I Miss Honduras

Whenever I go back to Honduras the first thing I do is eat a baleada. A baleada is not only the most original and popular food but it is a typical Honduran snack that consists of a flour tortilla, with refried beans, shredded Honduran cheese and mantequilla (our own cream). Other foods I cannot get enough of when I visit home include chicharron (pork) with yucca which are pork rinds with cabbage, red salsa, and pieces of the vegetable yucca, enchiladas which consists of a fried corn tortilla topped with cabbage, tomatoes, ground beef, shredded cheese, slices of boiled eggs, and red salsa.

During weekends home, I enjoy spending the day in the beach. It can either be Cortes (Honduras main sea port and considered the most important sea port in Central America), which is just 30 minutes away from my hometown, or Tela that is 45 minutes away. In Honduras we also have the beautiful island of Roatan. Roatan is the largest of the Honduras Bay Islands and has the second largest coral reef in the world (Australia having the largest). The water is clear and the sand is soft and white but its natural charm is what makes it unique. It is soothing to sit in a hammock, listening to the waves and drinking agua de coco, which is coconut water.        

What I truly miss most from home is family. In Honduran culture family ties are very sacred and spending time with family is what I enjoy most. We often have dinner parties with close family and friends and these gatherings are very lively. Everyone is socializing and sharing funny anecdotes and once dinner is over we finish the night with endless dancing to merengue and punta music which is the music played by what is left of the ethnic group of mixed ancestry that live along the north coast of the country. Garifunas make their own instruments with objects found in the beach. Irreplaceable elements from home such as these are the reason for my special esteem for Honduras that keeps me longing to return.

Review II

Fast & Furious is a film with fast cars but left me furious. The film fails in substance and racial stereotypes are excessive throughout, thus the decent action scenes and stunts are the only solace left for the audience.

 Director Justin Lin reunited Paul Walker (Brian O’Conner) and Vin Diesel (Dom Toretto) to hit the streets of Los Angeles with Michelle Rodriguez (Letty) and Jordana Brewster (Mia Toretto).

 The opening scene, the hijacking of a gasoline truck that goes wrong, fails to grab my attention and lacks in significance. There is also the introduction of new characters like Reggaeton singers Tego Calderon and Don Omar, an attempt to engage with the notorious Reggaeton scene of Dominican Republic into the mainstream. Fast & Furious forgot about the fast cars and street races; instead it brings up a revenge plot similar to the one Vin Diesel starred in Man Apart (2003).

 Dom a fugitive ex-con is out for revenge when a drug deal went bad and his girlfriend Letty is killed in a car pursuit. While trying to get to the killer Dom meets again with FBI agent O’Conner, portrayed as the legal white superior that is Dom’s salvation from prison. That is when the plot starts as Dom and O’Conner team up in order to confront the same enemy (a heroin importer). The movie does have some thriller moments in the Mexican dessert and tunnels that serve as commentary on the recent Mexican Drug war. Although the new cars are faster, exotic and extravagant it is nothing compared to the first Fast & Furious or Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift.

 If you are in the mood to see fast cars and action/adventure scenes this is the right movie but  absolutely not to go on a date or with your family. It is certainly aimed to the young minorities in the U.S. in romanticizing their illegal activities. More importantly the movie is missing more cars, races and guns to make it more exciting.

Alan Delon

Communication senior

Reviewing

I Love You, Man Movie

I Love You, Man is a film with great actors that make you laugh from beginning to end. It has hilarious scenes that only Paul Rudd (Role Models) and Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) can perform at their best.

 With the actors mentioned above there is no need to say this film is a great comedy. Revealing how important it is for a woman to get married and how easy it is for a man to propose until he (Rudd) finds himself with no best man and his fiancée Rashida Jones (The Office) has chosen her bridesmaid.

 Directed, screen written and produced by John Hamburg  (Along Came Polly 2004) I Love You, Man explains the situation most couples face when they are engaged (why are we doing this?) and all the questions and doubts couples have before the “big day.”

 The well-written story starts when Peter Klaven (Rudd) overhears his fiancée and her friends laughing at him for not having friends or “boys’ nights” and catalogue him as a “boyfriend” kind of guy.  In order to become a “man’s man” Peter starts going out on “man dates” and has a fair share of awkward, embarrassing and hilarious experiences. The film becomes funnier and entertaining as Zooey (Jones) gets jealous of her fiancée’s new best friend Sydney Fife (Segel.).

