Juan of Words

The Gift of Forgiveness for Christmas

Forgiveness is the economy of the heart… forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.  - Hannah More

Tearful reunion.

There’s a reason it’s so difficult to write about forgiveness.  It’s not an easy action to tackle. It incites the most vulnerable of our emotions and requires us to accept and acknowledge occurrences that are often so hurtful we would rather not think about them at all.  Though often this single action, the act of forgiveness, can be so cathartic for us that it can provide the means to discover new things about ourselves and the life we’ve been holding ourselves back from.

This Christmas, the idea was to write a very heartfelt and emotional post on forgiveness.  A personal account about how learning to forgive has enriched my own life.  Only no matter how many times the words have been typed, retyped and then deleted, none of them seemed quite right.  Which in the end only led to the conclusion that maybe forgiveness is one of those things that I have yet to truly understand, something that still needs to take place within my own heart before I can write about it with any true sincerity and insight.  The truth is this is the most honest about the subject matter I can be.  I don’t understand it.  It scares me.  It makes me uncomfortable and still confuses me.  Though, for the first time in my life, I also think I am at the place where I am ready to learn how to forgive.

Instead of a tearjerker about learning how to forgive then, my challenge to you this Christmas is to consider your own feelings towards forgiveness and maybe even think about if you are ready to let go of some of the bent up frustrations and emotions you’ve been holding onto yourselves.  There really is no pressure if you choose not to.  It just occurred to me the other day that maybe learning how to forgive could be the greatest gift I could give myself esta Navidad…  if for no other reason than to simply enrich my own life.

I hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas with all of your loved ones!  ¡Los Quiero!

LATISM, Dolores Huerta, and Your Love – Thank You!

I’m sitting on the plane right now, exhausted, con los pies que me están matando – we definitely don’t have that many stairs in Houston – pensando, en tantas cosas tan hermosas that happened to me the last few days.  I’m afraid that I’ll blink and it will all have been a dream… or that somehow I won’t remember it all.  Me quiero dar el pellizco yo mismo.  Then again, I’m not that brave.

En La Villita de Chicago

This week I attended the Latinos In Social Media (LATISM) National Conference in Chicago – if you don’t know who they are look them up, it’s an amazing network for both Latinos and non Latinos – and while having been invited to attend in it of itself was pretty damn extraordinary, I don’t think I’d fully grasped the significance of what this trip would mean to me.  As soon as I walked in the door at the Intercontinental Hotel, near the gorgeous Navy Pier where everything took place, mind you well after 11 p.m., I was met with abrazos and cariñitos: ¡Juan!  ¡Juanito!  ¡Juan of Words!  The cínico in me wanted to believe that these were just standard formalities, people just being nice, but then something weird happened… it kept happening, everywhere I went.  Even more amazing – uuyy hasta se me enchina la piel – más gente linda approached me to tell me why they enjoyed this blog, and how much they identified with me.  All I could do was offer hugs because there really aren’t any words to express the gratitude in my heart for this kindness.  Para serles sincero I still don’t believe it!

With Elianne Ramos, spokesperson for LATISM

I mean this is me.  The kid with little dreams, with little expectations out of life besides graduating from high school, the one out of seven chiquillos that my parents raised a duras penas, the one who didn’t even believe in his own passion for writing not too long ago, the one who still can’t even believe how much love he’s been blessed with through this medio.  No se si me lo merezca, but I sure as hell am grateful!

To top it all off, on the night before my departure a couple of us decided to drink a glass of wine before calling it a night, and low and behold who did we end up sharing a table with?  Dolores Huerta!  Yes, that Dolores Huerta, the living legend.  It was the perfect ending to a wonderful three day event.  Not only was she truly graceful, but what she had to say to us felt like it was truly delivered to our ears by divine intervention.  The journalist in me wanted to take notes, but we were all so mesmerized that all I could do was listen and try to record everything she said to us in my mind.  All in all, what she wanted us to know was that we are all just as capable of making a difference, of utilizing our voice for a greater good, and of motivating others to do the same.  That is definitely a tall order, but one I wanted to share with all of you as well.  Don’t take it from me.  Take it from her, una mujer verdadera that has made her mission in life to serve others.  What an inspiration!

Dolores Huerta!

So in closing this very random post, I want to thank you all once again for reading this humble little blog and for making me feel extra special in Chicago, and also by encouraging you to believe in yourself and follow your dreams.  You never know what might happen if you just try.

¡Los Quiero!

El Que Busca, Encuentra

He Who Seeks, Finds

No feelings were harmed in the writing of this blog.

Or so I am hoping…after months of agonizing over my personal battle of the bulge, embarrassing side effects and all, including increasingly larger love handles (a.k.a. lonjas or lonjitas) and diminishing levels of energy, I’ve decided to get off my butt and do something about it!  More accurately, after having the youngest of my four sisters bet me that I would not be able to lose weight again.

Again because six years ago this same battle was fought and won by me, hands down…Back then my weight was just five pounds more than what it is today, although the distribution of fat was not as proportional as it is today, thank God for that, and I was in much worse overall shape.  Still, through a self-paced regimen of better eating and constant exercise I managed to lose exactly 100 pounds in 12 months, which I kept off for roughly three years, until I began gaining again for some reason.

I think it was too much for too long – running five miles a day everyday of the week but Sunday – and in the end I couldn’t keep it up, I became too comfortable, trusting that the weight would just stay off because I had lost it.  As I began giving myself more leeway to eat what I wanted when I wanted the pounds just started packing back on.

