MI REDIARIO - My Blog

Engliñol

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 17:24:38 -0800

Had I forgotten the English term for man’s other best friend? No. I was experimenting. You see, I wanted to find out if code switching would work in an English environment. It did not. I have tried it with other words: ‘Pass me the lápiz, please,’ ‘My zapatos are from Macy’s’ and even ‘I really have hunger’ and ‘what means that?’ Totally unacceptable.
The point to this is that this Engliñol – a word I just invented - does not work. Why? The dominant language in the States is English, and it doesn’t allow itself to be infiltrated by Spanish terms. It maintains itself pure.
Ah, but you may say, we smatter English with French! Yes, but that’s because it’s chic. Much like Latin Americans, in Latin America, do with not only French, but also English.
And, they do this to show off, to yell to the listener that they are learned, international folks. ‘He’s debonair,’ ‘We’re having hors d’oeurves,’ are completely acceptable and understood here in the USA, and outside of France and Quebec.
Ah, but how about ‘salsa,’ ‘tacos,’ ‘patio’ and ‘tamale’ (not the correct ‘tamal’) and others, you ask? Well, these are Hispanisms, Spanish terms long accepted in our English jargon. Why?
Well, the Hispanic world invented them, that’s why!
But why doesn’t ‘libro’ work? Simply because English already has a word for that object;
it’s ‘book.’ The book clerk obviously assumed that I’d either forgotten, or did not know the work for ‘libro.’
Well, that’s exactly what I conclude whenever someone includes an English word when speaking Spanish to one. It doesn’t happen when they write. Why? Well, they have a dictionary
on hand to look it up, that’s why. I have not read this phenomenon when reading Rubén Navarrete (San Diego Union-Tribune), Jorge Ramos (Univisión), Rick Rodríguez (Sacramento Bee) or Raúl Reyes (USA Today).
In other words, I am in complete and utter disagreement with George Muñoz’s thoughts on this issue in his column of the magazine Poder (June/July 2008). He claims that Spanglish, the ‘mixing of two languages can reflect more meaningful and emotional communication,
as well as pride in a dual culture.’ Nope. Complete disagreement. We bilingual Latino/Hispanics speak English well, and perfectly.
Why can’t we do the same with our Spanish? Why would I write this piece in Engliñol, if I chose to write in English? The 995,000+ words we have in our English vocabulary should suffice in order to excel in English prose writing. While I write, if I can only think of ‘recordar’, but not its English equivalent, I’ll look it up. I wouldn’t write: ‘We
have to recordar to write without code switching.’ I guarantee that you would not be impressed.
Why then – as does Muñoz - celebrate the numbskulled boneheaded inclusion of ‘password’ (‘¿Olvidaste tu password?’) by the folks over at Mexico City’s Reforma newspaper?
Shame on them!
Also, those pesky ‘haga clic’ on websites, ‘fans’ in magazines, and ‘estoy estresado’ in the workplace. They are all linguistic sins against our beautiful language, the one that is ‘the language of God’ (la lengua de Dios), as Charles V proclaimed a few centuries ago.
I guarantee that folks would cry foul and be unimpressed if Yahoo were to have ‘Did you forget your contraseña?’ on their webpage.
We must do the same when we speak and write Spanish. Be unimpressed when it is not
completely Spanish. Vicente Oria Razo (El Sol de Tijuana newspaper, Aug., 1996) stated it best when he wrote that if we lose our language and our culture, we lose our identity, because
language is the expression of our culture. Like Frances Fernandes (‘Spanglish obscures students’ skills,’ UC Mexus News, Spring, 2008),
I am also of the belief that true, ‘ideal bilinguals’ keep their languages completely separate.
Now, with only 295,000+ words in our language – certainly not as many as English, but more than other languages, such as French, with only 100,000+ - we do have a term for everything under the sun. And if we don’t, we invent it, as we are smart enough to do so.
Now, if USALatinos/Hispanics want a new language, I’m all for it. It would be a new identity, a new language, a new culture, but not a mishmash of two existing ones. It can be done. Witness what some folks have done with Esperanto.
In the meantime, I want us to promote true professional cultural pride in either English or Spanish, but not in Engliñol, or Spanglish.
Teach on!

