Los Renglones torcidos de Dios de Torcuato Luna de Tena

Una detective de nombre inglés ingresa en un hospital psiquiátrico de España de la mano de un hombre al que no volverá a ver vivo.

Ese es el principio de una novela extraña, apasionante y a la vez turbadora; exagerada e inverosímil por momentos; un policial decididamente diferente.

Dos historias encierra el texto para mí. Una la de una dama que va cayendo en lo más profundo de su enfermedad, con un final que no me termina de cerrar. Otra, la de una pobre mujer, amada y admirada pero condenada al fin.

Si bien la novela no me termina de gustar, debo confesar que leí sus casi 500 páginas en sólo tres días, lo que me hace pensar que tan mal no estará….Me gustan las anticipaciones que hace el narrador, como pistas en una pesquisa, sólo que referidas a síntomas de enfermedades. Cómo maneja el suspenso (si bien el gran climax al que llega cae malograda y estrepitosamente en el anteúltimo capítulo a mi gusto). Y ese misterio inicial –de quién es la mano que la acompaña, y por qué no volverá a ver vivo a ese hombre. También me gusta el juego de nombres de la protagonista: Alice Gould la investigadora, Alicia de Almenares la interna.

Y todos esos otros renglones torcidos de Dios….una metáfora tan hermosa como triste.

Ácido sulfúrico

Ácido sulfúrico de Amélie Nothomb no es un libro fácil. El ácido del título corroe la trama y sus personajes de principio a fin. Es una distopía que no pone en el centro a la política y las instituciones sino al entretenimiento y las masas. No impone un nuevo orden social a sus personajes, salvo a aquéllos que deben “jugar” en el reality “Concentración”.

Pannonique, la heroína, se convierte en líder casi sin darse cuenta. Cuando lo descubre, se siente con poder para salvar a todos, aunque luego descubre que no es así. Pannonique es de pocas pero fulgurantes palabras. Se niega a ceder lo que aún le queda: su dignidad, su nombre. Y aunque en un principio pensé, recordando aquel famoso discurso de Julieta Montesco (quien se pregunta qué hay en un nombre, si una rosa con cualquier otro nombre olería igual de dulce) que su actitud era de terquedad, luego me dí cuenta de que son dos situaciones muy diferentes. Julieta ama a aquél que lleva el nombre de su enemigo, y sin embargo no es su enemigo. Pannonique ha pasado por el intento de eliminar su identidad al haberle sido dado un código, un nombre que no le pertenece, aunque sea tan único como ella. No es el nombre lo que está en juego, sino lo que representa.

Las masas, como en un teatro del absurdo, replican exageradamente lo que ocurre con los realities: son devorados por algunos -aquí por una gran mayoría- y ocupan gran lugar en la prensa. Y cuanto más la prensa se rasga las vestiduras instando a que no lo miren y cesen las crueldades (la prensa también puede cambiar de opinión en el relato), más se agranda la cantidad de espectadores y la fruición con que miran Concentración.

Concentración que replica los campos de concentración nazis; que concentra gran cantidad de gente en un espacio híper-reducido; que concentra la acción en la brutalidad; que nos fuerza a concentrarnos y pensar para sentir lo que los protagonistas están viviendo.

El estilo de Nothomb es desnudo, frío, diferente. Introduce temas que luego parece no retomar. Hay que hacer un esfuerzo para adentrarse en la historia con profundidad, porque las palabras y las descripciones no abundan. Como no abundan las acciones ni las palabras en el juego para los jugadores, quienes podrían estar reviviendo el mismo día todos los días, tanta es la rutina. Hasta que aparece Zdena y sus chocolates, el recuerdo de los campos de concentración y las técnicas para no deshumanizarse por completo. ¿Es Concentración un reflejo de parte de nuestra sociedad? Quizás.

2015: math learning and reading

These were years of intense math study and not much thinking about anything else (other than I got my degree in language teaching). I'm not very advanced in math but I feel I've learned a lot and I've developed an interest that wasn't always there. Recently I've started reading again like I used to (mostly fiction) and I've taken a few MOOCs as well -the one I'm currently taking is on learning how to learn. So I feel quite active mentally again.

