Nothing but Wings

Nothing but Wings

     She loved the wonderfulness nature reflected during every sunset; so, she used to contemplate the forest around her from the treetop with astonishment. Frida was a bird, but not a very common one, her feathers were extremely colorful and shiny. She lived in the same tree since hatching.

     One day, while night was falling, Frida was trying to grab a fruit from a thin branch, but the fruit fell down. Then, she tried to look for another fruit, but surprisingly she discovered there was no fruit left in the whole tree. It has not happened before, so Frida knew definitely it was a problem. Her solution was to start crying until someone could come to help her. After some minutes crying, someone listened to her; it was a daring blue bird that got to where she was. His name was Fos.

“Why are you crying?”, Fos asked.

“The only fruit that was left in the tree fell down while I was grabbing it.” Frida answered.

“So what? Could not you just reach it back?”

“How am I supposed to do it? Forget it! It is just impossible.”

“Of course you can reach it by flying down the tree and you will get it back.”

     An awkward silence came immediately, and Fos realized what her problem was. So, he thought: She has never learned how to fly; she does not even know that she can do it. Can you imagine, having wings but do not know what they are for? Suddenly, it came to his mind what he had to do: to teach her what he knew so well.

     During the night Fos taught Frida how to fly; he explained patiently what he considered necessary to know in order to fly. Before he finished to explain everything, a cold breeze blew for some minutes; however, they helped each other to stay warm, which brought her a true feeling of soul companion.

    When the sun began to rise, Fos told Frida that he helped her as much as he could but that he could not stay to see the results. Fos wished her the best and flew away. Then, Frida tried to fly applying what Fos taught her. After some unsuccessful attempts, Frida nailed it. Flying made her feel like painting the sky with her wings. Frida could finally visit, by herself, all the places she contemplated every evening.

Written by Fernanda Vargas Campos

Letter to a woman

Letter to a woman

Dear woman: 

     Today I decided to write you a letter because I consider you authentically my friend even if I have not meet you yet. This is because you are someone with whom I share home, our planet. I want you to know I consider you a sacred being as well, someone unique.

    I know you have faced several situations lately because everyone does; however, it is more noticeable the strength with which you have gotten over them. I know you have assumed difficulties as opportunities to rearrange yourself; I definitely admire how courageous you are. I am sure you are a strong woman who is evolving and is not interested only in physical beauty but also in soul brightness.

    I want you to know that I hope you can learn from me as much as I have learned from you. Everyone is fighting her own battle and what makes us wise is walking the moon with others shoes. The best we can do is to support the half of the human race, to which we belong.

    My wishes for you are that you never stop dreaming, always keep moving forward in the path you have decided to walk, and that you would be determined enough to persevere through all the obstacles and difficult situations.

    Keep fighting please, do not give up, because there is an entire universe conspiring to help you grow. Please, just trust yourself… Finally, I hope you can remember the following qoute in every moment but especially when you are about to give up:

   “I disregard the proportions, the measures, the tempo of the ordinary world. I refuse to live in the ordinary world as ordinary women. To enter ordinary relationships. I want ecstasy. I am a neurotic — in the sense that I live in my world. I will not adjust myself to the world. I am adjusted to myself.”
― Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934

With love,

Your fellow Fernanda Vargas.

Extract from Tarzan’s Diary

Extract from Tarzan’s Diary

Day #1

    Dear Diary, today happened something really creepy to me. Walking and climbing down the jungle, I saw it. An ugly animal that I haven't neither seen nor smelled before. There it was, yellow as bird droppings. It was a four-legged animal, although it walked in two paws. It was super obsessed with cleaning and order. I do not understand why it was so haunted, if being with fog helps to be fresh in the jungle. I did not want to admit it, but despite its behavior, its physical traces seem very similar to mine. I must keep watching it.

Day #2

    Hi diary, I am not sure yet what the scrawny creature is; however, I  could walk closer to it today. I do not know what to think about it; it seems to be a badly trained animal because is always making weird sounds. By the way, I have to tell you something that really impacted me while I was trying to smell it. It is not a confirmed fact yet, but it seems that there is no protuberance hanging from its belly. I know, it could involved serious medical problems because you cannot pee without the forenamed. I hope it will doing fine with the mutilation. Pd.: I will not smell under its yellow rag again because the aggressive creature hit me when I did it today. I was just worried about its welfare.

Day#3

    Diary, Today I watched it moving, and I saw its paws. They are similar to my paws. I tried to taught it to climb trees and hang from liana, but it did not do it very well. When I was observing it, I think it tried to talk to me because it produced some strange noise with its throat. I tried to talk to it, but it did not understand me. I think it has some cognitive problems because we, animals, understand each other since we are born. This creature is of course very stupid. How could I not see this since the beginning? Incidentally, today I decided to call it “Jane”, because it seems to be a Jane. I hope that other Janes do not come here at the same time because I am not sure if could protect them all since this specie is so unwise. I must protect this Jane because being this clumsy and silly it would not last long in the jungle.

Note: Translated by Tarzan on 2014.

Written by Carolina Villalobos and Fernanda Vargas