My Life as a Mythological Detective

My life as a mythological detective

          Since my first semester at MSU, I had tried in vain to take this mythology class with professor Sexson.  My friend Jon loved professor Sexson and insisted that I should take this class.  After four failed attempts, I finally got into the class this semester.  This time, registering for the class was so easy that I could not believe it, maybe it was destiny.  Yes, I was meant to be in this class this semester because I have learned that the past possesses the present, and my past was what brought me to this class. 

          Since myth is the precedent behind every action, I know that there are so many reasons why I have waited all this time to be able to take this class.  Here is how the realizations of my mythological life begin.  As I listened to professor Sexson lecture during my first day of class, I knew why Jon had insisted I take this class.  Professor’s Sexson words sound like sweet melodies to the ear and I was astonished and hypnotize by his charisma.  He is a mythological being, I tought, he is wise in a way I have not seen or heard before.  I have met many interesting and well-educated people in my life, but there is that non-se qua about him, that makes me think, “yeah I love him.”  

          Our first assignment was to take a picture hugging a tree.  I remember that particular task because I was late for class and I had to sit in a different spot that day.  As a result of my tardiness, I had no idea about the nature of the assignment, so I wrote a note to the person sitting to my right and ask him what was I suppose to do.  He smiled and wrote back “I will explain after class”.  After class, he introduced himself as Aaron, explained the assignment, and offered to take the picture.  We met for the picture taking, and he took a terrible picture of me, while I did a great job with his.  Life is not fair, I know, but I still like him.  The purpose of this assignment was to identify with a tree, to think what life could that tree have had in the past.  Was he just a tree?  Could the tree be a mythological being?  I wanted to believe that the tree was the reincarnation of Dante Alighieri.  Oh, Dante, who with his precious Divine Comedy change my religious believes.  With this in mind, I hugged my tree.  Although my divine tree gave me no feedback, I thought about the things that he had seen in his lifetime.  I would love to hear some of his stories.

          After that photo shoot, Aaron and I became friends.  He told me that he had a dog; I told him that I was allergic to dogs.  His response was quite simply “that is a tragedy.”  His dog’s name is Annabel which made me laugh, my mom’s name is Annabel too!  What I never told Aaron is how my mom got her name.  My mother, who was born in Ecuador, was named after the famous poem “Annabel Lee” by Allan Poe.  A little history is required to explain the connection.  As the world was at war with Germany during the Second World War, Ecuador was involved in its own territorial battle with its neighbor Peru.  Seeing that Peru was allied with the German Nazis’, Ecuador chose to align itself with the Allied Forces, which included the United States.  As a result, during this time there was a lot of North American sentiment in Ecuador, and that is how the poem “Annabel Lee” became so famous.  My Grandmother loves poetry, she memorized the poem and decided to name my mom Annabel Lee.  However, when she went to register the name, the “Lee” part was not accepted by the authorities as it did not qualify as a Spanish name.   How mythological is that?

          One day I met Aaron’s dog, who’s full name happens to be Annabel Lee.  When I finally met the canine Annabel Lee and saw her face, I knew there was something special about her.  She had the sweetest look I had ever seen, her eyes were so human that it was scary.  Every time I looked at her, I wanted to hug and kiss her.  This was an odd feeling since I am allergic to dogs and for that reason have never been crazy about them.  She made me feel in a way I had not felt in a long time about a dog, or even a human being.  It almost felt maternal instincts, which had been previously absent, growing within me.  From that day on, all I wanted was a dog.  The feeling was infections, I had become dog crazy!!.  After a while, I started to think about my mythology class and how anything is possible. Maybe Annabel Lee was the reincarnation of a human being, perhaps someone dear to me?  There were too many coincidences.  How is it that I got into this class so easily this semester? How is it that I was late for class one day and there was only one seat left in the whole class and it happened to be next to Aaron?   How is that his dog had the same name as my mother?  And how is it that this dog inspired feelings within me that I had never experienced before?  My reaction at the beginning was that Annabel inspired me to have these feelings because the relationship that Aaron and her share.  It was beautiful to see those two together; Aaron was so sweet and loving to her that maybe my feelings were just a reaction to their love.  Not long after my first meeting with Annabel Lee, she started getting sick and in less than one week she passed away.  It was very sad.  I did not know how to express my sympathy to Aaron.  I knew he had lost someone he loved, but at the same time I felt like I had lost somebody very dear to my heart too.  After she died, all I could think about was Ovid and all the stories that we read and talked about in class.  The tales of how humans were turned into animals or plants. I started thinking about Actaeon, Io, Daphne, Narcissus, and Eco.  Sadly, everything made sense; I was to be in this class this semester to learn the mythological ways of my daily life. 

