Gus In The Real Life

El mundo tiene que apostar de manera privada y estatal a la inversión cultural porque allí se encuentra una de las salidas a la actual crisis económica.Así se reafirmó en Cartagena el poder político que tiene la cultura para encarar las crisis económicas.
Voceros de las Naciones Unidas, del Banco Mundial, académicos y líderes del sector cultural a nivel nacional e internacional, señalaron que una de las soluciones más eficaces ante la crisis actual de la economía mundial se encuentra en la consolidación de las industrias creativas.
Se habló de economía creativa por parte de Edna Dos Santos-Duisenberg, directora del Programa de Economía Creativa de Naciones Unidas. Según ella, “es un concepto en desarrollo, que une la economía con aspectos culturales y sociales, en interacción con la tecnología y el turismo, genera ingresos, crea empleo, se puede exportar, promueve la inclusión social, la diversidad cultural y el desarrollo humano”.
La visión universal y puntual del pensador francés Edgar Morin, al clausurar el Seminario Internacional “El sector cultural hoy: oportunidades, desafíos y respuestas”, fue ratificar el poder político de la cultura ante las encrucijadas del mundo contemporáneo.
“En el siglo XXI la cultura será lo que fue el carbón para Europa y Norteamérica en el siglo XX”, dijo Antonio Nicolau, director del área de cultura de la Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo- AECID.
“La cultura es la fuerza creativa y competitiva del desarrollo económico y a la vez un poderoso factor de cohesión social y de consolidación de identidad para nuestros pueblos”, dijo la ministra de Cultura Paula Marcela Moreno.
Edna Dos Santos-Duisenberg dijo que esta nueva realidad está modificando la manera en que los gobiernos organizan sus presupuestos y ha permitido incrementar en el mundo la apuesta estatal y privada hacia la inversión cultural.
La ministra Moreno afirmó que “a pesar de que siempre ha existido una tensión natural en la discusión sobre cultura y desarrollo económico, debido a un límite muy sutil entre las lógicas de mercado y las expresiones ancestrales, que cuando se franquean indebidamente producen incomprensiones y conflictos, es importante entender que sólo algo tan poderoso como la cultura, que canaliza maneras de ser y de pensar, que refleja elementos de la identidad cultural de una comunidad y que transmite sensibilidades y forma criterios religiosos, políticos y corrientes de pensamiento, debe hacer parte de las estrategias sociopolíticas y económicas de un Estado”.

La cultura es rentable

En Colombia, según un estudio realizado por la Organización Mundial para la Propiedad Intelectual (OMPI), en 2005 las industrias culturales generaron más de 1 millón de empleos directos, facturaron exportaciones por 2.000 millones de dólares e importaciones por 4.000 millones de dólares.
En 2003, según el Banco Mundial, las industrias culturales registraron una participación del 7% en el PIB del planeta y se predice que crecerán, en promedio, un 10% anual.
De acuerdo con datos de la Unesco, el crecimiento de este sector en dólares fue del 300%, entre 1980 y 1998.
En Estados Unidos, las industrias culturales son el segundo sector exportador; en Inglaterra, representan el 6% del empleo.
Según Sandra Gibson, directora de la Asociación de Promotores de las Artes Escénicas de Estados Unidos, “a pesar de haberse sentido con fuerza la crisis económica, los estadounidenses invierten ahora más en industrias creativas que en tiempos de tranquilidad. El gasto en cine, compra de libros y regalos de discos se ha incrementado y esta situación ha estimulado a la gente a sobrellevar los momentos de dificultad. La gente necesita un escape y la respuesta está en las industrias culturales, que gracias a este fenómeno han aumentado su demanda en los últimos meses”.
Para el alemán Michael Hutter, director cultural de la Unidad de Investigación en Fuentes Culturales Novedosas de Alemania, el gran desafío está en la innovación.

