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The good and the bad of San Antonio


The Good:

Margaritas with top-shelf tequila
Nachos bien greasy
The river that runs through the city
San Pedro Park
The Missions
Conjunto music, especially Eva Ybarra's accordion
Nopales with yellow florecitas
No te freak, toda twistiada, the language of Tex-Mex
La buena gente, people are kind. Even the mugger worried the other day how I was gonna take the bus after he had my money.

The Bad:
The Alamo -- the way the children are confused walking out of it. What lessons are we giving them? The Alamo. The souvenir shops across the street confound people after they hear how "sacred" the Alamo is. The guides at the Alamo tell us stories of battles and "brave men." One time a group of people told me "We kicked your butt."
The Alamo. And the thousands of ghosts that still roam there -- the men who died from both sides, and the Native Americans buried under the plaza that we walk on every day.
The Alamo. A symbol of war, of violence, of hate.
The Alamo: Sometimes, a symbol of nothing, because people just walk across it for its sheer beauty. To take a picture.

The Alamo. Let's talk about it.

Let's talk about it. Let's make the Alamo a good place to be.
Saturday, March 14, 3-5 pm, Luminaria Reading
Bihl Haus Arts
2803 Fredericksburg
San Antonio, 78201
www.bihlhuasarts.org

photo credit: Joan Frederick
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