One for each season

Tam Dao, my Autumn choice.
This fragrance was introduced by Diptyque in 2003. "Deep in the rainforest, riotously alive with the tangle of lianas, the odour of wood and overgrown temples, elephants are dragging scented logs of the sacred sandalwood. Rosewood, cypress and ambergris; and in the heart note, the sandalwood from Goa."

(c) Beauty Habit

At last, she made her mind up ...

Remember my persuasive post against my cousin's prospect of studying Philosophy at university level? [Sorry, it was in Italian only because that was the way I conceived it at the time and it was mainly addressed to her.] After loads of thinking, rethinking, arguments and discussions, this morning she phoned me up to have a last *self-convincing conversation* about her academic future. I supported her choice and gave my approval to her rationale. She then went to pay the fees.

She decided to read Communication Studies at the University of Rome 2. Following this statement, I except loads of objections from the many people I have consulted over the last two/three weeks reminding me that in Italy *everybody does it* and it will be increasingly more difficult to accommodate in the work market all the future graduates. Anyhow, I think that Valentina's global reflections on the matter worked really well: she passed the entry test and got in 19th position; she explained that she liked all the subjects included in that course--which is promising; and that in the last two years of the course she intends to pursue the journalism/publishing path where only 20 people a year are accepted, making it much more selective (this is a 3+2 year course). She finally assured me that she is ready to combine this course with a post-graduate Master Degree in Business or Marketing for the cultural/information industry. She is also willing to find a placement within a radio or a publishing house while at university. What to say? She finally knows what she wants... So, let her go. At least she desisted from the plan of studying a so-detatched-from-world-subect such as philosophy.

The other cousin has officially entered into the adolescent world: his nickname on msn messenger is now: Gino (devilish angry emoticon), against any form of power and control ANARCHY. His photo has been replaced by the image of a skull. Brilliant. Lofty said: I love when they turn teenagers... Hmmm, I am not too sure about it.

I sit on a ball

I replaced my desk's chair with a ball!

I consider this choice as a step of self-development because this yoga ball (by Ledragomma) promotes good posture, is multi-use, an original piece of furniture and much cheaper than an office chair. ;o )

UPDATE: The ball exploded... not under my weight (if this is what you are thinking).

Vinopolis Patinum Tour—Review in Fieri

London, 11 December 2005



This tour was both an art lesson and a self development experience, therefore it deserves a post on both pages.

The visit started with 20 minutes of wine tasting class held by a Californian young lady. She kept it really simple and basic, but it was still interesting to get some fundaments before starting the drinking session, because this is what this tour essentially was. I was hoping to have more information about the different grapes and the different fermentation procedures, but I found only some brief explanatory notes on the panels for each country which did not really enrich my (limited) knowledge. The tour was organised geographically, but, although Italy was one of the countries (as it should be being the largest producer of wine—in terms of quantity and not of exportation), there was hardly any Italian wine to sample.

So, what did I learn?

The three sensual steps of wine tasting involve three senses: 1. sight; 2. smell; and 3. taste.

First step—the colour is an indicator of the wine, A purple colour indicates a young wine, while a orange/brown nuance is the sign of a mature wine. The intensity of the colour should tell about the body of it: does it look light? Medium? Or full bodied? Swirling the wine is a way to give it oxygen and assess the quantity of alcohol and sugar by looking at the tears (lacrime in Italian) depositing on the wall of the glass. The more they are the more the wine is sugary and the slowest they sink down the more the wine is alcoholic, and viceversa.

Second step—a quick sniff should tell us a lot about the flavour which can be metaphorically compared to four natural varieties of essences: flower, spices/herbs and fruit. A second deeper whiff should confirm the first impression. So Shiraz* resembles blackcurrant, Sauvignon blanc* reminds cider and lemon, etc. As my dad observed, they are compared to cocoa, tarragon, vanilla, melon, etc., but never to grape. :o )

Third step—Slurping, which means keeping a small sip of wine on the top of your tongue and softly inhaling with the mouth, i.e. allowing some air to pass through the lips and through the wine in order to release all the aromas and different component of it, including the alcohol! You are allowed to spit that intense sip and can proceed to a second proper drink to enjoy the tastes your tongue would recognise: sweetness on the top of it; bitterness at the back and intermediate savours on the sides of it. Note the after taste, i.e. how long does the taste stay in your mouth? If more than 6 seconds, it is definitely a quite strong wine: in technical terms a “full bodied” wine.

In conclusion, one point was made clear: there is no way to ascertain the quality of a wine, unless it is corked** or high sulphured, in which case you should simply return the bottle. With the experience you can describe the quality of different wines more accurately and simply express your opinion and your taste, because, after all, this is the ultimate subjective encounter.

[I took note of each wine I tasted and will post the description later on--I can’t find the notes right now!]

* Types of grapes.
** When the cork gets to dry it can be attacked by a bacteria. This happens in one bottle out of 20, so it is quite common and very normal to send it back. A corked wine is unmistakeable by the bad smell.

