Elenamary

Directly next door to me live somewhere between 4 and 10 children.  Not really sure the house always seems to be in some kind of transition but there are three children aged 3, 4, and 5 who are always around.  The 5 year old, big sister, Steph, is the leader.  All three kids are black, and I’ve never seen anyone at there house who wasn’t black.  Our neighborhood is a mixed neighborhood but I would say it is still primarily black as well.   As such, the children long ago informed me after seeing my mom, that she was probably a light skinned black woman; I think because they just have never interacted with a Mexican before.

I talk to the kids a lot and have grown accustomed to picking up extra things for them when I get stuff for Olguita. Extra Highlights magazines, bilingual children’s books, stickers, colorfully mint candies… little tokens.   As such they’ve grown quite accustomed to running to my front yard anytime they see me leaving or arriving.   A few months ago, I was leaving and Stephy came running with the other two on her tail.  “Laay-Nuh!” (yes that is how they say my name) “Laay-Nuh, are you white or are you light-skinded [sic]?”  All I could do at first was respond with a “Huh?” and the question was repeated verbatim.  My response “I guess I’m both of them”.

year ago i’d write without thinking.  my writing was better years ago.

i can still be sexy and have a mullet…but it isn’t worth trying to pull it off.

i miss blogtitlan.  blogtitlan isn’t coming back.

i can fall in love more than once.

no one will ever hurt as much as the first one.  that kinda sucks and that is kinda good.

i’m happier when i blog more.

i love my family.  and i lucked out on family.

friends will always surprise me. in both good and bad ways.

it is easy to be comfortable and not try.

anything worth trying for will most likely make me uncomfortable.

i can’t hold on to people.

exercise makes me happy.

goals make me happy.

structure in the most fluid of ways makes me happy.

i make myself happy.

i miss radical xicano literature.

radical xicano literature doesn’t seem so radical anymore.

Dearest SergDun,

My friends and I would like to challenge you to a Tamale Day Off.  You seem a little cocky in your Tamale Day Bitch! post and we thinkknow we can do better.  We will even make our meat tamales outside in the backyard on a fire if need be (we don’t allow meat production in the house).  Yes, my white vegan Ohio friends and I the lone Mexican, can make better tamales than you.  We might even I think make better brew, as we do love to ferment beverages!  You bring on the rules and we will take the challenge.  I also think we should include desserts in the competiton but again I’ll let you and your friends decide the rules so as to give you a fair chance of not failing.

Love,

Elena Mary

It is rare I endorse a politician.  The last person I endorsed was my best friend Miles Curtiss for University Area Commissioner.   Because I rarely endorse anyone, I am very excited to endorse Oyango Snell for State Senator of Ohio’s 15th District.

He’s the underdog you find yourself rooting for the whole way through the film, from childhood to adulthood, he makes you gasp with encouragement.   He has turned into a person who advocates loudly for immigration reform, health care for all Ohioans, women’ rights, civil rights, education, and any disenfranchised voice.

I believe in Snell, so much so, that although I usually vote for female candidates, I know he is a better candidate for the rights of women then his opponent.  It is not always, a woman who is the best defender of women’s rights.  He also seeks to have understanding and sympathy for all groups of people whether he “belongs” to that group or not.  We had a great conversation about the Russian immigrants and Somali refugees in Columbus, right before he danced Salsa and spoke a little bit of Spanish with my mother.

Please vote for Oyango Snell.

You can vote early (that’s what I did) by going down to the Franklin County Board of Elections located at 280 E. Broad Street in downtown Columbus.

• • Monday – Friday: 3/30/10 – 5/3/10 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
  • Saturday May 1 only: 8:00 AM – 12:00 Noon

Or you can vote on Tuesday May 4th (to find your polling location click here)

I am in Japan with my friends Evan and Yuko. Yuko got an awesome new haircut from another friend. It was one of the sexiest most fun hair cuts I’ve ever seen. I wanted one too. My hair was mid back length, brown with soft curls and I wear it down when being “stylish” or more often than not I have it in a ponytail or bun.  A change, I thought, would be nice, give me a bounce in my step.  So off we went. Our friend had given himself a new sexy haircut too with lots of artistic spikes and lots of red dye. He was excited I was going to let him cut my hair. I had so much hair, and a color unlike most Japanese and so the dye could take an excitingly different route, and ohhh the wavy curls to boot?! He almost never got to work with curls. Here he was getting long locks, curls, and a new color and I gave him free license to “make me sexy”. So he did what many young artistic stylists would do, I guess, he gave me a bit of everything.

The front of my head is shaped like a 4-year-old’s bowl hair cut–but since my hair has those waves it is semi-froish, the back of my head is buzzed with choppy chunks going every which way which might be stylish if that length were everywhere, but he decided to also keep some of my hair long, hence the oversized rat tail. Yes, I am semi-business/boyish in the front, art student drop out on the back of the scalp, and death metal party/mullet/rat tail in the back. Be envious. Oh and yeah I forgot to mention I have chunks of orangy-red hair too.

elenamary's mullet

A lot of people dislike using interpreters whether they be doctors, social workers or school administrators. Arguments like “the interpreter slows the process down” or “we understand each other enough” are not good reasons to avoid the use of interpreters, and it violates Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires the provision of “language access accommodations”

From a New York Times article Doctor and Patient – When the Patient Gets Lost in Translation: “…While the doctors acknowledged that they were underutilizing professional interpreters, many made the decision not to call an interpreter consciously, weighing the perceived value of patient information against their own time constraints. Moreover, despite their personal misgivings,
the doctors often felt that this kind of shortcut was acceptable and well within the norms of their professional environment.”

Good interpreters don’t slow the process down.  Good interpreters can provide simultaneous interpretation and cultural understanding.  What might slow down the process down is that now, there is more medical history and better patient-provider interaction.

Here are some tips for best utilizing interpreters.

*Speak directly to the patient.
Instead of saying “please ask the patient if she hurts anywhere” say directly to the patient “does it hurt you anywhere?”

*Make eye contact with your patient, not the interpreter.

*Do not say anything in front of the patient that you would not want them to hear.
A good interpreter, interprets EVERYTHING that is said.  Your non-English speaking patient has the right to know everything that is being said in the room, the same way your English speaking patients would.

*There are two main styles of interpretation, Simultaneous and Consecutive.  Simultaneous the itnerpreter speaks at the same time as the provider, and is only 3-4 words behind them in interpretation.  In consecutive interpretation, the interpreter, interprets after ever 3-4 sentences.  Try both styles see which one works best for you, and it may vary from patient to patient.

*If you think something wasn’t interpreted, clairfy that it was.  Again though, a good interpreter should interpret everything.

*If possible, ask the interpreter if there is a cultural component that they may have noted, that you should be aware of.

Interpreting code of ethics requires that interpreters not give opinions but they do
need to make providers aware of cultural differences or misunderstandings.  For example from the interpreting code of ethics:

“The interpreter alerts all parties to any significant cultural misunderstanding that arises.  For example, if a provider asks a patient who is fasting for religious reasons to take an oral medication, an interpreter may call attention to the potential conflict.”