Gus In The Real Life

This is the only photo of the first Gay Pride organized in Cartagena or at his called The Pride of Sexual Diversity because it was stirring some bad moods around the conservative society; close sources tell me that the pride was going to have a big tram but it was cut short because the Government was scared that some fanatics could react wrong to the parade so they send the new course to a more safest path to avoid any inconvenience. Cartageneros in general reacted negatively toward this event calling it an abomination and “those people” shouldn’t be marching because they are bad a example for anyone; maybe it was soon to a conservative society who see anything beyond their walls as danger to their beliefs and social system but at least it was a triumph for social liberties and self expression.

Dang it Walmart you want to be worse than Microsoft and Megan Fox together and still even if people accepts you they don’t want to go to any of your stores, beside of the rudeness of the employees and the impossibility of finding the products in the store now Walmart launch another war against Amazon and Target in pre-order DVDs that made the two competitors to scramble their prices to even match with Walmart.

What a shame Walmart, whose next the world? Za Warudo! One of the fights came with the new Star Trek movie where Walmart reduced the price so much that technically is free to get it, hey I will be going tomorrow or maybe later to buy it!.

So it was true what I heard, people are moving from Florida because it has been difficult to be a middle class man and live with the high costs of living of the Sunshine State people are moving and many houses are being auctioned by the banks because people can’t pay the mortgage. It’s strange to think that leaders from the State (Charlie Christ you are one) don’t give more incentives to their citizens and companies to improve the life conditions because if you are living in a so called “paradise” or the second California you should have more monetary incentives to have a better living.

The region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach are one of the places that have experience a major exodus but why? At least in Miami-Dade everything is freaking expensive even the gas and the groceries (my brother says that is one of the most overrated cities just like New York) I can’t imagine why people like to stay there.

During 2008 and 2009 so far 27.000 residents from 18 million had left the State arguing the same “monetary reasons and high taxes during a difficult time”.

Como una forma de protestar por las continuas agresiones verbales del presidente venezolano, Hugo Chávez, hacia Colombia, un grupo de organi-zaciones civiles está convocando a una marcha mundial en su contra para el próximo 4 de septiembre.

La movilización es promovida a través de diversas redes sociales, tal como Facebook y Twitter. Hasta el momento sus organizadores calculan que en Colombia cuentan con el apoyo de cerca de 100 mil personas. “La respuesta a la convocatoria ha sido inesperada.

Hasta el momento en Facebook tenemos más o menos 70 mil personas; en la página oficial calculamos otras 30 mil y en Twitter hemos tenido una respuesta desbordante”, explicó Marcela Garzón, una de las organizadoras del evento.

Being born outside of the United States and living in a third world country like Colombia has given me a different perspective of the world because I can see how different and varied is the world compared to the bubble I lived in for almost 2 decades called Cartagena de Indias. Cartagena for short is one of the emblematic cities of Colombia and as well one that shows two different sides much like A Tale of Two Cities from Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables because in the city there are two different panorama’s from the neighborhoods that are on the seaside peninsula where the old city it’s located and the commoners that live away from the ocean side.

Maybe it was an odd example to cite down Charles Dickens work but probably it was more appropriate because there are sprouts of revolution coming from the oppressed masses to search for a more equality living but also there are some in-conformity toward the dominant class because they have to pay more for basic service than the middle class and they say that is not fair that they have to pay more because they living in a more privileged location; so what to do to solve the problem? If at the end neither of the parties are happy with the way they live and specially if everyone is searching for equality how equality can be found? If living in the city in general its expensive because people earn in Pesos and they spent like if they were spending Dollars or Euros and acquiring a decent job that can give you a decent living is really difficult because you have to earn at least US$50.000 a year to live modestly and without worries and even so it’s not enough because jobs are scarce and there is inequality.

Check the photos below, they are part of a phenomenon called “rebusque” (Eng:  To search for) where a person search for a different kind of job to survive in the jungle and most of the time the jobs they find are illegal and don’t follow any sanitation rule but what can they do? They need to survive and bring food to the table.

Friend V.02
By: Gus Lequerica
A friend is a brother in arms,
he’s always there for battle
and always there for the moments of tears,
in battle in the field
or doing nothing on any day of summer,
a friend is always there
no matter what it happens,
as you are going to be there for him or her as well.

Summertime
there are memories who live forever,
no moment to waste
cause life’s too short to regret about it,
enjoy the days of summer
until the very end
with you and you baby,
say no more
about what is going to be tomorrow,
live
like there’s no morning,
and don’t care about what your dad or mom
are going to say about it,
and just fly to the sky
before noon comes aboard,
summertime
there are memories who live forever…

Telemarketing should be dead by now but still some companies believe in the power of sending an obnoxious people to try to convince you that what they sell can change your life but not only “some companies” send to you the telemarketers companies like Bank of America and Shell tend to do that also and even they can be more annoying than regular companies because you can’t take out your number of their database by calling back to same number.

It really grinds my gears to listen to those people who speak as fast as traveling merchant selling snake oil in the 1800’s and beginning of the 20 Century; they speak so fast that I barely understand them and the really piss me off when they call early at 6 of 8 in the morning it’s like they don’t sleep at all and when you don’t pay attention to them they turn to insults or cynicism to create pressure. What are they trying to sell in these harsh times? When people are struggling to eat every night and they still think people want to buy their crap that definitely grind my gears.

Walking with Grace

By: Gustavo Lequerica Calvo

It’s difficult to walk in life

having grace and pose,

knowing about differences but that’s the beauty after all

There’s beauty behind the chaos in the world,

is difficult to walk with grace and poise

when you know sometimes you are alone,

Behaving gently and with class

are one of the best tools you have

they can give a lesson to the biggest ordinary man.

Education is not what you learn at school

but rather at home

and how do you apply it in your daily life

walking with grace

is a tool that we can use in our daily live,

no matter how we do it

we can conquer our goals.

My Reflection

By: Gustavo Lequerica

I see my reflection in the mirror
I’m self aware of how I am and how I look,
how I speak and how I live,
I can show a secure image in public
but sometimes I’m insecure about my looks and my voice,
it’s difficult to see the reflection of my mirror
and to reaffirm that I’m not a no one,
it’s difficult sometimes to look myself in the mirror
or even to speak
without feel that I’ve been looked like a strange fellow
by someone who hasn’t seen a Latin American
in Florida or any place of the Americas,
is difficult to show a positive image
because your reflection sometimes betrays you
with a language that is not yours
and is far away from what romanced with,
but you feel home in a place that wasn’t yours
and slowly you start showing that confidence
you had before.