Saturday last there was a parade in Fresno's Chinatown. ITS THE YEAR OF THE RAT. I'm thinking that this creature to the left is maybe supposed to be a rat - but I dont know. You would think that if its the YEAR OF THE RAT that they would be parading a RAT, but this thing doesnt look anything like a rat to me. More like a catapillar. I would have asked someone who was chinese but the only chinaman I met that was willing to speak to me (last pic) couldnt speak English. All he said to me was "too old. 89". I tried to approach another asian gentleman but he seemed to deliberately avoid me. Maybe because I was carrying my camera - who knows?
Oddly, the event seemed to be dominated by Hispanics. Even after the parade when I went to the food booths, I dont recall seeing any Chinese food being offered. I ended up buying a hot dog from Hispanic woman. Go figure. There were lowriders in their modified hopping machines (photo to right). And then there were high riders on horses. The one pictured here (left,below) is proudly displaying the Mexican flag. I really dont have a problem with that, but I will say that I did live in Mexico for 6 months, deep in the interior in a little town called San Juan Del Rio i n Durango Mexico, in the early 70's and if I would have walked around sporting an American flag one of those cowboys would of shot me sure enough.
I did manage to find one little girl dressed in a Chinese outfit for the occasion but she too was Hispanic.
(That's her dad)
Fresno has a large East Indian population but I didnt see a single one at the parade. The closest thing I saw to India being represented was one of Fresno's newest businesses, which serves as strong reminder that America is gradually descending into third world status: THE RICKSHAW DRIVERS. The main difference between the Indian rickshaw driver and the American rickshaw driver is the Indian driver prudently establishes the cost of his service upfront whereas the American ones simply work for tips. Oh, and some American rickshaws come with electric power-assist.
The main reason I went to this parade though was to see the new breed of highly trained military photo journalist or Combat Cameramen.
These uniformed paparazzi endure rigorous training to enable them to perform with extreme speed to CAPTURE THE MOMENT. Speaking of which I just happened to catch them in one of their training exercises where they stoop down real fast to take their shot. Their Sargent was shouting "I'm your subject, SNAP MY FACE!"
I could hear the Sargent yelling: "WHEN YOU CAPTURE THE PERFECT MOMENT, ITS LIKE WALKING ON AIR!"
I was shaking my head saying, "you got that right brother!"
This man was kind enough to allow me to take his picture which is my favorite capture of the day:
© Randy "Lazarus" McAtee
Broker/Owner Lazarus Realty in Fresno CA
