Somos Primos

 July 2006 
Editor: Mimi Lozano ©2000-6

Dedicated to Hispanic Heritage and Diversity Issues
 
Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research
Celebrating 20th Anniversary 
1986-2006

Los Angeles's Olvera Street
Birthplace of Los Angeles featured in Pictorial History Book by Bill Estrada
in Tribute to the 225th Anniversary of the city of Los Angeles.
For more information, click. 

 Letters to the Editor : 

§
To: Jaime Cader frequent submitter:
What's nice is having a hot cup of coffee and reading Somos Primos early on a Sunday...I always learn something new. And it is so interesting, and getting even better than the time before!!I'm sure Somos Primos will gain in popularity due to the internet.  I learn something new every time I read it. Somos Primos should be a teaching tool, there is something in it for everyone, everywhere.
 
Keep up the great work!!  
Purliemae Wiggins Purliemae@aol.com

"My parents didn't speak English.  They learned it little by little.  
They realized that education was the ticket to a better future."  
Tony Cardenas, 
Former California State Assemblyman, now a member of the Los Angeles City Council

United States

Education
Ana Maria Armano, a month short of 80th birthday receives B.A.
Course helps Latinos understand kids' schools 
Website for Diversity Education
French in Maine
Most states fall short in teaching the culture of Latin America and Mexico 
A Guide to the Tool Kit for Hispanic Families
The 7 Secrets of Big Picture Thinkers by Nancy Marmolejo


Culture 
Race and Latino!
Tejano Texian 
Our Lives are better left to chance
In Search of Fatherhood 
Latino Rhythms and their influence on Classic Soul Music: 

Business
Would you believe? . . Meet the Fakers
Multi-ethnic business a piece of cake

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants & being an AMERICAN in 1907.
Sent by Sylvia Bisnar  Biziebiz@aol.com

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... 
We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language.. and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."  . . . . . Theodore Roosevelt 1907

Sons Live Out a Dream, Passing the Torch to a New Generation

By Steve Hymon, Times Staff Writer, May 7, 2006
Los Angeles Times, Orange County Edition 
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-council7may07,1,264511.story?
coll=la-headlines-california
Sent by Granville Hough, Ph.D.

Four couples crossed the border from Mexico with little but hope. 
Now all have children serving on L.A.'s City Council.

Ed Reyes
District 1

Tony Cardenas
District 6

Alex Padilla
District 7

Jose Huizar
District 14

"We would swim until noon and then they would shut down the pool for an hour, and we would go to a free lunch program because we lived In a poor census tract," PadUla recalled.

In 1990, much to his own surprise, Padffla was accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He had applied to, but -not visited, the school and had never traveled east of El Paso.

Although he graduated with a degree In mechanical engineering, he returned home after college in 1994 and tell in love with the world of local politics. He said he was driven largely by that year's Proposition 187,' which called for denying illegal immigrants many social benefits but which was overturned in federal court. "

In 1999, Padilla was elected to the City Council at age 26 representing parts of the northeast Valley. Two days later, his mother became a U.S. citizen in a ceremony at the convention center, joining his .father, who had' earned his citizenship in 1998.

Padffla, now 33, is the youngest member of the council -and was three times elected its president. His next stop could be the State Senate. But he has a formidable opponent for the Democratic nomination for,, the 20th District seat in Assemblywoman ndy Montanez (D-San Femando), whose parents immigrated from Mexico in 1970 and also struggled to build a better life

The Reyes Family
Anyone who watches council meetings knows that Ed Reyes frames roost issues —from planning to policing to the price of cable television — in terms of how they will affect the poor in his mostly Latino district, west of downtown and part of northeast LA.

He is not a dour man.. But when he is asked to recount his childhood, it is clear that some of the memories nearest the surface are the hard ones. His father, Luis, was born in Denver, the son of a Mexican Immigrant who worked for U.S. railroads; At age 3, Luis Ramos Reyes. moved back to Mexico. He met his wife, Eustolia, in Mexico City and they returned north in the mid-1950s; she had to live in Tijuana for two years waiting for her papers. They had seven children; Ed Reyes was the first born in the U.S.

Reyes' parents, like their peers, received little in the way Of "formal education. In the U.S., the councilman remembers, they tried to assimilate with a certain "humbleness." .^:

He has sharp memories. They include his father's hands, swollen from working to a freezer at the meatpacking plant that made Dodger .Dogs, and his mother in the kitchen of their Cypress Park home before dawn, making tortillas.

Reyes, 47, can recall being mocked for not being able to recite the alphabet In English in first grade and his father suffering a similar fate at work mocked by the foreman

"I remember my parents would make us step aside for a well-dressed white person," Reyes said. "To see all the people come out for the marches was a way of shedding that and saying we have as much rights as anyone."  Last Monday, on the day when hundreds of thousands marched in LA. In support or immigrants' rights, Reyes and hits family put on T-shirts labeled "Team Reyes" and hit the streets.

The Huizar Family
Jose Huizar was born on a ranch near the mountain town of Jerez in Zacatecas, in northern Mexico. His family lived in a three-room house with no plumbing or electricity.

'We didn't own It. We were borrowing it" Huizar said. ''People would lend out their homes, Otherwise they wouldn't be maintained, and it just kind of flowed back into the earth."

His father, Simon, Joined a U.S. government program to supply American farmers with laborers. He traveled the southwestern states picking crops, and, to the early 1970s — when Hulzar.was 3 — the family landed in Boyle Heights. Simon Hulzar found work as a machinist; His wife, Isidra, worked at a meant packing plant.

Jose Huizar hit a rough patch in middle school and was once kicked out for fighting. But he righted himself with the help of a mentor. He went on to UC Berkeley, to Princeton for graduate school and finally to UCLA's law school He won election to the Los Angeles Board of Educatio in 2001 and, last fall, captured a seat on the council to replace Antonio Villaraigosa, representing, a huge swath of east and north-west LA

Last Monday, the day of the latest marches, Huizar was stuck in a hearing on the city's budget. At lunch, he finally had his chance to wade into the crowd;

"What realty hit me about the marches is that I think about what my life would be like if I hadn't left Mexico," said Huizar, 37. "I still have some family back. there. These guys go out to work each and every day in a tough climate tending to cows, picking asparagus and peaches.  "They work hard and still live in poverty. And that could have been me."

Most Latino professionals are fully bilingual, work in various industries and are well integrated within American corporate culture, according to a recent survey of Latinos in the workplace. 

The Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement’s (HACE) latest findings may give many Americans pause. More than 500 professionals completed HACE's e-mail-administered 2006 Latinos Professional Pulse Survey http://www.hace-usa.org/news.htm. The results reveal an image of Latino
workers that confounds long-held stereotypes and addresses questions raised amidst the political fervor over immigration that has rocked the nation in recent months.

"With so much focus on the issue of immigration, many people are unaware that a significant number of college-educated Latinos are successfully working in professional positions and advancing in their careers," said Abe Tomás Hughes, HACE’s president and CEO. "This is an upwardly mobile
segment comprised of English-dominant individuals of Hispanic heritage that are, in practically all cases, citizens or legal residents authorized to work here. They represent model citizens of this country and offer a clear picture of how Latinos are increasingly contributing to the future of the
U.S." 

Diversity Inc Bookstore 
http://store.diversityinc.com/cgi-bin/commerce.exe?preadd=action&key=VINCERO001
Heritage Hispanic-American Style is a rich, entertaining cultural compendium of facts that surveys the vast Hispanic culture, from its birthplace in Spain to the lands of the new world where its language, religion, and customs greatly influence two continents. 

Twenty-seven percent of respondents work in publicly-held Fortune 1000 companies and 30 percent work in private businesses. More Latinos work in nonprofit, government or academia than whites, according to the survey. 

"You see Latino involvement across all industries and economic sectors. In the military, they have the greatest ratio of Medal of Honor recipients [of] any group, which shows both courage and dedication," said Alma Morales Riojas, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based MANA, A National Latina Organization. "For those of us who are not only Latino but have dealt
in issues of equal opportunity and diversity, we know our common traits. We have no problem once we get in the workplace; the problem has been getting our foot in the door."

Survey results confirm Latinos' capacity for advancement. Of the 500-plus professionals who completed the survey, 65 percent reported receiving promotions at some time in their careers, with more than 90 percent occurring in the last five years. 

The survey also indicates that money is not the primary objective for most Latinos, as most said they seek progress over plumped-up paychecks. They consider growth potential (96 percent) and positive environment (96 percent) important/very important in future career choices. Nearly 80 percent of respondents say working for a company on The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies
for Diversity list is a factor in their career decisions. (See who's in The DiversityInc 2006 Top 50 Companies for Diversity http://www.diversityinc.com/public/21029.cfm.
 
More respondents report satisfaction with their jobs than not by a margin of nearly 2 to 1. This translates to higher retention rates that minimize disruption and contain costs often generated from high turnover. Three out of five Latino professionals have been at the same job for more than two
years, the survey shows. 

"I think it’s well documented that Latinos, whether they hail from Mexico, Puerto Rico or South America, historically have a track record of pride in their work and loyalty to their employer," said Riojas, who also chairs the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility’s board of directors.
"Even in places where there are employment issues, Latinos are consistently more likely to see challenges as opportunities to grow and move ahead." 

By a ratio of 2 to 1, most do not have affinity groups or other forums for interaction with other Latinos at work. But this has not stopped these professionals from integrating themselves into corporate culture.

The majority of Latino professionals in the United States have been in the country for more than a generation. Nearly 90 percent are fully-or-limited bilingual, both written and spoken, and not a single respondent cited a total lack of English skills.

Almost 40 percent said speaking Spanish is not important for their current jobs, but the majority believes that may change as Latino numbers continue to rise faster than any other segment of the population. (See also Despite New Law, Spanish is Here to Stay) http://www.diversityinc.com/public/21667.cfm .

"The idea that there are Latinos in this country who are fully integrated, fully English proficient and working very diligently in high-powered professional jobs puts to rest the idea that these are 40 million of the same kind of folks," said Lisa Ramirez, director of Affiliate Member Services at the National Council of La Raza. "That's just not the case."

Illegal immigrant turned U.S. citizen has come a long way
By John Gittelsohn,

The smugglers who brought Vilma Palma across the border put her in a coffin-sized box concealed under a pickup truck bed. They told her to stay still and quiet until they passed the immigration checkpoint at San Clemente. The truck tires roared as Vilma, then just 9, sped blindly north to an uncertain future.

"There was a hole, and I could see my sister," Vilma recalls of the last leg of her journey 12 years ago from El Salvador. "It was too loud to talk, so I just lay there."

Vilma's entry to the United States started as a nightmare, but she turned it into an American dream.

She became a U.S. citizen last year. Now 21, she graduated from UC Irvine this month and plans to go to law school. Today, she will be honored with 13 other winners of the Merage Foundations' $20,000 American Dream Fellow award.  How did the little girl in the box find her way?

Vilma was born with little promise on Sept. 29, 1984, in Jayaque, a coffee-growing village in the foothills of southern El Salvador. When she was 7 months old, her mother, Blanca Palma, left her infant and two older daughters with their grandmother and went to seek a new life in California.

"She was a single parent with three kids," Vilma says of her mother. "That was the only way she could get enough money to live."

Blanca Palma found work in the fields of the Coachella Valley. After a 1986 immigration amnesty, she became a legal U.S. resident, and she paid consultants to help bring her daughters to California through legal channels.

"She found out years later that her attorneys never filed any papers," Vilma says.  It was an injustice Vilma cannot forget.

In 1994, Blanca Palma paid $3,000 to smuggle her daughters to California. They entered Mexico on a barge, hopped a freight train to Guadalajara and flew to Tijuana. On the moonlit night of March 11, 1994, the girls walked barefoot on a beach to bypass the U.S. border fence. They boarded a San Diego trolley and then transferred to trucks with hidden compartments.  

"The only thing in my mind was 'Let's not get caught,'" Vilma says. Once she settled into her new home, Vilma set bigger goals. Her mother would come home from the fields exhausted, beaten by the 100-degree heat, her hands and back aching from harvesting grapes or broccoli or strawberries. Vilma would massage her mother's feet.

"She would tell me to do well in school, so I didn't have to work like her," Vilma says. Her two older sisters never finished high school. "They had a lot of potential, but they didn't have the opportunity," Vilma says. Vilma created opportunities.

She started third grade in Coachella speaking only Spanish. By fifth grade, she was Student of the Year, staying after the last bell rang to study in the computer lab.

She attended Coachella Valley High, where more than a third of her freshman class dropped out, many following their parents to the fields.

Vilma followed the advice of guidance counselors. She enlisted in a string of programs - Upward Bound, AVID, COSMOS and SAGE - building a network of adult mentors and high-achieving friends.  "You need to have a drive to succeed," she says. "And people need to push you."

Vilma took honors and Advanced Placement classes, graduating with a 3.96 grade-point average. She won a full college scholarship from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The summer before her senior year, Vilma attended a math and science program at UC Irvine. The director was Melina Duarte, who also graduated from Coachella Valley High. Duarte took Vilma under her wing and persuaded her to attend UCI, becoming a surrogate sister, introducing Vilma to internships, professors and administrators.

"She was a shy little girl who seemed like she felt very out of place here," Duarte says. "Some students like her don't make it past their first year. She got a 4.0 in her first quarter."

For Vilma, the new challenge was an opportunity. People gravitated to the dark-eyed, sweet-natured young woman, offering her a hand up.

"She juggles a lot, but does it with a sense of grace and a sense of calm," says Karina Hamilton, director of SAGE, a UCI program for disadvantaged students where Vilma worked as an intern. "She has a quiet strength."

Vilma majored in criminology and interned with the Orange County public defender's office. She spent a quarter studying in Madrid.

"She searches for opportunities and takes them. She doesn't just sit and wait," Duarte says. "For her to have made it here is a big deal. To go where she's going is bigger."

Winning the Merage Foundations award in May was a big deal. Fellow winners are graduates of Harvard and Stanford. But Vilma didn't feel like she could enjoy it because she still didn't know what she was doing next year. She was wait-listed at USC, Cornell and UCLA law schools.

On June 9, Vilma's cell phone rang as she was driving to Irvine from the public defender's office. It was an admissions officer from UCLA, who asked if she still wanted to go to law school. Of course, she said yes.  "I called my mother," Vilma says. "I called everyone. Then I got home and started sending e-mails. I was so happy."

In her applications for the Merage award and law school, Vilma wrote about her goal of returning to the Coachella Valley with her law degree and starting a legal center for the people she grew up with - the people she could now so easily leave behind if she wanted.

The center's main purpose would be to help immigrants, to open America's door for more newcomers, to protect people from the kinds of scams that kept her, as a little girl in El Salvador, separated from her mother.  "So many people helped me," Vilma says. "It's time to give back."

A Look at History - Repatriation / Bickering Delays Illegal-Immigrant Deal 
~~ What history can tell us about anti-immigrant zeal ~~
By Cragg Hines, cragg.hines@chron.com  Houston Chronicle, April 5, 2006
Hines is a Houston Chronicle columnist based in Washington, D.C. 
Sent by Zeke Hernandez zekeher@yahoo.com
 
THE sharp-edged, vigilante tone of the current immigration debate is as old as it is regrettable.
Today's rancor sounds all too familiar to academics who mine the often-neglected field of immigration history and to politicians who are beginning to pay attention to some startling findings.

California state Sen. Joe Dunn remembers being "absolutely devastated" as he read the story of
concerted government action to force at least 400,000 Hispanics out of the United States as economic woes mounted in the Great Depression. Some historians estimate total Hispanic departures at closer to 2 million if the tally includes families, fearing deportation or further financial hardship, whose departure was nominally voluntary.

It is a sordid story that echoes from the farm fields of the Rio Grande Valley and Winter Garden of Texas to the barrios of Los Angeles and as far north as Detroit and Gary, Ind.

Most alarming, Dunn, D-Santa Ana, said, was that up to 60 percent of those forcibly stampeded across the border, some on locked trains, were U.S. citizens. So-called "repatriations," at least in those instances, were actually illegal forced removals from a homeland.

It is as shocking as the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, except that very few people know about it.

Dunn's reading of Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s, by historians Francisco E. Balderrama and Raymond Rodríguez (University of New Mexico Press, revised edition 2006) led him to introduce legislation offering an apology from California for the coerced relocations.

After several attempts, and the removal of any suggestion of reparations, a bill was passed last year
by both Assembly and Senate, was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and became law Jan. 1.

A plaque marking the apology is to be erected in Los Angeles, possibly at La Placita, a downtown park in the historic Olvera Street area, where perhaps the most notorious deportation raid took place in February 1931.

An apology and plaque are not much, but it's more than any other governmental or private entity with a hand in the sorry campaign has done.  Today, Rep. Hilda L. Solis, D-Calif., will introduce in the U.S. House a bill that could lead to a national apology.  Solis's proposal calls for appointment of a seven-member commission to investigate the deportations and report back to Congress within a year. Its members would be appointed by the president
and congressional leaders.

"The time has come," said Solis, a third-term House member from a heavily Hispanic district in eastern Los Angeles who has been interested in the mass deportations since she first learned of them in a Chicano studies program in college. She recalls seeing government records of how raids and removals were plotted.

"I was really horrified this information was not given any exposure," she recalled. "It's amazing how we're robbed of our heritage."

Solis, whose father came to the United States from Mexico in the 1940s, envisions a careful inquiry into the period, which she knows may be sensitive as it could include such questions as bank and insurance claims. But she hopes her proposal will strike a responsive chord with the Bush administration, especially its ranking Hispanic, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.

Lack of knowledge about the mass deportations is a result of what historian Abraham Hoffman called "a kind of benign neglect."

Hoffman, author of Unwanted Mexican Americans in the Great Depression: Repatriation Pressures, 1929-1939 (University of Arizona Press, 1974) said that just as studies of blacks in American history suffered for a long time from the "Booker T. Washington and all the other Negroes" syndrome, study of Hispanics' role was classed in many minds as "Cesar Chavez and all the other Mexicans."

