Meaning, collaboration and wishes for 2009

In the last couple of days I spent a few hours completely hooked onto the internet, learning more about Professor Michael Wesch's work around education, meaning and collaboration. As an anthropologist and teacher, he realised school and learning were not the same thing (watch the video "vision of students today" for some insight). So he created spaces where his students could be protagonists, building valuable knowledge about subjects they cared about, also using digital tools.

One of his projects is exactly studying the anthropology behind You Tube. Take a look in two popular samples:





As this is my last post in 2009, I'd like to use some of the messages expressed in these videos and uncountable others. Although we often act differently, it seems to me there are some feelings and wishes that we, as humanity, tend to share

contagious GOODNESS

less prohibition

colourblind fairness

more creativity

less criminalization

less war

CONSCIOUSNESS

better future

LOVE

more connections

less authority

TRUTH

collaboration

more engagement

the value of (bio)diversity

various peoples, being able to bring along their uniqueness for an unity

one world, our home


May we be our true wishes in 2009!
Carpe Diem!!!

Madonna

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to do something I was wishing for for a few years: go to a Madonna concert.

Since I understood what she represented - especially for women and the gay community, I started to pay more attention on the way she is extreme and controversial about issues like religion and sexuality. The liberation, pleasure and individuality messages shot through overwhelming performances at the very least make us think about ourselves and society from a different angle.

The show itself is really impressive. The lights, clips, the dance and especially Madonna capture the audience's attention and keep everybody breathless, wondering how a 50 year old can possibly dance the way she does. The kind of bizarre moment happened in the Latin music section, which apparently was intended to be a tribute to the place hosting the show, but had nothing to do with Brazilian culture whatsoever. She won the audience back, though, by singing a song chosen by a fan and ending the show with a Brazilian t-shirt.

Civil Disobedience

Civil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of an occupying power without resorting to physical violence.


Yesterday, I joined Bicicletada, a group of people passionate about cycling, who ride in São Paulo and in other cities for pleasure and as a means of transportation, with no one leader. As they ride, they question why bikers don’t have the same rights as drivers to come and go, once taking certain streets and roads can be dangerous or even prohibited, even though everybody knows cyclers use a lot less space and don’t emit greenhouse gases.

In this context, the idea was to go from São Paulo to Santos by bike, so we could swim in the ocean after the effort of accomplishing the 80km journey. The plan attracted about 200 cyclers and started early in the morning.

Unfortunately, the police didn’t allow us to pass the 41st km, claiming they were concerned about the group’s safety and that the tunnels are not prepared to receive walkers and bikers.

As negotiation continued, my frustration gave way to the satisfaction of being part of a civil disobedience movement. Everybody from the group kept talking, bringing up the arguments, always with respect and determined not to cause any violence. The police was as peaceful and patient.

We ended up needing to come back to São Paulo without swimming in Santos’ sea. But the media, the company that takes care of the road and even the police seemed to have understood and even agreed with the importance of the discussion.

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Leaving from São Paulo


My friends and I


Stopped by the police for the first time