When I set foot on LAX in September 1973 in Los Angeles, the last thing in my mind was to become a Mexican American. Now, I am not a Mexican American yet, but here I write some thoughts on this process.
California was another world, I had never seen a society so well organized in my life, and the University of California campus in Santa Barbara, still is, one of the most beautiful places I have ever lived in. My goal then, was to learn from very smart scientists, like Robert L. Sugar, Raymond F. Sawyer, Douglas J. Scalapino, and James B. Hartle, the gang of four, that brought the Institute of Theoretical Physics to Santa Barbara in 1980. There were others of course, like Hal Lewis, Glen E. Schrank, Daniel W. Hone, David Caldwell, Rollin Morrison, Jose Fulco, and more, some affected me more than others. Nevertheless my purpose was to bring this knowledge to Mexico, and I tried until December of last year. Not anymore, this Fall I will be teaching at Waubonsee Community College (WCC).
Something happened in the way. I met my wife Mary, at Santa Barbara in the late seventies of last century, and moved together to Mexico, living there from 1980 to 1994. I joined her and my kids in Illinois in 1998. My intention was until last December, to go back and forth to Mexico. Now, even if I know I will back sometimes, I intend to stay in the US, most of the time. My immediate family lives in this country.
Today for the first time in my life, I signed my name as Edward, in an e-mail. It was a courtesy to a new friend, George, that signed his as Jorge. Also yesterday I started reading "Speaker", by Dennis Hastert, who had a strong hand in the making of the Science Building, at the Sugar Grove campus of WCC, and I believe also, made possible the Astronomy course, I will be directing.
It is time to change my mindset. This is a new stage in my life.
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