Cultura, Política

Out of the classroom, but still on my bookshelf

I got the idea to start the This Day in Chicana/o History series some time in late 2009 or early 2010. I was inspired partly by other bloggers documenting Los Angeles history and by The Writer’s Almanac, one the many podcasts I listen to daily. After searching online and in old Chicana/o Studies textbooks for birthdays of famous Chicanas/os and dates of important events, I started the series. I wasn’t consistent with it back then and abandoned the project after a few months. (Definitely one of my weaknesses as a blogger and person in general.) I hope the current revival lasts especially in light of the struggle for a relevant education in Tucson.

When I started this project in early 2010, I had no clue a law banning ethnic studies was in pipeline in the Arizona legislature. HB 2281 particularly targeted the Mexican American studies program in Tucson Unified, a predominantly Latino school district. In May of 2010, Governor Jan Brewer — yeah, the one with her finger all up in President Obama’s face — signed the law. Tucson educators resisted the law and held on to Mexican American Studies until January when the Tucson Unified School District board voted to suspend the program or lose state funding. Over 80% of the books used in MA Studies courses were forbidden from being taught in the classroom. I’ve read many of these books, some are amongst my favorites. I read most in Chicana/o Studies courses in college.

Before I ever took a Chicana/o Studies course, I became more invested in school when the subject was my history or the authors of the assigned books had Latino surnames. This is saying a lot considering I was quite the nerd, especially in history and English. In sixth grade, I wrote a report on Edward James Olmos for my project on a famous American. It was the first time I ever read about the Sleepy Lagoon trial, zoot suits and Chicano theater.

In the summer before 10th grade, I read Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima as an assignment for honors English. While I’d never been to New Mexico, stories of curanderas and witches who turn in to owls and have healing powers were vaguely familiar. I’d heard similar tales from my cousins who spent some of their youth in Mexico. In discussing the book in class, I hated my teacher’s take on it and how she pronounced Ultima (ul-TEE-mah).

Both Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit and Other Plays (Olmos starred in the stage and film version of Zoot Suit) and Bless Me, Ultima will no longer be taught in Arizona schools. They’re just two books on a long list.

I haven’t read many of the banned books in years, but I’m committed to re-reading them thanks to Feminist Texican’s Read & Resist project. While this won’t introduce books directly to Tucson youth, it may shed some light on how ridiculous it is to remove these books from the classroom and get us talking about the important of a relevant education.

As for the This Day project, you may have noticed that all the postings this year are about famous men. I have many women on the list, but could use more. If you have any suggestions of people of events for the project, let me know in the comments or email me.

Comida, Familia

V-day dinner by Chef Danny

My brother, Danny, invited Sean and I to a Valentine’s dinner over the weekend. I know V-Day isn’t a family oriented holiday, but Danny’s a trained chef and it’s kinda rare that I get to eat anything he makes. Whenever I see him he’s usually exhausted from work. Sean liked the idea of a home-cooked gourmet meal rather than going out to a restaurant.

Traffic from LA to Hacienda Heights was horrible, but it was worth it. Danny made a delicious dinner with a little help from me, Lori and Costco. I like helping him out, it actually makes me feel like I know something about cooking.

We sat down to dinner a little late, but it was fine with me and accommodated my parents’ schedule.

Green salad

Shrimp in a cayenne butter sauce with garlic asparagus

Filet mignon with a mushroom sauce, shrimp, roasted potatoes, asparagus and carrots (not pictured: garlic bread from the grocery store)

Apple pie a la mode (from Costco)

I was so stuffed.

My favorites were definitely the cayenne shrimp and the mushroom sauce.

As or VR, he was really working the puppy dog eyes angle to get some steak.

Familia

Love and other L words

My celebration of love typically comes two weeks before February 14 when my extended family gathers to celebrate Papá Chepe and Mamá Toni’s wedding anniversary.

I believe the Ureño Saldivar family has been throwing anniversary parties since 1968, the 25th anniversary.

I don’t remember the party for 40th anniversary, but I was there in a frilly dress.

I do recall the huge party for 50 and the whole family dressed in forest green and gold. I thought it was so cool that my grandparents had reached such a milestone. A year later, my fathers’ parents, Grandpa Bartolo and Grandma Juana, also celebrated their 50th anniversary.

