Posts by Carrie:
- Only 5% of the 400 respondents picked dolls with features and skin color that matched their family, but 16% looked for bilingual toys.
- 50% of the moms chose musical toys like drums, pianos and guitars. (At my house there long has been an accessible basket of musical instruments and I care not how loud it gets, as long as she bangs around on something.)
- And, it looks like we shop often, mi’jas. Twenty-one percent (21%) of the mamis buy toys every.single.month. Guau. Five percent buy something every week. (Are you wondering where they put all those trastos? I am…)
- Spare Beauty: The Cuban Kitchen, a collection by photographer Ellen Silverman, of Cubans in their kitchens. They are sparse, beautiful, horrifying, dangerous, simple, sad, inspiring…You name it. An NPR story explains the works and we had a conversation about it on the Tiki Tiki Facebook page.
- The photographer Diane Cu, half of the popular White on Rice Couple site, showed photos of her fall trip to Cuba during a session at the Blissdom conference I attended in February. They are intimate and moving and they’re all shot and edited on an iPhone. Go check them out.
- The Denver Post has a striking slideshow of Pope Benedict XVI visit to Cuba last week.
- The photographer Ed Yourdon is one of my favorites to visit on Flickr. His NYC street scenes and photos of young mothers ignoring their children in favor of their phones or electronics always serves as a great reminder to me to unplug. But, anyway. Yourdon went to Cuba last fall for photo workshops and he created a collection of more than 300 images he shot in Havana, plus there is a nice written description of what he saw.
Dicho: Perro Que No Camina
May 17th, 2012
Perro Que No Camina, No Encuentra Hueso
The dog who doesn’t walk about doesn’t find the bone.
So, let’s talk about you. What do you want? Are you moving, moving toward finding that reward?
Or, are you asleep on the porch?
Muevete.
No seas perro cansado.
Muevete. Or you’ll never find that hueso.
And by the way, I like the dicho about impulso way better than this following one:
Si Quieres el Perro, Acepta las Pulgas
I heard that during my dating life a few times…
Translation: If you want the dog, accept the fleas.
It’s about taking the bitter with the sweet, or the good with the bad, or the dude with the bad habits.
No thanks!
No pulgas allowed.
William Levy, Salma and Me
May 7th, 2012Baby Morphing with William Levy
So, a couple weeks ago, I was in the grocery store line and saw the gloriously beautiful Salma Hayek on the cover of Lucky magazine.
My first thought was: “Salma and William Levy would make a beautiful baby.”
I have no idea why I thought that. Just being honest here.
So, I took a picture of her picture and set out to find out what Salma and William’s baby would look like.
Thank you, The Bump’s baby morpher. Check out their baby girl, above. I doubt Salma ever would put that hat on her kid, though.
And then since I was at it, I answered another question: “I wonder what my baby with este cubanito William Levy would look like?”
And there I went…despite the fact that at nearly 45, I have better odds of getting hit by lightning than of conceiving William Levy’s love child. (Never mind what my husband would say…)
So, let me present you with the little auburn-haired boy I conceived with William in my laptop. He’s freakishly cute-ish and I always wanted a boy! And I bet he would be a great writer/dancer/telenovela celebrity one day … just like his Mami and Papi. (And look, he is shirtless just like Papi often is…)
I think he’s cuter than Salma and William’s girl. What do you think?
And now, I really need to get something real done around here.
Enough de joder.
Y tu?
Who do you want to morph with?
Capirotada: Mexican Bread Pudding with Cheese
April 23rd, 2012Capirotada Recipe Video
How does bread pudding with cheese sound?
Different, right?
Pero delicious, and you know it, if you’ve ever eaten Mexican Capirotada, an amazing bread pudding with cheese, nuts, conchas (or pan dulce), shredded coconut and piloncillo and cinnamon.
Tiki Tiki Contributor Nicole Presley of Presley’s Pantry has done a webisode that is whimsical and funny to watch, detailing the step-by-step for making this traditional bread pudding. (There’s even a genie involved…)
Capirotada usually is a popular recipe and dish served during Lent, by the way…but, here it is because it still is Spring and bread pudding is good all year long. Can I get an Amen?
According to Wikipedia, the recipe ingredients carry symbolism for Mexicans and Mexican-Americans:
“The basic ingredients carry a rich symbolism to the Passion of Christ, and the dish is viewed by many Mexican and Mexican-American families as a reminder of the suffering of Christ on Good Friday. The bread is for the Body of Christ, the syrup is his blood, the raisins are the nails of the cross, and the whole cinnamon sticks are the wood of the cross. The melted cheese stands for the Holy Shroud.”
