INTRODUCTION
Exercising memory can be a complex journey into the inside each one of us. A journey into our deepest world views, our wounds, our ilusions.

What are we if not memories? That was said in part of a dialogue in a movie in the 1980's. What are we, if we are unable to recognize ourselves in the actions that we took and didn't take in a certain time. That exercise -which can be painful- is definitely part of the meaning we give to our existance.

In the case of this book, it registers a recent epoch in our history which marked, for better or for worse, a whole generation. The military dictatorship which started its long night on September 11 th in 1973 made us grow fast. It was a violent thrust directed at the middle of our hearts. Most of the protagonists of these chronicles were children between 8 and 10 years old when the coup. We hadn't grown up yet, which means we had to live a very important part of our youth under military dictationship, with universities placed under military rule and placed in the midst of spying and academic slant.

However, this young generation organized itself, raised its voice, demanded spaces of freedom, not only in their classrooms, but in the whole country. The city of La Serena was then very different from what it is today. There weren't any of the buildings which today give shape to Avenida del Mar and neither was there the tourist glamour which makes this place a permanent picture in tourist flyers.

It was a city which closed its doors early in the evening and in which the only noise came from its university students, most of whom came from different parts of the country, who wondered around its streets looking for something intersting to do, something to make, something to create and a party or two to share.

Those were times of incipient organizations in which each one of us put their effort to shape them into small spaces of democracy. It was like living in microclimates. Going into Escuela Normal and the other campuses of Universidad de la Serena was like entering into a different time. There were political parties, leaders, bulletin boards, organizations, meals we cooked and shared together, cultural activities and so many other things. In spite of living in hard times, we were not exactly a generation that did not also have a good time: we had our spaces for love, bonfires and friendship.

It was all hanging from a string, something could happen at anytime. So the only way to fight the enemy in waiting was to organize, to share in solidarity and the deepest of friendship. We can see this clearly today when more than 20 years have passed and here we are, full of wantings and pasion to make our country a better place to live for everyone.

This book is memory and that is why it has a sweet taste of longing. But we do not stop there, we do not believe in longing for its sake. We believe in creating, we hope that this becomes a significant contribution so that the sacrifice of those years was not in vain, so that the life of so many friends remains not only in some memorial wall. In the end, this is lets us say that we are alive, overflowing with dreams and that we are a generation that gave the best of its strenght to achieve a more fair and human Chile , a challenge that for many of us is still pending.

Because we have also learnt -the hard way- that tolerance and the acceptance of different points of view are the fruits of our fight. Everyone belongs in this space, that is how we wanted it in those years and that is what we print today in these words. These chronicles, the pictures that illustrate them and the memories that come back are part of a very important symbolic capital and a strong legacy that we want our children and the children of our chidren to have.

Opening these pages is saying we are present, we are alive.

La Serena , winter of 2007