Richard Cadena:  

Life We lived in mid-city Los Angeles where I attended Alta Loma and St. Paul's schools, and went swimming at LA high school on Olympic & West Blvds every summer. My mom attended LA High. St. Paul's is where I learned my English language grammar, which gave me the bases I needed to learn Spanish as a second language, and go on to become an English teacher and Spanish to English translator in Mexico as an adult. I also sang in the boys' choir at St. Paul's church, as well as at Blessed Sacrement Church on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood in my late teens. In July 1955, we moved to Fullerton, CA where we lived for 5 years. At Fullerton High, I took 4 years of Spanish and spent the summer of 1957 in Mexico City, which changed everything for me. Up to that time, my 100% Mexican ancestry had not been of much importance to me, but Mexico stole my heart and I identified immediately and made it my obligation to learn Spanish as it is spoken in Mexico City. I had had access to the real deal and, therefore, demanded the real deal for myself. I also took business subjects, including Typing and Bookkeeping. Unfortunately, my mother passed away the summer before my senior year (1959), and my dad wound up sending my sisters down to Mexico City with my aunts where they finished growing up. Upon graduating from FUHS, My dad and I moved out to the valley, since he was working for Flying Tigers Airlines in Burbank. In the valley, I attended Los Angeles Valley College in Van Nuys, CA. I did a little more than a year of junior college. At age 20, I traveled from LA to Mexico City by bus and spent 3 months there, visiting my sisters and returned to LA by bus. Traveling in Mexico by bus was just out of sight. Upon my return to LA, I became all involved in the Spanish-speaking world of Los Angeles, listened to Spanish language radio, often went to the Million Dollar theater, and discovered latin music (salsa/latin jazz) at the Hollywood Palladium, and totally flipped out. As a former choir boy, I got all involved in the music of Latin America, and really flipped out when I heard Cuban music (Mambo, cha-cha-cha, etc.). So I learned how to play congas, bongos, etc. In February 1966, I tossed all my stuff into my VW and shoved off for Mexico City or bust to be with my brother and 5 sisters. In Mexico, I became an English teacher and taught the language of Shakespeare as a second/foreign language for 30 years at various institutes and privately at companies, etc. It has been highly rewarding. I even taught at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico or UNAM (Mexico's National University), became certified by the UNAM, and also taught Foreign Language Center of the Instituto Politecnico Nacional or IPN, Mexico's other top level public university, both based in...Expand for more