Going to Arkansas

Before even thinking about going to Arkansas, I played a couple of shows with Seba as a guest musician. I sang on a tune called Antequedas, which is about a place of the same name where people go to eat, fish and relax near the Paraná River.

It was a big deal because it was Seba's release party for his second CD, Palimay. I haven't gotten nervous in a few years before performing but my first show with Seba I did get nervous. So in addition to a lot of yoga, I said a little prayer before going on stage that my singing would help bring about a world of social justice and peace.

Keeping my eye on the prize helped a lot, and I just had a blast. Friday in the newspaper, the review of the overall concert was positive, but it said, "le puso un toque de simpatía Stephen Coger," and I wasn't sure if it meant that it was sympathy that brought me to the stage or if I brought a sort of charisma/friendliness to the stage. Fortunately it was a compliment, as my sister Lorena and my brother Kevin later confirmed. Ha!

We played a show again on Friday, a bar show, intimate and small, compared to the Wednesday arts center, 200+ people show. We got home after 2am that night and then on Saturday morning I headed alone to teach music at Vilelas. Fortunately the literature teacher showed up and then Seba and Lorena came once their son (my nephew) Yamil finished a gymnastics show at his elementary school.

On this night in Vilelas we were holding a concert for the students' parents, and so after rehearsing all of our tunes we decided to end the music workshop early. Upon informing the students that we were ending a half hour early, one of them pulled out a cell phone, checked the time, and said, "No, profe, son las 11 y treinta. Ustedes están acá hasta las doce." "No, professor, it's 11:30. Ya'll are here until twelve." And so it was, and so we were. He wasn't combative; he just said the truth, and that was all it took. Ha! So they held a sort of drum circle for thirty minutes more and I was moved to join them on the trumpet. It's a humbling and joyous feeling to share music with people and see how drastic of an improvement can be made over just four months. Without any direction these kids changed rhythms, gelling in and out, transitioning clean and transitioning together like the fine brustles of two combs passing just next to each other, amongst and between each other in perfect synchronicity. I was totally impressed, and joyous to be playing music with them.

But how can I share with you the fun, good work that we did that day? We taught music in the morning, played a children's music show in the afternoon, and then put on a show for the parents of the music workshop kids in the evening. It was beautiful. I shared with them their fortune at living next to one of the world's most important rivers, of having successfully struggled for universal health care, and of having successfully struggled for universal education. I told them that 45,000 people die in my country every year for lack of health care, and we talked about music and I thanked them... and after the show and during the good-byes, just as we were about to pull away, Facundo, one of the older kids, started to tear up, and I thought, "If we don't leave now, this is it! I'm gonna cry!" And so it was. ha! It was a beautiful goodbye, sitting in the back part of a pick-up bouncing away down the gravel from Vilelas, thanking Seba for inviting me all those Saturdays ago and crying.

In India they talk about "rising in love" as opposed to "falling in love," and I think it applies not only to romantic love, but also to friendships like those my friends and I made in Argentina. A sort of constructive love that sets free and isn't codependent but rather interdependent towards mutual growth. That's what all of my Argentina friends and most of my students and I did. We had just a little bit of time, and yet we really formed strong bonds in that short time.

And because the musicians that play with Seba had been here all week from Buenos Aires, we'd spent every night awake until 2 or 3am eating, visiting, swimming, and playing music... tonight I slept.

Sunday I played with my Taiwanese friends while the rain poured outside, and then that night played with Seba, Lorena, and Yamil in the park. Yamil learned to skate tonight (Nov. 15, 2009). I began to pack.

Monday I practiced yoga with Seba and recorded a video journal while cooking dhal. Tuesday was my last day at San Fernando Rey, the college whereat I teach, and I printed off four certificates for my two most improved students and my two best speakers. Wednesday was another love-filled goodbye; it was my last day at Escuela Normal Sarmiento, my high school. You know what? I'm just going to include my journal entry from this day. It was a big day.

This morning I got nearly EVERYTHING for our Thanksgiving dinner at my beloved butcher shop (which has everything one could need hidden amongst its few shelves), then hunted down the last few ingredients in the centro. Lorena (my sister) beat me home and we cooked together, and Nico (my brother) came over and helped. We had lunch together outside the oven-heated sauna of my casita (little house), then went together to my favorite class. We ate ice cream, visited, and shared about things beyond English. I asked them not to smoke, and they shared their thoughts, danced, and Lorena and Claudia (the professor and my dear friend) spoke, too. I reminded them that they live in a beautiful place and that they are fortunate to live here. I reminded them that Claudia is a great English teacher that speaks English perfectly, that we have a choice when it comes to our emotions and when it comes to what we enjoy, and that it’s better to hang out solo than be mal acompañado, than to hang out with bad company.

