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Spotlight on “Mexican Jenny and Other Poems” (Anhinga Press) by Barbara Brinson Curiel

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Barbara Brinson Curiel is a Professor in the Departments of English and Critical Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Humboldt State University. Her areas of interest include Chicana/o and Latina/o Literatures, Chicana Feminisms, Women of Color Feminisms, and Transnational Literatures. She focuses her scholarship on the work of authors Sandra Cisneros, Helena María Viramontes and Ana Castillo. She has served as the Director of the Ethnic Studies Program, and supervises Master’s Theses in the English Department.

Curiel is also featured in Rebozos de Palabras: An Helena María Virmontes Critical Reader (University of Arizona Press), edited by Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs. Her essay is titled, “’Had They Been Heading for the Barn All Along?’: Viramontes’s Chicana Feminist Revision of Steinbeck’s Migrant Family” where she compares and contrasts Viramontes’s now classic novel, Under the Feet of Jesus, with John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath.

Curiel was named the 2012 winner of the Levine Prize in Poetry for her book, Mexican Jenny and Other Poems. The award includes publication by Anhinga Press and a $2,000 prize. The Philip Levine Prize in Poetry is an annual book contest proudly sponsored by the M.F.A. Program at California State University, Fresno.

I had the opportunity to receive an advance reviewer's copy, and I am delighted that I did. Barbara Brinson Curiel's language is spare and lovely, a momentary mask for the hard realities she explores: the challenges of immigrant life; back- and soul-breaking manual labor; daily assaults of seemingly benign bigotries; battered women fighting back. Mexican Jenny and Other Poems traverses these roads from El Paso to Humboldt, Cripple Creak to Stockton, Mexico to the United States. Curiel offers a strong and distinctive poetic voice that should be noticed, appreciated and studied.  


From the Author: Throughout my writing career I have been interested in the stories that lie submerged below and between other narratives. Many poems in this collection tell stories that are the subtext, that are at the substrata, of other more dominant stories. These poems examine the domestic, the working class, and both the private individual experiences and the unrecognized histories of Latina women.

I came upon the story behind the title poem, “Mexican Jenny,” in a back issue of a textile arts magazine. A short article announced a quilt exhibit that included a crazy quilt Jenny made in the 1920s, when she was incarcerated at the prison in Cañon City, Colorado.

According to the article, Jenny had been a prostitute in Cripple Creek, a gold mining town, and she killed her husband after he beat her up for not bringing home enough money. She was convicted of murder, and in prison made a quilt from her working girl clothes, complete with the embroidered image of her dead husband. When she contracted tuberculosis in prison, the quilt was sold and the money used to send her to Mexico where she died.

This story haunted me. I wanted to know who this woman was, what brought her to Colorado, and what brought her into “the life.” I used the bare bones of this story and began to flesh it out with my own imaginings.

I also researched the lives of prostitutes in western mining towns and eventually learned some of the facts of the real Jenny’s case. I found the historical record’s contradictions and improbabilities to be essential to the story, so I wove them into my poem. Because of these conflicts of fact, folklore and interpretation, I have given her story three different endings, told in multiple voices.

Barbara Brinson Curiel 

Praise for Mexican Jenny and Other Poems:

“Are we the stories told about us, or the stories we tell ourselves? Barbara Brinson Curiel’s Mexican Jenny, a fine, crazy quilt of a first book, is her wise and wistful reply. Gaze into the mirror of her lines long enough, and you may find yourself, blinking back.

–Cornelius Eady, Miller Family Chair, Professor of English and Theater, The University of Missouri-Columbia


“Barbara Curiel’s poetry submerges us in the interior landscapes of the everyday and the mythic: the empty vessels of pots and cans blessed in a family kitchen, the wolf-blood-stained apron of Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, a quilt stitched in a jail cell by a woman “mining gold / from the dirt of my life.” At the heart of this collection which offers up an ‘Ars Domestica’ of a poet’s life is ‘Mexican Jenny,’ Curiel’s imaginative re-telling of the story of Jenny Wenner, a prostitute convicted of killing her abusive husband in Cripple Creek, Colorado in 1913. This structure serves to remind us all how at the center of every ‘Mexican’ woman’s life are the undocumented lives of ‘ragged men buried daily in the mines / and women whose every mouthful depended / on what was brought to the surface.’ Here is an illuminating work that unearths and pays lyrical tribute to the labor of brown women across borders and other divides.”

–Deborah Paredez, author of This Side of Skin and co-founder of CantoMundo


“Master poet Barbara Brinson Curiel wields all the stunning power and raw honesty for which she is best known. This collection is both delightful and unsettling, ranging from fables for a modern world to the hard-hitting title poem, ‘Mexican Jenny,’ to the incomparable and captivating slice of culture in poems like ‘Recipe: Hinterland Tamales,’ with a spicy sprinkling of humor throughout. The language is direct–bare and beautiful. In “Immigrant Partoum,” Brinson Curiel both follows religiously and simultaneously shatters and alters the form of a partoum, as immigrants’ lives follow, reflect, shatter, and alter the form of a native community. A delicious dessert of poetry for the modern world–and as full of surprises as it is of truth. Bravo to Brinson Curiel’s brave new world of poetry!”

–Carmen Tafolla, Ph.D., Poet Laureate, City of San Antonio

From Mexican Jenny and Other Poems:

“Mexican Jenny”

1.

Girls like me
come from alleys
from dirt floors

from cold kitchens
from one thin blanket.

Girls like me
come from fists
from passing strangers

from wandering fathers
from mothers with one heel
hooked on the bar stool.

Girls like me
come from drought
from war.

2.

When I was a child in Acapulco
I worked for a rich family
sweeping their kitchen
washing their dishes.

One day, after a few nips, the cook,
who was my mother's friend,
had said, Come, work for me
in the big house.

I stood on a wooden box
washed dishes stamped with indigo
trees and flowers, with birds
like none I'd seen.

I stood elbow
deep in dirty water, dreamed
of far places without greasy pans
nor the boss's wandering hands.

3.

The boss's wife had a red
silk shawl embroidered
with many-colored swallows.
She draped it like a flag on the back of her chair.

It had come on a ship from Manila,
from that land of ship builders and sailors,
of travelers who, years before, brought
Chinese porcelain and silk to Acapulco.

Every time I walked by
I fingered its edges
and felt like I was dipping my fingers
into the tide.

After I'd found the fault lines
in one cup too many,
when I'd daydreamed one
dish too many to pieces,

the cook ran me off,
but not before I'd pinched that shawl,
rapped it around my waist
under my dirty skirt.

Running home
the silk rubbed
my legs,
a river current.


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AWP'S ANNUAL CONFERENCE COMES TO SEATTLE!



Each year AWP holds it conference and bookfair in a different city and this year it's in Seattle, specifically at the Washington State Convention Center & Sheraton Seattle Hotel, February 26 through March 1, 2014. For a general overview of this year's conference including panel and event schedules, visit here. I will be moderating a panel titled "Chicana/o Noir: Murder, Mayhem and Mexican Americans" with panelists Lucha Corpi, Manuel Ramos, Sarah Cortez and Michael Nava, on Friday, February 28, noon to 1:15 p.m. For more specific information on this panel visit this link.

I plan on doing a special La Bloga post before the conference where I want to highlight the panels and events that feature Chican@ and Latin@ writers. So, to help me with this, please visit my website and use the e-mail link to send me information on the panel(s) you'd like me to mention. Please include a link to the AWP description, as well. Also, please put "AWP - La Bloga" in the subject line so I can keep track of what's coming in. SEND ME THE PANEL/EVENT INFORMATION BY FEBRUARY 14 TO MAKE CERTAIN TO BE INCLUDED IN MY FEBRUARY 17 POST.



Hinojosa Honored. Conference News. Feb's First On-line Floricanto

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Michael Sedano

Mail Bag
Lifetime Achievement Award to Rolando Hinojosa

La Bloga's mail bag brings fabulous news from Houston's Arte Público Press.


La Bloga friend Rolando Hinojosa was rumored to be in line for the Cervantes Prize, next time the award cycles to the Americas for a winner. La Bloga is pulling for Hinojosa, who writes in English and Spanish, to win that prize. For now, Rolando is aptly recognized by the National Book Critics Circle with its Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award.

Hinojosa-Smith joins the roster of former honorees including Pauline Kael and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Studs Terkel, Joyce Carol Oates, and PEN American Center. The award recognizes outstanding and longstanding work from any sector of book culture that affects a book and contributes to United States arts and letters.

Hear Hinojosa read three sections from a work-in-progress at the 1973 Festival de Flor y Canto. http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15799coll79/id/191


Conference on Rudolfo Anaya: Tradition, Modernity, and the Literatures of the U.S. Southwest


La Bloga friend Roberto Cantú brings the most arrestingly interesting academic conferences to Southern California and the east side of the LA basin. May 2-3, Cantú surpasses himself with a conference dedicated to La Bloga friend Rudolfo Anaya and literature of the US Southwest.

Scholars from New Mexico to old Germany will lecture, moderate, and sit panel presentations.

Four keystone fiction writers take the lectern during the conference, Ana Castillo, Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, Reyna Grande, and Mario Acevedo.

The conference on the campus of California State University Los Angeles in El Sereno is free and open to public visitors for just the cost of parking or a short walk from the bus station.

The conference is sponsored by Cal State L.A.'s Gigi Gaucher-Morales Memorial Conference Series, the College of Arts and Letters, the College of Natural and Social Sciences, the Department of Chicano Studies, the Department of English, the Barry Munitz Fund, and the Emeriti Association.

See the conference website for details.


Call for Papers
Wayne State Hosts Latin America Studies Conference: Movimiento 2.0

One of the most popular arguments among movimiento veteranas veteranos concerns dates. Did the movimiento die? When was its last day? The never-ending argument is moot, given the research direction of young scholars today who see a burgeoning new movimiento.

Wayne State University Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies hosts its 5th Annual La Academia del Pueblo Latino/a and Latin American Research Conference on April 26, 2014. The conference bears a provocative title, El Movimiento 2.0: Youth, Identity, Empowerment.

Organizers call for papers that include perspectives on media, criminalizing brown, language rights, ethnic studies programs, latinization of the EUA. The attitude and content sound so provocative it offers a third reason, after Verner's ginger ale and the art institute, to visit Detroit.

Details for applicants--due 14 February--at the conference website.



Call for Artists
Conjunto Festival Poster Contest

The only artist guaranteed to win the $1000 overall prize is one who enters her his work by the February 28 deadline. Click here for the rules page.


Floricanto Poet Seeks Solace Along the Border


People read horror stories about crossing the southern border of the US with a sense of helpless dread. Informed by novels, news stories, and familia, gente comfortably housed over here know the lethal perils of getting here from over there. Dreadful, but not helpless, you can help.

That's the proposition of double-CD album Border Songs. Produced by a group of artists--musicians and poets--committed to easing suffering and ending death along the USA/Mexico border, Border Songs promises all profits from sale of this CD will be donated to Tucson-based humanitarian group No More Deaths/No Mas Muertes, a ministry of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson observing its tenth anniversary organizing along la frontera.

Per the website No More Deaths, "Each purchase of Border Songs provides 29 gallons of water, or the equivalent in food or medical supplies, to people in need."

Sample and order the CD at internet sales site CD Baby.

Robert Neustadt, "Maricopa Shuffle" in today's On-line Floricanto, sings one of the songs, as does Pete Seeger. Readers include Margaret Randall and Denise Chavez.


La Bloga On-line Floricanto: Poets Responding to SB 1070 Poetry of Resistance
Edward A. Vidaurre,  Robert Neustadt, Jesus Cortez, Francisco X. Alarcon, Anne Elizabeth Apfel

"Hermano" by Edward A. Vidaurre
"Maricopa Shuffle" by Robert Neustadt
"Soy YO" by Jesus Cortez
"One Solstice - One Earth / Un Solsticio - Una Tierra" by Francisco X. Alarcon
"Prayers...brought us here..." by Anne Elizabeth Apfel

Hermano
By Edward A. Vidaurre

leaves on the retama
have been gone for a while now.
As has my brother, who left behind

his pants on the mesquite
branches just under
la baya de muérdago y anacua.

Where did you go, hermano?

Was it you who ate from
the prickly pear? Was it your blood
I saw on the concrete slab
near the cattle crossing beyond
the chaparral? Did you

drink from the soupy air
when you got thirsty
and the hunger pangs set in?

I'll be back soon, leave me
your water bottles, even if
empty.


