Do These Shoes Make Me Look Illegal? A Night of Spoken Word and Creative Resistance

Olga García Echeverría

Are you suffering from SB 1070 Traumatic Stress Disorder? Wondering if your chanclas or vaquero boots make you look illegal? Sick and tired of racist legislation and political pendejadas?

Then come join us for an evening of cathartic spoken word and creative resistance:

Do These Shoes Make Me Look Illegal?

Poetic Chanclazos By:

tatiana de la tierra
Erika Ayon
Michael Medrano
Olga García Echeverría
Olivia Chumacero

Slide Show of Arizona's National Day of Action:

Claudia Rosas

DJ Music (OMG, For Reals!)
Raffle
Barrio Snacks

& Other Ghetto Goodies

July 17th, 2010
7-9 PM

UCLA Labor Center
675 S Park View St

Los Angeles CA 90057-3306

$5 Donation
(no one turned away for lack of funds)

All proceeds go to

Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca's Family

On Monday, June 7, 2010, Sergio Adrian Hernandez Güereca, a 15-year-old Mexican boy, was shot and killed by a U.S. border patrol agent at the Juarez-El Paso border. His death calls attention to the escalating human rights abuses resulting from increased border militarization. To learn more about this incident: http://www.counterpunch.org/carlsen06232010.html

About the participating artists:

Born in Villavicencio, Colombia and raised in Miami, Florida, tatiana de la tierra is a bicultural writer whose work focuses on identity, sexuality, and South American memory and reality. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Texas at El Paso and a Master of Library Science from University at Buffalo. tatiana was a founder, editor, and contributor to the Latina lesbian publications esto no tiene nombre, conmoción and la telaraña. She is author of For the Hard Ones: A Lesbian Phenomenology / Para las duras: Una fenomenología lesbiana and the chapbooks Porcupine Love and Other tales from My Papaya and Píntame Una Mujer Peligrosa. Her latest creative project, tierra, is a limited-edition chapbook made from recycled cardboard.

Michael Medrano was born and raised in Fresno, California, the heart of the San Joaquin Valley. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and has performed his work at Stanford University, The Loft Literary Arts Center in Minneapolis, and the University of Colorado, Boulder. His work has appeared in Rattle; North American Review; The Cortland Review; and Bombay Gin among other publications. He is host of the literary radio show Pakatelas on KFCF 88.1FM. His first book of poetry, Born in the Cavity of Sunsets (Bilingual Press 2009) is a finalist for the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award.

Erika Ayón emigrated from Mexico when she was five years old. She grew up in South Central Los Angeles and graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in English. She was selected as a 2009 PEN Emerging Voices Fellow and is currently working on a collection of poetry entitled Orange Lady. The title stems from her childhood experience of selling oranges with her family on the streets of Los Angeles. Erika's writing addresses issues of poverty, race, cultural implications, gender, and the immigrant experience.

Olivia Chumacero I’m walking through sage filled paths and obsidian cut wind. My past endeavors have taken me to the four corners of the world’s continents and my desire is like a bottomless well. I neither like introductions that read like the pages of the E.D.D. forms (unemployment applications) or lists of titles worn with different colored hats. Instead I offer this, “How far the eye sees is immeasurable, because continually, we run into the future past.” Walk in beauty my relative.

Born and raised in East Los Angeles, California, Olga García Echeverría has shared her cucaracha-obsessed-Spanglish poesía throughout the Southwest, in Nueva York, Minneapolis, North Carolina, Mexico City, Cuba, and France. Her first book, Falling Angels: Cuentos y Poemas, was published by Calaca Press and Chibcha Press in 2008. Her latest chapbook, Lovely Little Creatures, is a limited edition of 50 books made from recycled cardboard.

Claudia Rosas captures emotion, movement, and spirit with the eye of her camera. She was one of hundreds of people who caravaned from Los Angeles to Phoenix in May to protest SB 1070. Come check out her photos of resistance from Arizona's National Day of Action.

Luis Becerra, a local and renowned muralist, painter and sculptor, has donated one of his paintings for this event. If you join us on July 17th, you may just be the next proud owner of an original Luis Becerra art piece!

To read more about Luis and his amazing artwork: http://labloga.blogspot.com/search?q=luis+becerra