By Seneca 2012 could be the actual beginning of the long expected Latino political awakening. Why? Perhaps sheer numbers, the reaction to the dire economic costs the community has endured, the evaporation of Latino family wealth in the housing bubble and great Mortgage scams, high unemployment and under-employment, continuously high drop out rates for high [...]

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Webmaster’s note: This brief discussion is based on Seneca’s personal observations having lived, traveled and worked in Latin America and the Iberian peninsula. They are meant to enable a more cogent and better understanding of the cultural patterns prevalent in Latin America. It also helps to explain the attitudes, origins, values, tastes and preferences of [...]

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Cross posted at DailyGrito. By Seneca Frankly, President Obama does not seem like he was fully prepared to be President. His hubris may have gotten the best of him. He ignited real hope and became lucky: Hillary Clinton became overconfident, GWB became a bane as a lame duck, and John McCain self-destructed. Ergo Obama became [...]

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Cross posted at Daily Grito: A while ago, The Economist, did a cover story on ‘Networking.’ It explained how some groups did better than others by relying on ‘established’ or ‘informal’ networks. The story noted the most powerful ones and how rising or emerging groups use available networks or create new ones. Moreover, the article [...]

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And unfortunately, crumpets and finger sandwiches are not served. The Tea Party stems from the following : this so-called conservative resistance is plainly white Americans who borrow from several historical trends like the Boston Tea Party of the 1770s, but perhaps more importantly from the Know-Nothing Movement of the 19th century. But today add to [...]

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By Seneca US-Mexico relations have clearly had a rough time in 2010. Mexico’s seeming inability to deal with the increased violence south of the border plus the disruptive and unfortunate so-called Wikileaks has made many policy-makers pause on both sides of the border. These Wikileaks have become a serious diplomatic embarrassment to the US world-wide. [...]

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As the Yuletide approaches in the US followed by year’s end, the joy of the Latino celebration of these holidays is evident. This includes the sounds of villancicos, the stagings of the Posadas, accompanied by the season’s Hispanic gastronomical delights such as buñuelos, tamales, lechon asado, turrones and countless other delicacies from the different Latin [...]

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Every culture has a different take on what ‘excellence’ means. In Western culture, we tend to borrow many of the meanings of our ‘virtues’ from the Greek thinkers or the Hellenic cultural tradition. Western cultural tradition constantly or continuously seeks or strives for ‘excellence’ in life’s everyday quests: academic, professional, artistic or spiritual. Latinos’ western [...]

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