"It's us, man. We're near the bottom of the pile. Who do we blame? I blame our elected officials and our Rednecks..." - Melvin Ybarra, ResidentBy DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files
HARLINGEN, Texas - As he tells it, a high-throated wino approached writer Junior Bonner at a local bar and not only asked for a dollar, but he also asked that somebody drive an obituary he had written over to the offices of the newspaper.
"That's it for me," Bonner said the man said. "May as well call it a life. Ain't crap happenin' around here anyway. Tell them to use the black & white photo attached to the obit. It was taken in 1967 and I'm smilin' in the damned thing."
People die here, of course.
They get old and they get left behind, then discarded, then buried. A write-up in the Valley Morning Star is their last stab at wanting others to see them one last time. It's part of the journey, but, here, in the Land of Unfulfilled Dreams, an obituary is the best they can do for paying homage to a life. The newspaper carries them dutifully.
Bonner is on a story to expose the most depressing town in the Rio Grande Valley, and my vote goes to this one: Harlingen, Texas. If it had no high school football, the town of almost 70,000 love-starved denizens would be just another ugly weed patch on the road from all-dressed-up McAllen to vulgar Brownsville. That's the story here, an entire town waiting on its obituary.
So, what is it about Harlingen that drives residents of its many neighboring towns nuts? Is it the history of brazen racism? Is it the low-rent politics? Is it the annoying Winter Texans who flock here more than anywhere else in the tropical Valley? Is it the lack of "Big City Things," such as primo car washes or reliable dry cleaners or even half-assed minor league baseball?
What is it?
Something's in the air. You can cut it with a gangbanger's knife, is what our writer Ron Mexico says, perhaps too often. He was the victim of a mugging last year, when local thugs stole into a popular gym and made-off with Ron's clothes, leaving him a pink leotard-like outfit that can be seen in one of our sidebars on the left side of this page.
Is Mayor Chris Boswell boring? Does he contribute to the local ennui? Is it City Commissioner Jerry Prepejchal? Is it City Manager Carlos Yerena? Is it the multitude of insipid bloggers who are good at lobbing crap at others, but never step up to help this city move forward? Is it the location? Would Harlingen be better-off in Indiana? What is it? What's the problem?
What makes Harlingen the whipping boy of area mayors and cops? Why Harlingen? It has just as many goof-offs as pretentious Brownsville, doesn't it? You can see them there, sitting forlornly in local bars, toothing free toothpicks and waiting for the free botana of queso & chips. They all look like notorious blogger Juan J. Ortega, looking almost like walking tributes to the tamale, shorn of any ambition, of any idea that they could spring forth and offer the spectacular. It is a town begging to be invaded and brought to its freakin' knees.
Maybe Rio Hondo will go for it...
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10 comments:
That's my Harlingen! Boring and dead. Nothing going on. no jobs. no nothing. no future. I'm moving to San Benito!
Nice article. Needs to be said. cause no one here wants to say it. Thankz.
Harlingen is dead in the water. going nowhere. it's just full of negative people!
they are now blogging in Hasrlingen about that anexation mess-up. As if it's a big deal! Harlinge needs to think bigger, to overcome these small little fights. This is one way to keep feeding the litle people a line. And they have swallowed it. poor town.
FROM HARLINGEN:...I can't help but recall that dusty town in West Texas that went crazy when a contractor messed-up the town's name on the water tower. You would have thought that the world was ending. It's the same for this annexation scuffle in Harlingen. Elected officials must be laughing at seeing the little ants scurry from blog post to blog post. No wonder RGV politicians give the voters no sway. Lift yourself out of the cesspool, Harlingen. Dare to be great!... - Editor
You're right, mr. editor. People here let things just happen. Whatever the politicians say. That's the problem
Guess what? Now according to the U.S. Government I'm white, I am no longer "Other."
http://news.yahoo.com/census-hispanics-fuel-us-white-population-growth-173449405.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a twist to notions of race identity, new 2010 census figures show an unexpected reason behind a renewed growth in the U.S. white population: more Hispanics listing themselves as white in the once-a-decade government count.
The shift is due to recent census changes that emphasize "Hispanic" as an ethnicity, not a race. While the U.S. government first made this distinction in 1980, many Latinos continued to use the "some other race" box to establish a Hispanic identity. In a switch, the 2010 census forms specifically instructed Latinos that Hispanic origins are not races and to select a recognized category such as white or black.
Paz-Martinez, Jr. Bonner, was probably bumming drinks from the homeless. I have seen a short than short woman buying breakfast for him. He is the clone of Mr. Tamalero, Juan Jose.
He was problably writing Jr.s own orbituary.
Aside from exposing Jr. Let me say this.
The reason bloggers are writing negative things about Harlingen. "It is because there is nothing to do." See, very simple.
Well, you can booze it up and forget, but tomorrow it is the same old, same old.
According to Chris "Ostrich" Boswell, he no longer wants to be conservative? That made his group of the "old guard" stand and raised their fists! REmember, only in Harlingen do we let only special businesses in such as Bass Pro and then give money to a private entity such as the Reese building. City Hall is the worse enemy to any business coming into Harlingen with all its "silliest" rules and regulations. Why do you think Harlingen has a Big Lots in the mall? Why do you think Harlingen is the Capital Dollar Store of the Valley? Don't worry though, we will prevail! When we grow up we will be expanding out toward the ???? Oh shit, which way do we go? Everybody else is crowding around Harlingen! Oh well!
Harlingen needs to shut down and start over. It should advertise for newcomers. The City residents are all tainted by the lack of initiative. It is a town so down that only UP remains.
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