Borderzine (https://borderzine.com/author/camayak_11/)
Olivia is majoring in Multimedia Journalism at UTEP.
We can’t change our past but we can start to change our future. We can work to change how future generations perceive others and make them aware of the stereotypes that come with being a certain gender, race or religion.
EL PASO — Wearing blue jeans, a thick black apron and a white t-shirt labeled “Be Independent” on the back, a young man opens the door to greet guests and help them with the menu. From their hip and modern styling on the inside, to their lavish patio featuring an outdoor ping pong table, Independent Burger is original from head to toe. Octavio Gomez, is a co-owner of Independent Burger, along with many other local businesses such as Crave, The Mix, 1914 and The Garden. With a strong head on his shoulders and great ideas for El Paso’s growth, Gomez is planning on opening three new businesses inside an apartment complex called the Venue at Montecillo on June 2. The West side businesses will include a fine dining steakhouse named Stonewood, a beer and coffee shop called Hillside and a cantina taqueria named Malolam, which will have a more relaxed, party scene.
EL PASO— With thick, painted-on eyebrows, ribbons entangled in braided hair with brightly colored roses at the crown of their heads, the women came dressed in their best Frida Kahlo outfits to make a strong statement about powerful Mexican women on Mother’s Day. An “Evening of Frida Kahlo” took place Friday May 9th at Café Mayapán located at 2000 Texas Avenue, with games, raffles, a film, food, and fun. The group hosting the event was La Mujer Obrera, a local group of women factory workers that was formed in 1981 by displaced garment workers. “We wanted something to celebrate women, something to celebrate mothers,” said Cemelli De Aztlán, one of the evening’s hosts. Frida Kahlo de Rivera was born July 6, 1907 in the Coyoacan neighborhood of Mexico City.
EL PASO— On a recent Saturday afternoon, some 50 pro-cannabis legalization and decriminalization supporters and enthusiasts of all ages packed a stuffy bar here to rally for marijuana legalization in Texas.The crowd of mostly young people wearing Bob Marley T-shirts and Vans shoes stamped with marijuana leaves, crowded into the Soho Cocktail Lounge in downtown El Paso for the first formal meeting of the local chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML),which lobbies for marijuana legalization.The crowd also included casually dressed middle-aged persons as well as some dressed to the nines, along with a group of much older graying hippies. The assembly packed the bar with only standing room barely accessible. The organizers come from different professions but are joined by the same goal — “to achieve true individual liberty” by legally consuming marijuana. “If you feel that you are a free and beautiful individual human-being with inalienable rights, with self-ownership, you should be able to do whatever you want to do with yourself without having to harm anybody else… as long as you are not harming anyone else you should be free to do what you choose,” said Joshua Dagda, the organization’s communications director. Approximately 230 persons interested in the cause attended NORML’s inaugural organizational meeting January 11th at the Hilton Garden Inn on W. University Avenue.