Little Big Efforts

Continuing on the topic of fertility and labor, it's interesting to think that fertility isn't something we can do by ourselves. To procreate a child you need two people - one of each gender - and often other many sorts of conditions, like the right mood, the right environment, income security, stable relationship... For any sort of work you need at least someone who hires you (your employer or the client who buys from you) and maybe also someone to hire. Even for the most simple of fertile activities, such as sowing, you need the land, the seeds, the Sun, the water... Be it other people or the colaboration of other elements, fertility and labor are things you can't do on your own. (I'm thinking about creating stories in your head as something you could "do on your own", but I'm not sure about that, so I'm leaving that in the limbo.) In this sense, it happens that often we think that the part we give to a job or to the big scope of the economy or the country itself is very, very little, and it goes unnoticed. You may think that the GDP measure has nothing to do with you, that the part that you produce is so small, it wouldn't go missing if you would stop doing it.

It's similar the case with voting, for instance. In the big scope of a general election for the presidential campaing, you may wonder what does it matter if you vote or not? What weight does your one vote has, and who would ever miss it?

The beauty of labor and fertility, is that even the smallest part matters, that it doesn't matter like it has so much weight, the smallest part is the crucial one. A person forms thanks to the efforts of one single sperm from millions and millions that could rush swimming up to the womb looking for the Promise Egg, and each plant in a plantation also comes from a tiny seed that made it. You may see yourself small and insignificant in the big scheme of things, but there would be no big head up there if it weren't for all the laborious, little ants like you keeping the world running.

For all those efforts that might seem small to the world, that are big for us, there are loud echoes in the future, out into the Universe. For all of those, we deserve to remember, to celebrate, that though we are small, and though we can't do it without the colaboration of others, we are also a vital part of the big scheme, and as so, we must keep that thought in mind, smile and celebrate, be happy and passionate. In this spirit, I took a small stick - small like me - and tied on it three ribbons in the colors of the Costa Rican flag: blue for hope and dreams to fly high in the sky, white for the purity of the heart, the peace and calmness of Mother Earth, and red for the passion, the effort, the flame and the will of the Lord. Nobody can see it, probable, as it is perched in a small pot with a cactus, from a window on a high floor, but it's there, close to the sky where the dreams are, there to remind me every morning of the promise of May, and before God.

Your efforts might seem so small for the world, but in the eyes of God they sure are big because He knows what's behind them.

Welcome to the End of The World - Been There, Done That

Salaam alaikum and Blessed Be, my dear readers! This year started to me as many others before: celebrating the New Year abroad. Ok, ok, maybe Hungary shouldn't count for me as "abroad", BUT, as I've had had my New Year in Paris, my New Year in Sofia, this year the New Year came at the Caribbean shores of Santo Domingo, the capital city of Dominican Republic. This time around it was my boyfriend flying all the way from Hungary to Costa Rica for the end of the year, and not the other way around, for reasons well known for those who need to know them. 

We talked about going to Dominican Republic in spring, but ended up going to Panama City due to lack of proper organizing. This time around, however, with much more time to do the planning - which is the key to everything - we made it to this lovely island, where we enjoyed the Caribbean culture and history. Yes, there were strange and odd things, like the tourist harrasing people at any step of the way, I wrote about in the last post of 2011, however all in all - particularly after taking a walk down Calle Conde - it was wonderful. I wouldn't say it was "magical", because there was so much earthy, human quality in it, that all supernatural forces were erased. Even the shores and the waves seemed like part of the effort of a nation that does know how to work it, but also know how to take it easy, not rush it, but live it.

Part of a trip - at least for me - includes the mandatory cruising of the tax and duty free stores at the airport, where I usually stock up with magazines and candy. My selection this time around included the december number of Latina - a magazine I haven't seen before, as I noted in the last post -, Vogue, Vanity Fair and The Economist. Normally I would go searching for Marie Claire, which had been my favorite magazine for ages, but as things have come by, this magazine has changed going from a smart, women's issues focused magazine to yet another shopping catalogue, with all traces of brain neatly supressed. It does upset me how the roaring "buy more, think less" wave expands to more and more newspapers and magazines, making it harder each time to actually find an article that can absorb you mentally, show you something you didn't know about, educate you, fill your braincells with useful, interesting information, and challenge you. 

After Marie Claire's plunging in quality, bigger concern with adds and pictures of clothes and accessories you don't really need, and lesser with showing the world of women around the planet, how can we otherwise get to know about them? What other way do we have to get informed from a different point of view? Which other source do we have to get glimpses of the history and the present of women all over the world? Yes, snipets can be found, but magazines are far more concerned with rags that won't last three months than the stories behind human trafficking, or efforts towards breaking new and more areas in women's labor fields. Glossy paper has become all about the superfluous and stupid, taking away any trace of thought, any trace of awareness, if not sponsored by a company or a group of them on a trendy topic, such as "Breast Cancer", or any other thing that doesn't challenge society or economical order. Anything to make you spend.

From the batch I purchased, gladly Vanity Fair kept up to the standard I set, though more leaning on the political matter, rather than foccused on the women's issues, even though this last issue had no other than Lady Gaga on the cover. I keep blinking in disbelieve how such an ugly, outrageous person can be so celebrated. Other than that, holding in my head a piece written by Joseph Stiglitz is delightful. However, before I even got around to Vanity Fair, I checked out the overly popularized and commented Vogue magazine. The magazine is an icon in fashion - as many know so - has been subject of songs, movies, books, documentries, and their Editor in Chief, Anna Wintour, quite known and celebrated. The magazine and Ms. Wintour have been also the underlying subject of the book and movie "The Devil Wears Prada" (a great movie, a terrible book, written by a disgraceful, untalented Lauren Weisberger). The magazine is certainly a stack of paper about fashion, with not much thought about any other issues - as I would have expected it to - so in that sense it came way under my expectations. Sure, "Vogue" isn't "Runway", but from no socially striking articles to no-brain articles there's quite a gap, and one that this famed magazine does not manage well at all. As you page through it, you can't see any of the "elitist" style oozing from it that the critics talk about - unless you call Kardashian-like no-brains-only-money style - but the kind of audience it seems to carter for is one you really, really don't want to belong to, specially if you have a university degree and believe in real hard work (not the maniac straining yourself for intrascendental things the magazine calls "hard work"). How can you monthly spend time reading pages that suggest you to dress like a clown, fast yourself into a toothpick and spend regardless of whether you have money or not, because "the trend" says so?

It was still interesting to see Meryl Streep on the cover, so I had to read the article on her to see if there was any mention at all about the afore mentioned movie, where she played Miranda Priestly, the homologue of Anna Wintour. Well, it made me smirk how evidently the sting of the book and the movie hasn't been overcome, as the praising of the actress was all over the place, and the moving was mentioned only passingly, in the middle of a list of other movies. It seems that "the cool people" can't put themselves past the booklet a mediocre writer wannabe composes, and keep the grudge until the end of days. Then again, who are we calling a mediocre writer, when Ms. Wintour's editorial is flat and the rest of the "articles" are blah, abundant in a language that seeks to detail luxury and a sense of grandeur, but that never get's to the nerve of things. It's all on the brands, and the mixes of humble attitude with knowing what's trendy and luxurious, but with not a word thrusting deeper into the vein, going to what's aside from the brand and the fresh oysters and "working hard".

