the wedding

February 15, the wedding

Today I’m going to a civil wedding. The marriage ceremony is taking place in the town-hall of Barcelona. I wait expectantly for it, because it’s the first time I go to a wedding with two grooms.

I remember two years ago I saw an homosexual wedding in a small town. The couple had been leaving together for a long time and everybody knew it. When they arrived at the town-hall perfectly dressed, they looked back before going in, because many people were in the street waiting to see them and to say hello, and they said: “Ja era hora”.

Sunday 17

The wedding’s day the grooms were also perfectly dressed. They looked elegant and the guests too.

Pere Portabella was the master of the ceremony. Two friends read poems. When the ceremony was finished, family and friends invited to the wedding went to a luxury hotel to have dinner. Before dinner, a fantastic appetizer
was offered , and people in general, started drinking champagne.

Inside the dining room there were round tables perfectly decorated with flowers and candles. Everything was marvellous.

When the wedding cake appeared, we listened to Procofief, and the lights were turned off.

During the coffee, “La vie en rose” by Edith Piaf began the dance, and many guests were to dance. every one seemed to be having a good time. The women’s high-heeled shoes started being so annoyed…, but everything was right to the end.

I explained that because today, fortunately, the wedding I went, it’s like the most of the wedding, more or less elegant, more or less kitsch. That minds love is the most important in life and it also minds that in this country, finally “the times are changing”, like B. Dylan said quite a lot of years ago.

Irina Palm: A lesson of dignity

Who is Irina Palm? She’s a woman in her early sixties. She really loves her grand-son, who is ill, and the only possibility for him to get well is in Australia; but the family can’t afford the trip and the clinical care. Consequently, she decides to look for a job to help them.

Finally, she gets the money to pay the expenses.

Her son and her daughter- in -law are really amazed. They would like to know how she has got the money. Her friends are also interested in her job. But she has decided not to say anything, because she imagines a bad reaction from everybody.

What is the job? She works in an erotic club, masturbating men. Indeed. When people know it, they react as she had imagined. First, her son doesn't want the money, her friends decide not to speak to her, and neighbours do not dare look at her face if they find her in the street or in the supermarket.

I’m not going to explain more, because, Irina Palm is a film, and I don’t want to spoil it.

My question is: Why does society hide some economic activities related to sex? What’s wrong about it? Irina Palm, the main character in the film, does her work honestly, and she earns the money to save her grand son because, her love for him is above everything. But society, the same society who uses this kind of services, it condemns women, and also men, although less, who do these jobs. I think this is hypocrisy.

What do you think?

One advice: Go to see the film, and don’t forget to pat attention to the clothes she wears when she is working. The film offers the possibility to practise English, as well.