the rebirth of a website

A funny thing happened on my way to maturity — I had too much fun being immature. I kept thinking of being an adult and, in my mind, it was the same thing as being dull. So I refused the label of adult the same way I had once refused to be part of the crowd, with blind arrogance. And it got me nothing.

Then one day I stopped and looked around. I saw adults who were having fun, grown-ups who could teach me a thing or two about enjoying life and making my mark in the world. They were ROLE MODELS. And, after some hard knocks and soul searching, I accepted the fact that I had to grow up. I really had no choice. If I had to do it anyway, I should do it with style.

And I have.

That little story can be applied to this space of mine. One day, on impulse, I went to the information technology people at work and filled out all of the paperwork to make them give me some web space. I then proceeded to fill it up with one page where I could play around with design. It was a simple enough idea. I had the space, it was mine, and I could do with it whatever I wanted.

I used it to advertise myself. I know what you’re thinking, I do know . . . vain, selfish, egocentric. True, but that’s what I did.

I looked at what I had created a few months after I started up, without structure, without purpose, without identity, and decided to give it a little bit of order. I had been putting my words out there, blatantly ignoring any advice and comments on how to be better. Thinking of the site as something that was created for others was something I didn’t want to do. It was too serious. It was too adult. It too grown up. It wasn’t me. So I stopped and regrouped and approached the space from the eyes of a committed webjefa.

My site grew up.

Fast-forward one year. My little space is no longer entertaining, at least not to me. I keep trying to make it better by giving it window dressing and it remains stale. It became something I no longer enjoyed. In my desire to provide my readers with something that would make sense, I killed my interest in what I was doing.

I’ve tried to make it fun again, but I keep getting caught up in that serious spirit as if it were a virus or an infection that clings to me every time I opened the files. My solution is to shelve the old site and start fresh. This site is my fresh start. Please pardon the dust, the innovations and the new identity — giving birth to a new site is a tedious, loving, enthusiastic event that can go wrong or go right. But I intend to love every moment.

temporary postings

Since I’m going away again for a week or so, I’ve actually posted some stuff for all of my loyal fans. I’ve reposted several feature and editorial articles that I took down in the last major renovation of this site. They’re mostly fluff pieces that may or may not be relevant anymore. For the readers who have been with me since the beginning, I hope you enjoy visiting some old favorites. For my new readers, I hope you enjoy these stories. I will actually make a couple of changes before June 24, when I’m off to Miami for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ conference. It should be fun. In the meantime, have a nice weekend.

style change

Welcome to my new parlor, people. In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve changed the look of this site slightly. I got sick of the color scheme and the layout. Unfortunately, these changes are purely window dressing. I don’t have anything new for you. Except, of course, a few recommendations.

  • {{water}} is a must-see. The design of this site puts me to shame. My silly little dive into the web will go unnoticed and forgotten easily, {{water}} will not. I comfort myself with the fact that the site keeper lives online for a living, but that is the only comfort I can keep. I don’t make regular updates anymore and my ramblings have become cotton candy, all fluff and no substance.
  • Hispanic/Latino News Service – Daily Roundup is a great source of Latino news. It’s a great resource that links to newspapers and news sources across the country.

That’s all for now. I’ll try to give you some real words soon.

news sites

The Miami Herald has one of the most comprehensive on-line newspaper services I’ve seen. They cover national and international events as well as local, and you can find the full-text of the articles at their site. They also have El Nuevo Herald, which is the Spanish version of the paper and is recognized nationally as a premier newspaper in Spanish. You can find numerous articles on topics of importance to the U.S. Hispanic community at both sites.

Women’s Wire is a daily news service dedicated to women’s issues. In addition to today’s hot news topic, they have a variety of features that cover career, health and relationships. This site is a good resource if you want to brush up on women’s topics or want to find other web pages.

Salon Magazine is one of the most successful on-line publications for one important reason: it has a great combination of good graphics and incredible writing. Covering topics from technology, sex, politics and the media, this online publication manages to stimulate your thinking.

Another great on-line mag is MAXI. MAXI is an unapologetic feminist forum whose articles may offend and/or amuse, but always manage to provoke a response.

For those of you addicted, as I am, to the movies, you might want to visit Girls on Film. Started as a college class-project, this now commercial site offers intriguing and insightful reviews of hundreds of movies, including new releases. Find your favorite movies and see if you agree with their reviews.

Want the latest gossip? Visit TV Guide Online. This site provides daily updates on what’s going on in the entertainment world, as well as a web version of their magazine.

I’m Back!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello people. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m back. And boy do I have stuff to talk about.

First of all, going home was great. México always makes me feel better. Relaxed. Comfortable. But, then, I’ve already discussed this a lot. That’s not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the fact that the skies were gray all the way there and all the way back. And no, that doesn’t mean that the sky was cloudy. It means that the sky was gray, as in hazy as in smoky. To the east and west coasters, that means that the smoke from the blessed fires that were in the news until something more newsworthy came along and they ceased to be important enough to be mentioned so of course they must not exist anymore . . . where was I? Oh, yeah, the smoke. The smoke from those fires has cast an even gray tone in the sky. And we waited and waited and waited for rain to clear the haze. And it had been weeks since I’d seen a blue sky. And I didn’t even notice how accustomed I’d become to it until someone pointed out that they missed blue.

It’s amazing how quickly we accept things. My beautiful blue sky is just returning — I don’t know when it happened, I was in San Francisco at the time. But I didn’t think about it, didn’t question it, didn’t hesitate when I went about my day. I accepted a gray sky. That’s kind of sad and scary. I mean, if I can calmly accept the loss of something that fundamental, that ordinary, what else would I accept if I suddenly lost it? Maybe I would stand by and watch my rights be taken away one by one if it was done quietly enough. Maybe I would will myself to not see that I was losing things that should always be mine if I were busy enough. Maybe, maybe, maybe . . .

Okay, now that I’ve rambled on and given myself the beginnings of a nightmare, I’ll say goodbye. Hasta luego, gente.