PEARS (pear cactus)

PAIRS

Just when I thought I could go back to posting photos, boxes, etc.

I saw this:

"Latinos now make up the majority of people in federal prisons, mostly because of nonviolent immigration offenses. That means that not only has the Obama administration deported more Latinos than any previous president, it's also incarcerated more Latinos than ever before."

And I get it, big time.

 MYTH 1: Most of the people the Obama administration is deporting are criminals.

QUOTE: “Today more than half of all removals are people with criminal records.” Cecilia Muñoz – director of intergovernmental affairs at the White House ¹

FACT: According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) own numbers, 79% of deportees under Secure Communities (S-Comm) had no criminal records or had been picked up for low-level offenses such as traffic violations. This means thousands of innocent people have been picked up and deported.2

1. "In the Debate Over Immigration and Deportations, the Facts Matter," The White House Blog, 8/16/11
http://1.usa.gov/r7vFpm

2. "Documents Show ICE Misled California Officials about Secure Communities," America's Voice Online, 4/18/11
http://bit.ly/nxPNdH

 

                      

To eat with my eyes / Comer con mis ojos

 

 

Avalanche in September

Aside from spending a marvelous untold number of hours (around 12) outside my apt. and away from my computer screen the day before yesterday … I inadvertently got to speak with 2 lawyers. 

One, a friend of a friend who had come to town to visit (David, who had called me after seeing my first post about this fiasco and offered me his van in case I had to move) – so David & Jose, the lawyer, entered the restaurant where I was having lunch with 2 friends (Brian and Henry) who’d come down from the mountains (see earlier posts & pictures of gorgeous pueblos in the Alpujarras) to find out what was going on with me and my fiasco and to run some errands … After eating, I moved to the other room to speak with Jose, who very kindly read my dossier and made suggestions to tighten it up & make it more legally viable.

Then I ran down to the center of Granada to do some errands ... at long last, a day of NOT going from one gov't office to another ... and was just about to go home when I realized I'd just about missed my chiropractor appt., so I called & was told to come.

The second lawyer, mostly unemployed as a lawyer due to the crisis (OH, how I HATE that word!) – now works for her client, my chiropractor, Mike, as a receptionist. Her name is Nieves (which means “snow” in English). She is absolutely petite – tiny, even – and since I was a little late for my appt. I claimed my discussion with lawyer #1 (Jose) as my excuse. She asked me what he told me and I recounted what he’d said but told her that I still wasn’t sure if this “recurso de alzada” that is apparently my recourse (as stated in that dreaded registered letter) was some kind of form that I needed to fill out in addition to my letter.  

She explained it to me, questioned me about what lawyer #1 said regarding it, and then grabbed the entire dossier out from my hands and said, very happily in fact, “When you come for your Monday appt. I’ll have this all in order for you the way it should be presented, and in fact you have more time than you thought since they count work-days, not weekends,” and I looked at her and said “you’re an angel. A tiny angel," and she told me the Spanish version of the saying that ‘good things come in small packages’ and smiled. I told her she should charge me, and she indignantly pushed my hands away (I was about to take back my dossier) and said “No” and gave me one of those “no way” looks. 

Today’s a bank holiday here – everything’s closed except restaurants & bars -- we’re celebrating the local saint, Our Lady of Angustias – (Our Lady of Anguish) (Brian pointed out, while laughing that of course he’d never heard of an Our Lady of Pleasure …) and I intend to spend the day relaxing – attending to paid work, cleaning my apt., (yes I find this relaxing! & haven't done it since this fiasco began) maybe some writing, some box-making, and definitely some lying around & reading or maybe even watching a film …

I am fairly certain I can buy at least 3 months, and after that, if I submit another legal paper, I could buy a year ... and after that, with another legal paper, another year …  

though what I want is to be reinstated as a legal resident with a work permit, and to continue with my projects – I’m so close to realizing a dream of mine since around 7 years ago – to ask for a show of my assemblage boxes at a government-sponsored gallery space that is large and light-filled – and right in my neighborhood.