My Tumblr Blog

I am updating this more frequently than this blog, as this one I see it as an outlet for more formal thoughts.

My Tumblr blog is fun and short... and sweet.

Link: Elitist Queerdo

Hispanic Heritage Month

Yesterday was the start of Hispanic Heritage Month. It didn't dawn on me until now, that even though this type of 'celebration' exists, there is very little acknowledgment of the Hispanic Heritage in American History, with the exception of a few places. But not nationwide!

It is even more surprising, that negative feelings against "immigrants" (which one can argue is disguised racism) still exist today, to the extent that racial profiling laws are burgeoning in several states. Maybe this is not surprising, given that still in 2010 several states are legalizing structural violence against the LGBT community; and as recent as 60 years ago, racial segregation was still legal.

So, even though Native Americans and African-Americans are still not treated with the fairness they deserve, they are still recognized to some extent as being part of the core value(as romanticized this notion is) of being American. This is not so with Hispanic/Latinos. Why? I really don't have an idea.

The USA is only 234 years old, but that is only because it started with the Euro descendant 13 colonies. As the new country kept expanding to French and Spanish colonies/territories in the continent it kept adding its anglo-puritan ideology everywhere it could, which is why it has taken so long to "accept" and incorporate in the official discourse of the state a diverse (yet limited) view of the population. What conservatives need to understand is that the US is not some ancient civilization that has been successful against the invasion of enemy ethnic groups. It is a mutt-a majority of multiracial/ethnic white Europeans that thrived in a land halfway across their original land. Why is it easier to recognize that American means Irish, Italians, Poles, Germans, Yoruba, Nigerian, Ghanain, Cherokee, Navajo, etc, etc, etc...but not Mexican, Puerto Rican, Salvadorian,Peruvian, Cuban, among others?

This is very hard for me to comprehend (and not go batshit crazy about it) and I'm not going to give a history lesson here (cause I'm in dire need to brush up on this types of histories too) but It's not that hard to see that Hispanic/Latino history in the US is equally American.

1) Remember the whole southwest? The war against Mexico that gained the US, erm, NEW MEXICO, CALIFORNIA, NEVADA, ARIZONA, TEXAS? This only happened approximately 60-70 years after the independence of the US... It's sad that people ignore the fact that these names are in Spanish: San Francisco? really?
2) Burritos, enough said! No really, Burritos started in Juárez, look it up. It was essential in the diets of Mexican Americans in the US around the 50-60's.
3) We fucking clean your hotel rooms! Which means that there is a documented history of Hispanic/Latinos being a subservient minority because of its legal status as non citizens.
4) The Monroe Doctrine!
5) September 11, 1971-look it up-

Like it or not: We're here, we're brown, get used to i!

-signed, angry Puerto Rican token guy

edit-----
PS: I ended going batshit crazy

Hurricane Earl-Email to a friend

I'm going to share an email I sent to a friend about Hurricane Earl, which passed closed to Puerto Rico yesterday night.


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Thankfully it was not a big deal, because it passed right by the island. So people back home felt tropical storm winds instead of full blown hurricane winds. The eastern part of the island took the biggest hit, as it almost always happens. Thankfully, my family lives in the north, near San Juan, so they are OK. Lots of flooding and no electricity, but that always happens with hurricanes so people are used to it. As such, there isn't that much damage compared to a full blown hurricane. As of now, I haven't heard of any deaths (they are pretty rare back home when hurricanes/storms pass). The government agencies in charge of emergencies are pretty good at this, and people that live in flooding areas are always ushered to secure shelters (mainly schools) and given food and stuff. My family is OK, I kept checking with them yesterday. My family's houses are sturdy, so I'm not worried. This is pretty typical. Here are some links to pics from the local newspapers., the captions are in Spanish but the arrows to next and previous are easy to figure out how to move back and forth. While the images might seem like a lot, it's nothing compared to what happens to Dominican Republic when this kind of thing happens (sadly). Here are two links, one is the official newspaper's pictures, and the other is people's pictures of the hurricane.

Thanks for your concern,
Dave the Half-Blood Roboto

(A lot of this pictures, apart from the obvious one show the impact of the hurricane on Culebra and Vieques (Puerto Rico's two island/municipalities east of the main island and people in the shelters)

Map of Vieques and Culebra east of the main island:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Locator_map_Puerto_Rico_Vieques.png


http://www.elnuevodia.com/fotodetalle-amenazaapuertoricoelhuracanearl-769539.html
http://www.elnuevodia.com/fotodetalle-imagenesciudadanas-769870.html

Paula Deen and deep fried yumminess

Talking to my coworker, I realized that once you turn 25 you start to gain more weight if you continue the same high calorie diet you previously had. Which is why I'm trying to eat better. Nonetheless, I must admit that a lot of the delicious food I eat is high on calories and other detrimental factors for your health. While I think on ways to change my behaviors, here is a link an article rightfully titled: Paula Deen Is Trying to Kill Us.

Enjoy

Writer's Block

The concept of writer’s block apparently came up in the 19th century in the romantic era in which literature, poetry and writing were activities that were considered as the result of passions; it could not be forced. The persons who dedicated their lives to such endeavors, were people that were 'skillful' in inciting their own emotions and passions by reeling in 'inspiration'.

As a student, trying to come up with coherent thoughts is hard enough, so I can't imagine what these artists where putting themselves through. They were perfectionists, but did so in their desire of fulfilling the purism expected of the time; a self-imposed purism based on the canons of good writing and the emotions stirred by art.

