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Pedro Chavez

CuentosEspañol

Las Abejitas del Valle de Mexicali

IMÁGENES DE ABEJITAS dibujadas por Rebeka Schoffer, de Hungría, expresamente para este cuento. Arte propiedad de thevirtualcolumnist.com.   Allá por los años cuarenta, cuando la última guerra grande (la de los insectos) todavía estaba en su apogeo, miles y miles de abejitas del valle de Mexicali fueron invitadas para que fueran a trabajar en el país vecino. En el valle Imperial, para ser más exacto. A todas las abejas de ese lugar las habían reclutado…
Pedro Chavez
December 27, 2015
ColumnsStories

A Christmas Present

Photo provided by Getty Images.   NOTE: I wrote the following poem some years ago. I go back to it every Christmas, read it, and I kind of like it every time I read it again. It’s a simple poem. I want to share it with you just in case you might kind of like it too. By the way, y’all have a merry Christmas, you heah (I’ve lived in Texas for more than twelve…
Pedro Chavez
December 21, 2015
ColumnsStories

The Trek North: Part Five

Tractor in an orchard. Getty Images.   On the same day that we started working picking figs by hand, I was offered a chance to become a helper on a contraption that swept up the figs off the ground. It was late afternoon when a man working for the grower came looking for me at the orchard where several members of our family and myself were still learning the ropes of our job. The man…
Pedro Chavez
December 16, 2015
ColumnsPolitics

Pesos for Pizza

NOTE: Wrote this column in January, 2007, right after Pizza Patrón in Dallas announced that it would accept Mexican pesos as payment for their food at their outlets. The marketing move worked. Photo from Getty Images.   A pizza chain’s marketing ploy seems to be bringing its spinners more than what they had in mind from some irate folks who sense that America is becoming too much like Mexico. On the other hand, there’s a…
Pedro Chavez
December 15, 2015
ColumnsStories

We’ve Come a Long Way. Maybe.

IMAGE: Poster for the film "Nacho Libre" by Jared Hess, featuring actor Jack Black.   NOTE: Wrote this column in June 2006. Repeating it here on my blog. Much of it still applies. My first reaction to Nacho Libre, Jared Hess’ big screen parody of Mexican wrestling, was: “There we go again.” Making fun of Mexicans, I sadly concluded, hasn’t been forgotten in America. After watching Jack Black – the film’s leading actor – in…
Pedro Chavez
December 14, 2015
AnécdotasEspañol

De la Imaginación y Otras Cosas de Antaño

IMAGEN: Radio antiguo, parecido al que teníamos cuando yo era chamaco. Getty Images. Buenos tiempos fueron esos cuando yo crecí en Mexicali, a fines de los años cuarenta, en los cincuenta y a principio de los sesenta. Soy de allí. Nací en la avenida Lerdo, pero me crié más que todo en la colonia Cuauhtémoc, en el este de la ciudad, no muy lejos de la cerca fronteriza. Digo buenos tiempos porque así los recuerdo.…
Pedro Chavez
December 13, 2015
ColumnsStories

The Trek North: Part Four

PHOTO: Fig tree with fruit. Getty Images.   It felt good having a place to stay and knowing that soon we were going to also have food to eat. We selected the house that was next to the entrance of the camp. They were all the same, though. It had an elevated large bedroom with a wooden floor and a small room with a dirt floor and open windows that served as a kitchen. It had…
Pedro Chavez
December 9, 2015
Border TalesColumns

You’re No Tex-Mex

NOTE: I wrote this story back in 2006. It's all fiction, except for Fuel City. They have good tacos there. Just like back home. IMAGES borrowed from the Fuel City website.   The middle-aged man had only been in Dallas for a couple of weeks, but had already been longing for the Mexico City type tacos he was used to buying at the place where he last lived. After inquiring with a few folks that…
Pedro Chavez
December 8, 2015
AnécdotasEspañol

Las Cosas de Sonia Flynn

FOTO reciente de Sonia Flynn, sacada de su muro en Facebook.   Desde la primera vez que hablé con Sonia Flynn me di cuenta que traía su casta de personas preparadas, que tenía su buena enseñanza. Hablaba con confianza en sí misma y mostraba sin presumir su inteligencia. Se notaba también su don de mando. Me cayó bien esa Sonia. No sé por qué, pero siempre me han caído bien las mujeres entronas, siempre y…
Pedro Chavez
December 6, 2015
ColumnsPolitics

The Lure for Cheap Labor

PHOTO: Mexican worker in the service industry. Getty Images.   There are tons of Americans that complain about the undocumented immigrants and their presence in this country. They want them to go back to where they came from. Basically, they want to get rid of the masses of people doing the work most folks in our affluent nation won’t do, the cheap labor that fattens the bottom lines of a great chunk of corporate America.…
Pedro Chavez
December 4, 2015