The Supreme Court and the effects of Citizens United

Many times Republicans like to brag about the fact that everything should be either handled by the states or even locally.
Not necessarily when it favors their interests.
They always talk about how justices in the Supreme Court should not legislate from the bench.
We are now living with one of the most overreaching supreme courts in a generation.
This started with the election of Bush/Gore and their decision to choose a winner, by stopping the recount, probably because they feared that Bush could end up being the looser.
In 2010 they overturned a decision that was over 100 years old with Citizens United to allow unlimited corporate money in elections, with no disclosures, no traces. Republicans like to say that corporations are people. I don't know where in the Constitution it says that. And because of that they should be able to spend unlimited amounts of money to decide elections.
A few days ago they blocked the state of Montana from being able to enforce their own legislation that does not allow corporations to fund elections. Here we go with the overreaching.
They had already legislated from the bench in the Citizens United case, so that the 1% of the population have more saying in the election than the other 99%.
It is wonderful to see the Republican Candidates how they are now “suffering” the consequences of this wrong decision from this Supreme Court, with negative adds that have only turned off people in the states where primaries are being conducted.
2010 saw many states being hijacked by neo-conservatives with the help of Citizens United, and I say hijacked because Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia, Michigan, and Florida, to name a few are being run down to the ground by the few at the expense of the many, with legislation that they never disclosed they would pass once in office. In Wisconsin and Ohio union busting and the elimination of negotiation, in Michigan of the governor disallowing local elections by appointing viceroys of his choosing, in Florida by destroying education, and in Virginia by trying to pass legislation that would force women who would want to terminate a pregnancy to be do a trans-vaginal ultrasound with a probe.
Talk about lets reduce government in our lives. Republicans in power are overreaching in all aspects, they want to know what you do in your bedroom, with whom, and when. They want to legislate people’s every moves. We cannot forget either that their goal is always to cut taxes, not for the average Joe but for the friends who financed their campaigns, same thing with regulations, and then we end up in a total meltdown like the one we suffered in 2008. Governor Christie in NJ wants to reduce taxes, he says. To the average family it will probably represent a few hundred dollars a year. What he should focus on is in how to give property tax relief to the families of this state, not benefit the 1% of the population. That will not revive the economy, if that is his "supposedly" goal.
Republicans always say that the government should not choose winners and losers. Ironic because that's what they have been doing in every place where they can get their hands on. They believe in corporate welfare, at the expense of everybody else, they say that we should lower taxes and broaden the base, in lame English it means lower the taxes for the wealthy and start taxing low income people to make up for the loss in revenue, so that people like my daughter who work for minimum wage pay income taxes as well. Their policies for the last 30 years have caused the near annihilation of the middle class. And when the rest of us say we need assistance they always say that there isn’t any money.

Friendship in the US/Amistad en EEUU

In 2001 my father in law while visiting us asked me if I could tell him what I felt the pros and cons of living in the US were.
A little over ten years has passed since that visit, and I still believe the same thing that I did then.
I can come up with many pros of the US.
On the other hand, the con that I told my in laws during that visit is still the same, and that is that people in the US have no concept of friendship.
A very good friend of mine who now lives in Virginia, back then used to live in the area where I live, the northeast of the country, said that I was stereotyping the whole country. I admit that I was doing that. So I can probably say that the northeast, that the New York area, is that way.
But whatever the region I may live in, the bottom line is that people who live here have no real idea what friendship is all about.
It is not casual B.S., talking about the weather, to go to a church, to go to a funeral to say goodbye to somebody.
It is deeper than that. They are very supportive. But there is a difference.
I used to work with a gentleman who was from Spain and we used to joke that you could be working for a few years in a company and when you would resign, on your last day co-workers would usually through a goodbye party. This probably would fall on a Friday. You would then call on the following Monday and the same people who through the party for you would not know you any longer. It was like they never knew you.
I can safely say that I have truly a few friends with whom I have deep friendships. Most live in Argentina.
Some people who read this may say I have a lot of friends. I’m happy for you. I ask: How many times have you been to their house? When was the last time you were invited to their house? How often do you talk to them? Are you the one who always calls?
If you’re honest with yourself you know the answer.
I find people in the US to be superficial; you just get to see a what they want to share with you. They don’t plant deep roots so that they can uproot them and move somewhere else. They are not into commitments, because it takes energy to maintain a commitment, and friendships are commitments.
One can ask how do they build relationships that can lead to marriages. There are several answers, one, you have couples that are high school sweethearts, others meet in college, church can also be a place to build relationships as well, at work, although a little bit harder.
I used to work in an office with a woman who was younger than me, she was a back stabber, competitive, and she would say that she considered me a friend. With friends like that who needs enemies. After I left she kept on calling me for quite some time until she came to the conclusion that I was not interested in her friendship. She once said that she came to work to make friends. That’s pretty sad.
When one has something to compare with it makes it easier to see the difference.
A lot of what they call friendships where I come from people would call acquaintances.
I have one friend in Argentina that I have known since 1970, we went to 8th grade together.
I have another friend in Argentina that we went to 12th grade together, and I consider him the brother I never had. Many times when we are together it seems like we don’t have to say anything and the other one knows what the other one is thinking or feeling.
I have some very good friends that, although we have lived over 26 years in the US, call us for our birthdays every year. With the exception of people in my office that know my birthday nobody else in the US knows or cares about it.
I’ve also rejoined with a few other friends that I hadn’t seen in many years, and we try to get together every year now.
And last but not least my former school mates. I left for the end because 3 years ago when I agreed to be a Facebook member the first thing that came to my mind was “I’d like to know what happened, what had become of the people from my past, and primarily of my youth.. I tried finding people from my elementary school, from the club I was member of, and primarily my high schoolmates. I graduated in a school where we were the first class to graduate, as it was a new school. We were twelve in the class, 6 girls and 6 guys. I knew that one of the guys had passed away a few years, and one I’ve been in contact for some time, so my goal was to find the other nine. So with the help of Facebook, Sonico, and Google I got in touch with one, then she put me in contact with others, and so on. In 1995 or 1996 we had had a school reunion and I had already seen some of them, but that did not last. So I felt that this time I was not going to let them slip through the cracks, so I started calling, bugging, and so on, so that when I traveled to Argentina we could have a reunion. We get together every year ever since. Some of them who don’t live in Buenos Aires even make the effort of traveling so that we can get together as many as possible. We created a blog where we can say whatever is on our mind. This keeps us together. I don’t think that I did anything less that any friend would do for another.
Friendship requires work, but is extremely rewarding. Friendship requires giving without expecting anything back, and accepting your friends with all their shortcomings and all their flaws. You love them for who they are, not what you would like them to be. And you should not change your friends because your income status changes.
There is a song in Spanish written by an Argentinian that says “Cuando un amigo se va, deja un espacio vacio, que no lo puede llenar la llegada de otro amigo”, When a friend departs he/she leaves an open space, that cannot be filled by the arrival of another or a new friend.
I think that it may be safe to say that the people in the US that I have come in contact with (this to please my friend with no stereotypes), maybe with a few exceptions, have no clue what that means, it is so foreign to them as to how poor the majority of the world is.
Many Christians who pad themselves in the back should read closely what Jesus told his disciples: There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.


