Thursday, July 26, 2007

NCLR Annual Conference in Miami Florida

A little souvenir. Yes Barack Obama himself... Thank you Eric!

Photo Courtesy: E.P. Nealy

While this is not the view from my room at the Radisson, this is a beautiful view taken by Marlene Hawthrone... from her own room.


This was an intense weekend for me and all others attending. The Conference was packed with presentations, luncheons (The Latinas Brunch with Hillary Clinton, etc.), workshops, concerts, exhibits. We attended a great concert with Luis Fonsi on July 22 and the following night a special concert at Bongos Cuban Cafe with Elvis Crespo all to ourselves! It was all very impressive.

I had an opportunity to meet wonderful people from Latino organizations based in different cities and states. I am very fortunate to have been there, to share and learn, but most importantly- to serve.

Here is a great picture taken by my friend and colleague, Marlene Hawthrone. I only wish you could see this man's beautiful face. So sweet and gentle. Thank you, Marlene!


Photo Courtesy: Marle Hawthrone

Here are a couple of other pictures I've received from a colleague in Miami. I will share more as they come.

Unfortunately I left my camara behind in Sacramento and had no chance of taking any pictures myself. My only option was my cell phone. I'll share those as soon as I am able to download them from its memory :)

These pictures are also from the Naturalization Workshop we held on Saturday, July 21, 2007 at the Convention Center. Nearly 500 people participated in the workshop. It was an amazing thing. The second one is a picture of Luis Cerros from Democracia USA.



Thanks to Julio, Luis Cerros, Rudy and my new primo Rafael Collazo from Democracia USA for their hospitality during the Naturalization Training in preparation for the Workshop.

Photos Courtesy Democracia USA

Monday, July 16, 2007

Gloomy Sunday

To Life. To Death!

I've always had a thing for Sundays. A colleague and I were actually discussing this theme during this past Monday. That dreadful feeling you experience during the late afternoon... as night approaches... on Sunday.

This song, Gloomy Sunday, is one that I particularly love. It confronts us to one, if not our biggest fear... or is it our biggest escape? Our biggest dream? Death. Death is no dream... goes the song.

I dedicate this posting and this song to all of you out there who share the dread of Sundays, a pain similar to the one conveyed so clearly in these lyrics.

Call me crazy, but I also wish to inaugurate the "Gloomy Sunday Club" from Sacramento and the rest of the world. Share songs, poems, thoughts, ideas, pictures that may reflect a "gloomy Sunday".

While I absolutely love Billie Holiday's version of this song, in my opinion, Sara McLachlan is the best version ever. Her beautiful vocals extract every bit of poetry, every bit of pain from it. The simple guitar arrangement is perfect for her vocals.

I wanted to find Sara singing it on youtube.com but I found this clip with her version. Thank you EngelFin for posting this video.




I encourage you to research a little on the subject and if you come across the original lyrics by those mysterious hungarian composers, please pass it along.

To Life. To Death! Gloomy Sunday.


************

Gloomy Sunday

Sunday is gloomy
my hours are slumberless.
Dearest the shadows I live with are numberless.

Little white flowers will never awaken you.
Not where the black coache of sorrow has taken you.

Angels have no thoughts of ever returning you.
Would they be angry If I thought of joining you?
Gloomy sunday.

Gloomy Sunday,
With shadows I spend it all.
My heart and I have decided to end it all.

Soon they'll be candles and prayers-that are sad, I know.
Let them not weep.
Let them know that I'm glad to go.

Death is no dream for in death I'm caressing you.
With the last breath of my soul I'll be blessing you.
Gloomy Sunday.

Dreaming...
I was only dreaming.
I wake and I find you asleep
in the deep of my heart, dear...

Darling I hope that my dream never haunted you.
My heart is telling you how much I wanted you.
Gloomy Sunday.

Go figure! I wanted this post to be pushlied on Sunday and it took me about 30 minutes to write it, between typing the lyrics, finding the video, etc. Hmm... Just pretend it's still Sunday.



Love,

Araceli

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Thoughts Become Things/Los Pensamientos se Materializan

Spanish version of text follows each paragraph in English.

This has been my slogan for the past several months... I believe it's true. I know that our "guidance system" is our emotions and feelings. We really do materialize that on which we focus.

Este ha sido mi slogan por los pasados meses.... Yo creo que es cierto. Sé tambiénque nuestro "sistema de guía" son nuestras emociones y sentimentos. En verdad maerializamos aquello en lo que nos enfocamos.

