Lotería Chicana » 2008

the basics

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May 29, 2008

The Earrings

Remember when you gave me the Mayan jade earrings?

It was the Friday before Christmas ‘05. We agreed to meet at your place before you left to the Bay later that evening. Since we wouldn’t see each other on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, we’d be exchanging gifts that evening. In your brightly lit bedroom full of books and replicas of Mesoamerican artifacts, we nervously argued over who should go first. You went first and handed me a box small enough to fit in my open palm.

When I opened the box, I didn’t seem too jazzed. My face — always my enemy in these situations — gave me away. Perhaps any girl who opens a small box containing anything aside from a diamond ring would’ve reacted the same. Of course, I wasn’t expecting a diamond ring. After all, we’d only been dating for six months. I wasn’t quite wifey material.

I told you that evening and several times later that I did like the earrings. I meant it, I’ve never been a good liar. The dark green jade felt nice in my fingers, incredibly smooth. They looked nice hanging from my ears too. Still, I rarely wore them. You never failed to point that out.

I had excuses. Good ones too. I didn’t have much in my closet that went well with Mayan jade. And they were heavy. I could only wear them for a few hours before my lobes started to hurt.

I wore the earrings yesterday. For the first time ever, I didn’t have to take them off half way through the day.

Filed under: Cuentos | POSTED BY cindylu AT 11:15 pm | 8 Comments

On beauty

I know I’m beautiful.

I know this because of my parents*.

My mom is beautiful. My dad is handsome. Since I have their genes, and many of their other not-so-visible but more wonderful qualities, I think that makes me good looking.

This logic works for my siblings too. Lori, Adrian and Danny are all beautiful/handsome.

*Going back to my grandparents and looking at my extended family, I’d have more evidence to support my conclusion.

Filed under: Familia | POSTED BY cindylu AT 1:05 am | 8 Comments

May 28, 2008

Luck (times two)

I got around to checking my email a little after noon yesterday. I scanned the subject lines for the most attractive. These two caught my eye:

“Congratulations! You have won BABASONICOS tickets from Losanjeaous!”

“You Won Tickets to Attend Babasonicos’ Concert tonight!”

For a few seconds, I wondered why Losanjealous sent me two notice emails and then I remembered that I’d entered a contest earlier in the week with La Banda Elástica. Dude, I’d just gotten quite lucky… twice!

(more…)

Filed under: Música | POSTED BY cindylu AT 12:06 pm | 4 Comments

May 22, 2008

Presents and presence

A conversation between me and my almost 14-year-old cousin on Saturday during our other cousin’s baby shower.

Stephen: did my mom tell you about my birthday party on the 21st?

Me: yeah.

Stephen: are you gonna come to my party?

Me: yeah, I’m pretty sure I can make it… Is there anything you want for your birthday?

Stephen: oh, you don’t need to get me anything.

Me: but it’s your birthday.

Stephen: yeah, but birthdays are not about presents, that’s what my parents taught me.

I was initially baffled by Stephen’s response. What 14 year old kid these days does not want birthday presents?

But then I remembered my 8th birthday party. My tía Patty and her husband showed up without a present. I was a brat/mocosa back then, so I went to her and asked, “what did you bring me?”

Oh man, she put me in my place.

I told tía Patty what her son said. She wasn’t surprised.

“Iván and I taught him that birthdays weren’t about presents. He knows that if people come to your birthday party, that’s enough because they’re there celebrating with you. If they want to bring you a present, that’s okay, but you shouldn’t expect a gift.”

I like Stephen and tía Patty’s attitudes.

Filed under: Familia | POSTED BY cindylu AT 11:08 pm | 11 Comments

May 21, 2008

Flashback

I ran in to one of my old students, X, and his best friend yesterday. They both graduated last year, were science students and were quite involved on campus.

I counseled X during his first and second year when I was director of MEChA Calmecac, a counseling and mentoring program for UCLA students. Our goal was to raise the graduation rate for Latinos, which was quite low in comparison to other groups when concerned MEChistas began the program in the late 1980s. The director position was my first (and only) full time job. It was extremely challenging, but I loved counseling and working at the Community Programs Office, which is full of bright and talented student leaders. Calmecac led me to graduate school where I decided to focus on retention and persistence issues for Latino students.

While working at Calmecac, I realized that I wouldn’t get to see my work come to fruition. After counseling my students for two years, I’d be off to graduate school and would no longer be there to help out. But I never really left. I stayed at UCLA and kept in contact with some of my old students. They’ve all since graduated.

Yesterday, X and his best friend, brightened up an otherwise dull day. Not only did X remind me of a great time in my life, he also said something that made me feel like I did something right. He explained to his best friend, “I used to have to meet with Cindy every other week because I was on academic probation. And now look at me, studying for the MCAT.”

X takes the MCAT on May 31st. I hope he kicks ass.

Filed under: Randomness | POSTED BY cindylu AT 11:19 pm | 2 Comments

May 16, 2008

Question of the week: Jury Duty

I just got through eight days of serving on a jury — my first time!

La Pregunta: How do you feel about jury duty? Have you ever served on a jury? What was your experience like?

