"Guy Gabaldon, Pied Piper of Saipan" 
24x30 oil by Henry Godines©2006  

Content Areas
United States. . .4
Creation of a National Latino Museum. . .38
Military Heroes and Research. . .43
Spanish Sons of the American Revolution. . .54
Surname. . .68
Cuentos. . .71
Orange County, CA. . .79
Los Angeles, CA. . .86
California. . .89
Northwestern United States. . .93
Southwestern United States. . .95
Black . . .101
Indigenous. . .105
Sephardic. . .115

Texas . . .120
East of the Mississippi . . .132
East Coast. . .134
Mexico. . .141
Caribbean/Cuba. . .168
Spain. . .170
International. . .173
History. . .178
Family History . . .179
Archaeology. . .183
Miscellaneous. . .184
Calendar. . .
Networking . . .
Meetings:.SHHAR quarterly, May 27th
END. . .

  Letters to the Editor : 

I really enjoy your site. Please add me to your list.
Thanks, Irby Atkinson, US Army Recon SGT/
US Navy Chief Retired 
irby1947@gmail.com,

§
Mimi, Your latest issue of Somos Primos,  is by far the most interesting and informative.  I was able to share the African influence in Mexico with some Sailors that are originally from Africa.  To learn from each others backgrounds and origins
 is fascinating.  
 
Good job, Your Friend in Japan
Robert Gonzalez (del Valle Tejas)
Robert_Gonzalez@yoko.fisc.navy.mil  

§
Mimi; Felicidades!!!! Somos primos cada dia es mejor. . .  Excelente Trabajo . . Muchos exitos.
Carlos Olamendi  olamendi@cox.net
 
§
What can I say?  Once again, you and your family and your staff outdid yourselves.  I particularly liked Guy Gabaldon's documentary, etc.  He is truly a hero.  In addition, I am originally from Laredo, Texas, and I always wondered why we had a Washington's Parade, instead of a Benito Juarez Parade, etc.  Now, I know why due to the article written on the history of Laredo during those years.  Again, there are so many article that not only opened my eyes but my heart and soul in appreciating your hard work. As we old pachucos would say back in Texas, "Dale gas and take it away"
Willie Perez  gillermoperez@sbcglobal.net

The Superior man is modest in his speech, 
but exceeds in his actions. - -  Confucius

United States

Assemblyman Van Tran, Mimi and Speaker of the House, Fabian Nunez on the House Floor, reflecting California's rich multi-cultural population. 

In addition to portraits on display of  each woman,
 a California map has snapshots of the 120 women.

First lady Maria Shriver, the featured speaker, called each of the winners "inspiring." Their photographs and stories will be displayed at the California Museum for History, Women and the Arts in Sacramento, as are those of other recipients of the award that was established 20 years ago.

"None of these women waited to be asked, none of these women waited to be told, they just went out and did it and so doing it, they changed people's lives, they changed communities and they changed the state of California," Shriver said.

Saturday, March 25, 2006 March 
More than 500,000 rally in Los Angeles for Immigrants' Rights
By Teresa Watanabe and Anna Gorman, Times Staff Writer, March 25, 2006

Joining what some are calling the nation's largest mobilization of immigrants ever, hundreds of thousands of people boisterously marched in downtown Los Angeles Saturday to protest federal legislation that would crack down on undocumented immigrants, penalize those who help them and build a security wall on the U.S. southern border. Spirited crowds representing labor, religious groups, civil-rights advocates and ordinary immigrants stretched over 26 blocks of downtown Los Angeles from Adams Blvd. along Spring Street and Broadway to City Hall, tooting kazoos, waving American flags and chanting "Si se puede!" (Yes we can!).

The crowd, estimated by police at more than 500.000, represented one of the largest protest marches in Los Angeles history, surpassing Vietnam War demonstrations and the 70,000 who rallied downtown against Proposition 187, a 1994 state initiative that denied public benefits to undocumented migrants. The marchers included both longtime residents and the newly arrived, bound by a desire for a better life and a love for this county.

Pew Briefing on Immigration Survey 

Pew Hispanic Center Director Roberto Suro and Pew Research Center President Andrew Kohut will host a briefing to review results from the most comprehensive recent survey on immigration, "America's Immigration Quandary." This survey report is available at www.pewhispanic.org
 and www.people-press.org.   
Sent by Juan Ramos, Ph.D. jramos.swkr@comcast.net

On the topic of Immigration: Student Visas and Tourist Visas
The following information was extracted from an article by Steve Schultze of the Journal Sentinel staff  Sept. 24, 2001  Washington http://www.journalinteractive.com/utilities/emailstory.asp?url=http%3A//www2
.jsonline.com/news/attack/sep01/immig25092401.asp 

The U.S. has about 500,000 foreigners on student visas, and 4.2 million people last year were granted visas for tourism or business purposes. An estimated 40% of immigrants are in the U.S. illegally, primarily for overstaying visas.

Federal policy on nabbing those who overstay visas is basically "to overlook it because it benefits our economy," said Susan Forbes Martin, an immigration expert who spoke Monday on terrorism and immigration issues at a separate forum at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.

Chasing down immigrants who illegally stay in the United States too long has been a low priority and should remain that way, said Doris Meissner, the former commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

[[ Fact: 17 of the 19 involved with the  911 assault were overstayed student Visas. ]]

WASHINGTON -- Four years ago, California passed a law granting in-state tuition to students who were in the U.S. illegally but had graduated from a California high school. Eight other states followed, allowing illegal immigrants to attend public colleges for in-state student fees -- usually less than half what out-of-state students pay.

DiAnna Schimek, a Democrat who heads the Nebraska Senate's education committee, says she has pushed for an in-state tuition bill for illegal immigrants as a matter of compassion and economic calculation. "These children didn't bring themselves" but were brought by their parents, she says. "It's only a good investment on our part to make certain they are productive citizens."

But attitudes have been hardening . . So while some legislators want to extend tuition benefits to illegal immigrants in their states, others are calling for laws to deny the benefit -- or take it back.

The tuition laws generally require illegal immigrants to have attended a local high school for three years, to have graduated or earned a high-school equivalency and to sign an affidavit promising to legalize their immigration status as soon as they are eligible.

Promoters expect few students to actually take up the benefit. Dropout rates are high and academic scores generally are low among Hispanics, who account for the majority of illegal aliens. And even in-state tuition, which averages about $5,500 this year, may be out of reach for children whose parents typically hold minimum-wage jobs.

Although illegal immigrants who get the tuition benefit pledge to legalize their status, there is almost no way they can do that under current laws. And even with a college degree, there is almost no way for illegal immigrants to legally get a job.

For years, congressional supporters have promoted a measure, called the Dream Act, that would clear up those problems. States would be allowed to offer in-state tuition to illegal-immigrant students who, in turn, could become citizens.

In 2003, almost half the Senate cosponsored the Dream Act. But the Dream Act's prospects have faded, and this year its pivotal supporter, Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, withdrew as a sponsor. "Realistically, the Dream Act will not pass" and should be included in an overhaul of immigration laws, he said.

This trend bodes ill or America's inner cities. High crime, poor education and drugs have become seemingly intractable problems. But they can be solved - one home at a time. Having a male role model in the house can mean the difference between a future lie of poverty and crime and one of success. This is in no way meant to diminish the role of the mother in a child's life. The fact is that single mothers face tremendous challenges trying to juggle the responsibilities of home and work.

It is essential for young children to see a male figure follow the law and say out of jail, wake up every morning and go to work, and come home at night and treat his wife with respect. And the statistics bear this out: 71 percent of all high school dropouts, 85 percent of all children who exhibit behavioral problems come from fatherless homes.

National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) is a national membership organization that addresses the professional needs of Latino/Latina independent producers. Founding in 1999, NALIP has since held five national Conferences, developed local chapters, and hosted many regional workshops and networking events that develop the professional skills of film, television, documentary and new media makers. In 2003, three new National Initiatives were launched: a Latino Writer's Lab, a Latino Producers Academy and a Latino Media Resource Guide published in print and online.

NALIP's mission is to promote the advancement, development and funding of Latino/Latina film and media arts in all genres. NALIP is the only national organization committed to supporting both grassroots and community-based producers/media makers along with publicly funded and industry-based producers. As an approved chapter, NALIP-Austin follows the mission of the parent organization on a local level. For more info about NALIP, visit www.nalip.org.  

PacifiCare Latino Health Scholars Program 
Sent by Zeke Hernandez zekeher@yahoo.com  Feb 2006

PacifiCare Latino Health Scholars Program (PLHSP) PacifiCare grants scholarships to bicultural and bilingual (Spanish-English) high school seniors entering health care careers.  
http://www.pacificarelatino.com

Since the program’s inception in 2003 PacifiCare has granted 153 scholarships of $2,000 each, plus two $25,000 PacifiCare Freedom Award scholarships to high school seniors entering community college, university or an accredited technical college majoring in one of the approved health care programs. 

The PacifiCare Freedom Award was inspired by the heroic actions of U.S. Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta who was killed November of 2004 by enemy action in Fallujah, Iraq. Fighting alongside his fellow marines, and already wounded by gunshots, Peralta reached out for a grenade that was hurled by an insurgent and cradled it to his body to protect others from the blast. His heroism saved the lives of five of his fellow Marines. Touched by his story and his ultimate sacrifice, PacifiCare dedicated the PacifiCare Freedom Award in honor of Sgt. Rafael Peralta. 

The shortage of bilingual and bicultural Spanish-speaking personnel in nursing and other allied health professions, coupled with the growth of the Latino population in the United States, requires training and recruitment of an ever-greater number of bilingual and bicultural health professionals. The Latino Health Scholars Program addresses the serious shortage of bilingual and bicultural health professionals in the United States by putting Spanish-speakers in the educational pipeline for the health professions. 

PacifiCare’s Latino Health Scholars program is a community outreach program designed to increase the number of students who choose to work in healthcare-related professions. Students selected for the scholarships will be bilingual in English and Spanish and will be committed to serving their communities and use their bilingual skills upon graduation.

Applications must be postmarked on or before May 29, 2006.
For more information and to download an application, log into www.pacificarelatino.com 

Lisa Krantz/Express-News

Principal artisan Ezequiel DeLeon, from La Orotava in the Canary Islands, works on an alfombra at San Fernando Cathedral.

Gloria Ferniz/Express-News

The colorful soil carpet being created at Elizondo Plaza will be on display for two days and then 
it will then be destroyed.

Dear Mexican, Why do Mexicans call white people gringos? It was the type of impolite question few people would dare ask in everyday Southern California, much less in print.

"Dear Gabacho," began Gustavo Arellano's answer in the OC Weekly alternative newspaper. "Mexicans do not call gringos gringos. Only gringos call gringos gringos. Mexicans call gringos gabachos."

Arellano went on to explain that gabacho is a sometimes pejorative slang term for white Americans, with "its etymological roots in the Castilian slur for a French national."

"Ask a Mexican," the newspaper headlined it.  The column, published in 2004, was meant as a one-time spoof, but questions began pouring in.

Why are there so many elaborate wrought-iron fences in the Mexican parts of town? What part of the word "illegal" do Mexicans not understand? Why do Mexicans pronounce "shower" as "chower" but "chicken" as "shicken"?

Arellano has responded each week, leading an unusually frank discussion on the intersections where broader society meets the largest and most visible national subgroup in the country: Mexicans.
Nothing is taboo. When asked to explain the inclination of Mexicans to sell oranges at freeway off ramps, he fired back:

"What do you want them to sell — Steinways? According to Dolores, who sells oranges off the 91 Freeway/Euclid onramp, in Anaheim, she can earn almost $100 per week hawking the fruit. That averages out to more than $5,000 a year — and since it's the underground economy, she doesn't pay taxes!"

The questions came from both assimilated Mexican Americans and whites, or as Arellano might say, pochos and gabachos. The newspaper kept publishing "Ask a Mexican," and it quickly became one of its most popular features.

Dear Mexican,
What's with the Mexican need to display the Virgin of Guadalupe everywhere? I've seen her in the oddest places, from a sweatshirt to a windshield sticker. As a Mexican, I find it a little offensive and tacky to display this religious symbol everywhere.

Dear Pocha,
… I've seen her painted on murals, woven into fabulous silk shirts worn by Stetson-sporting hombres and — one holy night — in my bowl of guacamole. But while I share your disdain for the hypocrites who cross themselves in Her presence before they sin…. I don't find public displays of the Empress of the Americas offensive at all.  Mexican Catholicism is sublime precisely because it doesn't draw a distinction between the sacred and the profane. We can display our saints as comfortably in a cathedral as we do on hubcaps.

Arellano, a 27-year-old reporter and fourth-generation Orange County resident, has taken his "Ask a Mexican" personality to radio and other print outlets. He has found receptive audiences in unlikely places, even conservative talk radio.

"Ask a Mexican" is historically and culturally accurate, in some cases painfully so, while pushing the edges of modern political correctness. Its logo depicts a stereotypical Mexican peon, complete with bushy mustache, large sombrero and a single shiny gold tooth.

"There isn't any politically correct bridge that you have to walk over; you're just right there," Sasha Anawalt, director of arts journalism fellowship programs at USC's Annenberg School for Communication, said about Arellano's column. "His writing kind of tackles you."

At times, it can also sound like the work of a graduate student — which Arellano once was. His response to the "shicken" question included references to native Indian languages and linguapalatal fricatives.

But under it all, "Ask a Mexican" is imbued with affection for Mexican immigrants, which may explain its appeal among Mexican Americans who might otherwise take offense.

Dear Mexican, [some female readers asked]
Why do Mexican women dress up to go to the swap meet? …. Why do Mexicans put on their Sunday best to shop at Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target, etc.?

Dear Pochas, 
… You gotta love our moms and aunts, ¿qué no? Despite living in abject conditions, never having enough money to purchase vaccines for the kids — let alone save up for a Prada this or Manolo that — Mexican women always primp themselves for something as simple as buying tortillas."

Arellano, who is also the OC Weekly food editor, never fancied himself a newspaper columnist. The small-framed, quick-witted and admitted self-promoter had a vision of being a Harvard history professor by the time he was 26. "And I would've done it, too."

He was a film student at Chapman University in Orange when he began reading the OC Weekly. He wrote to its editor, Will Swaim, suggesting story ideas. Swaim was impressed and asked Arellano to write the stories himself.

Arellano resisted at first, but Swaim pressed him. Arellano began writing about the Orange County he knew, including school board politics and his family history in Anaheim, his hometown. Meanwhile, he entered graduate school at UCLA, where he earned a master's in Latin American studies.

As a reporter, Arellano, who calls himself a "good Catholic boy," aggressively covered the sexual abuse scandal in the Diocese of Orange and allegations of corruption against Orange County Latino activist Nativo V. Lopez. He also wrote one of the earliest profiles of Jim Gilchrist, the Aliso Viejo activist who began the border-watching Minuteman Project.

Arellano is driven by a strong sense of loyalty to Orange County. He describes it as the "Ellis Island of the 21st century," a place where a large immigrant population belies the myth of the county as a bastion of white conservatives and big-spending decadence.

