I was on the verge of being hired to shoot this documentary, which involved travelling over every state in mainland America in SUVs, and I started imagining what I would be eating in little towns where access to food that didn´t come from the places I had seen on Food Inc might be very limited at best.

I have always had this idea that it would be very ironic for a Uruguayan to die in an earthquake, or in a war, or being poisoned by bad food, since we don´t have earthquakes or wars, and the bulk of our food would still be called “organic” in America.

Not that I am really afraid of dying, if I go back to America; I have to say I had a pretty good time in Miami, NY and LA last June, but one thing I am sure of is don´t wanna spend more than a month or two there at a time, and I would certainly never want to move there, let alone raise a family in that increasingly rarefied environment of the bushy Obama´s  former land of hope, freedom, and a long line of high-sounding, long-forgotten etceteras.

Another thing that has lately made me think about America was Jonathan Franzen´s novel “Freedom.” In a way, this is a hopeful book, about the people, yet totally hopeless, about the system. But the system is created, nurtured and maintained by the people so, in a way, it might also be read as a wake up call.

On a different level, this is the most powerful book I´ve read about marriage. Franzen´s prose is so delicious, it speaks to the present, yet it is also innovative in its actuality. I remember many perfect phrases like the woman with the “milfy smile,” or the description of the perfectly designed streets of DC, which made a charceter feel that he was entering a labyrinth for rats, where he was merely a pawn of power. Freedom is abundant in this kind of words and ideas that evoke a multitude of memories and emotions, and linger with you long after long you´ve turned the last page.

Portrait of a writer

The characters are tremendously powerful, especially the amazing Patty; a high school basketball player, the daughter of progressive parents too busy with their causes to pay much attention to her, who marries Walter Berglund, a man who dreams of saving the world, but ends up being caught in a maze of corporations and higher economic and political interests.

The view Franzen presents of the middle classes, the corporate world and American politics seem to be about the most honest portrayals of these things in the 2000s I have ever come across. I believe his book will be remembered for many years to come, as an accurate, heart-warming and yet disheartening portrayal of a generation, actually a couple of generations.

Franzen combines amazing powers of observation with a perfect sense of plot and character development and a blessed gift for words. He reminds me of Graham Swift a little, in the scope of what he tried to achieve and the success with which he did, and in how grateful the English language must be for his use of it.

In a way, reading FREEDOM didn´t actually feed the impending-doom side of things, when it comes to my views of America; if this was a US best seller, if millions of readers in America could truly get this book, there might still hope for the future of the decadent (former) empire.

This was the night we had dinner at the top of Galatha Tower, from where our random new best friends came to pick us up, to show us a typical Saturday night in the city.

Looking at the pictures now, I realize that, for many different reasons, this is one place I will never cease to miss, for as long as I live.

Quite simply, for someone of Armenian descent who can keep an open mind, it just feels a little bit like home: the faces are the same, the food is the same; it seems as almost everything is the same except for the religion, the language and the accepted version of history.

On this particular night, I was fortunate to enjoy it all in the company of two of my best travel-mates ever Maria from Lisbon and Stephanie from Canada. I don´t recall very well how we had landed the randoms in question (on every port, when we were on cruises, Stephanie and I seemed to have a talent to find some locals who would show us around non-touristy places, in exchange of the pleasure of our company. Personally, I feel that traveling without getting to know any local people well is like the dullest thing in the world.

The attitude of Turkish boys when it comes to foreign women, with more relaxed dating habits than traditional Turkish girls can be a bit fishy, but we were sort of experienced in dodging the advances of “Randoms” everywhere, and we managed to have a good time. Our friend Tiffany was not so lucky, as she almost got driven to a motel, when she had actually asked to go back to the ship, by a taxi driver with no concept of Western dating etiquette, to put it elegantly.

So, here it is, magic Istanbul at night. Not as traditional as they say and not as Westernized as you think, a beautiful contradiction that will take your breath away.

