Guelaguetza- Oaxaca, Mexico

It has been almost a week since the Metro CC group arrived in Oaxaca and it has been an incredible experience so far. Last weekend was packed with festivities since it was the week of the Guelaguetza. This event takes place over a span of two weeks in which 15 of the regional indigenous communities come to Oaxaca to demonstrate their folklore. It is a wonderful spectacle. Each region has a unique rich tradition and is evident by the different traditional attire. The culmination of the event was this past Monday. It took place in this big auditorium way up in the mountains that overlooks the city. Definitely one of the best sites to see Oaxaca.

We also took an excursion to Mitla, an ancient Zapotec ruin just outside of Oaxaca. It was very interesting how precise the stonework was in creating this ruin . It was nice, but unfortunately after seeing the ruins of Tikal, it is going to be very hard to find a ruin more fascinating.

The actual Institute where we are most of the day has been great. It is an old style hacienda now turned into a cultural center. There are many students from all over the world. Surprisingly many of them are older adults, I assume retired and wanting to travel and learn Spanish. I would love for Erin and I to do that one day. The only bad (or not so bad) part of the Institute is that there is this delicious coffee that is free. I think I have been having too many cups, and have been feeling dehydrated. It could also be the heat and humidity, but in any case I'm going to take it a little easier on the coffee.

That is all for right now. So far so good, missing home like crazy and hoping to write something good this week.

Leaving for Oaxaca, Mexico

The day is finally here for Metro's Community College Study Abroad program to Oaxaca, Mexico. This has been a project that began (at least for for me) sometime in November and we have been working really hard to make sure the college would send a group down. 

The program is a great experience for any student wanting to learn Spanish. Each student enrolls at the Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca, which is know world-wide for having a great culinary arts program. Students will be in a classroom setting from 9-12 everyday learning Spanish and then have the option to do an exchange program for one-hour. The exchange program is basically sitting down with a Oaxacan local and only speaking Spanish for half an hour and then only speaking English for half an hour. After students have taken a lunch break they have the option of taking several cultural workshops in which they get hands on training on cultural aspects of the region. For instance you can take a course on Oaxaca food, weaving, pottery making, folk dances etc.  The rest of the afternoon is for the students to explore the city and mingle with the locals. Each student will be staying with a host family, which in my personal experience is really what gets you "living" in the culture. As part of the program, there will also be two excursions to Mayan and Zapotec ruins. I'm really excited about seeing these. 18 days later, students will return and hopefully have a better understanding of Oaxacan culture and having learned an extensive amount of Spanish. YAY! 

There were a few factors that made us think that we wouldn't be able to get enough people to go on the trip. At the beginning of the year there was a lot of bad media about the drug wars that have been happening in Mexico. Unfortunately what many people didn't realize is that Oaxaca is nowhere near those area of danger, in fact they are VERY far away from this particular violence. 

Our second concern happened right after we confirmed enough people to make the trip happen (8 people). Swine flu was first reported in the city of Oaxaca. I email our director after I had read a press release about, hunching that it might be something to be concerned about. I was right. About two days later, Swine Flu was all over the media and Mexico City closed schools, business and offices for about two weeks. Luckily for us, the problem has been contained and there isn't much panic anymore, in fact there are now more cases of the flu in the U.S. than in Mexico. 

I excited and sad to go on this trip. Excited to see a new city, have this great teaching experience and to be speaking Spanish everyday all day. Sad, because my wife will not be going and I'm going to REALLY miss her. We thought that it might be possible for her to make a 5 day trip, but with her med-school rotations at the moment, it was impossible. This is the first time we will be apart from each other for this long in almost 3 years. I am excited though to write her letters and send them via air-mail. There is a certain romantic process that I love so much about sending a letter in the mail. I remember when we first started dating I would send her poems and letters, even if we were only 90 miles apart. Luckily there is internet now anywhere in the world and a telephone call is just a few cents a minute. So honey, make sure you pick up! ;-)

As I've mentioned before, I plan to write a lot while I'm down there. I'm approaching this trip as almost like a workshop. I have made a commitment to myself to try to create at least 15-20 poems while I'm there. Will all of them make it to the revising stage, probably not, but at least I'm creating and that is what I want to do most right now. Then I can spend the next few months, revising and revising and revising. 

