Still…life / Todavida

Teresa would have liked to feel comfortable at home. She’d have liked not to feel responsible for her younger siblings, not to have to set an example. Teresa would have enjoyed the opportunity to follow her feelings: she fantasized about personal growth and becoming independent, she felt a need to learn about the world, travel and discover new things, her body yearned to love someone.    If she’d been able to realize her desires, indulge her curiosity, intelligence and people skills,…

Read More Read More

I believe that my first memories of Buenos Aires, meanwhile, are of nursery school. I have others that may be even earlier but unless they feature my grandfather I have no way of placing them in time. There were several different nursery schools, at least four.   My shyness, or maybe my lack of experience, made it hard for me to play with other children on the few occasions when I had the opportunity. My days dragged on but I didn’t complain, it…

Read More Read More

Right from the offing I was a conflicted child. My mother wanted a boy. When the obstetrician came into the delivery room, she bet her that I’d be a girl. She was hoping to lose the bet.    So even my arrival was tainted; it was shrouded in the certainty that she’d miss out on something: either she’d lose the bet or have another girl.  The anecdote about the obstetrician seemed unimportant when I heard it told at the grown-ups table…

Read More Read More