Dénouement to Negative Pedo. On-Line Floricanto Penultimate Tuesday

Next Steps As Movimiento Photogs Recover Negatives

Michael Sedano


After forty years, it all boils down to a massive misunderstanding. 

“Ask me next month” one photographer replies when I ask if he’s satisfied, now that the negatives and other materials reside in Joe Razo’s office, seventeen cartons of three-ring binders. 

Negative strips in binder sleeves.

The suddenness of events has caught everyone by surprise, the full impact is still sinking in. There’s a ton of work ahead and an immediate critical decision.

Last week, La Bloga reported on the sequestration of photo archives of movimiento newspaper La Raza Newspaper and Magazine. The issue had burned quietly over the forty years since the magazine folded, leaving the archive in possession of the final editor, Raúl Ruiz.

Over time, photographers sought access to their negatives but Ruiz denied access. Once, the photographers were twenty-somethings, the editors in their thirties. Today, those photographers are retired and taking store of a life’s work. In all this time none have seen their youthful images except in memories.

Ruiz' best expression of regret and apology for the years of discord over the negatives is seen in his swift delivery of all the materials. He was wrong, Ruiz acknowledges that. Ruiz includes his own negative files, including those he took during the police riot of August 29, 1970. 

I asked one photographer who had inspected his negatives, if there were images he remembered, that he looked forward to seeing again. “Oh yeah.” The two words burned with the warmth of never-forgotten moments of perfection, like remembering an old novia. “Oh yeah,” he says again.

When Luis C. Garza wrote the Open Letter on the subject and LatinoLA published it Saturday November 10, Ruiz realized his error and quickly recanted.

On Tuesday morning November 13, Ruiz delivered seventeen cartons to former editor Joe Razo’s chante. Garza and Razo estimate they will have 30,000 images once they recover the complete archive. The negatives are sleeved in individual strips and kept in binders. Many of the pages include proof sheets. This means there's an excellent chance the negs have not deteriorated.

Through the years and various relocations, Ruiz kept the archive—which includes editorial material--largely intact. Ruiz promises he’ll find some missing elements, for example, most of editor-photographer Razo’s files are not in the notebooks. 

Properly processed and stored negatives have a long shelf life, especially when professionally organized like the 17 boxes of notebooks. Sadly, indexing was not a disciplined occupation of the newspaper. There’s a ton of work to be done now, identifying the photographer, the date and location of 30,000 frames.

Razo and Garza identify key issues the photographers will decide collectively. The most critical decision, and the one the photographers will address first, is keeping the collection together. What if individual photographers want theirs back? It’s likely they all share a commitment to finding an institution to receive the archive and make the images publically accessible. Photographer and USC professor Felix Gutíerrez can make the conecta with USC’s Digital Library.

UCLA, UCSB, Cal State Northridge, the University of Southern California would make suitable repositories. I recommended the collective favorably consider USC’s Digital Library. I donated my own negatives of the 1973 Festival de Flor y Canto to USC, and know the gente well.

With USC’s extensive collection of Southern California historical images, La Raza Newspaper and Magazine archive makes a good fit. For example, the library is digitizing the files of the LA Herald-Examiner. 

Felix Gutíerrez shares last foto of Ruben Salazar
 with Boekmann Center librarian Barbara Robinson.

The library’s Boekmann Center Collection features an expanding catalog of historic Chicanada materials. 

In addition to the digitized videos from 1973’s Festival de Flor y Canto that launched the floricanto movement, the Boekmann Center Collection is the repository for Ruben Salazar’s personal papers, including the last known foto of Salazar alive, an FBI surveillance shot of the journalist trailing the marchers along Whittier Blvd.

The photographers met last week to launch discussions on the collection’s fate. Scholars who have a pressing need to see the archive can contact Joe Razo. Razo describes his caretaker role of the negatives “completely transparent,” indicating Razo’s commitment to returning these images to history, as well as the photographers.

Massive work and key decision lies ahead.

Technology allows photographers to have their negatives and share them too. I had a hundred or so frames that I digitized myself. I keep possession of my negatives while USC displays the images themselves on its Digital Library. In theory, any library in the world wanting “original” copies of photographic images need only acquire the scanned file and store it on local servers. If someone wants to own a museum quality print of an image, or use a frame in a textbook or documentary, there’s a link to create that opportunity. The photographer doesn’t lose control of one’s own work.

Digitizing is costly. Hardware is cheap; it’s the labor to feed the machine that costs. Non-stop scanning, 35,000 images at a minute per six-frame strip will require almost 500 hours. At $10.00 an hour for one work-study student, that’s $5000 the library must come up with, just to start thinking about acquiring the donation of the archive.

Every frame requires coding. Not just a dewey decimal number or other catalog locator, but libraries keep, inside the files, hundreds of characters of data about every item. That data needs to be verified then keyboarded. Some of this work requires an information professional’s skill. Add another ten grand to the budget and now we’re up to $15,000.

Library administrators don’t budget for such fall-in-your-lap windfalls like 35,000 important historical photographic negatives. Where does a Dean find a source of fifteen thousand dollars to spend on safeguarding the value of La Raza newspaper and magazine’s archive?

This photographic collection is the only one in existence of some of the most important events of recent U.S. history. The images can flesh out, or be the subject, of dozens of dissertations. For a University, such treasures help attract leading scholars, and donors.

USC has a President’s Office and a leader with a long list of friends and a vision for the University. La Bloga calls on President Max Nikias to prioritize USC’s acquisition of this precious resource. Can a president turn a magical money tap and produce fifteen grand just like that?

Problems like that are why universities have presidents. Solutions go with the job.

But first things first. The photographers will decide what to do with the collection. Keep it whole, or break it apart. That’s unlikely, but a possibility. 

