Roxane Gay reclaims her fat, but hates avocados.

Melinda Palacio

Roxane Gay and young fan, Gabby 

            On Wednesday, some 400 people, mostly women, filled the Jewish Community Center (JCC) in New Orleans to hear Roxane Gay in conversation with local author Maurice Ruffin about Gay's memoir, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body. The event was hosted by Octavia Books.

            Roxane Gay was just as dazzling and funny as she is in print, and in her tweets. The New York Times best-selling author has 238 K Twitter followers and counting. She dispels fears and phobias about using the word, fat. And we're not talking about Fat as in, do these jeans make my butt look fat, but Fat in only the way a woman who has been 300 pounds overweight can reclaim the word. Gay makes it clear to anyone not familiar with her or her work that she is an expert on being fat in the world. As an adult who has lived with fat body since she was a teenage girl who was raped, Gay sets the rules for how she's going to take control of her body. Recently, she told her family her body was off limits for discussion. It's hard to believe that recent interviewers have deigned to give her advice about weight and dieting.

Roxane Gay and Maurice Ruffin

            Maurice Ruffin, on the other hand, conducted a safe and comfortable interview space and presented an intimate conversation even though there were hundreds of people in the room. The interview filled the audience with joy and laughter. Gay noted in response to a question about the source of her humor, "I'm just funny;" she also shared that her parents are hilarious. Of the interview, local writer, Alexandra Reisner, said:

            "She was very funny and unrehearsed. It didn't feel like watching an interview, it felt like talking to a friend. The questions Maurice asked were specific but also open so she could explore and go where she wanted to with the answers. He didn't try too much to guide or dominate the conversation, he just gave her the framework."

Alexandra Reisner and SRO crowd

Maurice Ruffin can be credited with asking Roxane Gay a question she had never been asked before, "What's your favorite and least favorite food?" Dr. Gay answered that she is a super picky eater and would have to say a rib eye steak medium-rare is her favorite, along with any kind of a sandwich. She also took the air out of the room when she announced that she hated avocados. Four hundred people gasped at the same time. "I'm over it," she said as she explained that as a Haitian, she grew up eating plenty of them.

A patient Roxane Gay signs 400 copies of her memoir in New Orleans.

The world is lucky that Roxane Gay has known she wanted to become a writer since she was 4 years old. Her memoir, Hunger, is not an inspirational weight loss story, but a telling of one woman's truth and a narrative that forced her to face her body and to make changes to feel better, for herself, and not for any societal pressure. However, her journey as an acclaimed published author is certainly inspirational. She spoke about her beginnings as a blogger of rejection and writing about how hurtful those rejections were, yet still being relentless about sending work out, sometimes sending a new piece the very next moment to the same editor who rejected her. She advised to wait a bit.

Who's that Woman in the Zoot Suit?

Olga Garcia Echeverria



The Woman in The Zoot Suit.
Catherine Ramirez.
Duke University Press

This past week, I was smitten by The Woman in the Zoot Suit. I carried her around in my plastic book bag like a secret treasure. She rode shotgun in my car, spoke to me in Calo. We shared Vietnamese coffee and sandwiches over lunch. And of course, she was my bed buddy in the early mornings, late nights, or whenever time allowed.

When I wasn't highlighting passages in Catherine Ramirez' book, I found myself staring at the cover. The featured picture, printed in the Los Angeles Times in 1942, is both intriguing and haunting. It captures three young Chicana women being taken into police custody for allegedly being members of a pachuca gang, the Black Widows. One woman is gazing directly into the camera. I can't look at her without wondering who she is and what she's thinking. In fact, she inspires a litany of questions...

Who are these young women in baggy pants and huaraches entering a police car? What are their stories? Why have they and other women like them of the World War II era been so largely ignored by scholars and historians? And how is it that el pachuco (once demonized as a social menace, effeminate dresser and clueless pocho) got re-envisioned into history as an icon of masculinity, resistance, and cultural pride, whereas his female counterpart, la pachuca, dwindled into erasure?

These are some of the questions that Ramirez tackles in The Woman in the Zoot Suit. Her book, which focuses on Mexican Americans in Los Angeles, re-examines the Zoot Suit Riots, the Sleepy Lagoon incident, World War II, and parts of the Chicano Movement. Drawing from a variety of sources, such as literature, film, interviews, pictures, trial transcripts, and newspaper articles, Ramirez locates la pachuca and reinserts her into the historical and cultural narrative.

There are many engaging elements in Ramirez' work. One of her most interesting arguments is that the zoot suit and those who wore them (both female and male) destablized race, class, and gender categories. Whereas men in zoot suits were orginally thought of as excessive and feminine, pachucas were seen as transgressing into the domain of men and masculinity. In this way, Ramirez argues that pachucas and pachucos queered American and Mexican American culture.

This, however, changed for el pachuco during the Chicano movement. Chicano cultural nationalists, such as Luis Valdez and Alurista, "unqueered" el pachucho and redefined him and zoot suit subculture as primarily masculine. In addition, they elevated el pachuco to the status of rebel and cultural icon. Meanwhile, the pachuca continued to be overlooked.

Pachuca Sketch by Sergio Magallanes

We're reinserting her here in a sketch to honor her a bit and to summarize her attire and look, which Ramirez discusses in detail. This particular pachuca is very cool in her huarache sandals, although more feminine pachucas might have worn short skirts and heels. Her hair is styled into a pompadour. This was also known as a razor blade hairdo, as la pachuca's big hair was supposed to serve as a perfect hiding place for razor blades. Myth or reality? Perhaps in la pachuca's world you never knew when you were going to have to throw down. Also emblematic were her thinly plucked eyebrows and her dark lips, traits later visible in cholas and cha cha girls. Some pachucas donned the zoot suit jacket with a skirt that fell above the knees, scandolous attire at the time. Others, like the sketch here, wore the entire tacuche or zoot suit, taking on a masculine or butch persona, and therefore signaling gender and sexual transgression. According to Ramirez, it was this transgression that challenged heteronormative views of nationalism, like La Familia, and that ultimately relegated la pachuca to status of "other" and "outcast."

Ramirez points out that la pachuca was shafted and othered within American nationalism as well. She did not, for example, meet the racial or gender norms of mainstream WW II figures, such as Rosie the Riveter, the housewife, mother, and servicewoman, all of which were featured in wartime American propoganda and were exalted as legitimate citizens and women.

So much more can be said about The Woman in the Zoot Suit, but I will stop here and encourage you all to pick up a copy of Ramirez' book and read for yourself. This is definitely an important body of work that sheds light on la pachuca and how the history of erasure impacts cultural movements and thought. Here is la pachuca academic, Catherine Ramirez, answering a few questions about her work.

What drew you to the pachuca or the woman in the suit zoot?

The pachuca attracted me because, quite frankly, I thought she was cool. In the late 1990s, when I began doing research for my dissertation (the seed for my book), I found her mysterious and transgressive. Like many other students of Chicana and Chicano history, I didn’t know much about pachucas, in great part because they had received so little attention from scholars. I perceived them as transgressive because they appeared to challenge rigid, particularly middle-class and heteronormative, definitions of feminine comportment and beauty. And I liked their clothes, hair, and makeup.

