BOURET STREET SIDEWALK BLUES

I REALLY do not know, comprehend, understand in any cliched, way, form or shape the sickening puertorican  pride, one of the seven deadly sins.

If puertorican nationals, judging from these pictures had the responsibility of building: Stonehenge, Macchu Pichu, any pyramid, cathedral or whatever, they would have probably fell in pieces, or have not been finished yet as the Gaudi cathedral.

If on the other hand they had built Hoover Dam, it would probably been abandoned since they have not been able to dredge correctly, CARRAIZO, in Trujillo Alto. The  whining and fear of drought is already spreading as a plague. The JERKS have never dredged it. This dam probably collects forty percent of what it should.

In the sidewalk department, concrete was poured, during rain, Even when pipes were previously broken as reported here, the tearing of the concrete goes in the same fashion, with the breaking of another pipe today.

Some fellow island  bloggers question the populace worries about GREEN GAS PIPE, however, I really wonder if the imbeciles surrounding your humble servant could actually build a secure pipe to transport of natural gas. Judging from a sidewalk, juat could any juan expect? It is the empirical vs the theory.

Never mind the environment, no one gives a flying fart down here. After all. only money launderers, tax evaders, politicians for auction, judges for sale run the SHOW down here.

The pictures speak for themselves...I am surrounded by JACKASSES in every cardinal point.

t

I

FROM MIRACLE TO NIGHTMARE IN LESS THAN 36 HOURS

 UPDATES

HOURS LATER...

The cement truck arrived 3 hours after this post.  However, the sidewalk was not finished, even though I saw an employee measuring the distance to calculate how much cement was needed.

Our water meter cover was broken. I had to sweep the street in front of our house to remove sand and cement, spraying afterwards with water to stop some of the dust  after every car drove by.

The people with the broken pipes lighted some candles, prayed, and amazingly, some AAA employees came and fixed the broken pipes around four PM.

Check the layer of asphalt in the picture, FOUR in seven decades. No wonder people had to build ramps to be able to enter. The sidewalk is about six to eight inches lower than the street level.  

Nothing. Puerto Rico does it better!

uSOME CONSIDER my stance harsh, I add unforgiven. I make no exceptions and I had to live somewhere else, no different.  The brain is a tool to use, develop, keeping it in shape.

Dimwits run the world. In the Revolution of the Masses by Jose Ortega i Gasset the issue is pretty clear.  Down here, the fools can not even repair a damn side walk without creating havoc among the families and community in general due to stupidity and lack of vision.

Check the pictures...The workers do not use an hydraulic hammer as one is prone to see anywhere in the world for tearing apart concrete/asphalt. No, god forbid, they use a front loader with the results shown in the pictures.  No water in building 507 until next Monday. Remember, this is the Holy Week.

DO NOT despair FANS AND FOES, instead of a water pipe, it could have been a gas line...In which case your humble servant would probably be off the air for a while, a short or everlasting.

With gas one never knows...

That is that...

From Puerto Rico does it better...

Live the one and only. 

MIRACLE ON BOURET STREET

DOWNHERE there is another blog I visit once in a while. It is rare, since  it is from the other side of the tracks, the country one.  The other day Enid, wrote about some insect, pain in the ass, eating her Musa and eggplant leaves.  

The same brown beetle has been munching on my Hibiscus rosa sinensis and Coccoloba uvifera.  Our approach is different since she picks them up bare handed and relocate them.  I execute them with my secret pest formula, picking them up with gloves. However, let the record show that I have saved them from drowning twice.

Last night the numbers were 9, plus 2 today. They are not hard to catch since they seem to be in a trance while eating. Their damage does not kill the plant but the appearance is rather ugly. Check the pictures.  Contrary to snails, slugs, caterpillars they chew mostly on the edges of leaves.  The botanical name of the culprit? Phillophaga portorricensis*.

The sidewalks on my street are being repaired after 70 years!  The sand below hollered: Free at last!  Imagine if you had been covered with concrete for that long, without fresh air, light and water.

What is the big deal may wonder the uninitiated.  Well, look at the picture at right, that sand covers most of Santurce, including the most important garden in the Caribbean.  With very little clay, in other areas, the amount of it is significant enough to turn its color to orange/red.  You would probably have seen it that kind of clay somewhere, at one time.

Other aspect of sand is that many people think of it as sterile or useless, except for construction.  Never the less, if you check the desertedge.blogspot.com, most of his posts deal with vegetation in desert and desert like, climate, and scenes. The wide spectrum of flora and fauna and fertility,  considering the extreme weather conditions and scarce precipitation is incredible.

