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February, 2006

  1. Afro-Latino? Latino? Black?

    February 15, 2006 by elenamary

    A friend of mine and I are having a discussion about Mariah Carey and I explain that she is Latina. Her dad is Venezuelan, or as wikipedia likes to put it “Afro-Venezuelan” (like we ever say Euro-Venezuelan or Indigenious-Venezuelan). My friend counters with

    …and let’s be realistic here. this is america. and for all extents and purposes she is considered black. in fact you are the first person i’ve ever heard call her latina. but then you seem to have a thing about trying to claim everybody as latina i.e. batman

    Okay so I once got in an argument with him that Batman had to be Latino because no white man could have a car that cool (yes, a George Lopez joke). My boyfriend laughed at me the other day when at the doctors office under race/ethnicity I put “White Mexican”…well it is true.

    That said though, can Mariah be a mixed latina? Can her father be a black latino? Can I be a white latina? Or do we have to pick?

    Category Latinos, Ohio, personal | Tags: , | 48 Comments

  2. Dear Democratic Party…WTF?

    February 14, 2006 by elenamary

    Dear Democratic Party,

    WTF? There are few candidates in your party that still excite me. Few candidates I felt were honest and willing to fight for the little guy. Paul Hackett is one of these rare people. On the surface Paul Hackett is the kind of man I would of distrusted and yet he completely won me over. As I stated in a previous blog entry “He is a marine and served in Iraq. He is a White, heterosexual man, married with three children. And I like him!

    I supported him when the Democratic Party failed to support him in his bid for a congressional seat. He ran in the second most republican district (in terms of economic support) in the country and yet lost only by a few percentage points and with little national help until it finally dawned on you that “Shit, this man might have a chance.And now Paul Hackett was running for senate and what did you, The Democratic National Committee do? You called his donors and tried to persuade them not to support him financially.

    You succeeded in not only forcing Paul Hackett out of a senate race but out of politics in general. Paul Hackett is the kind of leader my state and our country needs. You’ve pissed me off. You’ve pissed me off, and I am an active voter, and an active supporting member of our democracy your oligarchy.

    Democratic Party get a spine, grow some gonads, and support democracy. Support grassroots candidates, progressives, pro-choice, liberal, civil liberty defending, gay advocate democrats.

    ¡Viva la Revolución!
    ¡Hasta la Victoria!

    -Elenamary

    PS Happy Valentines Day!

    Category Ohio | Tags: | No Comments

  3. ¿Bloguerros, ya no?

    February 5, 2006 by elenamary

    (Blogs I read at one point, and for the most part, the blogger has stopped posting)

    Defunked blogs:

    Alicia Gaspar de Alba: This weblog is an online journal of my book tour for Desert Blood: the Juarez Murders. You’ll find my observations of each venue, comments on the readings I chose, Q & A highlights, and sundry other stuff. When the spirit moves me, I may also include longer essays. [EN]

    Amonrraone Hip-Hop: por Jonathan Torres [ES]

    Be the change you want to see in the world:
    This is a space of self reflection and discovery where i intend to share my human experience and how i engage with the world. Also, this is a space to stay in touch with the people I care the most but everyone is welcome…and as my compadre very beautifully states, i am a small voice, but a voice- i am just one person, but alive and connected i am touching you right now i am touching you with my words hear my voice sing with me ~ Agustin “El Tin” Palacios. By José Lopez from Aztlan, CA [EN]

    Blue Latinos: An online organization for progressive Latinos working to make America better for everyone…para todos [EN] [ESP]

    The Brownsville Byte: Miguel Mass (and associates) talk about Brownsville

    La Chica de Hoy: I am a down-to-earth xica (except when I wear my boa and tiara, then I’m la diva fabulosa or La Delicious ‘pa los que saben) originally from El Paso. Family, friends, and my cultura are essential in my life. [EN] [ESP]

    Chicano Law Institute Blog: This website is a supplement to our main website (www.chicanolawinstitute.org). Current information regarding HLSA day-to-day activities, announcements, and archived documents will be stored at this site. Other permanent information will be at our main website. [EN]

    El Chisme: El Chisme provides information on Brownsville, Texas and its surrounding communities. El Chisme will not be limited to news. It will publish just about anything that goes around our community.

    Clemenseando: A Hack’s Observations on Hispanic Marketing and Media. [EN]

    Creative Xicana…yes with an X: Luna’s my name and art’s my game…not really though…I live in Ontario, CA. I curate art/spoken word shows on the side. I love the lesbian performance art scene…I have been known to be a ‘ride or die femme’ [EN]

    De Suecia a Tijuana

    Diary of a Brown Girl: I am very opinionated and lord help you if we disagree. I’m originally from Texas and hope to one day achieve my goal of writing the next great American Novel.

