food for thought [barcelona, spain]

My film teacher always talks to us about how Spanish people like to talk about struggle, about pain, about death - they want to breath it in and feel it as deeply as they can. To us it seems depressing, but he says that in facing death, they find a new freedom in life. He says that's why real Flamenco is so powerful to watch - because it comes from the poorest parts of the south of Spain where they face real struggle. It's like blues. When your life is that difficult every single day, when you can reach out and touch death and feel it in your hands, then you are free. And you can dance and sing with a passion that others could never understand.