¡Mi primer columna!

Salutations! Ésta semana, quiero compartir la primer columna que escribí para un medio local, el periódico Publícate de los Altos (www.publicatedelosaltos.com). Ya antes se habían publicado mis palabras, pero no se compara una revista escolar con un periódico, y estoy muy contenta por esta oportunidad. El siguiente ejemplar sale la próxima semana, para que lo busquen. ¡Gracias a mis amigos de Blong por su tiempo!

Talento en Tepa

Tepatitlán está lleno de talento. Es innegable. La juventud de Tepa está ansiosa por expresarse y que se escuche su voz. La Casa de la Cultura siempre se encuentra activa, preparando todo tipo de espectáculos para los habitantes. En lo musical, podemos encontrar agrupamientos de gran variedad de estilos: banda, norteño, rondalla, hasta rock. Y aunque en Tepa no tenemos una gran comunidad rockera, cada vez podemos encontrar más y más bandas de rock, desde clásico hasta metal. Blong es un ejemplo perfecto de estas agrupaciones. Jorge, guitarrista de dicha banda, nos platica cómo es que nació en él esa pasión por la música. “Conocí a Slash y dije ‘yo quiero tocar mejor que él’ y todavía no lo he logrado, por eso sigo tocando”. Y ha tocado por 6 años.

 Agustín (batería), Juanka (bajo), Jorge (guitarra), Rodrigo (guitarra) y Ethel (vocal), todos debajo de los 21 años, tienen meses de haber formado su banda y ya ostentan una presentación en el desfile de Juglarías, en un programa televisivo y varias más en la plaza y en bares locales. Los integrantes tienen cada uno influencias muy diferentes, pero la banda tiene un estilo que la flamante vocalista define como “rock clásico y un poquito de blues”. Los posters en las paredes de su cuarto de ensayo delatan gustos bastante eclécticos, desde Marylin Monroe hasta Pantera, pero sus influencias más fuertes son bandas como Deftones, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, y Foo Fighters.

Comenzaron cuando Rodrigo, Agustín y Juanka se unieron para formar un grupo musical. Ethel le había comentado a Agustín que quería hacer una banda, y entonces los cuatro formaron Blong. Eso fue a principios de este año. Pero la corta edad de estos chicos no es proporcional a sus sueños. Cuando les pregunto cuáles son los objetivos de la banda, surgen metas del tamaño de Lollapalooza, Coachella y Wimbley. “Yo quisiera llenar el Omnilife” dice Juanka.

http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/46567_10151119893173553_1106681348_n.jpg
Blong en Juglarías 2012 / Diego González 

Pero más que fama o dinero, lo que Blong busca es hacer algo trascendental, como lo dice Agustín: “conmover a más gente con nuestra música”. Actualmente tocan covers, pero tienen sus propias composiciones en proceso. Estas composiciones tratan sobre el desamor, y fueron escritas por la misma Ethel.

Éste tipo de entusiasmo es lo que tenemos en nuestra tierra. Personas con talento y ganas de hacer. Todos sólo buscan una oportunidad para lograr sus sueños. Actualmente hay varios lugares donde bandas como Blong pueden ir a tocar, y sólo puedo decir que espero que así sea por mucho tiempo.

Estar en una banda, sea del género musical que sea, es una gran alternativa muy saludable para los jóvenes (y también los no tan jóvenes) en cualquier lugar. Para quien practica la música, hay un enriquecimiento emocional y espiritual. Yo misma puedo hablar de mi experiencia como vocalista de una banda de rock. Aunque no es el negocio de la vida, no cambiaría esos ratos de alegría y des-estrés por nada del mundo. Y para el que escucha, la música es de lo más deleitable. Todos ganamos al involucrarnos en nuestra comunidad. Y sea con botas de vaquero o con unos viejos tenis destartalados, cada paso que damos es un paso más para Tepa. 

Página de Blong: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blong/283089345132955 

Music Makes Moments!

Music is medicine for the soul. Every time I think of important moments or people in my life there's a barrage of songs that comes to mind that describe my feelings so much better than words. For that amazing girls' night out, "Unwritten" blares out in my head and brings up the images of the lights, the clothes, the limo... When I hear "Can't Take my Eyes Off You", I inevitably think of the time I got first place in a talent show in high school. "Make You Feel my Love", the best love song ever. And I couldn't possibly not mention, "Love Hurts". Music is our instinct, that's why you will never see a movie or a TV show without music in the background, or at some  points taking a very central role in the scene. Think of the Friends scene where Ross and Rachel broke up, she's sitting there all miserable, it's raining, "With or Without You" playing on the radio. Would those few seconds really have been as epic without the music? I think not. And come on, how many women out there haven't tried to sing like Cinderella or Snow White? Don't deny it! Those songs marked our collective childhood. 