Even Hispanics are generally unaware of the mass deportations, said Nora Rios McMillan, a historian at San Antonio College who has written about the removals. "I had not been aware of it," said McMillan, whose family came from Mexico in the 1920s and established a grocery in Edinburg. Few historians between the Depression and the 1960s delved into the deportations, she said. McMillan's research, as well as that of others, shows many of the deportees were children, most of whom were citizens, even if their parents were not, and could not speak Spanish.

Balderama and Rodríguez write that the raids stemmed at least in part from Secretary of Labor William N. Doak's "personal vendetta to get rid of the Mexicans." His motivation, they said, "was purely political, for he was acting under President (Herbert) Hoover's orders to create a diversion to counteract organized labor's hostile attitude toward his administration. "Deportation meant jobs for real Americans," the authors said the reasoning went. Sound familiar?

Deportation: A removal from one country to another, or to a distant place, exile, banishment
Repatriation: Return or restoration to one's own country.

By Valerie Orleans March 17, 2005 Christine Valenciana, assistant professor of elementary and bilingual education, was always aware that her mother, as a child, had been forced to return to Mexico in 1935. What Valenciana didn’t realize was that her mother was just one of up to 2 million Mexican and Mexican-Americans who were deported during that era.
“I thought what happened to her and her family was an isolated incident,” she recalled. “I had no idea that this happened on a much larger scale.”

Here, Valenciana discusses her work as it relates to the mass deportation of people, many of whom were American citizens, that was systematically practiced during the Great Depression.

Q: How did you first learn that close to 2 million Mexican and Mexican-Americans were deported to Mexico in the 1930s? 
A: I was a history major at Cal State Fullerton, and one of the classes I took was a community history class. Having a Mexican background, I was interested in researching an area that had to do with Mexican-Americans. While I was trying to determine a topic, I spoke with my mother, Emilia Castaneda, about her experience as a child. That’s when I discovered that many families had been deported to Mexico in the late 1920s through the 1930s.

Even prior to this, there were “whisper” campaigns and employers were asked not to hire those suspected of being of Mexican descent. Actually, there were laws passed that “aliens” could not be hired to work. In addition, massive deportation raids were conducted throughout the country, including Orange and Los Angeles counties. An atmosphere of fear was created in the Mexican-American community.
Q: So what happened? Why were these people deported? 

A: During the Great Depression, anywhere from one to two million people were deported in an effort by the government to free up jobs for those who were considered “real Americans” and rid the county governments of “the problem.” The campaign, called the Mexican Reparation, was authorized by President Herbert Hoover. Although President Franklin Roosevelt ended federal support when he took office, many state and local governments continued with their efforts.

Estimates now indicate that approximately 60 percent of the people deported were children who were born in America and others who, while of Mexican descent, were legal citizens.
Q: How did you go about conducting your research? 

A: It was all primary research because historians hadn’t really paid much attention to it. I spoke to my mother, who referred me to some of her cousins. I made public announcements and found other interviewees. It snowballed from there. These interviews are housed in the Center for Oral and Public History. Now, I am conducting new research focused on the education and language of the children and families involved. 

Q: What was it like for those who were deported? 
A: It was traumatic, of course. For example, my mother was nine years old. She lived in Los Angeles. Her dominant language was English, although she knew rudimentary Spanish. Suddenly, she was removed from the only home she’d known, taken out of her school and away from her friends, and sent to an unfamiliar country. She didn’t understand the customs. She was forced to live outdoors. She was teased because she couldn’t speak Spanish very well. And keep in mind that she was an American citizen. 

Q: What was it like for adults? 
A: It was very difficult for them as well. Mexico also was going through a depression at that time, and it was hard for the adults to find jobs in Mexico. Returning Mexicans were unwanted. Many of these people had jobs, homes and families in the United States. They hadn’t been in Mexico for decades – they couldn’t just pick up and start again.

This act literally broke up families. For instance, some who were deported had subsequent children who were born in Mexico – that meant that some children in the same family were American citizens while others were not. As these children grew older and married, they often had children who were born in Mexico and so these children were not considered American citizens either. The effects of this unconstitutional deportation are far ranging and have ramifications even today.

Q: Were there ever any attempts to rectify this wrong? 
A: Part of the problem is that many did not realize this was part of a huge concerted effort. Now that they’re aware of it, there have been some attempts to recognize what happened. Some looked at what happened to those who were interned in Japanese camps during World War II and recognized that they were, in fact, discriminated against. It’s also important to realize that it took the Japanese community several decades to organize in response against their treatment – and they were still in this country. 

Q: What kind of attempts have been made to publicize this? 
A: One of our alumi – Bernie Enriquez, a field representative for State Sen. Joseph Dunn – was aware of the Mexican Reparation, having read my husband’s – Francisco Balderrama – book, Decade of Betrayal. He brought the book to the attention of Sen. Dunn [D-Santa Ana], who introduced a bill in 2003 asking for a removal of the statute of limitations for survivors like my mother to make claims against the state of California for, what was quite frankly, an unconstitutional deportation. 
MALDEF [Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund] filed a class action suit on behalf of the survivors. Sen. Dunn sponsored a state senate hearing in July 2003 on this unconstitutional deportation. My mother was one of the survivors who spoke. My husband was an expert historian witness.

Q: What was that like watching your mother? 
A: I had very mixed emotions. On the one hand, I was tremendously proud of her. This is a woman – in her 70s – with very little formal education, speaking before a group of powerful legislators. On the other hand, I was nervous for her and helped her prepare. But she did just fine. I asked her what she hoped to get out of all this. She said simply, “I just want people to know what happened.” 

Q: Did they get an apology? 
A: No. Both Governors Davis and Schwarzenegger refused. Apologizing is an admission of guilt and neither wanted to get involved in what they considered financial ramifications. What was very disappointing about Schwarzenegger’s response was that he indicated that those affected had had years to file civil suits. But most of those who were deported were children. They were abused, had their constitutional rights violated and were kicked out of their country. They weren’t even aware that they had constitutional rights let alone that they had been violated.  

Q: So what happens now? 
A: Sen. Dunn will re-introduce related legislation. We are doing our best to educate others about what happened so that this never happens to anyone again. People were denied their rights, sent to a foreign land and children were not allowed to finish their education.

                                                Action Items

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.

With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God.

 MESSAGE FROM AN APPALLED  OBSERVER:

Today I went to visit the new World War II  Memorial in Washington, DC.    I got an unexpected history lesson.  Because I'm a baby boomer, I was one of the youngest in the crowd.   Most were the age of my parents, veterans of "the greatest war," with  their families.  It was a beautiful day, and people were smiling and  happy to be there.  Hundreds of us milled around the memorial, reading  the inspiring words of Eisenhower and Truman that are engraved  there. 

On the Pacific side of the memorial, a  group of us gathered to read the words President Roosevelt used to announce the attack on Pearl Harbor:  Yesterday, December 7, 1941-- a date which will live in  infamy--the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately  attacked. 

One elderly woman read the words  aloud: "With confidence in our armed forces,  with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable  triumph." But as she read, she was suddenly turned  angry.  "Wait a minute," she said, "they left out the end of the quote.   They left out the most important part.  Roosevelt ended the  message with "so help us God.'"   

Her  husband said, "You are probably right.  We're not supposed to say    things like that now." "I know I'm right," she  insisted.  "I remember the speech." The two looked dismayed, shook  their heads sadly and walked away.   Listening to their conversation, I thought to myself,  "Well, it has been over 50 years.  She's probably  forgotten."  But she had not forgotten.   She was right.

I went home and pulled out the  book my book club is reading --- "Flags of  Our Fathers" by James Bradley.   It's all about the battle at Iwo Jima    I haven't gotten too far in  the book.  It's tough to read because it's a graphic description of the  WWII battles in the Pacific.   
  
But! right there  it was on page 58.  Roosevelt's speech to the nation ends in "so help  us God." 
The people who edited out that part of the  speech when they engraved it on the memorial could have fooled me.  I  was born after the war.  But they couldn't fool the people who were  there.  Roosevelt's words are engraved on their  hearts.

Now I ask: "Who Gave Them the Right to Change the Words of History?" People need to know before everyone forgets. People today are trying to change the history of America by leaving God out of it, but the truth is, God has been a part of this nation, since the beginning.  He still wants to be...and He always will  be! 

Sent by Bill Carmena  JCarm1724@aol.com  "I personally heard the speech on 8 Dec 1941  and "So help us God " was used . Why was this important historical phrase deleted ?????"

Editor:   I have received this message from many people, but no one identified themselves as Bill Carmena did, remembering the day and the speech by Roosevelt, when it was given. 

Contact your elected officials and ask them why the important historical phrase was deleted.  Surely now is the time to take a stand as a historically founded Christian nation. Perhaps Dr. James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress, assigned the task as public guardian, caretaker of the history and documents of Congress should hear from you too. An email that suppose to reach him:  bicentennial@loc.gov   

Veterans History Project Staff Contact Information
Bob Patrick, Director
(202) 707-4916   (888) 371-5848 (toll free)    (202) 252-2046
vohp@loc.gov  www.loc.gov/vets

Peter Bartis  (202) 707-4919 Senior Program Officer
Contact for Military and Veterans Organizations and Associations, Members of Congress

Anneliesa Clump Behrend  (202) 707-9822  Public Relations Specialist
Contact for Media and Press; Public Outreach and Relations 

I hope everyone will pick up the phone and make a call asking,  why were the words of Roosevelt not accurately quoted and what can be done to rectify this inaccurate historical portrayal of our President's character and leadership? . . .  Mimi

Left to right, niece Alejandra Ruano, daughter -in-law, Kristi Edwards and son Paul Edwards. Photo: Sang H.Park OC Register

Ana Maria Armano, a month short of 80th birthday receives B.A.

 
http://campusapps.fullerton.edu/news
/2006/CLE_honoree.html, 
Born: June 11, 1926, Chicago, Illinois
B.S. degree: May 11, 2006, Fullerton, Calif.
Sent by Granville Hough

Course helps Latinos understand kids' schools 
By Juan Esparza Loera,  (Updated Monday, December 5, 2005)
Willis Papillion,  willis35@earthlink.net 

Juan Pacheco, a 41-year-old farm supervisor in Dinuba, never went to college because he had to work in the fields to help his family. That course, he vowed, will not be repeated by his three youngest children, ages 14, 12 and 7. Three adult children never went to college.

But Pacheco faced a hurdle common in Latino households: With little understanding of the school system, how can he help his children with their homework and make sure they are taking the necessary courses to get into college?

"I think a lot of parents want to help their children, but we come from another culture. If our children wind up in college, fine. If they don't, then they come to work with us," says Pacheco about Latino expectations of education.

The answer came in a telephone call a few months ago asking him to participate in a conversational meeting (organizers don't call it a class) sponsored by the Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE). Once in the course, Pacheco — who reached the high school level in his native Baja
California, México — learned the basics about college-eligibility tests and how to motivate his children to go to college.

Pacheco was among 32 parents who gave up one evening a week for nine weeks to graduate last week. Now he notices 14-year-old Lilia, an aspiring lawyer, talks more openly with him about school. When she graduates from college, she will be the second in her immediate family to earn a college degree. (An uncle died six months after getting a chemical engineering degree.)

PIQE is laying groundwork to change the ugly statistics about Latinos in education: Only 22.9% of high school graduates in 2001 met the requirements for University of California or California State University admission; Latinos make up more than half of high school dropouts; and only 7.1% of
Latinos 25 and older hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

Because Latinos will represent California's majority in a couple of decades, recent studies underscore the need to change the dismal statistics if the state's future economy will have enough educated workers.

Alma R. García, director of the PIQE office in Fresno, knows the problems. The youngest of seven daughters, García worked alongside her parents in the fields as a child. Her mother thought a high school diploma would be good enough for her daughters to get a good job.

It took a migrant education counselor visiting the family's Madera home to convince García's parents that college should be an option. Her older sisters went to college; by the time García was finishing high school, college was expected.

"I'm really a believer that if we can get the first older children to go to college, they can set an example," says García. "I see parents today with the desire to get more involved in their children's education. But many are not familiar with the school system."

PIQE and other similar parent involvement programs are a start, but, as Pacheco points out, 32 PIQE participants from a high school with 1,350 Latino students doesn't cut it. 

Juan Esparza Loera is editor of Vida en el Valle, The Fresno Bee's bilingual publication. 
He can be reached at jesparza@vidaenelvalle.com  or(559) 441-6781. 
http://www.fresnobee.com/includes/zTestz/redesign/images/fbfooterlogo.gif

FRENCH IN MAINE
by Pam Belluck, The New York Times, June 4, 2006
http://www.languagehat.com/archives/002396.php
Sent by Win Holtzman

A story by Pam Belluck in today's NY Times describes the changing fortunes of the French language in Maine:
Frederick Levesque was just a child in Old Town, Me., when teachers told him to become Fred Bishop, changing his name to its English translation to conceal that he was French-American.

Cleo Ouellette's school in Frenchville made her write "I will not speak French" over and over if she uttered so much as a "oui" or "non" — and rewarded students with extra recess if they ratted out French-speaking classmates.

And Howard Paradis, a teacher in Madawaska forced to reprimand French-speaking students, made the painful decision not to teach French to his own children. "I wasn't going to put my kids through that," Mr. Paradis said. "If you wanted to get ahead you had to speak English."

That was Maine in the 1950's and 1960's, and the stigma of being French-American reverberated for decades afterward. But now, le Français fait une rentrée — French is making a comeback...

You can go to the article to read about the comeback; what I want to focus on is the bad old days. I can understand the reaction against the language of the enemy during wartime, against German during both world wars for example; it's irrational and deplorable, but understandable. But why on earth were people subjecting their neighbors and their neighbors' children to that kind of harassment in the '50s and '60s? It shocks me to learn that during the very years when I was happily learning French, others of my generation were being punished for using it in a supposedly free country. If anyone can explain this to me, please do. I mean, generalized "why can't they speak English" griping is one thing; forcing people to change their name is quite another.

Incidentally, Benjamin Zimmer discusses this story in Language Log and demolishes the idea that "French-American French, derived from people who left France for Canada centuries ago, resembles the French of Louis XIV more than the modern Parisian variety."

Most states fall short in teaching the culture of Latin America and Mexico, 
Source: Cox News Service (6-7-06)
Sent by Howard Shorr howardshorr@msn.com

Despite growing ties to the southern hemisphere, two-thirds of U.S. states have weak or non-existent standards for teaching the history and culture of Latin America and Mexico, a study released Tuesday found.

The study was conducted by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington-based non-profit organization dedicated to improving elementary and secondary education.

Renowned historian and foreign policy expert Walter Russell Mead, who conducted the study, said he was "aghast" at what he found. While most states didn't make a passing grade in world history instruction, his report is especially critical of a lack of effective standards for teaching the history and culture of Latin America and Mexico. He found that many states overlooked these histories while excessively focusing on modern European history.

Texas received 97 out of a possible 170 points and an overall grade of C in the study, the first to evaluate states' academic standards for teaching kindergarten through 12th grade world history. These standards are what a student is expected to know on the subject.

For Latin American and Mexican history and culture, Texas scored a 5 on a scale of zero to 10.
"As a representative for a border district, and coming from the state of Texas, a state that's history is so connected to Mexico and Latin America, I am deeply troubled that the state ranked so poorly," Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Texas, chairman of the Education Task Force for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

"Clearly, this needs to change, especially as our economy and way of life becomes more and more international.? If we do not stress the importance of world affairs and other cultures with our children, they will fall behind."?

Colorado received 81 out of a possible 170 points and an overall grade of D in the study, the first to evaluate states' academic standards for teaching kindergarten through 12th grade world history. These standards are what a student is expected to know in the subject.

For Latin American and Mexican history and culture, Georgia scored a 9 on a scale of zero to 10.
Georgia received 156 out of a possible 170 points and an overall grade of A in the study, the first to evaluate states' academic standards for teaching kindergarten through 12th grade world history. These standards are what a student is expected to know in the subject.

North Carolina received 64 out of a possible 170 points and an overall grade of F in the study, the first to evaluate states' academic standards for teaching kindergarten through 12th grade world history. These standards are what a student is expected to know in the subject.

For Latin American and Mexican history and culture, North Carolina and Ohio scored a 3 on a scale of zero to 10.  Colorado scored a 4 on a scale of zero to 10.

Ohio received 67 out of a possible 170 points and an overall grade of F in the study, the first to evaluate states' academic standards for teaching kindergarten through 12th grade world history. These standards are what a student is expected to know in the subject.

Four states — Alaska, Idaho, Missouri and Montana — received zeros for standards that give "superficial or cursory attention" to Mexico and the Western Hemisphere.

Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nevada and Texas, which all have large Hispanic populations, were among 30 states to score between 1 and 5 for standards that cover Mexico and Latin America and have "significant gaps or shortcomings."

Fifteen other states, including other Hispanic population centers like Arizona, California and New Mexico, earned scores of 6 through 10 for having standards that "propose a coherent and thorough approach" to Latin American and Mexican history. Even so, these states do not require students to study world history.

Two states, Iowa and Rhode Island, did not receive grades because neither state has world history standards.  Eight states received an A and 33 received a D or an F.

Race and Latino!
June 7th, 2006
SouthernBoyWKG73@wmconnect.com 

I am used to statements like the following: "Are you White, Black or Mexican?" "Are they White, Black, or Latino?" "Is he/she White, Black, or Latino?" etc. etc.! "He/she looks Hispanic/Latino!" The real problem with this is these and statements like these act or declare, the Mexican, Hispanic, and Latino are races and thus outside the realm of Black and White. However, I have seen White Mexicans! I have seen White/Black Hispanics! I have seen White/Black Latinos! Whether they consider themselves White/Black or not is not relevant. If you look White/Black and anthropologists who study these things consider you White/Black (Caucasoid/Negroid), then that's logically what you are! 

La Raza claims Hispanic settlements earlier than Whites, but that's a contradiction, since the Hispanics they refer to were Spaniards aka. White Europeans just like the British! Hispanic means of or relating to the Spanish culture, language, and nationality. It's not a race! Latino is more of a broad term that is better qualified to designate Latin America. Just to let you know, it was the French who coined the term Latin-America/n to distinguish themselves from Anglo-America! But I've heard the nonsense spouted off, "French peoples and cultures are not Latino, because they are White! That is such a stupid, uneducated statement to declare.

