seeing 'its a wonderful life' in the movie theater when people clapped and cheered during george's 'those people do most of the working and living and dying' speech was pretty amazing. most of the theater was sobbing and cheering for last 10 minutes of show as well. https://twitter.com/howatdk/status/1276541656079073290

another one is when i saw 'the greatest showman' and it was in a theater where you got to sing along with the movie. i was sitting right next to a woman who sang so absolutely beautifully, i was crying while i sang next to her. she was singing this.

not in the movie theater, but this past week when my kid graduated, we decorated his car--after everybody else was done, i went back and added flags and sparkles. my kid got in the car and as we take off, the flags are waving and whipping in the wind-

and i start yelling OMG XX HAS GRADUATED WORLD, and he turns to me and goes, you are ritchie valens's mom. he was, of course, referencing the scene in la bamba where ritchie's mom rented the van with the microphone on top-

and was driving around town all decked out in flying guitars and telling folks to come see 'ritchie valens and his flying guitar.'

if anybody knows how to do marketing for their child and their successes, it's a mexican/chicana mom. our kids need advertising, we will bring the flags, ice cream trucks, glitter, balloons, honking horns AND our mouths.

of course i can't find a clip of the scene, but here is a still of it, right before ritchie's mom comes into frame--that's an ice cream truck she's taken control of, lol, and she's taken over the microphone, saying to come see ritchie and his vlying guitar)

movies can do that--they can let kids of color see that their experiences--their loud mexican mothers, for example, are not abnormal or something to be ashamed of. they can see that they come from a long line of kids with loud mothers. that's why representation is so important.

so we stop measuring ourselves up against the 'good' protestant white mothers that give their gentle kiss and light handshake.

cuz thats the thing. my kid wasn't *ashamed* that we were driving around with the screaming loud mexican mother in the back seat. he may have been embarrassed, as kids tend to be, but he wasn't ashamed. that was the gift that chicano film maker gave me and my kid.

and for the record--tonight when we were driving home, a black woman honked at us, screaming at us to get our attention. when we looked over, she was like IS THE GRADUATE IN THE CAR??

and my kid was like, yeah, it's me! and she told him congratulations for graduating and that she's got kids graduating and she's so proud of everybody. we told her congratulations and thank you and then the light changed and we drove on--but it was a lovely moment.

movies that honor that type of love--they are the best kind of movies.