Elisa Bermudez

Portfolio 2012

2012-01-05T11:54:00.003-05:00

For more photos click here.

The Mummers

2012-01-01T21:41:00.000-05:00

For more photos click here.

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr6igHZV-zY

Abstraction

2011-12-02T13:09:00.001-05:00

For more photos click here.

Occupy Philadelphia - About Two Months Later

2011-11-19T14:24:00.001-05:00

https://picasaweb.google.com/113511599253863697987/OccupyPhiladelphiaAMonthLater

Recognition received from 2011 International Loupe Awards

2011-11-10T17:34:00.001-05:00

The International Loupe Awards, based in Sidney, Australia, recently recognized two of my photos (see Photo 1 and Photo 2) and granted me a Bronze Award in the Amateur Category.

The photo is part of a documentary series I have been working on about Occupy Wall Street, an exceptional social movement similar to the anti-war protests during the Vietnam War. As a photographer who lives near Philadelphia, I think it is a unique opportunity, and a privilege, to witness such rise in discontent with the government and the corporate establishment.

Many of the protesters in Philadelphia, the USA, and the so-called indignados demonstrations around the world, which began in Spain and have spread as far as Greece and Israel, are finally shaking up the basic financial and social structure in which most of us grew up. Such system has been unfair, insensitive and denigrating of human rights.

With these photos I only hope to inform the public about the actors who participate in protests locally and be a vehicle of the message they're trying to get across. However, my intention is not to be biased and take a side, on the contrary, I will still try to remain critical of OWS and Occupy Philadelphia. In fact, as much as I respect the movement and admire its participant, I see a grim future for the United States. I am afraid that the amount of power corporations have is so much greater than the US government that at this point we can stop saying that we live in a democracy. Instead, it has become clear that what we have is a right-wing dictatorship hidden behind most of our elected officials. Under these circumstances, it would be easy for the government and large corporations to ignored any signs of discontent and even to try to silence it discreetly. An example of this is the excuse that a group of democrats in the Senate - note I said democrats, not republicans - opposed Obama's job bill because they didn't want to increase taxes on the wealthy and large corporations (feel free to do a web search on this, it was all over the news). Given such depressive scenario, I'm even more frighten to think how people may react if they are truly cornered.

And yet, there's seem to be light at the end of the tunnel. For instance, I haven't seen any demonstrations in Philadelphia against the Occupy movement, social reform, and social democracy. I would be happy to document their outcry too... But such demonstration hasn't showed up yet and I am not sure that they ever will. As far as I know, there's simply no other movement that opposes OWS or has a different view, instead many people have joined the movement or support it in one way or the other. It so happens that the current socio-economic situation and political climate, nationally and globally, have touched many lives at a personal level regardless of creed, color of skin, social status, political tendencies, or personal opinions.

Documenting this social movement through photographs is my contribution to Occupy Philadelphia, a movement that goes beyond a simple ideology and is trying to rescue the basic needs human beings have a right to in order to subsist.

Thank you Occupy Philadelphia and OWS for the enormous work and risks your are taking for the rest of us.

Occupy Philadelphia - The March

2011-10-15T11:59:00.000-04:00

https://picasaweb.google.com/113511599253863697987/OccupyPhiladelphiaTheMarch

See the video:

Occupy Philadelphia

2011-10-07T14:11:00.003-04:00

https://picasaweb.google.com/113511599253863697987/OccupyPhiladelphia#

See videos below:

The Gathering - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4schKWtY-Qs

The People - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N73eQJh60zA

The Music - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lk9rSNgY2g

Diálogo 365, Freedom, Liberty and Independence (2011)

2011-10-05T13:22:00.004-04:00

ENGLISH VERSION

VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL

Produced by Vanessa Briceño. Images by Jesús Rincón. Voice-over courtesy of Mónica Rodrigo

Philadelphia's Dominican Parade

2011-10-03T21:45:00.001-04:00

https://picasaweb.google.com/113511599253863697987/PhiladelphiaSDominicanParade#

Philadelphia's Puerto Rican Parade - 2011

2011-09-28T22:38:00.001-04:00

https://picasaweb.google.com/113511599253863697987/PuertoRicanDayParade2011

Delayed Book Reviews

2011-09-16T17:49:00.000-04:00

I have put aside my usual book reviews for far too long. There's no schedule for book reviews, like anything else on this blog, but I used to write a couple of paragraphs once in while about the books I was reading. I actually stopped doing this after I read "Middlesex;" no book has left me so impressed with its honesty before, I think I had to digest it for several months before I wrote anything about it. It is one of the best books I have read, the best book given to me by my a dear friend of mine, so far, and the best on the subject of sexuality and relationships. Do not expect erotic scenes, however, as this books goes far beyond the physical pleasure of sex, it goes head-on into the deep and natural duality of gender identity we all share, whether you want to accept it or not, and the complexity of relationships (or rather how we make it complicate it).

I won't be able to write much on "Middlesex" and other books I have read recently because they are too many. I rather provide you with excerpts from each and perhaps a brief commentary.

Enjoy it!

