Luisa Rodríguez Connal

A New Year's Start

2012-01-07T05:11:00.000-07:00

2012 began with my family near me and many happy times. Soon a mere week, I came down with either a neurological or orthopedic disorder which leaves me in great pain. Nonetheless, I have begun an orderly writing project--ME or my biography.

Things are at the very beginning but I have plotted the organization. I have several short snippets of writing to place under the various categories, and I've actually begun to write an introduction of sorts.

When next I write in this blog, I'll have more accomplished despite my pains.

The political scene is terrible. But what can be done? I'm not ruler of the universe. :) Who knows if a lot of prayers, good wishes for our future and other positive thinking can help humans to be selfless and aware of helping one another.

Times Are Changing---continued

2011-12-23T02:23:00.000-07:00

The tile of this entry refers to a line in Godfather II, Michael Corleone had spent time with his mother asking if one could lose his family. She says no because family will always be family. His response is that he notes that times are changing. In fact, life between the 40s and 60s did have many volatile changes. Many things about life, families, and politics underwent a great change. Like the Corlenoe's other families are not living in the places where they grew up and where they were comfortable. Families are splintered by location, time, and sometimes ill will toward one another in the original family group. Other changes have occurred in the way we use the money we earn. The enticement of advertisements have led many of us down a path to economic ruin.

As I mentioned above, money and the need to earn it has sabotaged the concept of united families. So we move from our origins. Many times this turns out to be a great thing. After all there is something in the human species that leads it to enjoy travel, meeting new people, and learning about new music, foods, and fashions. Families will change because things and people are changing. The way of life in our country is changing, too.

There is nothing inherently wrong with change. Change is in fact a part of life. The thing we must consider is how many of us have been manipulated not only by advertisements but the system that tells us to go to school and then get a good job. However, currently there are no jobs for many people.

I've always thought that not all of us want to go to college. Many of us are meant to be artists, architects, or even long shore men/women. Worse, many of the jobs that the United States used to have available for new graduates are gone. The USAmerican corporations that have such great support from our government are shipping jobs to places where they do not have to provide a living wage to their workers.

I'm not a well renowned economist, but it did not pass by me that jobs I held as a full time position frequently were split so two would work but get no benefits. Others I knew noticed it too. I then went for a higher degree but alas I chose the wrong path. I'm happy to have earned my degree but I went for it too late. So here we are in a country that made things to a country that exports jobs overseas and ignores the needs of its citizenry to have jobs available once they finish school.

The worst part of the changes is that the government expect people with low incomes to spend money on things they do not need so they can meet the expectations of their children who are glued to the colorful and fun filled commercials aimed at children. Perhaps someone can think of a way to have the economy depend less on the amount of money its citizens spend. Perhaps we should have goods and services other people want. Sadly we are not making sufficient things here within the borders of the United States. Those jobs are in Mexico, China, Vietnam and other places outside our borders.

A Brief Entry to Honor My Godfather/Uncle

2011-12-04T02:48:00.001-07:00

December 3, 2011, I learned of the passing of my "Tio MUNDO" His name was Raimundo Arroyo, but our family called him "Mundo" which can be the Spanish word for world. He was a world unto himself and I'm grateful to have known him and that he shared himself with his family. To many of us,Tio Mundo was a beloved uncle because he was kind, generous, funny, witty, thoughtful, forgiving and always a gentle quietness seemed to envelop him as he journeyed throughout his life. He was a great cook, gardner--a true farmer's son. He brought life to the world he inhabited. He lived in Tennessee so it was only when I traveled to conferences that I saw him in the past few years. However, I have good memories of the young handsome soldier who played with me upon his return to civilian life post World War II.

I love and honor him because despite his seemingly quiet personality came with a very strong character--this is not to be mistaken for foolhardy stubbornness that afflict so many of us.

My uncle was a good son, a great brother, a good husband, and father. Like many men who lived and fought in World War II, he represented the best of what Tom Brokaw labeled "The Greatest Generation." So in addition to his place in our family,my Uncle Ray, has a place in USAmerican history that unfortunately will go untold beyond the confines of his closer family.

Que Jesus, Maria, y Jose te entretengan en el cielo, my precios tio.

The Ravages of Insomnia

2011-12-01T13:25:00.001-07:00

I did not go to bed until about 3 am. this morning. Before I did go to bed I went to my bathroom sink and saw a very tired old woman. I'm not really an old woman but I sure looked it earlier today. I have been reading too many interesting books and doing a great job of avoiding writing, which is something I ought to be doing.

So to avoid looking like another skinned chicken with yellow skin, I'll get out and find some herbal knock out teas. To ward off another night of being up with the ravens and vampires that roam the night. I am having fun with the vampire imagery for I'm more likely to kill them off than they harm me. :)

Living alone is what does this to me--I no longer have a tight schedule to adhere to and no meals I "must" fix for my children.

I will endeavor for the next few hours to do my work and then leave my apartment in search of some fun.

Wisdom from the Past and for the Future

2011-11-29T23:36:00.000-07:00

When I was a young mother and I was rearing the three strong characters who are my children, I never realized that I was helping to push forth a lot of the wisdom of my family and Puerto Rican culture that in part nurtured me. I say in part, because unlike many of my cousins I was raised primarily in boarding schools. Still Puerto Rican culture stuck to me along with the religious who helped raise me. In all there is a hodgepodge of cultural and personal knowledge which influenced me and now my children.

What I can say now is that I lived my life in too much of a daze because like many women left to rear their children on their own, I had no clue as to what to do, when to do it, or even question whether or not I had the current views on child rearing available to me. As things stood, my children and I sort of survived the process. Two of the three are kind and understanding of the person I was and am. For this, I am grateful, for I can move on without the eternal mental double checking I had previously engaged in. What time wasting that rethinking everything from the past. Now I know--it's over. Let me move on.

I do want to find my middle child and give her two gifts. As a child she cut the hair off of her beloved Carol doll. In my younger days, I used nail polish remover to remove the "lipstick" of my baby doll. I guess my middlin child and I share a desire to perfect things we care about. This trait comes directly from my Mama.

Aside from doll issues, I find myself thinking that the future for our children is really up for grabs. The brand of capitalism I grew up with was kinder. Today everything is cut throat and bottom-line oriented. The idea that we are a country of citizens who should care about one another as brothers and sisters is an alien idea to too many. If we do not recover our sense of unity and stop fear mongering, our little bit of heaven which I call the USA will be destroyed.

I believe that the simplicity of living in my grandparents' time though without the comforts of running water, electricity, or gas forced people to work together and thus value what each person contributed to the enterprise of not only surviving but getting ahead. My grandparents built up their homes, farms, and contributed to their towns. In their time they were well loved and respected. I couldn't ask for more myself. So I keep their pictures on my night stand as silent reminders of where I come from and what is possible in my life even in this late stage of my life.

Insanity of Our Times

2011-11-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

It seems Orwell's vision of a dystopia was right--up is down, good is evil men are not men but corporations are men. Poor people are poor because they're lazy; big corporations are needy, so the government must help them. Politicians hear things very well but pursue their cozy connections to large banks and corporate powers.

Hardly a day goes by when I see young people protest the imbalance that exists among the various sources of wealth. Unlike days in the past, humankind does not seem to be appreciated except those at the top who write laws for the Congress and continue with a drip down economic strategy.

I for one am tired along with others of the flim flam conducted by the Congress against the people whose country this is.

Now all the problems of the European Union is another excuse to make the markets go down, causing many who have retirement funds in their 401Ks to lose money. The worker bees are once again prevented from tasting the nectar collected for old age.

Channeling Mí Mamá

2011-10-10T01:18:00.000-07:00

Time passes, children grow, and grandchildren come into one's life. I've often thought of myself as a hybridized Latina-American woman. So when I notice something new in my interactions with my family, I usually find it's due to the influence of one of my parents. I've calmed down a bit and I attribute that good change to my Father. I used to get upset easily and that was more like my Mother. Lately, I find myself wanting to care more for my Granddaughter, Amber. Times are so different for her and her education that I want to be sure she gets to finish and reap the rewards of having a quick inquisitive mind. Like many members of the family she has a very kind heart and is generous to a fault. However, Amber is a big girl and she's independent, so any good I might wish to do for her has to come in a way that she understands that it is my job as a grandmother to give her anything I can. This gesture on my part comes directly from my Mother, who loved unconditionally and generously.Some may wonder that I write about something so obvious--the inheritance of characteristics of one's parents. However, my relationships with each of my parents were not traditional. It's not that I was a poor misunderstood person. In some ways I was but not to the degree that led to my ever failing to love and respect my parents. It's that I live in an USAmerican world but my psyche drifts into Latina Americana frame of thinking and feeling. Every time it happens, I am pleasantly surprised. I seem to have balanced both ways of thinking and being. That is a joyful thing for me.

Day with My Granddaughter

2011-10-06T01:07:00.001-07:00

Wonder and awe are two feelings I have for my Granddaughter, Amber. She is working 8 hours per day and attending ASU full time. The more she progresses in her life the better view I have of the great woman she will be because she's a great person now. We share a love of movies, and today I introduced her to a French Film. Venus Beauty Institute. Given the difference between American and French outlooks on man/woman relationships, she handled the movie well. Next films I want to share with her are other French films and a Chinese film I saw long so its title is not on my mind today. I"ll have to go through some files where I placed the lists. Happily for me, I'll get to see her again tomorrow and perhaps by then I can find something new to cook up for her. I'm thinking tonight, too, of the passing of an inventor who passed away from his condition--pancreatic cancer. I'm not a Mac user so I can't praise his major computer invention but I have appreciated films that owe him credit for rescuing the companies that made them. Also, many users of the little music player that keep youngsters appreciated the IPod. Being closer to the age most people contemplate their deaths, I feel sad for the Jobs family. The man was younger than I am at this time. When I go I want my Amber to remember her granny and enjoy all the movies and music that we've enjoyed together. Memories, after all, are what connect the dead to the living.

Remembrance

2011-09-14T00:43:00.001-07:00

I've studied the works of many female authors who've written on the subject of the power of remembering. I am undergoing my own journey via the photos and stories I'm collecting and writing from my family's history. So I join with Morrison, Moraga, Silko, and many of my students and friends who've used memory to regain a sense of our strength through our spirituality. Now Cherrie Moraga has a new project about which she speaks briefly. It follows below.

