Next year in Cuba

My mom just text me to remind me to toast "El año que viene en Cuba" at midnight. For as long as I can remember my family, my mother especially has always toasted to that on New Year's Eve, my dad not so much, he was born in the US as was his father before him, he's never been to Cuba, he doesn't even speak Spanish. But my mom still remembers the night she and her family were woken up, hastily grabbing a few belongings and stowing away on a boat to meet my Grandfather in the US who had been granted political asylum for his condemnation of not only communism but the corrupt government of Batista. I can't imagine having to leave everything you know behind, your friends, family, toys, clothes, school, everything to go to a foreign land because an arrest warrant (which in those days usually resulted in a bullet to the head behind the police station)  had been issued for your father and that anything  would be done to make sure he came back to Cuba, even taking into custody your pregnant mother, you and young siblings as leverage.
It's a toast her parents always made and one she always makes, one I always make on  her behalf, even though a life in Cuba is as alien to me as a life on Mars. Because of my grandfather's beliefs members of his family are not allowed back into Cuba, both my grandparents died and never saw Cuba again. Who knows if my mother will ever see the tobacco fields of Pinar del Rio, her family once owned and she ran through as a child, I know she hopes for it every day, but fifty plus years later she still waits and makes the same toast that is more of a prayer."El año que viene en Cuba/Next year in Cuba" I guess you have to have hope and keep the faith.

Our Lady of Charity - Caridad Del Cobre

Our Virgin Lady of Charity of Cobre or simply Cachita as she is affectionately known to to the people of Cuba has a simple and beautiful story. Around the year 1600 three local boys from Santiago Del Prado, which is presently known as El Cobre, were sent to

Shrine to Cachita

sea to gather salt used to preserve the meat in the town’s slaughterhouse.  The boys were brothers Rodrigo and Juan de Hoyos native Indians and Juan Moreno a young black slave about 10 years old.

Halfway across the Bay of Nipe, a fierce storm threatened to sink their small boat and they prayed for divine help.  The seas calmed down suddenly and the boys saw a white  bundle floating in the distance atop a piece of wood.  At first the boys confused it for a bird but as they got closer they saw that it was a small statue of the Virgin Mary.  She was holding Baby Jesus in her left arm and carried a gold cross in her right hand.  In the wood the words, Yo soy la Virgen de la Caridad (I am the Virgin of Charity) were inscribed. 

The boys gathered the statue noticing that despite the strong storm that had just passed and the high waves of the ocean it was not wet.  The young men brought the statue back to their village and a chapel was built.  Soon the chapel became a pilgrimage site and  the town where her sanctuary was built was named “El Cobre”.  In 1916 Pope Benedict XV declared Our Lady of Charity patroness of Cuba. 

Her feast day is celebrated September 8^th the same day that the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria celebrates the feast day of the Oricha Ochun.   African slaves identified Cachita with Ochun the Oricha or Goddess of love, femininity and sensuality.  To this day practitioners of the Yoruba Religion synchretize Ochun with the beloved Catholic image of Our Lady of Charity.   

Regardless of whether you pray to Cachita or Ochun believers always light a yellow candle on September 8^th.  And ask them to look upon us mortals with eyes of charity and invite them to spread their love and kindness into our hearts.  Nothing you request is too small or too big for them.

"Who cares...."

As a happy go blogger and an active commenter on many a website, I respect that

everyone is entitled to their opinion, and has the right to express that opinion on the comments section of any website. I might not like that opinion, I might not agree with that opinion, but I respect your right to have it. Even when the opinion is inane, bigoted or just down right ignorant, I still think having an opinion is better than having no opinion at all. Nothing bothers me much, I'm not easily offended, but the one thing that does get up my ass is when someone comments on an article or column or another blog with "Who cares".
I have seen this comment, on a myriad of topics from the birth of Prince George to the deaths of civilians in drone attacks carried out by the military.

Really that's all you could muster up to say, are you really that mindless that the only thing you can think of is "Who cares" Well let me tell you who cares.....YOU apparently. Let's see, you searched the internet for this article, you read it from beginning to end, you then signed up or logged into the website so you could be able to comment on the article and then you write "Who cares"?!?!
Doesn't it seem moronic to you that you went through all that just to post a useless comment  on an article you deem  worthless and nonsensical.....?

