"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
Thomas Paine

Letters to the Editor

The National Trust is preparing its 25th annual list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, and we need your help. Over the last quarter century, this list has emerged as a powerful tool to save some of our nation’s most important—and threatened—historic places. From New York’s Ellis Island National Monument to Los Caminos del Rio Heritage Corridor in Texas to the Native American traditional cultural properties throughout the Southwest, this list has helped save places that reflect the full richness and diversity of the American story.  

And as you well know, the National Trust hasn’t done this alone. Throughout the years, we have relied on our extensive network of partners, affiliates and other friends to keep our ear to the ground and make sure the list includes the most important threatened places from all across the country. We need your help again now to make sure that the 25^th anniversary list holds to that high standard and galvanizes support for the threatened place in your community.  

This year, we’ve streamlined the application process, making it easier than ever to submit your threatened place for nomination to the list. All materials are due by February 17^th, so please act soon to make sure your application makes it to us in time.  

Applications can be found at www.PreservationNation.org/11Most  

Thank you in advance.

Tanya Bowers | Director for Diversity, Office of the President
National Trust for Historic Preservation | 1785 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC  20036
Phone: 202-588-6245 | Fax: 202-588-6082| Mobile: 202-320-9902| Email: tanya_bowers@nthp.org | www.PreservationNation.org

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is helping to save diverse historic places and communities.  Become our newest member today!  Learn more at www.PreservationNation.org.

Mexican American Luminary


Texas lawyer Alonso S. Perales (1898-1960)
Courtesy photos: Univ of Houston Digital Library

CIVIL RIGHTS;  UH conference takes look at lawyer's legacy
By Elaine Ayala, Staff writer, The Houston Chronicle, January 13, 2012

 Until the personal archives of Alonso S. Perales were turned over to the University of Houston in 2009, little was known about the life of an early Mexican-American civil rights attorney and his career as a civil servant, writer and envoy in the 1920s and '30s.

A conference and exhibition Friday will begin to fill in the historical gaps about a major figure in Mexican-American history. "In Defense of My People: Alonso S. Perales and the Development of Mexican-American Public Intellectuals" begins at 9 a.m. in UH's M.D. Anderson Library.

"He is one of the great political leaders in Mexican-American Chicano history," said Mario García, a professor of Chicano studies and history at the University of California-Santa Barbara, who'll present one of several papers.

Born in 1898, Perales was orphaned and worked as a child in South Texas fields.

The World War I veteran graduated from George Washington University's law school in 1926, making him one of the earliest Mexican-American attorneys to practice law in Texas. He worked in the State Department and established a law office in San Antonio.

He helped found the League of United Latin American Citizens. He also served in the Eisenhower administration.

Throughout his life, he both defended and challenged mi raza, as he often wrote, daughter Martha Perales Carrizales said.

"The burning desire that drove my dad was to help his people make educational progress, economic progress, political progress and social progress."

Conference organizers said Perales battled charges that Mexicans were an inferior people and a social problem. In the 1930s, he testified before a congressional hearing on Mexican immigration.

                                                                I


In the '40s, he worked to introduce a bill in the Texas Legislature.

Despite his impact, Perales' archives "remained uncataloged, unprocessed and unavailable for 50 years," stored in a family garage, said UH professor Michael Olivas, who'll edit a book on Perales.

García said little is known about Perales because Chicano scholarship "marginalized" him.

"He was seen as part of the old guard, as conservatives who didn't do much," Garcia said. "But, of course, that's not true. It's not true at all."

Alonso S. Perales and his wife, Marta, walk on Houston Street downtown in the 1940s.

Elaine Ayala  eayala@express-news.net  

 I am sharing materials on Texas lawyer Alonso S. Perales (1898-1960), whose papers we have archived at UH and whose life we were examining in the papers produced for the January 13, 2012 conference at UH. I will be editing the book which will include the conference papers. We will also be re-printing his own books, which have been out of print and unavailable. The first drafts can be accessed at: 
http://www.latinoteca.com/recovery/grants-conferences/conferences/conference-on-texas-lawyer-alonso-perales-1898-1960  

Various ASP photos from the exhibit are at:
http://info.lib.uh.edu/about/campus-libraries-collections/special-collections/library-exhibits/defense-my-people-alonso-s-p . 

Several persons, including his kids, prepared videos for the conference. They are at: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf49nKtrECg&feature=youtube . (The various speakers are on the right hand column.)
Sent by Roberto Calderon, beta@unt.edu  
Source: Michael A. Olivas  MOlivas@uh.edu

The United States of Lincoln and Juárez

By:  José Antonio López             

A moment in time, 1982 Becas Para Aztlan scholarships
Historia Chicana, 10 January 2012

HISPANICS BREAKING BARRIERS

Second Volume 

 6^thissue

By Mercy Bautista-Olvera

The 6^th issue in the series “Hispanics Breaking Barriers” focuses on contributions  of Hispanic leadership in United States government. Their contributions have improved not only the local community but the country as well. Their struggles, stories, and accomplishments will by example; illustrate to our youth and to future generations that everything and anything is possible.  

Judge Diana Saldaña:  Judge for United States District Court, Southern District of Texas

Judge Edgardo Ramos: Judge for United States District Court, Southern District, New York  

J. Walter Tejada:   Arlington County Board Member  

Irene Bustamante-Adams:  Nevada Assemblywoman, 42nd District, Carson City , Nevada

José Miguel Amaya:  Member, White House Commission on Presidential Scholars

Judge Diana Saldaña  

Judge Edgardo Ramos

J. Walter Tejada

Irene Bustamante-Adams

Irene Bustamante-Adams is serving as Nevada’s Assemblywoman for the 42^nd District in Carson City, Nevada. She is replacing term-limited Assembly member Harry Mortenson.

Irene Bustamante-Adams is the second of five children born in Hanford, California, and raised in Kerman, California. Daughter of Juan Angel Bustamante and Mary Lechuga-Bustamante. Her father emigrated from Mexico to United States in the early 1960’s. Her mother originally from New Mexico. The family worked as migrant workers.  At the age of 7 Bustamante-Adams and her family worked in the California fields. She was raised in the farming community of Kerman, California. She is married to Army Sergeant Brad Adams. The couple have two daughters; Olivia and Alaina.  

While she attended Fresno State College in California it led her to a mentor, former Fresno State Bulldogs football coach Jim Sweeney. He hired Bustamante- Adams as a statistician and made her the first recipient of a scholarship named after his late wife, Lucille Sweeney. The job paid for college, and took her behind the scenes of a college football program, and an experience she says was thrilling and made her a lifelong fan.    

Bustamante-Adams earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management in Fresno State College in California .  She also worked as a Student Assistant for the football team. She earned the Executive Master of Business Administration Program at the University of Nevada , Las Vegas . She is also the first Latina to graduate from the EMBA program at University of Nevada at Las Vegas.   

Bustamante-Adams is active in the community on a local and national level; she serves on the boards and councils of several organizations including the Latin Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Minority Contractors, and Organizations of Chinese Americans.  

Bustamante-Adams is the recipient of many prestigious awards including the “Señoras of Excellence;”, “Community Service Award” by the Latin Chamber of Commerce; “Community Relations Specialist of the Year” by the Nevada Minority Business Council; and the “Rising Star Award” by the National Association of Women Business Owners Southern Nevada Chapter.  

Although her parents hadn't finished high school, they encouraged Bustamante- Adams and her siblings to work hard in school and take advantage of academic programs available to the children of migrant workers. All five of the Bustamante’s children attended college and three achieved master’s degrees.  

 

Addy M. Villanueva

A Wise Latina

Nominated by Joe Sanchez  
 Written By  
Mercy Bautista-Olvera

        Addy M. Villanueva

So, with all this growth in our community, what’s happening with the Latino nonprofit sector? A recent Foundation Center report commissioned by Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) shows that Latino nonprofits receive only 1 percent of foundation funding. As Ford Foundation President Luis Ubiñas explained, that’s just one penny for every dollar.

Can you imagine how the United States would change if Latinos were funded at a level commensurate with our talent, ideas, and opportunities?

That is exactly what HIP aims to do. If you haven’t heard of us, HIP is a network of more than 600 funders in the U.S. and Latin America who collaborate to increase philanthropic investments in Latino communities, to increase the participation of Latinos in philanthropy, and to foster policy change to enhance equity and inclusiveness. Headquartered in San Francisco, we have made grants in 18 sites in the U.S. and Latin America, helping to strengthen more than 550 Latino nonprofits. We work on the issues that most impact Latinos: from aging to education to LGBT movement building. Since 1983, HIP has raised more than $40 million to invest in Latino communities.

But we have a long way to go.

Despite Latinos’ demographic growth, we are vastly underserved by the nonprofit sector, with only 1 organization for every 4,800 Latinos, compared to 1 organization for every 200 Americans in the overall nonprofit sector. As you bring in the New Year, I encourage you to invest in your community and to help us create a more equitable reality. Join over 53 percent of Latino households who give to charitable organizations and, in this season of giving, BE HIP. GIVE.

I hope you’ll join us in building the strong families and communities that we Latinos deserve.

As the president of Hispanics in Philanthropy for the last twenty years, Diana Campoamor’s vision has been to connect grassroots organizations with philanthropy and to foster the next generation of Latino leaders. Under her leadership, HIP has invested over $30 million in small Latino nonprofits and leaders in the U.S. and Latin America. Campoamor has served as a trustee of the Council on Foundations, Independent Sector, the Inter University Project for Latino Research, BRAVA for Women in the Arts and Horizons Foundation. She is currently on the Board of International Planned Parenthood for Latin America. Find out more about Hispanics in Philanthropy at HIPOnline.org.

Source; NewsTaco.com  December 30, 2012

Congressional  Reform Act of 2011

Lopez:  The War on the Poor

By José Antonio López 

Tapia is a founding member of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, SACNAS, for which he once served as vice-president.  He is also active in the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and the American Mathematical Society (AMS).  He has lent his support to the Conference for African American Researchers in the Mathematical Sciences (CAARMS) since its inception, hosting it at Rice in 1998 and again in 2009. The CAARMS meetings provide a forum where minority researchers in the mathematical sciences can meet one another and learn of progress made in related fields of mathematics. These meetings also serve as a place to mentor minority graduate students as well as support their retention to the doctoral degree.

Tapia’s former students are found employed across the world and many have established themselves as leaders in their fields. Among U.S. university faculties, they are found in faculties at the University of Colorado, Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University, Rice University, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and the University of Texas-El Paso.  Other students filled positions abroad, e.g.,Morocco; Colombia; Egypt; Venezuela, and Mexico.  Among those former students employed by the corporate and government sectors, the institutions include Sandia National Laboratories; Silicon Graphics, and Exxon-Mobil, 

Sent by Rafael Ojeda rsnojeda@aol.com

PATCH: 

Your source for local knowledge 
you can't live without.

