Good news for gay Puerto Rico

The infamous Resolución 99 didn't get passed. The goals of it were to restrict all marriage to unions between a man and a woman... you know, the usual. Here is gay.com's article.

On the other hand, according to El Vocero there is a great possibility of it returning next year. Jorge de Castro Font seems determined to bring it back. We'll see if he's saying that mostly to get reelected or if it'll really happen.

The Resolution drew a lot of attention a few months ago with large protests in Old San Juan against it.

I've written a little bit about homosexuality in Puerto Rico in this post but I'm due for a more complete description later.

Wait... what?

The Decolonization Committee unanimously agreed to approve Aníbal's request for a revision of the UN's view of the status.

Huh?

I don't really know what this means for Puerto Rico (the consequences, if any, are unclear) but I do know at least for Aníbal and his cohorts this is kind of a change in party ideology. I wonder if the party will move more towards independence now.

Here's a BBC article in English, which is pretty vague but I couldn't find many more reliable English-language news sources, here's a real technical blog post on it along with some other official stuff, and here is the Spanish version.

Hm.

Word(s) of the Week: Fruits

And now for something completely different (I'm sick of this elections stuff).

I wrote a post earlier about bananas on the island (and how they're called guineos rather than plátanos amarillos or bananos or what-have-you from other countries). I've been meaning to follow that up with some more (emphasis on "meaning to"; I'm a bit forgetful I suppose). Anyways... fruit!

• Bananas are guineos. Like I mentioned before.
  
• Mango is mangó. For some reason Puerto Rico is (I'm pretty sure) the only Spanish-speaking country to throw an accent on that o. Something to do with confusing it with "mango" (handle) I'd assume. I... don't know.
  
• Naranja (orange) is china. From "naranja china". You can get around with using naranja, of course, but you'll stick out. Naranja does show up on occasions. But even things like Fanta are marketed as china-flavored.
  
• Passionfruit is parcha. For some reason I have it stuck in my head that the name is different from the regular Spanish name (which is a literal translation I think).
  
• Strawberry is ejtroberi. No joke. You hear a Spanish-version of the English word much more than you hear the real Spanish word (fresa). Other berries tend to follow the same pattern (rajberi, for example), as well as cherry (which is often a sexual euphemism too). If you want an example, here's a video of Wisin y Yandel's song "Hey Mami", which starts using those words (and a couple others) in the chorus, conveniently transcribed in the comments.
  
• Watermelon is just melón. The real name for it in Spanish is sandía, of course, but most of the island will look at you a little funny if you say it.
  
• Quenepas are awesome! So is guayaba (guava). Acerola too. Other delicious fruits available on the island include piña (pineapple), papaya, coco (coconut), toronja (grapefruit), and more. Some of these, like acerola* and quenepas, are nearly impossible to sample in the States or Europe. Be sure to get some while you're there, or you'll be missing out!
  

There are even more vegetables to get to, so look out for that.

*I just wanted to add that nutritionally acerola cherries are fascinating. A single cherry has only 2 Calories, no sugar, and yet has 133% of your daily need for Vitamin C. 20 of them only ends up being 32 Calories, 7 grams of sugar, and about 2800% of your Vitamin C. The same amount of orange, in comparison, has only 75% of your daily need with more Calories and more sugar. Interesting, isn't it?

Whoops... we missed it

What with the heat, thunderstorms, and lack of technology (I broke free of my chains for the weekend, in case you didn't notice), I didn't even realize that NYC's world-famous Puerto Rican Parade came and left. Then again, I can't imagine it was that much fun, seeing as it was blazing outside. Anyone reading this go to it? How was it? Any stories?

If you're like me and trying to avoid the weather, here's some reading:

• Apparently during my blackout I also missed Top Chef in Puerto Rico making Puerto Rican food. Check out a pretty funny description of the episode here. Another interesting look at it (along with vegetarian versions of some of the recipes) is right here.
  
• A couple things on tourism--well, one is partly tourism and the rest just migration... yep, I'm talking about Puerto Ricans in Florida. Apparently they've beat New York for flights to and from the state. Hmm. The other one is about JetBlue, who is adding more flights from JFK, Orlando, and adding flights early (starting September) from Boston. Good news after AA's announcement; Puerto Rico needs it.
• And now... politics, that inescapable topic. But this time I have decent reading about it (or at least I enjoyed it!). Check these out:
• An interview with Aníbal about why he's petitioning the UN to review Puerto Rico's status:

Many things have [caused us to change our stance]. Instead of getting more autonomy and powers, we have less than in 1952 because the federal government has grown exponentially and aggressively and now controls things that in the past were left up to the states. . . .

For instance, we have a strong dairy industry in Puerto Rico. For the last 50 or 60 years, the government of Puerto Rico has regulated the industry. Last year, a federal judge decided they were the ones that would regulate prices. This is something that affects the pockets of every Puerto Rican, our farmers, our agricultural sector, a whole industry in Puerto Rico, and from now on we have to go before a federal judge for changes.

