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LARE DOS JUNE 2006 COL 3 ---- FUEL--- BY DR. NEO GUTIERREZ IN LA LA LAND
In the ever-revolving windows of my mind I see often a very tired expression, "Different strokes for different folks." But today, in glaring neon, there's a slight twist, for it says, "Different FUEL for different folks." In a somewhat bizarre juxtaposition come thoughts of the spiritual fuel of the soul, as experienced by Laredo's beautiful Matachines, of north Laredo. Then there's plain, ordinary, common everyday fuel for the cars we must drive. In another window of the mind there's fuel that keeps a heavy heart going, in the midst of all the hate being expressed by Latinos toward their own race, some of it in the shape of undocumented immigrants. And finally, a truly bizarre thought of the fuel that keeps winning boxer Oscar de la Hoya winning.
Los Matachines de Laredo express their spiritual need through the constant thumping of their feet in dance to music and song of ancient origins. This came to mind with beautiful photography by Erasmo Elias
Riojas, MD, age 75, now of Pearland, Texas, and an original Matachin from Dolores, Tx., who transfered residence to the La Ladrillera 'hood in Laredo in 1938 after the coal mine in Dolores flooded. He can no longer dance like Los Matachines due to diabetic foot disease and a peripheral neuropathy condition on hands and feet, caused by agent orange to which he was exposed as a US Navy frogman. He says he is in pain 24/7. When he arrived at La Ladrillera in Laredo, btw, he says that 'hood was a farm field, with no water, no electricity, no sewage, no streets. (That sounds like some parts of Laredo today.) Around 1940 they started selling lots there, he believes, and his family ended as next door neighbors to the head of Los Matachines at that time.
The leading academic archivist of Los Matachines is Dr. Norma Cantu, now a professor of English and US Latino/a Literature at UTSan Antonio. She went there to implement a Ph.D. program in English after teaching for 20 years at TAMIU. Several years ago she produced for PBS in San Antonio a documentary on Los Matachines. How did she get to do it, considering the great privacy that Los Matachines practice? Her sister is married to the head of Los Matachines at that time. Some time later the TV program showed in Laredo through Laredo PAccTV, on one of my excellence-in-performance recognition series.
She writes on the history of this inspired/inspiring group:
In Laredo, Texas, Los Matachines de la Santa Cruz de la Ladrillera perform a
variation of the traditional Coahuiltecan matachín. The group moved to Laredo from the coal-mining towns near Dolores, Texas, in 1939 and settled in the barrios that became known as La Ladrillera and Cantarranas. Upon their arrival they built a chapel to house their Holy Cross in its own terreno, its own place or land. The matachín performed by this group honors the Holy Cross as a symbol of communal unity and commitment. On December 12 they dance in honor of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe; on May 3 in honor of the Holy Cross, the eighty or so members of the dance group in Laredo follow the image of an eight-foot wooden cross adorned with colorful flowers on a religious procession to Holy Redeemer Church, dancing at particular stops along the way. The syncretism of pre-Columbian and Christian symbols found on the matachín traditional dress crops up in various other elements of the celebration, which typically lasts from three to five days. Los Matachines de la Santa Cruz de la Ladrillera is the oldest of several groups that still do matachín dances in Laredo. In 1987 the group was invited to the American Folklife Festival at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. It has also received a Texas Folklife Resources apprenticeship grant. The troupe performed at the Texas Folklife Festival in San Antonio in 1988 as well as the Dance Performance program in Houston. Matachines are also performed in other Texas towns and as far west as California, as well as in northern Mexico; some performances occur in Yaqui, Tohono O'Dam, and Opata pueblos, but others, as in Laredo and El Paso, in Mexican-American communities, and even in Chicago and Dallas. Some groups such as the Yaquis prohibit women from participating, but for the most part the dance is performed by both men and women.
Dr. Cantu attended this past year's fiesta, and she reports that it
was truly beautiful with a new group from Sta. Margarita de Escocia from South Laredo joining the group. On that Sunday there were 80 dancers !
