A Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore-- And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

- Langston Hughes

New Year Resolutons 2006

Ok, so I'm 26 now and 4 years more until I'm the big 3-0. This has caused me to reevaluate my future plans and how I'm going to prepare for it. I looked over my resolutions/goals from 2005 and I think that I did pretty well. Of the things that I wanted to accomplish, I DID actually ...DO those things (+=successful, -=not successful):

Career : get serious about it-- +
Savings : (I won't divulge that info, but I got to go on a much-needed vacation to the DR w/ it).+
Travel : Thailand +, Cambodia/Vietnam -, Europe -, Florida +...added bonus: Dom. Rep.
Get politically active :(
Take spanish lessons: started it, but didn't finish -/+
Take belly dancing lesson : +, added bonus: took Yoga classes too
Writing : take online lessons and submit some work for publication -

2006 will be the year that I prepare for the big year: 2007. In 2007, I plan to be on the road to writing professionally, and/or going to grad school at NYC's The New School for an MFA in Creative Writing and living in Brooklyn....

Speaking of Brooklyn, the New Year's Eve party that I went to there was amazing! I went to this party with my cousin, Simon's, girlfriend. His girlfriend, Aisha, is an artist. She has some amazing art: www.superhueman.com that she has had in gallaries all over. Her friends were all these 20 and 30-somethings who had followed their dreams from day 1 even when they were struggling. They were graphic artists/designers, soon-to-be nightclub owners, black indie-film company-owners, abstract artists, lawyers, muscians, oh it was so cool. I left that party SO inspired to do what I've always dreamed of doing, even if it meant struggling: to be a professional writer. This year, I'm going to keep chugging along at Women for Women International (www.womenforwomen.org ) as the institututional advancement assistant and soak up as much as I can. I am learning SO much there that I can use in my own future as a creative professional. The president of our NGO, Zainab Salbi, is such a dynamic woman (buy her memoir, Between Two Worlds: Escape From Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam on www.amazon.com ). Just being in the presence of such amazing people at this org, is reason enough for me to want to do more to help AND to figure out how I can do something to better myself. I'm really impressed by what happens there every day....

Oh yeah, back to my dreams.... I have since posted copy of a poem by the famous African-American poet, Langston Hughes, called A Dream Deferred (see copy of poem above) to remind me not to get sucked in at work at this amazing organization and to remember that I'm supposed be working on my future as a writer. I wish that I could write all of the ideas that I have for The Adventures of Bianca Sukiyama and my other short stories, but they'll have to be unveiled at a later date. I CAN unveil my 2006 Resolutions...

2006 Resolutions
Save More Money
Start my own online family business
Travel to Europe: Already in the works...going to Amsterdam, Paris & Brussells this Spring
Road trip with my girls: Napa Valley Wine Country? The Dirty South? California Coastin'?
Artistic Collaboration with Neil? Amanda? (see Bianca art on this page)
Take Writing Classes

I think that these are all possible...don't you?

Family and the Holidays

This past Christmas was pretty good. It was my first time back in the States for the holidays since coming back from Japan. I decided to stay in the Washington, DC area for Christmas with my dad's side of the family and NYC for New Year's with my grandfather's side of the family. I went to a Christmas Eve party at my Aunt Ivy's house and I had a good time. For New Year's, I met up with Nikkii (from Japan) and I went to this awesome New Year's Eve party in Brooklyn (see New Year's Resolution).

The holidays haven't been completely about family. Since Thanksgiving, I have since moved into a new apartment with my roommate/one of my best friends, Melissa, to Silver Spring. I LOVE this area. The downtown area is so beautiful and there's so much to do down here. Not to mention it's so convenient to DC. It's been hard trying to furnish the apartment though. We've been living here for two months and we have yet to furnish the living room. I think that it'll all come together by the end of February though. We'll be having a house warming then, so be on the lookout. I hope to have some pictures uploaded later.

Me, my dad, my nephew, Ty, and my cousin, Jaylon in South Carolina.

Me and my cousin Tiffany at our family's Christmas Eve Party 2005 

India.Arie performing at the Millions More Movement in Washington, DC. 

Shomar (left), me in the middle and Nikkii at the Millions More Movement in Washington, DC. It was peace. 

Me and my favorite author, L.A. Banks, at her booksigning in Bowie, MD at Karibu Books.  

Me, Lisa and Melissa at Yuca for Lisa's 24th b-day bash. Tanoshikatta! There were all the friends who met in Japan (American and Japanese) and some of Lisa's friends from Detroit. The Latin music at Yuca was great! We had so much fun. 

My First Review!

