MARIPOSA HALL
Formerly the Sands Motel
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Two Essays in my book Gone Are the Days/Se han ido los días are about Mariposa Hall
READ CHAPTERS 14 AND 15 HERE
OH, WHAT A DOPE I AM--I ADDED THE STORIES ON THIS PAGE WITH SOME EFFORT! SCROLL DOWN TO SEE....
14. The Dove Who Couldn't Walk
15. The Antlers and the Sands Motel
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POSTERITY
This is the actual, authentic, original and
certified CIRCUIT BREAKER box legend from the Sands
Motel when it was
a motel and they had a bar and my parents used to go
there all the time. They'd say, "We'll be at the Sands tonight if
you need to know where we are." We had no idea of
where it was. Often they would say, "We'll be at the Antlers tonight!"
In my forties, I used to drive by it. What a dive! Sands Motel Circuit Breaker Info.jpg  mariposa I want this picture.JPG
THE DOVE WHO COULDN'T WALK
FROM Gone Are the Days by Tom Cole  In April of 2002, I was working at Mariposa Hall at Arizona State University. The place was formerly the Sands Motel and its rooms had been converted into offices. In the courtyard there was a swimming pool surrounded by grassy lawn. One day, I saw a mourning dove alight on the ground. Its landing was like that of a sea plane on water in a sense—you see, the dove's legs seemed to be paralyzed and so he had glided down to make his soft landing on the runway of Bermuda. It just so happened that I had been putting out seed for the birds and this particular dove was now lying on the ground and hungrily pecking and eating. I remember that although he could not walk, he was able to crawl a bit from place to place, scooting about through the grass. It became my custom to put out extra food along with a shallow dish full of water that he could reach. I remember how he would fly from the lawn up to the roof and make his forced landing up there and I wondered what would become of him when the extreme Arizona summer heat made life even harder. As I write, I can't remember how the story of the Dove Who Couldn't Walk ended—perhaps I never knew. However, a quick search in my database adds a little information in the form of two entries. Mourning Dove 04/22/2002 Arizona State University. The poor mourning dove with the hurt foot was there at Mariposa. I fed him and the pigeons and Incas. He disappeared for a couple of weeks once and returned. Now I think he's doing quite well and enjoying the food. I put out water too. Mourning Dove 04/25/2002 Arizona State University This is the guy at Mariposa with the paralyzed foot. I feed him or her. Once he disappeared for two weeks. Now he's back. He walks a little using his wing. I give him lots to eat and leave water too. And now seventeen years have passed and I am most certain that the dove has gone to greener pastures—a creature to whom life and destiny had dealt a bad hand and who had no choice but to accept this dearth of good fortune with whatever courage and optimism he could muster.  Peace Park Tempe Arizona.jpg Near Mariposa Hall |
THESE PICTURES ARE
DATED:
DECEMBER 15, 2006  Marioposa thanks.JPG  mariposa don't destroy me.JPG  mariposa I miss you.JPG  Mariposa I will miss this
building.JPG
LA PALOMA QUE NO PODÍA CAMINAR
De Gone Are the Days de Tom Cole Un día, vi una paloma huilota que aterrizó en el pasto. Era como si ella fuera un hidroavión y que hubiera hecho un acuatizaje (¿Un acuatizacate?) en el zacate. Verá, las patas del ave parecían estar paralizadas así que había bajado planeando para hacer su aterrizaje suave en la pista de zacate. Daba la casualidad de que yo tenía la costumbre de poner semillas en el suelo para los pájaros y esta paloma ahora estaba tendida en el pasto picoteando y comiendo. Me acuerdo de que aunque no podía caminar, lograba gatear un poquito moviéndose de un lugar a otro en el zacate. Desde entonces yo dejaba más comida junto con un tazón de agua que la paloma podía alcanzar. Recuerdo cómo volaba del zacate hasta la azotea para hacer otro aterrizaje allí arriba y me preguntaba qué le iba a pasar cuando llegara el calor extremo del verano de Arizona y le hiciera incluso más difícil su vida. Mientras escribo, no me acuerdo de cómo terminó la historia de la paloma que no podía caminar. A lo mejor nunca me enteré del desenlace. Sin embargo, una rápida búsqueda en mi base de datos añade un poquito de información