Rain of Gold - half grown

Salvador sat there looking at his mother, realizing that it was true; he was, indeed, only half grown and knew very little about love and women and marriage and many of the great mysteries of teh heart. It seemed to him as if he'd been a child all these years, thinking only about survival and his own amusement. He took a big breath, wondering if he was really ready for this big new step in life called marriage. He decided yes, definitely, if he was ever going to be ready it was now. (484)

Rain of Gold - first years of marriage

"Listen to me carefully," she continued. "Lupe is right; the first few years of any marriage should be lived alone. Your familia will still be your family, of course, but it can no longer be your first family. This is the miracle of marriage. Each new marriage is like a whole new beginning--a return to the Garden of Eden--and each new couple is Adam and Eve, the first two people on earth"

"I swear, Mama," said Salvador, laughing, "don't you think that you're being just a little too..."

"Too romantic? Too dramatic?" she snapped. "No! A thousand times no! You open your eyes and see what I'm saying or your marriage will not work. This life that you and Lupe are about to begin has only the value you place on it, not the value that the Church gives it, or what we, the parents, give it, or even society. Its value is what you two agree upon giving it. And given full value, marriage is then, indeed, a return to Eden, and you two are, indeed, the first man and woman on earth. Marriage isn't sex, mi hijito, and it isn't even having children. Sex and children can be had all life long without marriage."

He breathed deeply. His mother always had to make things so complicated. But then, on the other hand, that was probably how all his talk about money had sounded like to Domingo.

The old woman saw his confusion. "Give me your hand," she said. "Look, I'm not saying that you're going to stop loving me or that I'm going to stop loving you. No, I'm not only saying that our family will no longer be your first love. Both you and Lupe have to understand this or you won't be able to make a home. this is the very reason why Adam and Eve are considered the first two people on earth. They were the first to make a promise between themselves to join body and mind and give honor to the glory of God."

"You mean, they weren't the actual first two people on the earth?"

"No, of course, not, but for their tribe, they were the first two people who made this most profound of agreements between themselves, relinquishing the devil and giving honor to the greater glory of God." (478-479)

Rain of Gold - choice

"You're good boys, the two of you," she said, "so I want you to listen closely and remember this for as long as you live: a man doesn't have the choice of how or where he is born, nor does he have the complete choice of how he must die. But, to bring the miracle of life into this world, he has the absolute complete choice every time!" (458)

Rain of Gold - marriage

"Well, I did; I survived, and I'll tell you why: because marriage is the greatest journey any man and woman can ever undertake--two strangers, not knowing each other, but yet still willing to join together in heart and soul--hoping, guessing on which star that might land as they cross the heavens, hand-in-hand like two clouds gliding on the winds of God's breath." (434-435)

Rain of Gold - love & hate

Lupe was in ecstasy. She got down and went to Salvador. And in that moment of sun and joy, Lupe knew why she loved and also hated Salvador. He gave her wings. He didn't try to lock her in, as had Jaime and the other boys she'd known. No, she could dream her wildest dreams with him and so she loved him for this; but she also hated him because it made her fearful. No one in her family was like this. They were always very cautious. (431)

Rain of Gold - different people

Lupe's family were village people who'd always lived with neighbors close by and were used to keeping things neat and orderly. On the other hand, his were ranch people, six miles from their closest neighbor, and used to riding horses up to the front door and coming inside with guns on their hips and cowshit on their boots.
(421)

Rain of Gold - dreams

Then Salvador said, "Give me your hand, querida."
Without hesitation, Lupe gave him her hand.
"Lupe," he said trembling, "tell me, what are your dreams? My mother has always told me that we never know another human being until we know their dreams. So, please, tell me yours."
"My dreams?" she asked, feeling her mind go reeling. What a beautiful thing to be asked. Oh, she was flying.
(408)

"I was wondering if, you know, your dreams and my dreams, if maybe they can't accompany each other and make a life together." (472)

He hadn't asked her if she loved him or if she'd accept his hand in marriage; no, he'd asked her if their dreams--their most private parts of all their lives--could accompany each other. (472)

Rain of Gold - purchases

At the car lot, the three Anglo salesmen saw them drive up and they were ready for them, realizing that this was payday, now that they were coming in with the women and children. For no matter how often the men came in, kicking the tires and looking the trucks over, the salesmen knew that the Mexican people never bought anything until they shoewd up with all their children and women, and their old mama standing over to one side, clutching her purse full of wrinkled bills. Mexicans always paid in cash, no matter how poor they were. The bills were damaged from all the years of hoarding. (402)

turks

Turks have taught Christians how to be moderate in peace and gentle in victory.

-Voltaire

¡Ask a Mexican! - premarital

There, University of Texas-Austin professor Gloria Gonzalez-Lopez examined why Mexican fathers in the United States wanted their daughters to remain virgins until marriage. Contrary to myths about machos expecting their daughters to be forever maidens, Gonzalez-Lopez argued, Mexican dads "expect their daughters to practice sexual moderation and to delay premarital sex. For them, this is a strategy that their daughters may use to attend and complete college, and thus improve their living conditions and socioeconomic future as they survive in an increasingly competitive society." Mexican men want their women to remain pure, therefore, because that shows a committed, serious lady who, unlike men, has mastered her libido. (66)

¡Ask a Mexican! - drive slow

Accuse Mexicans of any other driving sin--accuse us of loewring cars until the steering wheel scrapes asphalt, of adorning windows with Pissing Calvin decals, of driving without insurance. But don't say we drive slowly. Vieja Gringa, why do you think Mexicans make the sing of the cross before starting the car? (42).

