Fiestas Patrias

by Celia Hayes

So – the rough translation is 'patriotic festival' – to observe and celebrate the independence of Mexico from Spain, and my daughter had happened to hear that there would be a more or less 'free' event scheduled at the Freeman Coliseum complex this weekend – so, what the heck? I've lived in the Texas borderlands for fifteen years, and grew up in another borderland – Southern California, where  . . .  to put it mildly, the Spanish and Mexican cultural influence is so strong, and so permeates the atmosphere so richly that you take it in without even realizing it, and only realize how powerful it has become when you go to someplace without it. As my daughter wondered, upon participating in a nationwide…

Local Color

by Julia Hayden

In a job that I had, several jobs ago, my immediate boss was a transplant from North Carolina, and one of the things that he often noted was how deep was the Hispanic influence on just about everything in this part of Texas. It is, after all, the Borderlands, where two different cultures mix and meld so thoroughly and have done so for so long that those of us accustomed to it. Of course we should dine on breakfast tacos, and the supermarket carry every imaginable variety of salsa, and listen to conjunto music, and have in our vocabulary a smattering or more of Spanish. It’s just the way that things are  . . .  and sometimes it takes a recent transplant, like my old boss, to notice it in a significant way.

For me…

The Gruene Leaves of Summer

So, having worked over Mothers’ Day weekend delivering edible fruit centerpieces, my daughter and I decided that we would slack off – yes, indeedy, we would go off and do something interesting – the Saturday Farmer’s market in New Braunfels, and a pit-stop at Granzin’s Meat Market  . . .  that’s the meat and grocery store tucked cunningly away behind Bluebonnet Ford, on IH-35N  . . .  which offers the most divinely delicious sausages and frankfurters around. We found out about Granzin’s almost by accident, by the way – when I went up to the Sophienburg earlier this spring, to do some publicity for one of my book appearances. There was an estate sale my…

A Commemoration to Selena

Written by Randy Watson

Selena Quintanilla Perez or simply \"Selena\" was a Mexican American singer that was loved by a lot of people. Known as the \"Queen of Tejano\", she was a recipient of various awards by popular award-giving bodies such as Grammy\'s and Tejano Music Awards. However, the life of this very talented and beloved artist was cut short by a very tragic incident. The president of her fan club and manager of her boutiques, Yolanda Saldivar, shot her after they discovered that the latter was stealing money from her. They decided to fire her and it caused the anger of Saldivar, pushing her to shoot the gun and kill Selena. Because of loss of blood, at age twenty-three, Selena…