But a most interesting culture-clash incident was reported by Norma Rodriguez Adamo. She writes: What a marvel to see first hand ! Los Matachines de La Ladrillera, the huge Holy Cross bedecked in colorful flowers, the costumes, the dancing, the beat of the drum that seems in sync with your own heartbeat.....100 degree weather even at 5 p.m. when the procession started carrying the Holy Cross through the narrow streets ofthe barrio on it's way to Holy Redeemer Church......costumed kids from 4years old, men and women in their eighties, and every age in between....slowly making their way to Holy Redeemer Church..people along the waycoming out on their front porch to watch... finally, the procession stops in front of the church, but the beating drum and the dancing continues. Lo and behold..there is a 'quinceañera' mass letting out just when the bells start tolling at exactly 6 pm.......You should have seen the awestruck, aqua-blue-dressed girls and their 'chamberlains' as they came out of the church to find this large group of Matachines dancing, beating the drum, and blocking their limos!
Make that: their 'tuxedoed chamberlains'. It was surreal, actually...the kids in their formal dresses and tuxedos in contrast to the kids in Matachines costumes.....the formally dressed kids staring, wondering what the heck is going on ...and the Matachines kids teenage barrio girls and boys, in their costumes and concentrating faces, keeping up with the constant thumping rhythm of the drums.So much for spiritual fuel for the soul. Let's move on now to the very real problems in our everyday lives today with car fuel. To me, all oil news stories focus on one or another group's problems or views in the current crunch. (A few blocks from where I live we got to see in Beverly Hills one gallon of gas for $4.20 in May.) Who do you believe ? I decided to go with the words of an ex-Laredoan, a true professional in the field, James Pappas, now of Kingwood, Tx., 30 miles NE of downtown Houston. James has a BA in chemistry, math, & Spanish, a BS in Chemical Engineering from UTAustin, and an MBA from UTTyler. A registered professional engineer in Texas since 1985, he is Senior Engineering Advisor & Global Technology Coordinator for the Devon Energy Corportation. He has two sons, and his wife Martha, also from Laredo, is from the Lopez Superior Bakery family. Every night James helps his two sons while they do their homework. How can I NOT trust the opinion of such a guy ?
James tries to make sense of the current situation for us when he says:
It's only my opinion, but perhaps it'll explain what's going on with gasoline right now. For years those of us working in the oil and gas industry have warned government and consumers alike that supplies would eventually tighten up, that the cheap fuels the US has been accustomed to were going to dwindle, that there were too few educated geologists and engineers in this industry to find more reserves, and that the culmination could be painful in the least and disasterous at worst. While a few people listened, most, including the majority of our elected officials (dating back to the mid-1970's, from both major parties , chose to ride the wave of the oil shocks of '73 & '79 and subsequent declines of 1986-89 and 92-99. It seems all they were interested in was a false sense of security by the masses, to keep the economic engine going. Indeed, the oil price collapse of the late 1980's led to the downfall of the Soviet Union, since its chief monetary holding wasn't gold, but oil. For that we can all be glad. However, although we conserved energy of all types for a while, we reverted to our old ways of excessive useage of fuels to improve our lifestyle to the point of where we now import over 60% of oil from such rogue or anti-democratic nations as Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Russia. Is it reliance or addiction? You can judge for yourselves.
Now for the present: Every year, US refineries must
shut down for repair and maintenance. They typically do so in the spring, before peak oil demand rises. They try to work in sequence, to avoid major disruptions, but due to US law, they are forbidden from directly informing one another about their plans. Also, due to last year's hurricanes and their effects, over 38% of offshore Gulf of Mexico oil still is shut in and unable to supply refineries. Then there's the fiascos and nervousness due to the Iraq war, Iran's intentions to go nuclear (or nucular, as George Bush says), and Russia's, Venezuela's and Peru's apparent reversion to socialistic tendencies, which together add anxieties to the market. The result is that speculators have bid up the price of oil and its products, including gasoline and other fuels, as well as gold, platinum and silver, and they are reselling them at a short term profit on the open markets.
Let's look at the realities: I've read that consumer demand is
actually down, which doesn't surprise me given the current high cost. Supplies are temporarily low, due to refinery shut-ins for maintenance. The Gulf of Mexico work to re-establish production continues at a record pace and, barring another major hurricane, could be back above 95% production by late August according to my sources. The remainder of current high prices is purely due to worries about the world's situation, the local economy, and to these speculators who continually try to manipulate the markets for their gains; the first two issues I can do nothing nor anticipate nothing about, but the last one will pass within a short time.