When I was a teenager in the 1980s, my friends and I wore our hair big and high. We also favored black liquid eyeliner and dark lipstick. When my father told me that we looked like pachucas, the girls he used to fear when he was growing up in East L.A. in the 1930s and ‘40s, he piqued my curiosity. Yet, as the project unfolded, I was surprised to see how unenigmatic and ordinary many female zooters were. All of my interviewees, for example, were students, workers, mothers, daughters, and/or wives. Despite the generation gap, they weren’t very different from many of my friends and me. Once I saw their mundaneness, I was struck by the discrepancy between la pachuca as icon and the real, flesh-and-blood zooterinas who have shaped and been shaped by history. I decided to probe this inconsistency further in The Woman in the Zoot Suit.

Can you speak briefly to the void that your book fills in Chican@ and American history?

The Woman in the Zoot Suit is a response to previous stories about the Mexican-American zoot subculture, many of which have focused on men and masculinity and have privileged race as a category of analysis over those of gender and sexuality. While I do not dismiss the roles of race, ethnicity, or class in our understandings of this subculture or the events associated with it, such as the Sleepy Lagoon incident of 1942 and the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943, I believe that there’s more to learn from other social identities and relationships. In short, the story and its meanings change when gender and sexuality are brought to the fore.

What initial challenges did you face in researching la pachuca?

When one of the professors with whom I worked as a graduate student warned me that there was insufficient material for a dissertation on pachucas, he didn’t discourage me from pursuing this project. Rather, he motivated me (although this was probably not his intention). My initial reaction to his comment was, Whatever, dude. I will prove you wrong. Then I asked myself, Why the denial? Why the dearth of material? What counts as “material” anyway? Those questions ended up driving my project.

How did you proceed with your project after that initial interaction with your professor?

Because of my professor’s warning, I believed that I needed to create material, so I launched into my research by interviewing Mexican-American women who came of age in Los Angeles during the 1930s and ‘40s, the peak of the zoot suit’s popularity. In other words, my dissertation started off as an ethnography. I began by interviewing family members, mostly aunts. Then I posted flyers in and around East L.A. at places that attracted elderly Mexican Americans, like senior citizen centers. If I recall correctly, the flyer read, “Do you remember the zoot suit? Did you wear one or did you know anyone who did? Were you living in L.A. in the 1930s and 1940s? Do you remember the Sleepy Lagoon incident or Zoot Suit Riots?” Dee Chávez, one of my most interesting interviewees, contacted me after she saw a flyer at a recreation center in Monterey Park. At first, she claimed that she didn’t remember much and she was concerned that she wouldn’t be very helpful to me. She turned out to be a trove of information.

What were you expecting to discover about the women you interviewed and what did you find?

I wasn’t sure what I would learn from the women I interviewed, but I can say that I was hoping they’d simply shed light on the zoot subculture in L.A. in the 1930s and ‘40s. I wanted to know what they did for fun when they were young, where they hung out, how they wore their clothes, hair, and makeup, how and where they acquired their zoot suits, and why they wore them in the first place.

I wasn’t expecting so many of my interviewees to reject the label pachuca, or to show discomfort or disapproval when I used it. When this happened, I feared that I might have to abandon this project. However, rather than ignore their resistance or give up altogether, I decided to explore it. Why was the pachuca so scary to some of my interviewees? What did this figure signify to them and to a later generation of Chicana and Chicano cultural workers?

So, why was la pachuca so scary to some of these women you interviewed?

I believe many of my interviewees had a vexed relationship to the pachuca because she embodies a dissident, highly racialized femininity. While my interviewees wore or borrowed from the zoot look and considered themselves respectable, they told me stories about pachucas who continued to speak Spanish in school even when they were forbidden to do so, who talked back to teachers (and were disciplined as a consequence), who smoked cigarettes in public, who showed more leg and cleavage and wore more makeup than any of their peers, who cut up the dance floor, who refused to step aside when someone attempted to walk past them on a sidewalk, and who weren’t afraid to throw down.

In regards to Chicano history and cultural production, why has the pachuca been so threatening and so greatly ignored?

I found that the pachuca was threatening precisely because she was simultaneously too feminine and not feminine enough—too masculine, in other words. She frightened her contemporaries (e.g., many of my interviewees) and a later generation of Chicano cultural workers, particularly those with an investment in patriarchy and heteronormativity. For this reason, many writers, artists, scholars, and activists have ignored her. However, movement-era Chicana feminist writers and artists, such as Judith Baca, Inés Hernández, Carmen Lomas Garza, and Cherríe Moraga, recognized the pachuca’s dissident femininity and ran with it. Indeed, Moraga’s character, La Pachuca, in her 1984 play Giving Up the Ghost is a butch lesbian.

You use a variety of sources in your book. Can you comment on this?

The Woman in the Zoot Suit is a recovery project. That is, it seeks to bring to light that which has been buried or ignored. Based on its methods (e.g., oral history, textual analysis) and questions, it’s a combination of history and literary criticism. I drew on an eclectic array of sources out of necessity. Narrating a story about la pachuca is a bit like doing a puzzle: each source—for example, an interview, a photograph, a poem, or a newspaper story—represents a piece of that puzzle. I don’t think this puzzle can ever be completed, but scholars who are resourceful and flexible can help to clarify the picture.

Was there resistance within academia to the diverse types of sources you used?

In many ways, sources define academic disciplines. Literary critics often study “texts,” which are generally understood as poems, stories, or novels—fiction, in other words. Historians, in contrast, are supposed to work with non-fiction “documents,” like letters or court records. Irrespective of discipline, these sources are supposed to reveal something about truth and knowledge. To scholars with very conservative ideas about disciplinary boundaries, sources from multiple disciplines should not be mixed. However, I wanted and needed to see what sort of story they would tell when put together.

What have the responses to your book been thus far?

By and large, the responses to The Woman in the Zoot Suit both within and beyond academia have been very positive so far. My parents and old friends have told me that they’re very proud of me. Likewise, colleagues at universities and colleges across the U.S. have let me know that they like the book. Now all I need is for some of them to publish their praise in a book review or two.

What current or future projects are you working on?

My new project, on democracy and difference in the United States and Western Europe, was inspired by the late political scientist Samuel Huntington’s 1996 assertion that Muslims and Mexicans pose a “problem” to Europe and the United States respectively. Huntington argues that both groups are unassimilable and that, ultimately, we threaten the democratic societies we inhabit. I’ve been studying immigration and assimilation in the U.S., France, and Spain. I’ve also been brushing up on my French for the past couple of years. Although I’m still unsure how this project will develop, I’m interested in learning more about Europe and am excited to move into new disciplines and fields of inquiry, like sociology and political theory.

Review: Marie Arana. Lima Nights.

NY: Random House, 2009.

ISBN: 978-0-385-34258-2 (0-385-34258-6)

Michael Sedano

Maria walks into the central city crowd, homeless, destitute, the rest of her life in front of her. And that’s that. Bluhm chases her, losing ground until suddenly she is not there.

After twenty years with Maria, before that life with a wife, his mother, two kids, a maid, Carlos Bluhm stares into the brownness of the city numb with pain, oblivious to the crowd’s resentment of his gringoness on their streets. In the distance, Bluhm’s German-Peruvian pals call his name to bring him back into their protective embrace. So ends Marie Arana’s Lima Nights. It’s a novel whose pages you keep turning not because the characters are endearing—quite the opposite—but to see if there’s a point to Carlos Bluhm’s loser of a life.

