Last Blog....

I can’t believe that this is my last blog for borderbeat.net. In just about two weeks, I will be a college graduate. I can’t believe it. They say during college you’ll have the time of your life and trust me, I have had the time of my life. I’ve been able to intern at the Arizona State Legislature (how many times have I mentioned that during while writing this blog?), working in the Office of Admissions, volunteering and being a part of the borderbeat.net staff under the direction of Jay Rochlin.

Last spring, when I signed up for this class, I was under the impression that we would be writing about green issues but shortly before the semester started; I was were informed that we would be producing borderbeat.net. The topic of the border is such a huge topic: from covering politics, art, music, food and I’m pretty positive that we did a great job in covering it. I look forward to seeing what future generations of what borderbeat staffs will do. Having my first story published, was amazing. It was a feeling that I can’t explain – trust me I emailed my entire family and all of my friends. It was also amazing to receive my “press pass”. This was a lot better than the cheesy pass that I received in high school for yearbook.

I never imaged that I would have spent 5+ hours in the photolab trying to cut audio for the Chimichanga story that I worked on with Chris Reed. Or traveling down to Nogales to cover St. Andrew’s Children’s Clinic, interviewing David Tineo, Josefina Lizarraga and many others. I never thought that I would have the chance to work with a group of very talented, dedicated group of journalists

Special thanks to Jara Greenfield, my copy editor, thank you for all of your hard work in making all sure that my articles the very best that they could be.

My advice for future generations of bb is to take Jay’s advice of learning SoundSlides. Trust me it’s easy to learn the software before you are stressing out while trying to meet deadline during the first special project. Take a shot at learning final cut and when you are recording video make sure that the mic actually works and learn how to turn on the video camera before hand. Chris Reed and I learned that the hard way.

Have fun, enjoy borderbeat and remember to Bear Down!

I know that this is off topic, but I feel that it is a worthy enough topic.

In the beginning of August, one of the requirements for this blog was to pick a topic and explore it. Some students in my class picked entertainment, sports, food, and healthcare. I chose the culture. The Hispanic influences here in Tucson are incredible, from the food, to the music arts and entertainment.

On Friday, during a normal Facebook check on Friday, I realized that my uncle (my mom’s little brother) was complaining about Hispanic’s who were attending a yard sale at his mothers house. It really struck a nerve with me. He’s a quarter Hispanic, a quarter African-American and half Caucasian. Not only was he disrespecting those who were attending the yard sale, but his own relatives who sacrificed a lot for themselves for them to come to this country.

My great-grandmother Guadalupe de la Rocha (his grandmother) was born in Culiacan Senaloa, Mexico and moved to Nogales, Mexico in 1924 finally to Tucson in 1928 and died in 1966.

(The Fleming Family possibly late December 1926 or early January 1927)
(left to right: Great Grandpa, Grandma, Fred, Cleo, Marie, Delia, Armando and Grandma was pregnant with my Papa)

People come to this country for a chance at freedom, independence and a chance to start over again. In Chelsea Jo Simpson's blog, she has talked to many people who have come to this country because of love, a job or continue their education. But they have all found a home in the country, just like my great-grandmother.

Grandma, as I call her, was able to receive her citizenship because, my great-grandfather sponsored her. She enjoyed all of the rights and freedoms that this country had to offer. She loved spending time with her six children and three grandchildren. Although, I never met her, I always enjoy listening to the stories that my mom tells me about her. How they would make tortillas in the yard, listen to music while they would polish the silver.

I am very proud to say that my great-grandmother came to the United States and lived the "American Dream". I wish that all people would respect those who come to this country in search of freedom, love, or at a chance to start over.

Recently, on borderbeat.net, the fall 2008 restaurant guide was made live. I went through past borderbeat.net stories, to see what has been already been covered; I found reviews by the local Tucson papers (The Arizona Daily Star, The Tucson Citizen and The Tucson Weekly) and made created a list of the reviews with their contact information.

With living in Tucson for 23 years, I have eaten at the majority of all of the restaurants in town: the good, the bad and the awesome. I’m picky when it comes to my food, but even picker when it comes to Mexican food. Below are a few of my favorite Mexican restaurants:

• Last spring, when I was an intern at the Arizona Legislature, I came home for a weekend and wanted some really good Mexican food; we went to Mi Nidito (at 813 S 4th Ave, Tucson) and waited for almost 2 hours for our table. The food and service were amazing. I’m a huge fan of cheese enchiladas and they were to die for. They are home to the world famous Chile Relleno.Former President Bill Clinton (he even has a item on the menu named after him), Enrique Iglesias, Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, and Willie Nelson are just a few who have eaten at this Tucson restaurant.
  