Editor: The green indicates the states that are already included in this resource.  Very easy maneuvering.  Go to the state, then the city.  Not all cities are included.  Also, the selections are  not limited to Hispanic issues and interest.  

http://www.patch.com/

NEWS TIDBITS

Cities hire Chinese instead of American workers for building projects.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/us-bridges-roads-built-
chinese-firms-14594513?tab=9482930?ion=1206853&
playlist=14594944  

Your News Source for 30 Years

WITNESS TO HERITAGE

*Mexican Parents in Barrio Write Letter to the Westminster Board of Education

© Copyright Albert V Vela, PhD

January 06, 2012

*At the turn of the twentieth century, Anglo Americans referred to themselves as “Americans,”

“Whites,” and “Anglo Saxons.” Mexican Americans called themselves “Mexicans” and/or “Mexican Americans.”

LETTER TO THE WESTMINSTER, CA  SCHOOL DISTRICT, SEPTEMBER 8, 1944

Minutes of Westminster Elementary School Board of Trustees, Sept 19, 1944

The parents make a final appeal to the Trustees when they point out that their American born children “are soldiers in the war” [World War II]. In fighting the Nazis, their sons were shedding their blood in foreign soils to protect the interests of the American way of life, its values and ideals. At the end of the letter they write that it does not appear fair nor just that our children should be segregated as a class.” One can feel the hardships they’ve endured because of the discriminatory practices of White society, a pain they wish to protect their children from.  

In the Board minutes, the Trustees seem apologetic about fact of segregation explaining, “the system of segregation was inherited by them and they had considered the problem before that date.” Furthermore, they imply that their hands are tied from doing anything because the “crowded conditions in both school plants prohibits an immediate solution.” It’s proper to ask why the Trustees failed to consider a plan to integrate the Hoover School with Anglo students, and the Westminster Main School with Mexican students.  

At the meeting, the Trustees recognized “Representatives of the Hoover school Mexican colony were present and accompanied by Mssrs. Barrios, Vega [sic, Hector Tarango], and Diago [sic, Veiga], of the Latin Americans Voters Counsel [sic, Council].” In fact, the title of the organization was Latin-American Voters League.  

By way of interpretation of the above  (minutes of September 19^th), two groups appeared before the Trustees to represent the interests of the Mexican school children. The first were representatives of the Mexican parents whose children were attending the all Mexican Hoover School located in the middle of the colonia as the segregated Mexican neighborhood was called.  

The second group were middle class Mexican gentlemen from the nearby Santa Ana colonias. They had organized themselves into the Latin American Voters League to combat school segregation in Santa Ana. Mr Barrios was a highly respected owner of a grocery store in the Santanita colonia (in Santa Ana). Mexicans from throughout Orange County were his customers. Hector Tarango, also from Santa Ana, operated a funeral home and was a well-known photographer.  

In the letter the Mexican parents use the words “descent” and “extraction.” These are terms related to ethnicity, not to race. By way of explanation, before the 1940s Mexicans were legally considered members of the so-called White race. The parents also point out that they believed their children were segregated as a “class.” David Marcus filed the lawsuit on behalf the five Mexican plaintiff families and their children. But the suit was also on behalf of “some 5,000 other persons of Mexican or Latin descent.” Hence the petition, filed in federal court, is classified as a class action lawsuit. All the children were citizens and resided in the defendant elementary school districts of Westminster, Garden Grove, El Modena, and Santa Ana.  

The letter is obviously conceived and written by the Mexican parents. And based on our analysis of it and the concepts Marcus employed in the court case, the letter reflects his guidance. Gonzalo Méndez, Sr. had obtained the services of Atty Marcus shortly after his sister Soledad Vidaurri’s encounter of 1944 when she tried to register Alice, Virginia and Edward Vidaurri, and the Méndez’ children at the Anglo Westminster Main School.  

Attorney David C Marcus ca. 1945/46


Philippa Strum does a superlative job of unearthing Marcus’ biographical data for, Méndez v. Westminster (2010). From another source (www.praxisin schools.com/docs/HistoryintheMaking-Journal2010(final3).pdf), we learn that Marcus had won a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Mexican Americans in San Bernardino just prior to Méndez. In the San Bernardino case, López v. Seccombe, on February 5, 1944 Judge Yanckwich ruled for the Mexican plaintiffs and against Mayor W.C. Seccombe and the city fathers. Marcus successfully applied the concepts of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution.  

According to the Alpha Delta Nu honor society at the California State University, San Bernardino, the author of “History in the Making,” López v. Seccombe figured prominently in Judge Paul McCormick’s decision involving Méndez. In a similar manner López also had a big impact on Circuit Court Judge Denham, California Governor / US Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, and the future Thurgood Marshall.  

Acknowledgements. The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance and encouragement of colonia friends: Alice Vidaurri Anaya, Gonzalo Méndez Jr, Frank Mendoza, Robert Castillo, Ricardo Valverde, Socorro Pérez Puebla, Angie Quezada Hartzler, Isabel Vela [proof reader], Jim Harrington II, Louis Holguín, María González Girard, Enrique “Kiki” Zúñiga. . .  

Ignacio López, publisher of the Spanish language newspaper (1933-1961), El Espectador, figures prominently in the San Bernardino historic case. Through his weekly newspaper he sought to enlighten his Mexican reading public about issues that affected them deeply: civil rights, the importance of voting, housing, school desegregation, and police brutality. El Espectador covered the Inland Empire Mexican colonias of the Riverside and San Bernardino counties in Southern California. These counties are an hour’s driving distance from Orange County.  

Ignacio López, Publisher of El Espectador ca. 1944  

by Bill Bigelow

Published on Thursday, December 29, 2011 by Rethinking Schools Blog  
Sent by Juan Marinez   marinezj@anr.msu.ed

You may have seen that an administrative law judge in Arizona, Lewis Kowal, just upheld the decree by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction that Tucson’s Mexican American Studies program violates state law. Judge Kowal found that the Tucson program was teaching Latino history and culture “in a biased, political, and emotionally charged manner.” According to CNN, one lesson that the judge objected to taught that the historic treatment of Mexican Americans was “marked by the use of force, fraud and exploitation.”

Try this “history detective” experiment. Ask the next person you encounter to tell you what they know about the U.S. war with Mexico. More than likely, this will be a short conversation, because that war (1846-48) merits barely a footnote in U.S. history textbooks. The most recent textbook I was assigned when I taught high school history in Portland, Ore. wasAmerican Odyssey. In 250 pages devoted to pre-20^th century U.S. history, the book includes exactly two paragraphs on this war. (The district’s new adoption, History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals, doubles the coverage to a whopping four paragraphs.)

And yet this is the war that “gave”—in the words of American Odyssey—California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Colorado to the United States of America. And the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, formally ending the war, ratified the annexation of Texas, which had broken away from Mexico largely because of Mexico’s policies against slavery.

Most Mexicans know that the war against Mexico was another chapter in U.S. imperialism—a “North American invasion,” as it’s commemorated in a huge memorial in Mexico City’s Chapultepec Park. But don’t take Mexicans’ word for it. Here’s what Col. Ethan Allan Hitchcock, aide to the commander of U.S. forces Gen. Zachary Taylor, wrote at the time in his journal about the war’s origins: “I have said from the first that the United States are the aggressors. … We have not one particle of right to be here … It looks as if the government sent a small force on purpose to bring on a war, so as to have a pretext for taking California and as much of this country as it chooses.”

Exactly. President James K. Polk, himself a slave-owner, had ordered U.S. troops into an area claimed by Mexico and inhabited by Mexicans and waited for them to be attacked. And when they were, Polk claimed aggression and the U.S. had its war. The invading U.S. Army actually called itself the Army of Occupation.

The abolition movement regarded the war as a land grab to expand slavery. The great abolitionist Frederick Douglass denounced the Mexican invasion as “a murderous war—as a war against the free states—as a war against freedom, against the Negro, and against the interests of workingmen of this country—and as a means of extending that great evil and damning curse, negro slavery.” Henry David Thoreau coined the term “civil disobedience” in defense of his position that people should not pay taxes to support the war against Mexico. Thoreau argued that a minority can act against an unjust system only when it “clogs by its whole weight.”

Students enrolled in Tucson’s Mexican American Studies program would likely have known this history, because, after all, this is the story of how people living in Tucson no longer live in Mexico. But according to Judge Kowal, the program violates state law. That law bans curriculum that might “promote resentment toward a race or class of people.” And, as mentioned, Kowal complained that the material in Mexican American Studies was presented in “an emotionally charged manner…”

I have not seen the full Mexican American Studies curriculum, although I know it includes important texts like Rodolfo Acuña’s classic Occupied America and Paulo Freire’s A Pedagogy of the Oppressed—a book studied in every teacher education program worthy of the name. But I’m wondering how one can teach about the history of the U.S. relationship with Mexico in a manner that is not “emotionally charged.” You want to talk about “bias”? What about the bias of a textbook that can “cover” a war like that waged against Mexico in two paragraphs, or four paragraphs, and fail to so much as quote a Mexican, an abolitionist, a soldier, a woman, an African American, or a Native American—or fail to describe the death or injury of a single human being? What about the bias of a textbook or an entire curriculum that can discuss invasion and war in a manner that is not “emotionally charged”?

Here’s a U.S. infantry lieutenant who wrote his parents after a U.S. officer named Walker was killed in battle, quoted in Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States: “Gen. Lane … told us to ‘avenge the death of the gallant Walker’ … Grog shops were broken open first and then, maddened with liquor, every species of outrage was committed. Old women and girls were stripped of their clothing—many suffered still greater outrages. Men were shot by dozens … their property, churches, stores, and dwelling houses ransacked … It made me for the first time ashamed of my country.” In his memoirs, Ulysses S. Grant wrote that this was “one of the most unjust [wars] ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation …”

The problem with the school curriculum in this country is that it is not emotionally charged enough. Poverty rates are skyrocketing—especially for children of color. People are losing their homes because of the criminal behavior of huge financial institutions—and race has a lot to do with who profits and who suffers. This country’s military is still being sent to invade and occupy—and murder people with silent, invisible drones. The rich and powerful poison our atmosphere, our water, our food, and our children. So, yes, let’s have a curriculum that gets emotional—and that tells a fuller truth than is offered in our textbooks. And let’s stand in solidarity with the teachers and students in Tucson who are demanding to teach and learn about things that matter.

© 2011 Rethinking Schools

The Spanish Element in Our Nationality 
Walt Whitman (1819–1892).  
Prose Works. 1892.

ERASING HISTORIC REALITY
PERSISTENCE OF THE BLACK LEGEND

The Other Side Uncovered by Wanda Garcia
ABC Protest Continues: Puerto Ricans Demand Apology, Want New Programming

HONORING HISPANIC LEADERSHIP

National Issues

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/features-the-religion-world/2011/12/22/defense-department-agrees-to-allow-
muslim-cadets-to-wear-hijabs/

The black spots on the top left corner of the third map is where the Prudhoe Bay pipeline is located. 
On the same map, the pale purple words above the green area, point to previously developed sites.
Sent by Eddie Grijalva grijalvaet@sbcglobal.net 

Want To Support Latinos In The Media? Turn Off Your TV  

By Julia Ahumada Grob and Jazmin Chavez, Latino Rebels 
January 13, 2012 

The 2010 Census revealed that with over 50 million Latinos in the United States, 1 out of every 6 people are of Hispanic or Latino origin; that same year, the National Latino Media Council (NLMC) issued their annual diversity report card, citing a decline in Latino diversity at every major network. Yet these same networks feel entitled to capture our attention for 4-6 hours a day.

