PBS Documentary Video : Prohibition

PROHIBITION is a three-part, five-and-a-half-hour documentary film series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick that tells the story of the rise, rule, and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the entire era it encompassed.

The culmination of nearly a century of activism, Prohibition was intended to improve, even to ennoble, the lives of all Americans, to protect individuals, families, and society at large from the devastating effects of alcohol abuse.

Prohibition turned law-abiding citizens into criminals, made a mockery of the justice system, caused illicit drinking to seem glamorous and fun…

Violence and the Mexican Economy

Despite the increase in violence in Mexico since 2008, investors and international businessmen are not deterred from financially and physically being present in Mexico. In fact, according to the National Mexican Statistics Agency, the nation’s GDP grew 5.5 percent in 2010, the most since 2000.
Mexico’s GDP is certainly impacted by the tourism industry, as it is primarily comprised of the service sector at 63.5 percent of the total GDP (CIA 2010). In fact, of the thirty states that are members of the Organization for Economic and Commercial Development, Mexico, Spain, and Portugal are the top three countries that gain the most from tourism; 8.2 percent of all of Mexico’s GDP comes from tourism, and 6.7 percent of all of Mexico’s work force is employed by the industry. With that said, there is special emphasis on maintaining a strong tourism industry in the nation to sustain the nation’s overall economy; however, from 2008 to 2009, there was a significant drop of 8.5 percent in the number of international tourists in Mexico , according to La Subsecretaria de Planeacion Turistica. Mexico’s tourism agency. While some attribute this drop to the increase in drug-related violence in the country, which has been particularly acute since 2005, most officials testify that the increased violence has little, if anything to do with the decrease in tourism. Toursim Minister Gloria Guevara testified to the disconnection between violence and the tourism industry’s regression: “We have a challenge. We acknowledge that, but at the same time that challenge is remote and far away from touristic destination.” On the other hand, senior analyst on organized crime, Anna Gilmour, indicated that the violence has, in fact, spread to touristic areas: “…there have been some high-profile incidents of violence in both Acapulco and Cancun, such as when 13 people – five of them police officers- were killed in Acapulco in March 2010… This suggests that drug violence is increasingly spilling over into Acapulco, although still at lower levels than the northern Border States.” Whether or not the violence directly impacts the tourism industry is still indeterminate, but over the past two years, the industry has, in fact, expanded.
The Mexican economy has also been flourishing outside of the tourism industry. Ernesto Cordero, Mexico’s Finance Minister asserted that violence is not negatively impacting investor’s decisions in Mexico: “There is no evidence (that) investment is not coming to Mexico or that investors are being put off because of violence”.
Recent evidence suggests that violence in Mexico is indirectly proportional, if at all related, to the country’s economy, recently leading to increased exports, investments, and tourism. the country’s leading service industry.

Read more HERE

Passing On The Tradition To Our Children

Handing Over The Torch To Our Future

It is the year 2011. Amazingly, we adults look back to our past as children and could swear it was just yesterday that we were riding our bikes to the park or playing house with the neighbor’s daughters. These are the memories that we hold dear to our hearts; almost like a mental and emotional sanctuary for ourselves.  As we grow from the small little humans that we were and become the strong, able-bodied adults that we are now, there is no denying that at least two or three traditions have been passed down to us from the elders in our families (i.e., parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, godparents, siblings, older cousins, etc.). That’s a given in any family structure. Individuals that hail from Puerto Rican blood also hail from Puerto Rican traditions. A plethora of tradition. Traditions are very important in any family and culture. Yet, this can be hard to do in modern day and age. Passing on the tradition to our children as a Puerto Rican culture is something we should learn to do in the midst of the 21st century tradition that is at hand.

Ways In Which We Can Pass Down Puerto Rican Tradition In Modern Days

First, let us look at what the word tradition means.

Seeing the several definitions of this word, it basically is a passing down of  ideals, beliefs, even religions. One of the ways that Puerto Rican traditions can be passed along to our children in the present time of modernization is incorporating old family recipes at dinners, special events and of course, holidays. Let us teach our children about traditional Puerto Rican music, especially since most kids nowadays listen to what’s popular and trending through the sound waves. There’s nothing wrong with our kids listening to some Ludacris or Nicki Minaj, but sit them down and educate them on bomba y plena, son, salsa, boleros, etc.  Showing our children how to make Arroz con Gandules or pasteles and coming up with new ways to re-create these traditional dishes are great ways in passing on the tradition to our children.

