Same At It Ever Was #345

Wrapped the "Their Cell" Girl in a Coma video yesterday in Gonzales, Texas. Shot in the same jail famed Tejano Gregorio Cortez was once held. No commemoration of the historic event was on display -- not even a picture of Eddie Olmos -- but they did have a large gallows standing in the middle of the jail. Better, I'm guessing, to scare the Mexicans.

Will be posting more about the two day video shoot along with photos later this week. And, finally, at long last, blogging continues tomorrow when I'm back in L.A.  Man, 2 1/2 weeks away from Echo Park, Pinkberrys, and sipping coffee at my favorite Starbucks in the Lucy's Laundromat. Never thought I'd miss my exiled home so much but go figure. At first I thought my longing for L.A. could be traced to the 20 plus hours of unwatched TV shows I have waiting on my Tivo, but no, I truly miss Los Angeles. I'm sure 10 minutes stuck in traffic on Sunset when all I want to do is buy a new CD Amoeba will set me straight. And of course the pain in the ass of finding street parking awaits, not to mention the lack of breakfast tacos anywhere in the 213, plus no Dallas Cowboy football games on Sunday, and --

Now that I think about it, for the record: longing for L.A. officially over.

Anyway, I'm off to catch a plane. But I couldn't resist this posting today from Slate.com. Among my many obsessions (the Alamo, Robert Frank, and anything having to do with All My Children) I have an inordinate interest in ex-San Antonio mayor Henry Cisneros. Again, go figure. From today's post where Melinda Henneberger compares sizzlin' Hanks' fall from grace with the current troubles of John Edwards:

John Edwards is reminding me more and more of poor Henry Cisneros, who was on his way to becoming the Latino Obama before he cheated on his saintly wife, Mary Alice, while she was pregnant with their third child, a son born with no spleen and a malformed heart and stomach. Bill Clinton asked Cisneros to serve as his housing secretary anyway, a few years later, and by then, the affair was such old news that it never even came up during his confirmation hearings. Yet in the course of his background check for the cabinet post, Cisneros lied to the FBI - not about whether he was supporting his former mistress, but about the amount he paid her -- and as a result, was subjected to a four-year investigation by a special prosecutor, a probe that cost taxpayers $9 million. Heck of a public servant, Henry, so big-hearted and capable; watching him work a crowd in San Antonio back in the day, you'd have sworn you were looking at the future. But at some point after he stopped paying Linda Medlar, she started taping their phone calls, and triggered the investigation. When the judge who presided over his trial finally asked Cisneros why he'd lied in the first place, he explained that while he wasn't positive himself about the amount he'd paid Medlar, he was positive he didn't want his wife to know how high that figure was. He pled guilty to a misdemeanor, and when he left public life, we all lost out. So, what's the relevance?

Read the rest of the Slate piece to find out why. And for my own essay on sizzlin' Hank that I wrote about ten years ago (my second published piece, I think), go here.

Comments

[Beto]

I get irrationally angry when I think of Henry Cisneros.

As a child, I just KNEW this guy was destined for greatness. He was going to be OUR president! But then he BLEW IT! He broke so many hearts. I remember just feeling so sad when the news broke. (And for that dumpy white woman???) THEN lying about payments to this other woman to the FBI???

When I see him at a San Antonio fundraiser from across the room, I genuinely hope that he feels how much he let everyone down. Himself. His family. Every Mexican-American whose dreams he embodied. Shameful.

At least his spending his private life well. Giving Latinos fine programming as president of Univision and doling out sub-prime loans on homes destined for foreclosure.

[Cindy]

Here's the problem: Politicians are politicians. All of them, regardless of color. So are we being racist expecting a Mexican-American politician to be any better than a white one?

[Beto]

No, not racist. Just naive to hope that any one would be different...

Still am, I guess.