Our students will be in class from 9-12 every morning, so I think this is when I will be able to sit down, drink some fresh coffee and just let go... Jorge Luis Borges said something that I just love and think it makes so much sense as to how a writer needs to approach his writing, roughly translated he said:

"When I write something, I have the sensation that it has already preexisted. I know more or less the beginning and the end and then I find myself discovering the middle parts of my work. But when I do this, I don't have the sensation that I have invented them or that they have depended on me. These words they were already there, on the blank sheet of paper and as a poet, it is my job to find search them out. 

"What matters most is how well you walk through the fire"

That is the title of the book that I just bought at Borders by Charles Bukowski. Legend has it that this brilliant author (poet, novelist) was a drunken low life that had the gift of a literary genius.

Just what I imagine great poets to be! People with real life experience and not a sugar-coated MFA from who knows where (no disrespect to all you MFA'ers). 

 

I went to Borders looking for another book of poetry that would give me inspiration to create some of my own poetry as I travel to Oaxaca for the next two weeks. At first I thought the title was just so awesome that I had to pick it up and take a look at it. As I picked up the book for the shelf, I couldn't help but notice that all the books next this one were also written by him. Borders for the most part has a weak poetry section and its only the dead great poets that get more than one of their books on the self.  So I concluded that he must be dead and he must be good.

Turns out, he was one of the best contemporary writers in America. It is a thick volume of poetry, roughly about 300 pages, but his poems are very simple, short and to the point. I love the bluntness of his lingo. Here are some of the titles to give you a picture on what his poetry might or might not be about: 

-my father the bum

-horseshit

-$180 gone

-I want a mermaid

-about a trip to Spain

-computer class

-what do they want?

 and one of my favorite titles:

-last night I fucked my alarm clock

Genuis...you might be thinking, from the titles it look as though a drunk bum on his 2nd 5th of Vodka wrote these poems and your probably right, Bukowski probably did write most of these poems as he was drunk. But just cause a man likes to pull them back every now and then doesn't rob him the title of: poetry guru. 

So I am very excited about the books I plan to read and give me inspiration over the next few weeks while in Mexico. Taking with me, I have:

- Embryoyo by Dean Young

- Loose Woman by Sandra Cisneros (this is my comfort book of poems)

- Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros

-What matters most is how well you walk through the fire by Charles Bukowski

We'll see what happens...I hope that I can use these great authors to my advantage and learn from their style. If not, I have to be like Mr. Bukowski and become a drunken low-life. I think I'll take option 1...ha!

   

Who the heck is Dean Young?

Just ordered the last few books few books I plan to read by the end of the summer. Sometime in May I made a wishlist of the books, here is what it looked like. 

1) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, By Junot Diaz

2) Anybook by Paulo Coelho

3) Arabian Night

4) Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros

5) LOTS of poetry

The first book I read was The Brief Wondrous Life...and it was fabulous! I just love the way this author told this story, with such easy, great dialogue and just plain damn good writing. Not only does it relay a wonderful story, but as a plus, you get a very in depth (without the drowning) history of the Dominican Republic. 

By the River Piedra I Sat and Wept, was the book I read from one of my favorite authors, Paulo Coelho. I liked it, but did not love it. Like make of his books it had a clever twist attached to it, yet I thought it lacked content for most the part. What I love about his books is that they are very spiritual, provoking you to think how each book could be applied to your life. I would recommend this book to others, but I only after I had recommend some of his books first.

Arabian Nights, a classic. Everyone needs to have this book at home, if not to read, then to just put it on the bookshelf and have others think you are cultured. Ha! I have always wanted to read this book as a kid, and now that I'm an adult and had $6.95 to my name, I figured heck why not buy it. I bought the book, but not with the intent to have it finished by end of this summer, but to rather keep it on my night stand and read a few stories at a time. I made it through about 10 stories and then a good friend of my saw me reading it at the coffee shop and asked to borrow it. So now he has it and now people will look at his bookshelf and think: "Man this guy is cultured".   

As I mentioned before, I just ordered Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros and I am very excited to read it. Not only do I love her as a writer, but I would also like to see if this book could serve me for my Chicano Literature class this fall. I'd like to say that I have bought this book before, maybe as a Christmas present or something, but whatever, it should be in the mail this week. Yay!

Dean Young. All I have been hearing about lately is about this guy named Dean Young. I guess you can see how fresh I am to the U.S. poetry world, as this guy, this poet happens to be the main HOMBRE! From what I have gathered and researched, he is basically the brain child in contemporary poetry. I have read some of his poems and they are fascinating. His randomness is crazy, but somehow seem to be connected. I am very excited to get my hands on his book Embryoyo. I'm also very curious how my brain reacts to his work, I hope it doesn't explode, actually that is exactly what I'm looking for. I want to read the work of a poet that will knock me off my shoes, make me LOVE poetry as poets like: Neruda, Cisneros, Soto, Cardenal, Pizarnik, Vailakis and Kooser have done. 

