Creative alternatives to address gun violence

If you think the opioid addiction crisis is bad, it pales into comparison to the addiction the US has with firearms. Just this post alone has been restarted three times because three major shootings have happened in less than two weeks.

 

It’s easy to feel hopeless with the seemingly never-ending gun-related events that continue to plague the U.S. It’s easy to feel disheartened, because for every effort to try and implement common sense laws that are designed not to limit your right to bear your arms, but to protect people from future events like what happens on an almost weekly basis, we keep seeing thoughts, prayers, and excuses.

 

It’s easy to feel this way because politicians and gun activists continue to turn a blind eye to this pandemic that’s been plaguing the U.S. far longer than COVID. It’s easy because they continue to use gun laws to appease to a certain voter base that wants guns for everyone and not much else or so it appears. Just look at the talking points of the Florida and Texas governors. Just look at other politicians who make campaign ads talking about machine gun bacon. Look at how fervent they defend the right to guns but fight against affordable healthcare, reproductive rights, the right to clean air and clean water, and so many other things that fall on the wayside because it’s a higher priority to protect the right to bear arms than it is to do pretty much anything else to benefit your average citizen.

 

You see all of this and it’s extremely easy to want to give up.

 

Well, it’s easy if you’re not one of the people who have lost a loved one to gun violence. For those people, it’s impossible to want to give up.

 

Angry? Frustrated? Enraged? Heart-broken?

 

Yes, to all of these.

 

But deterred?

 

How about no. How about hell no. (For an example, look at the acceptance speech of Manuel and Patricia Oliver, who are the parents of Joaquín Oliver, who was murdered four years ago in the Parkland shooting ). Then look at the ad for “The Lost Class” made by Leo Burnett.

 

In one weekend during May 2022, not one but two shootings occurred. Both showed clear signs that something could happen. Both happened anyways. Then a third shooting happened this week where teachers and students were gunned down by another person who had easy access to an AR-15. And still people insist these are isolated incidents and fight tooth and nail for change to not happen. They still complain about everything that’s wrong with the country and how everything’s so unfair and living conditions are impossible, etc. etc. But regulating guns? Nah. We can’t do anything there. Our hands are tied. Or maybe they’re too busy counting corporate money from the NRA. What I’m not sure is if they check their bank accounts before or after tweeting their thoughts and prayers.

 

People are expected to train for an active shooter but not much is done to deter, minimize, or make things a little harder for a shooter. By the way, let me edit that last sentence to make it a bit more uncomfortable. Children are expected to train for an active shooter. Children. And if that’s not insane enough, then tell me why it’s harder for you to buy cold medicine at a pharmacy than it is to buy a gun in many places in this country.

 

Which gets me to thinking maybe we need a different approach to address gun violence.

 

Imagine debt forgiveness, a living wage, or full health insurance for the entire family if you agree to vote for universal background checks. How about free gas for 5 years if we agree to a nation-wide 48 hr. holding period? How about halving the interest on your mortgage if we raise the age of being able to buy a gun to 21? How about free tuition for your kids if people are required to take a written and practical test to own a gun? How about free treatment for members of your community with a terminal condition or free insulin for any members in your community who have diabetes if we ban AR-15s and all high-capacity weaponry? How about free food, housing, and job placement for people in your community suffering from homelessness if people with a criminal record are unable to get guns nation-wide?

 

No? Then how about people make a wish list. The sky’s the limit because after all, this isn’t going to fly, right? Then why not go hog wild and say what you really want. People are not saying hand in your guns. They’re saying: let’s put laws into effect to make a background check mandatory. They’re saying maybe it’s not a great idea to sell guns to minors. They’re saying maybe you don’t need an assault rifle to hunt buck. They’re saying, if you have a criminal record or a history of violence, that maybe, possibly, it’s not the best idea to let you buy any weapon you want with little to no resistance. So ask away. State your demands. Let people know what it will take to bring change, and again, this is not to take away all your guns, it’s to try and do something to make it so that we don’t have a mass shooting every week. How sad is it that if we had a mass shooting every month it’d be not only an improvement, but a DRASTIC improvement?

 

Oh wait, the new talking point for THIS go around is that it’s a problem with mental illness. That’s the only issue. Although I completely agree that the US has a huge problem with mental illness and access to mental health care and coverage for everyone, some people have defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results...except that to compound things, nothing has been done since Sandy Hook, which would make this even worse than insanity. It makes the lack of change irresponsible, idiotic, vile, and dare I say, un-American.

 

• Universal background checks.
• Nation-wide 48 hr. holding period.
• Raise the age of being able to buy a gun to 21.
• Written and practical tests to own a gun.
• Ban AR-15s and all high-capacity weaponry.
• If you have a criminal record and a history a violence, you don’t get to buy a gun.

