The end of blogging 09/15/2009

My blogging experience: what a ride! When I first heard that we were to start a blog for our Online Journalism I was excited, but somewhat nervous. I obviously had never written a blog before and was afraid of not finding a good topic. I chose Being Latina as my topic because I felt I had many experiences that could work for the blog. What I didn’t know was that those experiences were limited to a few posts and I suddenly found myself empty-handed with nothing else to write. Because of this I mainly relied on Google Alerts. Every day I would receive notifications of Latino topics and would discard many of them, but also found many useful ones.  I feel like I needed a better topic. With a better topic I would’ve had more detailed blogs and more pictures within them. I love the idea of blogging, but didn’t want to turn my blog into a diary. I feel like I am in a stage in my life where nothing extremely exciting has happened to me in order to write about it, so I am hoping that soon enough I can start a new blog and develop it in more detail.I would’ve felt more comfortable with my voice if I had more stuff to write about. I felt that the things I did want to mention were posted in five posts…and then what? Maybe working at the Boston Globe will give me inspiration to start a new blog, this one with better blogs and examples of what I really want to write. I know that not having people respond to your blog through comments makes people want to stop writing. It didn’t bother me at all because I knew most of my stuff was already out there. I just looked for it and gave my opinion on it. I had one comment and I was happy with that one!

Blogging is clearly making its way though the journalism realm.  Thousands of people blog and although, some blogs become more successful than others, they all promote certain ideas and opinions. I understand how some journalists don’t agree with blogging because they believe it is not good journalism or that it is in fact taking over their jobs, but I think it is fair game. Professional journalists have blogs and it doesn’t mean that they are less professional.  Blogs give unknown and known writers the chance to get thir voice out there, and what is more important than that? I believe blogging allows readers to surf other outlets instead of mainly relying on the media everyone claims to be the ONE. It is evident that many outlets are bias, so as citizens, I believe our job is to be well-informed of everything that is out there for us to use. Having information freely allows us to be well-educated, thus allowing us to make good decisions. Obviously, people have to know which blogs to read, which blogs to ignore and which ones contain real, useful information.

I really enjoyed blogging and hope that a new muse will inspire me to write a new one real soon!

Hasta Luego!

Irene

My new job 09/15/2009

Two weeks ago I was offered the Living Arts position at the Boston Globe and of course, I accepted!  I was not counting on that job, so I had to cancel about seven interviews when I heard the good news. I screamed in Spanish, in English, in Spanish and then in Spanglish! I called everyone and made sure my new boss knew how glad I was for being chosen. When I got to my job training, the girl training told me how important it was that I spoke both languages and that she thought I had been chosen, not only for my good resume, but for my ability to speak two languages.  Here it is again! Being bilingual once again opened a new, wonderful door for me.  I honestly encourage every student out there to take advantage of language classes in college. It is probably going to be the only time when you will be able to take classes of a certain language and then keep learning it in the future, if needed.  I am proud of being able to speak two languages fluently and hope that people get to experience this.  Trust me, it opens doors and makes you look professional in this competitive world we are now encountering.

Latino 101 09/15/2009

Apparently Si TV will launch  a hilarious, new original series profiling Latino life in America. This January, 39 Latino comedians and commentators will explore hot-issues in a funny way as a new experiment. It will be a 13th episode series designated to address longtime issues and stereotypes of Latinos. 

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/are-you-ready-for-class-latino-style-78683302.html

This could be something new never explored before. There are certain stand up comedies addressing these issues, but an original series is something definitely new and exciting. It has been said that the George Lopez Show has been very popular, but viewers have been somewhat overwhelmed with some of his outrageous comments and stereotypical comments.

Pancho Villa will be sexy! 09/15/2009

Johnny Depp has just been hired to a new role. He will play Pancho Villa in the upcoming film Seven Friends of Pancho Villa and the Woman With Six Fingers. Salma Hayek will play the woman.

Laura Martinez says in her blog that she is certain he will look sexier than when he played Willy Wonka. I agree!

P.S. -> Pancho Villa was one of the first Mexican revolutionaries generals.

Bring back Los Reyes Magos! 09/15/2009

According to an article in La Prensa San Diego, the old tradition of los Reyes Magos could boost the community’s economy if they say no to gift-giving on December 25 and instead give the gifts on January 6 because of the sales after Christmas.  But, as I mentioned earlier, Latinos seem to follow both holidays, thus exchanging gifts each time.

Some Latinos have said they forgot some of their traditions when they arrived to the U.S. There is a funny story of a little girl learning about los Reyes Magos from an episode in Dora the Explorer, an bilingual TV character.

We love to share different traditions. That is why us Puerto Ricans leave some cookies and milk (or Coca Cola) for Santa Claus on the 24th, but love to fill shoe boxes with grass for the Three Kings’ camels on January 6th. If you do not leave food, no gifts!

