Welcome to My Blog! Honduras, Writing and more!

This is but another corner of the internet. If your here, welcome. If you wish to stay you'll see plenty of things, from advertisements, to reviews, to stories, to even the occasional bit of wisdom. I'm a proud UNCG Spartan. I am studying Latin Studies, and History minoring in Spanish and Anthropology with the intention of using my degrees to advance Honduras, on the national level and on the personal level.

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Final Post

I made a decision. I am starting over. This blog won’t be deleted, because I like the posts I made on here, but I will be blogging at a new Tumblr blog. If you wanna see it and follow me over there, come click right here.

I loved this blog but I am a professional blogger who wants to create a brand and I am serious about that. This blog will not be deleted, not by me anyway, but I am ready to start over. If you wanna continue to see my posts on your feed, including other posts about Honduras, skepticism, and what I’ve become known for, I hope you follow me yo my new space. Have a great day everyone!

P.S.: Thanks for all the fish.

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I Wanna Know: Do You Like This Blog?

I’ll be direct. I want to hear responses to this. I like this blog. I don’t post as frequently as I should, and it bums me out at times, but I really love this blog. I’ve made fast friends and made some really cool posts. I have thoroughly enjoyed the time I spend on this blog. But I am thinking about starting over. I’ll be honest: I probably won’t. I’ve created way too much content on here for me to be able to stomach starting over. But it’s a thought, in the back of my mind.

I want this blog to grow. I want to create unique and innovate content on a variety of topics, and for a while this blog was growing really rapidly due to that desire. But now it has stopped. It bums me out. I wanna know what you, my followers, think of this blog. If you like it, I wanna know. If you dislike it, I also wanna know. 

If you have any ideas on how I can get this blog to start to grow again, I’d love to know! I find Tumblr to be a fun place to spend time on, and a great place to learn. I actually really like Tumblr, and I wanna increase my overall presence on here. I’m trying to come up with ways to increase the content I post on here, especially original and creative content. I don’t like cross-posting. I do cross-post but that’s mostly so that I can continue to post content. In the future I plan on cutting down on the cross-posting. Or at least posting both cross-posts and original content. 

I am really curious as to if this will get any posts. But if you want me to know what you think, either answer here, or send me a message!

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I Want to be Famous (no, really)

No, but really. New videos every Sunday. Tweet at me. http://bit.ly/1PpNDrx My record on iTunes: http://apple.co/1XbZc7x Live Tuesday nights at 10pm EST: htt...

