If you want Obama to be elected then learn these 5 things today

I got this by email. Move On wants you to be aware, that Obama could lose if his supporters don't pay attention and do what you are supposed to do, which means stop watching trashy TV, partying hard and avoiding real life issues, like who is going to be your next president.

Now watch:

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Good enough for me.



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Finally DC Blogs!

Yeah, it's been like 7 months since I posted the DC Blogs icon in this blog and submitted CarlosQC to that crowded and fascinating blog directory, which I read pretty often.

Somehow I felt ignored, I emailed them twice and got no response, so I was wondering and decided to send them this email:

DC Blogs: I submitted my blog for your consideration by January 2008. But you still haven't included me in your directory. This is my third and last attempt. Please stop fucking ignoring me, thank you very much!

And finally, it worked this time. DC Blogs responded:

Thanks for the submission. The blog, http://carlosqc.blogspot.com, has been added to the dcblogs.com/live feed. The live feed updates every 30 minutes and will display your most recent post for 24 hours. (The blog is in the main directory. It will also appear on index to live feed blogs once that column is updated -- but it is in the live feed and should appear when you publish.) This only applies to Blogger users: Please set your default time zone to UK time, UTC or GMT 00. That will ensure that your more recent post appears on the top of the feed. Otherwise, your post will show up four to five hours deep into the feed. Meghan, a talented and wonderful graphic designer, has been cc'ed on this note. She designs and creates the icons used in the live feed, unless you are creating one of your own. Please contact her directly if you have any questions. This is a volunteer organization. We make no money off it and don't cover expenses and it is done in our spare time. Sometimes emails get missed and that's what happened in your case. Kob

Finally I am in DCBlogs, in the DC LIVES section. Well, it feels just like when I walk around this city or by the entrance door of the building where I live, and I have to do some extreme reaction in order to prove that I live here, for almost half my life now.

Hello DC, and thanks Kob and Meghan for including me, and trust me I know about the volunteering part.


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Sixto Barrera and the Afro Peruvians in Beijing 2008: true winners already

Afro Peruvians Sixto Barrera, J. Emmanuel Crescimbeni and Louis Tristan are representing Peru in the Olympics: even when their country doesn't do much for them.

Afro Peruvians in Beijing. Foto EFE via RPP

There are three Afro Peruvians in Beijing, out the 13-people delegation of this Andean nation. Although Africans in Peru are about 10-15% of the population, and its influences in Peruvian culture, identity, food, religion and economics are strong and very important, Afro Peruvians still face racism and lack of enough representation in most of Peruvian society of today.


Sixto Barrera is a 24 years old Afro Peruvian wrestler and his story is very inspiring. Born and raised in Lima, in a working-class district named after San Martin of Porres, the first African descendant saint of the Catholic church, Sixto comes from a background that is economically poor but is very rich spiritually. His father died when he was 3 years old so his grandmother did the best to raise him well, and man did she do a good job: Sixto is the current champion in the American continent of Wrestling, Greco-Roman 74 Kg. category, and he will start his participation tonight at the 2008 Beijing Olympic games.

It was very exciting to see Sixto Barrera carrying the Peruvian flag at the opening ceremony of the Beijing games. He said to the Peruvian media: "It was an enormous honor to hold the Peruvian flag. A dream come true. Personally, I only want to show why I was chosen to be Peru’s flag-bearer. I thank God for giving me this joy.”

Louis Tristan (athletics - long jump) is a 24 years old athlete born also in Lima and who currently lives in Brazil. I have spoken with Louis Tristan over the Internet and he is feeling very hopeful about classifying to the finals, and he will compete this Saturday 16.

He has also mentioned several times his frustration with the lack of support from the Peruvian government, especially authorities in charge of national sports: "They think is wrong for me to try to make a living out of my sports profession, they think I don't deserve to get their sponsorship" although he is one of the top 25 jumpers in the world, and 5th in the South American games. He has decided to stay in Brazil where he might become a trainer for minors divisions, away from the negative feedback of the Peruvian authorities.

Jose Emmanuel Crescimbeni, born and raised in the US in the states of Maryland and Florida, he is only 18 years old and used to be part of the US team participating in world championships in the past, but he has decided to represent Peru, the country of his parents. He received the Peruvian nationality last year.

Crescimbeni ended his participation in Beijing yesterday as he arrived 3rd. place in his group at the 200m. butterfly competition, being 31st. in the overall results where Michael Phelps (US) broke the Olympic record again. Emmanuel will return to the US where he is enrolled as a student at the University of Florida. He has a future yet to explore in the swimming sport world.

The 13 Peruvians participating in Beijing are there because of their personal effort: the support of the Peruvian government is almost non existent. Seven of them live and train in other countries, there are two Peruvian Americans: Peter Lopez and Emmanuel Crescimbeni. A judo champion left Peru for Spain after the Peruvian government denied its support and he couldn't attend the Athens 2004 games; right now Carlos Zegarra is a trainer of Spain's minors division. And marathon runner Maria Portilla, a Native American women from the Andes, gets the financial sponsorship of Utah's own Susan Poole. Portilla wants to return to the city of Cusco in the future, so she can open an athletics school for unprivileged children.

Sixto Barrera always mentions his religious faith when participating in competitions. "I am a warrior, a God's warrior, and when I wrestle, I pray God for strength." Precisely is such spiritual faith what may guide him intoibecomeng the winner he already is.

I am very hopeful about Sixto Barrera’s tonight participation, he is in his best moment. But it won’t be easy for the Afro Peruvian: he is facing Valdemaras Venckaitis from Lituania, 3rd. best in the world (Barrera is 38th). This year Barrera defeated American wrestler T.C. Dantzler, 5th in the world, so you never know. Tonight at 10:40 PM (US Eastern time)

Often enough my family reminds me that praying and religious faith can move mountains so I will pray today for Sixto. He deserves to win although he is a winner anyways, but a bit of heavenly help from "San Martincito" will always help.

St. Martin of Porres was a man with spiritually gifted and he could travel places in spirit. He was seeing in China while he was living in Lima back in the XVI century. Tonight, I am sure St. Martin of Porres will be in Beijing, looking over a great man. Hey this is just me getting anxious about it.

Read more about Sixto Barrera in my other blog Peruanista. And also a post about him written by an American living in Peru. Read the biographies of Peruvians in Beijing here (in Spanish.)


Update:

Sixto Barrera was close to obtain the Bronze medal of the Greco-Roman 66-74kg wrestling competition, but he ended ranked 11th in the final rank.

Sixto defeated Lithuania's Valdemaras Venckaitis 3-1, and then went on to lose to China's Chang Yongxiang, who caused and injure in Barrera's arm. Finally Barrera faced Bulgaria's Yavor Yanakiev in the repechage round and even though he was in pain, he finished the fight with honor.

Sixto Barrera plans on competing again in the next Olympic games of London 2012.




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Venezuela's bloggers keep it cool and easy

During an international blogger summit, Luis Carlos Díaz, a blogger from Venezuela, explains how the blogger community of his country reflects a rainbow of opinions -especially in politics- as opposed to the media, which has been divided and polarized around the figure of President Hugo Chavez, among those who support or oppose him.




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This video was recorded at the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2008, held in Budapest, Hungary, from June 26 to 27, 2008. This event which brought together bloggers, activists, technologists and journalists from all over the world, was successfully organized by Global Voices, Global Voices Advocacy and Media Hungária.

To view other videos from this event, click here

For more information about this event, live stories and blogs from participants click here

And to see photos on Flickr, click on the photo:

Photography by Caribbean Free Radio

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