La Misma Luna

I traveled to the city of Celaya this weekend to see Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna). The movie was as good as i had anticipated, though I could've done w/out the some of the over-dramatization. I guess I'd feel different if it wasn't such a socially charged film and if the topic of immigration wasn't so controversial in the US. I understand the point of appealing to emotions, but the facts of the immigration issue are harsh and sad enough that they don't need any additional dramatization. When one starts over dramatizing such an issue, anti-immigration supporters will begin alleging that immigrant supporters are capitalizing on peoples emotions, bleeding hearts and not sticking to facts. You could deny emotions, but you shouldn't deny facts. The fact that anyone is forced out of economic necessity to separate from loved ones for an indefinite amount of time, in order to provide, should speak volumes in itself. The fact that millions of people will risk their lives and walk three-four days through 100+ temperature should be more than sufficient evidence of great injustices perpetuated by a system that fails humanity. No one should have to risk their lives w/ so much abundance in wealth and material. The income of the average Mexican seems to be anywhere between 80-100 pesos a day, that's about $8-10USD. My movie ticket was 47 pesos, half a days labor. I started thinking about the crowd in the movie theater, in relation to the price and the topic. How many of the people in the theater are able to see this movie on the effects of immigration, on Mexican families, in a Mexican theater at 47 pesos a ticket, because someone in their family immigrated in order to afford them a better life? This thought was further magnified when my Mexican friend asked me during the movie, in disbelief, if INS agents in the U.S. actually raided immigrants at their jobs. With all honesty, how is she really expected to know? My friends older siblings both immigrated to the U.S. and now live in Wisconsin. They helped put my friend through The University of Celaya, thus helping alleviate the economic necessity of their family in Mexico. I asked my friend if she has ever thought about immigrating to the U.S., to which she responded, "Not really. I have no reason to." This led me to think about how many families or individuals in this theater have never, or ever will, experience the effects of immigration because they're part of a minority who's parents are educated, professionals or politicians, and make a better living, thus never having to leave. Therefore, the concept of immigrating out of necessity is something foreign to them. Like something out of a movie. Something that they might not be so inclined to want to change. Mexico, like many third world countries, which most of the world is, is characterized by pockets of wealth in a landscape of over-whelming poverty. The mall, where the theater is located, is adorned w/ stores like Aldo, Checkers Shoes, Hot Topic knock-offs, Gap, A & F, etc. The food court will sell you a Whopper meal for 60 pesos, a Subway sandwich meal for 50 or maybe a Big Mac meal for 60. American prices w/ Mexican wages. Meanwhile, outside in the parking lot boys as young as 14 offer to wash cars, carry bags or help guide you park your car. Older ladies sell tamales, cups of atole (a corn based drink) or antojitos (snacks). Further down the road, at any given intersection, young boys hop on car hoods of unsuspecting motorists, washing windshields w/soap filled Pepsi-bottles, tattered rags and broken pieces of rubber that serve as impromptu squeegees, for anywhere from 1-5 pesos. The spirit of the entrepreneurial capitalist at work or the spirit of necessity? The movie brought back memories of confusion and fear, given that my parents, up until i was 8 were both illegally in the U.S. Confusion on first seeing my dads face on a falsified green card and wondering why the name didn't match his face. Fear on the fact that my father would leave for work, knowing very well, that it was possible that he and my mother might not return home. Everyday, conscious of the raids that were occurring in numerous factories in the Chicago area. I'm not pretending that situations of blight don't exist in the the US, because they very much do. It just that these situations are just that much more dramatic and obvious in a country like Mexico. It's that much easier for me to observe and relate, given that I am a product of two immigrants, speak fluent Spanish and have a Mexican background. This isn't an attempt at volunteering myself to a life of poverty, but an attempt at volunteering myself to take notice, lest I insist on pretending to be oblivious, mostly out of not knowing what to do. Because like it or not, all of this hit's too close to home.

