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June 27, 2008

Question of the week: Eeny, meeny, miny, mo

Grandma and Grandpa’s house didn’t have much in the way of entertainment for kids. There was never anything worth watching on a Sunday afternoon (this was before I found M*A*S*H* entertaining). There were no toys, no video games, and the only jigsaw puzzles Grandma owned were those really tough 500-piece puzzles.

Despite all this, I was never bored, especially when all my cousins were around. Tía Lupe and her five sons — all older than me — lived directly across the street. Tía Lucy and tía Mary also lived nearby. Together they could add nine kids to the mix. Tío Johnny lived further away, but he’d often visit on Sundays too. And of course, my siblings and I were down for games. We’d easily have a group of a dozen kids ready for a game. [Note: my dad’s younger siblings’ children were too young to play or not born yet.]

We played freeze tag and other variations on tag. When we tired, we’d sit on the broad porch and play war or old maid with a deck of cards (but hiding them from Grandpa who didn’t approve). My favorite game was Colored Eggs.

First we’d ask who was in an who was just a spectator. The spectator cousins — usually the younger ones — would be forced to sit up at the top of the porch out of the way of those in the game. Next, all cousins would put in a single foot to choose a Wolf via the “eeny, meeny, miny, mo” method.

Once the Wolf was chosen, the remaining players would take seats on the porch and silently choose a color for his/her egg. The Wolf would stand out in the middle of the front yard and eye his cousins on the porch steps suspiciously.

Wolf: knock, knock.
Kids (I think we were supposed to be chicks): what do you want?
Wolf: an egg!
Kids: what color?
Wolf: [chooses color] purple!
Kids: we don’t have that color!
Wolf: [chooses another color] sky blue!

At that moment, the cousin who chose sky blue would jump down the steps and begin running around the house in the counter clockwise direction as the Wolf gave chase to get his egg. The rest of us would get up to see from the edge of the porch was our cousin dodged plants, stray cats and parked cars in the driveway and tried to make it back to the porch safe. If the Wolf caught her, then she’d have to trade places and become the wolf. If not, the game would continue with the same Wolf. (Bea, if I have any of the details wrong, please correct me. My guess is your memory about this game would be more accurate.)

I hated being chased or being the Wolf as most of my other cousins were older and could run faster. It was still fun, even if I did end up scraping my knee or dirtying my dress.

La Pregunta: What was your favorite game as a kid?

I’m defining game as an indoor or outdoor competitive activity without any props that required electricity or batteries. The only energy you needed was the kind you get with a large group of kids.

Filed under: Preguntas | POSTED BY cindylu AT 3:23 pm | 14 Comments

June 18, 2008

Question of the week: Telenovelas

When I was growing up, my mom never watched telenovelas. I doubt she had time to sit down with four kids running around. In fact, the only time she watched TV was when she ironed clothes or folded clothes still warm from the dryer. TV was just background noise.

The only people who watched telenovelas at home were Papá Chepe and Mamá Toni. When I was 8, my parents sent me and Danny to their home in el Cargadero, Zacatecas for a few weeks during the summer. I played all day with the kids in el Cargadero. In the evening, I’d settle in front of la tele with los abuelitos, to watch the latest chapter of Rosa Salvaje. Rosa (Verónica Castro) was the perfect heroine. Ricardo, Rosa’s wealthy love-interest, was swoon-worthy. And what’s more scary than evil twin sisters with big ’80s hair and shoulder pads?

I loved it.

But then I came back to the states, third grade and the Disney afternoon. I forgot all about Rosa and her rags to riches story.

In the next ten years, I’d get hooked on only two more telenovelas, Baila Conmigo and Soñadoras.

Since 2000, I haven’t paid much attention to the telenovelas that always confused me as a kid. A blonde person speaking Spanish? Really? Where were all the brown people? It wasn’t all so confusing. After all, I did learn plenty of insults and words like “idiota,” “jamás” and “engañar,” but the acting was bad and the plot lines were predictable. Plus, I had way too much going on to tune in every evening for an hour.

La Pregunta: Are you a novelera/o?

