Supporting the children of Rocinha - update

Last call for donations to support the after school homework and art activities of Tio Lino in the Rocinha favela in Rio.

On November 19th I’m going to take down the donation link and move on to the buying and delivery stage of the effort. You can read the original post about this effort here.

THANK YOU to everyone who has helped spread the word and who have donated. Five bloggers have posted our donation link and or made a post personally endorsing the campaign. We have been trying to harness the power of the blogosphere to alert as many people as possible to this opportunity to support the kids of Rocinha.

As of this post we have raised R$374.00 to help us buy art supplies. (Plus I heard from Zezinho that he has raised R$80.)

Truth be told I am a bit underwhelmed. Not that every cent isn’t a beautiful gift that will help immensely. But let me disclose to you that with the exception of the R$50 given by fellow blogger Peggy while we enjoyed lunch on the beach in Itaipú, we have received just 6 donations and each one came from a long time personal friend of mine.

According to Blogger stats, to date the post has been viewed 127 times. Referrals have come from all over – every blogger who posted the link has contributed to the campaign's visibility. (Again – thank you!) But it did not translate into contributions.

Let’s not forget how good it is to get the word out about the needs of the Rocinha community. That in itself is a big positive. We have all contributed to that positive effort.

But I am curious – why so few contributors? Why no online contributions beyond my personal friends? Is it a lack of trust? Enthusiasm? Endorsement? Encouragement?

As a 20+ year fundraising professional I have my theories, but I also have my questions. Asking for financial support for worthy causes via blogs may be a whole new universe with its own dynamics. I would be interested in any feedback people have about our results.

In the mean time – we have 10 more days to encourage our friends, family and readers to consider making a contribution. It takes less than 5 minutes via the PayPal link. If you are so moved – make another shout out from your email list, Facebook, Orkut, blog, whatever.  And make a contribution yourself.

Also – if PayPal puts you off, go shopping for art supplies and mail them to me. Or if you prefer the Brazilian approach of making a bank-to-bank transfer, let me know. We can work that out as well. Whatever you decide – let’s do it!

At the end of November 19th I will remove the PayPal link and cash out the account. (I will replenish the small fees taken by PayPal so all contributions are 100% spent on supplies.) Then Luiz and I will go shopping for the children who frequent Tio Lino’s drop-in art center.  We'll keep you posted.

Feel the love. Remind your friends and family. Encourage a donation.

On behalf of Tio Lino and the children he supports and encourages, thanks again for however you may contribute to our success.

A night out with the Niterói Ballet Company

Last night we enjoyed a beautiful evening out watching the Niterói Ballet Company perform a delightful and quirky tribute performance to Brazilian Master instrumentalist, composer, arranger, conductor Pixinguinha. This playful musical context had the dancers bouncing off one another and kicking in every direction. It was very fun to watch.

According to the program (roughly translated): “The show uses the songs of the Master Pixinguinha to reveal emotions, feelings, time alone and the intimacy of each. The choreography builds a body of movement/gestures with delicate nuances of great physical vigor, with a strong theatrical language and unusual interpretation.”

Not your momma’s ballet. (There were 14 male dancers and 10 female ones. That’s different!)

What blew me away about this night at the ballet is that the City made the usual R$20 tickets available to Niterói residents for just R$5. We presented proof of residency and poof – admission was practically free!

Also amazing is the historic Theatro Municipal building, recently restored to its earlier glory. First built in 1827 (a whopping 183 years ago), the building has gone through a series of expansions, modifications, restorations, etc. over the years until apparently it became nearly unrecognizable.

After being named a Cultural Heritage Site in 1990, City officials, historians and philanthropists set about a restoration process to peel off some of the whacky additions and changes and return the theater to its earlier glory.

Key to its historic importance is that after the theater opened it was then occupied by the newly formed National Dramatic Company led by João Caetano. This is now considered the birth of Brazilian theater. Niterói’s Theatro Municipal was the first theater in Brazil with a resident theater company.

It is a beautiful theater with theater-style seating on the main floor and small box seating with cane chairs across three balconies. There are literally no bad seats in the house. We have sat in many different locations over time for dance and musical performances and have never been frustrated.

Photos have been taken from the official Theatro Municipal website.

Things change

The change is slow, but it seems to be steady.  Sometimes it comes so slowly I hardly notice the difference.  And then something comes along that reminds me that it's not like it was when I was a teenager.  In fact, it's really different.

It would have been inconceivable, quite literally, to see anything on TV like the Glee clip below when I was just realizing I was an up and coming gay man.  Wow, that would have been something.

Thank goodness times have changed.  Watch this clip.



One other thing - my blog got a boost yesterday when my report about the first-ever Gay Pride parade in Rocinha got picked up by one of my favorite gay blogs Towleroad.  I noticed a weird spike in views and discovered it was coming from readers linking over from Towleroad.  Very cool.

Super duper grocery store

In our neighborhood there are eight different grocery stores within about a five block radius.  There is the cheap store, the expensive store, the chic store, the specialty fruit and vegetable store, the store with the best wine selection, the simple knock-off franchise store…

In general we shop at the cheap store (Presunic) for our everyday grocery/household items and the specialty fruit and vegetable store (Hortifruiti) for tomatoes with flavor and ripe plums, etc.

Last year the new SUPER-MEGA grocery store Guanabara moved into Niterói.  The television has been flooded with the wonders of this discount store.  It’s a little far from our apartment so we only just yesterday made our first trip to check it out.

I was a little afraid.  There is a beer bar out front, presumably to provide a place to drown your sorrows after spending your paycheck on items you never really knew you needed.

There are 76 checkout lanes (but the checkers still sit, give no eye contact, and never pack your groceries).

The place is huge.  Mind you, I have NEVER stepped inside a Walmart store, ever.  The last time I shopped at a super-duper store I was a college student wandering the aisles of Meijers Thrifty Acres in Lansing, Michigan tripping on some substance that will go unnamed.

Anyway – when all was said and done – the prices were nothing to write home about, the service was nonexistent and the price of the cab to get us back home wiped away any chance of a savings, even if the prices were a few centavos less.

I’ll stick to my neighborhood grocers who always ask me how Luiz is doing and who lessen the experience of poor service by at least chatting a bit (while I pack my groceries).

Slow down

I woke up this morning to find three emails requesting translation services. Naturally, everyone is on deadline.

Whoa! Slow down there tiger. No sense working up a sweat.

Slow and steady. I think I may have been a Baiano in a former life.

Get out the vote

Sorry for the political plug, but it looks to me like that light at the end of the tunnel there is actually the headlight of an oncoming train.  Don't be stupid America.

Don't panic people

Brazil just elected their first female president.  Dilma Rousseff is now reported to be the most powerful femal politician on the planet.  That sends shivers down some people's back.  It makes a lot of others very happy (apparently 56% of the people), and proud to be Brazilian.

For those who see the election as a lost opportunity to return Brazil to neoliberal rule, remember when Lula was elected and everyone thought the sky was going to fall?  How did that work out?  20 million Brazilians were lifted out of poverty and another 29 million joined the middle class over the past eight years.  Not bad for a radical leftist.

I know, I know, it's complicated.  Corruption.  I know. The PSDB (Social Democratic Party) is less corrupt... right.

Mostly it's complicated, not suited to blog posts.  But let me just say - relax.  Wait and see.  This story line turned out pretty well last time around.