Blog ketchup........

Wait, no I mean catch up. Ha ha. But it was cute right? Or just silly. Whatever....

Every day is a struggle. I mean psychologically about this "journey" I'm taking for three months. It shouldn't be this big of a deal. It's only three months. And all in all, even if I just sit on my ass in one spot the whole time (not a chance....I've got too many stars in my eyes....I want to see everything) I'm STILL saving money and getting away for awhile. Nevertheless, I'm going to miss my family, my friends, my cats, my plants, my bed, my apartment, the food I can just go to the store and get, my stupid car, and my city......among other familiarities. So that is at the forefront of my mind daily. On the other hand, I am getting excited doing research about being able to work in exchange for places to stay at some really beautiful ecological conservation projects.....some in the Caribbean, some in the cloud forest, some near Osa Peninsula......I really want to stay on a dairy farm. Is that weird? It's been a nice fantasy of mine to want to stay on a farm for a few days. I am from the Midwest you know. lol.

Some summertime events coming up in the Chi that you might be innerested in (yes I intentionally spelled that wrong).

* Femi Kuti is playing at Ravinia next Wednesday! Get your tix. We have a large group going and we plan to get there when the gates open at like 4 p.m.

* My general neighborhood (meaning Logan Square, Humboldt Park, Palmer Square) is getting more and more attention. On July 11th the Tour de Fat Chicago will be in Palmer Square (two blocks from my house) in honor of........FAT TIRE!!! For all of you saying "huh"? Fat Tire is a delicious yummy best beer in the world (in my opinion) that is brewed in Colorado but is a Belgian Ale. The fest features Mucca Pazza

and Sean Hayes, Squirm Burpee Circus, The Daredevil Chicken Club and The Sprockets. I'm not sure who the rest of these are, you could probably google it but in any event, it's free, and it's outdoors and it's in honor of Fat Tire. What more could you ask for? It's a fund raiser for West Town Bikes and you can register at 9-10 and then there is a bike parade from 10-11 and the ad says "commence revivalation" from 11-4. Get out there all you bike people!

And now a photo to share with you the shits and giggles of Chicago summertime fun. Every once in awhile, the OE 40 oz. MUST be busted out. To all my homies that love to indulge in the 40 oz. OE, the wife especially.

Sugar.......and I don't mean it as a term of endearment.......

Argh. I know I know...I don't blog for a week and now I've got about twenty things to blog about. This will be a recurring theme. Get used to it. My nature is erratic. I've learned to come to terms with this.

Anyway...my dentist told me to stop drinking beverages with sugar in them. She clued me in to the fact that ALL (yes, all) beverages on the consumer market, save for the flavored waters or plain water itself, have RIDICULOUS amounts of sugar in them. She urged me for the health of my teeth. However, there are MANY other health benefits of kicking the sugar habit. I don't think people really realize HOW MUCH sugar is in EVERYTHING you buy to drink from the store.

Fact: There are TWELVE (12) grams of sugar in a tablespoon.

If you are like me, and believe me, I haven't ruled out the possibility (in my hypochoncriatic mind) of being pre-diabetic or something.....I don't think I can live ENTIRELY without sugar. I gave up the Lipton Tea, the Sprite, Pepsi, even freakin APPLE JUICE, those 16 oz. bottles have like 40 grams of sugar in them. BUT....when I drink my tea or coffee, I usually use TWO (2) tablespoons of sugar. That's 24 grams of sugar! Just think how much sugar is in KOOL-AID. One cup of sugar......well 8 oz. is one cup. Sixteen (16) tablespoons are in one cup. You are going to have to sit down for this one. If there are 12 grams of sugar in one tablespoon and there are 16 tablespoons in one cup.....yep....do the math....I can't even believe it myself. There are 192 grams in one cup of sugar. It's enough to make you keel over now.

Check out the labels of the beverages you buy at the store. A can of Pepsi has like 50 some grams of sugar. That's FOUR tablespoons of sugar in that little ass can of soda. Even Gatorade has too much sugar in it!

Drink Propel or flavored water. Propel only has 6 grams of sugar in it.