Hayward, CA©jfzc.5.x.08

Mexican Drinks / Bebidas mexicanas

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 16:56:50 -0800

A couple of years ago, mother brought me back a gallon jug of aguardiente (40º to 45º of alcohol, with a name that literally means ‘ardent [fiery] water’), Mexican moonshine, made of sugar cane, in a cleaned Clorox plastic container. Geesh, when I tasted it, follicles started popping back up on my receding hairline! I’d forgotten how potent that stuff was. It took me a long time to finish it off. After trying it, some friends would ask about the Clorox bottle. This aguardiente, in Jalisco, can be mixed with fruit, and is called escamocha.
I then asked mom to bring me back ponche de zarzamora (boysenberry punch) instead. We used to drink this gracious liquid back home at grandfather’s ranch, Santa Rosa, and in our hometowns of Concepción de Buenos Aires and La Manzanilla de la Paz. Grandpa, a master ponchero (punch maker) had his ranch fronted by all types of the fruit trees in the huerta (orchard) he had lovingly planted. He would pick the fruit, never cleaning it. That’s right, just like that, he’d smash it up, put in a cántaro (earthen jug), add some sugar, aguardiente, let it sit for a day, and then we would have one the most wonderful liquids known to man. He always told me that the alcohol would kill the germs, and not them kill him. He passed away late in life, so I believe he was right.
Now, in your next visit to Guadalajara, make sure you go over to Tonalá on market Thursday or Sunday. They sell ponche, in your own cantarito, so you can sip along as you gawk and buy all that beautiful stuff. Hhhmmm.
Nextdoor, Michoacán has charanda, an aguardiente made of sugar cane, and chapari from bee’s honey. Then there’s tepache (tepiatl, from Náhuatl) from both these states, (Jalisco and Michoacán), made from ripe pineapples, with piloncillo (‘brown sugar’ in cone shaped form – I wonder if the Rolling Stones had this one in mind back in 1971), plus some cinnamon sticks and cloves. Allowed to ferment, it is liquid perfection. This traditional drink is now being prepared for export.
Besides wine, Baja has licor de nanche made from a local round yellow fruit. It can be found also, made of damiana, another local fruit. Both of these can be found in Nayarit, along with a very popular ponche de cebada (barley). But do watch out for the mosquitos and zancudos (mosquitos), and moscos (large biting flies), moscas (flies) and the jenenes (really small pesky biting bothersome flies – well, that’s what my compadre Don Emilio Cervantes calls them, as it’s not in my dictionaries).
Too, in southern Baja, there is jeque, a drink made of wine and the damiana fruit. Up north and east of Baja, lechuguilla is a drink from a wild mezcal – a drier and lonelier cousin of the tequila making agave (century plant), drunk in special occasions. Here, you can also drink into fermented pitahayas and tunas (prickly pears), called colonche. They also have tesgüino (tecuín or tecuino, from tecuin), and is made from corn, water and piloncillo.
Over in Hidalgo state, they have xonocostle (xoconostli or bitter prickly pear), with a high degree of ascorbic acid, which fights cholesterol. They are attempting to mass produce it and have it approved by governing bodies so that they can begin to export abroad. Yeah!
From Campeche and Yucatán hails holcatzín, an aguardiente mixed with capulines (cherry cousins). Then, in most of the Yucatán peninsula, you can run into balché, which is really unusual. It is made of corn and the fermented bark of the balché tree, then sweetened with honey or anise. These drinks take you back in time, since they used to be ceremonial drinks of the Mayans, but nowadays can also be for domestic consumption, and in some areas without alcohol. This, plus their popular liquor, xtabuntun, made from honey, anise and the flower dzidzilche, are sold in tourist shops, and, if you ask, you can taste, hoping you’ll buy.