(Español)
En el 2001 mi suegro me preguntó durante su visita si le podia decir cuales eran los pros y contras de vivir en EEUU.
Han pasado un poco mas de una decada desde aquella visita pero mi forma de pensar no ha cambiado desde entonces. Puedo dar una larga lista de pros de EEUU.
Por otro lado el contra que le dije a mi suegro durante su visita no ha cambiado, y es que la gente en EEUU no tiene ni idea lo que es Amistad.
Un muy buen amigo que ahora vive en Virginia, y que en el pasado vivia en nuestra zona, el noreste del pais, me dijo que estaba generalizando a todo el pais. Admito que estaba hacienda eso. Tal vez pueda decir que el noreste, que la zona de Nueva York, es asi.
Miremos como lo miremos, el tema es que la gente que vive aca no tiene idea de lo que es amistad.
No es conversacion superficial, hablar del tiempo, ir a la iglesia, ir a un funeral a decir adios a alguien.
Es mucho mas profundo que eso. Son muy solidarios. Pero no es lo mismo.
Hace un tiempo atras cuando trabajaba con un señor que habia nacido en España nos reimos de que cuando muchas veces cuando uno trabaja por un tiempo en una empresa el ultimo dia de trabajo los compañeros le tiran un fiesta de despedida, esto normalmente es un viernes. Cuando uno llama el lunes, esa misma gente se comportan como si nunca lo hubieran conocido.
Puedo decir que tengo unos pocos amigos con los cuales tengo una real amistad. La gran mayoria vive en Argentina.
Mucha gente que lea esto puede llegar a decir que tiene muchos amigos. Me alegro por ellos. Yo le pregunto: Cuantas veces has estado en sus casas? Cuando fue la ultima vez que fuiste invitado a sus casas? Que seguido hablas con ellos? Sos vos el que siempre llamas?
Si sos honesto con vos mismo sabes la contestacion.
Yo siento que la gente en EEUU es superficial, te dejan ver unicamente lo que le interesa que veas. No plantan reaices profundas dado que eso le permite plantarlas en otro lugar sin dificultad. No tienen interes in compromisos porque se requiere energia para mantener un compromiso, y amistades son compromisos.
Uno puede preguntarse como comienzan relaciones que puedan convertirse en matrimonios. Hay muchas contestaciones, parejas que se conocieron en la secundaria, o en la Universidad, la iglesia es un lugar donde se crean amistades, en el trabajo, a pesar de que no es facil.
Yo trabajaba con un mujer mas joven que yo, y era competitive, traicionera, y decia que me consideraba un amigo. Con amigos como ella no hace falta tener enemigos. Cuando me fui de ese trabajo me siguio llamando durante varios años, hasta que finalmente se dió que no me interesaba su “amistad”. En una oportunidad recuerdo que me dijo que venia a trabajar para hacer amigos. Eso realmente es lamentable.
Cuando uno tiene con que comparer ahi es donde ve la diferencia.
Muchos de los que ellos llaman amistades de donde vengo yo le diriamos conocidos.
Yo tengo un amigo en Argentina que conozco desde el año ’70, fuimos juntos a primer año de la secundaria.
Tengo otro amigo con el que fui solamente en quinto año de la secundaria, al cual consider el hermano que nunca tuve. Muchas veces cuando estamos juntos da la impression de que no tenemos necesidad de decir algo y el otro sabe que uno esta pensando o sintiendo.
Tengo muy Buenos amigos que, a pesar de nosotros estar viviendo desde hace 26 años en EEUU, nos llaman para cada cumpleaños. Sacando a la gente con la cual trabajo que sabe mi cumpleaños nadie mas en EEUU sabe o le interesa.
Tambien me he vuelto a encontrar con algunos otros amigos, y nos tratamos de reunir todos los años cuando voy.
Ultimo pero no por eso mucho menos mi ex-compañeros. Lo deje para le final porque hace 3 años atras cuando finalmente acepte ser miembro de Facebook, (o como le dice un ex-compañero de la primaria cara-libro), lo primero que me vino a la mente fue “que fue de la vida de la gente de mi pasado, y primoridialmente, de mi juventud. Trate de encontrar gente de la primaria, del club era socio, y primoridialmente mis ex-companeros de la secundaria. Me gradué en un colegio donde eramos los primeros egresados dado que era un colegio nuevo. Eramos doce, 6 chicas y 6 tipos. Sabia que uno de los muchachos habia fallecido hace unos años, y con otro ya estaba en contacto desde hace un tiempo, asi que me quedaban 9.
Gracias a la ayuda de Facebook,Sonico y Google encontré a una, ella me puso en contacto con otros, y de ahi en más. En 1995 o 1996 habiamos tenido una reunion del colegio y ya habia visto a algunos de ellos, pero no duró. Esta vuelta no iba a dejar que sucediera lo mismo, entonces empecé a llamar, a jorobar, y asi cuando viajase pudieramos tener una reencuentro. Hemos tenido un encuentro todos los años desde esa oportunidad. Algunos de ellos que no viven en Buenos Aires hacen un gran esfuerzo y viajan desde lugares del interior, de esa manera podemos juntarnos la mayor cantidad possible. Creamos un blog para que podamos expresar lo que querramos. Esto nos mantiene unidos. Yo no creo que hice nada que otro amigo no hubiese hecho.
La amistad requiere trabajo, pero es muy gratificante. La amistad requiere dar sin esperar recibir nada a cambio, aceptando a los amigos con todos sus defectos. Uno los quiere por quien son, y no quien nos gustaria que fueran. Y no deberiamos cambiar nuestras amistades porque ha cambiado nuestro posicion economica.
En castellano hay una cancion compuesta por un argentine que dice “Cuando un amigo se va, deja un espacio vacio, que no lo puede llenar la llegada de otro amigo”.
Creo que puedo decir con cierta certeza de que la gente que en EEUU con la cual yo he tenido contacto (y digo esto para que mi amigo este content que no estoy generalizando), con muy pocas excepciones, no tiene ni la mas remota idea lo que eso significa, es tan foraneo para ellos como lo hes que la gran mayoria del mundo es pobre.
Muchos Cristianos los cuales les gusta dares una palmada en la espalda deberian leer lo que le dijo Cristo a sus discipulos: Nadie tiene mayor amor que este, que uno ponga su vida por sus amigos.

