Angry???

It’s been a week and a few days since the election. My mental stability is better so I feel a little more capable of writing something that won’t offend most people. I admit I still have bouts of craziness and anger over what happened in our country. My soul keeps telling me that it is a golden opportunity for La Raza. My gut is still tied up in “I want to kick somebody’s ass” knots.

It is obvious that Latino voters did put up a firewall in California, Nevada and Colorado, that saved the Democratic Party from losing the Senate. Political pundits took note! Everyone on both sides is trying to figure out the strategy to get our vote for 2012. As far as I am concerned, at least in Nevada, Sen. Reid never changed his story. That was the magic. He supported the Dream Act, was against SB 1070 and for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. That was his platform from the beginning and he never wavered. Governor elects Jerry Brown personally thanked Latino voters for his victory. He knew that they had helped him immeasurably. I am reading that The Republican Party is considering their new Latino pinups Mark Rubio and Susana Martinez as Vice Presidential Candidates. I love the strategy! Supposedly we (Latinos) are so stupid that we would vote for a Latino just because they are Latino. Same strategy that Mc Cain used with Palin. Women will vote for her because she is a woman. It proved to be a bad plan.

Day of the Dead , Day of Remembrance

“Only in passing are we here on earth”
Ancient Nahuatl Poetry

A friend brought me a pot of beautiful orange marigolds about a week ago. He knows they are a favorite of mine and it was a thoughtful gift. Their smell filled my kitchen and filled me of remembrances of “Flor de Muerto” and my grandmother. Their name in Nahuatl is zempasuchil and has been associated with honoring the dead in Mexico for at least 5,000 years or longer. My grandmother said the smell helps the dead souls find their way home. When I smell them it takes me home to my grandmothers’ house in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico.

Thought for the Day on Voting: Snooze and We All Lose !

“Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand" -Bodie Thoene

Only a few weeks before the election and I have never felt so dismayed and frustrated by the political arena. I take that back, I was pretty dismayed in 1980 when Ronald Regan won the presidential election. I had been drowning my sorrows in a liberal amount of Jose Cuervo during the evening. After hearing the “landslide” results I went in my bedroom and donned a beret and came back to the party and announced I was “going underground” and promptly passed out.

Grito de Dolores- Happy 200th

Happy 200 years of Independence to Mexico. Tonight the President of Mexico stands on the balcony of the National Palace and reenacts the Grito de Dolores and rings the Bell of Independence like Father Hidalgo did 200 years ago. The Viva’s go on for a long time. When I was 7 years old I experienced this on top of my fathers shoulders crushed in a sea of people filling the Zocalo in Mexico City, shouting in unison in a response to the President. I really didn’t understand what was going on but the vibration was so intense I remember crying.

No one is sure what Hidalgo said in his Grito. There were several eyewitnesses and everyone relates the story a little differently. More than likely he just said “Viva La Virgen de Guadalupe y Viva La Independencia.” Things were getting hot and heavy and the authorities had been alerted that he was starting an uprising. More than likely he was on the run. Father Hidalgo believed in the abolition of slavery and wanted freedom for Indians, mestizos and criollos. I think that it is interesting these ideas of independence started in the Literary Club of Queretaro. Reading books can be dangerous!

The Mexican fight for Independence was a long process that involved many heroes, many interesting villains and a long period of fighting. If you aren’t familiar with this story I would suggest becoming acquainted with it. It is part of our cultural heritage and has relevancy even today. The Heroes of the Independence movement in Mexico were concerned with European domination of the Americas. So many similarities to our own story of Independence in the United States.

What is your Grito today?

We Done Did It ! The mangled words of Jan Brewer

“So much attention is paid to the aggressive sins, such as violence and cruelty and greed with all their tragic effects, that too little attention is paid to the passive sins, such as apathy and laziness, which in the long run can have a more devastating effect.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

Oh yes, it has been very quiet at True Mexican these days. We have been licking a few wounds, taking some well deserved R and R and been plotting new and interesting strategies to keep you informed, stimulated and politically active.