Maria has never been there throughout the novel, despite her pivotal role in the mess that is Bluhm’s life. He first spots her at a taxi dance bar, Lima Nights, where women keep men buying liquor, then after hours making whatever deals they can turn. An experienced woman counsels Maria to capture a man’s attention by slipping her datos into the guy’s coat pocket. Make a good choice and a woman earns long-term security and a taste of the good life that comes of being a man’s mistress.

Maria chooses Carlos, a forty-something man out on the town with his three pals. Not that Maria’s been on the job all that long, or other work for that matter. She’s fifteen years old, a couple weeks from turning legal. Maria desperately wants out of a life in Lima’s worst slum, her mother an alcoholic who takes in men and laundry to support Maria and her two brothers. Talk about highly motivated to do whatever it takes to shake free of that futureless history, that’s Maria. If something good has come of Maria’s years with Carlos it’s the slim chance that her future will not be to return to that slum and her mother’s footsteps.

But Lima Nights is not Maria’s story. And it’s not Carlos Bluhm’s, despite his central role. Lima Nights is a political novel. Marriage politics looms above all, defining the tragedy that comes to familia Bluhm. Arana casts a cold, subjective eye on men’s philandering and women’s tolerance. Except for Oscar the shrink, the cohort are scions of rich families down on their luck. With their grandfathers’ economic empires dismantled, the men live in Lima’s elegant houses but work regular jobs like camera salesman, appliance store entrepreneur, hotel manager. Bluhm struggles to make ends meet; to pay for his pleasures he begins dismantling his heritage, selling family silver and pre-hispanic artifacts.

Maria never gives a conscious thought to what she’s done to Bluhm’s family, other than one uncomfortable moment staring into the eyes of Bluhm’s younger son, who is older than Maria and who finds Maria beautiful. The women’s attitudes range from bitter resentment of the men covering for each other to zero tolerance only when confronted by hard proof. That’s Bluhm’s wife. Only when confronted with firm evidence of Bluhm’s tryst with the Indian girl, does the wife move out, taking Bluhm’s mother with her, and the maid. Maria moves into the empty house the first night. It is an empty dream but she takes full advantage of it, investing the next twenty years of escape in making the nest a comfortable home.

Bluhm’s friends cannot understand his actions. Not that the girl is not alluring, nor that she’s only fifteen. Only the psychiatrist is troubled by the child’s age. For his part, Bluhm anxiously waits until her birthday to make his first physical move on her. Maria’s main fault is being a chola--brown-skinned India. Indians like her, according to Bluhm’s buddies, are good for a one-night stand but not someone to settle down with. It’s an attitude Maria feels too, thinking herself disposable to men like Bluhm.

This vicious prejudice permeates Bluhm’s light-skinned society. It is the immovable force against the irresistible force of Peru’s indigenous and mestizo masses. This ugly undercurrent of hatred converts Lima Nights from a sadness-infused battle of the sexes fable to a frustrating metaphor for Peru’s decaying colonialism. The intractable divide between cholas like Maria and white-skinned Europeans like the Bluhm’s German-Peruvian social circle offers no escape to either side. There is hope. Bluhm’s sons wash their hands of their father’s past—neither of them wants nor needs the old place, they’ve carved out their own fortunes by dint of their own labor. Just as there’s hope that Maria’s future will not be like her past, if she can parlay into a job what she’s learned as a chola living a middle-class gringo life. If not, there’s always the slum, or the Shining Path, or something less.

A ver, Maria. Suerte. Carlos, you did it to yourself and whatever happens next, you have it coming. Readers have it coming to them to enjoy Arana's Lima Nights.

There's the second Tuesday of June 2009. A Tuesday like any other Tuesday, except you are here. And thank you for visiting La Bloga.

mvs

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Review: Hungry Woman in Paris is Code

Josefina López. NY: Grand Central Publishing, 2009.
ISBN: 9780446699419


Michael Sedano


From its opening paragraphs, Hungry Woman in Paris reads with the same hyperbolic first person breathlessness of a Young Adult chiclit novel. But mothers, don't let your girls read Canela's story until they're engaged--at least--if not married. And if that adventurous daughter of yours reads Hungry Woman in Paris despite your censorship, then tells you she wants to go to Paris on vacation, alone, tell her you know about the swinger sex club scene, so don't get any cochina ideas about doing a ménage a quatre right there on the dance floor. Wouldn't she prefer a nice trip to Disneylandia, instead?

Your teenage boys will keep the novel under the mattress, and share the "best parts" with all their friends.

All of which means Josefina López achieves her purposes to, in turn, amuse, shock, tempt, and taunt sundry readers lacking the good sense to recognize Hungry Woman in Paris as a deliberately outrageous pastiche of the chiclit genre, with a generous helping of Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin. Hemingway? Canela is the movable feast, which is part of the joke, and López' affront to prudes everywhere.

The novel is an almost complete success. I say "almost" because López' first person voice leads me to wonder if there's more than a soupçon of autobiography in this ribald tale of a failed journalist on the lam from a prima's tragic suicide and the bizarre velorio, a failed engagement, an irate mother, and her own depression. Naturally, she enrolls in cooking school.

This is not your mother's Como Agua Para Chocolate, despite the recipes and cookery. Canela stumbles her way through class, affronting classmates, seducing chefs and translators, earning a few measly Euros posing nude or helping Japanese tourists buy Louis Vuitton merchandise, and, with her typically impulsive thoughtlessness, help a Turkish woman escape her husband's vengeance. Más, she then inserts herself into the notorious riots of Arab youth contra French racism, and plays cougar to a Arabic rapper from the projects. Then...other stuff happens. This is the kind of novel that readers are advised to just sit back and let unfold.

Hungry Woman in Paris boldly takes Chicana literature into places where, like a literary Star Trek, no woman has gone before. Not that there aren't a few perplexities.

Canela comes out of Boyle Heights, a semi-successful writer but a failure to meet her Mexican-American family's standards to be a good Mexican daughter. Conflicting cultural norms play havoc with Canela's and her family's expectations. Canela's spent a lifetime fleeing them with no particular direction, and this has been further complicated by US immigration strictures. France, Canela discovers, is a lot like the US, except in many ways, worse, for immigrants.

That's right, "Mexican-American," a curious choice, given Canela's upbringing among the Mexicanas and Chicanas of Boyle Heights, her allusions to protests she's been involved in, and her kick-ass attitude to rules and external controls. Canela is conscious of the distinction, electing the binational term because "Chicana" would be too difficult to explain, with her limited French. But that's the public Canela. Yet, even the private Canela prefers the hyphenated identity term, but chafes under the oxymoron.

"No, I'm North American...Mexican-American," she tells a cabbie. "I clarified for him in Spanish. I wanted to tell him I was a Chicana, but then I would have to give him a cultural and historical lesson". The incident with the cab driver offers one of the novel's more insightful moments. Canela taunts the nationalistic driver that he can call himself Spanish if he likes, but his children, and for sure his grandchildren, will call themselves French. "It won't be up to you to determine their identity, it's up to them."