Work hard, work hard... a phrase used up and down to describe successful people who have lots of money and still don't hit the bed before 4 am, are up in 4 hours and do this "work" thing constantly. Yeah, yeah, yeah... so, now tell me what's that "work" about. Is about organizing foundraisers and trips to bring aid packages to depressed areas, or is it sticking your nose to your computer trying to find a way to get millions of American workers to get rid of their debts, or how to create the missing 4 million jobs and make sure they stay? Is it hard work proselitizing for a candidate or a party, maybe a bill about tax cuts, or is it about waking up at 3 am to work on the fields? Or maybe it's hard work to be up until late trying to decide which picture would look better as the cover of your shallow, no-brain magazine?

So yes, there were no articles, so I paged through the magazine looking at the latest trends, what's to come and realizing once again that fashion lately has nothing that could or would hold my interest. There was then a piece (I can't call it an article) about the tendencies and how - unlike with previous times of economical crisis - the tendency isn't towards minimalism (which I like), but towards overaccesorizing. Necklaces and bracelets measured in pounds, not in units, and chandelier earrings. The lines to introduce the tendency were rather insulting, from the social and economical proint of view, basically saying "you can face the times of crisis with frugality and saving, bracing for the hard time, or you can give it the finger and put on every luxury item you can get". Okay, so we are living hard times, millions of jobs have been suppressed in the States, people have been unemployed for years, and their proposal is "overaccesorize and give the crisis the finger". The excuse to do this? "Because youth is doing it and many of them are unemployed and have no money". Oh really, so here we are, adults, trying to get a job or hang into the one we have, with bills and responsabilities to face, realizing that living on a credit card isn't doable anymore, and we need to cut the unnecesary expenses, save some so the next time the economy fucks it up we don't get it up the ass, and here comes a fancy little magazine telling you to fuck the crisis, let's go bolder and still pretend we can max our credit cards and everything will be dandy. Where are we heading to? (In Vanity Fair, meanwhile, Kurt Andersen writes about how it seems that style has remained stagnating the last 20 years, with much of the same when comparing 1992 and 2012, so that makes you think where all this "we like" and "we think" you see in these magazines actually get anywhere in a society quite depleted of resources, with trend gurus that can't get over themselves, but continue to push their own, little, outdated agenda everywhere.)

The way I see it, we are heading towards the absolute stupidization of the population, but not as part as some conspiracy, but also because of ourselves. If the magazines and newspapers dish us day after day articles and pieces of the lowest quality - and that can be seen in the very grammar and composing of many of the articles, where you would expect at least some average manage of the language - in every sense of the word. Shallow articles that not only don't grasp the surface of the matter, working the topic more as if it where a trailer of a topic rather than an article about it, but also because many of the subjects picked are not really that important. What would be more relevant, Demi Lovato's disorders or the levels of poverty reached by many countries, and what that slide down the socio-economical ladder entail? If you ask the magazines and the newspapers, Demi Lovato's issues, no question about it!

Yes, they are consistently working on making us stupid, but what are we doing about it? We keep buying their issues, we keep reading their shit, we don't demand for anything that isn't directly supplied to us. We don't demand, we take. So, demand. Demand! Don't buy the crap, but be clinical, and if you are bored, find new sources, but don't give them your money, nor be an instrument for them to get money out of you and your data for things you don't really want. We complain a lot about quality, but what are we doing to make them improve it? What are we really doing? Me, I'm doing something: Marie Claire is striked from my list, and so is Vogue now. Now it's up to you.

Vacations at the "La Española" Island

This reservation certainly wasn't like any other I've ever done at any other place. Booking.com should, perhaps, be a bit more clear about things... or should the hotels? Well, as you might guess, a non-really-geeky person like me, needs, NEEDS! her daily fix of internet connection in any shape of form available, so it is a mandatory requierment for any, ANY reservation I make, that the hotel has wi-fi or any other form of internet available, preferably one where I don't have to wait for some sweaty ass tourist (even though I'm a tourist myself), to detach their fat asses from in front of the communal internet, which usually has a large screen and everybody waiting can see what you are doing on-line. Not like I do any unseeming stuff (except when I scout yaoi mangas, which I have been doing quite often recently), but still. There's an option for that, which Booking already clicks for me "wi-fi", so when I did the reservation for the hotel, I was under the naive impression that I could come up to the room, log in and tweet to all my friends and followers that I'm nice and fine and made it to the hotel just dandy. You know, the regular stuff you do within 140 characters on Twitter.

It wasn't so. I do got informed of this after the reservation but before the trip, however I was told that wi-fi was freely available at the common areas. Oh well, we might manage, all I need is Internet and get online to breath my daily dose of Mb. However as we actually arrived to the hotel, what would you know, but you can't actually get any Internet if you don't pay for it! US$6 for 24 hours. Ok, ok, it's not so. Once you can link up on the bar for 10 minutes without paying. Dude, really, what the fuck can you do in 10 minutes on the net? Check on the news? Google something? My Kindle wouldn't even be able to download a sample from the lastest book samples I've requested! (Which do not take 60 seconds to download, btw...) So, really, 10 minutes? If you wonder what sort of cheap ass motel are we at, no, we are not. We actually have reservations at a big chain hotel, which is why this whole picking and pulling with the tourist is so offsetting for me. But I shall not complain, I've my internet, right? Already reported to Twitter and Facebook, like any dutiful little cybernaut, and now I'm merrily blogging my head away while my sweet boyfriend sleeps.

The city so far has been... interesting. It is certainly upsetting the amount of people outside the hotel harrassing you into shoe polishing (Dude, I'm wearing linen shoes! What do you want to polish on them! my boyfriend also had some unpolishable shoes...), and guided tours on horse pulled charriots... and when the "no thank you" isn't enough -  in Spanish, so that they see this is another Latin American fellow they are harrassing - comes the "I need to eat" line. Dude, me too! We don't have a DIME on their currency... or any currency other than Costa Rican colones, which we need, thank you very much. So, what do you want? They are rather unbeatable, and I honestly sulk that my boyfriend isn't a little darker in complexion and less... European looking. That was unpleasant. It was also quite unpleasant to notice the whole seashore littered. Dude, people come here for the beaches, so even if you can't swim in these particular shore, you should make sure there aren't banks of garbage floating on the water, and all sorts of stuff lying around the shore.

Historically speaking - and my history knowledge is very unreliable! - this was the Island to which Christopher Columbus arrived in his first trip, believing he had arrived to India. How far he was from the truth! The island was first called San Salvador (Saint Savior), because it appeared on the day the crew was going to dump him in the water and turn back. Later on it was called "La Española", meaning "The Spanish (woman)". The local natives, the "tahínos", were exterminated, leaving the island with no local people. The current population is also somewhat different from the Latin Americans you can see in other places, as in other countries the mixing of Spanish and Native blood is far more common, as well as mixes of white and black, black and native or all three of them, giving fabulous mixes of caramel skin or olive skin, high cheekbones, large eyes, small noses and abundant, straight, strong, pitch black hair. In here, missing the native component, most locals are rather a black and white mix, with milky caramel skin, curly hair and very prominent black features such as the magnificent cheekbones and expressive faces, and hairier limbs.