The Republican Candidates that are left

I am amazed at what is going on in the Republican Primary.
We are pretty much down to two candidates, or as Mitt Romney would say “it has always been about two candidates, him and the latest flavor”, in this case Rick Santorum.
Now let’s look at both and what they have said recently: with Romney it’s very simple, he will say and take any position that suits him at the time. The interesting thing is the pay attention to what he says when he’s not repeating his memorized lines. In his recent speech in Michigan he said that Michigan felt good, that the trees were the right height, the he loved lakes, not just the great lakes, but also the small lakes, that he loves cars. I am positive that if I give that speech to scrutinize to a teenager they would be in shock that a 50 or 60 year old man who’s running for president could say childish things like these. The scary thing is that he could be the next president of the United States. He has not been able to define himself as somebody who can move this country forward.
Rick Santorum on the other hand has said that he wants to ban not only abortions but contraception. Just that alone makes him totally unelectable. Now he has started to question President Obama’s faith.
He was also comparing the president to Adolf Hitler. This is appalling. He should be ashamed of himself.
And I will include Newt Gingrich, even though I don’t see him as a contender any longer. Mr. Gingrich said on Monday that: “Barack Obama is the most dangerous president in modern American history. This administration has intellectually disarmed, it is morally disarmed, it is incapable of describing what threatens us. The president wants to unilaterally weaken United States. He wants to cut the aid to Israel for its anti-ballistic missile defense; he refuses to take Iran seriously. We are in a world that is very dangerous, and I say this to those of you who represent the next generation because you are going to bear the consequences. We are really at risk some day in your lifetime of losing an American city”.
He is saying that in the campaign, he has said that on TV to Hannity. Not only is he showing desperation because he will never be the candidate, but he is smearing everybody. He’s done that to Romney, now he is trying to use fear mongering with the fringe of the Republican Party.
The Party is desperate to elect somebody who can win, and they will do and go to extremes for that. In Main they pulled off another fraud like they did in Florida in 2000 with the Bush-Gore election. In this case they disallowed votes of people of their own party so that they could give the vote to Mitt Romney, when in fact Ron Paul could have won his first state.
As an Obama supporter I like the president’s chances every day more, especially when women, who represent more than 50% of the electorate hear that one candidate wants to ban contraception, that another wants to start attacking another country after the high number of casualties of the adventure of Iraq, and another talks about the height of the trees in Michigan and its lakes.