If you want the complete Capirotada Mexican bread pudding recipe, you can visit her delicious blog, Presley’s Pantry.
Do you love Capirotada?
Latina Moms Seek Bilingual Toys
April 18th, 2012
OK, if we’re talking about wanting bilingual toys for our kids, let me say this:
This Latina mom definitely looked for bilingual toys and dolls, but did ban the daughter’s grandparents from buying la nena a Spanish-singing little furry red dude. I didn’t care how well he habla-ed el espanish, no way, was that doll coming into my house.
So, I am only sort of like the Latina moms surveyed by BabyCenter en Español about their toy-buying habits.
The survey, released yesterday, found:
Around here, we put an emphasis on bilingual books and bilingual music, and even now that my daughter is 8, books and music still are her most common play things. Dolls never have been a big deal for her. And, gente, never would I buy a toy every single week. Ni me lo imagino!
And you?
What are your toy-buying habits for your little one?
Do you look for dolls that look like your child, your family?
What do you think about the options in bilingual toys?
Hispanics in the 1940 U.S. Census
April 9th, 2012
The 1940 Census
Well, there were no official “Hispanics” in the United States in 1940, apparently, because that term didn’t come along until 1970.
According to NBC Latino:
“The terms “Hispanic” or “Latino” were not used then,” says Mark Hugo López, of the Pew Hispanic Center. It was not until the 1970 census that Hispanics could identify themselves as such.
But, you know we were here. Maybe not as much as today, but we were here. And given that a lot of people of “Hispanic” ancestry had the border cross them, or if your family has been here for so many decades, it would be worth a trip into the newly released 1940 Census.
You would visit the U.S. Census site: http://1940census.archives.gov/ and search by Enumeration District, which is by geographical location, not by name. The name indexing isn’t finished yet.
People were categorized by country of origin and race — and that race ID apparently would be whatever the Census taker thought it should be.
I played around with the 1940 records yesterday in search of the non-Latinos in my bloodline and the site and images loaded slowly, but it was good to begin to figure it out.
If you are thinking of searching for your Hispanic/Latin American/Latino/Spanish/Caribbean and everything else roots, know that the Spanish were maniacal about keeping records, so the searches can be pretty fruitful.
You can find a post we did with a bunch of links to finding your Hispanic and Latin Ancestry here.
And, by the way, if you are doing research on your old house, or neighborhood, these records are great starting places, too.
Oye, Are You Really Bilingual?
April 3rd, 2012
Bilingual Spanish Sign
¿Donde va el Acento?
So, listen.
I’ve got a new day job. I’m hanging at a Latino nonprofit in Nashville. Doing PR and communications. My new role calls on me to write in Spanish. For native Spanish-speakers.
Me he cagado once in a while over it. My Spanish writing is not as good as my English. I knew that, but now I really, really know it.
It has made me question the level of bilingual I am.
I wrote mucho about it over on my personal blog, Bilingual in the Boonies. Maybe the blog should be called Semi-Bilingual in the Boonies?
Anyway, un poco:
I can’t remember the accents and the words that flow so easily from me in English sputter out of my head in fits and stalls in Spanish. I worry my words are wrong, maybe they’re Miami cubanisms and not really terms native Spanish-speakers would use? I worry. Thank goodness for great editors and kind proof readers.
Oh, and I won’t even spend much time telling you how I forget words as I am speaking to native Spanish-speakers. Thank goodness for Spanglish, but there’s work to be done in that area for me, too.
How is your written Spanish?
I got some super cool comments on the essay and now I want to ask you, the Tiki Tiki.
Can you write as well in Spanish? If so, how and why? Were you educated in Spanish?
Can you speak, but not write in Spanish? If so, what the heck are you going to do about it, if anything? (I’m reading Spanish literature and the local Spanish papers….I think it’s the key to improving.)
I want to improve my written Spanish. For marketability and for my brain and spirit.
Do you care about your level of being bilingual?
Dímelo!
Longing: New Photos of Cuba Today
April 2nd, 2012
click on the image to go see the video/photos on BBC
My Sunday paper alerted me to an upcoming photo exhibit in Nashville of images from the new photography book, Old Havana: Spirit of the Living City by Chip Cooper and Nestor Marti.
Published by the University of Alabama Press, it is a collaboration between Cooper, an American architecture and landscape photographer, and Marti, a photographer living in Havana. A BBC story, with background, can be found here and the story I read locally is here.
A wonderful Tia of mine lives in a 5th-floor walk-up on Calle Obispo, just up the street from La Floridita, right in the heart of la Habana Vieja. It is a vibrant and beautiful corner of the world, and seeing this story made me miss the moments I have spent there.
