Chicanonautica: Dead Daze, Holidaze, Election Daze . . .

by Ernest Hogan

Some transmogrifications will go on between the time I write this and the time you read this. First there’s Halloween, then los Días de los Muertos—that’s right, there’s two of them, the first is for the angelitos, the dead children, the second is for the dead adults. Between the commercialized, United Statesian media party, with some of the original Celtic pagan Samhain peeking through, and the traditional, Mexican contemplation/celebration/visitation of those who have passed, we all have things to think about.

In my novel Smoking Mirror Blues, I strung them together into a three-day event: Dead Daze. Yeah, I know that a lot of the Puro Mexicano/Don’t Call Me Latinx/That’s Not The Way My Nana Did It crowd, whose ancestors just may have been oppressed conquered by the Aztecs, wouldn’t approve, but I’m all about those kinds of recombozoid chingaderas. I’m a mestizo, a half-breed, a mongrel and proud of it. Impurity is what I’m all about.  

For me, “the Holidays” start with Halloween and include everything up until New Year’s Day. This includes the new and neglected Virgin of Guadalupe Day (December 12!) and all the other holy days from all the other, non-Christian religions. Aren’t we supposed to believe in freedom of religion?

To further complicate things (something else that I’m all about) my birthday and anniversary are in there.  It usually becomes a weird blur, which is why I think of it as the Holidaze. 

It can get crazy, which can be a good thing, because there's another craziness going around like a malicious virus spread by skull-faced disease spirits in the night. You see, another day rattling around in this merry mix of a season is Election Day.

And we’re having some pretty nasty midterms here in Arizona.

You’d think Trumpublicans who want to send us back into the Dark Ages (including a gubernatorial candidate who has not promised to honor the election results, wants to not just finish the border wall but to “declare an invasion” on immigration, and talks about “firing the federal government” and seceding from the Union) would have voters recoiling in horror. This being Arizona, it looks like a close race.

 

It’s as if all the retirees who live here don’t mind that along with the loss of their U.S. citizenship, they could be kissing their Social Security and Medicare goodbye. Wonder what they would do? Make a run for the new border, back into “America” as illegal aliens, or join the homeless in the streets?

And also, the election process–democracy itself–is under attack.

Recently, the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans and Voto Latino filed a complaint and motion seeking a restraining order against Clean Elections USA–not to be confused with Arizona’s Clean Elections Commission, that was created by voters in 1998 to help ensure the integrity of elections. 

Clean Elections USA is grass-roots, formed after the 2020 elections, and according to the lawsuit have “gathered at ballot drop boxes in Maricopa County with the express purpose of deterring voters . . . from depositing their ballots.”

The two organizations also state: “On Friday, two of the drop box watchers were armed and wearing tactical gear, and again on Saturday, armed and masked individuals were gathered near drop boxes.”

Looks more like harassment and intimidation than watching.

The lawsuit accuses Clean Elections USA of violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.

Hostility is spilling over into the streets.

Recently, a vehicle zoomed up behind my pickup and tailgated me, giving my bumper an aggressive tap. Was the driver offended by the MY OTHER SPACESHIP IS A LOWRIDER? Or am I just paranoid?

But then as William S. Burroughs said, “A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on.” 

Ernest Hogan is proud to be the Father of Chicano Sci-Fi. And being careful in Arizona.