My Thanksgiving: by Maria C

My Thanksgiving

by Maria Cisneros

When I was in elementary school, I remember every Thanksgiving my teacher would assign us the task of making a turkey out of our handprints and we’d make a list of the things we were most thankful for. I wish I would’ve kept one of those assignments so that I could see exactly what I was thankful for back then. My list probably included my new Jem doll and my She-ra action figure. Nowadays, my list would include a couple of items way more significant than that. Materials possessions don’t carry much meaning; they’re necessary to make living easier and possible but the objects most precious in my life are the people in it. My most important people are as follows: my daughter, my family, and my friends.

Drag me to Hal's

It's been a long, sad week for me. I think the loss is finally sinking in quietly. I'm coming to grips with it. In the meantime, I'm being dragged out of the house over to Hal's. Grief can be harsh.

Bleeding Ranger Red

I'm still hurting inside. I'm not  ready to talk about the loss. Don't look for new posts for a couple of more days. I can't blog right now, I have to lay down and not think about it.

Furniture in Life

My protege, Maria, has left me and started her own blog. Figures. So typical. You make someone famous, then they get a taste of the good life, and they leave you in the dust in the vain hope of being the next Jenny Jones. In any case, spin by her new blog and tell her I said hi.

La Sopa que me Como

La Sopa TentaDora

by GB 

La sopa se enfria

sentada en la mesa.

Con moscas bailando por encima

y mi cuchara bailando entre el fideo.

 El apetito me engrandece

mientras la sopa se me aburre,

  pero yo sigo igual de ardiente.

Selling Out

  As I kid, I loved watching the made-for-TV movie, The Deadly Tower, based on the Charles Whitman shootings at UT back in the 60s.



 When I first watched this movie in the 80s, I missed this particular scene found above. In this scene, the hero, Ramiro Martinez, is struggling with being a Mexican-American police officer while at the same time, being true to his roots and feels inferior to his white colleagues. In the scene, he meets "Mano", a kid from the neighborhood and the scene then plays out rather strangely, something I did not pick up when I was a kid.

 Listen to the dialogue of Officer Martinez. He starts talking about 'changes' and 'working hard' instead of just complaining. Is the movie referring to the Chicano Civil Rights Movement? Is "Mano" supposed to represent the old guard, and Martinez is the new breed of Mexican-American that is committed to changes via-hard work (middle-class?) instead of just complaining (protesting)? Maybe I'm reading too much into this, or is there some sort of social commentary? You decide. Still, I enjoy this movie, and this particular scene.

BTW, "Mano" needs to have his ass kicked!

Random movie quote of the week

“im 36 years old, I have a wife, a child and a mortgage and im scared to death im turning into my father”.

Quote from my favorite movie ever. The only film that makes me cry. Talk about daddy issues. Free cookie to the person that tells us what movie its from.