Today, for the most part, aside from my bad habit of smoking, I feel pretty healthy, capable of doing just as much as the next guy, roughly my age and strength, yet I realize doing nothing means only one of two things: keep gaining weight or eventually hear the bad news from my doctor that I’ve got Diabetes, high cholesterol, or something worse.  So even though I’m now in my early thirties, not in my twenties, and my body cannot party or take as much as it used to, try as I may to prove otherwise, one way or another the 20 pounds at stake will be shed over the course of the next 90 days.

But never fear.  I am not giving up on my tortillas, carnitas, pan dulce, and other favorite platillos just yet – only figuring out how to cut back in order to have my cake and eat it too…no pun intended.

Deséenme suerte – ando buscando la manera.

Houston March for Dignity organizers vow to protest Arizona’s SB 1070 on May 1st

All defendants of human rights and civil liberties are urged to join a nonviolent demonstration against the new law, for comprehensive immigration reform

courtesy of PhotosByJoseMunoz.com

And so the battle continues.  With the signing of SB 1070 into law yesterday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) raised the stakes on the fight for comprehensive immigration reform in the United States.  Her state intends to require local police to enforce federal immigration laws by making it a state crime to be in the country illegally.  This despite broad opposition from Hispanic and human rights organizations far beyond Arizona’s borders, and including President Barrack Obama’s harsh words against the bill just hours earlier.

“Our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others.  That includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness which we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe,” President Obama stated at a televised press conference.  “In fact, I’ve instructed members of my administration to closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation, but if we continue to fail to act on a federal level we will continue to see misguided efforts opening up around the country.”

With their new authority, police in Arizona would be allowed to ask anyone whom they suspect are in the country illegally to prove their legal residency status in the United States by producing a valid “alien registration document,” including a green card, an Arizona divers license, or a passport.  If they are not able to produce these documents they would be subject to arrest, could be jailed up to six months and fined $2,500.  Harsher restrictions are also placed on anyone knowingly “concealing, harboring, or shielding an illegal immigrant.”  This law becomes the toughest anti-immigration law in the nation and marks a new level of assumed state government authority.

At a press conference in downtown Phoenix on Thursday where she was discussing border security, Brewer defended her state’s actions toward illegal immigration.

“I will not stop.  I will not be deterred.  I will not give ground when it comes to keeping us safe.  Securing the border might not be Arizona’s principal job, but we have no choice.  We must show resolve and courage where those who have failed to protect us have shown only weakness and delay.”

After signing SB 1070 into law she dismissed protesters’ concerns over racial profiling as “overreacting” and categorized opponents as “alarmists” and “cynics.”  Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union as well as the Mexican-American Defense Fund have already vowed to contest SB 1070’s constitutionality in the courts, before its anticipated late July-early August implementation.

Fighting SB 1070

Opponents of SB 1070 have called for various measures to protest the passage of this new law in Arizona.  Some have promised to boycott the state by avoiding travel or business into its borders until SB 1070 is declared unconstitutional, a candlelight vigil is planned for this evening in Washington, D.C. at Dupont Circle, a social media based petition urging President Obama to take action against the new law is circulating Twitter, and a nationwide March for Dignity and Respect for All, which was scheduled for Saturday, May 1, 2010, has taken on a new purpose and strength.

So far nonviolent demonstrations have been the focus of protesters, but some speculate this could change as tensions rise in Arizona over the next few days.  In Houston, organizers are calling all individuals who support human rights and civil liberties to participate in a May 1st March for Dignity and Respect for All, scheduled to begin at the intersection of Bellaire Blvd. and Renwick Dr. at 4 p.m.

“We are faced with an unprecedented choice,” says Cesar Espinosa, president of Immigrant Families and Students in the Struggle (FIEL).  “We can stay silent and let our community continue to be trampled on or we can say enough!  The time for people to stand up is now.  The time to stop to Arizona and other copy cat states is now!”

FIEL is one of the leading groups organizing Houston’s May 1^st March for Dignity and Respect for All.  Local blogger and activist, Stace Medellin believes inaction is an invitation for further violations of human rights and civil liberties in Houston and across the nation.

“Yesterday’s action by the state of Arizona proved that Congress and President Obama must make comprehensive immigration reform the top priority.  The May 1st Marches around the United States have been given a boost by the fact there are groups who are more than willing to violate individual civil rights and liberties of specific groups of people” he said.  “There’s no doubt that these types of actions can lead to other groups being targeted as history has shown us, so it is important that we show a united, diverse front in calling for federal reform that is fair and humane.”

For more information about Houston’s May 1^st March for Dignity and Respect for All, text the word “MARCH” to (832) 497-5035 to receive updates, or visit the website www.houstonmarches.info

©Juan of Words

Human Condition in Haiti

Please be warned this video is very graphic.

How tragic to see so many bodies being buried amidst the rubble of devastation.  Even worse, fathoming the idea of thousands of deceased men, women and children never even being identified, let alone properly buried, by their next of kin.  The main priorities are obviously saving those still breathing, but one can’t help trying to imagine the pain of those who will never know where their loved ones are laid to rest.

The burning of corpses obviously seems too horrible to be true, but the reality is that left out to further decay these bodies will only worsen the already dire conditions of ailing survivors.  The condition of the human race in Haiti reminds us that we are always at the mercy of nature.