Book:
The Pig and The Skyscraper. Chicago: A History of Our Future.-Marco d'Eramo

Under The Same Moon

The debut feature from director Patricia Riggen, this drama centers on a young boy's journey across the US/Mexico border to be reunited with his mother. Adrian Alonso stars as Carlitos, a Mexican adolescent living with his grandmother while his mother works as a maid in the US, hoping someday to send for her child. But when the grandmother dies unexpectedly, Carlitos must sneak across the border and seek out his mother. Featuring a supporting performance by America Ferrara of ABC's Ugly Betty, The Same Moon premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival where it received a standing-ovation.

Chiapas Fundraiser

The Chiapas Building Project hopes to support sustainable development projects in the communities of Abosolo and San Juan Cancuc in Chiapas, Mexico. We are raising funds to buy mechanical presses that make "earth blocks"—durable, sustainable, economical building materials for everything from homes to schools and clinics. Community members will receive the proper training on how to use the press and how to use the natural resources found in their areas to make the earth blocks. This project promotes sustainability, and it lets community members decide what type of building their community needs.

In support of this project, we are hosting a fundraiser on Thursday, April 3, 2008, at Garcia's Mexican Restaurant, from 7:00-10:00pm. Garcia's is located at 1758 W. Lawrence (close to the Montrose Brown Line stop or the Clark bus). Tickets will cost $30 in advance and $40 at the door, and include dinner and beer, wine, and margaritas. This event should be a blast and it is something you can feel great about supporting. Also, please feel free to invite anyone you think might be interested.

If you are unable to attend, please consider making a donation to the project directly through the Neighbors Corp., which is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt charity. Donations should be sent to:

Chiapas Building Project
c/o Neighbors Corp., Attn: George Terrell
434 West Oakdale, Unit 2
Chicago, IL 60657


Thanks to Jessi

a lucid explanation

idealogical alienation is difficult in chicago. luckily, it's magnified furthermore in mexico by cultural differences. it's not that bad. well, kind of. i tend to get along better w/ the residents than w/ the "nortenos," (northeners)that's what the residents call them. the nortenos return to their hometowns around this time of year, basically, to party. it's their triumphant return home. their "look, i left poor and miserable and now i can afford to pay $1000 to a mariachi to follow me around for 5 hours". that literally happened, it was my uncle. there is an abundance of big trucks w/ chromed rims, tinted windows, sound systems playing the latest mexican hit, usually in 3/4 time. bottles of tequila and corona flow day and night, mexican-american kids walk in droves, speaking english, horrible spanish or a combination of both. immigrants and their children come dressed like exaggeratedly wealthy cowboys or exaggeratedly wealthy americans. materialism. plain and simple. the residents hold some resentment towards them, i really don't blame them. some can't wait until the fiestas are over in order to have their sleepy little town back, their quiet "jardines" (gardens) in peace(at least the ones w/out a business, of course. businesses cater to the returning immigrant: peanut butter, skky vodka, micheladas, etc. that's just good business, right?) one can't really blame the norteno immigrants for their over-the-top, tackiness, given the stories they insist on recounting to each other about growing up playing w/ rocks,toiling the soil from sun up to sun down at the age of 10, of ridicule for not having material, in an attempt to validate themselves. keep in mind that most of the adults in these horatio alger-success stories are in their late 40's to late 50's, and they reflect on these days long gone w/ a certain nostalgia of simplicity, "we were poor in wealth, but rich in values." this town first received electricity in 1960, many of these immigrants still remember the day. now they can have it all, and so can their american children. that privilege isn't only reflected in their children's clothes, but also in their attitudes. they start fights amongst each other, they drink themselves into oblivion, discharge firearms. they parade around like they own the place. actually, given the buying power of the american dollar, they almost kind of do. the town is returning to normal as of late. most everyone is heading back to their real lives in appleton, wisconsin; whiteton, california. las vegas. chicago. not mexico. is this directly the average americans fault? no. could this be a result of disparities in wealth? i'm betting more likely than not. most would place the blame solely on the mexican gov't for it's peoples plight. consider one of the major concerns of american policy in latin america: "to install governments that favor private investment of domestic and foreign capital, production for export and the right to bring profits out of the country." the best thing out of all of this for me: no one has told me any of it, i've seen it w/ my own eyes.

books:
anarchism and other essays- emma goldman
what uncle sam really wants- noam chomsky

class-consciousness

obama never said the word "class." it's a "dirty," charged word in the united states. it entails socialism, class-awarness, but it's there. "u.s problems are neither black nor white nor latino nor asian." they're class problems, world problems. i hope obama is as good as he sounds, and i hope he doesn't go the way of MLK and JFK. if history serves as a guide to what the future may hold, people in power don't particularly favor class-awareness.

a slaughter, of sorts.

