The Weekly Journal - Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Wednesday, November 2-8, 2022 - // no. 184

Puerto Rico and the Caribbean

www.theweeklyjournal.com

Blockchain: a solution for PR’s brain drain? P7 Trying to find a brand name P8 Opinion: Public Safety guarantees democracy P10

The Labor Reform

under questioning Private sector contends it hasn’t fulfilled its mission

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Ileanexis Vera Rosado and Juan A. Hernández, The Weekly Journal

An art gallery with infinite walls P15

ointing to the increasing need for employees in some of Puerto Rico’s economic sectors and this year’s amendments introduced to the 2017 Labor Reform, a group of private sector representatives are arguing this is evidence that the labor statute has not been effective in complying with several of its goals and purposes.

In a recent round table discussion sponsored by the

Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce, Juan Carlos Agosto, CEO of Store Management System, LLC, the company operating five Econo supermarkets in Puerto Rico, characterized as “a disease never seen before,” the fact that would be employees are not seeking employment, because they seek different employment conditions from those being offered.”

“Today’s employees seek contractual freedom, to work a few hours and be paid immediately. They like to have time for themselves, and unfortunately the Labor Reform is not the medicine to meet any of those needs. The benefits it offers are not of GO TO PAGE 4

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/ Wednesday, November 2, 2022

a week in review From the farm to your table It didn’t come as a surprise that agriculture was one, if not the most affected sector of Puerto Rico’s economy after the passage of Hurricane Fiona.

“Al Sol de Hoy,” a nonprofit organization created to support and promote the island’s food security, is now providing refrigerated storage for the seeds and crops of more than 25 farmers, and distributing biweekly Nutritional Boxes (“Cajitas Nutritivas”) to subscribers in the San Juan Metro Area, Dorado and Caguas. The boxes are filled with a selection of fruits and vegetables locally harvested and suggested recipes for the different staples included.

Those interested in receiving the Nutritional Boxes can subscribed at https:// alsoldehoy.com/.

Nissan introduces a new Pathfinder

Marco’s Pizza opens new restaurant

Japanese auto maker announced the introduction of its new Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek for 2023. The new SUV comes with 284 horsepower and 259 lbs./ft. of torque engine that makes it ideal for drivers who love the outdoors and need to move from jet skis, to boats and campers with its 6,000 lbs. towing capacity. The new Pathfinder Rock Creek comes equipped with exterior LED lighting, Intelligent Around View® (with an option for ‘off-road’ mode), orange interior stitching and folding captain’s chairs for greater ease of access to the second row seats. The 2023 Pathfinder is rated at up to 21 mpg in the city, 27 mpg in the highway and 23 mpg combined for four-wheel drive models.

Marco’s Pizza, announced the opening of its restaurant in Santa Isabel.

With this new opening, there are now 55 Marco’s Pizza restaurants throughout Puerto Rico and 25 new jobs were created. Located on Carr.

153 km 7, the new Marco’s restaurant has capacity for 30 guests, and offers delivery service and carryout. Operator Fransglobal Inc. plans to open five new stores and create over 125 additional jobs next year.

Marco’s Pizza menu features a variety of specialty pizzas, appetizers and desserts. In addition, it has offers that fit any budget and consumer tastes.

Part of the success of this chain is mainly due to the way their pizzas are made, starting with using fresh dough and fresh ingredients, every day.

Powered BY El Vocero de Puerto Rico, 1064 Ave Ponce de León 2nd floor San Juan, PR Postal Address: PO Box 15074, San Juan, PR 00902

President Salvador Hasbún shasbun@elvocero.com

VP of Accounting Félix A. Rosa frosa@elvocero.com

Human Resources Director Arlene Rolón, PHR arolon@elvocero.com

Vp of Marketing and Business Operations Michelle Pérez Miperez@elvocero.com

VP of Production Eligio Dekony edekony@elvocero.com

VP of Editorial Content Juan Miguel Muñiz Guzmán jmuniz@elvocero.com

Multi-Platform Graphic and Technology Director Héctor L. Vázquez hvazquez@elvocero.com

Phone: 787-622-2300, 787-721-2300

Multi-Plataform Digital Director Rafelli González Cotto rgonzalez@elvocero.com

Customer Service: 787-622-7480

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In fact, The Labor Reform is a tool to insert more people into the workforce, but the employee benefits established by the law, could be exceeded by employers to increase their competitiveness.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 interest to today’s employees,” said Agosto.

For the businessman, the important thing to do is to find a way to attract that new prospective employee to this new labor reality, where remote work and technology have gained a lot of ground.

“Employers need to get very creative. My company needs 700 employees to operate. Right now, I have 120 vacancies that I have not been able to fill. E-commerce has been implemented in our stores, but the bureaucracy of having to register all those vehicles [to deliver purchases] with the Public Service Commission, and the employee rotation I must implement to provide them a break to comply with the law, make the process difficult.