Perche' non scegliere filosofia

Post(o) in Italian(o) per convincere mia cugina a non scegliere filosofia.

La vita e' troppo breve per passare i cinque anni di vita piu' belli a crogiolarsi su pensieri fini a se stessi.

Quello di cui vorrei persuaderti e' che la filosofia perversa ogni disciplina, per cui non c'e' bisogno prendercisi una laurea. Non c'e' bisogno di essere dottore in filosofia per fare la filosofa, ecco. Un corso di filosofia contempla per la maggior parte la storia della filosofia, cioe' il pensiero degli antichi, che spesso--con l'eccezione dei classici come Plato, Aristotele, Hegel o Nietsche--e' obsoleto e rilevante solo a comprendere come il pensiero occidentale si e' evoluto.

Se mi dicessi che vuoi studiare filosofia alla Normale di Pisa e magari combinarci anche un corso di filosofie orientali, beh allora tanto di cappello, 'che e' un po' diverso dal frequentare un corso in filosofia a... diciamo Tor Vergata, che nessuno, al di la' del lazio, ha mai sentito nominare. Per aver *successo* in una tale carriera, devi avere fortuna: foturna di avere un relatore che conta stragicamente e che l'anno in cui ti laurei esca il concorso di dottorato pronto pronto per te. Oppure devi avere una marcia in piu': nel tuo caso, parlare tedesco da dio, aver fatto ricerche, possibilmente in Germania e in altri atenei italiani, avere tutti 30, etcetera etcetera.

Filosofia ha certo dei corsi interessanti: estetica, per esempio, e' esaltante. Ma estetica--sempre per esempio--e' anche parte di altri corsi di laurea. Allora perche' limitarti a studiare filosofia pura e *semplice*, e non scegliere invece un corso dove puoi applicare alla vita reale i tuoi tanto amati concetti filosofici? Sono sicura che un corso piu' completo ti farebbe sentire piu' *utile* e gratificata. In piu', il mondo ha bisogno di persone che applichino i principi etici che vanno professando. E la filosofia--oltre che essere parte incidentale del tuo percorso di studi principale--la potresti sempre coltivare come hobby a se stante, frequentando conferenze e seminari, e approfondendola per conto tuo. Potresti, sempre per esempio, scegliere invece "studi sociali", che comprende corsi di storia, politica internazionale, antropologia, sociologia, ma con un taglio storico-politico che offra una cultura internazionale veramente richiesta nel mercato globale di oggi, e ancor piu' di domani. Potresti ambire a lavorare per le organizzazioni no-profit o per il governo o per qualche associazione internazionale o fare ricerca per lo sviluppo dei Paesi bisognosi; diventare reporter, giornalista o redattore/editor(e), sempre per esempio. Viviamo in era di globalizzazione e fra una decina d'anni la globalizzazione economica/politica/educazionale diverranno parte della quotidianita'--devi prenderne atto e guardare in avanti anticipando i trend. I tempi in cui la donzella sceglieva gli studi classici a completamento della formazione di base e' tramontato dai tempi del Grand Tour--a meno che non studi alla Normale di Pisa, parli tedesco da dio, e via discorrendo. O a meno che non sia la figlia di Missoni (che studia filosofia a Milano e recitazione a New York). Le piccole univerista' italiane non hanno soldi--altro dato di fatto; non sostengono la ricerca (ora piu' che mai l'economia italiana e' al minimo storico); e offrono dottorati una volta ogni 10 anni. Per non parlare del nepotismo che piace tanto al nostro Paese e che--come tu concorderai--e' eticamente scorretto (anche se, ahime', politicamente tollerato). Il vago percorso che suggerisco non e' dei piu' veloci e semplici, lo riconosco, ma e'--a mio parere--sempre piu' soddisfacente che insegnare filosofia in un istituto di periferia ed essere odiata da adolescenti tremendi e irrispettosi--e lo sono, credimi. Devi veramente avere una santa vocazione per trattare con loro quotidianamente.

Non ho un'alternativa chiara e precisa, cosi' su due piedi. Penso che la soluzione la devi trovare tu facendo una ricerca accurata. Se me lo chiedessi pero', sarei contenta di fare qualche ricerca per gli atenei italiani e vedere che offrono.

Quello che penso vivamente--e non solo io--e' che se scegli filosofia... a Tor Vergata, dopo due anni passati in famiglia e col ragazzo fisso sarai ANNOIATA DI VIVERE (come diceva Moravia). Se scegli invece una facolta' stimolante che ti metta in discussione anche la tua vita quotidiana sara' piu' variegata. Certo magari dovrai viaggiare quotidianamente, ma gli spostamenti fanno parte della vita e ti aiuteranno a essere piu' attiva fisicamente e mentalmente, a uscire dal guscio provinciale del tuo paese mentalmente e fisicamente.

