New Mexico Ghost Stories Vol. I

Born on August 6, 1954 and raised in East Los Angeles, during a period of time when the arts, poetry, dance, music, song, and the written word were at the surface of a RE-blossoming ART movement. youthful creativity was at the forefront. Culture, specifically mexican culture in East Los Angeles was a hotbed, an explosion of color and mental sustenance!

My parents were of Native American background. as a girl My mother was raised in southern New Mexico and her father was Mescalero Apache from the three rivers area. They lived in an adobe house my grandfather built, in a very old, little village called La Mesa. Chili fields and pecan orchards surrounded it then as they do this day. My father's mother was Otomi, which is one of the ancient cultures of Mexico. Otomi is the standard title used for this particular nation of indigenous people.

My apache grandfather used to put me on his lap, as he'd play a harmonica. he'd both sing and play Apache songs as My mother would be observing while sitting at the kitchen table. I recall her saying to my grandfather, "tell your grandson the story about the bear or the snake." as a child I reacted like a mental sponge. I'd listened to all of his stories and retained all of the information.