"We didn't have to go outside of our little enclave to experience Mexican culture," Arellano said, recalling weekends of Mass attendance, girls' quinceañeras and relatives' baby showers.

Dear Mexican,
I've noticed that areas with lots of recent Mexican immigrants have stores that sell nothing but water. I find this very odd. Do people recently arrived from Mexico not know that tap water here is potable?

Dear Gabacha,
Mexicans can never get far from the bottle, whether it's H2O or Herradura. In a 2002 survey, the Public Policy Institute of California found that 55% of Latinos in the state drink bottled water, compared with 30% of gabachos. It's definitely a custom smuggled over from Mexico, where tap water remains fraught with nasty viruses and bugs.

The column was born when Swaim approached Arellano with an off-the-wall idea: Explain the humor behind a Spanish-language radio advertisement Swaim saw on the side of a bus. At first, Arellano saw the concept as an easy way to make readers chuckle. But in time he realized there was more to "Ask a Mexican" than that.

"The people who write in — they have this preconceived notion of what a Mexican is," Arellano said. "I answer their question, but in a way that's either going to flip the stereotype or going to explode it."

Similar to comedians who satirize their own cultures, including Dave Chappelle and Jeff Foxworthy, Arellano critiques the biases and prejudices of Mexicans and non-Mexicans equally. He freely draws attention to some of the nastier elements of Mexican culture, such as strains of sexism, homophobia and prejudices against other ethnic groups.

"I'm being exotic so that we can remember we're not exotic," Arellano said. "In any minority group, you're always going to have this stigma that you perpetuate on yourself. 'Oh, we're a minority, we're a minority.' My response is 'We're not a minority. Let's get over that and just say, All right, these are the problems we have.' "

Dear Mexican,
As an Asian person, would I be considered a gabacho? Or do I fall into the yellow bucket labeled chinito, even though I'm not Chinese?

Dear Chino,
Like Americans assume all Latinos are Mexican, Mexicans think all Asians are chinos — Chinese. When I used to go out with a Vietnamese woman, my aunts would speak highly of mi chinita bonita — my cute little Chinese ruca…. Chinese were the Mexicans of the world before there even was a Mexico, migrating to Latin America a couple of decades after the fall of Tenochtitlán. 

Like other readers, Sali Heraldez, owner of a gallery in Santa Ana, said her first instinct was to be offended by "Ask a Mexican." But she couldn't deny the column's allure.

"In every culture there are things that people do that are just funny," Heraldez said. "He doesn't just throw out a racist comment; he actually puts history behind it. Some of them are just plain funny, like why do Mexicans honk instead of going up to knock when they're picking up friends?"

Some readers remain unconvinced that "Ask a Mexican" is a good thing to publish. Swaim said he occasionally received calls or e-mails demanding that Arellano be fired.

"Not only am I a fellow Mexican American, but I'm also an American veteran of Desert Storm," one offended reader wrote in a letter the newspaper published. "I know I didn't fight for a country that portrays Mexicans the way your magazine does. You even allow them to ask racist questions that you have no problems answering."

Yet the column has appeal across the ideological spectrum. Since April, Arellano has been taking listeners' questions live on the air on the conservative talk radio program "The Al Rantel Show" on KABC-AM (790).

"I'm a frothing-at-the-mouth right-winger," said "Al Rantel Show" producer John Phillips, who contacted Arellano about doing "Ask a Mexican" on the radio. "The thing that Gustavo and Al and I have in common is, he's absolutely as politically incorrect as they come. He has no problem saying things on his mind that he believes may or may not offend others."

After the first time "Ask a Mexican" hit the airwaves, Phillips asked Arellano back. During a recent in-studio visit to the program, Arellano took a question from a caller named Cheryl, who started off by saying, "My question is, why do Hispanic people — "

"Mexicans," Arellano interrupted.
"OK, Mexicans. Thank you," Cheryl said. "Why do they graffiti everywhere?"

"Those guys are honors students and they're just practicing," Arellano said, adding later, "Graffiti is really the last resort of people who don't have anything else to do."

Alexandro Gradilla, an assistant professor of Chicano and Chicana studies at Cal State Fullerton, said that even 10 years ago, an uproar would have followed publication of Arellano's constant jokes about Guatemalans. Arellano satirizes what he insists is Mexicans' disdain for immigrants from that small nation to their south: "Guatemalans are the Mexicans of Mexico. And who doesn't hate Mexicans?"

Dear Mexican,
I am a Mexicana who is dating a gabacho. My gabacho always asks me why you see Mexicans lying in the grass under a tree…. ¿Por qué?

Dear Pocha,
… Mexicans, unlike gabachos, are good public citizens who know that parkland is best used for whittling the afternoon away underneath an oak, a salsa-stained paper plate and an empty six-pack of Tecate tossed to the side.

What makes such talk acceptable — or at least tolerable — today?

"I think our generation of artists, intellectuals — we're not concerned with the same issues, nor do we try to hide our contradictions" as earlier generations did, Gradilla said. He added, "Nor does he gloss over the deep divisions that exist in this community — that is, between Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants. More people identify with that than with this politically convenient, united front perspective."

Arellano is also "one of these home-bred intellectuals who can talk about Orange County in a way that is not being captured in the popular media," Gradilla said. "He talks about the O.C. that is ignored."

The columnist sees his work as filling a vacuum. "A lot of my activist friends say, why do you go on a conservative talk show? Nobody else is doing it," Arellano said at a restaurant in Santa Ana that specializes in food from the Mexican state of Puebla. Nearby, a group of day laborers wailed the day's sweat away with a few songs over a guitar.  "People who don't like Mexicans — nobody is actively engaging them unless it's a protest and they're separated by police," he added.

Arellano pondered this for a moment, then launched into another biting joke: "There's a lot of liberals who hate Mexicans too. I hate a lot of Mexicans, for that matter.  "People from Jalisco are evil. I'm from Zacatecas, and they're right next to us. There's always drama." 

If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives.

Valerio Longovia
photo by John Dyer

When Austin's last Tejano radio station, KTXZ 1560AM, went off the air last October, there was a splatter of ink about it in the local press. The pieces ranged from measured obituaries to screeching demands like Julian Limon Fernandez's, which ran not once, but twice in Arriba Newspaper last December: 

"Shame on you Univision and Border Music Productions! We are Tejanos and demand to be treated with respect!" 

The problem seems to focus on the marketing that believe Hispanics like to listen to music in Spanish, so many Tejano music stations are losing out to newly arrived Mexicans. Tejanos have a broader range of educational levels and income levels. Corporate radio brainwashes advertisers into believing that all Hispanics prefer Spanish-only media, and that's just not the case."

True Tejano music appeared in the 1970s, at the same time a critical mass of Tejano students began entering universities. Tejano music was born in response to reaching back to those not quite discarded cultural roots (stuffed in the back of those cultural closets), dusting off the old tunes, and trying them on for size.

It's like we're becoming the outlaws in the music industry," Guzman says. "Like what happened in country music when Willie Nelson was repackaged as 'outlaw,' in some ways, I think that's  happening to us." 

Joel Guzman     photo by John Dyer

So what will become of the music if it's not getting airplay? It will go back to being heard at bailes, quinceañeras, and weddings. The great epoch of Tejano music may have flashed, but no one believes it's dead, just dormant. For now.

There were once 10 Tejano music stations on Austin's airwaves? Here's a list of what were once Tejano format stations and what they are now. This does not include some stations like KXTN-FM 107.5, which is based in San Antonio, but apparently can be picked up in certain parts of Austin. – B.A. 

KKLB-FM 92.5, "La Lupe" simulcast with KTXZ-AM 1560 (Spanish oldies) 
KHHL-FM 98.9, "Exitos 98.9" (Mexican regional) 
KXXS-FM 104.9, "El Gato" (Spanish contemporary) 
KQJZ-FM 92.1 simulcast with KQQT-FM 106.3 (Christian adult contemporary) 
KINV-FM 107.7, "La Invasora" (Mexican regional) 
KELG-AM 1440 (Spanish news and talk) 
KFON-AM 1490 "Puro Norteño" (Mexican regional) 
KOKE-AM 1600 (Air America) 

Latino Arts Network goes virtual with E-Newsletter  
http://latinoarts.net/ 
Sent by lanca@sbcglobal.net
 
  

“Dedicated to strengthening and deepening the cooperative relationship among California’s Latino artists, arts organizations and the communities we serve.” Events, Activities, reading suggestions, articles, art for sale, theater activities throughout the California, which include indigenous and black connections.

Founding Organizations: Arte Américas-Fresno, Centro Cultural de La Raza-San Diego, East Bay Center for the Performing Arts-Richmond, El Andar Publications-Santa Cruz, Galería de la Raza-San Francisco, La Peña Cultural Center-Berkeley, La Raza Galería Posada-Sacramento, Plaza de La Raza-Los Angeles, Mexican Heritage Corporation-San Jose, Self Help Graphics-Los Angeles.

Under Construction . . . . about a Mexican American comic that loses weight


Jackie Guerra is as inspiring for her successes as her struggles. In Under Construction, Jackie shares her own recipe for building a fulfilling life and with a down-to-earth approach for making the most of your circumstances, “Life is work in progress and we’re all “Under Construction.” From her humble yet stubbornly ambitious childhood as a "Mexican-American Valley Girl" to her multi-faceted career as a stand-up comic, TV star, film actress, author, jewelry designer, motivational speaker and political activist, the exuberant life of Jackie Guerra has been one of invaluable lessons and constant reinvention including a 153 lb. weight loss. “You’ve got to love where you live but be open to a little home improvement!” Under Construction delivers inspiration and motivation in a unique and entertaining format that will make you forget you’re reading a self-help book…all with Jackie’s inimitable style, confidence and humor.  http://www.jackieguerra.com

Extract: Outsourcing in the Americas 
Sent by Howard Shorr howardshorr@msn.com

Hoping to take a bite out of India's popularity for outsourcing, Latin America is attracting U.S. companies needing cheap white-collar labor.

By DOUGLAS HANKS III, Miami Herald (February 4, 2006) When accountant salaries cut too deeply into the profits of his Miami hotel company, Carlos Rodriguez decided to ship his entire bookkeeping department offshore. But he didn't look far: Instead of India or China, Rodriguez set up shop in his native Costa Rica.

''I started saving money overnight,'' Rodriguez boasted of the 2001 move from South Florida to San Jose. Today, Driftwood Hospitality Management employs 15 people there and pays them about 25 percent of what they would make in the United States.

Driftwood's Costa Rican outpost places the company in the middle of a fast-growing niche within the globalization trend. While Asia attracts most of the attention -- and angst -- when it comes to white-collar jobs moving overseas, Latin America and the Caribbean have established themselves as major factors in outsourcing, too.

''There's a significant shift happening,'' said Philip Peters, chief executive of Zagada Markets, a Miami firm researching the call-center industry in the Caribbean Basin. Latin American and Caribbean ``governments are looking at this as another sector that can really affect their economies.''

In call centers alone, according to Zagada Markets, roughly 33,000 people work as operators throughout the Caribbean -- answering questions about XM satellite radio, wired money from Western Union and Colonial Penn life insurance. Procter &Gamble, Hewlett-Packard and Sykes use Costa Rican offices for accounting, personnel and other back-office services.

The numbers still pale compared to outsourcing magnets like India (not to mention Eastern Europe, the Philippines, and Canada). But call centers -- the best-tracked segment of the outsourcing industry -- have grown an average of 54 percent a year in the Caribbean since 2002, according to Zagada Markets. Central America will increase its call-center jobs 34 percent by 2008, according to research firm Datamonitor.

Brazil, with 186 million people, is seen as Latin America's biggest growth market for so-called ''near-sourcing.'' The Global Outsourcing Report's ranking of the most competitive countries in the field predicts Brazil will rise from No. 15 to No. 4 on the list within 10 years (when India will also lose No. 1 to China). And Cordoba, Argentina, boasts one of the Western Hemisphere's highest concentrations of engineers, a techie corps populating software labs for Intel and other U.S. computer giants.

Near-sourcing proponents see the movement getting a large boost with the implementation of CAFTA, a landmark trade treaty designed to lift business restrictions among the United States, Central America and the Dominican Republic. 

Outsourcing experts say labor costs in Latin America and the Caribbean generally run about 50 percent higher than in India, but that gap is narrowing as outsourcing grows more popular. ''I was over in India in 2005. The one thing you heard the managers say was it's very hard to keep staff,'' said Peter Ryan, an offshoring analyst for Datamonitor. ``Some call centers in the Delhi region even have individual cars going to pick up workers at their house.''

But along with the standard offers of cheap labor and government incentives, Latin American and Caribbean nations also tout outsourcing advantages tied to their geography:

• Language: Companies targeting the U.S. Hispanic market can tap Latin America's pool of workers fluent in both English and Spanish. Nicaragua goes so far as to pitch itself as Latin America's version of the Midwest with its ''neutral'' Spanish accent.

• Lingo: Though Asian call-center workers speak English, near-sourcing advocates boast of fluency in slang and pop culture that comes with living close to the United States.

• Location: By sending operations south, U.S. companies can enjoy relatively short flights and few time-zone complications in dealing with their offshore centers.

Still, the region brings its own set of liabilities to the competition for outsourced jobs. Along with higher labor costs, Latin America lacks the deep pools of English speakers found in former American and British colonies like India and the Philippines. A growing leftist movement has exacerbated concerns about government stability, while small populations and limited office space keep some big operations looking elsewhere.

Concerns about worker skills also hurt Latin America, said Simon Bell, who studies outsourcing for A.T. Kearney consultants in Alexandria, Va.  ''The biggest impediment for Latin America is the education systems,'' Bell said. ``If you look at any standardized test, Latin America collectively ranks at the bottom.''

Critics see offshoring as an assault on U.S. jobs. There is also debate about the impact on consumers, who could get cheaper goods but also less reliable service as low-wage foreign workers take on crucial tasks like customer service and data processing. Not only do customers have to contend with language barriers, but they also can lack the security that comes with U.S. laws on punishing and disclosing data theft, said Thea Lee, policy director of the AFL-CIO labor union.
''There is a difference between efficiency and cheapness,'' Lee said.

The National Hispanic Convention in California. May31st - June 2nd.  
From: yurihye@mexicanosenelexterior.com  

 A recent Associated Press article reported that on February 22, 2006, 55 Georgia Vidalia sweet onions, corn and soybeans farmers plus other agricultural employers met with the Department of Labor for a seminar on migrant farm workers hiring policies. The farmers said they’re making extra efforts to follow the letter of the law. As a group they hire over 1000 workers, who by their admission are mostly Mexican immigrants, but as one said, "A guy comes to your office and brings his Social Security and his Green Card, it figures he's legal. But I don't know if it's real or not."

If you believe in fairy tales, you won’t have a problem swallowing that B.S. They know who is and who is not legal or they must have short memories, so let’s remind them.