Dean Young....bring it on sucka!

The House on Mango Street comes to life!

One of my all time favorite books: The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is coming to life in a short one-hour play here in Omaha at the Rose Theatre. If you have not read this book, I STRONGLY urge you to get off your lazy facebooking butt and pick up this quick read, because it truly is a masterpiece. 

I have taught this book to my students at Boys Town and they were just enchanted by the themes, words and symbolisms. I felt that everyone one of my students was able to relate their own life to the experiences that Esperanza (the protagonist) saw growing up in Chicago. I also used this book this summer as part of my Chicano Literature class, and as I knew it would, it was a blockbuster hit even amongst the adults. It was such a delight to discuss all the great characteristics this crafty author interwove between each of her short stories. 

The play will be here for the month of October. I don't know if this is a traveling play, but at least do your brain a favor and go buy the book and thank me later. :-)

Healthcare for local Latinos Families

My wife and I volunteered yesterday at the Magis Clinic in South Omaha. If you are not familiar with the area, South Omaha is predominately populated with Latino families. We volunteered for about 2 1/2 hours mainly helping young kids from 5-14 years old get ready for the school year to began. My wife was in charge of getting their vitals: temp, height, weight, blood pressure etc. and I was there to help anyone who needed an interpreter. 

     

What surprised me the most is how many of these families did not have health insurance or really didn't make it a priority. Many of the children that we talked too hadn't been to the doctor's office in years and were behind on their shots. I imagine that they hadn't seen the doctor in such a long time because either their parents didn't have health insurance and/or they are illegal immigrants afraid of filling out paper work. 

Talking to one of the pediatric doctors, she said it was really sad that many of these kids will go such a long time without getting their health checked. This in turn creates a culture within these families that getting regular checkups is not important. I think I was fortunate enough to have parents that made us get a yearly check up and so going to the doctor's office was never frowned upon. 

What I'm curious to know is what will happen with these illegal immigrant families in respects to the health plan President Obama has been promoting. The option is clear, anyone who wants to buy into the government health plan can do so, yet President Obama has NOT addressed if this will be an option for illegal immigrants. I believe that it would be beneficial to everyone, right-wing, left-wing, Democrats, Republicans and whatever else if the illegal immigrant population has the option to pay for that health insurance. It would be no different than buying a car for example, the choice is there and you get what you pay for. They would be paying the same amount as any other citizen and getting the same benefits. Them NOT having health insurance would back-fire as the rhetoric of illegal's consuming our tax dollars would never end. 

I believe if you are a human being living in this country, and there is an option for you to be able to pay for health insurance, it should be available regardless of your citizenship. It is a win-win situation, healthier people make more a healthier nation, making for fun times!

Cops and fireworks

Came across a poem yesterday by Chicago poeta Paul Martinez Pompa. I thought I was very powerful, with great reading pace. Checka:

3 Little Pigs

Me & uncle in a car when a police pulls us over yelling aiming his gun at uncle's head when second police comes with more sirens & fear & get down on the floor uncle tells me & don't move & I don't when the first police pulls uncle out pushes to the street & slugs his head POW! his back CLUNK! when third police arrives & now 2 police aiming 1 police spraying & 1 uncle with fire in his eyes with snot from his nose when at last a police lowers his guns says wait that's not the guy sorry amigo & they all leave.

    -Paul Martinez Pompa

This poem reminds me of a fourth of July maybe 15 years ago. My brother Aldo and I had gone to see some friends at someone's house and while we are there we find out that two our friends have some "real" fireworks in their car. They were two white kids from Michigan and every time they would go visit their grandfather, they would always manage to bring back some fireworks back. Within the next hour all of us had piled into their van and found a park to set off the fireworks. It couldn't have been more than 5 minutes since we set off the first glamorous firework when a sheriff pull in and turns red and blues on and of course like dumbasses we all jump right back in the van. 