The bottom line is that oil prices should peak soon
and gasoline price increases should follow within 6 weeks...as long as the saber rattling doesn't escalate. If it does turn into something more serious, e.g., Venezuela cuts us off, we bomb Iran's nuclear research efforts, Bin Laden's group has another successful major terrorist event, then all bets are off. I know this still makes us all feel uneasy, but at least the cards are on the table and there's some logic to it.
Now let's move on to fuel for my heavy heart, when I feel hate from many Americans--but especially from some American Latinos--who bash undocumented immigrants (pls. note I did not say "illegal" immigrants, because I don't believe any human being is "illegal"). When you can't cry any more, there's only one thing left to do to survive--you laugh. And an unbelievably brilliant comedian, new on Comedy Central TV's THE MIND OF MENCIA, is what keeps me sane, through laughter. Carlos Mencia is the man ! His program is on Wednesday nights at 10:30 p.m.
Billy Crystal says that a comic tells jokes, but a comedian tells jokes and makes you think. Carlos is a comedian. He's the freshest breath of fresh air around, and when he jokes, mostly about racial stuff, he makes me and millions of others laugh.
A friend tells me that a lot of California Mexican hate Mencia due to jealousy and/or maybe because he uses the word "beaners" as he makes fun of Hispanics. But he makes fun of all ethnic groups , so he's not biased against any one group!
Mencia's own personal background is an ethnic hodge-podge itself. Born 1967 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, his mother is Magdalena Mencia from Mexico, and his father is Roberto Holness, of German origin and from Honduras. His parents came to America when Carlos was about 7 months old, and his parents decided to give Carlos to his childless aunt and uncle, Consuelo and Pablo Mencia. Carlos was the 17th of 18 children born to his parents. He lived most of his life in the Maravilla Projects of East LA. He graduated from Garfield HS in LA after being skipped from the 6th grade to the 10th because of his exceptional grades. He majored in electronic engineering at Cal State LA, but dropped out before graduation to pursue his love of comedy.
And his name is NOT Carlos Mencia. His real name is Ned Holness, however, when he was going to play at The Comedy Store on Sunset Strip near where I live, a lady by the name of Mitzi Shore, owner of the Comedy Store, played an important role in the future of his career. Carlos explained in a TV NIGHTLINE interview: Mitzi told me...you can't be a Mexican comedian with a name like Ned Holness ! He suggested Carlos Mencia, and she jumped at the idea, saying yes because the name had rhythm and musicality. (NEO NOTE: Mrs. Shore is the mother of Pauly Shore, who was my student at Beverly Hills HS, and who runs the Comedy Store now. The only time Pauly performed at BHHS was in my Global Village Assembly, where he did break-dancing.)
But let's close with fuel that makes a boxer win. Specifically, think Oscar de la Hoya, who won his last fight at the Las Vegas MGM Grand, even though everyone had fears of rust, doubts about his focus and resolve, and concern of a year and a half of soft living. In a TV interview he exlained his winning training regimen. Five months before fight time, he goes to his cabin in Big Bear Mtn., about 2 hrs. from LA, where he has a full gym, and where he can run up and down the hills without anyone bothering him. At the end of the interview, he explained that part of his training for those 5 months is NO SEX ! ! ! No cuchi-cuchi for 5 MONTHS ! And that, estimados amigos, I suspect would give any 32-yr.-old enough anger fuel to go out and win ANY fight ! AUA !
The funny for this time: Jimmy Kimmel's TV orchestra is Cleto and The Cle-tones. I dare you to say tht in Spanish without laughing....and from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, an incisive, thoughtful quote from distinguished gentleman Gen. Robert C. Trimble, retired, who left Laredo in 1933 at age 13 when he lived at Fort McIntosh. He says : We inherit health, wealth, fame, and shame.
Time for.... as Normis Adamo says: TAN TAN ! Till next time...
