Chicano Studies in Norway: Interview with Lene Johannessen

Guest Post by Lucrecia Guerrero

Lene M. Johannessen

Lene M. Johannessen is a Professor of American Literature and Culture in the Department of Foreign Languages at the University of Bergen, Norway. She is the author of Threshold Time: Passage of Crisis in Chicano Literature (Rodopi, Amsterdam-New York, 2008) and Horizons of Enchantment (U Press of New England, 2011). She has edited and co-edited numerous books on American studies. Emerging Aesthetics Imaginaries, co-edited, is forthcoming from Lexington Press.

Lucrecia Guerrero

LG: Please share with our readers how you were first introduced to Chicano literature and which authors you read?

LMJ: Normally one chooses one’s Master program according to the specialization in the BA degree, but for various reasons I had two majors in addition to English: Spanish and Russian.  On the advice of one of my Russian professors I decided to go with English. However, I thought it would be a shame to just ignore my two other “languages,” and my supervisor at the time suggested I look into Mexican American literature as a way of at least making some use of Spanish. After reading around a little, it would be Richard Rodriguez’s Hunger of Memory that got my attention. This was both because of the controversy which at the time surrounded the book, but also because I saw a really interesting way I could bring my third major, Russian, into the mix. This went via Mikhail Bakhtin’s work, which I had read a little in the original.

Of course, doing research for a MA thesis on Hunger of Memory inevitably included doing research in the burgeoning field of Chicano/a studies. Among the authors I read back then were mostly the canonical writers, Gonzales, Rivera, Paredes, Anzaldúa, Anaya, Castillo, and all provided wonderful encounters with what was for me a new tradition.

LG:  Did you continue to read Chicano/a authors on your own or did you follow a directed program?  Which authors most appealed to you initially, and why?

LMJ: It was really only during the work on the MA thesis that I became acquainted with Chicano/a lit; on our readings lists in both undergraduate and graduate courses in the English program this literature was not included. I think that one reason why Rodriguez appealed back then was the universality of its appeal, across temporal, geographical, racial, gender boundaries, which I think still holds. The other writer specifically I was attracted to was Tomás Rivera, himself one of Rodriguez’ critics of course, but it was a similar aspect of his And the Earth that stood out, a poetics of community and singularity that can stand on its own no matter what political, social and cultural parameters you come to it from.

LG:  As a scholar you read with an objective and analytical mindset; also, as a Norwegian, Chicano/a literature is “foreign” to your cultural and political experience. Both of the aforementioned factors, it seems to me, distance you from the narrative and increase your reading experience as an “outsider.” As such, I wonder if you have ever found yourself pulled into a story by universal themes and identifying with the narrative on a personal level? How would you say your experience reading Chicano literature differs—if indeed it does—from reading “mainstream” U.S. literature?

LMJ: The question about outside-ness is actually one I have thought about a lot. It is a question that goes into the foundations also of how we think about aesthetics. When I got the PhD position here in Bergen (in Norway PhD grants are advertised as four years positions, integrated into daily department life, and they are and were few and far between!) it was to do a project in Chicano/a literature. In the course of the PhD years I never found my position as an “outsider” to be much of a problem. In some ways, quite the contrary. In the 1990s, Chicano/a studies, as many other so-called “ethnic studies” programs could be quite politicized, in the sense that ideological frameworks also tended to work their sometimes domineering way into questions of aesthetics and aesthetic function. This was something I didn’t really have to take into account in my own readings, and this is mostly because, don’t forget, from where I stand, Chicano/a lit is American literature. What I mean is that all American literature is equally “foreign” or familiar to me as a Norwegian.

            Chicano/a lit is, to me, one of a number of components, expressions, if you will, that circulate within the field of Am lit as different manifestations of regionalist perspectives within the larger region. Chicano culture and aesthetics find its place among the multiple components that make up American (and the Americas’) literatures and cultures – a composite that in its turn already comes tangled in drawn-out networks. So, from a non-American perspective, from “afar,” Chicano/a presents itself not essentially unlike how Chinese-American, African-American, Southern, Midwestern cultures and aesthetics do –the products so-far of historical vectors in what Doreen Massey calls a “space of loose ends and missing links.”  In a sense, looking at American literature this way is to see horizontally, to see the various articulations of irreducible historic-cultural beings constituting differently formed threads in a large and complicated fabric within the geographical body we know as the United States.

I guess this also answers your question about whether reading Chicano literature differs from reading “mainstream” U.S. literature? I would say it does not, because that assumes we know the mainstream, and, honestly, I don’t know that I do, unless we have in mind writers like Faulkner (who is a Southern writer first and foremost).  

LG:  As a professor of English, I believe you have included Chicano/a literature, as well of that of other minorities, in a U.S. literature survey course.  On the syllabus I reviewed, the Chicano/a selection is Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena María Viramontes. First, what factors led to your selecting this particular work? Second, what special preparation, if any, do you give your students in order to help them with the reading? And last, have you noticed your Bergen students reacting differently to Chicano/a literature than to the more traditionally taught U.S. literature?

LJM: One thing students must have is a general sense of the historical and cultural routes that lead into first Mexican American and then Chicano literature/culture. But again, from their standpoint, this is not essentially different from how the same applies to all American literature. I mentioned Faulkner: without a sense of the mesh of routes he writes in and from, the depth and drama of Sutpen’s “design” in Absalom, Absalom! is not graspable.  So, too, with e.g. Rivera’s And the Earth Did not Devour Him: without an understanding of the history of migrant workers in the US Southwest, the book’s true power goes unnoticed.

When I include Chicano/a authors I consequently make sure the students also read history. I chose Viramontes’ Under the Feet of Jesus for several reasons, but most importantly because it is essentially a coming of age story. The novel is an excellent example of the universality of literature, because it is through genre and poetics that the story lures the students into a landscape packed with tropes in American culture generally, and in California society specifically. It is also painfully timely, what with the “beautiful wall” and talk about immigration and deportation that have intensified again lately. In its portrayal of the anxieties of immigration I think also it I transposes well to other places, for instance Norway.  

LG:  In Threshold Time: Crisis in Chicano Literature you discuss how a literary canon—in this case, that of the U.S.--reflects how the dominant cultural chooses to see itself.  Minority literatures continue to be ignored to a “significant extent,” you state, because these literatures “do not fit [that] desired projection of self.”   

            For geographical and historical reasons, the roots of Mexican and Chicano/a cultures grow deep and inextricably intertwined with those of the greater U.S. culture, yet those roots that bind also twist into knots that have yet to be worked out.  In your opinion, do these conflicts, and likely contradictions in perception of the past, make it more or less likely that Chicano/a literature will be welcomed into the literary canon?   

