Hasta Suena La Campana

To The Beat of the Creole (Al Compas Del Criollismo p. 13)

Conserve the tradition

Always the same suffering

Is the life in the gutter

And to die of starvation

To the beat of the Creole

Old, enclosed, neighborhoods,

Barrios Altos, Chirimoyo;

Limas most Creole,

The most select in Peru.

From your solemn past

And with clear inspiration

You impose a mission

That you give, no longer sell

And can only pretend to

Conserve the tradition.

In the sixteenth century

You drained your purse

Commending the Spanish,

Slave to every viceroy.

Passed the time, it was the law

Forged in your heroism:

Century and a half of civic-mindedness

Your children sing and write,

And fix, how they live,

Always the same suffering.

Poor neighborhoods, always lacking,

Neighborhoods crying out for justice

For the paradox they call

Barrios Altos…barrios “Altos”…

Rise up, get to work,

Look what happens in Ancon

And you will see your inspration

Stained of “whiskey and soda”

While all of your life

Is the life of the gutter.

They are the court of a king

Worse than Philip II,

The world is just a dollar

And exploitation is law.

Enslaving the flock

Hiding in your song.

More if you sing of rebellion

Well, you can –so close-

Becomea Felipe Pinglo Alva

To die of starvation.

Barrios Altos of misery

With a tradition of creating orphans,

Salt of your begging

And show your serious face.

Who gives you the Iberian “gentlemanhood?”

Who gives you imperialism?

Come with me, right now,

And Our Revolution

Builds a new nation

To the beat of the Creole?...

In honor of Peru's fiestas patrias, I have poorly translated another poem de Nicomedes Santa Cruz. A poem of strength in the face of poverty and racism.

This poem puts many ideas into words, thoughts I have thought and embodies many of the reasons why I am so attracted to Salinas and Peru. Both areas are poor and struggle finding a stronghold of mondern ideas of success without losing their tradition. Both provide a community, a flare for life, and a type of person I have not found anywhere else. Hence, my desire to live in both places.

I just returned from a information gathering trip to Salinas...what I learned is that I will be living with a fellow teacher in a 2 bed room apt, and thankfully, he is doing the looking since I still have to coach at the gym for two more weeks, I have an appointment to finalize everything for setting me up to work at Alisal on the 18th of august, and hopefully when I drive up for that appointment, I will also be moving. As for work, my former vice principal, from my first year in AmeriCorps, has been appointed principal at another school in the district has offered me a job in the after school program, and I will be using my connections at FP to get days subbing as well....siento correcto, todos los pedasos de la rompecabaeza estan cayando en su propia lugar.

Random factoid: I ate the 3 best meals of my life while in Salinas, technically I ate them in Chular.

La Cultura Cura

Canto A Mi Peru

July-Month of months....hot, festive, independent!
Hoy dia, July 19th, 9 days faltan between hoy and Peruvian indpendence, July 28th.
To me, el 28 de julio, is more important as the street I walked on my way to Uriel Gracia to spend afternoons with my amazing students, but to a nation, both young and old...it is a day to rejuice.

In honor of Peru, I have decided to butcher one of the Peru's most talented pens in Nicomedes Santa Cruz, poeta extrodiare!

This is my first attempt at translating anything, and of course, I choose a poem with more heart and soul than a baptist church in Atlanta, GA!

Song for My Peru

I have faith in destiny

Destiny of my Peruvian motherland

For humane quality of life

For my peasant brother,

Who, in spite of the difficult road

Of ridicule and exploitation

Keeps his heart intact

Of a strong and booming race:

Resurrects from a daily demise,

Free, even in his oppression.

I have faith and hope

In a happy future,

And so much love for my country

Because I have confidence in her.

When the needle of the scales

Is inclined towards the headwinds

I know it is only a temporary factor

Of an absurd economy.

Soon, there will be no tyranny

Nor agrarian stockpiling…

I have faith in the future

Because the man of tomorrow

Will enjoy a healthy life

Forged in the bleakness of the present

He will stand on solid feet

Drawn from a fraternity:

His weapon, the truth

His delight in the knowledge,

His commitment has caused

His triumph, liberty…

I have faith in Peru

Which heads towards the integration

Without discrimination

All men and women speak in “tu”…

To the mochica in Monsefu,

Until the Quechua in Paucartambo,

On to the limeños in Malambo

And to the shipibo from Loreto

I embrace you with respect

My bowlegged brotherhood of love…

Random factoid: I am excited to begin my exploration into Afro-Peruvism!

