Feed the Monarchs
This is not a BREXIT reference but an allusion to the milkweed plant, the preferred diet of Monarch butterfly larvae.
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| "Milkweed Seeds" |
As the feathery bodies dry and untangle, a light breeze wafts the fluff to a spot of earth where, if nature has her way, the seed will germinate, grow into a two-foot bush, and flower. During growth, a Monarch butterfly will plant eggs under a leaf or two, and in a short while, striped caterpillars will munch their way to pupating cocoons, and shortly thereafter, a wondrous butterfly.
LATC American Familia Saga
Families make great drama. Play cycles make great theatre. A few years ago, I had the immense pleasure of taking in Lanford Wilson's Talley's Folly and Fifth of July in the same season at the Mark Taper Forum, and over more recent years, several of August Wilson's "Pittsburgh Cycle" plays, again on the Taper main stage. Distinguished by scintillating writing and performances, these offered superb insight into families and things uniquely other-than-raza United Statesian.
Now word reaches me that the premiere Latino teatro in the U.S., Los Angeles' Latino Theatre Company, is bringing a raza familia cycle to the Los Angeles Theatre Center in Downtown LA, Evelina Fernández' A Mexican Trilogy: An American Story.
Heading into production for early Fall, the company is advertising a ticket deal now for the scheduled month-long run of a pair of plays. The production's Part A and Part B run on Thursday and Friday, with both plays in tandem on Saturday or Sunday, with a dinner upgrade on the weekenders.
Here's LATC's P.R. statement on the plays:
A Mexican Trilogy is in fact an American story that follows the Morales family over the span of 100 years to highlight the Latina/o experience in the U.S. Employing music to evoke eras and moods, the three parts of this play-Faith, Hope, and Charity-paint a canvas of universal family struggle that eloquently explores the eternal sense of belonging we all crave: to family, to culture, to country. Staged as an ambitious five hour experience with a meal break, patrons also have the flexibility to view it in two parts.
LATC tickets are a bargain at full price. The discounts available now make it a ridiculously affordable bargain. For pricing and details, and to order tickets, click here to visit LATC's website.
Fifth of July On-line Floricanto
Guadalupe González Pérez, Jackie Lopez, Elizabeth Cazessús, Paul Aponte, Jana Segal
Nochixtlán Por Guadalupe González Pérez
The Civil Rights Movement Again By Jackie Lopez
Oro Verde Por Elizabeth Cazessús
Democracy By Paul Aponte
Imagine this place… By Jana Segal
Nochixtlán
Por Guadalupe González Pérez
¿ Has sentido ese temor al caer la noche?
¿ Esa ansiedad que de madrugada te despierta ?
¿ Has percibido ese temblor que recorre tu cuerpo al despertar ?
Y se va escondiendo entre los quehaceres de lo cotidiano,
y vuelve a ti cada atardecer.
¿ Quizás sea la incertidumbre?
¿ Quizás sea la vida misma?
Que inquietante te consume ya.
Hoy despierto a una realidad cambiante, usualmente para mí y los míos mejor.
Tristemente hoy despierto a una realidad atroz.
¿Puedes imaginar el temor que acecha a los habitantes de Nochixtlán?
A los más pequeños,
Si, a ellos, a los niños.
Puedes imaginar esos monstruos
que de noche los acechan.
Esas vigilias eternas en las que sus almas están.
Que nos expliquen los legisladores,
finalmente en esta reforma
algo de verdad nos salió mal.
Es de bestias matar por matar.
Es absurdo el callar.
No debemos callar más.
Finalmente entre estudiantes, maestros y civiles,
entre la ausencia de autoridad,
la vendetta de los partidos políticos,
los abusos de los cuerpos policiales,
de muerte, absurdos y rojo sangre se ha teñido Nochixtlán
Guadalupe González Pérez. From the generation of 1971, Guadalupe was born in Brownsville, Tx, raised and educated in Matamoros, Tamaulipas Mexico. Graduated and certified in 1992, from Law School in Mexico. She became a Bilingual Certified Teacher by the State of Texas in 2010. Daughter of Agapito Gonzalez and Martha Perez, union and community leaders in Matamoros, grew up learning the impact and importance of community service as a factor for change. She migrated with her children, Marcelo and Natalia Huerta-Gonzalez, to Brownsville, Tx. in 2007, looking for an opportunity to improve their lives. She found a voice to share the essence of her greatest passions, reading, writing and telling stories, stories that reflect moments of struggle and light, narrating the beauty of everyday life. This is her first publication on a writer’s blog, it reveals her interest in the work and history of her land and people, reality often raw and always changing. Letras Mías, is the title of her memoir, memoir that gathers small life lessons into a personal and retrospective narrative.