In 1997, the then INS raided the Vidalia fields nabbing several hundred illegal immigrants. The farmers didn’t care because harvesting was over. Those nabbed were sticking around for their final paycheck, which because they were deported, never got.

The INS got smarter, in 1998 launching operation "Southern Denial" at the height of the harvest season. Within minutes the offices of local Congressmen and the late Senator Paul Coverdell called the INS demanding the immediate stoppage of the raids that were, "indiscriminate and inappropriate use of extreme enforcement tactics…. Interfering with honest farmers…."

On behalf of the today ‘we don’t really know if they are legally or illegally here,’ Senator Coverdell struck a deal with the INS. The workers were provided with temporary visas allowing them to stay – sounds like amnesty. The farmers agreed to avail themselves for future growing and harvesting seasons of the H-2A agricultural guest worker visa program that has been in effect since 1964 (Amended in 1986), which they agreed to do, but after the 1998 seasons disregarded.

These "we want to comply with the law" farmers, since they were protected by Congressmen such as Charley Norwood, who today clamors for fences and military presence at the US-Mexico border, knew there would be no more raids.

In 1999, these would have us believe law abiding farmers claimed the guest worker visa program was too burdensome and they did not agree with the Department of Labor’s (DOL) "prevailing wage" that should be paid to farm workers.

The minimum wage in Georgia is $5.15 per hour. Farmers insisted field workers should be paid 75-cents for a 60-pound bag of onions about 7 bags (420 lbs.) to earn the $5.15 per hour. The DOL said it should be 80-cents for a 50-pound bag about 6.5 bags (325 lbs.) to earn the minimum wage or $6.72 an hour for 420 lbs.

In Mexico, wages are not pegged to the hour of labor rather by the day. Blue collar workers and agricultural field hands are paid around $6 a day working 48 hours a week but paid for 7 days, thus earning around $42 per week. The wages do not provide for the bare necessities for a family of 3 persons, let alone 4 or more. To these folks, earning $247 a week for 48 hours (@$5.15 hr) in Georgia represents around a 600% pay increase and possibly extra if they harvest more by working 10 hours a day, six days a week as most do. Easy to understand why they travel.

But by their willingness to work for $5.15 an hour, the Georgia farmers are able to state that the "prevailing wage" is that amount and that they cannot find Americans to do the same work for "prevailing wage."

Faking not knowing has been easy because the present requirement is simply to send a form to the government attesting they have been shown papers indicating either citizenship or legal residency – be they real or fake. 

But starting in 2007, legal residents will have to present near impossible to forge Green Cards. One "we don’t know farmer" at the seminar was quoted by the AP saying, "If they start requiring us to send them (government) a register of the Green Cards, we're in trouble, I'd have to go out of business."

Some of the other farmers said they are "considering" enrolling in the H-2A temporary agricultural guest worker program. One of them said it would mean paying higher wages and raising the price of his crop. How quickly they seem to suddenly know their workers were undocumented, remember there has been a "guest worker" program in existence for 42 years and will have to pay higher ages

Patrick Osio, Jr. is Editor of HispanicVista.com www.hispanicvista.com 
Posiojr@hispanicvista.com
. 
(The opinions expressed by Patrick Osio, Jr. are solely his and do not necessarily reflect those of HispanicVista.com, editorial board of advisors or it’s contributing writers.) Patrick Osio, Jr. has written a short but intensive manual on the Mexican perspective on numerous issues between our two countries. The manual is an in depth primer on the culture and protocol for better understanding Mexicans that in turn allows establishing personal and business relationships, and how to avoid the most common faux pas that can ruin relationships and business deals. The manual is available through Electronic delivery for $9.95 making it possible to download the manual for save on your hard drive, printing its entirety or particular sections while reaping considerable savings over printed copies.

Statement of  U.S. Congressman Xavier Becerra on H.R. 2134

A Bill to Establish a Commission to Study the 
Potential Creation of a National Museum of the American Latino Community

House Resources Subcommittee on National Parks
1334 Longworth HOB
March 30, 2006

Military Heroes and Research 

March 22-25            

Since 1999, the U.S. Latino & Latina WWII Oral History Project has video-taped over 500 interviews. Materials from the Project archives have already been used in a variety of ways. This spring, the Project is proud to announce three major new components: a play, a photographic exhibit and a book featuring summaries of interviews, arranged by specific experiences, with close-up photographs. 

Voices of Valor, a 2-act play based on the work of the U.S. Latino & Latina WWWII History Project, was James E. Garcia Playwright, Directed by Ricard Trujillo. Produced by Arizona State University Public Events & UT-Austin's Performing Arts Center.

A Legacy Greater Than Words: Stories of U.S. Latinos & Latinas of the WW II Generation, by Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, Juliana Torres, Melissa DiPiero-D'Sa, and Lindsay Fitzpatrick (Distributed by UT Press).

Before You Go:  .  .  Read this and then click the link below

The elderly parking lot attendant wasn't in a good mood! Neither was Sam Bierstock. It was around 1 a.m., and Bierstock, a Delray Beach, FL eye doctor, business consultant, corporate speaker and musician, was bone tired after appearing at an event. He pulled up in his car, and the parking attendant began to speak. "I took two bullets for this country and look what I'm doing," he said bitterly.

At first, Bierstock didn't know what to say to the World War II veteran. But he rolled down his window and told the man, "Really, from the bottom of  my heart, I want to thank you."

Then the old soldier began to cry.  "That really got to me," Bierstock says.

Cut to today. Bierstock, 58, and John Melnick, 54, of Pompano Beachanda member of Bierstock's band, Dr. Sam and the Managed Care Band,have written a song inspired by that old soldier in the airport parking lot. The mournful "Before You Go" does more than salute those who fought in WWII. It encourages people to go out of their way to thank the aging warriors before they die.

"If we had lost that particular war, our whole way of life would have been shot," says Bierstock, who plays harmonica. "The WW II soldiers are now dying at the rate of about 2,000 every day. I thought we needed to thank them."

The song is striking a chord. Within four days of Bierstock placing it on the Web http://www.beforeyougo.us, the song and accompanying photo essay have bounced around nine countries, producing tears and heartfelt thanks from veterans, their sons and daughters and grandchildren.

"It made me cry," wrote one veteran's son. Another sent an e-mail saying that only after his father consumed several glasses of wine would he discuss "the unspeakable horrors" he and other soldiers had witnessed in places such as Anzio, Iwo Jima, Bataan and Omaha Beach. "I can never thank 
them enough," the son wrote. "Thank you for thinking about them."

Bierstock and Melnick thought about shipping it off to a professional singer, maybe a Lee Greenwood type, but because time was running out for so many veterans, they decided it was best to release it quickly, for free, on the Web. They've sent the song to Sen. John McCain and others in 
Washington. Already they have been invited to perform it in Houston for a Veterans Day tribute - this after just a few days on the Web. They hope every veteran in America gets a chance to hear it.

God Bless EVERY veteran and THANK YOU to those of you veterans who may receive this !

Click the link below to hear the song and see the pictures and then share it and send it to everyone!
Click below for Dr. Sam & The Managed Care Blues Band  http://www.beforeyougo.us  or http://www.managedmusic.com/beforeyougo.html

The History of Bill Arvizu in the Military 
Shared by his son, John Arvizu

Bootcamp, Fort Knox, Kentucky in 1944  
Bill Arvizu is in back row and fourth from left.

Fort Knox, Kentucky Bootcamp in 1944  

North Carolina 1944  
Bill Arvizu before leaving for Europe.

Bill Arvizu's birthday before leaving for Europe in 1944.

Picture below: Arch de Triumph in Paris Members of the Ninth Armored Division 
Bill Arvizu in back row and waving.

I believe that the photo below  was taken after the invasion of  Normandy and before the Americans chased the Nazi's across the Rhine in the Spring of 1945.  My Dad is in the Back row and waving.  This is of course before the Battle of the Bulge and the battle at Remagen Bridge.  The American's didn't know what was coming as those two battles were devastating to our 
troops.  It was with bravery and character that allowed them to defeat the Nazi's in these two
battles.  Dad was in both!

9th Armored, Dad's unit, the 52 Infantry which was part of the 9th
Armored Division.  Someplace in Germany, 1945.

Santa Monica 1946 
Bill, Julia Arvizu with Sister-inlaw, Margaret Arvizu and daughters, Sylvia and Diane.

Recently, I learned that that  my Dad's unit, the 9th, liberated a  Nazi prisoner of war camp and is
featured in the Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles.

Bill and Julia Santa Monica, 1946 
Santa Monica, California .

Criteria: a. The American Campaign Medal was awarded to personnel for service within the American Theater between 7 December 1941 and 2 March 1946 under any of the following conditions. 

        d.  Italy between 9 May 1945 and 15 September 1947 in the compartment of Venezia Giulia E. Zara or Province of Udine, or with a unit in Italy designated in DA General Order 4, 1947. Service between 9 May and 8 November 1945 may be counted only if the EAME Campaign Medal was awarded for service prior to 9 May 1945.
        e.  Japan between 3 September 1945 and 27 April 1952 in the four main islands of Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu; the surrounding smaller islands of the Japanese homeland; the Ryukyu Islands; and the Bonin-Volcano Islands. Service between 3 September 1945 and 2 March 1946 will be counted only if the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal was awarded for service prior to 3 September 1945.
        f.  Korea between 3 September 1945 and 29 June 1949. Service between 3 September 1945 and 2 March 1946 will be counted only if the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal was awarded for service prior to 3 September 1945.

http://www.gruntsmilitary.com/aoom.shtml
 

Battle of San Juan 1797 

The Fixed Regiment of Puerto Rico defends San Juan again
Page 1

A group of historical reenactors, representing the Fixed Regiment of Puerto Rico, took to the streets of San Juan during the weekend of January 27-29, 2006. Over 30 volunteers from the island, as well as from the continental US, gathered to commemorate the defense of San Juan against the British attack of 1797.

Figure 1 Marching out of San Cristobal
MuseodeSanJuan8

The main purpose of this event was to share in a "living history" format the stories and exploits of the Spanish and Puerto Rican troops as they defended the city of San Juan against the British invasion of 1797. At various locations throughout Old San Juan, including Fort San Cristobal and Fort San Felipe del Morro, the public was treated to marching, drilling, musket fire as well as historical interpretation. In an elegant ceremony at the Museum of San Juan, a handmade replica of the regimental flag was presented by Dr. Luis Gonzalez Vale (Official Historian of Puerto Rico) and Mr. Bob Dodson (Superintendent of National Park Service in Puerto Rico).

This group of reenactors began organizing themselves in February of 2005. The "founding fathers and mothers" include José Torres (resides in Cleveland, Ohio), Miguel Hernández and Enrique Delgado of the "Puerto Rican/Hispanic Genealogical Society" (New York City), Héctor Díaz of the "Regimiento Fixo de Luisiana" (resides in Baltimore, Maryland) and Luis Iriarte and Denise Quiñones of the "1898 Sociedad de Amigos de la Historia de Puerto Rico" (San Germán, Puerto Rico). 

The local news media also took note and members of the Fixed Regiment were interviewed on the evening TV news as well as a live broadcast of "La Diana" (morning regimental ceremony that includes the raising of the flags over the forts). The enthusiastic response from both tourists as well as local residents serves as a validation of the need to be proactive in rediscovering and sharing our history

This was my first historical reenactment event as a participant so I was not sure what to expect. I had practiced and drilled basic maneuvers several times with Héctor Díaz, Eric Cardona and José Hernández in Maryland throughout 2005. My regimental uniform was completed just two days before the event thanks to my dear mother’s excellent handiwork (most of our clothing is custom made for historical accuracy) and along with the rest of my gear, was packed and ready to go. After a good flight into San Juan, I drove to Fort San Cristobal and settled in as I began to meet my new comrades.

The reenactors came from all walks of life with the pleasant surprise of a healthy representation of young people. It gives you a sense of hope when young, smart, and enthusiastic people embrace such a noble effort. The one common characteristic that I found among all was a passion for our history. 

I was fortunate enough to sleep in Fort San Cristobal, the centerpiece of the island’s defense system in the 18^th century, thanks to the courtesy of the US National Park Service staff. Some of us spent the evening in healthy historical debates and cleaning/preparing our gear for the next day while the more adventurous still had energy to explore the multiple corridors and chambers of the fort (some even rumored to be haunted).

The days were packed with fun activities. Excitement filled the air as tourists and local residents watched the Fixed Regiment march through the cobblestone streets of Old San Juan. I enjoyed observing people’s vast array of responses to suddenly being transported to the 18^th century. Many were curious of our clothing and marching formation, quickly approaching us with many questions. Others where shy in their demeanor, keeping their distance as they seemed to soak in the sights and sounds of our Commander giving a rousing speech, or the roar of musket fire. My favorite reaction has to be the one of a passing car with two small children in it. A little girl put her face against the window and let out a dramatic "Wow!" as a young boy bounced up and down in the backseat out of pure excitement. The driver, without missing a beat nor stopping the car, pulled out a cell phone with an integrated camera and took a picture of us! Since San Juan is a major destination for cruise ships, the reenactors had a chance to share our history, as well as pose for many pictures, with visitors from around the world.

The Fixed Regiment of Puerto Rico defends San Juan again
Page 2

On April of 1797 British forces with over 60 ships, led by General Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Henry Harvey, lay siege to the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The governor of Puerto Rico at the time was Don Ramón de Castro, an experienced leader in military and civil matters. He had served years earlier under Bernardo de Gálvez’s campaign against the British as an ally of the American colonies. In his very firm response to the demand to surrender, Don Ramón mentioned his military service and "glory obtained from the British nation …at Panzacola" (Pensacola) in 1781. Those lessons learned in his younger days would serve him well as he developed and executed a series of effective defensive and counterattack maneuvers. The Puerto Rico Fixed Regiment, together with militia and volunteers from all over the island, held off an attacking force while being significantly outnumbered. After a siege of over two weeks the British were forced to abandon their plans and withdraw.

The successful defense of San Juan had a huge impact in the shaping of the Americas that we know today, even though it may not be obvious at a casual glance. While we usually tend to favor the study of grand and epic historical events, many significant changes come in subtle ways, even out of "forgotten" battles. Britain, Spain, Puerto Rico, and the United States of America would be different today if the battle for San Juan would have had a different outcome.

Today, Puertoricans can look back to the battle of San Juan as the place in history where their ancestors fought and won the permanency of their Hispanic culture. Historical documents show that the British had plans for populating Puerto Rico and, on more than one occasion in the 18^th century, had offered Gibraltar in exchange for Puerto Rico. If we also recognize that San Juan had the largest and most complex fortification of all the Americas combined with its strategic location, it would have been highly probable that the British would have kept the island.

How would a British Puerto Rico have impacted the 19^th century? It is hard to say but we see today many Caribbean island nations as part of the British Commonwealth. Would we have today the nation of "Rich Port" and the city of "Saint John" as its capital? For Spain the battle of San Juan could be viewed as its last defense of its Caribbean territories before finding itself on the defensive against the South American independence movements. Would the loss of Puerto Rico have accelerated the loss of other colonies, either by an emboldened Great Britain or by internal strife?

