Stories and News

Stories and News No. 1122 Yesterday evening, the Italian government set the limit for the budget deficit of 2019 to 2.4% of GDP , a result publicly celebrated by the leaders, but which could lead the already heavily indebted country into conflict with the European Union. We are against ... We are against Europe. Even if we have never left Italy. Barely our city. Spending whole days in our neighborhood. Apartment block. Home. Laptop. Maybe, with the exception of dancing in Spain, smoking in the Netherlands and eating crepes in Paris. Anyway, we’re against . Because we are, against ... Against the old politics. Even if the new one is always political. Even if, as the latter teaches, it often makes impossible promises. Relaxing on the armchair. Rejecting the contradictory. Not accepting criticism. Favoring friends, punishing enemies. And, sooner or later, it coming to terms with those who really rule here, namely mafia or under a professional nickname. Nonethele...

The perfect couple By Alessandro Ghebreigziabiher "So, kids," the teacher exclaims, "you have finally arrived to fifth grade, next year you go to high school." The woman makes a rundown of the students, their faces, eyes and smile’s design, more or less enthusiastic. The reason is trivial, because the coming year and every moment that awaits the young lives entrusted to her is tinged with emotional tones of absolute heterogeneity. Some are anxiously waiting for the imminent afternoon, because they will finally meet their cousin, fresh from birth and tears, and diapers, and milk powder... and luckily we have already moved on that, the teacher thinks with relief. At the same time, among them, there are those who wait for the recreation to enjoy the tomato pizza torn from mommy, between the usual biological snacks, and those who would never want to go home, unless accompanied by the Avengers, Harry Potter and Jack Sparrow all together, but even a social ...

Stories and News No. 1121 According to some scientists of the University of California, who study brain activity, the connectivity between the parts of the brain responsible for training and especially the conservation of memory increases after a short interval of physical exercises, even light, of ten minutes. “You're eighty years old, Grandma Teresa,” he says, “how can you walk so much?” “Ask the legs,” that’s what I answer. Because I used to ask what I do not know. “But the legs don’t speak,” he says, my nephew Mattia. “Yes, but they still move and I do with them, may be blessed.” He says: “Aren't you afraid of going around, alone?” That’s what he says, Mattia, my nephew, who is fifteen years old and tells me about fear. Him…. I explain: “If I were afraid, I wouldn't be still here.” And I repeat it, two, even three times. But not because I’m eighty, rather because he is fifteen and he talks about fear. He says: “But there are immigrants.” He says it, my...

Stories and News No. 1120 Once upon a time the world of lies . You can call it whatever you like. Who cares about the exactness of syntax and semantics in the current narrative? The people? But now they’re there, they finally entered the power room. The wonderful ordinary persons, the average citizen, traditionally known for virtues and skills that professional politicians never had. You’re in the populist dream , now. So, why you feel like living in a strange kind of nightmare? Oops, don’t say it... hurry up! Moderate the comments, indeed, block them and, while you're there, turn off everything. Better not to read between the muddy backwash that could run over you. It's all right , continue to share the reassuring mantra with others and especially yourself. The parties you voted would have sold their soul to finally get on the saddle of the government steed. You know what? They sold it. They did it before you even start to listen about them. It's all r...

Things I need and do not need   By Alessandro Ghebreigziabiher Why you bring bracelets to dinner? Aunt asks. Mom smiles, Dad shakes his head. You don’t need them, grandpa says. You do not need those things at seven years old, Beatriz. Mom now laughs, also aunt, uncle too. And dad? He always shakes his head. How can he do it with that stuff on his face? Because I pay attention to... what is that difficult word that the teacher explained the other day? One moment, I wrote it in the notebook that my brother gave me, I'm going to read. Here you may put the words that you don’t understand and that you like, Steven explained. Found it: contradictions. I really like it, in fact. It means that one thing has nothing to do with the other, they might be contrary too, and yet they are together, very close. Are the contradictions dangerous? Fred asked at school, the child named Fred, but he is Chinese, not to be confused with the other Fred who... I don’t know where he co...

