The Gluten-free Chicano's Basic Caldo de Pollo

28 November 2004 • 28 November 2024

This Tursday marks the 20th anniversary of the universe's longest-running Chicana Chicano Latina Latino Literary Blog. Estas son las mañanitas, happy birthday to us, this Thursday.

Híjole, over 7 million devices have clicked on La Bloga since our day one post, when only the founding bloggers, Rudy Ch. Garcia, Manuel Ramos, and Michael Sedano, knew and clicked. Here's a 2012-vintage Latinopia video interview with Michael Sedano recalling the origins of this now-20 year old literary blog (link).

The Gluten-free Chicano Cooks
Caldo de Pollo / Chicken Soup With Rice 
Michael Sedano

 
In November's gusty gale I will flop my flippy tail 
And spout hot soup-I'll be a whale!
Spouting once, spouting twice
Spouting chicken soup with rice

 "chicken soup with rice " by Carole King and Maurice Sendak link: to text

 
No te preocupes no te preocupes
Cien años no dura el mal
Escúchame esta esta receta
Que aquí te vengo a cantar ah ah ah

"Caldo de Pollo," by Felipe Barrientos / Luis Manuel Lozano Pena

Performed by Grupo Mojado (YouTube link) 

 

This soup has bones. Diners pick out or spit out the bones, not a
pleasant experience. Please de-bone the soup prior to presenting.

The three- or maybe four-year old boy wandered unsupervised into the chicken yard. Las gallinas clucked and gently fled the boy's transgressions, but the giant white Leghorn gallo took major exception to the boy's intrusion and in a few moments the terrified boy was screaming at the beating wings that threatened to knock him to the ground. The boy's grandmother rushed to the noise, grabbed the rooster by the neck and swung the bird in the air. That afternoon, the small boy tasted his first caldo de pollo and learned that people are masters of their own fate and angry roosters taste great in a soup.

The Gluten-free Chicano remembers the first good soup he cooked. Caldo de Pollo, casi almost like his grandmother and mother made. Ever since that pot de caldo, his soup has inched ever closer to caldo like the women of his familia cooked. It all started with that initial venture into home made soup.

Chicken soup is a universal cure for almost any ailment. It doesn't always work but just having a big bowl of caldo de pollo reliably comforts gente in the gripa of a seasonal bug like a bad cold or flu. Like Menudo is known as a sure-fire way to treat la cruda, caldo de pollo is known to fix everything else.
 
Making caldo de pollo the right way takes a lot of effort and more than a modicum of skill. One of those "don't try this at home" things. Pero ni modo, el Gluten-free chicas patas has a wondrous way with fast and easy company cooking that comes out right.
 
Today's recipe made from the carcass of a roasted chicken and a handful of vegetables would make my antepasadas happy, it tastes so good with such minor labor.
 
The Gluten-free Chicano had friends over and he pulled the bones, más o menos, from the meat and the gathering made do-it-yourself tacos de pollo and enjoyed a wondrous plática. That grocery store roasted chicken is the key ingredient in the next day's caldo de pollo.

There's a lot of pollo chunks on a roasted bird so The Gluten-free Chicano saved the taco leftovers with the meaty bones and wings not made into tacos. All of this gets boiled down and becomes the pollo part of the caldo. Nota bene: you can boil down the carcass with onion and garlic then strain or pull out the bones to make a rich broth in which you boil the veggies.
 
Vegetable mélange varies according to availability and preference for pepper and chiloso. Bell peppers might be an acquired taste for some, plus the stores charge almost a dollar a pepper. Fresh or dried chile costs little but require light touches for some tables. Mejor, serve crushed chiles as a garnish on the side. If you own small serving ceramics all the más mejor.
 
Chop the vegetables to the same size pieces. Mince the garlic and just halve and slice the onion, it cooks down. A quarter inch on the other vegetables is just right.

Add veggies and spices and rice to the boiling bones or stock, cover and simmer at medium flame. If you don't de-bone, cook until the bones pull out of the water. Alternatively, after removing huesos, add less than a handful of rice and cook until the rice ends blossom out. 

Pulling the bones out of the water consumes the only hard labor of making the soup, and it's crucial to do. Tongs and a big spoon help to remove every bit of bone from the spine, the wings, the ribs. When eating, it's ok to spit out the bones you inevitably leave behind. Así es, but next time, do a better job.
 
There's always a next time because Caldo de Pollo from supermarket roasted chicken is a reliably good meal requiring only good knives, a big pot, an hour's wait. Every time you make it, change it. 

 
When you find "your" caldo recipe, a cook will begin developing a soup repertoire, expanding into caldo de res The Gluten-free Chicano knows as cocido, albondigas, caldo de camaron, menudo, hasta Lee's Green Soup. Then there are potato soup, lentil soup, guisados and beyond.
 
La Bloga-Tuesday and The Gluten-Free Chicano will share these soups in upcoming columns. Soup weather has arrived, people will say, pero sabes que? Soup weather is year-round! Nothing hits the spot for sensible, low-cost eating like a good caldo.
 
