Shantih Journal 3.1 | Page 68

protests break out. She responds by sending aone-minute video she recorded from her car. The street is full of burning tires and rocks. “I saw a man get killed the other day,” she adds. “Heard the gunshot first.” I wait for her to type, mostly because I don’t know what to say. “It was right in the head. His brains all over the sidewalk.” I wonder if brains on a sidewalk, like in Hollywood movies, resemble the consistency of lard. I wonder for several minutes. Katherine will know all her life. 7. Repeat steps 4 and 5 with the remainder of mix 1. 8. Pour new mixture into another pot, and place on a stove burner. Add 2 sticks of margarine (226 g), 2 bags of Natura’s tomato paste (226 g), and 5 ounces of annatto powder. Boil and stir until it has a thick consistency. This may take several minutes. This will be the red mix. 68 It’s December and everything is red. The Santa Claus in the street ringing his bell and asking for money. The string that goes around the Christmas tree in the middle of the mall, which has not been ransacked because it’s too close to the presidential plaza. And the streets, of course, running red with the blood of over 40 young women and men. 9. Cook a pound of rice and add a stick (56.5 g) of margarine, and 2 potatoes cut into small pieces. Set aside. “Temporary Protected Status is going away,” the news say. Go back to your shithole countries. Ligia’s mom, who has been working and paying taxes in Florida for 20 years, cries until she doesn’t even care about the migraine she’ll have to endure the next day, while working from 6 inthe morning to 10 at night. This is her life. The first ones to lose it are the Haitians. It’s just been too long since the earthquake, the government explains. The Nicaraguans come next. There’s only about 2,000 of them, we reason, perhaps it’s understandable. But then, the Salvadoreños, all 200,000 of them lose it too. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. “Well–– what did you think “temporary” stood for?” the government says. What’s not temporary is countries run by drug cartels. TPS is renewed for Hondurans 6