Bilingual holidays? 09/15/2009

I just though about it today. We do have the best of both worlds. We have every American tradition like Thanksgiving, Santa Claus, Easter and Mondays off when it’s President’s Day (when in fact we don’t have a president and don’t vote for yours.) plus we have the extension of Christmas that exists in Puerto Rico.  Christmas in Puerto Rico is the most amazing holiday ever. Although for many, Christmas should include snow, us Puerto Ricans love being able to leave our American schools full of snow to stay in the warm, sunny climate for a month.  It is incredible leaving with a huge jacket and snow boots to taking it all off in the San Juan airport and putting your bathingsuit.

Our Christmas parties begin in November.  Every weekend is full of traditional Christmas music, incedible Christmas smells and delicious traditional food that is only prepared during the holidays.  Once Christmas day has passed, comes New Year’s, which will be different for me this year because I start my Boston Globe co-op December 28. My parents will come here or I will have to get here the 27th and fly back the 30th. We’ll see.  Once the huge family parties on the 31st are over, Los Reyes Magos make their appearance.  Throughout the Spanish-speaking world, January 6 is a Christian holiday that celebrates the three wise men who brought gifts to Jesus.  Three Kings Day is like another Christmas day, but on a smaller scale. The few things Santa forgot to bring, the Three Kings will.

Once Three Kings has passed, comes 7 days of “the last days of Christmas” where peopleeat and drink all that has been left from every party. Once that is gone, the last weekend of January, our capital San Juan celebrates its traditional festival. It is a three day festival that includes food, music and sell of unique, traditional crafts. Hundreds of people attend, but since I started coming to Northeastern I have missed out on that.

There you have it. After that festival, our Christmas is officially over, but we already start planning our day off during President’s Weekend!

Another Latino festival 09/15/2009

Live in California? Do you ejoy foreign movies?

Don’t miss the Coachella Valley International Film Festival beginning today, December 4th 2009 at the Indio Performing Arts. Opening night begins with a movie called ‘El Bola,’ a domestiv abuse drama by Spanish director, Achero Manas.  The festival continues Saturday and Sunday. At the end of some movies, there will be appearances by certain actors and an opportunity for the public to ask questions.

People are so used to  Hollywood movies that sometimes forget that there is other talent out there.  I have seen so many great foreign movies that somehow seem to be forgotten in the spectrum.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, Puerto Rico has a cinema theater only dedicated to foreign movies and although it’s more expensive, it has become very popular. It is a drastic change from all those Hollywood comedies and horror films.  French, Spanish and even Portuguese movies have made their debut in our theater.  Some movie even stay there for a year.  Next time you go to a Blockbuster check out the foreign movies section. I gurantee you that something will interest you.

Desperate Housewives 09/15/2009

I have been watching the complete seasons of Desperate Housewives for a few months now and find that it has been great to have allowed a Latin couple as part of the principal cast. Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) and Carlos Solis are hillarious!  They confront their heritage issues while at the same time, try to make people understand how it is.  Although Gabrielle is Latina, her mother-in-law, Carlos’ mother, has extreme traditions that don’t go in accordance with her liberal views. I love the fact that we are seeing more Latino representation in TV shows and in the media.  It makes Latinos feel part of the community.

Victim of stereotypes 09/15/2009

I’ve been talking about stereotypes for quite some time now in this blog and today I was a victim of being stereotypical. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays I have lunch in the International Village simply because my 1:35 class is right there, plus the food is pretty good and there is variety. As I have mentioned before, most cafeteria workers at Northeastern University are Latinos. I have even developed a good relationship with some and talk to them all the time, others do not know I talk or understand Spanish and unfortunately I have heard things I shouldn’t have.  Trust me when I say there is a lot of drama behind those walls.

Anyways, today I go to one of the bars and ask this man for my food. He asks me something in English, but I immediately assumed he was Latin, thus started speaking to him in Spanish. He did not seem to understand me and I stepped back, looked at him and he said: I do not speak Spanish. My heart sunk! I cannot explain how I felt. I felt so stereotypical! This is what I have been arguing against the whole time and it happened to me. So there you go, stereotypes are everywhere. Just because a majority of workers talk Spanish, does not mean they are all Latinos.

Korean-Americans learn Spanish to cool tension with Latino workers 09/15/2009

In a Chicago city long known for seggregated neighborhoods and tension between different groups, Korean-Americans are trying to learn Spanish in order to communicate better with Latinos and have a better relationship with them. Since many neighborhoods are “turning” Latino, Korean-Americans employ many Latinos in their businesses, thus need the ability to communicate better just to have a mutually respectful employer-employee relationship.

Lawsuits and lack of communication have been permanent in the past so Korean-Americans who own businesses and shops have decided to take action.

I believe this is a big effort from their part and a good one.  It is so hard to learn a new language right from scratch and it’s admirable that they have decided, by themselves, to learn a new language and have done it to restore good relationships with other people.

Here is the story from the Chicago Tribune if you want to read it:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-korean-latino-09-nov09,0,3488359.story?page=2