The End of an Era

Fueled by the momentum they gained from their tremendous comeback against the Yankees, the Boston Red Sox go on to win four more consecutive games and take the World Series for the first time since 1918. I guess it's safe to say that the Curse of the Bambino is now officially over. Rest in Peace, Babe Ruth.

Anyway, though I'm a die-hard Yankee fan I have to admit that I got a bit teary-eyed last night. It was just heartbreaking to hear all the stories about people who lived and died as Red Sox fans and never got to see them win. It was nice to see so many happy people on TV for a change.

How interesting that the talk before the series started was about all the power hitters in Boston, yet it was the pitching that brought them to victory. Those guys were all amazing. I have to give it to them. Congratulations! They deserve their victory.

So I was watching the coverage during the week and have to admit that I've gained some respect for Pedro. I never liked him because his attitude seemed so caustic and he seemed so arrogant. All along I had never heard him speaking and had heard that he didn't speak much English. However the other night after he pitched they interviewed him and I was pleasantly surprised. He spoke quite well in English. Used proper grammar, had a good vocabulary, and was easy to understand even with the accent. But even the accent was way less pronounced than what I was expecting. He must have taken it very seriously when he decided to learn the language. I think it takes a smart person to do that, so I guess he's more than just a good pitcher. Thumbs up for Pedro!

On that note I have to give thumbs down to Manny for his speaking. Maybe he was just excited about winning MVP, but wtf was his little speech about?? Yikes! He sounded very uneducated and thuggish. It was hard to follow his train of thought and he said "destination" when what he meant was "destiny". Oops. I think someone should read a few books during the break. Maybe it's just that I'm an incurable egghead, but if you're making that much money at least spend some of it on becoming more educated and well-rounded.

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Your Results:
Kerry, Senator John, MA - Democrat (72%) Click here for info
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American Sex Lives

Here are the results from last week's Primetime Live show.

I was a bit surprised by the results as they seemed quite a bit more conservative than I imagined. Or maybe I just have a vivid imagination. :-p

I must be some kind of perv!

While I'm at it

Regarding this whole Alex Rodriguez thing . . .

I was in DR this year when Felix Sanchez won the gold medal. Instead of being ecstatic about it, as I was, I would say that the majority of the people in the country were complaining about him not being a "real" Dominican. Now Alex is being branded a traitor and persona-non-grata because he didn't refer to himself as Dominican. But wait, isn't he not a real Dominican anyway?

All I can think is that there's just no way to win this one. Had he answered "Dominican Republic" then they'd all be saying that he only said it to boost his ratings or to score points with people, or whatever. I think this is pathetically sad.

The Alex thing was blown completely out of proportion. What would I answer if asked "where" I'm from? I'd probably say Washington Heights or New York City. "Where" signals to me that my answer should represent the geographical location of my birth. If I am asked "what" is my nationality or "what" am I? Then I'd say Dominican. Knowing the kind of identity issues one grows up with as a first-generation child, I'm sure that poor Alex in no way meant to belittle his roots with his comment.

Ay Dios mio!

Baseball

I've been a baseball fan since 1984. Sometime near the end of that season I tuned into a Yankee game and decided I'd learn the game that night. I watched the whole thing through and ended up with a decent idea of the gameplay. More importantly, I was immediately hooked! I read up on the game in my trusty Encyclopedia Brittanica and caught a few more games before the season was over.

The following year I was ready to follow the Yankees. The local candy store was selling a baseball sticker collection book. You would buy the sticker packs and try to fill out each team. That endeavor taught me about all the teams in the League, the stadiums, and the players. That year I also learned about the rivalry between the Yankees and the Red Sox. Don Mattingly and Wade Boggs were battling to have the best average and Boggs won.

1986 - Yankees didn't make it but the Mets did. I rooted for the Mets during that series because, hey, I'm a New Yorker. Plus I already had started harboring a dislike for the Red Sox due to the Mattingly/Boggs thing. The 1986 series was awesome!!

Anyway, so as you can see I've been a Yankee fan for 20 years. Back when I was growing up the huge influx of Dominicans hadn't quite started and so everyone I knew was some type of New York fan, either the Yankees or the Mets. We were proud of our City!! The concept of the NYC-mooching, Boston-smooching Dominicans hadn't come to fruition yet. Though I suspect it was probably going on back in the Homeland.

I continue to be disconcerted about the current state of affairs (most of the Heights residents - and even Bronx residents!!! - being Red Sox fans). It's not only about Dominican pride because even when we have Dominicans, these people fail to ackowledge them or pledge them any allegiance. It has become this weird, trastornado thing. Sometimes it seems pathological. I often get upset because I just don't understand why they are Boston fans with such ferocity.

It bothers me that they trash my team because it feels like an attack on my city. I am a product of a mixture of different cultures and because of that I've had a hard time feeling that I truly belong anywhere. Yet, I always feel at home in New York City. And it is probably the only place in the world where I can feel at home ALL of the time. And when you think NYC you think NY teams. Particularly the Yankees due to their rich history. So all the Boston loving sometimes feels like a personal attack to me.