All We Need Is Love Part II

2011-09-10T01:15:00.001-07:00

I shared my post with Lennon's quote with a friend on Friday night. She shared the video I'm embedding into this post. I suppose we all have to imagine what the film means for ourselves. However, I'd like to think of the spirituality working with magnetic forces and vibrations to help us see our common links to one another. I do not believe that the Apocalypse is upon us as many imagine it. I rather hope that love and oneness will work their way into the common human consciousness. Mom, I just noticed today is your birthday. On 9/10/2011 you would have been 97 had you stayed here.

The Quickening from keith wyatt on Vimeo.

All We Need Is Love

2011-09-08T21:08:00.002-07:00

I found this quote by John Lennon and thought how apt it is for the entire world on so many levels. We all are linked by our common humanity, so why not love and nurture one another instead of fearing what seems different and creating wars?

We have this one little planet which so far is the only one in the universe to sustain human life forms. Why not love and nurture it instead of polluting it and creating more inventive ways of destroying our mother ship as we journey through the universe?

I want to be an optimist but I can't seem to be one today. Too many greedy people are hell bent on going for money and profits at the cost of our planet and our souls.

He said:
We've got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant.
You can't just accept it and leave it in the cupboard
or just think it's going to get on by itself.
You've got to keep watering it.
You've got to really look after it and nurture it.
~ John Lennon ~

Labor Day

2011-09-05T18:30:00.002-07:00

My son threw a kick-ass party yesterday. When did he learn to cook for so many and so well? I doubt my mother could have done better. And if the spirit of the people was any indication, I think his grandparents/my parents were present and enjoying the good vibes he wrought on Labor Day Sunday.

Food was great, the people better. This is one Labor Day weekend I'll remember joyfully.

Mil Gracias, Hijo.

Regulations, taxes aren't killing small business, owners say | McClatchy

2011-09-03T12:56:00.000-07:00

Regulations, taxes aren't killing small business, owners say | McClatchy

For all the spin against regulations on business, banks, etc., it is good to know that there are some small businesses that find regulations helpful.Alas, they are too quiet in the quagmire of our public discourse. Scarcely will anyone note what these people point to as their truth.

Back to Post-Debt Ceiling Work

2011-09-01T02:28:00.001-07:00

Entry title refers to may    return to personal writing that does not necessarily discuss the political Jibber -- Jabber that passes for civic discourse.

I've begun to return to some work on family history, stories, and the fact of my tons of pictures is helping me remember in a kinder way. Not everything from the past is "glorious" nor is it all a "nightmare." Pictures reveal my beloved Aunts, Uncles, and even a young version of my Dad--Papi and Mom, Mami--when their lives were still in front of them. All my warm feelings return but my longing for those feelings tells me a lot of what I'd missed when I was younger.

I was born in the mid 40s and this means that my upbringing was influenced by a brand of Victorian precepts. Yet as a friend   told me not too long ago, I'm a radical or daring person. I don't consider myself joyfully engaged in adventures,but I do take chances which sometimes lead to personal growth in the ways humans are to grow, even if those people are older and physically shrinking like me.   We   should learn something each day. Old age would not become a burden if we can keep our minds and spirits continually learning new things and finding our spiritual center so we can enjoy being alive.

My best quality is openness to new ideas and flexibility. Getting older requires that people be sufficiently flexible to keep on going in a world of constant Changes..

Of course, some changes are not necessarily "new"   situations. In the political swipes and we have prime examples of this era's dysfunction. Long ago   while in my 20s, we had issues presidential   and congressional sniping at to   get some measure of leverage    on the White House or on members of college.

Let   us see what the outcomes of the coming   elections   hold for us.

What If?

2011-08-29T02:11:00.007-07:00

I realize the world cannot be changed easily and the past is over or done or unchangeable. However, there times when I wonder what if? Perhaps I think this way because I've lived through many events, personal, historical either specifically to the United States or to the larger world.

Some people seem to need to undergo the consequences of their life's experiences to develop character or appreciation for life or perhaps to become a stronger more focused person.

Likewise, events to happen within a nation that alters it for a long time. Sometimes, some events are so traumatic that they affect the future growth or development of a nation. I wonder what direction the trajectory of our national growth and history would have been IF JFK had NOT been assassinated. Would we have pulled out of Vietnam? Would we have decreased the development of militarism in our country? Would we have found things not associated with war as the focus of our investment in our country?

I ask myself these questions because all to often we do not appreciate the possibilities that one human life can do for the rest of us. One life can affect many for good and not war and fear mongering.

When I see all the wars our country has involved itself in, I shudder at the loss of lives, opportunities for peace, invention of things that are NOT lethal. All this and more can still happen but our thinking as a nation needs to change. People in this country cannot operate on fear of the "other" the "alien" etc. I do not refer to our border issues when I say this. I refer to the reasons used as an excuse to fight wars.

I thank the powers that exist for Obama and Hilary Clinton's efforts at a new kind of diplomacy. Now that things are moving along in the Libya situation, perhaps people can focus on a better life for the citizens of the USA.

Libya Freed?

2011-08-21T17:25:00.000-07:00

I have been out exercising, watching movies or doing just about anything to avoid watching or listening to the news. These days the news depresses me as I realize there is very little I can do to impact the world for the better. I just learned via Al Jezeera and the Huffington Post that Mr. Gaddafy's sons have surrendered to the rebel forces and that soon the terrorist from Tripoli will be gone.

Well that is one less war for our country to engage in. For this I am very happy. If more of us could find ways to create peace and love for our children and grandchildren's generations, I'll be a very happy woman.

Like all things in the media, I will take this news with a grain of salt until tomorrow or later just to be assured that the war in North Africa is over. Of course, then we must pay attention to the disruption between Egypt and Israel. People with long memories and unjust causes will always exist. So wars are always a potential threat to all of us.

May God bless the human race and grant us peace. It is not as if we are aliens to one another. The only differences are those of language and culture. Other than that, we are all human.

Colin Firth

2011-08-20T00:48:00.000-07:00

It is true that Colin Firth is a very handsome man. I first saw him in Valmont. Later I saw him in the Arts and Entertainment channel's production of Pride and Prejudice, subsequently he was in Bridget Jones parts 1 and 2. He was charming in The Importance of Being Earnest and Love Actually. He demonstrated his comedic talent as well as his singing in the movie based on Oscar Wilde's story. But his performance in A Single Man topped the others I'd seen him in. I even prefer this film to The King's Speech, which also demonstrated Firth's acting skill. Perhaps it is the English reserve which bursts into something else in each character he's played lately that has made an impression.

As I age, I require good movies for when the print seems to small in the books I have yet to read.

Viewing A Single Man

2011-08-20T00:38:00.000-07:00

Tonight I actually watched the entire movie, A Single Man. I'm glad I spent time with it because it highlighted truths about the human condition that I'd failed to notice in my first view of the film. I believe I failed to focus on these truths or true to me experiences the first time because as often is the case distractions entered my mind while viewing the film for the first time. I engaged with many other things to truly appreciate the themes of the movie.

Although the story is about a man who has lost his partner of 16 years, the grief, the sense of loneliness, the need of human contact are true of us all. I do not need to be a homosexual male to see the grief that overtakes a person at the loss of a truly loving partner. It is hard to suddenly realize that you must continue on your own. Interestingly, in his final day, George visits an old female friend, whom he's known for many years, is propositioned by a handsome Spaniard at a liquor store ---George was buying Tanqueray Gin for Charlotte--and later George spends a good night with one of his students talking about being born alone and dying alone and in fact spending the rest of our lives alone locked in our bodies. I would say locked in our minds. By the end of the film, George has his moment of revelation that fits with his student's statement about the importance of living in the moment and relishing the joy of life whenever it comes. Connections to other humans on a deep level wind up being the things that truly matter in a human life.

I liked the movie because it shows character development throughout it. As an avid reader and movie watcher of long standing I really enjoy those films where focus is on character first and plot second. I could envision this movie with a different ending. Why because the young student becomes a possible person with whom George could begin a new chapter in his life. Yet the end is perfect because what he had with Jim was perfect. Anything else would not be better it would be survival. And in my estimation survival can be a heavy thing in one's life.

I know this because in my life I have survived to find myself alone and very much involved with thinking. Like Charlotte in the film, I no longer have a regular job. I work on line and I miss the face to face interactions with my students. Unlike Charlotte, I don't think I have the energy to deal with teaching full time again.

I see it more profoundly now that connecting deeply with friends and sharing thoughts and times that are important to them as well as to me are those nuggets of time we treasure and in fact define part of our purposes in living.

Reminders from the Past

2011-08-14T16:28:00.000-07:00

I've made a sad realization within the past few days. So much of my life has been spent on achieving something outside of myself that I neglected to love myself as I do others. A few days ago my youngest daughter, Elizabeth, found the picture on the right, which she photographed with her cell phone camera. That is the reason the picture is so unclear. The point of this entry is that I did not recognize the young mother. I never spent time looking at myself and caring for myself. This picture is a total repudiation of how I thought of myself. It also is a total vindication of my Mother's idea that women should try to leave the house looking a little "made up".

Thank God my hair was fixed in this picture or I doubt that my Mom, who took the picture would have let me get away with unkempt hair.

My daughters do a better job of "putting on their outside faces" and of keeping themselves at a healthy weight. Unfortunately, I have neglected myself. So now I must create more time to fix up when I leave the house.

I sure hate to say this but Mom was right. I should take care of how I look for myself's sake as well as for my children.

How Does an Englishman Enter a Puerto Rican Family

2011-07-31T06:38:00.002-07:00

Family gatherings are such fun. My cousin David Rosas officially tied the knot in the Bronx in front of friends and family. Unfortunately, I was not there. However, my son James and his youngest Jazzie were there as part of the wedding party--best man and flower girl respectively. James sent pictures of David and his beautiful bride, Mary Jane.

As often is the case in all families there is a rift between some of us and one of my offspring. If it were up to me alone, I'd say forgive and forget. I think James agrees with this, except he would want one condition which I cannot discuss in a public or semi-public forum.

This family issue began over six years ago with an "untruthful" accusation. So this morning, I found the following quote from quotes of the day right on the front page of IGoogle.It deals with one core problem--lying to cover up one's own faults or lying to look better than one's other siblings. I am not sure how this family issue will play out. I'm getting older and I'd love to see an end to this issue. I'll have to think of how it would be possible to heal this small but important to me part of the family.

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

Winston Churchill

Mr. Churchill always did have a way with words. The truth will come out but it's a bit like a tortoise which has yet to reach the goal line.

