Back to Blogging

So Almost a year after I started this thing, I'm returning to it. Thanks to my roommate Rafael, who just sent me a link to his blog, I'm back to writing on here. Let'see if I keep up with it.

I am

I am Joaquin,
Lost in a world of confusion,
Caught up in a whirl of a gringo society,
Confused by the rules, Scorned by attitudes,
Suppressed by manipulations, And destroyed by modern society.
My fathers have lost the economic battle and won the struggle of cultural survival.
And now! I must choose between the paradox of
Victory of the spirit, despite physical hunger

Or

to exist in the grasp of American social neurosis,
sterilization of the soul, and a full stomach.
YES,
I have come a long way to nowhere, Unwillingly dragged by that
monstrous, technical industrial giant called
Progress and Anglo success…
I look at myself. I watch my brothers.
I shed tears of sorrow.
I sow seeds of hate.
I withdraw to the safety within the
Circle of life . . .
MY OWN PEOPLE

This is just a poem that I first heard at a Latino Poetry show at Fordham last semester. It's very fitting in a number of situations that are going on today: first and foremost the debate over immigration, and second, the recent events my friend Chulo has experienced.

I like the word Hispanic. Let's break it down a little. It was a word chosen by the US Government in regards to how to identify us for the Census. It was a very fitting choice, because, guess what, we are Hispanic, and we will always be HIS PANIC. It is the reason for all these heated debates about immigration now, we are HIS PANIC. He being the status quo of American society. We are HIS PANIC. He is freaking out and he is panicking because we're here and we ain't going anywhere anytime soon. This land IS OUR land. Why do you think everyone and their mother is attempting to appeal to the latino community now. NBC and CBS have aired commercials in Spanish. Hispanics are the largest "minority" in this great country. It was wonderful to see how Rupert Murdoch and his clan downplayed what happened last Monday. In NY, the majority of the State Assembly walked out of the Assembly session to show their support; we didn't see that reported in the news, I witnessed it. I was there. The Speaker had to adjourn the session because quorum was not met. How about them apples Bush? Well anyhow, let me get off my soap box.

To strangers now I bleed in some smelly cell from club.
or gun. or tyranny.
I bleed as the vicious gloves of hunger
cut my face and eyes, as I fight my way from stinking Barrios
to the glamour of the Ring and lights of fame or mutilated sorrow.
My blood runs pure on the ice caked
hills of the Alaskan Isles, on the corpse strewn beach of Normandy,
the foreign land of Korea and now Viet Nam.


Here I stand
before the Court of Justice Guilty for all the glory of my Raza to be sentenced to despair.
Here I stand Poor in money Arrogant with pride
Bold with Machismo Rich in courage and Wealthy in spirit and faith
My knees are caked with mud.
My hands calloused from the hoe.
I have made the Anglo rich yet Equality is but a word, the Treaty of Hidalgo has been broken
and is but another treacherous promise. My land is lost
and stolen,
My culture has been raped, lengthen
the line at the welfare door and fill the jails with crime.
These then are the rewards this society has For sons of Chiefs
and Kings and bloody Revolutionists.
Who gave a foreign people all their skills and ingenuity
to pave the way with Brains and Blood
for those hordes of Gold starved Strangers
Who changed our language and plagiarized our deeds
as feats of valor of their own. They frowned upon our way of life
and took what they could use.
Our Art
Our Literature
Our music,
they ignored so they left the real things of value and grabbed at their own
destruction by their Greed and Avarice
They overlooked that cleansing fountain of nature and brotherhood
Which is Joaquin.
The art of our great señors Diego Rivera
Siqueiros Orozco is butanother act of revolution for the Salvation of mankind.
Mariachi music, the heart and soul of the people of the earth,
the life of child, and the happiness of love
The Corridos tell the tales of life and death, of tradition,
Legends old and new, of Joy of passion and sorrow of the people:



who I am.
I am in the eyes of woman, sheltered beneath
her shawl of black, deep and sorrowful eyes,
That bear the pain of sons long buried or dying, Dead
on the battlefield or on the barbwire of social strife.
Her rosary she prays and fingers
endlessly like the family working down a row of beets to turn around and work and work
There is no end.
Her eyes a mirror of all the warmth and all the love for me,
And I am her And she is me.
We face life together in sorrow.
anger, joy, faith and wishful thoughts.
I shed tears of anguish as I see my children disappear behind the shroud of mediocrity
never to look back to remember me.