Sometimes I feel guilty about how I feel. Deep down I think I am bothered by our people's unwillingness to accept the Yankees because I feel it is just a manifestation of their unwillingness to assimilate at all. Though I would NEVER want our people to lose themselves in vacuous American culture, I believe that if they did change some of their ways of functioning (especially with respect to education) they would do much better here in the US. Our people come here, always thinking it's on a temporary basis, and refuse to really settle in and focus on succeeding. This has resulted in a new generation of unmotivated kids who are confused and heading in no direction.

Anyway I'm rambling. To all my Red Sox loving brethren, contratulations. There, I said it.

Of course I'll be rooting for the Astros or Cardinals. But at least the Red Sox finally made it. And after that amazing come back, I have to admit they deserved it.

Warning

Ok, so for five years I commuted from Washington Heights to South Norwalk, CT. I would drive up 95 the whole way. Every day, past exit 13 (Conner Street) off the New England Thruway (either right before or right after the bridge there) a cop would be there giving someone a ticket. Someone was always pulled over, every single day without fail.

So when JC started driving in to work I warned him about this area. Soon he was joking about it too, giggling at the poor sucker who didn't know that someone always gets pulled over at that spot.

Neither he nor I ever go above 55 there because we are among the enlightened ones. We know what goes on in that little stretch of road. And we want no part in it.

So yesterday he's driving home from work, feeling a bit down due to his mother's precarious state of health. He's driving in the middle lane so that he can take it easy: no worries of tailgaters on the left and no worries regarding exit/entrance ramps on the right. He passes exit 13 and sees the cop car there and starts thinking "someone's about to get it". For insurance he slows down a bit but knows that he's not going any faster than 50. Right on schedule, he sees the police car pull out. It's only a matter of seconds now. The cop car takes off and JC suddenly realizes that it's following HIM!!

Yes, my friends, my poor hubby became the latest victim. Now, normally I have no beef with NY's finest. But I *KNOW* that if there is any place where we WON'T speed at it's there. So it's kind of annoying that he got a ticket in that precise spot.

I guess one of us was due. I've never been stopped at all in my 8 years of that long commute. Maybe it's cause he's a Latino guy. Hmm, that can open up a whole new can of worms.

Anyway, this is just a public service announcement. SLOW the F&*# down from exits 13 through 15 on the New England Thruway (Route 95) north! You've been warned.

"Mahow, mahow"

Check out this site about Nelson de la Rosa.

Mispellings just kill me and I couldn't resist sending the following email to the site owner. I just love Benny Sadel and can't stand to see majao spelled like that!


Hey there!

First off, I think it's great that you are a fan of Nelson and have created a website in his honor.

As a Dominican-American I just wanted to clarify that the correct spelling of "mahow" is majao, or probably more properly, majao'. The song that Nelson is dancing to in that video is a merengue by Benny Sadel. He had several other hits and in all of them he uses the "majao, majao" slogan in reference to the dance. Merengue artists use these "slogans" as a way of identifying themselves on their songs.

Dominicans have a tendency to not completely enunciate their words, particularly word endings. Majao' is the Dominican way of saying majado which means "mashed". We use a wooden mortar (pilon) to mash plantains for a variety of dishes. See this site for more details: here.

The majao, majao dance is a play on the action of mashing plantains using a pilon. The pestle is a phallic symbol which is why the reference to it, combined with the thrusty motion hip motion, results in a dance that is a sexual innuendo.

Long live Nelson! And best wishes to you.

The Hewitt Cheer

This, my friends, is why I can't stand working here. Can we get any cornier? This is for real. And apparently it impressed some bigwigs because it was featured news on our internal site. Gag me with a spoon! I am so embarassed to be a "Hewie".

The Hewitt Cheer aka The Cult Hymn

Got out of bed, new day beginning
Sun came out and burst out singing

New roads to travel, new mountains to climb
New food to taste, new friends to find

Said to myself, change is good, it makes us grow
New names, new terms, new projects will flow

Who are these "Hewies," what are they about?
Let's look them up and let's all shout!

Hewitt, Hewitt, that's our Team
Watch us soar, that's our theme
Gooooo Hewitt!

So much for the next Debussy

Ok so I've warmed up to the idea of having a little critter of my own (i.e. a baby). But I can't stop from thinking that it would be really cool if junior would turn out to be a kick ass musician and also insanely smart. You know, like, a Columbia-Julliard dual program snob who ends up in the New York Philharmonic and a research lab and stuff. So I had this master plan of how I was going to ensure this and it consisted of pumping him/her with Classical tunes non-stop for years. Well, these folks don't think it's such a good idea. Darn it.

It sucks to be a frustrated musician.

On another note, I am an avid reader of remolacha.net and it would be really cool if someday this humble little blog could be linked to from there. But I don't think we've quite achieved that caliber yet. We need to get better at this and actually post at least daily. Someday.

Laziness

Ok, I've been so terribly lazy regarding updates. Though not nearly as bad as my dearly beloved husband (slacker!!). I've been busy with a photo project.

Don't have too much time right now but wanted to at least get something out here.

Check out this link in the meantime.
Interesting site, no? I've often wondered shit like that. But I just don't have that kind of time (or drive).