"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms
is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."

Thomas Jefferson

Letter to the Editor

Dear President Obama, 

With all due respect, your latest gaffe in India declaring us a democracy is wrong, we are not a Democracy, we are a Republic. Thank goodness the Founding Fathers knew the difference. They knew about the failure of the Greek and Roman Republics and how and why they failed thus they were determined to create a Republic governed by “The Rule of Law,” and not subject to the whims of a majority under a Democracy. They knew history and knew about Solans Laws and how the Romans adopted his wise council.. Unfortunately, in time, the Romans forgot about the “Rule of Law,” became a democracy, then chaos and anarchy ensued, eventually leading to an oligarchy under a succession of the Caesars. The Greeks were correct in saying “Without law there can be no freedom. and the essence of freedom is in the proper limitation of government.”. 

Our country is at the very same place as the Roman Republic was over 3000 years ago. The latest evidence is in the media consolidation, regulation of the internet and the latest Supreme Court decision allowing corporations to eventually elect one of their own, thus bringing us one step closer to an oligarchy, the rule of the elite. The answers to our problems are in the past where you must go to find the solutions. If we do not remember the mistakes of the past we are doomed to repeat them. 

Respectfully Submitted,
Dan Arellano
Author/Historian
darellano@austin.rr.com
512-826-7569

UNITED STATES

Republican Susana Martinez made history in New Mexico by becoming the nation's first Latina Governor, defeating Diane Denish with 54% of the vote. She is joined by Governor-elect Brian Sandoval of Nevada who picked up 33% of the Latino vote which proved enough for him to become Nevada's first Latino Governor.

Vista L.A. Bert Colima "Gentleman of the Ring"
Well done segment on Bert Colima, do view.  Somos Primos included an article written by Bert Colima, Jr.

Sent by Lorri Frain  lorrilocks@sbcglobal.net 

Over the past 30 years, the U.S. Hispanic population has grown seven times faster than the population of our nation as a whole (DATOS/U.S. Census),

A great web site for Social Security updates that our Community Base Organizations and individuals should subscribe to for Social Security info.
http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pressrel.htm

Sent by Rafael Ojeda RSNOJEDA@aol.com 
Tacoma,WA

Effective January 1, 2011 KCET will be the largest independent public television station in the United States. Our plan is to become the media partner for the many diverse, creative voices in our community and provide Southern California with a fresh perspective with new programming. To that end, we welcome your completed and finished programs and your ideas. All content must be cleared for distribution worldwide, in any and all media, including, without limitation, electronic media and the world wide web, in perpetuity.

In this painting, Christopher Columbus and members of his crew are shown on a beach in the West Indies, the first landfall of their expedition to find a westward route from Europe to China , Japan , and perhaps unknown lands. On October 12, 1492, they reached this island, which the natives called Guanahani and Columbus named San Salvador.  

The setting of the painting is a narrow beach at the edge of a wooded bay or inlet. Columbus , newly landed from his flagship Santa Maria , looks upward as if in reverent gratitude for the safe conclusion of his long voyage. With his left hand he raises the royal banner of Aragon and Castile , claiming the land for his Spanish patrons, and with his right he points his sword at the earth. He stands bareheaded, with his feathered hat at his feet, in an expression of humility.

The other Europeans grouped near Columbus represent various classes of society. Behind Columbus and to his right, the captains of the ships Niña and Pinta carry the banner of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, and a friar holds up a metal cross. To his left, a sailor kneels, gazing upward, and a soldier looks warily into the woods, where native West Indians watch the visitors from behind a tree. Farther behind Columbus , a cabin boy kneels and a mutineer bows in a penitant attitude. Throughout the central group soldiers carry spears, and the inspector of armament shoulders a musket. At the left side of the painting, more crew members land a small boat as their comrades display a range of reactions, some seeming jubilant at reaching the shore and others eagerly seeking to pluck gold from the sand.

In the foreground of the scene, a fallen tree and spiky, broad-leafed plants suggest that a new and unknown world begins only a few paces from the explorers’ feet. At the right edge of the painting, the natives blend into the forest of tall deciduous trees. Palm trees can be seen near the water’s edge in the middle distance and along the top of the hill at the horizon. Out on the ocean lie the expedition’s three ships, silhouetted against a rising sun.

American neoclassicist painter John Vanderlyn (1775–1852) was commissioned by Congress in June 1836 to paint The Landing of Columbus for the Capitol Rotunda. He worked on this canvas at his studio in Paris with the help of assistants. Upon its completion in the late summer of 1846 he reportedly hoped to exhibit the painting in various principal cities, but by October 3 he had arrived with it in New York , and it was installed in the Rotunda by early January 1847.

The painting has undergone various cleaning, revarnishing, relining, repair, and restoration treatments over a dozen times since its installation. In 1982 the painting was attached to an aluminum panel to help it resist the effects of changes in temperature and humidity. All of the Rotunda paintings were most recently cleaned in 2008.

This painting may be Vanderlyn’s most widely distributed work. In 1869 it appeared on a 15-cent stamp (which, with a brown frame and blue center vignette, was the first bi-color stamp issued by the United States ), and in 1893 it was used on a 2-cent stamp among the nation’s first commemorative stamps, the Columbian Exposition Issue. It also appeared on the reverse of a 5-dollar bank note issued in the 1870s.

John Vanderlyn was born at Kingston , New York , on October 18, 1775. He studied under renowned portrait artist Gilbert Stuart and became a protegé of Aaron Burr, who in 1796 sent him for five years’ study in Paris —making him the first American painter to study there rather than in England . Returning to the United States in 1801, he painted portraits and landscapes. Two years later he traveled back to Europe and painted in England , Rome , and Paris , where his painting Marius amid the Ruins of Carthage was awarded a gold medal. In 1815 he resumed his work in America , exhibiting panoramas and painting portraits. His subjects were chiefly prominent Americans, including Robert R. Livingston, James Monroe, John C. Calhoun, George Clinton, Andrew Jackson, and Zachary Taylor; his 1834 full-length portrait of George Washington (after Gilbert Stuart) is displayed in the Hall of the House of Representatives in the U.S. Capitol. Landing of Columbus would the last major work of his career, which fell into decline. He died in poverty in Kingston on September 23, 1852.

Source of Information: Wallbuilders  David Barton's tour of the capital.
Text: http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/index.cfm 

24-year-old Army Sgt. Israel Garcia, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Operation Enduring Freedom, killed July 13, 2008 in Afghanistan.  

22-year-old Marine Cpl. Claudio Patino IV, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Operation Enduring Freedom, killed June 22 this year in Afghanistan
cousins: 19-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Abraham Simpson, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Operation Iraqi Freedom, killed Nov. 9, 2004; and 25-year-old Marine Sgt. Jonathan J. Simpson, 1st Reconnaisance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, Operation Iraqi Freedom, killed Oct. 14, 2006 "Thank you for your service," Aguirre recited, after recognizing each of the fallen service men. (The complete list is available for download.)

Families of the fallen heroes, known as Gold Star families, also were thanked, given Congressional commendations and bouquets of flowers. They were among 500 who attended the event.

While the event specifically paid tribute to all fallen heroes, regardless of ethnicity, Sanchez noted the large number of fallen Latino service men and women. Aguirre said that of the 50 killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan from Orange County, 11 were Latino. 

"The Latino community, in particular, when called upon, always stands up and goes and takes care of business for this nation," Sanchez said.

Aguirre said that in years past, the Veterans Day Celebration paid tribute to Latino veterans. "This year, we decided to expand and acknowledge the sacrifices of all veterans," he said, adding that next year's event also will honor all veterans. 

Delivering the event's keynote address was retired Marine Col. John Telles, a Vietnam veteran who was the Marine One helicopter pilot for Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford. 

"Thank you," he told the Gold Star families and veterans in the audience. "Please accept my heartfelt and sincerest thanks and condolences and pride in what your loved ones sacrificed. I salute all of you."

Telles said his message was aimed at the youngsters in the audience. He told them to pursue their dreams with "integrity, determination, persistence and tenacity."  "You must not be deterred," he said. "You must not let anyone talk you out of doing anything you find valuable."

HISPANICS BREAKING BARRIERS

Part XXIII

By

Mercy Bautista-Olvera  

Lucille Roybal-Allard

A Wise Latina

Nominated

By

Mercy Bautista-Olvera

Latino Resources on the Web

The focus of this guide is on Latinos in the US.
http://www.aprendelo.com/rec/latino-resources-on-the-web.html

 Sent by Nadine Swanson  nswanson@cyberpartnership.org
 

Emiliano Zapata

Family Histories 
The Mexican Revolution, 1910 to 2010

His father died in 1876 and shortly thereafter his mother remarried. His stepfather disliked him and did not want him around. His mother feared for his life, so at the age of 9 she sent him away.

With two companions he walked to the city of Guaymas, Sonora – approximately 180 miles away. By the time he arrived, Pablo's shoes were thread bare. The family is uncertain how he lived or supported himself during his early years, but his spirit was never defeated.

Pablo became a surveyor of the water lines for the city of Guaymas and walked from the reservoir into town every day checking the lines.

At age of 17 he married a 15-year-old girl from a prominent family that vehemently disapproved of this union. He was determined to succeed on his own and refused all offers of assistance from his in-laws. He and his wife, Victoria Oros Armenta, had twenty children, ten of whom lived to adulthood.

Through his hard work and keen business sense, he became a successful rancher owning a variety of animals, including horses and cattle. His branding iron design consisted of his initials P& A. His livestock also provided him the opportunity to start two other businesses – a stagecoach transport business and a meat market.

In those times, fruits and vegetables were delivered by train to towns using large ice blocks to keep the produce fresh. These ice blocks sometimes fell off the railroad cars, so Pablo's sons picked them up, placed them in their wagon and delivered them to their dad's market. These discarded ice blocks then provided the cooling system needed for Pablo's meat market.

Pablo Armenta had done well for himself and his family.

Then in 1910, the Mexican Revolution began and the Revolutionaries confiscated his ranch, livestock and businesses. Later when the federales arrived, they believed that my grandfather had helped the revolutionaries and they gave him the choice of leaving the country or facing a firing squad. Needless to say, he fled with his wife and ten children leaving everything behind.

On July 28, 1914, the Armenta family traveled by train and entered the United States through Nogales, Arizona and settled in Tucson. Everyone was registered at the border crossing, except for one son, -- a 6-year-old named Jesus. His eyes were red and swollen due to his allergic reaction to the train smoke.

My grandfather and grandmother were fearful that the authorities would not allow him to cross into the United States, so in the commotion of registering all the children he passed without detection. Of course, this later became a problem for Jesus when he applied for U.S. citizenship. Fortunately, his school records resolved the issue and he became a citizen and served as a member of the U.S. Army.

Beginning anew in Tucson, Pablo worked for a cement company and then learned the trade of barbering. Later he opened a meat market and grocery store on the corner of Convent and Simpson streets, which included a barbershop and beauty shop.

Three of Pablo's sons became barbers and following their father's business sense, two of them opened their own barbershops.

For a short period, the family occupied the adobe home formerly belonging to the fifth governor of Arizona, John C. Fremont.

In December 1922, three other sons ventured to Los Angeles, California. My grandparents wanting to keep the family together followed with the rest of the family.

Pablo again established a successful meat market and grocery store on North Main Street in Los Angeles and then later moved to a new and larger location on Santa Barbara Avenue (renamed Martin Luther King Boulevard.). This store was located near the Los Angeles Coliseum and Wrigley Field. He retired in 1945 at the age of 71 years.

My grandfather, Pablo Armenta, faced many challenges during his life, but he possessed a keen business sense which resulted in his ability to succeed. He left his many descendents a legacy of courage, determination, and strong work ethic. It is truly a legacy to be proud of!

Pablo's story is taken from a compilation of notes I have taken from stories told by his eldest daughter, Aurelia, who passed at the age of 100 years, and my mother, Teresa de la Fuente Armenta.

My family remained in Los Angeles until 1964 when they moved to Cypress. I followed two years later with my family and have resided in Garden Grove for 44 years.

I was fortunate to have gotten to know this man and I became aware at a young age that I would have liked him as a person even if I had not had the good fortune to be his first granddaughter.

He came to live his retirement years at our home and I got to know and admire him as a person as well as my beloved Grandpa. He cooked, gardened, played guitar, had a special way with animals, he knew the phases of the moon and the best time to plant vegetables. He raised my mother and her sister alone and remained a widower for over 50 years after the death of his wife and son from pneumonia in 1935.

My grandfather having immigrated to Los Angeles after the revolution was one of few people you could meet that actually lived in the rustic, wild west — a time when your horse and gun meant the difference between life and death.

Grandpa was orphaned at a very young age in northern state of Chihuahua and went with others in the "Division del Norte" to fight alongside Pancho Villa and his men during the Mexican Revolution. He was around 15 at the time, still a boy.

Grandpa would tell me many stories about those days. He was an excellent cook, which became his job among the revolutionaries in his division.

He said he once saw Pancho Villa shoot a man for little reason and Villa became feared and respected by his men.

My grandfather's horse was named "Oso", which is Spanish for "bear." My grandfather loved that horse and had trained Oso to come when he whistled. He spent many days and nights riding on horseback with his fellow soldiers on missions with nothing but his gun, and the horse blanket for warmth at night.

He would tell me stories for hours and sometimes change in mid-sentence into Spanish and forget I did not speak Spanish enough to understand him. But his enthusiasm for sharing and talking and my willingness and patience to hear the old stories made for history lessons I will never forget.

He told me of an incident in the Aguascalientes region in Mexico when a friend of my grandfather's had given him his silver spurs before he died. My grandfather and other soldiers were sleeping in an abandoned cabin when they were suddenly awakened to the sound of men approaching on horseback, within seconds Grandpa whistled for Oso, who came quickly.

He hopped on Oso and they ran for their lives; however he realized he had left the silver spurs at the cabin and foolishly risked his life to go back and retrieve them. He told me his stomach was so affected by the sudden fear in his gut of possible death, that he had to watch what he ate and always drank herbs and lemon juice with water to help with his stomach problems after that incident.

I asked Grandpa, "Did you ever kill a man?"

He would reply "I just aimed."

It wasn't the sort of act he wanted to be known for. But it was obvious he had seen a lot of death and dying.

When I was little and he would babysit me at his house in East Los Angeles, he would walk so slowly down the front stairs of his house on Bailey Street. I was told the reason was he would always use one dominant leg to go up and down the stairs, was that he had been shot several times in the Revolution, once in the groin. With no medicine or bandages, he had to use the axel grease to cover the wound and give it a barrier from infection. Then he put herbs on top to help heal the wound after the bullet was removed.

Grandpa immigrated to Los Angeles for the hope of work. He had light green eyes and he said he was let into certain clubs his friends could not get into because they mistook him for Greek or another heritage other than Mexican. He became a car mechanic, and ran his business out of the garage of his house in East LA.

He married Lucia Duarte who had a son from a previous marriage. My grandparents had a son named Marco Antonio, a daughter who was my mother named Lucia Velia and another daughter named Julietta. He had stints of working in Wyoming, Idaho and met his wife in Arizona, but settled in Southern California.

Upon coming to California, Grandpa remembered the celebrating in the streets after the end of World War 1 in 1918, and helped with air raid drills during the Second World War.

My mother grew up in East Los Angeles and worked in downtown Los Angeles where she met my father, who had moved here from Indianapolis.

They were from two different cultures; my father's family the Eastmans came after the Mayflower. Yet my parents had a long, loving and lasting marriage which produced three children.

I am the oldest. We were raised in the beautiful section of Los Angeles called San Marino. San Marino at the time was a very conservative town with its share of prejudices.

I grew up in San Marino, went to UCLA, worked as a production artist, graphic designer/art director in advertising in West Los Angeles.

I married and moved to Orange County over 20 years ago. My three children have been raised in Orange County.

At first I did not want to leave LA and all it had to offer. Much like my grandfather, who left East L.A. and came to live with us in San Marino. It seemed so far away from all his buddies and the men who would come and talk to him at his house on Bailey Street. They nicknamed me "Squirrel" and 23 years ago when my Grandpa passed, I gave the eulogy at the memorial service and there were two older men who had read about the service in the paper and had come to pay their respect to my Grandpa after all those years.

They still remembered and referred to me as "Squirrel," even as an adult woman.

Tomas Saldivar was a hero to me, his daughters, grandchildren, son-in-law, and to his friends in the community in which he lived. He lived to be 96. He had a strong heart in more ways than one.

Until the end his sparkling light green eyes would light up when I entered the hospital room and he would smile his big smile. He teased me about always taking pictures of him.

He exchanged his horse for his silver Oldsmobile, but his charm endured. He was a walking piece of a history. A veteran of the Mexican Revolution, a great father, grandfather, husband and friend to many.

The memory of his guitar playing, his voice, his dry sense of humor, his cooking and his character and strength are with me today and will always be cherished.

Larga vida a mi abuelo

My father's parents along with four children emigrated into the U.S. from the state of Chihuahua around 1920 in order to protect their lives as well as find employment opportunities.

My grandfather, Don Vicente Diaz was an educated man. Don Vicente was a miner by trade. At one time in a small town in Chihuahua he was in charge of the town's militia. As part of his title a phone was placed in his home which no one but he could use.

My father remembers the day of the "phone call." His father was told to gather the militia and arms and confront the Villistas (the followers of Pancho Villa) at one end of town. Shortly after he had led the militia out of town, the Villistas entered from the opposite direction. The Villistas quickly liberated the town's general store of its provisions and tossed the rest into the street as their way of providing for the people.

My grandmother's best friend stumbled by the porch with a large bag of coffee on her head telling my grandmother to quickly run and get what she could. My grandmother struggled with the temptation but said that she could not as her husband was out chasing the Villistas that very moment.

What would he do to her if he came back and found out that she took liberated items from the store?

Another time, my grandfather was confronted by Villistas who needed his goats to feed their men. Revolutionary script was offered but my grandfather said that they may as well steal his goats. They were about to shoot him when my grandmother jumped in front of her husband and pleaded for his life. Thankfully his life was spared but the goats were taken.

My grandmother was able to save a few pieces of their silverware by routinely burying these items along with any money they had under the ashes of the garbage fire whenever news spread that the Villistas were coming.

Finally, there came a time when my grandfather's goats began disappearing and he began receiving death threats from the Villistas. In order to save his family he packed up his family, the remaining goats and mules and emigrated to Cananea, Sonora.

It took three weeks of traveling through the mountains on horseback and mules all the while trying to stay hidden from the Villistas. However, on every Sunday, my grandmother, who was pregnant, insisted that they go into town and attend church services regardless of the danger.

My grandfather was able to leave his family with friends in Cananea and went into Arizona to find work. Eventually, he had a friend drive him to Cananea to gather his family and bring them to their new home in the United States.

He stated that he would not have his family walk across the border. Instead he had them driven across. They moved into Tin Town, near Bisbee, Arizona.

My grandfather died in 1928 at age 49. He was honored by being buried in the Anglo section of the Bisbee cemetery. He had been appointed to a position caring for the Mexican immigrants' welfare. He was well thought of by both the Mexican and Anglo communities of Bisbee.

The effect of the Mexican Revolution on my family does not end so simply, though.

New chapters were added to the family's history because of their move to the United States. My parents and their families had to struggle from meager beginnings in a new country with a different language and social structure. The children of my grandparents successfully continued the struggle to become contributing members in their new country.

My father was drafted in January, 1943. It was later while my father was on the front lines in Europe that Mexico sent an official letter to the U.S. Armed Forces that he had been drafted illegally as he was not a U.S. citizen and should be allowed to immediately return to the states.

My father chose to stay with his friends in Europe. Two other brothers had already applied for and had become naturalized U.S. citizens prior to enlisting. The third brother enlisted in and entered the Army's Air Force. The youngest brother enlisted illegally at age 16 in the Navy.

Our grandmother had five sons all serving in World War II. All served proudly. My uncle Fernando received the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star and the Silver Star while serving as a medic in the infantry in Europe. This was so ironic since their father detested the United States because of how U.S. investors treated Mexico and its citizens.

The Mexican revolution began the process of democratic promise in Mexico. The Mexican people paid a high price for the hope of a better future.

My family, along with a great number of people immigrated to the United States to seek safety. My family found, by God's grace and their own determination, a new and promising beginning in a new country that they now call home.

There is so much more to this story. The connecting parts to the above would fill a book. The book would be stories of determination, prejudice and discrimination, overcoming obstacles and more importantly about God's forgiveness and grace.