Dissent in Our Politics

2011-07-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

Okay this is not "new" but I'm so disheartened by the lack of civil civic discourse. Today, July 29, 2011, follows an all night session of the House of Representatives in the US. The outcome? A minority of new or freshmen members of the US House of Representatives did the equivalent of putting a gun to the collective head of the rest of the nation's citizenry to force passage of an amendment which may be a good thing but not at this time. The economy may tank and the yahoos want to stop government intervention to help the economy. They do not want to restrict banks and other financiers from creating bogus instruments they can sell to unsuspecting people.

These are the same people who value home, mother, apple pie, and heterosexual marriages--only. Those are the limits of their "Christian" values.

Dreaming of Daddy

2011-07-29T16:13:00.000-07:00

Sylvia Plath may have had issues with her "Daddy" but I don't remember any with my Dad. The other day I found some pictures of him when he was so young and "cute" that I couldn't believe my eyes. Pictures are great but in someways I wish he were here for me to hug him and "force" him to talk more. Or were the women in the family the only ones who told their stories? Now I'll have to reconstruct my Dad's life by going over the pictures and my memories and reconstructing something I can leave for my children. They all loved him as much as my Mom, although Mom is all I heard about for a long time.

No Regrets--a Gentle Remnder

2011-07-28T02:47:00.000-07:00

Like many people, I've wasted a great deal of time ruminating over things I truly regret. So when I found the little quote by Katherine Mansfield I was quite happy for the gentle reminder.
Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it; it's only good for wallowing in.

Katherine Mansfield

Frustrated Citizen

2011-07-16T14:01:00.009-07:00

In a Huffington Post story, I caught a video where Mr. Obama calmly presents his desire to not merely pass an increase to the debt ceiling but to also make serious cut to some of the Democratic Party's "sacred cows." So far a small contingent of the Republican party has succeeded in stalling the process because they do not believe in tax increases at any time for any reason. The unwillingness to practice the art of political science befuddles those of us old enough to recall equally contentious times that did not lead to this particular state for our country.

I suppose people forget that doing what is best for our country means being able to go against our "ideological" inclinations. I know I've learned a bit more about tolerance from this president. I hope that he does not develop ulcers working with people who do not think things through and are enslaved by their stubborn refusal to see reality. Or is it that they do not live in this universe? Whatever the issue, I pray for "cooler heads" to prevail.

http://www.5min.com/Video/Obama-Im-Willing-to-Compromise-517126793

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/16/obama-debt-ceiling-weekly-address_n_900716.html?

Latest Doings and Readings

2011-07-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

I've not posted for a longtime because as usual I am reading on a varied number of topics, mostly spirituality, along with current events. In fact, it was the news that finally drove me back to my books on spirituality. I'll post a review of a couple of them later in the month. Now all I can say is that if it were not for Lawrence O'Donnell I would be a wreck.

I hadn't intended to depend completely on Social Security ten or fifteen years ago. At that time, I had returned to school with high hopes of getting an education that would put me in a career where I could thrive and not merely survive. I should have learned that as soon as I entered the "academy" academia would change for workers in my field. Additionally, I did not know just how much an older mind could retain and how difficult it would be for me to overcome my personal "travails". Mom died months before I defended my dissertation; adult children kept me in the loop about their problems, and I had not yet learned how much support I needed. Mom and I were close despite vastly different points of view on how my life should be lived. I called her daily or she called me. The year prior to her death everyone in the family circled the wagons to keep her spirits up.

Nonetheless, I did not take a time out from school to attend to life. Stubbornly, I plunged ahead failing to note that I was changing and not necessarily for the better. The bottom line is that I did not get and keep wonderful positions that placed me on solid financial footing. No I wound up depending on Social Security. Recent events in policy and debt ceiling debates have a great number of people upset and concerned. So when I kept to my habits of news watching and reading news, I began to feel rattled and very insecure. It seems that the only newscaster who soothed me lately was Mr. O'Donnell because he painstakingly broke down the kabuki drama taking place in Washington D. C.

So today Saturday, I'll go back to the Art of Happiness and other works featuring the Dalai Lama's teachings. I'll take the weekend and early week off from news, although I'd love to do it, I can't completely break my addiction to knowing.

Soon I'll share some of my learning because in the Buddhist teachings I see much of my early instructions from the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Coming full circle is a good thing for truth then and truth now can keep me from fracturing my soul.

Sundays Have Changed for Me

2011-06-27T02:50:00.000-07:00

In my pre-western move to California from New York City and Westchester County, Sundays were filled with the traditional attendance in church followed by families gathering for a fairly filling meal. My Mother was a great cook. Her recipes have gone to the grave with her. With her passing, the traditional Sunday gatherings have gone by the way side too. It is not surprising that her absence changed the dynamics of our clan gatherings, for my children and I were trying to "make it" in America. I’m certain that many people find their families scattered to the four corners of the world and like me find an inflexible schedule requiring weekday commuting and busy weekends to catch up on chores, children's games, and other activities. What’s missing today is the connection among the different generations and a tolerance and appreciation of what each generation has to offer everyone in the family.

I am a product of a very different kind of upbringing from my children and indeed from my cousins. First, I was an only child. My mother, I assume for the fact that I was sent to boarding schools when I was still at toddler, spoiled me later in life and would do everything for me. It could be she did not feel as connected to me since I learned to love the nuns who cared for me. Furthermore, I was bilingual when I started going to boarding schools. I began learning French in the first boarding school I attended in Tarrytown, New York. So on weekends, I mixed up my languages. It was an interesting linguistic stew which I can no longer produce as I did not master French when I moved back to the city for a short while.

For a short time I enjoyed not having to endure the pangs of separation each Sunday as I returned to the boarding school. I was able to go to both public schools and a Catholic School since religion was important to my mother. Her plans for keeping me with her during the week fell through and I was once again asked to go to a boarding school. This time I selected the school based on its name—Sacred Heart Villa. It was closer to the city—Dobbs Ferry, New York was predominately Italian and really a beautiful town. I was exposed to Italian as the sisters used it to converse among themselves. Of course, some words being similar to Spanish gave me clues of what was going on. My choice of schools led to some of my happier school moments, even if Sundays still led to feelings of abandonment or anxiety when I returned to the schools. After I arrived at the school, the structure for the day and week ahead kept me too busy to cry at not being home with my parents.

Today’s Sundays are empty for me. I have no brothers or sisters so I have no nieces and nephews to love and spoil and my own children are less attached to me than I was to my parents. As an adult I spent Sundays with my Mother or Father. Now they are gone and my three are grown and busy.

There is a cost, I think, to this lack of contact. For example, it is not easy to know people whom one does not see. Many members of the Rodríguez family are not speaking Spanish nor do they wish to learn it. I understand the reasons they may have, but I’m a bit more proud of Spanish –the language and the myriad of cultures where the language is spoken. Unfortunately, here in the US politics have created loss of pride at being bilingual or of having a residual accent when one speaks English.

Loss of point of view

Knowing more than one language allows a person to learn and use the myths of the culture which frequently form the short cuts among members of a group and the metaphors that help us shape the meanings we wish to convey. Many of the Latinas who write in English demonstrate much of what I’ve lived and studied. When used a “hybridized” language is both effective and creative. I hope to go back to writing about my creative “Latina Sisters” so I can contribute in some small measure to what has turned out to be a long tradition of submissive subversion a quality found in Sor Juana Inés de La Cruz, Rosario Ferre, Ana Lydia Vega, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Leslie Marmon Silko and countless others who stride two or more cultures and rhetorical approaches to writing and history making.

Future blog entries will explore some of my findings which I hope help others interested in code-switching, mixing, or as I say hybridizing. In point of fact, the use of cross cultural strategies in communication is important and should be maintained as peoples of the world continue to communicate. The alternative to having many cultural approaches would be to decrease the numbers of languages so that only English exists. However, the influences of other languages will continue to inform communications for cultural approaches are not so easily erased.

Father's Day Is Here

2011-06-19T02:03:00.001-07:00

My parents died long ago but on special days like Mother's Day and Father's Day, I get a bit reflective. I'm fortunate to see how it is that people live on in others. Each of my children carry forward many of the values, interests, and tendencies that each of my parents had. Of course, I get the credit or the blame too. I am happy that this is a seeming truth.

Later on today many children will honor their fathers with time, attention, and gifts. I wish I could do this too. My Dad was a quiet man. By this I mean, he never complained to me about his problems. I never knew he had any. In a way I would like to have this characteristic because whining never solves anything. He was impatient as a young man and I remember he had a fiery temper but he never harmed people.

One time when we were going on a family outing in our car--the rest of my extended family caravaned behind us. There was a terrible accident. My Dad pulled over and helped the man--a father and his children. We detoured to get the man to a hospital. Later we went on our way for our outing.

I can't see a caravan of cars filled with loved ones anymore. The family is too splintered in various states of the United States. I do remember how proud I felt to have a man who acted and did the right thing as my Dad.

Ernesto Arroyo Rodriguez, te amo aunque no te puedo abrazar.

Why Americans Have to Work Longer Hours and Borrow to the Hilt Just to Keep Afloat | Economy | AlterNet

2011-06-11T04:05:00.000-07:00

Why Americans Have to Work Longer Hours and Borrow to the Hilt Just to Keep Afloat | Economy | AlterNet

As a woman who found herself dependent on Social Security, I am familiar with the thesis of the article to which I respond here.
Even at a professional level working conditions as well as payment for work completed have gone down. Interestingly, I do not see the end of these conditions--the decline of pay and working conditions seem to be in our future for a long time.

It is a good thing that I can maintain what is left of my sanity through prayer, meditations, and reading both on-line and books I own. I've not yet hit the library for use of their books. But that time is approaching quickly.

I pray that fewer people have to lose their livelihoods and attendant self-esteem that comes along with employment. As a good friend told me: "I work so I can have some fun from time to time." This friend is in her late 70s and still hard at work.

I hope I maintain the stamina she has. But such is life for many of us in the 21st century.

The "Fancy" in What We See as Ordinariness

2011-06-11T03:33:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I feel that there is nothing special about my life because I am not traveling, curing the sick, or doing the great things I thought I would have completed by now. Well that's just me being unrealistic. We are all special. My "specialness" is more than my physical attributes. I'm exceptionally short but think I'm 5' 10". (I only think this usually when I do not wear my glasses and I'm puttering around the house). The floor looks so far away when my glasses are off my face.
However, I've been told I have other attributes that have little to nothing to do with my height--or lack thereof--or with my age, beauty etc. Honestly whatever bloom was part of me has long withered yet I along with most people entering the "sunset" of their lives have something from their essential self that is pleasant. At least I am hoping this is so.