Also made me long for an easy freedom for Cuba.
Cuba Now. In Pictures.
As did these other images of Cuba I have discovered of late.
Here’s a slideshow of Yourdon’s Cuba photos:
Viva, Cuba Libre.
One day.
del alma: Less Blah Blah Blah more Cha Cha Cha
April 2nd, 2012Cojelo Con el Take it Easy
So, sometimes do you think we’re a people prone to drama?
Like we go for the lucha, for the tiki tiki, when we could just brush it off y ya? Is it the spitfire, telenovela gene?
Que, what is it about?
I struggle to figure it out, especially when I hear el condena’o tiki tiki tiki tiki around me. That sort of emotional noise clashes with my more gringa sensibility of “y que?” who cares, move on y ya.
If I find myself getting sucked in, what comes to mind is “Cojelo con el take it easy” — the cubanism for plain old “Take it Easy.”
It should be a mantra. I say this to mom friends, to my mom, to co-workers.
I say this to myself.
So, listen…I am not sure what you’ve got going on in your life today, but if there is any sort of drama going on, or niggling nothings that eat up your time, there are some things you should know, some things you should remember…even if just for today.
Today, You Should Know…
Today, riete!
Today, brush it off.
Today, muerdete la lengua.
Today, no cojas lucha.
Today, it is no big problema.
Today, more cha cha cha!
Today, mas tiki tiki! (the good kind)
You feel me?
Who needs this card today? Who you gonna send it to?
(and yes, I altered the funny Hallmark card…It’s going to a friend who still works in a newsroom, where too many people have been laid off and many are frustrated and worried. She needs this card!)
Disclosure: This del alma is sponsored by Hallmark and the Life is a Special Occasion campaign. To receive notices on Hallmark products and special offers sign up for the newsletter.
Racism in Our Gente
March 25th, 2012
A march of support for Trayvon Martin.
Is it just me, or do you too hold your breath when something horrible, scandalous happens because you’re hoping: “Don’t let him (or her) be Latin!”
Drunk driving deaths, notorious mistresses, mass shootings, suddenly popular reality TV stars.
“Que no sea Latino,’’ I think.
I thought perhaps we had slid past one more bad one when Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman. Of course, he — like me — has an Anglo name and it wasn’t until his family released a statement saying Zimmerman is Latino that that angle came out.
The statement said that because Zimmerman is a minority, he would not have been motivated by racism to shoot.
That one kind of threw me. And apparently, it also threw many others who are questioning that angle in news reports and in social media.
Here is a column by Chantilly Patiño on Fox News Latino asking the question: So, because Zimmerman is Latino he cannot be accused of being
And this round-up of take-aways about the shooting over at Latino Rebels. The last being:
“And yes, America, racism is a part of all this. Wake up. Stop “defending” and “overthinking” and start realizing that unless we don’t start looking as to WHY George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin to death, we will never heal or unite as a country.”
It all leads me to want to discuss racism in our community, but really, I don’t. It makes me ill and angry.
I have no idea what George Zimmerman’s motivation was, what was in his heart. It isn’t up to me to judge that. A panel of his peers likely will.
But, we all know that racism — no matter how rainbow-colored our family and friends are — inhabits our community and our culture…both the one we live in, and the one we came from.
The question is, how do we heal it so that innocent young children grow up healthy and happy and safe?
Dicho: Ojos Que No Ven…
March 19th, 2012
Ojos Que No Ven...
Ojos Que No Ven, Corazon Que No Siente
Translation: What the eyes don’t see, the heart can’t feel. Or, what your eyes can’t see, can’t hurt your heart.
Or, is it more out of sight, out of mind?
This dicho, this frase, always has baffled me.
On the one hand, what you don’t see, don’t know, can’t hurt you. True.
But, it is an old call to ignore — purposely– something that is wrong? Something hurtful? We as a culture of women are too often still called upon to turn our eyes away from truths. Para no sentir lo malo. So we don’t have to deal. To aguantar, if you will.
Or, is it an act of survival, of lo que sea, of moving forward without drama and trauma? Why rock the boat?
I have purposely averted my eyes before…in all manner of things. Sometimes, you have to, and sometimes, you just don’t know what else to do.
I wonder, when I hear this frase, or when it pops into my head, if I ever will use it on my daughter.
And, I guess it depends. Depende.
Is it love, work, friendship that has her hurting, doubting? How badly?
But, in the end, esta believes that seeing truths is way better than not. Because, the heart heals. No matter what.
Ojos Que No Ven Video by Alexis y Fido
I do love how this dicho is so popular, so forever relevant…even in Reggaeton. Check out Ojos Que No Ven.
