Reserva la fecha para celebrar el Dia de los Muertos

Day of the Dead / El Dia de los Muertos es el 2 de noviembre.

If you're looking for a little diversion plan to attend the Day of the Dead celebration at the Des Moines Art Center. This is a free event from 1-4 PM. Enjoy refreshments, pan de muerto ("bread of the dead"), mariachi music, an authentic blessing dance, theatrical perofrmance, a Day of the Dead altar (la ofrenda--the offering), y mucho, mucho mas! Sera divertidisimo!!

Let me know if you plan to attend. ?Nos vemos el domingo?

Here's a great site where you can learn more about this dia festivo and view photographs of various aspects of the celebration. http://www.dayofthedead.com/

Conexión: el arte

When you finish with shoes, consider this: What can a herd of cows say about culture?

CowParade began in Zurich Switzerland about 10 years ago and is an event and exhibit that occurs in major cities around the world. Cow Parade is considered the world’s largest public art exhibit. Artists and non-professional artists (i.e. President Bush) are invited to the CowParade City to develop a concept for and paint a cow. The canvas? A life-size cow made out of fiberglass. A shiny, white, bovine form. Once painted, the cows are then proudly put on display in the streets of the city and are auctioned to patrons to raise money for various charities and causes.

October 18th marked the beginning of CowParade in Madrid. [CowParade Madrid homepage: http://www.cowparademadrid.com/tabid/450/Default.aspx] The creation phase continues through the end of November. The exhibition phase will occur January through March when the cows will run the streets of Madrid like the bulls of Pamplona! Accidental cow tippings and lesions will temporarily grant an unlucky cow a stay in the “Cow Hospital” to receive the necessary repairs and touch-ups before returning to their post. At the end of the exhibition period, the cows are auctioned off and proceeds are directed to charitable organizations and to fund social programs. This is art for everyday people. Watch this video clip from ElPais.com to get a feel for the “studio” these artists work in and see if you can get the gist of the story. In one segment, José Cardoso addresses the question ¿Por qué una vaca?/Why a cow? and the two aspects that artists say make the cow an ideal format for this communicative art event that aims to (re)connect people to art and raise awareness and support for various social causes.
http://www.elpais.com/videos/cultura/Cow/Parade/aterriza/Madrid/elpvid/20081021elpepucul_6/Ves/ Obviously there are some major CAS hours involved in taking art to the center of a city to make it accessible to everyday people in the streets and in engaging artists in creating on a such unique canvas to raise money for social causes.

While the cow form stays the same from city to city as CowParade travels around the world, the artists encounter new artistic challenges each year as they try to outdo previous concepts and as they grapple with their own interpretation of the cow as a viable piece/form of art. In addition, artists are influenced and inspired by the unique cultures, customs and perspectives of each Cow City.

If just the idea of putting painted cows into industrial and urban environments isn’t intriguing enough, try taking a look at some of the bovine beauties these artists have created! This link has un montón of awesome photos of vacas from previous shows listed with their patron, artist(s), and Cow city http://www.cowparademadrid.com/tabid/471/Default.aspx
Let us know your favorite. Is it Harry Potter cow which currently resides in the residence of JK Rowling?

¿Obama o McCain en dos mil ocho?

¿Habla Obama español? En este anuncio Obama intenta ganar el apoyo de los residentes de Puerto Rico. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=828fT7JjpWE

I came across this political ad on You Tube and thought some of you might enjoy watching Barack Obama speak Spanish to recruit Latino votes. In this case, he was specifically appealing to Peurtorriqueños who were able to vote in the primaries. To be fair, I did try to find an ad with McCain speaking Spanish, but was unsucessful. If anyone finds something, please post the link for us so we can compare their pronunciation and fluency. =) ¡Chau!

Poco a poco

Okay. So I'm starting to work through my blogger's block. Poco a poco I'll get more fluent with this process. It's kind of like learning another language for me. :) (Can you use emoticons in a blog?) I hope you'll give me constructive feedback about the blog. It is really more of a space for you than it is for me. So despite my hang-ups on it being aesthetic and getting the mosaic pic perfectisimo, the blog really just needs to be functional for ustedes. Post your comments ahora! on how I can better organize and equip this space to serve you.

Since we're discussing functionality and utility, it might be a good time to address concerns of language use on the blog. NO, I won't always post in only Spanish, but I will a veces. Posts will be made in a "motley" ;-) of English and Spanish (and maybe a few made up words if my brain is giving out late at night...). That said, I encourage you all to incorporate as much Spanish in your posts as possible. It's a great, informal forum for practicing your Spanish and applying the language you are learning in class in authentic, meaningful contexts. Interact with your companeros afuera de la clase, practica your language skills, escribe en espanol, watch Grover on you tube to learn about prepositions.....