Thank God that Obama is the president

Today we saw a clear comparison of the choices we'll have for the election of next November. On a one hand we hand an empty suit endorsing another empty suit in Las Vegas, Donald Trump, who in the past had ridiculed and belittled Mitt Romney, was endorsing him today. Now let us look at the other side, Obama was today at a breakfast in Washington recalling his experience when his family and he met Billy Graham at the evangelist’s house in North Carolina, and that after Mr. Graham praying for him he felt the desire to praying for this great man, but that he couldn't find the words. He also spoke about the poor and the urge for taking care of them, and how the bible talks about that. We know that Romney has been saying that he does not care for the poor, nor does he care for the wealthy, this last one being a farce, and that he cares for the middle class. We know that he cares for the middle class because he is willing to pay his “fair” share of taxes, less than 15% while the most of the middle class pays between 35, and because he hides his money in Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands. If we pay attention to his speeches we know that he believes that corporations are people, and that he wants to reduce taxes even more for the top 1% of the income earners, the club he belongs to, that he says that he has felt many times that he was at risk of getting a pink slip, and that he is also unemployed. I don't know many people who file taxes showing an income of $20 million a year, and brag about being unemployed.
Romney should be ashamed of himself.
After a day like this I am glad that Obama is the president, and hopefully, comes November he will be re-elected.
If the opposite is the case this country will need all the help in the world. We can still remember what happened the last time a Republican was in office with George W. Bush, the U.S. was attacked on 09/11 because he was asleep at the helm, we got ourselves into an unnecessary war in Iraq, and to put the last nail in the coffin we had the greatest financial collapse since the Great Depression. A great resume to brag about.

My first trip overseas

My first trip overseas was something that I had in my mind since I was a very young person. Having been raised in a family that had its roots primarily in the UK it made totally sense to meet the part of the family that I had heard about since I was a child, and together with that, having the chance of a lifetime to see where my ancestors came from.
One of my best friends, whose family comes from Italy, said that on his main voyage to the land where his blood comes from, as his family is ready to depart back to Argentina he turned around and told them that he was not going with them. I can understand the feeling as I felt pretty much the same way when it was time to get on the plane back home. But let’s not jump ahead of ourselves.
First destination, London, or should I say Watford, specifically Leavesden, Hertsfordshire.
My mother had the opportunity to visit my aunt in England in 1975. They hadn’t seen each other in 17 years. My aunt and uncle had moved to the UK at the beginning of 1958, when I was less than a year old. I had no knowledge or memory of them. When she came back I remember vividly telling my father as she got in the car at the airport that she wanted to go back. If you would’ve asked my mother then if she wanted to move to England she would have turned around and got back on the plane with the clothes that she had on her back.
What really did for me what was the fact that when I was working in 1976 my boss and a friend had traveled to Europe. I spoke with both of them and I was drooling as they were talking about London. I thought I need to do whatever is at my reach to get there.
In 1977 an ad came out in the newspaper with an opening at Braniff International. This would allow me to get to the place I wanted more than anything else.
Getting there became more of an adventure than I bargained for. Braniff did not fly to London directly so I found myself on a British Caledonian flight that went from Buenos Aires to Rio and then on to London. There was a small catch, when you work for an airline you get great discounts, in many cases free, but you fly subject to space, which means standby, or putting mildly you fly if there is an empty seat on the plane. And so the flight had seat from my hometown to Rio, after that it was full. British Caledonian had 2 flights a week from Buenos Aires to London, 3 from Rio, so it would mean staying in Rio for a couple of nights. On the flight I starting a conversation with a flight attendant, she introduced me to another one, he lived in Rio, had me over the weekend in his apartment. He lived on Avenida Atlantica in Copacabana. It gave me the chance of going out by myself, to the movies, etc. Then Sunday came, and back to the airport, hopefully on my way to my final destination. Fat chance. When I got to the Galeao Airport there were other people in my situation, they worked for Aerolineas Argentinas. The flight was coming from Santiago de Chile and I discover that it had weight issues, probably based on cargo that had been loaded in Santiago. What the hell did that mean? It meant that it would only take paid passenger, no standbys. This time I had a bunch of people who knew each other, and we were all in the same boat. So back to the city, this time I shared a room with one of the people who was trying to flight out. The next morning we started looking at what airlines were flying out, and with whom we could a “pass” to get out of Rio. In my debut trip I knew absolutely nothing about all this. It was my third day traveling and I had not gone very far. I came along with them to TAP, the Portuguese airline, they ask for some papers, I run over to the airline for which I worked and they were happy to oblige. My travelling partners were not as fortunate. So off I run to the airport again. And “viola”, I’m back on my way. The plane was almost empty, after a short stop in Recife, came the crossing of the Atlantic. After a somewhat bumpy flight we landed the next morning in Lisbon, Portugal. I had made it to the continent. In my mind I had passed the 50% mark, I was getting closer. When I land in Lisbon I go to the ticketing office and they tell me that the Lisbon-London flight was full, and they tell me that they could put me on the Paris flight, I thought not ideal, but I can live with it, as I had a London-Paris-London ticket in my pocket, the only trick was that I was arriving at Orly Airport in the south of Paris and my ticket was out of Charles de Gaulle in the northeast of Paris. I don’t believe in luck, but I do believe in God, and there was no doubt that he was looking over me. As I walk out of the terminal and onto the bus that would drive us to the plane a young guy comes running out of the terminal and asks me if I am British and starts talking in English with me. So we sat together on the plane, we chatted about Paris, the locations of the airports, etc., etc., etc.
So we land at Orly and when we go and pick up our luggage I get news that I did not want to hear, they had left my bag in Lisbon. So this guy says why don’t you come and stay with me, I live with my parents in a suburb of Paris, called Saint-Gratien, not too far from Charles de Gaule Airport. So he paid the tickets from the airport to Paris and then the train to the town where his family lived. His father owned a Renault dealership. His parents, although not fluent in English, made a tremendous effort to talk to me in English, and if not they would have the son translate to me. The next day first thing we did was check to make sure the bag was on its way to Paris, and then we drove to Paris, we went to the Arc of Triumph, the Eiffel Tower, and the Latin Quarter. We had something to eat and then headed to Orly to pick up my bag, and from there to the other airport. What can my opinion be of the French people? You be the judge.
I finally got on the plane that would take me to the place I had heard about since I was a child. There was just a 35 minute flight separating me from Gatwick Airport. I remember taking off, the land ended, and a few minute later I started seeing the White Cliffs of Dover, this was England. My exhilaration was hard to control.
I had never been to England, but my internal compass guided me all the way to Watford Junction, the closest place to my where my relatives live. To be honest I remembered my mother mentioning Euston Station from where the train would take me to Watford Junction. My sister in 1975 ended up taking the underground that goes to the Watford Station on the other side of town. My last hurdle was the public phone at the “Junction”. When I picked up the phone there was no dial tone, and when I tried putting the coin in it it would not allow me, so I tried the next one. Same result. Out of frustration I went back to the porter to find out if all the phones were out of order, so in his “cockney” English he asked me for the money and what number I was trying to dial so I noticed that he put the money in once they answered at the other end. He gives me back the phone and I hear a female voice saying Garston 76752, the voice sounded like my mother’s voice but with a poshy English accent, so I figured it was my aunt, I then told her that I was at the train station. A few minutes later I see a car pull up to the station, in it there were 4 people, my aunt and uncle, and my parents. The reason the four were in the car seemed to be quite simple, my parents were worried, it had taken me 5 days to get to England, and my aunt and uncle because they had never met me. So they were happy to see me, and I must say that I was relieved to have finally made it to the place I had set myself to get to a few years before. When we made it to their house my cousin Ian, who was only 10 years old was wearing the Argentine soccer uniform, as Argentina had won the world cup a few months before, and he felt very proud to feel that his parents were born there.
The next day my parents and I went to London, I had finally got to the place I had dreamed about since I was a young boy. It was everything I had hoped for and more. Immediately I felt like a fish in the sea, I felt like it was the place I belonged to, and like I had always been there, and I was just coming home.
These are memories that will always live with me, like my wedding day, and the birth of my two kids.
I will write about the rest of my first trip in a separate blog.

