
con comodidad el provinciano global.
Con respecto a la información —otra de
nuestras deidades, si no la principal— Heráclito, hace 2.500 años, ya dejó
dicho que no proporcionaba la comprensión. No parece probable que variara de
posición, deslumbrado por nuestras tecnologías. La misma paradoja que afecta al
turismo masivo, enfermo de velocidad y cuantificación, afecta a esa humanidad
más informada que nunca pero proclive a la amnesia. Como lo demuestran hechos
recientes, tal las guerras de Siria o de Ucrania, es imposible que la llamada
opinión pública sepa tan poco de aquello que debería saber tanto en la era de
la información total. El provinciano global quiere disponer de resortes informativos,
si bien es dudoso que quiera saber. Quizá tampoco está en condiciones de
hacerlo. Aquellos que detentan el poder, dirigentes políticos y económicos,
están en la misma situación. Cuando a menudo nos lamentamos de la falta de
estatistas en la política mundial aludimos, en realidad, al dominio del
provincianismo global.
La desfiguración de la cultura cosmopolita
puede ser clave a la hora de entender buena parte del desconcierto actual. Lo
que hemos denominado globalización, vinculada a las grandes migraciones y a las
nuevas tecnologías, ha sido, en parte, un fenómeno fructífero, al poner en
relación tradiciones ajenas entre sí y al facilitar nuevas posibilidades frente
a la desigualdad; no obstante, paralelamente, ha supuesto una devastación cultural
de grandes proporciones al destrozar buena parte del sutil tejido de la
diferencia. La uniformidad socava los alicientes que alberga toda visión
cosmopolita.
Una de las grandes metáforas de este
proceso en nuestra época es la rápida, universal y consentida mutilación de
centenares de idiomas en favor de un idioma avasalladoramente hegemónico. Con
toda probabilidad, hace solo tres décadas, nadie se hubiese aventurado a
insinuar que para participar en un congreso en Lisboa sobre Camões —poeta
nacional portugués— había que intervenir en inglés, o que en cualquiera de
nuestras universidades se puede asistir al espectáculo de que un profesor
explique a Baudelaire o a Goethe en medio inglés a un público estudiantil que
entiende el inglés a medias. Y aún menos, desde luego, se hubiese podido
imaginar que se llegaría a la situación de que un entero país —Corea del Sur—
pretenda alcanzar a poseer el inglés, como nueva lengua propia, mediante el
ingenioso método de llevar a las embarazadas a clases en aquel idioma, de modo
que el feto pueda ya adaptarse a lo que prima en el cada vez más reducido
universo lingüístico. Obviamente no tengo nada contra lo que los cursis llaman
“lengua de Shakespeare” sino contra el reduccionismo que, al maltratar a todos
los demás idiomas, también empobrece a la propia lengua inglesa: recientemente,
un catedrático de Oxford me contaba que, mientras la mayoría de sus colegas
apenas conocen otros idiomas que no sean el suyo, los escritores británicos
contemporáneos utilizan una lengua drásticamente empobrecida.
Este sería un buen retrato del provinciano
global: aquel que aspira a hablar un solo idioma, lo más utilitario posible,
sin importarle la destrucción de los mundos que habitan en los otros idiomas;
aquel que se mueve continuamente de aquí para allá, obseso coleccionista de
imágenes, al tiempo que es incapaz de fijar la mirada, y no digamos el
pensamiento, en paisaje alguno; aquel que está permanentemente informado con
aludes de noticias y mensajes que sepultan su capacidad de comprensión. Es
posible que un individuo de tal naturaleza se considere a sí mismo un
cosmopolita. Pero vive en una pequeña aldea que ha confundido con el mundo.
El País, 2 de enero de
2016. Rafael Argullol es escritor.
“I have no reason to lie when I tell you that everything is better in Spain”
British concert pianist James Rhodes explains why he calls Madrid and not the UK home.
