photos taken from the www 

                              

                                                 

 

                                         

 

      This is a real photo of Julia when she was young, I believe she said that it was when she did her first communion.  I took a photo of our TV while watching her latestest movie "La Virgen de Juarez"

                         

                                            

                                        

 

                                           La Virgen de Juarez

                                                    

                                                      

 

                                    

 

                                      

 

                                        

 

 

  Julia Vera's  FILMOGRAPHY  LINK

 

 

                                                                                                              
photo by: Erasmo "Doc" Riojas

 

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               Pachanga packs in many friends

By:    TRICIA CORTEZ,       LAREDO MORNING TIMES
12/28/20                      

___Nearly 75 friends packed the Holiday Inn’s Terraza Verde on Wednesday, mingling and catching up with one another at Neo Gutierrez’s annual Barrio Pachanga.This year’s special guests included ex-mayors Betty Flores and Gus Garcia of Zapata who later became mayor of Austin, as well as Becky Salinas de Chapa, owner of a Nuevo Laredo dance studio that organizes ballet productions throughout the year. Gutierrez, a retired dancer and Spanish teacher at Beverly Hills High School, returns to Laredo each year to sponsor a free dance workshop for high school students. His annual pilgrimage also includes a trip to the Public Access channel, where he produces and hosts nearly a dozen television segments profiling Laredo talent. Salinas de Chapa is scheduled to lead this year’s dance workshop, which will teach jazz numbers from the Broadway musical “Chicago.” It is planned to take place today from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Nixon High School gym. “Becky’s a total dance and theater person, and the two Laredos are lucky to have her,” Gutierrez said after the festive luncheon. “She’s a choreographer, she conceptualizes, and she gets all the costuming, lighting and scenery done right.” Planned entertainment at the Wednesday pachanga included a guitar serenade by Arnold Villamero, a song by Esteban Gustavo and a castanet performance by Altagracia Azios Garcia and former flamenco students Jackie Jacaman, Dr. Carmen Ramirez Rathmell, Minita Ramirez, Lisa G. King, Erica Benavides Garcia, Sandra E. Muñoz and Ana Isabel Alvarez. Dancers dominate the annual event, and as is customary, a microphone is passed around and everyone introduces themselves and their connection to Gutierrez’s pachanga. Organizing this year’s event were Norma Adamo and Roberto Sanmiguel. Oscar Luis Elizondo, former ballet dancer with the Berlin and Hamburg ballet dance companies, said the pachanga is “a great idea” because “it brings together a high percentage of Laredo dance teachers to exchange ideas and discuss new possibilities and opportunities.” With folklorico and flamenco as the dominant dance forms taught in Laredo, Elizondo — who taught last year’s dance workshop on ballet technique — said he hopes to see more dance genres bloom. “The spirit of Laredoans is infectious, and I find it amazing that people come from all parts of the country just to be with friends from Laredo,” Gutierrez said afterward. “Those of us who are out-of-town, we may live in another town or state but our hearts are in Laredo,” he added. Julia Vera, a Laredo native and Hollywood actress who returns every year for the annual pachanga, said she is drawn to the “cariño” and “happiness” of the event. “The love is there and the friendliness,” Vera said. “There is so much happiness when people see each other and catch up. I think it’s very healthy.” Sanjuanita Martinez Hunter, another faithful and lifelong friend of Gutierrez, mingled with old and new friends that have kept in touch with each other on the group’s “cyberspace barrio” network, www.incdef.com. “Neo is an excellent teacher and organizer,” said Martinez Hunter, a retired dancer and educator. “He unites people, and that’s the greatest contribution he made in my life. “I was his Ginger Rogers and he was the Fred Astaire while I was growing up,” added Martinez Hunter, who was Gutierrez’s assistant when he taught ballroom dance at the former Laredo Air Force Base. Alicia McKinnis, folklorico and flamenco teacher at the Vidal M. Treviño School of Communications and Fine Arts, credited Gutierrez for “uniting” people who love the arts. “At this event, you see people who have that love and passion for dance and the arts,” McKinnis said. “And the arts is what can keep kids in schools.” Gutierrez, meanwhile, said he tells himself each year that he will not produce as many programs on Public Access. “And each year, the list gets a little longer but that’s because there are so many wonderful things in Laredo to brag about and to celebrate,” he said. (Tricia Cortez may be reached by phone at (956) 728-2568 or by e-mail at tricia (at) lmtonline.com)

 

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LINKS
back to:   Normis Web Site   tons of stuff there
Mi Vida Loca   El Menos de Magnifico
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Temo Rochas Photo Album of Laredo
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Chuy Segovia Photo Album of Laredo
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Dec 27  2006 Laredo Pachanga at Holiday Inn Photos
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----- Original Message -----
From: Joseph,   magdax27@gmail.com
To:  Juliavera59@aol.com
Sent:  August 08, 2007 
Subject: From your expatriate grandson

Dear Grandma,

I hope your visit to your sister's was nice!  Also, I hope the jobs keep coming your way! 

I've already lived in my permanent site, Uzundzhovo,  for over a month.  It's a village of about 1,600 people, with Bulgarians, a large population of Roma (gypsies), and another large population of people called Asparuh Bulgarians.  The latter group claims to be the descendants of the first Bulgarian kings, but I can't honestly tell them apart from the gypsies. 

Everyone here is very friendly.  The teachers have given me bags and bags of tomatoes, carrots, and melons.  That people still grow their own produce is something I appreciate immensely.  The watermelon from my landlady's yard is definitely the SWEETEST I've ever had, with practically no rind, and absolutely no genetic modification/pesticides. 

Sometimes, the people here are a bit small-minded.  I am able to understand most conversations, but I have to zone them out because most of the time people are talking about the weather and what home renovation.  Asking them about their thoughts on the world and their country usually generates some pessimistic response, and they seem to think that moving to America will earn them immediate wealth and happiness.  Some of the questions they ask about America are really just out there, too.  Today, one of the teachers wanted to know when we have street-cleaning.  Often, I get asked if America has (enter any indigenous American fruit/vegetable here).

Still, I am happy to see how well their children speak English, and that the teachers at my school genuinely want to learn English in my summer classes. 

Right now, a Bulgarian boy who lives in L.A. (Torrance) is visiting his grandma here, and I work w/ him 3 times a week w/ his reading.  Sometimes, I wonder if he is dyslexic because he reverses words and letters (and also just guesses what the sentences say w/o fully reading them), but I think reading English and Bulgarian--which are in two different writing systems--must be horribly confusing at that age.  I was reading into dyslexia, too, and apparently English-speakers represent the majority of dyslexic people, presumably because our writing system makes LITTLE SENSE!  Still, I think this boy's bilingual background will ultimately be of great service to him as he's growing up in L.A.  When I was living in another town here, Sapareva Banya, I met a woman also living in L.A. and visiting her Bulgarian family, who told me her son will be attending UCLA's engineering school this fall. 

The one sad part about Bulgarians doing so well in America is that they don't return to Bulgaria to help their motherland, and this country really needs its best people to stay and build it up.  Bulgaria is pretty much a developed country, but I imagine living in most of its towns and villages is like living in some small town in Kansas or North Dakota.  People don't have job security, and people don't have much money to really enjoy the world.

Anyway, I hope you are doing well!

Love,
Joseph Andrews,  your Grandson

The Village of Uzundjovo is located in South-Central Bulgaria. It is part of Haskovo Municipality, Haskovo District. http://www.guide-bulgaria.com/SC/Haskovo/Haskovo/Uzundjovo

The Peace Corps