When you are a newcomer to a community, it can be hard to understand its struggles and the ways you can help others. And if you are here temporarily (like me – I came to Boston for two years of graduate school), it can feel easy to ignore local happenings. But people like Kannan, Brittany,…
Category: English
What I wish I had known before applying for grad school
A few months ago, I wrote this post describing the path that made me apply for the Master’s program in which I’m studying now. At the end, I mentioned that the most important lesson I learned from the process is that I was not accepted because of my experience; I was accepted for being a…
East Boston activism for newcomers – Café o vino
Café o vino is a monthly meetup that Tania del Rio and Luis Bravo began to bring together Latino agents of change in East Boston to find connections, common agendas and foster collaboration. It is an informal gathering at Tania’s home, who opens the doors to her home and gives wine so that people can…
East Boston activism for newcomers – ZUMIX Radio
ZUMIX is a corner of creativity and love for the youth, East Boston residents, and volunteers that congregate there. They host weekly shows on 94.9 FM in the Greater Boston area, they hold music and arts classes for kids, and they train youth on audio technology skills that can help them find employment. ZUMIX started…
East Boston activism for newcomers – Eastie Farm
On a Saturday morning, Sumner St is quiet, but not at the lot where the Eastie Farm is located. Neighbors and volunteers are caring for the plants that have been growing since the spring, eating the fruits of their labor, and meeting other residents. Kannan is explaining the operations to everyone interested, from how the…
Ten years later
If you could have a conversation with the person you were ten years ago, what would you tell her? This question has been chasing me since December 2014, when a dear teacher invited me to give a talk on activism and technology –the field I work in today– to students in the school where I…
#SinFiltro: notes from the world premiere
I’ll be posting my #SinFiltro (apparently, not #SinFiltros) notes here for those who won’t be watching the show live. I have now posted my views on the show, in the shape of an open letter to the moderator. Participants Moderator: @genarolozano, prof. at ITAM and Ibero @antonioattolini, ITAM @astroboydedios, ITAM undergrad, current postgrad at CIDE….
Hippying it up on Pinterest
One of the things I enjoy the most in life is getting to learn about what other people are doing to incorporate ‘hippy-ism’ into their lives. Okay, I know one of the reasons why I will never go far in life is that I keep making up concepts and using them to designate things I’m…
Independence and food, 2011
Let’s discuss important matters. Food is a big component of national pride in Mexico. Nationalism is a sticky topic that should ruin no food post, but let’s leave it at this: the foods below are a much louder cry of ‘Viva México’ than the one a half-engaged audience can deliver when the Presidents does the…
Celebrating Independence, 2011
I am not a nationalist (and I do hope my primary teachers never find out about that… but that’s material for a different story). Now that we got that out of the way: one of my favorite things to do this time of the year is take pictures. Independence day celebrations (15-16th of September… but…
Hippy purists beware: The Second Life Relay for Life
(Grace, this post is a little tribute for you!) My first exploration of the virtual world phenomenon Second Life at age 16 will always be in my memory. It was the moment in which all the things I had assumed not just about the world of gaming, but about technology, aesthetics and even metaphysics, crushed under…
Internet, human rights and the UN (III)
In the previous post, I spoke about a few major things that had been said about the Internet at the UN before the publication of the report that inspired this post series. I said a link between Internet access and development had been accepted, but that human rights and Internet had yet to be explicitly…
Internet, human rights and the UN (II)
In the first post on Internet+human rights+UN ramblings, I posed a dilemma (is the Internet access such a novelty that it must be considered a brand new human right on its own, or is it analogous to other communication tools already covered by human rights documents?), and now it’s time to see where the UN…
Internet, human rights and the UN (I)
I know the title for this post is really boring (especially when compared to my friend’s UFC-inspired fight references in academic philosophy papers), but the topic for today is actually very trendy. The buzzworders are all over it. In June 2011, media worldwide started reporting on an interesting event: the UN ‘had declared internet access…
A guide to ICRC-related posts
In November 2010, I wrote an article on youth and the Mexican drug-related conflict as seen through Twitter to apply to the ICRC Young Reporter Competition. It turns out I was selected, along with a few other young writers from all over the world, to visit an ICRC mission to report on the situation of…
Pinoy eating, part III
I have covered the dishes that make me drool whenever I think about them, I have covered the snacks that make me drool whenever I think about them… But I have left material to end this short series with glory. Like the glory with which they closed every meal. We’re talking about desserts, people. Sugar….
Pinoy eating, part II
After going on about the dishes I thought were the very best food I had on the trip, I think it’s time to talk about vegetables. All the purple vegetables above are eggplants, some smaller in size than zucchini. I never found out why they are harvested earlier than the ones consumed in the west;…
Pinoy eating, part I
I’m no food critic (what makes someone not a foodie, or food-obsessed, but a food critic?), and my visit to the Philippines was not designed around food – in fact, I don’t think the eating I did during the days I spent there was really that representative of the Pinoy diet itself. However, it was…
A day with Red Cross Youth from Rizal
(In January 2011, and thanks to the ICRC Young Reporter Competition, I had the fortune of visiting the ICRC mission in the Philippines to report on the situation of youth. This post is part of a series I wrote on this visit. Click here to see the rest of the posts.) I described in my…
Visiting Maguindanao, part II
(this is the second part of this post) (In January 2011, and thanks to the ICRC Young Reporter Competition, I had the fortune of visiting the ICRC mission in the Philippines to report on the situation of youth. This post is part of a series I wrote on this visit. Click here to see the rest…
Visiting Maguindanao, part I
(In January 2011, and thanks to the ICRC Young Reporter Competition, I had the fortune of visiting the ICRC mission in the Philippines to report on the situation of youth. This post is part of a series I wrote on this visit. Click here to see the rest of the posts.) One of my favorite experiences…
How we perceive beneficiaries
(In January 2011, and thanks to the ICRC Young Reporter Competition, I had the fortune of visiting the ICRC mission in the Philippines to report on the situation of youth. This post is part of a series I wrote on this visit. Click here to see the rest of the posts.) The way we perceive beneficiaries…