Given the extremes López takes her character, her editorial conventionality comes as a disappointment. She translates all Spanish language phrases into English, if not as an apposition in a follow-up periphrasis. The only saving grace of this irritating editorial strategy is the absence of italics. "'Hmmm,' her mother says, 'donde el va, yo ya vine.' Where he is going I've already been was my mother's way of saying she had already planned for betrayal."

When all is said and done, Canela and López want to make this one point clear: men everywhere are shits, most of them. A woman has a right to live her life in whatever fashion meets her needs, wants, desires, curiosities. Keep tasting life's treats and eventually, like the runaway Turkish bride, or Canela herself, a woman will find the man who deserves her. Or is that vice versa? Could a chiclit novel have a different ending? Probably not. López' Epilogue wraps the novel into a tidy package:

"Frenchwomen don't get fat and Japanese women don't grow old or get fat...but Latina women do. We get fat and we wrinkle, but our wrinkles come from laughing and crying. We know how to feel and eat; we know how to love and to come; we know how to live ourselves to death." In the end, readers will fulfill López' wish. It was delicious. And yes, "hungry" means horny.

Hit List Hits East Harlem

Sergio Troncoso writes about the reading experience at his blog, "Chico Lingo..."

MONDAY, MAY 18, 2009
East Harlem Cafe and Hit List Reading
Last Thursday I read at a place I am still entranced by, the East Harlem Café owned by Michelle Cruz, at 104th and Lexington in El Barrio. Two other authors from Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery, read with me, Carlos Hernandez and Richie Narvaez. A few hours before, Richie and I appeared on the Victor Cruz Show, a radio talkfest from Brooklyn. Man, did I have a good time. This is the thing about getting out there, reading and talking to people about your work. You meet new people who wow you, you get to discover what they have created, and you feel lucky. Let me count the ways.


Pancho Rodriguez and Tennessee Williams A Love Story Almost Lost to Time


Gregg Barrios sends the following news about his upcoming release. Felicidades, Gregg.

Just a heads up on the June 1st release of the trade edition of Rancho Pancho. It is the first play to be published in The Hansen Drama Series. It has a forward by David Kaplan, curator, Provincetown Tennessee Wiliams Theatre Festival. Blurbs from playwrights Nancy Cassaro (Tony n' Tina's Wedding ) and Luis Valdez (Zoot Suit ) as well as a gaggle of newspaper and magazine critics from the cities where the play has been performed.

The schedule of my first signing tour forthcoming with dates. Cities and bookstores lined up include:

Now Voyager Bookstore, Provincetown, Ma
The Drama Book Shop, New York City, NY
Borders - Garden District, New Orleans, LA

Hope my publisher can add your city or town to the tour. Meanwhile, there will be a special event in San Antonio to launch the book in June.

Be well,

Gregg

PS While the book purchase price is less expensive at B&N.com, you have to pay sales tax and shipping. At Amazon, it is at list price and you don't pay tax or shipping. But I hope you support your local independent bookstore and purchase your copy there.

http://www.amazon.com/Rancho-Pancho-Gregg-Barrios/dp/1601823312/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242611061&sr=8-3



"Rancho Pancho is a delightfully decadent love story. Through Barrios' beautiful work, we are given a bird's-eye view into the brilliant, prolific
and complex life of our greatest American playwright Tennessee Williams." – Nancy Cassaro, actress and playwright, Tony n' Tina's Wedding.

"A wonderful piece of theater... a delicious slice of history." – Luis Valdez, playwright, Zoot Suit.

Will the swallow come back to Barbara Renaud González?

Rigoberto Gonzáles sends word that his El Paso Times Review of GOLONDRINA, WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME? is posted now at http://www.elpasotimes.com/living/ci_12386618

Sounds like a good read. Per Rigoberto's review, "The narrator's name is Lucero, and like the star in her name, she proceeds to guide the reader through a border-crossing odyssey as sad and familiar as a corrido, as hopeful as the song referenced in the title, though the golondrina in question, that determined swallow, is none other than her own mother, Amada."

National Latino Writers Conference This Week in Alburquerque

This week, I'll be posting photos and updates from the conference that starts Wednesday at New Mexico's beautiful National Hispanic Cultural Center. I'll be there to conduct the workshop "Oracy: Presenting Your Work Effectively." Look for a link to my video illustrations and notes in a future La Bloga Tuesday.

That's the penultimate Tuesday of the fifth month of the year. A Tuesday like any other Tuesday, except you are here. Thank you for visiting La Bloga.

La Bloga welcomes comments and guest columnists. To share your comment, simply click the Comments counter below. If you want to share your own review of a book, an art or cultural event, click here to discuss being our guest.

Ate,

mvs

Palabra Pura's June Gems y Mucho Mas

Your humble writer this week was blessed had the task of trying to fill the shoes of Johanny Vazquez, at this month's Palabra Pura. La Divina is in Puerto Rico where I'm sure she's enjoying family and holding court. In a bedrock venue of Chicago's Mexican community, Decima Musa, Palabra Pura offered  two dynamic poets, and the pre-show conversation was a lively, full-bodied discussion on female aesthetics and female presence on stage. The evening resonated with work that puts flesh on the bone, that breathes a sense of everyday spirituality and working-class nobility into their work. 

Naomi Ayala is the author of This Side of Early (Curbstone Press, 2008) and Wild Animals on the Moon (Curbstone Press, 1997). Her third collection of poems is forthcoming from Bilingual Review Press in 2009. Ayala’s work has appeared in numerous journals and has been anthologized in Seeds of Fire: Contemporary Poems from the Other USA (Smokestack Books/U.K., 2008), Boriquén to Diasporican: Puerto Rican Poetry from Aboriginal Times to the New Millennium (University of Massachusetts Press, 2007), The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry (University of Arizona Press, 2007), and Latino Boom: An Anthology of U.S. Latino Literature (Longman, 2005). Ayala works as an education consultant (with a specialty in curriculum design and development), a translator, and teacher, and is currently serving as the Director of Development for Fiesta DC.

From Consortium, about This Side of Early...These poems straddle two landscapes—contrasting the imprints of gentrification with the supernal, come by way of the woods. Ayala’s poems deconstruct the political world of man, offer hope through a compelling, lyrical spiritual intimacy, and bridge the gap between the two with words full of ecological intensity. Her deep connections with the working class combine with a love of the land to offer us lilt and dream, revelation and foretelling. Many of the "seeings" she brings us walk the edge of cultural resilience, where the illusion we see of the outside world speaks to us most when we turn within.

Diana Pando is a megaphone for Latinos in the arts. She has been Managing Director of Teatro Vista, Interim Managing Director for Teatro Luna, and worked with Luna Negra Dance Theatre and DeLaTorre Fine Arts. Through Teatro Vista she has been able to initiate dialogue between communities and arts groups resulting in youth outreach programs in the Back of the Yards neighborhood and increased Latino theatre in Little Village. She is one of the founding members of Proyecto Latina, a collaborative between Teatro Luna and Tianguis Bookstore and former contributing writer for Dinero Magazine. She has contributed writing to Teatro Luna's critically acclaimed show MACHOS, Lunaticas, collaborated with artist Luis DeLaTorre and maintains a blog called Art Botanas for Latinos in the arts.