Chicha, from Chiapas is made from tender sugar cane and also has a ceremonial tradition. In the area, there is also comilteco, a distilled sugar cane drink. An alcoholless one is pozol (pozolli) which is an extremely interesting mixture of corn dough, powered cacao and cold water with a bit of salt and chile. While it began as a religious drink, it now has become a home drink. It can also be drunk in parts of Central América.
Tuba - a drink, not the wind instrument - is palm wine found in the Western coast, and actually is came from the Philippines. A ponche in nearby Oaxaca is made from pinapple and plums, as well as tejate, made with un cooked and ground maíz. Of course, their traditional drink is the mezcal, worm and all. Ah, and don’t forget their pulque.
Now, the maguey (century plant pictured above). The Aztecs were split on its juice value, some glorifying its effect, while the elders thought it the root of evil, and that its abuse led to death and shame for families. Yet, it was, and is, still drunk, by many.
The maguey has Aztec mythological roots related to Quetzalcoatl (their plumed serpent god). They learned from Mayahuel, the goddess after which this plant is named, that if they carved a hole in the plant’s heart, they could obtain aguamiel (honey water, although there is nothing honey about it, believe me). My granddad, Don David -no, that’s not him on the photo above, but it sure reminded me of what he used to do, when I found the picture in an old magazine - used to do this. He’d cut some pencas (cactus leaves), get at the heart, use a raspadera (scraping tool) to form a container in the heart, and then would use a long guaje (gourd) to suck the liquid out. Pretty weird tasting stuff, really.
That aguamiel then can be allowed to sit, ferment some more, and voilá, pulque. Pulque (neuctli or octli), with a taste only pulqueros, and crazies ones like me, love, then can be mixed with fruit, celery, beet or alfalfa, for color and taste. If pulque affects the drinker, then it means that the pulque gods have entered the body.
Pulquerías (pulque bars) are very popular, even in México City, and, for the sexist touch, only women are allowed in. There are four really funny movies about pulquero culture, in case you’re interested, aptly called ‘Pulquería.’ So, while in The City on your next visit, drop by Plaza Garibaldi (north of La Alameda), hear some mariachi music, eat at one of the good restaurants there, and before going back to your hotel, drop by one of the pulquerías for a glass of pulque. God, wish I could go with you!
There is a difference, however, between urban and rural México, and most of these are rural, traditionally cultural favorites. Urban drinking is more global in nature, less traditional.
Look for some of these liquids next time you’re in México, and treat your taste buds to something different, sharing a liquid with our Mesoamerican connections, since all these liquids, had been around since before the arrival of the Spaniards. They brought us wine and sangría to the Américas, but México already had aguamiel, pulque, and ponches deliciously made from guanabana, zapote, tejocote, plums, nanche, pineapple, maracuyá, melon, guayaba. Talk about being traditional, cultural, colorful, and creative with fruit!
Please, remember that this is social, not buzz drinking, so do drink with plenty of moderation, otherwise you will not savor the liquid’s essence, you’ll not be one with nature. Life is good. Hayward on! jfzc04.vi.07©

