Let yourself fall

1. What is your favorite word?
Words: ephemeral, ethereal, transcendence, life, world, exist.

2. What did you dream last night?
It is very long and it would take me a long time to tell it in detail, but I will try to summarize it. It was the end of the world and we all knew it. People were quiet, just preparing to leave some kind of legacy that would transcend our physical existence here as a species, and we had all segregated into small groups of about 20 people, in all parts of the world, to welcome the end. Mine had gone to the coast; we knew the end would come that way. The closer the hour approached, the more nostalgic we became, it was a very real sensation: everything would be over, there would be no more “our time”, it was worse than death: the possibility of definitive, eternal oblivion. We started to get scared, but when we entered a platform in the middle of the sea, to witness everything, our feeling of “well, okay, we are here, let's be grateful for everything that existed, that we could have existed and let ourselves be absorbed by everything” came back. Suddenly, all the clouds in the sky receded, the sea did too, and a kilometer-long abyss opened up just below us. We began to fall. I was scared, but I kept my eyes fixed on the sky as I fell and shouted “thank you!”. When I finished falling, I fell to the bottom of the sea: I felt the water, the sand... I was still alive! I didn't know whether to get out or just stay there to die, like everyone else, with everything, but I decided to go up to the surface to see what had happened (if I was the only one, I would find a way to kill myself then), but when I got out of the water, more people started to come out of the bottom. Then we knew: we had survived for a reason, we were completely hopeful, grateful, almost enlightened. A new world was rising before us, nothing would be like before, now we would have to make do from scratch, but with life, with another chance. I woke up feeling happy, as if it had been a message from the universe, god or whatever we want to call it, telling me “go on, let yourself fall, everything is going to be fine. You're going to survive, just like always.”

3. Which movie has made you laugh the most?
Oops... I don't remember precisely, but one of the ones that made me laugh the most and at the same time awakened my curiosity and my usual ramblings was Shipwrecked on the moon, a Korean film.

4. What song would you like to have played at your funeral?
It would be a whole playlist hahaha. Some of them: Away from the City of Muerdo; My Anarchy by Pedro Pastor; I Went to Be Happy of Macaco, Neon Lights of Julia's Smile, Crazy Head of Kilombo, Born Ready by Zayde Wolf and other more common ones such as Dust in the Wind, Feel Good Inc. and all those that the people who esteemed me want to give me, if they remind them of me, so that they can squeal at ease, but nothing more than that little while.

5. What is your definition of «art»?
To catch the essence of what already exists, be it material or intangible, filter it, with that unique filter that each one of us has, and export it as something else, that TRANSMITS something deep, something that sticks and that has the potential to change people's perception or feeling. If it cannot be understood by more than a few, it does not seem to me to be art. Art is the most human thing we have and, as such, it should be accessible to every human being. “Nothing human is alien to me.”.

6. What would be your ideal project or collaboration?
A cultural magazine that would also have a Youtube channel for capsules and interviews, that would not only interview visual artists, poets, actors, but would take “culture” for what it is: the whole that makes up a society. Culture is also the carpenter on the corner, the fruit lady, the man who put his organic and ecofriendly cafecito outside Refinería, the richest tacos outside Patrick Miller's, what do I know. That, and a cultural forum in the province, where food and beverages from all over Mexico would be sold, cult movies would be shown, books of all kinds would be provided, exhibitions could be set up, bands could attend, poetry could be read, plays could be staged...

7. What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?
“In this life you have to know everything, from the highest to the lowest.”
-My dad

“Even the right thing done for the wrong reason is wrong.”
-Random person in a dream

“You have to have the courage to be who you are; only then will the right people and the right things come your way. If you don't express who you are, how will others know that they agree with you?”
-Myself coaching her in one of my book presentations.

8. If you could change anything in the world, what would you change?
Apocalypse. Thank you, next.

No, I believe that the greatest evil in the world is cowardice. Not unconsciousness, not ignorance, not inequality; COBARDSHIP.

People would rather dry up their humanity than feel, they would rather ignore than understand something that could bring you existential crises, they would rather hide what they want than admit to being vulnerable, they would rather exploit others and step on them than risk having nothing for sure.

9. A penguin comes into your room with a hat on. What is the first thing he says to you and why is he in your room?
“Ah, you're the only one I was missing! Come on, quick, I'll explain everything now, you just follow me and try not to say anything: you'll look crazy, ha, ha, ha, ha...”.”

10. Describe (in 100 words maximum) what you do for a living.
I studied communication, I am an article writer, writer, editor and publicist (yes, yes, they sound similar but they are not the same). I am also a closet coach, living room philosopher, karaoke singer, spiritual guru of fallen friends, chaos co-creator and professional clown of everyday life.

Answers: Paola Iridee
Questions: Abel Ibañez G.
Photographers: Thomas Luong Bavington