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: Hippy-ism
On growing up, change(s) and gratitude
tl;dr: In autumn 2016, I am relocating from Mexico City to Boston for two years. I will be studying at my dream program, Comparative Media Studies at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology, and RAing at the Center for Civic Media. This long post talks about the story behind this and my takeaways from it. I…
Cómo ser aliadx de la #PrimaveraVioleta sin perjudicar en el intento
Este post fue originalmente publicado en Lenguantes, una columna que comparto con compañeras feministas jóvenes en CIMAC. El sitio está actualmente caído, así que republico el texto para esta Primavera Violeta acá hasta que regrese CIMAC. ¡Gracias por leer y ser aliadxs! No creí que viviría para ver algo así, pero sucedió. Y unos años…
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…
The things I ask myself everyday
I have spent a good chunk of the last few months pondering about my essence. Or, really, to leave philosophical lingo aside: I have been thinking about what makes me the person I am. These days, I am defined primarily by what I do and the people I am with – something I will never take…
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…
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 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…
Conflict and thought exercises
(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.) Being immersed in an environment…
Meeting with local legends
(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 world I move in…
The highlight of the experience
(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 am very bad at…
Smiling lessons in Davao Jubilee Center
(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 the main partners…
Youth in conflict: Pinoy perspectives
(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.) A few months after I…
The Start of a Journey…
(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.) In 2007, I was an…
The Tweets that Spoiled the Party
(August 2011 update: this post is participating in Blog Carnival: Mexico – Citizenry, Violence and Blogs , which is organized by one of my favorite sources, Global Voices. To find the links of other posts that are participating in this carnival, a good source is the #vocesmx search on Twitter.) In October 2010, I wrote this article to participate the ICRC…