I hate to freak people out, but you should take it as informational, a precaution, something to think about, and this is just some information I pulled from the internet:

Diabetes - "Diabetes is due to the body's inability to maintain a constant level of sugar in the blood, as it should. (If you drink a lot of alcoholic beverages....there's massive amounts of sugar in those too). People with diabetes are more likely to have a heart attack or stroke at a younger age. In addition, they may be at a greater risk for a decline in mental function - brain decay or dementia. Full Article at www.neurology.org/cgi/content/full/63/4/E9

Not only is sugar found in high levels in beverages, but check your food labels too! A research found that people consume (depending on what they eat) upwards of 207 grams a day, that's 52 spoonfuls and four times the recommended daily limit. If you eat packaged and processed foods, check the labels! Sugar may be addictive, withdrawal occurs. Sugar also causes cancer. Women with the highest blood sugar levels increased their chances of pancreas, skin, womb and urinary tract cancer. Also leads to premature aging.....messing up your skin.

Last for now....eating too much sugar can also contribute to arterial damage. High blood sugar causes LDL cholesterol to oxidize. When oxidised it encourages plaque deposits in our arterial linging causing the blood vessels to clog leading to heart disease, the number one killer. (2nd article www.netdoctor.co.uk/dietandnutrition/toomuchsugar.htm)

I'm only 33 I swear. But thinking about my family's health history (pardon my French) freaks me the fuck out.

Ok that's enough for now. I've got more happy things to talk about. Just thought you should pay attention to the sugar you intake. If anything, knowing what you are putting into your body is never a bad thing.

Paseo Prairie Garden Live Art Was Great!!!!

Yesterday was one of those days Chicagoans give all the reason in the world (despite freezing miserable winters and generally cold weather 8 or 9 months out of the year) for claiming Chicago is one of the best cities in the world. I have no biased opinion. ha ha. It was 75 degrees and sunny all day long. A marvelous day in which EVERYONE is outside. Everyone says hi to each other. Kids are playing. Elotes carts abound. Ice cream man. Bikes. Families. BBQ's. I think you get the point. I posted about The Paseo Prairie Garden Live Art Event recently. Ashamedly, when the weekend hits, it flies by so quickly with this going on and that going on that cyberworld slips through my fingers. I had forgotten all about the live art event, hell, I didn't even read it thoroughly enough to know specific details. Oops. Apparently my blog comes full circle. I post an event, and one of my friends calls me to say she's going and in the process reminds me about what I posted in the first place. Apparently anyone could go there and create a piece of art. They had paint and paintbrushes for everyone. There was a dj and at times a guy playing the guitar. And some really amazing art! All of the pieces of art are being displayed at a street festival this month and any pieces of art (including ours) sold half the proceeds go to a charitable organization. It was great to be out in the community with neighbors and friends being artistic!

Then me and the pretend "husband" had a lovely day in the park. He's going to show me the ropes of "just going where the wind takes you" when I am unemployed in two weeks. We did the leisure stroll through the AMAZING park by our house and enjoyed the pre-festivities of the Puerto Rican fest. I am super pissed because my camera memory card was at home and I couldn't take any pics for y'all......rest assured the fest is going on ALL week. Oh man, it's the best festival ever. I'm going to eat a lot of arepas, dance a lot of salsa, and basically just be with the Puerto Ricans all this week! :) I'll keep you posted. For now, here's some pics of the live art event!

Artists & Farmers in Chicago - Join them at open air painting this Sunday!!!!

Humboldt Park, Logan Square and Palmer Square neighborhoods in Chicago are hot on the gentrification issue at present time. I'm divided on the issue. Certainly I don't wish for the neighborhood to be the way it was back in the 80's. But I really don't want it to look like Lincoln Park either (yuppy nation). Sorry if anyone reading this lives in Lincoln Park. I know I'm probably supposed to be objective as a writer, but this is an editorial....ha ha. Anyway...there are great people on both sides of the divide, as with anything else in life. I say we put all the ones causing trouble in one neighborhood and the ones that can co-exist in harmony while preserving the flavor and culture of the neighborhood now in the other neighborhood. lol. Anyway....who doesn't love art and food? I'm going to try to check out the event and *gasp* maybe even take some pictures for my blog to represent Chicago, which I don't do nearly enough of! HAPPY FRIDAY ALL!!!!!!

oh man, there's some things going on right now in my life I feel like would give my readers a huge chuckle.....I'm still thinking about it. Writing is fun like that, either have no fear and say it or remain closed off.......fearing what people might have to say. I go both ways. Depending on the day. Ciao!


