Dantemag 01 december january 2015 by readit

Issue N. 1 - December/January 2015

r o f Beatrice

POLITICS

Isabel Moreira,Can Constitutions Survive As We Know Them? CULTURE

Rita Moreno, Puerto Rico’s Daughter, Still Going Strong ART

Hannalie Taute’s Love Affair With Rubber DESIGN

Building Green in Malaysia.

Glamour Icon Dalila Di Lazzaro Tells Us Why a Woman Knows Best UK £ 8.50 Italy, Holland, Germany, Spain € 9,90 Austria, Belgium, Luxemburg € 11,50 Switzerland CHF 16,00 - USA $ 12.50 - South Africa R 159,00

www.dantemag.com

FOR THE RENAISSANCE IN US

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS by Dante and Beatrice p. 6 FOOD FOR THOUGHT by Elisa Nocca p. 8 THE DIVINE COMEDY AROUND THE WORLD p. 10

DESIGN Building Green in Malaysia. by Jaime Khoo p. 20 POLITICS Isabel Moreira, Can Constitutions Survive As We Know Them? by Mario Moniz Barreto p. 26 BUSINESS Beatrice Trussardi – Global Executive, Art Champion and Mother by Massimo Gava p. 32 LITERATURE “Not Your Mother’s Hysterectomy: A Transformation in Women’s Health Care”. by Stephanie A Wishnev p. 38 MUSIC Cutting the Strings. by Mark Beech p. 42 FILM Life Begins At 40? Hollywood Begs To Differ. by Philip Rham p. 48 CULTURE Rita Moreno, Puerto Rico’s Daughter, Still Going Strong by Susanne Ramirez de Arellano p. 54 Women In And At War: Two World Premieres At The Salzburg Festival by Reya Von Galen p. 58

index

ART Hannalie Taute’s Love Affair With Rubber. by Heidi Erdmann p. 14

COVER Glamour Icon Dalila Di Lazzaro Tells Us Why a Woman Knows Best. by Massimo Gava p. 66 WINDOW OF THE SOUL How I Escaped. by Pamela Nowicka p. 72

TRAVEL Australia, The Land of the Rainbow Serpent. by Neil Geraghty p. 78 A Very Long Way Home. by Marc Forget p. 84 HEALTH Back to Basics. by Elisa T Keena p. 92 FOOD “Quesadillas? Yes Please” by Marco Pernini p. 98

COLUMN Nonno Panda and L B Chow, The Cow, Who Wanted to Become a Fishmonger Artist by Nonno Panda p. 102

Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 3

catandnat.com! Our website is the first English lifestyle website and content-based magazine to not only highlight the latest trends in Thailand, but also discuss the cultural issues and opinions expressed by prominent people living here.

contributors Editor in Chief Massimo Gava

European Correspondent Jeremy Scott

Copy Editor Philip Rham

Online Design Editor Lavinia Todd

US and Latin America Editor Susanne Ramirez de Arellano

Online Research Editor Mary Shulze

Asia Editor Pamela Nowicka

Art Director Flavio Guberti

International Editor Reya von Galen

Director of New Media and Web Nicola Sasso

Design and Architecture Editor Julian Taylor

Business Development Director Elisa Nocca

Sub-Culture Editor Rufus Smith Music Editor Dean Sabino

Marketing and Communication Italy Novella Donelli Just in Time http://justintimesrl.wordpress.com

Associated Research Editor Louis Romero

Legal and Finance Director Antonio Marsocci

Business Editor Martin Shah

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Contributing Writers. Heidi Erdmann, Jaime Khoo, Stephanie A. Wishnev, Mark Beech, Mario Moniz Barreto, Pamela Nowicka, Neil Geraghty, Mark Forget Elisa T. Keena, Marco Pernini, Dante and Beatrice, NonnoPanda.

Contributing Photographers. Helga Esteb, Chinellato Photo, Allan Bregg, Everett Collection, Featureflash, DFree, Andrea Raffin, Rena Schild, D.Free, S.bukley, AleĹĄ StudenĂ˝, Christopher Polk, Chris Floyd, Keystone Features, Salzburg Festival/Ruth Walz, Salzburg Festival/Stephen Cummiskey, Marco Pernini, Mark Forget Shutterstock.com

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Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 5

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

Dear readers, Here at Dantemag we are proud to celebrate the wonders and mysteries of this world ‘nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita’. We hope we challenge and surprise with all that the modern representatives of Dante and Beatrice achieve across all walks of our cultural, political and business lives. However, this time around, the spotlight definitively falls on Beatrice alone - and Dante takes a step back. Yes, we are pleased to dedicate this issue to women, celebrating their creativity, their independence, their strength of mind and their bravery and their refusal to let the Dante’s of this world dictate to them how they should live their lives. Our cover story is a case in point. Dalila Di Lazzaro - her beauty took her on a traditional route of film star but then personal tragedy struck and through that searing experience Dalila has found success as one of Italy’s best-selling authors and leading campaigners, inspiring women all around the world. This voyage of rediscovery is reflected in the very personal account Pamela Nowicka gives of professional implosion and final catharsis, once again using her experience to help others. In the same way Lynn D Kowalski has advanced the cause of modern techniques in women’s health care she uses in her professional life as a gynaecological oncologist in Nevada by writing an accessible book that is putting women’s minds at ease. Reinvention is also the driving force for South African Hannalie Taute, an artist who started out using discarded rubber in her fairy-tale art and serendipitously created a thriving business in imaginative toys for children. The green theme continues as we follow impressive eco-friendly architectural principles being put into practice in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. Over in Western Australia our resident travel writer Neil Geraghty takes us to meet Sheila Humphries and how through dance and her art she is relaying the heart-rending story of the injustices suffered by her people, the Noongar. Salzburg Festival featured two new operas recounting the agonising suffering of three amazing women whose real-life DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

Dante and Beatrice “Villa Melzi” Bellagio Como Italy

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

stories had tragic endings across both World Wars – Reya von Galen reviews and discusses these ground-breaking productions. The status quo is invariably woman-hostile and it takes individuals with strength of mind and principles to make the suits take notice. The Hollywood and music moguls are a hard bunch to crack but Dantemag reveals how, slowly but surely, women are fighting back against their sexualisation and are using their maturity, talent and sheer bloody-mindedness to break the mould. We also meet a legend who is still bursting with life and pioneering spirit – Rita Moreno was one of the first Latino stars and she is still fighting the good fight. Modern-day power women use their influence, too, in innovative ways – Beatrice Trussardi is one such. She heads a global fashion brand but, at the same time, promulgates, through her Trussardi Foundation, contemporary art in a unique travelling museum, reconnecting familiar locations in Milan with stunning examples of modern artists’ work. Women’s role in society and place in the dynamics of relationships are given a fascinating historical perspective as Elisa Nocca discovers a turn-of-the-century lecture given by her great aunt on precisely those themes. Meanwhile in Portugal Isabel Moreira has become a feared campaigning politician – we hear her thoughts on how the current austerity programmes are impacting on life and whether the principles at the heart of constitutions should reflect our changing economic reality. It is this spirit of creative reinvention and personal rediscovery that we celebrate. No longer the age of “appearances”, of superficial judgements of women as objects of beauty and meek domestication, this is the age of “being who you are”, that inner beauty and truth which inspire others, to make others believe that, emphatically yes, you don’t need to be defined by other people’s perceptions, presuppositions, indeed misconceptions of what you should be and how you should behave. We are proud to proclaim this issue BEATRICEMAG! As a postscript, we are pleased to announce that soon your favourite bi-monthly will be available in Spanish and Italian. Watch this space for further up-dates. Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 7

FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

Food For Thought Harmony Of The Opposites. A ‘Compostella’ Pilgrimage by Elisa Nocca

Sorting through some items and mementos belonging to a great aunt of mine, I came across an essay dated 1903, entitled “Women in Civilisation and History”. It was a small bound pamphlet, its pages already yellowed with age and which the author, a certain Maria Compostella, had signed for my great aunt on the occasion of the lecture she had given at the Treviso Circolo Sociale. My curiosity aroused, I set about reading it. “Women are the great modifiers of the social psyche” – that was her opening statement and what immediately fascinated me was her style with its old-fashioned turn of phrase. “In early societies, women appeared colourless and their status was that of an unequal minority; they were more objects rather than human beings, liberty and morality were nonexistent attributes” DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

Maria Compostella goes on to trace the chronology of women and to point out that marriage provided the first fundamental impetus for change. “For the Greeks and Romans, it moved from being a chance union of natural instincts to being an association and bond that contemplated the idea of human rights”. The next factor in preparing women for their “civil virtue” was Roman religion. The temples of Venus conferred on them the role of keeper of the family, thereby earning respect in both private and public life. The law allowing a husband to sell or even murder his wife (as she was his chattel) fell into disuse from this point onwards. Nevertheless, women in antiquity did not yet possess any concrete freedoms of expression and it was to be Christianity, according to Compostella, that provided the impetus towards a primitive form of “relationship”. Indeed a Christian upbringing allowed women to experience both joy and sorrow, although always within the

FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

What has been the role of women in society and within personal relationships? Elisa Nocca unearths a fascinating snapshot of turn-of-the-century thinking on the matter and assesses the real progress we have made, or not. bounds of modesty. In subsequent centuries they were increasingly elevated to the status of “heavenly being” for their love and beauty, culminating in Dante’s love poetry for his Beatrice. However, the imaginary world of the poet aside, the reality was that women still suffered tortured lives, which our author describes with telling bluntness – “and what greatness were they capable of? One only need think of the hard challenge faced by so many sacrificing themselves to matrimony and motherhood, entombed in obscurity and solitude”. Consequently day to day life was not easy, Compostella tells us “These three transitions, namely marriage, Roman religion and Christian upbringing had the effect of fashioning strong and gentle women, decisive, strong of mind and heart, from who the whole of Europe benefited when the age of warring nations arrived” To get to know more about the author, I have a look on the internet; the essay refers to “Professor Maria Nob. Compostella”. Nothing much comes up. It seems she was a history professor at Ca Foscari University in Venice at the end of the 19th century but the source isn’t verifiable. So a lady born, it would seem, during the period of the battle for Italian independence and unification. Of course we have proof she was an academic and boasted an illustrious career. But no picture, no other historical reference. Reading further, Maria Compostella line by line reveals a subtle distinctive feature emerging in women’s behaviour. “The influence women may exert on the mind, on upbringing and the fate of mankind is considerable and powerful [….].possessing a strength impossible to measure, to foresee, let alone understand. She will always be able to inspire humanity [….]. Quietly happy, sincere and secretly indulgent, she can become, when the occasion demands it, man’s humble servant, not out of any unconscious passivity but merely in order to indulge man his whimsy for being in command” Finally Maria Compostella, career woman, viewed woman’s emancipation with great suspicion. “We are enjoying the benefits of our age; we have gained access to traditional studies, in industry and the professions [….] Great care needs to be taken when overturning the natural idea of things. Strength and logic are man’s forte; in a woman’s nature, sentiment and imagination predominate over reason so, consequently, to contemplate disrupting this balance would spoil everything. Just as a horse’s attribute is its agility, and that of a man his daring, so a woman’s is her affection and tenderness. If we take this away from her, we will not only see all her attractive features disappear but the harmony of opposites will be disrupted because it is as a result of the harmony between

opposites that we attain order in the world - let that never be forgotten!” For Compostella this definitely did not mean women should deny their true nature; indeed, she later declares that women must realise themselves “in the purpose for which they were created. They must fight for their ideals and be contemptuous of the unjustified and popular idea that when a woman is abused she must keep quiet and forgive her abuser”. It should be remembered, of course, that the arguments she uses date from more than a century ago. One could say, throughout all her thinking, the balance a woman’s identity gives to a relationship is guaranteed by its different essential qualities being clearly distinct, namely, man is strength and woman sentiment. What could we tell her about us women nowadays? I would like to put her mind at rest, but, with no sense of irony, it is not easy to describe our contemporary ‘selva oscura’ - Dante’s ‘dark forest’. In this day and age distinctions have been lost – both these qualities of strength and sentiment belong equally to men and women alike. And so the opposing developments she so mistrusted are more about how these two natures can be said to be in harmony, rather than which is to be regarded as whose specific prerogative, whether in practise or by rights and it is this which represents our major advance in relationships between the sexes. After having struggled for centuries in silence, women have played a part in and been devastated by two world wars following so close on from each other, joined street marches, gained consensus, freedom of expression, in word and protest movements, and acquired political and managerial power. There have been many gains from behaviour models that rely much more on the interaction between men and women. At times, it has to be said, the merging of these different models appears to create confusion, sometimes resulting in women affecting some adopted maleness and in men limiting themselves to merely describing the feeling of their masculinity. Unfortunately there still does not exist real equality in terms of civil rights. In the world more than 70,000 women every year are killed as a result of fatal physical abuse, not to mention how many thousands more sublimate deep within themselves their dignity and dreams as they suffer innumerable acts of violence. The reverse abuse, woman on man, does not occur with anything like the same frequency. Our identity as women has changed because the rules of the game between the various parties have changed. And from the yellowing pages of a longforgotten lecture given to the members of the Treviso Circolo Sociale in 1903 Maria Compostella has left us with a clear rallying call – to remain, resolutely and squarely, women; to keep, therefore, fearlessly weaving the warp and woof of our social fabric using ways and means that are distinctively feminine. We may suffer setbacks in the future but the important thing is to pick ourselves up again, stay the course and keep moving onwards and upwards. Tr. Philip Rham Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 9

comedy THE DIVINE Around the World

Halfway along our life’s path. Lost in a dark wood. Unable to find the right way…

PARADISO

Dear Beatrice…

Canto “There are so few

mysteries in the world that whatever the answer is it will always be a good one” commented Chelsea Clinton when asked if she knew the sex of their baby soon after she and her hubby banker Mark Mezvinsky announced they were expecting their first child. Bill and Hillary said they were thrilled to become grandparents. It’s a girl! It’s a girl! Her name is Charlotte and she will be the first granddaughter to the first – maybe - grandmother president of the US. Talking about female empowerment....

CantoShe is used to

getting many awards but only for her interpretation of dramatic roles in films. But this time the only Australian double Oscarwinner Kate Blanchett received an-

other one to add to the list . After speaking to the students of Macquarie University in Sydney she was made an Honourary Doctor of Letters on the 25th of September. She certainly deserves it because nobody can literally interpret a role better than she does. Well done, Kate, and please keep delighting us with the strength of your majestic performances!

III

Canto A m a l

Alamudding is the LebaneseBritish human rights lawyer who took one of the bigger stars in Hollywood off the market by marrying him in Venice this September. Beside her beauty the 36 year-old has an amazing CV as a lawyer - she has represented Julian Assange and ex-Ukrainian PM Yulia Timoshenko. Of course we send the happy couple our best wishes but we also want to imagine how the fairytale continues after all this in the years to come. Well a family can’t be called such without a few kids, and seeing we live in a world where images speak louder than words a beautiful white house full of Greek marbles would also be the perfect setting. Cool, right? They would be the perfect couple to revitalise a lame institution. After all an actor has already been installed there and the rest of us are still paying the price. Maybe this time, considering the passion for human rights that brought the platinum couple together, is the right time for the US

DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

Virgil what can be said of...

to get a proper foreign policy act together, one that is based more on in-depth knowledge rather than corrupt lobby interests.

Dear Beatrice I guess one can always live in hope but it would be a great fairytale for our ailing world, don’t you think?

Canto Some newspaper

reported that Baby North West stole the show at a fashion event in Paris. Of course you would think that when your mother is Kim Kardashian and your father is Kanye West you might be used to the high decibel noise in your house, but really, do you need to force your own fourteen month-old daughter to be at a catwalk show? Of course it might be highly educational and might represent quality time for an attention-seeking family that does not know the boundaries between show biz and private life. But before it turns into some new trend in selfies we’d better start a petition to bring in a minimum age for kids to be allowed to attend fashion shows, What do you think? It’s just so we can keep our sanity - and that of innocent children.

Purgatorio

Canto

In London, a Russian student, whose jewel-encrusted car has b e come an online sensation, has openly spoken about her millionaire’s lifestyle. She doesn’t understand the fuss over her silver C class Mercedes, covered in one million Swarovski crystals and claimed her only disappointment was that people underestimated its value! The photo of her car parked outside Harrods as an early 21st present went

Canto NEW

so she can make the headlines in the wake of her new CD release of a song by Nick Cave, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd and Anna Calvi. The rock world’s

viral. The Russian who lives in Knightsbridge told The Sun tabloid newspaper that she liked everything encrusted in crystal and she had hundreds of pairs of shoes …. just one question, anything encrusted in your brain? or will that come all in good time?

