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: ...

My father, Robert Renaud, who's now 87, served in World War II for three years. Thank you, Maggie Rivas, Ph.D, for forcing Ken Burns to include men like my father. Now let's talk about ending The War once and for all. To do that, we have to remember the lessons. My father returned to San Perlita, Texas ready to fight anyone who crossed him. He believed himself a better man than those who did not go to la guerra. To this day, he remembers his first days in the Army, his buddies, his uniform, how to salute, and the bone-breaking explosion of cannon from his driver's seat in the tank. Daddy used to humiliate my mother because she was mexicana , and didn't speak good English like him. He thought we should bomb Vietnam into a democracy. He scoffed at Martin Luther King, Jr., as a man who "started trouble." World War II taught my father he belonged. He took on the views of the priviliged, even though he wasn't. But ay, how he wanted to be. Daddy beat...