The Grim Reality for the Florida Democrats in 2018

7/12/2017 --- The reality in Florida to the Democratic Party is that it looks grim at this moment, there are questions towards funds and strong candidates.

Right after the last year election, many individuals affiliated with the Democratic Party started to gather more often in the Pinellas County Democratic Meetings as well on several other branches such as the one in Orange County, they switched venues to accommodate more individuals.

Within Hillsborough County, activist have launches New Tampa (1) and Temple Terrace clubs, but still even if there has some form of re-emergence, the panorama for the 2018 mid-terms elections looks grim as the party unity within the State doesn't seem to have any cohesion towards their message and socio-economical interest that could secure them the control on the upper chambers of power.

We have to understand that the last democratic governor in Florida was 19 years ago who was Kenneth Hood Mackay who replaced Lawton Chiles when he died in 1998 (2) while serving his second term; after that we had Jeb Bush and ending with Rick Scott; for the last 19 years every single one of them has been Republican and Florida essentially shifted from a blue State to a red one.

The main principle on the recovery plan lays on the economical growth which has been stale, and mixed with the inequality between the property and rental costs, with the rise of the child care and competitive wages there is a stagnation on the cost of living, in which Floridians are struck hard; essentially on a emotional perception there is no "hope for growing up economically"

The problem in the stagnation is that the job creation is aimed to specialized jobs but not the ones related to tradesman which essentially that is the main composition of the middle  and the disparity between the wealth of the Floridians (3). Economic stability can play a big role in the perceptions of the voters, but if the candidates know how to exploit those perceptions they can win a power position beyond any lobby influence.

There is still an expectation of a Democratic turnout, but the key goes on registering voters, recruiting, organizing and building vote-mail system in which it will assist any future voter with mobility issues to exercise their democratic power. The grim reality that democrats are facing in Florida is that not only have to persuade the voters that haven't been able to attract in 19 years, there aren't a charismatic set of people who can lead.

At least optimist remains. 

References:

1. https://www.facebook.com/newtampadems/
2. https://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_florida.html
3. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article107857042.html

The Symbols that Refuse to Fade

Photo of Saint Petersburg Blog

(7/3/2017) --- It is quite shameful that the Hillsborough, Florida County Commission voted 4-3 to preserve a Confederate statue in the grounds of the old courthouse - a monument that is a symbol that not all men all treated equal and from a period of history that individuals of different European heritage owned slaves.

The different arguments about how different constituents spoke about how civil rights and how how some of their ancestors were enslaved, didn't faced any of the board that is composed by Victor Crist (1), Ken Hagan (2), Sandy Murman (3) and Stacey White (4), all of them which are at the end of their terms and for re-election by next year, which also new comers such as Angel D'Angelo (5) a new comer who is running also for the County Commission and if you would like to see his points and donate to his campaign you may open the hyperlink.

The statue was dedicated in 1911 to honor the Confederate soldiers and sailor, which on a long term with the rise of civil rights and equality the idea of honoring the Confederation in 2017 is extremely outdated as well it just perpetuates the symbols of hate that are still present; some pro-confederate individuals will argue that Is About Heritage, Not About Hate (6) but the heritage from the confederacy is linked to the hatred of African Americans, Aboriginals, Chicano's just to name a few and seeing a pro-confederacy statue in front of a court house ensures  that not all men are created equal.

If you want more information about the inequality in Florida for African Americans (7) you may click on this link that will redirect you to an editorial from the Tampa Bay Times, where it speaks about the harsher sentences that can be inflicted on someone just by their color of skin or ethnic origin.

Not moving the statue is quite an insult to the diversity that is happening around in Tampa, it could be a good idea to even start an educational campaign that generations will keep knowing that honoring racism is bad, even if it sounds silly; but we have to remember that this pseudo-progressive county area has a Confederate flag on one of the busiest highway that also connects to different tourists destinations around Central Florida and brings people from all nationalities and backgrounds to Tampa Bay.