La Cultura Cura

[ insert title]

What day is today? Wait, why do I care? One day just blends into tother.... each days I spend hours waiting for "it" to start, for what? I work out everyday....but tags usually over by 11 am...then the hours pass before I go to work, at a job I couldn't be more indifferent about. Then....nothing. sure I distract myself from ennui by watching movies and tv shows about other people's ennui....

Each day I do nothing I feel.as if the things I care about are from a different me....a me wit goals...now I tu to keep my brain from dripping out my.ears by trapping entertaiment from people who actually have lives....

Random factoid:............... can't really be bothered to think of one........

La Cultura Cura

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Because The Status is Not Quo

I am come to realize that everything we do, school, work, friends, is one of many worlds with function. We can have multiple munditos, and be different people within each, but that is all the world really is, a series of small communities we choose to adhere to the same rules as the rest of the group.

Unless you're me...where I reside, I am the leader of the confused. I used to be a student, accepting that identity, until that identity kicked me out. So, I have just been floating in nothingness...doing, as you'd expect...nada. I have been applying to new small worlds, on a belt, if you will. I was hoping to put all three worlds, i.e. grad schools, in front of me and make a decision. But as of yet, I have only heard from Pepperdine, and I have to commit to them in a week, if I don't hear from anyone else...or....or, with a capital OR, do I let the deadline pass and wait for the other schools to get back to me and enter their small world, assuming they let me in.

Random Factoid: Drinking hot coffee in 90 degree whether is only done by a strong man....ergo, ipsofacto...me

La Cultura Cura

Salinas, Elite Gymnastics, and my New Honda!

I have had my 2011 Honda Fit for 7 days and it already has 600+ miles on it…consider it broken in. My Fit came at a perfect time, just days before my mini-vaycay up to Monterey. I was thinking that my thoughts were getting in the way of me thinking clearly. I got two nights in Monterey, giving me the option to just enjoy the nature beautiful that is beautiful, if not boring Monterey…but more importantly it gives me access to the roots of my passion, Frank Paul in Salinas. Luckily I got some tax money so I was able to buy a nice hotel room…however, I forgot the layout of Monterey and instead of getting a hotel by the beach, I got a hotel by the mall…keep in mind, I can still see the water…not all bad.

I have never done a drive to anyone farther than LA by myself, so this whole thing was a new adventure…keep in mind, I can fly to Peru alone, so I can drive to Monterey. The drive was only really notable for two things: 1. I got to see the oil rig field that looks like baby dinosaurs have been enslaved, and I tried to go up highway 1, but there had been a landslide and lovely California hadn’t put up a detour so I had to back track 30 miles to get back on track.

This is not my first trip back to the 831 after having spent a year here, but much like Peru. I am not visit, trying to grasp at something old, I find myself, a new person, experiencing novel familiarity.

Day 2: I have a lame breakfast at a lame restaurant where the waitress didn’t give me coffee and wouldn’t take me check…but then I got to sit in traffic for way too long. Finally I ended up at Frank Paul, I was nervous that everyone I had known there, had moved on or wouldn’t remember me. Some of the kids recognized me, and the teachers where great too. I was sad because most of the kids I knew where on a fieldtrip to San Francisco…so I will have to make a second trip tomorrow…which is on the agenda.

The main highlight of my day was when I visited the gym I coached at for a few months. I went in just to see if I remember anyone, and if they remembered me. I hadn’t anticipated my reaction to my visit. First thing I see are three coaches I really liked, we said our hellos and then I was bombarded with a hug by one of the team girls. I had known a few of the team girls, but they all left for college. I forgot about the younger ones…once I looked at her though, I completely remembered her. I had only planed on stopping by for about an hour…when in fact I stayed for almost 4 hours. I spent most of my time enjoying talking to the team coach and helping coach the team girls on some of their skills. I didn’t want to leave, a feeling I didn’t expect to feel. I forgot how much I liked this gym, and the team coach, and coaching team….I am more connected to Salinas than I thought…which still confusing me, because living here is hell…but what do I do? My heart wants what it wants…which is? Who knows!