I want to share this exceprt from an electronic magazine I receive concerning an experiment on DNA.

Deseo compartir un fragmento de un artículo que recibí en una revista electrónica con respecto a un experimento de DNA.

I realize this posting has nothing to do with my music- yet I am sharing it because it has everything to do with me and how I choose to view my ever changing life.

Entiendo que esta publicación poco o nada tiene que ver con mi música, pero lo comparto porque tiene todo que ver conmigo y con la forma en que elijo ver mi tan cambiante vida.

On a separate note, I will be performing with my good friends from The Premiers tomorrow at Carmelita's, off of Sunrise and Fair Oaks from 7 to 10 p.m.. An incredible place to be, excellent food, outstanding service.

En una nota aparte, quiero compartirles que me presentaré mañana Sábado con The Premiers en el restaurant Carmelita's, sobre la Sunrise y Fair Oaks Blvd. de 7 a 10 p.m. Un increíble lugar, con excelente comida e increíble servicio.

Soon enough I will be performing there with my new ensemble (Patricio, Dominic and Rene and many guests musicians). I'll keep you posted. Thoughts become things!

Pronto estaré presentando mi nuevo ensamble (Patricio, Dominic y Rene). Los mantendré al tanto. Los pensamientos se materializan!

Enjoy this article and the weekend!

Disfruten el artículo y el fin de semana! (Ofrezco una disculpa porque no traduje el artículo, pero si alguien lo necesita traducido, por favor me avisan :)



1) ASTONISHING DNA EXPERIMENT

Below is an experiment which proves that DNA can heal itself according to the "feelings" of the individual as reported recently by Gregg Braden. He says living cells communicate through an energy not affected by time and distance, an energy that already exists everywhere, all the time.

The experiment was done by the Institute of Heart Math.

This is the experiment that relates directly to the anthrax situation. In this experiment, some human placenta DNA (the most pristine form of DNA) was placed in a container from which they could measure changes in the DNA. Twenty-eight vials of DNA were given (one each) to 28 trained researchers. Each researcher had been trained how to generate and FEEL feelings, and they each had strong emotions.

What was discovered was that the DNA CHANGED ITS SHAPE according to the feelings of the researchers:

1. When the researchers FELT gratitude, love and appreciation, the DNA responded by RELAXING and the strands unwound. The DNA became longer.

2. When the researchers FELT anger, fear, frustration, or stress, the DNA responded by TIGHTENING UP. It became shorter and SWITCHED OFF many of our DNA codes!

If you've ever felt "shut down" by negative emotions, now you know why your body was equally shut down too. The shut down of the DNA codes was reversed and the codes were switched back on again when feelings of love, joy, gratitude and appreciation were felt by the researchers.

This experiment was later followed up by testing HIV positive patients. They discovered that feelings of love, gratitude and appreciation created 300,000 TIMES the RESISTANCE they had without those feelings. So here's the answer to what can help you stay well, no matter what dreadful virus or bacteria may be floating around, stay in feelings of joy, love, gratitude and appreciation!

These emotional changes went beyond the effects of electromagnetics. Individuals trained in deep love were able to change the shape of their DNA.

Gregg Braden says this illustrates a newly recognized form of energy that connects all of creation. This energy appears to be a TIGHTLY WOVEN WEB that connects all matter. This is the science behind how we can choose a time line to stay safe, no matter what else is happening.

As Gregg explains in The Isaiah Effect, basically time is not just linear (past, present and future), but it also has depth. The depth of time consists of all the possible prayers and time lines that could ever be prayed or exist. Essentially, all our prayers have already been answered. We just activate the one we're living through our FEELINGS. THIS is how we create our reality - by choosing it with our feelings.

Our feelings are activating the time line via the web of creation, which connects all of the energy and matter of the Universe.

Remember that the law of the Universe is that we attract what we focus on. If you are focused on fearing whatever may come, you are sending a strong message to the Universe to send you whatever you fear. Instead, if you can get yourself into feelings of joy, love, appreciation or gratitude, and focus on bringing more of that into your life, you are going to avoid the negative stuff automatically.

You will be choosing a different TIME LINE with your feelings. You can prevent getting anthrax or any other flu, virus, etc, by staying in these positive feelings, which maintains an incredibly strong immune system. So here's your protection for whatever comes: Find something to be happy about every day, and every hour if possible, moment-to-moment, even if only for a few minutes.