It is difficult to understand this commission, the same ones that even acknowledge LGBT Pride Month refuse to acknowledge and issue about race disparity, same with Mayor Bob Buckhorn  

References: 

1. http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/en/government/board-of-county-commissioners/victor-d-crist
2. http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/en/government/board-of-county-commissioners/ken-hagan
3. http://www.sandymurman.com/
4. http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/en/government/board-of-county-commissioners/stacy-white
5. https://www.crowdpac.com/campaigns/51570/coloradans-v-koch-brothers-the-fight-for-universal-healthcare-in-co/benny_benassi_video_download_from_filesonic/index.php/candidates/5951927d91ae78728756dbba/angel-dangelo
6. http://www.thedailybeast.com/heritage-not-hate-sorry-white-south-they-go-together
7. http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-unequal-justice-in-florida/2306556

The Murder of Venus Xtravaganza

Venus on one of her last interviews

It's been 29 years, as of July the 2nd of 2017 since Venus Xtravaganza (1) was assassinated and a little bit over 33 years since Jennie Livingston socioeconomic documentary Paris is Burning (2) interviews happened.

It was 26 years ago that for the first time on contemporary media, the phrase "transgender murder" happened within the mouth of the late drag mother Angie Xtravaganza (3), the importance of Venus and Angie comes that on that moment on  August 16th of 1991 where a documentary on the AIDS pandemic bring the life of young LGBT individuals who were shunned by their families and thousands of them dying and being unreported because of their families didn't wanted them.

More importantly, Paris is Burning shows the different aspects of transgender youth who after being rejected by their families, and being left to their own lucks (4) and ultimately finding ways to survive such as resorting into prostitution (5) in which is one of the ways that many meet their untimely death, because there aren't protections on a federal level for transgender women and transgender men that will guarantee a dignified life in which there shouldn't be fear to live on your authentic self.

29 years later after the murder of Venus, there is not enough protections and treatments to give the opportunity to someone to transition and be happy, but also that work related they could have an enviroment in which they shouldn't fear of getting fired for any reason, which could involve harassment or termination without notice

Venus and Willie Ninja

As many transgender women who were murdered, her killer was never apprehended; other killers go with the gay/ trans panic defense (6) which is still used by the perpetrators to avoid jail time and is insane that courts still rule in favor of that. We have reach a point where we should change the word equality to equity in order to represent that we are all equal, because we still as a society give preference.

We can take a look at what happened to Texas (7) in which the Texas Supreme Court reversed the spousal benefits for same sex couples, there is no equality when people in power are playing with the dignity and basic rights of human beings. The importance of Venus goes as she is an icon beyond the NYC ball scene, she is one of the many who represent that 30 years later, there is still inequality.

If someone who reads this entry, has a clue such as the hotel or motel she was murdered, or where to find the police records, please comment below. Thank you.

References:

1. http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/17921/1/the-legacy-of-venus-xtravaganza
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Is_Burning_(film)
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angie_Xtravaganza
4. http://www.newsweek.com/transgender-murders-protect-trans-women-568558
5. http://www.refinery29.com/2017/04/151401/transgender-women-murder-rate-us-2017
6. https://web.archive.org/web/20080205180344/http://www.courttv.com/archive/trials/mckinney/gay_panic_ruling_ctv.html
7. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/lgbt/2017/06/30/texas-supreme-court-rules-gay-couples-notguaranteedspousal-benefits

Politics and Economics in the Pokemon World - Part Two

Professor Oak

(1/11/2017) --- Playing for many years, almost 2 decades of playing Pokemon, players can see an evolution towards the game as well some of the backstory that mostly the game story-line is set on a post-apocalyptic world. We can see that on the first sixth generations there weren't many adults and much of the towns were underdeveloped, there were many orphans and widows and essentially society was being reconstructed.

The seventh generation (Bulbapedia - Seventh Generation), shows a different world in which a rise of humanity has overcome decades of oblivion and people seem to be rising again from the destruction. Alola (Bulbapedia - Alola) focus on a society that is striving economically as well socially, people are visiting different places of the archipelago as well around the world.