III Canto

H o w convenient for 67 year-old song writer Marianne Faithfull to trash Miley Cyrus and Rihanna, two of the biggest pop stars of the moment,

Inferno

YORK. Carmen Segarra was hired as a New York Federal Reserve officer, as p a r t of the revamped financial watch dog set up in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis . When she filed an overly critical report on Goldman Sachs’s lack of any policy on preventing conflict of interest at the international bank, as required by the regulators, the Harvard, Columbia, Sorbonne and Cornell University-educated high-flier was sacked after only seven months on the job. But before leaving she secretly recorded hours of entire discussions between Goldman Sachs’s livein Fed regulator and the bank, which have now been broadcast on National Public Radio. The senior regulator can be heard gen-

tly bringing up a potential lapse regarding conflict of interest then not pressing the point, despite calling the deal “shady”. Well, we’ve heard it all before, when, in 2008, the Lehman Brothers went under and the Federal Reserve was shown to have a complete lack of control over these fraudsters. It is, however, the first time that a whistleblower comes from within the Federal Reserve itself. Segarra, subsequently, lost a lawsuit for damages after her sacking but she has appealed.

Canto Historic vic-

tory once again for the National Front party winning its first ever seats in the French senate this September. Stéphane Ravier in Marseilles and David Rachline in Fréjus confirmed the party’s political breakthrough under Marine Le Pen, after winning control of a dozen municipalities in elections last March and coming top of the European election in May. Could this well lead its leader to becoming the next and first female president for France in 2017? Considering what the last two presidents have achieved, I think the French might be well ready for a woman. I can’t wait to see Marine versus Angela discussing those important European matters the German chancellor has ignored for so long. I just wish it could be sooner as three years might be too long for the ailing EU.

grand dame claims their desperation to succeed has caused them to compromise their dignity. Admittedly, high-grade booty-shaking was unheard-of fifty years ago. The world has moved on and not necessarily for the better but what about accepting a bit of responsibility, seeing this all may be the result of that ‘sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll’ legacy left to us by so many of her generation? Or is it easy to forget certain things now as we’ve become older and wiser? Still, trashing a younger singer is an old PR trick. Just look at Lionel Richie having a go before announcing his new tour starting in February 2015 not sure if it’s paid off in terms of ticket sales though...

into marriage too. This is often a case says Prem when a man is hiding his homosexuality. One of the main reasons Prem founded Freedom Charity was to campaign for forced marriage to become a crime in the eyes of the law, which it did early this year. From small acorns do great oaks grow. It can be done - all you need is the strength of your convictions.

III Canto

For more information visit www. freedomcharity.org.uk

A Aneeta Prem is a 37 year-old British-Asian magistrate who founded the Freedom Charity in 2010 to help victims of forced marriage but also those at risk of female genital mutilation (FMG) and other human rights abuses. Although forced marriage is most common in communities of south Asian descent, Prem sees more and more cases from Turkish families and the traveller community. She believes in the past people were reluctant to take on this issue for fear of being politically incorrect and culturally insensitive. Prem says this should not be allowed even though it is still occurring. The UK’s forced marriage unit dealt with 1,302 cases last year but Prem believes the problem is actually much bigger. Although the vast majority of victims are female some men are forced

To what other terraces of doom and pain, dear Virgil, will you accompany me… next time....

Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 11

COLUMNS - Divine Comedy

the EARTH series The EARTH series honours the earth we walk on.

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COLUMNS - Divine Comedy

Issue 04 June-July 2014 | DANTEmag 13

ART

Hannalie Tauteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Love Affair With Rubber by Heidi Erdmann

DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

ART

How do you combine recycling rubber, fairy tales and embroidery to create groundbreaking art and then have the inspiration to design an award-winning new line in childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s toys that are taking the world by storm? Dantemag reveals the jewel that is the South African artist, Hannalie Taute.

It is almost unsurprising to discover that the small coastal town of Stillbay is also known as the Bay of Sleeping Beauty. It is here where South African artist Hannalie Taute lives and works; where she creates her fairy taleinspired iconic works using rubber and tractor inner tubes as her primary medium. The fact that there is no art supply shop in this town is of no consequence to her. She needs a tyre supplier and there is a tyre shop in every small South African town. With the recent addition of embroidery to her work she is also quick to point out that while haberdashery shops may be going out of fashion in the big cities, the same is not true in Stillbay and neither in any of the small towns in the area. With

Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 15

ART

from Lobotoy-me series 2012

no picture framer in town Taute has long settled on re-working any form of vintage frame for the presentation of her work, often including the framing as part of the broader narrative. Taute found herself catapulted into the limelight after a successful exhibition in March this year. She says it is comforting to know that Cape Town is only a four hour drive away, but having found a reliable courier service and a fast internet connection, she sees no reason to leave her Stillbay studio. Taute studied fine arts, and, in a recent interview, confirmed that she was always going to be an artist. When her husbandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s job took them to a small town, she continued with her career, alongside her primary focus of being a mother. With limited time DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

and access to materials she only managed to participate in group exhibitions. Taute made sure she entered the important competitions and eventually found a gallery, Knysna Fine Arts, in the nearby town of Knysna. She worked in a variety of media, most often re-constituting the meaning of found objects, or creating works using pattern paper. Toys and references to fairy tales have long informed her work. She attributes her interest in fairy tales to discovering the writing of Marina Warner, in particular From the Beast to the Blonde. Shei Shonangonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pillow Book made an impression as well as Bruno Bettleheimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, The Uses of Enchantment. She has always loved books, and living in a small town has only increased that appetite. She has a long list of books

ART

No hard feelings

embroidery on rubber/inner tube

which are waiting to be read, and she is currently enjoying a slow read of Nick Cave’s Death of Bunny Monroe. Taute had never tried her hand at making actual children’s toys; when she finally did, it was out of frustration more than by design. She was searching for alternative options to the mass-produced plastic choices on offer in supermarkets and toyshops. She wanted her children to play with something other than plastic. She considered rubber because it was easily available, eco-friendly, non-toxic, durable and it also felt good. Her small animal toys became popular and in September 2011 she launched a series called Lobotoy-me, which went on exhibition at the international COP 17

Green symposium in Durban, South Africa. Her work did not go unnoticed in Durban and in 2012 she was invited by the Cape Craft and Design Institute to exhibit at the internationally renowned Design Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa’s premier design event. Here, Taute’s rubber toys found an increasing market. She made links with anti-poaching agencies and donated a portion of the sale price to charities, but at the same time she found herself at a crossroads. Her own children had outgrown their need for soft alternative toys and so she found she had more time, and a great desire to accelerate the process of working with rubber; she wanted to move beyond the confines of function, it was time to add Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 17

ART

An empty shell, 2014

content. The breakthrough came as a result of a request from a client to add a child’s name onto a rubber toy. She tried a few options but it was with a needle and thread that she found success. With embroidery she was now able to combine various strands in her work; rubber is the foundation onto which she carefully stitches her very topical issues and comments. Taute is not the first South African artist to work in rubber, Andries Botha created monumental sculptural works in the early1990s and Nichols Hlobo is an internationally renowned artist, known for his rubber installations. Working in this medium suits Taute’s conscience, it is a re-purposing of a waste material, with the added bonus that it is accessible. The masculinity of the medium, combined with the femininity of embroidery is a perfect vehicle for her focus on feminist issues. She has discovered the huge advantages and potential of working with rubber, she is excited by the idea of taking her works completely out of the traditional framed presentation and has embarked on making her rubber canvases much larger. Fairy tales are short stories, and the much larger surface gives her the opportunity to explore her provocative interpretations in greater depth and detail. Taute’s first solo exhibition Rubber Ever After was presented at the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival in March 2014. She presented a full body of work, comprising more than thirty individual pieces, and she hosted daily live performances. She exDANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

Rubber, rubber on the wall... 2013

plains she is not necessarily a performance artist; she just loves dressing up in a fairy tale character outfit, which she makes herself by using her rubber off-cuts and vintage dresses she has found. Her exhibition received critical acclaim and she became known as ‘The Rubber Lady’. A month later she beat a host of other nominees and received the award for best exhibition at the festival. From the sleepy hollows of Stillbay she has been conducting interviews with newspapers, magazines and radio presenters. When asked to be interviewed for television, Taute travelled to Cape Town, and she did not disappoint. Dressed in her signature brightly-coloured, hand made costumes, complete with a rubber-covered pith helmet, she shared the tales that mark out her exciting career. She has no plans to exit Stillbay, and there is little need to do so – the world has found her. Hannalie Taute is currently working towards her first major solo exhibition, which will be opening in Cape Town in 2015.

ART

Not part of the fairytale, but hang in thereâ&#x20AC;?

embroidery on rubber/inner tube

Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 19

DESIGN

Building Green in Malaysia by Jaime Khoo

Kuala Lumpur is a typically bustling humid south east Asian metropolis but there is an inspirational school of new architects who meticulously incorporate inspirational energysaving and sustainable concepts in their designs. Dantemag reports.

Malaysia is a very young country. However, I believe it has evolved in leaps and bounds architecturally. Comprising thirteen states, each one has its own distinctive architecture. Negri Sembilan, for instance, is known for its spired roof houses with painted floral carvings. These are known as the Minangkabau style.Â Whereas in Malacca, which is about an hourâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s drive away, has a mixture of Peranakan, Dutch, Portuguese and colonial British architecture.Â However, I believe with the advent of the computer and internet, many of the architectural buildings, both residential and commercial, have undergone a dramatic change, especially in terms of their uniqueness. It almost seems that all the most recent designs incorporate similar features these days, leaning towards a greener, cleaner, contemporary look full of polished concrete, large surface doors and windows in high-ceilinged rooms. There are pros and cons to this DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

DESIGN

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approach. The drawback, as mentioned earlier, is the lack of any uniqueness associated with a particular area or country but the advantages are this information super highway has allowed even those not able to travel to use the internet as their muse, so to speak. Having said that, there is still plenty of scope for creativity because if you can improvise from a known current genre or style, to me that is what makes an architect stand out and gain accolades – very similar to what happened during the period of Neoclassical architecture in the 1800s . Today we see more and more residential and commercial building designs leaning towards meeting the highest criteria of the Green Building Index (GBI), Malaysia’s very own green rating tool for new projects. And that’s exactly what my team and I achieved with our latest venture. Moreover, I think it is equally important, at the same time as we strive to build properties to the highest DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

ecological and energy-saving standards as GBI, for us to consider what a friend of mine, architect Ambra Piccin with her Cortina style in Italy so aptly calls the “ ZERO KILOMETRE”. This simply means in order to build something ecologically, you need to take into account the carbon footprint involved and how it benefits your country’s economy. I am a firm believer that if a material can be made, bought or procured in Malaysia, then it should be. I do not see the need for importing or purchasing any item from abroad as it serves absolutely no purpose. For me this is what, in essence, recycling means So, that is exactly what we aimed to achieve with the latest project my team and I embarked on. For the exterior, for instance, we built a Gabion perimeter wall to reduce the usage of cement, we created a dense but manicured landscape to maximise the flow of oxygen to the property thereby giving the client the illusion of not living

DESIGN

smack in the city centre and various water features to cool the environment further. Sporadic gaps built into the Gabion wall were specifically calculated to allow for further circulation of air around the property.Â A rainwater collection system was naturally a must as we have rain almost 300 days a year and it would be a criminal waste not to recycle it. The water collected is used in an irrigation network for the plants and trees, operated by a solar-powered timer. LED lighting is employed throughout the property, both externally and internally.Â For me, making a building green goes further than merely employing materials which help in reducing energy consumption. It must also ensure that the propertyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s maintenance and sustainability is catered for. For instance, stucco Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 23

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paint was used on the external walls so even in our harsh and polluted environment, the building will probably need only repainting once every ten to fifteen years , rather than, as more traditionally happens, approximately every 2 years. The ponds we created were bio-filter ponds which require cleaning only once a year rather than once a month, for instance.

are left open for a period of time, then the live microbes do not function quite as well. Incorporating this antioxidant agent, made up as it is of live microbes, means no chemical-based detergent can be used in the house cleaning and anyway there would be no need frankly, making the residence even more ecofriendly.

The house’s interior was one of the most interesting residential projects I have had the pleasure of working on. For the first time ever, we combined an antioxidant agent made up of live microbes with concrete, plaster, cement and paints throughout the building. The point of this is to increase oxygen levels whilst eliminating any free radical agents like mildew or fungus and so forth from forming internally. The result has been astounding as the house has a constant fresh odour and even food stored in the open does not go off, due to the absence of bacteria in the air. Having said that, if the doors and windows

High ceilings, open concept design and floor-to-ceiling doors and windows add to the cross- ventilation in this residence, thus permanently reducing airconditioning use. Coupled with the water features throughout the property this lends it an air of zen-like flow, creating an environment of calm and serenity.

DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

As it is situated smack in the middle of Kuala Lumpur, noise and particle pollution are inevitable. We tackled this issue by using specially recycled aerated foam brick blocks throughout the residence; these are both durable

DESIGN

and functional in drastically reducing the noise pollution by almost 50% and in keeping the residence wonderfully cool. An equivalent to double-glazed glass, Low-E glass, was strategically placed only at areas where there was direct sunlight. This lowers the cost and at the same time helps to lessen the heat intensity. The floor-to-ceiling windows and doors we included maximised the sunlight entering the property thereby reducing the need for lighting during the day. The landscaping was purposely designed so as to enhance not only the aesthetics but also to keep to the idea of creating a sanctuary for the owners, creating a feeling of being at one with nature in almost every corner. Vertical planting was introduced on the west side to cool the heat generated from the evening sun. Many other applications were incorporated in the overall concept of the building with the specific aim of reducing and saving costs, energy, water

and future maintenance but I have highlighted what I consider to be the most important and the most exciting for us architects here in Malaysia and as an example for the rest of the world. Although some architectural designs in Malaysia have gained traction in line with being green, more can still be done. With natural resources becoming more and more scarce, we should use more recycled building materials; as global warming becomes more of a reality, we should plant more and more trees around the property, rather than paving over lawns or introducing decking, let alone cutting down existing trees. We should introduce more cutting-edge energy-saving materials and designs, and move towards simplicity and minimalism in our architectural concepts. Malaysia’s Green Building Index is ground-breaking and having a hugely positive effect in my country but I will leave you with a clarion call – remember the ZERO KILOMETRE -BUY LOCAL! Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 25

POLITIC

Isabel Moreira, Can Constitutions Survive As We Know Them? by Mario Moniz Barreto

Isabel Moreira has become the leading light in Portuguese politics but Dantemag finds out if the drastic changes austerity measures have imposed on so many Europeans mean the country’s constitutions can no longer deal with the upheavals of modern society? DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

Constitutions, the cornerstone of any state claiming to live by the Rule of Law, are a hot topic in Portugal and elsewhere where deep austerity programmes have been launched. This means that the Constitutional Court has been placed at the centre of many politicised arguments on whether legislation passed by a parliament where the Government parties are in majority and signed by the President, even if reluctantly, does indeed comply with the country’s 1975 Constitution. STICKING UP FOR THE SYSTEM: ISABEL MOREIRA Who better to debate this with than one of the country’s most notorious constitutionalists? Isabel Mayer Moreira, a Socialist Party MP, and fundamental rights activist extraordinaire rants against what she calls “stupid austerity” imposed by what she deems to be a contradictory neo liberals who

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want to reduce state services and puritanically regulate personal freedoms. The 38 year old Isabel, daughter of an illustrious former conservative politician and academic in International Relations, first grabbed the limelight during two of the most hard-fought debates the country has had in the last decades, one the decriminalisation of abortion, the other the granting to “same sexers” (as Gore Vidal put it) the same rights as straights enjoyed in marriage – or at least most of them. In both debates she won.. During these debates the very elegant Isabel - I know she will never forgive me for saying so - spoke fearlessly and with an assertiveness that crushed all her opponents: from the conservative catholic, to the supposedly moderate university lecturer. It is therefore no surprise that she has gone on to distinguish herself in parliament as a committed advocate for the constitution even, as she is quick to remind me, at some cost to her political career. We meet late afternoon in a balmy and still sunny Lisbon in the public gardens surrounding the Parliament building. I start by asking Isabel if she believes that we still have in this country a constitution as such, to which she retorts” yes, of course!”. She believes the DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

nation’s constitution is modern, maybe one of the most modern in Europe. Isabel goes on to add that when legislation and budgets had measures judged to be unconstitutional the principles they violated had nothing to do with the constitution as such, but with basic principles such as ‘proportionality’ or ‘confidence’. Principles, Isabel stresses, are present in all constitutions of democratic states the world over and that “only a fool” would think of revising them. Not satisfied with this first answer I go for round 2. This government has not had one single budget measure that hasn’t been referred to the Constitutional Court, as have other pieces of reform legislation. So do we indeed still live under the same constitution? Isabel Moreira insists on a yes. Of course, it is extraordinary to see so many cases being successfully referred to the Constitutional Court. And yet the system worked. Rule of Law prevailed. Parliament and Government had to go back to the drawing board and work around those rulings to come up with other solutions. Perhaps the most unusual aspect here in Moreira’s view is how the Constitutional Court found itself at the centre of the political stage and how, for such a long time, the head of state and others involved in the process

POLITIC

either refused to act or respond. She adds: ‘The Constitutional Court’s ruling may have even aided the government, by preventing greater reductions in pensioners’ and public servants’ income. This in turn boosted consumer spending and with that some growth”. Ironically Isabel says that “the constitution hasn’t changed, it hasn’t been reviewed, the way it is interpreted hasn’t changed, the way it is checked hasn’t been modified, with so many issues declared unconstitutional. So the only thing that really needs to change is the Government, hopefully at the next elections in 2015”. NEW RIGHTS, OLD QUESTIONS As in most countries, so in Portugal, citizen’s rights are enshrined in the Constitution. Isabel identifies “new” as well as “old” issues with human rights that could use a face-lift. She also believes that the Constitution much like a “living thing” is adaptable to almost every context and time. This is an area close to her heart. Isabel had tattooed on her arm the date when same-sex marriage was legalised. But an even more urgent matter for Isabel Moreira is the European-wide

new reality that will sooner or later have to be addressed constitutionally. The poverty trap into which so many young and old, graduates and the less qualified have fallen into. The jobless, but also those in work, so often in part-time jobs, who are not even entitled to the minimum wage which, in Portugal, is about 475€ a month.. A guaranteed right to life with dignity should come under the scope of what constitutions normally include as basic principles, thereby legally obliging institutions to act This impoverishment of the middle classes, together with the even greater decline of the poorest among the poor, in so many countries where inequality is rising, as Piketty so accurately describes in his magnum opus “Capital”, is a consequence of, as Isabel puts it, “an ideological programme for public policy, inspired by flawed economists that attacks pensioners, public servants and the poorest people whose survival depended on already meagre subsidies, and, who, in Portugal, were not exempted from “savage cuts” even if they earned as little as 600€ per month!” Once again I feel Isabel’s blood racing. She is doubly unhappy: this path is unfair as it is ineffective. She is baffled at how anyone can still be convinced that greater flexibility in firing someone and other measure that make southern Europe’s workforces one of the least regulated in the world, can lead to more prosperity. She points out that protected workforces are highly Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 29

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Mario Moniz Barreto with Isabel Moreira

productive in places like Germany, or Denmark, or The Netherlands.