We haven't seen much yet, and honestly we have only one full day left - tomorrow - but so far, so interesting. Naturally, and as expected, I've got something pretty. ^_^ Once, in making a research on gems, I cam across a gem known as "larimar", which can be found only in Dominican Republic. Back then the research was tied to Pagan practices, and I taped a list of gems and their magical properties (many of which are often present in folklore, such as stones used for protection and things like that). For this particular stome I don't remember any of the properties, as what caught me was it's uniqueness: a gem that can only be found in one place and one place only in the whole planet: here. Abundant back in the day, though never used before as a gem, it was discovered as so recently  - in 1974 - by a man named Miguel Méndez, who started a local project to use it stone in artisan creations.

In colorings that remind of the sky or the ocean, the larimar (called so in the honor of the founder's daughter, Larisa, and the sea, "mar" in Spanish), is usually blue with white ribbons and splashes that give it often a "sky like" look. Like a sky with clouds. Once here, I also discovered that it can also contain brown (that's like the crust part of the stone), which can give it really interesting shapes and forms. Mine was actually the smallest ring in the store - interesting for my hand isn't so small, and judging by the finger I'm wearing it, this should be at least a 7, and most women I know wear ring sizes 5 and 6, many even 4 - but also one with brown, which not only gives me a wider range to combine the piece, but also rips it from the sky-like look and lends it an ocean floor look. I totally love it. :-D

Well, I should get going, wake up my snoring boyfriend, and though the lunch time is over, maybe do our first "service room" order and fetch some lunch. It is late, for lunch (though I've met people who take lunch well past 6 pm), it was so hot earlier we could hardly think of eating. Yes, that's yet another great thing about this island: I bet in here you drop pounds off your frame like nobody's business! If that's what you are interested in :-D

Oh, one last thing: at the Airport in Costa Rica, I discovered a magazine I've never seen before. It's "Latina", a magazine aimed at the Latin and Latin descendent women living at the States. Guess living in a Latin American country you kinda lose out of sight the issues connected with our etnicity. Then, did you know that the "white-latin" mixes are called "beige". I don't think I like that. That's like being called a "blah" color, when there's nothing "blah" about us. There were quite a few very interesting articles, though when it came to fashion, the proposals were so bold, so sparkly, so flashy and so revealing, I found myself reaching out for comfort into my Hungarian heritage mumbling: "I'm European, I'm European". I'm Latin, only not THAT Latin. I like skirts at knee lenght, clothes that do not try to choke my body and quite muted colors. Still, the finding was interesting.

Blogging starts first with reading my favorite bloggers and secretly yearning for the day I can read them also on my Kindle. Kindle. The word reminds me a story I heard from the Pagan Podcaster Fire Lyte, known by his podcast Inciting a Riot, as well as the podcast he co-hosts with the lovely Velma Nightshade, Inciting a Brewhaha. Fire Lyte said that he read somewhere that in the time of the Holy Inquisition, homosexual people were burned at the pyre with the witches, however that they were used to kindle the fire, not to be burn by themselves, and they tied them in fags, thus the term "fag" to refer to them - in a peyorative manner. Perhaps I'm insensitive - after all I'm heterosexual and Christian - but I keep rolling this idea over and over, trying to figure out the actual content of this information. Can people actually be used to kindle fire? For a pyre? Maybe I need to see to believe, but it does sound a little bit too much of a stretch of reality for me to believe it.

Part of the Holidays are over and only the last one remains, along with just a few days of the year and a few days of my vacations. I yearned for this break - I really did - but as things are, I don't mind getting back to work on Monday. A few days scrapped up for mandatory rest, and now that I'm not spending every single one of them - and others I can add to them - to fly to my beloved, frozen Europe, the days are... not particularly meaningful. Mean thing to say, I know, specially when my boyfriend is here and I don't have to wake up early and every morning we can stretch and roll around between the sheets yawing and enjoying either the iddle laying or the more active kind of pleasure. I have him, here, with me, in my days, so somehow the physical closeness, the physical togetherness isn't something so desperately cherished. Do I get my meaning through?

It's cool, though, to mash together the daily routines, the driving, pulling in more routinely conversations about the color of the kitchen, or how shall we manage with the closet space and what should be the first things that need to be taken care of, and even starting to work a long term plan about saving to get eventually a bigger place in the district I want (I'm so not moving from that subject!), because truth to be told, a small income from the rental could be much appreciated for other plans, and to get an extra margin for little indulgements and luxuries I love so much.

A cycle is slowly coming to an end with the turning fo the wheel of the year. Many things have changed and many cycles have been completed in this time. I've tasted into the waters of religion and phylosophy, and discovered things that tug my mind in directions that arrest my attention easily. I've also realized, after much time, that my writing should be rekindled, that the stories played over and over in my head are not enough, but that my skills should be put to practice, the word exercised and restrenghtened. As I stumbled upon my old writings I stood there paralized, almost scared at the skills I once had - the potential of what I could have achieved - and yet I let it all wilter so easily. It goes also to drawing. Perhaps I should try my hand once again at that, just practice and try to draw the things that have crossed my mind.

Unlike planned, I skipped the celebrating of a Pagan holiday: Yule, but also of a Christian celebration I have never kept so far: Advent. Maybe I'll have more knowledge and pay more attention in th next cycle of my life to keep the markers of these celebrations. I wouldn't make it a New Year's promise, as though I've tried, those bear not much meaning for me, but I'd like to make it a proposal for the new cycle of my life: make this new phase more life-aware, and that's own of the things these celebrations give to it. Of Advent I do not know much - therefore have no idea how to interpret it either  - and of Yule I know it's the day when the Sun is born and the powers of day and night, dark and light are shifted again. The contemplative times are to be slowly set aside, and ease back into the active, working days. From the side of Christianity, with the birth of Jesus, we see the birth of Hope, Faith and Light, and with Yule, we see the preparation towards hard work.

As balance tips again, it becomes time to prepare for the work to come, so kindle the lands back from the iced embroidery of meditation, work it, masage it back to fertility and prepare it, work it, sow it with our effort to see in the months to come, in the stages and seasons of our cycle, our efforts and work to blossom and bloom and ripe to harvest. There is a routine, but not because of that there's no change in it. Not because of that there's stagnation.

Is change needed no matter what, as today's "enterpreneur gurus" want to make us believe? Or is it okay to say "if it ain't broken, don't fix it". Nature certainly doesn't go around reengineering itself time and again, deciding that mammals will not hatch from eggs, and plant will give birth to their sprouts. Apple trees are not requested to produce now both tomatoes and jam, nor cows are expected to produce flavored milk and orange juice.

When is change needed? When does the monkey turns man? When it naturally happens so, but meanwhile, there is change. Nature works constantly in cycles, from birth to death, from the dropping of the leaves and the winter slumber to the lustful blossoming and the pregnant harvest. Follow nature, follow Mother Earth, your very humanity and you shall find out that there's no space for iddle stagnation nor discomfort, unless you are trying to escape from the natural flow and yearn for what's not out there to be taken and transformed. Change that comes with destruction or change that comes with construction? In this new cycle, I wish to open my soul, my skills, my spirit to this meditation, and so, as the Sun has been born, and the Lord has been born, the fruits of meditation, the blueprints of future, shall be worked upon to make them happen, rekindling the warmth to make that generous, giving Mother Earth receptive to our seed.