En las últimas semanas he aprendido a valorar más diferentes aspectos de la vida, independencia y apreciar el trabajo duro de mis semejantes que en muchas ocasiones pasan ignorados por el tipo de trabajo que realizan. No me puedo poner a pensar en las diferencias sociales y en que uno puede llegar a puestos altos por el apellido y conociendo todo porque si uno va a llegar a ser Gerente uno tiene que haber primero barrido el piso para conocer las necesidades de la gente e ir conocido las necesidades de la compañía de manera gradual. Es imposible ser un hombre de gente teniendo una mentalidad cerrada pensando que cuando salgamos de la universidad nos ofrecerán los más altos puestos porque tenemos un apellido o estudiamos en una universidad de prestigio como Los Andes; hay que pensar de manera simple y sincera, porque hay que vivir primero  para poder triunfar en el proceso, ya que sin haber vivido careceremos de la experiencia necesaria para poder triunfar.
A mis 25 años de existencia he aprendido algo importante o mejor dicho he reafirmado algo en que siempre he creído “hay que dejar el egocentrismo y no desprestigiar a nadie por su trabajo y por donde vive” de pronto en parte ese es un problema de nuestra mentalidad porque no apreciamos a nuestros semejantes y los estratos son solo una excusa mas para justificar positivamente las diferencias económicas y no ver que todos somos iguales.
Hay que aprender a valorar lo que tenemos; no por placeres vánales como el dinero, status social o nombre de familia hay que aprender a estimar lo que le podemos dar al mundo y las verdaderas cualidades que tenemos porque así estaremos más contentos con nosotros mismos y las buenas acciones que demos tarde o temprano se devuelven, solo se requiere un poco esfuerzo y ser educado para lograr el cambio.

Reflections from a 25 Year Old Soul (A Soliloquy With Emptiness)

Quarter of a century, 25 years, two and a half decades, not bad isn’t? It’s been a path of trial and mistakes a path were learning has been a mode and independence came as a bomb because you can’t choose the moment you will become independent the moment will came to you. It’s amazing to think that a few years ago my biggest worry was… I don’t know what was my biggest worry a few years back but a few things I learned were to became more assertive and independent as the reason I realized was that only you will take care of yourself and no one more; other thing I learned was that I would never going to live through the expectations of anyone or live to the norms of a society that dictates what you need to wear because it is in or it is out; I like to dress the way I like and I like to be myself I don’t like to pretend and I’m happy just being me maybe that’s a little bit of my originality I am happy the way I am.

Looking in retrospective even if I hated so much the year 2008 due personal reason it was a year and a necessary step that I had to take to become more accretive on what I want to my future it was the year of my coming of age and it was the year that I felt it made me close to the fact that I’m an adult and not a child or teenager anymore (that doesn’t mean I’m going to act serious 24-7 I still have my goofy sense of humor) and I’m responsible for myself from now but also it was the year that made me realize of how many things that I was so accustomed to see were so wrong you can be someone in this life by your own merits, you can become someone not because of your family name or the money you have; you can become someone with hard work and determination… those who believe the opposite are so wrong a family name don’t open doors you do.

Respect is one key issue not only on a personal level but also in professional level as well, learning to respect your fellow men and woman is the key to become a better individual and to respect their jobs as well as the reason is there is no job less than other, everyone is important but it seems to be that many people don’t get this and they can act as disrespectful individuals toward others; from my experience and with my part time I have learned to value more the work of my fellow individuals more specially the ones that usually go ignored because I have lived in flesh and blood the difficulties and triumphs as well.

I could continue but I will be going to bed, I hope everyone have a great Tuesday. I know I been busy… and maybe someday hey I will be the next Pulitzer.

Quarter of a century, 25 years, two and a half decades, not bad isn’t? It’s been a path of trial and mistakes a path were learning has been a mode and independence came as a bomb because you can’t choose the moment you will become independent the moment will came to you. It’s amazing to think that a few years ago my biggest worry was… I don’t know what was my biggest worry a few years back but a few things I learned were to became more assertive and independent as the reason I realized was that only you will take care of yourself and no one more; other thing I learned was that I would never going to live through the expectations of anyone or live to the norms of a society that dictates what you need to wear because it is in or it is out; I like to dress the way I like and I like to be myself I don’t like to pretend and I’m happy just being me maybe that’s a little bit of my originality I am happy the way I am.