Filed under: Preguntas | POSTED BY cindylu AT 11:12 am | 16 Comments

Juror #4

I celebrated my release from jury duty yesterday afternoon by eating a delicious brownie and finally talking about the trial. As you might expect, I hated being silenced about my experience and the trial.

The trial revolved around four 20/21 year old Latino defendants charged with gang loitering. One defendant was charged with a second count for violation of a gang injunction. Both crimes are misdemeanors.

According to the prosecution, the four defendants (plus two others) were members of a gang near LAX. On November 17, 2007, they were loitering at the corner of a park. The sheriff’s deputies who detained them and also testified witnessed them throwing gang signs, showing off their tattoos and calling out their gang’s name. They did this with the intent to establish their dominance in that neighborhood and publicize the gang. This caused non-gang members to be intimidated. The defense countered that some of the young men were (a) not active gang members (or were never jumped in), (b) all four of the young men were not at the park on that afternoon, (c) the young men were arrested at different locations in their neighborhood (not in a group), and (d) the district attorney’s office and sheriff’s department targeted these young men as part of a current push to enforce gang injunctions. After a couples hours of deliberation, we found all four defendants not guilty. I don’t think the guys were angels. If I saw them on the street in a group, I’m sure I’d feel intimidated and avoid them too. However, the prosecution’s case and the evidence didn’t get us past the standard of reasonable doubt so we returned a verdict of not guilty on all counts.
(more…)

Filed under: Los Angeles | POSTED BY cindylu AT 11:11 am | 3 Comments

May 14, 2008

We got hosed, Tommy

“We got hosed, Tommy!” Lori said to me and sat down on a bench, exhausted from a long day exploring cenotes (underground lakes) and the pyramids at Chichen Itza.

We’d just missed the ferry from Playa del Carmen back to Cozumel and had to wait another hour for the next ferry. That wouldn’t seem so bad, unless you consider that we’d been traveling around the Yucatán Peninsula since 6 in the morning and it was now 10.

“I know Tommy, let’s go get drinks.”

We left my parents at the dock and joined the guys at a nearby bar for a cold beer.

For the rest of the trip, Lori and I repeated the phrase several times and even addressed each other as Tommy. My mom was confused.

“Qué es eso de Tommy?”

We shrugged.

We couldn’t remember where we’d heard the phrase. I kept thinking it had something to do with The Rugrats due to the toddler in the blue shirt named Tommy.

I repeated the phrase recently to Alan when we got duped in to taking an unnecessary cab ride to the Neon Museum in Las Vegas.

“Huh? Where is that from?” he asked.

“I don’t know… I think it’s from Rugrats. Maybe I should check.”

A few weeks later, I finally got around to a quick Google search. Mystery solved thanks to YouTube.

This post sponsored by Mountain Dew. Just kidding.

Filed under: Randomness | POSTED BY cindylu AT 8:00 pm | 4 Comments

May 13, 2008

Sonrisas

rubén “Can I hold him?” I asked Danny, my cousin.

“Yeah,” he gladly handed over Rubén, his 8 month old son. “My arm is getting tired. I think I’m even sweating.”

Rubén looked at me curiously. He looked down at the pendant hanging on a thin silver chain around my neck. With his chubby little fingers, he started pulling.

“No, papas, don’t pull that.” I got the pendant out of his tight grip and moved it out of his reach behind my neck. As I pulled my hair aside Rubén noticed my earrings and started touching them too.

“Oh no, papas,” I said. Rather than figure out just how hard an 8-month old can pull, I took out the earrings.

“He likes looking at stuff and seeing people,” Danny called out to me.

“Oh okay,” I said and walked with him around the house. His dark brown eyes darted back and forth as he checked out the paintings on the walls and family he rarely sees enjoying Mother’s Day. I took him to the sunny backyard where my uncles were seated. Rubén looked at them calmly. I tried to sit down, but he wasn’t having it, so I took him to see the fish tank in my grandparent’s room. On the way there, we passed Elsie and Danny. Rubén turned to his mom, smiled and then turned back toward me.

“He smiled and barely looked at me!” she said, surprised as we kept walking to the living room.

“You know,” Elsie began, “he doesn’t go with just anyone. And he definitely doesn’t smile with most people.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he likes you. I think you have good chemistry with kids.”

“Maybe… or it could be that I just know how to make the boys smile,” I joked.

A few minutes later, Elsie and Danny started saying their goodbyes. As he gave me my goodbye hug, he said, “now we know who to call to babysit.”

I’d be down.

There’s nothing like a well-behaved baby to help me get my baby fix.

Filed under: Familia | POSTED BY cindylu AT 6:13 pm | 4 Comments

May 11, 2008

Thanks, Mom

Dear Mom,

Happy Mother’s Day!

Thank you for being awesome, for supporting me in every endeavor, for working hard to give me a comfortable life (but not be wasteful), for teaching me to be a good person, for making me feel better, for being creative and artistic, for teaching me to never be ashamed of my roots, for standing up for me (even if I didn’t deserve it), for reading, for showing me the meaning of strength and faith, for always making such delicious food, for teaching me how to dress, and above all, for loving me unconditionally.