Choloma Cortes, Honduras--Former Honduran President José Manuel (Mel) Zelaya Rosales was deposed over the summer (www.pontealdia.com/blogs/imperial-realities-2.html) but like a bad cold just won't go away. 

In September he crept back into Honduras despite orders for his arrest and now resides in the empty Brazilian embassy.

His is a destabilizing presence.   He has repeatedly tried to agitate

 

Choloma Cortes, Honduras--As I'm learning, in poor countries the refrigerator doesn't always work.   Or work well. 

So when my entire bowl of Bumble Bee solid white albacore tuna with
Hellmann's mayonnaise went bad in the fridge, I got upset.  There's no solid white available in the supermarkets here.  What I have I brought in my suitcase.

Fortunately, I found a local alternative to mayo that is

 

Green acres is the place to be

Farm living is the life for me

Land spreading out, so far and wide

Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.

 

Or so I thought.  Here are some first hand tips on working on a farm in a tropical climate. 

Always use mosquito repellent.  Some places are so bad that it feels like only slathering on DDT will do the trick.  Ditto sunblock. 

Working with a machete to

 

The Honorable Hillary Clinton
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520


September 5, 2009


Dear Secretary Clinton:

I am writing to request that the United States reconsider its recent actions regarding the suspension of aid to Honduras.

As you know, Honduras has been an outpost of American policy and capitalism for over 100 years.  For most of the 20th century,

 Choloma

Cortes, Honduras. The US embassy in Tegucigalpa will soon stop issuing visas to most applicants in its efforts to pressure the current Honduran government to reinstate its ousted president, Manuel Zelaya.  This on top of the suspension of $18 million in military aid the US provided annually. 

Zelaya was deposed on June 28 by the military, the Honduran Congress, the monied elites, and with

He estado tratando de figurar algo toda mi vida. ¿Quien es Puertorriqueño?

¿Si tú naciste y creciste en Puerto Rico y ambos padres son Puertorriqueños, creo yo que eres puertorriqueño. ¿Pero que si tú naciste y creciste en la isla y solo uno de tus padres es Puertorriqueño? ¿Que si tu eres adoptado de Ecuador pero creciste y toda tu vida en Puerto Rico o creciste toda tu vida en una familia

 

 

I had to escape the mid-day sun of Los Girasoles in Santo Domingo so I stopped at a corner bar at a busy intersection in the middle of town.  And as the Presidentes started to kick in the room came into focus.  It's a typical corner bar, the kind you find all over the Dominican Republic--large, jukebox blaring, open patios on both sides.

Except it's all men.  I mean all men.  Specifically, young

In the US, the days before Stonewall are mostly behind us, but this is not the case in much of Latin America. In some countries there is overt harassment and repression by the state itself, often under the guise of violating morals and decency laws. 

Take Honduras, for example.  In the 1990s there were over 200 murders of gay and transgender sex workers that were not investigated by police.  In 2002 the President of Honduras enacted the Social and Co-Existence Law, giving police the right to arrest people they suspected of being LGBT, and to raid gay gathering places. In 2004 the mayor of San Pedro Sula, Honduras authorized a raid on Boyz, the city's only gay bar, which resulted in the arrest of twelve patrons and workers.  Does this sound like a place where it's ok to be gay?

One day, when it was time for David's nap, daddy said "OK David, it's mimi*-time."

David replied "No!  I don't want to go to mimi!"

But David's daddy knew that after a long morning of playing hide-and-seek in the apartment and riding his bike in the park that David was tired and cranky and needed a nap and a ba-ba (bottle of leche**).

David didn't want to go to sleep but daddy cradled him in his

My boy is huge.  Hairwise that is.  David is 11 years old with hair that measures 8 inches.  As you can see, his hair is bigger than his head and bigger than the football helmet he wears.  He sports a curly Angela Davis -type afro.  It covers his eyes at this point, reminding me of Cousin Itt from the Addams Family.  He loves his hair and so do I.

I should point out that my boy lives and attends