The sheriff had a talk with our friends from Michigan, as they were a little older than us and would receive the citation, but what I remember most is when the sheriff came around the car and pocked his head inside and stared at all of us. Nobody had said anything and for whatever reason, he just began yelling at my brother Aldo, asking him: "What did you say?" What are you looking at? Do you know that I can take you to jail right now boy" I was sitting next to Aldo and was just looking at this poor face, full of fear and hatred, lowering his eyes as the Sheriff yelled at him, holding back his tears. Still today I feel like a coward for not saying something back to the Sheriff for yelling at my brother like for no reason at all. I always wondered why he chose yell at him and not at anyone else. I imagine if I were to travel back in time and get another chance, this time I'd yell back at that Sheriff say: "Fuck you puto, who do you think you are, just because you have some authority, you can't talk to people like that, we're not criminals". 

My poor brother finally broke into tears after the sheriff drove away. I remember putting my arms around him and telling him the sheriff was an idiot. All Aldo kept on saying was: "Why did he yell at me, I didn't say anything, I didn't do anything" while tears and snot kept dripping on his face. I think we all knew that poor Aldo took the heat for the mistake we made that night.  

My brother Aldo, what a great heart for a human!

Can the world revolve once again?

Okay, I also think he was one of the great entertainers of modern time, but enough is enough already. Let the poor man rest now, literally, R.I.P. Everywhere you go you can't escape it. Grocery stores have magazines with his picture on it, the T.V. has a permanent image of his face, and if I hear "Billie Jean" one more time (before my next dance off) I'm going to turn off the radio and pop in a Celine Dion CD, I'm serious..I'll do it! 

Micheal Jackson was an icon and I'm glad he got the recognition, but can someone please spin the earth once again before I start seeing myself "moonwalking" to the next century. 

Picture Perfect Picasso?

This morning I read on someone's blog how our brain actually interprets distorted images a lot better than proper images. The article claims that when we see a distorted image, it give our brain freedom to explore/imagine what this image might be and thus initiating our brain to work a bit harder, creating a chain reaction of remembering, recalling, interpreting and imagining. This is why many people find it easier to recognize an animated version of Bill Clinton as opposed to a photograph of him. 

This article got me thinking about two different ideas: 

First,  can this be why so many people are attracted to the painting of such artist like Picasso and Dali or maybe even architecture like Gaudi or Frank Lloyd Wright? Is the attraction in the distortion of what we deem "normal"? 

Second, I wonder if this hypothesis applies to writers and how they create their literature. Are certain people attracted to abstract poetry rather than blocker-buster cliche mystery novels for the reason that it creates a distorted image? Will I remember something that is out of place better than something I know should be "normal"?

Personally I find it intriguing when poets distort images in their art, but than again, I also had three Picasso posters up on my walls during my college years.   

Your thoughts...?

The Traveler has been sent!

This is the great and beautiful cover to hopefully my latest book, The Traveler (thanks Cayo!). I love the cover, I think it will fit perfectly with the theme of the book. It has a mysterious yet spiritual feel to it.  I'm actually very happy that this project is finally done. It was a project that was 6 months in the making and I was starting to feel I didn't want to put any more energy into it. Not that I didn't like what I wrote, but it will be nice getting back to what I love most: writing poetry. 

The manuscript was sent today to the Managing Director of WriteLife Publishers. We talked about the project last June and she seemed fairly interested. She was also very interested in me sending her a copy of Detras del Biombo, which I will some time in the future. I'm optimistic they'll like the manuscript, but you never know, a change of the wind and an editor can just put that dream to the shredder.

Luckily for me, even if they reject the manuscript, I will still self-publish it and send out copies. I know that isn't the same thing, but oh well, you have to get your art out somehow, even if it is at your own expense.    

Federer is Betterer!

If there was any doubt if he was the greatest player to ever play the game of tennis, it has been removed and replaced with an exclamation mark! 

Roger Federer is and will be the greatest man to play the game of tennis. 

It took him a little over 4 hours and a 16-14 fifth set to claim his greatness, breaking Pete Sampras record by winning his 15th Grand Slam. 

What a year for this man. Completing the "Grand Slam" after winning the French Open, breaking Sampras' Grand Slam record today, getting married and expecting a child later this year.  

This year will be a hard one even for the great one to match, but another win at the US Open could put a ":-)" next to that exclamation mark. 

Statue of Liberty

Happy 4th of July to all Americans. The Nation turns 233 years old today. In celebration of the it's birthday, the icon which has stood for freedom and liberty to many, will once again open its gates once again...that is to tourist of course.

Today, 9 years after the mortifying events of 9/11, the Statue of Liberty will once again open its doors to let people have a birds eye view from it's crown. 

