There’s a saying in finance that is called “dovish behavior”. That means Bloomberg, the Jewish-led anti-smoking company from the United States, decided it’s an essential part of our vocabulary. Besides having Sofia Horta e Costa, who’s Portuguese and speaks the language, they don’t seem to care that these are separate things. We used to hear stuff about the government, like aid to Nigeria. The skeptic thought about the maritime routes. There had to be a logical explanation. If that were the case, Africa would be entirely tied to the Brazilian commerce. But somehow, the biggest commercial partner is China, said the general. Explain cost-effectiveness? They don’t think we’re smart enough to go there. We’re all monkeys!
Actually, a “dove” is what the bird popularly named “rolinha”. Grammar will teach you as a kid that anything small is called “-inho” or “inha”. “Rola” is the name. It’s also what we call the part of the body in between the thighs that gets hard sometimes, depending on how old you are. And isn’t that nornal? Not the performance, the fact that it changes and happens from time to time instead of always. Imagine being always hard. That must be what the “stoners” are looking for. Hard as a stone. Except that fucking wouldn’t feel so great. In short, “rola” means “dick”, and Bloomberg is telling us all the time that’s a negative sentiment in the markets, basically telling us all not to touch ours. The serious businessmen have things to do! But then you have “hawkish”, those who fly really high, and “bullish”, those who oppose or confront, those who push.
How would you explain to financial analysts you’re doing your best? They’re telling you to push yourself, but you have so many things to do. You can’t handle simple tasks! You’re wondering too much, your mental health is unstable. You don’t have certainty. You can’t stand still, or sleep. Your dreams become a permanent questioning, and then you forget them to live a shitty day. How do you make your day better, then, is the question you should ask yourself.
But when we work, we get paid, and we spend. Once I heard an English teacher ask me, to make me participate in Pearson’s training in the city of Praia Grande, where my mom lived: “what’s easier, Ivo? Spending money or saving money?” — and I thought the guy was talking about masturbation, so I can’t quite remember, but since I’m not good saving or keeping it in my pants, I said “well, spending is easier”. This was not the lesson. I had to talk more. It was a test. But the class was basic. They intentionally made me look like a fool, in the age of the internet, right after the Snowden revelations — which haven’t been fully grasped by any of us.
Isn’t it the media education what we should be worried about? Our kids won’t have to spend money for a while, unless we ask them to buy things for lunch and dinner. Unless there’s a drugstore expense. And if they ask, we should weigh in priorities. I’m no daddy, I suppose it must be a blessing to be responsible for someone’s life, but then I have thoughts, man. I have many thoughts. And I wonder what my education can inform people.
I think about the things I want and the things I need. I think about my failures, the immediate impulses, and the lack of shyness I had to display in very inconvenient times, then deal with consequences a lot later. Wanting your house to be free of people hopping on the stone wall and screaming things, pointing the finger, watching. Wanting to be heard, to have another shot — at what? Not knowing, being under a scrutiny of few, disguised as a scrutiny of many. No! The world is bigger and so am I! Dove my ass! High as fuck! Number one, bitch!
But you wouldn’t really brag, would you? When you’re at the top, you seem to forget that things can go wrong really fast. You just go with the, uh, the flow, I suppose. Let’s have a conversation about the flow? Okay. First of all, we’re old and young. We have different needs and we have different beliefs, it’s beyond behavior and has little to do, if I’m not mistaken, with biology. Unless that’s what the teens are doing with their phones: going like “oh, that’s what’s on his mind! But that’s what’s happening! And look what he said! What an idiot!”
I think about the people who were my inspirational role models when I was young, like the musicians André Matos and Aquiles Priester from Brazil, or poets like Fernando Pessoa, who wrote about the sails under a nickname. Pessoa is actually from Portugal, but we learn him in the academia. It’s a hard life, reading all these references, making up your mind about some of the stuff they’ve said, cracking the message and semiotics of it, then relating it to other people’s work, quoting, making a connection. A lot easier to watch webcams! Instead of role models, actual models, with roles we’d like to keep private, but in case your dad finds out, let’s hope he doesn’t come after you and says “not under my roof” before kicking you out.
And to think that stuff actually happened. I’d like to have the innocence that Chinese pianists had when they were learning the instrument, but I’m not sure if I’d like the instruction to be so careful. I’d like to be free to experiment, not to memorize patterns and practice every day! But we’re the lazy Brazilians, that Mário de Andrade would portrait with a line: “oh, I’m so bored!” Maybe that’s not what he meant. I’m just playing with the “banned word” again. The translation would be “I feel so lazy!” Maybe he said it’s better not to do anything than have to be active. And that’s not the same as being bored — which is the feeling you have when you can’t find anything to do. The two are related. But then you ask the internet “please let me chill” and there’s a game where your name is “ivoschilling”. Are you sure that AI hasn’t gone way too far?
Participatory Fluency | Fluência Participativa 