Maritza Martinez

whatothers.wordpress.com — About a week in a half ago I read a blog post written by Jeb Bush where he talks about the reasons we need comprehensive immigration reform. I'm not really going into the perks of his post because if you want to read it, feel free just to click on him name and it will take you directly to The Huffington Post where you can have that pleasure. My point here isn't Jeb Bush or any other politic that wants to come into the picture to discuss immigration just because it can guarantee him time under the spotlight (free publicity), but about what people think about the reform through their comments.

whatothers.wordpress.com — Yesterday, as I was enjoying some pics that +Nicholas Lawrence so kindly shared with me and many others, I stumbled across a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. where he says that "Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.". Even though I reflected upon the quote, I really couldn't nail it to anything particular until this morning. +Mark Koenig wrote yesterday in his blog Along the Graybeard Trail about a crime that was committed twenty-three years ago, not any crime but one against a ten year old girl, Christine McGowen.

whatothers.wordpress.com — The annual gay parade that was celebrated this year in Puerto Rico was disgusting!- Hold your horses, before you begin insulting or praising me, this is not my statement. Someone else said it and I had the opportunity of listening and reflecting on what was being said. Like any blogger I grabbed the opportunity to think about it as a possible post. But, what would I say about gay rights anyway, I'm not really in favor or against it. In 2011 I couldn't run away from that issue anymore because my daughter, +Stephanie Quintana was in the midst of an open debate with me as to if we should or not ordain non celibate gays and lesbians in our denomination.

whatothers.wordpress.com — My great-grandmother died at the age of 114, or so they say. Her birth certificate wasn't a reliable source to find out her age because children were inscribed on the Island's registries in the later years of their childhood (8 or 9), her name was Maria Simplicia, we all learned to call her Mama Querida or beloved mother. She didn't read or write and lived most of her life in poverty, she lived through the 1914 earthquake and several strong hurricanes that hit our Island at the beginning of the 1900?s. What was her life like?

generationfabulous.com — It's easier to pretend that everything is fine than to do something about it! This assumption proves to be right each and every single time in any given situation. Facing hard issues and doing something about it requires more than guts, it requires determination. Yesterday I had the opportunity of reading an honest and straightforward post written by Gena Haskett. The issues she's addressing aren't easy, and after a while reading you can only feel overwhelmed. Gena brought into our zone a reality many in the United States deal with on a daily basis, putting food on the table while living in poverty.

whatothers.wordpress.com — Nobody wants to hear... - I have some difficult news to share with all of you. As you know, we have been in the process of planning layoffs in our department. Jobs have been eliminated....- This is the precise moment, where all the alarm bells begin ringing. You are feeling on the verge of an emergency, all of a sudden you've become a firefighter with a mission. Putting a fire under control, with the only difference that this fire is your life. Layoff has been proven to be now a days as normal as ever.

www.blogher.com — My sons were diagnosed with celiac disease when they were only seven and eight. After that everything changed for our family. First, my youngest boy was diagnosed and then our gastroenterologist told us that all of our children would have to be tested. That was when we discovered that my other boy had it too. Both had to go to the hospital to get a biopsy of their small intestine to confirm their diagnosis. Out of the three, only two were celiac patients. He went on to explain how what they had was different from an allergy and how it would affect their lives from now on.