She is a member of the Latina Leadership Council for the Chicago Foundation for Women. This October she will be the featured reader at Proyecto Latina hosted at RadioArte. Currently, she works with the Community Media Workshop helping nonprofits tell their stories. She is a lifelong resident of the Bridgeport neighborhood where she resides with artist Luis DeLaTorre and their dog Cometa

READING IS FUNDAMENTAL

Focus on Your Community

Support the fledgling Chicago Public Schools Literacy Program, Padres a Padres, which in turn supports the Latino community. The program serves 3 and 4 year old children who do not have other available preschool options. The program is unique in that the parents are in the classroom learning how to read books to their children to instill a love for reading and learning in their children. Twice a week, along with other activities, the teacher reads a book to the class and the children get to take a new hardcover copy of the same book home with them. The class is taught in Spanish and all books are Spanish language. 

The program also includes an outing to the local library and home visits by CPS staff. This program has a wonderful parenting component and focuses on closing the book gap ('well-off' kids have hundred of children's books in their homes; 'poor' kids have only a handful). Your book donations have helped to support this program. Luz Maria Solis, the program administrator at CPS, (CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS) just reported to that nearly 25% of this year's Padres a Padres class have been accepted to the Orozco Regional Gifted Center for English-Language Learners.

If you would like to continue to support this Chicago Public Schools collaborative initiative (CPS partners with the Chicago Park District and Chicago 's museums for Padres a Padres), please consider purchasing one or more new Spanish language hardcover books.

Book Donations:

Oso Pardo and Oso Panda books - available at Amazon.com

Buenas Noches Luna - available at Amazon.com

If you are ordering the books online, please have them shipped directly to:

Luz Maria Solis

Chicago Public Schools

125 S. Clark St., 9th floor

Chicago, IL 60603

Phone: (773) 553-2019

... and put "Donation for the Padres a Padres Program from [your name]" in the gift message.

Feel free to call Luz Maria Solis if you prefer to make a cash donation or are interested in selecting a different book title from the Padres a Padres curriculum.

AND FROM MI NIETO, RICH VILLAR y ACENTOS

Greetings all.

Acentos is pleased to announce the inaugural issue of the ACENTOS REVIEW, a new journal of writing by Latino and Latina authors. It is online right now at http://www.acentosreview.com.

Seven poets and one visual artist grace the June 2008 issue:

Ray Gonzalez
Rachel McKibbens
Sheila Maldonado
Christina Olivares
Jose Olivarez
Mundo Rivera
Griselda Suarez

Visual: "Man With A Guitar," by Alexandra Cespedes

The poets represented here comprise a remarkable mosaic of emerging and established Latino and Latina writers from different areas of the country. The work sprawls, breathes, bites, and turns. It demands. It is not easy. These are the poems we love, and these poets make beautiful conversation. They honor us with their presence and set a high bar for subsequent projects. Acentos sends its sincerest gratitude to each of them. Deepest thanks also to our co-editors Raina Leon and Eliel Lucero, who insisted that this project was doable and then willed it into reality.

Now then, a word about subsequent projects.

We are right now accepting submissions of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, reviews, interviews, and translation for the Latino Heritage Month issue (September 2008). See the submission guidelines for further details. We look forward to reading your work!

Log onto www.acentosreview.com and check out the fuss. We are extremely excited about this project, and we welcome your comments and queries: acentosreview@gmail.com. See you soon!

Vaya,
Rich Villar
for the Acentos crew. 

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Teatro Luna receives two Non-Equity Jeff Awards! 

Teatro Luna wins two Jeffs for Machos: Best New Work and Outstanding Ensemble! These awards are extra exciting for us because they recognize what we value most about our work: creating original ensemble based shows. Machos was a huge community effort and so this award goes out to a lot of people: the 100 men who contributed stories for the show, the 20 women who collaborated on writing the show, the 45 people who transcribed hours of interviews, and of course... to the uber-talented cast of Machos, a bunch of ladies who worked hard to learn how to be men. Felicidades to our big Luna Family!   

Lisa Alvarado

Storming Heaven's Gate/What Women Can Do

STORMING HEAVEN'S GATE -- photo by Graciela Iturbide

This is a multicultural anthology of spiritual writings by women. In rediscovering spirituality in a female context, this is ideal source material. By ‘source’ I mean personal soul food to feed my own yearnings, ground water for the wellspring of my daily life. Storming Heaven’s Gate skillfully bridges the everyday with the divine, featuring the writing of Pat Mora, Lucille Clifton, and Audre Lorde. I would like to comment specifically on the work of these women and its impact on my creative life.


Pat Mora’s contribution is a list poem, in which she invokes the Goddess through her many Aztec names. In a cry for wholeness and renewal she calls on Coatlicue, Tlaliyolo, and the Virgin de Tepayac/Guadalupe. Coatlicue is the serpent mother, representing all and nothingness from whence all emerges. Tlaliyolo is the creator/destroyer of worlds, and the Virgin of Tepeyac/Guadalupe is the eternal maiden, ever able to renew herself across the ages. The world springs forth, eats itself, springs forth again, dissolves itself in velvet blackness, and rises again, as one, as many, divine and common. These facets of the divine reflect exactly the kind of sensual, radiant cycle of spirituality that are the hallmark of Storming Heaven’s Gate.

Creatively and personally, I needed to engage the Goddess in a Latin context. In doing so, I found freedom from restrictive ideas of female identity that have been Catholicism's and colonialism's legacy. It is precisely the idea of sin, of the inherent pollution of women’s bodies, that had to be broken through for me to fully claim my creative energy and direct it.

As I continue to try to make new work, I have to reach out for connection in an ever-deepening way. My personal spirituality is being plumbed for imagery, for language, for a way to connect with something larger than myself.

Ironically, and in a way I can only begin to comprehend, this spiritual connection is plumbing me as well. What I mean here is that I can't forget that writing is my tether to something divine. Personal success, critical or audience acceptance needs to remain a secondary consideration, as much as care about those things. ‘What is being worked though me?’ is the question that I have to ask myself, the question that demands an answer at the end of the day.

In 'brothers, part 6,' Lucille Clifton cries out to a silent God who turns a deaf ear to suffering. She asks:

tell me why
in the confusion of a mountain
of babies stacked like cordwood...
tell me why You neither raised your hand
nor turned away...why You said nothing. (p.28)

I can feel my own tears lodge in my throat as I write this. What a terrible beauty exists in her description of both a personal and global apocalypse. Her wound, her grief, the abandoned bodies of nameless children, unsaved, unprotected.


Clifton asks the eternal question of a God she desperately wants connection with but does not understand. I remember my own rage at what I saw at the time as God's silence in the face of my own childhood abuse. I see now that what happened was part of my story unfolding, the catalyst for who I've become. It was a singular gift, a defining moment, in which I had to choose to live and to transform. In my case, that moment is where I encountered a God/Goddess.


Lastly, Audre Lorde illustrates the kind of language and imagery I can only hope to achieve someday. She was poet, theorist, theologian, lover, survivor, and griot - someone who once tore down the Master's house and built a temple to the New/Old Mother. One poem in particular kept speaking to me, even in dreams after I read it for the first time. In it, Lorde writes:

Attend me, hold me in you muscular arms, protect me
from throwing any part of myself away. (p.67)

How perfect this quote is, to its vision of encountering the very dark and moving into the light. How moving it is to hear a call to restoration and rebirth in a woman’s voice, shaped by She-Who-Is.