In the meantime, the process of making a database of those seventeen cases of negative strips occupies the available energies of the collective, but mostly Joe Razo. Razo's offered access to any academic with a professional interest in the archive. Who knows if academia will beat a path to Joe Razo's door? 



La Bloga On-Line Floricanto, Penultimate Tuesday of November 2012
Odilia Galván Rodríguez, Elena Díaz Bjorkquist, Avotcja, Ana Chig, Alma Luz Villanueva


"Motherland", by Odilia Galván Rodríguez
"Calling Forth the Seeds of Winter", by Elena Díaz Bjorkquist
"Are We Even Listening?", by Avotcja
"INSANIA", por Ana Chig
"Happy", by Alma Luz Villanueva



Motherland
Odilia Galván Rodríguez

far from artificial borders that birthed us
our long toothed roots remain tethered here
to earth red with ancient ancestor's blood
that bloomed future, their generations spread across
these great nations, which was always motherland
long before strangers came, named us foreign
we remain forever citizens of Turtle Island



Calling Forth the Seeds of Winter
Elena Díaz Bjorkquist

Dedicated to my Comadres of Sowing the
Seeds who endured the cold outside on
the porch at our last meeting!

In cold truth, Summer ends,
Seeds prepare to rest.
Something about that cold.
Things come out of it,
Settle in our writer’s heart.

Sun vanishes, temperature drops,
We endure head-clearing cold,
Recall, recognize, honor
The seeds of our wisdom’s harvest.

Winter winds like sacred voices
Call forth abundance,
A time to resurrect
Our natural creativity,
A joy for all.

Time to remember the gifts
From loved ones who’ve gone on.
Time to select seeds of wise actions
To plant for future harvest.

Cold and heat,
Summer and winter,
Seed time and harvest time,
Suggest a definite time of harvest.

But there's no fixed time for harvest,
We can call it forth at will.
The harvest is clear—memories
Reveal the lessons of what's passed.

We become aware,
Accept the creative power of now,
Conceptualize, visualize, energize
A world of beauty, good relationships.

The heart of awareness,
Is the dance of arising worlds,
Soul seeds planted in winter.



Are We Even Listening?
Avotcja

Mother Nature is crying
And as I drink her tears
I ask myself
What can I do to make her smile?



INSANIA
por Ana Chig

Un compás de nieblas nocturnas detenidas en el verde oscuro
Migas de astenia repartidas a los pájaros en la escisión inaprensible de las almas
La ventosa urbana, el cementerio de nubes grises y silenciosas

Todos reunidos ésta noche a contratiempo
Con la médula de cartón humedecida
Orgánica la palabra, luciérnaga el deseo, articulados los sueños,
y un vacío tintineando inquieto en los bolsillos.



Happy
Alma Luz Villanueva

Flowers in fountains,
scented lilies, roses,
beauty, trees, grasses
fed by springs, greeted

"Hola, la agua es muy
rica," this water
always heals me, the
unguarded smiles, laughter,

until the tourists
arrive, smiles but now
polite, butterflies float
in warm November air,

the scented lilies soothe
me, a black crow
struts, a kitten plays with
her mother, as I

eat chicken
fajitas for
breakfast, cold
cerveza with

limes, a pitcher
of coffee, Spanish
cradling my ears,
I'm happy.


BIOS

"Motherland", by Odilia Galván Rodríguez
"Calling Forth the Seeds of Winter", by Elena Díaz Bjorkquist
"Are We Even Listening?", by Avotcja
"INSANIA", por Ana Chig
"Happy", by Alma Luz Villanueva

Odilia Galván Rodríguez, poet/activist, writer and editor, has been involved in social justice organizing and helping people find their creative and spiritual voice for over two decades. Odilia is one of the original members and a moderator, of Poets Responding to SB 1070 on Facebook. She teaches creative writing workshops nationally, currently at Casa Latina, and also co-hosts, "Poetry Express" a weekly
open mike with featured poets, in Berkeley, CA. For more information about workshops see her blog http://xhiuayotl.blogspot.com/ or contact her through Red Earth Productions & Cultural Work 510-343-3693.

Elena Díaz Björkquist, third from right.

“Sowing the Seeds, my woman writers collective has been active in Tucson for 12 years. Each November, we meet at my home to celebrate el Día de los Muertos and for an arts and crafts workshop. This year we decided to invite Doña Rosa from Albuquerque to do a Medicinal Herbs Workshop for us. The workshop was held on my portal. It was a beautiful sunny day that was supposed to warm up, but instead it got colder! I wrote this poem for my freezing Comadres.”

A writer, historian, and artist from Tucson, Elena writes about Morenci, Arizona where she was born. She is the author of two books, Suffer Smoke and Water from the Moon. Elena is co-editor of Sowing the Seeds, una cosecha de recuerdos and Our Spirit, Our Reality; our life experiences in stories and poems, anthologies written by her writers collective Sowing the Seeds.

As an Arizona Humanities Council (AHC) Scholar, Elena has performed as Teresa Urrea in a Chautauqua living history presentation and done presentations about Morenci, Arizona for twelve years. She recently received the 2012 Arizona Commission on the Arts Bill Desmond Writing Award for excelling nonfiction writing and the 2012 Arizona Humanities Council Dan Schilling Public Humanities Scholar Award in recognition of her work to enhance public awareness and understanding of the role that the humanities play in transforming lives and strengthening communities.

Elena is one of the poet moderators for the Facebook page “Poets Responding to SB1070” and has written many poems published not only on that page, but also on La Bloga. She was recently nominated for Poet Laureate of Tucson. Her website is at http://elenadiazbjorkquist.com/.

