Marching to the Sound of Mariachi

Eddie Lopez, author of the autobiographical experiences of a pioneer Mexican-American journalist in Ink in My Veins, follows his self-published debut with a well-researched collection of 15 essays that are at once both informative and entertaining as he examines heroes and heroines in all walks of life.

Written his with usual flair for conveying ethnic humor and frankness, Lopez presents a distillation of interesting and exciting profiles of Hispanics with a stated emphasis on Americans of Mexican ancestry who have left their footprints on the pages of history on both sides of the border with commendable deeds and accomplishments, both great and small.

These conscious-awakening accounts begin with the self-sacrificing bravery of Hispanics who have won the Medal of Honor with a display of fearless devotion to duty, comrades and country and these stories to cherish conclude with the moral courage and love for their companion migrant workers demonstrated by civil rights and farm worker union activists Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.

Sandwiched between the deeply moving stories of struggles for dignity and respect, sometimes at the risk of their lives, are the roads some extraordinarily gifted, talented and skilled Hispanics have traveled to become rich and famous. Many of these personalities rose from impoverished and poorly education backgrounds to become role models who merit admiration by young and old alike.

Lopez tells us about former U.S. Ambassador to Colombia and Honduras Phillip V. Sanchez, university presidents Jukliet V. Garcia and Frances A. Cordova, concert flutist Elena Duran, Mexico-born actor Anthony Quinn, boxers Cesar Julio Chavez and Ruben Olivares, pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, golfer Lorena Ochoa and quarter-miler Ana Guevara plus Mexican-American author Sandra Cisneros, media personalities Ruben Salazar, Maria Elena Salinas and John Quinones plus pitchers, Lefty Gomez and Mike Garcia, golfers Nancy Lopez and Lee Trevino, tennis star Pancho Gonzalez and football players Anthony Munoz, Jim Plunkett, Joe Kapp, Jeff Garcia and coach Tom Flores.

Some of the names are familiar and some of them are not and if you haven't heard of most of them, then it's time you did and Lopez has served his purpose: To parade an array of Hispanic heroes and heroines, some old, some new.

To gather so many examples of national and universal excellence from such a wide field of professions in one volume stands firmly as a passionate rebuff to any Hispanic who moans that there "are not enough heroes" as an excuse for self-pity.

An attentive reader will be left with an ever-lasting impression and it is that, yes, there is hope for the future for anyone who is a descendent of an enduring and passionate Mexican culture.