tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17229836279596862092026-10-02T08:35:47.759-07:00These are the meandering thoughts of a smart and competent woman. Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-39728443467674251632026-10-02T08:35:47.758-07:002026-10-02T08:35:47.759-07:00

Light is not nice, it is not polite, light is good. Over the last few months I have seen and experienced so much horror, and all of it is was because our culture of niceness and politeness allow shadows to exist until darkness takes over completely...when we see the dark, we reel in horror, but most of us have an ability to bring light to the shadow before it turns into complete darkness,

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-74482918083288751012024-10-11T16:07:00.000-07:002024-10-11T16:21:17.235-07:00

 Well folks, I have been online for a while and have never taken monetizing seriously. In the last few weeks I learned that NOVICA, one of the regular places I shop has a partner program so I decided to apply and I was approved! So going forward I will have lost of links and savings opportunities for you from them. Of course, I make a commission off of your purchases, but if all this does is

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-68825601304810210142021-09-03T06:52:00.001-07:002021-09-03T06:54:07.200-07:00

There was always an internal confidence my dad had that made me proud of him and jealous that I didn't carry. That confidence was borne from him being a man, not any man, but A MAN-a fully grown adult who didn't depend on anyone to meet his needs. Americans only conceptualize of machismo from an American masculinity lens, but machismo is a bit more complex than simply a more extreme version of

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-51978088357667140722021-08-10T13:45:00.001-07:002021-08-10T13:45:25.379-07:00

I think of 2020 as a missing year, a lost year. My friends and I often joke that 2020 just doesn't count. I have internalized that message so much that even my math is affected; between January 2016 and January 2021 there are only four years. But if I am honest with myself 2020 was not lost, it freed me and the people I work for from unnecessary restraints, it gave me the space to prioritize and

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-17437736432223548252021-06-01T09:27:00.004-07:002021-06-01T09:32:07.064-07:00

To be honest, I forgot this fruit existed. It wasn't until my mom showed up with this baby's bracelet that a bunch of memories resurfaced. We can't really remember its name, but google searches lead me to either kuru, curu, awarra, awara. I am not sure whether those words are Spanish, English, Warao, Arrowak or Carib, but they are a fruit I have never again eaten since leaving Venezuela.This is a

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-52337685270914909792021-05-09T09:25:00.007-07:002021-05-09T16:47:49.779-07:00

I woke up this morning to a baby puking on me while smiling unapologetically. For the first time her lack of inhibition worried me. This Mother's Day, I thought I'd be reflecting on being a mother for the first time and jot down some mushy words, instead, I think back to the day I walked in on my mom having greater aspirations for my daughter than she did for me. My dad raised me to thrive

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-21680751304346863872021-01-13T11:07:00.004-08:002021-01-13T11:10:01.442-08:00

 "How do you frustrate a Jew? Place him in an oval and tell him there is a dollar in the corner"---to my non-anti-semitic mind, this joke didn't make sense-how is lying to someone okay and why would it be unreasonable for them to be annoyed you lied to them? I would come to learn the joke is funny if you already knew that Jews were greedy. In a class of over 20 students, mostly Christian

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-47738260478371095272020-07-29T18:47:00.000-07:002020-07-29T18:54:54.112-07:00

I often write about my experiences as an immigrant; a series of moments of flux and transition, amusement and discord, complete openness and heavy walls. There is very little that is fixed. As I grow older though, the notion of "home" becomes stronger and stronger, increasingly fixed and solid in some ways but geographically unstable and dispersed. As I grow older and older my pangs of

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-49660676265351296782020-06-10T14:56:00.004-07:002020-06-10T17:24:06.608-07:00

This month is Immigrant Heritage Month in the United States. We are in the middle of a pandemic under an administration that loves corrupted institutions, and living with the most brazen police impunity I have ever seen in my life. As someone who is generally opinionated, I have been speechless. feeling trapped by my two worlds-its not that I don't have opinions or words, its that my two

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-85968590719855099812019-11-27T18:37:00.002-08:002019-11-27T18:42:34.259-08:00

I have been hesitant to share this thought. In some ways it reveals my naivete about past relationships, fears I have of future ones and weakness in relationships all around, However, I have had so many similar conversations with women of all ages, that I thought I would just publicize the idea however underdeveloped, because there is a young woman out there making a life decision right now and

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-19619716188378181952019-09-13T10:57:00.000-07:002019-09-13T10:57:27.092-07:00

Many years ago I was teaching an Introduction to Women's Studies course and the class was stuck on the concept of objectification. After trying unsuccessfully to explain and getting ready to call it quits, a Chicano student raised his hand to help and very clearly and concisely defined the term, providing clarity to his classmates. At the end of the class I congratulated him on doing a good job

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-73923535075043869962019-02-10T06:38:00.000-08:002019-02-10T06:38:01.819-08:00

For the first 40 years of my life I hated you. As a young child I hated that you were neither fast nor strong, as a teenager I blamed you for not having the flexibility that could get me into Julliard, as I lifted weights, I was angry you were not strong enough and as I became a lawyer I hated you for being the kind of body that helped me be a good lawyer.  I didn't just hate you for my