Looking in retrospective even if I hated so much the year 2008 due personal reason it was a year and a necessary step that I had to take to become more accretive on what I want to my future it was the year of my coming of age and it was the year that I felt it made me close to the fact that I’m an adult and not a child or teenager anymore (that doesn’t mean I’m going to act serious 24-7 I still have my goofy sense of humor) and I’m responsible for myself from now but also it was the year that made me realize of how many things that I was so accustomed to see were so wrong you can be someone in this life by your own merits, you can become someone not because of your family name or the money you have; you can become someone with hard work and determination… those who believe the opposite are so wrong a family name don’t open doors you do.

Respect is one key issue not only on a personal level but also in professional level as well, learning to respect your fellow men and woman is the key to become a better individual and to respect their jobs as well as the reason is there is no job less than other, everyone is important but it seems to be that many people don’t get this and they can act as disrespectful individuals toward others; from my experience and with my part time I have learned to value more the work of my fellow individuals more specially the ones that usually go ignored because I have lived in flesh and blood the difficulties and triumphs as well.

I could continue but I will be going to bed, I hope everyone have a great Tuesday. I know I been busy… and maybe someday hey I will be the next Pulitzer.

My Reflection

By: Gustavo Lequerica

I see my reflection in the mirror
I’m self aware of how I am and how I look,
how I speak and how I live,
I can show a secure image in public
but sometimes I’m insecure about my looks and my voice,
it’s difficult to see the reflection of my mirror
and to reaffirm that I’m not a no one,
it’s difficult sometimes to look myself in the mirror
or even to speak
without feel that I’ve been looked like a strange fellow
by someone who hasn’t seen a Latin American
in Florida or any place of the Americas,
is difficult to show a positive image
because your reflection sometimes betrays you
with a language that is not yours
and is far away from what romanced with,
but you feel home in a place that wasn’t yours
and slowly you start showing that confidence
you had before.

One of the most difficult things in life is probably one of the simplest: making friends, I know it sounds weird because in life we get friends without even noticing, we rarely take a look or examine deeply the socialization dynamics that goes up to final product when we can call someone or friend. I never thought how complex was making a friend before, we only tend to think that if the person has similar interest as ours then we can become friends but is not that easy, we rarely tend to look on the personalities if see if we can match as friends beyond our common interests until is too late and have someone who is a friend in theory but we can stand up a single bit because he or she are annoying to hell (It has happened to me sometimes, the first was in high school and the second one was with a girl of El Salvador (luckly the second case was on Internet only)).

Many of us tend to feel very lonely when we move into a new places because for us we can be shy sometimes or we don’t know how too meet people with common interest as we are living in a new places with a new set of rules. I been using the Internet in the past months to meet new people with similar hobbies as mine, probably after 8 long months I have found two group of people who one enjoy theme parks and the other role play games, which I can call my friends sometime in the near future;maybe I’m picky, maybe I’m not, I’m just trying to find people who I can hang out with, without getting bored two hours later; and yes there are other groups of people I like to meet sometime soon, in someway I’m not shy to meet new people, probably after 25 years of existence I haven’t put in practice my social skills for the last 10 years which I had a steady group of friends before moving to another country. Now I’m thinking on other thing, one friend from high school who moved to the exact city as me he hadn’t too much problems meeting new people, but he has his story and background and I have mine, I guess I will keep trying I know time and effort will give me the answers I’m looking for.

Palabras de un Hermano Mayor

Siempre sabrás que contaras con mi apoyo
aunque estemos a medio mundo de distancia,
es difícil saber que no todo el mundo puede contar el uno con el otro,
pero al final es bueno tener una mano amiga,
puedes comportarte como un patán
y un egocéntrico de otro mundo
pero aunque te escudes detrás de esas mascaras kabukis ahí siempre estaré yo,
es difícil crecer y es algo que nuestros padres nunca nos dicen
porque en algún momento a todos se nos olvida el despertar para la vida adulta,
no es mucho lo que pueda decir porque son solo cinco años de diferencia
pero siempre es un trayecto que llevo más adelante que tu,
y aunque a veces me ganes con la realidad del mundo,
solo puedo decir, gracias por estar ahí.