MIDDLESEX

by Jeffrey Eugenides

www.amazon.com

I translated the menu for Julie as we ordered. Out came the platter of boiled beef, the bowls of gravy and red cabbage, the knodels as big as softballs. We talked about Berlin and the differences between European countries. Julie told me a Barcelona story of getting locked in the Parque Guell with her boyfriend after visiting hours. Here it comes, I though. The first ex-boyfriend had been summoned. Soon the rest would follow. They would file around the table, presenting their deficiencies, telling of their addictions, their cheating hearts. After that, I would be called on to present my own ragged gallery. And here is where my first dates go wrong. I lack sufficient data. I don’t have it in quite the bulk a man of my years should have. Women sense this and a strange, questioning look comes into their eyes. And already I am retreating from them before dessert has been served…

But that didn’t happen with Julie. The boyfriend popped up in Barcelona and then was gone. None followed. This was surely because there weren’t any. This was because Julie isn’t husband-hunting. So she didn’t have to interview me for the job.

I like Julie Kikuchi. I like her a lot.

And so I have my usual questions. What does she want from? How would she reach if? Should I tell her that? No. Too soon. We haven’t even kissed. And right now, I’ve got another romance to concentrate on.

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Chapter Eleven was hiding from this discovery, hiding behind windowpane, hiding on the top of elevators, hiding in the bed of Meg Zemka with her multiple O’s and bad teeth, Meg Zemka who hissed in his ear while they made love, “Forget your family, man! They’re bourgeois pigs! Your dad’s an exploiter, man! Forget ‘em. They’re dead, man. Dead. This is what’s real. Right here. Come and get it, baby!”

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“Won’t that make you paranoid?” I said.

“No.”

“I thought you told me pot always makes you paranoid.”

“Not when I’m out in nature,” said the Object. She gave me a hard look. Then she took another toke.

“Don’t bogart it,” said Jerome. He got up to take the joint from her. He smoked half-standing, and then turned and held it out to me. I looked at the joint. One end burned; the other was mashed and wet. I had an idea that this was all part of the boy’s plan, the woods, the shack, the cots, the drugs, the sharing of saliva. Here’s a question I still can’t answer: Did I see through the male tricks because I was destined to scheme that way myself? Or do girls see through the tricks, too, and just pretend not to notice?

THE SOUL OF A DOG

by Jon Katz

Jon Katz
http://www.thebookloft.com/event/john-katz-reads-his-new-book

Definitely not one of my favorite books. There's no plot, no beginning, no end, no climax, there's just no structure. Katz simply ponders on the question "Do dogs have souls?", a very interesting question to answer. If you are someone like me, a dog-lover, then you will sympathize with Katz. But all of you out there who share no spiritual connection with nature and the animal kingdom, skip this review and the book please.

She’s not the sweetest dog, not the kind most people want. She doesn’t live to show me unconditional love; I doubt she could care less about making a sick person feel better, or charming a small child. Rose is a working dog, the kind bred to perform tasks with humans.

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No dog has affected more my life than Rose, or done more to make my life possible each day. No dog has brought me more joy than Leonore. No dog has introduced me to deep human relationships, or woven himself more thoroughly into my life, than Izzy has.

Every dog is unique, and so is our relationship with him or her. We each know our dog in a different way, in the context of how we live or work with them, what they mean to us, how our lives have shaped our perceptions of them. If no two dogs are exactly alike, neither is there a universal relationship with them.

One of the wonders of the human-dog experience, often lost in generalizations from gurus and “experts,” is that each relationship is one of individual experience and meaning.

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There’s a part of each animal on my farm that I don’t understand, another dimension.

I can’t fathom how Rose grasps the life of the farm so intuitively, seeming to recognize what needs to be done; I puzzle over whether the judgment she makes are based on instinct or reason.

Does Elvis actually understand how humans work, or is he just so appealing and good-natured a creature that we see in him what we wished?

EVA LUNA (in Spanish)

by Isabel Allende

As you will see in this series of reviews, I am a die-hard fan of Isabel Allende's books. It is impossible to describe what you feel when you read her books, it is a strange connection to the story she tells and, unlike some of her critics, her work is not "feministic" writing. It is, instead, very sympathetic of the human condition, men and women alike. Her books being label "feministic" is simply how modern, Western society interprets her writing today - I wonder what future generations would say, or what today's third-world, abused men and women think of her stories. An excerpt of an interview with Allende included in the book can be found below; it explains why she mostly writes about women and children, it makes sense to be because I happen to agree with her about the subject and process of one's writing ability.

www.vivirlatino.com

Sólo Elvira se ocupada de mí, me obligaba a comer, me enseñaba los oficios de la casa, me aliviaba las tareas más pesadas. Pasábamos horas conversando y contándonos cuentos. En esa época comenzaron algunas de sus excentricidades, como el odio irracional a los extranjeros de pelo rubio o a las cucarachas, a las cuales combatía con todas las armas a su alcance, desde cal viva hasta escobazos. En cambio no dijo nada cuando descubrió que yo le ponía comida a los ratones y cuidaba las crías para que no las devoraran los gatos.

