Monthly Archives: April 2007

Question of the week: Tough decisions

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When I applied to college 10 years ago (!), I applied to 5 schools: UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, Stanford and USC. The three UC’s came courtesy of an application fee waiver. My parents shelled out about $50-$60 for the private school applications. I was admitted to 3 of the 5 and at the tender age of 17, I had to decide whether I wanted to go relatively far away for college and attend UC Berkeley, stay close to home and go to UCLA, or stay close to home at an expensive private institution. I visited all three institutions and made my decision based on where I felt I “fit” rather than where I was awarded the most financial aid. I like to say that USC couldn’t even pay me to attend.

Choosing from 3 top institutions was tough at 17. Making a choice wasn’t any easier when I was 23 and a bit more mature. I had to choose from 5 institutions for graduate school.

But what if you were like Diego, a senior from Southgate, and had to choose from 11 of the most prestigious universities?

La pregunta: Where would you go if you received thick envelopes from these universities?

1. Stanford University
2. Duke University
3. UC Berkeley
4. UC Santa Barbara
5. UC San Diego
6. UCLA
7. Princeton University
8. Yale University
9. Columbia University
10. Harvard University
11. Amherst College

Congrats, Diego! I’m sure you’ll make the decision that suits you best and you’ll succeed whether you’re on the East Coast or in California.

Como la flor

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As Ralph and I waited for our pupusas, I stared at the television behind him. We were in a non-descript Salvadoreño restaurant in Echo Park. There were only a few others in the restaraunt making it quiet enough to hear the replay of Selena’s now-famous concert at the Houston Astrodome. Saturday, March 31st marked the 12th anniversary of her tragic death.

I mimicked her slow tempo rendition of “Como la Flor” as if I was singing to Ralph.

“Did you even know her before she died?”

“No,” I admitted.

He looked at me like I was a fraud. Well, not really. But that’s what I felt like when I admitted my pre-1995 Selena ignorance.

In 1995 I was busy getting through my freshman year of high school. All I listened to was KROQ and was pretty much over the banda craze of the early 1990s. I hardly ever switched the dial to any of LA’s many popular Spanish-language stations.

When my 8-year old neighor, Jorge, came over to our house to tell us the breaking news that Selena had been shot and was dead (or dying, can’t remember), I thought “who?” Jorge saw the look of confusion on my face and told me it was the woman who sang “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom.” I had some familiarity with the song, but didn’t know anything about the singer. Like many other people, I got to know Selena’s music posthumously and through the Gregory Nava film.

I remember watching the film in Ontario at the movie theater where my cousin worked (he got us in free, one of the perks of being employee of the year). I completely identified with the young Selena Quintanilla. My dad used to teach me Mexican songs. He’d translate the lyrics and explain what the words meant. Danny, my older brother, and I were put in singing contests and often willingly joined our dad when he brought out the guitar.

Crossing Arizona

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This evening, I watched the second half of Crossing Arizona a documentary that bills itself as examining the undocumented immigration crisis “through the eyes of those directly affected by it.” The film covered the campaigns in favor and against Arizona’s Proposition 200 (sort of like California’s Proposition 197, but meaner… if you can imagine that), the beginning of the Minuteman Project, undocumented immigrant workers and humanitarian efforts on the border.

I didn’t really know much about the film, but I knew it dealt with some of Ralph’s area of research. Ralph wrote his master’s thesis on Native American tribes bisected by the US-Mexico border.

One of the topics of the film is the humanitarian work of Mike Wilson, a former minister and member of the Tohono O’odham Nation. In the documentary, Mike travels to a remote part of the Tohono O’odham reservation, which abuts the US-Mexico border to leave several one-gallon containers of water for migrants crossing the Sonora Desert. As Wilson goes to leave more water, he discovers several of the containers empty and scattered among cactus and other desert plants. He inspects some of the containers and finds that they have been slashed with a sharp object, probably a knife. Another container was stomped on. Wilson is upset and disappointed as he condemns such acts as inhumane and more than mere vandalism.

I didn’t find out more about Wilson’s humanitarian efforts and the context in which they occur until after the film. Mike Wilson and another member of the Tohono O’odham nation, David Garcia, spoke about some of the challenges they encounter as they try to ensure that migrants do not die as they try and cross. However, David and Mike must work as individuals since they are not supported in their efforts by their tribal leaders. The Tohono O’odham nation leaders do not allow any of the major humanitarian organizations (such as No More Deaths and Humane Borders) to do work on their reservation. Garcia and Wilson were critical of this because they saw the irony of Tohono O’odham leaders lobbying for dual citizenship for Mexican members of the tribe while doing nothing to keep indigenous Mexicans, Guatemalans and Salvadorians from dying. The issue is complicated. Since the Tohono O’odham receive federal funding, they are wary of “biting the hand that feeds them.” Additionally, more traditional members of the nation feel that letting in outsiders endangers their culture. Still, the Tohono O’odham have lots of casino profit and resources to do something to keep up to 80 people a year from dying on their lands.

If you can catch a screening of the film in your area, I’d recommend it. Sometimes all we get about immigration is a few soundbites. Understanding the causes and effects of undocumented immigration deserves a much deeper analysis. Hopefully, those who watch Crossing Arizona take the time to learn and do more.