ONE WEEK LATER:

My Salinas trip had the impact I was looking for. My mindset has changed, not drastically but enough to have cleared my head and given me a new focus. Subbing at Alisal and coaching at EGA…sounds pretty good. If I found an online program, then I could be felixble with my schedule…however, who knows…life is stressfull. Applications are stressful….stupid Pearson testing is stressful, takes 3 weeks to get my scores that I got a year ago…why not just post them online?!

Random Factoid: I got a fun visit from my cool Aunt this week.

La Cultura Cura

Vamos A Ver

Estabamos marchando
Llegabamos a un puente
Abajo de una cascada
El agua pegaba a mi pelo
Tambien, a mi arma
Estaba luchando
Debia proteger mi arma
o mi cuerpo?
Cual era mas importante
por nuestra revolucion?
Asi es la vida
mi mida
mi lucha....
soy ingrediente



How should I tell one day from tother? The series of consonants and vowels that preside the suffic -day, carry no meaning but to keep the calender companies in business. My work schdeudle make play a larger role in giving meaning to each individual day as significant, but being as that I don't like my job, nor care about what happens there, I find myself, without school...without a reason to differentiate between.

Do I strive to find a job so that I can move out of my parents house and live my own life? Living on my own won't give me meaning. I don't dare begin to shift my focus to " getting by." I'm still in between bland white middle American life and a piece a paper that lets me get the job of my dreams. Waiting, that's all i'm doing, and not the kind of waiting that pays with tips.

If I get into a school it won't be until September....I can't just pass the months in between as if they're just time..but each day is an opportunity...however, I spend mine seeking distractions from my own thoughts and wishing things were different', neither of which are positive ways to spend my days. Change is needed...but how? Really, what's to do?

Random factoid: The latest book in the Mercy Thompson series is by far the worst of them all

La Cultura Cura

Grammatical Brutus

I feel as if I am going though a break up. Not just any break up though, like I've been dumped. Not just dumped, dumped by a super model. I have tasted super model dating (ew, tasted) and now have to go back down to my league.

On Friday, after a great run, I get a phone call from my advisor at USC. I am not initially alarmed for the call but after she left a message about me returning the call and use of the words, "important," and "urgant." I had to call her back. She informed me that I had recieved a B-in on of my classes at SC. I knew I would get that grade (in my other class, I got an A) and didn't see why that was phone call worthy. She then informs me that due to conditions placed upon my acceptance to the university I cannot get any grade lower than a B. I was unaware of these conditions, but that was my fault, I did not fully read my intent to enroll paper work. Well, shit. After throwing an object or two, and wiping the tears from my eyes. I just get in my car and drive. I wind up in Pasadena. During the car ride I thought about all of the things I had: A five year plan, a place in one of the best teacher education programs in the country, and a future. I also thought about all of the things I have left: A part time job....and no place to call my own. That makes me a barely employed 24 year old living with his parents...yep, epically pathetic. After my stint and ULV and USC, I find myself having spent $26,000 on grade school and absolutely nothing to show for it. I have passed all of the required tests to be credentialed but now I have to apply to new programs, many of the deadlines for fall start dates have passed, and retake the same boring classes that I mastered in AmeriCorps, even before I started grad school. Experience, test scores, talent...all of these things mean nothing if you don't have a piece of paper that says you sat through boring classes learning very little and spending very much. I'm far from happy about the situation...well, really, everything. I'm incredibly jaded with teacher education programs. I remember now that UCLA and SU denaied my last year and I was forced to take the ugly girl to prom by going to ULV...after I made out with the hot girl, USC, for a month or so, I now have to go looking for another troll of an education program that will accpt my history of failure.

On the outside: I find myself telling people that I will get over it. I just have to keep moving and keep trying, trying to find light in the dark.

HOWEVER....

On the inside: I am living in a pit of self dispar and depression. I cannot be left alone with my thoughts too long or I'll go crazy. I'm trying to keep constant stimuli in front of me for distraction, but sadly I can't read yet because my mind takes over and I get even more down on myself. I am not mad at me or SC....I just feel worthless.... I feel like the cheerio left floating in the milk after all the other cheerios have been bite, eaten....BITE ME!

I feel as if the dash at the end of the B-, is like a grammatical Brutus stabbing me in the back, ruining everything.

Random factoid: So far, the only plan I've liked is just buying a one way ticket to somewhere in South America and never looking back...sadly, I'm not that implusive.


La Cultura cura...even this