Female Presidents, Self-Immolation And Fast Food Lovin'

So back to some things that have to do with politics (here we go)...just a few minutes ago the polls closed here in Argentina and the Argentinians have just voted thier first woman president into power! Yay for progress! Cristina Fernandez de Kirschner is the wife of the current president, and she has just beat out another woman, Elisa Carrio, and a number of other candidates to replace him. It is interesting to witness this election for a number of reasons...I will name only a couple here. First of all, it is mandatory to vote here in AR. You don't just feel like it and go. Everyone goes or something bad will happen. (I haven't figured out what that is yet.) I was walking around the streets today which are usually pretty quiet on sunday afternoon and they were shot through with an energy that felt a lot like excitement. I watched people laughing with each other in the waiting lines and wearing nametags and gathering for coffee and mate in the cafes after finishing. No alcohol was allowed to be served today. While watching TV with my family for the last few hours, nothing too crazy happened except for the cop who got overheated and passed out in the exit of one of the polling locations. There has been a lot of speculation about the statistics of the election...my family here swears that there is a lot of fraud happening at the polls.

A second thing that is interesting is that through its association, Argentina is thought of as a machisimo country. A place where men whistle at women and maybe smack them on the tush as they walk by and the women work hard to look hot and don't do much else. Not only is this a false assumption, (despite the presence of whistling men and incredibly beautiful women...) but even considering the things that seem conservative, (i.e., abortion is illegal, there is a huge gap between rich and poor.) it is still very interesting that more and more countries are having women be the heads of state while we in the US stutter when we think about Hillary being the prez. Now, I know that there is more to this than just Hillary, but does it not seem a little bit prehistoric and male-centric that she is the first real female contender for president that we have had? I am not going into this too far, but it makes me think about it and goddamnit, it's time to break out of this no-minority, no-women thing that we have established as an unwritten cultural rule in our country. (And why, aside from latent racism, fear of brown-ness and possibly nepotism, would you not want to teach your citizens the language of a people who will soon be the largest minority group in the country? Yes I am talking about spanish, and not 'cuz I am learning it right now...) To put it simply, women are good right? Yes. Is their place only in the home? No. Can they lead people? Of course. Are they constantly comparing thier penises metaphorically using missiles, guns, footballs, golf clubs and battle terminology? No. Could this be a good thing that could help shape the future of our country and that of a world that we so roughly mishandle currently? Damn straight. So c'mon people now, (smile on yer...sister!;)) think for a second and let's make some changes to catch up with countries that we like to think are behind us....

...I am changing the subject slightly now...One year ago, on november the 3rd, a man named Malachi Ritscher lit himself on fire and burned to death in front of a major landmark in downtown Chicago. His self-immolation was in protest to a war that he saw as being immoral and illegal and his statement with his life in such a manner was intended to jolt the sleeping, sheeplike masses into thought and action. As is normal in our country, this kind of news was panned, placed in a couple newspapers in the back pages and the lid was placed over it so that it couldn't generate any momentum. Probably you have never even heard of this event, or if you did it was probably from me cause I got all excited about it. Do I really think that even if this story had hit the headlines it would have gotten people to take action against this war? Not really. Or it is doubtful at best. Not going to go into these reasons either...but as your friend, who cares very much about the world in which we live and the people who we share it with, (I know I sound like a damn hippie right now) I would ask you to take a moment on the 3rd of november, or right now if you think you will forget, to think about this war and this American way of life...think about the actions of the body of government that is said to represent you...think about the destruction of lives that is underway in this very moment...and think about a person who was so convinced of the treachery of the situation that he decided to take his own life in a way that was sure to get attention...and then sadly it didn't. That is all. You can read about Malachi Ritscher at the site, www.iheardyoumalachi.com and you can read his shocking "mission statement" at www.savagesound.com/gallery99.htm or you can just google his name, it is worth a couple minutes.

So aside from all this jazz, things are great down here. Weather's good, people are good. I was presented with a classic "latin-love" scenario yesterday that was so funny I gotta recount it here. I was stationed at a cafe near Corrientes and Pellegrini, minding my own business and having a cortado, when I spied what at first seemed like just another one of the many public diplays of affection that you see in the latin world. Then I noticed something that made me laugh. They were sitting on an outdoor McDonalds bench and he was feeding her french fries...one by one, very slowly and sensually. Then they would suck face for a minute, and then she would feed him bites of hamburger and then they would take turns feeding each other a straw of Coca Cola. This is all par-for-course except for the fact that it is goddamn McDonald's food that is the centerpeice for this escapade of romance...you're rockin' it man but you're giving her freaking french fries!!! Damn that shit was whacked. Somewhere in the recesses of my brain is echoing the voice of any and every girl..."yeah, but it's soooo romantic!" Touche...you got me on that one.......earlier I wrote what ended up being a little bit random and way longer than I thought it would be, I'll include that as a separate blog. You'll see why. Later! Go Red Sox! And oh yeah, happy birthday Ani!!!