Home for the Holidays

My family starts celebrating all our libra and scorpio birthdays in October and early November. Then, the official navidades start the day after Thanksgiving (and NO, this has nothing to do with Black Friday and everything to do with Puerto Ricans having party in our blood). In December, there are Aguinaldos from the 17th - 24th, Nochebuena (Xmas Eve), Navidad (Xmas Day)on the 25th, on December 28th, Día de los Santos Inocentes (according to Christian scripture, the mass infanticide ordered by Herod the Great) and stemming from this, el Festival de las Máscaras in Hatillo (which is supposed to ward off evil spirits and is similar to April Fools Day). Then, there's Despedida de Año/ Año Viejo/ Víspera de Año Nuevo -New Year's Eve, then, of course, New Year's Day and celebration of the Three Kings/ Epiphany on January 5th - 6th, followed by Las Octavitas. During these 8 days, we visit family with parrandas and trullas, we deliver gifts to thsoe that we didn't see during Christmas and we're thankful to have gotten through the holidays and into a new year healthy and happy, surrounded by friends and family.

This is supposedly the end of las navidades, but as Puerto Ricans are known for not wanting to give up our fiestas, we extend them with the famous Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián, which stem from another religious feast day, but with 1,000s of artesanos selling their arts, crafts, jewelry, etc and over 300,000 people eating, drinking, dancing and partying in the streets of Old San Juan, it gets downright rowdy and I'm not really sure how it celebrates Sebastián the martyr, but it's one of PR's most popular fiestas and the most fun you'll ever have on the island in one weekend! Officially, all the partying culminates on February 2nd with the feast of La Candelaria and Candlemas (also religious traditions) during which Christmas trees are burned and the holidays are put to rest until the next year.

Away from the island, the holidays are just so low-key and sad for me. Eating, drinking, being (really) merry, hanging out with all the cousins, the vecinos, the extended family is the best part of the year. It's one party after another and no matter, how little the party starts out, it's always fun and goes on into the wee hours of the night usually culminating in a parranda, when we decide it's time to go wake up the neighbors, friends and family that aren't at the party by arriving on their doorsteps with an assortment of musical instruments and singing in exchange for a very late night supper and hopefully, a shot (or 5) of coquito, rum or some other seasonal bebida.

If I'm not in PR for las navidades, I'm sulking at home thinking about all the fun I had last navidades with all my cousins, friends and family and thinking about how much I miss them. It may be hard to understand what las navidades are all about on the island especially if you've never witnessed them. Yes, it's a little commercialized (as is Xmas all over the US), but more than that, it's just the time of year, when everyone's happy and you smile and of course, accept when even your worst neighbor comes a knocking with a bottle of coquito or PR's very own moonshine, pitorro/ cañita.

And, of course, the holidays away from the island are fun, but it's just not the same. Sure, go home and stay there is what you're probably thinking...sunny, tropical, never winter. I must be crazy to live away from it right? Well, that's another story about yet another way that mi islita is so different from the rest of the US.

Today IS NOT the time to be soft spoken!!

Ghost Bike...a week later

Ghost Bike

In memory of Matthew G. Powell, fellow cyclist.
Boulder, CO - 19 September 2008

I'm not the only feminist who has a problem with Palin

Eve Ensler, the American playwright, performer, feminist and activist best known for "The Vagina Monologues", wrote the following about Sarah Palin:
_________
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears. I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin.

This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke.

In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity. Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?

Eve Ensler
September 5, 2008

School district criticized for plans to add U-shaped racks

Officials: The racks are simple, sturdy, affordable

By Vanessa Miller (Contact)
Monday, September 8, 2008

Inverted-U racks 101 -Shape: They look like upside-down U's or lower-case N's.

Support: There is one simple element to the rack, which can support two bicycles.

How to: A rider can lock the rear wheel and seat tube of the bicycle to the rack.

