June 2012 Latino Atheists Meeting

The June meeting of the Chicago Latino Atheists group happened yesterday. We met at the Buzz Cafe, but there were so many of us that we got moved upstairs. We had been coming there for a couple of years, and we did not know there was an upstairs room.

Turnout was pretty high. It was myself, Jose, Martha, Jaime, Jaime’s wife, Eduardo, Espy, Vicky, Francisco and Raquel. I had seen Vicky and Francisco at different atheist/skeptic events around Chicago, but I did not interact with them very much. Eduardo and Espy are siblings, and Martha was happy to see another pair of siblings.

Jaime’s wife is taking a summer break from her day job of saving the world. She lived up to her reputation and gave us all an assignment: We should all prepare something about women and atheism. Martha gave her the nickname La Acha, which Martha said means “The Axe”. (The Spanish word for “hammer” ends with the letter “O”, and was determined to be inappropriate.)  At the last meeting Jaime’s sister got into a “discussion” with Jose, and she did not show up to this meeting. Thanks a lot, Jose.

Martha reserved the room for next month. She was reluctant to use the word “Atheist” in the reservation. But she kept the logic. (Religious people “keep the faith”, we stay rational.)

Eduardo expressed an interest in attending other atheist/skeptical groups in Chicago. I gave him my take on the scene in Chicago. He wanted to have a Latino Atheist meeting in the Loop to get us to two meetings a month. We shall see what happens. Espy recently moved to Chicago, and has worked as a personal trainer. She had lived in California. She and Eduardo had also lived in Wisconsin, and are glad to be out.

Jaime said that Eduardo knows a lot about Drupal. Perhaps there will be some changes to the website.

Raquel is a college student from Texas who is interning at a local gallery. She is the first Texan I have met who does not have a driver’s license. She is from an area of Texas outside the Golden Triangle (Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth). Jose and Martha have relatives in El Paso, so there was some talk about the difference between the cartel spillover in different parts of Texas. The school Raquel attends is in Edinburg, about 330 miles from Houston. Both cities are very very far from El Paso. Texas is big. I mean, it’s really big. No, seriously, you won’t believe how big it is. Raquel also said that if she stays in Texas she would live in Austin.

Martha and Espy are going to recruit and train an cadre of fit, atheist Hispanic women. Hopefully they will unleash an army of bikini-clad, equation-spewing Salma Hayek look-alikes on the world. I am pretty certain that is their plan. And I for one would welcome our new fit, rational Latina overlords. (I suppose I should say “overladies”, but I am not sure if it is a real word.) Religious people have their fantasies, and I have mine.

Cowboy hats and thigh-high stilletto-heeled boots. I’m just saying……

Image of seal of Mexican state of Aguascalientes from Wikipedia