Should we talk about fame? I want to talk about fame, so let's have a conversation! "Why is it unattractive if I say I wanna be famous?" "It's such a normal human thing to want power, to want admiration, and I can only speak for myself but when I acknowledge that I have these desires I can better equip myself to choose to serve my art, my message, and my community instead of working out of the desire to be known." In a video from earlier in the year, a YouTuber named Tessa made a video about fame, and wanting fame and I feel like this video describes how I feel perfectly. I want fame in a limited sense. I want to be known and respected in my sphere. My "sphere" is Latin-America and irreligion. I do have a desire to be known and to be successful, and to live a life where I have freedom to do what I want when I want and at some point in my life I unconsciously fused those two things, fame and freedom. The truth is being free to do what you want, when you want, probably isn't as simple as being famous, but I bet my followers can see why I and other people have this unconscious impression that it is. Tessa Violet vocalizes thoughts about desiring fame in a video that I bet will resonate with at least a couple of the people who'll see this even if they dislike that it resonates with them. Do you want to be famous? Even if you do, is this inherently negative? I want to be famous and I am not going to apologize for that. I refuse to be less than honest about what I want. That doesn't make me less genuine of a person, and my desire to be famous doesn't detract from any potential acts of kindness that I do. My ultimate desire to be famous in some sense does nothing to detract from the quality of the work I do. It doesn't make my work less admirable. A desire to be famous, even one that is vocalized and known, says remarkably little about a person. When it comes to competitive things like sports, we know on a fundamental level that someone wanting to be famous is a good thing. We know that it drives the quality of the work done by the people who embrace their desire for fame up. Sometimes they do unethical things out of a desire to be famous, but we as a society tend not to be skeptical of professional athletes, like we are skeptical of people who are upfront about a desire to be famous. For some reason we accept that their desires and ambitions improve the quality of their performances, yet we don't equally apply that idea across the board when it comes to other things. Somehow when it comes to garage bands, we all know that on some level many of the members of those types of bands WANT to be famous and we accept that. On some level anyway. Many lawyers and business-people have stated that they want to be famous and we accept that as well. But somehow whenever I tell people that I would like to be famous, to an extent anyway, people give me weird looks. Why? It doesn't really make sense. I don't think fame, or wanting fame is inherently negative. I don't think it's inherently positive either. I think like many things a desire for fame is neutral. And natural. If you live in the United States, you probably constantly hear people talking about how you can do anything. That's the American Dream. A desire to be known, respected, and admired, is a natural consequence of being surrounded by messages of personal empowerment. When we treat people who honestly vocalize a desire to be famous badly or make fun of them, while continuing to tell others that they can be anything they want, we send mixed messages. You know what I want to be famous for? I want to be famous for connecting people and organizations. I want to be famous for being a motivational speaker. For facilitating difficult conversations. For being a genius at social media. For transforming how people think about being irreligious, and for changing what people think about when they think about Honduras. That's what I want to be famous for. Is that inherently negative? I don't think so. One of my friends at my university wants to be famous. She wants to go down in history books as one of the researchers who finds a consistent, reliable, and safe cure for cancer. Another of my friends wants to be famous for writing an inspirational fantasy book-series. Both of these friends of mine want fame. But that says nothing about their character. Just that they ultimately desire to be real successes in their fields, and if they become successes in their industries they'll be famous naturally because of the extent of their personal goals. In actuality, I bet lots of people who want fame want it similarly to my friends. That's an important thing to remember. What's the ultimate purpose of this post? I want to challenge people's assumptions. I want people to think deeper about why certain sentiments and certain ambitions elicit the reactions they do. I want people to be aware of their biases. I want society in general to get over this gut-reaction to fame and towards people who like the idea of fame that it tends to have. If we're career orientated, I know that some of us will inevitably achieve a limited fame. And if we're career orientated I know that some of us do want to be famous. I think we need to be aware of our (by "our" I mean society in general in the United States) negative reaction to people who are honest in stating that they want to be famous, and I think that we need to be challenged because of this. And that we need to challenge ourselves. Even I sometimes have to suppress that gut reaction when I hear people say that they want fame. I am not perfect. But I am working on myself because I know how I am. I want people to know how they are and to work to improve themselves. What do you think of fame? What do you think of wanting fame? I'd love to know what you thought of this post and of my other posts on Tumblr! I try to make sure that people who come here and read my work learn about a lot of really cool stuff, including videos, types of thinking, and sites.

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Latin-American Non-Christians

Latin-American non-Christians (both followers of other religions and skeptics/irreligious people) face similar struggles. We all struggle to be represented in media. We all struggle to find voices similar to ours. We all struggle to find positive news affecting our communities (in the context of religion). We all struggle to be brave and to speak when we feel the need to speak about how our religions (and the lack thereof) differ from Christianity, which overwhelmingly dominates our super-culture (I say super-culture because I don't think of Latin-America as one massive region but many different regions that the U.S. has grouped together for the sake of saving time).

I want to make a sort of "interfaith" network for Latin-Americans (and our allies who support this) who aren't Christian, who want to combat the cultural dominance of Christianity among Latin-Americans and in Latin-America. I want to convince Latin-American non-Christian photographers, bloggers, video-makers, writers, and more to join this network. I know more than a few atheists (who are Latin-American) who are interested, and I know a couple of Muslims who'd support the work we do (but who aren't Latin-American). I am interested in speaking with more and more people about this because ultimately I think it's necessary. I think we as Latin-Americans can achieve more together than we can apart. Especially when we have to overcome the influence of the Church in Latin-America in order to do anything substantial in this area. We need to be brought together, and encouraged to collaborate in order to have the conversations we need to have and in order to achieve anything resembling progress.