Most of the celebrations are low-key, save for the numbers divisible by 5. Since the 60th anniversary, we’ve gathered annually on the last weekend of January to share a meal and celebrate the beginning of our little* extended family.

This January, the 69th anniversary, we celebrated love, luck, longevity and loyalty. After all, love isn’t all you need to stay together for nearly seven decades.

*The Saldivar family had a big reunion in 2003 (or 04?). After studying a huge family tree, I realized that Mamá Toni’s branch of the family is much smaller than most of her brothers’ and sisters’ families. I have a few cousins compared to my mom.

Historia, Los Angeles

This day in Chicano history: Edward R. Roybal (1916)

February 10, 1916: Edward “Ed” R. Roybal was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico

While Roybal was born in New Mexico, he’s closely linked with mid-century Los Angeles history. His family moved to Boyle Heights in the early 1920s, he graduated from Roosevelt High School (like my mom), attended UCLA (go Bruins!) before going on to a long career in public health, community organizing and politics.

In 1949, Roybal was elected to the LA city council. There were some road bumps.

In 1993, Roybal told The Times that at his first City Council meeting [in 1949], he was introduced as “our new Mexican councilman who also speaks Mexican.”

“My mission was immediately obvious,” he said later. “I’m not Mexican. I am a Mexican American. And I don’t speak a word of Mexican. I speak Spanish.”

It became his role, he said, to educate his fellow public officials about Latinos and to pay special attention to what he felt were the long-neglected needs of his largely Latino constituencies. [Source: LA Times obituary, 2005]

In 1962, Roybal moved on from local politics to the national DC and became the first Latino from California to serve in Congress since 1879 (source). He was later appointed to the Appropriations Committee and became an “influential advocate for federal funding for health, education, community health programs and bilingual education.” [Source]

Some highlights from his long career provided by the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging:

Author of the 1968 legislation that established the National Bilingual Education Act to assist schools in meeting the educational needs of children who come from non-English-speaking homes.

Played an important role in the passage of legislation outlawing age discrimination and fought for benefits and opportunities for those with disabilities.

Responsible for funding America’s first AIDS research and treatment programs

Championed the first federal funding for Alzheimer’s Disease and was instrumental in renewing legislation to provide medical service to people with the disease

Led the campaign to restore funding for programs for the elderly, including a senior citizens’ public housing program and a community-based alternative to nursing homes

Successfully maintained the Meals on Wheels program and protected veterans’ preferences in hiring in 1982

Consumer rights defender

Co-founder of the House Select Committee on Aging, serving as chairman from 1983-1993

One of the first legislators to introduce legislation to establish a national health plan for the United States

Founder of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which he served as both president and treasurer

Founder of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO)

I noted Congressman Roybal’s passing in 2005 and wrote: “It’s amazing to think that many of the issues he worked on as a Councilman in the 1950s and then as a Congressman, such as police brutality and immigration, are still problematic. For anyone from LA who has studied the history of Chicana/o politicians, there is no way to avoid the impact of Ed Roybal on the growing political power of Latinos.”

Photo of Edward Roybal being sworn in to the LA City Council in 1949 from the Los Angeles Times photographic archive, UCLA Library. Copyright Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.

Boda

A red nose and a white dress

I was not looking forward to dress shopping. There were three main reasons: I can be indecisive; I wanted to avoid the ego blow when I saw the non-vanity sized tag in the dress that closed (or didn’t); and the pressure to have the “oh, mommy!” or “this is the one” moment. I also dreaded having to go several places to find something I wanted. Up until now, planning has been relatively simple and Sean and I have gone with the first or second site or vendor we’ve found and liked.

And so, I put it off. I probably would have waited longer if the planning checklists I consulted didn’t say wedding dress shopping should begin right around now, or two months ago.

As January wore on, I started searching. First, I looked through general wedding planning websites for tips on finding a dress, trying on dresses, types of dresses, best dresses for your body type, etc. I made a spreadsheet of local bridal boutiques, both small business and chain shops. I read Yelp horror stories and freaked out. I asked friends and family for recommendations for shops and got some tips.