• ISBN-10: 0452276217

• ISBN-13: 978-0452276215

Lisa Alvarado

Teatro Luna 's Shining Light

Teatro Luna Fabulousness!

Teatro Luna has a BRAND NEW SHOW opening on March 6th, but you can catch it now! This Saturday and Sunday see a sneak preview of Teatro Luna's most intimate show yet... SOLO TU, a collection of four interwoven solos all about different women's experiences with PREGNANCY.

One woman thinks she's finally built the perfect family - Mom, Dad, Cute Kid- until an invasion of mice makes her wonder what's really going on. Another woman finds herself caught up in the worst kind of Baby-Daddy-Single-Mama Drama. Meanwhile, a woman in her third year of trying to get pregnant decides her pregnant friends make her want to vomit, and her close friend wrestles with pro-life activists, hospital robes, and how she feels about having an abortion in her 30's.

Saturday @ 7:30 pm and Sunday @ 6pm

SHOW RUN: March 6-April 6 2008 Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays @ 7:30 pm Sundays @ 6pm Chicago Dramatists 1105 W. Chicago Ave, at Milwaukee Tickets $15, Student and Senior Discount on Thursdays and Sundays only, $10 $12 Group Sale price, parties of 8 or more For tickets, visit www.teatroluna.org


Mind, you the company is filled with talented, writers and performers, and it was rough to pair down, but gente, enjoy this interview with three of Teatro Luna's members, Diana Pando, who does administration for the group as well as writing, Tanya Saracho and Diana Herrera, both writers/actors.

DIANA PANDO

Describe your own personal journey as a writer.

Well, I’m trying to catch up to myself in this writer’s journey. I write poems, press releases, blog, snippets here and there of scenes and dialogue. I want to spend more time writing fiction and trying to better understand my creative process. I’ve worked with a lot of people in the arts and enjoy supporting their creative efforts. This year, I’m going to be a little selfish and focus in on my creative pursuits. I’ve always liked journal writing. Just the other day I dusted one off and leafed through the pages and it allowed me to remember myself in another place and time. Writing is so powerful. I think when you write your higher self is revealed.

How did your voice and your message begin to reveal itself?

Voice is so powerful. You either use it or lose it. I think my writer’s voice is still revealing itself in these early stages of my writing life. For me it’s writing bits and pieces here and there. Eventually, coming back to the kladeiscope of writing that I do and putting it all together.

Who were/are important influences for you?

There are a lot of wonderful writers that inspire and influence me. The one that impacted me directly was my mom. She worked long hours at a meat packing plant and at the thrift store on the south side so I can have the luxury of writing. After she passed, I found a lot of notebooks with journal entries, unfinished letters and poems. Every now and then I find a little note that brings a smile to my face.

How does Teatro Luna feed your creative life and vise versa?

Teatro Luna has creative energy spewing out in every direction. The ensemble is such an energetic and hilarious group of talented women. You can’t help but be inspired. They are paving the way for that next generation of Latinas in the arts. I’ve had the opportunity to participate in one of their writing workshops. The piece that I created out of the workshop is called Tía Betty and the Glucose of Doom based on my mom’s struggle with diabetes. The workshop process is definitely a powerful one. It gave me the creative kick in the butt to nudge me a long. As a result, the 20 minute piece I wrote is slowly expanding taking on a life of it’s own. I work on and off on it because it’s a hard and personal piece to write.

What's the significance of working in an all woman-all Latina teatro?

I think it was in 2002 when I first went to see one of TL’s shows when they were at the Pilsen space. I was blown away! I had never seen Latinas on stage before. It was a major discovery for me. By creating new works Teatro Luna is impacting local and national audiences through touring. Teatro Luna is currently the only Latina theatre company producing full seasons. For me there is nothing better than seeing these brilliant Latinas blazing on stage and practicing their art and sharing the stories of Latinas with others. Their communal creativity is really in harmony with each other and adds to their success.

You work in a variety of discplines---playwriting, poetry, performance--
Talk about the differences in each. Is there a genre you feel is your "favorite?"

As an emerging writer, I think my strengths are poetry and fiction writing. I’m dabbling in playwriting because I’m absolutely fascinated by creating dialogue and having actors bring the characters to life. Even though I’ve been doing theatre administration for Teatro Luna they teach me so much about the process.

Talk a little about Proyecto Latina. What do you hope it provides for community writers, and book lovers?

Proyecto Latina is a wonderful community based initiative between Tianguis Bookstore, Teatro Luna and myself. This open mic takes place every 3rd Monday of the month at Radio Arte and it’s a place for Latina’s to come out and show off their talent whether it’s poetry, fiction writing, belly dancers and Hula Hoopers it’s an open mic that brings together emerging and established Latinas in the arts to share, explore and encourage their creative pursuits. We are impacting that next generation by giving them an outlet to show off their creativity. Irasema Gonzales, owner of Tianguis Bookstore, has done an amazing job of lining up some the best features. There’s even a chismé box where you can drop your anonymous chismé and we read them during the open mic. Please drop in and check it out. Log on to http://www.tianguis.biz

What are you sources of inspiration?

A source of inspiration for me is walking through the city. I’m a big fan of long walks despite a toe spur gone amuck. Anyway, too much information. Friends always look at me with suspicion when I tell them we are just three blocks away. Rightfully, so I guess. Three blocks is the equivalent of ten blocks for me. I’m a wanderer. I love to look at people, places and things. Me embobo luego, luego, especially when I’m in Mexico City. There is nothing like being in the Zócalo on a rainy day. Definitely inspires and leaves me drenched. I always forget my umbrella…

What's the role of female friendship in your daily life and as a writer?

Funny you should ask this question. It’s my lifeline! I can’t go back to anything else. In 2002, Irasema Gonzales invited me to see a reading of Sandra Cisneros up at Loyola. I was feeling a little lazy and it was cold out. Thankfully, she dragged me out there anyway. It was an amazing reading and what came out of it was such a blessing. After the reading Sandra was signing her book and answering questions. There was this annoying girl with a red shirt talking and talking to Sandra. “Hurry Up” I wanted to yell “We want to talk to Sandra too!” The line finally began to move and when we got there Irasema asked about writing groups and Sandra told us to connect with the woman in red. The woman in red is now a dear friend and fabulous writer. Our writing group consists of Lizann Acosta, Professor of World Literature & Teatro Luna Artistic Associate, Irasema Salinas, Tianguis Bookstore Owner, Family Dr. Yolanda Cardenas, Magda Banda Ph.d Candidate in Comparative Education and me. Sandra probably has no idea but she’s our writing group madrina.

Where would you like to be creatively and professionally in ten years?

In ten years, I will be producing consistent work in different generes of writing, collaborating with other Latinas on projects, encouraging Latino professionals to support the arts through philanthropy, create the Mariposa Atomica Arts Fund and do advocacy work for the arts. Latinos enrich the arts in the city of Chicago and it’s important that we support and cultivate those efforts.

Tell us something not in the offical bio.

I have an 800 pound Dalmation and he’s more than a decade old, I’m a mascara junkie and my favorite mantra is vision + action = Reality.