I was raised to consider more than the outer and more obvious things about people.

Back to my lack of great height:
The only time I felt tall was when I visited my family in Puerto Rico, A cousin took me to the Mall of the Americas and everyone was as short or shorter than I except for my wonderful cousin who was 5' 6".

Perception means a lot and now I'm beginning anew to write about myself without the rose colored glasses, and with more kindness. I tend to beat myself up. I think recent readings are helping. I can see that short is not bad. That alone is not necessarily lonely and that I can write what I want in spurts until I get a lot more momentum going.

I'm working on a concept based on talking to those who are part of my life even if they are not alive. I thought that many cultures find ways to keep ancestors with them. I do as I imagine others might do. You think of something to you want to share with a Mother or Father so you say it aloud. I'm not expecting a quick response but as I miss them it soothes me to talk to my dead. I don't do it often but we all need to feel connected beyond today's electronic gadgetry and in fact I rather hope to reboot my memory in these personal practices.

Just today I wondered what my Father would think of my son, James, and his many travels around the country. I know too that my Mother would be pleased, but since my Dad was the quieter of the two, I wonder what he would make of this Grandchild of his who is doing so much work on behalf of family and fatherhood issues. In my conversations, I hear a proud grandfather.

It turns out that my "ordinary life" has borne fancy fruits for others to enjoy and benefit from.

Time and Again

2011-05-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

Graduation from high school seems as if it happened yesterday, but since I am not a person who keeps track of time. Like my Granddaughter, Amber, I'm a dreamer with my mind firmly focused on dreams for the future. I think I have a daughter like that too. High School was something I lived through but I have no close connections to anyone in my graduation class. I remember two people well Linda Koenig and Gary Rothbart but I was never in their group of friends. I remember a couple of Bobs and a Richard but do not ask any more than that from my memory. It looks like the planners of the event have out done themselves and I will be missing a lot of fun. However, who would I go with? I'm an only child whose husband is dead and whose children are busy with their lives. I can't date them?

When I was high school age I had to move several times so I never stayed with any one group. My best friend during high school years was Judith G. Herman and our school Walton High School in the Bronx was far from the Bruin Den in Long Beach California where I finished my high school days.

So I'll spare myself feelings of being an outsider by NOT going to the latest high school graduation reunion. I"ll not mention the number of years this year makes because like the dreamer that I am I don't feel that old. :-)

It may be that I'm being unreasonably sensitive for although many of my dreams came true, I've not "made it" in the ways that matter to most USAmericans.

So while my fellow graduates from Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach California are celebrating, I'll be writing out part of my "memoirs" for my family and for myself. I might, like other Latinas, include the feelings of balancing on the lines that define USAmerican and Latina cultures and hope that I find a revival of memories and joy from my past that I may have overlooked. I think I owe it to Ernesto Rodriguez and Escolastica Oquendo to finish this one project.

Time and Again

2011-05-13T13:44:00.002-07:00

I'll be using the title of this entry to continue musings on earlier entries.This time I want to return to my musings on the fact that Bin Laden harmed people whose beliefs did not match his own thinking. But then I thought that we all have moments of clashing with folks whose beliefs differ from our own. I suppose in a certain way we are no different from the Bin Ladens of the world.

Currently I'm reading Obama's autobiographical book Dream of My Father. I've not finished it but have reached the section where he has grappled with his sense of being an outsider. He mentioned some of the books on post colonialism which I discovered long after he'd read them. However, I am older than the President. So the impact of studying post-colonialism and contemporary feminism "hurt" more than I imagine it would have had I learned these things at a younger age. Today there is no way of testing this idea. But like him I had to go through the anger that "consciousness raising" can lead to when we must deal with the facts of our lives within the USA.

The US is my country but being a woman in it hasn't been a cake walk. Study "awakened" me to many factors of the political and personal injustices that had occurred while I was in the sleep state of not understanding how systems work to control people. So I nodded my head in agreement with the angst the young Barack grappled with as he comes to a way to live in his own skin.

Living in one's own skin requires much self-knowledge as well as an understanding of the systems in which we live. When I read, Location of Culture I could almost see the margins or structures which many of us have to navigate and do so without that "otherness" that Homi Bhabha, Simone De Beauvoir, and others have theorized. However, being comfortable in my skin has been a different and longer journey for me.

More to come later.

As Time Goes By

2011-05-09T01:19:00.001-07:00

Yes that is the title of a song featured in Casablanca around two years before I was born. The idealism, latent and active of two of the main characters, were part of the love of country and doing the right thing which were taught to those of us growing of age in the 50s and 60s. As in many areas of my life, I half fit in baby boomer generation and half in the generation preceding it. Thus it is that I've lived to see a few truly great leaders of my country, the United States, do right by her. I so love all of those leaders who did the right thing at the right time to do justice for our country. On May 1, 2011, I once again found myself full of love for our country, the men aned women who serve in its services, the behind the scenes "government workers" who recently took a hit from those who do not believe that government is here for the purpose of working for all of us--rich, poor, short, tall, skinny, or fat. More importantly, Last week I rediscovered my weakened belief in Our President, Barrack Obama, and found I had ample reason to trust his judgment.

In one week he made so many public appearances with the knowledge that he'd ordered the capture of Osama Bin Laden so that Bin Laden could face justice. Personally, I think Bin Laden did not pay sufficiently for his crimes on citizens of the United States and around the world.

Instead of doing good for his people this wealthy man, inflamed the passions of his followers so that they could do his bidding. His beliefs fly in the face of real Islamic traditions and should not be resurfaced again.

Killing people who hold a belief system not to one's liking can only lead to pain and suffering of many.

While I do not cheer for the passing of Bin Laden, I am content that he no longer will create pain in the lives of many more people.

So like Sam and Rick in Casablanca I want a tune that reminds me of American ideals. We need to play such a tune over and over as our time on this earth goes by.

Donald Trump Has Revealed the Truth About the Republican Party

2011-05-01T05:30:00.001-07:00

Most of the issues raised by Johann Hari have been noted by those of us who've been around for more than 30 years. Success measured by money in this or any country is a sign of its decline whether or not we can stop the rot is something for all of us to work on.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Earthquake Tsunami and Nuclear Meltdowns

2011-03-15T00:32:00.000-07:00

As the people of Japan deal with the worst nuclear accident caused by the earthquake and tusnami of March 11, 2011, we deal with our own dramas or happy events as the case may be. I'm caring about the events in Japan, but am relishing my friends and work and still being useful to students.
My neighbors and friends have been keeping me busy too. For this I live in gratitude.

I hope that things in Libya settle down but the turmoil there seems non-ending as in other countries in the region who mimic Ghadaffi's brutal repression of his people. How fortunate am I that I do not live where the disagreements are lethal.

I've always liked the give and take of political discourse but not when it turns to death.. I am proud of Wisconsin citizens who are standing up for their rights. More and more it seems that even in my ideal of America there are those who would continue to take from the poor to make the rich more rich.

My writing goes in many directions today as there seem to be greater and more frequent events to think about.

What Tilly told me not too long ago still holds up as a truth. We can only work on our corner of the world or our chosen area(s) of interest and specialization.

Perhaps in each doing their best we can still preserve the Earth and our individual countries.

From Yasmine Ryan and Al Jazeera in English

2011-03-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

I'm finding interesting news reports from Al Jazeera which our Main Stream Media does not cover in depth.

How can we be good citizens if all we get is cotton candy for news. How can we contribute to our national governance if we do not read and challenge our own biases in an effort to be better informed. I had coffee with a friend today and of course the conversation came around to current events in the Middle East. Being the opinionated person I am, I shared the fact here in the US our main sources of news carry points of view only from the US perspective. This is a problem for us as US citizens and as citizens of the world.

Man Made of Words and an Argument on thePower of Words

2011-01-31T02:38:00.002-07:00

During the 2008 election, Sarah Palin became the darling of many conservative groups in our country. Like many public persons, she "shoots from the hip" in many of her public comments. So it comes as no surprise that in the aftermath of shootings in Tucson many pundits rushed to blame "vitriol" in our public discourse for the event in Tucson. I, too, think that the atmosphere of the hateful, ungracious, and thoughtless words hurling around our country had some effect on all of us.

It may be that the person who shot Congresswoman Gifford did not follow Palin and her language of lock and load and reload. However, public figures must attend to the language they use. There are many cultures within the United States that believe language has a power to transform our realities and even the way we think.

Perhaps my study of the power of language influence leads me to think of the ways other cultures think of language. My personal favorite ideas about the power of language to create realities comes from my early studies of Native American Indian studies. People who know me know that I took lessons from work by Kenneth Burke and work by N. Scott Momaday to launch my thinking of language as a force for creation. One of the many pieces of writing by N. Scott Momaday was a long essay which he had published in a book titled: The Remembered Earth: An Anthology of Contemporary Native American Literature. His essay has the same title as an earlier short story of a similar name. "The Man Made of Words." The section I look to as an example of both native beliefs and a writer's attention to a muse teaches me that calling your muse brings the stories she has to share and allows the writer to use them as a way to reconstruct and see the history he seeks, His Muse or Grandmother is an elderly native woman whom he calls forth so as to hear the stories of his people. These people have passed on long ago and yet a Native Man seeking to learn his people's history is based on the power of calling forth Ko-Sahn who has been with the tribe from time immemorial,

Whether or not Momaday actually sees Ko-Sahn or experiences his history through calling out her name one can see how his calling for her helps him overcome the blank white page he stares at when his stories are still wanting to come forth and teach Momaday the history of his people and the power that language has in creating the realities we live in or with.

I've enclosed a url which will lead others of you to some of N. Scott Momaday's work. In any event, I still feel I can learn a great deal more from reviewing his work and the works of other members of Native American Tribes and My Latina Writers who also use words to better place their histories in the public sphere.

Rhetoric of Vitriol: Does It Really Lead to Murder

2011-01-09T03:22:00.000-07:00

Like many USAmericans, I've listened to the commentary on the Assassination Attempt on Tucson's US Congresswoman Gifford. Some of the speculation of the reasons for the event surrounded the uncivil civic discourse that the country has experienced for the past 24 months. Indeed we've seen hateful speech during the discussions about the health care bill, President Obama's legitimacy to the title of President, and outright pictorial depictions of our President as a monkey or worse. Images of long ago mimicry of Blacks by Whites in black face was seen for any with eyes to see.

