Mariano Velez

INKBLOTZ

  • 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… more ›

  • 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… more ›

  • 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… more ›

  • 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… more ›

  • 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… more ›

  • 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;… more ›

  • 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… more ›

  • 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… more ›

  • 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… more ›

  • 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… more ›

  • 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… more ›

  • 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… more ›

  • Homework: An Epic in Four Pencils

    (A Poem in Slightly Crooked Lines) I sat at my table at quarter to four, With four little pencils (I might need one more). A worksheet of fractions stared back at my face, Like a dragon who’d swallowed my free-time… more ›

  • Between Covers, Beyond Pages — From Reader to Writer and Back

    Awaiting the publication of my first book has changed something I never expected: the way I hold a book in my hands. I’ve always loved books. As a kid, I devoured them. In college, I would lose hours wandering the… more ›

  • Sleeping In: A Universal Law

    Sleeping in is not a character flaw. It’s not laziness. It’s not poor planning. It is a cosmic law, etched into the fabric of existence—right up there with gravity and Wi-Fi never working when you need it most. No one… more ›