The biggest advantage of writing for a living is the ability to work from anywhere. Just open the computer and we are in the office. With focus and discipline, it works. Dare I say more: changing places inspires. Changing paths, routes, faces, and everything we call routine can be a catalyst for creativity.
- Jose Eduardo Agualosa: African Mamdani
- Joaquim Ferreira dos Santos: One mistake and you’re right there at the crime scene
My play Two of Us is on tour in Portugal, which takes me away from Rio for a few weeks. It ended up acting like an involuntary detox. As the days go by, the body and mind begin to rest from the eternal state of attention of a large Brazilian city: “Be careful with your cell phone”, “Get into an Uber”, “Get out of an Uber”, “Be careful with the motorcycle”, “Look at the bike in the wrong direction”, “Don’t take your wallet”, “Avoid this street”, “Tell me when you arrive” are phrases that we hear every day and that make us sick without realizing it. Away from the endless alerts, I noticed that, little by little, I was using my cell phone less, I slept more and better, my ability to concentrate and the sense of concrete presence increased: wherever I was, I was actually in the present and not thinking about the next moment.
Professional training leads a journalist to become the anchor of a news channel, which he listens to all day long, like the soundtrack to routine tasks. Consuming Brazilian news in real time is for the powerful. Screens, posts, messages. Everything is urgent, everything is important. At the end of the day, exhaustion sets in. And it couldn’t be different. This season, I didn’t turn on the TV even once. Interestingly enough, I didn’t feel any less informed. Simply because what matters finds us.
- Pedro Pacifico: Wanted: Teenage sweetheart
Distance reminds us that it is possible not to be emotionally involved in everything that is happening around us. There’s no mental health that can handle it, it’s survival instinct. The feeling is universal: in the Tate Modern library, next to the catalogs of Frida Khalo and Dali, there is a section called “Slow Living,” something like “Living Slowly,” with titles that help us face reality with more stability and structure. They always champion the idea of relearning to live in a world that, if you make mistakes, will run you over. Homecoming approaches, and the memory of having to discover Centrão’s antics brings up all the triggers.
For all these reasons, reading the book “The Joy of Being Abroad” (Editora Agir) by Andre Carvalhal made this feeling clear. I have been lucky enough to have known Andre for over 20 years, he has always admired his time, and is flawless in everything he sets out to do. In the new book, he talks specifically about that vital (and why not, fun) attitude of staying inside as much as necessary to avoid getting sick. This behavior is not limited only to the news, but also to people, events, networks and screens, and abandoning the algorithmic trap. Being outside can be more than just fun. It can be a relief.
But sometimes there is fun in staying informed. The ingenious Tania Brandão, historian and theater critic, is organizing a session that begins this week at the Teatro Glaus Rocha, with an exhibition and readings of plays by the centenary João Bethencourt, one of the most successful playwrights in Brazil, author of phenomena such as “The Day They Kidnapped the Pope” and “Bonifacio Billions”. In a country that does not focus on memory, let alone theatrical memory, this honor is worthy of praise.
About The Author
