Best of 2007

I love Time magazine. Each week they have very compelling articles, but what I am beginning to realize is that it’s the visual rhetoric that snags my attention. Every cover is done is such a clever way, that it’s hard not to become intrigued with what the actual articles are about. This week, they use the i-phone and spell out the topic; best inventions of 2007. This is especially clever because the i-phone was chosen as the best invention of 2007. Whatever they are paying the creator of these covers is worth every penny. But isn’t it interesting that we seldom think about who is behind the visual rhetoric, or the hours it must take to come up with those ideas? But I digress…

The best inventions seem to center around saving our world, and in fact many of the inventions ( the most interesting ones to me, anyway) deal with fuel, and different ways to get around. They have cars and buses that look like nothing we’ve ever seen and run on bio-ethanol, and MIT has come up with a City Car that they claim is the cross between private and public transportation, and it’s electric. There’s even a new plane called the 787 Dreamliner that promises to use 20% less fuel than other planes its size (it seats 250 passengers). We won’t see this until 2008, though, so don’t call your travel agent just yet. The most promising for my money is the car that runs on compressed air. Made by Tata Motors in India, and according to Time, the cars run on cold air, and the only thing that comes out of them is colder air! That’s what I call progress-and that’s not all.

The inventions span a few more categories; space, robots, entertainment,law and order, living environment, architecture, fashion, computers, and health. I have taken the liberty of choosing 1 favorite from each category.

Space-Spandex Space Suit ( no more looking wierd while cruising the cosmos)

Robots-the Weed ‘Em and Reap (not just a catchy name, but a useful tool for farmers)

Entertainment- Digital 3-D. Does this mean we don’t have to wear those strange glasses anymore?

Law & Order- StarChase Pursuit Management System. This will allow officers to flag vehicles with a laser gps device, eliminating the dangers of a high speed chase for the cops. I know-we can have all kinds of conversations about how this can go wrong, but I have to believe that there are some good cops out there!

Living-Espresso Book Machine!!! YES! this little machine can churn out a 300 page paperback on demand, for $3 a book, and is currently available. My sense is that they are only sold to libraries, but who cares? Maybe more kids will take an interest in spending their time at the library, even if it is just to check out the new tech toy.

Environnent-Erasbale Paper. Yes, E-R-A-S-A-B-L-E! Any text printed on this paper (and with the appropriate printer, of course) disappears after 24 hours. Tree huggers of the world-get happy!

Architecture-San Francisco Federal Building-not aesthetically appealing, but makes sure that 85% of the work space receives fresh air and natural sun, while maintaining a comfortable temperature with minimal air conditioning.

Fashion-Transformers! High heels that can be transformed from stilettos to flats!

Computers-WildCharger- a cordless cellphone charging pad that goes everywhere with you, and can charge your phone in the same amount of time as a wall plug can.

Health-Blood Simple-a machine that can take your blood and convert it into “O” type blood (universal donor), so that your blood can be used for anyone that might need it…impressive indeed.

Those are my choices, but check out this issue and see for yourself; it’s time well spent.

More on Columbus

Read this for more on the oldest slave trader…

Indigenous People Day

That’s what we should celebrate tomorrow. Forget Columbus; he was a rapist, a pillager of land; in short, a medieval thug. So no, I don’t celebrate a day named for any cultural assassin (s), or a day named for someone who discovered a place that had habitants that knew who and where they were. Sorry. I think that any Latino/a that does celebrate it is misguided and misinformed. For the record, making a discovery involves the acknowledgment of something that was unknown until that time-certainly not the case with respect to the indigenous people that were here when that asshole arrived. It does not involve renaming, raping, slave trading or conquering. But, there are others more notable than I that make the point in a much more succinct and important way…

• “Columbus makes Hitler look like a juvenile delinquent,” asserts American Indian activist Russell Means.
• Winona LaDuke deplores “the biological, technological, and ecological invasion that began with Columbus’ ill-fated voyage five hundred years ago.”
• The National Council of Churches declares the anniversary of Columbus “not a time for celebration” but for “reflection and repentance” in which whites must acknowledge a continuing history of “oppression, degradation, and genocide.”
• Historian Glenn Morris accuses Columbus of being “a murderer, a rapist, the architect of a policy of genocide that continues today.”

