Pedazos y Pedacitos

Manuel Ramos

New Mexico And Literary Awards

The Premio Aztlán calls for submissions for its 2005 award. Established by Patricia and Rudolfo Anaya, the award is limited to a 2005 novel written by a Chicana or Chicano who has published no more than two novels. There is a $1000 prize, a chance to read at the University of New Mexico, and the prestige that goes with an award that previously has recognized authors such as Alicia Gaspar del Alba, Sergio Troncoso, Denise Chavez and Pat Mora. Deadline is December 31, 2005. Get the details here.

Patricia and Rudolfo Anaya

Another award established by Patricia and Rudolfo Anaya, the Critica Nueva Award, announced a few weeks ago that this year's award goes to Dr. Felipe de Ortega y Gasca, language and literature lecturer at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. He was chosen to receive the award for his influential contributions to Chicano literature and critical theory.

In addition to teaching English at A&M-Kingsville, Ortego is professor emeritus of English at Texas State University System-Sul Ross State. Ortego was the first Mexican American to earn a doctorate in English from the University of New Mexico. Read more at the Texas A&M Campus News and Events.

Albuquerque-area author Ralph Flores has won an award from an organization that focuses attention on multicultural diversity in American writing.

Flores' The Horse in the Kitchen: Stories of a Mexican-American Family was picked as one of the winners of the 2005 American Book Award by the Oakland, Calif.-based Before Columbus Foundation, according to an announcement from the publisher, the University of New Mexico Press. This book was a finalist for last year's Premio Aztlán and it also was recognized as a Southwest Book of the Year by the Tucson-Pima Public Library. More at the New Mexico Business Weekly, July 21, 2005.

Denver Stuff

August 13, dedication of César Chávez park, 41st and Tennyson (the former Alcott Park) - food, music, speechifying, y todo.

Not really Chicano related, but Westside Books announces that on August 17 at 7:00 PM it will host a Stories For All Seasons with prolific and celebrated author Edward Bryant, as he celebrates his 60th birthday. As is only right for an author, Ed will read new fiction. Admission and refreshments are free. Ed is a friend of La Bloga and a damn good writer. Drop by to hear RudyG sing Las Mañanitas to the old guy.

Finally, a tip of La Bloga's sombrero to Rosemary Rodriguez, who is the new President of the Denver City Council. Can't hurt to have someone running those meetings who personally knows people like Alfredo Véa, Luis Alberto Urrea, Sandra Cisneros and Rudy Anaya. Rosemary has long been a friend and supporter of Chicano Lit - her book club was famous for meets and greets with visiting authors. ¡Felicidades!

A Mexican from El Salvador. A bit. A piece.

Michael Sedano

When I worked at Cal State LA many years ago, campus cops had an eyeball description of a swarthy fellow who'd committed a burglary. In true Officer Obie fashion, the local heat circulated one of those paint-by-the-numbers suspect mugs. Kinda looked like me. But the best part was the police description "5' 8", 150 lbs, black hair and eyes, Mexican male...". Since it was my office that had been burglarized, I doubted I was the suspect. I asked the police invesigator, "How'd you know he's a Mexican?" After a paroxysm of rage, the fellow sputtered, "Well, he could be a Mexican from El Salvador!"

Not that we all look alike, que no? Must be a fairly common experience for other-than-Mexican brown folks in LA. At any rate, that's one of the minor subtexts in an enjoyable Romilia Chaco'n detective novel, A Venom Beneath the Skin, Marcos M. Villatoro's recent offering from Kate's Mystery Books out of Boston. (That accented "o" looks odd, doesn't it? Same thing happens in Chaco'n's sleuthing.)

Aside from Spanish language diacritics, and those who speak it/them, Villatoro plays with a bunch of fun stuff. Poison frogs. Domestic Terrorism. Arch fiends. You'll get a kick out of Romilia's new partner, a midwest farm-raised gem named Pearl. Not that I knew the old partner, as this is the first Romilia Chaco'n novel I've had the pleasure of reading. It's the third in Villatoro's series. If you need a quick summer read between the heavy stuff, A Venom Beneath the Skin fits the bill.

