Monday, June 27, 2011

Immigrant Dreams

~ Art work by Artemio Rodriguez

I had a dream last night that I was deported back to Mexico, but I was able to make my way back to the U.S. by speaking English. I mentioned this to someone and they told me, "they are immigrant dreams." "Only immigrants have dreams like that." It's not the first time I've had dreams like that, about running into ICE, friends and family getting deported or me going back to Mexico. Can't really say what brings them up or the why behind them, but they happen and for the better part I just keep them as that, dreams. There's no making sense of them either because that won't get me anywhere, other than asking more questions that I don't have an answer to.

Still, there's a part of me that stops to think about the dreams and what they meant. This morning when I started pondering about it, the song 'ten years gone' by zepplin came into my mind as background noise. I guess more than anything, a common theme in those type of dreams is the passage of time and things only getting worse, rather than better. Then again all these dreams can mean nothing other than my mind trying to work things out as I visit the sandman or they can mean everything. See, that's why I just leave them be cause too many questions come up. Ayy caramba.   

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Random Goes to Washington

Much like Olmect Head #4 here, I felt outta place in DC, but I'll talk
about that later. First thing some people must be thinking is how did
I fly while being undoc ? Well I'm not gonna talk about that.
Secondly, how did I end up in Washington DC, the nations capital ?
That'll be a secret too but know I was there for a week and loved
every second of it !!

It was freaking cool to be a tourist for once. It was my first time
flying, being out of LA and basically going out and seeing the rest of
the world. I loved it !!! It's nice to try different things once in a
while and it makes one appreciate what we have at home. Specially
regional foods cause the food in DC has nothing on LA tacos.

Flying in itself was pretty momentous because I had to get through TSA
and that whole proccess. But after my first time I was like, hey it's
no different than getting carded at a bar. Flying felt like being on a
roller coaster and landing was pretty fun, as well as looking out the
window and what not.

Duringmu week stay I saw the white house of course, went to a baseball
game and explored through public transportation. Hands down I lovedthe
museums the most, specially the natural history museum. Thatone had a
bunch of net-o stuff. I did get sad with all the animals though.

I'm not much for tourist things, but I really did wanna see the white
house and all that good stuff. Turns out you can rent a bike for the
day there. It wasn't untilmy last that I saw that, other wise I would
have rented a bike and gotten lost in the city. Plus I stuck out cause
of my fashion sense. I didn't dress like the locals and I don't wear
tourist gear.

Im looking forward to traveling again to other states. Getting over
this flying barrier opened up the door to a lot of new opportunities
that will bear fruit. I know I grew little as a person because I was
in a foreign place, and it felt nice for a change


~ con safos ~

Thursday, June 09, 2011

Rundown on last few weeks


Soooooo these are a few things I was going to blog about the next
day after they happened, but for some reason I didn't. Mostly
because I got caught in doing something else, which is always a good
thing for me. Idle hands are the devils play thing, and for me and
idle mind means I just think about the wrong things, unless I'm
putting those thoughts to paper, in that case, it's a good thing.

So, in no particular order; I've been doing some AB 540 workshops at
schools. I did a full day at South Gate HS thanks to the help of a
great friend, who made everything happen and set it up. She's super
cool and down go earth. Majority of the kids at these AB 540
workshops were kids who are undoc and benefited from this info, so
that alone made it a HUGE success.

I spent some much needed time with friends going through somethings,
mostly lending out my ears and thoughts as they went through stuff.
I know I've needed those spaces before, so I never turn away anyone,
no matter what I may have going on. These are my friends and just
like anyone else, I'm there for anything and everything. It's that
kind of support that helps to keep us going in the long run, not to
mention all the money we save on therapy :P

The last thing is to say how freaking awesome X-Men first class
was !!!! And Kung Fu panda 2 as well. I saw each movie the weekend
they came out and I loved them !!! X men is pretty obvious to those
who know me. The story for this movie hits very close to home, cause
of the themes of alienation, segrigation, the other, finding others
like you etc. A lot of similarities between the mutants in the movie
and being undoc. Kung Fu panda was just hilarious, great story and
moral out come and it too hit close to home. So yeah, more to come
in the next few days, like me flying fornthe very first time !!!!!

~ con safos ~

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Intersecting Realities: Visions of Immigrant Narratives


Save the date for June 18th 6 p.m. for what will be one of many art shows that looks at the Dream Act movement from the point of view of the individuals who make it up. This is a show that has been a long time in the making and through a collective effort of individuals and artist, a space has been created in which the movement will be seen a little differently that the normal political context. Seen the way we see it ourselves everyday going to work, school, being activist, artist, brothers, sisters, daughters,sons ... human beings making the best of what was given to us.

People see us as the students, dreamers, activist and youth, but rarely do those same people get to see the other sides of our lives outside of these spaces. Truly, a persons personally is like a kaleidoscope, perpetualy changing, sometimes too fast to notice. So, please join us if you are in the LA area that weekend for what will be a night to remember for years to come.