During revolution, her dad had to fend for himself

My grandparents, Ysidro and Angelita Herrera, enjoyed a good life in Mexico where they owned their home, had a blacksmith shop and leather goods business.

In 1920 they left Jerez, Zacatecas, Mexico for the United States, due to the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920 and a family difference.

They brought their two youngest children, my mother Conception, then 17, and her brother, then 15, and settled in Yorba Linda, where two sons already lived.

Ysidro and Angelita's story

According to family stories and diaries, a family difference between our grandparents and their third son Manuel caused him to leave his parents' home and disappear.

Two older sons were sent in search of the lost sibling. He was found in Orange County, but he refused to return home, and soon disappeared again. The two brothers continued their search to no avail and settled in Anaheim.

Our grandparents wanted their family together in Mexico, and obtained visas for themselves and their two children at the U.S. Consulate in Zacatecas.

With a pouch of gold coins, they left for California in search of their lost son. Their intention was to stay in California only six months and return home to Jerez. They never found their lost son and they never returned home again.

The revolution in Mexico had been going on for ten years.

Our mother, Conception, witnessed the revolutionary troops as they swept down from the hills and engaged with the federal troops in combat.

When the war started our mother was 8 and often she had to dodge bullets, running home from school. Horses, livestock and food supplied were stolen from the local residents. The trauma of the revolution kept our mother from ever visiting her home town of Jerez again.

Juan Lira Perez's story

Our paternal grandfather, Juan Lira Perez, was 52, educated and well established when the revolution started. As a land owner and business administrator, working with the business community in managing their finances, he was of great interest to the revolutionary troops seeking funds to support their side of the war.

He managed to elude the revolutionary troops, and saved his family and his life by hiding in cellars and in water wells.

He finally left Jerez with his wife, three children and our father, Francisco, age six. The family escaped Jerez by taking a federal army train north to the city of Torreon.

Juan Lira Perez tried to establish a business in Torreon, but Pancho Villa's troops kept raiding the city, destroying property, killing, and stealing food from the local population.

During the siege of the city, Juan Lira and his family locked themselves in their small home for a week as the sound of machine rifles, machine guns and cannons exploded everywhere.

It was impossible to obtain food during the battle, the city was destroyed. Burnt buildings and commercial business closed. They managed to kill one of their goats and the family ate meat three times a day for a week.

Pancho Villa won the battle and took the city of Torreon. The massacre stopped, martial law was declared and calm returned to the city.

What they saw when they opened their door were miles of casualties, people, horses, and structures. After the destruction of Torreon, the revolutionaries followed the federal troops south to Zacatecas for another battle.

My parents' story

My father, Francisco, started school following the battle of Torreon. In 1919 Juan Lira, my grandfather, became ill and died. Francisco, now an orphan, had to fend for himself.

In 1922 my father's stepmother gave him a train ticket to El Paso, Texas. He traveled with his stepmother's relatives too El Paso by train and finished the trip to California by car.

At age 14, Francisco arrived in Yorba Linda and moved in with the Herrera family where he met his future wife.

Thus the Herrera/Perez families established their lives in Orange County.

In 1924 Francisco Perez and Conception Herrera married and moved to Placentia, where four of their five children were born.

My father was very active in the Fiestas Patrias on the 15th and 16th of September, Mexican Independence Day. He was on the committees to organize, coordinate and implement the festivities.

Some of my fondest memories were our yearly spring picnics in Yorba Linda where we would slide down the green hills on sleighs. The adults participated in the children's games and that delighted me more than the food and music. These yearly picnics have become a tradition which the family continues to enjoy to this day, five generations later.

On Sundays our family weekly outings were to the beautiful park in Anaheim, where we enjoyed nature and the outdoors. We lived in Orange County until 1935.

The Perez family moved to Ventura County, where their last child was born. All the children attended and graduated from Fillmore High School. My three brothers served in the military service during WWII and the Korean War. In 1955 my father became a U.S. citizen.

Ysidro and Angelita Herrera stayed in O.C. and are buried at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Orange.

California has always been our home, and some of us still live in Orange County. Our first priority has been family, educating our children and doing community service when possible. What a precious gift our ancestors gave us. It is called the American Dream and to thank them, we have embraced it.

Welsh miner settled in Mexico, then fled
By Deborah Evans Warkentien 
Published: Sept. 27, 2010 

They honeymooned in Bisbee, Arizona, and settled in Sonora, Mexico, Carlota's home state. In the following decade they had seven sons, including our grandfather, Rudolph Alberto Evans, in 1907.

Mexican President Porfirio Diaz controlled the country with armed troops. He was unpopular with the landowners and was known to kill, jail, or exile his enemies.

When the Mexican Revolution began in 1910, Diaz disenfranchised all British subjects. Apparently, a community of 4,000 English wheat farmers had been attempting to colonize an area 200 miles south of San Diego.

Although John Evans had no connection to the colony, as a Welshman he was a British subject and the family was exiled.

Searching through Arizona and New Mexico for the strike that would make them rich, the Evans family moved until moving became a way of life. They left four grave markers to children they buried in those rocky lands -- from Lordsburg to Lee Station to Douglas, Arizona.

John Evans was allowed to return to Mexico in the summer of 1913 and worked at a mine near the town of Los Pilares, in northeastern Sonora state. He lived in a one-room adobe shack with a dirt floor and a thatch and sod roof. His wife and children stayed with friends in a wing of a large ranch house known as El Rancho Pilares.

One day a drunken bandit showed up demanding food, drink, and money, Carlota refused and the bandit burst into the house on horseback and tried to run her down. She and the children escaped by fleeing to the creek and making their way to the mine. They all moved in with John.

Living conditions were bad. During one severe rainstorm the water ran right through the house. They had three cows and two dozen chickens. There was no refrigeration. John bought a side of beef and hung it from a tree. Exposure to air created a crust, which served to protect the meat.

Carlota made butter, cheese and buttermilk. Water was hauled from the creek. Vegetables were purchased from the Chinese who grew them in Pilares. Many Chinese had labored laying the railroad tracks and remained in the area after the lines were completed.

The next year was worse. Pancho Villa, a bandit chief who became a general in the Mexican Revolution, controlled much of northern Mexico. He and his bandits were active in the area, killing Chinese on sight.

In March 1914, Pancho Villa attacked nearby Nacozari, Carlota's hometown, and fought the federal soldiers all night. The federal soldiers used the adobe houses as a fort, firing from the rooftops.

Young Rudy Evans, who was visiting his Uncle Guzman Ponce de Leon, was trapped inside. At daybreak, the federal troops retreated, leaving the town and its inhabitants unprotected.

Thinking quickly, Uncle Guzman joined Pancho Villa and fed the bandits from his cattle ranch. In appreciation, Pancho Villa left Guzman and his family unmolested. When the Mexican government accused Guzman of selling beef to Pancho Villa, he fled to Bisbee. The government confiscated his property and all his cattle. He never returned to Mexico.

The threat of another war affected the Evans family.

When England declared war against Germany in August, 1914, King George V advised all British subjects, including John Evans, they would soon be called up to defend Great Britain. John prepared to march off to war and gathered his children about him to explain the global state of affairs. John was not drafted, however, and World War I commenced without him.

Pancho Villa had been busy destroying mines, oil wells, and railroads. In late 1914, as he neared Nacozari, Pancho Villa advised John Evans to leave the country, and fast. The next day, with what few belongings they could carry, the family caught the train from Nacozari to the border town of Douglas, Arizona, 70 miles to the north.

They began their journey in a Pullman car but soon had to change to a freight car. Pancho Villa kept blowing up railroad bridges so they were forced to travel in hand cars and even on foot around some river beds. They finally arrived in Douglas, safe and sound, in a caboose! The next month Carlota gave birth to twins.

The sons all worked - sometimes in the mines with their father. Some of them carried water for the town using a canvas bag and a burro. Two of them worked as dishwashers at a drug store which had a soda fountain. As a family, they were Americans now.

After John died in 1919, Carlota and her children moved to Los Angeles. Rudy stared his sheet metal trade. Two sons worked at the Bank of Italy, which later became Bank of America. Carlota and another son worked at Angeles Furniture Company. After much hard work, in 1925, the Evans family purchased a brand new three-bedroom house and had Barker Brothers completely furnish it. They were in debt way over their heads.

Rudy's son – my father, Richard Evans - graduated from Pomona College and then Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a degree in engineering. He moved with his family to Orange County in 1965, into the first tract of homes to be built in Irvine, in University Park.

My brother Rick Evans is the owner of Huntington Beach Chrysler Jeep. Our sister Carrie Gordon works for Charter Realty in San Clemente. Our sister Mary Beth Evans is an actress who lives in L.A.

When my own sons were young I started Rancho Viejo Montessori School in Rancho Santa Margarita. We now live in an historical house on Los Rios Street in San Juan Capistrano and continue to preserve our heritage.

Her Mormon forbears fled Mexico during revolution

But my father was born in Mexico. How could this be? His paternal grandparents were Mormon pioneers who met while crossing the plains on foot. His maternal grandfather married his wife, Catherine Jane Cottam, in Salt Lake City. Both sets of grandparents were asked by Brigham Young to move to St. George, Utah. They were then asked to set up the Mormon Colonies in northern Mexico.

Officials in the Mexican government wanted dependable and industrious groups to colonize parts of Mexico and the Mormons were known to be good colonizers.

My great-grandfather Miles Park Romney was one of the first founders of Colonia Juarez, a farming and ranching community begun in the mid-1880s in northern Chihuahua state. My great-grandfather Henry Karl Eyring was the first general manager of the Cooperative Mercantile Company in Colonia Juarez.

Miles Park Romney’s daughter, Caroline Cottam Romney, married Henry Karl Eyring’s son, Edward Christian Eyring, and they had nine children, the youngest son of whom was my father, Joseph Clayborn Eyring, born on Nov. 12, 1910.

During the Mexican Revolution, Mormon colonists had largely remained neutral in local politics; however, many acknowledged the oppressive policies of President Porfirio Diaz towards the poor.

When Mexican rebels under Gen. Inez Salazar began pressing Mormon colonists for weapons and provisions to oppose the federal government, they were taken by surprise as they had previously been given assurance of protection of land and property by the authorities.

However, when Gen. Salazar was asked about this later, he said, “Those are mere words, and the wind blows words away.”

When it became clear that the lives of women and children were endangered and there were insufficient weapons to protect themselves should large numbers of rebels (such as those led by Pancho Villa) descend on the colonies, the colonists — some 4,000 to 5,000 — evacuated to the United States in 1912.

Thus, my grandfather’s family first evacuated to El Paso, Texas, leaving homes and belongings behind them. At first, they had thought they would return to their home in Mexico, but when it was clear this would not be possible, they finally settled in Pima, Arizona to start life anew in the United States. My great-grandfathers, however, died and were buried in the colonies in Chihuahua, Mexico.

The sufferings and trials of those days in Mexico and the value of education for the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints resulted in many prominent individuals in politics, science, education, and business.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, for example, is a great-grandson of Miles Park Romney.

Dr. Henry Eyring, a world renowned chemist, was a grandson of Henry Karl Eyring. President Henry B. Eyring is Dr. Henry Eyring's son and First Counselor in the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I am very proud of my ancestors and grateful for the home that Mexico provided for them. Their example has also affected my own life. My choice of college major (Spanish) was affected by my knowledge of the multilingual skills of my father, grandparents and great-grandparents.

© Copyright 2010 Freedom Communications. All Rights Reserved.

Ancestor fled for his life in Mexico's war

When Francisco I. Madero's run for the presidency in 1910 ended in loss due to voter manipulation and fraud, Madero called on the people for revolution in order to free Mexico of the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz, who had been in power for 38 years.

My great-grandfather, Gonzalo Garza, joined the effort as one of Madero's lieutenants. Gonzalo knew Madero prior to the revolution, having worked at one of the mines owned by Madero.

As a lieutenant, my great-grandfather was responsible for a victory in the city of Torréon in the state of Coahuila, and Madero rewarded him by paying for a photo of him, his sergeant, and bugler, which we still have.

Madero's forces were eventually victorious, and he became president in 1911. Gonzalo and his family, including his oldest child, Rita, born on May 22, 1903, who was my grandmother, moved to Tlalnepantla, which, at the time, was a short distance from the capital, Mexico City.

Madero was a cautious man and wanted to fairly distribute land owned by the few wealthy landowners to the majority of the people who were mostly poor, but he did not move fast enough for some and was assassinated in 1913 by one of his own generals, Victoriano Huerta, who betrayed him and assumed the presidency.

My great-grandfather, Gonzalo, had to flee for his life since his allegiance had been to Madero, and he sent his family north to Gómez Palacio, in the state of Durango, to live with his sister, Gabriela.

Unfortunately, the revolution eventually caught up with them there, and my grandmother's family endured hardships for many years, including invasions by various revolutionary armies and bombardment of the city.

They even read in the casualty reports that Gonzalo had been killed in a battle in Ciudad Victoria in the state of Tamaulipas. However, the reports proved to be wrong when Gonzalo returned to the family after a two-year absence. He had survived the battle in Ciudad Victoria, but his nephew, Federico, who was the son of his sister, Gabriela, had been killed.

After his return, he became a merchant and opened a store in Aguascalientes.

By this time, the major bloody fighting of the revolution had ended, but there were still battles between different generals or factions for years to come.

On one occasion, my great-grandfather came home early from the store and took my grandmother, Rita, to see somebody special. He took her to the train station where she saw Pancho Villa, a general in the northern part of Mexico and a hero of the revolution, sitting in the back of an open railcar greeting the people of the city.

My grandmother, Rita, married Severiano Luévano in 1923, and they settled down to raise a family in Aguascalientes.

My uncle, Andrés Rafael, was born in 1924, and my aunt, Elena, was born in 1926. A week prior to my aunt's birth, on the last day of July, 1926, all the churches in Mexico had been closed due to enforcement of a provision of the Constitution of 1917 which up to this time had not been enforced.

It called for the confiscation of all church-owned land. The Mexican government was distrustful of the church because of its support of the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz prior to the revolution. After a curfew had been imposed due to the church crisis, my grandparents had to make a dangerous night journey through the streets of Aguascalientes in order to get my aunt baptized.

In 1927, Rita made her usual morning trip to the marketplace in the center of the city to shop for her family's daily meal, and just as she crossed the street from the market on her way home, a band of revolutionaries loyal to the church and opposed to the government attacked, and she was caught in the middle of the skirmish.

The policeman who stood directing traffic on the corner she had just passed was shot by the rebels, and she was among a crowd of people who had to flee for their lives.

She thought she would never see her family again, but, miraculously, arrived home safely, although she was scared and breathless. She then told my grandfather, Severiano, who had been caring for the children while she shopped, that she could no longer live in fear of her life or that of her family's.

This episode led to the Luévano family's departure from Mexico. They traveled from Aguascalientes to the border crossing at Ciudad Juarez, where they obtained papers to enter legally into the United States, paying a head tax of $8 each to cross.

My grandfather found a job working with Santa Fe Railroad, and the family first moved to Danville, Arizona ,and, eventually, settled in Kansas where my mother, Anita, was born in 1930 in the small town of Attica.

My great-grandfather's sister, Gabriela, had long before left Mexico because of the revolution and had moved to the Logan neighborhood of Santa Ana. The Luévano family would visit her most summers, and in 1948, finally relocated to the city, attracted to the mild weather and the beautiful scenery. They have been here ever since.

I was fascinated by my grandmother's stories about her family's experience during the revolution and had her repeat them over and over to me.

I have learned to appreciate the strength of my ancestors in their struggles, not only during the revolution, but in their migration to the United States and their challenges during the Great Depression and World War II.

I have gained pride in my cultural heritage and proudly embrace my Mexican roots. As the lyrics of a famous mariachi song state, "Viva Mexico! Viva America!"   Translation: Long live Mexico, long live America.

Family fled Mexican war, 
becoming Santa Ana leaders

As a child, and young adult, I heard my family’s story of their flight from war-torn Mexico.  I never heard praise for the popular heroes who adorn today's t-shirts and posters.

What I heard was the story of federal troops storming through their rancho (small settlement) one day and the revolutionaries storming through the next. Both taking food and supplies for their men and leaving behind scarce food and destruction for the families of the rancho.

On the last of these invasions a rebel general attempted to recruit my 17-year-old uncle, Francisco (Pancho).

My grandmother, Epifania Barrios, pleaded with the general to not take her son from her. When the general threatened to shoot Francisco, my grandmother stood in front of her son and told the general that he would have to shoot her first.

To everyone’s surprise, the general relented and told my grandmother that he would return the next day and if the family was still at the ranch, he would recruit Francisco to fight with him and his men.

That night the family of Trinidad and Epifania Barrios left El Rancho Los Garcia, Jerez, Zacatecas, with whatever necessities they could carry and fled to the city of Zacatecas in June 1914.

Besides Trinidad and Epifania, the family caravan included their sons, Francisco and my father, 5-year-old Cruz, their daughter and son-in-law, Lorenza and Jose Arias and their infant son Antonio.

In Zacatecas, they hoped to find safe shelter. What they came upon was the aftermath of the bloodiest battle of the war and the turning point for the revolutionaries.

My aunt Lorenza (Mama Lencha) would not speak about the horrors that they witnessed until she was well into her eighties. She then told of the family approaching the hilly city and seeing streams of blood flowing down the streets, and pigs eating off of dead bodies.

That night the Barrios found shelter with a kind family. Early the next day, word came that there was a freight train passing through later in the day.

The family quickly gathered their meager possessions and ran to wait for the train to El Paso del Norte. It was an arduous trip, but they were all together.

In those days, all that was needed to enter the U.S. was to pay a fee of a few cents each. My Mama Lencha said they had a hard time scraping up the total fee, but the kind immigrations officer took pity on them and let them enter with what money they had.

As soon as they could, each able person in the family found jobs. My family worked the fields, the mines and the factories of the Southwest, until they had enough money to buy a house and a small grocery store in El Monte.

My uncle Francisco died in his early twenties of a lung disease he developed from working in the mines of Arizona.

My father forged his own path.

After marrying Ruth (Maria del Refugio) Almanza, and moving to Santa Ana, Cruz and Ruth Barrios opened their own grocery business and became respected community leaders.

Cruz was active in the League of United Latin American Citizens, Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club and the Newhope Volunteer Fire Department. Cruz was instrumental in gaining support for Gonzalo Mendez' case against the Westminster Board of Education for the integration of their schools.

His son, Russell, served as a member of the Orange Unified School District board and his niece, Rachel Montes, served as mayor of El Monte. His nephew, Mike Barrios, is presently a member of the El Monte Unified School District board, and his nephew, Art Barrios, served many years as a member of the El Monte City Council.

As the family stepped off the train onto the wooden platform, Carmen tugged at her mother’s long dress and asked, “Is this heaven?”

Her mother smiled and simply said “No.”

She didn’t have the heart to tell her little Carmen that the revelry was not for her. The crowds were really there to see the soldiers going off to France. The United States had just joined the fight in the First World War.

Like thousands of other families suffering the political unrest and religious persecution that plagued the bronzed land south of the Rio Grande from 1910 through the 1920’s, Carmen’s family fled the chaos and danger of Mexico to the relative safety of the United States.

From the time they arrived through the mid-1920’s, Carmen and her family followed the railroads north. Wherever there was track to be laid, stations to be built or travelers to be served, the railroads provided work. They lived and worked in towns like El Paso, Texas, Columbus, New Mexico, Tombstone, Arizona and Abilene, Kansas.

The life memories of my Aunt Carmen span nearly a century. I always enjoyed any opportunity to sit with her and probe for the stories that would flow from her memory as fresh as if they had happened just a few days ago.

“Mommy”, as she affectionately came to be known to the scores of her extended family, witnessed the entire 20th century first hand. She lived the gamut of time that took her from the horse-drawn old west to the uber-fast paced high-tech era of today. A natural story-teller, she had a way of painting pictures with words that made the past come to life for her listeners. She was more than a living history book, she was a living newsreel.

Around 1925, the family moved to Los Angeles, which had beckoned as a place with plenty of work and opportunities for those wanting to make a new life. The Gonzalez family now consisted of Carmen, her younger brother Guillermo and three new siblings: Aniceto, Refugio and the newest baby, Lucita (my mother).

Years later, recollecting the years leading up to World War II, my aunt’s gaze would drift off happily as her memory would float back in time seeing again in her mind’s eye the look and style of the fairy land that was Los Angeles. She would describe the beautiful restaurants and department stores that lined the streets downtown like magnificent palaces. The scent of expensive perfumes, wafting into the street in gusts every time shoppers scurried past the twirling revolving doors, still lingered in her memory.

