Growing up in very white area of New York State, I didn't have that many people I could relate to or that even looked like me. I remember when I was 7 years old my parents rented the movie West Side Story. I fell in love with musicals and with Rita Moreno. All the other girls that watched the movie liked Maria, but I knew she wasn't Hispanic and honestly, bad girls are just more interesting. I started to sing and dance more and thought how wonderful it would be to play Anita in a remake of the play.
I think about a month or two ago I saw Rita Moreno again on TV, promoting her new book on The View. I was stunned to find out she was in her 80's and she looked fantastic. I was also very surprised to hear that she had an affair for almost a decade with Marlon Brando. At first I thought ewww, Marlon Brando, but then quickly remembered he used to be hot. Just another example of the Puerto Rican bad girl, I loved her even more. She also told the women on the View that she had been approached by JFK before she became famous with West Side Story and that Elvis had approached her too after WSS.
The thing that really clenched the pioneer aspect of Rita Moreno was that she has been the only Hispanic, male or female, to win an Oscar, Academy Award, Tony, Grammy and an Emmy. She achieved all of this before she turned 50. Since she recently went on a book tour to promote her memoirs, here are a couple of articles and the one, the only, Rita Moreno.
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/10/173726066/rita-moreno-reflects-on-anita-awards-and-accents
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/07/rita-moreno_n_1327415.html

I am rarely phased by a movie but I have to admit that this movie kind of snuck up on me. I saw The Experiment for the first time last year. I was bored out of my mind for most of the year and this movie actually had me thinking.
Well before I start analysizing the movie here's a brief summary.

The movie stars Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker. Brody is a peace loving, nonviolent guy and Whitaker is a god fearing Christian man with a bible always within reach. Brody is outgoing and friendly, while Whitaker is more reserved and awkward. This movie was based on a real event where scientist decided to conduct an experiment to gauge human behavior. A group of volunteers were promised 14,000 in exchange for living in an empty prison for a period of time. They were divided into two groups, prisoners and guards, based on a personality profile that was conducted. Brody becomes a prisoner and Whitaker a guard. As the days pass the guards start to enjoy enforcing the rules of the experiment, while the prisoners start to rebel because of the treatment they are receiving. In the end the characters with the strongest personalities do a 180. The inmates escape their cells and chase after the guards and just start beating the crap out of them. The experiment is called off and each man must return to his former life.

What impacted me the most about this movie was how much each person changed under those circumstances. I've have always thought that there are certain things I could never do, but after this movie I don't believe that anymore. I'm usually pretty calm, mellow and try to love everyone. However given certain circumstances I could probably turn on my own mother. People try so hard to stick to their beliefs and morals but at the end of the day we are all just human and bound to make many, many mistakes.
After watching the movie I tried to put myself mentally in that position. I think I would have been like Whitaker. I'm usually so timid and meek that if I was given any real power I might snap. It's the quiet ones you have to worry about. Luckily I don't plan on going to jail anytime soon. If I commit a crime I'll just move to a place that doesn't extradict criminals.

Well I just finished watching Mickey Mouse Monopoly and I must say I'm not surprised. The reality is the message being conveyed in all these Disney movies is the same that movies, tv shows, commercials, magazines etc., have been conveying for years now. Every since I was a little girl I've seen this in every aspect of my life. The "role"of a woman has been instilled from a young age. I remember all the tea party sets, dresses, dolls, flowers, butterflies I was forced to accept with a smile, hug and a kiss. I remember once I said to my parents that I was sick and tired of all the Barbie dolls and that I wanted a toy gun or car/truck. My parents almost fainted, how unladylike of me to even speak in the presence of adults. I still remember the boxes of dismembered dolls I hid in my closet and under my bed. I used to wear my dresses to play and climb trees just so I would ruin them. And the tea party set, well lets just say I have pretty good aim with a BB gun.
It's not just the role of women in Disney movies that offends but also the role of minorities. Until the 90's there wasn't a role for anyone that wasn't white, unless you count the animals. The closest Princess/Lead I could relate to was Belle, and Jasmine, because they had brown hair and my same name. I didn't even realize there was a royal family in Spain until I learned about the discovery of the New World. I had actually thought only white people could be royality.
I still like that movies and watch them to this day, but I understand the true meaning behind it. In the future I would let my kids watch these movies but i would try to balance them out with some positive books or films. I would also try to stay true to the original fairytale and the moral it was trying to convey. Disney has changed some of these stories so much that it loses that all important lesson authors like Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Andersen and The Brothers Grimm were trying to teach.
Although Disney has made an attempt to change the roles of minorities, they still need to work on the gender roles. If I see one more beautiful princess that is saved by a handsome prince just because she's hot I'll throw up. Women and girls should be portrayed in a more nontraditional way and not dependant on a man to l

