Changing Direction

It has come to my attention that with blogging there must be a clear and decisive direction. I have been writing literary prose pieces, short stories, and poetry on my blog since its inception. I am now realizing that most people don't want to read this type of material, but rather enjoy experiential pieces that talk about daily life. I will now be transitioning into a blog that speaks about my daily life. I want to capture my life in blog form so that people can understand me better, and so that I have an outlet and community to read about my life as it happens and changes in real time. I want to thank all of my readers and visitors from the past few years and I hope that I can continue to entertain and have your readership as my blog evolves.

Seeing as I have decided to start writing about life instead of writing fictional stories and prose pieces. I thought I would start with a small introduction to myself and go from there.

My name is Gabriel Barrio. I am a writer, a student, a poet, a performance artist and a person just working his way through life. There isn't much I can really say that will help you connect with me other than I am human, I cry, bleed, have emotions, make mistakes (lots of them), and work towards my dreams everyday.

I come from the Land of Enchantment, at least that is what the nickname for my state is. I was born and raised in Las Cruces, NM, USA. I love the state that I am from and I am proud of my heritage, which is a mixed up bunch of madness that I am still learning more about as I get older. I am of mixed races, or of mixed ethnic background. This is what my hometown looks like!

The sunsets are amazing here and so are the mountains. The city is just recently achieved the status of being a small metropolitan area. That means that the city has about 100,000 people in it and the county which it is in has around 214,000 people. This makes for a small town feel, where just about everyone knows everyone. There are things to do but very few, and you generally hear a lot of younger people say that they hate it here. The people here range from college age to retirement age, so finding a nightlife is not always an easy thing to do. Luckily there is a major metropolitan city just about 50 miles to the South, El Paso, Texas. Most Las Crucen folk travel to El Paso for the nightlife and the music.

This city is small and the businesses generally cater to the older retirement community, so the city tends to get pretty tame and quiet at around 9 p.m. There are many hardworking people in Las Cruces, especially since the city and state is filled with the working class. There is rampant poverty in the state and the city mimics this as well. If you can get over the slow pace of the city and the poverty, you will find a gem of a place to live and experience life. 

The people in Las Cruces are friendly and very down to earth. There is a million Mexican food restaurants here which is confusing since the population is predominantly Mexican-American. What this tells me is that everyone here hates their own cooking or that they are not talented enough to make what is known to be very simple cuisine. Las Cruces is a paradox, its slow paced but everyone here lives fast, the beauty is striking and original but not in the way you would expect beauty to present itself in other cities or states. I would say the age old cliche about how you either hate it here or you love it but I think there are quite a few people that have a mentality that resides in between the two.

I would say Las Cruces is an acquired taste. You have to appreciate cultural diversity because of the University which attracts students from a variety of different countries. You also have to appreciate the fact that the desert has its own appeal, perfectly warm summer nights, clear skies almost everyday of the year, and temperatures that allow for outdoor activity throughout most of the year. 

This is the city that I am from. I was born here and learned much about life from all of my family who lives here. I have traveled and visited many places but have found that this city has an appeal like no other so far. I don't say it is the best place on earth but it sure is my favorite place at the moment.