By JAMES RHODES
Pianist James Rhodes.BERNARDO PEREZ
I have never really understood the concept of “home.” Beyond a place to sleep and protection from the elements, it hasn’t ever had much meaning for me. I seem to have been running for much of my life. Usually away from myself or messes I’ve created. But nine months ago I finally stopped running. I moved to Madrid. I came home. And I discovered what that word means.
It is one thing to be lucky enough to know the Madrid that offers the world the Prado, Thyssen, Reina Sofia. Where you can wander in your lunch break to see Guernica and then have a picnic in Retiro park, explore the Royal Palace, drink a caña in plaza Mayor. It is a whole new level to fall in love with Calles Cava Baja or Espiritu Santo – streets that perhaps to you seem normal but to me are entirely magical. To see people walking slowly (anathema in London), waiting for the traffic lights to change before crossing the road (a first for me). To count the extraordinary number of old couples holding hands. To chuckle at the majesty of Serrano where you can buy a jacket for the same price as a car. To take in some extraordinary theater at the Pavón Kamikaze, eat croquetas that may literally change your life at Santerra, have a croissant in Café Comercial that makes you laugh out loud it’s so good, watch TV gold as Sálvame professionals analyze the body language of Letizia in front of a rapt audience.
I love this country. I look up to her. Metaphorically and literally
The differences between here and the UK are astonishing. I am writing this in my sick bed at 2am because I caught Brexit flu going back to UK for three days. Back in Madrid, I called Adeslas. An hour later a doctor came round to my home and gave me antibiotics. I pay €35 a month for health insurance here (perhaps a luxury, but one I need because of past back surgeries). In London I pay almost 10 times that. And even then doctors won’t visit me at home without charging €200.
You may not believe me but I have no reason to lie when I tell you that everything is better here. The trains, the Metro, the taxistas, the kindness of strangers, the unhurried pace of life, the frankly alarming ability to insult one another (forget mothers and sexual acts; you guys can do it using fish, asparagus and milk – it’s an art form worthy of Cervantes), the delicious language (quisquilloso, rifirrafe, ñaca-ñaca, sollozo, zurdo, tiquismiquis) which may as well be my nickname, and on and on – your dictionary is the verbal equivalent of Chopin. It really is the guay del Paraguay), the impressive number of dedicated smokers as if to proudly tell the medical community and self-righteous assholes of LA to go fuck themselves. The live-and-let-live friendliness, cleanliness, open heartedness of it all. The croqueta of the year award. Your respect for books, for art, for music. For family time and rest. For the important things.
The surprising number of talented people named Javier (Bardem, Cámara, Calvo, Ambrossi, Manquillo, Del Pino, Marías, Perianes, Navarrete, etc. etc. – can you guess what I’ll be naming my next son?).
You invented siestas and still you work longer hours than practically any other country in Europe.
I have met strangers on the Metro with whom I have ended up playing Beethoven, grandmothers who have made me torrijas and talked about their previous life playing the piano, patients at psychiatric hospitals who have stunned me with their bravery, a young kid who plays the piano far better than I did at his age and who I’ve been lucky enough to give a few free lessons to. Even Despacito sounds fucking great at 8.30am on the Metro because it’s played on an accordion by an old man who is smiling, and as I watch the other commuters on the train I can see how contagious that smile is. I have spent hours wandering around the Carrefour de Peñalver overwhelmed by the colors and flavors and smells and freshness of it all, seen tomatoes the size of footballs at the fruit shop around the corner from my apartment, eaten cakes made for me by my neighbors who, rather than complaining about the noise, ask me to play the piano a little bit louder. I have discovered the genius of natillas. And on and on.
There is so much good here. Oftentimes hidden away. I have seen first-hand the extraordinary work done by organizations such as Fundación Manantial, Save the Children, Fundación Vicki Bernadet, Plan International and so many others, big and small, whose mission is to shoulder some of pain of the world in which we live without asking for thanks, praise, reward.
