Table of Content Areas

Quote for the Month:

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, 
do more and become more, you are a leader."

...John Quincy Adams....

Letters to the Editor:

Something that Xerox is doing….
If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services.
Jack Cowan Tcarahq@aol.com
Bill Carmena JCarm1724@aol.com

Somos Primos Staff:

Contributors to the December Issue:

SHHAR Board: 

UNITED STATES

The FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES

A letter to Our Children

By Eddie Martinez
e.martinez1512@gmail.com

November 5, 2008  

To all Our Family:  

Mom and I looked out of our window this morning to see the first falling snow of the winter season. Yesterday morning we saw a beautiful sunrise, then we turned on the TV and spent the entire day watching the final outcome of the presidential election. We were very proud and happy when Barack Obama won the election. This brought back memories.  

In 1952, our principal, Mrs. Marian Wagstaff took Joyce Euing and me to Philadelphia to receive the Freedoms Foundation Award. On the trip we visited New York and Washington D.C. While touring the nations capital, our host, a refined black woman and Mrs. Wagstaff decided to take Joyce and me to lunch on the Mall. As we approached the restaurant, a worker from inside came running to block the door and said to us without expression, “Sorry, we don’t serve N------ here.” Our host was outraged; I didn’t know what to do or say. I looked at Joyce’s face and then looked at Mrs. Wagstaff. She had a pleasant smile and kindly said to out host, come dear, will find another restaurant. Years later in 1976, Mom and I were invited by Dr. Marian Wagstaff to attend a special event in her honor in Pasadena, CA. When she spoke at that event, she told the story I described above and finished by pointing me out that I had been there, at our nation’s capital.  

Another event that comes to mind is while I was working at NBC in mid-1960. One day, I was working on the set of the Bill Cosby Show, I saw Bill Cosby walk onto the set. He looked around and said, “I don’t see any black faces,” and with that he walked off. Everyone panicked; they all quickly ran all over NBC looking for black people. They brought in janitors and commissary workers. They supplied them with clipboards, headphones, and even put some of them behind the television cameras. After that, they brought Bill Cosby back to the set; he looked around and said, “Okay, lets start shooting.” Cosby in his single act broke the union’s color barrier in Television and the Motion Picture industry.

Mom reminded me that we have witnessed in our lifetime, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, president during World War II; John Kennedy, president during The Civil Rights for Black Americans; and the president-elect Barack Obama, the nations first Black President.  

Proud of our Children and Grandchildren, and Proud to be an American!  

Eduardo Diaz Named New Head of Smithsonian Latino Center

By Robin Pogrebin, The New York Times

Esperanza “Hope” Andrade

107th Secretary of the Great State of Texas

California State University, Fullerton (CSUF)

Isabel Gonzalez, the Hispanic “Rosa Parks” 
By: 
Tony (The Marine) Santiago
Nmb2418@aol.com

Most of us know that on December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to obey a bus driver’s order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. Yet, I bet that most of us are unaware that in 1902, there was a Hispanic woman who refused to be intimidated by our Government, who questioned her dignity and honor and who fought mot only for women’s rights, but for the rights of all Puerto Ricans to be recognized as United States citizens.     

Isabel Gonzalez, was a young, pregnant, single Puerto Rican mother who in 1906, set sail aboard the S.S. Philadelphia from San Juan to New York, with the intention of getting together with her family and marrying her fiancé who lived there.  While the ''S.S. Philadelphia'' was en route, the United States Treasury Department's Immigration Commissioner General F. P. Sargent issued new immigration guidelines that changed Gonzalez's and her fellow countrymen's status. These guidelines were within the racist atmosphere persistent in the United States at the time which permitted the passage of the “Chinese Exclusion Act” and the “Jim Crow Laws”. Gonzalez and the others were deemed aliens and upon her arrival on August 24, 1902 and were transferred to and detained in Ellis Island. Not only was Gonzalez detained because she was now an "alien", but her dignity was questioned and she and her children were labeled "public charge" because she was unmarried. 

Gonzalez, our "Rosa Parks", stood her ground, despite the fact that she only spoke Spanish, refused to be intimidated and took on the United States Government. From the detainment center in Ellis Island she fought for her honor. She had the option of giving up on  her quest, because during a "break" in her hearings, she married her fiancé and therefore she could legally enter the U.S., however she decided to keep her marriage a secret and then focused her fight for the right of all Puerto Ricans to U.S. citizenship. 

Her struggle caught the attention of the media of the time and of various prominent lawyers who took up her cause. Among her lawyers was Federico Degetau the first Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, who had been an advocate of U.S. citizenship for Puerto Ricans and who saw in Isabel Gonzalez a fountain of inspiration. The final outcome of the case which became known as "Gonzalez vs. Williams" fell short of recognizing that Puerto Ricans were U.S. citizens, but was a giant leap towards the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 which finally granted said citizenship to all Puerto Ricans. 

Isabel Gonzalez, stood up not only for own dignity, but for the dignity and rights of f all the women in this country. She fought for her fellow countryman because she believed that they were discriminated against and that they deserved to be recognized as U. S. citizens. She shouldn't have fallen into the cracks of history and been forgotten and deserves to be recognized as the “Hispanic Rosa Parks” for her courage. She should be included among our Hispanic illustrious women and her story must be told and should be included in our history books.  

Here is the story of Isabel Gonzalez:  

Isabel Gonzalez (born c. 1882) was a young, pregnant, single Puerto Rican mother who helped pave the way for Puerto Ricans to be given United States citizenship, by challenging the Government of the United States in the groundbreaking case ''Gonzales v. Williams'', 192 U.S. 1 (1904) after immigration authorities derailed her plans to find and marry the father of her unborn child by excluding her as an alien "likely to become a public charge." It was the first time that the Court confronted the citizenship status of inhabitants of territories acquired by the United States during its deliberate turn toward imperialism in the late nineteenth century.

                 Situation in Puerto Rico pre-1904  

Under the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1898 which was  ratified on December 10, 1898, Puerto Rico was annexed by the United States. Spain had lost its last colony in the western hemisphere and the United States gained imperial strength and global presence. The United States established a military government which acted as both head of the army of occupation and administrator of civil affairs.  Almost immediately, the United States began the "Americanization" process of Puerto Rico. The U.S. occupation brought about a total change in Puerto Rico's economy and polity and did not apply democratic principles in their colony. Puerto Rico was classified as an "unincorporated territory" which meant that the protections of the United States Constitution did not automatically apply because the island belonged to the U.S., but was not part of the U.S.    

On January 15, 1899, the military government changed the name of Puerto Rico to Porto Rico (On May 17, 1932 U.S. Congress changed the name back to "Puerto Rico") and the island's currency was changed from the Puerto Rican peso to the American dollar integrating the island's currency into the U.S. monetary system. The United States exerted their control over the economy of the island by prohibiting Puerto Rico from negotiating commercial treaties with other nations, from determining tariffs, and from shipping goods to the mainland on other than U.S. carriers.  

       Opposition to U.S. Citizenship for Puerto Ricans  

There were various factors which contributed to the opposition of giving United States Citizenship to Puerto Ricans by the Government of the United States. The U.S. Congress was reluctant to fully incorporate Puerto Rico because its population was deemed racially and socially inferior to that of the mainland. In 1899, U.S. Senator George Frisbie Hoar described Puerto Ricans as: ''uneducated, simple-minded and harmless people who were only interested in wine, women, music and dancing''  

Prior to 1898 the United States had organized new acquisitions from nontribal governments into largely self-governing territories as a prelude to statehood and had generally extended broad constitutional protections and U.S. citizenship to free, nontribal residents. After 1898 this process changed and in Puerto Rico, Congress established a centrally controlled administration and declined to recognize Puerto Ricans as U.S. citizens.  

In the ''Downes v. Bidwell'' case of 1901, the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged that the U.S. Constitution functioned differently in Puerto Rico than on the mainland. Justice Edward Douglass White  introduced the concept of unincorporated territorial and reasoned that unlike prior territories, Puerto Rico had not been incorporated by Congress or by treaty into the U.S. union. It was thus "foreign to the United States in a domestic sense", that is, foreign for domestic law purposes, but also part of the United States under international law. The decision permitted the establishment of unequal, undemocratic polities in such territories, did not demand that those territories eventually be incorporated, and granted wide latitude to Congress and the executive in structuring those polities.  

                          González travels to New York City  

                           The SS “Philadelphia” was once the USS “Yale”                             which participated in the invasion of Puerto Rico  

Gonzalez was born and raised in Puerto Rico when the island was still a Spanish possession. She was a native inhabitant of Puerto Rico and a Spanish subject, though not of the Peninsula (Spain). She was residing in the island on April 11, 1899, the date of the proclamation of the Treaty of Paris of 1898 which ceded the island to the United States. One of the conditions of the treaty was the transfer by cession the allegiance of the islanders to the United States. Gonzalez was a citizen of Puerto Rico, but not of the United States even though the island was governed by that nation.  

Gonzalez's fiancé left Puerto Rico for New York City in 1902, leaving her pregnant and with another child from a previous marriage (she was a widow) behind. He went with the intention of finding a job in a factory in Linoleumville, Staten Island, in the neighborhood where Isabel's brother, Luis González worked. Gonzalez was to join him there and they were to marry after he settled down.  