Nico and Lorena told them about San Fernando Rey. Then we took a picture together, Nico helped me prepare envelopes for Kevin (my youngest brother), then my Argentine family--Lorena, Nico, and Kevin--and I took a picture together, then one with Claudia.

Lorena wrote her contact info down for Kevin, then I wrote a quick note telling his parents that another adoptive sibling (Lorena) had agreed to get him up to speed on his English free of charge. I also invited them to my Thanksgiving dinner tonight.

Then Lorena and I walked back home, crying a little, and then I helped her with her English homework and we went to swimming lessons! Yamil and Nahuel can swim wonderfully, and while Magalí and Lara know HOW to swim, they haven't let me let go of them, and when I do they sink like a stone. So today I didn’t let go of them at all though at one point Magalí was swimming with such speed that I wasn’t supporting her at all. Ha!

Then I came home and practiced yoga, and my 9:15 dinner started when Seba and Lorena showed up at that time, though we didn’t begin to eat until Steven Washington (a former Harlem Globetrotter from Chicago, he now resides in Resistencia and teaches basketball at the university where I taught swimming) showed up around 10, and the party got started really when Kevin and his family showed up shortly thereafter, and it was a total blast when Vanessa (whom I met meandering around Resistencia) and her son, Segundo, showed up shortly thereafter. I think everyone had gone home by 2am, after empanadas, sweet potato pie, chocolate cake, pizza, and ice cream. haha! Empanadas and sweet potato pie…

The sort of running joke of the day was that I had to get back after the ice cream at high school and “brush the sugar off my teeth.” It’s funny because it’s mostly not a joke. ha!

On Thursday, I had my final swimming lesson. AND I'M SO HAPPY!! MAGALI SWAM! She swam and she swam and she swam! This is my favorite Going to Arkansas Present. Then we had pizza at my friend David's house. He's a great sculptor. And maker of pizza.

On Friday, I said goodbye to some friends from Taiwan, said goodbye to the Britoses, and they took home the stuff that they had loaned me all those months ago: a sauce pan, forks, etc. Seba came over and helped me finish up, and then we called a remise. I headed to Seba, Lorena and Yamil's while Seba rode that way on his bike. We shared one more afternoon of playing and tereré, that wonderful, yummy, cold version of yerba maté that Argentinians, Paraguayans, and some Brazilians drink in the summer.

My friend Luis and I performed Ben Harper's Waiting on an Angel for Seba, Lorena, Yamil, and a couple of friends of theirs, and then Seba and I played a few of the tunes we'd played together over the months. After that Yamil skated a bit.

Then the remise, which as far as I can tell is the same thing as a taxi, came to get us and take us to the bus terminal. We had to get dropped off before the terminal actually because of a demonstration that had blocked the road. I remember walking toward the terminal, flanked by and following my friends who were helping carry and roll my things, thinking, "SWEET! The buses can't run! One more night in Resistencia!"

As it happened, the buses were running, just behind schedule. And so my friends from Taiwan managed to make their way to the terminal, too, and we all visited. Seba and I visited about the benefits of our friendship, and Yamil and I performed a version of the "I'm Bad" Michael Jackson music video. If you can come over to my house I'll show this to you because it is hilarious and Seba videotaped the whole 1.5 minute show. ha! Also, the Calvin and Hobbes vibe of me and Yamil's friendship is crystal clear and tangible in the video.

Here is Seba and the musicians that helped present his new album.
They are, from left to right: Guido, Mauro, Seba, Esteban (the producer;
he's playing the drums), and then a lovely, lovely guy
(muy buena onda) on the
accordion, Bistolfi.

Lorena, Myrian, Seba, and I in one of the classrooms
at Vilelas.

Here we are playing for children. Someone had the
not-so-bright idea of bringing the food out just as we began to
play, so after this picture was taken nearly
all of our audience disappeared. ha!

Of all the classes at the Instituto Terciario San Fernando Rey,
the university where I worked and played, I spent the most time
with this class of sophomores. Teresa is a great teacher,
always listening to her students; she's in
white to my left, and she is also a Fulbright scholar. She worked
as a Spanish teacher in Washington on her Fulbright scholarship,
and she encourages her students to think critically while
learning English. I really like that, and I suspect that
the context it provides helps what they learn stick.