I am Joaquin.
I must fight And win this struggle for my sons,
and they must know from me Who I am.
Part of the blood that runs deep in me
Could not be vanquished by the Moors
I defeated them after five hundred years,
and I endured.
The part of blood that is mine
has labored endlessly five-hundred years under the heel of lustful Europeans
I am still here!


I have endured in the rugged mountains of our country
I have survived the toils and slavery, of the fields.
I have existed in the barrios of the city,
in the suburbs of bigotry, in the mines of social snobbery,
in the prisons of dejection, in the muck of exploitation
and in the fierce heat of racial hatred.
And now the trumpet sounds,
The music of the people stirs the
Revolution, Like a sleeping giant it slowly rears its head
to the sound of Tramping feet Clamouring voices Marlachi strains
Fiery tequila explosions The smell of chile verde and
Soft brown eyes of expectation for a better life
And in all the fertile farm lands, the barren plains,
the mountain villages, smoke smeared cities



We start to MOVE.
La Raza!
Mejicano!
Español!
Latino!
Hispano!
Chicano!
or whatever I call myself,
I look the same
I feel the same
I cry
and
Sing the same
I am the masses of my people and I refuse to be absorbed.
I am Joaquin
The odds are great but my spirit is strong
My faith unbreakable
My blood is pure
I am Aztec Prince and Christian Christ

I SHALL ENDURE!

Albany

So, I'm currently hungover, tired, cranky, etc. as fuck. I'm at work all weekend, yay! It's or annual legislative conference. I hate my supervisor, Napoleon-Bitch. I'm trying to get transferred to a different program, maybe with my buddy Jisbel or with my nigga Al. I'll write more later.

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Message Sent From a Nextel BlackBerry Device.

Yay! I got a new Toy!

So today I received my brand spanking new BlackBerry 7520 from Nextel and guess what, I'm posting from it!!!!! Pics will come later
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Message Sent From a Nextel BlackBerry Device.

Definitions for the confused

friend n.:
A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts.
A person whom one knows; an acquaintance.
A person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause; a comrade.
One who supports, sympathizes with, or patronizes a group, cause, or movement: friends of the clean air movement.
Friend A member of the Society of Friends; a Quaker.

trust n.:
Firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing.
Custody; care.
Something committed into the care of another; charge.
The condition and resulting obligation of having confidence placed in one: violated a public trust.
One in which confidence is placed.
Reliance on something in the future; hope.
Reliance on the intention and ability of a purchaser to pay in the future; credit.
Law.
A legal title to property held by one party for the benefit of another.
The confidence reposed in a trustee when giving the trustee legal title to property to administer for another, together with the trustee's obligation regarding that property and the beneficiary.
The property so held.
A combination of firms or corporations for the purpose of reducing competition and controlling prices throughout a business or an industry.

Just some food for thought

Looks Like a Boring Saturday

Currently Listening to: Jerry Rivera - Canto a Mi Idolo, Homenaje a Frankie Ruiz.


So yesterday, I stayed home all day. Left to go back to campus for a little bit, to clean up my room and just have some alone time. I hate being at home for extended periods of time. The Mother Unit's constant screaming about every single little thing just drives me up the wall. My annoying Little Brother just bugging me, sometimes I just need to get away from it all. But anyhow, I went back to campus, ready to spend a quite night all by myself, to think and reflect upon my life, under the false pretense that I had to work last night. Turns out Father offered to go pick me up after "work" b/c he was going to be in the Bronx. Having no way of getting out of going back home last night, I gave up and allowed him to do so.


