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just a random picture for you all from the book 500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures, edited by Elizabeth Martinez and published by the SouthWest Organizing Project. I am showing this particular page because the bottom picture shows McAllen, TX, a neighboring city of my hometown.

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Nelson Ned - Todavía Duele

RIP

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The brilliant Mario Vargas Llosa.

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Thoughts on explaining 'La Cegua' myth to a white, feminist coworker

So, in my previous post, I explain the simplified story of La Cegua.

It is a very colorful myth, and it's very exciting and magical and all that good stuff that folklore should be. 

Now, one day, as I finish explaining the legend to a white feminist coworker, she immediately, without the slightest reflection of what I had just told her, exclaims, "I want that as a tattoo!"

So, through all of the shade that I was throwing at her, I was--at the same time--trying--for the life of me--to understand what profound connection La Cegua, an important mythological figure in rural Central American communities, had on my white coworker from New Jersey, or Kentucky, or where ever else white people come from. 

From what I gathered, she very much 'liked' (Note white Americans: like≠ connected culturally to, which more often than not leads to appropriation, which is bad) the idea of a "defenseless" woman killing a man planning to rape her. Now, this is indeed very feminist, I agree. However, the layer that her white, second-wave feminism blinded her to, is the colonial commentary.

She forgot to take into account the very, very important fact that the woman is INDIAN. She is an indigenous figure. The connection with her being indigenous and the man's (mostly likely of white, or castizo race) intent to RAPE her provides a stunningly sophisticated metaphor of indigenous vengeance--or, also, the vengeance of the land itself against its violators, its conquerors. 

In another famous Costa Rican myth entitled 'La Yeguita' (The Little Mare), the Virgin of Guadalupe transmutes herself into a mare to intervene and protect the lives of Costa Rican men in conflict. The imagery of the mare/horse are very important in metaphorizing the way that femininity is seen under the watchful eyes of Latin American patriarchy. The woman can be seen as holy, or as the devil--she has the power to chastise and forgive them, or she can be their ruin. La Virgen y la Chingada. 

So, while it might be cute to be Occupying Wall Street or going to a Williamsburg bar and showing off your Cegua tattoo, you won't have the cultural knowledge and connection to give its true power, its true meaning, and its true spirit.

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image of La Cegua (or Tzegua), a mythological creature that appears in Central American folklore. 

As legend goes, at night, if a man goes alone on horseback, he might run into a young, beautiful Indian girl, draped in a sheer white dress. She begs him for a ride to visit her sick mother, and he complies. As they continue on their journey, unclean thoughts lead him to turn around. In that moment, the beautiful girl's face has turned into that of a horse's skull, her eyes burning with hellfire, her breath spewing sulfur. With that, the man dies of fright.

illustration taken from 'Leyendas Costariccences' by Elias Zeledon

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Arte urbano (street art) in honor of Chavela Vargas (2012)

GDL, MX

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"El son de los diablos" by Pancho Fierro

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Movie poster for '¡Vampiros en la Habana!"

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Salí porque salí - Cheo Feliciano

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The Indian Warrior by Diego Rivera

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1913: The Fields of Chihuahua

One of These Mornings I Murdered Myself,

on some dusty Mexican road, and the event left a deep impression on me.

This wasn't the first crime I committed. From the time I was born in Ohio seventy-one years ago and received the name Ambrose Bierce, until my recent death, I have played havoc with the lives of my parents and various relatives, friends, and colleagues. These touching episodes have splashed blood over my days--or my stories, which is all the same to me: the difference between the life I lived and life I wrote is a matter for the jokers who execute human law, literary criticism, and the will of God in this world.

To put an end to my days, I joined the troops of Pancho Villa and chose one of those many stray bullets zooming through the Mexican skies these days. This method proved more practical than hanging, cheaper than poison, more convenient than firing with my own finger, and more dignified than waiting for disease or old age.

-Eduardo Galeano, Century of the Wind

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The lovely Susana Baca

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Description from topdocumentaryfilms.com:

At first glance Brazil appears to be an alluring playground of exciting carnivals, sultry samba, divine football and a vibrantly diverse people.

But behind this dazzling facade lies a disturbing story of history's largest-ever slave population.

Astonishingly Brazil, a Portuguese colony, received ten-times more African slaves than the numbers transported to North America.

This programme looks at those estimated 4 million people with whose blood, sweat and tears Brazil was built.

Without them none of Brazil's present-day success and appeal would exist. Using contemporary testimonies, this film takes a hard look at Brazil s dark history through the eyes of those slaves.

They lived in squalid conditions on remote plantations or in teeming cities harboring fatal diseases. Most Africans survived only seven years in this 'New World'.

Some, however, did survive to create a new culture a fusion of African and European. This new ethnicity permeates and explains the modern Brazilian way of life.

This outstanding film, winner of the Houston Film Festival Gold Award, is directed by Phil Grabsky. His film throws light on Brazil's inconvenient history.

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OSPAAAL Poster of Che Guevara

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from The Costa Rica Reader:

Imperial Eagle Versus Peace Dove

Hugo Díaz

The US war on revolutionaries in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala (1980-89) almost swept Costa Rica up in the general militarization of Central America. The Part of the National Liberation (PLN) was just barely able to keep the country out of the vortex by astutely playing a peace card that proved very popular with the citizenry. This maneuver culminated in 1987, when president Oscar Arias blindsided the United States diplomatically with his Central American peace plan. Despite efforts by the Reagan administration to undermine the initiative, the plan proved irresistible to Central American leaders (Arias was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize). Hugo Díaz, the most important Costa Rican caricaturist of the second half of the 20th century, captured the moment."

Translation:

Arias: "Alright, in keeping with the agenda it's time to feed this dov..."

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