John D. Rockefeller Jr's List of Principles

In 1962, a plaque was placed at the Rockefeller Plaza with a list of principles in which John D. Rockefeller Jr. believed, first expressed by him in 1941. It reads:

 "I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
 
I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.

I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the people and not their master.

I believe in the Dignity of labor,whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.

I believe that thrift is essential to well ordered living and that economy is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government, business or personal affairs.

I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order.

I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man's word should be as good as his bond; that character not wealth or power or position - is of supreme worth.

I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free.

I believe in an all-wise and all-loving God, named by whatever name, and that the individuals highest fulfilment, greatest happiness, and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His Will.

I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might."

Rockefeller Center: Atlas & GE Building

This massive seven-ton, 15-foot tall cast bronze statue of the colossal Titan Atlas has stood at the 630 Fifth Avenue main entrance frontcourt to Rockefeller Plaza since it was installed in January, 1937. Conceived and designed by Lee Lawrie, and modeled by Rene Chambellan, it depicts the story of Atlas from Greek mythology. The largest sculptural work in Rockefeller Center, it embodies both the Center's mythical and heroic theme as well as its Art Deco style.

Atlas, brother of Prometheus, was a Titan--one of the race of half-god half-man giants who warred against Zeus and the Olympic gods. After their defeat, Atlas was condemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders for his role in the uprising. The world is represented by an armillary spehere with the north-south axis poitning to the North Star. Affixed to one of the sphere's rings are symbols for twelve constellations through which the Sun passes during the year. Laid across his shoulders is a wide, curved beam that displays a frieze of the traditional symbols for Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Adjacent to Earth (over Atlas's right forearm) is a small crescent symbolizing the Moon. Atlas is depicted with exaggerated musculature and a stylized body, characteristic of Art Deco style. His face, deeply furrowed, Atlas stands perched atop a simple 9-foot granite pedestal--knees bent, with one leg overhanging, emphasizing the great burden he was made to carry. The warm brown patina not only draws attention, but contrasts against the white limestone of its background buildings. The pedestal is uniquely placed so that its corner faces off against Fifth Avenue to give the illusion of flow and space.

German-born Lee Lawrie was well known as an architectural sculptor. His work can be found at St. Thomas Church and throughout Rockefeller Center: Wisdom, flanked on the left by Light and on the right by Sound at 30 Rockefeller Plaza; Winged Mercury and Heraldic Lions at the British Empire Building; Fleur-de-lis and Seeds of Good Citizenship at La Maison Française; Progress at One Rockefeller Plaza; The Story of Mankind, Saint Francis of Assisi, Swords into Plowshares, Columbia Greeting a Woman, Boatman, Fourteen coats of Arms, and Corncucopia of Plenty at the International building.

Rene Paul Chambellan, an architectural modeler and sculptor, was born in 1893 in West Hoboken. He was one of the foremost practitioners of what was then called the French Modern Style and has subsequently been labeled Zig-Zag Moderne, or Art Deco. His sculpture adorns landmarks like the American Radiator Building, the Chicago Tribune Building, the New York Life Insurance Building, Carew Tower, the Chanin Building, Beekman Tower and the Daily News Building. His other pieces around Rockefeller Center include the decorative drain covers and fountainhead sculptures in the Channel Gardens, the Motifs from the Coats of Arms of the British Isles and Pageant of French History.

The GE Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, was completed in 1933 as the centerpiece of the Rockefeller Center complex. Designed by Raymond Hood and The Associated Architects, the 860-foot, 70-story Art Deco skyscraper was originally named the RCA Building for its main tenant, the Radio Corporation of America, formed in 1919 by General Electric. Today it is most famous as the headquarters and New York studios of the television network, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), also owned by GE. After RCA was reacquired (and split up) by GE in 1986, the building was renamed two years later.