I have met strangers on the Metro who I have ended up playing Beethoven with
Yes there are problems. Of course there are. The frankly appalling, offensive and barbaric laws on sexual assaults as evidenced by La Manada; laws that simply must be changed. Drugs, homelessness, trafficking, abuse, health cuts. The corruption of power. Politicians (please, can we just let Manuela Carmena, la superabuela, takethe shit out of Spain for a few years and sort everything out?). The normal scourges of humanity since time immemorial. But these things haven’t turned you hard, cold, ugly and battened down as they have so many nations. They have instead opened you up, shone a light on some of the purity and good in this world, and I am so fucking proud to be a single, tiny, solitary figure wandering around this country in wonder at her collective vitality.
This year I will be visiting Ibiza, Sitges, Seville (25 October, Cartuja Center), Granada, Costa Brava, Pamploma, Cuenca, Vigo, Vitoria, Zaragoza and so many more amazing places. I have been to dozens more cities over the past two years. I am a foreigner, a guest, and as an Anglo-Saxon I don’t believe I have the right to be political here but what I can say for an absolute fact is that whether I have been in Barcelona, Gijón, Madrid, Bilbao, Santiago, Girona, wherever, my experience has always been the same – warmth, hospitality, smiles, openness. Different food perhaps (obviously Valencian paella is the only authentic one. Ditto churros from Madrid and salmorejo from Andalusia. Pretty much anything from San Sebastián is the best you’ll eat; OK this is perhaps a dangerous game, which I’ll stop now), different accents (I’m sorry Galicia but I don’t understand a single word people say there – my bad), but the same giant hearts, same insanely impressive work ethics, same hugs, same giant friendliness.
I love this country. I look up to her. Metaphorically and literally. I never used to look up – I would walk about eyes glued either to the pavement or to my phone. Here in Spain I gaze around me in awe. I see you, and your reflection blinds me with its loveliness. I look up now. Because I feel safe. And visible. And held. And welcome.
I have eaten cakes made for me by my neighbors who, rather than complaining about the noise, ask me to play the piano a little bit louder
When I was in London recently I saw my psychiatrist Billy. He told me that 10 years ago he didn’t know if I’d live or die. And that even a year ago he had serious and legitimate concerns about my well-being. But that right now he hasn’t everseen me this well. And you know what, Spain is largely the reason.
And perhaps some will say that is because I have had some degree of professional success, I sometimes stay in nice hotels and eat in nice restaurants, perhaps people treat me differently. So let me end with this:
Many years ago (too many years ago) as a very young child, I would come to Mallorca every year. We would stay in a shitty little apartment on the beach in Peguera for a couple of weeks every August. I remember those holidays as the safest, most perfect and incredible respite of my childhood. I was lifted away from the war zone that was my rapey, violent, monochrome existence in London and for a brief moment in time, aged eight or nine, I could buy cigarettes (Fortuna for a few pesetas) from Pedro in the tiny shop by the beach, drink warm Rioja (again, thanks Pedro) looking up at the stars, go swimming, occasionally convince someone with a boat to offer me a water-ski, enjoy the sunshine and, most importantly, breathe in and inhale a feeling of shelter and protection. More than 30 years later you are offering me the same thing. And I will never be able to express my gratitude to you for that.
El Pais, May 18, 2018 Link to the Spanish translation
Would it be possible for a homosexual athlete, footballer or basketball player to become openly gay and visible in your country? If a professional gay footballer were to come out, would he be respected?
Earlier in my academic career, I used to advise students to focus on science and engineering, believing that they were a prerequisite for success in business. I had largely agreed with Bill Gates’s assertions that America needed to spend its limited education budgets on these disciplines, because they produced the most jobs, rather than the liberal arts and humanities. This was in a different era of technology and well before I learned what makes the technology industry tick.
