Come on gente...

I just read these two posts about Raza in Baldwin Park who are begging to look like every other strip mall 'hood outside the core. Based on this LA Times article it is a sad aspect of the assimilation process. Why do suburban Raza (and some core residents) equate corporate stores with "moving on up?"

The babosadas from the city officials is heartbreaking. Baldwin Park Mayor Manuel Lozano is quoted: "We want what Middle America has as well," said the second-generation Mexican American, recounting the meeting. "We like to go to nice places like Claim Jumpers, Chili's and Applebee's. . . . We don't want the fly-by-night business, the 'amigo store,' which they use to attract Latinos like myself."

WTF?!?!? Nice places? Maybe if you gave tax breaks and low interest loans to small existing businesses they could be the 'nice' you want.

Later in the article Anthony Bejarano, a Baldwin Park councilman identified as a Georgetown Law school graduate said, "I love to go to traditional Mexican restaurants. I shop at Vallarta [supermarket], but I can't get everything I need," he said. "At the end of the day, it's all Mexican restaurants here. When we want Italian, when we want sushi, where do we go? If I want a pair of Kenneth Coles, I have to go to Arcadia."

Boo hoo. "I can't get my Kenneth Coles or sushi." MAMON! Your ass chose to live in the boonies what do you expect? Use that Law degree to get better more diverse digs foo'.

The irony escapes these pendejos. Here in Boyle Heights, in Downtown LA, and what use to be Echo Park you have white Americans moving to these "ethnic" neighborhoods because of the "amigo" stores, because of the diversity, because they have a local panederia instead of a Starbucks. If these pendejos are trying to be like middle America, they are missing the point and out of step that middle America wants to be us. One day they will wake up next to their dye blonde family and realize that they had everything they needed but they chose to bury it under the same stucco mall that middle America tired of and did away with.

El Chavo breaks down these 'Lateeenos' mentalities best: "...while Americans are now more interested in leaving a “smaller carbon footprint” (uggh) they’re still trying to buy a Hummer. While Americans are exploring the benefits of “Edible Estates” (uggh, retch) they try to erase all evidence of that small milpa of corn their parents once grow in the front yard, now turned into a worthless patch of wasteful lawn. If anything, Latinos should be sharing the skills of getting by with less, being resourceful and getting creative with what you do have, rather than taking on the baggage of the culture of consumption."

Amen brother!

We are running out of resources and some fools still think they need to consume like the Jones'. Que babosos.

Yes we need healthier food options in the barrios and a Trader Joes offers that, but I still want my Big Buy with the veladoras and chicharones on the shelves. We don't need Starbucks high calorie frapa-cacas, Latinos are overweight as it is.

I welcome this much needed discussion. It is about values and what we think we need to live best by. Like the other bloggers I believe everything can co-exist. Bring in the good, the healthy, and what we can learn from, but keep out the dead, sterile and plain. Keep the funk, keep the low prices. As gas and everything else goes up we will soon all see how much we will need to know how to do with less.

Whys?

I guess I'm riding a navel gazing wave. Thoughts linger and make me wonder. Some are taboo topics that many don't like to think about, some are oddball, some just lame.

- Why do we often mourn the pregnancy of a young woman of under 18, but if she miscarries, we also mourn that? How can one day we be sad that 'her life will be hard,' then if she doesn't carry til term, we are sad again? Isn't it a second chance?

- How can we support our friends after a break up with an abuser, but be happy for them when they return to him/her saying he/she has changed after only a month or two apart?

- Does osmosis between people exist? Like: Does hanging out with dumb (or smart) people make you dumb (or smart)?

- When Christians die, do they lay in their grave until Judgment Day OR do they automatically go to Heaven?

- What is the perfect Valentine's?

- Who really is The MAN and is he with The WOMAN? What is she in charge of?

- What degree of separation are kissing cousins ok? 2nd cousins? 3rd?

- Is it incest if you 'learn' (no penetration) about anatomy from your brother or sister? Or is it just show and tell? BTW I'm an only child. I'm just saying.

- Can we all develop psychic abilities with practice? Isn't the brain a muscle, if we just work it out...

- Can we really forgive and forget or do we just play nice?

- Is it weird when your ex stays friends with the people you introduced her/him to or is it just that you have really cool friends that are more fun than her's/his? OR is it that they just want to keep some connection to you?

- Are those friends who keep talking to your exes, really YOUR friends?

- When will the writer's strike really end?

- Is everyone as excited about LOST as I am?


Yes it's one of those days....

DJ Rant

I'm not teaching or preaching about some important issue or past
I'm not painting, reciting or calling the gods with ancient drums
I'm not filming and showing some reality I think you need to know about
I'm just the DJ

I'm not doing public therapy
I'm not claiming I know the truth
I'm not asking for the mic or spotlight
I'm just the DJ

You don't have to pay me
-I'm a selector who just loves showing off his collection
You don't have to bill me on the flyer
-I know no one is coming just to see and hear me
You don't even have to know my name
-I don't care
I'm just the DJ

I'm a God when I play your favorites
A devil when I don't take requests
I can make your body move in ways you do only when naked
I can hurt your ears and make you wish you were dead
I am the DJ

Just because I don't jump around claiming revolution everyday
Doesn't mean I just know a turntable's revolutions
I don't need a gun or mask
I can crack a record or CD and slice your ass
I can throw a speaker and crush your face
I can tie you up in wires do what I please and what you fear
I am a DJ

I play old stuff and new to make you remember and escape
To say what I got to say I use recorded sounds combined in new ways
I speak in a language you may not know today
I don't rely on images of calaveras, virgens, lowriders, gangsters, dead revolutionaries, and Aztec pasts.
What are you trying to say over and over and over, again and again and again?
What do I know, I'm just a DJ.

I don't splash paint and say it is deep
I can't hide my mistake of going off beat
I don't write on walls and expect it last forever
I know my mixes are temporary, you just had to be there
I don't write a play or book and think no one has said it before
I know some one some where is playing the same record I am
I am a DJ

I am a dime a dozen
One of me is born everyday
So little talent is required
...right (?)
Play the same records
Don't care to learn how to mix
All that scratchin is makin me itch!

Gays in the disco honor me
Hip hop disowned me
Rockers now wish they were me
Ravers of course hail me
Couples in weddings need me
Promoters under pay me
Users use me
Promoters over pay me
Dancers love me
Dealers like me
Club owners bare with me
Outsider, second thought, background noise, lord of the dance...
Postmodern nightmare
I am a DJ


(Happy B-day Bowie! 1/8)