The Gluten-free Chicano controls celiac and diabetes by walking and eating right, featuring salads and a lot of soups. Adding a bit of culinary complexity, The Gluten-free Chicano's dietician recommends diabetics like him limit carbs to 50 per big meal. This particular Caldo de Pollo, per bowl, meets the dietician's consejos: less than 100g in the entire recipe, or 25g per bowl served to four diners.
 
The more liquid you make, the more bowls of caldo you can serve. Concomitantly, the more bowls, the fewer grams of carbs per bowl. 
 
Serve with tortilla de maíz, fresh lemon, dried chiles. Fancy, add chopped onion and cilantro. Frijoles on the side are perfection itself. Add an elegance factor serving tortilla de maíz quesadillas. (tortilla -13g ea, cheddar .4g per oz, 1 mozzarella / queso oaxaca)
 

Ingredients in A Recipe for Basic Gluten-free, low-carb Caldo de Pollo

Chicken bones from a grocery-store roasted pollo - .06g per lb

Potatoes - 15g per papa (white or red)

Carrots - 8g per cup, boiled

Celery - 4g per cup raw

Tomato - 4g each

Tomato sauce - 6g 8oz can

Onion - 10g large bulb

Garlic - 1g per clove

Cilantro - .7 per sprig

Comino (seed preferably, powdered good too) -  per tsp 1g / 2g seed

Salt - 0g

Black peppercorns (ground is just fine) - 1g per tsp

Rice - 45g cup cooked 

Water

Órale. You can count your own carbs in much of your food by doing a bit of work. The Gluten-free Chicano relies upon The Carbohydrate Counter website (link)for diet counting.
 
 
 
 
 

Twelve. Bermejo Launches Posada

La Bloga Turns Twelve
Michael Sedano

Twelve years is a long time. Or it’s a trick of time that so many days have passed between yesterday to a Sunday in 2004 when La Bloga’s first column hit the internets of Aztlán with RudyG’s declaration that it had begun. It seems almost yesterday but it’s been twelve years, writing, inviting guests, increasing our number to eleven writers. We write about books, health, food, cultura, y más. Pero sabes que?  La Bloga has always been about the books, the literature.

It would be cool to review the emails Rudy, Manuel Ramos, and I exchanged in the days leading Rudy to get it started with that first post. Of the exchanges, all I remember is not knowing what a blog is, and finding seamless ways to fit a weekly deadline into what I was doing for a living. Then there was the “who are these guys?” factor.

I live in LA, Rudy and Manuel live in Denver. In person we’d not yet met. I knew Manuel and Rudy via CHICLE, the pioneering listserv Teresa Marquez managed from her office at University of New Mexico Zimmerman Library. When Marquez had to close down CHICLE, we were out in the cold.

CHICLE, which stood for Chicana/Chicano Literature Exchange, was the first chicano literature-centric email-based communication channel on the internet. Miguel Juárez has an interesting history about CHICLE here. CHICLE’s passing hurts. For one thing, it means Rudy, Manuel, and I would no longer have a place to kick around ideas, to find out literary and publishing news, to catch up with chisme.

In these years, Blogs were emerging onto the social media landscape. Rudy discovered Google’s blogspot service, signed us up, and La Bloga was ready to see light.

While La Bloga has always been about the books, literature, reading, writing, right now it’s about time. Twelve years going on thirteen, La Bloga’s built a library of material that has use. Our author website sidebar, interviews, reviews, photographs, news and notes bits and pieces about literature, cultura, y más are on file, no advertising or hassles. There’s some good stuff in here. We should archive it, some tell us.

I was talking to Latinopia’s Jesus Treviño recently about archiving our respective material. Treviño’s challenged to find a visionary library or university agency to take on bringing Latinopia as a public resource and ongoing active channel. It’s a massive undertaking with Treviño’s encyclopedic visual record of chicanismo and the technical requirements of digitizing video art. Archiving La Bloga would not be nearly as tricky. We are open to suggestions.


Holiday Hero: This Sale

My wife's jewelry invariably catches people's eye. Whether at the University Women's luncheon with her contemporaries, or at some reception or other gathering, people ask where she got that bracelet or those earrings. "Michael bought it for me" invariably wins her admiration for having a husband with impeccable taste.

Here's my secret, and here's your opportunity to make your partner incredibly happy:

Yolanda Gonzalez' studio, Ma Art Space, is easy to reach from any place in SoCal. Located at 800 S Palm Ave # 1, Alhambra, CA 91803, Phone: (626) 975-4799, the sale features silver and gold wearable sculpture of Zergio Florez. Also wonderful ceramics, paintings, sculpture by worthwhile artists.

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo Celebrates Publishing Her First Book: Posada 

I suffer from anomia so having guests to the house creates repeated chances to forget someone’s name within three seconds of meeting them. Still, recently I welcomed the prospect as the only less than felicitous aspect of hosting poet Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo’s publication party for Posada. Offerings of Witness and Refuge.

