Archive for the ‘Assimilating Latina’ Category

$1.3 trillion and counting…

November 8, 2009 - 1:11 am No Comments

Wow!  I can’t conceive of anyone buying anything for $1.3 trillion.  I can’t even imagine $1.3 trillion.  America’s leadership has just managed to spend that much in one single 15 minute vote.  They voted on a piece of legislation over 2,000 pages long they call healthcare reform.  The promised goals are to insure all Americans, lower healthcare premiums and costs for those currently insured, ensure that people cannot lose their coverage if they get sick and that those with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied coverage.  To do that, they find it necessary to create a massive new government bureaucracy to manage all aspects of this ambitious agenda.  It is mind boggling, truly.  They say that we will begin funding this gargantuan effort immediately but will not see a system in place for the next five years.  Where will the money come from?  We are already in debt, and many of our biggest companies and banking institutions are on life support with federal money propping it up.  Unemployment reached 10.2% yesterday.  Small businesses still can’t access credit to expand, or stay above water for that matter.

Would it not be cheaper to just cut anyone who wants health insurance a check which they can spend in any policy they want?  If they want?  Could we not expand and fund some of the entitlements we already have in place at both the federal and local levels to cover people that cannot afford healthcare?  Can we not try to deregulate the industry so more companies can compete across state lines?  Get the insurance agencies to compete fro your business, like those online banking commercials?

Whether they even come close to getting any of the results they promise with this bill is of no consequence, because they have already perfected the lines to defend their out-of-control spending spree — “Things would have been worse had we done nothing,” they’ll argue.  So remember, when your healthcare costs continue to rise over the next few years, and you wonder why, they’ll let you know that you would be paying even more had healthcare reform not been passed in the historic vote of 2009.  When you lose your job and cannot get another one, they’ll remind you that were it not for the fact that they extended unemployment benefits, you would be in worse shape. When unemployment continues to rise in the next few months, they’ll gloat that we are losing less jobs per month than we were when the recession began.

Unless people start getting more involved and angry about this massive power grab by government, we will continue to become more and more like Argentina – where the most corrupt hold all the cards and all the people can do is complain and fend for themselves.  When faith in government and its institutions erodes, it affects everything – from people’s morale to their everyday choices.  Social infrastructure begins to crumble, lack of respect for authority of any kind becomes commonplace, crime increases, and opportunities for prosperity begin to dwindle.  The line between right and wrong becomes ever more confusing, cheating of every kind becomes more commonplace, and people become more focused on money.  Where I come from, people try to supplement their income any way they can.  It is very common to be on some kind of government aid while working for cash, trading services, or taking money under the table in various ways.  This is particularly true of government workers at every level.  There is more mistrust, and more pre-payment demands for goods and services.  Credit becomes more expensive.  And political change is much harder to achieve. Once the machine is in place, it is is almost impossible to move.

They were noble ideals, the ones on which this country is founded.  Unfortunately, probably unsustainable in the long run, as the country grew, and the publicly educated masses become more interested in the immediacy of life in general than the long-term repercussions of their actions and their votes.

Brace yourself, America.  It’s gonna be a rough ride.

Posted in Assimilating Latina, Social/Political Musings |

Willing US Into Our Image

June 18, 2009 - 7:15 am No Comments

I have often wondered why people in Argentina have such animosity towards the United States.  They speak of our country with the same disdain as they do their own miserable political and economic infrastructure, which is basically a huge web of misperceptions and corruption.  Nothing there is at it seems, or as it should be.  But why blame us for all their ills?

I have come to realize that they believe that we are equally corrupt, only better at it.  That is why we are a world power and in their opinion meddling with the rest of the world.  They  honestly believe that our only mission in life is to take as much from the world and its various countries and peoples as possible, no matter what the price or consequences.  That is what the government and all its institutions there, run by the long standing political machine, does to its people every day.

The only way to get ahead in Argentina – that is – to improve your quality of life and stop living in survival mode every day, is to become a politician and take a bite of the apple.  Everyone knows that.  And everyone works around it.  After so many generations of expecting nothing, people have learned to find their own way, and live the best they can.

Yesterday in a major speech Bush 43 said that government cannot solve this economic crisis, but the private sector will.  “Government does not create wealth. The major role for the government is to create an environment where people take risks to expand the job rate in the United States,” he stated.  He could have elaborated – this is how the American Dream is possible.  This is why so many people want to be here.  And the ones who cannot get in feel they did not want the grapes to begin with, and criticize us from afar, speaking through their provincial prisms.