The French and the Spanish both belong to the Caucasian (White) race, but with different languages! Not only the Spanish, but the French, Portuguese, Italians, and Romanians all speak related Romanic (Italic) or Latin languages, thus making all them Latino technically speaking, yet they are all predominantly White people in each country! Even the Spanish Conquistadors considered themselves White! The Mayans, Incas, etc. considered the conquering Spaniards and Portuguese to be White describing them as "having eyes like chalk with pale faces and sandy hair and beards! A few having dark hair and eyes!" 

Oh! I love this one! "I am half White and half Latino!" How dumb! That would be like me saying "I am half White and half Anglo!" Can you see the utter nonsense of these statements? Latino is a culture or language ethnicity, not a race! Many Latinos are White especially in Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uraguay, and Costa Rica! Many are Black also, such as in Haiti, Dominican Rep., and Brazil! Many more Latinos are a Mixed group (Puerto Ricans and Mexicans) to varying degrees branching features from near Black to near White and every shade of brown in-between! 

Roberto Clemente was a Black Puerto Rican, not Black and Puerto Rican, but a Puerto Rican who was Black! Gloria Estefan, Andy Garcia, the late Jerry Garcia, Shakira, Cameron Diaz, the Estevez/Sheen family, and Ricky Martin to name a few are all Caucasian (White) people! They physically look Caucasian and if Forensic Anthropologists studied them or their skeletons that would be their conclusions too! I get sick and tired of people treating White or Black Latinos as being neither Black nor White "because they are Latino" or they themselves, due to political propoganda, personal axes to grind, brainwashing, or whatever, declare "No, I am neither Black nor White, I am Latino!" 

I even heard Samuel L. Jackson in one of the DIE HARD movies when he was riding with Bruce Willis when they were arguing and Jackson yelled, "Do I look Puerto Rican to you?!" This being said because of the ludicrous consensus that Puerto Ricans have a single definite look! I have seen Black Puerto Ricans, the same race as Jackson, and White Puerto Ricans the same race as Willis! True, Puerto Ricans are the most Mixed Caribbeans but it still doesn't negate the fact that there is still plenty of Black one's and White ones too! 

On the same token, Latino is not a look or physical appearance or phenotype! It is a language/culture/ethnicity, nothing more or less! Just like here in America where we are all Anglos (Anglo is the equivalent of Latino/Hispano) by language/culture/ethnicity, but some Americans are White Anglos, some are Black Anglos, and some are Mixed Anglos! This scenario applies to Latinos as well! Truthfully, the whole world has only 2 main races and those are White (Caucasoid/Blancoid) which can be divided into 2 branches (Nordic and Mediterranean) and Black (Negroid)! A third race from the varying admixtures of these 2 main races is also feasible, a Mixed or Multi-race. This Multi-race would suffice for Mongoloids, most Aboriginal Americans (both North and South Americans), Pacific Islanders, etc. Asian, Indian, Latino, Hispanic, African, European, Pacific Islander, Arab, etc. are not races but rather continents, languages, areas, or misnomers! All people past, present, and future the whole world over are either Black, White, or Multiracial!  Thanks.   Billy

June 8, 2006

Thanks for your reply Ms. Lozano. I must state that it was not my intention to be unpleasant in my attitude. I was merely getting to the point and stating facts, though, I come across as abrasive sometimes.

I forgot to mention a couple of other points in my previous email. Cajuns from Louisiana, aside from the obvious English language, also speak a Criole (Mixed) dialect that is by far predominantly French in origin with substantial Spanish and West African dialects as well. Thus, the Cajun dialect is, in effect, a Latin dialect. This would be inference make the Cajun people Latino as well, whether those Cajuns are White as many are, Black, or Mixed as many also are. Cajuns have predominantly French sir names, thus making them Latino, but it certainly does not describe a race in and of itself! 

My Dad's side of the family emigrated from Spain to the South (southern USA), I think soon after the War for Southern Independence, not sure exactly when. Anyhow, none of us today speak Spanish or cling to that culture. We know our European heritage but do not live by it. We are Americans, and I pride myself as being a Southerner, flying my Confederate Flag high and proud in Florida! My Dad's side has always considered themselves White and proudly so! Others see us as White and rightfully so! The concept of us being Latino or Hispanic would never be tolerated by my Dad's side of the family. 

My Mom was actually born in France and came over here to the South when she was 2. She speaks no French at all, but still holds dual citizenship. She considers herself White, and she is, as others also see her that way. She considers herself a plain ole American though she was born in France! My Mom never went around projecting herself as French to others. She doesn't  go around saying, "I'm French this and French that!" However, my Momma or Daddy's families are well within their rights and logic to call themselves Latino, but it's not even an issue. Therefore, I could also claim Latino as well, but I don't. Even if I did, I would constantly run into arguments by those saying, "you don't look latino!" or "Naw! You can't be Latino! You're White!" and other such stupid ludicrous nonsense, proving that people don't even understand the proper definition of Latino in the first place! It's not a physical look as I stated before, and it's high time that people begin to learn this! They should know it, but, common sense is lacking in most people today! 

My family is Southern Americans and good ole country people that love to hunt and fish, pick and sing bluegrass music, and general stuff associated with living in rural Dixie. What gets me is that Latinos that have been here in the USA for several generations still act as if they were Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, etc., etc.! You might hear Americans of Italian, Irish, Polish, German, Russian, and Greek, which are all incidentally mainly White, declare their ancestral pride in fairs an festivals and such. They may be more inclined to talk about their heritage than those Americans that have roots going all the way back to the Revolutionary War, but they still all consider themselves American first! Latinos, seem to put Latino (Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, etc.) first. Honestly though, if you weren't born in Mexico, Cuba, or Puerto Rico, you are not Mexican, Cuban, or Puerto Rican! You may be of Mexican, Cuban, or Puerto Rican descent or ancestry, but that's not where you were born so that's not what you are! 

You are whatever country you're born in, period! If I was born in Mexico I would be a Mexican! If I was born in Greece, I would be Greek! If I was born in China, I would be Chinese, period! Likewise, if you're born in America, you're American, period! Your nationality is the nation where you were born, not where your ancestors came from! If that was true, no Americans would would be Americans, not even the "American Indians" because all humans had to originally emigrate from overseas to get here! That would apply to Mexico, the Caribbean, South America, etc., as well!

Actually, all nations on Earth came into being by people moving, migrating, invading, absorbing, and assimilating! If you want to talk ancestry and apply it to nowadays in regards to what we all are, then we might as well go back to Babel and the Ararat Mountains where Noah's Ark landed and a city was built before God fragmented the human race into languages and races and before anybody scattered abroad on the face of Earth. Technically we would all be Babylonians, or Araratians! Although this is true, it would be ridiculous to strictly go by that measure, so it is better to not do it at all. Thanks again.  Billy

To this effect, it is incorrect to assert that Texas during the Spanish Colonial Period was a part of Mexico which was under Spanish rule. Mexico as a modern nation did not exist but until 1821, before this time Texas was a part of Spain, a province of New Spain, and the people born in Texas were citizens of the Kingdom of Spain, not of Mexico, since the country of Mexico did not yet exist. While the flag of Spain governed Texas for 308 years (from 1513 through 1821), and for a period of 301 years (from 1520 through 1821) the flag of Spain waved over Texas uninterrupted, the flag of Mexico waved in Texas for only 14 years. This period of Mexican jurisdiction over the people of Texas, from 1821-1835, was a period of an imposed Mexican rule which the colonial Texans never wanted, imposed by the historical circumstance of having been dropped in the lap of Mexico by Spain when Mexico earned its independence from Spain. The colonial Tejanos had never wanted Mexican rule, having had established an independent republic in 1813 which looked forward to becoming part of the United States. Because Mexican rule was imposed upon the colonial Tejanos and they never wanted it, from their perspective the period of Mexican jurisdiction would be correctly identified as the period of Mexican occupation.

It is necessary, therefore, to distinguish between the "new Tejanos", those people from Texas whose ancestors came from Mexico beginning in the period of time just before, during and after the Mexican Revolution of 1910 through today, and the "colonial Tejanos" or "Tejano Texians", that is, those people who were the original pioneers of Texas who tamed the wilderness of Texas starting in the Spanish Colonial Period and up through the Texas Revolution, and to define the colonial people of Texas in a more historically accurate way that would reflect their family histories and traditions and their self identification and the history and historical data that supports them.

It is necessary to draw this distinction because the people who came from Mexico starting just before,during and after the Mexican Revolution through today are and were of a different ethnic heritage than the ones who colonized Texas during the Spanish Colonial Period, of a different history. While the majority, not all, of the people who have come from Mexico since the Mexican Revolution are and drew their identity from the mestizos (people of mixed Indian and Spaniard blood) or genizaros (Indians who lost their tribal identity and adopted Spanish names and the Spanish language, of which much of the modern day Mexican immigrant population in the U.S. consists) and had their history and identity in the history of Mexico, the majority, not all, of the people who colonized Texas in the Spanish Colonial Period were and drew their identity from the Spaniards and the criollos (full blooded Spaniards born in the New World), and had their history and identity in the history of Spain and of the United States as a consequence of the participation of Spain and its colonial provinces of Texas and Louisiana in the American Revolution. This difference caused the people of Texas, the colonial Tejanos or Tejano Texians, to identify more with the people of Louisiana, which was a Spanish colony, and of the U.S., rather than with the people of Mexico. For this reason as early as 1813 the colonial Tejanos established a government in Texas that looked forward to becoming part of the United States. As revealed by the writings of colonial Tejano Texians such as Antonio Menchaca, the Texas Revolution was first and foremost a colonial Tejano cause, the Anglo Americans simply joined the colonial Tejanos in that cause, having been invited and recruited to do so by the colonial Tejanos, the Tejano Texians.[1][2][3]

In summary, while a new Tejano is a Mexican American, Latino or Chicano generally of Indian or mixed Spanish and Indian heritage, a colonial Tejano, who can also be correctly identified as a Tejano Texian, is a descendant of those colonists who pioneered Texas as citizens of the Kingdom of Spain through the Spanish Colonial Period starting in the 1500's through the 1800's up to the Texas Revolution and who were generally of pure Spaniard blood, or hispanicized European heritage, including Frenchmen like Juan Seguin, Italian like Jose Cassiano, or Corsican like Antonio Navarro, generally of white Mediterranean race, although there was also a small number of people of mixed blood among them ranging from mulattos to mestizos[4][5][6][7] who were excluded by the Spanish law of "limpieza de sangre", purity of blood, from participating in the colonization of Northern New Spain including Texas and the American Southwest.[8][9][10][11] For these reasons a colonial Tejano, or Tejano Texian, is more accurately classified as a "Spaniard Texan" or "Spaniard Texian" or "Spaniard American" or as a "Texan of Spaniard heritage", as opposed to a "new Tejano" who is of Mexican heritage.

In direct relation to this distinction, genuinely Tejano music is related and sounds more like the folk music of Louisiana known as "Cajun" music and to the music of northern Mexico, rather than to the folk music of central and southern Mexico such as Mariachi and other Latino music. With the abundant use of the accordion, genuinely Tejano music is part of the foundation of Country Western music. The American Cowboy culture and music was born from the meeting of the Anglo-American Texians who were colonists from the American South and the original Tejano Texian pioneers and their "vaquero" or "cow man" culture.[12][13][14][15]

It should be noted that in the Spanish language, the term "tejano" is simply the term to identify an individual from Texas regardless of race or ethnic background.

It should be noted as well that during the Spanish Colonial Period of Texas, before Texas was wrested from Spain and became a part of Mexico in 1821, the colonial settlers of Northern New Spain, including Texas and the American Southwest, understood themselves to be and called themselves Spaniards[16], as opposed to the people of Central and Southern Mexico who generally understood themselves to be and called themselves mestizos or Indians or Mexicans. This is also a crucially important reason why the term "Spaniard Texan" rather than "Mexican Texan" is more correctly applied to the Tejano Texians, and to their descendants.

For bibliographical citations regarding the above article and for a more detailed history of the colonial Tejanos, or Tejano Texians, please click on the following Texas A&M University, Sons of Dewitt Colony Texas link, the citations are located through the chapters posted: http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/images/texforum/txforumloya.htm

[edit]

References

1. ^ Antonio Menchaca "Memoirs" dictated to and handwritten by Charles M. Barnes, as published in the Passing Show, San Antonio, Texas June 22-July 27, 1907.
2. ^ Jose Antonio Navarro, Commentaries of Historical Interest, San Antonio Ledger, December 12. 1857, McDonald & Matovina, p.63.
3. ^ Alex Loya "The Continuous Presence of Italians,Frenchmen and Spaniards in Texas (Including the Participationn and Consequence of Texas and Louisiana in the American Revolution)" chapters 3 "Spaniard Americans" & 11 "The American Destiny of the Spaniard Texians".
4. ^ The Residents of Texas, 1782-1836, The Institute of Texan Cultures, TXGen Web Project, Texas Census Reports, transcribed by Michaele Burris:

• Census report of (San Fernando de Bexar), 9/2/1782 Residents of Texas, 1782-1836, Vol 1, pp. 39-44.
• Census report of the Mission of San Jose de San Miguel de Aguallo. Residents of Texas, 1782-1836, Vol 1, pp. 44-46. 19/11/1790
• Census Report of the Mission of Our Father San Francisco de la Espada. Residents of Texas, Vol 1, p. 46. 22/11/1790
• Census report of the Juristiction of La Bahia del Espiritu Santo. Residents of Texas, 1782-1836, Vol 1, pp. 47-54. 1790
• Year of 1790 General Census Report [Bexar] Residents of Texas, 1782-1836, Vol 1, pp. 58-74.
• Census report of Villa of San Fernando de Austria, Capital of the Province of Texas. Residents of Texas, 1782-1836, Vol 1, pp. 75-92. December 31, 1792
• Census report of Mission of San Antonio Valero, Dependency of the Villa of San Fernando. Residents of Texas, 1782-1836, Vol 1, pp. 93-95. December 31, 1792

1. ^ 1784 Census of El Paso, Texas (Timmons, "The Population of El Paso Area- A Census of 1784", New Mexico Historical Review vol. LII (1977):311-316).
2. ^ 1787 Census of El Paso (Census of the El Paso Area, 9 May, 1787" enumerated by Fray Damian Martinez and Nicolas Soler, Juarez Municipal Archives, roll 12, book 1, 1787, folios77-142).
3. ^ Alex Loya, chapter 4 "Colonists Not Conquistadors".
4. ^ Don Adams & Teresa A. Kendrick "Don Juan de Onate and the First Thanksgiving"
5. ^ Robert S. Weddle & Robert H. Thonhoff, "Drama & Conflict; the Texas Saga of 1776", p.50
6. ^ Robert McCaa, Ph.D., University of Minnesotta Department of History.
7. ^ Alex Loya, chapter 4 "Colonists Not Conquistadors".
8. ^ Gene Hill,"Americans All, Americanos Todos"
9. ^ Gilbert Y Chavez’ "Cowboys-Vaqueros, Origins of the First American Cowboys"
10. ^ Lawrence Clayton, "Vaqueros, Cowboys and Buckaroos", 2001.
11. ^ Alex Loya, chapter 15 "The Legacy and Heritage of the Spaniard Texians".
12. ^ Census and Inspection Report of 1787 of the Colony of Nuevo Santander performed by Dragoon Captain Jose Tienda de Cuervo, Knight of the Order of Santago, with Historical Report by Fray Vicente Santa Maria.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tejano_Texian" Categories: Articles to be merged

My family and I recently attended a Sweet Fifteen. In Hispanic culture, it’s more traditionally known as a Quinceañera. I want to share with you some special moments I witnessed that day. 

I saw a moment during the church service; a Mom standing up and sharing some special thoughts of what she described as her strong-willed daughter. As she began to speak, her voice began to shake. She spoke with pure conviction of the bond they shared with one another. We all began to feel the true love they had for one another. If mom had only kept talking I believe all the parents, especially the moms in attendance, would have been in tears.

There was another moment, one that made me a strong believer of a daddy's love for his little girl. This moment took place at the reception.

You need to first paint a picture in your mind of how special it is for a father to dance his last dance, if you will, with his little girl. The young girl looked especially beautiful that day, almost magical in her long white dress. You could see her sparkle as she walked along to the middle of the dance floor. She was Cinderella and daddy was Prince Charming standing there holding her hand.

"The Dance" by Garth Brooks began to play and the magic began as they started to dance. As the Dad held his young daughter they looked like they were dancing on air. Her dress swayed from side to side as he held her tight. How special she must have felt to be in her daddy's arms that night. The song came to an end and it was time for daddy to let go but he couldn't. He began, first with little shakes trying hard to hold on as finally tears streamed down his face as he broke down and began to cry. It was a very special moment. Here was this giant of a man, towering over his young child, but yet with the innocence of a baby, he fought hard to hold back his tears. He held his little girl by her arms and gave her a big kiss on her forehead. He embraced her as he wiped his tears. I felt a big lump in my throat and I quickly began to share his pain. It was as if though I couldn’t turn away, as if I felt all his love as a father pour out of him. It made me sad but at the same time it made me even happier. This is what it was all about. Daddy had been there for his little girl. As Garth Brooks sang his last note I could feel dad "looking back on the times he shared" just like the song was saying. Daddy kissed her again and then his little girl turned around and he stared at her as she walked away. His little girl had now grown into a beautiful young lady. There was not a dry eye in the room.

Hug your children everyday and tell them you love them. Time stands still for no one. One day you'll be looking back happy you never missed the dance.

The Dance By Garth Brooks
Looking back on the memory of the dance we shared 'neath the stars alone.
For a moment, all the world was right, how could I have known that you'd ever say goodbye!
And now, I'm glad I didn't know the way it all would end, the way it all would go.
Our lives are better left to chance, I could have missed the pain, but I'd of had to miss the dance.
Holding you, I held everything, for a moment, wasn't I a king. But if i'd only known how the king would fall. Hey, who's to say, you know, I might have chanced it all.
And now, I'm glad I didn't know the way it all would end, the way it all would go. Our lives are better left to chance. I could have missed the pain, but I would have missed the dance!

