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What happened in 1971?

The ephemeris allows us to place ourselves in the past, for example with “I don’t have a clue what happened in Liverpool in 1587,” and that bothers me a lot, things being what they are. Or in the future: “Today a child has been born in Talavera who will amount to absolutely nothing in life, even less so an Archpriest.”

The events of 1971 show that Switzerland allowed women to vote, Great Britain adopted the decimal system, Mercedes Benz invented the airbag, and Spain established the hope telephone line. Sergi Bruguera, Josep Guardiola, Carme Chacón, and Paulina Rubio were born in 1971, and Fraga Iribarne celebrated his first 100 years. Harold Lloyd, Igor Stravinsky, Nikita Khrushchev, and Teodor Svedberg – who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on “physiochemistry of dispersed systems” (reference about which will be made later) – passed away. Nothing big.

But, above all these events, the one that stands out is that, on 5 May and under the invocation of Saints Argon, Neon, and Krypton, nobles and Blessed Fluoride, Chlorine, Iodine, and halogen companions, the Food Studies sessions were created.

Having examined the possibilities for titles:

Discussion: Conference in shirt sleeves
Lecture: Discussions with a tie
Roundtable: four speakers who had 15 minutes each to present their vision of the topic. The first one took 20 minutes. The second got up to 25 minutes. The third speaker was warned by the moderator when he reached 30 minutes, and the last could only say “well, me neither.”
Workshop: A few hours discussing a topic among members of the same company and ending with unanimous assent for what the boss said.
Sessions: 2-3 days talking about various topics.
Symposium: 1-2 days talking about the same topic.
Seminar: A few hours talking about something with two or three unfortunate souls who were forced to attend.
Conference: Same as the sessions, but with foreigners and a wine of honour.
Council: Reserved for Romance language speakers.

The title for the sessions was chosen. It is prudent not to bring together in the same closed sentence a female subject (Jornana) with a male one (Estudio) and, if it is not possible to avoid it because the discourse requires it, they must be separated by means of a modal adverb, a preposition (de), or a disjunctive conjunction (never ever copulative!).

What was the subject? Basically, to support the commercial work of each speaker. The customer has a different behaviour if he is visited (he feels safe, he stays within his area, he is defensive: “you’re here to sell me something”) than if he hears the same technical speech in a university environment (“how interesting what he said…come visit me!”). This was achieved from the beginning but credibility and prestige through continuity also mattered. The light that guides you is much more effective if you do it with rhythm, much like a lighthouse.

Many other events that started on the same dates disappeared like the sad rivers of the Taklamakan desert that dry up before reaching the sea. Everyone walks, few leave footprints. The river of our sessions continues. A long drought between 1981 and 2000 (except for a brief resurgence in 1991) was the prelude to the current optimal flow, thanks above all to the incorporation of valuable tributaries.

Is our activity of any value? It is easy to count the seeds of an apple but it is impossible to predict the apples that will emerge from a single seed. It is always better to sow than to harvest because the latter would not be possible without sowing.

It is therefore possible and desirable that the information, opinions, and concepts expressed in the events turn out to be useful. But there is another much more important value for me: that of establishing bonds of affection between the organizers and attendees.

Meetings. I have attended countless isolated meetings, without continuity, with some speaking on one side and others on another and not coinciding. All with the semblance of being convinced that the act is absolutely useless. They sometimes asked for my opinion… come again?… and answered with something like “Taking into account the context and the concomitant circumstances, we must make an effort to agree on what is feasible, coinciding with the complementary specificities of the environment as opportunities for active reaction and achievement of excellence” (grand nods of approval).

But, to quote Svedberg and his scattered systems again, I should add: Life is colloidal. Each of us (molecules) is immersed in a Space/Time, subjected to the unpredictable Brownian movement. Zig-zag trajectories, fortuitous and unexpected, make us contact each other with minimal control over these “encounters.”

How can you stabilize a colloidal solution? Increasing the viscosity of the environment? It’s quite viscous already! Much better to take advantage of and stimulate the “bonds” that are formed when meetings are repetitive. This has happened in our GPA. People with whom we would have met from Easter to Palm Sunday in throwaway meetings, with wakes as brief and superficial as those traced by the movement of a boat, we have been getting to know and appreciate each other over the years. And this value of friendship and affection far surpasses the value of the events themselves.

1971: At that time we still retained the virginity of scientific dogmas and still believed in the reassuring stability of Bohr’s atom. These were other times, already perpetuated, in which Fourier’s series were serious and a romantic shudder accompanied the Friedel-Crafts synthesis. But, alas, those times have changed and the future is no longer what it was.

Today I am firmly established in Continuing Doubt and, as if that were not enough, lined with ailments and malaise. I am not sorry for ailments because they can lead to great discoveries or fundamental philosophies. Recall the bump that an apple caused to Newton. Or Descartes’s hobble that allowed him to affirm with comfort: “Cogito, ergo sum.”

Ailments have forced me to place a distance (only physical) with the GPA but in my Continued Doubt there is no doubt about the affection, fondness, esteem, and cordiality that I share with you. And I know (May God grant you children!) it is mutual.

A cheerful hug + two kisses for the ladies (two to be Christian: “When they kiss you on one cheek, turn the other”).

Robert