May 2009 be filled with everything that your little hearts desire.
Have a blessed and healthy new year!

So this is it... the end of 2008.

"Que te pasa viejo año que te pasa? Que ya tienes las maletas preparada."

So many things have happened in 2008, from the Olympics in Beijing to an election in the United States that had the world standing by.

Que paso in 2008 that you remember the most?
What shocked you? What moved you?

What do you hope changes for 2009?

Let's hear it.

According to various reports, FBI and Mexican authorities are investigating the kidnapping of an American citizen. Felix Batista of Miami, Florida was abducted outside of a restaurant in the Mexican city of Saltillo.

What makes this bizarre? Well it seems that Mr. Batista just happens to be an expert on kidnappings. He teaches courses about personal and corporate security.

What was he doing in Mexico? Well he was having talks and a conference with a local business group on how best to protect oneself from being kidnapped.

No, not that team.....The much talked about off-season for New York Yankees 3rd baseman, just got a little more interesting. Alex Rodriguez, has decided to play for the Dominican Republic in the upcoming World Baseball Classic in 2009.

ARod who was born in New York and played for Team USA during the 2006 World Baseball Classic, received much criticism from people in the Dominican Republic for "abandoning" his roots. According to ARod, "there will be no doubts and it is a dream of my mom's that I intend to fulfill."

As a Dominican-American, I am glad that he will play for the Dominican team. With that said however, this is the problem many people have with him. They claim he is not genuine, that everything he does is calculated to improve his image. This just furthers that view of him in my opinion.

So I am surfing the net the other day and run across a story from Fox News that says Playboy in Mexico had to apologize for a picture of a nude Virgin Mary on the cover. Now I'm no prude here, but c'mon folks, they didn't see this one coming?

I know, I know, the publicity is good, but this is Playboy. I know this cover would never in a million years have made its way to the US newsstands, so why do it in Mexico?

As a Dominican American I have encountered many people that consider themselves Hispanic and others that say they are Latino. What is the difference you ask?

Well from my understanding Hispanics are people who speak Spanish or are from countries that speak spanish. Latinos are just generally anyone who speaks a romance language, which includes Portuguese, French & Italian. Therefore one can say that all Hispanics are Latinos, but that not all Latinos are Hispanics.

There is a pretty lengthy discussion on that topic here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Latino#Hispanic.2FLatino


Whatever you consider yourself, we all have a bond. A bond that goes beyond the way we look or speak. This site will discuss many topics for all HisTinos. Some will be serious, like politics and immigration. While others will be light-hearted like our different customs, foods and yes marriage and dating.





So.....lets get to talking!!