I'm reading my first Umberto Eco book, El cementerio de Praga (Prague cemetery) and I'm really enjoying it. I don't always remember what's gone on very well because there's so many people involved but I enjoy it while I read it. The main character makes me chuckle with all his bigotry (which I feel is just a tease from Eco, it's all so exaggerated). One other thing I like about it is that there's one "big" mystery that encompasses all the book but there's a lot of action during the book so I want to get to the end to have the mystery revealed but while I get there it's very interesting.

I'm also reading "The Siege" by Helen Dunmore and I've actually stopped for a while because it got to be a bit too painful. It's about a family during the Leningrad siege and we're well into the winter now so food is scarce and it's very cold and there are bombings and fire. The characters are very human to me and maybe that's why I can't go on reading it for now as they're suffering so much.

Hello again -and miaow!

OK -so I haven't blogged for a long time and my life has changed. A major change has been a career change.I'm not teaching anymore, but majoring in chemistry; my first, introductory, course started a week ago. And I've felt like writing here again.

No formulae, not enough chemistry experience yet to say anything very interesting about it except that I'm enjoying the new course...So I thought I'd start over by sharing a figure that keeps coming back to me even though I can't really apprehend it in its entirety: Schroedinger's cat. Kitty is a metaphor, ok, but a powerful one. And I love cats, so the name has been haunting me for a while. And then I thought -well, wouldn't it be a good bridge between my past as a language teacher and my present as a science/chemistry student? Besides, it reminds me too much of that cat we know so well, the one from Cheshire with the bulk of toothpaste in his basket :D

So let's go down a different hole now, and listen to some language and science videos about Schroedinger's kittycat.... (I promise there's humour...and if you're interested in metaphors the first video will be interesting).

Wait for it........

I hope you like this new turn in the road :)))))

Connections

I've just finished reading The boy in the striped pijamas and was very touched by it. I won't write about the plot but about the internal connections I'm making...

First the film Inglorious Basterds came to mind, probably because of the historical theme and the historical license in it. Now I'm also reminded of Los sirvientes because of how strong my feelings for the story are.

I haven't written here in a while, and this is all I can write right now but I wanted to share it.

Steven Pinker on individual and mutual knowledge

The birth of a word -TED talk

Post-War days

I'm reading "La cripta de los Capuchinos" by Joseph Roth and it's giving me a much clearer and personal picture of a regime change than I used it have.

I grew up reading Empress Sissi's stories, and I never thought of Austria in a different way except for the current Austria. In SL I live in post-war Berlin (1929) and I get that picture, but I'd never put things together as I'm doing now by reading this novel.

It must have been such a big change, so confusing to live after WWI...that now I get why it's called world war.

Some examples of art that took my breath away...

Art in our lives from Beatriz Lupiano on Vimeo.

Emotions

What moves us? I think as I walk the UWA Winthrop displays in Second Life. The entries for the contest need to fulfill only one condition: to take our breath away.

It seems simple enough as a concept, and yet as I look at the various entries I wonder why some skilfully created pieces don't make me feel much (while I appreciate their design and excellent craftmanship) while others just do take my breath away...

I don't have the answer. But I suppose all art is like that. Why do I like the abstract pieces by Kandinsky better than Miro's? What's different? Well, a lot but that's not it...there's something inside that tickles when I see one and not the other...

Just things I ponder on.

Impressions

I've been in Second Life for a little over two months now and I'm enjoying it terribly.
I explore, take photos, build, learn and I've recently started to moderate a conversation class in English.

One thing that really strikes me is the strong presence of Italian-speaking sims and groups, especially when it comes to the arts, and how passionate they are. I like that a lot.

Another gem is the 1920s Berlin project, conducted single-handedly by an amazing woman/female avatar.

And the immense potential for teaching and meeting interesting people. Some friends have told me their experiences in SL have not been all that good and I believe them, but fortunately it's not my case. I think getting involved in activities is one of the key factors to enjoying SL. So far I've had only one nasty situation, with someone inviting me to participate in an orgy -I made it clear I wasn't into that, and when he insisted I just left. I know that's not what SL is about and I've found really nice people with whom I enjoy spending time frequently.

Meanwhile I continue teaching in real life (first life), face to face, and getting ready to teach online. I'm learning to speak Dutch, I plurk....but I'm not reading as much as I'd like to. I miss being engrossed in a good novel. I am, however, listening to music a lot, especially jazz and classical, which is what I like best. 

Things on my mind these days...

Today's quote

Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand

                                                                                                     Bodie Thoene

Informal learning

I've been wanting to write about this topic for a while now...