Without Latino producers and writers calling the shots, we continue to experience an over saturation of drug dealers, gardeners, maids, prostitutes, and gang members on our TVs.  

Source: NewsTaco.com   Editor: Sara Calderon  tips@newstaco.com 

The Ventura county Star said the 20-foot fishing boat was coming ashore in a remote area of southern Ventura County when it was spotted by Department of Homeland Security agents just before 3 a.m. Wednesday.  Ten people, all believed to be illegal immigrants from Mexico were arrested. 

HEALTH ISSUES 

Medicinal Plants of the Borderlands: A Bilingual Resource Guide is the result of more than 40 years of study and fieldwork.  In the mid-60s, Dr. Antonio "Tony" Zavaleta initiated his interest in border folklore including native healing and medicinal plants.  He has spent a life time learning from a diverse number of native Mexican folk healers known as curandero/a(s) many of whom accepted him for study spanning decades.

Zavaleta studied Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin completing a doctoral degree in 1976 and has spent the past 35 years as a faculty member and administrator at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College.  In 2009 his collected body of research in support of Mexican nationals living abroad Mexicanos en el extranjero, earned him Mexico's prestigious Ohtli award.   

 The Ohtli is regarded as the pinnacle of community-minded prizes which the Republic of Mexico bestows to persons who contribute towards the overall betterment of their respective surroundings.

In the latter part of 2009 he published along with curandero, Alberto Salinas, Jr., Curandero Conversations: El Niño Fidencio, Shamanism and Healing Traditions of the Borderlands, a book which utilizes actual case studies with a curandero (Salinas) to explain how curanderismo functions in the Latino community.   

In 2010, he received a presidential appointment to the Good Neighbor Environmental Board, an advisory board of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) dedicated to observing and analyzing ongoing events within the cross border eco-systems of the U.S. and Mexico.

Zavaleta currently serves as the director of the Texas Center for Border and Transnational Studies at the University of Texas at Brownsville.  He welcomes any advice/suggestions which may benefit our burgeoning border communities. 

The third book in this series will deal with the life of El Niño Fidencio, Mexico’s most famous curandero, 1898-1938.

Antonio N. Zavaleta, Ph.D. , 
Professor of Anthropology and
Director,  Texas Center for Border and Transnational Studies
80 Fort Brown
Brownsville, Texas 78520
(956) 882-7313  Office
Antonio.zavaleta@utb.edu  

How Safe is Marijuana?

"You can not smoke yourself to death with marijuana, but you can drink yourself  to death with alcohol."  

Aury L. Holtzman, M.D.
Huntington Beach, CA

Editor:  Dr. Holtzman, my son,  is a well-known expert in the special area of the medicinal uses of Marijuana. He has been in family practice for twenty-five years.  He incorporates a variety of means to administer marijuana therapeutically, eatables, salves, lotions, oils, subliminals, vaporizers, and inhalants.  He strongly rejects any form of smoking, including marijuana. 

Below are real cases shared anonymously by my son.  

Dr. Holtzman recommended that the patient test different eatables to see which were the most effective on him.  Dr. Holtzman recommended to reach a state of a very light buzz before taking a chemo therapy treatment.  

Marijuana provided the needed relief, and the gentleman was able to continue his chemo therapy treatment.

The arthritis and these complications were profoundly affecting  her life, sleep, and stress level.   The arthritis pain was so severe, she was unable to sleep.  She was miserable. 

Dr. Holtzman recommended the use of a marijuana salve on the painful joints.  Marijuana works very well on small joints. 

Dr. Holtzman further recommended cannabis indica eatables to be consumed during dinner. On a full stomach, the effects of the marijuana would not be felt for three hours, thus allowing her to get a good night sleep.  He explained how to adjust dosage of eatables to allow her to sleep and wake up without a hangover. 

The lady was able to get a good night sleep which also lessened the pain of arthritis.

DATA COMPARING ALCOHOL RELATED DEATHS TO MARIJUANA RELATED DEATHS

Source: Below information, text and graph is extracted from Chapter 1, Marijuana Medical Handbook
Practical Guide to the Therapeutic Uses of Marijuana by Dale Gieringer, Ph.D., Ed Rosenthal, Gregory T. Carter, M.D.

Alcohol related fatalities deaths in the US since 1982:
 http://www.alcoholalert.com/drunk-driving-statistics.html 

Alcohol abuse kills some 75,000 Americans each year and shortens the lives of these people by an average of 30 years, a U.S. government study suggested Thursday.

Excessive alcohol consumption is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States after tobacco use and poor eating and exercise habits.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which published the study, estimated that 34,833 people in 2001 died from cirrhosis of the liver, cancer and other diseases linked to drinking too much beer, wine and spirits.

Another 40,933 died from car crashes and other mishaps caused by excessive alcohol use. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6089353/ns/health-addictions/t/
alcohol-linked-us-deaths-year/ 

The Impact of 
Alcohol Abuse on American Society

Number of traffic fatalities annually related to drugs and/or alcohol

• Alcohol related crashes kills someone in the U.S. every 22 minutes. At any minute, one of 50 drivers on the road is drunk and every weekend night, one out of 10 is drunk.
• According to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, there are 105,000 alcohol related deaths annually due to drunken drivers and alcohol related injuries and diseases. AFA journal - 6/90
• Alcohol related accidents are the leading cause of deaths among young people. Dallas Times - Sat., 6/9/90
• The damage caused by alcohol impaired drivers is the same as if a Boeing 747 with over 500 passengers crashed every eight days killing everyone.
• Drunk drivers are responsible for 1/2 of highway fatal injuries.
• 65 people each day die on our highways due to alcohol. California Capitol Report - 11/89
• In 1988, 25,000 Americans were killed in auto accidents involving alcohol. Over one half million were injured. AFA journal - 1/90

Number of handgun or violent crimes annually related to drugs and/or alcohol and Number of murders annually related to drugs and/or alcohol?

• One half of all traffic accidents are alcohol related. U.S.A. Today - 1/24/90
• An estimated 23,200 murdered in U.S. last year Newsweek - 3/25/91
• Of all murders, alcohol was involved in at least 34% of cases.
• Rape - More than 1/2 of rapists had been drinking.
• Child abuse - mothers convicted are 3 times more likely to be alcoholics - fathers 10 times more likely.
• Suicide - Up to 36% of victims were drinking just before. Prodigy Services Co. - 3/3/92
• Heavy drinking is involved in 60% of violent crimes, 30% of suicides, and 80% of fire and drowning accidents.
• The suicide rate of alcoholics is 30 times that of the general population. AFA journal - 1/90
• The percentage of households that were scenes of violent crime or of burglary or property crime in 1989 was 24.9%. LA Times - 9/3/90
• Among men arrested for serious crime in 12 major cities, 53% (in Phoenix) to 79% (New York) tested positive for illicit drugs in voluntary urine analysis at time of arrest. Insight - 2/29/89
• About 2/3 of people arrested in larger cities for felonies. . .test positive for illegal drugs. Economist - 1/21/89

• More than half of all confirmed abuse reports and 75% of child deaths involve drug or alcohol abuse on the part of the parents. Time - 1/27/92
• The use of alcohol cost $15 billion (1983) for health care and treatment.
• The economic cost of alcohol abuse is projected to be $150 billion in 1995. Alcohol & Health - U.S. dept. of H.H.S. 1/90
• The economic cost of America’s drug habit is somewhere between $50 billion and $100 billion a year. (Does not include alcohol) Economist - 1/21/89

Number of babies born annually with problems related to drugs and/or alcohol.

• 2.9% of 1,000 live births have fetal alcohol syndrome.
• Alcohol & Health - U.S. Dept. of H.H.S. - 1/90
• It is costing one half billion dollars per year to treat F.A.S. and F.A.E.
• It is estimated that 375,000 babies born each year are exposed to one or more illicit drugs prenatally.
• The Office of National Drug Control Policy uses an estimate of 100,000 drug exposed babies per year. Maternal Drug Abuse and Drug Exposed children - U.S. Dept. of H.H. S. - 9/92
• The cost of government to prepare drug babies to enter kindergarten will soon reach $15 billion per year. Reader’s Digest - 2/91
• More than 1,000 babies a day are being born drug damaged. More than 100,000 per year are "crack babies." CBS Nightly News - 4/5/90

Aids related to drug use.

• One baby with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome will cost $405,000 in direct special services from birth to 65 years. San Diego County Dept. of Health Services
• Newborns got AIDS at a faster rate than gays or IV drug users 30-40% of children born to infected women are HIV positive. Newsweek - 6/25/90
• One in 2,200 infants born in the U.S. in 1989 was infected with HIV. Journal of A.M.A. - 4/3/91
• Prenatally acquired.. .AIDS is the 9th leading cause of death among children 1 to 4 years.
• 80% of all pediatric AIDS cases are attributed to transmission from mothers at risk for HIV infection. IV drug abuse is a major contributing factor. Nearly 75% of Pediatric AIDS is attributed to maternal transmission involving IV drug use. Maternal Drug Abuse and Drug Exposed Children

New Fee Coming for Medical Effectiveness Research 

"He had been homeless for about two weeks. He hadn't showered or eaten a lot. He asked if we had a meal tray," said Sullivan, a physician at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago and a past president of the Illinois College of Emergency Physicians. Sullivan said the man kept repeating that he wanted to kill himself. "It seemed almost as if he was interested in being
admitted."

Across the country, doctors like Sullivan are facing a spike in psychiatric emergencies - attempted suicide, severe depression, psychosis - as states slash mental health services and the country's worst economic crisis since the Great Depression takes its toll.

This trend is taxing emergency rooms already overburdened by uninsured patients who wait until ailments become acute
before seeking treatment.

"These are people without a previous psychiatric history who are coming in and telling us they've lost their jobs, they've lost sometimes their homes, they can't provide for their families, and they are becoming severely depressed," said Dr. Felicia Smith, director of the acute psychiatric service at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Increased demand in mental health services  http://link.reuters.com/sud75s
State mental health budget cuts http://link.reuters.com/tud75s

Visits to the hospital's psychiatric emergency department have climbed 20 percent in the past three years. "We've seen actually more very serious suicide attempts in that population than we had in the past as well," she said. Compounding the problem are patients with chronic mental illness who have been hurt by a squeeze on mental health services and find themselves with nowhere to go. On top of that, doctors are seeing some cases where the patient's most critical need is a warm bed.

"The more I see these patients, the more I realize that if it's sleeting and raining outside, the emergency room is the only place they have," said Dr. R. Corey Waller, director of the Spectrum Health Medical Group Center for Integrative Medicine in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Government agencies such as the National Institutes of Mental Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration could not provide fresh data on use of psychiatric services in recent years.

