Music

Music has greatly evolved since classical music. Up to today's music, we've seen different types of music, and even in different languages. I recently came across a couple of songs that I felt more emotions than others. The fact that their bilingual made me love them more. There's something about lyrics in two languages that get to me.

One of the songs is titled "Looking For Paradise" by Alejandro Sanz featuring Alicia Keys. The song is in both English and Spanish. When I hear Spanish, I feel that it's beautiful accompanied with English.

Another song, "Tired Of Being Sorry" by Enrique Iglesias and Nadiya also get to me. Enrique sings in English while Nadiya sings in French.

This next song amazes me in particular. It's sung in Italian and French where Andre Bocelli sings in Italian and Helene Segara sings in French. In Italian it's titled "Vivo Per Lei" and in French it is titled "Je Vis Pour Elle" which means "I live for her." In my opinion it's a beautiful song because it is sung in two of the "love languages." The combination of Italian and French shows how languages can be beautiful.

Music has come so far, but we don't really admire other music that's not in English. If there's interracial relationships, then why not interracial music? I'm really into these types of songs. I guess it's because I can understand them a little bit for the most part. But sometimes you don't have to understand them in order to think their beautiful.

White Supremacy in the US?

As I was researching for my paper I came across this news article. On Saturday, April 17, a "white supremacy group" rallied against immigration reforms while using anti-Semitic words. They were waving around American flags with swastikas. But several people counter-protested against this rally, and eventually turned to a violent point.

What baffles me is the fact that there are people who actually still follow what Hitler believed in. It would lessen my worry if it were in Europe, but in the United States? A land where people were against Nazis. To say that the "white supremacists" were all German would be a stereotype. I didn't really think of Germans when I saw this. But when I told my father about it, all he thought of at first was Germans. I guess since Nazism is closely related to Germany back in World War II my dad would assume that they're German. But I know that many Germans were against the Nazis as well.

What kind of relaxed me was that there weren't many "white supremacists." When the counter-protesters began throwing things at them, they left. What I think is that these "white supremacists" are afraid that the American race will not be "pure." This country has a great history with immigrants. I will say that when I looked at the city this riot was in took me by surprise. It was in Los Angeles, which probably has one of the most heavily populated immigrants. It kind of made me laugh since Los Angeles is in Spanish, and they were protesting against immigrants. But we've come to relate immigrant with Mexicans and Central Americans, because that's what we mainly see. I'm pretty sure that in a couple of decades a new group of people will be targeted with immigration laws.

News Article Here

Black Hawk Down

Black hawk down is the military term for a helicopter that crashed. Black Hawk Down is about an attempt by Americans to take control the the city where one of the opposing leaders is. While attempting to capture the city, two American helicopters go down. You're probably thinking "Wow, two helicopters down? That's it?" That's what I thought while I watched it in the beginning. We often take into little consideration that two helicopters going down can have a great affect on the war.

The little things such as two helicopters going down in a war could be devastating. After the two "hawks" went down, the U.S. military wanted to rescue the pilots and soldiers in those helicopters. They crash deep in the city which is overrun by many violent Somalian soldiers. All these things were happening at once. Left and right, there was always some sort of loud noise. Eventually the group that was supposed to rescue the pilots made it, but some of them were dead because in a war you can't automatically guarantee someone's going to live. I think that's what I learned from this movie. Throughout the movie I kept hoping that my favourite character would live and not die.

Black Hawk Down also had a tone of brotherhood. Throughout the movie they kept saying "No man left behind." There was a specific scene where one of the pilots in the helicopters still in the air wanted to set up a perimeter around the crashed helicopter. It shows that war indeed does change a man.

Louisiana!

I was doing some research on Louisiana, because I was watching a show called "X-Men: Evolution." There's a character called Gambit and he's from Louisiana. I realised he had a French-like accent. What I found out on Louisiana was quite interesting to me. As we know, it's not exactly every day we meet someone who's French-American or French-Canadian. Most of French-Americans live in Louisiana, and I also found out that a certain amount of French-Canadian immigrants are settled in Louisiana. Not only that but there are many people from the Caribbean there who speak French as well. Louisiana is one of the few states that has French as a second language, so to speak. I'm really quite surprised by all this because I've never really given thought as to why the French even had control of Louisiana. Of course other cultures have mixed with the French, but I still find it amazing.

What's it like in Canada?

The most common question I get when people find out I'm Canadian is "What's Canada like?" I can't say what Canada is like. I've been a city person for my whole life. I have been to rural areas in Canada but mostly in urban. Urban life in Canada is fairly similar to life in New York. The only main difference is that in Montreal they speak French instead of English. Of course in other cities in Canada such as Toronto, the official language in English. I'm from Quebec where the official language is French. Like the United States, there people of many races. I can't speak for everyone in Canada, but the music listened to there is mostly American music, and occasionally music from France. I don't understand why people get shocked when they find out I'm Canadian. I assume that it's because you don't really meet a Canadian immigrant very often. It's been such a long time since I've been back to Canada, and although it's almost the same as new York, I still miss it very much. But of course New York has almost replaced Montreal from my heart.

