The Time is Now: Chicas Rockeras Touch Down in Huntington Park

Guest Post by Vickie Vertiz

Who are you? Who do you want to be?

Today is your day, listen and see

Yes we can! (Yes we can!)

With chicas on your side

Your moment has finally arrived

Strings of hand-cut microphone papel picado hangs above thirty girls and as many volunteers who dance the pogo. Brown and black ponytails bop around the cafeteria, which is now a dance hall, and they do the lawnmower with their blue-haired instructors. The room is charged with so much joy that it’s harder to stand still than to dance. Even the wallflowers (myself included) end up in on the edges of the sweetest mosh pit ever, devoid of the usual fierce shoving. The house band, Las Pulgas, or The Fleas, plays Chicas Rockeras’ bilingual theme song, “Your Moment”:

The first-ever Chicas Rockeras Southeast Los Angelescamp in Huntington Park was a rollicking success. Just five miles from downtown and four miles from the Long Beach Freeway, the rock camp hosted over 30 children ages 8-17, for a week of band practice and workshops. Held the week of June 15-19, 2015 at Aspire Ollin University Prep Academy, girls learned to sing and write songs with punk legend Alice Bag and coached by Candice Hansen who’s played with, among others, Exene Cervenka from the L.A.-based band X.

Based on a sliding scale up to $150, which most families paid close to, the camp is based on the Girls Rock Camp Alliance model where programs build self-esteem and help girls find their voices by using music education and performance to build empowerment and social justice. The feminist and radical female effort was started in 2001 in Portland while the Alliance began in 2007, exploding with new iterations across the country and as far as the United Kingdom.

The entire week was filled with lunchtime singing and dancing—energized campers gathered each morning and thought about their power, their friendships, and their literal voices. In classes they talked about their neighborhoods and what’s in them: trees, freeways, paleteros, and schools. Most importantly, what changed every day was how they saw themselves. For example, camper

Isabel P., who’s a reporter for the Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio said this:

“When I walked into camp for the first time I felt ecstatic, my adrenalin was pumping and I just wanted to play drums. The volunteers welcomed every girl with kindness that made me feel like I belong...”

The groups was split into the younger set, ages 8-11 called the Bidis, and ages 12-17 were called the Bom Boms, after Selena’s world famous song, “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom.” The band lyrics reflected what girls were learning. After the positive body image workshop, Rotting Glitter, a Bom Bom band, wrote these lyrics for their song, “Body is Beauty”: "We won’t take this anymore! We have bodies we adore!"When you watch this clip of them performing, you’ll notice they start out on the quiet side, but as the song goes on, the singer’s voice grows in confidence until she’s screaming into the mic. This song embodies the changes and growth the campers experienced at Chicas Rockeras.

“After the camp, I felt that I had learned a lot, not just with learning a new instrument but I learned a lot about myself, the history of music and life lessons that can be used in the future,” wrote Isabel in her article. The camp was a small revolution in education, centering student strength’s and learning styles at the heart of their pedagogy.

For example, the hallway of Aspire Ollin’s first floor was covered with women who rock: Selena, Joan Jett, Jenny Rivera, showing that, while the curriculum was derived from a punk-aesthetic, the people at the center of the posters and decorations were other Latinas. Chicas Rockeras’ most amazing strength places the student cultures and aesthetics at the center of the curriculum. To achieve this work in public schools, facing massive budget cuts that make teachers choose between having a school nurse and band class, is a minor miracle.

Other guest artists like award-winning Trio Ellas and band coach Josie Wreck performed original music and covers, staying to discuss their career and work with campers. The camp was focused on problem-solving and on building critical thinking skills.

The first workshop I participated in was on how to be an ally. Sitting in a circle of mostly the younger girls and a few adult volunteers, the facilitator thoughtfully asked us to go around say our name and our preferred gender pronoun. We talked about what a gender pronoun was first and then went around. For them it was, “she and them,” which served as an example of the many ways the campers could identify. We also defined being an ally as: the way you can check if someone was all right or if they needed anything. One girl of about seven and a hand that was always in the air asked, “What does ‘gay’ mean?”

“That’s a great question,” said the facilitator, a petite Black woman who works with many local justice groups like Black Lives Matter. “Let’s figure it out.” Our teacher went up to the white board and drew three lines with the words “boy” and “girl” at each end. The first mapped out who they like to spend time with, the second was what activities the gender enjoy, and the last was what gender is written on your birth certificate. The girls took markers and drew marks where they belonged along the spectrums. The girls talked about this idea in a respectful way where everyone’s ideas were welcomed; no one was shamed or punished. This was yet another great camp moment, one that many of us never thought we could have. What’s even more exciting is that conversations like these are happening in the southeast, a set of communities that do a lot with limited economic and educational resources.

The children in our communities hold precious lessons learned at home that teach them to be inventive and resilient, to thrive in the face of bigotry embodied in toxic factories, the expansion of dangerous freeways, and overcrowded schools that frequently fail to serve them. In 2010, the median income in Huntington Park for a family of four was $34,000 while 31.7% was under the age of 18, compared to 25% for the state. These are normal statistics for the southeast and, in opposition to what some might think, conditions that generate ingenuity. Children are natural artists, full of energy and ideas, a resource in which the southeast is rich.

“I also learned some valuable skills,” added Isabel, the camper who is also a reporter, “such as leadership, team work, collaboration, and communication skills.” If Isabel could articulate these skills, there’s no telling what she’ll be up to when she grows up. Chicas Rockeras is the kind of group that all families, politicians, nonprofits, and teachers should know about and support immediately. Like the Southeast Los Angeles Colectivo, like the Alivio Open Mic, like Communities for a Better Environment, Chicas Rockeras is made up of people from the southeast and their allies who are stepping up and organizing their communities, not waiting for anyone to come and save them.

It is the younger people, a few years out of college or a few years into the workplace, from southeast L.A. County who are the organizers and participants at the numerous art projects, programs, and events blossoming in the region. If foundations that support programs like AVID, for instance, are interested in investing in that expanse of the county, they should support groups like Chicas Rockeras Southeast Los Angeles, run by those of us who see promise and talent where others only see poverty.

In their art work and behavior, campers identified confidence, power, friendship, love, and encouragement. The need for a program like this is clear. The music and art programs in Los Angeles Unified, like many other districts, have been cut drastically, pitted against other basic needs like an on-site nurse. Co-Founder Marin TK said this about what inspired her and her friends to create CRSELA: “Tk.”

The bilingual camp will return next year with just as much energy. The 35 volunteers who spanned everything from punk rock drummers to PhD students will also be back because the project was close to their hearts.

“That was me when I was that age,” said one woman during an after-program meeting. Almost every adult in the volunteer circle nodded in agreement. Most people in the room related to the campers at that age: introverted, questioning, yet brave and curious.

The day of the final showcase, the camp theme song was played again, a set of roaring final performances at the American Legion in South Gate. Pastel-colored paper lanterns adorn the ceiling, and under their glow, the stage is packed with singing campers and teachers. The audience is a sea of arms in the air, an auditorium jammed with parents, siblings, and abuelos. Everyone from Ph.D. students, punks, and baby siblings cheer on the campers’ big numbers.

Let this be a rallying cry for all of our young people to be this supported in their creativity. May our schools vibrate with affirmation and song.

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