In the summer of 1902, Gonzalez boarded the S.S. Philadelphia, a steamship which departed from San Juan, Puerto Rico with New York City as its destination. She telegrammed her family about her expected arrival which normally would be the docks of New York, however while the ''S.S. Philadelphia'' was en route, the United States Treasury Department's Immigration Commissioner General F. P. Sargent issued new immigration guidelines that changed Gonzalez's and her fellow countrymen's status. Gonzalez and the others arrived on August 24, 1902 and were transferred to Ellis Island.  

The new commissioner of immigration at Ellis Island was William Williams, a former Wall Street lawyer. He was aggressively construing the statutory bar on aliens "likely to become a public charge" and he was strictly enforcing immigration laws. Williams directed inspectors to treat aliens as suspect if they traveled with less than ten dollars. He also instructed his inspectors to attach the label of "public charge" to unmarried mothers and their children, even though most of them had jobs waiting for them. Ellis Island policy dictated that "unmarried pregnant women were always detained for further investigation" and that single women were only released if family members came to claim them.  

Gonzalez was detained by the Immigration Commissioner at that port as an "alien immigrant", in order that she might be returned to Puerto Rico if it appeared that she was likely to become a public charge. Gonzalez had eleven dollars in cash on her person and her family was to pick her up, however the immigration officials discovered her pregnancy during her early line inspection and a Board of Special Inquiry opened a file (note: her surname was later misspelled as "Gonzales" by immigration officials) on her.  

                                   Board hearings  

A hearing was held the next day and Gonzalez's uncle, Domingo Collazo, and her brother, Luis González, joined her (her fiancé was not permitted to miss his job). During the hearings the family focused on the question of preserving Gonzalez's honor and bringing her to New York. Inspectors weighed proof of legitimate family relations through presumptions that certain kinds of women were inadequate mothers and certain kinds of men were insufficient fathers and husbands. Williams stated:  

"It will be a very easy matter to fill up this country rapidly with immigrants upon whom responsibility for the proper bringing up of their offspring sits lightly, but it cannot be claimed that this will enure to the benefit of the American people."  

Two days later, without the help from the father of Isabel Gonzalez's expected child, another attempt was made by Gonzalez's brother and by Domingo Collazo's wife, Hermina Collazo. The family insisted that Gonzalez would not be a burden to the State's Welfare system since they had the economic means to support her. When these attempts failed, Collazo used his political and professional connections. In the 1890s Collazo had been active in a radical wing of the Cuban Revolutionary Party that sought an Antillean social revolution to improve the status of workers and people of African descent. He had attended meetings with Antillean activists Arturo Alfonso Schomburg and Rosendo Rodríguez. Collazo swore a habeas corpus petition for Gonzalez. During this time, a friend of Gonzalez related the story to Orrel A. Parker, a lawyer. His partner,  Charles E. Le Barbier became interested in the case and filed Collazo's petition with the U.S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York. Seven weeks later, the court issued its opinion. The court ruled that the petitioner was an alien and upheld her exclusion.  

 United States Supreme Court: ''Gonzales v. Williams''  

On August 30, 1902, Federico Degetau an expert in international law and the first Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico to the United States House of Representatives, unaware of the Gonzalez situation, wrote to the Secretary of State in protest of the new rules that made Puerto Ricans subject to immigration laws. His protest was forwarded to the Treasury Department. Degetau then contacted Le Barbier and Parker, who informed him that they planned to appeal Gonzalez's case to the Supreme Court.  

Once she lost her administrative appeal, Gonzalez switched tactics. She decided to appeal and to take her case to the United States Supreme Court, however this time instead of focusing on the "public charge" issue, she decided to take up the issue that all Puerto Ricans were citizens of the United States and as such should not be detained, treated as aliens and denied entry into the United States.  

Degetau saw in the case of Isabel Gonzalez, the perfect "test case" because now it would not be about whether immigration inspectors, following guidelines suffused with concepts of race and gender, deemed Isabel Gonzalez and her family desirable. The case now would be about settling the status of all the native islanders who were in existence at the time the Spanish possessions were annexed by the United States. By February 16, 1903, Frederic René Coudert, Jr., an international-law attorney from New York, who launched the ''Downes v. Bidwell'' case for clients protesting tariffs levied on goods shipped between Puerto Rico and the United States, joined Paul Fuller, Charles E. LeBarbier and Degetau in the Gonzalez case as a collaborator.  

The case, which became known as ''Gonzales v. Williams'', was argued in the U.S. Supreme Court on December 4 and 7, 1903 and was presided by Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller. The case sparked the administrative, legal, and media discussions about the status of Puerto Ricans. The  colonial administration to issues of immigration and to U.S. doctrines in the treatment of U.S. citizens, chiefly women and people of color (dark skinned), as dependent and unequal were discussed. Gonzalez and her lawyers moved among the legal realms, aided by shared languages of race, gender, and morality, while the U.S. solicitor general Henry M. Hoyt, focused on what he considered were failed parents, rearing children outside moral, economically self-sufficient homes. 

Gonzalez, who was out on bond, secretly married her fiancé and thus became "a citizen of this country through marriage," and acquired the right to remain stateside. She could have ended her appeal, but instead she decided to press her claim that all Puerto Ricans were U.S. citizens.    

On January 4, 1904, the Court determined that under the immigration laws González was not an alien, and therefore could not be denied entry into New York. The court, however declined to declare that she was a U.S. citizen. The question of the citizenship status of the inhabitants of the new island territories, their situation remained confusing, ambiguous, and contested. Puerto Ricans came to be known as something in between: "noncitizen nationals."  

                                           Aftermath  

                       Cover of ''The San Juan News'' announcing the

               Supreme Court decision in the Isabel Gonzalez case of 1904  

Isabel Gonzalez, stayed in New York with her husband and children. She actively pursued the cause of U.S. citizenship for all Puerto Ricans because she believed that if the people of Puerto Rico were deceived out of one honorable status—Spanish citizenship—the United States was obliged to extend Puerto Ricans a new honorable status—U.S. citizenship. She wrote and published letters in the New York Times that the decision and surrounding events of her case revealed that the United States failed to treat Puerto Ricans honorably, breaking promises to them and marking them as inferior to "full-fledged American citizens". Gonzalez wrote the following:  

"Gen. Miles (Nelson A. Miles) went to Porto Rico to save us, and proclaimed to the wide winds his 'liberating' speech." But instead of U.S. citizenship, Puerto Ricans got "the actual [current] incongruous status—'neither Americans nor foreigners,' as it was vouchsafed by the United States Supreme Court apropos of my detention at Ellis Island for the crime of being an 'alien.'"  

Federico Degetau traveled to Washington, D.C., as Puerto Rico’s first "Resident Commissioner," or nonvoting representative. He dedicated himself to the struggle to gain U.S. citizenship for all Puerto Ricans.  

Frederic René Coudert, Jr. became a member of the State Senate from 1939 to 1946 and was elected as a Republican to the Eightieth and to the five succeeding United States Congresses (January 3, 1947 - January 3, 1959; was not a candidate for the 86th Congress).  

In 1917, Congress passed the Jones-Shafroth Act which conferred United States citizenship on all citizens of Puerto Rico and allowed conscription (military draft) to be extended to the island. The act, which was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on March 2, 1917, also revised the system of the government in Puerto Rico.

American Pastorela: The Road to the White House

New Carpa Theater Co. 

Luis Avila as Bartolo de Los Angeles 
Quintana Wong Smith, the curandero

Amanda Scharr as Angel  
Photos by Phil Soto

Mayra Amaya as Faustina, left, and Ricky Chilaca as El Diable, right

New Carpa Theater is supported in part by the City of Phoenix, Arizona Commission on the Arts, Maricopa Community College District, Phoenix College , the Arizona Latino Research Enterprise, ASU Center for Community Development and Civil Right and people like you.

Maria Elena Marques

Mexican actress was in 'The Pearl'

 
Maria Elena Marques, 83, a Mexican actress who starred in the 1947 movie "The Pearl," died of heart failure Tuesday, her family announced in Mexico City.

Marques played the long-suffering wife of a fisherman who finds a beautiful but ill-fated pearl in the film based on a book by John Steinbeck.

The film, directed by Emilio Fernandez, won a Golden Globe award for the luminous cinematography of Gabriel Figueroa.

One of the few surviving stars of Mexico 's "Golden Age" of movies of the 1940s and early 1950’s; Marques also appeared in the 1943 movie "Doña Barbara" alongside actress Maria Felix. She later played Native American roles in two U.S. films, "Across the Wide Missouri" (1951), opposite Clark Gable, and "Ambush at Tomahawk Gap" (1953).

-- times staff and wire reports

El Siglo de Torreon Newspaper: elsiglodetorreon.com.mx

La primera actriz María Elena Marqués Rangel falleció la noche del martes a los 82 años de edad.

La primera actriz María Elena Marqués Rangel falleció la noche del martes a los 82 años de edad. María Elena Marqués Rangel es recordada por la frase: “Uno nace con la belleza que Dios le da y muere con la que merece”. Amigos y familiares se despidieron de la actriz. Deja legado cinematográfico. Marqués Rangel actuó en más de 100 películas, al lado de artistas de renombre internacional.

La primera actriz María Elena Marqués Rangel, consagrada en la Época de Oro del Cine Mexicano y galardonada con un Globo de Oro y con el título de Mejor Actriz en la Bienal de Venecia, en Italia, por la película La Perla (1946), dejó de existir la noche del martes a los 82 años de edad víctima de un paro cardíaco.

Recordada por la frase: “Uno nace con la belleza que Dios le da y muere con la que merece”, Marqués Rangel actuó en más de 100 películas, al lado de artistas de renombre internacional.

