New From UT Press

Quixote's Soldiers
A Local History of the Chicano Movement, 1966–1981

By David Montejano

"David Montejano has written a well-researched and clearly argued study of the interaction among members of different social backgrounds in San Antonio's Chicano community during the turbulent and politically creative years of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He has augmented extensive archival research (especially in the papers of Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez) with effective use of secondary works by other sociologists and historians and his own field work. This book will be of interest not only to historians of Mexican American urban life and Chicano struggles for civil rights, but also to anyone interested in the politics of the Vietnam War era."

—David Montgomery, Farnam Professor of History Emeritus, Yale University

In the mid-1960s, San Antonio, Texas, was a segregated city governed by an entrenched Anglo social and business elite. The Mexican American barrios of the west and south sides were characterized by substandard housing and experienced seasonal flooding. Gang warfare broke out regularly. Then the striking farmworkers of South Texas marched through the city and set off a social movement that transformed the barrios and ultimately brought down the old Anglo oligarchy. In Quixote's Soldiers, David Montejano uses a wealth of previously untapped sources, including the congressional papers of Henry B. Gonzalez, to present an intriguing and highly readable account of this turbulent period.

Montejano divides the narrative into three parts. In the first part, he recounts how college student activists and politicized social workers mobilized barrio youth and mounted an aggressive challenge to both Anglo and Mexican American political elites. In the second part, Montejano looks at the dynamic evolution of the Chicano movement and the emergence of clear gender and class distinctions as women and ex-gang youth struggled to gain recognition as serious political actors. In the final part, Montejano analyzes the failures and successes of movement politics. He describes the work of second-generation movement organizations that made possible a new and more representative political order, symbolized by the election of Mayor Henry Cisneros in 1981.

David Montejano, a native San Antonian, is Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. His fields of specialization include community studies, historical and political sociology, and race and ethnic relations. He is the author of the award-winning Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836–1986 and the editor of Chicano Politics and Society in the Late Twentieth Century.

[From UT Press]

New Bilingual Books from Arte Publico Press/ Piñata Books

The Battle of the Snow Cones
La guerra de las raspas

Lupe Ruiz-Flores
Illustrations by Alisha Gambino
Spanish translation by Amira Plascencia
November 30, 2010, 32 pages
Ages 4-8
ISBN-10: 1-55885-575-0
ISBN-13: 978-1-55885-575-5

This spirited bilingual kids’ book blends themes 
of entrepreneurship and friendship

It was so hot in Caliente, Texas, that the townspeople gulped gallons of lemonade and poured buckets of water over their heads, but they couldn’t stay cool.

Swinging on the front porch with her mother, Elena suddenly has an idea. Raspas—icy cold snow cones—are what the neighbors need to stay cool. And she can make and sell the refreshing treats from a stand in her own front yard! So with the help of her parents, Elena soon has a stand and the items needed to make and sell the snow cones. Before long everyone is lining up to buy the frosty delights in delicious flavors.

Elena’s best friend Alma watches her friend’s success from across the street and decides to start her own snow cone stand. And so begins the battle of the snow cones, with each girl devising ever more elaborate plans to attract clients: decorating their stands with colorful Mexican crepe paper flowers and papel picado, adding exotic flavors such as coconut and mango to their menus, staging puppet shows and even a folkloric dance. The girls’ ice shaving machines furiously crank out raspas, until one day both machines go bonkers!

Readers will enjoy the girls’ clever antics to attract customers in this lively, colorful picture book for children ages 4 – 8. And just as important, kids will learn—along with Elena and Alma—that competitors can still be friends.

LUPE RUIZ-FLORES resides in San Antonio, Texas, where she writes poetry and children's stories. She is the author of Lupita's Papalote / El papalote de Lupita (Piñata Books, 2002) and The Woodcutter’s Gift / El regalo del leñador (Piñata Books, 2007).

ALISHA GAMBINO, the illustrator of Sunflowers / Girasoles (Piñata Books, 2009), teaches for Continuing Education at the Kansas City Art Institute and is the Art Education Curator for the Mattie Rhodes Art Cen- ter. She has exhibited her work at galleries around the country, and lives and works in Gladstone, Missouri.

Grandma’s Chocolate
El chocolate de Abuelita

Mara Price
Illustrations by Lisa Fields
Spanish translation by Gabriela Baeza Ventura
November 30, 2010, 32 pages
Ages 4-8
ISBN-10: 1-55885-587-4
ISBN-13: 978-1-55885-587-8

 

A young girl enjoys her Mexican grandmother’s chocolate

gifts and stories about her indigenous ancestors

Abuela’s visits from Mexico are always full of excitement for young Sabrina. She can’t wait to see what’s in her grandmother’s yellow suitcase covered in stickers from all the places she has visited. Opening it is like opening a treasure chest, and this year is no different. Inside are a host of riches: colorful ribbons, a clay whistle shaped like a bird, a drum, and the strong smell of chocolate.
“Abuelita, do you want to play a game? Let’s pretend that I’m a princess,” Sabrina says. “Okay, Sabrina,” Abuela says, “but a Mayan princess should wear a beautiful dress called a huipil.” And she pulls the traditional garment worn by Mayan and Aztec women from her suitcase.