I reaped the benefits of the slaughter yesterday. tender, homemade carnitas. everything but the squeal. the guy who made them had the recipe handed down to him from his father and his father from his father, and so forth. he was extremely secretive and requested to be alone during the 3 hour process. i don´t blame him. they were some of the best carnitas i´ve ever had. the guy goes by the name of "cache." the spanish word for big cheeks, cacheton(ka-che-tone), shortened. he´s just one of the many immigrant stories that i have had the pleasure of listening to since my arrival to mexico. stories of crossing the desert, evading the migra and death, for a job. it´s nothing new to me. my parents are immigrants themselves, but it´s different to hear different stories from other people. the situation has to be pretty bad in your country if you´re willing to risk your life for a job. a job that doesn´t afford you benefits, a minimum wage, social security or respect from most euro-americans. cache talked about working from may until august in wisconsin as a landscaper, from september to december in cheese factories, then traveling to florida the remaining months to pick lettuce. that was his life for many years in the united states, all so he could feed his family back in his hometown. he´s now settled and resigned himself to making carnitas in mexico. "it´s not the best life, but it provides and that´s all that matters," he says. i´m currently reading the devils highway by luis alberto urrea. it´s about the 26 men that crossed into the arizona desert, where 14 eventually perished from the heat. it´s a tragedy that situations of "competition" have to be created in the name of progress, and that people have to flee their homes and willingly risk their lives to simply eat. i think of all of the excess and privileges that have been afforded to me in my life, and though i don´t feel guilty for ever having them, i do feel guilty for ever thinking that i ever needed more. you really have to respect someone who is willing to die to feed their family. anyone of us would act the same way, if faced w/ the same situation. this i know as truth. it´s part our animal nature. a part we insist on promoting.

dead in their tracks by john annerino
the devils highway by luis alberto urrea

The Rise of American Nationalism?

I'm at the airport right now after having spent most my time this weekend with my family. I love my family. Hardworking, blue-collar, working-class folk. Everything was great, up until my grandmother commenting to my mom on how one of my uncles and some of his friends were almost beaten to death in Texas by a group of racist minutemen. The minutemen waited for them outside of a party and proceeded to beat them with machetes and other assorted weapons. Completely racially motivated, the Hispanic men weren't apprehended crossing the US-Mexican border. I really hope this isn't the beginning of an imminent trend, but if history serves as any sort of guide as to what the future may bring, the future for Hispanics in this country looks bleak. The Skinhead movement in England turned violently nationalistic as a response to a country in an economic recession, a large influx of Pakistani immigrants and the Falkland's War. The working-class Skinheads blamed immigrants for their social problems, though it's almost always the immigrants that keep a faltering economy afloat w/ their cheap labor. Yes, being cheap labor takes jobs away from the Nationals of any country, but Capitalism depends on spending as little as possible for the most work or product, as possible. Capitalism creates need. These Mexican and Hispanic immigrants are doing what anybody else would do, given the circumstances. Most people don't flee to a foreign county to work undesirable jobs, unless their life depends on it. I'd really hate for there to be in increase in violence against Hispanics and Mexicans, but with our economy in a recession, a war that's taking it's toll on the American public and an incessant influx of Mexican Immigrants, aggressive retaliation seems almost inevitable. The rise of the Racist Skinhead movement is one example in history of race violence within a class, but it's one that maybe some of us are familiar with. This isn't a race issue. It's a class issue. Let us hope this incident was just a fluke.