Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Hispanic Heritage Month (9/15-10/15)

Colorado Blvd; Crystal Quintero, Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Latinx-Irish rebel and heroic Hispanic icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara (imdb.com)
This is Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15). So here comes the 24th annual Pasadena Latina/o Heritage Parade and Festival, which will be held on Saturday, Oct. 1st, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Artist Frida Kahlo is a German-Mexican icon.
This year’s parade and festival theme “De Colores/An Array of Colors” recognizes the rich diversity in the Latinx culture and promises to enrich the community by bringing together family and friends, warmth and culture, as well as values and tradition.

We had this famous Mexican Velvet Painting in our living room growing up.

We are what we eat: culture
More than 2,000 participants and spectators are expected to attend the parade and festival. The parade begins at Los Robles Ave. and Prescott St., heads south on Los Robles and ends at Villa Parke Community Center, 363 E. Villa Street.

Immediately following the parade, a festival featuring live entertainment by local groups and headliner La Sonora Dinamita with Vilma Diaz, educational booths, free activities for children, and food available for purchase. The Grand Marshal will be Liliana Pérez. More: Pasadena’s Latin Heritage Fest
Should we have a "heritage month"?

Women's Day is a success?
Gina Marie hated National Women's Month, arguing we shouldn't need it. But we do. We do need it. There's too much sexism still. There's too much racism, too. Even now. Even after Pres. B.S. Obama succeeded in changing nothing but not being made to look bad by the powers that be. His presidency was a great success, at least a PR (public relations) success. He may have been gay, smoked crack, had homosexual affairs, but no one but radical Republicans seem to know any of that, as most of it was kept out of the mainstream media. The firsthand witness was even, um, eliminated. Barry Soetoro was groomed for the job, and he did a lot of tangible harm (remember the NDAA and all the things he got through that no Republican, conservative, or white male candidate like Dick Cheney/Don John Trump could have dreamed of getting past the American public?) But he did intangible good, making it look like we're a post-racist nation. We are more racist than before. Are we post-sexist? Not even close. So we are ready to argue that we need or can use National Women's Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month, and more. We shouldn't need it. But we need something. Gina Marie had a great point. Let's stop giving lip service to these causes and get with the reparations to all the oppressed. Let's raise everyone to equality, equal opportunity, equal educational advantage, and more. And until we're there, we need reminders of all the contributions to our Great Salad Bowl (not Melting Pot) experiment.

Eat indigenous vegan way: Decolonize Your Diet

Decolonize Your Diet: vegan Mexican food
The best way to align with, feel sympathy or empathy for Hispanic (Latin) Americans, particularly our beloved Mexican American population, is to eat the original way. Mexican food is the most popular type of food across the nation, not just in the Southwest and California, the Golden State. Why? It's the best food for this climate, with lots of ingredients that grow all around here -- beans, squash, corn, chilies, tomatoes, cilantro, spices, herbs. One can believe that Native Americans -- the Indios or Indigenous Indian tribes that mixed with European invaders and interlopers, occupiers and [semi-unconscious] beneficiaries of white privilege, not to mention the rapists, government residential school molesters, church officials, and others who blended the races with and without consent -- were vegetarian and came to eat more and more meat under the influence of war, disease, occupation, and stress, following the role models that invaded and treated this land like Europe II.

What will we put in our compassionate vegan Buddha Bowl this month? Yum! Salsa, etc.

No comments: