Give the Drummer Some by Mark Zero - Book Trailer

My good friend Mark Zero has a book coming out on August 17th: Give the Drummer Some. Check out this book trailer he made for it. Funk-ay!

Mad Men: Season Four

I don't really watch TV shows very often but I will clear my schedule to make room for Mad Men. It's just a top-notch show.

Living Life to the Fullest - Instantes

The Spanish Blog over at Transparent Language posted an anonymous poem called Instantes. I was really moved by it since it really demonstrated how much we deny ourselves pleasure and how we take our lives for granted. Just reading it makes me want go out and live life and have fun while I still can. No one who reads this will not be affected by it.

Here it is in the original form in Spanish as well as my translation into English.

Instantes

Si pudiera vivir nuevamente mi vida.
En la próxima trataría de cometer más errores.
No intentaría ser tan perfecto, me relajaría más.
Sería más tonto de lo que he sido, de hecho
tomaría muy pocas cosas con seriedad.

Sería menos higiénico.

Correría más riesgos, haría más viajes, contemplaría
más atardeceres, subiría más montañas, nadaría más ríos.

Iría a más lugares adonde nunca he ido, comería
más helados y menos habas, tendría más problemas
reales y menos imaginarios.

Yo fui una de esas personas que vivió sensata y prolíficamente
cada minuto de su vida; claro que tuve momentos de alegría.

Pero si pudiera volver atrás trataría de tener
solamente buenos momentos.

Por si no lo saben, de eso está hecha la vida, sólo de momentos;
no te pierdas el ahora.

Yo era uno de esos que nunca iban a ninguna parte sin termómetro,
una bolsa de agua caliente, un paraguas y un paracaídas;
Si pudiera volver a vivir, viajaría más liviano.
Si pudiera volver a vivir comenzaría a andar descalzo a principios
de la primavera y seguiría así hasta concluir el otoño.

Daría más vueltas en calesita, contemplaría más amaneceres
y jugaría con más niños, si tuviera otra vez la vida por delante.

Pero ya tengo 85 años y sé que me estoy muriendo.

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Moments

If I could live my life again.

The next time I would try to make more mistakes.

I wouldn't try so hard to be perfect, I'd goof off more.

I'd be crazier than I have been, in fact

I would take fewer things seriously.

I'd be less hygienic.

I'd run more risks, take more trips, watch

 more sunsets, climb more mountains, swim more rivers.

I'd go more places I had never been, eat

more ice cream and fewer lima beans, I'd have more

real problems and fewer imaginary ones.

I was one of those people who lived sensibly and proficiently

every minute of my life; of course I had moments of joy.

But if I could go back in time I'd try to have

only good moments.

Because if you don't know, that's what makes a life, only those moments;

don't lose the present.

I was one of those people who never went anywhere without a thermometer,

a hot-water bottle, an umbrella and a parachute;

If I could relive my life, I'd travel lighter.

If I could relive my life I'd walk barefoot at the beginning

of spring and would continue until the end of autumn.

I'd take more rides on the Carousel, watch more sunrises

and play more with my kids, if I had my whole life again before me.

But now I am 85 years old and I know that I am dying.

Sugar (2008)

Sugar (2008) follows the story of Miguel Santos, whom everyone nicknames 'Sugar', a young Dominican man who has chops as a carpenter but finds a special talent in his country's major sport, Baseball. His knuckle ball catches the eye of American baseball recruiters and soon he is whisked away from the Dominican Republic and put on a farm team for the Kansas City Knights. He moves from Arizona to Iowa and finally to New York, experiencing various levels of culture shock along the way. Some how he breaks through the language barrier and makes a life for himself in the States, but not quite in the way he expected.