Broadway, or “Theater Row” as it was known, was no less fabulous. Until now, she had only seen these fabled movie houses in magazines. Now there they stood, majestically lining the famous street, lavishly ablaze with a million light bulbs that illuminated the marquees like beacons.

Carmen worked as a hairdresser in a shop downtown so she had a front row seat for the parade of ladies and gentlemen as they shopped. The women wore beautiful dresses, matching hats and gloves and always were perfectly made-up. To her, they looked like porcelain dolls on display. The men wore well-pressed suits, colorful matching ties on crisp white shirts and hats that were always tipped in the presence of a lady.

By 1930 Carmen’s parents once again longed to return to Mexico. Perhaps it was the distance of family and friends; or the sound of their own language that they missed so much. Maybe it was the nuances of culture and customs that they feared would soon be forgotten in this new country. Still, it may have been the growing gloom of the Depression that was rolling across the U.S. like a dark and heavy cloud. More than likely, it was a combination of all these things that decided them to return to Aguascalientes.

But Carmen had met a young man while living in Los Angeles. His name was Jose Castellanos. They were in love and planned to get married. Carmen’s parents however, disapproved and would not bless the marriage. Heart-broken, she dutifully obeyed and returned to Mexico with her family.

Undeterred, Jose would not take no for an answer. In movie-script fashion, he set out after her. He arrived in Mexico confidently bearing gifts for Carmen: a ring, a wedding gown and a promise to Carmen that he would not leave without her. Her parents, seeing the couple’s love and the character and determination of this young man, relented. Jose and Carmen were married in the town’s church and left for Los Angeles the next day.

Jose and Carmen settled into their life in Los Angeles. Their family grew and they worked hard to prosper. But Carmen’s world would change many times in the near century that spanned her life. She lived through a revolution, two World Wars, a Great Depression, a child’s death and a husband’s death.

Despite more hardship than any one person should bear, she endured. She never showed fear to her children, so as to instill confidence in them. She never showed hopelessness, so as to instill hope in them. She never showed self-pity, so as to instill strength in them. She did, however, show faith, piety and the power of prayer, to teach her children that there was always light in the face of darkness and that they never had to endure sorrow alone.

Her legacy to the four generations that know her as “Mommy” is her strength, character and faith.

As life slowly unfolds and reveals to us our share of challenges, hardships and joys, our entire family will be forever blessed by the gift she bestowed to us: A beautiful example of how to live a life despite adversity.

“Mommy” passed away this summer. She was 99 years and four months old. I like to believe that her welcome reception into Paradise was no less glorious than her memory of that day she first stepped off the train in El Paso, in 1917. With one difference to be sure, there will be no doubt in her mind, this is indeed… Heaven.

Little is known of his family in Mexico. What I've been told is that my father, Francisco Mejia, served in the army of Emiliano Zapata fighting a corrupt Mexican regime, that was confiscating (privatizing), the ejidos that were owned communally by family clans.

It was during his service in the Mexican Revolution that he met my mother, Tomasa Chanes, ten years his junior.

He found her barely alive, tied to a tree, where her abusive soldier husband had left her to die – with her small daughter, Lucinda, playing on the ground beneath her feet.

My father became her rescuer and eventually her husband - her former husband having been killed as were so many by the violence of the times.

They started a family together, but sometime after the birth of their son, Gabriel, and daughter Anita, they were forced to flee their home — along with many others dispossessed of the land of their birth — to escape persecution by the ruling government and its federales.

After a harrowing journey along an underground pipeline system and aided by rebel soldiers, they illegally crossed into the U.S. and made their way to Benavides, Texas. After arriving in Texas, they found work as migrant laborers, picking cotton, working for the Flavio family, who treated them very well, even helping them to secure documentation declaring them US citizens.

Though they had left their persecutors across the border behind them, my mother had never gotten over her fear of the federales, not leaving the house during the day and always looking over her shoulder for her imagined pursuers.

Despite challenging conditions, they thrived, being God-fearing, (my mother went to church every single day of her life) and incredibly determined to become self-sufficient.

For their hard-work and persistence, they were even provided a large hacienda with well water, and electricity, one of the only families to have such.

Still conditions were far from idyllic, out of a total of 11 children they eventually had, only six survived, my youngest sister, Jesusa, and I being among them.

Although my family achieved a modicum of success in Texas, in 1941, their eldest son, my brother Gabriel, hearing of work in the north, left for Michigan where he found work in the booming auto industry in Detroit. He became successful, earning enough money to bring the entire family to join him there.

There they continued the work of migrant laborers harvesting beets in the frozen northern ground. However, it was not long before my father was able to find a position with the Great Lakes Steel Company and shortly thereafter, my three sisters found work with the Michigan Steel Company. Another sister married and with her business-minded husband opened their own restaurant in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

We lived in a rented home, my resourceful mother even took in additional boarders to bring in extra money for the family and then in 1947, my parents were able to purchase their very first home — a large three-story on a corner lot. Their children continued to follow their example of pursuing the American Dream.

In 1952, I joined the Marines where I became a captain and served for six years. Then upon my return I continued my education and received my doctorate in sociology from UC Berkeley.

This then is our family's story, a story of illegal immigrants, who fled persecution and opposition to come to America and through earnest desire and hard work like so many others, became part of the American story.

As I reflect on my family and our arduous efforts to obtain a better and secure way of life without persecution, backbreaking stoop labor and thus poverty, I am amazed that the family has achieved so much with so little internal strife.

The strength and solidarity my family has exhibited is due to the Mexican culture that instills the value of family cohesiveness without which we could not have achieved so much.

© Copyright 2010 Freedom Communications. All Rights Reserved.

War changed the course of young immigrant's life

This is a picture of Inez and Luis Solis, the grandparents of Lorraine Ruvolo. This photo was taken around 1930, a couple of years after they got married. On a visit to Pacoima after his arrival in California, Luis ran into Inez, who had come from his village in Guanajuato, Mexico. He left for the United States to avoid the violence of the Mexican Revolution.  Courtesy of Lorraine Solis Ruvolo

My grandfather Luis Solis lived in this small village along with his parents and siblings, farming the land, milking goats and raising chickens.

For fun the children played, while the adults played cards and socialized amongst each other, until fear made its way into their village.

As the looting, robbery and killing of the Mexican Revolution made their way toward them, my grandfather and his family felt there was no other choice but to head north to the United States and begin a new life.

This was not something they had planned on doing because the life they had in their village was tranquil, simple and this is where their roots were.

My grandfather came to the United States in 1916 when he was 24 years old and began working at an ice house in Douglas, Arizona supporting his parents and younger siblings until he was injured when a block of ice fell on his foot, leaving him unable to work for a few weeks.

During this time his younger brother, who lived in Oxnard, encouraged him to bring the family to California because he would be able to help him with a job.

When they arrived in Oxnard my grandfather immediately found a place for the family to live and followed the harvest, picking fruit, walnuts and various produce. He was a hard worker, great provider and being the oldest he felt he would put off marriage to take care of his parents and siblings.

After his parents' passing he went south to visit other family members in Pacoima. There he ran into a young woman who had also come from his same village in Mexico -- her name was Inez Castro.

They began their courtship and married when my grandfather was 36 and my grandmother was 25.

They ended up buying a lot for $25 and built a house that would be home to their seven children, five boys and two girls who were all born at home with the help of a mid-wife.

They led a very simple life, following the harvest. When the children went to school my grandfather worked for a Japanese citrus grower and also worked in construction. My grandmother Inez worked just as hard taking care of the children, cooking and sewing clothes for the family.

In their late teens my Uncle Louie joined the Army, my father Ernest joined the National Guard, Uncle James was an Army paratrooper and Uncle Henry did two tours of Vietnam while in the Marines.

My Uncle Ralph took care of my grandparents while my Aunt Jennie and Aunt Helen raised their own families.

At a young age my father married my mother Lydia, they bought a home and they started their family beginning with me, my sisters Anita and Teresa and my brother Ernest Jr.

My Uncle Louie received a job offer in Santa Ana and eventually moved his family here. One day in 1960 our parents took us to visit my uncle and were really taken by Orange County, weather and the openness.

At that time there was nothing but fields from Segerstom to Costa Mesa so one block north of Segerstrom my parents bought a three-bedroom home that was only a couple of years old.

We settled in and my sisters and I attended Washington Elementary and a couple of years later my youngest sister Eleanor arrived.

My parents worked hard to provide for all their children, have showed unconditional love towards all of us and have always instilled in us good work ethics passed on by their parents.

My father's last job in California was at Xerox Corp. before retiring out of state and my mother has been a stay-at-home wife.

They recently celebrated 58 years of marriage, are in great health and are enjoying the fruits of their labor.

My siblings have all moved out of state, following my parents to Washington with the exception of my sister Anita, who works for a large retail company in Idaho.

My sister Teresa and her husband are in Africa doing missionary work and helping build a hospital.

My brother Ernest works for a large pharmaceutical company.

My youngest sister Eleanor is a corporate travel agent working out of her home and I work for Santa Ana Unified School District as a career technician.

I encourage high school students to further their education and to follow their dreams because there are so many opportunities for them and by striving to better themselves they are also bettering their family.

I am living proof with hard work that was passed on to me. Quality of life improves with education being the key to success.

I am proud to say that both my sons have their AA degree and are working towards their bachelor's degrees. My older son Daniel enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and is currently a firefighter and my second son is in management.

I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunities to better my life and if it wasn't for loving, hard working and humble grandparents from both my mother and father I don't think I would have had the knowledge and wisdom they passed on to me.

My grandfather Luis passed at 92 years old and my grandmother Inez passed when she was 95, leaving 30 grandchildren, 62 great-grandchildren and 24 great-great grandchildren.

It is hard to believe that almost 100 years ago a young man in a small village changed the course of his life.

My grandfather had no idea what a century would bring but his determination and dreams confirmed that "Si se puede" (Yes you can!).  The famous words from another great man, Cesar Chavez....the name of the high school I am so proud to work at.

© Copyright 2010 Freedom Communications. All Rights Reserved.

His grandfather 'simply walked away from captivity'

I have a photograph of him at a very young age with sombrero, criss-crossing bandoliers, a Winchester carbine, huarache sandals - the photo I believe taken in Guadalajara.

When I mentioned that it looked like he joined the revolution in sandals, he replied that when he joined the revolution he was bare-foot.

The photo may be from the time early in the revolution when the new president, Francisco Madero, disbanded his non-regular rebel supporters, allowing them to keep their Winchesters along with 100 pesos severance pay.

The carbine may have belonged to Macario while the bandoliers, which were empty, might have been provided by what was likely a street vendor-photographer.

An offer to join the regular Mexican Army was eventually accepted by young Macario.

At the beginning, Macario and revolutionary leader Pancho Villa were on the same side.

However there were eventual disagreements with the developing government.

Macario came under the command of Gen. Alvaro Obregon, who fought against Villa and eventually won.

Macario, though, was captured by the Villistas as he was knocked unconscious when his horse went down in an unsuccessful cavalry charge.

With a slight head injury he was detailed to carry other wounded aboard a Villista train to eventually become a hospital orderly in a Villista-area hospital.

Around 1917, with the decline of Villista forces, Macario simply walked away from captivity, heading north to visit an uncle in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he met and married my Granma Chuy of a neighborhood immigrant family.

He became a shoemaker early on though he later managed various businesses, some in Mexico, such as a tortilla factory, a motel, also for a while a ranch in Baja near Ensenada.

Ultimately he retired with Granma Chuy in the Atwater/Los Feliz area of L.A.

I was raised around L.A., joining the Marine Corps after high school, then going to Alaska for summer work - eventually staying almost twenty years through the early pipeline days.

I then returned, looking after the horses of my Pa, Ramiro Leon, near San Fernando.

Then I came further south to begin looking after my Ma, Beatrice Leon, who was getting frail after years living in San Juan Capistrano, which she dearly loved.

Granpa Mac taught me much about surviving through difficult moments. I recall him as resourceful, critical, well-balanced, with much interest in current events.

© Copyright 2010 Freedom Communications. All Rights Reserved.

Many of Orange County's older Mexican American families trace their roots here to forebears who left Mexico during the war and settled in the Southwest. A number of non-Latinos also have family stories to tell of the war.

According to Dr. Dagoberto Fuentes, a professor emeritus at Cal State Fullerton and co-founder of the Chicano Studies Department, the war took the lives of 1 million of Mexico's population, which numbered about 15 million at the time.

Hundreds of thousands immigrated to the U.S. Through the generations stories have trickled down of why they chose to leave. Stories of forced proscription. Rape. Confiscation of property. The pillaging of crops.

We asked two experts, Fuentes and Orange County historian Phil Brigandi, to help make sense of a violent decade marked by shifting loyalties. Learn about the Mexican Revolution's main players here.

Who won and who lost?

Fuentes: The winners were Venustiano Carranza and Alvaro Obregón. The losers were Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata and Ricardo Flores Magón. Magón will never be recognized as a hero by the Mexican government because he was a socialist. Eventually he turned into an anarchist. Then he was killed in Leavenworth, Kansas, where he was in jail.

What did people in Mexico experience during the revolution?

Fuentes: There was a lot of pain and suffering. A million people died in the process. That's a painful experience. And why? What did they fight for? A lot didn't know what they were fighting for. Quite often they were fighting for Madero, for Villa, for personalities rather than ideas.

Women had to be protected so that would not be taken. Soldiers were out of control. They were not very well disciplined. They were not professional soldiers. And even if you are a professional soldier, that does not mean you won't commit atrocities.

A lot of people came here as a result of the upheaval.

At the time the revolution started, how would you describe the Mexican American community in Orange County?

Brigandi: Before 1900, Orange County's Mexican American population was largely made up of old Californio families who had been here for generations. By 1910, there were the beginnings of a few barrios — Logan, in Santa Ana, was probably one of the first — but many of the families still lived in old, established Hispanic communities in places like San Juan Capistrano, and along the Santa Ana Canyon. Most farmed their own land, or worked for other ranchers. But the agricultural workforce also included many Anglos and Asians.

How did the revolution change Orange County?

Brigandi: Exact numbers are hard to come by, but the Mexican-born population of Orange County climbed from 1,300 in 1910 to 3,700 by 1920, and had jumped to over 16,500 by 1930, or about 14 percent of the local population. In 1928, the La Habra Star estimated there were 40,000 Mexican Americans living in 27 different communities here, plus another 10,000 or so migrant workers following the harvests.

The churches and school districts took the lead in providing social services to recent immigrants in the years before the Depression. The immigrants themselves also formed social, business, and civic organizations, began staging community events, and supported schools and churches in their neighborhoods. Besides the barrios that grew up in all the major cities, in the early 1920s there were a number of "colonia" tracts laid out by real estate developers to market exclusively to Mexican American homeowners, including Independencia in Anaheim, Juarez in Fountain Valley, Manzanillo (around Westminster Avenue and Euclid Street in west Santa Ana), and others.

On the other hand, the rise in the immigrant Mexican population also led to segregated schools in some districts – though not all of them adopted that plan, and some of them had abandoned it voluntarily before the Mendez desegregation decision. As early as 1925, there were calls for quotas on Mexican immigration, and the costs of illegal immigration were being debated by the 1930s.

What is the legacy of the Mexican Revolution?

Fuentes: Quite a bit of disillusionment. Especially when the people who thought that the Mexican Revolution was done for them, when realized that it wasn't, they became disillusioned. Zapata and Magón were idealistic, and when the people didn't see the revolution was for their benefit, they became disillusioned. Because the main goal of the revolution was political, not social.

Brigandi: The sudden arrival of so many immigrant Mexicans, pushed north by the revolutionary years in Mexico, set in motion many changes in the relations between the Anglo and Hispanic residents of Southern California. Much of what we now think of as the Mexican American experience here, began with the revolution.

WITNESS TO HERITAGE

SANTA ANA – California's early history came to life Sunday on the sprawling grounds of the Heritage Museum of Orange County, where Native American blessings, firearm drills, and lively renditions of Spanish songs marked the anniversary of the state's first constitution.

The document was approved by voters in November 1849. The state's second – the current – constitution was ratified 30 years later.

Sunday's California Heritage Day celebration was a first for the museum, but organizers hope it will become an annual event, drawing new visitors to the facility and raising awareness of the state's early Spanish and Mexican history.

"So much effort has been made to stifle the pre-1850 history of California," event co-chair Mimi Lozano said. "The whole purpose is to give a completed picture of what (California) was all about."

Historians have tended to ignore much of California's pre-statehood Mexican, Spanish and indigenous history and culture, Lozano said.

"In the same way that the museum has been invisible, the early Mexican presence in California has been invisible," Lozano said.

The 1849 constitution is significant not only for being the state's first, but because it was bilingual. The 1879 constitution was not.

"The (day) reminds us that at one time the constitution was bilingual, and we've always been a part of the culture," said Francisco Barragan of the United Mexican-American Veterans Association, which works to bring acknowledgement of the role Mexican-American and Latino veterans have played in defending their country.

The event was seen as a possible first step to expanding the museum's offerings.

The museum's 11-acre property has plenty of activities to teach young students about the gold rush. The beautifully restored Kellogg house covers the Victorian era, but the pre-1870 Rancho Period needs better representation, said Colleen Mensel, executive director of the museum.

"We're really missing a piece of history here," Mensel said.

The museum is also interested in turning the Maag house into a cultural center to help round out the educational facility.

The Maag house was relocated to the museum grounds from Fairhaven Memorial Park in 1982, and the museum has been waiting nearly three decades for the funding to totally restore the late 1800s country home.

It would take about $2 million to restore the building and open a cultural center there, Mensel said. The first step to raising those funds is raising the visibility of the museum.

Although the museum turned 25 this year and roughly 20,000 school children visit its grounds annually, many Orange County residents are unaware of the institution's existence, event organizers said.

"It's amazing that there's still a place like this in the heart of Santa Ana," said Maria Marking of Lake Forest, who has lived in the county for 15 years, but just recently heard about the museum. "There's a lot of history that Californians can learn from a place like this."    jterrell@ocregister.com

As co-chairs, Yvonne Gonzalez Duncan and I set as our prime goal, to present an educational experience that reflected the cultural diversity of California in 1849.  We wanted the event to be historically correct.  Our aim was to create an experience resulting in a better understanding of the Spanish/Mexican period.  This difficult period of transition went from an indigenous state, through Spanish, then Mexican, then the Republic of California, and then US statehood and and controlled by the United States government.  These times were sometimes peaceful and during many stages,  chaotic and dangerous.

We decided to search out descendants of the original signers of the 1849 Constitution, as living proof of the Spanish/Mexican participation in the establishment of California, plus evidence of the continuing presence of these early colonizers in the development of California.  We encouraged period dress, and used the lives and words of historic figures to bring their humanity to a public awareness, the historic past is more than battles and wars. It is people trying to live from day to day, with dignity and free of fear.

Honoring the earliest of California's residents, the indigenous tribes, whose blood mingled early with the Spanish and Mexican colonizers, California Heritage Day opened the day, first with a military color guard, followed with a blessing by both the Juaneños and Gabrielenos.  Displays and family histories tried to capture the past and bring it to the present.

Below are some photos of the day's events. For more photos please go to the Heritage Museum website:  www.heritagemuseumoc.org

Friends of Pio Pico, President Carolyn Schoff

Los Pobladores de Los Angeles 

Boothill Productions in front of the Maag House

http://www.aarp.org/politics-society/rights/info-11-2010/
longoria_documentary_mexican_american_civil_rights.1.html
Source:AARP

Sent by Wanda Garcia, daughter of Dr. Hector P. Garcia.

“[Johnson] came from an area and a people that were poor, and he was among them, he was one of them,” says Vicente Ximenes, a friend and collaborator of García, who was eventually named by then-President Johnson as chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Mexican American Affairs. “He was always able to get 90 percent of the Mexican American vote ... but he never voted for civil rights as a congressman and as a senator. If he had, the racist constituency he had would have voted him out of office.”

 

As the sun rises over the nation’s capital, Charlie Ericksen takes the elevator down from his seventh floor apartment to his office on the first floor. In that office on N Street, Ericksen is touching the lives of aspiring journalists and changing the way mainstream media covers the Latino community.

Ericksen, 80, is the managing editor and founder of Hispanic Link, a syndicated bilingual news column published by dozens of news outlets nationwide. He founded the Link in 1980 because he felt the Latino community was not getting adequate coverage and opportunities from other news outlets.

