MIERCOLES MUDO: Un Gato Arrugado

#BanningHistory: Reading From Cisneros' Classic THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET

In protest of the recent book banning and dismantling of the Mexican-American Studies program in the Tucson Unified School District, I've recorded myself reading from a book that conveys many of the feelings I experienced growing up a bicultural Latina. Incredulously, Sandra Cisneros' THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET, a book that explores Latino identity, community, family and poverty, is one of these books that's been banned. (To view a complete list, which includes Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST *you heard right*, follow this link.)

Please visit www.banninghistory.com to learn more about the book banning and to view readings by others, like my friend Bella Vida Letty, who reads from Laura Esquivel's LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE, and where I contributed a poem entitled I WANT TO BE EDUCATED, when this news first broke.

A Mama Lost Her Baby Boy: #MillionHoodies March NYC for Trayvon Martin

A Mama Lost Her Baby Boy

By Ezzy G. Languzzi

A mama lost her baby boy
baby boy
baby boy

A mama lost her baby boy
He's never coming back

A mama lost her baby boy
baby boy
baby boy

A mama lost her baby boy
Simply cuz he's Black

He'll never finish high school
He'll never see his friends
He'll never go to college
Cuz someone shot a hole in him

If there's any kind of lesson here
I'll tell you what it is
Don't buy your son a hoodie
Lest he end up dead

MIERCOLES MUDO: Una Pegatina de Parachoques | A Bumper Sticker

Pencils: I Dreamt of You Last Night

                                             Source: yellowtrace.com.au via Lillian on Pinterest

Pencils

by Ezzy G. Languzzi

An army of pencils
Surrounded my bed
Was it all just a dream?
Was it all in my head?
Unfurled like a carpet
A rainbow of colors
This army of pencils
Made way for the others

They invaded my thoughts
Permeated my being
Sharpened and crying,
We hear you breathing!

Oh, no you don't, I said.
You're no gift, but a curse
You come when you want
Go, now
Disperse!

In a stupor I battled
Weary and tired
Until I'd pushed every-single-last-one
Into a fire

Casi Llega Nuestro Perrito, Albert

Andamos aquí como que vamos a parir ... un bebé de cuatro patas y cubierto de "pelo."

No les he contado que decidimos comprarle un perrito a nuestro hijo. Dentro de una semana llega el mentado, Albert, un canino medio Caniche y medio Labradora. Mijo esta lleno de anticipación y cuenta los días en el calendario... y su papi y yo? Rezamos que el perro hypoalergénico sea un nuevo miembro en la familia.

Labradoodle puppies at 5 weeks
Haciendo fila!
Waiting in line.

Como no tiene hermanos, mijo necessita un amigo, un compañero. Tiene mucho pediendo un perro, "sabiendo" que esta alérjico a ellos. No le importa -- los ama. Tanto que tiene su cama inundada de perros de peluche, de todos colores y tamaños. Hasta tiene uno de pila que respira que mi mama le regaló antes de irse a California.

HOW TO RAISE THE PERFECT DOG by Cesar Millan
Necessito comenzar leer este libro
I need to start reading this book.

Nuestra situación esta un poco complicada. No se sí les he contando, pero mijo tiene varias alergias a la comida (huevos, leche, nueces, soya, rez ... )  y medioambientales (polen, moho ...) y tambien tiene asma. Hasta tuvimos que encontrarle comida al perro que no le hará daño a mijo en caso que el perro lo lambiera. ¡Que nervios! A pesar de todo, tenemos fe. Una voz me dice que todo va salir bien.

Ay les contare nuestras aventuras. No sabemos lo que nos espera. : )

(Me disculpo de no haber blogueado mucho las ultimas semanas, pero he estado un poco estresada con la escuela. Espero regresar pronto a un horario mas normal. Los extraño.)

Puppy Supplies

We're running around here as if we're getting ready to give birth ... to a four-legged baby covered with fur (well, actually, hair).

