Here is the man behind the name of the city--Vicente Ybor. He is responsible for bringing the cigar factory to Tampa. Cuban, Italian and Jewish immigrants migrated to the city and worked in the factories.



They have a trolley in Ybor.



This Saturday Market sign is upside down. A sign of discontent and strife?



Ybor City Museum

The museum is housed in this old Cuban bread bakery.





Some guy would crawl into the oven while it was still hot to repair the broken tiles. He would cover himself in wet burlap to do it.




El lector. This person was paid by the workers to read to them. El ingenioso hidalogo Don Quijote de la mancha was a popular read.





Factory work station.



Damn cigarettes.



Ten Year War



José Martí would stay in the house of Paulina Pedroso, a black Cuban immigrant, while staying in Ybor city in order to raise support for the Cuban independence movement. He would often stay up late into the night writing by candle light in her and her husbands house which is now a park commemorating Martí and his devotion to Cuban independence.



Immigrant Statue



Teddy was one rough rider cowboy.



These mosaic tiles are found outside the Columbia restaurant which has very good Cuban food. I love this tile and got a couple of post cards of it.



My mom and I. I had the loma de cerdo (pork) and we shared a pitcher of Mojitos. There were Cubans working there and eating there which I loved. It really reminded me of eating in Cuba especially when the Cuban guys kept checking me out to the point that even my mother noticed. That is Cuban men for you. God help you if you are a woman and a foreigner in Cuba. They will look at you no matter what. They are way more sexual and open then we are.



Here I am an amigo de José Martí. This park where Paulina Pedroso's house once sat is now a park owned by the Cuban government. The park is run by Cuban exiles now who keep it under lock because of vandalism which may be political in nature. They only keep the park open during the week for a couple of hours. Inside is soil from each of the provinces of Cuba. This kind of park is very common in Cuba.


Here he is the man who is adored by all Cubans.



I put my foot in trying to once again touch Cuban land. If I could go back I would....I really would. It makes me so sad that maybe I never will be able to go back. It was so expensive for me to go the first time through UB, I couldn't even afford it then, but I did it anyways. Now I can only go illegally and risk being punished for doing so. Land of the free people, land of the free.



I also stopped at this photo exhibit of pictures from Cuba. They had some nice work there, but I was expecting way more. I could have contributed if I had known.

My sister was hit by a drunk driver and is going to the hospital. I'm so glad that she is ok. He hit her going 75mph in a 45mph zone. Just thinking of what could of happened makes me cry.

I'm worried about my sister. I hope she doesn't have long term problems. She is hurting a lot from the collision, but at least she is alive. I can't believe this, I just saw her. Things are rough right now between her and my mom and It's scary how close we came to losing her. Maybe now their relationship will get better knowing that at any moment one of us could be gone.

This is a picture I took of a picture of the NY Times 10/23/07
by Kamran Jebreili

Title:

First Lake Helps to Fight Stigma On Breast Cancer

Hace quatro meses desde que hice mis observaciones en la escuela por la calle Elmwood que se llama Herman Badillo. Me encantó esta escuela bilingüe. La única cosa que yo hice fue ayudar a los estudiantes leer el inglés. Todos eran respetuosos aun los que no tenían ganas de leer.

Una de los estudiantes míos era puertorriqueña y ella me enseño una palabra de español. Bochinchera. Significa según ella, una que le gusta platicar los negocios de los demás con otras personas.

¡No sea una bochinchera! Ni una jamona como se dice de las mujeres que quedan solas todas sus vidas. El peor de todas sería una bochinchera jamona ;) ¡No sean bochincheras jamonas nunca!

La escuela Herman Badillo sufría de una mala nota del estado el año pasado. La política de No Child Left Behind es la política de capitalistas que no piensan en el futuro de nuestros jóvenes. Gracias a Bush por este horror y por crear un sistema que es aun más peor. Un regalito a la industria de libros estudiantiles y los que hacen los exámenes.
Parecía a mi que quatro años anteriores que todo el mundo estaba opuesto a la opinión mía y que esta política ayudaría a los pobres y minoridades mejorar sus notas y cortar la distancia entre las clases. No se puede juzgar la política por los títulos superficiales de los políticos.

Vean mi diario anterior si quiere compartir sus pensamientos con nosotros.