No other president during my lifetime has had to endure such vilification of his person, his office, and his history.Stepping back on all of the events and harsh rhetoric made me feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland but instead of "wonder" it was more like a carny horror tunnel with odd personae jumping periodically to scare me and make me ask what others have asked in a different context: Where is My America? Where has she gone? Why can't people who do the best to serve the people in the various states and congessional districts have to reduce their efforts to inane ideological gestures that in fact do not address the concerns of our nation.

Okay the main question is : Where have all the grown ups gone? We need to get back to doing what is good for our country and learn that compromise is NOT a bad thing.

So before going to bed I'll post this and pray that tomorrow's news will be better and that we take seriously -- all of us our responsibilities to participate in governing this country which is at the brink of financial disaster with banks not sharing money to small business who want to hire folks.

May the next few days bring on a better tomorrow for all of our families present and those coming in the future.

New Year Reflections

2011-01-02T22:44:00.001-07:00

While the country ponders the next political moves its leadership will take, I'm considering a way to avoid putting off writing on a daily basis. I do not mean to write here each day but to write for my children and grandchildren.

The world has changed so much from the time when I was born. I'd like to explore that past and the people who populated my world as I grew. I also want to consider the lives of my grand parents who lived on the island of Puerto Rico without any of the benefits of modernity like running water and electricity. Their way of life had a positive impact on me because I visited then often and grew to value them and the land they farmed.

I think how hardy they must have been without the things we take for granted. I also think of the isolation my poor grandmother must have endured during the years she spent away from her nearest neighbors and family. Even then --early to mid 20th Century--the distinctions between living en el pueblo y en la finca were pronounced. While I live quietly on my own--without daily interactions with those whom I love --I do have these electronic devices which keep me in touch with the outer world. Now I am finding a need to protect the inner world of a writer so that I can write more frequently and productively.

So now I am working my way back to my inner world so that I can produce something for the family and friends I care about.

I know change and death are inevitable. I do however feel saddened by the destruction of some very good ways of being that modernity in all of its forms--good, bad, and vague--cause us to make choices. Unfortunately the choices leads to the loss of something that was good.

Now back to a Billy Collins Poem

The Time of Year

2010-12-04T22:07:00.000-07:00

It's time to plan for the Christmas celebrations which are so different now from when I was younger. In the past, I was the Santa Claus. I coordinated gifts for the children with my parents and an aunt who lived near us. We indulged in good cooking and lots of music and visits in the three households.

These traditions were paltry compared to the ones that I remember from my childhood because when I was younger I lived in New York with my large extended family. There everyone brought and shared dishes like arroz con gandules, pernil, and my Mom's specialty pasteles--meat pies or Puerto Rican tamales. Christmas for me meant playing in the snow, partying with large numbers of cousins, aunts, and uncles. It also meant going to church with Mom who preferred Spanish with her Catholicism.

In Puerto Rico, my Cousin Rosin Torres tells me, Christmas Season meant music like the Aguinaldos formerly sung by "Jibaros" in rural communities and small towns. My Mom and aunts and uncles brought those sounds and the smell of good cooking with them to New York. In New York getting the ingredients for Puerto Rican cooking was easy as the demand for them was high and shipment did not take long.

When we moved to California we had to learn to make do with the paucity of Caribbean spices there. However, we kept the traditions as faithfully as possible and today my children cook with the same love for the family and friends that stop by as my mother did as a young woman on the island, in New York, and later in California.

I live to see many of the traditions and love passed along to newer members of the family and I am at peace and praying for peace in the world.

2010-10-22T00:33:00.000-07:00

These two love birds did things well. They were together for a long time. After all the picture to the left is dated 2006 and they waited to marry 12/12/2009.

He is my Grandson, whom I love and Cassandra has also gained my love for the way she cares for Antonio.

We Grandmothers love our children and their children.

Working Class Shows up the Banks

2010-10-13T17:14:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about how stinky the banks have been. They took money that they say the government "forced" them to take. What did they do with it? Did they do problem solving within their institutions? Did they give the money to projects that need attention in the communities where they exist? Do any Public Private projects resonate within the halls of Chase, BofA, CitiGroup or other banks? NO! The answer is NO Way.

From what I read, they gave their stockholders big dividends and their executives bonuses.

Now look at the car makers that were given stringent loans. Working along with the people they employ they seem to have been able to come up with profits and repayment of government loans. MOST importantly, they saved the jobs of many of their employees. Yes life in Michigan and other areas where people build cars are not as they were, but the workers and their bosses seem to have been more responsible and Patriotic than the Wall Street Greedmeisters.

I really hope Obama learns whom to help and whom to let fall and fail on their own. Some of these banks are too greedy to be propped up by the government and the taxpayers whose money is used in the wrong parts of the economy.

Music, Language, Nuns, and Me

2010-10-10T09:24:00.000-07:00

I recently posted some of the many kinds of music and artists that are near and dear to my heart. The rhythms from Afro-Latin and US Pop Culture among many genres are on my media player or on my Pandora.com account. I wish I could own all the funk, rhumba, mamboo, musica del jibaro as so much of it contributes to me--who I am. There is poetry in the rhythms I feel and in the words I seek to speak.

Sometime ago, I read about nuns who wrote plays which turned out to be against church teachings. Yet in their life times these women reached audiences outside their immediate sphere of influence.

Another nun had a busy career as poet and playwright.

Earlier posts to this blog show my connections to nuns, for I think I was raised to be one and one of my cousins actually became one. She lives in Convento Carmelita de San Jose en Trujillo Alto Puerto Rico.

Let us see where these explorations go.

Hey Jude

2010-10-10T01:00:00.001-07:00

Mother by Lennon

2010-10-10T00:48:00.002-07:00

One of the many reasons to Love John Lennon

2010-10-10T00:42:00.001-07:00

CAINA.- RUBEN BLADES

2010-10-10T00:18:00.001-07:00

Para que la gente sepan que Ruben Blades puede cantar a todos topicoos importante para el Pueblo Latino

Ruben Blades

2010-10-09T23:46:00.000-07:00

This Latin American from Panama does it all and he continues to raise issues even when singing older songs..

Something in the Cosmos

2010-10-08T01:03:00.000-07:00

I do not know if the primitive, superstitious parts of me are affected by the many nasty little problems I've had lately. For most of us in this highly technological era, a computer and a cell phone are very important. I like my gadgets and when they do not act like the like me back I am at a loss. As a matter of fact I think the mere fact of logging on to blog spot is a minor miracle for it went off without a hitch.

I lost so much time trying to get my programs and word documents back that I almost did the unthinkable. l almost put a little hex on it. However, after a few moments of calm meditation, I called someone who took care of most of the issues. A horrid little Trojan and his smarmy friends infected the computer which had to be deloused and set to running right. Except for the web-shots fiasco, The machine is now allowing me to log on and do a public venting.

I hope to be in a better mood later today after the sun rises and reassures me that all is right in my world. There is nothing much I can control in the greater world. Leaders of countries are not doing their jobs---lead. Others steal from their own people, and others in our country care nothing for the plight of the poor.

I don't think I'll die soon; however, in the state the world finds itself without true caring wise leaders who do what is right for their people instead of what is politically expedient, living is not as pleasurable. I still have not rid myself of the idealist within.

Recent Events

2010-09-20T02:39:00.001-07:00

Recently I noticed that when all around me are venting, I can actually stay calm. The feeling that overtook me was similar to the ones that held me tight when my parents passed. A family issue arose. Many people were upset, yet somehow I and the person affected were able to spend time together, talking, sharing, crying and loving one another. I felt at peace. Perhaps because the issues were not mine, I could actually be a grown up to actually help without judging. So today I am happy I survived 9/19/2010 and I think my beloved Father, mí Papí, would be pleased.

Theckla

2010-09-20T02:26:00.001-07:00

A favorite person in from my childhood had a very strange name, Theckla. Now who had ever heard of such a name? Over a period of time I learned many versions of the story of "Thekla". Since the original Theckla lived nearer to the times that Romans ruled the world, I did not know her. However, I met a delightful, kind woman who had taken her name as a sister of the order of nuns founded by St. Frances Xavier Cabrini. Mother Theckla turned out to be a bright light in my girlhood.

I must have been pretty daring because shortly after meeting her I felt comfortable enough to laugh at her jokes and tell her she "was funny enough to be on TV." One of the young women, who worked at the school, shushed me for daring to speak so directly to the person who would become my teacher for three grades. Mother Theckla, however, had a good sense of humor and put me at ease. Like many 8 year olds, I was easily led by the catechism lessons we learned. One day I ran to Mother Theckla in tears. "What's this? Why are you crying?" I had just learned that only Catholics went to heaven and I was concerned that one of my heroes was not there. Abraham Lincoln was an early hero to me. I was born on his birthday and everything I read about him showed him to be caring, diligent, and concerned with undoing injustice. Patiently and kindly, Mother Theckla soothed me and stated clearly. "President Lincoln followed his religion and was a good man. He most definitely is in heaven." That was my first experience of an ecumenical practitioner of the Catholic faith. And I believe it preceded Pope John the 23^rd's call for opening the windows of the church. This was his metaphor for letting in new light and air into what had become a stilted religion.

I bring up my fourth grade teacher in loving memory because I am a teacher and a "fallen" Catholic who still appreciates the sisters who helped raise her. I believe many of my more loving and caring approaches to life come from these Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and of course my family. I credit Theckla most because when I most needed a motherly touch, she provided it.

Despite the fact that my parents were working class, I had the privilege of a different learning environment and experience. These helped me see greater complexity in the possibilities and obstacles that people from my parents' working class and immigrant status encountered. I fear it instilled in me a desire for living as if I were a Roosevelt or Kennedy—I did it in my mind rather than in fact. While in the convent school I had one kind of experience. When I was in Manhattan that was another experience, and later when I left my beloved Sacred Heart Villa to move to California I once again encountered new situations. I suppose it was a good thing that I learn t be flexible at an early age because life has challenged me to adapt to new things all too frequently.

La Sangre Llama

2010-07-29T01:29:00.001-07:00

Many things I read and some things I hear remind me of my mother's repetition of an old Spanish saying: "La sangre llama" or "our blood (or ancestors) call us beckon to us. In graduate school I tied Mami's saying to Toni Morrison's discussions of "ReMemory". So whatever our origins, those who walked the earth before us and contributed to our genetic pool cry out that we not forget them. Perhaps? Or that we honor them? Or that we mindfully build on that which they have given us.

