Brazzil

They were practically unknown from people outside the jail system until they staged the largest rebellion Brazilian prison had ever heard of. Then, the PCC showed how powerful they were by taking control of 29 prisons for 26 hours in 19 different cities throughout the state of São Paulo. For a time the authorities and the populace feared that 30,000 inmates would state a huge and terrifying mass escape.
By Brazzil Magazine

This letter is in response to Gabriel Medeiros' letter printed in your last issue. Gabriel, you chastised Brazzil magazine for emphasizing sex in the Brazilian culture and added that it "gives a very skewed view on Brazilian culture." I am an American living in Brazil (the opposite of yourself) and it is obvious that you haven't been here in quite a while. 

You haven't been here in so long in fact that you must have missed: "A Banheira do Gugu" TV show, which has had porn stars and Playboy bunnies wrestling in a bubble bath with male models and pop stars for over ten years (this is a family program shown for three hours on Sundays); Domingão with Faustão with his hoards of scantily clad ladies dancing behind his enormous figure for the entire three hour program (also shown on Sundays); Uga Uga, which in its eight months run as the soap-opera at seven showed in practically every episode men's butts and women's naked breasts; Globeleza in her ten-year stint as the muse of Carnaval involving her twisting and turning throughout the day, every day, wearing only a small triangle of paint on her most private of privates; and the magazines Sexy, Brazil, Íntima, and many, many more showing everything on the cover, plastered on every newsstand (no brown paper wrapping here).

I'm certainly not condemning Brazilian culture. On the contrary, it has led me to look at my own inhibitions brought on by growing up in a more conservative culture (i.e. the United States of America). I would suggest to you, however, that before you chastise Brazzil magazine you come back to Brazil and remember exactly why the magazine prints what it prints. It is, after all, your culture that Brazzil magazine is representing and quite truthfully at that.

The Portuguese spoken in Brazil is simply lindo. Brazilian Portuguese is beautiful because of the melodic sounds of words like Sapucaí, Jacarepaguá, and of course saudade. Through my study of Portuguese literature and personal travels to Brazil, I too have noticed the incursion of English into the many facets of Brazilian culture. In fact, as Marta Alvim points out in her recent article, "English Spoken Here", it is impossible not to notice.

Brazil has a history of receiving ideas from abroad, consuming them, and then in turn, producing something distinctly national. This is a simplistic sketch of antropofagia, an ideology that emerged during Brazil's modernist movement in the early 1920s. Today, the permeation of English seems to be representative of a large trend, the devaluation of Brazilian culture. What might explain this phenomenon? Some Brazilianists have proposed the idea of a Brazilian inferiority complex, an insecurity that leads Brazilians to desire and depend on things foreign.

Language is a Trojan Horse! People like Deputado Rebelo and organizations like the MNDLP have a right to be concerned about the state of Portuguese in Brazil today. It is alarming that President Fernando Henrique Cardoso is addressing citizens with speeches in English. It is alarming that the UFMG (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais) is excluding the use of Portuguese in sponsored events. And yes, it is even more alarming that English words are continually being adopted into Portuguese without being modified. This is disturbing because it goes against the Brazilian anthropophagous spirit of creating something anew. That is the spirit of Brazil. That is brasilidade.

Marta, I read with pleasure your paper and also your interview with Aldo Rebelo. I liked both of them. The question you put to him are excellent. I expected him to answer the way he did. He has a right to his opinions. I am pleased that he has modified his position of the imposition of fines. I certainly agree that we have to improve the study of Portuguese here in Brazil. I plan to show your paper and interview to colleagues and students here in Brazil for debate.

In addition, I want to congratulate your and your editor for the articles in Brazzil are very interesting. Do many teachers of Portuguese as a Foreign Language in the USA use Brazzil in their classes? I would use it if I were teaching Portuguese as a foreign language.

I've just been looking at your brilliant website as part of my research for a new BBC TV series called Ghetto Fabulous. As you can probably guess from the title, we're looking for stories of over the top opulence from around the world! I'm currently trying to find great examples of Ghetto Fabulous-ness in Brazil (shouldn't be difficult, I know!) and would love to get some ideas from some experts in the field!

I know you must be busy, but I'd love it if someone might have the time just to go through a few ideas with me. Please get in touch if you think you might be able to help, and I can then send you more details about the show and the sort of thing I need! PS: We're also looking for LA stories...

Dear Mr. Gilman, I was delighted reading your article about Mitar Subotic Suba (Brazzil, March 2000), and I would like to thank you for your good work. I was looking for a complete Suba story, because he is a kind of forgotten artist in his native country, Yugoslavia, where I live. Your article is, as far as I know, the only one found through large research on the Internet. Your article is the only Internet-available guide to Suba's music & work.