• To celebrate a friends birthday last year, we ventured off to La Fuente (1749 N. Oracle Road.) for dinner. I wasn’t really impressed with the food, but guacamole that was prepared at our table was pretty good, and I’m not a fan of guacamole. The entertainment at La Fuente was great! Throughout the week, they have live mariachi music for the guests to enjoy. Since it was my friend’s birthday, they played ¡Feliz cumpleaños!Just for her and for the rest of the night, she even wore a pink sombrero.
  

• I am a huge fan of the Fox Restaurant Concepts: everything from Sauce, Zinburger, North, and Wildflower a couple of weeks ago I wanted to try something new from Sam Fox. Blanco - Tacos + Tequila it offers a new, causal atmosphere and outlook when it comes to Mexican food. The food was really good.

• While working on The Chimichanga: A Delicious American Mystery project with Chris Reed, I remembered how amazing the food and service was at El Charro Café. While working on this project, I learned that at the downtown location (which was Monica’s home) was where the burrito was “accidently” dropped into the pot of boiling water and the rest is pretty much history. There are five locations in Tucson and each offers the same, traditional food with the same great, family service.

Check out this video of the mariachi music at La Fuente!

Something different: St. Andrew's Clinic

On the first Thursday of every month volunteers from all over the country gather at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Nogales, Ariz. and once there the church is transformed into St. Andrew’s Clinic. It is not the typical medical clinic that you would see in the states, but this clinic is filled with love and true compassion.


Retired doctors, nurses, interpreters, spouses, and friends/co-workers of (former) volunteers take time out of their schedules to make the lives of children better. According to the clinic website, in 2007:

• 2,422 Clinic visits by volunteer doctors
• 87 Prostheses (legs, arms, eyes)
• 209 Office visits (USA and Mexico)
• 120 Pairs of Orthotic footwear
• l,851 Medication prescriptions filled
• 50 Hearing aids
• 348 Medical diagnostic tests
• 89 Pairs of eyeglasses
• 36 Orthopedic surgeries
• 4 Eye surgeries
• 39 Cleft Palate surgeries

While waiting for the child’s name to be called snacks (coffee, fresh fruit, nachos) are made available to the patients and their parents. In the back of the main waiting room, an arts and crafts table has been set up for the children. Children have the option of playing homemade play dough, to water colors, to working with puzzles, board games and building blocks. Linda Pantoja, 68, a volunteer from Green Valley, Ariz. told me that the children enjoy playing play dough and especially with the water colors.

According to the website “St. Andrew's Children's Clinic is a 501(c)(3) nondenominational, nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide free medical treatment for disabled children of impoverished parents from Mexico, using medical and lay volunteers from both sides of the border”.

The clinic relies on donations to continue their work. Throughout the years, they have made connections with various hospitals (Shrine & Shriners Hospitals and Spokane Hospital) to provide surgeries for the patients.

Watch the following video's to get an idea of what St. Andrew's Clinic has to offer:

1.

2.

3.

The trip down to St. Andrew's Children's Clinic was amazing. Words can not describe how powerful this trip was.

In 2004 my grandfather passed away after a long battle with cancer. Every year on All Souls Day (November 2), my mom and I go and visit a little shrine in downtown Tucson, called El Tiradito to light candles for loved ones who have passed away.

I am a frequent visitor to the shrine, especially on his birthday.

To honor our loved ones at El Tiradito, we purchased 8, 15 oz. white generic prayer candles or 7 day candles (which burn for 7 days, hence the name), which we bought at Wal-Mart for $1

In an earlier blog, a classmate of mine, Emma Keilbey, explained the history of El Tiradito.

While at El Tiradito, I noticed that there were little notes (possibly prayers) that have been placed in the cracks of the altar. There have been names craved into the altar and photos have been placed on the altar.


















Here are some fun facts about All Souls Day:

• Marigolds are the official flower for All Souls Day
• Versions of All Souls Day are celebrated all across the world (Brazil, Spain and the Philippines)
• On November 1 and 2 families of the deceased will go to the cemetery and clean and decorate the graves with either toys, tequila, food and possibly
• The Arizona Daily Star has produced an interactive site that shares information about the holiday, local traditions, the altar, and why personal items are shared on the altar. The
• The Arizona Daily Star also has a video that the Ramirez family and why they celebrate Dia de los Muertos. Very informative and interesting
  

A very interesting and informative article about Dia de los Muertos written by Carmen Duarte. This article goes along with the video.