Albeit in Alola we get a more detailed orientation about the role of the Pokemon Professors, on Generation I the players can get obtain a detailed idea about the role they play on the society that collapsed. Professor Oak, could be the most prominent of the scholars that surround the society who live among the Pokemon's.

The role of a Pokemon Professor goes beyond giving the starter Pokemon's to the player, it is a socio political role much keen to being a governor and it plays an impact on the development of the region. To understand more commonly the role, we can take a look on Professor Oak himself as well the impact he had between Johto and Kanto but as well around the globe.

To understand Professor Oak we have to see him as a successful tactician and politician, besides his interest of relationship between humans and Pokemon's. He essentially organized two regions to share one common league or the Indigo Plateau, became a role model to Professor Elm (Bulbapedia - Professor Elm) who became the regent figure on the Shinnoh region. Why Professor Oak is such an important figure towards being some form of a celebrity within the Pokemon universe? Because he was one of the ones who placed an end to the war that separated Kanto and Johto but organized other professors to become the regents of their respective regions and the formation of their respective leagues.

Kanto

Essentially what Oak can be seen is, as the founder of a technocracy (Wikipedia - Technocracy) that gained momentum and influence around the world. There are no career politicians around the different regions, and there are no other influences towards the economical and educational development of the population with the exception of individuals who are dedicated to technological progress as well some corporations around the world.

The world of Pokemon faces on an economical perspective a capitalistic problem, as the regions are oriented towards consumers and company relations towards spending; but, it gives a debacle between physical efficiency and cost of technology.

There is an inflation around, products are on an extremely high price and the radius of the population versus income is despair for individuals to go and purchase technology that would let them travel around the world, at least on the first generation games; still, even towards the seventh generation there are hints that no many people can afford traveling or even going on a journey to compete against gyms and or trials in the Alola region.

We still have to consider that if it wasn't for the technocratic movement that governs each region, there wouldn't be any economical developments and technological advancements on the regions; even on the Generation VII games we can see some developments that we will be talking on an upcoming entry.

Kukui

On the Sun & Moon games, the players can see with more detail the actual role of the professors and what is the influence they take on each region. What it was mentioned earlier, the professors act as governors and leaders of opinions, they essentially influence the structure of a region and how the nation would be politically organized even on how the trials would take place.

It is interesting to see how can one person, is essentially in direct charge of many aspects that surrounds a cultural group but also on how they can promote their region for better. Kukui opposite to other scholars from previous generations is more of a showman, besides being dedicated to his research in move sets, he organized the Alola Pokemon League and acted as the first Champion, while being a public figure on the Pokemon Royal Battles (Bulbapedia - Pokemon Battle Royal) and keeping a relationship with his wife Professor Burnet.

From a timeline perspective, we can interpret that the Alola region was the last region to fully developed socially and economically as it was independent located from the Kanto main land, which probably the Alola region politically speaking is on a separated continent from the previous generations which led a delay of having a league of their own.

Kukui can be seen also as the man who opened the economical relationships further between the region and the other parts of the world by allowing immigration, and bringing new trainers in. Even so, it's easy to speculate based on how the professors interact with the player and how much others NPC's give information about the impact they had caused on their regions. 

References:

• Web retrieved: Bulbapedia, Seventh Generation of Pokemon Games - http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Generation_VII
• Web retrieved: Bulbapedia, Alola - http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Alola
• Web retrieved: Bulbapedia - Professor Elm, http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Professor_Elm
• Web retrieved: Wikipedia, Technocracy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy
• Web retrieved: Bulbapedia - Pokemon Battle Royal, http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Battle_Royal

Evolutionary Traits in Pokemon -Polymorphism- Part Two

Alolan Rattata

(1/2/2017) --- One thing I found interesting about Pokemon Sun & Moon, is that it offers finally an introduction to the concept of polymorphism to explain the differences in variation of the species among the world.