In Argentina, the executive has taken so much power away form the checks and balances inherent in the government system, which is modeled on our own, that the country is broken, I believe beyond repair.  And its people know it.  Entrenched powers can no longer be dislodged.  The machine devours entrepreneurship, the most basic rights, and hope.  It rewards paying to play – we see it in most aspects of people’s life.

So in their assessment of the United States, they apply their own cynical views to what they hear about us on CNN Esapnol and other news feeds into their media and intellectual community.  As five of their Supreme Court justices are investigated for corruption, they ask:  What do you do when your Supreme Court justices are corrupt? When the five year old American grandchild asks his Argentinian grandpa to pick up his dog’s poop off the street, Grandpa is shocked and cannot understand why the kid is making such a scene on the public sidewalk. When we support Israel’s right to exist they know it’s because the Jews secretly control all our banks. When terrorists down our buildings they know it’s an inside job to further American interests around the globe.

This is what having so much power in the hands of so few can do to a people’s psyche over generations.  This also will be the unintended consequence of having a handsome, popular, politically astute President formed in Chicago’s political machine and molded in a church based on the African diaspora school of thought.

President Obama is willing us into the image Argentinians, and many around the world, have of our country. Countries where everyone will take a bribe, from the cop giving you a jaywalking ticket to the multi-national exec asking for the last minute millions to close the deal you’ve been working on for 2 years.

There really is no other country that I know of, with the possible exception of the Netherlands and England, that lives the sanctity of contracts as we do.  In our country, laws still mean something and are not seen as suggestions.  One can still get ahead by sheer will and by being resourceful. The legal system will protect you, for the most part.  When you strike a deal with another business partner, you are doing it in good faith and not trying to figure out how you’ll get screwed.

The unbelievable power grab I see develop so quickly here and on so many levels is beyond frightening.  And also very familiar to me.  I recently heard someone say we are ceasing to be a nation of contracts, and are becoming a nation of contacts. A place where who you know, dirty money, and no scruples, will get you ahead. A place where people do not know who to trust, what to believe.  Where having material things is more important than having a conscience.  A people increasingly less educated in our history, where we came from, how we got here, how much was sacrificed by those before us for the freedoms, protections, rights, checks and balances we are losing.  Where morality and ethics are relative and the line between right and wrong is blurred beyond recognition.

Where the populace finds solace on distractions that are easily understood — outrageous celebrity scandals, the latest victims of senseless crimes, the silly youtube video, the new electronic game or gadget.

We are becoming Argentina.

Posted in Assimilating Latina, Social/Political Musings |

Oye Sonia, what’s the big deal?

June 7, 2009 - 1:59 am No Comments

Riddle me this one.  

Who among you will tell me that a Latina woman, with the wealth of my experience, cannot arrive at a better conclusion than a white man?  Who has the cojones to challenge this assertion?  

I have to remind my white gringo husband I am always right all the time.  So he delivers one of his beloved little nuggets of wisdom: “Honey, it’s better to be kind than right.”  

In what universe?

I’m with Sonia 100%.  Does that mean I can’t be a judge in this country?

Posted in Assimilating Latina, Growing Up Puerto Rican, Life with Tom |

“Plight of the Puerto Ricans”

June 7, 2009 - 1:23 am No Comments

So I was watching Geraldo Rivera’s show this weekend and he had a few guests discussing Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court.  Rosie Perez was almost in tears speaking about what this meant to her as a Latina, as she explained that this highlights the “Plight of the Puerto Ricans”.  

Que?  

Did I miss a memo?  What the heck plight is she talking about?  Is she thinking “I like to leeve in Amereeka?”  Were we being persecuted or something?

As far as I am concerned, I can tell you Puerto Rico was a great place to grow up. I have extremely fond memories of island life.  The food, the music, the beaches, the parrandas, the people, the scenery and history … did I mention the food … what’s there not to like?  Yes there is also crime and hardship, but how is that different than anywhere else?

Puerto Rico is one of the best kept Latin secrets.  We are American citizens, have American passports and use American dollars, yet we keep Spanish as our main language, our Puerto Rican beauties get to participate in Miss Universe (five so far and counting!), and we get to send our Puerto Rican athletes to the Olympics carrying our Puerto Rican flag.  

