La Vida Yaya

It has been a while since I blogged and although I find inspiring topics around me, I have been focused on my daily life. However, I revamped my blog and created a new one over at wordpress. It's a little prettier with new content about my life in Texas. This site will stay up. There are good memories here and the articles live on to tell the tales of my beautiful friends and my time in Los Angeles. If you'd like to read more recent musings, check out my new blog here: lavidayayablog.wordpress.com Thanks for reading! Peace, Ase, Blessings

My good friend Laura is working on promoting the American Heart Association's "Go Red for Women" heart disease awareness campaign and I couldn't help but think of how many people I know that have passed from this preventable disease. In our flavorful Latino culture, we tend to toss caution to the wind when our traditional dishes are placed in front of us. These wonderful delicacies were created by loving hands with recipes passed down from prior generations. However, we do not live the same lifestyles as our abuelos. Mine were humble ranching people. They kept animals and grew their own produce. They were hard workers from sun up to sun down raising many children who learned the importance of sacrifice and hard work. Today, my generation hasn't seen a live chicken in over a decade and we pass our time staring into computer and phone screens. Not that what we do is not important, but we are not as physically active as our grandparents and parents. We don...

Backstage access rocks! Just the other day, a well-known MC, Kanetic, posted a picture of us together on his Instagram with a caption that read "As an Artist, one shouldn't consider someone who likes their music a 'Fan', but rather 'Familia'." My initial reaction was to go into shock upon seeing the word "fan" mentioned in reference to myself but then I realized he was saying what I have always felt, that I'm not a fan. I'm part of the music machine that promotes and keeps my favorite types of music genres alive and in business. Yes, we are family. I'm always taken back to that scene in the movie Almost Famous  that explains it perfectly: Penny Lane: We are not Groupies. Groupies sleep with rockstars because they want to be near someone famous. We are here because of the music, we inspire the music. We are Band Aids." And this:  William Miller: "That groupie"? She was a Band-Aid! All she did was love your...

There comes a time when something so ridiculous comes to light and you wonder what are the real motives behind such horrible proposals. Well, the award for most infringement on civil liberties and basic human morality this year goes to San Antonio Police Department's Chief William McManus. His proposal before City Council will criminalize the giving of money to panhandlers. The "logic" behind it is to dissuade people (regardless of circumstance) from begging for money on the streets and public areas. He generalizes by saying that this money is being spent on drugs and alcohol. Apparently, he hasn't spoken to any of these people before because if he had, he'd hear stories as varied as there are dire circumstances plaguing our city's poor. In the year and a half that I've been back in one of the friendliest cities in the nation, I've listened to stories of people in need begging for money on the street corner. Just here in my neighborhood at the big i...

I've never been a Barbie hater. In fact, I think Barbie does a better job than other dolls out in the market of providing diverse looks, jobs, fashion . . . ok, maybe not body type, but growing up, I never looked at my blonde hair/blue eyed size 0 doll and made any comparisons to myself. I watched my daughter ask for and play with a variety of dolls with various skin colors and hair types. Doll play is about creating a novela and acting it out with your friends.Who wants to play with dolls that all look the same? Perhaps on a deeper level, her diverse doll collection helped her better able to make friends with diverse kids at school and on the playground. On second thought, I wouldn't give one toy that much credit. It takes a whole host of influences to develop a child's mind, taste, discretion, and personality. And sometimes they're just born with their own opinion like mine. While the previous Mexican Barbie realllly missed the mark by putting her in a les...

Tobin's River Walk Plaza under construction. Photo by Yaya. San Antonio is a city on the rise but rising isn't always easy. How a city progresses depends on its leadership but also the vision of the businesses and individuals mixed up in the momentum and those looking on from the periphery. Where you stand solely depends on you and today I had the opportunity to join members of the San Antonio Latino Theater Alliance (SALTA) for a tour of the soon-to-open Tobin Center for the Performing Arts . A relatively new group of theatre professionals who have years of experience in the arts, SALTA is a group on the go. Long before skyscraper cranes towered over the former Municipal Auditorium , local artists have hustled for the sake of their creative work, living paycheck to paycheck, knocking on doors, ready for the next project. Meanwhile the city pondered a new life for the site that witnessed civil unrest, Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, Fiesta coronations, Miss USA and so much more . A...

When you're busy adapting to a new situation it's hard to put your life into perspective much less into words. When I left San Antonio for college life in Los Angeles, I didn't think twice. I was excited to move and explore life as an independent adult. It was a wonderful experience. Yes, it was also difficult but problems aren't the end of the world when you have ways of blowing off steam with tons of other young adults going through the same thing. Now, I'm enjoying my last year of the thirsty thirties back in San Antonio. It has been one year since my arrival or rather my journey back. I believe time is cyclical and overlaps. Nothing is ever so clean as going from A to B to C. For me at least, it's been point A to C to Z and back to D. The thought of moving back happened rather quickly but situations in my life were already aligning in a way that when the opportunity to move was presented, it was the best thing for me. Then everything made sense. The journ...

