You are here: Home / 2009 / Archives for March 2009

The Salvador Dali generation

March 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment

When reality is dire, it makes sense to want escapism or at least seek out a new way of looking at things. In this way I can understand Picasso sitting around and coming up with cubism or Dali falling in love with surrealism or poets deciding to focus on poetry not steeped in reality. I guess I understand Spain’s Generation of ’27 and their social mission. The Generation of ’27 was a group of 10 poets that started a movement exploring avant garde poetry; fusing traditional poetry with futurism, cubism and creationism etc.

The poetry that they wrote was varied and used a lot of visual imagery and was influenced by many Spanish artists such as Salvador Dali. The main aim of the movement was to marry Spanish pop culture and folklore with classical European literature. This was a time when poets were free and cinema was just becoming popular and and poets wanted to share their vision of the world and believed that words could change the world and bring about revolutions.

This group was idealistic and decided to come together after World War 1 and during the worst of economic times. They did not know it then, but two years later there would be something called a great depression and in less than a decade Spain would be under civil war and Franco would force many of them to go into exile after killing one of their members, Federico Garcia Lorca. They did not know that the external environment would change and force them to grow up and focus on poetry steeped in reality and justice. They would go from being idealists to being grown reflective adults because of the changes in their environment. Who can say how the world will change them 5 years from today?

Below is a poem by Federico Garcia Lorca (very avant garde, I think):

Ditty of First Desire

In the green morning
I wanted to be a heart.
A heart.

And in the ripe evening
I wanted to be a nightingale.
A nightingale.

(Soul,
turn orange-colored.
Soul,
turn the color of love.)

In the vivid morning
I wanted to be myself.
A heart.

And at the evening’s end
I wanted to be my voice.
A nightingale.

Soul,
turn orange-colored.
Soul,
turn the color of love.

Below is a video by Leonard Cohen (one of my favorite musicians) that is dedicated to Federico:


Filed Under: -European Traditions Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In Spain poetry is romance

March 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I have recently learned that most spoken word poets desire to be published and harbor the great desire to see their work printed in a book with their names in bold. I must say I was baffled, here we are living in an age of computers and Cd’s and videos and yet poets still want their poems in a book.

I really should not be shocked. I guess it’s like a painter that wants to be in a gallery no matter how well his work sells on the streets. This, for me, is what makes artists interesting – their need to break down social norms and also their need to be formally recognized within the social system. Half the time I am struggling to understand, what it is that they desire. When I encounter an artist who is not contradictory or after recognition I am intrigued. This is why I am intrigued by Spanish romances.

Before anyone jumps to conclusions Spanish romances are ballads (as in poetry) that were originally written by anonymous authors (some people think its one author but who knows). These ballads were not (or are not) solely about romance but have diverse and epic themes such as chivalry and war. The ballads can have odd or even stanzas, the even stanzas rhyme whereas the odd stanzas are free verse. Nobody knows who wrote the romances and I suppose there will always be a heated debated about their origin. What is interesting is that none of the poets felt the need to put their names next to these works. This is what fascinates me. A whole group of poets who rebelled and did not want to be known? That is beyond intriguing…

Despite the poets’ disinterest in claiming their work, these traditional romances have managed to remain popular and are still sung in certain parts of Spain but it is even more interesting to note that the traditional ballads have been conserved in their oral form (not written) and have been passed down from father to son since forever. This is a beautiful tradition to have. The romances were originally sung by poets or minstrels but then ordinary people started to sing them and to incorporate new themes into the romances.

Since the 16Th century there have been attempts by various poets to write new romances but these never seemed to stay popular for long. In modern day Spain there have been some poets who have written romances and received recognition for their talent.

Filed Under: -European Traditions Tagged With: , , , ,

The Eternity of Self-Expression

March 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment


I have just returned to Manhattan after having spent the weekend in the woods along the Hudson River. The house where I was invited to stay at was made entirely by hand, out of wood and stone and immediately took my breathe away. I was told by my friend’s mother, that at the end of construction, the gentleman was out of money, and so desperate that he was forced to sell the very house he built from love, sweat, tears, and I am sure even laughter. The tragedy dissipated to the beauty of my friend’s Aunt, who had filled the house with loving pieces of Art from those who have passed away and still live, antique items, and countless of other pieces that were anything but decorative because they had energy and soul.

The story of this particular journey that the builder of the house went through made me think of the Entrepreneurial journey and that of an Artist. At what time do we relinquish the child and cut the chord? I feel as though it is quiete different under duress and by choice, but either of the two is filled with countless emotions that can only be felt between persons. Is there a difference between the two? What is the pain of becoming seperated from that which you have given birth to both in the context of the intimate self portrait and what is created in the exchange of goods and services. Are we reluctant to transcend our miserlyness and give what we have birthed to life or do our ideas belong to life in the first place?

I was told by my friends Aunt, in sharing one of my poems about my Abuelita, that death is for the living. It is the living who endure the cycles of change and must continue to live. There will be a day where Speak 2B Free will simultaneously end as a start-up and be birthed as something much bigger. I am reminded of this poem…

“When Death Comes” By: Mary Oliver

I look upon everything
As a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
And I look upon time as no more than an idea,
And I consider eternity as another possibility.

And I think of each life as a flower, as common
As a field daisy, and as singular.

And each name a comfortable music in the mouth,
Ending, as all music does, toward silence,

And each body a lion of courage, and something
Precious to the earth.

When its over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder
If I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
Or full of argument.

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.