To understand the Pokemon World (Bulbapedia - Pokemon World) we have to understand a world that is extremely similar to Earth, we can even debate towards if this world could be concentrated in the String Theory of an infinite set of universe in which a world, through evolutionary means developed fantastic creatures (Supestring Theory Website - Basics).

Now, if we situate in this hypothetical universe, that is similar to our own, with a similar planet, similar nature laws and in a place where we can see variations of the same species, as well subspecies, now to understand the game franchise story will know that each game is set in different regions, within each regions there are a set of Pokemons that are exclusively to those regions, but overall within those regions the player never see variants of Generation 1 & 2; such as Meowth or Rattata.

The regions that are mentioned are Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh Unova and Kalos. Those regions could be considered part of one vast continent that contains a similar number of Pokemon that could travel freely and always face a similar variances on the regions micro-climates, dietary needs and human impact. In theory, there aren't any variants of Pokemons towards these lands, because they could be considered one and the same.

Alola Region

Now we have a land, Alola which comes with the Seventh Generation (Bulbapedia - Seventh Generation), what is fantastic about this generation is that it's the first Pokemon game that offer an insigth towards the concept of polymorphism (Encyclopedia Britannica), species invasion in a foreign ecosystem as well biological adaptation.

We are going to focus more entries on this topic, so far we are just going to go within the genetic variations of Pokemon's found in Alola versus the ones found in Kanto and the surrounding regions.

Alolan Meowth

Sometimes within adaptation of species, there are minor differences between what the morphology of the body; but, if we take a discontinuous genetic variation divides individuals of a single population into two or more distinct forms such as the case of Meowth (Bulbapedia - Meowth)

What is fantastic about Alolan Meowth is that is almost a different species of the same cat-like creature; there are some common morphological traits but on an learning level and we can add genetic makeup they differ between each other vastly.

How two creatures evolved differently goes into the phenotype, similar as how dogs were transformed over the course of 20 thousand years, just to give a short estimate (Genome Sequencing Highlights of the Dynamic Early History of Dogs) but in the case of Meowth the adaptability trait came as an invasive species that mimic the feral cat problematic in Hawaii.

The similarities between Meowth in Alola and cats in Hawaii are actually quite remarkable, as in the game lore the Meowths' were introduced from the Kanto region and became an invasive species on the Alola region, much as the cats were brought by the Europeans to act as guardians of the plantation against local pest (Hawaii Invasive Species Council)

The Meowths eventually on an estimate course of hundred years invaded all the archipelago and because of the human interaction and impact, they eventually went feral after the overpopulation and lack of control to retain the species from proliferating. Opposite to the Kanto region is that Meowth in Alola is a Dark type Pokemon opposite to a Normal Type, in which the adaptation is mostly related to the biological rhythm in which the Meowth as well Persian operates .

Alolan Persian

An aspect I found interesting is that Alolan Persian actually looks closely to a caricature version of a Persian, rather than a Siamese Cat that was common during the first six generations of the game. It probably came at the end as a way to add a more precise look to the character; but still it looks as a cross between two different cats.

References:

1. Web retrieved: Bulbapedia - Pokemon World -http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_world
2. Web retrieved: String Theory Homepage -http://superstringtheory.com/basics/index.html
3. Web retrieved: Bulbapedia - Generation Seventh -http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Generation_VII
4. Web retrieved: Encyclopedia Britannica - Polymorphism - https://www.britannica.com/science/polymorphism-biology
5. Web retrieved: Bulbapedia -Meowth - http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Meowth_(Pok%C3%A9mon)
6. Web retrieved: Genome Sequencing Highlight the Dynamic Early History of Dogs, Freedman, Adam - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3894170/
7. Web retrieved: Hawaii Invasive Species Council - http://dlnr.hawaii.gov/hisc/info/invasive-species-profiles/feral-cats/

The History that Can Be Found in Pokemon - Part One

Lunar Landing

(12/16/2016) --- It was a while since I played first generation games of Pokemon, in fact it could be almost 13 years since I played any of the first, second and third generation games. They simply lost the appeal due certain circumstances about moving to another country and re-starting my life from zero.

