Café crazed 1st Gen Cuban-American raised in Miami. 62 and starting anew!! Spanglish speaking Mother of 3, Abuela of 6; a human shot of espresso and earnest in my extremism. An adventurer, dancer of life; loving its’ locuras and celebrating the "humanness" of all people. The binding ties of family, being female, getting older and day to day life while hopefully enlightening and entertaining- this is the reason for Babushka and her dance.
♪A BAILAR SE HA DICHO!!♪
Hola Hola Hola My Beautifuls! Today Babushka is letting La Gallina Vieja write her first post- y por supuesto, it's a bit confrontational.I've known her my whole life so BB assures you her heart is in the right place, she's just more opinionated than Babushka. Queee?? JU SO FONII!!! Ok si, BB definitely has opinions, but LGV is more vocal about them. Continuing.
MIXED ON MCDONALD'S by La Gallina Vieja
While in Miami, I usually stay with my grandmother,La Tata in Little Havana. Along with many other things, Little Havana had a neighborhood McDonald's that really was a neighborhood McDonald's. The architecture was Spanish style shingles,they served Cuban style coffee, the menu was bilingual and the playground a nice diversion for children with no nearby park. FUERA! GONE! Totally demolished and rebuilt to match everyother cookie cutter McDonald's they're making across the nation. Well, before I continue w/the tirade let me share the good times-because we all know there's good/bad in everything.
Grandsons w/their best "Ok Grandma,
we're smiling for this picture- now can we go play?"
Funslide, Face Painting and Frisbees
not to mention a Funky Ronald-
Fun times yes, but fleeting and fragile. In a community proud of its' Hispanic roots they've totally removed everything Spanish- except for the employees and the cafe con leche which is the only Spanish item left in this McDonald's. The language isn't the only thing missing from our culture. Latins have a very strong sense of community and that includes knowing what everyone else is doing- they've taken the prior configuration where you could see everyone and compartmentalized the place. Ciao Chismeria and socializing. Another very essential part of our upbringing is being good hosts and sharing whatever we may have. Anyone who's ever been to a Cuban's home knows the first thing asked is "Would you like anything to drink?"
So you KNOW this is so WRONG.
Also wrong- how can you put calorie count on the now all English menu, especially stressing how health and weight concious your brand is and then turn around and take away the playground? And adding insult to injury you've now added a video game section, further immobilizing our youth and curtailing their physical and social skills. Que? Our children don't get enough of that? Is that what your ultimate goal is? To have a world that looks all the same with drones who follow blandness because individuality is not welcomed? Easier to control huh? Bueno, so sorry con escumi but not here. We've already lost our individuality somewhere else, and I for one don't take this lightly.
White bread is fine for others, but in this neighborhood bring me my pan Cubano.
Obviously it's all about the buck for you Mickey D,
therefore I'll be going to a place where my culture is King.
Groovy Spanglish speaking Grandma of 6 who loves life and all its adventures. Motivational while still keeping it real, Babushka shows how all things looked at with gratitude are good, and how to say to la vida- JU SO FONII!!!
Well if you want change you cannot count on others to do it for you. I don't think anyone goes to McDonald's for culture. That's why we write, to share ourselves and our culture.
posiblemente esto es lo MEJOR que le puede pasar a tu comunidad... McD no es necesariamente una compañía muy orientada a la salud. Así que si no deseas patrocinar McD, patrocina mejor el establecimiento de un Latino en tu comunidad. Prefiere y fomenta que los pequeños comerciantes de tu comunidad se beneficien del negocio de sus vecinos. Eso sí que es apoyar a tu cultura...
Es cierto, la voz de la blogueras tiene peso. Así que es importante resaltar el trabajo de pequeños negocios en los que se promueve nuestra cultura. MC es una franquicia en la que como tal, tiene ciertas reglas con las que tiene que cumplir, independientemente del lugar donde este ubicado, o quienes sean los dueños. Me gusto mucho tu reflexión.
En Colombia you don't have refills, very rarely at McDonald's and the size of the drinks are very small and yo recuerdo no tomarme toda la soda!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like the kids had a great time! It's hard to see a little culture removed. Lo siento
ReplyDeleteWell if you want change you cannot count on others to do it for you. I don't think anyone goes to McDonald's for culture. That's why we write, to share ourselves and our culture.
ReplyDeleteposiblemente esto es lo MEJOR que le puede pasar a tu comunidad... McD no es necesariamente una compañía muy orientada a la salud. Así que si no deseas patrocinar McD, patrocina mejor el establecimiento de un Latino en tu comunidad. Prefiere y fomenta que los pequeños comerciantes de tu comunidad se beneficien del negocio de sus vecinos. Eso sí que es apoyar a tu cultura...
ReplyDeleteLove that you made this post. Let them know Let them all know...
ReplyDeleteEs cierto, la voz de la blogueras tiene peso. Así que es importante resaltar el trabajo de pequeños negocios en los que se promueve nuestra cultura. MC es una franquicia en la que como tal, tiene ciertas reglas con las que tiene que cumplir, independientemente del lugar donde este ubicado, o quienes sean los dueños. Me gusto mucho tu reflexión.
ReplyDeleteI have not visited McDonald's in a while. Glad to hear your thoughts on what was once your neighborhood McDonald's.
ReplyDelete