Avotcja (pronounced Avacha) is a card carrying New York born Music fanatic/sound junkie & popular Bay Area Radio DeeJay & member of the award winning group Avotcja & Modúpue. She’s a lifelong Musician/Writer/Educator/Storyteller & is on a shamelessly Spirit-driven melodic mission to heal herself. Avotcja talks to the Trees & listens to the Wind against the concrete & when they answer it usually winds up in a Poem or Short Story.
Website: www.Avotcja.org
Email: LaVerdadMusical@yahoo.com

Alma Luz Villanueva was raised in the Mission District, San Francisco, by her Yaqui grandmother, Jesus Villanueva- she was a curandera/healer from Sonora, Mexico. Without Jesus no poetry, no stories, no memory...

Author of eight books of poetry, most recently, Soft Chaos (2009). A few poetry anthologies: The Best American Poetry, 1996, Unsettling America, A Century of Women's Poetry, Prayers For A Thousand Years, Inspiration from Leaders & Visionaries Around The World. Three novels: The Ultraviolet Sky, Naked Ladies, Luna's California Poppies, and the short story collection, Weeping Woman, La Llorona and Other Stories. Villanueva's  fourth novel, SCORPION HUNTER, and new book of poetry, GRACIAS, are to be published in 2013. Fiction anthologies include: 500 Great Books by Women, From The Thirteenth Century; Caliente, The Best Erotic Writing From Latin America; Coming of Age in The 21st Century; Sudden Fiction Latino. Her poetry and fiction has been published in textbooks from grammar to university, and is used in the US and abroad as textbooks. Alma Luz Villanueva has taught in the MFA in creative writing program at Antioch University, Los Angeles, for the past fourteen years. She is the mother of four, wonderful, grown human beings.

Alma Luz Villanueva now lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, for the past eight years, traveling the ancient trade routes to return to teach, and visit family and friends, QUE VIVA!! And taking trips throughout Mexico, working on a novel in progress, always the poetry, memory.
www.almaluzvillanueva.com

¡Announcing the first annual Brown Friday holiday shopping guide!

From Wikipedia: “Black Friday is the name given to the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.  On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 am, or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales in many Commonwealth Nations.”

From La Bloga (today): “Brown Friday is the name given to the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.  On this day, most lovers of Latino literature will find that perfect book that will make a great gift during this holiday season.”

As we see news reports of people bundled up in long lines waiting to grab the best price on flat screen TVs (bring your pepper spray!), why not give the gift of literature by finding that perfect book written by one of the many talented Latino authors who populate this great place we call earth?  And while you’re at it, do you know of a Latino-owned bookstore in your city that carries such potential holiday gifts?

So, to kick off this first annual Brown Friday, here are a few titles from 2012 that would make good stocking stuffers.  And I encourage readers of La Bloga to add other titles in the comments below.  Also, if you have a great Latino-owned bookstore to recommend, please do so.  Here in Los Angeles, I recommend Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural located at 13197-A Gladstone Ave., Sylmar, CA 91342.

Remember, this list is not meant to be exhaustive…it’s just a good start.

Western Avenue and Other Fictions (University of Arizona Press) by Fred Arroyo.  From the publisher: “In these engaging and often gripping short stories, Fred Arroyo takes us into the lives of working-class Hispanic migrants and immigrants, who are often invisible while they work in plain sight across America.  As characters intertwine and evolve across stories, Arroyo creates a larger narrative that dramatizes the choices we make to create identity, make meaning, and deal with hardships and loss.  His stories are linked by a concern with borders, both real and imagined, and the power that memory and imagination have to shape and structure our lives.”

Conjuro (Mammoth Publications) by Xánath Caraza.  From the publisher: “Xánath Caraza's first book-length collection Conjuro (Spellbound)… is published by Mammoth Publications, a Native-owned literary press.  In this tri-lingual text, Caraza combines Spanish, English, and Nahuatl (language of the Aztecs) to create a continuous spell of verse.  Caraza's writing derives from her awareness of Indigenous thought: words are tangible objects, not abstractions, and capable of influencing physical reality's web of interactions.”

Breathing, In Dust (Texas Tech University Press) by Tim Z. Hernandez.  From the publisher: “Deep within California’s golden agricultural heartland lies a rotten core: the fictional farming community of Catela, where the desperate realities of poverty, drug abuse, violence, and bigotry play out in the lives of cucarachas and coyotes, tweekers and strippers, wetbacks and white trash…. Tim Z. Hernandez’s land of pain and plenty, his Catela, evokes the essence of the migrant underclass experience.  But more, his stories take us there, into the streets and into the groves, into the back rooms of the carnicerias and the panaderias, onto the tracks, onto the thirsty highways, in scenes that unfold with graphic, breathtaking honesty.”

Performing the US Latina and Latino Borderlands (Indiana University Press) edited by Arturo J. Aldama, Chela Sandoval and Peter J. García.  From the publisher: “In this interdisciplinary volume, contributors analyze the expression of Latina/o cultural identity through performance.  With music theater, dance, visual arts, body art, spoken word, performance activism, fashion, and street theater as points of entry, contributors discuss cultural practices and the fashioning of identity in Latino/a communities throughout the US.  Examining the areas of crossover between Latin and American cultures gives new meaning to the notion of ‘borderlands.’  This volume features senior scholars and up-and-coming academics from cultural, visual, and performance studies, folklore, and ethnomusicology.”

Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America (Scribner) by Gustavo Arellano.  From the publisher: “The nationally syndicated columnist and bestselling author of ¡Ask a Mexican! presents a fascinating and tasty trip through the history and culture of Mexican food in this country, uncovering great stories and charting the cuisine’s tremendous popularity in el Norte.”

The Dreamer (Scholastic) by Pam Muñoz Ryan and illustrated by Peter Sís.  From the publisher: “From the time he is a young boy, Neftalí hears the call of a mysterious voice.  Even when the neighborhood children taunt him, and when his harsh, authoritarian father ridicules him, and when he doubts himself, Neftalí knows he cannot ignore the call.  Under the canopy of the lush rain forest, into the fearsome sea, and through the persistent Chilean rain, he listens and he follows…. Combining elements of magical realism with biography, poetry, literary fiction, and sensorial, transporting illustrations, Pam Muñoz Ryan and Peter Sís take readers on a rare journey of the heart and imagination.”