LMJ: I honestly don’t know, although my own instinct is that there eventually isn’t much of a choice. The problem with talking about a literary canon in the first place is that we are talking about a cultural canon, which means talking about cultural heritage and legacy. And right there, and especially now in the US, I don’t see how there can be any agreement on much of anything. The polarization we have seen intensifying is all about definitions and heritage, which brings back the question of region again: maybe it makes more sense to think in terms of regional canons, although even then any kind of consensus would be hypothetical. If the canon aims at helping us understand our present by anchoring itself in e.g. literary works from the past, then the question pops up again: whose past, and when? This is explicitly or implicitly part of Chicano/a literature now as well as then, if only because the Borderland figures prominently in so many works, including your own, like for instance in the story “Even in Heaven,” wouldn’t you say? A similar concern was a thread in Rodriguez’ Brown: The Last Discovery of America, and is one that has to be addressed. Ultimately any discussion of a canon is a discussion of identity, and, well, I’m not terribly optimistic that that discussion goes well. We are thrown back to the Preamble, right? “In order to create a more perfect Union … “ It’s a work in progress.   

LG:  You’re currently working on a new project which goes into detail on “aesthetic imaginaries.” I believe you are particularly interested in the connection and development of the latter within Chicano/a “borderland” literature. In layman’s terms, please explain the term and its relationship to this literature. Is there more you would like to share about this upcoming project or another?

LMJ: I like thinking about aesthetic imaginaries because it has the potential of making out the contours of that tricky bridge between how we imagine our ways of fitting together - our claims to place, sense of origin etc., how these imaginations are given shape in various aesthetics, and how ultimately these both constitute and are constituted by something more real, which is the imaginary. In this project I don’t think I will be focusing on Chicano/a lit specifically, but it is still very early in the process. I hope by next year to be closer to getting funding to a thoroughly interdisciplinary project where questions of diaspora, tradition, and nostalgia are being posed from perspectives of film, curating, anthropology, digital culture, and a wide range of literary studies, all in relation to the challenges that trail aesthetic imaginaries. What Eliot calls the “present moment of the past” seems to me to provide a path that more generally applies to comparative studies, and a kind of “threshold” thinking. I am however working on another book that “reads” various locations in California as performative, among them Chavez Ravine (Dodgers Stadium), Fort Ross, and Chinese Camp, and what I find so fascinating in this project are the incredibly “messy” routes that crisscross the state from so early on, and, again, how their traces all speak to that present moment of the past.   

           

BOOKS:

• Johannessen, Lene M. 2011. Horizons of Enchantment : Essays in the American Imaginary. University Press of New England. 166 pages. ISBN: 978-1-58465-999-0.

• Johannessen, Lene M; Sillars, Stuart; Dipio, Dominica, editors. 2009. Performing Change: Identity, Ownership and Tradition in Ugandan Oral Culture. Novus Forlag. 230 pages. ISBN: 978-82-7099-552-3.
• Johannessen, Lene M. 2008. Threshold Time: Passage of Crisis in Chicano Literature. Rodopi. 204 pages. ISBN: 978-90-420-2332-1.
• Johannessen, Lene M; Sillars, Stuart John; Dipio, Dominica, editors. 2008. Performing Community. Novus Forlag. 275 pages. ISBN: 9788270994991.

• Johannessen, Lene M; Cahill, Kevin M. editors. 2007. Considering Class: Essays on the Discourse of the American Dream. LIT Verlag. 224 pages. ISBN: 978-3-8258-0259-2.
• Rønning, Anne Holden; Johannessen, Lene M., editors 2007. Readings of the Particular: The Postcolonial in the Postnational. Rodopi. 262 pages. ISBN: 978-90-420-2163-1.
• Grønstad, Asbjørn; Johannessen, Lene M., editors 2005. To Become the Self One Is: A Critical Companion to Drude Krog Janson's A Saloonkeeper's Daughter. Nova Science Publishers, Inc. 210 pages. ISBN: 82-7099-405-7.

Essays (relevant to Chicano/a studies:

"Regional Singularity and Decolonial Chicana/o Studies," Routledge Handbook of Chicana/o Studies," eds. Denise Segura, Francisco Lomeli, Elyette Benjamin-Labarthe, Routledge. Forthcoming 2017.

"Poetics of Peril," CounterText, special edition Thinking Literature across Continents, Edinburg University Press. Forthcoming.

“Russia's Californio Romance: The Other Shores of Whitman's Pacific," in The Imaginary and Its Worlds: American Studies after the Transnational Turn, eds Laura Bieger, Ramón Saldívar, Johannes Volz,University Press of New England, 2013.

"Postcolonial Palimpsest: Hybridity and Writing,"  Cambridge History of Postcolonial Literatures. CUP 2012

Chicanonautica: Altermundos: Latinoid Culture Goes Speculative

by Ernest Hogan

Look out, world! Here's a manifestation of La Cultura that will give the President's absurd performance art, the design contest for the Border Wall, and the Mother of All Bombs some serious competition: Altermundos: Latin@ Speculative Literature, Film, and PopularCulture edited by Cathryn Josefina Merla-Watson and B.V. Olguín. It's got a cover that riffs on a classic Jesús Helguera painting, making it into sexy space opera. The UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center calls it “The first collection engaging Chicana/o and Latina/o speculative cultural production.” And it's over 500 pages.

You can even order it from Target for a 32% discount.

It includes my “Chicanonautica Manifesto” where I say things like: “I'm not interested in being puro Mexicano and only reaching the gente in the barrio. My roots embrace the planet, and reach out for the universe—the Intergalactic Barrio.”

There's also Daoine S. Bachran's “From Code to Codex: Tricksterizing the Digital Divide in Ernest Hogan's Smoking Mirror Blues” and other essays that discuss and mention my work. Makes me look like some kind of Latinoid literary chingón. Hmm, maybe there's something to this Father of Chicano science fiction stuff, after all?

And it's not all about me. Other essays discuss Gloria Anzaldúa's sci-fi roots, Jamie Hernandez's comics, Latin@ science fiction, Latin@ speculative fiction, Chicanafuturism, Chican@futurism, Sexy cyborg cholo clownz, a post-apocalyptic anarcha-feminist revolutionary punk rock musical, Matthew David Goodwin's notes on editing Latin@ Rising and mucho, mucho más, all reprinted from Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies.

This ain't no dull, academic tome. This is what's been going on as Latinoid culture rides the waves of future shock, sending fractures through Latinoid/Chicano art and science/speculative fiction. It's also the way the world is going, the culture of the 21^st century and beyond. Civilization as we know it will not be the same. And it's good non-fiction companion to the other fiction anthologies that have been coming out lately.

