Mariano Velez

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  • The Hierarchy of Everyday Life (According to an Overcaffeinated Educator)

    Or: A Day in the Life of Someone Who Wakes Up Already Tired Let’s be honest: adulthood is basically a group project where nobody knows what’s going on, and the teacher—ironically—is you. And before any of that noble, inspiring educator stuff starts, there’s coffee. Always coffee. The alarm rings. You open one eye. The world…

  • Epic Quests Require Fries: A Charro’s Story

    After our performance at the closing of the Cattle Call Rodeo in Brawley, I rolled up to In-N-Out thinking I’d grab a quick bite. The place looked packed to the gills. Maybe not the best decision I’ve made, but hope is a dangerous thing.  I was still in my green traje de charro—embroidered jacket, gold…

  • I Think My Fence Has a Drinking Problem

    I was outside grilling, enjoying a cold one, just watching the smoke drift up and pretending I knew exactly what I was doing. I take a sip, and out of the corner of my eye I catch this little glint—light bouncing off something over by the fence. At first I think it’s just a loose…

  • Somehow, I Published a Book (And Survived)

    Ideas have always shown up unannounced, like they were crashing a party I didn’t even know I was hosting. Some linger politely, evolving over months or years, migrating between my head, notebooks, and random scraps of paper. Others disappear the moment I think I’ve got them figured out, leaving me staring at a blank page…

  • An Invitation Home: Remembering, Celebrating, and Holding On

    I’ve known about Día de los Muertos for as long as I can remember. Growing up, it was always there—on the calendar, in the stores, in movies and at school—a colorful annual tradition with marigolds, sugar skulls, and altars filling the reading nook in the library. But only now, with time and perspective, do I…

  • Being me…

    The hardest thing about being me is forgetting how hard it is to be me. I wake, I move, I mend the cracks and call it progress. I joke, I help, I give what’s left and call it love. Some days I remember the weight of it all— and some days I wear it so…

  • Cooking: the world’s most delicious dehydration project

    Did y’all know that cooking is basically just strategically drying your food to a preferred edible status? That’s it. That’s the whole operation. We’ve spent centuries building cuisines, writing cookbooks, and inventing culinary arts, but at the end of the day, we’re just negotiating with moisture. Ever notice how we describe our food like it…

  • Under the Friday Night Lights

    There’s something almost magical about a fall night at Calexico High, warm and humid, with a light drizzle turning Belcher Field into a glistening diamond under the Friday night lights. The smell of fried foods and hot dogs drifts through the air—sometimes overpowering, sometimes just enough to make you wish you’d skipped dinner. The turf…

  • The Curiosity of Curiosity

    Curiosity is one of the first languages children learn. Long before they master full sentences, they’re pointing, tugging, and asking questions in a hundred different ways—“What’s that?” “Why?” “How come?” A child doesn’t just accept the world as it is; they poke at it, twist it, and try to make sense of it through their…

  • A Writer’s Manifesto

    (Or Am I Just Rambling?) I remember, when I was still a teacher, how I answered the question: What makes a good writer? I always said, “Just write every day. Practice it.” Now, with many years of surviving life on this rock, I see how naïve that answer was. And honestly, a bit lazy. Writing…

  • Rain, Memories, and Mischief

    Not too long ago, I wrote about memories and how they have a way of popping up when you least expect them. Maybe it’s because I’m — how shall we say — a little older now, but I find myself looking back more often, sifting through the good, the funny, and the slightly bruised. I…

  • The Thing About Palm Trees

    Palm trees grow in warm places all over the world, but somehow they got branded as California’s signature accessory — like aviator sunglasses for the landscape. They aren’t even native to most of the state. The tall, spindly Mexican fan palms that define so many skylines were imported by the thousands in the early 1900s,…

  • When Memories Come Visit

    Memories have a way of sneaking up on you. One moment you’re stirring coffee, waiting for the light to change, scrolling through TikTok, and then — suddenly — you’re somewhere else. Somewhere you haven’t been in decades, but it feels as alive as ever. Today it was Plaza Olvera in Los Angeles. I watched a…

  • Tinkering

    Once upon a time, every kid was a tinkerer. We learned by unscrewing things, prying them open, poking around inside. Radios, bikes, door hinges, cassette decks — if it rattled, clicked, or hummed, we had to know why. There were no YouTube tutorials or step-by-step guides, just a screwdriver, a roll of tape, and an…

  • Why We’re Holding the Line on Phones and Dress Code

    As both a parent and a school administrator, I often stand at the intersection of two worlds. At home, I want my own kids to laugh with their friends, make mistakes, learn from them, and discover who they’re meant to be. I remember what it felt like to be young, testing limits, eager for freedom.…