          It was my destiny to be in this class this semester to meet Professor Sexson, Annabel Lee, and finally, Frederick Tuner.  If I were to take this class any other semester, I may have met Frederick, but I would not have had the opportunity to hear his poetry about the Galapagos Island.  I know that even though Frederick’s poetry is beautiful, I don’t believe that anybody else could have appreciated it in the way I did.  Every word he recited had a meaning to me; the meaning that a person can only understand when you know the subject well.  I felt like Delia del Carril when she read Neruda’s poems “los versos del capitan” and understood that her husband was having an affair with another woman. Frederick’s recital was a ‘once in a lifetime’ experiences and as professor Sexson says, “it doesn’t get better than this.”

my poem

Inspired by the poetry of Frederick Turner on the Galapagos islands, after a couple of drinks at the Bacchus that night, I wrote this poem.

My lover

When I wake up in the morning,

 All I want to see is your face.

And when I go to sleep at night, 

all I desire is your flesh.

Oh my dear lover, you control my whole being.

Oh my sweet lover, you are all I wish.

I miss your big smile,

I miss your pear teeth,

I miss your beautiful blue eyes,

I miss when you look at me..

If I have to comparer,

 between you and the rest, 

All I have to say, is

 that you are my best.

What a crazy world this is,

We met in the island of love, 

the Encantadas they say,

I still remember that night,

 as it was today.

We met in a bar, 

there is not romance there,

 after the bar closed, and everybody went home,

you and I, we went for a walk instead.

That glowing night, in that little bench,

 in the middle of Puerto Ayora,

You kiss me at first.

Your lips were soft, 

and your tongue felt great,

Oh my Canadian lover,

 I should it known them.

After that kiss, 

you took my breath away.

You came to visit me, in the continent, 

After an amazing week you went away,

To the lands in north, where I will see you next.

Thanks dear Lord for Internet,

Cuz when I don’t have you with me, 

I still can see you face.

Facebook video have become our best friend.

And went facebook does not work,

We have skype instead.

And when everything else fails,

We still have our cells.

Only three week left,

To see you again,

In the Bahamas island,

I will kiss you next!!

Quejas

¡QUEJAS!

¡Y amarle pude! ... Al sol de la existencia
se abría apenas soñadora el alma ...
Perdió mi pobre corazón su calma
desde el fatal instante en que le hallé.

Sus palabras sonaron en mi oído
como música blanda y deliciosa;
subió a mi rostro el tinte de la rosa;
como la hoja en el árbol vacilé.
Su imagen en el sueño me acosaba
siempre halagüeña, siempre enamorada;
mil veces sorprendiste, madre amada,
en mi boca un suspiro abrasador;
y era él quien lo arrancaba de mi pecho,
él, la fascinación de mis sentidos;
él, ideal de mis sueños más queridos,
él, mi primero, mi ferviente amor.

Sin él, para mí, el campo placentero
en vez de flores me obsequiaba abrojos;
sin él eran sombríos a mis ojos
del sol los rayos en el mes de Abril.
Vivía de su vida aprisionada;
era el centro de mi alma el amor suyo,
era mi aspiración, era mi orgullo ...
¿por qué tan presto me olvidaba el vil?

No es mío ya su amor, que a otra prefiere;
sus caricias son frías como el hielo.
Es mentira su fe, finge desvelo...
Mas no me engañará con su ficción. . .
¡Y amarle pude delirante, loca!
¡No! mí altivez no sufre su maltrato;
y si a olvidar no alcanzas al ingrato
¡te arrancaré del pecho, corazón!

