Express yourself today

Paraíso Saved

2011-12-22T20:02:00.000-08:00

"Paraíso de Dios" is a very poor neighborhood in the rural town of Haina in the Dominican Republic. This Spanish name translates into "God's Paradise" but "Hell on Earth" would be a more accurate description. In 1997, a Not-For-Profit organization, "the Friends of Lead Free Children" (FLFC) sponsored a team of doctors that tested local residents for lead poisoning and found that about 90% of those tested had toxic levels in their blood. Lead poisoning is a serious health issue that has lifelong consequences. According to the Global Lead Network Website: “Globally, exposure to excessive levels of lead in the environment, the home, and the workplace impose immense costs, with many millions of adults and children suffering adverse health effects and impaired intellectual development.” It turns out that soon thereafter, Haina had the honor of being named the world's most lead contaminated site. The area's environmental pollution was attributed to a used car battery recycling plant that operated near the center of the town.

For years, FLFC supported local residents in their struggle to shut down plant. The plant was eventually closed but the battle was far from won. Left behind was a plant with stockpiles of corroding batteries dumped and buried throughout the site. The lead dust continued to contaminate the surrounding town infiltrating the air, the water, everything and everyone. Health officials discovered that expectant mothers were passing the lead in their bodies to unborn fetuses during pregnancy and breast feeding. To address this immediate crisis, FLFC partnered up with a vitamin company to develop a prenatal supplement to prevent this deadly transmission from occurring. The supplement, which contains calcium, magnesium, zinc, vitamins A, B12, C and D, iron and folic acid was found to help prevent lead from passing from mother to unborn child.

I first became aware of FLFC's work as a volunteer for the organization in 2005. I participated that year in FLFC's annual Humanitarian Mission to the Dominican Republic which was sponsored by Health First, a New York community based insurance provider. Together with the FLFC team and a team of doctors affiliated with Health First, we traveled to Haina and other rural areas on the island, distributing prenatal supplements to clinics that service at-risk pregnant women. We were all inspired when we witnessed first-hand the fruits of our labor. We were literally saving these mothers and the children from the horrors of lead poisoning. Around us were children of all ages who clearly showed the effects of lead poisoning. We could not help them but we were preventing birth defects and learning disabilities for future generations. As we were guided through maternity wards, we could see healthy babies alongside babies that unfortunately had not received the necessary prenatal care. Seeing these young mothers smiling with their newborn babies in their arms was all I needed to convince me that our humanitarian work was important and that we needed do much more.

I was able to reach Steve Null, president of the Friends of Lead Free Children Non-Profit organization and conduct a telephone interview for this article. I had not spoken to him for about eight years but he sounded the same. He is a nonstop aggressive advocate for his organization. Steve even tried to recruit me back to FLFC to join him for his March 2012 mission to the Dominican Republic. He brought me up to speed on FLFC's activities over the past few years. There was a happy ending to the Haina story that I was unaware of. After thirteen years of pressuring local politicians and government health officials, FLFC and the local residents were able to get them to remove over 6,000 cubic meters of contaminated soil from the toxic site. This was done with the assistance of the Blacksmith Institute and Terragraphics, Inc. In 2010, the infamous site was officially inaugurated as a playground for the children of Haina. The playground has a mural of the community which advocates who fought long and hard for the playground.

For Steve, FLFC's work is far from over. He expressed concern about lead contaminants from other sources on this island nation. He emailed me numerous studies and resource materials that he thought might assist me with this article. The Global Lead Network also found: “Worldwide, six sources appear to cause the greatest lead exposures: gasoline additives; food can solder; lead-based paints; ceramic glazes; drinking water systems; and cosmetics and folk remedies. Other significant exposures result from inadequately controlled industrial emissions from such operations as lead smelters and battery recycling plants.”

Steve also reminded me that FLFC’s focus has always been on the importance of proper nutrition. Their "Nutrition for Life" program has expanded the delivery of prenatal supplements to the women in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. So far the FLFC has delivered 58 million supplements to 28 maternity hospitals. This coming March, FLFC plans to assist Clinica Altagracia, the largest maternity clinic in the Dominican Republic which has an average of 25,000 births a year.

Steve believes that his organization has been successful because they have focused their attention on one thing: insuring healthy babies. Many organizations take on too many issues and become overwhelmed. Since FLFC has very limited resources and receives no assistance from any government, they have to be very efficient. FLFC raises most of its funding to cover the expenses of manufacturing the prenatal supplements. They accomplish this by holding an annual Children's Health Festival in the Washington Heights Section of Manhattan. FLFC has no paid staff relying on a small but dedicated team of volunteers. After witnessing the difference that FLFC has made in Haina, I have decided to return as a volunteer.

