On October 26th, the Santa Maria Times dutifully reported on the "El Día de los Muertos " display sponsored by the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department, that took place at the Veteran's Memorial Community Center.
A few days later, another story appeared in the Times, this time it was about the event at Dana Adobe.
It's wonderful to know that the Times writes about this celebration of life that dates back hundreds of years. Anything that makes people aware of cultural differences is a good thing. Learning about other cultures enriches all of our lives.
Having said that, I'd like to know why the Times did not send anyone over to the Town Center Mall to cover the "El Día de Los Muertos" display that has been sponsored by the Mexican-American Scholarship Cultural and Recreation Association (MASCARA) for 17 years.MASCARA's event had been consistently reported by Times, up to and including last year, so I'm at a loss as to why they didn't merit a mention this year. This event began in Santa Maria as a one day event, when Gina Rodriguez set up a display in her backyard. From there it has grown enough to require the larger venue at the mall.
I'd like to think that not seeing a story in the Times about Gina's event was merely an oversight. However, I do understand that politics seems to enter every aspect of our lives these days and this must be factored into account whether we agree or not, but if this was the case regarding which event to cover in detail, it was, in my humble opinion, the wrong one.
Well, they didn't see fit to publish my letter. I'm okay with that since they're so full of typos, my letter's intent could have been badly misrepresented, rather like what Larry King would constantly do with the questions that the callers to his show would ask. Consequently I'm posting it here, since I feel it was a good letter that raised a good point.