Another example is we don't believe in the death penalty. Our constitution, which was approved by Congress, specifically bans it. . . . But under the Bush administration, we have seen the district attorney [in San Juan] very aggressively seeking death-penalty convictions. .

• A slightly less political and more cultural look at some of the same thing, Americanization in Puerto Rico (it's not too well written but is a decent introduction to the issue):
  

In assessing the effects of the “Americanization” of the island of Puerto Rico, it is important to ascertain whether industrial progress is always beneficial to the people’s to which it is brought. Through the American perception of the ideal, one would believe that suburbanization and industrialization is akin to progress and success; however, Puerto Rico proves this to be a fallacy. The people of Puerto Rico, hard working individuals with a strong work and family ethic became so immersed in “Americanization” that no price was too big to pay to achieve that “ideal.” Such prices included the dissolving of the patriarchal society, the sterilization of one-third of the country’s women of child bearing years, and the loss of pride in one’s ability to provide not only for himself but for his family. Now, this society is rapidly becoming matriarchal with 20 percent of the males unemployed and living off of American handouts. But how did this happen?

• A deeper look at why Hillary "swept" Puerto Rico:

Regardless its unexpected exposure to CNN's limelight, the primary event in Puerto Rico failed, once more, to engage in the potent issues that with some frequency rear their heads in the mainland campaigns. If politics is always local, in Puerto Rico, a superpopulated Island (with one of the highest population densities in the world, despite the fact that a full half of Puerto Ricans live in the United States) it is really a bizarre mirror labyrinth in which the colonial status is the overriding issue. Other social, economic and cultural contents revolve around the question of whether Puerto Rico will continue its colonial status (since 1898), or achieve some kind of resolution, any time soon.

• Did racism in Puerto Rico affect the election? A quick glance...

"On the mainland, Obama is black, but not in Puerto Rico," said Juan Manuel Garcia Passalacqua, the island's most distinguished political commentator. "Here, he is a mulatto, and this is a mulatto society. People here are perfectly prepared to vote for someone who looks like them for president of the United States."

This is of course the party line on the island and is used frequently to say why the island does not need a black movement. However, a mulatto ran on Sunday and race was an issue and not in his favor.

I would argue, though, that when the author says that Black island populations are consistently poorer and less educated and White populations are not does not add up to the same wide discrepancies in Puerto Rico that may be found in other Latin America. Undeniably it exists in PR, but to the same extent as in neighboring countries? That is a very strong statement to make for an island that tends to share its poverties with the entire population. Blacks do tend to be poorer on average, but the margin is smaller than it is in other Latin American countries if I'm not mistaken.

• Finally, an article about racism between Puerto Ricans and Nuyoricans, who are seen by islanders as Blacker and therefore are subject to various ugly stereotypes, including overly sexual. Highly recommended.

Photographs in a controversial video feature smiling fair-skinned beauty contest winners and fashion models contrasted with images of scantily dressed, full-bodied, dark-skinned women in public spaces ---"evidence" of the cultural and aesthetic differences between "real" Puerto Ricans and those who make illegitimate claims on that identity.

These are the verbal and visual claims of a controversial video making recent rounds on the Internet, explaining the alleged differences between Puerto Ricans on the Island and those in the United States. The two-minute video, which has repeatedly been yanked from YouTube, informs the viewer that “Puerto Ricans come from the island,” are overwhelmingly “blancos” or mestizos of Taíno and European ancestry, and “typically VERY classy and/or preppy or as we say in Puerto Rico ‘fino’.” Island Puerto Ricans are also highly educated, the video asserts. In contrast, Nuyoricans are “3rd or 4th generation Puerto Ricans that are usually mixed with African Americans, CAN NOT speak Spanish or speak it very badly!!! They act very, very trashy and ghetto or as we say in Puerto Rico cafre!!!” Nuyoricans are Afrocentric and one is more likely to find them “in prison than in college.” Indeed, Nuyoricans—a misnomer since it encompasses the entire Puerto Rican diaspora—often seem to be a target in this video and beyond for anti-Afro-Latino sentiment. Nuyoricans come under fire for their apparent obsession with race and racism and, most particularly, their identification with African-Americans and blackness.

I really just can't believe it

So Walter Mercado, the Latin world's favorite astrologist, is apparently releasing a CD and going on a 23-city tour.

If you don't know who Walter Mercado is (he's on Univisión nearly every day I think), I think his webpage will give you a good idea (warning, there's music).

Anyways, the CD is going to be called "El secreto de los ángeles" and the shows are going to be Cirque de Soleil-like. Supposedly.

Honestly the whole Walter Mercado empire scares me a little and I don't understand why he had to do this. But...

Quick! Go to San Juan TOMORROW!

