Botanica Ashe

My listening post is a Santeria Botanica. It is called Botanica Ashe and it is located at 760 West 27 Street in Hialeah. Before visiting my listening post, I sat down with my grandmother, who was a little uneasy at the thought of me going. (but then again so was I) I talked to her a little about what I had researched and learned about Santeria. My grandmother was born in Cuba and lived there for most of her life. She was never comfortable with the Santeria culture and that is where my negative views on it came from.

When I called the Botanica I spoke to the godson of the man who runs the botanica. I spoke to him several times over the phone and introduced myself as a student from Florida International University who was interested in learning a little more about a culture I'm not to familiar with or comfortable with. I spoke to him in spanish at first, because I stereotyped and figured since his botanica was in Hialeah, that he only spoke spanish. (Shame on me) He began speaking to me in English and the conversation flowed a lot easier. He instructed me to call him back at another time when his godfather was available to give me a date and time for when to visit.

I was able to go on Saturday morning, even though the owner was not there. The shop had a couple customers inside when I got there. I felt a little uneasy walking in, hoping I didn't stick out like a sore thumb.

I approached a man who was stacking the shelves with candles that had pictures of saints on them. I introduced myself to him, and he was very welcoming. (it was the owner's godson) He asked me exactly what I wanted to get out of this. I explained to him the purpose of my visit. He was very hesitant to talk about the religion on the first visit, but he told me a little about himself and a brief overview about the religion, like where it came from and some of the basic terms, like an orisha, which are the spirits in the religiong.

I asked him a couple questions like, why are people scared of the religion and he told me that the media has given it a very negative view. He did not talk about any sacrficing, but just said that they have "ritualistic ceremonies", which I want to find out more about next time.

I was there for about a half hour, watching customers come in and out. Several of them purchased those candles I was talking about that had pictures of saints on them and others that were just plain and in different colors. He told me that each candle has its own meaning and how it burns and what the flame looks like tells you something different.

He cut the visit a little shorter than I wanted because he had to step out, but he invited me to come back. (which was a relief) I was not as uneasy as I was when I walked in, but I'm still a little weirded about because I still have a lot to learn about the religion.

I look forward to visiting again on Thursday.

Listening Post- Santeria

I have decided to choose a Santeria Botanica as my listening post. I grew up in a very strict Cuban household and always heard about Santeria and "evil" things about it. I am extremely skeptical about going, but I am mentally preparing myself to be as open as possible. I am currently calling places to see which one of them will welcome me in.

The Santeria religion and its people is not one that makes me feel comfortable. I had a neighbor who was a santero and I just feel uneasy around them. I don't mean to sound like they are another kind of people, but I have a very negative connotation towards the beliefs of that culture. I know the purpose of this listening post, and I really hope that I change my mind about the religion. I want to be able to talk to my grandmother about it and not have her throw holy water all over me.

It's interesting in class to see some people who think they are comfortable anywhere, but when you really dig deep, there are hundreds of places where one can feel uneasy.

I am looking forward to this experience and I look forward to coming out with a completely different view on the Santeria religion.

Stereotyping in the Media

The most interesting article that we were given to look over was the NPR one on Ramadan and the football player. The story gave a sense of normalcy to the player and the story altogether. It was interesting to see that people DO write holiday stories without talking about food.

We've looked at stereotyping within ourselves and now we were able to see it in the world. After reading the article from Liberty City, it was eye-opening to see that things like that actually get published. It was clear that the reporter went in there with his story and with his mind set.

After reading Zai's blog, I felt more comfortable with the purpose and meaning of the listening post. She wrote so well and expressed herself well. She painted a picture for readers of what she did and what her experiences were like.

We have established that it is in each of us to automatically stereotype because we look for people that look similar to us right away. So how are we supposed to fix this? I don't think we can. Where we come from and how we were all brought up has a lot to do, if not everything to do, with how we think. So, what? Is everyone supposed to take multi-ethnic or is everyone supposed to take the stereotyping/racist test created by Harvard. No.

I went to help my mom out at work the other day and we always go through bad neighborhoods. How do I know that? Well, because that's what my mom says and because she never likes going through there. I talked to her about what we've talked about in class and how the stereotyping is such a big issue. She told me that her father always told her that black people were all up to no good. I was not at all shocked to hear that, and although my parents don't think like that to that extreme, I know they still don't feel the same around white or hispanic people compared to blacks.

This is a big problem, especially for journalists and we need to be able to set the stereotypes aside and be able to report in any city with people from anywhere.

Put Your Biases Aside

So now that we have all taken that test that tells us about the feeling and biases we weren't aware of..what do we do? Well, we shall embrace the responses we got from the test and move on. Yes, move on. What we do and think when we are around others we don't do purposely. Our past experiences and the way we were all brought up plays a huge role in the way we react around people who aren't "one of us". We need to be able to recognize what we do and how we look at people that don't look like us and just put it all aside.

Mosque near WTC

I wanted to respond to Lorenzo's E-mail about the multi-million dollar mosque being built in the surrounding area of the World Trade Center. I think it's ignorant if people are going to take offense to building a mosque in the surrounding area of the WTC. I asked a friend what he thought about the issue and at first, without him knowing why I asked, he blew up at me and said, "Why the hell would they do that? They don't deserve that." Then he stopped and said he didn't know why he said that, but it angered him at the fact that they were going to give them a place of worship after so many lives were lost to people "of their kind". I think a building is a building and it doesn't matter much if they built a mosque or a catholic church or a synagogue.

I completely understand that to be a journalist I have to be able to feel comfortable in any place with any person from any race, but I still find it hard to be believe that if I walked into certain neighborhoods, people would be willing to talk.

First Take at Blogging

I've always been a little hesitant to write a blog, but I don't know why. I guess I'm scared to know what people might think or might not think.

So, here I go with my first real blog. Hopefully this will run smoothly and I'll get used to posting my thoughts for all you to read.

This is my last first week of school as an undergrad. (That felt really good to say) It has been a interesting couple classes that I've been to. It feels good to be able to talk about race and ethnicity so freely in a class with people of so many different races.

I took an interesting "test" today about my racial preferences. The results said I associated Europeans Americans with positive words more than I associate black people with positive words. It stated I have a "strong" preference to European Americans over African Americans.

I could easily say it was the way I was brought up, but I'll try not to take that easy way out.

I come from a very conservative Catholic, Cuban household where my grandparents and parents have told me not marrying a Cuban would be a disappointment, or marrying a black person was definitely out of the question. But why? Well, because I always told so.

I thought the test was interesting to do because out loud, I probably would say the results don't say much about me, but I wouldn't completely disagree with it.

I'll leave it at that for now. I look forward to blogging some more.