Chicanonautica: Summer Delirium in Arizona

by Ernest Hogan

Summer hit Arizona like a nuclear attack. July has just started, and the zombifying heat is causing people to walk the streets with expressions on their faces usually reserved for those stunned with a ball-peen hammer. I'm feeling funny, and can't tell if I'm suffering from the latest virus, or my brain is being cooked like an egg on the sidewalk. (Yes, you can actually do that in Phoenix in the summer – only the Chamber of Commerce frowns on it.)

I'm seeing strange things and can't tell if they're real. Giant inflatable Uncle Sams, American Eagles, Godzillas, King Kongs, and T-rexes are standing guard at the car dealerships. An old guy drove down the sidewalk on a scooter that was customized to look like an airplane, complete with a spinning propeller. A horde of Native American women piled out of a bus labeled REDSKINS. Was there always a giant cow skull across the street from Costco?

Maybe it's all real, maybe the heat and rain has caused the levels of peyote and datura pollen in the air to rise to psychedelic critical mass.

Is Donald Trump really running for president? Did he really say that Mexicans are rapists, then have his words echoed by Dylann Roof a few days later when he massacred those Christians? Are black churches really burning?

Did the Supreme Court really make same-sex marriage legal nationwide, and okay tax subsidies for health care? There are some people here in Arizona walking around with steam coming out of their ears, even in this killer heat. You have to be careful at these times, in this state, with our Wild West gun laws.

And why are all those Confederate flags disappearing? It's not that any kind of law was passed about it . . .

I'm hearing that Trump has triggered what is being called a Latino Spring, even though it's summer, but then you wouldn't want to lose the Arab Spring reference. The Donald has managed to unite a group that is larger and more diverse than “Anglos.” Right after we became a majority in California.

There's usually a lot of talk about Latinos/Hispanics being a factor in the presidential election, but we usually get swept under the carpet early. The Democrats act like they won us in a craps game. The Republicans talk about reaching out and even courting us, but they never follow through . . . or at least that's the way it was in the past.

Note that they aren't talking about Mexicas or Nican Tlacas. These mainstream Americanos don't know about the diverse subcultures of La Raza Cosmica. Yet.

Meanwhile, I wonder what it would be like to be a factor in the election, instead of another “minority” that they can ignore. What would it be like to be courted by politicians? To have them actually ask about and care about our concerns, instead of just coming into selected barrios to do photo ops in sombreros?

It's all so unreal. I keep expecting it to vanish like the mirages on the streets, or to evaporate like water splashed on the scorching pavement.

Ernest Hogan, the Father of Chicano Science Fiction never seems to get as much done in the summer in Arizona as he intends to. It must be the heat, and the online coverage of the running of the bulls in Pamplona.

2014 Halloween / Día de los Muertos

Denver's dead trick-n-treatin'. Students dead/Mexico rising from the dead? Not-voting suicide. Latino/a Rising will live.

The two holiday observances ironically portray death from two opposing perspectives, as Flo Hernandez-Ramos explained yesterday. Today's post relates to different news bits about "death." It ends with good news.

Denver's dead trick-n-treatin'

We're such a nation of scared sheep, I'm not surprised. For over a month the Colorado press and media, politicians, police and fear-mongers have been sensationalizing a Non-threat: "Denver Police Warn Parents About Pot-Laced Candy During Trick-or-Treat Season." Give me a break, with more than a Snickers.

We're a richly self-medicated nation, abusing a lot of prescription drugs. For decades we've had bathroom shelves of Oxycodone and Hydrocodone, given out for pain, so much that some is usually left over. Those are cheap compared to what THC spray costs. Were warnings issued every year about codone-laced candy?

When Denverites complained about the police's fear-mongering, the cops made a video posted on Facebook! They got slammed for that, too, but it was too late. At least in some Denver neighborhoods, on a Halloween night warmer than many previous, we had the lowest turnout ever. I'm guessing why. People in other areas report similar low turnouts, though not everywhere.

What will we hear next year to make us keep kids "safe" and inside and not walk the neighborhoods? ISIS terrorist sympathizers giving out hand-grenade treats! Disgruntled African immigrants giving out Ebola-licked gummy bears! Listen in to your fave shock-brained radio jock to find out. And be scared. It's as American as apple pie laced with GMOs. Oh, that's right--that's a real threat.

43 Students dead / Mexico rising from the dead?

U.S. drug habits and drug laws, gun mania and shipments into Mexico are now responsible for the likely murders of 43 students from Ayotzinapa Normal teacher-training school, missing since Sept. 26th. Big deal. Drugs, drug lords, killings, kidnappings, decapitations, "disappearings", cartel-bribed politicians, police and soldiers are always in the news. That's the Mexico the U.S. helped create and we're not surprised to hear more. However, this time, more than mierda has hit the fan.

