What matters most with a baby is to talk: The content isn't anywhere near as important as the tone, the eye contact, the attention. Last night, after she was born, I just began to free associate on the history of philosophy with Helena Iara. It might seem that talking ontology with a baby would be a one-way conversation, but she responded, reacted... and her mere presence made me think in different ways than I would talking with a child or an adult. Even if the content wasn't the most important thing, I'm very glad to say that Helena Iara was very attentive as I tried to explain to her the development of pre-socratic philosophy and how autarchic, decentralized government lies at the root of the thinking of Thales and Anaximander. Whether these hypotheses are true or whether she will even be interested in philosophy matters very little. What was great was her constant, curious eye contact.
Today I'm creating a new blog to celebrate an entirely personal event, one that has little to do with street kids or child soldiers or indigenous kids making telenovelas (though the name Iara is Guaraní...), the themes about which I write, film, and work. Rita and my daughter was born last night, weighing in at a little over seven pounds, and since then has shown herself to be strong, healthy, and curious. Her eyes are in constant movement until they find an interesting object or person, at which point they maintain an intense attention. Pediatric neurologists say that babies can't focus their eyes at birth, and certainly the concept of an "object" hasn't yet entered her eager brain, but she certainly pays attention to color, form, and movement.
For the Pre-socratics, the world was made of up of four elements: water, fire, earth, and air. For Helena Iara, the elements are probably movement, color, smell, and sound... but they still come together to form a world.
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