I remember two special times fondly. Once, my Canadian friends Shannon and Melissa and me biked (mostly uphill) from the port to Rainbow falls. All I remember is how much my back hurt, how wet we all were from the rain and that those huge majestic falls offered no chance of a dive, unless I felt no emotional attachment to my head…

The other time, Melissa and me took our bikes in the opposite direction, and we just biked along these labyrinthine marshes by the sea, we swam in meandering streams beneath the tall rainforest trees and had a very intense experience of nature, away from the madding crowd, surrounded by other creature but birds, fish and the occasional insect. It was fortunate then to know that Hawaii has no snakes (my No 1 phobia when it comes to animals; and one it would have been very likely to encounter in that type of scenery anywhere else).

But there was another day, a much less memorable day perhaps, but which made a big impression on me. I was walking around the streets near the harbor, noticing lots of concrete and ugly constructions, where there had once been breathtaking natural beauty. I was walking in the rain through this grey side of Hawaii, and I wrote this poem in my head.

BIG ISLAND BLUES

They drowned the palm trees

Rainbow falls in rainbowing awayunder the concrete

They drowned our dreams
under the stone

This is Hawaii but not
It is a graveyard
of giant metal cans
and beaten men

Why does it always rain in Hilo
and ponds progress
as progress does recede

And flowers bloom
from winter´s wondrous trees

(to) magically end up my hair

Hilo, Big Island of Hawaii
Dec 2008

Piazza del Duomo

One of the greatest pleasures of traveling is being able to see friends from different parts of the world. Nothing compares to meeting a friend from Spain you haven´t seen in years at the top of the Eiffel tower or running into an old German friend you met in Uruguay while strolling the streets of Athens. I was fortunate enough to live through many such experiences, but one of the greatest of them all didn´t necessarily include an encounter in the flesh.

This happened in 2008, the second time I was in Tuscany. My dear friend Sandy was vacationing with his family in Sienna. It was a long shot to try to reach Sienna from Livorno and be back in time for the sailing of my cruise ship, but I was willing to risk it, just to see Sandy´s dear old face again and just have coffee with him near the train station.

As things were, that encounter never happened, but one of the times I phoned Sandy from Florence, when I had the whole day to myself in that wonderful city, he said, “you have to go to the top of the Duomo.”

So, this is Florence, there is great shopping, summer sales actually (which I eventually profited from extensively, buying great art and fabulous Italian shoes at very good prices), the Uffizi gallery, almost impossible to get into during the summer without pre-booking; and lining up in the sun while there is so much to see is really not my thing (that´s why I have never been inside the Sixtine Chapel, by the way); in short, there are a million things to see, but I know that if Sandy says the Duomo is the best, then IT MUST BE. You just know with certain people, because of how much you love them, how much they know you or how much you know them; you just know that whatever they recommend is going to be great for you.

The lineup didn´t look deterring, and neither did the ticket price, so, that´s how I ended up lining up at the

Outside the Duomo

crowded Piazza del Duomo and climbing up an interesting number of stairs to see the beautiful FIRENZE from above.

The climb was long, but so worth it! From above, the historical Florence with its churches, bridges and gardens, the light-colored buildings with their orange roof-tops, it just looks so much like a fairy-tale. Coming from Montevideo, where architectural styles, though they can be beautiful, are just tremendously unplanned and mixed, the perfectly designed harmony of Firenze was a bliss, and it seemed a tad unreal, but in a very good way.

After this breathtaking experience, I went picnic-shopping, and enjoyed some chianti, berries, olives, traditional bread and cheese at the beautiful Boboli gardens, also for a small entrance fee.

These two excursions combined with some strolls around Firenze´s lovely Piazzas to complete a perfect day in Florence, which had in fact started with a walk among sunflower fields by the side of the road, on the way to this magical city, which became, thanks to Sandy´s great advice, one of my favorite spots in the whole wide world.

The ever so popular fake David at Piazza della Signoria; the original is actually inside

Alleys worth losing yourself in

FOCUS

If you are looking to start a magazine, the first thing you need to decide is what its main focus is going to be. If

Paper sculpture NY city by Benja Harney

you look at successful travel magazines,  of course there are some that are general like the market´s giant Condé Nast Traveler, but you can only succeed at something like that if you are, well, Condé Nast.

