No hay por qué escribir things real aquí, ¿ves? It was all an act, desde hace mucho. Tú me viniste encima y pues ni me la hubiera imaginado. ¿Cómo puede ser que tú supiste todo? You left me in the dust. Ahora andas aparentando como si entendieras todo y por eso me esfuerzo a meterle palabras díficiles, construcciones gramaticales revueltas para que dejes de castrarme. Just so you'll be on the outside. What were we saying juntos anyway? Right, ya dejo las chingaderas porque esto no dice nada y no me ganará ni cacahuates como quién dice. Ni sé si los acentos están bien o no. Ya no me acuerdo. Hay que estudiar, un chingo. Por si las moscas. Porque en el carro, decidí muchas cosas pero nunca las terminaré. Se quedarán en ese vacío entre el antes y ahora. No que I know what, I don't y punto. It's all an act, te digo. See through it. ¿Y luego? It'll be okay. A new cliché turns round the esquina. Ni te lo esperaba, pero llegaste. Such trouble to have walked this far and nothing at all to show for it. Pido perdón a todos los fans. Pa' la próxima sí voy a mejorar.

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Camelia La Texana

Uno tiene que ser orgulloso de su gente, en mi opinión. Y pues la hija de San Antonio, Camelia, nos ha hecho famosos.

¿Por qué es que todos los videos usan travestis para el papel de Camelia?

Y la letra:

Salieron de San Isidro,
procedentes de Tijuana,
traian las llantas del carro
repletas de hierba mala,
eran Emilio Varela,
y Camelia, la Texana

Pasaron por San Clemente
los paró la emigración,
les pidió sus documentos,
les dijó: ¿De donde son?
Ella era de San Antonio,
un hembra de corazón.

Una hembra si quiere un hombre,
por él puede dar la vida,
pero hay que tener cuidado
si esa hembra se siente herida,
la traición y el contrabando...
son cosas incompartidas.

A Los Angeles llegaron,
a Hollywood se pasaron,
en un callejón oscuro
las cuatro llantas cambiaron,
ahi entregaron la hierba...
y ahi también les pagaron

Emilio dice a Camelia:
Hoy te das por despedida,
con la parte que te toca
tu puedes rehacer tu vida,
yo me voy pa` San Francisco,
con la dueña de mi vida.

Sonaron siete balazos,
Camelia a Emilio mataba,
la policìa sólo halló una pistola tirada,
del dinero y de Camelia...
Nunca mas se supo nada

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Found on Lined School Paper on a Backstreet in Galveston, Texas

Chupa rosa preparada

oracion de la chuparosas

miel de amor


***


Suck prepared rose

prayer of the rosesucker

honey of love

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White People Love Obama

Despite what Hillary is saying these days:



White people still do seem to love Barack.

That's 75,000 people in Portland, Oregon at a Barack rally. But, right, white people in Portland probably aren't the hardworking white people that support Hillary so much. But, um, 75,000 people in Oregon can't be wrong. And yeah, they're probably not all white, but they are probably pretty similar to the demographics of Portland (almost 80% white) or Oregon (like 92% white). So yeah, I don't think Hillary is right that she has some secret white magic over white people. Stop race-baiting, Hillary.

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Diana and Mario

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Made My Day

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Thanks to Giver for the link to this amazing art from Buenos Aires.

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The Second Award for Oppressive White Man of the Day

Seattle ICE Officers (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) are searching local courtrooms in Seattle, asking legal interpreters to identify Spanish-speakers. The officers are trying to check status and initiate removal proceedings for undocumented people and especially those with issues in court (which include traffic violations to parking to low level misdeanors).

Interpreters decline.

Link here.

(Seattle ICE enforcement field director Neil Clark wins the award for Oppressive White Man of the Day. This is the second of a series. The first is here.)

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Good Legal Interpreting Glossaries

For the past year or so, I have been studying seriously to try to learn Legal English and Legal Spanish. Two completely new languages for me that have taken a lot of time and energy to learn. Interpreting is alone partially about terminology. When I first started I thought that the terminology would be the major difficulty. In fact, it is only step one: then there's grammar and memory and retention and phrasing and intonation and ethics and a million other important items. However, step one remains terminology; in fact, it is step one every day that an interpreter is working because one has to constantly be thinking about the terms used and how well they convey the specific meanign in question.

In any case, I have spent days searching for good legal terminology glossaries. I have already posted a good glossary for immigration interpreting. But here are links to several more glossaries that I have found helpful:

State of Washington Legal Glossary

Vera Project's Translating Justice: A Spanish Glossary for New York City

New Jersey Glossary of Legal Terms

If you have any more good ones, please let me know.

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Javier Huerta's Fourteen Steps to Publishing Bilingual Poetry

From Javier's blog:

So the first step is to research those institutions (presses and journals) that accept Spanish and bilingual submissions.

So the second step is to submit as much and as often as possible. Publishers aren't going to find you, no matter how good your poems are.

So the third step is to learn that rejection is just part of the process.

So the fourth step is to read Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet."

So the fifth step is to memorize "El Louie."

So the sixth step is to write a poem in your limited French.

So the seventh step is to organize your manuscript and have a nonpoet comment on it.

So the eighth step is to have your grandmother edit your Spanish poems.

So the ninth step is to send your manuscript to me at johuerta@berkeley.edu.

So the tenth step is to understand that you've never published before.

So the eleventh step is to not argue with your publisher once you have a publisher.

So the twelfth step is to consider publishing beyond the borders of the United States of America.

So the thirteenth step is remaining patient while it takes your publisher two years to publish your book.

So the fourteenth step is staying beautiful.

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Se puede hacer poesía de todo. Todo puede ser poesía... Claro que de ahí a lograr esa auténtica ligereza en poesía, esa cotidianeidad, ese humor, esas viñatas epigramáticas, como las que aparecen el los autores [como] Cavafis; o bien, esas fábulas o escenas cotidianas, blancas, desnudas o moderadas en su retórica (como ciertos textos de Pacheco), hay un buen trecho... Uno hace sólo lo que puede, y no todo lo que ambiciona. Por lo demás, en la juventud se ambicionan demasiadas cosas, que luego se revelan del todo imposibles... [como] volver a medir y a rimar, aventura en la que de plano de obtuve mayores resultados...

- José Joaquín Blanco, Postales trucadas (2005)

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