"MI BEBE SABROSO"

"Mi bebe sabroso"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWY0fKccpa0

Una vez mas, la industria de los juguetes trata de indoctrinar la maternidad en las ninas. Este muneco de vinil, latex y plastico, es la opcion presentada por la compania para sustituir a un bebe de verdad en las manos de una "toddler". Obviamente, no me pueden decir que no es una manera subliminal para indoctrinar en las feminas la crianza de bebes, el anuncio habla por si solo. Noten como solo resalta los momentos glamorosos de la maternidad, por ello todo en el anuncio esta rodeado de un aura rosado brillante, al igual que todo en el anuncio esta cubierto de telas rosa. Tambien cabe resaltar como a papa no se le ve ni el polvo en el anuncio. Mensaje final, es completa responsabilidad de la mujer cuidar a los hijos, y mientras mas temprano empiece a practicar mejor.
Da verguenza como nuestra sociedad que se dice tan evolucionada, refuerza estereotipos arcaicos y sin base.

"Man, Interesting Creature of Creation" Episode I

This is a satiric comic piece, under no pretension this should be considered official scientific research. It is not done to offend, bully or disrespect anybody. It’s just good, clean, feminist fun.

“Man, Interesting Creature of Creation”

Introduction
Creation, one of the things mankind is most proud of, but no other creature has made more clear their affinity with creation than the human race. Within the human race, we have, as with any other creature in the planet, basic sex opposites, the male and the female. In this documentary divided in three parts we will explore that interesting creature of creation that man is. So let’s hop into the adventure boat and take a deep look at man.

Episode I

Men have a very “interesting” way to look at life and to look at socializing with the opposite sex. When a man wants to socialize with other men he is often very open, communicative and physical. When a man is to socialize with a member of the opposite sex two things will always be in the way of the process.

1. The gender difference and all the social implications of it.

When a man is to socialize with a woman the first thing he has in mind is that the creature has boobs, therefore she is in an inferior intellectual and social sphere. No matter how far a woman has gone or how important her contributions to society she will always be looked upon because of her “sad condition” (being born a woman that is)

2. The possibility of being an immediate mate

A man does not socialize only for the sake of socializing; he will always evaluate the situation first in terms of the possibility of turning the female in question into a possible mate companion. “Tapping that” is the first impulse, socialization is the second.

Another “interesting” and archaic behavior that the male species from the human race exhibits is the compulsive possessive behavior towards the female. Once he has declared the chosen female an everlasting mate companion he will scare away all other males and thwart every attempt of socialization outside of his watchful eye between “his female” and other males. Any other male no matter his condition, abilities or lack of them will always represent a threat if there is a female involved in the situation. This behavior however, almost always comes accompanied with another archaic behavior that deals with what in the male slang is referred to as “respect to another man’s woman”. The males of the vicinity will only interact with the female in question when her mate is around, once the female is alone the other males are to show “respect for another man’s woman” by not responding positively to any sign of socializing or courteous behavior from the part of the female, an example of this, if the female in question is leaving her pack’s nest and smiles at you just to show courtesy because you are on the path towards her defined goal(the car) if you are a male you are not to smile back, for you do not want her mate misinterpreting your courtesy as an advancement on “his woman”.

Man is a rare and fascinating creature indeed, his possessive instincts and predatorily behaviors have not changed much ever since he was a homo erectus, but on the contrary, most of the behaviors stayed with him and were adapted into a code of moral conduct as he evolved physically into Homo Sapiens. As with every other creature in the animal kingdom there is the occasional and rare “mutation” which contradicts said codes of moral conducts, however given the “pack nature” of this creature, this behaviors and ideologies are forcibly repressed obtaining one of two fatal outcomes for the “mutation”; he is either turned into a “functional” member of the pack or labeled an outcast and left behind to be eaten by society. Any of the two is cruel enough to wish not be born within those unfortunate “mutation” cases. Nonetheless when one of this “mutations” is successful in surviving by themselves, they overshadow their extremist masculine counterparts and become improved versions of what a human being should be.

In the next episode of “Man, Interesting Creature of Creation”:

We will explore the nature of the “scratch and sniff” behavior in men and also “Balls, do they really fall off if you do the dishes today?”

How much is your happiness worth?

A couple of weeks back a friend of mine made a question that has been roaming through my mind for a while now: How much is your happiness worth? This question of course has stayed with me as days have gone by because believe it or not, for me, this is a difficult question to answer. We live in a high speed world, a world in which we spend loads of time and money in everything we like, but think it twice to spend time or money in what we need. How many times have you felt alone, or trapped within the limits of your life and yet refuse to seek professional help because it would be too expensive? Instead you go to the mall and spend 300-400 dollars in a new phone, or shoes and clothes that you will probably never have a chance to wear. Aren’t you spending more in this escapade? And in the end, once the shopping is done you go back to feeling miserable. Cuanto vale tu felicidad? How much are you willing to invest in your own happiness?

If you are like me I consider exercise a wonderful therapy but lately I have found the perfect excuse to avoid it, “I don’t have the time” and yet, I spend time in Facebook, I check twice a day all my e-mail accounts, I keep up to date with all my favorite tv series, I follow all my favorite authors and books, etc, etc, etc. Bottom line is, it’s been a while since the last time I exercised. Does it sound familiar to you? We have to learn to make time for the things we love and keep us sane, that help us feel happy and healthy, understand that if we make time, there will be time. How much is your happiness worth?, It is worth as much as you are willing to invest both economically and spiritually in yourself and last but not least it is worth as much as the man or the woman in the mirror.

