My bro (AKA the Comment Killer) has just published an article entitled, “American Democracy will Fail its Midterms” on the Safe Democracy Foundation website. The views expressed in the article are not necessarily those of the members of his family or of his family as a whole.
Filed under Essays, Friends / Family
I spent all of Saturday with my friends Kevin and Rocío, Santi and Clara, and with their lovey children Marina and Javier. Marina and Javier were both born in May 2005, and now that they are almost 18 months old they are getting more and more fun to play with. I finally got Javier to start kicking a ball with his feet. Santi was a bit concerned that Javier was always using his hands. Example is the best teacher. So with more actions than words, we showed Javier how to kick the ball. I will never pressure my children to become professional athletes and to retire their father. But, Javier is Santi’s son, so there is no problem with me pressuring his son to fulfill my frustrated professional aspirations and to add to my retirement plan. Meanwhile, Marina is becoming an expert in kissing and in reading. Hmm? You think that I am negatively promoting gender roles with my friends’ children? I would think so, but it is incredibly amazing to see how these two children interact with the world in incredibly different and natural ways: one as a boy and the other as a girl.
In any event, I had so much fun with them all on Saturday. On Friday, me and the parents are all supposed to go to dinner sans children. For some reason, it doesn’t seem so exciting without the kids. I might just come up with some excuse to get out of it . . . (here is Marina showing off her pool tricks).
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Filed under Friends / Family
I just ran across this Thievery Corporation video of “Lebanese Blond“. You can see flashes of some of the old regulars from those evenings at Eighteen Street Lounge, plus shots of Massachusetts Avenue in DC (and what I believe to be is Dumbarton’s Oaks). It’s not a very high budget video, but reminds me of the old days.
Filed under Friends / Family
Hace tiempo que no escribo nada en español en este blog. Como intenté contar esta historia ayer a Hysidro (curioso ser gallego y tener un nombre griego) pero él no quiso hacerme ningún caso, he decido ponerla aquí por escrito. Puede ser que le molestó el hecho de que entre las palabras “estupendo” y “estúpido” solo hay un par de letras. En fin, ya la podrá leer aquí cuando le de la gana. Pues, mi historia tiene que ver con aquel juego estupendo que se hace por teléfono con las operadoras de soporte al cliente. No es una historia de déjà vu sino de “flashback” (palabra que, junto con “foreshadowing” no sé traducir). La historia y su flashback ocurrieron así:
Filed under Friends / Family, Living la vida española
Because I know how much my mother misses her father, especially today, I am posting this picture of my maternal grandparents.
Filed under Friends / Family
Exactly one year ago, I received a phone call early in the morning. The caller was a friend of a friend telling me that he had bad news. He had never called me before, and yet I was not surprised nor did I panic. I simply listened. The news was that one of my closest friend’s brother had just died in a traffic accident. In the following two weeks, my grandfather and another friend had both passed away. Earlier in the year, my friend, Jorge, had died of a brain tumor. Nevertheless, 2005 was not a total loss of a year due to the deaths of loved ones. In May alone, four friends of mine brought healthy babies into this world. When I look back at 2005, I reflect upon what I experienced with these deaths and births.
I have seen life in life, I have seen life in death, and I have seen death in life . . .
Filed under Digressions, Friends / Family
The King of Freestyle Environmental Impact Assessments has a new clandestine headquartors. If you think something needs to be audited or assessed for impact, have no fear. You are in professional hands. Let’s keep things sustainable.
Filed under Digressions, Friends / Family
Last night I ran into my old, old childhood friend, Pete. He reminded me of something that happened when we were young. Unfortunately, we couldn’t quite remember how the story went. Basically, Pete and his buddy Repete were sitting in a tree. Pete fell down and one of them was left. To see who was left click here.
Filed under Friends / Family
Most of my friends have much more interesting lives than I do. Thus, I am taking the initiative of posting some of their stories. For example, soon you will find interviews with el Granuja and Manolo. To begin with, here is Fadi’s Holy Week story of Antigua, Guatamala (written in French):
Cervantès a si bien su pétrir la triste réalité de la prose quotidienne pour la transformer en poésie croustillante et en illusion satisfaisant l’imaginaire: le Quichotte en preux chevalier avec un « Don pour titre », la roturière –injustement assimilée par la psyché collective à une prostituée !!!– en Dulcinée, les moulins en châteaux (en Espagne bien sûr)… sublimation que nous avons de plus en plus du mal à envisager au quotidien surtout quand, dans le monde du développement auquel je pense appartenir, nous avons à attaquer la pauvreté. Continue reading
Filed under Essays, Friends / Family
In a previous post about clean water, I introduced my friend Fadi, an environmental health expert. Of all of my friends, Fadi is the one with the most exquisite musical taste. He has introduced me to great music and musicians, one of which is Toufic Farrouk (personally, I recommend Drab Zeen). Toufic is apparently about to launch his new album entitled Tutia. What I did not know was that Fadi had actually done more than amateur playing (he played the flute) and had been in the studio recording with Toufic and Ziad Rabani. In any event, I would like to share this photo from his previous life. There was once a fatalistic article written about Fadi by one of his ex-girlfriends in an English newspaper that I would love to share as well, but it was so ludicrous that I will spare us all. I hope Fadi does not mind me posting this window of lives past.
Filed under Friends / Family, Jazz
Grave Error 
