Upon arriving to this place we quickly made friends with the local winos, those that were in a constant battle with a sort of harsh past that for whatever reason can’t be overcome. Who am I to judge you if life has beat you, I’ll be your friend and I’ll lend an ear but I will not judge, such was the case with, “El Chiapas” he hung out in the glass shop next door and was always in the alley behind La Mina. When we first met El Chiapas he would complement the collective, he’d refer to us as “los musicos con las congas” or “the musicians with the congas” and he’d be quiet as he passed around the alley. We would be silk screening or working on art and we’d have the back door open and he’d always greet us with a smile. At a certain point he got comfortable enough to take our glass bottles. We had an unspoken bartering system where he’d take our trash bins and in return he would get what we would otherwise recycle. The brother had a past that he would tell to anyone that would listen, he promoted La Chamba to the City Terrace community, he had some sort of falling out with his father at an early age, he said, his dad beat him as a child and he ran away. El Chiapas had his circle of soccer loving friends and from what I’ve gathered up to this point, this is a Chivas community. He had a gentle smile and if he knew you were coming to La Mina during the day he would greet you as if you were an old friend, in a way we got to see the last cycle El Chiapas experienced, he became a friend of ours. He loved La Chamba, he’d always give us a thumbs up whenever he’d see us packing up the instruments for gigs and protests. I walked out to the store next door yesterday and saw a green collection box with the picture of a man that was well groomed that had recently passed away, as I was receiving my change I gave a double take. I didn’t recognize the well groomed man, but then I saw the picture of the deceased in a more present form. I looked closely and a sense of sadness came over me, it was El Chiapas. I asked the lady at the store, “Murio?” and in a very sullen tone she said, “Si, la semana pasada” I came back into La Mina and told Jayson, he thought about it for a good while and said, “I mean, it makes sense I haven’t seen him around in a while” but he couldn’t believe it I said, there’s a collection box and he went out to check for himself, and came back in disbelief and said, “yeah, that him”. I told Carlos and he did the same and came back in disbelief also. He would refer to us as “chavos” or “dudes” but now he has entered the spirit world, and as the saying goes, “he’s in a better place” we all have internal/personal drama that affects us in different ways and such was the case for El Chiapas, one of the first believers of LA MINA, one of the first members in the immediate community to open his arms to us, and although not perfect, we offered an ear and we talked, and we listened. I always thanked him for helping us out, I still remember the last words I told him before he went., “Gracias, eh” and so for what it’s worth from this world to the next, mi estimado Chiapas, los chavos de LA MINA le dicen una ultima vez, “Gracias, eh” vaya usted con Dios, que se lo mereze.
If you’d like to contribute
There is a collection box @
Linda’s Market on the corner of
City Terrace Dr and Hazard.
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