Sunday, May 20, 2007


Mi Papá, my father, Aquiles, picture on the right, was quite a storyteller and occasionally, he would skip the colorful wrappings of prose and get to the moral of the story at hand. But it was uncharacteristic of him, he would've made an ineffective preacher. Most of the time, the lessons to be learned were weaved within the tale, not too obvious, not easily distilled into "a central theme". That is why one had to listen closely and observe his facial mannerisms, and grasp the tone and tempo of his spoken words. A well told story has its own life and special meaning. Like it is often said of a good movie, one doesn't appreciate it until you've seen it at least twice. So it was, asi fue, with Papi's stories: sometimes I wouldn't get their significance until many days passed by. Or years! Especially the humorous ones. Though we disagreed on certain matters, especially during my youth, there is one "view point" that my father held quite deeply and being that today is a special time for me, my Mother, and seven siblings, since Papá passed away May 20, 2006, a year ago today, I thought I'd share that view with you.

I'll quote you the 10 or so-odd words from Papi that still ring true. In a minute. In the following post, further below. But first I gotta get a gripe out of the way. It's related, hang with me. If there's one word, one adjective, that has managed to climb to the top of my personal chart of grim, disgusting, super-used and over-used words, it has to be the word, "absolutely". Epecially when folks put an exclamation point ( ! ) right after that, regardless if its spoken or in an ad. As in, "Joe, is this a sure bet?", and Joe says, "Absolutely!", or "Will this product [put claim here --> _____ ] take care of all my problems?". Joe never hesitates and will usually cut you off before you finish your question by claiming, "Absolutely! Case closed." I don't mean to suggest to speechwriters, speakers, baseball heroes of days past, or WMDesque-politicians of today to strike the word from their vocabulary for always and always (perhaps maybe restrict your use of it to only twice in your public life?). The word "absolutely" has its place, so in the public interest and since blogs need to adhere to established literary standards at least once a year or so, I offer you the cite, Merriam-Webster Online's definition of the root word, Absolute:
1 a : free from imperfection : PERFECT b : free or relatively free from mixture : PURE c : OUTRIGHT, UNMITIGATED
2 : being, governed by, or characteristic of a ruler or authority completely free from constitutional or other restraint ; ... 4 : having no restriction, exception, or qualification

Tech-world denizens, see example: http://advice.cio.com/absolutely-the-expert

It was summer in Sacramento, the temperature reaching nearly 110 degrees outside, and having some time on my hands (a lot, actually) because I had just been laid off from my job, I saw the light! In my kitchen window, there arose a strange conglomeration of shadows, wavy lines (the curtain), and graduated grays. The message? It wasn't clear. Was the heat melting the window glass and baking the ceramic pots into an ethereal nothingness? No. There was no message, just that it was almost 12 noon and I'd better get with it and fix the boy's burritos cause they were getting hungry. I quickly snapped the picture since I was curious if the overbright exposure would play havoc with the camera's automatic settings chip. And I got busy fixing lunch for my sons. When I had some money to spare months later, I got the film developed at Long's and glanced at the snapshot. Thoughts: As much as one seeks security and sureness in life, one ultimately comes around to the belief that there's no simple answers, nothing is just black and white. The will may be strong, it may be steeled but there's worlds we can't readily see, around us, but they're there. They come in shades of gray, from the light to the dark, from recession to prominence. My Father was a very confident man, well-educated, a hardworker, and if you listened carefully to his stories you would come away appreciating why overstatement and exaggeration rarely trump humility. In the gray tones you'll find the rich colors.

I can't exactly remember, I was 10 or maybe 12, but I was being scolded by Papá for being disobedient that day, which was not unusual, for me. The transgression was not too bad though and I was relieved (ningun cinto, no belt out!) that I was only going to be warned. I questioned "back" a little and said something about things not being fair. Rather than arouse his anger for talking back, he held my shoulders gently and said,
"Alex, este es un mundo complicado y nada es sencillo" -- this is a complicated world we live in and nothing is simple. Of course, at the time, I rejected that, in my mind, since I thought I was being singled out for the disobedience, but I didn't continue my argument. I see those same wise words around me these days, in thoughtful essays, in good conversation, and ironically, in seemingy simple photographs or paintings.

Saturday, April 28, 2007


Friends and relatives know the way to my heart is anything associated with music and the guitar. I play some piano, flute, and congas but my instrument of choice is the guitar. Its a "more personal" instrument. A guitar is pressed against your chest as you play. The acoustic guitar is my favorite because the sound waves can be felt through the cherry wood. I like playing rhythm. My favorite guitar? Hard to say, I have several. OK, its my first Mexican acoustic, made in a place known for fine guitars. All I know is that it was "born" in 1964, the label inside the box is old, tattered, stained with spilt beer probably, so its hard to read it. I found it in a garage sale in southern california many years ago. Paid just $10. I've played solo with it, in bands, at birthdays, at weddings, at funerals, serenatas, and tardeadas. Yup, the wood a guitar is made of is significant, it ages, and in time changes "to you". That's why I use it for songwriting, to lay down the seminal tune first. Will definitely post a pic of "la lira favorita" -- my fav ax when I get a digital camera. My other guitars may have cost more, but my first will always be the best.
QUIEN SABE? / WHO KNOWS?