La actriz, quien nació el 14 de diciembre de 1925 en la Ciudad de México y murió acompañada de sus retoños Marisela y Miguel Torruco, fue hija de Gabriel Marqués y María Rangel.

La artista fue descubierta al mundo del espectáculo por el director Fernando de Fuentes, quien un día al llegar a su casa la vio, pues era su vecino y quedó fascinado con su belleza, por lo que tuvo que rogarle a sus padres para que la dejaran hacerle una prueba.

Debutó en el cine en 1942 en la película Dos Corazones y un Tango, con el tanguista argentino Andrés Falgás. Aunque su carrera tomó un impulso definitivo al año siguiente, a partir de su intervención al lado de la actriz María Félix, en Doña Bárbara, en la cual dio vida a “Marisela”.

Después tuvo oportunidad de trabajar en Hollywood y en México alternó con las grandes figuras de los años 40 y 50, como Jorge Negrete, Mario Moreno “Cantinflas”, Arturo de Córdova y Pedro Armendáriz, en una trayectoria artística de más de tres décadas.

Participó en más de un centenar de películas, por las que fue reconocida como una de las grandes estrellas de la Época de Oro del Cine Mexicano, al tomar parte en títulos como: Así se Quiere en Jalisco (1942), Romeo y Julieta (1943) y La Trepadora (1944).

Además de Carita de Cielo (1946), La Negra Angustias (1949), Tal para Cual (1952), Las Manzanas de Dorotea (1956), Una Noche Bajo la Tormenta (1966), Las Bestias Jóvenes (1969), El Jardín de los Cerezos (1977) y El Testamento (1979).

Así como en Cuando Levanta la Niebla (1952) al lado de Emilio “El Indio” Fernández, quien cambió la imagen de la actriz, pues anteriormente se presentaba como una dama joven en las comedias rancheras de Jorge Negrete.

También fue una destacada actriz de televisión, al participar en Un Amor en la Sombra (1960), Las Momias de Guanajuato (1962), La Mesera (1963), México 1900 (1964), Amor y Orgullo (1966), Duelo de Pasiones (1968), Lo que no Fue (1969) y El Carruaje (1972), entre otros.

Marqués también fue pionera de la televisión y tuvo una participación importante en la radio de la segunda mitad del Siglo XX. Trabajó en 15 radionovelas y 30 programas para la emisora XEW; actuó en 20 teleteatros, 10 telenovelas, además de destacar en el ámbito teatral.

Entre sus últimos trabajos como actriz se pueden citar Entre dos Amores (1972), la teleserie El Honorable Señor Valdés (1973), El Jardín de los Cerezos (1978) y El Testamento (1981).

La primera actriz incursionó además en la política nacional, ámbito en el que fue diputada federal. Se retiró de la industria fílmica a finales de los años 70 por el rumbo que tomó la producción de aquella época.

Su activismo la llevó a ocupar una curul en la 50 Legislatura del Congreso Federal, a últimas fechas se desempeñó como presidenta de Jubilaciones de la Asociación Nacional de Actores (ANDA).

Se casó con el actor Miguel Torruco, aunque el matrimonio duró poco ya que él falleció el 22 de abril de 1956 de un infarto. La pareja procreó dos hijos, Marisela y Miguel Torruco Marqués, dedicado a la industria de los hoteles y el turismo en México.

Deja huella

La primera actriz María Elena Marqués Rangel, fue cremada ayer miércoles. Sus restos fueron depositados posteriormente en el Panteón Jardín, al lado de los de su esposo, el también actor Miguel Torruco.

En entrevista, el hijo de la actriz, Miguel Torruco Marqués, habló sobre los últimos días de su madre y las actividades en las que se desempeñaba, ya que dijo, ella siempre pregonaba que “el trabajo honra y dignifica a las personas”.

Comentó que afortunadamente su madre vivió una vida plena, llena de satisfacciones, y aunque estaba retirada del cine, la actriz seguía activa como presidenta del área de jubilaciones de la Asociación Nacional de Actores (ANDA).

Asimismo, indicó que hacía otro tipo de actuaciones especiales, por lo que Torruco exaltó que su madre era una mujer trabajadora, lo cual les queda como legado a él y a su hermana Marisela, quienes tendrán que aplicarlo en las distintas actividades que desempeñan, ya que ambos decidieron no incursionar en el terreno de la actuación.

“Mi madre nos dejó el legado de ser responsables y trabajadores, tanto en casa como en la vida profesional y de esta forma honraremos el apellido Torruco Marqués”, señaló.

Destacó que ella se encontraba muy orgullosa por la sólida carrera que forjó, en la que participó en más de 100 películas y además fue reconocida con el Globo de Oro que otorgan los críticos de Nueva York, así como en la Bienal de Venecia, en Italia, por la película La Perla, que fue traducida en varios idiomas.

Torruco subrayó que los últimos días de su madre estuvieron llenos de amor y tranquilidad, aunque hace varios que comenzó a sentirse mal y el martes se fue, víctima de un paro cardíaco. El cuerpo de la actriz fue velado en una agencia funeraria ubicada al sur de esta capital. Debido a la gran admiración que María Elena tenía por el actor Clark Gable, se colocó una foto al costado del féretro, junto con otros destacados como Jorge Negrete y María Félix

DEJA LEGADO CINEMATOGRÁFICO

A continuación algunas de las películas en las que actuó María Elena y los personajes que encarnó en éstas:

-La Llorona - “Luisa del Carmen”.
-Así era Pancho Villa - “Jesusita”.
-Reportaje - “Gabriela”.
-La Perla - “Juana”.
-Me he de Comer esa Tuna - “Carmela”.
-¡Me ha Besado un Hombre! - “Luisa Montes”.
-La Trepadora - “Victoria”.
-Las Dos Huérfanas - “Enriqueta Gérard”.
-Doña Bárbara - “Marisela”.
-Cinco Fueron Escogidos (coproducción con Estados Unidos) - “Anna”.
-La Razón de la Culpa - “Blanca”.
-Así se Quiere en Jalisco - “Lupe Rosales”.
-Romeo y Julieta - “Julieta”.
-Más de 100 películas contaron con su talento como actriz.
-30 programas hizo para la XEW.
-20 teleteatros tuvieron a María Elena entre su elenco.

Sent by Mercy Bautista Olvera

NATIONAL ISSUES

Sent by Armando Rendon   armandorendon@sbcglobal.net -219-9139

Pew Hispanic Center Releases 2007 National Survey of Latinos Dataset

A Notable Absence at Hearing on Latinos in Government
By Joe Davidson
Friday, October 24, 2008; D03

That elephant "is the absence of the Office of Personnel Management in these discussions," said Commissioner Stuart J. Ishimaru.

The lack of an OPM presence marks just one scene in a larger drama involving a strained relationship between the two agencies and OPM's approach to getting more Hispanics in government.

Given their numbers in the general population, Hispanics and the disabled are less represented in the federal workplace than other groups, according to the EEOC. Only about 7.8 percent of the workplace is Hispanic.

Participants at the hearing explored that discrepancy and discussed ways to promote increased employment of Hispanics. Many of those methods are outlined in a report the EEOC issued by its Hispanic work group. Thirteen agencies were represented on that work group, but OPM -- the agency responsible for overall federal hiring and employment issues -- wasn't.

An EEOC spokeswoman said the commission did inform OPM about the workgroup, but received no response. OPM said it was not invited.

That tit-for-tat obscures a larger issue -- the ongoing tension between the two agencies.

"There's no evidence that there's a working relationship that's fruitful," Ishimaru said in an interview.

OPM has not "fully embraced diversity and inclusion in the federal government," Naomi C. Earp, chairman of the EEOC, complained after the hearing.

OPM is all for diversity, said Susan Bryant, the personnel office's chief spokesperson, adding: "There are merit principles that say you can't favor one group over another." Except veterans, of course, whose preference is written into law.

Furthermore, Bryant noted, OPM chairs the President's Interagency Taskforce on Hispanic Employment in Federal Government.

A major bone of contention is the collection of demographic data that would allow the EEOC to track federal employment -- by race, gender and ethnic group -- from the application stage to retirement.

OPM, Earp said, wants to supply numbers in "such categories that it's useless for our purposes."

Said Bryant: "We have been very generous in sharing workforce data of a number of types, and much data is online."

The differences between the agencies reflect a different culture, mindset, certainly different missions. OPM focuses on the nuts and bolts of federal employment, such as streamlining the hiring process, while the EEOC is charged with ending employment discrimination. How well either agency meets its mandate is another issue, but their tasks sometimes conflict.

The lack of OPM cooperation isn't limited to the EEOC. When the Partnership for Public Service invited OPM to work with the good government group on a Hispanic hiring tool kit, the agency declined, Sarah F. Jaggar, a senior adviser at the partnership, told the hearing.

Again merit principles were cited. The first principle does indeed speak to merit. However, it also says recruitment should "endeavor to achieve a work force from all segments of society." The report shows that the Latino segment of the workforce is too small.

One tool that has disappeared from federal employment efforts is affirmative action. The term wasn't mentioned at the hearing, not even by those who seem to favor the concept but can no longer bring themselves to utter its name.

Yet how will the gap in Hispanic employment close if even the notion of setting goals is off limits in today's legal climate? Current efforts simply are not working very fast. Less than 9 percent of the permanent government hires between July 1, 2006, and June 30, 2007, were Hispanic, according to the report.

