11/29/2009

A brief pause in Gothenburg.

It's been a tranquil day today. Quite wonderful. Woke late, had chai and a foccacia with two friends, one old and one new. Now they have left and briefly been substituted by Göran who has come back to his flat for a brief pause in his hectic weekend. The sound from his shower, the water drops cascading against the shower curtain accompanies my writing.

Whilst Göran lets hot water splash over his body I'm at pause on his couch.
I'm reading an interview with Rebecca Solnit. Never really heard about her before but I'm thinking that I will start trying to get to know her.
In the interview she speaks about the political aspects of life. Her perspective is that these aspects are omnipresent. Everything we do is political in its foundation. It follows that all human life is political. Even the apolitical is a political position but rather a "dreary one", as she puts it.
I can agree with that.

Last night I attended a political happening. I attended this semi-legal club that my friends arrange. Deep House resonated through my body and soul. It was at first hard to get into it. I felt old and tired. But after a while I finally came around. For the people who organize these parties, I doubt that they consciously do it as a political thing; but political it is. In a country that has been hijacked by the debate on immigration and its ever present shadow, xenophobia, dancing and clubbing is political.
Together, side by side, bouncing into one another, sweating, touching, smiling, screaming and loving is the total opposite of the separatist agenda of certain individuals and groups. It becomes a pause from it all. Yet to pause doesn't mean to ignore. A pause can simple state I won't follow you there. Thus even the pause itself becomes political.*

I think I need more pauses in my life.



*Ok, so this particular pause, this club, might not be the perfect metaphor for a totally integrated society. Rather the opposite one might remark. The electronic club scene in Sweden, open minded as it is, is still quite a reservoir for quite a homogeneous group. Nevertheless coming together like this is still something that is fundamentally different and in opposition to the separatist agenda.


Another pause, another Rebekka. One of the best dawns this summer. A nice pause from the party.
I got to know Bekka that night at our house. A few weeks later she introduced me to the movie White
Nights and I rediscovered my fascination for dance. Since then Bekka has become a great friend.
Our conversations are ongoing.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

ur such a great friend!!!!