Aniversarios

A year ago today, on a very cold Sunday, I made a rather momentous decision: I started this blog.

Now, it wasn't momentous for any significance other than the fact that I made the commitment to put my thoughts "out there" into cyberspace and to write regularly, if not daily, about issues or themes that interested me. My husband helped by giving the blog its great look, with the colors of the Puerto Rican flag, with my photo of trinitarias and with his own caricature of being a Boricua en la luna.

A year ago, I posted twice, once about my abuelo and abuela and how they taught us to celebrate Three Kings Day, and about being a Spik at Harvard. Those were stories I had been thinking about for a long time but I'd never found the way to articulate them. I was surprised to find that the blog provided an easygoing format where I could express myself without feeling the pressure to have my expressions be perfect or even smart.

That's why, if you're new to this blog, you'll see a lot about walking with dogs and about trying to learn from whatever each day gifts us with. You'll also see a lot of photos, and that's directly related to this blog, too. I was never much of a photographer (not that I am now, mind you) but after I started the blog my husband gifted me with a nifty little digital camera so I could take photos and upload them here.

That has resulted in a few photo galleries I'm particularly happy with, including this Galería de fotos from Old San Juan and a gallery of leaves from my college on the hill.

After I started my blog, my mami got inspired, too, and started her own, which is now almost a tablón de expresión pública among young and less-young bloggers in Puerto Rico. Her blog, Desahogo Boricua, is now a "must read" among many boricua bloggers and the discussions that ensue on her site are worthy of a erstwhile salon.

My husband also started his own blog, Not Just the Usual Grind, about his favorite consumable good: coffee. And even my brother got into the spirit of things, starting his own blog about being a Puerto Rican away from home, Boricuas Realengos. Any minute now, my sister or my dad might catch the fever and start blogging away! My sister, who teaches Spanish, doesn't have a blog (yet) but she does have a nice webpage at her school.

At the source of all this bloggery is Dr. S, who inspired me with her long-running blog, My Cabinet of Distractions, which has received recognition among bloggers and which regularly boasts breathtakingly beautiful photographs and prose. I love checking out her blog just to keep abreast with her adventures (which are real ones, since she's currently in England), and her readership is unflaggingly supportive of her and loving.

In more serious matters, today isn't important because I started a blog last year. Today, many celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Critical race theorist Derrick Bell came to my college on the hill last year around this time and he argued that King and Christ had a lot of things in common. For one, they both came to liberate their people and they both paid with their lives for that burden.

When the world gets to be too much, as it often does, it's good to remember people like Martin Luther King, Jr., who gave it all for a cause. That is the power of one. Happy Birthday, Dr. King! May your legacy be eternal and may we be worthy of your sacrifice.