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Hay que ser bien macho, decía Naranjo. Era su muletilla, basadas en unos atributos masculinos que en nada diferían de los otros muchachos, pero que él ponía a prueba midiéndose el pene con un metro de costurera o demostrando la presión del chorro de la orina, como supe mucho más tarde, cuando él mismo se burlaba de esos métodos. Para entonces alguien le había informado que el tamaño de aquello no es prueba irrefutable de virilidad. De todos modos, sus ideas sobre la hombría estaban arraigadas desde la infancia y todo lo que experimento después, todas las batallas y las pasiones, todos los encuentros y los debates, todas las rebeliones y las derrotas, no bastaron para hacerlo cambiar de opinión

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Se trataba de una viuda nacida en Yugoslavia, que hablaba un español tosco y cocinaba platos complicados. Había descubierto una formula de la Materia Universal, como llamaba modestamente a una mezcla de papel periódico remojado en agua, harina vulgar y cemento dental, con la cual fabricaba una masa gris que mientras estaba húmeda era maleable y al secarse adquiría una consistencia pétrea…

CUENTOS DE EVA LUNA (in Spanish)

by Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende
(http://www.lalibreriadejavier.com/?p=1358)

All of the excerpts below are shocking to me because they all seem to be descriptions about places and historical facts that occurred in my homecountry, Venezuela. If I ever have a chance to meet Allende, I would definitely like to ask her if she was describing some of the typical places and famous leaders of Venezuela. Allende fled to Venezuela and live there for 13 years, after General Augusto Pinochet became Chile's dictator in the 1970s.

Encontramos una vivienda en La Colonia, una extraña aldea incrustada en un cerro tropical, réplica de algún villorrio bávaro del siglo diecinueve, un desvarío arquitectónico de casa de madera pintada, relojes de cucú, macetas de geranios y avisos con letras góticas, habitadas por una raza de gente rubia con los mismos trajes tiroleses y mejillas rubicundas que sus abuelos trajeron al emigrar de la Selva Negra. Aunque ya entonces La Colonia era la atracción turística que hoy es, Roberto pudo alquilar una propiedad aislada donde no llegaba el tráfico de los fines de semana.

There's a town about an hour away from Caracas (depending on traffic) called La Colonia Tovar that was founded in 1843 by German immigrants.

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La gente del lugar se enorgullece de llevar algunas gotas de sangre de aquellos seres invisibles, en medio del torrente mezclado de pirata inglés, de soldado español, de esclavo africano, de aventurero en busca de El Dorado y después de cuanto inmigrante atinó a llegar por esos lados con su alforja al hombro y la cabeza llena de ilusiones.

Couldn't be a better description of the modern Venezuelan.

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Europa consumía más café, cacao y bananas de lo que podíamos producir, pero toda esa demanda no nos trajo bonanza, seguimos siendo tan pobres como siempre. La situación dio un vuelco cuando un negro de la costa clavó un pico en el suelo para hacer un pozo y le saltó un chorro de petróleo en la cara. Hacia el final de la Primera Guerra Mundial se había propagado la idea de que éste era un país próspero, aunque casi todos sus habitantes todavía arrastraban los pies en el barro. En realidad el oro solo llenaba las arcas del Benefactor y de su séquito, pero cabía la esperanza de que algún día rebasaría algo para el pueblo. Se cumplían dos décadas de democracia totalitaria, como llamaba el Presidente Vitalicio a su gobierno, durante los cuales todo asomo de subversión había sido aplastado, para su mayor gloria. En la capital se veían síntomas de progreso, coches a motor, cinematógrafos, heladerías, un hipódromo y un teatro donde se presentaban espectáculos traídos de Nueva York o de París. Cada día atracaban en el puerto decenas de barcos que llevaban el petróleo y otros que traían novedades, pero el resto del territorio continuaba sumido en una modorra de siglos.

Again, it's another way of describing Venezuela between the late 19th century, when it depended on agriculture and was still recovering from the Federal Wars, and the early 20th century when oil was discover, which at the time was label "black gold."

ZORRO (in Spanish too… kidding! This one is in English J)

By Isabel Allende

The grandmother filled the young boys’ head with myth and legends of her people; she cleansed their hearts with the smoke of sweet grass she used in her ceremonies and took them with her to pick magical plants. As soon as they were able to stand firmly on their two feet and hold a stick, she had the braves teach them to fight. They learned to fish with sharpened wands, and to hunt. She gave each of them a whole deerskin, complete with head and horns, to wear during the hunt; that was how they would stalk a deer. They waited, motionless, until their prey wandered near, and then shot their arrows.

______________________________________________________________________________

Excerpts of an interview with Isabel Allende.

How were you approached to write a novel about Zorro? What was your reaction?

When the owners of the character’s copyrights – Zorro Productions – came to my house in August 2003 and asked me to write a novel about the masked avenger I felt a little offended. “I’m a serious writer, I don’t write on commission,” was my first reaction. But then I thought it over and… well, the rest is history.

Does writing each book change you?

Writing is a process, a journey into memory and the soul. Why do I write only about certain themes and certain characters? Because they are part of my life, part of myself, they are aspects of me that I need to explore and understand.

You loved science fiction as an adolescent. Do you think it inspired your love of creating other worlds?

Science fiction reinforced the idea – planted by my grandmother – that the universe is very strange and complex. Everything is possible and we know very little. My mind and my heart are open to the mystery.

Master Thesis

2011-09-01T09:19:00.003-04:00

At long last! A full-text, online version of my thesis on press freedom and Venezuela is available:

http://iris.lib.neu.edu/journ_theses/4/

El Léxico de Mi Abuela

2011-08-17T15:55:00.005-04:00

Abuelo Manolo y Abuela Hilda

Durante nuestra niñez los padres son ejemplos a seguir, para bien o para mal. Pero aparte de nuestros papás dentro de nuestra familia siempre se encuentra uno con personajes que igual cumplen con esa misma tarea paternal o maternal (un tío, los abuelos, una prima).

