Nothing like a street festival to lift my spirits

Weren’t you getting tired of hearing the candidates and about them and their every move? I know it is not over over for some but, hijole, so glad the major hump is over.

Some of you may have heard the story about the bride whose reception was supposedly ruined by a candidate – sorry, but the blame was going to the wrong person. I could go on about an email I got about this incident but I won’t. Even the opponent’s camp (because I did talk to them to see if it was a cheap attempt to discredit her) said they had nothing to do with it. So the moral of the story is that you make yourself look bad when you try to make others look bad especially when it is an emotional, non-logical personal story.

Then there were the sites like Not Galo 2012. Meh. I read it, though. The Laredo Lizard was by far the most entertaining and with more effort and not focused on only one race. Again, I read them but… who I vote for is my business. Negative campaigning, I order you to BE GONE! (my magic )

I’ve really gotten off track. I didn’t even share how frustrating it was to actually vote! I almost walked away without voting. Mixing technology with non-technologically inclined volunteers – not good. Let me end this here and tell you about a pretty neat street festival being planned this Summer.

The vecinos of St. Peter’s along with TAMIU’s SIFE organization are planning a street festival in the downtown residential area. It’s focused on arts & crafts. It’s in June but they are looking for area exhibitors, specifically arts and crafts. Because it is about what people can make on their own, they have scheduled a few demonstrations and activities like historic walking tours by Laredo Main Street, thermal photography by the Laredo Paranormal Research Society, a pre-show by the Laredo Wrestling Alliance, a highlight of antique cars by the Outsiders Car Club, a screen-printing demonstration by Victor Mendoza, and so on. The vecinos will be blocking off three blocks of their residential neighborhood for you to share the spaces they live in and love.

So if you have a specific talent that you want to share or are crafty and have pieces to show and/or sell, check out their request for exhibitors:

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Playing the Memory game with candidates

These politicians nowadays are all starting to look alike. I could understand the mistaken identity printed on May 20, 2012 because even their names are similar.

Oh, all right, all right. In fairness to Laredo Morning Times, it really wasn’t that big of a deal and they did offer a correction for printed the wrong candidate photo the following day (May 21, 2012):

Kelly Janelle shooting for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders

Photo from the official facebook page of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders

A big congratulations to the Sherwood Family on having Kelly Janelle be part of the 2012 Training Camp for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.

Earlier in the week, the Sherwood family sent out an email asking for your vote and support:

My granddaughter, Kelly Janelle Sherwood has been in the competition to become a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader. In the past several weeks, she has succeeded in making the “cuts” and this weekend, she is among 54 young women from around the world who will be attempting to make it to the Cowboy Cheerleading Camp.

Information about Kelly:

Kelly graduated with honors from Alexander High School where she was captain of the national champion dance unit, the Dazzlers. She has been dancing since the age of 2 and has been choreographing dance for most of her high school years. She is also been modeling since she was 15 years old. Currently, she is a Laredo Community College Honors Program student where she has a 4.0 GPA. Kelly is the only Laredoan in the competition and is probably the youngest in this competition. I am definitely prejudiced, but I believe that when our community sees our beautiful Kelly, that they will be proud that she is representing not only herself but our city in this difficult competition.

We are asking Laredoans to please support her effort by clicking on the following Facebook page and vote for her

From Facebook, go to The Official Page of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders; Click on 2012 Cheerleading Camp Candidates; Look for Kelly Janelle(hint-she is wearing #9 on her swimsuit); then “like” her and make a positive comment if you would like to send her a message. After you have voted by your “like”, please click share and send it to your friends and family.

These votes do give her an edge in the competition and we hope that our community will support her effort.

Thank you.

Carol & Ed Sherwood

So far so good, she made this past weekend’s cut into the training boot camp. This link takes you to her Facebook page photo so that you can “like” it. You can still help some more, though. Text #24 to 88222 to vote for Kelly Janelle as a finalist.

She has incredible hard-earned dance talent and her grandparents, Ed or Carol, watching over her – so she can’t lose. I am sure she is as brilliant and nice of a person as they are.

Good luck to Kelly Janelle!!