Oh, and best of all we get money.  

Every social welfare program available to the 50 states we also get; including federal funding for all of our government departments.   But best of all, we don’t have to pay federal income taxes and we get to work for cash to keep the programs coming.  I want whoever negotiated that deal working for me!  Genius!

The best is that America believes Puerto Rico to be something akin to a territory. The official United States given title is the “Commonwealth of Puerto Rico”.  However, our Spanish official name is Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico which translates to “Free Associated State of Puerto Rico”!  Is that not great?  What does that mean exactly?  A free associated state?  I bet a lot of states are wondering how they can get the same deal right about now!

Please don’t tell Obama, because he would hit the Jackpot if he started wising up about our little colonial deal we’ve got going here…  What Latin country would not take it?  We could have The Estado Libre Asociado de Mejico, de Colombia, de Panama.  The list goes on and on.  You get to keep your own identity but live on the dole!

Every couple of years we islanders get our undies in a bundle about the “status quo”.  You see, the two big parties here are the “Popular Democratic Party” which likes things just the way they are and are represented by a red guy in a straw hat and the words – Bread, Land and Liberty.  The “New Progressive Party”, which wants the island to become the 51st state, features a blue palm tree with the words Statehood, Security, Progress.  We do have a third party, the Puerto Rican Independence Party”, but it never gets more than 5% of the vote and it’s treated as negligible.

So every few years we organize an island-wide vote to vote yes or no for statehood.

ppdlogoNew Progressive Party

 

 

 

 

 

 

First of all — AS IF!  

Like we really have any say in the matter.  It’s always been no — the 10 odd times I remember the vote happening.  I mean, really, who would vote for paying federal income taxes, speaking English, having to learn American history in schools, and not being able to see Miss Puerto Rico represented on the world stage?  Can we really bear the thought of having Miss Puerto Rico lose to Miss Arkansas in some runoff to the real thing?  

But what if we somehow lose our minds and voted yes?  “OK Washington, we’re finally ready!  We want to join the union.”  

Where would we even put star 51 on the flag?  Ay bendito, me duele la cabeza…

Posted in Assimilating Latina, Growing Up Puerto Rican |

North, South and Central Colon?

May 20, 2009 - 9:28 am No Comments

Well it’s a good thing that Cristobal Colon died without knowing he discovered the New World. Can you imagine having our wonderful continent named after him? These are the types of issues that come up when you study history with the kids.

And who is Christopher Columbus anyway? How do you go from Cristobal to Christopher? From Colon to Colombus? Who has the authority to add a “bus” to the explorer’s name? What came first: the naming of the large intestine or the Captain who asked Fernando and Isabel de Espana to finance his crazy idea of sailing through the Sea of Darkness to get to the yummy spices?

Leave it to the Spanish to go to such lengths for better tasting food!

Posted in Assimilating Latina, Educating our kids, Food |

PC is Hard For Me

April 26, 2009 - 8:46 am No Comments

I am having a hard time keeping up with all these PC rules. I finally figured out it is because PC has not made its way into Spanish.

There are also too many exceptions and the rules change too often. Why is it called the Congressional Black Caucus and not the Congressional African American Caucus? Is that too much of a mouthful or are the rules different depending on who says it? I never can keep up with the way groups want to be identified, and which words are positive and which are negative.

Latinos still call flight atendants “azafatas”, the word for stewardess. It does not even exist for a male flight attendant — I have never heard “azafato”.

On one unfortunate flight, when I had an adult beverage or two – I tried to summon the flight attendant by calling across the plane for the “air maid”. I really meant no disrespect, but my English skills disintegrate rapidly in proportion to the number of cocktails I consume. (There’s another one — cocktail – how come we have not cleaned that one up? What the heck does the tail of a cock have to do with my libation? Or is it that I’ll more easily trade tail for… never mind…)

A darker color person is affectionately called “El Negro”, or “negrita” if she is a close friend. There is even a very famous song where a young girl tells her mother her boyfriend is trying to jump her, and she sings a colorful description of how he’s chasing her around the house, trying to get her into the sack. The chorus is: “Mami que sera lo que quiere el negro…” Which sounds great lyrically but translates to: “Mom, what does the black dude want…”

Older people still call me amorcito, or linda o corazon, even if I don’t know them (although I must admit, that is happening less often these days…) And all Asians are called “chino”, whether they’re Japanese, Korean or Filipino. My mother used to call me “chinita” when I misbehaved. She would say: “When I get my hands on that chinita, I’ll show her!” Does not sound too good in retrospect.

