RAIN OF TEARS

Years ago, mid-90's I think, I woke one night unable to sleep so I got up and turned the TV to a Tom Snyder show.  Tom was interviewing this author, Victor Villasenor, and I was fascinated with the story.  Mr. Villasenor had written a book based on his family's history.  He had received an advance from a publisher who was now insisting that the book be remade as fiction as the stories were too unbelievable to be called fact.  The author insisted that he couldn't do that was it was his family's story and the publisher said because of the advance, it was to be a novel.  Mr. Villasenor bought back his book by repaying the advance and found a small publisher, University of Houston Press.

I few weeks later I found the book, Rain of Gold, in a bookstore.  The copy I picked up was signed by Victor Villasenor so I bought it.  I started to read it and my mother came over to watch her grandchildren.  She started reading the book and "borrowed" it from me.  She couldn't put it down.  My mother was thrilled with the story of the two families.  She had followed the crops herself and she knew what it was to work picking fruit. Victor's father had gone to Montana where my mother's family was from. So when my mom finished the book, she looked up Victor's telephone number and called him.  She was thrilled that he talked with her.

At this point, I had lost track of the book.  I had a receptionist that had time on her hands between telephone calls and client appointments so I would recommend books for her to read.  One of those books was Rain of Gold.  This year, my former receptionist graduated from college.  I sent her a note via Facebook congratulating her on her achievement and she reminded me about recommending Rain of Gold.  I still had not read it some 15 years later.  I bought the book again and read it.  I don't know if I was ready for it 15 years ago, now it touched me in a way few books do.  Perhaps because I have a Mexican girlfriend or that my mother has died.  I don't know.  But at this point, I would call the book a Rain of Tears.  You can find reviews of the book elsewhere.  This is not a review.  This is only my interactions with this story.  Victor has several websites and he continues to write and speak about his family.  I would have loved to have met his grandmothers in person.  I feel like I have met them through his writing.  So thank you Victor, Yadira, Tom Snyder and my mom for inspiring me to read Rain of Gold.

Nueva Cancion

One of my favorite songs is "Gracias a la vida" written by Chilean Violeta Parra, who was a part of the nueva cancion movement that arose in the late 60's.  Many of the artist who participated in this movement were persecuted by the right wing governments so prevalent in South America at that time.  I first heard the song and about the movement when I was working in Beverly Hills.  I had a little radio on my desk and every morning I would listen to KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic.  It was appropriately named as it featured all kinds of music.  I was exposed to much of the so called World Music that was in vogue at that time.  Gracias a la vida became Mercedes Sosa's song.  This short woman from Argentina could control huge crowds with the power of her voice and no government dared attack her.  Tonight, Lila Downs is performing in San Diego and I looked up her web site.  She often performed with Mercedes Sosa.  I found that Sra. Sosa died last year.  I never saw a report in the US news.  This woman was the voice of Argentina.  They had three days of mourning ordered by the President of Argentina.  What a difference a few years make.  Thirty years ago the Argentinian government wanted to kill her and when she finally died the government celebrated her.

Santa Ana Winds

The Santa Ana winds are still blowing.  We had a day off with a rain storm.  But, as soon as the clouds were spent the Santa Ana cranked up again.  The Santa Ana is from hell.  All of the devilish dirt from the desert blows onto the coast.  The cactus pollens stimulate the body's defense system resulting in a full allergic attack.  The positive ions twist the mind and cause a malaise that can't be cured.  Raymond Chandler described it best. "It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen."  And anything does happen.  New Yorkers invite bodily harm by telling Californians that it is so beeyouteeful when you can't even see because the eyes are swollen shut from scratching them.  Oh yeah, it does appear to be clear and if you are so insensitive as to say its beeyouteeful to a Californian you might not experience the full effect of a Santa Ana.

And if the body going to hell isn't enough, one spark, one little ole cigarette butt, one backfire of a jalopy will result in more land burning than one can imagine.  There isn't enough firefighters in the west to put out all the fires that get going during a Santa Ana.  I don't know how far north these winds go and south?  According to the weather reports there is nothing south of the border.  No fires, no weather, nothing but a void.  So the last time the Santa Ana fanned the flames of a firestorm it covered a good portion of San Diego County with other fires to the north.  And as I have noted the fires, unlike humans, stopped right at the border.  Maybe there is a pleasure sitting on the hillside of Mexico watching Gringoland roast.  I am surprised the Republicans didn't promise to put a stop to it.  Perhaps they also believe in a weather free market and if global warming or Santa Anas want to bedevil us its God's will.  The good folks in Santa Ana, California tried to give an alternate explanation as to why we call these winds Santa Anas, however, the consensus is the winds are named Santa Ana for the mountain passes in the Santa Ana mountains to the east of Santa Ana the city, and Santa Ana the saint is powerless to stop this defamation of her name.  So even with work to do, I can't think.  My skin is crawling and I am thinking that Santa Ana days should be holidays, call everything off so we can chill.

Day of the Dead or All Soul's Day

This is the day to remember those who have died.  Since death is universal, remembering the dead is also universal.  I suspect the Mexican day of the dead preceded Catholicism in Mexico.  One of the motivations for Christians to remember the dead was to do things that would speed along the purgatory process and help those who passed get on to heaven.  At the Reformation, the reformed Christians dropped the celebration of All Soul's Day because they didn't believe in purgatory.  Well there are other reasons to remember those who died.  Since today is also election day in the United States I thought I would share a story the celebrates both voting and those who have died.

My mother was a staunch Republican.  Not the kind of Republicans we have today.  But the old fashioned Lincoln Republican which the current crop is trying to drive out of the party.  She voted for Eisenhower and Nixon.  My father was a Southern Democrat.  The kind that doesn't much exist anymore.  Fiscally conservative yet pro-working class.  My father always said the Republicans were the party of the banks and elite.  Only the Democrats represented the working man.  Well all that has changed.  As the California ballot got more and more complex with propositions, my mother would have me fill out her sample ballot so she had a guideline to vote.  So in her old age she started voting for liberals and liberal causes.  I like the idea that I got to double my vote and perhaps that would make a difference.  My mother doesn't vote anymore, at least not here. But I will never forget helping her vote.  So on this election day and Day of the Dead, I remember my mother and I remember voting for her.

Drugs

In the year 2000, 435,000 people died from a certain drug.  There is another drug that people use that caused no deaths, that is ZERO deaths that year.  Both of these drugs are ingested in the same way.  One drug raises millions of dollars for the government and the other drug the government spends millions of dollars to stop its use.  Given this information, which do you think is the legal drug and which one is banned?  Well, given the logic of governments, the one that caused 435,000 deaths in a single year is legal.  The drug that caused no deaths is illegal.  So what is this?  One is tobacco and the other is marijuana.  Even though tobacco killed more people than any other cause of death in 2000 it is legal.  Marijuana is illegal even though not a single person died from using it in 2000.

At this point if you were to assume that I am voting for Proposition 19 you would be correct.  I do not advocate the use of either of these drugs.  If you are curious as to what drugs I use myself, I am a caffeine addict and I occasionally take aspirin.  However, if you wish to use marijuana, it's not my business and neither should it be the business of any government entity