Yes We Can! Si se puede!

 Getting ready for another presidential election, and I couldn't be less excited about going through all the hollering, blaming and shaming that will be at our door.

  I couldn't pass college algebra in college. I tried three times, and failed it every time. Finally my advisor agreed to let me take Logic in the Philosophy department. I got more from it than 3 college algebras.

  Logic is language, language that proves truth, but can easily be misused to seemingly prove a false truth.

  I'm fixing to use it to prove that a very vocal and fierce group of women in Las Vegas are some of the most powerful people in the United States. Here we go....

  I was working at Paris Las Vegas when I started seeing fliers for an impending strike. Having never been a union member before joining the 226, Vegas' culinary union, I inquired to friends about what would happen in the event of a strike. My Filipino "mom" (the day she met me, she asked if I had family in the city; when I said no, she said: I'm your second mom now, please pass all love interests through me so that I can approve or disapprove)-- she LAUGHED and said, "Oh don't worry about a strike. It never gets to us." See, it goes: Maids first, then waiters, then bartenders, etc. A strike never, EVER lasts longer than two days of Maids. They're the fiercest group of women you'd ever want to meet. The longer I worked in casinos, the more I noticed that a lot of people wouldn't even ride the elevators with them, because THEY ARE LEGEND. Nobody will cross their picket lines. They're right in front of all the doors and valet stops, jumping on any vehicle that tries to cross, spitting and screaming at anyone who'd try to walk by them.

The 226 has tens of thousands of members, forming one of the most important voting blocks in the country. Every time they talk about how important Nevada is in an election? That's because of the 226. You see, it's a bunch of people from ALL OVER THE WORLD, many of whom speak English as a second or third or fourth language, looking for a way to fund up to 20 people back where they came from. The 226 insures all of these people a living wage, a wage that includes great health insurance for themselves and their families, and even pathways for their children to be able to afford to go to college. 

And who ensures that this voting block will keep going strong? The Maids. 

Therefore, a formidable group of Latin women form and enforce one of the most powerful groups of voters in any big election in America. Here's to the women! You might walk past them, or ask for a towel, or even treat them like they're less than you in any number of ways, but THAT would be a mistake!

HERE'S TO THE MAIDS! You rock!!! SI SE PUEDE!!

 That time my friend helped me visit the angel on top of the Blue Angel Motel, (now gone) in Las Vegas, Nevada, sometime around 2004. You're a ladder to the angels, friend.