Bermejo is one of those poets who make it worthwhile to attend poetry readings. Her poetic voice is powered by a ferocious spirit that fuels thoughtful oral presentations of the poet’s words.

Listening to Bermejo read her own stuff shows an artist who respects her work. Well thought-out phrasing, clear enunciation, and forceful projection extracts all the meaning these words contain and guides the way readers approach the poet’s work.

Back in 2015 I made a promise to myself, that I would host Bermejo’s book party out of respect for an act of incredible character.

When the Association of Writers & Writing Programs announced its program for the organization’s 2016 Los Angeles AWP conference, a host of members protested the selections as exclusionary, the selection process as opaque. Poisonous words roiled relations between members and the executive director.

One member of the conference planning group, publisher Kate Gale of Los Angeles’ Red Hen Press, wrote and later retracted a diatribe. AWP disowned Gale’s position. Gale was called privileged, elitist, and out-of-touch. For Los Angeles’ writing community, Red Hen Press had sunk from exalted to pariah.

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo would be a casualty of the pedo. Her first book had been accepted for publication by Red Hen Press. Bermejo quickly made a decision. She wrote:

Publishing with Red Hen isn’t something I can do at this point even if it is a press I’ve admired for years with writers I love and respect like Eloise Klein Healy, Doug Kearny, Veronica Reyes, and Terry Wolverton. Publishing with Red Hen isn’t something I can do at this point, if I am to have any credibility in my own community.

I must have met Bermejo at a reading shortly after she published her decision. Maybe I Facebooked my feelings. When that book finds its publisher, I told Bermejo, I will host a publication party for you. She agreed. Neither of us was being desultory. Not in the promise. Not in the acceptance. We schedule it for the weekend after Thanksgiving Day.



Saturday afternoon arrives and the gente start showing up. Latinopia’s Jesus Treviño is first on scene, to set up the lighting and camera position. Then Xochitl, to see if she could do anything? Nope, my wife loves entertaining and Barbara has everything laid out.

Rain is always welcome but not a good weather for people to drive the freeways to get to Pasadena, so a handful miss this sparkling engagement. I’d planned to do this outdoors, but Barbara knew better and she was, of course, right.

We have set up the food and beverages for buffet self-service and the layout works well. There is enough food prepared but I have supplies at the ready to whip up a few more tacos de chicharron de carne, or tostadas de ceviche. There’s nopalitos—Bermejo will read a nopales poem in their honor—pan dulce (elicits another poem), cookies and macarons, and strong hot coffee.

A montón of people arrive. I shake hands or embrace, say people’s name in welcome, and true to form, forget the names. The people from New York City. Jessica and her friend, poet Rocio whom I haven’t yet read nor heard. We shared a table at Jessica’s wedding. An aspiring novelist finds a good listener in Jesus Treviño, who recently won a National Book Award. Mario Guerrero tells me about the near-completion of his 3-D printing studio.

I smile in conversation with the scientist from Colombia and her daughter the scholar. The woman with the injured leg and the cane drove them. Later Liz Gonzales and Jorge Martin step inside. Jorge’s a sound artist whose work fascinates me and I corner him with lots of questions. Iris de Anda and her little girl arrive for a brief visit. I hope they ate. Some people stand and talk and laugh like old friends. Others pull furniture into corners and discuss Spanish phonology, cultural variance between la chicanada and other hispanoparlantes. It’s a great time whose tenor, warmth and camaraderie come from those rare few minutes of this poet reading her work.

Bermejo gave up a lot by going to Sundress Publications, out of principle and strength of character. She has to promote extra hard to get the word out. This houseparty is the poet’s ninth such reading in the past few weeks. Latinopia will have video of the reading; visit regularly to catch up.

Not that the other publisher wouldn’t have expected the same labor. Abjuring Red Hen foregoes the push that house exerts in the regional market. Red Hen’s maillist would open doors with contact names and phone numbers that are the currency of marketing. Maybe instead of nine, Bermejo would have completed twenty readings by now, and introduced hundreds more readers to her powerful, deeply moving work.

No shoulda woulda coulda. Get a copy, tell your friends. Word of mouth is the best kind of marketing.

Order directly from the publisher or via your local independent bookseller. Buy a personal copy and copies for familia and friends. Orders at the publisher through Wednesday do double duty. The money buys your copies of Posada. Offerings of Witness and Refuge, but also Sundress Publications is donating the funds to the water protectors at Standing Rock. Click here for Sundress' offer.

Guest Columnist: Sonia Gutiérrez. Getting Published. On-Line Floricanto

Editor’s Note: La Bloga happily invites writers to share our space as a Guest Columnist. "Write what you think other writers find interesting," we beckon. Sonia accepted, proposing a novel idea: have the guest interview the host. Today’s column is the product of this guest’s inquisitiveness.  Ms. Gutiérrez' biography follows her column. mvs.

