Is it cool to be ignorant, full of stereotypes and racist nowadays?

well well well..it'been a long time since I last wrote.
It's not that nothing happened in the last six month, I think actually that even too much has happened. I don't regret I didn't write before, though I really feel like writing some notes now.

As a start, let' s explain the title. I read today the newspaper (the Volkskrant - Dutch newspaper) and there was a flattering article about how brave are the people who spread shit about Islam and that once were Muslims themselves, and a history of their redemption.
In the article there was also a nice reference to all the "cool" people that once were Catholic or Jews too and that " luckily" now they can distinguish between, let's say, the"bullshits" of their holy books and the "real life".
The article sounded quite pathetic to me, in its attempt to portrait the message of the monotheistic religions as in antithesis with the "real world".
As if there is no other possibility than either being a ridiculous aggressive intolerant fanatic that takes every little word of the holy books as undebatable either being a ridiculous intolerant ignorant about religions at all.

I regret to say that there are thousands of other ways, in between these too sides, and that unfortunately nowadays it doesn't sound cool to be in one of these middle-position, because apparently only ignorance and redundancy of stereotypes is noisy and appreciated...

Will this trend ever come to an end?

I don't know, but it seems to me that there is quite an interest in keeping hate between believers, religion prejudices, etc... by mass- media, writers, and intellectuals in general.
An example? why on earth, after all has been written about the eloquent message of xenophobia and racism by Oriana Fallaci (allegedly she was a "writer"and she passed away couple of years ago), the Italian mass media still portraits her as a hero of our times? a hero of what? according to the brand new article I read today on the Corriere della Sera online, a new book is going to be published, thanks to the efforts of her nephew. In the intro of the interview to the Fallaci nephew, the journalist writes an incredible detailed review of all the remarkable efforts of Fallaci throughout more than three decades in depicting the striking cultural differences between the West and Islam, and in attempting to warn the western society of the " Islamic invasion".

I would like to point out that Fallaci was a journalist that wrote several books about ideas on " how to get ride of them" (i.e. the Muslims and immigrants of other ethnic groups than western, from Europe), in which, in comparison, Mein Kampf of Hitler is a nice good-night chamomile.

Even at the European Union headquarters her books sounded quite nasty. But still. Italy, with its more than one million immigrants of hundreds of different background, carries on its attempt to increase hate, ignorance, and prejudice amongst its citizens.

I guess the Italian government, mass media and intellectuals think it's cool.
I don't.

to write or not to write?

Yesterday evening I was reading a book about Yoga - a book that my mother gave me, a couple of months ago.
While a was reading with interest the meaningful inspirations about the importance of meditation and breathing correctly, my Love, my Witte Haai was writing.
He, after one year or so, yesterday has started to write again - I presume, a little novel. I like the way he writes, immediate and misterious at the same time. I was quite happy to see him writing again.
And then I thought: why did I quit to write poems? It was my favourite way to approach writing, and it has always been together with singing and painting the activity I like most.
Of course, none of these have been carried out in the recent yearS. Embarassing.

anyway. It is never too late to take back what I have and let it grow again. And because, as I've just written yesterday, I am backing up my docs in the computer, I found this old thing I wrote three years ago.
Well it's in Italian, but I don't want to change it in any other language. Every thought is meant to be in a specific language. This is in Italian and will remain like this.

L’esistenza in questa vita è un ambizioso e breve viaggio

e noi siamo i viaggiatori

che con coraggio e ostinazione

cerchiamo di essere vincitori.

Ma qual è la più grande vittoria,

il successo, il denaro o la gloria?

È un quesito senza risposta,

poiché tutto è perituro

e la vittoria materiale è tanto vacua quanto insoddisfacente.

Quello che resterà di noi

Sarà l’amore che avremo saputo donare

Sarà la ricerca della conoscenza che saremo riusciti a coltivare

E la consapevolezza e la gioia che niente potrà cambiare

il nostro ritorno alla Luce, alla fine del tragitto,

il cuore colmo di gratitudine, per essere giunti al Termine e al Nuovo Inizio.

once again

Here I am hopeful again, and I can say that I feel this way since a short while, but my intention is to keep this feeling forever and ever...
This blog is meant to be a public diary, with thoughts and inspirations readable from everyone - eventually, my friends read this blog, especially Alfio who is in Italy and does not reach me so often as my friends here (where? here!).
Today is a bright shiny day of the end of February, and in this period I am doing mostly everything and nothing. So basically it's difficult to explain but I certainly keep myself busy.
Time is precious and so are people we meet, so why loosing our time in doing something we don't like or in dealing with the wrong people?
This is why I have taken the decision to move out from my room (two meters per five, 400 euro a month, no window but an annoying door directly to the garden, no privacy and two neurotical flatmates). I lived in Oud West for almost one year, and I had to deal with an utterly impolite landlady and I think I did my best in bearing her stupid behaviour for a reasonable period. Now I think it's time to move on and begin new endeavours in new fields and interests and I'm certainly not interested in wasting my time with her unreasonable requests any longer.