In an Uber service, that same employee can take as many trips as he wants,” he pointed out. “In the new economy everything is online. We have to fit into the new trend where the previous paradigm no longer fits. All parties have to sit down at a table to find a way to attract this productive sector,” Agosto argued.

The Econo executive understands the benefits granted by the Labor Reform have an effect in the short term, but it does not fulfill the task of

More people employed

Today’s employees seek contractual freedom, to work a few hours and be paid immediately... and unfortunately the Labor Reform is not the medicine to meet any of those needs.

Juan Carlos Agosto, CEO of Store Management System

attracting and retaining new labor.

Puerto Rico’s Department of Labor and Human Resources (DTRH, for its Spanish acronym) has pointed out the Labor Reform is a tool to insert more people into the workforce, but the employee benefits established by the law could be exceeded by employers to increase their competitiveness in the market.

In his remarks, Agosto did not consider DTRH statistics for August 2022. According to those statistics “the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in August 2022 was estimated at 5.8%.” While this represented a decrease of just 0.1 percentage point, when compared to July 2022 (5.9%), when compared to August 2021 (8.2%), “the most recent unemployment rate reflected a reduction of 2.4 percentage points.”

On the other hand, “the seasonally adjusted estimate for the number of people employed in August 2022, was 1,113,000 workers.” While this figure presents a reduction of only 4,000 people when comparing to July 2022 (1,117,000), when compared to August 2021 (1,087,000) the number of employees showed an increase of 26,000 people.

The fact is that there are more people employed now in Puerto Rico than in the recent past.

In mid-October, Governor Pedro Pierluisi stated that more people had joined the workforce than in the last 15 years “reaching levels that had not been seen in 15 years.” Pierluisi also stated that 44% of the companies on the island revealed that they have plans to increase their workforce.

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Former Secretary of Labor Ruy Delgado Zayas agrees that the 2017 Labor Reform did not fulfill its mission, arguing that data speak for itself.

Delgado Zayas recalled that, from 2017 to 2022 job increment was 25%, thus indicating that three quarters of current employees retained their previous benefits. The Labor Reform did not affect them at all. To this he added recent (2022) amendments do not affect the previous workers/ employees or those who became employed after 2017.

“Changes have not been big. It is very easy to see: we returned to what we had in 2017. It is not correct to say that the entire private sector is opposed to the Labor Reform, since before the recent amendments, many of them already offered higher benefits voluntarily,” Delgado Zayas said.

“The problem is that they do not want to admit that Puerto Rico has changed. This is a very different Puerto Rico than before, where a fifth of the labor force is self-employed and if individuals who work alone as corporations are included, that According to percentage jumps to 20%,” he statistics from added. consulting According to statistics from firm Economic consulting firm Economic Intelligence, selfIntelligence, self-employed employed individuals individuals increased from increased from 187,000 to 194,000, between 187,000 to 194,000, August 2021 and August 2022. A between August 2021 similar increased had only been and August 2022. experienced in 2006.

In fact,

Too soon to measure change

The former Secretary agreed that current employees are interested in other things, mainly greater flexibility and more time for his personal life.

“The Labor Reform does not even nick that reality… It’s all about justice. It is not real to think that it [the Labor Reform] has a negative effect on attracting companies to the island. Investors

are not concerned about how many vacation days or sick leave they have to pay, they are more interested in the infrastructure –electricity and water– and permits, among other things. That is the priority”, Delgado Zayas contended.

Regarding these allegations, Secretary of the DTRH Gabriel Maldonado González, reiterated that Law 41 of 2022, addresses the problems of employers face in the search for labor.

Maldonado González emphasized the Labor Reform provides minimum standards over which

It’s not correct to say that the entire private sector is opposed to the Labor Reform, since before the recent amendments, many of them already offered higher benefits voluntarily.

Ruy Delgado Zayas, former Secretary of Labor

employers can offer greater benefits to attract employees and increase their competitiveness.

He also explained it is impossible to talk about whether the amendments to the Labor Reform are effective or not, since there is no data to support any arguments in favor or against them, because not enough time has elapsed to evaluate the effect of the law.

Faced with the opposition of the private sector, which has already filed a lawsuit against the Reform, the Secretary was emphatic that “the law is in force until the court says otherwise,” he said.

Among the amended statutes are: the Labor Transformation and Flexibility Law, the Unjustified Dismissal Law, the Law against Unjustified Dismissal, the Vacation and Sick Leave Law, the Law to Establish the Work Hours in Puerto Rico, the Annual Bonus Law for Private Sector Employees, Rest Day Law and Special Leave for Catastrophic Illnesses, among other new issues introduced.

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Icon Puerto Rico to stage entrepreneurs and investors meet Event seeks to promote small and medium businesses

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Juan A. Hernández, The Weekly Journal

eeking to connect prospective investors with local entrepreneurs looking to scale their respective businesses Puerto Rico, Icon Institute (PRII) will be hosting its Conference and Mentorship Day to promote investment in the local businesses.