Posted in Assimilating Latina |

Reality Check – Politics of the Third World

March 28, 2009 - 8:34 pm No Comments

U.S. residents of Latin American descent should feel more at home in our country in the next few years, as we seem to be getting closer to the big government lawlessness they have migrated from.

Every time we travel to my parent’s native country of Argentina, I am shocked anew about the unbelievable scenarios people have to deal with every day. There is a lack of respect for the law, corruption and ultimately resignation on the part of the public. Everyone seems to just fend for themselves and if you are trying to make a decent living you will get no help at all from the government. There is really no infrastructure in place to encourage ethics in professional behavior. As a matter of fact, it’s almost purposely discouraged.

I just saw a sign that read: “The reasons for breaking the law are called excuses”. This is a public awareness campaign? Shouldn’t we know this?

For about a year now the government of President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner (Kirchner being the former President of Argentina – sort of like their own Bill and Hillary Clinton), has been in a fight to the death with the agricultural sector. As I understand it, Christina’s executive branch controls the export of all things agricultural, from grains to beef. When she negotiates pricing with any foreign purchaser, be it a country or private concerns, she also receives the funds for the sales and “retains” about 40% of it. This is not considered a tax – they call it a “retention fee” and on top of that they tax the remaining 60% before they pay the producers.

This all happens without any government aid or subsidies of any kind to the producers. The small producers are most affected because this “retention fee” is not incremental, so whereas large owners have infrastructure costs that are smaller in proportion to their output, the smaller owners are just totally at a disadvantage and many of them have not been able to sustain their output or keep their businesses.

Last year, they were so upset that they just plain stopped farming or producing beef. Furthermore, they let all their crops spoil and their meats go bad. My aunt told me rivers of milk were flowing to the gutters. They showed it on the news day after day. It broke her heart, especially when there are so many needy people in this country.

President Christina dug her high heels and said she would increase the “retention fee”, almost as if to punish them. Then all the distributors starting blocking roads and picketing. In short, it’s a mess, and now the country is in horrible shape because they have even less funds from exports than before.

Christina and her husband the ex-President are said to control most of the legislative branch through bribes and corruption.

Today I read in the newspaper that the government decided NOT to publish the main public information data compiled by the Department of Agriculture’s 24 regional offices on the country’s grain and beef production. They said if anyone wants it, they’ll just have to get it through other means. The only way to obtain this information is through partial data from private owners, and through the United States’ USDA reports that are gathered through satellite data and extrapolated to make the reports. But this is not accurate or complete.

OK – so this is public information, gathered and financed through taxpayer dollars, and the Argentinian executive branch, in its feud with the agricultural producers, decides that they are not going to share it, and there is no legal avenue to make them do it.

Mind you, this is supposed to be a democratic country.

Voting here is the law – people have to vote and get their documents stamped or they have to pay a fee. So everyone votes. But unfortunately, it is the responsibility of each candidate and party to make sure that they are represented with ballots in each town. Because there is so much fraud, and lack of funds, only the dominant parties have enough money to make sure that every little town all over Argentina has the necessary paperwork. It’s kind of like Chicago politics, where the aldermen that have been there for years have overflowing coffers due to all the bribes they take with every issued permit. It is always campaign season in Chicago, they say.

My 70-year old aunt stood in line for two hours to vote in the last regional election, and when she finally went in, none of her first three choices were represented and the volunteers told her she had to vote for someone else. She was so mad that she voted for the least likely to win not to give her vote to the incumbent candidate — the entrenched commissioner who owns half the town already. She got her document stamped.

We are traveling in the south of the country and when we got to the regional airport in Buenos Aires, we were greeted by four very well dressed young attractive Argentinians who handed us free newspapers. It looks like just the main paper, but the difference is that it’s a piece of propaganda paid for by the executive branch of the government. There are very few things that are free here, so people still accept it and read it as if it was real news.

The main newspaper is Clarin, which has been very critical of the Kirchners and they are the main source that exposes all the corruption and scandals. So as a response, the Kirchners have retained an army of publicists, writers, printers and handsome young kids to produce and distribute several pro-government papers. What the public does not realize, because everything is so weird here, is that while the country is falling apart, all these papers are being funded by their own tax dollars.