(Dr. Neo in Los Angeles is a Ph.D. in Dance and Related Fine Arts, Tiger Legend
2002, and Senor Int'l de BevHills 1997. Contact Dr. Neo at www.neodance@aol.com)
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Local
March Four-part video homage on PAC recognizes Patricia & Renato Ramirez By María Eugenia Guerra Native Laredoan Dr. Neo Gutierrez, a Los Angeles educator, returns to his hometown every year just after Christmas, and he comes bearing gifts in the form of the documentaries he makes about Laredoans and other South Texans he believes have lived lives of service and merit in and out of the area. The most recent series of 12 video vignettes has aired on Public Access TV, including a four-part homage to Zapata banker, rancher, and community activist Renato Ramirez and his wife, lifetime educator Patricia Lozano Ramirez. What you will learn from the Renato and Patricia Ramirez story is that they have made the generous decision to share the wealth they have been fortunate enough to amass in banking, ranching, mineral income, and other investments. Last year they established the million dollar Renato and Patricia Ramirez Scholars endowment at Texas A&M International University . Renato is the one-man dynamo who over 21 years has expanded the Zapata County branch of the International Bank of Commerce into one of the most visible and highly profitable of the bank's holdings. With five branches now open and five more in the works, Ramirez anticipates doubling IBC Zapata's $310 million in assets over the next five years. “I have the goal that IBC Zapata will be a billion dollar bank by the time I'm 70 and they turn me out to pasture,” Renato said. “Actually, I guess I'll turn myself out. I'll know when it's time to go,” he quipped. Ramirez has made sure that as the bank has grown over the last two decades, so has the bank's profile as a community supporter of events and efforts that benefit education and the youth of the area, including the Zapata County Fair and the purchase of youth livestock projects. Ramirez's good turn goes to kindness in the annual donation of those livestock projects to the Sacred Heart Orphanage in Laredo . The most heartfelt of the video vignettes, which were shot on location by Rey Fuentes, is of Ramirez visiting with the children of Casa Hogar in Cd. Mier, the orphanage that he and IBC have adopted. Over seven years ago, Ramirez and volunteers from the bank began the work of the construction of a new kitchen, dining hall, classrooms, washateria, a covered play area outdoors, and a water reservoir equipped with hydraulic pumps. Those are the larger improvements. Other donations include commercial kitchen equipment and appliances to meet the needs of Casa Hogar, as well as playground equipment, bicycles, computers, clothing, a bus, and a Suburban. In this particular video segment, the children of Casa Hogar thank Ramirez on the day he has visited, and the camera has captured that there's not a dry eye in the place. For those who have known Ramirez as the hardball-playing banker and the articulate fiscal watchdog of county government, or who have by choice or by chance been on the opposite side of the political chasm from him, the tears are as unexpected as the news that he recites poetry from memory in the sentiment-charged declamations of the work of Alberto Cortez and Juan Carlos Gil. Those declamations punctuate Neo Gutierrez's video story of Renato's life. Never forgetting that membership in the Boys Club in Laredo had much bearing on his life, Ramirez worked relentlessly to engage other community leaders in establishing a Boys and Girls Club in Zapata. With IBC bank shares totaling over $400,000 from the bank and Ramirez, coupled with the generosity of the Lamar Bruni Vergara Trust, the club became a reality several years ago. The club, however, needs a natatorium, Ramirez is quick to point out, and the $2.8 million project could be built in partnership with the school district, Zapata County , and Texas Parks and Wildlife. Like Los Ebanos, the golf course Ramirez carved from the brush lands 20 years ago, he said the natatorium could have great utility for senior citizens and visiting snowbirds, school children, and athletes. Cut to the fairway at Los Ebanos. Renato is wearing neither bank nor ranch clothes, but golf attire instead, and for a second you are taken aback because everyone knows he's too busy to play golf. Looking back, he said, no one even knew how to play golf, but the course just west of Hwy. 83 ended up becoming important to visitors and townspeople alike. “It's a very nice facility, run very tightly. It has never been a moneymaker, but it is enjoyed by locals, tourists, snowbirds, groups from the Valley and Nuevo Laredo, and students. The resident deer, birds, and other wildlife make it a unique setting,” he said, adding that the news that three Zapata athletes have been awarded college golf scholarships is ample proof that Los