Books and Food: Familia, Amistad & Thanksgiving Without the Sugar Highs

by Amelia M.L. Montes (ameliamontes.com)

Felíz Dia de Acción de Gracias or simply Dia de Agradecimiento this Thursday!  Here are two bilingual children’s books that work well reading out loud con familia on Thanksgiving.  Even if your familia does not include anyone under 10, I find these books fun and lovely to read during this time—especially if you’re wanting to practice tu Español! 

Gracias * Thanks by Pat Mora and illustrated by John Parra.  Mora illustrates a little boy’s gratefulness in beautiful poetry. 

Celebra el Dia de Acción de Gracias con Beto y Gaby by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy.  Illustrations by Claudia Rueda.

A snowstorm is approaching preventing relatives from coming to Beto y Gaby’s house.  The snowstorm, however, brings other unexpected guests:  elder friends who are stranded.  The celebration becomes a gathering of an alternate familia. 

This coming week I’m getting together con mi familia and, as always, everyone has a dish to prepare. All of us are watching the carbohydrate (sugar) content in the foods we eat at the same time that we are committed to enjoying delicious dishes.  So how do you do that on a day like Thanksgiving? 

There are many low carbohydrate recipes on-line and there are also a number of low carbohydrate cookbooks offered.  Instead of giving you a listing, I’m going to tell you about a few dishes I’ll be bringing to the table.  I find that food is much more delicious now on a low carbohydrate diet.  I can taste more and I don’t get that heavy feeling after a meal.  I remember those Thanksgiving meals that were heavy on carbohydrates/simple sugars and how all of us felt sleepy and lazy and we all complained about gaining weight during the holidays.  Not any more! 

A note on carbohydrates:  Carbohydrates are sugars and starches.  There are two types of carbohydrates:  simple and complex.  The simple carbohydrates are refined processed foods like white bread, packaged cereals, soda, corn syrup, etc. Even non-refined foods like carrots and potatoes have a very high content of sugar.  Eating one carrot is like eating a spoonful of pure sugar. Foods that are on this list have a low or non-existent nutritional value and cause hunger and weight gain.  Complex carbohydrates are foods containing a lot of nutrients and fiber as well.  Examples:  spinach, broccoli, all the berries (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, etc.), cauliflower, asparagus. 

At the end of this section on food and recipes, I've included a timeline that explains how we have been conditioned to think that sugar/carbohydrates are not dangerous.  Mother Jones Magazine this month includes an in-depth article about how our consumption of sugar has increased and why. In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) predicted that by 2050, 1 in 3 individuals will have Diabetes.  Just this past week, the CDC reported that “Diabetes prevalence rates jumped dramatically across the nation between 1995 and 2010.”  “ . . . [O]verall, the median prevalence of diagnosed diabetes went up from 4.5% in 1995 to 8.2% in 2010.”

“All told, rates increased 50% or more in 42 states, and 100% in 18 states.  The largest increases were in Oklahoma (up 226%), Kentucky (158%), Georgia (145%), Alabama (140%), and Washington (135%).  CDC representatives said the new numbers were a mere taste of what’s to come unless public health agencies figure out how to combat Type 2 Diabetes, which was diagnosed in an estimated 18.8 million people in 2010.”  (from L.A. Times article by Eryn Brown)

Instead of crying over these statistics—I bring to you alternatives to help you consider a different, more delicious, nutritious and life-saving Thanksgiving.  After all—Thanksgiving translated in Spanish is “Acción de Gracias.”  “Accion”—Action!  Bring your family together in an act of loving and health-filled kindness. Also, this month is Diabetes Awareness Month and if you have a Walgreens Pharmacy in your area, they are offering free A1C testing for the month of November (A1C is the best test to find out if you or your loved ones/friends have pre-diabetes or diabetes.  It's a quick and easy test and you don't need to fast. All that is asked of you is a little blood via a pin-prick on your finger).  Here's the info:  CLICK HERE

Alternative Dishes to try (and also to add or delete ingredients as you see fit.  It’s fun to play with recipes): 

Stuffing:  A possible alternative to avoid all that high sugar bread that is in most stuffings is to try Garbanzo Stuffing.  Here is the recipe:  (CLICK HERE)  Check out the reviews of this recipe as well because in the reviews, you’ll find how some people added other ingredients (like zucchini). 

Garbanzo Stuffing

Alternative to the high sugar/starchy mashed potatoes--

Mashed Cauliflower:  This is so easy and so delicious.  I never have that heavy feeling after eating mashed cauliflower as I did with mashed potatoes.  Why?  The difference in carbohydrate count is key here.  1 cup of mashed potatoes:  41 carbohydrates. 1 cup of mashed cauliflower:  5 carbohydrates (plus a lot more nutrients). 

(CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE)

Mashed Cauliflower

Alternative side dish:  Spaghetti Squash makes an excellent side dish for Thanksgiving.  It is also a perfect alternative to the very high sugar/starchy spaghetti.  And it’s another “easy to prepare” food.  

Spaghetti Squash

The most difficult part of the process is cutting the squash in half.  You’ll need a good sturdy knife and strong hands.  Be patient and careful.  Once it’s cut in half, scoop out the seeds, etc. from the middle of the halves.  There are various ways to cook the squash (lots of on-line recipes).  Keep the cut side up and place both in a baking dish.  Rub olive oil on the cut sides and also drip a bit more in the interior sections.  Cut up an entire garlic bulb (the cloves in fine slices) and place the slices where you scooped out the seeds.  Salt and pepper and add a touch of cumin too.  Depending on where you live (altitude and humidity are a factor—I would just keep checking them throughout the cooking process), place in a 275-300 degree oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until you can easily place a fork in the squash.  Let sit (covered in foil) for a about a half hour (again depending on where you live this varies).  When the squash is ready, scoop it out (it will be so easy) with a fork and it will look exactly like spaghetti. 

