Miracles Happen

Dear Art of Brownsville Readers:

I write this post with much emotion. I have recently survived a very bad car accident that took place in Harlingen yesterday evening. Long story short, my truck hit the right-side concrete barricade of the expressway, swerved towards the left-side barricade and then bounced off it and rolled over a few times before I landed upside down. Fortunately I was on my way home from McAllen after traffic hour so no one else was hurt. My Forerunner is a disaster and I am blessedly whole with only a few cuts and lots of bruises and a strained knee. I was able to walk away from the scene after some very nice people helped pull me out of my truck. I was very fortunate that I survived the way I did and that so many people stopped to help me. In particular, two women jumped the concrete barricade after witnesssing the event from the north-bound frontage road. They were both Christian women who prayed and comforted me while the ambulance came for me. Having been raised in a Christian home, their morale support felt so comforting. I made it through the hospital alright but I don't think I had ever felt so uncomfortable in my life. Many tests were made and it turned out that they found a tumor in one of my ovaries. The news is incredibly shocking to me but in retrospect if this accident had not occured, I would have never known. The doctor said that most likely the tumor is benign so God hoping it can be cured.

It was a miracle that I did not die. My sister wanted me to post about this even though I was hesitant at first. She took some pictures of the truck today and the front of it is in shambles. Later on I will try to post a few up if I can. I also cannot find the power adapter for my laptop which may have been lost to the accident so I am using the last bit of my battery life. My great apple PowerBook survived with a lot of scratches but amazingly it is still working.

I wish to extend my sincerest gratitude to those have given me so much love and morale support in the past 24 hours. In particular to my family, the paramedics and staff of Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen, those who helped me at the scene of the accident and to my friends in McAllen, Brownsville and Texas. Your support is getting me through this and I am glad that we have been able to laugh and cry. Most of all I want to thank God! THANK YOU SO MUCH GOD!

Okay, my computer is threatening to turn off. I don't know the complete lesson of this experience yet. All I know is that I feel so blessed and so fortunate. I feel like I have been given a second chance. I feel over-whelmed and I feel relieved. I know God is out there for sure now. I should not have survived that accident but I did and I see now that it was because someone was watching over me and I have so many blessings on my side. I just never truly realized it as a reality until now.

Love Life!

Some pics

Here are a few pics from my visit to Mexico City. I will try to add more soon. Meanwhile enjoy this picture that I took outside La Casa de Frida Kahlo.

Have a good start to the week!

Super-quickie Update

Yikes!

This has to be fast! I have to go cut the lawn because our front yard looks like the haircut from A Flock of Seagulls and at some point after that I am going take my mom to see The Interpreter and do some work. I was supposed to start the lawn two hours ago but I got lazy and started downloading songs from iTunes (catching up on my Fey, Coldplay and revisiting Belly), web surfing and researching shoe schools in Italy. It's my first day to myself in 4 weeks! Can you blame me???

My Mexico City trip you can say was a bit life altering because all of a sudden the world seems much bigger and our lifespan here smaller at the same time. So in realization of this, I have decided to speed up my plans to pursue my shoe and accessory design career, thus the shoe school research. My friend Susan and I are going to Italy in January and our plans were set on top the Pyrimad of the Sun in Teotihuacan. We even put our thumbs on top of this metal stone on top of the pyrimad! What does that mean? I don't know, but it was this small and shiny metal rock on top this tall pyrimad that kicked our butts so it has to mean something important! God, it was an amazing experience! Just being on top of those monumental man-made mountains overlooking the valley and cerros! And I don't know how I am going to make it to Italy in 8 months but I will. Life is too short and my 24th birthday is creeping nearer, and by the time you know I'll be 25, and then 30 and then 40 and then 50! I know, an exageration of worries but it is true and I'd rather take action than wait 3-4 years for something that I may or may not like. I'd rather know sooner than later.

Okay, I'll blog later tonight if I can. Sorry I have not been the best of blogeras the past few weeks. I hope you all had a chance to visit the Arte at el Ranchito event and if not, try to catch tommorrow's event with the Brownsville Historical Association. Yesterday, Symphony at the Park was also held (which I missed as well). :O( I am really out of loop but I am going to try and catch up and bring you all better news of art in Brownsville and La Frontera.

Take care y hasta luego!