And what of the United States of America? In 1898 the USA declared war on Spain and as a result of its victories obtained three major Spanish possessions: Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines. Cuba and the Philippines were later granted their independence while Puerto Rico was kept originally as a territory and has evolved into a Commonwealth government associated with the USA (a very controversial topic in its own right today). How would have the war and diplomacy been conducted differently if Puerto Rico had been a British colony then? Would Puertoricans be today British, instead of American, citizens?

These are just a few dimensions of the impact that those brave defenders had over 200 hundred years ago when defending their city against the invaders. Who says that history is boring or irrelevant?

If you are interested in learning more about San Juan 1797 events and the Fixed Regiment of Puerto Rico, or would like to join as a historical reenactor you can visit: www.sanjuan1797.com and http://www.nps.gov/saju/britishattack.html. An excellent book for in-depth study is "The Eighteenth Century Caribbean & The British Attack on Puerto Rico in 1797" by María M. Alonso and Milagros Flores Román.

Eliud Bonilla  ebonilla@gmu.edu
Adjunct Professor
George Mason University

Each of us is faced with many obstacles in our lifetime, some more difficult then others. And there is always something to learn and sometimes even gain from those experiences. In the year of 2001, my mother Angelita Hernandez informed us that she had breast cancer. That led to a path, which has given us many priceless treasures within our family. This news was devastating to us all. But my mother didn’t waste any time as she began to research our family history. 

My parents aren’t wealthy yet she wanted to leave something behind for her children; and so the birth of our family tree began. Little does my mother know but the love she and my father showered us with and the way we were raised, means more to me than money could ever have given us. My mother had a Mastectomy that year and soon began Chemotherapy. There were many times that she was so sick she wanted to give up on life entirely. But she persevered. Her determination in her research gave her the strength to continue that road in finding our lost and the new family that was yet to come. 

In between Chemotherapy, which was then followed by Radiation, she found the strength to travel. She would go from town to town, county-to-county visiting courthouses to get information and copies of documents that would soon start a library in her home. 

In 2001, she found her great grandfather Alejos Zepeda. He as well as other relatives is buried at The Rancho Grande Cemetery, which is also known as the Trinity Farms in Dallas, TX. This cemetery is a Historical Site and now serves as grounds for our celebration of Dia De Los Muertos held on the first Saturday in November. 

The number of our family grows every year as we exchange stories, pictures and celebrate the life of those buried and those that have joined us. We have family that comes from California, Arizona, and Colorado whom join us in celebrating life. It’s fascinating to learn of my ancestor’s journey and their struggles, which gives me strength when I am faced with difficult times of my own. In the year of 2003, the Rancho Grande Cemetery became a Non-Profit Organization. Less than ½ an acre, this is one priceless Cemetery that will continue to reunite us for many years to come. This is a tradition that we will pass along to our children and hope they pass it on to theirs. 

In the year of 2004, my mother had enough information and documentation to apply to the First Families of Bexar County. The application was a difficult process as she would soon find out but she had wonderful people assisting her and she would soon be accepted. She then learned of the Sons and Daughters of the Republic of Texas. 

In 2005, she and my brother Raymond filled out and submitted all the necessary documentation and he would later be accepted to that organization. That priceless ancestors’ name would be Juan Manuel Anastacio Montalvo. He is my great- great-great- grandfather. Manuel was in the battle of Concepcion under Juan Sequin and in the Storming of San Antonio. He was a Soldier, Spy, and a Texas Ranger and was very proud to serve his country. 

Then early 2005, my mothers’ cancer re appeared. She had her second Mastectomy and would again go through Chemotherapy and Radiation. The doctor informed us that this cancer was more aggressive than the first. She felt prepared and knew what to expect, but nothing could prepare her for what was to follow. 

She was much sicker and weaker this time around for her medication had to be stronger. Somehow, she found the strength to make the trip to El Dia De Los Muertos celebration at the Rancho Grande Cemetery in Dallas in 2005. In October of 2005, with my mothers’ assistance, I had submitted my application to the Daughters of the Republic Of Texas. I applied at Large for I couldn’t find a chapter in my town of Lubbock, TX. We soon realized that our journey would come to a screeching halt and as confused and frustrated as ever I felt hopeless. I have six brothers and I am her only daughter therefore she wanted me to be recognized as the first Daughter of the Republic of Texas. I felt like all her hard and countless hours of researching and her traveling year after year and then to have this happen couldn’t be possible. Since I’m her only daughter, she wanted my son Jacob Moreno to be her first grandson to become a Junior Member to the Sons of The Republic of Texas.

In the year of 2006 we submitted his application. Shortly thereafter, he was approved and we received his certification. I remember my son Jacob telling me he had told his history teacher how he was approved and how she flat out didn’t believe him. As parents we try to shield our children from hurt and try to explain life to them in general. I made him a copy of his certificate and he took it to school the following day. I’m sure his history teacher’s expression was priceless once he shared it with her. My son did say she apologized to him and congratulated him in his accomplishment. . 

I believe things happen for a reason and individuals are placed in our path not by mere coincidence but by fate. Mimi Lozano introduced my mother and me to Corrine Staacke, a Registrar (who approves applications) from San Antonio. Both of these ladies are heaven sent for my spirit was re- lit and I was more determined than ever for my mothers sake to press forward with a stronger drive than before. 

Corrine without hesitation gave us priceless advice and as soon as my mom’s health allowed her, she was back on the road determined to collect what was needed. She found the ranch where my great grandfather Ysabel Montalbo was buried and brought back pictures and went to other towns collecting more information. I submitted the additional information and patiently waited for my re-review. I soon felt we were making concrete progress and then on Friday March the 3^rd, 2006 I was accepted into The Daughters of The Republic of Texas.

 I thank Barbara, the Registrar in charge of my application, for putting up with and going that extra mile with me towards the end. I will forever be grateful to Mimi and Corrine for caring and believing in us when things looked extremely cloudy. Through the Sons And Daughters of The Republic of Texas my great-great-great grandfather Manuel Montalvo will now be recognized for his role of the services he rendered for our Independence. His existence has now been brought to the surface thanks to my mothers’ dedication and determination. 

And to my mother, all your hard work has paid off. Like I’ve always said, we each have a purpose in our lives and we will leave our footsteps in the minds and souls of many when we depart this earth. You have united us all through this family tree and what greater reward could we have asked for. You are an exceptional, determined one of a kind woman whom I love with all my heart and I am very proud to call you my mother. To me, YOU are MY PRICELESS TREASURE!

Elizabeth Hernandez

SURNAME - DE LA GARZA

Varios de mis artículos, que ha sido publicados en "Somos Primos" los he dedicado al apellido De la Garza, ese apellido que oriundo de Huelva llegó a tierras americanas en el siglo XVI. Lo iniciaron un matrimonio de judíos conversos que vivían en Lepe, que se llamaban Marcos Alonso Falcón y Constanza de la Garza.

Después, he ido investigando sobre los De la Garza de Lepe y he encontrado de todo, unos que llegaron a Nueva España, otros que murieron ajusticiados por la Inquisición en la Isla Canarias y otras ramas de este apellido que se extendieron por casi toda la parte sur de los actuales Estados Unidos y de México.

También en mis pesquisas he encontrado personas que solo la llamaban Garza, suprimiendo el "De la" y que supongo pueden estar emparentadas con los otros.

Pero ayer, me he visto sorprendido por algo relativo a este apellido que no había previsto. Encontré entre los pasajeros que constan en el Archivo General de Indias el siguiente; "PEDRO LAGARZA, carpintero, natural de Lepe, hijo de Marcos Alonso y de Constanza Lagarza, con su mujer Leonor de Morales, natural de Lepe, hija de Francisco de Morales y de Leonor Martínez y de sus hijos Francisco Sánchez y Constanza Lagarza, a la provincia del Espíritu Santo con el Gobernador Francisco de Cáceres, el 19 de mayo de 1581"

El Gobernador Francisco de Cáceres participó en la colonización de lo que hoy es Venezuela y fundó entre otras las poblaciones de Espíritu Santo de la Grita en 1569, Barinas en 1577 y Pedraza en 1592.

He encontrado una nueva modalidad del apellido "De la Garza" que cambia por "Lagarza", algo que hasta ahora me había pasado desapercibido pero que tendré en cuenta en el futuro y que también creo tendrán en cuenta mis buenos amigos, mexicano Carlos Martín Herrera de la Garza, tejano George de la Garza, y otros muchos que hacen investigaciones sobre este apellido.

Ángel Custodio Rebollo

CUENTOS

By: Frank "kiko" Sifuentes

Our uncle Manuel – Tio Meme – really stood out because of his gaiety and love for life he never lost. I know he that he always made me feel good because he always was happy to see me.

He had a child-like playful quality that unfortunately, most men lose. And this is what endeared him to me and my cousin Tony Garcia.  Because without his love and attention, not having had our own father present would have been more painful.

I do not believe he gave us his attention out of a sense of duty as such. He really enjoyed being with us. Especially when he played ‘cops and robbers’ with

He had the talents of an actor: a good ear for sound making him able to reproduce the widest variety of the sounds of bullets being fired, one at a time or rapid fire.

Tony and I – of course – fired back at him in return. And when one of our imaginary bullets struck him, he wouldn’t simply fall: He’d stagger – kind of like Charley Chaplin – and pretend to be in extreme pain, acting out the agony of dying. Then – just before his last breath – he’d shout "You dirty so and so. Here is yours! Pow powe pow!!!

"You missed!" Tony and I would shout in return. We loved every second of it.

Even before my father died – and when Tony scarcely knew his dad –Tio Meme had taken a paternal interest in us.

In the earliest years I remember best the times he took us to Zilker Park for Easter Sunday picnic in a pick up truck, a huge thrill in itself!

They were our most magical days: with Easter egg hunts. None of us Sifuentes children could ever forget, our own Easter baskets filled with paper ‘grass’, cascarones, candy eggs as well as boiled eggs. All of which were greatly appreciated because other than Christmas it was the only time we were given such treats.

I remember I ate so many boiled eggs I got temporarily sick And perhaps that is what prompted Tio Meme to lead me to the spot when he had hidden the golden egg. With four quarters inside. It would not have been possible to feel that rich again. The egg was located between two trunks of an oak tree, that as small as I was could not reach. Tio Meme had picked me up for me to catch sight of it.

That may have been the Easter Sunday Carmen remembers vividly when Tio Meme stopped the truck to drop our father off because he had a date at a East 6^th St. cantina. No one can even imagine what a great disappointment it was for Carmen who had been his Princess.

That Easter Sunday l937 had truly been a lost opportunity for our Daddy. It was almost exactly a year later that he was killed.  All this explains why Tio Meme reserved the golden egg for me.

Tio Meme had also announced I was his favorite. Everyone had been saying how much we looked alike. And the one studio picture of me, Carmen, Juanita & Ben, verify it.

Tio Meme and Tia Lupe had three daughters and the whole world knew they wanted a boy.

And this is one of the reasons Tony and I became even more important to Uncle Manuel. With us he could play rough and tumble games. Games that only boys were supposed to play.

Uncle Manuel held a variety of jobs. As a youth he worked for Western Union delivering telegrams. After he married he worked for Sims Poultry Market. What I remember best is that he became a small truck driver, a delivery man. And because he had changed jobs often, he got labeled as being ‘flojo’.

Since the same thing happened to me, I now can really identify with Tio Memo. Chances are the job of driving a light truck all around the city appeared like such a fun job, a conclusion about Tio Manuel was not justified: Particularly in those days, the late l930’s and the 40’s and 50’s.

Wherever he was seen it was clear he was very talkative, friendly and always a smile on his face. And often laughing and joking. He could have had a good career in public relations.

If time had been different he might also have become an entertainer, a musician and actor.  Perhaps that is why several actors reminded me of him.

In the long run his style of being is what is known a the Sifuentes Ham.  Tio Meme played the saxophone and he had organized a small band that played at dances and Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. Seeing him as a band leader made me feel really proud and exciting.

Just seeing his saxophone was a thrill. He often took it out for me and Tony and played tunes for us. At times he played along with the band playing on the radio.

He had gotten the small finger on his left hand cut in an accident. And it always amazed us that he didn’t let his missing finger bother him when he was playing.

I remember Tio Meme appearing in a variety show put on at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. He stole the show playing the part of el Senior Papalote, a part in which he wore a beany with a propeller.

When he was a young man he and my Uncle Babe would dressed like men of the Roaring 20’s. With Stetson hats, suits with long coats and with neck ties. Seeing him dressed like that made him look like Spencer Tracy.

One of the really big things about Uncle Manuel was that he started losing his hair very early and though he would joke about it, it clearly had become an ordeal. He tried a variety of things to prevent it and they all failed.

He shaved his head because had been lead to believe this would somehow make his hair grow back.  He first started losing it in the back and top of his head, giving him an aspect of a Franciscan monk

Tio Meme and Tia Lupe were among the first to have a fantastic modern radio consul. It could get short wave and just about every station available. And this was a wonderful thing they shared with us. At that time, sharing the wonders of radio was the equivalent of heaven.

I recall the places Tio Meme and Tia Lupe lived. My most vivid was when the lived on Ink St. directly across from Civil War Memorial Cemetery. One night I stayed over and slept in a bed with the window on the east side with a view of the cemetery. I was so afraid I couldn’t sleep because I had a real fear of cemeteries at night.

In those days believing in ghosts was as natural as believing the sun would rise the next day. And though I would have died of fright if I had seen a ghost,  I could not resist looking out.

Fortunately, the dear Civil War Vets buried there were not interested In scarring children. Although there were stories of a ghost sighted that was known as the one that saluted.

There was a short cut to their place from Our Lady of Guadalupe Church where they had swings, see-saws and organized sports. And I spent a lot of time there. Then stop at Tio Memo place.

My timing was always good since I’d arrive around supper time. And I was always received with smile and warm greetings. And will never forget Tia Lupe’s delicious tortillas de arina de mano, among the best in all of Texas, with papitas fritas, frijoles refritos, fideo con chopped winnies or guisados of papas and hamburger. Having me there became enjoyable for Pilar & Margaret. For a while it seemed that Tony and I were the only visitors they had.

The last time I visited was more of a happy story than anything.  After having a third child and it was a girl, they decided to adopt a boy who was a child out of wedlock of a grown cousin.

They named him Joe . And then a miracle. Tia Lupe got pregnant again and had a boy. He was named Manuel. It was really sad that not too many years after Tio Meme died of a heart attack at age 49, Manuel Jr was about the same age I was when my father died, almost 6.

I was not able to attend his funeral. And in a way I can say I did not mourn his death, because for me, it was like he never died. He certainly continues to live in my heart. And I am still like him, even though the world sees, never losing one’s child-like qualities as a character flaw.

I know how much he was missed, because he loved me and my Cousin Tony.  Tio Meme may you be in your glory, leading a rival Benny Goodman Band in paradise.

BABE AND THE CADILLAC: 
Written by: Frank M. Sifuentes
Middle l930's Austin, Texas USA.