Charlie Ericksen after a lecture to faculty, staff and students in Old Main, with Borderzine students Justin Monarez, Alejandra Matos and Josie Calanche. (Zita Arocha/Borderzine.com)

In 1979, there were three Puerto Rican reporters nationwide, according to Ericksen. Many issues, he said, were seen from the perspective of “black and white,” and mainstream media rarely covered stories that affected Latino residents.

“There was not a single national syndicated column focusing on Hispanics,” Ericksen said. “But I didn’t want to be the writer of (a column on Hispanic issues) with a name like Charlie Ericksen – that would never sell. So I became editor and called on Hispanic experts and Hispanic people with interesting things to say.”

Ericksen spoke recently to a group of students and news professionals at the University of Texas at El Paso. He said when he started the Link it was his name that sometimes convinced white editors to pick up his column because they believed an Anglo man would be objective about the Hispanic community.

Ericksen, however, refers to himself as “an undercover Mexican.” He fell in love with the culture and the community in his 20’s after going to college in Mexico on a GI Bill after serving in the Korean War. It was in Oaxaca, Mexico that he found his true love, a petite woman named Sebastiana Mendoza.

 

“I knew a little more than how to order a beer when I went to Mexico. It wasn’t until I went to my wife’s village that I had to really learn to speak Spanish. If I wanted them to laugh at my jokes, I needed to learn the language.”

Ericksen married “Tana” and they moved to East Los Angeles, a mainly poor immigrant community that was vastly different from more affluent West Los Angeles area where he grew up.

“All the things that I took for granted as a person growing up in West Los Angeles – the nice priest men, the good schools and the paved roads – were not available to my kids living in East Los Angeles,” he said.

Ericksen with UTEP's Communication Department 
Chair Dr. Frank Perez and son Carlos Ericksen 
(Zita Arocha/Borderzine.com)

This prompted him to fight for the Mexican community. After working as a journalist for The Los Angeles Mirror for three years, he worked for the Civil Rights Commission on and off from 1970 to 1979. After he relocated with his family to Washington, D.C. in 1979 because of his job with the Commission, he wanted a real change. Ericksen knew nobody was going to give the Hispanic community a voice except for a few Spanish media outlets like Univision. It was then that he started the syndicated column.

Since founding the Link, Ericksen has single handedly worked with over 1,000 established and aspiring journalists to report on the issues affecting the Hispanic community.

“Over the last 30 years we’ve had 1,700 writers, 99 percent of them Hispanic,” Ericksen said. “We are approaching 300 students who have done at least a semester working out of our office; and we have between 400 to 500 papers who pick up the column, of which 100 are Spanish publications.”

As of Feb. 15, the Link has produced 4,864 columns and news articles. Ericksen says that number will continue to grow.

“I want to continue [highlighting] all of the contributions the Hispanic community makes to the U.S society. There are still many positive stories to be written,” he said. “Oftentimes editors like to focus on issues like immigration, drop out rates and gangs, when there is so much more about this community. We are here to write about that.”

Ericksen leads a discussion on media issues and coverage of Hispanic communities with staff members of The Prospector and Minero Magazine (Zita Arocha/Borderzine.com)

It is the positive aspects of the community that inspire.   Ericksen and remind him of his love and respect for the Latino community, but an important motivator continues to be his wife who died of cancer in 1996.

“The inspiration for everything has been my wife,” he said. “She didn’t go to school, growing up in a fishing village. But she is the brightest, most courageous, nicest and most beautiful person I have ever known.”

Ericksen says the atmosphere at the Link among editors, staff writers and interns has always been family oriented. His sons, Hector and Carlos have been an integral part of the Link team.

“Carlos has been with us for 15 years and he’s the all purpose guy that keeps everything functioning,” Ericksen said. “Hector is in charge of the web distribution, and was with us full time a few years ago. If it hadn’t been for them, Hispanic Link would not have survived.”

Although he has guided the Link for 30 years, Ericksen has had a few setbacks. In 2005 he suffered a stroke that initially caused him to lose the ability to read.

“Eventually, I got my vision back but there is no question that it slowed me down,” he said.

“I just can’t run around like I used to, but I will keep going so long as I stay healthy. I’d go crazy if I didn’t have [the Link]. It’s been such a huge part of my life.”

Borderzine editor's note, reporter Josie Calanche also contributed to this report.

 http://borderzine.com/2010/03/hispanic-link-founder-charles-ericksen-still-going-strong-at-80/

HONORING HISPANIC LEADERSHIP

http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Frederick-Cordova+Jr.&lc
=4916&pid=139564302&mid=4142465

ANAHEIM – Herlinda "Linda" Perez Sullivan, the founder of the county's first sperm bank and a respected leader in the Latino community, dedicated to improving the lives of women and children, has died. She was 82.

Sullivan, a native of Zacatecas, Mexico met and married her husband of nearly 60 years, Patrick Sullivan, in Mexico City before moving to California in the 1950s.

After getting a college degree from Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Herlinda Sullivan began her career as a pharmacist. Upon moving to California, she worked as a medical researcher and coordinator of the Artificial Insemination Program at UCI Medical Center.

In 1981, she founded Sperm Bank Incorporated, the county's first sperm bank, also known as the Fertility Center of California.

At the time, operating a sperm bank was met with some opposition. Sullivan had to get a special waiver to use the word "bank" in the title because authorities said that people might be confused about what services were provided there.

The sperm bank also was challenged in court. In one case, a woman sued the company, claiming that she had been infected with a virus that can cause birth defects when she was inseminated at the bank. That case was settled out of court and led to further screening of donors.

In the same case, a state precedent was set when a judge protected the donor's Constitutional right to remain anonymous.

"It was really ambitious of my mom to start a business like that on her own," said her son, Kevin Sullivan, 50. "But that's the way she was, always doing what she could to help others."

Sullivan was not afraid of speaking her mind or to large audiences – she was a longtime Toastmasters member.

She co-founded and was the first president of the Orange County chapter of Mexican American Women's National Association (later known as MANA de Orange County) and a leader in the organization for more than 20 years.

MANA's webpage this week is topped by a tribute to her.

"There is no other person like Herlinda," said Nellie Kaniski, executive director of MANA, which provides mentoring and scholarships to young Latinas. "She personified MANA and our mission. Her love for the community and the culture was unmatched."

Sullivan always rearranged her schedule, even at the last minute, to represent MANA at community events. While other women were concerned about carrying the most stylish purse, Kaniski said, Sullivan always carried a large tote bag with the MANA logo to promote the cause.

She created a line of dolls called Positive Images, which included women dressed as firefighters, astronauts and doctors.

"She was successful herself and wanted to do whatever she could to help other Latinas achieve the same type of success," Kevin Sullivan said about his mom. "She wanted women to know that they didn't have to settle and that they could do great things they may never have thought of before."

In recent years, Sullivan suffered from dementia and declining health. Her husband continued to take care of her inside their Anaheim home until her death on Oct. 14.

Herlinda Sullivan is survived by her husband, Patrick; three sons, Brian, Eric and Kevin; and one daughter, Laura.  A memorial service was held Nov. 13. 

Contact the writer: 714-704-3769 or ecarpenter@ocregister.com
Sent by Nellie Kaniski
nellie@manadeoc.org

REMEMBERING James DeAnda
Aug. 28, 1925 to October 2006
by
Daisy Wanda Garcia

Honoring the memory and the work of James DeAnda, friend of my father Dr. Hector P. Garcia.  James DeAnda was one of the civil rights pioneers who helped lead the efforts to end discrimination against Hispanics in Texas.   

An article about the unveiling of a statue of Mr. DeAnda by the University Of Texas School Of Law at Austin made me think about James DeAnda.  The article detailed how Houston attorney Scott Atlas and his wife, the Honorable Nancy Atlas, commissioned the sculpture to honor DeAnda’s legacy as an advocate for social justice, particularly for the civil rights of Mexican-American schoolchildren in Texas.   Utah artist Edward Hlavka created the bronze bust. According to UT Law School, the DeAnda bronze bust will be placed in a prominent hallway between the Law School Dean’s Suite and the Admissions and Student Affairs offices. *(UT LAW NEWS LETTER)

The son of Mexican immigrants, DeAnda was born on Aug. 28, 1925, in Houston TX . He attended Texas A&M University but left in 1943 to join the Marines in the Pacific during World War II. He returned to Texas A&M and graduated in 1948.  DeAnda was one of the few Hispanic Law students to earn a law degree at University of Texas in the 1950s.

After graduation from UT Law, DeAnda had problems finding work with Anglo law firms.  He began practicing with Houston attorney John J. Herrera.  Papa met DeAnda while he was working for Carlos Cadena writing briefs for Hernandez v. State of Texas .  James DeAnda served as one of the lawyers on the Hernandez v. Texas .  The favorable ruling from the Supreme Court was significant because for the first time Mexican Americans had status as a distinct legal classification entitled to special protection under the Constitution. "The case opened the doors for Latinos to be represented on juries throughout the country," said Norma V. Cantu, assistant secretary for civil rights in the Department of Education in the Clinton administration.

In the mid-1950s, DeAnda moved to Corpus Christi.  DeAnda became active with the American GI Forum and the League of United Latin American Citizens. DeAnda served as legal counsel for the American G.I. Forum. During this period he became involved in a series of important school desegregation cases dealing with discrimination in the public education system in Texas.  Some of the cases were Cisneros v. Corpus Christi ISD and Hernandez v. Driscoll CISD.  In 1957, DeAnda was the lead counsel in Hernandez v. Driscoll Independent School District . Hernandez v. Driscoll Independent School District in 1956 challenged a school system that required children from Spanish-speaking families to spend three years in the first grade because of a presumed need to learn English. In Cisneros, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the fifth Circuit affirmed a district court order that extended for the first time Brown v. Board of Education protections to Mexican Americans.* ( University of Texas School of Law)

DeAnda served as legal council for the American G.I. Forum.  Both Papa and DeAnda formed a lifelong friendship that lasted until Papa’s death in 1996.  Justice DeAnda delivered the eulogy at my father’s wake.

In 1968, DeAnda cofounded the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and in 1970 created Texas Rural Legal Aid.

In 1979, President Carter appointed Mr. DeAnda to the federal bench in the Southern District of Texas. He was the nation's second Mexican American federal judge and served for 13 years, including four as chief judge.   

After retiring from the bench in 1992, DeAnda continued to practice law with the Houston law firm of Solar & Associates until 2005. He was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award for Community Service from The University of Texas School of Law Alumni Association in 2004.

DeAnda once said to a group of law students, “You will find law to be a most satisfying career because of the service you can give your fellow man,” “I know of no other endeavor in which you can bring about healthy change and make a decent living. You can live well and do good.”

DeAnda died in September  2006. In October 2006, the Tarlton Law Library at The Jamail Center for Legal Research at UT Law published an oral history interview of Judge DeAnda in October 2006. The publication includes the speech that DeAnda gave at the Hispanic Legal Archives Series on April 7, 2000. 

NATIONAL ISSUES

The tunnel ran the length of six football fields and ended at a warehouse in Mexico, Morton said.  The tunnel had lighting, ventilation, and a rail system.

Officials said it was the largest pot haul ever in California.  Drug Enforcement Administration agents seized 33 tons in Oregon in 2006, DEA special agent Ralph W. Partridge said. 

Earlier this month, agents made one of the largest marijuana seizures in the U.S. when they confiscated 20 tons of marijuana they said was smuggled through a border tunnel a half-block from the recently discovered tunnel.

Editor:  California's Proposition 19 to legalize marijuana, lost, by a fairly close margin.  Proposition 19 had gained support from non-marijuana-users because of the horrors of crime and deaths in the continuing trafficking of marijuana into California.  My son, Aury L. Holtzman, a physician (MD), in Orange County, California.  He has long been interested in natural folk remedies.  The legalization in California of marijuana for medicinal use moved "Doc"  into that area of care.  

He has shared many, many stories of  patients who found relief from pain with a use marijuana, when nothing else could help.  He said that marijuana has been prescribed and affective in alleviating pain associated with migraine headaches for many years. It is amazing the variety of medicinal uses to which marijuana has been put.   Current studies' research data suggests that the progression of multiple sclerosis may actually be slowed with the use of  marijuana.  

My son shared a recent case:  A 55 year old construction worker suffering from chronic back pain was seeking a medical marijuana recommendation.  The patient said, as a child in Mexico he remembered that family cuts and bruises were treated by his grandmother with a poultice of crushed marijuana leaves and rubbing alcohol. 

The patient had been working in construction all his life. He was a twelve year youngster when he first started working to contribute to the family needs.    A life-time of construction work had taken its toll on the man's back   By his mid 40s he started having very severe back pain.  It became a chronic, disabling problem. It got to the point that some nights the man could not sleep at all because of the intense pain.  

Other construction workers, friends, recommended smoking marijuana as a way of going to sleep.  The man reluctantly tried it and was surprised, it really helped.  It relieved his back pain and he was able to get a good night sleep.  It was like a miracle.  The success reminded him of  his grandma's remedy for everything.  He decided to add the poultice to his self-treatment.  Soon, before smoking  marijuana, he got in the practice of rubbing the poultice of  crushed marijuana leaves and rubbing alcohol on his back.  The combination worked beautifully.  He slept well and found he could work well the next day, without the misery of back pain.

One evening, in preparation for bedtime, the man started rubbing the poultice of crushed marijuana and alcohol solution on his back, before smoking marijuana, as was his habit.  Suddenly, he noticed that the day's pain in his back was gone. There was no pain.  No evidence of the usual hurting muscles.  

He skipped marijuana that night, and ever after that. The poultice was sufficient.  That was two years ago.  He has not smoked marijuana, his grandma's poultice of crushed marijuana and ruubbing alcohol is all that is needed.  He can work a full days and sleeps well at night. . . . it works.     The patient wanted a medical marijuana recommendation to grow marijuana in his backyard to prepare the poultice.  He did not want to deal with the kind of people who sell marijuana in back alley.    

Some of Dr. Holtzman's patients are uncomfortable buying illegal marijuana, because they really don't know what they are buying.  The state of Colorado is working toward becoming the first state to regulate production of medical marijuana.  Regulators say . . .  "producers should have rules such as pesticide limits."  Colorado hopes to have in place by early next year some labeling and inspection standard for marijuana sold commercially, under provisions of a new state law.

As a Christian woman, I am sorry for people whose medical conditions are not met with traditional medicine, or within the structure of our health providers.  I see marijuana in the middle of many issues with which the United States is dealing.  Drastic changes are needed, and viewing marijuana in a different light may be an important key in dealing with escalating gang wars, health needs, immigration, terrorism, etc. etc.  It appears that all aspects of our life is being affected by the marijuana economy. Certainly increasing medicinal access has had a noticeable positive affect in California.   

To contact Dr. Holtzman or for more information on the medicinal uses of marijuana:
Phone:      714-495-0113
Web site:  http://www.win4sports.com/auryholtzmanmd/auryholtzmanmd.htm
Email:  aurylorholtzmanMD@hotmail.com
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/people/Aury-Holtzman/100001880453264

Mimi 

by Salvador Hernandez
Orange County Register, Nov. 3, 2010

Eamonn Daniel Higgins, 46, of Laguna Nigel pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to commit VISA fraud.  According to authorities, Higgins and other people he recruited posed as foreign students at area colleges, including Irvine Valley and Saddleback.  Higgins and others took tests on behalf of the foreign students, who were required to be enrolled in school in order to remain in the united States under student visas.  In exchange, Higgins charged at least $1,000 per exam.

At least 119 students, all men from Middle Eastern countries, are believed to have paid Higgins for the illegal services.  Immigration and Customs Enforcement is still investigating the scheme.

Please note, Somos Primos has included articles on this case in the June and July issues.  
They are included under the section on National Issues:
www.somosprimos.com/sp2010/spjun10/spjun10.htm
www.somosprimos.com/sp2010/spjul10/spjul10.htm

http://www.abim.org/news/ABIM-sanctions-physicians-for-ethical-violations.aspx 

Nearly Half of Illegal Immigrants Overstay Visas

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Online Video  Border

"The remaining 5,000 can be allocated by the State Department to various regions as the need arises."]]

ACTION ITEM

Community Pitches in for a Cemetery Clean Up Day

EDUCATION

"Education is undeniably the most crucial factor in the development of human character. Education is an art whose basic methods are determined by the ideals of the educator." --Daisaku Ikeda

Student Movement 40 Years Ago Led the Way for Chicano Studies at UTEP
By Chris Lechuga
Posted: 10/25/10

Several members of the Tejano Genealogy Society speaking at St Ignatius Catholic School in Austin. Dressed in period attire from left to right are Minnie Wilson, Dan Arellano, Geneva Sanchez and Dr Sylvia Garcia. Carrying Tejano history into the schools continues to be one of our main objectives. Minnie Wilson spoke on the contributions of our ancestors from the early 1500's. Dan Arellano spoke on the Battle of Medina and how it affected the future of five nations. Geneva Sanchez spoke on Bernardo de Galvez and the Tejano connection to the American War of Independence. Dr Sylvia Garcia spoke on the Alamo and the Tejano participation in the second Texas Revolution.

Dan Arellano
President
Tejano Genealogy Society of Austin
darellano@austin.rr.com
512-826-7569

Sent by Adrienne Jennings McMillan 
adriennestory@prodigy.net

CULTURE

Junot Diaz honors Hispanic heritage at UR

By Pierce Alquist
Campus Times, University of Rochester
http://www.campustimes.org/2010/10/21/junot-diaz-honors-
hispanic-heritage-at-ur/ 
Published on October 21, 2010 

(Mill Valley, CA – December 7, 2010) On Tuesday, December 7, from 6 to 8 p.m., O’Hanlon Center for the Arts will present an Open House and Reception for its December exhibit "Art of the Spirit: Duality," a group show juried by Rafael Jesús González, poet, artist, elder in the ritual group Xochipilli, and creator of Dia de Los Muertos "ofrenda" displays for the Oakland Museum, the Mexican Museum and the Mission Cultural Center in San Francisco. The show runs through December 29, 2010.

Also on Exhibit: "Elise Cheval Works": Elise Cheval is a multi-talented and visionary artist. Her paintings are exuberant in style and her fiber art pieces continually break new ground in their approach and use of unconventional media. A must see show! The Loft Gallery is adjacent to the O’Hanlon Center Gallery on the Center grounds.

Lionsgate and Televisa Unite on Films for Hispanics
By Brooks Barnes, New York Times Service
Miami Herald, September 15, 2010

The studio, in partnership with Televisa, the media conglomerate based in Mexico City, is betting millions of dollars on that notion. On Tuesday, the companies announced the creation of Pantelion Films, which will release eight to 10 movies annually over the next five years that are aimed at Latino moviegoers in the United States. The films will represent a mix of genres, as varied as romantic comedies and action thrillers.

“If we tell emotionally resonant stories and explore the roots of Spanish-speaking people, there is a very attractive opportunity here,” said Emilio Azcarraga Jean, chief executive of Grupo visa. “People like to see themselves represented on the screen.”

Samuel Goldwyn Films got burned when it tried to tap the Hispanic market in 2001 with films ike “Tortilla Soup.” At the time, Meyer Gottlieb, Samuel Goldwyn’s president, told The Los Angeles Times, “When it comes to filmed entertainment, they don’t view themselves as Latinos. they want to see it because everybody else wants to see it.”

The difference this time, the executives involved say, is experience. Lionsgate has a successful rack record in marketing movies to niche audiences. Televisa’s strength is in production. And elion has a potential ace up its sleeve: AMC Entertainment, North America’s second-largest movie theater chain behind Regal Entertainment.

LITERATURE

Somos en escrito a Hispanic literary showcase

By Maryjoy Duncan

Inland Empire Community Newspapers, September 9, 2010, Page A11  

A platform for which Hispanic writers from all over the nation can converge and showcase their literary works in every imaginable genre makes for a colorful assortment of literary talent in one place. Such is the L at ino literary online magazine Somos en escrito, a labor of love for author Armando Rendón, who believes th at when it comes to literary endeavors, American Hispanics have only scr at ched the surface.

"There will never be too many accomplishments by American L at ino writers, so, of course, wh at our writers have achieved so far is still too little," Rendón, who now resides in Berkeley with his family, said. "As a n at ional group, we can boast about some eight L at ino astronauts, but we have yet to place writers of American Hispanic origin ‘among the stars.’ In most other fields as well - music, sports, science, business - we have wildly successful and widely recognized individuals. Why not in liter at ure?

Rendón is the author of Chicano Manifesto, (1971) the first book written by a Chicano about Chicanos and the Chicano movement.

Somos en escrito was launched last November and strives for the highest standards of liter at ure. All writers of Hispanic origin are invited to submit original works which will be reviewed by Rendón for possible public at ion.

