A little coffee on the counter

The best coffees there  are  are those we can drink in those bars we find in bus stations in Brazil. Those served in  a little glass usually used to drink cachaça, an alcoholic drink from this country. It doesn't have a wing so the drinker have his fingers burnt if he doesn't take care.

This little coffee is the cheapest contract to own for a while a space on the planet to read a newspaper or watch some of those TVs who cry for all but nobody pays attention.
It is also the radio news more convenient because there we find the gentlemen of enviable Brazilian mood  who are always smiling and commenting on the latest news while we are bored of the trip by bus and still trying to mentally organize the long day to come. 

The "pingadinho" (Brazilian coffee with a short amount of milk) is the alibi's clerk , the witness of so many traveler that come and go quickly to buy the ticket or catch the next bus. Couples say goodbye and giving those hugs are reunited with the whole body full of will. Children cry, scream, take pats on the butt. Old people talking about deseases and doctors. Bus drivers spit gum and throw some sly joke for the attendants that reply them with a "go to hell!" just written in their eyes. 

A cut coffee (Brazilian coffee and milk mixed) is a warm and meditative dive in itself. A therapy that costs $ 1.50, sometimes group therapy. Friends rented and interlaced by a few lines "and that weather huh?" or a "hey, and your soccer team? What was that?".

All of us making the scene of a cold morning in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

The verse and the woman

                       Each woman, single verse.
                          Free verse or rhyme.
                               Some unhappy ...
                                 poor rhymes!
                                   Yet others ...
                           beautiful rich rhymes!
                                But really happy                          is the man who rhymes
                           with the rare woman!

Writer's day in Camaquã - RS, Brazil.

Last Monday I took part in a special event in NTC Bookstore. July 25th is the Writer's Day in Camaquã, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. To celebrate this special day local writers and readers gathered to read some poems  of Cecília Meireles, a Brazilian poet.

Read and write to be free!

When I rent some DVD, the releases do not do my only option. What often takes me to get off the shelf for some time those who are no longer in theaters, but they are in the memory thanks to the suggestion of a friend. Was the case with Freedom Writers, directed by Richard LaGravenese and inspired by real stories of the best-seller The Freedom Writer's Diaries, resulting from the writings of a professor of literature and Erin Gruwel of their students.

Hilary Swank, who has starred in notable films like PS I love you and Million Dollar Baby, acts in the lead role of the teacher Erin. She is presented as a real woman who doesn't do "miracles", but shows us an example of effort and goodwill to change the lives of her students. She, like everyone who tries to do a job well done, has his admirers and those who envy. The young teacher has to go through obstacles embodied in the school's principal, colleagues and even her boyfriend.Initially, Freedom Writers, gives the impression of being more in the style of a Dangerous Mind, about an old hard core school , noisy classroom, violence and difficulties in the education of young adolescents. However, these "problem-students" get closer of each other after the reading of literature. Their task is write in his diaries that bring the unleashing of their difficult lives.This all makes him an inspiring film, without super-heroes, real people to those who still believe that the world is hopeless and that some people just need someone to believe in them and give them opportunities. The best-selling novel and feature film has led to the Freedom Writers Foundation which can be given at www.freedomwritersfoundation.org.