Humboldt Park murals

In my ethnographic research in Humboldt Park, I simply fell in love with the murals that lined the streets. Their dynamic color...their symbolic meaning..and their public displays of resistance and Puerto Rican power. These are just a few of my favorite.

catchy song for Barack

This morning on the way into the office I heard this catchy little tune from a Jamaican artist called "Cocoa Tea". The song serves as a unique endorsement for the Illinois Senator (did I mention it was catchy??!). I swear, the hook will be in my head for the rest of the day!!

Cocoa Tea - Barack Obama
Uploaded by jahsensie

1984

big brother's slogan in 1984

If you haven't heard of or read the classic novel - 1984 yet, do yourself a favor and go check it out of the library. Since I have started reading the book, I can't put it down. The views and visions this novel portrays about a crazy, all-engulfing totalitarian government and it's brainwashed citizens just sends chills down my spine. Especially with the blatant abuse of power that the US government has been flexing lately, somehow the books words hit my like a gong and make the dark reality of the novel more like a horror story in my eyes.

Word to the wise though: if you haven't read the book and click on the link I gave you, steer clear of the last paragraph: it kinda gives away the ending.

julian beever...artist extraordinaire

I received an email from a coworker today which contained dozens of pictures of 3-D sidewalk art by an English cat named Julian Beever. The art literally jumps out to you when viewed from the right angle. Anyhow, I was so blown away with it, I had to share.



tell me, is that a real hole or a mirage ?


You can view more of his 3-D sidewalk art here

how free are we (really?)

In April there will be a new museum opening up in Chicago which will attempt to inspire and educate young and old alike about freedom (or lack thereof) in the states.

In fact, The McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum has already caused a stir by placing ads like these around the city.

Some interesting tid bits of info: The museum financed a random telephone survey of 1,000 American adults and found that only about one in four Americans (28 percent) were able to name more than one of the five fundamental freedoms granted to them by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Sad, eh?

But is our collective ignorance really that bad?!!! I found this random blog where a linguist breaks down the museums press release only to uncover what most sneaky marketers already know: word play can make all the difference in selling something.

Being that as it may, I plan on checking out the museum once it opens. In my opinion, it's a much needed fresh and inspiring idea. I just hope the museum doesn't try to sugarcoat the current realities of the American Dream by saying "there was slavery, then there was suffrage, then there was the civil rights movement...now....America is simply perfect!!" I think I just might puke.

Oh! The museum's website also contains a Freedom IQ test for people to check their savvy. (Click on "Am I free?" on the toolbar, then click Take the freedom quiz on the bottom right).

book of the moment

Since the love of my life will be gone for another 2.5 days, I went and brought the book: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything to pass some time. The book is a bit trendy (which usually just isn't my style), but once I opened up the covers and started reading Mr. Levitt's twisted genius, I was hooked. Since last night I have already gone through about 1/2 of it.

At this rate, I might need to get another book before Mike, my sexy man, comes back home.

"shortism"...just another ism that can't be smoked away

I'm reading "blink - the power of thinking without thinking" by Malcolm Gladwell. It discusses the power of snap judgments and how in some cirumstances it proves more accurate than in depth analysis. Not only this, but the book teaches you to fine tune your own snap judgment process to become more efficient.

What else can I say but that the book is truly mind blowing and (at least in my eyes) rings true in every facet of life - from business to your personal life . Needless to say, the margins in my recently brought book have been noted up and the text throughout has been highlighted yellow or orange depending on what interested me about it.

The most interesting (or shall I say distressing) factiod I picked up thus far is:

"researchers who analyzed data...that followed thousands of people from birth to adulthood calculated that when corrected for such variables such as age and gender and weight, an inch of height is worth $789 a year in salary. A person who is six feet tall but other wise identical to a person who is five foot five will make an average of $5,525 more per year...Of the tens of millions of American men below five foot six, a grand total of ten in my sample have reached the level of CEO, which says being short is probably as much of a handicap to corporate success as being a woman or an African American...."

OUCH!!! Being a "border-line midget" mexirican woman in the corporate world, no wonder there always seems to be a dragonflypurity barrier in the workplace....hmmmm

if you ever need a reminder of how lucky you really are...