“I strongly believe th at the more we write, all of us Americans of Hispanic origin, the more we publish, in print or online, the sooner th at a critical mass will be reached, when someone or more of us will break through the ceilings imposed by U.S. academia, the publishing conglomer at es, and the media in general against “niche” writing,” Rendón wrote in an e-mail. "I'm aiming for the day when n at ion-wide, we will speak with a new voice, a new genre, if you like, which all sectors of the country, the world for th at m at ter, will recognize. For now, we largely write and speak only to each other.”

Rendón expressed his desire th at reading and writing be incorpor at ed into the daily lives of the Hispanic community.

Music, according to Rendón, is indic at ive of the hunger Hispanics harbor for self expression, and noted th at every song is a poem.

Somos en escrito, in my dream, offers an outlet for th at drive,” Rendón imparted. “I at tended a poetry reading a while back and I believe th at the bulk of the audience was made up of the 40 writers who were invited to read their works; we need to reach thousands of our folks—perhaps the new technology will help make th at happen.”

On average, Rendón receives up to two dozen submissions per month of varied genre; his goal is to see th at many submissions on a daily basis.. The only requirement Rendón has of literary submissions, which can be written in English or Spanish, is th at they strive toward a high standard, “th at it speak in an idiom th at rings true to wh at the writer is trying to say, and wh at we need to hear.” Content need not be about Chicanos or L at inos.

A forum for new and established writers, Somos en escrito empowers L at ino writers to practice their art and give exposure to their works immediately, through the instantaneous medium of the Internet.

Rendón noted that the published works of new and established authors in Somos en escrito provides for a unique combin at ion of literary diversity; a few weeks ago he published a few pieces from Tu­naluna, the 
latest book of poetry by Alurista, one of the most widely known Chicano poets and activists.

“As we build an archive of material, we will amass a distinctly unique and valuable resource. We may help launch someone’s career or enable a veteran essayist, let’s say, reach a wider audience with new ideas and insights about writing, about our history, and so on.”

Writers are invited to submit their literary works to somossubmissions@gmail.com for review.

 The Multi-Faceted Origins of Tunaluna (Book Review)
This essay is an incisive and illuminating review of the 10th book of poetry by Alurista, a renowned raza poet since the beginnings of the Chicano Movement in the mid-1960s. The essay, by the prolific essayist, Arnoldo Carlos Vento, delves into Mayan cosmogony, how Alurista disassembles words and recombines them to form new meanings and new insights, and affords a critical view into the creative genius of a Chicano master poet.

Four thoughts
Jennie Campbell of southern California, is a hybrid daughter of a Nicaraguan father and Mexican mother, who has wanted to be a writer, she says, since before she even knew how to spell her own name; now from a corporate desk she wants to “leave a deep imprint on the landscape of American writing from a second generation Latina perspective.”

Golden Rushes
A new talented writer, Gonzalo Adolfo, a native of Illinois, has resided in numerous places in the U.S. and abroad, but he has currently settled in Berkeley, California. We publish three excerpts from a novelette, titled Golden Rushes, which he wrote while living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Another novelette, No Rush for Gold, was completed in Cochabamba, Bolivia, which he hopes soon to be available in Spanish).

El camino hacia noviembre 2010 (Ensayo/essay)
Raúl Caballero, a writer and reporter, who is also managing editor of  La Estrella Digital en Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, gives fair warning about the coming consequences of the November 2 elections to Latinos.

Ricardo Sánchez - Liberationist and Humanist Poet... (Essay/Ensayo)
Published on September 3, 2010, the anniversary of the death of Richard Sánchez in 1995, this essay by a lifelong friend of the poet is our way of commemorating Sánchez' life and works.

Introduction to Journey’s through the Pass – Ricardo Sanchez (Book excerpt)
Journey’s through the Pass represents Ricardo Sánchez’s last poetic journey. It completes the circle for the poet who comes home to El Paso shortly before his passing. It is a journey to the place where his roots were planted; it is a reflection of that past in all of its contradictions, beauty, pain, anger, joy and love. In this last work, one can see glimpses of a reality already planted in previous poetic works. The introduction is by Arnoldo Carlos Vento, Ph.D.

 Call for Contributors: Encyclopedia of Latino Issu...
Felipe de Ortego y Gasca, Ph.D., Scholar in Residence at Western New Mexico University, sends out a call for contributions to the Encyclopedia of Latino Issues Today of which he is Editor-in-Chief. Somos en escrito provides the full list of topics for scholars, writers, and community activists to choose from and submit their pieces to Felipe.


Armando Rendón
510-219-9139 Cell

Editor: Leroy Chatfield
syndic@leroychatfield.us 

BOOKS

Cariño for the Comadre’s Soul 
A Collective Wisdom 
JoAnn K. Aguirre $14.95 USA  $18.95 Canada

Sometimes heart-wrenching, always heart-warming, Cariño for the Comadre’s Soul serves up rich slices of life which we are invited to savor. An endearing, poignant, funny, and wise collection that celebrates community and makes the ordinary extraordinary.  
Carol Booth Olson, Ph.D. Director, University of California, Irvine/California Writing Project

"The genesis of this book is rooted within relationships in Latino cultures – compadres, padrinos, ahijados (co-parents, godparents and godchildren), but crosses all cultures. By tradition, these complex ties have led to the unofficial institution of Las Comadres, encompassing generations of women who are related – some by blood, some by friendship, some by professional associations, but all by a deep-seated concern for the well-being of one another. Everyday girls and women, faceless in the absence of fame and celebrity, yet respected and beloved in their inner circles, write the simple stories and poetry contained within.

Everyday girls and women, faceless in the absence of fame and celebrity, yet respected and beloved in their inner circles, write the simple stories and poetry contained within. At the heart of these stories is a collective wisdom of courage, humor, faith, love, hope, soul and silliness. I invite you, Comadres, to sit down with your favorite cup of tea and let the cariño in this book envelop you in warmth!"

JoAnn Kawamura Aguirre is a proud mother, a Comadre, an ovarian cancer survivor, a master gardener, a professor of educational leadership and policy studies, and a former university administrator and high school teacher. She earned her doctor of education (Ed.D.) in educational leadership from UCI & UCLA. JoAnn moonlights as a tea educator and consultant (www.teachingtea.com). She loves to garden, quilt, read and travel. JoAnn divides her time between her home in Hawaii and wherever her travels lead.

Sent by Nadia Yanez
NYanez@css.ocgov.com

Cuerpo y cultura. Las músicas "mulatas" y la subversión del baile

“Ángel Quintero’s book will remain as the model for intellectual curiosity, scientific commitment, academic rigor, as an admirable and lucid œuvre.” (José Manuel Pedrosa, Universidad de Alcalá, Spain)

In this work, Ángel Quintero examines the authenticity of the historical and socio-cultural accounts of dance in the so-called “Mulatto” America, especially in the Caribbean.
The name, “Caribbean”, alone transpires thoughts of a social and geographic setting that has been distinguished by its persistence, passion, and creativity in music and dance alike, whose sones and rhythmic melodies have had an enormous repercussion throughout the world.

Quintero asserts the role of dance in cultivating the social identity of the Caribbean nations. He analyzes Afro-american musicality while presenting a social history of “mulatto” harmony and dance, beginning with the first contradanzas and habaneras of the 19th century up until the turn of the 21st century and the advent of the reggaetón.
The author gives a panoramic depiction that fits in the general context of Latin America: envisioning the origins of baile en pareja (dancing in pairs), the harmony of vocal improvisation, and the soneo and struggle for the supremacy of the salsa in the midst of its globalization as an Afro-Latino cultural “product” as it arose from Caribbean emigrants residing in the United States.

Iberoamericana Vervuert Publishing Corp.
Madrid, Frankfurt, Orlando
9040 Bay Hill Blvd - Orlando, FL
32819 - Tel. (407) 217 5584 - Fax (407) 2175059
www.ibero-americana.net

ISBN 9788484894216 - 29.80 US$   Shipping is 4.00 US$.
Find our catalogues at: www.ibero-americana.net/es/download.htm

How the Battle of Little Bighorn Was Won

Accounts of the 1876 battle have focused on Custer's ill-fated cavalry. But a new book offers a take from the Indian's point 
of view

• By Thomas Powers
• Photographs by Aaron Huey
• Smithsonian magazine, November 2010

Smithsonian Editor’s note: In 1874, an Army expedition led by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer found gold in the Black Hills, in present-day South Dakota. At the time, the United States recognized the hills as property of the Sioux Nation, under a treaty the two parties had signed six years before. The Grant administration tried to buy the hills, but the Sioux, considering them sacred ground, refused to sell; in 1876, federal troops were dispatched to force the Sioux onto reservations and pacify the Great Plains. That June, Custer attacked an encampment of Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho on the Little Bighorn River, in what is now Montana.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn is one of the most studied actions in U.S. military history, and the immense literature on the subject is devoted primarily to answering questions about Custer’s generalship during the fighting. But neither he nor the 209 men in his immediate command survived the day, and an Indian counterattack would pin down seven companies of their fellow 7th Cavalrymen on a hilltop over four miles away. (Of about 400 soldiers on the hilltop, 53 were killed and 60 were wounded before the Indians ended their siege the next day.) The experience of Custer and his men can be reconstructed only by inference.

This is not true of the Indian version of the battle. Long-neglected accounts given by more than 50 Indian participants or witnesses provide a means of tracking the fight from the first warning to the killing of the last of Custer’s troopers—a period of about two hours and 15 minutes. In his new book, The Killing of Crazy Horse, veteran reporter Thomas Powers draws on these accounts to present a comprehensive narrative account of the battle as the Indians experienced it. Crazy Horse’s stunning victory over Custer, which both angered and frightened the Army, led to the killing of the chief a year later. “My purpose in telling the story as I did,” Powers says, “was to let the Indians describe what happened, and to identify the moment when Custer’s men disintegrated as a fighting unit and their defeat became inevitable.”

The sun was just cracking over the horizon that Sunday, June 25, 1876, as men and boys began taking the horses out to graze. First light was also the time for the women to poke up last night’s cooking fire. The Hunkpapa woman known as Good White Buffalo Woman said later she had often been in camps when war was in the air, but this day was not like that. “The Sioux that morning had no thought of fighting,” she said. “We expected no attack.”

Those who saw the assembled encampment said they had never seen one larger. It had come together in March or April, even before the plains started to green up, according to the Oglala warrior He Dog. Indians arriving from distant reservations on the Missouri River had reported that soldiers were coming out to fight, so the various camps made a point of keeping close together. There were at least six, perhaps seven, cheek by jowl, with the Cheyennes at the northern, or downriver, end near the broad ford where Medicine Tail Coulee and Muskrat Creek emptied into the Little Bighorn River. Among the Sioux, the Hunkpapas were at the southern end. Between them along the river’s bends and loops were the Sans Arc, Brulé, Minneconjou, Santee and Oglala. Some said the Oglala were the biggest group, the Hunkpapa next, with perhaps 700 lodges between them. The other circles might have totaled 500 to 600 lodges. That would suggest as many as 6,000 to 7,000 people in all, a third of them men or boys of fighting age. Confusing the question of numbers was the constant arrival and departure of people from the reservations. Those travelers—plus hunters from the camps, women out gathering roots and herbs and seekers of lost horses—were part of an informal early-warning system.

There were many late risers this morning because dances the previous night had ended only at first light. One very large tent near the center of the village—probably two lodges raised side by side—was filled with the elders, called chiefs by the whites but “short hairs,” “silent eaters” or “big bellies” by the Indians. As the morning turned hot and sultry, large numbers of adults and children went swimming in the river. The water would have been cold; Black Elk, the future Oglala holy man, then 12, would remember that the river was high with snowmelt from the mountains.

It was approaching midafternoon when a report arrived that U.S. troops had been spotted approaching the camp. “We could hardly believe that soldiers were so near,” the Oglala elder Runs the Enemy said later. It made no sense to him or the other men in the big lodge. For one thing, whites never attacked in the middle of the day. For several moments more, Runs the Enemy recalled, “We sat there smoking.”

Other reports followed. White Bull, a Minneconjou, was watching over horses near camp when scouts rode down from Ash Creek with news that soldiers had shot and killed an Indian boy at the fork of the creek two or three miles back. Women who had been digging turnips across the river some miles to the east “came riding in all out of breath and reported that soldiers were coming,” said the Oglala chief Thunder Bear. “The country, they said, looked as if filled with smoke, so much dust was there.” The soldiers had shot and killed one of the women. Fast Horn, an Oglala, came in to say he had been shot at by soldiers he saw near the high divide on the way over into the Rosebud valley.

But the first warning to bring warriors on the run probably occurred at the Hunkpapa camp around 3 o’clock, when some horse raiders—Arikara (or Ree) Indians working for the soldiers, as it turned out—were seen making a dash for animals grazing in a ravine not far from the camp. Within moments shooting could be heard at the south end of camp. Peace quickly gave way to pandemonium—shouts and cries of women and children, men calling for horses or guns, boys sent to find mothers or sisters, swimmers rushing from the river, men trying to organize resistance, looking to their weapons, painting themselves or tying up their horses’ tails.

As warriors rushed out to confront the horse thieves, people at the southernmost end of the Hunkpapa camp were shouting alarm at the sight of approaching soldiers, first glimpsed in a line on horseback a mile or two away. By 10 or 15 minutes past 3 o’clock, Indians had boiled out of the lodges to meet them. Now came the first shots heard back at the council lodge, convincing Runs the Enemy to put his pipe aside at last. “Bullets sounded like hail on tepees and tree tops,” said Little Soldier, a Hunkpapa warrior. The family of chief Gall—two wives and their three children—were shot to death near their lodge at the edge of the camp.

LATINO PATRIOTS

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/virtualtour/index.asp 
Sent by Bill Carmena 

KOREAN WAR – 1952
In the year of 1952, Lt. Guadalupe Martinez and Lt. Belisario Flores were part of the same unit and working together against the North Korean and the Chinese “Volunteers”. We were asked to describe our part in a particular action. The Article has been included in a llong list of Korean War Memoirs. The site is as follows:
 http://www.koreanwar-educator.org/memoirs/martinez_
guadalupe/index.htm

On the window that appears look for the Item below and click on it:         Korean War Educator Memoirs Index Page This will give you a second window called        Veteran’s Memoirs – Indez

This page is in three sections; Introduction, Veteran’s Full Lenth Memoirs  – Index, Veterans Short Stories (Mini Memoirs) – Indez

Go down to Martinez, Guadaluipe, and click on the name Starts with a picture of BelisarioFlores but with the name : “Guadalupe A. Martinez”
Just one of many actions that fatefull year.
Source: Lupe  lupeml@satx.rr.com 
Sent by Viola Sadler vrsadler@aol.com 

Data Graph casualties and deaths, 1776 to the present
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_
military_casualties_of_war 

In three years, this Congress has increased veterans funding by 60%, the largest increase since Veterans funding began in 1917. The increase provides an additional $23 billion to help veterans receive the care and additional benefits they deserve, plus 8,300 new claims processors, 145 community based outpatient clinics and more than 47,000 additional Veterans Health Administration employees to support our nation’s veterans.  

I Fought For You
Friends,  The following 3 minute video on our fighting men and women needs to be seen. We honor all of our military veterans and their families.   Gus Chavez
http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/fought
_for_you.html 

Sent by Jack Cowan Tcarahq@aol.com 

Joe Sanchez (BlueWall@mpinet.net) recommends that you read about author Tony Santiago.  Tony has contributed much to the collection of military articles on Wikipedia and in Somos Primos.  Tony has been recognized and honored by President Clinton, and other government dignitaries, such as the entire Puerto Rican Caucus.  

Sent by Bill Carmena  
JCarm1724@aol.com

On this beautiful Veteran’s day, the Kerrville Daily Times ran a write-up on my Uncle Ramiro and his son’s military service.   

My name is Robert Guerrero Puig. I serviced in the U.S. Air Force from 1966 to 1970. I did one tour of duty in Bien Hoa Air Base in South Vietnam. My uncle Ramiro and his sons ( mis primos) were career military. I became a teacher and worked in education for 31 years. I studied  Spanish at University of Irvine  with Ricardo Valarde and other Orange County Raza. I now live in Riverside, California. rpuig@roadrunner.com

Thursday, November 11, 2010  

By Tim Sampson, Daily Times Staff Writer, tim.sampson@dailytimes.com  Kerryville, Texas

In June of 1952, Ramiro Guerrero and his four friends - all recent Tivy High School graduates - knew exactly what they wanted to do. They were going to join the Army.

"We all signed up together," said Guerrero, 79. "We were young and raring to go. The plan was we'd all become paratroopers."

Guerrero, who now lives in Fort Worth, passed his test to be a paratrooper, but his friends didn't. So he followed them instead into the Air Force, taking up a family tradition of military service that continues to this day.

Since his time serving in Korea and Vietnam, Guerrero has seen four of his sons and two grandchildren serve in the military, with other distant relatives answering the call as well. Guerrero said the call to serve is in his family's blood.

"For my friends and I, it was all about wanting to give back to our country," said Guerrero, who was deployed to Asia as an Air Force mechanic in January of 1953.

Guerrero was stationed at a base just 72 miles south of the 38th parallel, which divided North and South Korea and was fraught with danger. With the base losing about four to five planes a week to enemy fire, Guerrero frequently was part of teams that had to hike into the jungles to dismantle and destroy aircraft equipment and data to keep it out of enemy hands.

"It was hard," he said. "We were working 18-hour days, trying to keep the planes flying and fit for duty."

Despite the laborious and dangerous work of being in the Air Force, Guerrero continued to serve even after returning from Korea. He would spend a total of 22 years in the military and earn three Air Force commendation medals in the process.

It was during his time between wars that Guerrero also began to raise a family and instill in his four sons the same sense of purpose and duty that motivated him to serve.

His eldest son, Manuel Guerrero, served two tours in Vietnam in the Air Force before serving an additional tour in Desert Storm, for a total of 22 years in the Air Force.

"There's a culture of service in my family," Manuel said. "When I got out of high school, it was the natural step to take."

It's a culture that takes root at an early age, according to Manuel's younger brothers.

"The earliest memory (of the military) I have is of my dad and I watching the planes land at the Air Force base," said Ramiro Guerrero Jr., whose father preached the virtues of the military from an early age.

Ramiro Sr. had hoped his son would follow him into the Air Force, but after Ramiro Jr. attended an Army artillery demonstration with his father, he decided the Army was a better fit for him.

"I saw all this fire power, and it was so exciting," Ramiro Jr. said. "I knew this is what I had to do instead."

Ramiro Jr. joined the Army in 1974 but didn't go to Vietnam. He eventually became a helicopter pilot with the Special Forces Aviation Regiment at Fort Campbell and flew missions during Panama and Somalia, spending a total of 27 years in the armed forces before retiring.

The third Guerrero brother also joined the Army and chose to follow in his older brother's footsteps, joining the same special forces regiment at Fort Campbell also as a helicopter pilot. Carlos Guerrero and Ramiro Jr. both flew during the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989.

"My younger brother was in one of the little birds, when I heard a couple of those choppers had been shot down. I was worried it might be him," Ramiro Jr. said.

His brother survived the Panama invasion, but was not so fortunate while training for military operations in Haiti several years later. In 1994, Carlos died in a helicopter accident during night training at Fort Campbell.

"Death is always present in the military," Ramiro Jr. said. "You spend any amount of time in the service, you're going to see friends die. It never gets any easier, though. It probably took about 10 years for my family to come to terms with (Carlos') death."

The loss of Carlos, a Legion of Merit winner who had flown during Desert Storm, was a difficult period for the entire family. But Ramiro Sr. takes pride in his son's service and said his opinion of enlisting in the military hasn't changed.

"I believe it is a privilege and an honor to serve," he said. "Even when I lost my son, that opinion didn't change."

The legacy of family service continued. Ramiro Sr.'s youngest son, Alex Guerrero, spent a combined nine years in the Army and in the Air Force Reserves. And one of his granddaughters is currently in Iraq.

"It was something I passed along to my kids from their grandfather," said Ramiro Jr., whose daughter Aricel is a physician's assistant finishing her second year-long tour in Iraq, after first being deployed there in 2004.

Ramiro Jr. has three other children - one who currently is attending college on an Air Force scholarship and two others who opted not to join the military after participating in ROTC.

"And that was fine by me that they decided not to join," Ramiro Jr. said. "My thing is, I think people need to be engaged with the military and understand what is going on. You can't just expect others to serve and not be willing to make sacrifices yourself."