En mi caso concreto, mi abuela materna jugó un papel muy importante. Como todas las abuelas ella es alcahueta y a la vez disciplinadora. Por eso una vez para Navidad le regalamos uno de eso letreritos de madera con una frase escrita, generalmente un proverbio o un chiste. A mi abuela le regalamos un letrero, el cual ella muy orgullosamente todavía tiene colgado en su cocina, que dice:

“Cuando mamá dice ‘¡no!’, llama al 800-ABUELA”

Es realmente durante nuestra vida adulta cuando comprendemos y apreciamos la presencia de este tipo de personas en nuestras vidas, es cuando comienzas a añorar, por ejemplo, esos manerismos del lenguaje de los abuelos. Su manera de comunicarse, en especial con los nietos, obviamente refleja la generación a la que pertenecen pero también su personalidad, sentimientos y pensamientos. Lo interesante y cómico del asunto es la intuición que uno desarrolla de niño para interpretar el mensaje codificado en esas palabras de nuestros abuelos.

He aquí el significado y/o traducciones de las palabras célebres de mi abuela, más su significado original según la Real Academia Española:

“Penacha”

Significa, en el mundo de mi abuela, “pedazo”. Recién me confesó por teléfono que fue un pequeño poema que se le ocurrió cuando niña, y yo siempre creí que lo había sacado de algún poema… ¡Me salió poeta la viejita! Ese poema nos los recitaba a todos sus nietos cuando niños y aun no los dice, no importa que ya seamos trentones:

Mi penachito de sol

Mi penachito de nube

Mi penachito de estrella

“Machachita”

Es simplemente una manera de jugar con las palabras, “baby talk” como le dicen en inglés. De igual manera, no importa que ya seamos adultos, todavía de vez en cuando nos llama así, “machachita.” Esta palabra y la anterior son simplemente expresiones de cariño.

Abuela Hilda

“¡Que sinpena!”

Aunque no sale en la Real Academia Española, cosa que tanto a mí como a mi abuela nos sabe a canato e’ parcha, es sustituto de “¡que sinvergüenza!”

“¡Mira, carajita!”

Expresión que claramente nos indica que está hablando en serio, probablemente un regaño es inminente.

“¿¡Y esto que significa!?”

Con esta expresión no nos queda la menor duda que la abuela viene a regañar, no es como la anterior que es más una advertencia. Generalmente la aplicaba cuando uno hizo algo que no debía haber hecho, como romper algún adorno de la sala por estar jugando al escondite.

“Te participo…”

Cuando comienza sus frases de esta manera es una advertencia de que te está hablando en serio, sin mamadera e’ gallo.

“Porque me e’ la gana” o “porque no me da la gana”

Acto de rebeldía único de mi abuela que se le ha exacerbado con los años. Recientemente descubrí que la única otra mujer de edad avanzada que se atreve a hablar de esta manera es la famosa cantante mexicana Chavela Vargas.

La abuela generalmente aplica este término cuando se reúsa a que la vea un médico. A veces nos recuerda que el único hombre que alguna vez en su vida pudo hacerla cambiar de opinión (mi abuelo) ya se murió, que ella ya está viejita y entonces ahora puede hacer “lo que le da la gana.”

“¡¡¡Que embustera!!!”

Esto es un fenómeno cuyo origen no he logrado descubrir pero sospecho que tiene que ver con la conexión espiritual entre una madre y sus hijos, así como también entre una abuela y sus nietos.

Ambas, mi madre y mi abuela, tiene capacidades telepáticas. La primera puede adivinar con una impresionante precisión lo que uno piensa o siente sin que uno diga una sola palabra. Y a la segunda no se le puede decir mentiras porque las agarra en el acto, ¡hasta por el teléfono! Es como si las dos poseyeran las famosas antenitas de vinil del Chapulín. Y pues mi abuela rompe las mentiras con ésta frase: “¡¡¡Que embustera!!!”

“¡Que lavativa tan seria!”

Sustituto de, “¡que vaina tan seria!” Esto simplemente es indicativo de estar molesta o fastidiada con algo o alguien, generalmente del área socio-económica o política de Venezuela, y mejor ni se les ocurra tocarle ese tema a mi abuela pues ella es historia viva. Después de luchar clandestinamente para derrocar la dictadura de Marcos Pérez Jiménez en los años 50, a mi abuela le debe doler en el alma ser testigo del declive del país gracias a la ineptitud, negligencia y más corruptela del gobierno de Hugo Chávez.

La abuela y yo (de un año de edad)

“¡De perla!” o “¡De perla fina!”

Algo que está perfecto, bien hecho, maravilloso. Ósea, está contenta.

"¡Ni a balazo!"

Sustito de "¡ni de vaina" o el más coloquial "¡ni a punta e' pistola!" Es simplemente una manera de decir que ni a la fuerza la obligan a hacer algo.

“Mira, machachita, pásame el bicho pa’ bichar el pan.”

(Traducción: “Mira, machachita, pásame el cuchillo pa’ cortar el pan”).

Esta manera de hablar fue denominada por mis tíos como “bichología.”

En realidad el uso del término “bicho” es muy común en Venezuela. Les aclaro a mis colegas boricuas que el término en Venezuela significa “insecto” u “objeto,” no tiene el mismo significado que en Puerto Rico. Lo explico para evitar malinterpretaciones.