After the hearing, John M. Palguta, the partnership's vice president for policy, pointed to a 1997 Merit Systems Protection Board report that indicates how times have changed in the government's approach to addressing imbalances in the federal workplace.

"The federal government must do more than simply attempt to eliminate overt discrimination if it is to significantly increase the representation of Hispanics in the federal government," it said. "To achieve the goal of a workforce representative of all segments of society, therefore, federal agencies must pay special attention to all of the barriers to Hispanic employment."

Contact Joe Davidson at federaldiary@washpost.com.
Sent by Juan Ramos  jramos.swkr@comcast.net

Significant Latino Underrepresentation on Census Staff Remains Unresolved Issue

Source: Latino Census Network eNewsletter - Nov 9, 2008 via NILP

Current stats on immigrants in our Military Armed Forces 
http://www.migrationinformation.org/USFocus/display.cfm?id=683
Sent by Rafael Ojeda, Tacoma,WA

SNID, ALBERTA ZEPEDA 1919-1994

Ciclo de cine Migraciones en el mundo contemporáneo presenta:
“Dying to live / Morir para vivir”

ACTION ITEMS

"Never doubt that a small group of 
thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world;
indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead

A Killing in a Town Where Latinos Sense Hate
By Kirk Semple, November 14, 2008
Photo: Gordon M. Grant for The New York Times

Since Mr. Lucero's death, local officials have almost universally played down any suggestion that ethnic and racial tension had been prevalent in the community. Nonetheless, local, county and state officials have responded to the killing with various plans, including the introduction of sensitivity task forces, outreach programs in the Latino community and community forums.

"It is imperative that we bridge the divide," Patchogue's mayor, Paul V. Pontieri Jr., said on Thursday, "and realize that the things we have in common far outnumber those that divide us."

Angela Macropolis contributed reporting from Medford, N.Y.
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
Sent by Carlos Muñoz, Jr., Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus

This blog is a project of The Immigration Policy Center http://immigrationpolicy.org
The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) is the research arm of the American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF).  As a new board member of  AILF http://www.ailf.org/  I would like to
strongly recommend our site as a reliable source of information for those interested in learning and becoming involved.  AILF is dedicated to increasing public understanding of immigration law and policy and the value of immigration to American society, and to advancing fundamental fairness and due process under the law for immigrants.

*Immigration Impact* was launched to help shape and develop a rational national conversation on immigration that shifts the terms of the debate towards achieving workable and effective comprehensive policy reform.

Dr. H. Nolo Martinez
UNCG Center for New North Carolinians
http://cnnc.uncg.edu
413 S. Edgeworth Street, Greensboro, NC 27401
My personal voice mail: 1-336-256-1061  Center's main number:   1-336-334-5411
FAX 1-336-334-5413   nolomartinez@gmail.com

The Kenneth A. Picerne Foundation, Senior Artist Project Grant Applications

Bold Caballeros and Noble Bandidas
Bandidas y Bandidos Valientes y Generosos

Special Conference Theme: 
Warrior Women of the Mexican Revolution of 1910
at ASU's Downtown Phoenix campus

BUSINESS

Microsoft's Martha Béjar Listed Among 2008 LISTA Awardees
Executive Wins Prestigious Award for her Career as a Visionary in Technology

Making Their Dreams Pan Out
By Anna Gorman
Los Angeles Times, October 24, 2008

EDUCATION

Gordon Leads Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities
CSUF President Elected Chairman of HACU Governing Board

Income gap between whites, Latinos has grown at four-year colleges
Number of Latino males entering four-year institutions dropping
By Kathy Wyer, 10/16/2008 

 
December 4th: Third annual Parents Step Ahead/Padres Un Paso Adelante
"Parent of the Year" Gala, Texas, Dallas 

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Seeks Applicants for Internships
  

BILINGUAL EDUCATION

Sent by Willis Papillion  willis35@embarqmail.com

BOOKS

Aztlán US/Mexico Border Culture and Folklore, An Anthology, Fourth Edition

E-BOOKS

Ask a Mexican

New book, to be released

EYES TO THE PAST

A Pictorial History from Families of Azusa, Baldwin Park and Irwindale
by John Arvizu and Rose Hardy

About The Authors

John Arvizu is a descendant of the early Californio families and can trace his line back to the days of the Aztec Emperor, Moctezuma and the Conquistador, Hernan Cortes.  He has long been interested in Early California history since hearing stories, which were handed down to his father, of the days of the ranchos, fandangos and the bandidos of early Spanish California.  These cultural ties are what have helped to create the California life style, which we all enjoy.  

John’s ancestral family came to California with the early Spanish explorers such as De Anza, and Moncada and who brought with them a richness of culture, foods, language, religion and family traditions which still live with us today.   These family traditions are what have motivated John to preserve his pictorial memories of a bygone era.  “My hope is that the reader of our book will feel a connection and understand why we are who we are because the past, after all, is what defines who we have become.”   

About The Authors

Rosanne (Rose) Gonzales-Hardy was born and raised in Azusa. After high school she decided to expand her horizons and ventured a move to Chico, California in 1979. She lived there for 27 years and raised her family. It was during this time when she became interested in genealogy and has been a genealogist for the passed 17 years. After her two daughters moved to Phoenix, Arizona she decided to relocate to Fresno to be closer to her Northern and Southern California roots.  

Rose can trace her mother’s lineage back to many early Californio families who traveled with Juan Bautista de Anza in 1776 and has traced her father’s ancestral line to the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma. Besides her love of history and genealogy she enjoys painting Egyptian and Mexican folk art.  

Click to read several chapters from Eyes to the Past included in this month's issue. 
El Patrio
The Value of a Penny
Facundo Ayon and Rev. Alexander Moss Merwin

 Contact John for information on purchasing a copy of  Eyes to the Past.
hot_ss@yahoo.com

CULTURE

Thanks for sending it along . .  I think I will include in the December issue.  
Do you think it might be taken as disrespectful . . ? 

I think it is funny, but I read the cartoons everyday.  If I go away from the house for a few days, my husband actually saves the cartoons for me . . .  Hugs, Mimi

In a message dated 10/31/2008 6:07:36 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, chiliverde@earthlink.net writes:

 

Someone will have something to say no doubt...but that's what cartoons are all about....anyway who in day and age thinks piecing yourself you know where is not disrespectful...........Serg 

David Archuleta, "American Idol" runner-up

"It is quite a challenge trying to balance both school and this crazy music world, but I've been trying to keep up that . .  so far it's been pretty good."  OC Register, 11-16-08

December 12-20, 2008  
American Pastorela: The Road to the White House by James E. Garcia

For More information, go to www. newcarpa.org, call 602-460-1374 or email jgarcia@americanlatino.net

José José: Ésta es mi vida
Book Signing/Firma de Libro in California

Bonds of bread

Pan dulce is a slice of Mexican life

Anti-Spanish Legends

LA LEYENDA NEGRA/THE BLACK LEGEND

HISTORICAL DISTORTION, DEFAMATION, SLANDER, LIBEL, AND STEREOTYPING OF HISPANICS
From Somos Primos: A Website Dedicated to Hispanic Heritage and Diversity Issues, December 2008.

By Felipe de Ortego y Gasca

Scholar in Residence, Western New Mexico University; Professor Emeritus, 
Texas State University System—Sul Ross

[Hic et Ubique--Number 5 in a series on La Leyenda Negra]  

At the start of the 20^th century, the United States had acquired Hispanic citizens who came with the Louisiana Purchase (1803)—principally in New Orleans , the Florida Cession (1819), the U.S.-Mexico War (1846-1848), and the Spanish American War (1898)—Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guam, and the Philippines from the latter, wresting the last vestiges of the Spanish empire in North America. By this time, also, a national amnesia began to cloud the derring-do of 19^th century American imperialism fueled by Manifest Destiny. While ostensibly paying homage to the Spanish enterprise in North America, the World’s Fair of 1892 in Chicago drew attention to the Columbian Exchange mostly as an Italian initiative since by then Italian Americans had appropriated Columbus as an Italian icon.   

But hic and ubique across the continent there were mordant pockets of anti-Hispanic sentiment fueled by xenophobia and the Black Legend. What better way to blot out the achievements of the Spanish enterprise in North America than by omitting them from the national narrative or else by presenting them as stereotypic caricatures. For example, Senator Albert J. Beveridge of Indiana, an outright anti-Hispano, led the fight against statehood for Arizona and New Mexico on the grounds that Mexican Americans were unaspiring, easily influenced, and totally ignorant of American ways and mores; that despite the passage of fifty years since the Mexican American War, Mexican Americans were still aliens in the United States, most of them having made no effort to learn English. According to Beveridge, such linguistic resistance was treasonous (Charles Edgar Maddox, The Statehood Policy of Albert J. Bevaeridge, 1901-1911 (Master’s Thesis, University of New Mexico, 1938, 42). Never mind that over 600 Mexican Americans, more than half the complement of Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, served in Cuba with distinction during the U.S. War with Spain in 1898. Both Arizona and New Mexico were admitted to statehood in 1912 by which time the majority population of both states was white.  

Twentieth century America looked to Mexico for cheap labor. The American motto was “When we want you, we’ll call you, when we don’t –git” (Ernesto Galarza, “Without Benefit of Lobby,” Survey Graphic, May 1, 1931, 135). The increasing presence of “Mexicans” in the United States fueled anti-Hispanic sentiments further. In government reports and public news stories, “Mexicans” were characterized as “lacking ambition” and were inclined “to form colonies and live in a clannish manner” (Samuel Bryan, “Mexican Immigrants in the United States,” The Survey, September 7, 1912, 726).  

