Rant #1: Disney's First Hispanic Princess (?)

       Disney announced their first Latina princess, controversy ensued when she was revealed to be an auburn-haired, blue-eyed, fair-skinned girl, and now Disney is saying she isn't Latina. Apparently, she is of a sort of Spanish-Scandinavian background and the story focuses on her living in a European-looking kingdom (Enchancia) modeled on the British Isles as she adjusts to her new royal step-family. Also, there appears to be little attention paid to the Hispanic side of her ethnic background and she is voiced by a Caucasian actress. Huh?

        As I read the various articles detailing the backlash, I found that most of the reader's vehement comments centered on how you don't have to look a certain way to be Hispanic. There were many comments like, "I have blue eyes and fair skin, and it bothers me when people say  I don't look like a Rodriguez," or "Go to (insert name of country here) and you'll see a lot of fair-complexioned Hispanic people." First of all, I'd like to say that I agree whole-heartedly with them. You certainly don't need to look a certain way to be Hispanic. My Hispanic mother has a lighter complexion and lighter brown eyes and her mother has light skin and green eyes (Spanish roots from 400 years back; long story). I am perfectly aware that we Hispanics have different backgrounds and a large spectrum of different hair, skin, and eye colors.

      What bothers me is that Disney chose the more fair-skinned, Caucasian-looking end of that spectrum. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a fair-skinned Hispanic. I'm sure all the fair-skinned Hispanics out there (who seem to make up the majority of the commenters online I've read) appreciate there being a Hispanic character that looks like them. However, what about everyone else? I live in an area near the border. What about all the people who look like me and the majority of people around me? Did we really need another super-fair-skinned princess? It's hard to write this without trying to sound like I care too much about looks, but at the root of it, it's her looks that matter.

       When "The Princess and the Frog" was released, I remember seeing stories on TV that put a spotlight on Tiana being the first African-American Disney princess. There were little girls saying, "There's a princess who looks like me!" If they had chosen a fair-skinned Tiana, people would have thrown a fit. In one of the "Sofia" article comments I read, one person wrote that they work with children, and one 3-year old told her that she "can't be a princess because her hair isn't blonde." People notice these things.

     As I mentioned before, Sofia lives in a fairy tale land called Enchancia. Her mother is from Galdiz, a country modeled on Spain, and her father is from a country modeled on Scandinavia. Let me repeat that - Galdiz is "modeled" on Spain. Unlike the Tiana-New Orleans, Mulan-China, Pocahontas-America combos, Sofia isn't even from a real country. Hispanics are the largest minority in the U.S. and our supposed first princess is from a European fantasy world.

      As previously mentioned, Enchancia is modeled on the British isles and Sofia's ancestry lies in countries modeled on parts of Europe. Now, if I look 400 years back on my family tree, I can find some European roots, but I certainly don't think of myself as being European. I, and a lot of the Hispanics around me, have roots in Mexico or other countries south of the border. Why did they make her European? Don't we have enough European princesses?

       Also, why did they initially announce that she was the first Latina Disney princess and then not put any emphasis on her culture? I feel like it was just an afterthought to them - "Oh, hey, we can say she's from a country modeled on Spain and then we can call her the first Latina Disney princess! Everyone will think we care about diversity!" Now, they've announced that she was never meant to be Latina in the first place.
Disney's Statement: "What’s important to know is that Sofia is a fairytale girl who lives in a fairytale world. All our characters come from fantasy lands that may reflect elements of various cultures and ethnicities but none are meant to specifically represent those real world cultures." Wow, Disney, somehow I never knew that New Orleans, America, and China were fantasy worlds.

       Another beef I have: Why is the first Hispanic Disney princess in a kids' movie on a Disney kids' TV channel? Is Disney running out of money? Did they not want to waste time on a full-blown movie? Why isn't Sofia getting the full-blown Disney princess treatment? Everyone knows you're not a legit Disney princess unless you sing incredibly catchy, beautiful songs and have a bedsheet set sold at Walmart.

      Something else that I'm wondering about is why Disney gave her mixed heritage. Disney is claiming that because Sofia has mixed-heritage, she is like many girls out there who are have mixed-heritage as well. I agree with this; not everyone has just Hispanic roots. There's a lot of diversity out there today. She is certainly familiar in that regard if you have strong feelings about your mixed-heritage, but why did Disney decide to do this with the first Hispanic princess? Why didn't they make her as Hispanic as Pocahontas was Native American, or as Tiana was African-American, or as Mulan was Chinese?

My two last problems: I watched the trailer and noticed two things.
1) The animation looks weird.
2) Sofia is way too clumsy and her problems look overblown. How can someone possibly fall over and drop books that easily? It's like in Twilight where Bella's big flaw that makes her more human is her clumsiness. 0_0 Really? Do you actually know anyone in real life who is "clumsy"? Does that make them human or cute or relate-able? No. It makes me wonder if they have sight or balance problems. Also, you can't pour tea well enough? Too bad you don't have a castle full of servants to do it for you. Oh, wait . . .