Suba is one of a few genius musicians who finally plotted Yugoslavia at the music maps on the right way. There are a few of us still researching his recordings, guessing what was hidden in his studio at the moment of the accident. Something beautiful and unique, we're sure.

I'm doing some research about street children in Brasil. I already have a lot of information and the more I read the more upset I get. I really need some more information, some numbers and some new information about FEBEM and other organizations. If you have anything at all, I would be so happy if you send it to me. I also have another question: Do you know anything about the organization Happychild mission?

Hi there Bruce, I just finished reading your article on the 30th anniversary of Tropicalia—it was one of the best, most informative pieces I've read about the movement in English. Congrats! I've been a fairly hardcore Brazilophile for about 20 years and recently came back from three months traveling all over the country. (Do norte ao sul...) I have many hundreds of CDs in my collection but I have a hunch you may have a few thousand more! If you're ever in NY and would like to get together for a bate-papo, I always enjoy meeting other folks who know the scene.

Daniella Thompson, I just want to sincerely thank you for the João Gilberto biography. It was a fascinating and uplifting article.

Hi, I am from Peru and I adore listening to Brazilian music. I need the song lyrics for "Meu Irmão" from Toquinho. Can you help me? My e-mail is yitamaurilia@hotmail.com. I'm going to try to look on the Internet, but this is not easy for me because I don't have a computer.

I'm 16 years old. I'm a student in Brussels, in Belgium. I have adored the film Central do Brasil. This film has changed my life and I was very impressed. I'm searching for a website from the film or an e-mail address or a postal address for director Walter Salles or the company Videofilms. It's very important for me.

I really think that Brazzil magazine gives a flavor of Brazil to many Brazilians who live in the USA and Canada. Make us feel a lot of saudades. Keep the good work for your paisanos.

I just came across the site Brazzil and found it very interesting. Brazil is such a big country, such a beautiful country and so little is written and found about it. I am a half French/half Brazilian woman living in the south of Brazil. I speak English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. I do have a computer and a scanner too for photos. I'm interested in helping, looking for anything about this country as I live here. But I'd like to know what mostly interests the magazine so as to conduct my researches in the correct way.

If you or your viewers are interested, I've had images of my project. "Bahia in 1/15 of a second" accepted by Focalfix, a photography oriented website. The gallery section of their website is devoted to fine art photography. They've selected several images of mine which were shot during Carnaval in Bahia. These images were shot with a long shutter speed in order to catch the excitement and perpetual motion of Carnaval. To see these images go to www.focalfix.com and click on the gallery section. Then click on J Brewer(Carnaval), to view the images. A lover of all things Brazilian.

I happened to run across your website while I was surfing on the Internet. I am looking for some information on the Brazilian trucking industry. I also am researching the overall Diesel and petrol consumption of the trucking industry. Do you have any other resources that may help in gathering this information?

I wish to subscribe to your magazine. Will send travelers check in mail. I also need urgently an English-speaking contact in Belém. I am bringing a group of 25 travelers to the Northeast in August and I need a bus schedule urgently to plan appropriately. We fly to Belém and then tour overland to Sao Luís, then to Fortaleza and to Recife and finally to Bahia and back to Belém in 17 days, but I need bus schedule and costs. No help so far from agencies in Belém since they don't speak English. Many thanks.

We wholesale unique products to bird related retail outlets in the US. In the past, we have been able to obtain Brazil nut seed pods through a group of missionaries, but with poor quality control. Apparently, the missionaries acquired the pods from local natives who collected them during the rainy season, took off the outer black shell leaving a light brown nut. Then they cut slices wedge shaped slices around the outside of the shell to expose the nut cluster. Sometimes the wedge cuts were too wide and the nuts fell out during transport. Other times the nuts were spoiled and the individual brazil nuts inside were not eatable.

We would like to work with the Pukanu villagers to obtain the seed pods for wholesale distribution in the US. We know they are currently exporting nut oil so we feel that they would have a sense of quality control that we are looking for. Could you help us by directing our request to someone in the Pykany Trading Company who can speak English so we can work out the details.

I'm a documentary filmmaker from England and I'm making a documentary film about capoeira shooting this May. I'm trying to make contacts and find stories and events happening in Bahia. I do not speak Portuguese and need help with the project. If you could contact me for help I would be very grateful.