Pride In Showing Our Children About Puerto Rico’s Past Traditions

Having our children learn of their culture and heritage should never be put on the back burner. Puerto Rico runs within them, no matter where they are born; they have every cultural right to learn how to dance traditionally as well as modernly; they can learn to cook using recipes that might have sprung up in the 19th century along side with watching Chef Gordan on the Food Network, whipping up new delicacies. Blending tradition with modern-day living can be a chore at times, but is beautiful within and without itself because no matter what day and age we live in, we can always find our culture and families’ past within our times. Needless to say, passing on the tradition to our children is not going to disappear from any culture, whether it be 1888, 2011 or any future year. Here’s a traditional Puerto Rican dish that you can pass down to your offspring, if you don’t already know how to whip it up; and if you like, make it your own and modernize it a bit!

ARROZ CON GANDULES

Passing on the tradition to our children is very important and must not be forgotten.

Music of Puerto Rico

Exposure To The Music of Puerto Rico

As a child growing up within the Puerto Rican community, the exposure to its’ culture (i.e., stories, cuisine, way of living, dancing, music, etc.) is very prominent in one’s life, even for those who might not speak the native tongue of Puerto Rico. Somewhere along the line, we are given the opportunity to eat arroz con gandules, dance to Hector Lavoe, or even visit the island itself if we live any where but Puerto Rico. One of the many treasures a Puerto Rican experiences is the beautiful and lively music of La Isla Del Encanto. There are several Puerto Ricans who are not fully aware of the more traditional musical roots in their ancestry. Many individuals think that Salsa, Merenque and Reggaeton is the music that defines us as a people. All one has to do to learn of his or her own roots is travel back in time to hear and learn about the music of Puerto Rico.

Traditional & Newer Music of Puerto Rico & Its’ Roots

Puerto Rican music in general has its’ influences. The three main groups of races that our people come from consist of the following (not a conclusive list; Puerto Ricans are mixed with several different cultures that migrated to the island. These are just the first three that had initially grouped together due to the circumstances): Taino indians, Spaniards & Africans. So, naturally, the music of Puerto Rico is influenced by these three cultures. In one song, you might here African-based percussion while in another you can catch a Spanish guitar or native Taino language. Going through the history of this beautiful island, one of the more heard of music that can be found is bomba y plena,which has a lot of the African sound mentioned above. Plena was born in Ponce, PR. It is said that the people would dance to this percussion-infused music “en luna plena” (under the full moon). Bomba is a way of dancing to Plena; it tends to be unrehearsed, more like a “go with flow” feel. Unchoreographed, if you will. This is more traditional to the island. Music that you might find youngsters of Puerto Rico listening to nowadays would be Reggaeton. This music actually began in Panama 15+ years ago. At that time, it was known as “spanish reggae”. It spread rapidly in the year 2004 and Puerto Rico became one of its’ major fans. Many of the more younger people listen to this type of music of Puerto Rico; it has become very popular.

Orgullo En Nuestra Music of Puerto Rico.

If you ever notice a Puerto Rican who is listening to one of the many variants of the island’s music, more than likely you will be able to catch him or her “feeling it with pride”. We have such an orgullo in our music. From the past to the present, our music is something that we do not mind sharing with the world. It is rich in culture, diversity (due to its’ influences from our ancestors), rhythm and plain ol’ good times. When Puerto Rican music is rushing to our ears, a natural flow of physical movement just happens. At any get-together, event, holiday parties, etc., Salsa, Reggaeton, B y P, and more can be heard playing and people can be seen grooving to their sound. Que viva la “music of Puerto Rico.”

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The Dominican Republic Reaches Out to The United Nations

On Monday, September 12, 2011 the Dominican president, Leonel Fernández, announced his proposition to the General Assembly of the United Nations to create a commission to regulate commission as they relate to food and petroleum prices in the Dominican financial markets .

The head of state announced that the simple speculation among the people influences between 30 to 40 percent of the prices and “generates anguish, anxiety and despair in the towns”.

