Mes: diciembre 2011

2011

Se va el 2011, año que recibí mirando hacia nuevos horizontes. Fue el año de mi primera publicación de escritura creativa y en el que seguí dándole el tiempo merecido al deseo de invitar mundos con palabras y las pausas entre ellas.
Adiós, 2011.

Recalling, Radius and Radio

On Tuesday, December 27th, my friend Pilar and I decided to be circulators for a bit to see if we could catch any lingering potential signers for the recall of Gov. Walker. As two Latinas, we wanted to venture into pockets of Hispanic areas in Walworth and Rock counties. Her daughter helped us with the sign: ¡FIRME AQUÍ! ¡RECALL WALKER!
And clipboards in hand, we were ready to be on the field.
Well, we did not get any signatures.
Now, we stood for 10 minutes in Elkhorn until we froze our hands and then headed over to Delavan, where in less windy weather, we got smiles and thumbs up. No middle fingers, no angry faces.
Many people have already signed (since November 15th), so, was this venture worth it?
A cynic may say no: why spend time and resource and freeze outside only to get no signatures.
But I gotta say there’s something powerful about using our democratic rights and, as Latinas, stand there and gain visibility. Another friend of mine has told me that every time any one of us (any gender/ethnicity, etc) stands out there to collect signatures, we are educating the community.
And that does matter.
Yesterday, I spoke briefly about the recall through Skype for Bonita Radio, which is hosted in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In many ways the maneuvers of the ultra right-wing governor there are not that different than those of the one in Wisconsin (contextualizations considered).
I told the Bonita Radio people that I would keep them posted as soon as we get the final count on the signatures verified.
Meanwhile, I have a couple of clipboards with recall petitions…let’s see what’s the next county/community radius the weather may allow us to cover even if for an hour.

Crosswalks…

The light turns green in the opposite direction of traffic. The signal for pedestrians indicates it’s time to cross.

A pedestrian is about to cross, yet driver coming from the left is set on his right turn and he goes forward, even if he is supposed to wait for the person to cross.
After he makes the turn, person begins to cross.

It is Wisconsin law to not interfere with a pedestrian already on the crosswalk. Yet, driver on expensive SUV feels it is OK for her to make a left turn, so the pedestrian–looking out for safety first–pauses in mid-crosswalk as the vehicle is quickly approaching to turn left.

So, what did I learn this morning?
That people need to know that pedestrians have their own right of way.
And that they also need to be reminded that just because they may have the latest most expensive SUV model, it doesn’t mean they own the way.