Feeling Lucky

I spent the morning trying to determine whether or not my vertigo had subsided. I finally left here around 12:15 to try to make the 12:30 tango class. As I was walking down Santa Fe, I had the feeling that I was sliding down the sidewalk on the left. Traffic noise was more irritating than normal. I finally decided I wasn't ready to take a class, even if it was an easy one. I did my best and really wanted to attend because I think in particular, these two classes on Monday that I like are in danger of being canceled because they are not as popular. Both are taught by women and I have noticed that the classes taught by men are more aggressive, more complicated and in general, not as good for me. I feel like the women pay more attention to students and are not as concerned with them doing fancy footwork as they are about them getting all of the details right. I like their approach. I am hoping they will still be there next Monday.

I came home and played on the computer a bit. I found out about something called Miro, which is a program you can download to watch TV programs online. I have some segments of Bill Moyers Journal, Frontline World and a Spanish program (from Spain) to learn Spanish. I've watched one episode of the Spanish program, which was good, but unfortunately relied on homophobia/transphobia to make a joke. Three people were talking about their first loves. One, Eva, told about her first love who was a guy who had a beautiful body, like a woman. He eventually got a sex change and became a woman. She said she was beautiful with red hair, tall, and the only thing she couldn't change was a small tattoo on her left shoulder of a devil. Her friend who was mocking her this whole time suddenly became very serious. He described the tattoo in further detail and they determined that the woman he had been dating was Eva's newly transformed first boyfriend. And of course, this was a problem. It reminded me of the scene from Ace Ventura Pet Detective when Jim Carrey discovers the woman he kissed was a man and he proceeds to use every imaginable means to rinse out his mouth, including a plunger. I left a comment on the website of lingua tv that I thought their humor was unfortunate.

Then I took a nap. I had a hard time getting out of bed, even though I woke up several times. I guess I needed to sleep. I slept until about 4:45, and got up and watched my programs.

First I caught a glimpse of the news and was surprised to find out that there was a huge confrontation between floggers and cumbieros at the Abasto Shopping Center. The clip from You Tube is a news program covering the story. It seems like it was pretty serious, starting out first online and eventually leading to a face to face confrontation with 18 people arrested, windows broken at Abasto and riot police being called in. I thought floggers and glams were just a cute kind of oddity, but apparently they are a recognized urban tribe (this is what they call them here) and they inspire strong feelings in people. The cumbieros are people who like cumbia and as Mario told me, they are usually lower class. Perhaps this is a class conflict playing itself out among Buenos Aires youth. It is kind of sad, and I can't imagine something like this happening in San Francisco on such a large scale between two groups without people taking some sort of action to prevent it.

After the news flash I watched my favorite program, Policias en Accion, but I think it is actually called Tarded en Accion (I think there are two programs that are related). I like it because it has Spanish subtitles, lots of interviews with people (so I get to hear different people speaking Spanish) and the Spanish is very colloquial. But my favorite thing about it is that they do these in depth stories that involve more than police calls. Today they did a segment on transportation in greater Buenos Aires. Apparently transportation is very bad here, and the attack on the train last week was only a small experession of the frustration that people feel. In this segment they showed people taking these private cars, called "remis" that are kind of like private, shared taxis. People get in a remi according to where they are going, and people might get out at different places. I remember these from Nicaragua and also saw them in the Dominican Republic. For many they are a slightly more expensive, but more convenient alternative to overcrowded buses. Some people were saying that they have to wait hours for a bus that they can get on. They also showed images of the trains, also packed, with people hanging out of the doors. It reminded me of images I've seen of trains in places like India, and reminded me that Argentina is still in many ways a developing country.

I felt lucky because I don't have to deal with all of these hassles. I can afford to live in a place where I can either walk to where I am going, take a short taxi ride or when at home, drive. I am lucky to be able to afford to buy relative comfort in my life, compared to so many people who have to not only live in unsafe, uncomfortable homes, but have to deal with the many inconveniences that come with being poor, such as horrible public transportation. I don't consider myself wealthy, I often feel quite poor, but watching this program tonight and seeing what hard working people, who might even be middle class, have to deal with on a daily basis, I realized how lucky I am to have been born in the United States and to have had access to the many opportunities I've had as a white male. I wish I could twitch my nose and make it so that everyone else in the world could live in conditions that I often take for granted.