Wonderings and Reflections on Souls and Whatnot

Wonderings and Reflections on Souls and Whatnot

I’m not sure I believe in souls.

I’m not even sure if I want them to exist.

It might be that I do not wish

for these bodies of ours to be empty,

it might be that I hope to prevail when mine decays.

I tried imagining the colour of everyone else’s soul;

I tried imagining the shape, the size, the texture;

I tried to think of them as sounds, as waves, as frequencies;

I tried to see animals and trees and flowers

in the eyes of every person I met.

I tried to guess who had their soul in their whole body,

who had a soul that dripped out of the corner of their eyes,

who kept their soul hidden away in the wrists

or the back of the neck or right below the ear.

I tried imagining people giving away

little bits of their soul every day,

putting those tiny pieces in everything they did with love.

So it occurred to me that when we die

we actually just run out of soul.

At the end of the day I look back

on my wonderings and reflections

and realize I looked for people’s souls

before looking for their arms

because I am terrified.

Terrified of being stuck with

a grey, square, minuscule,

rough soul.

Terrified that my soul might be

silent, still, a dead bird

or rotten bark.

My fear is that my soul

is in the souls of my feet.

My fear is to have no soul to give.

Black Sun

Black Sun

A black Sun rises on the horizon

Enlightening this dead wood forest again

The deafening silence grows louder and louder

As the dark light caresses the withering leaves in the ground

I patiently wait for it

While I’m bended on my knees

The silent song that wind whispers

The darkest light that can embrace this hollow shell

I wait for it my old friend

In this circus of saints and sinners

My feelings lay in soothing rest

In my garden of crimson roses

I want it here with me

To take me in its cold arms

And kiss me tenderly

To make me believe that maybe pain is real

Judith Butler: Theorist Brings Queer Livesinto Popular Discourse

Judith Butler: Theorist Brings Queer Lives into Popular Discourse

By G.Cocozza.

Judith Butler’s ceremony, held on March 26 in Derecho’s auditorium, calls for queer theory to be considered a legitimate form of academic pursuit and queer lives to become normalized in society. Prior to her most awaited speech, Consejo Universitario Director, Dr. Jorge Murillo Medrano, UCR Rector, Henning Jensen Pennington and Costa Rica’s Vice President, Ms. Ana Helena Chacón Echeverría honored Butler’s presence with the delivery of their support and gratitude. Butler’s work is poignantly unusual for the mainstream society.  The central idea of her speechcritiquedthe common sense or normalizinginstitutions. In fact, her thesis, based on a radical feminist theory, makes a demand for institutional policies that aim for equality and changes thecommon sense ideology in regard to our ideas about natural gender/sex.

Butler points out that in history gender has been misinterpreted as something natural that simply exists in the world.  At the birth of a child, there are only two choices of gender, either male (masculine) or female (feminine). The idea that sex determines gender has become common sense. To this, Butler discusses that gender is performative and that sex does not exist. First, one of her arguments is that based on scientific theory in order to fulfill the criteria of a real woman, women should be able to reproduce. However, in the United States 1 in every 10 couples have problems with infertility (American Baby Magazine).  Then, the dilemma is if this person should be considered a woman or not.  She indicates that these women are an exception to the biological definition, and that queer theory provides new openings for various gender and sexual identifications. Second, part of the common sense ideology comes from theorists such as Sigmund Freud, in which the sex desire derives from your sex identity. He explains that once individuals identify with one sex (male or female) their sex drive will be the opposite sex, without variation. To these two mainstream stands, Butler opposes and provides another definition, gender and desire is flexible, free-floating and not 'caused' by other stable factors, notes Prof.David Gaunlett, from the University of Westminster.

She also introduces a new concept: our bodies matter. Without thinking of utopian dimensions, her main goal is to make populations aware about the existence of those misunderstood subcultures that ask for equality, freedom and solidarity.The understanding of queer theory, in which bodies have various sexual gender characteristics that are unstable and can change throughout one’s life, entitles each of us the right to be unique. Marginalized groups, she mentions, like the LBGT people and immigrants go unrecognized. The Supremacy (the insitutionalized power) discriminate these minority groups by questioning their existence. They become phantoms, Butler states. These practices, of course, mislead policies thatregulate our civil rights. Who has the right to normalize the world and state which bodies should be recognized or not? Who has the right to dictate your bodies purpose? These are some of the questions she leaves the audience to ponder about.

           

Judith Butler receives an honorary degree in Derecho's Auditorium.

Not recognizing the bodies existence is an act of violence. Many people from these groups decide to join the mainstream society due to fear of harassment or rejection. It is easy to ask these people to adjust to the current system, but that means hiding their own identities, living a precarious life. For this reason, Butler asks for the support of governments to address this issue through economic support, infrastructure development and media coverage to positively influence the public opinion.  

Born to Be a Translator

Born to Be a Translator

By M. Acuña.

One of the traditional sayings in Costa Rica say that opportunities are around every corner, and that we just have to look for them. This is exactly what happened to Bryner Villalobos Leiva, a 24-year-old student who is majoring English with a focus in Translation. Last year, Vicerrectoría Estudiantil assigned him to translate Cock, a play written originally by the British writer Mike Bartlett. The play deals with controversial social topics such as homosexuality and bisexualism; and it will be presented this year in the 75th anniversary of the UCR.

Even though Bryner assures that he did not love the story, he enjoyed the process of working on a large project for the university. He mentions that during the task, he experienced many different feelings, like fear, confusion, and at some point of the duty, desperation, and stress due to the use of British slangs found in the original work. However, Bryner explains that when a light bulb went off in his head, he realized that after all the research behind the many challenging words and expressions, it was a worthy experience to learn from. Thanks to this experience and to previous works in medical translations, Bryner is absolutely sure that he was born to be a translator.

Bryner also mentions the importance that translation have had historically; in fact, he refers to it as “the oldest profession of the world”. He mentions that the clearest example of this is the Bible, since it was written first in Hebrew, then it was translated to Latin, and then it was translated to Spanish, French, English and many other languages. However, he considers that  people usually do not give proper recognition to the work of a translator, which is reflected in the constant perks translators face to make clients to pay what they should for an assignment.

According to Bryner, even though Translation should be a major, instead of a minor focus in the B.A. in English, Translation in Costa Rica is overlooked. Translation requires more than to speak the target language. Actually, it requires to carry the meaning of the original message and deliver it to the target language. The sense of the original text remains, but differently.  As Bryner says, “without globalization, translation would not be necessary.” 

Bryner states that what improves your translation skills is practice. He translates Wikipedia articles for fun. To argue this, he recalls a popular expressions that says, “Your real vocation is what you can do happily for free.”