Sabrina has lots of questions about her ancestors. Did Mayan princesses have money? Did they go to school? Did they eat chocolate ice cream? With her grandmother’s help, Sabrina learns all about the cacao tree, which was first cultivated by Mexico’s indigenous tribes. Today, seeds from the cacao tree give us chocolate, but years ago the seeds were so valuable they were used as money. And Moctezuma, the Aztec emperor, liked to eat chocolate poured over bowls of snow brought from the mountains!

Sabrina discovers that “chocolate is perfect for a Mayan princess.” And children ages 4- 8 are sure to agree as they curl up with a steaming cup of hot chocolate and this charming bilingual picture book that depicts a loving relationship between grandmother and granddaughter and shares the history and customs of the native peoples of Mexico.

MARA PRICE is a native of Mexico and now lives in Southern California. A member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, her work has been published in Iguana, a Spanish-language children’s magazine. This is her first published book.

LISA FIELDS is the illustrator of The Triple Banana Split Boy / El niño goloso (Piñata Books, 2009). She received her BFA in illustration from the Ringling School of Art and Design and attended the Illustration Academy. A member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, she lives in her hometown of Katonah, New York.
 

The Runaway Piggy
El cochinito fugitivo

James Luna
Illustrations by Laura Lacamara
Spanish translation by Carolina Villarroel
November 30, 2010, 32 pages
Ages 4-8
ISBN-10: 1-55885-586-6
ISBN-13: 978-1-55885-586-1

This rollicking bilingual picture book re-tells 

a familiar story with a Latino twist

The sun shines through the windows of Martha’s Panadería onto the shelves of freshly baked treats. The bakery holds tray after tray of hot Mexican sweet bread—conchas, orejas, cuernitos, empanadas, and cochinitos—all ready for hungry customers.

In the classic tradition of The Gingerbread Man, James Luna’s piggy cookie leaps off the baking tray and takes the reader on a mad dash through the barrio, past Lorenzo’s Auto Shop, Nita’s Beauty Salon, Leti’s Flower Shop, and Juana’s Thrift Shop.

The telephone repairman, the bus driver . . . each person the piggy encounters is greeted by his laugh and the repeated refrain: “Chase me! Chase me down the street! But this is one piggy you won’t get to eat! I ran away from the others and I’ll run away from you!” The cochinito fugitivo avoids being eaten by the long line of people chasing him through the neighborhood streets . . . until he meets a crafty little girl named Rosa!

Children—and adults too—will delight in the clever piggy’s escape from Martha’s Panadería in this entertaining retelling of a familiar story set in a colorful Latino neighborhood. A recipe to make Mexican gingerbread pig cookies is included in both English and Spanish.

JAMES LUNA is an elementary school teacher in Riverside, California. This is his first published book.

LAURA LACAMARA is a Cuban-American artist and author. Floating on Mama’s Song / Flotando en la canción de mamá, her picture book illustrated by Yuyi Morales, was published by HarperCollins in 2010. The Runaway Piggy is the first picture book she has illustrated. Laura lives in Venice, California, with her family.

A Good Long Way
René Saldaña, Jr.

October 30, 2010, 128 pages
Trade Paperback
Ages 11 and up
ISBN-10: 1-55885-607-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-55885-607-3

This affecting novel follows the troubled
lives of three teens in deep South Texas

"Stop it. The two of you, stop it! You're father and son; you should love each other." Roelito howls at his father and older brother as their heated argument turns into a pushing, shoving match. Beto has again come home way past curfew, and worse, smelling like a cantina.

When Beto Sr. tells his son that he either needs to follow the rules or leave, the boy—a senior in high school and a man as far as he's concerned—decides to leave, right then, in the middle of the night. Once he has walked away, though, he realizes he has nowhere to go. Maybe his best friend Jessy—a hard-as-nails girl who has run away before—can help him.

The story of Beto’s decision to run away and drop out of school is told from shifting perspectives in which the conflicted lives of Roel, Beto, and Jessy are revealed in short, poignant scenes that reflect teen-age life along the Texas-Mexico border.

Each one has a good long way to go in growing up. Roel fights against the teachers’ assumptions that he’s like Beto. Unlike his big brother, Roel is book smart and actually enjoys school. Jessy is smart too, but most of her teachers can’t see beyond her tough-girl façade. Her parents are so busy fighting with each other that they don’t notice her, even if she’s packing a suitcase to leave. And Beto . . . somewhere along the way he quit caring about school. And his teachers have noticed and given up too.

Author and educator René Saldaña, Jr. once again writes a fast-paced, thought-provoking novel that will engage young adults in questions about their own lives and responsibilities to family, friends, and most of all, to themselves.

RENÉ SALDAÑA, JR. is the author of The Case of the Pen Gone Missing / El caso de la pluma perdida (Piñata Books, 2009), The Whole Sky Full of Stars (Random House, 2007), The Jumping Tree (Delacorte, 2001), and Finding Our Way: Stories (Random House, 2003). He lives in Lubbock, Texas, where he teaches in the College of Education at Texas Tech

Pelé King of Soccer Winner!

Congratulations to Lori Langer de Ramirez -MisCositas‬

Gracias por participar.

Guest Columnist: Edith M Vásquez on Rigoberto González. On-Line Floricanto: Poets Respond to Arizona Racists

Amor, Amorphous Amor: On Poems, Sex and Power
In Other Fugitives and Other Strangers by Rigoberto González

Edith M. Vásquez

Editor's note: La Bloga has semi-regularly linked or featured poet and scholar Rigoberto González' literary critiques, most recently his review of Calaca Press' Chicas Patas Sci-Fi title, Lunar Braceros (a worthwhile title reviewed in February by Michael Sedano). Today, La Bloga's Guest Columnist, Edith M. Vásquez, conducts a critical tour of Mr. González' work. Ms. Vásquez' poem, "To The Poets," was included in a recent On-Line Floricanto.

