Post-graditis, and learning Flamenco in the Tango Capital

Could post-graditis incite bank robberies?

Post-graditis is a state of anxiety where the afflicted may do seemingly irrational things like take a job that has nothing to do with their field of study, return to the old, comfy job pre-grad school– or flee to another country. As someone afflicted with this sickness, I can say I seriously contemplated all three. And then– not entirely unlike the notorious bank robbers Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid who followed fables of gold, or William S. Burroughs, a beatnik fixing for enlightenment in the form of hallucinogenic plants– to South America I fled.

Shamans and Burroughs agree: yage does cure post-graditis

I returned to Argentina, where I was an exchange student when I was 16, and have visited three times since –the land of mate-drinkers, beef-eaters, Evita Peron-admirers, and where Che is not only a revolutionary hero to many, but also a word that’s in between an interjection, a verbal pause, and a term of (pestering) endearment.

In Buenos Aires, where tango is king, I’m studying flamenco. What can I say? I tend to do things a little backwards. Spain is where I should be, or even the Big Apple according to one flamenco teacher, because Buenos Aires is past its heyday for flamenco.

No matter for me. At my level, of three years of not-so-consistent training, Buenos Aires gives me plenty of banging for my post-graditis bucks, a lot of stomping for little silver. And now, I’m registering students and answering the door in exchange for unlimited flamenco and yoga lessons. In other words, todo bien.