Now in terms of my collection I had to consider this before the selection in most cases.  In other situations, I took the risk, particularly with some plants that prefer some humidity and no sand. I know that if I pass away between ten/twenty percent of me garden wil acompany me...

What is the miracle? In your country, perhaps it is not, will be not. However, with six decades of age, it is the first time I see whole neighborhoods getting its sidewalks repaired.  About the quality of the work, that is another story.  

that is that

*lavidaenmipatio.blogspot.com

LAPIZ PENCIL I PLUMA PEN PR'S AFFAIR WITH THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Cumplefeo,  a blogger and English teacher,

recently commented:

"You have no idea how much I suffer having to deal with the student rejection of English in class".  

Well, perhaps the students may not see any point in speaking it, but may be willing to write, read and understand it.  The truth is that no one is comfortable trying to enunciate with precision phonetics differences like: BITCH and BEACH,  sink-think-zoo, vote-boat in front of forty son of retarded son of beaches. These 3 examples shall suffice for you to get me drift. Focus, YOU son of a beach!


The situation would become; the bundle of the shepherds, as the late comedian from the San Juan Star once wrote, among other great idiomatic or literal expressions translations from the Puertorican Spanish. Was it Eddie Garcia?  This little token shows one of the problems with language acquisition in class. 


One thing is evident. English is spoken much more than thirty years ago when I was in college.  The rejection may be worse or the same.
However, the difference between writing, reading as a learning process versus the speaking is too often entangled with politics between statehooders and the others. It is like oil 3 in one. Most people can only deal effectively with the first two.


I was able to read, write, and understand to the best of my capabilities all my life. I assume most people are in the same bag. Speaking, pronouncing adequately and spelling are a total different story.


During my half life exiled in USA between the ARMY, MA and NY,
UMASS, Hunter, Smith College, I was able to deal with different registers of the spoken  English. Blacks, blacks, pales, Tex Mex, in and out of  academic contexts.


One needs a good ear to differentiate long/short vowels for example. Not everyone has the capability to understand and keep in mind those little details constantly, unless you speak/think the language in question night and day.   Why do people need/want to learn a language?  There is nothing more boring than a language class.


In USA and Spain, the average citizen rejects foreign languages. It seems to be a natural thing. But remember reading/writing does not expose anyjuan to ridicule.  Speaking  does.

VENTANA WINDOW

I 

PISO FLOOR

I do not understand, the rejection ( perhaps there is no point in wondering about it) since people learn what they want. But rejection of English,  is similar to the one caused by math anxiety. That is why I believe  teachers  so proud to teach are pure jerks, since no one can teach anything unless the will, need, urge to learn exists.


People with capability and understanding will learn the pragmatics of a second language. It does not matter if money, career advances, entertainment, traveling, music, movies, literature motivates the user.  What should be done is not to force those who can not and do not want, will not learn.  Offer them another language. 


Perhaps, not being an academic imposition would relax those unable to overcome the fear of sounding stupid in front of forty son of beaches.  There is nothing to lose. 


Except the pleasure of understanding certain songs, enjoying a movie without sub tittles reading Steinbeck, Faulkner, Joyce, Ezra Pound, Poe and so many known and unknowns.  

that is that

I know is not what some expected...

but it is open to debate

my favorite sport

win or lose.

apago i me voy.

 

POLLITO CHICKEN THE PUERTORICAN AFFAIR WITH THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

PUERTO RICO  like Hawaii, Alaska, Louisiana, Florida, one half or more of the original Mexico, is part of USA.  The concrete asphalted isle, is in truth, a war bounty after the 1898, 'war' with Spain, our mother for over 400 years. We all know about foster mothers in literature.

This may seem irrelevant, but it is not. Most 'communist' patriot islanders, forget that we are just one more conquest, just like every other Spanish American countries: Chile,  Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Salvador. These are not all that are/were under their paws at one time or another for cheap labor, military bases and resources.
In this sense we are not different at all. Just not a republic or worse, not even a remarkable amount of bananas to deserve the epithet.. Just with the flag and anthem.  I remind you my fuck you is purely
anarchic.

GALLINA HEN

 I used to be a language purist in my early days in college, now, I do not give a flying fart. But allow me to share this anecdote, a few minutes old. Tito Collazo, friend and neighbor just told me a language difficulty he had in a job once while pronouncing fuck you instead of focus, since he is a photographer.  With that I leave you to enter in the matter.  If you dissent at any point, stick to linguistics, language acquisition, communication and meaning. That is all that matters.