Disrupting symmetry: the key
to the art of conquering

a lover. Take exactitude and
distort its vain

proportions.


In ancient myth, Chaos and Eros are closely aligned figures. These lines, drawn from the poem, “Vanquishing Act,” by Rigoberto González call for the disordering of an as- seemingly-permanent value as that of symmetry, in an argument of love as agile potency against compulsory and preordained order. Throughout his Other Fugitives and Other Strangers, (Tupelo Press, 2006) González foregrounds male erotica through a lyric expansion leading ever more deeply into newly broached recesses of the loved body; here conquest is a countering of form, and form is a responsive if seduced lover. Cutting, biting, and probing the body of the lover is represented as a breakage of form--the release of order permitted therewith supplies new poetic material, and new shapes can be appraised.

The power of love—as physical pact or emotional bond—may injure and or please. Conquest entails some rearranging of power as the sexual positions do also create a necessary giver and taker often. Remarking on the potential of abusive power in sex, the speaker of the opening poem, “Good Boy” queries his own progression into the darker forces of sexual relations; the poem dramatizes the experienced lover’s inquiring gaze fixed on a photo of him as a ten-year old child. Meditating on his maturation from apparent innocent to practiced lover, the speaker poses a series of questions, among them: “Wasn’t I a good boy once?” and “How do you explain this/ strange ability to inflict pain?”

A juxtaposition of innocence and experience draws a contrast between nascent and certain lover through sound, color, and age. Youth is described as “a laugh/so clean,” is compared to a “white sheet,” and is recorded as “those high-pitched sounds.” On the other hand, maturation is “rust in my throat,” and it signifies that the child he once was “is lost in the stomach” and has dissolved “like any other/color.” These queries and comparisons culminate in one possibility, thus the assertion: “I must have been the changeling matured/ now longing for things that blister/ and boil.” Nowhere does it appear that there is early evidence of the hungering adult lover within the ten-year-old boy, yet “I must have ingested hatred/through the spoons of my childhood.”

Already even the shape of the child in the photo converts to something new, and a composite—a child/man. The grown male lover recaptures what is within him, that child who spoke with the “contagious note of a two-finger bell.” While the adult lover finds yearning for pain in sex, perhaps, this is a desire for change of form. Change of form brings playful reinvention even if it voyages through pain, physical and intimate. Near the end of the poem, the desire for the pleasures and the pains of love seem to lead back to such playfulness and even to mischief, so that the poem’s enactment of savage love quiets into an “intentional act.” The lover finds an erotic partner in a scene of sexual engagement hallowed by a correspondence drawn between the lover’s open white mouth and the moon; the moon also appears in two other poems of Part I, “Point it Out” and “In Praise of the Mouth,” where it appears to consecrate love and sexual aggression between masculine lovers.

When certain, love occasions sacred and profane instances contained within a form of lyrical and seminal largess. Through the medium of language and more so in poetic passages that transmit the histories of love and of love’s violence, the poet details the wounded and pleasured zones and pathways of the body erotic. Often, sexual penetration is envisioned as incision particularly in poems belonging to Part I of the book: in “Scar,” “The Balloon Artist,” “Point it Out,” “Of Despots and Deities,” union is likened to the cutting of flesh. Part I also focuses on aspects of doubling. In poems such as “Of Despots and Deities,” “Sweet Somnambulist,” “My Crush on the Crisis Counselor,” “Neurotic Double,” and “Dear Dead Lover, “ the lover/poet is poised as doppelganger. These are impressive works which lead into the repopulating of the self and the breakage of the individualization of epistemology, Multiple identities may be drawn together through sex acts; sexuality offers a forum for adaptations of form and identity here. These poetic formulae will lead in Part II to deeper yet breakages of form, and in Part III, to breakages with authority. For example, in “Vanquishing Act,” a poetic treatise and erotic dismemberment are fused in a metapoetic composition, a tour de force, the poet remarks on what he has constructed as a body poetic/body erotic. With the dismantling of the lover’s body here—not un-Christ-like by far—power becomes the central theme. Destabilizing the power of patriarchy, church, and intoning a form of lovemaking which extends to the world of the dead perhaps speaks of Indigenous Mexican philosophies on death Death, like sex, is the ultimate shape changer.

Other Fugitives and Other Strangers, the second full volume of poems by González may be one of the most provocative books in terms of its sexual politics and its other politics of our decade long 21st Century. Divided into three parts and gathering poems published in nearly twenty different literary periodicals, this book removes the waxy seals of the most confidential of belles letres: an athletic and often racialized, same sex male love where rules of engagement are codified through a form of personal liberation won or retaken from the authorities--church, society, heteronorms, biological family, cultural tradition, labor and race segmentation.

In narrative form González measures and describes these authorities from the position of an apparent impotency converted into agency and without the positivistic romance normally associated with the so-called “uplift” framework of ascendant character development. Butterfly Boy: Memoir of a Chicano Mariposa depicts the fecundity of the author’s creative powers evident in his search for a just and accurate self-fulfillment. Already as a young adult and first-generation college student, he is committed to self-representation and determined to define himself in a manner pleasing and productive to his life as a writer. His ability to advance his literary efforts even in times of great personal turmoil such as after a violent episode with an older lover is one aspect of artistic courage as truth and power.

