• Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen

latinopia.com

Latino arts, history and culture

  • Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen
You are here: Home / Blogs / ZOMBIE MEX DIARIES 11.18.12

ZOMBIE MEX DIARIES 11.18.12

November 18, 2012 by JT

EL SERENO AND AN OPPORTUNITY

When I was seventeen my mom got a job working as a cashier at the Home Depot in Alhambra. It was quite a drive for her each morning and she often complained of the drive and the traffic. Then, one day, she returned from work very excited.

“Mijo,” she called out as she entered the house. “I think I found us a new place to live in El Sereno!”

“El Sereno?” I asked. I knew where El Sereno, just over Rse Hills from Lincoln Heights, but I didn’t know we were looking to move.

“Sí, mijo, it’s over near Alhambra, I’ll be close to my work. Come on, get in the car. I want to show it to you!’

Hey, I was game.

We drove north on Broadway to Huntington Drive and then East along Huntington Drive.

Along the way my mom explained that it wasn’t a house but a duplex. “But it’s a large duplex, mijo, big enough for you to have your own room and it comes with a built-in washer and dryer.”

Finally we came to Sheffield Avenue and pulled up next to a two-story stucco apartment building. The green stucco building had one entrance on the bottom floor and another entrance at the top of stairs leading to a second story apartment.

“It’s the one upstairs,.” My ‘ama explained.

We walked up the stairs and peeked into the empty apartment. It was late afternoon and the rays of the setting sun shown through the window giving us a real good look at inside of the apartment. It was really modern and really nicely painted and decorated. Made our regular house in Lincoln Heights look like a dump.

“Wow, “ I said, “Pretty cool mom. Can we afford it?”

“Si mijo, the rents here are low because they think they’ll be putting a freeway through here. Th ereal estate lady said there’s nothing to worry about. It’ll be years before the get the freeway through here. Do you like it?

“Cool mom but…”

“Que mijo?”

“Well, it means I’ll have to switch schools. I think if you live here you have to go to Wilson High.  I wont’ be able to go to Lincoln anymore.”

Mom was quiet.

“I was going to ask how you felt about that.” she said sheepishly.  “I was hoping you wouldn’t mind. But I guess you don’t want to move away from your friends.”

“Mom, I don’t’ have friends. Remember. I’m a zombie.”

Truth of the matter was the idea of moving away from Lincoln Heights didn’t upset me much. When you’re a loner, one library is as good as another, one school with no friends is like another school with now friends.

“Mom, it’s okay. I mean about moving. I just need to get used to the idea. I was just surprised by all of this.”

“Mijo,” if you don’t want to move we don’t have to.”

But then I thought of mom getting up early morning for her long drive to work.

“No sweat mom. Let’s do it!”

It took me a few days before the idea of moving out of Lincoln Heights finally sink in. And then I got a brainstorm.

This move could well be a golden opportunity for me!

For a year now, I had been gradually losing my usual zombie pallor and was looking every week more and more like a normal kid–well, a very light skinned kid. I had to change the make-up color every week or two to a lighter shade that still allowed me to look Mexican. My zombie smell, what I had identified years ago as the smell of a dead thing, had also begun to fade. I still dosed my self with Pachouli but used very little now.

I wondered, could I pass for human?

I found out one Saturday morning when I decided to undertake an experiment. I put no make-up or Pachouli on and took the bus downtown. I spent the whole day walking downtown, going in and out of stores, rode the bus to Santa Monica and back to Lincoln Heights. Throughout the day not one person said a word to me. No one studied my skin color or sniffed the air around me. I passed the whole day as a normal human being!

When I got home I couldn’t wait to tell my mom.

“You didn’t put on your make-up? Oh mijo, what if someone found out.”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you ‘ama. I can pass now as a real human–without make-up and Pachouli!”

“En serio, mijo?’

“Mom just look at me. I’m not wearing any make-up now!”

“Hay mijo, you look like a Gringo! Pero, mira no más!”

She sat down and kept staring at me.