The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), an organization of state mental health directors, estimates that in the last three years states have cut $3.4 billion in mental health services, while an additional 400,000 people sought help at public mental health facilities.

 The cost of surgical procedures alone, not even counting hospitalization and other costs, can be out of reach for many Americans. In the United States, that is. For those who don’t have insurance that covers certain procedures, going abroad for treatment can be a cost-effective solution.

BUSINESS

EDUCATION

Great web sites to help us be better informed and some good talking points about our Heritage and culture, that should be included in America history books for needed understanding of the current Hispanic presence: 

http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/engonly1.htm 
Language As A Symbol by Juan F Perea 1992
http://www.vpcomm.umich.edu/admissions/research
/expert/camarill.html  a great resource on Latinos in the US
http://www.vpcomm.umich.edu/admissions/research/
Sent by Rafael Ojeda
Tacoma, Washington 

School Enrollment in the United States: 2010 — These national statistics describe a wide variety of student characteristics at all levels of school, from nursery to graduate. The tables provide information by age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, family income, type of college, employment status and vocational course enrollment. The statistics are produced from the October School Enrollment Supplement to the Current Population Survey; historical tables are provided. Internet address: http://www.census.gov/hhes/school/data/cps/2010/tables.html

Sent by Roberto Calderon, Ph.D.  beto@unt.edu 

CULTURE

MY 2011 

BY GREGORIO LUKE

I lectured several times in San Diego in a very cool club called Anthology, where great jazz artists like Natalie Cole and Dr. John have performed. I also did shows in Kansas City, Houston, Brownsville, North Carolina, San Juan Capistrano, and Matamoros as 
well as my beloved Tijuana and surrounding cities like San Quintin and Ensenada.





I participated as a lecturer and part of the international jury of the Florence Biennale, this is my fourth Biennale. This time I presented lectures on JOSE CLEMENTE OROZCO and PABLO NERUDA but I also introduced JOSE LUIS CUEVAS, who won the Lorenzo Il Magnifico Award as well as the talented Spanish designer AGATHA RUIZ DE LA PRADA.  My stay in Florence reminded me of my days as a diplomat, with dinners every night and elegant galas, but the greatest treat was meeting six hundred artists from all over the world. I made many wonderful friends from Holland and Sweden to China and Argentina.

On a more personal note, my dear friends Richard and Rebecca Zapanta asked me to marry their daughter Gina and her fiancé Brian. In the past some friends have asked me to marry them, so I got a license. I worked hard at the sermon and the results apparently pleased the bride and groom  because at the end of the ceremony they gave each other one of the best kisses I’ve seen.  I send you the photo of this marvelous moment.

And I wish you the very best in 2012.  
Warm regards, Gregorio Luke
www.GregorioLuke.com

December 05, 2011 

Release No. 11-133 

Sent by Rafael Ojeda rsnojeda@aol.com 

The first day of issue has not been determined, but it most likely would be sometime during the baseball season, when it could be accompanied by a ceremony at Fenway.

LITERATURE

Labyrinth of Solitude, by Octavio Paz

A book review by 
Virgina Avina Gill

             Octavio Paz  (1914-1998) one of Mexico ’s most influential writers and recipient of the 1990 Nobel prize for literature, has written many books dealing with the culture and identity of the Mexican people.  Perhaps his most influential book is Labyrinth of Solitude, first published in 1950.  Consisting of a series of nine essays, he republished in 1975 adding an essay reflecting on the massacre of Mexican students that occurred in 1968.  

            Encompassing Mexican history from the time of the Aztecs, through the invasion of the Spanish conquistadors, then through Spanish and French rule, and finally to the Mexican Revolution and subsequent agrarian reform, he paints a picture of how Mexicans have evolved.  An identity unique to the Mexican was shaped through all of Mexico ’s events.  Mexicans are the conquerors and the conquered – the downtrodden and the victors.  Mexicans revere and respect the old ways yet embrace the new.  They can be viewed as both a pagan society of old and a Christian society of the New World .  

            As the population has had to work its way through this cultural, religious, and political upheaval (Labyrinth), each individual looks for a “Solitude” where he can best establish an identity – a self-worth.  The essays are predominantly concerned with the theme of Mexican identity.  

            The book is not an easy page- turner – each chapter (essay) obligates one to be introspective, to reflect over what is written.  But, if you see Paz’s work as a guide for better understanding of Mexico , its citizens, and by extension, Mexican-Americans, you will enjoy, appreciate, and learn from this  intellectual work.

1982  Premio Quinto Sol Recipients 

BOOKS

Trespassers on Our Own Land brings a fresh perspective to the U.S. government’s ignoring of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The author describes his views of how and why the government took millions of acres from decades-old Southwestern Spanish, Mexican and Pueblo Indian land grants between 1891 and 1907.

Trespassers on Our Own Land, a comprehensive, comparative history of why and how the U.S. government suffered from its chronic affliction of Manifest Destiny, is structured as an oral history of the Valdez’ family and of the political history of the times. It flows from conversation to conversation as Valdez discusses his family’s history with a grandson –giving him lessons on survival, treaties and the government’s establishment of a court to take millions of acres of ancestral lands. He also discusses his views on the U.S. Forest Service’s treatment of the grant lands as its own private domain–and how its actions after 1905 reduced hundreds of land grant heirs to trespassers on their own land as they attempted to survive the travesty.  

Trespassers explains in detail why and how the U.S. government removed millions of acres from the decades-old Spanish, Mexicans and Pueblo Indian grants, all the while acting as though the taking was lawful and appropriate. Drawing on government documents, maps, legal cases, articles and correspondence, Trespassers focuses like a laser beam on this very dark period in U.S. history, the results of which continue to resonate to this day.  

Juan P. Valdez was born May 25, 1938 in Canjilon, New Mexico, the second of Amarante and Philomena Valdez's seven children.  Juan's father took him out of school after the third grade to help with the raising of crops and tending of livestock necessary to support the family.  After having been continuously denied grazing permits by the U.S. Forest Service it was necessary for Juan to sneak his family's cattle on and off the forest pastures on a daily basis.  While in his mid-twenties Juan met Reis Lopes Tijerina, a charismatic former preacher who was traveling from village to village in Northern New Mexico speaking out about how the United States had stolen hundreds of thousands of acres of grant lands that were supposed to have been protected by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.  Juan was the first of eight members of Tijerinas' Alianza to enter the Rio Arriba county courthouse on June 5, 1967 in a failed attempt to arrest the local district attorney, Alfonso Sanchez.  Ironically, the judge in the courthouse that day was J.M. Scarborough, the father of Mike Scarborough who would wind up assisting Juan in the telling of his family history.  Trespassers On Our Own Land is the history of the Valdez family from the time Spain granted Juan Bautista Valdez, Juan's great, great, great-grandfather an interest in a land grand located around the present village of Canones, New Mexico.

ISBN: 978-1-4575-0584-3  312 pages, $19.95 US  Available at Ingram, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble & bookstores everywhere

Editor:  Mike's book has stirred up tremendous interest, which is great. We have to push the descendants of the early Southwest Spanish colonizers to greater understanding. We really need to know what happened in the past to grasp the attitudes which have developed and surround us.  I am thankful that Mike applied his legal expertise to unscramble the time period which has been sufficiently confused, to leave most of us puzzled.  What really happened? 

Although the focus of the book is New Mexico, the attitude of the US government during that time applies to the entire Southwest: the Federal government saw, wanted, and took.  I could understand that the government would think that 350 families don't need 145,000 acres, but the process and results of federal mandates was heartless and really unnecessary. Surely . . there were more equitable possibilities.  There was no respect shown for families and their settlements.  

This new book details the author’s view of how the United States unlawfully ended up with millions of acres of land grant acreage without even an offer of compensation or apologies for the taking.  The government has made public apologies to many groups in past. An apology to the New Mexico descendants does not sound like too much to ask for.  It would bring the history of "Manifest Destiny" into more national awareness, and vindicate the many whose early presence was not acknowledged, nor respected.  

Andrew Garcia 1853-1943

True Frontiersman in 
Indian Country

“Tough Trip Through Paradise 1878-1879” 
script written by Andrew Garcia and edited by Ben Stein.

I am reading the book “Tough Trip Through Paradise 1878-1879” script written by Andrew Garcia and edited by Ben Stein. This book grew out of a manuscript left by Andrew Garcia on his death in 1942. Ben Stein acquired the manuscript and edited it to tell Garcia's story of the 1877 war between the U.S. government and the Nez Perce people, the end of the buffalo herds and other historic events in Western life. a book considered one of the premiere historical tales of that time period. Much of Tough Trip examines the travels of Garcia. I am finding this book very interesting getting to know some firsthand information on some actual Historical events. Below is a short bio on Andrew Garcia, written by  Donald Gilbert y Chavez. Juan

Andrew Garcia was one of the first American pioneers of Hispanic descent to write his own story. After writing volumes of script and thousands of pages, he resisted all efforts to put his work into publishable form for fear that the accuracy, facts, and writing style might be compromised and fall victim to the western fiction market. He was born in the Rio Grande Valley in the El Paso, Texas / Las Cruces, New Mexico area in 1853, and schooled in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His book, Tough Trip Through Paradise, was edited by Bennett H. Stein who found several thousand pages of Garcia's manuscript stored in dynamite boxes packed in the heavy waxed paper that explosive power comes in. Thanks' goes to Bennett Stein, who must h ave labored many long hours condensing and consolidating those thousands of pages into a more concise 460-page book, first printed by the Rock Foundation in 1967.

The Hollywood movie, Little Big Man, starring Dustin Hoffman, was based not on an Anglo muleteer, as the movie suggests. Rather, it was actually based on the true story of Hispanic pioneer, Vaquero rancher, farmer and trader, Andrew Garcia, during the time of the 1877 Nez Perce war. He was not known as Little Big Man by the Indians, rather he earned the name, The Squaw Kid, derived from the 9 years he lived in Indian country with three Pend d'Oreille Indian wives named, In-who-lise, Squis-squis, and Mal-lit-tay-lay. Little Big Man was actually the name of an Indian warrior.

At the age of 23 in 1876, he ventured north to Montana where he was first employed by the U.S. government as a herder and packer. He scouted for the U.S. military throughout Yellowstone and Musselshell country when the Cavalry was, as he put it, pursuing horse stealing and plundering Indians. He served with Sturgis' Boys in Blue out of Fort Ellis. There, he met a hunter and trapper called Beaver Tom in 1878. Beaver Tom, being middle-aged and more worldly than Garcia, easily lured Garcia into going with him to Musselshell on a trapping and trading expedition. Having been through that area with the U.S. Cavalry, Garcia knew there was, indeed, plenty of game for furs and no shortage of Indians to rob and kill.