2011-12-05T18:11:00.001-08:00

A few of my favorite writers are Jack Kerouac, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sylvia Plath, Marquis De Sade, Zadie Smith and J.M. Coetzee. Here are a few brainy quotes by De Sade;

“It is always by way of pain one arrives at pleasure.” “In order to know virtue, we must first acquaint ourselves with vice.” “One is never so dangerous when one has no shame, than when one has grown too old to blush.”

2011-12-05T15:03:00.001-08:00

I am home a lot lately trying to get my various assignments done. This semester being almost over I feel very liberated. Straight A's or not I will be a graduate in a few weeks. I will have achieved a goal I have dreamed of since grade school. In my life I have learned you can't please everyone. I am taking writing for the media and I know I am pursuing a Law degree. Although I am glad my writing skills have developed since I started college I am still constantly reminded of my limitations. Recently I have decided that my courses are training me for the real world. In our day to day experiences we are going to find that there are people who are better than us in certain things. I take pride in my skills as a writer and my passion for literature is what led to my choosing English as a major to begin with. In the media class especially I felt like I have in many of my art classes. I am comfortable with the fact that there are people who are just better at creative writing type of thing then me. Of course I am completive but I am not here to please people I am here to do my best. Most professors aren't here to judge me they are here to push me to develop my skills to their fullest capacity. I am fine with getting a B in courses if I know I have put in the effort. When I am a lawyer my skills at argument and logical reasoning will be put to the test every day. I know that creative writing is not my specialty yet i took the course more to learn than to anything else. Even though I found this course very challenging I have recommended it to my roommate. I would take it all over again because I could tell I used my brain in a way that I had not before. I am so use to literary analysis and writing creatively is just something I have very little experience in. It is clear to me that there are many of my classmates who are going into journalism and I can see their skills have been honed. I have one more shot to get published of course I am going to give it my best shot.

Think your in heaven but your living in hell

2011-11-29T21:20:00.001-08:00

I like my current roommates a lot. Before my current situation I had a few roommates from hell. In the summer of 2010 I was looking for a new roommate. I had lived in various situations since I had left my parents house ranging from good to absolutely horrible. Just to give you a quick summary I first moved to Boston as a young naïve 24 year old. After basically living rent free for a year with a guy I was dating. I told him I was feeling uncomfortable mooching off of his family and wanted my own place. We found a place was in Brighton, MA. We shared a room in a two floor house with three other individuals. Two of my ex-boyfriend’s friends each had their own rooms and we found two girls on Craigslist to fill the other two bedrooms. We all got along pretty well for a while. We watched tv together and went to the local bars together. Things got bad for me when one day my roommates told me my boyfriend was not exactly being faithful. We had been together for two years and I thought I knew him but I was uneasy. I looked through his e-mails and found a letter from a girl. It became obvious at that point that he had slept with someone while we were a couple. I confronted him and he denied it. I stayed with him a few more months. Things changed when one day he came home completely drunk and he was a complete asshole to me. I couldn’t stand the sight of his face anymore. Talk about awkward roommate situation. After a few weeks of bitter talks I decided that I was better off alone. I wasn’t a young naïve girl anymore. I was holding down a job and I felt confident I could make it on my own. I packed my things and moved to JP. I was doing okay but then like a damn fool I let Nick back into my life. In the apartment in JP I was living a pretty good life. My two roommates were Karla and Elliot a couple who shared a room and Tom who had his own room. In the first few months I was living there I was sort of seeing Nick but was unattached. Honestly I think I was scared it dawned on me that I was truly alone. After a visit one day I had a heart to heart conversation with my roommate of the time Karla. She was pretty much a new acquaintance/ friend but she told me honestly and with conviction that what I was doing was wrong. I finally cut ties with Nick. I lived a peaceful year and a half in that apartment until one day Tom told me and the rest of the roommates he was moving back to his home town. I was sad since I had grown close to him along with Karla and Elliot and appreciated the balance we had established. I knew that there wasn’t any permanence to the living situation going into it yet I was feeling settled in. The change was not necessarily for the better. Kamal was young man who took Tom’s room and rented it after he left. He was picked out by the Landlord since despite our best efforts Karla, Elliot and I did not find anyone with the month notice Tom had given us. Kamal was a complete stoner. I don’t think I ever spoke to him sober. He often had many guests over who frequently spent the night. I started getting irritated by this behavior. I often came home to my house reeking of weed. It was almost like living in a really bad stoner movie. Whenever his door opened he would walk out of a cloud of smoke. My stance on pot smoking is irrelevant, the issue I had with Kamal was that he had guests who stayed over all the time without paying rent. I told him this concerned me but he kept having friends over nonetheless and sold pot out of our apartment. Karla and Elliot took action. Within two months of Kamal’s arrival they told me they were not going to renew their lease as previously planned. They were City Year members and did not want to be associated with Marijuana. I knew this was their polite way of giving an excuse and high tailing it out of that crap hole. I realized yet again that I was selling myself short. But alas I was too late. Karla and Elliot moved on and a complete witch moved in. All I want to say is that in the two weeks that I and this new girl lived together I hated her guts and she hated mine. I moved into my Harbor Point apartment in the fall of 2010. This coincided with my first year at Umass Boston. I was a transfer student. Rebecca Arellano is my current roommate. She and I both applied with the Office of Student Housing on campus. The school set us up. Ironically she had also had a horrible experience with her previous roommates. She was extremely thorough with her screening of me and the other two girls I live with. The moral of the story, take your time picking your roommates. Don’t sell yourself short and follow your gut.