    Deseo que haya más blogs y diarios en español. Sé que hay algunos que hablan las dos lenguas que ya son miembros de estrip. Los que pueden, por favor ayuden me en mis esfuerzos. Si tuviéramos múltiples blogs y diarios en español, otras personas que solamente hablan en español encontrarán el sitio también por las búsquedas como google y yahoo. Porque esta comunidad es diversa, debemos extender nuestras manos a toda la población. Si alguien requiere ayuda en abrir una cuenta con estrip y no sabe cómo hacerlo manda me un mensaje por correo electrónico a dabedeh@yahoo.com

    Voy a tratar usar palabras claves que incluye "Buffalo", para qué gente en esta comunidad nos encontrará. Igualmente, voy a pensar más en eventos en Buffalo en cual hispanos generalmente estarían. Es importante que estas terminas claves aparezcan en el titulo de la jornada para generar más "hits" en las búsquedas.

Bienvenidos a todos que vienen.

¿(e:oda) estás?

Today I had to pull a pigeon out of my friends chimney. The poor thing was stuck there for a long time and was caught in the fluke. I pulled a muscle in my leg contorting in new positions trying to get him out. I put on rubber kitchen gloves, but he didn't even try to bite me. He actually seemed relieved that I was helping him. Once we got him outside he flew up on to the roof. From there he flew to my own roof a few doors down. Poor thing...such trauma.

I love my job. Almost everyone who calls is just so appreciative. Why not be appreciative of free support to quit smoking? The Spanish speaking clients are fun too. I think that they are super appreciative that I struggle to communicate with them. My last caller was like "Oh you speak so well." even though I am struggling from time to time. Everyone of them has thanked me a million times and has been very patient. I really, really like to be shown appreciation for what I do. If I don't get at least some appreciation, and I feel that I deserve it, I get kind of bitter.

Sometimes I even think that in some of the work I have done in the past that my employer will refuse to say thank you or to say that I did a good job, because that would in some way cause me to not work as hard or something. The mentality where they think "I'm paying you so I don't have to say thank you". Obviously they don't have to, but in the situations where my employer has shown gratitude other than in monetary value I am much happier. It doesn't even take that much either. I'm not needy and don't need to be thanked constantly, just occasionally. It's not that I work less if someone is condescending or shows lack or respect or didn't show that they cared about my concerns, its just that I won't want to work for you anymore, so if you really want to keep me you wouldn't do those things. Might I add that it helps if you do NOT willingly make me a part one of your sick and twisted S&M fantasies involving Mulder and Scully and Harry Potter... IS that too much to ask?!

Anyways, I have been meaning to talk about how much I like helping people and how much good will I feel towards Roswell for treating me well in return. My co-workers all seem nice and respectful too. I put some photos I took this summer in my cube. It was nice to make a cube look better and not so gray. I plan on rotating them with different ones too spice it up a bit.

The lake is at a record high temperature today. It is 67 degrees today with an average of 62 for 10/07.

My rabbit is shedding non-stop. This is very unusual at this time of the year. It is driving me crazy. I can't keep this tiny apt clean even though I clean it every week. His hair and hay eventually cover the entire square footage of the house by the end of the week. Maybe I'll hire someone to clean it.

I really like this weather, but at the same time I know it has very real consequences. Less than a week away and we had the October storm. I can't deal with that again. Anyways, it isn't just one particular day that has me worried, it is the consistency of the heat.

The storm last night is more typical of August weather. It was nice, but it lasted forever. I really couldn't sleep. My bed is right under a window and with the heat I couldn't bear to close it. That is one of my fears, getting struck down by lightning that comes through a window.

The air was not very breathable today. It was actually kind of gross and I had another hard day breathing. It wasn't ozone according to airnow.gov. It was particle matter. This was their warning for today that continues into tomorrow.

Unusually sensitive people should consider reducing prolonged or heavy exertion.

I suppose I am one of those unusually sensitive people that can smell toxins and pollutants in the air when a lot of other people don't notice. Personally I think the air is worse than their testing shows. I think their is something in the air here that isn't measured in in their tests, but nonetheless is pretty stank. I don't think that their is one particular source but really just a mixture of toxins from different factories that mingle with each other and create a nauseating cloud.


Sources