Adelante como Elefante...

2007 was a bitch for la Raza.
The ICE raids spilt familias and have gente living in fear.
Immigration is at the top of idiot politicos 'issues' and this of course affects us all.
The war, remember we are at war, is ignored in lieu of making sure people are guilted into paying a visit to the church of consumerism, the mall, and making large donations.

Despite all that, they can't stop us.
We can celebrate in the most humblest of situations.
We are healthier than everyone else, outliving others by at least 7-10yrs.
Our customs are changing the cultural landscape: The news on the 24th was about how for so many people, the 24th and NOT the 25th is Christmas.
Our magazines, TV channels, radio stations are blowing up as Madison Ave. scrambles to figure out how to market to us. What Spanish will be understood by most, Spanglish?
The other headline earlier in the month was about the massses recognizing La Virgen.

They can't stop us.

On New Year's Eve KCRW is having Pachucoville homeboy Raul Campos host "A Latin New Years Eve." Raul has myself, Little Louie Vega for an hour, DJs from the bands: Kinky, Pinker Tones, & Los Amigos Invisibles, DJ Santi and others lay down some serious mixing like only us mestizo mixers can from 9pm-1am. Tune in si puedes. KCRW.org will be archiving it as well. This Westside station recognizes! We are the future, despite all the hate and fear we create in small minds, we will run this place. Are you ready? Bring it!!!

Navid-istmas

My mom was born in Chavez Ravine, more specifically La Loma, even more specifically on the kitchen table. She was raised during the most racist era of U.S history, next to the colonial era, the 1950's. Her Mexican-ness was thus downplayed, so I grew up celebrating Christmas on the 25th while all my neighbors and friends celebrate on the 24th.

In my journey of de-colonization I have left Catholicism, western religions in whole and their adherent celebrations. Nonetheless I am surrounded by friends and neighbors celebrating these days. It is inescapable.

I could join in and have two days of this: party with friends and neighbors today the 24th and continue on into the 25th with my family, but I would feel like a hypocrite.

During my college years I would hermitized myself during these days, locking myself in my home, renting videos and chilling out in my head while everyone else did their traditions. See you on New Year's!

Now that I have my daughter, I participate in whatever she asks of me, either the 24th or the 25th. For a few years we would go to the Dorthy Chandler to see the Christmas Eve Holiday Show they put on every year. Last year we missed, so this year she doesn't want to go. I will honor my parents by taking my daughter to their dinner on the 25th.

I'm perplexed today. I can go to church with friends and see a real Mexican Navidad with a big Mexican family. I'm an only child, so more than three peeps is a bigger family to me. I can get with my pocho pals and go to DEEP's Pajama Party in Venice tonight. Or I can hunker down solo, go for I'm sure would be an amazing bike ride through empty streets and rent me some flicks.

I know I am blessed to have such great choices.

I hope you feel and appreciate your blessings not just at this time of year, its so cliche, but always.

Se me cuidan...

Channel Zero

From the minds of Esteban Zul, Lalo Alcaraz and bunch of other Aztlanese.

The Flour Wars

Can you spot me?

Eastside essentials

Eastside has:
-botanicas
-bionicos
-bu~elos, tamales and champurrado on street corners
-elotes, tacos, hot dogs w bacon, everyday, at anytime
-verduleros
-98cent stores, not just 99cents
-the majority of people are Mexican, Chicana/os or some generation of Raza immigrant
-banda music, techno, explicit rap, and KROQ 80's music blasting out of homes and cars
-we know what KROQ music is newbies
-backyard parties with DJs that play every type of music without being ironic or thinking it's kitsch
-segundas
-strolling mariachis
-Virgen murals on most street corners, most with accompanying flowers and candles from the devout


What the Eastside DOES NOT HAVE, or need:
-gellato
-fixed gear riders
-Pabst Blue Ribbon
-know how to spell kitsch
-overpriced Mexican food
-vintage stores
-chain smoking, depressed looking gringos
-juice bars
-translation

The Codes of Warriors and Thieves...