Once you start taking care of yourself you will start being happy, but this time it will be a long term effect.

Justice

A 30 year old male teacher rapes a 15 year old girl and he is immediately perceived as a monster, a perverted human being and a lot of other categories that involve unpleasant and heavy words. However when the situation is the other way around, when a 30 year old female teacher rapes a 15 year old boy, it is not a felony but a fantasy. The dynamics of gender that our society deems as correct don't seem to be based in morality or in right and wrong for that matter, but on power relations. When the authority figure that abuses his power is a male, whether the abuse is directed towards a female or a weaker male we consider it abnormal and abusive; on the other hand but when the weaker male conquers the female figure of authority it is considered an accomplishment to the conquering male. Double standards anyone?

Why can't we be objective when it comes to justice? I believe people have come to forget that justice being blind does mean that it will be played with at will and it will not notice but that it will treat everyone objectively, no special considerations will be taken because you are rich, white, male, powerful among lots of others that I will not mention here. Why is it so hard for people to understand that actions have consequences and that punishments should be applied according to the consequence not the level of education, money or power that the culprit might have. Maybe if we could convince people that consequences will be upheld no matter who you are the world would not be as it is, maybe we would have more equality, respect and better social interactions with those around us, we would have less hate crimes, robberies, murders, rapes, civil rights violations, etc, etc,etc.

Nonetheless I do not want you to see me as an idealist that is proposing an immediate solution to obtain world peace, that would be unreal and idealistic. However it would be a nice first step.

If you liked Mac Farlane's Twisted land of Oz Collectible figurines, you will definitely enjoy this artwork.

http://caffeineandcarpaltunnel.tumblr.com/post/1246223992/the-twisted-princess-series

Enjoy!

On the evil nature of humanity

As I was reading an article on a freshman's suicide because of a roommate's prank, I sat down and I asked myself, What could possibly drive a human being to be so evil towards another? Why would you feel such satisfaction ruining another's life when you don't even know him?
You know, some people say that children are naturally good, I disagree. As members of the animal kingdom we are taught to be nice, we are inculcated with a sense of morality and right and wrong, we are not born with it. Could it be that we channel the frustrations of out lives by doing to others what we would love to do to those that hurt us directly? Or are we just psychotically driven to hurt others just because it feels good?

To think that as humans we consider ourselves an evolved and civilized part of nature and even sometimes, we think we are above nature. But when things like this happen it is when we remind ourselves that we are not above nature, actually we are below it, because there is no other animal in the face of this earth that loves so much so the an innocent suffer, there is no other animal that enjoys destruction as much as we do. It pisses me off to see how this is reported in the news with easiness and calm as if it was just another natural thing that we cannot control, but it is not, we can control it. Why don't we? That is what really worries me.

On family and blindness

After two days without being able to focus (literally, my eyes were not working properly, I couldn't focus) I realized how much you sometimes want to kill your family members and how much you love them. First, my mom was supposed to go with me to the doctor's appointment cause i forgot the location of the office(something pretty common with me to forget addresses and locations)but then she called and says she had a couple of things to do with dad so she canceled and I got pissed off, but I calmed down and went along with the day. Thing two was that my husband decided to do things his way and his way makes me nervous because it involves leaving the house an hour after the hour I had planned and it is a long trip, so it made me nervous and annoyed but still, I took a deep breath and allowed GPS system in the I- phone do the magic. In the end, I did make it to my appointment on time, I arrived there with my husband and left with the whole crew, my mom arrived there with my dad and my sister came into the picture like half an hour later. Those are things that make me remember that I love them. But this is a family themed posting so here is the other part. There are also things that make me remember how much I would like to strangle them sometimes. Once the test was done, given the side effects of the meds, I was unable to focus on anything so for me everything, specially at short sight range was a blur. And there they were, making jokes about me being blind. Making hand gestures (not nice ones) and asking me what they were doing.That was not funny. I guess family is like that, you can't change them, you just have to love them.

That last comment helps me make the transition to another thing that has been on my brain lately. Ok, so I am completely hooked with this TV series, "Parenthood", I guess, after all they remind me a little of my own family. The series was harshly criticized for being an idealized version of what a family is but I think that is not completely true. Those of us who have big families know that sometimes things can get messy, but no matter how messy, in the end, almost all the time, things work out and we end up forgiving and forgetting just because they are family and we love them. If I had to choose a favorite from the series, I guess it would have to be Julia because she is constantly trying to juggle her career with being the type of mom that always know what is going on in her 6 year old's life.But since her work consumes so much time, she is always making mistakes and getting into trouble with the other moms. It's so funny how being a lawyer she can't handle "pre-school politics". I guess sooner or later we will all get there.

Have a nice day everyone.