 I Love You, Man is a good comedy/romance targeted primarily to men for a dudes night out because of the gross language but good enough to go on a date and enjoy a nice and sweet story. Like many romantic comedies are considered “chick flicks” I would certainly put this movie down as a “dude flick”, romantic enough for women to watch, funny enough to keep men interested and not dread the trip to the movies.

Alan Delon

Communications Senior

Presidential News Conference

President Obama on border drug violence

Of all the things said Tuesday on the Presidential News Conference, President Obama’s response to the border drug violence caught my attention. Not only because I am living in Houston and many of the violence and killings are happening in the Texas border but also because I am from a country which is also facing drug wars and Mexican drug cartels are migrating to Honduras for more power and control.

 President Obama will send millions of dollars for more effective high-tech surveillance to secure the border as well as hundreds of people to help. The administration is sending $700 million to Mexico and helicopters to help control the drug trafficking.

 Texas Gov. Rick Perry requested that 1, 000 troops should be sent to protect the border security in his state.

 The Obama administration agency will send 500 agents and send about 350 additional personnel from the Homeland Security Department for support. Also 100 more people form the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to the border.

 “We need to make sure illegal guns and cash are not flowing to these cartels,” said President Obama, “ this is what makes them more dangerous.”

 President Obama is coordinating effectively with the Mexican Government. The president is helping the Mexican Government with a tough problem and is willing to do more if the problem continues. 90 to 95 percent of all the traffickers’ high-powered weapons are purchased at gun shows, gun shops and from independent dealers in the United States and are then smuggled into Mexico.

 “President Calderon is very courageous in taking on these drug cartels,” said President Obama.

 Cartels in Mexico have launched a wave of violence against Mexican President Felipe Calderon since he began hunting down the cartels in 2006.

 “Drug cartels are completely out of hand,” said President Obama.

 The cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez are the most dangerous and where most of the violence, killings, illegal guns and drug trafficking are happening. These cities are dangerous for journalists. Since 2000, 25 journalists have been killed and since 2005, seven journalists have disappeared. Many reporters refuse to write stories about the cartels and the related incidents; many newspapers have stopped any kind of news concerning the drug cartels.

 So the question is if the situation in Mexico is a national security threat to the US? The answer is yes because it is threatening to enter the US if something is not done immediately.

 

 

Visit to the Chronicle

Trip to the Chronicle

 Tuesday’s trip to the Chronicle was amazing. Not only where we in the main news conference room but we also visited the room where the editors meet every day and decisions are made on what will be published on the newspaper.

 In that same room we were seating with Managing Editor of the Houston Chronicle, John Wilburn. As he explained why all the important newspapers of the United States were posted on the wall he asked for each of us to introduce ourselves.

 Professor Berryhill gave a short introduction of what we are doing in our opinion writing class and how important it is to know how to write and report. As soon as Wilburn heard the word reporting he smiled.

 “Every editorial we publish has as much reporting as possible,” said opinion director John Wilburn.

 That is when I understood why Professor Berryhill tells us in every class that the foundation of opinion writing is reporting, reporting, reporting.

 “We also use reporting from other people,” said Wilburn. After saying that he explained that in the room we were sharing with him is where the editors pitch ideas and debate about the different pieces before being published.

 For a moment I felt like a professional because that is the same method we are using in our opinion writing class. Each Tuesday and Thursday we pitch ideas during our class time and then write a piece about what we discussed.

Overall the visit to the Chronicle was a very good learning experience because we now have more confidence in our writing and understand the importance of reporting in our pieces.

 Alan Delon

 

 

Honduras or United States?

Should I go back home or stay in the U.S.?

 Immigrants are returning home in greater numbers but not just to India and China also Honduras. Highly educated people are not returning just to be close to family and friends but to have a better quality of life and apply all the knowledge acquired in the most developed country in the world, the U.S.

 “If I had stayed in the States, I’d be much wealthier,” said MIT alumni Jaime Rosenthal. “Most of my former classmates have more money than I do.”

 Rosenthal graduated in 1958 with a civil engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and studied at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He is currently one of the richest persons in Honduras who decided to go back.

 The University of Houston has over 35,000 students and is considered the second most ethnically diverse university in the United States (Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey-Newark number one.)

 “The knowledge base I have acquired will be the most valuable asset I can take back to Honduras with me,” said double major in political science and economics Giancarlo Delon.