González’s creative and biographical trajectory posits a theory of the subject/artist/author as a focal point for self-definition through literature and its many resources for the imaginative, social, and public declaration of individual discipline, of writing as manifesto, and as no doubt a martyr or angel. Eventually, it would appear, the poet is willing to commune with the world of readers by becoming an object of potential scrutiny or curiosity for he speaks on behalf of intimacy, a place of submission and a place of surrender. In order to enter the position of object, González scales the walls of society by converting reality into an entryway to the self. Beginning with the most intimate of places, the poet questions the familial bond for it is the palimpsest of social organization: the poet’s origin is his first proscenium.

At home and within the domain of family life, his eloquence draws its boldness from an immersion in a lively Mexican vernacular language which he prizes yet which he also recognizes as the ironic lovely oral communication facilitated in especial ways by illiteracy. Many an isolation-inducing experience for the young writer occur in the autobiography: his impressive verbal and intellectual potential exists precariously in an environment of farmwork labor, poverty, and sensual, emotional, and aesthetic deprivation, as well as uneven gender norms and an implicit heternormativity. In the memoir, he is nothing less than the cherub to whom Ginsberg referred when the venerable late author of “Howl” spoke of those lost ones who emit angelic ravings. He is one of the would-be “best minds” of this generation. But he is not raving mad nor is he one of those lost or defeated ones ultimately. Love and erotic love save him. So it is that “Other Fugitives and Other Strangers” records this testament to love. Everywhere in these poems, the body of love radiates its presence in the proportions of a deity.

Edith Morris-Vasquez is a researcher, writer, and teacher. She publishes in several fields including poetry, women's studies, translation, and civil and worker's rights. While trained in the humanities, she specializes in teaching creative and research skills to students of all backgrounds. As an interdisciplinary scholar, her interests reach into the social sciences, art practice, and communication. She dedicates the poem, "To the Poets/ A los Poetas," to the literati who have always committed their verbal talents to the goal of bolstering society against incivility, racial animosity, and segregation. Que Vivan los Poetas Siempre!



On-Line FLoricanto: Poets Respond to Arizona Legislature's Spiritual Putrefaction

Selected poems for the July 6th issue of La Bloga:

1."A Ceremony for Reclaiming Language" and "Love Poem, After Arizona" by Qwo-Li Driskill
2. "A Perfect Rest" by Daniel Sosa
3. "One Earth, One Kind" by Ariana Hernández
4. "Diferente" by Flora Gamez Gratero
5. "In the shade of the shadows" Miguel Robles
6. "How Coyote Became Legal" (Narrative) by Vito Tribuzio
7. "Marcha en Phoenix (May 29, 2010)" por Luis Jiménez

******************************************
A CEREMONY FOR RECLAIMING LANGUAGE

especially for Casie Cobos and Gabriela Ríos

Qwo-Li Driskill


our homelands remember us
they raise themselves up
to mend our tongues
remove fingers of conquistadors and
governors from bruised necks

as you enter
into this ceremony
breathe phrases
like copal smoke
let syllables strengthen
your blood like nopales
wear words
around your throat
a gift of turquoise and gold

remember
we are here to become elders
and ancestors that teach
our children to
heal the world

as you enter into this ceremony
say a prayer
offer tobacco
remember each morning
we enter into spinning
light of a galaxy that
loves us

hidden words will sprout
in your dreams
like maíz opening
into the rich brown soil
of Anáhuac

as you enter into this ceremony
mourn for what was stolen
smuggle your tongue
across their imaginary border
and laugh
let this language suture
your heart

each word whispers
a story
through your lips
weaves a basket
that carries
a mending
world


A Perfect Rest

By Daniel Sosa

Phoenix surrounded
and a contraction of
faithful into the city
pumps out the blood of our movement
a march enriched with words and songs
flowing through streets
delivering energy

the next week a different city
a signal for the others of us
same movement inward
purposed to match our might
their beat supplying the breath
for chants and shouts
to inspire

listen closely
the heart beat of our struggle
this side works that side rests
this side rests that side works

across our land
our cause repeating
our strength going forward
healthy and strong

a rest in between
needed for an endless struggle
the rest at home with family and friends
love and encouragement
renewed for our next move

this rest
a perfect rest
for a worthy effort

we will never be stilled
with a heart that never stops.


ONE EARTH, ONE KIND

By Ariana Hernández


As I sore above, stare down below
Speckles, dots, of city lights glow
I only see a whole, an ongoing piece of land
Designed for the freedom of humanity
But divided by man
We are all human, a single living race
We don't own the land, mother nature loaned us this space
Everyone should fly to see my realization
You see no borders, no segregation
Or maybe, they should not try
They might just end up putting boundaries to my sky


I wrote this poem on my way to Mexico when I was on the plane. I started thinking about what the Mexican astronaut that recently went to space said and i felt inspired. They asked him how he felt once he was out in space and he said that from up there you dont see borders, you just see one earth. When I was on the plane, looking down made me see his realization.



DIFERENTE

By Flora Gamez Grateron


we enter the classroom
we are
a sprinkle of nut brown faces
open and expectant, awaiting
our turn and poised to learn

we are
glossy hair in similar shades of ebony
dark copper eyes, wide eyed,
sensitive as a doe’s

we are
filled with wonder and hope
dreams and expectations
capable fingers and hands

we are
Ramón, Luis, Jorge, Jaime, Topacio
Miguel, Yazmeen, Yarima

we are not invisible
our names not difficult to pronounce
can’t you at least try?

