Happy 4th Blogiversary to Latino Político

July 1st came and went and it wasn't until a few minutes ago that I realized, "OH crap! The site's anniversary!"

So I'm gonna take a cue from the GOP leadership of Arizona's State Senate and pretend that it's not really the 2nd of July if I ignore all the clocks and calendars.

Four years. Wow. I think about the ways blogging has changed and evolved in that time span and am excited for what is possible. I haven't posted nearly as frequently here as I did in the past, but my blogging/activism hasn't slowed down at all. In fact, it's probably increased. Twitter has everything to do with it. Facebook, too.

This site was always about getting more eyes on a worldview that connected with the reality I experience as someone with morenito skin con una identidad sin fronteras. Immigration has obviously been a big part of the radicalizing I've undergone the past several years. With anti-migrant hate remaining out there in strong potency, and racist blowhards aplenty who conflate "latino" and "illegal" with descriptors like diseased/criminal/drugged-out/drug-pushing/etc etc etc, keeping on that beat remains very personal.

The nature of my blogging and activism has changed, but the spirit that sparked my entrance to the web pueblo remains the same:

I started this site to get my voice down on "paper". I don't really care if I get five or 500 hits in a day. I'm doing this because I care about my country. I yearn for the days when we can again proudly live up to this inscription that can be found on the Statue of Liberty:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

July 1, 2005

In the near future, this place will have a new voice added to the mezcla. She's Xicana, una feminista, una amiga mía and more importantly, completely unknown to all the blogging crowds and circles I've known over the past several years. Knowing her in real life is never boring so this should be quite the paranda. ¡Cuidado! haters. Lou will whup your ass.