Can, or should, constitutions do more to stem this trend?

DOES THE CHECKING NEED TO BE RECHECKED? Constitutional Courts tend to be passive in the way they go about ensuring basic principles are adhered to. Cases need to be brought before them before they can pronouce. Otherwise we would risk subverting these checks and balances by creating ‘judicial governments’.

Not according to Isabel. She believes constitutions are already doing enough. In Portugal’s case fascist political parties are banned. In 1975 the country was emerging from a forty-eight year-long extreme right-wing regime. To this day every political group has to register with the Constitutional Court to be allowed to run in elections. There is a process of checks: from the number of supporters, to an analysis of the party’s statutes. Over the past three decades only one political party has been declared unconstitutional.

Isabel defends the way the system is set up in Portugal. It is not so dissimilar from a lot of others around the world. The Constitutional Court has its judges appointed by several institutions based on a lot of political wrangling. She goes on to point out that, like for instance in the US, something happens the moment a judge takes office – they usually leave their former political allegiances at the door. This results in some surprising rulings, namely a Republican being more forward thinking then a Democrat. When confronted with what US Supreme Court Justice Stevens advocates in his recent book “Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution”, Isabel thinks of the issues he prioritises for amendment, two would be relevant in Europe: racial gerrymandering (fiddling with electoral districts to enhance the chances of success for the political party in power) and “sovereign privilege” (by which state and state services have greater protection under the law than private companies do). Aggressive tax collection services is an area Isabel thinks state has too much power. THE RISE OF THE EXTREMISTS Legislative elections in Europe in the last few years have thrown up some bitter surprises: the rise of extreme right wing parties as well as that of populist political movements, from the UK, to Hungary, from the Netherlands to France, from Italy to Greece.

DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

The MP would rather see us all dealing with the rise of extremist movements not by using legal means, but through politics - denouncing these organisations for what they are and mobilising voters against them. So, strip the sheep’s clothes from the likes of Marine Le Pen! THE SECURITY ISSUE Whistle-blowers like Assange, Manning, or Snowden have outed the incredibly intrusive workings of agencies like the NSA and the total disregard for our right to privacy. Furthermore they have also demonstrated the effectiveness of data collected in defusing security issues. Should we not therefore question if our rights have taken time out? Isabel complains that “there is a group of politicians claiming to be liberal who know so little about what liberal thinking really means in relation to this subject. They lose sight of the distinction between positive and negative freedoms”. This refers to how far our personal freedoms can go before they start affecting third parties. She cannot accept therefore this state meddling as well as the presumption that we are all guilty of something.,as it ignores any principle of proportionality, just because it is easier and simpler to do so. On the contrary, as Isabel puts it, “the intransigent defence of rights, freedoms and our guarantees requires us to brush aside simplicity”.However

POLITIC

she acknowledges any solution to this issue must be within an internationally agreed framework. FROM SECURITY TO MORALS, A SHORT STEP On this Isabel thinks there are common characteristics in “loss of freedom and in the attaining of freedom”. Both take small baby steps, which makes it harder for people to realise what is being done and then oppose it. Isabel exemplifies this ‘nanny-state’ method in what has happened to smokers, who are treated like criminals, morally weak people polluting other people’s air.. Isabel, who incidentally used to smoke nearly two packs a day and has changed to electronic cigarettes, is infuriated at the way these are also being persecuted. Why? Because health officials believe smoking, or rather, vaporising an electronic cigarette provides a bad example in public. In her words, health authorities would “rather see a smoker dead, then a vaporiser happy!” It is as if we now all have a duty to educate each other at the cost of freedom and singularity: A minor detail, that she thinks - and, for what it is worth, I also think - is an “escalating process along a totalitarian path”. The state wants to be a “behaviour modulator”, resorting to restrictions, taxes and prohibitions, and denying a person’s right of choice.

completely with that sad, nostalgic report of life in the last days of the AustroHungarian Empire and the horror that followed its demise. Isabel, while maintaining a hopeful, yet realistic attitude, fears the parallels between Vienna then and Brussels now may be all too evident. The catastrophic results of the fall of the former would also be similar if the latter, the European integration project, were to fail. Feeling the growing lack of hope and optimism, she nevertheless believes it is her duty to carry on the struggle: against inequality and these ideologically based austerity programmes, which are eroding our freedoms.

Do we then, to use a John Rawls term, need to come up with a revised “idea of public reason”? Isabel replies with an eloquent phrase, “The state cannot defend me from myself ”.

As a community, we need to reconnect with basic ethics. We have to redress intergenerational solidarity. We need to claim back the bond between socio economic classes and declare,no, the poor are not responsible for the state they are in. We need to go back and read again what most constitutions have always proclaimed and remind politicians what has in many cases been forgotten and, in others, misrepresented.

POST SCRIPT I round off my conversation with Isabel by asking her if she feels we have either reached the end of history or we are on the verge of a series of violent explosive events? She shudders at this. She has just finished reading “The World of Yesterday”, Zweig’s memoirs and she found herself relating

After all what other man-made charters drafted with the distinct aim of defining how we live together in civilised society can declare with such felicity and beauty “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and in our specific European context “Liberté, égalité et fraternité”? Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 31

BUSINESS

Beatrice Trussardi Global Executive, Art Champion and Mother In this our issue dedicated to women in society, Dantemag’s editor Massimo Gava met up with this eclectic Italian lady, who, as well as heading a global brand, has the mission to pioneer contemporary art in surprising and innovative ways

Beatrice Trussardi, as the name suggests, is a member of one of the most prestigious families in Italian fashion. In fact she is actually the president and CEO of the famous Trussardi Group. However she also makes time in her busy life for her work as a philanthropist. As part of the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi she created a travelling museum committed to producing and exhibiting contemporary art across a wide range of platforms. In addition, she has received many awards from all over the world for her commitment to projects aimed at raising public awareness about the impact of modernisation and the role of women in society. On top of all that she is also a mother to two children. I met her at the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi’s restaurant, just next door to the famous Teatro La Scala in Milan. “So where should we start?”, I ask. “I don’t know”, she replies with a smile. “Alright. How about telling me who the real Beatrice Trussardi is?” Beatrice pauses slightly before answering, as if taken aback by the personal nature of my question but then she soon gets into her rhythm. “I am a creator of projects covering many areas. They range from the world of fashion to art and culture, with a special concern for social and eco responsibility. I like to pioneer projects that have never been attempted before. DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

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“I imagine, within an Italian context, there are a lot out there for you to do, right?” “Yes there are and we are very happy to play our part”. “Can you tell us a bit more about what this travelling museum involves?” “It really isn’t like a normal museum, it works more like an agency that puts on and organises cultural events related to contemporary art. We started it all eleven years ago this November. We used to organise art exhibitions in the building here at the Fondazione Trussardi but then we wanted Italians to know more about the world of contemporary art, because we felt there was a knowledge gap out there in this area. You see here in Italy we’ve been exposed to all sorts of other contemporary disciplines - we know about contemporary theatre , contemporary music and literature but art, in the minds of Italians, is something more associated with the historical past, that unique heritage of ours we have grown up with and is the envy of the rest of the world” “I see. So you wanted to make Italians’ perception of art more up-to-date?” “Contemporary art has not been all that visible. We wanted to bridge that gap. With Massimiliano Gioni, our artistic director, we decided to reach out to the public and create new shows in different locations every time, bringing back to life forgotten places in the city, and at the same time linking the history of these beautiful places to a contemporary vision. That’s why we are a travelling museum, we move around, reinventing the city. DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

“Do you think you’ll get to “travel” outside Milan?” “In a way we already have. Whether we commission a completely new show or we include a new piece in an artist’s retrospective we’ve financed, the artist is free to do what they want with it and whether they sell it to a museum or a private gallery or tour it around the world, it can easily end up outside Milan” “How do you select your artists?” “We first select the location and then Massimiliano matches the artist to the location” “Is it not difficult combining the two things?” “That’s part of the challenge!”, she replies with a smile. “Working with creative people is exciting but sometimes they can get too extravagant with their demands, but our staff are good at keeping all their excesses under control! All we want is to give the artist a chance to get known in Italy” “Are you also discovering new talent?” “We don’t actively look for new talent, because that’s a completely different task; most of the artists we exhibit have already achieved international recognition at different biennales or other contemporary art events” “You also head one of the most recognised fashion groups in Italy. Where is the ‘Made in

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Trussardi Café Milano-

Italy’ brand right now?” “Where it has always been, synonymous with Italian creativity and Italian copyright. The real ‘Made in Italy’ brand represents a creation conceived in Italy, thereby guaranteeing it to be a product of the great Italian know-how” “Does it concern you that many Italian brands are being bought up by foreign companies?” “The problem is not so much Italian brands getting sold to a foreign company - that is a pure business choice, but more that we Italians are incapable of creating a framework for pooling resources and helping each other to achieve further market growth. You see, not all brands in a large group are equally successful but the group overall is strong. What has been created so far has been the work of a few international financiers, not the work of creative fashion designers. In Italy we have both the financiers and the creative fashion people but a large group involving both working together has not happened yet. Our strong individualist heritage that makes us sometimes so fiercely parochial is good for certain things but not for others. I just hope things will change with the new generation” “It has been said that the 20th century was the time for appearances while the 21st is supposed to be the time for just being - where are we, in your opinion?” “I think we are in the middle” “As a mother, what do you teach your children?” “I teach them to be curious in life and I care, I hope, for their needs, as

any mother would, but also teaching them that boundaries exist, I think it’s important they grow up being aware of that” When she took over the Trussardi group in 2002 after the sudden passing of her father Nicola, Beatrice Trussardi was only in her thirties. Together with her sister Gaia, mother Maria Luisa and brother Tomaso, she has taken the family business, founded by her grandfather Dante in 1911, from strength to strength to the point that now the group is planning to open eighty new shops with the greyhound logo worldwide by the year 2016. But beyond her evident business acumen, what is striking about Beatrice Trussardi is her ability to turn her curiosity into projects that she then offers to the public in a variety of alternative ways. Whether with the travelling museum or with any of the projects she gets involved in, Beatrice Trussardi is quite a unique player in the international arena. With her innovative business philosophy, she manages to communicate what she believes in without ever neglecting the importance of her social responsibility, a role a truly global player should never forget when caring not only about his or her nation but also about the modernisation of the entire planet. Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 35

LITERATURE

Lynn and I have been together for nearly fifteen years. I am a colorectal surgeon and she is a gynaecological oncologist in Las Vegas, Nevada. We work together. We live together. We operate together. She has always said she’d like to write a book, but I’m not sure I really took her seriously. I should have known better. When she puts her mind to something, look out! She was an early adopter of robotic surgery and we went through the learning process together. She tweaked her routine as she went, and I assisted with more than half of her first thousand cases. She became a leader in the field and started teaching other surgeons how to do it. She was busy with her patients, teaching robotics, and working with hospitals to help them start their robotic programmes when she just started putting things down on the computer and basically started writing her book. It was a “fits and starts” project, at first, but she felt she had an important story to tell that would speak to women, with a message they needed to hear. As the book progressed, I started getting really excited about it. Now Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 39

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that it has been published, I couldn’t be prouder of her and I’m glad we went through this journey together. “Why did you write this book?” “The idea really first came from my patients. Sitting down with women every day and talking about their symptoms, their concerns, and their surgical options, I worked on distilling complex medical lingo into everyday language. My patients told me, ‘You know, you’re really good at this.’ I thought to myself, ‘I should write all this down someday, so more women can benefit from what I’ve learned.’ But then the real spark to sit down and start writing came from a friend of mine. She told me a story about her mother, who went through a hysterectomy years ago and became so depressed afterwards that she attempted suicide. Apparently she was never consulted as part of the decision-making process, had no idea what was being done to her or why. Afterwards, she felt disfigured and couldn’t understand the decline in her sleep, her mood, and her femininity. Her doctor never explained anything to her or prepared her for these feelings. My friend pleaded with me, ‘You’ve got to write this book so other women don’t have to go through what my Mom did.’ “ “What’s your book about?” “The book was written for women facing gynaecological problems to help them better understand their symptoms and their body. It’s also a guide to DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

explain the many surgical options available to women today, given the current explosion in medical technology. But its most important message is about patient empowerment. I wanted to give women, and their interested male partners, tools to become a more integral part of the medical decision-making process. These tools can be applied to any medical problem, not just hysterectomies. Very often, people just don’t know what questions to ask their doctor or how to engage in medical decision-making because the terminology is so unfamiliar. I also wanted to address the fears many women feel when faced with surgery. The title of the book, ‘Not Your Mother’s Hysterectomy’ really comes from the fact that women often think about a surgery they might need today through the eyes of their mother, aunt, or grandmother, who went through the hysterectomies yesterday. So much has changed, yet many women don’t know their options, and so they put things off longer than they should, perhaps to the detriment of their long-term health.“ “In your book, you talk a lot about the advantages of minimally invasive surgery and robotic surgery. Why are you such an advocate of this approach?” “I wanted to share my experience of robotic surgery and how it transformed my practice and even my relationships with my patients. In the first chapter, I go into a very dark and disillusioned period of my life, when my practice was blown apart by an unscrupulous doctor. He was the medical director of our large group of surgeons, and he used his power over the finances to divert millions of dollars. When I realised I had been so naïve and allowed this person to take advantage of all of us, I felt completely betrayed. All my joy in practising medicine was gone, and I lost trust in people as a result. I needed something to renew my love of surgery and to reconnect with my patients, and robotic surgery was the catalyst. I had

LITERATURE

been doing as much minimally invasive surgery (MIS) as possible back in 2005. MIS involves performing an operation through several tiny keyhole incisions instead of one big cut. The advantages include less pain, a shorter hospital stay, quicker return to work and exercise, and fewer complications. But the women who could benefit the most from this approach were not candidates with the old technology. Women who are obese or diabetic, had extensive previous surgery, or had complex problems like cancer, endometriosis, or large fibroids weren’t candidates for traditional methods. This is because the old technology limited the surgeon’s vision and also limited their ability to control the surgical instruments inside the patient’s body. In contrast, with robotic surgery, I see in 3D high definition. Also, I am able to control the surgical instruments with natural, intuitive, and precise movements. When I was able to apply this new technology to the women who needed it the most, my practice transformed and I did too. It felt so rewarding to see patients, scared of a difficult recovery, wake up from surgery shocked and amazed at how easy it was. I fed off their smiles and their encouragement. I was happy to be a surgeon again. And I realised that I was able to interact with my patients with a new and deeper understanding of how my recommendations as their doctor impact their lives” “Who should read your book?” “Certainly any woman with a gynaecological problem should give it a read. Also, many of my patients’ husbands or partners have gotten a lot out of it. They are better able to relate to their wife’s feelings about her body and provide more support during recovery. I wrote the book in a conversational style because I wanted the reader to feel like she was sitting down with me having a consultation in my office. You don’t need any medical background to understand it, but nurses, medical students, and others in the health care industry have found it really help-

ful to give them a quick overview of the current landscape in gynaecological care” “Why is patient empowerment important?” “This is really the most important message of my book. Over my years of practice, I have seen so many women accept medical care from doctors they didn’t trust or receive treatments that were not tailored to their condition. Even worse, most women who’ve had a hysterectomy in the past can’t tell me why they had it or what was found. When I ask if their doctor gave them a copy of their surgical reports, they look at me like I’m crazy. To me, this is just unacceptable. In this day and age, women deserve better. But many women don’t know how to engage their doctor in the medical decision-making process. They don’t know what questions to ask or how to find the right doctor for their needs. In the book, I give women tools to become part of the To read more of Dr. Kowalski’s writing and process and to find a doctor who explore her tools for patient empowerment, visit gives them confidence and compasher blog http://notyourmothershysterectomy.com. sion. “ Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 41

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Bjork

Beyonce

DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

Lana Del Rey

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Cutting The Strings Female singers are increasingly cutting the ties that bind. That’s when it comes to dealing with record companies, managers, publicists and producers the majority of whom are men. The word is that the guys are over controlling and patronising, a claim not surprisingly made by artists of both genders. But it’s worse for the girls, who say the “suits” are also sexist. Mark Beech investigates how, in 2014, sisters are doing it for themselves and standing on their own two feet.