“Face to Face with La Bloga”

By Sonia Gutiérrez

In 2010, I encountered Francisco X. Alarcón’s Poets Responding to SB 1070 , and thereafter, I stumbled upon La Bloga, which religiously presented the work of poets, the voice against anti-immigration hatemongers in Michael Sedano’s “On-line Floricanto,” combating hatred through poetic resistance.

At first sight, I contemplated La Bloga’s banner—ten columnists neatly arranged on a brown tapiz and tan background (With a nostalgic journalist touch, two black and white profile photographs, a painting, a rooster, and fuchsia earrings stood out to a poet’s gaze). Surprised to find this encyclopedic delight, documenting Hispanic American, Chicano, Latino literature and the arts, I devoured its contents, ranging from memoir to sci-fi. And what a feast it was and still is.

Clearly, La Bloga is an invaluable tool as an online journal, informing and educating its readers and wished I had been introduced to La Bloga in my early teenage years and longed for it to have been available when I started reading leisurely.

Why?

Never before had I been exposed to so many genres in one source—written or online—reflecting my existence as a Chicana living in the United States. La Bloga reaffirmed that sense of identity for a starving reader by welcoming, feeding and uplifting the spirit.

After seven years of existence, to this day La Bloga still encourages Latinos to become part of a growing literary canon by presenting tips for poets and writers. On July 21, 2005, bloguero Manuel Ramos presented “Publishers to Poets” listing publishers specialized in promoting the work of Latinos. Since then, La Calaca Press has said goodbye to publishing. Arte Público Press and Charley Trujillo’s Chusma House are still running, and Wings Press “has books contracted well into 2013.”  Recently, for those up and coming authors, on November 19, 2011, Rudy Garcia shared with readers “Why Can’t a Latino Get Published?” receiving blogger Mona Alvarado Frazier’s accolades: “Great opportunity, mil gracias, La Bloga.”

I think of La Bloga as the KPBS of Blogs: You can trust that you are in good columns. No wonder it won “Best Blog 2006” Award from the Los Angeles’s Tu Ciudad magazine and mentioned in Majorie Perloff’s Presidential Address at the 2006 MLA Annual Convention.

Over the years, bloguero and author Daniel Olivas has had numerous author interviews, including Helena María Viramontes, Gustavo Arellano, Carmen Giménez Smith, Rigoberto González, Ilan Stavans, Margo Candela, Myriam Gurba, Manuel Muñoz, Sam Quinones, and Sergio Troncoso. As a promoter of education, La Bloga has impacted “the academic study of Latino/a literature by becoming an important source material for educators and students alike,” shares Olivas, whose Helena María Viramontes interview has been cited in three academic sources.

Because I imagine some readers may be asking themselves the same metiche questions I have about La Bloga, I prepared five questions I imagine a new generation of readers are eager to learn about La Bloga. ¡Aquí les van!

Sonia Gutiérrez’s PREGUNTITA #1: Who founded La Bloga?

Michael Sedano: Rudy Garcia, Manuel Ramos and I are the original three members of La Bloga. I am the titular “blogmeister,” but we all share access to the content. Rudy, Manuel and I met on the CHICLE listserve, originated by Teresa Márquez, former curator of the Chicano, Hispano, and Latino Library Program (CHIPOTLE) at the University of New Mexico.

Sonia Gutiérrez’s PREGUNTITA #2: From the seven years of existence, name ten pieces that have had a profound effect on La Bloga’s readership.

Michael Sedano: My measures for effect, profound or so, are comments and discovering through “the grapevine” that someone reads or follows La Bloga. I did a review of Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad and learned a couple of California appellate judges were reading La Bloga. The columns I do on Veterans Day get good remarks.

I got a great feedback to a column on Samuel Beckett. I called Beckett a Chicano, and this got picked up (and misquoted) in the keynote address of the MLA. Then, some vato wrote an article based on that speech, and I see it may be in a book now. I did not understand the article that lumped my remark/column as “anti-humanism.” Should I be insulted?

I am hoping my two new monthly series “The Gluten-free Chicano” and “Read Your Stuff Aloud!” will have a good reception. The read your stuff oracy column is my lifelong passion and has enjoyed favorable feedback.

La Bloga List

Book Review:

Michael Sedano’s “The Penelopiad and an American Dream”

March 21, 2006

Interview:

Daniel Olivas’s “Interview with Helena María Viramontes.” April 2, 2007

Academic References to Helena María Viramontes’s La Bloga Interview:

Hsuan Hsu’s “Fatal Contiguities: Metonymy and Environmental Justice”

Lidia da Cruz Cordeiro Moreira’s “‘Pure Hollywoodlandia’: The Cinematographic Writing of Helena María Viramontes”

Lidia da Cruz Cordeiro Moreira’s “It’s a Small World: Divergence and Convergence in Helena María Viramontes’s “The Cariboo Café”

Veterans:

Michael Sedano’s “Because I Do Hope to Turn Aged Eagle’s Honor…” February 20, 2007

 “Veterans Day Salute to a Kid from Basic”. November 13, 2007 (Michael Sedano’s favorite personal army story.)

