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Pedro Chavez

ColumnsPolitics

There’s Some Hope for the Governed

I’m done with them grassroots fundraisers. I’m really done. I’m also done with them texts politicians send every day, always asking for dough. For five, ten bucks. They need the money by midnight, they say, to reach a goal. I don’t care about no goals. But I care about electing the right fellas to run our government. That’s why I gave money before, when Barack was running for President the first time around. But not…
Pedro Chavez
August 22, 2023
ColumnsStories

Me and my Writing. Just do it, Pedro.

Sometimes I feel like Walt Stack, the legendary 80-year-old runner featured in a 1988 Nike’s “Just Do It” TV commercial. Not that I can run like Walt. Or that I ever could. But there’s something that he had that I also have. I call it “ganas.” He probably called it willpower. At age 77, I still have that resolve, that desire to get stuff done. And a determination to continue to follow my dreams, which…
Pedro Chavez
July 28, 2023
AnécdotasEspañol

OTRO CUMPLEAÑOS. ESTA VEZ ES EL 77.

IMAGEN: Autoretrato. Dibujo a pluma y tinta. Miércoles, 19 de julio de 2023. Frisco, Texas Hoy es mi cumpleaños. Acabo de llegar a los 77 años. Es un día especial. Puedes llamarme viejo si quieres, y no me ofenderé. Porque es verdad. Estoy viejo. Pero me queda algo de fuego por dentro, y en muchos sentidos, todavía queda leña por quemar. Algunas cosas ya no funcionan igual que antes, pero otras sí. Te contaré más…
Pedro Chavez
July 19, 2023
ColumnsStories

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY. IT’S 77 THIS TIME.

IMAGE: Self-portrait. Pen and ink drawing. Wednesday, July 19, 2023. Frisco, Texas Today is my birthday. Just turned 77. It’s a special day. You can call me an old goat if you want, and I won’t be offended. Because it’s true. I’m up there in age. But there’s some fire left in me, and in many ways, I still got it. Some stuff doesn’t work the same, but other stuff does. I’ll tell you more…
Pedro Chavez
July 19, 2023
AnécdotasEspañol

Se nos fue otra hermana

IMAGEN: Rosa Carmina con nuestra sobrina Elisa. Circa 1988.   Hace poco más de dos meses que perdimos a Amanda, la mayor de nuestro clan. Fue una muerte inesperada. Estaba en el lugar equivocado en el momento equivocado. El vehículo que ella conducía fue embestido por un auto que circulaba en sentido contrario y cuyo conductor había perdido el control tras sufrir un infarto. Fue un triste final de una vida maravillosa y un trágico…
Pedro Chavez
July 8, 2023
ColumnsStories

Another Sister’s Gone

It’s been a little over two months since we lost Amanda, the oldest in our clan. It was an unexpected passing. She was at the proverbial wrong place at the wrong time. The vehicle she was driving was hit by an oncoming car whose driver had lost control after suffering a heart seizure. It was a sad end to a wonderful life and a tragic end for a sister who sometimes played mom when we…
Pedro Chavez
July 7, 2023
AnécdotasEspañol

Amanda, la mayor de nuestro clan

Me toca escribir algo sobre Amanda, nuestra hermana mayor, quien nació en Mexicali hace ya un montón de años. El 4 de mayo de 1945, para aquellos que prefieren las exactitudes. Y en la avenida Lerdo, además. «Amanda manda», dijo el cura al bautizarla en una iglesia de ese lugar. Fue una rima oportuna, no cabe duda, pero también una certeza anunciada. Yo no estuve presente en dicha ceremonia ya que todavía no nacía, pero…
Pedro Chavez
April 23, 2023
ColumnsStories

Amanda, the Eldest in Our Clan

There’s a good reason for writing something about Amanda, our sister and oldest offspring in our clan, who was born in Mexicali many years ago. On May 4, 1945, for those who prefer exactness. And on Lerdo Avenue. “Amanda manda,” said the priest as he baptized her. It was an opportune rhyming one-liner but also a foretold certainty, meaning that she’d be in charge. I was not present at that ceremony since I was not…
Pedro Chavez
April 23, 2023
EspañolMi Mexicali

Mexicali, mi tierra

IMAGEN: Antigua escuela Cuauhtémoc que también sirvió como la escuela preparatoria de Mexicali. Ilustración por Pedro Chávez. Derechos reservados. Mexicali, mi terruño, anda de manteles largos. Es que acaba de cumplir años. Ciento veinte para ser exacto. Yo nací y crecí en ese entonces pueblito hace ya un buen rato, antes de que Baja California se convirtiera en estado. Por cuestiones de la vida, un servidor y el resto de mi familia eventualmente levantamos ancla…
Pedro Chavez
March 15, 2023
ColumnsNews

Reyna Grande Comes to Frisco

IMAGE: Author Reyna Grande during book signing at Collin County Community College, Frisco, Texas. September 25, 2018. NOTE: The following post was originally published on September 26, 2018, on my blog "The Mexican Next Door," which is no longer available. Here it is again. Sometimes you get the unexpected. That happened on Tuesday night, September 25th, at the Collin College Conference Center in Frisco, Texas, during a Hispanic Heritage Month event that featured Reyna Grande.…
Pedro Chavez
February 28, 2023