dilatory

dil⋅a⋅to⋅ry
1. tending to delay or procrastinate; slow; tardy.
2. intended to cause delay, gain time, or defer decision: a dilatory strategy.

Immediately when I read this definition I thought of Slowpoke Rodriguez, cousin of the famous Looney Tunes character Speedy Gonzalez. Slowpoke Rodríguez is described by his cohorts as "the slowest mouse in all of Mexico." However, he makes it known that while he may be slow in the feet, he's not slow in "la cabeza" (the head). He speaks in a monotone voice and seems to never be surprised by anything.

According to Wikipedia, Slowpoke only appeared in two cartoons alongside his cousin. The first, "Mexicali Shmoes," and "Mexican Boarders," which I found on Youtube and posted below. This cartoon revolves around Speedy trying to protect Slowpoke from Sylvester, but in the end, Slowpoke demonstrates his ability to hypnotize Sylvester into becoming his slave. The other mice comment at this point that "Slowpoke Rodriguez may be the slowest mouse in all of Mexico, but he has the evil eye!"

So what does this have to do with Spanish-speaking culture? Well, it's certainly a Spanish stereotype, although some Spanish speakers will say that there is some merit to this idea. Take the siesta, for example. As mostly everyone knows, this is a short nap taken during the day in parts of Spain and in some Latin American countries, and even other cultures as well. Donquijote.org provides some tips on how to sleep a siesta:

1. First, have a good lunch with friends or relatives.
2. Timing is very important. A siesta should last 15-20 minutes, no more.
3. Don't let anything disturb you - the siesta is serious business.
4. Don't forget to set your alarm clock!
5. Right after the siesta, a glass of water and a piece of chocolate will make your life easier.

Sounds great to me! And with that, fellow classmates, I'm off to start my siesta.

I've really enjoyed class with all of you, and I have looked forward to reading your blogs each and every week. I hope eveyrone has an amazing summer!

hooray, podcasting!

Alright! I finally figured out this podcasting business! Pretty cool! So, below are my two podcasts... the first one is a reading of "The Little Red Hen" in Spanish that I had not heard before. Pretty funny, for my Spanish-speaking amigos out there. The second one is a sort of nursery rhyme in Spanish, called "Cinco elefantitos", or "Five Elephants."

I apologize for the lack of music... I'll work on that as I continue podcasting on my own. I will definitely be using this technology in my classroom!

biannual

Ahhh, my FINAL semester in college is drawing to a close. I successfully defended my thesis two weeks ago, and all I have left is to write this post, record a couple of podcasts (keep your eyes peeled for those in the very near future), and some other finishing touches. I'm a little sad that my life as a student is ending, but mostly excited that my life as an adult in the real world is beginning!

bi⋅an⋅nu⋅al 
1. occurring twice a year; semiannual.
2. occurring every two years; biennial.

For me, this was the toughest "word of the day" yet, because it seems less open to interpretation than the other words. So it took me a little bit, but thanks to my favorite search engine I was able to come up with something great, and also learn something new:

The above photo, captured by amateur photographer Sandra Critelli, shows the vast expanse of magnificent stingrays that animates the bright blue seas of the Gulf of Mexico semiannually - north in the late spring and south in late autumn. Taken off the coast of Mexico's Holbox this breathtaking picture captures the migration of thousands of rays as they follow the clockwise current from Mexico's Yucatan peninsula to western Florida.

Measuring up to 6ft 6in across, poisonous golden cow-nose rays migrate in groups - or "fevers," as they are known - of up to 10,000 as they glide their way silently towards their summer feeding grounds. There are around 70 species of stingray in the world's oceans, but these cow-nose rays have distinctive, high-domed heads. Despite their placid looks, they are still armed with a poisonous stinger, which can be deadly to humans - even though sharks, their main predators, are more likely to provoke them. The stinger, a razor-sharp spine that grows from the creature's whip-like tail, can reach almost 15 inches in length and carries a large dose of venom. It was a similar stinger that killed the well known and beloved "Crocodile Hunter," Steve Irwin in 2006. But even equipped with this powerful punch, cow-nose stingrays are shy and non-threatening in large 'fevers'. Even when isolated, they will attack only when cornered or threatened.

Below is a video of the famous migration... enjoy!

diaphanous

di·aph·a·nous
1.Of such fine texture as to be transparent or translucent: diaphanous tulle.
2.Characterized by delicacy of form.
3. Vague or insubstantial: diaphanous dreams of glory.


Diaphanous, for some reason, reminded me of the word "phantom", which seems actually kind of in tune to this word of the day. "Phantom", in turn, lead me to think about "La Llorona," or "the weeping woman." She is a popular legend in Spanish speaking cultures, and her story varies from country to country. The basic version is that she was a beautiful woman who killed her children to be with the man that she loved, and was subsequently rejected by him. He might have been the children's father, and left her mother for another woman, or he might have been a man she loved, but who was uninterested in a relationship with a woman with children, and whom she thought she could win if the children were out of the way. She drowned the children then killed herself, and is doomed to wander, searching for her children, always weeping. In some cases, according to the tale, she will kidnap wandering children.

La Llorona has also appeared in modern American media. Convicted murderer Susan Smith, for example, who drowned her two sons after being rejected by a male she was interested in, appeared in a cartoon in Time magazine that compared her to La Llorona.

Her legend also exists here in the United States, as per this milk commercial released in parts of California in 2004:

acedia

a⋅ce⋅di⋅a 
–noun
1. apathy or boredom.

2. laziness or indifference in religious matters.

Again I'm compelled to discuss the cooky Spanish painter, Salvador Dalí.