“Puerto Rico is the ideal destination to conduct business due to its multiple advantages and competitive opportunities in areas such as tourism, human resources, culture, and lifestyle, among other. With this event, we are looking to facilitate the creation of small and medium businesses and encourage investment in the local market” said Karla Barrera, co-founder of PRII. According to Richard Santana, also a cofounder of PRII, the institute is an umbrella organization focusing on identifying and highlighting businesses and expose them to prospective investors that could help them “reach the next level” in their development.

“What we are trying to do is identify those shining stars out there, filter them and connect them with possible investors that might help invest in]… they look at structures, and that will them take their companies to the next level,” said be one of the topics to be discussed during the Santana, who added that while ICON’s approach conference.” to business development is mainly geared “We are going to discuss Act 185 from 2014 towards start-ups, this two-day event will have (Private Capital Funds Act) and Puerto Rico Income a component focused on “companies at a more Source. Those are vehicles mature level” or seeking to scale for investment because they their operations. provide a higher ROI (Return On Santana pointed out that Investment) due to the way they traditional capital options are are set up,” he explained. not necessarily available to Barrera said they will be everyone and “while there are featuring companies from all organizations that will help with Traditional capital sectors –agricultural, technology, some capital,” they are focused options are marketing, healthcare–. mostly on early start-ups and not necessarily “What we want to do with this “their help is capped at $50,000 available to event is to explore new ideas, or $100,000.” everyone. bring everyone to the table and “When you are in a mature brainstorm, bring innovations,” stage of a business endeavor, she said. then you are looking for real cash As an example of an –$5 million, $10 million…– That is innovative business venture, both Santana and the part of the [business] ecosystem where what Barrera mentioned the field of psychedelics (the you sometimes need is someone to open the development of psychoactive substances for the door for you,” Santana said about the role PRII in treatment of mental disorders).

Conference and Mentorship Day. “This is an example of an industry that is still in Santana mentioned that real estate, healthcare, its infancy. But, maybe five or ten years down the bio tech and energy are among the main interests road it will be like the cannabis industry is right of investors participating in ICON’s Conference.

Nevertheless, he emphasized that investors “don’t now,” Santana argued.

Barrera said that, while some of the topics to just come looking for particular industries [to

In fact,

What we want to do with this event is to explore new ideas, bring everyone to the table and brainstorm, bring innovations.

Karla Barrera, cofounder ICON

be discussed in the conference would be “more traditional” they also want to include “something innovative, something to put our audience to think about future possibilities, and this is, potentially, a big industry.”

For the Mentorship Day, which will be free of charge, attendees will be put in contact with speakers engaging on different business topics.

As part of the Mentorship Day, PRII will create profiles of the different companies attending the event that are trying to scale their business or rise capital.

“Our plan is to present these profiles to attendees to the next day conference,” Barrera said.

The PRII Conference and Mentorship Day will be next November 8 and 9.

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Blockchain technology could be the future of all technology

can stay and so that the diaspora will come back.

No one leaves home because they want to, [you] migrate because you don’t have a choice. As Puerto Ricans, we want to change that, get our hands dirty, and get the work going. Hopefully more people will join us.”

Last August, the PRBTA and IEEE held the Zoe Landi Fontana, The Weekly Journal first Web 3 Hackathon, which hosted over 30 participants in 13 teams. This November, they are he dreaded ‘brain drain’ that has partnering with The Opportunity Project (TOP). been affecting the island, and TOP is an initiative led by the US Census Bureau, accelerated by Hurricane Maria, bringing together technologists, government has seen the population decrease agencies, and communities to rapidly prototype drastically, with over 70% of its digital products using federal open data. college graduates leaving the The PRBTA and IEEE chose three problem island. Is there an antidote for statements for participants to focus on: ‘Building this?

Community and Individual Climate Resilience’, Shirley McPhaul-Castro believes that there is.

‘Helping Communities Access Infrastructure Grant McPhaul-Castro is the Director of CryptoCurious, Funding’, and ‘Enhancing Children’s Resilience to an educational initiative from the Puerto Rico Adversity in Puerto Rico’. As part of the partnership Blockchain Trade Association with TOP, experts from relevant (PRBTA) that aims to bring Web federal agencies will advise 3 technology to the island in an participants in the development of accessible way. their prototypes.

November 11 marks the start “By using data-driven solutions of the Web 3 Hackathon 2.0, directly from the federal held by the PRBTA and Institute government, we would be able For example, of Electrical and Electronics to create solutions that are more NFTs can be Engineers (IEEE) Blockchain valuable, focused, and applicable used to track Initiative, where participants will to us here. With these challenges manufacturing design and develop products to there is ample opportunity to projects, trailers solve pressing issues — all using apply the data sets. The way they and vehicles, and blockchain technology. Puerto are applied is up to the creativity even call records.