Por supuesto, con el paso de los años hay ciertas palabras que uno usa como muletillas, la de mi abuela es “bicho” o “bichar.”

Pero así como ella tiene su manera de hablar, sus palabras, frases y proverbios, también lo tenemos nosotros.

Mi hermana, por ejemplo, saluda por teléfono a mi abuela de la siguiente manera:

“Ola’buela’endicion”

(Traducción: Hola abuela, bendición).

Pedir la bendición pareciera ser algo típico del venezolano, nunca he escuchado a ningún otro Latinoamericano pedirle la bendición a sus papás, abuelos, tíos, o padrino/madrina.

Mi bisabuela

También está mi bisabuela quien tenía unos proverbios buenísimos. Quizás de todos sus proverbios el que más me impresiona es el siguiente:

“Tan tranquilo que vive uno sabiendo que se va a morir”

Por último, antes de publicar esta nota consulté con mi abuela a ver si no se me había olvidado nada y me contestó, indignada y sorprendida de que se me olvidara una de sus palabras más famosas, “¡Te falto ‘parapeto’!”

“Parapeto”

Para mi abuela “parapeto” quiere decir algo mal hecho o un mamarracho. Por ejemplo, si ella ve a un hombre vestido tipo hippie (de pelo largo, zarcillos, barbudo, con tatuajes, de jeans y camiseta) eso es un parapeto. O peor, mi abuela si se tropieza con un chamo vestido a lo malandro moderno (pantalones debajo de las nalgas mostrando los interiores, cadenas de oro más grande que él, gorra de beisbol volteada a lo rapero y un tumbao’ al caminar) horrorizada diría, “¿¡y ese parapeto!?”

SlutWalk - Philadelphia

2011-08-16T21:30:00.001-04:00

The coming of the New Millennium in the 1990s had brought a chance for hope, perhaps just the same feeling of renewal and second-chances we get with every New Year's, except that at the time it was a big deal because it was the beginning of a new era, some would call it the Age of Aquarius. One of the expectations for the next 1,000 year was that of progress in all aspects of life... again, just the way we feel with every new chapter in our life.

And yet we sometimes get heartbroken when we still encounter cowardly, archaic and ignorant comments (or actions) such the words uttered by Toronto police officer, Constable Michael Sanguinetti, when impliying that sexual assault could be prompted by the way someone is dressed. What makes it more shocking is the fact that this happened in Canada, a country that's perceived to be among the most progressive, open-minded and welcoming in the world (even more than the USA currently is).

Here's a quote from The Huffington Post:

"...Michael Sanguinetti thought he was offering the key to rape prevention. 'I'm not supposed to say this,' he told a group of students at an Osgoode Hall Law School safety forum on January 24, but to prevent being sexually assaulted, 'Avoid dressing like sluts.'” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/20/slutwalk-united-states-city_n_851725.html)

Of course, this doesn't seem at all to be the true character of Canadians and in fact outraged many in the country to the point of organizing a demonstration - called SlutWalk - against not just words, but a particularly disturbing attitude from a public official.

The demonstration became a movement that resonated around the world with everyone, women and men alike.

On August 6th, SlutWalk came to Philadelphia. As a photographer I didn't want to miss the opportunity of photographing a unique and meaningful event. From a visual point of view, you would have never dreamed of photographing a large group of people dressed as sluts in broad daylight - unless you happen to be in New York City like I was last week when, out of the blue, a middle-age woman goes down biking on 9th Avenue... well, dressed like a slut (high heels included). The other reason why I personally sympathized with the demonstration was not for being a woman, as I'm sure many of you would assume, but because the level of injustice: blaming the victim. In this particular case, putting the blame on the victim's way of dressing or appearance, and this isn't applicable just to women. To me that's just another form of discrimination.

So here it is, the photos from SlutWalk - Philadelphia: https://picasaweb.google.com/113511599253863697987/SlutWalkPhiladelphia

The Middle East in Spanish

2011-07-13T17:14:00.003-04:00

http://www.swiga.com/blog/catalog.asp?cate=23

After the Iraqi invasion in 2003, some Iraqis protested the presence of American troops, perhaps afraid that they would just supplant one autocracy for another. As we were watching the images of the protests, someone said, “They look like us.”

“Us” meant Latinos.

Unlike most people, particularly in the United States, when I say “Latino” I usually like to include those who ignored from this definition: they are Spaniards, French, Italians, Portuguese and Rumanians. The stereotype of the word “Latino” usually excludes all non-Spanish speaking Latin Americans and completely forgets about Southern Europe which is, ironically, where the concept originated. In fact, Latino and Hispanic are often perceived as one and the same; to clarify Latinos are those whose heritage comes from a country where the native language is one of the Romance languages, which originate from Latin, and Hispanics are Spanish-speakers – it’s that simple.

But the subject of this blog post is located in two specific regions: Ibero-America and the Middle East. Ibero-America meaning Spain, Portugal and their former colonies in Latin America.