Sunday June 14,
10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Paseo Prairie Garden
Intersections of Kedzie, Milwaukee Avenue, and Diversey
(Across from the Logan Square Centennial Monument)

Artists, Educators, and Urban Farmers
Promote A Culture of Peace and Unity

Armed with brushes, paint, and canvases, 20 Chicago artists unite with urban farmers, Avondale School, and community leaders to promote a culture of peace and unity through live open-air painting. The event is part of a CeaseFire campaign.

"We are inviting the youth and families to paint with us collectively or individually around the theme of 'Plant Peace, Harvest Justice,'" says Paseo event organizer Noah Swinney Stein. The twenty artists, joined by students from Avondale Elementary School, and the public, plan to paint live for five hours. The goal is to inspire residents to embrace the arts; kids to explore art related careers and promote their vision of world peace. Organizers hope that besides promoting peace, the event serves as an economic stimulus for the struggling northern Milwaukee Avenue corridor.

"These events are much more than live art shows," says Logan Square based artist Victor M. Montañez. "What we are promoting is that participation and process are equally as important as product. If we want to promote peac
e, or economic revitalization, it is imperative that we do it as a collective, while taking up individual responsibility."

Serving as a metaphor for collective engagement, will be a large painting made during the event. Collective painting is a major departure from the typical notion of an artist working in solitude and with sole control of the artistic process and product. At Paseo Garden, anyone can join in.

In Chicago, like in other major urban cities, artists are often credited with ushering in gentrification. As artists move into neighborhoods, developers and trendy businesses soon follow, turning blighted areas into lucrative real estate hot spots. The resulting neighborhood displaces the poorest of residents, which often includes the working artists.

Montañez believes there is an alternative. 'We are already rich; Our wealth is our culture. We can turnaround our neighborhoods by promoting local talent and local businesses without pushing out the existing storefronts, the poorest of residents, and working artists."

The Paseo event is one in a series of art related events in Logan Square. Two more live painting events will take place: Sunday June 21st at the Logan Square Farmers´ Market and on July 18 at Unity Park. They will be followed by a three day Arts festival in the first weekend of August, complemented by four Saturday summer music sessions at the Logan Square centennial monument and several open studios in October as part of Chicago Artists month.


"These are opportunities to bring people together as artists and neighbors. We are working collaboratively to create art that is reflective of our values," says artist Abdi Maya. "This is not a one-time event. We are life long artists and active participants in our communities."

The Paseo Garden and Farmers Market Live Art events are both funded by ALSO, (Alliance of Local Service Organizations, La Capilla del Barrio (the Neighborhood Chapel,) The Chicago GEAR UP Alliance (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs), and Blick Art Materials Lincoln Park Store.
The two events are part of A CeaseFire campaign.

Friends Of the Parks, GEAR UP, and BLICK, fund Unity Park´s Art in The Park program. All events run from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.

Event Sponsors include Alderman Rey Colon, State Senator Iris Martinez, Logan Square Chamber of Commerce, Chicago ARTillery, New Wave Coffee, Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival, N.A.I.L.S., and Summer Sessions on the Square.

Sunday, June 14, participating artists include:
Ann Cibulskis, Alexandria Cmaylo, Liz Farias, Tracy Kostenbader, Charlie Lindsey, Abdi Maya, Chrystal Mcgrew, Helem Maya, Rene R. Montañez, Victor M. Montañez, Benjamin Osbourne, Thomas Plum, Camilo Q. Quintana, Franklin Riley, Eddie Rogers, Lizette Salgado, David Spjut, Erica Swinney Stein, Noah Swinney Stein, and Rocio Urbano,

Wordy Rappinghood & Day Two

It's been two days since I've had a cigarette. Am I trying to quit you ask? Well, always trying to quit. Ironically, I was just busy yesterday. I had to work (I never smoke during the day) and I had to teach ESL immediately after work. When I got home I was just tired and didn't feel like it. So today goes the same. I didn't have to teach after work but I'm just over it at the moment. Wish me luck! Now what do I do when the real cravings kick in? I've tried everything. I think those patches are stupid. It's all in your head. When I want a cigarette I WANT a cigarette whether I'm wearing a patch or not. The mind is a VERY VERY VERY powerful thing. Now reflect on that. If it's SO powerful in a negative way, think about the things it can be powerful in a POSITIVE way. Food for thought.