I still played the newer games with the exception of Sun & Moon, and Alpha & Omega (which I plan to buy eventually) as time passed, I felt the itch about playing the games again and after losing my original cartridges; mostly after being kicked out due my identity and sexuality, I didn't mind buying Pokemon Yellow on the Virtual Console and re-start playing generation one (Wikipedia - Pokemon Red)

Pika Intro Screen

It is totally a different experience play the game as an adult than as a 13 years old adolescence, there are some details you can ignore quite easily when you are young versus whenever you revise the game.

What I found fascinating is that the game itself is placed on planet that could be Earth, even there are some hints that the game is set on a post-apocalyptic alien invasion that happened probably after the Apollo 11 mission (Wikipedia, Apollo 11) but the process took thousands and even millions of years (Wojcik, 2013) such as 65 millions ago that can be situated in the Paleocene (Wikipedia, Paleocene).

Albeit what it really got my attention are the little pop culture references centered around the many games, but it is the one towards found in Generation 1 that gave the clue about the timeline and some history of the Pokemon World that could be placed on an alternate Earth, as on the first image the old man in the Pewter City Museum gives the date July 20 of 1969 which is the date of the Apollo 11 lunar landing.

Space Shuttle Columbia

Inside the games' lore, we can see that in Generation 1 there are mentions of space travel which subsequently became part of the mythos; but finding inside the Space Shuttle Columbia scale model (Wikipedia, Space Shuttle Columbia) inside the space exhibition we can set that the games are around 1996 to 1998; but before 2003 as there are no mentions of any incident towards the Columbia.

The idea itself about the evolutionary traits and origin of the species is debated through the entire series of games as well in the anime; but always space seems to be the center of a sub-context on the game mythos; and it is actually quite appealing, due the reasons it give the idea that Pokemon are from outer space; as there are no signs of biological life that started on that world but rather one that was an invasive species, who slowly during the eons assimilated and grow to create an extinction event within the game story.

References:

1. Web retrieved:  Wikipedia - Pokemon Red and Blue - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Red_and_Blue (1996)
2. Web retrieved: Wikipedia - Apollo 11 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11
3. Web retrieved: Craked.com ; 4 Reasons Pokemon is the Scariest Alien Invasion Story Ever, Wojcik, Jonathan - http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/4-reasons-pokemon-scariest-alien-invasion-story-ever/ 2013
4. Web retrieved:  Wikipedia - Paleocene ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleocene
5. Web retrieved: 

Gone Home A Sad Beautiful Story

Intro Screen

(11/21/2016) --- Finding a unique game is always a rewarding experiencing, finding a game with an LGBT content is even more interesting as there aren't many in the market that can tell a story before the days where marriage equality became a reality and Don't Ask Don't Tell seemed to be an aspect from the past.

At least those ideas seem to be a thing from the past, that can fade in the next four years. The time where LGBT rights experienced some many stumbles such as the the Reagan administration with the AIDS epidemic, the ascension on the national spotlight of the Westboro Baptist Church, Don't Ask Don't Tell, the killing of Matthew Shepard at the end of the decade; the novels Armistead Maupin novels, the Super Nintendo and riot grrrl just to name a few cultural and social events that gave a shape to the two decades.

The Dining Room

The game itself offers a very minimalist approach towards the gameplay; it is set on June the 7th of 1995, in Oregon. Kaitlin Greenbriar returns to the United State after traveling around Europe after graduation. She also arrived to a new residence in which her father inherited from his late uncle Oscar.

As the moment Kait arrives in the new house she saw a note left by her sister asking her to not search for clues about what happened to everyone. Curiosity starts as the main motivator to start exploring around the house and it's what it sets the events of the game in motion. The game itself is on the same vein as The Chinese Room (homepage) specifically their game Dear Esther (Dear Esther - Wikipedia). That set the goals as well the aesthetics of exploring an enviroment through the use of memories and give the player a minimal approach to submerge them in the game.