In a 1917 piece for The Survey (“My Mexican Neighbors,” March, 3, 624), Edith Shatlo King wrote in nuce: “When there is no occasion for personal loyalty, the Mexican is bitter in hatred. He is supersensitive to insults and slights, quick tempered, proud and high spirited. He lacks a habit of sustained industry and a practical sense which Americans cannot accept. And his mañana or faculty of putting off until tomorrow, and his slowness of movement are constant irritants. So, too, in American eyes, the looseness of their marriage ties is an obstacle to their development”  

Avarice and prejudice saw “Mexicans” (including Mexican Americans) from different perspectives. Avarice saw them as cheap, exploitable and therefore necessary; prejudice saw them as alien, unnatural and therefore unwanted. Both won, for “Mexicans” were discriminated against as much as they were exploited. In 1928 (August), Erna Ferguson wrote that “the Mexican frankly hates work and refuses to be bullied into believing that he loves it” (“New Mexico’s Mexicans,” The Century Magazine, 438). In that same piece she explained “Mexicans love to hold office. A title, even the title of Sheriff, fills a whole family with pride. An office that involves a sword or gold braid is so much the better. Spanish pride seems to rest on ancestry, on offices or titles more than on the individual’s achievement. Struggling for years to win wealth or power appeals to the Mexican not at all. This may be a social quality founded in a deep fatalism” (440).  

So completely had the spurious profiles of Mexicans and Mexican Americans gained acceptance in the United States by the end of the 1920s that even Mexican Americans themselves had come to reiterate dysphorically their assigned characteristics as articles of faith. In a piece entitled “Pachita” (The Family, April 1927, 44), Emilie Baca suggests that Pachita’s problems of promiscuity and immorality had something to do with the fact that she was Mexican: “Embued [sic] with the futile philosophy of the peon, she yields to whatever emotion is uppermost in her mind, taking her sorrows without much complaint as she takes her pleasures without comment—her outlook on life utterly apathetic.”  

These were the popular images of Mexicans and Mexican Americans pandered by the American public media, though some historians contend that by this time the Black Legend had begun to fade. Not true! It was as virulent as ever. World War I did not lessen that virulence. Neither did World War II. “For a century after the 1840s, Mexican Americans were subject to laws, norms and practices akin to the Jim Crow apartheid system that discriminated against blacks after the Civil War” (Ruben G. Rumbaut, “Pigments of Our Imagination: On the Racialization and Racial Identities of ‘Hispanics’ and ‘Latinos’” in How the U.S. Racializes Latinos: White Hegemony and its Consequences, edited by José A. Cobas, Jorge Duany and Joe R. Feagin, Paradigm, 2008, 4)  

In the 20^th century, the Mexican Civil War of 1910-1921 spurred a mass exodus of Mexicans to the United States. Estimates of that exodus place the number at more than a million and a half Mexicans who came north from Mexico, fleeing the destabilization of the country by a military coup. The population of this exodus swelled the number of “Mexicans” in the United States to a significant population size which along with the population of the conquest generation made up the foundation population of Mexican Americans today. In part, this ingress of Mexicans in American society kept the cauldron of anti-Hispanic sentiment hot.  

Interestingly, the term “La Leyenda Negra” (the Black Legend) was not coined until 1914 by Julian Juderia in his book La leyenda negra y la verdad histórica (The Black Legend and Historical Truth). Until 1914, the smear campaign of the Black Legend was carried out without label. However, the work which provided a broader view of the Black Legend was Historia de la Leyenda Negra hispanoamericana (History of the Hispanoamerican Black Legend), by Rómulo D. Carbia (1943).

   Copyright © 2008 by the author. All rights reserved.  

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH

Americans in Focus Short Vignettes: Hispanic Heritage Month
Sponsored by Farmers Insurance Group

Fernando Barragan Fernando Barragan is self-taught artist and muralist who is committed to using his talents to honor history and bring beauty to his Los Angeles neighborhood. Alex Pels Alex Pels, immigrated from Argentina, to the U.S. and honed his skills in production and management to become a General Manager of the television network mun2. Dr. Juan Carlos Finlay Dr. Finlay discovered the cause and eventual cure of the transmission of Yellow Fever. But it wasn't until after his death, 39 years later, that he finally received proper credit for his discovery. Beatrice Porto Beatrice Porto's mother began Porto's Bakery in her kitchen more than 30 years ago. Today, it's a multi-million dollar business operated by Beatrice, her brother and sister. Civil Rights in the Classroom Little known, but historic cases of Mexican-Americans who fought for the civil rights of their children in the classroom such as Alvarado vs. the Kansas City, Kansas School District and Mendez vs. Westminster Schools in Orange County, California. Squadron 201 In 1944 Squadron 201, a group of Mexican Fighter pilots, joined forces with the United States and helped defeat the Japanese in the Philippines.

Roxana Lissa At the age of 25, Roxanna Lissa, who is from Argentina, opened 'RL Public Relations' and within ten years turned the company into a multi-million dollar business with offices in Los Angeles and New York. Victor Villasenor Victor Villasenor overcame dyslexia and racial bias to become an award-winning author of seven best sellers. Dr. Mayra Sanchez Dr. Mayra Sanchez is a first generation American whose parents are from Bolivia. Dr. Sanchez proved all the naysayers wrong when she beat the odds and followed her passion to become a physician. Irivn Trujillo Irvin Trujillo is a 7th generation textiles weaver who is one of few in the world who has mastered and continues to work in the 300 year old Rio Grande textile tradition. Admiral David Farragut In 1866, Civil War Hero David Farragut became the first U.S. naval officer ever to be awarded the rank of Admiral. He coined the phrase, 'Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!'

http://msn.foxsports.com/americansinfocus/
Sent by Fredrick Aguirre

Military and Law Enforcement Heroes

Latinos/Latinas - Ultimate Sacrifice

Part XI

 By  Mercy Bautista-Olvera

In the coming months this series “Latinos/Latinas Ultimate Sacrifice” will present the stories and contributions of heroes who have sacrificed their lives for United States . The reason for me to be interested in writing about Hispanics, who lost their lives in Wars, I want to be one of their voices. We do appreciate their sacrifice. It is my sincere belief and commitment, that these heroes are never forgotten. Take time to look at their faces, read their histories, and keep their spirit alive…

Civilian Santa Garcia Ramirez, 33 of Florence , Arizona , died on June 28, 2007 when a suicide car bomber detonated near her convoy in Afghanistan .

Santa Garcia Ramirez was born in Casa Grande , Arizona . She was a corrections officer in Florence , Arizona for 12 years before joining Pacific Architects & Engineers in August 2006 servicing the United States Department working for the NATO, and had been in Afghanistan since October of 2007 as an advisor helping to rebuild their prison system leading to the International Security Assistance Force. Not many people have been written about her, perhaps because she was a Civilian. A notice of her death was sent to Lockheed Martin connected to the Pacific Architects & Engineers Company. Not much has been written about Civilian Santa Garcia Ramirez just a Reuters report of the incident. Carlos Ramirez, daughter Soriah Prokopich, her parents, three brothers and six sisters, survives Civilian Santa Garcia Ramirez. 

Army Sgt. Giann C. Joya Mendoza 27, of North Hollywood , Calif. , died June 28, 2007 of wounds sustained when insurgents using improvised explosive devices attacked his unit in Baghdad , Iraq . Assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Carson , Colorado . 

Giann Carlo Joya-Mendoza was born on the Fourth of July in Honduras , immigrated with his mother as a teenager, attended Birmingham High School in Van Nuys. He enlisted in the Army when he was 20 years old, served in Germany and South Korea . After completing his tour of duty, he worked at Los Angeles ’ Mondrian Hotel working as a busboy than he held a job as an accountant, but he reenlisted in June 2005. “His goal was to eventually transfer into ‘some analytical branch of the Army, and learn another language, possibly French,” his stepfather said.  “We love Giann Carlo, a simple, down to earth kind of guy who loved what he was doing,”  

Army Capt. Maria Ines Ortiz 40, of Bayamon , Puerto Rico., died July 10, 2007 in Baghdad , Iraq of wounds sustained from indirect enemy fire. Assigned to the Kirk United States Army Health Clinic in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland .

Maria Ines Ortiz was born in Pennsauken, N J, and raised in Bayamon , Puerto Rico . She enlisted in the Army in 1991 and got her nursing degree in 1999 from the University of Puerto Rico followed by her master’s degree in Quality Management from the Massachusetts National Graduate School in 2004. She volunteered to be deployed to Iraq in September 2007. Army Capt. Maria Ines Ortiz became the first Army nurse to die in Baghdad , from wounds suffered during a mortar attack on the Green Zone. Army Capt. Maria Ines Ortiz was assigned to the 28th Combat Support Hospital , 3rd Command as the head nurse for the Intermediate Care Ward where she attended to Iraqi civilians and American soldiers. She had been caring for patients at the hospital inside the fortified district and not wearing body armor because she felt safe inside the walls of central Baghdad ’s Green Zone district. Before being assigned to Kirk as the Chief Nurse of general medicine, Maria had been stationed in Puerto Rico , Korea and at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington ; D. C. Ortiz was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia . Her name was inscribed in “El Monumento de la Recordación,” dedicated to Puerto Rico’s fallen soldiers in San Juan , Puerto Rico on May 26, 2008 during Memorial Day.

