Autor: Merriam A. Grain

  • HEROPHOBIC CULTURES

    wooden dummy toy with a cape
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    Here and there in my travels I learned that some cultures are not entirely comfortable with the term «hero» to begin with. Australia and Germany are two cultures that seem slightly «herophobic.»

    THE WRITER’S JOURNEY ~ THIRD EDITION. Christopher Vogler. Published by Michael Wiese Productions

    More than societies being herophobic, I’d like to point out they have realized imagined realities can be misused.  They can be manipulated for governments to push people to go war. Wars in which the only sense is the ego of the fill in the blank with the leader of turn’s title. Too much for spending time in a trench or murdering kids and terrorists by pressing a button. Or too much to blindly go following certain idealisms such as genocide in order to have a proper order of things [ I know… what’s the proper order of things that allows such ideas[1]?]. 

    Societies can also realize a single individual can’t be responsible for the actions of many. It was Mahatma Gandhi who came up with the idea of doing things being responsible of what he did himself and only of the things he did himself[2]. Indeed, the author explains Aussies prefer the not so trustable, ethereal hero; since they realized the English had them fighting their battles by using the word “hero”.  I think they have learned cooperation works better. Of course there’s still the need for that one single manager but they know the manager alone can’t do much.

    Narrative is not just a hero and their journey. Narrative is minding the imagined reality to make humans feel purposeful and cooperative. It is about making up what’s not there to have us not killing the neighbour. It’s imaginative and varied and truly strange.

    Perhaps it is time to imagine something new. Have fun trying. Pasto kalo.

    [1] Nonetheless, these ideologies happened and still happen.

    [2] Reference to Diana Uribe’s podcasts… don’t ask which.

  • El INTI

    El INTI es un organismo argentino importante que está desapareciendo…

  • Bastards

    grass in a crack in the asphalt
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    No idea why,

    Some come to life.

    They’re weeds through concrete.

    One day a crack,

    The next, green by.

     

    Some blossom by hearing news.

    Crude gossip,

    They persevere without context.

     

    Cockroaches,

    They survive the garbage bin.

    Pencil scratch,

    They fatten-thrill.

  • De arquetipos y, otra vez, el inconsciente colectivo

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    Los personajes repetidos del mundo del mito tales como el joven héroe, la vieja o el viejo sabios, el cambia formas y la sombra antagonista son las mismas figuras que aparecen repetidamente en nuestros sueños y fantasías, Por eso es que los mitos y la mayoría de las historias construidas sobre el modelo mitológico tienen el tintineo de la verdad psicológica,

    THE WRITER’S JOURNEY ~ THIRD EDITION. Christopher Vogler. Published by Michael Wiese Productions

    Mmmm. Mmmm. Y más mmmm. En mis sueños no hay viejos o viejas sabias.  Tampoco sombras antagonistas. Y si tomara esta afirmación de antes, concluiría que no tengo nada de humano, tengo serios problemas mentales o… Algo no funciona ahí.

    En mis fantasías, vivo en una biblioteca… Tengo dinero suficiente para rentar un Bentley… En otras soy una diosa hongo.

    De acuerdo. Confieso: no soy humana. [Ya quisiera].

    Diviértete lidiando con las verdades psicológicas. Pasto kalo.

  • The big questions

    wooden hand holding question mark
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    Where do stories come from? How do they work? What do they tell us about ourselves? What do they mean? Why do we need them? How can we use them to improve the world?

    Above all, how do storytellers manage to make the story mean something? Good stories make you feel you’ve been through a satisfying, complete experience. You’ve cried or laughed or both. You finish the story feeling you’ve learned something about life or about yourself. Perhaps you’ve picked up a new awareness, a new character or attitude to model your life on. How do storytellers manage to pull that off? What are the secrets of this ancient trade? What are its rules and design principles?

    THE WRITER’S JOURNEY ~ THIRD EDITION. Christopher Vogler. Published by Michael Wiese Productions

    I know. Not all writers wonder. Perhaps narratologists do. And not all good stories make you cry or laugh. I didn’t cry or laughed with Macbeth or Hamlet. I was enchanted with the body spread on stage (on my mind since I’ve never seen those performed). Am I weird? A little, right?

    I also remember books that follow this hero’s journey idea that bored me up to the third or second sequel. The same structure again and again[1]. By the third book I had figured out some female character would need help and this guy, out of an outdated noblesse towards females, would go, lose his liver, an eye, ribs or got a broken leg and; gathering strength from nature or any other pre ordained magical condition, defeat the evil being. Thank you very much, where can I read something that’s not as predictable? Very akin to what happens to some fighting webtoons. Yet, for those; I still wanna know: why does the main character own two bodies?

    Dramas that intend to leave behind a moral principle that infuriated me enough to question myself if the writer belittles their audience or if the audience is really that stupid. I always conclude it’s either the writer or the government trying to censure any gray morals. What if anyone feels like robbing a bank? No, we can’t have that. Those who dare may be banned from reincarnation.