 Delon, 20, is a junior in UH and considers UH a great learning experience. He is one of the immigrants who are taking advantage of all the benefits UH offers but wants to go back to Honduras as soon as he graduates.

 How many cougars will go back to their native countries? Why are students not staying in the United States after graduating? These are questions we don’t have certain answers because each person has different goals and dreams in life but wasn’t the United States the place where you could achieve the “American Dream” and the land of opportunities? Times have changed and with countries developing at a fast rate now it is better to study in the U.S. and when your student visa is expired you go back home and help your country grow.

 One cougar I know will go back to Honduras is my brother. Although we come from the same mother we think differently. My brother wants to meet as many people in UH as possible and take as many classes he can before his visa expires.

 “One of the top reasons I came to the U.S. to study is because of its diverse networking capabilities,” said Delon. “I can meet people of many different countries and business backgrounds that will be beneficial when I decide to go back to Honduras.”

 On the other hand, I am one of the immigrants who came to study to the most important country in the world and want to live and work in the United States. People who have family business go back to their country and work in their business. Other people like me don’t want to work in family business instead start a new business.

 Every person should be able to receive an education but sadly not everyone is able to. We should be grateful to be part of a university that let’s us express our opinion and decide if we want to go back home or stay in the U.S.

Alan Delon (713) 591-9432

Communications senior

 

SEA

UH Student Economic Association

The Student Economic Association (SEA) is an organization within the University of Houston which goal is to promote a professional atmosphere for students interested in the field of economics. The SEA meets every Thursday and the location varies depending on the amount of people that RSVP. All UH students (includes graduate students) are allowed to participate.

The SEA began in fall 2007; the economics club has had many names prior to this year. The organization is conformed of approximately 49 members. Fatima Maniar is the current president of the SEA after being appointed by the former president Fidel Menjivar.

Maniar, 24, born in Houston, Texas speaks English, Spanish and French and is part of the army reserve.

An important goal of the SEA is to help students prepare for either private sector or graduate school and to bring recognition to the UH Economics department.

“The university of Houston should bring more attention to the department since many companies are now opting to recruit Econ majors. We have great faculty sponsors, Dr.Thornton and Dr.Prodan that help guide us,” said President Maniar.

Being part of the SEA you can enjoy many benefits. The SEA creates resume books and passes them out at career fairs. You can get your own account with the SEA (name@seauh.com) email address. You get membership to the Houston’s Economic Club. You get to attend professional/career development events (ie. recruiter from P&G event, resume workshop.)

“Our next meeting will be a professional event where we have Ed Hirs speak about the benefits of an Economics degree, and give us insight on the Gas/oil field,” stated Maniar.

You can find more information at the SEA website where you can learn about the organization and sign on new members. www.seauh.com

Alan Delon

Maquilas

The Reality of Sweatshops

 Honduras was the first country in Central America to start with the Maquila (textile company) revolution. By 1996 the maquila industry generated $250 million and gave work to 75,000 people, 75 percent being women. It was the third income source after exporting coffee and bananas. In 2008 six maquilas closed down leaving more than 15,000 workers unemployed. There are still 114,000 people working in maquilas representing 26 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

 Honduras has introduced the maquilas because textile companies take advantage of the cheap labor, proximity to the United States and wonderful tax incentives that the government provides.

 “Maquilas in Honduras are the biggest foreign investment the country has and one of the greatest sources of employment,” said consular agent of Honduras in Houston Yolani Dubon.

 The maquilas are located in the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) where Honduras offers a relatively good price. These have proven to be very beneficial to foreign investors. These EPZ’s include benefits such as: 100 percent exemption from the import duties for raw materials, equipment, office supplies; from export taxes on all finished products; from income and excise taxes, city and country taxes, including sales taxes; currency conversion; withdrawal of profits and capital at any time.

 Another benefit is import and export shipments are cleared in less than one day with minimum documentation and as a member of the Central American Free Trade Agreement – CAFTA, manufacturers in Honduras are granted duty-free entry to the U.S.

 On The Daily Cougar Thursday edition I found an interesting picture. In it was a lonely sad boy on top of the shape and flag of my country: Honduras. At first I didn’t know what the picture meant. After raising my hand in class and asking the opinion editor of the class I understood the students against sweatshops association published it.