Growing up with a Dominican mama and with Dominican family, I have seen the Sugar story many times but in very different forms. Members of the Dominican diaspora are a bit like Phoenixes, the mythical birds that rise and burn only to rise again. No matter how badly they fall, they always manage to pick themselves up and start again. Dominicans are the ultimate survivors and we see this in Sugar. He has very limited English and has probably never been outside the confines of the isle of Hispanola. He tells his girlfriend that he'll drive back home in a Cadillac that can travel over water. He doesn't know what to expect but also has false expectations. He's separated from his friends and family little by little. Some of his buddies go with him to Arizona, and one goes with him to Iowa, but eventually he is alone and has to start a new life for himself.


The Dominican Republic is famous for their Baseball players. It's a veritable religion there, like soccer is with the rest of the world. Many baseball players are recruited from the DR but only a few make it to the big leagues. Sugar is one of those athletes who has a chance at the big leagues but life takes him in a different direction. Algenis Perez Soto was a perfect choice to play Sugar. He has a quiet somberness that expresses a lot of emotion without emoting. He's pensive, curious, scared, ambitious, driven, shy, playful, and he shows all of this with an almost blank stare. The cinematography is very tied into the main character. We get lots of scenes in Sugar's point of view and many of the shots reveal Sugar's naivete or something new he is about to experience. For example, in New York he looks for a place to stay. His eyes/the camera settle on "Caribe Hotel". He choses this place because of "Caribe"/"Carribean", it reminds him of home. But the hotel is really a hotbed of prostituion and a seedy nook of clandestine encounters. We know this off the bat and we want to protect Sugar, but we can't. We have to sit back and watch as he figures it out for himself.

This film gets the Dominican culture right on. The unexclusivity of romantic relationships, the feeling of entitlement in family, the connection to home but the desire to find something better, the liveliness, the dancing, the social ease, etc. It's all there along with the juxtaposition of colorful and stark visuals that represent the DR so well.

As the movie progressed, I couldn't help but chuckle as I could connect so many elements of the story with my mother's experience. She left the DR in her 20s, without any grasp of the English language, with unrealistic notions of what life in the US would be like and with the knowledge that she would never move back to her homeland. She struggled in many of the same ways that Sugar struggles.

I spoke to my mother on the phone the day after I saw the movie. I was ecstatic telling her details of the film that she would enjoy and promised her that I would get a copy to her soon so she could see. There was one particular sub-plot that I just had to tell her right then and there. Sugar and his baseball buddies are in an Arizona diner. Only one of them speaks English and when the waitress arrives he orders French Toast. The other guys order French Toast too, mimicking the sounds made by the English-speaking friend with the hopes that whatever he ordered they would like too. Sugar visits the diner over and over again, always ordering French Toast. One day, he becomes brave and asks for eggs. When the waitress asks how he would like them, he can only reply "yes". They have a back and forth struggle with understanding and he eventually caves and orders French Toast. The waitress feels for him and comes back with his French Toast and with a plate of eggs. There are a few different kinds and she tells him which is which and how to pronounce them. This scene really touched me and my mom seemed tickled when I told her about it. When I was born, the nurses wanted to tell my mother that I had beautiful eyelashes. She couldn't understand them so that made movements to indicate "baby" (rocking of the arms) and "eyelashes" (applying mascara with a finger as a fake wand).

Watching this film (and reading Dreaming in Cuban - see my previous post) made me realize that I really need to focus a lot more on stories about Latino/a's. I'm at a point in my life that I really need to expose myself to stories that speak directly to me instead of ones about people/places/experiences I can't identify with. I hope I'll be able to use Quelle's Thoughts as a forum to discuss these types of stories.

25 Books Latinas Should Read ~ Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia

Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia

Just one look at the cover and the title and I was hooked. Out of the 25 Books Latinas Should Read list, Dreaming in Cuban was the one I wanted to read first. Cristina Garcia blends poetry with prose in this story of a Cuban family, splintered by the Cuban revolution. There is the matriarch Celia who finds happiness in her melancholy life through the revolution and in her adoration of El Lider (Fidel Castro) as well as the hope that her rebellious granddaughter Pilar provides her for her family. The patriarch, Jorge, is a ghost that haunts the entirety of the novel. Their daughters Lourdes and Felicia deal with their own distinct madness and Javier seems a shadow in comparison to the other family members. Then there is Pilar. She's the Cuban-born, Brooklyn-raised rebel granddaughter that seems to be the only one that sees everything clearly.