Photo from Facebook, text added by me

Que friega nos dan los politicos

Readers, today we have a guest post while I continue to set up shop. How appropriate that this guest post addresses politicians, as we head off to the polls for early voting. May we choose well from the small group of candidates and may they read Mr. Paul Cavazos’ post and consider who they represent.

On his column in the LMT Sun 04/022/012 edition Odie Arambula states “history has been telling us for more than 150 years that Webb County Politics is alive and well.” He further comments that the culture remains just as alive in the 21st Century. I agree with him that the methodology is the same but modernized to cope with, and take advantage of the modern media. The big change in politics occurs on those who won the election.

Modern politicians once get elected they become entrepreneurs and speculators with tax payers’ money and try to compete in the private sector, even though they do this in a very unorthodox manner, it scares potential private investors. These are afraid to face unfair competition with tax payers’ money and remember the old adage “you can’t beat City Hall.”

In the private sector we seek and find the need for a service or a product; we measure the size of the market; evaluate the competition and determine if we can make a profit or not. Not until then we decide to invest or not to invest. Once we determine that it is a “go”; we start applying for licenses and invest in land plant and equipment. We risk our own money.

Our politicians instead, adhere to the Better Mouse Trap Theory. They invest heavily in the biggest traps and expect the mice to come by. When the mice never come, the taxpayers are left “holding the bag.”

We thank God for term limits, but still we are left with a herd of white elephants, a mountain of debt, and a continuance of inefficiently aggressive management.

Paul Cavazos
Laredo, TX

Giving in to the pressures of giving in

Contrary to what may be running through your mind, I did survive the Cinco de Mayo festivities. The celebration of all things Mexican in the US (because, as you know, many in Mexico say “¿¿Estan celebrando que??” (They are celebrating what?) was overshadowed by so many other things taking place.

Early in the morning on May 4th, I had tweeted about what a surprise it had been to not hear the U.S. helicopters that had been sweeping the Rio Grande frequently. A few hours later, I saw the first report that 9 men and women had been found hung from a bridge in Nuevo Laredo. Later that morning came the reports of the additional 14 found decapitated.

Click on this link to the KSAT report on the gruesome discoveries.

Or did you think I had been arrested along with our Loop 20 friend who was reviving the Freedom Riders on Cinco de Mayo to take down the borders? I was tempted to go look for him but… I would have been one of thousands on the bridge, like looking for a needle in a haystack. I don’t think he followed through on his plan, though, or we might have heard about it through regular media channels.

No readers, as I briefly alluded to, I have been busy setting up my little changarro. I made the leap over into small business owner. Sigh. I spent a week without internet connection aside from my phone. Día de las Madres passed on 10 de Mayo, then American Mother’s Day on the 13th. What do mothers do on Mother’s Day in Laredo?

Ok, not all mothers wash their favorite chair at the car wash – just those that remind me of me . Thanks to reader Pablo C. for submitting the picture.

In all that time, I got home late and sat outside to listen to the helicopters flying overhead.

I sit at home in safety, I watch the helicopters in safety, I enjoy being able to walk around in safety… but a river divides and that feeling of safety is not shared.

I wasn’t that shocked to hear that El Mañana was self-censoring before but after the attack this past weekend, I can understand their decision to make a public announcement that they will no longer report on cartel violence. It does make me sad for the state of Journalism in Mexico, especially along the border cities. The editorial letter published in El Mañana on May 13th states clearly that the situation is painful but conditions do not permit free and safe reporting. Despite the violence, they will continue to report the news but are choosing to not provide more coverage to the bloody and violent wars.

Por ello, este periódico apelando a la comprensión de la opinión pública se abstendrá, por el tiempo necesario, de publicar cualquier información que se derive de las disputas violentas que sufre nuestra ciudad y otras regiones del país.

El Consejo Editorial y de Administración de esta empresa ha llegado a esta lamentable decisión, obligado por las circunstancias que todos conocemos, y por la falta de condiciones para el libre ejercicio del periodismo.

Sólo se abordará el tema a través de la opinión profesional de los analistas que estudian el fenómeno y lo tratan de manera inteligente y responsable.