So, in a nutshell, this whole Sofia thing bothers me because
1) Disney chose to model their first Latina princess on the fairer skinned end of the Hispanic spectrum.
2)  She's not even from a real Hispanic country
3) I have yet to see any emphasis on her ethnic background. Making her Hispanic looks like an afterthought on Disney's part.
4) They gave her a weirdly animated kids' movie and not the full Disney princess treatment.
5) The animation looks weird.
6) Sofia's clumsiness doesn't advance anything - it doesn't make her look like she's having difficulty adjusting to Royal life, or that she's just like everyone else. It makes her look like she has balance or sight problems.

My biggest question about all of this is why do I care and why did I just waste so much time writing about this?! 

Identifying with Memes?

How wrong is it that you find yourself identifying with Paranoid Parrot?

Ramblings #1 Art Inspiration

Normally, I'd start this post with a preamble on how sorry I've been for not posting and keeping this blog current; however, I am well aware that no one reads this blog but me, so I'll just get to my main post.

Excellent things that catch my eye always inspire me to do better in that area of my life. Bill Bryson's writing encourages me to improve mine, watching videos of people dancing encourages me to practice, and looking at appealing artwork makes me want to improve my own. Kathryn Elyse Rodgers makes such artwork.

An apparel designer based out of Boston (soon, Spain), she posts her work on a blog ( http://paperfashion.net/) that I delight in perusing. Her watercolors are delovely - not super-realistic, just colorful, fun, and done with ink (have I already mentioned that I ADORE pen and ink drawings?).

There are just some things - clever sentences, particularly fun-looking steps, certain juxtapositions of lines and colors - that give you that jolt of motivation to practice your own. Ms. Rodgers' blog gives me jolts by the dozen. Even now, looking at this piece with the multi-layered skirt, ink lines, and fun shadows makes me want to practice my own drawings.

One Year Down, Ten More to Go!!!

Before I get to more serious stuff, I need to get something off my chest:

OMIGOSH-I-CAN'T-BELIEVE-FRESHMAN-YEAR-IS-OVER!!!! ONE-YEAR-DOWN-AND-TEN-MORE-TO-GO!!!!!

*cough-cough* Okay. I feel better. Now I can proceed.


On August 23 of last year (only a couple of posts ago; I know - I need to write more) I wrote about my anxiety over college. I actually wrote the following words:

"Don't worry. In a fortnight, I'll be blogging about how wonderful college is and how great and sunny my existence is turning out to be."

Well, it's been more than a fortnight, and college isn't exactly a sunny wonderland, but it's not the hellish existence I feared it would be. The light bulbs in the bathroom have been out for over a week, there is almost no school pride, and the library is only open 'till 11:45 pm, but I rather like UTPA. Tuition is cheap, it only takes about ten minutes to get to class from waking in bed to arriving, the cafeteria occasionally has whole-wheat noodles, the professors are accessible, the LAC is helpful (Mr. Mike and Dean are wonderful!), Carlos works here as a TA (FYI, Carlos is the greatest TA to have ever lived), and I get to see my family and Yorkie every weekend.

That post from last year reminded me of something about this new chapter of my life. It reminded me that this chapter, too, will end in three short years and another anxiety-inducing chapter will begin: medical school. It reminded me that I need to enjoy and make the most of where I am and what I am doing because it won't last forever.

All in all, it's been a very good year (whoa - I just thought of that Frank Sinatra song!). Now without further ado, I present the Freshman Year Recap, which is a list of some of the things I've done in the past school year.

Freshman Year Recap:

1) Made friends
2) Got stains on my lab coat
3) Went to the hospital (I really wish I had better veins. I think my nickname is going to become "pincushion")
4) Survived Dr. Wedig's lab
5) Didn't have to take psychology
6) Stayed up 'till 4:00 am finishing a biology report
7) Stayed up 'till 3:00 am studying for A&P
8) Drank an undisclosed amount of coffee
9) Learned that coffee demineralizes your bones. (oh, yippee.)
10) Won 1st place (unopposed) at a state HOSA competition.
11) Ran to class
12) Reached into various buckets and pulled out kidneys, brains, and dead creatures (that smelled of formaldehyde). The kidney bucket was the worse.
13) Spammed Noora and Laraib's Facebook walls.
14) Watched pigeons grow and leave the nest
15) Lived in the Troxel dormitory during its last year
16) Went to Moonbeans with Katie and Joana; drank iced coffee, played card games and learned new threats ("Jesus loves you and so do I, but you're going DOWN." Don't ask and you won't know).
17) Learned that anything you don't study WILL be on the test. It's a universal, unwritten law.
18) Learned that India won the World Cricket Championship
19) Learned lots of Biology, Chemistry, and A&P.
20) Learned how to use an ATM machine. *SIGH* That day will forever live in my memory . . . and NOT for positive reasons.


