JIMBO TIMES returns to El Salvador this January

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The land where my papá was born was for the longest time a maligned place in the stories told through the land I called home. In fact, exactly six years ago in a discussion regarding the U.S.’s immigration quotas Trump referred to El Salvador, as well as Haiti and other African nations, as “shit-hole countries.”

That same year I visited El Salvador for the first time. I was 27 then, and nothing would stop me from breaking through to this world I’d heard enough about but which I hadn’t seen for myself yet; instead of “The Violent Animals of MS-13,” I saw the volcanic highlands that enclosed the first pupusas ever known to a people and their pueblos, to say nothing of an entirely new family tree. It was also in San Salvador where I tried pupusas de masa de arroz for the first time, which to this day are still my favorite kind to ask of pupuseras in Los Angeles.

I also learned that the hometown had prepared me over a lifetime to find my way “back.” According to the 2022 Census, just under 1.7 million Central-Americans call L.A. home,* but that’s surely an under-count since the community grows daily in L.A. County while also doing its part to make Southern California one of the richest havens of culture in all of North America.

This January, I return to El Salvador for just the second time ever as an Election Observer for presidential elections taking place there. I’ll be part of a small delegation to show enduring commitment to a free and just El Salvador.

I’m now fundraising to pay for the trip! My fundraising goal covers the costs of the airfare, as well as in-country costs including lodging and transportation, and about $100 for miscellaneous expenses (like a few delicious queso duros). In addition to my role as an Observer, I’ll also be documenting the efforts of my delegation leading up to presidential elections on February 4th, including interviews with my fellow delegates and the Salvadoran people to uplift only more of this pueblo for Los Angeles.

As usual, you’ll be able to find all of these cuentos via jimbotimes.com, J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast, and on Instagram: @jimbotimes. For any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Trust that I’m going to do my best to make you proud, Los Angeles, and thanks so much on behalf of Los Cuentos!

*An earlier version of this article mistakenly noted the Central-American population in L.A. as being at 836,000 people, when in fact the number is significantly higher.*

J.T.

Pandemic in Los Angeles: Day 16

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L.A.’s streets in the early evening are curled into misty shadows. Once again I walked through the city, moving to the drum of its dimmed pulse. I know this is a privilege that not just everyone gets to enjoy.

A friend asked me earlier today how I’ve been getting through the times, and I responded that I’ve been reading, and writing. Then repeating. During this process it’s become more clear to me how over the course of these last few years, as I’ve picked up my smartphone more frequently, I’ve picked up my paperback and hardcover books less and less.

This has been obvious enough of a case for most everyone, but through the course of the quarantine season, I’ve seen only more clearly how work and school and the rest of my time dashing through L.A.’s intersections have divided me in so many different directions. The smartphone became a way to bridge it all together.

That is, until now, when in lieu of these most recent events, my phone has become less of a necessary bridge. While I still need to set my reminders, I don’t need to rely on the screen for them. And while I still have appointments, I take them one day at a time.

In these times, Jimbo Times: The L.A. Storyteller has been the more critical connection–my daily reminder–or my way to remain not only in the loop, but to become even more ensconced within my community and culture.

Since so many of my daily treks across the road have vanished, I’ve gotten back to my reading goals in a way that seemed virtually out of reach only a month ago. In the first week of the shutdown, at long last, I finished Leo Tolstoy’s War & Peace. Today, during this third week, I finally got past 600 pages of David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. Almost in celebration, I published an “early” review (or is that a critique) of Infinite Jest on the site, the first review in months for the blog.

At this rate, if I’m able to continue my sudden return to the classics, maybe I can finally get back to Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow, not to mention W.E.B. Du Bois’s Reconstruction. These are books that have sat on my shelf for years now, but which at this particular juncture, for all intents and purposes, I can see and pick up again with refreshed eyes.

J.T.