Villa Gesell, Nico's y mi adolescencia/juventud

Durante muchos años cuando he regresado a la Argentina de vacaciones mi madre ha sacado el tema de Villa Gesell, añorando cuando todos eramos más jovenes.
Para mi Villa Gesell fue un periodo muy feliz de mi vida del cual estoy muy agradecido. Yo no soy como mi madre que añora, vivo el presente.
Estoy agradecido por los años que pasamos nuestras vacaciones en Villa Gesell porque Gesell era un lugar sano, sin peligros, con atmosfera de pueblo.
Villa Gesell empezo a ser parte de mi familia antes de que yo naciera.
Mis recuerdos se remontan a cuando nos quedabamos en el Hotel Residencial al comienzo de la Avenida 3, al lado de Pinchiroli, y enfrente adonde algunos años despues se contruyó la Jirafa Azul.
Recuerdo que al principio tomabamos los micros de la empresa Anton, dado que tenia una parada en la esquina de Juramento y Cabildo. El micro tomaba por la ruta 2, luego tomaba por “el camino de Las Armas” hasta Madariaga, esta ruta tenia un solo carril, y cada tanto tenia un agragado de asfalto, pero si venia alguien circulando en direccion opuesta uno de los dos vehiculos, normalmente el mas pequeño, debía ir a la banquina para dejar pasar al otro. El asfalto terminaba en Madariaga, de ahi en más si uno seguia a Pinamar o Villa Gesell debia hacerlo por un camino de arena. Con el paso del tiempo se puso asfalto a Pinamar y luego extension a Gesell.
Mis padres aprovechaban viajar de noche dado que el viaje se hacia mas corto luego de que apagaran las luces cuando uno salía de Constitución.
Un año recuerdo que llovia y debimos cambiar de omnibus cuando el micro hizo su parada en Madariaga porque el camino estaba intransitable para un vehiculo con traccion trasera unicamente, y nos vimos reducidos a un micro mucho mas pequeño que tenía tracción en las cuatro ruedas.
Recuerdo que la Avenida 3 no era asfaltada
Por mi piel muy blanca el sol en la playa fue muchas veces un villano conmigo, al punto que un año tuve 5 ampollas al mismo tiempo, una en cada brazo, una en cada rodilla, y una en el empeine del pie derecho.
Mis padres un año decidieron comprar un Citroen 2CV y esa primera experiencia nos vio con problemas llegando a Florencia Varela, a menos de 1 hora de haber partido de casa. El viaje tambien nos vió con problemas al regreso, por lo cual decidimos regresar en micro, y mi padre tuvo que ir a los pocos dias a buscar el auto que estaba en las manos de un mecanico en Villa Gesell.
Un año nos llevo 17 horas, si 17 horas, llegar a Villa Gesell. Un camion con pedregullo se habia volcado en la ruta y eso habia provocado que autos se accidentaran. Nos llevo 8 horas llegar a Chascomus, eso creo que da la pauta del largo del viaje, y no habia aire acondicionado, hacia calor, teniamos hambre, ganas de ir al baño, y todo la pudricion de estar mucho tiempo en el auto sin avanzar.
Cuando mi cuñado se agregó a la familia viajaba sentado en el medio donde estaba el caño que tenía el asiento de atrás el Citroen.
Para esa época ya ibamos a Nico’s, o deberia decir V.A.G.O.S., dado que ese era el nombre del lugar donde nos quedabamos. Este lugar, que todavia existe, esta en la Calle 302 entre las Alamedas 205 y 206, a una cuadra del Churrinche.
Aca es donde empiezan mis mejores recuerdos, dado que la familia Denicollo compro este apartahotel. Oscar, el hijo mayor, tomo las riendas del complejo y empezo a inyectarle su personalidad. Los anteriores dueños eran una pareja mayor que tenía una forma muy conservadora de ver las cosas, con horarios muy estrictos tanto de la siesta como para la noche.
Oscar, a pesar de ser bastante mayor que yo, tal vez mas cercano en edad a mis padres que a mi, se volcó hacia sus inquilinos. Nicos se convirtió en una familia, en gran medida porque la misma gente iba reguralmente todos los años, al punto de crear amistades entre las familias que alquilaban. Yo me hice amigo del hijo de una de las familias que se albergaba ahi, con el cual escuchabamos musica, saliamos y compartiamos cosas propias de nuestra edad.
Vuelvo a Oscar porque el fue el corazon del lugar. Primero, incentivado por este muchacho y yo Oscar, con nuestra ayuda, reparó una mesa de ping pong, y con esto se creo una excusa para reunirnos alrededor de esta mesa, compartir amigables partidos, asados, charlas.
Oscar, para mi, se convirtió como un hermano mayor que no he tenido, abriendo su corazón y su afecto.
Recuerdo que un grupo bastante grande ibamos a pescar a un arroyo con redes, metidos en el agua barrosa, que a pesar de no poder ver los peces, los veiamos moverse porque no era muy profundo. A Oscar le encantaba pescar a pesar de no comer pescado, porque como contaba el, cuando era chico la madre lo mando al supermercado a comprar pescado, y el perro se le escapo y lo atropeyó un auto, por lo cual el decía que asociaba las dos cosas.
El había sido corredor de rally, y siempre le gustaba manejar rapido. Yo siempre digo que fue una de las personas con las que anduve que mejor vi manejar, con alguien que uno jamas pensaba que algo podia pasar. Yo he andado rapido con otra gente y he tenido el Corazon en la boca. No con Oscar.