Stories and News No. 1119 Once upon a time the classic bad day. Maybe it's today . Let's be exactly now , the case. Yours and mine. In fact, make it worse, imagine a whole period, months, even years. Take those moments. Then, open the palm of your hand and place them in the middle. Observe that pile of minutes when the world rolls like a bowling ball aiming straight at you, the only skittle in the field, helpless before a grim and insensitive destiny. It happens to you, me, everybody. Not for a matter of chronic depression, let it be clear. Let’s not bring doctors and medicines into play. Do the same with any pretext to close our eyes and our brains before the possibilities , a very holy word. You might say: “I'm still a teenager, can you realize? Do you understand what kind of society you welcomed me into? Is it my fault of what I found at the very beginning of my days? Will you comprehend why does it bother me?” Yeah, I see. Indeed, let's see together...

Stories and News No. 1118 Once upon a time... no, it’s wrong. There is , now , here . A story? Yes, maybe, but also something else. It's a farce, yes it is. A nightmare. A deception, or worse, a trap. A maze of lies and ignorance that brings you back to the same spot every day. The one where, in turn, however incredulous, you feel the irrepressible need to bring them back to the center of the village, the sea and our understanding of things. The people . In this story, but also something else, there is a guy, him , that I’ve not yet understood who or what it is, what right he has to speak and even vomit madness in the name of the most. Since the majority, thanks to the sacrosanct voice of numbers , they haven’t given him any credit. Then, there are the microphones’ sellers , but the ones with powerful, trendy lungs. Long time ago they used to share the what and the how , sometimes the why too, and now it remains only the mere object: inanimate tools, just like that, so...

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Stories and News No. 1117 Michelle Bachelet , UN High Commissioner for Human Rights , has recently declared that she wants to send staff to Italy to evaluate the reported strong increase in acts of violence and racism against migrants, African descent’s and Roma people". Italian government has rejected accusations, threatening also a punitive cut of funds at the United Nations. I think this is a global problem. So, regardless of where you live, Italian or not, I offer you a sort of guided meditation text . First of all, find someone who can read, able to give the right volume, tone and intensity to the voice. It is not essential to be a professional. Someone you like to listen to might be perfect. Maybe the person you love and the magic will be complete. Done? Well, let her or him read the following words. Let’s start, just like that. We will take a journey inside ourselves, since it's there that the best answers are hidden and some of them are closer to the trut...

Stories and News No. 1116 For some years a story has been told, that is to say, a simplified image is sold: in Western democracies, political confrontation occurs between populists and status quo’s defenders . From that - an equally widespread pattern - the populists are the true voice of the people and the traditional parties represent the elite who lives outside the real world . A recent study shows instead that these statements are completely wrong . The Pew Research Center interviewed the citizens of eight Western European countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) and what emerges is that traditional parties are more popular than the populist ones, which are nothing but an incredibly noisy minority ... Once upon a time the Allegory of the cave . Yes, that one, rightly mythical, exemplary and more than anything platonic . In the sense of copyright, not based on an idealistic approach to life . There is also tod...

I'm free and now I know By Alessandro Ghebreigziabiher I have to look forward and if I do it I can only rejoice. I'm one of those, yes I am. Obliged by history to keep the gaze fixed on the horizon. The past depresses me, the future is everything. But then I think more carefully, perhaps involving the heart in the intimate conversation and I understand that what awaits me owes what has been. I'm free, therefore. Nothing special, but it still moves to say it. It’s good, more than anything else, remembering the reasons, however trivial they might be. I am free because I have a brain of my own. And finally, I avail myself pursuing happiness and dreams that are just mine. I can understand things by choosing which and when. I can afford to make mistakes without feeling old or poorly updated. I can also stop, at any moment, to analyze and measure the world which I come into contact with. I can even remain silent, still, forgotten in the wonderful realm of e...

Stories and News No. 1115   "The rise to power of far-right politics is not just about the United States, but it’s part of a global phenomenon with a common enemy." Spike Lee My name is Laura and I'm sixteen years old. That's okay. I know very well that for many the brief premise is sufficient to change the road and navigate further. A little more than a dozen years means many things, like ingenuity and consequent ease to delude themselves, among them. I can’t deny it, but more than ever in this moment of my life I'm starting to wonder: are we sure that these prerogatives are uniquely typical of us, so-called teenagers? I don’t know, right? I throw it out, and whoever wants to take it, can do it. I'm here to share and perhaps we all are, even when we don’t realize it. Anyway, I said, I'm Laura and I turned sixteen in August. All right, okay, that's it. No birthday with friends all on vacation, but no problem anyway. Over time you make ...