Norma Rodriguez's blog

Living the Life

yes, even during finals week, when I should be working on paper #2 of 3- I can still say it- I am living the life, living it up!!! :) rolling in a pimped, blinged out whip, living in a mansion in the hollywood hills, sipping cristal with hip hop artists,  wining and dining hot men... okay only ONE hot man... but no... wait... what... no... no... I am not living THAT life ;)

but I AM LIVING this life:

- reading like a mad woman about immigration, human rights and general awesomeness
-  frolicking outside in sunshiney warm breezy san diego (even in december biatches!)
-awesome friends outside and inside school
-community organizing with amazing people that fuel my passion for justice
- going where i want to go in my life
- awesome family
- and yes a little bit of bling-bling and dancing ;)

I am stationed at a coffee shop (my second home now) and just ran into a former co-worker and as they asked me what I was up to, it sounded pretty awesome, woot woot!!

back to finals!!!!

 

contemplaciones en una noche de lluvia

las gotas resbalan por la ventana
las luces de la cuidad brillan y oscurian con las gotas
mi taza de chocolate me calienta los dedos

me acomodo en el sillon con mi cobija
pienso en que siempre hay que hacer tiempo para la vida (todo lo que pasa entre los espacios de tus deberes) las amistades, la familiy, los amores, la naturaleza, no te van a  esperar hasta que tengas un dia de descansa o cuando terminas la tarea o el trabajo

una dia en el parque con el sacate verde, hace desaparecer los problemas

pienso que cuando encuentres el verdadero amor, te sentiras entero/a

pienso que para mi: las emociones: la alegria, energia, tristeza, y pelea, para la justicia social es mas fuerte y increible que cualquier droga que jamas tomes. me mantiene viva y desesperada a la misma vez.

que el arte y la creatividad en sus miles formas son necesarias para el alma.

una nocha con la lluvia...

QotD: Under the Tree

What gifts, big or small, are you hoping to find under your tree this year?
Sponsored by Best Buy.

my response is going to be cheesy but I don't care! :)

My family has never been big on giving big gifts and I am so glad for it! I think it started when we were too broke to get lavish gifts but this practice has continued to this day, I don't demonstrate my love via how much a gift costs- of course the symbolism of the gifts is special, so we get each other small things, I love my moms saying, "aunque te den un chicle, lo que cuenta es que estan pensando en ti" but nothing makes me happier than spending time with all of the familia at my aunts' house or at home...enjoying delicious food, my large family and love. Its the best!

I can see it now--- my momma and poppa, brothers, little sis, my sister in law, and of course the all star of the family (well the other one besides me) mi albondiga peluda- my little nephew...que apodo no? im sure his mom appreciates the name :) and not to mention my aunts (4), uncles (3)...cousins (cant remember the number) oh why do I even try to count the numbers? the tons of family at my aunts enjoying posole and tamales (I cheat and eat around the meat, (im vegeterian)--- and then having the little kids fidget until midnight for gift opening, oh how I remember the painful arduous agony of waiting until midnight...always seemed sooo far away... oh yeah,  we are mexican so instead of this crazy "white people" (totally kidding!) business of opening presents on christmas morning, we open them at midnight on Christmas Eve--- so anyway, the best is seeing the little ones open presents :) sooo cute!!!!

We then continue to drink, and be merry until late, way late!!! we watch movies, play guitar hero with the cousins and chase small children all over the hallways... we then go home and open our own gifts until the early wee hours of the morning, maybe eat some more and THEN pass out :) last year was awesome with my little meatball opening the tricycle grandma and grandpa got him... and then him demanding that his dad build it right then and there, it was hysterical watching my brother frustrated with all of the pieces of the triciclo and my little nephew grabbing the pieces and "helping" (i.e. messing up and making things more confusing) his dad....

I also can't forget the constant laughing and capping on each other for any reason.. my brothers and  are soo silly (not me of course) ruthless in a loving way... I froze a moment of this last christmas when my parents are both in mid laugh from my brothers being ridiculous (mainly refusing to take a "normal" picture and making stupid faces or pretending to be in deep love with each other...).

My family, como dice la leah, "es que somos mucho Rodriguez." Part of the reason I rarely put the brakes on my insanity and ramblings and hyperness is these people. so if you are looking for anyone to blame for my madness, go take it up with my parents... my dad will tell you good luck with me and tell you he understands the pain that you are dealing with, as he has dealt with me for 25 years :) They always egg me on (well usually, my dad does have a limit to how much normita he can deal with at times-pobresito)

Wow, i just summarized Christmas, I haven't even started on New Years...bueno in conclusion, while gifts are part of the fun on christmas night, the family, food, and tears streaming down my face from laughter are what I'm expecting under the tree this year...

oh and if Santa claus has it in his limited budget this year, a 2008 Shelby 500 Super Snake in this black and red would be nice :) hah! :)

winter goal: 2008, no hibernation this year!

