Stumbled upon this hilarious video “LCP’s 300″ and sketch comedy group Latino Comedy Project, which is — you guessed it — a Texas-based troupe. I love that the best way to cleverly combat stereotypes is to totally embrace them.
For the record — I’m married to a fairly acculturated Hispanic who is more “gringo-fied” than I, so their work is probably funnier to me than most. My husband is that Americanized Hispanic guy on the left. LOL We laugh that I, a white native Southeast Texan absorbed more Mexican influence than he, a military brat who moved all around the world before settling back in the U.S. in high school. He had four grandparents straight from Mexico, but I can speak more Spanish than he does (which is still not saying a lot).
For myself, I think that a lot of Hispanic Americans feel conflicted, which is a side of reasoning that they don’t show in these funny skits. But they’re conflicted only out of loyalty to their blood and family who might still be tied to south of the border even generation or two later. I think that you will find many who identify themselves as Hispanic (a race) rather than Mexican (a nationality). For one thing, very few people could actually call themselves Mexican Americans — as that term combines two different nationalities, while an individual doesn’t really live both. However, most first- or second-generation Hispanic Americans whose families were originally from Mexico live a unique experience.
If you live in Texas or any southern bordering state in the U.S. then it is so very evident that some people indeed can be called Mexican-Americans, as they straddle both countries in their lives — born on one side, work on the other, make money on one side, send it home to the other, have their children on one side, raise them on the other. And then there are those of us here who are total gringos but have been raised so close to Mexican culture that we’re almost honorary Mexicans. This is what makes a southern border state life so distinct…and culturally rich — and this comedy so funny to anyone who lives around these situations and sees the influence in everyday life.
I hope I see more work from these guys LCP. I think they’re a real hit in Texas and California. You can catch more on them straight from their website — www.lcp.org
“Our enormously productive economy… demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption… We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing rate.”
- Victor Lebow, 1955
Wow, America, we’ve been had. We’ve been shaped into a nation of mindless consumers, whose habits profit corporations while they rob desperate people oceans away of a local livelihood.
Seriously, folks, if you have just 20 spare minutes in your day/evening, watch the video below — “The Story of Stuff” by Annie Leonard. Ms. Leonard does such a fantastic job in explaining the rise of the materials economy and the psychology of consumerism in America.
She says so well what I and many others have noticed over the past few years — that our government and our culture seem to have been hijacked by big corporations. But mostly she shows ways in which we can take back control — mostly by opening our eyes and ending the brainwashing of advertisers and retailers, who have convinced us with each commercial and ad that we need what’s new even though what we have still works just fine.
In the video, what grabbed my attention most were the explanations of the designs of planned and perceived obsolescence, as well as the cycle that we Americans are on of “work, watch, spend treadmill”… — oh, yes, and then the positive concept of sustainability!
In short, we don’t always need what’s fresher, faster, sleeker, bigger, better, or still smelling like the factory when what we own is still doing the job. In chunking out all that is “old” but still usable, we futilely hope to feed a craving that cannot be satisfied as long as we’re buying everything that they’re selling.
Looks like our family is going to be doing a little more baking and crafting than shopping this Christmas. We need more quality time anyway.
I’ve said it before and will say it again…whoever thought up Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty was after my own heart. I can’t think of a better message to convey to our young girls than confidence in who they already are (as opposed to making them aspire to become what someone else would make them).
If you have a young daughter, I think it’s beneficial to make sure she sees these two videos, maybe send them to her email or in a MySpace message :
Onslaught
Amy
I hope this ad campaign continues in full force until we finally change the current and counterforce the “beauty experts” in the media to redefine beauty for themselves (not us). Our girls need to know that real beauty is one part what you’re born with, and the biggest part emanating from the inside in attitude, poise, and confidence.
The Alleged Accused “Inciter of Religious Hatred” –
British schoolteacher Gillian Gibbons (Unity High School-Khartoum)
At the center of the controversy:
*The classroom teddy bear that shall remain nameless here*
Gibbons, 54, was teaching her pupils, who are around age 7, about animals and asked one of them to bring in her teddy bear, Boulos said. She asked the students to pick names for it and they proposed Abdullah, Hassan and Muhammad, and in the end the pupils voted to name it Muhammad, he said.
