Welcome,
immigrants
U.S. should make
room for all types
What do you think of when
asked about Nebraska? Corn, foot
ball, farms? I thought of the same
things- then I remembered I was
Mexican-Amcrican (not that I would
ever forget, for you Chicanos out
there) and guess what I thought of?
Illegal immigration! Maybe drugs
and crime loo! Issues which plague
people of my own ethnic back
ground— issues which, thank God,
I haven’t had to deal with person
ally.
I think that because I’m Mexi
can-American, I will tend to favor
government programs and policies
that benefit Mexicans who are af
fected by these issues, as opposed
to an Anglo who claims to oe "so
cially conscious” and sensitive to
our needs.
Sometimes I don’t know how I
feel when I hear two Anglostalking
about the latest batch of illegals
getting shipped back to Mexico. I
usually ask them how they feel
about it and then react accordingly.
After all, this is something that has
beengoingon.isgoingon, and will
keep going on, and there’s nothing
that’s going to stop it.
I don’t care if anyone from Rus
sia, Ireland, Haiti, Africa, Germany
or anywhere else came over by the
thousands. That’s who this country
was set up for, wasn’t it—the tired,
the hungry and the poor?Oh, but as
soon as all the tired, hungry and
poor white folks get settled, fat and
rich . . . that’s it . . . this country
served its purpose and laws and
restrictions have to beset up so that
we limit who can get a picce.of the
pie. This is wrong and I am against
it 100 percent. _
See IMMIGRATION on 10
Fine comics still being ignored,
even with new Vertigo imprint
Even though DC Comics has
established the Vertigo banner
for its mature-reader books, sev
eral fine comics still seem to be
going unnoticed by readers.
This situation should change.
DC began publication of one
of its first true mature-reader
books, “Hellblazer,’1 in the ’80s.
Pulling an obscure, yet potent,
character named John
Constantine from the pages of
“Swamp Thing," DC redefined
the image of the magician/seer.
Constantine is a truly unique
character — a type of character
that was seriously missing in
comics previously. I lis enemies
far outnumbering his friends,
Constantine indirectly killed sev
eral of his friends when he
meddled with the occult. But
still, Constantine’s the “good guy."
I le is the true anti-hero, andthat
the pages of
"Hellblazcr," Conslantinesold his
soul to the three devils in hell to
save himself from lung cancer,
saved a demon who committed
the unthinkable act of falling in
love with an angel, and battled a
modern-dayJack the Ripper. Yet,
the true extent of Constantine’s
powers are very carefully hid
den, just a touch here and a
touch there. Mis knowledge of
the occult is unmatched, but be
yond that, it is hard to say exactly
what he can and cannot do.
Although the comic’s language
and violence is not for the timid,
Constantine would be not be
satisfied with anything less.
“Hellblazcr" is a great book —
give it a try.
The "Garden of Pain" story
line was just completed within
the pages of “Shadc-Thc ('hang
ing Man," and what a finish it
was. Shade found himself an
other body, that of a psychotic,
and Kathy died. (Although she
was brought back to life in order
to keep Shade in line.) I have
recommended this book before,
and I’ll gladly do so again. “Shade”
is a fantastic book in which any
thing can happen, and usually
does. Shade, Lenny and Kathy
are now living in a hotel that is at
a sort of crossroads of insanity.
Now is the perfect time to jump
on board this book.
Another seemingly unnoticed
Vertigo title is “Animal Man,"
which is now being written by
Jamie Delano, theoriginal writer
of “Hellblazer.”
“Animal Man” is the story of
Buddy Baker, his wife Ellen,
and their two kids. Buddy has
the ability to lap into the “M
field,” which allows him to take
on the characteristics of any ani
mal he chooses. The conse
quences of this are finally being
fully explored by Delano, with
Buddy becoming more and more
animal-like. (In the newest is
sue, when using the smelling
abilities of a dog, he actually
gels down and runs on all fours.)
