Democracy Is Not a Spectator Sport

Best things in life are free and my current favorite T-shirt proves it.

I kept hitting my head against the wall trying to put Howard Zinn and Massive Attack in one sentence. Oh, I guess I just did...

Professor Zinn's presence in and around my alma mater was too sentimental and I felt as if I had lost a mentor when the world lost him in January of this year. He was one of the main reasons why I attended BU, being introduced to him during a high school World History class. I took my first college date to his annual lecture in 2006, after which we turned the occasion into a special ritual to commemorate our anniversary.

Then there is Massive Attack who are still here, still rocking steady. Music has been my preferred medium for expression of radical ideas for a long time and last month's show was a sweet surprise. When the video installations rolled Howard Zinn's pearls of wisdom, something inside me shook so violently that at last, I was able to find outward expression of the dormant hunger for justice. All that was left to do was to act on the impulse to create, to destroy, to seek and to simply to do, act, work towards something meaningful. So I danced. I danced even more fiercely, and I hoped. I hoped that I wasn't alone in the crowd packed venue, ripping by the mad force that were the fanatic, maniacal Massive Attack fans. I hoped that they read what I was reading, that they saw what I was seeing. And that they knew what they needed to do more than I understood then or can fully comprehend now.

Synthetic, Artificial, Sci-fi and Cool

On a regular basis, I go back and forth arguing with friends on the impact of today's discoveries. We brush aside the much-publicized moral dilemmas and focus on the juggernaut, the coolness aspect of each innovation. In the end, whether we speak of genetically modified fruit in our insipid mango juice or the creators of the first synthetic cell, the new rock stars you may say, we seem to agree that the mass consumer will embrace the new as easily as they brush aside the old. But there's a catch. There is one condition - how to prove that the synthetically created, cloned or artificially modified product is just as good if not better than the natural, preservative-free, untouched one? Marketing helps, but preconceived notions are not easy to shake and for a reason too. I, as a consumer, could not care less where or how my food is produced if I couldn't tell the difference; moreover, if I knew for a fact that the new product is enhanced with vitamins without a single side effect much like its good old naturally-born prototype, I'll be the first one in line at the grocery store (a place I still dread to this day). To elaborate, I feel constantly cheated when I shop and know what food labels hide from me as if I were a character from Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" consciously choosing to ignore the truth. There are too many things that are wrong with our society and I need to pick my battles after all!

Purpose Maximizing

Warm glows and purpose vs profit maximization problems. Or how to rethink undergraduate economics.

Philanthropy will not save the world...

...But it gives hope that the world is worth saving.

Feliz Cinco De Mayo, Boston!

Only a state like Massachusetts can get away with legally boycotting a state like Arizona.


Here's an obvious step to promote a little bit of my immigrant-Bostonian pride.

¡Felicidades!

May Day, May Day

I'll take the risk of being dubbed a socialist, a leftist, a commie even, and I wish you a pleasant celebration on this year's sunniest spring day. Happy May Day!*

*This holiday is not to be confused with the American version, known as Labor Day, occurring on the first Monday in September of each year. Despite (or maybe because of) history of May Day celebrations following the 1866 Haymarket Affair, May 1st is no longer a national holiday. I will not be protesting nor participating in any kind of strikes (for tomorrow is Saturday, my day off). Instead, I will be following a May tradition of my own, basking in the sun and enjoying my friends' company. Whatever your political beliefs may be, forget them all tomorrow and remember that we're all workers - from students, to stay-home moms - and we slave all week so we can loosen up on those glorious weekends.

Where's TED?

TED was @ BU! TEDxBU quickly evolved from myth to reality this past Sunday. And were we excited!

The theme "To Epiphany and Beyond" did stimulate a personal epiphany of my own. In the final couple of weeks of my last year of college, I realized how many gifted and interesting people I failed to meet during these past four years due to the choices I have made for lack of better judgment. What counts is the realization, better late than never as the saying goes.

TED is a sweeping phenomenon in a category of its own, growing in popularity with every minute passed. The appeal of having such an independently organized event at BU (hence the "x" in the title) was felt by everyone from the presenters (who, by the way, showed that age/experience is the last thing that matters for the creation of an engaging and powerful presentation) to the organizers and the listeners, myself included in the last category. Whether the talk failed to spark the much advertised, following discussion-to-be is beside the point. Who wouldn't rush out of the auditorium after 5 hours of almost non-stop presentations, which were intriguing yes, but tiring nonetheless? We all needed a breath of cold, fresh, late-April-in-Boston air.  

Either way, I felt like I left that auditorium a better person. If you've met me, you know that I say what I mean and I mean what I say in the wise words of Dr. Seuss. Whether I agreed or disagreed, I never failed to applause. Up until today, I couldn't make up my mind whether to focus on the small steps (to which the first part of TEDx was dedicated, with a direct approach on non-profit action in Africa) or to look at the big picture where hugs can heal hate. With a nudge from yesterday's talk, I dare to explore the possibilities and to dream that one day, in this global village we live in, there will be no such choice as the frontiers will continue to be shifted until there are none left, until the actions on a local scale affect everything we do on the more global level. 

Most likely, I will continue to be called an idealist or a hippie, but to quote Salvador Allende, "Ser joven y no ser revolucionario es una contradicción hasta biológica." I'd like to think that I'm still young...