On my way back to school, I stopped by Duane Reade. See, I was going to go to Target to buy some detergent so that I could laundry, but I figured that would turn out in me spending like $100 on random shit. What can one possibly spend so much money on at Target, don't ask but I don't think I've ever left Target without buying at least $50 bucks worth of CRAP. So, onto Duane Reade I go, I move quickly to the cleaning supplies, grab the Lysol wipes, the Clorox clean up, and some sort of degreasser for my nasty ass kitchen. On my way to the register, I happen to remember that I needed razors so that I could shave my grizzly beard. Hmm.. enter the personal care aisle. I have been thinking about how badly I treat my skin lately. I even read some articles online while I was bored (boredom is an evil thing, I tell you) about what kind of products to use to shave etc. Long story short, about 15 minutes later, I leave Duane Reade with Cleaning supplies + face wash + face scrub + shave cream + post shave lotion + facial moisturizer with SPF 30 + Gillete Fusion shaver and razors and like $120 dollars in the hole.
But anyhow, I get back to dorm, order chinese food, damn it's Good Friday, can't eat meat. Call the chinese people again, and switch everything to shrimp lol. So I get my food in like record time. Eat, and proceed to start cleaning my filthy apartment. It's what happens when you share a place with 3 other nasty ass guys. Once I'm done, it's almost time for me to be getting "off work" so my dad calls me to see at what time I want to be picked up. I tell him to give me like an hour and he says ok. I proceed to jump in the shower in my newly clean bathroom and then I proceed to use all the products that I just bought so that I could shave. Great shave by the way. One day later, I usually have the mean irritation, no irritation today. Yay. At least it was worth it.

Anyhow, back to Saturday. My uncle is visiting. My parents are listening to horrible music. Don't get me wrong, I love my spanish Oldies like Jose Jose and the likes. But they are listening to some ridiculous crap, Bebo & Cigala or some crap like that. I'm starving. My mom refuses to cook again, so I'm stuck ordering Chinese again today. With the hoard of Dominicans that tehre's in my house, I bet they are all going to flock to my chinese food. Let's see how I get it past the living room without them noticing. Should be a challenge. My babies aren't coming tonight to the family gathering. My babies = Tatica's kids. Tatica= My cousin that just relocated to NY from FL. Name is because it's the most Dominican thing I can think of right now, and she's really Dominican. Oh well she's giving me her 2001 BMW 323i when she gets her '07, but asides from that little fact, she's like the one cousin that I can have a conversation with.
(Chinese is here!!!)

Barriga Llena, Corazon Contento!

But yeah, moving on. I guess you must be curious to get to know me. What can I say. I'm Magic from Uptown NYC (aka Wash. Heights and the Bronx) via Dominican Republic, currently residing in Connecticut (while not in school in the Bronx), but soon back in the Bronx! I attend a great institution known as Fordham University. I have a love/hate relationship with my future alma-mater. I have made some unwise decisions and taken not so smart paths in the past aka not going to class and procrastination which have come back to bite me in the ass majorly over and over again. I'm trying to do some major damage control in the last 3 weeks that we have left of the semester, so I may not blog again until mid-May. I live on campus in one of the "Senior" dorms even though I'm a sophomore, see there's a reason why my name is Magic, as you will learn later on. But yeah. I'm currently supposedly majoring in Finance, that may possibly change to Accounting, although I hate accounting, job stability is definately something I need in order to pay back the $50k that I already owe Citibank + the possible 50 more that I'm going to borrow in the next two years. Hmm... I'm really involved on campus, so while I may never go to class, I never miss a meeting for one of my clubs or student government or anything like that. I am currently on the exec board of one of the Spanish clubs and I also sit on the Student Affairs Council. I ran for executive office in the Student Gov't Org. but I was defeated by a good friend of mine. I work on campus as a Desk Assistant. Basically my job is to check people's IDs when they enter the residence halls to make sure they live in the bldg. I don't give two shits, anyone can just walk into my bldg. As long as you acknowledge me and don't treat me like shit, I'll let you in, no biggie. Get nasty with me, and I'll call x2222 on your ass (that's Security) lol. I also work in the city @ a non-profit organization. I get a nice paycheck every two weeks so that's cool. Basically what I do there, is that I visit HS's throughout the city to make sure that our programs are running smoothly and report back to administration. I usually just call the participants, make sure everything is ok, and fake my report to administration, but I didn't tell you that lol.