In our family we love storytelling, politics, arguing and calling each other out on those things that make us unique--not with malice but frequently with laughter and joy. I think that is happening now with me and my older progeny. Not wanting to date myself I now include grandchildren with children in one lump sum. In truth the characteristics of my parents and my late-ex-husband's parents are readily seen in the children that came.

So now is the time to see how my children respond to the call of their ancestors. I'll patiently await to see how we each take the gifts we have been handed.

Small Things that Matter

2010-07-24T17:41:00.000-07:00

Life is ever changing, and in the words of a friend of mine, we need to change with circumstances. To do otherwise would be to perish spiritually as well as physically. So on a recent trip around town, I reflected upon an old truism that we must appreciate the little things in life. For example, talks with friends and family. Being alive. More importantly not taking these things for granted. On a recent day, I experienced a multitude of things spending time with an adult child "in person" instead of via new technological gadgets--email and cell phones. Refreshing our memories and hopefully making new ones

Short entry on a small thing that I need to remember more often.

Reflections

2010-07-18T00:24:00.001-07:00

I've tried to write more than one page of stories I've told to people who in turn want me to write them down. So of course I come up with a great dose of writer's block. I turn to a piece of personal writing that my son, James, left on my computer. I recognize the incident because it is a part of a shared history. However, I focus on something James said about a childhood friend with whom he feels a strong bond despite the many years that have passed since James has seen or been with his good friend, Chris Parker. A light bulb goes on inside my head and memories from over 52 years come to mind and my special girlhood friend, Judith Gloria Herman, comes to mind again.

I've held her in memory as she was when we were 14 and 15. When I needed a special person, Judi and her mother Margaret were there. I can almost hear Judy's voice for we walked to school many days and we shared each others family stories. We both lived in the Bronx and after school we generally went to her apartment and listened to music, listened to Mrs. Herman's stories of life in Hungry where she and Mr. Herman had lived during WWII, played cards and thus I came to learn of a non-Latino culture that was rich in history and sorrows. Despite the past, Mrs Herman exemplified the best qualities of a person who embraced the present and made the most of it.

When I left New York, I gave Judy my Harry Belafonte album and she gave me both a necklace and a Star of David.But she gave me so much more. She introduced me to Classical Music, particularly the opera, Tosca and friendship which encouraged me and believed in me.

Why is it that at all the stages of my life self-doubt rears its ugly head. At that time in the Bronx, I had a good friend who believed in me and encouraged me to live beyond the limits of the environment at 2087 Creston Avenue.

If I could see Judi now, I'd tell her about my life's journey and hope that she sees in it the tenacity that has allowed me to survive and thrive because she and her mother were two of the three most important women who gave me early encouragement.

I hope that we can all remember the people in our lives who have given so much to us and we can thank them either in person or in prayer. I do not know how else to reach out to those who have passed to the other side of life or whose current addresses we do not have. Perhaps there is a good reason we are not in contact now--perhaps it is best to have places in our memories for these special friends. Thus, the magic of friendship can continue its work through the years of our lives.

Returning to Some Basics

2010-07-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

Yes, I've taught for many years and despite the wisdom of NOT going on to get a Ph D in the early 1990s, I went and did it.My exposure to theories that applied to our lives as citizens sent me off like Don Quixote tilting at windmills. I forgot a basic tenet of teaching communication in the written form--audience. Too often my classes would go into tangents that I now realize were not "wise". How did I arrive at this reflection? A training session on improving comments for student writers led me back to the basic point--language. We must focus on the language students use and address the writing issues that arise from their fledgling writing status.

This reflection leads me to consider my own work so that it can become a better example of the kinds of writings with which I invite my students to engage. As noted in the previous entry to this blog, I have plenty of pieces of writing on my computer which need to be made public. So henceforth I will plug along with my work.Who knows I may share more of my interests in language with others so they can become interested in the wonders of words. Words do lead us to new worlds. Many of these worlds can be of our own making and worthy of existence along the worlds others have created.

A Few Thoughts about Teaching

2010-07-15T02:24:00.001-07:00

I just found an old document on my computer which was a story about confrontations that teachers frequently experience. We've all heard, "Those that can, do, and those that can't teach." It's an old canard that seems to equate teaching with some sort of deficiency. I've had time to mull over the profession I have chosen and can say categorically that teachers "do". They write, the study, they create lectures and learn new technologies with which to enhance the learning experience. Moreover, most teachers "care". They care about their work, the profession, and most of all their students.

I entered the teaching profession a long time ago and then went back to complete an education that I had left hanging (as it were) during the time I married and reared three children. In this, I am not unique. Interestingly, it was the problem I observed with my children's education in various places that led me to want to join the teaching profession to see if I could make a difference. I returned to school, acquired a Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and a Doctorate – a Ph. D. What makes this story different is that my return to school to complete all that I'd missed took place when my children were "older" teens. Instead of being a 30 something Ph. D. student I was a 50 something Ph. D. student. Notwithstanding the age, I attempted to create a career path for me. My success is mixed but the point is that I am still learning and willing to learn to help others learn. Age, gender, illnesses all these have yet to stop me.

Today I completed the third of ten days of training for an exclusively online tutor position. I am still trying to learn new technologies so as to maintain contact with students and thus make difference. I find myself learning and enjoying the experience of the teachers who now instruct me and remind me how to be better at both teaching and encouraging students to take responsibility for their work.

Thurgood Marshall On Trial: Republican Senators Use Elena Kagan's Supreme Court Hearing To Trash Her Mentor (VIDEO)

2010-06-29T00:52:00.001-07:00

I've been toiling on this idea for years without coming up with an answer. I hope people will wake up from their apathy soon.
About Elena Kagan
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

iSatiristas! Bill Maher, George Carlin, And More Talk Satire And The State Of Comedy (PHOTOS)

2010-06-20T16:56:00.001-07:00

I did and I do. He is awesome and I LOVE him but he's too young for me. LOL
About Photo Galleries
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Language and Who Owns It

2010-06-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

Recently saw an article dealing with language. I've always noted that English is like a shark--it takes in everything that comes its way. Burritos yummy and now in the American English lexicon. The French it seems are none too pleased with all the "borrowings" English has made and is suing. Whether or not the French will follow through, the issues helps to highlight one of the reasons non-native speakers of English have a hard time learning its rules and vocabulary.

Just a thought on a Sunday afternoon.

New Leaf Turned Over

2010-06-11T21:24:00.003-07:00

Every once in a while, life changes are very welcomed. Although many people fear an empty nest, I am welcoming it. I must admit that I owe my youngest child--a woman now--many thanks for the new appreciation I have for a more solitary but life affirming life.

I grew up in many different environments and as an only child I learned to acclimate to what I had even if I occasionally envied cousins who lived elsewhere. Over the past few decades I have come to be happy in an environment that is quiet yet near friends and activities I relish.

Sunday a daughter left, Wednesday carpets were cleaned and the process of creating a new space for writing and crafting has begun. I can't wait to see what I wind up with.

New Program Starting with Exercise from Huffington Post

2010-06-11T21:23:00.000-07:00

Living in a Culture of Youth

2010-04-17T18:03:00.001-07:00

I went to a local CVS pharmacy in search of suntan lotion and other "age defying" products. I admit that living in a sun drenched state does tend to dry a person out from time to time. As I wandered up and down the aisles of hair and skin products (my hair too, once oily is now dry), when I happened upon stacks of books by well known authors. These were all hardback and unsold even with the huge discount on them.

I thought it discouraging for someone like myself who is trying to get her memoirs out on paper. I do the worst thing an aspiring writer can do. I tell myself that if these well known writers have stacks of their books gathering dust, what can I expect from my feeble attempts.

Today I heard a story on NPR programing about a person who'd been sent off to an orphanage when he was 9 and I said to myself--ah that's like me. Only I was sent away to a "boarding" school when I was at the ripe old age of 5. I felt a bit of solace and wondered if anyone would be interested in boarding schools AND happier memories of summers in the country side. Apparently boarding school teachers needed summers off.

Back to my original musings. Who reads?: Who cares? Are our feeble attempts worth the effort or are they indulgences to our egos?

This Week

2010-04-16T02:56:00.002-07:00

I've been reading several books each for a different purpose. The first is The Shock Doctrine: Disaster Capitalism. The history related in the text makes sense when you take a long view of what has been happening during the past 50 years. I have no background in economics so I depend on balanced reporting, which I believe Naomi Klein has conducted very thoroughly. Just in the first two chapters I feel vindicated in observations that I've made to students in my former classes---I always mentioned that to an average citizen living here in the USAmerica most hold dear the type of capitalism has undergone a drastic change. Now I understand that a theory of economics has worked very hard to have its ideas take over public lands and interests while enriching the "producers" of wealth. In other words, what were once jointly owned and administered infrastructures and responsibilities by public and government in balance with corporations are increasingly in the hands of corporations--many or them multinationals and not beholden to the USAmerican tax payers. All structures put in place during the New Deal era are being dismantled in the belief that governments must, like business make profits.

I have never thought that all things should operate like corporations because there are many works like health, education and maintenance of public buildings and roads which should be done for the people regardless of the almighty bottom line.

People learn in different ways and need different approaches in order to grasp concepts. SO the privatization of Education does not take this into account and in stead insists on tests. Now some students do well in responding to standard tests. I never did yet with time I came to the point of earning a doctorate. Had my teachers insisted on evaluating me solely on results of GED or other standardized tests, I might never have succeed in earning my degree.

Not all students have the same family backgrounds and support for continuing in higher education. so they must work harder at both learning substance of the courses they take and passing standardized tests that make politicians feel as if they've accomplished something wonderful for the public schools. Of course the information in the Klein book points to the great desire of the followers of Milton Friedman to privatize all of education.

So as I get deeper into the Klein book I'd like to see what other have to say that either add further light on my findings or make any corrections for errors in reading which I may have made.

Being

2010-03-31T08:55:00.000-07:00

As I wrote a few entries ago, I have begun practicing the art of "being" which I define as paying attention to what happens around me and what I am feeling. It is all a part of getting healthy and my journey towards "enlightenment" as a fellow blogger and friend notes. I can tell "Spring" has arrived because I have a hacking cough due to dust and pollen with which this desert is blessed in abundance during seasonal return of new leaves to trees in the area. It doesn't help that two of the primary indigenous trees in the area--mesquite and palo verde contribute to my allergies. But all is well as other diversions will take to focus from the cough to happier thoughts.

