A Real Edition of Bitches Blabbing

Betches Blabbing by Cassandra Martinez  
Download now or listen on posterous

Betches Blabbing 4.mp3 (16223 KB)

Me, Ciara and Carlos just fooling around and talking about summer.

Posted via email from cassy’s posterous

Bitches blabbing.

Betches Blabbing by Cassandra Martinez  
Download now or listen on posterous

Betches Blabbing 2.mp3 (567 KB)

So here’s a sample of something I’ve been working on in the late hours of the night. Hopefully can expand more on the idea and create a Podcast on iTunes.
Wow, how’d it get to be 3 a.m.?

Posted via email from cassy’s posterous

Just for Kicks

Hate It or Love It. The Game & 50 Cent.

On the inside, everyone’s got a little ghetto-fab. Scrolling through my iTouch, I don’t exactly have the biggest collection of R&B and rap music — it’s more along the lines of John Mayer and Coldplay.

But you’d be surprised when I plug in my iPod into some speakers and Tupac or Dre comes blaring through the system.

Under 50 Cent I have a mere three songs, I’m not exactly his number one fan. But all the tracks have that trademark attitude of 50’s: do what it takes to survive.

How could I argue with that? 50 Cent survived being shot nine times, I’m sure he could have made it through senior year at Memorial.

In 50’s collaborative song with The Game: Hate It or Love It, they rap about their successes and attitude toward those in their life that wanted to bring them down.

I don’t exactly have gang members chasing me down with guns for wearing red on the wrong side of town, but I know a little bit about haters.

No matter what zip code you’re living in, you can’t make everybody happy.

50 put it best, “hate it or love it, the underdog’s on top,” “And I’m gonna shine until my heart stops.” Success comes with consequences, but to those that have earned it, it’s a small price to pay.

My Real Senior Soundtrack

The Space Between. Dave Matthews Band.

            A friend once told me, a sense of humor is gained as an act of defense, a quality that is learned because without it, how could we survive our biggest heartbreaks?

         I am a firm believer in the power of laughter and seeing the comedy in the unlikeliest of places — some of my most embarrassing stories from the past could make me laugh till I cry when retold.

         There were times this year when I came home so frustrated that it drove me to tears; but those occasions were few and after one of my trademark 12-hour naps, I was ready to face the world again.

         It’s no coincidence that the trite quote laughter is the best medicine is so popular; speaking from experience, even the biggest sob can quickly turn into one of those familiar embarrassing laughs in which you can barely catch your breath.

        Dave Matthews put it best, the space between the tears we cry is the laughter that keeps us coming back for more.

       So, my advice? Laugh until you snort, chuckle in the face of those who would love to see you down and giggle incoherently even after strangers begin to stare – as my Mom would say, they’re just jealous.

Living in Sin

 

Living in Sin

She had thought the studio would keep itself; no dust upon the furniture of love. Half heresy, to wish the taps less vocal, the panes relieved of grime. A plate of pears, a piano with a Persian shawl, a cat stalking the picturesque amusing mouse had risen at his urging. Not that at five each separate stair would writhe under the milkman’s tramp; that morning light so coldly would delineate the scraps of last night’s cheese and three sepulchral bottles; that on the kitchen shelf among the saucers a pair of beetle-eyes would fix her own— envoy from some village in the moldings . . . Meanwhile, he, with a yawn, sounded a dozen notes upon the keyboard, declared it out of tune, shrugged at the mirror, rubbed at his beard, went out for cigarettes; while she, jeered by the minor demons, pulled back the sheets and made the bed and found a towel to dust the table-top, and let the coffee-pot boil over on the stove. By evening she was back in love again, though not so wholly but throughout the night she woke sometimes to feel the daylight coming like a relentless milkman up the stairs. Adrienne Rich

 

 

            Let’s face it – marriage isn’t what it used to be. No, let me rephrase that, relationships aren’t.