On Education, manners and imitation

For a couple of days now the faculty members of my Department have been at war because of a "consideration measure" taken in favor of the Seventh Day Adventist students and faculty that attend to classes on campus(given the strike that lasted almost 2 months we are now bound to give classes on Saturdays). This situation has taken me to ponder about a couple of things, one of the most important being that education does not make you educated. We are talking about faculty members that are published and worldly recognized scholars in their field of study and yet they cannot hold a civil e-mail conversation without attacking each other publicly. Why did they prefer to do this verbal exchange through e-mails? The world may never know. I guess some of them just need the recognition, some of them just enjoy arguing, but one thing is for sure, ethics and manners workshops should be held more often in my campus, some of the fellow educators need them, fast.

In other topics my students and I are talking about imitation in the classroom and how does it affect your life, your behaviors and your learning. I found a couple of pretty cool videos to compliment the readings, tomorrows article sounds promising and I'll see if I can make a psychological experiment with them, I hope its fun.

I leave with this question, why do we imitate?

Parent does not equal Good Teacher

A couple of days ago I was watching a TV show in which a man was demanding from his wife for her to take charge of their 12 year old daughter's education. The father wanted to remove the girl from the public school system and force his wife to home school the girl because he felt it was safer and it was the wife's duty to educate the girl at home. These statements done by the father other than being exaggeratedly chauvinistic and unreal left me thinking about home schooling and the level of involvement parents should have in their kids education. How far should a parent go, how much should a teacher tolerate? Where are lines crossed? Today while I was roaming the children books section at Borders I involuntarily witnessed a situation that chilled my bones but provided me with some answers to my own questions. I saw a mother trying to teach her daughter how to recognize verb tenses in Spanish. What's wrong with that? Is what you might be thinking, well, the part that chilled my bones and made me want to bitch slap the woman was that the girl was probably around eight years of age and the mother was talking to her as a drill sergeant would talk to a private during the first week of basic training. As could be expected the child was scared, about to cry and could not concentrate so every time mom would ask a question the little one would get it wrong and the whole children section plus the corridors of the store would know she got it wrong for to add insult to injury, she wasn't using her indoor voice when she corrected the child. The point this example proved to me is that being a parent does mean you are a good teacher. Not all parents have the disposition, patience and training that being a good teacher requires. There is no hormone released during pregnancy that readies you to be the appropriate teacher for your child, or somebody else's child for that matter. Being a good teacher just like every other good professional is a matter of loving what you do and those that you do it for. So if you can't take the heat, get out of the classroom before you damage your child's education in ways you would never wish to. Because as I have witnessed a vast amount of times during my years teaching, good parents are not always good teachers. Something that the aspiring teacher should always have in mind is that teaching is a calling, not just another 9 to 5 with a set of paid vacations twice a year.

On cats, green tea and abandoned cultural habits

Before we talk business, here's an interesting quote to think about:

"Dogs come when they are called; cats take a message and get back to you" -Mary Bly.

Now straight to the point:

Today I had the horrible experience of tasting green tea for the first time. It was horrible! I felt as if I was drinking dirty sock water. Ewwww! However I have to get used to it, considering all the health benefits it has and all the health problems I have, I guess I'll have to find a way to deal with the flavor. Please, if anyone has any ideas on how to make it taste better let me know, I'm more than open to suggestions.

Today I also went to the mall to return a couple of tickets for a cancelled play and I realized that it's been years since I actually applied myself and visited a museum exhibition, or the theater. That makes me feel bad about myself. I used to love going to concerts (classical music), watching plays and even one or two operas. I feel like I have abandoned an important part of me. Oh well, I guess Madonna lied, time goes by, but it ain't slowly. Too much work, little time for fun.

In a curious note, tomorrow is my first continuity meeting with the Mayawest Writing Project, I'm actually excited to see all my fellow TCs after three months of hard work and not being able to get together. I'm sure it will be a fun learning experience. More about that later.
Oh well, I guess that's it for today, although I leave with this question floating in my mind, Why do men consider women hysterical and exagerated in matters they don't even understand?

Sobre la Prensa en Puerto Rico/ About Puertorrican Media and Journalism

English version of the post below the Spanish one, no particular reason for the order of the posts.


Mis disculpas, en estos dias los post han estado lentos, es que he tenido un poco de dificultad con la vista, never fear, ya saque cita con el especialista para la proxima semana. Hoy por hablar de algo que tal vez no le interese a muchos quiero hablar un poco de los medios de comunicacion y sus selectivos habitos de publicacion. Mirando la prensa local me di cuenta de que la mayoria de las noticias o son viejas, irrelevantes, completamente sensacionalistas o simplemente una melcocha de idioteces que hasta un nene de 8 a~os seria capaz de escribir,(De hecho creo que un ni~o de 8 haria un mejor trabajo). Eso me lleva a preguntarme que esta pasando con el periodismo en Puerto Rico? Los periodicos en los que la isla confia para mantenerse informada y en conexion con el resto del mundo se han convertido en tabloides sensacionalistas mas inclinados hacia la violencia y las imprudencias e indiscreciones de la farandula que a la prensa seria y el bienestar comunitario. Despues no se quejen si la salud mental del pais esta por el piso.
Es con pesar que hay que denunciar que ahora si es completamente obvio que la prensa puertorriquena ha perdido la objetividad que alguna vez caracterizo a algunos de sus miembros e instituciones. Ahora si que esto se jodio!


