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By Atención Staff (May 5, 2006) In Mexico, Mothers Day, May 10, is celebrated with great fervor at restaurants and with mariachi serenades. What a great tradition-agreed?-take mom out and serenade her. A mother is her child's first love and the first teacher of love. Mothers are omnipresent and heroic-and the ones we often blame for our problems. Regardless of your personal experience with mothers, try to deny this: The mother-child relationship is a powerful one. Here are some cultural touchstones to prompt your own Mother's Day thoughts. We wish all mothers and their children a very happy Mother's Day. Popular Tattoo -The word "Mother" contained within a heart. Popular Answer to the Question "Why?" Frequently Posed by Children -"Because I'm your mother." Novels and Movies About Mothers -One True Thing, by Anna Quindlen. A novel in which a stay-at-home mother has cancer, and her family comes to learn of her strength and purity of love. Also a movie starring Meryl Streep. -Mommie Dearest, by Christina Crawford. The daughter of screen legend Joan Crawford wrote this tell-all about one creepy mom, memorably played in the movie by Faye Dunaway. -Passing On, by Penelope Lively. The mother in this novel continues to influence her children from the grave, such was her impact on their psyches. -The Good Mother, by Sue Miller. What if an accident happened that put you in a bad light, and you had to prove you were a good mother? The novel was made into a film starring Diane Keaton and Liam Neeson. -The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tam. This story is of the difficult relationships between four Chinese mothers and their Chinese-American daughters. It was made into a terrific movie. -Mask. In this movie, Cher plays a motorcycle mama who is a magnificent mother to her disfigured son. -I Remember Mama. This film from the 1940s is a portrait of a mother made up of fond recollections by a child, starring Irene Dunne. -The Mother. This recent movie got great reviews in its depiction of an "older woman" in a sexual relationship with a much younger man. -Throw Mama from the Train. Danny DeVito directed and starred in this comedy, in which he plays both the son and his mother. Only one problem: the insufferable woman just won't die…. -Psycho. Classic Hitchcock horror film in which Anthony Perkins, as deranged hotelier Norman Bates, plays both the son and his mother. Only one problem: she did die…. -Gypsy. Who could forget the ambitious stage mother of Gypsy Rose Lee in this musical? Everything would be coming up roses-if only this time, boys, she was taking the bows. -Steel Magnolias. Sally Field as the stoic mother of Julia Roberts, who dies as a result of the strain of childbirth on her weakened system. -Aliens. There's nothing quite like that big, bad mother alien battling Sigourney Weaver. -Carrie. Sissy Spacek's character has the mother from hell, dementedly played by Piper Laurie. Picture Books About Mothers -Are You My Mother? P.D. Eastman's classic learn-to-read story and basic formula for most Mexican soap operas-How is it that the heroines of these shows never know who their mothers are? -The Runaway Bunny. In this sweet book by Margaret Wise Brown, with art by Clement Hurd, wherever the bunny runs, his mother will find him. -Mama, Do You Love Me? by Barbara Joosse, with art by Barbara Lavallee. The arctic setting and Inuit people help express the universality of the mother-child experience. Nursery Rhymes -Mother Goose. She's the mother of all nursery rhymes. -Old Mother Hubbard. This is the one about a dog and no food. The kids obviously didn't visit much. -There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children she didn't know what to do. SL: They never say how she got so many children. VG: Shoe salesman. JE: Traveling shoe salesman. TV Moms -June Cleaver, the prototypical American mother. Wife of Ward, she had her hands full with her boys, Wally and the irascible Beaver. -Lois, the mother in the Malcolm in the Middle sitcom. Lois screeches, intimidates, bullies, blackmails and harasses her five sons into adulthood. Ideal viewing for mothers of children older than 10 who want extra creative input in their child-rearing techniques, but not for the faint-hearted. -Marie Ines of the Mexican soap opera Mirada de Mujer (A Woman's Glance). This soapie captivated audiences around the world with its ground-breaking portrayal of a Mexican woman in her 50s who faces divorce, family crisis with her children and social pressure and also embarks upon an affair with a man 17 years her junior. -Lorelai Gilmore, of The Gilmore Girls. She was a daring, young, single mother who had to grow up. Both mother and daughter are doing fine. Historical Mothers -Olympia was a very beautiful woman. She was, however, ruthless and vindictive with an obsessive love for her son, Alexander the Great. Big Mamas and Famous Singers -"Mama Cass" (Cass Elliot, born Ellen Naomi Cohen), of the Mamas and the Papas, famous for many popular hits, including "Dream a Little Dream of Me." Despite legends to the contrary, she did not die by choking on a sandwich or a pork chop, but from heart failure. -Humpback whales are devoted and large mothers; they sing as they care for their young calves. -The Beatles performing "Lady Madonna…children at your feet, wonder how you manage to make ends meet." Say "Mother" in Spanish, madre