I have the tendency to hibernate like a momma bear as soon as it gets slightly cold here in Southern California (meaning its below the average perfect 75 degrees). And I KNOW that it never gets super cold here compared to the rest of the country, but damn it, I'm a pansy and I can't take it. I get ice cold hands, feet,ears,face and I just shut down. Thoughts of working out, being a running monster or functioning go right out the window and all I want to do is cook, and be wrapped in blankets. I usually disappear and minimally function until next spring... this year I intend to bypass hibernation and keep on Normita full force mode!!!! So if you see me slacking or napping- grab me by the hair or the coat and throw me outside into the cold and tell me to go work out, also remind me that I am not Martha Stewart and don't need to cook the food equivalent necessary to feed a small army.

perfeccion

entre la arena y las olas del mar, se siente la perfeccion de la madre tierra
en los rayos de luz de la luna y del sol,  siento su corazon
y tambien cuando la lluvia me moja el pelo.

en las cimas de montañas, cuando el aire nuevo de la madrugada me rosa la cara, ella me tienta
cuando los arboles murmurean
con arena entre mis dedos
con cada respirar profundo se siente la perfeccion de ella.

-NR

ven

Me tienes adicta a tu piel, a tu calor, a tus besos
cuando te veo a los ojos, me encuentro entre realidad y sueño
te traigo en la mente, te recuerdo en los labios
cuando te acaricie la neblina del mar, ven y buscame a la luz de la luna
te espero.

-NR

early morning

Early morning
chill and damp
I am still waking up

I head down to the beach,
still warm from your body
sunlight glistens on the water

I breathe peace
before the day starts.

-NR

que mas pido?? Reflections on grad school (so far)

Talking to my poppa the other day about how school and life are going for me, and after I had gone over the last few days with him, he said, "mija, que mas pides?" and I responded, "pues nada apa." And it's true. What a transition from corporate america unwilling slave to willing grad student? YES! You all know (since I can't stop blabbing about it) about how I started grad school about 4 weeks ago. So far I love it... some days are tiring but they are ALL great!! I'm starting to get overwhelmed but I just love what I'm reading, I like my cohort, I like that some of my friends were already attending UCSD. My professors are great, my readings fascinating, I just need to learn more on how to critically analyze work but so far so good. I know that some of my peers are cynical but I dare say that this will not be an affliction I will suffer from! I have always tried to keep my motivation up, theres no point in being bitter about something if you have to do it either way! I did my best to deal with my job and if THAT wasn't enough to make me a cynical bitter b*tch, pretty much nothing can. No doubt there will be times where school will feel like a tight choke hold around my neck, but I know that it will be all in good fun.

I feel so lucky to have gotten the fellowship, to have been admitted and to be right where I want to be. To add to the, I have sunshine and San Diego as the back drop for these adventures. I have great friends both in and out of school, I am involved with a great organization (JOB) which I feel will keep me anchored to community work while I am in school, and with special people in all aspects of my life!!!! Don't forget the running, YES!!! Talk about a happy blog, nothing can keep this good mood down, Normitas out in full force, watch out San Diego, RAWR! I have a weekend packed full of work and readings, bring it on!!!!!!!

Loving life.

por la carretera...

el viento viene el viento se va por la frontera... el viento viene el viento se va...el hambre viene el hombre se va... por la carretera... por la carretera... la suerte y la suerte se va por la frontera... Manu Chao

dia a dia conozco mas y menos... quiero verlo por los ojos de intelectual pero todo lo que veo es por ojos de humanidad.. me enchilo y me cala hasta las entrañas... y calmar mis emociones, mejor suerte en calmar la mar...mi gente sufre, mi vecino padece... mi familia... todos agobiados por sufrimiento... mis armas no pueden ser nadamas un libro y una pluma... tengo que venir aprevenida con gritos, con brazos... las respuestas no estan solo entre las paginas de un libro- esas paginas necesitan el poder de la gente marchando.

activist or academic?

Yesterday, during the Anthropology of Latin American studies discussion, we had an interesting conversation on being both an academic (who studies/analyzes communities) and an advocate (championing and supporting the causes of the community you are studying) and the implications of this. A lot of times, academics who are also activists for some reason don't get the same respect as those who maintain a sort of unbiased approach to their research. While I understand how perhaps the work of an academic that clearly symphathizes and is infuriated by the situations of the people she/he is studying, might be viewed as taking a biased view of the community (and thus perhaps even skewing the actual data) I still don't understand how you couldn't avoid becoming an activist as you do your research and see the inequalities and discrimination that the communities are experiencing.

One of the students in our discussion I believe from Chile pointed out that this trend of maintaining a distance from your research is unique to the US. She said that if professors did not take a stance in her university, they would get "black listed" as being "soft" and not wanting to show their true position. A lot of times this unbiased stance, was equated with quiet agreement to certain regimes and oppressive governments/institutions that were creating the inequalities/discrimination within the studied communities. I am inclined to be in support of this idea, academics are already making an argument based on their research which in its own way is a bias, so why not add adovocacy/activism to the work? They go hand in hand!

I found this discussion to be very interesting, especially given my belief in fighting for social justice. Of course, we always have to be careful to not become condescending our paternalistic with the communities that we are working with. We have to always make sure that we are working alongside and with what the actual needs of our communities are. This is one of the things that I enjoy about Justice Overcoming Boundaries- we work with community members, fostering their leadership qualities in order for they themselves to effect change on issues that are affecting their communities.

Back to the discussion, I personally don't think there needs to be a seperation between the two.
Besides, what then is the true aim of the academic in researching? For me, it is to effect change, it is not only to package a carefully crafted academic paper to the academic community so that people can have intellectual discourse on it. This is JUST one part of it. For research to be successful it should do more than just be a well written article, it has  to do more than generate discourse. Your academics must be tied to your activism, or vice versa. They should not be seperated.

This coming from the fledgling academic. :)