Each child was allowed to take the bear home on weekends and write a diary about what they did with it. The diary entries were collected in a book with the bear’s picture on the cover, labeled, “My Name is Muhammad,” he said. The bear itself was never labeled with the name, he added.
Meanwhile, the REAL crisis that is Darfur continues
Maybe some of the Sudanese have sought out a pious-seeming, faith-based cause to divert their own attention from the horrible tragedies that are occurring around them to reassert their conscience as a people. It’s understandable sociological displacement:
And there is no denying that the Sudanese are indeed traumatized under the current conditions in which they live. So how to solve the problems they face? In executing a British schoolteacher who unknowingly offended the Muslim faith?
I would think that the God of Islam objects much more strongly to the murders of thousands of innocents, the genocide of souls created by Him, and the displacement and shattered futures of real people much more so than any sacrilege resulting from an inanimate object of affection being named after one of His prophets.
Lately, at my local HEB grocery store, I’ve found myself browsing the products on a little kiosk in the whole foods section. It’s located where all of the organic things are sold.
But these goods — many of them jewelry, scarves, and handbags –are affordably priced and quite lovely.
So I decided to inspect the tag on a couple of things and found that these things are made by the same company called World of Good, Inc. On the tag, the website is listed, as is a little story about the company.
I came home and did a little research on the website, as well as to look them up in the news, to see if their story is as good as it sounds. I found a company that has a considerable economic and social impact on its industrious artisans and their local communities, and whose Founder Priya Haji is making it possible for women around the world to make their living from home while being available to their families. As a mother myself, that alone stole my heart.
But worldofgood.com also makes it possible for us, the collectively powerful as consumers, to shop conscientiously and support “those who are disabled and marginalized in their economies” by fostering a global atmosphere of fair trade in producing goods that are “sustainable to the environment and conditions of life, made by hand to create employment, by women working in homes and communities, to live better with their children.”
The business’s philosophy is well stated here by Ms. Haji:
What we are being able to see is there is a one-for-one correlation when we redirect market consumption towards conscious consumption.We can make a development benefit as well as an environmental benefit.Redirecting those dollars in the marketplace can create a real change in communities.
So not only are the goods produced under good and fair working conditions, but they are also of high quality, are ethnically beautiful and exotic, handcrafted, unique and one-of-a-kind, and well made. World of Good has 1,100 stands in whole food sections of stores worldwide, helps up to 6,000 women to make a living from home and to sustain themselves economically, and affects the lives of 23,000 children worldwide. I would say that is a great cause to support!
Take a look at their catalog to see what they have to offer that you might like:
We in the Westernized world owe it to those in other underdeveloped parts of the globe to spend responsibly, practicing ethical consumerism when we choose our goods. In short, we need to care when we buy — about the person who made the product, imagine a face, the conditions she worked under, how much she makes, and how her children are faring. With World of Good, Inc., that guesswork is taken out, as 10 percent of their profits go back into the World of Good Development Organization to help the local communities where these workers live, from building a computer lab to building a well.
This company’s premise is really as simple as Ms. Haji says:
We know that Americans are looking to buy beautiful things but to also feel good about what is behind those things, and that’s the story that we really bring to and the choice that we bring to women like me who want to find those things and to support that through the beautiful things that we wear. We are looking for products that have more behind them than just things.
I’m just so glad that I ran across this wonderful company. It appears to have a big heart, and I hope to see it grow by leaps and bounds. Priya Haji and her company should get worldwide recognition for having heart and actually making a difference in the world, especially in waking us up as consumers to think about how much power we have to make a difference in others’ lives. I’m definitely thinking more about whose expertise and hard work are going into what I buy.
