#SUMMERSTUFF: A series of lists by Entropy Editors on books, video games, comics, movies, albums, art shows, places, concerts, etc that they are excited about for summer.
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This summer I am planning to finish a series of stories I have been working on (fortunately, the dog days are a very productive and inspirational time for me). Among all of these processes, I’m also planning to enjoy three exciting summer events that, I’m sure, will allow me to have a different perception:
1. Read Tres novelas by Severo Sarduy.
I bought this book months ago, and I’ve been waiting for a special occasion and to have enough time to read the three of them together without pausing; I didn’t want to read just one, so I’ve been thinking of the summer as the perfect time for my dose of the Cuban Neo-Baroque. The present compilation includes three novels: De donde son los cantantes, Maitreya and Pájaros en la playa (translated in English as: Where the singers come from, Maitreya and Beach Birds, respectively). I only know Severo Sarduy’s poetry and essays, and I am excited to get to know his novelistic facet, which I imagine will be quite an exquisite challenge that I want to experience as a reader.
2. Listen to the Solo Series by Kim Deal.
It’s been a year since Kim Deal has been releasing her new solo project on 7’’ singles. Little by little, from April 2013 until now, eight songs have been released in four singles; I’ve been purchasing every vinyl and have listened to the songs separately, as they come, and I really enjoy the parsimonious process of listening to a single instead of a full album. It is a kind of complicity that makes me stop to listen, to pay attention, to give importance to something that was created, recorded by someone to be played by someone else in a unique chronotope. At times like these, I appreciate the ancient custom to listen carefully. I know the fifth release is coming soon but if it doesn’t, I’ll be happy to listen to the Kim Deal 7’’ records that I already have. This summer, part of my yearning is to sit and listen, and to think about what I’m listening to and enjoy the thoughts executed by the process of just listening. By the way, it is important to say that I love Kim Deal’s music and this project is sublime, that’s why I think it is one of my three summer events.
3. To meet the endangered species: the Peninsular Pronghorn (I like its name in Spanish better: “Berrendo,” which means stained with two colors).
The Peninsular Pronghorn or Berrendo Peninsular has inhabited the Baja Californian peninsula for at least 5,000 years, and in the last decade was about to become extinct. Fortunately, the non-governmental organization Natural Spaces and Sustainable Development (ENDESU, for its acronym in Spanish), made the project “Save the Peninsular Pronghorn” that helped this beautiful animal to avoid the edge of extinction. There is a reservation at the Biósfera El Vizcaíno in Mulegé (B.C.S.), where you can go visit to see the Peninsular Pronghorn and other endemic species. I was camping near the reservation once, but I didn’t know about the reservation or about the Peninsular Pronghorn, I discovered both a few months ago, while I was investigating about extinction and endangered species; I’ve been thinking of summer as a great excuse to go camping and look for the Berrendo.
