No Fair Winds in Buenos Aires

Close your windows and stay indoors. Buenos Aires is under a black cloud of smoke brought in from the burning grass fields north of the city. The smoke is heading towards Uruguay and without any rain and little wind, it looks like we're going to have burning eyes and scratchy throats for the days to come.

Airports, ports, bus terminals and highways have been closed. Firefighters are having trouble breaking through the cloud of smoke by helicopter or airplane to put the fires out that have spread over thousands of hectares. Once again the government and farmers are in disagreement as the government accuses farmers of illegally starting the fires to prepare their fields for grazing.

The smoke today reminded me of Cairo. The picture above is of the view from my window on a clear day and on a smoggy day. We used to say that it didn't make much sense to quit smoking when you live in Cairo because you basically inhale the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes a day. I know it doesn't make much sense. But it also didn't make sense that in October every year the farmers set fire to clear fields when Cairo is already one of the most polluted cities in the world.

These pictures are of the polo field here in Buenos Aires taken last week and today. October in Cairo, April in Buenos Aires. Either take up smoking or get a surgeon's mask.

Eternally Polished

I loved dolls when I was a child. I loved dressing them up and fixing their hair. I’d wash it, dry it, braid it, cut it, you name it. Using the hairdryer wasn’t a great idea. The plastic locks got scorched and after the haircuts I’d given them, my dolls typically looked like they’d gotten stuck in a paper shredder.



Young girls today don’t have to learn about hairstyles the hard way. American Girl Place, a shop in Los Angeles, has a hair salon for the dolls, a hospital to repair a doll after say a bad haircut or an amputated limb, a cafe where moms and daughters can dress up and have tea, and enough clothes and furniture for the dolls to fill one of those old Sears catalogs from the 70s.



This grooming obsessed culture is not just hard on young girls. Trying to stay real in such a narcissistic world can be rough for all of us. I live among the world’s most cut upon and waxed bodies. In my neighborhood for instance, let’s just take the four blocks immediately next to mine, there are four tanning salons, ten hair salons, and five salons that specialize in waxing alone.

Health insurance policies for the wealthy in Buenos Aires include one free plastic surgery per year. It’s hard to know what’s real and what isn’t. Foreign tourists take advantage of the highly skilled, low-cost sculpting the city offers. You can get your surgery done the first week and then take in a cruise through Antarctica to complete your recovery before going back home with a tighter face, bigger boobs, a higher butt, or smaller labia.

For those weary of the knife yet still desiring a new look, one guidebook’s list of 25 things to do in Buenos Aires lists "A Brazilian" as number 12. I thought they meant sex with a Brazilian, which seemed an odd recommendation. Then I remembered having read about Brazilian waxes being a lot cheaper here in Buenos Aires.

At first the obsession with polished, fuzz free skin and Baywatch bodies reminded me of Isaac Asimov’s book The End of Eternity in which one of the characters had no body hair because he came from a time when beauty was defined by one’s lack of hair. Could Asimov have known back in 1954 that some lunatic mothers in the States would be taking their 8-year-old daughters for their first Brazilian? (I really am grateful we’re talking about wax.)

Plastic as Buenos Aires is (Argentina ranks third in the world, after the US and Mexico, for number of cosmetic surgeries), I haven’t heard of mothers taking their prepubescent daughters to remove the one or two pubic hairs they might have. I don’t see 13-year-olds in hair salons exposing themselves to dangerous chemicals for a few streaks of blond or red. And graduation presents tend more towards a watch or nice piece of jewelry than new boobs.

Grooming rituals will probably always change, but I hope some of the "back to nature" movements that are changing the way we eat will have an influence on the way we see ourselves. In the meantime, check out one of the best articles about attitudes towards the body I've ever read, Horace Miner's "Body Ritual among the Nacirema."

Meatless in Buenos Aires

The two-week strike keeps going. Farmers, protesting massive taxes (41% for soybeans), have barricaded roads and stopped shipments of beef, dairy products, and other grains. The beef aisles in the supermarkets have been shut down and covered with tarps. Butcher shops are empty. Chicken prices have skyrocketed. We're all eating pizza and we may soon have no cheese for our pizza.

Yesterday a protest in Plaza de Mayo turned ugly. I asked a taxi driver and a friend of mine their opinion of the protest. Both said the government sent in their bankrolled protesters to beat up the others. The called it a mafia and voiced concerns that Argentine President Cristina Fernandez won't be able to handle the crisis. Neither wanted to think of what that would mean to the country.

According to the taxi driver and my friend, the problem isn't only that the taxes are too high. Argentina is one of the few places where the dollar is still strong. They claim that farmers and the government are enjoying the weak peso as exports grow. But the farmers aren't seeing much return. What's worse, the taxes, which the government claims are meant to disperse the money to sectors more in need, are not going back to those sectors. Corruption.

I used to think that the word corruption was overused here as if it were thrown around to explain all of the country's problems. Now I realize I have no idea what I'm talking about. Would the government actually send in paid protesters to beat up the legitimate protesters? Do they think people will believe that the farmers aren't in agreement and some farmers would beat up the others?

