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A Collection of Wild and Crazy Stories
A Collection of Wild and Crazy Stories
I invite you to come and read some of my family's most wild and crazy stories. Visit the tiny ranchito of Cruses Zacatecas and its abundance of beauty, rocks, and kidnappings. Learn about post-revolutionary Mexico and how it sparked my family to make the perilous journey over the US-MEX border several times over. Take a step back in time and see what it was like to go low and slow in the peak of 80's cruising. Laugh at the unfortunate turn of events that even I have a hard time believing are real. Come and read about the Chignons who raised me and the adventurous lives they lived.
Hi, I'm Sofie
Hi, I'm Sofie
“Hi I’m Sofia. Well my full Mexican name is Sofia Vera Avila Renteria Molano Cristobal Diaz Nava Garza Talavera Simental, but usually I just go by Sofie. “(Chingonex)
"I wanted to make this book as a way to immortalize my family’s legacy. By telling their stories in the way that I perceive them. Before I start I want to make it clear that I am not judging their actions…mostly ... All I want is to have a literary time capsule to show my future children and grandchildren. Allowing me to introduce them to people that they might never get to meet.” (Chingonex)
Outside of my capstone I am an English major with an emphasis on education and a minor in Chican@ studies. I have two siblings who I love and hate more than anything and a dog named Batman. I have a strong caffeine addition and watched way too much tv as a kid. I also hold the following titles: California Teachers Association- Aspiring Educators Chapter President of CSUCI, Channel Islands Choral Association Student Advocate, and Lead Student Assistant at the Office of the President.
Why You Should Read The Book
Why You Should Read The Book
Personally I think the stories are hilarious but I might be a little biased. In all actuality, these stories may be of my family but the main themes are universal. Everyone has a complicated relationship with their parents. Everyone is trying to find their way in the world using the cards they were dealt. And everyone has to live with the fact that their grandparents were cousins three times removed. Okay, maybe that last one is still specific to me BUT you get my point. So if you like crazy wild stories based on true events with a side snarky commentary, you should read the book.
Highlights
Highlights
“For Santiago Vera, To lose a father is to gain a wife.”
“For Santiago Vera, To lose a father is to gain a wife.”
...
...
“For his daughter Maria, to lose a father was to lose her support, her safety, and her childhood.” (Women of the Rancho)
“For his daughter Maria, to lose a father was to lose her support, her safety, and her childhood.” (Women of the Rancho)
Women of the Rancho
"Asking? Who would have ever thought you could just ask a girl you like to marry you? Half of the time they might say yes to your proposal. It takes all the pressure of planning a kidnapping off the table entirely!”
"Asking? Who would have ever thought you could just ask a girl you like to marry you? Half of the time they might say yes to your proposal. It takes all the pressure of planning a kidnapping off the table entirely!”
Kidnappings
“Ironically enough the generation that was warned never to be like Alta would end up raising their children to follow in her footsteps.”
“Ironically enough the generation that was warned never to be like Alta would end up raising their children to follow in her footsteps.”
Chingona's In College
Wild Times - Chapter Titles
Wild Times - Chapter Titles
Hi I’m Sofie
Introduction to the Author
Kidnappings
The four kidnappings of my family with stories from post-revolutionary Mexico.
Women of the Rancho
What life was like for women in Cruzes Zacatecas Mexico in the 1960's.
Crossings
How my family crossed the Mexican American border.
The Mexican American Dream
How life was like as first generation immigrants in the 1980's.
Life in America
What life was like for the second generation growing up in America.
Cruising
The good, the bad, and the questionable about 80's cruising culture in Oxnard.
Cycles
How inherited trauma can span generations.
Knives and Wives
How each of my aunts pulled a weapon their husbands/boyfriends.
Chingonas in college
First generation college students
It Doesn't Stop Here
It Doesn't Stop Here
While I have completed my first final draft of my stories I am still learning more about my family everyday. I have learned that psychically putting words on a page is just one part of my writing process. I still need to carve out time to edit and revise all 140 pages of my work. Not to mention have a family review in order to make sure that all the information I have is for the most part accurate. While I still have a long way to go this project truly a labor of love. I know how impactful this final piece will be on my family and can't wait to see the day that it is completed. Not to mention that I'll probably write another one, I have a big family after all.
THANK YOU!!!
THANK YOU!!!
I would like to offer a sincere thank you to my Grandparents, Parents, Tia’s, Tio’s, and Cousins who let me interview them. It took a lot of courage for them to explain their life stories to their nosy and pushy granddaughter/niece/cousin.