"30 Rock" looks dramatically different when viewing its narrow and wide facades. From 5th Avenue it is an elegant, narrow shaft while looking down 6th Avenue it forms an enormous slab. It was the first building constructed with the elevators grouped in the central core. During construction, photographer Charles Clyde Ebbets took the famous photograph Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper on the 69th floor. Unlike most other tall Art-Deco buildings constructed in the 1930s, the GE Building has no spire on its roof. A shopping concourse, accessible from the lobby, sits below the building. The top floor of the building is an event room and restaurant named the Rainbow Room. The observation deck atop the building, "Top of the Rock," which had been closed since 1986 to accommodate the renovation of the Rainbow Room and reopened to the public in 2005, is built to resemble the deck of an ocean liner.

The Art Deco decoration of the building follows heroic and mythical themes glorifying modernity.
Rockefeller Center was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1985.
In 2007, Rockefeller Center was ranked #56 on the AIA 150 America's Favorite Architecture list.

REGIONAL OPEN CALL & LIVE SHOWCASE

Only the first 100 comics who arrive will be seen. Comics will have one minute at the initial audition. A handful will be invited back later that day to perform a longer set and the top comics will be selected to perform in the showcase the next evening.

This is not a show that will air on NBC, but rather an opportunity to be showcased for agents, casting directors, and television executives in consideration for future casting and development opportunities.

This open call is for comics of diverse backgrounds who are serious about being funny. Comics must have five minutes of polished material.

Auditions:
GOTHAM COMEDY CLUB
208 W 23rd Street
New York NY 10011
(between 7th & 8th Avenues)
www.gothamcomedyclub.com 

 OPEN CALL AUDITIONS (DAY 1)
Saturday, August 17, 9:00am
*Only the first 100 comics to arrive will be seen.

OPEN CALL AUDITIONS (DAY 2)
Sunday, August 18, 9:00am
*Only the first 100 comics to arrive will be seen.

 *Please Note: There will be two (2) days of auditions in New York.
You may choose only one day to audition. Please do not show up for both days.

 For more information please go to: www.StandUpNBC.com

Today Only - Free Iced Tea & Iced Coffee Day!

 

Print out the coupon for a free iced coffee or tea at Au Bon Pain - enjoy

Shark week

Happy Shark Week everyone!!!! This is Sharkie every year during Shark Week he leaves his regular place on my bed to wherever the TV is to watch his brethren, hunt, kill and eat all manner of things.
Sharks simultaneously fascinate and terrify me. I have watched Shark Week for as long as I can remember, as a little girl curled up in the crook of my mother's arm, as a teenager, surrounded by "protection" cushions on the TV room floor with my older brothers. And now as an adult after a long day at work, with my feet up and ice tea in my hand.
Playing Shark was one of our favorite pool games as kids, we'd all swim around the pool and the designated shark would try to grab our feet and pull us under, if you got pulled under, you automatically became the shark....good times!

I am loving this year's Snuffy the Seal Shark Week commercial, enjoy.

Top Tweet

After nearly three years on Twitter I've gotten my first Top Tweet. If you, like me, are wondering what  Top Tweets are, well simply put Top Tweets shows a collection of recent messages that scroll every couple seconds.
That’s what it does, but the bigger question is, How does it work?
For the answer to that question, Twitter’s Chief Scientist, Abdur Chowdhury, explained that there’s no wizard behind the scenes choosing which tweets to show on the new home page. It’s all algorithmic.

"Top Tweets is a new algorithm we developed that finds tweets that are catching the attention of other users," he says. "The algorithm looks at all kinds of interactions with tweets including retweets, favorites, and more to identify the tweets with the highest velocity beyond expectations."

That last bit there is important: the tweets with the highest velocity beyond expectations. Obviously, there’s all kinds of science and computation going on here.

Every Twitter user, it seems, has an expected level of attention and interaction for his/her tweets. If a tweet surpasses expectations, it might hit Top Tweets. And while the home page currently seems to focus on celebrity Twitter users, Chowdhury says that shouldn’t always be the case.

This is intended to highlight Tweets from all users and doesn’t favor those with large follower counts.

Angry bird.....

A bird flying south for the winter, got so cold he froze and fell to the ground in the middle of a cattle field,one of the cows shit on him, and at first he was pissed but the cow's shit was so warm he started to thaw out and he felt happy and content so he started to sing, a nearby cat heard his song and came into the field pulled the bird out of the shit cleaned him off and ate the poor bird - the moral of the story is, not everyone who craps on you is your enemy and not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.