2011-11-14T14:14:00.001-08:00

What is going on here? I asked myself this question several times since I transferred to Umass Boston in the fall of 2010 regarding the massive construction site on campus. Okay clearly a building is being built but what kind and where is the money for such a project coming from? I took some time to interview Holly Sutherland the main representative on campus for the project. The Integrated Sciences Complex will be a building is predicted to be completed in the fall of 2012. It will have a similar structure to the campus center. It will have lots of windows facing the ocean and will try to blend in with the landscape. In fact ultimately the entire campus will be brought down two levels. An interesting fact for those who will still be here when the building has been fully constructed is that the acoustics will be much better than in the Campus center. According to the Umass Boston Website: < http://www.umb.edu/the_university/masterplan/isc/>“The new building will provide 220,000 gross square feet of space featuring:• Research lab and support space (for biology, chemistry, environmental sciences, physics, and psychology)• Undergraduate introductory biology teaching laboratories• Interdisciplinary undergraduate sandbox teaching lab• Infant cognition lab• Two new research centers—the Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy and the Developmental Sciences Research CenterThe $155 million project is funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the UMass Building Authority, and Mass Development.” It is a relief to know that most of the funding not be coming from student tuition. In fact the funding for the project comes primarily through a bond that will be paid back by the state of MA. I have noticed that conversations can be heard from the offices of the Campus Center and there have been several complaints about that. Also the CAT walk will be two floors lower than that of the rest of the buildings since the entire University will be brought down to this new scale. Most of the buildings on Umass campus were constructed in the 1970's a time when the Peninsula was not as beautiful as it is now. The construction of most of the campus has an introverted view while 25 year master plan plans on making our entire campus more focused on the landscape around us. I am looking forward to seeing this campus transform as an Alum of Umass Boston. If you are interested on seeing the progress of the construction of the integrated science center visit the webcam sight: < http://www.umb.edu/news_events_media/construction/isc_webcam/>

Veterans day post

2011-11-09T23:19:00.000-08:00

"Vietnam Veterans Memorial"

"Sodiers' and Sailors' Monument"

"East Coast Monument" This past weekend I did something really fulfilling. I visited three memorial cites in New York City: "Vietnam Veterans Memorial", "Soldiers’' and Sailors' Monument" and the "East Coast Monument." With Veterans Day around the corner I am glad I took the time to commemorate Veterans. The site that I felt made the most impact on we was definitely "Vietnam Veterans Memorial." There I read about the Vietnam vets through personal letters that were sent home by the soldiers while they were still in Vietnam. As a result I feel a renewed sense of pride for my troops and patriotism.

2011-11-04T17:42:00.000-07:00

Halloween weekend was fun. I was a “Beer Wench”.Here is me and my roommate who was Chung Lee from “Street fighter”.

This is me at “The Bashee”, a pub in Dorchester.

This pub has a name appropriately for Halloween.