Recuerdo de salir a bolichear con el y otros jovenes que se quedaban también en el complejo y cuando cerraban nos ibamos a tomar el desayuno, muchas veces a El Rey del Panqueque, cuando estaba en el Paseo 105, al lado de la galeria. Despues de eso cuando ya habia amanecido nos ibamos a dormir. Tambien nos ibamos a pescar al muelle hasta tarde.
Otra de las cosas que haciamos era ir al autocine. Un año cuando uno de mis amigos del club estaba veraneando me comento que el se colaba por la libustrina y se sentaba al lado de una de las columnas con los parlantes, de ahi en mas teniamos un lugar con el de reunion en el autocine.
Tal vez la anecdota mas graciosa que recuerdo fue cuando un año mi abuela paterna viajo sola en el Anton. Cuando el micro llegaba a Gesell durante hora pico el conductor gritaba a la entrada de la Villa si habia alguien que queria bajar en La Cailla, primera parada en ese momento, y muy cercana a la zona donde estaba Nico's, si nadie contestaba tomaba por el Boulevard (Avenida 10) para evitar todo el trafico de las primeras cuadras de la Avenida Buenos Aires y de la Avenida 3. Mi padre sabiendo esto le habia dado instrucciones especificas de estar atenta al llamado del chofer y pedir de bajarse donde le habia dicho. Fuimos a esperar a la capilla, y empezo a pasar la hora sin ningun micro apareciendo. Entonces decidimos ir a la terminal para ver si alguien con su descripcion habia descendido ahi. Nadie la habia visto. Decidimos volver al apartahotel, y al estacionar vemos un taxi parado en la esquina con la luz interior prendida, habia un pasajero en el asiento trasero, y al ver que no se bajaba nos acercamos para ver quien era. Era mi abuela. Es el dia de hoy que todavia estamos tratando de imaginar como hizo para llegar hasta la puerta de Nico's sin haber estado jamas en Villa Gesell, y sin siquiera saber el nombre del lugar donde nos estabamos quedando. Solo Dios lo sabe.
Mis padres manejaban a la playa a pesar de que quedaba a dos cuadras dado que llevaban almuerzo, y siempre ibamos al mismo balneario donde alquilaban una carpa, y nos quedabamos todo el día desde la mañana hasta las 5 de la tarde. Yo muchas veces después de almorzar me iba solo a caminar por la playa, me iba a charlar con pescadores, me iba de nuevo caminando al apartahotel, dado que me parecía que ahi estaba la acción.
El año 80, al estar de novio fue la última vez que fui, y fui solamente un par de fines de semana. Mis intereses habían cambiado, y Gesell era ya un recuerdo. Pero en mi mente nunca había dicho adios a este lugar, ni a Nicos, tal vez porque en el momento nunca pensé que ese domingo que volví con Emma desde la Villa eran los ultimos. Yo ya había estado de viaje en el 78 y 79 en Europa y EEUU, trabajaba para una aerolinea, y ya tenía el bichito de irme en un futuro medianamente cercano a vivir a otra parte. A Oscar lo volví a ver una o dos veces más despues de eso.
Mucho tiempo después un año que mis padres se quedaron con mi hermana y mi cuñado en un apartamento no muy lejos de Nicos, se fueron a caminar para ver como estaba el lugar. Lo encontraron cambiado, y cuando se acercaron más vieron a la Hermana de Oscar que al verlos se acercó para hablar. Mis padres preguntaron por Oscar, y la Hermana les dió la noticia que el habia fallecido. Esto les dió muchisima tristeza. Era para ellos el final de un ciclo.
En el 2007 los padres de un muy buen amigo mio que tienen una casa en Pinamar nos ofrecieron de quedarnos ahi. Eso me dió la oportunidad de ir, parar, sacar fotos, compartir con mis hijos este lugar, este emblema, por lo menos en mi mente, de mi juventud, de mi adolescencia. Al llegar notamos que el complejo habia estado en el Mercado para la venta y para alquilar desde hacia bastante tiempo. Habia un sentido de tristeza en el lugar, como que el corazon habia dejado de latir. Me dió una sensación de pena. En mi mente podia ver el bullicio de otros años, con gente jugando al ping pong, comiendo asado, riendose. Considero que fue importante volver a Villa Gesell, dado que ya no soy más esa persona, he envejecido, tengo hijos, vivo a ocho mil kilometros, ya no veraneo más ahi. Me hizo acordar a la escena de Cinema Paradiso cuando Toto vuelve al pueblo por la muerte de Alfredo, y presencia el derrumbamiento de la sala de cine, y se encuentra con la misma gente que atendia regularmente la sala cuando el fue creciendo, se les ve a todos una expresion de entrega y de tristeza.
Villa Gesell ya no es el pueblo en el que veraneabamos hace muchos años atrás, ahora es una ciudad, para mi en general bastante desconocida, salvo algunas raras excepciones que han sobrevivido los embates del tiempo transcurrido y del cambio.
Yo, como dije anteriormente en más de una ocasion, estoy eternamente agradecido por lo vivido, lo que Dios me ha dado, porque fueron muy buenos años de formación, entre Gesell, y los años de hockey en el club San Martin, dado que fueron años muy sanos en todo sentido, con buenas amistades, muchas de ellas que sigo estando en contacto a pesar del tiempo transcurrido y la distancia.
A Oscar lo recuerdo sino todos los dias, por lo menos todas las semanas. Me brindó, como lo hacía con todos, todo su afecto sin pedir nada a cambio. Como todo geminiano tenía mas de una personalidad, pero daba todo lo que tenía. Que Dios siempre lo tenga en su gloria.