I love this song. Never saw the video until now but if you haven't guessed, I love words. And writing. And language. Words are worthless but so full of worth. Much like my interpretation of life. (Disclaimer: Not that life is "worthless" per se....but all the shit we pretend means something so serious doesn't really mean anything....nothing is really that serious. But like words being also full of worth, life is full of worth as well. In a smile. A flower. A thunderstorm...so on and so forth.) Ok Deep Thoughts 101 Session 2 dismissed!

The Police: De do do do

I don' think I've ever known the lyrics to this song. Pretty cool is all the words I have to say. Since less is sometimes more!

Dont think me unkind
Words are hard to find
The only cheques Ive left unsigned
From the banks of chaos in my mind
And when their eloquence escapes me
Their logic ties me up and rapes me

De do do do, de da da da
Is all I want to say to you
De do do do, de da da da
Their innocence will pull me through
De do do do, de da da da
Is all I want to say to you
De do do do, de da da da
Theyre meaningless and all thats true

Poets, priests and poiticians
Have words to thank for their positions
Words that scream for your submission
And no ones jamming their transmission
cos when their eloquence escapes you
Their logic ties you up and rapes you

De do do do, de da da da
Is all I want to say to you
De do do do, de da da da
Their innocence will pull me through
De do do do, de da da da
Is all I want to say to you
De do do do, de da da da
Theyre meaningless and all thats true

Fried Chicken Festival

Where to begin? This weekend began slow and picked up speed only to slow down again and at first I was full of anxiety because I didn't have any "alone" time, which if you know me well enough, you know it sketches me out. But then I just let it go because my girls were over, Manolo, my new Brazilian exchange student settled in and Twon was around to hang out with us too! I won't expound on every minute detail of our gathering, but I must linger on the note of food. We are a communal "family" so to speak. Cooking and eating are highly ritualistic for us. I mean, I think it should be for all of humanity, given that we all have to eat and we all have to derive nutritional value from the plants and animals (or not if you're vegetarian) that are naturally (or not) found on this earth. Yea, I took it a little deep there. But it's true. With that in mind......we had a FRIED CHICKEN FESTIVAL!!!! Ok, Moo and Carmen spent the night Saturday and Sunday. Sunday Carmen planted the fried chicken seed. And off we went with it. Final product. Fried chicken, tacos with ^*$#) meat (Twon I forgot the name of the meat you bought, please remind me.) fresh onions, tomatoes, cilantro for the tacos....and the infamous Gallo Pinto. I'm sorry I only have two photos and they don't do the finished product much justice but here's the pics. And the recipe for Gallo Pinto, the Costa Rican rice and beans dish. Mmmmm Mmmmmm yummy!


Here is the marvelous Gallo Pinto recipe and pictures.....or at least the one I used. Topped it with some Lizano sauce and voila. Say you love me!

1 lb Black beans. Fresh are best but canned black beans just as good!
8-10 sprigs cilantro fresh
1 small or medium onion
½ small red or yellow sweet pepper (optional) (I used a reddening green pepper!)
3 cups (700 ml) chicken broth or water
2 cups (350 ml) white rice
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
1 Tablespoon (15 ml) vegetable oil
1-3 Tablespoon oil to fry the Gallo Pinto


Chop cilantro, onion, and sweet pepper very fine.

Add 1 Tablespoon oil to a large pan and sauté the dry rice for 2 minutes over medium high flame then add the chopped onion, sweet pepper and cilantro and sauté another 2 minutes. Add water or chicken broth, bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer until rice is tender (20-35 minutes). This is also the recipe for Tico rice used in other favorites like tamales.

Some people add a tablespoon or so of salsa Lizano to the beans while they're cooking. (I did!)

ENJOY!