If you are looking for a book with a linear, easy-to-follow plot then look elsewhere. Garcia's writing is difficult to grasp in the way a good poem takes extra effort to understand. We weave in and out of time and we are never really sure where we are, the chapter headings are misleading. The narration goes from first person to third person often. Sometimes we are in Pilar's head and other times we are watching Celia at a distance or listening in on a conversation between Lourdes and her father Jorge. The only thing that anchors us in the story is the group of well-defined and interesting characters.

Out of all the groups of Caribbean diaspora, Cuban-Americans seem to be the most distant from their homeland. Unlike others who could easily visit or move back to their original country, Cubans remain exiled from Cuba and look upon the politics of Cuba with a discerning and judgmental eye. There is a strong intrinsic tie between the Caribbean-born and their country. I know this from experience as my mother is from the Dominican Republic and although she hasn't lived there in 30 years, and hasn't even visited in over 10, she still talks about the country as though she was just there. Her homeland will never leave her. This kind of connection is crucial for good Caribbean fiction and Garcia captures that in Dreaming in Cuban. For example, Lourdes hates Cuban politics and secretly wants to kill El Lider. She relishes in the freedom of the capitalism and democracy of the US. Yet she is drawn back to her homeland, to see her mother, to bring her daughter there, to reconnect with the ghost of her father. However much she hates what Cuba has become, the Cuba of her childhood is still very much a part of her. Dreaming in Cuban gets at the core of what it means to be from the Caribbean through her magical and lyrical prose. This is a must read for sure.

Extra note: As a classic film lover, I particularly liked the mention in the text of one of my favorite pre-code movies Three on a Match (1932). I even took a picture and put it up on Twitpic! http://twitpic.com/1iqumh 

If you look at the picture, you'll see that it's referred to as Mujeres de Fuego which translates into Women of Fire. Superb!

Full Disclosure: I purchased the book myself.

Selena (1971-1995)

In the early 1990s, Selena Quintanilla-Perez was a rising star on the Tejano music scene. By 1995, she had won a grammy and had a slew of hits including "Como La Flor", "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom", "Amor Prohibido" and "No Me Queda Mas". She was just about to make a transition into the English-language market when she was senselessly murdered by the president of her fan club.

That fateful day was March 31st, 1995 and today marks the 15th anniversary of Selena's death.

There are so many things absolutely wrong about the circumstances in which she died. The person who killed her was reported to be her biggest fan, a trusted employee and a family friend. She turned out to be an obsessive opportunistic thief who was embezzling money from Selena.

At the time of her death, Selena  was just shy of her 24th birthday and was pregnant with the child of her husband of 3 years, Chris Perez. She was in the middle of recording an English-language album and never finished.

Selena was one of those rare gems. A truly genuine person with a big heart. She was always smiling and laughing, she charmed everyone with her bubbly personality, she was beautiful and talented.

I was 14 years old when Selena was murdered and since then Selena has become a very important part of my life. In a way she was a role model and now as an adult, when I watch video of Selena I see how much of her I emulate to this day.

1) Selena's Smile and Laugh - It was infectious. She was always breaking into a huge smile and had a full-bodied laugh. You'll find me smiling and laughing every day, even on my most depressing days.

2) Selena's hair - Earlier in her career, she wore a very short hair cut but then proceeded to grow it out very long. She boasted long curls down to the middle of her back or she wore her hair straing and long with big bangs that covered her forehead. I could never pull of the bangs (believe me I tried) but everytime I cut my hair to my shoulders I would always long for it to grow out. Also, Selena and I both boast Spanish bangs, those little tufts of hair that crown the forehead. She would sometimes wear a Busca-novio a flirtatious little swirl of hair pasted to her forehead. So Latina!

