WEBVTT NOTE Created by CaptionSync from Automatic Sync Technologies www.automaticsync.com 00:00:00.176 --> 00:00:01.696 align:middle >> I have one thing on my dad. 00:00:01.696 --> 00:00:02.506 align:middle Would you like to hear that? 00:00:02.966 --> 00:00:04.056 align:middle Just a brief piece. 00:00:05.216 --> 00:00:12.066 align:middle Now this is a true irony because my father lived his life in Spanish, mostly. 00:00:12.066 --> 00:00:19.026 align:middle He was an American citizen but he lived because of the proximity to the border and he was born 00:00:19.026 --> 00:00:22.446 align:middle on the north [inaudible], as we have been for years. 00:00:22.496 --> 00:00:22.596 align:middle But -- 00:00:25.286 --> 00:00:26.676 align:middle -- Tomás is responsible for this. 00:00:26.676 --> 00:00:30.626 align:middle He was editing the second number of a review now called - 00:00:30.626 --> 00:00:34.056 align:middle The review is now called The Americans Review and it's 14, 15 years old. 00:00:34.466 --> 00:00:38.896 align:middle At that time, it was called La revista Chicanorriqueña and it was based at Bloomington 00:00:38.896 --> 00:00:44.616 align:middle and then at Gary, the Indiana University [inaudible] after it started at Bloomington. 00:00:44.946 --> 00:00:47.586 align:middle And Tomás needed two pages and it had to be in English. 00:00:47.646 --> 00:00:49.096 align:middle And at that time, I was writing [inaudible] Spanish. 00:00:49.096 --> 00:00:52.156 align:middle Tomás was a great salesman. 00:00:53.156 --> 00:00:56.506 align:middle I kept saying you know and he kept saying double space, 20 bond paper 00:00:56.506 --> 00:00:59.936 align:middle and electric typewriter, double space and I need it by Wednesday. 00:01:00.266 --> 00:01:01.796 align:middle And I kept saying no, no, no, no. 00:01:02.366 --> 00:01:03.716 align:middle Anyway, it's called E Pluribus Vitae. 00:01:03.796 --> 00:01:05.556 align:middle It means out of many lives. 00:01:05.826 --> 00:01:11.106 align:middle At what time, in his youth, in years before I was born, my father was an active revolutionary? 00:01:11.936 --> 00:01:17.276 align:middle He gave of himself, of his time and much of his own personally hard earned money 00:01:17.366 --> 00:01:21.376 align:middle to support the Mexican Revolution, as well as to support emigrates of all stations 00:01:21.646 --> 00:01:23.406 align:middle who found themselves in the United States. 00:01:24.236 --> 00:01:26.626 align:middle As I mentioned earlier, I didn't know him. 00:01:27.006 --> 00:01:29.686 align:middle In fact, I didn't know my father until I was four years old, 00:01:30.196 --> 00:01:31.446 align:middle when he finally came home to stay. 00:01:31.836 --> 00:01:35.446 align:middle Now, many years later, a third of a century since his death, 00:01:35.446 --> 00:01:39.296 align:middle I imagine that it must have been a frustrating trying condition for him to settle down 00:01:39.746 --> 00:01:42.016 align:middle or to stay put as an ordinary townsend. 00:01:42.576 --> 00:01:46.326 align:middle I do know now that although he owned our home and a few lots in and around Mercedes, 00:01:46.576 --> 00:01:49.716 align:middle his earnings and savings went out to other revolutionaries whom he'd considered 00:01:50.166 --> 00:01:50.846 align:middle less fortunate. 00:01:51.246 --> 00:01:55.566 align:middle Because of this and other acts, we accepted the fact that we had to do without some things. 00:01:55.636 --> 00:01:56.616 align:middle I forget now what they were. 00:01:57.236 --> 00:01:58.976 align:middle But surely they must have been important then. 00:01:59.806 --> 00:02:03.416 align:middle All of the preceding is but a bare mention of the many lives led by my father, 00:02:03.576 --> 00:02:09.166 align:middle Manuel Hinojosa, who in his 65 years also worked as a peon, as a Gandy dancer, 00:02:09.536 --> 00:02:13.826 align:middle as a shepherd in Wyoming, as a farmer in the Gulf Coastal [inaudible] and as a gambler. 00:02:14.666 --> 00:02:18.426 align:middle In another set of lives, he also owned a dairy farm and three dry cleaning shops. 00:02:19.156 --> 00:02:23.826 align:middle He must certainly have had other dealings of which I personally did not know about. 