Παρασκευή 1 Φεβρουαρίου 2013

MY TOWN, MY CITY, MY IDENTITY


The riddle is revealed! Which is the way to your town?
(excerpts from my project)

 <There are two towns, one where everyone tells the truth and the other where everyone tells lies. A man travelling down a road comes to a crossroads. He doesn't know which way to go in order to get into town, where everyone tells the truth. There are two men, each one from a different town, standing at the fork of the road. Which one question can he ask the man to find out which direction is the town where everyone tells the truth?>

BUSY FAST AND FURIOUS CITY
Run run run until you have no shoes to run with. Run on bare foot. Run in a car. Run to work. Run to school. Run this town like a spinner on a track. Get a running life that suits you! Life in a town like mine is always busy! One time you watch the clock and it is morning and the next moment it is dark outside!
It is obvious that Athens lives in such fast pace with all the transportation and cars on the roads, pedestrians who run in the pavements to be on an exact time in their dates, crowded shopping areas and full parking lots even pavements full of parked cars, that people forget to slow down and rethink their feelings. The stress and anxiety problems are definitely caused by this never ending, always awakening way of life.
But the main problematic area in our feelings is our wrath. It is claimed to be one of the deadly sins by Christian cult but nowadays under the current circumstances we are all sinners to the almighty God of town! We wake up early in a bad mood and end up swearing the first person we encounter with no decent excuse! The Greeks have it! It is true that we are not pleased with our political choices, with our salaries and stressful pace of life but I hope we could still be humans and control our urges.
I was there in the heart of the city when history was rewritten in the streets. A wave of indignants which started from a facebook page and was spread all over Athens as well as Greece itself and after all worldwide made its turbulent appearance just in front of the Greek Parliament to shake our ease! Athenian parents, students, workers and assistants, all like a fist of one hand gathered there every day for a month demanding their rights that the Greek and German politicians stole from them! The amount of damages due to our wrath was high, in some cases double the prize of the initial stuff.
In one of the many demonstrations, which took place there, I overheard a dialogue between two students. It definitely shows how confused and infuriated we were. But at the same time how brightly and not shortsightedly some people can think and see despite the circumstances. The one was drinking coffee in a café when the other bumped inside:
-Spread out the word, a wave of indignants is gathered in the city centre. Let’s go!
- What for?
- Don’t ask me, ask yourself. Aren’t you angry with the financial crisis, the political system? Aren’t you devastated that your dreams may not come true and it’s someone else’s fault?
- But it’s not someone else’s fault. It’ll be my fault, if I don’t succeed.
- Don’t you feel like a sheep ready to slaughter? Don’t you feel any rage for those in power who take advantage of us?
- We have the rage, they still have the power.
- Don’t you want to scream out, swear them, and burst into tears?
- I just don’t want to be an indignant. I want freedom and proper democracy.
- So come with me. Let’s demonstrate for the fact that we don’t want to be indignants.
- It’s easy to infuriate, it’s easy to cry, it’s easy to go on the road and demonstrate and it’s so easy that they won’t listen to it. We’ll destroy everything; we’ll bring chaos to Athens except for what we asked in the first place. Mayhem will prevail and they will still be in power, indifferent from what we suffer. We have to find another way. We must do it through a difficult path all together as a whole.
- There is no such way. Be part of the wave and it will expand all over the world. Shout and hold hands with any other in the street in front of the Parliament. Feel your rage and act!
- I really want to, I‘ll even come but my heart tells me it has to be another way deep inside us all.  
Finding no way to erase this conversation from my mind I still feel the creeps on my body when what followed was exactly what that boy said: Catastrophic events took place in Sidagma and Propilaia and public property was destroyed overnight. Politicians still till today remain indifferent for the situation and as time passes by, this wave unfortunately fades out, hopefully not our rage for them.
A TOWN IS ITS PEOPLE
 As the opening riddle suggests there are those who will tell you the truth about their city and those who will lead you into mischief and fallacy on which way to take at the fork!
THOUGHTS ON A RAINY TOWN
Rain always keeps me thinking...It changes things, figures and places. It makes them look smaller darker stranger unfamiliar. It smashes the rush hours of the town and makes them look inappropriate. Cars do not run in a slippery road, the pace is slower. When it’s raining you should not be in a hurry otherwise some other girl in a window may laugh at your naiveness. This metamorphosis of  urban life is the urge that keeps me torturing myself while squeezing my mind to understand this natural phenomenon, which I still don’t know whether I hate or not.
 I ‘m sure, this town is alive even if there are dangers, even if the water may sink you in the abyss of the cement streets, people will go out with umbrellas, scarves, gloves, anorak, boots and hope that when the rain stops the sun will come out much brighter than before. The town never sleeps as long as there are people who are not afraid of walking at a rainy night. I must put on my rain suit, it is time to go.
COLOURFUL CITY - TROLLEY RIDE HOME
Colors are closer as I surpass them quickly in the trolley. The rush of the city is now obvious in my canvas. I manage to capture innumerable colors but they fade away the next minute, their shadows remain though. I can see some flower shops that add more freshness with their pink violets, orange daisies, white lilies, purple tulips and red carnations! Trolleys are fast enough; however, my eye is on shop windows which I see pretty clearly. The dolls on display are soulless things dressed up colorfully like humans to convince us that we can become as beautiful as they are! I see no sky from here, the blackness of the vehicle creates a frame around me. The city is unstable like the sky and colorful too.  Suddenly I close my eyes; I see nothing but some splashes of colors I have used to paint my thoughts with… I’m finally at home!
The riddle is solved…
< If you see me now
You won't see me alone
If you see me I'll be heading home
'Cause this is my town this is my city
Through my eyes, it looks so pretty
This is my town, this is my city now
These are my people, this is my song
Dirty streets where I belong
This is my town, this is my city now>