Cited: ABC News report at <a href=”http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=1776742″>http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=1776742</a>
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about clogged arteries and all. I’m a woman in my forties, and, to be honest, moderately overweight but active. So I’m planning out my New Year’s resolutions for 2008. And I have one ritual that I know I will stick to. I am going to make it a point to drink one glass of red wine with dinner each night, as part of a realistically doable regimen to eat/consume more sensibly and exercise for at least 30 minutes a day. And I’m expecting great results! Read this article:
So this explains those thin, laidback French women, doesn’t it? LOL
I have many times found myself right at the wine aisle in our supermarket, but I have been unable to make myself load up a bottle, even a cheap one. I’ve been putting it off despite the fact that I have been reading about the benefits of one to two glasses of red wine per day for a couple of years now. But I’m finally going to do it…today…no fail.
The only flak that I am sure to get is from my husband who has never wanted to keep alcohol in any form in our home. There are a lot of people who feel that way. They just don’t want any form of alcohol in the house. But I disagree. Think about it — it could mean the difference between life and death, I’ll say. Wine in moderation is a good thing and obviously part of a healthy diet much like taking a daily vitamin.
…a new study suggests that women who drink moderate amounts may have less inflammation in their blood vessels…It’s thought that chronic, low-level inflammation — in response to stresses like smoking, high cholesterol and obesity — contributes to the buildup of fatty deposits called plaques in the inner lining of the arteries.
OK, you don’t have to twist my arm. :) Red wine is an antioxidant, a natural anti-inflammatory. It’s calming. And it’s good for the arteries. Plus, for someone who is a bit high-strung like myself, it may even help with low-level, humming anxiety and stress.
I think that the reason a lot of us don’t drink wine on a regular basis is that we would equate it with keeping beer in the fridge — not the same effect, so don’t even propose it — haha. Plus, we either think that it clashes with our faith in staying dry, OR, for those of us who grew up in a dry house, it just seems like a pseudo-sophisticated habit. LOL I’m over it. I just want to live longer and healthier.
According to Sacanella, population studies have suggested that people who drink moderate amounts of wine — about a glass or two per day — may lower their risk of dying from heart disease by nearly one-third compared with non-drinkers.
Good enough for me! So there you have it — my first 2008 New Year’s resolution.
Of course, before making this resolution, a person would, first of all, have to determine that she/he is not prone to overdrinking, and that there is no prior history of alcoholism. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. If it’s a matter of falling off the wagon or disappointing someone — or if you’re a really staunch Southern Baptist (LOL) — there are plenty of other natural sources for antioxidants and anti-inflammatories from which to choose.
But I just happen to think that, for me — a woman in her forties, clearly at risk with her weight and lifestyle for heart disease — red wine is a great supplement. So I’m starting this habit tonight. I’m trading in the sweet tea for a single glass of red wine. Why wait for the New Year? See if it might work for you, too, and we’ll compare notes later — or now, if you’re already doing this!
My sister-in-law Pam sent my family an early Christmas eGreeting from this site, and we found it hilarious! Afterward, my kids and I sat for quite a while pasting in ourselves…and then other people’s faces from our photos to watch them dance. LOL Yep, that was our evening around here.
Note: If the loading takes a while, you can try snoozing your antivirus for a few minutes, or crop the source photo that you upload to just one subject instead of multiple subjects. I can’t promise that either helps, but both seemed to for us.
This new web-based microseries called quarterlife is interesting. It is a drama about twenty-something Millennials (the generation born between 1982 and 2000, part of Generation Y, or the iGen, short for Internet Generation) and the issues they face.
I recently viewed this segment on CBS’s 60 Minutes by Morley Safer. Click on the link to this video:
I found it inspiring and enlightening. This generation — again, Millennials, or the Millennium Generation — is a fascinating demographic. Why, you ask? For me, it’s because this is the generation that includes my own children — many of those kids whose lives were micromanaged with tightly packed schedules that included every extracurricular activity possible as well as almost unlimited dynamic and applied technology such as the Internet, and — get this — a voice stronger in its youth than any other generation before it. They are used to self-reliance even though they’ve had helicopter mothers. They’re used to organization, to structure, to change, to staying busy, to adapting (but only when it suits them), and to having the world adapt to their needs. They’re intelligent, confident, and set on changing the world, most for the better for everyone and not necessarily to simply make big bucks as seemed to be Generation X’s aim as a whole. As a matter of fact, they’re all about taking charge of their existence — setting their own work hours, negotiating their own work environment, loving their jobs and hopping to another if they don’t feel appreciated. And they’re all about enjoying quality personal lives. Some of us eighties kids could take a lesson.