My apologies for the delay in the posting frequency, these couple of days have been hard on my eyes, never fear! I already have an appointment with the Specialist. I'm seeing the doctor next week. Today just for the sake of talking about something that maybe nobody cares about because nobody can relate to it, I would like to talk about the puertorrican printed and digital media elite news sources and their news choosing selective habits. Giving a close look to PR's local media I realized that from a couple of years back most of their published news are either old, irrelevant, tabloid like or simply a bunch of bull**** that even an 8 year old could write. (In fact I think an 8 year old would do a better job) That obviously leads me to ask the question, What's happening with journalism in Puerto Rico? The newspapers in which the country trusts to keep itself informed and connected with the rest of the world have turned into tabloids maliciously inclined towards violence and the bad choices of the rich and famous than to serious journalism and the well being of the community. Then they have the guts to complain about the psychological health of the country as a whole.
It is with heaviness in my heart that i feel the need to denounce that now it is completely obvious that puertorrican media has lost the objectivity that once characterized some of its journalists and institutions. Now we can really say that this island is fkd.

On Romantic Comedies and Real Relationships

I have a love hate relationship with romantic comedies. After all they are responsible for the nonsense and expectations about love and relationships that I built upon the years. However it feels nice to watch a fairy tale develop every now and then. For me, romantic comedies are the epitome of how un-real love can be. In romantic comedies people always end up happily ever after, impossible situations turn into perfect romantic moments and the boy always gets the girl he wants, it is formulaichly Shakespearean. Every one ends up paired and the bad people learn their their lesson. Sometimes I hope life was like that, but then I wake up and get myself a cup of real with two teaspoons of life. Even though in romantic comedies everything seems so perfect, I guess I would not trade the relationship I have right now for a fairy tale one. My point is that before choosing to be Jennifer Lopez in Maid in Manhattan, I prefer to be Tina Fey in Date Night, you know, to have the happily ever after after the happily ever after. To have someone to come home to, love and accept me even after the fairy tale wedding was over. I guess some people don't understand that. Why can't we have romantic comedies that focus on that, successful marriages, instead of unfaithfulness, flings and building relationships on a foundation of lies? Society complains for a lack of morals and values that society itself sells and promotes. I guess this world is a never ending loop of unsolvable paradigms, and,(realizing with a surprise reaction) we are stuck in it. (while jumping off the second floor)NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just kidding, I try but I just can avoid being a cynic. It's so much fun!

About shoes and budgets

All of us have obsessions and sometimes this can take us to take very stupid decisions that we later regret. One of my obsession is shoes. I love shoes. I more than love, adore shoes, to the point where I wear shoes I'm not suppossed to use because then it is back who suffers the consequences of the strain. Today's post is not about shoes perse, but it includes a pair. A couple of days back I was roaming some stores with my husband because we were trying to keep our selves entertained until the time of the movie we were going to watch arrived. My husband, being the person he is immediately moved towards Game Stop to watch video games and electronics, me on the other hand decided to go to a women clothing store that was also close by. Once in the store I went straight to the shoe section and fixated my eyes on a beautiful pair of shoes that I of course loved, but found too expensive. My husband, being the person he is, offered to give them to me as a gift to which i said "no thanks" because using my common sense, the shoes were still too expensive, and that died there. The next day I had to run some errands so I went to Wal Mart. To my surprise i found the same pair of shoes, this time in the color I wanted them but for almost half the price they were in the other store the day before. This time of course, I succumbed to the obsession and bought them(this is not a redemption story people, I had to buy the shoes). My point here is that if I had spent the 30.00 dollars for the shoes in the first store only because I liked them, I would have found myself regretting my decision 24 hrs later when I had seen them at 16.00 dollars in Wal Mart. Given the worldwide economic situation, we can't let our obsessions control our budget. Always remember to shop first what you need and then, if there is money to spare, what you like. May my story be wise advice, and if you love shopping, well, keep doing it, but do it wisely.

On slumber parties and reputation

Today as I was making the line for the auto-bank service I was listening to the radio. Here in Puerto Rico there are a couple of very popular radio stations that are constantly at war with each other; which is funny because both their recording studios are in the same building and they belong to the same broadcasting company. Even their dj's were at some point work buddies.
But that's not the point. Their topic today was slumber parties. They were curious about what girls do at slumber parties. Of course their curiosity is sexually inclined, they wanted to know if girls do get crazy with each other when they make slumber parties or how they are known here in the island, "Pijama Parties".
It was both perplexing and shocking to listen to the female callers and how they revealed to the hosts exactly what they wanted to know, and that is how lying prone and promiscuous teenage girls are believed to be.Don't get me wrong, that is not my affirmation, is what you could understand by the statements given by the female callers in this radio segment. The funny thing about it is that the callers were now 20 something women who did this slumber parties when they were 12-14 years of age. It was not surprising how the male hosts were taunting the callers to see if they could get a couple of juicy details of some of the situations that these women initiated into when they were still minors. But now let's move to the why this post is important.
It has come to my attention that a couple of years back maybe the main enemy of a female's reputation was men, but now it looks like we have turned into our own enemies. We sell our own image like sexy seductresses that will do anything (sexually and morally speaking)not to get what we want but to be perceived as attractive by the men around us.

Isn't that the same as letting men, media and literature denigrate us and portray us as evil sluts? I think it is. They say that in order for others to respect you you have to respect yourself, I think that applies to the public side of it too. After all if we as women don't fight to protect ourselves, who the fu** is going to care?

