Today’s selection is from my favorite poem that I read when I was in high school; The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. I had to post a video because this poem is best when read out loud. Enjoy your Sunday…Love your life!!!
Tag Archives: Eva Santiago
April is National Poetry Month: Day 10
Quotes about women by famous poets…
April is National Poetry Month: DAY 3
Today I will share the world’s shortest poem by Ogden Nash (1902-1971).
Fleas
Adam
Had ‘em.
SALSA! REVIEW
Book review: Salsa! The Taste of Life
February 27, 2013
Local author Eva Santiago’s stories are inspired by world travel and multi-cultural background.
“There are times when a person is called to starve those things that need to die and to feed those things that need to grow,” she writes in Salsa! The Taste of Life. Her second book, a collection of poetry and fictitious short stories set in locations from Bogota to Bavaria,represents the experiences that flavor Santiago’s life.
Salsa! will have a special appeal for young adults and people who are familiar with Colombian literature. Many of the short stories and narrative poetry pieces, including ‘A Burro Named Churro’, incorporate traditional Colombian humor which may go undetected by non-Colombians.Yet, the stories are simple and written to entertain a universal audience. Parents of young teenagers in any culture will identify with her first story, ‘Capers or Sandals?’
The book is also seasoned with lyrical poetry. ‘Smooth’, one of the shortest poems, sharply depicts a deceived lover and packs a powerful punch as Salsa!’s habanero pepper. ‘Mi Familia‘ was written as a tribute to Santiago’s siblings, who were separated in youth after her parents died. It is a tender, personal piece that Santiago said represents heaven.
While it’s an easy and overall light read, Salsa!boldly critiques a number of social issues including religion, abortion, and racism. ‘The Race Card‘ is a candid commentary that stems from Santiago’s experience of taking on her mixed-race heritage. Recalling a time when her own family members rejected her because of her mixed race, she wrote:
… that’s when I packed up my bags;
I threw out the board game,
And burned all of their cards.
I learned to travel light,
And I love all people, and treat ‘em the same.
I learned to pray, and that’s how I fight.
Parenthood is a prevailing theme throughout the book. Several stories depict imperfect men who try to be good fathers. Santiago also makes an interesting statement, portraying both nurturing and selfish mothers and prompts female readers to evaluate where they personally rest on the spectrum.
Many of the stories are warm and reminiscent of a mother telling a bedtime story. Santiago’s writings are much like the anecdotal conversations mothers often use to share their memories, wisdom,convictions, and warnings with their children. If you are nostalgic for those mother-child moments, or never experienced them and would like to give them a try, you might consider keeping this book handy and reading it periodically. Indeed, it could be like keeping a mom in your pocket.
Perhaps Salsa!’s most surprising ingredients are a few pieces written by Santiago’s daughter, Esther Starr. Readers will be surprised to learn that Starr was only 13 when she wrote ‘Nightmare in Jerusalem‘ and ‘Don’t Go’, as her writing reveals talent and insight beyond her years.
Eva Santiago and Salsa! The Taste of Life will be featured at a book signing event at Book Boutique, 19 W. Pacific Ave.on Saturday, Feb. 23 from noon to 2 p.m.For more information visit evasantiago.wordpress.com.
SALSA! at the BOOK BOUTIQUE
Hello everyone! My week stay in Atlanta was wonderful! I have photos to post up from my 2 book signings for SALSA!. They will be up soon. Now, I am happy to announce I’ll be having another book signing at the Book Boutique located on 19 W. Pacific Ave. Henderson, NV. So please mark Saturday, February 23rd on your calendar because I want to see you there from 12 to 2pm.
Why Sandy Hook Elementary?
Hello everyone! Here is my view on The Sandy Elementary School Shooting. I hope you have a great day !
http://hendersonpress.com/opinion/item/1632-why-sandy-hook-elementary
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 20:21
Why Sandy Hook Elementary?
Written by Eva Santiago, guest columnist
Why are we so shocked when a massacre such as the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut takes place? We are a society who values life very little and sometimes not at all. Do you ever wonder why previous generations never heard of such tragedies striking at the heart of their communities?
Why are school shootings such a modern day phenomenon? We have to be 100 percent honest with ourselves and take a peek back into our history because there, we will find some answers.
When Roe versus Wade was approved, the Supreme Court put a price on life by passing that law. Years later we have young, pregnant teen girls who end up throwing their newborns in dumpsters. It is not a long stretch of the imagination then, that perhaps the bad seed sown in the moral soil of our nations is now bearing thistles and thorns.
Our youth’s innocence is in peril!
We have the Hollywood machine that glorifies death and devalues life in film after film. The family is key to bringing up well-adjusted children and our families are in trouble.
The cornerstone of society is the traditional family consisting of a husband and wife working together to benefit the children they bring into the world. Now, we have T.V. shows that attempt to redefine the traditional family, meanwhile our kids are watching this and forming their own conclusions without any moral guidance from their adult care takers.
