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.

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Un poquito mas:

1. Dicho: Merequetén and Rock-Breaking Heat
2. Dicho: Ojos Que No Ven…
3. Dicho: Otoño Entrante…Welcoming Fall

This coming Sunday, I will be celebrating the woman who brought me into this world and has been such an inspiration in my life. But not for the reasons you may be thinking.

Marta and her mom, Luza

When we left Cuba, I barely knew my grandmother and my own mother has never quite fit the bill of the classic abuelita. She inspires me in that she is much more like an interesting character in a novel than just “Mami.” And someday I’m going to sit down and write that novel. Until then, let me tell you about this character named, “Luza.”

My mother turned 98 this year. I have to start with that fun fact because when I tell the rest of the story you must keep reminding yourself that she is 98, and has lived almost a century.

Her given name is Luz Aurora, but her grandchildren gave her the nickname, “Luza,” and it suits her, so she kept it. She is Luza to all friends and acquaintances, including those who now know her through my writing.

Luza was born in 1914. The same year that Babe Ruth made his debut with the Red Sox. When she was around 19 or 20 (that would be around 1934), she and her brothers started listening to the World Series when it came around every year on the family radio. She has not missed a series to this day.

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh made his famous solo flight non-stop from New York to Paris. She and her family listened to the news of this amazing feat on that same radio and it so captured their imagination, they named their German shepherd, “Lindbergh.” But this was Cuba, 1927, so they pronounced it “LEEN-BERR.” She still remembers him fondly.

Luza and "Leemberr."

She has been a political refugee, a green-card carrying permanent resident alien, and eventually became an American citizen when she was in her 60’s. She has voted in every presidential election since 1974.

She went from her mother’s house to being a wife and a mother.

She has never worked outside of the home.

She has never driven a car.

She has always been provided for and has always gone wherever she has needed and wanted to go.

She loves to travel.

She still wears red nail polish, dyes her hair, and wouldn’t be caught dead without red lipstick.

She loses her balance occasionally, so she uses a walker now, but she still wears heels when she dresses up.

She only wears her glasses “sometimes,” because she’s a little vain about her appearance. She does not need them to read and only puts them on when her eyes get tired. (Let me remind you again that she’s 98, people.)

She saves every single greeting card from every single occasion and works diligently to get them pasted into her scrapbook. She is on scrapbook number 34, but that’s not important right now.

She loves juicy bits of gossip, watches way too many telenovelas on tv, and describes William Levy as a “muñecon.”

She’s still very bossy. (The apple does not fall far….)

She is a voracious reader, usually juggling 3 to 4 books at a time.

She has sixteen grandchildren and will tell you that although they are all nice looking, her own six children are much, much better looking. (This makes me smile every time.)

She knows about blogging and the internet and will happily tell you how the internet search engines work. (See the iconic, “Cuco and Yayo.”)

We got her a fur coat for Christmas a few years ago because she really wanted one. Now she wants us to take her places where she can show it off.

We never tell her anymore when we’re going to Vegas because she will invariably insist on coming along. She plays roulette, and always puts her money on #22, ” el sapo” in the “Charada China.”

She spends one weekend with my family every month. This last time, she arrived in her fur coat, with her walker and the first thing she said was, “I dyed my hair red. Do you like it?”

Luza in her fur coat and rocking the red hair.

See what I mean? I seriously have to sit down and write that novel.

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Un poquito mas:

1. What Do You Call Your Abuela?
2. Terms of Endearment
3. A Red Carnation

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?

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Un poquito mas:

1. Salma
2. Mira, Mira: Dora, Salma and Veggie Cuban

A Favorite Bedtime Story

I often wonder about what my children will remember from their childhood.

Any sweet memories I have of being little all involve my abuela. My grandmother is the one who raised me and when I think of the days of being a small child, it is her face I see and her voice I hear.

Bedtime was a favorite part of my day; my abuela made it that way. As it grew dark outside, my grandmother would gather my younger siblings and she’d set us all in one bathtub to soak while she’d watch over us and sing a sweet Spanish song.

She’d help us dry off and get into our pajamas, and when we were ready for bed, my grandmother would have us stand on our beds as she’d tightly twirl a blanket around us. We’d giggle as we’d be wrapped up tighter than a moth in a cocoon.

After we were washed and dried and wrapped, she’d lay us down and begin to tell us a story. Since my grandmother came to this country when she was almost 60-years-old, all of her stories were richly Latin.

There was one tale in particular that I begged for each night. I barely remember the full story, but I do remember how I loved to hear my abuela tell it. It was about a little frog who lived in a stream and a little girl that came to the river to wash her family’s clothes.

I always imagined myself as that little girl. This little girl thought herself very ugly, and each day as she’d wash the clothes, she’d cry over her misfortune of not being born beautiful and her tears would fall into the stream and be carried down the river.

One day this little girl’s tears made their way to the frog that lived in the water. This frog also felt he was ugly.  He was so moved by the little girl’s pain and understood her unhappiness so well, that he made her beautiful. When the little girl saw her beautiful reflection in the stream, she was so happy at how lovely the frog had made her that she picked him up in her hand, and not caring that he was ugly, kissed him.

Her kiss turned him into a  handsome young man and together they were happy and never lonely again.

Making Memories

I have such a rich, full memory of these times with my abuela, and it’s that reminder of how only 15 minutes in a day can turn into a memory my children will talk about fifty years from now, that keeps me from never saying no when my youngest asks me to sit and read with him.

No matter how busy I am, how many dishes there are in the sink, how many baskets full of laundry to be folded,  I never say no.

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Un poquito mas:

1. Soap and Memory
2. Questioning Latino Terms of Endearment
3. soy de tortillas y tamales

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?

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Un poquito mas:

1. Capirotada: Sweet Indulgences
2. Being Mexican. And Vegetarian
3. Mango Paletas! Mexican Popsicles Recipe

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:

• 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…)

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?

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Un poquito mas:

1. Oye, Are You Really Bilingual?
2. Giveaway: Bilingual, Spanish Alphabet Learning Cards
3. Giveaway: Bilingual North American Map Puzzle

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.

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Un poquito mas:

1. Latinos, Hispanics and Racial Identity
2. Today Show spends week highlighting Hispanics
3. Diablos, Vampires and Census Workers

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!

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Un poquito mas:

1. Giveaway: Bilingual Children’s Books
2. Giveaway: Bilingual, Spanish Alphabet Learning Cards
3. Viva Greetings: Bilingual Fabulousness Giveaway

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.

• 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.

Here’s a slideshow of Yourdon’s Cuba photos:

Viva, Cuba Libre.
One day.

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Un poquito mas:

1. Labor Day in Photos
2. Cuando sali de Cuba…
3. Merry Christmas from Tiki Tiki Readers

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.

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Un poquito mas:

1. del alma: Dichos of Encouragement
2. del alma: On Amigas
3. del alma: Meet, and Quiet, Your Inner Critic