No, I am not saying we should act and dress as nuns and deny that as women we are sexual beings just like males are, I'm just saying that there is a reason for some parts of some stories to be called "intimate details". But once again,I guess that the main problem here is that some people don't know what common sense is, or how to use it for that matter.

A stranger in my own skin and "glam gloves"

Sometimes I feel like a stranger in my own skin, I don't know if it is something that only happens to me or if it is something common, that others experience regularly. I live a simple life and I am happy with it. I am full speed ahead for my masters degree, I have a hard working and loving husband and three kitty cats that I adore. However today, when I was driving back home from running errands and doing some house related shopping, for a moment I felt completely lost, and add to that that here in PR people are so rude in the shopping malls; they push you and bump into you without at least a simple apology. But that is not the point, the point is that for a moment, I could not recognize myself, as if something was missing, as if I should be somewhere else. Creepy huh? I wonder if this happens to other people too? That feeling of being inadequate for the place you have chosen and the path you are walking. Or maybe it was just my sugar levels and the thirst. Hey, it could be, you never know.

Uhhh, in other topics worth discussing, today I saw the two most ridiculous house keeping instruments designed to target female buyers, the first one was disposable gloves called "glam gloves" they were pink and had flowers on them, so that you look prettier when you are doing dishes, yeah... cause that's what your main goal is when you have to remove filth from somewhere,look fabulous while doing it(drowning in sarcasm right now)

The second one was a pink and black iron, that way you can also feel glamorous while ironing because your iron matches your decoration, wow! How come I never thought of that before? That's what I need to be a happier less oppressed house wife, matching home appliances (officially drowned in sarcasm)

Don't get me wrong, I love pink and I have nothing against color matching, actually I believe it makes your home look more harmonious. What gets me is that they are trying to sell this to you as an object that will define the level of femininity that you posses. I mean, you should have seen the face of the lady with the "glam gloves", she looked so happy while removing dried melted cheese from those plates. Color matching does not make you a happier house wife and pink flowers in the plastic gloves do not make the job more glamorous, a 20 dollar bill every time I do the dishes, now that would make the job more interesting, but pink flowers, nah!.

Home sweet home, messy home.

I’m finally back home, and everything is where I left it. Yep, the same mess I left. Although now is a bigger mess because given the hurricane thing the friend I left cat sitting unplugged all the electronics and left them sitting in the living room furniture. And she lost the house key. So now I have a bigger mess than before. But I’m glad I am finally back to my place and that my kitties are ok, I was starting to get sick of the hotel room, I’m like my cats, I need room to stretch. So today I still have errands to run and I have to take care of my car, so no rest for the wicked. Not even today.

About hurricanes and conceited bratz.

So there’s a hurricane going on outside; yes folks, I live in Puerto Rico. And still I wish I could be outside running and dancing like a crazy person under the rain. But it looks like it’s going to get worse so I think I’ll just stay in and maybe watch some tv. As I am sitting here writing, there is a tv program called My Super Sweet Sixteen going on.

I’ve only seen pieces and bits but what I have seen has been enough to make my stomach revolt in disgust. How can there be parents who are stupid enough to spend so much money on the whims of such immature adolescent brats? The biatch got a Mercedez Benz valued in 40,000 dollars for her 16th birthday. What the fug is wrong with her parents? I bet that she can’t barely spell her name right and she will be out on the streets terrorizing pedestrians in a 40,000 dollar Mercedes. That’s just outrageously irrational and funny at the same time. I wonder if Daddy’s little princess would be able to survive on her own without her phone and credit cards for a week? It would be like taking the dope away from an addict. Now I don’t know about you, but I think that would be a great idea for a reality show, place these princesses in a real life situation that they would have to solve by themselves and let’s see how hilarity ensues.

Cruelty, bullying and suicide; 3 things we should never accept as natural

I have been skinny almost all my life, however different to what you might think, skinny does not mean pretty. I was never in style; I had bad teeth and a low self esteem. Intelligent, sure, accepted, maybe, popular; never. I used to hang out with the girls that I thought were my friends, what I never realized was that all they ever did was overlook me. They were always the pretty ones, I was their charity case.

I remember how much I always wanted to be like them. I never had my own style, I never had my own voice, I never had my own nothing, I was always looking up to have and to be like the girls I idolized cause when I looked at the mirror all I could see was someone I hated, someone I did not wanted to look like, someone I did not wanted to be. To that, I had to add the deformity of my hands when I reached 14, to which the doctor said, I just had more bone than skin. Throughout most of my teenage years, I was called a thousand names, among the most popular ones E.T. and Bugs Bunny. It was harsh not being seen for my grade point average or my talents, but by the flaws that I could not fix with a bit of makeup here and there.

People would like me to say that the only enemy I faced was myself, that I self sabotaged myself into having low self esteem and believing that I was ugly and inadequate, but reality is that was only part of the problem. The rest of the problem was encouraged by those around me who were cruel, their parents who encouraged their cruelty, my parents who accepted that kids are just kids and that middle school and high school are cruel places, my teachers who gave a rat’s ass about what happened in the hallways and I guess I can also blame the presidency or something else. But then I guess people would start saying that I want to blame the world for the evils of the world. And nobody wants that right?
We are so caught up into the conventions of the world that we forget to fight and support those who fight against what is unfair and psychologically unhealthy in the world. Maybe because it is easier to look the other way and think it will pass, that the kids will just grow up and forget all the scarring moments that made them cry for unnerving and never ending nights. That they will forge they were called names and they were insulted and bullied non-stop every day for years. I guess maybe because it is easier to do that than to take some action against the abuse your son or daughter might be facing. Because thinking that hard moments might make them stronger when the reality of the situation is that those moments only make it harder to get up in the morning every day and face the world. What better example of this than the statistics for teen suicides and yet, the world prefers to walk blind.