With living in Tucson, finding Mexican groceries is relativity easy. Most grocery stores have an isle dedicated international food – whether that may be spices from the orient, tortillas, and salsa!

I took a trip to Fry’s Food Stores in Oro Valley and wanted to see the different varieties of the Mexican foods – I found tortillas, salsa, spices, beans, and items to make tamales and anything else that could help you to create that prefect dish.

One thing that surprised me is that all of the Mexican foods were together on one isle. But I did find the supplies and ingredients for tamale's were in the produce department.

All of the prices at Fry’s are very reasonable – a pack of 10” Mission Burrito Carb Balance Whole Wheat Tortillas were only $3.99 a pack of 36 Yellow Corn Tortillas are only $2.49.

In an earlier blog, I mentioned that we always have salsa but I forgot to mention that we always have tortillas due to the popularity of quesadillas and enchiladas.

something new....

This week, I wanted to try something new with my blog this week by adding audio.

Listen to my first "podcast"

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I am sad to report that I couldn't find a video of the "tuba" dance from an Arizona football game. But there is a facebook group on the tuba dance -The UA tuba dance is the best part of football season!

Here are some links to the halftime performers from the football game:

• Mariachi Atzlan de Pueblo High School
• Ballet Folklorico Tapatio
• Viva Arizona!
• The Pride of Arizona
  

holidays

With any country, holidays play an important part in shaping who the society is.

In America, we have the traditional, national holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and Fourth of July) which equal a day off work and school for some and then we have those holidays that do not grant a day off of work or school but we celebrate those holidays just for fun (Mardi Gras, St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day and April Fools Day).

In Mexico, holidays are broken up into three different categories: Statutory, Civic and Festivities.

Statutory holidays – are approved federal holidays from the government and the employees are entitled to a day off of work.

• January 1st – celebration of the New Year
  
• February 5th - Constitucion Day - On February 5th, 1917, the Mexican Constitution was approved.
• March 21st – celebrates the birth of former Mexican president Benito Juarez

Civic holidays – are used to celebrate an important dates in Mexican history. An employee is guaranteed a day off from work.

• February 24 – celebrates the creation of the Mexican flag
  
• May 8 - celebrates the birth of Miguel Hildalgo y Costilla who was the founder of the Mexican war for independence
• June 1 - celebrates the history of the Mexican Navy
  

Festivities holidays – are used to celebrate important religious holidays:

• November 1 - All Souls Day - which celebrates the day of the dead
  
• December 12 - Day of Our Lady Guadalupe – Some believe that this is the holiest day in the Mexican culture

One really cool thing about Mexican holidays is they are always celebrated with fireworks!

Every year in Tucson, there is the annual All Souls Procession. Take a look at this clip on how the Mexican holiday has been brought to Tucson.

burritos

This week, I was going to talk about traditional Mexican clothing, but I feel that I should talk about burritos instead! This upcoming Wednesday our first special project is due – I was going to cover a burrito tour: Tucson style.

Just about on every street corner there is some sort of fast food Mexican restaurant: Nico’s, Los Betos, Viva Burritos are some of the most popular fast food Mexican restaurants in Tucson.

I wanted to find out what made the burritos so unique, who are their main competitors: are they the other local fast food chains or are they the big national chains (On the Border, Macayos, Rubio’s, and Chipotle). But the some of the local (fast food) restaurants would not return my phone calls or if I went to the establishment looking for the manager/owner they were either busy to talk or would have disappeared and I would constantly hear “they will return later”.

I left countless messages and only after I changed my special project topic of my special project and only two phone calls were returned.

I was lucky enough to meet with Mike Hultquist, the owner of Lerua’s Fine Mexican Food. Lerua’s has been a Tucson favorite since 1922. They have been in the same location since 1941, at 2005 E. Broadway Blvd. Lerua’s is very well known for their green corn tamales.

Lerua’s does not sell burritos but they do sell burros. All burros are made with a 16” tortilla and once completed the burro weighs
close to ½ pound (8 ounces) depending on the filler.

There are 14 different burros on the menu. They range from the kid favorite Bean and Cheese burro to the Carne Asada burro. It can take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes to make a burro depending on the filler. For example, the chorizo that is used for the Chorizo and Egg burro is frozen until the order is placed. The Chorizo and Egg burro costs $5.75. Although, Lerua’s does not sell the college student favorite: breakfast burrito. But they do have a substitute for the breakfast burrito and that is the Chorizo and Egg burro.