Even though he has grown up in a family where military service is a way of life, he said having a child deployed to a war zone has been the greatest source of anxiety.

"I just pray every day that she makes it home safely," he said.

The Guerrero brothers all credit their father with instilling the military way of life in them, but Ramiro Sr. knows that his family's tradition of military service goes far beyond him and his sons. In all, 28 members of Ramiro's extended family have served in conflicts since World War I, and two have been killed in action - his nephew Joventino Reyes in Korea in 1950 and his nephew Manuel Denton in Vietnam in 1963.

Although military service has sometimes meant pain and suffering for his family, Ramiro Sr. said he is proud of the contributions made by his family. All citizens, he said, should take the time on Veterans Day to remember the sacrifices made by all veterans.

"The way we've always seen it: This is our country, and it's part of being a patriot to serve," he said.

Sent by Bill Carmena   
http://dailytimes.com/news/article_f3402476-ed49-11df-85fe-001cc4c002e0.html 

Shipping to Spain

Galveston's sorrow made available the hard-to-find live oak, valued by the builders of wooden ships for its strength and resistance to rot. By a quirk of fate, the city founded and named after Spanish Gen. Bernardo de Galvez is contributing the wood that will help rebuild a replica of its namesake. Galveston is a corruption of the original Galveztown, Turner said.

Workers in Galveston today are expected to begin loading about 210 tons of live oak into 30 containers that will be trucked to the Port of Houston, Turner said. The 20-foot, open-top containers will be loaded on to the cargo ship Maersk Kentucky, which will depart June 22 for the Astilleros Nereo shipyard in Malaga, Spain.

Visit in 2011 expected

The St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum's Heritage Boatworks, which aims to keep the ancient art of wooden shipbuilding alive, partnered with Astilleros and other organizations to build the Galveston replica. Turner said the finished ship is expected to visit Galveston next year, and there is talk of making the island city a home port for the Galveztown. In addition to preserving the shipbuilding craft, the project is intended maintain and improve U.S.-Spanish relations.

Jill Brooks, chairwoman of the Texas Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution's historic preservation committee, said her organization is raising money for the Galveztown project because Galvez was a hero of the American Revolution.
Galvez was governor of Spanish Louisiana when the American Revolution began. He furnished ammunition, money and food to the revolutionaries and drove the British from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and western Florida.

At the battle of Pensacola in 1781, he ordered the Galveztown to run a gauntlet of British artillery after the admiral of the Spanish fleet balked at crossing shallow water into Pensacola Bay. Shamed, the admiral then followed with his fleet.

The Galveztown was originally the British Sloop West Florida. American Cpt. William Pickles captured the ship and it was eventually sold to the Spanish. Refitted as a brig, it became the Galveztown. harvey.rice@chron.com
With Best Regards,
Thomas Ellingwood Fortin,
NEW ALBION PICTURES

SURNAMES

PEREZ/PERES

Editor:  The surname Perez was selected for the Christmas issue for a very special reason.  

The surname Perez (Pharez/Phares) is identified and included in the Smith's Bible Dictionary.  The origin of Perez is identified, traceable to the son of Judah, of the 12 tribes of Israel.  This not only makes Perez a very ancient surname, but one that is not based on the usual origin of Hispanic surnames, such as city/town of origin, landscape close to dwelling,  occupation, appearance,  and character. In the opening chapter of Saint Matthew, the pedigree of Jesus Christ is traced from Abraham to Jesus in 28 generations. Perez, is the great-great-grandson of Abraham, and the grandfather of Jesus Christ, 24 generations back.  That makes anyone with the surname Perez with a  possible physical link to Jesus Christ.   

I was fairly new into genealogical research when I literally stumbled onto the surname Perez in a Bible dictionary.   It really interested me because my maternal Great Grandmother was a Perez.  To realize historically that the lineage went back to the line of Our Lord, Jesus Christ filled me with an overwhelming  sense of joy. 

It was during this time of awareness that Shimon Peres was Prime Minister of Israel and Carlos Andres Perez was President of Venezuela.   It fascinated me that the name survived and was still playing a prominent role in world history.  As tragic as their history of persecution is, they are a symbol of the truthfulness of the Bible.  The Jewish people are only 0.02% of the world population, but as promised, they have survived.

I feel privileged to carry the name of Perez in my lineage.  

The name PEREZ is considered by many historian to be the oldest surname in all Christendom. The name has a Hebrew root meaning, "He/She who dares" and is first recorded in the Bible, 1300 B.C. Perez (or Pharez) son of Judah, and his descendents appear to have been a family of great importance for many centuries in Israel, and even into the present. The current President is Simon Peres.

The PEREZ coat of arms is only one of three shields among all heraldry which anciently include the royal color, purple. King David was a direct descendent of Pharez/Perez and the Lord Jesus Christ a direct descendent of David. (Matt 1:1).

Proudly, all those carrying the name PEREZ would hope to descend from this most noble of all lines. Most likely however, researchers will find their original ancestor was first in Spain as one of many "son of Pero/Pedro," who then were ultimately identified as a Perez (es,ez-son of).

The surname seems to have its beginnings In Castilla, spreading from there into Vizcaya, La Rioja, and Santander. Many of the Perez families tie directly into the ancestry of Spanish royalty. There are thousands of individuals that have proven noble lineages, in 1084, Rui Perez de Abanades fought with King Alfonso VI against the Moors in Madrid and Toledo.

In the United States, Perez is the 7th most popular surname among modern Hispanic families. Particulary interesting, since prior to the 1900's, it was a very rare surname in the United States. In Mexico however, many Perez are found among the earliest of soldiers and colonizers.

Juan Perez de Arteaga arrived in Santo Domingo ca. 1502. Seventeen years later, in 1519, records show he was in Cuba as a member of Cortes' entrada. Juan served as an interpreter during the early colonization of Nueva Espana, undoubtedly having learned the native language from his first wife, who was an Indian and by whom he had a son and six daughters. As some Perez lines may tie into nobility in Israel or Spain, so they might tie into nobility on this continent.

Some researchers have found that the double Spanish name of Perez de Garfias is connected to the last Tarascan Emperor. A daughter of a Perez de Garfias line married the Emperor. Therefore those families finding Perez de Garfias lineage may descend in fact from the last Tarascan Emperor.

You'll noticed some disagreements in the following information, but it is presented for your evaluation, interest, and further research.  Following information was from a Perez website. http://www.guillermo-fernandez.com/perez.html 

CUENTOS

DESPERATE HOUSEFLIES by Ben Romero

Remembering My Childhood Christmases

by Lydia Saenz Saenz  

Dear Family  & Friends,

Hope all is well with you and yours as it is with us.  Thanks be to God!  The Christmas holidays are just around the corner and this season always makes me reminisce of my early childhood Christmases in Alice, Texas, where I was  born and raised.  This time I decided to write down some of my thoughts to share with you.  I hope you enjoy my little walk down memory lane.    

First and foremost, when we were children we were taught that Christmas Eve was a very holy night which meant going to midnight mass or as we called it "misa de gallo".  During that time, women, as well as little girls, had to cover their head with a scarf or a mantilla before entering the Catholic Church.  We were taught by our mom, Lalita and Tia Juanita Velasquez, to bow our heads, bless ourselves with holy water and never forget to genuflect before the Lord.  There was more reverence for the house of God and rightly so!   

Throughout the Holy Mass, the soft music danced in my ears like Away in a Manger and O come All Ye Faithful.  I remember thinking this must be what it sounds like in heaven.  When the mass ended, we would walk up to the alter to pay homage to the baby Jesus who was in a manger.  I remember kneeling before him and praying to give him thanks for everything we had and for coming to us on this holy night.  Sometimes the priest would hold the baby Jesus and we would give him a kiss on the cheek.  Even at such an early age, I would get teary eyed listening to the choir at St. Joseph's Church as they sang Noche De Paz.  

After mass, we would walk to Tia Ester's house for some of her delicious tamalitos, pan de polvo, and hot chocolate (Yes, after midnight mass!).  Usually a big crowd of family members would show up making it a huge celebration.  It definitely became a tradition to go to Tia's after la misa de gallo.  Afterwards, we'd walk home and sometimes I'd ask my mom curious questions, like “Mommy do you know which star showed (los tres reyes magos) the three wise men where Jesus was?”  “Oh”, she'd say, “it had to be a very bright one so they could see it, hmmm it might even be that one over there”.  Us kids stared in amazement.  After all the excitement of Christmas Eve mother had a hard time putting us to sleep. Could it have been all the sugar from the pan de polvo?  

We were probably the envy of the barrio on Plaza St. just because we were the only ones who had a chimney!  Everyone knew Santa Claus would arrive through a chimney or so we thought since that's how we were used to seeing him on the cover of a coloring book.  The children would say you are so lucky, but would you please tell Lalita to tell Santa we just live across the street or down the street.  Please don't forget us!  It was so funny.  

Usually, Santa would bring us a gift or maybe two, but either way we were thrilled!  It meant a lot to us like you wouldn't believe. My brothers would usually get their favorite pistols.  For instance, Ray liked Roy Roger's guns with their holster.  Alonzo liked Gene Autrey's guns with the holster too. There were times when Santa would bring them the Red Ryder's BB guns. They would spend the whole day outside playing Cowboys and Indians.  My sister liked Dolls or a Blackboard with chalk. We would both share our toys and play school.  I loved Alice in Wonderland dishes, or Cinderella dishes.  I think we liked just about everything, especially the big dolls with the big blue eyes that would close when you tilted them backwards.  Whatever we would get we would always share.   

On Christmas morning we would get ready and walk to Garza's Cafe to receive our little gift from the Garza family.  It didn't matter how cold it was but we were there bright and early.  Every kid in the neighborhood would go and line up outside their door.  We all looked forward to their goodies, believe me.  Their little cafe was on Reynolds St. across from Plaza St.  The family handed us a little brown bag full of yummy stuff like an apple, orange or tangerine, walnuts, almonds, pecans, etc.  Even those unforgettable Christmas candies that went up and down like a rollercoaster shape.  Someone told me they were called ribbon candies.  They even gave us cookies.  Little did they know they were giving us a lifetime of beautiful memories with their gifts.  It wasn't every day we could afford all of these goodies so we savored what we had and even traded with one another if there was a candy we didn't mind trading.   

One thing for sure, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Mi Tia Juanita's pan de polvo.  Tia would put plenty of TLC in it for her family.  I remember walking near her house and smelling canela (cinnamon) from outside.  I'd run home and tell my mom “she's baking it already”!  Tia would make Christmas so special for our family.  Her gift came in a one pound coffee can full of dime size pan de polvo in star shapes but the can was wrapped in red or green foil paper.  On top was a little paper that read, "Para mi hermanita Lalita y familia.  Tu hermana que mucho te quiere, Juanita.  Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo”.  I wonder if she ever knew how much that meant to us?   Every year she brought us an unforgettable Christmas to our home.  Life was so simple back then and even though we were poor we didn't know it.  We  were content with what we had.  

Best wishes for a blessed Christmas and may the New Year 2011 bring with it many blessings and a sense of contentment to you and yours.

Love, Mom/Grandma/Aunt/Cousin/Friend,

Lydia Saenz Saenz

FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH

• California's "Great Registers" are county voting registers compiled roughly every two years. Early registers included naturalization data and even physical descriptions. The state library has registers from 1866 to 1898 and 1900 to 1944, and reisters from 1900 to 1968 are on subscription site Ancestry.com. They’re also on microfilm by county at the FHL.

• Arizona has similar Great Registers, located at the Arizona State Library and on FHL microfilm.

  ---

   Hispanic-Heritage Links 
  Enlaces documentos acerca de herencia hispana
  http://www.archives.gov/espanol/herencia.html
  

• Para Veteranos y Sus Familias
• La Constitución de los Estados Unidos de América
• La Declaración de Independencia Americana
• La Carta de Derechos
• Horario e Información para Visitantes
• Celebrando el Día de la Constitución
  
  Sent by Bill Carmena JCarm1724@aol.com

ORANGE COUNTY, CA

Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research Monthly Meeting

Saturday, December 4th
9:30- 11:30 a.m.

The meeting will conclude with a social. 
Gloria Cortinas Oliver will facilitate a sharing of  Christmas traditions.
Light refreshments will be served. 

Orange Family History Center
674 S. Yorba
Orange, CA 

Ooops . .   who sent?

LOS ANGELES, CA

CALIFORNIA 

The Vaqueros

Creators of the American West
by Richard Duree

Also known as: Colonel Richard Dodge, Single Action Shooting Society, #1750 Life

    
   All SASS members and anyone else who has studied the American West are aware that the Californio vaquero started it all by creating the traditions and techniques that guided the development of the American cowboy. The story of the vaquero is an interesting one and in it is revealed the fascinating history of California – and the American West.

   It all began about the time of the American Revolution with the Spanish intrusion into California by sending Franciscan missionaries to Christianize the Native American Indians of the region. Long after the myth of cities of gold that prompted earlier expeditions into the desert interior had been dispelled, Spain still wanted to establish and reinforce its claims on the North American continent. Religious zeal prompted them to turn the California Indians into Christian converts, subject to the Spanish crown. They had not a clue to the fabulous riches of far-off California.

   For centuries, California had been believed to be an island of fabulous beauty and wealth – and they weren’t too far wrong. California was a virtual island, separated from the rest of the world by almost insurmountable barriers: the Pacific Ocean to the west, parched deserts and soaring mountain ranges to the east, and an impossible trek from Mexico City to the south.

   The padres who made the arduous journey to California were a remarkable group of men. Most were second and third-born sons of an aristocracy that deeded everything to the oldest son, leaving following siblings to the mercy and generosity of the eldest. These men were drawn to the priesthood for several reasons and, in the process, became highly educated men. In addition to horsemanship, fencing, dancing, the arts and all the other obligatory lessons of the aristocracy, as priests they learned languages, architecture, agriculture and other skills necessary for surviving in the wilds to which they would be assigned.

   So, California was invaded with various levels of force by highly educated and skilled men with a determination born of righteous zeal. They established the beginnings of the American West in the form of the famous California missions running from Baja California in present day Mexico some 500 miles north, even beyond San Francisco, along “El Camino Real,” the “king’s road.” Spaced a day’s ride apart, most of the missions have now been restored and they are indeed outstanding, beautiful works of art, designed by the padres and built on the backs of the “Christianized” Indians.

   One of the missions’ major tasks was to develop an industry which Spain could develop into a world trade monopoly and they almost succeeded. The missions were granted huge tracts of land and charged with raising cattle and sheep as a major product for Spanish ships to take for trade, forbidding any contact with ships of other nations – a foolhardy and unworkable arrangement, as it turned out, considering the natural curiosity and hospitality of the priests and the aggressiveness of the Yankee traders.

   One cannot manage vast herds of free-ranging cattle without a means to control them. Thus, the padres had to train the Indians in their charge with the skills needed to manage the herds: horsemanship, roping, branding, breeding, butchering, etc. The time-honored equestrian skills of Old Spain were thus transplanted into California in the late 18^th century. Within a couple of generations, these California Indians became splendid horsemen - some of the finest in the world - and laid the foundation for the American cowboy to follow some 60 years later.

   Following Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico attempted to exercise control over California. Several groups of settlers were sent there to establish colonies and large land grants, hundreds of thousands of acres each, were awarded to almost any who requested them. Indeed, many Americans established homes and fortunes for themselves by fulfilling the requirements for Mexican citizenship at the time: becoming Catholic and marrying into a Mexican-Californio family. Many of California’s important historical figures are among them.

  These settlers, the Californios, were subsequently almost abandoned by Mexico, due in part to the impossible travel conditions and by Mexico’s own internal problems. Most of the administrators sent to Alta California were weak or corrupt or incompetent – or all three and, despised by the Californios, were ineffectual in imposing Mexico’s rule.

   In the early 1830s, the missions were secularized and sold as private property. Many were abandoned and began a long period of decay as the Rancho Period developed. Though it existed only from about 1825 until 1855 – 30 years, ending with the Gold Rush and the arrival of the Americans, the Rancho Period is one of the most interesting and colorful periods in American history. It was already passed from existence 10 years before the end of the Civil War and the beginnings of the “Old West.”

   The Californios were free to develop their own culture and society and they did. On close examination, their life closely paralleled that of the Old South, which existed at the same time, with wealthy land owners and a lower class of Indian servants – and vaqueros.

   The vaquero existed in a unique environment which allowed a comfortable and thoughtful development of his craft. There were no hostile Indians to contend with, the weather was not a factor most of the time and they began with a highly developed equestrian tradition. There were few if any firearms (until the Yanquis arrived) and the major tools the vaquero had for his survival were his rawhide reata and his knife. In the vast unfenced lands populated by very wild cattle with vicious, hooked horns and very dangerous California grizzly bears, a man afoot was as good a dead. The vaquero spent literally his entire waking life aboard his fine horse, also of Spanish origin, and rarely walked anywhere.

   With the time and traditions of fine horsemanship, the vaqueros developed a system of training their horses that was unhurried and remarkable in its results. Far different from the rough and tumble “bronc buster” of American cowboy fame, the vaquero normally took several years to train his mount and didn’t consider it finished until the horse was about 10 years old after six to eight years of careful work. Beginning with the ‘bozell’ or ‘hackamore’ the vaquero led the young horse gently and surely into a sure-footed, highly responsive and trusting steed, introducing the bit only after the horse was ready for it after two or three years. These training methods are still practiced in California today, especially along the Southern California coast from San Diego to Monterey. The horses are a sight to behold as they perform splendid feats with perfection under imperceptible cues from their riders.

   The vaquero’s horsemanship was his ultimate pride and he proved it at every opportunity. It was basic technique for a man to rope a cow and throw it without dismounting from his horse. It’s almost magic to see a horse standing patiently and seemingly unconcerned, then tuck his head and prick his ears at the slightest signal from its rider, ready to respond instantly to any command.

   It was routine for a vaquero to ride out and rope a grizzly bear and drag it back to the rancho to be matched against a bull in an almost unimaginable fight to the death. More often, four or five vaqueros would go after a bear and secure the beast with several reatas to prevent it from attacking any one horseman. It must be remembered that the California grizzly was the largest of the grizzlies on the North American continent; it’s the California state symbol. These were not small animals - they were large, dangerous and aggressive. This practice is all the more remarkable in view of the horse’s natural fear of bears. Any horse not so well-trained will panic and leave the country at first scent of a bear, with or without its rider.

   As an added historical note, the terms “bull” and “bear” market come from this bloody spectacle. The bull’s attack on the bear was an upward hook with its horns, while the bear moved to pull the bull downward. It is recorded that the bear usually prevailed in these matches, though he was usually seriously injured and was killed anyway for its pelt.

   The reata was braided from strips of rawhide cut in a continuous circle from the center of a cowhide - a skilled leather craftsman could get a strip over 100 feet long from one hide. The reata was often 60 to 100 feet long and the rider would throw a loop over eight feet across, necessary for passing over the cattle’s’ long horns. The finished reata would stretch only so far and the rider had to exercise great care when controlling a thousand pound steer not to stretch it too abruptly and break.

   Many different casts were used, depending on the situation: backhand, over the top, backward, and so on. Often the bears were lassoed with the horse facing away from the bear to facilitate escaping the bear’s charge.

   Braiding was a popular vaquero art. Not only the reata, but reins, quirts, headstalls and other leather tack were braided with thin strips of leather into stunning works of art. The Californio reins were braided and joined at a loop where they were held by the rider’s hand. From that same loop dangled a three-foot long braided fall, ending in a wide, flat strip of leather like that on a quirt. The vaquero’s horse didn’t need to be “ground-tied” as was the practice with the American cow pony; it would remain were it was when the rider dismounted, leaving the reins looped over the saddle horn.

   Their saddle was developed from the military saddle of the conquistadors, adding the wide, flat horn for roping and the wide skirts to protect horse and rider from the brush. The American cowboy’s saddle evolved from that vaquero saddle with various regional differences, again to suit the tastes and needs of that region. The horn became smaller and taller, the skirts became smaller, the cantle lower or higher, the pommel wider or narrower – true treasures of American folk art.

   “Vaquero” became “buckaroo” in American lingo; “la reata” became “lariat.” These are only two of many words assimilated into our language from the Californio vaquero.  The rodeo, (“ro day o” in Spanish), came from the vaquero tradition of competing and displaying their riding expertise. They loved racing their prized steeds and waged frightening sums on the outcomes. Snatching up a handkerchief or a chicken buried to its neck in the sand while riding at full gallop was a very popular game – at which almost every vaquero was competitive.