So yeah, I'm currently single and taking applications. I don't ask for a lot, just be cool, easy going, fun to hang out with and bug out with, be educated, or at least act it. It doesn't hurt if you're good lookin'. If you think you got what it takes, drop me a line, would love to get to know you. Who knows? LOL

Magic, Out!

Welcome to my World

Hello all and welcome to my world! I've been turned into the world of blogging by my good friend Chulo.

Today, I turn 20! WooHoo, big deal. Turning twenty is like the most pointless birthday ever in the history of birthdays. It's like teasing you about the fact that you may soon be able to actually have fun, but not yet. That is unless you are equipped with the always handy fake ID. But back to turning 20 being pointless; turning twenty is just another reminder that we are getting old. I guess I need to grow up now. Not a big deal since I've always been more mature than your average guy my age. But anyhow, my day has been rather uneventful. My Hindu-chipmunk called me at 12:00 am on the dot. Chulo called/texted me at like 2:00 am ish. Being that I'm home for by birthday, I was already deep asleep at that time. Various family members started calling at like 10:00 am starting with Fat Lady. Day went by smoothly, the Mother Unit cooked up a feast, I was stuffed by just looking at the table. There was food for like an entire army unit, but there were only four of us eating, Mother Unit, Queen Elizabeth, and Little Brother. A few hours later, I got a phone call from Father, who was coming back from work, see Mother Unit insists on having dinner at 5:00 pm but that's a separate blog entry in of itself. Anyhow, Father was calling to see if I was dressed and if I wanted to go shopping. When have I EVER turned out a shopping trip? Being that I got off my bed at like 3pm, I proceeded to jump in the shower and get dressed. Father got here, and off we went. Three hours and a few hundred dollars later, I was dead exhausted and sleepy. I bought a pair of Pumas (Shit brown and beige) beige, navy blue and black Lacoste Polo shirts (gotta love those Macy's super sale days, when combined with the coupons they mail you, your Macy's card becomes a powerful tool!). Bought also a pair of Lacoste jeans, but my fat ass self doesn't fit into them properly, so those will be going back to Macy's. Ended the shopping with a quick stop over at Sephora for some Au Masculin, by Lolita Lempicka. It's my favorite fragrance! Tomorrow will be shopping day # 2 with the money Mother Unit and Queen Elizabeth gave me.

Let's introduce the characters in today's post:

Mother Unit --> Obvious, my mother. Incredibly intelligent woman, has a Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering but is a stay at home wife; we could be living the good life.

Queen Elizabeth --> Mother Unit's mom. Part British. 89 Years old and acts like if she was 15. To say that she danced like 3 salsa's with me today ok.

Father --> Obvious. Owns the Shop in the south Bronx with Scrooge McDuck, who you shall all meet at a later date.

Fat Lady --> Father's Mother. Lives in an island 1000+ miles away, THANK GOD. It is over when she sings.

Little Brother --> My 15 year old brother. Wants every new pairs of Jordans that comes out and bothers me to the point where I just give up and buy them for him. Either Jordans or video games, that's his life, although he's been switching over to the preppy side and leaving the ghetto Jordan-ness behind.

The Hindu-Chipmunk --> My Crack! I love this girl, can't breathe without first consulting with her. Well, when it comes to certain matters. My brother's godsister, my mom's best-friend's daughter, we just tell people we're brother and sister, or cousins, depending on the situation. If it's to a guy she likes, I'm the cousin LOL. Apparently she doesn't want them to be intimidated by me... me, intimidating? haha. She lives in that god-awful state of Florida.

Chulo --> Well he's Dr. Chulo Rodriguez, M.D. what else can we say?

Now that the formalities are out of the way, let's see what else can I say. I don't want to make this first post like huge. Tomorrow I return to the Great Institution Fordham University, New York City's Jesuit University . More on the subject of F.U. and the drama of FU will follow at a later date.
Tonight will be the uneventful night of my birthday week. Yes celebrations start tomorrow and continue for a week. We don't have school and all my friends are home, so next week, when everyone comes back is when the real partying will happen. Stay posted for venues and schedules of events.

Magic, Out!