I am interested in recruiting anyone who wants to help, including Christians who understand the benefits of societies that acknowledge religious pluralism. The ultimate goal of my network will be to elevate the collective social capital of Latin-Americans who are openly and vocally non-Christian. Not by definition "anti-Christian", but people who are vocal leaders of non-Christian communities throughout Latin-America and among Latin-Americans in the United States and the greater world.

If you are interested in this, I'd love to know! Please note that a network like this achieving progress would help minority Christian groups as well, such as Mormons or J.W.'s in Latin America. What I want to do isn't lessen the influence of Christianity in Latin-America (although that would probably be a consequence of a network like this being successful), but I want to create more influence for non-Christian religions and skepticism/irreligion within Latin-America and relative to Latin-Americans.

If you're interested in this, let me know. Either by "liking" this post, or by messaging me. I think I'll write my first email about this on Saturday. But if you want to know more, I'll happily chat with you through messages!

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An Opportunity For Budding Latina Writers

Let's work to give opportunities to others. By diversifying atheism we can make it more approachable for many.

If you are a faithless latina, and you want to contribute to an awesome book about why women should stay away from religion, I know about an awesome opportunity! 

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Are you a Latinx looking to expand your network? At BeVisible you'll meet plenty of Latinxs working in a wide range of fields. Come join us!

I recently joined BeVisible, and I’d highly recommend anyone interested in expanding the number of Latinxs in their networks come join as well. BeVisible is a rapidly growing network of Latinx professionals all over the world who want to connect with others in their fields and meet other professional Latinxs who want their networks to grow in size and who want to gain friends in relevant fields. 

As someone who wants to become a social media personality and who wants to encourage Latinxs to be vocal and active members of social media networks I really want to see BeVisible become the main network of choice for Latinxs all over the world. I especially want to see ambitious digital content creators join the network so that we can support each other. 

Some of the men and women on that site are remarkable. One of the founders of Latina Rebels is on BeVisible and the site administrators enjoy connecting with driven Latinxs who want to better themselves and strengthen their communities. I can guarantee you that if you come join us you’ll gain plenty of chances to improve your skills, your resume, and even gain new skills and friends. 

If you’re looking for new social media networks to join, I’d highly recommend BeVisible. Come join us and connect with me on there! I’d love to introduce you to this wonderful community.

I bet you’re excited to expand your network. Don’t be afraid to plunge headfirst into new networks and opportunities. Together we can and will make strengthen our global community. So what are you waiting for?

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Writing Prompt 651

Magic. The ability to challenge reality. The ability to transform the world around you into totally different. Reality. Reality is left in a changed state when touched by magic. Reality can seem absolutely different when a man or woman gifted with magical talent wants something that appears beyond their ability to gain. 

I want to practice my writing skills. They aren’t very good so far. But with patience and with ambition, I can change that. If you also want to improve your writing abilities, please join me as I try to complete the prompts given by D.W.P., I’d love to read your responses to their prompts!

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Abe (Let’s Call This A Short Story)

Fernando’s dreams were a scattered mix of terrifying images and disturbing memories. He was sleeping (or trying anyway), as the part of his brain responsible for organizing dreams assaulted his attempt at rest with images from his past and assembled original and innovative images from his deepest and darkest fears.

One particular image which plagued his mind (and due to that, his nightmares as well) was that of a fellow participant in the operations which were once the entirety of his life, wearing the dehumanizing gear that the lab had required they utilize to protect themselves from both local (contemporary) weaponry and harmful bacteria which could have overcome his modern immune-system due to the sheer bacterial force of ancient microbes and the fact that it would be so ancient it would seem alien to his immune-system. In the hands of this specific figure who had time-traveled with Fernando was a somewhat aged rifle. It even had a bayonet. Fernando in his waking moments didn’t remember much about that specific operative but he did remember that the man had once spoken about his personal enjoyment of getting close to the people he killed and witnessing them suffering due to the stabbing wounds inflicted on them by the bladed weapon he used prior to the movement they died. Fernando’s brain would forever remember that image, partially because it was the moment in which Fernando realized that he couldn’t simply follow through with this particular operation: to find and kill the person who would become Abraham, before the baby would turn into a man who in Fernando’s present would be remembered by history as a prophetic figure and one responsible for 3 of the most deadly religions according to historians in the year 2070. In the ancient past, as one of his partners looked at him, unaware of what Fernando planned to do, Fernando began to desperately piece together a plan which would change history, but not require that Fernando end the life of an infant who had not yet done anything to merit being killed.