It is some time in the Summer of 1964 on a blazingly hot week-end day on a street corner somewhere in Chicago. A small gaggle of young black ladies are hanging loose, checking out the passing ‘talent’ to see if any is worth more of their time and their attention is drawn to a young gentleman of Latino appearance way across the broad thoroughfare, walking along, transistor radio in hand out of which is pulsing the unmistakable rhythm of a Cha-Cha-Cha, singing and shouting, utterly absorbed in his musical transport away from the scruffy streets. The tongue is completely incomprehensible to them but they detect that something special must be going on to have that effect and he looks kind of cute, so why not swallow your natural shyness and go over to have a word with him? There's nothing to lose. After a short period of good-natured ribbing one of the number does just that.

She speaks not a word of Spanish and he just the faintest smattering of English. First she waves to him in an effort to snap him out of his waking reverie. He looks up with a start, wondering quite what is going on, but she reassures him with a still-shy, but friendly beckoning, motioning that she'd quite like to share in his musical experience. A short distance away they find a convenient alleyway where he can put down his radio and he can teach her the words of the songs he so adores so, although she has no grasp of their meaning, she can sing and shout along too. After all, it sounds hot and cool, no matter. Before long, she ‘gets the message’. It's the sound that's king. The actual meaning of the words is secondary. The sound, it gradually dawns on her, is not a million miles away from the Soul that regularly filters out of the loudspeaker of her own radio. The rhythm so familiar to her first gets to her feet and then, stage-by-stage, works its way up her whole body. "What is this I'm dancing here?", she wonders. "Why yes, it's the Monkey!" Her new acquaintance is amazed that you could think of doing anything else but the Cha-Cha-Cha to the music that is so familiar to him, but he follows her every move and finds that it does indeed fit perfectly. So, he's taught her something and the compliment has been returned. They exchange numbers and agree that they'll meet the same time the following week.

This has been a somewhat long-winded re-telling of the story told by the Chicago girl group, The Rubies, on their 1964 VeeJay disc, ‘A Spanish Boy’.

Fast-forward to the twenty-hundreds by way of The Rubies' appearance on the 1980s-released Charly R&B label compilation, ‘Rare Soul Uncovered: Volume III (In Style)’.  

Somebody on the board of those in charge of programming on the BBC takes it upon themselves to suggest reviving the hoary old format of ‘Come Dancing’, this time as a sort of celebrity/reality phone-in vote show entitled ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. As it emerges via bush telegraph that such an offering is on the way the viewing public isn't sure at first, but the combination of celebrity and barely suppressed sexual tension eventually proves an irresistible mixture and ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ becomes the unexpected British TV hit (more like TV phenomenon) of the year 2004 and the format is exported to all corners of the Earth, mostly under the title of ‘Dancing With The Stars’, or various translations thereof. 

On several Saturday evenings in the gathering gloom of a British autumn (we have ‘autumn’, not ‘fall’) the proud owner of ‘Rare Soul Uncovered: Volume III (In Style)’, in common with another ten to fifteen million viewers is in his living room in front of the box of wonders and the same realisation that struck those fictitious potential lovers forty-and-a-bit years previously occurs to him during the Latin Dance portions of the contest. It's not just a meeting of two separate cultures. It is all part of one and the same culture. The same basic rhythmic structures are all there. 

A frantic search through the said party's record collection begins to answer the question, "Is Soul really as much Latin as it is Black?" Countless incidences arise where this could be the case – much more than I could readily mention here. 

This is, as it were, the ‘case for the defence’ and also the first instalment of what could be a mini-series of items for SomosPrimos.com on the theme of this Black/Latino culture that is Soul. Everybody ‘knows’ that this crucial part of the popular culture of the twentieth century and beyond originated in the churches of Black America and rather fewer may be aware of the impact of Doo Wop. Referring back to the title of this item is there a ‘Latino Hole’ that badly needs filling? How did this hole come into existence – and perhaps more importantly, why?

Are there any readers ‘out there’ with the answer to this question?
If so, please send your answers to Christopher Bentley. 
old_soul_rebel@yahoo.co.uk

This item is © (2006) Christopher Bentley and may not be published by means of any medium by any other party without the writer's express consent.

Orange County Register, Parade Section, June 25, 2006
Note the multi-racial family structure.

*Numbers are rounded +includes 50-50 partnerships and firms that aren't in other categories
Source: U.S. Census Bureau

ANTI-SPANISH LEGENDS

"Quien controla el pasado controla el futuro; 
quien controla el presente controla el pasado." 
George Orwelll

From: store.feedback@kohls.com
To: charliengheim@hotmail.com
RE: Comments about Ladera Ranch location - #0597
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 06:12:50 -0500


Dear Mr. Ngheim:

Thank you for your comments regarding your experience at the Ladera Ranch store. I have requested that a member from the Executive Team respond to you within 72 hours.

We realize your time is valuable and appreciate the time you took to contact us. We hope that you will allow us to serve you again in the future. 

If you have any further questions, please contact us at store.feedback@kohls.com and we will be happy to assist you.

Sincerely,Thomas
Kohl's Customer Support Specialist
Kohl's Corporate Office
store.feedback@kohls.com 

MILITARY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT HEROES

It is the VETERAN, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of religion. 
  
It is the VETERAN, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. 
  
It is the VETERAN, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. 
  
It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer, who has given us freedom to assemble. 
  
It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial. 
  
It is the VETERAN, not the politician, Who has given us the right to vote. 
  
It is the VETERAN, who salutes the Flag, 

Sent by Carlos Marquez  cbmeducateteachers@hotmail.com

Senator Hiram Johnson in a 1917 speech before the US Senate said,
 "The first casualty when war comes is truth."

THE ENRIQUE S. CAMARENA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION is an all-volunteer, 501(C)(3) nonprofit, public benefit corporation dedicated to eradicating drug abuse nationwide. The focus is the nationwide promotion of anti-drug abuse programs at all levels. The Foundation's special project is to instill lasting drug abuse awareness by providing bronze busts of Special Agent Camarena to schools, libraries, and public buildings as a memorial for all the law enforcement officer's ultimate sacrifice in fighting drug abuse.

To this day, most people still remember these tragic events if not the name Kiki Camarena. By reintroducing these events through a meaningful symbol, a life size bronze bust of Special Agent Camarena, we hope to make it a representative memorial for all our nation's fallen heroes in the fight against drug abuse.

Busts are being placed in schools, libraries and public buildings to rekindle public awareness and commitment to support drug education and prevention. Schools and government building have been renamed. Recently, the Argentine government requested and received permission to name a school in that country in honor of Special Agent Camarena.

We urge you to join in this endeavor. For the stronger the support for this project that highlights the tragic events surrounding the death of Special Agent Camarena, the greater the impact that it will have in eradicating drugs throughout the United States.

Your financial support means all the more because it shows your appreciation for the ultimate sacrifices made by all law enforcement officers involved in freeing our nation from the ravages of drug abuse.

Please make checks payable to: Enrique Camarena Foundation
P.O. Box 28691  San Diego, CA 92198 

An excellent book about the kidnapping and murder of Agent Enrique 'Kiki' Camarena was recently written by retired DEA Agent James Kuykendall who was Kiki's boss in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico at the time of his abduction. Agents who participated in the investigation say the book is right on target. It is well written and to the point. The book, O PLATA O PLOMA? (Lead or Silver?) can be purchased directly from the author by sending a check ($20 for soft cover or $30 for hard cover) to: James Kuykendall, 402 St.Thomas Drive, Laredo, TX 78045. The price includes shipping and handling and Mr. Kuykendall will autograph it for you.

James Kuykendall is a member of the Camarena Foundation Advisory Board and donates much of his time to volunteer work improving anti-drug efforts by talking with groups about the problem. He and another retired agent, Fritz Villerreal, recently purchased a bust of Agent Camarena to be installed at a new courthouse in Zapata, Texas. He is also donating a portion of the profits from "O Plata O Ploma?" to the Camarena Foundation and has a website at www.silverorlead.com .

Geneva 'Mika' Camarena, Kiki's widow, has read the book, is pleased with it, and appreciates 'Jaime's' efforts. It will help you to understand the facts leading to the abduction, the ramifications of the entire incident that caused a national furor, and why we need to do more to bring the drug problem to an irreducible minimum. 
The Enrique S. Camarena Educational Foundation
A Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation
P.O. Box 28691, San Diego, CA 92198    858-485-1356 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/17/AR2005051701535. html?referrer=emailarticle

                                   
Medal of Honor Winner Jose M. Lopez Dies at 94
By Adam Bernstein washingtonpost.com, May 18, 2005; Page B06  
Sent by Gil Sandate gsandate@loc.gov

Jose M. Lopez, 94, a retired Army master sergeant who received the Medal of Honor for engaging in a series of "seemingly suicidal missions" during the Battle of the Bulge, died May 16 at a daughter's home in San Antonio. He had cancer.  
Jose M. Lopez, shown in January, fought at Normandy and in the Battle of the Bulge. (By Billy Calzada -- San Antonio Express-news via AP)

Pray for our Military. . . They believe in Prayer
Sent by ORDONEZ49NINER

Lakota Tribe in North Dakota Funeral Activities and Observance

This is the funeral activities and observance by the Lakota Tribe in North Dakota of one of their young men, killed in Iraq. The tenderness, respect, love, and unity is very touching as the traditions of their people are shown towards, the young Marine.  http://multimedia.rockymountainnews.com/slideshow/slideshow.cfm?type=DEFAULT& ID=012006lundstrom&NUM=1  Sent by Dorinda Moreno 
 

Hero Military Search

New Project by Heaven Sent Jewelry is seeking information on Your Hero has served or is currently serving in the U.S. military.  Tell us about your HERO (Your husband, wife, grandfather, son, daughter, uncle, grandson/grand daughter, etc) 

To participate
1) Tell us about your HERO.  No more than two paragraphs
2) Email us a jpeg (less than 500K) picture (military uniform or solo to hsjewels@msn.com
3) Submissions must have: Name, Rank, and Branch of Service & Home State.
4) Email Heading should read HERO
5) Sing up for our email blast to receive information pertaining to HERO Search
 
Deadline July 21st  Results  July 28th

By entering, entrants acknowledge compliance with these official rules including all eligibility requirements. All entries/photographs become the property of Heaven Sent Jewelry.

CUENTOS

Book: Scarred by Scandal, Redeemed by Love, Gloria DeLaTorre-Wycoff
Boxed Memories, Richard Sanchez
The Day Roosevelt Died, Summer l944, Frank Sifuentes
Who is Frank Sifuentes?
Nuestra Familia Unida Podcasts 
Traveling to Ancestral Locations in Search of True History by Mary Allen 
Inspirational Stories 
Micheal Lozano Embarks on a Journey of Self-Discovery, Part 3

This is an extraordinary account of an immigrant woman.  In her memoir, DeLaTorre-Sycoff imparts more than a tribute to her mother, Maria.  it reveals the complexity of a woman who struggles against critical odds as a single unmarried mother, worker and survivor.  This story is also a disclosure of the harsh and complex realities immigrant women negotiate in their attempt to live in disparate and often conflicting worlds.  Disruption, destitution, sexism, racism and rejection characterize Maria's life, but so do adaptation, cohesion, uncompromising love and celebration  The lessons lived and learned about survival and adaptation profoundly affect and influence her three children who become college graduates and community leaders.

This memoir is a story of acceptance and forgiveness.  There is no rancor on these pages but rather an acceptance of a life that was as much shaped by the forces of the times, as it was by the difficult personal choices and decisions made by a unique woman.  DeLaTorre-Wycoff enlightens our understanding of how women utilize their intuitive and socially interactive skills to not only survive, but to transcend their circumstances.  She conveys a ray of hope to those of us who resonate with her spirit for living, loving and transformation. 
                 Naomi Quiñónez, Ph.D. Professor, American Studies, Poet, Author
                 "Sueño de Colibri /Hummingbird Dream": "The Smoking Mirror"

Gloria DeLaTorre-Wycoff, born and raised in Los Angeles, now lives in Lake Forest, California.  After raising five children, she earned a bachelor's and master's degree.  She has received awards for her contributions as a community leader and volunteer.  Today she prides herself on being the loving matriarch of a four-generation family.

Writing about a recent June weekend, Gloria wrote: "Dear Mimi, it’s been a marvelous whirlwind of a week with my family – 3 daughters, 1 sons, grand and great-grandchildren, sister, and nieces, nephews, etc.  We celebrated my 75^th and had a ball." 

Boxed Memories by Richard Sanchez

I spent many hours looking through the box of faded photographs, not just once, not just today, but many times, over the years. The blue box of photographs is a treasury of memories, captured moments and black and white smiles. In the scalloped Fox and Kodak images, are moments that we left behind. It was yesteryear, so very long ago. I remember the place, and I remember.

The magic in the blue box of photographs takes me back to a wonderful time, a happy time. Our house, on Twenty-First and Fay was full with noise and laughter. We had both our parents and I never lacked a brother or sister. There were plenty of us to go around.

My paternal grandparents lived next door. I remember the place, but the people in the photos are so much younger than I recall. My ‘buelo Diego stands proud in one of the pictures. He stands, well dressed with his handsome young sons. Those are my uncles and my dad.

My ‘buelo Diego was a good man. From the platicas and cuentos that I have heard, he was a hard worker and was always eager to help. He helped my great grandfather bring our families to Texas. La familia settled in Edinburg where they worked and eventually bought a couple of lots to build on. At that time, Twenty-First and Fay were at the edge of town.

When I hunt my memories, I find myself up early in the morning. My sisters and I are out the door. My dad sends us out to go greet my ‘buelo, to darle los buenos dias. Like little soldiers, we walk the path from our house, across ‘buela Veva’s garden, and to our grandparents front door.

My grandparents are up very early. At seven thirty, they are up, dressed and have already had their breakfast. They sit in their living room and pray the rosary, thanking God for another blessed day. They pray the rosary in the evening too.

We approach my ‘buela Veva and greet her with a handshake and a bow. We tell her one at a time, "Buenos dias, abuelita." We then line up to greet my grandfather, ‘buelito Diego. He sits in his chair, but does not move his head. Only his eyes can follow us.

My "buelito Diego is old and he is sick. He no longer talks, he only mumbles. Sometimes, he tries to talk, but he is difficult to understand and only ‘buela can understand him. When ‘buelo Diego walks, he has to shuffle from room to room, he can no longer lift his legs to move his feet. It is as if he is paralyzed. When we shake his hand in our "Buenos dias" greeting, his hand is in a loose fist and he cannot open it. Still, we shake his hand in our greeting.

For a long time now, ‘buelo’s right hand shakes on its own. It moves up and down as if he is strumming the strings on a guitar. But there is no guitar, his hand moves on its own. ‘Buela says he shakes because he is sick.

I feel bad for my grandfather. He wants to talk and respond to our words, but only mumbles come out. Soon he tires, he whimpers, and tears began to flow from his graying eyes. I think his heart aches with love for his grandchildren. That is what my heart tells me. Sometimes, hearts can talk when people can’t. That is my ‘buelo Diego in the photographs. He was not a big man, but he had a big heart.

That is my ‘buelo Diego in the photographs. He was not a big man, but he was a good man and he had a big heart. I will remember ‘buelo Diego and I will follow in his footsteps. Some day, down the road in life, someone may say something about me; I hope they say that I too was a good man, just like my ‘buelo Diego. Then, when I can no longer talk, when I can no longer walk, I will smile and my heart will be full.

Richard Sanchez  r-osunchase@msn.com
3400 W. Hwy 490, Edinburg, Tx 78539

THE DAY ROOSEVELT DIED, Summer l944

Written by: Frank M. Sifuentes 

Those of us still above ground who were born in the l920's and early 1930's remember World War II with a profound sense of having been impacted, changed and redirected by it.

During these years, 1941-45. I sold newspapers and shined shoes, and was able to read about what was happening in the battle fields, and was able to hear lots of conversation about the war.

And like most Austinites, the movies became my favorite form of entertainment, which assured that I saw over and over the Movie-Tone reports of Lowell Thomas, with films showing details of the horrors.

Not to mention the series of movies about the war, such as Bataan with Robert Taylor and Robert Walker (who played a U.S. sailor). It added up to a global picture in which civilizations had gone berserk!

But in Austin the calm and the peace remained. And we were 'energized' and offered 'war created' opportunities. People planted victory gardens, bought liberty bonds and stamps, endured rationing of gas, sugar, nylon stockings and other items.

The schools involved us in war related activities. My sister Carmen tells Of how she won a contest selling liberty stamps in the sixth grade and of how it was a glorious moment in her life. Her prize was a ride in an Army Jeep to Bergstrom Air Base to join the fighting men in having lunch. Prior to that she was scarcely aware there was a war going on.

The Americanization of the first born of immigrant Mexicans was greatly intensified. For how could we continue having reverence for the Mexican Flag, when reverence for any flag other than the American flag was considered un-American.

When we, the students of Zavala Elementary School - every one of us Mexicanos - recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag and sang the Stars Spangle Banner, and American the Beautiful we did it with authenticity, and with a real sense of pride and purpose. And we did it with the sweet feeling of belonging, made more real by the super outstanding teaching of Miss Stohl, who made sure we became part of Americana.

Few elementary school students could sing Dixie, Home of the Range, Clementine, Buffalo Gal and American the Beautiful better than Miss Stohl's Zavala Elementary School music classes. It didn't matter to her in the least that most of us spoke more Spanish than English. Our English sounded just fine when we sang for her.

When reports came in of the losses of military men who were from East Austin, our Americanization seemed to have become complete. Though it was difficult to fathom that Elias Lopez, Armando Botello, And others from out part of town had given their life for their country.

Mexico, less than 200 miles away from Austin, psychologically became as far away as Japan.