This long holiday break saw me renting four films that were all linked on a superficial level by the code of warriors and/or thieves.
"Letters of Iwo Jima"
"Ninja Scroll"
"The Transporter"
"The Wild Bunch"
Yes all very macho, violent, action filled, blood and guts. I watched alone so I chose what I wanted.
In all of them the characters were morally ambiguous. They all killed for various motivations, but they maintained a code of honor, integrity, and discipline which were shaped by a life of extreme violence and circumstances.
When speaking with a friend about these codes, and the often sexist and racist settings in which the stories took place, I asked if artistically should filmmakers sugar coat the past in fiction in order to present not so sexist, racist and stereotypical images. They responded immediately with" "Of course they should, it would make their audience much bigger and the main point of making movies is to entertain and make a lot of money." I was asking if it was artistically or morally correct to change history in a work of fiction for a greater good. Needless to say, said friend works for a major multinational media monster which often dishonors historical facts for a cheesy love story.
They presented the capitalist motto: Profits at any cost.
In the context of the the broader conversation the codes of warriors and thieves seem to be a better alternative than today's psychopathic capitalism.
The samurai, the soldiers, and the former members of military branches turned thieves and shady businessmen, were ruthless and brutal, but they had rules. Most of the rules were to protect themselves, but at the same time served as a stop to potentially greater violence, loss of life and money. There was a limit.
We need honor, integrity and discipline to come back into mode. These give us limits.
Right now we can look around and see that our leaders were never in any situation that helped shape their honor, integrity or discipline, so they act without restriction or any real remorse. Moral compasses are twisted so that, multi million dollar homes that were burned are visited for photo opportunities, but entire bays that are environmental catastrophes are treated as every day accidents. Overeating contests and $1,500 desserts get 5 minutes of media coverage, while drought conditions are ignored until it is time to institute water police, which contribute to the police state/union.
I gotta pull out my old Carlos Castaneda books and re-read the parts of being an impeccable warrior. I know I need to work on my honor, integrity and discipline, because I have not seen many examples of that in a long time... except in bloody morally ambiguous films.

fee, fi, fo, fum, how are U beating boredom...sleep?

Several friends have mentioned to me that they have no idea what to do with themselves this holiday break. I'm kind of in the same boat. I do got things to do it's just not what I really want to do or what I think I should be doing on a break like this.
My students are excited about not having to come to school, so am I, but when I ask them what are they going to do, many just say: SLEEP.
Isn't excessive sleep a sign of depression? I like sleeping. I also read that sleeping makes you live longer. Maybe if you are depressed and you sleep a lot, you work it out in your dreams, which equals less stress on the body which leads to longer life?
I had some crazy dreams lately. In two very different situations I would get pissed off and then blew up. I don't blow up in waking life like I did in my dreams/nightmares. In these dreams I threw chairs and table at windows, not to get out, but to destroy. I threw other objects at cars, buildings and an airplane in an anger that I have only felt in that dream.
The cause of the anger wasn't even that important, I missed a flight time, a bus left me, someone told me 'No.' There I was in dream landia blowing up. I scared myself and was tired when I woke up. Today a fellow commuter told me she had similarly angry dreams. In hers there were kitties with steel rods sticking out of their chest, so they couldn't runaway, so hey that should piss anyone off. I hope if I sleep alot this break I don't have those kinds of dreams.

I feel the need to pack up and get out of town after fulfilling familial obligations. I'm tired of hearing about this or that store opening at 4am and the sales I just NEED to be at. I also need to correct two virtual stacks of papers that are coming in tonight. Sure I can blow them off, head to Vegas, be in a stupor all weekend and then correct the papers hungover, but then I'd be more tired afterwards. I can be responsible, stay in town, correct papers during the day, go out at night. We'll see...