 

There’s no reason all of these measures can’t be put into place. Excuses? Corporate interests? Yes. But no logical reason why any of these measures weren’t implemented a decade ago or right now.

The Tradition Continues

The Tradition Continues

There are many things and many people to celebrate on Mother’s Day. Each person has their own way of doing it, and for me, it’s always and shall always be important to publish something on Mother’s Day. No matter what life throws my way, no matter the challenges, it’s something that’s important to me…and when something’s important, there is no try. Today I’m happy to report that even with a last-minute push, I was able to deliver on one of several projects I’ve been promising for a while: the all-English version of my bilingual collection, Twenty Veinte.

Beyond just translating the Spanish part, there are some pieces here that have been tweaked or shall we say overhauled. It’s been 6 years since I published Twenty Veinte and in that time, I’ve grown as a person and as a writer so I did allow myself some adjustments on the existing English pieces taking into account what we’ve experienced collectively the past couple of years, even though I didn’t include anything pandemic-specific, because I didn’t feel the need or desire to do so.

Now the Spanish part was interesting to work on…because the pieces in the original bilingual version of the book were FAR from Traditional Spanish and often use very Puerto Rican language. “How Puerto Rican?” you may ask. Well to the point that a text translator was useless as a tool to accelerate or facilitate the process. Then beyond language, there’s context and that’s where it got really tricky with several essays and one particular short story.
 

In plain English, if you’re not from Puerto Rico, you wouldn’t get several references, jokes, and be a bit lost. That’s where the term transcreation came into play and quite heavily.

Transcreation refers to when you go BEYOND language and take into consideration socio-cultural and historic details and add context to make the communication relevant to the intended audience. So imagine going from writing something mainly for Spanish speaking Puerto Ricans and making it relatable and understandable to a global English speaking audience. If it sounds complicated, it’s because it is.

This required me to do several rewrites and do deep dives to overhaul what I’d written originally. It also showed me how I’ve grown as a writer with more recent pieces and how I once upon a time struck gold, and that certain pieces have aged pretty gracefully I might add.

Translating the essays brought the challenge of making everything understandable. That means that for a piece like Puerto Rico Salsa, Puerto Rico Reggaetón I had to explain a bit more of what the title refers to and explain a bit more of where I was coming from in regards to the opinion within that piece. For Lane Change (Cambio de Carril) I had to absolutely re-think a LOT of what is in that story, since it takes place within a car stuck in a traffic jam in Puerto Rico. By re-think, please understand scrapping about 15-20% of the story and rewriting it thinking of the intended audience.

Then came the poetry.

Translating my poetry was very tricky because I love plays on words and doing stuff that honestly only works or works best in the original language it was written. Transcreating 10 poems of varying structure, style, intent, and rhyme structure might not seem like a lot, but it was. It also sparked some ideas for future projects where I explore the concept of living a bilingual life further, except I’ll concentrate on one form rather than re-diving into stories, poetry, and essays in one go.

The Spanish version of the collection has also brought plenty of challenges, though I’m chipping away at it because, again, it’s important to me. As is Mother’s Day.

I am well aware that if I don’t publish anything on Mother’s Day, nothing will happen in the grand scheme of things. I also know that the date continues to be extremely important to me, because of what it means and who I pay tribute to. I am well aware Mom would ask me when I’d get done with the Spanish projects I’ve had lingering for so long…though I’m also sure she’d be happy and proud that I continue to keep the tradition going and all the other things I've done this year.

I continue to receive messages asking how she’s doing, since I often post #CheersMamaEstrada pictures, videos, and pieces and I only regret having to let people know that she’s passed away and that it’s been some time. The regret is because I feel bad knowing people will feel bad they brought it up. I miss her every day though every time I get asked how she’s doing, part of me does smile, because it means I keep her memory quite alive.

Whether it’s a poem, a song, an essay, a book, a character based on Mama, or this tradition, it’s easy to always keep her with me. I know several wonderful people who have lost their moms or other loved ones in recent weeks and months and it hurts to see good people go through something so tough. Still, it’s a part of life and I always do my best to drop a line and invite them to feel whatever they have to feel, to embrace it, and pay forward all the love they received in life. I also invite them to talk to or write to their loved ones and to do it in the present tense. Write a letter as if you’re catching them up with everything that’s happened. Have a hard question to ask or something you need to get off your chest, write it out or tell them. It’s something I do often and it helps me more than you can imagine…as it does to publish something on Mother’s Day.

So here’s to tradition, to goals, to getting things done even when there are challenges in the way, and to doing the things that are important to us. This makes it Book #19…though it only serves to fuel the fire to get to my next projects, so as I’ve mentioned before. When it comes to my books, best not blink.

My best to you and all the mothers who have made and continue to make life better.

Peace, love, and Happy Mother's Day