I personally love the cartoons that are placed in the editorial section. When I was younger I didn't get it. I knew they are funny but I couldn't explain why. In this post I've included a cartoon I found on skeptically.org. It addresses the gas crisis we've been in for the last decade or so.
The way I interpret this cartoon is basically making fun of the people that refuse to change they're way of living and the cars they drive. This failure to adapt to tough times cause the outburst on the right. The Person on the left however understands that times are tough and the economy is not making a comeback anytime soon so they have accepted it and adapted by purchasing a much smaller vehicle that uses less gas. Although the price per gallon is the same for both characters in the cartoon, the stubborn

I've been search online databases for editorials from differnet topics and papers and found a few that sparked my interest.
Below are the links to the editorial themselves, two from the New York Times, one from The Washington Post and finally one from a spanish language newspaper El Nuevo Dia.
Sector Turistico
Baby Cured of HIV
Unholy Alliance
TSA's New Rule

Out of these four editorials the one I like the best was the one I've titled just 'Baby Cured of HIV." What I liked best about this editorial was the authors optimism but also cautious way of approaching the topic. The article discusses a story that came out recently about a group of doctors that cured HIV in babies. This was done with relatively easy to find medication and the entire process did not take very long. The author does however inform the reader that the best course of action for babies that may be born with the virus is prevention before birth. The author however does say that if the study was true and they did cure HIV, then it would be a wonderful thing for the world, especially third world nations where many don't receive prenatal care or HIV prevention.
I personally believe that the author is well informed and makes sure to share what he knows of the current medical practice for babies at risk of contracting HIV from their mothers. He conveys this information with the use of basic words, nothing overly complicated that can be easily understood by most people. I think the prospect of a cure for HIV causes excitement in the author and I think he tries to make that optimism show through in his editorial. 

In my last post I had a short list of things that I hate. I started to ask myself if I hated them because they are a social problem or because its just personal to me. I decided I need to separate them in order to really analyze why I hate what I hate. Here is my updated list.

Personal:
- Family members that talk about you in a negative way but expect you to do them favors, all the time.
- Children that expect you to buy their affection or attention.
- Parents who buy their children.
- Family members that mooch off of you and don't feel badly about it.
- Pet owners that chain up their pets and don't give them the attention they deserve.
- Parents that believe that they can control you until the day you die.
- Adults that will never consider you an adult or a woman until you have a child.
- Family members that insist in calling me "La gringa."
- Neighbors that believe they can dictate what others do in their homes and properties.
- My Aunt Maribel
- When my cousin brings over his kids over to my house when he has visitation, and leaves them.
- Being late
- Students that disrespect professor during a lecture type class.
- People that think they are smarter than everyone else.
- People that are smarter than me :)
- Most teenagers, unless I'm related to them or know them from church.
- Being too cold or too hot.
- When my dog sleeps on my hair and I wake up with a headache.
- Not having more than 24 hours in a day.
- Not getting enough sleep before an important day.
- Men that get obsessive, quickly.
- Men that have nicer hair than me.
- People that can not sing that insist they could be the next american idol.
- Songs that are played to death.
- People that constantly make Video Game or Movie references when speaking.
- When people leave the lights on after they exit a room.
- People that eat pizza with a fork and a knife.
- Tongue clicking
- People with long nails that tap their nails on hard surfaces.
- Constant hair twirling and flipping.
- Teenagers.

Social:
- People that refuse to discipline their children and then get mad when you do.
- People that feel entitled to everything just because they exist, without ever earning or deserving it.
- Mothers that are too worried about their own needs and disregard those of their children.
- Pet owners that chain up their pets and don't give them the attention they deserve.
- People that believe they can drive after a certain age.
- Most female drivers in Puerto Rico.
- Men that pay more attention to buying nice clothes, having a nice car and eating out then paying their child support.
- Politicians
- Puerto Rico's constant power problems FOR NO REASON.
- My Aunt Maribel
- Men that believe it's okay to whistle at a female the way I whistle at my dog.