Niche is where it´s at for beginning magazine publishers. Whether it is a destination or a traveling style, whether you cater for people interested in traveling to the Caribbean or people interested in sailing trips, your niche will be your power.

Creative niche ideas can be very profitable. For example Literary Traveler focuses on writers` traveling experiences and visiting places where famous writers have lived or where their works are set, there are travel magazines for people interested in golfing and people interested in fishing trips; you name it, and somebody has already thought of it.

However, it all depends on who you are and what your market is. Maybe there is a magazine concept that hasn´t been exploited in your market yet, even if it exists somewhere else. Finally, it is your own interests and knowledge that will determine what your magazine´s focus will be. Unless you have lots of resources to find people with the necessary knowledge and experience, it is always best that you focus on a topic you really know a lot about.

VALUABLE INFORMATION

NY as seen by Monica Barreneches Atelier for Louis Vuitton and IN FASHION magazine

If you want to achieve customer loyalty, you need to provide something your readers cannot get anywhere else. Insider´s tips are always great. Tips on discovering not so popular yet fabulous destinations are always a hit, and so is advice on how to make the best of your vacation while saving money at the same time.

Many magazines contain over 60% advertising today. If your ads are not relevant and your content doesn´t provide TRUE VALUE, your magazine will be bound to fail.

GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY

Stunning photos are one of the main components of any travel magazine. If you are just starting and on a limited budget, that doesn´t mean you can´t print fabulous images. You´d be surprise what a nice email, a promise of promotion and a link back from your site can get you.

In several years, I have never had a photographer or artist refuse me permission to use their images. Of course, if you´re making money, you´ll have to pay, but it is possible to get some free images to get your first couple of issues going, without a substantial investment on photography.

The most important thing is to maintain a high quality standard. Using your own photos from that trip to the Bahamas won´t do, unless you are a professional photographer.

DESIGN & PRINTING

From DIY software and online services to hiring a professional design atelier, there are many possibilities to

Photo from Travel & Fashion spread for Hemispheres magazine

make your travel magazine´s design magnificent.

You can hire a deisgner from anywhere in the world through online job markets such as Freelancer and oDesk or find a local design graduate who will be thrilled by the visibility your project might give his work. You need to look at successful magazines and keep up-to-date with fresh design trends. Looks are 50% of the deal, and it all starts with a fantastic cover that successfully conveys your message. The cover is the sale. If the cover is not attractive, your magazine will wither slowly away in the racks, so, your designer should put a lot of thought and creativity into it.

Finding a magazine printing company that can truly deliver for the right price is also essential. If your costs are too high, you will never get your magazine off the ground and if your quality is too poor, well, then you´d just better use your time for something else. Great printing is not necessarily super-expensive, it just depends what you´re looking for. For example, you might think that thick glossy paper is very expensive, and this is true, but it is also true that matte has been very much in for the last decade, and it doesn´t seem to be going anywhere.

As long as you know your target audience, you will know what can appeal to them.

NETWORKING

Travel for the business niche

Offering great deals can get your magazine a lot of attention (and buyers), so, you should always be on the lookout for companies offering services that might interest your readers, and for which they will often be prepared to offer a readers` discount. Securing both advertising and special offers from local companies can be a great way to keep your magazine´s marketing healthy.

If you really have a passion for it and a true understanding of what your competitive advantages in the market are, your startup magazine might be in line to becoming the next big thing in no time.

If I ever create one of my own, I think it will be a literary/cooking/dining/music Travel magazine. Showing people how and where to get the most pleasure out of life; it doesn´t sound like a bad gig at all…

Paper sculptures image by Benja Harney

Vuitton New York image by Mónica Barreneche Creatif Atelier

Hemispheres magazine photos by Julia Galdo

                                                                            Business Traveler magazine image byJennifer Kumar

Tour operators often offer yoga and meditation tours of India. Some people return with a fascination for Indian

My friend Kiki, living the dream at Taj Mahal

music and culture, and others come back transformed by the humbling experience of being in the presence of sheer poverty.

