Enlace con la información más reciente de cuales distritos escolares cerraràn mañana: Distritos Escolares

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For more information visit: http://www.lni.wa.gov/workplacerights/wages/minimum/

A partir de hoy, enero 1 del 2012, el salario mínimo es de $9.04 dólares la hora.  Haciendo de este el salario mínimo màs alto de los Estados Unidos. Para más información visite: http://www.lni.wa.gov/Spanish/workplacerights/wages/minimum/

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La versión en español después de la de inglés

English Version/Versión en Inglés

It has been only a month since the coalition: Latinos Con McKenna launched. This group of Latinos from all over the State of Washington was created to support General Attorney for the State of Washington, Rob McKenna with his candidacy for the Governor’s seat for Washington State.

Vision Latina had the opportunity to attend many of the events were Mr. McKenna and Latinos Con McKenna have had an important presence in the Latino community.

First at the reunion with all the Hispanic media at Univision Seattle. Mr. McKenna met with the Washington Media Hispanic Association. There were more than 50 people in this meeting including representatives of Latinos Con McKenna. During this meeting Mr. McKenna was asked how to trust that he was not only making promises just like other candidates, but what better answer that all his work that speak for itself. No lies, just look at all the hard work that he has done as an Attorney General:

• Consumer protection: Fighting ID theftand the latest scams.
• Government accountability: Promoting open government.
• Community safety: Protecting children, families and seniors in their  in their communities and on the Internet.

In addition, Mr. McKenna talked about the gang problem that Washington State is facing and how prevention programs have help many Latino and other youth to stay out of trouble. He mentioned the importance of improving our education system and providing more after school programs to keep students in school.

And lastly, he talked about one of the most important themes for Hispanics/ Latinos, the immigration reform. He explained that as a governor he did not have direct power to pass an immigration reform that is so much needed, however, he stated that as a governor he would do anything to advocate for one immigration reform.

Having Mr. McKenna meet with all the Hispanic media was for sure only the beginning. A few weeks later the Coalition Latinos Con McKenna formally launched. During this event over sixty people attended from all over the state of Washington. The vast majority Hispanics/Latinos who were hungry for answers from Mr. McKenna. Many leader of the Hispanic/Latino community were present and after listening to Mr. McKenna, they offer their unconditional support.  However, this was not going to be the last time that the Latino community heard about McKenna.

A couple of weeks later during the Fiestas Patrias in South Park, Latinos Con McKenna joined the Fiestas Patrias Parade, over twenty volunteer, leaders and community members walked  with the parade.  The Latino community welcome them and asked many questions to some of the volunteers about Mr. McKenna’s position on immigration issues, which were directed to get to know him by visiting his website and learned about all the work that he has done as an Attorney General.

It is not doubt that Attorney General Rob McKenna is one of the very few candidates who have reach out to Hispanics/Latinos. The creation of the Coalition: Latinos Con McKenna has been very important not only for Mr. McKenna’s campaign, but for the coalition to inform the Hispanic/Latino community on issues about the importance to vote, register to vote, why voting, how Hispanics/Latinos can make a difference and a very important factor who is McKenna and what he stands for.

Hispanics/Latinos must be informed about who the candidates are and what they as individuals stand for. We must stop voting for parties and pay more attention to the candidates, who they are, what they have done in the past, what are they doing to reach out to us, and not what party they represent.  We have to remember that most of our information about a party can be bias. Listen to the media, but also make your own research as the media can sometimes be bias.

Remember, making a well informed decision will make the difference for all of us!

Versión en Español/SpanishVersion

La Versión en Español Después de la Versión en Inglés / Spanish Translation After the English Version

About Business and Online Presence

More and more companies and people have begun to operate their business using the Internet as a tool. On the other hand the online business is the type of business in which you need to cultivate your customers. Having a website of your business is the first step, but this online business is like a plant. It need to be watered (need to be innovative), it needs care (create good relationship with your customers) and it needs light (good marketing). There are a lot of home business ideas and/or online business opportunities to make money online either as a part-time or full-time.

Information to Open a Business

However, as any off line business, the online business must have a business license. Take a look at these few websites they will help you to find anything you need to know to open your own business including how to obtain your business license.

Small Business Assistance: http://www.dfi.wa.gov/sd/smallbusiness.htm

Washington State Grants and Loans: http://access.wa.gov/business/financial.aspx

Department of licensing Master Business Application: http://www.dol.wa.gov/forms/700028.html

How to obtain a Tax ID Number for your Business: http://www.tax-id-number.info/

Market Share and Advertising

After you have the legal and financial information you need to plan your online business, it is time to think what business? Then search your market to learn how many potential customers you have you can use the Census page to obtain demographic information by state, county and city. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/53000.html

Then learn about your competitors: go to Google and type key words about your business. If your business is a regular business (with presence online-website) then you can use Google Maps to search for business like the one you want to open in your area.

