WRITING CULTURE 2012: Film, Food & Beyond

Just how high can a man reach before he exceeds his grasp?

Science fiction is one of those genre’s that is much admired, but very little understood. Some of the most iconic movies have been science fiction; Star Wars, Terminator, Blade Runner, etc., that spawned dedicated following still in existence today.  It captures the imagination and, unlike fantasy, has the added advantage of having that tantalizing possibility of being real at some point in time. And the subject is versatile, able to blend in with several other different genres like romance, comedy, action, horror, or mystery.

But for all those pluses, it’s still a very niche subject that rarely breaks into mainstream popularity. The one turn off for the subject among casual viewers that I’ve seen is also the one aspect that I absolutely love the most, that it takes a lot of effort to comprehend and understand. It challenges viewers by breaking down their original conceptions of what’s possible, but that’s the beauty of science fiction in my mind. I consider myself an open-minded person    for the most part, and in this case nothing impresses me more then when creators push the boundaries of ones imagination and exploring new ideas I hadn’t even dreamed about before. It’s the immersive experience of it all that gives me my money’s worth, and by the end of it I feel this deep sense of satisfaction that all the effort I put into it paid off. If I could compare it to anything it would be like doing well with a particular subject in a classroom, it takes a lot of work, but only then can you truly appreciate it by the end. Maybe that’s not worth it to some people, but for me they just don’t know what they’re missing out on.

photo courtesy of www.puertoricanmeals.com

During the holidays it is guaranteed to have Arroz con Gandules (rice with pigeon peas) accompanied with other traditional dishes. While having so much rice is not the healthiest diet, I love when my mom cooks up a pot of rice and peas. Let’s not also forget the slab of pork chop that’s perfectly seasoned and fried with a small green salad to complete the whole dish. The juice that drips as you bite into the pork chop is mouth watering as I type this description. 

Growing up in South Florida, I have seen many a hurricane. Some bad, some not so much, and a lot of time spent indoors waiting out the storm. Hurricane Sandy, however, interrupted life in a more irritating and destructive manner.

Coming in on my birthday, which of course is a petty complaint, and then sticking around for a few day, I was fortunate enough to be in a location where power blipped off for a few seconds only to resume and stay on for the remainder of my forced hurrication. A crane precariously dangled above 57th street just half an avenue away forcing most of nearby blocks to evacuate. Imagine, not being forced to evacuate by the actual storm, but because a building where apartments are selling for $90 million dollars neglected to secure their equipment.

I would love to say I see redeeming qualities about the storm; maybe that it is now bringing people together to help those who lost everything, but, it should not take disaster to do this. So with just these few things, I sufficiently loathe Hurricane Sandy.

Picture taken from www.weeklynews.com

The weird thing about Hurricane Sandy is that I have both love and hate for her. I hate her because of the devastation she caused and the countless lives she ruined. People fail to realize that Sandy was also in the Caribbean and affected people In the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. I had a friend who was in Jamaica for business and she was stuck out there in her hotel room the hotel time and didn’t get to conduct any business. Sandy has really done a number on the world as we know it, and to think I did not really believe the forecasters when they said there would be a storm. Hurricane Sandy shut down numerous businesses and cost billions of dollars in property damage not to mention closing local schools. Now many of you are like “what’s the big deal with school being closed” but I want to remind you that if schools are closed those missed days have to be made up and more than likely the semester will have to be extended. A friend of mine whose children are in elementary school told me that the public school systems plan on canceling winter recess so the days can be made up. The only problem is that my friend has already paid for hotel and flight accommodations to take her family to Disney Land. See, there goes Sandy messing things up. I also found out today that in order to make up for the 2 classes I missed that I have to come to class on Sunday, what kind of crap is that?

Even though I have hate for Sandy, she does get a little love from me because she brought families and friends closer together. As a matter of fact she brought strangers together and made them friends. People in this world spend so much time avoiding their neighbors, their friends and families and this storm made us realize that you need these people in your life. Many strangers saved people from burning and flooded buildings, many family members made room in their homes for relatives they hadn’t heard from in months or even years. Hurricane Sandy made people think about something other than material possessions, they thought about their lives. Some people may have even made resolutions to do things different if they survived the storm and I hope that they stick to them.

As far as with me, Hurricane Sandy actually gave me a lot of one on one time with my girlfriend, we had the chance to talk more and enjoy each other’s company. We even built a shelf for our bathroom which was cool. I can’t remember the last time I put something together and everything went well. I even carved a pencil into a wooden piece that was missing from the pieces needed to put the shelf together. I can’t believe I even did that and I will always remember that memory. We also watched movies and played scrabble which is something I haven’t done since the early 90’s. It felt good going back to a simpler time when there wasn’t many distractions and you had to rely on one another for entertainment. I really was challenged by putting that shelf together and playing scrabble made my brain hurt but it was fun. I felt a sense of accomplishment. I’m curious how many families had conversations in one room for the first time in years. How many actually ate dinner together and watched TV together for the first time in years. That describes my love/hate relationship with Hurricane Sandy.

(Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster)

I’m in a state of beatitude. I couldn’t be more thrilled at the results of this election. It wasn’t a “fluke” as I’ve heard for the past few days that President Obama is a one-term president. It is kismet. President Obama has proven that he is a better man for the job.

This was my first time voting. I was upset when I couldn’t vote in the 2008 election. My birthday is in December and I wouldn’t turn 18 until then and you vote in November. But that didn’t stop me from encouraging my peers who were eligible to go out and vote. I made sure to register to vote this year; I know jury duty will call me soon. I was so excited to leave school to cast my ballot. I felt it was my civic duty, “Your vote really doesn’t count” I’ve been told by some friends. So what? Even if it doesn’t count, even if it didn’t count I was going to do it. Why? I had to for all those people who lost their lives to give me this opportunity as a black female. I was going to do it just because, I can. Voting is my right.

I didn’t listen to the news coverage as the polls came in from each state. I avoided tuning in to any news station like the plague. I disabled push-notifications from news application on my cellphone so I couldn’t get any alerts. I just wanted the final results. I just wanted to know if I had to pack for Canada or not. Alas, the results were in, “President Obama is re-elected!” my mother screamed. I ran outside to the living room, “Sweet baby Jesus he did it again! Yes!” I was so overwhelmed. I still am. My heart feels full of pride. I’m grateful to be apart of such a powerful election, legendary. Even through this economic crisis Americans still have faith in our president.

My eyelids peeled, eyeballs glued to the television set, owl ears alert, I had to listen to Mitt Romney’s concession speech. Most importantly I had to hear the presidents victory speech. I’m amused that Romney hadn’t prepared a speech in chance of defeat. Humility must have no place in the Romney home. However, I am satisfied with his speech. I didn’t really expect much. Almost an hour later President Obama spoke in perfect aplomb. I am awed by the presence of this man; he has this certain je ne sais quoi. My faith in his leadership is renewed, not that I ever doubted him. Sorry Donald Trump – NOT.

(Credit: AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

When most people think of hurricane Sandy, they may picture destroyed homes, flooded streets and a pitch black downtown Manhattan.
These are the same things I pictured in my head as I sat on Long Island, trapped by a sense of danger and glee that I was free from school. Of course there were thoughts of those that were suffering in my head, but such things were overcome by the delicacies of sleeping in, reading for hours on end, and eating massive amounts of junk food and candy.
While I may not have been overly affected by the immediate effects of the storm, it was the aftermath that sent my social life into a downward spiral of trendiness.
Once the sun was back and the leaves in the yard were raked up, I decided that it was time to go back to Manhattan to get back to some kind of work. It was a noble gesture, but ultimately one that cost me my freedom from ridicule and jest.
As I was packing up my car to make the trek, my mom alluded to a strange notion that there was going to be a shortage of gas.

This was just the beginning of the line. This monstrosity extended about 13 blocks and took about four hours to complete my tour of duty.

Having faith in our war effort to procure gas, and being a huge supporter of blowing up mother nature for more oil, I scoffed at my mother, and proceeded to haul ass at 90 miles per hour towards my doom.
I arrived in Brooklyn only to find that just about all of the gas stations had lines extending several blocks long, as if it was a wait for a new ride at Disney that took your wallet for a spin.
At first i was OK, I conserved my gas by skating a bit, but ultimately, trips to far out lands such as Bay Ridge and Staten Island left my gas gauge begging for a precious refill.
By the time I actually came around to compromising with myself to get some amber gold it was like half the world’s supply of oil had been used up.
I ended up having to wait on line for several hours in the wee hours of a Saturday morning, only to get myself just below half a tank of gas due to limitations on fuel.

Despite my sub-standard amounts of fuel, I trekked back to Long Island to get some free food and other supplies from my folks. Their situation was no better than mine, with folks waiting eight hours plus for gas deliveries that sometimes never came.
After a day and a half of hanging with the folks, I decided that I must return to the concrete jungle to again resume my work, but now my gas tank was a breath about a third full and my car burns gas like a wildfire.
But I did not come back to this city unprepared.
I knew that the trains, in particular the L and G trains, were going to be a shitshow.
To combat this terror, I was forced to hang up my skateboard and trade in my four wheels for two. My dad walked me to the shed, unlocked the doors, and showed me to my new bike.

This bike will kick your ass.