Another very strange thing here is that a few years ago, protesters started blocking major expressways at high traffic hours and the government was worthless in controlling these hooligans. Kirchner, who was President at the time, decided that if he put them all on a government payroll, they would stay home and not block streets. Seriously, Argentina is now paying millions of people a weekly salary of about 100 pesos NOT to go out and block traffic.

So guess what? They are now blocking traffic again because they want a raise. The claim they can’t live on 400 pesos a month. If they are going to stay home and not cause trouble, they need more money, and benefits.

We may have a lot of problems in the U.S.A. But I still believe we are one of the best countries in the world for individual rights and liberties. However, I see a trend towards more government intervention and controls – which is very scary to me – because I have seen it here in my parent’s country. It has been a long downward spiral from which there is no discernible way out. The bigger government gets, the more corruption and entrenched interests will prevail, the least control we the people will have of our future.

If you think there is inequality in the U.S. now, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Posted in Assimilating Latina, Social/Political Musings |

Just Another Family Dinner …

March 24, 2009 - 10:30 pm No Comments

mamiyserafin

Posted in Assimilating Latina |

Thomas talking to an 8-year old Argentinian Buddy

March 24, 2009 - 7:09 pm No Comments

“In the United States, there are no bidets or empanadas, but our hamburgers are really good.”

Posted in Assimilating Latina, Educating our kids |

Geraldine by any other name….

June 5, 2008 - 2:35 pm 2 Comments

I found an old name list long ago with my name circled on it.  Of the hundreds of possibilities, my Latin mother chose Geraldine.  She liked the name.  The only other Geraldine she knew was Geraldine Chaplin.  Trips to Bountiful and Ferraros were not yet in the picture.

Latin people put a lot of thought into naming their children.  The most common being Maria and Jesus.  Most of us have more than one name and at least two last names.  I have a friend named Graciela Milagros Johanna Costas Oliveras.  We are usually named after a few aunts and/or uncles, and we carry our father’s family name and retain our mother’s family name following it.

Despite our machismo mentality, it is common for women to keep their maiden name, and some women actually use a preposition – de – if they choose to add their husbands’ family name to their own.  Hence Martha Ferrera would become Martha Ferrera de Fortunato.  De, meaning belonging to in the olden days…

My mami was different.  Her rebellious nature made her throw convention out the window, when choosing my phonetically challenging first and only name.  My friends had more options – they could go for any one of their names as teenagers.  Mami ensured that I would only have one choice — no middle prenom to turn to.

So, Geraldine Dondis I became.  Never to be spelled or pronounced correctly in my humble Puerto Rican surroundings.  Sounds of chiming bells followed by turning heads and giggles throughout childhood.  “Ge-ral-din… don.. dis… din… don… dis…”

I got used to Geraldine and eventually even came to be fond of it.  I was the only Geraldine I ever met.  There was never any wasted verbiage trying to clarify whether it was Maria from the farm, or Maria who stole Tita’s boyfriend, or Maria la bisca.

My girlfriends would come to my front gate, always locked — it’s Puerto Rico after all — and yell, Geeeeeraaaaldeeeen!  We do have doorbells, but they are rarely used.  

I no longer use Geraldine.  Oddly enough, when I moved to St. Louis at 17, and finally was in a culture that had some knowledge of its spelling and pronunciation, I was forced to change my name to Geri.  

They say middle school can be rough on kids.  That is nothing compared to finding yourself in the middle of the Midwest, and the second choice private university for half of New York’s Jewish community.  Being a precocious Newyorican did not help much either.  Going by Geraldine was the cherry on top, pretty much handing every newly introduced east coast 18-year old the next line of the stand up.  

For weeks I thought Americans were kind of strange, for as soon as they heard my name they would break into flamboyant arm movements and their voices would go up a few octaves.  Funny people.  The language barrier did not help.  My English was classroom learned, with no reference whatsoever to slang or idiomatic expressions.

Trying to make the best out of these situations, I smiled politely and went on with my business. I learned about America mostly from dubbed Spanish T.V.  We got some shows like Sesame Street, Family Feud, Zoom, and Starsky and Hutch.  We did not ever get to meet the real Geraldine!  Apparently every kid my age loved Flip Wilson — who was busy ruining my name while I was growing up trying to get used to it!

Enter Geri.  Nobody can spell it, and half the time they think I am a he, but the days of shrieking young gringos are far behind me.

Posted in Assimilating Latina |