Filed under: Preguntas | POSTED BY cindylu AT 11:54 pm | 29 Comments

June 14, 2008

Question of the week: Los Padres

Dad comes to my rescue whenever I need him. And I need him a lot.

Last week, I called him a bit freaked out because my car was overheating. I was in Northridge about 20 minutes from my apartment with no cell phone. I made it safely to my friend’s apartment and called dad to figure out what to do about my overheating car.

I gave him directions to my friend’s apartment and a few hours later, he and my mom showed up in Northridge. They’d driven out from Hacienda Heights (45 minutes to an hour away) to check up on my car. Of course my dad could have told me how to do some basic checks under the hood. And he could have told me to call the roadside service included in my warranty, but I’m his daughter. He drops everything if I — or Lori, Danny and Adrian — need him.

The whole experience made me realize that I’m not as independent as I thought. I need my dad and his Charlie Services™.

La Pregunta: Why does your dad rock? Amusing anecdotes appreciated.

Filed under: Preguntas | POSTED BY cindylu AT 9:34 am | 11 Comments

June 3, 2008

Question of the week: Raspados

I’m not a fan of most street food, but I can’t resist raspados de tamarindo. I love tamarindo whether it’s raw, in gooey candy or in a liquid form over shaved ice.

Raspados de tamarindo are the perfect treat after marching around downtown LA or after driving around the LA area trying to get your car fixed. Sigh.

La pregunta: What’s your favorite raspado flavor?

Photo of raw tamarindo on the left by Nathan Gibbs. Used under Creative Commons license

Filed under: Preguntas | POSTED BY cindylu AT 2:07 pm | 27 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

May 7, 2008

Question of the week: Recognized

It’s only happened once.

The last night I was in New York, I met up with several friends from my program to watch a UCLA game in the bar of the Sheraton. UCLA had a comfy lead through the half, so the group decided to turn in for the night — several were jetlagged and/or had early presentations the next morning. I walked back to the Hilton, a block away, with P and the guys to pick up my coat.

As P and I walked out of the Hilton to our hotel 5 blocks away, she bumped into some friends and fellow conference attendees. I’d met one of the guys, my tocayo in fact, at a few of the receptions earlier in the week. P talked to him for a few minutes and caught up. It seems like the world of Latino educational researchers is quite small. El tocayo was with a young woman. He introduced her to P. He didn’t introduce me, but she talked to me herself.

“You’re Cindy, right?” she asked quite sure of herself.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“From Lotería Chicana? I read your blog,” she confessed.

“Oh cool.”

She proceeded to explain that she was also attending the conference and was a graduate student at another California university.

Soon after, P and I walked back to our hotel a few blocks east.

Since then (and before then), no one has ever admitted to recognizing me from my blog while out in public.

It’s kinda weird, but cool.

La Pregunta: Have you ever been recognized from your blog (or other online community) while in public*? If so, what was it like? And if you saw me out on the street or on the bus or in Trader Joe’s, would you say hi**?

*I know there are blog meet-ups and other reunions of online communities (e.g., flickr mixrs), but I don’t include that in my definition of “public.”

**I’d be nice. I don’t bite.

Filed under: Preguntas | POSTED BY cindylu AT 11:28 pm | 20 Comments

April 11, 2008

Question of the week: Has anyone ever told you…

“Here, read this. It’s what I was talking about at the conference in Austin,” I said as I handed the latest copy of Puro Pedo Magazine to my cousin, Vero.

“Oh, I’ve seen this online, when you send it out on MySpace,” she said and then started flipping through the magazine. I’d caught her in a rare moment when she didn’t have the baby in her hands.

I pointed out some things to her as she read. “I wrote that article. And I’m in that picture, see.”

She nodded.

“Who is this?” Vero asked. She was on the page with Rio’s Valentine’s Day cards. “Is that your dad?”

“No,” I giggled. “That’s César Chávez, the guy who started the farm workers union.”

“Oh. Wow. Your dad looks like him,” she mused.

“Yeah, he gets that a lot,” I said.

La Pregunta: Is there a famous person you’re often told you resemble?

Filed under: Preguntas | POSTED BY cindylu AT 3:59 pm | 17 Comments

April 4, 2008

Question of the week: Immigrant parents and sympathy

My mom’s an excellent story teller. She may embellish a bit (sound familiar?), but she has a way of drawing you in, making you laugh and making you beg for more tales of her “little life.”