As Bennett Stein writes, "...his teepee days occurred at the very time when the free life of the Plains Indians was on the brink of extinction. He witnessed that extinction and had a story that no one else could tell." Garcia tells the true story of the end of an era of vast open ranges before barbed wire fences, a time when the Indians were just beginning to appreciate the new resources brought to America by the Spanish. They had the best of both Indian and Spanish / Mexican worlds. Horses gave them tremendous mobility and speed in the wild and untamed open country. After having myself, enjoyed and crossed the beautiful expanse of mountains and tribes, during my tenure with the Bureau Of Indian Affairs - after hearing the voices of the Tiwas of New Mexico, to the utterances of Salish of Montana during the 20th century, and after having viewed such places by land and air - I can only imagine how a phenomenally panoramic picture this vast land much have appeared to Garcia before the landscape was cut up by endless ribbons of highway and railroad lines, and the sky divided by miles of telegraph, electric, and telephone wires.

The sense of justice taught him in his formative years by the Catholic Padres in New Mexico, helped him transcent the wide-spread hatred of Indians and gave him common cause with the tribest of the Northwest, even during those intense years of warfare. Garcia was different from other writers of this time, not just because he was self-taught, moreover, because his was a, "tell it like it is - no sugar added," account of those times. This was in opposition to other writers who romanticized, embellished, and took artistic license in corrupting the truth. Garcia himself explains in one passage, "The novelist always manages to cover up the trail on the Indian or villains who are pursuing the hero with the red-headed maiden in his arms on horseback. I never had such luck. They could always find my trail dead easy and run the hell out of me. It was always a matter of speed with me. We all like to see the hero and fair damsel make their get-away from the villain and for her to live happily with the hero.... I am sorry to have to dispel the beautiful hallucination and tell, in most cases, that is b___ s___. In the many years that I have lived, I have seen more heroes get it in the neck from the villain than were left to go around. If it was not for the strong arm of the Law and the brave men who enforce it, there would not be a hero left to tell the tale, and the woods would be full of grass widow heroines. Many flourishing jails and penitentiaries will bear me out on this."

Over the next six years in Musselshell, Montana, he observed the last wave of Buffalo extermination and final throes of effort by the Plains Indians to resist their own extermination at the hands of the new Americans. His nine years with Indian wives, mentioned above, were his most meaningful and final connection to the wild and beautiful, natural order of his world that apparently centered him. Although the second half of his life was spent in what many people would describe a western paradise with his white wife, Barbara Voll, raising four healthy sons on his 667 acres of beautiful, forested Montana ranchland, what prompted him to begin writing was the fact that he was never again quite so happy as when he lived amont the Indians in the open wilderness. He died in 1943, having resisted efforts to publish his work out of fear that the true history of his time would be corrupted. His greatest fears were realized a quarter-century later, when Hollywood indeed, changed and distorted his story and actual history in the movie, Little Big Man.

Source: Donald Gilbert y Chavez

Sent by Elroy          ram3644@wildblue.net

With close to one hundred selections chosen, the book reaches back to the sixteenth-century exploration narrative of Texas's first Spanish-speaking writer, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. It features prose by Américo Paredes and Jovita Gonzalez, Rolando Hinojosa and Tomás Rivera, Estela Trambley Portillo, and Sandra Cisneros. Among the poets included in the anthology are Ricardo Sánchez, Carmen Tafolla, Angela de Hoyos, and Abelardo "Lalo" Delgado. Hecho en Tejas also includes corridos from the turn of the century and verses sung by music legends such as Lydia Mendoza and Santiago Jimenez, Sr., Freddy Fender, and Selena. In addition to these established names, already known across the United States, Hecho en Tejas introduces such younger writers as Christine Granados, Erasmo Guerra, and Tonantzin Canestaro-Garcia, the famous Tejano authors of tomorrow. In assembling this canonic reader, Dagoberto Gilb has created more than an anthology. 

ISBN-10: 0826341268    ISBN-13: 9780826341266    ASIN: 0826341268    Paperback  Edition: 07 (04-30-2008)  
Product Dimensions: 10.0 x 7.1 x 1.5    Sent by Juan Marinez  marinezj@anr.msu.edu

Although War on the Gulf Coast: The Spanish Fight against William Augustus Bowles is not about genealogy, it cites heretofore unexplored sources for additional Deep South research and provides a definitive statement on a critical period in American history.

      The book, by internationally-known historian Dr. Gilbert C. Din, has at its center the Spaniards on the Gulf Coast from 1787 to 1805. Spanish struggle against the adventurer, William Augustus Bowles, for control of this region is a little-known segment of the nation’s history; a new interpretation of Bowles's life is also provided. Important to the story, too, are the Upper and Lower Creeks and Seminole Indians and their part in the contest against the Spaniards, Bowles, and American land-grabbers.

See ordering details at amazon.com
deville@provincialpress.us 

Sent by Bill Carmena  JCarm1724@aol.com 

Sofia’s Awesome Tamale Day.

by Albert Monreal Quihuis. Ilustrator/Artist:  Susan Klecka.  

Sofia's Awesome Tamale Day by Albert Monreal Quihuis: a native of Phoenix, & a member of a pioneering Mexicano family of Phoenix, Arizona: Albert and Sophia Quihuis. Their son, Al is a financial advisor & a certified planner in the Phoenix area. He attended Arizona State University in Tempe and served in the U.S. Air Force. Al is among those who founded the East Valley Partnership organization in Mesa, Arizona, a regional coalition of community, business, educational, and government leaders whose goal is to provide leadership and support in specific areas of focus, thereby improving business and quality of life in the region, with Latinos/as in leadership roles. 

About the artist/illustrator for the book, Susan Klecka:  her style of folk art painting stems from her frequent trips to Mexican & Central America. Her work captures the lifestyles & rich cultures of those living in the agricultural regions surrounding the cities & her illustrations have garnered much attention. Her vivid illustrations have captured the imaginations of children from all countries. She is currently Chairman of the Mesa (Arizona) Arts Center Foundation & she is among the originators of the “Dia de los Muertos” celebrations at the Mesa Art Center. She is the 2011 recipient of the YWCA Tribute to Women Award for Creative Arts for her work in promoting women artists.  

Like a magnet, tamales unite family members who must work together to prepare the masa, meat, chili, corn husks—and work together to put all the ingredients together to create one’s favorite tamale...this family/home tradition is common among many of us and we can recall those funny, sad, or poignant family stories that get told while everyone is making and eating those tamales!...new children’s author from Phoenix, Albert Monreal Quihuis and his wonderful illustrator, Susan Klecka, have just published the book, Sofia’s Awesome Tamale Day. The author pays tribute to his parents, Sofia and Albert Quihuis, by capturing that wonderful sense of family and their embrace of Mexican traditions, language and culture. The book is illustrated with wonderful images of children, families, and its main character: a beautiful red-headed amazon parrot named “Pepe”, who teaches children how to be proud of their culture and their families..The story also tells a tale of love between a grand-daughter & her abuelita who share one goal: to make delicious tamales! “Pepe” talks too much, but the children love him –and his stories! 

You can obtain a copy of the book directly from the author, Albert Monreal Quihuis or from the publisher, or online, and here’s the information you’ll need: Children’s Books www.winmarkcom.com/sofiastamales.htm

Author:  Albert Monreal Quihuis. His e-mail address is: aquihuis@msn.com; His phone number in Phoenix, Arizona is:  602/615-1850… ISBN: 978-1-892225-14-6.  Price: $18.00.  Hardback.
Publisher:  Winmark Communications. Address: 17834 North 41^st. Ave., Glendale, AZ. 85308-2609  OR:  order online at: www.winmarkcom.com/sofiastamales.htm .  

Juan Domínguez de Mendoza: Soldier and Frontiersman of the Spanish Southwest, 1627-1693

Latino soldiers
 Cebu, Phillipines, WW II

USA LATINO PATRIOTS
http://www.archives.gov/veterans/

Bill Morange, Mike Calderin, Nicholas Estavillo
Sent by Cmdr Michael J. Calderin, MA, CAP, CMHP; mjcalderincap@aol.com

Honra a Nuestros Caidos / Honor Our Fallen Hispanic Heroes. 2011 (55 names)
Please see Somos Primos Archives for FEB 2009, FEB 2010 & FEB 2011 for 667 more names.
We have lost 722 Hispanic Heroes since 9/11. 

Lists complied by Rafael Ojeda Tacoma WA (rsnojeda@aol.com)