    Elizabeth Delgado, Educated Chicana: I’m a 25 year old Chicana from Sylmar, California. I went to San Fernando Middle and High School, for undergrad I went to UCLA- where I majored in Chicana/o Studies and Sociology with a minor in Urban Planning. Currently I’m 3/4 done in a dual Masters in Urban Planning and Public Policy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

    Espelina: Chicago, Illinois, United States [EN]

    God Told Me How To Kiss [EN]

    Guerrilleros de la Pluma: This is the political blog of the Raza Press Association (RPA). The purpose of this blog is to inform the masses of gente in Occupied Mexico about our events, campaigns, and projects. The RPA, welcome constrictive criticism and feedback from those currently involved in the struggle for national liberation of nuestra Raza. [EN]

    Hija de LA: Official web log of artist, photographer, Sandra de la Loza My interest in art lies in its potential to create radical languages that challenge the existing canons. While I approach art from a specific location, I feel that the issues I investigate have global implications especially in relation to neo-colonialist projects, war, and displacement [EN]

    In search of Aztlán…Hopefully it’s somewhere in Denver, Colorado: Interests, Chicana/o politics and bringing down the Man. [EN]

    Injust Spring: is a webbity (that word coined by Shylo) that deals with culture, motherhood, design, art, other blogs/journals/webbities, my knee-jerk reactions to those topics — in addition to well-informed and educated ones — and just tidbits of things around me I see as either amusing or entertaining. Think of injust-spring as edutainment.

    Luz Paz: Musings From the Heart of Aztlan.

    Mujer Hollering: A Latina’s take on the personal, political, and pop cultural “because honesty is a necessity”.

    Poems from Baghdad: Jaime Lepe – Mexican-American Mathematician, Poet, Athlete, Infantryman.

    Raspas y Resacas: Musings and commentary by an artist/cultural observer from the border by the sea

    Student del Sexto Sol: I am a socially and politically conscious student from the Sixth Sun. I love to produce political chaos in order to produce political order.

    Tlasohtla: Tlasohtla is the name of my blog, meaning “to love” in the Mexican Indigenous language of Nahuatl.

    Category Latinos, personal | Tags: , | No Comments

  4. Where they are put in boxes and they come out all the same

    February 5, 2006 by elenamary

    It has been a few weird weeks for me. Due to a financial aid problem I am not taking classes this quarter. I am also however not working, but am looking for work this quarter and would really like to find something I can do part-time to full-time since I will only taking classes part time for the next few quarters. I am doing a science sequence and can’t take the class concurrently.
    Which means I’ve been applying for jobs. I wonder sometimes if this blog is going to get me in trouble and what happens if an employer googles me? I sometimes think maybe it can be a good thing for example on my resume I don’t have that I ran for office. I just don’t know where to put that on my resume or how it relates to anything.

    And then there is the thing that has REALLY been bothering me. I’ve been riding in rush hour traffic this past week. I’ve been driving around the city on the freeway with the 9 to 5 rush. I’ve driving in Mexico City in rush hour multiple times and that doesn’t suck because I know to expect it in the largest city on earth. And while I’ve never done driving in the United States during rush hour traffic it is something much more than the traffic that is disturbing me.

    It is all these people, hundreds of thousands of them, (just in this Midwestern city in Ohio, forget cities across the country and globe) driving to their 9 to 5 jobs in the morning and then back again the afternoon. Day after day, week after week. They drive into this ugly concrete buildings at nine in the morning. At lunch time they eat crappy processed frozen microwaveable meals at lunch because they are cheap and easy. Then they drive home at five pm with everyone else. They buy their homes in the suburbs sometimes further and further out only making them spend even more time in their cars. I was with a friend one afternoon around 5pm and there were cars and cars in line for the ATM. I pondered out loud why so many people would be at the ATM. My friend responded “It is Friday. Payday. They’ve been waiting all week for their money.”

    Is this what awaits me? Buying a house in the suburbs, making ends meet, being glad if I can get a job that offers health insurance, and on Fridays going to the ATM so I can purchase more plastic goods and meals at corporate chains, and happy hour with my co-workers at Applebees? And if I can afford to do the above, then I have led a “successful life”? If that isn’t success what is? Is going to indie art shows and living downtown in a hip neighborhood success? Isn’t that just as repetitive as the 9 to 5 person? I feel like I am trying to get a job to gain access to a ticky-tacky house world, that I don’t even want in to.

    urban sprawl

    It reminds me of the song Little Boxes:

    Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of tickytacky
    Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same
    There’s a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one
    And they’re all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.

    And the people in the houses all went to the university
    Where they were put in boxes and they came out all the same,
    And there’s doctors and there’s lawyers, and business executives
    And they’re all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.

    And they all play on the golf course and drink their martinis dry,
    And they all have pretty children and the children go to school
    And the children go to summer camp and then to the university
    Where they are put in boxes and they come out all the same.

    And the boys go into business and marry and raise a family
    In boxes made of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.

    Category Ohio, personal | Tags: | No Comments

  5. Elect Elenamary

    February 5, 2006 by elenamary

    This is old I just don’t have it archived so I had to repost it. Ignore everything.
    (more…)

    Category Uncategorized | Tags: | 1 Comment

  6. ¿comó se dice “tag” en español?

    February 5, 2006 by elenamary

    He sido elegida por la compañera bloguera Julizzette Colon-Bilbraut de With All Due Respect, para que comparta con la comunidad bloguera y mis lectores, 5 hábitos que considero extraños sobre mi persona.

    1. Tengo una luna entre los dos dedos mas chiquitos de mi pie izquierda el cual siempre ando chequeando porque me da miedo que algún día se va desarrollar y ser cáncer y que no me voy a dar cuenta.

    2. Cada vez en cuando, me gusta ser un puño con mi mano, y ver si todavía cabe en mi boca.

    3. Cuando encuentro algo en el internet y se me parece chistoso hago un bailecito, aunque me quedo sentada.

    4. No contesto mi teléfono si es un numero que no conozco y al ver un numero no conocida hago una búsqueda por google.

    5. Cuando tomo leche de vaca, siempre pienso en las tetas de la vaca.

    Category personal | Tags: | 3 Comments

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