11 September 05

Candidate Elena

I received an email from Elena Mary Costello Tzintzún. Part of it reads like this:

I am writing with some exciting news, I’ve decided to run for the seat to be a representative for Mexicans (via the Institute for Mexicans in the Exterior) in the tri-state area of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. The Mexican government recognizing that it has so many of its constituents abroad has divided the United States into regions with something similar to congressional representatives.

I’ve encountered Elena Mary on the web and I think I’ve only sent her one or two comments on her blog. The fact that she was smart enough to cull out everyone’s email address to send this letter to is brilliant I think and this little bit of grassroots organizational energy makes me feel pretty confident that she would be able to do this job and do it well.

During a slightly extended email conversation with her, I found out a few other things about this group. There are 9 people who are chosing one person to fill the position for her tri-state district. The size of the district is determined by the number of constituents. Before Elena began running there was only one person looking to be selected for this region and he happens to be friends with the committee members. Sounds like Chicago-style politics to me, and that’s stinky. There are 110 positions available in the United States and Canada and you’d think if there were 110 elections going on, some news of it would have filtered down to this fairly media-savvy guera. But I’ve heard nothing about this until I got this email from Elena.

Which is awful, because it sounds like such a fabulous idea, and definitely sounds like something every Mexican living in the United States and every Mexican-American with continued ties to their home country deserves to know about. It’s no exaggeration to say that there are millions of Mexicans living in this country who are still very closely aligned with their hometowns in Mexico. Why shouldn’t people take an interest in what is going on “back home”. Since moving to Chicago I’ve heard how there are so many Polish citizens living in Chicago that people who live here and vote on national elections have a huge influence. It makes sense that the same ability should exist for Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. It also makes sense that there should be people who represent their interests, since many of them can’t vote in American elections someone should be representing them.

So even though I’ve never met Elena Mary Costello Tzintzún, I have a feeling she would make a great representative to Mexico for people living in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. When I left Columbus to move to Chicago 8 years ago, there were no visibly present Mexicans in the city. Now there are taco carts set up on street corners and Mexican grocers and restaraunts. For a city which used to think that Chi Chis and Taco Bell were “ethnic food” when I lived there, this has to mean that population numbers are increasing. And I’m glad. Not only does it mean that my mother can finally get chorizo (she grew up in Southern California and misses real Mexican cuisine, she got misty telling me about eating fish tacos and drink a cold beer while I played in the ocean surf as a baby.) But it also means that with intelligent, kind-hearted, and empathetic people like Elena Mary on this board these too-easily ignored workers will have a representative they can trust.

Julio of Yonder Lies It has a lyrical explanation of why he thinks she’ll be great.

Even though these links are in Spanish, the Institutos de los Mexicanos en la exterior has region specific information regarding this. Elena’s capital is Indianapolis.

For more information on how you can help her,

You can send this letter to the to the Local Electoral Committee Member,

I am a strong supporter of Elena Mary Costello Tzintzún. I believe she will fully and honorably represent Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. I encourage you to please elect Elena Mary Costello Tzintzún as representative for all Mexicans in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
Thank you.

Name:
Street Address:
City:
State:
Email: *optional City/State of Origin in Mexico:

Señores del Comité Electoral Local,

Yo les escribo en declaración de mi apoyo para Elena Mary Costello Tzintzún como representante para mi y otros Mexicanos aquí en los EE.UU. Yo se que ella será la mejor representante y les pido que electas al mejor candidato Elena Mary Costello Tzintzún.

Gracias.

Nombre:
Dirección:
Ciudad:
Estado:
Email: *opcional ciudad/estado de origen en México:

The names and email addresses of the local committee members are:
Claudia Yvette De León, krazie7tyn@hotmail.com
Celina Magaña, Celina.magana@ky.gov
Juana Orellán Watson, jwatson@gov.in.gov
María Alejandrina Caldera, mcaldera@smwc.edu
Olga Villa Parra, ricardonotes@earthlink.net
Rodolfo Martínez, alma-indidana@earthlink.net
Alejandro Goya, alexgoya@yahoo.com
Martín Gaytán, mgaytan62@gmail.com
Abdón Ibarra, aibarra@reachky.com

If you want to contact Elena directly, her email address is “elenamary(AT)gmail(dot)com”. You know what to do with the info parentheses.

If you are a web designer with some mad (and free) design skills you’d like to use, she’s hoping to create a website where people can type in a letter and have it automatically email to the committee members. This is way beyond my skills but I’d love it if I could introduce her to someone who can.

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