Latino New Year’s Traditions / Tradiciones del Año Nuevo

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 16:51:04 -0800

Our traditions are meant to be fun as we seek good luck for the year. It is a time for family, friends, talking, games, good food and camaraderie, bringing the community together.
As most Latino countries are essentially Catholic, going to mass is first, then the celebrations, most of which we actually inherited from Spain.
Every country has something, and we’ll start our tour with Argentina, where front lawns are decorated with firecrackers, or a doll filled with straw and firecrackers, with the past year written on its chest. Everything is lit at midnight.
In Bolivia, besides decorating their homes with tons of lighting to welcome the new year, merchants sell wads of fake money on the street. At midnight, this money is taken out and counted. The more cash counted, the more luck with money that year. Street vendors also sell large quantities of sexy panties on the streets. Wearing red underwear that night, means lucky in love. Yellow brings money. Pink good health. Another tradition is the midnight eating of 12 grapes, dipped or not in wine or champagne. A special wish for the new year per grape, please, at every stroke of the bell. If grapes are missing, then there may be a bad month that year. Right, grapes are big sellers during this time.
If you would like to travel during the year, take a suitcase, full or not, your choice, and either walk around the block with it or go up and down a flight of stairs, ensuring safe travel for the year.
For an older tradition, Bolivia’s native Americans make an offering to Pachamama (Mother Earth). At the Mercado, people sell plates specially prepared for small stove burning of llama droppings as offerings. This may includes herbs, fake money, or totems for what you wish in the new year. Some buy a Pachamama totem for the home, which is carved from a stone and has various good fortune symbols carved on it (frog, owl, serpent, heart), all of which ensure wealth, wisdom, security, and love.
In Brazil, many gather at the beach, to make an offering of flowers and gifts to the seas, and if taken away by the waves, brings good luck.
Meanwhile, in Costa Rica, they just go to the beach on that day.
Colombia also really gets into the atmosphere. They eat the 12 grapes. They wear yellow underpants for good luck, the women put money inside their bras in order to have money, and finally, they walk around the block with a suitcase for good travel that year.
Cubans, while also eating the grapes, they do it most of the time in clubs, with family and friends. Also, to get rid of bad influences in their house, many people throw a glass of water out the door or window, so it is best not to be walking around.
Neighborhoods in Ecuador light fire to a rag doll, representing the past year and any bad memories of it, for good luck. Yellow underwear is a must, for both men and women.
A glass of water with an egg in it is put under the bed, in El Salvador, which is then checked the following morning, followed by a reading of the yolk, for possible news of events in the following year. Grapes also are eaten, well, actually swallowed...there is no time to chew. And the Nicaraguan nacatamales are bigger than usual, hoping for good food for the year.
México, underwear! Yellow for good work, red for good luck, green for money, white for good health. Multicolored underwear is cheating...you must pick one color. I always wear red. Your house should be cleaned that day, as well as your car and pets. You should take a bath, too, in order to start the year off fresh.
Panamá has life size dolls filled with explosives which are then lit for celebration, as in Argentina, resembling Las Fallas festival in Valencia, Spain, where huge statues are paraded and then lit.
The folks in Puerto Rico dress in new clothes to welcome the new year, throw a bucket of water out of the house to rid the house of bad things of the previous year and to welcome the good things, and sprinkle sugar around the outside of the house to attract good luck and fend off bad luck.
In Venezuela, yellow underpants are worn for good luck, especially in their love live, and the glass of water with the egg is placed under the bed, but the paper money may be held in your hand, not in your brasier, for bringing in money.
Go ahead, visit our Hayward stores, look for some of these items, buy some of these them, try them out, bring us all good luck, and do let me know if they work, and they probably will...they do abroad. Hayward on! Gracias mil. jfzermeñoc

Pop corn / Palomitas de maíz

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 13:23:45 -0800

One day, a long, long time ago, somewhere in the vast Mexica empire (most of present day México, ruled by the Mexicas, also known as Aztecs) little Xóchitl, was busily helping out the family with the gathering of the dry olotls (Náhuatl, elotes in Spanish – ear of corn) from the fields. They were all piled in the fields, and they had to be moved to a sheltered spot. Well, it was late afternoon, and she was tiring. She grabbed an arm’s full to take to mother.

Being petite and slender, she could barely see well above the corn she was hugging and lugging to their choza (hut), much less walk straight. Passing near the open fire outside her hut, she stumbled a bit, and an ear of corn fell from her arms, landing near the fire. Oh, well, she barely noticed, and, not being able to pick it back up, decided to finish her trip, to later return for that escaping maíz. Suddenly, about to enter their hut, ‘¡pop, pop, pop!

What? She turned, and that ear of corn on the ground was popping! Each pop created a little white flower. They were exploding, turning themselves inside out. Wow! Mother runs over, sees what’s up, and is just as amassed as Xóchitl. She takes one, examines it, and since she knows it has to be edible, pops one into his mouth. There you have it: Popcorn!

It was a magical moment. Wish I’d been there.

You know, too bad that we couldn’t have been a bit more creative in English with this wonderful accidental creation the Aztecs gave us.

‘Corn that pops’ just doesn’t give justice to that fab snack, one that can caramelized, peanutized or nutized, jalapeñized, or buttered and salted. Heck, even by themselves, they are no slouch.

But it was probably the mother who gave it the poetic nature name of palomitas ‘little dove of corn.’

