Blog: August 2023

I Left Nebraska Two Years Ago for California

2023-08-30 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

I Left Nebraska Two Years Ago for California

Picture of Pablo somewhere in California

Some Back Story

Over the years, I reflected on how much I do love Nebraska and what it means to me. I moved away two years ago from my home state of Nebraska to the state of California. I believe it's safe to say that California is home. I've done a lot growing as a person. I am not the same person who was when I left Nebraska. I'm still growing.

Why Leave Nebraska?

Nebraska will forever be home. It was the place that saw me grow up. I got a great public education. It taught me how to say, "Ope!" and how to be a Midwestern Mexican Guy.

It's been in my mind for a while to leave. That, "for a while" thought has been in my mind since I was a kid. At a young age I had all these dreams and ambitions to live in various places throughout the world.

I was very fortune to have visited different places in high school and in university, I got to live in France through study abroad. These experiences solidified my need to venture off more throughout the United States. Traveling abroad since I was a young kid has helped me realize there are so many great things outside of Nebraska. It's funny because I joke around how I've traveled more outside the country than in the country I reside in. I am very fortunate to have lived in Mexico for extended periods of time throughout my life.

Preventing Resentment and Repeating the Mistakes of Others

I've always craved so much more than the simple life back home. I didn't want to feel trapped and become resentful for lack of trying to live in and experiencing new things in new places. I see many of the people who I grew up with and reflect on my own self. I didn't want that lifestyle. So many people who I had wished had left Nebraska for greener pastures didn't leave. I didn't want to be trapped.

Questioning the Environment

I've always questioned my environment. These are the questions:

Why don't we have public transportation?
Why is it weird to walk on the sidewalk in such a walk-able town?
Why are people of afraid of good change?
Why don't we think of the needs of young people who will lead the future?

My Lifestyle

Being Nebraska wasn't fitting my lifestyle anymore. I had outgrown the town of 25,000 habitants. Growing up, I never really accepted myself as a person in various degrees. I tolerated myself at best. I was smiling without actually being happy. This façade of being known as, "the guy who always has a smile on his face," was getting old. It was draining me for years. I truly wasn't happy. No one would ever guess that. I lost myself as an individual and I also lost who I wanted to become as individual. Looking at myself in the mirror was not a true reflection of me. I just didn't feel like anything was truly going for me. There are so many things I wish I would have addressed sooner.

Leaving Nebraska was going to happen sooner than later. I had a friend nudge me a few years back to finally do it. I am grateful he nudged me enough that I felt it in my ribs.

California

I'm Happier as a Person

I'm living in California now for two years now. Time flies!

I'm a lot happier here. I'm my more genuine self. I'm still not where I want to be. This is something that I am working on. California is not a perfect place.

I've made a lot more progress here. I'm slowly healing myself. This will take time.

The Natural Garden: Oaxaca - IndieWeb Carnival August 2023

2023-08-22 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

This post is in reponse to Mark Sutherland's IndieWeb Carnival August 2023: Gardening

When the word gardening comes to mind, many think of maintaining a small plot of land. I envision, peppers, tomatoes, peaches, or simply a flower garden. This is exactly what I see in my parent's garden back in Nebraska. A garden can mean so many things due to culture, relationships, activism, hobbies, etc.

A garden I think of often is the country side in Oaxaca. I've gone hiking here for many years since I was a kid. Exploring here gives me a sense of reconnecting with my roots. It let's me explore with no limit to what I can find or experience. It helps me be in the moment. This garden to me is infinite.

It's a beautiful place to walk through when everything is green or dry. I really admire the beauty of it. There are so many native plants surrounding me. I see the cactus, the native grasses, the carrizo (giant reed) and any plant offspring that falls on the ground.

There are so many fields of crops as well. Nature and agriculture co-existing. It's weird how well they blend in with each other.

My favorite time to enjoy the garden is sun down. All the colors are breath taking to watch and see how day becomes night. There are fun activities you can do at night time during a hike such as picking azucenas (lilies).

This is the land my ancestors lived on. I've lived on this land as well. I must continue to visit and reconnect with the people before me.

Nature is so beautiful. We must protect it at all costs.

The Sunset

Seeing the sunset was beautiful.

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Location:: Somewhere on a hike in Oaxaca

Picking Azucenas (Lilies)

Picking azucenas is a common summer activity in Oaxaca where you walk in the country side during sundown. The azucenas will bloom at night instead of closing like many flowers do. The goal is to go around and pick as many azucenas and make it a goal to pick more than your family or friends. It's a good bonding event with people and it's a good bonding activity with nature.

Here is a picture of me showing off my picked azucenas.

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Activity/Description:: Picking Azucenas (or lilies, in English) in the country side near the mountains.
Location:: Somewhere on a hike in Oaxaca

Following nature's trail

I really enjoyed just going wherever the outside told me to go.

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Location:: Somewhere on a hike in Oaxaca

A Pod

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What is it?:: A random pod with a seed that fell from a tree.
Location:: Somewhere on a hike in Oaxaca

Also posted on IndieNews

My Climate Future

2023-08-19 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

I recently read Roel van der Ven post on showing a graph of myclimatefuture. He shares his results based on where he lives.

These are my results based on living in North America.

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What I Had for Dinner Tonight 16-Aug-2023

2023-08-16 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

16 August, 2023

What I Had for Dinner Tonight

A Traditional Oaxacan Dish

By Pablo Morales

Recent Trip

On my most recent trip to Oaxaca I brought back lots of delicious foods with me. One food item that always comes back with me is tlayudas.