Army Spc. Roberto J. Causor Jr., 21, of San Jose , Calif. , died July 7, 2007 in Samarra , Iraq , of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire. Assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg , North Carolina .

Roberto J. Causor Jr. was born in San Jose , California . He graduated from William C. Overfell High School In 2004 and enlisted shortly after his graduation. Within a year, he became a paratrooper with 82nd Airborne Division. His family said they had hoped Causor would not join the Army after high school they soon realized his strong conviction to serve his country. Army Spc. Roberto, J. Causor Jr., burial in Oak Hill Cemetery in San Jose for this brave soldier drew nearly 100 family members and friends including fellow soldiers from Fort Bragg . “It is an honor and privilege to have had the opportunity to serve alongside Spc. Roberto Causor,” said Cpt. Buddy Ferris, commander of C. Company, 2^nd Br. , 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. “Spc. Causor epitomized the words courage, selfless service and honor; he was a Paratrooper that represented all that is great about America ”. He completed Infantry One Station Unit Training in November 2004 and the Basic Airborne Course in December 2004 at Fort Benning , Georgia . “His sacrifice strengthens our resolve to accomplish our difficult mission to keep America safe.” “My wife and I knew from when Roberto was a young boy that he had a desire to serve his country and join the Army, “Roberto Causor Sr., said. Words cannot express how proud we are of him; he will always be our hero.” 

Army Sgt. 1st Class Luis Enrique “kiki” Gutierrez-Rosales 38, of Bakersfield , Calif. , died on July 18, 2007 in Adhamiyah , Iraq of wounds sustained when enemy forces using an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire attacked his vehicle. Assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt , Germany .

 Luis E. Gutierrez Rosales, known as “Kiki,” was born in Tepic , Mexico , immigrated with his mother when he was 16 years old. He graduated from Bakersfield High School after that he served in the California Conservation Corps and then joined the Army at 21. On his second, tour of duty in Iraq Army Sgt. Luis Enrique Gutierrez Rosales 38 was a platoon leader. “He just wanted to be a soldier,” said his mother, Maria. Gutierrez Rosales was an 18-year Army veteran, was a voracious reader and enjoyed writing to his family. He stationed in South Carolina , Alaska , Thailand , Panama and Germany , while stationed in Germany he sent a computer to his mother so both could e-mail each other often. While he was on leave from the Army, he visited his family and enjoyed jogging. He was a divorced father who would split his time with his family and daughter Amber who lives in North Carolina , with his mother, most of all he enjoyed his time with his daughter.

Army Spc. Vincent A. Madero 22, of Port Hueneme , Calif. , died on October 17, 2007 in Balad , Iraq , of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.  Assigned to 2nd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood , Texas .   

Vincent A. Madero was born in San Jose , California . “He was a rambunctious child who never said no to a dare,” said his mother Sybil. His family nicknamed him Evel Knievel as a 6- year-old by hurtling down a winding playground slide on a skateboard. “He had a hard time struggling to find out who he was; he wanted a change in his life,” said his sister. Army Spc. Vincent A. Madero had grown up hearing stories from his father Blas Madero, about his time in the Marine Corps. He loved to see his father’s photos from foreign countries. Madero decided to join the military when he was 18. Army Spc. Vincent A. Madero was stationed in Fairbanks , Alaska where he met his wife Ellen and her son Jamie. Madero returned from his first tour in Iraq , he surprised the family in June when he married his girlfriend Ellen; and that had planned to adopt her son. Vincent was talented at drawing and photography and loved to listen to various types of music, he also like working on old cars as well. Madero’s online profile shows a glimpse into a life cut short. There are snapshots of Madero in uniform in Iraq and Kuwait . “ Moon River ,” sung by Audrey Hepburn, plays in the background. When Army Spc. Vincent A. Madero returned to Iraq for a second tour, told his mother, “Mom, they need me, if I don’t go out there, one of those young kids will go out and get themselves killed. I have the experience."

Air Force Staff Sgt. Alejandro Ayala 26, of Riverside , Calif. , died Nov. 18, 2007 of injuries sustained as a result of a vehicle accident in Kuwait . Assigned to the 90th Logistics Readiness Squadron, F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming .  

Alejandro Ayala had a twin sister Liset; Alejandro attended Arlington High School in Riverside , California .  He was a cadet in the Junior ROTC all four years, by his senior year; he was the cadet corps commander and knew he was destined for a military career. His ROTC instructor during his final year, Col. Kenneth Brady, remembers Alejandro as “one of the most respected among all the cadets, he led by example.” When Ayala joined the Air Force, it was rare for family time. Since he enlisted in the Air Force, it was difficult for him to visit his family. He had been in the Air Force for eight years. Air Force Staff Sgt. Ayala had been stationed in North Carolina , Wyoming , England and Kurdistan before his tour in Kuwait , but Alejandro had said that he planned to take 30 days of leave in April.  

Air Force Staff Sgt. Alejandro Ayala, left, and his brother Cesar, a sergeant in the Marine Corps, last saw each other in August 14 at the Camp Virginia military base in Kuwait as Cesar was returning home to Riverside after completing his second tour in Iraq . Alejandro was killed on Nov. 18. 

Alejandro fascination with the military began in high school, where he served with the ROTC. “He loved the Air Force and talked of making it his career, his brother had basic training in Lackland Air Force Base and then was assigned to Seymour Johnson Air force Base, where met his future wife, Megan. said his brother Marine Corps Sgt. Cesar Ayala. The youngest in the family, Angelica, 19, prizes a stuffed bunny her brother mailed her on her 11th birthday. "He named it "Mija," she said. The name was the one he used for her, a Spanish conflation of the words "my daughter." Alejandro’s father, Faustino fondly recalls frequent family trips to Rosarito , Mexico , how the twins Alejandro and Liset, Cesar, the eldest brother Francisco spent long day riding motorbikes on the sand dunes and sleeps in tents at night. “Those were happy days,” said his father.  
 

Army Spc. Ivan E. Merlo 19, of San Marcos , Calif. , died Jan. 8, 2008 in Samarra , Iraq , of wounds sustained during combat operations.  Assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky .

Ivan E. Marcos graduated from San Marcos High School in San Marcos California in 2006. He joined the Army in October of the same year and arrived at Fort Campbell , Kentucky four months later, he was planning to reunite with his wife, Nicole. Army Spc. Ivan Merlo was supposed to serve as the best man at the wedding of his best friend and brother in combat. Pfc. Phillip J. Pannier. 20, of Washburn , Illinois , both friends were killed on the same day in Samarra , Iraq .    Merlo and Pannier “would do anything for each other,” said Pannier fiancée. Ivan’s brother Diego Merlo said he‘d miss his older brother’s magnetic personality. He also expressed admiration for the way his brother aspirated to achieve greater things in life. The brothers last talked to each other on Dec. 12, on Diego’s 15th birthday. During the conversation, “he said to be strong and said he soon would see me, and I told him to stay safe.” Diego Merlo said. “I’ll always remember how he was always smiling. Army Spc. Ivan E. Merlo is also survived by his parents Tony Merlo and Joanna Villegas.  

Army Cpl. Jose A. Paniagua-Morales 22, of Bell Gardens , Calif. , died March 7, 2008 in Balad , Iraq , of wounds sustained in Samarra , Iraq , when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. Assigned to the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis , Washington . 
 

Jose A. Paniagua-Morales graduated from high school and joined the Army in September 2004 he arrived at Fort Lewis the following January after initial training at Fort Benning, Georgia. The brigade has taken operations to clear Al-Qaida in Iraq fighters from Diyala province and in recent months in towns and cities farther north. Officials said Jose A. Paniagua-Morales mother, lives in Tacoma , Washington and his wife in California . “It’s hard to comprehend why he was taken from us so soon. Only four months left in Iraq , and then he would return home. However, not the way we imagined.” said his aunt Ana. In Lakewood , California , that has a special “connector community” relationship with the 4th Brigade, made note of the fact this would be the first local funeral for a unit soldier. Most soldiers come from the other parts of the country, “it’s an honor for Lakewood ,” said Councilwoman Claudia Thomas.  Army Cpl. Jose Paniagua-Morales home state California , Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered that flags be flown at half-staff at the capitol in Sacramento . “Jose A. Paniagua-Morales a true patriot who gave his life in the defense of liberty. He fought with honor, bravery and loyalty to our country and his fellow soldiers. On behalf of the people of California , Maria and I offer our prayers and deepest condolences to Jose’s loved one as they mourn the loss of an extraordinary Californian,” the governor said in a statement.  

Army Sgt. Gabriel Guzman 25, of Hornbook, Calif. , died March 8, 2008 in Organ , Afghanistan , of wounds sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device in Golem Hydra Kala, Afghanistan . Assigned to the second Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, fourth

Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, and Fort Bragg , North Carolina .  

Gabriel Guzman graduated from Concord High school . He joined the Army in 2003 went to Iraq and then Afghanistan . When Gabriel was 17 and Amy was 16, they had a baby, Angela. They knew she would be born with Down syndrome but they wanted to keep her and raise her. “He really had that warrior mentality,” Amy said when he was not doing martial arts; he also could be a “goofball,” a class-clown type who stayed sober at parties. “He was someone everyone looked up to, “Amy said. “He did not follow the crowd. He led the crowd. He knew how to talk to people.” At Army Sgt. Gabriel Guzman funeral, one of his commanders spoke about his skill and character. “Gabe was a warrior, and a fierce one,” “He had talked about making a career out of the Army, but after his time in Iraq, he talked about maybe becoming a California Highway Patrol officer or going to college said his sister Anni. Amy, his daughter’s mother said that even thought she and Guzman had broken up; he wanted to have a closer relationship with his daughter.

