YOUR VOICE IS YOUR VOTE: MAKE IT COUNT

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Your Voice Is Your Vote, Make It Count. As a nation, we are facing a crisis of identity marked by dovishness permeated with inflammatory free speech. Dissent and disagreement are key to our democracy, there are part of the American way of life. It creates the opportunity to verbalize and present opposing views. That is acceptable and part of being in a democracy. What is not acceptable is to shield our speech and disagreement with violent utterances and call to action for divines and hatred. That is not acceptable, despite the historical references we can draw on American history of discrimination and inequality. The time has come for every citizen to understand that we are not a monolithic nation and that our democracy is not perfect. It is up to us to hold public administrations and those who are custodians of our system of government accountable. Our voices are heard individually and collectively through the civic duty of Voting. I challenge you to initiate voters registration drives to motivate and get the vote out. Our vote as a voting bloc, of whatever community you belong is important. The time has come to take stock in our respective communities and how all forms of public administration have represented and taken care of our basic needs in our new post Covid era. Your voice is your vote. Register, exercise it and claim it. Take a moment, and look at your district needs, How does your community fair in the region? How are the economic issues being addressed? Educational issues, environmental concerns? Your voice is your vote. Exercise It, Speak Up. Dare to Vote. Dare to Stand Up and Hold Up the Mirror. This is a call to action! It is time to say No More! No Mas! We are not to be taken for granted. We are a force to reckon with. We are not pushovers. Read More From This Writer All Post Art Books & Poems Business Column Community Community News Education Entertainment español Food & Culture Health Interviews Media Military & Veterans Music Peace People Politics Sports Technology YOUR VOICE IS YOUR VOTE: MAKE IT COUNT August 26, 2024/No Comments Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Read More… Read More OUR VOICES: OUR VOTE July 22, 2024/No Comments The time has come to have more than ever our voices heard. GTVO (Get the Vote Out!) Voter suppression and… Read More POR LA PAZ June 6, 2024/1 Comment El mundo esta revuelto. Guerras, conflictos, hambre y desplazamiento de los pueblos son realidades brutales. Todos queremos lo mismo: paz!… Read More Load More End of Content.

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ON SUICIDE

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Suicide takes more courage than one might expect. There’s a presumption that quitting on life is throwing your hands up and terminating yourself on a whim. Underlying this belief is that those who are suicidal could not cope with life’s ups and downs. You’re one of the unique few who gave up, not just during the trial of your life, but in the fact of life. I disagree. I’ve walked along this edge of death more times than I care to admit. My life’s ups and downs have been hard to navigate.  I’ve lost everything – more than once. What’s everything? Jobs, family, friends, hope. What do YOU do when you’ve lost hope? I know what I do – turn my back on life. Risk it. And, sometimes, try to snuff it out to kill the pain. One reason I am still alive is that I’ve failed to seal the deal. How do you successfully terminate your life? It’s rather easy – there are a million ways to die. But when you’re hurt inside, and you’re scared, and you’re unsure, taking the final step in your life is one of the most difficult endeavors. It’s one of the most arduous voyages I have ever embarked on. I’m no stranger to success, ironically. In fact, it is the meteoric fall from success that most often drives me to the brink of life. It’s curious to me, then, why I have failed so far to end what I perceive as a painful journey to nowhere: Life. I haven’t had the courage. It takes more than commitment to terminate life before it is ready. It takes a willingness to give up the soul – the only awareness available to you. My apologies to those who have lost loved ones to suicide. How excruciating the pain of loss and absence must be. I write to you as much as I write to the souls wavering on their commitment to life. Bringing forth the end is not driven by cowardice or lack of fortitude. To me, someone who has wanted to end life and been unable to do it, suicide is a powerful reclamation of an experience that has, for too long, squeezed out every iota of joy or happiness or self-love the soul can muster. There is dignity in death by your own hand. The shame I feel to have failed in suicide – let that be a clarion call to all those who pass judgment. I failed because I was scared to end my awareness. I’m not unlike those who withstand abuse, too scared to fight back; or those who hang on while incarcerated, crippled and maimed, or spurned and ostracized, persisting because it’s harder to disconnect with life than to remain plugged into their despair and disarray. I’ve been scared to life, if you will. I do not advocate suicide. I do not cling to life either. I merely can’t disown it. I haven’t been strong enough. Those who have had the courage deserve more consideration for their strength than the living give them. We say to the dead, “May you rest in power.” The successful, long-living leaders among us are not the only ones who have taken life by the reins. These folks will let death happen to them. Those who commit suicide, on the other hand, happen to death.  Read More From This Writer All Post Art Books & Poems Business Column Community Community News Education Entertainment español Food & Culture Health Interviews Media Military & Veterans Music Peace People Politics Sports Technology ON SUICIDE August 26, 2024/No Comments Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Read More… Read More SHIFT HAPPENS August 26, 2024/No Comments I am the son of a Panamanian father and Honduran mother. I never met my black father, but he’s left… Read More AN OBITUARY July 31, 2024/2 Comments I didn’t know my father before he died, and I didn’t care, really, until I learned of his death. Even… Read More