Last semester I was in Film Making class with Ms. Mason, and we were watching a documentary called Bowling for Columbine. There's a part in the documentary that Michael Moore travels to Canadian cities and interviews people. Later on in the film he interviews people here from New York and asks fellow New Yorkers what they know about Canada. Some responses were that Canadians don't speak any language other than English. Among one of the responses that pestered me was that Canada was a safe place. To be honest, no place is really "safe" so long as guns and other weapons exists, so does crime. I don't really think Canada is "safer" than the U.S. When a New Yorker was asked "Why do you think Canada has such low crime?" he responded "Because America was exposed to more violence with out history and movies." I obviously disagree, Canadians watch American movies all the time, whether it's in English or translated into French. People seem to forget that Canada once belonged to France and England and no longer belong to them. Canada had the same problems as the U.S.

The sense of identity is hard to say now a days. If you're interracial, you don't know what to put first. When people ask me what I am, I usually say French-Canadian and Guatemalan. I don't like saying just Canadian. What I've been noticing all my life is that many people from different generations are beginning to be interracial. What I hope for the future is that racism could end, with all these interracial relationships happening.

Literature and the Real World

Around Friday I bought a new book titled Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. The book is about how a meteor hits the moon, but things go wrong because scientists did not expect the meteor to knock it out of it's original orbit. Disasters throughout the world occur. While I was reading on Saturday, there was a storm in the evening. All I could hear was the wind rushing quickly and roaring. While in the book, the same exact thing was happening. Eventually I got to a part where the lights go out for some time. And guess what? The lights go out in my neighbourhood, too.

The book has affected how I see the world we live in now. I've heard that in some parts of the world, it always rains. There are so many experiences in the world that some New Yorkers haven't experienced. Some haven't even been out of New York. Personally, I've never been below southern Pennsylvania.

The book portrays what life would be like if there were a serious devastation. The characters have to appreciate every little thing they get such as sun light, bicycles, even dog food for some. While I was reading this book, I had Haiti in my mind. I know it's been long ago since the earthquake but it still gets to me. I think of what the people for Haiti are going through and compare them to the characters of Life As We Knew It.

Back In Our Day

Has your grandfather ever start his sentence with "back in my day...."? I'm pretty sure most of us have. Most of us don't think about it like this but we're living through history. First "black" president to get elected, first woman to run for president, Iraqi War, and tons of more current events. It doesn't seem like history for us because we're living through it.

But what about our grandparents? Did they ever feel they were living through history? I was speaking to my grandfather in Guatemala the other day, and like most grandparents, he started with "when I was a little boy." Normally I'd fall asleep, but my grandfather was living through the time what is now known as "The Crisis in Guatemala." My grandparents live near the capital where most of the fighting took place. I asked him if he ever thought deeply into it. He said It was on the news a lot but he didn't seem to care much. Now a days I'm sure most of us don't take the things around us into consideration, things seem like they haven't really changed much in the youth. I always liked hearing my grandfather's stories about during World War 2 in Guatemala. He said he could here bombs in the distance and air-planes every day. I asked him how was that possible since I used to think only Spanish speaking Guatemalans lived there. It wasn't until that day that I found out I was part German. My great grandfather was from a German colony in Guatemala and that's where most of the fighting took place, between the German colony and the French Colony with the aid of America.

It's weird to think about what we New Yorkers have lived through. We never expected to live through 9/11. But now when we're a bunch of old people we'll be the ones saying "Back in my day." I remember how my parents used to tell me how they dressed and compare it to now. It's made me think of how I'm going to tell my offspring how I used to dress. These things don't come to mind commonly because it's just something we don't like to think about. We're getting old. All of us at some point we'll have a good story to tell at a family gathering or reunion.

The Media.

As most of us know, an 8.8 earthquake hit Chile early in the morning on Saturday. It triggered a Tsunami alert for nations and territories in the Pacific Ocean. Me and my parents were watching the news all day, because we have relatives in Hawaii. On the news they were saying how the earthquake in Chile was much stronger than the one in Haiti yet it didn't kill as many people. Then they said many Americans were stranded in Chile. It also said about ten thousand Americans lived in Chile. President Obama has offered help to the Chilean government, but although Chile was struck hard they do not need help at the moment. Of course everyone's doing the best they can to get the Americans back home safely.

It made me realise how the media can provide not only news, but feed fear. Me and my parents were paranoid because we were worried that my uncle would get caught in the tsunami. The media has had a history of causing panic like Y2K, where people frantically ran to grocery stores to stalk up on water thinking that all technology would end. When 2012 comes around, some news stations will probably make a big deal of it. Media not only revolves around newscasts. It involved movies, commercials, and radio. One of the recent films that was very popular was 'Avatar.' I can't really give my opinion since I didn't watch it. But I was reading some reviews online and one of them said that 'Avatar' could be considered racist. The movie is basically about an advanced civilization trying to take over a weaker one. In history we've seen many weaker civilizations being taken over by an advanced. The plot of the story was considered a bit racist, where a civilization depended on a "white" person. I'm not going to talk about the review so here's the link.