   The vaqueros – as did all Californios – loved to dance; it was one of the few things they would do dismounted. Fandangos were held in a three-sided enclosure called a ‘ramada’ (another familiar word); the mounted vaqueros would gather at the open end of the ramada. When the time came for the man to join in a dance, he would dismount, remove his spurs and hang them on his saddle horn, join the dance, then remount to wait until the next dance.

   The American cowboy shared that love of dance and stories have been told of young men riding amazing distances to take a girl to a dance and return her home. The American cowboy inherited the vaquero’s immense pride in his craft and in his station in life. Though he was at the bottom of the social order in the Old West, the cowboy envisioned himself as nothing less than nobility and the equal of any man. And he was right.

   The next time you ‘cowboy up,’ it might be worth a thought back to that proud vaquero who was a product of the California missions and the ranchos and who was the creator of the traditions we all love and share.

http://www.independent.com/news/2007/aug/02/pablo-de-la-guerra-speaks-out-against-injustice/ 

                                  The Heritage Discovery Center 
                                    and Pacheco Pass

We are looking forward to the New Year in 2011.  The past couple of years have been challenging for nearly everyone and certainly we also have had to aspire to the changing times.  

We are still endeavoring to preserve a unique window of our colonial past. Many often refer to it as the ‘golden’ period in our western history and civilization. This Romantic period has yet to see the remembrance that it so greatly deserves, much of this rich colonial cultural heritage has vanished, and many of the fragments that do remain are obscure or misunderstood.  

To re-claim this history for everyone to appreciate is to fulfill a personal dream and replace a time lost with beauty, majesty, perseverance, and the reality of change.  I look forward to a better economy and the opportunity to develop the Living History Museum project in Pacheco State Park for all to share.  

 The Heritage Discovery Center is excited about the High Speed Rail that will connect important populations from major cities throughout California .  One of the rail lines travels through Pacheco Pass ; this makes the HDC Living History Museum in Pacheco State Park available to the whole state. The HDC Museum will offer the public a location in central California which hosts some of our nation’s most special treasures, from the underwater Grand Canyon , graceful beaches and magnificent rugged coast to the lush, pastoral, legendary hills and valleys with their incredible animal and plant life.  

Pacheco Pass – Pacheco Pass is one of the few easy passages between the coast and the great central valley. It serves as a convenient route for people of the San Joaquin valley, Monterey , San Benito , Santa Cruz and southern Santa Clara regions. It also serves as the home for the Central Valley Yokut tribe. This pass was a favorite haunt for the infamous Joaquin Murrieta and played a huge role in the Butterfield Transcontinental        

Stage Line and was part of the first Overland Mail Route .  

Pacheco State Park is the last remaining portion of the Mexican land grant, El Rancho San Luis Gonzaga. Francisco Pacheco and his son Juan were granted the property and built the first house in Merced County on this land in 1843.

 At the time of Francisco Pacheco’s passing he was the richest ranchero of Monterey County and his land grants included more acreage than any other individual in the state. The land remained in the Pacheco family through five generations until Paula Fatjo, the great-great granddaughter of Francisco Pacheco, donated the land in 1992 to be a park for future generations who share her love of animals, horses, history, and unspoiled land. This land has been a horse and a cattle ranch since 1843. Because of the spirit behind her donation, I believe that this would be a perfect partnership with our HDC   Ranchero Period Center to ensure that her intentions for this property would be fulfilled.

What you can do to get involved  

HDC is having a ‘December Dollar Drive’; this is to raise funds and awareness for the preservation of our history, the HDC Living Museum , and the Cruce Mission Colonial Horses.

If you go to our website, you have already taken a step to help us. There are many things from here that you can do.

1.  If you can donate $1.00 or whatever you can give, this will save a horse, promote the HDC’s effort to preserve our history and ensure that our non-profit remains public to serve in the conservation of our genealogy and history.

2.  The Heritage Discover Center is applying for a Grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project. Thanks to your VOTES our idea will receive funding. You will find this; http:/www.refresheverything.com/grant-recipients.  PLEASE vote for our Heritage Discovery Center project.

3. You can become a member. There are two different types of membership, donor and sponsor. As a donor member you will be supporting the development of the Heritage Discovery Center , ‘ Living History Museum ’ Projects and of course, our horses. Upon donation to any of these categories you will receive a letter with explanations of what your donation has done for the Heritage Discovery Center .                       

As a sponsor member you will be able to view a list of pictures and descriptions of all of our horses and choose from a vast selection of foals, juveniles, mares, stallions and our select performance horses to sponsor. Upon sponsorship you will receive a certificate, photo and a monthly update on your sponsored horse as long as your sponsorship is sustained. This is a great Christmas Gift.  

We need financial support to save this unique and important remnant of our American heritage. Visit our web site for further information:     www.//heritagediscoverycenter.com     E-Mail: hdcinc@netptc.net                                                                                                                                                     
Please send tax deductible contributions to: 
Heritage Discovery Center  
P.O. Box 807,  Madera, CA 93639                                                
OR 
Heritage Discovery Center 
40222 Millstream Lane 
Madera, Ca. 93636 
Phone: 559 868-8681 Fax: 559 8682

About our Horses

  Cruce Mission Horse Foundation Stallions ‘Padre’ & ‘Kino’  
 

   “Comparing the better horses in order to appreciate their greater perfection, I must place the Spanish at the top, and give it my vote for being the most beautiful, the most noble, the best conformed, the bravest and the most worthy of being mounted by a great King” Salomonde la Broue, 1593  

Throughout the Centuries Royalty and Commoners have been noted/documented immortalized/regarded/presented with their equine partners in Art.  Weather drawn, painted, sculpted or simply with the written word man and horse together have shared presented/preserved more of the worlds greatness and changes than any other partnership.   History, traditions and legends of all peoples link man with the horse since earliest times. Deities, stars, oceans and cities have been named in regard to the horse.  

The Iberian horse is the most ancient riding horse, whose 6000 years of history are well documented. It is essential to understand the historical influence of this unique horse and his genetic impact on most breeds throughout Europe .  The finest Horseman and Horses undisputedly were derived from Iberia .  So it is to say that the New World inherited/acquired the finest for their equestrian beginnings.  

The colonial development of the Mission chain and California were destined to become the Equestrian period of the West, often known as the “ El Dorado ”. Spanish horses are the common thread through our Colonial development and our ‘seeds of change’.  They arrived with Spanish explorers aboard their mighty gallons. They carried the great Soldados and Colonist to the sights that were to become great Missions and Pueblos . They were the backbone of our legendary Ranchos and the workhorse of our Agricultural wealth. They forever changed the lifestyle of our Native American peoples and helped bring the Golden age of Spain to California and the West.  

As is typical of landrace type populations, newly discovered herds of Colonial Spanish horses continue to come to the attention of breeders of this type of horse.  A herd of horses found in Sasabe , Arizona fits into the rancher strain category, also is the last remnant of Spanish Mission type horses.  

 These are the horses of the Wilbur-Cruce family who utilized, partnered with and maintained these horses for three generations on their ranch.  The horses originated in the region of Mexico that was the area of the esteemed Father Kino's renowned missions.

 This strain was begun with 25 mares and a stallion that were bought in 1885 from Juan Sepulveda who brought the horses from Father Kino’s Mission Dolores in Sonora . This area had been a source of high quality horses since around 1700.  

 The Wilbur-Cruce herd was brought to the attention of breeders of Colonial Spanish horses in 1989, and illustrates an important point when dealing with landraces such as the Colonial Spanish Horse. It is critical to the conservation of the genetic resource of these populations for the organized studbooks to remain open and receptive to inclusion of new pure herds as they are recognized and documented.  

These new discoveries will always contain valuable genetic material for conservation.

The Wilbur-Cruce horses are more variable in type than the horses in some registries. This is extremely important because three main types of Iberian horses are represented in this herd, the Carthusian/Villano warhorse type, the Jinete/Jennet elegant riding horse, and the Gallego/Barb agile bullfighting and cattle working type.  These horses were essential to our western colonial development and became the mount of our legendary Vaquero. This unique Colonial herd still represents the horses of the Golden Age of Spain and are more like the original horses of Spain than exist in Iberia today.  The Cruce Mission horses are a most significant discovery of a type of horse thought to be gone forever.  The need to conserve this herd is great, since they do represent a unique genetic resource. These noble horses are our Ambassador to our Heritage Discovery Center …as the common thread and partners throughout our colonial history we wish to follow their path and tell the story of our Spanish roots and Heritage.                                                  

In Memory of Don Garate 1951-2010 
San Francisco Presidio on our Cruce Stallion ‘Cristo’

Sent by Lorri Frain
lorrilocks@sbcglobal.net

Santa Barbara Independent 
http://www.independent.com/news/2007/aug/02/pablo-de-la-guerra-
speaks-out-against-injustice/ 

tates, came and settled upon our lands. And I ask, are we to suffer for that?

I believe that I speak advisedly, when I say that three-fourths of the settlers upon the lands, have been aware that someone had a prior claim; they knew it by common report, that such a one and such a one had a claim upon the land; but they thought that even if it was confirmed to the owners, that the use of the land until the confirmation, would be worth more than the improvements that they would make. Perhaps one-fourth went upon the land in good faith. I do not know that such was the case, but I am willing to grant it; but now, when they find that it is probable that the Supreme Court of the United States will confirm these grants, and after deriving all the benefits for the use of the same, they apply to the Legislature, in order that a State Law may be set up as a bar against the action of the Court of the United States.

I say, sir, that already we have suffered deeply; our property has been sacrificed. The Bay of San Francisco alone, at one time, had more cattle than can now be found in the counties of Santa Clara, Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara. Horses, at that time could be counted by the thousands; and I believe that many settlers have settled upon lands for the purposes of stealing the cattle and sending them to the San Francisco market for sale.

Now, sir, of the 113 members in this Legislature, I am the only native of this state; and the native population expect from me, and through me, that in my place in this Legislative Hall, that I shall call the attention of this body to the facts I have now stated, and to tell you that badly treated as they have been in every respect, they look around them and find no other aid except in the mercy of Heaven, and the justice of this Legislature; and now, in their name, I call upon you, Senators, to consider that if they are deprived of what is left to them, they have no other place to go to. They have been rejected by the Mexicans; they know no other country but California, and by depriving them of their rights, they will be compelled to be beggars in the streets; and in order to prevent this terrible calamity from overtaking them, they, through me, throw themselves upon your mercy and clemency; and they ask and expect from you protection that will justify before the eyes of the world the belief in justice of the American people. If the American settlers are deprived of what they have expended for their improvements, they can go home and meet the aid and sympathies of their friends and countrymen; but the Californian, what prospect has he before him, or where shall he go?

I wish to make one remark about the expression, “settled in good faith,” and I am done. Sir, if this bill has effect, it will be from the countries of Santa Clara upward, because in the south we have no settlers; but in those counties I am now referring to, the settlers greatly outnumber the land claimants, and it is useless to say that juries are incorruptible. We know that such is not the case from our daily experience. And these juries will be formed by whom? Sir, they will consist of those very settlers. The Sheriff will summon such a jury as will suit their views. I have seen a good deal of juries in California. I have seen where proof, clear as noon day, would not alter the decision of a jury from their preconceived opinions.

And I will affirm that I believe that out of 100 cases tried between the settlers and the land owners, that 99 will be given in favor of the settler.

And, sir, to conclude these remarks, permit me to assure you, upon my honor as a gentleman, that everything I have stated is true and as clear as conviction itself. I know that I am in the Senate chamber of California, where full liberty of speech is allowed, but if I were speaking to a barbarous people, I should still advocate the same sentiments, and even if I were killed for so doing, I should at least have the satisfaction of dying in a just cause, and should receive the reward from Him who has said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted, for righteousness sake, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 

-Pablo de la Guerra, April 1855

SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES   

American Pastorela: Show Us Your Papers!

Written by James E. Garcia & directed by Arturo Martinez

INDIGENOUS

Northwest Native American Events & News 
This is a "FREE" Native American events and News monthly post for our Native American community -It's free to post and receive.

For more information contact: 
Magenta Marie Spinningwind at SpinningwindProductions@hotmail.com
206-387-3737
P.O. Box 20744
Seattle, WA. 98102

Register to be on the mailing list and to access this page.  http://nwnaeandn.com/ 

ARCHAEOLOGY

Mayan Water Reservoir in Mexican Rainforest: Archaeologists Find Huge Artificial Lake With Ceramic-Lined Floor   Science Daily - August 27, 2010

Archaeologists from the University of Bonn have found a water reservoir the size of a soccer field, whose floor is lined with ceramic shards, in the Mexican rainforest. It seems that in combination with the limestone on top, the shards were supposed to seal the artificial lake. The system was built about 1,500 years ago. It is the first example of this design found for the Maya. It is not yet known whether the reservoir's entire floor is tiled.

Uxul: Ancient Mayan Reservoirs Discovered in City Ruins   Live Science - August 26, 2010
Two artificial lakes, each capable of holding the water of 10 Olympic-size pools, were discovered in ancient Mayan ruins, archaeologists announced today. An analysis of the so-called "aguadas" revealed the ancient Mayans lined these huge reservoirs of drinking water with ceramic shards, similar to outdoor pools today. The lakes would have held enough water to support a population of 2,000 living in the Mayan city of Uxul during the three-month dry season, the researchers say.

Teotihuacan Ruins Yield 1,800 Year Old Tunnels and Tomb   The Epoch Times - August 8, 2010 

For nearly 100 years, archeologists have searched for clues to the identity of the monarchs of the ancient city of Teotihuacan in northern Mexico. On Tuesday archeologists announced they have found what they believe is a tunnel and possibly leading to a ruler¹s tomb.

The long sealed tunnel is believed to be more than 1,800 years old. With the use of a camera and ground-penetrating scanner, archeologists have so far found that the tunnel extends about 37 yards and leads to what appears to be a tomb chamber.

In the tomb chamber, archeologists reported finding rich offerings, including almost 50,000 objects of stone, jade, shell and pottery, including rare ceramic beakers. They have not confirmed that chamber contains the remains or imagery of a ruler. 

The first hint of where the tunnel lay came in 2003 when a heavy rainstorm caused the ground to sink at the foot of the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl in the central ceremonial area of the ruins, which lie approximately 340 miles north of Mexico City.

Unlike any other pre-Hispanic metropolises that contain remains of deified rulers, Teotihuacan has to date not yielded a single depiction of a ruler, or even the tomb of a monarch.

Teotihuacan is a large, sprawling complex of temples, avenues and plazas, still used for ceremony by many native Mexican tribes. It is home to the Jaguar Temple, Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl, and the towering Pyramids of the Moon and the Sun. Researchers believe that the tunnel was deliberately closed off, between A.D. 200 and 250 and was a central element around which the rest of the ceremonial complex was built, making it the most sacred aspect of the ruins.

The city is believed to have had more than 100,000 inhabitants and scientists posit it may have been the largest and most influential city in pre-Hispanic North America at the time. The city reached it¹s height between 100 B.C. and A.D. 750 and was designated "Teotihuacan" by the Aztecs who discovered it in the 1300's. Teotihuacan means "the place where men become gods."

Since no names, images or other references to rulers have been found in Teotihuacan's stone carvings and exquisite murals, one theory is that city rule may have been shared among multiple leaders, its four precincts possibly ruled by alternating leaders. In 1987 Teotihuacan was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is one of the most visited archaeological sites in Mexico.

Archaeologists Find Tunnel Below the Temple of the Feathered Serpent in Teotihuacan   
Art Daily.org - August 5, 2010

After eight months of excavation, archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have located, 12 meters below , the entrance to the tunnel leading to a series of galleries beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Quetzalcoatl in the Archaeological Area of Teotihuacan, where the remains of rulers of the ancient city could have been deposited.

Pictures: Odd Maya Tomb Yields Jeweled Teeth, More   
National Geographic - July 23, 2010

Diver "Vanishes" in Portal to Maya Underworld   National Geographic - June 29, 2010
Diving into natural pools in Belize in the quest for offerings from the ancient Maya, explorers found what's believed to be the country's first recorded fossilized remains. In the course of the expedition, one diver "disappeared" into the pool's floor.

Aztec, Maya Were Rubber-Making Masters?   
National Geographic - June 29, 2010

Massive Maya City Revealed by Lasers   National Geographic - May 20, 2010


Maya Plumbing: First Pressurized Water Feature Found in New World   Science Daily - May 5, 2010

Classic Maya History Is Embedded in Commoners' Homes   Science Daily - April 16, 2010

Ancient Mural Portrays Ordinary Mayans   Live Science - March 7, 2010

Maya Murals Give Rare View of Everyday Life   Live Science - November 9, 2009 One corner of the painted Maya pyramid structure at Calakmul, Mexico.

Ancient Texts Present Mayans As Literary Geniuses   PhysOrg - March 5, 2010

Mexico: Maya tomb find could help explain collapse   PhysOrg - January 28, 2010

Blog: How the Maya lived   MSNBC - November 11, 2009

Photos: Lost Treasures of the Zapotec Civilization   
National Geographic - March 9, 2009

Zapotec Digs in Mexico Show Clues to Rise and Fall   
National Geographic - March 9, 2009

Zapotec  Wikipedia

Mexico's Unconquered Maya Hold Tight to Their Old Ways   
National Geographic - January 16, 2009

Portal to Maya Underworld Found in Mexico? National Geographic - August 22, 2008

Mexican archeologists have discovered a maze of stone temples in underground caves, some submerged in water and containing human bones, which ancient Mayans believed was a portal where dead souls entered the underworld. 

Clad in scuba gear and edging through narrow tunnels, researchers discovered the stone ruins of eleven sacred temples and what could be the remains of human sacrifices at the site in the Yucatan Peninsula.

Mexican archeologists have discovered a maze of stone temples in underground caves, some submerged in water and containing human bones, which ancient Mayans believed was a portal where dead souls entered the underworld. Clad in scuba gear and edging through narrow tunnels, researchers discovered the stone ruins of eleven sacred temples and what could be the remains of human sacrifices at the site in the Yucatan Peninsula.

Archeologists say Mayans believed the underground complex of water-filled caves leading into dry chambers -- including an underground road stretching some 330 feet -- was the path to a mythical underworld, known as Xibalba.

According to an ancient Mayan scripture, the Popol Vuh, the route was filled with obstacles, including rivers filled with scorpions, blood and pus and houses shrouded in darkness or swarming with shrieking bats, Guillermo de Anda, one of the lead investigators at the site. "The souls of the dead followed a mythical dog who could see at night," de Anda said. 

Excavations over the past five months in the Yucatan caves revealed stone carvings and pottery left for the dead. "They believed that this place was the entrance to Xibalba. That is why we have found the offerings there," de Anda said. The Mayans built soaring pyramids and elaborate palaces in Central America and southern Mexico before mysteriously abandoning their cities around 900 A.D. They described the torturous journey to Xibalba in the Popul Vuh sacred text, originally written in hieroglyphic script on long scrolls and later transcribed by Spanish conquerors. "It is very likely this area was protected as a sacred depository for the dead or for the passage of their souls," said de Anda, whose team has found ceramic offerings along with bones in some temples.

Different Mayan groups who inhabited southern Mexico and northern Guatemala and Belize had their own entrances to the underworld which archeologists have discovered at other sites, almost always in cave systems buried deep in the jungle. In the Yucatan site they have found one 1,900-year-old ceramic vase, but most of the artifacts date back to between 700 and 850 A.D. "These sacred tunnels and caves were natural temples and annexes to temples on the surface," said de Anda.

Ancient Maya Tomb Yields "Amazing" Fabrics National Geographic - April 26, 2008

Maya Discovery a Key Link? National Geographic - April 8, 2008

Maya May Have Caused Civilization-Ending Climate Change National Geographic - February 29, 2008

Secret to Mayan Blue Paint Found Live Science - February 26, 2008

Mysteries of "Sacrificial" Maya Blue Pigment Solved? National Geographic - February 26, 2008

Ancient Mayans: Temples for Everyone! 
National Geographic - February 26, 2008

Guatemala: Spy Satellite Spots Lost Mayan Cities AOL - February 21, 2008

Guatemala City: Ancient Mayan astronomers aligned their soaring temples with the stars and now modern archeologists have found the ruins of hidden cities in the Guatemalan jungle by peering down from space.

Archaeologists investigating the collapse of the Mayan civilization said Wednesday that they used a satellite to uncover the ruins of hidden cities in the Guatemalan jungle. The satellite can see through clouds and forests to reveal differences in the vegetation below. The image above was colored to help highlight patterns of jungle growth.

