McDonald’s in the Poetry Business?

While driving on the 99 to work, I saw this sign a few weeks ago and I thought, Wow, Micky D is in the poetry business!

Then I thought about Rosa Alcala, a poet and professor of mine, and about the discussions of poetry for the masses, the difference between imagery and word, and Visual Poetry. Sometimes it’s the same as Concrete Poetry. Geof Huth said that “they are not merely poems, but they are certainly poems (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/journal/article.html?id=182397 )”

So I thought about my reaction, at first one of ghastly shock. How dare they use poetry to seen a breakfast sandwich! Like I’m the Poetry Patrol or something... Is it visually pleasing, the imagery solid? Does it have a tone, sharp lines that break perfectly? Or are there poems in the wrapper of you muffin? Maybe “We Be Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks?

Then I thought, so is it so yummy and filling that it can only be equated to poetry? So is poetry hearty and gut busting? If it’s good, yes, I suppose it is.

http://www.poetryireland.ie/images/homepage/test.jpg

YOU TUBE: Music Even After Death

It was a bit shocking to see my father’s picture pop up as the song downloaded on a You Tube song I came across. Then I found more and more of his music, as well as his band mate (my uncle) and subsequent successful musician. It’s was a bit odd for me, even more so to see other’s comment about how great that song is and what a great band it is (was). In one post I read someone commented that he didn’t know much about this band but wanted to know more and was going to do more research as to where the band members were presently. I couldn’t help and I responded the following:

“Saludos- referente a Los Caracoles de Durango, el acordeonista fue mi padre. Falleció cuando yo tenía 10 años. El Bajo sestero, Juan Antonio Coronado, o Tony Coronado (y tío), trabajó por varios años con Ramón Ayala y los Bravos del Norte, y después formó su propio conjunto llamado Los Sultanes de Nuevo León. Ha compartido el escenario con los grandes, como Kiko Montalvo, Los Donneños, Juan Villareal, Cornelio Reyna (descansa en paz) y muchos más. Recomiendo busquen los nombres dados para que conozcan un poco más de los músicos que fueron los pilares en cual ahora tantos florecen en el género norteño.”

I think it may have been my way of letting this music lover know that he should not waste his time, that at least one of those band members was not ‘doing anything’ anymore, that in fact he was dead, that my father has been dead over 25 years, and that the other member, my tío, was not in music anymore; he’s still a musician, just not in the business.

I started thinking about other musicians and artists who have passed and the “release” of their music. I’m not comparing my father to Elvis or Hendrix or Selena and others that have made more after their death than while alive, but I started to think about what it means to the family to see their loved one cherished by others, have new generations discover their music and connect with it.

Is music, thus, defiant of time?

Is it like art or writing, which last beyond the generations? Yes yes, I know know everything has a shelf life... And yet if it’s “pop”, does the expiration date come quicker? Corridos record stories of love and war and heroism and pain. Is the corrido a painted story for the ear, transformed into a media stream to be uploaded on a “broadcast yourself” service that is free to the world?

Heidegger believed that language was here before us, and that it would be here after us. Is music, intimately tied to poetry (at its origins and now with spoken work, Flor y Canto, Slam poetry events and more), thus able to bend and defy time as well? Maybe I’m stretching that one a bit too much. Maybe not... The music does sound “dated” to me, however. The genre of "musica norteña" was in it's infancy, with Los Tigeres del Norte's "Camelia la Tejana" soon t be a smashing success, and arguably the birth of the narco-corrido. One has to listen gently.

I will say that I’m not sure I was ready to see my father and his music on YouTube, nor am I sure I’m ready to posthumously download my father.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=los+caracoles+de+durango&aq=f 

Latinos, the Census that counts you as WHITE, and Future School Drop Outs

Latinos, Hispanics, Afro-Latinos, Arab-Americans, Bahamian-Americans and how you count everyone accurately; I’ve always been confused that as Latinos/Chicanos we are categorized as “white” and you can only choose between white and black, despite the fact we are a more than this, including our indígena roots, and more so a multi-ethnic society. Unfortunately, NSF and all federal agencies, including those working in education, also use these antiquated definitions still. I thought I’d share this interesting article this rainy morning; no wonder some school administrators we work with in the field are confused. No wonder race continues to be a difficult subject to engage with in this country. I guess for now, I will be an OTHER.:)

And speaking of OTHER, I was in Puyallup last week speaking with a class about continuing their education and the benefits and need, and I’m always inspired by youth. I’m saddened, however, that ELL (English Language Learners) are or will be the latest victims of the budget cuts. Those kids have a higher probability of being the next high school drop outs. This won't help an already struggling economy.

Some issues never change, whether your on the border of the Southwest or in the Northwest. I attached the article BELOW.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100329/us_time/08599197588300

Why the U.S. Census Misreads Hispanic and Arab Americans
By TIM PADGETT / MIAMI Tim Padgett / Miami – 58 mins ago

Hispanic advocates often tell the story of a Census Bureau worker who visits a Puerto Rican household in New York City's East Harlem neighborhood. Seeing the family's caramel complexion, the Census taker asks which race he should put down for them - white or black. To which the family answers: "Puerto Rican."

The story could substitute a Mexican-American family - or Colombian- or Nicaraguan-American ones for that matter - but the gist would be the same. Many, if not most, Hispanics in the U.S. think of their ethnicity (also known as Latino) not just in cultural terms but in a racial context as well. It's why more than 40% of Hispanics, when asked on the Census form in 2000 to register white or black as their race, wrote in "Other" - and they represented 95% of all the 15.3 million people in the U.S. who did so. (See the 25 most influential Hispanics in America.)

An even larger share of Hispanics, including my Venezuelan-American wife, is expected to report "Other," "Hispanic" or "Latino" in the race section of the 2010 census forms being mailed to U.S. homes this month. What makes it all the more confusing if not frustrating to them is that Washington continues to insist on those forms that "Hispanic origins are not races." If the Census Bureau lists Filipino and even Samoan as distinct races, Hispanics wonder why they - the product of half a millennium of New World miscegenation - aren't considered a race too. "It's a very big issue," says Angelo FalcÓn, president of the National Institute for Latino Policy in New York City and a community adviser to the Census. "A lot of Hispanics find the black-white option offensive, and they're asserting their own racial uniqueness." (See the making of Sonia Sotomayor.)

Full Article : http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100329/us_time/08599197588300