Does the media screw around? The slightest things could be taken as an offence. Like tall blue aliens, or simply when the media focuses on one single part of the story and not the rest. The media is a big part of our daily lives now a days. It's the easiest way to know what's going around the world and in other states such as Hawaii even though it's not part of the mainland. I'm pretty sure media will evolve as time goes on, but will it ever really change?

Religion+Politics=?

When the pilgrims came over from Europe, they were escaping religious persecution. Their governments were based on "liberty and justice for all." Then why is it now a days there's persecution everywhere? Does everything really seem fair? Every year we elect people to represent us in the government. Our decisions are based on our views of how this country should be ran. When President Obama was running, he changed his religion to Christianity. Why? Did he not think he could make it being Muslim? Did people think his actions were going to be based on a religion some Americans fear? America is supposed to be "land of the free" and "home of the brave." Yet some Americans do not feel safe, or free. Many people are persecuted just because they're not Christian. In New York it may not seem like it, but America's unofficial religion is Christianity(Non-Catholic). When laws are being made, do you really think our representatives are being fair when they ban gay marriages? Are they banning it because of their religion? Sure it may seem awkward to some people to see two men or women get married. But if America is supposed to be "land of the free" then why not let them get married? Just because a religion does not accept them doesn't mean a country can't. Many people say "marriage is a special bond between a MAN and WOMAN." May that as it be, but who are we to deny the rights of a human being? Many people don't understand that not all gays are the same.

It's not the first time people use the excuse of "God told me to" to do something that was harmful. As many of us know, the U.S. expanded during the Mexican Secession using the excuse that it was their "destiny" to take over the continent. Another example of religion being used as an excuse is when Americans were pushing the Native Americans onto reservations. Most couldn't even survive. Native Americans weren't even considered U.S. citizens. Families were broken apart, and many starved. Every year, many immigrants come to try to better their economic conditions. But when you think of the word "immigrant," what do you think of. I'm so used to relating the word "Latino" and "immigrant" because it's on the news a lot. If you think about it, the dominant religion in Latin America is Catholicism. Get the picture? Of course I'm probably wrong, but it seems so common now a days that discrimination is not only based on race, but religion.

Hopefully governmental decisions are NOT being based on religious views. If this was a country where all were free and free to speak out, then why is there still such discrimination?

Spain

As we know, European countries have had great influence in the Western Hemisphere. England and America/Canada, France and Eastern Canada/The Caribbean, Portugal and Brazil, and of course Spain and Latin America. Spain is in particular one of the most interesting to me. Not because they managed to influence almost two continents, but because there are many cultural differences in the country itself.

Just like in Latin America, there are many types of Spaniards. The Spanish culture was greatly influenced by Muslim culture for a long time, about from 711 AD to the 1400s. There's evidence in the music and dance. Today I was listening to the song "Unidos," which means "United," by a group from Spain called Banghra. It uses the combination of modern day music and cultural Muslim music. The song is in Spanish, but some of the dances are similar to those from Muslim culture.

We seem to think that America is one of the few countries with great diversity in its people. In Spain there is a great diversity as well. There are African-Spaniards, Jewish-Spaniards, Muslim-Spaniards, and old fashioned Spaniards. Even though Spanish is spoken throughout the whole country, each region of the country has it's own language as well. In Brasque Country and Navarre, Euskara is spoken while Catalan is spoken in Catalonia. You know how the English and Americans have different accents? And even Americans have different accents within themselves? In Spain, there was a certain accent called Andaluz which is the most similar to the Spanish in the Western Hemisphere. The accent varies as you travel in Spain. The Spanish spoken in Latin America is called Castilian, but even within the Castilian Spanish there are different accents.

When I asked my father why we didn't speak Mayan, he responded it was because our family was closer to Spanish decent. The Spaniards that came taught the Native Americans in Central and South America their language. But throughout time some Natives weren't so open-minded about Spanish. When you ask a New Yorker "Are you proud to be an American, or more proud of being a New Yorker?" chances are they'll say New Yorker. It was the same situation in Spain. Many were proud of their region.

I'm certain there are many countries around the world that have a great diversity within itself such as China and South Africa. But Spain was the one I could connect with the most.

It's been so long since I've watched the cartoon show "Invader Zim." Basically it's about an alien that wants to destroy the human race. Today I watched a commercial saying that "Invader Zim" would air again in March for a month only. I realised how much cartoons now adays suck so much. Even though "Invader Zim" looks like a childish show, it was still a good one. Cartoon shows today look way too childish and I've seen that they often display some things that are very gross. Don't get me wrong, some of today's cartoon shows are pretty good, but nothing compares to the old stuff.