 Special thanks to Alan Lessig, Director of Photography, for the website, “Military   Times, Honor the Fallen” (www.militarycity.com) for granting permission to reproduce photos for this article.  In Memory - - Afghanistan

Noonie Fortin:  http://www.nooniefortin.com/afghanistan.htm

Korean War hero shares story

La Habra veteran wounded in Korea was honored for holding his position. 
(Originally published November 2002.)
By Eric Carpenter, The Orange County Register, May 28, 2008
HONORED: Jesus Rodriguez of La Habra was a Silver Star recipient for his heroism during the Korean War.

Jesus Rodriguez darted through the darkness, diving in and out of foxholes carved into a Korean hillside, shaking with fear as a bullet sliced through his pant leg. A field phone rang, ordering him to hold his ground. Cold and alone, the 18-year-old  clutched his M-1 rifle and, for hours, spit bullets at oncoming attackers. At one point, he used  the rifle to club a North Korean soldier who lunged at him.Rodriguez doesn't remember how many he killed that night n a dozen at least -- but he's  never forgotten the fear.``I don't like to think about it. It's  not like all that John Wayne stuff,'' he said.

``I was constantly in fear for my safety, doing all I could just to see the light of day again.''

The sun did rise, and along with it came a peaceful silence. His attackers retreated. And Rodriguez, a ghostly figure dazed from battle, his clothes and gear tattered by enemy fire, came down the hill to meet his platoon.

Still too young to shave, Rodriguez earned the Silver Star for his heroism that night.

Today, the La Habra resident, now 70, will share his story at California State University, Fullerton, where he will be honored among dozens of Latino veterans of the Korean War in an event organized by the Latino Advocates for Education.

``There is a treasure of stories about the military contributions Mexican-Americans have made waiting to be discovered,'' said Frederick Aguirre, an Orange County Superior Court judge who helped organize the event.

Latino Advocates for Education has held the gathering since 1997. This year, it chose to honor Korean War vets -- around the 50th anniversary of the conflict (1950-53).

Aguirre, president of LAE, said the goal is to expose the public, as well as the Latino community, to contributions Hispanic veterans have made to preserve democracy.

During the Korean War, Orange County's Hispanic population was about 7 percent. But of the Orange County men who died in the conflict, 32 percent were Hispanic -- indicating there was a larger percentage of Hispanic soldiers serving in Korea.

Aguirre hopes stories such as Rodriguez's will instill pride in Hispanic youth and prompt them to consider military service. Today, the U.S. military is about 9 percent Latino.

``I've seen a lot of pain in my life. Of course, it makes me sad that there still are wars,'' Rodriguez said.  ``But I still do encourage teens to consider joining the military. It helped me understand what life is about.''

WAKE-UP CALL

Rodriguez grew up the eldest of three children in a tiny house in a mostly Hispanic neighborhood of Los Angeles, near Chinatown. He was raised by his mother; his father left when he was a boy.  

He dropped out of the 11th grade and joined the Army on the condition that he be sent to Japan. Rodriguez wound up in Okinawa just before the conflict in Korea began.  

``When I first heard about what was happening in Korea, I pictured an uprising where we'd be facing pitchforks and sickles,'' he said. ``I had no real concept of what we were in for.''

The military exposed Rodriguez to many other cultures. And at 5 feet, 7 inches, he quickly learned he was dealing with two obstacles in the military: his size and his heritage.

When he was issued his military weapons a sergeant told him, ``Now you Mexicans can carry a knife legally.''  

``I didn't back down to any of it. I stood up for myself,'' Rodriguez said. ``It made me tougher. And it earned me respect.'' He made new friends, but never tried to hide his culture.  

After hard days of training, he often gathered with other Mexican-Americans in a bar in Okinawa to play guitar and sing Mexican rancheras.  

FACING DISCRIMINATION

Rodriguez said he and other Hispanics endured taunts and racial slurs. But he said it was tame compared to the discrimination black soldiers endured when his platoon was integrated for the first time.  

Rodriguez saw the worst example when he was injured in combat. Shrapnel from a mortar round struck him in the right thigh. He struggled to get away from the enemy fire, walking with his heel facing backward and his leg squirting blood.  

``Several people just passed me by,'' he recalled. ``A black soldier came to my aid and stopped a tank to get help.''  

The tank driver reluctantly stopped and used a racial slur when asking what he wanted. When the soldier said an injured infantryman needed help, the tank driver asked whether Rodriguez was also black.  

When the soldier said no, the driver stopped to help Rodriguez onto the tank, but told the black soldier he couldn't come along.  ``I couldn't believe it,'' Rodriguez said. ``I told him to give him a break, he just saved me.''

NO BREAKS AT HOME

Back in California, life didn't get much easier. He stayed in the Army for a year and everywhere he went, military police stopped him to ask if he'd stolen his decorations.

After being discharged as a corporal at 19, Rodriguez tried to put the military behind him. He worked several jobs before securing a janitorial job with a weather-stripping maker.

He met and married his wife, Julia, and raised three children, rarely talking about his past. He focused on work, completed high school, and moved up the ranks to become plant manager.

But he never forgot his war experience. And about 15 years ago, he got a call from a member of his 29th Infantry Regiment. He reluctantly attended a reunion.

It prompted Rodriguez to talk about the war again. He hasn't stopped since.

He accepts every invitation he gets to talk to veterans groups, ROTC units and the local Korean community.

``Like a lot of people who fought in Korea, I feel it is the forgotten war,'' he said.

``Now a lot of the guys I fought with are dying. I'm fit as a fiddle. It makes me feel guilty. I want people to know what these guys did.''

Rodriguez talks to sick veterans on the phone and visits whenever he can. He's watched three close friends die in the past two years. 

He even dressed in his old work jumpsuit and sneaked into a VA hospital late one night. He pretended to be a maintenance worker so he could be at a friend's bedside as he died.

Every day has become a kind of Veterans Day for Rodriguez.

``There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about my friends in Korea,'' he said. ``We're losing so many now, I need to make it my priority.''

Register news researcher Eugene Balk contributed to this report. 
Posted from archives by Ron Gonzales 
Sent by Ricardo Valverde  West13rifa@aol.com

Exhibit: Through images and stories, this twelve-panel exhibit, created by the U.S. Latino & Latina WWII Oral History Project in partnership with the School of Journalism and Center for Mexican American Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, provides a historical overview of U.S. Latino participation in World War II.

Exhibit format: 
12 one-sided panels,  Wall space required: approximately 37 linear feet*

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Recommended Internet sites 

Patriots of the American Revolution

Photos in 2008 Presidio Plaque Commemoration.ppt
Father Serra Museum in San Diego on Nov 15, 2008

SPAIN'S PERU PATRIOTS DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR 
(Pe through Q) Compiled by Granville Hough, Ph.D.

CUENTOS

Christmas Traditions by Daisy Wanda Garcia
El Patrio  by John Arvizu and Rose Hardy
The Value of a Penny by John Arvizu and Rose Hardy
Fair Shake by Ben Romero

CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

By  
Daisy Wanda Garcia

Christmas was always a special season for me.  It was special because it meant gathering with family, friends, and the observance of the family Christmas rituals. With the passing of the years, my family’s traditions changed to accommodate a growing family and the coming and goings of extended family members.  Even with these changes, family was at the heart of 
the Christmas season. This holiday season draws me to the past, to my roots.  I often reflect on the Christmases past when the Garcia family was young.  Certain Christmas celebrations stand out in my memory. Some in particular stand out, one spent at our first home at 634 Ohio Street when I was a child in 1949, and the later ones spent at 401 Peerman Place when I was an adult.        

634 OHIO STREET

In 1947, my father, Dr. Hector P. Garcia built our first home for my mother, Wanda.  Since my mother came from Italy, Dr. Hector made sure the home had special European touches.  Italian cypresses lined the front sidewalk.  In the interior, were French doors, hardwood floors and a beautiful fireplace mantel!  The mantel and French doors were crafted from special imported woods.   

Photo: Christmas taken in 1959 at the house on Ohio St. Wanda F. Garcia, Dr. Hector P. Garcia in the back.  Hector Garcia Jr (Sonny) and Daisy Wanda Garcia in front.

Christmas was a very special celebration for our family. The year was December 1950. I was a child of 4 years and my brother Hector aka Sonny was two years old. My father Hector and my mother, Wanda and I went to a Christmas tree lot to select a tree.  Papa would take great pains in selecting the tree. Always, he would pick the largest tree he could fit in his car.   Then we would drive home with the tree and place it in the living room. Setting such a large tree in a stand was difficult.  Dr. Hector would struggle with the tree helped by my uncle Xico. The tree was so heavy that most of the times he would have to tie it to the walls with ropes.  Then the decorating began. The bubble lights came first. Papa was in charge of testing and placing the lights on the tree. The bubbles fascinated me.  Many of the times, I would break the lights trying to figure out how they worked.  Papa also placed the angel on the top - a sweet plastic angel with blond hair and stars on her skirt.  Mama would get out the box of glass ornaments and would let us put a few on the tree.  After that came the tinsel and the angel hair.  Mama and I would set up the nativity set. Then we would hang the stockings on the fireplace. The beautiful grand tree was such a wondrous sight for a four-year-old child. On Christmas Eve, my brother and I went to bed with great anticipation.  My mother issued the usual warnings about not peeking and going to sleep early so that Santa would come sooner.  