The letters ‘c’ and ‘p’ are the most common for popcorn in the Hispanic speaking world, and it due to the particular Precolumbian language prominent in each area.

Chile calls them cabritas (little she goats). Colombia crispetas, along the lines of ‘crispies,’ since they do crisp. Ecuador has canguil, and neighboring Perú has canchas or canchitas, which actually mean ‘playing fields.’

The Dominican Republic comes in with cocalecas (sounding like ‘crazy cokes’, or like México’s culecas, ‘a broody hen’, which really should be ‘clueca’, but, we say ‘culeca’), while Venezuela, besides gallitos (little roosters) has cotufas, which actually are ‘tubercles’ (nodules).

Now the ‘p’s, beginnning with Argentina, where they not only call them pochoclos, pororós (from the Guaraní language), and pururús, but also tutucas (not in the dictionary) and ancuas. This last one is interesting in that it’s from the Incan Quechua hánk’a, a word that up to 1992, was not even included in my year’s edition of the Real Academia Española dictionary!

Ah, but don’t get me started on the Real Academia Española. Heck, they neglect to include some of these wonderful terms existing in the Hispanic world, part of its history, and yet, don’t include them in their dictionary. But, sure, they include things like ‘clip’, and most recently ‘internet.’ What’s my problem with this? Well, we already have sujetapapeles (paper clip) and la red! What gives? Just wait till I take it over…just wait.

Anyway, Bolivia contributes picopas (not in the dictionary) and pororós, just like Brazil, with pipocas.

Guatemala, similarly, has poporopos (not in the dictionary) while Paraguay and Uruguay have pororós.

As popcorn also resembles flowers, Cuba has rositas de maíz (little roses of corn), and El Salvador and Puerto Rico have rosetas de maíz (big roses of corn).

Spain, our mother county is special, and they are entitled to several names, right? Well, they have rosetas de maíz, and depending where you are in the Spanish lands, they also have cotufas, roscas (donuts), tostones (half dollars), rosas (roses), and flores (flowers).

We do know that popcorn has been around. It was found in tombs that date back before the Incan empire, established sometime before 1197. Columbus and his men were able to buy hats made of popcorn from some of the natives when he ran into them. And, here, in what is now the US, popcorn was found in bat caves – no, not the bat cave – in New México, that date back to about 3600 B.C.
Hayward on! Jfzc29/v/2007 (Originally published on June 16,2007)

Competitive Salaries

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 13:14:12 -0800

We have heard it a lot recently. It goes something like this: We need to raise the salary of our top administrators/officials, in order to keep jobs competitive.

Our State (CA, March, 2007) increased the paychecks of some 52 state administrators ranging anywhere from a 7% up to a 27% raise. Nice, huh? Cuts will be made somewhere, to cover the total cost. Everyone else? 3.3%

Over at my Community College District, Chabot/Las Positas, the new Chancellor will earn from the present $230,000 to over one quarter million per year. Not bad. That’s more than twice what I make. Faculty? Less than $100,000.

In the Hayward Unified School District, the top three Administrators received a nice 16.84% increase in 2006. Meaning the Superintendent new collects over $229,000. Wow! To put this in perspective, a beginning teacher receives less than $50,000. Senior teachers? Less than $90,000.

The rank and file? Who the heck are they? The toiling teachers, that’s who. They were offered a whopping 3%! How about them apples? Yes, I agree, unfair is not the word.

Let’s go back to that administrative rationale for a minute: Keeping the job competitive. While the philosophy is sound, it becomes invalid, weak and insulting when applied only to those at the top, foregoing those at the bottom.

Teachers who toil in the classroom are no less valuable than those at the District Office who administer them. And there are the classified. They are not allowed the benefit of those hefty dollars either.

How lame! So, why is it that the richer must get richer and the poor poorer?

Well, it’s a numbers game; a high increase at the top hurts the bottom line very little, while one for all employees, puts the organization in the red. So, let’s get this right. Top increases for toppers is black. Top increases for the bottomers is red, i.e. bankruptcy.

They can afford a couple of increases for a few but not for all. I mean, the State raises are ONLY one million, so it’s ok, as the treasury can handle it.