It made me think immediately of an eerie poem I read entitled “The Banshee”. I took some time to look up and type out this poem. Yeah your worth it. The following is a poem entitled “The Banshee” by Dora Sigerson. “Banshee” is a term defined by wiki as: “a feminine spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld.” The pub I referred too. Please see the poem typed below.“The Banshee”Now God between us and all harm,For I to—night have seenA banshee in the shadow passAlong the dark boreen,And as she went keened and cried And combed her long white hair.She stopped at Molly Reilly’s door.And sobbed till midnight there.And is it for himself she moans,Who is so far away?Or is it Molly Reilly’s death She cries until the day?Now Molly thinks her man is goneA sailor lad to be;She puts a candle at her door Each night for him to see.But he is off to Galway town,(And who dare tell her this?)Enchanted by a woman’s eyes,Half-maddened by her kiss.So as we go by Molly’s doorWe look towards the sea,And say, ‘May God bring home your lad, Wherever he may be.’I pray it may be Molly’s self The banshee keens and cries,For who dare breathe the tale to her,Be it her man who dies?But there is sorrow on the way,For I to-night have seen A banshee in the shadow passAlong the dark boreen.By Dora Sigeron

Home cooking

2011-11-04T16:35:00.001-07:00

Growing up in a household that has hispanic roots I have been raised on a variety of Cuban meals. Pulled pork with rice and beans is a favorite. Since I moved out I have yet to master the staple dish of “Arroz con pollo” which is essential chicken with rice. It’s isn’t foreign to Americans however it is cooked with spices called saffron and paprika and also peppers. Also usually when my mother made this dish she usually mixes peas with the rice. Below is the recipe for Arroz con pollo. 1/4 cup of olive oil

1 ½ tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon good imported paprika

1/3 saltspoon saffron powder

½ tablespoon pepper

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

2 bay leaves

1 large onion, chopped fairly small

½ cup rice

6 cups boiling water

3 pimientos, cutup

1cup peas (fresh or canned) if desired

Use a large pot with a lid. Place over moderate fire and put in the olive oil: when hot, add the chopped onion and the garlic. When golden colors, add the cut up chicken, salt, pepper, paprika, and finely chopped parsley. Cook 15 minutes without a cover, turning the pieces occasionally. Then add 6 cups of boiling water (3 cups of water to each cup of rice used: you can thus use more or less as desired: when the water is boiling, add the saffron powder and then the rice. Sprinkle the rice in gradually in order not to stop the boiling. When the rice is all in, reduce the heat under the pot and put the lid on. Allow to slowly boil for about 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, or oftener to prevent rice from sticking to the pot. Add the cut up of pimiento during the last 15 minutes of cooking.

Some people like green peas mixed with the rice. These should be cooled separately and then mixed

during the last few minutes of cooling. Canned peas can be used.

Usually I bake chicken and make brown rice. What make this meal delicious is the yellow rice which is packed with flavor and the spices on the chicken. Seasoning the chicken with "Sazon" a goya product is also a necessary step in most "Arroz con Pollo" recipes.

My H & R Bloc

2011-10-22T09:21:00.000-07:00

I am at H & R block on Tremont. My advisor is being very patient and understanding. He is preparing my tax amendment. I am a single woman with no dependants so it should be fairly simple. The deadline for taxes was last week but amendment lcan be done up to three yeats after you file. It will cosy me about eighty dollars. I am going to have to resubmit forms which cost money too. The issue was that I did not report some income, a whole. W-2 form was left out. In this case ot os fairly a simple fix. Lesson learned.

Harbor point

2011-10-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

I live at Harbor Point Apartments with three other lovely girls. We are all students at Umass. Our living situation is as close to the dorm experience as Umass has to offer. I really like it but really have no choice since I am not a Boston native. My roommates are also both from out of state. One is from California and another is a grad student who is from Chicago. Lastly the fourth roommate is from Lowell Mass. She represents the majority of the student body at Umass Massachusetts residents. I think that living at home is great because it saves you and your parents a lot of money. The only reason I would recommend living on your own is if you are ready and financial stable. Living independently gives you a chance to grow and become more responsible for your own actions. You can think for yourself and often times you will impress your family with your ability to make it on your own. Again I am not saying that living at home is a bad idea. If and when I graduate from Umass which crossing my fingers will be 2012 I will be faced with a difficult choice. Stay in Boston and apply to law school here or return to NY. If I sat here I can afford to live at a place like Harbor point because split four ways rent here is only $466 / month. I could move to NYC and work and probably struggle to afford a studio for a $1000 a month.

