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11/30/2007
Memory Loss
Friday, November 30, 2007: Last night I went to see my former dog Leo. He did not recognize me. The guy looked past me as if he had never seen me before. Leo slept on my bed, was jealous of my little girl cat, but now I was history. And this reminded me of my dog Rubio--the unforgettable erman Shepherd. He missed me very much when I had to leave him in the care of others. The last family he stayed with was different. He fell in love with them and when they dumped him, Rubio would drag me back to their house. He would smell the car, the car tires, the front door, the garage. It was very, very heartbreaking for both of us.
Maybe dogs don´t have the memory that some of us humans do. We have them in our hearts, in our souls and when they have to go and live elsewhere, we suffer.
18:10 Posted in Rubio | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
11/29/2007
Old Tigre Dog
Thursday, November 29, 2007: He looked at me with distrust. The dog was large, a German Shepherd mix. His home is the sidewalk in front of Tigre train station. Here, I told him, I just want to give you some food. He looked at me again, ate a little of the dog food and walked away.
18:20 Posted in Homeless Street Dogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
11/28/2007
Hungry For Love
Wednesday, November 28, 2007: I saw him by a tree in front of the Tigre train station. He was a large dog, with a spotted white coat. I put my hand inside my plastic bag and took out a handful of dog food. Here, I said. The dog looked at me and his tail wagged. Then he stretched his front paws for me to touch. I caressed his head. The dog got up and sat in a begging position. He wanted a home. He wanted to be taken home and I couldn´t do that for him.
If I was movie director, I would film these dogs. I would record how they follow people who look nice, how they look to see who gets out of colectivos, how they search for someone to make them not be homeless anymore. I know the world has a lot of problems to solve, and some people will ask: Why worry about dogs? What about hungry children?
I don´t know. All I can answer is this: These dogs touch me deeply and I want to help them. Some of them are old strays, some have just been put on the street, but they have one thing in common. They are living beings with feelings and needs and they don´t deserve to die out there.
05:20 Posted in Homeless Street Dogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
11/26/2007
Ultimo Ejercicio de Literatura
Ejercicio de Literatura
Por Eugenia Renskoff
26 de Noviembre 2007
La Vieja
--¿Y cuando la internaron en un manicomio?
--No sé exactamente. Dicen que la semana pasada, o hace 10 días, contesto Mariela.
Tiene familia? 2 semanas atrás la vi con 2 perritos. Los llevaba en un carrito y pedía limosna a los que pasaban por la calle.
--Créeme que lo siento mucho. Dicen que la gente que entra a uno de esos lugares no sale más.
--Así es. Pero vos sabes como son las cosas. Esa mujer era un problema. Se la querían sacar de encima.
--¿Dónde estaba viviendo?
--En una casa. Vivía sola con esos perros que vos viste y 8 más.
--Me parece que es un caso parecido al de mi amiga. Nadia llego a sentirse tan mal que un día algo en ella dijo basta. Empezó a descuidarse, a deprimirse. Me daba pena porque había sido una mujer tan brillante, una luchadora como pocas. Nadia en su época fue lo que las jóvenes quieren ser ahora—toda una triunfadora.
--Si, es algo así. Ahora los perros no tienen hogar. Los vecinos les dan de comer, pero necesitan tener un dueño.
--Un problema de nunca acabar, no, Mariela?
19:35 Posted in My Writing | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
New NY Times Letter
Dear Editor, I congratulate Bob Herbert on writing Lost in a Flood of Debt. I think it is high time that somebody wrote about the people who like Ms. Levey (and myself) have had to struggle because of mortgage fraud and the threat of foreclosure. Her situation is very similar to mine in that I had very little money to buy food and pay utilities. I could not believe what was happening to me and what I had become. The last thing I had been and wanted to be was a deadbeat. Suddenly I had people calling me at almost all hours asking me to pay them. I explained that I couldn´t because I had no money. But they didn´t believe me and they kept calling.