Ernest Hogan has been published a lot in 2017. So far his work has appeared in Mithila Review, The Jewish Mexican Literary Review, Latin@ Rising, and Five to the Future. And a new edition of his novel Smoking Mirror Blues is in the works. Political turmoil seems to be good for Chicano science fiction. And the year just keeps getting weirder.

Banner Day on the Eve of My Tahiti Trip and IWD2017 with Ana Castillo

Melinda Palacio

Sojourner Kincaid Rolle, Ana Castillo, Melinda Palacio, and Mary Rose Ortega

Sometimes a day leading up to a big trip is worth leaving any last minute packing details behind. Yesterday, International Women's Day 2017, was one such day. Friends who have known me most of my life, Mary Rose and Teresa (Little Teri), came to visit me in Santa Barbara from Los Angeles. Mary Rose was my late mother's best friend and she often makes a point of seeing me when we happen to be in the same city (she tends to travel almost as much as I do). Mary Rose and Little Teri were in search of hearing Ana Castillo present her latest book, the memoir Black Dove/Paloma Negra, a road trip to Santa Barbara and spending the day with me was, as they say in New Orleans, Lagniappe, or a little something extra.

Throughout the day, Little Teri kept asking if I was all packed. Short of getting my nails done for trip, I was. In fact, I've been packed for several weeks. It's not everyday one gets the opportunity to travel to the South Pacific. Now that I'm on the airbus, I can think of a thing or two I may have forgotten. But back to Wednesday. We picked up my friend Sojourner at UCSB and made our way to the Isla Vista Theater, a large movie theatre that doubles as a lecture hall for UCSB in a pinch. Thanks to Aida Hurtado and the UCSB Chicano Studies Department, they accommodated Ana Castillo and all of her fans within and outside of the university at the lecture hall, where there were plenty of seats. Mary Rose mentioned that she tried to catch Ana at an earlier reading in the San Fernando Valley, but the seats had been sold out.

We arrived early because Mary Rose and Little Teri didn't want to miss seeing Ana on her California tour, before she headed further south to San Diego. The two friends have been fans of Castillo since they first heard her read in 1993, during the author's promotion for her novel, So Far From God.

Ana Castillo before her UCSB presentation

They came up to Santa Barbara on a gorgeous day that just so happened to be International Women's Day. We may not have gone to a march, but we were four women in attendance to hear a Chicana Feminist author and poet. Castillo describes herself as a poet first; and with descriptions of her mother's hands as 'Soft hands like crushed orchids,' it was a pleasure to hear the poetry in Castillo's work through her deep voice and veil of long hair.

Ana Castillo at the Isla Vista Theater

Ana Castillo not only read from her latest book, Black Dove: Mamá, Mi'jo, and Me, but she regaled us with readings from her epic poem turned novel or novel in verse, Water Color Women/Opaque Men and her open letter to the current President of the United States. The letter was filled with irony and ire. In the near future, I'd like to reprint the entire letter here on La Bloga.

The Word bench holds copies of Isla Vista's literary magazine.

As is customary, Castillo ended with questions, signing of books, and photos. Department Chair, Aida Hurtado ended the Q & A with the popular question, What advice might you give to students who want to become writers. Castillo's advice was to check your intentions, make sure you love literature and love to read, but, most important of all, write, write and rewrite. "The magic is in the revision," she said. "Do not treat early writing so precious." She described her process as sometimes needing to step away from the computer to mull over a phrase in her head. "I'm constantly thinking of a better, clearer word," she said. " With most author presentations, the Q & A is an opportunity to go off script and veer from the prepared readings. There was a tender moment when one of the students thanked Castillo for writing about her experience with her son's incarceration and family history of depression, the centerpiece of Black Dove/Paloma Negra.

If you missed Castillo's appearances in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, there's still more California tour dates, including a workshop for writers in Sacramento, April 2. See Ana Castillo's website for more information.

Maceo Montoya Paints and Writes Chicano Cultura: An Interview

Melinda Palacio

Maceo Montoya

La Bloga: 

Maceo Montoya, professor, painter, and author sits down with La Bloga. Gracias, Maceo for taking time out of your busy schedule.You've published poetry, fiction, and essays. You are well known for your art and murals. Tells us about the writing and publishing of the Chicano Movement for Beginners. What was the writing journey like? Did this book come out of questions that arose in your classes as an assistant professor in Chicano Studies at UC Davis?

Maceo Montoya's new book, Chicano Movement for Beginners

Maceo Montoya 

I received an email out of the blue from the press For Beginners asking if I was interested in writing and illustrating a book on the Chicano Movement. At first I was reluctant because I’m not a historian and I knew that it would require significant research. But at the same time, I was intrigued by the possibilities of combining graphics and text. There was also this other pull, though, which was this idea that if I don’t do it, someone else will, and what if that person doesn’t do it right? I guess you could say that I felt a certain responsibility. I inhabit a unique position. My uncle José Montoya and my father Malaquias Montoya came of age in the Chicano Movement, they found their voices as artists, as activists, as educators. Unlike many people who only encounter the term Chicano when they get to college, I was raised Chicano. I’ve been thinking of the term and its implications my entire life. So for me the Chicano Movement isn’t some distant era; it continues to reverberate. I gave myself over to this project when I decided that rather than approach this history as an objective scholar, I had to be what I was: a son sorting through a complicated family past.

La Bloga:

You've also recently had a novella and story collection published, You Must Fight Them (University of New Mexico Press 2015). Tell us about your time management skills and how is that you manage to produce so much in addition to your teaching schedule?

Montoya's recent novella, You Must Fight Them. He also illustrated this compelling cover.

MM:

I feel immense pressure to produce and the time I have is never enough. The pressure is hardwired in me. I don’t know where else it comes from. I know that quantity doesn’t matter, but unless I’m making something, creating something, I’m miserable. I know that sounds melodramatic, but it’s true. Fortunately, I’m a pleasant miserable, and I still offer to help friends move or help my parents out in the yard. I love being an artist. I come from a family of artists, but I’ve never taken it for granted. It’s a gift, a don. To me, it’s the most wonderful way of existing in the world, and yet the angst – the angst! - I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.

La Bloga:

Your writing and painting are intimately involved in portraying your community. How do your books compliment your role as Chicano Studies professor?