Pros: They can support bicycles with baskets, and they work with bikes of all makes and sizes.

Cons: They take up space and can be confusing to use.

Cora racks 101 - Shape: They look like a series of coat hangers on a single bar.

Support: One rack typically can support 10 bicycles.

How to: A rider can lock a bicycle's wheel and frame to a triangular portion of the rack.

Pros: They're simple to use and keep bicycles parked in an orderly fashion.

Cons: They don't work with bikes that have baskets, and they're too tall for some smaller children's bicycles.

A plan to add hundreds of bicycle-parking spaces at 20 Boulder Valley schools has come under fire by some people who disapprove of the style of rack that officials plan to use.

Based on a city of Boulder recommendation, the Boulder Valley School District is leaning toward using a $60,000 federal grant to install 250 inverted-U bicycle racks on school properties that lack parking space. But critics argue that the U-shaped parking racks take up too much space and are confusing to use.

“One problem with the U rack is that people park 90 degrees to the way they’re supposed to,” said Boulder resident Peter Richards, who complained to the district over the weekend about its decision to use U-shaped racks. “Those are the dumbest racks in the world.”

Instead of the U racks, some local cycling proponents have suggested the district install Cora racks, which look like a row of coat hangers on a bar and are prevalent across the University of Colorado campus.

Kent Young, 57, of Boulder, said the district should consider copying CU in its use of Cora racks because they promote simple and more orderly bicycle parking.

“It looks to me that you can get more bikes in the same amount of space,” Young said. “They’re less awkward and cumbersome.”

Landon Hilliard, student transportation coordinator for the school district, said the district is open to suggestions, and officials plan to spend the next three months studying the individual needs of schools scheduled to get more bicycle parking.

Right now, he said, the district is leaning toward the U racks because they encourage riders to lock their bikes in the most secure way, they’re stable and they’re cost-efficient.

School district officials said Cora racks don’t work well with bicycles that have baskets attached, and that’s a problem because children who ride to school are being urged to carry their bags in a side, front or rear compartment — not on their backs.

“If you have a bike with a lot of baggage and baskets on the side, it’s tough to park your bike with those Cora racks,” said Sue Prant, project manager for the district’s bicycle-parking project. “And we want our kids to carry their stuff on the bike rather than on their backs.”

Prant said district and transportation officials will meet with parents and community members this fall to explain their logic in picking the U-shaped racks. And the district might consider using a combination of U and Cora racks, Prant said.

Wanda Pelegrina Caldas, family outreach coordinator at Boulder’s Columbine Elementary School, said she thinks U racks are best suited for elementary children.

“Smaller bikes, especially the size pre-schoolers and younger elementary school-aged kids use, are just not tall enough for Cora racks,” she said.

Regardless of the style, Caldas said, with the fast-growing ridership — it’s three times higher than it’s ever been at Columbine — the district’s top priority should be adding more racks as soon as possible.

“We bring bikes into the school because we have no space for them to be safe outside,” she said. “We need to focus on rewarding kids, staff and families who ride to school with safe, sound and functional bike racks.”

And when you don't know, you obviously don't

Are you fucking kidding me?!

I completely disgusted that Sarah Palin touts herself a feminist! To open your mouth and "take a stand on issues" does not mean you are a feminist unless your issues speak to and protect the needs and rights of women. Someone, please give this woman a dictionary...better yet, a course in feminism b/c i think she's confused!

How does pushing to ban sex ed, birth control and to obligate a woman to carry to full term and keep a child that has been conceived out of rape and/ or incest make the US a better place for women. SP says it will teach young women to be responsible and loving parents?!

I've worked with troubled children and young adults whom have been victims of sexual abuse, rape, incest and as a consequence pregnancy and tell me how does obligating a preteen to keep a kid that is not only her child, but her sibling show her anything about being a responsible adult and loving parent.

How about all the trauma this kid (and more than likely her future children) will have for the rest of her life. Many children of abuse end up being abusive parents or worse yet, parents that allow their children to be abused...it's the way of life that they grew up with and it's her dad who really loves her...so it's gotta be ok, right?!

Palin's stance on women's reproductive rights sends a message that this kid (and her baby) should be the ones to suffer the consequences that her fucking father is a pig! (Please, when you give SP that course on feminism, school her on child/ developmental psychology and the effects of sexual abuse on children and their future too!) Furthermore, it says women have no control or say over our own bodies!

Hmmm, feminist: one who supports the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men. Sarah Palin, yep...definitely a feminist.

Would you let Sarah Palin tell you what to do with your bank account or what color to paint your house or what to make for dinner?! Of course not, you are an adult and you can make your own decisions. So, when you're faced with some personal dilemma, are you going to call Sarah Palin and ask her for guidance and advise?! Did Sarah Palin call you to ask you what she should do about her unwed teen daughter's pregnancy?! Probably not.

Even if you are not planning to vote for (and/ or support) the Republican ticket, you may know others who blindly vote/support party line without giving candidate platforms (and what they really truly mean) another thought. Paint them a vivid picture of what exactly some of these "conservative values and morals" mean.

Voting is not just something you do (or don't do) just because. Having a vote means having a voice so use it and use it wisely...the women in our pasts fought hard (can you believe that they had to actually prove that a woman's voice is important?!) for us to be able to cast our vote.

When You Know, You Know

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one.' " -C.S. Lewis

Golden Celebrates: Sells Beer...on Sunday

(07 July 2008 - Golden, CO) Residents of Golden awoke to early morning thunder, hissing winds, roaring waters and the smoky smell of...BBQ?!... as Coloradans from all over the state congregated at the entrance of the Coors complex to wash out the bitter taste of a decades-old “blue law”. The heart of town pounded harder as thousands of beer fans flooded over fences and makeshift camps sprung up all over the Coors' yards.

As the air cleared and the sounds of rolling kegs, popping tops and pouring drafts reverberated all over town, Golden's mood turned festive as much of Jefferson County streamed in to join the party.

As she opened for business this morning, liquor store owner, Carlotta "Lotta" Sudtz (nee Kurtzbier) bubbled, "Come on in! Our refrigerators are bursting with ice-cold beer just itching to be bought!"

"I am so proud of our state legislature for bringing back a local tradition today!" she responds to our how are you today. "I remember walking into town with my papa and granpappy early Sunday mornings and helping them open the soda fountain...that's what the store was during Prohibition, you know." Laughs Sudtz, 94, "Now, my grandkids can say the same. This morning, we all rode on down here together to open the store."

Her grandchildren, Kremina "Kreami" and Helvin "Heavy" Fohm, store manager and accountant, respectively, mention that Kurtzbeir's Liquors, originally an outpost in the late 1850s, has been 8 different businesses including a western cabaret, but has always been in the family.

We thanked the Beirfolk, as they're affectionately known in town, for their hospitality and bought a 6-pack or three for the road. Bottoms Up!

Buh-bye Blue Law

PARTY FOUL! The gang is coming over to watch the game and you forgot to restock the brewskies!

DAMMIT! You're having the the in-laws over for Sunday brunch and want to impress them with Mimosas, but your bubbly is flat!

BUMMER DUUDE! Your buds are coming over to listen to your new PHISH tapes, but Mountain Sun doesn't sell growlers on Sundays!

NO SCORE! That hot chick from the library finally took you up on your offer to make her dinner and you have no Chianti?

No Worries. Now, you can get your...
Spirits, schwill, sauce, red-eye, rotgut, liquor, juice, hooch, hard stuff, booze, adult beverage, alcohol
...on Sundays!

Never again, will a spontaneous Sunday afternoon picnic in the park leave you with that "oh, if only we had more mojitos" feeling. Go ahead and put off your alcohol shopping 'til tomorrow because last minute Saturday night trips to the liquor store just went bottom shelf in Colorado.