1. JAN 2, 2011 Sgt Jose Cintron Rosado 33, Army NG, Vega Alta Puerto Rico Taji, Iraq
2. JAN 2, 2011 Spec Jose Delgado Arroyo 41, Army NG, San Juan PR Taji Iraq
3. JAN 12, 2011 Sgt Omar Aceves 30, Army, El Paso TX Ghazni ,Afghanistan (AFG)
4. JAN 15, 2011 Spec Jose Torre Jr 21, Army, Garden Grove, CA Baghdad, Iraq
5. JAN 19, 2011 Petty Officer Dominque Cruz 26, Navy, Panama City FL Afghanistan
6. JAN 20, 2011 Sgt Jason Amdres 29, Marine, LeHigh Acres FL Helman Prov. Afghanistan
7. JAN 31, 2011 Spec Omar Soltero 28, Army, San Antonio TX Wardoak Prov Afghanistan
8. JAN 31,2011 1st LT Daren Hidalgo 24, Army, Waukeska WI Kandar Har Prov Afghanistan
9. MAR 12, 2011 PFC Arturo Rodríguez 19, Army, Bell Flower CA Paktika Prov Afghnistan
10. MAR 19, 2011 PFC Rudy Acosta 19, Army, Canyon Country CA Kandar Har Prov Afghanistan
11. MAR 29, 2011 SFC Ofren Arrechaga 28, Army, Hialeh FL Kunar Prov Afghanistan
12. APR 2, 2011 Sgt Christian Garcia 30, Army, Goodyear AZ Babil Prov Iraq
13. APR 10, 2010 Sgt Jose Caraballo Pietrie 32, Yauco Puerto Rico Badghis Prov Afghanistan
14. APR 16, 2011 Joel Ramirez 22, Army, Waxahachie TX Nimroz Prov Afghanistan
15. APR 22, 2011 1st LT Omar Vasquez 25, Army, Hamilton NJ Numaniyah Prov Iraq
16. APR 22, 2011 Sgt John Castro 25, Army Andrew TX Paktika Prov Afghanistan
17. APR 27,2011 Spec Andrew Lara 25, Army Albany OR Babil Prov Afghanistan
18. APR 27, 2011 Pfc Jonathan Villanueva 19, Army Jacksonville FL Wardak Prov Afghanistan
19. MAY 13,2011 Sgt Amaru Aguilar 26, Army Miami FL Kandarhar Prov Afghanistan
20. MAY 22, 2011 Pfc Ramon Mora, Jr 19, Army Ontario CA Baghdad Iraq
21. MAY 26, 2011 Sgt Louie A Ramos Valazquez 39, Army Camuy PR Kandahar Prov Afghanistan
22. MAY 29, 2011 SSgt Martin Apolinar 28, Army Glendale AZ Wardak Prov Afghanistan
23. JUN 6, 2011 Spc Emilio Campo, Jr 20, Army Madelia MN Baghdad Iraq
24. JUN 13, 2011 SSgt Nicholas Bellard 26, Army El Paso TX Wasit Prov Afghanistan
25. JUN 16, 2011 Spc Marcus Cintron 32 Army Orlando FL Baghdad Iraq/Boston MA
26. JUN 19, 2011 Pfc Josue Ibarra 21, Marine Midland TX Helman Prov Afghanistan
27. JUN 20, 2011 Pfc Gustavo Rios-Ordonez 25, Army Englewood OH Kandahar Prov Afghanistan
28. JUN 22, 2011 Spc Levi Nuncio 24, Army Harrisonburg VA Kunar Prov Afghanistan
29. JUN 28, 2011 LCpl Mark Goyet 22, Marine, Siston TX Helmand Prov Afghanistan
30. JUN 28, 2011 LCpl John Farias 20, Marine, New Braunfel TX Helmand Prov Afghanistan
31. JUL 10, Spc Rafael Nieves Jr 22, Army, Albany NY Paktika Prov Afghanistan
32. JUL 10, 2011 Steven Talamantez 34, Army, Laredo TX Amaron Prov Iraq
33. JUL 10, 2011 LCpl Norberto Mendez-Hernandez 22, Marine, Logan UT Helmand Afghanistan
34. JUL 16, 2011 Raphael Arruda 21, Army, Ogden UT Kunar Prov Afghanistan
35. JUL 19, 2011 Sgt Jacob Molina 27, Army, Houston TX Kunar Prov Afghanistan
36. AUG 3, 2011 Pfc Gil Morales Del Valle 31, Army Jacksonville FL Wadak Prov Afghanistan
37. AUG 7, 2011 Sgt Adan Gonzalez, Jr 28, Marine, Bakerfield CA Helmand Prov Afghanistan
38. AUG 11, 2011 Pfc Rueben Lopez 27, Army, Williams CA Kandahar Prov AFG
39. SEP 8, 2011 Spc Koran Conteras 21, Army, Lawndale CA Kandahar Prov Afghanistan
40. SEP 14,2011 Rodolfo Rodrigues, Jr 26, Army, Pharr TX Kandahar Afganistán
41. SEP 18, 2011 SSgt Estevan Altamairano 30, Army, Edcouch TX Tikarit Iraq
42. SEP 22, 2011 Sgt Andy Morales 32, Army, Longwood FL Baghdad Iraq
43. SEP 23, 2011 Sgt Rafael Bigai Baez 28, Army San Juan Puerto Rico Wardak Prov Afghanistan
44. SEP 23, 2011 Pfc Carlos Aparicio 19, Army, San Bernandino CA Wardak Prov Afganistán
45. SEP 25, 2011 1st LT Andres Zermeno 26, Army, San Antonio TX Wardak Prov Afganistán
46. SEP 25, 2011 Spc Francisco Briseno Alvarez 27, Oklahoma City OK Laghman Afghanistan 
47. SEP 28, 2011 Sgt Christopher Diaz 27, Marine, Albuquerque NM Helmand Prov Afghanistan
48. OCT 8, 2011 Spc Ricardo Cerros, Jr 24, Army, Salinas CA Logar Prov Afghanistan
49. OCT 13, 2011 Spc Jeremiah Sancho 23, Army , Palm Bay Fl Kandahar Prov Afghanistan
50. OCT 19, 2011 SSgt Jorge Oliveira 33, Army Portugal & Newark NJ Paktika Afghanistan
51. OCT 22, 2011 Sgt Paul Rivera 26, Army Roundrock TX Logar Prov Afghanistan
52. OCT 29, 2011 Sgt Carlo F Eugenio 29, Army NG, Rancho Cucamonga CA Kubul Afghanistan
53. OCT 29, 2011 Lt Col David E Cabrera 41, Army, Abiline TX Kubul Prov Afghanistan
54. DEC 11, 2011 Sgt Christopher L Muniz 24, Army, New Cuyama CA Kunar Afghanistan
55. DEC 13, 2011 PVT Jalfread D Vaquerano 20, Army Apopka FL Logar Prov Afghanistan
56. JAN 1, 2012   Army SPC Pernall J Herrera, 33 years old from Espanola, NM.  Helmand Prov Afghanistan.

Our condolences and prayers to all, their families, friends and love ones.  May our Heroes’ souls  Rest in Peace. 

Thanks to the web sites below for the names photos and obituaries of our Fallen Heroes:
http://www.defense.gov/releases  (Most current official DOD Casualty list).
http://projects.washingtonpost/fallen  (photos and obituaries)
http://militarytimes.com/valor  
http://ourfallensoldier.com/weeklyDODCasAnnouncements.html
http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/castop.htm
http://www.defendamerica.mil/fallen.html  
http://freedomremembered.com/index.php/category/recent-casualties


 

EARLY LATINO AMERICAN PATRIOTS

The Online Home of the Granaderos y Damas de Galvez / San Antonio Texas Founding Chapter
http://granaderos.org/index.html

Easy to explore. Click to lots of photos of Granaderos y Damas activities. 

Spanish SURNAMES

La Familia Tobón Gónima y sus Descendietes - Enero 2012
Diccionario Heráldico y Genealógico de Apellidos Españoles y Americanos
The Surname Bobadilla: from La Rioja to Jalisco by John P. Schmal

La Familia Tobón Gónima y sus Descendietes - Enero 2012
Javier Tobón Gónima javiertobonsud@gmail.com 

The 88 volumes of this work, [Library of Congress Call Number: CR2142.G3] supplemented by a continuing work, offer an immense tribute to the work of indefatigable genealogists. The work treats Spanish  heraldry in the first two volumes, and with volume three begins the Diccionario Heráldico y Genealógico de Apellidos Españoles y Americanos, or a listing of over 15,000 names with their respective genealogical histories (with color illustrations of representative crests) of Spanish and Spanish- American families. Please note that on the spine one finds two numbers, the Enciclopedia number followed by the Diccionario number (in other words there is a two volume difference in numbering).

Originally begun in 1919, its publishing history continued until 1963 when the last volume encompassing the letter "u" was published as a tribute to her late husband by Margarita Prendes Carraffa. In 1952, a reprinting of the earlier volumes began. The alphabet covered by the work goes from "a" through "u".

Film Notes
Note Location Film
t. 1 (Aanda) - t. 5 (Alzuru) Vault INTL Film 35112
t. 6 (Allado) - t. 12 (Basani) Vault INTL Film 35113
t. 13 (Basanta) - t. 19 (Campani) FHL INTL  35114
t. 20 (Campano) - t. 26 (Desportell) FHL INTL Film 35115
t. 27 (Despou) - t. 33 (Franco) Vault INTL Film 35116
t. 34 (Francolí) - t. 40 (Haro) Vault INTL Film 35117
t. 41 (Hartos) - t. 47 (Lazcamburu) FHL INTL Film 35118
t. 48 (Lazcano) - t. 54 (Mesares) Vault INTL Film 35119
t. 55 (Mescua) - t. 6l (Olcina) FHL INTL Film 35120
t. 62 (Olcinellas) - t. 68 (Pérez de Arramendia) FHL INTL Film 35121
t. 69 (Pérez de Arroyo) - t. 76 (Rizo) FHL INTL Film 35122

All of these are in the LA Family History Library.  Check with at your local Family History Center

John Schmal johnnypj@aol.com 

THE SURNAME BOBADILLA: FROM LA RIOJA TO JALISCO

By John P. Schmal

The Surname “Bobadilla”

The surname Bobadilla is a surname that has been prominent in the Mexican state of Jalisco since the capital city of Guadalajara was first established in 1542. According to Richard D. Woods and Grace Alvarez-Altman, “Spanish Surnames in the Southwestern United States: A Dictionary,” the double suffix added to “boba” means a small but at the same time great foolishness, or suggests an individual who is large physicially but has few brains.  

It has been suggested that this could be the name given for a misunderstanding between two families that was caused by an annoyance but had lasting consequences. The Spanish-English dictionary defines “bobada” as a silly thing or stupid talk, and the adverb “bobamente” means stupidly or naively.  

Origins in La Rioja

Although Bobadilla became a fairly common surname in España over time, its origin appears to be in Rioja. In fact, there is a small municipio called Bobadilla that is presently located by the River Tovia in the western part of the present province of La Rioja. Rioja is a very small autonomous community and a province of northern Spain. Its capital is Logroño and the small province is nestled between five other provinces, including Burgos (to the west), Navarra (to the east) and Zaragoza (to the southeast). During the Middle Ages, Logroño (as La Rioja was known then) frequently found itself in the middle of disputes between the Kings of Navarra and Castilla.  

The specific origin of the surname Bobadilla has been obscured by time, but it appears that that several individuals from the area of Bobadilla carried some form of the surname with them to other areas of the province or the country. One of the earliest families that is known to have come from this area is “Fernández de Bobadilla” family. The progenitor of this branch was Juan Fernández de Bobadilla, who was a native and resident of Bobadilla itself, hence the surname.  

The Surname Spreads

Over time, the surname spread to Castila, Andalusia and the Canary Islands. Several Bobadilla’s were granted noble status. For example, on May 9, 1520, the King of Spain made Don Fernando de Cabrera y Bobadilla the Earl of Chinchón. The Diccionario heráldico y genealógico de apellidos españoles y Americanos actually dedicates 103 pages to Bobadilla’s many Spanish branches, which are too numerous to discuss in this work.  However, interested persons can access this information at the following website, which has reproduced the information from the Diccionario:  
http://www.casarealrurikovich.com/antepasados/bobadilla.pdf

Bobadillas Arrive in the Americas
With the migration of Spaniards to the Americas in the Sixteenth Century, several Bobadillas are known to have embarked to the New World. In April 1535, Francisco de Bobadilla, a resident of Ubeda (a city in Jaén in Spain's south) left for the Americas.  In February 1538, Alonso de Bobadilla left the Villa of Bobadilla for a life in the New World.  

The Bobadillas of Jalisco
The first known Bobadilla to arrive in Jalisco was Pedro Bobadilla, from Extremadura, an autonomous community of western Spain. Pedro Bobadilla has been described as the “conquistador de Jamaica” who came to Nueva España and Nueva Galicia. He was married to Maria and was one of the first 63 founders of Guadalajara in 1542. Pedro was also the first to die in the newly-established parish. Pedro’s son, Francisco Bobadilla is also listed as an early resident of Guadalajara.  

Since the 1540’s, the surname Bobadilla has spread from Guadalajara to many parts of the State of Jalisco, but is most prevalent in the following communities:

• Etzatlan
• Sayula
• Tlajomulco de Zuniga
• Zacoalco de Torres
• Totatiche
• Ahualulco de Mercado
• Acatlan
• Colotlán

Copyright © 2011 by John P. Schmal. All Rights Reserved.

 Sources: Archivo General de Indias. Pasajeros a Indias : libros de asientos (Sevilla, 1978).  

Casa Real e Imperial Rurikovich, “Linaje Bobadilla,” Online: http://www.casarealrurikovich.com/antepasados/bobadilla.pdf  

De Atienza, Julio. Nobiliario Español: Diccionario heraldico de Apellidos Españoles y de titulos nobiliarios (Madrid, 1959).  