1 cup of cooked spaghetti squash:  8 carbohydrates

1 cup of cooked (white or wheat) spaghetti:  35 - 42 carbohydrates

I have mixed the spaghetti squash with homemade pesto, with zucchini, tofu, sausage—so many possibilities here! 

Spaghetti squash with olive oil, asparagus, and nuts

I hope these three alternative dishes peak your interest enough to try either this Thanksgiving or anytime! 

spaghetti squash with leftover turkey and basil on top

Sending you all, Queridas y Queridos La Bloga readers a most health-filled week. 

TIMELINE revealing how we have been conditioned to think about sugar: 

1934:  The Sugar Act, championed by FDR, subsidizes sugar farmers and makes their crops basic commodities

1943:  The Sugar Research Foundation debuts.  Four years later, it renames itself the Sugar Association Inc. (SAI)

1949:  Post introduces Sugar Crisp, Sugar Smacks, Frosted Flakes, and Cocoa Puffs soon follow

1954:  The SAI sets out to “destroy these fallacies” that sugar is fattening and causes diabetes and cavities

1955:  McDonald’s starts offering Coke.  Serving size:  7 ounces

1959:  “Are you getting enough sugar to keep your weight down?” asks an industry ad.  “No other food satisfies your appetite so fast with so few calories.” 

1964:  Big Sugar takes on diet soda.  One ad depicts a young pitcher winding up:  “He needs a synthetically sweetened diet drink like a moose needs a hat rack.” 

1968:  The SAI launches the International Sugar Research Foundation (ISRF) to help it scrutinize the safety of rival sweeteners cyclamate and saccharin. 

1969:  The FDA bans cyclamate based on a study suggesting it causes cancer in rats.  The industry “pioneered and persevered,” the ISRF boasts, “in the program of research that so quickly catalyzed the events leading to banning the product.” 

1970:  “If sugar is so fattening, why are so many kids so thin?” asks an industry ad. (By 2010, 17 percent of kids ages 2-19 are obese.)

1971:  “Enjoy an ice cream cone shortly before lunch,” beckons an ad in Women’s Day.  “Sugar can be the willpower you need to undereat.”  The following year, the Federal Trade Commission orders the industry to stop making such claims. 

1974:  The FDA approves aspartame, marketed as NutraSweet.

1976:  The SAI wins the Silver Anvil award for its PR campaign countering growing health concerns about sugar. 

1977:  Prompted by testimony linking sugar to diabetes, a Senate committee report urges Americans to cut sugar consumption by 40 percent. 

1980:  7-Eleven introduces the 32-ounce Big Gulp.

1982:  Hershey’s Reese’s Pieces appear in E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial.  Sales of the candy reportedly soar 65 percent in a single month. 

1989:  Monkeys fed enough cyclamate to sweeten 150 cans of soda per week for 17 years are deemed cancer-free.  “With cyclamate we made a mistake,” FDA honcho Robert Scheuplein admits to the Washington Post.

Early 1990s:  Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and others secure “pouring rights” at universities (and later K-12 schools), giving them exclusive access to vending machines, snack bars, and sports events. 

1998:  A Georgia kid is suspended for wearing a Pepsi T-shirt to his high school’s “Coke Day” rally.

1999:  A record 151 pounds of “caloric sweeteners” is sold in the US per capita—42 pounds more than during the 1950s.

2000:  After a USDA draft report suggests that people “limit” sugar intake, Big Sugar successfully lobbies to retain the old word: “moderate”

2003:  The sugar industry threatens US funding for the World Health Organization [WHO] after a WHO panel suggests that added sugars should account for no more than 10 percent of a person’s diet.

2011:  KFC introduces the 64-ounce Mega Jug.  For each one sold, the chain donates $1.00 to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

February 2012:  A paper in Nature argues that sugar is physically addictive and linked to diseases associated with metabolic syndrome—including heart disease.

February 2012:  Mars Inc. pledges to stop selling candy in portions exceeding 250 calories—like the 540-calorie King Size Snickers. (Now it sells slightly undersized Snickers in twin “Share Packs.”)

May 2012:  New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposes a ban on sugary drinks exceeding 16 ounces.  Days later, the Center for Consumer Freedom, a group backed by the fast-food industry, buys a full-page in the Sunday New York Times:  “New Yorkers need a Mayor, not a Nanny.”  In September, the NYC Board of Health votes 8-0 to approve the ban. 

Timeline From:  “Sweet Little Lies:  The 40-Year Campaign to Cover Up Evidence That Sugar Kills” (Mother Jones, December 2012, pages 35-40 & 68-69).  Timeline by Maddie Oatman for this article (pages 38-39).

Chicanada @ LoneStarCon. Melinda Palacio @ NHCC. Café Fresco @ Gallista Gallery

World SciFi Convention wants Chicano/mexicano programming

This past summer I ran a four-part series entitled Spic vs Spec, in which I spoke to latino participation in the U.S. spec fiction world. That world is a changin'.

Next year, one of the largest fantasy / sci-fi gatherings will be held in San Antonio, Texas. What will make it stand out is that organizers want to diversify their programming into the Spanish-speaking and mexicano world. Qué bueno!

La Bloga was recently contacted by Lone Star Con3 program organizers with the following request:

"We want to develop a Spanish Language Track to the World Science Fiction Convention. Panels might not be bilingual, but should include Spanish-speaking fans, TV shows, and unique Spanish language contributions to Science Fiction & Fantasy. We are looking for local authors from the San Antonio area to help us put together programming that would promote SF&F from Spanish language sources, who are interested in helping us develop that track along with local clubs and media."