in Dutch, moeder in German, mutter in Greek, meterra in Hindi, maji Proverbs -Mother is the bank where we deposit all our hurts and worries. Anonymous -When it comes to love, Mom's the word. Anonymous -God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers. Jewish proverb Plants -Mother-in-law's tongue (Sanseveria). Also called the snake plant, this popular houseplant with sword-shaped leaves is a favorite of those without green thumbs. -Malamadre. This is the Spanish word for spider plant, because she pushes her children out of the home (botanically bad mothering). Animals -Kangaroos. The largest of the marsupials, these resourceful mothers come with their own baby pouches. -Seahorses. Let the males give birth. -Suriname toad. There's womb in the back. -Rabbits. Rabidly fertile. -Birds. The picture of doting motherhood. Editor's note: How do mother birds know exactly when to push their babies from the nest so that they will fly? And will I know when it's time for my kids? Paintings -Whistler's Mother, by Whistler -Mary Cassatt's loving mothers with their babies. -One of the most popular subjects of all time: the Virgin Mary and Infant Jesus. Great Political Mothers -The mothers of Juárez-Ni Una Más (Not One More)-after 10 years of lobbying to resolve the hundreds of murders of young women in the border town of Ciudad Juarez, these women have faced harassment and silence from authorities yet continue into struggle for justice. -Aung San Suu Kyi, the woman who should be leading Burma but is under house arrest. -Mother Jones, the woman who inspired the magazine of the same name, was also known as Mary Harris Jones. She was a union activist in the 1920s. She is also known as "the grandmother of all agitators." Activist Moms -Erin Brockovich: with big hair, high heels and an indelible fashion style. She (with help from Julia Roberts) reminded us that Moms can be smart, sexy and have a social conscience. -Susan Sarandon: the film star known almost as much for her leftist political views as for her acting. -Cindy Sheehan: This mom became a prominent American anti-Iraq War activist after the death of her son, Casey, who was serving in Iraq. She attracted international attention in August 2005 for her extended demonstration at a peace camp outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch. Traditions -Australian aboriginal boys are kidnapped from their mothers to be taken to male initiations. The mothers desperately try to save the boys from the men, begging and holding onto them, so the boys feel they are being forced to leave their childhood. -After boys pass through the male initiation tests in one Native American Indian tribe, they are forbidden from speaking to their mothers for an entire year so that the old mother-son relationship is broken. Fondly Remembered Mothers -Lady Di -Mother Teresa -Our own mothers Fairy Tale Mothers -In fairy tales stepmothers are always wicked. Not really fair to the kind and devoted stepmothers we know modeling themselves on the role of the favorite aunt. -In the boys-to-men myth Iron John, the key to each boy's manhood lies under his mother's pillow. A boy must steal this key to break out of boyhood. -Check out Clarissa Pinkola Estes's book Women Who Run with the Wolves to learn the real gifts from fairytale mothers. Mytical Mothers -Demeter. This goddess of agriculture gets a bad rap for letting her daughter go down to the underworld. But what mother can do more than let her daughter face the consequences of her actions, and then …? -Medusa. She is historically seen as the archetype of the "nasty mother," but she is far more complex, as all mothers are. Medusa frequently appears as a vision among students of Greek mythology when their mothers are angry. -A she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Ancient Rome. -Achille's mother protected her son by dipping him into the River Styx-everything but that heel, that is. -La Virgen de Guadalupe: She is the mother of Las Americas. Mother Earth In ancient Greece, she was Gaea; in Africa among the Ashanti she is Asase Yaa. She is Banba in Celtic, and the Aztecs knew her as Malinalxochitl. in English, we say Mother Earth. All earth mothers remind us to tread lightly and that our grandchildren inherit the earth. Immigration and economics: Lost opportunities and future challenges By John Barham Before 1823, the Mexican and Anglo populations in Texas totaled less than 3,000. Other inhabitants consisted of various Native-American groups, such as the Comanche. However, it was clear that this great expanse of land that was ruled by Mexico would eventually attract Anglo-Saxons lured by the opportunity to own sizable plots of tillable soil and to leave behind debts that had been accumulated in the United States. Negotiating with the Mexican Republic, Stephen F. Austin secured land grants and the authorization to populate them with settlers from the US who were willing to become citizens of Mexico and to convert to Roman Catholicism. Most of the religious conversions and citizenship changes were, of course, token in nature. Mexico was hoping that settlements fostered by Austin and other land impresarios would serve as a barrier to the expansive nature of the US, and by the early 1830s some 20,000 Anglos had been drawn to Texas from the southern portion of the United States, along with slaves who had been imported to support the production of cotton. Mexico's expectation that