Funny how we are raised to imagine certain cities as part of our collective thread and historic consciousness. New York City, where immigrants from ravaged European countries arrived on steamy ships in black & white film; Chicago, where pin-stripped suited gangsters carried violin cases and raged war on banks and cops, filmed in black & white; San Francisco, where the fog doesn't allow you to imagine it in color so you settle for sepia-toned ships sailing across Alcatraz to the smell of clam chowder in a bread bowl on a chilly morning; Miami, where tanned and slick-haired Cubans men in wife-beaters smoke cigars and shapely blondes walk the beach in tiny bikinis, in full tropical color; and Los Angeles, where the colors are in vibrant shades and spotlights blind you from the diamond-encrusted celebrities and bold murals that race across the sky hovering over dirty sidewalks. Then que Hail to the Chief   . . . enter Washington, DC. Not a city, not a state. A dis...

On the road to Texas. Photo by Yaya. My goodness, has it been that long since my last blog? I've since chopped off my dreads, got a humungous tattoo and moved to Texas! I admit that I suffered from a case of pillow-on-head writer's block. I was going through so much turmoil in my life that I couldn't find the time, energy, or inspiration to sit and write. When you are in the mix of the chaos, all you can do is survive. Can I get an AMEN?! So, sadly, I've said goodbye to my beloved LA. My bad lover, LA. My heart and soul, LA. I miss you. I love you. I hate you. Goodbye.  . . . but I hope to be back! Nineteen years. Nineteen years I spent there. My entire adult life was spent in that metropolis. It taught me, it inspired me, moved me beyond belief. The world at my fingertips. Dark backgrounds with glittering lights. Streaks of lights across waves of freeways. I always picture LA in the dark, at night, when something special happens to the city. People unwind and mo...

If I die tomorrow. Photo by Yaya. This post is about nothing concrete. I often balk at people writing about their thoughts and observations. I want to hear real-life stories not fluffy ethereal concepts that no one actually practices in real life aside from that one moment of inspiration but alas I find myself bursting with inspiration at the moment. It may all go away by tonight, but I felt I should at least start writing just in case I decide to hit the publish button and embarrass myself.  After a rough year, I've learned to cherish every compliment, smile, and hug I receive. Life is too short for the negative so embrace the positive. I'm also preoccupied by death. Ever since I was a kid and historian, I seek to preserve our past as I have watched elders in my family pass on. It was always a natural process, not scary at all. I never feared it until my paternal grandmother passed away. I recall not being able to sleep. I must have been around 6 or 7 years old and I can...

Torch of Friendship. A gift from Mexico to SA. Summer is coming to a close and the need for sun basking has finally dispersed out of my veins. I can now concentrate on more indoor activities such as blogging. What else to write about but my summer vacation in Texas. My home state has always received a bad rap among cool LA hipsters, blue state Chicanos and east coast PIBs (people in black or JCrew). While there are some truths to the stereotypes (which I do not care to list) Texas is actually a fun, down-to-earth, relaxing, and friendly state. Shall I also mention AFFORDABLE?! No need to brag. Initially, I wasn't planning a trip home this summer with LA sucking the last pigment of green from my bank account but then a well-designed postcard landed on my desk from an organization called NALAC , National Association of Latino Arts and Culture. They were calling for submissions to their annual Leadership Institute . You have to be a member for only $35 and submit an appli...

Denise and Margaret Sometimes it pays to have connections, be an insider, rub elbows with the elite especially here in LA/Hollywood. It's all about who you know and naturally, I know a lot of people who are very well connected. Well all that networking finally paid off this week! My dear friend Laura from Beverly Hill . . . I mean, San Antonio is promoting a new product. We met back in college at USC, and by that I mean high school in Texas. Ok so we were on the flag team and lost touch after high school but we DID find each other again in LA! That part is true. Turns out we are both in PR and were promoting an event that her client was participating in. Small world huh? Lucky for me, we kept in touch and many, many, years later, she sends me a box full of free sandwiches courtesy of Raybern Foods ! SCORE! Aside from being a fatty, I'm also a foodie so consider this my first official food blog. The loot When she first pitched me the idea of sandwiches I wasn't v...

RocioMarron. Photo by Berkeley Gray Photography. It is with great enthusiasm and a motherly pride that I write about my dear friend Rocio Marron who recently launched her first solo album! Veteran of the Latin and pop music scene, she's played with major recording acts Marc Anthony, Josh Groban, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cuban bass legend Cachao, Los Lobos, and others. You may have also seen her on this year's season of American Idol and The Voice performing with the finalists. We met in college where she was studying music. I would follow her to her gigs and met her wonderful family and friends. As an original member of my favorite group, Quetzal , she introduced me into this great world of LA Chicano music. Rocio spent a year writing and recording the album inspired by her family and personal experiences. “For years, I’ve enjoyed playing and interpreting other people’s music,” said Rocio. “Now I had the chance to write the music that had been inside me waiting to be rec...