What held this World War II consciousness together more than anything was the voice of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the only president my generation had ever know. He belonged to us and we belonged to him. His tears and sorrows were our tears and sorrows. 

He was guiding us skillfully and masterfully through this incredible National ordeal. And when he told us we were winning this monumental world struggle against the evils of fascism and Japanese Imperialism, we could be sure he was telling us the truth and rejoiced.

Never in our wildest dreams did we believe he would die on us.

But he did - of a cerebral hemorrhage in the summer of l944 after having been elected for an unprecedented 4th term. 

They say he died from wear and tear from the war experience which is probably true; however after watching the movie, (and reading the book) Winds of War it's possible he died from drinking too many martinis and smoking too many cigarettes.

I vividly remember the day President Roosevelt died.

I was a 13 year old who had finally become a viable pin-setter at a West Austin bowling alley which had leagues playing every evening; bowling was a rage in Austin.

It was a frightful experience for me. Having to set pins for two lanes was really difficult because they had pin-setting machines that were large, heavy and had to be slammed down so smoothly that all the pins would be left standing. If one fell, especially if it fell on the other pins, we'd have to get down on our knees and stand them up again, and very often just as the player was about to send the cannon ball down the lane as fast as he or she could.

Fanatical bowlers got real grouchy when the pins would fall on their own and delayed their gratification, as if each ball they zipped down the lane was a step closer to ending the war. And sometimes just for the fun of it one of those characters would throw the ball to see how fast we could get out of The way.

I nevertheless remember these bowling pin-setting experiences fondly.

There were some real characters, besides myself, working there. Like Jesse Soliz and Lee Mendez, who were a bit sex crazed. They enjoyed working at the bowling alley because they loved to watch 'pierna' (leg) as the women sat in shorts or forgot to cover up. And when the ones who wore dresses bowled, they showed their legs but good.

Jesse was good and fast at setting pins. He easily to care of his two alleys and would jumped over to one of mine when he saw I was lagging and catching dirty looks from the players. Once when he quickly placed the bowling ball on the groove as I was stooping to pick up pins, it accidentally fell on my head.

On the day Roosevelt died, I was working at this bowling alley, enjoying the pay of 10 cents a line, which added up by the end of the evening because each player bowled about ten games. And the players who were generous would give us a tip, especially if they had won.

We were on a break, until the next league got ready to go, when we heard on the loud speaker the news that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had died. It was a terrible surprise, but I got another surprise I was not ready for in the least.

Just as the word came across on the speakers, I heard nothing but cheers. And one man jumped up and said with so much anger, "Good, I'm glad that son of a bitch is dead!". And there was a lot of agreement.

Obviously the bowling league for that night was made up of Republicans who were frustrated for having been out of power since l932, and were growing weary of the FDR 'dictatorship'.

However, I had no way of knowing anything about electoral politics. In l944 there probably were only about two dozen Mexican Americans in all of Austin who paid the poll tax allowing them to vote.

And why any American would be happy about the death of our great President FDR was totally beyond my comprehension.

FDR had been our President. The President of all the people. He had brought work to Mexicans, Afro American and Anglo Americans alike. He first wanted to avoid the war, then decided it was good business to arm the European powers fighting against the evil Hitler. Then he declared war on Japan, and then on Germany, changing America forever.

This brings me to my last place of employment Multicultural Area Heath Education Center where I also worked as RD&PR Coordinator. By this time I had been regularly publish articles on health and human service issues. And published about 50-60 articles. Including cultural
issues. And ended my formal career in l994. Spending full time writing and started a new serious of c/s magazines with a $2000 a year grant from CAC.

In l996 I had a serious heart attack that resulted in open heart surgery. by l997 my wife and I began a new career in Resident Managers of Section 8 senior housing. And here we are circa 2006.

In terms of social action I am happy to have remained in the background. However, I can tell the story of where I was and what I did from l967 on with thanks to God for allowing me to survive without becoming a cultural hero of any kind of substantial way. But if people want a word that can define me within the context of social movement for peace and justice. They can say, I was a link, and that much of what I linked did not remain in the records.

YA YA YA..soy frank sifuentes, Conzafos.

There have been many new podcasts made available to the http://NuestraFamiliaUnida.com podcast project. A great collection of Oral History stories by Frank Moreno Sifuentes including his translation of the Pablo Neruda poem, "It Remains Prohibited." But two new poets (Jim Moreno and Diego Davalos) to the podcast have by far taken center stage with their poetry. Have a listen to Jim Moreno's "Lowrider" poem and Diego Davalos' "Reclamando La Linea" and "Cesar."

http://NuestraFamiliaUnida.com/podcast/poetry.html

There is still much work to be done in getting the word out to the community about the Nuestra Familia Unida podcast project. Please consider joining the planning committee for the project at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/podhi/ Any questions or comments can be directed to Joseph Puentes: NFU@JosephPuentes.com

Hello! I actually returned on December 8 from Mexico City and San Felipe "Torres Mochas", Guanajuato, but I believe a large piece of my heart is still in Mexico. That trip has totally changed my life. Really. I don't really know where to begin because it was such an incredible experience. 

Much of the success of this trip I attribute to the kind help of many of you. There is Carol Turner who advised me about collecting "classic" photos, which I did. I purchased a good digital camera just before I left and gave up trying to master the manual on the plane. Luckily my new primo's son was into things electronic and taught me how to use it. Lucky me! My 80-year-old primo Enrique Guzman Romero has been into genealogy for decades and has written extensively about his town especially researching why it is called "Torres Mochas". He has a magnificent collection of photos of several generations of the Romero family. The most outstanding was his collection of wedding photos. Beautiful. I have to go back when the weather is warmer because even with four days there just was not enough time to copy all the photos I wanted and gather information.

And thanks to Victor Villarreal for warning me about traveling alone. Just before I was to leave, I broke my left foot. That really affected my plans but there was no way I would not go. But I was fortunate that Continental Airlines helped me all the way there and back and I had to do very little hobbling. I took your advise about the airport taxi in Mexico City and got the pay in advance kind. Truthfully, my impetuous nature was challenged a bit because I had to depend on others to help me because I just could not manage the cobblestones with my "boot". Sigh. And I always seemed to be on cobblestone. 

And thank you, Joseph. My first stop was to visit a 93 year old prima who asked me to come to her convent in Mexico City even though she confided to others she had no idea who I was. Imagine my chagrin when doing more looking through old photos I found one of the two of us, together. She is blind and almost deaf but she got a chuckle when I told her I had evidence that we had met in 1967 and had posed for several photographs together in San Antonio, Texas. 

Joseph had advised me to actually make a list of the questions I would pose. That was so important. I had no problem with the small tape recorder; she couldn't see it, but because I had to speak into her ear, I had to make my questions clear and brief. She was so alert and had great answers. Once she started talking she was off non stop, she remembered so much that I hardly had to coax her at all. She came up with wonderful anecdotes about her life as a young woman. She even spoke of what a wonderful pianist "Manuel" was. I took a chance and asked her if she meant the Manuel Ponce who wrote "Estrellita". That's exactly whom she meant and she was off on an anecdote about him.

We had three wonderful sessions. Then she got the flu and she was so medicated that she slept for the next three days that I was there. I regretted not being able to visit more with her but it gave me an opportunity to speak to the other Sisters in the convent and I heard great stories about their experiences during the revolution and when they were young. With them I visited a wonderful bazaar of indigenous arts and later a Pastorela at a school. I ate some interesting foods. But it was so cold. Even though I had warm clothing with me, it just wasn't enough.

Sister Beatrice drove me to the airport when I was gong to Leon, Guanajuato. She has nerves of steel. She just smiled when she heard me gasp. 

My primo and his son Oscar met me at the airport at Leon. What a blessing because our destination was another hour away...at a fast clip through some very mountainous, curvey upward climbing highway. I clung to the seat as I looked down town. It was beautiful but just so far down there and I wondered if it was really necessary to drive so fast. 

Emilie Garcia had advised me to take large photos. I took her advice and prepared a bound copy of our family photos. It was a hit. My host and primo, Enrique, seemed to like it very much. He carried it around, showing it off. Thanks, Emilie.

But the gift Enrique had for me far surpassed anything I could imagine. He teased me about my complaints that I came from " una familia muy chiquita". I followed him to his studio and watched as he reached for a long roll which he slowley unrolled across his desk. It must have measured about 7 ft. "Aqui esta tu familia "chiquita"", he smiled. I couldn't breathe! It was covered with names and photographs. I really wanted to cry. Immediately I saw my great grandfather's photo as a handsome young man. And I learned that his mother's name was Josefa Galvan.

There were so many beautiful people all down the length of the tree. There were hundreds of names. I was speechless. "Jamas puedes decir que tienes una familia chiquita!" But I wondered how I was going to get a copy of this. From the drive through the small town I seriously doubted that there was a "Kinkos". But, on the fourth day he surprised me by carefully rolling it up and giving it to me before I left for the return trip. Such generosity.

I did contribute something to him, however, that he did not expect...a branch, well, maybe a twig, on his great tree. Somehow, my grandmother Petra Romero Gonzalez, had disappeared altogether. Her brother and sister were there, but she appeared no where. He was so surprised that he got on the phone and called relatives in San Luis whom he had interviewed and who had spoken affectionately about the other two siblings but never mentioned Petra. And they still did not know about her. They insisted she did not exist but of course I had photos of her and even some documents clearly identifying her. She even lived in the area for 40 years.

I went through some very sad moments and Enrique and I were on the internet, on the phone and even made a couple of visits to interview living relatives who still remembered the family. I was crushed when they would shake their head and say they never heard of her. It really made me very upset. Petra was the child of Victor Romero Galvan's first marriage. He had many children from his second marriage and I knew that my grandmother for some reason did not like the second wife. In fact when her mother died, she was sent to live with her "madrina", but she knew the second wife, Sotera Gutierrez. Enrique and I worked an average of 5 to 8 hours a day, far into the night, searching everywhere and everything, photos, lists, calling here and there, to no avail.
Now I just want to know "why". In fact I have a list of 13 "whys". 

I don't remember who told me about dreaming about our ancestors. I did. A lot. Maybe it was because I studied the photos all four days that I was there. Over and over, looking for a familiar face in a group photo. Looking for some clue. In my dreams I could see them all, walking around, saying something to me, but I couldn't understand. It was a recurring dream and I could see their mouths move, but couldn't hear the words . I could especially see my bisabuelo, come so close to me, speak, smile and move away. I told Enrique; he just shrugged his shoulders. He saw that I was upset. So, we promised to meet when it is warmer and my foot is healed and go to San Luis Potosi where there is another primo who has a collection of family letters. We hope maybe one of them will give us some information.

When I got home, I wasted no time in moving all of Petra's material from the Romero binder to the Garana binder. They won't get her back until they let me know why they ostracized (?) ignored(?) alienated (?) her. There is a story there and I so want to know even though in knowing it may cause more hurt. My father warned me when I started this many years ago. He said to be certain you were ready to accept anything you might find out. Now I wonder if he knew something. It would be safer to just get dates and connections and not stories...but people are more than dates. And if what I learn is shocking or hurtful, I'll deal with it.

So, back to the drawing board. 

On ROMERO family tree there are the following who lived in Salinas, SLP, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potoso,SLP, Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco. The oldest names date to 1800. 

ALVARADO, AVILA, ANDRADE, ARAGON, AGUIRRE, BALERO, BLANCO, CARREON, CORTEZ, CASTANEDA, CASTILLO, CARMIN, CHAVEZ, CHENHOLLS, CAMPOS, CERVANTEX, CANALES, CASTELAZA, CORILLO, CONTRERAS, CASTRO, DE LA ROSA, DELGADO, DE ESNAURRIZAR, DELGADILLO, DEL TORO, ESQUIVEL, ESCUDERO, FLURY, FONSECA, GARCIA, GARZA, GAMA, GUEVARA, GALLARDO, GRIMALDO, HERNANDEZ, HIGUERA, IZCARENO, ISAIS, JUAREZ, KOUBICHER, LUNA, LOPEZ, LLAMAS, LICON, MARIN, MATA, MANTECA, MENDIOLA, MONTOYA, MEDINA, MUNOS, MEDELLIN, NAJERA, OWENS, OROZCO, OTERO, PINA, PEDROSA, PRIETO, PEREZ, PONCE, RIVERO, ROJAS, ROMERO, RODRIGUEZ, REGALADO, RAMOS, RUIZ, ROMAN, REBOLLEDO, ROBINSON, SALINAS, SAUSO, SNCHEZ, SAN JOSE, SALDIVAR, TREJO, UGARTE, VIDALES, VALADEZ, VELARDE, VELEZ, ZUAREZ, 


My poor primo tried so hard, but we came up with nothing. Well, when I left, I was so grateful for all and he did go to his computer, type up our twig and paste it on. I came back with many anecdotes about life in their times; Mimi Lozano suggested that I write them up and submit them to her. I may. It was Mimi who lead me to Ranchos so I am especially grateful to her.

Again, thanks to everyone for the help and encouragement. If any of the above names are of interest to anyone, I'll be happy to provide what I have.

I think I have become genealogy obsessed. Now I just can't stop. But I still did not find a thing about the GARANA side!

Mary
mary.allen3770@sbcglobal.net

PS You may not hear from me for a while, but rest assured that everyday I read everything single item with great interest and gusto. I wish you all a peaceful Christmas and a wonderful new year full of new discoveries. May your ancestors be kind and allow themselves to be found!! 12/17/2005

Inspirational Stories 
http://www.innerloca.blogspotcom/

Hi everyone, One of my friend, Nancy Marmelijo, interviews some women with inspirational stories through a pod cast. I thought this could be a great resource for the youth... It's free , perhaps it could be used to inspire the youth.  Please feel free in passing this around... it will only be effective if people hear it. I do believe that our Latina's will be inspired by hearing from Latina's in their back yard.

I'm number # 8, most of the interviews are about 30 minutes. If you have a chance, check out Dr. Nora Comstock, she is the founder of Las Comadres..an awesome organization that is one of my favorites. Dr. Ana Nogales, Nancy Marmeljo, Tanya are some members of the group. There's no fee ... wealth of information and great opportunity in meeting Latina's nation wide. 

Take care, Addy Perez-Mau
Co-founder S.H.E. www.stayhomeentrepreneur.com
Office (714) 619-4816 "Say it with Emotion"
Check out our BLOG http://heavensentjournal.blogspot.com

               Micheal Lozano Embarks on a Journey of Self-Discovery, Part 3

Texas greeted me with a bang. A severe thunderstorm blasted in as I crossed the state line into Texas on Interstate 10. I watched in horror as a car careened out of control on the other side of the highway and flipped over. I couldn’t do anything because there was so much traffic on my side. Feeling helpless, I continued on cautiously. Even Dudley looked scared. I inched along through Beaumont, Texas. The rain finally let up as I got closer to Houston.

The Spanish explored Texas’ eastern and western regions in the early sixteenth century. In 1519, Spanish Captain Alonso Alvarez de Piñeda sailed from Jamaica with four ships into the Rio Grande River. In 1540, another explorer, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado explored the Texas panhandle. Some of the missionaries that came after Coronado, began trading with the Tejas Indians. The name "Texas" was a Spanish word given the Indians which meant "friends" or "allies." The tribal names of these Texas Indians were "Hasinai" or "Assinais." The name "Texas" stuck and became the most used name for this territory.

As I approached Houston, I wanted to see where General Sam Houston won the Battle of San Jacinto to gain Independence for Texas. I took Route 225 east of Houston when I came to a 570 foot tall monument. The monument is capped by a huge Texas Lone Star. A museum sat at the base of the monument. On April 21, 1836, after a month and a half of retreating from battle, General Sam Houston stopped at this point and turned to fight. It appears that an act of providence had an effect on Houston’s decision to fight. Houston captured some Mexican couriers who had secret dispatches which revealed the strength and disposition of the Mexican forces. Houston was exactly in the right place at the right time. General Santa Anna had divided his force and only had 950 hand-picked men with him as he pushed in hot pursuit of the running Texans. Houston also knew that another 550 Mexican soldiers were coming to join Santa Anna. Houston, with 900 men, was not very concerned about this relatively small addition to Santa Anna’s force; the numbers were still comparable since Houston had the advantage of knowing the ground where the fight would be initiated. Santa Anna was expecting his second-in-command to join forces with him with an additional 2,500 men, but Houston attacked while they were too far apart to effect a link-up. While Santa Anna rested in an open field surrounded by water, Houston burned the only avenue of escape—a bridge that traversed the watery maze. In essence Houston was cutting off his own escape route if his attack did not succeed. Santa Anna did not believe that Houston would attack. So Santa Anna had his troops rest and waited for his separated army to join him. The stars were aligned perfectly for Houston. He waited until about 4:00 p.m. to launch his attack. The Mexicans were napping and unprepared when the 900 Texans rushed their camp yelling "Remember the Alamo!" They flew into a panic. Surprise was total. In 20 minutes the battle was over. The Mexicans lost 630, had 208 wounded and 730 taken prisoner. The Texans lost nine men and had 30 wounded. Houston was shot in the leg. Santa Anna was one of the captured. Houston forced Santa Anna to sign an agreement saying he would never again take up arms against Texas and would withdraw all Mexican forces from Texas. The Mexican government denounced the agreement and Santa Anna resigned his presidency. Houston had Santa Anna travel to Washington D.C. to meet with President Andrew Jackson in order to give the agreement some semblance of legitimacy. The agreement was really a chance for Santa Anna to save his life and not an agreement of formal Independence from Texas. Even though the Mexican government did not agree to Texas independence, Santa Anna’s agreement was given legitimacy because The United States, Britain, and France acknowledged their independence, and Mexico wasn’t strong enough to do anything about it. This lack of a formal agreement set the stage for the United States to go to war with Mexico nine years later.