This effort is in the beginning stages, but offers an opportunity for Chicano and mexicano spec authors and readers to enter an arena of U.S. literature that is just beginning to learn about us. It also provides us a new mechanism to take our literature to mainstream readers.

Other gente outside the San Anto area can possibly also get involved in some way. I believe there will be many opportunities and ample reason not only to attend, but to participate in enrichening this convention.

Please contact us for further info if you are interested. Note this, too: whatever is accomplished in San Anto can possibly be taken to similar conventions in the U.S. in the future. I among others are definitely interested in that. And spread the word.

LoneStarCon3, Aug. 29 - Sept. 2 2013, San Antonio, Texas, Aztlán

Melinda Palacio to read at National Hispanic Cultural Center

Award winning novelist and poet Melinda Palacio will read from and sign her new collection of poetry How Fire is a Story, Waiting at the National Hispanic Cultural Center on Saturday November 17th at 2 PM in the Salón Ortega. The event is free to the public.

According to Northwestern University Press, “Melinda Palacio’s newest poetry collection creates images that are at once heartbreaking and humorous. She tackles elemental subjects of family and childhood with the same depth and grace as that of myth making and death. As the only child of a mother who died too young, she infuses her words with longing and life, and celebrates the women who came before her. Each poem offers up the truth in a fearless and unsentimental voice.”

Melinda Palacio lives in Santa Barbara and New Orleans. Her novel Ocotillo Dreams (ASU Bilingual Press) received the Mariposa Award for Best First Book from the International Latino Book Awards. She also received the 2012 PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature. She was also a finalist for the Premio Aztlán for 2011. Her poetry chap book Folsom Lockdown was the winner of Kulupi Press’ 2009 Sense of Place award. She is a contributing columnist to the Latino literature blog, La Bloga.

No doubt, her new collection of poetry explores similarly complex territory. Contact Greta Pullen at (505) 724-4752 or e-mail greta.pullen@state.nm.us.

Joe Lopez invites you to Café Fresco

Café Fresco is now open at Gallista Gallery, San Anto. We are excited about the cafe/sandwich bar re-opening at Gallista, under new management. If you're in the area, stop by and help us welcome our new cafe manager Yolanda Aravelo.
Cafe Fresco will be open Tuesday - Saturday from 7 am - 2 pm.
The Menu includes breakfast and light lunch items, such as English Muffins filled with ham, egg, and/or sausage, Buttermilk Biscuits by the dozen and half-dozen, and Hoagie sandwiches.

Enjoy local art with your coffee! - Free Wifi
Gallista Gallery, 1913 S. Flores St., San Antonio, Texas, Aztlán


Es todo, hoy,
RudyG, aka Rudy Ch. Garcia, author of The Closet of Discarded Dreams, the Chicano fantasy with a Chicano hero

Events, Exhibits, Awards, Music

I'm busy, busy with pre-publication work on my new book, Desperado: A Mile High Noir, plus we're getting ready for a quick trip to the Big Easy. So, here's all I have this week - a few events of note for the culturally aware, be it music, art, or literature.
  MI FRONTERA ES SU FRONTERA EXHIBIT BY REGIS UNIVERSITY’S TONY ORTEGA ON DISPLAY THROUGH NOVEMBER AT DAYTON MEMORIAL LIBRARY HARTMAN ART GALLERY
by D. Veasey  

Western Union from the collection of Florence Hernández-Ramos

[from the Regis University website]

Mi Frontera Es Su Frontera, an exhibit by artist Tony Ortega, will be on display from Nov. 1-29 at the Regis University Dayton Memorial Library Hartman Art Gallery. 

Ortega, an associate professor in the University’s Fine and Performing Arts department, has long been renowned for creating paintings chronicling the Latino experience. Using a signature style of bold coloration, simplified forms, anonymous figures, and cultural icons, he explores community, family, street life, labor, entertainment, youth culture, popular culture, and cultural politics.

While in the past his work has been more focused on the sociological interactions of community than on identity politics, the influences of social movements, historical precedents, and a long tradition of visual representation are profound. To Ortega, the border is porous, with layered implications.

In Mi Frontera Es Su Frontera, through the use of monotype/silkscreens, charcoal drawings, hand-colored etchings, and a mural installation, Ortega offers a timely glimpse of the melding of histories, traditions, culture, and politics of the ever-expanding and diversified population.

The Hartman Art Gallery - Dayton Memorial Library gallery hours are Monday-Thursday 7:30 a.m.-10 p.m. and Friday-Saturday 8 a.m.-6 p.m., and Sunday 12:30-9 p.m.

The event, which is one of many Regis University Diversity Month activities, is sponsored by the Regis University Ignatian Collaborative for Service and Justice.

Hartman Art Gallery:  Regis University 3333 Regis Boulevard Denver, CO 80221-1099
1-800-568-8932 OR 303-458-4126


Tony Ortega's work can also currently be seen in the exhibit Sequences of Six, works by six local artists including Hunter Lawrence, Daniel Lowenstein, Clara Martinez, Sylvia Montero, Tony Ortega and Rebecca Rozales, through November 17 at CHAC (Chicano Humanities and Arts Council, 772 Santa Fe Drive, 303-571-0440, chacweb.org).

Also - Tony Ortega has a mural on the third floor of the historic McNichols Building for the Fuera de la Frontera/Outside the Border exhibition. Read more here.

DAVID HIDALGO AND MARC RIBOT: BORDER MUSIC

---

Performance Date: 1/10/2013, 8:00 pm


This is the rescheduled performance for the canceled October 23 date. All tickets purchased for the 10/23 performance will be honored at the door. Will Call orders will be available for pick up day of show.

Thursday, January 10 at 8 pm
L2 Arts & Culture Center
71 East Yale Avenue
Denver, Colorado
80210


David Hidalgo is the driving vocal and guitar force of East LA’s Los Lobos and Latin Playboys, the former of which took border-hopping cultural collisions onto the world stage with a series of chart-topping songs and albums.