GARDENS OF NEW SPAIN

From the Brownsville Historical Association:

Please join us for a very unique presentation by William W. Dunmire on his new book:

GARDENS OF NEW SPAIN:  HOW MEDITERRANEAN PLANTS AND FOODS CHANGED AMERICA

Bill Dumire's illustrated talk tells the story of how crops, longhorn cattle, and new foods made their way from Spain to the Texas frontier, and how native Indians responded.

Our menus today connect back to those Hispanic colonial times.

Books will be available for author signing and purchase after the program.

Book price $24.95 plus tax = $27.01       Limited number available

Checks payable to the Brownsville Historical Association
 
When:     Monday, April 25, 2005   7:00 p.m.

Where:    Brownsville Heritage Museum
               1325 E. Washington Street
               Brownsville, Texas  78520

For more information, please call (956) 541-5560 (Tues-Sat, 10:00 -4:00)

This event is FREE and open to the public

Refreshments will be served.

Regrese!

I am back from el D.F.! I had A LOT of FUN and my experience was so eye opening and the lessons I learned were so unexpected....in short, the most enriching aspect of my trip to Mexico was not art as I was expecting (even though the art was AWESOME!)...but what really impressed me the most about Mexico was my family. It's a long story and I have to go to bed soon because I have an early drive to work tommorrow and I just got in from Mexico City....but what I can say right now is that I am so humbled and so grateful for my wonderful family and how they opened their homes and their hearts to my mother, my friend Susan and I without the bat of an eye. I have a HUGE family in Mexico City (about 70 offspring from my grandparents alone) and I met so many wonderful people and the warmth and love they gave us...I am just so touched and moved. I also met the family of my dad's mentor who is also a taxi driver in Mexico City and drove as around our first and last days there. When my dad was in his teens and without a place to go, he and his family opened their home and hearts to my father, so in essence they are family too and I felt to humbled just at the fact that they loved us like family as well. Gosh, I was just so impressed with the Mexican family dymanics (at all three homes I stayed in, I found 3 generations living under the same roof with room to grow!) And they were all so nice and so loving... I didn't want to leave and I even inquired as to how much it would be to rent in Coyoacan...who knows maybe later...but I hope to go back soon!

A Drawing to Show

Aqui Estoy. (my talent that is).

I don't think I have ever officialy shared my own art on this site so this is completely new. This is a study of Raphael's detail of Santa Barbara from "Sistine Madonna", 1512. I used to make a lot studies of renaissance paintings in art school but have not made one in about 2 years. This one I made two nights ago. I began at 11:30pm and finished around 3:15am. Regardless of my lack of sleep that night, I had a lot of fun making it. I was using a cheap No. 2 pencil so I had some trouble blending and getting the right tonal values and effects I wanted. There also are some proportional aspects I can work on and I had to make up the right part of her face because the picture I was drawing from had cropped her face up to her right cheek, so the ear and the hairstyle is mostly my doing. But beyond anaylytical criticism, I think I did a pretty good job with my limited medium. I have had a recent surge of inspiration and I am going to make the most of it. I have made some more shoe drawings...my earlier ones you can take a look at from my website.

The quote that I wrote next to it is from the Last Canto of Dante. Here it is:

In that abyss I saw how love held bound
Into one volume all the leaves whose flight
Is scattered through the universe around;
How substance, accident, and mode unite;
Fused, so to speak, together, in such wise;
That this I tell of: one simple light.

Pretty much I made this study from a book I just read called "Birth of Venus", which takes place in Florence during the Renaissance. The picture is used on the cover of the book and the quote is from the novel itself (Just in case you are wondering, I am not to well versed in Dante. I just really liked the quote.) The book left an impression on me because I am completely amoured with the Renaissance and it's history. Seriously...I am obssesed with Venetian painting (especialy Titian) and own books on the Medici art and history.

I will be taking my sketch book with me to Mexico so I can't wait to see what inspires me there and what artistic inspirations I bring back with me. I will be heading to Frida Kahlo's house! I can't wait to be standing on those pyrimads and to look at the works of Rivera, Siquieros and Orozco with a more appreciative eye than the one I had at age 12. Bueno, I really do have to go now. I'll probably blog next week because I won't have access to the internet until next Tuesday. I hope you all have a great weekend! Hasta Luego!

WOO HOO!

Woo Hoo! I'm back home in Brownsville. You know what my favorite part is about driving home from McAllen? The drive down Boca Chica from the Expressway towards Central Blvd. I love passing by the three resacas and seeing the sunset, palm trees, weeping willows and ebony trees reflected off the water. Sometimes I may be lucky and catch the sight of a group of pelicans perched upon a dormant ariator or of a stork poised for a portrait by the edge of the resaca. But I have an even bigger Woo Hoo in store for you all....you all ready?......

