Mis Cuentitos

I'm not necessarily the best one when it comes to speaking in public (people tend to regard me as some sort of perpetual comedian, so it becomes harder each time to get to the serious stuff) but with these guys the words flowed like honey (or maple syrup, depending on your taste) soaking the most spongy and delicious strawberry pancake you've ever tasted on a Saturday morning. It's great when people actually want to listen to what you have to say, you feel as if there's nothing to worry about. And the things you speak are never pretentious, but pure.

So, for those of you who don't really know what it is that I intend on doing for a living (besides painting walls and eating quesadillas) this is a very strange yet somewhat accurate description of my project (the one which got me into the program in the first place):

"Hello everyone, my name is Xalli. I come from Mexico, but I've lived in a bunch of places (my dad has one of those weird scientific jobs) so I'm keen on traveling and meeting people from all sorts and soul-types.

I studied visual arts at the National University in Mexico City, and I'm a children's books writer and illustrator. I want to make truly good books, where my characters are able to portray different situations/contexts that are known to us all as individuals, as human beings, so that my readers can be able to learn from these by truly reflecting upon them using their own means of thought. I believe that there is a common ground to each and every single one of us if we dig deep enough (I mean, we share the same biological structure). But the problem is that we do not allow ourselves to learn and grow from experiencing the hardships that are a natural and inevitable part of life (the Buddhist "suffering"). We're taught to play as long as we avoid getting hurt. Furthermore we are ignorant of our own selves, getting easily lost in the empirical paraphernalia that we keep gathering as a form of gravitational exoskeleton (serving as a psychological defense mechanism against all unwanted or unrecognizable foreign signals) which in turn becomes what we consider to be the only possible and absolute "reality". When in fact everything is in constant change, and we are able to wield the whole of it to a certain extent for the good of not only us, but others as well; we are living in a lucid dream that just happens to be true, our own epic narrative (in a Kantian manner). We only need to realize this, and then realize it again/even more the next day and so forth: and that is the key, for if we are able to become voluntarily and momentarily separated from everything that brings comfort to our daily doings/feelings (routine) then only can we come back, physically and mentally as new and fuller beings. That is the same concept that lies behind Hegel's dialectical thinking, as well as Homer's "The Odyssey": the separation of the self from itself (becoming a negative-barred form of its previous composure) in order to produce enough distanced spatial perspective, so that we can obtain self awareness (as something foreign, as "the OTHER" looking at our own reflections in the mirror) and then we need to come back in consummated consciousness, as better as can be. Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis.

If we cannot accept ourselves for what we are: imperfect, but complex and complete in a weirdly beautiful way, there's no chance to us swallowing other people's unwanted businesses. Especially if they reflect all that we're lacking/doing wrong.

I've worked with children in South Africa, Zambia, Thailand, Cambodia, Canada, and in several parts of Mexico (but I've yet to learn so much more). I've worked with children who don't have an opportunity to study at private institutions and who think they are stuck in life. I've also worked with kids who own every materialistic gadget they could think of, but remain miserable because they don't realize all they want is their parents to sit around and play with them. I've worked with children who own only clay dolls (made by them) and who are truly happy, and who wish it could rain chocolate, and that someday their dad's would come home again. These children grow up to be gardeners, workers, housewives, philosophers, and those of them who decide to go into politics end up having to make important decisions that involve a lot of people (economically, culturally and even in terms of war between nations).

My point is we all share a common ground, and it is my everyday wish to keep getting back to it, by improving the way we educate people in general. Every person, be them grown men/women, old people or pimpled teenagers should allow him/herself to do so, every single day, for we are all worth everything since we are all part of the same universe, within and without."