For me this story goes back to 'primordial' times, and is bound to sound like pure invention. Therefore the claim that it really happened would need the archives to support it. However there's little chance any researcher would be motivated to find them. 

However, I have to report the story has been copyrighted by Babe's son Everett Sifuentes, Jr. who is a near celebrity in Hollywood and TV commercials with over 30 years experience. And is making a killing on Royalties.

Uncle Babe was first American born son of my grandparents Antonio & Juana Sifuentes who immigrated in l910 and settled in Austin, Texas.

It had been a most difficult transition. Especially because 'apapagrande' settled the family in a home on First Street near Congress Ave and had to return to Monterey to obtain resources left behind.

And he somehow been forced into the war by the 'Federalistas' , remaining unable to return as expected. In the meantime mamagrande realized she was pregnant and had to introduce papagrande to his new son several months after his birth.

He had been called 'el bebe' awaiting for papagrande's return so he could name him: Giving Tio Evasisto the uniqueness in having a nickname first and then his legal name. 

And as he grew up almost everyone continued calling him Babe.

However, it was not because he had been called 'el bebe'. He had gotten his nickname from old man Zilker when Uncle Babe became his all around handy man in his home construction empire.

Mr Zilker made it fully known he loved him like a son. And was known to get excited by how well my uncle did his work by always saying: That's my Babe!

He liked him so much because of his capacity as a craftsman -a house painter and interior decorater - that he made him his chauffer and assistant over-seer on all his homebuilding.

And because of this close relationship Babe had a most special perk. He was able to keep the Cadillac after he got off work on Saturday afternoon.

As I grew into adulthood during the late l940's I saw pictures several times of Uncle Babe with his brother -my dad Ben, Tio Meme - and their cousin Steve Casarez and a couple of other close friends by the Colorado River enjoying a case of beer and dressed like in movies of the Roaring 20'S with state of the arts Stetson hats that made them look as well off as any red-blooded American. 

And they are shown holding a cold beer, enjoying the good life with Mr Zilker's car as background.
Perhaps this is why I believe this story would make a good movie.

Little did the universe know that beer would turned out to be the downfall of all of them, except Tio Memo was  the frequent scapegoat.  He was called hen-pecked, considered less than a man because he had sense enough to listen to his wife Tia Lupe, who had insisted he stop drinking.

As it turned out Uncle Manuel died of a heart attack at age 49. of Tortillas de arina con manteca, papas fritas con manteca, frijoles refritos and hambuger meat - far from lean - Tia Lupe used when she made guisados en chile con papitas. 

This is a sad side track I've taken because I have to remember how Babe and Tio Memo ended up not having anything to do with each other.

The story of Babe and Mr. Zilker's Cadillac however is really heart-wrenching. It turns out that Mr. Zilker had a bad stroke and was confined to his bed.

Which in effect put Babe out of a job. He had returned to work on a Monday morning and found out his patron was in the hospital and the doctor did not think he'd even be able to walk.

One can imagine what Babe must have felt after old man Zilker treated him like his own son and repeatedly reminded him that when he died he was going to leave him the Cadillac.

And yet it became even more devastating when Mr. Zilker's wife handedhim a envelope with two weeks pay and told him he wouldn't be needed anymore. And with goodness in her heart also told him she had written a letter with good references.

After handing back the keys to the car, Babe had a long walk home. The story really gets good, because it turned out that Mr. Zilker had been sincere in his love for Babe and for Uncle Tony. According to family lore handed down by brother Ben who is 3 years older.

According to him Mr. Zilker had kept saying "Where my Babe..I want to see my Babe! And as far as the family was concerned he was delirious and wasn't about to be taken seriously. Jealousy undoubtedly and suspicion too; for the family had no idea of how Mr. Zilker had become endeared to him.

Now, it gets farfetched here. For somehow Babe and Tony were certain Mr. Zilker had included a few acres of land in his will for them. 

And since the family refused to even let them see their patron their desperation became great and they became irrational. They had easy access to ladders and decided one night to enter Mr. Zilker's room on the second floor and get to talk to him.  As anyone could guess they got caught by the police. And were put in Jail.

The Zilkers agreed to drop the charges that would have led to hard time in prison and my uncles had to agree to give up the idea Mr. Zilker wanted to give them land.

I almost forgot: when Aunt Dora, uncle Babe's wife, saw me once after I first wrote this story, she fondly remembered how Babe had courted her during the time he had access to Mr. Zilker's car.

That part was really heart-warming.

MY FIRST CELEBRATION OF LABOR DAY, CIRCA 1949

By: Frank M. Sifuentes

By the late l940's many of the Mexicanos born in Austin, Texas in the late l920's and early l930's - including yours truly - had become assimilated American citizens.  We were aware of our duties as citizens: to our church, the community and to the U.S.A.

I had made come back after dropping out shortly after I turned 14 from Allan Junior High. Having come to 'my senses' realizing that if I did not get an education I would be destined to 'pica y pala' digging ditches. And had therefore begged my mother to let me go back to school. She could not be sure I knew what I wanted; however, did not object even though I had given her such a hard time becoming a juvenile delinquent: Almost ending up in reform school.

After entering Allan Junior High I become the most improved student and winning a $50 scholarship for becoming a 10th grader at Austin High School. Where I excelled in public speaking and winning the l948 Optimist Club Oratory Champion of South Texas. Plus I had even joined the Red Dragons, the school's 'prestigious Drama Club. The first and perhaps the only 'meskin' to do so.*

My picture had even come out in the Austin American. With the result that Father Green at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church got a scholarship for me at St Edward H.S., at which time I even became more than a bit 'chiflado', dating girls from Catholic High school, giving me a 'chanz' to wear my suit: A gift from the Optimist Club for being an oratory 'boy wonder.'

So that l949 became a perfect year in just about everyway.  WWII had transformed the Friend City of Austin into a thriving community. And the League of United Latin American Citizens(s) led by my uncles Nash and Henry Moreno had registered a significant number of voters by having dances at the Driscol Hotel or the City Convention Center and having them register to vote by paying the poll tax.

And being business men they had the friendship of Mayor Austin Miller. Consequently, we the Mexicanos of Eastside Austin were invited to attend the Labor Day Dance at Zilker Springs park. It was in fact the first national celebration of the importance of labor in the U.S. And the first time we had been invited to celebrate with Anglos (Americanos).

I had adopted Americanism all the way. Assimilated and educated, and with a future. Father Green had already assured the Our Lady of Guadalupe congregation my next step was going to Notre Dame to become a lawyer; something greatly encouraged by having a registered high IQ. Not a genius but 'close' enough. 

My aim in going to the event was to dance with one of the best dancers in all of Austin: Agnes Guerrero. Agnes had a eye towards becoming a professional. Agnes was almost as tall as I was and liked to dance classic Eastside Austin cheek to cheek a estilo MexTex Encanicado enamorado: Dale gas right away vato..!

A whole bunch of us 'chicanes' flocked to the grand celebration Labor Day: as if we had
achieved equity. It included two big a la Glenn Miller bands, one on the East and the other on the Westside.  Agnes and I were we having a great time.

However, as my brother recently recalled "some red necks' got the bright idea of segregating us by stringing a rope length-wise in the middle of the dance floor, that put the Mexicano dancers to the South and pure Anglos to the North. (So no one would fail to see the symbolism!)

I had not noticed what had been happening because Agnes and I were dancing as if we had closed out the rest of the world becoming future ballroom champs. However, I saw my Uncle Paul Reyes dancing with his future bride Sarah Quintania who was a school teacher. (And my uncle was a manger at a major drug store.)

When Paul and Sarah saw what was happening and the red blooded Americanos tried to pull the rope over their heads: No way Uncle Paul and Sarah said. Paul grabbed the rope and would not let go. The audacious gentlemen melted like cowards always do. 

Agnes and I were so close we easily got next to Paul and Sarah, as did several other Mexicanos who were not about to let this happened.

Ironically Agnes Guerro's future in-law, Stella, had been dancing with an Anglo and didn't know what was going to happen to her. Send her 'back' South and leave boyfriend stranded up North just for having good taste in dance pardoners. However being with an Americano won her amnesty.

When the organizers of the dance realized they had a potential riot on their hands, they took the easy route: They cancelled the dance.

And what a terrible disappointment it was for the future ballroom champions, me and Agnes. However it became an incident I would never forget. The next day the Austin American reported there 'were hordes of Mexicans' at the dance.

But my uncles, included Paul, and Jimmy Reyes who had been in the invasion of Normandy and had returned with two purple hearts and a Silver Star, becoming the most decorated American soldier in Austin joined an entire LULAC contingency, stormed City Hall and had some hot words to offer to Mayor Austin Miller.

The next story in the Austin paper was in the nature of an apology. After all Austin Miller needed the votes of the Eastside by that time.

ORANGE COUNTY, CA

Capturing Your Past With Tools of Today OC Family History Fair
No Cost
Saturday, April 29th, 2006
674 S. Yorba Street, Orange, CA 92869
Information: (714) 997-7710
* Classes > Especially good for beginner

Available for purchase 
Classes Syllabus materials ($10.) and box lunch ($7.25) 

"Cesar E. Chavez , 
A Reflection"
An Exhibition of Photographs by George Rodriguez

March 31 - April 28, 2006

Mexican Cultural Institute 
Downstairs Art Gallery
Plaza Olvera
125 Paseo de la Plaza, 
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: (213) 624-3660

This collection of enthralling black 
and white photographs, captured by acclaimed photographer George Rodriguez and many of them never-before-seen, illustrate the important legacy of Cesar E. Chavez and the people's movement he inspired. 

Photos by Pat Lozano, taken at SHHAR meeting, March 11th

Learn how easy it is to capture and preserve your family's favorite stories for future generations.  Bring a favorite family story to share and record and practice interviewing fellow participants about their own.  Oral historian Brad Williams, past president of the southwest Oral  history Association, provides advice to help you start immediately.  Tape recorders will be available to borrow and handouts will help you when you get home.

Reservation required.  1-800-204-3131,ext 4789, or www.forestlawn.com/visitors_guide/events/reservations.asp

CALIFORNIA

Blackballed in New York, she returns to her parents' California wine country estate, Regalo Grande determined to start over. There she meets Antonio, an illiterate stable hand who cleans the stalls of her father's Arabian horses. He has an inner strength, integrity, and peace that she longs for in this time of turmoil. And soon she is drawn to him in a way she cannot deny.

Angelica finds herself fighting her mother’s prejudice and her father’s insistence that she pursue the lifestyle she was groomed for. With her mother seriously ill and her father on the edge of financial ruin, must she betray her family to be true to herself? Will she be drawn to her destiny by the whispering winds of Sonoma?

http://www.nikkiarana.com/jacaranda.html

It was May of 2001 when I first felt the tug of the Spirit, then a whisper, then a strong impression that got me to thinking about writing. I enrolled in an Internet course called Writeriffic.  It was on-line so I did it at my desk at work when I had a break. That teacher, Eva Shaw, really encouraged me.  She said I should send out my writing for publication.  I didn’t know how to do that, so I bought some books and followed the directions and send out my homework. I sold everything I sent out.

I thought it was fun and easy and I’d always liked to write poetry. So I bought some books and found out what kind of poetry publishers wanted.  Free verse.  I didn’t know how to write free verse … so I took an online class from the University of Washington.  I sent out my homework and sold it. Here and in Canada.

When I started selling things I was asked for a bio. I didn’t have one because I’d never written anything. So I decided I should join some clubs. I went online and found the Idaho Writers League had a local chapter in Coeur d’Alene. I joined and went to my first meeting in June of 2001. At that first meeting I found out that they had a section where you read your work. I read a story I’d written about two brothers going to a wrestling tournament. Write what you know, they’d told me. One of the ladies there said, “You know I think that’s good enough for the state contest.” So I entered. I won second place. Now, this was a secular organization and my story was blatantly Christian. It was called “Wrestling With the Wind” and the wind in the story was the Holy Spirit.

In March of 2002, I began to feel the Lord was calling me to write a book. So I bought about ten books on how to write a novel and then sat down at my computer and started.  In May I became aware of a writers conference in Seattle that only cost $99 and I could drive there. I read in the brochure that the Acquisitions Editor for Tyndale, Publishers of the Left Behind series, would be there, and if you wanted, you could be part of a group interview. You’d have 3 minutes to pitch your book. I only had 3 chapters written but I knew where my story was going. But how do you pitch a book? My dad had given me “Publishing for Dummies” when I started writing so I went to it and found a page on how to write a synopsis … so I did. I went to the Seattle conference, pitched my book in three minutes and was asked by the Acquisitions Editor to submit the first four chapters to Tyndale. So I went home, wrote the fourth chapter, and did. A short time later Tyndale contacted me and asked me to submit my full manuscript for review.

There are many more instances of God’s light on my path. He led me to an editor that had edited for Tyndale for 20 years so she could polish my manuscript before I sent it. He caused me to be noticed by a top agent, Natasha Kern, who has built the careers of many first time authors. He brought me a concept editor, Carol Craig, to teach me story structure and characterization to move my writing to the next level.

Why?  Why is this happening to me?  Not because I am special, not because I am talented. It is, after all, His creativity being expressed through me. It is because it is His timing. He has placed me here at this time for this purpose.  So if God put the desire to write into your hearts, don't ever forget His faithfulness to prosper what He has ordained. 

The word says: Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may read it easily as he hastens by. For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to its fulfillment. It will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come. Habakkuk 2:3  

People ask me why I write. I write because of that empty grave, for the truth at Calvary. I testify to you that God’s timing is perfect. If you have been called to write, you are writing for His pleasure. You’re in training.  Prepare yourself so you are ready when you feel that tug, hear that whisper, “It’s time.”   

Sincerely, Nikki Arana

NORTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

3. Renee Zamora's genealogy blog http://rzamor1.livejournal.com  got mentioned several times (In case you didn't know, Renee is the Secretary of our Utah Valley PAF Users Group and does a great job with the minutes of all the meetings.) -- Alan Mann and others mentioned her blog in connection with how you can keep up on what's going on in FH. (Good job, Renee.)

4. The wiki's are coming! -- beta launch of WeRelate http://werelate.org   was announced -- sponsored by Dallan Quass' non-profit Foundation for On-Line Genealogy, Inc. Here's a quote from the web site: "WeRelate is a genealogy community combining a Web search engine and a wiki so you can discover genealogical information and share what you know. WeRelate is: Free to the Public and always will be; Dedicated to help people discover and share their family history." Dallan discussed what wiki's are and how to set one up where many people are allowed to edit and update the info, subject to the restrictions set up for the wiki. ("Wiki" is a Hawaiian word meaning quick.) Check the web site to see what's listed there, including links to 5 million genealogy pages found on 58,000 unique hosts, and more to come.