Societies where life is valued very little or not at all won’t last forever
I believe it’s already manifesting. Just because you have birthed a child or several children, does not necessarily mean you value life. If you have children and you raise them right; investing your love, time and talents to help mold them into future capable, well-adjusted adults; you value those lives because we value what we invest in.
The opposite is true too. If you have children and you neglect them; you don’t value life those lives. People who don’t value their own life will not value another’s.
Our nation’s young men are committing heinous random acts of violence. Conversely our young women throw their babies into the trash heap. Are we alarmed yet at the signs of the times?
From the cradle our kids are subjected to random acts of violence on T.V. Then they go off to school where too many of them are drugged to dumb them down.
Adam Lanza- the shooter in Connecticut, James Holmes-shooter at the Batman movie premiere, Eric Harris and Dylan Kliebold-shooters at Littleton, Colorado all had this in common: They were hooked on psychotropic drugs. This trend is frightening and it continues seemingly unabated. Indeed we are living with bad seed sown long ago.
Parents today, in hot pursuit of “the almighty” dollar have forgotten their kids. Children don’t need a lot of things. They require love, time and attention. Material things will never satisfy them.
Time well spent with them is what they crave. I don’t think any child grows up and misses the toys they had or didn’t get. When they grow up they reminisce about the good times and memories.
Who of us can look back on our childhood and remember everything we received at Christmas or birthdays? But we can look back and remember the times our parents or adult caretakers were present or absent when we really needed them.
So our dilemma has a simple solution. We must return to valuing life and it begins at home with our own children. Spend less time buying them things that break and don’t last forever.
Spend more time with your kids and let them know every single day that you love them. This is how we get back our families; one child at a time.
Thusly our nation can begin to heal and bring restoration to our communities. Love, time and attention are the keys to healing our children. Nothing else will work. It all begins at home…
R.I.P. To The Children and Families of the Tragedy in Connecticut.
Eva Santiago is the mother of four children, writer and poet. She is the author of ‘Salsa: The Taste of Life’. The opinions of guest columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Henderson Press ownership or editorial staff.
In shadow box beside editorial:
LOVE: A CHOICE FROM YOUR WILL
The fountain of youth
Atop a tall mountain
Trees on the side
Sky tops the peaks
The heart breaks each time
The silence is deafening
The whispers of nature
Nobody speaks…
The fountain of youth
Is love so eternal
Hate and grow old
Love and be eternal
To hate is to die
To love is to live
To hate you die slowly
To love is to hope
To hate is to choke
To hate is to hang from a rope
To hate is to drown
To hate is to murder..and give up your crown…
To love is to live
To live is to love
Live and let love in
Love and let life in
Hate is too late
Love’s always on time
Hate comes to kill
LOVE: A choice from your will. – Eva Santiago
‘Til Light’s First Rays Appeared
Last night I dreamt:
That you saw me
For the very first time
After so, so many years.
You held me
I held you
‘Til light’s first rays appeared.
Then I awoke:
Oh, it was so real!
You were here with me
As much as I was there with you
And oh, it was so real!
-EVA SANTIAGO
COPYRIGHT 2012
Vegas Valley Book Festival 2012
I participated in this year’s Vegas Valley Book Festival today! My books didn’t come in yet so I didn’t have any to sell at this event. So I had some flyers made up and I went there anyway to enjoy the day, meet new people and get the word out about Salsa! the Taste of Life, my new book. I don’t let anything stop me!
As it turned out, I am glad I went and there was a happy surprise! I was able to read excerpts from Salsa! in front of a captive audience. I love it when things fall together better than when I plan them . I call that serendipity. Here are some pictures from the event. I plan to attend the next one in 2013 and I am sure I will have books to sell then. “When life hands me lemons, I bake a lemon merengue pie!!” -Eva 
-Eva Santiago copyright 2012
SALSA! The Taste of Life
My book Salsa! The Taste of Life is ready for you to buy my dear followers! Here is the link
http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781621470090
If you are interested in buying an autographed copy please let me know! Contact me through my Contact Eva page or simply email me!
Word Picture #12
Broken Window
What does it mean
When I look in your face
And your soul is blank
When I look in your face
And your demons stand as in rank
What does it mean
When I reach out for a hug
You look down at your shoes
And all you do is shrug
I’ll tell you what it means to me:
Stop looking through that old broken window; it’s busted from years of rocks pelting it. First stone you threw, it cracked from top to bottom. It was not a clean break- jagged,taking up the whole window. Then came bigger rocks, chipping away at the surface,until one day a huge boulder came crashing through…such a terrific noise it made! What a great explosion, it took out all the glass. Now what’s left is an empty window pane; the house is debris filled from the winds that blow in from all the four corners. Dust,rain,leaves all blowing in. And this is the window you want me to keep looking through? No thanks, I’ve better things to do.
-EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2012