It's probably too late for this, but for those of you who have the opportunity, the tren urbano (metro) is going to be free tomorrow in honor of the 3 year anniversary of the ATI (Integrated Transportation Alternative), or at least so says the paper. That's in comparison to a normal $1.50-per-ride fare. Sounds good to me.

Here's a list of the stops, courtesy of Wikipedia:

* Sagrado Corazón (Sagrado Corazón)
* Hato Rey (Golden Mile / José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum)
* Roosevelt (Golden Mile)
Tren Urbano at the Roosevelt Station.
Tren Urbano at the Roosevelt Station.
* Domenech (Hato Rey)
* Piñero (Hato Rey)
* Universidad (Río Piedras / University of Puerto Rico)
* Río Piedras (Río Piedras)
* Cupey
* Centro Médico (University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus)
* San Francisco
* Las Lomas
* Martínez Nadal
* Torrimar (Guaynabo)
Torrimar Station
Torrimar Station
* Jardines
* Deportivo (Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium)
* Bayamón (Bayamón)

Word of the Week: Tapón

I've talked about driving a little bit before but El Nuevo Día (with some help from the Associated Press) has provided a bit more fodder. Supposedly they've figured out that Puerto Rico is the country with the highest density of vehicles per squared mile in the world. I could have told them that...

Los puertorriqueños, especialmente los que transitan por el área metropolitana, conocen muy bien lo que significa “tapón” en el argot boricua.
Eso se debe a que, con 150 autos por milla pavimentada, Puerto Rico es el país con la más alta densidad de vehículos por milla cuadrada en el mundo, según datos del Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas (DTOP).
En la zona metropolitana hay cerca de 4,300 autos por milla cuadrada, también la proporción más alta a nivel mundial.
Puerto Ricans, especially those who travel through the metropolitan area, know really well what the word "tapón" means in Boricua slang.
This is due to that, with 150 autos per pavemented mile, Puerto Rico is the country with the highest density of vehicles per squared mile in the world, according to the Department of Transportation and Public Repairs (DTOP).
In the metropolitan zone there are nearly 4,300 cars per square mile, also the highest proportion at the global level.

According to the rest of the article, they're actively seeking solutions involving public transportation, hoping to siphon some ideas from Europe and Latin America.

In honor of the breath-catchingly high 4,300 cars per square mile, something that unfortunately I all too readily believe, I offer to you the word of the day, tapón. While it can refer to plenty of things, particularly corks, plugs, et cetera, tapón also is a traffic jam. And boy is that one overused word in Puerto Rico. I'm pretty sure it's used in other countries too, but looking at today's article, I feel pretty safe guessing that it's uttered the most on the island. Just a hunch.

What was I thinking--as if I could really get away from politics!

I'm not really going to go into huge detail here, because I... just won't, but remember how I mentioned yesterday that Aníbal claimed the primaries were a huge boost for the Commonwealth (and his party)? Now the independentistas and--now this one surprised me a little--the socialistas are following suit. I didn't know there was enough of a socialist presence in the island to even make the paper. I mean, I was sure there were some, but I thought they'd be just a couple of people. Well, you learn things every day.

I'm still waiting for the estadistas to figure out a way to jump in on this too.

Moving on...

I just wanted to mention that I wrote a review of a book called "Puerto Rican Poetry: An Anthology from Aboriginal to Contemporary Times", up on the Latin American Review of Books page right here. Go check it out!

Hillary won... duh

So not surprisingly Hillary has completely dominated the Puerto Rican primaries. My goodness, the excitement is killing me.

I did find it interesting, though, that only about 15% of the island showed up to vote, which is a remarkably low turnout. Plus the independentistas pulled off a 2000-people protest in San Juan--pretty impressive considering school was out (UPR in Río Piedras is notorious for having large protests for just about anything, either for political motives or because it cancels classes for a couple of days). I feel as if it were all for a lost cause, however, since American media didn't even bat an eyelash (I checked).

Also, a certain pompous governor has claimed the victory for the status he supports and his own political motives, rather than for Hillary. I found this a little strange...

"Felicito a la senadora Clinton por su victoria de hoy, pero el verdadero triunfador de estas primarias en Puerto Rico fue el Estado Libre Asociado, porque tanto la senadora por Nueva York como el también aspirante a la nominación presidencial demócrata, Barack Obama, asumieron compromisos firmes con Puerto Rico sin condicionarlos a un cambio de status”, dijo Acevedo Vilá.
"I congratulate Senator Clinton for her victory today, but the real winner of these primaries in Puerto Rico was the Free Associated State (Commonwealth), because both the New York Senator as well as the additional candidate to the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama, made firm commitments with Puerto Rico without determining those to be a change in status," said Acevedo Vilá.

So... this entire primary lunacy has actually just been about the preservation of your political agenda? Wow. Nevermind that both candidates offered up statehood (or as close as they could get to describing it without straying away from please-everyone-middle-of-the-road politics) as a viable alternative to the current status. Well, I'm impressed.

Tomorrow: something other than politics. I know, I'm thrilled too.