If we don’t engage into some real actions against this entire situation, only one thing will be for sure, the number of youngsters who will never see their dreams fulfilled will keep rising and also the number of grieving families. Why do we insist to ignore what is clearly spread before our eyes? Bullying, labeling, hazing and all the consequences this brings are not natural and they should not be a part of a child’s development. We should not encourage it and we should not ignore it either, we should take action,that is the only legitimate way to prove your children and those around you that you care and that you really love them.

Nunca me vere como ese maniqui/ I will never be that mannequin

****English version of the entry below the Spanish one. No special reason for the language order of the entries.****

Hace unos días, gracias a la bondad de una buena amiga, por fin pude visitar la tienda de ropa de la que todas mis amigas me habían hablado pero yo no había tenido la oportunidad de visitar. Al llegar a la tienda, parecía que había llegado al paraíso, ropa preciosa a precios aceptables para mi presupuesto además de piezas que no había visto en ninguna otra tienda de ropa en el área noroeste de la isla. En mi fascinación, mi amiga me siguió dando el tour por las distintas áreas de la tienda, en el transcurso de tour, mientras más nos adentrábamos mas mi fascinación iba desapareciendo por que comencé a fijarme en los displays de la ropa y en las proporciones de los maniquíes. Tengo que decir, que como latina, soy lo que se considera una flaca con curvas, ya que soy petite, busto pequeño y caderas anchas, y aun así, siendo realista, reconocí que no había manera que me sirvieran las piezas que exhibían maniquíes, ya que eran como si le hubieran puesto una capa de piel a un esqueleto anormalmente alto. Después de ver los displays y los maniquíes, yo, que peso 123 ¼ lbs, que soy 34, 26, 35, me sentí gorda e inadecuada. Fue cuando me puse a comentar con mi amiga que me di cuenta que había caído en la trampa de la mercadotecnia y de la industria de la moda, pues incluso mi amiga que si hubiera deseado pudiera haber sido modelo, me dijo lo mismo que me paso por la mente a mí, que los cuerpos de estos maniquíes estaban más lejos de la realidad que el cuerpo de Barbie, ya que aunque exageradas sus proporciones, al menos Barbie tiene curvas.

No podemos permitir que estos lugares dicten las pautas de imagen personal sobre lo que debe ser atractivo y lo que no lo es. Quedando me dentro de mi propio ejemplo, para yo poder verme como uno de esos maniquíes tendría que estar alrededor de las 100 libras, lo que con mi tipo de cuerpo y mi historial de salud significaría primero que nada un cuerpo en el que se me podrían apreciar todos y cada uno de mis huesos, caída de cabello, mareos, bajones de azúcar, reflujo gastro - esofágico crónico, calambres estomacales y bradicardia. Tomando eso en consideración soy lo suficientemente inteligente para decidir que estar enferma y débil jamás en la vida valdrá caber en un size small de Forever 21. Lo siento mucho, pero no lo vale.



A couple of days ago, thanks to a very good friend, I was finally able to visit a store that all my friends were talking about and I was dying to visit but up until that night never had the chance to see. Once I arrived to the store, it felt like I had arrived in paradise, beautiful clothes at acceptable prices for my budget plus they had clothes I had never seen in any other store in the western area of the island. In my fascination, my friend kept leading the tour around the store, the more my fascination started to dwindle because I started to fixate my attention in the displays and the body proportions of the mannequins. Now, I have to say that as a Latina I am what is considered “skinny with curves” because I am petite, small breasts and wide hips, and even with those proportions, being realistic I recognized there was no way any of those pieces in display would fit my body because it looked as if an abnormally tall skeleton with a thin layer of skin was playing dress up. After taking a close look to the displays and the mannequins, me, the girl who weights123 ¼ pounds, with measurements of 34,26,35 felt fat and inadequate. It was when I started to talk about it with my friend that I realized I had turned into another victim of the fashion industry, because even my friend, that if she wanted she could have been a model, told me the same thing that went through my mind; the bodies of these mannequins were even farther from reality than Barbie’s body. Even though Barbie’s body is very unreal, at least she has curves.

We cannot allow these places to define the canon of self image, what is attractive and what is not. Staying within the boundaries of my own example, in order for me to look like one of those mannequins I would have to weigh 100 pounds. Therefore, given my body type and my medical history that would mean having a body in which you could easily see each and every one of my bones, hair loss, dizziness, hypoglycemic episodes, erosive GERT, stomach cramps and bradycardia. Taking those factors into consideration I believe I am intelligent enough to know that all of these is not worth fitting into a size small dress from Forever 21. I’m sorry, but it is just not worth it.

