TO: THE LOCAL ORGANISING COMMITTEE (LOC) OF BEIJING SUMMER OLYMICS CC: INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC)
Port Vila, Vanuatu Islands 27th March, 2008
Hello Friends, My name is Lorenzo. I’m a ten-year old canary bird from Vanuatu Islands located in the heart of Melanesia, South Pacific Ocean. I live with my guardian, father (whatever you want to call him), Ted in a beautiful downtown cottage in the capital city, Port Vila. Just for you to know, I had four years of homeschooling thanks to Ted.
“Power is the only thing that matters in this world. Things like mutual respect and mercy are just delusions for the weak. Today the United States is very hostile towards many countries, but people around the world still respect it because it is a superpower.”
f40racer- You Tube
(I thought of starting of with a quote to look smart, so I did. However you might find the source not possessing enough authority. This is to demonstrate to you the great difference between your (and f40racer’s) authority and the United States authority, as in that you are insignificant in the shadow of significant complex entities such as the US) Living in this shadow for some time, being quite insignificant, you probably have realized that your actions are based on a form of a logical system=REASON. For example when you are hungry, you try to acquire some food to satisfy your want (or need) for food. In order to do just that you might decide to go to Musmani to buy a doughnut, or in the case that you don’t have any money you might decide to go to the cafeteria for fruits. However, you could also decide to take someone else’s doughnut from the fridge, and consume it with out having to pay for it, nor having to walk all the way to the cafeteria. This seems to be the most rational choice. So why doesn’t everyone just take each others food?
With papers to publish and mathematics to teach, Professor Villarino should be in a lockdown. Instead, he’s having a candid conversation with Lenard Lim about how it feels like to be the enigma of the school.
So, give us a short biography of yourself please.
Ok. My name is Mark Villarino. I was borned on the 20th of December, 1940 in Los Angeles, California. I lived my entire life in LA – attending grammar school, high school and eventually UCLA. I also did some graduate work at UCLA. While I was there, I joined the army and went on active duty for 3 years in Germany. After my military service stint, I came back to the states to finish up my studies. However, as bad luck have it, lets just say, that marriage difficulties interfered with my education. I left the US for Latin America in 1969. I worked in Colombia for 2 years, before working in Panama, where I became the first ever foreign professor invited to work at the University of Panama. Of course, I did not know this until I went there. I then found my way to the Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR), and began working there since October 1974. I have been there ever since. In 1993, I was given tenure. I hold a degree in mathematics from UCLA, and also a licenciatura from UCR in 1973.
The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. The sound of people performing calisthenics (at 1 a.m.) had plagued me for weeks. They also possessed a penchant for what might be described as elevator music — that is, if the elevator broke loose and killed all its passengers. Not surprisingly, when some of these people left for the Holy week my spirits began to soar.
"The things I'll do!" I cried gleefully. "Sleep for hours at a stretch! Clean my room! Read!" But I had spoken too soon. Some devious people were still around, switching on reggaeton as a pithy reminder that evil is always and everywhere an insoluble phenomenon. Scarred for life, the sound of “driving drum-machine track which was derived from a popular Jamaican dancehall rhythm” now sets off a Pavlovian response involving a mental manifestation of a Kerouac-esque journey on the road, perhaps to Sin Ci… I mean, Cahuita… that is, if I can navigate the labyrinths of the 700 metres from the non-existent-mango-tree or 500 metres from that place maze.
I was one of the lucky ones who got family over for Easter holidays, I still consider myself lucky, not only because my father, mother and siblings were coming over seeing and meeting everyone and everything that mean so much for me, but because I realized a lot about myself and what this place has made of me. It also seems like the inflation rate in Santa Ana ended up quite stable; even though the town was invaded by Nordic families (just to calm people down after the accusations made in the last issue).
One of my many internal worries last semester, especially before leaving for Christmas holidays, was at which extend I would be able to connect the two lives I suddenly was living.
Hello people! I have observed from many discussions, that so many of you have problems with Christianity and the church. Some of you question the verity of the Bible because it was used by deceitful colonial masters in their quest for unjust wealth which led to the extinction of many indigenous civilizations. Others complain about the rigidity of biblical laws and a vast majority blatantly rejects the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In view of this, I would like to use this medium to share some of the opinions I have formed from my close study of the Bible. I may not be able to expunge all your doubts about Christianity but I am hopeful that my article would arouse your interest in the Christian God.
It is perhaps the most frustrating feeling to be left wondering what would have happened if you had not just sat there and done nothing, wondering if perhaps the course of your life would have turned out just a smudge different had one word had been spoken, one step been taken, if you had just done something. It can possibly be classed as the fatal “What If?” Those lingering questions about what could have been, how much you could have changed, and what you could have achieved if only... What if? They are questions that get us no where, it is the spilt milk scenario and it shall not do a thing for our futures besides cast shadows upon the new.
Two places, numerous lives, different cultures… a life commenced with contradiction, kept by contingency and concluded in calamity… where fear and animosity luxuriates and wallows. An existence prodigal by the worst of all; by dreams that can never be met, (continued...)
Importado Issue 3. April 18, 2008. You said you’d meet me here. I waited and I waited but you never materialized before my eyes. Why aren’t you here yet? Granted we didn’t promise to comfort each other’s shadows today but we always make unwritten meetings anyway, so where are you?
The slithery cold winds of dusk brushed a hissing whisper against my ears.
Your friend came and leffft With another friend no lessss Should you consider it a theffft Or a decision made under duressss?
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