My friend, Ikuko, sent me a review from a Dominicana who says this of my blog:
"I really like the article that your friend wrote about our country, I would like to receive them or read them. Do you know where can I get them? Maybe a website or something like that. Give congrats to her, she is a good writer." -- Noelia from Santo Domingo, DR

Bachata: The Soundtrack of Life in the Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic has captured my heart. I left there knowing that I was coming back. I would LOVE to buy a house or apartment and live there 30-50% of the year. The people, the culture, the music, the language, the food, everything was more than I expected and I didn't expect much. People were constantly mistaking me for a Dominicana. I figured that would happen since it happened to me in Miami sometimes. From the time I stepped off the plane in Puerto Plata I was "Dominicana," the immigration staff spoke to me in Spanish asking, "Dominicana?" I didn't mind it at all, I just wish that I had remembered more Spanish (I studied it over 10 years ago and have since studied Russian and Japanese) so that I could communicate better with the people there.

I went to visit my friend, Ikuko Shimizu, in the province of Dajabon (on the border of Haiti) where she coordinates various programs for the InterAmerican Development Bank (based in Washington, DC). I was so grateful that she invited me to come and visit. I learned so much about the work in international development and about the people that you actually affect when you work in the field. Ikuko told me that it makes such a difference being there than just sending money there. It solidified my interest in working in the field for international development. This experience has been one great cultural connection and real life work experience all rolled up in one. I could compare how similar African Americans (specifically Southerners) and Dominicans are. It blew me away how many similarities there were besides our hair and skin. It went beyond that. The way they prepared some foods, their hair, dressed, and even some mannerisms. It's hards to describe, but I felt right at home instantly.

The music that was most popular (in this order): Bachata, Merengue, typico (a high speed merengue beat), and Salsa. I heard music everywhere I went in the DR at all times of the day. People would blast bachata from their car stereos (much like African Americans like to do listening to R&B or hip-hop, etc), from their little portable radios and from little discotecs in the middle of the countryside ("el campo") even if there was no electricity, there was music. I have always loved bachata ever since I heard it in Miami as a teenager. Although I never knew how to dance to it. All of these types of music had a dance to it of course that would definitely go under the category of ballroom dancing (always with a partner). The easiest is merengue, which I had mastered in the clubs of Miami in high school. The next is typico, then there is bachata which involves more steps and most difficult to dance to is salsa. I picked up a bit of bachata dancing in the clubs while I was there, but I wasn't confident enough to try Salsa while tons of people were watching me on the dance floor. Salsa is hardcore and I think that I'd like to butcher the dance style in the privacy of my own home, thank you.

Chivelry isn't dead...in the Dominican Republic. The men of the DR are such gentlemen! If Ikuko and I were on our own in the club, then men would come over and ask why we were alone and without a man and would ask us to dance. After the dance, there were no expectations to get your number or harass you for a date later, it was just that, a dance, and their concern that you were having a good time. I noticed a few interesting things from Malco and his friend, who kept us company at the club. When they wanted to order something from the bar, they would clap their hands twice in the air and the waiter would come to get our drink orders. It was a small difference in culture, but it was an interesting observation. Also, when it was time for us to go home, they offered us a ride home (Ikuko knew Malco's cousin it turns out) to make sure that we were okay. I can go on and on about chivelry in the DR, but I'd be all day and I'm sure I wouldn't get to the bottom of the "macho" culture of the DR.

Oh, I'll stop typing and let you enjoy the pictures. If you'd like to hear more stories, I have tons from my one week stay there. Feel free to email me and let me know if you'd like to go for a vacation there, I'd love to be your guide!

The mountains of the Dominican Republic. 

This is Gordo (nickname in Spanish meaning "fat guy") riding a donkey. Everytime I saw Gordo, he was riding that donkey. It was hilarious, but it was so his mode of transportation. 

Ikuko's humble abode. It was very basic. In the DR, the electricity went off in the middle of the day and at night. There was no warning when it would shut off, but you knew it would. There were some nights where we were lucky if the electricity stayed on past 10pm.  

One Crisp Morning near Colegio Loyola, the local high school in Dajabon. Most kids get to school by walking or hitching a ride on the back of trucks (oftentimes Ikuko's truck), etc. I just thought that this shot was great in showing the kids on their way to school.  

(from left) Altagracias, her granddaughter, Ruben and Flores. Flores did my hair while I was in Clavellina and then invited me to lunch with her family. I had the Dominican dish, "los crillo" (I bet I'm butchering the spelling and the name). It was muy bueno! Flores' family is what a typical Dominican family looks like, mixed white and black. That's why Dominicans are so many different shades, much like African Americans.

Teaching the Haitian migrant children at the center.

The kids learned about colors and body parts.

While I was in Dajabon, Ikuko asked me to teach English to some of the Haitian kids that came to this center that she works with. It was such a great a experience. We didn't speak any of the same languages (they spoke Creole and some Spanish) and I spoke Japanese and English, but they learned some things. I taught them "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." They must've loved it because as we followed them back across the border they were doing the gestures that go to the song and laughing. Ikuko said that that was the most that she'd seen the kids smile. I was happy to laugh with them. 

Haitians crossing the river back into Guanamen, Haiti, after a long day of working in the market in Dajabon, DR. If it threatened to rain, then they had to leave early or the river would be too high to cross. The soldiers that monitored their return often said mean things to them.