            In a society influenced by countless romantic comedies and celebrity marriages, we are no longer like our conservative counterparts from generations past.  

            We get bored. Easily. With technology evolving the way it is and relationships becoming digitized through text message and email, love just isn’t the same.

            Even those who are seen as “unwilling to conform to society” by choosing to “live a life of sin” are not safe from dreadful monotony that can destroy a relationship.

            In the poem by Adrienne Rich, she describes a relationship that was built on idealistic values and false expectations.

            Presumably the speaker is a young girl who has become disillusioned with the relationship she is in. In her rush to what she believed was happiness, reason was thrown out the window for adventure and the rush of doing something that was seen as unconventional.

            She thought she was safe from everyday responsibilities like dusting and cleaning, but she finds herself immersed in the very household tasks she was originally running away from.

            No matter when the poem was written, it is relevant to this day. Till the end of time we will be trying to decipher the enigma of how to make a relationship last and stay exciting.  

            Ask a blushing bride on her wedding day what her dreams are and you would believe she lived in some fantasy world where everyone had their very own happily ever after.

            But the reality is, we grow up. With experience comes wisdom, and with wisdom we realize life isn’t a fairytale. Your shining knight in armor is just a typical human, filled with flaws like everyone else; your wonderful home where you will start your life together is just a one bedroom apartment where the rent is too high.

            What’s the bigger sin? Adultery or living in a loveless marriage? Marriage is complicated, especially trying to keep one together. But is the fight truly worth it? If both parties are not sharing the same feelings of admiration and love, should it be allowed to dissolve?

            With divorce rates at an astounding 50% and climbing, many would say we are becoming a generation of quitters, unwilling to work out our problems properly.

            But what if we are making the right choice? To abandon a sinking ship – essentially, call it quits.

            If couples are unhappy and not in love, there are many options before the big D. Counseling, therapy and simply talking it over.

            I’m not saying love is impossible or unrealistic, but am merely stating that many take the leap of love without looking back or reasoning.

            There is a stigmatization that comes with becoming a divorcee, a sort of scarlet letter that becomes associated with you and your failed marriage.

            For me, the phrase is “if you fail, try again” comes to mind when I think of marriage and divorce. Now, don’t become the next Liz Taylor, but even if you ask her I doubt she would regret the happy moments during her relationships no matter how fleeting they happened to be.  

            Don’t give up on love, just become smarter about it.

Risks Journalists Take

 

1,800 pictures and glass plaques with the names of journalists line the wall at the Newseum in Washington D.C., covering an entire wall from top to bottom. After reading the caption accompanying the display it explains that these are the pictures of the journalists who died covering the news from 1837 to 2007. The Newseum recently added 158 names to this memorial in honor of those journalists who had been killed between 2006 and 2007.

If it weren’t for the journalists who go to the countries like Darfur, Afghanistan, or Iraq during times of conflict, the common citizen would be uninformed and possibly unconcerned by the disasters unfolding hundreds of miles away.

Over the past week at Georgetown University during a journalism seminar for their School of Continuing Studies high school program, guest speakers ranging from pollsters, former Ambassadors to Sudan, and reporters have been talking to teens about the ongoing conflict in Sudan and ways of gathering information to sufficiently cover it and similar events.

“My job is to write articles about people who are trying to help,” Emily Holland, the in-house producer for the International Rescue Committee, said, “to translate the humanitarian world to your schools and your living rooms, to learn a little bit more about it, and to care enough when you’re older to donate.”

In times of the changing media, reporters, journalists and humanitarians are all now looking for different ways to present their information that can generate interest in the public.

“People used to say, why do care about Africa? Nobody’s going to pay attention. But by using our new interactive media and multiple angles to cover our story like online reports and broadcasts,” Nathalie Applewhite, associate director of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, said, “people did end up caring.”

But in the chase for a good story, journalists take the risks of getting caught up in the conflict surrounding them.

