Spanish

You all know why I hate the word "Hispanic". So when Marisa from Latina Lista sent this around the other day, I couldn't stop myself from bashing them for using that most detested word.

As a Latinoamericanista by training, Latin American and by extension, Latino, means to include non-Spanish speaking countries like Brazil and Haiti. Hispanic doesn't.

Also, when we speak Latino, we don't speak of people who are only of Castillian Spanish ascendancy. They could be descendants of Persian Jews, Lebanese Christians, Tagalog Filipinos or simple any of the hundreds of Native South American and Caribbean tribes that populate our countries.

If universities across the country can make a distinction between Hispanic and Latino studies, it would behoove the political elites to make those distinctions, no? It's why I've never understood the insistence of advocacy and organizations to use the anachronistic term "Hispanic".

Any organization that doesn't embrace the diversity of the Latino community, with all our languages, ethnicities, cultures and races, is bound to always be political weak. Especially in these times when mobile and internet technologies, along with transnational economies, are breaking down the barriers of racial, ethnic and linguistic identity while fortifying those of class.

Anyhow, thanks Marisa. Am pulling a lazyweb on this one and just cutting and pasting on the blog.

Wilmer Valderrama, Rosario Dawson, Nick Zano, and Tony Plana (Ugly Betty) star in this dramatic telenovela story about love, betrayal, ...and registering to vote!

This is awesome.

Photo courtesy of Univisión

I am so glad I didn't go to Miami for this :

Reporters who didn't speak Spanish were already anxious about the translation devices that didn't quite fit in our ears. (Porque soy de California, yo hablo un poquito Espanol.)

But 90 seconds before the forum began tonight, the Media Room had no sound - not in Spanish, English or French. Nada.

Spanish- and English-speaking reporters in the room erupted in a panic, sending University of Miami staff scrambling to try and fix the feed. What most reporters heard for the first 16 minutes of the debate was static - both from the closed television feed and from the translation device.

Even Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) seemed to have trouble, yanking the earpiece from his ear mid-way through his answer to a question on Iraq.

Notwithstanding the awe inspiring set and the hard hitting tonality of the questioning, I don't think that Univision did anything groundbreaking. On the contrary, by not allowing Dodd and Richardson to respond in Spanish, they pandered to the Democrats who still treat latinos as a political ghetto from where to get voting servants to work for their "mainstream" agendas.

Richardson complained, and with good reason, about not being able to speak in Spanish. Hillary, Obama, Edwards, they need to get over it. Spanish is the official second language of the United States, thanks in part to that little colony nobody ever mentions in these forums anyway, Puerto Rico. If they couldn't deal with it, then their muscling in the “English-only” requirement for the forum should be used against them at the voting booth.

I am opening a chat session and I will also be liveblogging Univisión's Presidential Forum. This is going to be incredibly interesting since the forum will be conducted in English.

LIVEBLOGGING
María Elena Salinas' first question seems odd : Is it a political risk to appear in this forum. This is an obvious jab at all the republicans that have refused to appear before a latino audience.

Jorge Ramos asks Kucinich, Dodd and Richardson if they would support making Spanish the second official language of the United States. Richardson used the opportunity for ragging on Univision for not allowing him and the other Spanish-speaking candidates to do so.

Kucinich has gotten the most applause with his answer about ending the war in Iraq.

I can't believe they went there : Salina's has asked why build a wall on the Mexican border and not build one with on the border of Canada?

More than two thousand questions were polled at Univision and about 70% of the questions were about immigration; which is why more than half of the forum is focused on immigration.

Now that last part of the forums is focused on America Latina ---please notice they didn't say 'hispanic' america.

Another incredibly interesting question : Do you believe Hugo Chavez is a dictator?

What do you think is going to happen in a Cuba without Castro and what would you do to aid that transition.

¡Buenos días!

Apenas estoy saboreando my primer café, así es que no esperen nada super impresionante por el momento.

Aquí estaba sentada ponderando lo que iba a escribir cuando me di cuenta que aún no me había aprovechado del nuevo sistema de acentos que instalé hace ya dos semanas.

Asi es que presenten gente. Sé que hay bastante gente leyendo el blog en Espana, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Mexico y Venezuela. ¿Cómo lo sé? Google es omnisciente y omnipotente ... buajajajajajajajaja.

E temos leitore no Brasil e Portugal. Peguen um cafezinho --embora ou que eu pego e un cafezão-- e deixenos saber um poquinho que voçes.

En Français?

ICK!

Il a &éacute;t&éacute; longtemps que j'ecrit en Franĉais mais ne tanfe pas, on lit sans probleme.

il a été un à long terme depuis qu'I a pour la dernière fois écrit en français mais ne m'inquiète pas peut le lire facilement

Props to Viggo-Works

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Viggo Mortensen + Looking fierce + Carrying a sword + Speaking Spanish = Muchos doblone$$$.

I am going to go broke just in the amount of time spent at the movie theater, the need for extra panties and feminine hygiene products and maybe a ... ahem ... certain-kind of toy or two. With this movie, Viggo is gonna make a lot of people rich. Just in panties and .. ahem .. certain-kinds of toys, I can see a whole terciary market of Viggo-related goods.

Heh.

Americans sometimes can't help but be the dumb, uneducated stereotype people have pinned on them all over the world:

[via No more Spanish inquisitions for U.S. - Yahoo! News]:

HAMBURG (Reuters) - Landon Donovan was listening to a Spanish question at a U.S. news conference on Monday and ready to deliver his answer in the language he speaks fluently before being stopped by a spokesman who told everyone to use English.

Midfielder Donovan has delighted Spanish-speaking media with his polished delivery in the last three weeks, as have other team mates who speak the language like goalkeeper Kasey Keller.

Donovan seemed as unhappy as the journalist by the sudden introduction of the English-only requirement.

"That's demanding," said Donovan, who then praised the journalist as he struggled to ask his question in English.

"Good English," said the midfielder.

Jim Moorhouse, director of communications for the U.S. team, said the decision not to take questions in Spanish, or German, during the conference was made to improve the efficiency of the briefings.

"We made the choice because time is of the essence," Moorhouse said.

"It was becoming too convoluted with Spanish and German. We wanted to make sure we got through all the English questions."

The U.S., who have one point from two matches, complete their Group E campaign by taking on Ghana in Nuremberg on Thursday.

I hate to admit this, what with being an independentista and all ... but, WOW! This is an amazingly catchy interpretación of the Unites States national anthem.

And let me stress this is not only an interestingly subversive translation of the song but a brilliant musical interpretation of the original anthem:

Nuestro Himno
(click to listen)

Amenece, ¿ lo veis?
A la luz de la aurora
Lo que tanto aclamamos la noche al caer
Sus estrellas, sus franjas flotaban ayer
En el fiero combate en señal de victoria.

Fulgor de lucha,
Al paso de la libertad
Por la noche decían: "¡Se va defendiendo!"

¡Oh, decid, "Despliega aún su hermosura estrellada"!,
Sobre tierra de libres
La bandera sagrada

Sus estrellas
Sus franjas
La libertad,
Somos iguales
Somos hermanos,
Es nuestro himno.

En el fiero combate en senal de victoria,
Fulgor de lucha
Al paso de la libertad
Por la noche decían: "¡Se va defendiendo!"

¡Oh, decid, "Despliega aún su hermosura estrellada"!,
Sobre tierra de libres
La bandera sagrada

I may, end up after all, singing it.