Fernández recalled that the food provision crisis of 2008, generated by the speculation from the markets of the future, caused social movements in some 60 countries and threatened the social peace. He emphasized the fact that developing countries are “the ones that suffer the worst consequences, making up about 98 percent of the people that suffer hunger in the world”.

The Dominican Republic, which lacks petroleum deposits, depends on the financial markets for the importing of petroleum, and a large quantity of food and commodities that themselves are not produced in the island. Fernández’s proposition encourages the creation of an international commission to regulate these future markets with the goal of avoiding the unpredictability and stabilize pricing.

As reported by the Presidency and the Chancellery, Fernández’s proposal has already received the support of some 70 countries, including rulers from Germany, Argentina, Australia, Spain, Holland, Morocco, Sweden, as well as the members of the common Caribbean and Central American market, Caricom.
This article has been directly translated from www.univision.com . For more information, refer to the following link.

Music Video : J.Cole - Daddy's Little Girl

Music Video : Dream - Long Gone

Dream launches new video for Long Gone off his free mix tape album 1977 found below.

Muslims in the Puerto Rican community

Learning About Muslims In The Puerto Rican Community

“Asalaamu Alaikum.”

The phrase mentioned above is a greeting Muslims (a practitioner of Islam) say to one another whenever they come across a mutual follower of the faith. Many people who are considered non-muslims tend to believe that the only Muslims that exist on the planet are born and bred in the Middle East, based on what they view through the media. All of the stereotypes that are portrayed via movies, shows, the news, even YouTube, do not help matters any. To clarify one thing which is for certain, any individual from any race/ethnicity/nationality can choose to follow Islam. And, there are countless people who are practicing Muslims. Let’s make this a bit more interesting: there is a growing number of Muslims in the Puerto Rican community discovering the faith and uttering the Shahadah (la illaha ilallah Muhammed rasoolulah), testifying their belief in One God and Mohammed being His “last prophet”.

A Growing Number Of Muslims In The Puerto Rican Community

This next passage is taken from Wikipedia about Islam in Puerto Rico: “In 2007, there were over 5,000 Muslims residing in Puerto Rico, representing about 0.10% of the population.^[1][2] The early Muslim community largely consisted mainly of Palestinian immigrants who arrived between 1958 and 1962.” The number is sure to have grown since 2007, and this is not just on the island alone. There are Muslims in the Puerto Rican community that live in the United States, dispersed among the land, becoming Muslim every day. The numbers that continue to amass within the community is nothing to be ashamed of. Yet, being Latinos and Puerto Ricans, there might be a problem with choosing Islam as one’s personal religion: the family we come from and the faith they raised us to believe in.

Familial Pressures As A Muslim In The Puerto Rican Community

As a Puerto Rican, most can attest to the fact that we are raised in some form of Christianity, mainly Roman Catholicism. If not this sect of the faith, then we can draw from Pentecostal Christianity or any other sect, but it usually is some form of it. Dealing with the pressures of the family wanting to steer us back to “la fe de tus padres”, as my own cousin told me when she found out I became Muslim, can become very troublesome and hurtful. In order to deal with these issues, we must remind ourselves that we cannot go by what our families want for us, given that WE are living our lives how we deem fit is suited for us. Another passage, but this one is from HispanicMuslims: “At first, many members of my family tried to convince me I had made the wrong decision in spite of the many positive changes they saw in me. This has stopped now, and although I know they may not fully accept the fact that I’m a Muslim, they have learned to respect my decision.” Just because we are Muslims in the Puerto Rican community does not take away our heritage, the culture that runs through our very veins. We our always proud to be Puerto Ricans, Latinos, Hispanics, no matter our faith. Diversity is always key in any culture, alhamdullilah (praise be to God). 

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Puerto_Rico

http://hispanicmuslims.com/articles/defining_identities.html

The New Reality in America

Shout out to our contributor Dahiana for finding this video.

Watch The Throne Decoded Analysis

This is a damn good analysis on the meaning and messages behind the Watch The Throne Album.Below is an excerpt from the review.

I feel genuinely sorry for Watch The Throne listeners who miss the deep forest for the bragging tree, because there is so much on this album to explore, if you like lush, intricate art that raises critical questions without providing easy answers.

Read the rest HERE

Props to RAP GENIUS on this