De la generación del 71, Guadalupe es originaria de Brownsville Tx, criada y formada en Matamoros, Tamaulipas Mexico. Graduada y certificada en 1992, de la Escuela de Derecho en México. Se acreditó como Maestra Bilingüe por el Estado de Texas en el 2010. Hija de Agapito González y Martha Pérez, líderes obreros y comunitarios en Matamoros, creció aprendiendo en casa el impacto y la trascendencia del servicio comunitario como factor de cambio. Migró con sus hijos Marcelo y Natalia Huerta-González a Brownsville, Tx. en el 2007, buscando una oportunidad para mejorar sus vidas. Encuentra en la escritura una voz para compartir lo fundamental de sus más grandes pasiones, leer, escribir y contar historias, historias que reflejan momentos de lucha y luz, reflejo de la belleza de lo cotidiano. Esta es su primera publicación en un blog de escritores, misma que revela su interés por el quehacer y la historia de su pueblo, realidad muchas veces cruda y siempre cambiante. Letras Mías, es el título de su memoria, bajo el cual va guardando pequeñas lecciones de vida a manera de narrativa personal y retrospectiva.
The Civil Rights Movement Again
By Jackie Lopez
I was just a kid in the library.
I was just a kid watching my mom dance.
So many of us are accused of being esoteric messengers of hope and despair.
I am one of them and I think I am more despair than hope,
but I keep on moving in a most esoteric way.
I think that I shall hide in an interior castle writing about our new Feudal Society.
Our middle classes are waning and soon an erosion of our civil liberties as well.
I am tired of trying to be brave.
I am afraid.
I single out the Bohemian with the mostess.
She is an angel in warfare.
And love is her weapon.
Love causes you to redeem the passerby’s.
Love causes you to forgive but to always remember what has happened.
It is from love that a historian constructs her theory:
Put a scapegoat together with a bad economy and you’ve got your Fascism.
It is a simple recipe.
For those of color, Racism is beyond a touchy matter.
It is a matter of life and death.
So, I truck on like a Gypsy with my brown skin.
I find friends.
I find enemies who judge me by the color of my skin.
Someone all riled up on hate will find a reason to hate.
That is why Love is so important.
Love knows no boundaries.
We can intermarry and love because of this and because of courage.
And, in truth, it is our everyday relations that matter the most.
Let us hope for more artists showing up.
Because they are my most favorite crowd.
I say this from a place of dance.
I say this from a place of poetry
Because misbehaviors should be justly anointed.
Jackie Lopez is a poet and writer from San Diego, California. She began writing poetry in high school outside of her class curriculum. She also passed many notes between her best friend and herself. She won her first poetry award from UCSD of which she was attending. She continued with her classes in history of Latin America and the world but, again, she kept a journal and wrote poetry outside of her curriculum. For Jackie, poetry was an escape and a way to deal with the pain of knowing history, in particular, the history of people of color and world hegemony. The study of history has greatly empowered her to write about a great number of things. She writes like an activist and was founding member of The Taco Shop Poets. She has been published in a Chicano Literary journal, “La Bloga,” nine times, "The Hummingbird Review" two times, a Latina feminist magazine, UCSD Warren Literary Journal, and she published two poems in “The Border Crossed Us: An Anthology to End Apartheid.” She created a poem/mural with a number of people in Chicano Park, San Diego about hope. She has been a regular for 22 years in the poetry scene of San Diego and has read in several venues. She also has a two radio interviews. And a poetry reading video on youtube. She has been a feminist since the day she was born. You can catch her work and message her on facebook: Jackie Lopez Lopez in San Diego. You can also reach her at email: peacemarisolbeautiful@yahoo.com
Oro Verde
Por Elizabeth Cazessús
Confiésate:
La resistencia
a los tiempos modernos
era un grito de la naturaleza
escendida debajo de la piel
el rebelde impulso
al usufructo de la tierra.
y aun así, con Hegel
o sin Hegel
no has superado
la relación amo esclavo
los grilletes son el escarpelo
de la historia:
una misma moneda,
un mismo patrón
un mismo trabajo
un mismo oficio
a bajo salario.