Mi first blog (about autism)///Mi primer blog (sobre el autismo)

I wrote this for an autism convention in which I was a panelist:

My name is Alec Anderson. I am a proud parent of two children, a 16 year old young lady and a 14 year young gentleman.
Ten years ago my son was diagnosed with P.D.D. – N.O.S. (pervasive developmental disorder – not otherwise specified) a type of autism.
I remember vividly when our children's pediatrician said he felt that I had a mild autism. I had to ask hm to spell it because, as lots of people, I had never heard of it.
As a computer aficionado my first reaction was to go to the internet and read what autism was, what caused it and what were the symptoms.
When I started reading I was heartbroken, overwhelmed. The stories that were posted on the web were nothing short of devastating. My life, I felt, had come to a complete halt. It was like not only the bottom had fallen out but the roof had collapsed, all in one, and probably more feelings that I can express.
My life and my faith in my creator were put to test. For many years I wondered in the wilderness looking for answers, without finding them, probably because deep down I didn’t want to hear reality.
The pain, as a good friend of mine who lost his brother when he was a teenager said, will never go away. The anxiety of not knowing what will become of him as he and us get older probably will never disappear. Many times I’ve prayed for his healing. But on the other hand I’ve also asked myself how would Ian be if he was what we many times call normal, if autism was not part of our family. I don’t have the answer for that either.
I felt for a period of time that we were the only ones in this boat, to recognize later that we are not the only ones. To say that it has put our family through a tremendous amount of stress is putting it mildly. I once heard on CNN that 83% of couples in the United States that have kids with autism end up in divorce, and I can see why.
Most people with kids will say that when you first have them your life changes. These are changes on steroids.
When our son was diagnosed the ratio was 1 in 500, now it’s 1 in 200 or less than that.
If politicians would use our money wisely, not in conflicts or weapons, but in more research, we could probably have a better idea why the huge growth of this disability, provide solutions to families who live with one or more children with this illness.
This also reminds me when politicians have nothing better to do but to criticize our teachers, the most noble of callings. Teachers don’t do it for the money, the do it as a mission. Our son is a student at the Phoenix Center, great place that cares for him, cares for the family, cares for his future, where he not only learns but is also able to express and develop his talents, where he’s being prepared to face the workforce of the future.
For my wife and myself what stays with us is the knowledge as believers that there is a place for us in heaven.
But before I finish I did mention that we also have a daughter who is 16 years old. She is in her prime in every meaning of the word. But if this has been a tough journey for us, it has not been simple for my son’s sibling either, for many reasons, primarily because it is very difficult to explain a 6 year old child that her brother has a disability. She would many times say “I want to be handicapped too”. It is impossible to explain the magnitude of this to a child. The only thing that they see is that this other child gets all the attention, more than what they are getting, and it's not that we don't pay attention to her, it's just that it is human nature to lean to the one with greater and immediate needs.
Would I change the road we are on? NO
Because I have come to the realization that we all have a purpose on this earth, and eventually when we’ve come to the sunset of our lives we will see why.
I remember reading a story that said that a man had come to the end of his days and when he looked back he saw during most of his life two sets of footsteps, but during the tougher times he only saw one set, so he asked God why did you abandon me during the hardest times, and God replied that he had not abandoned him, but that he had carried him.


