Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Maryland's direct wine shipping bill passes

If all goes well, I can finally join the wine of the month club from my favorite winery, Duplin Winery. According to their website, Duplin produces over 300,000 cases of wine annually AND is the largest Muscadine winery in the world . . . and I want in damn it!

Today may be my lucky day! 

The Senate committee finally voted to pass the bill that will allow wineries in and outside of Maryland to ship wine directly to us Marylanders. Senate Bill 248 is now with Governor O’Malley ready for his signature.

Although the bill won’t go into law until July 1st, I’m goanna go ahead and get started on my shopping list!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Why Light Skin Latino: Part II

A friend told me that Light Skin Latino sounds racist, as if I’m saying “I’m one of the good ones because I’m white-ish.” But that’s not what I mean at all.  The truth is, being light skinned was actually a hindrance for me growing up.

You see, as an immigrant growing up in South Texas, where almost EVERYBODY is Mexican, I found myself stuck between two very different segments of the Hispanic culture.  It’s a little more complicated than that, but this is what it boils down to: On one side of the spectrum was the poor dark skinned immigrants discriminating against me for “looking white” and on the other side were the affluent second-generation Latinos discriminating against me for being poor (very poor) and not speaking English.

As an adult, I now know that this type of self-racism exists in almost every transitional culture.  But it is what it is, and whether I like it or not (and whether I am over it or not), I am a product of growing up in it.

I see now that Light Skin Latino may be a bit incendiary.  So maybe I should have named this blog My life as an Americanized first-generation Latino. But I gotta admit, that doesn’t sound nearly as catchy.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

NEW new year’s resolution: STOP drinking bottled water

I was on Youtube last night when I came across this video. It talks about how bottled water pollutes the earth.  Not the water itself, but the entire process of manufacturing it.  At a little over 8 minutes long, this video seems like an eternity in the world of Youtube.  But I highly recommend watching it.



I don’t really drink bottled water; but I’ll be honest, it’s not because of any environmental concerns, but because I’m too cheap to pay so much for something I can get practically free at home.  I don’t even buy water filters anymore either.

Now, unless you live in South Texas where the drinking water comes from the greatly polluted Rio Grande River (by American maquiladoras built on the Mexican side of the river), I don’t see a “need” for drinking bottled water.    
I think the only places I’ll have problems with are facilities like the University of Central Florida football stadium that were built without a single drinking water fountain and patrons are not allowed to bring in their own water. 
But other than that, I’m committed. I’m going to STOP DRINKING BOTTLED WATER!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Started riding again

I went mountain biking last night. It felt so good to get on the bike again. I realized that I am not as out of shape as I thought. I mean, the first two miles were killing me. But that always happens to me, even when I go for a run.

I went to McKeldin park around 6:00 and hit just a couple of trails. Nothing major, I just wanted to see where I stand. So now that I’m feeling confident, I’m looking to start biking twice a week.

While looking at the trail maps today, I noticed something interesting. It looks like there are two trail heads that exit the park. I wonder if they connect at some point . . . forming some massive loop trail. Well, there is only one way to find out. And you know what, exploration is a great motivator for biking again!


Friday, March 18, 2011

Why Light Skin Latino?

So why did I decide to call this My life as a light skin Latino?  To be honest, I’m not really sure.  It’s a combination of things.  I think more than anything it’s a way of thumbing my nose at how sensitive Americans are about skin color.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean it’s ok to call Latinos “brownies” or to be throwing the “n” word around like beads on Mardi Gras.  What I mean is that if you truly are NOT racist, if this country is truly over its bigotry, then skin color should be simply that, skin color and not a derogatory term to describe each other.   We Latinos use our color to speak tenderly to each other, like “te quiero mucho mi negra” or “baila morena baila, que tu lo bailas como ninguna.”