TANYA SARACHO
(Courtesy Time Out Chicago)

Describe your own personal journey as a writer.
How did your voice and your message begin to reveal itself?
Who were/are important influences for you?

I am undisciplined and disorganized. My journey is clunky and aimless lately. Ultimamente, I write because projects are due. I haven't written for the joy of it in a while. Well, angry emails and blogs, but nothing of note. Inspiration hits me like a headache, or a stomach ache-it's a painful process sometimes-and it hits at the most inopportune times. Like when I'm driving and talking on the phone, when I'm in a waiting room-with no paper or pen, when I'm in the bathroom. It just hits and runs through my body like diarrhea. It is not a pleasant experience sometimes. It used to be. The little lightning bolt that tingled. Now? It's mostly a painful thing. Maybe it's because of the pieces I've been working on lately. I don't know.

Everyday people influence me. I love how people talk. I love dialogue. I love talking. I sort of like listening. I like talking more. But when I do listen, I love the shifts in cadence and tone, tilts of accents and quirks of the vernacular. I love how people talk. I love how MY people talk. And that umbrella is a large one. I consider most MY people.

How does Teatro Luna feed your creative life and vise versa?
What's the significance of working in an all woman-all Latina teatro?

I would never have been able to explore the topics and styles I've explored during the last eight years, had it not been for Teatro Luna. Who would've produced a half bilingual play about a two young Mexican girls growing up in Texas? Who would have produced three monologues about being a woman of Mexican descent, and let me play them all? Who would have let me show my scars, both physical and emotional, and not judge me harshly for it? No where would I have been able to do that. Teatro Luna is a beautiful thing. It's a sisterhood, it's a womb-I don't care if I sound cheesy-it IS a womb. People feel it when they come around us. Everyone's worked is supported, pero tambien nos jalamos las orejas. It's a beautiful thing. I love women. I love women's stories. I love to give voice to women. I...I just love women.

In a related vein, Teatro Luna has plumbed the Latina experience and pushed the envelope on issues of identity, gender and relationship. Talk about TL's significance as a child of traditional teatro, of post-movimiento social commentary.

It's hard for me to have perspective on this. I'm not objective. Obviously, I think what we do is really interesting. But I don't think we've pushed the envelope enough. What we do is pretty simple. We get up there and tell stories. If that's not traditional teatro, I don't know what is. In form, we are not that...I don't know, we are not that innovative. Episodic, ensemble-built work has been around since the Greeks, since Miracle plays, since Spanish pasarelas and posadas de la colonia and early twentieth century Latin American revistas. I think our uniqueness is found in the sum of our parts, in the combination of how we treat topics, how we build pieces, in our gender and our race/ethinicity/nationalities. It's the sum of all those things that create that special something that is Luna.

You work in a variety of disciplines---playwriting, poetry, performance--
Talk about the differences in each. Is there a genre you feel is your "favorite?"

I'm mostly a writer for the stage. I don't have a talent for poetry. I respect poets immensely. To be able to structure and mold words aurally and rhythmically is a talent I truly admire.

Talk a little about Proyecto Latina. What do you hope it provides for community writers and book lovers?

I can't believe we've been doing Proyecto Latina for two years now. I remember the first time we did it, and how we filled Meztli Cafe and how every one was excited about every performer. You could feel the electricity in the place. Not much has changed, the location perhaps, but people are still excited to hear and support new work by Latina writers-of all genres, not just poetry. It provides a much needed outlet and cocoon to nurture our work.

What are you sources of inspiration? What's the role of female friendship in your daily life and as a writer?

All my plays are about females. I don't think that's limiting in the least; They all deal with a female central character and I can't deny it, each and every one has at least a bit of coloring that I draw from the women in my life. My mother, my sisters, my Teatro Luna sisters (who are more than friends)... I take the ribbons of vernacular from their mouths and plaster them on the stage. Their words are much more brilliant than mine will ever be. They are wise and funny and flawed. It's my friend's Yadira's zinger lines and her obsession with the perfect meal. It's my friend Miranda's struggle for her dreams and the sting failure causes. It's Tatiana's depression and her unwillingness to come to surface, but her attempt at it every day. It's my friends navigating their contradictions. Those things are much more interesting than anything I'd come up with on my own. Now I might piss people off. Make them angry because I just take one tiny little shade of blue here, or a smudge of brown and they think that's definitive of my opinion of them. But that's never the case. I am often in trouble for it though.

Where would you like to be creatively and professionally in ten years?

I'd love to be feeding myself fully with the work. Sharing it with as many people as possible. In whatever form. Whatever that means. Whether bigger stages. More productions. Far reaching publications. I'm not sure what that means, but I'd like to have figured it out and be in a place to open doors for other people. Be on the founding stage of programming that makes sure our voice is being heard. In ten years I would have liked to have gotten out of my myopic state and attempt a period piece about hoodoo in the American South during the late 1800's. Nothing to do with Latinidad. That's just a little project that has been rattling in my brain. But it's a long time for that one. In a decade, I'd like to have a cannon of work I can be proud of, but having the best yet to come. Also, in ten years Teatro Luna will be an institution; financially healthy, administratively strong, artistically excellent. Still doing the work.

Tell us something not in the official bio.

I am addicted to divination and getting my cards read. Every week. Every. Week. My name is Tanya Selene Saracho Armenta, and I am a divination addict.

DIANA HERRERA

Describe your own personal journey as a writer.

I took a new plays workshop class in college as an actor, but the teacher made all of us write these six-line scenes…it was my first time writing dialogue and characters and I had a blast. My teacher thought I had potential, so he kept bugging me to take his Playwriting class. I was like, I'm not a writer but he persisted. I finally took the class and fell in love with writing. I write solo pieces and short plays now, and I'm working on trying to get a full-length completed…kinda hard when you have a 6 month old at home! But I'm trying!

How did your voice and your message begin to reveal itself?

I don't think my voice really revealed itself until I started working with Teatro Luna. I learned a huge lesson "write what you know". I also learned to write from a more honest place—my writing has progressed leaps and bounds since I started working with these lovely ladies!

Who were/are important influences for you?

Important influences—I'm not very well read when it comes to playwrights—I know, I know…it's a shame. But I do have to say that Tanya Saracho has been a huge influence on me. I love how ALIVE her characters seem—she is so good at mapping these journeys for her characters that are interesting and humanizing…you walk away from the show dazed, thinking where did that time go? It just flew by? What's going to happen to that lady now? And you find yourself still wondering about that character weeks later…that's the sign of a great writer. To keep you involved with the story even after you leave the theater.

How does Teatro Luna feed your creative life and vise versa?

Since a lot of the TL projects are ensemble-based, I tend to spark ideas off my fellow cast members. I love that they have workshops where you can bring in your writing and get feedback…I think it's such a great environment for developing new work.

What's the significance of working in an all woman-all Latina teatro?

The all-woman all-Latina teatro is a GODSEND. I worked in sketch comedy for a long time, and the male competitiveness is incredible. And if you are a woman who is a talented and prolific writer, watch out! One time, I actually had one of my cast members call me to tell me to stop writing so much…he was upset that I was constantly "showing him up" because I'd bring in 10 sketches to his 3. It's fine to have healthy competition, but not in an ensemble setting. That conversation ruined the project for me. Another wonderful thing about working with all women is when you're having a bad day, you don't get the "she must be PMS'ing" eye roll…you can be more open with your emotions. It also frees you up creatively because you are more likely to be more open with your work and more willing to accept criticism.

