Ruminations on the Enigma Variations

I’m still a bit wound up from the election, Luis Valdez’s magnificent performance at the Mexican Heritage Plaza recently, and the afterglow of our wonderful mariachi festival. The election has definitely captured a mood of optimism and the determination to keep our hand on the plow and fix the mess we’re in.

Lately, I’ve been in a writing mood, which only became more insistent after I turned on the car radio the other night and found myself listening to English composer Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations. On the long drives home from San Jose, especially after evening gigs where I have to be the host and “on” for the evening, I always turn on the radio for the drive back and listen either to the classical station or show tunes or Sinatra.  If I’m lucky, I get to hear something new that catches my imagination, which helps me to stay alert.

In Memory of Henry Schiro

Last Friday afternoon I heard “Moon River” played for San Jose arts patron and supporter Henry Shiro at his funeral mass. As most in the community know, Henry spent the better part of thirty years raising money for, participating in, and cheerleading on behalf of San Jose’s arts and culture community, and more specifically, music organizations such as San Jose Jazz, the Children’s Musical Theatre, the Steinway Society, and more recently, the Mexican Heritage Corporation (MHC) and Plaza. They played a sampling of his favorite tunes at the service. Based on the SRO crowd at Friday’s mass, I’d say he succeeded in his mission of community service.  Also, he had great taste in music.

Lest anyone think the title of this guest column is intended as a general admonition, be assured it’s not. It was, in fact, what I said to myself the other day as I clapped my forehead and realized a personal “ah ha” moment.

Food for Thought

What shall we suppose is the spark that attracts our children’s motivation? Is it the exhilaration of sport?  Is it the need to join in, and be alike? Is it the need to set out, and be different?  Much has been written and legislated in the desire to find the elusive formula that will spark and educate each generation to a sense of responsibility and, if we’re lucky, leadership.

This week marks the second anniversary of the passing of one of the great young talents in American letters: the New York publisher Elizabeth Maguire, who died of ovarian cancer April 8, 2006, at the age of 47.  So, one might ask: why should San Jose’s citizens remember her? One answer is that her work exemplifies how innovation can come from just one individual and impact an entire country. Isn’t this what Silicon Valley applauds?  A second answer, for me, is that she reminds me of a man I never knew: Leonard McKay.

Tuesday the San Jose City Council voted 10-1 to approve the plan put forward by Mayor Reed and Councilmember Campos to rebuild and sustain the operation of the Mexican Heritage Plaza.  As we stated in a recent e-mail to our Plaza friends, this decision is the right one and has been nearly ten years in the making.  In that time, many different groups, committees, and policy makers have struggled to solve the structural and financial challenges inherent in operating the Plaza safely, making it available to meet the community’s needs and programming it with critically and popularly successful artistic and cultural events. Since the facility opened:

By Marcela Davison Aviles

Prior to addressing the Mexican Heritage Plaza’s (MHP) sustainability model to operate successfully now and in the future, we believe the community should also ask the following: Is the Plaza making significant improvements and is it better off today than four years ago? The answer lies in the Plaza itself.  Four years ago the new board of directors and CEO inherited substantial debt; the Plaza also suffered from six years of deferred maintenance and heavy wear and tear. Critical equipment and systems no longer functioned. The garden was in decay. The administrative offices were unkempt and dirty. The parking lot was rented as a used car sales lot. The Mexican Heritage Corporation’s (MHC) finances were in complete disarray. The Plaza’s reputation, as characterized by one prominent arts program officer, “was a joke.”