The Española Valley High School mariachi band braved a reported minus-10 windchill in the nation’s capital to play before newly sworn-in President Barack Obama. “I think we rep-
resented pretty good, ‘cause I got tons of calls from everyone saying we looked awesome,” sophomore vihuela player Santiago Espinoza said. “We were pretty happy.”
Band Director Alfonso Trujillo said the start of the parade was delayed because of concerns over the health of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA). It was already getting dark as the band entered the 1.5-mile parade route, and some of the spectators had gone home, Trujillo said. Perched on a float, the cold breeze made it too difficult for the guitar players to play the fast songs they had planned.
“We had to cut down (the set) a little bit because of the extreme cold temperature — the fingers were numbing,” Trujillo said.
But when they passed by Obama, his family and the other dignitaries, it made it all worth it.
“That was the highlight of the entire parade,” Trujillo said. “That’s when the kids really got in jive and the cold didn’t matter.”
Espinoza said he saw both Barack and Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
“They were all really happy, too, when they saw us,” Espinoza said. “I think it was a great experience, a once-in-a-lifetime chance.”
Esther and Larry Martinez traveled to Washington to see their daughter Megan, a guitarrón player with the mariachis.
Larry Martinez said even though they arrived in downtown Washington early Tuesday morning, they were still waiting in line trying to get to the parade route when the parade approached. So they ducked into a nearby museum and watched on TV as their daughter passed by Obama.
“When he saw them there he started pointing to them, and he had a big old smile on his face like he remembered them from when they were in Española,” Martinez said. “So that was really neat.”
Martinez said he enjoyed seeing his daughter because she was so excited about the band’s participation.
“She was actually really, really excited about being here because it was really a historic event for everybody,” Martinez said.
Española Mayor Joseph Maestas was also in the nation’s capital Tuesday. He said during Obama’s inaugural address, he had a clear view of the podium and he was inspired to hear the new president eschew common political divisions and paradigms, such as the perennial debate over big versus small government or liberty versus security.
“It was just very, very strong and brief, but he really served a reminder that this is gonna be a very different philosophy that he will represent as president,” Maestas said.
Back in Española, hundreds of people gathered in the cafeteria of Northern New Mexico College Tuesday night to eat frito pies, watch a rebroadcast of President Barack Obama’s inaugural speech and celebrate the successful end of a campaign.
“People feel hopeful, people feel ready,” San Ildefonso resident Tauz TamuPovi said. “For the first time, people feel they’re a part of the government.”
TamuPovi is a single mother who said she struggled to find an affordable health-care policy that would pay for midwife services, and Obama’s message really resonates with her. She’s a graduate of Northern’s massage-therapy program, and she signed up Tuesday night for a citizen group focused on health-care issues.
Just a few minutes later, Chimayó resident Peter Malmgren put his name down for a group focused on the Los Alamos National Laboratory mission and jobs. Malmgren reminisced about traveling to Washington in 1963 to hear Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speak, and said he marched in Selma at the peak of the civil-rights movement.
“We went down as frightened college students and had the experience of our lives,” Malmgren said.
Malmgren said because of the brutality he witnessed there, he’s not nostalgic about the 1960s and he had no particular desire to travel to Washington this year. He said he found the pomp and circumstance of the inaugural ceremony rather boring, but he was moved by the sight of so many people gathered in the capital.
“The really moving part of it were the huge crowds,” Malmgren said. “And these older black people, the people who were beaten, the women who were absolutely fearless.”