Red, Brown & Blue

“Soda: It’s bad for you.” That’s the main reason why a growing number of public health experts and government officials propose taxing it, because soda consumption contributes to the obesity epidemic. Experts at Johns Hopkins call the trend “a public health crisis,” projecting that by 2015, 75 percent of Americans will be overweight or obese. No one’s more at risk than Latinos. So tough as it is, Latino leaders should put down the bubbly and step up to the plate in support of soda taxes.

Most of us grew up with a soda in our hands and a twelve-pack in the pantry, but it’s time to wake up and smell the stench of empty calories. Diabetes Health reports that researchers from UCLA and the California Center for Public Health Advocacy discovered “a strong correlation between soda consumption and weight.” Specifically, they found that “adults who drink a soda or more per day are 27 percent more likely to be overweight than those who do not drink sodas.” The results were published in a study called, “Bubbling Over: Soda Consumption and Its Link to Obesity in California.”

San Diego – Following President Obama’s first year in office, it’s time for Latinos to channel Janet Jackson and ask the president: “What have you done for us lately?”

America’s largest minority is certainly entitled to the question. Nearly 10 million Latinos cast ballots in the 2008 presidential election. Two-thirds of those votes went to Obama, whose record with Latinos was scant; let’s recall that UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta, while stumping for Hillary Clinton, called Obama a “Johnny come lately” to Latino issues.

Still, Latinos stood by Obama, and now they expect him to return the favor. But has he done so? The results are mixed. In some respects, Obama has done a lot for Latinos. In other ways, not so much.

Let’s start with the issues. Polls show that the top concerns for most Latinos are the economy, education, and health care.

"Los Cantores"

Reflections on the art of Carla Veliz, featured in the Instituto Cultural de México’s “Remarkable Paradigms” exhibit for International Women’s Month.

Staring at Carla Veliz’s Los Cantores, I swoon with the rhythms implied in its curves and undulating lines. I yearn to tap my feet in unison with the festive percussion of a geometrically rendered pineapple pattern in the background. I am inspired by the pair of lovers interlaced and framed within the voluptuous and fiery heart of a Latina, represented by a ruby mane shaped like a corazón. The two dance and jointly hold a malleable guitar as their figures intertwine indistinguishably. Who is strumming? Who is playing? Who is watching? None of it matters as the cantores fuse into one kaleidoscopic being, two Latinos singing, dancing and loving as one vivid manifestation of culture and passion.

I sit in another room, and yet again I cannot help but stare, fighting back my strict, traditional upbringing. My eyes open wide as a fascinated child’s, absorbing a vast landscape of muted tones, ochers and browns, rust and hints of the pale blue sky of yet another in a seemingly endless series of melancholically squandered afternoons fading into dusk. A swath of tattered screen spanning the vertical length of the canvas transports me to moments trapped behind a closed porch door, listening to the adults converse outside and yearning to be heard. The words grooved onto the canvas – “Tenia tanto que decir, pero nadie me escuchaba” – lament the unrequited desire for expression, for acknowledgement, for validation. “I had so much to say, but no one would listen.”

They say it’s not polite to stare, but in this case it’s okay because in studying Carla Veliz’s works of art you are taking a long, hard look at your self. Her works speak directly to the diverse soul of Latino culture: capturing a dazzling range of emotions and imagery, from figurative to abstract, from celebration to sorrow, from longing to loss, from shimmering beauty to foreboding darkness. But in her ambitious artistic odyssey, something magical happens amidst swirls of paint, explosions of wax and fragments of found objects colliding and fusing: Carla Veliz transcends her roots and her context. She taps into currents that run universally through all of us. Love, danger, joy, tragedy – at times surely experienced as a Latina raised along the US-Mexico border, a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend – are presented in such a way through Carla’s paintings that we are reminded that the common truths that bind us together outweigh the nuances which render us unique.

A new basketball league is being formed that will only be open to men “that are natural born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race”.  That’s right – basketball for white boys.  This was reported in the January 19th edition of the Augusta Chronicle, and picked up a day later by numerous outlets including Yahoo! Sports and the Huffington Post.  The story was met with audience responses that were shocked at the blatant racism and anachronistic attitude.

How could anyone living in 2010 truly believe that this would be acceptable?  It took only a few minutes of thought to answer my own question – no one.  No one living in 2010 would believe that an all-white sports league would be acceptable.

I think the whole thing is a lie.

Every action must have an equal and opposite reaction. Haiti’s worst earthquake in over 200 years has taken the lives of tens of thousands and threatens millions more in the aftermath. Out of the darkness of the rubble there must come light.

The forces of nature have devastated the people of Haiti. It is up to us to react and respond.

As Haiti suffers its worst earthquake in over two centuries, it brings out the best in America. Thousands of people are flying into action – from relief workers to the military, from our current President to former ones, from celebrities to average citizens – seeking ways to help.