An Essay.
Of the decision made by one US citizen to continue living in a crisis-stricken, unstable Argentina.
5.5 inches by 4.25 inches. COVER COLORS DO VARY.
Editions begun in January 2003.
Sample:
'What are you doing here?'
Argentina asks me everyday.
'We're all trying to leave and you come to live here?'
They ask, and ask again.
'But why would you ever want to live here?'
Sometimes I respond, sometimes I invent, sometimes I ask back.
'What are you doing here, in the middle of all this mess?'
Sometimes I really have no answer at all.
The morning before President De La Rua, the last elected president, was overthrown and left the pink house in a helicopter, I turned on the radio. Usually I abhor the morning programs for their tinny, low-level news and commentary. However, as the day started on December 19th, 2001, I tuned in. For over a month there had been a spark of hopeful doom in the air. No one wants change. Everyone wanted change. Economically, socially, spiritually, something was about to give in Argentina. A palpable bursting of the seams. ...
...On her lunch break, my sister-in-law came across the mob scene in downtown Cordoba on December 19th. Like all Cordobeses, she is accustomed to coming upon police-demonstrator confrontation. She sees them, draws them. Witnessing is as important a social responsibility as any other. But this day, she was not steps away when the first gun shots were heard. 'I pulled a muscle in my stomach just from the take off!' she laughed a couple of days later. By the time I heard these same gun shots on the radio, I had stopped trying to accomplish anything in my studio. My husband was on errands in the city, and it had become impossible to predict how much all of this was going to escalate in one afternoon...
Copyright 2003 Alex Appella
Read the entire essay online by clicking here: What Are You Doing Here?
Collections:
University of Miami
UC Irvine
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