Regular citizens showed they too sided with the farmers by honking their horns ALL NIGHT LONG. More horns honked than when River or Boca when a match. The strike can't go on much longer, but I have no idea which side will retreat. One thing is certain, yesterday I had the worst empanada I've had since I got here. Don't eat meat until this is over.

Symbolic and More: Obama '08

Back in December Andrew Sullivan wrote an article in the Atlantic Monthly, "Goodbye to All That: Why Obama Matters." I don't always agree with Sullivan, after all, he did endorse G.W. in 2000. But his December article made the point that an Obama presidency would symbolize a turn in American politics that would help us restore our damaged image. I couldn't agree more.

But symbolism is not reason enough to vote for Obama. There's much more substance to the man and his campaign than mere hope and symbolism. Change is a big part of it and something I think Clinton does not promise. Lawrence Lessig's 20-minute video (embedded here below) on why he supports Barack Obama puts it better than I ever could. Enjoy!

Two Weeks in LaLaLand

I'm back from two weeks in California, a blue state. I was there during the Oscars when LA became a ghost town. No traffic, no need to make reservations, no lines anywhere, save, I suppose, in front of the Kodak theater. Back in 2003 there was talk of whether or not they should hold the Oscars. After all, we were a country at war.

Once again the Oscars almost didn't happen. But not because of our ongoing war: the writer's strike nearly brought down the annual celebration of overpaid stars, mediocre scripts, and ego hasta la luna.

This year's Oscars were considered a flop. Fewer people attended, fewer viewers tuned in, and, oh no, for the first time ever all four major Oscars for acting went to foreigners. A true tragedy.

No activist actors boycotted to send a message to the presidential candidates that it's high time the war become the subject of debate in this campaign. Well, that's not totally fair. McCan't is all about war, and fear, and no tax increases, and riding the wave to oblivion. Our troops will stay there but we won't call it war.

So why not? Why was there no talk of whether or not it would be in bad taste to hold a party celebrating our cinematic triumphs when our soldiers and Iraqis continue to die (more than 1.3 million so far have died according to the Oxford Research Bureau)? Why isn't the war the main issue in this campaign?

It's the economy. LA's economy was hurt by the writer's strikes. People were out of work. Studios couldn't produce. The films that were already being produced were nearing completion. Ending the strike before the Oscars said "We're back in business." The US economy is also hurting. And since there really is no cheap or clear solution for ending our occupation of Iraq and rebuilding the nation we wrecked, the candidates are ignoring the fact that the majority of Americans do not support the war. We can't afford to fix it so we'll stay indefinitely, or at least for the moment.

I've often thought that California would be the one place I could live in the States if I were to return. It's the nexus of change. I did meet people who get it. And certainly more than I would find in other parts of the country. But I was astounded at how many Democrats with Republican talking points I met. The blue state, save New York, maybe. The people who gave Gore an Oscar last year, the people who push for cleaner fuels, who eat organic, who teach the difference between religiosity and spirituality, who probably started the worldwide anti-smoking movement, were largely missing in action.

Fear of Knowledge

The New York Times published a review of a new book called "The Age of American Unreason," by Susan Jacoby. She decided to write the book on 9/11 back in 2001 when she overheard a conversation comparing the attacks to Pearl Harbor. "What's Pearl Harbor?" asked one of the guys. The other explained that it was "when the Vietnamese dropped bombs in a harbor, and it started the Vietnam War." Yep, overhearing that conversation could drive any informed citizen downright mad.

What is the deal with the anti-intellectual trend in the States? There's hope though. Check out the video below to hear a young guy who has informed opinions and expresses them well. He even looks cool.

McCan't See the Forest for the Trees

Had a brief debate with a friend who supports McCain. My friend explained that he and I see eye to eye on most issues, but that there's one big difference.

The issue we see differently is the “terrorist threat” posed by Muslim fundamentalists (fundies, I call them, whether Christian or Muslim). He thinks the fundies are a major threat. I won’t argue with that (not because I agree, but because I know there is no point arguing on that subject).

So if the terrorist threat is the main issue for him, then he must be supporting McCain because of his stand on Iraq and Iran. I pointed out that the war in Iraq had nothing to do with terrorism. He agreed that it didn’t at the beginning, but said that in his opinion it does now. So I asked if he thought that invading and occupying another country and maintaining a losing war in that country created more terrorists (whatever their religion may be). Destroying your image around the world and acting like self-righteous mavericks can’t help the “War on Terror” if such a war even really exists, can it?

A lot of people think my view of reality is tainted by having lived in the Middle East for a spell and because I haven't lived in the States much for the past 15 years. They tell me I am misinformed and cannot see the forest for the trees. Odd that having actually lived in the Middle East for three years would qualify me as “uninformed.”

Of course, the way I see it, it’s the Republicans who can’t see the forest for the trees. It’s anyone who believes this war was about anything other than oil and money who are blind. And it’s those who think that starting another war would make us more secure.

So to me, McCain will forever be McCan’t. And considering I support the “Yes, We Can” candidate. I think it hits the nail on the head. Go Obama!