So support the arts! You don't have to be a musician or buy expensive instruments to show your appreciation for music. It's as easy as supporting local acts and venues. Every town has at least one band, and most have a few of different groups, each with different genres and influences. Where I currently find myself, Tepatitlán de Morelos,  there is a healthy number of rock bands, all with totally different styles. There are also a lot of mariachis, bands that play "banda", which is the kind of music most people here like to listen and dance to (banda is mostly brass instrument produced, and originated in Sinaloa, Mexico; the sound is like that of polka). The rock following in Tepa is only recently beginning to grow. There are now a few places around town that have rock nights, and rockers in general are starting to become a little more mainstream. 

Keeping with the bands topic, I really think that growing up to be like Slash is a dream for a lot of kids, and if they have the chance to actually be in a band it can make a huge change in their lives. Not only do they have fun, but it's also a very enriching experience; they learn how to get along with others, work as part of a team, be dependable, responsible, stay out of trouble, be creative... The list of advantages is endless. Music is in our instinct, in our being. Let music soothe you! Let it cure you, and relieve you. Peace!

A quick idea...

Today I tried something different in one of my classes: Truth or Dare. The group that played this is at a beginners-intermediate level, and they really enjoyed it. One person spins a bottle, and the person on the bottom end of the bottle asks "truth or dare?", then the student that the bottle points to answers. Since they have to ask in English, it was a great way to review a lot of different tenses and also learn some new vocabulary. Also, all the dares had to do with speaking English. One was: go outside, look around, and then come inside and describe the setting to us (turns out there was a couple making out close by). Another fun one was to walk up to another student who they didn't know, and start a conversation with him or her. This was at 8PM, the last class of the day, a time when everyone is tired and just thinking of going home afterwards, but with this activity the people in my class actually got interested, and they had a great time. Activities like this are one of my favorite things to do in classes, because I know my students. Most of them are so busy that they can hardly make it to classes and they come with a lot of things on their minds, mostly about work. When I see that they're practicing and having fun at the same time, I feel like they are not only learning, but also letting out all that built up stress. Some people have actually told me that going to English classes has become sort of therapeutic for them. I love being a part of that.

Stuck in the Middle

Being Mexican-American has numerous advantages. You get the best of both worlds: hot dogs and tacos, big malls and el tianguis, punk and mariachi. Halloween and Día del Muerto. Between both of these absolutely amazing traditional holidays, I feel like I have found the center of my universe. Every year on October 31st I get to recreate myself, to have my very own Big Bang. To be someone new for a short while. It's a whole process, a ritual. Yes, Halloween is just an excuse for consumerism to tighten its grip on the population and for people everywhere to wear silly, scary, or daring costumes and get drunk. But I think of it this way: it's a chance to become more aware of our vulnerability as humans, to be in touch with something which isn't tangible: our own fears. There's nothing like a good horror film to cuddle up to and watch during these cold nights, with the beautiful October moon peeping in through the window. Then there's the jack-o-lanterns, the homemade costumes, the food designed to look like body parts... It's all one huge outlet for creativity, a way to explore outside your comfort zone. That's what totally captures me about Halloween. 

Then there's Día del Muerto, with all it's traditional and religious splendor. This is a purely Mexican holiday, a unique point of view that is shared by no other nation in the world. Today, we are reminded that death is a part of life. It's a festivity that reaches down to the deepest roots of Mexican culture, a mixture of the raw pre columbium era and the New World Catholicism. I am entirely convinced that dressing up as a catrina is the most powerful costume one could wear. She is joyous death, just as eager to party it up as any other person in this country of eternal celebration. She is not afraid of death, but embraces it as a natural part of existence. If you don't fear death, what is there left to fear? So, much the way that Halloween is an invitation to explore outer possibilities, Día del Muerto is an adventure into my own origin. I don't know what happens after death, but I know this: what makes us transcend is what we do here, now. In the future, maybe the only way I will live on is in my family's memory, and as the subject of their altar de muerto.

¡A reírse de la muerte!