I only know India through the Indian people who worked on cruise ships, for example, scrubbing my toilet, as if the caste system was back in place; the people who cleaned toilets for my cruise ship company were mostly from India. I remember their dancing on Indian day, their friendliness and the harsh lives they lead, spending 9 months away from their spouses and children.

Another thing that comes to my mind when I think of India and the spiritual aspects of its culture is the falling out between the Beatles and the guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogui, whom they later identified as a sort of “false prophet.”

There is no denying that Indian spirituality can be good business, all over the world, but this shouldn’t overshadow the fact that here is a country with fabulous music, delicious food, breathtaking sights and monuments and fascinating people.

There is much more to discover in India than merely Bollywood, cheap labor and software development. There is beauty, tradition, history, contradiction, and, of course, spiritual enlightenment.

INDIAN KINGS

I’d seen them
in the galleys
under the dust
and bleach

cleaners, servants
lesser men
who made my bed
and made me feel ashamed

I saw them dance
on INDIAN night
after a fourteen hour day
under the rugs

I saw them frown and sweat
on elevators
and fear me
because I had more stripes
upon my vest

And just today
a picture
an Indian honeymoon

I recognized the faces
but they´d no uniforms

Princes, Kings
and colourful
jewels, women
the happiness
of being yourself

Kings they had been
in INDIA

KINGS with their turbans
their tunics, silk and threads of gold

with the same faces
of the galley boys
and their dead souls

I never thought
those small dark men
who learnt Yes sir, before they learnt their name
and scrub and dust
and dance like girls
on Indian day

Could have been KINGS
one day in INDIA
not long ago

And of me too,
a Wanderer
I thought perhaps
I´m nothing now
in Spain
or in America

and once perchance
I´ve been
a King
in Uruguay

and I forgot

the regal music
the regal dance
CANDOMBE
my soul
the thing I am

A dream come true

Only five minutes ago, a few blocks from my house, Orhan Pamuk was, once more, transforming my life with his

words and politely saying to me in his adorable Turkish accent that he was very pleased to meet me.

The room was full. Some people had come because they had lived inside Pamuk’s novels, like myself, some because they thought a Nobel prize winner must have something interesting to say, and even many Armenians were there, who saw him as an important figure in the fight for the recognition of the Armenian genocide.

Lately, I have found that most people reveal themselves mostly from the look in their eyes,the way they stand or move. Besides the fact that Pamuk had been my companion before and after I visited Istanbul, as I saw the New York after the towers fell, in my bed and on the beach, in so many places I cannot remember anymore, when I saw Pamuk standing next to me before his conference, I could already see I was in front of a great man.

I could see wisdom, humility, physical and intellectual elegance. All of these things were apparent in the way he looked, stood, talked.

After the speeches were through, and when he started talking about novels, Istanbul, his father, politics and what not, I learnt that this man was, in his daily life, as “illuminated” as the manuscripts in his best novel MY NAME IS RED. Illuminated in a different sense, though.

Politics and the Turkish language

People who haven’t REALLY read Pamuk, and who have read about his political problems with the Turkish government, imagine that his novel SNOW, for example, openly discusses the Armenian massacre. There is no such thing, I am afraid. Pamuk is a writer, and he creates worlds, he is not in the business of advocating any politics or morality. While he expressed these views, I was reminded of George Orwell’s essay WHY I WRITE, which more or less explains that he lived in an age in which it was impossible not to write or “to be political.”

Pamuk lives in a marvelous country full of contradictions, where it is impossible for anyone with an independent mind not to be considered political

The lesson that PAMUK taught today, with less didacticism than anyone in the world, was this:

“You don’t have to be slaves of your identities. You are free.”

He was talking about Turks but also about Latin Americans, he was talking about humans. If we simply do everything that seems to be ingrained in our cultural genetic code, there is no possibility for freedom.

