Columns

An entry in Facebook caught my attention only yesterday. One of the “friends” (members) on the social network listed words that ought to be avoided in academic writing: “interesting,” “basically,” “got,” “firstly, secondly . . .” and “etc.”

But before we parse away, let’s explain the idea of social networks like Facebook, where “friend” has become a verb, as in “I’d like to friend you, my dear.”

While East Las Vegas moved forward as New Mexico’s newest and most vibrant American city in the 1880’s, the west side did not immediately take a back seat. The Romero brothers and many of the early non-Hispanic merchants continued their business establishments in what became La Plaza Vieja (Old Town).

“Why, when I was your age . . . “ It’s impossible to utter those six words, in that sequence, without having someone come up with, “Yes, we already know: You had to walk to school five miles, uphill both ways, in deep snow.”

So I won’t be mentioning the daily trudges through snow, in freezing weather that lasted from December to December. Nor will I write about the distance of our treks.

Emerging as a separate and independent municipality following the failed attempt at unification with the west side in 1882-84, East Las Vegas quickly took root as a dynamic American city. Major water works, and gas and electric projects soon got under way in New Town, and Protestant churches were erected at Zion Hill and on Douglas Avenue. (See “Zion Hill and the Early Protestant Churches,” Nuestra Historia, Jan. 6, 2012.)