I suggest you check out the documentary Born Into Brothels right now!!!

a documentary on...biggie fries ?

This documentary which chronicles 30 days of eating nothing but McDonalds actually sounds pretty interesting. Not that I would actually pay money to go see it; the article states pretty much everything I wanted to know about it. The results were not surprising AT ALL...this poor guinea pig of a man gained a total of 25 pounds, and supposedly within the month, his diet took a toll on both his liver and sex drive...go figure. Supposedly, the man is a cheeseburger lover, however, his girlfriends a vegan...so I don't know how honest and unbiased this documentary is to begin with. All I can say is what else can one expect to find after eating any fast food for 30 days straight? ugh...just the thought makes me nauseous.

what a weekend

Not to bore you with details of my life, but this weekend totally rocked. Usually my weekends fly by with no particular interesting or even relaxing event to talk about. But since Friday afternoon, I went bowling, saw two awesome movies, read a whole book in one night (the 5 people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom), ate some delicious Puerto Rican and Filipino food, slept in ( double yeah!), saw a prospective home, and got some wonderful BOOTY. AHHH! If all weekends could be this sweet. This is the life..

Talking about the life, has anyone seen the new Bud Light commercial with Mystic's song "the life" in the backdrop? I love Mystic's style and have listened her cd "Cuts for Luck and Scars for Freedom" about 12,000 times in the past few years. While she is mainly an underground mc, I am soo happy to see that she is finally getting some love from the masses. Even if it is just in the form of a BUD LIGHT (icky piss water type beer) commercial.

On another note I saw Jim Carrey's movie "Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind". I simply loved the cinematography on it, especially when he was dreaming and all his memories were simply disappearing. The movie was creative as all hell and seeing Jim Carrey in a serious role was actually a pleasant departure for me.What a way to break up with someone: just erase them from your mind. Hee hee...can you just imagine getting a letter stating not to contact your ex ever again because he or she had you erased from their mind? hee hee. I can't even imagine being that pist at someone to actually go through the trouble of actually removing them from my memories. While for some it might seem like a good idea and is definitely a sure fire way to get over an ex, but is there not something to be said about learning from past mistakes? Past mistakes include past relationships as well, and by simply erasing the whole relationship, aren't you just self consciously setting yourself up for similar mistakes and decision choices in your future relationships? I know, I know...I think about things entirely WAY too much, but my mind is much like an energizer bunny, never ending and always exploring every thought and facet of my life til exhaustion. But, the movie was very interesting and did lead itself into a drunken debate between me & my girlfriend afterwards.

I am also looking forward to seeing a few Latino independent films at this year's 20th Annual Latino Film Festival later this month. I always try to schedule at least one movie in per year and this year is no different. Hopefully, instead of me having to drag my boyfriend to it (like in the past), I can go with a group of friends who actually want to see it! Life is good.

I'm reading too many books...

I have always loved to read and write so over the years I have accumulated quite a collection of books. Looking around my cluttered room, I have to admit I'm a book packrack. I have soo many books, I actually have them in storage..boxes and boxes of everything from my old literature, psychology, and Business Law Book to self help, fiction & poetry. Half of them I have read through, another quarter I skimmed through (i.e. business law), and the last I have yet to read but plan to one day...But I do try to put them to good use. Usually, I can be reading as many as 4 books at one time. Not that my nose is always stuck in a book. I go through periods of reading massive quantities and others where it may take me 3 months to finish one.

Right now, I'm going through a slow period. I'm have been reading East of Eden since two weeks before Christmas. Not that the book isn't great, it just takes more energy tp absorb what is actually happenening.Plus, I hate that bitch Kate!!! Everytime she is described, I felt my skin crawl. However, thanks to my concurrent readings, I just finished "Running with scissors: A Memoir". It actually was pretty good and proved to be an easy and amusing read. I couldn't keep my nose out of it because I just wanted to know what other crazy shit these characters were going to get into. I really got a kick out of the bible dips. Whenever they had a pondering question (or even stupid ones like "Should I eat Mcdonalds or Burger King?) they would pull open a bible and point at a part in the bible. Then they would read it and decipher it. Anyway, I recommend it to anyone looking for a pleasant read.