5. Alan Mann gave several interesting talks and most of his class notes are online at http://www.alanmann.com articles In one talk he mentioned several new gadgets for FH that sounded interesting, including things like "self-powered" USB external hard drives so you 
don't need to carry a power adapter too; the new Sony Reader that is coming out sometime this Spring that you can download books to, e.g. The Handy Book, the Source, etc., to take and have all the books with you; USB powered battery chargers and car adapter charger for camera  batteries; Digital Persona biometric touch reader to hold all your passwords and only let you on by touching your finger to it -- can set it to recognize any one of 10 fingers on your hand or other  people's; Vertical Mouse to alleviate carpal tunnel; plus more. Alan also talked about many new web sites and new ways to find other FH sites. He mentioned Lulu Publishing at http://www.lulu.com where you write your book, send it to them electronically and agree on a selling price, and when someone orders one they print it, bind it, send it, and they get 20% and you get 80% of the sale price. Print-on-demand for any number of copies people order.

6. My wife and I gave two presentations, one on LDS &Utah Records and the other on Working With large Databases: The Early LDS Database at http://earlylds.com .  Our complete notes are online at http://familyhistorycenter.org  under Class notes and Descriptions. All the links are live in the online notes for these talks. 

7. Curt Wicher gave several interesting talks, including the keynote address on The Future of the Past. He pointed out how records are being lost and destroyed everyday that we need to be involved in helping preserve them. As family historians we stay informed about what's happening and commit to Create, Save, and Share. He gave us lots of insights into what to expect in record preservation.

Syllabi,: Paper syllabi were $30 and CD  (pdf) syllabi were $20.  
Contact: Dr. Donald R. Snow, Retired Prof of Math, BYU, Provo, Utah 84602

SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

El Paso received national press this weekend on NPR's Weekend Edition thanks to David Romo's book, Ringside Seat to a Revolution. On January 28th, 1917 Carmelita Torres refused the delousing bath at the U.S./Mexico border and the infamous Bath Riot ensued. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5176177   

BLACK

Henry Louis Gates Jr., standing, hosts the show, which traces the ancestry of African-Americans including Quincy Jones.

Photo: Gram Judd, Thirteen/WNET, New York and Kunhardt Productions 

Crossing Bok Chitto is a story set in the 1800s in the woods of Mississippi on both sides of the river Bok Chitto.  Crossing Bok Chitto will be an eye-opener for kids and adults alike. It recounts a part of history that is little-known: the relationship between the Choctaws-members of a sovereign nation-and the slaves who lived in Mississippi during that time before the Civil War, before the Choctaws were forced out of Mississippi to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. The story is brought to life with the rich and subtle illustrations of Jeanne Rorex Bridges, an accomplished artist of Cherokee ancestry. 

About the Author
Cossing Bok Chitto is a tribute to the Indians of every nation who aided the runaway people of bondage."  Tim Tingle is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. His great-great grandfather, John Carnes, walked the Trail 
of Tears in 1835. As a performer, Tingle brings the stories of Native American cultures to life in lively historical, personal, and traditional stories. 

About the Illustrator: 

Jeanne Rorex Bridges is an award-winning artist of Cherokee ancestry. She lives on a hill in rural eastern Oklahoma, part of the farm and ranch land where she was raised. For several years, she has incorporated paintings depicting the shared history of Southeastern Indians and African Americans with her Native American work. The story of Crossing Bok Chitto was a perfect fit for her first book illustration. 

The Mexican state of Oaxaca, located along the Pacific Ocean in the southeastern section of the country, consists of 95,364 square kilometers and occupies 4.85% of the total surface area of the Mexican Republic. Located where the Eastern Sierra Madre and the Southern Sierra Madre come together, Oaxaca shares a common border with the states of Mexico, Veracruz and Puebla (on the north), Chiapas (on the east), and Guerrero (on the west).

As the fifth largest state of Mexico, Oaxaca is characterized by extreme geographic fragmentation. With extensive mountain ranges throughout the state, Oaxaca has an average altitude of 1,500 meters (5,085 feet) above sea level, even though only about 9% of this is arable land. With such a large area and rough terrain, Oaxaca is divided into 571 municipios (almost one-quarter of the national total). 

Oaxaca's rugged topography has played a significant role in giving rise to its amazing cultural diversity. Because individual towns and tribal groups lived in isolation from each other for long periods of time, the subsequent seclusion allowed sixteen ethnolinguistic groups to maintain their individual languages, customs and ancestral traditions intact well into the colonial era and – to some extent – to the present day. Although Oaxaca’s ethnic groups are well-defined through dialect, customs, food habits, and rituals, the historian María de Los Angeles Romero Frizzi has suggested that the simplistic "linguistic categorization" of the ethnic groups is "somewhat misleading," primarily because "the majority of indigenous peoples in Oaxaca identify more closely with their village or their community than with their ethnolinguistic group." 

For this reason, Oaxaca is – by and large – the most ethnically complex of Mexico’s thirty-one states. The two largest linguistic groups in this large collection are the Zapotec and Mixtec Indians, whose roots stretch very deeply into the early Mesoamerican era of Oaxaca. Living in their mountain enclaves and fertile valleys, many of their pre-Hispanic ancestors harvested corn, beans, chocolate, tomatoes, chili, squash, pumpkin and gourds. Some of the early inhabitants also hunted turkey, deer, armadillo and iguana or fished in Oaxaca’s many ocean-bound streams and rivers.

It is no surprise that the Mixtecs and Zapotecs were neighbors as they both belong to the Oto-Manguean language family, which remains the largest linguistic group in the state of Oaxaca and in the Mexican Republic, represented by approximately 174 languages (according to Ethnologue.com). The author Nicholas A. Hopkins, in his article "Otomanguean Linguistic Prehistory," states that glottochronological studies of the Oaxacan Indian groups indicate that the first diversification of this group of languages had begun by 4400 B.C. It is believed that nine branches of the Oto-Manguean family were already distinct by 1500 B.C., and that some of this linguistic differentiation actually took place in the Valley of Tehuacán. It is widely recognized that the Mixtecos and Zapotecos are actually kindred peoples, looking back to a common origin several thousand years ago.

These two groups are not only the largest indigenous groups within this part of Mexico; they also exhibit a wide range of diversity within their own ethnic populations. Ms. Romero has observed that some of Oaxaca’s language families – including the Zapotec and Mixtec tongues – "encompass a variety of regional languages, making for a more diverse picture than the number sixteen would suggest."

By the time the Spaniards arrived in the Valley of Oaxaca in 1521, the Zapotec and Mixtec inhabitants of this large mountainous region had split into hundreds of independent village-states. The Zapotec ethnic group is so diverse that there are actually 64 separate Zapotec languages that have evolved over the last few thousand years, each language diverging as the Zapotec communities became isolated from one another over time. The Mixtec ethnic group is also very diverse, speaking approximately 57 different languages. Almost four centuries after the conquest, at the time of the 1900 Mexican Federal Census, 471,439 inhabitants of Oaxaca were still speaking Indian languages, representing 49.70% of the state population and 17.24% of the national indigenous-speaking population.

Most archaeological evidence indicates that the Zapotecs were one of the earliest ethnic groups to gain prominence in the region now called Oaxaca. The Zapotec Indians have always called themselves Be'ena'a, which means The People. The implication of this terminology is that the Zapotecs believe that they are "The True People" or "The people of this place." Unlike many other Mesoamerican Indians groups, the Zapotecs have no legend of migration from another land. Instead, their legends claim that their ancestors emerged from the earth or from caves, or that they turned from trees or jaguars into people. It is, therefore, not surprising that they would refer to themselves as the rightful original inhabitants of their lands.

Some of the Zapotecs eventually became known as the Be'ena Za'a (Cloud People), a name primarily applied to the Central Valley Zapotecs. In the pre-Hispanic era, Aztec merchants and soldiers dealing with these people translated their name phonetically into Náhuatl: Tzapotecatl. When the Spaniards arrived, they took this word and transformed it into Zapoteca. The Mixtecs, the sister culture of the Zapotecs, also received their "Aztec" name due to their identity as "Cloud People" (Ñusabi), but in their case the Náhuatl translation was literal, as Mixtecatl translates directly as "Cloud Person."

The early Zapotecs were a sedentary, agricultural city-dwelling people who worshipped a pantheon of gods. In their art, architecture, hieroglyphics, mathematics, and calendar, the Zapotecs appeared to have shared some cultural affinities with the ancient Olmec and the Mayan Indians. The Zapotec culture developed in the mountainous area at and near Monte Albán, roughly parallel to the Olmec civilization, which was in decline as the Zapotecs were in ascendance. The Zapotecs developed a calendar and a basic form of writing through carvings. By 200 B.C. the Zapotecs were using the bar and dot system of numerals used by the Maya.

Politically and militarily, the Zapotec Indians became dominant in the area around 200 B.C., extending their political and economic influence into the coastal regions and establishing valuable trading links with the Mayans to the south. Sometime between the third and eighth centuries A.D., the Zapotec culture peaked. However, soon after, the Mixtecs began to dominate the region, displacing the Zapotecs in many areas.

Located above the Valley of Oaxaca, six miles away from the capital city, the Zapotec ceremonial center, Monte Albán, was built in a mountain range overlooking great valleys and remains one of the most majestic of the sites of Pre-Historic Mexico. This architectural wonder is a complex of pyramids and platforms surrounding an enormous esplanade, where there is also an extraordinary astronomical observatory. Monte Albán was dedicated to the cult of mysterious gods and to the celebration of the military victories of the Zapotec people.

The pinnacle of Monte Albán's development probably took place from 250 A.D. to 700 A.D., by which time Monte Albán had become home to some 25,000 people and was the capital city of the Zapotec nation. For reasons still not entirely clear, the site was gradually abandoned after A.D. 700.

Some archaeologists have suggested that the decline of Monte Albán may have taken place because local resources of wood had become depleted and that its once-fertile slopes had become barren. However, the Zapotec culture itself continued to flourish in the valleys of Oaxaca and the Zapotecs moved their capital to Zaachila. From about 950 to the arrival of the Spanish in 1521, there was minimal life at Monte Albán, except that Mixtecs arriving in the Central Valleys between 1100 and 1350 reused old tombs at the site to bury their own dignitaries.

The Mixtecs originally inhabited the southern portions of what are now the states of Guerrero and Puebla. However, they started moving south and eastward, eventually making their way to the Central Valley of Oaxaca. In their newly adopted land, the Mixtecs became prolific expansionists and builders, gradually encroaching onto the territories of the Zapotecs. But, the Mixtecs' prominence in the Valley of Oaxaca was short-lived.

By the middle of the Fifteenth Century, a new power appeared on the horizon. The Aztec Empire, centered in Tenochtitlán (now Mexico City), was in the process of building a great empire that stretched through much of what is now southern Mexico. In the 1450s, the Aztec armies crossed the mountains into the Valley of Oaxaca with the intention of extending their hegemony into this hitherto unconquered region.

Soon, both the Zapotecs and Mixtecs would be struggling to keep the Aztecs from gaining control of their trade routes to Chiapas and Guatemala. After a series of long and arduous battles, the forces of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma Ilhuicamina triumphed over the Mixtecs in 1458. In 1486, the Aztecs established a fort on the hill of Huaxyácac (now called El Fortín), overlooking the present city of Oaxaca. This location would become the seat of an Aztec garrison that enforced tribute collection from the Mixtecs and Zapotecs.

The ascendancy of the Aztecs in Oaxaca would last a little more than a few decades. In 1521, as the Zapotecs, Mixtecs and other vassals of the Aztecs worked the fields and paid tribute to their distant rulers, news arrived that strange invaders with beards and unusual weapons had arrived from the eastern sea. As word spread throughout Mesoamerica, many indigenous groups thought that the arrival of these strangers might be the fulfillment of ancient prophesies predicting the downfall of the Aztecs. 

Then, in August 1521, came the news that the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán had fallen to a combined force of Spanish and Indian soldiers under the command of a white-skinned, red-haired man named Hernán Cortés. Word of this conquest spread quickly, causing the inhabitants over a large area to speculate on what was to come next.

When the Zapotec leaders heard that the powerful Aztec Empire had been overcome by the strangers from the Gulf of Mexico, they decided to send a delegation to seek an alliance with this new powerful force. Intrigued by this offer, Hernán Cortés promptly sent representatives to consider their offer.

When the powerful Aztecs were overcome, the Zapotecs sent delegations seeking alliances with the Spaniards. Cortés promptly sent Pedro de Alvarado and Gonzalo de Sandoval to the Pacific and into the Sierra looking for gold. Pedro de Alvarado (1486-1541) explored the Oaxaca region in search of the source of the Aztec gold and find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean.  He didn't find a waterway but reported some good locations for ports.  

On November 25, 1521, Francisco de Orozco arrived in the Central Valley with a force of 400 Aztecs to take possession in the name of Cortés. A wide alluvial plain of about 700 square kilometers, the Valley of Oaxaca had a native population of about 350,000 at this time. Soon, both the Zapotec and Mixtec caciques of the Oaxaca Valley submitted to Orozco. Thus, writes the historian William B. Taylor, "Peaceful conquest spared the Valley of Oaxaca the loss of life and the grave social and psychological dislocations experienced by the Aztecs in the Valley of Mexico."

Francisco de Orozco did meet with some resistance in Antequera, but by the end of 1521, his forces had subdued the indigenous resistance. Cortés friends' Pedro de Alvarado and Gonzalo de Sandoval also arrived in Oaxaca to search for gold in the Sierras. Their reports led Cortés to seek the title of Marqués del Valle of Oaxaca in 1526, so that he might reserve some of the land's wealth for his own well-being.

In the course of the next decade, dramatic changes took place in the Valley. Starting in 1528, Dominican friars established permanent residence in Antequerea. After the Bishopric of Oaxaca was formally established in 1535, Catholic priests arrived in ever-increasing numbers. Armed with a fiery zeal to eradicate pagan religions, the Catholic missionaries persevered in their work. Settlers arriving from Spain brought with them domestic animals that had hitherto never been seen in Oaxaca: horses, cows, goats, sheep, chickens, mules and oxen. 

In the decades following the Spanish encounter, a series of devastating epidemics wreaked havoc on the native population of Oaxaca and other parts of Mexico. Before the first century had ended, some nineteen major epidemics had come and gone. The exposure of the Oaxacan Indians to smallpox, chicken pox, diphtheria, influenza, scarlet fever, measles, typhoid, mumps, influenza, and cocoliztli (a hemorrhagic disease) took a huge toll. As a result, Ms. Romero has written that the native population declined from 1.5 million in 1520 to 150,000 people in 1650. But, over time, the population of Oaxaca rebounded. On February 3, 1824, the state of Oaxaca was founded within the newly independent Mexican Republic, after 303 years of Spanish rule.

According to the 2000 census, the population of persons five years and more who spoke indigenous languages in Oaxaca amounted to 1,120,312 individuals, which represented 39.12% of the total population of the state. Today, the Mixtec Indians are one of the most important linguistic groups of southern Mexico, occupying an extensive territory of about 40,000 square kilometers (189 municipios) in western and northern Oaxaca and extending into Eastern Guerrero and Puebla. The Mixtec territory is divided into three subregions: the Upper Mixteca, Lower Mixteca and the Coastal Mixteca.