Born in L.A., CA in 1973, Edward Vidaurre has been been published in several anthologies and literary journals. His book 'I Took My Barrio On A Road Trip' (Slough Press) was released in 2013. Vidaurre's second collection of poems is scheduled to be published in 2014 through Otras Voces Publishing.



Maricopa Shuffle
By Robert Neustadt

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, he’s a great big guy
He can lock you up and make you cry
Take you undies, turn’m pink
Keep you in a cage until you stink.

No, don’t try to feed your family today
That’s not the Arizona way
No señor, you can’t stay.
No, don’t try to feed your children today
That’s not the Arizona way
No señor, you can’t stay.

Mama’s little baby
Hates sheriff Joe
Cuz he took mama and made her go.
Sheriff took mama and
Locked her up tight
Baby’s gonna end up alone tonight.
Papa’s little baby
Hate’s sheriff Joe
Cuz he took papa and made him go.
Sheriff took papa
Chained his feet
Baby’s gonna end up on the street.

Yeah, we’re doing the Maricopa Shuffle
Brown people, shackled feet
Hungry families on the street.

Phoenix Arizona, such a nice town
But if you’re brown don’t show your face
Sheriff’s gonna get you, chase you down
Send you down south for being brown.

Yeah, Sheriff’s volunteer possy’s gonna chase you down
Throw your ass out of town
For being brown
Yeah, Sheriff’s gonna hunt you down
Throw your ass out of town
For being brown.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, he’s a great big guy
He can lock you up and make you cry
Take your undies, turn’m pink
Keep you in a cage until you stink.

No, don’t try to feed your babies today
That’s not the Arizona way
No señor, you can’t stay

Yeah, we’re doing the Maricopa shuffle
Brown people shackled feet
Hungry families on the street.

Yeah, sheriff’s gonna hunt you down
Throw  your ass out of town

For being



Robert Neustadt is Professor of Spanish and Director of Latin American Studies at Northern Arizona University. He has published two books and numerous articles on Latin American culture, literature, music and politics. In 2010 he began taking students on extraordinary field trips to the Arizona, Mexico border. He has written about these experiences in an article in UTNE Reader: 
The impact of these experiences on the border brought him to co-produce the Border Songs CD, a double album of music and spoken word, in English and Spanish, about the border and immigration.  He also contributed a song to the album, http://www.bordersongs.org
All of the contributing artists donated their work and ALL proceeds from Border Songs are donated to No More Deaths / No más muertes, a volunteer organization that provides water and humanitarian aid for migrants in the Arizona desert and to recently deported people on the Mexican side of the border.



Soy YO
By Jesus Cortez

Antes de ser ilegal, mojado, soñador, indocumentado,
americano sin paepeles, hijo bastardo de amerika
hijo abandonado, cruzado cruzando fronteras,
antes de ser ridiculizado por nuestro ingles,
antes de ser temido por mi piel color de tierra fertil,
antes de que las esposas pudieran cortar mi piel,
antes de que las noches se llenaran de luces
de falsedades que le llaman civilizacion,
de ciudades fabricadas con mentiras y explotacion,
antes de ser todo esto

mi abuela fue

llamada india, fue insultada por ser mujer,
la trataron de domar, la trataron de matar por dentro,
la trataron de usar, de cambiar

y dejamos de ser Indigenas para ser mexicanos,
y fuimos odiados igual, y fuimos abandonados
con hambre, con lombrices que no perdonan edades,
con piojos que no perdonan las ganas de dormir

y ahora? Que somos? somos hijos adoptivos,
hijos no queridos de dos banderas, de una tierra
que alguien dividio para separarnos,
y llamarnos como quicieran...

y ahora?

Soy nada de lo que dicen,

SOY Yo

pesadilla caminante, poeta sin tapujos,
llanto de alegria, llanto de frustracion,
llanto de amor, llanto de muerte

llanto de vida

soy YO, no soy lo que digas TU.



Jesus Cortez is an undocumented worker who loves his family, poetry, books, knowledge and life. He hopes that his words will shed light on many issues affecting those who are oppressed and margninalized.  For him poetry is one of many tools needed to help bring about change.



One Solstice - One Earth / Un Solsticio - Una Tierra
By Francisco X. Alarcon









Francisco X. Alarcón, award winning Chicano poet and educator, is author of twelve volumes of poetry, including, From the Other Side of Night: Selected and New Poems (University of Arizona Press 2002), and Snake Poems: An Aztec Invocation (Chronicle Books 1992)  His latest book is Ce•Uno•One: Poems for the New Sun (Swan Scythe Press 2010). His book of bilingual poetry for children, Animal Poems of the Iguazú (Children’s Book Press 2008), was selected as a Notable Book for a Global Society by the International Reading Association. His previous bilingual book titled Poems to Dream Together (Lee & Low Books 2005) was awarded the 2006 Jane Addams Honor Book Award. He teaches at the University of California, Davis. He created the Facebook page, POETS RESPONDING TO SB 1070 . 



Prayers...brought us here...
By Anne Elizabeth Apfel

Because the energy asked...
Because I felt their prayers move me..
I let my flute...take me there...
and what I saw....while standing in the energy...
of what on the surface was pretending to be helpful...
What I saw underneath that ..as I stood with my seeds in my hands..
ready to offer them to the wind...my presious seeds......waiting to find the earth...
waiting to find a place to grow their roots..and become...the next generation...
were drugs..and guns...and I began ....to play my flute there...
as I stood there..in the energy of the prayer of those who had asked...
One by one....they disappeared....hands filled with cash......trying to survive..
and there was no Garden....Only monsters burying the wasted energy...Nuclear...
Filling their pockets laughing at nothing will grow here now..naming their own
seeds after this horrific mess ..............
and you will clean it up...because you saw it...........Bless You Sir....
And there we stood together with Cuhtahlatah his wife....
Until Only the horses were left standing....the old grandfathers....looking out
From the eyes of horses......saying stand your ground...we are not leaving either...
And so I stood with my flute........as the energy washed over me like a wave....
I ducked under it..........taking my flute with me.....and we......lived.......to speak again..
It is not always to confront the energy....with your body....but with your energy......
When you see no way through the energy......do not take on the energy..it's energy..
It's formless......wait...little one.......until your moved to move....and then the energy
Will take you where your going......take a deep breath.......as you form into spirit.....
Never allow the energy to turn you .....into it's own likeness.....or you will surely die....
As you become it.......the warrior....dies ...rather than allowing it to turn their spirit....
and if there were no choice in the energy but to live as a dark one or die as the light...
then we as warriors would die.....with our spirits poised....to return...and battle the darkness
This is the nature of human turning to spirit...Doneho



Anne Apfel is a Poet who lives in Buffalo, New York...You Can find her Poems in Kim Shuck's Rabbit and Rose...A Former Issue of La Bloga and the Yellow Medicine Review..Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 Editions...Check out her Face Book Page...Poetry In Motion for the Occasional Poem....Paired at times with her Own Photography..

Tejas Star Book List 2014-2015

The Tooth Fairy Meets El Ratón Pérez

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Review by Ariadna Sánchez

"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.” Helen Keller.

February is best known as the month dedicated to love and friendship. During the following days many persons around the globe will celebrate it with roses, greetings cards, chocolates and stories.
The Tooth Fairy meets el Ratón Pérez is written by René Colato Laínez and illustrated by Tom Lintern.When we learn to share, we break out of the boundaries of our ego and recognize the humanity of the other. At the end of the story, young readers will discover that "sharing is caring."
Miguelito is a Mexican-American boy who loss his tooth and places it under his pillow. That night, the Tooth Fairy and El Ratón Pérez arrive for Miguelito's tooth. El Ratón Pérez and the Tooth Fairy are among the most beloved childhood characters. The expectation that these characters generate is incredible. A radiant coin is what boys and girls expect the next morning under their pillows. Colato Laínez has the ability to portray in a marvelous and hilarious way the cultural encounter that occurred when the Tooth Fairy meets El Ratón Pérez. The folktale goes beyond the coins that either both characters could place under Miguelito's pillow. The story guides the young readers toward a huge message that focus on teamwork, the power of an effective communication and tolerance.  El diente as El Ratón Pérez refers to the tooth help him as fashion rocket to visit the moon. While for the Tooth Fairy, she will use it to build her sparkling castle.
After working out their differences the Tooth Fairy and El Ratón Pérez strongly agree that Miguelito deserves a nice and special surprise. They decided to leave Miguelito 2 shiny coins.
This beautiful story helps the children to embrace their culture while learning the importance of experimenting two cultures at the same time.

Immigration creates a unique experience that has a big impact in our children lives. For more amazing stories run to your nearest local library today. Remember that reading gives you wings!

Xánath y el mar

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Comparto con La Bloga una entrevista con la amiga y colega Xánath Caraza, con motivo de una reseña de su reciente libro de cuentos Lo que trae la marea.  La lectura de estos cuentos me transportó a lugares remotos, como de ensueño, que sin embargo resonaban en la memoria como algo vivido.  Son historias de mujeres, aventureras, viajeras, pero sobretodo, sobrevivientes. Detrás de sus historias se escucha el mar como un encantamiento; mar que separa y que reúne...



LG: ¿De dónde surgió la idea de reunir estos cuentos en una edición bilingüe?

XC: He publicado desde hace muchos años.  Mis primeras publicaciones fueron en México y al venir a los Estados Unidos me di cuenta que si quería llegar a la población en general era importante hacer mi literatura disponible tanto en español como en inglés.  Sobre todo para poder llegar hasta las manos de otros latin@s.  Mis primeras publicaciones en los Estados Unidos fueron en revistas en español, Utah Foreign Language Review, Identity, Subjectivity, and Self, University of UTAH, Issue 2004, Volume XIII, “La búsqueda de identidad en La niña blanca y los pájaros sin pies de Rosario Aguilar”, donde me publicaron ensayo.  En El Cid, La revista del Capítulo Tau Iota de Sigma Delta Pi, La Sociedad Nacional Honoraria Hispánica, Edición XVI, Primavera 2004, “Flor entre la bruma”, donde me publicaron un microrrelato en español y en Más allá de las fronteras, antología de cuento, Primer concurso internacional de cuento de 2004, “La canción de la lluvia” Editorial Nuevo Espacio, donde tuve la suerte de haber sido de las ganadoras del concurso de cuento.  También publiqué en español en Pegaso Literary Magazine, University of Oklahoma, donde me publicaron, varios años consecutivamente, poesía y cuento.   Luego, años más tarde, comencé siendo columnista invitada en La Bloga, Michael Sedano fue quien primero me invitó, y ahora soy parte de los escritores permanentes de este gran medio de comunicación.   Como sabes, alterno los lunes con Daniel Olivas.  El salto definitivo, para publicar de manera bilingüe, lo di precisamente cuando comencé a publicar en La Bloga.  Recuerdo perfectamente que Sedano me animó a enviar de manera bilingüe las columnas que escribí como invitada.  Por esas mismas fechas me invitaron a dar una presentación en la Universidad de Missouri-Kansas City sobre mi cuento ganador “La canción de la lluvia”, ese fue el primer cuento que traduje al inglés.  Más adelante el Latino Writers Collective de Kansas City decidió publicar un par de antologías, Primera Página: Poetry from the Latino Heartland y Cuentos del Centro: Stories from the Latino Heartland, yo envié mi material de forma bilingüe.  Creo que la combinación de estos eventos reafirmó la idea de que mi literatura debía de ser bilingüe.  Cuando publiqué mi primer plaquette, Corazón Pintado: Ekphrastic Poems (TL Press, 2012) y mi primer poemario, Conjuro (Mammoth Publications, 2012), nunca cuestioné hacerlo de manera bilingüe y cuando llegó el tiempo de organizar el material para Lo que trae la marea/What the Tide Brings (Mouthfeel Press, 2013) fue obvio para mí que así debía de ser, es decir, una publicación bilingüe.


 LG: La traducción de los cuentos es magistral.  A menudo leía a párrafos saltando entre el inglés y el español y me sorprendió lo bien que compaginaban los textos. ¿Qué rol tomaste en la traducción?

XC: En lo que concierne a la traducción de mi trabajo, como mencioné, quiero que mi literatura esté disponible para todos.  Vivir en los Estados Unidos me invita y reta a traducir mi trabajo.  Yo no crecí hablando inglés pero el inglés es mi nueva realidad y la honro al traducir mi trabajo.
Siempre explico que aunque soy capaz de escribir una columna en inglés o un ensayo, por el otro lado y por decisión propia, prefiero escribir creativamente, primero, en español y luego preocuparme por la traducción.  La razón por la que hago esto es que hubo un tiempo que traté de escribir en inglés creativamente y me di cuenta que me estaba editando antes de ponerlo en la página.  Estaba tan preocupada por el cómo se iba a decir en inglés que no me estaba funcionando.  Fue entonces cuando decidí que era mejor, para dejar fluir mi parte creativa, escribir en español y ya después preocuparme por la traducción.

