Spanish Taking Over

I live in South Florida- I'm surrounded by Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Columbians, Peruvians, you name it. Especially the Cubans. Considering it's 90 miles from Cuba to Key West so many of them have arrived here by boat. I remember being in high school, the joke with Row Row Your Boat (a child's song) to Row Row Your Raft. And of course, I hear the spanish language everywhere I go. South Florida is Northern Cuba (Raphie May wasn't kidding when he made that joke in one of his comedy specials)

I get that America is the land of immigrants. My own family's orgins are from Italy, Scotland, and Ireland.

But here's what pisses me off the most: being looked down upon by these Cubans (especially) for not speaking their language. Excuse me? No I don't have to learn Spanish because I have to. Last I checked, the United States of America's main language was English. Last I checked, Florida was part of the U.S., therefore it's an American state. Last I checked, I'm an American born who is speaking the right language: English.
Now, if I was living in France, or even Spain, or China, then you bet that I'll be trying my best to pick up their native language to survive! I can understand the elderly old people who are too old to pick up a new language- I've heard that learning a new language is much more harder on adults than it is for kids.
My great great grandmothers were Italian immigrants. One of them (who was quite a tyrant) was too old to learn the new language- however she encouraged her children to learn English. They adapted the American lifestyle of hamburgers and hot dogs into their life of pasta. Another example is that my friend's father was from Lativia who spoke 5 languages before coming to the U.S. including perfect English; his daughter was taught Lativian and German first then English and speaks better English than most Americans. Why? Because they had to speak English in this country.

I'm all for keeping in touch with your native country's heritage but if you're going to live in a different country, you're going have to adapt to it and make it work.

With the spanish/Cubans taking over, it's getting very very hard to find a job, especially if you only speak English. These days, it's a requirement to be bilingual. Ad-billboards, stores are getting all hispanic on me. Last year I had a bad craving for a gyro (Greek food) and at the time I only knew one place to get it so I drove 45 minutes in morning traffic and found out that this Greek diner suddenly became a Latin diner. I was MAD!!!!
With these spanish people refusing to learn their new country's language, I have to wonder: what are they going to do when they get transferred (by a job) to Iowa? Or Wisconsin? Those states are english, english, english. They'll be screwed! They'll be wishing that they had taken the time to learn the english language.

In Our Eyes

Our eyes tell everything
the person can see something
They look deep down
even without sound
They could read something about you
they know something that is true
We don't even know about it
of what kind of information they could get
We may be telling the truth or a lie
we could either walk or fly
They could easily find out how we are
they could see us, even if we are far
People could read eyes from long ago
from what I found out to know
It is hard to believe in such a thing
it sounds like a poisonous sting
There's a mystery in all of us
from the evening air to morning dusk
In our eyes
show personality and the truth that lies

originally written in 1998, revised in 2002.
I remember reading this in high school English class and after I was done, I heard my fellow students say "whoa". It was written for a guy I had a serious crush on and he would look right into my eyes whenever I talked to him. Unfortunately (or maybe it's fortunately?) he did not share the same feelings for me as I did for him. So he missed out!

A Peaceful Night

Everything is so quiet at night
birds prepare for their morning flight
Clouds seem to look like they are not there
there's a cricket somewhere
Everything is so peaceful
so dark and very successful
People dream about their fantasies
ships and boats are at high seas
Water acts like it's not there
looking like a giant mirror
Past times are over to the present
some things are very pleasant
Pressures are off of everyone's shoulders
some are afraid to get older
Time pass by the hour of a minute
days goes by, doesn't it?
A new day to look forward to
a young child will learn how to tie a shoe
At night we get to see what space looks like
under a peaceful night

originally written in 1998

Fire of Passion

The precious moment
from the simple touch
bringing shivers up and down
the spine tunnel
Praying for the moment to last
the heart is pounding
the heat flared with wild
Sweat pump against the veins
Unspoken words are bonding
the heart becomes a sponge
soaping up the passion
the fire of ice melting away
the celestial tension
vaporizing into the breath
deep down into the soul
filled with fire of passion

originally written in 2002
It was written for a guy I had fallen in love while in college