MM:

I approach my teaching as a practitioner. Whether it’s a course on Chicana/o Culture, the Chicana/o Novel, or my mural workshop, I’m interested in how something is made, how its individual pieces function to create a whole. When I first started, I was very nervous about teaching the Chicana/o Novel because I was coming across all these dense articles steeped in theory. Here I was a novelist and these scholars were writing about novels, and yet I couldn’t recognize what I did in what they were saying. I mentioned this to my colleague Angie Chabram, a legendary cultural theorist, and she said, “To tell you the truth, I wish I could unlearn all my theory.” That was what I needed to hear. She gave me the green light to approach literature in the classroom at its most fundamental. Stories are essential to our lives, they move us, motivate us, and alter our thinking. We’re all storytellers and have the tools to dissect the stories around us. Need it be more complicated?

As far as community, the majority of my students are Chicano/Latino and most of them enter the classroom never having read a Chicano novel, short story, or poem (maybe The House on Mango Street). It shouldn’t be this way, of course, but I realize that I might be the only class on Chicano literature that they take in their educational careers. I try my best to make it count.

La Bloga:

You recently sold the movie rights to The Deportation of Wopper Barraza. Can you tell us more about who will be producing the film? And how this deal came about? Do you think the current debate on immigration helped fuel interest in your book as a movie?

Montoya's the Deportation of Wopper Barraza, recently optioned as a film.

MM:

I think the industry term is “optioned the rights,” so nothing has been sold yet, but it’s very exciting news. Campanario Entertainment is a young company that seeks to produce high-quality Latino content with crossover appeal. We’re actually not sure whether it’ll be a movie or a series, or some other format. As far as the current debate on immigration and its overlap with my novel, I think I would’ve been hesitant if Campanario’s response to the novel was, “This is a great book on immigration, let’s do something with it.” Yes, they were drawn to the unique tale of immigration in reverse, but what most attracted them were the characters. As an artist, you’re always protective of what you create, it’s hard to let go, but when someone else believes that the characters you created are as real as you know them to be, well, then that’s a good base to start from.

La Bloga:

Gracias, Maceo. Is there anything else you'd like to tell La Bloga?

MM:

I know this is a forum for Latino literature, so it’s a good opportunity to reach out. I always like to feature guest artists and writers in my classes. The students love it because it gives them a break from me, but also because it’s such a rare opportunity to get to meet (even via Skype) the creator of a work they’re studying. In past classes, I’ve featured you, Melinda, as well as Daniel A. Olivas, Daniel Chacón, Tim Z. Hernandez, Barbara Renaud González, Norma Cantú, Richard Yañez, Rigoberto González, Stephen D. Gutierrez, Manuel Paul Lopez, Isabel Quintero, Javier O. Huerta, Joseph Rios, Laurie Ann Guerrero, David Dominguez, David Campos, Juan Carillo, Lucha Corpi, and Xochiquetzal Candelaria amongst others. It’s a class so the funding is rarely there, but I can promise book buyers and a receptive audience hungry for literature that resonates. If anyone is interested, send me an email at mbmontoya@ucdavis.edu.

Two weeks ago, La Bloga interviewed Reyna Grande. Meet Reyna and Maceo this month in Sacramento at the Mosaic of Voices Reading Series, September 25 from 3-4 at the Avid Reader. Also, Reyna has a fundraiser in Los Angeles for Hola tomorrow, September 10. 

Also in Los Angeles tomorrow, La Plaza de Cultura y Artes is hosting a poetry reading inspired by Ernesto Yerena's work, September 10 at 7pm, featuring Gloria E. Alvarez, Olivia Chumacero, and Yosimar Reyes. For more information about this free event, see lapca.org. 

More Reports on the Writing Life

Melinda Palacio

November Morning at Santa Barbara Pier

Fall in Santa Barbara means you might want to keep a poncho nearby in case the temperature dips below seventy. It's warm enough for flip flops, but the touch of wind keeps your feet in long boots.  Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of visiting Magdalena Torres's Chicano Studies 121 class at Santa Barbara City College. This is one of my favorite places to present my work. Professora Torres creates a welcoming atmosphere and makes sure students have questions. What I didn't expect was how enthusiastic her students would be. She had also invited students from Sociology 109: Contemporary Social Problems, to attend. True, the students from Soc 109 get extra credit for attending my presentation, but the students mentioned how much they appreciated hearing literature and meeting an author. Torres encourages the sociology students, who seemed to be experiencing poetry and fiction for the first time, to attend other classes on Ethnic and Chicano Studies the City College. She's an avid believer in learning about social problems through literature.

Chicano Studies 121 at Santa Barbara City College

In my own classes through the MFA program at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, I make students read Chicano Literature. It's hard to believe that, in some cases, they are reading Chicano and Latino authors for the first time in their well-read life. In many ways, with the banning of our books and the elimination of Ethnic and Chicano Studies in Tucson, it's not surprising that a student wouldn't have the opportunity to read an author like Luis Urrea until adulthood or graduate school.

Speaking of Luis Alberto Urrea, I was very happy to receive my contributor's copy of the NEA's Big Read Audio Guide for Into the Beautiful North. Earlier this Summer at WWNO's studio in New Orleans, I recorded my interview about the book. The CD features Jo Reed, Cristina Arsuaga, Jeff Biggers, Melinda Palacio, Ilan Stavans, Helen Thorpe, and Luis Urrea.

The NEA's Big Read Audio Guide for Into the Beautiful North

Last month, I received a generous review from a blog, featuring the poetry scene in Boston. I had the chance of attending AWP in Boston earlier this year. Thanks to the chance encounter with the editor, How Fire Is a Story, Waiting was reviewed by Joanne DeSimone Reynolds. It's also thanks to AWP that I received a teaching position through UAM's new online MFA program.

Earlier today, I had a live google hangout with three of my students to discuss their fiction pieces. The video critique is not required and not all the students chose to participate, but the three that did enjoyed the experience and wished we had thought of the great idea earlier in the semester, instead of the last three weeks of the class. Indirectly, it was thanks to Jessica Ceballos for giving me the great idea. She had a google hangout for those who couldn't physically appear at La Palabra's Avenue 50 Studio's Bluebird Reading. This is where a social media app becomes an important literary and teaching tool.

Jessica Ceballos Scheming More Poetry Events

Also, thanks to Jessica Ceballos, I had the pleasure of reading at Beyond Baroque last Sunday, November 17 with Daniel Chacón, author of Hotel Juarez: Stories, Rooms and Loops. (I'll get to hear more from Hotel Juarez, next month in New Orleans, when Daniel Chacón reads with Jonathan Kline at Octavia Books, December 9 at 6pm). The crowd at Beyond Baroque was small, but Chacón and I agree, the energy was great. We had people attend from as far as Ventura. And thanks to the talented open mic readers, such as F.A. Salinas and Beverly Collins, the event was memorable and powerful.

Daniel Shakes Hands with Everyone at Beyond Baroque

Review: Rebeldes. La Verne Author Summit. News. On-line floricanto.

