A Little Lesson About History

I heard somewhere one time that the reason we study our past is to make sure we know ourselves as a race so well, we stop making the same mistakes over and over. However in reality that is not the case, no, in reality history just keeps repeating itself. Our legacy as a race so far is a never-ending vicious cycle. All the wars, conflicts, acts of terrorism, it’s all the same in its core. Time only changes the people involved and maybe, sometimes, the circumstances, but the rest stays still. Whatever the time period or the place in the world, the situation is the same: Those in power use it to stay that way, and chase and discard of whatever threatens it or doesn’t serve their purpose, and of course, those who think differently won’t give up that easily. And yes, I realize I sound a lot like Karl Marx, but I do believe he had a point in his conflict theory. I find amazing how, despite all the evidence and people that have stated the same thing, we still keep on tripping over the same stone. Talk about not recognizing something even if it’s staring at us in the face, because believe me… It’s staring, for some time now.

Twisted Origins of International Women’s Day

Yesterday we celebrated International Women’s Day, key word: Celebrated.

Social Networks were filled with congratulatory messages towards “the best thing God ever created”, thanking them for “everything they do”. Women tirelessly posted how appreciated they felt when they found a flower or some kind of gift left for them.

However, I think that before indulging in all kinds of self-rewards just one day out of the year, we should take a moment to remember the real meaning behind this day: The struggle millions of women all over the world went through to fight for the rights we easily take for granted today.

This internationally observed day had its origins in the United States of America, back in 1820. Little strikes of working women started happening in the New England area in Massachusetts. However it wasn’t until march 8th, 1857, that larger strikes took place and caught the attention of men and larger masses. Garment workers marched in New York City to demand an improvement in their working conditions, a ten hour day (To think that we’re now complaining about our 8 hour day jobs, sitting in an office!), and equal rights for women. The police intervened and shut down the whole thing.

That time when I (accidentally) realized that I was proud of myself

There was nothing different about that day, nothing at all. I woke up as sleepy as any other day, dealt with misbehaving kids at work like always, and sat at home to write in an common cold afternoon in the middle of winter. I was writing an article about the story of How I Became a Feminist. It dragged me back to moments of personal struggle and, even though I didn’t quite understand it yet, growth.

By the time I made the decision of pulling myself together, I was feeling like I had wasted several relevant years of my life, the time when I should be building the foundations of “my empire” or whatever powerful person I should be becoming. Theoretically I knew I was young and had hopefully many decades of life ahead of me, but being surrounded in college by 19 year old seniors and entrepreneurs who knew exactly what they wanted and weren’t going to sleep until they had it, I felt that by not doing the same, and not being even close to it, I wouldn’t become anything for myself.

In the article I went chronologically, starting from my childhood and explaining all the events that led to me becoming the person that I am today. By the end of it, I stated that simple things that I took care of myself, and that can seem little to most people, “helped [greatly] to shape the person that I am today”. If I’m being completely honest, I chose to say that because it seemed like the right thing to say, but as I typed those words I realized the powerful truth they held.

In that moment I understood that the person I’ve become is strong, funny, confident, and smart. She isn’t afraid anymore of saying what she thinks and beliefs in, and is willing to fight for them. She doesn’t hide behind a shield of false safety (Mostly), and she isn’t afraid of making mistakes, because she’s learned that they are the proof of the fact that she is trying and not simply giving up.

I wish I had the words to describe exactly how empowering that feeling is, to be proud of yourself and how far you’ve come. I might have found what I’m passionate about a little later than a lot of people, but I have the satisfaction that even in those foggy times, I knew myself enough to not settle for things that didn’t feel right. I might not have been sure of a lot of things, and I mean a lot, but I did know with every fiber of my being that choosing something I didn’t absolutely love just for the sake of finishing college in a time frame that was considered acceptable, wasn’t worth my happiness and becoming a bitter and grumpy adult.

Top 9 ways to NOT get raped

We live in a world were losing your phone is a bigger deal than losing your virginity, were women are taught it is their responsibility not to get themselves in a situation were someone might hurt them, and were campaigns like #ItAintRape exists.

So naturally, we need to “be smart” and know how to protect ourselves. In that spirit, Farrah Khan teamed up with Sasha Elford, and Shannon Giannitsopolou to come up with the BEST safety tips to NOT get raped, the smart way.  