What is the bottom line to us? We are not quality, we are quantity. The message received loud and clear is that good money need not be offered to the bottom rung employees, because quality seems to not be important at the low levels. .

That’s pretty sad, when you think about it. And I completely disagree with it. I mean, we don’t want quality teachers? Is this sound philosophy? Sounds to me like the ‘let them eat cake’ syndrome, the one that one put Marie in hot water.

Here’s why. Besides a parent, who are the most influential people in the life of our children? Teachers. Why are you and I able to read this? Teachers. Who inspired you? A teacher, possibly. Who inspired me at Channel Islands High School to strive for a university degree? Teachers.

We’re not important? Ha! Actually, we are the Rodney Dangerfields of the professions – ‘we don’t get no respect.’ We don’t have to be competitive? It borders on the insane and bizarre, that’s what.

The result of all this is that we feel, what? Left out? No, that’s too light. We feel underappreciated, disrespected, and unfairly treated. Morale wise, it’s at low ebb.

Here’s a bit of advise for those at the top.

You want to give your toppers big money; they have to join us in the trenches, every day, not once a month, if that.

Boards, Administrators and our Governor need to be more judicious with their fiduciary responsibilities, while remembering that quality at the top behests quality at the bottom, with equal treatment.

Decide that competitiveness is three-tiered; top, middle and bottom. Wise decision. We all want quality. Next, since quality is important at all levels, then rewards have to be made accordingly, without favoritism. This means that a three-tiered increase of, say 15%, 10% and 5% will not work. Solutions?

Rescind the hefty administrative/officer increases. And, COLA (Cost of Living Adjustments) for all!

This way, everyone receives ‘equal’ increases. Equal in quotations because we are three tiered. 8% for my Chabot president is a heck of a lot more dollars than my 8%. And many more for the Superintendent, or our Chancellor, or our Governor, right?

However, they got the same increase as me! Boy, that feels different. I don’t feel unappreciated. I feel as important as our President. I am able to perceive equal appreciation for the job that I do.

So, our governor, my Chabot Board and our HUSD Board really goofed by only allowing unappreciatory, morale inhibitor, ill-perceived increases at the top, and low increases at the bottom.

Here are a few rationalized reasons for low teacher increases.

We don’t work the whole year, having summers off, thus we deserve less. Well, that’s why we don’t get the big bucks, right? And, we’re paid only ten months. So, it’s a moot point.

Too, we have automatic step increases in salary every year. Yes, we do, but only for the first 10 or 15 years, and after that, zilch. Another moot point.

There are, of course, also teachers way up on top of the pay scale, near retirement, who should retire because they are too expensive. Haven’t they earned that? And, if such is the case, well, why not approach each one of them individually and personally, making retirement a positive step forward, incentives and all? I mean, I’ve been at Chabot for 29 years – wow, that long? Hey, make me an offer I can’t refuse, and I might take it.

Finally, teachers are supported, defended, swayed and influenced by Union leaders. Well, if there is a perception of unjust representation by our Unions, then the bosses need to get their own. Seems simple, no?

Hey, I wonder of Administrators will celebrate National Teacher Day, Tuesday, May 8? In México, it’s been celebrated, on May 15, since 1917!

On the ‘Isn’t odd yet related’ department, in November 2006, there were as many high school teachers in the USA as there were employees of Wal Mart. Does this mean anything?

But, let’s be fair about all this. We all are valuable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ItmnsetTug (day 1)

In Solidarity with Hayward Teachers...Hayward on! (Originally published on April 21, 2007)

hayward teacher
Don't forget that the Hayward Unified numbers are gross and we pay our own medical which is running about 1K per month for two just for medical, not vision or dental. So the beginning salary is closer to 38K, which is less than a high school graduate can make as an entry level secretary. The governor has started a commision to determine why more second career people aren't going into teaching. Social security offset, lack of pay, unreasonable expectations, working conditions perhaps? But then again, if the conservatives really do rid us of 'illegal immigrants' who will we use to do our lowest skilled work? Perhaps the children that the Business Roundtable would like to see tested and tracked at age 14 into a nonacademic program. (Comment from July 27, 2007. 08:23 am)