How do you define success? Chances are that your definition isn’t the same as mine or even the same as your best friend’s. How you define success is as individual as you are and it creates your map. Once you know where you want to go, you can map your route

But defining your destination and mapping it out are only the first steps. Life is not so simple that we can’t expect twist, turns, and bumps in the road. Those twist and turns mean that we must review the path each day to ensure that we’re on the right track. We can do this by asking ourselves some important questions each day.

Your answers to these question will keep you focused and will make all the bumps in the road worthwhile.

1. Have I made certain that those I love feel loved?

2. Have I done something today that improved the world?

3. Have I conditioned my body to be more strong flexible and resilient?

4. Have I reviewed and honed my plans for the future?

5. Have I acted in private with the same integrity I exhibit in public?

For more important questions to keep you on the right path, visit Inc.com.

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of
the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.

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The College Success Foundation, which helps low-income students finish high school, has narrowed in on key strategies that help many underserved students get into college and leave with a diploma. They include strong academic preparation in the earlier grades, building character traits such as perseverance, and selecting a college that provides financial aid packages as well as services to support students who need it.

Some of these are common sense, but none of them alone is a silver bullet. Rather, it is the combination of these that can really make a difference for students struggling to get into and succeed in college.

Read more at The Washington Post.

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of
the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.

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On the heels of demand for more efficient, more compact, motor vehicles, researchers have created the first ‘foldable’ car. Of course, this isn’t a vehicle that can be stashed in a backpack or toted off by hand, but a car that folds inward, saving space in already cramped areas.

This is achieved by placing all-electric engines within the wheels themselves, eliminating the need to have an engine fixed to the chassis. Coupled with a front opening hatch as a door, the car folds up and sits neatly with three cars in a standard parking space.

The ‘Hiriko’ is expected to being production next year in the Basque region of Spain – aiming for a widespread launch all over Europe shortly thereafter. Those hoping for a cheap mode of transportation might be disappointed. The retail price is an estimated 12,500 euros – roughly $16,500 dollars – which lends to the idea that this vehicle might be better used in a city-sponsored car sharing program.

Read more at MSNBC.com

Throughout present-day Latin America, no two leaders are bestowed with so much fervor, equal parts adoration and animosity, than Fidel Castro in Cuba and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela.

The socialist, anti-imperialism policies they exhort make them the scourge of the Western world; their totalitarian attempts to prolong their regimes fuel opposition within their own countries.

In truth, the Castro and Chávez regimes are little worse than those of other nations. No one would give higher grades to the government in Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua or Haiti. If anyone was living in poverty (or at least part of the 99 percent) and living in Latin America, they would likely rather live in Cuba or Venezuela, than Mexico or Honduras. Well, then again, I suppose it would depend on what that person valued most.

The American value system exalts liberty above all else. Our freedom-loving natures detest socialists and the utopia they describe. Whereas Americans declare, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” socialists interject, “Yes, but with some restrictions.” Within the confines of socialism, you can have life, so long as you don’t threaten the lives of others or the state; you can have liberty, so long as you don’t diminish the liberty of someone else; and you can pursue happiness, so long as your pursuit doesn’t lead you to tip the scales of equality. In the United States, where everyone is guaranteed the right (if not the ability) to obtain power over others, disparity is a defining feature of the state. But in true socialism, which cautions against the individual amassing of power (either through money, property or anything else), disparity is an enemy of the state.

Castro and Chávez, like all leaders, may be judged as both benevolent and evil. The objects of their rule are noble, but the manner in which they rule is corrupt.

Castro, with the stirring words he publishes in Granma, is like an old boyfriend who whispers in our ears the things that initially sparked our amour. But the relationship has gone on for too long, with too many abuses, and the Cuban people, growing tired of his face and his voice, cry out, “If you truly love us, leave us alone!”

