This has been a tough year. I’ve already been to four funerals thus far and I’m still in August. Three of the four were expected. The most recent, however, was a surprise. I walked into the gym where I’ve worked out five days a week…
Jimmy Gabacho
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Gabacho– according to the Dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy– is derived from an old Provençal word “gavach,” meaning a person from the foothills of the Pyrenees who spoke incorrectly. These days, it means “outsider,” somebody who just doesn’t fit in.
Although the Cubs had taken the Division Title in 2003 and their pitching staff had an average age of 26, there were signs of a greater fall on the horizon: it was the beginning of the End of the Era of the Giants of Baseball…
My road to Damascus, my conversion from Saul-to-Paul didn’t come with a flash of light: it came in bits and pieces over two years, and it would take the 2003 and 2004 to bring me to my greater understanding. I hadn’t been paying much attention…
After the demise of ’84, one would assume that fans would wise up, get a grip, and begin to understand the Cubs’ place in the Great Order of Things. However, hope springs eternal and there is no vaccination for stupidity. I was soon back in…
And, then there was 1984. It gave me hope, but it was false hope and it would be years later when I would find my way. ’84 was a special season for Cub fans because it marked the end of a very long playoff drought….
However, I have come to see things differently. Losing has always been in the card because divine forces have been acting on the field and behind the scenes telling us to repent, accept defeat, before it was too late. The 2003 season was foretold to…
Although one could argue that losing this year is all part of Theo Epstein’s big divine plan, 2012 for all we know could just be one more year. If there were any value in Epstein’s theory –that is, if losing was necessary to build good…
Hello, Sports Fans, we’re at the All Star Break and I am here with the National League standings at the half. The Chicago Cubs are a half a game out of first! No, I’m not dreaming or demented. They are in first place for next…
After a week of being missing in action in Mexico, Gabacho returns with his final installment of his “Fishing with Grandpa Joe.” He took advantage of the week off to scribble a ton of notes on his favorite topics: relationships, good books, food, and other…
Hi, Folks, Some of your will recall the long series I posted awhile back about a young woman that was brought to the United States by her parents from Mexico. I am writing about, of course, Angie Sánchez. She was my student several years ago…
We got up early on the day of the fishing trip. Grandma was making sandwiches for us, and the neon light in the kitchen woke us up. Spam was the order of the day. It was one of Grandpa’s favorites. For him, the only thing…
Editor’s Note: This post first appeared March 16, 2011.
This post may be a little out of character, but there are things here that need to be said. It is regarding one of these projects I work on in my other life as a blunted academic, teaching an endless line of adolescents who think mommy and daddy will foot the bill forever. The rude awakening is coming. No wonder they call it “Commencement.” In any case, about four years ago, I met Dr. Carlos Azcoitia, the principal of a neighborhood school in Chicago. I was impressed by the guy. In 2003, he put his money where his mouth was and resigned from his position as Chicago Public School system’s Deputy Chief of Education to launch a new pre-K through high school program at John Spry Community Links Academy. This was the first time in memory that a member of Chicago’s Board of Education stepped down to take a position as a principal of a small school on Marshall Avenue in the Little Village section of the city.
There are many events that mark one’s passage from childhood to adulthood. African tribes, deep in the heart of uncharted regions of the Congo, send their young men into the wilderness. Jewish males have Bar-Mitzvahs and their community recognizes them as adults, fully able to…