It’s Juliana – not Julie
It’s Ramón – not Raymond

we have an answer, too
why not call on us?
we think in two languages –
not just one

we listen in the first
respond in the second
double the effort
but it can be done

We are not just taking up space

we are real people
we can do everything
and in two languages – not one.



In the Shade of the Shadows

By Miguel Robles

He is always walking toward somewhere
shrouded in a veil of mystery
from the vapor of the shaman’s breath
creating the aura of a hero
shape-shifting him each moment
into rabbit duck wolf
spider and vulture

With a lean face
he walks erect
head held high
hands poised for any provocation

It is possible for him to hear the flutter of a wasp’s wings
the slightest sound might make him leap from a cliff
plunging in an overdose of adrenaline
the wall smashed in a single attack

He eats snakes
without a knife and fork
no tortilla
no chile

He sleeps on the grass
cactus bless him in passing
rocks in the path part for him
the eagles envy his advantageous view
how he can perceive paradise from so far away
the promised land

He is aware that the world is changing
so every moment he adapts
to a different climate
another language
habits
times

If he hears footsteps he sits in the shade of the shadows
to wait until night falls
when he can disappear on trails of oblivion

He has nothing to lose
but can’t waste time
he is in a hurry
needing to get there before the dream is depleted
by the anxiety of other anonymous beings
who have arrived before him
to swing in the hammock of illusion

************************************************

A la Sombra de las Sombras
Translated by the Poet Virginia Barrett.

Siempre va a hacia algún lugar
cubierto por un velo de misterio
por un vaho de chaman
que le produce un aura de héroe
que lo transforma a cada instante
en un conejo en pato en lobo
en una araña y un zopilote

De rostro enjuto
camina erguido
con la frente en alto
con las manos prestas a la menor provocación

A gran distancia podría escuchar el aleteo de una avispa
el menor sonido
lo haría saltar al precipicio
caer en una sobredosis de adrenalina
romper un muro de una acometida

Come serpientes
sin cubiertos
sin tortilla
sin chile

Duerme en el pasto
los cactus lo bendicen al pasar
los piedras del camino le abren paso
los águilas envidian su vista privilegiada
que a leguas puede distinguir el paraíso
la tierra prometida

Intuye que el mundo está cambiando
y a cada instante se adapta
a un clima diferente
otras lenguas
costumbres
tiempos

Si escucha pasos se sienta a la sombra de las sombras
a esperar a que la noche caiga
y le permita desaparecer por los caminos del olvido

No tiene nada que perder
pero no puede perder el tiempo
anda de prisa
tiene que llegar antes de que el sueño sea agotado
por la ansiedad de otros entes anónimos
que llegaron antes que él
a mecerse en la hamaca de la ilusión

How Coyote Became Legal

by Vito Tribuzio

Doña Juana Ines Coyote rubbed her belly as she served supper, arroz salvaje y caldo de pollo she’d made with the necks, feet and backs her husband wrestled from Don Hawk Falcone de Halcón, and with a smile she reminded Don Coyote about the promises he’d made when he proposed: “I will shower you with fresh whole chickens day and night.”

But that was before the oil spill, when everybody was eating more pescado and less meat. With no decent mariscos to be found, bony chicken parts had become Sunday dinner; that is, if, and only if, one could afford to be that extravagant.

Now Coyote could no longer eat; he lost his appetite knowing that he had been partly responsible for his preciosa esposa’s misery. Juana never warmed up to Aguas Calientes, disliked Jalisco because of the scorpions, and had been having a hard time communicating with some of the locals, even though she could howl in Spanish very well. No, Mexico was not for her, as she missed the brick casita her padres owned in the North Country prior to being deported, and she had always been wishing her marido would come through with what he promised, that he would one day take her back to the Land of Illini, also known as the Land of Slaughter, now known as the Land of Lincoln.

He remembered a story his father told him, something about treaties that pushed his kind southward when foreign animals came and began to pee on everything they wanted to own. Yes, he remembered hearing that north of the border the streets were paved with chickens—I mean, we’re talking about real chickens, big chickens—with the fattest ones being on Wall Street.

“But…but…how do I cross the border?” Don Coyote asked himself, and himself replied: “Very carefully, because the pinche BP Agents will shoot at anything that moves, even at the water that trickles in the Rio Grande.”

Thus Don Coyote sallied forth, strutting across the Desert of Big Sound with nothing to alleviate his hunger and quench his thirst but some peyote he had found along the way. “If only I had brought some romero and Adobo,” Don Coyote mused as he bit into the peyote, “this crap would taste like pollo.” He sighed and sang “curu-cucu-cucu, paloma!” envisioning a fat dove alighting within snatching distance, but the Sonora Spirit told him not to eat it because one should not eat an omen of peace. Thus, Don Coyote was denied even the pleasure of virtual eating-ayy!

A day later, as Don Coyote loped along, singing “Volver, Volver” with all the lamento of a just-castrated mariachi, he heard “Manos en alto! Where you think you’re going, perro maldito? Got papers?”

“I don’t have any papers,” Don Coyote explained, “I didn’t have time to wait around for papers. My expecting wife is hungry and I need to get to Wall Street ahora mismo so that I can earn some chicken for pup-support when she gives birth.”

“Okay,” said one of the guards, “then shows us the oil!”