There was a period in his life where his paintings began to exhert a mental tiredeness, an acedia, if you will. In 1934 Dalí sent a letter to Josep Vicenç Foix i Mas telling his friend not to dwell too much on "my physical depression, as it is a very frequent occurence among people of our type. Despite my priveleged (as you suppose) position of a painter, I've had moments of irational anxiety without any conscious motive" (Etherington-Smith, 173).

There are a number of reasons why Dalí may have wearing down, so to speak. It has been speculated that his wife Gala's sexuality was beginning to tire him. Their sexual relationship, always delicately balanced, had degenerated into voyeurism. Henri Pastoreau, a student on the fringe of the Surrealist circle, attended "sexual investigation sessions" conducted by Gala and Dalí. These explored the particpants' sexual behavior and fantasies. No women other than Gala were allowed to attend, and Gala, according to Pastoreau, "wouldn't hesitate to describe in the crudest detail her wildest debaucheries, but she always added that surgery had stopped her from continuing with this." Dalí was almost always quiet during these sessions, unless he had "some new and delirious fantasy, always of a scatalogical kind." On other occasions, Gala would make love to men in front of Dalí, once with her former husband, Paul Éluard.

This sense of boredom can be seen particularly well in three paintings from 1934-1935:

My Cousin Carolineta on the Beach at Roses

Atmospheric Skull Sodomozing a Grand Piano

Atavistic Dusk

It has also been speculated that his relationship with famous Andalusian poet Frederico García Lorca was at the forefront of his mind while painting these pieces, but that's another post all together.

These paintings portray Cape Creus, Dalí's hometown, and suggest that the painter was looking at his childhood, adolescence and early youth for inspiration. This was a time before Gala had changed his life forever. It has thus been speculated that Dalí's marriage had become a sort of prison for him. He was dependent on Gala for everything except his work. She was both a mother and wife to him (he had lost his mother at the age of 16), but she was also incredibly demanding. At this point in Dalí's life, his work was the most important link between the two of them. Perhaps in his state of acedia he foresaw a fate that he knew he could never escape.

Work cited:

Etherington-Smith, Meredith. The Persistence of Memory: A Biography of Dalí. London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1992.

purfle

pur⋅fle 
–verb (used with object)
1. to finish with an ornamental border.
2. to decorate (a shrine or tabernacle) with architectural forms in miniature.
–noun
3. Also called purfling. an ornamental border, as the inlaid border near the outer edge of the table and back of a stringed instrument.

This definition instantly made me think of ¡la guitarra! More specifically, for some reason it made me think of mariachi music - not only because the guitars are "purfled", but so too are their costumes! The hats and suits are so carefully and meticulously embroidered:

Mariachis are some of the most popular musical groups in Mexico. A mariachi group usually consists of between two and four violins, two trumpets, one Mexican mariachi guitar, one Vihuela, and one Guitarrón. In more traditional times, the Guitarra de Golpe has been added to the mix.

Mariachi music has its origins in Mexico in the state of Jalisco around 1880. According to myth, mariachis evolved from the theatrical orchestras in Spain which had harps, jawharps, and guitars. The term mariachi is derived from the French word mariage which means marriage or wedding. So, of course, mariachis play weddings but they are also hired to play at public venues and other celebratory events. Mariachis typically dress in silver-studded black charro (cowboy or toreador) uniforms with very wide brimmed hats.

Below is an example of a mariachi band that is both relevant to Mexico and the United States. ¡Diviértase!

whipsaw

I'm embarassed to admit this (especially as I read everyone else's posts, because they are SO interesting and informative), but as I logged on today to play a much-overdue game of catch-up, I realized that I still have not written a post for the last word of the day, which was:

whip·saw
n. A narrow two-person crosscut saw.
whip·sawed, whip·sawed or whip·sawn (-sôn'), whip·saw·ing, whip·saws
1. To cut with a whipsaw.
2. To win two bets from (a person) at one time, as in faro.
3. To cause to move or alternate rapidly in contrasting directions.
4. To defeat or best in two ways at once.

Immediately this makes me think of the issues that are being played all over the news with regard to Mexican drug cartels, the U.S. Department of defense, and the ever-controversial issue of border control. The U.S. Defense Department told the Washington Post that two of Mexico's deadliest drug cartels have reached 100,000 foot soldiers, threatening the U.S. border states more so than ever before. The cartels apparently rival the Mexican army in size, and it's moving to crisis proportions - more than 1,000 people died in January alone at the hand of these cartels, and the murders are gruesome. The two most dangerous cartels are the Sinaloa cartel, nicknamed La Federación and the Gulf Cartel, or Los Zetas. The New York Times reports that they are discussing a truce or merger in order to better withstand government forces. On the list of U.S. national security concerns, Mexico is behind only Pakistan and Iran - they are ahead of even Afghanistan and Iraq.
It should not be surprising to you that nearly 100% of the guns used in drug-related killings come from smuggled U.S. weapons. The guns pass through Mexico via what is known as the "ant trail," which is the nickname for a steady stream of people who sneak two or three weapons across the border ever day. The "ants," along with much larger smuggling operations, are feeding this rapidly expanding arms race. The U.S. weapons are crucial in this drug war. Mexico's attorney general Eduardo Medina Mora called last week for more U.S. prosecutions of people who sell guns illegally to cartels, as well as more efforts to stop drug profits from going south.

So, why whipsaw? Well, it seemed very in line with definition #4, "to defeat or best in two ways at once." It's as though we in the United States are being "bested" twice by our own lax gun laws - within our own borders we suffer from more gun crime than any other nation, and we are also threatened by these drug cartels who taking advantage of our poor policies and using our guns to commit egregious crimes.