People

I have a beautiful sister who knows how to laugh and dress. She surrounds herself with people who are good-looking, uncomplicated, talented and funny, like her. Some of them play music, like Eric (most of the songs of the album he released are about her). She wears her hair very long with long, big, hippy earrings. She loves music. I owe her Rufus Wainwright, Devendra Banhart, Karen Dalton, Sly and the Family Stone. She loves Seinfeld and Sex and the City. And she misses New York's Lower East Side, where she spent a few long months. Sometimes, when she's sad, she'll go see our mother and stay with her one night, maybe two. Mother will look after her and spoil her a bit. The sis always finds something funny to tell me about her stays there, and we laugh on the phone or online and it always makes me feel good, if a bit envious. Angie was a quiet little girl, whom I always found incredibly cute. I annoyed her so much, I also disguised her and made her up in our games, I was often the nanna and she was always the princess. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love her.

I have a friend in London who plays the piano. When I still lived there, sometimes I'd stay the weekend at his place. I called it my second home. We ate pizza salad and chocolate, watched movies with a couple of doobies, slept, did a bit of yoga, he'd practice and practice and practice Chopin's first ballad and Bach's 18th fugue while I worked on the computer. I never minded listening to him work and play short passages over and over again. In fact, I loved it. We listened to Bella Davidovitch, Martha Argerich, Bill Evans and he'd search for videos in youtube (once he learnt how to explore it) on all of them, and Pogorelich. Now I have a bit of him in my iPod and whenever I'm feeling tense or I need to concentrate, I listen to Chopin or Rachmaninov. But he's not all piano. He loves to party. Reeeeaaaally party. Party hard. Though I think most of the partying he did when I didn't know him. He is soft-spoken and his kindness, it seems, doesn't really have limits. On a couple of occasions, when I really needed advice, he was there, asking all the right questions and making all the right statements.

I have a friend in New York who's known me since Brazil. We were 8. Or maybe 9. He's like a brother, speaks the same languages that sis and I speak, although for different reasons. When we were little, we used to spend endless hours on the phone. We were at the beginning of our teenage years and boy, did we have things to talk about. We'd founded a sexual education club. We gathered at recess and talked about growing boobs and pubic hair and menstruation and masturbation with other kids we liked and trusted. Another kid who wanted in ratted us out to the oldest, most conservative of our teachers (Mrs. Weinberg, math) who was determined to let our parents know. She was stopped in her tracks by our sweet biology teacher, Mrs. Andreamanalina, who took the matter into her own hands and gave the entire class a chat about how our bodies were changing. We still remember her fondly. Alex and I share a love for Michael Jackson, dancing and singing. Once, later, we were already in France, he called a radio station in the middle of the night, had them call me and he made me sing with him, on air, one of the Brazilian songs we loved. Alex still dances like a damn star. And he sings, too. He did years of drama, played in a few, very funny plays. Lately, in his spare time, he's been reading Kant. I still don't know why. The man's a brain on (very coordinated) legs. A brain that functions at lightning-speed. Don't try to keep up. Just enjoy the ride.

Ying I haven't known for long, but I got her under my skin. Like one more of the family. She's my sistah from down undah. She met all three people above and fit right in. Ying is younger than me and sometimes I wonder how that's possible. We talk and talk, we deconstruct the world and rebuild it together. She one of them incredibly generous people, brave and hilarious and mind-blowingly clever. Ying looks tough and has a deep, deep voice. Ying has a style that, if you're careful, will tell you pretty much everything there is to know about Ying. Practical and unique. Ying can be intimidating, but Ying can't be your friend if you're intimidated. Ying is questions and reason and love and sweetness. Ying got me in an instant, she saw exactly what was there and I don't know that I will ever be thankful enough for that. The first time I saw her, we had dinner at another friend's. She took us for an conversational rollercoaster ride about what it means to find your place in the world. I knew then and there I'd never be bored with her.

PS: 700 couples showed up at the mass, anti-racism wedding in St Niklaas.