Phillipe

By Britt Neuhaus

Why I disagree with the statement: “Americans value education in a way no other culture does”

The cool boys
always have the cool boy names- the triple threat
being gender ambiguous (Camden), meant to be a last
name (Smith) and/or some creative play on
tradition, a form of rebellion against status that
nevertheless seeps through (CJ).
His
Ray-Bans absorb the heat off the bold red brick.
The sun moistens his heavy neck, weighed down by
a nonchalantly strewn tie. It is an uncomfortable
act. Leaking cologne (Marc Jacobs?), torn tweed
vest (90s GAP no doubt) -- Not to worry though, the
loafers come from his dad, a vintage homage to prep
school blood penetrating generations, nobleizing
his tattered socks.

Contemplation: the merits of substance mixing
Skills: modesty, hand-raising, avoidance, mock enthusiasm
Pursuit: discovering a passion

Philipe
smokes a pipe and strokes his beard, a symbol of
anarchism since national rock idol Raul Seixas
vehemently spouted spit onto his own dripping fuzz,
denouncing dictatorship in the company of other
coca-cola generation antis. He attends two
universities, shuttling back and forth on the wages
of his week. A pen cap penetrates one ear.
A lonely dried-out pen is lost in his
graffiti backpack Anytime for a beer?
Always time, for beer, museums, sex…life.
He is
poor, vehemently protecting his education in a way
those who associate it with wealth never will. He
philosophizes, narrates and creates toward no
concrete future but the immediate product of his
current endeavor. Architects are taxi drivers in
his country.

Contemplation: the merits of civil disobedience
Skills: honesty, confrontation, clarity, enthusiasm
Pursuit: being passionate

I am trying to get in. He exposes me with every
step.

I love Brazil.
Then renounce your citizenship and live here forever.

I hate anthropology.
Aren’t you studying me right now?

Those people look dangerous.
I was mugged by a white man in a suit.

I forgot about the protest.
Do not forget to protest- choose not to. Ask these
students about their absence and do not expect
apathy. There is praxis behind their inaction.
There is leadership in their invisibility.

There is confidence without authority, autonomous
validation through beliefs.

I am--
a student of generalizations, a product of comfort
and a parasite as such

I am--
a well-timed ideal killer, a subtle manipulator of
divergence, the big fish, the force of mainstream
currents

I am taught by--
playfully tolerant, artificially hierarchal eyes for
talent, with teats leaking a juice sweet with
desire-tinged-with-competitive envy. Most of all I
am taught by actors:

I disagree…(mild amusement)
I believe…(skeptical inclination of the head)
Revolutions…(benign scoff)
resultant emotion resembling anger of excitement
(condescending suppression)

I am--
the oppressor

It is only the oppressed who, by freeing
themselves can free their oppressors. The latter,
as an oppressive class, can free neither others nor
themselves…The convert who approaches the people
but feels alarm at each step they take, each doubt
they express, and each suggestion they offer, and
attempts to impose his ‘status,’ remains nostalgic
towards his origins
-Pablo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

I remain nostalgic.