Cinnamon Sugar and Spice Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Back in the dark ages when I grew up–long before America became the kinder, gentler Utopia it is today (seething with cynicism)–it would have been inconceivable that boys and girls would receive trophies just for “participating.” Back then, we were expected to be competitive about everything. The battle of the genders was waged at home every night with my brothers and I pitting our brawn and bulk against the brains and gumption of our sisters, two of whom would go on to graduate as valedictorians and all of them much smarter than the recalcitrant Garduño boys. It rankled us to no end when our sisters reminded us constantly that “boys are made of snips and snails and puppy dog tails‘” while they were made of “sugar and spice and everything nice” even as they smashed our toy machine guns (undoubtedly in retaliation for us having drawn mustaches on their Barbie dolls before decapitating them). We sure made it challenging for our parents to be as generous with their affection as Dr. Benjamin Spock (the pediatrician, not the Vulcan) had advocated. Espying the curiously named Cinnamon Sugar & Spice Cafe on Juan Tabo rekindled memories of the “What Are Little Boys…