Chávez hasn’t been in power nearly as long as his Cuban comrade; Castro and his brother Raúl have headed the Cuban government since 1959, giving them 40 years on Chávez. Yet, his refusal to relinquish the reins of power has already drawn harsh criticism by opponents who paint the red-shirted presidente as “the young Fidel” (in the terrible sense). Now that a viable contender for Miraflores has emerged in Miranda state Governor Henrique Capriles Radonski, a moderate socialist, Chávez would be wise to allow a fair presidential race and instruct his underlings to respect the results of this fall’s election.

Fidel and Chávez will forever remain venerated figures who defended the poor against monied interests. But if they are true students of socialism, and if they truly love their people, they’ll pass power on to the new generation of leaders.

Staff Writer, Hector Luis Alamo, Jr.

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of
the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.

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In 2011, the Los Angeles Times made it official: The term [Latino] in virtually all cases is the appropriate choice over Hispanic. In response, readers chimed in with personal preferences, public attacks, and historical explanations going back to the Aztecs.

Over the last few decades, these terms have become contentious as politics change and identites shifts. Below is a primer on the terms themselves and reasons they manage to elicit such emotion.

Origins
Hispanic generally refers to people who speak Spanish, are descendants of (not from) Spain or countries that were once under Spanish rule, which is why some consider Brazilians Latino, but not Hispanic. Latino generally refers to people who are descendants of “Latin” speaking countries and cultures once under Roman rule. The fact that Rome annexed the Iberian Peninsula explains why the term excludes people from Spain and Portugal.

These descriptions aren’t totally satisfying and leave ample room for loopholes and confusion. They also aren’t used much beyond the United States. But here, the umbrella term “Latino” was popularized during the social movements of the 60’s. While the 1970 census asked people to identify according to nationality (e.g., Colombian), “Hispanic” grew in prominence. By 1980, “Hispanic” became the official government term, used in federal, state and municipal employment applications and school enrollment. Still, the 1980 census tried to have it both ways with the phrase Hispanic or Latino.

Preferences
Whatever the government deems appropriate, individuals show different preferences. According to a 2008 poll[1] by the Pew Hispanic Center, 36 percent prefer Hispanic, 21 percent prefer Latino, while the rest have no preference. The poll also showed that Cuban immigrants in Miami and conservative Mexican Americans in Texas strongly identify as Hispanic, while Democrats use Latino more often than Republicans.

Many prefer Latino because it is a Spanish word, while Hispanic is a more Eurocentric term. Of Hispanic, Sandra Cisneros once said, “To me, it’s like a slave name. I’m a Latina.” But others argue that the term Hispanic has allowed the government to acknowledge discriminatory practices and enforce civil rights. Because Hispanic is more likely to be seen in the news and in research, some say it carries more political weight than a term like Colombian.

Solutions?
One recommendation is to use Latino when referring to personal, political, or social topics, and use Hispanic for statistics and demographics. The position of The New York Times is to use, what the individual they are writing about prefers, or use a more specific references (e.g., Mexican-American) if it’s pertinent to the story. The poll cited above found that about half of Latino adults generally describe themselves by their country of origin first and almost a quarter call themselves American on first reference.

We should accept that there’s no way of pleasing everyone; we may likely offend someone with our choice. But before you get offended, remember this: George Lopez doesn’t like the word Hispanic because it has the word panic in it. In other words, it’s possible to take ourselves too seriously.  

Learn more about Guest Contributor, El Guapo on The Daily Refried.

When you saw his pasty pale-skinned face, your eyes became glued to TV. You debated his innocence as if he was O.J. Simpson. Blowhards, from Nancy Grace to me to Dr. Phil kept track of his every movement.

He is Joran van der Sloot, and ever since his high profile role in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway came to light, the mere mention of his name could directly lead to production of a Dateline NBC Special. But to those who have shuddered at the amount of media attention given to a double-murderer there is hope, as two recent events spell the end of Joran van der Sloot’s time in the spotlight.