They fight like cats and dogs

I’ve always had a problem with the saying, “they fight like cats and dogs”. Why you might ask. Well, the answer is simple; I know cats and dogs that get along just fine. I know that the most common argument to refute this would be “but that’s not the rule, it is the exception” and I kind of have a problem with that too. As humans living in a pre designed society by other humans, we define what the rule is and what is the exception, therefore you can’t tell me that a cat and a dog are natural enemies when there is living breathing proof that they are not. These two cute little animals are not born hating each other, they learn to, and that nobody can claim to be an innate instinct. But the main point of this writing is not to talk about the differences between cats and dogs these are just mere reflections of the real problem between the human species that populates the Earth, and the problem is tolerance.

I am completely against tolerance. I think tolerance is the worst thing ever invented by some hateful human being that was not able to conceive love out of his/her heart toward his/her neighbor. For me, tolerance is hate in a Barbie doll Halloween costume, it may look perfect and appealing on the outside but it is hollow on the inside and at the end of the night, it was just a disguise. Tolerance is a “special pass” that allows you not to deal with your problem the right way as long as you avoid it by leaving it alone, as a consequence tolerance implies that you never even try to understand and love that which you don’t give yourself a chance to know and you have been taught to hate. Being tolerant means to “not reject”, it does not mean that you accept and love whatever the subject in question is. Let’s look at it like this, you tolerate vegetables and so you don’t torch the veggies section at the supermarket, but that does not mean you like them, and even if you have to eat them, you will not enjoy them, in short, you still hate them even when you don’t disappear them from the face of the Earth. At least in my dictionary the most accurate synonym for tolerance is hypocrisy, it will never be a synonym of respect, it will never be a synonym of acceptance and more importantly it will never be a synonym of love. Therefore tolerance is not the solution, education and love will always be.

Inspiration

I’m sure that at some point in history somebody must have said “it is inspiration what moves the world.” Well, even if they haven’t I think it to be utterly truthful. It is at those moments in which we feel invincible and blessed by inspiration that the most beautiful things come to life. If this was not the truth there would be no space in the world for artists, sculptures, painters and writers. We need inspiration. We need the visit of that candid muse that lights the bulb in our heads and with her soft whisper encourages us to create. Could we survive in a world without inspiration? I don’t think so. Without it, we would just be boring and definitely bored. But we must never forget that inspiration is a two and sometimes a three way street. It is because of the offspring of our inspiration that others get inspired and create their own versions of reality and beauty and art. Personally I love to write, however I don’t feel encouraged to do it by the world around. I can spend days writing poems and short stories and small editorials/reflections, and afterward go into a down ward spiral of hating the world and the word and not looking to my writing utensils for weeks and sometimes months. I guess deep down inspiration alone is never enough, we need to feel that we have inspired someone else in order for our creation to be worth the time and effort we dedicated into it. Inspiring other becomes the main focus of our own inspiration. Funny huh? But that’s just me.

There is another thing that I am almost sure of, if people shared inspiration more often, the world would be a better place to live, people would be happier and it would be easier to find a place in the world, and be happy in it.

Impressions on Twilight Eclipse

Ok so I just finished watching Eclipse and here is my take on it:

Bella is a bitch. She is manipulative, insecure, dependant and sways to wherever temperature takes her. When she is cold she turns to Jake when she is hot she turns to Edward.

Edward is the biggest “cabr**” in history, I mean for God’s sake she kissed Jake and told him she loved him in front of him, I mean WTF?

In the end she tells him it wasn't a choice between Edward and Jacob it was a choice between who she is and who they expect her to be, so she is a cold hearted bloodsucking bitch? Is that what she is trying to tell us.

Edward is the perfect profile of an abusive, over-protective, stalking boyfriend, He messed up her car so that she would not go out meet with friends, he has her with him at all times (even at bed time he sleeps next to her and spies on her thoughts) he tells her where to go, who to see, who to talk to, he even uses the typical line, -I trust you, I just don’t trust him.-WTF? Also he wants her to marry him only because that way he can officially have all the power over her (as if he doesn’t already)

This movie is the perfect profile of an abusive relationship. I don’t understand how so many women can read this books and love them. Edward is the abusive controlling boyfriend and Jacob is the knight in shining wolf skin while Bella… well, Bella… she is a sack of dirty laundry that they toss from hand to hand because she cannot do anything by herself, she is more of a pet than a woman.

Thank you Stephanie Meyer for reinforcing the stereotype that women are useless without a man around to protect them, thank you so much. I really would love to know how do you sleep at night knowing the damage you have caused to generations of young women who let themselves be influenced by your chauvinistic religious anti feminist bullsh**. But that's ok, I'm sure Jesus told you to do it (that's what all religious whacko's say).

Your books only prove one thing, humanity is really fu**ed up, specially the women that dream that someday a controlling, cold hearted, life sucking, craddle robbing “man” like Edward will come and strip them of their personality.