En cuanto a mi papel en la traducción de Lo que trae la marea/What the Tide Brings (Mouthfeel Press, 2013) traduje muchos de los cuentos.  Yo ya estaba trabajando con Sandra Kingery en la traducción de dos cuentos más, que serán parte de mi otra colección de cuento, y además de esos dos le había dado “Agua pasa por mi casa, a mi casa se viene a soñar”, parte de Lo que trae la marea/What the Tide Brings, que para mí era un cuento casi imposible de traducir.  La cantidad de páginas para traducir en Lo que trae la marea/What the Tide Brings me hizo pedirle a Stephen Holland-Wempe me ayudara a traducir otras historias, quien amablemente aceptó.  Yo tenía que entregar el manuscrito y la fecha se estaba acercando.  Ambos, Sandra y Stephen, han sido instrumentales en el proceso de traducción, por lo cual estoy agradecida. 

Para mí traducir mi propio trabajo puede ser un reto.  Debo tener cuidado porque en ocasiones he  acabado por escribir otra historia u otro poema durante el proceso de traducción, pero como siempre he dicho, pues, ahora ya tengo dos poemas en lugar de uno.   



LG: El mar es una constante en estos cuentos, como una especie de deidad que provee y que quita también. ¿Qué más simboliza para ti? ¿Es también la añoranza de mar en donde vives?

XC: Definitivamente el mar es una añoranza.  Quizá es una añoranza por lo perdido, por lo olvidado, aparentemente, de lo pasado y por supuesto de mi mar de las costas de Veracruz, de donde soy originalmente.  El rugido del mar es algo que extraño, el batir de las olas del mar veracruzano resuena en mi memoria.

LG: Los cuentos están cargados de lirismo. ¿Dirías que el ser poeta te ha enseñado a observar? ¿Qué relación ves entre el cuento y la poesía, en tu práctica de ambos?

XC: Creo que el ser poeta influye en mi narrativa.  Hay personas que me leen, como narradora, sin saber que soy poeta y una de las preguntas que me hacen es que si soy poeta.  Los escritores observamos con detalle, al menos eso hago yo, luego lo traspasamos al papel, la memoria escrita. 
El lirismo, por otro lado, me viene simplemente de dejar fluir las ideas, plasmarlas en la hoja de papel y luego editar.   Mas no hay duda que se permea mi quehacer poético en mi narrativa. 

LG: Cuéntame un poco de tu desarrollo como escritora, ¿cuándo te dedicaste a la escritura de lleno?

XC: Comencé a escribir desde muy joven, siendo niña.  Comencé a publicar en México como adulto joven.  Escribía para un periódico en su sección semanal de cultura.  Escribí reseñas, poesía, ensayo, cuento, en fin, mi preocupación era llenar el espacio semanal.  Todavía tengo algunos de los recortes de periódico conmigo y me he sorprendido gratamente de lo que he releído.   Sin embargo el escribir ha sido constante en mi vida, desde que tengo memoria.  Escribo donde sea, aunque tengo cuadernos conmigo siempre, pero si no, escribo donde pueda, servilletas, en la parte posterior de recibos, en sobres, donde sea.  No puedo dejar de escribir.  Siempre estoy haciéndolo, de una forma u otra.  Para ser sincera, no sé exactamente cuándo decidí que iba a dedicarme a escribir de lleno porque siempre lo he hecho.  Es como el respirar, lo tengo que hacer, aunque, como te comento, mis primeras publicaciones fueron como adulto joven.

LG: Por último, ¿cómo ha sido la experiencia de publicar en español en EEUU? ¿Te fue difícil encontrar una editorial/editoriales para publicar tu trabajo?

XC: Publicar en los Estados Unidos al principio fue difícil pero pienso que fue difícil porque estaba simplemente llegando y no conocía a nadie.  Como te comenté anteriormente publiqué en revistas en español, La Bloga y algunas antologías.  Poco a poco busqué publicar en otros espacios y así fue como me publicaron en PALABRA A Magazine of Chicano & Latino Literary Art, en Pilgrimage, BorderSenses, Río Grande Review, Contratiempo entre otras revistas literarias de los Estados Unidos.  El reto mayor ha sido, efectivamente, publicar un libro completo.  Yo no sabía exactamente cómo hacerlo, es decir, a quién enviárselo.  Tuve la fortuna de que mis tres primeras editoras me escucharon leer poesía, Silvia Kofler de TL Press, Denise Low-Weso de Mammoth Publications y María Miranda Maloney de Mouthfeel Press; eso ayudó mucho.  También pienso que el hecho de ser las tres mujeres hizo que de alguna manera se identificaran con mi trabajo, por lo cual estoy altamente agradecida.  Me tardé mucho en publicar un libro porque no es fácil, hay que trabajar en muchos detalles, y porque fue comenzar de cero al llegar a los Estados Unidos pero estoy feliz con los resultados.  Ahora, además de mis cuatro libros publicados, tengo proyectos venideros, un poemario nuevo, Sílabas de viento, otro libro de cuento.  Hace unos días salió a la venta mi cuarto libro, un plaquette, Noche de Colibríes: Ekphrastic Poems (Pandora Lobo Estepario Press, 2014) por lo cual también le estoy agradecida a Miguel López Lemus, editor de éste.


"Atardecer andalusí" por Adriana Manuela

"Los nadadores" 

Los nadadores se entierran
después de perder sus sueños
en sus pequeños espacios.
Para unos, cambia la esencia,
otros, renacen como árboles
en la dureza de la soledad.
Algunos, sin pensarlo,
sólo buscan la luz y la esperanza.
En el policromado cielo del atardecer
confunden el sol con sus deseos.
Proyectan en la bóveda celeste
la intensidad de sus miradas,
el secreto de su existencia.
Los nadadores vuelan hasta
las profundidades de sus sueños.
No se intimidan frente al aroma
del último atardecer.

(Caraza, Xánath. Noche de Colibríes: Ekphrastic Poems, Pandora Lobo Estepario Press, 2014)

A Fan of Crime Fiction Reacts and A Few Writer Opportunities

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Manuel Ramos

Crime Fiction Tongue-In-Cheek?


Isabel Allende's latest novel is Ripper(HarperCollins). The publisher says that "Isabel Allende—the New York Times bestselling author whose books, including Maya’s Notebook, Island Beneath the Sea, and Zorro, have sold more than 57 million copies around the world—demonstrates her remarkable literary versatility with Ripper, an atmospheric, fast-paced mystery involving a brilliant teenage sleuth who must unmask a serial killer in San Francisco." I haven't read the book so this isn't a review. What I want to comment on is a remarkable interview Ms. Allende gave to NPR that was broadcast on January 29, 2014. To begin, here are a few quotes from the interview (you can listen to the entire broadcast at this link): 

Arun Rath (interviewer):  What led you to a thriller?

Allende:  It wasn't my idea. In 2011, I announced that I was going to retire, and my agent panicked. So she says: No, no, no. You have to write a book with your husband. My husband is a writer of crime novels. His name is William Gordon. And so I had to accommodate to his style because that what's he writes.

Rath:   Were there any, you know, the conventions of this form that you found especially difficult to adapt to or anything that you just had to rework to fit yourself?

Allende: Well, the book is tongue in cheek. It's very ironic. And I'm not a fan of mysteries. So to prepare for this experience of writing a mystery, I started reading the most successful ones in the market in 2012. And that was the Scandinavians - Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo and that kind of people. And I realized that I cannot write that kind of book. It's too gruesome, too violent, too dark. There's no redemption there. And the characters are just awful, bad people - very entertaining, but really bad people. So I thought, I will take the genre, write a mystery that is faithful to the formula and to what the readers expect, but it is a joke. It's tongue in cheek. My sleuth will not be this handsome detective or journalist or policeman or whatever. It will be a young 16-year-old nerd. My female protagonist will not be this promiscuous, beautiful, dark-haired, thin lady. It will be a plump, blond, healer and so forth.

I should point out that the book has received fairly good reviews and it looks like Ms. Allende's foray into the mystery field will be a success. The New York Times, Booklist, Publishers Weekly and Library Journal gave the book thumbs up.

But, not all is calm in these new waters. The NPR review, run the same day as the interview, was anything but glowing, although, overall, it was a positive review. The reviewer,Amal El-Mohtar, concludes that the book has two major missteps, and finishes with these words that most likely won't show up on the jacket of future editions: "My first reading of Allende feels somewhat like having been introduced to a celebrated ballerina in a bowling alley; she may not be landing strikes with each throw, but her grace and control while doing so speak volumes about her other skills." In other words, crime fiction may not be Allende's forte, and, in fact, the reviewer says that he could have enjoyed the novel without the crime -- "I would go so far as to say the crime plot was unnecessary to the novel's effect; I would happily have read a book that was purely focused on the interlocking lives of these characters and their respective arcs."

What is most perplexing, in my view, is her statement that she's not a fan of mystery novels. The obvious question is, "Why write a mystery if you don't like mysteries?"  Her answer appears to be that she wrote the book because, in her words, her agent panicked when the author announced her retirement. Allende admits that Ripper is a tongue-in-cheek joke, a response to her agent's panic. My cynicism may be on overload, but this all sounds a bit condescending.

Additionally, Allende paints the mystery genre with a very broad but ultimately bristle-less brush. She didn't like the Scandinavian authors, even though they were the "most successful," and she realized that she can't be as dark or gritty as these authors, so she apparently believes she has invented a new approach to crime fiction. Her sleuth is a young nerd; no promiscuous beauty, handsome detective, or policeman hero. And with those statements, Ms. Allende shows just how uninformed she is about the genre her agent picked for her to stave off the dreaded retirement. Crime fiction doesn't need me to defend it, but I will say that with all of its subcategories and diversity of authors and settings, this genre is a vast collection of writing that includes important and socially-aware literature, as well as the best in escapism and bold storytelling. Today's detectives come in all shapes, nationalities, and colors, from teen-aged nerds to Chicana curanderas to Alaskan ex-cons. If you need a reading list, drop me a line and I'll give you a dozen writers with unconventional, realistic and unique protagonists, nothing "tongue-in-cheek" about any of them.

I'm biased, I know. I write and read crime fiction. I like mysteries -- even the dark and violent stories that may not offer redemption. I appreciate the genre for what it is, and resent it when someone praises a mystery novel because it has "transcended the genre" or "crossed-over into the mainstream."  These are back-handed compliments that most of the mystery writers I know also resent. 

But maybe I should be grateful that a mainstream superstar has indulged her whimsy and thereby introduced her many readers to crime fiction? 

Nah.

In any event, my few words here don't amount to a hill of beans, as someone once said. Ms. Allende's new book will become a bestseller, her comments about the mystery genre soon will rest peacefully in the NPR archives, and one day she may actually retire. And I'll keep writing and reading crime fiction, and continue to be a fan of mysteries.


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Here's a book award for those of you who write about "environmental consciousness, environmental justice, migrations, adaptation, integration and inter-generational and cross-cultural dialogue."  Go here for the entry form.
 
Americas Latino Book Awards 2013


  • Extended Entry Deadline: April 22nd, 2014
  • Don’t miss your opportunity to enter! Apply On-line now!
  • Three judges for five categories of published Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Children’s Literature and unpublished Fiction and Nonfiction.
  • A shortlist of thirty finalist books, six in each category, will be announced on November 18, 2013.
  • One winner in each category will be announced on May 3rd, 2014, during the Americas Latino Festival 2014 Fundraiser Fest at Macky Concert Hall, University of Colorado.
  • Winners will each receive a prize of $2,000.
  • Winners in the unpublished fiction and non-fiction categories will be published by MVPublishers, the publishing arm of the Americas for Conservation and the Arts for release during the Americas Latino Festival in 2015.

ELIGIBILITY RULES
  • Full-length books of fiction, nonfiction and children’s youth chapter books (ages 7-9 years old), and poems published between January 1, 2011 and November 1, 2013
  • Unpublished books of fiction and nonfiction
  • Written in English or Spanish
  • Written by living author
  • Submissions should reflect the themes of the Americas Latino Festival: environmental consciousness, environmental justice, migrations, adaptation, integration and inter-generational and cross-cultural dialogue. Works that deepen our connection to the natural world; serve as a call to action; or broaden our vision of how people and their activities, regardless of race or ethnicity, impact the environment or highlight our interdependence to the natural world are strongly encouraged.

ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS
All publishers submitting books for ALBA must agree to:
  • Books will not be returned
  • One copy of submitted published books will be donated to either the Boulder Public Library or the Denver Public Library in honor of the Americas for Conservation and the Arts collection.
  • Each title must be accompanied by the entry form and payment.


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Stories on Stage Memoir Contest

"God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December."

                                                -James M. Barrie



Stories on Stage is holding a writing contest for our memoir show Me, Myself and I which will be performed on April 5th in Boulder and April 6th in Denver.

We are seeking submissions of stories based on your own experiences. The winning story will be read as part of the show by one of our professional actors alongside memoirs by Hilary Mantel, Mary Karr and local author Robert McBrearty.





The winner will receive 2 FREE tickets to any performance of Me, Myself and I AND a $50 Check!

Submission Deadline: 5pm on March 12, 2014

Please send stories to: info@storiesonstage.org

Word Limit: Each writer may submit one story of up to 1,200 words.

Formatting: Arial font, 14 pt. font size, line spacing at 1.5 Lines, indent paragraphs

Performance Info:
Saturday, April 5 at 7:30pm, the Dairy Center for the Arts (2590 Walnut Street, Boulder)

Sunday, April 6 at 1:30pm & 6:30pm, Su Teatro Cultural & Performing Arts Center (721 Santa Fe Drive, Denver)

By submitting your story, you allow Stories on Stage the right to read it on April 5 and 6, 2014 for three performances of Me, Myself and I. Stories on Stage will not retain any rights after the show.


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Colorado Authors' League Scholarships
CAL Scholarship

Beginning in 2002-03, the Colorado Authors' League, the state's premier organization of professional, independent writers, began offering a $1,000 scholarship to an aspiring Colorado writer.

The Colorado Authors' League created the annual scholarship as part of its commitment to encourage, support and nurture Colorado writers.

The Colorado Authors' League Scholarship is open to applicants who:
are Colorado residents;
are enrolled full-time (12-hours minimum) in an accredited public or private Colorado institution of higher education, which includes a university, four-year college, community or junior college, or career/technical college;
have successfully completed at least 12 hours of undergraduate study;
have a minimum GPA of 2.5 or better;
demonstrate financial need.

Additionally, applicants must write an essay of up to 1,000 words on the topic: "How Writing will Benefit My Profession." Essays will be judged for excellence of writing, creativity and grammar.

Applications must be postmarked by April 1. Winners will be notified by May 1.

Click HERE for the CAL Scholarship Application.

Incorporated on January 14, 1932 to foster the art and craft of authorship, the Colorado Authors' League (CAL) is the state's premier organization of professional, independent writers united to further members' success. It is the oldest writers organization in Colorado and among the oldest in the western United States. Today, CAL includes more than 230 specialists, whose work embraces every branch of fiction and non-fiction writing.

_____________________________________

That's it for this week - keep on reading, even if it's a joke.

Later.

ALA, Lego snub latinos. Win a novel. Gringo Heritage Month. Tucson. Lubov.

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Only 2 outstanding Latino books for 5 years?

"The American Library Association (ALA) is the oldest, largest library association in the world, providing information, news, events, and advocacy resources for members, librarians, and library users. Our mission is to provide leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all." [My emphasis.]

BUT, their YALSA list of 2014 Outstanding Books For The College Bound is generated every 5 years, what some might consider the New Canon. There are 2 Latinos on it who we should give a shout-out to.

Diaz, Junot.The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, 2007.
Garcia McCall, Guadalupe. Under the Mesquite, 2011.

The YALSA list covers the areas of Arts & Humanities, History & Cultures, Lit and Language Arts, Science & Technology and Social Sciences. La Bloga confirmed the tally--only 2 latinos.

Apparently, American latinos are not writing many outstanding books, or maybe we just aren't trying hard enough to make ALA's list. Did we pay our "late fees." Quién sabe? Latino members of ALA might be able to get these questions clarified at their national meetings. In the meantime, you might want to prepare you college-bound kid about latino contributions, at least, better than the YALSA list will.


Arm kids for Lego Movie

Speaking of latinos not making lists . . . from advance reviews, The Lego Movie sounds great for all ages. Kids will want to see it. You'll take them. You should consider preparing them for what they might NOT see or hear.

The casting director was Mary Hidalgo, though I don't if she's Latina or whether she fought for latinos to be included in the cast. Four listed in the show's crew have Spanish-sounding surnames. Quién sabe?

The only possibly latino presence I found on the casting list was Chris Romano as the voice for Joe, and Larry The Barrista voiced by Chris McKay. Barrista is a puertoriqueño word for a coffee shop server. Is that all our people are good for in Legoland? Quién sabe?

My Googling for "Lego" + "latinos" turned up nothing, so I don't know if there are any latino Lego toy figures. (Quién sabe?) But this may change with Lego's announcement of a $125M investment in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Quién sabe?

But if the couple of blacks and Asians are the only ethnic presence in the movie, your niños should know that it's not because you don't think they don't deserve to be part of The Lego World.


Why no White Heritage Month?

“For the same reason there’s no "Straight Pride" parades or "Not Having Breast Cancer Awareness Week.”

“We dont have White History Month because we have several. They go by the names of May, June, July, August, September; pretty much any month that we have not designated as someone elses month--thats White History Month. But we take it for granted.
Because we dont have to know other folks’ reality. Thats a privilege.”

Read all of white guy Ryan Dalton's penetrating article



Win a Latina's spec novel

There are 10 copies of Tejana author Amy Tintera's novel, Rebel, up for grabs on Goodreads. Go enter to win one! 


Latinos at Tucson Festival of Books




SciFi/Fantasy - two workshops feature Yvonne Navarro

Building a Mythology - Sat, Mar 15, 10:00 am - 11:00 am

Landscape of Fear - Sun, Mar 16, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm

Nuestras Raices panels - this strand features many latino authors

Student Union Tucson, Spencer Herrera, Robert Kaiser, Levi Romero

Raza Studies: The Public Option for Revolution - Sat, Mar 15, 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Nuestras Raíces - Presentation Stage (tent) Julio Cammarota, Augustine Romero

The Unique Ladies - Sat, Mar 15, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Student Union Tucson Gloria Morán

Growing Up Latino in the United States, Memoirs - Sat, Mar 15, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Nuestras Raíces - Presentation Stage (tent) Sarah Cortez, Rigoberto González

Camino del Sol: Latino and Latina Writing Today - Sat, Mar 15, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Pictures and Words - Sat, Mar 15, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Nuestras Raíces - Presentation Stage (tent) Xavier Garza, Duncan Tonatiuh

Lawrence Clark Powell Memorial Lecture - Sat, Mar 15, 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Chemistry Room 111 Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Recetas con historias - Sat, Mar 15, 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Nuestras Raíces - Presentation Stage (tent) Hugo Ortega, Ricardo Zurita

Sat, Mar 15, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Nuestras Raíces - Presentation Stage (tent) Ben Chappell, Art Meza, Gloria Morán, Santino Rivera


From a Russian child, with love

Comments I've read about The Sochi Opening Ceremony have sounded bitterly jingoistic, not that there's no reason for criticizing Putin's government.

I was struck by the press and Internet's white noise using the description "so-called Girl Hero" when referring to the little girl of the opening show. It was led by"a heroine in the Dreams of Russia show, a little girl named Lyubov (Love), whose image symbolized the soul of Russia. Lyubov told of her dreams in a magical journey through centuries of history and the expanses of Russia."

I don't how she kept her balance, how such a young girl could perform in front of the world. I do know that Putin-aimed criticisms shouldn't be spread to undermine her performance by labeling her the "so-called Hero Girl."

Anyway, since next week is Valentine's Day, I end with a poem by the greatest Russian poet. Not the best translation, not the "nicest" poem, it's one of the most emo-powerful from a people who once considered poetry almost sacred. Yeah, before Putin.

I Loved You 
byAlexander Pushkin

I loved you, and I probably still do,
And for a while the feeling may remain...

But let my love no longer trouble you,

I do not wish to cause you any pain.

I loved you; and the hopelessness I knew,

The jealousy, the shyness - though in vain -

Made up a love so tender and so true

As God may grant you to be loved again.

Es todo hoy, with 


RudyG



Author FB - rudy.ch.garcia
Twitter - DiscardedDreams

From Poets & Writers to Homeboy Industries: An Interview with Cheryl Klein

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Olga García Echeverría

The first time I ever got a check for doing a public reading, I was awed. I stared at the check for a long time as if it were a rare gem, wondering, Who gives money to poets?Whoever these crazy guardian angels of the arts were, they totally rocked and I loved them. For as long as I can remember, Poets & Writers has been partnering with local organizations, independent presses, schools and community spaces to support writers and to foster the arts.

Poets & Writers is an organization that has been around since the 1970’s. I know there’s a central office somewhere in NY, but when I think of Poets & Writers, it's more personal; I always think of Cheryl Klein and Jaime FitzGerald, the two women who have long been running the Poets & Writers' office in California.

Cheryl and Jamie have spearheaded countless P&W events on the West Coast. In my own writing and teaching career, they have been instrumental in my being able to do creative writing workshops in a variety of places. Thanks to them and to partnering organizations, I have traveled from Mecca to the Salton Sea to Kern County to Calexico to San Diego to Riverside and throughout Los Angeles. And I am not alone. Every year, P&W hosts a Workshop Leaders Retreat, where those of us who conduct workshops during the year have an opportunity to connect with one another, dialogue about our experiences, share strategies, break (sandwich) bread and write.


This year's retreat was two weeks ago, where Cheryl announced that after 11 years as director at P&W, she would be leaving the organization to become a full-time grant writer for Homeboy Industries. She shared she was excited about the new job and yet somewhat sad to be leaving such a unique non-profit where she was surrounded by a community of writers. However, she expressed comfort in knowing that she leaves the directorship of the West Coast P&W office in great hands, Jamie FitzGerald's. 

I was able to catch up with Cheryl this past week, first via email and later at the Homegirl Cafe where we split a delicious "tastes-just-like-high-school" coffee cake. Like so many other West Coast poets and writers who have worked with Cheryl, I want to cry out, Don't go! We'll miss you! But I think we all know we will be seeing a lot of Cheryl in the literary world, so instead I will cry out, Congratulations on your new gig and thank you for the interview.


Cheryl Klein at Homegirl Cafe

What are three of your most memorable P&W experiences?

In no particular order, off the top of my head:

1. Sitting in on the workshops we support, and writing alongside seniors, teens, veterans, etc., is always an honor and a lot of fun. A couple of years ago, when I was going through a tough time, writer Hannah Menkin handed out fortune cookies and asked us to write a poem based on our fortune. I could barely read my poem without crying, but in a good, healing way.

2. Trips to New Yorkfor the California Writers Exchange contest are my one brush with publishing-world glamour. Once a board member treated us to lunch at the Rainbow Room. Afterward he asked, "How did you like the Veuve Cliquot?" It was like he was saying gibberish words. It took several more minutes of conversation until I was like, "Oh! You mean the champagne!"

3. People often call our office to ask for advice about writing and publishing. A lot of them are characters, but no one has topped the drunk guy who called me from a grocery store parking lot in Arizona. In between telling me about his book and his marriage, he mentioned that he was about to drive home. So instead of trying to get off the phone, I actually tried to keep him on the line so he wouldn't drive drunk. Sometimes the definition of "service organization" ends up being really broad.

What, if any, changes have you seen in the Californialiterary world during your time as director of the West Coast offices of P&W?

One change that is California-specific: Funding for public colleges and universities has been cut a lot. They used to be some of our "wealthier" partner organizations, but it's getting harder and harder for them to pay writers to visit campuses. The other changes I've noticed have affected the entire literary world. The publishing world has consolidated in ways that make it hard for all writers who aren't J.K. Rolwing, but at the same time, small presses and indie writers are doing all kinds of fun things with the internet, print-on-demand, and other new technologies.

It's your lunch hour at Homeboy Industries and you can eat at Homegirl's Café for free with any contemporary writer of your choice. Who is that writer and why does he/she get to eat with you instead of all the rest of us?

One of the best books I read last year was Good Kings Bad Kings by Susan Nussbaum. It takes place in a nursing home for disabled kids, and she does an amazing job of capturing the voices of those who work and reside there. She reveals problems with "the system" without demonizing the individuals who are part of it. It's a funny, hopeful story about a community empowering itself, but it never gets schmaltzy. Besides the fact that Nussbaum is a talented writer whom I would love to meet, I also think she would appreciate how Homeboy Industries is home to so many people who've managed not to give up on themselves, even when the system and sometimes their own families did.