Maureen Dowd's NYT Piece 3-28-2010

2010-03-28T01:46:00.002-07:00

A Nope for Pope a lovely and insightful editorial about an old but important issue--the exclusion of women from the halls of power in religious institutions. In this case, the ever going and deepening crisis of child molestation in the Catholic Church. Dowd correctly points out that a good part of the solution to the crisis would be the opening up of church to women as priests. There are other solutions served up in Dowd's piece, but I fear the rottweiler in charge of the church is too deeply embroiled in the scandal to take any new ideas and implement them. Like others faced with a problem of their own making the non solution is to dig deep into obscure rationales for staying on a course that could likely doom the church's claim to moral leadership.

Stages

2010-03-28T01:08:00.001-07:00

Recently I've engaged in a bit more soul searching than usual. I finally had the idea driven to the core of my being that I needed to make changes--big ones in my life. I guess I finally reached an understanding of points my loved ones had tried to make for a long time. I am referring to eating habits and reasons for eating here. I accidentally came across an advertisement for a diet while reading something on the Huffington Post.

The most important thing I learned from the advertisement is this: the enemy is not food in general. It is SUGAR! Sugar and low physical activity my nemesis will be challenged.

I now have the feeling of satisfaction of having followed through by not accepting sweets that are not grown on someone's farm and by practicing a little tai-chi. When I finish my first ten weeks, I'll just go for another and then I can gain greater satisfaction.

My Response to Frank Rich of the NYT

2010-03-28T00:59:00.000-07:00

In a thoughtful opinion piece in the NYT for Sunday, March 28, 2010, Frank Rich lists the irrational responses to Obama, members of congress that do not look like the old congresses. His analysis is excellent and it is indeed a shame that people fail to reflect on the obvious consequences of life. Things change in life and too many people become hysterical, irrational, childish, and at times dangerous when events do not unfold in the manner that they wished for or expected. One critique of Rich's piece is that he doesn't name the racist elements of shifts in power taking hold in the US. I for one do not see a huge sea change. However, I identify with those marginalized voices which are slowly being represented in the new Congress and especially with the Obama presidency.

When Justice Soto-Mayor gained entry to the Supreme Court, I had a call from one of my cousins stating that the newly minted Justice looked and spoke like me. I apologize to the Justice in advance. She is more Chic than I am. Nonetheless a Puerto Rican American who struggled to become educated and worked hard to gain admission to the halls of power is but a small demonstration of what USAmerica looks like in the future.

When Bill Maher Is Right!!

2010-03-26T16:00:00.024-07:00

Bill Maher: New Rule: You Can't Use "There Will Be No Cooperation for the Rest of the Year" as a Threat If There Was No Cooperation in the First Half of the Year

I love to listen to wisecracking Bill Maher whenever I can, although sometimes I disagree with him. However, I can't help but fully agree with his New Rules commentary posted at the Huffington Post. Many of us are celebrating the passage of Health Insurance Reform. Maher's commentary is both a nod to the success of the new law but also an admonishment for Democrats to take their newly acquired feeling of success as reason and method to push forward with other equally important and difficult work ahead.

Fortunately, the President's party has quite a number of strong leaders that include many women. We are all aware of the strength and support Hilary Clinton brings to diplomatic discussions on behalf of President Obama. Palin seems to be the only woman held in high esteem by members of her party and so they turn to her. However talented Ms Palin is there is little of substance in her positions I would admire. Nancy Pelosi demonstrates a different view of women in politics. Perhaps because she has worked hard to gain the Speakership of the House of Representatives in the U.S. and because she has dealt with issues concerning women, Pelosi was able to grasp the need for party unity, and its ability to go it alone when partnerships fail. The Republican members of the House and Senate relinquished their responsibilities for participating in governing the country during the past year. When there is a failure of leadership in the minority party, the majority party must make a decision to take control of the work that needs to be done. There comes a point when one partner says to the other: "I understand you want to do things your way, we have done it your way and it does not work. Stop the threats and the passive aggressive behavior we'll go it alone." We have reached the point of going it alone.

There is honor in doing the thing that is right for the national family and do what is right for the family members. President Obama needs to understand that winning will lead to bipartisanship but he need not go out begging for votes from people who seek to destroy his ideals for USAmerica and his presidency.

Bill you are 100% on this one.

I Love POTUS Again.....But Michelle can ...

2010-03-26T12:13:00.003-07:00

After months nay a year and a few months of wrangling with wily and contentious members of the US Congress, a health bill is passed. President Obama smiles broadly again and I love him again, but Michelle can live with him. He took some getting used to as his style of politicking is different--nerve wracking and seemingly high risk. Yet he got the first step toward good health care passed. I must Say that much could not have been managed without that other woman in Obama's life (he has so many powerful ones to deal with)--Nancy Pelosi with her smiling brown eyes. Obama may want to get a copy of Frank Sinatra's song for his daughter Nancy and send it to Ms Pelosi. Once I heard her say she'd get the fixes done I was sure.

It is a testament to President Obama that he has sought the counsel and help from women. Yes we know he has high octane men in his administration, but Nancy Pelosi and Hilary Clinton. Wow what a team. As I get to know about the others on his team, I doubt I'll be disappointed in his selections--Larry Summers aside.

So way to go and I feel this law is just a beginning.

Trying NOT to be Cynical

2010-03-11T14:32:00.002-07:00

The way things move in real life compared with the way things move in public life can lead a person to grow not only tired by cynical about good citizenship. Why vote? The folks who get elected use rules or the system to do nothing of real value and there is much to be done.

Stewart on Beck's Interview with Massa

2010-03-11T14:21:00.004-07:00

Jon Stewart's take on Beck and Massa. Really funny.

Rumination on Yearly Events

2009-12-28T17:07:00.007-07:00

Many people spend the end of the year thinking of their plans and hopes for the future. This is never a bad thing, but I really liked Arianna Huffington's approach to the annual event. I'll not remark here on my personal character failings, but I'll look at what I'd like to see disappear from the public discourses.

I believe Arianna Huffington captured a good deal the things I've thought disposable from our society. I'd add discourtesy among people who disagree and excessive politicization of events that that should be viewed in common. For example, making national security issues a matter of opportunity to score political points should disappear from the public square. The recent bombing attempt affects all of us and should not become an opportunity to raise funds for personal politics.

Calling the President a liar at the convening of both houses of congress also what Captain Hook would call "bad form". I suppose the coarsening of the body politic is something I wish would disappear.

ROCIO DURCAL - COMO HAN PASADO LOS AÑOS

2009-09-27T00:10:00.001-07:00

Ay si como han pasado los anos. Es tan importante vivir en el momento para no tener sufrimientos de los amores que perdimos. ;-(

ROCIO DURCAL - COSTUMBRES

2009-09-27T00:07:00.001-07:00

De vez en cuando necesito oir canciones en el espanol. Y Rocio Durcal y Juan Gabriel me tocan el alma.

Unseen Hemingway Photographs Discovered - The Picture Show Blog : NPR

2009-09-23T17:39:00.001-07:00

Unseen Hemingway Photographs Discovered - The Picture Show Blog : NPR

Hemingway style and image making are unbeatable. Plus his name like my father's have deep meanings for me. Oh to write like a Hemingway whose images soar to the sky and blend with the sea.

Luisa

Imagine a new world order

2009-09-19T11:50:00.002-07:00

Leonard Cohen fainted in Spain and whilst I was trying to get a fan's YouTube video of the incident, I ran across a page of suggestions others have made for me. Imagine by Lennon was on the top of the suggestion list.

Lennon is and will always be my favorite Beatle even if he was flawed. Sometimes I think people who would have our heroes be perfect have no understanding of human nature.

In any event, once again, I'd like to include the url for the song here on my blog. Considering that we have built up these military industrial complexes around the world, I'd like to imagine a peace industrial complex where all work goes for the betterment of humankind.

Here's Lennon's song:

Last Lion's Roar Is Silenced

2009-08-27T03:30:00.005-07:00

The last day and night have had me return to old memories of my idealistic youth. With Edward Moore Kennedy's passing--hopefully to greater peace--stories of his life and deeds are on the air waves and with them the stories of his famous brothers. I am not Irish but I do wish to hear Irish songs and and tales of past with less maudlin feeling but with the hope and joy these men brought to our lives. I want to recall the vibrancy of the Jack Kennedy administration, the idealism of Robert Kennedy's life, and the hard work that Edward (Teddy) engaged in after his brothers were felled by assassins bullets.

I am a New York born Puerto Rican American who knows the ideals these men carried, for they were fostered in my being by the good nuns of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and my Mother, Escolastica Oquendo. My Dad, Ernesto Arroyo Rodriguez was a quiet man and rarely shared his political or social beliefs. He did work hard, however, and supported me so I imagine he must have agreed with Mom and me.

All of the thoughts connected with my family, my ideals, my hopes and dreams for the United States and all people living within it are intimately linked to the lives of the work the Kennedy Family has done and continues to do for our country. Like many other USAmericans of my generation, I feel that this special USAmerican family is also my family. If I tear up or cry hardily it is because I feel this kinship strongly. So I also pray for those Kennedys who remain behind at this additional loss.

However in Ted Kennedy's life there s much to be celebrated and their were great joys as he took on the role of father figure for his numerous nieces and nephews. Losing a parent is hard and I am certain from the devotion to him from those nieces and nephews that he did the best he could to fill in for his fallen brothers.

For these reasons I honor them with the passing of the last of the original Kennedy Brothers. My new hope is that the Kennedy family is joined by more of us who have the same ideals to make much of the incomplete tasks for the United States and its citizen an accomplished fact.

I pray that more of us can understand that the label "Liberal" is a positive one --one that aspires associations with the best of the United States and its people.

I pray that we can begin to remember the interconnections between all of us and work together for the greater good of all.

I pray that bottom line thinking about education and health no longer be the final means of evaluating what we do for our children, sick, or elderly.

RIP EMKennedy

Working to Get Back on Track

2009-08-25T04:30:00.003-07:00

I've not been writing regularly and I must get back to some sort of regimen to do so. Also, I'll be happier divesting self of all my opinion in the "blogosphere".

I have a writing project that does not seem to get onto paper or computerized file. I have lots of approaches but none seem to be "good enough". Could I be self-editing before anything is even written out? I think I am. So in order to get myself fine tuned to language, which I love, I've been reading lots of contemporary poetry along with my favorites--The Romantics from England and Walt Whitman from here in the US.