Del chiste de la Asociacion de Pendejos? Un primo me lo conto hace unos anhos. En esa ocasion el lugar es un estadio de futbol. Juan le pregunta a un aficionado sentado a su lado, "oiga, donde esta el bano?" El fulano le responde, "esta alla", apuntando con el dedo de la mano derecha hacia un rumbo al otro lado del estadio. Ya le andaba a Juan y con mas ansiedad le pregunta, "si, senor, pero donde? No se donde apunta!" Entonces le responde de nuevo el fulano, "a si, perdon. mira, vez aguell pendejo con la camisa roja? " "Ok, si, ese pendejo" responde Juan. Le explica el fulano, "pues, el bano esta a ladito, a la izquierda del pendejo!" Los pendejos son utiles, por ejemplo, como punto de referencia. Un pendejo verdadero se conoce dondequeria, facilmente.
[si sabes de este chiste, dejame saber, mi amigo lector]

Some of the best jokes are the open-ended type, the anonymous ones, where the people add a new verse or a new twist and its passed on. Like a joke popular in Mexico, and probably lots of other places, about the Association of Pendejos (dumbshits) a few years ago. According to my cuz, the organization grows exponentially in certain periods, its relatively easy to join, no dues expected, and will accept any and everybody as a member! May be an ex-member ("ex", of course, he or she would have graduated to a classier group) knows a few verses. Don't know how it will translate because usually, I find that there's very fine nuances in comedy that only make sense in the language of origin. I'll post some if I get some.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Ever dream, in your sleep or drift off into space as in "daydreaming", about something and lordy lo, it becomes real? Somebody oughta write a how-to book on including some practical logic to one's dreaming activities. Like the time when I daydreamed that it was just horrible about how many auto accidents we are plagued with and we'd all be safer if the roads, cars, barriers, and other roadside hazards were all made out of rubber. The soft kind. It was right around that time when my young mind, unduly impressed by auto manufacturers' TV commercials of their newest additions, mused that "automatics" (as in vehicles with automatic transmissions) described a situation where the driver would be able to navigate the car by putting on a crown-like electronic cap and cerebrally control every movement of the car.

The only adult that I shared that innocent daydream with brushed me off by saying, "that's not very realistic, Alex". No, that wasn't my old man. 'Course, I didn't dare offer up another dream I'd had, this time about saving gasoline AND reducing highway accidents. The dream went like this: You'd be driving up from your neighborhood to a centrally-located area next to the freeway, slowly lining up in one of 16 lanes, turning-on your car's electronic "magnetic" sensor that emitted a coded message of where you were going (as in Broadway and 25th street intersection) and your car would be coupled to a powerful invisible energy train headed to the correct destination. Logical? My overriding concern dealt with the question of whether I could pull out my comic book and read and not have to keep eyes on the road.

The central point about all of this is that quite often now, news items keep popping up about how scientists are developing, in break-neck fashion, technology that will allow all sorts of new "practical" uses. The dreamers keep pushing the outer limits, pooh-boohing the ultra-narrow adherents of "logical" activity. Alright, so its still too early to think about super-energy commuter trains guided and synchronized by brainwaves. Please don't tell anyone that I even mentioned here in this blog, I'm still embarrassed about the automatic transmissions thing. Did I ever tell you about the time that I started a little novelette, fiction of course, and the circumstances begin to sort've ... happen? Ah, I'll keep that quiet, I swear.

At the end of every post, I'll try to recommend to all of you (the one or two poor souls who landed on this site entirely by accident or a careless search query), a song, or an album (CD for everybody under 84 years), a picture, an art piece, or poem (shoot, maybe a bud's blog or something), that you might enjoy as I did. Today, its an album that I hadn't replayed for over 30 years: "All Things Must Pass", by George Harrison. www.allthingsmustpass.com Ah, there's a passion-filled story related to the time of that album's debut ... man, I'll have to change a lot names, places, and things to avoid a letter from some eager legal libel beagle!

Papa, wherever you are, I love you.

Alejandro

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Tell me what you think, please.
If commercial success is not your publishing goal, would you willingly give up all your copyright rights?

Yes____

No_____

But*

*_____________________

______________________ (less than 100 words, thanks)

If you are not a writer or author or songwriter, what are your thoughts as a listener, a viewer, or the person who is the audience, afterall, of the artistic work? In less than 100 words, please.

Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime (The Korgis)

Alone Again, Naturally

Magic ... rarely are the stars aligned - - - Olivia Newton John

Dusk in Yucatan

Dusk in Yucatan
Harmony Concepts, photograph 01