Pop used to come with strings attached. In 1967, Sandie Shaw won the Eurovision Song Contest with Puppet on a String. Everything about it makes it the height of 1960s sexism. It’s perhaps topped only by the song What’s New, Pussycat? Puppet on a String was one of five possible songs for entry. They were all, of course, written by people other than Shaw, in this case by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter. It was Shaw’s least favourite of the tracks she demo’ed. She had a sinking feeling when it was picked. She always hated what she called its “sexist drivel and cuckoo-clock tune.” Many people of a certain age will know the hit. Anyone younger will probably have heard the single. Once is quite enough. It gets locked in your head and stays there. “If you say you love me madly, I’ll gladly, be there/ Like a puppet on a string.” Shaw accompanied it with a little jerky dance. She wanted to move in time Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 43

MUSIC St Vincent handout

Sandie Shaw

Adele

with the merry-go-round tune, then was ordered to stand on the spot for the television broadcast. She inadvertently ended up looking like a marionette herself. “In or out, there is never a doubt, just who’s pulling the strings. I’m all tied up in you.” Leave aside the knotty imagery which predates 50 Shades of Grey by a few years, the mini-skirted lovely adores her man but is all the more subjugated by doubt that he reciprocates her love:

name - “I work with some of these girls.” He was quite happy to give their names though. He was quick to compare Madonna to Margaret Thatcher - “she was long the exception that proves the rule.” The point he was making is that the star has long been her own woman and able to speak for herself, which she, of course, does unhesitatingly. For a long time there didn’t seem to be anyone who was following her with the same self-assertiveness at the very highest level of showbiz.

“Are you leading me on? Tomorrow will you be gone?” There’s no doubt who’s pulling the strings. And it isn’t Sandie Shaw. Not that this should be surprising: she’d been carefully managed ever since winning a talent contest and forced into a barefoot-beach image to fit her corny stage name. Shaw isn’t the only star to have aped a doll. God’s Chosen Puppet by Ava Kathleen Beatty regularly ends up on Internet lists of the worst covers ever. It has a kitsch image of its helpless star in a pink satin dress hanging from ribbons. I reference both Shaw and Beatty because I’ve just been speaking with a well-known, male, music promoter. He told me “there aren’t so many girl puppets on strings now, but heck has it taken a long time coming.” I thought of Eurovision. This promoter didn’t want to go on the record under his own DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

“Now it’s changing, with Adele pointing the way,” the promoter noted. “She does exactly what she wants and she’s really pulling the strings.” True, Adele Adkins has refused commercial endorsements, requests for larger tours and tacky reissues of her albums with extra tracks. All of these would make a lot of money. Adele has pointedly taken time to find herself and a husband, as well as to have a baby. (Lilly Allen is another who took a maternal break.) Others would have been pushed back to work but Adele has the sales and Grammies and can just say no. A little aside about Adele at this point: as Dante goes to press, rumours are swirling about her third album. Word from industry sources is that it will be called 25 and released this year. Big records are usually announced months

MUSIC PJ Harvey

Tori Amos

streamlined doom-gloom vamp who emerged was its owner simply playing with and exaggerating her character, a “self-styled gangsta Nancy Sinatra.”

out, to allow for a long drip-drip release of news building up to the release: preview singles, videos, announcement of title, cover images and so on. It’s thought likely that Adele will “do a Beyoncé” and reveal it at short notice with minimal fanfare, as “Mrs. Jay Z” did last year. Beyoncé is another case in point with enough commercial clout to be able to pull the strings herself. Lana Del Rey isn’t yet in the same commercial league, but she’s getting there. Unlike Adele, Lana is happy to make deluxe editions of her albums. She’s happy to do modelling work and promote brands from Jaguar to Mulberry. She started off sounding a little more mainstream as Lizzie Grant, with an image described as “aspiring model next door.” The makeover that followed turned her into Lana Del Ray (is it was first spelled) and led to countless cynical column inches about how her record company was trying to create a superstar by template. The articles weren’t particularly fair. The

Lana writes most of her songs and is quite prepared to make records as she likes them. She has ignored criticism of her lyrical content which sometimes depict less empowered women. Video Games was said to describe the singer as being a doormat, meekly willing to dress or undress just to please her lover: “It’s you, it’s you, it’s all for you, everything I do.” The singer doesn’t much care that her boyfriend likes bad or insane girls as long as he comes home, grabs a beer and bosses her about. She’s also been criticised too for the imagery seen in the Born to Die and Ride videos. Likened to “Lolita lost in the hood,” Lana comes across as an impossibly bewitching girl who looks like she has just stepped off a private jet or a catwalk - hanging out in the dirty backstreets with some less attractive guys: fat, tattooed, bald, old. I’m reminded of the questionable quote in the Catherine Breillat film Romance about some beautiful women being attracted to ugly men: “It’s a closelyguarded secret.” Some of Lana’s moves must have had the record company wondering: her role-playing as trailer-park prostitute fond of cigarettes and swearing. The fact that she can do this shows she isn’t a tool of puppet masters whose Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 45

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Laura Marling

relentless control would shut out anything likely to damage commercial appeal. The real change in 2014, claimed my promoter friend, is the sheer number of indie stars winning freedom. I was sceptical at first. After all, Björk, Tori Amos and P.J. Harvey have been around for some time. Now we have Laura Marling, Lorde, St Vincent and Ellie Goulding to name just four of many women who know their own minds, make records precisely how they think they ought to be and ignore those who say that they should make radiofriendly sounds in order to survive. The more names one adds, the stronger the case becomes. The case of La Roux is somewhat different. The act started as a duo - characterised in the usual sexist way: flamboyant/ flame haired/ outwardgoing front woman backed by the quiet brains behind the operation. There were comparisons with other British synthpop couplings such as Eurythmics DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

and Yazoo. During the course of the recording of the second album, the aptly named Trouble in Paradise, Ben Langmaid left after working on the excellent single Let Me Down Gently. I love the lyric with its knowing female words: “I hope it doesn’t seem/ like I’m young, foolish and green/ Let me in for a minute/ You’re not my life but I want you in it.” It has some way to go to beat sales of one of the single hits of the summer, Problem by Ariana Grande - a singer who threatens to derail our promoter’s argument. No artist will admit to being manufactured, of

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La Roux Trouble in Paradise cover

Ellie Goulding

Lorde

La Roux

course. There’s a tendency to say “I’m my own man or woman,” because it’s better PR and good for credibility. But Ariana has faced criticism that she is a plastic pop princess, with the lyrics not hers, though she conveniently popped in to offer some advice with them during the writing process. To generalise is to oversimplify and is dangerous, yet, for all that, the scissors are out. And I don’t mean the Scissor Sisters at this point. I ultimately give my promoter friend the benefit of the doubt. There will always be some puppets on strings. But stars have the knives out for over-controlling managers and many now have the cutting edge to sever those strings.

Mark Beech is the author of All You Need is Rock (Thistle Books). His other books include The A-Z of Names in Rock and The Dictionary of Rock & Pop Names. He is an arts and media editor, rock critic for a decade, and on Twitter at @Mark_Beech.

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Life Begins At 40? Hollywood Begs To Differ Women have continuously fought to be recognised for their talents but some institutions resolutely refuse to go beyond the surface. Hollywood seems to be the worst offenders, especially for the over-forties. For Dantemag, Philip Rham investigates and discovers how the fight-back has started.

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Life in the entertainment business has always been hard, an up-and-down rollercoaster of being in the right place at the right time and letting your obvious innate talent shine through. Alas, it was never thus – I won’t bore you with the statistic that at any one time only 1% of professionals are ever in work. Still, everything is relative, a hierarchy, ranging from fringe theatre, small-scale touring, student and indie films at the bottom, through to the main national theatre companies like the National and the Royal Shakespeare Company or major billing in a prestigious West End or Broadway theatre, arriving at the giddy heights of Hollywood blockbuster films and starring roles in long-running soaps or award-winning HBO series. Now consider, especially, the lot of women in this mad scenario. Just as in the real world, the fight still goes on for equality of opportunity in the workplace, the boardroom and in the pay packet and it sometimes seems the whole shebang is run by men – take a look at the photos of the leaders at the recent NATO summit at Cardiff to remind yourself that the sparseness of lady leaders means they stick out like sore thumbs. So it is for women in the world of theatre, TV and film and no more acutely is this felt than in the mega-buck driven world of Hollywood. For a woman in LA-LA land image is everything, especially at the start of your career. The executives want young, lithe and sexy “attractive” things to Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 49

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Octavia Spencer

Jennifer Aniston

Laura Dern

Lisa Kudrow

lure into the cinemas what they see as their principal target demographic, namely puberty-driven teens, hooked on computer games, remakes of comic book heroes and wish-fulfilment fantasies. Then again you might still be a good comedienne, kooky and fun but even then you can’t be too gross, you still have to be easy on the eye. Take “Friends” - Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, yes, tick box and then the kooky one Lisa Kudrow, yep, tick box (I mean you wouldn’t throw her out of bed, would you?). Interestingly enough, these ladies are all in their forties now. That reminds me of a scene from that classic film “When Harry Met Sally”, directed by Nora Ephron, who, please note, is, along with merely Katherine Bigelow and Sam Taylor Johnson, one of the few Hollywood film directors around (last year, just 5% of the 250 biggest films were directed by women, down from 9% a few years ago). Meg Ryan’s Sally suddenly has a blue DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

Courteney Cox

funk about her life, culminating in the terrified shriek “And I’m gonna be FORTY!!!!” “When?” asks Billy Crystal’s Harry, ever so perplexed. “Some day!”, comes the reply from the sobbing, traumatised Sally. Clearly this milestone is the beginning of the end, the start of an irreversible downward spiral of rejection and failure. This neatly mirrors the subtext prevailing in the casting suites and movie mogul boardrooms – a woman past forty is shop-soiled goods. As one famous casting director, Risa Bramon Garcia, has said, “The problem happens when writers and producers don’t see women as being sexual after 40”. When you see that in black and white, you want to cry out and protest vehemently but, alas, this is the bald truth of the matter. In consequence there are very few leading parts written for ladies over 40. Some react by pouring thousands of dollars into plastic surgery to keep the wrinkles and more at bay, even more pressing now that everything

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Trudi Styler

is in high definition. Others have even gone so far as to hide their age, alter their internet biographies, to the extent of suing the famous internet movie database of film actors and their CVs, IMDB. Junie Hoang in 2011 filed for $1 million for revealing her actual age of 41, claiming this would ruin her career. She lost, needless to say. To add insult to injury, when that magic forty threshold is breached, actresses find themselves being cast in parts jumping a generation, whereas the aging male star blissfully carries on in a smooth progression of roles. I quote you the example of Sally Field, who, although ten years older than Tom Hanks, played the romantic interest that spurned the advances of said male star in “Punchline”, only to appear a mere six years later as his mother in “Forest Gump” !! More recently Laura Dern played Reese Witherspoon’s mother in the 2013 film “Wild” when in terms of their real age difference she should

Julianne Moore

be playing her big sis. Unrealistically, Hollywood continually casts younger women in older roles... a 32-year-old chief of staff on a hospital show (KaDee Strickland on Private Practice), a 28-year-old mother of a 27-year-old son (Angelina Jolie and Colin Farrell in Alexander). The world has gone mad, I hear you say, as this has a knock-on effect on the over fifties and beyond as they are deprived of legitimate roles. Even Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 51

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Kathryn Bigelow

Nora Ephron

Annette Bening

Shirley MacLaine

for the octogenarian national treasures it is no longer a shoo-in - jumping a generation Tilda Swinton (52) bagged Angela Lansbury’s role in “Grand Budapest Hotel” - oh no, is nothing sacred ? The mothers and thankless bit parts and the wacky eccentrics fill the over-40’s landscape and more often than not ending up in straight-to-DVD gay themed movies, like Jacqueline Bisset in ”Latter Days” as a savvy mother figure or Jill St John in “The Trip” as the mother of a closet case. Even to a certain extent the great and marvellous Julianne Moore seems to playing more lesbian mothers, long-suffering wives in gay-lite movies such as “The Kids Are All Right” (with Annette Bening, a similar over-40 star) and “A Single Man” How are women with talent and guts and integrity fighting back at this iniquitous state of affairs? While some feel they have no other option than to succumb to a little help from the plastic surgeon, there are many who, by DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

Anjelica Huston

sheer dint of their personality and their kudos, survive and headline major movies. Meryl Streep and Helen Mirren immediately come to mind; indeed some wags have even said they should give up some of their endless prime roles to let the others have a chance, like Holly Hunter, Susan Sarandon (when did you last see the mighty Sarandon head-lining a movie ?) and what about Annette Bening, for that matter? Others have returned to theatre or guest in major TV series, Shirley Maclaine being conceded a teensy-weensy share of the limelight in “Downton Abbey” where Maggie Smith reigns so imperiously. Others have taken the same attitude that black actors and budding directors took, namely, set up your own production companies, commission strong scripts for leading black men and women, and believe that the strength of the final product will gain recognition and then finally the Hollywood mainstream will have to take notice and start investing some of their vast resources. Anjelica Huston is a case in point – great pedigree

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Sam Taylor Wood

Jacqueline Bisset

Sally Field

Susan Sarandon

in front of the camera turning her success into success behind the camera as producer and director. Sarah Jessica Parker, who Hollywood deems to be ‘past it’ is getting backing for her projects, while Trudie Styler has even cofounded MAVEN, a production company dedicated to promoting female talent. In addition there is now a great pool of fantastic women writers, who are writing juicy lead roles for more mature women actors; Tina Fey (“Saturday Night Live”, “30 Rock”, “Mean Girls”), Kristen Wiig (“Bridesmaids”), Lena Dunham (“Girls”, “Tiny Furniture”) are just a few of the talented ladies winning awards for their impressive work. Fans of “Glee” will not be surprised to learn that Jane Lynch, who plays the vicious Sue Sylvester in the series, has long been sticking her neck out and suggesting, via her agent, gender-switching casting –“Can you see a woman in that part?”. And so we have her in “The Fugitive” with Harrison Ford, a role originally written for a man as well as in “The 40 Year Old Virgin” assailing

Steve Carell, in a part switched round for her. In addition stars have been made, Anna Gunn at 40 rocketed to fame as Skyler White in “Breaking Bad”, Melissa Leo at 50 won an Oscar in “The Fighter” and Octavia Spencer had a breakthrough at 41 in “The Help”. And so , slowly but surely, things are changing; Hollywood is creakingly realising that women over 40 and beyond are, surprise, surprise, sexy and attractive and – wait for it – interesting and engaging! Blow me down with a feather! I am not pretending it is all a bed of roses and there is much more work to be done, MUCH more, but we have the amazing sight of The Hollywood Reporter recently running as its cover story the latest finding that nine out of the ten top female earners are women over the age of 37, with Sandra Bullock, at 48, topping the list, with Meryl Streep and Angelina Jolie included. Women are claiming who they are and refusing to be defined by the limited criteria of the crass Tinseltown machine. It will take more time for the playing field to be more even still but gloriously fulfilled mature and talented women are no longer on the touchlines – they are standing up and being counted and invading the pitch! Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 53

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Rita Moreno, Puerto Ricoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Daughter, Still Going Strong by Susanne Ramirez de Arellano

