Memories of a Juarez Nightlife Notes PDF

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 Memories of a Juarez Nightlife o 1988, Chihuahua, Mexico. Bar setting o Juarez: south of Las Vegas. In Mexico  unique due to its desert environment and nightlife  bar life and nightlife born from prohibition  mariachis, brothels, nightclubs, alcoholics  it was like “Mardi Gras” every year o Author speaks about his times at Juarez from young to old. Reminiscing of his memories o Lots of celebration with friends. Different bars and hangouts for different kinds of people o Really easy to get a divorce in this town. o Oct 10 1970. End of quickie divorces o Author got arrested for punching a drunk dude. o His uncle killed two ex-mayors and he ran into him in jail o Bars in Juarez encouraged drinking marathon. El Paso and Juarez are very close to each other. People could border hop between the two. o Indians were refused service in some bars. o His uncle invented the “Margarita” o Sidewalks were lined with all kinds of merchants, vendors, etc. o High-Class and Rich folks hung out in mansions. o El Paso was a home for many kinds of people (LULAC – labor union) o Death of Juarez nightlife began with the end of quickie divorce in 1970. o Private clubs began serving liquor by the drink. o 1969: Texas law changed Juarez night life.  Mordidas (bribes) began to diminish o Law passed to close bars early, to prevent crime. o US assembly plants replaced nightlife establishments as main industry. o Cost of Crime was more than income from nightlife industry

 La Cate (1955) o La Cate (The Cathedral High School) in El Paso, TX. o 1959, author graduated high school o La Cate: continues to graduate students from the same facility. Mostly Chicano students. Poorest high school in El Paso with minimal new facilities. o La Cate has a very good academic reputation by 1992 despite having one of the poorest facilities. o 98 percent of graduates accepted to university. o Students received multiple scholarships. o 3-legged support system: kids, parents, faculty. Lack of money seems to be part of La Cate’s success. Key is hustling for a living. o Many students are the first to graduate from high school

Church values, dedication, god given ability Many logs of different graduates from La Cate Discipline is key in a scholastic environment Kids know their legal rights. Teachers can’t physically abuse them Mayor of El Paso at one point was a cathedral grad Graduates since 1955 have become accomplished professionals in corporate, governmental, and education fields o The neighborhood, once a middle-class area, is now a barrio. o La Cate is expanding, but the author doesn’t believe it will expand o The school is not up to par, but the values taught are and the quality of education is up to par

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 Last Supper of Chicano Heroes (1988) o Pulled students from Stanford and asked them about Chicano Hero’s o Took the last supper painting and replaced them with Chicano hero’s o Similarities between the 13 Chicano hero’s and the last supper  The heroes for the painting were picked by the students  Hero: a mythical, historic, symbolic, military, or popular figure  Not all heroes who made the list were Chicano  Dr. MLK Jr. made the list too. o The list of selections by the students was at once humorous about how Latinos were stereotyped. Chicanos who didn’t make the list were the stereotyped once. o Most of Mexico’s national heroes were martyrs who died for their people. o Final list contained: Mothers, Fathers, Grandparents, Vietnam veterans, braceros, campenos, and pachucos o A student stated that the people on the list did the following: they died, scrubbed floors, wept, and fought so that he could be where he is at today.

 Beggars and Pordioseros o “for god-sakers” o Talking about beggars. Author talks about his feelings of beggars. He feels bad for them. Talks about experiences with them as a kid in Mexico o Father: these children will never know the poverty that I knew o Beggars: known as pan handlers o In Mexico, men don’t beg. Mexico does not provide much for the beggars. Author is observing these differences. o Lazarillo: worked as a servant for more masters than one can count o Lazarillo worked for a rich guy. Even though he was a servant and a beggar, he still cared about social appearance. o Very little beggars in Spain. No Spaniard was a beggar. They cared very much about their pride.

o Even though the rich had servants working as beggars, they still cared about social appearance. o Latin American men and women: you will never find people begging for free money. They will always work for something instead of begging. o Even though a Latino is poor, but comes from proud Hispanic blood (maestro), he can still walk into a bar with pride and get a glass a water and walk out. o Latinos in general have a sense of pride. There will always be poor Latinos of proud Hispanic blood down in their luck.

 Mando, La Luz and Esmelta o Talking about a photograph: the limon brothers. Sitting at a bar drunk in Juarez, Mexico o Mando’s going away party: he’s going to college for engineering. o 2 brothers in a car. Mando and La Luz. La Luz name was given from almost running a red light. o La Luz and his brother Limonita are from Esmelta. o The town was more of a barrio, near a refining company. o The town was bad if you misbehaved. o Food (a dude) and La Luz went to a party. Food took it too far with a girl and go beaten up. City has no tolerance for messing with girls. o Mando: burned alive saving a sailor while deployed in the Navy o Story of how when both brothers died, it’s as if they didn’t exist. The town disappeared, no one talked about it. Too many people died in Smelterstown, and the town fell apart sooner or later, as if it never existed.

 The Desert o Author is in the desert as a pre-teen. o 2 friends and 2 brothers are hiking north of El Paso, Texas. No watches, trying to find civilization (they are lost). o Description of the desert and the river in different seasons o They found a ranch house, with grass. Found a hose. o They loved the desert. o Because of modern improvements (canals, interstate highways, modern transportation, deep water wells), our true desert has disappeared. o Only those who fall victim to the harsh realities of racism and boarders fall to the desert. The desert other than that of the border has been modernized, because people don’t care about that desert. o Desert people have a pride and dignity coupled by unparalleled survival skills. o Inhabitants of the desert are not mad and ferocious. o Prosperity of desert people has depended on proximity to water sources o Contrary to the original Latin American translation, the desert is not abandoned....