My Carnival

K, so I watched Black Orpheus and bam--a ton of the "Carnivalesque" themes. For instance, the mixing of Brazilian culture with Greek myths. Then there was a mix of modern culture with this old voodoo/witchcraft/seance stuff. Then there was the circular meshy pattern of events without much exposition or climax or denouement. It was very in your face--Samba. Boom, we love each other--samba--even though we just met. Samba. Death appearance! Whoa! Samba. Boom, she's dead. Samba. Boom, he's dead. Samba. Someone else picks up the guitar--samba--to continue the story. Samba.

Inspiration for a connection: It just so happens that every time I hear the word "carnival" this salsa song starts playing in my head.

(Note the people clapping son clave)

Connection: As Celia says, "La vida es un carnaval." So as this song was playing in my head I thought to myself, "How is my life carnivalesque?" And it came to me...the dialogue in my life is between my Swedish/Alaskan/aka super white side and my Latin side. Let me tell you, it is quite the dialogue. It is a mixing of hard working, purpose-driven, introverted me with life-loving, carefree, extroverted me. However, like in The Kingdom of this World and Black Orpheus, some interesting, unexpected things come to pass in this discussion.

For example, when I finished my mission I was told that nice young men would be falling over themselves to date me. But in reality, 98% of guys that have asked me on dates since I've been home have been:

A) Nonmembers
B) Less-active members
C) Sketchy
D) Predatory
E) Latinos (which isn't bad by itself, because I like Latinos. But in this situation it's just funny)
F) Pretty much all of the above, somehow

Yeah, I wish I was joking. I'm not. But I have managed to evade all the sketchy dates. Weird things happen at Carnival. Weird things.

But the up-side is that my Latin dialogue discusses how great life is with lots of fun Latin friends and dancing and food and my responsible white dialogue agrees, at the same time keeping my Latin side balanced while living in this messy world. And it's healthy. Life is just a party when its working right. It's a carnival.