Spanglish: Sweet Persuasión

One of our favorite Spanglish articles by Eric Cortes.

Eric Cortes encourages us to explorar nuestra ciudad.

Sometimes I feel as though la gente doesn’t take advantage of las cosas around them. Sure, you live in a ciudad muy grande, pero yo creo que that is reason you’re here; it’s to take advantage of the cool stuff. Con cuatro millón de personas residing in the five-county region, no wonder these cool things and gente make Philadelphia the second-largest city on the East Coast y tambien sixth-largest in the U.S. And as if that wasn’t enough, it’s also the second largest Hispanic market in the northeast. Mas gente. Mas cosas para disfrutar. It’s that simple.

I remember one of the main reasons coming to Philadelphia to pursue my degree in journalism at Temple University was to vivir in a ciudad que ofrece cosas turísticas. Cosas como la campaña de libertad, Eastern State Penitentiary, el museo de arte and so on. I have already lived in Philadelphia for the past siete años and to this day there is just so much to do. And come on, who doesn’t enjoy tomando una cerveza viendo los Phillies, Eagles, Sixers, Flyers y por primera vez una liga del MLS…el Union.

One thing for sure I know I love to do is eat. Y como cada Latino en el mundo, necesitamos comer our grandmother’s cooking porque si no, she’ll yell at us. Those who think ‘cheesesteak’ when thinking Philly food should probably look afuera porque los restaurantes por alrededor de la ciudad son muy deliciosos. Philadelphia — long known for American history, passionate sports fans and, yes, cheesesteaks — continues to emerge as one of the country’s finest culinary destinations. Chefs like Jose Garces, Douglas Rodriguez y Guillermo Tellez ofrecen comidas autenticas similar to nuestros países like Cuban, Mexican and Puerto Rican.

Y donde crees los Geeks hispanos le gustan to hang out? Have to give it up to the Piazza; it’s really the place to be now. Located in Northern Liberties, The Piazza at Schmidt’s is a beautifully landscaped, 80,000-square-foot, open-air plaza bustling all year long thanks to a full schedule of festivales, conciertos, dance performances and live broadcasts of nuestros equipos de deportes. What’s more, the boasts eight galleries, 19 boutiques and nine restaurants. Go see for yourself; cuando entras al Piazza van a ver toda la gente checking in to get especiales de Foursquare.

Y con la tecnologÍa at our fingertips, it should be muy facil to learn about these events and happenings en nuestra ciudad. Spreading the good palabra about Latino Philadelphia over Twitter you have @PhillyTeAma (yours truly) @AfroTainoProd, @TierraNightClub, @RaicesCultural y muchas mas Twitteros (Twitter users) who love Philadelphia. According to a recent study, Hispanic use social media more than non-Hispanic-whites. Y la razón es muy simple, los Latinos en los estados unidos son más jóvenes. As the next generación of Latinos continue to grow in los estados unidos, we are making a huge impact in social media.

La información si está disponible, pero es el trabajo de nosotros para salir en la calle con amigos y familia. Remember, it’s your own backyard and you live here so why not impress your familia with your Philly knowledge and things to do. Sure, your mama, hermano, primos, abuelita and tios could stay with you at your casa, but I’m pretty sure they’ll be more comfortable spending the night (or two) in a cozy hotel. Believe me, there are many here in la ciudad.

Y recuerda, Philly Te Ama.