A reason to celebrate? Not at all.

I know, I know…

It’s been more than a month since I have posted anything worth reading. I have been busy trying to get my exam proposals ready so that I may “officially” begin reading for exams. One of the things I plan to do is post my complete exam lists, but I have been having a hard time trying to negotiate how to get them off of Endnote in a way that will maintain the MLA format they were written in. Sheeshh…just when I thought my Luddite days were over, here comes another tech issue that I have to figure out! Anyway, I am hoping that once I figure out how to do that, that some of you will give the list a brief perusal and find something of interest there that you might want to read. Once I get the “nod”, I will be posting my notes for each of those readings here, so even if you are not a lover of academic discourse, you might find my interpretations compelling enough to give the entire text the once over. Or maybe you’ll get fired up over something I say, and will let me know that I need to consider another point of view-after all, isn’t that what thinking people do?

I do miss blogging, and I miss reading blogs as often as I would like to, but I take comfort in knowing that once I start posting my notes, there will probably be something new here every day. Until then, I ask for your patience. And, if you are a Boricua lover (Boricua-centrist?), I promise that the texts I have chosen will not disappoint. I can’t say that some of my views won’t ignite a fire, or claim that I will be inventing the Latina/o wheel. But I do hope to give a voice to the way in which we Boricua’s express ourselves, our identities, and our ser; our Rhetorica Latina, that deserves to take it’s place at the academic table next to all of the other great rhetorics we so often hear about.

So, check in once and a while and see what’s up. Hey, you never know.

Puerto Rican Citizenship?

The newest in a long line of distractions from what is truly going on in Puerto Rico has just arrived; Puerto Rican citizenship papers. According to Wikipedia, citizenship:

“is membership in a political community and carries with it rights to political participation; a person having such membership is a citizen”.

So, here is my (first) question-how can people that have not received autonomy from colonialism, have no voting rights within the United States, AND have not even been afforded the clarity of an official status be “citizens” of Puerto Rico? This is the type of stuff that sends me over the edge. Forget about giving away papers that (in theory) will guarantee you more humane treatment within government agencies, and start fighting for the basic human rights that are consistently ignored in Vieques. Or how about an I.O.U. that will guarantee that the U.S. will share some of the $890 million dollars they receive (for allowing military maneuvers on Vieques), so that poverty can be ELIMINATED on the island? You see where I’m going with this? This new ‘agenda’ is just another ploy to circumvent what is actually going on. The United States is not prepared to relinquish Puerto Rico-period. And Puerto Rican officials that believe they are making strides in government by initiating this notion of nationhood are only helping the United States keep their prized possesion in tact. Think about it. Puerto Rico is such an excellent source of revenue for the U.S., that they have violated their own UN policies concerning colonialism in order to keep it, so what makes anyone think that they actually care about Puerto Rican “citizenship”? This is a distraction-that’s it. But I guess the good news is that you don’t have to give up your US citizenship to obtain PR citizenship! Wow! We wouldn’t want to forfeit all of the benefits of the Jones Act, now would we?

Citizenship Will Never Trump Blatant Racism

That’s right. Those of us that live under the assumption that we are in some way safer than illegal immigrants, take heed. If ICE suspects that you are a foreigner, your life will be in their hands. Literally.

Single Mothers: Bush Strikes Again

Today Bush finally addressed the fact that Latino/a home owners are losing their homes/mortgages at an alarming rate. Statistics show that more Latino/as have lost their homes than Hurricane Katrina victims. So I guess it should come as no surprise that Bush has made a statement in which he empathizes with those folks that have lost their homes, but refuses to help. When asked if he would be willing to create grants to help fight this event, he said “that’s not something I support”. Of course, this is unsurprising, but what he said next is what gets me-he’s interested in exploring the possibility of providing tax relief to U.S. corporations. WHAT? Listen readers, this is exactly why we need to pool our voting power together and have him removed from office. His attitude regarded the women and the poor (regardless of color) is despicable.