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-1445474617115812902018-12-05T17:33:00.002-08:002018-12-05T17:45:36.200-08:00

Historic marker and courthouse where the Scottsboro Trials were conducted I came to the United States as an overachieving teenager. I spent my first summer trying to catch up on all that was American History. I knew I would get along in Math and Sciences, but social studies and history would be what would take me from teacher's pet to just meh. I read voraciously. My concerns over history

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-81452620142595335042018-05-30T12:12:00.001-07:002018-05-30T12:12:55.177-07:00

Over the last few months I have seen several viral racist incidents where self-proclaimed white progressive liberals seemed to hijack a moment to engage with their fellow white progressive liberal peers in a form of enlightenment pissing contest, but where they did nothing to elevate people of color or address the racism. Furthermore, they seem to use these moments to generate some amount of

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-29523860429821162182018-01-16T09:26:00.000-08:002018-01-16T09:29:03.889-08:00

In reference to the Aziz Ansari situation THEM: "They are angry at her for not being the kind of woman we are, the women who own our sexuality, the women who are assertive in our boundaries, the women who enjoy sex so we communicate our needs, pleasures and distastes very clearly; but we are the bad girls, the women men don't marry, the women who teach men how to be good lovers to their wives and

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-42756440891093493282018-01-08T15:03:00.000-08:002018-01-14T05:06:28.978-08:00

I have been fortunate to have traveled several parts of the world. While on my trips, magazines aimed at tourists would indicate that most people in that country lived on less than $5.00 a day.  I saw that number many times and eventually learned that about 2.1 billion people on earth live on less than $3.10 cents a day. In the U.S. most people living on Food Stamps live on less than $

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-40110047071898734602017-10-03T08:06:00.003-07:002017-10-03T08:12:38.235-07:00

So there has been another mass shooting, and the pro-gun-control folks are already talking gun-control measures and the anti-gun control folks are talking mental health, defense of self, family and country. I am tired of this conversation. In light of what happened in Charlottesville earlier this year, and to Philando Castile last year, I know that these are just delusions of grandeur chatter

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-74036116464883167042017-08-28T12:37:00.001-07:002017-08-28T12:37:48.468-07:00

I was raised far away from "government" in Venezuela. What that meant is that government employees, including law enforcement, could act with impunity because there was no one to report to and there was no one supervising. Growing up "impunidad" was a word you heard all the time, don't talk to the police because they can can act with "impunidad." Impunidad: Impunity- without consequence. Knowing

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-90672889486498512392017-08-01T14:15:00.001-07:002017-08-04T08:48:32.542-07:00

Every day I look out of my back door and stare at two beautiful Pine trees. Those who don't know their histories see two well-formed plants that cast shadows, clean air and house neighborhood critters. I, on the other hand, see missed opportunities. Only after looking at what was lost among those trees could I begin to conceptualize how much good has been removed from the human experience due

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-79463853617998376662017-07-20T12:41:00.000-07:002017-07-20T13:00:24.629-07:00

I remember being a young adult and cramming into a van with 26 other people: this van was designed to hold only nine. Had I been wealthier, I could have gotten on a nicer and safer bus, but I was not wealthy and had to get home ASAP. I hated my country for things like that and loved America because America had nice buses, no overcrowded bus. I had been on American buses and trains while on

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-18952553419661608132017-07-10T17:38:00.000-07:002017-07-10T17:38:10.626-07:00

I didn't know I was fat until I came to the U.S. Up to that point, if clothes didn't look good on me, it was because the tailor didn't know what they were doing....after that point, my body has always been wrong for not being able to fit into clothes.

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-25430002863553548532017-07-10T11:42:00.001-07:002017-07-10T11:42:33.171-07:00

Person 1: My biggest mistake in life is not being born hot Person 2: You don't have to be born hot, you could spend enough money to become hot Person 1: My biggest mistake in life then is not being born rich enough to afford hotness

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-63078198149093394592017-07-08T18:33:00.001-07:002017-07-08T18:33:39.403-07:00

I have to admit I was hesitant to watch this movie. Beatriz at Dinner was presented as a movie about a Mexican immigrant at a dinner party where she encounters a series of microaggressions and deals powerfully with them. You would think I would be down with the powerful part of this, but I am just tired, as a professional Latina woman, I deal with these stereotypes all the time and didn't want to

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-21739884357796696342017-07-06T19:36:00.000-07:002017-07-06T19:42:30.299-07:00

This weekend on what would be Canada Day and later turn into the 4th of July, I went to Niagara Falls. It was my second time visiting. I have no recollection of the first time. I just know that the first time I was not a U.S. Citizen and this time I was. The first time was in the early 80's when the Canadian government welcomed immigrants with a lot of hostility, this time it was the U.S.

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1722983627959686209.post-41643588493377216382017-06-28T09:06:00.003-07:002017-06-28T09:06:33.617-07:00

I have traveled quite a bit in my life, and one of the things I have learned over time is that the only people who take pride in their "heritage's" purported knack for drinking are people with alcohol addiction. The story goes something like this: Don't you think you have had enough to drink? Are you kidding me? I am Irish, this is what we do! Are you kidding me? I am German, this is what we

Modern Ifigeniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168557069136862158noreply@blogger.com0