“Mom, “ I said. “If we move to El Sereno, I’ll have to change schools. I’ll have to go to Wilson High. But I can enroll looking like this without the make-up .No one knows me there. I’ll just look like a light skinned Mexican. What do you think?”

“I think it can work, mijo. Te ves muy gringo!”

We waited another month till the Christmas holidays were over so I could begin at Wilson High at the beginning of the year. It was a natural break in the school calendar.

I couldn’t wait. For the first time in my life, since being resurrected form the dead at age five, I would be able to go to school without having to disguise my zombie identity.

But would it work?

Copyright 2012 Lazaro De La Tierra and Barrio Dog Productions Inc.

Filed Under: Blogs, Zombie Mex Diaries Tagged With: Chicano Literature, growing up Hispanic, Mexican Zombie

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 01.28.23 CRYSTAL CITY 1969

January 27, 2023 By wpengine

An Inspiring Latino Play: Crystal City 1969 David Lozano and Raul Trevino wrote Crystal City 1969 in 2009, a production which The Dallas Morning News called the “Best New Play” of 2009. Residents from Crystal City learned of its success by word of mouth, but individuals who contributed to the school walkouts that permanently transformed […]

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 01.20.23 OSCAR ALVARADO MASTER MOSAIC ARTIST

January 20, 2023 By wpengine

Oscar Alvarado: Latino Master Artist of Tile Mosaic On most days of the year, Oscar Alvarado steps out of the warehouse at his San Antonio Southtown studio, spaces that he shares with his twin brother Robert, to look over sections of nearly two acres filled with sand, tile, rock, glass, and steel. He treasures the […]

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT AL RENDON AN ACCLAIMED LATINO PHOTOGRAPHER

January 14, 2023 By wpengine

Al Rendon: A Highly Acclaimed Latino Photographer Every American City has its favorite photographer who is able to produce revealing imagery that captures the mind and soul of its people, that documents the cultural attributes of its society, and that reveals the historical aspects of the region’s landscape. Large cities with diverse populations count on […]

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT JOSÉ ESQUIVAL A CHICANO TRAILBLAZER

January 7, 2023 By wpengine

José Esquivel: A Chicano Art Trailblazer José Esquivel, one of the founding members of the Chicano art movement in America, passed away on December 16, 2022. He was 87 years old. A memorial to Esquivel is planned for Tuesday evening, January 3rd at the Centro Cultural Aztlan. Through his paintings Esquivel documented life in his […]

More Posts from this Category

New On Latinopia

LATINOPIA EVENT 1966 UFW PEREGRINACIÓN (PILGRIMAGE) MARCH

By Tia Tenopia on March 19, 2013

The effort to organize farm workers under a union contract has been a long and difficult struggle. In 1965, César Chávez and Dolores Huerta created what would become the United Farm Workers Union. From the onset they  faced many obstacles, not the least of which was how to get dozens of California grape growers to […]

Category: History, LATINOPIA EVENT

LATINOPIA MUSIC ANGELA ROA “TOCO DESAFINADO”

By Tia Tenopia on June 22, 2014

Angela Roa is a Chilean singer and lyricist residing in Los Angeles, California. Her songs are about the Latino experience in the United States and in Latin America. Here she performs an original song, “Toco Desafinado” (Out of Tune). She is accompanied by Fernando Losada, Rich Silva and Thiago Winterstein..

Category: LATINOPIA MUSIC, Music

LATINOPIA MUSIC LOS FABULOCOS “UNA PURA Y DOS CON SAL”

By Tia Tenopia on January 4, 2015

Delta Groove Music recording artist Los FabuLocos is a Southern California band whose unique sound, “Cali-Mex,”is a fusion of blues, Americana and Chicano soul music. Band members include Jesús Cuevas, accordion and vocals; Rubén Guaderama, guitar,bajo sexto, tres and vocals; James Barrios, bass and vocals; Mike Molina, drums and Kid Ramos, guitar( not in this […]

Category: LATINOPIA MUSIC, Music

© 2023 latinopia.com · Pin It - Genesis - WordPress · Admin