Now that you have all the information you need, it is time to build a website. You don’t need to spend a lot of money, you can use Google Sites, it is free and it offers hundreds of website templates that you can use to build your website. It offers some tutorials to help you build your website as well. Think about your business name for your website address. If you prefer someone to build it for you, but at a low cost (under $300) you can contact Vision Latina for more information.

Remember that now the Internet can be use as a marketing tool. You can use social media channels to advertise your business, but be careful, social media is not for advertising purposes; first you have to create a presence, don’t offer your business, offer ideas, solutions… Build a relationship with your potential customers first. People are not going to any website because you tell them to. People go to a website because there is something they need. Some tools are: Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Blogs etc.

  Now you have some basic information to start!

Sobre el Negocio y Presencia  En-línea

Más y más negocios y gente están empezando a operar sus negocios con la ayuda del Internet como una heramienta importante. Por otra parte si el negocio es solo en línea, debe crear una relación cercana con sus clientes. Tener una página web es el primer paso, pero como cualquier otro negocio es como una planta. Nesecita agua (ser creativ@), necesita cuidado (crear una buena relación con los clientes) y necesita luz (buen mercadeo). Hay muchas ideas para abrir su propio negocio en casa o en línea que puden convertirse en un trabajo de tiempo parcial o completo.

Información de Como Abrir Su Negocio

Sinembargo, como cualquier negocio, el negocio en línea debe contar con una licencia de negocios. Puede ir a cualquiera de estas páginas web. Ellas le ofreceran información, no solo de come obter una licencia, sino todo lo que necesita para abrir su negocio como: numero de impuesto (tax ID), asistencia para abrir su negocio y pretamos y becas disponibles en el estado de Washington.

Small Business Assistance: http://www.dfi.wa.gov/sd/smallbusiness.htm

Washington State Grants and Loans: http://access.wa.gov/business/financial.aspx

Department of licensing Master Business Application: http://www.dol.wa.gov/forms/700028.html

How to obtain a Tax ID Number for your Business: http://www.tax-id-number.info/

Conociendo Su Mercado y Como Hacer Mercadeo

Después de obtener toda la información necesaria, tanto la legal como la de asistencia, necesita planificar su negocio, es tiempo de pensar de que será su negocio. Ahora debe hacer un estudio de mercadeo (quienes serán sus clientes), puede ir a la página del Censo para obtener la información demográfica que necesita ya sea por condado, ciudad o para todo el estado de Washington.

Ahora investigue quienes son sus competencia: vaya a Google y haga una busqueda con palabras sobre su negocio. Tambión si su negocio también tendrá una presencia física, puede ir a Google Maps para buscar los negocios en su área cómo el que piensa abrir.

For example if you are going to open a day care in West Seattle type Day Care in West Seattle and it will give you a list of all the day cares in West Seattle and a map.

Ahora que tiene toda la informaón necesaria, es tiempo de crear su página web. Usted no tiene que gastar cientos o miles de dólares, usted puede crear su propia página de internet usando Google Sites, es gratis y ofrece cientos de plantillas (templates) o sea páginas ya diseñadas solo para que usted ponga la información de su negocio. Google Sites también ofrece información que lo guiará en como hacer su página paso a paso. Sí usted prefiere mandarla hacer y solo cuenta con un presupuesto de #300 o menos, contacte a Vision Latina para más información.

Recuerde que la internet se puede usar como una herramienta de mercadeo. Puede usar las redes sociales para dar a conocer su negocio, per tenga mucho cuidado, las redes sociales no son para hacer solo publicidad, primero debe crear una presencia en estas redes sociales y no publicitar su negocio, ofrezca ideas, soluciones… Desarrolle una buena relación con sus clientes futuros. La gente no va a una página web solo por que se le diga, van porque necesitan algo. Algunas redes sociales: Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Blogs etc.

Ahora ya tiene la información necesaria para abrir su negocio!

Tragedies like this one happen more often that we think about. Many times seeing them as far away from us, but at anytime it can be one of us Hispanic or a friend or family member, even us… That is when I realized that Mr. Williams effort to make sure that this will never happens again goes beyond a Totem Pole, it is a fight against police brutality, racism and recognizing that we won’t go quiet anymore.

I talked to Mr. Williams about this feeling of community (Native Americans, African Americans, Asian, Latinos etc.) and I thank him for his work and lesson to us (other minorities). I ended my conversation with him and thank him again for doing this for all of us (People of color).

A medida que pasa el tiempo, la tecnología puede crear una forma de escritura y de hablar nueva. Me refiero a las faltas de ortografía que se cometen a diario en el uso del español para comentar o compartir algo vía redes sociales y/o mensaje de texto. No, no me refiero a las abreviaciones como K, pa’, xq, Q nunk, etc. me refiero a faltas de ortografía como: oi (hoy), baya o valla (del verbo ir/vaya), y otros malos usos gramaticales como: haiga (de haber/haya), diferiencia (diferencia), imprimido (impreso), rompido (roto) y muchos más.