Rico’s crypto and blockchain of each team,” commented community has been steadily McPhaul-Castro. growing and is seen by many The Hackathon invites as the island’s golden ticket to professionals of all backgrounds, not just those improving its global position in tech and bringing in tech sectors. They want to see educators, high-paying jobs. artists, marketing experts, and others in addition “Since Hurricane Maria, more than 90% of my to developers. It’s a reminder that blockchain friends have left. The island has become a lonely technology and Web 3 offer opportunities far place,” said McPhaul-Castro in an interview with THE beyond investing in cryptocurrency.

WEEKLY JOURNAL. “We can seize this opportunity to “Crypto and NFTs are only 10% of use cases create high-paying jobs so our artists and engineers that blockchain can solve. Over the past months

Use of blockchain could develop products to solve pressing issues

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In fact,

By using data-driven solutions directly from the federal government, we would be able to create solutions that are more valuable, focused, and applicable to us here.

Shirley McPhaul-Castro, Director of CryptoCurious

we have seen multiple corporations bringing blockchain technology to their organizations,” clarified Christian Meléndez, Blockchain Initiative Coordinator for IEEE. Blockchain technology can be used to solve wideranging issues. For example, NFTs can be used to track manufacturing projects, trailers and vehicles, and even call records. “In the future, NFTs will be used for everything. Call records, SSN, all of the stuff will be attached to an NFT or a technology in the blockchain,” said Melendez.

Winners of the Web 3 Hackathon 2.0 will be featured during Blockchain Week, which will take place from December 5th to10th. They will get the opportunity to present in front of potential investors and other industry experts, giving the projects the visibility they need to continue innovating.

“At the end of the day, what we want is to give Puerto Ricans the possibility to create blockchain solutions to positively influence the island. I really do think that this technology is a way for us to empower ourselves on the island because it is open source, just getting started. It’s a tremendous opportunity for knowledge transfer to happen on the island. I have high hopes that creating these spaces and these events tailored for Puerto Ricans to collaborate,” highlighted McPhaul-Castro.

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Could a rose by any other name, still be a rose?

Naming brands gets more difficult as domain names dwindle

In fact,

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Madison Choudhry, Special to The Weekly Journal

ith the inception of all businesses there lies one simple question; what will be the name?

It may seem innocuous to some, but business owners are finding it more difficult than ever to put a name to their businesses. And the simple answer as to why?

Domain names.

“It’s really hard to find domain names. Every fourletter word, as well as five-letter word, is basically taken,” Jonah Berger, University of Pennsylvania Wharton professor and bestselling author of “Contagious: Why Things Catch On,”said. “So, brands are trying to figure out ways to both differentiate themselves, but also get access to domain names and trademarks and other sorts of things.”

According to Dr. Abhishek Pathak, who researches how sound symbolism impacts consumer perception, a tough situation is made worse by companies that buy up domain names with the sole purpose to charge businesses exorbitant prices if they choose to continue with their desired name.

The situation leaves business owners, especially small business owners, who lack the start-up capital to pay these onerous amounts, to come up with creative solutions. These entrepreneurs, in turn, opt to alter a well-known word and avoid any trademark or domain name issues.

Brands have chosen strategies like spelling words incorrectly (Anthropologie), using fewer vowels (MoDRN) or cutting out vowels entirely (RTFKT).

“Anytime there’s a new way of doing things, there’s often other companies and organizations that jump on the bandwagon,” explained Berger.

The Science Behind It

Brand names — whether they include misspellings, or they’re uppercase, lowercase or without vowels — communicate to buyers about the audience they’re reaching.

Emmett Shine, co-founder of brand agency Gin Lane, explained that “once you get into any world,

Brand names — whether they include misspellings, or they’re uppercase, lowercase or without vowels — communicate to buyers about the audience they’re reaching.

there are hidden languages, which are meant to appeal to a specific audience and not necessarily to another,” “I think a lot of the dropping of letters is just another way to signal that you’re a part of a specific community,” Shine stated.

Research from Dr. Abhishek Pathak has also shown the lack of vowels has an impact on how a brand is perceived.

It’s really hard to find domain names. Every four-letter word, as well as five-letter word, is basically taken.

Jonah Berger, author of “Contagious: “Why Things Catch On”

In a 2022 paper Pathak co-authored, he had consumers evaluate brands of food he had made up that included vowels and ones that did not.

The conclusion was, those without vowels were considered more “rugged” by consumers, which could be positive depending on the direction the company wanted to be seen as, but they were also read as less competent, less sophisticated and less sincere.

In fact, much of Pathak’s research has tied certain attributes of a word, such as the sound, or length of the word, with different consumer associations. When it comes to length, for example, people tend to associate longer names with more luxury brands and shorter names with more basic brands.

In addition, when it comes to vowelless phrases, the age of social media and texting has normalized the shortening of everyday words into acronyms or smaller phrases. “Pls,” for example, has become commonplace for “please,” or “sry” for “sorry.”

Retailers adopting vowelless names, therefore, could be targeting younger audiences that are more familiar with shortened lingo, Pathak explained.

To put it simply, naming a brand is complex. The practical considerations of domain availability are just the surface of a very layered issue.