Lerua’s is open approximately 300 days a year, but Hultquist does not know how many burros are sold in a year. But on October 2nd, Lerua’s sold 33 burros. The clientele at Lerua’s is varied from long time patrons to University of Arizona students. One thing that stands out about Lerua’s is the service. The employees at Lerua's are very welcoming, nice and will even take orders out to the car for some patrons.

Before I left Lerua’s, I made sure that I purchased one dozen green corn tamales and a bean burro. The burro was amazing and so were the tamales!

But watch this video on how to make a bean burro!

piñata - part two!

Last week we learned the history of the piñata.

Well this week, we are learning how to make one. I’ve never made a piñata before, but did paper mache projects when I was younger.

Materials needed:

• Newspaper cut into either 2 or 3 inch strips
• 2 cups of flour (I used wheat flour)
• 3 cups of water
• 1 large mixing bowl
• 1 spoon
• 1 balloon
• 1 pair of scissors

Optional materials:

• Tempra Paint
• Paint brushes
• School Glue
• 1 roll of crate paper or tissue paper
• The all important piñata filler… Candy!

Prep time:

Approximately 10 to 15 minutes to gather all materials needed

How to:

1. Make sure you have a clean work area and place newspaper underneath to catch the excess
2. Cut newspaper into 2 to 3 inch strips
3. Blow up balloon until desired size
4. Measure 2 cups of flour and pour into bowl.
5. Measure 3 cups of water and pour into bowl.
6. Mix flour and water together until you have a soupy, runny concoction.
7. Dip newspaper strips into the soupy, runny concoction.
8. Apply newspaper strips to balloon until the strips cover the entire balloon.

* I placed the balloon in a extra bowl so I didn’t get the runny concoction all over the place
9. Let dry.
* I placed the balloon in the garage to speed up the drying process. 10. After the balloon was dry, I put more newspaper strips on the balloon and repeated set 9.
10. Let dry.
11. Pop the balloon, which will leave you with a cast like object.
12. Then cut a hole in the cast which you place the candy.
13. Paint or decorate the outside of the cast like object.
14. Let dry
15. Place the candy inside.
16. String it up and have fun.

Total time:

I started the project Friday afternoon and finished on Sunday.

Sit back. Relax and relax the slide show:

piñata - part one!

When we were younger and it came time to planning our birthday party a few elements were always required: cake, balloons, invitations, and a group of our closest friends and a piñata! But choosing the piñata was always the easy part it followed the theme of the party.

When I turned seven years old, the theme of my party was roller skating. The popular thing to do back in the day was go to Skate Country North (oh, how I miss that place) and then everyone went back to my house for some more fun and of course I had a piñata and it was in the shape of a roller skate!

According to Wendy Delvin, the history of the piñata is very rich.

An early form of the piñata can be traced all the way back to Marco Polo in China and then to Europe and finally reached North America in the 16th century.

An early version of the piñata was a clay pot which was called la olla. There were times when the pot was decorated with different types of feathers, colored paper and objects (fruit and trinkets) were placed inside and when the pot was broken and the objects fell to the ground it was considered an offering to the gods. Early versions of the piñata were used for religious ceremonies (Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent). Piñatas are really not used for religious purposes today, but they are used for fun and recreational use.

Today, if you walk into any grocery or party supply store you will be able to find a piñata in the form of your favorite superhero, action figure or of a princess.



This is the first in a two part series about piñatas!

So make sure you come back next week to find out how to make a piñata!

salsa!

A recent article in The Arizona Daily Star got me thinking about Salsa. What is so special about this sauce that goes with chips, on tacos and that is put inside of burritos? Is it the fact that it comes in different varieties: hot, medium and mild.

At my house, we always have some form of salsa. Either store bought (currently, we have Pace Picatne Salsa) or homemade salsa.


My Tata Hector makes a very hot version of salsa with Chiltepin , jalapeños, tomatoes and onions. Tata Hector will put salsa on just about everything from eggs to steak and even on salads. Sometimes he will put salsa in spaghetti sauce.

Salsa can be made out of many ingredients including fruit (my friends rave about the Mango salsa at La Salsa) tomato, black bean even corn salsa.

At Chiplote, they offer four different types of salsa: Fresh Tomato (mild), Roasted Chili-Corn (medium), Tomatillo-Green Chili (medium) and Tomatillo-Red Chili (hot).