García y Carraffa, Alberto and Arturo. Diccionario heráldico y genealógico de apellidos españoles y Americanos (1920-1963), 86 volumes.  

Martins Zúquete, Alfonso Eduardo. Armorial lusitano; genealogia e heráldica (Lisboa, Editorial Enciclopédia, 1961).  

Muria, Jose Maria and Olveda, Jaime. Lecturas históricas de Guadalajara : generalidades históricas sobre la fundación y los primeros años de Guadalajara (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Guadalajara, 1991).  

Origen del apellido Bobadilla. Online: http://www.misabueso.com/nombres/apellido_bobadilla.html  

Woods, Richard D. and Alvarez-Altman, Grace. Spanish Surnames in the Southwestern United States: A Dictionary (G. K. Hall, Boston, 1978).

CUENTOS

AMANDO SAENZ

Written By: Samuel Saenz 10/28/2011
Co-Edited By: Tomas and Antonio Saenz 

February 2012

Chapter 2

Amando’s Teen-Age Years (1943-1949)  

As Amando became a teenager, he phased out of the shoe shining business and into more permanent work opportunities.  .  He learned quickly to fluently speak the English language through his own initiatives despite the fact that he had limited schooling.  This was something no one in the family had done before.  During this period of time the ability of his family to speak English was very limited as Spanish was the spoken language at home and in the barrio.  Being able to speak English allowed Amando to move on to bigger and better things and it also provided him the foundation to gradually assume co-leadership role in the family affairs.

Amando ventured out and interfaced with the Gringo community of our small town. . He would go out to restaurants looking for dish washing jobs and into the neighborhoods offering yard work service.  Amando would also occasionally help his father with his part time meat selling business.  His father would buy several goats and sheep’s and butcher them at home.  Amando and his younger brothers would go out into the streets and sell the meat. 

During the cotton harvest season, Amando would work the fields picking cotton in South Texas.  He obtained a more permanent job when he joined the main labor force working at a restaurant called “OUR CAFÉ’ as a dish washer.  The 24 hour Cafe was a very busy place and it was hard working 12 hour shift seven days a week.  The weekly pay for the 84 hours of work was only $14.00.  In his shoe shining days Amando was paid in pennies and now he was making dollars. 

Amando was a hard worker and he had the ability to quickly learn new things.  He made friends with Tim, the chef who was a giant of a man weighing about 375 pounds and folks jokingly called him “Tiny”.  He also befriended Jim, the owner of the restaurant.  It was not long before Amando was promoted to become a short order cook when he was still a young teenager.

Amando was able to get a job because the state of Texas did not enforce the federal and state child labor laws especially for Hispanics who did all the manual work. 

During this time period Amando encountered many trials and tribulations.  Two important events and adventures during this period of his life were as follows:

The Great Train Robbery

It was during WW II when Amando woke up one Sunday morning to find out that a Southern Pacific steam engine freight train had stopped overnight on the rail road tracks near his home.  This was exciting to the family kids as over the years; they had gotten used to entering open parked box cars and retrieving leftover food items and damaged wooden boxes.  This was a very common practice and considered acceptable because no one complaint.  Amando and his younger brother Samuel felt the urge to visit the train, but were unable because they were assisting their father with the meat selling business.  However, Amando’s younger brother, David, who was about six or seven years old, went over to the next door neighbor’s house of Federico Flores (who was nick named “EL PERICO”).  Young David, Federico, the 15 year old neighbor, and his brother-in-law went over to check out the train.   They quickly found that this was an unusual freight train that had all the doors sealed.  Using stones they broke the seal and entered the box car and found a load of fresh delicious apples.  They busted opened several boxes and brought home newly found apples for all friends to see.  When Amando and Samuel returned from selling their meat that afternoon, the whole barrio had gone wild.  All the kids were sacking the railroad car full of apples.  By mid afternoon other kids from different barrios were participating.  It was not long before Amando and Samuel also joined the on-going frenzy and helped themselves with apples.  Soon all the apples had disappeared and someone eventually notified the authorities, who conducted a thorough investigation to find the ring leaders who opened the box car.  That evening the police jailed Federico’s brother-in-law and El Perico was in custody being driven around in a Police car to identify all the participants.  According to little brother David, they spotted him in the streets and El Perico screamed “he is one of the ring leaders who first opened up the freight box car arrest him.”  The authorities stopped him and checked him over, but decided that he did not fit the stereotype of a ring leader because he was too young, puny and raggedy looking.  The authorities ignored El Perico's accusation and allowed little David to leave.  In the meantime, when Amando and Samuel heard the Police were in the barrio looking for the apples, they quickly ran into the outhouse and threw the remaining apples into the pot hole.  Little did they know that inadvertently they had committed a federal crime by stealing government apples destined to an army military base. 

On the next day, Monday, the boys reported to elementary school and it was not long before the Texas Rangers wearing cowboy hats showed up with El Perico to identify the participants.  Both Amando and Samuel were among the accused and taken to the police station for booking.  The boys were embarrassed, booked and order to report to a Texas courthouse hearing. According to Samuel, Amando never gave the feeling that he was frighten like he was.  From the looks of things there must have been 100 or 200 kids involved.  On the day of the hearing approximately 20 to 30 percent of the male kids were accompanied by their parents.  Amando and Samuel walked over alone without parental support. When interrogated by the judge, Amando remained real cool and responded for both of them.  When they asked him how many crates he had stolen he answered   “I did not steal any crates, I just ate some” and this completed his declaration.  Due to the nature of the theft and the number of people involved, the government authorities pardon all the participants and the police records were destroyed. This appears to have been later confirmed by Samuel when during an FBI top secret clearance check of his records in 1961, no such evidence showed up.  Amando and Samuel never again opened up another freight train box car, and the practice of checking the box cars ended.  Younger brother, David, the ring leader, got away without a scratch or stress.

Amando’s Hot Rod Bike

Amando owned and played around with many toys.  However, none of his toys were ever as exciting as when he purchased his first bicycle.  It was around 1945 when Amando was 14 years old.  Amando was employed at the “OUR CAFÉ” and earning money which gave him the capability and confidence in himself.  He was growing up and by now had become an independent minded person.  He knew what he wanted and no one could change his mind.  He continued with his practice of contributing most of his money to support the family.  With his little personal savings, he managed to reach his financial goal to purchase a bicycle.  Amando knew this black brother called “BABE”, from the black community who had the hottest bike in town.  It was one of a kind and no one in town had a bike like that.  BABE was an older taller dude who specialized in bikes and modified them to his creation.  The bike that Amando liked was fully equipped and it was considered sexy looking because it attracted the young girls as one toured the community.  Not many people owned cars during the war years and availability of cars and to some extent bikes were limited due to high expense.  The spotless baby blue bike was equipped with white wall tires, shining chrome rims, adjustable sheep skin seat, two small mirrors, two small lights, a squeezed horn trumpet, and chrome handle bars laced with tassels.  In the middle of the frame he had two small batteries to power the lights and other equipment.  The big kick was that the bike in 1945 had a vacuum tube radio with two antennas, one for the radio and the other was to fly a coon’s tail.  The rear of the bike had tail lights and a special rack for another passenger or cargo.  Needless to say, Amando fell in love with this bike, he desperately wanted to buy it, but the “BABE” did not want to sell.  Amando somehow struck a deal   with the “BABE” and purchased the bike.  Amando was now mobile and he had the first wheels of his life.  He quickly moves about town going to work and enjoyed showing off his new toy.  He was the envy of the neighborhood as few kids in town had bikes.  In those days Texas racial slurs were a common everyday thing.  It was not long thereafter that the barrio kid would see Amando passing by and called to him “Tienes bicicleta de Negro.” Or the down town rednecks would say “there goes Amando, he is riding a n--er bike.”  

 “Sandía Barata, Dulce y Colorada”

By José Antonio López

“Sandía barata, dulce y colorada”, the phrase shouted by the vendor at the top of his or her lungs was a sure way to attract attention in 1950s Laredo, Texas.  Little else in the hot days of summer throughout South Texas had a more welcoming sound than the sandía (watermelon) vendor.   

As happens often in language interpretation, a literal translation of this beautiful Spanish phrase into English doesn’t quite come out right.  A close translation would be, “Watermelon for sale at bargain prices; very sweet and red”.  Close, but it doesn’t do justice to this most respected cultural oral icon of poor and middle income Mexican neighborhoods.  Just repeating the word “sandía” makes my mouth water (no pun intended).   

To be sure, in addition to “El sandillero”, there were many other vendors who travelled through the barrios when I was growing up.  Some did not have slogans to yell, but they filled a niche in the vibrant close-knit barrio community, nonetheless.  There were barbacoa, chicharrones, and taco vendors with their pickup trucks, push-carts, bicycles, and three-wheelers.  Others sold raspa, nieve, dulce Mexicano, and pan (flavored shaved ice, ice cream, Mexican candy, and bread).  The hielero (ice man) made his rounds early in the morning to take advantage of the coolness of the day.  Another favorite was the “tortillero” (tortilla deliveryman) who delivered hot, fresh corn tortillas to your doorstep right before lunchtime.  In those days, most every barrio had its own tortillería and panadería.  However, those mom & pop small business crown jewels were swept away by large grocery stores, such as H.E.B.  There was also “el lechero” (milkman).  Although in our neighborhood, we had a choice.  While there were several national and local brand cows’ milk lecheros, goat herders in the barrio also delivered goat’s milk and cheese to a select clientele.     

El “afilador” (sharpener) pushed a large cart carrying a stone wheel.  He didn’t have to knock on doors.  The noise of the oversize metal wheels and the barking of dogs announced his arrival on your street.  He pushed his cart slowly along and stopped when summoned by a voice calling out from one of the casas, “Espere, por favor” (please wait).  Using a foot pedal or hand crank to turn the stone, he sharpened housewife’s kitchen knives and scissors.  He also sharpened larger tools, such as axes and carpentry saws.  El afilador charged only a few pennies for his services.   

However, back to our featured vendor, the sandillero.  Most sandía vendors drove their watermelon filled trucks very slowly through barrio streets to avoid damaging their precious cargo.  For one thing, most of the streets in my barrio were unpaved.  To protect the sandías from the sun, most truck beds were fitted with a wooden frame covered by a weather-beaten lona (canvas).  The soft fruit was layered in between cushions of straw, hay, or crumpled newspapers to avoid bruising of the sandias.  Often, the load also included a supply of melón (cantaloupe).  

Most of the time, the driver had a small crew, usually his wife and/or one or two of his kids.  Carefully keeping his eyes on the road, the driver depended on his helpers to sell his fruit.  Those riding in the back were usually the first to see a customer coming out their front door as the truck passed by.  To signal the driver to stop, the helpers often used a hammer to bang a couple of times on the sides of the truck.   

It was not always necessary for the driver to leave the cab of his truck.  Most of the selling was done by his wife and children who charged anywhere from 25 to 50 cents for each melon.  The selling system had its own protocol.  There were a few questions to be asked.   