El problema es que el uso tan común tanto en forma escrita como hablada puede llegar a ser concebida como correcta por nuestro cerebro. Según un artículo publicado en el 2005 por María Jesús Rodríguez Arenas, la palabra escrita es una imagen visual y muchas veces se dice que estos errores se deben a la falta de lectura. Sin embargo, en estos tiempos en los que estamos expuestos a una lectura con tantas faltas de ortografía, nuestro cerebro forma una imagen visual erronea y al mismo tiempo al escribirla se convierte en una imagen cinética (el movimiento de nuestra mano al escribir la palabra). Por lo tanto es un peligro para el uso correcto del español leer y escribir un español erroneo, el cual está creando un nuevo tipo de español para los niños, adolescentes y adultos que viven en los Estados Unidos.

¿Que se puede hacer? Podemos tratar de corregir estos errores y de esta forma incentivar a un uso correcto del español. También podemos ser más cuidadosos con lo que escribimos y hablamos. Como padres debemos asegurarnos que nuestros hijos aprendan un buen español. Elija programas que hagan un uso correcto del español e incentivelos a que lean literatura en español. Debemos asegurarnos que el español que se habla en este país, sea correcto. Sino habamos y escribimos el inglés correctamente, por lo menos asguremonos de que nuestro español este correctamente hablado y escrito.

English Version

As time goes by, technology may create a new way to write and speak. I am referring to the miss use of the Spanish language through social media and/or text messages. No, I am not referring to abbreviations like lol, UR etc. I am referring to things like writing a Spanish word with the wrong letters like: Using V instead of B, or not using the H in words that need it and to other grammatical mistakes when speaking Spanish like: Using the in the incorrect form the verbs, many of them in Spanglish like “Vaquear” (instead of “aspirar”) from the verb in English to Vacuum and many other mistakes like (haiga instead of haya from the verb haber in Spanish).

The problem is that the miss use of the Spanish language is so common in writing and speaking that they can be conceived as correct for our brain. According to an article published in 2005 by Maria Jesus Rodriguez Arenas, the written word is a visual image and many times this mistakes can be as a result of the lack of reading. However, now we are exposed to many reading materials with so many spelling and grammatical mistakes that our brain forms a wrong image and at the same time when we write it it becomes to a kinetic image (the motion of our hand when we write any word). Therefore, it is dangerous for the correct use of the Spanish language to read and write a Spanish full of grammatical and spelling mistakes, which is creating a new type of Spanish for the children, adolescents and adults that live in United States.

What can we do? We can try to fix this mistakes and incentive the correct use of the Spanish language. We can also be more careful with what we write and speak. As parents we must ensure that our children learn Spanish correctly. Choose programs that use correctly the Spanish language and motivate them to read Spanish literature. We have to make sure that the Spanish that we “Hispanics” speak is the correct one. If we do not speak and write English correctly, at least we can make sure that our Spanish is correct when we speak and write.

English Version After the Spanish

Una noticia lleno los titulares hoy día sobre un cura en Chile, Fernando Karadima, el cual fue encontrado culpable de abusos sexualespor el Vaticano .  Uno de estos periodicos fue La Tercera, un periodico de prestigio en Chile.  El hecho que el Vaticano haya finalmente decidido hacer justicia  a las víctimas de éste cura,  podría ser el cominzo de más veredictos de culpabilidad para otros curas. Es cierto que este veredicto no significa que Karadima irá a la cárcel, pero para las muchas víctimas de este crimen, el hecho que e l Vaticano ha reconocido la culpabilidad de este importante miembro de la iglecia, es sin duda un avance hacia el final de poder y sobreprotección de muchos curas quienes son culpables y has recibido estos favores del Vaticano.

¿Que significa esto para la iglecia católica? La iglecia cátolica a perdido muchos seguidores debido a su forma autoritaria de gobernar y por todos los que  perdieron la fé  en una iglecia protectora de curas predadores sexuales de menores en varias partes del mundo. El veredicto del Vaticano hacia un cura que cometió varios abusos sexuales en un país latinoamericano, podría significar el regreso de varios ferigreces quienes se fueron de esta iglecia en latinoamérica a consecuencia de  estos abusos.  Solo el tiempo lo dirá… después de todo Latinoamerica suele ser la casa de casi la mitad de todos los católicos existentes en el mundo.

Today there was a news in many news papers about a Chilean priest, Fernando Karadima, found guilty by the Vatican of sexually abusing many children in Chile.  Among these newspapers is the New York Times . The fact that the Vatican has finally decided to give justice to his victims may be the beginning  of more guilty verdicts against other priests.  It is true that this verdict doesn’t mean that Karadima will go to jail, but for many victims, the fact that the Vatican has recognized his guilt, is an advance towards the end of the power and protection that many priests who are guilty received from the Vatican.

The Catholic church has been losing followers due to many of their authoritarian behaviors and of course many people losing faith in the church that turnout to protect priests who sexually molested many children around the world.   The Vatican’s verdict that directly targets a priest who committed many sexual crimes in a Latino country (Chile), might be the return of many Latinos who have walked away from the church due to the child sexual crimes that many priest have committed around the world. Only time will tell… after all Latino America used to be the home of almost half of the Catholic population in the world.