The beginnings of creation

One morning, in my parents’ kitchen in Portugal, I was listening to the fado music I listened to so much as a child. I was peeling potatoes and onions. The women were bustling about preparing Christmas dinner. The men were also getting ready, but to eat, already seated at the table or on the sofa.

I saw myself in my grandmother’s and mother’s shoes. I had a strange feeling of being lost, of not being in the right place. I started carving one of the potatoes into the shape of a penis and thought, “What would people think of me if they came in here now?”

Because it doesn’t make sense to do this while listening to Fado music that talks about this “anxiety of life” given by God to the singer Amàlia (estranha forma de vida, which can be translated as strange form of life). Did God give me this anxiety too? Certainly not. It would be so unfair to give people anxiety… especially women.