Wednesday, February 09, 2005
The Counter clockwise Clock
I’m just off the plane from the Southern Cone of South America – Gaucho country. My shirt smells of Maté, and my pants are stained with Tannat wine.
I plan to share little bits of my journeys from the past six months on this site. Little vignettes from three oceans: the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic, all journeyed to within 5 weeks. So, indeed stay tuned.
Most of this travel has taken place in the Southern Hemisphere. A great and fascinating place. Things are different in the South than they are in the north. I don’t just mean the water in the drain thing, or the fact that the Southern Cross comes out to visit every night, no it indeed goes deeper than that.
I bought a clock on the weekend in Uruguay. It tells time counter-clockwise instead of clockwise, the way it used to be done in the Southern Hemisphere before Columbus and Cabral took wrong turns and whipped out entire civilizations. Many things in the south go anti-clockwise: marine currents, the structure and growth of plants, and the flow of liquids. Joaquin Torres Garcia said that in the South when our ships go north, they go down, not up.
From what I’ve seen, the North is spinning out of control in a clockwise direction, and on its dizzying journey it is making every effort possible to convince the South to spin in the same way. Going against culture, language, diet, science, rationalism, logic, and nature, the North wants the South to spin its way. Unfortunately, its momentum is strong, and in many places in the South things are spinning this wrong way. But, there are many pockets of resistance from Cricket to Maté, World Social Forums, Languages, distances and ideas that are working to put the brakes on this dangerous idea.
Over the next few weeks I’ll cover some of these pressure points that impact how we relate to each other and ourselves.
I plan to share little bits of my journeys from the past six months on this site. Little vignettes from three oceans: the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic, all journeyed to within 5 weeks. So, indeed stay tuned.
Most of this travel has taken place in the Southern Hemisphere. A great and fascinating place. Things are different in the South than they are in the north. I don’t just mean the water in the drain thing, or the fact that the Southern Cross comes out to visit every night, no it indeed goes deeper than that.
I bought a clock on the weekend in Uruguay. It tells time counter-clockwise instead of clockwise, the way it used to be done in the Southern Hemisphere before Columbus and Cabral took wrong turns and whipped out entire civilizations. Many things in the south go anti-clockwise: marine currents, the structure and growth of plants, and the flow of liquids. Joaquin Torres Garcia said that in the South when our ships go north, they go down, not up.
From what I’ve seen, the North is spinning out of control in a clockwise direction, and on its dizzying journey it is making every effort possible to convince the South to spin in the same way. Going against culture, language, diet, science, rationalism, logic, and nature, the North wants the South to spin its way. Unfortunately, its momentum is strong, and in many places in the South things are spinning this wrong way. But, there are many pockets of resistance from Cricket to Maté, World Social Forums, Languages, distances and ideas that are working to put the brakes on this dangerous idea.
Over the next few weeks I’ll cover some of these pressure points that impact how we relate to each other and ourselves.
Comments:
actually, no matter how many toilets youve seen spin the other way, it has nothing to do with it being on the southern hemisphere... its just the directional flow of water... do the test yourself if you want... take a bowl or something with a big enough hole in it and put some water in it... hold it in your hand and turn your body around... gently not toomuch to spill the water... youll see the ater will spin in the direction of the initial movement... try it both ways
# posted by 
: 19 January 2008 at 14:09
: 19 January 2008 at 14:09
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