I remember reading about informal learning during my training, and not really grasping the concept; I'd find it difficult to envisage the shape it would take, especially.
I'm now listening to an interview (well, listening and watching...attending) in Second Life and it finally prompted me to come here and express my thoughts and feelings...Because it is in Second life (SL) that I've finally understood the value and the concept of informal language learning.


In SL there are informal learning programs (yes...bordering on oxymoron, I know!); for example, Virtlantis holds tea-time sessions from Monday to Friday where you can speak in English and there are no preset topics. There's also a "teach me -teach you" program where people interested in learning and/or practising other languages can pair up with someone interested in their language (for example: I'd like to practise my German and a German speaker would like to learn English or Spanish -then we can pair up).

But SL offers cultural and linguistic informal learning opportunities with no previous organisation as well ,and that's one of the things I love the most about it. I visited a Japanese tea house and spent about two hours speaking in English with a geisha apprentice; during the conversation I learned some Japanese words...I wanted to thank her in her own language and so I asked, then I started using it -she also named the different stages in her learning in Japanese and explained what they consisted in. I saved the chat log and now can consult it if I don't remember. All the words came up out of curiosity...just like when I meet one of my seconda lingua group mates: he's Italian and so we speak in Italian but when I don't know how to say something I ask (first I guess!! If he understands sometimes I let it be some other times I want to know and ask). Italianiamo is the project we both belong to and where we met, and it's also a space for informal learning. Our coordinator is a teacher, but the activities involve creating and filming a story in SL in Italian. Group members are both native speakers and non-native speakers with an intermediate level of proficiency as the threshold. We discuss plot, characters, scenery, create the dialogs....all in Italian.


I love all these opportunities -what I notice after reading my own post here is that informal learning seems to require a high degree of involvement, you need to take an active role (or at least that's the way I'm doing it). I could probably count the number of times I've said "I asked" and get quite a high number!!!

Thoughts...

I'm reading about Edupunk and it's very interesting..."Introducing Edupunk" by Leslie Madsen Brooks and "The Glass Bees" post by Reverend on May 25,2008 at bavatuesdays.

J.L. De Diego's column continues to interest me like the first day. His Sunday piece touches on old-school teachers in Argentina after his memory of a mentor that passed away earlier this year.

And here's a quote related to what I'm reading:

"There is no such thing as a neutral education process. Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of generations into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes the "practice of freedom", the means by which men and women deal critically with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world." (Jane Thompson following up on Paulo Freire)

In the teaching of English, it's easy to forget the wider educational process, or so it seems to me...sometimes, if we're not teaching at school but at language schools or having private students, it is all too easy to leave bullying and integration and segregation issues aside or undealt with. I think of myself as an educator first and a teacher of English then. Raising awareness in our students as to the socio-cultural forces shaping their lives and cultures and helping them to become active agents in the process is very important to me.

A month in Second Life

Certainly a lot is taking place...I've been trained to start teaching online at Myngle (I already love the idea and the atmosphere) and I've been learning more about Second Life and how to make things there. Sometimes silly things come to mind: I wanted to make a ring and necklace the other day; I managed to make objects that resembled them...and then I wanted to wear them.

But how? There was no opening in the necklace and the ring and fingers are very small to aim well in order to slide the ring into the finger. Later that same day I took a class on nanoprims and we made jewellery. I got lost somewhere so I only finished some rings, a diamond, a ruby, and an unadorned necklace.

Last night I wanted to finish my work -when the necklace was done it hit me: another teacher had said it's not really 3D but 2D so.....you can place items through your body. Voilà!!! I fitted the necklace (now attached to a diamond) and of course sent copies to some friends.

We're still working on the machinima project in italianiamo -we had a dress rehearsal/impro last week and it was fun! It was in Alice in Wonderland.

Just to show the variety...Alice in Wonderland's lands hosts the WDT group and on 15th a new exhibition opened in one of the caves. My!!! Very raw, very appealing and shocking! "The Dark side of the Avatar" is not an easy exhibition -it goes deep into the artists soul to search for their "internal monster". I saw it unfinished just the day before it opened and then yesterday and it was so different!! My word for it is RAW.

I'm still amazed at how much there is available in SL...

Many lives

Here's a preview of a PicLit I made last month (you can click and see the full text version and the site, which is very nice).