“Oil?” Don Coyote puzzled.

“Yes,” replied the guard, “dinero to grease your way in. If you have no money, a couple of kilos of good quality cha-chun-sha will do—that’s the way we do things around here.”

“I’m not a drug dealer,” said Don Coyote, “and anyway, I think all animals on the continent should be able to cross borders with a simple document identifying them as North American nationals, of any nation on the continent, I should add.”

“Shee-it, dog!” said one of the guards, “I like the jive the ol’ dog’s talkin’—pretty good idea. You should write to the White House—yessur.”

“But as things stand now,” said the other guard, a man with blond hair and blue eyes, “we can’t let you in—sorry—strict orders from Doña Diabla of Arizona. Now git, before my pistola goes off accidentally.”

So, Don Coyote went back home and wrote a letter, addressing it to the Casa Blanca. A week later he received a reply informing him that the film studio that made Casablanca was no longer functional. Feeling frustrated, he went back to the desert, to intentionally feed on peyote this time—ayy! There he met Red Fox Volpe Rossa de Zorro who told him everything he knew about American red tape, catch-22, Big Oil, Big Tobacco, big hijos de putas—ayy!

But Don Coyote’s eyes lit up when Don Eagle Aquila de Águila came around with a fly-by message: “Something should be done about that oil spill.”

For days, everybody wondered why Don Coyote had been going to and from the seashore, carrying oily sludge and any crude he found, dumping it in a hole he had dug in his backyard. Soon the media showed up and they reported that crude was bubbling in Don Coyote’s backyard—ayy! Before Don Coyote could say “ayy!” again, a bunch of people showed up, offering him multimillion chicken contracts to extract the non-existing crude.

But, as the saying goes, those who find a treasure also find many new friends. Soon, Don Coyote was given the key to many cities by many good mayors; and, a Hollywood studio offered him a part in a movie, and, Salma Hayek became good friends with the Coyotes and officiated as madrina of their pups—ayy-ayy-ayy, Salma!! Then Don Coyote learned that his new friends in Washington, DC were interested in hearing his idea concerning the Immigration Law, the Dream Act, and many other whatnots and etceteras. Furthermore, Big Oil forgave him for the hoax he had pulled, claiming that this is the way we do things in America, and made him an honorary Washington lobbyist.

“Speech, speech!” White House guests demanded. Don Coyote obliged and the crowd cheered. Many moved from left to right and from right to left, some nodded in agreement, others nodded to sleep—ayy! Midway through his speech, all eyes turned to a giant TV screen: “Breaking news: a mushroom cloud is rising over Arizona—seems Doña Diabla’s head has finally exploded.” Ayy!!!



Marcha en Phoenix (May 29, 2010)

Luis Jiménez


La televisión parpadea las imágenes

Es nuestra voz que serpentea por las calles,
sin importarle el peso cobrizo del sol,
sin limitarse al sabor oficial del inglés
y ni siquiera al rojo del español.
que se viste con el resplandor de mil banderas,
y el sueño asueto donde no caben fronteras.

Es el eco que viene clamando la frustración con la que vivimos,
de no entender como sus vecinos,
optaron por esa realidad inventada,
donde el odio nos culpa de haber robado un ayer que nunca existió,
y pretende un presente que no tiene nada que ver con éste.

Lo que nos tomó meses,
Las cámaras apenas le dedicaron segundos.
Y si ahora entiendes menos que antes,
No tienes con que culparnos a nosotros,
Que antes que nada yo te dijera
que es dificil cuando te ufanas
de llevar tu ignorancia como trinchera.




BIOS

1."A Ceremony for Reclaiming Language" and "Love Poem, After Arizona" by Qwo-Li DriskillQwo-Li Driskill is a Cherokee Two-Spirit writer/activist/performer/educator and the author of Walking with Ghosts: Poems (Salt Publishing). Qwo-Li is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Texas A&M University. dragonflyrising.com


2. "A Perfect Rest" by Daniel SosaDaniel Sosa
Married to Lorilita Sosa
Father of two daughters
Grandfather of three grandchildren
Active 36 year telecommunications field technician
Resident of Long Beach,Ca



3. "One Earth, One Kind" by Ariana Hernández
Ariana Hernandez is a young adult form the Bay Area. Not only is she a first generation United States citizen, but a first generation college student as well. Ariana has written poetry for recreation since her sophomore year in high school. The inspiration for this poem came from the reply that Jose Hernandez, the first Mexican astronaut, gave after he was asked about his feeling while being in space. He said that looking down on the earth, you see no borders, just one earth. As Ariana was on a plane to Mexico, she realized his observation was true. She is currently a second year at the University of California Davis and is majoring in Chicano Studies with a cultural emphasis. Along with several peers, Ariana is working on starting an organization called A.C.T.O.S., Ayudando Comunidades Trayendo Oportunidades y Servicios. With this organization, they plan to perform several community projects, focusing on brining empowerment to the Latino community in the areas surrounding Davis, Ca.