en forma de dos entradas. Paloma Huilota 04/22/2002 Universidad Estatal de Arizona. La pobre paloma huilota con el pie lastimado estaba allí en Mariposa. Le di de comer a ella, a los pichones y a las palomas Incas. Desapareció por un par de semanas una vez y regresó. Ahora creo que le está yendo bastante bien y disfruta de la comida. Yo también le dejo agua. Paloma Huilota 04/25/2002 Universidad Estatal de Arizona. Este es el tipo de Mariposa con la pata paralizada. Yo le doy de comer. Una vez desapareció por dos semanas. Ahora ha vuelto. Ella camina un poco usando el ala. Le doy de comer mucho y también le dejo agua. Y ahora han pasado diecisiete años y estoy seguro que la paloma ha pasado a mejor vida—una criatura a la que el destino y la vida le había jugado una mala pasada y que no tenía más remedio que aceptar esta penuria de buena fortuna con todo el coraje y optimismo que podía encontrar. 15. El Bar
"Las Astas" y El Motel Sands
De Gone Are the Days de Tom Cole  Tarjeta postal vieja
Cuando yo era muy
joven mi madre frecuentemente me decía:
—Tommy, tu padre y yo estaremos en el Sands esta noche—. O —Estaremos en los Antlers. Yo sabía que ella se
estaba refiriendo a bares, pero esto era todo lo que
sabía. Creo que ella me informaba dónde iban a estar
en caso de que hubiera una emergencia, pero nunca
sabía dónde estaban ni los números de teléfono. Por
eso, si hubiera habido una emergencia, sólo los
nombres no serían muy útiles. Afortunadamente nada
pasó.
Hace unos pocos años yo pasé en auto frente a the Antlers. Me di cuenta de que en realidad nunca había visto ese bar. Había las astas de un alce colgada encima de la puerta. Aluciné mucho. "¡Qué bar de mala muerte!" me dije.  The Antlers, un
verdadero bar de mala muerte
En la historia "La
paloma que no podía andar" dije que yo trabajaba en
este edificio
cuando ya no era un motel. Llegó a ser Mariposa Hall, al principio una residencia estudiantil y más tarde un edificio con clases y oficinas. Un día yo abrí la caja de fusibles y dentro había la leyenda de fusibles del Motel Sands. Había fusibles para los abanicos de un salón de belleza y una peluquería y para el aire acondicionado del bar y café. Sands Motel Circuit Breaker Info.jpg Nuestra escuela de
inglés como segunda lengua estaba ubicada en
Mariposa Hall por muchos años. Un día una compañera
de trabajo entró a mi oficina sosteniendo en la mano
un martillo. Ella de repente golpeó la pared e hizo
un gran hoyo.
Ella acababa de enterarse de que iban a derribar el edificio al poco tiempo y que podíamos destruir lo que queríamos. A nadie le importaba. Los estudiantes escribieron muchos mensajes de cariño de despedida en las paredes de Mariposa.  Grafiti de cariño
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 Mariposa kanji.JPG  mariposa kitty.JPG  mariposa see ya.JPG mariposa so long.JPG  mariposa you served us well.JPG The Antlers and the Sands Motel FROM Gone Are the Days by Tom Cole Old Post Card When I was very young
my mother often told me, "Tommy, your father and I
will be at the Sands tonight." Or "We will be at the
Antlers."
I knew that she was referring to bars, but this was all I knew. I think she informed me where they were going to be in case there was an emergency, but I never knew where these places were or the phone numbers either. Therefore, if there had been an emergency, the names alone wouldn't have been especially useful. Fortunately nothing happened when they were out. A few years ago I drove by the Antlers and I realized that I had never really seen that bar. There were elk antlers hanging above the door. I was surprised. "What a dive!" I said to myself. The Antlers, a
real dive
In the story "The Dove Who Couldn't Walk" I said that I worked in the old Sands Motel when it was no longer a motel. It had become Mariposa Hall, at first a dormitory and then a classroom and office building. One day, I opened the circuit breaker box and inside there was a legend of circuit breakers at the Sands Motel. There were circuit breakers for the fans in a beauty salon and a barbershop and for the air conditioning in the bar and cafe. Sands Motel Circuit Breaker Info.jpg She had just learned that they were going to tear down the building soon and that we could lay waste to anything we felt like. No one cared. The students wrote many affectionate good-bye messages on the walls of Mariposa. Affectionate Graffiti |