As the years pass, the great Hollywood icons slip away and leave their legacy of film and recording treasures. One such who broke the mould and blazed a trail for her race and her talent is marvellously and gloriously still with us. Dantemag finds the legend that is Rita Moreno very much alive, in mind and body, and still bursting with energy and ideas. DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

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And let the music play As long as there’s a song to sing And I will stay younger than spring. (Rita Moreno at the SAG Awards)

From the first moment you hear her voice, velvety and warm like an Ella Fitzgerald song, you feel at ease. You feel like you are talking to someone you have known a long time. Someone you can talk to about this and that. Someone familiar. You are pleasantly surprised to find that the voice belongs to the fabulous Puerto Rican actress, singer and entertainer – Rita Moreno. You know her as the Anita of West Side Story, the Latin Elizabeth Taylor, the only Hispanic to win an Oscar, Grammy, Tony and Emmy, and who recently was honoured with the Screen Actors Guild “Lifetime Achievement Award”. A woman who, at 82, is still going strong and has Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 55

CULTURE Rita Moreno having fun on receiving her life achievement award

Rita Moreno in West Side Story

just announced that she will be participating in a pilot with the comedian of the moment: Amy Poehler. Notwithstanding all the awards, what you love to discover is that, wrapped in that voice of Rita Moreno, is still Puerto Rico’s daughter, Rosita Dolores Alverio. The one that was born in Humacao and saw the first years of her life elapse in a pink ice-cream-coloured house in Juncos, with spiky agave plants adorned with egg shells on every leaf outside. Where her grandfather Justino taught her to dance. Rosita Dolores Alverio left her beloved Juncos when she was five years old. It was 1936 and her mother, Rosa María Marcano, had the courage to divorce her husband and strive for a better life for her and her daughter. “My story is really her story, in the sense that she was the one that started all of this. Long before Puerto Ricans began to come to America, she travelled alone on a ship, without being able to speak a word of English. She was a young, courageous woman. When she’d learned a bit of English and had saved enough money, she again got on that ship to Puerto Rico and brought me to America. She wanted a better life for her little girl.” Moreno says that it was her mother’s tenacity that gave her the strength to treasure her dream of becoming an actress and reach for the stars. “She was DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

an exceptional woman, exceptional. Imagine working in a sweat shop, not knowing a word of English. Sure, that happened to a lot of women, but I lived it firsthand because she was my ‘mami’ - looking for work and ways to make money, and working extra hours.” Perseverance. That is her mother’s legacy and the word that defines Rita Moreno. She carries it in her DNA. And that is what she clung to during those initial years in Hollywood, when she fought to break through the barriers of racism and sexism to arrive at the pinnacle of her profession, the only Latina woman to occupy that position. She won an Oscar with her powerful portrayal of Anita in West Side Story, the first time she played a Hispanic woman, a Puerto Rican. What would West Side Story be like if it opened on Broadway today? “It would be very different. To begin with, we would not say ‘Dear Officer Crupsky, krup you. We would sing ‘Dear Officer Crupsky, f..k you!’. It would be more avant-garde, edgier. When you watch the film now, you realise how innocent it was. And all the Puerto Ricans would not be one colour. And the Jets wouldn’t all be white. It would be more realistic. I hope they don’t try to film a sequel, because it wouldn’t work. Squeals never work. And of course the music will live forever. And the dances and choreography are nothing

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Rita Moreno, in El Alamein

short of brilliant. And its innocence has its charm.” I ask her if the situation for Latinos in Hollywood has got better or worse. “It’s gotten better. Ricardo Montalban used to say – the door is ajar. Since he said that, it has gotten even better than that. I still think it’s ajar. It’s not open enough. I think Latinos should be able to play all kinds of roles. It shouldn’t be limited. You still see in casting run-downs ‘Susy Smith lawyer – John Bonds doctor – and Dolores Castro, Hispanic’. It’s their attempt - and it’s a good one - to use more Hispanic and Black actors. So – you have to give them credit for trying. It’s not good enough, though. Not yet.” In the song “America” in “West Side Story” Anita sings “once an immigrant, always an immigrant.” “Yes. Because that’s the way we’re perceived. That doesn’t mean that is what we are necessarily, but that’s how we’re perceived. I don’t think enough Americans think that Latinos, not just Puerto Ricans, but Latinos, have professions and have intellect. They think of us as the Jennifer Lopez’s, you know, performers and sports figures - that kind of thing. I think that kind of cliché and stereotype still exist. So I have a double whammy because I’m not only a Puerto Rican, but an actress. My God, she can actually finish a sentence. It’s still a very ingrained cliché in peoples’ heads. It’s just how

people think.” Rita Moreno says her greatest achievement is to still be here. And what would she say to a young Rita? “Education, education, education! Because there’s no guarantee you’ll become a star. Period. You have to have a good enough education that’ll give you a skill that you can make some decent money with. And I’m not talking about dishwashing and I’m not talking about cleaning somebody’s house. Listen, I don’t criticise anybody’s work, but if you have ambitions, you have to have some kind of work that will pay you well enough to help pay for those things that will make your life better and perhaps more successful. You have to have money to pay for your dream. Nowadays you really need that diploma. To be brave and courageous to go follow your dream.” Rita Moreno never thought she would win an Oscar. Never. She was sure Judy Garland would win that night. Such was her shock that when she went to the stage to get the golden statue, she could hardly speak. “I can’t believe it,” she said. “I’ll leave you with that”. If she could relive that moment, what would Rita say? “On behalf of every person of Hispanic descent, I accept this award with pride and humility. Long Live Puerto Rico.” That is the great Rita Moreno. Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 57

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Women In And At War: Two World Premieres At The Salzburg Festival By Reya von Galen

The Forbidden Zone and Charlotte Salomon, two new productions at the 2014 Salzburg Festival shed light on the real lives of three outstanding women during the First and the Second World War.

“Charlotte Salomon”, the title of a new opera by Marc-André Dalbavie, commissioned by the Salzburg Festival and dedicated to its former artistic director, the late Gérard Mortier, is the name of the Jewish-German artist whose around 800 gouache paintings created during her exile in Southern France between 1940 and 1943 form the basis of the autobiographical story of herself and her family. The libretto written by Barbara Honigmann recounts the young life of DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

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Charlotte Salomon 2014 ÂŠ Salzburg Festival/Ruth Walz Marianne Crebassa (Charlotte Kann) Johanna Wokalek (Charlotte Salomon)

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the artist Charlotte Salomon who had fled her native Berlin to find exile from the Nazis at her grandparents’ home in Villefranche. However, the Nazi’s power soon overwhelmed that part of Europe, and her grandmother saw no alternative to escaping other than committing suicide, and Charlotte learnt at that point in her life that her own mother had also committed suicide when Charlotte had only been nine years of age, as had most of her female relatives. She finds a way to avoid a similar fate by expressing her emotions in a semi-fictional kind of story-board, a set of paintings, each overwritten with texts or musical notes. She herself calls her integral work a “Singespiel”. On view at the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam, it is compelling and comparable to the paintings of Chagall. The talented and successful composer Jean-Marc Dalbavie, a pupil of Boulez, largely influenced by the so-called spectral musicians, takes the liberty DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

of quoting many other composers and musical scores from Bach to Yiddish folk songs. His own music comes across mostly as threatening with eerily echoing sound effects, which do not lack charm and impact but seem sadly insufficient to fill an entire opera, if opera it is still to be called. The acclaimed theatre director Luc Bondy, no stranger to opera, has put together an intellectually interesting and stimulating production that seduces with its subtleness and discretion. His lead actress, Johanna Wokalek, whom Bondy has worked with on numerous other occasions in the past, however, appears strangely detached, albeit professional and precise, in the way she delivers the piece’s spoken language and follows the director’s notes, thus lending the entire production a lack of warmth and genuine emotion, which is unfortunate.

CULTURE Charlotte Salomon 2014 © Salzburg Festival/Ruth Walz

Charlotte Salomon 2014 © Salzburg Festival/Ruth Walz

The production’s attraction centres around the idea of splitting the character of Charlotte into a spoken and a singing role, each acting out the lead protagonist’s different characteristics. The already mentioned Wokalek speaks the text in German as Charlotte Salomon, Marianne Crebassa sings the role in French as her alter ego Charlotte Kann. The set is wonderfully dominated by a projection of Charlotte Salomon’s actual paintings, acting as a large backdrop, gliding one by one in a slide-show, reminiscent of a comic strip or film-frames. The stage is divided into different rooms, aligned next to each other, reminding the audience of a doll’s house and enabling the action to take place simultaneously.

of the war and the unthinkable dimension of the Holocaust. The production reflects in earnest on a promising young life of a woman brutally cut down, as were countless others, by one of the most barbaric wars humanity has known. Incidentally, the French author David Foenkinos published a much acclaimed and award-winning book this summer also based on the artist’s story with the title “Charlotte”.

Despite some weaknesses, the experiment is laudable with the real-life biography of the protagonist, as well as her art, a rare discovery. As always in such cases, the individual fate brings us closer to the unspeakable horror

One of the principal themes at the 2014 Salzburg Festival was commemorating the Great War a hundred years ago as well as the role of women in war in general and this production in particular intended to

The chilling biography of two other female lives sacrificed to the demons of war is told in the second new production at this year’s Salzburg Festival, “The Forbidden Zone”, directed by Katie Mitchell and written by Duncan MacMillan.

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CULTURE Jenny König (Claire Haber) The Forbidden Zone 2014 © Salzburg Festival/Stephen Cummiskey

The Forbidden Zone 2014 Katie Mitchell, director, in rehearsal © Salzburg Festival/Stephen Cummiskey The Forbidden Zone 2014 Giorgio Spiegelfeld (French Soldier) © Salzburg Festival / Stephen Cummiskey

highlight these topics. Duncan MacMillan put together a collage of texts and quotations by such accomplished authors as Simone de Beauvoir, Hanna Arendt and Virginia Woolf around the story of Clara Immerwahr, a chemist who married Nobel Prize-winning fellow chemist Fritz Haber. When she found out that Haber’s research had led him to invent the first chemical weapon of mass destruction, a chlorine-based poisonous gas, which was to be subsequently unleashed with lethal effect during the battle of Ypres in 1915, her protests were ignored and overruled. Unable to live with the burden on her conscience of being in a small way part of an instrument which would destroy so many lives, she consequently preferred to shoot herself in the family’s back garden, dying in the arms of her son. Her fate tragically is perpetuated in her granddaughter’s life many years later. Claire, also a chemist, dedicates her career in Chicago to researching an antidote to the poison her grandfather had invented. When she learns that funding for her research has been stopped, diverted to further finance and support the war, she decides to kill herself with cyanide in a public toilet. The fate of these two women can be followed in parallel by the audience due to Katie Mitchell’s innovative use of the stage as a film set. A team of five video cameramen together with a sound and lighting crew bring to life a film projected onto a cinema screen above the stage. The audience is mostly drawn to the action on film as much of the acting on DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

stage takes place hidden somewhere on different points of the set. The cast as well as the technical crew catch our attention by their precision in following a minute choreography. Editing becomes unnecessary as each scene is well rehearsed and thus the final cut is created before our very eyes. This process is doubtless stimulating for the mind to begin with but soon becomes slightly tedious as the actual charm of live theatre is completely lost. None of the characters is given the opportunity to develop in time and depth, everything remains aesthetically enticing but very formal. The lives of the three women (a third character is introduced based on the life and experiences of Mary Borden, a wealthy American heiress who worked as a nurse during the Second World War) never truly touch us, we are tickled by

CULTURE Jenny König (Claire Haber), Sebastian Pircher (American soldier), Andreas Hartmann (back cameraman), Philipp Arnold (front cameraman). The Forbidden Zone 2014 © Salzburg Festival/Stephen Cummiskey

The Forbidden Zone 2014 Ruth Marie Kröger (Clara Haber) © Salzburg Festival/Stephen Cummiskey

being able to watch a “behind the scenes making of ” process but are never drawn into a further dimension. Nevertheless, Katie Mitchell uses her immense skills to juxtapose the life of Clara and Claire by setting their respective suicides one after the other through the medium of film. The sombre atmosphere envelops the audience on the Perner Insel where the premiere took place and though emotions are, as in the production of Charlotte Salomon, never wholly engaged, visuals, sentences, moments

vividly accompany the viewer until far beyond the actual performances which is more than one can say of most theatre these days. The non-fictional lives of these women during war can only be interpreted as powerless, their symbolic screams left without echo. This begs the question why war is always the result of men’s actions whilst women stand helplessly by on the sidelines. The Salzburg Festival can claim credit for at least and at last attempting to open the debate with its two thoughtful world premieres. Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 63

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Glamour Icon Dalila Di Lazzaro Tells Us Why A Woman Knows Best By Massimo Gava Dantemag editor Massimo Gava catches up with a screen star of the seventies and finds that responding truthfully to personal tragedy can lead to a new meaning in life and that more people than ever are being touched in a deep and an inspiring way by this beautiful and campaigning force of nature.

“After Gina Lollobrigida, Sophia Loren, Silvana Mangano, here comes Dalila Di Lazzaro” said Andy Warhol when he announced she was to star opposite Joe Dallesandro in his movie “Flesh for Frankenstein”. What can you say after an introduction like that? Well, what about, “For Dalila there’s much more to life than just

stardom” As she herself has said, she was never that ambitious to want to pursue her career on both sides of the Atlantic because her priority in life lay elsewhere. Blessed with striking natural good looks Dalila started modelling purely by chance, just as a way to gain independence from her family. Raised by a strict mother and a policeman father in Udine, the capital of Friuli, a region in the north east of Italy, Dalila was forced into a shotgun marriage at the age of fifteen. Her first priority was her son Christian and she did not want him to be affected by the constant changes involved in the life of a model so she worked to keep a perfect balance between her role as a single mother after the break up of her marriage and her job as a top model and then later as an actress.

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“Despite all my success, life has been very hard on me,” she tells me. “ It has given me so much satisfaction, times I could never dream of , but also lots of painful moments I also could never have imagined.” A veil of sadness comes over her beautiful eyes. The memory of her only son killed in a car accident at the age of twenty-two is not an easy thing for any parent to go through. “He was on his way home, in the passenger seat of a friend ‘s car, waiting at a traffic lights just around the corner from our house in Rome when from nowhere a car hit them and then just drove off. Luckily the other guys survived but Christian died instantly as the impact happened on his side”, she pauses as she remembers but then she picks herself up again and tells me that no matter what since that date in 1991, not a day has gone by when she has not felt his presence. A few years later she decided to write about her experience in her first book called, “L’Angelo della Mia Vita” (The Angel of My Life). The cathartic experience of writing the book, dedicated to her son , has helped the actress start another life. The book was a huge publishing success, which encouraged her to go on to write five more best sellers, her latest being “Una Donna Lo Sa” (A Woman Knows Best). DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

Some years have passed but she is more beautiful than ever because her classy charm is still all there. She is blessed with an aura that I have found in very few people I have come across and it can only be connected to who Dalila is. After I have been introduced to her cat and friendly dog, who is recovering from an operation in one eye, we sit down in her apartment in Milan and start to go down memory lane. She is happy to tell me about how she began her career as a model and how once called in for a casting at Cinecittà, the legendary director, Federico Fellini, stopped her on her way in and remarked to his assistant “Look at this extraordinary face”, then addressing me with, “But dear girl you’re too skinny, you need to eat more pasta, pasta, pasta, put some weight on!” and then he moved on. Of course we know Fellini’s taste in women - voluptuous Anita Ekberg in “La Dolce Vita” is a prime example. “But I did eat a lot of pasta” says Dalila, laughing. “Only, I never managed to put on any weight, no matter how much I ate, plus the fact I’m tall didn’t help”. A few years later and Dalila was signed up by Carlo Ponti, Sophia Loren’s late husband, who, together with Warhol,

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Dalila Di Lazzaro with Alain Delon

was producing his “Flesh For Frankenstein”, mentioned above. “What was Warhol like?”, I asked her “He was a strange character”, she says with a smile. “In the movie “Frankenstein”, as it became known as, I’m supposed to be the perfect woman put together from bits chopped off from other girls. I was just at the beginning of my career and I was sharing a flat in Rome with a girlfriend of mine. One day I got a call from Warhol’s assistant asking for me, of course I thought it was one of my friends playing a joke on me, like we used to do to each other, so replying politely in my broken English I teased them back and hung up. This went on and on for a few times till the assistant finally convinced me it was for real and so I agreed to meet Andy in Rome and the rest is history”. “But tell me what he was like?”, I try again. “As I said he was a strange character, with a soft nasal voice, never looked at you directly in the eyes when he talked to you. I only saw him animated

when he was around rich people. Initially I didn’t understand what that weird yellow hair was all about, it was only later I found out it was a wig. But everything in those days was strange cos it was a completely new world for me. I remembered we were shooting with director Paul Morrissey and as I turned around I saw Andy talking with David Bowie or Mick Jagger, but it was the 70s and I was right at the start of my career and I felt privileged to be there cos everything in those days was exciting” Jack Nicholson told her to stay in America while Alain Delon wanted her to stay in Paris but she had only one thing on her mind, to make sure her son, Christian, had a normal life in Italy, close to her family and away from the world of show business. Paradoxically, had she stayed in the USA she would now have been able to adopt a child, like many single parent stars at the time, which she wanted to do after the tragedy of her son, but Italy has some ancient law prohibiting single people from adopting . “Of course I could have gone outside Italy to adopt but I’m an Italian Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 69