Also, Delano has started to ex
f>lore how Buddy’s powers af
ect his family life. Ellen’s mother
thinks Buddy is nuts, and Cliff,
who is Buddy and Ellen’s son,
has reacted by rebelling against
Buddy and everything he stands
for.
“Animal Man” is a very good
book. It works on a more per
sonal level by focusing on
Buddy’s family, but that is what
makes it original.
William J. Harm* is an arts and enter
tainment reporter and a Diversions
contributor.
Everyone has a right to their history
I was once a teacher at a small
private school in south Texas. I
taught English and history to junior
high and nigh school kids.
Most of my students were sec
ond generation Americans. Their
parents spoke Spanish at home —
which made my students bilingual,
something that should have been
an advantage to them in life.
Hut in this school the students
were forbidden to speak Spanish,
even among themselves in their
free time.
And they were taught a white
washed history of the Americas.
I remember a textbook, the book
most of my students had worked
through iust the year before, that
claimed the biggest impact the con
quistadors hadon the native popu
lation of the Americas was: bring
ing them Christianity.
It was a parochial school, of
sorts, a kind of fundamentalist de
tention camp really, run likeastalag
by a woman in a black wig.
I tried to leach my kids a more
broad-minded history; admitting
that Christianity was an important
import of the Spanish, 1 went on to
tell them some of the other things
they brought with them: syphilis,
--ik 1 *—ir*'—^4 -- —
small pox, blue eyes, mass murder
and horses.
The kids seemed interested in
the horses thing and we spent a lot
of lime trying to imagine life in the
Americas before them.
All the mental pictures the kids
had of the plains Indians included
horses. We imagined their lives
must have been very different be
fore the Spanish came.
But 1 quickly found they had no
mental image at all of the central
and south American Indians, so we
went into that.
Well, the Olympics were being
held in Calgary that year and one
day a boy in my English class said,
"When those announcer guys from
Spain talk on the TV I can kind of
understand it. Why is that, Mr.
Baldridge?"
I had been saying something
else but his question struck me
dead in my tracks.
"What did you say?"
He repealed the question, mak-.
ing itclca rer for me, hisslow teacher.
This kid didn’t know where his
language came from. A school that
forbade him to speak his first lan
guage with his friends, wanted to
take away even the memory of his
culture, to rob him of his heritage
—doinghimthedubiousscrviceof
Northamericanizing him.
He didn’t know why Spaniards
spokeSpanish a lot like hisown. All
the talk of the conquistadors and
theconaucst by Spain of the Ameri
cas had ocen just more school stuff
to him, mildly interesting at best,
not really touching on who he was.
In the following weeks wespent
a lot of time trying to gel a grasp of
what our history actually was, what
it meant and what wc could learn
about ourselves from it. . •
I disregarded the book and
brought texts from the library.
Wctalkedabouthisioryinancw
way after that.
I don't know if I got through to
them, but 1 said over and over
again, in as many ways as I could
find: this is your history, it’s part of
who you are. Don’t give up the
right to Question what you arc
taught and don’t let anyone take it
away from you.
Five weeks before the school
year was up, 1 was “let go," — a
trouble maker.
Mark Baldridge la aria and entertainment
editor for the Daily Nchraakan.
Robin Tnmarchi/DN
Misty Callerose and her partner practice some of the Latin
dances.
About 15 people gathered in the gymnasium of the Military
and Naval Science Building to learn now to rhumba, mambo,
ranchetta, cumbia and merengue as a part of Chicano Aware
ness Week.
“This is another way to celebrate our culture,” Andrea
Juarez said. “I think it’s a fun activity to have. We might do
this some other time outside of Awareness Week.”
Conrad Casteneda said that the Latin dance class was
“more fun than Chesterfield’s.”
“Latin music is more sensual to dance than a lot of the
* mainstream stuff,” he said.
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