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com

And just like with PicLits, and as it was in January and February...busy days learning. I joined Second Life in order to attend the IATEFL LT-SIG's Pre Conference event (PCE) and I'm addicted to it now! Or curious, mesmerized, full of glee...I used to think places like SL were designed for you to spend money and gossip. It turns out there's a lot you can do socially and educationally, too.

Some female friends have told me that they had uncomfortable experiences with male users, but fortunately it wasn't my case (probably because I joined for a specific event attended by people with similar interests to mine). So far I've joined a Medieval role-play (I'm not a villager yet so I think I might use the character for my journey Journal blog for a while...the poor lady travelled from Aquitaine to Artstonia all by herself!!!

I'm now learning to build and create things (apart from the tutorials available I've met really nice people who've explained to me lots of useful things for my SL. My belt had rotated and today I finally managed to place it back in its proper position (if you think it's silly...have a go at it!).

I've also joined italianiamo , a group to practise Italian through drama: we discussed characters and a plot line first, and last time we started trying out costumes and getting props ready. Then our coordinator will make a machinima (a sort of mini-film) but we still need to work on the dialogues. I get to be Medusa; here's a tentative look:

The plot requires her to have a magic snake egg (we're hoping to manage to turn her hair into snakes...), so I thought that was a perfect opportunity for me to try out what I'd learned (even with keyboard shortcuts!). Here's an egg from scratch:

And some others I edited

There's so much to do and so much to learn!! I'd love to create choreographies for avatars in SL...but it'll come in good time; in the meantime I continue teaching, meeting my friends in Plurk, meeting great people every week, exploring, learning...(origami's a bit neglected, true...).

I love teaching, and I love the way I'm teaching now -seeing my 7-year-old learner progress with such enthusiasm is exhilarating.

I'm also taking care of the Cross-cultural ELT Ning (we make a good team), soon to be Cross-cultural LT, as not all the teachers teach English (some don't even teach a language). But we all want to connect and share with other cultures, and we'd like to give our students that opportunity as well. Fantastic people there too.

In RL -or life away from the screen...good things are happening too. But my head is spinning and buzzing with all the new ideas and excitement that life is at the moment...I'll be able to reflect and analyze later.

For now I just enjoy it :-)

A month full of events and exciting things

I haven't written much this month -but I hope I'll be able to articulate some thoughts arising from this busy month soon -my head's buzzing and spinning at the moment with all the new things I've started to have a go at and take part in (for example in Second Life).

Today I missed the first day of the Problem Solving with Smithsonian experts Part 2 -I hope they'll make some of the recordings available...

Last week I attended the 2nd Virtual Round Table Conference -completely online and completely amazing!!!! Day 1 started at 6am for me and day 2 at 4am and I didn't even care. All the sessions were fantastic (I missed some because they were concurrent but they will be available at the VRT).

I'm full of exclamations!! Reflections and descriptions will have to wait, I'm afraid...

In the meantime, if you can read Spanish or have an accurate translating tool, please consider reading the latest article in J.L. de Diego's column: "¿Para qué sirve? 
It's an interesting opinion article on education, technology and the "how-to" mentality, motivation and the role of abstract problems, the arts and humanities (as opposed to more practical, instrumental knowledge).

And to give you just an idea of the places I've been to these days, here's a couple of photos (they'll probably have more to do in my other blog -Journey journal, though). Hope you enjoy them:

Medieval Wanderer on the grounds of a Roman Castle (amazing place!) and, above this second photo,
Medieval Wanderer in Alaska (great view and really cozy inside!)

Online Learning

After the exciting IATEFL LT-SIG PCE in Second Life, here's some more exciting sessions to look forward to:

Welcome to Day 1: Understanding the American Experience (online conference "Problem Solving with Smithsonian Experts")


And some photos from the SL PCE event -left to right, top to bottom: Scott Thornbury's session x2 (the second one with a Mermaid that stayed with us for a mysterious few minutes), Mark Pegrum's session and Stephen Bax's session. My mind's still buzzing to talk about the experience (just building my avatar was thrilling!) so this time I'll let the images speak...

Yesterday's thought

I was walking down the street thinking about my upcoming dance class and McLuhan crossed my mind -I wonder how he'd describe the Web 2.0 world in terms of human's extensions (I should add I was feeling lazy and had begun wondering whether I'd actually make it to class or if I could find a nice program to replicate dancing).