Of course there is always the option of returning home. I know that might make me sound like a huge hypocrite. Really it’s a matter of having options. I am confident that my hard work and dedication to my academic career will somehow pay off. I am hoping that I will get a considerable scholarship or financial aid process. However I know that law school is going to consume all of my energy like college has only more. What I am trying to say here is that I advocate for independence mostly because in my own personal experience I needed it to grow. I am not 100% sure what my future holds my dear readers. I only can say that I have really enjoyed my time here at Harbor point and love living alone. I might have to sacrifice that luxury to be able to focus on school because my parents would be willing to let me stay at home rent free as many Umass students do.

My point is I am not trying to make anyone feel bad for not living in their own place or outside of their ancestral home. Only know that one day you can and will make that move. In my case it has become easier with time and I am less frazzled when I hit a speed bump in life. I am not the same girl for instance that had an allowance and blew threw her parents money in my teenage years. The more independent you become in my opinion the more accomplished you feel.

More reasons to move out and the plus and minuses of living independently

2011-10-17T17:12:00.000-07:00

I wish I was better at filling tax returns. I have had horror stories. One year I went to a "tax return specialist" in training. I don't know whose fault it was but after receiving a refund check I was asked to resubmit my tax return. I have to do it again this year which makes me think it must be me. I am so confused by the whole process. I desperately want to improve because tax season is in a few months and I don't want to go through this again. Apparently I did not report all of my wages. Between my w-2 and what I reported, I was off by $3,000. Ahh! These are the times I wish I can go home. It’s hard to be an adult. I am constantly hitting a wall. I realize I am flawed in more ways than I thought imaginable. I am awful with numbers. I have to say I am pretty good with money but I definitely have slipped up more than once. In the four years I have been reporting as an independent I have failed to complete it correctly twice. I guess the odds of me filling my taxes this year correctly are 50/50. The whole process baffles me for some reason. I literally can’t afford to drop the ball like this again. Steps I plan to take to ensure this won’t happen again include: 1) making a folder where I keep all of my W-2’s 2) take my time when filling my return. In the mean time I need to amend last year’s return. If there one thing I am proud of myself is my perseverance. I never give up, never. When I finally get better and doing my own taxes I will feel a new sense of accomplishment. Overcoming obstacles on your own is a fundamental part of being independent.

Breaking the mold

2011-10-14T19:57:00.001-07:00

A girl listening to a book while reading.

When I was twelve I was diagnosed with having a mild case of dyslexia. All of my life I have had trouble reading at a fast pace but other than it taking me a long time to read long novels I don’t notice this “learning disability”. As an English major I have a lot of reading to do and this can be overwhelming. Just for your information I would like to share a resource I have found helpful. I use audiobooks whenever they are available. I use Ally a website for the blind and dyslexic. I learn best through listening and am not ashamed of my mild learning disability. Everyone has a way of learning that is best for them. Some people learn better hands on while others like hearing instructions. I like to think learning disabilities are becoming more widely understood. Umass Boston for example acknowledges learning disabilities along with physical disabilities and even has a disabilities center called the Ross Center in the campus center. Just thought I would put this out there to show that all students who have learning disabilities have nothing to be ashamed of.

Another day another asswhipping!

2011-10-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

Hello readers! As you already know, I like working out. I’ve been working out for the last five years. I have a passion for fitness. I lost fifteen pounds three years ago and have kept them off. I mostly do it for my health. I work out to build cardio endurance and to be more toned. I like pushing myself and seeing what my body is capable of. I made it to the gym tonight which felt great. I have had a gym membership for the past four years. When I work out I start with cardio. I do a 15 minutes warm-up. I either run on a treadmill or use an elliptical. I then do resistance training. I select a weight on a machine and do about fifteen reps. I always try to do thee sets. I take a break between sets but no more than a minute. Ideally I work out my legs and gluteus on a particular day and then upper body on the next day and then alternate. I work out three days a week and rest for four days. Some days when I am stressed I just do cardio. I might run for an hour. I think the distraction of a workout can be an effective way to distress. If doing a one hour workout takes too much time your schedule reader, a fifteen minute workout is better than zero time moving around and exerting yourself. I also do plyometric workouts, in other words I use my own body weight as resistance. For example I do squats, pushups, and lunges and or I hold a plank position. I hope my readers will ask me any questions on fitness because it is a passion of mine. In a previous blog I recommended bodybuilding.com.

This website will be awesome for my readers who are not sure what to do at the gym. It gives video and explanation. It offers entire workout plans.

The Beehive

2011-10-14T19:55:00.001-07:00

For my review I wrote about the Beehive restaurant. It is by far my favorite place. Its similar to “The Otherside” restaurant bar in Boston. Anyone who likes “The Otherside” will like the Beehive. Also anyone who likes live music will like the Beehive. The bans that place there are usually Jazz bands. Sundays is blues nights. It is a great place for a date or small celebration. I went there the other night for my friend Rebecca’s 24^th birthday. The band that played was great and the food was awesome. Check it out. It’s in Back Bay on Tremont.

