Chapter six and seven of “Antonio’s Gun and Delfino’s Dream”

Chapter six and seven of “Antonio’s Gun and Delfino’s Dream” continue the tales of a transitional time in Mexican history.
Chapter six is about culture and the city of Tijuana. Sam Quinones points out the origins of the city, how it sprung up as a suburb of San Diego. Tijuana quickly expanded to becoming a destination for many people from other regions of the country. A large number of people struggled to merely survive, leading to a lack of culture in the city. This story details the rise of opera in Tijuana.
One interesting story aspect was at the fall of the Soviet Union many skilled musicians looked to the west for new opportunities, and a few ended up in Baja California. Their arrival sparked interest in classical music and eventually influenced many locals to take up music as a passion.
Other parts of the story detail the lives of a few people from Tijuana and how they came into contact with music. One story is of a local man started an opera café. Another is of a woman who went against her family to explore a career in singing. The most interesting of these stories is of a former music teacher and writer of music. His story was that of tragedy, having fallen in love with music prior to the cultural boom and being an old man while the other events of the story were taking place. This teacher felt abandoned by his situation and turned his back on the up and coming culture. He took the attitude that if he wasn’t accepted in his younger years why should he accept them now.
In the end Tijuana had established a reputable music scene. This seemed to have a great influence on the community. No longer is Tijuana pictured as a disreputable haven for vice, but as an up and coming cultural destination within Mexico.
Chapter seven discusses a restaurant owning/operating Mexican immigrant culture around Chicago. Quinones tells us how these immigrants helped each other out and started many restaurants all over the Midwest. Interestingly all of the people in this story where from one small town in Mexico called Atolinga. Every person in the story swore that they were going to make money in America and then return home to Mexico, but the longer they stayed the deeper their roots became. It was funny one character spent a fortune building a house in Atolinga only to never sleep in it.
These immigrants abandoned their home town only to return once a year. They still frequently contributed money to Atolinga public works but never returned to enjoy them.
Of the two situations of abandonment in these two chapters it is hard for me to decide which is worse. I feel terrible for the music teacher but at the same time Atolinga is becoming a ghost town. If I had to choose I guess I’d go with the situation in Atolinga because it affects so many people. In Atolinga the economy is crumbling and Quinones tells us about the bitterness and resentment of the people that stayed behind. It is hard to imagine a town vanishing because of immigration, but that is what’s happening to Atolinga. With the death of a town so dies all their history and that really is a tragic thing.
All in all these two chapters were equally as good as the ones that preceded them. I’m really looking forward to finishing this book