Recently in Lima, a Peruvian court found Joran van der Sloot guilty in the murder of Stephanie Flores, the daughter of an influential businessman. He was sentenced to 28 years in prison for strangling the young woman, after becoming enraged that she used his laptop and found stories on the internet linking him to the Natalee Holloway disappearance. Now, for the next 14 to 28 years, this animal will be left to rot, literally, in a harsh Peruvian prison.

The same week Joran van der Sloot was found guilty, an Alabama judge declared Natalee Holloway legally dead. The decision enables family members to clear up inheritance issues and estate issues. Holloway’s body was never found.

To us, the outsiders, combined with Joran van der Sloot’s imprisonment, the declaration of Natalee Holloway’s death decreases the likelihood that we’ll be hearing much more about this story. And we shouldn’t. After all, people are murdered all the time, so not to take away from the suffering of Natalee Holloway’s family, but there are plenty of other murders that could have been given media attention. Instead of highlighting more meaningful events, the media turned a death into a circus and a murderer into a celebrity.

To learn more about Staff Writer, Eric,randomly bump into him on the street and politely ask him some questions.

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of
the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.

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Photo: Stony Brook University

Names on a page. That’s all students are when they take the SAT and ACT tests. Depending on the name, you won’t be able to tell if the student is supposed to be a boy or a girl, or even what they look like. This was one of the reasons that some students were able to pay others up to $3,600 to take the test for them.

Lawmakers are seeking to make cheating on the SAT and ACT exams impossible with a new system that would create unique, digital DNA code assigned to ID cards for each student. Researchers at Stony Brook University are currently working on this new system that will prevent cheating.

Read more at CBS New York.

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of
the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.

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by Luna Garcia

The saying goes No dejes para mañana lo que puedes hacer hoy; but tomorrow always seems like a better day to get anything done.

If you find that you avoid attending obligations promptly and give different excuses (like “I work better under pressure”, “I like things last minute”, “I just cannot find the right time to do it”, “something came up”) to postpone your duties, you may have a procrastination problem. Isolated incidents do no harm, but if you do this often, you have fallen into a damaging pattern of behavior.

Procrastinating essentially means putting things off, or delaying something that needs immediate attention; distracting ourselves with activities that are not a priority (like Facebook) in order to leave all the important things (like work) for later and/or never. Procrastination fills the gap between intention and action. It’s the time used/wasted between making a decision and acting upon it, setting the goal and taking steps.

Because this is a chronic problem that can seriously harm careers and relationships, we’re providing a few guidelines for you to start being your most productive self:

Check your motives: if your motivation is not strong enough, your plans will not stick. Ask yourself: Why am I doing this? Is this important? What do I expect to gain? Once you realize what really matters to you, you can eliminate from your to-do list the things that you’re not putting your heart into or aren’t essential and focus on the ones that are.

Take back control: it’s your life. You, as an adult, must be able to regulate your behavior in a way that serves your best interests. This includes setting realistic goals, and exercising impulse control. Identifying your impulses will help you stop yourself before getting off-track. For example, if on your way to (an important activity) people text you to meet up and you cannot resist, get ahead of your impulse by turning off your phone. It eliminates temptation.

Stop self sabotage: keep in mind that it is you, and only you, who is ruining it for yourself. You know in the back of your mind that later may never come, things may never get done, and you still let it slide. You put things off because they’re too hard, or too easy to even worry about, but in either case you’ll see no gain until you take action.

Punish/Reward yourself: find something you like doing for fun (like partying or playing video games) and use it as your reward-punishment system. If that paper did not get typed this week, you’ll have to skip Thursday night drinks or your game-date with your nephew until it’s submitted. Don’t worry about it being good, just worry about it being done.

START! The only way to get rid of paralysis is to make one move. Take the first step, make that appointment, write the title of the essay, show up to the gym, put the laundry in the cart.

The only time to stop procrastinating is now.

Staff Writer, Luna Garcia

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of
the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.

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