When working out is out of the question

2011-10-12T17:49:00.000-07:00

There are times when working out is out of the question. Tonight would be one of those times. I will be lucky to have time to spear to take a shower. I am working intently on my long review assignment for "Writing for the Media". No doubt that by the time I am done reviewing the Beehive I will be extremely hungry.

2011-10-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

Just noticed that there is a notes part to Facebook. I just found out more about what is going on in my friends life then I knew we are also close. We're roommates! The power of writing is amazing and liberating. I will start to write comments. It is like a diary which can be dangerous since it is public. I bet there are some privacy settings. Just thought it might be a good things for students who want to vent via writing.

Ambitions

2011-10-04T22:56:00.001-07:00

I plan to be a lawyer particularly one that deals with Family Law. I come from a very supportive and loving family. I am interested in learning more about how the law and find my focus. I want to learn to think more objectively and use this ability to help strengthen American families.

2011-10-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

As a senior at Umass Boston I’ve accepted that I have little time to myself. I’m an English major and can be usually be found with nose in a book or am sitting at a computer. I am willing to make sacrifices as a student. I have in the past four years been known to pass on “girl’s nights out” if I think I will fall behind in my schoolwork. I don’t mind not having much of a social life during the school year because I am too busy juggling school and my job. I make up for that during the summer. However there is one thing I cannot fall by the way side. That is my health. Stress is a killer. This is common knowledge. I am constantly finding myself listing the assignments I have to do in my head. I become a ball of stress. One my favorite ways to alleviate stress is to workout. I spoke to my friend Ehsan Raad who happens to be a personal trainer and explained how since the summer ended I find that I have worked out less and am upset and frustrated over it. He said that all I needed to do was try to do a fifteen minute cardio workout. He suggested climbing stairs and said to follow that with some leg raises. He told me this Monday night and on Tuesday I had a very hectic day. Once again I felt tired when I got home from work but did the workout Ehsan suggested. Afterward I felt more awake and energized. I am so happy I did something for myself. To all my readers who are in a workout rut I am posting a link to a great website called Bodybuilding.com which I have a profile on.

I also encourage you to visit my trainer Ehsan’s personal training Facebook page.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/

and
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ehsan-Raad-PT-/246664412028666

Mental Health and Independence

2011-09-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

My name is Andrea Placeres, and the purpose of this blog is to discuss how a person can achieve a good quality of life with a sense of independence by creating distance between themselves and their parents and starting their own lives. Parents often feel a sense of duty and a right to involve themselves in the lives of their children. Since the role of a parent is to raise a child when that child grows into a young adult it is necessary to yield over some of that power. However habits die hard and many parents maintain rules of their household which grown children are expected to abide by at least this was the case in my home.

For the past four years I have lived independently from my parents. I decided to move out for good when I realized that the rules my parents set for me began to feel to constricting for my lifestyle. As a young adult I wanted to be able to go about my day as I pleased and not answer to an authoritative figure. I remember my parents to see me leave and so was I. I mean my life to that moment was spent in my familial home. There I felt safe from the stresses of the outside world. I drew strength from the support of my family and friends. When I visit my familial home I see my mother, father, brother and grandmother; Effie, Alfred, Ricky Placeres and Nilda Placeres respectively. Often times I ring my doorbell and am greeted with the warmth and love of my family. I had always felt a sense of peace at home however I really saw a change in the way my parents related to me. It seems they had more respect for me and saw me more as an adult then before. This was very rewarding for me and more then ever I appreciated my time with my family. When I leave home to return to my humble abode it hurts a little to but even though it has been years since I moved out. However I know I have to live my life and draw from my inner strength.

Living independently means creating a life for yourself in which income coming in from a job is used to provide individual necessities. I remember the shame and mortified feeling I felt when I was chastised by my roommate for not having the common sense to take out the trash or buy toilet paper. In the past that was my dad’s responsibility. It took some time I initially moved to develop into a self sufficient. The process was hard and there are times when the unexpected nature of life puts me in a predicament and I need to call my parents and ask for money. For the most part I pay my bills on my own. A forewarning to my readers who are contemplating taking the step of moving out remembers this if you take anything from this article, always expect the unexpected. Saving money for a rainy day will be the topic of my next blog. Stayed tuned.