00:02:24.176 --> 00:02:28.546 align:middle This information, then, was gleaned for the most part subconsciously as I sat playing 00:02:28.546 --> 00:02:32.446 align:middle in the living room floor when people of all sorts would come to call on him and I learned 00:02:32.446 --> 00:02:34.646 align:middle of his many lives through others and never from him. 00:02:35.346 --> 00:02:37.556 align:middle I remember playing on our side porch one afternoon, 00:02:37.836 --> 00:02:40.236 align:middle when our car suddenly appeared as if by magic. 00:02:40.706 --> 00:02:44.376 align:middle I must have stood on the running board, there being no other way for me to see inside the car. 00:02:44.866 --> 00:02:48.106 align:middle And what I saw was a man who had borrowed my father's car 00:02:48.376 --> 00:02:49.956 align:middle to make a business trip or something. 00:02:50.346 --> 00:02:53.816 align:middle And as I stood there on the running board, I saw the man was bleeding. 00:02:55.126 --> 00:02:58.466 align:middle Again, as if by magic, people appeared and the man was taken inside our home 00:02:58.726 --> 00:03:00.226 align:middle and directly to my father's bedroom. 00:03:01.036 --> 00:03:03.776 align:middle The man recovered and lived with us during his convalecence. 00:03:03.886 --> 00:03:05.876 align:middle In gratitude, he gave me a calf. 00:03:06.956 --> 00:03:08.936 align:middle Later, the man had a falling-out with my father. 00:03:09.466 --> 00:03:12.826 align:middle My father never spoke harshly of the man, although the man's name would come 00:03:12.826 --> 00:03:14.646 align:middle up in conversation from time to time. 00:03:15.056 --> 00:03:18.536 align:middle A year before my father died, the man came out to our house 00:03:18.986 --> 00:03:21.836 align:middle and asked my oldest brother for permission to see my father. 00:03:22.586 --> 00:03:27.066 align:middle The man removed his hat, walked over to my father's bed and offered his hand. 00:03:27.356 --> 00:03:31.316 align:middle We were all standing there, watching a small solemn event in the life of the man. 00:03:31.316 --> 00:03:37.066 align:middle My father was also a policeman and in by virtue of this authority in a small valley town, 00:03:37.566 --> 00:03:41.076 align:middle he also served as advisor and counselor to whomever needed help and advice. 00:03:41.506 --> 00:03:45.466 align:middle He gave unstintingly of himself to others and although we didn't know it at the time, 00:03:46.096 --> 00:03:48.386 align:middle he was showing us still another one of his many lives. 00:03:49.306 --> 00:03:53.456 align:middle Through reflection and induction and by means of countless conversations among ourselves, 00:03:53.516 --> 00:03:57.846 align:middle the children, we also found out that all of his lives were made possible by our mother. 00:03:59.056 --> 00:04:00.376 align:middle Our mother didn't stand in his way. 00:04:00.376 --> 00:04:04.806 align:middle A strong, resolute woman, my mother inculcated the love and the respect for him, 00:04:04.806 --> 00:04:09.166 align:middle which are still very much a part of our own lives, her strength then went hand in hand 00:04:09.166 --> 00:04:10.506 align:middle with my father's manner of living. 00:04:11.246 --> 00:04:14.956 align:middle I too have lived many lives although by comparison, they pale and fade away. 00:04:15.586 --> 00:04:18.316 align:middle My lives and the idea of living several lives, however, 00:04:18.786 --> 00:04:21.696 align:middle were made possible in great part by his example. 00:04:22.216 --> 00:04:24.396 align:middle All of this came to mind at a party I attended years ago. 00:04:24.576 --> 00:04:25.916 align:middle And again, recently at another party. 00:04:26.486 --> 00:04:28.756 align:middle Everyone talked of what they had done at one time or another. 00:04:29.216 --> 00:04:31.236 align:middle I confess that I too fell into that trap. 00:04:32.246 --> 00:04:35.716 align:middle It was seldom that anyone there talked about was happening now and that, 00:04:35.716 --> 00:04:37.826 align:middle I discovered, again, was the main difference. 00:04:38.886 --> 00:04:41.566 align:middle My father always talked of what was happening now, what would happen in the future. 00:04:41.566 --> 00:04:43.116 align:middle I believe that I've maintained the same outlook as he did. 00:04:43.146 --> 00:04:45.516 align:middle Now, as look ahead to my life, I find that I had a happy childhood and for this I'm grateful, 00:04:45.546 --> 00:04:47.466 align:middle but more so for his love of life and for the many lives he left me. 00:04:47.496 --> 00:04:47.976 align:middle Thank you very much.