Sigues siendo rehén
del hambre
de tus deseos y pasiones
sujeto a las formas del poder
al derecho de pernada
y sus ambiciones.
Actualmente coordina TIJUANA DOSSIER CULTURAL, del periódico el Sol de Tijuana.
Realiza rituales poéticos. Tiene realizadas dos Videopoéticas. Es autora de diez libros de poesía: Ritual y canto,1994, Veinte “Apuntes antes de Dormir, 1995; Mujer de Sal, 2000; Huella en el agua, IMAC 2001; Casa del sueño, Gíglico ediciones, 2006; Razones de la dama infiel, Gíglico ediciones 2008; 2ª. ED.2012; No es mentira este paraíso, Colección ed,.Cecut/Conaculta.2009.Enediana, Ed. Giglico, 2010. Hijas de la Ira, Nódulo ediciones, 2013. Desierto en Fuga, 2015, Ed. Conaculta Cecut.
Ha participado en varios encuentros nacionales e internacionales de poesía:
Hallwalls, Contemporary Art Center, 1991, Baw Taff, Taller de arte fronterizo. Cd. de Búfalo, Estados Unidos. Los Ángeles California, 1991; Phoenix, Arizona, 2003; Mujeres poetas en el país de la Nubes, Oaxaca, Oax.; 2000 y 2001; La Habana, Cuba, 2003, Chile Poesía Santiago de Chile, 2005; Poetas del Mundo Latino Morelia, Mich, México 2010; Puerto Rico, Ferias del Libros 2004 y 2007; Festival de Poesia, Puerto Rico,. 2011, Festival Latinoamericano de Poesía Cd. de Nueva York, Oct. 2012. Medellín, Colombia, 2014. Encuentro de poesía de Lunas de Octubre, La Paz, B.C.S. 2010- 2015.
Obtuvo la beca del FONCA, 1998.
Ha obtenido los premios: Municipal de Poesía, en los Juegos Florales de Tijuana, 1992;
Premio de Poesía, Anita Pompa de Trujillo en Hermosillo, Sonora, 1994.
Acompañó a Carlos Monsiváís, alternando e interpretando con él una lectura poética con voces de la popularidad. Conferencia: “Mamá Soy Paquito”, Universidad de San Diego, 2009.
Democracy
By Paul Aponte
Democracy shatters oligarchy
welts the eyes of the greedy
surrenders power to justice
creates the means for all
builds on love of family
generates bright minds
grows a great nation
where all want
each other
to be free
Imagine this place…
By Jana Segal
Imagine this place
Where we live in harmony with nature
Landscaping reflecting the natural beauty of the Sonoran desert
Instead of gravel and cement; agave, mesquite, palo verde flourish
Rainwater washes down roof tops to nourish fruit trees and fill aquifers
When we no longer obstruct the flow but go with it
Rivers surrounded by cottonwood and oak
Flow
Imagine this place
Where we live in harmony with others
Nurturing, inspiring the individual gifts everyone has to share.
Instead of TV and Youtube: family, neighbors, community connects
Supporting local farmers, artisans, craftsmen, passionate entrepreneurs
When we no longer obstruct the flow but go with it
Talents developed with encouragement and love
Flow
Imagine this place
Where we live in harmony with the dirt
Harvesting nourishing, heritage crops for everyone to share
Instead of teaching lack and fear, we teach love, justice, environmental respect
Restoring local rivers, aquifers with berms, water tanks, catchment basins
When we no longer obstruct the flow but go with it
Desert crops sprout in the dirt, roots reaching for the
Flow
Imagine all the time
Time to live in the present, fully alive
To soak in the brilliance of our sunsets during an evening stroll
To feel the wind in your face as you coast down a hill
Time to take in the fragrance of creosote after the rain
To toast the spectacle of monsoon storms with your love
Time to dig in the garden with your children
To settle back and watch things grow
Time to share your harvest at a neighborhood potluck
To paint, to read, to bake, to sing, to dance, to play…
Imagine floating on your back, you are part of the flow
Imagine this place
Flow
Previously published in Sustainable Living Tucson
http://www.sustainablelivingtucson.org/...
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