At Guadalajara Grill, which is located at 1220 E Prince Rd, the salsa is made fresh at right at your table. According to their website, they use three different types of chili’s, baked red plum tomato's, fresh garlic, cilantro, onions and a dash of salt.

Part of my family lives in the Washington DC area and when they come to visit, we always try take them for an authentic Mexican dinner. My aunt and uncle love going to Guadalajara Grill to experience the salsa that is made right at your table.

During my internship last spring at the Arizona Legislature, I came home for a weekend and wanted to do something special for my fellow interns, since we were working extremely hard: I made salsa!

I made a small dish of mild salsa. Fresh tomatoes, garlic, onion and Fire Roasted Hatch, New Mexico Green Chili's, which we buy at Safeway (we keep them in the freezer, so that they stay fresh longer) and a pinch of salt. It was nothing special but it was a hit. One of my fellow interns was from the Pacific Northwest and he just graduated from our neighbor to the north: ASU and he thinks that nothing good ever comes from Tucson expect for Eegees. He was impressed.

The recipe that I used has been in my family for years. My grandmother says this recipe is very simple and easy to change.


Ingredients:

Fire Roasted Hatch, New Mexico Green Chili
One large Tomato
One large white onion
Two garlic cloves
Salt to taste


Materials needed:

One sharp kitchen knife
One cutting board
One small mixing bowl

Prep time:

Less than 5 minutes

No cook time:

About 10 minutes to chop all of the ingredients.

Chop, mix together and add salt to taste.

a traditional Mexican wedding

With growing up in the Catholic church and attending numerous weddings, I wanted to find out about the different traditions that are involved.

The following are elements that help to make a traditional Mexican wedding a success.

Clothing:

• The groom and groomsmen will often wear tight black pants with an embroidered bolero jacket. If you are having a hard time picturing this think of what a bullfighter wears.
• The bride will stitch three ribbons (yellow, blue and red) into her lingerie for good luck. The colored ribbons will make sure that there is the availability of food, money and passion for many years to come.
• Some brides will not carry a bouquet of flowers instead she will carry a colorful fan.
• It is believed that if a bride wears a strand of pearls on her wedding day, it is considered to be bad luck. The pearls will symbolize tears that the bride will shed while the couple is married.
• The bride will wear a mantilla veil. Her dress may be inspired by a dress that a flamenco dancer may wear. The dress will have lots of ruffles and possibly colorful embroidery.
• The bride will wear white a dress and most likely that bridesmaid’s will wear red or another color that will stand out.
  

Those involved:

• The Padrinos (or Godparents): Will not only provide emotional and financial support for the couple. They will be involved during the ceremony, whether they are doing a reading or presenting the couple with a bible or rosary and they also will be recognized in the program.
  

During the ceremony:

• Most weddings will include a full mass. Catholic weddings are never held outside.
• After the bride and groom have exchanged their vows, a cord, white ribbon or a string with rosary beads will be placed around the necks of the bride and groom. This is a symbol of unity and is a traditional aspect of a Catholic ceremony.
• Towards the end of the ceremony, the bride will either offer her bouquet or the bouquet that the flower girl to the Virgin Mary. During the offering of the flowers, the bride will ask the Virgin Mary to bless her marriage. Then the bride will return to the altar, the priest will give one final blessing which will indicate that the ceremony is over.
• During the ceremony, the groom will give his bride thirteen gold coins. These thirteen gold coins are a representation of the groom’s commitment to the marriage and support his wife. With the bride accepting the coins, it symbolizes her commitment to take care of him.
  

After the ceremony:

• During the first dance, friends and family will form a heart around the couple.
• Friends and family will sing La Vibora de la Mar to the couple while going underneath a bridge formed by the bride and groom. At the end of this song, the bride and groom will toss the bouquet and the garter.
• The cake which some people think is the most important part of the wedding will be a rum cake with either pineapple, pecans and coconut filling.
• Dinner will consist of shredded chicken or beef, rice, beans, tortillas. Instead of wine or champagne, sangria will be served.
• There may be a piñata (made out of paper mache) either in the shape of a heart or the couple’s favorite animal will be filled with candy for the children at the reception.
  

introduction

I am senior at The University of Arizona studying journalism and political science. I will graduate this upcoming December. This blog is part of a class project focusing on issues that relate to the border.

Join me as I explore the many cultural themes of the border. During the semester I will be looking at art, music, food, dance and religious practices and many other things.