Stupid Paper Trail

Two weekends ago I left San Francisco for a spontaneous one night trip to my hometown of Santa Rosa. While Santa Rosa is only an hour away by car, I use public transportation to get everywhere, so it took me longer than that. Early Friday morning, my dad called from Mexico, (he and my mom were at a funeral) and asked me if I was going to be going back home for the weekend. I told him no, I had too much work to do and had to be doing something Saturday for the school news website. 2 hours later, I learned that a very dear friend was going to be dancing for the last time before she moved. I contemplated for another hour, talked to a friend, and we then decided that I should go and say bye to my out of state college bound friend.
I phoned a friend in the east bay, and it turns out she was also going back to Santa Rosa for the weekend. That afternoon I took the free shuttle to the City of Daly City BART station. I paid my BART ticket with cash that I already had. Once in Berkeley, I took advantage and ate some pasta that my friend had. Once I got to the dance hall back in Santa Rosa, waiting to surprise my friend, I paid with more cash that I had saved up.
When I got home, I took mental notes of how everything was arranged: door angles, bedding, chair positions, drinks in the fridge. I slept in a sleeping bag so I wouldn’t ruin the bedding in my room. When morning came, I put the sleeping bag away exactly where it was. Left every door exactly how they were when I got there. And I even replaced the cold bottle of Juice Squeeze from the fridge with another that was still in the box (they wouldn’t pay attention to that much detail). Then I left home, and headed back to my apartment in San Francisco. Monday night I get a call from my parents asking how I am. They never mentioned anything about the house being disorganized or anything being out of place. Woot! I’m safe. Mission complete: Surprise my friend. And stay at home without my parents knowing…
Saturday morning my dad calls me to say how I was doing… I tell him I’m in Berkeley visiting my friend. He then asks me if I had gone home a week ago, while he was out of town. I told him, instinctively, no. He then says the checking account has been charged $9 at the Santa Rosa Carrows for the previous Friday night. Shoot! My plan has been foiled! Stupid paper trail. I had been too excited and emotional about seeing one of my very good friends go off to college that I had forgotten that I used my check card for my late dinner on that trip. Was my dad mad? No. He told me I didn’t have to lie or go behind his back to come back home for a weekend. I told him that lying or going around his back was not my intention. I simply was conducting an experiment that had worked for 5 days. Oh well. I guess next time I will just have to get cash of an ATM here in the city before making surprise trips. Until next time.

Not the Last Dance (a poem)

Not the Last Dance

I hate it when you say “I love you”
I know you don’t mean it the way I do
It’s hard to say anything at all
If I do I might just fall
Whenever we dance, I feel real glad
But I don’t expect you to know
You’re some of the best dances I’ve ever had
Sorry if I ever stepped on a toe
You know I hate goodbyes
They’re all a bunch of lies
So any place I am goin’
I look to the day we dance again.

Written by Alexis Cardenas Estrada, with Alyssa Glanville
I have someone to give credit to. My friend Alyssa helped me come up with a line or two since I was having writer’s block. So this would not have been completed without her. Thanks Alyssa.

Now for the explanation:
I’m not a poet. Some of you may know it. Hehe. Seriously though, I am not a poet. I don’t read poetry, and I don’t write poetry. Maybe I will listen to some of it sometimes, but mostly it is amateur poetry at open mic nights or poetry readings. Why because they are always fun. Anyway, I know that I’ve away from home for pretty much a year, on and off. And it has been years since I’ve seen many of my friends go off to college. So I should be used to say goodbye to people, right? Well… above are my feelings from a more recent memory. It’s actually very fresh in my mind that I still remember the music that was playing that night. I hope you guys enjoyed the poem.

A day with John Diaz

John Diaz

San Francisco Chronicle Opinion page editor John Diaz, (no relation to my mother’s side of the family, but it would be cool if he was) came to our opinion writing class and talked about some of his experiences in journalism and opinion writing.
Mr. Diaz spoke to us about the importance of voice in opinion writing. It is true to have some sort of voice or style in journalism, but what I have really learned from Mr. Diaz and Professor Yumi Wilson is that voice and style really needs to come out in opinion writing. I also mention Professor Wilson because she emphasized in her literary journalism class last semester that it is important to develop a style and voice inside those types of stories as well.
I also have to say, John is also one of the best speakers I’ve seen. He’s animated. He’s an all around cool guy and a great writer.

One major point he made, out of many was to not hold back on our voice. And he made it really clear to read our pieces out loud to find out where that voice is. If it doesn’t fell natural, the voice is not there.

I admire Mr. Diaz and Professor Wilson. They are awesome.
Here are some pictures from John Diaz’s visit

short update: tonight is the unofficial start of the 11th anniversary of the lindy exchanges. 400+ people from around the country are coming over to dance swing for a whole weekend. It will be my fourth lindy exchange. By the end of the weekend, if you do not hear from me it is because I am either hung over or dead from dancing. Is it possible to get a hangover from dancing? yes. after spending countless hours dancing dim lit rooms, loud music, and several body clashes, people end up sensitive to light, and sound. and with aching bodies. that's how i felt last year. but I think it was worth it. So i'm going to take many pictures and sound clips and hopefully come up with a multimedia piece to put up here by the end of next week. I'm very excited. and to prove that I dance I posted a picture of me dancing in Lindy in the Park with one of my wonderful partners.