It’s up to brands to wade through the hidden languages, the special meanings, the unconscious associations, that pervade the world of words, and to choose which factors hold the most weight.

“I think at the end of the day, there’s a lot of OK brands with great names and a lot of great brands with OK names,” Shine continued, “I don’t think Tumblr became Tumblr because they dropped the ‘e.’ I think it was for the service at the time and what it was offering,” Pathak said. “Similarly, I don’t think Spotify became the dominant global streaming platform for music by just adding ‘-ify’ to it.”

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In fact, The swift recovery from the recession left automakers short of parts and vehicles to meet demand. Price skyrocketed, and they’ve scarcely budged since.

Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs More vehicles are gradually becoming available at dealerships

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Tom Krisher – The Associated Press

ETROIT — All summer long, Aleen Hudson kept looking for a new minivan or SUV for her growing passenger shuttle service.

She had a good credit rating and enough cash for a down payment. Yet dealerships in the Detroit area didn’t have any suitable vehicles. Or they’d demand she pay $3,000 to $6,000 above the sticker price.

Months of frustration left her despondent.

“I was depressed,” Hudson said. “I was angry, too.”

A breakthrough arrived in late September, when a dealer called about a 2022 Chrysler Pacifica. At $41,000, it was hardly a bargain. And it wasn’t quite what Hudson wanted. Yet the dealer was asking only slightly above sticker price, and Hudson felt in no position to walk away. She’s back in business with her own van.

It could have been worse. Hudson made her purchase just as the prices of both new and used vehicles have been inching down from their eye-watering record highs and more vehicles are gradually becoming available at dealerships.

Hudson’s van likely would have cost even more a few months ago.

Not that anyone should expect prices to fall anywhere near where they were before the pandemic recession struck in early 2020. The swift recovery from the recession left automakers short of parts and vehicles to meet demand. Price skyrocketed, and they’ve scarcely budged since.

Prices on new and used vehicles remain 30% to 50% above where they were when the pandemic erupted. The average used auto cost nearly $31,000 last month. The average new? $47,000.

With higher prices and loan rates combining to push average monthly payments on a new vehicle above $700, millions of buyers have been priced out of the new-vehicle market and are now confined to used vehicles.

The high prices are yielding substantial profits for most automakers despite sluggish sales. Last week, for example, General Motors reported that its thirdquarter net profit jumped more than 36%, thanks in part to sales of pricey pickup trucks and large SUVs. Still, as Hudson discovered, many vehicles are becoming slightly more affordable. Signs first emerged weeks ago in the 40-million-sales-a-year used market. As demand waned and inventories rose, prices eased from their springtime heights.

CarMax said it sold nearly 15,000 fewer vehicles last quarter than it had a year earlier. The CEO of the used-vehicle company, based in Richmond, Virginia, pointed to inflation, higher borrowing rates and diminished consumer confidence.

A “buyer’s strike” is how Adam Jonas, an auto analyst at Morgan Stanley, characterized the sales drops — a dynamic that typically foretells lower prices. And indeed, the average used vehicle price in September was down 1% from its May peak, according to Edmunds.com.

At AutoNation, the nation’s largest dealership

chain, sales of used vehicles and profit-per-vehicle both dropped last quarter. CEO Mike Manley noted that while the supply of vehicles remains low, used-auto prices are declining.

“Our analysis shows that we are coming off the high values that we saw before,” Manley told analysts Thursday.

Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds cautioned that it will take years for used prices to fall close to their pre-pandemic levels. Since 2020, automakers haven’t been leasing as many cars, thereby choking off one key source of late-model used vehicles.

Similarly, rental companies haven’t been able to buy many new vehicles. So eventually, they are selling fewer autos into the used market. That’s crimped another source of vehicles. And because used cars aren’t sitting long on dealer lots, demand remains strong enough to prop up prices.

When auto prices first soared two years ago, lower-income buyers were elbowed out of the new-vehicle market. Eventually, many of them couldn’t afford even used autos. People with subprime credit scores (620 or below) bought only 5% of new vehicles last month, down from nearly 9% before the pandemic. That indicated that many lower-income households could no longer afford vehicles, said J.D. Power Vice President Tyson Jominy.

Higher borrowing rates have compounded the problem. In January 2020, shortly before the pandemic hit, used-vehicle buyers paid an average of 8.4% annual interest, according to Edmunds.

Monthly payments averaged $412. By last month, the average rate had reached 9.2%. And because prices had risen for over two years, the average payment had jumped to $567.

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/ Wednesday, November8,2,2021 2022 / Wednesday, September

Eduardo Hilera, Hilera, M.P.S. M.P.S. Eduardo

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Homeland Security advisor Emergency Management and Homeland Security Expert

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Make sure they’re reliable and U.S.InHouse of Representatives, volumes.

Effective policies that foster effective and the guardrails that they establish will make go. addition, identify a safe and approximately here. frequently updated.

