"Chubby" Ronaldo is the best

Ronaldo Nazário de Sousa, important Brazilian football player, has proved why he is called "The Phenomenon". After be voted three times as the best world's football player in FIFA's pool,Ronaldo suffered some traumas in his knees that prohibitted him playing soccer for several months.Ronaldo was forgotten after this, and some said his career was over. One year ago Ronaldo's reputation got so weak, that his personal life was reported in a intensive way, much more than his professional life. His love life was scrutinized and showed on newspapers and TV news besides of Gossip Magazines.

Ronaldo, distant of football because of his fracture had his nickname "The Phenomenon" changed for "The Chubby", because of his weight increasing day by day. The amazing trajectory of a low-middle class boy that got rich sudeenly only playing soccer and dated beautiful girls like famous models and TV actresses seemed over.

Change has come December,17,2008, when Ronaldo came definetively to Brazil and signed a one-year contract with Corinthians, one of the Brazilian greatest football teams. Sport Club Corinthians Paulista is known as "Timão" (Big Team) and is considered as a "religion", because of strong love for the team. Althought this important contract, some people didn't trust Ronaldo's return, including journalists and specialists.

Ronaldo's restart career happened in great style.He got several goals on Paulista's Soccer Championship, the most important Brazil regional championship.With 10 goals on 14 games, Ronaldo won Paulista Championship and has been adopted by Corinthians fans and fans of another teams. Ronaldo's revival give him the right of dream about his return to Brazilian National Football Selection, publicity contracts and the conquest of lost prestige in football world. But it's possible that Ronaldo stops his career after conclusion of his contract with Corinthians, as said to Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo in a interview on May, 15, 2009.

The strongest simbol of Ronaldo's revival took place on a meeting between Ronaldo and President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva last May,12,2009. President Lula and Ronaldo quarreled in World Cup 2006 when Lula asked Coach Parrreira if Ronaldo wasn't "chubby a little bit". Ronaldo paid back to Lula and said that Brazil's President "drank a lot". Now they are friends again and Corinthians -"mega-fan" Lula got a shirt and a ball autographed by Ronaldo "Phenomenon". Both of them are good examples of determination - both have struggled against difficulties to get a good place on Brazilian society, society that is yet unfair to its compounders some times.

The slave's liberation day

Today in Brazil is “The slave’s liberation day”. In this date 121 years ago Princess Isabel wrote the “Aurea Law”, giving the liberty to every slave. This act was not a sympathy gesture by “The Bigot Princess” (As such Isabel Princess was called) but obedience to England’s pressures to get more market to its products. After that moment, all black slaves left theirs oppressor’s houses to go through the world looking for freedom.

The Brazil’s slaves liberation was the late of the American continent, and the marks of almost four centuries of slavery still continue between us. And in this week of commemoration a movie-documentary will tell a story of a special character of Brazilian culture that, suffered the injustice of racism and incomprehension throughout his life.Calvito Leal, Micael Langer and Claudio Manoel”s documentary “Ninguém sabe o duro que dei”, translated something as “Nobody know how hard was to get I got” is a try to reveal Wilson Simonal’s life, a singer who was one of the more charismatic artists of his time.

Wilson Simonal de Castro (1938-2000) was born in Rio de Janeiro, got orphan early and was educated with great difficulties as such greatest part of Brazilian black children. In spite of this adversities, Simonal served in Brazil’s army and after this, begun his musical career. He was known because of his swing and gaiety, conquering thousands of fans around Brazil. One time, Simonal crowded the Maracanãzinho Stadium with more than 30,000 people whose sang, danced and enjoy the amazing artist. Simonal’s career increase so rapidly and with the success, the discrimination against him.

It’s known that Simonal was fascinated by the success, and some time he shown signs of arrogance. This would be comprehensible if he had not dated to get free of the sketch drawn to him since his birth. Simonal never economized words and his statements were used against himself. He had said that he supported the military revolution of 1964 – but thousand of peoples had supported,. And he didn’t care - but truly was uninformed about repression, censorship, and crimes against citizens. His son,singer Max de Castro says his father hadn’t politics mind.

After a trip with the Brazil’s football team that disputed World Cup of 1970 in Mexico, Simonal suspected that his manager account Rafael Viviani was robbing his fortune. So he asked some friends, that worked at DOPS- the repression office of dictatorship to interrogate Viviani, but they beat the manager. After this Viviani denounced Simonal as spy of repression.

Since Simonal career begun to fall. Colleagues of art rejected him, several shows were canceled, and nobody called him to TV presentations. Left activists sealed Simonal as traitor and journalists wrote –and some times invented things about Simonal. The myth was over.

Wilson Simonal has not been forgiven. On his late years he said on one TV show “I dare anybody to prove that I had participation on repressions organizations or had contributed to dictatorship”. But was in vain, he died some time after.

Simonal lately has been rediscovered by youth and for people that never know him completely, but now have the opportunity to enjoy the songs and learn about this obscure time of our history, which is object of shame for all democratic minds.

Photo: Odeon

Yes we have Obama!

Barack Obama's triumph was clapped a lot for many peoples in Brazil of differents social classes, professions, beliefs and parties. His victory represents a new age in afro and afro-descendant history. Now It's possible to say that any children, youth, man and woman can assure that theirs perspectives can be different. More than five centuries of racism, intolerance, discrimination-not only of black people its useful to say - is now step by step rubbed of minds, social structures, policys, cultural products.

Any boy or girl in some of the poorest countries in Africa ou even in North America ou Brazil for example can look at Obama's figure in Tv set, or in photos and think "Yes, I can". Now nobody that cultivate racists taughts can argue against this fact: Obama, afro-descendant american, child of an intercultural union, highly educated, is the first black president of a country that has a shameful historic of racism and segregation.

Obama has a special conecction with Brazil - with brazilian culture, specifically. In his biography Dreams from my father, Obama tells that his mother(Ann Dunhann) take contact with Brazil and afro-descendant culture wathcing "Black Orpheus" a movie based on the heteronimous Vinicius de Moraes' play. Vinicius de Moraes was a poet, diplomat, bossa-nova song composer that criated well-known sambas like Girl from Ipanema (Garota de Ipanema in partnership with Tom Jobin) and Afternoon in Itapoan (Tarde em Itapoâ). According with Obama's biography,after comtemplate the movie , his mother went to university in Havai and begin a relationship with a economy strudent named Barack Obama who was Obama's father and from this relatioship culminated in new-american president's birth. In his youth, Obama watched with his mother during her visit the film "Black Orpheus", which he confessed boring. While the exhibition when he looked at his mother's face he could contemplate her marvelled expression. After that date, his could understand her complicity with black culture, that trespassed conventions, prejudices and tabus.

picture: http://www.ericalmendral.com/