Imagery of the 1990's

The game is filled with imagery set on the 1990's, there are the faux rock and grunge bands, the fake SNES games but also books that were common to see on those days; as well names of celebrities and television shows. There are some minor easter eggs, such as the one in the photo that it could be a developer mistake but on the flyer that is below the book, KSNC (Wiki-commons) is a radio station in Kansas that back in 1995 didn't had reach to Oregon where the game is located.

The exploration of the house brings to a window of the past, at least for the people who grew up in the 1990's. It's almost as residences looked like, not in terms of architectures but the items that could be found that made references to that era. The use of cassetes, VHS tapes as well the mention of the SNES bring some sort of nostalgia about certain cultural aspect of the Americana Culture but then it brings an important underlying on why is important to keep pushing to end discrimination on the work place but also end LGBT-phobia; the game talks between letters about how the family comes to cope that their youngest daughter Samantha is a lesbian.

Lonnie

The story of Gone Home deals with abandonment and coming in terms with identy, but also it gives an insight through the mechanics about Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT- Wiki) separated loved ones who served in the military to be open in public; also, another important part of the story goes on how parental attitudes, friends can affect the life of an individual who feels rejection.

Maybe, the protagonist of the story is Kait's sister Samantha, who through a series of letters as well hidden messages around the house and clues about her academic performance can give the player a sense of solitude and alienation she was experiencing, but also the idea can still be experienced today. Within family niches, they can provide a key to a healthy functional adult (Husted, 2012) and prevent suicide when they are on a younger stage in life.

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As it was saw in the game, the ultimate fate of Sam and the girl she fall in love with, Lonnie; showed that both didn't find acceptance and they found comfort within each other; but, to think that two young people under the age of 20 could make it on their own 20 years ago as if is in today, is still difficult.

Lonnie or Yolanda DeSoto, as a young latina lesbian who is also involved within the military in one of the most turbulent periods of the contemporary history could had faced a destiny worse than Samantha herself; she could had been the subject of rape and other forms of physically violence if she dared to talk openly about her identity and sexual orientation.

Towards Sam family life, we could see that based on her parents marital issues she felt abandoned but at the moment they knew she was a lesbian, they simply dind't cared and thought she could be just experimenting but based on Sam's diary's, she knew it wasn't a "phase" as the feelings for Lonnie were real.

As it was saw on the end of the game, there wasn't a happy ending, it was a family who got thorn out by not knowing how to communicate properly and to find acceptance in their differences. Albeit, the clues about who Sam identity was rely on the clues of her musical tastes that are spread around the house and how Riot grrrl became a central queer ideology that was situated with a subtle aspect that maybe Sam's and Kaith parents didn't noticed.

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Spoilers
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Heavens to Betsy

Heavens to Betsy (Wikipedia Commons) play an important role towards the game narrative, as the queercore band songs are played constantly on the game as the story progress it shows the struggle that being alienated feels but also on how the punk feminist music could had affected culturary someone who didn't had a voice.

Is really interesting to see how those subtle forms of expression where common in a day where the Internet and the forums where on their "baby days" where music and zines were on vogue to transmit ideas and political information.

It could be even considered a form of revolution to spread a message before mass communication took over and it gave voices to the groups and tribes that didn't had them. Albeit now, even with the use of internet and social media as tools, it is important to know that is central to keep the fight for equality and understanding open, because discrimination is still rampant and there is no way to ensure that our rights as citizens will be respected.

References:

• Homepage: The Chinese Room - http://www.thechineseroom.co.uk/
• The Chinese Room - Dear Esther: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Esther
• KSNC - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KSNC
• Don't Ask Don't Tell - Wiki, Commons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_ask,_don%27t_tell
• NPR.org, Husted, Kris - Family Acceptance, in Preventing Gay Youth From Considering Suicide. http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/02/13/146831239/family-acceptance-key-in-preventing-gay-youths-from-considering-suicide
• Heavens to Betsy - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavens_to_Betsy