Review: Rebeldes. A Proyecto Latina Anthology. Chicago: Proyecto Latina, 2013.
ISBN 978-1-4675-7607-9

Michael Sedano

The second-toughest challenge for a critic comes in form of the anthology collected from a host of writers.

To assess one writer inherently sleights those others whose work merited the editor-compiler’s notice. Then again, reading is a contextual process. After each reading, I find a different piece consuming memory space, demanding to be noticed and appreciated, an earlier favorite displaced.

My process, normally, is to approach anthologies with an eye on the editor’s strategy of recency and primacy. What piece appears first to set the tone; what appears as the closing piece for a final lasting impression? And, in the middle, what gems lurk in the flow of words and titles from contributor to contributor?

Rebeldes, A Proyecto Latina Anthology, defies this review process. Not because it doesn’t have a first and last piece with lots of wondrous work in between, but, owing to the showcase motive, the anthology features a rich mix of writers new to me, plus multiple genres including chisme, poetry, prose, graphic art, drama, and personal essay. Each of those segments has its first, middle, last structure, too. So many strong exemplars.

This reviewer, then, is unapologetically guilty he cannot single out each of the 26 contributors for analysis and examination, and owing to a faulty memory, will for sure forget to mention something valued highly at an earlier reading, like the closing piece by a woman my age. Así es, mil disculpas.

Quality is not an issue for the reader; one can begin in any random section or start at the beginning. Every piece comes with intrinsic value, beyond being one of more than 300 writers—established and emergent--who’ve contributed over the seven years Proyecto Latina has showcased writers in its Chicagoland reading series. This history alone merits buying the collection, if only to support the ideals of the project and founders Irasema Gonzales and Coya Paz. Rebeldes reflects an effective dedication to art and community. It has impact.

Each genre section launches with a page of epigrammatic chismes that range from funny to erotic to trenchant to ironic, and sometimes all-in-one. Like the chismosa who complains that the kids downstairs throw long and loud parties that remind her how old she’s growing, or la chismosa rebelde who complains about being propositioned for sex when a date would have been nicer.

The poetry and prose sections offer keen reflections of what Proyecto Latina is about. The poems divide clearly between two poles, the sophisticated poetry of a mature writer and the debut poet proclaiming her discovery of the world as if she were the first to notice.

In the mature work of lead-off writer Claudia Rosa Silva-Hernandez, a mother warns a daughter off elevator conversations with Felipe because Mexicanos think a woman wants him just because she chats him up. “No les des alas” she warns. Hija apostrophizes an apology to the hapless man, that she gave him the wrong idea. The sly woman, however, has set her sights and tells her Felipe to hold still while she clips his wings. Brilliantly crafted and insightful, Silva-Hernandez reminds us women have ideas, too; it’s not just about a man’s desires, and she’s in charge.

The second poet, Awilda González, reflects the emerging sensibility of dawning independence, a voice learning to expose dogging domestic abuse. “While children are dying to violence, we stand silent / Too busy taking up more important causes” she complains, adding, “Daddy’s too busy playing house in someone else’s home / Forgetting he has one of his own”.

Gonzalez’ tools are not simply the poet’s bludgeon, but she makes a reader wait for the final line to disclose her sharp stick to the eye, “Your memories are so few that you never knew what it was like to be called / Daddy.”

The third poet, bloguera Xánath Caraza, reaches for the sublime in her Spanish-language poems, particularly the lead-off piece of her three-poem quota. “Alcanza la niebla” begins in stone before rising into obscuring mists, “Con palabras rojas / Y la luna tatuada en el pecho / La mujer de senos llenos / Y canciones suaves / Alcanza la niebla.”

The prose section suffers from a paucity of pages. A taste of Mónica Teresa Ortiz, an appetizer from Diana Pando, an amuse bouche from Desiree T. Castro, followed with an extended serving from Stephanie Diaz Reppen.

Castro’s seven paragraphs of “Broken Language” compress time, looking backward and forward, in an abbreviated coming of age posture. An older sister counsels 13-year old cholas to knock off the eyebrow painting and mascara, to concentrate on studies, master bilinguality. “Your Spanish is so broken, I mean think of a gold fish swimming in an ocean with a broken fin, that’s how you struggle with your Spanish, you should be embarrassed.” The college girl pulls no punches on the peewees.

Sis knows what she’s talking about, giving pause to the cholitas whose make-up is camouflage to look tough so no one will want to pick fights. “We sat there at the table just listening…Melissa was a real badass in the neighborhood, known to fight like a guy, so we weren’t trying to talk back and test her.” But Melissa owns a new perspective, she’s fighting to save these kids, and it probably works. “you understand? We nodded. We kinda did, but not really…not yet anyway.”

Given the scope of this anthology, and the editors’ program of offering a writer more than one time at the plate to show her stuff, the prose abridgements and excerpts fail to satisfy, like an expensive entrée at a minimalist restaurant. Except Rebeldes is so completely affordable, at only $15.00, that readers should buy multiple copies to share with friends who enjoy a taste of fresh sensibilities and appreciate keen literary reminders of where we have been, where we might grow.

For sure, these writers shall grow and one day a reader will close the covers of a darn good book or poetry collection, and remember this initial exposure to the author’s immense talent in Rebeldes A Proyecto Latina Anthology.

Order directly from Proyecto Latina (click here), or have your local independent bookseller order your copies in time for trick or treat--it's a treat--or xmas--what a wondrous gift--or just be good to yourself and your friends and share your discovery of Rebeldes A Proyecto Latina Anthology.


University of La Verne Hosts LEAD Conference and Latina Latino Author Summit

Bel Hernandez’ head recoils in shocked recognition when she hears the speaker Bel’s just introduced pronounce the three syllables of the university president’s name, “Devorah.” “Debra,” Bel has just called her. It is one of those moments that catches one short. Some emcees might shine it on and hope no one notices.

Not Bel. Next time Hernandez takes the microphone, Bel acknowledges and apologizes for the mispronunciation. Devorah Lieberman shrugs it off and sails through the remainder of the opening program. There's too much inspirational content coming that's vitally important.

That’s the only glitch in the otherwise inspirational and exceedingly well-organized Latino Education Access and Development Conference that brings area high school kids and teachers to University of La Verne on a Saturday morning for the LEAD Conference.

Middle-schooler, captivated by astronaut Hernandez' speech returned multiple times to film the speed.
Note the brown-and-white-together logo on the projection screen.

About the only way to improve LEAD next time is bring in middle school kids. If schools want to instill a college-going culture, catch the kids in middle school, because that’s ideally when college planning should start.