Top 7 Things I Still Don't Understand:
1) How Dr. Edwards has more than 206 bones in his body
2) Why there are random coins cemented into the walkway.
3) If the change machine is ever going to give back the $3.75 it stole from me
4) Why spell check thinks "glucose" and "fructose" are okay but counts "galactose" as incorrect?
5) How people can study all this biology and still insist that the universe wasn't designed
6) Why the crossing signs at the intersection don't let you get back to the UTPA side of the street.
7) Why people who write graffiti go to the library

This year has been great and next year will be even better. In the words of the tenth Doctor, "Allons-y!!!"

Trailer: The Illusionist

Speaking of movies I love, I love this one. I just need to see it.

St. Trinian's - Official Trailer [HD]

Rupert Everett as a lady? Colin Firth as a scheming minister of education? Gemma Arterton as an emo? Russell Brand as . . . something? Everyone’s favorite rising British actress Talulah Riley (who I think looks like Anna Popplewell)?

I am a hopeless cinephile, and, in an effort to find good movies from the past decade that I might have missed, I came across a delightful movie called “St. Trinian’s.” Based on Ronald Searle’s cartoons, “St. Trinian’s” follows the doings of a dysfunctional school filled with less-than-rule-abiding girls.

Annabelle Fritton (Riley) is dumped at the school after her father secures a discounted tuition from the headmistress (Everett). She is quickly acquainted with the schools various cliques (Posh-totties, chavs, first-years, geeks, emos, etc.,). Although she despises the school at first and wants to leave, she eventually starts to fit in with the others as they band together to save their beloved school from being shut down after it is found to be heavily in debt. It sounds a little cliché, I know, but it really isn’t. Here’s why I loved the movie so much:

1) They weren’t a bunch of normal trouble-making schoolgirls. They wield explosives, cheat ingeniously at field hockey, learn useful Spanish phrases like “Honestly officer, I’ve never seen them. these aren’t my suitcases,” have a firing range for anger management, and plot an intricate heist.

2) The Soundtrack. It was just cool (especially the duet with Everett and Firth singing “Love is in the Air” 0_0). Go watch the movie and listen to all the songs to see what I mean.

3) It’s downright hilarious; I’m not going to explain how. Just watch the trailer.

4) It’s English, and I’m an anglophile.

5) Stephen Frye, Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Gemma Arterton, Lily Cole, Talulah Riley and that lady who plays Agatha Christie in that Dr. Who episode, “The Unicorn and the Wasp.” Enough said.

6) Colin Firth. I will automatically love ANY movie with Colin Firth (a.k.a. Mr. Darcy) in it.

Anyhoo, if you now feel inclined to watch it, do it now before someone removes it from Youtube. While you’re at it, watch “St. Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold,” which has David Tennant in it (Yay!). Also, they’re planning on making a third movie, and while you wait for it to come out, you can watch the original St. Trinian’s movies from the 50’s and 60’s.

Wow. I can’t believe I just wrote an entire post on this. I must really like this movie.

Bananas and Memories

Okay, so there are many little weird things from my childhood that I remember - watching the big multicolored "Face" on Nickelodeon, putting on a T-shirt by myself for the first time, playing with my Pound-Puppies play set, watching the "Pound-Puppies" tv show on Sunday morning, making an in-home mail service where all the cards were written by me (I gave up that tiresome venture after a few hours), and watching cotton candy clouds with my brother on Thanksgiving (or was it Christmas?) eve and noticing that one of them looked like Goofy - but I had completely, and mercifully, forgotten one little detail until less than ten minutes ago: bananas in pajamas. I can still hum the theme song from the commercial and it seems that the picture of two bananas (in pajamas!) walking down the stairs together is forever ingrained in my memory (pity me, please). It was weird. Not just the bananas, I mean. It was weird to suddenly remember something so trivial from the past; it makes me wonder what other amusing and completely inconsequential things are lurking in my brain just waiting for the right smell/google image search/song/feeling/sight to pull them to the light of conscious thought.

It also makes me wonder how long they'll be there. Will my mind one day bury them with other information? Will I one day form new associations that permanently replace the old memories from my childhood?

Speaking of new associations, I was Googling random things and ran across this delovely picture of two bananas dancing (the waltz of potassium) and just had to include it in my post.

One more thing - I was thinking about this blog and how I barely update it and how there's nothing much to update it with when I realized something. I realized that update-worthy stuff doesn't just happen most of the time; you have to make it happen, you have to see it in something normal-looking and show how it is interesting or turn it into something interesting.
All that to say, "I'll be updating more often now." Not that it really matters. I'm well aware that I'm the only person who reads this blog, but that's okay. :D

BTW, in case you haven't noticed, I like writing with long sentences. Blame Dickens and my occasional desire to be a grammatical rogue.