 “Veterans Day 2008. The Pit from Pole to Pole.” November 11, 2008

Chicano Beckett:

Michael Sedano’s “Reading Waiting for Godot in Translation” November 7, 2011

Academic References to La Bloga’s Chicano Beckett:

Majorie Perloff’s “It Must Change” (Presidential Address, Modern Language Association:

December 2006).

Carlos Gallego’s Chicana/o Subjectivity and the Politics of Identity

Literature:

Amelia M.L. Montes’s short story “Frayed Edges, Loose Thread”. December 11, 2011

Sonia Gutiérrez’s PREGUNTITA #3: Name all the bloguer@s past and present that have left a mark at La Bloga?

Michael Sedano: Because most La Bloga blogueras blogueros live in California, Colorado, Arizona, and Nebraska, we’ve never all been in the same room at the same time.  I’ve not yet met Rudy Garcia and Amelia M.L. Montes.

I met Manuel Ramos once at a reading of his highly recommended novel, Moony’s Road to Hell. Rudy's posts often share wonderful experiences with his elementary school English learners.

After CHICLE, the rest of La Bloga comes from guest columnist spots. Daniel Olivas, whose anthology, Latinos in Lotusland: An Anthology of Contemporary Southern California Literature, is capturing lots of attention, started as a guest after Rudy Garcia reviewed Daniel’s collection of eerie tales, Devil Talk. Daniel joined us so early, we consider him a founding member too.  Then, Lisa Alvarado came aboard after a number of guest episodes. I’d reviewed Lisa’s Sister Chicas long before Lisa’s first guest shot. René Colato Laínez came aboard as a guest and now takes the Wednesday column with children’s literature and picture books. Ann Hagman Cardinal posted on Sundays. She’s one of Lisa’s co-authors of Sister Chicas and did three guest posts before joining us as a regular.

Garcia, Ramos, and I were looking for women to blog. Gina Mary Sol Ruiz joined us early. Lisa Alvarado and Ann Hagman Cardinal joined us for varying stints. One day I ran into Olga García at ChimMaya and asked if she wanted to join us. Olga brought Tatiana de la Tierra and Liz Vega to be the Sunday blogueras. Tatiana brought in Amelia M.L. Montes recently as La Bloga’s Sunday writers. Lydia Gil is on the team, sharing Thursday with Chicano sci-fi writer Ernest Hogan. Ernest became Lydia's co-Thursday writer after Jesse Tijerina—who was with us a short time. Lydia Gil, a profe and an EFE reporter, usually writes her column in Spanish.

René Colato Laínez met poet Melinda Palacio at the 2006 Border Book Festival in Mesilla, New Mexico. Later, Daniel Olivas met Melinda Palacio when she contributed her short story, “The Last Time,” to Latinos in Lotusland, a 2008 Bilingual Review Press publication. René Colato Laínez and Melinda Palacio were both featured authors at Cal State L.A.’s 2008 Latino Book and Family Festival. Then, Manuel Ramos met Melinda Palacio, as author of the novel Ocotillo Dreams in Denver, Colorado, at AWP, where a La Bloga reunion took place. Shortly thereafter, Melinda Palacio joined Manuel Ramos sharing the Friday space. Olga García, Tatiana de la Tierra, Daniel Olivas, and Manuel Ramos read at the 2010 Flor y Canto at the University of Southern California.

La Bloga’s Ten Bloguer@s:

Sunday: Tatiana de la Tierra & Amelia M.L. Montes
Monday: Daniel Olivas
Tuesday: Michael Sedano
Wednesday: René Colato Laínez
Thursday: Lydia Gil & Ernest Hogan
Friday: Manuel Ramos & Melinda Palacio
Saturday: Rudy Garcia

La Bloga’s Former Bloguer@s:

Lisa Alvarado
Olga García
Ann Hagman Cardinal
Gina Mary Sol Ruiz
Jesse Tijerina
Liz Vega

                                                                     

Sonia Gutiérrez’s PREGUNTITA #4: How does someone become a bloguero (a columnist)?

Michael Sedano: We’re always happy to invite guest columnists, especially as guests have a way of sticking with it. Seven of the ten started as guest columnists. We recognize blogging is fun but becomes a time issue for some, a weekly deadline adds to some folks’ burdens; for others, it’s simply one more item to check off the to-do list.

To become a La Bloga regular, a writer demonstrates continuity by doing two or three columns in a row. If the writer wants to keep on the regular schedule after the two or three posts, they get a password and their mug shot in the header. All the regulars are happy to share their day with anyone.

Sonia Gutiérrez’s PREGUNTITA #5: What would La Bloga like to tell its readers?