Chaco is beautiful.

David made everything from the crust to the fire.
And it was delicious. This was another late night, after
a farewell get together in Laguna Argüello, the same
place I had my wonderful birthday party. In the park, I had my
last torta parrilla (flat bread, al estilo Argentino) for a while.

My truly beloved siblings: Lorena, Kevin, and Nico.
They started out as students, then became friends, and then
sister and brothers.

That's all, ya'll. Some how or another the eight plus months of my Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship have ended. I made great friends, and they made me. And I achieved my goal--mentioned in my second blog entry--of verifying that no automatic trajectory is mine. My path is mine and is not determined by society, by my beloved parents, by where I'm from... but by all of these things and by me and by more. Mmm-hmm.

I learned to cook well on a fairly consistent basis! I played Kilómetro 11 with my great friends, ate queso cremoso, taught swimming lessons, helped teach a music workshop, taught English, played pool with my high school students, ate pizza and danced with my college students... I became a vegetarian and began to develop in other ways that facilitate the social justice that I want to see in the world. And I resolved never to drive in Danville again; if Seba and Lorena can bicycle around Resistencia, a city of 400,000 folks, I can ride my bike all up and down Danville, my hometown of 2,000 folks. ha!

Aright friends and family. Thank you again for following my blog. As we wade through life's water together may we relax and leave behind the unnecessary and hurtful: the Coca-Cola, house decorations, lawn watering, and more. And as some of us changing see some of us not changing, may we remember that honey attracts more bees than vinegar and be genuinely human. May our art accelerate and make efficient the process of our slow, simple discovery of our common humanness.

See you!

Peace!
Stephen

PS On the flight home, the plane ride included the super interesting screen that tells things like the altitude and speed and other stuff. Here are a few screen shots, followed by one of me at home in my back yard in front of the bradford pear tree.

This is my favorite because we can see where
the sun has risen, where it's setting, where
night is falling, and where the sun is rising.

And I know McDonald's to be a place of poison, so I got my food elsewhere so that Dad and I could continue the tradition of eating and reading. Y yo sé que McDonald's es un lugar de veneno, por eso yo compré mi comida en otro parte para que Papá y yo podríamos seguir con la tradición de comer y leer.





And here is a video that I made for my beloved Argentine family, the Ibarras. They took me to so many of their sacred places that I wanted to show them mine; and so this is the first of several videos which will certainly include Spring Lake--at sunset--and Long Pool.

A big huge thanks to Krishna at Espacio Thai in Buenos Aires for allowing me to feel so welcome there. My final two nights in Argentina were passed there, even though no one else was there. Another big huge thanks to all my friends and family and teachers that stayed in touch while I was in Argentina, those that are physically with us and those that aren't.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Seba Ibarra and Me

Seba Ibarra's album Collage de Rio (River Collage) is lovely like a river. Each track flows into the next, with beautiful harmonies, creative instrumentation, and fun, occasionally profound, and always image-laden lyrics.

Like the Jamaican musician Earl "Chinna" Smith,
Seba plays music that's instantly engaging and homegrown. His chamamé/rock/fusion doesn't conform to any genre.

It's a music of celebration, a celebration of local traditions, the local rivers and this part of the Earth and its buses, fish, animals and people. And like Chinna's music, and some of Bob Marley's tunes, Seba's music will never sound dated.

Playing with Seba has easily been among the best aspects of life and work in Resistencia. We played various temas (songs, in this case) at C.E. Cual (Center for Alternative Culture), an arts and crafts fair, including one called Hora de la Nada (Hour of Nothing). This song reminds me of my Mom because it is about the time traveling between work and home, and she makes a half-hour commute twice-a-day. Seba played with a great percussionist and accordionist at that show, too, and also my new friend Alejandro Acosta. He is the violinist in the picture above. He is also a great composer, and composes the music for the sculpture videos. If you remember, Resistencia is the sculpture capital of Argentina, and every two years there is a major competition here. "Ale" makes the music for each contests' video.

And on the 2nd of September Seba, Ale, and I played a radio show, which some of you folks back in the States (and perhaps elsewhere in the world) got to hear.

We rehearse every Wednesday morning and have a total blast. I'm learning a pair of chamamé songs: Kilometro 11 and La Calandria. They are fun and challenging, and rehearsing them in Ale's studio is fun. We drink mate, I learn more local Argentine slang and teach a little English, and most importantly, we play music.