Costa Rica at a glance

I know my thoughts are all consumed with Costa Rica and all things Latin American right now but can you blame me? Obviously I have an affinity for Latin American culture and "stuff" but I assure you, there's more milling around in my brain. I promise I'll deliver the goods on more than just Latin America or Costa Rica but for now, my exchange student will be arriving in an hour or so and I'm not sure when or if I'll have time for another post today so enjoy some surreal looking plant life. Mmmmmm......I. REALLY. LOVE. TROPICAL. PLANTS. (Enough that I simulate the tropics as much as possible in Chicago. Thus far I've got a Dulce Limon tree (cross between lemon, lime and orange), and two different types of palms. Next up, I'd love to get some tropical flower plants! :)

I forgot the name of this bird but this was outside the front door of my Tico friends house that I stayed at for three days.


In front of his house again. See the beautiful plantains? I wish I had gotten a picture of the avocado tree!


Sitting outside at a restaurant drinking my wine....this is the view over the balcony.


Again in front of my friends house.


My nephew Brody. This picture is priceless.


Picture I took from the airplane. I LOVE mountains. I LOVE tropical plants. Maybe it's right that I want to be in Costa Rica!


This is the view from inside my friends house.


Sunset in Jaco.

language, language, language

I always said if I could have one superpower it would be to speak all languages that ever existed. Think about how awesome that would be. Well, I think it would. I'm a madwoman these days stumbling across new blogs with vast amounts of information. I must admit, I thank my lucky stars every day to be alive during the cyberspace generation. When I was a kid, I used to make my mom take me to the library and I would spend HOURS there....browsing the shelves for new things to read about, looking up stuff in the phone books they had there (cuz I couldn't just jump on the internet and look it up)....I had penpals in foreign countries....the thrill of knowing what someone's daily life was on the other side of the planet mesmerized me. Well, at this point in time I'm only fluent in English. I can hold my own in Spanish but I'm definitely not fluent. And as I was reading my friends language blog and there was a posting about the Cyrillic alphabet, I remembered a time last year when I taught myself the Cyrillic alphabet and was determined to learn Russian. Ironically I live in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in Chicago, but my exactly corner....the little tiny enclave that encompasses maybe 6 buildings....are all Russian and Ukranian! I made friends with a lot of them at one point in time and was definitely the odd woman out. So I decided to try to learn. That fell by the wayside when they moved or we lost touch. But I think I want to pick it up again. But very leisurely....I'm committed more to Spanish at this point in time. For your viewing pleasure...here's the Cyrillic alphabet. I think it looks pretty damn cool. What do you think? How many languages can you speak? I always wondered it it was hard if two people are talking to you at the same time in a different language but you are fluent in both do you just "understand" them both at the same time? ha ha.

Costa Rica Wants To Be The First Carbon Free Country

Costa Rica Is 99% Powered By Renewable Energy
by Justin on April 8, 2008
in Renewable Power
http://www.metaefficient.com/


Costa Rica is a country rich with renewable energy. In fact, it gets about 99% of all its electrical energy from clean sources, and it’s aiming to be the first country to become carbon neutral (more about that below). Some of Costa Rica’s energy sources include geothermal energy, the burning of sugarcane waste and other biomass, solar and wind energy. However, the largest source of energy is hydroelectricity — its hydroelectric dams provide more than 82% of the country’s electricity.

But the electric needs of Costa Rica are increasing, and the government now wants to build new dams that would displace indigenous villages and flood valuable habitats. Local environmental groups are opposing the construction of new hydroelectric dams.

Also, Costa Rica’s efforts to minimize its own contributions to global warming have made it especially vulnerable to climate changes caused by other countries. The reason is rain. Even a tiny shift in rainfall patterns could leave the country without enough water to meet its growing demand for electricity. And scientists say climate change is likely to have a significant effect on rainfall.

But Costa Rica is working to become the world’s first carbon-neutral country (other countries vying to be first are Monaco, Norway, New Zealand and Iceland). Costa Rica wants to become carbon neutral in time to celebrate 200 years of independence in 2021, says environment and energy minister Roberto Dobles.

Wind power might come to forefront in Costa Rica — a large wind farm with 22 turbines has been working in Tilarán, Guanacaste since 2002 and more are scheduled to be installed in the mountains of Escazú and Santa Ana. A new geothermal plant, using naturally-existing superheated water to power steam turbines, is also scheduled to be producing electricity in 2010 near Rincón de la Vieja Volcano, in the province of Guanacaste.