Archeologists and NASA scientists began teaming up five years ago to search for clues about the mysterious collapse of the Mayan civilization that flourished in Central America and southern Mexico for 1,000 years. The work is paying off, says archeologist William Saturno, who recently discovered five sprawling sites with hundreds of buildings using a spy satellite that can see through clouds and forest to reveal differences in the vegetation below. Saturno said the satellite images made it infinitely easier to find ruins covered for centuries by dense jungle vines and trees. 

Saturno first sought out satellite images to find a source of water near his excavation camp at San Bartolo, which lies 32 miles from the nearest town on inaccessible roads deep in Guatemala's northern Peten region. NASA gave him a snapshot of solar radiation reflected off the wide variety of plants in the region. Saturno was surprised to see a pattern of discoloration in the satellite image that outlined some of the buildings he had already uncovered. Using a GPS device, he pinpointed on a map the location of other discolorations nearby and discovered several areas with hidden Mayan architecture.

The Maya built with limestone and lime plasters. As the abandoned buildings disintegrate, chemicals from the stones seep into the soil, keeping some plants from growing around the structures and affecting the chemistry of those that do grow. The satellite can spot these differences and the result is a virtual road map of the buried structures from nearly 400 miles above Earth's surface.

Saturno said he expects more discoveries like his 2001 find of an elaborate mural from around 100 B.C. depicting the Mayan creation myth, dubbed the Sistine Chapel of the Mayan world. His research partner at NASA, Tom Sever, hopes the satellite images could provide clues as to why the Mayan civilization collapsed around 900 A.D. "What we are investigating is the choices the Maya made that ultimately created a catastrophic situation for them," Sever said by telephone from a NASA base in the U.S. state of Alabama.

To support a population boom the Maya felled huge swathes of jungle for agriculture. They collected water in giant reservoirs called "bajos" to farm during seasonal dry spells, but the deforestation raised temperatures and reduced rainfall, drying up water sources, Sever said. Bajos were found at around half the new sites located by the satellite, potentially boosting this theory of why the Maya had to leave their cities. Information about the fate of the Maya could help modern societies make better choices and avoid the sometimes disastrous mistakes of the past.

Ancient Maya Used "Glitter" Paint to Make Temple Gleam 
National Geographic - February 7, 2008

Ancient Mayan Marketplace Discovered National Geographic - 
December 5, 2007

Rare Maya "Death Vase" Discovered National Geographic - 
December 3, 2007

Maya Rituals Caused Ancient Decline in Big Game 
National Geographic - November 15, 2007

Snake-bird gods fascinated both Aztecs and Egypt
Reuters - September 24, 2007                                                                                                        Quetzalcoatl

Ancient Mexicans and Egyptians who never met and lived centuries and thousands of miles apart both worshiped feathered-serpent deities, built pyramids and developed a 365-day calendar, a new exhibition shows. Billed as the world's largest temporary archeological showcase, Mexican archeologists have brought treasures from ancient 
Egypt to display alongside the great indigenous civilizations of Mexico for the first time.

The exhibition, which boasts a five-tonne, 3,000-year-old sculpture of Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II and stone carvings from Mexican pyramid at Chichen Itza, aims to show many of the similarities of two complex worlds both conquered by Europeans in invasions 1,500 years apart. "There are huge cultural parallels between ancient Egypt and Mexico in religion, astronomy, architecture and the arts. They deserve to be appreciated together," said exhibition organizer Gina Ulloa, who spent almost three years preparing the 35,520 square-feet (3,300 meter-square) display.

The exhibition, which opened at the weekend in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, shows how Mexican civilizations worshiped the feathered snake god Quetzalcoatl from about 1,200 BC to 1521, when the Spanish conquered the Aztecs.

From 3,000 BC onward Egyptians often portrayed their gods, including the Goddess of the Pharaohs Isis, in art and sculpture as serpents with wings or feathers. The feathered serpent and the serpent alongside a deity signifies the duality of human existence, at once in touch with water and earth, the serpent, and the heavens, the feathers of a bird," said Ulloa. Egyptian sculptures at the exhibition -- flown to Mexico from ancient temples along the Nile and from museums in Cairo, Luxor and Alexandria - show how Isis' son Horus was often represented with winged arms and accompanied by serpents. Cleopatra, the last Egyptian queen before the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC, saw herself as Isis and wore a gold serpent in her headpiece.

Uncanny Similarities

In the arts, Mexico's earliest civilization, the Olmecs, echo Egypt's finest sculptures. Olmec artists carved large man-jaguar warriors that are similar to the Egyptian sphinxes on display showing lions with the heads of gods or kings. The seated statue of an Egyptian scribe carved between 2465 and 2323 BC shows stonework and attention to detail that parallels a seated stone sculpture of an Olmec lord. There is no evidence the Olmecs and Egyptians ever met.

Shared traits run to architecture, with Egyptians building pyramids as royal tombs and the Mayans and Aztecs following suit with pyramids as places of sacrifice to the gods. While there is no room for pyramids at the exhibition -- part of the Universal Forum of Cultures, an international cultural festival held in Barcelona in 2004 -- organizers say it is the first time many of pieces have left Egypt. They include entire archways from Nile temples, a bracelet worn by Ramses II and sarcophagi used by the pharaohs. Mexico has also brought together Aztec, Mayan and Olmec pieces from across the country.

Ancient Farm Discovery Yields Clues to Maya Diet National Geographic - August 20, 2007

World's Longest Underground River Discovered in Mexico, Divers Say National Geographic - March 6, 2007

German diver Robbie Schmittner is seen diving with a propulsion device through an underwater cave system in the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico. Bogaerts says he and Schmittner found flooded underground passages connecting two previously known caves, a discovery that could constitute the world's longest underwater cave system, showing how vulnerable the Yucatan's fabled underground water system is.

Priceless Maya Stone Vessel Looted in Guatemala National Geographic - May 7, 2006
Carved from volcanic rock and covered in intricate hieroglyphs, the vessel is only the fourth of its kind to emerge from the so-called Maya rain forest of Central America. Dating to A.D. 480 to 550, the box is a rare example of lowland Maya art from the murky Early Classic period, Woodfill says. Symbolic figures and characters - including the god of the underworld, a scribe, and another artisan - adorn four sides of the box.

Ancient Maya Royal Tomb Discovered in Guatemala National Geographic - May 4, 2006           
    

Archeologists outsmarted tomb raiders to unearth a major Maya Indian royal burial site in the Guatemalan jungle, discovering jade jewelry and a jaguar pelt from more than 1,500 years ago.


Mayan hieroglyphics discovered dating to 3rd century BC National Geographic - January 6, 2006

Earliest Maya Writing Found in Guatemala

Earliest Mayan writing found in pyramid MSNBC - January 6, 2006

Ancient Portrait of Maya Woman Found - Who Was She? National Geographic - December 8, 2005

Early Mayan women were a powerful force News in Science - December 6, 2005

Mass Graves Reveal Massacre of Maya Royalty National Geographic - November 18, 2005

Openings to the Underworld  News in Science - May 18, 2002

Just south of the Cross Group - a stone tablet with an elaborate scene and numerous hieroglyphs carved in relief was found on the side of a low platform in Temple XXI. It now joins the canon of historically vital and stunningly beautiful monuments from this Classic Maya site in Chiapas, Mexico.  The ancient Maya may have dug caves with spiritual abandon

May 29, 2001 - Reuters - Tegucigalpa, Honduras

The jade-encrusted remains of a powerful Mayan king have been unearthed in Honduras by a Japanese archeologist in a key finding from the ancient and mysterious civilization, the tourism ministry said on Friday. The remains belong to one of the 16 rulers of the Mayan dynasty that ruled the city of Copan, in what is now Honduras, between 426 and 763 A.D., the ministry said. Archeologist Seiichi Nakamura, who made the discovery, said the king may have served between the 6th and 10th regimes of the Copan dynasty.

The tomb contained a skull, a femur and an ornamental breastplate and kneecap with jade inlays. It was dug up in August but was only recently confirmed to hold the remains of a Mayan king. The discovery means that the remains of eight of Mayan's 16 rulers of Myan have now been found. The burial site was located at a religious temple that lies among ruins stretching across some 214,000 square feet. Some 20 recoverable buildings, 36 skeletal remains, 10 religious offerings, 37 ceramic vessels and other objects were also found at the site. The newly uncovered area is about 2 miles from the acropolis of Copan, where the Honduras government is constructing a highway. The Mayan culture sprung up in the region spanning southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras and is renowned for its imposing edifices, social organization, astrological advances and the existence of a calendar. Archeologists and scientists still do not fully understand the causes of the civilization's decline. The Mayan ruins in Honduras are among the impoverished nation's most visited tourist attractions.

Jade 'mother lode' found in remote Guatemalan region

May 2002 - San Francisco Gate

For half a century, scholars have searched in vain for the source of the jade that the early civilizations of the Americas prized above all else and fashioned into precious objects of worship, trade and adornment.

The searchers found some clues to the source of jadeite, as the precious rock is known, for the Olmecs and Mayas. But no lost mines came to light.

Now, scientists exploring the wilds of Guatemala say they have found the mother lode -- a mountainous region roughly the size of Rhode Island strewn with huge jade boulders, other rocky treasures and signs of ancient mining. It was discovered after a hurricane tore through the landscape and exposed the veins of jade, some of which turned up in stores, arousing the curiosity of scientists.

The find includes large outcroppings of blue jade, the gemstone of the Olmecs, the mysterious people who created the first complex culture in pre- Columbian Mesoamerica, the region that encompasses much of Mexico and Central America. It also includes an ancient mile-high road of stone that runs for miles through the densely forested region.

The deposits rival the world's leading source of mined jade today, in Burma, the experts say.

The implications for history, archaeology and anthropology are just starting to emerge.

For one thing, the scientists say, the find suggests that the Olmecs, who flourished on the southern Gulf Coast of Mexico, exerted wide influence in the Guatemalan highlands as well. All told, they add, the Guatemalan lode was worked for millenniums, compared with centuries for the Burmese one.

In part, the discovery is a result of the devastating storm that hit Central America in 1998, killing thousands of people and touching off floods and landslides that exposed old veins and washed jade into river beds. Local prospectors picked up the precious scraps, which found their way into Guatemalan jewelry shops and, eventually, the hands of astonished scientists.

Led by Seitz and local jade hunters, a team of scientists from the American Museum of Natural History, Rice University and UC Riverside scoured the forested ravines of the Guatemalan highlands for more than two years.

In the end the scientists made a series of discoveries culminating in bus- size boulders of Olmec blue jade. The exact locations of the outcroppings are not being given, to protect them.

Early peoples of the Americas considered jade more valuable than gold and silver. The Olmecs, the great sculptors of the pre-Columbian era, carved jades into delicate human forms and scary masks. Maya kings and other royalty often went to their graves with jade suits, rings and necklaces. The living had their teeth inlaid with the colored gems.

Sent by Jose M. Pena JMPENA@aol.com

SEPHARDIC

ARE YOUR ANCESTORS JEWISH?

By Bernadette Inclan
Bsbincoin@aol.com

“…beliefs imposed by force are not very believable. Indeed the greater the force applied, the greater the likely falsity of the belief. A truth is either self-evident or it is not.”   From The Cavalier of Málaga by David Raphael
 

            For centuries, the Jewish people were forced to give up weapons of any kind. It began with the Romans who destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem and the Jews were made to scatter throughout the world. Wherever they went, the Jews were forced into an existence without weapons. Jews rose to the challenge and created a new method of survival—living by their intelligence. They pursued the peaceful paths, such as learning and scholarship, whether it was scripture, science or business. The Jews became aware that the tremendous power of learning gave them an edge in a competitive world. Because of the close-knit communities the Jews were forced to live in, their education came from highly learned individuals. Such was the basis for Jews being influential in areas of scholarship, banking, medicine, commerce, and so on. Power for the Jews of Spain was tenuous, however. It didn’t matter that the Jewish community had been centuries old in the making.

            In his book The Other 1492: Jewish Settlement in the New World, the author, Norman H. Finkelstein states that 1492 was also the year that “the most vibrant European Jewish community of the time came to an abrupt and tragic end. The same Ferdinand and Isabella who sent Columbus on his voyage of discovery presided over the Spanish Inquisition, which either expelled Jews from Spain, forced them to convert to Catholicism, or exterminated them.”  Those that converted to Catholicism were known as Converso, or New Christian. However, a convert who secretly continued to practice his/her ancestral faith were known as judaizante, or Crypto-Jew.  There is also the case of a baptized Jew who in public behaved like a Christian, but inwardly considered himself/herself still a Jew. These Conversos were known by the contemptuous term, Marranos, Spanish for swine.

            With the defeat of the Moors in 1480, Europe was rapidly becoming a Catholic continent. Early modern Spanish society was one of rigidity and conformity, and therefore intolerant of any form of difference, divergence or dissent. In 1492, influential Jews in Spain had a vision for a new world for Jews, and funded Columbus on this voyage of discovery. In time, many Jews and Conversos ultimately made their way to the New World, which Columbus had discovered.

            In 1518, the first Jews arrived with Hernán Cortés in the land of the Aztecs. Among them is Hernando Alonso, who participates in the conquest of the cities of Guanajuato and Tenochitilan. In 1528, Alonso is burned at the stake after being accused of being Jewish.

            In 1568, Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva, with the rank of admiral, left Spain with a fleet of eleven ships. He returned to Spain in 1578 intent upon gathering his family and friends, most of them secretly practicing Jews, to join him in colonizing the New World territory. In 1580, he succeeded in the exploration and colonization of the New Kingdom of León. However, with the establishment of the Inquisition in New Spain in 1571, Luis de Carvajal was imprisoned because of the Judaizing activities among the Carvajal family members, whose confessions were obtained under torture by the Inquisition.

From 1640 to 1649, the Inquisition persecution intensified, targeting the Jewish leadership. Once convicted, an entire family would be stripped of title, property and meaningful employment, which extended to their progeny. Because of the absence of structure and the lack of knowledge about their Jewish religion assimilation of the Crypto-Jews eventually comes to light. It was very difficult for many Conversos to continue being secret Jews from one generation to the next, and although many of them continued the secret Jewish practices, after a while they began to forget what the rituals were.

It’s complicated to trace the family names of Crypto-Jews and Converses who led double lives. Parents gave their babies two sets of names; Christian first and last name when the baby was baptized in the Catholic Church. Then they would give the baby a Jewish name, which was known only to family members. Conversos often chose their own family name after they began to live publicly as Jews. However, names were chosen to conform to the non-Jewish inhabitants.

To find one’s Jewish roots, you have to know your family’s place of origin. For example, Sephardi Jews are from Spain and Portugal. A remarkable journal, the New Era Illustrated Magazine, Harvard College Library, December 1903, Vol. IV # 4, lists the

A – Z of Jewish surnames by region.  The author, Albert M. Hyamson, entitles his article “Jewish Surnames: An Instructive and Suggestive Essay on an Interesting Subject.”  However, the surnames listed in this article are from all countries.  I limited the inventory to Spain and Portugal only. It’s easy to recognize some of the current surname derivations from the list.  

“Spain …Alfandari from Alfambra, Almanzi from Almanza, De Avila from Avila; Aguilar, Belmonte, Cordova and De Cordova; De Castro from Castro; Caracossa, Carvajal, Cardoso from El Cardoso; Lousada, Leon; De Leon and Deleon, De Lima, Miranda from Mirando; Medina and De Medina, Mezquita, Nabarro and Navarro from Navarre; Robles, Valencin and De Valencia and Villa Real.”

“From Portugal come Almeida, Da Ameida, and Dalmeyda, Carvalho, Lisbona, Miranda, Mesquitas, Pavia, De Paiva, Paiva, De Paiue, De Paiba and Villa Real.”  

            It’s only in recent years that I have discovered my family’s Jewish roots. Throughout my life, I’ve always been interested in stories about the Jews. If you find yourself drawn to this subject, you can find a list of books through Google Books. Once you register with your email address, this free service provides you with copyright expired old books and journals that you can download to a PDF file, or save to your account to read at your leisure. Of course, you can also buy books if you so desire. However, Google Books has information on numerous subjects and is not limited to the information presented in this essay.

La verdad es que esta gente de la Inquisición eran verdaderas bestias humanas. Acabo de leer la historia de Luís Gomes Barreto y no puedo  comprender como se podían cometer tantas desmanes, uno detrás de otro y vivir tranquilos..

Cartagena de Indias, año 1636. Luís Gomes Barreto, ciudadano portugués, nacido en Viseu que a muy temprana edad, lo enviaron sus padres con un hermano  llamado Juan de Oliveira, que vivía en Lisboa, donde tenía negocios y ellos marcharon a Santo Tomé.

Muy pronto Luís aprendió a manejar los negocios, dejo la tutela de su hermano y se independizó, dedicándose  al tráfico de esclavos, tema en el que los portugueses estaban muy introducidos, además de la venta de azúcar y otras mercancías, utilizando las redes comerciales de Angola, Salvador de Bahía, Santo Tomé, y Guinea.

Fue con una partida de esclavos para venderlos en el mercado de Cartagena de Indias y allí conoció a Bárbara Pereira, con quien contrajo matrimonio. Siguió con la venta de esclavos y amasó una buena fortuna, tanto que pudo comprar varias casas y el cargo de Depositario General de Cartagena.

Pero en agosto de 1636 fue apresado Luís Gomes Barreto, acusado por el Santo Oficio de ser circunciso y practicante de judaísmo. Cuando su esposa Bárbara lo supo, envió al Alcaide de la Cárcel una olla con una gallina guisada y una docena de nueces de cola, fruta exótica que llegaba a Cartagena procedente de Guinea y que era muy apreciada.

Pero eso no impidió que torturaran a Luís y después de algún tiempo en la prisión, fue puesto en libertad, cosa rara, sin confiscarle los bienes. Aunque se dice que Luís, antes de salir de la Cárcel dió al Inquisidor Juan de Uriarte, una cadena de oro. 

Pasaron unos meses y como la Inquisición sabía que Luís Gomes tenía fortuna, fue apresado nuevamente y esta vez se pasaron, porque en el castigo que  sufrió en el “potro”, le rompieron los dos brazos y le dejaron hecho una piltrafa humana, pero no contentos con eso, vendieron en publica subasta los esclavos y parte del patrimonio que Luís poseía.

Tenía 73 años y para curar sus heridas fue puesto en libertad.  

                                    Ángel Custodio Rebollo  

Publicado el 2 de noviembre 2010 en Odiel Información, Huelva                                                                                                                                           

AFRICAN-AMERICAN

EAST OF MISSISSIPPI

Fernandez of Santiago, Chile, is in the final stages of painting his mural.   
It is the second mural he has painted on the building. 

Southwest Detroit mural symbol of community pride, 

Read more: Southwest Detroit mural symbol of community pride | freep.com | Detroit Free Press http://www.freep.com/article/20101106/NEWS01/11060410/1322/Southwest-Detroit-mural-
symbol-of-community-pride#ixzz14nljnPkR

Fernandez, 24, and now living in New York, said he worked on the still untitled mural, featuring a corn farmer with one hand extended and the other holding a piece of corn, for the past two weeks.

For Lydia Gutierrez, Hacienda owner, the mural is meant to be a celebration of Latino and Hispanic pride. It also symbolizes Hacienda's production of corn tostadas, tortillas and tortilla chips.

"I wanted something that was going to stop people and say, 'Look at this -- it's beautiful,'" she said.

Gutierrez met Fernandez this summer after being introduced by a member of the Center of Music and Performing Arts Southwest in Detroit.

In June, he completed "Victoria Violeta," a mural on the other side of the Hacienda building, near the E&L Mercado grocery store.

While he worked on the second mural, Gutierrez took Fernandez, who studied architecture at the University of Chile and is a member of the New York-based Rebel Diaz Arts Collective, to see the murals of Diego Rivera at the Detroit Institute of Arts for the first time.

"He just embraced it," she said. "That could only happen in Detroit."

As a muralist, Fernandez said, "Rivera is always an inspiration."

Climbing down from the scaffold, Fernandez said he leaves the mural behind knowing "that everything around the mural is free. That is the magic."

Contact NAOMI R. PATTON: 313-223-4485 or npatton@freepress.com

Sent by Myrna Segura myrnas@southwestdetroit.com

Read more: Southwest Detroit mural symbol of community pride | freep.com | Detroit Free Press http://www.freep.com/article/20101106/NEWS01/11060410/1322/Southwest-Detroit-mural-symbol-of-community-pride#ixzz14nl83shZ


 

Tennessee Civil War Sesquicentennial