How hard is it when you think your life depends on your writing skills and you feel what you are producing is not good enough? When you are stuck and rightfully despair into doubt and preoccupation about your work, what should one do? Is it art what students do? I don't consider myself an artist for doing so, but as students we are expected to convey complex 'thoughts' and 'ideas' in a constrained and different language than the one we communicate every day. I bet that those of us who do a better job at this could be considered true artists as they convey 'thoughts' and 'ideas' to others; and by doing so, engage in dialogues that most often than not, stir emotional responses among us (or our professors).


I started this blog to practice my writing skills for my current and future academic life, but a lot of times I think of topics that I wish to elaborate on and fall short of elaborating them for fear that they might not be interesting enough. I think I'm still trying to find a style that suits me. So, I feel I should be writing something for the sake of practicing even though I feel blocked.



In reference to the New Yorker Magazine article: Blocked: Why do writers stop writing.

Learning to let go...

So, in order to move past the emotional circumstances that we go through, most of us need to learn to disassociate ourselves with the things that tie us down to those circumstances. I assume that these are distressful, because then there might not be a logical reason as to why one is leaving these experiences behind. Why do we attach ourselves to other people the way we do? Is this necessary at all? Is this behavior evolutionary? Well, in regards to this last question it appears so.

 At its core, it seems that attachment is the sense of security that we are offered as we are socialized. Maybe it brings us further close to the core belief that we live in fair world where all of us deserve to attain what we were taught that we would obtain; family, friends, romantic love, sex, etc... Such is this belief that if we follow the rules, then we will be 'all right'; which also means that if these goals are not attained some rule (and probably your fault anyway) was not followed as prescribed. Social variables aside, what is the existential need for attachment?

 I speculate that we attach to each other to continue this sense of security going on. Important enough that a ‘human need’ for continuity in our daily lives is somewhat expected. We invest more resources on those things that we expect to deal with tomorrow, and brush aside and/or give little importance to the passing ones. Is there spontaneity in this attachment then? Maybe so, but the expectation that everything in the world is fair and all the efforts that we have invested in this other person will pay off somehow, is what makes us latch on like remoras. The end result is emotional, physical, sexual, economic and/or social rewards that positively condition these attachments. What happens then when the sharks wants to set loose? 



Why is it so horrible to realize that the other half of the symbiotic attachment is not there anymore? Rationally, one can give many reasons to explain such an event, but in terms of emotions your body and mind is trying to do you a favor by trying to die honorably at these new unfolding events...a Divine Wind;Kamikaze. The outside world is trying to pull you back in to their belief of a Fair and Just World, one in which the separation or death of this relationship does not equate physical, actual, social, literal death. But your emotions ‘know’ that with this death, there is no rebirth of the efforts that you invested; there is no change, no surplus...most (if not everything) of it is now lost! While some might dwell on what they have lost, others seek to provide themselves with a new outlook that presents them with a congruent and normal fair view of the world. "Why did this happen anyway? I followed all the rules, right? Why didn’t the other person follow them as closely as I did?" Such is life...right?

But we do that. We fail to follow the ‘rules’, we die, they die, we change, they change, he did it, she did it...did I do it too? The hard part is not the 'getting attached to others' (although some of us might argue just that) but learning to let go all that you invested...and it’s hard...totally hard! right?

1. Can you actually let go of people that died?
2. Can you let go of friends that are now toxic, but they are still your friends? “They were part of your life man!”
3. Can you let go of your romantic other? Your ‘soulmate’? Your husband? Wife? Etc?

How do we unlearn the attachment and truly let go? If we do so, are we kidding ourselves?

The existential despair of a Soccer Star

[Edit: This is not a great post, is full of grammatical mistakes but I don't want to touch on this topic any further but I still think there is something here to be discussed.]

I don't mean to be dismissing on another person's despair or sadness. But I just want to put it in perspective.

Yahoo Sports posted this online yesterday:

The existential despair of Cristiano Ronaldo

By Brian Phillips

The article blows out of proportion what Cristiano actually says. He just mentions his sadness at losing (something easily understandable at such a big and prominent event) and the article that actually mentions he being a 'broken man' is a link to a BBC interview with him. My first take on this is of disgust... my biases all seem to overtake me on this one, because he is just a month older than I am, has a better body and is on the face of the media constantly; something very much like the green eyed monster. To be honest, not that I want all that pressure on me, and that's why I shift from disgust to empathy on this issue. Though he will provoke little empathy from a lot of people (for being a model, a famous athlete, etc) he still is in a career that puts a lot of pressure on the him.

At the same time, I don't want to commit the same mistake my therapist did with me by saying: "Why would someone as successful as you, who obtained an all expense paid research experience to Cornell for the summer ever think that way about himself?" (This was at a time when I was feeling a bit sad). He still has the right to be "broken" by this event but he will be fine sometime soon when he gets back to the rhythm of things (I think). Anyway, to think about this and all the crap we grad students receive I'll share a Facebook status that I posted yesterday when I heard of these news:

"The existential despair of Ronaldo? Really yahoo sports? I mean existential? Just because his pretty face failed to qualify for the next round? When is Yahoo news going to do an article of the emotional despair of graduates students? i.e. getting rejected by grad school, getting rejected by grants/fellowships/funding, ...getting grilled on by how bad you write, receiving critiques that make you feel mediocre, never being good enough to your superiors in Academia, living on scrap money... how is that not existential despair? stupid stupid news"

Discuss