Letter to my Seventeen year-old Self

(If I could go back and give some advice to myself when I was just 17 years old, this is what I would say to me.)

Dear Seventeen Year-Old "DeLaredo",

Why the hell you give dad so much of a difficult time? Listen to him more often. You don't know it YET, but he actually does know what he is talking about. So stop being an asshole with him and listen to the old man's stories without rolling your eyes.

Easy on the underground Italian horror zombie films. Not everyone likes subtitles and dropping names like Lucio Fulci just to impress people is being a horror film snob. Some people actually do enjoy Stephen King. Let them! Watch less horror films and throw in a 'chick flick' with your GF. It makes things so much easier. Believe me.

Stop quoting Public Enemy when you write your school essays for English class. You didn't grow up in Cabrini Green. Get over it. You're not Chuck D and years from now Flavor Flav will be an embarrassment on VH1. (Yeaaaah Booooyyy)

Will it kill you to get the girl some roses? During Valentine's Day, be nice, buy her some roses. I know, I know. Its a bogus holiday fabricated by the American Florist Association to sucker people to guy overpriced flowers, but girls like it. Just do it. Again, it makes things so much easier. You don't always have to be a "rebel".

And while we are on the 'rebel' topic, its OK if you participate in school activities like pep-rallies. It doesn't make you a sheep or a pawn of the state. You can still be cool and hip and still do the other things that "normal" kids are doing. You're not going to melt if you attend your high school's football game. Stop being so EMO.  Contrary to what you believe, Robert Smith is not God so stop listening to "Inbetween Days" endlessly on your Cassette Walkman.

Seventeen year old self, its 1996 and you think you hate Intocable now? You're gonna absolutely loathe them in about 10 years.

And another thing, do your fuckin homework. Don't just start your essay; complete it. Get better grades. Heck, you might even be able to get into a decent college instead of LCC.

Be nice to your parents and to your siblings. They're your family.

Yeah, yeah, I know you don't care what people think about you. But easy on the Bobby Brown act. It might be your prerogative, but that doesn't give you a license to hurt people's feelings. Be nice and kind, seventeen year old self.

Last, don't bad mouth your own city so much. Laredo is great. In about 4 years something is going to happen to you that will make you realize everything I am saying and you will find 'the purpose'. Until then, heed these words, seventeen-year old me. You will love Laredo one day, and when that day arrives, everything else will fall into place.

Sincerely,
Your 32 year old self. 

Second Base Park

There was nothing better for me in the late 90s than going to the park adjacent to RiverDrive Mall. It was a great place to take a GF and get to at least second base. Most of the time it was dark and secluded, except for the occasional "mojadito". Border Patrol vehicles were frequent passer by's as well. But heck, they didn't break my concentration. I loved that park back in the day. For some odd reason, I was down the riverbanks again earlier in the evening, and I passed by this same deteriorated park, just like I remember it from 1996. I love my city. Good times.

CarrotHead part 2: Official Trailer

Finally, a teaser trailer of my upcoming short film, CarrotHead: Part 2. Take a look below. Lots more information on the film coming soon. Patience is good, friends.

Random Lyric of the Week

"Dicen que el mejor consejo, 
es el que se da uno mismo.
Que nada es tan importante,
como un hombre decidido"

Reminiscing Over You: 1993 and Thanksgiving Dreams

WTFB! (What the Fudge Brownies!) I had me a good Thanksgiving Day weekend. Ate some bird, had some 8 dollar wine and saw some relatives I had not had the displeasure of talking to in over a decade.

Wearing a TUX for some silly prom BS

 One of them was a cousin of mine from Nvo. Laredo that I had not seen since 1998. The holidays are always a good time to catch up with some of the relatives that get lost along the way. Well, back in the day, this primo (not the one pictured above) and me would have some crazy fun all over the streets of Nvo Laredo. We were both fourteen yrs old and we thought we were the shit. In reality we were just two stupid teenagers wearing Georgetown Hoyas jerseys and UNLV caps. Fashion was not our strong suit.


In music, we would make the noise to the latest rap single, but our favorites were Pete Rock and CL Smooth. For some reason, we would trump their music out of his boombox like nobody's business. I bought that CD sometime in 1993 and for a whole 3 months I played it out so much, the thing quickly became scratched and unplayable. My cousin asked me to lend it to him and I did, knowing full well I would not see it again. It had cost me something like $15 dollars over at Talamas Music Store on Guerrero St  en el otro lado.  That was in 1993. I thought the CD was lost forever. Whenever I would see him I would ask him for my CD back, but, he always had an excuse as to why he couldn't hand it over. Well, we had a falling out in the late 90s and I had not spoken to him in a over 10 years, until yesterday. I ran into him at my aunt's house, and he saw me and gave me a huge grin using his plaqued, crooked teeth.

"Guess what I've got in my truck!" he blurted out to me before even greeting my hand. We walked out to his truck and he produced the CD of Pete Rock and CL Smooth that we both had enjoyed and the CD I had not seen since 1993! It was the same one too, because it had my signature I had put on the CD sleeve. He slammed into this CD player of his automobile and the speakers produced my most favorite rap song eeever, "They Reminisce Over You"

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Thanksgiving is MosDef a time to bring family together. It's more than just turkey and overblown, hyped-up Best Buy Sales. It's more than tired Charlie Brown specials, and gravy and corn galore. The holidays are about family, about being together and seeing the loved ones from years gone by. Its about having cheap eight dollar wine with a loved one. It's about reminiscing passed,cherished memories and looking forward to the good days ahead. It is about forgiving a cousin for sins of the past. Turkey or no turkey, Thanksgiving is a sweet time. Here is to the holidays and reminiscing over the good times.

(Editors Note: You can download this CD at this great blog, along with other classic hiphop.)

For Sale

  Driving down the street I spotted this gem of a scene. A woman was seated on a table with a 'for sale' sign right next to her. It was unclear whether it was her for sale or the air conditioner unit that was right beside her. I can almost picture this woman's husband sitting her on this table and trying to get some chump change for the perceived old hag.
     BTW, I should've bought the AC unit. My place is like an oven.

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.