I once met a man who believed he was the reincarnation of Oscar Wilde. He kept quoting Wilde so wildly that I actually began to believe him. If a deceased writer could reincarnate in you, who would that be and why?

My seventh grade English teacher assigned everyone to read a different biography, which she chose based on what she knew about our interests and personalities. I got assigned Mary Shelley. Believe it or not, I still haven't read Frankenstein, but I've always felt an affinity with her. My work has gotten increasingly dark in recent years, so maybe she's making herself heard.

Literary pet peeve?

An overused title construction is "The _____'s _____." Usually the first blank is some sort of exciting profession, and the second blank is a female relation or subordinate. At the very least, I would like to read a book about the male relative/subordinate of a woman who has an exciting profession. (In spite of this pet peeve, The Magician's Assistant is one of my favorite books.)
 
Your writing essentials?
 
Laptop, coffee, and a book that inspires me.

Do you think there's a genre currently missing in the literary world?

Probably nothing is missing, but we need more queer ghost stories!

You've been given a can of spray paint and invited to tag eleven words that sum up your experience of eleven years at P&W. What do you tag?

MFA's dream job
I heart crazy poets
Lots of data entry


And anything else you'd like to add?

Thanks so much for this opportunity! I love reading your posts on La Bloga!
 
Cheryl Klein’s first book, The Commuters: A Novel of Intersections, won City Works Press’ Ben Reitman Award. Her second novel Lilac Mines was published by Manic D Press in 2009. Cheryl currently favors any kind of bread that can be turned into bread pudding, cringes at the word "orbs" when substituted for "eyes," and hears snakes speaking to her in endless ssss's. She lives in Los Angeles and blogs at: http://breadandbread.blogspot.com/

To find out more about Poets & Writers: http://www.pw.org/


Heriberto Luna, Painter, Muralist, and Sculptor

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Por Xánath Caraza

Graciously, Heriberto Luna is a prolific artist and can be found at 2 Tracks Art Studio in Los Angeles, CA, where he is frequently painting until altas horas de la noche.  At his studio, in addition to working on his own art, he also mentors young artists or gives art lessons, which are open to the public. Luna has allowed me to use his beautiful images in my new chapbook.  I feel very fortunate to have been able to write about his art y, a propósito, he is the artist of the cover art of  Noche de colibríes: Ekphrastic Poems(Pandora Lobo Estepario Press, 2014) as well.  A continuación Heriberto Luna.

Heriberto Luna at 2 Tracks Art Studio
 

Heriberto Luna  was born in Mexico City and immigrated to the United States soon thereafter. Of six children, he is the second to the youngest. Heriberto Luna comes from a colorful background. His grandfather was one of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata’s soldiers, and his father was in the Mexican army. His grandmother was a Mayan shaman, fluent in two indigenous languages.     


La abuela


Graduating from Franklin High School, in Los Angeles, Luna was surrounded by gangs but found his salvation at age 16 in the arts.  At La Tierra de la Culebra, an urban art park in North East LA, he developed his skills as an earth sculptor and painter.  Combined with his passion for performing Aztec dancing as both a dancer and a drummer, the artistic exposure gave him focus and strengthened his resolve to rise above the bad circumstances around him. 

During  2002 and 2005 Luna apprentice on major mural projects with L. A’s most influential muralist team the East Los Streetscapers, and artist  Paul Botello. Luna met Los Angeles artist Margaret Garcia and in 2002 he apprenticed with her and with New Mexico Master artist Pola Lopez.


"The Galactic Tree of Life, the Story of Everything" by Heriberto Luna


The result of all that hard work is clear, as Luna has exhibited in twenty major Museums thus far, among them such prestigious locations as: The Santa Monica Museum of Art, The National Mexican Fine art Museum in Illinois and The Museum of History and Art in Ontario, California. Beyond that, Luna’s works have become part of major art collections at Arizona State University and in 2006 Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa presented him with an award of recognition for his accomplishments in the arts; Luna has also been awarded two artist-in-residence grants from the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs department.

As his art career continues to bloom, Luna remains dedicated to under privilege youths, he is currently teaching arts classes for Theatre of Hearts and serves as a mentor.  Heriberto Luna’s success is measurable on many different levels yet what makes him most proud is seeing the young people that he has worked with turn to the community and become mentors themselves.  Some have gone on to achieve gallery and museum showings as well. 

Withal, Luna’s bold colors juxtaposed with ancient inspiration and strong commitment to the future of his community bring a powerful and profound statement to the art world and beyond. 

                                              

 

Review: Between Heaven and Here. I-DJ Off-Broadway. Aural On-line Floricanto.

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Review: Susan Straight. Between Heaven and Here. San Francisco: McSweeney’s Books, 2012.
ISBN: 9781936365753 1936365758

Michael Sedano

You take a wrong turn off the freeway and find yourself driving through the bad part of town.
That pair of stretch pants looking at you from the darkness, golden brown skin and beautiful face when she leans into the light, you almost want to but you press the gas to get away from that crack ho, that street whore, somebody’s strawberry.

Susan Straight pulls the key out of the ignition and has you look again. Her name is Glorette Picard, a thirty-four year old daughter, sister, mother who belongs somewhere. She’s a member of a family and important to other people. Addicted to rock cocaine, the woman is not evil. But she will do you for a rock. She’ll get in your car. “She sells sex for cash, other women get dinner,” asserts Glorette’s 17-year old honor student son, Victor. It's a job, Glorette thinks.

Glorette’s death marks a fulcrum between past and future for these people. Between Heaven and Here looks back on a family saga grown from racism and killing, then pivots on another killing to look forward to breathing life into Victor and Lafayette, Jr.’s opportunities.

Disguised as author Susan Straight’s exquisite literary velorio for a dead woman many would think insignificant, Between Heaven and Here makes the future of those two students all that matters. “Attention must be paid!” a friend says at Willy Lohman’s grave. Susan Straight pays attention to Glorette, because she was, because kids matter, and because stories like these don’t get told. Theirs are useful lives, their stories interesting, and attention must be paid.

Set against the orange groves of a Southern California city called Rio Seco, the novelist details perspectives on racism, privilege, family, and opportunity springing out of dangerous ambiguity: what killed Glorette in that alley, did Alfonso or did the competitor in the brown van "got" her? Squeezed into 234 pages, Between Heaven and Here doesn’t have space for moral imperatives or high horses. The story spotlights multigenerational family members who dig a hole and in the middle of the night to bury a murdered daughter in the back yard.

Sadly, they’re right to keep it inside the family. The extraordinary death of Glorette Picard would set off the system. Get picked up, lose your job, do time, marked for life. If you’re a 17-year old honor student and you miss your SATs because you’re picked up “associating” when all you needed was the ride, your future is City College while your white and hindu friends go to Cal. Go Bears!

Straight makes several explicit scenes about accountability, to point out the crud that comes down in black life isn’t all random eventuality or result of down home racism with palm trees. When a jailed relative gets assigned into Clarette’s wing of Juvie, the kid’s father tells Clarette “it’s on you” to protect the boy. Clarette wonders where this parent has been the boy’s first 17 years? Clarette catches hell from another side, too, a comfortable Afro Studies professor shaming the Sister, making the employee with benefits accountable for the ills of their world, "doesn’t it hurt your soul to be there?"

The family will bury Glorette and maybe granpère will track down the killer and kill in return. Life continues, the two brightly academic boys have their futures in jeopardy. Cerise worries a fight with Cody on Lafayette Jr.’s record marks the bright boy as a thug and a caution to teachers. Victor’s forced to accept community college but feels the lure of income keeping him out of the classroom at the same time his street friends keep coming around.

Grim as the world develops for this family--a decaying body to be washed, the killing avenged, the boys at a life’s precipice--Straight makes sure to provide comic relief. For instance, kids draw a cereal box stabbed through with a bloody knife because they hear “serial killer” on the news. A more archly pointed scene arises from Cerise’s sense of inferiority and a grandmother’s protectiveness. Grandmère Felonise is feeding her high dudgeon when she learns Lafayette, Jr. has been expelled because the other boy called Lafayette Jr. a nasty name, called him a “wigger.” Disarmed by the absurd name, it's not the first time names made a difference.

when Lafayette first started at the school and Cerise told her that she’d overheard the mothers at the back gate saying, “I can’t believe someone would name their kids Lexus and Chanel. Oh my God.” Cerise did the imitation perfectly. She heard these voices every day. ‘And I was thinking, Dakota, Cody, Cheyenne—you name your kids after what, places you’ve never seen?’

As a girl, Felonise flees Louisana under a tarp to escape the droit de seigneur practicing landowner Mr. McQuine. He will die for that. Felonise has spent a lifetime at odds with those people, and at the schoolyard gate, she’s fuming at the way these white people carry on, one in particular who’d talked about Felonise as if the black woman weren’t present.

This kind of woman made Cerise cry. She made Cerise cry and hide in a hallway and swallow the burning that came up from her chest. She might say welfare mama when she told the story tonight. Crack ho.
Felonise folded the woman's fingers over the ball of wet cloth and looked up at the blue eyes. Saliva. A crime. Black lashes like brooms for a tiny doll. She said softly, "These ain't contacts. My grandmere get them from a wigger." She pointed at the boy hidden in the truck. "He know," she said. "That my grandson, and when you see his mama tomorrow, in that meeting, you remember me." Her own eyes burned hot-she gave the woman the look that Raoul used to say could start the back of some one's head on fire. All she ever had-that look. And her teeth.

Grandmother Felonise gives the overbearing woman a private moment of accountability for raising her boy, Cody, to this moment, while offering the woman insight into the consequences of privilege by calling out the woman’s rudeness. For Straight, the perverse humor of the white woman’s dreadful moment culminates a lifetime of unfinished business in Felonise's life, and one of many highlights the author achieves in this superbly crafted story.

Dale gas! Floor it, and check out the scene in your rearview mirror. Objects are closer than they appear. Those people are in another world, but pay attention. Lives matter. Between here and tomorrow, our trajectory heads with deliberate speed into a single path, all other things being equal.


Mail Bag
I-DJ To Break a Leg Off Broadway

La Bloga friend, Gregg Barrios, shares great news about his stunning play, I-DJ: A queer Chicano DJ / actor spins the soundtrack of his life on the dance floor by night and by day in a gay send-up of Shakesqueer's Ham-a-lot set to a dub-step beat of ecstasy, tainted love, Rollerena and Herb Alpert.

Gregg writes, This is the first time that an original play from San Antonio has a legit run in a commercial New York City theater venue. It is also a great moment in my life as a playwright - my first show in New York City.


Visit the play's website for additional details.


Aural On-line Floricanto: Migrant Lament by Ricardo Sánchez


The Other, the character of the Anglo, occupies a substantial portion of movimiento poetry. Migrant Lament by Ricardo Sánchez' is the movement's most outspoken poem on the theme. Sánchez invests rich emotion and voice when he reads. Click here to view a video of the poet reading in 1973 at the Festival de Flor y Canto at USC. His is a virtuoso recital.

The reader in this recording disarms the poem's anger through understatement and restraint in contrast to the assertive language. In the text, Sánchez capitalizes the closing scream, "love thy master…" Sadly, I do not have the text.

Click here to hear the reading of "Migrant Lament". The reader's name has been lost, with apologies to her. She worked incredibly hard on this project.

NABE Conference 2014

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Celebrating 43 years of Educational Excellence in Bilingual Education. The NABE conference is the largest gathering of parents, teachers, administrators, policy makers, future teachers, and professors dedicated to serving bilingual and English Language Learners in the United States.

Our annual meeting has expanded beyond the field of bilingual education to include 21st Century Learning, Title l , Title lll , Pre-School, Dual Language, Foreign Languages, especially the critical languages, English as a Second Language, Gifted and Talented programs, Sheltered Instruction, Heritage Language Programs, and other approaches for multilingual students from Pre-K to grade 16.

NABE conference attendees have institutional purchasing power. Many are responsible for procuring the full range of educational materials, products, and services for use in linguistically and culturally diverse learning environments.

For more information visit http://www.nabe.org/Conference


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From the Arte Publico Press Newsletter


If you are in CABE, please come and visit Mara Price and me, René Colato Laínez.




Chicanonautica: In Search of High Aztech Reviews

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Over at Mondo Ernesto, I’ve announced my deal that will result in new, improved ebooks and paperbacks of my novels, but also a story collection. Here I’d like to give La Bloga readers a behind-the-scenes look at how it all goes. People tend to find writers' lives interesting, and if it’ll make them interested in my works, I’m willing to share.