In addition, pick up aentities basic one-third those theyour U.S. Senate is up for communication between public safety the difference between effective or fractured spot whereofyou caninpark Cash at Hand—Electronic battery-powered radio. both incidents. grabs. What’s going to happen? could probably avoid policies. car. payment platforms, ATMS and Voters on both sides of the aisle want simple If both are avoided, businesses, small and Currently, throughout the country, we see daily banks can go out of service.

Stay Calm—You have done the important work of Medication—If you or your government services. Most citizens, including large, local, national, and international, see stable examples of failed policies. In Puerto Rico, we see Keep enough money on hand to pay for basics getting ready. Now, the most important part is to family makelike sure you have a full myself,take lookmedications, at simple things cleanliness, violent crime occurring against women, homicides cities and states in a country with integrated following the disaster. remain calm, during and after the storm. week’s supply. public safety, social services for those in need, policies throughout. And that is good for in broad daylight, and videos posted online and infrastructure. Places that have these tend to business—full stop. where fights break out in places like “La Placita”,

In fact,

We may be able to predict the results of next week’s election, but what could happen after next week remains to be seen.

11

La verdad te necesita para cambiar realidades.

La verdad no tiene precio.

< The Weekly Journal > Wednesday, November 2, 2022

La verdad es que los celos y el control también son ma rato

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/ Wednesday, November 2, 2022

In fact, Steinbeck believed that the United States was a force for good and fortunate in its ability to correct itself.

John Steinbeck talks to media in the office of his publisher in New York on Oct. 25, 1962. >AP Photo/Anthony Camerano, File

Rare John Steinbeck column probes strength of US democracy He denounced McCarthyism as an attempt to substitute government

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Hillel Italie – The Associated Press

EW YORK — Decades ago, as communists and suspected communists were being blacklisted and debates spread over the future of American democracy, John Steinbeck — a resident of Paris at the time — often found himself asked about the headlines from his native country.

The question he kept hearing: “What about McCarthyism?”

The future Nobel Laureate wrote that the practice embodied by U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin was “simply a new name for something that has existed from the moment when popular government emerged.”

“It is the attempt to substitute government by men for government by law,” Steinbeck continued in a 1954 column for Le Figaro that had rarely been seen until it was reprinted this week in the literary quarterly The Strand Magazine. “We have always had this latent thing. All democracies have it. It cannot be wiped out because, by destroying it, democracy would destroy itself.”

Steinbeck was closely associated with his native California, the setting for all or most of “The Grapes of Wrath,” “Of Mice and Men” and other fiction. But he lived briefly in Paris in the mid-1950s and wrote a series of short pieces for Le Figaro that were

translated into French.

Most of his observations were humorous reflections on his adopted city, but at times he couldn’t help commenting on larger matters.

“Anyone even remotely familiar with Steinbeck’s works knows that he never shied away from taking on controversial topics,” Andrew F. Gulli, managing editor of The Strand, writes in a brief introduction.

The Strand has unearthed obscure works by Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and many others. Gulli calls Steinbeck’s column in the French publication a timely work for current concerns about democracy.

In resisting, we keep our democracy hard and tough and alive, its machinery intact. An organism untested soon goes flabby and weak.

John Steinbeck, Literature Nobel Laurate

“The Grapes of Wrath” was a defining work of the Great Depression. Steinbeck held to an idealistic liberalism that was formed in part in the 1930s by Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal, deepened by the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II and eventually tested by the Vietnam War. He despised both McCarthyism and communism, opposing what he called “any interference with the creative mind” — whether censorship in the U.S. or

the persecution of writers in the Soviet Union.

“He stated in the 1960s that the role of an artist was to critique his country,” says Susan Shillinglaw, who directs the Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University.

Steinbeck believed that the United States was a force for good and fortunate in its ability to correct itself. He advocated a version of tough love hard to defend now, likening democracy to a child who “must be hurt constantly” to endure and regarding McCarthyism as a passing threat that would strengthen the country in the long run.

“In resisting, we keep our democracy hard and tough and alive, its machinery intact. An organism untested soon goes flabby and weak,” he wrote.

McCarthyism was peaking around the time of Steinbeck’s column and McCarthy himself would be censured by his Senate peers within months and dead by 1957. Political historian Julian Zelizer says that Steinbeck was not alone in recognizing the dangers of anti-communist hysteria, while maintaining an “unyielding optimism” that “the constitutional separation of powers and pluralism would keep these forces on the margins.”

Lucan Way, whose books include “Pluralism

by Default: Weak Autocrats and the Rise of Competitive Politics,” tells The Associated Press that “in principle the clear and unambiguous defeat of anti-democratic actors” such as McCarthy might have a positive effect.

But he does not think Steinbeck’s column can be applied to contemporary politics.

“What is going on now is not an example of this phenomenon (the fall of McCarthyism),” Way says.

“Trumpism has not been clearly defeated but has instead helped to normalize anti-democratic behavior that was previously considered out of bounds.”