Marc Ribot (ex Tom Waits ex Lounge Lizards and just plain excellent guitarist) is the ex leader of downtown NY’s "The Prosthetic Cubans" (Los Cubanos Postizos).

Their musical excursions across the borders between cultures, styles and genres were the perfect preparation for this ambitious new project. West Coast meet East Coast, Real meets Prosthetic, and guitar meets guitar in a rocking post roots pan Latin rave up/descarga. Together they have forged a unique partnership where immigrant neighborhoods meet intellectual nuance – creating truly new music to stir your heart, challenge your head and move your body. They’re accompanied by original Cubanos Postizos cohorts Brad Jones (bass), Anthony “The Professor” Coleman (keyboards), EJ Rodriguez (percussion), and drummer Cougar Estrada of Los Lobos.

"At times Ribot played with the wasp-like sting of the young, Bluesbreakers-era Eric Clapton, Hidalgo replying with legato lines rich in lyricism. At other times they reversed these roles or mixed them up. The result: a profoundly memorable evening.”"
- The Australian review at Sydney Opera House

marcribot.com

$30 Advance; $32 Day of Show. $2 discount for Swallow Hill Music members
 





HECTOR TOBAR RECEIVES LUIS LEAL AWARD

Novelist and Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times journalist Hector Tobar is the recipient of UC Santa Barbara's 2012 Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. The award was presented at a ceremony on October 31.

Tobar, a reporter, columnist, and book reviewer for the L.A. Times, is the author of two highly acclaimed novels –– The Barbarian Nurseries (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011) and The Tattooed Soldier (Penguin Books, 2000). The Barbarian Nurseries,which is set in contemporary Southern California, was listed among the best fiction of 2011 by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and the Boston Globe.

Tobar is also the author of "\Translation Nation: Defining a New American Identity in the Spanish-Speaking United States. This work of non-fiction examines Latino immigrants as "latter-day pioneers" who maintain their Latin American identities while embracing the opportunities made available to them in the United States.

"Hector Tobar is one of the most important social and political novelists of his generation," said Mario T. García, professor of Chicana and Chicano studies and of history at UCSB, and the organizer of the annual Leal Award. "His writings, including his novels, deal with the hidden lives of Latinos in Los Angeles and the United States. These are the people who live in the shadows due to their immigration status, and yet are very much a part of our contemporary American society. Tobar's characters reveal themselves as human beings who need to be accepted and integrated by the rest of us. Tobar is their voice." 
Read more at this link.

Rolling Stone Announces First-Ever Latin Music Special Section

Pitbull appears on back cover; Section includes Latin Hot List and 10 Greatest Latin Rock Albums of All Time

New York, NY (November 9, 2012) – Rolling Stone announced today its first-ever Latin music special section, featuring a magazine back cover and a bilingual editorial package celebrating Latin artists and culture. The issue will be available on newsstands November 9, and received advertising support from marketing communications agency Lápiz.

Pitbull appears on the back cover of the magazine and is part of the Latin Hot List, along with other influential artists and performers such as Calle 13, Maluca and Junot Díaz. In true Rolling Stone style, the section also includes the definitive list of the “10 Greatest Latin Rock Albums of All Time,” topped by Café Tacuba’s Re. The special section and back cover are in both English and Spanish.

“This section was an incredible opportunity for us to dive deep into Latin music and culture, from Pitbull to Café Tacuba,” says Nathan Brackett, Rolling Stone Deputy Managing Editor. "We are thrilled with the results."

“Lápiz offered invaluable support to help bring this concept to life, and we are excited to partner with them on this special section,” says Matt Mastrangelo, Rolling Stone Publisher.

“As an agency, Lápiz takes pride in not only serving as experts in understanding the Latino consumer, but also enabling the intersection of cultures,” says Gustavo Razzetti, EVP, Managing Director of Lápiz. “This partnership with Rolling Stone is a great example of a platform that amplifies Latino influence on mainstream.”

Later. Feed the need to read.

 

Una misma noche

La novela Una misma noche de Leopoldo Brizuela, además de una narración intrigante y perturbadora, es una reflexión sobre los mecanismos del terror y la complicidad del miedo.

Galardonada con el Premio Alfaguara 2012, la novela explora la marca persistente del trauma en quienes presenciaron las atrocidades de la última dictadura militar en Argentina.

La historia se narra a dos tiempos, desde el presente de la narración en 2010 y desde los recuerdos del pasado entre 1976 y 1977, los primeros y más brutales años de la dictadura.

El narrador, Leonardo Bazán, es un escritor platense, como el autor, que una madrugada presencia algo fuera de lo común: un hombre sospechoso en estado de alerta y una patrulla de la policía científica a unos tres metros de su habitación.

Al atar cabos con lo que le cuentan los vecinos, se da cuenta de que había sido testigo de un asalto en la casa de al lado, la misma donde en 1976 había presenciado de niño un episodio brutal que lo marcaría para siempre.

El texto describe el terror que se queda grabado en el recuerdo y que los hechos del presente sacan inesperadamente de lo profundo para volverlos a vivir.

Los relatos del pasado nos remontan a los años de las mudanzas furtivas, tiroteos nocturnos, estallidos que vuelan casas enteras y personas que desaparecen sin dejar rastro.

Sin emoción anota en su cuaderno el recuerdo de cómo él y sus amigos hurgaban en los escombros de la casa vecina, destruida por un estallido, para ver qué podían rescatar.

"La obscena tentación de los bienes del prófugo", escribe, haciéndonos pensar desde la inocencia de los niños, en la apropiación de bienes de los desaparecidos que tomó lugar por parte de los mismos secuestradores.

Brizuela no escatima en detalles en las descripciones del terror.