High Aztech will be the first of these books. Like DVDs, they will be loaded with extras. The publisher has also asked for reviews that can be used in promotion. There are reviews of High Aztech, most of them came after its original paperback release.

Even though my first novel, Cortez on Jupiter, received excellent reviews, no review copies of High Aztech were sent out. I kept hearing, “What? Your book is out? We got the box with the new Tor releases and it wasn’t in it.” The ad in Locus had no text, just a big blank space. It seemed that sinister forces were at work.

Despite these dirty tricks, folks read, liked, and reviewed High Aztech, though not in the usual venues. With interwebs, more reviews came in. And they’re still coming.

I feel justified in calling it an underground cult novel.

I decided to do a Google search, just in case there were more, or some I missed, and made an astonishing discovery: My works and I have been mentioned in academic books!

It was no surprise to find High Aztech discussed in Thomas Foster’sThe Souls of Cyberfolk: Posthumanism as Vernacular Theory, and I was delighted to be linked to Ishmael Reed’s classic Mumbo Jumbo:

Reed’s novel has influenced Chicano science fiction writer Ernest Hogan’s attempt to produce an ethnic intervention in cyberpunk conventions [. . .]

I must admit, I identify more with Reed’s Neo-HooDooism and the emerging Afrofuturistic aesthetic than cyberpunk.

Then I found a full paragraph about me in The Routledge Companion to Latino/a Literature edited by Suzanne Bost and Frances R. Aparicio. Contributor Emily A. Maguire says:

Chicano writer Ernest Hogan bridges the gap between hard science fiction and cyberpunk.

And:

Hogan’s first two novels interweave Pre-Colombian mythology and Spanish, Spanglish, and Nahuatl language into a humorously dystopian sci-fi context.

Also:

Hogan’s most recent work thus humorously riffs on such ghost-in-the-machine texts as Gibson’s Neuromancer (and on society’s obsession with technology) by exploring the intersection of religion, technology, pop culture, yet does so with a distinctly Latino twist.

If that wasn’t enough, Frederick Luis Aldama, in Formal Matters in Contemporary Latino Poetry, mentions my cyberpunk, pre-Columbian-mythology-dimensioned novels as examples of Latino authors making for our consumption all variety of lowbrow, middlebrow, and highbrow literary texts.

That all gets me feeling good, but I still wonder if there’s any reviews of High Aztech, or even articles, that I don’t know about. I know that there are more things in Heaven and Earth than are posted on the interwebs. So I’m putting this out to you readers of La Bloga: Do you know of any? Please let me know. 

I’d even like to hear any comments you may have about High Aztech.

By the way, the original ebook versions of my novels will no longer be available once the new High Aztech is published. So if you want them, buy them from Kindle and Smashwords now.

Ernest Hogan is finding 2014 to be an eventful year. Details will be revealed later.

Join the Poetry Locomotive, Send Luis to Sacramento/ Love Poem for Valentine's Day by Jessica Ceballos

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Poets in Support of Luis J. Rodriguez for Governor, Sunday Feb. 16


Luis J. Rodriguez Seeks California Gubernatorial Bid
  photo by Melinda Palacio
Poets take to the train and local businesses to help send Luis Rodriguez to Sacramento. Abel Salas, Poetry Locomotive co-organizer, told La Bloga about how the idea to take to the trains got started.



"The project evolved from an idea I originally shared with an emerging poet from El Sereno, Iris de Anda. Luis and I have been friends for over 25 years. I first met him in San Antonio when his book POEMSACROSS THE PAVEMENT had just been released by Curbstone. This was long before ALWAYS RUNNNG. I was introduced to him by poet Raul Salinas, author of UN TRIP THROUGH THE MINDJAIL Y OTRAS EXCURSIONS. Raul had been mentoring me in Austin at his Resistencia Bookstore as far back as 1982, when I was still in high school. Luis looked up to Raul as one of the pioneer vernacular Xicano poets who believed in la literatura comprometida, that is, writing with a social consciousness. Last fall, when I learned that Luis was running for governor and needed signatures to get on the ballot, I though it might be a good idea to do a X-mas Posada, or a "Posada Poética" using the train as a vehicle to gather signatures and making stops like in a traditional posada to share poetry on the East Side and in Boyle Heights, where I've been organizing readings and publishing Brooklyn & Boyle since 2008.

"After conversations with the Luis Rodriguez campaign staff, with Luis and with Iris de Anda (co-organizer of Poetry Locomotive) and a few poets we both knew and liked, we decided we really needed to come out strong as poets, writers, journalists and Chicano community activists in support of a maestro, a mentor who we have all been blessed to know. We knew that Feb. 20th was the deadline for submitting signatures and we decided Valentine weekend was the perfect time to show some love to our beloved teacher, friend and fellow poet."


The Poetry Locomotive Tour


The tour begins with a small 1pm rally at the Gold Line Civic Center Stop in East LA. Among the poets scheduled to read are Francisco X. Alarcón, a world renowned poet whose work in English and Spanish has been translated into Gaelic and Japanese and Gloria Enedina Alvarez, an L.A. poet who has mentored a generation of younger poets throughout a decades-long career as the voice of Latina feminist poetics. Poets and fans will disembark from the poetry train at four stops and will re-board for travel to the following fine locations to hear three different featured poets in each space. Open mic readers are invited to share on the train between stops.


1:30PM
Lupe’s #2 Burritos, 4642 East 3rd St., East LA, CA 90022 (Gold Line Maravilla stop)

2:30PM
Quetzal Boutique, 3509 East 1st St. East LA, CA 90063 (Gold Line Indiana St. stop)

3:30PM
Mariachi Plaza/Espacio 1839, 1839 E 1st St, Boyle Heights, CA 90033 (Gold Line Mariachi Plaza stop)

4:30PM
Union Station/Placita Olvera, 800 N. Alameda St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

Poets: Francisco X. Alarcon, Gloria Enedina Alvarez, Iris De Anda, Leon Arellano, Jessica Ceballos, Bus Stop Prophet Francisco Escamilla, Luivette Resto, David Romero, Karineh Mahdessian, Peter J. Harris, Abel Salas, Matt Sedillo, award-winning high school poetry students and our very own Luís Javier Rodríguez with more to be announced.


Help put Luis on the ballot: http://rodriguezforgovernor.org





Can't make the train? Sign the petition here.



Read Poetry from Tia Chucha Press


Poetry Books from Tia Chucha Press




Happy Valentine's Day



Jessica Ceballos, a supporter of Luis Rodriguez offers words of encouragement for everyone to join the Poetry Locomotive in support of Luis Rodriguez and a love poem for this 14th day of February 2014. 
Jessica Ceballos photo by Michael Sedano


"Doing the "right" thing and making the right choices for the betterment of society (which includes the disenfranchised, the earth and the animals) is what democracy always forgets. Voting isn't an act of democracy when we have candidates like Luis Rodriguez, it's a revolution! A revolution is what we need to makes things right in this state, country, and world.  As a long-time believer in the Green Party philosophy it's a given that I'd support Luis, but I'm also very proud to be supporting someone who I believe in, someone with a desire and ability to reform our education, prison, and health care systems. I'm proud to support an artist, advocate, mentor, leader, do-er...a perfect representative of the majority of California." -- Jessica Ceballos


Her Departing Lament

It was a struggle to be so close.
For her, not was okay.
In my dreams the struggle
was behind us. She was wrapping
yesterday's arms around me
easing thoughts of my tomorrow.
Assuring me that tomorrow happens
to everyone.
To be ready with just-done hair,
candy apple red stilettos
and a pretty clutch in hand to match.
Preparing for cumulus clouds
that will flood our insides,
is an impossibility.
“The side you’re on now,” she says,
“is the side to prepare for.”
As she continued immersing me
in maternal longing, I absorbed her.
Held her disappearing hands tightly
until the hands I held became my own.
Learning that struggle was a prerequisite,
I begin to earn the soul I was gifted.
Today, I wake up in conversations;
dialogue between two who now strive
for a life that would prefer closeness.
Tonight, long before dreaming
we’ll wrap the day's arms around each other,
fear disappearing. Earning the right
to call each other
mother and daughter.


© Jessica Ceballos, all rights reserved.

Book prize! Ramos feature. No XL in Dakota. Besos y amor.

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Win autographed Rosa Parks book

In honor of Black History Month, Lee and Low Books is offering two chances to win an autographed copy of Dear Mrs. Parks: A Dialogue with Today's Youth, by Rosa Parks. Go here to Like and enter.

Lee and Lowe Books is an award-winning children's publisher focusing on diversity. Our books are about everyone, for everyone.


Ramos is one of a 100

Bloguero Manuel Ramos got his second biggest valentine yesterday from Denver Westword. He's #10 of 100 Colorado Creatives in Arts, Cultureand Books, joining La Bloga compadre Mario Acevedo, and others. If you'd like to give Ramos un beso directly on the cacheta, go to his Facebook. (Mario already gets more than he can wipe.)


Native-American tribes resist Keystone Xl

Obama and the Keystone XL Pipeline might beg for the peace pipe when they try building through Native American lands. The seven tribes of the Lakota Nation, along with tribal members and tribes in Idaho, Oklahoma, Montana, Nebraska and Oregon, are preparing to stop construction of the 1,400 kilometre pipeline planned to run through the U.S., from Montana through Nebraska.

“It poses a threat to our sacred water and the product is coming from the tar sands and our tribes oppose tar sands mining,” said Deborah White Plume, of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, part of the Lakota Nation in South Dakota. “All our tribes have taken action to oppose the Keystone XL.”

If you think plentiful gas for our cars isn't worth desecrating the remaining homelands still in Native hands, read the rest of this story.


If I forgot to send you any, here. . . .

 

Es todo, hoy,
RudyG
Author FB - rudy.ch.garcia
Twitter - DiscardedDreams

Ethnic Studies: Some Thoughts From Behind the Academic Curtain

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For the past six years, I have been the Director of Ethnic Studies at The University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  After this semester, I will be able to return full-time to a life of research, writing, and teaching.  Since 2008, I have had the challenge of balancing teaching, researching, and writing along with leading an Institute that houses three programs (African American and African Studies, U.S. Latina/Latino and Latin American Studies, and Native American Studies) with twenty-one faculty who are appointed in Ethnic Studies and also in what’s called a “home” department (example would be 60% in English and 40% in Ethnic Studies).  The twenty-one faculty in our Institute represent seven departments in the college.

Life in administration is complex.  On the one hand, you become aware (and fascinated and/or appalled) by the workings of the university and the college.  You get to go “behind the curtain” and observe/witness the many issues occurring on a daily basis. You also become more aware of cultural, racial, sexual, gendered, class differences in either subtle or overt ways. You also notice how individuals cross those lines respectfully or not. 

The first time I walked into a Dean’s meeting with all the Chairs and Directors, I was struck by the majority of white men.  The Dean and Associate Deans also were primarily white and male.  Today, there is not much improvement and people of color are vastly under represented in these ranks. Because of this under representation, the few who are “of color,” “female,” “queer,” “come from working class backgrounds,” may easily feel isolated because the “majority” often do not understand how a person’s background and identity play into discussions and perspectives. The unwritten expectation is that the individual must fit into the majority code of conduct.  These points of “diversity” make for interesting moments of tension. 

Here are some examples:  The person of color “chair” who talks with her hands, who is loud, who needs to make her point with a lengthy narrative, is shunned because she refuses to (1) remain quiet (2) negotiate the way “they” discuss.  And how do “they” discuss?  The term “presenting your point elegantly,” is code for speaking in a linear and minimalist narrative. Do not reveal your emotions.  Keep your hands by your sides or on your lap. I have also unfortunately seen the following too many times.  A person of color will be speaking and after she (it’s more often a woman) makes her case, a white person will then say to the group:  “So let me explain to everyone what you were trying to say here..." Agency is taken away over and over again.  The individual can reply with this possible example:  “What I said does not need any further explanation, and if any of you are not clear, please ask me.” 

In the book, Presumed Incompetent: The Intersections of Race and Class for Women in Academia,Margalynne J. Armstrong and Stephanie M. Wildman discuss using “Color Insight” to help individuals see each other instead of seeing the stereotype.  “Color Insight” dismantles the idea of “Color Blindness” by focusing on each person’s background and perspective. They write: 

One step to develop color insight is for the parties in the conversation to reflect upon and discuss whether their understanding of race has changed over their lifetimes.  Race is a moving target that evolves and is rarely static ... 