My personal hates are just things I encounter everyday that just annoy/upset me. They're not that kinds of things I would call the police about or that affect everyone else, not just me.
My social hates however I believe affect a large number of the population and some of them, more than half, would at some point would inspire me to call the police. Alot of my social problems have to do with Puerto Rico and money. For example, female drivers and older drivers, in my opinion, might not be involved in more accidents than they rest of the population, but they sure are the catalyst. I can't even count how many times I've been almost in an accident because of a female or older driver. Between the distracted female in the oversized car going 20mph over the speed limit and the older driver who can't see the road driving a car that looks like a boat, the roads aren't safe, and neither is my wallet.
Another example is how parents put themselves first and not their children. What ends up happening is that all of society suffers. Kids do poorly in school and life and end up on welfare, in jail or dead. What ever happened to parents being active in their kids life and not blocking the help of others. I have too many people in my family that fall into this category and it drives me crazy. Why bring children into this society if you're not going to provide, educate and care for them?
And lastly I CAN'T STAND BEING WHISTLED AT!!!!! This personally happened to me more in the U.S., mostly N.Y., but it is something that happens around most of the world. Some men actually feel they have the right to harrass and degrade women at anytime and in any setting.  I remember when I was younger I wanted to go and see the Puerto Rican Day parade in person but my parents told me that it was too dangerous and that something bad could happen to me. At the time I thought they were just being overprotective and ridiculous. Once I was old enough I decided to go with some friends to the parade. That was the year that countless women were sexually, verbally, and physically assaulted by men throughout the parade. Luckily I was not harmed and I'm so glad my parents didn't know that I was there that year. I would never hear the end of it.

Just in case you didn't know about the assaults that occured during the parade here is a link to an article and video.

Well there are many things I hate, but if I had to make a short list it would look something like this:
- People that refuse to discipline their children and then get mad when you do.
- People that feel entitled to everything just because they exist, without ever earning or deserving it.
- Family members that talk about you in a negative way but expect you to do them favors, all the time.
- Mothers that are too worried about their own needs and disregard those of their children.
- Children that expect you to buy their affection or attention.
- Parents who buy their children.
- Family members that mooch off of you and don't feel badly about it.
- Pet owners that chain up their pets and don't give them the attention they deserve.
- Parents that believe that they can control you until the day you die.
- Adults that will never consider you an adult or a woman until you have a child.
- People that believe they can drive after a certain age.
- Most female drivers in Puerto Rico.
- Family members that insist in calling me "La gringa."
- Neighbors that believe they can dictate what others do in their homes and properties.
- My Aunt Maribel
- When my cousin brings over his kids over to my house when he has visitation, and leaves them.
- Men that pay more attention to buying nice clothes, having a nice car and eating out then paying their child support.
- Politicians
- Being late
- Students that disrespect professor during a lecture type class.
- People that think they are smarter than everyone else.
- People that are smarter than me :)
- Most teenagers, unless I'm related to them or know them from church.
- Puerto Rico's constant power problems FOR NO REASON.
- Being too cold or too hot.
- When my dog sleeps on my hair and I wake up with a headache.
- My Aunt Maribel
- Not having more than 24 hours in a day.
- Not getting enough sleep before an important day.
- Men that believe it's okay to whistle at a female the way I whistle at my dog.
- Men that get obsessive, quickly.
- Men that have nicer hair than me.
- People that can not sing that insist they could be the next american idol.
- Songs that are played to death.
- People that constantly make Video Game or Movie references when speaking.

Here are some of my pet peeves.

- When people leave the lights on after they exit a room.
- People that eat pizza with a fork and a knife.
- Tongue clicking
- People with long nails that tap their nails on hard surfaces.
- Constant hair twirling and flipping.
- Teenagers.


I'll stop here because I'll just be nitpicking.

Well I've been reading over my blog and I can say that there have definitely been blog posts that I have liked and posts that were so-so.
The post I enjoyed the most was probably the one where we had to select an image and write a short little story on it. I'm not usually any good at writing and telling stories, but that image reminded me so much of a dream that the writing just came naturally and effortlessly. It wasn't until that post that I realized that I could actually write a blog and not completely suck at it. 

    The post I dislike the most was probably the one on Valentines Day. Not the part aboutthe songs, but the part about the best and worst. The one that was my best just reminded me that i'm no longer with him and that another woman is now enjoying his attention. Writing about this last Valentines Day with my staker just my me relive what had just hapened, something I hope to very soon forget. Besides that post I really didn't dislike any others. 

