Category Archives: Uncategorized

Recipe for Nopalitos (cactus) con Chile Colorado

Posted on June 9, 2020 by

This is really an easy dish to prepare even though it seems complicated. It takes very little time and it’s almost impossible to get wrong. Ideally, the best place to get nopalitos is from the cactus plant in your backyard. … Continue reading →

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May: Saying it with flowers

Posted on May 2, 2020 by

THE MONTH of May summons many images. Mother’s Day. Cinco de Mayo. Graduation.  But anyone who grew up Catholic will tell you the real significance of the month is that May is the Virgin Mary’s month.  During May, Catholics gather – … Continue reading →

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How the death of a mule led to the Palomos’ becoming Texans

Posted on May 1, 2020 by

I wrote this column in September, 1994, after a visit to California. I thought it might be of interest to my many Palomo nephews, nieces and cousins and their children and grandchildren who don’t know much about our family’s history. … Continue reading →

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On the 25th Anniversary of the death of The Houston Post: my best column for that paper

Posted on April 18, 2020 by

Today, April 18, is the 25th anniversary of the death of The Houston Post, the newspaper for which I worked from 1979 until its demise (except for a short period during which I worked for USA TODAY). I worked as … Continue reading →

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Musings on a farm labor lexicon

Posted on April 8, 2020 by

I GREW UP in Crystal City, a South Texas town that became a virtual ghost town every summer as most of its residents, including my family, went “up north,” as we referred to it, to work in the agricultural fields … Continue reading →

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Latinos are here to stay. Get used to it.

Posted on April 4, 2020 by

I wrote this Houston Post column some 28 years ago. I post it here to show how, sadly, things haven’t changed very much when it comes to race relations in this country. — JRP HISPANICS, SAY THE letters to the … Continue reading →

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On ‘Mal de Ojo,’ Human Touch & Erecting Walls

Posted on April 1, 2020 by

I wrote this piece in 1998 for The Salt Journal, a short-lived magazine founded by my good friend David Barton, a damn good writer (and son of my longtime mentor and friend Bob Barton, Jr.). David had a vision of … Continue reading →

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The Dark Side of the GOP

Posted on March 28, 2020 by

A few days ago, I posted this on FaceBook:  “Sad to read the obituary today of one of my favorite journalists, Richard Reeves. He wrote for a number of publications, including the New York Times and Esquire. He was a … Continue reading →

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Concentration camps, context and feigned outrage

Posted on June 23, 2019 by

RIGHT-WING NUTS (there’s a redundancy there, I know) are going bonkers over U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s use of the term “concentration camps” in reference to the Trump administration’s camps for undocumented immigrants. An insult to the millions who were murdered … Continue reading →

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On Being a Minority Columnist

Posted on May 29, 2019 by

A little more than halfway through my first year as a columnist for The Houston Post, I was asked to speak to a local Latino organization. I don’t remember which group it was. In fact, I’d forgotten about the speech … Continue reading →

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