such settlements would serve as a barrier to Yankee encroachment proved false. Instead, Mexico had unwittingly planted the seeds that would ultimately give birth to the Republic of Texas and the annexation of Texas by the US in 1845. The key word to ponder in considering the history of the transition of Texas from Mexican territory to the 28th state of the US is "opportunity." Those who entered Texas and finally wrested it from Mexico were immigrants who were enticed by the possibility of bettering their economic lot, and this is something that should be recalled with regard to the present immigration debate that concerns the populations of the US and Mexico. In a compelling article in the Pioneer Press, Edward Lotterman points out that the border between Mexico and the US is by no means the only place in the world that is experiencing a heavy flow of undocumented workers. As the immigration debate in Washington continues, Africans are attempting in large numbers to enter the Canary Islands, while Bolivians are seeking illegal jobs in Argentina. Weekly, large numbers of North Africans brave untold dangers to enter the underground economy in Spain. At the same time as thousands of Mexicans struggle to enter the US, Mexican authorities are attempting to bar the entry of thousands of Guatemalans and Salvadorans, who see Mexico as a means of increasing income and of bettering their standards of living. Rigidly controlled borders may hinder migrating populations, but, in the final analysis, extremes in income and economic opportunities between cross-border societies will inevitably compel individuals to risk life and limb to cross to the side of more abundance. When he was elected president of Mexico in July of 2000, Vicente Fox promised that he would work toward a satisfactory agreement with the US that would permit more Mexicans to obtain legal employment north of the border. Six years later, there has been no progress in that quarter, and many of the hopes for economic progress in Mexico have been dashed by the removal of jobs to China and the Pacific Rim countries and, concomitantly, by the Bush administration's acute case of Middle East tunnel-vision. In Mexico, the issue is seen not as an issue of immigration, but, rather, one of jobs. All three of the major candidates for the presidency in this year's election are emphasizing employment. Andrés Manuel López Obrador's campaign is strongly calling for a greater government presence in the economy. Lately, AMLO's speeches have promoted the idea of public works projects that would improve housing, transportation and the environment. Some have likened his proposals to a Mexican-style New Deal. Stressing free-market economics, Felipe Calderón has stated that Mexico's future depends on improving education and attracting technologically oriented industries to areas of the country that have traditionally seen large numbers of workers moving to the US. In contrast to López Obrador, Calderón sees globalization as a 21st-century fact of life, which makes it imperative for Mexicans to be able to compete on the international stage. Roberto Madrazo, the PRI candidate, has staked out tourism as his vehicle for economic growth, promising that his presidency would concentrate on vigorous efforts to establish thriving tourist industries in rural areas lacking prospects for economic growth. In considering the imbalance that has characterized Washington's recent treatment of Latin America, Andres Oppenheimer, in the Miami Herald, makes the point that, while Hugo Chávez of Venezuela is promising almost 4 billion dollars annually to Latin America, the Bush administration's proposed 2007 budget for development in the region proposes a cut of more than 25percent from this year's approximately 1.2 billion dollars in aid. The recommended budget will certainly do little to enhance the image of the US in Latin America. As justification, the Bush administration has expressed its conviction that economic progress in Latin America will be determined by the ability to compete internationally. If President Bush is indeed serious about encouraging Latin Americans to develop economic engines geared toward the global marketplace, Mexico would be the logical place to begin. And, if there is truly an immigration crisis, what better way to stem the flow of immigration than to actively work with Mexico toward creating viable enterprises to stop the hemorrhaging of jobs from the maquiladoras to Asia? The US Federal Reserve has reported that, in the decade after the approval of NAFTA, the US increased its exports to Mexico by 54 percent, and that 46 states benefited from this growth in trade. This in itself should be more than ample incentive to spur the administration to seek ways and means of jump-starting mutually beneficial undertakings that would increase employment in Mexico. Now is the time for innovation and creativity, qualities that Washington has been short on during last six years. Nevertheless, it is hoped that the Bush administration, in its remaining days, will recognize that the best interests of the US lie in rising to the challenges that face this hemisphere and to capitalize on what good will there remains in Latin America. John Barham, who has been visiting San Miguel de Allende for more than 18 years, has had a career in higher education as an administrator and instructor in Missouri, Alabama, Texas, New York and Saudi Arabia. |