“The first time I ever saw a foreign correspondent covering Vietnam, I thought that’s pretty glamorous, I want to do that,” Susan Milligan, correspondent for the Boston Globe, said. “Basically it didn’t occur to me that he could die. Because he was on TV, it gave me the illusion that he was safe, and I think we still think that way today.”

But after having been in places such as Kosovo and Albania, Milligan can pledge that there is nothing “glamorous” about having a “gun held to the base of your skull.”

“Before getting into this job, you have to know and understand that the risks today are maybe even greater than when I started out as a reporter.” Milligan said. “Back then, the reporters traveled with the army and were protected to a degree, but now it seems as if we’re on the front lines.”

Now when journalists head out to the danger zones looking for a story, there are cardinal rules they all know to follow.

“You never go anywhere alone,” Milligan said. “And although you may  think when you’re with other reporters, that  you’re safe because there’s a lot of other westerners around and that they won’t do anything to you, but you’re wrong. I remember just standing on top of my hotel’s rooftop watching the bombs drop and all of a sudden these men with guns told me to come with them.”

After her and a number of other reporters were arrested, Milligan’s sister received a phone call from her foreign editors telling her sister that she had been taken into custody and that they had no idea how they were going to get her out.

“That was a pretty tense night. We were in a war zone, there were no rules,” Milligan said. “We didn’t know if they would kill us or what they were going to do to us.”

Eventually the authorities let her and the other reporters leave, also kicking them out of the country.

“I remember there being a point during another one of my assignments that the other, older reporters sat me down and told me straight off, that I was being too cavalier,” Milligan said. “They said, just because they weren’t shooting at me that didn’t mean I couldn’t be hit.”

In places like Albania and Kosovo Milligan claims she wasn’t a target, but that that all changes in zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, where as an American you become a target.

“I remember feeling relatively safe in Pakistan when Daniel Pearl had been kidnapped,” Milligan said. “And then I got the email showing the video telling all journalists to leave the country or that we’d be killed to.”

Milligan states that when you start to “feel that you’re safe and get too comfortable,” that’s when you’re the most at risk to getting hurt.

“Never go anywhere alone.” Milligan said. “When somebody insists that you go alone to get you’re story, realize it’s not worth it – you may not get out of there alive.”

Now that more and more journalists are heading into these unstable countries, many are receiving training to help prepare them for when they do run across a volatile situation.

“I remember going to a conference with the MI-5, where they taught me all these tricks to protecting myself,” Milligan said. “The one thing they said that was most important was that if you ever start feeling uncomfortable, get out. Just because you can’t see it or hear it, doesn’t mean it’s not there. It could mean the difference between life and death.”

A Generation of Quitters

Ballet. Crew. Basketball. Volleyball. Lacrosse. Badminton. Field hockey. Soccer. These are just some of the sports and activities Libby Graham can remember she’s quit during her sixteen years.
“I have different reasons for quitting each.” Graham said as she recalled her memories of her past hobbies. “The first sport I ever quit was soccer. I had played for six years.”
Then suddenly she stopped playing.
“Around that time I was playing soccer, my family and I moved to Maryland. I just kinda stopped playing because I didn’t know anybody.” Graham said. “I was embarrassed. I was worried that people would maybe not want to be my friend or that I’d take someone’s spot on the team.”
After her fateful move, the sports and hobbies given up kept piling.
“When I joined crew and badminton I was really only in them for less than a day.” Graham said nonchalantly. “My parents did this thing where they forced me to join something, anything, every new school year.”
With the workload less than any other time for Graham in the fall, she was able to try out nearly every sport her small private school had to offer.
“With basketball, the reason I quit was my broken finger. The coach actually broke my finger and that really made me realize, ‘Hey, I don’t want to play for this woman anymore.’”
Nowadays, Graham has found her sport. Her place in the athletic world at her school – a player on the tennis team.
“I have finally found something I really like to do,” Graham states. “I’m not going to quit tennis, for sure. I actually like it.”
Graham claims all one must do to find their niche or what they like to do most is try everything else out until stumbling upon what you want.

