those were the first words that my Chicano studies professor, Alfred Arteaga, told our class as he walked in on the first day of class. It was a chicano music class. I took it because it was a guaranteed "A" in the class, never knowing the wealth of knowledge that I would learn at the end of it. At the time, he was my favorite professor because of his chill and layed back attitude to everything. He was all about music and poetry. I later found out he was an accomplished poet and used to be a professor for the english department here at CAL. I remember him at one point in the class saying that would have to miss some days of class due to his heart condition. He told that that in 1999, he had a heart attack, and that summer of 2005, he had another. During the class, his family actually reached out to us telling us that our professor was going to go to thailand to receive stem cell treatment, a procedure that was not cleared to conduct in the united states.
After that class, I really did not follow up with this professor's condition, as I was distracted with other classes and campus activities. I all knew is that even though his health was not well, he still taught chicano music every fall.
Today, as I was leaving the alumni house, I saw a copy of the daily cal and decided to take it and read it on my way back home. After cruising through the rent stabilization candidate article and the latest news about Cal football, I saw a headline that made me stop where I was in utter shock. "Poet, Professor of Ethnic Studies Dies". My heart began to race and automatically I thought of professor Arteaga. I continued to read the article on page 3 and the first sentence was, "Alfred Arteaga, a UC Berkeley professor of Chicano and ethnic studies, died July 4 in Santa Clara of a heart attack. He was 58." I felt my heart sink to the bottom of my stomach and a cold chill shock my body. I had to sit down. As I sat in the middle of lower sproul, I sunk my head in between my arms and felt the same dreadful feeling I felt once before when i heard the news of other loved ones pass away. The feeling of not being able to catch a breath as my heart races.
After a couple of minutes, I looked up, took a deep breath, and started getting flashbacks of his witty one liners and his sarcastic comments about how people used to dress. I got up, smiling, and continued my walk home. After getting the courage to continue the article, I realized all the amazing things he did not only on campus, but in his personal life. He was a great man and he will be missed by not only his family and myself, but by every student who ever enjoyed his lectures on tuesday afternoons. I will miss you Arteaga!!!
(Here is the daily cal article if you want to read it. its very good)
http://www.dailycal.org/article/102204/poet_professor_of_ethnic_studies_dies
Remembering a true hero,
-DM
After that class, I really did not follow up with this professor's condition, as I was distracted with other classes and campus activities. I all knew is that even though his health was not well, he still taught chicano music every fall.
Today, as I was leaving the alumni house, I saw a copy of the daily cal and decided to take it and read it on my way back home. After cruising through the rent stabilization candidate article and the latest news about Cal football, I saw a headline that made me stop where I was in utter shock. "Poet, Professor of Ethnic Studies Dies". My heart began to race and automatically I thought of professor Arteaga. I continued to read the article on page 3 and the first sentence was, "Alfred Arteaga, a UC Berkeley professor of Chicano and ethnic studies, died July 4 in Santa Clara of a heart attack. He was 58." I felt my heart sink to the bottom of my stomach and a cold chill shock my body. I had to sit down. As I sat in the middle of lower sproul, I sunk my head in between my arms and felt the same dreadful feeling I felt once before when i heard the news of other loved ones pass away. The feeling of not being able to catch a breath as my heart races.
After a couple of minutes, I looked up, took a deep breath, and started getting flashbacks of his witty one liners and his sarcastic comments about how people used to dress. I got up, smiling, and continued my walk home. After getting the courage to continue the article, I realized all the amazing things he did not only on campus, but in his personal life. He was a great man and he will be missed by not only his family and myself, but by every student who ever enjoyed his lectures on tuesday afternoons. I will miss you Arteaga!!!
(Here is the daily cal article if you want to read it. its very good)
http://www.dailycal.org/article/102
Remembering a true hero,
-DM
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