In the 70’s, I was in my single digit years. (Christopher Cross- Ride Like The Wind) Even though I was raised in a Mexican immigrant family, I still lived in 70’s-mellow Los Angeles. We were inundated with those laid back, playing on the beach, (George Benson-Breezin’) Mimosa drinking, macramé wearing, big sunglasses wearing, sitting on wicker furniture on our balcony with our Southern California vibe, thanks to the media. The media made some of us forget we were growing up in the ghettos of Los Angeles in dilapidated housing with no jobs or low-paying jobs. It made us forget the Vatos down the street were smoking Angel Dust. It made us forget we never had time or the funds to get to the beach, even if it was only a few miles away.
Television was full of it. (Boz Skaggs - Lowdown) Three’s Company, The Love Boat, even the local T.V. news fluff piece shows like Eye On L.A. had us believing everyone lived on the beach and had a yacht. Even my heroes as a kid, the Los Angeles Dodgers, seemed to succumb to the laid-back images with their gold chains outside their uniforms, porn 'staches and long hair.
Radio was worse at perpetuating the myth. Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Steely Dan, (Green Earring) Boz Skaggs. Even former funksters like The Commodores and Earth Wind & Fire went soft. Everyone was in such a mellow haze that my impressionable siblings and I thought that’s how normal adults lived their life. If that was the case, what was wrong with our parents? They worked all the time, looked horribly unhip in their work clothes and they never went out on the town. (Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street) My father was always stained with paint from his job; my mother listened to big band music as she sewed us our clothes because we couldn’t afford to buy clothes from the store.





Obama’s biggest downfall in his campaign was that he underestimated Latinos. This cost him big time in California. There was so much he could have done to get our vote and he didn't.