Mom (Vero)
Mom (Vero)
Dad (Michael)
Dad (Michael)
Grandma Maria
Grandma Maria
Grandpa Cessario
Grandpa Cessario
Tia Estolia
Tia Estolia
Tio Joel
Tio Joel
Tia Alta
Tia Alta
Nina Gabby
Nina Gabby
Tia May
Tia May
Tio Cheese
Tio Cheese
Tio Omar
Tio Omar
Tio Juan
Tio Juan
Lisa
Lisa
Emma
Emma
Bella
Bella
Oliva
Oliva
and Léo
and Léo
This is Léo
Works Consulted
Works Consulted
Alvarez, Fred. “Oxnard Council Bans Sunday Night Cruising: Ventura County Edition.” The Los Angeles Times, 1992.
Bantjes, Adrian A. “Idolatry and Iconoclasm in Revolutionary Mexico: The De-Christianization Campaigns, 1929-1940.” Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, vol. 13, no. 1, 1997, pp. 87–120. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1051867. Accessed 7 May 2024.
Becker, Marjorie. “Black and White and Color: Cardenismo and the Search for a Campesino Ideology.” Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 29, no. 3, 1987, pp. 453–65. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/179033. Accessed 7 May 2024.
Contrary to popular belief, Soldaderas still exist. I highly recommend reading the following article: Melissa M. Forbis, “Hacía la Autonomía: Zapatista Women Developing a New World,” pp. 231-252 in Eber and Kovic, eds. Women of Chiapas: Making History in Times of Struggle and Hope (Routledge, 2003). [E-book in Broome]
Gonzalez, Martín Alberto. 21 Miles of Scenic Beauty ... and Then Oxnard : Counterstories and Testimonies. [Publisher not identified], 2017.
Governor Newsom, Gavin, Assembly Bill No. 436 Chapter 803: An act to amend Section 21100 of, and to repeal Section 24008 of, The Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles. Secretary of State. October 16th, 2023, https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB436. May 5th, 2024.
Internet Movie Database, “Crintina Saralegui” IMDb.com, [Publication not available] https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005397/. May 5th, 2024
Juarez, Leticia, Lowriders Roll Down Whittier Boulevard in East LA as California lifts ban on cruising. Eyewitness news ABC 7, January 2nd, 2024, https://abc7.com/california-cruising-law-new-ca-lowriders-whittier-boulevard/14260134/. May 5th, 2024
Major League Baseball “Alejo Lopez #5” mlb.com, MLB, [Publication not available].https://www.mlb.com/player/alejo-lopez-664670. May 5th, 2024
Manzo, Alta. Chingonex Interview. Sofia Avila February 9th, 2024
Manzo, Gabriella, Chingonex interview. Sofia Avila February 9th, 2024
Retneria, Cesar, Chingonex Interview, Sofia Avila, February 11th, 2024
Renteira, Cessario, Chingonex Interview, Sofia Avila, February 13th, 2024
Renteria, Estolia, Chingonex Interview, February 11th, 2024
Retneria, Maria, Chingonex Interview, Sofia Avila, February 6th, 2024
Renteria, Mabel, Chingonex Interview, Sofia Avila. February 10th, 2024
Rentiera Omar, Chingonex Interview, February 11th, 2024
Retneria Veronica, Chingonex Interview, Sofia Avila, February 13th, 2024
Oxnard, California Codified Ordinances, Contains 2024 S-49 Supplement Current though 02-6-2024.City of Oxnard, American Legal Publishing, 2024, https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/oxnard/latest/oxnard_ca/0-0-0-65129https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/oxnard/latest/oxnard_ca/0-0-0-65120
Sandos, James A., and Harry E. Cross. “National Development and International Labour Migration: Mexico 1940-1965.” Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 18, no. 1, 1983, pp. 43–60. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/260480. Accessed 7 May 2024.
Sandoval, Denise M,. “The Politics of Low and Slow/Bajito y Suavecito: Black and Chicano Lowriders in Los Angeles, from the 1960s through the 1970s.” Black and Brown in Los Angeles: Beyond Conflict and Coalition, edited by Josh Kun and Laura Pulido, 1st ed., University of California Press, 2014, pp. 176–200. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt4cgfx4.11. Accessed 7 May 2024.
Serros, Michele M. Chicana Falsa. Lalo Press, 1994.
Stevens-Arroyo, Anthony M. “The Contribution of Catholic Orthodoxy to Caribbean Syncretism: The Case of La Virgen de La Caridad Del Cobre in Cuba.” Archives de Sciences Sociales Des Religions, vol. 47, no. 117, 2002, pp. 37–58. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30116594. Accessed 7 May 2024.
The Storm That Swept Mexico. Directed by Raymond Telles,Paradigm Productions, Inc, Independent Television Services,Latino Public Broadcasting, 2011
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