Indeed, Latinos and people from the Middle East have a lot in common, beyond mere physical appearance. Middle Eastern influence specifically over today’s Ibero-America is rooted in a long history that began with the Arab invasion of southern Spain and North Africa, better known as al-Andalus, and the invasion of southeast Europe by the Ottoman Empire. Consequently, Middle Eastern heritage settled in Spain and was quietly carried to Latin America during the Spanish Conquista. In 1492, al-Andalus gave up its control over the Emirate of Granada to Queen Isabel of Castilla; after bumping into such important piece of information I can’t stop thinking what we, Latin-Americans, would be like if Christopher Columbus’s voyage had been financed with money from al-Andalus instead of Queen Isabel.

http://www.cuandoerachamo.com/algebra-de-baldor-el-libro-del-algebra-de-baldor

This is why one might see similarities between the two cultures. For instance, the use of lime, olive oil and garlic are common in both regions. Latin American music is obviously influenced by Middle Eastern culture – in addition to European, African and native Indian musical styles. All we have to do is look at string instruments such as the Cuban tres, or the more obvious influences such as the Spanish guitar, the wardrobe of flamenco dancers, and even the singing style in flamenco resembles that of Islamic and Jewish chants.

But perhaps the greatest Middle Eastern influence in Ibero-America is through the Spanish language. The three main Middle Eastern languages – Arab, Hebrew and Persian – can be found mixed with Latin and Greek in today’s modern Spanish.

According to various sources, the Spanish language contains approximately 4,000 words rooted in Arabic. These are some examples:

Almohada, almacén, albañil, alcaldía, aceite, oliva, baño, barrio, bata, café, carcajada, chisme, dado, embarazar, fetua, fideo, fulano, harén, hasta, ¡hola!, jabalí, jaqueca, jinete, Guadalajara, lima, limón, macabro, marfil, máscara, naranja, ¡olé!, paraíso, real, redoma, rehén, rincón.

To my surprise, we continue repeating an expression we have assumed to be 100% Spanish – it is really Arabic:

¡Ojalá! – Inshallah (وشاء الل). It means, “God willing.”

I bet you hadn’t noticed!

There is something even more obvious than that. Latino names such as Juan, Pedro, Mateo, José, etc., even my own name, are Jewish. The struggles of various empires to control the Middle East, particularly today’s Israel and its surroundings, resulted in Christians adopting the name of their Jewish ancestors and arrived in Ibero-America known as “Christian names” or typically Latino names.

http://www.travelnotes.org/MiddleEast/index.htm

Persian has had less influence in the Spanish language, but rather it is found in other cultural aspects of Ibero-America and beyond. And yet, we can find Persian words in Spanish such as bazar, which means a popular or public market.

Rather than language, Persian culture’s most significant contribution seems to be in mathematics, science and technology. Those who studied algebra in high school with Aurelio Baldor’s book – a famous Cuban math teacher – would remember that the book cover was the drawing of a mysterious man wearing a turban (looking a lot like Osama Bin Laden). That man was Al-Khwarizmi, a Persian scientist who specialized in mathematics, astronomy and geography and lived between 780 and 850. Persian culture contributed enormously to almost all modern civilizations, not exclusively to Ibero-America or North Africa.

It is always interesting to study languages, cultures, origins because through them we find evidence of unconscious connections among remote and isolated societies. And yet, sometimes these findings are used not to united but to divide, to justify war and conflict. As a global community, we often fail to recognize that there is no such a thing as a pure and unique culture, they’re all overlapped by one another.

The world now has shrunk thanks to telecommunications, so human interaction occurs more often and faster than ever before. We, humans, unconsciously and collectively adopt and discard elements of other cultures and our own, we adapt to other cultures and others adapt to ours, and we communicate is such way across cultures and generations. If you think about it, this is just one more prove that culturally and physically we are hybrids, there's no such a thing - there has never been - as a pure human race or culture.

In that sense, Spanish speakers have unconsciously preserved words of Arabic, Hebrew and Persian origin because back then it was practical matter to communicate in such way and it also represents the time that once our ancestors lived in. Likewise, today we have adopted many words in English because of technology. Most devices and software are created in the United States and English is today's lingua franca. Hence, it is natural that non-English speakers use words in English instead of translating them into their native tongues. Often times, when you cannot translate a way of thinking you are obligated to use the original term. Translation and interpretation is not about literally finding the correct words or phrases in another language, it is about communicating thoughts and ideas from one world to another. There are simply certain things that can’t be translated; that’s why our ancestors instead of translating words from Arabic to Spanish, they adopted them and eventually became part of Spanish. This is, of course, an intuitive process, it can’t be invented in a laboratory the way Esperanto was created.

Today we are going through exactly the same process thanks to technology, which also shows how language has been and will always be the element of society that reflects its own psyche.

4th of July

2011-07-06T00:47:00.000-04:00

See more at: https://picasaweb.google.com/113511599253863697987/4thOfJuly

El Medio Oriente - En Español

2011-06-10T17:49:00.019-04:00

http://www.travelnotes.org/MiddleEast/index.htm

Después de la invasión de Irak en el año 2003, varios ciudadanos Iraquíes protestaron la presencia de las tropas Americanas por temor a que fuesen a suplantar una autocracia por otra. Viendo las imágenes en la televisión alguien comentó, “se parecen a nosotros,” refiriéndose a los latinos. Nótese que al decir “latinos” no me refiero exclusivamente a los latinoamericanos o hispanoparlantes, también incluyo a los españoles, franceses, italianos, portugueses y rumanos quienes habitan la región donde nació la cultura latina. Sin embargo el tema de este post es sobre dos regiones específicas: Iberoamérica y el Medio Oriente.