Last Friday was Teacher's Day, and Seba and I celebrated by playing music for a group of teachers. This picture must be of the song
Antequedas because it is the only one I sing.
It is a fun song about a beautiful place on the Parana River. The Sunday before, the 3rd, Seba, Lorena (his wife, my friend and student), and their son Jamil all went to Antequedas for a picnic which included homemade peanut butter with apple, homemade wheat bread, guacamole, the amazing Argentine cheese queso cremoso (which although it translates literally as "cream cheese" is not cream cheese), panqueques (the Argentine version of pancakes), and mandarin oranges! It was beautiful, and I got a little toasted by the sun.

Here are a few pictures of some of what has transpired since the last blog entry.

Our first show was sooo much fun. This was August 23rd.

Seba is on the left, then there's me and Alejandro.

Here Seba and a few young people from our weekly music workshop are working with the keyboard.

We played as they kept the beat going.

We work on counting, and on recognizing the various counts.

Learning to hit on 1 and 3 instead of 1, 2, 3, and 4 is a big deal,

and learning this along with the concept of pitch is no easy task!

This activity is a voluntary one, the students gain
no grades by coming, and so those that do come are
usually excited to be there. This picture is of
part of the group from my first Saturday there,
the 22nd of August. (Thanks to my Dad
for photoshopping it.)

It has been a long time since a blog update, but the thing is, I was planning on taking the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) this month and so was intentionally avoiding the computer. Well the more I study the more comfortable I become with the concepts and so I'm going to keep studying and take the LSAT later. It's a big change of plans, but I'm getting comfortable with it.

On a related note, every Sunday I've been hanging out with the Lo family and learning about their religion, which seems to be a sort of mix of Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity. There's often a lot of fun stories involved, and I remember the first story that involved someone kicking the bucket. As the stories normally have predictably happy endings, this ending was unexpected and a little funny.

The story: once there was guy who fell off a mountain and in his falling and flailing happened to grab hold of a limb. Upon praying for help, Buddha appeared next to him and said, "I can get you of out this situation, but first you have to let go of that limb." And the guy was so stressed that he didn't let go. And Buddha was like, "Aright, see you later." And the guy actually froze to death. Unbeknownst to him the ground was just a meter or so below.

Well letting go of the idea of taking the LSAT this month has been like letting go of the limb. I can study a bit more tranquilly, and plenty of doors have been opening since then. For example, just as I began really considering delaying the exam, I went for the first time to Vilelas, a barrio outside Resistencia. Ever since I've gone every Saturday, and there I help teach the music workshop led by Seba.

I've also met my students in the plaza multiple times for Hanging Out in English, played frisbee at the high school and also frisbee and badminton in Parque 2 de Febrero. I have also played "volley" (which is just volleyball without teams and without a net) a couple of times with my high school students.

The Lo family and I went to Parque 2 de Febrero for
a picnic and badminton, soccer, and frisbee.

Here we are again, the Lo family and two other friends,
outside the Lo's home. It sure is nice having befriended
a few vegetarians.

A fairly simple and creative skull and crossbones
with President Bush's face. I can hardly think of a better
symbol for poison.

Well, that's all for today friends. Keep in touch, OK? I'll leave you with a new recipe, and a video I recorded for the folk group Still on the Hill at my school last Thursday.

Veggie Burritos
Having soaked them overnight, give your black beans an hour in the pressure cooker and then for a meal you can have brown rice and salted black beans with apple and homemade peanut butter for desert.

Or you can go ahead and make veggie burritos by adding to the beans some honey, salt, soy sauce and mustard seeds. Stir it all around and have the flame low.

While the beans are going, saute onion and garlic (and maybe some ginger) in sunflower oil on a medium flame until it gets brown and sweet, adding some purple cabbage part way through. Then comes the spinach (and/or broccoli), and then red and green and gold bell peppers. Add some salt and soy sauce. If you like how bell peppers taste raw, you can cook them for just a little while before putting it all in with the beans. Stir it all around and cut up some fresh tomato and toss it in. Then you're ready!

See you!!
--Stephen, smcoger@gmail.com

PS If you are involved in the struggle for better health care, thank you! If not, I hope you'll join in.

Here is the video I recorded for my friends Kelly and Donna of the group Still on the Hill. As their assignment for the day, my first year students filled in blanks of the song's lyrics.