Sense Abandons Arguments

In the argument of children or childfree, I've come across a blog from a Catholic writer of quite a - how should I put it - radical breed. Naturally the man was absolutely against the Childfree Movement, and, from what I've got, childfree people in general. We were called "Evil". Hell, I haven't been called that since my slasher days, when Roo and I mastered the NC-21 level, when NC-17 was really NC-17, and not the badly worded PG-13 these days passes for R or NC-17 in the Fanfiction communities. But he wasn't aiming at my slashing skills and my hability to make any kink, no matter how impossible or sordid, to come out fluent and powerful, but to the decision, the personal decision people make to have no kids.

In a completely uninformed way, he labeled Childfree choosers, baby-haters and life-haters. Sure, I'm a Childfree chooser and I think babies are freaking ugly, but that doesn't make me a maniac, ax in hand, chopping children in the streets in the best Herodes personification. Lets step away in here from all those parents who mistreat or kill their babies, those mothers who have some children, let them grow and then kill the rest and keep them in the fridge, or the parents who lock in their kids, deprive them from social contact and rape them. Lets not go back to Austria and the torment of that poor girl who gave birth to seven of her own father's children, some of whom were brought up to the surface, some died and some were forced to live in a rat maze.

We'll also step away here from the arguments Childfree choosers and advocates made, asking the writer and his acolytes whether then the Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa of Calculta and Jesus himself, were evil, for they had no children. Or the pointing out of the faith of catholic children sexually abused my priests protected by the Church.

No, the point here will, actually detach from the Childfree argument, and towards the argument itself.

At one point the topic went about how Childfree Advocates argued that there's too much people in the planet, and that the reduction of the population rates were needed in order to avoid mass deaths due to it. To this, Catholic acolytes reacted saying they "didn't believe in the Global Warming", and that "overpopulation is a myth". I was flabbergasted to say the least. The added comment that China was lacking of women due to the childfree people (Dude, really), was just a cherry on the top. Personally I wasn't aware of the fact that Global Warming was a matter of believe or Overpopulation. For me it was perfectly clear given the changes in the climate, these "crazy weather" blows, the augmentation in the hurricaine rates and the damage they are now causing. Flood, tsunamies, food shortages due to floods or drought, winters that seem more like springs, summers that take on bipolar bahavior, one day flooding the city and the next drying it to the bone. The ice of the poles is melting, the world is becoming warmer and warmer and you don't need the news to realize that, just look out of the window. What's there to believe or not?

As for overpopulation, lets start with the well known fact that the planet has the exact same size it has ever had. Might have gone from flat to round, but the size hasn't really expanded or shrinked. Well, except in Holland, where they do the leeves into the see to gain some more square miles to build on, but only they do that. The rest is the same size... when it hasn't been sucked in by floods or breaken off with earthquakes. However, now there's a freaking bigger amount of people on it. Look a the amount of people in the cities, the traffic jams, the number of people in the public transportation system, housing solutions - going upwards because sideways we won't fit -  the disappearing of free lands, forests, all of them being filled with buildings now and parking lots. And you don't believe in overpopulation? And this coming from people who believe in the devil and demons and such? For real.

Okay, let me get this clear: you believe in the existence of the Devil - Satan, Lucifer, Belzebub, Sam Winchester, Ozzy Osbourne, whatever name you give to it -  and its power, which in your believe is quite great, and to be feared, and his legion of demons... all of them which you can't really see, or experience, BUT you choose not to believe in things that happen around you and affect you, such as global warming and overpopulation. Really, where on Earth do you live!?

Or is it that perhaps the consequences of global warming and overpopulation (consequences at the same time of irrational consuming, environmental destruction and uncontrolled human population growth) are all the work of the Devil and his peers? Wanna add the financial crisis and the inflation to the Devil's tab too? And you'll take it as God's punishment for the world being the way it is, while you keep breeding like mice, consuming non environmental goods, plugging on all your electrical equipment, and disregarding recycling because "the power of prayer will help you", and those who suffer, in this shared planet for your irresponsible behavior, "had it coming because they made a pact with the devil"? We are a tenth into the XXIst century and this kind of Xth century mentality still spreads. It's almost as if Science didn't exist, as if all that has been accomplished would mean nothing.

Some acolytes happily sneered that Childfree choosers wouldn't breed and therefore wouldn't pass their philosophy to others, while others pulled their hair horrified that we would target their kids, that the public education system as corrupted, and we had leaked everywhere bringing our Evil Gospel to the classrooms. Some congratulated themselves of being smart enough and choose to homeschool their children, to keep them safe from the Devil. Then, how can you keep your children safe from the Devil, when you preach it at home? Sooner or later your kids will hit the road, will mix with the world, and then some of them will see what we all see.

At this point,  I realized that there isn't much sense in arguing. How could you argue with someone who would declare facts "void" because they "don't believe in them", and instead bring up all kinds of made up, factoids, and position their own misguided conceptions as truths? We are evil because they say so, and if we say "we are not, we are people like you, only we choose not to have children, and it doesn't bother us if you do", they reply "Satan is speaking through you", or "you are a demon trying to confuse us". We, simple people like them, are made into witches in a witch hunt that brings back the days of Salem. It's not even our words - AIDS as a blessing? Really? When radical conservatists said AIDS is the punishment of the gay, and God's way to get rid of them? - it's their twisted minds pinning their poisoned "arguments" and accusations, their fears on us, making us into something we are not.

It's sad when accusations come from those who are uncapable of constructing a decent argument, nor are willing to engage in an intelligent debate of the matters.

On a final notice, I have never known a single person who had become Childfree chooser on the bidding of others, particularly when society is filled with elements egging people to have children. I do have met a lot of people who got children by the pressure of society and lived to regret it. My point here is, we have turned ourselves into Childfree, so your church raised kids could also join our ranks, and no preaching from you will make them change their mind. It is a personal choice, based on what we see of the world and what we decided to do with it. We don't scare people out of having children, don't bully them like you do. We simply are, and support those of us who have taken this path and are being bullied. We stand next to them to tell them that it's okay and they are not alone. Do you do the same, or is your "Christianity" all about mistreating your peers in the name of the Lord? We do not judge your lifestyle and choices, so please give us the same respect.

It's a human choice, not the devil's work. Ease up and read a book.

You Are Good Enough To Die, Not Good Enough To Acknowledge

This is the position many societies in today's world seem to preach, and this is particularly what the US Army seems to say every step of the way to the gay community. Some heterosexual folk, like me, could say, don't be stupid, just don't go where you are not wanted. But then again the world is wide, the tastes are many and some folks really want to join the army or get married. And you know what? They shouldn't be denied to do so, specially if others can do it and it's not illegal for them. Or do you believe that John Doe can't think about marrying because he's... poor? Or Jane Doe can't join the army because she's... a woman? Or Annie Smith can't be allowed serve in the army because she's a cat person, or Pete White can't be allowed to get married because he likes porn.

Naturally, when it comes to someone being homosexual, it's not something as "meaningless" as prefering cats over dogs or porn over procedural cop shows, nor can it be compared with being poor or being woman, however - even though I'm not gay nor I know the full extent of homosexuality and the entire psycho-social matters it entails - I believe that being gay, straight, bisexual, transexual, pansexual or any other possibility on the scope shouldn't be a determinant on whether you have or not the right to marry whom you love or be who you are openly. With this kind of politics, you are allowing them to take on the hardships society has to offer, but deny them the rewards. (Well, tortures as marriage and serving in the army can be seen as a reward if you actually want them.) You are telling the gay soldiers that they can sacrifice their lives, they can bleed for their country, but their country is so ashamed of them, for the live they lead, that if they are caught practicing it, or if the rumor spreads that they are what they are, they will be plucked from their ranks. Oh yes, they are good to die... as long as they put on the mask and pretend they are decent, straight people.

