Canto CCCXLV: Pillar No More

Gentle cabrones:

Once upon a time, I helped…someone…in their endeavors.

Of course I would. I believed in it, the help I could offer was within my Swiss Army Knife of abilities, and it was important.

That…someone…was thrilled I could help. They praised my work on said endeavors, which brought those endeavors attention and acclaim they had never had before. I was proud what I did for, and spoke about them to everyone and everyone. And I always praised the person for their own work in their endeavors.

Slowly but surely, more people started to get on this cause. And the person began to get more attention for said cause, which made me happy because it was never about my glory, but rather that cause and the person who I was helping.

Years later, there was going to be…something…about this endeavor cause. Another person I know was involved in it because they felt the call through my longtime work on said endeavor cause. They got involved with the champion of that endeavor cause and suggested I help in the…something. I’m a voice of some prominence, they reasoned, and I’ve been championing the endeavor cause for years, so surely I could help, and I deserved to be the one for said championing?

The…someone…proceeded to trash me to the other person. That I didn’t know anything about the endeavor cause, and that there surely was someone more “professional” who could help. I talked too much, apparently. This was a bit more than a decade after my original work.

The person who told me called me in a fury, because they were not going to stand for my work being insulted, especially in front of others, by someone who would’ve not been in that room with said person if it wasn’t for my said work.

When I heard about all this, I just laughed.

It’s all good. It’s LYFE.

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I’m not the biggest Rick Warren fan, especially since he rejected my interview request years ago about talking to him about his hot sauce collection.

But there is one thing about him that I think is genius, and that I adopted as a mantra a long time ago.

It’s not about you.

The first line of The Purpose-Driven Life, Warren’s mega-best seller. Honestly, I don’t know what follows because I’ve never read the rest of the book. But that first line hit me like a proverbial lightning bolt when I first read it, and it remains in my heart.

You never champion something or someone to be the champion. You help because help is good.

That’s what has driven my adult career. I write what I write to promote something: the good, the bad, the everything. If people think I’m cool for the stuff I do, that’s awesome — but I always tell people to focus on the work of what I do (not WERK, in this case) instead of me. Nothing makes me happier — or should make a reporter happier — when someone mentions a story from long ago but can’t remember who did it.

That means you did something that has surpassed you. Because eventually, you’ll be forgotten, your fastball won’t be THE fastball anymore (hat tip to Chris Rock).

So what will remain?

That’s what the…someone…doesn’t get. They can surround themselves with classier, smarter people than I — and heaven knows there are a lot of those people — and they can put themselves out there, but they, too, shall pass.

It’s not about them.

I saw that…someone…at an event. The person said hi. I responded the same, pointed them out to someone I knew, and said they should champion said endeavor cause.

I’ll always promote. It remains righteous, even if that…someone…isn’t.

It’s not about me.

**

Enough rambling. This was the semana that was:

IMAGE OF THE WEEK: Cosmo resting on Blue’s huge bed. I think we need to buy him one now!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “We are all called to be saints. We might as well get over our bourgeois fear of the name” — Dorothy Day

LISTENING: “Sally Goodin,” Tony Rice. Maybe the most thrilling bluegrass instrumental after Flatt & Scruggs’ “Cripple Creek,” and the latter wins only because it’s so damn fast (“Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” of course, is third). But those two are all about the rush of the banjo and mandolin; this slow, rolling wonder highlights the guitar, and, of course, a fiddle that would make Chubby Wise proud.

READING: “A Kingdom from Dust”: It’s almost time for my Orange Coast College narrative journalism class, which you should totally take (in-person, Mondays 6 p.m.-9 — ask me for the link!). And while you have to be a student to get the syllabus, here’s one of the stories I teach, from Mark Arax, the greatest journalistic chronicler of the Central Valley who I still have to meet!

BUY MY NEW CO-BOOK! People’s Guide to Orange County tells an alternative history of OC through the scholarship and reporting of myself, Elaine Lewinnek, and Thuy Vo Dang. There’ll be signings all year — in meanwhile, buy your copy TODAY. And, yes: I’ll autograph it!

Gustavo Events  

August 28, 7 p.m.: I’ll be in conversation with Eugene Rodriguez, founder and executive director of the legendary Los Cenzontles, about his new memoir at Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Ave. Los Angeles. Convo FREE — more details here.

Sept. 21, 1:30 p.m.: I’ll be in conversation with Mike Madrid, longtime GOP strategist turned Trump mega-hater and author of the new book The Latino Century: How America's Largest Minority Is Transforming Democracy at Alta Baja Market, 201 E. 4th St., Ste. 101, SanTana. Lecture, FREE but register here.

Oct. 11-13: Rancho Gordo Encuentro — the collaboration between the legendary heirloom bean purveyor and my honey’s Alta Baja Market — is BACK. It’s a weekend of beans, and I’m in charge of two events: “The Bean Monologues” (exactly what it sounds like — people tell stories about beans), and “How to Taste a Tortilla,” which is also what it sounds like AND you get to take home good tortillas!. Links to each event in the links I put in said titles, and here are the rest of the events — buy your tickets soon, because they’re going FAST.

Gustavo in the News

“Historian digs into ‘mixed legacy’ of Padua Hills Theatre in Claremont”: Late to this, but Best Columnist in Southern California David Allen finds out I’m related to legendary profe Matt Garcia, who’s more closer related to Jessica Alba than I am!

“Gustavo Heaps Well-Deserved Props on the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Anaheim.”: Orange Juice Blog republishes my canto from last week.

“Burritos: That's a wrap”: Quartz cites my burrito scholarship.

“Do you believe in signs?” USC profe and Macarthur Genius Natalia Molina shouts out a columna of mine.

Gustavo Stories 

“Grítale a Guti”: Latest edition of my Tuesday night IG Live free-for-all.

“OC residents look for cheaper housing, but where?”: My latest KCRW “Orange County Line” commentary talks about a UCI School of Social Ecology survey.

"Your Last Meal | For singers Aly & AJ, touring is an excuse to eat”: I appear on a podcast to talk burritos and the romanticizing of small restaurants that aren’t all that their devotees claim to be.

“Richard Alatorre, pioneering Eastside politician, dies at 81”: My latest L.A. Times columna talks about the politico of politicos. KEY QUOTE: “It was classic Alatorre: uncompromising, uncouth and unapologetic in the name of exerting his influence to better Latinos.”

You made it this far down? Gracias! Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram while you’re down here by clicking on their logos down below. Don’t forget to forward this newsletter to your compadres y comadres! You can’t get me tacos anymore, but you sure as hell can give them — and more — to the O.C. Catholic Worker!