Eliminating the operation of the presumption of incompetence in academic institutions requires individual and institutional good faith.  A first step is to reflect on past incidents where women or people of color have been subjected to a presumption of incompetence.  Consider times when candidates or new teachers have inexplicably struggled at the outset in your school or other workplace.  Were these colleagues accorded a presumption fo competence?  Individuals must honestly assess their own attitudes and perceptions.  Ask yourself these questions:  Have you ever applied a presumption of incompetence to a member of some group?  Reflect on your role in faculty decisions about tenure or hiring.  Have you been willing to point out the operation of privilege (for example, when a colleague makes a statement such as “all it takes to be a good teacher is preparation and hard work”)? 

Margalynne J. Armstrong
Institutional good faith requires a diverse faculty and administration as well as an honest and respectful environment in which people of different races, genders, sexual orientation, and politics can disagree without fear of reprisal.  Individual and institutional good faith promotes the ability to work across racial lines that is necessary to challenge the presumption of incompetence.  To work across racial lines requires recognizing that in the United States, people continue to face racialization in many aspects of their lives.  An individual’s racial identity or perceived one affects that person’s experience and social interactions.  In its aspiration to achieve a color-blind society, contemporary culture downplays or even denies this racialized reality. But acknowledging a racialized reality and its impact on perception and reaction is an important element of transracial cooperation.  (233-4)
Stephanie M. Wildman
This is key to creating a more equitable community among faculty and administration.  If we are not modeling “color insight” (instead of “color blindness”), we are not providing our students with the tools the will need to negotiate a diverse transnational world in which they seek to work. 

Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo discusses the importance of Ethnic Studies.  She writes: 
Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo
[E]thnic Studies is different from disciplines like sociology, political science, and anthropology, which tend to hide behind the curtain of scientific objectivity and present issues by discussing numbers and an array of calculated theories designed to provide some explanation for the numbers.  In fact, listening to my colleagues and friends in those disciplines discuss their student evaluations, it appears that if professors in any of these (and related) disciplines try to move beyond mere presentation of facts, they are told to “shut up and teach.”  Because of its transdisciplinary methodology, ethnic studies is not a shut-up-and-teach kind of discipline.  Ethnic studies does not hide behind the veil of objectivity, and in fact, to be effective, it has to advocate and strive for a fundamental transformation of race relations.  Stating that there is inequality is not enough.  And here is where I come in:  I am a Latina telling my mostly white students that racism, discrimination, and inequality still exist and affect all our lives (theirs included), both in ways that can be measured and ones that cannot.  I also tell them that they are implicated in those things, that they must do something about them, and that their comforts come at the expense of others.  And, of course, they do not want to hear that.  Especially not from me.

I can relate to what Professor Lugo-Lugo describes in her classroom.  However, imagine trying to explain these concepts to other administrators and faculty—to ask them to consider their own implications, and further—to request that they do something about this so that they will consider “color insight” best practices at the level of faculty reappointments and tenure reviews.  Like Professor Lugo-Lugo’s students, many do not want to hear it.  They want to hold fast to their numerical metric systems of evaluations because no explanations are needed, no room for discussion, it is easy. 

It has been an interesting kind of education—looking behind the administrative curtain and seeing what occurs at these levels.  We have a long way to go.  A few days ago on Facebook, someone posted a message about deciding against graduate school because of hearing horrible stories of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. in academia.  This individual had seen his academic friends become isolated and quite demoralized. I can understand, at the same time that I feel we must be here, we must be present, we must stand up and be counted.  We must do the work while also supporting each other.  We have to learn to take care of ourselves within academia while we do the work.  I have a colleague who is also my gym buddy. We make sure we get to the gym and we make sure we talk through our own research work, our difficult and stressful moments. Having supportive friends and partners is key because academia is not going to change overnight.  A strong support system makes a big difference. 

I always want to encourage our Chicana and Chicano students to consider graduate school, to consider an academic career even though at this time we are continuing to experience financial constraints.  We still need to be here to then contribute to budget discussions in order to keep our ethnic studies programs and departments vibrant and growing.  There are important organizations to help graduate students stay on track and focused: 

1. National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS)
2. Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS)
3. Society for the Study of Gloria Anzaldúa (SSGA)
4. The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS)
5. American Studies Association (ASA)



Los Highlights para La 2014 Pachanga: AWP Seattle

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Xánath Caraza

For the 2014  PACHANGA in Seattle, WA,  the Advisory Circle of Con Tinta, a collective of Chican@/Latin@ Activist Writers, and los Norteños Writers group are honoring Jesús “El Flaco” Maldonado and Kathleen Alcalá, in addition to the celebration of the five year anniversary of CantoMundo.  On Thursday, February 27, 2014, 5:30-7:30 p.m., we will have La Pachanga at Mexico Cantina y Cocina at Pacific Place-Level 4, 600 Pine St. (or 1611 6th Ave.), Seattle, WA 98101. Ph #: (206) 405-3400.  Please be our guest and join La Pachanga for our hors d’oeuvre & cash bar celebration and more.  
Kathleen Alcalá




"El Flaco" Maldonado

Let’s all be sure to thank Los Norteños Writers Group who have been diligently planning this year’s Pachanga.  Here is a photo of Los Norteños in action followed by the names of the volunteers of Los Norteños Writers Group.

Los Norteños Writers Group



Volunteers:

Venue:
Catalina Cantu
Gabriella Gutierrez y Muhs
Donna Miscolta

Award selection committee:
Lauro Flores
Gabriella Gutierrez y Muhs

Liaison with Mexican Consulate
Maria Victoria

Entertainment Committee
Carmen Carrion
Kathleen Alcala

Rose Cano of eSe Theatre
Leon Reines as Don Quixote

Greeters:
Joseph DeLeon
Raul Sanchez

As an important part of La Pachanga’s program, we will have readings by “El Flaco” Maldonado and Kathleen Alcalá. 

What is more for our Pachanga, Los Norteños considered three proposals of events before choosing eSe Theatro to present a short excerpt of their play, "Don Quixote – Homeless in Seattle” at La Pachanga.  Enjoy the following short video from eSe Theatro.


In addition to the play, CantoMundo’s five year anniversary will be also celebrated at La Pachanga. We’ll have the opportunity to hear some poesía by a handful of the CantoMundo poets, Barbara Curiel, David Tomas Martinez, and Juan Morales among others.


Lastly for our event, Words on aWire, Daniel Chacón, will be en La Pachanga to be part of this historical momento. 

Con Tinta would like to thank some of our sponsors for this year’s Pachanga.  Gracias a Los Norteños Writers Group, el Consulado de México en Seattle, WA, La Bloga, Francisco X. Alarcón, Words on a Wire, Latina/Latino StudiesProgramat the University of Missouri-Kansas City, BorderSenses Literary Journal, CantoMundo, Celeste Mendoza and Norma Cantú.

Be our guests and be ready to enjoy el teatro, la poesía y la buena compañía.  Hasta entonces. 
El Poster de la 2014 Pachanga: AWP Seattle


Review: Hanigan's Tumba. Birthday Floricanto.

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Review: Tom Miller. La Tumba de Hanigan. Translated by Federico Patán, Sandra Engoron-March, and Christina Guerrero Harmon. Madrid: eCícero, 2013.
ISBN 978-84-941700-3-4

“Hanigan’s Grave” is collected in Miller’s On the border : portraits of America's southwestern frontier, NY: Harper & Row, 1981. ISBN 9780060130398


Michael Sedano

A trio of young men find themselves held at gunpoint somewhere on el otro lado.
The estadunidense holding the gun speaks their language, but in English with his two henchmen. The gringos strip the three Mexicanos naked, burn their clothes, torture their flesh, and send them scurrying into the desert while the laughing kidnapers cap off rounds at their fleeing backs.

The assault is how Tom Miller begins La Tumba de Hanigan, his report on the aftermath of those events near Douglas, Arizona, chronicled in Miller’s 1981 “Hanigan’s Grave”. Newly-translated by a team led by Federico Patán, Sandra Engoron-March, and Christina Guerrero Harmon, Miller’s account appears in ebook format from Spain’s eCícero. 

The release of this gem of southwestern nonfiction comes as the world learns of the Jacksonville FL jury who refuses to endorse charges of murder against the man who murdered 17-year old Jordan Davis over music. La Tumba de Hanigan shows how that kind of justice is a regular occurrence in some US courts.

The grave in the title belongs to paterfamilas George Hanigan, who, with his two sons, are set to stand trial for the torture and assault on the three Mexicans. Some say the pressure got to him, the charges evidence of his ilk's deteriorating stature. Ni modo why, it was his time so Dad dies before he goes to trial, and doesn't get to see the boys set free by a local Jury. He would have celebrated a second time when, after the Feds file obscure charges, one walks. It's Arizona.

The way Miller tells the facts, all three Hanigans deserved extreme unction but La Tumba de Hanigan isn’t fiction, it’s journalism. They get off for all the reasons "it's Arizona" is a self-fulfilling prophecy guaranteeing perverted democracy.

Local sentiment justifies killing a few Mexicans because all Mexicans who sneak across the border are here to rob and steal. Hunting them down and doing just-us passes as reasonable doubt in 1980s Arizona. Jimmy Carter was president when the Hanigan case hit the headlines. In Obama's presidency, migrants crossing into Arizona traverse Hanigan’s grave, so what sense did anything make?

Miller’s account covers less than a hundred pages, filling the narrative with facts and views derived from observation, conversation, and reading. Miller’s shoe leather research helps add details providing historical context, local color, and illuminating character. George Hanigan, for example, was known as “Mr. Republican of Cochise County,” back when Barry Goldwater was running for president.

The Hanigans were among the first anglo immigrants to the region, setting claim on lands at the turn of the 20th century. George grows up thinking Mexicans are thieves when as a boy he witnesses gente scavenging scrap from Phelps Dodge foundry. Reading between Miller's lines, this finite heritage on the land explains the Hanigan infinite sense of entitlement that motivates their violence.

The Mexicans have names and histories, but this isn't their story. Manuel, Eleazar y Bernabé's lives converge, intersect, diverge from the rape in the desert, three lives turned desmadres told in part--there are lots. It's Arizona.

The Spanish translation reads smoothly with a succinct and sharp-eyed style that sounds like Miller when he writes in English. That’s a good thing. Miller’s distinct voice comes with a keen ear and an attitude that suggests a good phrase is as good as a sharp stick in the eye. Recounting what locals used to think about George Hanigan, Miller’s narrator observes:
–Si Adolfo Hitler viviera todavía –dijo el
decano de los estudiantes en Douglas High
School, amigo de los Hanigan durante 20
años–, George sería su sombra.
Another good thing is students of ambos idiomas can pick up a copy of Tumba for Apple or Amazon devices for €2.99 or $4.10 via the book's publisher web site. US libraries across the continent shelve Miller’s On the Border anthology, and Worldcat lists an ePub.

I hope Spanish teachers and students zero in on this golden opportunity to read a simultaneously translated work, especially one with such cultural impact. An added benefit of a bilingual reading is the rest of Miller's On the Border anthology, like "Rosa's Cantina,"his visit to the site of the Marty Robbins song, "El Paso."

Some diplomats might wonder if releasing this story right now in Europe, or anywhere gente read Spanish, is a good thing? Is it good to illustrate how wildly US justice miscarries for los de abajo, because, according to local custom, those Mexicans had it coming? Then again, it’s Arizona. And it's Florida, and Florida again. It's we, the people whose communities work out of a mindset like los Hanigan's apologists, finding acts unsavory but understandable. Así es.

Miller doesn’t say that. Miller’s narrator keeps a professional distance from the emotions that inhere in the experiences. The writer seems to know readers will come to the sickening realization that the communities who freed the Hanigans haven't changed much.

La Tumba de Hanigan would be banned in Arizona. That the facts are inflammatory is a function of the events. You can look up the Hanigan torture case on the internet and get the Joe Friday effect. La Tumba de Hanigan is a lot more fun than a million and a half Google hits, and the best hour you’ve spent in a long time.


La Bloga On-line Floricanto
Dual Happy Birthday For Francisco X. Alarcon
2011 National Latino Writers Conference friends include Tim Z. Hernandez, Francisco X. Alarcón, Michael Sedano. iPhone foto unknown.

La Bloga friend Francisco X. Alarcón and his mother share a birthdate this month. Son celebrates his 60th birthday and mother counts her 90th birthday. 

This year Francisco's mother welcomes Francisco and friends to her Long Beach home where friends and familia, and friends of friends and familia, and assorted random poets and friends of random poets, feast on delectables and enjoy a taste of poetry.