    Great stories have things in common. Indeed. However, they’re not always the same pattern. Good storytelling is like quantum physics. If you think you understand quantum physics, you understand nothing.

    Have fun wondering. Pasto kalo.   

    [1] I’m too sophisticated for the franchise story ( except Harry Potter or A song of ice and fire…) but too vulgar for the intellectual quest of revolutionary story telling.

  • Autoras que se inventaron un hombre…

  • License

    woman in car on sea shore
    Photo by Nadezhda Moryak on Pexels.com

    Step on gas,

    Go slow or turn.

    I don’t get this deal of drive.

    It ain’t relaxing at all!

     

    All times,

    Your eyes can’t wander to sight,

    The stores or the skies.

    Left and right,

    The mirror above,

    Nothing you can’t distract from.

     

    Mind your speed,

    The car in front says “taxi”.

    They’re a nuisance.

    Drive better than I.

    Which is why,

    They bully the rest,

    and cut ahead line.

     

    Oh,

    And if there’s a space,

    It’s me who messes life.

    All not to go,

    Over there a hundred metres further tough.

  • Las grandes preguntas

    wooden hand holding question mark
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    ¿De dónde salen las historias? ¿Cómo funcionan? ¿Qué nos dicen sobre  nosotros mismos? ¿Qué significado tienen? ¿Por qué nos resultan importantes? ¿Cómo se pueden usar para mejorar el mundo?

    Y, por encima de todo, ¿cómo se las arreglan los cuenta cuentos para hacer que una historia tenga sentido? Las buenas historias te hacen sentir haber pasado por una experiencia completa y satisfactoria. Has llorado o reído o las dos. Terminas la historia sintiéndote más sabio acerca de la vida o sobre ti mismo. Tal vez, seas consciente de algo nuevo, un carácter distinto o una nueva actitud bajo la cual modelar tu vida. ¿Cómo se las arregla un narrador para lograr tal cosa? ¿Cuáles son los secretos de este viejo oficio? ¿Cuáles son sus reglas y sus principios de diseño?

    THE WRITER’S JOURNEY ~ THIRD EDITION. Christopher Vogler. Published by Michael Wiese Productions

    Lo sé. No a todos los escritores les preocupa. Quizá a los narratólogos. Y no todas las buenas historias te hacen reír o llorar. No lloré ni reí con Macbeth o con Hamlet. Estaba encantada con el montón de cuerpos en el escenario. ¿Soy rara? Sí. Lo sé. Un poquito.

    También recuerdo libros que siguen esta idea del viaje del héroe que me aburrieron ya a la segunda o tercera secuela. La misma estructura una y otra vez[1]. Al tercer libro podía decir que un personaje femenino llegaría con un problema, que el galante sujeto tendría que ir a resolver. [Casi] perdería una pierna o un brazo o el hígado y entonces, encontraría fuerza de flaqueza y derrotaría al ser maligno. Del mismo modo algunos webtoons de peleas pero, incluso así, en esos hay un algo que me intriga: ¿por qué el protagonista tiene dos cuerpos?

    Dramas que intentan demostrar un principio moral pero me dejan tan molesta como para preguntarme si el escritor subestima a la audiencia o si la audiencia es realmente tan estúpida. Por lo regular, concluyo que el autor subestima a su audiencia o el gobierno le censura los temas para que no resulten moralmente grises. Nacho[2] nos libre de que a alguien se le antoje robar un banco. A aquéllos a los que se les ocurre hay que negarles la reencarnación.

    No obstante, las grandes historias comparten algo. Nunca lo mismo. Las buenas historias son como la física cuántica. Si crees que entiendes la física cuántica es que no entiendes ni un convento[3].

    Pásala bien ponderándolo. Pasto kalo.   

    [1] Soy demasiado sofisticada para las historias de franquicia pero demasiado vulgar para las cosas que pretenden revolucionar el ramo.

    [2] …Un gato negro que decidió vivir de gato compartido en la casa. Hace turnos de día o de noche. Es negro y abrazable.

    [3] ¿De qué están llenos los conventos? De monjas y … superioras.

  • The easy way

    a person holding artificial flower
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    “One thing I’ve learned, Calvin: people will always yearn for a simple solution to their complicated problems. It’s a lot easier to have faith in something you can’t see, can’t touch, can’t explain, and can’t change, rather than to have faith in something you actually can.” She sighed. “One’s self, I mean.” She tensed her stomach.

    Lessons in chemistry. Bonnie Garmus

    Since humans are capable of creating things that do not exist and make of them something real inside their brains and by agreement with many others1; is it possible to influence the universe by believing things?

    Have you ever though what would happen if your story were to come alive just because it exists within the realms of the brain?

    On the other side. Why can’t we just face things the way they are? Is it too scary?

    Pasto kalo.

    1. That is what we should call the collective unconscious. Imagined realities are there by agreement and firmly implanted into the unconscious by repetition. I still open my mouth to answer «amen» when mass ends in movies. Then I smirk. ↩︎

  • Stitch a cat with me