Marriage, however, is in or out and last less than Britney Spears' marriages. You can, you can't... and the funny thing is that their RIGHTS, the same rights any straight person has - even anti-marriage me - are denied from they thanks to the machinations of a small group of bigot people who  - in the most Medieval fashion of all - consider their way of life against the will of God. Dude, God made them gay. And yet this truly retrograd group of nimrods can actually push Govenments against the right thing to do, to deny them this basic right.

Denying gay people their right to marry is like denying women their right to choose their partner. Denying them their right to be who they are while they serve in the Army is like denying women to look like women at work. It is stupid, it is useless and it's made only to "protect the sensibilities" of a bunch of people who, instead of protection needs education.

I trust - hope against all hope - that eventually reason will prevail and these battles will be conquered, ignorance in this area will be tackled and worked with to make them understand that "being next to a gay person doesn't make you gay, just like gay people standing next to straight people don't make them straight", that being gay is simply a matter of who you prefer to fuck, whom you rather marry, and not a "thing of Satan" that corrupts everything in life. Just like underneath the skin a black person is just as much a person with the same hopes and dreams as anyone else with any other skin color, and so a woman, regardless of her gender is a person as much as a man is, a gay person is a person too regardless who they rather sleep with.

The time to discriminate by differences is long gone, the time to learn and accept has long been here.

Women and Woman Power

There was an e-mail from Political Voice of Women in my mailbox. I haven't kept in touch with them, nor have I been checking the site, which is why I'm not sure about the trail this mail has, the direction and all, but it got me thinking. The e-mail had a link to an entry in the blog Can I Just Tell You, by Michel Martin titled No, We're Not Going to Sit Down and Shut Up. It makes reference to yet another piece where she and her colleague, Cokie Roberts talk about the role or position of women in the political sphere and how these women are still to this day subjected to demeaning comments. Two "gentlemen" were kind enough to provide them with evidence of such comments and attitude towards women who step into the political arena.

Her words, not unknown for me, as I'm sure they are not unknown for any woman who has ever stepped up to the places "that are not for women", made me think about other fights, and how often our worse enemies are among our ranks. As women, we are getting used to work, struggle and hardly take a moment to rest. We may cry here and there, maybe more often that our male counterparts, but we keep pushing and pulling and never give up. That's just us, and that's why I believe we keep pushing, encouraging each other even when there are men out there wooing us and catcalling us, treating us as mere sexual objects wishing for nothing but a good ramble; and even despise the women that support such a vision and play to it, feeding further that idea that we are simply natural born whores.

Truth is that booking every men under the lable of "enemy" would be unfair, as many support us, many believe in us, but also because women themselves can also be our enemies, our worse counterparts in this fight for full equality, not only in the eyes of the Law, but also in the eyes of our Societies, our Jobs and our Families, as well as in our own eyes.

I would talk about this case I know, but since everybody knows cases like this, I would simply make mention of them: the women that use their sexuality to climb in life. If you think about it, you probably can at least mention the name of three women who have gotten their position by becoming the woman of some top head. The revealing dress, the tight, short skirt, the laugher... and not like those make them, but what they make of them, how they use the garments and the attitudes. Those unafraid of offering sex for a higher paycheck, a hierarchic position, business trips outside the country to attractive destinations, and so on. Perhaps you even know cases of women that have gotten their Superior Education Degree also through sleeping with the Principal or several of the teachers.

Cases like that simply make me sad, specially when I see women work hard, suffer much more than men, some struggling with putting kids to school, getting home to fix lunches and help with homeworks, and not to mention those that have no kids but still gara get home to fix dinner and do the chores. There are then those also that have to do neither (usually those who can afford a maid, or live alone and can't care less about how crazy their home look like), but still gara put up a fight at the office to be taken in consideration. Women are the ones more often expected and noted by their superiors or people encharge of the "professional appearance" about the kind of pants they are using, the kind of shoes, about how long and what shape must the skirt have, or even if they have not put on enough make up to look "as expected". Honestly, I would like to see the day when putting make up is no longer an expectation for women, and that getting wrinkles and grey hair is no longer something to be ashamed of. I believe that we could walk to a society where our bosses do not expect us to use high heels, and feel entitled to ban us from wearing pants just because they don't like it. But then even though clothing and personal care are close boudaries where we are being attacked, that must also be conquered, there are other fights we must concentrate on, and many of them must be fought against our own sisters.

We must erradicate the idea that climbing through sex is a valid way to go. This is the kind of behavior, practiced by some women, and accepted, even rewarded by some men, that grow then the space for comments such as asking whether someone would conduct an interview with Ms. Sarah Palin while she's sitting on his lap. I'm not saying that all women, or any woman at all, should go asexual, but we must, as a gender, as a group that makes up for a good portion of the global population, teach our surroundings that our job has nothing to do with our sexuality. Our sexuality has to do with the people we want to have sex with, consensually, by our own free will, and that our job should concentrate on our skills, as professionals, as people. This teaching must come from our daily behavior, the way we relate to our surroundings, to ourselves, to others, and it must also come from our principles.

I'm a woman, but I do not want to be treated differently because of that. I don't want to be treated worse than my fellow male counterparts because being a woman does not give anyone an excuse to mistreat me. I'm a person like anyone else, man or woman, and I don't deserve being mistreated, just like no one else deserves it. I don't want to be treated better either just because I'm a woman, I'm not useless, I don't need favors, and I can do it just like anyone else.

Yes, women have special needs, like time to spend with their kids after having them. Men don't get pregnant, nor they have to take care of babies, breast feed them, and so. These are not "favors" we are asking, these are things that come along with being a woman, and things that must be ensured for the good of society. Pushing this in our faces and say that we are unreliable because "we get pregnant any moment" is irresponsible.

Cases such as maternity leaves must be defended and cut from the fight, the fight that puts maternity in the same bag of "women are all about sex", and "women are not for the workplace". We are not sex slaves, we are not whores, we are strong fighters and we must keep on doing, firmly separating from us those cases that take the easy way, the no-work way that undermine our path, and so teach those men that see us as meet on a hook that we are people, and we deserve the same respect anyone does. We must teach, through example, that being a woman doesn't make us less person.

DTRI against China... Again

It's again that topic, BUT I have given you already a light topic to read, so let me be. So I'll do this quick and simple (specially because I'm cooking some fish for lunch), so to get it out of my system.

So here we have China, and China's policies and China's way of doing the things they do. They pretty much keep their population secluded from a lot of information that is completely accesible, free of charge, add to it, for the rest of the planet. They have no access to many social sites most of us can access, and add to it, they can't look for a lot of things we can on the different Internet searchers because their Government consider such information improper. It's almost like they all lived in the office, with no chance of ever getting out of it. Personally, I find it insulting that the Government decides what you can read and what you can't, what's good for you and what's not. It is almost as if no Chinese were an adult, but a nation of children who still have to be closely babysitted, who are not allowed to have their own opinion about anything remotely important.

