It seems that before someone gets attracted to someone else, the person has already built a mental map, a cast of brain circuits that determine what will make the individual fall in love particularly with one person and not another. So before true love knocks at your door, sexologists say that you will have already internalized the blueprints of the ideal person. Long story short, when that someone conforms into your map, it triggers the alarm and you crank your engine!

It was Hugo Chavez’s third re-election victory in nearly 14 years in office. Out of more than 18.903.000 registered voters, 17.000.226 (80,94 % of the voters) casted their vote. However, the counted votes have been 14.011.938. Almost 3 million of casted votes were missing (inmortal.net). Chavez won so did the totalitarian regimes across Central and South America. In fact, he dedicated his victory to Raul Castro and Cristina Kirchner.

The Department of Justice told Florida its current purge of noncitizens violates Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires Justice Department pre-clearance of state actions that have a ‘disparate impact on the voting rights of minorities’ and a federal law prohibiting purging of voter rolls within 90 days of an election.

The February 8th protest to repudiate the charging of Cristian Fernández as an adult is perhaps the first demonstration among others to hit the street during the trial of the 13-year old accused of the death of his half brother David Galarraga.

2011 is out the window and probably remembered as the year of the protest. For the first time, the crisis exceeded the ballot box to anchor in the very heart of the system, regardless the color of the government.

What had been “suggestions” from the Department of Homeland Security regarding the detention of undocumented immigrants is now a detailed, formalized policy that stops immigration enforcement to act against illegal aliens who have not been convicted of a felony. The Administration has decided to dismiss all cases that don’t meet its "highest priority," (see immigration page). Liberal groups and Latino organizations gave a thumbs-up to the Obama’s executive order that led to a halt of 300,000 deportation proceedings, preventing many hard working families from being torn apart.

Last month I traveled to Orlando. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists celebrated its annual convention. Temperatures hitting 100F plus did not stop reporters, editors, photographers, news directors, and even executive officers of major Spanish language television networks from attending. It was an unprecedented reunion.

Florida loses more children under the age of five to drowning than any other state. Enough kids to fill four preschool classrooms drown every year. In fact, according to the 2010 Florida Child Abuse Death Report, the main cause of child-neglect deaths in Duval, Clay, and Nassau counties was from drowning. “There were 13 deaths of precious children reported through drowning,” said Nancy Dreicer, NE Region director of the Florida Department of Children and Families.

In its monthly meeting, the First Coast Hispanic Chamber of Commerce offered the Jacksonville mayoral candidates a platform to debate on. Despite all the talk on the importance of the Latino community, diversity, inclusion, and the every-vote-counts motto, only one contender -Alvin Brown- showed up.