Monday, November 18, 2013

Barnes and Noble Shameful Hispanic Section

Barnes and Noble Hispanic Section (1)
Tampa, (Fl) --- As a Hispanic man in Florida, and a man who can speak and read in 3 languages but my main being Spanish and being in Florida I can expect more from the local bookstore.

A couple of weeks ago I went to find a few books about Latin American Literature and my surprise I found more about books For Dummies, Paulo Coehlo (which is not Hispanic) and a lot, and I mean a lot, almost two rows filled with novelizations about teen movies from the United States such as the novelization of Twilight as well Catching Fire; but, I didn't found any pertinent book from the Latin American Literary Culture beyond one Chronicle of a Foretold Death by Garcia Marquez which I found in between Pregnancy for Dummies (Embarazo para Dummies) and How to Keep and Awesome Body at Any Age (Cuerpazo a Cualquier Edad).

Shame on you Barnes and Nobles, that in the area where I am as well in Tampa, which there is a big Hispanic population there are no decent books to read in Spanish. 

I asked the clerks, twice on two different weeks and they sent me to the same sections on the books I was looking, only to not find anything because the more educated sections are just composed by trash; yet, is a shame that good books are found in the Nook and not in the physical aspect.

I don't want to go to the public school library which is another, actually both public schools have as book stores Barnes and Noble; but, the prices of the books are ridiculously high. Is a shame that at least in Tampa there are no other bookstores beside the Barnes and Noble, the Books A Million are too far away and is sad that Borders closed many years ago because their selection was more varied.

I don't want to have an awesome body at age 40, or learn about pregnancy or anything about teen movies that were based on books and got books. I want to see a bookstore with more books than coffee, movies and calendar. Shame on you Barnes & Noble.

Friday, November 15, 2013

The Axiom of the Latino Identity in The States


Tampa, (Fl) -- We are a multicultural, multiethnic society; where we as immigrants who we have the Hispanic roots as well the language. As the Borgs subjugating the humans we have surrender to the assimilation.

Maybe; not assimilation but we, as first generations that we'd came to the country on different times we are letting our children and specially ourselves to lose our history and heritage in order to get anything towards governmental help instead of going out and fight for it.

To define Latino is a double negative, the first reason it's because Latino's are not in the most strict sense of the words people who speak Spanish, Latino's are from Latina - Italy, specifically the Lazio region; but yet it goes in a contradiction that we Spanish speaking people, who we share a language but different cultural factors we identify ourselves as Latino's, a word that didn't had a meaning until the Cuban migration of the 1960's.

Sombrero Vueltiao 
One of the items I always associate with an axiomatic fallacy towards the cultural identity is the Sombrero Vueltiao from Colombia; as I am Colombian I tend to analyze the behavior of my peers more deeply than any other cultural group.

If Gustavo wears a Sombrero Vueltiao means he is proud of being Colombian; but, if Gustavo doesn't wear any iconography then he is ashamed. We can go with the same fallacy to apply it to U.S. born individuals as If they don't wear an U.S. pin in their shirts or any bands around their wrists it means they are not fully Americans.

There is an identity depending on the country were you from and how much you keep in touch with your history as well how that message is transmitted properly to your children and as well future generations, in order to not lose any experience learned around the time living in the United States as a foreigner.

If we go, and make a pseudoanalisis in our axiom about Latino Identity  we can take the concept of dualism and the relation between mind and body as separate substances, if we trans-point the idea of the substance into cultural identity as well personal identity. If we analyze both substances, they can interrelate as they can be opposites reflections because we can make cultural identity as part of our own personal identity, but yet the idea of giving to a culture we are not use to, and start calling ourselves with other terms we are not, is a negative.

Then, there is the point expressed by philosopher Frank Jackson - there are more facts than the physical facts alone, - trying to understand the reasoning on why to betray our cultural identity in order to assimilate, can be expressed in the simple argument the person lacks of knowledge towards of how they are as well what they can learn from their ancestors in order to structure their identity.

I.E.  I go to to a carnival, the carnival is a Hispanic heritage carnival; if I go there expecting to put in within the different national roots and at the end I find that the carnival is not giving me a proper feedback because the music as well social attitudes don't reflect anything that is in my knowledge system, then I can find something else that will make me happy as I can't identify myself with my own culture or the dual culture I share.

The idea of negating any traits and trying to masquerade, can be reflected into how some people who don't know any language of core aspects of the culture they are keen to, feel in close relationship because of banal aspects as pop music vs personal image up to the point of people obsessed with K-POP without even knowing a word of Korean.

Where we can debate if, identity as we know it can be summarized with a signifier.? 

Sunday, November 10, 2013

The Other American Dream - The Lost People

Micro-Graffiti
Tampa, (Fl) --- I always say one thing - Go in a bus, walk around far away from the upscale neighborhoods, interact with different people and you will see a more to the ground reality about people who simple are forgotten by the dominant class. -, There is one American Dream, is not as a dream is just a cyclical nightmare for many but is also the daily lives for many people who aren't seen in the spotlight, people who are not forgotten but just not seen.

Bus drivers; fast food workers, employees of a supermarket, people you see on a daily basis or at least weekly basis but you don't know their names, but they always know yours.

Then, there is the American Dream that was lost in the shadows, the people who are truly lost. I keep finding traces where I live, but is everywhere about people who felt abandoned, people who just went to that side of humanity that lurks in causing harm because they couldn't know any better or fight for anything better, because there was no will power to face life.

I've walked many paths in life, and seen many people; I've been around different cities and neighborhoods, walked among many people with fear and sometimes without any traces of it; I walk because I don't want to understand the essence of humanity, I walk because  I want to see the different realities that compose the amalgamation of humanity is.

Why people forfeit the dream of a better life,? the dream of helping the community,? the dream of succeeding... maybe, my cousin Alexandra S. was right - we need people who have no aspiration in order for other people to achieve higher. - A form of natural selection I would say with my words.

Then, just by walking in the middle of the night, I saw so many different realities, people who go and work 15 hour days to keep the dreams of other alive; people who have a quality of person, manners but have no fault of living in a Section 8th neighborhood but will always treat other people with such an amazing quality, even strangers who are asking for help.

You will find in life other people who came here running away and never learned the language but found away to move forward; but, some people are just nasty, some people don't have any respect of manners and live according to their own ego-centrism. I ended up asking for a taxi after finally found my way back to the area near my house. I waited around a Red Roof Inn where the receptionist and the security guard where really nice and let me stay in the premises until I was in a safe place.

During that hour in the hotel I saw some people who in their behavior where extremely nasty and rude just to get what they wanted but the receptionist of the hotel always showed a class that was amazing, even when a Hispanic guy and a really awful lady of African origins wearing some kinky boots (not to say a cheap ass hooker) were asking to change rooms because the toilet wasn't flushing; the receptionist always had her poise. She kept her composure no matter what. I saw the other side of the American Dream, a dream that is much as a coin with two faces, where some people just give up or as a my friend Suly Rosado say "some people are just plain ass ghetto with no respect, except on their social services officers or the ones who give the food stamps." Then there is the more optimistic side - where some people aren't that lost and are facing adversity. But, do I am going to do again this joy ride by mistake.? Never again.