Boot Prints in the Sand of Time

Boot Prints in the Sand of Time

by F. G. Lopriato y Lopez

For better or worst, New Mexico's past in firmly rooted in the Italian boot. The deeper one digs into the hard Caliche clay of The Land of Enchantment, the more evidant that indesputible fact becomes...

One has but to scan the pages of history of the Queen Mother City of the state, Albuquerque, to see that the pllars of her community are names such as: Domenici, Mattuecci, Franchini, Schifani, Brunachini, Bonaguidi, Dinelli, Giomi, Del Frati,

lecioni,Pucetti, etc and more Italian family names than we can list here, but the Rozzi's and De Blassis will remember.

Twice in its history Albuquerque has proudly numbered foreign born Italian immigrants as most prevalent in its census. Italians have been second only to Mexican foreign born immigrants in the city.

Why is it that first generation Italians faired so well in New Mexico? All kinds of conjectures have been handled every time that question is asked. From, "because everyone here is an immigrant in their own right" to " the Spanish culture, language, religion and temperament are similar." Youwould be closer to the truth if you choose the latter. The former has no basis in fact or in practice, but that is only part of the story.

First generation Italians didn't come here to colonize and exploit New Mexican society wit the intention of taking everything of value that was not nailed down and returning to their own home ground. No! They came here to be part of the society. To help it grow and to evolve together, improving as the society improved.

Oh Yes! There were many who came to line their own pockets. Some did just that and went back home, but most remained and became the best citizens in their town, county and state. Their children and grandchildren are now achieving national and international fame, Napolaone and Domenici for instance. By not resisting assimillation, Italian immigrants to New Mexico were able to slide into the vacuum created the the change in the state culture of New Mexico. Acting as a bridge bewteen a society that was undergoing transition from an agricultural society to an industrial society to a business society and from a Spanish speaking society to an English speaking society, from one system of education to another, and from one set of state values to another.

Was it Chance? The Will of God? Fate? Destiny? Or the experience of an older way of life that had already overcome similar conditions in the Old World? We'll never know, but one thing for certain is that Italian immigrant to New Mexico, even before the 1880's, rose higher and faster than Italians immigrants who chose Eastern states in which to settle. Italian immigrants to New Mexico may have been aware, but were not personally affected by Anti-Immigrant sentiments of the Nationalists Movement elsewhere that forced many Italians into isolation in "Little Italy's" seeking the aid of criminal organizations that expolited their own people.

You be the judge as we present the story of The Real Architects of New Mexico, in what promises to be last and longest series that the Wopajo Cry has ever undertaken.

The first Europeans, to set foot in what is now the Great American Southwest, were three survivors of the ill-fated Spanish expedition of what is now the State of Florida. What had begun as a sizeable force made up of several nationalities had been rebuffeted by the defending Indians of the peninsula, malaria and hunger which thinned their ranks. After killing their horse and eating the meat, they used the horse hides to fashion boats hoping to escape to Mexico via the Gulf, but the skins had not been allowed to cure enough and the boats sank in mid-sea. Three Spaniards and a black Moorish slave survived. (to be continued.)

UNA PALOMA BLANCA

UNA PALOMA BLANCA

by: f. g. loprlato y lopez

The prospects for quickly climbing out of the economic crisis in which we find ourselves are not very promising, but we can and we will do it. All we need is leadership that understands New Mexico and New Mexicans... Diane Denish, slated to be our first woman governer, and first to choose her own second in command, is off to an excellent start, by surrounding herself with people who do not think that New Mexico is a newly conquered foreign country and do not act as if they are an occupying force. History, indeed repeats itself. Scholars of authentic New Mexico's past will hate the similarities between the state's populace today and the populace of our state in the 1900's in relation to today's incur­sions from other states and the role played by the Ital­ian community in forming a bridge between the American and the New Mexican cultures, and the New New Mexicans, such as, soon to be, Governor Denish, and her expressed desire to have more of the same in dignified positions of trust, and respect in state government The Land Of Enchantment's beautiful sand ­dunes are now covered over with a thick growth of imported Political Climbing Ivy that has been too long neurished with the bovine droppings from Texas, and (now) other states, whether it fits or not. It is about time that a New Mexican Woman restore New Mexico's true decor. Do you, dear reader, know that, in the Navajo culture a girl could not get married until she had demonstrated to the women of the tribe, her abilities to make use of every part of a sheep, seasoned with everything that can be found in the desert within walking distance of her hogan ? (including the wood used for cooking.) That chapter in the history of our state, apparently, capitulated to the modernization of education. Think of that next time you see a young Navajo girl approach a sheep, as if she has never seen one before and is afraid te do so. I have. Just as I have seen modern Navajo girls go to special schools to learn the art of weaving, intrigued with the knowledge of where the yarn that they are using came from and the processes that the yarn underwent to get to that point and it isn't even a rug with the traditional designs yet. Of course the world is not going to end because a few Navajo girls have left the way of the Dine. Those same girls can and will teach you some tricks you can use in the use of computers, nursing, business, and a host of other things. This is only to illustrate that knowledge is accumulative. Education places you in the present, knowledge is awareness what you are because of your heritage. When you approach "book learning" you bring all you are; your entire potential, not just what you would like to be or what you think you are but the potential to become whatever it is that you are going to attempt to be. Your culture and heritage mold your potential, and awareness of this is knowledge. To leave your past behind and forget about it is to disown part of yourself. If you then attempt to live a complete life as an incomplete human being is possible but not very likely, certainly a lot more difficult. You can't easily do it as an individual, and neither can New Mexico do it without involving all that New Mexice has been and is at this present time in history. In other words, it is up to us to mold the New Mexico of the future... Is it going to remain stunted by handicaps because outside influences devaluing your worth to appear indispensable. The Navajos are not the only New Mexicans who have played a significant part in the making of this state. Other tribes and other Pueblos have helped as have the Spanish, the Mexicans, and the Anglos, not to mention Jews, Arabs, Orientals, Blacks, Greeks, Italians, and more. It is only lately that I have need to inform the younger set, as well as new comers, and to remind people... such as Fernando C De Vaca, former County Chairman of the GOP, that if it had been left to anyone of these single groups, New Mexice would not have progressed AND regressed as dynamically as it has the Civil War era. No ethnic group, anywhere, is completely free of it's trouble makers and muck rakers, and you can be sure that because of these few misfits, an entire group can and have been condemned, because igno­rance thrives in an atmosphere of suspicion. The mind is the most wonderful thing in creation. It controls everything, your breathing, temperature, voluntary and involuntary systems and all that is you. From your first heart-beat to your last sigh. But as wonderful as it is, the mind is, it's subconscious part is incapable of reasoning, discerning and judgment. Further more, it is amenable to suggestion, and always accepts the dominant of two suggestions. Suggestion 1 subconsciously accepted authority figure suggests that a person, place, thing condition or state exists. It becomes real, whether it really exists or not. We've all seen hypnotized people, and see fanaticism of every type in our daily lives. All these methods will be discussed in future editions of The Wopajo, stay tuned.

ASI ES NUEVO MEJICO, LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!