My dear Latinopians, HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!  Yes, on this Mother’s Day week, your Tía is celebrating with two videos that honor our mothers. Pat Mora, the accomplished New Mexican poet and writer of children’s book reads her poem, “Mi Madre” (My Mother), an homage to the desert and to mother earth. Also this week, San Antonio based playwright and actress Carmen Tafolla performs from her one-woman show a piece titled “Occupation None.” A visit by a census taker to a barrio grandmother reminds us that no matter all the work that mothers and grandmothers do, week in and week out, to raise their children and to provide for their families, their work often goes unrecognized.  So on this Mother’s Day week, why don’t we all make an effort to praise our mother’s for all the hard work they have done and continue to do. Oh, and let’s not just make it one day of the year. De vez en cuando, throughout the year, be sure to tell your mom how much you love her and how much you appreciate all that she has done and continues to do.

By the way, did you know why Mother’s Day was originally created? we are told by Berkeley poet Rafael Jesús González in a recent blog that Mother’s Day was originally created following the terrible deaths and injuries sustained during the American Civil War, as a protest by mothers, led by Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic) to abolish war altogether.  Howe called for a Mother’s Day for Peace and wrote in 1872, ““Our husbands shall not come to us reeking with carnage.  Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.” How about that for moms putting it on the line? Latinopia is grateful to Rafael Jesús González for keeping us in the know.

And speaking of U.S. history, your Tia was doing some reading about the contributions that we Latinos have made to American society and came up with something that I thought you’d like. Here’s a Latinopia Quiz for you…In what year was the first Latino member of the United States Congress seated? Here are our choices: A) 1784 B) 1822 C) 1875 D) 1926. Sabes o no sabes? Leave a comment with your guess or knowledgeable answer! I’ll let you know the correct answer next week. Bueno, now go off and do something nice for your mom today! Tia Tenopia