As I looked west, I imagined seeing 773 miles of wide open country clear through to the New Mexico border. Texas is one big state. With 267,338 square miles, it is the second largest state next to Alaska. I have visited this state more than any other. I approached Houston on Interstate 10. It is the fastest growing city in the United States. Its two million people make it America’s fifth largest city. The Houston-Galveston area is the oil capital of the United States. The picture I have in my mind is of actor John Travolta playing "Bud" in "Urban Cowboy." I imagined Houston life as working at the oil refinery and drinking Lone Star beer at Gilly’s. In real life, Texans are boisterous people. You will find no other people so full of life. They love to dance, are fanatics when it comes to sports, and they love barbecue, chili, and the Mexican plate. You can go just about anywhere in the state and find a rodeo. They have college rodeos, prison rodeos, Mexican rodeos and the traditional rodeo. The rodeo in Texas is the best show in town. Everyone goes and the fans take personal interest in the cowboys. There are even groupies who follow the cowboys just as if they were rock stars. The cowboy hat is proper attire for man, woman or child.

The Houston Ship Channel is the third busiest in the nation. Its location made it ideal for trading with the world, but in 1900 the location worked against the people of this area. That year a hurricane blew through Galveston and flattened the city killing 6,000 people.

On these same shores, in 1528, the greatest odyssey of all time took place. This journey even outdid Lewis and Clark’s, but is not widely known because of its Spanish origin. Conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez left Santiago, Cuba with four ships and 400 men to establish a town on the Rio Grande River called the "Rio de Las Palmas." His fleet was blown off course in a storm and ended up on the coast of Florida. He decided to disembark with the horses and three quarters of his soldiers, and march overland to the Rio Grande while the fleet met up with him further up the coast. After looking for the men on shore for a year, the fleet gave up and sailed back to Cuba. Narváez then decided to build five barges to try to reach Mexico. They pushed off from Pensacola Bay. Before long, the five boats were lost at sea and fewer than 100 cold, naked Spaniards were washed up on the Texas shore near Galveston Island. One of these men was Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, the ship’s treasurer. On the Island with very little food or shelter the survivors began to die one by one until there were only 15 men. They finally turned to cannibalism. Before long the Indians came upon Cabeza de Vaca and made him a slave. He was taught all the Indian ways and soon learned how they survived solely on the natural resources of the area. This tribe of Indians was known as the Karankawas. De Vaca later met a larger tribe that the Karakawas traded with, called the Coahuiltecans. They traveled as far inland as the San Antonio River. After five years alone with the Indians, de Vaca learned that there were three other Spaniards with another Indian tribe down by the coast. The three men were: Dorantes, the doctor’s son, Castillo, and Estevánico, a Black man from Morocco. The four of them decided to escape to Mexico. They headed down the Gulf Coast until they reached the Rio Grande River. After much walking, they entered the Sierra Madre Mountains in northern Mexico. They passed through the Indian villages that became the town of Cerralvo. My Grandmother, Refugio Bosque Lozano, was born in Cerralvo. They were told that the Indian tribes between Cerralvo and the coastal Spanish settlement of Panuco near present day Vera Cruz, were hostile to whites. They would be immediately killed if they were discovered. With this route to safety being so dangerous, they decided to go west to the other big ocean, the Pacific, where there were other Spanish settlements. They had no way of knowing the distance was over 2,000 miles. They moved along the mountains where present day Monterrey is located. This range naturally guided them back north until they re-crossed the Rio Grande River somewhere near Big Bend National Park at a town called Lajitas. They criss-crossed the Rio Grande River near Ojinaga, Mexico and Presidio, Texas. The party then cut across western Texas on what is known as the Shell Trail until they reached Casa Grande, the largest ancient Native American city in the Mexican borderland, between Douglas, Arizona and Chihuahua, Mexico. They traveled with the friendly Tarahumara Indians until they came out of the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains to the Pacific plain in December of 1536. They were discovered by a Spanish scouting party and taken to their leader, Captain Lázaro de Cárdenas. They were later brought to Diego de Alcarez, the leader of the Spanish expedition. They had survived being shipwrecked nearly eight years earlier and a 2,500 mile journey. They traveled 7,000 miles total by land and sea since they left Cuba. Cabeza de Vaca is my true inspiration. There can be no greater traveler then this great survivor. He eventually made his way all the way back to Spain and wrote a best-selling book about his story. He returned to explore Paraguay in South America and tried to stop abuses of the Indians which brought him the hatred of other Spaniards who rebelled against him. He was sent back to Spain to live the rest of his life poor and humiliated.

I traveled down the coast of Texas straight south. The land was flat and almost treeless. There were miles and miles of rice and grain fields. I traveled through the coastal town of Matagorda. This is where the Colorado River empties into the Gulf of Mexico. There isn’t much to see here. It is a secluded beach without many facilities—only a few rental properties along the riverfront for vacationers. The reason I wanted to come here is that the famous French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, died here in an unsuccessful attempt to start a colony on what he thought was a western arm of the Mississippi River. He arrived off Matagorda Bay in January of 1685. La Salle built a fortification he called Fort Saint Louis. He only had 180 settlers by this time out of the original 300 and four ships. Pirates took one ship. One ship ran aground and sank with all their food, medicines, and tools. Another ship sailed back to France with a group of disgruntled settlers. He only had one ship left, the Belle, to continue his explorations and for safe resupply from Canada. La Salle left for extended periods of time which caused much despair. Finally, a storm sank the last ship, the "Belle." By January, 1687, there were only 37 people left alive. LaSalle took 17 men with him to seek help. His men had become so angry with his leadership that in March, five of his men ambushed and killed La Salle. Five of the men eventually made it back to Canada and then back to France but no help was sent to the remaining colonists who were killed or made slaves by the Indians. After more than 300 years, the wreck of the "Belle" was found in Matagorda Bay in 1995. A team of archaeologists from the Texas Historical Commission excavated the underwater site by building a waterproof cofferdam around the sunken ship in order to recover and preserve the artifacts of the La Salle ship.

The harsh elements of Texas weather have a way of driving people mad. I can empathize with La Salle. I remember a few times while traveling in Texas that my family and I behaved badly. The kids went crazy and my wife was ready to mutiny. As I traveled on the same road along the coast, I remembered that we stopped to camp at Goose Island State Park. My daughter was two years old. My wife decided to go for a jog. She asked me to keep an eye on the kids. I got my two children to lay down to take a nap with me. My son went to sleep but my daughter got up and decided to follow her mother down the park road. When my wife came back, she asked me where my daughter, Leigh, was. I said she was lying right next to me, but I didn’t know where she went. We searched all over for her in a panic. We finally found her walking down the road crying about a half mile away. My wife never let me forget my carelessness. I was so thankful that my baby girl was ok. Another time, my wife and I got into an argument on a lonely Texas highway and I said "Let me out of the car." She let me out and she drove off and left me in the middle of nowhere. After letting me stew for a while, she turned around to get me. Another time while letting the kids ride in the back of the truck under the camper, we thought that we would get some peace and quiet for a while. It was great to not have to hear all their whining. Listening to two- and four-year-olds bicker can sometimes get to you, especially when trapped in a confined place for days. My wife and I were having a good time just making conversation when I noticed that we were low on gas. I pulled over at the nearest gas station. When I opened up the camper to get the kids out I couldn’t believe my eyes. My daughter’s entire body from head to toe was covered with red permanent marker spots. We made quite a scene at that lonely Texas gas station as my wife yelled at my daughter and I yelled at my son, and my wife and I yelled at each other for putting the kids back there by themselves. It just shows you how fast peace, happiness and harmony can turn to utter chaos.

I came next to Corpus Christi, Texas. In this area of Texas it is immediately obvious that this area is more Tex-Mex than just Tex. The radio stations play more Tejano music than American popular music. Tejano music has been evolving over 150 years. It started with popular Mexican folk music being spiced up with German and Czech accordion tunes. I went to Germany and the Czech Republic to see for myself if there really were similarities in the music of these two separate parts of the globe. I was surprised to hear the same lively accordion tunes in Prague. The horns used the same polka rhythm. The German use of the accordion was very similar. In the early 1800s German immigrants came to Monterrey, Mexico to start beer breweries. They brought their love of German accordion music with them. They soon adapted the accordion music to the famous Mexican orchestra sound. The marriage of the two sounds stuck and grew into Tejano music. Later American fiddle music was also added. The Spanish style of music using guitar and violin music extensively was also a great addition to Tejano music. As Mexican artists learned of other world styles they were influenced by Rhythm and Blues, Rock and Roll, and Soul, but, the most influence came from the wide range and variety of popular Mexican folk music which was inspired largely by polkas, waltzes, rancheras, redovas, mambos, boleros, and other Spanish dance styles.

There are many more Mexicans living and working in Corpus Christi than Anglos. And Spanish is spoken more than English. Along with this comes some discrimination. Some people’s problem with marriage and relations between Mexicans and Anglos becomes more obvious here. There is great pride among Mexican Americans in retaining their Mexican customs. Mexican Americans are especially proud of their heroes and one of the most well known in south Texas is singer Selena. She was born Selena Quintanilla in Corpus Christi on April 16, 1971 to Abraham and Marcella Quintanilla. (Author’s note –One branch of the Lozano family descended from Mexico settler Bartoleme Quintanilla in the early 1500s) When Selena turned 9, her father realized she had real talent and started a family band with Selena as the lead singer. Her sister Suzette was the drummer and her brother, Abraham III, was the guitar player. They named the band, "Selena y Los Dinos." This was the story of a loving father and his children going from rags to riches. They started playing at local venues, traveling the back roads of South Texas to play at county fairs and festivals. By 1987, Selena was named "Female Vocalist of the Year." She was an icon among Tejano music lovers of Texas, Mexico and other places around the country where there were large Mexican populations. Selena was quickly bringing Tejano music to new heights. She was now performing to crowds of over 60,000 people in such venues as the Houston Astrodome. She married her fellow band member Chris Perez in 1992, and in 1993 she won her first Grammy award. Selena was able to successfully break through to the mainstream pop music market with several hits. Tragically on March 31, 1995, Selena was gunned down in the parking lot of the Day’s Inn Motel by a disgruntled former president of her fan club who was embezzling money. Thousands of mourners came from all parts of the United States and Mexico to pay their last respects to the young, beautiful Mexican star. People magazine put Selena on the cover of a commemorative edition, only the third such tribute in the publication’s history. A major motion picture entitled "Selena" was made about her life starring Jennifer Lopez. Today there is a museum in Corpus Christi that celebrates her life and retraces her rise to stardom. Thinking of the pain that must have overcome Abraham at losing his daughter, Selena, I thought of my own daughter. I’d like to get closer to my daughter. We were very close while she was growing up, but after she entered college, we found less time to share with each other. I hope we can find the time for each other again because life is so short. We never will have another chance to live a day that has passed by. I love her so very much.

I headed down Highway 77 through King’s Ranch, the largest Ranch in Texas. Between Kingsville and Raymondsville there is nothing but range lands for cattle. You will go 75 miles with no gas stations or towns. When I came out of this desert, I entered a Garden of Eden. All of a sudden, when I entered the Rio Grande Valley, I saw palm trees and fruit trees. There were green fields and rivers. The weather was very tropical. It was as if I had entered a new climate. The Valley is the home of my father’s family. My parents have a second home here and live part of the year in Indiana. They call these retired winter Texans, "snowbirds."

When I was deathly ill five years earlier, the one image in my mind as I went in and out of consciousness, was Padre Island in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. I could smell the salt water breeze. I could see the bright sun reflecting off the Gulf of Mexico surf. I could see and hear the seagulls as they flew down the white sandy beach. I also had a song ringing in my head. It was a song from the 1989 movie called "Midnight Cowboy." In this movie, the character played by Dustin Hoffman, had a last wish to get to a place where the sun keeps shining. The character played by Jon Voight helps him to attain his dream by traveling across America to Florida. When he finally gets to his destination, he dies. There is a song about this odyssey called "Everybody’s Talkin" sung by Nilsson. This was the song that I kept hearing in my mind while doctors frantically called a "Code Blue." Code Blue is called when a patient is slipping into critical condition and life support is needed immediately to save a life. As doctors swarmed around me giving transfusions and oxygen, I was, in my mind, on the beach at Padre Island. As the doctors were working to keep my heart beating, I was walking into the surf on the beach. The waves were hitting me in the chest and a brilliant sun was shining on me. I could hear the song’s lyrics,

"Everybody’s talking at me. I don’t hear a word they’re saying, only the echoes of my mind. I’m going to where the sun keeps shining through the falling rain. Going where the weather suits my clothes. Banking off the northeast winds, sailing on summer breeze, skipping over the ocean like a storm."

I have been to Texas more times than I can remember, but I had not been back here since that fateful day that my life began to slip away. I wanted to surprise my parents, so I had not told them that I was coming to visit. When I got to their house I was filled with emotions. I knocked on the door. I couldn’t wait to see the look on their faces. They weren’t there. My surprise didn’t seem to be working. I figured they went to the store or something and they would be right back. After waiting a couple of hours, they still had not returned. Since I had been waiting so long to get back here, I decided why wait any longer to get to the beach. So, I headed straight to the most secluded beach in the area. It is a place called Boca Chica. I drove up on the beach. There wasn’t a soul there. This beach has no facilities, stores, or lifeguards. It is one of the few places left in the country where you can see what a beach looked like hundreds of years ago. Dudley and I ran along the beach enjoying our private paradise. It was the most beautiful day I could wish for. The sun was hot and brilliant. I got my fishing gear out and did some surf fishing. After a while Dudley got too hot and retreated to the shade underneath the truck. I guess I just wanted to enjoy every minute of this long sought after day. I didn’t notice how severely the sun was burning me. After a while, I decided that it was too hot to stay any longer, so we headed back to Harlingen to see if my lost parents had returned. I then realized that I had stayed in the sun too long because I could feel the pain of a red hot sunburn.

I went back up to their house and found they still were not there. I was worried that something might be wrong and called some family members to find out, but no one knew anything. Finally, as I waited outside, a neighbor came out and asked me what I was doing there. She told me that my parents had gone to a friend’s beach house at Padre Island. I was near them, but had no idea how to find them. I knew they were both not well, so it surprised me that they were not at home. My Dad was undergoing radiation treatment for cancer. My Mother was barely able to walk after a fall. Dudley and I waited for their return. The next day my parents returned. I decided to just walk in and see surprise them. When my Mother saw me she thought I was the landscaper. I finally said, "Mom, it’s me, Mike." She said, "Mike? Mike who?" I said Mike, your son. She said, "How can you be Mike, he’s up in Boston." She thought I was a ghost or something. Finally, I went over and hugged her and she recognized me. She yelled to my Father to come out of the bedroom. She said, "Lee, you’re not going to believe this. It’s Micheal." They were so happy to see me. We had a nice time talking about my journey. I told them my plans to go to Mexico to trace our family history. 
                              My mother, Ramijia Perez Lozano

In conversations with my Father, I learned that the Mayor of San Benito, Texas, was a distant relative. My father generally doesn’t know or care too much about his family history, but I did get out of him that he remembered some family from his father’s side when he was growing up in Harlingen, Texas. My father said he had an uncle on his father’s side of the family named Augustine Gonzalez Castillo. 

I was anxious to start on the family history part of my journey. Even though I don’t speak Spanish, it was like pulling teeth to get any help from my parents, especially in helping me to contact people who prefer to speak Spanish, or can’t speak English at all. I knew my lack of fluent Spanish would be a major obstacle, but I was not about to let anything stop me in my quest. In order to get started I figured I would start with the Mayor of San Benito since he spoke English in his capacity as Mayor. He has been Mayor for 22 years. I made an appointment with his secretary by phone. He called me back and said he remembered my father. He said that he was interested in finding out more about our family connection. When I got to his office, I found a modern building with nicely decorated professional surroundings. When the Mayor came in he was dressed in blue jeans and a cowboy shirt. He was a white haired, tall, rugged looking man about 74 years old. Mayor Cesar Elizondo Gonzalez welcomed me. We went into his office and he told me what he knew about his family history. His father, Augustine, was born about 1892 and died in 1944. He married Guadalupe Elizondo. They were in the meat market grocery store business. The family businesses were the Gonzalez Cattle company, L& B Meat Wholesalers, and the La Villita Meat Market. Both his parents were from Santa María La Floreña, Mexico. This is the same small town in Mexico that my grandparents are from. They had three children; a girl named Ida, a son named Jesus, and a third son, Augustine Jr. Augustine Jr. was the mayor’s father. The mayor’s mother, Guadalupe Elizondo, had four brothers, Jesus, Frederico, Francisco, and Filiberto. All I could tell from this conversation was that we were probably related through his mother, Guadalupe Elizondo. Even though my father called the Mayor’s father, Augustine, "his uncle," I don’t think he was an uncle. I have learned that Mexicans sometimes call older cousins "uncle." I did not know the exact relationship, but the Mayor did not know very much about his family history, either. I thanked him and told him that I would let him know if I was able to unravel the family history when I got to Mexico. I have since heard that my cousin had a stroke and has retired as Mayor. He is recovering well and is enjoying his retirement with his wife, Chelo, visiting with his four children and many grandchildren. While in Harlingen, I went to the local library which had an extensive genealogy section to find out more about the Lozanos in the area. It was here that I began to learn about how the Lozanos ended up in this part of Texas. I also began to learn about the history of Mexico in relation to the Lozano family settlement in the United States.

While at my parent’s house, I saw my uncle, Ruben Lozano. Ruben worked most of his adult life for Nabisco Company in Chicago and returned to Harlingen to retire. My dad’s oldest brother, Jesus (Jesse) who passed away, still has some children living in Texas. Two of his children, my cousins Lydia Galvan and Roberto Lozano, came to visit me. Lydia is a rental property owner. Roberto (Bobby) had much trouble with drugs and had been in and out of prison. He had found religion and was trying to get his life back together when we spoke. After getting out of prison the last time, he went to live in a trailer home that Lydia provided him while he tried to determine how to escape his demons. One day they found him unconscious in the trailer. Although he was rushed to the hospital, he never regained consciousness and died. He had fallen asleep and not turned on the air conditioner. Since the temperature was in the mid-nineties, the heat could have been responsible for his death. He was 60 years old. I remember that Bobby always enjoyed life a little bit too much. When I was a senior in high school, I took a bus trip from Hammond, Indiana with my cousin, Lupe "Junior" Lozano, to Harlingen, Texas. Our Texas cousins, Bobby and Jesse "Junior" Lozano took us to Mexico to party. I got drunk and lost my virginity with a Mexican girl that night in Mexico. I ended up vomiting my guts out on the curb in front of my grandmother’s house that night. My grandmother was angry with me after that. When I got back to Indiana, I confessed what I had done to my girlfriend, Matie Sanders, so my Mexico indiscretions ended up costing me my high school sweetheart, also.