Then I waited a couple of weeks. This is the way wedding planning goes for us. Sean and I will be productive one day and then take a break for the next two weeks.

When I was home for the grandparents’ anniversary party, mom reminded me about going dress shopping. Early last week, I opened up my trusty spreadsheet — Google Docs has been great through planning — and made two appointments at shops near my apartment. I let mom and Lori know so they could make plans, take time off work.

For the next few days, I did my homework. I checked out the many dresses made by the labels carried at the boutiques. By Friday morning, I had three albums of screenshots of dresses I liked along with a list of elements I did and did not like. I didn’t have any musts for my dress, but knew I probably wasn’t going for a huge Cinderella ball gown with a busy pick-up skirt or a fitted mermaid gown with tons of bead work and huge bows.

Mom and Lori arrived promptly at 9:40 on Friday morning and we drove to Rosa’s Shop in Culver City. I’ve been in the area many times and noticed the store, but never had occasion to step in for a bridal gown, formal dress, first communion or baptism dress/suit.

Rosa met us outside the shop and we quickly got to business. I named dresses I liked and she pulled them out or found something similar. Lori got a mini upper body workout moving the dresses from the racks to the dressing room.

While Rosa went through the racks she pulled out a couple of dresses with details I liked and were within my price range even if they were not on my not-so-short list. Once in the dressing room, I stripped down and she began helping me get into the dresses. We’d step out of the room and take three steps to the platform where I’d slip on Lori’s shoes and check out my reflection.

I tried on 6 or 7 dresses. I can’t remember the exact number, just that we were pretty efficient. I liked all of them. Surprisingly, mom and Lori were mostly in agreement. I expected our preferences would differ more and underestimated how well they know me, my style and taste. If I wasn’t excited about a dress or didn’t like something about it, they didn’t like it either. They were opinionated without being unhelpful or stressing me out.

The penultimate dress I tried was made by a designer whose dresses feature corset backs. It was nice, but not my favorite. The whole process of getting laced in seemed a bit complicated and I didn’t want to do that again for the last dress on the rack, also by the same designer. I was ready to be done, but Rosa asked me to try the dress on. It was her favorite. She’d pulled it out earlier from a rack after I told her what I was looking for.

“You said you wanted [X element],” she reasoned.

Rosa was right. I agreed to try it on. She took it out of the clear garment bag and took it off the hanger. I got the dress on and walked out to the platform. I slipped on Lori’s shoes and instantly grew 5 inches. I stood still and studied my reflection as Rosa laced up the corset and tied the strings. As she pulled tighter, I felt something. No, it was not the loss of oxygen.

I loved my reflection. The dress was perfect. I loved the fabric and the pretty, but not overdone details. I loved what it did for my figure. I felt beautiful.

I looked down to my mom — and odd feeling since she’s a few inches taller than me. She nodded her head like she does when she’s thinking and gave a soft smile. This dress was different. She had immediate comments on all the other gowns. Not this one. Lori — now wearing my purple flats — was smiling too.

I needed to see what Sean would see as I walked down the aisle with my father by my side.

“Can I try on a veil?”

I stayed on the platform while the others walked over to veil display. They picked out a chapel length veil. Rosa affixed it to my hair and pulled the tulle down over my face.

Something clicked. I turned to my mom.

I choked up as I said, “Mom, this is the one I want.”

Yeah, I cried. My nose got red. Lori took my camera out of my purse and took some pictures. (Of course, those won’t be shared.)

As cliché as it sounds, I’d just had my “oh, mommy!” moment. (Oh, wedding industrial complex, you win again. At least I’m aware of what I’m falling for because I read Rebecca Mead’s One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding. That makes it okay, right?)

As I walked around the room getting a feel for how the dress moved, I thought my dad would’ve been crying if he saw me. It’s a good thing my mom and Lori foresaw that and didn’t let him tag along.

I went back to the carpeted platform and stared at myself for a couple more minutes. I asked Rosa about the details, cost, length, bustles and other potential alterations.

And then I realized it was 11:36 and I had a noon appointment at the Alfred Angelo store in Beverly Hills. I hurried to change in to my casual dress. Rosa gave me a quick hug before leaving and I promised to return.