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Sendak’s “Wild Things” exhibit at art museum in Columbus The exhibit includes his work as a designer for opera, theater, film, and television

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Andrew Welsh Huggins – The Associated Press

OLUMBUS, Ohio — Most people today know artist Maurice Sendak as the creator of children’s book classics such as “Where the Wild Things Are” and “In the Night Kitchen.” A new exhibition of his work looks at that reputation and a less well-known side of his immense output: his work as a designer for opera, theater, film, and television.

“We wanted people to understand that Maurice was actually a serious artist,” said Lynn Caponera, executive director of the Maurice Sendak Foundation in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Though work for operas included Krása’s “Brundibar,” most knew him as an illustrator and picture book Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and “The Goose artist, “they didn’t see beyond the fact that he did a of Cairo,” and Prokofiev’s “The Love for Three lot more than that,” she said.

Oranges.” A video on repeat at the exhibit features “Wild Things are Happening” opened this month the design work Sendak did for a new production at the Columbus Museum of Art and runs through of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker commissioned in 1981 March 5, 2023. It’s the first major retrospective of by the Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Sendak’s work since his 2012 death and the largest Sendak also designed sets and costumes and and most complete to date. wrote the book and lyrics for the musical “Really The exhibit takes its name from a 1990s Rosie” based on his book of the same name, with advertising campaign Sendak did music by Carole King. for Bell Atlantic that featured Wild And then there is “Where The Things characters promoting “a Wild Things Are,” featuring the fast, dependable Internet service.” fantastical nighttime adventures The exhibit features more than of a boy named Max on an island The exhibit 150 sketches, storyboards and of monsters. Since its publication includes rarely paintings of work Sendak did for in 1963, the book has sold more seen “Wild Things” his own books, including “Higglety than 50 million copies and been sketches and Pigglety Pop!,” which he based on translated into 40 languages. completed paintings, the fatal sickness of his beloved The exhibit includes rarely and traces the Sealyham terrier Jennie. The show seen “Wild Things” sketches and book’s history from also displays some of Sendak’s completed paintings, and traces early 1953 drawings most celebrated illustrations of the book’s history from early to its publication. other writers’ work, such as Else 1953 drawings to its publication.

Holmelund Minarik’s “Little Bear” Also on display: costumes from books.

Spike Jonze’s 2009 movie “Where To commemorate Sendak’s the Wild Things Are” based on the affinity for Mickey Mouse — who book. first appeared in 1928, the year Sendak was born Adults troubled by the scary nature of Max’s — the exhibit includes an illustration that TV Guide fantasy “forget that my hero is having the time commissioned in 1978 for Mickey Mouse’s 50th of his life and that he controls the situation with birthday featuring Sendak, also 50, waving at a breezy aplomb,” Sendak said upon accepting the mirror as the cartoon character waves back.

1964 Caldecott Medal for the book.

In the late 1970s, Sendak embarked on a second Sendak was an admirer of many artists and career as a costume and stage designer. His design illustrators, including William Blake, Walt Disney

In fact,

We wanted people to understand that Maurice was actually a serious artist.

Lynn Caponera, executive director Maurice Sendak Foundation

and Beatrix Potter, a devotion that the exhibit tries to get across, said Jonathan Weinberg, an artist and curator of the Maurice Sendak Foundation, which is housed in the home where Sendak worked and lived from 1972 until his death. Most of that time he lived with his partner, psychiatrist Dr. Eugene Glynn.

“Maurice had this unbelievable range,” said Weinberg. “And if he couldn’t do something, if he didn’t have that style at that moment for what was needed, he would figure it out and learn.”

When it came to his work for children, Sendak never preached or tried to instill a stuffy moral, Caponera said. Instead, he understand that, as sometimes happens in real life, children are the brave ones, the ones who triumph and are in control.

“Maurice used to say that a good children’s book is sort of like creating an act of guerilla warfare,” Caponera said. “You put things in there that the kids see, and the kids get, and then the kids have to sort of explain to the parents, ‘Oh, no, this isn’t scary.’”

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Mexican artisans preserve Day of the Dead decorations The centenary art defies increasingly popular massproduction techniques

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Fernanda Pesce – The Associated Press

OCHIMILCO, Mexico — Mexican artisans are struggling to preserve the traditional manufacture of paper cut-out decorations long used in altars for the Day of the Dead.

Defying increasingly popular mass-production techniques, second-generation paper cutter Yuridia Torres Alfaro, 49, still makes her own stencils at her family’s workshop in Xochimilco, on the rural southern edge of Mexico City.

As she has since she was a child, Torres Alfaro punched stunningly sharp chisels into thick piles of tissue paper at her business, ‘Papel Picado Xochimilco.’

While others use longer-lasting plastic sheets, laser cutters or pre-made stencils, Torres Alfaro does each step by hand, as Mexican specialists have been doing for 200 years.

In 1988, her father, a retired schoolteacher, got a big order for sheets — which usually depict festive skeletons, skulls, grim reapers or Catrinas — to decorate city government offices.

