In 2021, I asked myself the question: Is there such thing as a utopia? or is it just that: something that can't be reached. 

It all occurred to me after I read a phrase by the Spanish politician, Quevedo that said: 

He called it "Utopia," a Greek word which means "there is no such place." 

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Parallel to this, I had been questioning the concept of memory as an abstract place that almost every novel I read mentioned. Why was it such a recurrent theme in literature? Memories for me became that place Quevedo mentions. There is no such place because our memories are not true to reality. 

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***This text, memorables, was written as an introduction to a participant lead live performance where the memory game of some of my personal memories was played (below). The game was placed inside a box that also included: memorables text, instructions for the game, a memory love box (only to be opened at the end of the game, where a player could take the first memory of love of a stranger and then introduce theirs in the box), and a memory index (that explained every memory in the game).***

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memorables

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“. . . Together with little Alice we will slip past the smooth, cold surface of the looking glass and find ourselves in a wonderland, where everything is at once so familiar and recognizable, yet so strange and uncommon.” -Lewis Carroll

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There is a sense of urgency in human existence in wanting to be remembered, to be remarkable, to create something great-  something written in history books.

 

We experience our existence though our own lives but also in the fragmented realities others create of who we are; or how they remember us. The fragility of human existence makes one want to create something external from oneself that is a representation of the life they’ve lived, their needs, urgencies, necessities, all expressed through the life they create and legacy that remains. We look for ways to to live forever.

 

In a few cases, the legacies others have left are remarkable: Gutenberg and the printing press, Eddison and the lightbulb, Anne Frank and her diary, Einstein’s theory of relativity, Rosa Parks boldness, the Wright brothers airplane, The Beatles Submarine, Alexander Fleming’s Pennicilin, Louis Pasteur’s war on bacteria, Frida’s diary, Alec Jeffreys DNA sequencing, Aristotle’s logic, Darwin’s evolution Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem, Marie Curie’s radioactivity or Garcia Marquez’s magical realism. From art, to science, to religion, to physics, to chemistry, to ideology, the gifts created for humanity by some of the above-mentioned masters are undeniable. But if we are just mere “mortals”, how can we leave a legacy? 

 

We constantly question life after death, but what if, the actions and achievements one does while living, and the permeation and repercussions of these are the way to exist even after one has passed. The legacy of the soul is the consequence of our existence. The people we talk to, the minds we change, the love we give and how this is multiplied and projected by others is the life that keeps on living. Being memorable in the best way possible and how this is replicated through others like a domino effect.

 

Memorables is an ode to the utopia that memory can be. Through a combination of quotes, poems, facts, ideas, thoughts, in this game you will find some words that have been memorable in my life.

 

I sometimes find that my best memories exist in my memory, and I wonder if it is a coincidence or if it is the beautification that we give to the past. Nostalgia of the past makes it seem like reminiscences are better than anything the future will hold. Especially living in an era where the future seems so hopeless sometimes.

 

“It was the happiest moment of my life, though I didn’t know it. Had I known, had I cherished this gift, would everything have turned out differently? Yes, if I had recognized this instant of perfect happiness, I would have held it fast and never let it slip away.” -The Museum of Innocence, Orhan Pamuk

 

Memories do that sometimes. Make one think that the best lives in the past.

 

Few things are as complex as memories.

 

Memories trick you; they play you like a game. They magnify the positive and blur the negatives- for us to be able to manage the weight of our existence. They make you forget (thank god they do) some of the things that have harmed you and they magnify the love you’ve received. This helps us endure life. My brother once told me “We’re happy with the people we invent” because we created characters based on the memories we have of them.

 

Memories are heavy. They may be so obscure they prevent your future; they pause your present and taint your past.

 

Memories are needed. They tell you who to love, what’s right, what feels good, what moves you, what you should fight for and why and for what you should live.

 

Memories make you feel melancholic about what you’ve lived because you might want to change it or re-live it. Memories make you feel reflective in the present, because you may not want your life to fade away.

 

Memories are what makes us, us. The language you speak, the traumas you’ve lived, the DNA stored in your genes, all this information that is remembered by our bodies defines our existence.

 

I’ve come to realize that to be memorable we just need to move someone.