Billy Collins' book, Ballistics is fantastic despite its many references to death. In fact, the humor along with the imagery makes me laugh and think at the same time. The most thought provoking of the works I've read so far is "The First Night"

After reading it, I, too, ponder my personal need to seize the moment or "carpe diem" which seems to be the underlying position or message. Of course, Collins is not too far from me in age so I feel that the desire to renew oneself and gain pleasure from the life one has is a most practical message. But the idea of the first night of death itself has deeper areas for people to contemplate and enjoy.

Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah

2009-08-05T00:16:00.003-07:00

I like Leonard Cohen's version of his composition "Hallelujah" as well as KD Lang's version of "Hallelujah" although she has a more melodic voice.

Leonard Cohen - Dance Me to the End of Love

2009-08-05T00:12:00.004-07:00

I've been playing this on the computer because I'm starting a biography --writing it that is--and the pictures in the background match the pictures of me and my parents' generation and ideal of marriage and love that lasts through one's life and even when a spouse dies and is no longer physically present. Plus, the song sounds so very French. This too is lovely.

Franken Blasts Supreme Court During Sotomayor Vote

2009-07-28T12:29:00.001-07:00

I am so very pleased with Franken's performance. I've read his books and am additionally pleased that the Senate now has an articulate man of the people in its midst.

Thank you Senator Franken; I wish Arizona had such a senator as you.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

writing about writing

2009-07-23T04:04:00.002-07:00

I started a new blog on Opera a great google want to be browser and blogger. So far I want to keep my written meanderings private on that blog and if I get ideas that need further development I'll both extend the entries and repost them here.

Eventually, I'd like this more public blog to contain all of my thinking about my writing projects because I'd like to get some encouragement from my colleagues when I'm further into my work.

The Krugman/Limbaugh Nightmare: President Obama Might Succeed

2009-03-30T02:33:00.001-07:00

I am glad Frank Schaeffer wrote this piece. It expresses much of what I've been discussing with family members. I am glad to learn of Krugman's dubious history and know from experience that one need not be anti-intellectual to accurately critique people on either the far left or far right of the political ideological spectrum.

Kudos to Schaeffer for his writing and thinking.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Connections through Books

2009-03-17T02:12:00.005-07:00

One of the people who follows me onTwitter The Booklmp led me to a book on POE which falls in one of my many favored genres--bio-mystery. So when I am done with some of the work I've picked up for my self I'll like to read it. I have a kundra Milan book and a historical biography and a history lined up before it. But I know I'll get to it before too long.

I also note that the new president of these United States seems interested in the same political/historical books I've read or have on my to read list. So although I am short, older and out of shape, I have something in common with our energetic, hardworking new president.

I'd kill for Michelle Obama's arms. they are in great shape.

Of course, being younger than I she has learned the habit of caring for herself so she can be able to care for husband and daughters. Clever woman, she!!

Too Much with Which to Catch Up

2009-02-19T00:10:00.003-07:00

The news has been coming at me from all directions and I've promised myself to decrease information intake so I can focus on myself. Financially I am behaving like an ostrich with head in sand, yet I do make efforts to manage things more realistically. How are we to get through this patch of economic downturn? I think we should learn from it and use the time to create new opportunities to make a life less centered on materialism.

Obama's First Day in Office

2009-01-22T01:23:00.006-07:00

Many of us are in love with the new first family for its style and today we learn we can love them for their substance. In the NYT, I found an article about how Obama will keep promises made during the campaign. On the second day in office, Obama is to finally issue another set of executive orders meant to close down the network of prisons the CIA has because they are not part of the system of laws which USAmericans hold as the ideal.

So many ideas come to mind that remain a jumble. One of my first thoughts concerns my questioning of how this country came to have agencies that could flout US laws with such ease. It is no wonder that some of us perceive an illness which has rotted our moral fiber. Preaching to others how to behave while acting in perverse unlawful ways led to the decline in US standing in the world.

However, that is not the topic I wish to address. What I want to express and ponder over for the coming days is my and I imagine others' identification with our new President of the United States.

Yes he speaks well; yes he is handsome, yes he has charm and great intellect and other skills. I suppose for some of us Obama has come to represent a second coming of JFK. I identify with him because of his self-deprecating comments that he is a mutt. I've felt the same way about myself despite the fact that my parents were from the same country and same general background. My connection to being a mutt goes back to old identity issues which return every now and then. I am a woman, I am short, I am USAmerican, I come from Puerto Rican parents and thus have Puerto Rican roots, I am in part a New Yorker but I am a California woman too. I belong everywhere and yet I belong nowhere. I fit in and still remain on the margins. These realities make me and I presume make Mr. Obama a most complex person. I say this with an appreciation of the good things that the complexity gives to our new President.

May his term succeed and may all of us come to appreciate the "mutt" in all of us.

The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

2009-01-10T01:29:00.000-07:00

The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

This year I'm trying to get back to better healthy eating and thus I'm saving this article on my blog to share with whomever drops in and to remind me of things to buy for future meals.

Sweet on Caroline

2009-01-07T02:18:00.005-07:00

I read Maureen Dowd from time to time, frequently agreeing with her points. This article on "Sweet on Caroline" is one I especially applaud because Dowd underscores the pretentiousness of many NY and DC politicos.

Op-Ed Columnist - Time to Reboot America - NYTimes.com

2008-12-25T00:18:00.002-07:00

Op-Ed Columnist - Time to Reboot America - NYTimes.com

Frequently our leaders tell us in a very unnuanced way that we are the envy of others in the world. The Friedman piece in the times demonstrates that we could do better in reality than the fantasy chorus of USA #1 etc.

Chris Durang: Alastair Sim's Scrooge, and Apologies

2008-12-25T00:06:00.000-07:00

Chris Durang: Alastair Sim's Scrooge, and Apologies

I loved this article by Chris Durang because I truly relate to it. Being by bicultural among other things, I remember learning my era's pop culture along with what would have been my parents' pop culture--had they been born and raised in the United States. As it was I learned what would have been theirs, mine, and the culture that actually was theirs.

The beauty of being a New York born citizen of the United States is the intercultural transactions and connections among people open to them. I'm grateful that my parents --especially my Dad were open to interacting with others and that they did nothing to stifle my inclinations to explore my learning.

Durang's discussion of the Million Dollar Movie among others on mid 50's t.v. brought back the flood of memories of those old black and white flicks I enjoy to this day.

A One Minute Day?

2008-11-12T13:01:00.001-07:00

For Posterity a two minute look at November 4, 2008!!!

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

Behind The Scenes: Newsweek On McCain In The Dark, Obama Threats, And More

2008-11-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

Behind The Scenes: Newsweek On McCain In The Dark, Obama Threats, And More

I'm posting here but haven't read yet. Will respond to information after I've read it.

RealClearPolitics - Video Log - McCain's Concession Speech

2008-11-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

RealClearPolitics - Video Log - McCain's Concession Speech

One of McCain's better moments. His speech was generous and polite. Had his campaign rhetoric been this genteel he might have won the independent votes he desperately needed to win.

Chicago News and Opinion on The Huffington Post

2008-11-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

Chicago News and Opinion on The Huffington Post

I'm so very proud of all USAmericans who voted, especially for those who voted for Mr. Barrack Obama.

Friendships Lost and Gained

2008-11-04T20:43:00.002-07:00

Many years ago, when I first began teaching, I used an essay by a writer whose name I cannot recall at this time. The essay was about friends--childhood, work, school, hobby etc. Some friends you see once in a while and yet when you get together the talk and the affection seems to be the same as when you hung out together regularly.

Their are casual friends, friends for when troubles come, party friends etc.

When there is a sudden unexpected end to communications between friends of long standing the pain is as deep as when someone in the family passes away. I could be paranoid and say I'm to blame for the loss of friends I once considered close. However, I see that humans change and the things that bound us in the past no longer apply. So today I'm saying goodbye to the idea of another friendship in hopes that I can move on and acquire a few more to fill the void.

Knowing me, I probably will and hopefully I will learn more about friendship in future endeavors.

Online Only: The New Yorker

2008-11-04T18:11:00.000-07:00

Online Only: The New Yorker

Interview with William Ayeres just reinforces the ways that political campaigns distort and can destroy people's lives.

Obama On Grandmother And Campaign: "Bittersweet"

2008-11-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

Obama On Grandmother And Campaign: "Bittersweet"

This moment in Senator Obama's life touches me, for it reminds me of how it feels to lose one's parents and loved ones. I'm old enough to consider myself an adult orphan. My parents died long after I had "grown up."

His inclusion of her story during a campaign speech will help keep her story in our consciousness. This is a good thing for we owe our parents and all of our ancestors a great deal for what they contribute to our existence today.

May the Obama family find comfort during the time of this loss.

Memory Lane

2008-11-01T23:12:00.003-07:00

I was reading the opinion pages of The NYT when I ran across Frank Rich's latest piece. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? The title reminded me of the movie to which it refers and my early and lingering impressions of the movie. The only performance worth the price of the ticket was Sidney Poitier's. I remember the overly dramatic and preachy message of the movie. I suppose the overwrought performances by Tracy and Hepburn forever colored my view of them as actors. But here I digress. Rich's analogy of Obama to Poitier is right on. We underestimate people because of the stupid stereotypes we insist on using when discussing people we had placed in a lower rung of the social ladder. To appreciate the comparisons it is good to read Rich's piece. In the end, he helps to shed light on the reasons for Obama's successfully run campaign. Should Senator Obama become President Obama it will be because he is both intelligent and tough and a dreamer/visionary and practical politician.

I hope we can replicate his goals to stop the politics of division and head toward the new century with greater understanding of the capabilities of all people.

Stevens Convicted On All Counts

2008-10-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

Stevens Convicted On All Counts

I was raised to respect the elderly. So I am not over joyed at the prospect of this man's prison sentence. I do wish that people did not become so easily corrupted by money and power. Perhaps, Senator Stevens could have avoided today's verdict if he'd practice the religious principles that so many members of his party claim they hold to.

Superstition

2008-10-27T08:56:00.002-07:00

I heard that Mr. Obama is superstitious about celebrating the good polling numbers he's receiving. Me too! I don't want to celebrate prematurely about an Obama win. Doing so may very well lead to the kinds of disappointment that I've endured in the past. Also, I find it hard to believe that some last minute dirty tricks won't be played by those in power to attempt to keep their hold on power.

Pitbull mauls McCain?

2008-10-05T13:54:00.001-07:00

In this Sunday's NYT opinion page, Frank Rich gives another detailed profile of the woman who would be president of the United States. I think we should all cringe at least a little.