Michael Sedano: My own underlying message is for everyone and especially raza: Read, Write, Listen, Speak! Literacy, numeracy, oracy are the keys to a successful competition in an organized society.

Sonia Gutiérrez: Many thanks to Michael Sedano and the blogueras and blogueras of La Bloga.  Your work reaches and enriches the lives of many readers and writers in the United States and beyond. Without a doubt, La Bloga teaches us that cyber space and cultura bring our humanity together. ¡Gracias y salucita!

And many cheers to La Bloga—for a fructiferous 2012!

Follow La Bloga on facebook too!

Meet La Bloga’s Guest Columnist:

Sonia Gutiérrez is divided by her many passions—teaching English and advising for the Palomar Poets and Encuentros United at Palomar College and for the Upward Bound Program (CSUSM), promoting education and social justice through poetry including translation, enjoying her family and friends, and sharing the work of artists and poetas at her bloguita, Chicana in the Midst. Recently, Sonia joined the Centro Cultural de la Raza in San Diego, California, where she plans to promote literacy and the arts con muchas ganas. Her manuscript, Spider Woman/La Mujer Araña is seeking publication. Sonia will dedicate 2012 to finalizing her novel, Kissing Dreams from a Distance and continue to add translations to her third manuscript (that was born about two months ago), Translating from Obsession: From a Witch’s Caldron/Traduciendo por obsesión: De la caldera de una bruja. La Bloga’s On-line Floricanto is home to Sonia’s Poets Responding to SB 1070 poems, including “Fishing Bait,” “Memografía”/“Memography,” “Mi bandera”/“My Flag,” “My Heart Is a Strawberry Field,” “The Passing,” and “La maza y cantera de una poeta”/“A Poet’s Mallet and Quarry.” 

Getting Yourself Published

Rudy Garcia launched an interesting discussion with his January 7, 2012 column with publishing industry professional Marcela Landres, who earns accolades from growing numbers of writers she has helped guide through the business.

Ms. Landres' straightforward answers fulfill a writer's need for practical insight and consejos. The discussion in Comments, including bloguero Ernest Hogan's provocative observation, "I'm not sure how relevant agents are going to be", remains open. Click here to read Rudy's column and join the discussion.

On-Line Floricanto one ten twelve

January's third of five Tuesdays brings familiar poets to La Bloga's On-Line Floricanto stage, including Nancy Aidé González, Francisco X. Alarcón, Hedy Treviño, Flora Grateron Gómez, and José Hernández Díaz. Artist bios follow the readings.

Ordinarily, I like to let the poem speak for itself. Unless a poet requests an illustration, I prefer a text-only space on the page. But, in Facebook where "Mujeres del Maíz” initially appears, Nancy Aidé González includes a striking illustration that compels me to include it along with Ms. González poem.

"Mujeres de Maíz' by Nancy Aidé González

"Truth Speaking in Tongues / La verdad hablando en lenguas" by Francisco X. Alarcón

"Forbidden" by Hedy Trevino

"Where I'm From" by Flora Grateron Gómez

"These Native Scars" by José Hernández Díaz

  

Mujeres Del Maíz

by Nancy Aidé González

Somos las mujeres del maíz,

we are the women that

walk among

the mazes

of corn rows,

crisp green

leaves moving,

swaying

like arms

embracing.

Somos las mujeres del maíz,

we watch the pollen swirl

as the whispers of the ancients

echo in our ears.

We were shaped from maíz,

the staff of life

breathed into our lungs.

Somos las mujeres del maíz,

we touch the verdant stalks

with our brown fingers,

kiss the apex of the

stem that ends in

a silky tassel,

our feet leave footprints

on the fertile soil.

We harvest

the mother grain,

utilize its medicine

to heal,

we grind the kernels

in our molcajetes,

kneading masa

to make tortillas,

tamales,

that nourish,

sustain our families.

Somos las mujeres del maíz,

we are the women that

return the corn

to the earth

at sunrise,

cycle of life

reborn.

 Selecting the Maize - Mariano Gonzalez Chavajay

TRUTH SPEAKING IN TONGUES

by Francisco X. Alarcón

 against Arizona law HB 2281

 no one can erase

by the mere stroke of a pen

the true history

of this arid land,

all the tears, all the blood shed

all the sufferings

all the memories

accomplishments, glories, joys

and sorrows as well

of all the peoples

who are at the roots, and form

the core of this social tree

no more ranch raids

no new Trail of Tears

no trains to death camps

no outlawing of classes

no burning of books

no hanging trees

no one can exclude

exile us from our own dreams

–this is our nation too–

and no law can ban

historical facts and truths

from any classroom

silence may be imposed

but only temporarily

because at the end

truth will win out

even speaking in tongues

against big state lies

© Francisco X. Alarcón

December 29, 2011

LA VERDAD HABLANDO EN LENGUAS

por Francisco X. Alarcón

  