WOO HOO!

I am going to Mexico! Since I am going to Mexico, perhaps I should yell "AAAIIIIIEEEEE!!!" Yes, indeed my pilgrimage to Mexico, MEXICO (no D.F. needed here) will be happening. I am intent on getting my Garden State/Barbaric Yawp moment on top of The Pyrimad of the Moon!

I will also be looking into the Wal-Mart controversy at Teotihuacan. I agree that it is disrespectful for Wal-Mart to build so close to such a monumental and significant site in Mexican culture and history, but I also feel hypocritical typing this as I wear my black sweater and polka dot shirt which I bought at Wal-Mart. So first I am going to get my first-hand observations and then write a piece about it for The Backword for their May issue.

This vacation will also be a cultural pilgrimage of sorts as I go to rediscover my origins. I could say that this is my first "Chicano" initiative, though many of my past projects can be seen as such. If I am a social and cultural, Mexican-American activist, why don't I just call myself Chicana? I don't know...but I am still not comfortable with it and so maybe when I return from this trip I will understand my feelings on this better. I know one time at a lecture, I caused a stir when I brought up the issue of the "Chicano" label. Afterwards, people would ask...if you don't consider yourself Chicana, then what do you call yourself? Some people were more befuddled than concerned, but I just couldn't see why having a label is so important. There is more to me than just being Mexican-American, but it is a part of me that I do celebrate and pursue to understand...so does that instantly make me a Chicana? This is complicated indeed. Aver que pienso en cinco dias.

OK I got go now. I am falling alseep as I type this and I have to wake up early to catch a flight. I'll try to blog again very soon! Hasta Luego!

Amigos Artistas: Art at El Ranchito

Amigos Artistas & IBC Bank present
Art at El Ranchito
Spring Art Show

Photography
Paintings
Sculptures
Ceramics
Mixed Media

Featuring Local Artists
Saturday, April 23rd, 2005
10am - 4pm
IBC - El Ranchito Park
221 El Jardin Heights, Brownsville, Texas 78521

Admission Free!
Donations accepted.

Raffle for "Los Viajeros II" oil painting
by Felipe Morales
will be held during this event, along with three art pieces from previous and future Amigos Artistas Exhibitions

------------------

Go and check this out folks! It's going to be a lot of fun and a one of a kind of event in Brownsville that I hope will come to be repeated often. So go and support local art and help in the development of a stonger art scene in our community! It all starts with your support!

Brownsville Pictorial History

Hello Everyone!

I want to inform you all of a new Brownsville Website called A Pictorial History of Brownsville, Tx Past, Present, & Future: Growth & Development which is maintained by Brownsville architecture and photography enthusiast Tony Lehman Jr. You can check out his website at: www.brownsvilletexasonline.com

It is a great resource for Brownsville pictures and more will be added to it with time. Now the beauty and history of Brownsville has an even stronger presence on the internet! Go check it out and congrats to Tony for doing such a great job!

Quickie Update

Sorry so long folks. I am still in McAllen working and I don't have internet access at my place. Yesterday I went to April's ArtWalk in McAllen and it was a lot of fun! I went to the Klein Gallery where I actually saw two paintings of a Brownsville resaca with palms and it made me a bit homesick. I hope to be there soon because I have some pictures to take care of for two photography projects I want to finish, one long over due wedding album and one more recent graphic design.

On that recent note, I wish to extend big thanks to Chris Davis over at Cafe Brownsville for donating a digital camera for the Art of Brownsville! YAY! If you all may have noticed I took off my donation box because Chris was so nice to donate his camera to me! TAOB readers, I encourage you to visit Cafe Brownsville to read more about all things Brownsville. Thanks once again Chris! :)

Also, go check out the April issue of The Backword.com. They always have awesome features to read!

Ok, gotta go! Take care folks and I'll try to blog again soon!