Oh oh oh oh oh oh...you don't have to go oh oh oh oh oh

You know, I really love Community Cycles events even the ones (lots of them) that require I get up at the ass crack of dawn to set up (ok, so why the Led Zep reference? i'm getting there...i'm getting there).

So, back to the story...woke up at 5 today and spent all day selling re-cycles...vintage cruisers to be exact. Around 9, this guy tells me....hey, Robert Plant is here riding around on a bike. Sure, right, this is Boulder, there are lots of long-haired older guys on cruiser bikes....did you actually see him or hear him speak?

"No, but someone else did", he says kinda sheepishly and throws in "but, he's playing Red Rocks with Alison Krauss tonight".

Oh, well, maybe it could be him. If I see him, I'll tell him you said hey, I answered feeling quite clever.

Of course, I secretly drooled and crossed my fingers, hoping that if it was in fact him, he'd come by to check out our cruisers. I scanned the crowd, I paced repeating to myself....Robert Plant, come back...but no luck.

An hour later, I'm making sales left and right, charming customers, going that extra mile, feeling super chatty and I look up and THERE HE IS!!! Robert Plant riding towards me on a bike!!!

He rides slightly past then back and stops! I've totally forgotten my customer - I think my mouth is hanging open. I'm possibly drooling...customer walks away...HE walks over. (it can't be?! it is?! is it?!) "so, can I ask you about this bike?" (HOLY SHIT! IT IS! IT IS!) "How old is it and..."

(i totally interrupt him and my voice squeaks) it's a newer model....Giant...retro cruiser...maybe 5 years old...i just sold it to some guy and his wife and....

"So, do you know what it would cost new?"

I had no clue. I giggle (and probably blush) and was just about to ask if I could take his pic with our bikes (and me, of course) when customer comes back - "miss" - taps my shoulder

I turn around, like um, what, who...oh yeah, bike sale...you have a question...hold on and I turn around just in time to see RP hop onto his bike, wave, smile and ride off into the mass of bikes and peds...I watch him ride off until I'm sure he's out of ear shot then, still watching...

I turn around and squeal at customer - THAT WAS ROBERT PLANT...guy looks at me like, huh? Robert Plant? and I am about to kill him b/c not only did he ruin my photo op, but...then he's like, OH OH...oh, THE Robert Plant?! Where? When? How did I miss him?! Oh. Oh.

Oh oh oh oh oh oh...you don't have to go, oh oh oh oh

Conflict of Interest

"A situation in which a person has a private or personal interest sufficient to appear to influence the objective exercise of his or her official duties as, say, a public official, an employee, or a professional."

Appreciation

Nothing like non-stop busting your ass for something then getting passed over when an opportunity arises.

Summer Is So Close I Can Taste It!

SuperGRR!

Yeah New York!

Hooooo-ray! I love NY! It's fun and alive and no car is needed, but most of all...i can't wait to see Cathy and Cherie and V and Nat!!!! Seeing all my girls makes NY rock even harder! Can't wait!

Garden

Ah Spring! Time for the garden.

We've been diligently prepping, planting, weeding and watering. We already ate our first bit of fresh picked spinach.

We got taters, 3 different carrots, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, several types of lettuce, garlic and onions.

This year is gonna be the best garden ever.

lazy morning

.thickfrostysugarswirls.glitterair.silverstreak.congealedpurpleominous greypearly blanket
quiet before npr. dreamy, bed-warmed. roll over.sleepy half smile.
(yes!) dubbs(sleepy)curled up.
ninaprecariously hanginoffbed. stretches further. long yawn.
sleepy defiant glance...(guess who'll be cross if you make it wake up time?).
ninargoyle wins.
Roll over.snuggle up to sleepy1/2smile...kiss
both1/2smile.heartwarmsmile too. fall asleep.

Because, I will NEVER forget...