Normally I would say here that, well, every nation has the Government they deserve, but does anyone, any nation actually deserve to be deprived of adulthood, of the right to chose, decide, form an opinion, as an individual, by itself? But that's me. I guess here the only important question is, are Chinese happy with these measures? Because if they like it, then what would be the damage? Freeing them would be futile, as once they are free they would go back into the same thing. But if they are not happy, then something should be done. What and who are not questions up to me to answer.

Now, back on track. China has been selling their trinkets to the planet, and gotten a lot of devisa and debt from everywhere, to the point that it can posicionate itself as a potential World Power. Lost of goods, fast, at low prices and known all around the world. Of course, not like Chinese products were known to be high quality products, mind you, and even though you may find high quality products (don't ask me, I can't name one), there are so many cheap, five minute goods, that the general opinion is Chinese = risky-goes-bad.

The market is huge, as we all know that, composed of a lot of people, a real lot of people... who, well, are not exactly big spenders because 1. the Chinese culture is more about saving than spending, and 2. they don't have that much money on them. Cheap labor, remember? However, since China is the next U.S.A. (so they say), a lot of companies went there, some for the cheap labor, others to get positioned in this huge market, once it might become bigger spenders with bigger wallets. After all, the general idea is that World Powers are the places where people live the best, right? At least that's the opinion I have about World Power: they are supposed to be a well of wealth.

Anyway, things start happening. They push transnational search engines and companies into their rules. Then they hack them. When the companies complain, said companies are demonized. They go "political" and "don't understand". Dude, really, YOU ATTACKED, YOU ABUSED! How much understanding do you need? But they don't yield.

A report on CNN shows that factories in China are looking for workers but they find none: people in China are finally stepping up to better salaries. The end of the cheap labor? Maybe, maybe not, but if it is, with what will China compete to keep its place in the top of the world? Specially now that it has attacked and insulted the West? I mean, after the attack on Google I'm really not inclined to but Chinese stuff. Okay, they are everywhere because they are cheap. But if the cheap labor disappears, will it continue to be cheap? Hn, good question, right?

Now it also appears that they have attacked Yahoo!. That's really not a smart thing, now is it? BUT maybe it is all a hoax to make China look bad, right? I mean, it could be. Big, bad, mean, losing former World Powers might be attacking their own companies in China to get attention, wreck havoc and blame China. Right. Because highlighting the human rights abuses are not nearly enough, because what happened before and during the Olimpics were not nearly enough. Right.

All I'll point out now is, where is China going? They are turning the West against them, right when they could rise as a World Power, and push us away. Sure, we might not be the biggest market, but we are the bigger spenders, and if your products stop being cheap, and you still have to fight with the stigma of crappy stuff, then how do you expect to keep it up? Will you sell your crap to your own impoverished market? To your own captive market?

At this time China has three options: adjust to the world, the rest of the world (mainly the West), collapse or go Godzilla. It seems it is trying to pull a Godzilla, but if it does, this bunch of Western frmers will receive it with sticks and stones.

Oh Man...

There's a coworker in the building who lives quite close to my place, who from time to time offer me a ride, either to the office or home. He's a nice guy, a bit strange in some things and my absolute opposite in thinking, philosophy and believes (among other things), but nice. He used to work at different private companies, and, since when traveling together people often happen to speak to each other, he often tells me about is life in the "Private Sector". I, myself, have had a few "moments" in the Private Sector ages ago, once working 20 days in December (in the past millenium) at a department store (quit because though I was doing it for the fun of it, to get the experience and know what was it about, being forced to stand over 12 hours - chairs were taken away  and if we were caught leaning against a wall or a rack, a counter, we were scolded - with no payment for the extra hours  - and as the 24th came closer the 12 hours grew to 16 and it was said that the last day would grow to over 18 - it stopped being fun) and before that, for six months at an Import-Export small company in Hungary, but neither of them would I consider "significant". They were small jobs, for short periods of time (though many people have even shorter labor periods...) so I wouldn't say I've got the scope on the Private Sector or the hang of it.

My thing, since I started working for real (as in seeking to develop and validate myself as an Economist) instead of working for the fun or for economical survival, I've been working for the Public Sector (which may change once I move to Hungary), and so this is what I know and what I can speak for. As so, and as a Public Employee, I usually hear comments from some of my friends and acquintances, as well as from other people, about just how the Public Sector promotes the inefficient use of resources, or how cheap they are, how prone to corruption and so on, and instead how awesome the Public Sector is, where the company gives you all the newwest, best, most modern things because they don't have to get the budget aproved by everybody, how everything happens fast, and you get your supplies fast, how you can spend all you want in business trips, how they will send you abroad to take part of super expensive seminars and don't bother about the costs of it. How what matters is how good you work, and not how god your connections are. In other words, the voice rolling around is that in the Private Sector those who work hard and improve themselves, evolve and keep pushing are the ones reaping the rewards, while at the Public Sector, once you are in, you are in and you get dumb, lazy, don't care, get nothing of quality, are surrounded by stupid, lazy people who get there basically because they have someone some place high.

After working in two different Public companies, a bank and now a telcos, I can tell you that indeed the public sector has many inefficiencies, such as the difficulty of making a swift decision, and the level of politization that goes on. People in the public sector have a very stable job, which means that they must basically murder and blatantly rob, terrorist style, in front of broadcasting cameras, the Government to MAYBE be considered to be fired, though probably they will simply be asked to resign, and it will be up to them if they do so. To put it very, very simple, I'd say that this is the picture, in my eyes, of the Public Sector:

+ Positives

• A stable job, from which you'd be hardly fired or demoted.
• Salary is often fix and competitive at least on the average level (save a few cases, often lower positions)
• Benefits from social warranties, such as vacations, holidays, periodical wage raises, recognition of years worked, academic diploma, health plan, company doctor and other extras.
• Allowed to form and/or join a Union.

- Negatives

• People isn't really incentivated to do their best or do their job at all
• Due to the amount of benefits, often people bring in family and friends, creating tight, exclusive groups that destroy the general environment.
• High levels of political influence, particularly at the higher levels, where most of the decisions must be taken.
• High rates of vertical organization, with more superiors than people actually doing the job.
• Slow rhythm of work for everything.
• Huge waste of resources.
• Formation of "work feuds" where a boss of a given area keeps all the data for the area and doesn't share it within the company.
• Corruption and deviation of resources.

Now, disregarding the positive side, the negative points, and some more, were often fended by the Private Sector as to why the Public Sector should be eliminated (among other reasonings, which I won't be listing here, basically because I don't agree with them, and that would send me on an extensive exposition about why the Public Sector should be strenghtened and centered on socially sensible areas). However, as I've been listening to the stories my friends and acquintances tell me, not only my coworker, the Smurf Rider, and more and more the horror stories surface. Abusive bosses, cuts on spending, and what's worse, firings at the order of the day.

From the Private Sphere I hear about people getting fired simply because a boss wanted that position for a friend, or because they spent too much, too carelessly and when it came the moment to fix the problem, they did so by cutting costs in work force. More and more private enterprises forbid the Unions among the workers (because Hyne forbid they would dare to demand rights!), are pety with spending on maintenance or replacement of equipment, deviate resources and keep a lot of useless people on the payroll. I have heard about women fired for being pregnant (so that they don't have to pay for the maternity leave or wait for her - and here in Costa Rica it's only four months), have heard of people being appointed to go on a seminar abroad, people who doesn't even speak the language, and then the actual work being handed to someone else. I've heard of the vandalizing of the work station and working tools of a worker while he or she was on vacations. I've heard of denying of vacations and even companies that force their workers to work every single day of the year, and making them take the holidays, such as New Year and Christmas from their vacations (but just one of them, the other MUST be worked). People hired only for less than three months, then fired and rehired so that they don't pay their social security, nor their socially rightful benefits, nor they get raises.