“Cual le gusta?”  (Which one do you like?)  The customer would scan the load and point to a specific one.  Often, they would make their final choice after the usual “thumping” on the surface of the melon, waiting to hear that special sound.  It was a very personal decision.  Once the customer made a selection, the seller asked the next question.   

“Y como la quiere Señora, calada o no?”  This was a critical moment during the transaction.  A “calada” was a quick way to both judge the inside appearance and taste of the melon.  Very simply, using a sharp knife, the helper cut a small square on the surface and sliced out a wedge that went to the center of the sandía.  He or she then carefully removed the wedge and offered it to the customer for a taste.  It should be noted that sandía calada was usually purchased if it was to be consumed immediately.  If the sandía was bought to eat the next day, it was usually bought sin calar (without testing).

With its beautiful waxy sheen and rich, dark green skins, the Black Diamond was the favorite round melon of choice.  Even so, several hybrids had already been introduced by this time to extend fruit shelf life, and bug and disease tolerance.  The extended range included seedless, yellow and orange flesh and the differently shaped striped oblong varieties we see today.  

Laredo had several truck stops specializing in watermelon selling.  One of the closest to downtown and my neighborhood was the Central Plaza stop.  Central Plaza (Plaza de la noria), located across from my elementary school was a hive of activity during the growing season.  The location also served as a social gathering spot for workers looking for employment in seasonal field work.  Several large trucks parked side by side, each competing for attention from local customers.  Customers ran the gamut in ages.  Busy parents often sent their children to buy a sandía who carried the melons home in small wooden wagons.  Laborers on their way home from work usually placed their purchase in a costal (burlap sack) and threw it over their shoulder as they proceeded home.  Of course, vehicles of every type stopped by and slowly cruised the length of the block searching for that special sandia and best value price.  

It was at this stationary place where my brothers and I used to help my relatives from San Ygnacio who came to Laredo to sell their sandias.  Frankly, I was better at doing the manual labor of loading and unloading.  Selling the melons was a job best done by my brother Jorge.   As a 12-year-old, he was often left in charge of the entire inventory of sandias in the truck.   

So endearing was the sandía in the Mexican American community that no summertime gathering was complete without at least one sandía being shared in friendship.  For many, it was the allure of a large, crushed-ice cooled sandia slice that kept them from leaving someone’s home too soon.  “No te vayas,” an old saying goes, “en un ratito partimos la sandía”.  

In closing, it must be noted that we live in a time today when the legitimacy of Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens is questioned only because there is much confusion as to why this specific segment of the U.S. population maintains the Mexican cultural identity of their ancestors.  As such, it is up to us to remind others that these authentic “American” traditions were not brought to the U.S. by immigrants.  Whether our customs began as original family traditions over 400 years ago in Nuevo México, or in California, Arizona, Colorado, or Texas, they are all precious reminders of our rich heritage.  Our barrio way of life began before the U.S. itself was created.  That is the big difference!  That is what makes our Spanish Mexican heritage in the U.S. so uniquely special.


    

FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH

The central library in Milwaukee,Wisc., is replete with foreign-language newspapers that popped up during the great migrations of Czechs, Poles, and German immigrants to the Midwest in the mid-1800s.

In fact, all across the Midwest librarians have been attentive to preserving this part of their region’s history by collecting those publications which tell of the lives and travails of the immigrants to those areas.

“These little newspapers are invaluable to researchers and historians who want to know the day-to-day lives of these groups,” said Roxane Polzine, of the Minnesota Historical Society. “While English-language newspapers were generally interested with the dominant population, we have very little to document what was of concern to these communities. Their preservation is invaluable to any community’s history.”

Unfortunately, until recently no such effort had been made in the case of Spanish-language newspapers and weeklies that popped up in South Texas during the great migrations of Mexicans that occurred as a result of social upheavals an revolution across the Rio Grande in Mexico.

http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/01/el-puerto-newspaper-recognized-as.html    

DNA

Before taking a DNA test, I have always wondered, "Why am I the way I am," but I knew that the stories my grandmother used to tell me won't be considered hard concrete evidence because sometimes when we are young, our elders tend to exaggerate them to keep us entertained. Yes, the results were a surprise because I discovered that I had like possible Chinese in my background that I never really knew or my family. However, when the results showed that I am 13% Sub-Saharan African I was definitely surprised because I was recently told that the blood was so watered down, that there would be no detection of it left. 

Before receiving this information, I saw myself as only Mexican American. I don't really know how the migration for my family worked out, but I do think I understand my identity little better.

The results of the DNA

Parents of Galdino Zamora: 
Juan Basquez Zamora/ Paula Washington Hinojosa

Parents of Gloria Longoria:
Juan Lopez Longoria/ Adelaida Renaud de Gomez

Parents of Adelaida  
Cosme Gomez/ Emilia Delores Renaud 

Parents of Delores: 
Louis Philippe Renaud/ Carmelita Levier Longoria 

Other surnames I connect to are Hinojosa, Lopez, Gonzalez, Solis, Vela, and many others.

Christopher Scott
cmscott252@yahoo.com 

Sent by Rafael Ojeda
Tacoma WA

Suggested by the author: 
The Mayas once lived in this North Carolina community 
Mexican scientists finger volcanoes as a cause of Mayas' collapse 
Ruins in Georgia mountains show evidence of Maya connection 
Mayas in the USA controversy: You be the juror Did the Olmec 
Civilization originate in Louisiana?

ORANGE COUNTY, CA

Saturday, FEBRUARY 11th 
 
Ron Gonzales, Orange County Register staff writer-
World War II Stories, plus other efforts to promote Hispanic Heritage in Orange County  

Orange Multi-Regional Family History Center
674 S. Yorba St.  Orange, 92863-6471

9:00-10:00 Learning Traditional Spanish Language Songs
                      9:00-10:00 Hands-on Computer Assistance for Genealogical Research 
10:00-10:15 Group gathers, introductions, announcements
            10:15-11:30  Speaker and/or Special Workshop 

Ron Gonzales, a long time friend of SHHAR is the Senior Team Leader at OC Register Demographic info Orange County, California Area | Writing and Editing Current:Sr. Team Leader at The Orange County Register Past:Asst. Metro Editor at The Press-Enterprise, Reporter at The Press-Enterprise, Reporter at San Jose Mercury News, Reporter at The Press-Enterprise Education: Loyola Marymount University, University of California, Berkeley. 

SHHAR meetings and activities are open to everyone.  There is no cost and no membership requirement.  We are a self-help group, sharing what we know and promoting a more fact-based history of the Hispanic presence.  We meet at an LDS Family History Center, a hands-on media library with books, maps, films, microfiche, computers and access to family history websites, which usually require a fee, but are free at the Orange FHC.   Come and learn with us   Share your family history.

SHHAR members are frequent presenters for local and out of state groups.  In addition, the group often mounts family history displays for community events.  The SHHAR board is planning to broaden its community outreach in 2012 to include  choir and dance activities.  The goal is to prepare selections of historically based entertainment, with a focus on the early California time period.  

Choir Group:  Frances Rios, well-known performing pianist and teacher will be guiding the choir group. She will assisted by
Judy Avalos,  President of the Placentia Community Chorus, and Gabriel Zavala, founder and CEO of  Rhythmo Inc.  Practices precede the monthly presentation.  

Dance Group:  Richard and Ruth Duree, well known dancers, historians, re-enactors, will share their expertise, focusing on the historic dances of Early California, traditional dances from the Rancho Period (1825-1860). You do not need partners or dance experience and the classes are free. The following classes will meet in the same building as the Family History Center, 

This effort is just starting out.  If you are interested in participating in our music outreach, choir or dance, please call 
Mimi  714-894-8161.  Everyone is welcomed.  

HERITAGE MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY
Presidents and Patriots, Saturday, February 11

L-R: Michelle Caligiuri, Program Coordinator, Executive Director Candace Chromy, Board Chair John Wallin, and Board Vice Chair Yvonne Gonzales Duncan pose with Dr. Thelma Melendez at the reception held at HMOC in her honor as the new Superintendent of Santa Ana Unified School District.

UMAVA IS HOLDING ITS FIRST FUND-RAISING DANCE

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19TH, 3-7 PM

 Music will be provided by a Riverside group: "LOS QUATES"

$25. a couple, $13. an individual
Food will be available
For more information:  
Please call Elsie Mendez  714-373-0634 or Sid Gauna, 949-310-8207

MAP OF LA PLACITA DRAWN IN 1886

Below is the calendar of presenters and meetings for 2012.  
You may want to copy the schedule and challenge yourself to make some of the meetings.

MARCH  10th - John Schmal, author of several books and genealogy researcher, will make a presentation 
"Mexican Genealogical Research: Beginning Your Search" with the intention of encouraging people who have not yet traced their ancestry back and with a focus on sources such as naturalizations, alien registration, border crossings, etc.).  A second part of John Schmal's presentation will deal with Mexican records. .

APRIL 14Th  - "Teaching Mariachi music"- Maestro Gabriel B. Zavala is the founder and CEO of Rhythmo Inc. He and his family have dedicated their lives to giving back to the community, by sharing their music.

MAY 12th - Viola Sadler, Retired teacher and long time member of SHHAR will make a presentation on “Using Marriage Dispensations in your Research." Records of marriage dispensations can reveal a few generations of your lineage and why you are related to the same ancestors several times. Learn to appreciate the phrase "Somos Primos" (we are cousins) more clearly, and understand the reasons our ancestors married cousins.  

JUNE 9th - Henry Marquez, genealogy researcher and former member of the SHHAR Board of Directors, will share his research on his lineage to some of the Royal Families of Europe.  

AUGUST 11th -Annual Board meeting 12:00 noon  

SEPTEMBER 8TH  - Mimi Lozano ,"Discovering the Sephardic Connection, from the earliest Biblical roots to the current DNA findings". Mimi has been editor of Somos Primos since its first issue, 22 years ago, first as a print quarterly, 1990 through 1999, and then as a monthly on the web, 2000-20120.  Her discovery of a possible Jewish connection fascinates her.  Was her grandmother, a hidden Jew?  

OCTOBER 13TH  - "Writing Your Family History"  Tom Saenz, retired school administrator and member of the SHHAR Board of Directors,  will share his experiences in researching his paternal and maternal genealogy and in writing his family history.  His presentation will include specific ideas and suggestions for compiling needed information to write your family genealogy and history.  Sample copies of family books will be on shared.   Mr. Saenz' ancestors are from Northern Mexico and South Texas, some of which were recipients of Spanish and Mexican Land Grants.  

NOVEMBER 10TH- Jerry Martinez, historian and author will make a presentation on his newest book, "Timely Conquest" where he will discuss the conquest of New Mexico by the American Westward movement (Manifest Destiny).  From a New Mexican Hispanic point of view, he will specifically address the implications of the conquest on the society of that era including things such as government, religion, education, language and culture, etc.  Mr. Martinez also wrote "Leche de Coyote" the book that inspired him to write "Timely Conquest.  

NO MEETING IN DECEMBER.

LOS ANGELES, CA