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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
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
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
ColumnsStories

The Trek North: Part Three

PHOTO: Figs on a tree branch, similar to the ones we picked in Figarden, California. Getty Images.     It took about an hour to get to Delano after leaving Bakersfield. We were all hungry, but for some reason food no longer mattered much, especially for those of us that were older. We wanted to find work. The local farm employment office gave us the name and address of a Mexican labor contractor that needed…
Pedro Chavez
December 1, 2015
ColumnsStories

The Art and Times of Bob Kilcullen

PHOTO: Taken during 1965 Chicago Bears training camp at St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana. NOTE: This is the introduction to Bob Kilcullen’s biography, a book still waiting to be published. Bob is an artist who is still drawing and painting. He was a defensive lineman for the Chicago Bears for about nine years. He played for George Halas and was part of the 1963 Chicago Bears world champion team.   Bob Kilcullen was a hyperactive child, filled…
Pedro Chavez
November 30, 2015
ColumnsStories

The Trek North: Part Two

IMAGE: Oil pumps, similar to the ones we encountered in Oildale. Getty Images.   Once we had our permanent resident visas, our mother wanted to leave right away for the United States. Our father wanted to wait. It was in August, a time when he had plenty work. He thought it would be best to save some money before embarking on the trip north. Our mother felt differently and said that not much would be…
Pedro Chavez
November 24, 2015
Border TalesColumns

Food for Thought: The Guard at the Border

NOTE: Wrote this fictionalized story in May 2006, as part of Border Tales, a crazy idea I had then about making fun of some news items. It’s all fiction, written just for fun. (PHOTO: U.S. Mexico border area at Big Bend National Park, looking south from the Texas side. Getty Images).   The tall man was wearing a camouflaged uniform, similar to those worn by American soldiers in Iraq. He was carrying what looked like…
Pedro Chavez
November 23, 2015