I haven't shared with you that we decided to buy our son a dog. Within a week, the dog known as "Albert," a Poodle-Labrador Retriever mix, arrives home. Our son is filled with anticipation and is counting the days on the calendar ... his dad and I? We're praying the hypoallergenic dog will be an addition to our family.

Since our son doesn't have any siblings, he needs a friend, a companion. He been asking for a dog for a while, "knowing" that he's allergic to them. He doesn't care -- he loves them. So much so, that his bed is inundated with stuffed dogs, all colors and sizes. He even has one that breathes and is  battery-operated that my mother gave him before leaving for California.

Our situation is a little complicated. I don't know if I've shared with you, but our son has several food (eggs, milk, nuts, soy, beef ... ) and environmental (pollen, mold ... ) allergies, in addition to asthma. We had to go as far as to find food for the dog that wouldn't harm our son in the event the dog licked him. Talk about nerves! In spite of all this, we have faith. A little voice is telling me everything with turn out fine.

Adventures to follow. : )

(I apologize for my irregular blogging the last few weeks, but I've been a little stressed-out with school. Finding peace in reading. I hope to return to a more regular schedule, soon. Miss you.)

MIERCOLES MUDO: Encontramos La Colita de Un Rinoceronte en Orlando

SPANISH FRIDAY: Me Dan Ganas de Bailar

Me da gusto compartir con ustedes una cancion que siempre me hace feliz. Se que tiene que ver con el amor, pero para mi, no. Si no, yo pienso en lo tanto que cambiamos durante nuestra temporada en este mundo. No se porque, pero me dan ganas be bailar esta mañana. Bailan con migo?

Que pasen un buen fin de semana, mis amigos. <3

---

It gives me pleasure to share a song with you that always makes me happy. I know it has to do with love, but not for me. Rather, I think of how much we change, during our lives in this world. Don't know why, but I feel like dancing, today. Will you dance with me?

Have a great weekend, my friends. <3

My Valentines ... I Love You

Our wedding, September 5, 1998

I met my husband in Las Vegas Memorial Weekend of 1993. We were poolside at the Tropicana swimming amid hundreds of bodies, when we met ... actually, when I made the first move. I was a fearless twenty-three-year-old, then. He was there with this buddies from Waltham and I was there with my girlfriend, Racheal from Orange County, who ended up coming down with a horrible case of food-poisoning. Had she not gotten sick, who knows if I'd have had all that free time on my hands.

Three years later in 1996 he tracked me down to tell me he was coming out to Orange County for a wedding. Our future was sealed with a single question: "Will you have lunch with me?"

And so, I did.

Junior taking a nap.

Nine months later I relocated to Boston, we eloped to Vegas, nine months after that we had our "public" wedding, five years later we had our son. When I think of the journey we've been on, not always smooth, sometimes bumpy, I can't help but wonder how different our lives might've turned out had we not met at that pool in 1993. We are so lucky to have been brought together by fate, since I later learned that he wasn't even supposed to be on that trip. Somebody, somewhere was guiding us.

 

Daddy and Junior

Wishing you a much loved and happy Valentine's with your family and friends.

I Want to Be Educated

by Ezzy Guerrero-Languzzi

I want to be educated

Chapters in books

Pages, words

Sounds, thoughts, emotions

Discovery

Who's free, really, in this country?

I never had the right, apparently

What you cannot, will not, refuse to see

I promise will never cease to be

These chapters in books and pages, words

Voices from the past, a warning to the future

A salve for wounds undiscovered

These chapters in books and pages, words

Tell me that in humanity I am not alone

I have brothers and sisters on the same journey

Finding our place in this world and our communities

Go ahead

You may take them

I give you permission to confiscate them

Ban them

Burn them

Hide them in boxes

Do what you must

But know -- try as you may, you cannot hide or change history

You will not conquer me.