Here's what one U.S. correspondent based in Mexico wrote:

"Most of the students were in their teens, in their first semester, and from impoverished communities that a majority of Mexicans identify with. The voids in Mexico’s government are all too obvious now. The country seems to be trembling at the edge of a terrible cataclysm or, for the hopeful, an inspiring transformation.

Mexico City rally for the 43

"There will be a march in Mexico City on Oct. 31st, coinciding with the Day of the Dead, and a “mega march” is scheduled for Nov. 5th, the day Mexico’s universities and colleges are planning a national strike. How many universities, colleges, and institutes will stick with it, and for how long? Will it spread to other areas of society, to the high schools, for example, as recent student strikes in Chile did, bringing about significant changes in the country? When masses of students boycott classes, it fills a country with an air of emergency and danger.

"What many Mexicans have been telling me is this: It’s either now or never."

Chicanos, mexicanos, latinos from the U.S. will no doubt support as they can whatever arises from the probable deaths of the 43. A new Revolución, across the river from El Paso, San Diego and Brownsville? It wouldn't be sci-fi or fantasy to imagine how our government, politicians and military would react to that. Or the gun lobby and industry, anti-immigrant racists and radio shock-jocks. I can hear them now. But for the rest of the country, it would be a true gauge of a "commitment" to democracy. Maybe they'd be spared the agony of having to decide. Yo espero que no.

Not-voting suicide

Earlier this year, I was among those advocating NOT voting. I was wrong. "We" are not united enough for that to have an effect. A discussion about when that time might come doesn't matter at the moment.

In the meantime, I'm voting because the Koch brothers, the anti-science crazies, the pro-oil conglomerates and the anti-immigrant racists are trying to elect their kind. They're even going after judgeships so justifiable claims against corporations will be more frequently overturned by "their" judges in the future.

Wherever I look on the Internet, TV or the press, and whoever I talk to, I could almost believe Armageddon is here, and Dystopia is our only future. Many people (including me) are negative, bitter, even reverting to political hermits. For that reason, I have been Facebooking the points below--one per day--trying to answer typical reasons you hear about why somebody won't vote next week. Use them, elaborate and improve them, if you want.

Many idiots, but make sure they're yours

#1 - Why you don't have to vote: Because you don't believe in the lesser of 2 evils.

What! Satan's not worse than a demon?

Frostbitten's not worse than shivering?

The 1% has robbed us of plenty. Did they steal your vote yet?

#2 - Why you don't have to vote: Because you think corporate ads already bought yours.

What! You think the 1% can control and even predict the future?

Hiding your head in the sand is smarter than sticking it in a voting booth?

Yes, the 1% has bribed most politicians. But you go alone into the voting booth.

#3 - Why you don't have to vote: Because the polls already canceled out your vote.

What! You think pulling one lever matters less than 1,000 opinions?

Ask the condemned man who he fears more--the hangman or the mob out front.

No, you might not have much to pick from. But which end of the rope do you prefer?

#4 - Why you don't have to vote:  Because there's only a few hours left, and you've got too much to do.

What! You don't want to spend a few minutes to avoid years of suffering?

Only terminal cancer patients (my apologies) could say voting does them no good.

No, you never have enough time. But voting could make the future, worth living.

#5 - Why you DON'T have to vote: Because you only care about who the President is, not a bunch of politicians.

What! You think if your President is elected, he/she will take care of everything?

Congress or your state legislature make the laws. The Prez and governors sign them, or not.

Your vote next week adds or detracts from the next President's or governor's power; that's the math.

Latino/a Rising will live!

I apologize to everyone who this week received too many bits from me about funding and supporting the anthology, Latino/a Rising, the first collection of U.S. Latino/a science fiction, fantasy, and other speculative genres. I do believe it is worth supporting and buying copies of once it's published. And I did have a personal stake in it, since a story of mine might be included. Even if it's not, I expect it to be a precursor of latino contributions to come. Echando más salsa en la literature Americana.

The good news is that the Kickstarter campaign surpassed its $10,000 goal but there's still time, until midnight, for you to kick in and get some cool perks, like autographed copies, T-shirts and swag.

I was just one of many who participated in reaching that goal. At times, I felt ambivalent: Why do we Latinos have to ask for money for a first-ever anthology when so many are produced in the U.S. every year? That's a because that I won't get into. What made me feel better were the non-latinos who responded, sometimes directly, letting me know they had contributed. It made me remember that we're not alone. There are some progressive Anglos, and others, out there. We just need to re-educate more of them.

Es todo, hoy, ni un treat más,

RudyG, a.k.a. Rudy Ch. Garcia, Chicano spec author with too much left-over candy