It is very easy to blame the borrower and say something like he or she should have known better. Borrower beware? What about the people--like the loan officer, for instance--who should have done their job and not behave unethically? In my case, the loan officer knew what he was doing and I have been paying for it since 2002.
I feel that Bob Herbert´s article speaks to me. I feel that he respects people like Ms. Levey and me. Eugenia Renskoff
17:39 Posted in Letters | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
11/18/2007
Why Women Work
Hola, El tema de hoy es muy interesante. Pienso que no debemos olvidarnos que la mayoria de las mujeres que salen a trabajar no lo hacen por ejercer una vocacion, sino que necesitan trabajar para mantenerse y mantener a sus hijos. Tener una vocacion es importante, la mia es ser escritora, pero la realidad que yo he visto y veo no es la realidad de la que hablaron sus entrevistadas esta tarde. Las mujeres si trabajamos lo hacemos para subsistir. Mas que nada por eso. Eugenia Renskoff
18:02 Posted in Emails To Radio Stations | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
11/17/2007
Cartonera Cinderella
Saturday, November 17, 2007: A 15 year-old ex cartonera has won a modeling contest and will be traveling to Turkey in January. This Cinderella has been signed by an agency that once handled Claudia Schiffer´s career. Her mother is no longer looking through garbage cans to find things to sell in order to survive.
17:29 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
11/15/2007
Dogs in Tigre
Thursday, November 16, 2007: There seem to be more homeless dogs in Tigre. always more. Most of them are nice looking, well behaved dogs and it is hard to understand why their owners abandoned them. It is heartbreaking for me to see them eating out of garbage bags.
I saw a big, blond male dog yesterday here in the Vicente Lopez area. He had his body in a submissive attitude right in the middle of the sidewalk. I went up to him and told him that if he behaves himself, someone will help him. I hope it´s true.
04:05 Posted in Homeless Street Dogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
11/07/2007
Helpful Cabbie
Wednesday, November 7, 2007: A woman with a little kid took a taxi. When she got to her destination, she could not pay the fare. Her wallet had been stolen. The taxi driver loaned her 20 pesos, waited outside the dental office and drove her and her grandkid back home. Two days later, the woman paid him the fare and returned the 20 pesos. The cabbie´s helpfulness prompted her to write a letter to the newspaper. She was even interviewed on the radio. With the high crime rate in Argentina today, someone who goes out of their way to help stands out.
18:29 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
11/04/2007
Rubio
Rubio’s constipation problem is on again and it drives me up the wall. He doesn’t want to go out and when he tries to relieve himself, it must hurt him so much. This morning was one of those times. He pulled towards the apt. so hard that I was afraid I’d fall.
18:57 Posted in Rubio | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
11/02/2007
Cats
Friday, November 2, 2007: There is a big empty and dirty lot on the 4400 block of Avenida Santa Fe. Cats have been living there for a long time. I feel that these cats need to be protected. It is a shame that in a trendy neighborhood like Palermo there are people who go and dump their cats. I go feed them when I can, but it is not enough. These cats need homes.
17:55 Posted in Abandoned Cats | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Capital
Friday, November 2, 2007: Buenos Aires has become the gay capital of Latin America. There are several gay-friendly hotels in the city and there are plans to make the city even more attractive to tourists willing to spend money on 5 star accomodations.
17:54 Posted in Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
11/01/2007
Black Dog
Thursday, November 1, 2007: A large black dog last night. He came up to me when I walked by Trigre train station. The black dog looked up at me. I had a bag full of dog food and I offered him some. He ate it, but that wasn´t what interested him. The dog followed me to the colectivo stop. He looked up at me again. I can´t take you home, I told him. I live far away. He seemed nice and docile. Soon other dogs appeared--small dogs, large dogs, wet dogs. It rained hard most of yesterday.
When I see them I think of my dog Rubio. Rubio, who lost the home he wanted. Rubio, who would have given up his life for them.
04:54 Posted in Homeless Street Dogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this