contra la ley HB 2281 de Arizona

nadie puede borrar

con un mero plumazo

la historia real

de esta tierra árida,

las lágrimas, la sangre

derramada, los sufrimientos

todas las memorias

los logros, las glorias, los gozos

y las penas también

de todos los pueblos

que son las raíces y forman

el meollo de este árbol social

no más redadas a ranchos

ningún nuevo Sendero de Lágrimas

ningún tren a campos de muerte

ninguna prohibición de clases

ninguna quema de libros

ningún árbol para linchar

nadie puede excluir

exiliarnos de nuestros sueños

–ésta es nuestra nación también–

y ninguna ley puede abolir

verdades y hechos históricos

de ninguna aula escolar

el silencio se puede imponer

pero sólo temporalmente

porque al final

la verdad vencerá

aun hablando en lenguas

a las grandes mentiras del estado

© Francisco X. Alarcón

29 de diciembre de 2011

Forbidden

 by hedy garcia treviño

  

Under windswept skies the angels danced

in adoration of the moon

There underneath the shadow of the oak tree

that gave comfort and respite to the weary

I left the chants inscribed in stone

Tangled mangled branches of the oak tree

unfurling always upward

in anticipation of the sun

In spring time it is told that blossoms will return

and in the folds of rosa de castillo

we place our prayers and dreams afloat

I lingered long between the shadows

listening to the chants

the chants that were forbidden, were never to be told

The mysteries and the cantos preserved within massive adobe walls

upon the walls of the Morada

I left the chants inscribed in stone.

Where I'm From

 by Flora Gamez Grateron ©2011

  

I am from cenas de frijoles de la ólla, arroz, and homemade tortillas de harina made daily while a cinnamon baby sat astride Mama’s hip while she prepared the evening meals,

I am from Mama’s Clairol permed hair wrapped in tissue paper and peroxide so strong it drifted onto the red porch where we played Jax, from dippity-doo hair gel, Prell shampoo, deep red Avon lipstick, powdered milk, bricks of government cheese, Fizzies tablets, and our first black rotary telephone,

I am from sawdust, nails, and hammers, of Papa’s two bedroom house with bare floorboards and no insulation, gas heaters that flickered blue and orange at night, and a shiny black 1942 Ford Sedan,

I am from palm trees and cacti growing side by side in the front yard, Mama’s roses, oleanders, and morning glories, the ditch that filled with rainwater, the blackberry tree that upheld the tree house filled with comic books,

I am from tamales on Christmas Eve, buñuelos and champurrado, nueve noches de Las Posadas con El Padre Jose, brown bags filled with nuts, oranges, and hard candy, gifts from the $1 store, and new dolls with eyes that opened and closed and smelled of new plastic,

I am from Catholicism practiced from the first week of birth, cold water on the forehead, pierced ears with a sterilized needle as we suckled warm breast milk, Clorox clean cloth diapers and safety pins, and washing machines with rollers,

I am from family traditions that come from el Corazón, like piñatas, cáscarones, cantando Las Mananitas, musica de mariachis, y la Misa del Gallo, el altar para el Dia de los Muertos, or simply family dinner at the table tearing a tortilla de harina in half to share with a sibling,

From “cuida a tu hermanito” while we rocked the youngest in a hammock and fanned the flies away like a prince, to “vas a llegar tarde a la escuela,” rushing off to the Catholic school on our dilapidated side of the tracks, a brick building icy cold in the winter and stifling hot in the summer,

I am from persínate, so we crossed ourselves with holy water when we paraded into church, in front of La Virgen de Guadalupe, el crucifijo, under the nuns’ perpetual glare, at cemeteries, and as we drove in front of unfamiliar churches,

I am from Texas a land of prejudice and discrimination, and San Luis Potosi, Mexico, with its corner panaderia of hot bolillos ready for breakfast, Nescafe, and cajéta, of el ranchito Peotillos with its corrales of mesquite and cows on the loose during the day, its hen houses producing warm eggs for us to gather, and birthday póllo con mole made by abuelita,

I am from stories de brujas y brujerías, of el tío Beto who succumbed to una embrujáda por una bruja celosa, painfully shriveling away to nothingness with no cure in sight, abuelitos who spoke of strange lights en el monte in the dark of night, frightening La Llorona stories invading our dreams, and strange noises in the night as the family slept,

I am from nine graduation pictures in Mama’s living room, school pictures in the hallway of children with crooked teeth and lopsided bangs, 7th child of a 90 year old carpenter with a hammer and an 86 year old homemaker with a rolling pin, and countless patterns of kitchen linoleum that have turned like pages in a book, each one revealing a fraction of our lives at 426 E. Verbina St. in Taft, Texas. 

   (based on George Ella Lyon’s Where I’m From)

These Native Scars

 by José Hernández Díaz

I hope that

When I walk

The Arizona 

Streets

They see my

Native face

And think 

That I’m 

Illegal

Because I 

Would consider

It an insult

If they said

I looked 

American 

I am not a corporate dream

I am not a movie screen

I hope they 

Ask me for 

My green card

And force me

To the wall

I hope they 

Mock my 

Silent tears

And spit on

My worn feet

I will show them native scars

I will claim the sky as pain

I am not an alien

I know all my history:

It is now.