I remember years ago, right after 9/11 happened, my family took a quick day trip to NYC. It really is a stunning view when you see the Statue of Liberty for the first time. You see it so many time in history books, movies, and television that you're almost star-struck when you see. We never made it to the actually island, but we did make it to a fabulous pizza place. Hey that's American enough right...wait...doesn't pizza come from Italy? Oh well, same thing...right? 

Long live America and all those who have brought their rich culture here! 

Here are some facts about Miss Liberty:

-She weights 225 ton

-She is 111 feet tall

-The sandals she wears are 25 feet long

-It took 15 years to build it

-And in true American fashion, Frenchman Gustave Eiffel did the iron work for the statue. 

Bilingual Review Accepted

Last Wednesday I had the GREAT news of finding out that The Bilingual Review Press is going to publish not one, but TWO of my poems in their forthcoming journal. This is not only amazing news for me as this is the first time that my poetry will be officially published in a journal, but more than anything, this is a very well established and recognized journal among Latino writers.

I really didn't think I had a chance and almost just sent my submission as a pity request. Long an Behold Dreams can come true!! 

The two poems that were accepted are:

"Latino Enough To Be Your Man" and "My Bruised Tomato" 

I'll make sure to post the date the journal comes out. Here is their website, check it!

http://www.asu.edu/brp/bilin/bilin.html

The Alchemist Workshop

This is going to be a great month on Paulo Coelho's blog. I have been following his blog everyday now for the last year and it is superb. Every week he has a question for fan's to answer, for instance, this week he wants to know about angels. Have you met an angel, seen one or are one? He also has quotes from his manual "The Warrior of the Light" (which I always keep in my car and read one page before driving to work). There is also a section in which his fan's can ask him a question directly. 

 

Every so often he conducts workshops about one of his book. This month the workshop is on his famous book The Alchemist. I have read the book a total of 7 time now and I make sure I read it before I know a big moment in my life is about to occur. The last I read it was right before I got married this past December. 

In the workshop, fans are able to put comments or questions and Paulo will most likely answers them within 24 hours. I have already put a few comments in and he has responded! What a great way to get in touch with his fans! Paulo Coelho responded to my questions! 

I plan to post at least one comment every 2 days either for Paulo or a reply to another fan. Make sure you check out it: http://paulocoelhoblog.com

Fine Lines Competition

Tonight I've been working hard on some entries for the Fine Lines competition (www.finelines.org). The first prize is $100 dollars and I think I have a good chance of winning it. Well I'm sure everyone else is thinking the same thing, but none the less I plan to win it. :-) 

The competition is unique because you have to write a fictional piece in 55 words or less. That might not sound very hard, but to try to write a story that has a character, plot and resolution in 55 words or less is pretty damn tricky. I have finished three of them tonight, each of them having exactly 55 words. Wahoooo! 

The three I'm entering are a chopped-up, finely-tuned version of some of the passage I wrote for The Traveler, which by the way, my little brother has been working really hard to finish the art work and they look absolutely  awesome! He's got so much talent and vision!

The competition deadline is Oct 31st so there is plenty of time to get that pencil to the pad and enter those stories! 

All Blogged up!

Well here it is...the make-over my blog over went this morning! I needed to a fresh page to look at, not that the old page wasn't nice, but sometimes it is nice to get a little change. 

So with big changes comes big plans and that is exactly what I plan to do. I'm going to shy away from posting just my work on this site and start putting more thoughts and more jibber-jabber. Meaning that I might put random things on here, some of it literature, some news, some option and some of it just might be me ranting about what has happened recently. 

I know that I really don't have a fan base, but I plan to make that change someday. How will I do this? By opening up the blog for more discussion with questions and talked about topics. I also plan to post my opinion on other peoples blog, with the purpose that they will visit my blog. So hopefully I'll see more followers on my blog. Yay! Listen to me! How selfish! HA!

I am convinced that the Internet is a great tool to get you work seen and recognized, plus it's FREE! (at least for now)

This newer, fresher version of this blog will also push me to keep writing everyday or at least search for things to write about. This is a great thing, because like all writer's I also get writer's block for days and all I'll do is stare at my white wall until I can make an image of something absurd. That's not fun either.

Club n blog, will remain the blog I use for my Spanish students, but I also plan to put post on what is happening around El Mundo Latino. At times the two will mix and join on the same topic, but for the most part Club n will take part on the Latino/Hispanic/Spanish themes.  

Thanks for visiting...let's get blogging!!!