Carnival Queen Phenomenon

When we don't want to deal with things, we push them away and try to focus on the good. Maybe you have been dating someone who takes you for granted or isn't the nicest to you, but you convince yourself that there is more good than bad. in a sense you are blinding yourself to the truth because admitting it feels like it wouldn't change anything. What am I getting at with this? I am trying to explain the carnival queen phenomenon.

Paternostro finds herself trying to research the information about modern Colombia and its violence.  However in this chapter, it is very interesting how every time she sees the newspaper, they are talking about the carnival queen.  Paternostro says the picture of

the queen takes up half a page, and below her is a small box saying seven other people were kidnapped. this highlights how people in Colombia push their troubles away and put them in small boxes to only be noticed by a few.

What gets my attention about this is that Paternostro highlights something no one would outright admit here in Colombia. Her, being a character away from the setting, sees everything with a fresh pair of eyes. When a topic has been around for so many years, a person can forget what it means or that it is still a topic at hand. I think this is the toughest critique Paternostro has done in this memoir.

Being Colombian, I admit it is not that you don't think of the war but you do put it away a lot. I would rather Colombia had a better reputation than being known for kidnappings or drugs. I think that is why we push it away so much. Why should we let the war define who we are as a country? Isn't it enough that they have already ruined so much? Still I will admit that it is dumb to live as if there is no war going on. The carnival queen phenomenon is just that. It is not wanting to look something in the face and admit there is more to it than meets the eye. Paternostro uses this specific example to show how it is shoved away into a little box. In the quote below she explains it a little more: 

"Everyone who passes in front of the paper has something to add about la reinas dress; no one and I mean no one comments on the news of the kidnappings. But the reality is the I am looking for a the war and they are, rightly or wrongly, putting it out of their minds." (page 82)

Its as if everyone is putting a wall up and only letting the things they want to deal with in. It might not always be a carnival queen that is blocking everything but it shouldn't over cloud everything. Sure it is good to focus on the good over the bad but the bad shouldn't be completely pushed out.