I thought of one of those stories last week while having $1 beers with Sean. We shared stories of immigrant parents and their peculiar way of dealing with childhood injuries. It just didn’t match up with what the sitcoms depicted.

***

Luz (my mom, far left in the photo) was 11 or 12 at the time*. The family was living in Lincoln Heights at the time. For the most part, Luz was a good kid, but she was mischievous. She also liked apricots. One afternoon, Luz was walking around the neighborhood with a friend when she noticed ripe apricots hanging from a neighbor’s tree. She asked her friend to keep an eye out for cops while she climbed up the chain link fence to be able to reach the tree. As she was about to grab an apricot, Luz’s friend called out, “hurry up, someone’s coming!” Luz lost her footing and slipped. As she slipped the point part of the fence scratched against her thigh leaving a large, bloody gash. Obviously, she was hurt.

Luz went home and found her older sister, Socorro (quite the fitting name, since it means “help”; standing, second to the left in the photo). She desperately needed Socorro’s help to clean and bandage the cut, and hide it from Mamá Toni. If Mamá Toni found out, she’d be angry that Luz had (a) gone out with a friend when she was supposed to be at home doing chores and (b) tried to steal fruit from a neighbor’s tree. The painful gash on her leg was the least of her worries.

Luckily, Socorro was studying to be a nurse and came through. She cleaned up Luz’s cut and bandaged her up.

Mamá Toni never found out.

***

Sean and I agreed that in a sitcom, the white middle class kids would never be scared to go to a parent after an injury. Sure, Bobby Brady would learn a lesson, but he didn’t have to fear nalgadas (a spanking). Sean and I wondered if our experiences were similar because we were the children of immigrants.

That got us to this week’s question.

La Pregunta: Are immigrant parent’s less sympathetic (or harsher) than US born parents?

*I’ve heard the story a dozen times, but I’m sure I have some of the core details wrong. Sorry, mom! I know for sure apricots and a fence were involved.

Filed under: Familia, Preguntas | POSTED BY cindylu AT 2:17 pm | 13 Comments

March 19, 2008

Question of the week: Regional differences

I’ve been in Texas since Saturday evening. I stayed with my aunt in Keller (near Dallas) for the first few days. Today, I arrived in Austin for a conference and to meet up with some friends. The last stop on the tour will be Houston.

Being in Texas is a little weird. There are so many trees, there are flight delays due to weather, and my cousin’s (white) friends call him Gee-zus. Yes, that’s right. They don’t even want to pronounce Jesús in Spanish. Finally, I wonder, are there compact parking spaces at shopping centers?

I know these are little differences. I know someone who is not from California would find the place a little weird and different. And I wonder, would they find Chicanos in LA different?

La Pregunta: Do Chican@s differ by region? And if so, how?

Filed under: Preguntas | POSTED BY cindylu AT 1:53 pm | 11 Comments

March 6, 2008

Question of the week: In a sentence or two

It’s happened twice in the last two weeks.

The first time I was asked to describe my blog was at the Latina/o blogger gathering in East LA. The second gathering, set up by Eastside Scene, was pretty well attended. Everyone got a chance to discuss how he/she got started in blogging and their focus. When my turn came along, I explained that I’d been blogging for about 6 years. I didn’t even know I was blogging when I started. Since then, my initial diary-like writings have evolved as I realized people were actually reading. That was the easy part. It was more difficult to describe what I write about.

Yesterday, my friend Jake, editor of Puro Pedo Magazine, asked me to describe my blog in a sentence. It was tough. Jake called it “digital chisme,” but I think it’s more than that even if chisme’s been a current focus. I came up with something last night, but today it looks rather pretentious and the description is still unclear.

La Pregunta: How would you describe your blog in a sentence or two? How would you describe my blog?

[Note: Yes, I know I’ve been lagging on the QOTW posts. I’ve been a little distracted. I have a few ideas for the next few weeks, so don’t fear my lovely readers.]

Filed under: Blog/tech, Preguntas | POSTED BY cindylu AT 2:21 am | 14 Comments

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