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citizen and I want to do it in Italy for the people who can’t afford to go abroad - are they any less good as parents because they can’t afford it? If some antiquated law is not letting this happen then we must get it changed”, she tells me adamantly. “ Why do we have to deprive lonely children of a parent’s affection just because some archaic way of thinking stipulates they should be adopted by a father and a mother? How many people, in different circumstances, are forced to raise children on their own? I’ll do everything in my power to raise awareness of how stupid this system is!” And indeed she has been on television and talked frankly on this subject. But this is not the only cause dear to her heart. She also feels very strongly about what is known as chronic pain syndrome. “In Italy this condition is not recognised and it occurs not only in adults but in children, too” Apparently, she tells me, that four out of ten children suffer from various types of chronic pain, so she has linked up with a hospital medical team, willing to invest in research into this area. DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

Dalila Di Lazzaro Cannes Film Festival 2014

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When La Di Lazzaro talks about an issue so close to her, her beauty is overwhelming - she speaks directly from her heart, no following a script here. “I guess it’s about when ‘a woman knows best’, right?” I ask her, referring to her latest book . “Yes” she smiles. “Why is that then?”, I ask. “Women are more sensitive than men, their radar is directly linked up to their heart, that’s why we know.” “So what ‘s the next battle then?” I ask, almost intoxicated by her energy. “Next? I’m going to take on the banks and how they take advantage of people and their savings, selling them toxic products” she answers and you can be quite sure she will make a lot of noise about that. “ I’ve always felt more like an artist rather than just an actress” she confides in me. That is easy to believe because she has that spirit of nature that enables her to constantly reinvent herself and be successful at everything she tries her hand at. It is not difficult to be impressed by this courageous woman who has lived her life with determination and pride and you can understand why her books have become best sellers. It has nothing to do with the fact she was unquestionably a leading personality during the 70s and 80s since most of her readers were not even born then. No, they have got to love her through her books and the good causes she has championed. Di Lazzaro is nowadays a living legend precisely because she has had the courage to share with her followers the stories of her life and has fearlessly stated her opinions. It is with great pride she tells me, “If my books can help any woman in any way, then I’ve achieved my goal” and then she hides behind a modest smile. When Andy Warhol wanted the stunningly good-looking Di Lazzaro to play the part of the perfect woman in his movie, pairing her with those Hollywood legends, I don’t know if he ever saw what I am seeing now but I can safely say that Dalila is completely justified in claiming a woman knows best because she is not afraid of being true to herself and that is what makes Dalila Di Lazzaro, at the age of 61, more beautiful than ever and an inspiration to any woman willing to follow in her footsteps. Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 71

WINDOW OF THE SOUL

How I Escaped

By Pamela Nowicka

How’s life treating you? Not too bad? Pretty good? Stuck in a job that’s draining the life out of you? Do you have a vague sense that something - maybe you’re not even sure what is missing? Pamela Nowicka gives a searing account of going through a living hell to eventually living the dream. DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

Do you find yourself wishing your life away? Longing to do that thing - writing a novel, going on a meditation retreat? Or maybe you’re in that uncomfortable place of being in low-skilled work which doesn’t give you scope to create or be who you really are - the authentic you, who really cares about life, the environment, people and not just money? But you have to keep going to keep on paying the rent, the bills, etc. etc. Maybe you’re one of the vast numbers of people who are unemployed or underemployed because of age - too young or too old, or of skills - too few, too many?

Burned out Maybe you committed the cardinal sin, working too damn hard - and caring too damn much. You burned out, things fell to pieces. You tried really hard to scrape it all together again, but just couldn’t manage it, wondering what a life would be like if you had one. You want to reassemble everything: yourself, your body, your whole damn life but, honest to God, you have no idea where to start.

WINDOW OF THE SOUL

Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 73

WINDOW OF THE SOUL

Visiting tsunami survivors in Tamil Nadu, South India

Does it have to be like that? Years ago, that was me and my life. It wasn’t cool, it wasn’t good and it certainly wasn’t pretty. After successfully working as a freelance investigative journalist for UK newspapers like The Guardian, The Times and The Independent, things took a sudden, downhill and irrevocable turn. Life knocked me off course, just when I felt I was doing some of my best work. As someone who’d believed passionately in journalism as a way of exposing injustice and making the world a better place, I’d pitched a slew of international stories on child trafficking in Thailand, refugees in Bangladesh and the wholesale slaughter of female babies and foetuses in India.

Freelancing frolics The three-month trip which followed was gruelling in the extreme. Before mobile phones and the internet, as a freelance, you were pretty much left to get on with it. Support simply didn’t exist. You just got on and did the job. I watched a live sex show and women extracting strings of razorblades from their vaginas in a Bangkok nightclub. DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

I tracked down the chain of child trafficking which ended with them in brothels in Bangkok. Alone, in a hill-tribe village in the notorious Golden Triangle on the Thai/Burmese border, I met a nervous child who was more like twelve than her real age of fourteen. Her parents had sold her to the roaming bands of agents who promised a good job in the city. She had become HIV positive, so she’d been returned to her village to die. My story was carried by a large circulation women’s magazine as “This Child Was Sold For The Price Of A Television Set”. I visited refugee camps in Bangladesh where tens of thousands Burmese Rohynga people were living in tiny nest-like constructions, made from twigs and pieces of bush because there was nothing else. Fleets of white UN jeeps carried NGO workers to and from the best hotels in Cox’s Bazaar to the camps. In India, I researched and broke the story of female infanticide in India in The Observer Magazine. Girl children are seen as a liability because of the enormous dowry required by the potential husband’s family. So many are simply killed - as new-born babies or aborted following sex identification.

WINDOW OF THE SOUL

Mr Parmeshwaram with his wife and three children

Interviewing a fisherman whose wife was drowned in the tsunami

Tracking down doctors and parents willing to talk took me deep into the Thar desert in Rajasthan, where, over a bottle of Cosmic Cola, a thin man with the traditional red and white turban had admitted that, yes, he had killed his baby girl. In those days I still believed that if people knew about injustice they would somehow stop it. Back in the UK, following the publication of the story, I wanted to do more. If more people KNEW, surely something would change? A documentary film was the answer.

The telly game With no TV experience or contacts I started pitching. After months of efforts at it, a woman producer at the BBC said she’d seen my proposal, liked it and would pitch it to her boss. If it went ahead, might I be interested in coming on board? Well, yes, but I was, in fact, off to India again in a few days. I gave her the number of the guest house in Jaisalmer where I’d be staying. The documentary went ahead. The BBC producer came out. We stayed in five star hotels, or the best in town if there were no five stars. In New Delhi

it was the Oberoi. In Jaipur, the Umed Bhavan Palace. In Hissar, however, we stayed three in one room in the Dak Bungalow. Daytimes were research and filming. In the evenings, over Bloody Mary’s and five star dinners, the producer and I discussed the ins and outs of the story. We watched footage of a dying woman in her hospital bed immolated by her husband because of insufficient dowry, accusing him of throwing kerosene over her. At the end of three months, the producer paid me in cash - less than the cost of the rooms in the five star hotels. Back in London, visions of the Indian women and their terrible situation kept crowding into my thoughts. They wouldn’t go away. I couldn’t stop crying. I was paralysed, could barely get out of bed. Everything was dark. Suicidal thoughts played constantly in my mind. After six weeks of this I somehow made it to the GP, who diagnosed depression. Shortly after that, I heard from an acquaintance that the documentary ‘Let Her Die‘ for the Assignment strand, had won the Palme d’Or for best news documentary. The producer never told me.

Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 75

WINDOW OF THE SOUL The fisherman with his new wife

Benefits fun Unable to work, forced to rely on state benefits, and battling a near constant state of suicidal depression and self harm, my former life had imploded. I began self-medicating with alcohol and prescription pain killers. Support was mainly lacking, family and friends, disinterested at best, blaming and shunning at worst. I spent years seeking professional help, having counselling, going to workshops, investigating all avenues of the body/ mind/spirit connection - Bach flower remedies, talking therapies, yoga, martial arts, shiatsu, tarot reading, meditation. I devoured a library of selfhelp and spiritual books - years of inner work, learning about depression, forgiveness and a different way of being. After a decade or so, I was finally able to return to a semblance of normality. With the incredible support of MIND, the mental health charity and the Angel Project, the suicidal depression receded, my health and sanity made a welcome reappearance and I was able to think about voluntary work as a path back into some kind of employment. In the time I’d been out of commission, the digital world had arrived. Always technophobic, I was now completely out of the swim. Fairtrade Foundation were terrific. I did the press calls and strategy. A secretary sent my emails. I wanted to do more, to contribute. But how?

The Plan I didn’t want to remain on benefits and it was highly possible that I’d lose the DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

only security I had - my flat. But age and the CV gap made me unemployable. My media contacts had evaporated. What to do? Lists, plans, more books, including the brilliant Life’s Golden Parachute, trying to figure out a strategy, to create a plan, to make a new life. I experimented, restructuring myself by a process of trial and error. What happened?

Living the Dream Now I live in a four-bedroom house with a huge garden in Penang, Malaysia, with four lovely cats. I cycle, run, hike, do yoga, meditate and regularly travel to other places in SE Asia. I’m vegan, have tons of energy and I have new friends and opportunities. It’s taken a while but I’m grateful and amazed that it happened at all - one day, sitting beside a landscaped pool, pink frangipani blossoms plopping into the still water, I realised I was Living the Dream. Those dark years of the past, where the future was a black vortex of despair with no possibility of hope or change, belonged to another person, another life. Now the life I was living was the kind people dreamed of having, the kind which is supposed to be impossible unless you have a huge amount of money. But that simply isn’t true - if you know what to do.

Anyone can do it It struck me that other people could learn from the process I went through and use the roadmap I’d developed to get from being stuck in a hole to living

WINDOW OF THE SOUL

Relaxing in Penang with Pinkie

the dream. I’d done it the hard way, wasting time, getting lost and waylaid, but, having met others who’d managed to do something similar, I’d become clear on the process. Understanding the process meant others could learn quickly how to do what I’d done, but in an easier, less stressful way. I wanted to reach out a hand and say ‘Yes, you can live a GREAT life. I can show you how.’ And that’s what I’m doing with my blog, Living the Dream on a Budget. It’s a way of giving back : hope, inspiration and positive, practical help. It’s not a namby-pamby feel-good Law of Attraction. It’s not something dreamed up by a former consultant for blue chip companies who’s now decided to serve’ and share their tips on earning a six figure income. It’s not about creating enrichment at the expense of a finite and ecologically compromised planet.

Real and practical Living the Dream on a Budget is about real and practical steps which anyone can use to create a fulfilling life. It’s about living lightly on the planet, taking responsibility and making the kind of changes that will give you your version of the good life without having to mortgage your soul. It’s do-able. It’s replicable. It’s a process and it’s not actually that hard, but it needs some thought and organisation - which s why I blog. Check it out here and sign up for the email updates. Create the life you were meant to live. It’s not perfect, but it’s good.

Find out how you can live your own dream at https://livingthedreamonabudget.wordpress.com. Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 77

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IA L A R UST

Australia, The Land of the Rainbow Serpent It is shameful to say but history in Australian schools starts with Captain Cook. Neil Geraghty discovers the rich history of the not-so-well known Noongar Aboriginal people of Western Australia through dance and art and the appalling treatment meted out to Aboriginal children in Australia up to relatively recently. DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

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Every now and again you stumble across a truly inspiring character during your travels. I was visiting Perth in Western Australia and had joined a day tour along the bucolic Swan River Valley to learn more about the fascinating culture of the indigenous Noongar people. The tour company, Urban Indigenous, was set up by Rebecca Anne Casey, an experienced international tour guide who felt that Western Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s indigenous heritage was sadly overlooked by tourists visiting the region. At Whiteman Park, a 4,000 hectare area of bushland dotted with fragrant eucalyptus groves, we took refuge from the fierce late summer sun in an outdoor shelter. Here we were introduced to Sheila Humphries, a respected aboriginal elder and celebrated artist. With a shy smile, she welcomed us to Whiteman and invited us all to sit down to listen to her story, warning us beforehand that it was not a happy one. Aged just 4, Sheila was taken from her family by the state authorities and placed in a girlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s orphanage run by the Catholic Church. From the 1900s to the 1960s, it was common policy for state authorities to remove fair-skinned aboriginal children from their families. The reasons for doing so were convoluted and often involved policies of racial segregation and child protection. In reality though, the children were often subject to extreme cruelty and forced labour. With melancholic eyes, Sheila described the long lonely hours she spent operating a mangle in the laundry Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 79

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Dancer’s holding a map of aboriginal Australia

room. “When I got older I used to iron hundreds of shirts for the boys orphanage, day in, day out, all for no pay”, she told us with a bitter tone in her voice, “and they even made us have baths in the dirty water from the washing machines”. For even minor discretions children were punished by forcing them to kneel in front of the class holding two heavy bricks with outstretched arms. Sexual assault and beatings were commonplace and in winter, they were forced to harvest olives in freezing conditions with not even a pair of shoes to wear. Her saddest recollection was being called into the Mother Superior’s office to be bluntly told that her mother had died. Without even a word of consolation she was told to get straight back to work. It took until her 50s for Sheila to begin to mourn her lost childhood and with the DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

The Kangaroo Dance

The Willy Willy Dance

support of her husband she managed to turn her life around by embarking upon a new career as an artist. She described how she began “messing around” with paints while they were living in a one-horse mining town in the outback. “ I thought the paintings were rubbish”, she modestly explained, “but one day my

TRAVEL Sheila holding a photo of her childhood in the orphanage

James Webb playing the didgeridoo

husband found them, took them out to sell in the morning and came back later that same evening with $5,000 in his hand!”. Nowadays, Sheila finds it hard to keep up with demand and her traditional dot paintings grace the walls of galleries, schools and corporate headquarters all over Australia. The biggest surprise of the morning came when she rummaged around in a shopping bag and pulled out a Guinness Book of Records certificate awarded to her for completing the largest ever aboriginal painting. Looking at examples of her work, I could immediately see the appeal. Swirling patterns of contrasting colours, stylised animals and tracks represent dream journeys inspired by aboriginal legends which were traditionally drawn in the sand around camp fires using sticks. We were keen to try our hand at dot painting and setting up a canvas, Sheila began teaching us the traditional symbols used in aboriginal art: concentric circles for gathering places, half moons for people and dotted lines representing animal tracks. Armed with wooden kebab skewers and a palette of primary colours, we quickly became immersed in painting our own stories. At school, I’d always been a flop at art, but somehow this form of painting really fired my imagination. When Sheila got up to leave there were genuine tears in her eyes as one by one she hugged us and thanked us for taking the time to visit her and listen to her story. Before leaving she asked us to promise to tell our family and friends her story so that the stolen generations of aboriginal children would never be forgotten. After Sheila left, we were joined by Wadumbah, a Noongar dance troupe who have performed at cultural festivals all over the world. Set up in 1995 by James

Webb, an acclaimed didgeridoo musician, his aim is to keep aboriginal culture alive by educating people from all walks of life through music and dance. Inviting us to sit in a semi-circle under some eucalyptus trees he began telling us the inspiration behind his dance group. As a child he remembered hearing stories from aboriginal men who returned home from World War Two and, although they were commended for their bravery, they were denied basic land rights. Brought up in an education system that barely mentioned his native culture, James was keen to redress this imbalance. “I find it incredible that in 2014 there is still no aboriginal history taught in schools”, he sighed. “It all begins with Captain Cook”. For James, educating the younger generation is the key to preserving his culture and through an active schools programme, Wadumbah has achieved much in this field. At this point, two of his young dancers stepped forward wearing loin cloths, their bodies decorated in dramatic white stripes of paint. In their hands they held a map of Australia depicting an intricate mosaic of indigenous tribal territories. James pointed out the Noongar lands which cover an enormous swathe of southwestern Australia, the size of Germany. He then told us about the Noongar’s creation myth in which Waugul, a giant rainbow serpent crawled across the land carving out river valleys and water sources. Evidence of his labours can be found all along the ruggedly beautiful coast where many of the geological formations are held sacred by the Noongar. When we returned to Perth James told us to look out over the Swan River estuary where you can clearly see the coils Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 81

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Sheila teaching aboriginal art symbols

of Waugulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body in the undulating contours of the distant Darling Escarpment. James then picked up a didgeridoo and putting the mouthpiece to his lips sounded a deep resonating blast that completely silenced a flock of jabbering parakeets in the treetops above us. In unison the troupe asked for a blessing from their ancestors and took up positions for the dance performance. The first piece was the enchanting Willy Willy dance, named after the dust devils that sweep across the Australian outback. These were believed to be malevolent spirits prone to snatching the souls of children and warriors. Building up a series of quick resonating crescendos on his didgeridoo, James effortlessly brought to life the ferocity of these mini tornados. The dancers, meanwhile, took it in turns to depict swaying trees and dust devils swirling through their branches, all within inches of our faces. In another delightful dance, they took on the guises of kangaroos, and with their hands behind their ears, hopped over to a drinking hole, only to be startled by stalking dingoes in the distance. After the performance had finished, Rebecca, with typical Australian ease, rustled up a huge barbecue. Feeling

DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

An example of Sheilaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dot Art

Breakfast Nicaragua-style

TRAVEL Porongurup National Park

ravenous after our morning activities, we tucked into delicious kangaroo kebabs served up with sauces flavoured with fragrant bushland spices such as wattleseed and lemon myrtle. From Perth, I travelled down to Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia and spent an enjoyable few days exploring the region’s organic vineyards and magnificent national parks. It was along this dramatic coastline that Australia and Antarctica split apart some 45 million years ago and many of the local beauty spots are steeped in aboriginal legend. At Porongurup a cluster of granite pillars stands out on an outcrop shaped like a giant fist. The local Noongar tribes believed this to be the abode of totem spirits. A dizzying Skywalk leads visitors to the summit of the pillars where breathtaking views stretch out over vineyards to the Stirling Mountain Range beyond. Buffeted by the cool mountain breezes I thought of Sheila and James. Through their art, music and dance, they are playing an invaluable role in preserving the Noongar’s rich cultural heritage. By having the privilege to share their artistic visions, I’d gained a much deeper appreciation of this ancient and beautiful land.