3) Selena's look - She always looked put together. Hair, make-up, nails, jewelry, clothes, etc. I always strive to look my best. You would have never caught Selena out in public in a sweatshirt and sweatpants.

4) Selena's Religious Upbringing - Both Selena and I were raised as Jehovah's Witnesses. Her parents and my mother were only believer but not real followers. I think this affected us in two ways. It gave us an innocence and youthfulness that came with the overprotection that the religion provides. We never really had to grow up. Also, it made us stick to our morals and get us out of trouble. Since Selena died at the age of 24, it didn't affect her adversely as it did me now at the age of 29. I left the religion long ago and I wonder if Selena would have done the same.

5) Selena's bodytype - I can't attribute this to her but we do share a similar body type. Selena had an hourglass figure with a fine bosom, a butt so big that even JLo had to pad hers to match it in the Selena biopic, and robust thighs. My Lebanese heritage makes me carry a bit more around the middle whereas Selena's waist was always super tiny. Selena's shape was a lot more attractive than mine but I like to think in ways we are similar and to me that's a big deal.

6) Selena's work ethic and charm - Selena was driven and motivated and had an amazing career by the age of 24. I can't attribute my work ethic to Selena (I get mine from my parents) but I have always admired her for it. I have always wanted to emulate her people skills. There is a famous story of Selena traveling to Mexico to meet music executives and journalists. Even though Selena sang Spanish-language songs, she wasn't fluent in the language and her father was particularly nervous that his daughter would make a bad impression. You know what Selena did? She went up to each and every executive/journalist, gave them a kiss and a handshake and introduced herself. They were so impressed with her warmth and her friendliness that when she fumbled with her Spanish they couldn't care less.

7) Selena's musical upbringing - Like the Jackson 5, Selena's father put his children to work at a very early age creating music. I played the violin from the age of 7 up until the age of 14 or so. My parents pushed me to excel in music and taught me that practice makes perfect. Selena and I both had to practice our music even when we would rather go outside and play. I didn't have musical talent but Selena did.

Selena broke my heart 15 years ago and today my heart is still broken. For the past few weeks, I've thought about the big gaping hole Selena's death left in this world. You know how people say that the world is because certain people are in it? I say that the world is worse without Selena's presence. At least we have the memories to hold on to.
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"No Me Queda Mas" is my favorite song/music video by Selena. I couldn't embed so please make sure you click on this link and watch the video on YouTube. It's a great ballad, it showcases Selena's amazing vocal skills and you get a little taste of her personality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pVdNR3VAfE

25 Books Latinas Should Read Challenge

In order to get myself reading more books and to get more in tune with my Latin roots, I am taking the challenge posted my Literanista. This year I will try to read all the books on the 25 Books Latinas Should Read list created by Latina magazine and posted on Literanista.

The books are:

1.The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende

2.One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

3.In The Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

4.When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago

5.Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

6.Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig

7.Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa

8.Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar

9.The Labrynth of Solitude by Octavio Paz

10.The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes

11.Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

12.The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho

13.Las Peliculas De Mi Vida by Alberto Fuguet

14.The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

15.The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

16.Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara by Jorge G. Castaneda

17.A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

18.The Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges

19.Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in the United States by Juan Gonzalez

20.Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda

21.The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

22.Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia

23.The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories by Horacio Quiroga

24.Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo

25.Men of Maize by Miguel Angel Asturias

 

A few of the books are out of print, so I may replace some with other titles. Right now I have Julia Alvarez's In the Name of Salome as a back-up.

 

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I want to revive this defunct personal blog and use it as a platform to talk about and review the books I'm reading during this challenge. I hope you'll follow my adventure!