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Celebrating life.

“Once again, we come to the Holiday Season,
a deeply religious time that each of us observes,
in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice”
Dave Barry

What I prefer to do when I know a new country?  Where to locate my eyes when I come to a new country? At the culture. This is the goal. Knowing the traditions is very important because we need to celebrate the life. It’s very interesting to observe as the people love to talk about their culture, rites and traditional foods. The people is according to talk about this things because it appeals at the heart. In every country, people, who is a good host, forget to talk about politics, religion or other fussy topics.

In this way the culture enters by the astonished eyes, by the hungry mouth and by the surprise touch. By ears, rarely. All our senses are affected, implicated. For this reason, we must always keep our sense of wonder. Affecting our senses assures that our heart remembers.

I have three weeks in USA.  I haven’t had time to be homesick for my country yet. But if I look the life I must thank God. I received an invitation to live a party, a meeting, a celebration. And I decide to accept it.

Always I remember this saying, ‘Love, because love is the only real experience’. I think in the new people, the life in this country, the rich traditions.

Finally, by chance I found a very useful site: public holidays in the world. We can find the holidays by continents and countries. And we can find different holiday topics: national, religion, school, etc. The cover of the website shows a world map with flashing light. This indicates that today there is a holiday in particular region.

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The fire that lit a flame of hope

‘He who wants to do good knocks at the gate:
he who loves finds the door open’

The last weekend, I dreamed with an empty home and a written wall.On occasion we have the opportunity to receive presents. I received a word and I desired to share it. But I forgot to do it. I should share the message.

In March 1911, 146 young women immigrants, fighting for their rights, to improve their conditions, demanding justice, had the misfortune to die. But today their deaths are a sign of social injustice, the disaster caused by the selfish interests of a few people. This tragedy remains in the collective memory of labor movements.

The great significance of remembering this event was to show the inhumane conditions under which people can be. The horror of this incident is the clearest analogy about inhuman desire to exploit the weak. This should not have happened. But once that has happened makes us to be alert to the need to apply equal justice for all, regardless of race, creed or gender.

This week I met the Triangle Waist Company's drama. I revived my dream. An empty place, battered women and lives extinguished by the fire. In my confusion, questions arise: How many people need to die to open my eyes? Who has the right to exploit the other people?  Who can be quiet while see this?

Today my heart found his dream. But I am sad and somber because wise people said that Fear loves to steal dreams. But I am happy too. Because of the fire ignited a flame of hope.

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The protest music in Latin America

‘All around me a voice was sounding,

the land was made for you and me’

Pete Seegar

Normally, when we are talking about the protest music we think just in American
singers. But it’s important to rescue any protest music in South America. For
example, it exists in Cuba a very long tradition of compositors. We know their
movement like ‘the new cuban trova’. If you pretend to know the protest music, you
need stopping and knowing them.

It’s very common in the protest music that the writers refer to the wars in the
world, the division between poverty and richness. Such as Bob Dylan’s famous song
Blowin’ in the wind. We know a lot of version of this song. In the same lane, we can
talk about Pete Seegar’s song This land is your land.

However, in the case of Latin America, the protest song refers to topic like racism,
gender fight, domestic policies and, of course, against USA. Like I said, the most
popular singers are from Cuba. Silvio Rodriguez and Pablo Milanes are very popular
in all countries. Happen the same with American composition: the poetry is present
in their songs.

Finally, in Latin America, a very important aspect with the protest songs is about
their lyrics themes. People tend to confuse it with romantic and loving songs.
But the experts know that this happens because the writers need to hide the real
intention: to protest against his own regime. Probably, it isn’t one no democratic
government. Of course, they are singing their songs, because we need to know that
the land was made for you and me, for us.