La Bloga's On-line Floricanto is pleased to share Francisco's poem on his mother's 90th birthday, which the poet posts on his Facebook page

Francisco X. Alarcón and Michael Sedano originated the idea of an On-line Floricanto during the months leading to the 2010 Festival de Flor y Canto • Yesterday • Today • Tomorrow held at USC commemorating and reuniting poets and writers from the original 1973 Festival de Flor y Canto. 

Francisco founded the Facebook group Poets Responding to SB 1070, Poetry of Resistance, whose moderators nominate a handful of poems for a monthly on-line celebration of current poetry of resistance.

It's a pleasure wishing il miglior fabbro and his wonderful mother the happiest felices dias yesterday, today, tomorrow.


90 AÑOS DE MAMÁ
por Francisco X. Alarcón

mi madre cumple
noventa años alerta
e igual de sabia
junto a su gran familia
este mes de febrero

mi madre y yo
nacimos unos pocos
días aparte —
compartimos no solo
el mismo signo zodiáco

querida mamá
nada nos pudo hundir
tú fuiste ejemplo —
anduviste sobre aguas
turbias del mar de la vida

desembocado
como caballo galopo
para renacer
sesenta años después
este nuevo año lunar

© Francisco X. Alarcón
February 6, 2014

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

90 YEARS OF MAMÁ
by Francisco X. Alarcón

Mamá celebrates
her ninetieth birthday
witty and wise as ever
together with her big family
on this February month

Mamá and I were
born few days apart
on the same month
and we share more
than a zodiacal sign

oh dearest Mamá
nothing could get us down
you’re a role model —
you walked over turbid waters
on the stormy sea of life

wild and free
as a horse, I gallop
to be born again
sixty years later
on this new lunar year

©Francisco X. Alarcón
February6, 2014



*********** UPDATE ***********

Dear Em, Thank you for posting this wonderful photo and the poem. I gad a great time at my mom's 90th birthday celebration in Long Beach and also at the Luis Rodriguez Poetry Locomotive earlier in the day in Los Angeles. I felt so blessed that I wrote a poem:

BLESSED DAY
by Francisco X. Alarcón

what a luminous
special and blessed day
in Los Angeles

first joining a train
ride with fellow poets
activists, dreamers

with children, youth
adults and elders reading
poems, sharing dreams

putting into action
poetics and politics
at their best

boarding a poetry
locomotive whose real
final destination

is to change our state
our nation, the world
for the better

yes, the New Era is
upon us, the Flower Sun
is blooming in our hearts

“monarch butterflies
would vote for El Poeta
as the people’s governor”

what a luminous
special and blessed day
in Los Angeles

listening to poets,
inspired by them and
by the poet candidate

at Quetzal Boutique
in East Los Angeles —
moved by Quetzalcoatl

invoking the ancient
call “Tahui” to the four
winds, the four directions

calling the ancestors
and all present to bless
our brother poet candidate

what a luminous
special and blessed day
in Los Angeles

being part of another
special occasion, my mom’s
90th birthday celebration

now in Long Beach
in company of brothers,
sisters, relatives, friends

and being able to recite
a poem dedicated to her
as a big ceiba mother tree

and also being able to call
the four directions
the four winds

feeing blessed by all present
blessed by the ancestors
blessed by mi madre

o what a luminous
special and blessed day
in Los Angeles!

© Francisco X. Alarcón
February 16, 2014

This was written after participating in the LUIS J. RODRIGUEZ POETRY LOCOMOTIVE organized by poets Abel Salas and Iris de Anda in Los Angeles on February 16. Other poets who participated: Gloria Enedina Álvarez, Leon Arellano, Jessica Ceballos, Bus Stop Prophet Francisco Escamilla, Janet González, Peter J. Harris, John Martinez. Luivette Resto, David Romero, Matt Sedillo, Mario Angel Escobar’s daughters, award-winning high school poetry students and the poet candidate for Governor of California Luis J. Rodríguez,

My very own room

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Review by Ariadna Sánchez

Abraham Lincoln was a great man with a strong spirit. On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy. Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States. His legacy will last forever, and it will be an inspiration to new generations of Americans. To learn more about Lincoln and the rest of the US presidents visit 

Speaking of freedom, today’s book review presents a very unique experience where a little girl wants to have a special place where she can be herself.

My very own room is a fascinating story written by Amada Irma Pérez and with attractive illustrations by Maya Christina Gonzalez.

The book is a beautiful childhood memoir of Amada Irma Pérez. By sharing her adventures through her book, the author allows us to learn about her family’s struggles and her love for books. The story portrays a nine year old Mexican American girl who is tired of sharing a room with her five little brothers. The girl wants to have her very own room. She wishes for a place where she could let her imagination fly.

The house has 2 bedrooms and one bath, and it’s always noisy and crowded.  Relatives and friends coming from Mexico to look for a job in the United States are always coming in and out. One day, the girl discovers a storage closet and decides to use it as her own place. However, her mother did not agree with the idea of using the storage closet as her own room. The girl was determined to have her own room, so she convinced her mother to allow her to use the storage room as her own room. The entire family helped to empty the storage closet and convert it into a nice and cozy bedroom.

Visit your local library this afternoon and check out more stories by Amada Irma Pérez and Maya Christina Gonzalez.  Remember reading give

Padura in NYC

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A Conversation with Leonardo Padura



Leonardo Padura 
Cuban Novelist and Journalist

Leonardo Padura is perhaps the most successful and internationally-acclaimed writer in today’s Cuba. A novelist, journalist, and critic, he is the author of several novels, one collection of essays, and a volume of short stories. He is responsible for renovating the Cuban detective narrative in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. His Havana series crime novels featuring detective Mario Conde, published in English by Bitter Lemon Press, have been translated into many languages and have won literary prizes around the world. His latest novel Herejes, was just published by Tusquets (2013, Spanish). Padura's critically acclaimed historical novel about Trotsky's assassin, The Man Who Loved Dogs, has just been published in English in January 2014.

Interviewers: 
Jaime Manrique 
Distinguished Lecturer, The City College of New York, CUNY

Mauricio Font 
Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies

Wednesday, February 26, 2014, 12:15 PM
The Graduate Center, Skylight Room
365 Fifth Avenue (@ 34th Street)

This event will be in Spanish.
TO RESERVE please send an email to bildner@gc.cuny.edu


Rich and Poor - Call for Fotos - Luis Leal Award

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The Rich Get Richer, The Rest of Us Get The Shaft

The Colorado Center on Law and Policy today (February 19) released the following joint statement in partnership with The Bell Policy Center and the Colorado Fiscal Institute.

The gap between the wealthiest Coloradans and everyone else turned into a chasm following the Great Recession, according to a report released today. In that time, Colorado's top 1 percent accounted for all of the state's growth in income, while the other 99 percent saw a decline in income.

The report, The Increasingly Unequal States of America, is published by the Economic Policy Institute. EPI's Colorado partners include The Bell Policy Center, the Colorado Center on Law and Policy and the Colorado Fiscal Institute. 

The report found that in Colorado, between 2009 and 2011:
  • The wealthiest 1 percent accounted for all of the income growth - one of 17 states where that happened.
  • The top 1 percent saw income growth of 23.5 percent, while the other 99 percent of Coloradans saw income decline by 4 percent.
  • The average income for the top 1 percent in Colorado in 2011 was $1,098,682, while the average for the bottom 99 percent was $46,837.
In assessing a longer-term period of inequality, the report found that from 1979 to 2007, Colorado generally tracked national averages (all data is adjusted for inflation):
  • The top 1 percent income recipients in Colorado saw their income rise by 200.8 percent for the period. (For the U.S average, the comparable number is 200.5 percent.)
  • The bottom 99 percent saw their income rise by 21.2 percent. (U.S. average: 18.9 percent.)
  • The 1 percent in Colorado took home 48.3 percent of all income growth in the state in that period. (U.S.: 53.9 percent.)
  • Colorado ranks 15th for income growth for the top 1 percent. Connecticut led the way with 414.6 percent, while West Virginia was last, at 74.1 percent.
  • Among neighboring states, Colorado ranked behind only Wyoming and Utah in income growth for the 1 percent. Wyoming's 1 percenters saw their income rise by 354.3 percent (versus a loss of 0.8 percent for the 99 percenters). Utah's numbers were 214.9 percent and 15.4 percent.
  • In 1928, the previous high-water mark for inequality, Colorado's 1 percenters took home 19.3 percent of state income. In 1979, it was 9 percent, and in 2007, it was 19.7 percent.
  • From 1928 to 1979, the 1 percent's share of all state income declined by 10.3 percent. From 1979 to 2007, the 1 percenters' share of state income increased by 10.7 percent. 
The authors of The Increasingly Unequal States of America compiled data from the Internal Revenue Service for every state - the amount of income and the number of taxpayers in different income ranges - from 1928 to 2011. In tracking the recent prolonged period of inequality, the authors started with 1979 because that was the peak of a business cycle and because that year is seen as a starting point for rising income inequality. It ends with 2007 because it was the peak of the most recent business cycle.


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Annual Juried Photography Exhibition
The Focused Eye

Call For Entries

March 7-29, 2014

Chac Art Gallery
772 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO 80204

Judges:Hal Gould, Loretta Young-Gautier

Chac curators:
Judy Miranda and Charlie Walter

Prizes:
Best of Show -$100.00
Judges Award -$50.00
Most Unique $25.00

Important Dates
All delivery and pick up times must be met. Consider dates carefully before entering.
If you are interested email: Judy Miranda, fotojudy@comcast.net or Charlie Walter, chalee9533@gmail.com - subject line: Photography Exhibition.

February 28, 12-5 p.m.
Deliver art work to Chac Gallery

March 4
Jury date

March 5, 12-4 p.m.
Work not accepted must be picked up

March 7, 6-9 p.m.
Opening

March 21, 7-9 p.m.
Awards presentation

March 29,12-4 p.m.
All works must be picked up.

 ________________________________________________________


John Rechy
John Rechy Receives Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature
 [from the press release]

John Rechy is this year’s recipient of the UC Santa Barbara’s Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. The award was presented February 6.

Rechy is the author of several highly acclaimed novels, including “City of Night,” which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013; “Numbers”; and “The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gomez.” In addition, his essays have appeared in The Nation, The New York Review of Books, the Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly, The Village Voice, The New York Times and Saturday Review. He is the first novelist to receive PEN-USA’s Lifetime Achievement Award and is the first recipient of ONE Magazine’s Culture Hero Award.

Rechy has been nominated twice for the Los Angeles Times Book Awards Body of Work designation, and he has been named a fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition, he has received fiction awards from Phi Kappa Phi and the Longview Foundation.

See more at this link.



Later.
Novelist John Rechy is this year’s recipient of the UC Santa Barbara’s Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. The award will be presented during a ceremony at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, in the University Center’s Corwin Pavilion at UCSB. The event is free and open to the public.
Rechy is the author of several highly acclaimed novels, including “City of Night,” which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013; “Numbers”; and “The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gomez.” In addition, his essays have appeared in The Nation, The New York Review of Books, the Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly, The Village Voice, The New York Times and Saturday Review. He is the first novelist to receive PEN-USA’s Lifetime Achievement Award and is the first recipient of ONE Magazine’s Culture Hero Award.
Rechy has been nominated twice for the Los Angeles Times Book Awards Body of Work designation, and he has been named a fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition, he has received fiction awards from Phi Kappa Phi and the Longview Foundation.
“John Rechy is one of the most productive and courageous American writers of Mexican ancestry in the United States,” said Mario T. García, professor of Chicana and Chicano studies and of history at UCSB, and the organizer of the annual Leal Award. “In his many novels and other writings, beginning with his classic ‘City of Night’ of the early 1960s, Rechy has always pushed the envelope. Like all great writers, his work is artistic but also a commentary on social mores. He honors UCSB by receiving the Leal Award.”
Born in El Paso, Texas, of Mexican and Scottish ancestry, Rechy graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso. He has lectured at Harvard, Yale, Duke, UCLA, Occidental College and the University of Northern Illinois, among others. He currently teaches graduate courses in film and literature at the University of Southern California.
The Leal Award is named in honor of Luis Leal, a professor emeritus of Chicanaand Chicano Studies at UCSB, who was internationally recognized as a leading scholar of Chicano and Latino literature. Previous award recipients of the award include Demetria Martínez, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Graciela Limón, Pat Mora, Alejandro Morales, Helena Maria Viramontes, Oscar Hijuelos, Rudolfo Anaya, Denise Chávez and Hector Tobar.
- See more at: http://www.news.ucsb.edu/node/013926/ucsb-honor-city-night-author#sthash.gOg8AB4t.dpuf
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