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LOCAL LATINO COMMUNITY RADIO SILENCE

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Since moving back home to the Buffalo area in October 2022, I have been curious to see how local media outlets targeted and focused attention on our stories and community, particularly the Puerto Rican community in Buffalo and the Western New York region, as Puerto Ricans make up over 90% of the local Latino community. As a media professional, having worked for almost nine years during the early 2000s at two of our affiliate stations, WKBW-TV and WNED-TV respectively, I was very familiar with the lack of coverage our community received and after leaving WNED-TV for Florida in December 2010, I wondered if the coverage would ever improve. Fast forward twelve years and sadly, things remain the same. A few months back, on social media, I saw that the local NPR station (WBFO) would be offering Spanish Language content for those in our area through a partnership with “Sin Fronteras WNY” and “Radio Bilingüe.” Upon hearing this news, I was excited as I thought this would provide an amazing opportunity for Spanish-speaking residents of Western New York, mostly those of us with Puerto Rican roots, a chance to be more informed about the many ongoings within our community. One afternoon, I happened to log into the WBFO website and find the Sin Fronteras page and was disappointed in what I saw, the lack of any content related to Western New York Latinos or our interests. As I perused through the website, I was greeted with articles that mentioned DACA, Mexican American issues, Immigration Reform, California Politics, and Southern Border happenings.  These are all important issues, yes, however, none of the stories discussed within the radio programs nor the website listed as clickable articles spoke to our community needs as Western New York Latinos. Continually Ignored and Misrepresented: After experiencing my “Sin Fronteras” disappointment, I’ve just come to accept that local media outlets are just happy to throw our community a bone without really investing true attention to our needs within the Western New York Puerto Rican or Latino community. As I write this column, it just so happens it comes on the heels of yet another “Grease Pole Festival” celebration, a festival I’ve always felt uncomfortable acknowledging as part of our “cultural heritage.” As a young Boricua working in local media, I was always conscious of the way our people were presented onscreen within news stories. To be honest, working at Channel 7, particularly the evening news, I hated whenever “Grease Pole” season was around, as I was always reminded that the only time, at that time, my people were shown on local television was either in handcuffs or climbing a greased-out pole for a salchichon or a case of beer. Living in New York City during the late 90s, I loved seeing our Puerto Rican culture celebrated at the 116th Street Festival and the Puerto Rican Day Parade. I always imagined what our NYC Puerto Rican brethren would think if someone proposed putting teams together to climb a greasy pole during these celebrations. I don’t think that proposal would go very well. Yet why is this accepted here in Buffalo? THE WAY WE REPRESENT AND ARE PRESENTED MATTERS During my time at WKBW, I remember confronting station Channel 7 General Manager Bill Ransom himself when the news department did a story about the “Wild West Side” calling it the heroin highway back in 2004. I grew up on the Lower West Side and was horrified that a reporter, one who shall remain nameless, who was hired from out of town and who had no connection to my home dared to call my part of town “wild and lawless”, especially when this reporter was not a person of color, yet was painting a negative picture over our community, one full of mostly Puerto Ricans. A few months ago, I wrote about how we must take our representation into our own hands here within our community. I just hope and wish anyone reading this will challenge those who claim to do work on our behalf to demand more. Yes, it’s great that WBFO threw us a bone and is offering Spanish Language content on their air, I just wish they threw us a piece of the steak too, and covered our local community which has been ignored far too long. Read More From This Writer All Post Art Books & Poems Business Column Community Community News Education Entertainment español Food & Culture Health Interviews Media Military & Veterans Music Peace People Politics Sports Technology LOCAL LATINO COMMUNITY RADIO SILENCE August 26, 2024/No Comments Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Read More… Read More Finding Passion in Face Painting: The Journey of Darlene Berrios Blair July 22, 2024/1 Comment With summer upon us, the Summer Festival Season is in full swing. Typically, at these local events, among vendors selling… Read More BRIDGING THE GAP: LATINO REPRESENTATION IN THE TECH INDUSTRY June 6, 2024/2 Comments Back in early November, I took a Civil Service Exam for a Communications Specialist position with Erie County at the… Read More Load More End of Content.

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