Politics and All That Crap July 2010

TODAY'S SOUNDTRACK

I'm not a political person,

suffice to say I abhor politics.

So, I've been hiding under a rock.

That way I can ignore the steady stream of young

(and not so young) men dressed in baggy clothes 
and illustrated with tattoos

that have been streaming into Jocotepec

and filling up already-bursting family homes.

More than a few bringing young American wives
and their small children back with them.
The girls struggling to fit in, find their place,
and learn the customs of the country 
and their new extended families.

New pickups with California plates.

And Arizona plates.

Jockeying around our narrow cobbled and potholed dirt roads

instead of Interstate 10 and Hwy 101.

Moving back into grandma's house —

another mouth to feed

with little opportunity for work.

There are hardly any rentals in Jocotepec,

returning Mexican family members are

occupying the available homes.

They nod to me when I pass them on the street.

Eye contact that says I'm like you!

Excited to speak English,

they tell me they miss the American culture.

They look shell-shocked.

My mechanic now has a translator, Francisco.

Baggy pants and tatts, happy to speak

English with me, eager to translate for me,

and "go-for" for Carlos's small neighborhood garage.

 For a very few pesos.

Hey, it's a job!

The Mexican woman who processed my

immigration renewal papers last month

was deported from the US —

and found work in an immigration office in Ajijic Mexico.

Under my rock we all get along.

We don't care where you were born,

or what color your skin is,

or what language you speak.

It's an equal opportunity rock.

I understand the borders must be made safer,

but not by racial profiling, abuse, hatred and discrimination.

Rather by laws that are enforced with justice, dignity, and equality.

And guest worker programs!

I'm going to crawl back under my rock now
and watch a movie. 

THE BEST ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MOVIE EVER MADE