BIOS

"Mujeres de Maíz' by Nancy Aidé González

"Truth Speaking in Tongues / La verdad hablando en lenguas" by Francisco X. Alarcón

"Forbidden" by Hedy Treviño

"Where I'm From" by Flora Grateron Gómez

"These Native Scars" by José Hernández Díaz

Nancy Aidé González is a Chicana poet, writer, and educator.  She currently lives and works in Lodi, California. Nancy graduated from California State University, Sacramento with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature in May of 2000.  She has contributed many poems to Poets Responding to SB 1070. Several of her poems have been published on La Bloga.  Miss González is a participating member of Escritores del Nuevo Sol, a writing group which honors the literary traditions of the Chicano, Latino, Indigenous and Spanish-language peoples.

She teaches first-generation, Mexican –American migrant elementary students. She enjoys teaching her students and giving back to her community.  She holds a Master’s degree in Education with an emphasis in School Administration from California State University, Stanislaus. Nancy Aidé González is involved in Chicano Organizing & Research in Education (C.O.R.E.) a non-partisan, research and advocacy organization that aims to improve the educational environment of all Chicano/Latino students. She has participated in several poetry readings including Poesía Revuelta/ Mixed Poetry Series in San Francisco.   She is currently working on a novel about Chicana women.

Francisco X. Alarcón, award winning Chicano poet and educator, is author of twelve volumes of poetry, including, From the Other Side of Night: Selected and New Poems (University of Arizona Press 2002), and Snake Poems: An Aztec Invocation (Chronicle Books 1992)  His latest book is Ce•Uno•One: Poems for the New Sun (Swan Scythe Press 2010). His book of bilingual poetry for children, Animal Poems of the Iguazú (Children’s Book Press 2008), was selected as a Notable Book for a Global Society by the International Reading Association. His previous bilingual book titled Poems to Dream Together (Lee & Low Books 2005) was awarded the 2006 Jane Addams Honor Book Award. He has been a finalist nominated for Poet Laureate of California in two occasions.  He teaches at the University of California, Davis.  He is the creator of the Facebook page POETS RESPONDING TO SB 1070 that you can visit at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Poets-Responding-to-SB-1070/117494558268757?ref=ts

Hedy Garcia Treviño (nickname Jaritta Little willow because i spent my childhood in the river by the willows). Born in Northern New Mexico to an Hispanic family who was in New Mexico before this area was a territory of the U.S,. and a native family who has been here forever. Mother of 2 wonderful children and 1 precious granddaughter they all live in Phoenix.

I started writing poetry as a young child when i was hit with a ruler for speaking Spanish in school. So poetry has always been my 'healer' my medicine, and poets responding is my temple.

Professionally I'm a substance abuse and mental health therapist.

I was raised by my Spanish speaking grandparents in rural new mexico surrounded by corn fields which sang to me. It was a blessed and fortunate event that my parents abandoned me to the care of my grandparents because i experienced the ancient histories of my familia due to that circumstance. I practice herbal healing and come from a long family history of 'healers' and gardeners and those who work the land. I feel best when my hands are connected to the blessed earth.

Flora Grateron has been writing most of her life. She was born in a south Texas town and many of her stories and poems reflect the challenges and rewards within a complex Mexican –American family of eleven. Her work focuses on the facets of culture, tradition, and family.  She completed her degree after the arrival of her fourth child and teaches Literature and Language Arts in the Sunnyside Unified School District in Tucson, Arizona. She enjoys guiding her students in creating digital stories about community and family. Her work has been published in The Blue Guitar Magazine, an arts and literary magazine of the Arizona Consortium for the Arts, the 2010 Oasis Journal, and La Bloga. Her corrido was one of the winners at the Tucson Meet Yourself Corrido Contest .  She belongs to Sowing the Seeds, a collective of women writers who have published an anthology titled, “Our Spirit, Our Reality” – a collection of short stories and poetry.  She is currently working on publishing her own collection of short stories and poems. 

José Hernández Díaz is a first-generation, Chicano poet with a BA in English Literature from UC Berkeley. José has been published in The Best American Nonrequired Reading Anthology 2011, La Gente Newsmagazine of UCLA, Bombay Gin Literary Journal, Contratiempo, Hinchas de Poesia, In Xochitl In Kuikatl Literary Journal, Indigenous Writers and Artists Collective, The Packinghouse Review, among others. José has had poetry readings at The Mission Cultural Center in San Francisco, at The Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in Long Beach, and at El Centro Cultural de Tijuana. José is currently fulfilling an internship with Floricanto Press as a Poetry Editor. In addition, he is an active moderator of the online group, ‘Poets Responding to SB1070,’ where he has contributed more than 30 of his own poems.