En efecto, los nativos de ambas regiones se parecen en muchas cosas, no solo físicamente. La influencia cultural del Medio Oriente en la Iberoamérica de hoy en día tiene una larga historia que se origina con la invasión árabe del sur de España y el Norte de Africa, conocido como al-Ándalus, y el Imperio Otomano al sureste de Europa. Por su parte, el al-Ándalus dejó una muy marcada herencia en la Península Ibérica, la cual fue sigilosamente arrastrada a Latinoamérica durante la colonización española. Como dato curioso, el al-Ándalus cedió su reinado sobre el Emirato de Granada, lo poco que le quedaba de lo que hoy conocemos como España, en el año 1492 a la Reina Isabel de Castilla. Después de tropezarme con tal sorpresa, no puedo resistir imaginarme qué sería del latinoamericano moderno si Cristóbal Colón hubiese financiado su viaje con dinero del al-Ándalus y no de la Reina Isabel.

Es por eso que entre ambas regiones hay tantas similitudes. La comida por ejemplo, el uso del limón, aceite de oliva y ajo. La música, el tres cubano y otra variedad de instrumentos de cuerda latinoamericanos, no más fíjese en la guitarra española, el vestido de los bailaores, y hasta la manera de cantar flamenco es muy similar a los cantos de textos sagrados en las religiones islámica y judía.

Pero quizás la influencia más grande del Medio Oriente específicamente en Iberoamérica ha sido a través del idioma español. Los tres idiomas principales del Medio Oriente – árabe, hebreo y persa – se pueden encontrar convergidos con el latín y el griego en el español moderno.

Según varias fuentes, el español contiene aproximadamente 4.000 palabras derivadas del árabe. Aquí están algunos ejemplos:

Para mi sorpresa todos nosotros repetimos una y otra vez una expresión que asumimos que es español, cuando su origen es árabe:

¡Ojalá! – Inshallah (وشاء الل). Traducido quiere decir, “Si Dios quiere.”

¡A que no se habían dado cuenta!

Y algo todavía más obvio y común son los nombres que denominamos “latinos.” Nombres muy bíblicos como Juan, Pedro, Mateo, Gabriel, Daniel, etc., son nombres judíos. Claro, el forcejeo de varios imperios por controlar el vasto territorio del Medio Oriente por tanto tiempo, particularmente lo que hoy en día es Israel y sus alrededores, dio como resultado que los cristianos adoptaran nombres judíos y al llegar a Iberoamérica fueron etiquetados como nombres latinos.

El persa ha tenido menos impacto en el español. Sin embargo, en el español conseguimos palabras como “bazar” - significa mercado popular o mercado público - las cuales se originan del la región Persa, región que ha tenido más influencia en materia cultural que en lingüística. Sin embargo, quizás la contribución más grande para la historia y civilización humana por parte del imperio Persa fue en matemáticas y ciencias. Aquellos que estudiaron algebra en bachillerato con el libro de Baldor, se acordaran del portarretrato de un señor con un turbante (que se parece Osama Bin Laden); pues en el mismo libro sale el nombre de tan misterioso señor: Al-Juarismi. Fue un científico especializado en matemáticas, astronomía, y geografía de origen persa/musulmán que vivió aproximadamente entre 780 y 850. Muchos de éstos son aspectos culturales universales, es decir, la influencia de antiguos imperios del Medio Oriente dejó una herencia muy grande alrededor del globo terráqueo, no fue exclusivamente en Latinoamérica, el Sur de Europa o el Norte de África.

Es siempre interesante estudiar tanto los idiomas como las culturas, sus orígenes. Es a través de éstos estudios, los cuales a veces se interpretan para crear diferencias y justificar conflictos, que encontramos evidencia de las conexiones tácitas entre las culturas alrededor del mundo, es decir, no existe una cultura pura o única, todas han sido mezcladas y/o influenciadas por las hazañas y descubrimientos de otros, por sus tradiciones y folclore. En un mundo que se ha vuelto pequeño y más cercano gracias a las telecomunicaciones, dicha interacción sucede más frecuentemente y más rápido. Es y siempre ha sido un proceso inconciente y colectivo y el idioma siempre es y seguirá siendo la expresión sutil de nuestra psique social.

http://www.cuandoerachamo.com/algebra-de-baldor-el-libro-del-algebra-de-baldor

The Markets

2011-05-29T21:20:00.000-04:00

https://picasaweb.google.com/113511599253863697987/TheMarkets#

Flowers, trees, and other plants

2011-05-01T18:13:00.002-04:00

https://picasaweb.google.com/113511599253863697987/FlowersTreesAndOtherPlants#

Cherry Blossom Festival

2011-04-11T22:23:00.001-04:00

https://picasaweb.google.com/113511599253863697987/CherryBlossomFestival#

St. Patty's Day Parade

2011-03-13T17:44:00.000-04:00

https://picasaweb.google.com/113511599253863697987/StPattySDayParade#

First Friday

2011-03-12T23:50:00.000-05:00

https://picasaweb.google.com/113511599253863697987/FirstFriday#

Ernie-boy

2011-03-12T23:42:00.000-05:00

https://picasaweb.google.com/113511599253863697987/ErnieBoy#

Warning Letter

2011-02-23T13:02:00.005-05:00

Dear Fellow Humans,

After a show broadcasted in National Geographic, “Aftermath: Population Zero,” it occurred to me that, despite your stubbornness and pride, it is time I should give you a warning. You may think that NG’s documentary about Planet Earth without humans is far-fetched but trust me, I can live happily with or without you. It seems you have forgotten that I came before your time.