The Mixteca Alta or Highland Mixtec (Upper Mixteca) occupy approximately 38 municipios in the mountains west of the valley of Oaxaca. For most of Mixtec history the Mixteca Alta was the dominant political force, with the capitals of the Mixtec nation located in the central highlands. The valley of Oaxaca itself was often a disputed border region, sometimes dominated by the Mixtec and sometimes by the neighboring people to the east, the Zapotec.

The Lower Mixteca (Mixteca Baja) or Lowland Mixtec region takes in another 31 municipios to the north and west of these highlands in northwestern Oaxaca. The Mixteca de la Costa or Coastal Mixtec live in the southern plains and the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

In the 2000 census, the Mixteco Indians in Oaxaca numbered 241,383, or 55.19% of the 437,373 Mixtecos in the entire Mexican Republic. If you count the various subsidiary Mixtec languages, the total Mixtec-speaking population of the Mexican Republic in 2000 included 444,498 individuals. Today, the Mixtecs are spread throughout the entire nation, in large part because of their good reputation in the agricultural industry. The chart below illustrates the population of Mixtec speakers in both Oaxaca and the Mexican Republic.  

The Zapotec ethnic group remains the largest indigenous group of Oaxaca and presently occupies 67 municipios of Oaxaca. Several major Zapotec linguistic groups are classified by region as follows:

The Zapotecos de Valles Centrales (Zapotecos of the Central Valleys) are spread through the districts of Tlacolula, Ejutla, Ocotlán, Centro, Zaachila, Zimatlán and Etla, an area that actually consists of three intermontaine areas. The Oaxaca Valleys are located in the central part of the state. This is a zone of wide plains suitable for agriculture. The region borders the Mixteca on the west, the Gorge on the northwest, the Juárez Mountain Range on the north, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec on the east, and the Sierra Madre Range on the south. 

The Zapoteco Sureño (Zapotecos of the Southern Mountains) occupy the southern mountain region. The Zapoteco Istmo (the Zapotecos of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec) live in Tehuantepec and Juchitán of southeastern Oaxaca. The term Zapotec comprises a great many language varieties, most of which are identified by the area or towns where they are spoken. In the 2000 census, 377,936 individuals five years of age or more spoke some kind of Zapoteco language in Oaxaca. This represented 83.45% of all the Zapotec speakers in the entire Mexican Republic, who numbered 421,796. Like their Mixtec brothers, the Zapotecs have migrated to many parts of the country. These populations are illustrated as follows:

Increasingly, large numbers of Zapotecs and Mixtecs are travelling to locations throughout the Mexican Republic and the United States to secure gainful employment. Zapotecs and Mixtecs, in fact, are favored laborers in the two Baja states. In the 2000 census, the two largest linguistic groups in Baja California Norte were the Mixtecos (11,962 speakers) and the Zapotecos (2,987 speakers). In the 2000 census, 41,014 persons in Baja California claimed Oaxaca as their birthplace.

Already, in the 1970s, Baja had become a major zone of attraction for Mixtec farm laborers, with Ensenada and Tijuana as the primary destinations. In the last two decades, Baja California growers almost exclusively recruited Oaxacans laborers for their agricultural labor needs.

Indigenous speakers from Oaxaca have also made their way to the United States in large numbers. It is believed that in the last 20 years, more than 100,000 Zapotecs and Mixtecs have immigrated to the United States. According to the researcher Sarah Poole, it has been estimated that by the year 2010, Mixtecs and Zapotecs will comprise 20% of the agricultural labor force in the United States, in particular California.

Wherever they go, Mixtec and Zapotec laborers are usually regarded as newcomers. But, these two peoples have endured a long cultural journey, stretching back several thousand years. The Mixtecs and Zapotecs, in fact, built successful civilizations long before the Aztecs came into prominence. They are, without a doubt, enduring cultures.

Sources:
Adams, Richard E.W., Prehistoric Mesoamerica. Oklahoma City: Un of Oklahoma Press, 1991.

Clark Alfaro, Víctor. Los Mixtecos en la Frontera (Baja California). Mexicali, Baja California: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, 1991.

Ethnologue.com, Languages of Mexico. From Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 14th edition, Online: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=Mexico   July 28, 2001.

Frizzi, María de Los Angeles Romero, "The Indigenous Population of Oaxaca From the Sixteenth Century to the Present," in Richard E.W. Adams and Murdo J. MacLeod (eds.), The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas, Volume II, Mesoamerica, Part 2. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Garduño, Everardo. Mixtecos en Baja California: El Caso de San Quintín. Mexicali, B.C., México: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, 1989.

Gay, José Antonio. Historia de Oaxaca. Distrito Federal, Mexico: Porrúa, 1982.

Hopkins, Nicholas A., "Otomanguean Linguistic Prehistory," in J. Kathryn Josserand, Marcus Winter, and Nicholas Hopkins (eds.), Esays in Otomanguean Culture History – Vanderbuilt University Publications in Anthropology No. 31. Nashville: Vanderbilt University, 1984, pp. 25-64.

Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI). Tabulados Básicos. Estados Unidos Mexicanos. XII Censo General de Población y Vivienda, 2000. Mexico, 2001.

Poole, Sarah. The Changing Face of Mexican Migrants in California: Oaxacan Mixtecs and Zapotecs in Perspective. Center for Latin American Studies and Trans Border Institute Border Brief. Online: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~latamweb/images/TBI_CLAS-Brief_OAX.pdf

Taylor, William B., Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1972.

SEPHARDIC

Consuelo (Connie) Jaramillo Delgado


I know there is Judaism on the Jaramillo side, my paternal side. My paternal grandmother was on the Espinoza side.

I never knew anything as a kid. I read a lot as a child and couldn't watch TV. I read World War II books and read Exodus. I had an affinity for reading about Israel. In fact, I told my sisters that I would join the Israeli Air Force. I read about the Masad, the Israeli police, and how they would bring people to Israel and try them. When I read Exodus there was a girl named Aliyah. My sister and I said we would name our children Aliyah. My sister used that name for her daughter.

We visited our Espinoza grandmother often growing up. About five years ago, I read an article in La Herencia about converses. I told Dad that our last name was on the list of names Jews took when they left Spain. Espinoza was also on that list. Jaramillo is a place where certain plants grow. Espina are like spiny sticker plants. Espinoza might come from espina, things of nature.

I remember Dad telling me about playing with a dreidel, pon y saca. A couple of years ago we had a dreidel for Christmas. He told me things were done on the Espinoza side. I told him that if he doesn't share it, "It will die with you."
Grandmother Espinoza lit candles on Friday night. Candles were lit in a nicho (hole in the wall). Their Sabbath was Saturday. They did the bare minimum of work on Saturday. Dad's grandfather wouldn't go to church and read the Bible at home. They didn't go to church on Sunday.

Grandfather told Father's mother (Espinoza) that they were different. He never told them that they were Jews. There is a Pedro Jaramillo who came with Onate. It was always instilled in us that we came from Spain. My parents were adamant that "we're Spanish and not Mexicans." Everyone who came to the New World went through Mexico. Converses came to escape the Inquisition and signed on for expeditions. There was a mezuzah (recognized now) up on the rafter of Grandmother Espinoza's house so that it would be hidden. Dad is the oldest of ten kids. Dad's sister, the younger of twins, remembers it.

They covered mirrors and buried the dead quickly. When Father's own grandfather died, he remembers covering the mirrors. They had a Li/to where mourners sit in the house and sing alabados, mournful songs in Spanish. I don't know how long this was, but people visited and brought food. We lit candles on the one-year anniversary of a loved-one's death in our own house. They would say, "I do my own praying here (in the house)." Part of the family who practiced Catholicism said a mass in church on the year anniversary of the death.

The history of the church in New Mexico included traveling priests. In the 1800s moradas were frowned upon by the church. A lot of people wouldn't go to church. They had to pay for a pew. Grandfather on Mom's side, Quintana, wouldn't pay and wouldn't go to church. He read the Bible at home.

Dad's father's name was Solomon Jaramillo. Names in the family are Paul, Reuben, Joseph, and Rebecca. They are Dad's siblings.

When I was a kid, my sisters called me "Jewish Mama" because I said I will join the Israeli Air Force. We would pretend we were on a kibbutz.

Dad said the family only slaughtered animals amongst themselves. They sliced the neck a certain way and never ate blood. They let the blood drain and salted the meat.
During Lent, we ate panocha. Torta de huevo was eaten during Lent. It was an egg dish with red chili and no meat. We ate rice pudding, capirotada, which was similar to panocha (raisins and cheese). Quelites were eaten during Lent.

We did a play about Mary and Joseph looking for a place for Jesus to be born. There was a play each night along with bonfires. These plays were called Posadas and were done nine nights before Christmas and were supposed to light the way of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. We celebrated Mis Christmas. Kids would go around from house to house during Posadas (nine days). They would usually go to relatives or close-knit neighbors and get money or fruit. This was common up to Mom's generation. They did Las Posadas within the church.

Dad remembers he knew different words in Spanish than people spoke. His grandfather spoke a different Spanish.

When visiting the grave of a loved one, Dad's side placed stones on the headstones. People who were converses would put a fence around their burial plot. We believed in circumcision, early in life, soon after birth. Women covered their heads with a mantilla in church. They did this back then. In the Bernalillo church, you see a couple of older ladies do it.

Education was very important. Dad was sent to boarding school in the sixth grade. He graduated high school in the normal school. I have seven sisters (eight children) and all went through college. Empanadas were filled with fruit (apple, pumpkin, raisins) or meat.

Our people married within their own up to my father's generation. Second or third cousins married. We ate pork but didn't raise pigs. Dad said people had to survive. A majority of the time we ate beef, lamb, and chicken. We killed the chicken by twirling it to break its neck. Mom stayed in the house forty days after birth. You didn't leave and didn't attend church. Mom and Grandmother said not to wet hair so we wouldn't catch cold. When we went swimming we were told to do this.

My parents and I grew up in Las Cruces. Dad carried on from his parents. We would kneel down and receive a blessing when we were ready to leave.

Mom would make the sign of the cross with salt if there was a bad rainstorm with lightning.

We had icons in our home. We ate pan de semita. I don't know when it was eaten, but Mom said her mom made it.

Grandmother set aside a piece of dough when baking bread. I think Judaism is my culture, and it's part of us and important for us to know more about it. Dad, when asked, says it's in the past.

Excerpt From: Jews, Latinos Uncovering Their Heritage
By Daniel Hernandez Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times Friday, January 27, 2006

Beatrice De Gea Los Angeles Times

Boyle Heights was once home to the largest Jewish community west of Chicago. Most in the community were Ashkenazi Jews. The neighborhood is overwhelmingly Latino today and just south of Cesar Chavez Av-enue — which used to be Brook-lyn Avenue — the Breed Street Shul is waiting to be reopened.

Built in 1923, the home of Congregation Talmud Torah fell into disrepair as Jews moved to the Westside. The Jewish His-torical Society of Southern California stepped in to prevent the demolition of the shul in the 1990s. Now a renovation effort is underway to make the building a neighborhood cultural center. 

The shul is an artifact of a rich cultural history that includes Jews, Latinos and many others, said Steve Sass, president of the historical society and director of the Breed Street Shul Project.

"What I understand is that people were use to living side by side, they were all immigrants, English was not their first lan-guage, there was a Depression" Sass said. "This was the other Los Angeles.... We need to learn from that, learn from before, when people lived in proximity and were learning about each other's culture." 

TEXAS: THE FOURTH FRONT OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

As I briefly mentioned in the previous chapter, the issue I am going to discuss in this chapter is so important and so essential to American history, that it deserves to be discussed in a chapter all its own. The subject matter discussed here, to my knowledge, has never before been discerned by any historian, this is truly the very first chapter ever written about this issue. I am happy, blessed and humbled that it has befallen me to be the very first historian to write about it and in that way increase knowledge about this essentially important chapter in the history of our great American nation. Mr. Robert H. Thonhoff, one of America’s foremost historians, strongly feels I may be right, as his endorsement of my book reflects, even though this postulation is something that has never before been discerned by any historian.

Although at first glance the Indian Wars of Texas at this point in history may appear to be a separate conflict from the American Revolution, a closer look reveals that that was not the case.

"In June, 1780, Don Cristobal Ylario de Cordoba and about twenty men were driving 1000 cattle to Nacogdoches for Governor Galvez and his war efforts against the English. One hundred Comanche attacked them at Arroyo de Nogales, scattering the cattle and killing one drover." (Granville and N.C. Hough, Spain’s Texas Patriots in its 1779-1783 War with England During the American Revolution, p. 21)

The Indians of Texas had become an ally to the British in that many of them, including the Comanches just mentioned, as well as the Mescalero, Natages and Lipan Apaches, and the Karankawas on the coast of Texas, began an aggressive campaign of attacking ranches, killing settlers, and stealing horses and cattle, becoming a tremendous hurdle in the war effort of the Spaniards of Texas and Louisiana for American Independence. From Laredo to La Bahia on the coast of Texas, to the Guadalupe and Colorado Rivers, the Spanish Texas militia became embroiled in a fierce and continuous war with the Indians in which "There were no frontlines and no mercy was shown" (Ganville and N.C. Hough, Spain’s Texas Patriots…p. 22). Because the Texas Indians were directly hampering the War for American Independence in the southern front led by Galvez, they actually made Texas a fourth front in the American Revolution, and the Texas Spanish militia was the military force that met this challenge. The Texas Spanish militia fought the Indians to ensure that the cattle got to Galvez to feed his army. Like I said, all men between the ages of 14 and 60 were required to serve in the militia in the Spanish colonies, consequently, the descendants of men who would have been within that age bracket at the time of the American Revolution should, if what is right is pursued, be included among the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. The fourth front of the American Revolution in Texas is a historical fact that should be known; it is an indication of just how much Texas, Louisiana and the Southwest have always been a part of the United States, from the very start.

When the Comanches attacked Cristobal Ylario de Cordoba and his men, it was not without intent that they scattered the cattle meant to support Bernardo de Galvez and his expedition for American Independence. When one studies the whole historical context in which this event took place, it becomes quite evident that scattering the cattle was a strategic move to undermine the American Revolution in the third front led by Galvez. The Texas Indians were not doing this on their own, they had a long and well established relationship with the British who were intentionally fueling the Indian Wars in Texas as a strategic move in their fight to keep the American Colonials under the British Crown. It really is a surprise that historians have thus far missed what is palpably an integral part of the American Revolution! I mean, we know and have known that the Spaniards and the English were mortal enemies prior to the American Revolution; Spain had lost the Floridas to England in 1763 as a result of the French and Indian War, known in Spain as the Seven Years War, and the British knew the Spaniards now owned all the land west of the Mississippi River, including the "Island of New Orleans". Are we to really think that there was no hostile intent on the part of the English in the trade practices that developed with the Indians?