Another cousin, José Gonzalez, who we used to call Uncle Joe because he was the same age as my father used to take us fishing at Padre Island at night. We would wade out about a half mile until we got to where the water started to get deep then we would stick poles in the sandy bottom and hang a lantern from it, and fish there all night. It was real effective and quite scary. When I was in college I went down to Texas with my buddy, Dave Pennington. We came into town without telling anybody, so none of my relatives knew we were there. We decided to hang out at the beach. That day, I told Dave that I was going to go fishing at night like my Uncle Joe had taught me. I went in the water by myself. At about ten o’clock in the evening I ran out of bait. I saw a light in the distance about a half a mile away. There were other fishermen out here. I thought that maybe I could ask if I could buy some bait from them. As I got closer I saw that there were two men. I slowly came into the illumination of their lantern and saw that one of the men looked a lot like my Uncle Jose. Then as I got closer, I was positive that it was him. I said "Tío José, I am Micheal, Lee’s son." Then I said something stupid, "Don’t you recognize me?" He didn’t because he hadn’t seen me in about fifteen years. Finally he spoke in broken English because he didn’t speak English very well and I didn’t speak Spanish. He said that he remembered a son of his cousin Lee named Micheal, but "How could you be him?" I said "I am Micheal." He then gave me a big hug. It was one of the strangest things to ever happen to me in my life. I couldn’t believe that of all the people to meet in the middle of the night out on the Laguna Madre flats of Padre Island was my childhood fishing inspiration, my Uncle Joe. I spent the rest of the night with Uncle Joe and his friend catching huge reds and trout. I thought I was in a dream. When I was a young boy, my father and his cousins José Gonzalez and Chile Escobedo used to take us fishing at Port Mansfield. I decided to revisit. One of my goals on this journey was to relive some of the favorite experiences of my past. I was looking forward to spending the day fishing at Port Mansfield. I got up two hours before sunrise and headed 40 miles to the Port. When I got there, I waded out in the bay and caught my bait. Then I set up to fish in three feet of water. I caught two nice sized fish called "reds." I don’t think there will ever be the number of fish as when we used to fish at Port Mansfield, but it is still a nice area to fish. Dudley didn’t like being left on shore, so he started to follow me out in the water. He did this for a while until he got tired then he went back to shore. After a while, he got bored waiting for me, so he decided to go back to the truck which was about a half mile away. I got nervous with him running loose because every time anyone came around, he wanted to protect the truck from what he perceived as intruders. He would do a pretty convincing pit-bull impression. After watching him do this for a while, I finally had to give up my fishing and give him some attention to settle him down. Fishing and Dudley don’t agree.

Life on the border is a tale of three social economic groups. The first is the group of my family’s heritage. We are the Mexican Americans who have been here long enough to establish ourselves both in jobs and the American culture. The second group is those who have recently come to this country and who are attached more to Mexico than to the United States. A third group is those who have fallen through the cracks in American society. These are the chronically unemployed, drug users, alcoholics and criminal elements. I met a man named Juan who lived in an abandoned refrigerator turned on its side. He was about 45 years old. He once was a professional boxer. When his common-law wife left him because of his addiction to alcohol, he just gave up on himself. He maintained that his wife put a curse on him. He now lives in a vacant lot and goes every day to the church soup kitchen. Another person I met was Teresa. She was twenty five years old and a prostitute. She became addicted to drugs when she was eighteen. Her arms and legs are pocked-marked with needle sores. She is now a heroin addict. She makes money for food and drugs by turning tricks for ten dollars a session. She has no hope for the future. She wanders the streets all night. She hangs out near convenience stores bumming cigarettes and looking for her next customer. Another person I met was Rosa. She came from Salinas, Mexico to find a better life. She was thirty three years old and had three children. She could not speak English. Rosa works as a housekeeper for a wealthy family in San Benito. She makes enough money "under the table" to keep her family afloat by subsistence standards. She sends what little money she can to her parents in Mexico. She hopes her children will grow into educated Americans with good jobs. Her chances for improving her life much are slim, but she feels she is making money honestly. She does not feel that getting paid "under the table" is dishonest. Another person is "Chile." He spoke a little English but he didn’t feel comfortable talking in English. He was born in the Rio Grande Valley. He works as a construction contractor. He has made a decent living and is considered an upper middle-class Mexican-American. Even though he doesn’t speak English very well, he hasn’t found it necessary because very little English is needed to do business in this region of Texas. His children are fully Americanized and speak English fluently. Their education and career training has prepared them well to be productive Americans. Another person is my cousin, Rolando who went to junior college to learn computer programming. He has a good job working in the computer industry. He likes everything about growing up with the good things that Americans have. He makes good money and has time to enjoy his favorite hobby of fishing. The future looks bright for Rolando.

In the Rio Grande Valley, there is a wide spectrum of economic prosperity. On one end of the scale, you have people living in the most primitive two room shacks with outdoor plumbing. At the other end of the spectrum, you have people like Joe Gavito who made millions in the tomato and chili pepper business. Joe’s grandfather was Santos Lozano, who established the first business in Harlingen in 1905. My family came to Harlingen because my paternal grandfather had a relative named Augustine who had a meat market in Harlingen. He asked my grandfather, Gustavo, to come to Harlingen to work at his market. The name Santos Lozano has long been connected prominently with the history of Harlingen, Texas. He started the first store in Harlingen. Santos’ parents brought him to Texas because of strife in Mexico. Santos was born in 1863 in San Nicolas De Los Garza, a part of Monterrey, Mexico. His parents were Felipe and Otta Lozano. In January of 1861, Benito Juárez came to power in Mexico. Mexico had been in a virtual civil war for the previous three years. It was called the "Guerra de Reforma" (the War of Reform). Both sides used a draft to forcibly swell their ranks, but in a country of eight million, there were never more than twenty-five thousand men under arms. The War of Reform was not a popular war. The great mass of the people neither approved of it nor enlisted in it. It was a war between the ruling minorities." At this time, the Catholic Church was under attack by the winning liberal side. Churches were destroyed and Bishops were expelled from the country. Mexico had forcibly divided Church and State. In 1861, President Juárez signed a moratorium on repayment of Mexico’s debts to foreign countries. In response, England, France and Spain signed an agreement that was designed to force Mexico to honor its debts. England and Spain were satisfied that Mexico would honor its debts because of their show of force, but France decided to continue its interference in Mexico in order to reestablish a foothold in North America. France knew the United States was too occupied by its own Civil War to do anything about France imposing a monarchy in Mexico. In May of 1863, the French army expeditionary force in Mexico forced Juárez out of Mexico City. He fled to the north of Mexico. Napoleon III installed the brother of the Emperor of Austria-Hapsburg, Archduke Maximilian von Hapsburg, as the Emperor of the new Monarchy of Mexico on April 10, 1864. Maximilian was executed by firing squad in 1867. Because of all the fighting that was taking place, Felipe Lozano decided to take his family into Texas. He grew up in Alice, Texas. Life in Alice centered on raising cattle and other livestock. Young Santos Lozano learned everything about rounding up cattle. Eventually he became a cattle buyer. He then started a mercantile store in Alice, Texas. In 1905 he moved to the site of a new railroad station, Harlingen, Texas, to help develop the town around the newly completed railroad. This was the new location for Santos Lozano’s general store. This was the beginning of the town that today has grown to a city with a population of 57,564.

By the time that Santos established his business in Harlingen in the early 1900s, another period of unrest was sweeping Mexico that would cause more Lozanos to cross into the United States. The Mexican Revolution started in 1910. My grandparents, Gustavo Lozano and Refugio Lozano Bosque, fled to Texas in 1915. I talked to my father’s oldest sister’s family in Fort Worth, Texas to find out what they knew about our family history. My Aunt Rosa who was about 90 years old at this time and in poor health, had passed on some of her family’s early history to her son, Samuel. My cousin, Samuel passed the oral history to me, and I researched the written history of Mexico from local book stores and libraries. In 1910, Mexican President Porfirio Díaz was celebrating the Centenary of Mexico’s Independence from Spain. He was essentially a dictator. His suppression of land rights, racial inequality, religious and political freedom were about to explode into total revolution. The leader of the revolution was a man named Francisco Madero. His top lieutenants were Pancho Villa and Pascual Orozco in the North and Emiliano Zapata in the South. By the end of November, 1910, President Porfirio Díaz was forced into exile. Francisco Madero was too lenient of a President with the old establishment and before long, he was overthrown by the military under General Victoriano Huerta. A rival, Venustiano Carranza, an elder of the revolution, decided to dispute the usurper, Huerta. Carranza was able to defeat Huerta who went into exile on July 15, 1914. The former allies started fighting with each other and became bitter enemies. The area of Mexico where my family is from is called Nuevo Leon. This area was controlled by Venustiano Carraza. Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata controlled the west and the south-central regions. The military of the Carranza government came to the ranch of my great-great grandfather, Eugenio Lozano Gonzalez, and asked him for help guiding the troops through the mountain passes in their military campaign against Pancho Villa. Eugenio ordered his son, Gustavo, to go with the government soldiers. My grandfather Gustavo was newly married to my grandmother Refugio Lozano Bosque who was six months pregnant. He left his wife with his father and went into the army as their guide. Gustavo was very unhappy that he was ordered to join the soldiers and leave his pregnant wife, but there was nothing he could do. If he refused, he would have been executed. He held a grudge against his father for many years because his father volunteered him for military service instead of going with them himself. After fighting with the Carranzistas for eight months, young Gustavo deserted and returned to the family hacienda to be with his new wife and baby. The baby had already been born when he returned. It was a girl named Rosa. This is my father’s oldest sister, Rosa. She was born in Santa María la Florena. Gustavo’s father, Eugenio, told his son that he should not have returned because the troops would come looking for him. Eugenio was very afraid that the troops would burn down his home or harm the remaining family, so he told Gustavo that he had to take his wife and child and flee to the United States. They left on horseback with only the clothes on their backs.

When Young Gustavo and his wife, Refugio, and baby Rosa got to the United States they had a hard time making a living. Gustavo went from being in a well-to-do Mexican family to being dirt poor in the U.S. In order to make a living, Gustavo took whatever job he could get. He worked on fishing boats in the Gulf at Galveston and Corpus Christi. He worked as a sharecropper in Carrizzo Springs and Bryant, Texas. He worked for the railroad in St. Louis, Missouri. While in Bryant, Texas, the family had hundreds of chickens and other farm animals that they sold for eggs and meat. They ended up back in Harlingen working at a relative’s market. During these years, he raised a family of six children. The children were Rosa (1913-Santa María, Mexico), Jesus (1918-Carrizo Springs, Texas), Eugenio (1922-Granite City, Illinois), Librado (1924-St.Louis, Missouri), Guadalupe (1926-Santa María, Mexico), and Ruben (1929-Bryant, Texas). Gustavo was not a great father. He came about it honestly. His mother died when he was four years old and he was raised by his stepmother, Ramona Garza. His stepmother mistreated him. She treated him more harshly than her own children by Gustavo’s birth father, Eugenio. One time she got so abusive that she threw young Gustavo across the room and dislodged his hipbone. Gustavo suffered from this injury for the rest of his life. While Gustavo was growing up, his father and stepmother had six children. They were Osvaldo, Quiatilda, Filomon, Domingo, Celia, and Salvador. In 1923 Eugenio died. The oldest son from the second marriage, Osvaldo, took over the ranch. Gustavo took his family and went back to the Lozano ranch in Mexico in 1926 to claim his share of the inheritance. Gustavo stayed in Mexico for one year. This is why my uncle Lupe was born in Santa María La Florenia, Mexico on December 12, 1926. By 1927, Gustavo decided not to stay in Mexico and returned to Texas. He ended up in Byrant, Texas working as a sharecropper, a person who farms someone else’s land for hire. After this, Gustavo returned to Harlingen, but his relationship with his wife, Refugio, had deteriorated. In 1932, he decided to leave his wife and children and return to the ranch in Mexico. Gustavo lived in Mexico until he died in 1955. When Gustavo died, my father Librado, my uncles Ruben, Gene, Jesse, my aunt Rosa, her husband Arturo and their son Anselmo went to the funeral in Mexico. They already had resentment against their dad for leaving their mother and them without any means of support. They had seen him only once in 23 years. So when they heard he had died, it was a family’s last offering of respect to go from Chicago to the ranch in Mexico to attend the funeral. When the family got to the ranch, they found that their father had already been buried. There was an argument over why the family buried him before the American family arrived. The relatives got drunk and an argument ensued between my father, Librado, and Osvaldo, the oldest son from the second marriage. The argument got so out of hand that Osvaldo forced the Lozanos from the United States to leave under the barrel of a gun. Because of this family feud, there was no longer any contact between Gustavo’s American family and the Lozano Mexican family.

                  Librado Lozano

I was now going back to Mexico to try to reestablish the broken link of the U.S. and Mexican Lozanos. Before going into Mexico, more than ten miles across the border, visitors must get a temporary visitors’ permit, a vehicle registration permit, and Mexican auto insurance. I had to look on the U.S. side to find an insurance company that carries this type of insurance. It costs about $150, but there is a wide difference in price at various companies. It helps to know that when getting this done at the border headquarters, bring copies of your passport, car registration, insurance, and driver’s license. The border officials don’t speak English and they tend to be impatient with Americans. So come prepared to stand in long lines and to have communication problems. After I got all this done, I was ready to start my trip into Mexico. I would be leaving Dudley with my parents because I didn’t want to take a chance of anything happening to him while in Mexico. I got so many warnings from my parents about things to watch out for in Mexico, that I began to get paranoid. When the day arrived to leave, my parents advised that I take a longer route that would keep me on the American side longer, rather than just taking the shortest route to Monterrey that would require going through more of Mexico. The reasoning was that there was less chance of something happening to me if I was on the American side for more of the journey. So I headed along the border on the American side until I got to Roma, Texas and then I turned towards Mexico.

SURNAME

US researchers find 18th-century British warships 
Introduction to article by Richard C. LewisTue May 16, 7:48 PM ET 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060516/ts_nm/life_ships_britain_dc&printer=
1;_ylt=A9FJqYBOkGpEHToBrgRg.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-
Sent by John Inclan fromgalveston@yahoo.com

Four ships from a British fleet used during the U.S. Revolutionary War have been found off Rhode Island, and one may be the vessel 18th century explorer Captain James Cook sailed on his epic voyage to Australia, archaeologists said on Tuesday.

Researchers with the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project said they believe the four ships, and two others previously discovered, are part of a 13-vessel transport fleet intentionally sunk by the British in Newport Harbor in 1778 to keep French ships from landing to aid the Americans' drive for independence.

Using historical materials and sonar, the archaeologists discovered the ships in Narragansett Bay, within a mile (km) of Newport, Rhode Island's shoreline.

Divers found ballast piles about 30 feet underwater, with the ship's keel and other parts embedded in the sea floor. They also found at least one cannon, an anchor with a 16-foot (4.9-meter) shank and a cream-colored fragment of an 18th-century British ceramic teapot.

According to the team of archaeologists, one of the 13 ships in the sunken British fleet was the "Lord Sandwich," which records show was once the Endeavour, the vessel Cook used to sail the Pacific Ocean, map New Zealand and survey the eastern coast of Australia in 1768-1771.

ORANGE COUNTY, CA

Genetics, Migration and Family Lines
Learn how human genetics can help you find and prove your family lines.

by Norma Keating, R.N. 

July 22, 2006 

674 S. Yorba, 
Orange LDS Meeting House 
Park in the back, Everyone welcome, FREE, Come and enjoy
Refreshments following the meeting.
Meeting schedule:  

1-2 p.m.: Beginners, one-on-one assistance. Meet at the Family History Center located at the back of the building, on the north end.  (Please call so we can reserve a computer for you in the FHC. Call: 714-894-8161).  The remainder of the meeting will be on the South end of the bldg.

2-4: p.m.: Program, announcements, speaker, sharing and introductions of attendees
4-5: p.m.: Refreshments and Networking by regional areas of interest facilitated by SHHAR Board members:  Cris Rendon will facilitate a Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Mexico networking group. Pat Lozano a Jalisco group. Michael Perez expertise is New Mexico.  Yolanda Ochoa in Chihuahua and Sonora. What ever your research interest, our Board can help.   

Norma Keating
An active genealogist for 32 years and professional researcher for 12 years, Norma Storrs Keating, RN, BSN, is the owner of Your Family Connection.

Norma has a BS in Nursing from Indiana University and maintains her RN license in New Jersey and California, taking 30 units of continuing education every two years and reviewing literature to keep abreast of the rapid changes in the medical/ genetics field. She also holds a Certificate in North American Research from Brigham Young University.

Norma teaches genealogy classes for the Yorba Linda, California Parks & Recreation Department and speaks at genealogy conferences and meetings across the United States. Currently, she is the President of the North Orange County California Genealogical Society, volunteer coordinator for the genealogy booth at the Orange County Fair and a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

Norma will touch on how genealogists are using DNA as a tool to track and prove family lines and relationships. DNA is used for genetic linking, one-name studies and tracing movements of peoples around the globe. She will explain what DNA is and how it can help you solve a "brick-wall" problem. Using a case study, she will illustrate how to establish and run a surname study of your own.

For more on Norma and to contact her directly:
Norma Storrs Keating, Your Family Connection
4653 Avenida Rio Del Oro, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-3013
Office: 714-970-7040 FAX: 714-970-6573
http://www.yourfamilyconnection.com
norma@yourfamilyconnection.com
normakeating@earthlink.net

Family Tree DNA - this site is listed on our SHHAR Links.  Sephardim.com uses them and they are considered to be very reputable.  Gary Felix has a project called the DNA of the Conquistadores of which I am a part of. 

