On March 31st, 1995, Selena was murdered. It has been 15 years since that day, and it is weird that I still remember where I was when I heard the news. You know how people say they remember where they were when JFK died, or even how we remember the exact moment we heard about the 9/11 attacks...well, this image and moment is ingrained in my mind. It is weird how the mind chisels these memories in, and although I'm not saying it is the same magnitude as a president getting assassinated or the largest terrorism attack in history, it was a huge moment in the Mexican-American culture.I was on an old Bluebird school bus, and we had just gotten to a UIL Academic meet in Del Rio, TX, which was going to be our only overnight trip for the year. It was a Friday, and we had just pulled up to the hotel where we were going to be staying that evening, as there were events both days. One of our sponsors, our teacher/vice principal, Mr. Sanchez, got down to go get the keys and check us all in. He took a while, and when he came back on the bus, he had a somber look on his face, and said he had an announcement for us. Coincidentally, the one and only Johnny Canales (you got it, take it away!) was staying in the same hotel, as he was getting married that weekend there (in Del Rio?!). He was in the lobby on the phone, talking to someone in Corpus Christi about the news. This was before cell phones were all over the place, no text messaging, etc...I mean, my brother and I had a beeper for my Mom to reach us, and that was as high-tech as it would get!
Mr. Sanchez told us all that he had just been informed by Johnny that Selena had been shot, and it was rumored that she had passed away, but that they were awaiting further confirmation and details. Some of us smart-asses (yes, me included, can you believe it?) were certain that Mr. Sanchez was playing an early April Fools joke on us and didn't believe him initially, but a girl who had gotten down to call her mom from a payphone came back in tears and confirmed it. (She came back with other crazy rumors, though, one being that it was rumored that the murderer was Emilio Navaira's wife, as she had caught Selena and Emilio together). Some of the girls broke into tears. The mood got somber. I remember not knowing how to feel about it.
I liked Selena, but I wasn't what you would call a huge fan. I mean, to me, she was a regional artist with talent, and I knew she was very popular in Laredo and South Texas. She was only 6+ years older than me, but I had been hearing about her for over a decade, from even back in the day when my parents would go see her perform as a 14-15 year old at the Roxy (where the Metex on San Bernardo now stands). She was everywhere and she was just a part of the culture. I remember her music always being on at my house, especially in my little sister's room, and I remember all the little girls wanting to be like her. Either New Years 1995 or that February at the Jalapeno Festival, my parents had gotten 4 tickets, 2 for them, and 2 for my brother and me. My brother and I, eerily and regrettably, declined to go, saying that she'd be around for decades and we'd just see her live some other time. Unfortunately, we never got that chance.
Now that it is 15 years that she has been gone, a significant milestone has been passed...she has now been dead longer than the length of what her career was, which was 14 years. Nevertheless, she hasn't left the minds of many people in our culture, and I think people will remember her forever. A couple of years later, in 1997, the movie biopic Selena starring and making a star of Jennifer Lopez came out, and made some more people aware of her. Her posthumous album, Dreaming of You, was well-received, and I have no doubt that she would've been a cross-over success. I remember and I have confirmed that People magazine did a special commemorative issue for her, something that had only been done before for Jackie O, I believe. Her issue was reprinted countless times and outsold the other split cover, which had the cast of Friends on it, and it led to the creation of People en Espanol.
I reflected on what she meant to our culture after that, and have thought about it several times since then, and it is amazing to see what a force she was. One of my friends (anti-his own culture, pero con el nopal en la frente) said that Kurt Cobain's suicide was bigger impact-wise in their music genres, but I strongly disagree. You don't see as many people commemorating his death or radio stations playing his music all day on that date as they do for Selena. Here was a poor Mexican-American girl who made it, who changed the face of Tejano music, and funnily enough, she did it initially by phonetically learning the words to her songs as she didn't speak Spanish.
Texas Monthly has an excellent cover story on her this month, where people reflect on her life. I am sure her music will be played all day tomorrow on the Tejano stations. I am sad she got taken away, as even though she was ultra-successful already, I am positive she would've been a huge superstar when she crossed over. I just wanted to remember her today, 15 years from the date of her death, as I have realized what she meant to our culture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvfZ95ueOcQ