The beast is called a RoadMaster. It is an 18-speed death dealing, mountain eating and hipster crushing machine.
The tires are covered with treads that should belong on a Humvee, and the shocks on the front remind me of a dirt bike.
I am now three days deep into my biking excursion and I personally find it to be an enthralling and cathartic experience, but those who call themselves my compatriots have different opinions upon the matter.
My newly found love causes them to retch and belch up names terms such as “bike douche” and apparently I have been inducted into some bike nerd army.
Apparently all I needed was a means to get into the city during inclement times to be enlisted into this lifestyle.
I think back to a few weeks ago when all I had to do to leave my apartment and go to school was just plug in my headphones, crack the newspaper, and tunnel underground to the giant silver worms.
Now I must mount upon my mechanical steed, exert energy, and know that a Nor’Easter is right around the damned corner.
Look forward to my next piece about how I have to take the fucking bus due to 50 mile per hours gusts that would blow me off the Williamsburg bridge.

New York Magazine Cover Shot.

Hurricane Sandy was probably one of the scariest things I have lived through. Ever.

The way your body shakes or shutters every time Sandy’s winds hit the window out of pure fear and consciousness that a million things could go terribly wrong. The lights flickering so quickly, and regularly, that it’s almost like you’re blinking, but you know it’s not you it’s everything that is happening outside.

The sense of fear comes from not being to do anything; being completely at the mercy of nature is inexplicably humbling.

I was lucky. My area did not get hit badly, I didn’t lose power, my grandmother was safe, and we were alive. I counted my blessings, 100 times over. 

Others weren’t so lucky and for them my heart broke. I was consoled by the fact that New York City showed that for all the privacy we seek, we are still a city that knows solidarity and protects their neighbor.

I followed most of the storm, like many others, through TV coverage and Twitter. To say that these reporters did an amazing job covering the storm is an epic understatement. The images below all link to stories that I think covered Sandy the best they could. I also followed Anthony D. Rosa of Reuters’s twitter throughout the entire storm and afterwards. Even though he wasn’t like one of the news reporters on the ground, his insight was amazing. I especially liked that he volunteered on Saturday in SI and tweeted about what was really going on there. Unfortunately, news channels were not covering how horrific SI’s destruction is and how displaced these people feel. Rosa captured that emotion in his tweets and rallied more people to go volunteer and help.

(more…)

Bubble tea? When I first heard of bubble tea, I thought the name was describing some kind of tastes, for example bubble gum flavored tea. I had no idea what was in store. I was surprised by its looks because it wasn’t what I expected, it didn’t look cute or refreshing. I was afraid to try the bubble (tapioca) because I didn’t know how I would react to it.  Tapioca pearl has round shape that looks and tastes like pudding. This ball shape tapioca comes in various sizes and colors which actually made very intriguing. After trying it, I can never forget black milk bubble tea; all the flavors blended with tapioca pearl were delicious.

About six years ago, bubble tea became extremely popular and began to expand quickly. These days, you can find this beverage everywhere, near at mall, bookstore, fast food restaurant, or even your house.

My favorite place to go for bubble tea is near main street flushing. Near Macy’s they have a lot of bubble tea store, which are very affordable because of the competition nearby.

Most of the stores offers buy one get one free or discounted price for a student which makes me to want to buy more bubble teas.

Not only the price is affordable, but the quality of the bubble is good. Bubble makers are experts at making the tapioca. They understand or know how to make it at the right consistency.

Unlike everyone, I do not have such a passion for food. To me food is one of the basic requirements that I have to take to survive. However, it does not necessarily mean that I hate food. I just do not have any fondness with food. I am pretty easy with any type of food as long as it is eatable and not sour. Thus, I was super confused on writing the food rant. So, I chose to write about the food that I often eat, Gyro. I think Gyro is a delicious platter, which is not only easy to get but also save my time on cooking. I think it is also a good combination of carbohydrate and protein, which fulfill my nutrition needs as well.

There are three types of Gyros: chicken over rice, lamb over rice, and the one I like to order is chicken and lamb over rice with extra white and hot sauce, without any onion in it. I usually buy Gyro from JacksonHeights, Queens. There are so many Gyro food carts on 74t and 75^th Street inJacksonHeights, and most of their customers are working people and students. The lifestyle and working environment inNew York are making people depend more and more on eating meals outside of their house while on the way to work and school. Likewise, I am dependent on this type of food so much because I do not have enough time to make food at home after juggling with school and work. Also, I just do not like to waste my time on cooking.

Despised by children and often adults, they are gratuitously given a small spot on the dinner plate. They are often boiled beyond recognition or drowned in butter or unnecessary fatty sauces.   Vegetables are simply the best. They are my favorite food and deserve to be in the center of every plate.

Hot, cold, raw, steamed or juiced, the flavors, textures, colors and varieties are endless. I try to eat as many different vegetables as possible, not only are they delicious and low in fat and calories, but they also are the most nutrient dense foods you can eat.  I love watching them grow from the ground and change colors as they ripen, and there is no way I can resist a farmers market.

Asparagus, arugula, brussels sprouts, collard greens, okra, radishes and spinach are just a few of my favorites. I’m amazed every time I find new varieties or new ways to eat them.  Whether they are in salads, entrees or soups I can’t get enough of them.