Fact Box: For more information on Western Australia, visit www.westernaustralia.com

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A I L A STR

A Very Long Way Home. Not just a quick break to visit your parents in their eighties but a whole month together right on the other side of the world? Would you do it? Marc Forget recently completed an epic voyage and reports back on some surprising insights into the dynamics of family life after so many years of having flown the nest.

A voyage to the absolute opposite side of the planet with a couple of octogenarians may seem like a complete folly, an exercise in masochism, or, at the very least, a daunting task, but the month-long trip to Australia I recently completed with my elderly parents turned out to be none of those things. In fact, it proved to be thoroughly enjoyable and ended up being a fascinating journey on many different levels. Travelling is an intense experience, where the pace of life is accelerated and the number of events normally lived during a whole sedentary week is compressed into each and every travel day. This gives travellers the impression that time is being stretched, as if last week was really over a month ago. Throughout the very full days on the go there is little time to think of the past or the future, so we are highly focused on the present, which is one of the reasons travelling is so wonderful, and why we often start planning and saving for next yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trip as soon as weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re home from the current one. For these and a host of other reasons it is usually more enjoyable and memorable than our everyday lives. It is therefore a wonderful way to spend time with loved ones, away from the daily grind and its pressures, worries and regrets. I spent the first seventeen years of my life in an ordinary family where the five of us often faced the challenges posed by having to live with people we had DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

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Hospital at Port Arthur penal colony

Sydney Harbour NP

not chosen, and would not necessarily consciously choose to live with. Filial cohabitation was then simply the result of the circumstances of my birth into my parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; young family; this time around the decision to spend a block of time travelling with my parents was a conscious choice I made as an adult. It is unfortunate that spending extended periods of time with our parents during DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

our middle years is most often not a choice but rather a necessity brought on by chronic ill health or terminal disease. It is truly a shame because when we are middle-aged with elderly parents we and our parents are more relaxed and able to get over ourselves - for the most part - which makes the time we spend together more pleasant and richer than it is when we are younger. In undertaking this trip I

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Flowers in Tasmania Tasmanian Devils

wanted to share an adventure (albeit an appropriately tame one) with my parents while they are still capable of doing the things they enjoy (if perhaps a bit more slowly than they did then thirty years ago), and without the pressure of impending departure from this world. It was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect and live new experiences together, to create new memories that are not coloured by the burden of parental responsibility or tainted by childhood and teenage angst. We travelled together through a new and unknown territory. The physical environment was new to my parents (I had been to Australia many times before, they had not) and they both found the landscapes, plants and animals intriguing and fascinating. They were struck by the seemingly unending beautiful beaches that circle this mostly arid country. They loved the Australian respect for history, reflected in extensive historic sites and countless well-preserved 19th century buildings. They were highly impressed by the tremendous number of national parks, each offering something unique and special (and we only saw a very small portion of the total). It was heartwarming to witness my parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; enthusiasm and excitement at discovering new places and doing new things, especially given their age. What was entirely new and unexplored for all of us was the role reversal, the child now being responsible for the parents. Wanting this to be a true holiday for my parents, I tried to anticipate and look after their every need and do almost everything for them. I was their holiday-planner, travel agent, tour guide,

photographer, porter, driver, shopper, butler, bartender, cook, waiter, cleaner and even their launderer. What I most enjoyed in all these roles was to watch them relax and revel in being looked after and taken care of like never before. What was a full month of carefree dolce far niente for my parents was for me a welcome time of thanksgiving. This is not to say it was all roses, no trip ever is. Spending practically all our waking hours together, with extended periods of confinement in the small interior spaces of our hired cars, we all had a turn at reaching the limits of our patience. Fortunately we were able to keep such occurrences, as well as ugly old habits and unpleasant family dynamics, to a minimum. There is wisdom in accepting the quirks and flaws in the ones we love and in our relationships with them. It is perhaps more challenging to accept the effects on our loved ones, as well as on ourselves, of the beating we all take from the passing years, like those lovely beaches we saw around Australia, relentlessly pounded by the breaking surf. During the short visits I am accustomed to having with my parents it is easy to miss or overlook the slight memory loss, the momentary disorientation or the diminishing physical endurance. Spending a month doing practically everything with them, those little changes become quite impossible to ignore. Early on I noticed the classic, stereotypical and dreaded indication of the beginning of a slide into senility: the repeated question. I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t find it bothersome, as the repeated questions were generally about logistics, such as where were we going to stop for the night, and therefore quick and easy to answer. I purposely did not give a lot of details of upcoming activities, meals or accommodation, preferring us to focus instead on the present. After the same question had been asked three or four times one morning, I suggested they might already know the answer, and asked if they could try to recall it. They did recall, and after trying this out a few times it was comforting to realise that their memory still works fine. As we get older it may take longer to retrieve the information and Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 87

TRAVEL Sydney’s Bondi beach

Obligatory kangaroo sign photo

Awaiting Colonial Dinner Tram

I think we unconsciously realise it is faster and easier to just ask when we don’t seem to know or are unable to recall right away. It is the path of least resistance, the way of nature, and it simply becomes habit. Another obvious change which was definitely not an unconsciously acquired habit was my parents’ diminishing endurance when doing something a bit more strenuous than what they normally do. The hiking trail to the Wineglass Bay lookout in Tasmania’s Freycinet National Park has steep sections and some parts which are actual stairs. Hiking to the look-out on a sunny afternoon required a level of physical activity and resistance to heat stress my parents are simply no longer used to. They can still walk 15 km in a day, but not if the temperature is above 25, and not on anything as steep as the Wineglass Bay look-out trail. Once I DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

realised how often they needed to stop to catch their breath, I got a bit concerned and suggested we could simply turn around and head back to the car park. Oh no! They said. They just needed to stop frequently on the steeper parts, but they were perfectly fine and definitely wanted to see spectacular Wineglass Bay. As on previous occasions I admired their pluck and realised how well they have adapted to the changing condition of their bodies; they don’t give up, they slow down just enough to avoid trouble, while still doing as much as they can safely do. Nevertheless, the fact is inescapable: although still very healthy and active, my parents are getting old. Not just older, but old. Noticing people I love losing some of their abilities and becoming frailer, even if the change is small, is not easy. Although the signs and symptoms may at times create situations we can all laugh

TRAVEL Valley of the Giants

Cottage Point Inn

Customs House 1862

about, the thought of this inevitable decline is rather quite sad. It is probably reasonable to assume that I am likely to age in ways similar to what is happening to my parents now. I realise this time together was also a bit of a preview of some of the changes I can expect to go through if I make it to my 80s. This is one of the many fascinating aspects of this journey. This voyage gave my parents and me a rare opportunity to spend a whole month together, to discover parts of the world hitherto unknown to us, and to experience new things or old things from a new perspective. Even though we got to the furthest point on land from our native Canada, this trip was in a way also a trip home to family and friends, to our collective past and the future times we will share.

In vino veritas

Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 89

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HEALTH

DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

HEALTH

BACK to BASICS

By Elisa T. Keena

Ever thought you were paying way over the odds for that anti-wrinkle cream or face scrub and not being quite sure what on earth was actually in it? Dantemag ponders the wonders of skin and how we could save money by making our own home-made healthy skin care cosmetics.

Our skin is our largest organ .With a surface area of over 6 ft/ 1.8 m, it makes up approximately 16 % of our body. Acting as a barrier between harmful invaders from the outside world and our inner sanctuary, it cushions us from water, harsh temperatures â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and insults. It breathes, absorbs, radiates, conducts, convects and evaporates . It connects us to our environment through pleasure or pain. It is how we sense the touch of a loved one, the warmth of the sun, the feather-light touch of a cool breeze or the burning sensation of a hot stove. Our skin shows when we are healthy and when we are Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 93

HEALTH

not. It is the first visual sign of exhaustion, illness, excessive consumption of food, beverage, stress, or just a life time of too much work, too much fun or a little too much of both. Our skin is composed of three layers: the epidermis, dermis and hypodermis . The epidermis provides a waterproof barrier, creates our skin tone and contains melanocytes that give us our skin colour - and those nasty sun and age spots. The dermis contains the connective tissues, collagen and elastin, hair follicles and sweat glands, while the hypodermis is the subcutaneous tissue made of fat and connective tissue. As we age, our skin shows the signs of our life and our lifestyle. There are both

intrinsic and extrinsic aging of the skin. Intrinsic aging involves our collagen and elastin fibres becoming thicker, looser and more aggregated together. This results in inelastic skin which eventually causes wrinkling and sagging. After the age of twenty, the skin produces one percent less collagen each year and the exfoliation process is also decreased by about 28%. In our thirties transfer of moisture between the different layers decreases and fat cells begin to shrink and by our forties collagen production almost ceases. For women the hormone changes also affect the skin, leaving it dryer, duller and more sensitive. As for extrinsic aging, this is the impact our environment has and therefore can be somewhat controlled. The formation of freckles or sun spots, major loss of collagen and elastin together with a lifestyle that promotes free radical formation can leave skin rough, uneven in tone and wrinkled. Radiation, pollution, smoking and poor diet can cause free radicals. Antioxidants such as vitamin C, E, and caratenoid pigments can protect us from results of these free radicals, both when ingested and applied topically. We know what we put in our body greatly affects our skin - we will deal with that at another time. What we put on our skin also affects how we look, the tone texture, and radiance of our skin –hence the plethora of products on the market for skin care, wraps, masks, moisturisers, serums, scrubs etc. etc. For thousand of years humans have been trying to find the proverbial fountain of youth in skin care products. In the past women used milk, honey, oatmeal, fruits, seaweed, even, in the 1800s, arsenic – yes, arsenic - to lighten and whiten their skin. Queen Elizabeth I and the women of her time used ‘ceruse’, a mixture of vinegar and lead, to achieve the same results, which eventually ate away at the skin. Even nowadays Asian women value pale skin and apply creams to assist with that effect. However, these creams have been found to have mercury but hey, what’s wrong with a little toxicity?? Well…… Europe

DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

HEALTH

has banned over 1,100 chemicals in cosmetics whereas the US is not as aggressive in its review of toxic ingredients - they have banned just ten! As a result there are 400 products available in the US which are banned in the EU; this is important as 60 % of what we put on our bodies is absorbed. Here is a list of absolute NO-NO’s

NAME

FUNCTION/HARM

Benzoyl Peroxide

Mutagenic, DNA damage, irritant

DEA/MEA/TEA

Dermatitis, accumulates in tissue, can cause cancer, harmful to wild life

Dioxin

Causes cancer, reduces immunity

DMDM, Hydantoin & Urea

Releases formaldehyde, can cause cancer, allergies, chest pain , infections and chronic fatigue

FD& C colour 8

Carcinogen, heavy metals decreased oxygen

Propylene Glycol

Petroleum plastics - damage to brain, liver and kidney possible, cancer

Parabens

Breast cancer, male sterility

Sodium Lauryl Sulphate

Eye damage, depression, irritation, death

PEG Avobenzone, benzphenone,

Free radical generators, leads to DNA damage

PABA

Free radical generators, leads to DNA damage

Pthalates

Damage to liver, kidneys, birth defects. Causes damages to the environment

Tridosan

Pesticide registered as a pesticide posing risk to human health, harmful to fish and wild life

BHA/ BHT

May cause cancer

Siloxanes

Endocrine disruption/ harmful to fish and wild life

Mercury But But whether you live in Europe or the US or anywhere else in the rest of the world, there is a way to avoid unknown toxic chemicals, which is much

more economical – DIY, namely Do It Yourself beauty products. Why not make it yourself from organic ingredients and compare the results?

PROPERTIES

COMPONENTS

Has been shown to have an antimicrobial action against a broad spectrum of bacteria and fungi. Mosturising and cleansing

Sugar content, Water content, vitamins Vitamins C, B (thiamine) and B2 complex like riboflavin, nicotinic acid and B6 panthothenic acid are also found.

Skin Brightener

Vit C, hydroxyl Acids

Acne, dull skin, moisturiser, antiinflammatory

Fibre removes excessive oil and bacteria; polysaccharides, beta glucans

Moisturiser, lightener, sour milk tightens pores

Fats, proteins and vitamin. Lactic acid

Vegetable oils/ Coconut

Softening, bacteria fighting

Lauric acid

Scar healing

Bromelin

Cucumber slices

Effective on puffy eyes

Vit.C, caffeic acid

NAME

Honey

Lemon

Oatmeal

Milk (Buttermilk, Almond, Rice Goat’s or Cow’s)

Pineapple

Here are some suggestions for home-made reliable cosmetics using natural products that have the benefit of being completely non-toxic, of course. MOISTURISERS: Yoghurt Mask - take half a cup of yoghurt (past its sell-by-date is best), half a cup of honey and half a cucumber thinly diced, mix together and then place the mixture on face for fifteen minutes. Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 95

HEALTH

Honey Hydration (1) place a teaspoon of local organic honey on your face and leave it there for ten to fifteen minutes, then wash off; (2) combine buttermilk with honey and one egg yolk-leave the mixture on your face from ten to thirty minutes Honey Body Moisturiser take a spoonful of honey with a teaspoon of olive oil, then squeeze some lemon into it. Lip Balm mix beeswax, almond oil and shea butter with your favourite essential oil, gently heat, pour into a tin and use on lips. Chocolate Mask ¾ cup of cocoa, ¼ cup honey, 3 tablespoons of oatmeal, 2 teaspoons crumbled goat’s cheese, mix together and then leave on face for thirty minutes Papaya Mask first steam your face, then mash up a papaya, spread it on your skin and leave for ten to fifteen minutes BLEMISHES: Honey blemish treatment - mix some honey with tea tree oil and place it on the blemish with a q-tip and leave overnight

DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

MAKE- UP REMOVER/CLEANSERS: Honey and oil cleansers - combine honey and jojoba or coconut oil, rub on to your skin avoiding eye area to remove make up and unclog pores. BRIGHTEN YOUR SKIN: Take half a lemon, rub it all over your face leave it for five to ten minutes, then rinse off. SOAKS: Honey and milk soak - ½ a cup of honey with 2 cups of milk, add a few drops of lavender or you favourite oil, add to bath and relax! SCRUBS: Honey and baking soda - mix two parts honey with one part baking soda and then exfoliate and moisturise;

HEALTH

Honey and almond scrub: mix 2 teaspoons ground almonds with 2 teaspoons of honey – exfoliate and moisturise; Coffee scrub ( Balinese /Thai ritual) - combine ½ a cup of ground coffee with ½ a cup of turbinado sugar, a few drops of peppermint oil, ¼ cup of olive oil, then rub on and be revitalised. EYE TREATMENTS: Tea Bags (camomile, black, or green) –steep the bags in boiling water and remove, then place the liquid in the fridge to cool. Place on eyes and relax for thirty minutes Cucumber - place cold cucumber slices on eyes for thirty minutes TONER: Oat toner - soak oats in water to make an oat milk and use as a natural toner.

