Laredo Downtown 1940-50s

Cool picture I came across of downtown back in the late 1940s, maybe early 50s. This town must have been cool back then.

La Sanbe and Mexican imports

San Bernardo used to attract a heavy traffic of outside tourists for both the legal and illegal trades. Now however, Sanber is pretty much dead. A quick drive down that road will reveal that business has been suffering for the past few years now. Many stores that used to cater to people from other states and cities, and that would specialize in Mexican imports, have now closed down or seriously downsized. It's a tough business world out there. Maybe soon the imports business will make a comeback. Maybe not.

Mall del Norte at Sunset

The mall can be one neat place, especially at sunset. This lady, in the picture above, was having too much fun at the mall. In any case, its one neat picture.

Lapis or Lapiz

Over on the north side in the Tiarra Subdivision is a street that inexplicably changes spelling from one corner to the other. The street goes from Lapis Ln. to Lapiz Ln. for no apparent reason. Does the name of the street change, or is it just a simply misspelling of the word? I vote for the latter. We all know Laredoans can't spell.

Moreno's Cash Carry Meat Market

Sign found behind LCC main campus. Not exactly sure what is advertised here.

Summer VHS Movie Review (Xmas in June).

Stay out of the heat this summer and stay cool indoors and watch a good ol' slasher film. I recommend "Silent Night, Deadly Night". Review is found below. If you can catch a VHS 1984 version, even better. It is found on DVD so netflix it. Or drop me a line I can lend you my copy!



Of all the slasher movies to meet controversy in the 1980’s, perhaps the most loathed of these was the festive tale Silent Night, Deadly Night, which was picketed by angry parents and pulled by the studio. Still unreleased in several countries, this tale of a homicidal Santa Claus was not the first festive slasher (there had already been the likes of Christmas Evil) but was by far the most loathed, released in North America just six weeks before Christmas. Whether or not it was the sight of a Santa raping a woman or the comments it makes on Catholic punishment, the movie touched a nerve and was subsequently banned outright or simply removed from cinemas one Tri-Star, the distributors, buckled under the pressure.

Surprisingly, Silent Night, Deadly Night does have some depth and is not just a series of gruesome gags. The story sees Billy, emotionally scarred after witnessing his parents’ murder (and mother’s sexual assault) at the hands on a drunken Santa Claus, sent to a strict Catholic boarding school, where he is eventually brainwashed into associating all forms of reckless pleasure (pre-marital sex, fun-loving partying) with punishment. When he is foolishly given a job of as a Santa Claus in a store over Christmas, Billy slowly loses his mind, before marching to each of his co-workers and hacking them to death, all the while shouting ‘Naughty!’ Once done, he sets his sights on the rest of the town as the police desperately try to find out what is happening.

This was not the first Christmas horror, others that came before it include Black Christmas, To All a Goodnight and the aforementioned Christmas Evil (aka You Better Watch Out), but it was the one that, for some reason or another, managed to get under the skin of the moral majority, who seemed more sensitive than usual during the early eighties. The two-headed critic known as Siskel and Ebert seemed to take more offence than most, singling out each of the filmmakers on their television show and repeatedly declaring ‘Shame on you!’ This was all due to the marketing campaign, which resulted in young children being subjected to images of Santa Claus with an axe, hacking his way through the family festivities.

Silent Night, Deadly Night runs with the moral implications of Friday the 13th and Halloween and takes them to extremes, with Billy’s sole justification for his actions being that he is punishing the immoral. Whether or not this could be seen as a morality tale or a social comment on Catholic punishment is down to the individual viewer, as when all is said and done this movie’s main purpose is to entertain, not preach. And while it may not be a masterpiece it is certainly a perfect example of how slasher movies did not have to be accepted by the mainstream, after all, this is a genre that has been loathed by critics since day one. Followed by one pointless sequel (which would re-use footage from the first movie), there would in all be five Silent Night, Deadly Night movies, the latter two having no direct connection to this film.

(Thanks to CS for the movie review)

AYP haunts Laredo schools.

LISD had an article on AYP and how local schools in both districts are failing according to the federal government. These schools included Martin, LBJ, Alexander High and Cigarroa Middle among others. It is important to note that some of these schools only failed to meet federal AYP guidelines because of its subgroups (namely Special Ed and Limited English Proficiency students) and not because of its main, English Speaking, at grade level students. Below are some comments found on the LMT reader comments board. (reader opinions not my own)

Laredo proud wrote on Jun 5, 2009 7:28 AM:
" I am a Mexican proud of my heritage and upbringing...however, I am sick of all these people from Nuevo Laredo bringing thier kids here for an education. I am tired of being addressed in Spanish when I go to the store. LAREDO IS NOT MEXICO. The schools could be better if some teachers and employees would teach and strive for excellence instead of collect a paycheck. We need to get rid of doing the minimum to get by attitude and strive to do better. Education begins at home so parents get your kids to read some books this summer. "


Embarrased wrote on Jun 5, 2009 8:08 AM:
" What a shame, Laredo will never progress. Just go to any major department store in town. You are lucky if you can find someone who speaks English. This is America you should be able to speak the language. If you don't, then learn it. It starts at home, but the schools need to do their part and them some. Heck you go to any school and you will see that some of the teachers have difficulty speaking English themselves. What a shame!!!!!!!!!! "

MARIACHI wrote on Jun 5, 2009 7:15 AM:
" I have many friends in these schools who are teachers. They keep telling that the reason Laredo doesn't do very good on anything academic is because of all the Mexicans from Nuevo Laredo attending such schools. They know not how to speak/understand/write English well and therefore bring the scores down in all areas. Laredo is starved for money and since they get extra funds for allowing such ignoramus, they fail to understand that such shall keep them from ever meeting standards; in fact, if they keep this up, they might even be history. "


Sometimes things are more complicated than they seem at first.