I enjoy the COLLABORATIVE feel of TL, and a lot of it has to do with the all-women role. As for all-Latina…it's like being home. I might not speak Spanish, but I identify as Latina…and it's nice to be in an environment where I don't have to explain why I'm not drinking margaritas on Cinco de Mayo!!! It's also inspiring to have this group of strong, talented women who embrace their heritage.

In a related vein, Teatro Luna has plumbed the Latina experience and pushed the envelope on issues of identity, gender and relationship. Talk about TL's significance as a child of traditional teatro, of post-movimiento social commentary.

Egads…that question feels like an essay test I haven't studied for!!!! I think Coya and Tanya will be able to give you a better answer than what I can give…pass!

You work in a variety of disciplines---playwriting, poetry, performance--
Talk about the differences in each. Is there a genre you feel is your "favorite?"

I don't work too much in poetry, except what I write in my journals that will never been shown to ANYONE 'cause it's really bad poetry! But here we go with the other two. My favorite has to be playwriting because I think I have a God complex. Seriously, it's intoxicating to create this whole world and populate them with these people that use YOUR WORDS to express themselves…then if you're lucky you get a chance to see it LIVE!! How cool is that? Also, though…there is that moment of CONNECTION. When you make a bulls-eye with the hearts of your audience members. There is nothing as gratifying as when someone comes up to me after a show and tells me, you were writing about me. I wrote a piece in "The Maria Chronicles" about visiting my brother in prison, and after shows I had several people tell me about their experiences with family members in prison. One lady told me that after my piece she reconciled with her brother and visited him for the first time in years. That really touched me. It might sound trite, but it's true…writing plays for me is like reaching out and saying "I'm not alone, you are not alone…for this moment we will be taking this journey together". I write because sometimes these feelings I have are so intense it becomes necessary to overflow them onto paper. I chose to share my journey, though, instead of locking it up in a diary (well, except my poems. Those don't need to be shared!).

So where does performance fit in? To me, performance is another level of connection with the audience. It's very cathartic, and it's wonderful because you get instant gratification…laughter during a one-liner delivered just right, silence during a dramatic moment…applause. Oh, the applause! Performing is such a high, because you are on this tightrope wire where any sudden change (even something like the theater being too hot or the seats too uncomfortable) will distract your audience…you have to EARN their attention…but once you've earned it what a RUSH.

Talk a little about Proyecto Latina. What do you hope it provides for community writers and book lovers?

I've enjoyed participating in Proyecto Latina in the past…unfortunately I've been absent from the monthly events for a while. However, I think it's such a wonderful opportunity for new artists…and I LOVE that there is a set limit of people that can perform, that it's a 5 minute time limit and that there is a featured performer. That is key…to be able to enjoy these "tastes" of performance without being overwhelmed by a 4 hour open mike. I know being able to hear various artists has inspired my own writing. I'm hoping I can start attending again…I've missed it!

What are you sources of inspiration? What's the role of female friendship in your daily life and as a writer?

My family is a HUGE source of inspiration for me—we have this carefully honed sense of humor that I use in my writing. They are very supportive of me—I talk a lot about them in my pieces and I haven't been disowned. Yet. I love comedy, so of course I'm all over female writers like Tina Fey—even watching the old episodes of The Carol Burnett Show gives me inspiration as a writer. Currently I'm working on a two-woman show, and we are using "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe" as inspiration…Jane Wagner and Lily Tomlin collaborated on this piece, and it's amazing.

Where would you like to be creatively and professionally in ten years?

Creatively, I'd like to still be writing and getting my work produced…if I can perform occasionally that would be a bonus. It's hard because I do have a family now, and I'm the primary breadwinner…so not only do I have to balance work with family, I have to find time to write and stay involved in projects as well. The good thing is that my husband is VERY supportive—in fact, he's the one that keeps pushing me to take on these projects and he's great about covering the night shifts at home, taking care of our daughter and the house. So it's just a matter of figuring out what the next step is…the point is, I can't figure out next year, much less TEN years from now!!

Tell us something not in the official bio.

I am a HUGE fan of science fiction—my favorite authors include Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, HP Lovecraft, Charles Beaumont…and I LOVE TV shows like "The Twilight Zone", "Heroes", "Lost"…anything with a sci-fi edge to it! And yes, I was one of those geeks that stood in line for Star Wars tickets. Han Solo was my first crush.

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Women and Creativity Conference/Lisa Alvarado Shameless Self-Promotion Department

Gente: I've been blessed enough to have been asked to perform The Housekeeper's Diary at the conference -- Friday, March 7, at 8 PM at the National Hispanic Cultural Center's Roy E. Disney Center for the Performing Arts, as well as a reading for high school students at the Center's Wells Fargo Auditorium, Monday, March 10th at 10 AM.

Conference Info: Women and Creativity 2008 is organized and presented by the National Hispanic Cultural Center in partnership with more than 25 local arts organizations, artists, writers and independently owned-business. This year, we have an inspiring offering of more than 50 exhibitions, performances, workshops, classes, and engaging discussions in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

Women and Creativity partners invite you to dedicate an afternoon, evening or entire weekend in March to attend events and workshops that awaken and nourish your own creativity and support the creativity of our communities. Although we shine a special light on women’s creativity during this festival, we invite and encourage the participation of men at all events.

The National Hispanic Cultural Center, along with our partners in Women and Creativity 2008, believe that creativity, art and self-expression are central to sustaining healthy individuals, organizations, business and communities – so, join in and celebrate the creative women in your community and the creativity inside yourself.

There will also be a fabulous PEÑA FEMENINA Sunday, March 9th at NHCC's LA FONDA DEL BOSQUE;

Other Artists:
Alma Jarocha,
Leticia Cuevas, Anabel Marín, Otilio Ruiz, Victor Padilla

Jessica López

Bailaora Xicana, Flamenco
marisol encinias, vicente griego, ricardo anglada

Lenore Armijo

Angélica
Cuevas

National Hispanic Cultural Center 1701 4th St, SW Albuquerque, New Mexico


More Conference News from Demetria Martinez

On Saturday, March 8 at 3 p.m. the first-ever Spanish-language anthology of work by women who reside in New Mexico will be unveiled at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque. Titled Metamorfosis, the book was co-founded by Demetria Martinez, Rosalee Montoya-Reed and Maria Nieves de Abajo Bajo. Please join us to celebrate International Women's Day, poetry, the Spanish language and creativity. A reception will follow. Please RSVP at 724-4777.

And Lastly, news from La Divina, Johanny Vasquez

Hola to Everyone:

I will be participating at the Nuestras Voces: Women's Poetry Night at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign this Thursday, March 6, 2008. The event will take place at from Caffe Paradiso7:00 to 9:00 pm. This will be my first time at U of I, so I'm extremely excited.

If you live in the area or know people that live in Urbana/Champaign, please come by or let them know.

For more information got to my blog at:

http://johannyvazquezpaz.blogspot.com/

or to the University Site at:

http://www.mechauiuc.org/ThursdayChicanasLatinasInTtheArts.html

Hasta la vista, Johanny

Lisa Alvarado