4. "Diferente" by Flora Gamez Gratero
Flora Gamez Grateron is an English/Language Arts educator for the Sunnyside Unified School District in Tucson, Arizona. She has a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona. Flora is a member of Community Stories and works with a mostly Hispanic population of students who create and narrate digital stories on the history, culture, and identity of community members. She belongs to the Sowing the Seeds writers group who is currently working on an anthology by women writers. Her poems have been published in the Blue Guitar Magazine of the Arizona Consortium for the Arts. Born in Texas, Arizona has now become home. Contact her at floragrateron@comcast.net

5. "In the shade of the shadows" Miguel RoblesBorn and raised in Mexico City, he studied art history, silversmithing, and creative writing in the city of Morelia in the state of Michoacán. Since a young age he has worked a wide range of jobs including bookseller, factory worker on the Mexican/U.S. border, and public transportation bus dispatcher. Artisan, poet, and activist, he has lived in diverse environments, residing in San Francisco since 2002.

You can order his collection, "At 24th and Mission" here.

Nació y creció en la Ciudad de México, estudio historia del arte, orfebrería y creación literaria en Morelia Michoacán. Desde muy joven trabajo en los mas variados oficios, desde vender libros de ciencias políticas y literatura, hasta trabajar en maquiladoras de la frontera México/EEUU, y despachar
autobuses de transporte publico. Habiendo vivido en los ambientes y lugares mas disímiles. Artesano, poeta y activista, desde 2002, radica en San Francisco, California.


6. "How Coyote Became Legal" (Narrative) by Vito Tribuzio
Construction worker, storyteller, poet, humor columnist, Vito Tribuzio is an Italian emigrant who was brought to the US by his Argentine-Italian parents when he was sixteen. His works have appeared in e-zines, local literary magazines, school publications and bimonthly newspapers, often under the pseudonym Vincenzo del Silenzio. He presently lives near family and friends in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

7. "Marcha en Phoenix (May 29, 2010)" por Luis Jiménez

Luis is a visiting professor of Political Science at Mount Holyoke. He received a BA and MA from the University of Arizona. He grew up just northwest of Phoenix.

Los Muertos

A short story by Daniel Olivas

The afterlife really began to annoy Belén. True, there were great benefits to take pleasure in such as victory over pain and hunger and fatigue. And she could puff away on her fat, hand-rolled cigarettes without fear of cancer. Visiting with her husband Celso and others was not so bad, either. Here, there were no hurt feelings if you didn’t want to be in the company of others. Everyone understood. The transgressions from life on earth also were forgiven. And there was, of course, the great revelation of finally being able to see the face of God—after a lifetime of wondering. But what annoyed Belén was the fact that she still had plenty of free will. Too much, truth be told. She could stay in heaven or wander back down to earth and observe the living, visit them while they slumbered, assert herself in night visions. Belén knew before she died that spirits liked to stay involved in this way. She’d seen her own late mother, Mónica, once or twice in dreams. One day, after much thought, Belén confronted God about all this.

"Why,” she asked, “can’t I simply stay here and enjoy eternal peace with Celso and the rest of my dead family and friends?”

“You may certainly do that,” answered God. “I’m not stopping you.”

“But I feel compelled to come back to earth from time to time to assist my children,” Belén continued as she puffed on her fat cigarette. She blew magnificent, perfect smoke rings that impressed God mightily.

“You may do what you want, my daughter,” said God in a patient, loving voice.

Belén noticed that God was both handsome and beautiful at the same time with a countenance that shimmered and undulated and filled her with warmth. God’s good looks were distracting. She had to concentrate to stay on point.

“But you know as well as I that if given the choice, I will interfere with the living,” said Belén as she puffed more rapidly on her cigarette.

“And your point is?”

Belén marveled at how God could answer like that without sounding one bit snotty. But God could do anything, of course. After a tad more discussion, Belén realized that God wouldn’t budge on the rules. She threw her hands up in exasperation. God laughed. Belén cherished God’s laugh. In fact, it was one of the best things about the afterlife.

“I love you more than you could ever know,” said God.

Seeing that God prepared to leave, Belén said: “Please don’t go.”

“So much to do!” exclaimed God before disappearing.

Belén shrugged. She should have known better than to waste her time trying to argue with God. But since time no longer meant anything, it really didn’t matter. Belén looked down to earth. Her children were more or less sleeping. She squinted. Who was that? Oh, yes. Max Klein. Belén liked his looks and knew that he generally had a good heart. And she’d met his late wife, Ruth, who was the life of the party and quite an intellectual, a philosopher even. In fact, just the other day, they had a very nice chat about the many faces of evil. Belén squinted: there was Max, fast asleep on his couch, dreaming of…of…Julieta! One of Belén’s daughters! Shame, shame, shame!

“She’s married, you!” Belén yelled and as she shoot her fist at Max.

Belén took a deep breath to compose herself. After a few moments, she sighed and came down into Max’s dream. She puffed on her cigarette and tried to think. What should I tell this nice, confused old man? Should I scare him witless? She turned to Max who, in his dream, stared into Julieta’s eyes. My, this man loves her, doesn’t he? Belén thought. This is going to be rough going. She pondered her options for a moment.

“What should I say to him?” Belén said. “How can I stop this?”

The profound silence was God’s response.

[“Los Muertos” first appeared in the Homeboy Review (Issue #2, 2010) and is from Daniel’s forthcoming novel, The Book of Want (University of Arizona Press, 2011). To purchase copies of the Homeboy Review, visit here. Photo credit: Benjamin Formaker-Olivas.]

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

Olga García Echeverría

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

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

Do These Shoes Make Me Look Illegal?