About trust and other demons

It takes a whole lifetime to know a person. To build trust and feel comfortable with the one you claim to love takes a marathonic effort and commitment from both parts. As I was watching yesterday the movie “The Women” I realized that things are not what they appear, they never are. Once we lose trust in the person that has slept with us for so many years, we feel that the world comes crushing down and that life bitch-slaps us in the face. Add to that how so many women get lost into fulfilling the family dream of the husband forgetting that they are human beings with dreams and goals too. Also, as I was having a conversation/argument with a single 57 year old that seems to abhor marriage as an institution, I realized that some worlds cannot come together, they are destined to constantly and repeatedly clash because we can’t seem to make them together, reconciliation between the two’s and the one’s will forever be an impossible mission.
There is a phrase that says, “you have to know where you are coming from to know where you are going”, and I do believe there is truth in it. We must learn from our past, from the mistakes made by those before us so that we don’t make the same mistakes all over again. After all, isn’t that the point of having access to our past? The same thing happens with marriage. The institution of marriage has a very tormented past when it comes to women and the role we play within it, but time has passed and people has changed, women have changed. My mother always taught me, “If it fits, you wear it, if it doesn’t, you discard it” and I believe that is the best way to approach marriage nowadays. Maybe that’s why I find so fascinating the portrayal of the marriage of Carrie and Big in the new Sex and The City movie. What’s wrong with wanting some time for yourself? We have to stop being slaves to conventionalisms and remold our personal realities to fit our needs, without caring what anyone else might think about it. Besides, at the end of the day it’s just two in the bedroom, the whole world sleeps outside, and outside it should stay.

Dijere la musa al poeta

Déjame ser el alma que se pierde en los pliegues de tu mirada;
Déjame ser la sombra que se escurre en las curvas de tu mano morena;
Déjame ser el abrazo tibio de la brisa de una noche veraniega,
Déjame estar a tu lado, porque el tiempo que de tus manos vuela.
No, no importa lo larga que sea la noche, la tristeza, la tortura o la condena.

Déjame ser tu abrigo, tú más fiel confidente, tu amiga, tu amante y tu compañera.
Deja que te abrace con el fuego apasionado que consume la leña en la hoguera,
Soy tu creación, soy tu vida,
Soy tu letra, soy tu poema.

Por que no puedes soltar el bendito celular?/ Why can't you just put the phone down?

Yo no estoy en contra del multi-tasking, considero que hay seres humanos lo suficientemente capaces como para llevar a cabo más de una tarea a la vez, pero todo tiene un límite. Porque la gente no puede conducir sin estar pegada a un celular? As far as I know, cuando tú vas a coger el examen para sacar la licencia se te requieren las dos manos en el volante, no una en el volante y otra en la oreja aguantando el celular. Se lo que me van a decir, “yo lo hago por que ahorra tiempo, y puedo resolver las cosas mientras voy de camino” o el típico “es que es una emergencia” y no estoy en contra de eso, pero obviamente las personas que incurren en estas conductas deberían tener un poco de sentido común y saber cuándo es necesario ‘colgar’. El más reciente ejemplo de la preocupación que comparto con ustedes hoy me sucedió a mí hace un par de horas.

Los que han llegado hasta mi humilde Baticueva (aka mi casa) sabrán que hay que tomar una parte de la carretera en la que solo caben dos carros pequeños a la vez (y eso va a depender en el punto del tramo en que se encuentren de frente los vehículos). Pero anyway, moving on con la situación. Yo vengo en mi carro, a poca velocidad ya que sé que el tramo es un poco peligroso, y casi al terminarlo me encuentro frente a frente, foco con foco, con un caballero en una F-150, que no solo venía a exceso de velocidad en un área urbana sino que para mi sorpresa, también venia distraído hablando por el celular. Dado el punto del tramo en el ocurre el encuentro, yo no puedo retroceder para que él pase, así que le toca a él retroceder ya que él si tiene el espacio. Después de mirarme atravesa’o, (como si la situación fuera mi culpa por yo simplemente estar pasando por ahí para volver a mi casa cuando él tiene mucha prisa) volteó su cuello, puso la guagua en reversa y retrocedió de mala manera, todo este procedimiento sin soltar el celular ni un segundo. Un poco de sentido común dictaría, que ya que es una situación que necesita tu completa atención, ya que no es solo tu vida la que estas poniendo en peligro sino las de las personas a tu alrededor(eso sin contar las de los demás conductores o animales que pasean por el vecindario) le dirías a la persona en el otro lado de la línea, “dame un minuto” o simplemente “te llamo luego que tengo que resolver algo”, pero supongo que las otras vidas y propiedades que estas poniendo en peligro no tienen la misma importancia que tu llamada.

Finally back on the post

Hey everybody!!
My apologies but I had some trouble accessing this account, but never fear, I'm back here. Over here in Puerto Rico things are going insane. The University of Puerto Rico board of directors are fixated on imposing an 800.00 dollars extra tuition fee to all its students and that has everyone going nuts. If you ask me, it is pretty abusive. I mean, students already pay fees for things they don't get. Can you imagine paying a sanitation fee for bathrooms that have no toilet paper, are always dirty, 50% of them do not work, there is no hand soap and no paper towels? Can you imagine paying a technology fee and not having a computer center for your department? I mean, we have to teach and take classes in what has already been declared as "sick buildings", the trolley system sucks, you go to the medical services office with a cold and they prescribe anti-acids for God's sake!!!. What's worse? Most of the employees in the different offices treat you like less than a human being and they want to place 30 students per section. 30 students per section in a college classroom with no air conditioner, no technology, no space and no resources, I mean, people have to sit in the hallway's floor. And yet, the administration feels the need to increase tuition by 800.00 dollars topay for things that never make it to the hands of those who need it. I don't know about you, but I think it's not fair.