Ebanos serves the community. Twenty years after he built it, Ramirez himself has recently taken up golf and is now often found at Los Ebanos. A family segment shot on Thanksgiving Day is filled with good natured banter and sparring between matriarch Patricia and Renato and their children Ricardo Xavier, Roberta Grisel, and Ruben Jaime. Patricia, recalling moments over her 40-year partnership with Renato, calls marriage “an act of faith.” Patricia and Renato have seven grandchildren -- Erica, Abigail, Kaitlin, Kristin, Kathryn, Hugo, and Dahlia. A solo interview with Patricia tells of her love of Zapata and its small town ambience and the commitment she and Renato have made to ensure that Zapata continues to offer children educational and recreational venues and opportunities. An earlier video segment of testimonials lauds Renato Ramirez's acumen not only as a banker but also as a former university educator. Among those who remember Ramirez are several of his former Laredo State University students who now work in finance, including Leonor Gutierrez, a financial officer at Sames Motor Company. “He was not only a professor, he was also a friend. He taught us there are no obstacles in life, only challenges. He was a real mentor to me,” Gutierrez said of Renato. “Sometimes Renato's intellect has been misunderstood for various reasons and in various venues,” said Laredo National Bank auditor Conrado Hein, a native Zapatan. “Renato is a man who has a lot to offer. You can learn a lot from the man. He's a very hard worker. He's not afraid to get his hands dirty. He leads with purpose for something better, not only for himself and his family, but for all those around him. He has shared his fortune and in doing so has improved the lives of a lot of people. “I respect him and cherish his friendship, and he knows he can count on me any time, any place. Folks ask me what I will do on a weekend. They are going fishing or skiing. I say I am going to play golf at Los Ebanos. I really look forward to that Friday night or that Saturday night, to sit across the table from Renato, drink a beer or two, and discuss a variety of subjects -- the world situation, the global economy, the state of our own economy, what happened at his ranch, and what happened on the golf course,” Hein concluded. Some of the prettiest footage was shot on the Ramirez ranch and features Renato team roping (header), a sport he calls “the best exercise in the world for a 60-year-old.” The next vignette, the last, is perhaps the most revealing. In a deer blind on a Zapata County ranch, with deer roaming behind him, Renato expounds on the importance of being competitive and where that has taken him in life. “I used to wrestle in college. As a 137-pounder I took on a 250-pound guy and I beat him. I'm going to go out and do the best thing I can do, and I would hope that is going to go forward to my children, my grandchildren, and my great grandchildren -- that I was a competitor. How else would a guy come from shining shoes in beer joints when he was 12 years old to where I am now being able to make a donation to Texas A&M International of a million dollars? It's because I have been so competitive that I have been so successful, and so I would hope that would inspire my offspring to be just as competitive whether roping or playing golf,” he said as the sun began to set in earnest across the brush lands, the shadows beyond the blind growing longer. In the closing shots of Dr. Neo's videography, Renato Ramirez rides into the sunset, the hooves of his good horse raising a grainy filter of dust, a straight-backed unimposing man who knows history will remember him well. - - - - - - - Though I might have told the story without the tedium of a seated, in-studio Q & A session 50 miles from where the Ramirezes live large lives, and though I might have relied more on action footage on home turf, the homage was nonetheless well worth watching as an informative, heartfelt tribute from Dr. Neo Gutierrez to Renato and Patricia Ramirez. Patricio Salinas co-edited the Ramirez documentary with Juan García, Public Access TV's technical director and editor. Among the other vignettes Dr. Gutierrez produced this Christmas were segments featuring Martin High School graduate Gus García, who was the first Hispanic mayor of Austin; Dallas educator Liz Gallego who was the 2004 Disney Fine Arts teacher of the year; and Houston dance instructor Rogelio Rodriguez. In previous years, Dr. Gutierrez has featured Carlos Landin, Noe Esparza, Estela Zamora Kramer, Bede Leyendecker, Edmundo Duarte, Sara Puig Laas, Armando Hinojosa, Dr. Norma Cantu, Johnnny Eng, Altagracia Azios García, and Ani Vera. Dr. Gutierrez resides in Los Angeles. María Eugenia Guerra Copyright 2002 LareDos. Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms of Service. Send questions and comments to raquito@hotmail.comThe Webmaster. |
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