Pensando en California

Am a Californian not only by heart but by residence as well, I lived under its shadow for over 30 years and my daughter was born in San Diego, California, I grew up in Redwood City for a couple of years and during my younghood I lived, worked and studied at some of its finest institutions in the Bay Area and San Diego County as well. My brain has its share of allocated archives of pure and unquestionable memories from California. The state where I was born is called Baja California and further down the stretch there is even Baja California Sur. Two countries 3 Californias’ that share not only historical ties but linguistic ties as well and have shared institutions for over 300 years now. Alta California and Baja California are those three states former names. California got its name because the spanish explorer that came about this stretch of land said of it, in the first comment about the weather in that part of the world that it was a Calido Forno which translates to English as Hot Oven, hence the name California.

I love California, for me it has more than a beachy cling to it, in fact, beaches have never played a central role in my vision of California, it has been more of a home to me, as homes go one doesn’t give much thought to it, one merely lives there, and so, I fluently speak both of the two most important languages that make up the character of California, English and Spanish; I lived there and that is where all of my mexican familia lives, either in California or Baja California, so I think that I can without a doubt call myself a Californiano which by the way, sounds more native than the English counterpart Californian.

Yes, that sounds nativist and I am. That is why it causes me great pain to hear that some Austrian guy that hasn’t even been born there is running for governor of my precious state. The whole idea and fact regurgitates in me. I quite frankly don’t believe that Xicanos and Mexicanos and the whole Hispanic crowd can get together on this one to stave off this Republican nincompoop from coming to power. Senator Dianne Feinstein has openly opposed this guy and I guess that bodes well for this state but I cannot help but see illbodings for the next months ahead, however, I harbor a small inkling that he will stop running for governor as soon as his coffers begin dwindling down in monies and that spells nothing but good.

Cruz Bustamante is my man because he is a Mexicano. We have waited for over 150 years to get back in power, Pí­o Pico was the last Mexican Californian governor and I believe the time is ripe for a takeover of power there. Although Chicanos are becoming the majority I spouse serious doubts about the coming elections and the results, I frankly believe that we need to start putting aside our differences and let the bickering resume after the election and not before, at best I hope Grey Davis gets reelected.

The only positive thing of all of this is that the anti immigration rethoric has dwindled down a tad and immigrants are being treated more fairly, at least until elections are over. Immigrants, which so happens to be a synonym for Mexicans in California often bear the brunt of the economical woes in Califas and thus become favorite targets for out of state people like Hufftington who relish and spews nothing but hatred for illegal aliens as opposed to her who is a legal alien. The tidings being promised to immigrants these days is actually an appeal to Hispanics in California because those issues are closer to the spanish speaking populace of California than to the average CA man and woman. This litle fact makes me grin with delight because it means only one thing: the Mexican vote is upp for bidding and the best wager gets the votes. I hope we dont bet wrong because the Grapes of Wrath will be ripe for harvesting after the election.