This is a Tlayuda

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A tlayuda is a big tortilla tortilla that is a staple food in Oaxaca made out of corn and water. They are huge and twice the size of my head. These are no regular tortillas. This has been a food I've been eating since I was a young kid with my parents, grandparents, other relatives, and many friends. Even in moments of low funds, I have always been able to rely on these to meet my needs.

Often times the tlayuda itself is the plate which you eat on. What I mean by this that often times you don't use an actual plate on the table to hold your tlayuda but the tlayuda is your plate.

How It's Eaten?

There are many ways on how you eat one but here are the ways I eat them:

You rip the tlayuda piece by piece until there is no more
You can roll it up and just starting biting into it.

What's on this Tlayuda

This one is a simple Tlayuda. For the toppings, I used:

Tlayuda as the base
Homemade refried beans
Quesillo (Oaxacan String Cheese)
Chapulines (Grasshoppers). Yes, you read that correctly.

Why I Chose These Ingredients

I brought back plenty of these ingredients with me from Oaxaca since I don't get to have these often or it's hard to find around here. Even when i do find them here, it doesn't have the same taste or the ingredients are old. I'm trying to eat as much of them as fast as I can.

I love quesillo. Even though my body I don't agree with dairy much but quesillo is something that I never have a problem with. It probably the way it's cultured.

I also haven't had much of an appetite the last few days and I haven't been craving much meat either. The chapulines provide me a substantial amount of protein and nutrients. It's common in Oaxaca to go multiple meals without eating meat. There are times where I don't eat meat for weeks at a time

Keep Connected with My Roots

As a first generation Mexican-American and Oaxacan, food is important to me to help me stay connected with my culture.

Why I Opted-Out of Facial Recognition at Customs and Border Patrol

2023-08-14 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

14 August, 2023

Why I Opted-Out of Facial Recognition at Customs and Border Patrol

Why does my face need to be scanned?

By Pablo Morales

I have recently returned the the United States, after a few weeks in Mexico. The time flew by and I made my way back home.

The last few weeks I've been reading on facial recognition. This has been a topic I've had an interest for quite some time. Our phones, our computers, and any item that had humble beginnings such as a door bell all have some form of facial recognition built in or programmed. It's weird to think about how you can unlock your phone with your face.

Privacy has become an issue with all these conveniences. Everywhere you go, your face (you as a person) is being tracked. EVERYWHERE!.

Since I was traveling, I have been reading on facial recognition and the TSA

As a U.S. Citizen, I can opt out of facial recognition from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) :

Opt-out provisions: U.S. citizens who do not wish to submit to facial photo capture pursuant to these processes may request alternative processing, which typically involves a manual review of their travel documents by a CBPO.

Here is a sign:

A sign allowing U.S. citizens to opt out of facial scans

A sign allowing U.S. citizens to opt out of facial scans.

The Experience

I decided before I arrived at Los Angeles International AIrport (LAX) I decided to once I got to customs I would ask them to do a manual document check. I was already expecting them to ask me a bunch of questions. Things would either be easy or hard. I didn't want them running my face across different databases. Why should I give them more of my biometrics when they have this already?

When I arrived at the he Customs and Border Protection Agent booth/station, I told them that I didn't want to my photo taken for facial scan. The agent went off on me. It seemed that he was shaming me for exercising my right to not have my face scanned. There were signs all over saying to inform an agent if I don't want my face scanned. This is exactly what I requested.

The Agent asked me the following questions

"Why are you doing this?"
"Why are you making this more complicated?"
"Do you see how many people have gone through starting this conversation?"
"Do you that we have your facial biometics because you have a passport and driver's license?"
"Any identity document you have is a biometric?'

It seemed that I was inconveniencing them for doing their job and providing a manual document check as my right to not to have my face scanned and verified across databases. The thing that made me mad was the intimidation tactics it seemed the agent was trying to get across. I didn't really appreciate that at all.

Many of the questions the agent asked also came from the CBP Declaration Form 6059B.

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I was also asked where in Mexico I went, what other times I left the United States. I'm a person who provided to the point answers when asked. It's generally a good idea to provide answers not too short or answers too long either. They are law enforcement, you don't want to give unnecessary information to them either.

I stood my ground. Eventually this whole ordeal was over and I moved on to collect my luggage.

The Issues

The issue I have is not the government has my biometrics, the problem I have is the how and who handles my data. This concern frightens me more when third-party companies or private companies are contracted by the government to handle this data. When other entities get involved,

How much control does a citizen have?
How much does the government actually follow up what these companies are doing with our data?
How is this information secured from hackers and kept safe?

I felt so violated when I had to verify my identity for ID.me to access my IRS (Internal Revenue Service) to access my tax transcript. Why should a third party service be put in the way of accessing my government tax transcript? Why is identity verification being outsourced to a private company? The service wasn't really great at all. . It's so flawed for people of color.

We're in a Police Lineup

Why You’re in a Police Lineup, Right Now | NYT Opinion

We're all in a police lineup. This New York Times video does a great job at explaining the situation we are all living in. We need to protect our rights. Our rights are being slowly taken away with all the conveniences that we have. Many people are at risk for being arrested for crimes that they didn't commit because of "matches" facial recognition provides. This affects people of color and minorities.

Conclusion

I know I can't control every aspect and function, but until we have laws in place to protect our biometrics and make sure that we know our rights. We need to bring more attention to this matter. We are all at risk. People of color and minorities are at risk. Even if you have, "nothing to hide".

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