According to Dr. Granville Hough, in his essay entitled "British Guns for Spanish Horses," the British had inherited from the French an established business of trading guns for furs and buffalo hides in the area of the Great Lakes in Michigan. After 1763 the English began to focus their trade more on horses than on buffalo hides. Significantly, the markings on the horses that the Indians traded for guns with the English identified the horses as coming from the Spanish presidios in Texas! Dr, Hough explains that the Apache Indians from Texas would raid Spanish herds when the herds were away from the presidios and then they would trade the horses they stole for guns with their Indian neighbors to the north. In turn, Dr. Hough explains, the northern tribes would trade the horses they got from the Apaches with the British for guns.

Here is what I contend; the British in Michigan knew that the horses they got from the Indians were stolen from the Spaniards, and they knew the guns they gave the Indians would be used against the Spaniards. At the time of the American Revolution, I am sure the British knew and expected that the guns they gave to the Indians would be used to fight the Spaniards, disrupt the cattle drives and hamper the Spanish war against the British. It seems evident that the British would intentionally give guns for horses to the Indians in time of war, in other words, it was a strategic move on the part of the British in their war against Spain on American soil during the American Revolution. And I very much doubt that while doing friendly business while the war is going on, the British in the Great Lakes area and the Indians would not talk about their common enemy, it’s just human nature. Especially since the British showed they were well aware of the Spanish role during the American Revolution seeing they had planned an attack on New Orleans from the Great Lakes area and Pensacola at the onset of Spain’s military involvement in the war. I am sure the Indians knew exactly what was going on, even if nobody wrote about it.

That it was a strategic move on the part of the British to give guns to the Indians in exchange for Spanish horses, and not just coincidental trade, is seen in that Simon Girty, an infamous American traitor during the American Revolution (and a traitor he was, not just a Tory, because he had fought and been of great service to the American cause for three years before he decided to fight his fellow Americans as a consequence of having been treated unjustly by some American commanders dealing with his military promotion. A Tory was one who always favored staying part of England, such a person would not be a traitor at a time of the birth of a nation. A traitor, on the other hand, changes sides and helps his former enemies destroy his compatriots. Simon Girty was a traitor, which is not to say his descendants today are not good Americans). At any rate, during the time of the American Revolution Simon Girty expedited the flow of British guns to the Indians in exchange for Spanish horses (Granville W. Hough, British Guns for Spanish Horses). The question that we need to ask is: Why would Simon Girty expedite the flow of guns to the Indians who were bringing in Spanish horses? Well, the answer is that he, and the British he served, saw the strategic significance of supplying guns to the Indians who were fighting the Spaniards and disrupting the cattle drives. To put it more clearly, the flow of guns to the Indians who were fighting the Spaniards in Texas, stealing their horses and scattering their cattle, had to be expedited to disrupt and hamper the war effort of the Spaniards in America during the American Revolution. That the flow of guns was expedited by one who had sided with the Tories and the English shows that, indeed, the Indian Wars in Texas which were fueled by these guns were an extension of the Revolutionary War that was being fought in the 13 British Colonies. It was a militarily necessary move in the war not only against Spain, but also against the Americans who were being helped by the Spaniards. That Simon Girty understood the Spanish war effort against the British as aiding the Americans is clearly understood in that Simon Girty hated his fellow Americans, not the Spaniards. His expediting the flow of guns to the Indians who would then use them against the Spaniards was intended to undermine the American cause more so than the Spanish cause. This is one reason we should understand why the war Spain waged against the Indians in Texas during the American Revolution was an integral part of it. And this is one reason why each battle fought on Texas soil between the Spaniards and the Indians at the time of the American Revolution was an American Revolutionary battle. We would do well in identifying the places where these military encounters between the Spanish militia or soldiers and Indians took place during the war, and then place an historical marker identifying such a place as an American Revolution battle site.

But the British did not limit themselves to trading guns for Spanish horses in the Great Lakes area. And neither did the battles of the American Revolution waged in Texas wait for the formal declaration of war by the King of Spain. On May 24, 1776, friendly Indians brought news to Luis Cazorla, commander of the Spanish forces stationed at Presidio La Bahia, that a ship had wrecked on the Texas coast. The next day Cazorla led a detachment of 23 soldiers plus some civilians and a few mission Indians in search of the shipwrecked vessel. As his soldiers reconnoitered the beach, they found, among other things, British uniforms! Soon thereafter they found wrecked on the beach a British commercial frigate (Weddle & Thonhoff, Drama and Conflict, the Texas Saga of 1776, pp. 36-37). Stop! What were British military uniforms doing on a British commercial frigate? As an American soldier, especially one who serves with our Special Operations soldiers, the first word that comes to my mind is "covert". It seems evident that British soldiers were covertly approaching the Texas coast on a merchant vessel. The intent, of course, was military and strategic.

I am sure that at this time Cazorla’s suspicions were confirmed; one year and two months earlier on March 24, 1775 he had reported on two military confrontations he had had with the Comanches after the Indians had stolen some horse herds. Cazorla wrote that when the Indian Chief raised his hand to signal his warriors, in his hand he held a British musket (Weddle & Thonhoff, p. 35). At this time, Cazorla frequently confronted Comanches, Apaches and Tonkawas from the Nations of the North, after they raided the area and killed travelers and herdsmen and their livestock, fueled by British gun traders. Cazorla proposed to build a fort on the coast of Texas to prevent the British from providing arms and ammunition to the hostile Indians. At some point before November of 1776, even the apostate Indians from La Bahia who had brought him news about the British shipwreck began to steal livestock from the Spaniards. After Cazorla caught up with these Indians and recovered the livestock, he noticed one of the Indians was snuggled in a British blanket. After being questioned, the Indian revealed to Cazorla that a British ship had come to port at Corpus Christi Bay, and the British had remained there a full month trading with the Indians! (Weddle & Thonoff, p. 38).

As early as 1772, Luis Cazorla had found illegal British weapons among the Orcoquisas. By 1774 the British had successfully penetrated Texas as far inland as the Bidai’s home, which was only a few miles from the Villa de Bucareli, giving gifts to the chiefs of the Bidai and Orcoquisa Indians, providing them with arms and ammunition. The Bidai would then pass the weapons and ammunition on to the Apaches. The Apaches, in turn, would use those wapons against the Spaniards. In May of 1776 five hundred Lipan Apaches descended upon the San Antonio and Cibolo Valley executing what Ripperda called a dreadful massacre of Spanish cattle, stealing horses and killing travelers. As a consequence of this incursion, the Spaniards at La Bahia were left without a food supply. All this while the American British Colonials were fighting for their freedom against the British on the East Coast. The English became so active in Texas and Louisiana providing such a large quantity of weapons and ammunition to the Indians and inciting them against the Spaniards to rob horses and mules and to kill their cattle, that the Spaniards in Texas began to go hungry and could not give chase to the Indians for lack of horses (Weddle & Thonhoff, p. 29).

Armed with British guns, the Comanche Indians forced the settlers of Laredo from the north bank to the south bank of the Rio Grande where they then established Nuevo Laredo as a direct consequence of the American Revolution in 1771. In 1772 King Carlos III had to order that all missions and presidios in Texas, except for San Antonio and La Bahia, be abandoned because of the fierceness of the Texas Indians fueled by British guns (Texas Beyond History, the University of Texas at Austin). Unfortunately, the king’s order to close the presidios had the undesired consequence of a dramatic increase of Indian raids on San Antonio (Texas Almanac, Fate of Spanish Mission Changed Face of West Texas).

In the desperate situation that the British guns for Spanish horses trade had created in Texas, De Mezieres "recalled another colonial conflict in which the English had paid five pounds sterling, in guns and munitions, for a French scalp" (Weddle & Thonhoff, Drama and Conflict, the Texas Saga of 1776, p. 178).

What was the other conflict in which the English had paid the Indians five pounds sterling for a French scalp? Well, that was the French and Indian War. Now, if the French and Indian War was the other colonial conflict De Mezieres knew about in which the English paid the Indians for French scalps, what was the present colonial conflict in which the British were inciting and arming the Indians against the Spaniards in Texas? Well, that was the American Revolution. De Mezieres, then, recognized that the battles being fought against the Indians in Texas which were incited and supplied by the British were not a separate conflict from the American Revolution, but one and the same. Texas was indeed another front in the American Revolution.

The British presence and their supplying of weapons and inciting of the Texas Indians against the Spaniards were so pervasive during the American Revolution, that it really is a wonder nobody before has realized that the Indian Wars in Texas at this time were nothing more and nothing less than the American Revolution being fought. In June of 1778 a meeting of the frontier military commanders had been called by the Caballero de Croix in Chihuahua to decide upon an all out military campaign against the Indians in Texas. Bernardo de Galvez was the man they chose to lead this campaign. The King of Spain could not spare Galvez for this campaign because he had another plan to confront the British who had been inciting the war in Texas (Weddle & Thonhoff, Drama & Conflict the Texas Saga of 1776, p. 179). The fact remains, however, that the same men associated with the third front of the American Revolution led by Galvez, de Croix, De Mezieres, Cabello, and Galvez himself, were also the leaders in the Indian Wars in Texas, making this fact further confirmation that the Indian Wars in Texas were indeed a fourth front of the American Revolution.

An unknown hero of the American Revolution in the Texas battlefront was Juan de Ugalde. Juan de Ugalde was born in Cadiz, Spain on December 9, 1729. He joined the Spanish Army in 1738, and he was a veteran of the Seven Years War, also known as the French and Indian War, having fought the Portuguese in the European front. He had also previously been engaged in combat against the Austrians in northern Italy, and the Moors in North Africa. On March 26, 1776 he was appointed by King Carlos III of Spain as governor of the Province of Coahuila in Northern New Spain, a province which had land into present day Texas. After taking office as governor on November 23, 1777, he became very active in fighting the Lipan and Mescalero Apaches in Texas during the American Revolution, bringing the skills he learned in northern Italy, North Africa and in Portugal during the French and Indian War. Juan de Ugalde conducted four campaigns against the Mescalero Apaches in the regions of the Big Bend and the Pecos River in Texas, chasing them into the Chisos Mountains. Although he killed only nineteen Apaches during these campaigns, and took sixty-seven prisoners, he was successful in forcing the Mescaleros to flee or to make peace with the Spaniards in South Texas. This was a tremendous victory for the American Revolution in the South Texas battlefront, since by these victories Ugalde stopped the depredations of this tribe of Indians and their undermining of the war efforts of the Texians to supply Galvez’s army with cattle during the American Revolution. While the British were attempting to subvert the Indians of Texas against Spain as a conscious effort to undermine and defeat an ally of the Americans during the War for Independence of the United States, Ugalde was successful in turning the Lipans against the Mescaleros. Juan de Ugalde was relieved as governor on April 17, 1783, having served in battle and for the duration of the involvement of Spain in the American Revolution. He was also a representative of the role of the Knights of the Order of Santiago, to which position the King of Spain had appointed him before he left Spain, in the Independence of the United States.

Ugalde continued to fight the Apaches in Texas after the American Revolution, defeating 300 Mescalero, Lipan and Lipiyan Apaches in West Texas. Ugalde Canyon is named after him in commemoration of this victory, and from there the city of Uvalde and Uvalde County, Texas are named. Unwittingly, Ugalde Canyon, Uvalde City and Uvalde County, then, are named after a hero of the American Revolution. The proper authorities would do well to give him credit in whatever documents and historical markers of these places for his vital role in winning the Independence of the United States!

Now, why don’t we just take a step back, or, rather, out, and take a look from the outside at the situation in Texas during the American Revolution? In his hatred against America and the American Colonials, Simon Girty, the once "Patriot" turned Tory, was feverishly expediting the flow of weapons to the Indians he knew would use them against the Spaniards in Texas, using a trade system that now worked like a well oiled machine. The British were so active infiltrating Texas, inciting the Indians and providing them with weapons and ammunition that the Spaniard Texans began to go hungry and many had to leave Texas for a time. Thus the British were almost successful in defeating the Spaniards in Texas… during the American Revolution. De Mezieres, de Croix and even Bernardo de Galvez had to get involved. Men like Luis Cazorla and Juan de Ugalde had to confront the Indians in battle to turn the tide, as the Texas Spanish Militia, every male between 14-60 years of age became embroiled against the British armed, supplied and incited Indians in a fierce war in which "no mercy was shown and no prisoners were taken". And all of this… why? Because as far as Simon Girty and the British were concerned, the Spaniards of Texas and Louisiana were directly helping the 13 British Colonies throw off the English yoke! Indeed, Texas was a direct battlefront of the American Revolution even before Spain had officially declared war on England.

Why would the British incite a war in Texas as a part of the war they were waging against their American Colonials? At what point did the trade the British had inherited from the French become a war effort in the Revolutionary War? The British knew they had an enemy in Spain, and that Spain had a presence just on the other side of the Mississippi River. Any military strategist would know that the Spaniards would take the opportunity to undermine the British cause. Consequently, it would only be the prudent thing to provoke a war in Texas to distract the Spaniards away from the Englishmen’s personal conflict. It was a strategic move on the part of the British. Naturally, the trade the British had inherited from the French became a war effort in the American Revolution against the Spaniards in Texas when the problems with the American British Colonials began to cause bloodshed. The Boston Massacre took place in 1770, and on July 4, 1776, Sergeant Manuel de Urrutia led fourteen Spanish soldiers from San Antonio in pursuit of Apache Indians armed with British guns. Frankly, if you cannot see how the Indian Wars in Texas were a direct battlefront of the American Revolution, well, I’ve got a bridge I can sell you in San Francisco!… But what is the significance to you and me that Texas was indeed a battlefront of the American Revolution? 

Tirso Loya

EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI

EAST COAST

New exhibit:  Divine and Human: Women in Ancient Mexico and Peru, which through art examines the roles of women in pre-Columbian society.  Founded in 1981, the National Museum of Women in the Artas is dedicated exclusively to the exhibition, preservation, and acquisition of works by women artists of all nationalities and periods. 

"Eliane Karp de Toledo and Marta Sahagun de Fox conceived "Divine and Human." Laura Bush has signed on as its honorary patron. These women are, respectively, the first ladies of Peru, Mexico and the United States, though the show they have brought us isn't ladylike at all.

The women it depicts -- some are human beings, some goddesses, it's often hard to tell -- are unashamedly physical. They do not hide their genitals. They bleed. Their piety is obvious, but also pretty scary. Ritual human sacrifice was not at all uncommon in ancient Mexico and Peru. They're also frankly carnal, assuming physical positions of Kama Sutra variety. In childbirth they writhe and strain as the baby's head emerges. They also laugh with joy, and play happily with their puppies (though, perhaps, they ate them, too).

In her foreword to the catalogue, Mrs. Bush accentuates the positive. She writes: "The stories that [these objects] tell of women's strengths, exercised through their roles as mothers, healers, governors, priestesses and goddesses, are fascinating and inspirational."

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Jenelle Birnbaum
InternComm&Mkt@nmwa.org
Communications and Marketing Intern
National Museum of Women in the Arts
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Washington, D.C. 20005-3970
Tel: 202.783.2834  Fax: 202.393.3234   www.nmwa.org 

MEXICO