E dopo questa lunga predica, fammi sapere che ne pensi TU.

VOTA

Dopo Miss Italia nera, un papa nero ... non mi par vero

[... Continued from the post "Oh my god" in the home page]

Yes, Jesus apparently had sexual thoughts about women: he was tempted by Magdalene. He resisted to her temptations though and helped the woman to change her life-style, but he was definitely attracted by her.

Actually, a priest would explain you that Jesus is in fact the incarnation of both woman and man... So, his sex in this sense is relative. But, still, in flesh he was a man.

As to his real appearance, the matter is controversial. He was born in Middle East, but the official iconography has always depicted him white and with blue eyes. Last June, my dad and I took my English friends to the Sanctuary of Loreto, where the house believed to be Maria's abitation is conserved. According to the legend, it was brought to that town by the angels. Inside the stone shrine (scientifically proved to be holy house), there is the statue of her, who is sacred and venerated by pilgrims for her long record of miracles. This statue is black: it is a black woman in a gold dress covered in jewelry. I asked my dad the reason, and he told me that, according the tradition, it was white in origin, but became black for the exhalation of all the pilgrims' breath in that constrained space.

Now, I appreciate the fascination of this explanation. But the statue is pitch black and shiny. I found this very intriguing, and revealing something.

From Above: Madonna di Loreto
before the fire; and the reconstruction
after the fire.

Interviewing experience

I am an emotional and passionate girl—this is a matter of fact. At times, you could even define me a bit sentimental. After all, I grew up being fed with those extremely pathetic Latin American soap operas which my mum and her mother in law used to watch religiously. Nowadays, I try to disguise my emotions wearing the professional mask, but I can't always conceal or put them in perspective in my private life—for good and bad.

Today I had a very interesting, educative and touching experience. I interviewed with my manager a would-be Editor. It was the very first time I was on *the other side*: the questioner and, ultimately, the official *judge* of the situation. Before the meeting, I felt nervous. I was far more nervous than the (few) times I have been interviewed or the (many) times I attended oral examinations. In this sense, it was an eye-opening experience realising that, after all, an interview is always a conversation between two human beings sharing the same fears and expectations, despite sitting on different positions.

The interview went objectively well, as it was supposed to be. The candidate was a lovely girl, who looked relaxed and politely chatty. This made me feel comfortable and positive towards her since the beginning. My manager introduced the structure of the interview and started asking a few questions about her past experiences stated in the curriculum. She answered exhaustively to all the questions, in a quite wordy manner. She tended to slip away from the core of the matter, but she would catch it up again towards the end of her speech.

The word was then passed on to me , and I described our department, the team she would work within and the role of an Editor within our company. I asked then questions concerning editorial work, time management and interpersonal skills. She never hesitated to answer and she felt like she shouldn't conclude an answer, but keep talking. The whole interview was supposed to last an hour, so we had to jump some questions to keep it within the timeframe and, in several occasions, we had to stop her and move on. However, we certainly got a satisfactory insight of her personality, skills, approach and experiences. She concluded her interview with a copy-editing and spelling test (BTW the same they submitted to me over two years ago!).

I have not had a proper follow-up with my manager yet, but she quickly expressed her thoughts while the girl was working on the test: she complimented with me by saying that I handled it well and was very personal and encouraging, of which I was pleased. But I was not so pleased when she said that she thinks the girl hadn’t enough experience to face our hectic department and that there is not time to train her on electronic publishing. We are in fact looking for someone on a six-month contract basis, to work on a wide list of on-paper and digital products in the busiest period of the year. Sahara (her (fictional) name) is a 26-years old American girl with a limited in-house experience as editorial assistant and freelance copyeditor. In fact, she has never led a project autonomously and she hasn’t got experience in web publishing. Fair enough. Furthermore, she tended to speak mainly about her past experiences and not in a more general and structured way about how she would act as an Editor within our company—so, in this sense, she was a little bit too specific and retrospective and did not show much flexibility. Fair enough. But I am sure she would be flexible and adapt very quickly, if only we could give her the opportunity, because her approach to deal with situations was constructive and positive. As stated in her CV, she lost her feet five years ago due to meningitis and this ended her gymnastic career. This demonstrates to me that she did have to adapt to a completely new life style, and she did it well: soon after college, she got a job for an independent publishing house; she was promoted in her job after four months; achieved a master degree with distinction in England; and has kept working on a freelance basis with the same publishing house to date.

Openly speaking, I was really keen on her as a long term investment, and I thought that her personality would bring a positive wave into our department. I will certainly express these feelings and thoughts to my manager. However, honestly speaking, I don’t think they will hire her, at least not for this *urgent* position. Yesterday, apparently they interviewed someone with exactly the same kind of online publishing experience we implement. So, a person with specific skills for a specific short-term role, the right tool for the right job, a drastic need call for a drastic solution... I only hope that she will get a constructive feed-back, and I will endeavour for ensuring one.