Idealism has nothing to do with University of La Verne’s sponsorship of today’s events. There’s a steady vision guiding the effort to inspire and instill in attending youth the ganas to go out and get some of the pie, like today’s role models prove can be accomplished.

Clearly these kids have ganas but they need orientation. The boy sitting next to me, for example, is considering La Verne, Caltech, and Cal Poly Pomona for his first science degree. "Buenos días," I saludar his mother.

Dr. Devorah A. Lieberman commits her campus to a todo dar
efforts to serve the community and raza students.

One speaker is Grace Napolitano, the local House of Representatives officeholder. She's not a college graduate--high school only--adding a slight discordance to the effort to get the kids into college as the steppingstone to satisfying lives. The Congresswoman's story, however, illustrates the point Lieberman has made, NGU--Never Give Up.

The keynote speaker offers a genuinely heroic role model, astronaut José M. Hernández. A migrant farmworker born on this side, Hernández describes his fruitpicker upbringing crawling through mud so that the siblings enjoy taking off their Levi's so stiff from mud they stand on their own. Born here, during picking season, the future astronaut's siblings were born in Mexico, during the winter.

Hernandez' speech is puro chicano mezcla. Wacha:

You can take the boy out of the fields but you can't take la cultura out of the boy. Hernández' speech is a classic example of mezcla, or code-switching expression. His polished presentation identifies José M. Hernández as a perfect candidate for any school looking for bilingual role models for kids with their own ad astra per aspera dreams. Hernández' biography sells out in English from La Verne's bookstore, only a few Spanish-language copies remain.

Hernández' father approves the ten-year old's dream to be an astronaut. Set a goal, know what's expected, where you fall short, work to achieve. Otherwise your future is here in the fields picking strawberries con la familia. He applies eleven times and is denied. On the twelfth application, he wins appointment.

In the Latina Empowerment Workshop, three powerful women share life stories that, like these kids, began in the humblest straits but through NGU and college, they've achieved high positions. Julie Mendoza, Director of Research and Evaluation for ARCHES, the Alliance for Regional Collaboration to Heighten Educational Success. Mendoza recounts the high school counselor who interrupts when she tells him her dream to attend UCLA: "Oh, no way, not you."

A second empowerment latina, Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana, recently appointed to be LA Mayor Garcetti's Education Aide, prior was Superintendent of Schools for Santa Ana Unified, the largest Orange County system and sixth-largest in Califas.

What would you do if you won the lottery? It's not idle speculation, given the third woman panelist is Jacki Cisneros. When she and husband Gilbert won the California Mega Millions Lottery they set up the Gilbert & Jacki Cisneros foundation. The couple decided to spend their millions to improve educational access for Latina Latino kids.

Jacki's no suddenly wealthy person. A two-time Emmy winner as a broadcaster. One story the journalist covered reports that a local man bought a $266 million dollar ticket. She learns he is her husband. Now that she's rich, she intends to give away as much money as possible to kids like these.

There's also a Latino Empowerment Workshop and a Parent Empowerment Workshop. Following empowerment come workshops in STEM-Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, and Financial Aid and Scholarship Access, and closing speech from Richard Montanez, PepsiCo's marketing guru on the West Coast.

Author Summit

The campus in La Verne hosts the latest iteration of the Latino Book and Family Festival, appearing this year as the Author Summit. The event and an ambitious awards program come from the efforts of Latino Literacy Now.

Out on the quad, under tents, a handful of writers greet passers-by and shar their work. I asked each what their goal was, and to a man and woman, it is to inspire kids to write, and, only one author acknowledges, to sell their book.

Army veteran, holder of the Combat Infantryman Badge and un montón de medals (typical chicano warrior) earned in Bosnia and Iraq, Mexicali-born Juan Carlos Mercado is a San Diego sheriff's deputy and author, in Spanish, of Fe Americana. The Villegas sisters, Maria and Ana, from San Diego, join him.

Jeaninne Escallier Kato's children's picture book, Manuel's Murals, seeks to awaken a child's love for art generally, and particularly the work of Diego Rivera Manuel discovers on a visit to Mexico City.

Sandra C. Lopez has been included or featured in La Bloga. A YA author, López was raised only a few miles from the tent she occupies as an author.

YA author Yolanda Espinosa Espinoza wants to be tight-lipped about the surprises in her father's life story recounted in El Caracol. She grows increasingly animated as she recounts the story and eventually shares one of the key secrets to the story. A librarian gives the young boy Don Quixote and infects him with a love of reading.

Graphic novelist Javier Hernandez has a good marketing strategy for Los Comex Codex, with low-cost trinkets that serve as his "silent sales force." A kid spends a dollar for a cool button and every time the kid walks about wearing the button, he's advertising Hernadez' titles.

Composer-author Roma Calatayud-Stocks' book is perfect bound and includes a CD of her compositions. A Song in My Heart begins in Minneapolis, a far-flung outpost of cultura not often considered as part of the Latina Latino homeland. One browser is so surprised he lingers at Roma's display throwing questions of opinions in an effort to work out the surprising fact of chicanas existing in Minnesota. Not only that, one chicana writes books about it.

Several other authors work the crowd, and the Author Summit prize announcements are upcoming, but my granddaughter has a soccer game, and familia comes first. So we split the scene at La Verne. I miss chatting up the other writers, but don't regret my departure. Charlotte scores The Golden Gorillas' first three goals.

Visit Read! Raza for more on these marketing powerhouses.

Late-breaking News from the Author Summit

La Bloga enjoys this opportunity to announce a significant award to Frida bloguero Manuel Ramos and his Luis Montez novel, Blues for the Buffalo. See below for the full list of Books into Movies winners.

fotos courtesy René Colato Laínez

Montez' search for legendary activist, attorney, candidate for Sheriff of LA, Oscar Zeta Acosta, aka the Brown Buffalo, takes the Denver private dick to California. A thrilling suspenseful novel, it will make a great movie. The gente from The Latino Author Summit agree, awarding Ramos its coveted "Books Into Movies" award.

There is little truth to the uncomfirmed chisme that the Zeta role will be played by bloguero and former Director of Teatro a la Brava, Michael Sedano.


2013 Latino Author Summit Winners 

from the LLN announcement
The events, organized by Latino Literacy Now in conjunction with the University of La Verne, were held in eastern Los Angeles county. Our film industry professionals who presented the Awards were award winning actor Mike Gomez, award winning screenwriter and producer Rick Najera, and Nosotros President Emeritus Jerry Velasco. It was a very enjoyable ceremony and everyone loved Rick Najera’s jokes.