I thought about all the Armenians like myself who were in the room at that time. Speaking now of my people I say, it can be very harmful to let the dark past of the genocide define us as a nation. We are free, and we can be so much more than that.

Thank you Orhan Pamuk for your illumination, for your humanity, for your books, and for gracing Montevideo with your presence.

It was a very special day.

Related articles on this blog:
Armenian genocide

PAMUK (a poem)

PAMUKKALE (a poem)

PAMUKKALE from the map of the imagination

References to Pamuk’s portrayal of women

Unfortunately, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Chicago group. I thought about seeing the prodigal son, Kanye West, for the Watch the Throne tour, and then I watched a live performance video and decided the money might be better spent on a student loan payment or really big cookie.

Despite living in the neighboring state of Indiana, I would always find time to return home and check out shows with my friends. The last three bands I saw in Chicago – Odd Future, Gauntlet Hair, and Asobi Seksu – hail from different parts of the nation, but none from the Chi City, so I thought I’d take some time out to lay some shine on the groups and bands from the Capital of the Midwest.

If you’re looking for a “taste of Chicago” while globetrotting, or living in the city and looking for what to do in Chicago, check for these five bands to deliver a deep-dish slice of the Windy City through your headphones or live.

JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound

JC Brooks operates in the same vein of industrial soul as Sharon Jones, the Dap Kings and the Diplomats of Solid Sound. I love this music so much but there are very few bands out there still making it in earnest. Dusty Groove and Numero Group are two Chicago labels keeping the dream alive and JC Brooks sings through the solid drums and groovy horns section. Live, Brooks channels James Brown in his showmanship and fancy footwork, making this a group you can’t miss.

Smith Westerns

These guys are probably the biggest indie act to come out of Chicago since Smashing Pumpkins, though it may be too early to make so bold a claim. Their song “Weekend” has burned up the radio all year and the band have seen some action in Europe touring with Wesleyan’s own MGMT and UK darlings Artic Monkeys. Their sound is at once universal and local. They don’t sound inherently Chicagoan, but they color the landscape of the city – so much so that their music has become a part of the scene; blue liners may recognize their tunes floating out of the Logan Theater from the days when they were cutting their teeth on the world of live music.

Mic Terror

Chicago’s hip hop progeny is nothing short of phenomenal. Kid Sister has moved mad units this year, Rhymefest decided to run for alderman and Twista is doing the same things he was doing 10 years ago. Mic Terror looks to restore promise to the scene with his rugged battle raps, so rugged in fact that he’s hit every regional rapper in the area with them and earned himself a spot opening up for Big Boi. He may not be the next Kanye West, but let’s face it, do we really need two?

Vance Kelly

Chicago born native Vance Kelly has been swagging out the historic blues scene in Chicago for decades. His unique brand of guitar and vocals produce music that is deeply rooted in Chicago blues without being beholden to it. Kelly is a staple at Chicago’s #1 blues spot, Kingston Mines. He isn’t at the same superstar status as Muddy Waters or Howlin’ Wolf, but his Chicago fan base is solid and he’s gaining influence in the region. Check him out for a Chicago sound through and through.

Gauntlet Hair

Although the band has since relocated to Colorado, they formed in Chicago and perform there often enough to still be considered Midwestern. As far as the new wave of Chicago bands, Gauntlet Hair really carves a space out for themselves with their brand of foggy, progressive punk. Over the last 1.5 years, they have put out two now-collectible 7” records on tastemaker labels Forest Family and Mexican Summer.

Guest author Thomas Stone is a freelance writer and frequent contributor at The Marketing Robot.

NÉKTAR FILMS` project THE ISLAND OF JUSTICE was selected for a production workshop with a very interesting Argentinean producer, and so I headed down to Atlantida, the neighboring resort to my childhood summer spot of Las Toscas.

Staying at dorms with producers, directors and screenwriters from all over Latin America, watching some cool documentaries and having classes by the beach was just what I needed after a year of hard, albeit rewarding, work,

Take a peek.