Once again I am here writing in this blog some of my thoughts. In the end my plan was to build up a site about politics and immigrants rights and all the bla bla bla that is around this because THIS is what I care most. But I didn't so far. I am just writing this blog. Why? Why I haven't started yet with my plan? I have no clue, I think I have no excuse. I should have begun with it long time ago but so far I simply didn't .
But let me say, one thing at a time. I finished my thesis (sorry to bother, my third thesis, and few people can understand which kind of pain is that) so I just started to LIVE again since a short time.
Once again I am cleaning up my computer, and my coming next plan is to install UBUNTU!!!! and make partitions so I can use both Linux and Windows
Once again I finally decided to move out and starts new projects.
Once again, I am coming back to all the plans I had to hybernate for all the time I was involved in the last two masters. Now I can come back to what I care most.
Once again.

16 days after the new beginning

Happy New Year!
the first day of the year I went to a concert in the Muziekgebouw, were the Sleeping Beauty was the ballet to celebrate the beginning of a new year.
Just the day before, at 15.56 in the afternoon, I handed in my final version of my last thesis, and I was feeling so tired that I could not realize, by that time, that it was really over.
7 days later I receivedthe grade, and I was officially graduated: without having my diploma in my hands yet, I'm officially not a student anymore, from that moment on.
do you think I finally felt that it's over? NO! I still feel as if I have to do something in the master, and I have to deal with the student life again...and again...and again....aaaaaah!!!!!
hey, but I know myself that soon I'll forget about it, and without even having the time to digest my graduation, I'll start to be busy with my unemployed status :)
honestly, though, I prefer to be someone who is busy to look for a job, than someone who feels sick and tired because of a thesis to write.
and you can feel quite tired, I tell you, if you have written three master thesis in the last three years and a half, being treated as an eternal student. It's a great feeling that is over now.

oh! I said that! I've just said that! it's over!!!!!

it's over!!!!!!!

Il Cucchiaio d'Argento (The Silver Spoon)

Today I have had an important task. Looking for nice recipies to do together with Witte Haai and Sophie-the-excellent-cook-for-sweet-dishes.
Although the Lady that will host the dinner of the 26th is giving to everyone advices on what to bring and what NOT include in the recipies, time is running out and I forgot to check out the recepie that WE should prepare.
As one of the guest is pregnant and very careful with food at the moment, the last thing I'd like to do is to choose a dish that SHE can't eat.
Thus, out of more than 100 recepies for fancy desserts, only one is saved: the blueberry custard.

...wait a minute: I've been looking in an Italian book of recepies, the famous, de enige de echte Cucchiaio d'Argento and the only suitable dessert I could prepare, according to the circumstances, is the blueberry custard???!!!

but...but...the custard is an English, I repeat, ENGLISH recipie!!!!!!

uffa.

dimanche à Bamako

In this period of the year days have a short life, and it feels as life is short too.
You wake up and you hope to see some light, between the rain and the clouds, before the sunset.
And today has been one of those days, in which the light has come out every now and then, and the sun was bright, and even if after a while clouds begun to appear again, while biking I have had the feeling it was just like early spring...
Nice feelings, happy inside, thoughtful and concerned...I go back home, I have some lunch, and before going back to the very LAST part of my thesis, I check my email.
I check my email with the thought: I wonder what my supervisor wrote me, this time....and there she is, with all her beautiful "bastardaggine" (well, you are very welcome to study some Italian, any time), very eager to demonstrate that she can be my personal pain in the a** whenever she feels like doing so.
In less than two minutes my mood was completely turned down. After all, how could I have been happy to read that:
- she goes on pregnancy leave for several monthssss
- she insists to be my supervisor, notwithstanding (yes, notwithstanding!!!)
- she assumes that her and my (in)formal second supervisor will read the thesis taking aaaallll the time the'll need, without specifing when the hell I will be able to meet her/him/them and talk about my final graduation date.

nice.

Therefore Furthermore Moreover I felt so pushed down that for a couple of hours my enthusiasm in finishing my project simply faded away.

I don't know how the coming hours will be, hopefully better than the former two.
I really hope this, for my own sake...

ah, yes, the cheerful album Dimanche à Bamako is a perfect soundtrack in these cases.

il sogno

lo stesso sogno, ogni notte - the same dream, every night
una casa diversa, ogni volta - een verschilende huis, iedere keer
...ma é la mia casa - but it is my house
che strano peró, ci sono troppe persone, in questa casa - wierd though, er zijn te veel mensen in dit huis
sto cercando il mio posto, in questa casa - ik zoek mijn plekje in dit huis

spesso alla fine del sogno mi accorgo che non sono io che ho scelto quella casa - at the end of the dream I always feel that it's not me to have choosen that house
ah, forse é per questo che non mi sento a mio agio

i look for my place in this house - big, crowded, confused as my dream.