Category Archives: Uncategorized

Sept. 7, 2012 The airline giveth and the airline taketh away.  Just as I was about to sing United’s praises for having upgraded me to first class between BWI and Houston, I get to my assigned seat on the plane … Continue reading →

August 28, 2012 I USED TO BE disdainful of those who immerse themselves in genealogy, who spend much of their lives searching for that one drop of royal blood that will validate their own existence, as if their own lives were … Continue reading →

(I wrote this for USA Today and it appeared on March 3, 1997) Not long ago, I was at the 88th birthday celebration of my Tía Chavela – Isabel Espinoza Palomo. Ever since, I have been haunted by the scene … Continue reading →

[This is part of a column I wrote sometime in the 1970s for the Hays County Citizen, with some edits.] BACK WHEN URBAN Renewal first came to Crystal City it decided that it was going to put a road right through … Continue reading →

(I wrote this for The Austin American Statesman in the late 1990s) My mother was a hummer. Except when she was visiting with somebody – or listening to her historias on the radio – she was humming. She hummed as … Continue reading →

June 27, 2012 | Washington I SAW MYSELF today, in the park near my office where I went to eat my humus/cucumber/tomato sandwich. More accurately, I saw myself a little more than six decades ago. I was with a group … Continue reading →

A FULL PAGE ad in the New York Times this week by the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships lists this year’s recipients of the foundations fellows. The fellowships program seeks to highlight and further the enormous contributions of new Americans … Continue reading →

Saturday will be the two-year anniversary of the execution by the state of Texas of my friend, Rogelio Reyes Cannady. I’d like to share something he wrote while on death row: “IF I COULD choose which life would be mine … Continue reading →