 The first question that came to my mind was why Honduras and not Mexico? Honduras needs more foreign investments not maquilas shutting down; a third world country that is currently in need of more employment opportunities especially for women who are loosing their jobs because maquilas are closing down. The women of Honduras need jobs, and closing down maquila production will only help increase hunger and poverty.

 Mexico is a bigger country; it has more people, many maquilas and more probabilities of being criticized for having sweatshops. Yet Honduras gets criticized.

 I understand sweatshops violate people’s rights and make them work long shifts with low and improper pay. American companies operating in Honduras don’t hire anyone under 18 years of age, workers are kept in air conditioned environments, given lunch breaks and bonuses for achieving goals. The factories have on-site clinics and transportation for workers.

Visiting these manufacturing facilities for many years when I was living in Honduras has given me true life experiences as to how workers are treated in these companies. In all the years I went to these places I never saw anyone suffering while working nor anyone complaining about the environment around them. Therefore it is hard to believe that some are accusing these companies of operating sweatshops when what most workers were doing there was making an honest living.   

In a developing country like Honduras you need to work long hours under any type of conditions because jobs are scarce and if you want to feed your family you will take advantage of any job you get.

 It seems easy to criticize when one has not lived around poverty for many years of one’s life. I believe it is inhumane and illogical for people who have no idea of the working conditions in Honduras to criticize and impede families from earning the money that will feed them and keep them alive. Nobody prohibits people in the US from working overtime and essentially that is what students against sweatshops is trying to do in Honduras.

“In fact, some experts say Western campaigns against low-wage factories overseas mostly benefit the American labor movement and do more harm than good in poor countries by draining off scarce jobs and choking off investment,” said communications coordinator of Wisconsin Citizen Action Roger Bybee.

Alan Delon

 

 

 

The Daily Cougar

Homeless man shot to death, yet a photo is more important

Monday Feb 9, 2009 was a different day on campus. On Saturday morning I had received an email from the University of Houston Department of Public Safety reporting the incident that occurred in 3400 block of Cullen Blvd.

Walking through the Communications building on my way to the satellite to have lunch I grabbed The Daily Cougar. The front page red in big letters “Man Shot to Deth on Campus” and an even bigger picture was attached of the man who was shot on Saturday morning.

As I started reading the article to understand more about what and why it happened and all the safety tips and measures that I could take to be careful on campus.

I couldn’t read as I normally do because the picture was a really good one and caught my attention immediately. Even when I finished reading I continued to think about the picture.

That Monday afternoon in my opinion writing course I found out there was a big controversy about the picture in The Daily Cougar. I couldn’t believe when I heard that some people were talking more about how that picture should not be posted because the person who took the picture didn’t give permission.

How can a picture be more important than a dead person? Why did that person took the picture if he/she didn’t want it to be published? Why was the photographer angry at The Daily Cougar?

I hope this person understands that it was a human being that was shot to death and not trying to be the center of attention just for taking a picture.

Alan Delon

Living in Honduras or Houston?

Homicide on UH Campus

The shooting that occurred on Saturday Feb. 7, 2009 has created more insecurity to our lives on campus. Although the Houston Police Department is investigating the shooting that occurred some time between 7 and 7:15 a.m. there are still many questions unanswered.

Who was the shooter? What is the Suspect Description? How did it happen? Where is the nearest security camera? And most importantly, why did it happen on our campus?

With all these questions unanswered the nervousness and danger continue to grow as these horrific incidents are occurring. It was just last week when in broad daylight a UH student got robbed. Instead of diminishing these incidents it appears as if they are growing and the authorities cannot do anything about it.

Last week during my Opinion Writing class we were discussing if students should be allowed to carry their own guns for their safety. As we debated for a few minutes I raised my hand and gave my opinion. I said that coming from a country like Honduras where guns are allowed and the crime rates being so high, we students should not be carrying guns because people get killed in Honduras simply because people try to steal each other’s guns. 

After the incident that took place at the Metro bus stop located in the 3400 block of Cullen Blvd. I am thinking twice about my opinion on students carrying guns. I would prefer that more UHPD would be circulating around campus and installing even more security cameras and increasing the number of blue light emergency phones. But if I continue to receive emails as scary as the one that resulted in one person dead I will vote in favor of carrying guns on campus.

Let’s hope that something like this never happens again so we can enjoy our beautiful campus at any time and any day without worrying that we might be in danger at school. We are in school to learn, not to put our lives on risk.