Here are the stats to think about: 36% of Latinas are single mothers (according to the newest census), and this number does not reflect those of us that were married and are now divorced. Of those, more than 35% are gainfully employed, but here is what Bush’s rhetoric (not that he is smart enough to write his own stuff, but that’s another post) strategically ignores-how much of the income they earn has to pay for child care? How many of these mother’s are living right at if not below the poverty level? How many of them have worked their asses off to buy a home, only to lose it because we get no authentic support.

What about public assistance? Allow me to inform you that any mom that works and can survive- and I mean that very literally-SURVIVE, will not get any help. None. Nada. Believe it or not, even if all you want is to feed your children a relatively healthy diet, the food stamp office will only help you if you meet their very rigid guidelines. I have a friend who recalls her mother being taken off the program because her pay stub was $.10 more than her alloted budget. $.10! This is the type of system that women of color have available to them. What is interesting is the way in which these institutions perform; they solicit women that need help only to either reject them completely, or keep them on a very tight leash. It is a very shrewd way to regulate poverty, because they create a situation in which success is penalized-not rewarded. And that is the beginning of a vicious cycle for many women who are trying to make ends meet and raise their children. we all know what happens to many children who must be left home alone because their mothers are working ALL THE TIME. And then the rhetoric of scapegoating begins. It is their fault for leaving their kids home alone so much, right? But if they don’t, then they are avoiding their parental responsibility by not “handling their responsibilities”. And then, the familiar…”well, maybe she should got married before she started having kids”… It is a very vicious cycle. One that I hope we will all try to mend the current attitudes by getting this ***hole out of office, so we can avoid be treated like whelping bitches by government agencies…

The Importance of Visual Rhetoric

You ever just chuckle at the cartoons you come across that seem express irony in a way you never thought of? I know I have. Sometimes you see a cartoon that just makes you say “uh-huh”. Well, this cartoon is quite powerful, but as you will see if you follow the link, very deceptive. It serves the purpose of communicating misinformation and it is a visually rhetorical device meant to minimize the actual harm being done to immigrants in need of asylum. Take a look..

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It’s not November, but…

voting is still the hot topic. Remember my post about the debates and how much voting power we Latino/as actually have? Well, once again the topic of voting in on the table, and the fact that is remains there evidences that we are simply not paying enough attention to it. How can it be that only 20% of us make it to the polls? Especially with immigration and language issues at stake. Come on, mi gente…there is no point in complaining about the status quo if we don’t utilize the biggest opportunity we have to be heard!

I haven’t disappeared…

I’ve just been very busy. I have been trying to finish up my final project (which is now a month late), thinking about exams lists & proposals, and trying to finish any work that needs to be done before exam time actually comes. Believe it or not, I spend upwards of 6 hours a day writing (maternal responsibilities and doctors appointments permitting), and I still have about 7 pages to go. The problem is that this paper is related to my research, and I would like to it become a chapter in my diss; and this is what dissertation writing must be like. I know that it seems far off, but I know that it is around the corner, and that intimidates me. I have come to the realization that dissertations are very personal products; they symbolize all of our hard work, frustrations, neglected relationships, and other self imposed abuses along with hours of lonely solitude. And, despite the romanticism of it all, we all want to write something that contributes to the conversation of our choice and reflects our knowledge and hard work. We want to be proud of the work we’ve done, and we deserve to be; the trick is going to be to do it in the alloted time. I can already imagine the scores of phone calls I will be making to my friends, colleagues, mentors and family members (not necessarily in that order).

So if you see my name come up on your caller I.D., please answer it! I will need you to remind me that the completion of this degree is not only for the fulfillment of my dreams, but also the dream of my parents & my daughters. I am going to need to hear that “I signed up for this cruise” willingly, and that I can indeed do it. And of course, I will need you to remind me that there are deadlines that can not be negotiated, and committee members that have invested their time and their trust in me. Will I want to hear all of that? Probably not, but the people that we count on are supposed to tell us what we need to hear and not what we want to hear, right? In the end, you all know I will be grateful, and will finally be able to afford to take you out to dinner…once I get a job, of course!

For those of you whose number I don’t have, feel free to e-mail it to me. I will be happy to add you to my emergency list!

But I guess for all my musings the one thing I better do is get back to writing the paper that will serve as the entry way to all that I have to look forward to…