Sunday Opinion

Yesterday, The Herald printed two relevant community commentaries in concern to the arts in Brownsville. One was a guest column by Brownsville art teacher Roxana Cantu who wrote about the need for more arts support from our community and the schools. She wrote of how she attended an art teacher forum at UT-Austin and spoke with future art teachers. I was among the audience that day and what she has to say is very relevant. The Herald also printed a commentary about the heydays of the El Jardin Hotel by quoting the memoirs of a bellboy who used to work there. So far I have yet to see these commentaries published online. I hope that by the end of today they are posted so I can share with you my opinions as well. Have a great day!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter Everyone! It's turning out to be a nice, cool and sunny day here in Brownsville, so go out and enjoy the great weather with your family and friends. Even take part in a Cascarone hunt! In celebration of today I want to share with you Carmen Lomas Garza's painting Cascarones, (which are confetti filled and dyed Easter Eggs), depicting a traditional family activity here in South Texas. Enjoy!

UT Longhorn Band in Brownsville

Friday, April 8, 7 p.m.

The University of Texas at Austin Longhorn Symphonic Band in Concert

Lopez High School Performing Arts Center Auditorium, 3205 South Dakota Avenue, Brownsville, TX

 
Admission is Free!

Woo Hoo! The Longhorn Band is in town! I love the band! I spent so many days in the music building just hanging out around the lobbies and piano rooms just trying to absorb all the good music energy. And now some of that nostalgia is coming back home! I am quite proud of the surge of interest my university has taken in my town, especially the College of Fine Arts. Truly they know that they have a great pool of talent in Brownsville to pull from.

Blogshares?!?

When it comes to the internet, I am a much more avid googler than blogera. I love to surf the internet and I love to do research on the most random of topics than run across my mind. (For ex. "What's up with Haley Joel Osment?", "Can I find a picture of the mural located in the Renaissance Market in Austin?", "How accurate is the Farmer's Almanac?", etc..etc...) So imagine my suprise when I came across Blogshares and found that The Art of Brownsville is being traded (hypothetically ofcourse) on Blogshares.com. TAOB is currently valued at $5,672.52!!! Holy Moley! Heck, if that was real money I would be on a faster track to college loan free land! I have no idea how blogshares works...heck I have no idea how the real market works...I see little numbers on TV and in the newspaper and it might as well be Chinese to me. Other blogs that are also being traded and sold through Blogshares are:

El Chisme
The Daily Texican
El Mas Chingon
Patti and Ink

Most of the blogs I have linked to this blog are being traded. I find this all very suprising so I am going to be keeping a tab on what this is all about. I guess I am going to have to learn more about stocks and trade. If you are a beginner like me, then check out Investing Basics at the AG Edwards site. If you are still at a complete loss even with the Basic Investing guide like me, then check out the Kid's Guide. You get to choose your own cartoon guide as well! haha.

Back in Brownsville

I'm back after having lived across the Valley on my own for about a week. Getting back into the single living lifestyle is like riding a bike and it felt like I was back in my own place in Austin, but I am in my own place in McAllen and I pay less rent and have more space! For the most part it has been good and I also enjoy work so much more now. Yet, it is good to be back home and I got a 4-day Easter Break so I am doubly happy!

Today at work, I also got to meet with some graffiti artists from Hidalgo County about a mural we have on the works that will be unveiled on Earth Day, April 22nd at the soon to be opened Urban Art Bar and Gallery in downtown McAllen right across Cine El Rey on 17th st. It's is going to be an awesome mural and I also enjoyed hearing their opinions on graffiti art vs. tagging and just their view of the whole RGV graffiti scene. It was so interesting to hear what they had to say and I would love for a cultural anthropologist or art historian to get their attention on the topic of RGV graffiti. There is so much potential for positive engagement from these artists, it is just a matter of mobilizing it in that direction.

I am also trying to organize an event at my job with local artists and I am excited to say that I got RGV artists Izel Vargas and Roel Flores on board! They are both great artists and some of the most active names out there in the RGV art scene. I am also working on a program with students from McAllen and Reynosa, which will lead to an exhibition in Casa de la Cultura in Reynosa and in McAllen. I went to Casa de la Cultura recently and got to see one of their alums give a piano concert to a group of school children. He had been a student their since he was five years old and now he is 21 and pretty much on his way to be an international concert pianist. It is just so amazing to hear stories like that.

Amigos Artistas is also organizing an arts fundraiser event on Saturday, April 23rd called "Arte en El Ranchito". The event will allow for artists to set up booths and sell their work at the IBC "El Ranchito" retreat. Amigos Artistas will keep a percentage of their sales to use towards funding more arts events. It is going to be a gorgeous and exciting event and artists will be coming from all over the Valley. If you are interested in participating or know of anyone who might, shoot an email my way.