These widen my eyes, and as I look at the list of the Public Sector pros and cons, I realize the Private Sector has many of the cons (maybe even all of them in some cases) and the pros are inverted to their respective cons and added to the con-list (-). I look at the "Enterprise and Success in the Private Sector for Dummies" and "The Secret" type of books that lay heavily on the ideas of change and be-your-own-boss, that promote risk as a virtue and something to look for, the need to always have more, never stop and keep forever struggling instead of ideas I hold up such as stability, confidence and security. Because one thing is if you change your job, if you build up in it and grab the opportunites, and another when you can be casted out, fired on a whim, as the result of someone else's failure. I look at the picture before me, the representation of the macro labor market and I wonder, why would any worker willingly go to the Private Sector when their few chances and social warranties lay in the Public Sector?

I remember my best friend, a lawyer, who for years spoke ill of the Public Sector and swore that she would never work there because it was agains her personal philosophy. In over ten years she has been fired more times that I can count and each time the buffets and enterprises where she worked refused to pay her, which often mounted up to a year of unpaid salaries plus termination compensations. In ten years she has never been outside of Costa Rica and has hardly gone anywhere on vacation. She, her husband and her daughter live with her parents and in quite a visible poverty. She has a University degree higher than mine, makes less than half of my wage (her home income is less than my income), and live in constant worry about the next month's paycheck. How is that better than being in the Public Sector?

Truth is that, from the point of view of the salary man, the Public Sector is better. Some private companies can be better and far better than public companies, but not the average. I support the private sector as a way for people to offer other solutions, to start their own companies, to freelance, to learn and give it a try, but I don't pay homage to a sector where ill can be dealt because their ethics, does and don't are not "legal matter". If a public company deviates resources, it can be prosecuted, if a private one does so, it's okay, it's private and it can do with it's money as it see it fit. And so with the workers.

It would be good if people were to wake up from the publicity-induced world of opium dreams and would take a moment to see the reality and draw their own conclusions.

Haiti: The World's Scale Model

After the earthquake that leveled Haiti, this tiny Island, always known for aspects such as extreme poverty and voodoo, had become a shining spot, a topic of more and more blogs and blog-entries (has gotten a few of mine as well), political speeches, rescue plans, economical plans and even religious (and moronic) speeches. Pictures of the devastation, of people hurt and corpses flood the media from every angle to the point where I'm almost expecting my penpals to include a note or two on the subject in their next letters or e-mails.

The thing is that the other day I was thinking about Haiti, remembering all the crap mentioned by Mr.Pat Robertson (that stuff about how Haiti deserves this, and how it is their fault because they made a Pact with the Devil), as well as other matters related with the subject, the huge movilization of the US, the taking over they are making, in order to get things done, the condemnation it earns from other governments that see this an attempt of the US to take over the country and so on. Well, as I was mulling on the matter, thinking about what's happening in this country, I started finding paralelisms between Haiti and the rest of the world. Corruption, governments that exploit the population, strangle them in poverty even of the land itself could give so much. Natural disasters beating it up and other people basically stealing their richness, exploiting the cracks in the system for drugs, for hiding, for human trafficking (here thinking about the 33 "orphan kids" - and while it's 'still to be seen', for me it was a huge mistake, an unforgivable mistake to try to take the kids out of the country, particularly through illegal means, and take them from their parents) and so on.

It hit me that the world, our "so much better" world is actually the same, on a different scale. Natural disasters are hitting us everywhere. Tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, climate change, snow storms just to mention a few. Corrupt governments are found basically everywhere, and I'd dare to say that some places even have a surproduction of corruption. The things that happen here, in the whole planet, in this age are things that a few years ago we thought completely unspeakable. At some of the things I find in the papers I can't stop but think at my history lessons, at how I was shocked that people in the Middle Age didn't fight,weren't outraged, how they didn't just kill the people imposing those hineous rules, and now here they are and I see the people hardly react, hardly be heard. We have food shortages, and problems with adequate access to food (given how fresh products are often more and more expensive, how farmers in less developped countries are pushed out of the activity thanks to the importing of mass produced, genetically altered, heavily subsidized products from much richer markets, which on a whim can move from food to biofuel producing suddenly cutting off the food supply of quite a huge portion of the world, in favour of cars), education deficiencies, problems with adecuate and timely access to health care, just to mention a few.

I wonder if the Illuminated Spokepersons of the Baptist Church would then say that the World has made a Pact with the Devil, but one thing I would agree in the face of this global case is that, yes, we did brought this upon ourselves. By patronizing corruption acts, by allowing ourselves to be charmed by shiny promises and empty words, by not looking deeper, by not questioning, by becoming lazy and careless. We brought this upon ourselves for not being careful, for thinking that "waste" is a right born out of economical priviledge, instead of looking at it as a crime against the planet. I'm not talking here about the kid who won't eat all its veggies, to whom its parents say that he or she should eat and look at the poor kids who have nothing to eat.  I talk here about the use-and-throw of stuff, the amount of garbage we produce, the consumist need to have more, to replace for the newest, for feeding our wastebaskets more than what we feed our pets.

Haiti isn't a poor little country sharing the Hispaniola Island, because they can't even have a whole Island for themselves, plagued with stupid people that doesn't know how to do things well. No, Haiti isn't like that either because "that's what happen when all you have are black people" (like something I heard some extremely illuminated coworker of mine, with far more insulting words I won't repeat here), or what happens with "Non-Christians", or "people with poor-mentality" or whatever other excuse you want to hold up to basically say that "it won't happen to us". Haiti is the world's little scale model, a fastforward window to where are we going. Haiti is just as beautiful and full of opportunities as our planet. Haiti has a very beautiful language--- just as our planet (well, I'm a full pro-French and I hold French up high, but that's not the point here), and their people are as beautiful, good and heterogeneous as the rest of us, and what happened to Haiti, what's happening, is also happening to the whole planet, to each and every one of our "much better" countries. And you know what? We are going to get leveled. So WAKE UP PLANET and let's do something about it. Not just pep-talk and plans and blog-entries and Tea Parties. No more finger pointing and using the crisis to defend "our righteous thesis and standing point", but lets roll up our sleeves and work.

No idea how? Here are some ideas I have:

1. Prefer fresh products, nationally produced or those produced by countries that also buy our products. If we can't get fresh products for any reason, let's plant them! Yeah, perhaps it's easy for someone with a garden, or gardening skills, but what about people living in an appartment? Well, you can also do something. Have you heard about "plants in pots"? Sure, maybe not an orange tree or a corn plant, but how about your own herbs? Oh, keep it legal, so unless you live in Holland, do not plan your own cannabis.

2. Recycle, reuse all you can and reject products that would only litter the planet. Carry your own bags, for example, and reject the plastic bags at stores. You can go further and even avoid buying at places where you know will enforce the use of unnecesary bags (those that have check points and you have to leave the store with your bag sealed).