On the DNA - It takes around 3 months to get the Y-DNA process completed.  They put the DNA through all these marker tests.  The more markers that you request for tests 12, 24, 32, the more money it costs.  It is a difficult process to try and make heads or tails of.  My Y-DNA line shows that we are Haplogroup R1b.  This is the most common Haplogroup for people from Europe. 
On my DNA report there was a lot of Celtic, German, Scottish, English,Welsh DNA that showed.  Our Y-DNA has had at least one 99.9% percent match with at least 3 people.  One of these people has traced his family tree to Chihuahua Mexico and also New Mexico.  He is still working on his Genealogy to see where we have our common ancestor.  Another guy comes from a Portuguese background and English background.  Another recent match also is English. It's interesting but I still do not understand everything because it is very complex.  

Family Tree DNA does have a message forum where you can discuss your DNA results.  Their experts are also very available to answer any questions.

I took the Mitochondrial tests as well (Female DNA).  It showed that my mother's ancestors were 54% Native American, 43% European and 10% Sub-Saharan African.  I may be off by some percentages.  

Abstract: DNA diet plan, Kit tests for genetic cues to aid in healthier eating
By J.M. Hirsch, AP via Orange County Registers, June 4, 2006
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/healthscience/homepage/article_1165359.php

Nutrigenomics:  It's an emerging field of nutrition science that suggests the best diet to help you with healthy living won't be found in a fad or best seller, but in something a bit more intimate – your DNA.

Just as your DNA predisposes you to particular eye and hair colors, it also influences how your body processes nutrients, your chances of developing particular health conditions and how one affects the other.

In other words, having gene variation XYZ instead of ABC not only might make you more or less likely to get heart disease, but also better or less able to process the antioxidants that could help manage or prevent the condition.

The test looked at five things – how well my body utilizes antioxidants, how well it deals with inflammation, and the presence of gene variations that raise homocysteine levels (a risk factor for heart problems), influence cholesterol levels and affect blood flow.

It didn't look good. Of 12 variations that could increase my risk, I had seven. The booklet even included a depressing chart showing "optimal health" and "action required" in opposite corners. My "you are here" dot was nowhere near optimal health.

Canales, Garcia and Salinas Family Trees
Sent by Mario Garcia  sancudobaboso@hotmail.com

Folks, I've submitted the family trees to the LDS in Salt Lake City for safe keeping. They are the largest depository of family records in the world. The three files were submitted today(1-20-06) so it may take a few days for the LDS to get the data transferred to their website at familysearch.org.

I wanted to keep the files safe and I felt that the LDS Family Center was better than on my rickety old hard drive or on CDs or floppies here at home.

The three files were on the following ancestors and their descendants:
Pablo Garcia - my ggrandfather
Jose Miguel Salinas - my ggggrandfather
Crespin Canales - my gggrandfather

I'm also in the process of getting a web page for each the family ancestors above but with pictures, stories, and possibly audio and video included. We'll see how that goes. If you have any stories that you want to pass on about your parents, grandparents, or just stories that would a little insight into the lives of your family, please email them to me and I'll include them in the family tree webpages for all to read.

I have already received one or two Word documents from one of the Canales family members so don't be shy and honor your ancestors. I know of one cousin that has poems that her father wrote....what a treasure we have in our families. Please share them so we can better understand where we come from and who our ancestors were. They definitely were more than just a name 
on a tombstone or in a document.  

Mario Garcia  sancudobaboso@hotmail.com

QUESTION: 20 Jan 2006 
Dear Mario. . . good thinking . . . I have Salinas in San Antonio and I will be looking forward to getting into the LDS records.  Are your lines in Northern Mexico, South Texas?? Thanks, Mimi

Yes Mimi, my line is along the border and in South Texas. I have a James Salinas who is also looking for his roots. He is from San Antonio as well and he has been looking for a long time. His Salinas Lineage goes back to 1835 or so in the SA area. He is also tied to OUR Salinas male clan thru the YDNA results he just got back last year. So he and our Salinas are BLOOD!

I have also added the same Salinas and Canales files to the Rootsweb.com database.
http://wc.rootsweb.com/~salinas  If I can be of any help, please let me know. Mario

Friday, 20 Jan 2006 

Hi Mario . . . what a great story to share: DNA tying to a real historical person . . My Salinas goes back to Josepha Salinas married to Jose Ignacio Candelario Arocha one of the Canary Islanders that entered San Antonio in 1731) Jose Ignacio parents were Simon Arocha (cattle rancher) and Maria Ignacia Urrutia (also Canary Islander descendant). Josepha was the daughter of Jose Salinas and Espiciaca Rodriguez. Jose Salinas was the son of Francisco de Salinas and Margarita Menchaca. We must all be primos!!!!

Thank you for your invitation to ask questions . . . What did the YDNA show up in terms of ethnic/racial background? Did it show indigenous and Sephardic lines? How about black lines?
This is all so fascinating . . . God bless, Mimi


Friday, 20 Jan 2006

Dear Mimi . . .  we are all in one way or another tied to the Mother Continent of Africa since that is where the Adam and Eve of wEwEHomo Sapiens began according to the DNA results being done. But from that branch, other branches or Haplogroups splintered off as humans migrated out of Africa and to the European and Asian Continents.

The male ancestors that passed on their YDNA genetic material to their male offspring and eventually to the male Salinas' of today were of the I1c or Nordic Haplogroup. These ancient males spawned from the Balkans and Norway area thousands of years ago and then their seed continued on, migrating thru the lands and across oceans until they landed on the shores of the Americas and their descendants are now living among us. It is so fascinating and yet somewhat incredible at the same time, isn't it?

The mtDNA carried by the females is more ancient than the YDNA material carried by the males. The mtDNA is more like the original mtDNA carried by the first Eve in Africa thousands and  thousands of years ago. This female genetic material does not mutate as often as the male DNA and therefore has less changes to it. Did you know that if you unraveled the DNA helix in each of your cells, it would reach from earth to the moon. Extraordinary. It has taken super computers several years to finally map the human genome.

As mentioned before per our email conversation with you and Robert Tarin several months ago, the female mtDNA projects are not being pursued as vigilantly as the YDNA projects....maybe because the male reseachers are more interested in finding out where they come from....I don't know. But the YDNA data collected from the Mexico project seems to indicate a European origin of those being tested. There is an indication of Jewish ancestry by some of the males being tested but not as high as being found in conclaves in parts of Europe and the Middle East. It stands to reason that you would find Jewish ancestry in the due to the Spanish Inquisition in the 1500s, but I just don't know how many Jewish families actually made it to the Americas. I'm sure there is a Paper somewhere out that has the answer.

I can't remember, off hand, what the African Haplogroup is so I can't comment on that but I did see a documentary done on several black women who originated out of the Caribbean Islands. The women were all of black ancestry and they all had their DNA tested. Not all of them lived on the 
islands. Some lived in England. Anyway, the mtDNA tests showed that some of those women's ancestors came from an island on the West Coast of Africa.They knew that from the previous DNA samples done by other independent research labs from samples taken from all over the world.

One woman actually went to the island and met up with women that had the same bloodline as she. The tribe was called the Bubi Tribe(?) of West Africa. This woman was able to bond somewhat with the African women but she and they were too far apart economically, socially, and education wise to make the bond binding. But it was a good story and this woman left with a much better appreciation for herself and where her roots came from.   Mario

SANTA ANA — City planners will share recommendations with the public for a new plan for downtown, the Civic Center and the corridor surrounding Santa Ana Boulevard. The recommendations stem from a design session held last month to gauge residents’ opinions about what they envision for the area – which also includes the train depot and the Logan and Lacy neighborhoods. Planners will make the presentation at the following meetings, which are open to the public. Meetings up ahead:

• Historic Resources Commission- July 6, 4:30 pm, 20 Civic Center Plaza, confer rm 1600 
• Redevelopment and Housing- July 18, 3:30 p.m., 20 Civic Center Plaza, Council Chambers.
• Downtown Merchants- July 19, 7:30 a.m., 20 Civic Center Plaza, conference room 1600.
• Board of Recreation and Parks - July 26, 5:30 p.m., 888 W. Santa Ana Blvd., 2nd floor 

Information: www.santa-ana.org/pba/planning/Renaissance_Specific_Plan.asp or 714-667-2700.

National Archive Center may go to Great Park, 
By Jeff Rowe, The Orange County Register, June 7, 2006

Documents would move from the regional repository in Laguna Niguel. Securing the National Archives for the Great Park is an opportunity to create "one huge history program," . Great Park Corp. chief executive Wally Kreutzen Kreutzen said. Some nationally historic documents such as the Emancipation Proclamation could be made available as part of a rotating exhibit, he said. Such exhibits would help lure repeat visitors to the park, Kreutzen said.

In the Great Park, the National Archives would get a more central, publicly accessible location among a planned family of museums where it could step up its educational programming and attract meetings and seminars.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle to getting the National Archives to move to the Great Park is in Washington. Great Park Corp. chief executive Wally Kreutzen said he hopes funds for the move and the new building will be included in the federal budget for fiscal year 2008.

Great Park officials and National Archives executives are eager for an agreement; the memo is the first in a series of steps to bring the archives to the Great Park. "It would be a prestigious institution to have as an anchor," said Ken Smith, the New York-based architect whose team is designing the 1,347-acre public portion of the Great Park.
CONTACT US: 949-553-2914 or jrowe@ocregister.com

Contact Information

Ruben Alvarez and Macial Fernandez
phone: 714-331-3095

Reginaldo Francisco del Valle: UCLA's Forgotten Forefather
Sent by John P. Schmal
March 30, 2006, Contact: Lauren Bartlett ( lbartlett@support.ucla.edu ) 
Phone: 310-206-1458  http://newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=6924


When UCLA reflects back on its historical roots, recent research shows that the founder of its predecessor institution, the Los Angeles State Normal School, was Latino.

Reginaldo Francisco del Valle, who served as both a state Assemblyman and state senator, was the force behind the creation of the normal school, which is the predecessor institution of UCLA, according to the paper, "Reginaldo Francisco del Valle: UCLA's Forgotten Forefather," produced by the UCLA Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture and published by Southern California Quarterly.

"When UCLA celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2019, homage should be paid to Reginaldo Francisco del Valle," said David Hayes-Bautista, lead author and center director. "The normal school provided the institutional platform from which the UCLA campus grew and developed. In past celebrations, including the 1930 dedication of UCLA, Del Valle was not recognized, and it
is important that he is given his due."

Hayes-Bautista praised Del Valle's focus as a state legislator. "Del Valle spent years in the Legislature to secure establishment, funding and winning of independent governance for the Los Angeles State Normal School," Hayes-Bautista said. "It is commendable for a legislator to be so
dedicated to such an important cause and succeed."

The creation of the Los Angeles Normal School with autonomous governance was a struggle for Del Valle involving several bills over a number of years. He first introduced a bill in the 1880 legislative session, but was unable to win approval as five other cities introduced competing legislation to establish a normal school in one of those areas. In the 1881 session, Del Valle successfully introduced and negotiated the passage of the bill that then-Gov. George C. Perkins signed into law to establish the branch state normal school.

In subsequent years, Del Valle's initiative ensured sufficient funding for construction and operation of the school. Del Valle developed a legislative scheme in 1885 to allow those in Los Angeles to make their own decisions, rather than have decisions made by people at the normal school in San Jose.
His first attempt at passage was not successful. He retired after the 1886 session, and in the following year, his legislative scheme finally was enacted, carried by Assemblyman John Brierly.

"Del Valle should be considered the intellectual author of the bill carried by Assemblyman Brierly," Hayes-Bautista said. "Del Valle was the one who developed the legislative scheme to achieve this goal via extensively amending 12 sections of the Political Code and repealing the 13th."

The normal school provided the only access to publicly financed post-secondary education in the southern region, but was limited by being only a teacher's training college. As the population in Southern California grew after 1886, with Los Angeles County surpassing San Francisco County in
population by 1910, public pressure grew on the University of California to establish a campus in the southern part of the state.

To accommodate a growing student body, the normal school moved to a larger site on Vermont Avenue in 1914 — now the site of Los Angeles City College — but demand for education continued to grow. An agreement was reached in 1919 in which legislation abolished the state normal school, and in its place at the Vermont Avenue site, a southern branch of the University of
California was established.

"Del Valle would not have felt disappointment at the dissolution of his hard-fought legislative victories because they provided the platform upon which the Regents built UCLA, which grew in ability and prestige to rival its sister campus at Berkeley," Hayes-Bautista said.

Merry Ovnick, editor of the Southern California Quarterly, which published the paper, said, "The journal's focus is the history of Southern California, the state as a whole and the American West. This paper is a valuable contribution to our readers' understanding of the past. Equally important, it corrects a long-standing oversight by acknowledging Del Valle's role in bringing a state-supported institution of higher learning to Southern California."

Five hundred reprints of the article were made possible by Health Net of California. "We are proud to support the publication of a paper that sheds light on the important accomplishments and contributions Latinos have made to the state of California," said Ana Andrade, vice president of Latino programs for Health Net of California.

About the UCLA Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture 
Since 1992 the UCLA Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture has been a resource for cutting-edge research, education and public information about Latinos, their health and their role in California. Under the leadership of Hayes-Bautista, the center, part of the David Geffen School
of Medicine at UCLA, has been the lead institution to explode myths and stereotypes about Latinos in California society, provide reliable data on Latino health, emphasize the positive contributions of Latinos to the state's economy and society, and inform the public about the important emerging Latino medical market.

About UCLA

California's largest university, UCLA enrolls approximately 38,000 students per year and offers degrees from the UCLA College of Letters and Science and 11 professional schools in dozens of varied disciplines. UCLA consistently ranks among the top five universities and colleges nationwide
in total research-and-development spending, receiving more than $820 million a year in
 competitively awarded federal and state grants and contracts. For every $1 state taxpayers invest in UCLA, the university generates almost $9 in economic activity, resulting in an annual $6 billion
economic impact on the Greater Los Angeles region. The university's health care network treats 450,000 patients per year. UCLA employs more than 27,000 faculty and staff, has more than 321,000 living alumni and has been home to five Nobel Prize recipients.

Hispanic Lifestyle’s trademark event features; A Presentation on the state of Latino owned businesses, A panel discussion on the impact of Latino marketing in the age of immigration, walkouts and boycotts, and the Annual Recognition of the Regions Latinos owned businesses. The topic of our Keynote address will be Latino businesses and their Impact on creating National Policies.

The all day event offers sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities you can download the sponsorship application For more information, call 951.940.9099 or send your e-mail request toEvents@Hispaniclifestyle.com or check out the link and or download the sponsorship application at http://hispaniclifestyle.com/HispanicLifestyle/BizExpo_06.html or call 951.940.9099

My Hot Tamale
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/tamales/  
"your source for everything Tamale" 
Website for how-to with recipes, equipment needed, etc .plus links to other sites. Sent by Johanna De Soto

About our Tamale Recipe

I grew up on a ranch in West Texas.  There was a Hispanic family that lived and worked on the Ranch.  The mother was a lady named Goya, and she cooked like you could not believe.  Since that time, I have traveled all over the world, and have eaten in the World's finest five star restaurants, but I can honestly say that I have never had food that came close to the stuff that came out of Goya's tiny little kitchen in the small little cinder block house on a remote ranch in West Texas.  Goya died in 1998, but luckily she shared her recipe with me, and taught me how to make tamales.  This site is dedicated to Goya's memory, and her most delicious Tamales. As time goes on, I plan to add more of Goya's Mexican Food recipes to this site.  Sent by Johanna De Soto

CALIFORNIA

The first publications to be generated by the 1890 Committee have just been released. The Naturalization Index of the Superior Court for Los Angeles County, California includes every "naturalization transaction" with each alien that occurred in this court only. The index includes more than 40,000entries, with close to 27,000 unique names and more than 350 countries or combinations of countries or origin, i.e., Hungary-Canada-Great Britain. Compiled by the 1890 Committee of the Southern California Genealogical Society. Softbound. The three volumes are available for purchase individually or as a set and can be ordered through the SCGS website
shopping cart www.scgsgenealogy.com/catalog

For information of the 2007 reunion, please contact EvaBooher@aol.com

  

The purpose of the Roll Call is to let everyone know who you are and what you are working on. You never know, someone may just may have the information (or just got it recently) that you need! Or, you might have info that someone else needs.

So, PLEASE respond to either (1) or (2):
(1) If you have pre-1849 California-Spanish families: Surnames being researched: [list as many as you wish] Geographical Areas: [what parts of California are your families from?] Brickwall: [list one brickwall from your research that you would love help with]
(2) If you aren't related to the early Spanish families: What's your interest in California-Spanish Genealogy?

NORTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

Save the date: October 14
Family History Library 9TH Annual Hispanic Family History Conference 
Co-hosts, BYU Center for Family History & Genealogy and Legado Latino

SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

TEXAS 

27th ANNUAL TEXAS CONFERENCE

ON HISPANIC GENEALOGY & HISTORY

Aug 31 - Sep 3, 2006

Corpus Christi , Texas
Latest information on State Conference 
http://www.freewebs.com/sagacorpus/

Refreshments will be served and Texas Tejano.com will be unveiling its Calendar of Events for this year’s festivities! Also, Texas Tejano.com will be unveiling the plans for two of our very exciting upcoming projects: the Recuerdos de mi Familia y Tejas Oral History Project and the Tejano History Online project.

We are also inviting the individuals, organizations and sponsors involved in making this very exciting celebration happen so that they might share their ideas and goals. We want to open the floor up and allow everyone to briefly explain what their group/organization is currently planning or are involved in. If you or your organization would like to learn more or want to participate in some manner, we invite you all to attend.

For more information, please contact Texas Tejano.com at (210) 673-3584 or visit us online at www.TexasTejano.com. We look forward to seeing and hearing from you all soon and thank you for helping us make Tejano Heritage Month an event to remember!

Viva Tejano Texas!
Rudi Rodriguez  President/Founder, Texas Tejanos
Charles Lara, President ALMA