I am not a reporter, I don’t have a journalism background but I do know to pull back from your passion and chosen career is difficult. I expect that other mechanisms for communicating what is taking place in the underbelly of Nuevo Laredo will continue to flourish. Blogging is my little way – despite my disjointed and mixed efforts – but I blog in the safety of the United States without much first hand information about the violence. My life will soon get back to normal, I can only hope that someday it will for Mexico too. In the meantime, I will continue to sit outside and watch the helicopters flying earlier and lower as the violence increases less than five miles away from me.

The water we depend on

Fun fishing at the Rio Grande by International Bridge #1 but… not sure I would eat anything caught in that part of the river

Local director of the Rio Grande International Study Center, Tricia Cortez, had an opinion piece featured in the San Antonio Express on May 2, 2012. I suggest you check out all the story at this link but it starts off a little like this:

In our stretch of the Rio Grande near Laredo, levels of bacteria — fecal coliform and its more dangerous substrain, E. coli — remain astronomically high.

Most pathogens come from the fecal matter of humans and animals. This health hazard could lead to a major epidemic along the border. Downstream farmers irrigate crops with water pumped directly from the river.

The lack of political will by the United States and Mexico to deal with this problem has been a source of shame and embarrassment for our community for far too long.

The International Boundary & Water Commission will re-open a Laredo satellite in May. I urge the commission to prioritize this issue.

Water was precious to my family when I was growing up. I would watch my father as he chose a spot just far enough and dug just deep enough from local streams to let the sands filter some water before letting us taking a sip from his hands.

I don’t think my father would have been filtering the kinds of contaminants we see in the waters of the Rio Grande nowadays. In all fairness, we do have water treatment systems but Tricia points out the following:

The Texas Clean Rivers Program has released preliminary results from its Laredo Bacteria Study. In 2011, they analyzed samples from 40 sites along 27 miles of river between Laredo and Nuevo Laredo.

Results are shocking.

When the river hits Laredo and curves toward the downtown international bridges, fecal coliform shoots off the charts. Following close behind is E. coli.

At Bridge II, fecal coliforms hit 14,200 colonies per 100 ml. E. coli levels exceed 2,400 colonies/100 ml.

Yes, I drink tap water. Yes, I have even swallowed quite a bit of Rio Grande water (fue accidente pero… ni modo, paso). And yes, I do care about the future of our endangered river that sustains us. IBWC (International Boundary & Water Commission), the question about action has been posed, what next?

May Day – International Worker Day

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Today’s morning discussion with a friend – the origins of May Day. Yesterday, my brother reminded me that he would not be working May 1st in honor of the sacrifices of union movements and that he might go to the Occupy May Day rally in Chicago. His plans were derailed by an unexpected death in my family and having to take on baby-sitting duties while the rest of my family attends to funeral details.

That means no sharing of photos of the Chicago demonstrations which seemed to be pretty mild. Cleveland Ohio had a different twist. Occupy Cleveland canceled rallies due to threat of violence. Cleveland has seen bloodshed on May Day during the Riots of 1919. Oaklands rally‘s was not entirely peaceful either. Reports are still being filed of the day’s labor rallies worldwide – with a call for factory conditions, sufficient salary, equity for women in the workforce and other improvements. In Laredo, though, my friend and I took a moment to remember and talk about the labor history that helped institute 8-hour workdays in times when workers would toil from 14 to even 20 hours per day and other changes.

National Public Radio tells part of the history better than I ever could. For whatever reason you celebrate May Day (the pagan holiday or other labor events on May 1st), we can’t ignore the struggles that happened in the US that shaped work environments. This is the NPR history shortly after the May Day rally and strike in 1886:

NPR’s All Things Considered interview with Historian & Author James Green

The interview is of James Green who wrote Death in the Haymarket that shares what he knows of what Chicago was like in the days around May 1st to May 4th.

May 1st has seen several labor demonstrations pro-worker rights, some violent, some not but it remains an international workers’ holiday.  A salute to those who strive for a healthy balance in workplace environment and to my brother who is a proud member of the Operating Engineers Local 150 and my father who was with the Brotherhood of the Maintenance of Way.

Today, though, marks my entry away from “worker” and into the world of small business.  Woot woot.  Let’s see what it is like to be the boss of… of… boss of myself – no employees – and I bid adios to 8 hour workdays by choice .