In the eyes of the older generation, these Y2K babies have seemed to lost their tough skin, their willingness to stay in the game, their overall drive to stay in something till it’s done.
“Well, back in my day, we couldn’t just quit something whenever we felt like it.” Cindy Martinez, 46, said. “There was money involved. Money that wasn’t such a luxury as the younger kids think it is today.”
When asked of her childhood and teen experience regarding sports and clubs Martinez vowed to have never quit one.
“Everything I did in high school, I did four years.” Martinez said confidently. “One club I can remember wanting to quit at times was the Pep Club. But I never did, I had to earn that uniform my parent’s paid for.”
Is there any other explanation as to how someone could manage to collect four credits of Home Ec in high school then refusal to give up and throw in the towel on a club?
“You know, I think the biggest problem is laziness.” Martinez said. “You kids just don’t give anything a chance. You try something, get bored and don’t get to even know if you really like it.”

What does young Libby Graham say to remarks made by the older set about her generation’s supposed lack of enthusiasm and commitment to nearly anything?
Whatever.
“People say whatever they want, but they don’t know why I or anyone else for that matter quit something.” Graham says. “I have my personal reasons they will never know about.”

Script from Mass Communications: A Hollywood Hit

TAGLINE: You’ve heard the rumors about Hollywood, now find out they’re true.

Int. scene – description
A group of bored looking producers, writers and directors are sitting around a table at a typical board meeting, constantly checking their Blackberries for any new messages or calls. The desk is littered with coffee cups and dozens of crumpled up balls of paper. A few scared assistants sit behind their bosses dutifully taking notes and nodding their heads obediently.

WRITER
We need something new. Something juicy. Something never been done before.

PRODUCER
Everything’s been done. Tina! More coffee!
Blackberry rings an extremely obnoxious tone. Director picks it up without excusing himself.

DIRECTOR
Spielberg speaking. Yep, I’m just here in this meeting. Yeah, going nowhere. I’ve run dry… (Starts nodding) A talking dog? That can fly? Incredible. (Turns to group) Let’s do it.

WRITER
Fresh. I love it. But we need something else to clinch the Oscar…

DIRECTOR
Well we’re obviously missing a topless scene. Julia Roberts booked?

PRODUCER
And the kiss in the rain? But we gotta keep the film hip, indie, it’s gotta be two chicks… Tina, I’ve told you countless times, 3 and a 1/2 milks not four!
TINA comes hand shaking with a new cup of coffee and drops it off in front of him without a thank you.

WRITER
Perfect. I see it now… Guy is confused, washes his face to clear his head in front of his foggy mirror and suddenly, Aha! He’s gotta go find the girl. This role just screams Tom Cruise. He still asking for 20 mil a picture?

DIRECTOR
(Thoughtfully)
But girl doesn’t swing that way… So, conundrum.
Producer gets up and stands behind the director and writer to put his hands on their shoulders before delivering his “amazing” idea.

PRODUCER
Two words: dream sequence. Guy wakes up, turns over in bed, and there’s the broad. Problem solved.
There is a moment of tension as they wait for a reaction. All signs are leading to a negative response. But then the Writer’s face turns from unsure to delighted.

WRITER
Pure genius! That’s Scorsese stuff right there. Set the budget to 20 million and lets shoot.
The three execs turn to each other in sheer joy and begin to talk excitedly in a small circle. Camera zooms in past the hot-shots to focus on two of the assistants who turn to face each other shaking their heads in disbelief.