I don’t know if it’s from a need as a generation that is just arriving to show us parents where we failed as a generation or because they really believe that they have the answer. But one thing is for sure — they’re not idealists like many generations before them. And they refuse to live inside the box, to blindly accept and be herded. (Did you see them at work on the video above? There’s a challenge in the workplace for older Gen X bosses used to conformity; that’s for sure.) Come to think of it, The Millennials’ whole philosophy seems to be “To Be Heard, Not Herded.”
I think that they are worth learning about, especially since they stand to inherit the world as we have made it for them. And, frankly, I want to see just how good that we in Generation X have done in parenting — you know, if Dr. T. Barry Brazelton was right all along, if it will pay off for Generation X parents to have catered to their children as near personal assistants in grooming them for a successful life, AND if all of those Baby Einstein videos indeed benefited them! LOL
The webseries above seems to get its name, as a matter of fact, from John Mayer’s song “Why Georgia,” which seems to be their perspective:
It might be a quarter life crisis
Or just the stirring in my soul
Either way I wonder sometimes
About the outcome
Of a still verdictless life
Am I living it right?
Most of all, I want to see if Generation Next is indeed any more compassionate as a whole than the others before it, given that they have been raised with more tolerance with regard to religion and different cultures and exposed to more racially integrated environments. Let’s hope that their extra dose of self-esteem is good for something. I believe that they just might prove to be more compassionate. It would balance things out.
From what I have witnessed so far with the Millennials, what most stands out to me is almost an overconfidence bordering on arrogance. I think they got it from constantly having us parents hand over our cell phones and DVR remotes for them to program for us, or possibly from being offered a choice in every decision concerning them since birth — what they wanted to eat, what they chose to wear, and exactly what activities they wanted to participate in, often with us, their adult parent, seated on the floor beside them to share in the experience, however childish or long. They have been active voices and decision-makers in the household and have even co-parented themselves to some degree. (Be honest — how many times did you ask, “And what punishment do you think you deserve for this offense?”) Sometimes I think that we lent them our sophistication in exchange for this experiment in self-esteem. One thing is for sure — we’ve put our kids first, so let’s watch to see if they, in turn, return the favor and indeed make the world a better place. How this generation turns out, and the world resulting, will be our lives’ report card as parents.
And maybe this new who-cares-how-it’s-always-been-done attitude isn’t such a bad thing. They won’t expend their youth getting their bearings like many of us before them did, as they hit the ground running and still have plenty of energy in their time to make great strides — for environmentalism, politics, technology, and the arts.
All in all, I think that, as a group, despite our coddling them and satisfying most all of their whims (or maybe because of it?) Generation Next seems to be quite sophisticated, very tolerant, and non-judgmental of others while being great at self-examination. They are balanced, driving, and conscientious. And though they are clearly somewhat “about me,” they are also full of promise and interested in effecting change for the better. In short, they are more about worthy causes. Whether that’s due to just wanting to ensure their effectiveness or out of caring , it’s a very take-charge, can-do attitude. That’s so much better than apathy, don’t you think?
If you’re as big a dog lover as I, you’ll definitely enjoy this video.
If you can get through that without a smile crossing your face then there’s just no hope for you. There is nothing funnier-looking than a Bassett hound in a wind chamber on slo-mo, is there? Bahahaaa!
We regularly sort out our gently used fresh clothes and still-sturdy toys around the house. The best lesson is, of course, charity. But this yearly practice also teaches keeping life simple and uncluttered.
One of the best realizations that I ever heard one of my children share was, “I didn’t even ever look at half of this stuff.” Giving made him realize how overly plentiful his life is, and how much he is able to share.
I’m sure I’ll be doing this sometime tomorrow afternoon with my youngest. Even though he’s only six, we’ve been doing this twice a year for a while, and he’s gotten much looser-fisted with each clean-out. And his favorite part is, of course, the drop-off at the charity door, where I usually have him haul the bag all by himself. It’s always nice to see his face beaming on the way back to the car.
Note: Photo by Lindsay D on Flickr (in other words, someone else’s cute child up there)
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