Tu derecho se termina donde empieza el de los demás

I know this is a controversial topic, so I’d appreciate if everyone respects my opinion the same way I do others. And please, ready everything before making any assumptions.

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Yes, I am a Feminist. I believe in gender equality, that women have the right to earn the same amount of pay for an amount of work as men do. I think that society gender roles are stupid, and we all can pitch in with expenses and house chores regardless of sex.

I am also against abortion.

Being a feminist I’ve struggled for years feeling that it meant I needed to be pro-choice… Except I’m not.

Some Underrated Advice.

There’s this project that’s been going on for some time now, and it’s become quite famous: Humans of New York, which consists of using photos and captions to show the human side of the residents of a city that comes off as isolating and individualist. Recently, they worked with Mott Hall Bridges Academy to raise money to send kids to college, and it was amazing. They were even invited to The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and went to the white how to meet the president. With the latter, he used the occasion to ask the president himself some questions, and uploaded them about a week ago to his Facebook page.

There was one that really got to me: “When is the time you felt most broken?”, and I was surprised when it didn’t get as much attention as I thought it would and that it should have, because his answer was simply inspiring: “I first ran for Congress in 1999, and I got beat. I just got whooped. I had been in the state legislature for a long time, I was in the minority party, I wasn’t getting a lot done, and I was away from my family and putting a lot of strain on Michelle. Then for me to run and lose that bad, I was thinking maybe this isn’t what I was cut out to do. I was forty years old, and I’d invested a lot of time and effort into something that didn’t seem to be working. But the thing that got me through that moment, and any other time that I’ve felt stuck, is to remind myself that it’s about the work. Because if you’re worrying about yourself—if you’re thinking: ‘Am I succeeding? Am I in the right position? Am I being appreciated?’ — then you’re going to end up feeling frustrated and stuck. But if you can keep it about the work, you’ll always have a path. There’s always something to be done.”

I feel that we forget this too often, we become so involved with ourselves that we don’t remember that there’s so much more, and that all of that is probably much more important. I loved this so much, and I wanted to share it because, well, I think we need to keep it in mind.

 

 

You should definitely add this to your to-watch-list.

Netflix, the home of binge-watching, is often just praised for it’s always growing selection of movies and TV shows. But did you know they also have AWESOME documentaries? I know, right? amazing.

2 of the great titles included in this category I personally recommend are:

• The Kennedys.

 

From The History Channel, the “Twentieth-century America’s most storied political family gets the epic treatment in this miniseries that spans three decades of Kennedy history.” Starting Greg Kinnear, Barry Pepper, Tom Wilkinson and Katie Holmes (Yes!), this 8-part movie event gets 4 3/4 out of 5 stars.

 

 

 

• Mankind: The Story of All of Us.

Also from The History Channel, this 12-part documentary features, as its name suggests, the story of mankind right from the beginning in Africa, to our time. Honestly, where else can you learn about how we all came to be, in such a great way?

It gets 4 1/3, out of 5 stars.

 

How I became a Feminist

It is greatly known that Latin American culture is mainly characterized by being very family oriented (very being an understatement in comparison to the north american ways). The family interactions are not limited to your immediate household, but you are constantly engaging with cousins and uncles and aunts and grandparents and their families, which to us, are our family too. And ever since I was a child growing up on the tropical Santo Domingo, I saw that most of them, and all around me, followed the same guideline: Men work and women take care of the house and their children. From that, I quickly picked up that there was a difference between how boys and girls were expected to act. Basically, one was taught to act and the other one to react, one to lead and the other one to follow… Can you guess who was which?  

A Role Player Diary: How it All Began.

Beneath our day to day lives and what we consider as common and real, there’s an underworld culture that not many know about: Role Play. With thousands of members from all over the world, this “perfect” reality just keeps growing. We all have different lives and come from different backgrounds, yet that one thing we share brought us together: We all have something in our reality we’re trying to escape from.

Be brave, you already have the answer.

In a society that encourages us to find what you love, give it all and have it all. It is often hard to deal and easy to get lost when you just don’t know what is it that you love to do, trust me, I’ve been there. First of all, it’s important that you come to understand that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with us. Remember when people say we’re all perfect just the way we are? Guess what, it applies to you and me too.