Final Fantasy

As we say goodbye to 2011 we feature this carioca, Zeta. Thus completing our fantasies from A to Z. Guess we'll start again in 2012!!!

Merry Christmas Weekend

We take a break this weekend to celebrate Christmas. Enjoy this rendition of "When Christmas Comes" by one of my favorite internet celebrities, B. Scott.

Packing

Magnificent

Wake Up To This

Hump Day Temptation

Activist Dies

Sonia Pierre, a human rights activist who bravely fought discrimination against poor Dominicans of Haitian descent since she was a child, died Sunday, according to colleagues. She was 48. The renowned activist died outside of the municipality of Villa Altagracia while being rushed to a hospital after suffering a heart attack around noon Sunday, said Genaro Rincon, a lawyer who works with Pierre's Dominican-Haitian Women's Movement.

Pierre's chronic heart troubles were first discovered in 2007 when she was in Washington to receive the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award honoring her work securing citizenship and education for Dominican-born ethnic Haitians.

Through the decades, her activism made her the target of threats in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, but it earned her recognition from overseas as a fierce defender of human rights, including an award from Amnesty International in 2003.

Pierre was one of 12 children raised in a dirt-floor barrack in a Dominican migrant worker camp and was just 13 when she was first arrested and threatened with deportation for leading her fellow Dominican residents of Haitian descent in a march for cane cutters' rights.

Since then, Pierre tirelessly fought to secure citizenship and education for the beleaguered minority of Dominican-born ethnic Haitians.

The Travelers Fantasy

See more of David at Broke Latino Guys.

Can We Talk?

It is said that honest, open conversation helps keep relationships strong. I suppose then that the same is true regarding all relationships, whether with friends, family or lovers.

On today, World Aids Day, let's have a discussion with those we love about the ravages of HIV/AIDS in poverty stricken countries and how some governments choose to turn a deaf ear to those who cry for help because the powers that be cast moral judgment rather than show biblical compassion.

Be sure to mention how even in the U.S. there is an alarming number of cases of new infections, particulary in minority communities and among younger age groups. Unfortunately this is the demographic that is often overlooked and underserved.

This generation may not have been witness to the ugliness that was AIDS in the late 80's. Be not deceived, that same horror still dwells among us. We just don't see it plastered all over the media anymore. Young urban teens who don't reveal their positive status because of fear of being stigmatized are dying a hard and lonely death, not taking meds and not getting treatment.

Simply because the perception is that a positive status isn't as bad as it once was, many people risk engaging in unprotected sex. "If I get it I'll just take the meds." Sure AIDS is not the immediate death sentence it was in the early years we knew about it. But I'm sure those living with it will tell you it ain't no picnic either! And as mentioned before, most people in certain communities are not having dialogue about HIV/AIDS.

So, on today when you encounter a loved one or even someone you've seen around the way just pull them aside and say "Can we talk?"