Juan Brosales June 2009

Yolanda

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Now it is Tuesday. It’s been a melancholy day. It wasn’t anxious. I long for happy days and I can’t say they’ll be back since it doesn’t feel like it. I slept alright last night. I have to adjust my sleeping schedule since the new gig is approaching. Instead of going to bed at midnight, I think it will have to be 11:30.

I posted about Juan yesterday, and also posted on the social medias. I alerted Juan’s sister, not that I felt it was anything bad I wrote, just comparing his life with what is going on today. I did not think his mother would read it, but somehow she did. Juan’s mother seemed to take this as an attack, and I tried to assure her that it was not.

This is her post: I don’t think so. My son was American born & his parents & sisters are highly educated. We are very proud of where we came from & of how far educated we are. I don’t see your appreciation @ my son loyal friendship to you. As his friends say, my son was an Angel, much different than many people who feel superior than us Hispanics when many of them don’t even finish high school. At the age of 15, my son attended NYU. Please be informed that his sisters are Doctors & I, his mother retired with a masters Degree obtained from UMDNJ. The University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey. I don’t see a reason why my son or any of us should have been a target. My son graduated @ New Jersey City University with high Honors for being the Suma Cum Laude of his promotion. Rest in peace my dear son until our Great Father decides to put us together as mother & son again.

Of course, I couldn’t tell her that some of the time Juan spent with us in Hoboken was to escape his mother’s house in Union City. Juan was great and a good man. I’ve posted so many times how much Juan was loved and welcomed here as a refuge from maternal stress in Union City. Somehow, she thinks I look down on Juan being Hispanic, which, if you know me, that is not the case.

I did reply to Juan’s mother: I recognize Juan’s intelligence, Yolanda and I recognize this administration’s lack thereof. They are disappearing citizens for their views and have stated they intend to do worse. Juan was liberal and open-minded and would have likely had something to say about the razing of Gaza, which has caused citizens and green card holders to be thrown in jail.
I definitely did not besmirch Juan’s life or legacy; I only stated that this administration would consider him an enemy.
I have been following what this administration has been doing and I am certain Juan would have been doing the same.
I regret that you may have misinterpreted what I posted.
Juan had friends in Hoboken who loved him and cared for him deeply.
He was incredibly intelligent and is sorely missed.
I am good friends with the Dean of UMDNJ.

I just don’t think Yolanda has been paying attention to what is going on in this country right now and feels that any mention of Juan that isn’t glowing is an attack, when it clearly isn’t.

It’s Monday

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It’s Monday. Bill returned Saturday evening/Sunday morning. Mike was asleep on the couch, I crept down the stairs around 12:15 to help him with his baggage. I took three smaller bags, which were quite heavy. By the time I had gotten to the top floor, I was exhausted and out of breath.

I waited for Bill to come home so I could help him out, and I was tired already. I did not sleep well the night before, so that caught up with me and definitely helped me sleep a lot better that night. All weekend long, it was cold and rainy and not much like spring at all.

Most of the time, Mike and I hung out and watched movies and TV shows. He truly loves being here with me & Bill. We provide a safe space and we have furniture which his flat sorely lacks. He loves Hoboken. The people he works with see Hoboken as a snobby, upscale town, and I guess it is.

It is certainly not the same place I moved to 41 years ago. Not many artists or musicians or writers, or poets. It’s a cultural wasteland overrun by bros and young parents who look at their phone while pushing their kids in a stroller and paying more attention to their phone than their children. Let’s face it, the world is ruled by dummies with smartphones.

And the world seems to be getting worse. Today I found myself thinking about my dearly departed friend, Juan Brosales. You might have read about Juan in the initial posts from 2006-2023 thereabouts. Juan was here in the apartment, just to get a break from his parents, and Bill and I were more than willing to let him hang out and even crash on the couch should the need arise.

People in the US are being abducted off the streets and disappeared. And sometimes deposited in what has been called the world’s worst prison, in El Salvador. Juan’s parents were from El Salvador and pursued the American dream successfully. Juan sort of rejected that life; he had an artistic bent, as well as left of center politics, and was responsible for turning me onto some fantastic music.

And what brought Juan up was the abduction and deposit in that infamous El Salvador prison of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Garcia had fled El Salvador and was fighting to stay in the US when he was abducted. If Juan was still alive, and Juan was no gang member, he too, for his posts on the social medias, could have certainly caused problems and led to his disappearance.

They take your ID and any other identifying items, like a smartphone, and send you out of the country without anything resembling due process. Juan died in September 2021. Perhaps he had an idea of what was coming. Of course he didn’t, but it’s a balm for my troubled mind and heart that misses him so.

Things are a fucking mess and it seems the great experiment that was the United States is over, thanks to the putrid jism stain known as L’Orange Merde.