The Daily Scuba Diver

The Daily Texican became the Daily Scuba Diver this weekend. I'm officially certified by PADI. I was probably the worst scuba diver in the class, but I made it. One of my classmates is an instructor and convinced my friend and I to take his class.

My "buddy" is a law school friend and extremely reckless. I on the other hand am extremely conservative in the water. I like things done by the book, so as you can imagine, this was a winning combination. My friend kept throwing crabs in my face and other crap he would find under water. It was pretty damn funny, except when he inadvertently knocked my regulator (breathing thing) out of my mouth 2x underwater.

I did the open water diver course and froze my ass off in the water today. Well, it's only cold for about 5 seconds. The wet suit works really well.

Spring break (yes, a 28 year old said "spring break") here I come!!

Oh, I think I'll get some pictures to post soon.

More Raza at UT

I like this. It turns out that as enrollment at UT decreases, the number of Raza and others increases. Now, we have to get it higher. I think the percentage of Raza in Texas, the State, hovers around 40%.

Los Olvidados

"They're forgotten man," he said. "Los Olvidados," I thought. I checked my phone messages at 11:30p.m. Wednesday night as I was leaving Sullivan Hall. My friend, a fellow Tejana living in Seattle, had left a message a couple of hours prior asking me to call her. It was urgent. It turns out a group of volunteer workers in New Orleans came upon a group of Mexicanos in dire need of medical attention. One problem. Nobody around to translate - at least to translate medical terms. Somehow the call made it all the way to me.

I called the phone number she gave me. A North Carolina cell phone number. Midnight here, 2a.m. over there. Sincere, an African-American volunteer answered.

"What's the deal," he said.
"Yea, I heard you need translators," I said.
"Yea, when can you get here, where are you?"
Silence.
"I'm in Seattle man," my voice almost cracking.

I felt helpless. Sincere told me that it was "bad." He told me a "sister" was down in the neighborhoods right now, but she needed help. He was talking about a Latina. A sister in the struggle. A sister in the trenches. The language used by organizers, activists, volunteers.

He asked me if I had family in Texas. I told him my sister in Houston was evacuating as we spoke. Rita is coming. He told me he would pray. Then he went on to tell me that the Latinos were being forgotten in this tragedy. "We're getting the attention, you know, the African-Americans, but there's a lot of Lahteenos. They don't even speak the language. And you know it's bad for everybody."

I know. My uncle lives in Mississippi. Works on a casino boat. The storm didn't hit him. I remembered back to a couple of weeks ago reading a story in the New York Times about how immigrants were afraid to receive help from government officials for fear of being deported. Chingado, man. Get some help. They won't deport you, I hope.

By now, we know what Rita did. I hope it's not too bad. The point - a thank you and applause to all the volunteers and the students at Seattle University who spent countless hours raising money, selling pizza, folding clothes, singing "Georgia" and playing the piano. Gracias.

Let's argue. Let's discuss. And let's disagree. But let's remember, there are still people dying.

She's A Coming

My sister left Houston tonight. I'm not sure if she'll make it to her planned destination, Dallas, but she's left Houston, before Rita hits. So, I got to thinking about looting.

We saw what happened in New Orleans where desperate people broke into stores to get water and food to feed their families and where thugs stole t.v.'s and money. We also saw some people who were killed by criminals and not the storm. I wonder if I would arm myself? Considering we're in Texas, I wonder how many people are polishing up their weapons.

I'm not a big gun person, but man, I think I'd have my Carabina 30/30 cleaned and ready for action. It just got me to thinking.

Como Si Nada

El Dies y Seis de Septiembre came and went, like nothing. There was no mention of the day on t.v., in the newspapers, by kids around school, or even at the restaurants that usually use these Mexican Holidays to capitalize on selling more Margaritas. I was kinda bummed.

I was bummed, not because I have ever "celebrated" or even attended any functions related to 16 de Septiembre, other than checking out the grito on t.v., but because NOBODY made any mention of it anywhere. I tell you Dorothy, I'm not longer in Texas.

The one thing I always do try to do, is like previously mentioned, is check out the grito on t.v. Really, I like watching the music performances and the people gathering before the event takes place. It's pretty cool.

I've been fortunate enough to visit Dolores Hidalgo and learn about some history before then, pero me aguite un poco.

Representing

I turns out there's another person from McAllen at my school! Freakin' weird. I met her today, even though I had seen her around before. That's kind of cool. She went to another high school and graduated two years after me, but still cool. McAllen is in the house.

Laters. Studying.

Wow!

This is an email I received from the company I used to work for. Very impressive.:

Team:

I watched the news reports on Hurricane Katrina last night for the first time, and was shocked by the extent of the suffering and devastation our neighbors are experiencing in New Orleans and the Gulf coast. I don’t know if you have seen the news, but thousands are presumed dead, tens of thousands are living in anarchy with no drinking water or food, and hundreds of thousands are displaced from their homes. It is hard to believe one of our great American cities has been destroyed overnight.



It is easy to immerse ourselves in the daily financial struggles of our own lives, and focus on the fiscal goals we have set for our own families. But as your payroll checks are direct deposited today in your individual bank accounts, I challenge each of you to consider how rich our lives really are, and whether it is appropriate to give something to ease the suffering and loss of the victims of Katrina.



One Technologies is going to give $1,000 today to the American Red Cross on behalf of our team. R., A., and myself encourage you to join us in helping these people, and therefore in addition we will match everything our employees give to charitable organizations for the next 2 weeks. Pick a charity you believe in, print out the receipts, and bring them to me and we will donate with you on the same day.



Thanks for taking the time to consider the plight of those affected by Hurricane Katrina, and don’t hesitate to come and talk to me if you have any questions.