I believe everyone has a story to tell. Some people are shy and reserved while others wear their past on their sleeves. My friend, George De Los Santos, aka Spider, aka Spiderflesh , not only wears his life on his tattoo sleeve, he shares his story with those that may benefit from learning about his past. He grew up in various cities south of LA from Bell Gardens to Compton and finally Huntington Park. " I’ve always known we were poor. That has been something I accepted and was humbled by. My mother has always been a worker. Not so much in a 'job' but more so in side-jobs that pay," said George as I asked about his childhood. " My 'real' dad was not around much and when he was it just lead to disappointment so I’ve not sought him out anymore. I have learned to appreciate my mother over the years as I became a parent but there were many years that I resented some of her actions as I was growing up. I later realized that she’s human and did t...
It's that time of year again when we stuff our bellies with tons of triptophan-laced turkey, stuffing, cranberry, rolls, papas and gravy. We get two days off of work and school to spend time with our friends and family and have few drinks, kick-back and relax. Yet, for those of us that know the history of this holiday, it is difficult to embrace the spirit of it with images of happy pilgrims and Indians permeating the grocery stores, office workspaces, and schools. During my hard-core activist days, we were angry at the Hollywood and Disney images of perfection that made anyone that didn't look that way feel like 2nd class citizens. Yet, now that we are parents, we're not so uptight about things. Even though my curly-haired, caramel, sun-kissed skin-toned daughter loves to watch the blonde, stick-thin Disney princesses I know that she can still enjoy watching those films and still have confidence in her own looks because, well, I'm her mom, and I won't let her think...
I had a great opening line for this post but now I can't remember. Ah, aging. Ain't it great? One day you're fun, and young, and free and the next you've gained 50lbs of baby weight and insert-other-reasons-here. Then, instead of drinking the night away with all your carefree friends, you're stuck at home writing a blog about it. As with anyone, the past few years have been a roller-coaster ride of ups and downs. I wound up with back problems that took about three years to figure out. During that time, I was scared to move for fear of re-injuring myself, at least that is what the doctors had me believe. This past December I got the news I wanted, needed, to hear. As most curvy girls can relate, this isn't my first attempt to lose weight. Countless Weight Watchers sessions, reading up on trendy diets, fasting, raw diet, 3-day diet, yoga, you name it, has led to temporary results. So what makes this time different? It is about pain management. The more weight...
Comments
Post a Comment