Esto lo escribi para una conferencia sobre autismo en el cual fui un panelista:

Mi nombre es Alec Anderson. Soy el orgulloso padre de dos hijos, una joven señorita de 16 años, y un hombrecito de 14.
Diez años atras mi hijo fue diagnosticado con Trastorno Generalizado del Desarrollo, un tipo de autism.
Recuerdo muy bien cuando el pediatra de mis hijos me dijo que le parecia que Ian tenia un tipo de autism liviano. Le tuve que pedir que me lo deletreara porque, al igual que mucha gente, nunca habia escuchado de eso.
Como un aficionado a la computacion que soy mi primera reaccion fue de ir al internet y leer que era autism, que lo provocaba y cuales eran los sintomas.
Cuando empece a leer se me fue el corazon a los pies. Las historias que estaban publicadas en el internet eran devastadoras. Senti que mi vida se habia detenido de golpe. Era como que el piso habia desaparecido y el techo se habia venido abajo, todo al mismo tiempo, e inclusive habia mas emociones que las que pueda explicar.
Mi vida y mi fe en mi creador se vieron puestas a prueba. Por muchos años me sentí como perdido en el desierto buscando contestaciones, sin poder encontrarlas, tal vez porque no queria aceptar la realidad.
El dolor, como me dijo un muy buen amigo que perdio un hermano cuando todavia era un adolescente, no se va a ir nunca. La ansiedad de no saber que sera de su vida cuando el y nosotros envejezamos no desaparecera nunca. Muchas veces he rezado por su cura, pero por otro lado tambien me he preguntado como seria Ian seria lo que tendemos a llamar normal, si autism no fuese parte de nuestra familia, y no tengo una contestacion a eso.
Por un tiempo senti que a nadie mas le pasaba esto, pero despues descubri de que no eramos los unicos. Decir que esto ha creado un tremendo stress a nuestra familia, seria bondadoso. Una vez escuche en CNN que el 83% de las parejas en EEUU con hijos con autismo terminan en divorcio, y veo el porque.
Tu vida cambia drasticamente.
Mucha gente con chicos dira que cuando uno los tiene la vida cambia. Estos son cambios con esteroides.
Cuando nuestro hijo fue diagnosticado el porcentaje era de 1 en 500, ahora es de 1 en 200 o tal vez menos que eso.
Si nuestros politicos utilizaran nuestro dinero conscientemente, no en conflictos ni armas, sino en mas investigacion, tal vez podriamos tener una major idea el porque la gran explosion de esta discapacidad, y dando soluciones a las familias que viven con una o mas criaturas con esta enfermedad.
Esto tambien me hace acordar cuando los politicos no tienen nada mejor que criticar a nuestros maestros, la mas noble profesion. Los maestros no lo hacen por el dinero sino como un llamado. Nuestro hijo es un estudiante en el Phoenix Center, un gran lugar que atiende a sus necesidades, atiende a las necesidades de nuestra familia, y que esta interesado en su futuro, donde no solo aprende sino donde le es posible expresar y desarrolar sus talentos, donde es preparado para formar parte de la clase trabajadora en el futuro.
Para mi señora y para mi lo que nos queda es saber como creyentes que hay para nosotros un lugar en el cielo.
Pero antes de terminar mencioné que también tenemos una hija de 16 años. Ella esta en su flor en todo sentido de la palabra. Pero si esto ha sido un camino dificil para nosotros, no ha sido tampoco facil para la hermana de mi hijo, hay muchos motivos, pero primordialmente porque es muy dificil de explicarle a una criatura de 6 años que el hermano tiene una discapacidad. Ella muchas veces decia que “Que queria ser discapacitada tambien”. Es muy dificil de explicarle la magnitud de todo esto a una criatura, lo unico que pueden ver es que el otro recibe toda la atencion, mas de lo que reciben ellos, y no es que uno no le prestase atencion a ella sino que uno naturalmente tiende a inclinarse hacia el mas necesitado.
Me gustaria cambiar el camino en el que andamos? NO
He llegado a la conclusion de que todos tenemos un proposito en esta tierra, y eventualmente cuando lleguemos al atardecer de nuestras vidas veremos el porque.
Recuerdo una historia que decia que un hombre llega al fin de su vida y cuando mira para atras ve durante la gran mayoria de su vida dos series de pisadas, excepto en los momentos mas dificiles donde ve solamente un par de pisadas, entonces le pregunta a Dios porque me abandonaste durante los momentos dificiles, y Dios le contesta que no lo habia abandonado, sino que lo habia cargado.