I've read some interesting articles recently about the rise in youth offenders and also youth deaths. A few years back I remember the fear of some parents and health professionals was that this current generation would be outlived by their parents, or atleast not live as long as their parents have. The fear was because of the rise in childhood obesity. Although that is still very much a real possibility for many of todays youth, another epidemic is claiming or youth as well, death via violent crime. I've personally gone to 7 funerals for kids younger than me that died as a result of a violent crime. More than half of those kids were blood relatives. So basically if obesity and the related complications don't kill them, another person will. 
    In an article in endi.com titled "Juventud que "no ve la vejez'," he writes about a young woman, age 17, that was found shot to death and locked in the truck of a car. With her in the truck was a young man, age 23, that was shot 22 times but was still breathing. The girl was a single mother and a high school student, she was still in her school uniform. She was also found with a large amount of drugs and a gun in her bag. Although her death and every young persons death is a tragedy, I can't help but think that kids nowadays are almost inviting an early end to their lives. More and more kids today are involved in criminal activity compared to when I was young. I've have always believed that the root of evil and crime is the love and obsession for having more and more money. 
    Not only is the search for money a problem but also the lack of education. Currently in Puerto Rico there is a 40% drop out rate amongst students, according to an article recently published in El Nuevo Dia. What's worst is that school officials aren't even sure who the deserters are. The administration has become so disconnected with what's going on in the classrooms, that I believe there is little to no hope for a change. As part of the Department of Education here at UPRRP, I've been taught that there is a direct coorelation between a college education and the likely-hood of going to jail. Individuals with some college, not necessarily a degree are less likely to end up in jail. Because of this many prisons encourage their prisoners to take college courses and finish a degree while in jail. they have found that the prisoners that take advantage of this benefit(higher education) are mu

What's troubling PR? Well I can't speak for the entire island but I can say what's troubling me. In the last almost three years since I moved to this once beautiful, friendly, partying island, I have buried 5 family members. Out of those 5 people, only one died from natural causes. I've had 3 first cousins and one uncle gunned down, either as part of a home invasion/robbery or a random shooting. The last one to die was only 18 years old, my youngest first cousin and the only remaining son for my aunt. She buried her oldest son just 5 years ago to a random shooting in their projects. 
    The death that hit closest to me was that of my 21 year old first cousin Darrell. He was killed during one of those typical town celebrations here in PR, Arroyo to be exact. He was working for the sound crew, he need to make some quick cash because he still had one textbook left to buy for La Inter in Guayama. His death affect not only his mother and brother, but my mom, grandma, uncle, nephews, and myself. I still don't understand who goes to a celebration packing heat.
    All these deaths have me and my parents paranoid. I'm an only child so if I go, that's it. I've changed my life due to their fear and my own. I tend not to go out after a certain hour, only if its to a friends home, no public places. I also don't go to the town parties like I used to or large parties that aren't family or church related. I'm from a rather violent and dangerous place, NY, and I felt safer there than I do here. 
    Another issue that doesn't necessarily keep me up at night but does bother me a lot is the issue of education. As a future teacher I am disgusted by the public education system here in PR. I wish I could blame it one the adminstration, the students, the parents, the economy, or the teachers, but the fact is that the problem is a combination of all of the above. I find myself siding with one of these groups or another from time to time. I really think everyone has dropped the ball and too much time is wasted trying to place blame, when in reality, everyone is at fault. 

- Teachers need to be more inventive and invest more of their time and energy into helping the students.
- Teachers are willing but don't have the backing or resources to do so and their salary is not enough for all that is being asked of them.
- Parents are too quick to blame the school and teachers for the fact that their child isn't learning as they should but they don't help them either.
- Parents have to work and although some might want to be more involved, they often feel powerless, especially if their child is in a public school. They have no real options and their kids suffer for it.
- The administration doesn't know what's really going on in the classroom and seem to think their work is more valuable than a teachers, hence a larger salary. They are only worried about looking good and lining their pockets. They're the politicians of the education world.
- Administrator take a lot of the heat for the fact that the schools are doing poorly. Although a teacher may be spoken to about a bad review or bad test results, they often remain in the school system. Administrators are rotated out more frequently than most teachers are. They also have the difficult task of trying to balance a budget when there is no money and the economy doesn't seem to get any better.

Like I said before, everyone and no one is at fault for the educational problems in Puerto Rico.