Latino arts, history and culture
I never really appreciated the Fourth of July until I was 11 years old. That’s when my teacher, Mrs, Rosewell, invited me to her home in South Pasadena for a bar-b-que dinner, to meet her two kids, … [Read more...]
Being confronted by the head of the Oñate clan of zombies in the men’s room of the Ludlow Café set my mind reeling. That’s right Lazaro, it’s me and I’ve entered your mind. Instinctively my … [Read more...]
We had parked the beat up Honda civic at the parking lot of the Amboy Crater National Natural Landmark. The asphalt lot was empty. An adjacent structure housed several men/women porta … [Read more...]
“Mija, nothing to it, but to do it,” La Señora Falcón said as she put the Honda Civic in gear and pushed her foot on the accelerator. The car pulled out of the safe house at Daggett, California … [Read more...]
LAZARO - DEBRIEFING. “They’re kidnapping immigrants along the border and warehousing them in the depths of the Amboy Crater. Who knows how many they have? Those people are facing certain … [Read more...]
The car with Pearl and La Señora Falcón disappeared over a rise on Route 66 heading east toward Amboy. Gus Dominguez and Jimmy Yazzie sped behind them on their souped up Harleys. Filomeno and I were … [Read more...]
“Mija, no te voy a mentir,” La Señora Falcón said gravely. “It’s a dangerous assignment.” The matronly woman settled her plump body into the seat across from me in what once had been a lab supply … [Read more...]
AFTERMATH. The drone of the helicopters driven by the Oñate zombies was still ringing in my ears when I turned to Pearl. We embraced tightly. Vida, whining persistently, wanted to be part of the … [Read more...]
MOTHER DAY REDUX. “All aboard!” The van was running and ready to leave for the Mother’s Day picnic. The other zombies quartered at the secret Joshua Tree military training camp who were going to … [Read more...]
My discussion with Pearl about eating human flesh made me more thoughtful about Vida, the mutated zombie dog, and her vegetarian diet. Vida shadowed me everywhere I went and I had gotten to thinking … [Read more...]
Okay, I haven’t been as forthright as I might have. I’ve kinda of glossed over a major zombie trait that I began noticing when I was six or seven and that was a real unavoidable, unmistakable and … [Read more...]
By the time I was fifteen years old I had come to terms with being a Mexican Zombie and had settled into the quiet unassuming life of a loner in Lincoln Heights. I did moderately well at school, kept … [Read more...]
One of the advantages of being the living dead is that you don’t have to worry about getting sick. As I was growing up and began to have friends my age, I noticed that many of them would catch a cold, … [Read more...]
When I was thirteen I was asked to join a gang. And I found out a sad truth about myself. It was after the terrible Scouting Incident–and I’m not going to get into it here. Let’s just say it … [Read more...]
When I was twelve years old I joined the Boy Scouts and that’s when I learned about lying and just how difficult it was going to be for me to be a Mexican zombie AND a Boy Scout. One day when I was … [Read more...]
One of the worst things about being a Zombie is people think you are stupid. Have you seen those movies where the Zombies stumble about and come close to killing the hero of the film but somehow they … [Read more...]
CAMP HASCAWALLA “Listen up! Everything you are going to learn in the next few weeks is a matter of life and death. YOUR life and death. We’ll soon be heading for the Oñate compound --pay attention … [Read more...]
By the middle of my first year at Lincoln Middle School, the buzz was all about tattoos. I was in the seventh grade then and everyone seemed to have them--gang boys, study boys, nerd boys and, yes, … [Read more...]
Several weeks after I joined the Boy Scouts, Mr. Brown, our Scoutmaster, announced that we were going to go on our first week-end camping trip at the Boy Scout camp in Big Bear. My first camping trip … [Read more...]
I got my first library card at the Benjamin Franklin library on East First Street in Boyle Heights. Then we moved to Lincoln Heights–nearby but a whole new neighborhood. One of the first things I did … [Read more...]
I never really appreciated the Fourth of July until I was 11 years old. That’s when my teacher, Mrs, Rosewell, invited me to her home in South Pasadena for a bar-b-que dinner, to meet her two kids, … [Read more...]