Love is Only Skin Deep

Love is Only Skin Deep

Galo Matin was a famous Spanish doctor who has just moved to Quito, Ecuador.  Dr. Matin was attempting to achieve a breakthrough in bio-medical sciences by creating a synthetic skin through transgenisisplastic.  He rented a beautiful apartment in the most expensive area of the city - “the Gonzales Suarez Avenue.”  The place was decorated with the finest designs and details, but what astounded him was the amazing view of the city.  As he was sitting on his balcony after dinner he thought to himself, “Wow $6,500 US dollar a months to see this? It’s worth it!”  As he continued to relax he thought “I could pay the same amount in Madrid for the same flat, but I would never have this view.”  It is uncommon for a prestigious doctor to leave behind the old continent and move to South America, but he had good reasons.  Life in Spain was killing him, and he just needed a new start.  His past experiences with women had left him with feeling sour and empty.  This was a difficult thing to understand, because he was obsessed with female beauty.  He adored the feminine body and all its features, but what he was obsessed with most was skin.   Physically, he adore woman; yet for some reason, he could not stand them.  He felt that in Europe, he knew them all, but in Ecuador, he hoped things would be different.  After a couple of months in Quito, he opened his practice.  One day, after a four-hour skin replacement surgery, he was preparing to go home when his assistant Rosario said to him “Doctor, there is a young woman whom wishes to see you,” To which he responded “Well tell her to make an appointment!” as he muttered to himself about how Ecuadorians always show up with out appointment and then expect to be seen by the doctor anyway.   Rosario with a very condolence voice said to him “I think that you should see her, she comes from the coast, which is a long trip.  She looks helpless.”  Grumbling he responded, “Ok but you need to stop this, no more walk-ins! Ok?”  Galo went to his office and sulked until he heard a knock on the door.  “Come in” he said.  The young lady walked into the office.  From the moment he say her, Dr. Galo understood why his assistant had insisted that he take on this patient.  Her face was totally disfigured.  Her name was Salvadora Ilad, with a charming voice she said to him “Thank you so much for taking the time, I understand you are a busy man, but as you can see, I’m desperate”.  She told him her sad story of how she went from being a normal girl to a monster.  She described to him how she used to look before and asked him what could be done to help her look normal again.  She was sweet, and for some reason that can’t be explained, he took pity on her.  He explained to her that this was going to be a long procedure and that he would do anything he could to help her. However, he stressed that she need to understand that perfection may never be achieved.  Salvadora understood this, and before she was ready to leave she handed him a photograph “Doctor, this is me before my accident, you should have it to see how I used to look”.  He studied the picture for a moment, and looked up at her changed face and said “good, let’s see you on Monday”.  After she left, Galo sat in his office for hours looking at her picture, awestruck by her beauty.  Salvadora’s skin was radiant like a pear, her smile was bright, and her voice was sweet in a way that he had never heard before.  When he arrived home, he poured himself a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and walked to the balcony to sit in his luxurious rocking chair and admire the lights of the city.  Again, his thoughts turned to Salvadora.  He reached into the pocket of his jacket with his right hand and gazed at the picture.  At this moment on, she became his obsession.  He worked day and night trying to develop a synthetic skin.  She became his human test subject, his muse, and his reason in life.   Year, after year he devoted his life to achieve beauty perfection on her, her skin once burn now started to look better.  Salvadora’s disfigured face now had form, but it still did not look like she did before.  After three years of treatment and multiples surgery he ask her to moved to his house so he can take a better care of her, but the real reason was because he could not live with out her anymore.  She was to him as a muse is to a painter.  In the last two years that Salvadora lived in Galo’s house, she was isolated so that only her aunt was allowed to visit her once a week.  Galo explained that the isolation was to help avoid all sources of infection, but the truth was that he did not want to share her beauty with anybody else.  She wore a mold over her face to give her the shape she needed.  He was the only person allow to see her without the mold.  One day, the cast was finally removed from her face, and he allowed her to look at herself in a mirror for a couple of minutes.  Before this day, there had been no mirrors in her room.  For two years she did not know how she looked until that night, when she finally saw herself as beautiful being again.  Taking the mirror back he said “You may think you looks beautiful now, but I promise you my dear you will become the most beautiful woman and this country and your skin will shine like no other.”  In the last couple of years, Galo had been showering Salvadora with all sorts of presents.  The ones he loved the most were a pair of diamond earrings, and an emerald bracelet, but that was not enough for Galo.  He asked the famous jewelry designer Ariana Garido to design a sapphire necklace for Salvadora for her first dinner with him outside of her room.  The dress he bought for her to wear for that night was a Carolina Herrera design, black a perfect fit for her slim but curvy figure.  The dinner was catered by the Swisotel Quito, which employed the best chefs in the country.  Everything was ready for dinner, and he was sitting in the couch waiting for her to be ready when he heard her steps on the stairs.  He turned to look and saw the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.  She was his creation, his masterpiece.  After dinner she got up give him a hug and give him a kiss good night.  She retired to her room and he did the same.  The maid will do dishes in the morning, he thought.  That night he could not sleep - all he could think of was of the moment when he saw her in the living room and she had taken his breath away.  His heart started beating in a way it had never before, he could not move.  He felt like he was in one of those dream when something terrible is happening, but you cannot move.  Her smile was all he could see, and that night he prayed, he prayed to god and said “Dear God, she is the only woman I want, she is perfect because I created her, all I want to do is marry her.”  After praying he feel asleep.  The next morning he told her “You are perfectly beautiful, now you can go.”  Salvadora responded “The dear lord put you in my way and if you want all I want is to be with you.”  She walked toward him, kissed him firmly, yet lovingly, on the lips and said “I love you.”  In that moment, Galo looked at her and with no hesitation said “Marry me.”  A few weeks later, in a private ceremony in the Swiss Alps, Galo and Salvadora proclaimed their love for each other at their wedding.  The following year, the newlyweds they were blessed with a beautiful baby girl, which they name Geneva, after the city in which they proved that love is truly only skin deep.   

