Transmigration

A few weeks ago, while waiting in LM's car, I turned on the radio, something I hadn't done in years. While running through signals of stations playing poor, mid-90's metal, alternative rock, and other sounds that only seem to exist on the far-left end of the dial, I heard a song done in the vallenato style, a type of folk music native to Colombia. I was instantly riveted, as though my brain was receiving a line through the aural conduit of my ancestral homeland. I've since discovered that the song, called "Eres" (Spanish for "you are"), is performed by Alejandro Fernandez, a Mexican pop singer. That last bit may not appear all that interesting, but I find it fascinating that there can be, in this world of light-speed communication, so many cross-cultural exchanges, so many opportunities for creativity to reinterpreted and reshaped.

The accompanying video, which has an overnight security guard going on a rampage of joy in an otherwise empty shopping mall, is also fun.

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Perhaps it goes without saying, but human stupidity seems to know no bounds:

"Homosexuality...is the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism." - Sally Kern, Oklahoma State Representative, as quoted in Equality, the magazine of Human Rights Campaign.

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Good night, and good luck...

[D | R]