THE END

The Curse is Over… Again

Two days after the Celtics’ landslide victory (131-92) in TD Banknorth Garden stadium, the familiar green and white jerseys could still be spotted all over Boston. For many, the Celtics’ advancement into the Final Four brought back memories of the notorious Red Sox victory in 2004. With these riots and the death of a college girl the night the Sox finally broke the curse and the streets were in chaos in the back of official’s minds, heavy precautions were set so an uprising of that magnitude would not occur again on Tuesday.
Before the game even began on TV, a special ad was aired starring members of the team urging Bostonians to party responsibly. Scott McKay, who lives in Dorchester, took the words of warning and precaution to heart while entertaining. “This win was all smooth sailing,” McKay said. “We all learned from the Sox victory to be more careful that night. When the Celtics won it was a lot of crying, hugging, confetti and partying but definitely no cars being flipped over, riot parades or helicopters like last time.”
Steven Richards, who traveled to Boston for the game with his wife, Brandon, flew in from Arkansas and bought his tickets the day of the game. “Section 328, row 14, up there in the balcony.” Richards said. “I’ve seen a lot of basketball in my day, and that was definitely one of the best games I’ve ever seen.”
Along with the countless police, SWAT teams wandered around Fanueil Hall keeping a watchful eye on fans before and after the game. “There was definitely a lot of manpower out and about. Even on the trolley, there was a team of police standing around – my wife wanted to take a picture.” Richards said. “This victory was one they were prepared for, everything was in order.”
From the perspective of those that worked in Fanueil Square on Tuesday night, events were noticeably different from any other normal day on the job but nearly not as crazy as the night the Red Sox won the World Series.
“Everything was obviously chaotic. Things got crazy even before the end of the game because you could tell we had won even as early as halftime.” Andrew Scully, who worked that night at the nearby Bostonian Hotel, said. “There were two times the amount of people usually around Fanueil; we couldn’t get cabs for anybody.”
The night the Celtics won the NBA championship for the first time in 22 years is a memory fans will remember; except for those fans like McKay who only “wish [they] could remember.”

Don’t Mess With Texas

Everyone rides their own horse, nearly all of us wear a cowboy hat at all times and most importantly Texas’ whole population votes Republican.
These are just some of the generalizations I heard when I asked strangers what they thought about Texas.
“I hate Texas, you all are a red state,” one particular girl who will remain anonymous for her own sake stated absolutely. When asked why she thought this was true about the entire state she replied, “Say what you want about my state and I’ll say what I want about yours.”
Well it’s definitely not my place to restrict her right to free speech and opinion, but is it too much to ask where people get these impressions of my home state without ever visiting or doing their research?
“There are several different Texas’,” Bob Berger, Texas History teacher said. “We’re just a big state, you have everything going on in different parts.”
In the latest elections, Texas has been counted as a red state most times, but according to Berger, this is somewhat a recent development.
“Texas used to always be a democratic state. Before the 80’s we were a very blue area.” Berger said. “And in the Rio Grande Valley where I live in deep South Texas you get a very different demographic than other, larger portions of the state.”
Living in McAllen, Texas the percentage of Latinos populating the area is in the 90% range and the amount of registered democratic voters is calculated in the 80% mark.
“In the Valley and areas like Travis County where you have places like Austin you have a very liberal population,” Berger said. “In other cities like Dallas it is largely Republican, but in the end they balance each other out and offer a different perspective.”
Before moving to Texas from Florida for college at the University of Texas in Austin, Berger denied believing in the stereotypes surrounding the Lone Star State.
“My brother had a lot of friends who went to UT’s journalism school so I got to know some Texans before going there myself,” Berger explained. “Although I was a little bit disappointed when I found out the rest of Texas wasn’t like Austin after graduating.”
When asked what his favorite thing about Texas was Berger replied with an unique answer.
“I just find the geography fascinating. Forget the people, the towns, just environmentally speaking, we are one the most diverse places.” Berger said. “You can start driving on the coast and in two hours you’re in the desert, drive another two hours and you’re in the rolling hills.”
With such diversity offered in one state, a true Texan can only think, what else do you want?
“We’re in such a day and age where the Modern Texan isn’t made of the same stuff we were decades ago.” Berger said. “Sure, hicks and hillbillies exist, but to judge all of us based on just a few is unrealistic thinking and prejudice.”