Column: The problem with January... revisited

This has been a troublesome January, the most troublesome I’ve witnessed in many years. 

I couldn’t help but remember the text written by Rafa Saavedra from his book “Buten Smileys.”

“El problema de Enero” is a story about January as a person, and I used to love revisiting it every end of January. But with this January, I feel like it’s necessary. It’s in Spanish with a little English sprinkled in. 

Saavedra wrote in both languages because he lived in Tijuana and at the border, English and Spanish are interchangeable.

Saavedra was a writer, journalist and key figure in the Tijuana counterculture. He died on September 17, 2013. Besides “Buten Smileys,” he wrote the books “Border Pop” and “Crossfader 2.0.”

I first read his story “Vomito en el freeway” in the Mexican literary magazine “Moho,” which was edited by Guillermo Fadanelli. 

He was an observer of pop culture; he wrote about music, drugs, parties and the underground. Saavedra looked into the sleazy bars and the lost souls of an urban landscape without judgment, but described without shame all the gritty details of city life in Tijuana and San Diego through his experimental stories. 

I hope he doesn’t mind me revisiting his January story to retell the story of this most nightmarish first month of 2026.  

January hates memories, the story starts. But it is impossible to forget this January. At least three deaths by federal officers. Tens of more immigrants dead in ICE facilities. The U.S. deposing Venezuela's president. 

January reinvents itself. Minnesota held one of the largest protests right after the death of Alex Pretti and businesses shut down. A second, larger national shutdown occurred yesterday. Meanwhile, Congress agreed to fund DHS for two more weeks, hoping to negotiate some changes to its immigration enforcement tactics. 

January is romantic. People protest on the streets, Congress writes strong-worded letters. But people still believe in hope, because they are hopeless romantics. 

January is fragile. The country and the world have witnessed the videos of Renee Good and Alex Pretti from every single angle. Violence on 4K, for everyone to see. A federal force defending itself? And the Second Amendment is being tested. We lost our TV Mama, Catherine O’Hara.

January parties, or rather, it’s usually a hangover month. But Greg Bovino parties in Vegas after being reassigned from Minneapolis.

January ends, like a 2 am text asking “u up?”

“Without saying goodbye, January left us just that day.”