¡Ask a Mexican! - democracy in america

Your sentiment is just another manifestation of American exceptionalism, a syndrome Alexis de Tocqueville noted in his 1840 classic, Democracy in America, which argues this country is unique from every other nation and therefore can do whatever the fuck it wants--violate international treaties, invade sovereign countries, ignore the FIFA World Cup. In the case of reverence for one's roots, it boils down thusly: gabachos long-removed from Ellis Island can love their ancestors without shame because they're the descendants of immigrants, and immigrants made this nation great: Mexican's can't because they are immigrants, and immigrants are turning America into the Third World. (40)

¡Ask a Mexican! - stretched vowels

Resourceful Mexicans already stretch out everything in their lives--under-the-table salaries, privacy in houses shared with seventeen other people, fake Social Security cards passed around dozens of friends--so why not vowels and consonants? (30)

¡Ask a Mexican! - language conundrum

Dear Gabacho: Thus is the linguistic conundrum of the Mexican in the United States: Speak Spanish, get accused of separatism. Speak English, get laughed at for thick accents and limited vocabularies. Many Mexicans speak English to Mexican workers out of gratitude--the fast-food counter is the only place Mexicans can feel like Americans by speaking the shared language of haggling with Mexican workers over the cost of fries. (24-25)

¡Ask a Mexican! - assimilation

The first generation of immigrants commit themselves to a lifetime of labor, not assimilation--that the job of the children. Sure, it's dangerous to entrust children with life-and-death responsibilities, and hilarity can ensure when you have an eight-year-old trying to describe a father's diabetes to a doctor, but what better way to teach Mexican kiddies that life in America is brutal but rewarding if you have immigrant parents? (23)

¡Ask a Mexican! - racism

¡Ask a Mexican! by Gustavo Arellano

Dear Gabacho: The U.S. government shares your concerns, Took For Years. Its Dillingham Commission released a forty-two-volume study on the waves of immigrants that concluded, "The new immigration as a class is far less intelligent than the old...Generally speaking they are actuated in coming by different ideals, for the old immigration came to be a part of the country, while the new, in a large measure, comes with the intention of profiting, in a pecuniary way, by the superior advantages of the new world and then returning to the old country." The Dillingham report went on to fault the new immigration for their lack of assimilation and English skills, constantly contrasting them with earlier generations of immigrants and urged clampdowns on immigration. Sounds familiar, no? That's because the Dillingham report appeared in 1911, and the inassimilable masses at the time were Eastern and Southern Europeans. The Dillingham Commission proves that the time-honored conservative anecdote that earlier generations of immigrants walked off the boats, chopped down the multisyllabic surnames, and learned English immediately is bull-pinche-shit. American racism is a corousel--and here we go round again.
-21-22

politics

Politics is a whore.

-Jalal Talabani

burning baghdad

A word of advice: never take water for granted. Every time you wash your hands in cold, clean water--say a prayer of thanks to whatever deity you revere. Every time you drink fresh, odorless water--say the same prayer. Never throw out the clean water remaining in your glass--water a plant, give it to the cat, throw it out into the garden...whatever. Never take it for granted.
-September 6, 2003 (50)


I must be sounding ungrateful, what with the $33 billion dollars being agreed upon, but hte idea of being financially indebted to America, the IMF and the World Bank somehow has the appeal of selling one's soul to the devil.
-October 25, 2003 (114).


These last few days have brought back memories of the same dates, last year. What were we doing in early March? We were preparing for the war...digging wells, taping up windows, stocking up on candles, matches, kerosene, rice, flour, bandages, and medicine...and what are we doing now? Using them.
-March 12, 2004 (224)


That was the beginning of the "liberation"...a liberation from sovereignty, a certain sort of peae, a certain measure of dignity. We've been liberated from our jobs, and our streets and the sanctity of our homes...some of us have even been liberated from the members of our family and friends.
-March 20, 2004 (227)


I had been looking forward to the shopping trip for at least 4 days which is how long it takes to get the routine familial permission these days. First, I have to make a declaration of intent; I have to tell the parents that I intend to go out and purchase something. Then, I have to specify the area where I intend to make the purchase, after which coes locating a free male relative with some extra time on his hands to join me in the adventure. The final step is setting the date and time and getting the final household authorization

For those of you wondering, YES, it annoys me beyond anything that, at my age, I have to get parental permission to leave the house.
-March 27, 2004 (229)




We have a saying in Arabic, "En kint tedri, fe tilk musseeba...in kint la tedri, fa il musseebatu a'adham" which means, "If you knew, then that was a catastrophe...and if you didn't know, then the catastrophe is greater."
-May 22, 2004 (267)