Vade retro Luzbelitx!

Luzbelito knows his fate is one of loneliness
he also sees everyone can tell how much it makes him laugh

 
 

My first story is inevitably the story of my name.

Throughout my life, I had different names.

Some may argue they were not actually names, but nicknames or pseudonyms instead.

But as I uncovered my identity I understood a couple of words written in an ID card are not more of a name than those coming from a friend’s heart, or my own heart for that matter.

Each one of those names was a stage in my life, an identity, a story of learning.

So this is, more or less, the story of my current name:

 

Luzbelito is a concept album by Argentine rock band Los Redonditos de Ricota. It is named after the main character (a diminutive form of Lucifer a.k.a. Luzbel) who also happens to be the Devil’s offspring.

As many Argentinians, I was raised in a strongly Catholic family. I rejected such legacy from the fateful day in which I understood what it really was about.

However, those years of indoctrination plus the catholic mythology and symbolism everywhere left their mark.

From the moment I joyfully dived into heresy, I felt much closer to those Hells and demons they used to try and scare me with.

I liked Luzbelito as an appropriation of the terrible and dismal. I also like that the character wasn’t so supernaturally awful as he was awfully human.

But what made me love it, was a short but powerful phrase, which was enormously liberating for me, after a childhood of guilt and
inescapable rules:

Didn’t come all the way to this world just to be pleasant to you

I was forced to build an identity for myself which wasn’t constantly pushed or invaded by someone else’s interest, and that sole sentence seemed to sum up all of my feelings.

It also applies, in my opinion, to all those maniacs who intend to rule over other people’s lives, ignoring their right to be something or someone that others might not like. Science has proved there’s no need to be a Catholic to do that.

 

Of course, a lot of people won’t react very well when I don’t let them push me around. It’s clear there are moments and places for every expression, and it’s not my plan to go shoving this phrase in the face of anyone I meet.

It is, however, implicit in my actions and in the way I talk to others. Because if I’m adhering to such a philosophy it is only reasonable that I also presume anyone I meet has no need or obligation to be something I find pleasant. It’s rather basic when you think about it.

(I’m not saying I always practice it or that it always comes out flawlessly. We just live in a world which is constantly telling us we should take what we need from others, including their attention and the feeling of being right.

But that’s what philosophy is for, right? So we can shed light on things we’re not always able to practice…)

By the moment I was ready to call myself Luzbelita, along came Morganita, an absolutely exceptional being who made me question everything I’ve ever learned about being a woman and about being human.

She was the person who helped me climb this huge X where I’m standing now, with this smile of a thousand teeth all covered in sulfur.

 
 

Read this post in Spanish