In a room not very far from Fernando’s slept a boy who had been taken out of the arms of his mother, without explanation by a man unlike any she had ever seen. Over 3000 years ago. That boy slept unaware of the significance of his existence, and unaware of the impossibility that he had been born in a year so far in the past it was before the beginning of the Roman Empire, the existence of which he’d become aware of in a few hours due to a conversation he’d hear from one of his teachers during his first day of school. The little boy knew nothing of miracles, of faith, and the only things he knew about religion he had learned from overhearing conversations that people had had with the man he called his “papa”. The little boy was named Abraham. The man who had spent the past five years protecting him and raising him affectionately called him “Abe”. Both due to his name, and to the inquisitive nature the boy had, which reminded Fernando of another man named Abraham. A man that historians in 2070 remember far more fondly than the Abraham that Fernando left behind his entire life, his entire era, to protect. An Abraham who had been protected by Fernando until Fernando was told by his superiors that he had no choice but to suggest that that Abe and his wife go to the theater.

A/N: I write sometimes. It’s rare, but it happens. This is the result of a comic-book idea I once had that I really liked. It’s the story of a time-traveling man who worked for a shady agency that tasked him with going back in time and either changing or protecting history. His life is forever changed when he decides to disobey an order from one of his superiors. This was done in about 15 minutes and I might do more if it’s liked. Let me know what you think!

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Hey Fam.

Hey guys. Just letting you know, going to get back into Tumblr with some writing pretty soon. Like next week. I’m missed being active on here, but I’ve been so busy with other stuff over the past few months. 

I miss you guys and I hope you’re ready for some neat opinions on politics, and some takes on Latin-American mythology which might catch you off guard. Let’s reconnect with some spooky stories.

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Trying to make a relatable vine like

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A Letter To All “’Muricans Speak English” People

If you aren’t going to spend time trying to teach people English, and you want to complain about how this is the United States of America and people should speak English, you need to think for a second and ultimately not complain. If you have time to be post and complain on Facebook, you probably have time to help teach people who want to learn English. You chose not to. Which is fine. What isn’t fine is seeing a problem you could potentially help solve, and then proceeding to complain about it on Facebook/other types of social media.

I see people doing this. I see videos of privileged people who speak English insulting and berating people who don’t speak English. And it is irritating. I get annoyed when I see my fellow Latin-Americans being insulted and belittled because not all of us speak English. I have actually volunteered to help Latin-Americans and people from the Middle-East learn English. It’s great. And I feel like while I wasn’t the biggest help, I did help. And I didn’t’ talk about it on social media. Because I didn’t think it was a big deal. Lately though, I’ve been seeing more and more people hopping on this “America means English” train. It needs to stop.

Call people out on this. It’s nonsense and it should stop. We can’t be silent when it comes to this much longer. People who don’t want to be part of the solution, shouldn’t just complain about it. If people want to complain they should have at least made the effort to be part of the solution. This isn’t that complex. This isn’t an unsolvable problem. We can devote our own time and energy towards expanding the linguistic and literary capabilities of others, and we should. But if we don’t, we shouldn’t get to complain about it later on.

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Ignore the sideways-ness of this video. Would you watch a network of Latinx YouTubers who aren’t Christian talk about life as non-Christian Latinxs? 

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I made a video talking about why I think Latin-Americans who aren’t Christian should work together to change Hollywood, media, and conversations in general. I’d love to hear your take on it!