In another time, Speak 2B Free existed in the form of Socrates. As Gina, our Chief Marketing Officer so eloquently stated in a recent brainstorming session, we are resurrecting something that is timeless and eternal, self-expression.

And yes, poetry is huge in Spain…can you imagine Britney Spears reading a poem between acts?

Filed Under: Guest Blogs Tagged With: , , , , ,

Searching for the Soul of Spain in folktales

March 28, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I admit, openly, that I love listening to folktales and bedtime stories even though I am all grown up. Actually real folktales are not about living happily ever after but exploring the human condition and learning morals. Folktales in Europe originate mainly from Greece and Asia but, as with everything in the world, folktales are evolving to suit our modern lives. Parts of Spain still have a thriving oral culture and many of the folktales in these parts tend to focus on romance and reflect the history of the people. The people of Spain were originally of Iberian or Celtic descent but it is said that many of the country’s folktales were brought from India and then altered to suit Spain.

Compared to many cultures Spain has not done a great job of publishing its folktales. This is because much of the country’s folktales have been carried to colonies and because of that these tales lived on and I guess there was never a feeling that they should be recorded until Spain started losing control of its colonies and realizing that folktales are living breathing stories retold by storytellers who alter them to suit their identities. In 1898 there was a group of Spanish writers and poets called Generation of ’98 that went to Spanish countrysides and villages and made it their mission to find the “soul of Spain” by recording some of the stories (“The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales”, Donald Haase). This group was formed as a result of Spain’s defeat during the Spanish-American war. The idea was to publish stories and folktales to remind the Spanish people about their history and heroism and thereby understand what it meant to be Spanish. Such is the power of stories and poetry in our lives.

Storytellers in Spain also recount popular fairy tales but give these their own flavor and alter them according to their cultural view. I have a confession to make: every single book I have read so far relating to Spanish folktales keeps referring to gender stereotypes and this is interesting to me since I have written a poem about fairy tales and wondered why so many focus on finding life mates. In my strongly feminist days I used to theorize about the link between fairy tales’ need to focus on marriage and the image of woman as needing someone. But now I wonder if this is a gender thing or just a reflection of a society that focuses on defining love as the medicine for every scar (it’s interesting how our views change with time and age)? I have been reading some of Spain’s folktales over the last few days and I must say if the tales are anything to go by then the Spanish are romantics at heart.

Of course, I could also just be generalizing because we are all familiar with one of Spain’s most popular tale – Don Quixote – which had more social messages to impart than romance or gender.

Filed Under: -European Traditions Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s Raining in Manhattan

March 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment


Greetings!!!!!!!!!!!

I knew it was time to come back. I knew it was time to write this Newsletter, when the environment provides the content in the form of complete strangers, music, and other forms of media. There is a poem by Kit Yan, a Spoken Word Poet that brought me into the world of the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, the same lounge where Van and I introduced ourselves through poetry, and had not formally met until months later when I flagged her down on the streets of Boston, and the last line goes, “This life is REAL.” I never understood what that meant…until mmm, yesterday. There are moments in life when you are on autopilot, moments in life, where you can barely feel anything because you feel everything. It is in those moments, when you begin to tell your story, that you realize, while no one may know entirely what you have gone through, this life is indeed real.

Speak 2B Free is a project that I accepted into my life and grew with Van, and the help of friends, peers, Board members, professionals, our fantastic Chief Marketing Officer Gina, and our brilliant designer, George. Often times Van and I would turn to each other during this period of embrionic growth (I am referring to the Fall of 2008) and say, “I feel like I have a baby.” It’s true, there came a point where there was no turning back. I remember our Business Advisor saying how she was walking the streets in the Winter, with an ice cream cone 8 months pregnant contemplating not enduring labor pains, but she knew she had to press on. We all have to. We are at a point in American History where the economy has not been this bad since the days of the Great Depression. This effects the global economy as well. Passport applications are down by 25%, what a perfect time for a global platform like Speak 2B Free.

Anger is the dominant theme. I can see it in the faces of many, employees, and television where people rant about AIG bonuses but do nothing to vocalize what about this situation resonates so deeply within themselves. Instead of yelling at others, I implore people, for the sake of their spiritual selves, in the honor of mental health, as my Mami says, this is all we have at the end of the day, to take this moment to reflect, while simultaneously taking action. I do believe that the internet and news has been used as an emotional outlet, because there are few platforms that people can take advantage of to be heard. I was sitting on the subway listening to a homeless man beg for money, telling his life story. This is Speaking 2B Free, this is the power of words, and the importance of self expression, it reminds us that this life is real. Some people don’t have anyone to talk to when they get home. Some people come to an empty house or a relationship that does not give them what they secretly desire in the depths of their hearts, to be heard and be validated. Instead of seeking that outside of ourselves, we must validate that within the depths of our own being.

Speak 2B Free provided a platform to share my story, but there was also a part of me in the past month that needed to live it. I found that talking about Speak 2B Free daily, forced me to walk the talk. The environment opened, and my life brought me to New York City. Daily, I stop to talk to many street artists who make a living from selling photos and paintings. Daily, I ask other musicians and artists to perform a poem in appreciation of them opening up to me and sharing their stories. As I declutter parts of my life and confront my anger as a lack of me speaking and find my own voice, I found that I began to naturally attract people in my life who wanted to share their stories. It is a beautiful thing, and certainly a place of honor.

Till next time,
Cassandra Fradera-Lopez
Speak 2B Free

Filed Under: Guest Blogs Tagged With:
« Older Posts
Login