Many civilizations have risen and fallen making the exact same mistake you are making now and you know it, yet you have failed to recognize it. At the end of each civilization there is always a cautionary tale, the doom a civilization, a prophecy of the end of the world. The latest "Armageddon" is believed to be globa l warming caused by man-made CO₂, among other fairy-tales, when you know very well the problem is rooted somewhere else. You know damn well that for centuries, but particularly since your famous Industrial Revolution, you have contaminated air, water and soil with all kinds of waste; you have been killing me by doing this for far too long and I am beginning to get fed up about it. Still today with all your advance technology, instead of improving our relationship you have made it worst, how pathetic… I had no other choice but to conjure a number of new organisms to keep your numbers down. You have been very good at dominating large predators and now they fear you. Well then, that is exactly why I decided that the new predator controlling the population of humans will be the smallest beings. Hence the birth of illnesses you have never seen before, namely HIV, Ebola, West Nile virus, etc. Keep growing in numbers, I will keep creating more and more diseases just for you.

www.systemsbiology.org

So then how is it that you measure “progress” when your so-called technology has prologue your life only to die in the end anyway? Is it according to the level of comfort you have achieve? Let me put it this way, how come you haven’t figured out a way to balance your way of life with mine? It will be, as usual, the end of your world as you know it, not mine.

All this trouble between you and me I call like to call it "the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution," the mass production of everything because the main problems is that there are too many of you that need to be nurtured and entertained! On top of it all, to satisfied your demands and sustain mass-production, you have created a very clever and subtle system of slavery that starts when you are born and only ends when you die, it involves all, rich and poor, children and old, men and women. A slave system that prevents your from reasoning, questioning, it stops you from becoming the perceptive and sensitive beings you were meant to be, it stops you from connecting with me. Strangely, such slave system is similar to the one stated in this sci-fi movie of yours called “The Matrix.” In the same movie there is a very good description of you:

"Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment. But you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area.

There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus."

Well then, that brings me to my main point. I clash head-on with the mental limitations you impose on yourselves (better known as extreme interpretations of religions, traditions, cultures, values, morale), none of that abstract thinking of yours is helping you understand the reality: I am more omnipresence than your so-called “God” and we urgently need to make a deal. For instance, instead of using medical technology to ease suffering, to aid those about to die, to prevent illnesses, what if the first thing you do? Create fertility methods to help women who are meant not to have children, to procreate, to look younger, and to live longer. And nowadays you are playing with genetics to “fix” any family related medical condition. We need to share that responsibility, you now? Once again, I will seat here and wait until you decide when you want to talk.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/07/AR2008030703256.html

Back to my point. The root-cause of the problem is that you still multiply in large numbers without realizing you have already reached the peak of your civilization and it is time to slowdown. Like fertility methods, you have also developed all sorts of contraceptive methods to choose from, there is no excuse to continue having four, five, six children. Let’s keep it down to no more than two… please? And who said you had to get pregnant to have a child? If you truly want to have children, have you thought about the millions of children who are waiting to be adopted? But of course, you buy into social expectations or pressures masqueraded as traditions or religions. For instance, many of you marry and have children because you think you want to, you think it is inconceivable to leave without the labels "children" or "marriage," you are convinced everyone must be married and have a family, that happiness relies on the routines of husbands, wives and children. Ultimately, happiness and love rest deep inside you. So please if you are happy without children, so be it. If you are happy with your partner as an unmarried couple, why bother?

On a side note, I am a little worried about recent hormones for the ladies to avoid getting pregnant. My only concern with that is that women will menstruate only three to four times a year… ahem… I know many generations of women have cried for a miracle remedy that reduces the number of periods. Trust me I get it. But they also need to understand that their menstrual cycle is as essential as breathing and eating. Besides, there are a number of risk factors associated with those hormones I am absolutely not enthusiastic about.

So, my dear boys grow up into responsible and serious men; to put it bluntly, please learn to use a condom and plan parenthood with your partner. Spreading around your seed with different women and proudly introducing your offspring in public won’t make you the macho-man you think you are. Not to mention the emotional trouble you cause your women and children. My dear girls, you are worth a lot more than what popular culture presents to you (namely women magazines and afternoon talk shows). Never bow down to a anyone who provides you with little and takes a lot, who provides you with money but no love. Remember this saying, “You want money? All you have to do is bent down to pick it up.” Many times you will be alone for doing what’s right, for doing what you really want. In all honesty, among all humans you, my dear females, will bear the worst burden for doing what’s right, for being honest to yourselves, which is quite ironic for those who see you as the weakest gender. You will be label anything, from spinster to bitch, from bitter to naïve, but never forget that es major estar solo que mal acompañado (it is better to be alone than having bad company).

http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect16/Sect16_1.html

My dear boys and girls, please, for your own sake and mine, do what you really want to do in this life, not what society expects from you. Respect and love each other, put yourselves in the other person’s shoes before your speak or take action. And whatever you do, please take me in consideration, think of your own future, the future of your own species and others around you, think of your own children and those who will come after you.

Cordially,

Mother Nature

Yemen arrests protest leader - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

2011-01-23T22:42:00.000-05:00

Yemen arrests protest leader - Middle East - Al Jazeera English