Marwa: Holy crap. That is...yeah. I had a friend who was disowned by his family and it wasn't the easiest thing to bear just being his friend. I can't even imagine what you're going through. I do know, however, that if you are going to school and independently supporting yourself then you are eligible for some pretty sizable government grants. Try the Pell grant first. And there has to be need based scholarship money for women Muslims (if you are one like your parents) and for children of immigrants.
Alda: Glad to hear you are in good spirits. It sounds strange, but I love getting new underwear. :P And thank you, you made a stressed out girl happy. I don't write much outside of journaling now-a-days. I've never done NaNoWriMo, except kind of for one year where I wrote a poem everyday for all of November. I write fanfiction every once in a while, but I have a love/hate relationship with my fanficiton.
Now...
So this past Friday was El Dia de San Juan Fiesta. It's a celebration for the start of the monsoon season. The procession is a tradition of the west side of town and I am from the east side of town so I had never heard of it. A friend of mine invited me to it and since I live and work just a couple of miles away from where they were having it this year, I decided to go.
As I waited to cross the street toward the familiar sound of mariachis, a man and little boy on stilts and bright rainbow pants waited with me. They handed me something that I assumed was gum. It wasn't until I found my friends that I found out that they were clown noses. They were a promotional item for the Ringling Bros. Circus that was coming to town and the best thing ever. We even got video taped for a promotional ad in New York! We just had to say "Me Gusta!" to the camera. It was super random.
Hope and I Clownin' Around :D
So Then the actual procession actually started. It was actually kind of pathetically set up, with overweight people in trucks carrying children that did not need to be carried that short distance, but I figure that it would have been more like a mini parade if it had happened in a barrio like it used to. I also felt humility for witnessing a tradition that is older than I am (generations older).
The procession ended with a Catholic prayer and a Tohono O'odham prayer, both for prosperity and rain. Then there was dancing and music, but Hope wanted to leave so we did, to some regret. I've always liked the Folklorico dancers and I had wanted to see them and the circus people perform.
I enjoyed myself at this festival. It had a great, friendly atmosphere unlike some festival where I just feel like an awkward outsider. It was full of traditions in my hometown that I will forever take for granted. The cultures where not the cultures of my family, but of the place I grew up. And as I stood there with my friends watching multiracial people in traditional costumes celebrating with mundanely clad spectators on a closed off street, the art deco downtown buildings in the near distance and my cynical friend making fun of everything with no distance at all, I couldn't help feeling that where I come from was just as important as my bloodline. I am one of these people, and it's freakin' weird, but I'm OK with that.
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