I am from Brazil and I am not sure if I could write in Portuguese, so I am writing in English, just in case. Well, I would like to have some information about this magazine, which I already had the opportunity to read. My sister lives in California and she is a Brazzil subscriber. The magazine gives her a chance to know about the latest news about Brazil and Brazilians. It provides her memories and the Brazilian way to remember.

I would like to know if there is a possibility of working for your magazine, since I am graduated in Liberal arts—Portuguese and English—here in Brazil. Besides, I'll be leaving to the U.S. in March. For this reason, I thought of writing you guys to know about this nice magazine and maybe the chance of working for it anyway.

Hi. I am doing a paper for a school project and had a question I was hoping you could shed some light on. Where do you see the future of coffee going in the industry and in Brazil? Please send any replies to Jakway888@aol.com .

I was wondering if you could do me a favor. My girlfriend is from Brazil and she speaks Portuguese and for Valentine's Day I wanted to write her a card telling her how much I love her but I wanted to write it in Portuguese. I was wondering if I send you what I wanted to say if you would translate it in Portuguese for me. I would really appreciate this.

I read with interest the article in the February issue titled "The Ghost of Rio". While the author displayed great writing skills, I feel that there are too many negative articles that paint a picture of Brazil as crime infested being written. As an American that grew up in a tough neighborhood I can tell you first hand that the US crime rate is high too. Most Americans don't even realize that crime infested Harlem is a section of wealthy Manhattan. There is a poverty stricken neighborhood in walking distance of the White House. I have spent considerable time in Columbia, Venezuela, Mexico and Brazil. I use the same common sense safety rules that I use in the US and I have not had any problems. I just wish that Americans would stop worrying  about crime and poverty abroad and take a look at their own problems!

Super congratulations and many thanks to the Bay Area Brazilian Club and the other sponsors of the 2001 Carnaval at the Galleria in San Francisco. It was fantastic. The group SensaSamba and Aquarela were fantastic, playing non-stop for six hours. The Brazilians and the whole crowd were maravilhosos. Só danço samba, só danço samba...

I intend to visit your country after I get my degree in communications. I may be visiting the Amazon while I'm there. I would like any information you may have on Bahia. Carnaval takes place in late February or early March, so I will probably be arriving during the summer. What's the weather like in Bahia in the summer? Please send any suggestions on any websites or books about this. Any Portuguese classes you would suggest? Or is it not necessary at this point? I won't be traveling until the summer of 2003. What vaccinations will I need to get before I arrive?

I am an African American Male Professional from NYC currently residing in Atlanta, Georgia. I have been in love with your country for years. Your culture seems so rich. I am looking forward to visiting as soon as possible.

Interessante a maneira como foi conduzida a entrevista com o senhor Aldo Rebelo. Confesso que já tinha ouvido falar na proposta dele para o congresso, mas tudo me parecia, como está bem exemplificado na reportagem, "paranóia da esquerda". O fato é que tua matéria me fez abrir os olhos, pois há algum tempo luto por uma causa bem mais simples e um tanto mais irritante: o mau uso da própria língua portuguesa por falantes nativos.

A Internet está abarrotada de textos ditos "jornalísticos" com erros lamentáveis de construção, sintaxe, ortografia, etc. O fato é que a investida do senhor Rebelo já não me parece tão absurda, pois, como ele mesmo diz, uma coisa é usar, outra é abusar. Ainda mais se falarmos em termos "oficiais", quando órgãos do próprio governo desrespeitam a língua e abusam dos estrangeirismos. E—apesar da suspeita da minha opinião, por ser brasileiro—a língua portuguesa é tão rica e tão bela que torna-se ainda mais triste o fato de estar sendo vilipendiada. Ponto pra ti, por ter levantado a questão, e parabéns pela reportagem.

Como pode ser esquecido o memorável Ayrton Rodrigues? E seus fabulosos shows de TV, Almoço com as Estrelas e Clube dos Artistas? Afinal, Ayrton Rodrigues é parte de um patimônio nacional, começou junto com a TV. Por favor, meus caros amigos, não deixem essa grande porção da história para trás, é preciso comunicar abertamente, fazendo juz àqueles que fizeram parte da nossa história brasileira.

Oi Adorei ver todos os comentarios das escolas de samba. No próximo ano eu irei ver pessoalmente. Todos os anos temos aqui em Hollywood no Palladium e eu vou para matar a saudades. Nao é igual nunca, mas se pode brincar um pouco.

Salve, mi chiamo Elfrida e vi scrivo dall'Italia mi servirebbe un vostro aiuto! Se e possibile per voi spedirmi la lista di tutti i club esclusivi e privati del Brasil? O se avete un indirizzo URL dove posso trovarli! Vi ringrazio per la vostra cortesia.

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