AeroupuertoPor: Gustavo Lequerica

Porque odio tanto a los aeropuertos?
será porque no les veo nada bueno,
mas que largos adioses,
lejos de casa y veo la vida que me ha tocado vivir,
mis recuerdos se vuelven más fuerte con los años,
los días son como la arena del rio Magdelena
los otoños de las playas de Cartagenas,
momentos que pasan y vuelan con el tiempo,
a lo lejos de la quinta de san pedro,
y en la playa de las Americas
solo deje atrás una larga pista en el Nuñez,
donde una vez vivi, ame y trate de morir por mis sueños.
Porque odio tanto a los aeropuertos?
porque a la larga no los asocio con nada bueno,
los veo con un adiós,
Mas no un hasta luego,
que quedo envuelto en el sueño del vuelo,

Growing up is not an easy task, is a constant process where you learn by trial and mistake even in old age; today I learned something new, something that I thought I knew, my dad gave me a lesson on how to handle my finances better. I never spend anything beyond my budget which it’s something I’m really proud of because not many people of my age can function on a daily budget, but at the same time because technically I’m new in the United States and the rules are different from my home country which is Colombia, I have payed my mistakes a lot in the past year and a half, not only because I learned about payments, I worked for the first time in my life and I learned to pay my bills (at some degree) but I was making a mistake in the process I never knew exactly about over drafting and the use of checking accounts because I spent most of my life in a bubble and in the past I never took any interest of knowing those details, it was until last year (2008) when for the first time I had to take more care of my money.

When I move here I never knew about the overdrafts, recently by making a mistake infront of my mom who was visiting me, she noticed something wrong and she spoke with my dad and my dad today explained to me that I need to focus more on my chequing account because that is the one that I’m using daily and the savings can be used every end of the month. I’m brave enough to share my experience, because I don’t feel ashamed of my mistake, even I am happy right now because I thought I knew something but my dad beated me and explained all the details more closely, now I feel I learned a lot, I learned something old new in a couple of hours after a long chat and I guess I’m not going to make the same mistakes twice, so tomorrow or I mean today when I wake up I will put in order my finances because I want to keep a better track of my payments and my future.

I always been thinking what is the meaning of happiness?, I find many answers and all of them goes with the complexity of the person, is difficult what to say what makes us happy?; in my case, the simple things in life - having a good company, eating my favorite ice-cream or just watching my brother having a good time even if I’m bored but it makes me happy to see he’s happy. What makes you happy? I can say in my case I’m happy after reading a book in a hot day of summer, reading a chapter and then wonder about the author and why he or she created the characters. Happiness goes with things that are beyond materialism, happiness goes hand by hand with our spirit and mind, with our emotions and what we like. There are no words to describe happiness, but it can be described by the simple act and the simple feeling of how you feel inside. Remember value life every moment, there is only one and no more, live life at fullest and enjoy those precious moments with the people you love because maybe… that’s where happiness is with the people you love the most and with the person who can make you smile. Happiness is just a simple feeling that can make you smile.

The Dualism of Individuality

By: Gustavo Lequerica-Calvo

I’ve been thinking lately about the dualism of the word individuality. Sure, everyone is an own universe, an own mind but when we try to reaffirm of individuality most of the time we dwell in the common majority when we try to express our individualism. Even with our names and birthdays aren’t that common, we share our names at least with 6 million people and our birthday with 9 million (sure I don’t think there are many guys with my name, so far we are 4 only worldwide; and with our talents… maybe with a really large number and the only way we can excel is by being the best at any cost. Sometimes if we try to search our individualism with subcultures, or urban tribes we aren’t searching for anything that can makes us unique, because most of the people in those urban tribes are there for the fad and as soon the fad pass away much of the members will leave the group.

Take an example of the Emo subculture, now they are in vogue and a few years ago the Punks where the dominant majority. Sure, there are some exceptions to the rule, but a lot of people when they are growing up they try to reaffirm their individuality by joining this groups without thinking what benefits can bring to their formation.

There is a dualism in individuality, a dualism that lays in our own egocentrism and our own desires to be known, and in try to be different from the society that surrounds us, but we can’t be different if we can’t accept that we are part of a society.