Happy Birthday! Vida Surrealista Turns Two

Chestit rojden den! ¡Feliz cumple! Selamat hari jadi! Buon Compleanno! Alles gute zum geburstag! Happy Birthday!

That’s right. Today we are celebrating the second year of Vida Surrealista.

A year filled with surprises and unexpected twists since I was not planning to return to live in the United States for a couple of months.

A year filled with challenges and literary ups and downs since our inspiration is inevitably connected to our feelings.

A year where Vida Surrealista was able to grow with the written contribution from friends around the world.Thank you very much for all your continuous support and especially to all those who collaborated throughout the year:

• Susana Massaro (Rio de Janeiro, Brasil) - EDITOR



• Giorgina Di Rocco (Buenos Aires, Argentina)



• Sabrina Lenoir (Argentina)



• Carlo Capua (Toluca, México / EEUU)



• Lucia Tissone (Buenos Aires, Argentina)



• Yan Carrière-Swallow (Toronto, Canadá)



• Aldana Gómez (Buenos Aires, Argentina)



• Cecilia Tear (Buenos Aires, Argentina)



• Leandro Vaillard (Buenos Aires, Argentina)



• Pietro Toscano (Bari, Italia)



• Johnny Ennis (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Caracas, Venezuela)



• Joaquin Schvetz (Buenos Aires, Argentina)



• Federico Appiani (Buenos Aires, Argentina)



• Carlos Rodríguez (Caracas, Venezuela)



• Porter Campbell (St. Louis, Missouri, USA)



• María Luisa Villegas (Veracruz, México)



• María Eugenia Grimaldo (Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá)



• Analía Plamenatz (Buenos Aires, Argentina)



• Griselda Vaillard (Buenos Aires, Argentina)



• Jose Medvedovsky (Buenos Aires, Argentina)



• Pablo Atencio (Buenos Aires, Argentina)



• Jesica Jimenez Culjak (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Bus ride with Drugs and Phonebooks

Around 7 p.m. I hopped on bus “29” to go to my friend’s house. I got my ticket, paid, and walked towards to end of the bus, as I always do, hoping to find a free seat. But I had no luck and I had to stand for the rest of the trip.

About 20 minutes later a roving salesman got on the bus to sell magnetic phonebooks, a useful invention about 10 years ago, yet something unnecessary today when most people use their cell phone’s phonebook to keep track of their friends’ numbers.

“No, thank you. No, thank you.” You would hear over and over again as the salesman made his way around the bus offering his merchandise. There was no variance. The same phrase pronounced by him; the same phrase responded by the travelers….until he stood by my side, approached the rockers traveling next to me and asked them: “¿Paco, pasta base?” (drugs that resemble crack, and residues of cocaine preparation).

Astonished, the boys looked at him, and with them, the rest of the people on the bus. The salesman had spoken so loudly that we had all heard his offering.

Following the collective stare, the man calmly responded: “Hey… If I can’t made money with these phonebooks, I have to sell something to earn my bread right?”, and he got off the bus.

Now I wonder, is there so much impunity in this country that drugs are sold as if they were phonebooks? How is it possible that every 9.000 drug’s related arrests only 12 cases result in convictions? (data gathered from Special on drugs. Telefé. 24 July 2007. Argentina)