Well, there is so much going on and I am very excited about many things headed our way in the Valley art wise! Things are mobilizing and more and more people are beginning to take notice. VIVA EL ARTE!

Pilgrimage to Teotihuacan

In one month I will be here, trying to reconnect with something lost. And when I will have finished climbing the mountain, I will be yelling the song of life, LA LIBERTAD!



"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world!"
-Walt Whitman

One Way or the Other

Why is that when it comes to politics or life in general, it's one extreme or the other. For example, Conservatives are so intent on criticizing any Liberal agenda and defending their own without any question. Same goes for Liberals. Why don't you hear a Liberal questioning another Liberal, or a Conservative questioning another Conservative...the closest thing you often hear about is a conservative or liberal criticizing his or her own for not being liberal or not being conservative enough. Let me clarify I am talking about extremes here.

For example, Conservatives justify the war in Iraq as a War against Terrorism...but wait, didn't Bush declare "Mission Completed" a while back? If our mission is indeed completed then why do we still have soldiers coming back in coffins, dead from wounds caused by the very people they supposedly saved?? And they will justify it by saying it is patriotic and for the greater good, so don't worry if our country is trillions of dollars in debt because in the future we will live in a safer world. Far as it seems, we have more people hating us in the Middle East than loving us. How is that going to equate to a safer future?

And, why are Liberals so intent on criticizing the War in Iraq as a capitalistic agenda and then support the use of narcotics, thus supporting vicious drug lords who terrorize people in their countries. And they could argue, well if drugs would be legalized we wouldn't have that problem. I doubt it. Do you think drug lords would so gladly turn a friendly face to a free market? And even if...why would I want people to walk around stoned or high on crack? We have problems with drunk drivers as it is.

I am just disillusioned with both extremes. It seems like these days, you are hard pressed to find someone who wants to look at the facts and issues of our society as they are without bringing in their own extreme judgments. It's either one way or the other, and somewhere in the middle, we lose the answers to our problems.

Moving On

I am a bit bummed but then at the same time relieved. I am temporarily moving from Brownsville to be a bit closer to work. I am not exactly happy about moving. I love my town. I love my home. I love my family! I love the work I have going on here as well. But...I also like my job and the work I have going on there and I also like having more time on my plate rather than wasting 2.5 hours of my day in a car dodging traffic, construction and the elements, wearing down my truck iChugGas and popping $13 a day on gasoline. I feel completely torn.

But I made the decision! For now, I need to be closer to work for various reasons but also foremost for my health. The commute is wearing me down mentally and physically...I loose my energy to the road thus affecting my motivation at work and I am a more reckless driver because I am either speeding (not crazy speeding but I do speed) because I don't want to be late to work or because I want to get back home as soon as possible after a long day at work. God, I am just not happy and I figure moving is the only logical thing to do because I want to do a great performance at my job. I spent five freaking years in college and now is the time to prove what I have learned. I remember a year ago, I could not wait to leave Austin so that I could get out of the drudgery of school and get out into the real world. So now I have a chance to do so...to really prove myself and I want to do my best job.

Unfortunately I was not able to find that opportunity in Brownsville and I guess in some way I am resentful of that. I love my town but it also didn't afford me the career I was looking for and I had to find it somewhere else...funny thing is my current job found me and I could not feel any luckier. And I am not the only one in my boat..I know of so many people who are also in the same predicament..they graduate from college with degrees but are not able to start their careers in Brownsville, because face it the job market isn't exactly shining here. They have to move to Dallas, Houston, Austin to find a job or commute to other cities in the Valley. Many factors are mentioned that contribute to Brownsville's less than stellar job market:

1.) Compadrismo (You'll hear the stories like how the applicant with a degree lost the $25K job with benefits to the applicant with a GED because that applicant was someone's relative.)
2.) El Norte (All the good jobs are up north)
3.) Economic Disadvantage ( Full-time Jobs just cannot be afforded at this time but you can work part-time at minimum wage with no benefits)

Oh well, I am tired about thinking about this too much. I am moving for now and hopefully in the near future I can find a career job near Brownsville. I love my home . There is no place in the world that hits close to heart like the scene of a sunset and palm trees reflected off Town Resaca. This is home and I am incredibly proud of it! But for now I am moving and I do look forward to what awaits me overthere al otro lado del Valle and just giving my job my full potential! So in effect, I am moving on. Let's see what life brings my way.


I got this picture from this website that also contains more awesome images of Bville. Check it out!

Charro Days Pics!