Poetic Chanclazos By:

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

Slide Show of Arizona's National Day of Action:

Claudia Rosas

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

& Other Ghetto Goodies

July 17th, 2010
7-9 PM

UCLA Labor Center
675 S Park View St

Los Angeles CA 90057-3306

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

All proceeds go to

Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca's Family

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

About the participating artists:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It didn't start in AZ & of course it's about race

[The following post comes courtesy of Frontera NorteSur, 6/30/10]

As the immigration issue continues heating up and shaping US politics in the summer of 2010, New Mexico State University will once again play a role in the debate. Sponsored by the school’s International Relations Institute and Center for Latin American and Border Studies, a summer institute on immigration will take place on the Las Cruces campus during the month of July. The scheduled events include lectures, films, student presentations and sessions designed to come up with working solutions to an issue central to North America's future.

The kick-off event will happen at 7 pm on Tuesday, July 6, at New Mexico State's Anderson Hall Auditorium. Addressing a timely issue, Arizona scholar Roxanne Doty, associate professor at Arizona State University, will deliver a public lecture titled “It Didn’t Start in Arizona and Of Course it’s About Race.” The author of a book on state laws related to immigration, Dr. Doty will examine Arizona’s SB 1070 controversy within the context of similar legislation sweeping the United States.

On Wednesday, July 7, the Institute will offer a public discussion on immigration and border policies from a comparative perspective, analyzing the experiences of Europe as well as the US-Mexico border. Once again scheduled for the Anderson Hall Auditorium at 7 pm, the event will feature Dr. Carlos Gonzalez Herrera, founding director of El Colegio de Chihuahua; Emily Carey, Regional Center for Border Rights, American Civil Liberties Union; and Dr. Luis Alfonso Herrera Robles of the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez.

The series will culminate with three sessions on different aspects of immigration policy and reform including legalization, law enforcement and due process and future flows and root causes of migration. Scheduled to run from July 12 to 14, all the concluding events will being at 6 pm at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum. The facilitators will include NMSU professors Neil Harvey and Alison Newby and Sarah Nolan of Comunidades de Accion y Fe.

In addition to dissecting the sociological, political and economic forces defining one of today’s most important public policy debates, the Las Cruces gathering promises up-to-date information on legislative proposals for addressing the US immigration crisis.

“We will particularly focus on the legalization of the currently undocumented, the impacts of border and interior enforcement, and policies that address future flows and the root causes of migration,” event organizers said. “Our goal is to increase our own understanding of this important issue and contribute to the national debate in ways that promote the human rights and dignity of all people.”

For a complete list of events or more information, please e-mail Roberta Gran of the International Relations Institute: rgran AT nmsu.edu.

Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University Las Cruces, New Mexico

For a free electronic subscription to receive weekly updated information on news affecting the Border, email: fnsnews AT nmsu.edu

Rigoberto Gonzalez Review Latino Sci-Fi

Mil gracias to fellow bloguera Dan Olivas for giving me the head's up on Rigoberto Gonzalez's recent review of Lunar Braceros: 2125-2148; a rare Latino Sci-Fi novel. Also, muchicimas gracias to Rigoberto for allowing us to post it. Enjoy!

Review by Rigoberto Gonzalez

Though science fiction plays an integral role in American letters, few Latino writers have ventured into the field. That makes "Lunar Braceros 2125-2148" by Rosaura Sánchez and Beatrice Pita (Calaca Press, $15 paperback) a bit of a rarity. But it must also be celebrated as an excellent example of political critique.

The year is 2148, the tricentennial of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, though this anniversary no longer holds much relevance. In the age of the New Imperial Order, global economic powers have remapped the Americas into nation-states. The history of this "new political re-alignment" is presented to 18-year-old Pedro in the form of "nanotexts with lunar posts, lessons, bits and pieces of conversations, and notations" in an effort by his mother, Lydia, to help him understand the world he was born into.

Pedro learns about the creation of Cali-Texas and its 20th-century roots to a proud Chicano people. But hard times crippled the nation-state, prompting a tough solution: It rounded up the unemployed and homeless into reservations, "a type of population control camp mechanism."

And when Cali-Texas expanded to include parts of Canada and Mexico, becoming a Latino-identified nation-state, the exploitation of the work force intensified. The reservations became no less than prisons supplying cheap labor to any enterprise seeking a part of Earth's dwindling natural resources.

With advances in space travel came a need for moon-based miners and technicians (called "tecos"). That launched a lunar bracero program that included Pedro's mother, a gifted teco who could "code, decode, and recode any computer language." But what began as a promising prospect - for the tecos to make enough money to move their families out of the reservations - soon turns into threat of extermination, as details emerge about the fates of the first generation of braceros who reached the moon and never returned to Earth.

Pedro's mother, and the rest of the tecos, stage an escape from the moon to become part of an insurrection. Pedro reaches the end of the nanotexts with no clear answers about their fate, but it is clear that the purpose of the history has been consciousness-raising. After absorbing the dispatches, Pedro grows up and is ready to join the revolution.

Sánchez and Pita have constructed an inventive and prophetic allegory about the troubles that await an economy that cannot sustain a capitalist model without abuses to its beleaguered land and population.

There is no guesswork, however, in the knowledge that the downtrodden will rise up and resist - that's a lesson from the past.

"Lunar Braceros 2125-2148," a unique and timely addition to Chicano letters, is full of points to ponder, many coming from Lydia, the wise Latina of the future: "There is this need for freedom that never leaves you. It can become more important even than survival."

Rigoberto González is an award-winning writer living in New York City. His website is www.rigobertogonzalez.com, and he may be reached at Rigoberto70@aol.com.