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The way I view it as a Christian, I'm not loving a book more than people. If you love books about nature, it's not the physical book you love, but the contents about nature. I love the contents of the bible- God, love, peace, compassion. These are beautiful things that interact and influence everyone

I know people who freely admit to loving the Bible more than people. It is scary. Also: the Bible is a bad place to get morals from. Both testaments contain less than desirable morals and lessons to teach children and adults. We should Steel away from using the Bible as a moral source. We can and have done better in the 2000 years since Jesús supposedly walked the Earth in terms of creating moral codes. Lets move on.

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4 Latinx Atheists-Activists You Ought To Follow

Come and check out some of my favorite irreligious activists! This is an article highlighting 4 awesome irreligious, and Hispanic leaders.

I wrote a “listicle” featuring 4 of my favorite Hispanic activists. Each individual in this article is well worth listening too, and is a noted leader in the global secular community. If you want to spend some time today learning about irreligion in Latin America, these folks will teach ya!

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The Secular Movement

The secular movement in the United States is not a movement made up of non-believers exclusively. There are prominent Evangelical Christians who benefit from perpetuating this idea that the only people who want the United States to be a secular nation are nonbelievers, but there are plenty of intelligent believers (Christian and non-Christian) who understand that secularism benefits everyone.

Individuals like Ken Ham and Ray Comfort want people in the United States who are ignorant of what secularism actually means in a political and governmental context to believe that secularism benefits non-believers more than believers. This is untrue. If anything, given how many more believers there are than non-believers, theists benefit way more from an education which doesn't favor any particular theistic belief system. And a system where no churches pay taxes enables so many churches to exist. A system where no religion is given priority or privilege is way more beneficial to believers than to non-believers.The inability of the State to judge churches and religions is the result of a secular system, and removing that and actually turning our nation into a theocracy or a system where one religion has privilege would be devastating for thousands of churches and would affect millions of believers negatively.

If you are a theist who is proud of our secular system, you have an obligation to speak up and to counter this narrative that some prominent Christians would like people to believe where the only people interested in protecting our secular system are non-believers. Our secular system is one of the greatest things about the United States of America. And it is something annoyingly few people seem to care about, unless you're an atheist or otherwise a non-believer. I would love to encourage my friends who believe in a deity and love that we're a secular nation to speak up and to show people that it isn't just godless people who care about secularism.

Let's work together to keep this nation free of religious corruption, and free of bias towards any particular religious system. I know we can do it. Together.

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One danger of religious excess

Love. This is a conversation more nonbelievers need to have, especially from what I've noticed. Christians monopolize this conversation by forcing nonbelievers to focus on other topics like morality. but the reality is that we nonbelievers need to talk more seriously about love.

Christians celebrate it when they find someone who "loves Jesus/God/the Gospel" more than their significant other loves them. Which is ridiculous. There is no reason to love a book, or an idea, more than a person. Any person and any idea. It isn't a good thing and more often than not myself and other nonbelievers ignore it whenever we see people boosting about how much they love a book, in my case usually because I simply don't think it is worth challenging people on this. But that's changing.

If you actually love a book, or a religion more than a person I find that concerning. If you feel the need to pretend you love this religion or book more than you love a person, especially your significant other, that is also concerning. If your significant other wants you to love a book or religion more than you love them, guess what: that is also concerning. Let's stop pretending that this trend is good. It's not good to love an idea more than you love another person. Especially not your significant other. And I bet many Christians agree with this. Because I bet many of them would be annoyed if they saw Pagans celebrating that they love their deities more than they loved each other. Or Muslims with Allah. Or Hindus with their deities. I also bet many of them, if challenged on this would lie about it.

I am not ashamed to admit that I love Jessica more than I loved my conception of Jesus back when I was a Christian. If that made me a bad Christian, that's fine. Throughout history some of the people with the best values would have been considered bad Christians (and many of them were even during their lives).

If you love your religion and/or your deity more than you love your significant other you might want to seriously consider examining your priorities. And if you are a nonbeliever who enjoyed this, I'd recommend posting something similar to your page. It's time that we have a frank discussion, and begin challenging people about this.