...and, it's still really hard to remember without tears.

Community Cycles in Boulder County Business Report

Community Cycles' program lets inmates fix, keep bikes
By Beth Edwards

January 4, 2008 --

BOULDER - For inmates in the work release program at the Boulder County Sheriff's Department, finding a reliable means of transportation to go to and from work has been a challenge.

Last year that problem was made easier by Community Cycles - a Boulder-based nonprofit. Through its Earn-A-Bike program inmates can repair bikes and then use them to go from jail to their new place of employment.

Bill Kolbe, coordinator for the work release assistance program at the sheriff's department, said the program has had a significant impact on inmates.

"What's really rewarding is when an inmate who has been struggling his whole life and hasn't really had anything will say, 'I have a really nice mountain bike now,'" Kolbe said. "I know it's keeping more people on their jobs because they have a means of transportation."

Community Cycles was started in April 2006 by Rich Points, the nonprofit's director. He and Gary Gingras, the assistant director, operate a small bicycle shop out of an industrial work space at 2805 Wilderness Place in Boulder.

Their mission is to educate and advocate safe use of refurbished bicycles as affordable transportation.

"When I moved to Boulder I became car-free and started biking everywhere," Points said. "I found the bike was a great solution to the things I was concerned about - corporate power, pollution, oil wars. I came to Boulder to go to Naropa in the environmental leadership program."

When Points and his girlfriend, Wanda Pelegrina, began thinking about starting a nonprofit bike collective they met with Colleen Speno of Boulder-based Spokes for Folks Bicycle Co-op, and Anthony Hannagan, who started the nonprofit bicycle business Townie Bicycles in 2004. They helped the couple file for 501c(3) status and find a small studio space to begin Community Cycles.

"I don't think they expected it to take off the way it did," Kolbe said. "That small workshop has become a real gathering place for bike enthusiasts."

Community Cycles receives bikes from individuals, the Boulder Police Department and the University of Colorado at Boulder, which gives the nonprofit abandoned bikes.

The nonprofit operates on donations. Its operating budget in 2007 was $75,000. A person can become a member by donating as little as $10.

Though its programs continue to grow the facility hasn't. The shop can only hold six people, and lack of space is one of the key problems Community Cycles is facing. It is currently conducting a membership drive to raise $30,000 by March 1, 2008 to move into a bigger facility.

One of the many programs it supports is in conjunction with Boulder-based Family Learning Center, a nonprofit that helps kids after school. Points and Gingras go into low-income areas like the San Juan Del Centro neighborhood in Boulder to teach children fundamental bike mechanics and basic riding skills.

"One of the main things we teach is how to fix a flat," Points said. "From what we've seen that seems to be the leading cause for not riding a bike. We often go into those neighborhoods just to pump up tires."

Children can obtain a free bike through the Community Cycle's Earn-A-Bike program by working in the shop for 15 hours.

Community Cycles is also working with the Boulder Valley School District by giving tunups and installing bells and cargo racks on bikes at Casey Middle School in Boulder. They are also working with Pioneer Elementary school in Lafayette and Flatirons Elementary in Boulder on a bike-swap program so children who have outgrown their bikes can swap their bikes for bigger ones.

In 2008 the city of Boulder contracted Community Cycles to be the event producer for Walk & Bike Month, which includes Bike To Work Day. This marks the first time in 30 years the city has contracted the event out to someone else.

Community Cycles is also trying to break the barriers for bike commuting in other countries. In December 2006 the nonprofit shipped 450 bikes to Ghana, Africa. This was done in combination with a group in Iowa called the Village Bicycle Project. There are 110 group bike collectives like Community Cycles in the U.S., which help to facilitate bike use around the world.

"We've worked with a lot of nonprofits," Points said. "That's a unique thing about us. The core group has a lot of nonprofit experience. It's easy to get behind our cause because we're not political or religious or too controversial. We have a broad appeal."