"Calle 17 y 532. Una embarazada aparece acribillada y queda allí tendida, casi veinticuatro horas, entorpeciendo el tránsito, rodeada de soldados que cuidan el espectáculo a modo de advertencia", escribe. Mediante estas anotaciones del recuerdo, Bazán trata de armar la historia de cuando entraron en la casa de la familia Kuperman, los judíos de al lado.

Reconoce, sin embargo, su incapacidad de reconstruir lo acontecido porque el día en que entraron a su propia casa a interrogar a sus padres, él, nervioso y confundido, se había sentado a tocar el piano. Presume, sin embargo, que su familia negoció esa noche, cambiando su suerte por la de los vecinos. La vecina Diana Kuperman desaparece y meses más tarde, para la sorpresa de todos, reaparece después de haber sido secuestrada y torturada.

Años más tarde, el narrador recibe copia de la declaración de Kuperman durante los Juicios de la Verdad y los detalles le abren la puerta al recuerdo.

Es así cómo se va construyendo la historia, no solo la del personaje, sino la colectiva de aquellos años: de retazos de experiencias vividas, testimonios leídos e historias escuchadas.

Cada intento de darles coherencia a estos fragmentos conlleva la posibilidad de caer en la ficción.
A lo largo del relato, Bazán se pregunta una y otra vez, qué hubiese dicho si lo hubiesen llamado a declarar.

Pese a sus muchos apuntes, es evidente que nunca sería capaz de hacerlo.

En esta ambiciosa e intrigante novela, Brizuela aborda temas como el peso del sobreviviente, la complicidad del silencio, el antisemitismo, el abuso del poder, y la imposibilidad de dar un testimonio coherente y verificable.

(UNA MISMA NOCHE. Leopoldo Brizuela. Alfaguara. 272 páginas)

New Children's Books from Piñata Books- Arte Público Press

The Poet Upstairs 

By Judith Cofer. Illustrated by Oscar Ortiz     

A young girl learns about the power of poetry in this

 heart-warming tribute to an unnamed poet

Juliana is too sick to go to school one cold, winter day. So she stays at home in bed and looks out her bedroom window. She watches as a tall lady in a red coat and hat carries her boxes of books and papers upstairs. Her mother has heard that the mysterious woman is a poet writing a book. Juliana loves books and can’t wait to meet the poet upstairs.

Juliana listens to the poet’s typewriter clicking and clacking all day long, while outside the snow falls and people rush by bundled up in their coats. She dreams of a tiny tropical island “sitting on the ocean like a green button on a blue dress,” the island home that her mother and the poet share. She dreams of red hibiscus flowers and beaches of white sand.

The next day, she receives an invitation from the poet to come upstairs. Together, they write a poem about a big river that leads to the sea. As they make pictures with words, the walls of the cold apartment become a beautiful vista of mountains, palm trees, birds and flowers. That special day, poetry takes Juliana from her cold and ordinary apartment to a sparkling island habitat.

Invoking Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos’ famous poem about the Loiza River, Ortiz Cofer’s lyrical text is combined with Oscar Ortiz’s breathtaking illustrations of the natural world and the animals that inhabit it. This inspiring picture book for children ages 5 to 9 demonstrates the power of the written word as Juliana learns that poetry can change the world.

Level Up / Paso de nivel

 By Gwendolyn Zepeda. Illustrated by Pablo Torrecilla.   

This entertaining bilingual picture book 

will encourage kids to go outside and play

David is obsessed with reaching the next level in his favorite video game. Whether he’s playing BunnyBot Fighters or Ultimate Rhino Races, he’s so single minded in his pursuit of reaching the next level that he turns down invitations from friends to play outside. But one day, his game quits working, and he’s on “Level Sad.” So, with nothing else to do, he reluctantly goes outside to play.

“Today I’m trying to skateboard. I have to learn to stand on the skateboard while it rolls, without falling off. It feels like I’m on Level One of a really hard game.” But if he can master staying on the board, his friend Michael will show him how to do turns, and “that’ll be like Level Two.” Soon, David is doing turns and is ready to learn how to do jumps!

Still unable to play video games, David lets his friend Bianca convince him to try playing basketball. Dribbling is hard, but David wants to level up so he’ll get a new red jersey. Pretty soon, he’s on Level 12 of skateboarding and Level 8 of basketball, and he’s ready to try diving and dirt biking. Eventually his video game is fixed, but by then he has discovered that leveling up in real life is more exciting than leveling up on the screen.

Popular kids’ book author Gwendolyn Zepeda teams up again with artist and illustrator Pablo Torrecilla to create a lively story that will have young readers laughing in commiseration with a kid consumed by imaginary goals. Following up on their acclaimed I Kick the Ball / Pateo el balón, this talented pair has once again crafted an appealing bilingual picture book that will encourage kids ages 5 to 9 to get off the couch and get moving.

My Big Sister / Mi hermana mayor 

By  Samuel Caraballo. Illustrated by Thelma Muraida.   

A young boy's loving, poetic ode to his older sister

In this tender, bilingual tribute to his big sister, Pablito recounts all the things she does for him while their parents are at work, sewing “jeans for the whole world.”

Anita wakes him up and makes his breakfast, “Yummy! Yum! / Hot, creamy oatmeal / topped with blueberries and raisins.” She holds his hand while walking him to the bus stop, and when the bus arrives, “I wrap my arms around her. / She tattoos a red kiss on my cheek.” Anita is there to greet him when the yellow school bus drops him off in the afternoon, and she helps him with his homework, “just like Mom and Dad.”

When Pablito’s homework is done, they go outside and play soccer. Then it’s time for dinner, a shower and a book in bed. And finally, their parents are home. “They praise my sister / because she is that big sister any brother would wish for!” And affectionate Pablito is surely the younger brother all kids want.

Caraballo’s sweet lyrical ode to an older sibling, warmly depicted by illustrator Thelma Muraida, will resonate with young children ages 3 to 7 who rely on brothers and sisters to help with meals, homework and fun!