On Christmas Day, I would arise early. Behold there were presents all the way to the front door. This was a considerable distance.  I would run to my parents’ bedroom and wake them up overwhelmed with excitement about what Santa had brought.  Somehow, they were not as enthusiastic as I was and wanted to sleep later.   When my parents finally got out of bed, we would open gifts. While Uncle Xico and Aunt Cleo lived with us, they would participate in the festivities by playing Santa.  My brother Sonny and I spent all morning opening the gifts. My mother spent all day preparing turkey with all the trimmings for the afternoon Christmas meal. My mother’s sausage dressing and giblet gravy were "too die for."  At the dinner table, my father said the blessing and then we ate until we could not move anymore. 

401 PEERMAN PLACE

In 1959, we moved to the new house at 401 Peerman Place. This house was my mother’s dream house.  She had taken great pains with the landscape and the furnishings.  The holiday season was an opportunity to display her handiwork. This was our first Christmas in the new house. The traditions changed somewhat because of the addition of my two sisters, Cecilia and Susie.  

My father became busy with his medical practice and advocacy work and no longer participated in the tree purchasing and decorating.  My mother undertook this task.  Instead of purchasing a green tree from a Christmas tree lot, we bought a flocked tree from Currie Seed Nursery.  The nursery delivered the tree to our home during Christmas week.  Once the tree arrived, we began to decorate and set up the nativity set. Mama brought out the family ornaments.  Italian lights replaced the bubble lights. We stopped using tinsel and angel hair because now we had a flocked tree.  

1964.  Dr. Garcia trying to guess at gift while daughter Susanna Garcia looks on.

Papa would bring home all the cakes, cookies and gifts he received from patients to share with us.  My favorite treat was the pan de polvo.  He would also buy champagne for the Christmas meal and give us each a bottle. On Christmas Eve, Dr. Cleo invited all the Garcia clan to her house.  Relatives would come from all parts of Texas and Mexico to attend these gatherings.  Dr. Cleo had a beautiful home that overlooked Corpus Christi Bay. The holiday spread had the traditional Mexican holiday dishes like fideo, tamales as well as the eggnog, turkey and ham. After Christmas Eve supper, the adults would gather in the living room while the kids played outside.  I would enjoy listening to my relatives discuss their family stories and tell jokes.  

After the celebration, we would return to our home to exchange and open gifts. We waited until midnight to begin the distribution of gifts.  We took turns playing “Santa.”  “Santa” would hand each person a gift. The spectators would comment while the chosen one opened the gift.  With Papa, we handed him his gifts and he had to guess what was in it and the color.  I enjoyed studying my father’s actions during the guessing game. He would turn the gift around and then concentrate. He was a mind reader because he always guessed what the gift was. We enjoyed watching Papa at work.  These were silly traditions, but the important thing was that we were all together.  On Christmas Day, Mama would cook her delicious turkey with the special sausage dressing and giblet gravy.  The children would set the table. Papa would say a special blessing and then we would begin to eat.   

1984 at the house on Peerman Place, Left to Right:  
Wanda F. Garcia, Dr. Hector P. Garcia, Cecilia Akers, Daisy Wanda Garcia and Susanna Garcia in front.  

After we children moved away from Corpus Christi, Texas, we still returned for the Christmas holidays.  Everyone looked forward to returning home to spend Christmas together. Papa would buy bags of groceries in anticipation of our visit.  We always knew when Papa would arrive home because he would honk his car horn twice.  Then we would hear his car round the corner, the garage door would open and Papa would come in loaded with bags of groceries. Meanwhile Mama decorated the house with Department 56 houses, a nativity set and a beautiful tree.  We celebrated 36 Christmases in the Peerman house.  

I will always have warm memories of our family Christmas celebrations.  Now both of my parents are gone and the family no longer gathers for Christmas.  New traditions replaced the old ones. However, the memories of Christmases past will sustain me.  May Spirit bless everyone!  Merry Christmas y Feliz Navidad! 

EL PATRIO

Selection From: Eyes to the Past
by John Arvizu and Rose Hardy

Before television, before radio and even before video games there were the storytellers.  There were some who could mesmerize and transfix the listeners with tales of long ago.  They could, by the twist of a word or a phrase, make their stories come alive.  They were part historian, story-teller and fantasizer.  Domingo, according to his grandson Bill, was one of these.  On many a night after the evening meal and before bedtime, he would captivate his young children with stories which Abran, the eldest son, passed onto his son, Bill.  Domingo Arvizu had seen much since his youth, when he mined for gold in Azusa Canyon during the “Gold Rush” of California, in 1849.  The work was hard and dirty and while he did not become a wealthy man, his source of wealth was his wife and many children.  He managed to find enough of the precious metal to provide food, shelter, and the basics for his growing family of twelve, while saving away enough for a small plot of land in what was to become Azusa.  

On this long warm evening, so typical of summer nights in Azusa Canyon, he captivated his young children with the story of Joaquin “El Patrio” Murrieta, who came through the mining camp on the way to meet his jinetes who were running mustangs from Northern California to Sonora, Mexico.  Abran sat transfixed, as his father, on that warm summer night, talked of the famous “El Patrio.”  As Domingo spun his tale, Abran wondered if there was a family connection to his grandmother, Susanna Murrieta.  After all, Susanna and Joaquin shared the same last name and both families were from Sonora, Mexico.  “It was not impossible!”, thought Abran.  

Joaquin the bandit or the patriot, depending on ones perspective, had become a legend in the days of the “California Gold Rush.”  His wife had been raped and killed, and Joaquin’s own brother had been hanged while trying to save his sister in-law from the murderous claim jumpers of 1849.  When Joaquin came upon the terrible event, he was bull whipped to near death.  “El Patrio” vowed vengeance against those responsible when the Sheriff of Calaveras County would not arrest the culprits.  Robbery and running mustangs across the border into Sonora, Mexico became his new trade when it became obvious he could no longer remain in Calaveras, County.  “Business must have been good”, said Domingo, and he spun his tale while his children sat with eyes glazed.  “Joaquin had become a wealthy man and had accumulated $1,400,000 and run more than 10,000 horses across the Mexican border.”  On this night, in Azusa Canyon of 1851, he was riding south to meet his men and split the profits from this latest herd of horses.  

Why the famous Joaquin “El Patrio” Murrieta would stop at the Arvizu mining camp in Azusa canyon, one can only surmise, but according to Bill, the grandson it was because of the Murrieta family connection.  Reality or fantasy?  It made an interesting tale for those warm summer nights.                                         

THE VALUE OF A PENNY
From: Eyes to the Past
by John Arvizu and Rose Hardy

It now costs two cents to make a new penny, according to a recent survey.  So, the question around the US government mint is whether it is more cost effective to stop the production of the long honored Lincoln penny.  Should the minting of the penny go the way of the rotary phone or the model T?  What is the value of nostalgia?  

Times were hard for the small Alva family of all women who looked to an aging grandfather for support.  Around the early 1900s the Alva women were already living on Dalton Street, in Azusa.  Grandpa Hetrudis Macias had built his home out of whatever he could afford or what discarded building materials he could find.  He was already an elderly man but he had to provide for his young widowed daughter, Casimira and her three small children, Soledad, Julia and Ester.  To do this and to bring in some money for the family, they opened a small store at the front of the house on Dalton.  Locals from the small community near Dalton, which others called “El Barrio”, would come and buy some items from the small store run by the Alvas.  The locals would bring their bills and coins to buy merchandise and more than once Julia would accidentally drop the small coins which would find their way through the small cracks to the dirt below the floor of the store.  Some coins were only pennies and there they stayed for decades.  

Years later, Julia’s son, after hearing this story, became intrigued by what treasures were hidden below the floor of his grandmother’s old house.  For a coin-collecting boy of ten years, this became a treasure hunt and needed exploring.  “Forget the spiders and the tight dusty crawl space beneath the old store”, and which was now the living room of the old house, thought the young grandson of Casimira.  There were treasures to be had!   

Pulling on some old clothes and recounting what grandma Casimira had said about the old coins hiding in the dust beneath the old floor boards, the youngster thinking himself a miner looking for gold, plunged in.  After some scraping away of surface dirt, and some amount of digging, the old coins caught his eye.  Putting the old dusty coins into a coffee can, he brought them out for a closer inspection.  There were old Lincoln Head Pennies, even an Indian Head Penny or two, as well as a few Buffalo Nickels.  Small stuff for a boy expecting to find treasures of gold!  With disappointment he thought about throwing them back or going down the street to buy a cold cola for ten cents.  Instead he took a second look at one penny with the birth year of his mother, Julia, on the coin.  It was 1911 and beside the year was the small letter S.  “By God”, he thought, it was a 1911 S!!   This was as good as gold, for penny collectors, because a 1911 S is a real find.  Understand that it is not the Holy Grail, 1909 S VDB, of penny collectors, but it was a 1911 S, and nearly as important.  He ran to show grandma Casimira and his mother, Julia.  Grandma did the sign of the cross and Julia screamed in delight!  “See!  I told you so” Julia cheered.  

Other coins came out from under the old house but none as special as that 1911 S.  So, the question remains……………..What value does nostalgia have?  To the boy of ten many, many years ago, it is priceless!       

FAIR SHAKE by Ben Romero