Latino Literacy Now was co-founded by Edward James Olmos and Kirk Whisler in 1996. Since then the organization has produced 52 Latino Book & Family Festivals with just under 900,000 in total attendees and 15 International Latino Book Awards that have honored over 1,400 authors and publishers.

Copies of these winning books will be presented to key motion picture studios, producers, and other key entertainment industry insiders. It’s Latino Literacy Now’s goal through these awards to help foster the creation and production of more movies about and by Latinas Latinos. For too long, Latinas Latinos have been underrepresented within the industry and appropriate scripts is one of the weaker links.

Entries are now being accepted for the 2014 International Latino Book Awards, the largest Latino cultural awards in the USA. Entries for the 2014 Latino Books into Movies Awards will begin in October 2013.

For more information on this and other Latino Literacy Now activities go to www.LBFF.us.



Action & Adventure
First Place, Walking for Peace: An Inner Journey, Mony Dojeiji and Alberto Agraso, Booklocker.com, Inc.
Second Place, The Encounter (El encuentro), Rita Wirkala, Pearson Educacion

Animation
First Place, LightKeepers to the Rescue!, Marisa de Jesús Paolicelli, A Caribbean Experience Con Amor

Biography
First Place, El Caracol: The Story of Alfonso, Labor Camp Child, Yolanda Espinosa Espinoza, Mill City Press, Inc.
Second Place, Maidin Iron, Ana Padilla, Author House

Drama
First Place, Spirits of the Ordinary: A Tale of Casas Grandes, Kathleen Alcalá, Chronicle Books

Horror
First Place, The Witch Narratives Reincarnation, Belinda Vasquez Garcia, Magic Prose

Romance
First Place, A Song in My Heart, Roma Calatayud-Stocks, Beaver’s Pond Press

Sci-Fi or Fantasy
First Place, Mortal Flesh: The Last Hero of Pompeii, Ana Costa Alongi, Sigillum Publishers

Suspense or Mystery
First Place, Blues for the Buffalo, Manuel Ramos, Northwestern University Press



SoCal Stanford Alumni Read Chicana Chicano Literature

The Book Club of the Chicano/Latino Stanford University Alumni Association of Southern California looks forward to hosting renowned crime writer and bloguero Manuel Ramos to its Sunday, November 17 meeting in Long Beach Califas.

Blues for the Buffalo is the 2013 winner of Latino Literacy Now's Books into Movies Award. Story above.

The Book Club welcomes Stanford alumni who enjoy Ramos' work, or enjoy a good book discussion. Click here for details.


Is Anybody Going to San Antone...

La Bloga friend, musicologist and independent publisher Juan Tejeda moderates an important public discussion on the 51st state of the USA, the State of Xicana Xicano Studies, this Friday, September 27, 2013.

The “State of Xicana/o Studies” panel discussion is part of Palo Alto College’s Hispanic Heritage Month activities that is co-sponsored by the Student Activities Fee, the Office of Student Engagement and Retention, and Center for Mexican-American Studies.

For the complete schedule of Palo Alto College’s Hispanic Heritage Month events, visit www.alamo.edu/pac/HHM or for more information, call 210.486.3125.


Or Corpus?

Teatro a la Brava was performing in Calexico. Poetry gigante Ricardo Sánchez was at the border festival, too. At the big social event featuring dancing, one of the actors, una tejana, egged me on. "Corpus Krispies," she said, "ask him if he's from Corpus Krispies." Just to get his goat. Los de Corpus hate that, Maggie told me. Why should I antagonize the vato, I wondered, but altered states of reality got the better of me. 

Ricardo was on the other side of the room, wallflowering with Alurista. When he headed over toward the refreshments, I pushed off my wall and intercepted him. "Orale, Ricardo," I said. He stopped in the middle of the floor and we stood face to face, me looking up at the massive poet. "I hear you're from Corpus Krispies." 

Sánchez' mouth gaped open and he looked down his nose at me with a frown. "Oh crap," I thought, "this vato is going to want to fight." 

The stone-faced poet replied, "No mas dimos 'Corpus.'" When I let that sink in a moment, Sánchez opened his arms and gave me a big abrazote and we were fine. We didn't fire up, or go outside to share a bottle or nothing, but we were OK, krispies or no krispies.

Anent Corpus Christi, the following email comes from Corpus public radio. The program is recorded in San Antonio.

Super Xicanas on the loose and broadcasting! Taking to the airwaves - the message of firme mujeres who have made an impact in our community. It's a hybrid format featuring live music, enlivened interviews with Super Xicana Dignitaries, and the uncensored opinions on contemporary issues from Mari Chingas (Marisela Barrera) and Sweet Jane (Jane Madrigal).

An ol' skool, new skool -- nuevo cool performance BROAD-CAST! “The Super Xicana Power Hour” will be broadcast once a week on Corpus Christi Community Radio, a media outlet pursuing social justice and advocating for a better Corpus Christi. CCComRadio provides space for art, music, perspectives, and information that are either not present in or ignored by mainstream media. Broadcasts can be heard on http://www.cccomradio.com.


DDLM Poetry Contest: Calaveras Literarias

Día de los Muertos celebrations in the United States parallel those of Mexico in many dimensions. One missing element from US-based DDLM observations is the poetic tradition of light verse calaveritas literarias. Often quatrains--but no formal requirement--the calavera takes a satiric poke at the living in the context of eulogy, or simply expresses actitud about death, dying, and burial.

To the House of Representatives

Posturing politicians be aware:

Someone will be patting you in the face

With a shovel.

But you won't know it.

So It Goes

Enjoy the parade, Congresscritter.

There's seven going out,

and six coming back.

For examples of the diverse forms of the calavera literaria, visit http://www.calaveras-literarias.com/ where you'll find short ones and longer pieces, risqué and not so much, like the ejemplares below, plus details of the contest in México that pays winners: Hay 100 dólares americanos en premios, así que anímate!

Los Enamorados
Ahí viene la calaca vestida de morado para todos los enamorados

Comiendo elote
Estaba Mari comiendo elote
vino la calavera y le echó un pedote.

El profe Raúl
Estaba el profe Raúl comiendo meloncito
llega la calaca y dice vámonos a lo oscurito.

Maestra Madi
Estaba la maestra Madi bailando reggaetón
Cuando llegó la Catrina y le bajó el pantalón.

Mi subdirector
Ha transcurrido ya un año,
Que el Sub me felicitó
Por aquella calavera,
Que a él tanto le gustó.

Hoy nuevamente le escribo
Pues la muerte me mandó,
No ha logrado su objetivo
Y su tiempo se acabó.

Mucha tristeza me da,
Que la muerte se lo lleve
Pero la mera verdad,
Con los profes no se puede.