Symbols and Signs

    Symbols and Signs

                                                    

I could spend the whole day trying to figure out the symbols and signs of this essay, but instead I decided to understand the story.  Yes, there are two stories within the essay.   The first one is the story of the main character; the son of the couple, and the second story is about the life struggles of an immigrant couple. 

In the beginning of the story, part 1, the writer gives his readers many clues about the personality and life experiences of the son.  This is very clear in the first part of the essay when everything is going wrong for the parents .  All sources of bad events are occurring at the same time.   A clear sign of what the writer is trying to tell us is in the sentence when he describes the bird in the paddle  “A few feet away, under a swaying and dripping tree, a tiny half-dead unfledged bird was helplessly twitching in a puddle”.  It is obvious to me that the author is using the bird as an allegory to describe the son and how he feels; half dead, helpless, and twitching with not hopes in life.  The son had tried to commit suicide four times already.  He suffers from "Referential mania," which it a horrible disease and terrible way of living.  He wishes to die, but his parents won’t allow this to happen because if he dies, they have no reason to be alive.

In part II of the story, we see the mother reliving ever stage of her son’s life as she is looking through pictures of him.  What is apparent is that the details about her son’s life are merely a reflection of her own.  This is the story of the entire event that pushes them to immigrate to a foreign country.  A good example of this is the part when the author describes Aunt Rosa.  “Aunt Rosa, a fussy, angular, wild-eyed old lady, who had lived in a tremulous world of bad news, bankruptcies, train accidents, cancerous growths--until the Germans put her to death, together with all the people she had worried about”.  Throughout the entire essay, it is easy to notice the symbols and signs of their lives in this new country. They have not adapted to this new life. They have survived, yes, but everything in their life is gray and sad.   All those little details symbolize their bleak lives in the U.S.  They do not have money, and they depend on a brother for economic support.  The family appears to have failed to integrate into English America as do not speak the language, the father still reads the Russian newspaper, and they have a Russian doctor.

All these elements combined make me believe that the second story of the essay is about the life of an immigrant family, and their struggles before and after the move to a new country.   In the process of immigrating, they have lost all they had before, and now they depend of others to survive.  This makes perfect sense to me since I have seen this happen many times with immigrant families.

Part III, signs of traditions and believes.  The father wakes up in the middle of the night and says "I can't sleep,". "Why," she asked, "why can't you sleep? You were tired."  "I can't sleep because I am dying," he said and lay down on the couch.

