Reminding Me of Mo

<p><span style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)>Based on a true story </span><em style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)>Reminding Me of Mo</em><span style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)> is a memoir based in Denver Colorado. Geranimo Maestas was murdered by gang members for his Denver Broncos jacket on November 26 1993; he was only sixteen. Mo's family-they called him Mo for short-created the </span><em style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)>No 'Mo Violence Cultural Dance Group</em><span style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)> in his honor and have championed it to this day. Mo's mother Cathy has shared his story throughout Denver and is the leader of the </span><em style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)>No 'Mo Violence Movement</em><span style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)>. Over the past two and a half decades the movement has helped hundreds of at-risk adolescents and teens evade street life and the ills of gangs. The </span><em style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)>No 'Mo Violence Cultural Dance Group's</em><span style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)> strength is in Ballet Folklórico a vital link to the past which dates to Mexica dances.</span></p><p><em style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)>Reminding Me of Mo</em><span style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)> runs parallel with stories of North Denver's once proud indigenous heritage and documents its recent and unfortunate demise because of gentrification. </span><em style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)>Reminding Me of Mo </em><span style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)>extols golden-age era Hip Hop the Chicano Movement the fanaticism of the Denver Broncos the boom of the NBA and basketball around the globe the genesis of Generation X materialism and the gang culture that swept through the urban centers of America in the early '90s.</span></p><p><em style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)>Reminding Me of Mo</em><span style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)> is a novel for and by the Hip Hop generation and its format borrows from Ice Cube's infamous </span><em style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)>Death Certificate</em><span style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)> album. Whereas </span><em style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)>Death Certificate</em><span style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)> is separated into two sides-and is from Cube's perspective two halves of the same reality: The Death Side and The Life Side </span><em style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)>Reminding Me of Mo</em><span style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)> begins retrospectively documenting the beginning of the Patterson's friendship with Mo and on throughout their formative years culminating into Mo's tragic death. It is a character study of a natural-born leader who was never able to realize his potential due to a heinous crime. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)>The latter part of the book follows the mythology of Mictlan-for the nine stages of the Aztec underworld-as the years following Mo's murder are both tragic and triumphant past and prologue. Mo lived Hip Hop culture-it wouldn't be right to tell his story without interweaving the intricacies codes and beauty that is Hip Hop. The novel's title </span><em style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)>Reminding Me of Mo</em><span style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)> is a tribute to Common's song Reminding Me (Of Sef) which was released in 1997 as a threnody to his friend Yusef. The song was an introduction to many about the idea of celebrating one's life as opposed to only mourning the death.</span></p><p><em style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)>Reminding Me of Mo</em><span style=color: rgba(33 40 45 1)> is as fun as it is tragic. It exudes friendship brotherhood and comradery. Every year on the anniversary of Mo's death Cathy coordinates a candlelight vigil at the spot of his passing. Local television stations cover the event but a thirty-second clip on the nightly news lacks the depth and detail of Mo's illustrious story.</span></p>