“The business was born 34 years ago, we were very little then, and we started helping in getting the work done,” Torres Alfaro recalled.

Begun in the 1800s, experts say ‘papel picado’ using tissue paper is probably a continuation of a far older pre-Hispanic tradition of painting ceremonial figures on paper made of fig-bark sheets. Mexican artisans adopted imported tissue paper because it was cheap and thin enough so that, with sharp tools, extreme care and a lot of skill, dozens of sheets can be cut at the same time.

But the most important part is the stencil: its design designates the parts to be cut out, leaving an intricate, airy web of paper that is sometimes strung from buildings or across streets. More commonly, it is hung above Day of the Dead altars that Mexican families use to commemorate — and commune with — deceased relatives.

The holiday begins Oct. 31, remembering those who died in accidents; it continues Nov. 1 to mark those died in childhood, and then those who died as adults on Nov. 2.

Traditionally, the bright colors of the paper had different meanings: Orange signified mourning, blue was for those who drowned, yellow was for the elderly deceased and green for those who died young.

But many Mexicans — who also use the decorations at other times of year, stringing them at roof-height along streets — now prefer to buy plastic, which lasts longer in the sun and the rain.

Still other producers have tried to use massproduced stencils, which means that tens of thousands of sheets might bear exactly the same

design.

“Stencils began to appear for making papel picado, because it is a lot of work if you have to supply a lot of people,” said Torres Alfaro, who still hand-cuts her own stencils with original designs.

“We wanted to keep doing it the traditional way, because it allows us to make small, personalized lots, and keep creating a new design every day,” she says.

Another rival was the U.S. holiday Halloween, which roughly coincides with Day of the Dead, Because it is flashier and more marketable — costumes, movies, parties and candy — it has gained popularity in Mexico.

“For some time now, there has been a bit more Halloween,” said Torres Alfaro. “We do more traditional Mexican things. That is part of the work, to put Mexican things in papel picado. If we do Halloween things, it’s only on order” from customers.

Still others have tried to use 21st-century technology, employing computer-generated designs and laser cutters.

But Torres Alfaro says that concentrating so much on the cutting leaves out the most important part: the delicate webs of paper left behind.

“There are some laser machines that are gaining popularity, but we have checked them and the costs are the same, the machines still cut hole-byhole and they can’t cut that many sheets,” she said.

“The (ready-made) stencils and the laser machine have their downsides,” she said. “Papel picado is based on what can be cut, and what can’t, and that is the magic of papel picado.”

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/ Wednesday, November 2, 2022

The Lighthouse Gallery breaks the limits of physical art Digital canvases make gallery walls infinite

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Juan A. Hernández, The Weekly Journal

an you imagine walking into a gallery today to enjoy an art exhibit from a renowned French artist? And then, walking into the same gallery tomorrow morning for an exhibit from an Ukrainian artist, and a Mexican artist in the

afternoon?

For the gallery owner it would be nightmare in logistics alone. But not for Crystal Rose Pierce, owner of the Lighthouse Gallery, Puerto Rico and the world’s first NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) gallery.

“Digital artworks can be displayed in tens, or thousands in one evening. Because there are no limitations in terms of wall space, we are able to show many pieces on one wall in our digital canvases. So, we can show a different artist every day, or every hour and be very flexible with our exhibits,” Pierced said.

The gallery owner pointed out that, because digital artwork is stored in a ledger within a blockchain, there are a lot of advantages to this kind of art. Were as in the case of physical art there are all sorts of previsions to be taken to guarantee its ownership, authenticity and safety, among other conditions.

“For digital art, all these live in a blockchain, or a digital ledger, and that really transforms the way we move authentic pieces around and store them securely,” said Pierce.

But What Is NFT Art?

An NFT is a digital file that may contain a type of art form and information about it that would establish its provenance, ownership, price or cost.

The NFT also includes a history of sales and buyers and, depending on the contract under which it is acquired, it could forward the author royalties for each future sale. Thus, the NFT could can make it easier to detect forgeries by establishing the origins of an art piece and potentially eliminate the market for forgeries.

“The NFT market is shortening the gap between the artist/creator and the buyer or collector and

Gallery owner Crystal Rose Pierce in front of NFT by Sneaker Punks.

The NFT market is shortening the gap between the artist/ creator and the buyer or collector and making it possible for artists to get much more money for their creations.

Crystal Rose Pierce, owner of Lighthouse Gallery

making it possible for artists to get much more money out of their creations,” said Pierce. “The owner/collector [of an NFT] can get all sorts of rights but the main thing here is that he/she gets the right to resell it… and the artist will still get a royalty each time it gets sold.”

According to Pierce, artists in Puerto Rico are very innovative and many have already approached the gallery. “Either they are already making NFTs, or they are merging into it turning their physical into NFTs,” she assured.

Pierce said the Lighthouse Gallery is currently accepting transactions in crypto-currency, and while art pieces are listed in Ethereum, the gallery is “platform agnostic,” meaning payment is accepted in any form of crypto-currency, and credit cards.

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