Canas verdes le sacamos,
¡Nunca nos hizo cambiar!
Ahora mismo lo enterramos,
Sin su objetivo lograr.

De luto todos estamos,
El Sub jamás volverá
De corazón le deseamos,
Que ahora sí descanse en paz.

La Bloga's Contest: Send up to three calaveras in English, Spanish, or mezcla to win inclusion in the October 29, On-line Floricanto, and perhaps one of the prizes TBA.

Place your calaveras literarias in the body of an email (no files, please) and be sure to include your name and mail address in event your work wins one of the fabulous TBA prizes. Click here for the address, which is calaveras@readraza.com.


On-line Floricanto: Edward Vidaurre

A critic's most challenging assignment is reviewing poetry. A poem can carry the weight and value of a novel, entirely compressed within the tight constraints of the verse form. Puro daunting, the thought of making sense of fifty or a hundred poemas and poemitas.

This week, en vez de una review of south Texas poet Edward Vidaurre's collection, I Took My Barrio On A Road Trip, La Bloga elects to let the poems speak for themselves. That's the ultimate point of any review, to get a reader into the book.

Here then, are five gems selected by Mr. Vidaurre for this occasion, from his current collection, I Took My Barrio on a Road Trip.

Born in East L.A., CA in 1973, Edward Vidaurre writes poetry about his upbringing and experiences of living in the barrio. Raised in Boyle Heights in the projects of Aliso Village, his poetry takes you through his memory of La Lucha.

Known to his friends as Barrio Poet, Vidaurre says:” Sometimes the barrio claims us, holds us by our feet like roots in its field of chalk outlines closed off by the screaming yellow tape being pulled from its soul.”

Vidaurre is the founder of Pasta, Poetry & Vino and Barrio Poet Productions. He has been nominated for a pushcart prize for his poem, "Lorca in the Barrio" and also is co-editing an anthology called Twenty for Newtown, CT through El Zarape Press with Daniel Garcia Ordaz, Katie Hoerth, and Jose Chapa V.

Ask your local independent booksellter to order Edward's book I Took My Barrio On A Road Trip. College Station TX: Slough Press, 2013. ISBN 9780941720137 0941720136. You can also find it on leading internet bookseller catalogs.


Alguashte
I remember it as a greenish,
flaky, semi powdery substance.
like fish food

My strolls down the uneven
sidewalks of Santa Ana
were making memories in my mind
as a child sent away to
El Salvador as soon as school went on break

I looked forward
to walking these streets
that through the years
caused hardship on my grandmother’s
hips as she went from vendor to vendor
in the mercado collecting interest on loans

I smiled when they had no money,
just plenty of excuses
because that would make them pay
with product
hand made sandals, sorbete, gaseosas in plastic baggies,
pupusitas de frijolitos, or my favorite:
manguitos con alguashte

La Puerta del Diablo
held stories of bodies forgotten
and crouching guerilla soldiers
waiting for word that the war was over.

But it never was.

Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana
continues to hold on to her sad look
as her children paint the streets red

i always thought she was sad
because she could not eat
manguitos verdes
con alguashte.


Dominga
Dominga has
hazel eyes, like honey dripping from
a wooden spoon she used to mix postres
como seda, her skin
soft

I don’t know how old she is
I don’t want to know
my grandma
is eternal

Her voice thunderous
Pero cuando le grito al perro
que no me muerda
Calming

Her name is Concepcion
but they call her Conchita
De cariño


she fits the part of an old lady
orthopedic shoes
keeps up with eye exams
one-bad hip
and a holiness about her

she likes her cafecito, black
and eats frijolitos by scooping
them up with a warm tortilla

Her maiden name is Henriquez
wide noses,
you can see the legacy in my hijitas
when she flares them up
everytime she gets angry
curly hair,
my childhood pics prove it
as I smile for a Polaroid snap

Her mother took her life
and her aunt became mommy

Her married name is de Aviles
She took it from a man
Alfonso
Papa Foncho
He comes to me in
Dreams every now and again

He still wears the same suit in heaven
And has a distinct old man smell
Armpits and Musk deodorant

Straight hair combed and
Parted on one side
Con poquitas canas

The Salvadorean Clark Gable
And she was his Scarlet
With a dusty dress
And brown lips



Cholo Stroll (He may not make it)
I'm writing a story
about this cholo, I’ll call him Travieso
he wakes up in the morning
and lights up a cigarette

checks his phone
and grabs a white t-shirt
and a pair of brown Dickie pants
first the shirt,
the burro is unfolded
and the iron is hot enough

his mom is at work
and little brother in school
my cholo decided to skip school
and I'm afraid he may not make it

he looks through the
blinds of his apartment
before setting foot outside
-it's cool
no one's creeping

the tres flores
trails behind him
keeping his shadow company
as he walks towards the barrio
slow with a limp
to meet up with his homies
and I’m afraid he won’t make it, Travieso

fatherless
a chicano mess
he commands
a mother's pain
as the distant cries
are just that
-distant
-non existent

he smiles
at the neighborhood
like he's a hero of sorts
with his limp
and I'm afraid he may not make it

the brothers G.
are already glossy-eyed
and swerving each time
a breeze blows by

the ink is drying on La Teardrop's neck,
y las oldies sound
different this morning
like an anthem of death
and I'm afraid he may not make it

my cholo
is trying to make it
to the end of his story
and I'm afraid he may not make it.



Child Left Behind
Before your choice
takes his life
- his opportunities
-his ability to run against the wind

before your choice
stops his little heart
from breathing
-eating candy
-singing and dancing
and asking questions

before you lay
on that steel bed
in that dreadful clinic

let me
enter your womb
and cuddle with him
let me share embryonic
fluids and chat with
him in dim waters
let me see
his smile
tiny fingers and toes

let me cradle him
and sing him a lullaby
written with the blood
of your intestines
and cold heart

let me whisper
I love you
and tickle him
while I touch his
bald little head

before you open your legs
and let the murder weapon
enter by permission

let me wrap the umbilical cord
around my neck
and hang
from your useless
ovaries

as I watch my
baby boy
cry loudly

"Mommy, is that you?"


I took my barrio on a road trip
for three days

everywhere i went
there it was

my barrio

there were times i had
to put it in my pocket

-mi barrio

but out it came
from my lips

i took my barrio
on a road trip
to Austin

together we
stood
side by side

together
we ate, drank,
and smoked

no matter
where i tried
telling my barrio
to stay
it followed me

protecting me
and giving me advice

get a hold of yourself
it would tell me
"you can do this ese!"
-tu rifas!
-tu controlas!
-tu eres el meromero
-no te rajes!

i took my barrio on a road trip

and from now on
i will take it with me
here
en mi corazon.