Reality Observer: November 2011

Monday, November 28, 2011

On When the Gays Get to Have Their Own Country Club

Well, it's true. And it's in Rio de Janeiro! Well, leave it to Rio...

The property is located on the Ligação Road, Taquara, in the Jacarepaguá neighborhood. It's called the Rainbow club.

It's a 12 thousand square meter (or 129166.925 square ft) affair featuring a swimming pool, two barbecue grills, three bars, tennis courts, pool tables, football-tables, storage lockers and an infirmary among other things.

It's said that more facilities are on the board and they hope to get them on the ground by next year.
We promise to post the photos when we have them.

The O Globo reports that the project is a parnership between two major organizers of the LGBT nightlife in Rio.

If you become a member, you will have access to one-off events. They say the place holds up to 3 thousand people.

Copacabana, Ipanema, and now, a country club. Those folks really do know how to have a good time.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

On When the Sweet Hand of the State is There for you

Vidigal Favela - Stunning views for dwellers

Police presence in Rio's slums brings hope to a people long inured to neglect. Carrot and stick?

Because it has not always been like this. It has always been like it was before we heard it on the news. Misery, death and destruction. And people without hope.

As of last week, the heavy hand of the State rolls in bransishing its just sticks and bringing along with it sheaves of carrots. And those with forlorn lives now breath a sigh of relief.

Some don't! Some are escorted out and carted off to be put away where they can do no harm. Some manage to break away only to blend into Rio de Janeiro's countless slums. Perhaps to perpetuate the cycle? Hopefully not.

The inhabitants of Rocinha and other slums in Rio de Janeiro should have been granted "order and progress" long ago, way back before being driven onto the hills. The State is now tasting its bitter medicine.

Mindful of the repercussions, and in preparation for two important events to happen in the country in 2014 and 2016, the governement of Rio de Janeiro was swift to implement changes on years of official neglect.

Surely they have to give those people some time to get used to what is perceived normal in other areas of town and, in fact, of the country.

We choose to believe that things will improve for those in Rio's most infamous urban territories. They've got to!

Monday, November 14, 2011

On When There is Engagement in The Fight Against Killer Diseases

Poverty is a scourge anywhere, but it is the cause of death and disease in the United States and the rest of the world where immunological disorders are prevalent.

We've recently come across a piece in The Advocate about how a former NBA superstar, Magic Johnson, is faring well 20 years after going public with his HIV status. We've even commented on Facebook, solely by looking at Mr Johnson's plus-size physique, that "Aids is the poor man's disease". Could that be the case?

In the story, we read that instead of discouragement at the lack of progress in the discovery of a cure or a vaccine: "He instead was concerned with bringing infections down, especially in the African-American and Latino communities. The latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control paint a harsh picture, especially for blacks. Though they only make up 14% of the population, African Americans account for 56% of all people in the country living with HIV. They also represent nearly half of all new Infections each year." The Advocate

In the link, there was also the news that the sportsman had been handed a one-million dollar check for his foundation, "which provides scholarships, housing, and access to HIV testing in disadvantaged communities."

Good. It is better than nothing. Also, one would expect that those in the know ought to expand the view that education AND nutrition are important factors in bolstering people's immune systems. Especially, as we read elsewhere that: "Poverty is a major contributor to the HIV and Aids epidemic among African Americans. Poverty and a disadvantaged upbringing often cause young people to drop out of school early, preventing them from gaining access to well-paid and stable employment or causing them to lose a sense of self-worth and be drawn into illegal or socially unacceptble activities (such as drug use) that may put them at direct risk of HIV", according to Avert.Org.

One might add other illnesses as well, like the monstrous heart disease, which accounted for 49,353 deaths (35%) among black American women in 2007 out of a population of 20,257,139! This is in the CDC's Deaths: Final Data for 2007, vol. 58, # 19 (May 2010).

We are not communists in the slightest - we happen to think that there is virtue in merit - why not start collective farms where people have the chance to learn farming techniquers to apply in their own backyards? When we say farming, we mean organic farming.

Surely where there is a will there is a way. In Cuba (!), pardon me, they have vegetable gardens everywhere... It's called Urban Agriculture. Meanwhile, till they get that vaccine or cure, or that farm, fresh and green, watch the video below for surprising insights.

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

On when Doctors Meet Celebrities

And vice versa. The result is death. Some doctors, some celebrities, that is. When doctors take their Hippocratic Oath to the letter, the result can only be kosherness and ethics.

Sadly, this is not what we have been reading about on the Internet. The recent case of the doctor who's been sent to a place where he can collect his thoughts is an example. While there are those out there willing to cater to celebrities' whims and forget that the road to riches is not in some fancy bedroom should expect to be reprimanded in the strongest terms.

The people, in this case, have decided that there has got to be responsibility and that human life is sacred. Whosoever-so's life. Surely we all know that there is much, much more than meets the eye in this so infamous trial but, still, proper consideration should be given to what has just happened. Writing prescriptions for tormented souls just because they are yapping at your feet is simply wrong. The quick bucks you make are just that: quick, swift, and transient!

On another level, legal substance abuse, locals tell us, is a way of life in that big country up to the north, more especifically in that area of the country where the tyranny and, most importantly, the pressure of the showbiz industry takes its toll on its victims. Substance abuse is big business. What is it that keeps the cogs of the machinery well-oiled and functioning properly?

The crux of the matter is that, and we say this without being judgemental in the negative sense, when people (anyone!) resort to strong anesthetics, applied in the operating room, "to go to the valley of death and back" is simply because those people are already semi-dead. The will to live is no longer there.

What whirlwind of emotions has breathed life into that song we like? Do you know?

Reality Observer