There is a plethora of information available online and elsewhere on how to create your own skin care regime at home and what products to use for which treatment. In addition essential oils have intrinsic benefits that can help with a wide range of beauty issues, which you could then combine with your toxin-free home-made scrubs, masks, cleansers and creams. Not only is it healthier for you but it’s the right price too. So why not give it a try and get back to basics! Go DIY and see the benefits first hand! Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 97

FOOD

“Quesadillas? Yes Please”

By Marco Pernini

Dantemag’s resident chef to the celebrities shares his love for quesadillas and Mexican food in general and has some good news for those who, like him, crave the cuisine of this great country but worry about their waist lines. Go naughty with moderation!

Mexican cuisine is increasingly popular all over the world because of its distinctive qualities it is tasty and delicious, many of the recipes include ingredients like sweetcorn, beans, tomatoes and peppers which are full of vitamins and nutrients. Who doesn’t enjoy a nacho dipped in a spicy salsa or a refreshing guacamole ? But I have to admit that Mexican dishes are often loaded with cheese and other fatty ingredients. But hey! As I have always said, we’re allowed to take a break from the strict diets we follow to try and keep fit and healthy. Actually, eating something ‘naughty’ now and again can help you feel good, but, of course, everything in moderation!

Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 99

FOOD

But for any great lover of this country’s cuisine who might like to indulge a bit more often then it’s always possible to vary the recipe so you can still enjoy your ‘quesadilla’ without worrying it is too fattening and making sure there are fewer calories involved. How can you possibly do that, I hear you ask? Well, first of all, you can use less or no cheese at all, or alternatively use a gluten-free flour and if you want to use less oil, then you can alternatively bake it in the oven or in a frying pan without oil and it will still be crispy. However the most important thing, obviously, is what you actually use as a filling for your quesadilla. Sometimes, when I’m making a healthy salad sandwich I use a quesadilla wrap instead of bread – remember we all need carbs as part of our healthy diet; they’re not going to kill us and they give us energy and help us absorb proteins. So creating your own version of the quesadilla using fresh vegetables with lean proteins is also an alternative way of cutting fat because more than 25% of calories comes from fatty foods like DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

100

all the cheese that normally gets put inside. So, in general, when you’re ordering Mexican cuisine, the rule is you have to be smart.There are plenty of dishes that include grilled meats and seafood to please all tastes and even the accompanying sauces can be fruit and vegetable based, containing very little starch. Another spectacular dish to look out for is ‘cevice’, a dish of seafood marinated in citrus juices. The fish used varies from place to place depending on what is locally available. It is normally served with finely chopped salad vegetables, like peppers onion and parsley. This is a supremely healthy option, fresh and zingy. When trying to cut down on the calories, what helps a lot is saying no to rice or chips. Say yes to beans which are less glycaemic. Of course, the obvious advice to give if you are worried about the number of calories in your Mexican dish is to just have smaller portions and not get carried away! I hope now you have learnt there are plenty of ways to enjoy your favourite Mexican food without feeling you’ve thrown your diet out of the window. So here is my way to be naughty in moderation, like I said before, with my very own recipe for a tasty but healthy quesadilla. It’s perfect to make for a snack or light lunch, easy to make, and also quick to eat if you’re rushing out of the house.

FOOD

for 3 people: 1 pack of flour tortillas (or maize flour or gluten-free) 200g of medium cheddar – grated (non-dairy for vegans) 1 can of red kidney beans ½ chopped white onion ½ fresh chopped tomato a good handful of freshly chopped cilantro/coriander 2 tsp of ground coriander 2 tsp of ground cumin salt and pepper to taste olive oil for cooking

INGREDIENTS

• • • • • • • • • •

Red Kidney Bean Quesadillas METHOD: In a non-stick frying pan heat the oil and add the onions, fry gently until they start to brown a little, add the spices, salt and pepper and fry gently for a little more. Add the chopped tomato and let them cook until they become soft enough to mash with a fork, then add the fresh coriander. Now add the drained beans and quickly cook it all together. You can either crush the beans with a fork, so the texture of the onions and the beans is still crunchy, or you can transfer the mixture to a food processor and make it into a smooth paste. Spread the mixture onto the tortilla, add the grated cheddar on top and cover it with another tortilla to make a kind of sandwich. Fry in a pan with a little oil until brown on one side, flip over and cook the other side, you need to put it on a low heat so the cheese melts and the tortilla gets crispy without it burning. Every time I cook this version, it is a guaranteed success. As the wheat tortillas can a be a little heavy, I like to serve my quesadilla with a light side dish, like a simple fresh salad, as shown in the picture. I use lamb’s lettuce with just toasted pumpkin seeds and thinly sliced raw fennel together with a simple extra virgin oil and lemon dressing. This is a quick, non expensive and nutritious dish – ok, I know, the cheese isn’t, but a little naughty cheesy pleasure does you good from time to time!

Enjoy! Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 101

COLUMN - Nonno Panda COLUMNS COLUMNS

Nonno Panda and Nonno L B Chow thePanda Cow, and... GorillatoStrike - Parta II WhoThe Wanted Become Fishmonger One day, wandering along lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s path, I got lostArtist in a dark jungle, XQDEOH WR Ă&#x20AC;QG WKH ULJKW ZD\

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Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re happy happy inin the the forest forest and and you you authorities authorities had had far far more more to to lose lose than than the the Gorillas Gorillas ifif the the strike strike went went ahead. ahead. ists she tried hard to get herself noticed having exhibitions set up here and animal and I feel we should always encourage new ideas, whatever form or wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t look look like like youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re keeping keeping them them inin aa concentration concentration camp. camp. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aa win-win win-win situation. situation. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m there and claiming it was all a big success, and as usual failed to gain that shape they might take and in my humble opinion - I would never consider surprised an an intelligent intelligent man man like like you you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see see that.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; that.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; II really really did did not not mean mean that, that, but but II â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;You â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;You see, see, Captainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, Captainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, II said, said, trying trying to to make make him him understand, understand, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not not only only all all the the cancan- surprised recognition which would have propelled heralso to that place she should be myself an expert world hasup always been a fount for his new ideas, OK felt felt that that maybe maybe-aathe bit bit art of of buttering buttering up was was needed needed to to boost boost his ego ego aa bit. bit. celled celled bookings bookings you you should should be be worried worried about, about, but but also the the attention attention this thisfelt strike strike will will attract, attract, rightly hers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; international stardom. maybe lately on the contemporary scene they have been somewhat lacking WKH ORQJHU LW JRHV RQ 2QFH \RX JHW WKH PHGLDÂˇV IXOO DWWHQWLRQ LWÂˇOO EH GLIĂ&#x20AC;FXOW WR VWRS 7KH\ÂˇOO WKH ORQJHU LW JRHV RQ 2QFH \RX JHW WKH PHGLDÂˇV IXOO DWWHQWLRQ LWÂˇOO EH GLIĂ&#x20AC;FXOW WR VWRS 7KH\ÂˇOO Icould havenot always triedthat to keep an open not believe believe that he he wanted wanted to to mind dress dress up up chimps chimps like like gorillas. gorillas. ItIt was was scrutinise scrutinise every every tiny tiny move move the the authorities authorities make make and and the the bigger bigger the the story story becomes, becomes, the the more more butII could Despite all her attempts and failures, she never gave up thinking that one actually actually quite quite hilarious hilarious to to hear hear that, that, and and even even more more so so to to hear hear about about the the GLIĂ&#x20AC;FXOW LWÂˇOO EH WR FRQWURO LW $UH \RX UHDOO\ VXUH \RX ZDQW WKDW" ,I GLIĂ&#x20AC;FXOW LWÂˇOO EH WR FRQWURO LW $UH \RX UHDOO\ VXUH \RX ZDQW WKDW" ,I \RX VHWWOH WKH GLVSXWH \RX VHWWOH WKH GLVSXWH day sheeverything really would she just it. We reallyofofunderâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Well, here of we B Chow, thebeing Cow,sent said.to pictures pictures of aaareâ&#x20AC;?, little littleLdying dying gorilla gorilla being sent to previous previous visitors visitors in in order order to to get get now, now, everything will will get getmake back back ittotoso normal normal inin no nokept time. time.atAfter After all, all,never some some kinds kinds disputes disputes stood if her tenacity wasthere mainly due toinvolvedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, a huge ego or ifgenuinely going back to being more more money money out out of of them. them. Are Are city city people people so so stupid stupid that that they they wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know know are are straightforward straightforward when when there are are animals animals involvedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, II said, said, genuinely thinking thinking he he the the difference difference between between aa chimpanzee chimpanzee and aa real real gorilla? gorilla? asked asked myself. ItIt would understand. understand. a would normal housewife and mother scared her more than thinking of herself â&#x20AC;&#x153;OKâ&#x20AC;? . I said puzzled, wondering what and I was supposed toIIlook at.myself. In front was was all all a a bit bit confusing. confusing. I I wished wished I I could could read read the the Captain Captain better, better, but but it it was was as a failed artist. of me was a just plain green grass stretching down to the water of the lake impossible. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I will will not not leave leave the the policy policy ofof my my national national park park toto be be dictated dictated toto by by aa bunch bunch ofof Gorillasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, Gorillasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, butimpossible. I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really see anything new, no painting or â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;creationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of hers. I he he replied repliedinwith with hate in in his his eyes. eyes. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;If â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;If they they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fall back back inin line line soon soon Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;llwas have haveactoto resort resort said â&#x20AC;&#x153;Er .. niceâ&#x20AC;?, trying not to discourage her, but struggling to hide my emSometimes ourhate conversation I did hint thatfall becoming a mother â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;Śbecause â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;Śbecause II simply simply will will not not have have my my policy policy dictated dictated toto by by aa bunch bunch ofof savages, savages, and and even even toto Plan Plan â&#x20AC;&#x201C;â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x201C;â&#x20AC;&#x2122; creative job in the world but she never quite got it; she was tually theBBmost barrassment. less less by by a a bunch bunch of of animalsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, animalsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, he he said, said, carrying carrying on on in in that that pompous pompous vein. vein. adamant, she preferred giving birth to her creations which had only an overâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;A â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;And nd what what will will that that be, be, ifif II may may ask?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; ask?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; II knew knew there there was was not not much much room room for for mamanight gestation - most of her â&#x20AC;&#x153; brilliantâ&#x20AC;? ideas came at night â&#x20AC;&#x201C; rather than â&#x20AC;&#x153; Look above you, Nonno!â&#x20AC;?, she said almost laughing. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;So â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;So why why are are you you talking talking toto me me then? then? Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m part part ofof that that bunch bunch you you knowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, knowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, II said, said, getting getting noeuvre, noeuvre, even even ifif he he was was capable capable of of hiring hiring all all the the resident resident gorillas gorillas of of all all the the nine months. aa bit bit irritated. irritated. zoos zoos in in the the world. world. I looked up and saw all sorts of things hanging high up from the tree Inâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll one of those creative moments she approached me and ask me to come branches. Well I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what to say because it really looked like some Âś%HFDXVH , ZDV WROG \RX FDQ XQGHUVWDQG PH DQG \RX PLJKW KHOS PH LQ VROYLQJ WKLV GLIĂ&#x20AC;FXOW Âś%HFDXVH , ZDV WROG \RX FDQ XQGHUVWDQG PH DQG \RX PLJKW KHOS PH LQ VROYLQJ WKLV GLIĂ&#x20AC;FXOW â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll dress dress up up the the chimpanzees chimpanzees toto look look like like small small gorillas gorillas and and put put itit out out that that because because ofof and see her latest creation. As we walked to the location, she kept telling post-apocalyptic Christmas tree; basically situationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, he he replied replied aa bit bit more more amicably. amicably.it was as if several rubbish bins lack lack ofof food food they they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t grow grow toto the the same same height height as as before. before. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll then then ask ask for for more more donations, donations, situationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, how much I would enjoy her new and work this time hadwe found a totally had been emptied over that poor tree. taking taking pictures pictures ofof dying dying little little gorillas gorillas and post post them them on onas any anyshe emails emails we received received inin the the new dimension. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wow !â&#x20AC;?, I exclaimed, wondering what might be in store. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Well, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Well, why why donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t you you take take my my advice advice then?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; then?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; II asked asked politely, politely, even even though though II felt felt II was was past past from from visitors, visitors, soso that that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re aware aware ofof whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going going on. on. People People who who live live inin big big cities cities I must admit sometimes I did some of her ittheir was difficult tothe must have seen the dismay in my face because after a momentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s silence wasting wasting my my time. time. are are always always suckers suckers for for pictures pictures ofof like aa dying dying animal. animal. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;vestuff seen seen ititbut inin their advertsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, advertsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, said said the She place it because the materials she used to create heritit art Captain, Captain, as as ifif heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d thought thought long long and and hard hard about about all. all.were not - how shall she asked me if I understood what it was all about. I had to tell her the mag mag mag| Issue 01 December-January 2015 DANTE DANTE DANTE || Issue Issue 06 06 October-November October-November 2013 2013

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truth and admitted I had no idea what that post-urban modern quango thing was. She laughed. I was relieved she did because I thought I might have offended her but she exclaimed, “That’s right - you’ve got it!” “I have?” I replied, not sure if she was teasing me or what.... “Yes you have” she insisted. “Those are all fish made from different materials I collected from all sorts of prominent manufacturers; they were more than happy to help me with this installation as it gives their products extraordinary visibility”

“Fish out of water and I thought you were a vegetarian!”, I said having no idea what she would make of that. “Yes I am a veggie”, L B Chow, the Cow said. “If we animals don’t care for each other who will? Although Nonno there is a new wave of thinking that even plants have a soul so we’ll only be able to eat GM food made for consumption only.” I didn’t quite understand what she meant, but I went along with it, hoping that the more she tried to explain to me her concept, the more I would Issue 01 December-January 2015 | DANTEmag 103

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understand what those unstylish things hanging from that poor tree were. Even the colours she’d chosen didn’t match those of the leaves. Really, I thought, she used to have a bit of taste but with this one she’s failed miserably. Some ‘fish’ looked more like big cushions hanging anonymously, others looked like empty bottles full of dust wrapped in a piece of fabric; to be honest with you, I wouldn’t have paid a penny for that pile of rubbish. “You see, Nonno Panda”, she said. “You’ve told me several times we all feel like fish out of water sometimes, so I took your idea and made it more contemporary, like these fish have been thrown out of water by a blast of air, as if a hurricane had swept them out of their environment so they could swim on air. If you come over here, you ‘ll see them in a different perspective” I moved a bit further back and it was true from a distance, the suspended cushions seemed to be swimming above the water but it was still hard to see them as a colourful fish. I can understand that maybe commercially speaking, somebody who’s got tons of left-over fabric, would think it’s a clever way of recycling their material and at the same time getting the prestige of being seen to help a struggling artist but I’m not sure it had the intended effect, as the installation did not in any way enhance the brand but as the cow seemed so excited her work had received their support, I couldn’t tell her the truth about it all - after all who am I to judge an artist’s work? I am not a bona fide critic. However I feel I am still entitled to express an opinion, especially when I am forced to look at something I would happily ignore. I understand judging art is always a projection of what we like or dislike, even from a critic’s point of view and there will always be a market for people with money to spare who are willing to take punt on one artist or another on the basis of some dealer’s advice. You can do what you like with your own money - it has been the case down the ages. It triggers that narcissism of wanting to feel special, appear immortal. In the old days it was an acceptable way of communicating with the illiterate plebs in order to market DANTEmag | Issue 01 December-January 2015

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a belief or a social status. Now with the craziness of social networking that type of art form is redundant because taking selfies in any position in any location and then broadcasting it to the world seems the only sad modern way to exist. But hey! I’m just an old panda and always Zen with everything, so if a cow thinks she is an artist and wants to become a fishmonger, that’s also fine by me. And so I pretended I appreciated her work and wished her all success. I really do hope she can make some money - you never know she might be able to fool somebody with some spare cash to invest in it, but as I was sauntering back to my neck of the woods, I overheard two cats passing comment, “Well I never! All that fuss for a bunch of hanging cushions on tree branches that my granddaughter could have done better!” I guess those two cats were disappointed at not getting a bit of fish as a free lunch from among all those canapes you normally get served at private views but it was difficult not to agree with them. If the point of the entire installation is to make you feel like a fish out of water, confronting you with how far an egocentric animal can go to twist reality into something suitable for its own consumption then it has achieved its aim. I do not know if there is any other kind of philosophical interpretation of the work nor do I want to waste my energy on what kind of selfishness, lack of self esteem, or self-regarding ego, or whatever is involved . All I can say about artists is to each their own, and as long as they keep their style and integrity or whatever they think professionalism is I am fine with that, but those who go out of their way to use whatever connections they might have and compromise their so called “principles” for the sake of grabbing minutes fuss for five minutes of self-regarding fame, I am sure I can’t endorse those types. They are chasing short-lived glory because the cow’s art has suffered big time and although she may have had some talent before she has definitely blown it now on a work I find so mediocre that I know it will go virtually unnoticed. Good riddance, I say. On to ‘udder’ things.

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