Orale! I am finally uploading some Charro Days pics for you all! I even recorded a grito for you all thru audioblogger. It's from the song "Pachuco" by Maldita Vecindad (awesome song by the way!) and it's not the best recording but I was too shy to go through with it. And I can do a pretty decent grito but you know who is better...my sister Angie! So maybe she will grace you all with a grito later...aver si quiere.

Bueno...here are the pics. They are all from the Friday, Feb. 25th night parade. The crowd was pretty low and there were so many empty chairs along Elizabeth street. I even left work early so that I can try to arrive early to reserve seats. Then the next day it rained and the International Parade was canceled, which has only happened twice in the long history of Charro Days. I missed that parade because of work but as I was filling mycar with gas that morning I saw so many floats at the HEB parking lot that were soaked. Their papier mache float installations were drooping and pretty much past repair. I don't blame them for canceling the parade. Well here you go and enjoy the pics! Let me know what you all think.


I was having trouble with the shutter speed..but I got this effect on these flag charros. Pretty chido I think.


You have to love how enthusiastically seniors celebrate Charro Days. I love how adult day cares and assisted living homes crown a charro days court. I think kids and seniors are the ones who have the most fun on Charro Days.


This was one of the nicer floats and I love how all the little girls look so cordial and pretty. There were quite a few bump and grind floats..one of the them was playing "Dame Mas Gasolina" and this little 9 nine year old girl was pretty much dancing with the balance beam on the float like it was a strip pole. I am not kidding, she was dipping it low ala Cristina Milian. Somehow, I just don't think "Dame Mas Gasolina" is the message of Charro Days.


You cannot have a Charro Days parade without a mariachi band! Guepa!


And last but no least...Captain Bob's float brought a new suprise! Seems like after Mr. Shrimp got his head back in order he decided to take a wife...introducing Mrs. Shrimp! I could not stop cracking up! I wonder if by next parade they will have a family?

I will try to soon have some more pics for you all of Bville snow and stuff. Have a good weekend and hasta luego!

Not So Quickie Update

Hi Folks!

Still here and doing well. I am so pleased because my students from Tercera Cultura had their opening reception this past Sunday and it went very well. About 90 people showed up and the show will be up until April 6th, so try to go by the Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center to catch the show. The show came out even better than planned because of the initiative some of the students took to make an installation that was not even required or asked for. I even managed to sneak a piece in from my student's used painting palettes in a very Jackson Pollock/Marcel Duchamp style..hehe. In all, the experience was so inspiring and l really enjoyed being there with them every step of the way the past nine weeks. I am so proud of them and I hope I can do it again soon. Thank you so much to those who supported this initiative!

But for now I am getting some down time. I am flushed and my colleague at work even recommended that I go home early from work today. I took her advice, drove home early thus avoiding traffic, took a short nap and then took my car to the mechanic because my car's brakes are in such bad condition. With the construction and crazy drivers out there (me sometimes being one of them I'll admitt), my commute and life depends on having a safer car. My car has also been guzzling gas like there is no tommorrow so I am having the mechanic look into it. Hopefully in two days I will have a better driving vehicle! Yay!

I have some Charro Days pics for you all (thanks Angie for sending me the files), but I have yet to find time to sit down and photoshop them into smaller jpeg files for web viewing and then upload them and make comments (that would be a whole evening of worl..yes I am a slow and contemplative artist type of worker). I should be able to by the end of this week. Julietta Venegas is also having a concert in McAllen as we speak. I am a bit bummed to be missing out but a concert is the last place to be right now. I would have been super exhausted for work tommorrow and I really want to focus and give my best there now that I have some more time on my plate. I am no longer pulled so much by the Tercera Cultura Project...but I am hoping that within the next few months I can be pulled to start it up again. We will see how that goes.

I do have some vaction time coming up in April! YAY! I don't know where to go...I could go to NYC or Atlanta or just visit around Texas but if I had a choice I would be somewhere not in the United States or Mexico...just somewhere different because my international culture cravings have been stirring. Maybe Italy? Maybe Costa Rica? I don't know if I could afford it, so I just may end up visiting my old UT International Office haunts. I have been missing Austin a bit and the Spring is always so beautiful there.

Well, I am off to bed now! I am going to get 8 hours of sleep tonight! YAY!!! :) I will be back with Charro Days pics and some upcoming info on art. I know Amigos Artistas has a major Valley artist event coming this April in Brownsville. If you want more information just shoot an email my way. Alright..buenas noches and take care!