3. Talk with your local authorites about places where you can go plant trees, and the types of trees you can plant there, and organize a "greentour" one day with your friends and/or family, or with yourself, or as a date (Guys, this is an awesome way to conquer a chick!) to go plant a few trees. You can totally combine this activity with a picnic! (No plastic at the picnic! So sandwiches in reusable paper bags or wrapped in napkins, natural beverages in reusable containers, lots of fruits, cheese and natural treats for all, and carry always a small bag (or maybe a few for slective garbage) and don't leave your garbage on others!

4. Print less. Think about lending from friends or the local library instead of making copies if you can.

5. Get unplugged. Turn off the computer, the TV, pull everything you don't need from the electrical socket as much as you can (okay, the fridge gara stay). Read during the day, go outdoors, open doors and windows instead of putting on the fan and the air conditioner. Take advantage of the natural light, and if the way your place doesn't allow so, you can always trick in a little bit of light with mirrors! They are completely energy efficient, carbon neutral, and work since the ancient times! At night, from time to time, prefer "mood lighting" with candles and other choices that do not involve electricity or an intensive fossil fuel use.

6. Wake up earlier and get to bed earlier too. The night is pretty, but lets take advantage of all that natural light.

7. Always prefer recycled things.

8. Buy things that will last, be careful with them and don't replace them unless they've stopped, really stopped working. Avoid with this the "fashion" products. Clothes, accesories, devices and all those flashy things that are good because they are new and the "latest". Just think about the space, and all the garbage you will start producing once they are not "in" and you have to replace them. Not to mention all the good money thrown into the garbage.

9. Don't drive unless you really-really-really-really-absolutely-no-way-of-getting-out-of-it have to. Walk, go with a bike, after all it took you a good while and a lot of falling, bruising and crying until you finally got to do it and it would be stupid that now that you can do it, you won't; or take the public transportation, because that's why it created it for. All of them work!

10. As much as you can, apply the DIY: Do It Yourself. If you are insecure, still go ahead! You'd be amazed at all the things you can do. :-)

This are just ten idea, small ideas you can apply wherever you are, but I'm sure that you can find more and more and more! And hey, if you want to share them do so! I'd be happy to hear about more ideas! So, roll'em up and lets get the party started!

What to do for Earth

TV has been bombing me with pro-Earth and pro-environment adds, some of them seeking to wake up awareness in people, like Fundación Neotrópica, while others seek to wake up awareness and get donations as result of it. I bet you've seen those adds as well: "Our world is dying and we are dying with them. What will you do about it?". Perhaps you are just as oblivious of nature as I am, and don't notice the fish in the tank or the flowers in the garden, but these adds often manage to breath into your bones the fear of God. But what can you do to stop the destruction of the planet?

My boyfriend does selective waste disposing, always keeping paper, plastic and others separated, taking them to places where they can be properly disposed, but can we all do that? Not really. Do we know other ways we can personally help environment? Not always, so this can drift us towards something we can do: donate money. But shall we donate money? You may if you want, but I don't. I feel no trust for many of these associations, because what can they do? Lobby? More adds? Truth is that some organizations, such as Join Team Earth are being sponsored by Costa Rica, for instance, when Costa Rica, does little for environment. We have signed agreements to protect areas of forest and enterprises buy air for us, all while the very President allows gold mines into the forests and luxury hotels with golf courses on the beach, where they kill the environment. So where is the money going? When one sponsor does more to destroy than to keep, when it violates international agreements, what's the money good for?

Money can buy consciences, but it doesn't seem able to buy health and our environment back. But what can we effectively do?

Ladies and Gentlemen vs Women and Men

Disclaimer: This post has been inspired by a Psicoactiva Sensibilidad's post "De la Caballerosidad y las Damas", published on September 29th of this year.

The word "lady" seems to be something you are not "born" into but you have to "earn". Kind of like with "gentleman", I believe. The taking away, denying and bestowing of the word has also been used as a way to manipulate women. Being a "lady" is a desirable thing, but not all of us can be "ladies". So, what's the trick? Well, like many other "social labels", you can't achieve the label by yourself, but you have to wait for it to be given to you, and in the particular case of the "lady label", it seems it can really be given only by men. Or, if it is given by a woman or a group of women, men can revoque it. In other words, as long as men think you are a lady, you are a lady. The moment they cease to believe so, you are no longer a lady.

In case you wonder, the title of "gentleman" is also given by men, and even if women try to revoque it, as long as men keep it in place, the given man is a gentleman.

Now, though I know I'm going fast in here, jumping into the middle of the topic, cutting to the chase, lets take a moment to analize the patron seen here.

Lady - given by men (or some women)-revokable by men.
Gentlemen - given by men (or some women)-revokable by men.

If you, perhaps noticed, the concepts have a strong root in the patriarcal society. It primarily suits the needs of men, and if we delve into the content behind the concepts, we realize they are aimed to keep a given "world order", where women, these "ladies" take care of the house, and serve the men, while men take care of the business and offer protection to women. It is a social order, and actually there's nothing "wrong" with the concepts as they were born in a moment of history when that was the imposed "natural order of life". These concepts can quickly and basically be described as follow:

Lady: woman of certain age (not a child), quiet, obedient, helpful, guesses everybody's needs and attend them, sees for the sick, elderly, young and poor, charitable, generous, puts everybody's needs before hers, prone to self sacrifice, her husband and children are her first priority.

Gentlemen: strong, thoughtful, considerate, provider, calm, decision maker, protector. Stands for what's right, follows tradition, procures comfort to those weeker, recognizes and repects hierarchy, practices a humble behavior.

In a society were women are not allowed to participate in the productive activities, nor the political life, or any circle outside the house, this system keeps them all provided for, covered. However, what's the reality about these days? Men and women are equal, at least on the legal paper. Both can have the same preparation, go to the same schools, get the same classes, learn the same careers, get the same job, be promoted to the same positions. Both can vote and be elected. Both can enroll in the army, fight, handle guns, kill people. Women are still the only ones who can get pregnant, though, but those are biological details that shouldn't matter regarding what each can or can't do, what each are entitled to.

Through history, truth is that each time a man or a woman behaved in a way less than desirable, the titles of lady and gentleman were revoqued. In the particular case of women, if we were curious and wanted to learn, we weren't ladies. If we wanted to work, we weren't ladies, if we wanted to vote wew weren't ladies. If we had an opinion and voiced it, and Hyne forbid, it wasn't that of someone else, or it went against the opinion of others, we weren't ladies.

In my friend's blog, a long list of features are listed about what a "lady" should be, and honestly, many of them are demeaning. But has anyone checked the things about "gentlemen"? Because we are not the only ones. For instance, comes a man from work, tired like hell, barely keeping himself up, and yet he has to give his seat to some woman who's not as tired as him, just because she's a woman? I have been in situations were I'm not tired, and a visibly tired man stands up and offers me his seat. I've refused, insisted I'm not tired and will get off the bus soon and yet he stands rather than taking the seat that remains empty, while all men around me eye me as the "rebel little tough-girl who won't sit down".

I've come to the decision not wanting to be a lady. The label imposes too many useless, outdated concepts that do not apply to who I am, nor who I wanna be or become, or what I want from life. Truth is that I don't want to see any gentlemen either. Let's drop the labels, file them away along with those of knights and fair maidens, and lets simply be humans. Men and women equal, sensible to each other's needs, willing to give up a seat, open a door for those who are tired, who have worked hard, who pull themselves, their family up, to a better place. Lets respect merit, hard work, will, effort.

When will the world understand that the gender matters only for reproducing the species and nothing else?