I feel that the feeling that the father is having at this time is a “presentiment” – a feeling people believe to have when someone close to them is about to die.  This is a tradition in many cultures around the world.  The father knows in his heart that his son is dying and that is why he can’t sleep.  He also knows that once the son dies, there will be no reason for his wife and him to stay alive, since their world is sad and gray.  Finally, when the phone rings the third time in the middle of the night you can always assume that it is not good news.  People do not dial the wrong number three times, and it is said that bad things always happen in series of three.  I’m certain the phone call means that the son has died, and with him the two others members of the family.  Bad new always come on series of three.

Me as a Daphne

The story of my life

Is our love life a constant repetition of the myth of Apollo and Daphne? Is Cupid still shooting his arrows thoughtlessly?  These were the questions that I asked myself last night as I fell asleep.  A couple of months ago my life was normal (now I am lying, my life has never been normal), but what I’m trying to say is that I did not have a boyfriend.  The only relationship I have had just ended before Christmas.  I was sad, but long-distance relationships are difficult- but for some reason I like them the most.  My sweet Canadian lover and I had decided to stop talking and it hurts, but I understood that it needs to be done.  Then my best friend and ex -boyfriend decided to come back to Bozeman to spend the New Year’s with me while leaving his girlfriend behind.  In the past, he had promised me that he will break up with her, but it took him longer than it should and by the time he made that decision, I had moved on. Now I feel like he is chasing me in a way that I don’t like.  Now I know how Daphne felt when Apollo was chasing her.  While my dear friend made these amazing plans for the time being and the future, I feel suffocated. As he is building his house he says things like, I will build you a work-shop so you can do your art, I will build you a big walking closet for all your clothing, I will build you a Jacuzzi, so you can take your afternoon bath……  and as he keep saying these things and making all these wonderful plans, all I want to do is run away.  In the past, I remember the days when all I wanted to do was to see him, and when this happened, he was always with his new girlfriend. As difficult as it was for me to see him with her at that time, I understood that I was responsible for the break up. It was my decision, but every I saw him I had melancholy about the past.  Maybe it was my terrible fear of commitment that did not allow me to be happy.  Maybe it was this fear that made me break up with him?  And for a long time I wonder why? Fortunately, for me, after taking this mythology class, now I know that it’s Cupid’s fault as he does to me what he did to Apollo and Daphne.  He hits me every time with the opposite arrow.  Since now all I want to do is be with my Canadian lover.

Professor Sexson  has talked repeatedly  about mythological snakes, which to me are the most petrifying things on earth.  I have Herpetophobia, meaning fear of snakes. One time I ran on the hot Florida pavement for 3 blocks without shoes because I found a snake by my pool.  My feet were burned and I could not walk for a couple of days, so when I dream about snakes it is normally a nightmare.

In my dream, my ex and I had decided to get back together, so I was ready to move back with him.  I was happy, but anxious at the same time.  One thing I could remember was that I was in Big Sky in my favorite bar The Half Moon.  Everything was perfect.  My friends had organized a going- away camping party for me.  After we closed the bar, we went to the back of the bar by the river and sat by the bonfire. 

Until that moment everything in my dream was great, I was so happy.  We were drinking and dancing, but suddenly everything changed.  It was the next day, and I don’t know why, but my friend Yeimy and I woke up just to find out that we had set up our tent on top of the pool table.  This part is “odd", I know, but it was a dream, I cannot control those things.  Anyway, I woke up still happy and looked out to see that the day was gorgeous.  The sun was up and it was the brightest day I have ever seen.

I said to my friend Yeimy,  “Let’s go outside, it is a beautiful day for a walk.   I started to walk ahead of her and I stood under this tree, which was the most majestic tree I have ever seen in my life.  It was beautiful, enormous, perfect, and I could see the sunrays coming through it.  My heart was beating really hard with joy, but then my practical being interrupted my dream. I started to think this is too perfect. I went on and on in my mind thinking of something one should never think when we are happy. Wait a minute, I said to myself, there has to be something wrong with this scene.  It is too perfect.

Then, I looked up at the tree again, and all I can see were snakes falling all over me.  I started to panic, I could not breathe.   I was suffocating, screaming and jumping all over.  Then, I woke up, screaming of pain and panic.   My face was cover with tears, it was horrible, my heart hurt, every inch of my body was in excruciating pain.  The next day I had a terrible migraine that lasted two days.   I still feel anxious when I think about this dream.  What I don’t understand is how a dream can affect a person physically to the point where he/she feels ill.