CON TINTA CELEBRATION A HUGE SUCCESS!

Monday’s post from Daniel Olivas…

From our friend, Richard Yañez, comes this report (with photos taken by Emmy Pérez):

On March 9, over 100 people packed Dona Emilia's in Austin, TX. They were there to embrace Con Tinta as an organization working for Chicano/Latino writer-activists.

The evening featured award presentations to two of our veterano writers, Rolando Hinojosa-Smith and raúlrsalinas; The Quetzal Quill Reading Series featured Diana Marie Delgado, Brenda Cardenas, and Paul Martinez Pompa; and Richard Yañez and Rigoberto Gonzalez were the co-hosts for the evening. (Lorna Dee Cervantes was unable to read during this event, but she did read from an amazing essay the next afternoon.)

Those in attendance included a who's who of Chicana&Chicano letters: Kathleen Alcala, Norma Cantu, Oscar Casares, Eduardo Corral, Lisa D. Chavez, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Christine Granados, Dagoberto Gilb, Maria Melendez, Carolina Monsivais, Manuel Munoz, Michelle Otero, Emmy Perez, David Rice, Benjamin Alire Saenz, Rene Saldana, Trinidad Sanchez, Jose Skinner, Sergio Troncoso, and Helena Maria Viramontes.

Allies in attendance included Joy Harjo, representatives from Kundiman, Nuestra Palabra, Resistencia Bookstore, BorderSenses, Momotombo Press, the University of Arizona Press, Arte Publico Press, and Wings Press.

Con Tinta’s first-ever event coincided with the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Annual Conference. Next year’s annual conference will take place on February 28-March 3 in Atlanta, Georgia. Deadline for presentation proposals is May 1, 2006.

A very special thanks to Emmy Pérez for documenting the evening in photographs and to Zoë Samora from the Institute of Latino Studies for designing our beautiful program. (If you would like to receive a copy of the program, send your name and snail mail address to the email address below.)

Con Tinta’s mission is to create awareness through the cultivation of emerging talent, through the promotion and presentation of artistic expression, and through the collective voice of support to our members, our communities, and our allies. If you would like more information, please contact Richard Yañez, Con Tinta Advisory Circle member, at theclica@hotmail.com or at 915-830-2630.

(Pictured in top photo: panelists Rigoberto Gonzalez, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Benjamin Alire Saez, Lorna Dee Cervantes and Helena Maria Viramontes; middle photo: Liana Lopez, Eduardo Corral, Francisco Aragon and Manuel Muñoz; bottom photo: raulsalinas and Diana Marie Delgado.)

PUBLICATION ALERT: This week, Frederick Luis Aldama’s Spilling the Beans in Chicanolandia: Conversations with Writers and Artists, will be released by the University of Texas Press. The featured writers and artists are: Francisco X. Alarcón, Alfred Arteaga, Ricardo Bracho, Denise Chávez, Lucha Corpi, Dagoberto Gilb, Jaime Hernandez (of Los Bros Hernandez), Juan Felipe Herrera, Richard Montoya (of Culture Clash), Pat Mora, Cherríe Moraga, Alejandro Morales, Michael Nava, Daniel Olivas, Cecile Pineda, Lourdes Portillo, Luis J. Rodríguez, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Luis Alberto Urrea, Alfredo Véa Jr. and Alma Luz Villanueva.

And Monday, April 3, sees the release of the paperback edition of Luis Alberto Urrea’s magnificent novel of last year, The Hummingbird’s Daughter. La Bloga reviewed it recently and I reviewed it for The Elegant Variation last year followed by my interview of Urrea.

A TINY TOOT OF MY HORN: My story, "Hit" (which first appeared in Outsider Ink), is a finalist for the storySouth's Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2005. Go here for a complete list of finalists. Dan Wickett's Emerging Writers Network is doing an analysis of some of the finalists. Wickett's treatment of my story is here.

OPPOSITION TO H.R. 4437: The following is a petition opposing an attempt to criminalize undocumented immigrants. If you agree with it and wish to sign, go to this website and sign. Here is the petition:

To: The U.S. Senate

We The Undersigned urge to oppose the Act of Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, introduced by the representative James Sensebrenner (R_WI) and approved by the House of representatives. This project of the law H.R.4437 seeks to criminalize over 11 million of undocumented immigrants that live in the United States of America and punish U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents that are in contact with them. I request that you VOTE NO to the H.R.4437.

Those who are in favor or against the immigration repeatedly say that the immigration system is broken. Now the radical anti-immigrant group of the House of Representatives has approved the bill H.R.4437 by incarcerating, detaining, deporting, and criminalizing a whole generation of immigrants under the pretext of national security. The H.R.4437 of Sensenbrenner only seeks to make the laws more “enforce”, militarizing the borders, treating the undocumented immigrants as aggravated felons, and creating more judicial restrictions against them.

The past two decades repress against the people that enter in the United States illegally have failed. From 1986 to 2002, the border patrol budget has increased from 151 million to 6.1 billion dollars and the hours agents spent patrolling the border has increased eightfold. Yet the number of undocumented immigrants has doubled from 4.5 million to 9.3 million from 1993 to 2004. More importantly these anti-immigrant politicians have forgotten that the undocumented are NOT CRIMINALS, they are immigrants that work hard, they pay taxes and contribute immeasurably to the grown and prosperity of our nation.

Our current system of immigration is failing all of us. A real immigration reform requires a comprehensive solution that will broaden the legal channels for immigrants to enter the country to work, reunite with their families, and contribute to our society. Comprehensive immigration reform will bring immigrants out of their shadows and contribute to our nation’s prosperity.

California is proud for her great number of immigrants. No doubt it has been immigrants that has sustained and enriched this state. We seek that our leaders defeat this negative shortsighted, and draconian bill, that you consider to reform our immigration laws. I urge that you oppose H.R.4437.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

All done. So, until next Monday, enjoy the intervening posts from my compadres y comadre at La Bloga. ¡Lea un libro!