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Boston isn't ghettoizing the literature, is it? How about a New York Spanish language publisher? Marcela Landres' current email announces a couple of editorial jales in NYC. One's a salaried post as assistant to the editor, another's an hourly slot. Landres describes the former as:

Responsibilities: Assist the Editor-in-Chief in the review, acquisition and title planning of all books for Mosaico and Circulo de Lectores book clubs. Research Spanish language publishing trends, new titles and publishers as well as review publishers' catalogs and upcoming editorial plans. Review submissions, negotiate rights for all selections promoted in those clubs and contract titles. Develop in-depth knowledge of market trends and form relationships with key publishers.

Details on Mosaico's openings at her Yahoo page.

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SPAM Happens. And Then Some.

Michael Sedano

"Earth to Gus."

Gus Vigil came out of a trance, self-induced by staring motionlessly at his Inbox minute after minute, thinking, “SPAM, Nothing but SPAM”.

"Yeah, Licha, otra," he agreed, when the barmaid’s question registered. Turning his eyes back to his laptop, Gus made a sour face as his eyes scanned his Inbox again:

SPAM-HIGH: Fw: Best software pri- ces.
Fw: [5]
SPAM-MED: Fw: 75 % Off for All N_ew Sof_tware.
SPAM-MED: how about this pharmacy
SPAM-MED: dosage : 1 pill a day (VAlGRA)
Fw: [33]
SPAM-MED: Fw: Need soft_ware? Cl- ick here.
SPAM-HIGH: Watch our gils f uck themselves silly…
SPAM-MED: Vacuum pumps - cause deformed pen1s
Un-secured D E B T is extended and eradicated
SPAM-LOW: You can feed rescued wild horses; More ...
SPAM-HIGH: Important Message from the Olingo Family. Please READ!!

Gus wished he lived in a William Gibson novel. He could jack in to the ‘net, glide through cyberspace and wring some necks. Or watch. That would solve a whole raft of problems, he thought, not the least being boredom.

Gus Vigil pressed the TAB key, highlighting the first Subject. He read it aloud. "spam hyphen high colon space Fewuh colon space Best software pri hyphen space ces period".

"You say 'pa rices' I say "pa reeses', Gus sang.

He down arrowed and read the next subject. "Fewuh colon space box five".

"What the Hell is that supposed to be all about?" Gus Vigil mumbled, “fewuh colon space box number? What kind of stupid asshole thinks anyone is stupid enough to read this shit?" Gus double clicked and waited for the message to fill the screen.

"OK, I don't need any penis enhancers today, thanks..." Gus Vigil looked at the sender's name. "...thanks, Lance Sepulveda. That's a good one, nice ethnic touch."

Licha set the bottle on the bar. Four musical notes sounded out, dit dit dit dah. "Ah, the Scherzo from Beethoven's Eroica. I have a call." Gus announced with excitement. He rarely received phone calls. He fished a plum purple Treo 650 from his casi-mari, pushed the Speakerphone key, and spoke. Licha rolled her eyes.

"Bueno?" Gus spoke loudly, raising an eyebrow at the barmaid, and winked.

"Sir, do you speak English?"

"Bueno? Bueno? Digame," Gus urged.

"Sir, can you hold please while I connect you to one of my Spanish-speaking teammates? I'm transferring you now, Sir, please don't disconnect."

Gus pounded the Off key with gusto when the Treo screen flashed and a HAL voice announced, "Excuse me, Gus, you are being paged." The display read, "Press #606# to pick up."

His excitement was obvious as Gus spoke his ritual dialog:
“Computer. En-gaged.”

He announced each key he pushed. "Pound six naught six pound".

The screen flashed and an unfamiliar boy's face looked back at him.

"Hi! Are you Gus Vigil?"

"Who the ... what ... hey ... who?"

"We're calling from the picture phone booth at Disneyland!"

"Disneyland? But how did you get my Treo 650?"

"The GPS Locator chose you at random! We told it to find a Chicano, mid to late 50s, who grew up in an urban area, has a college degree and a Treo 650."

"And who didn't earn more than thirty-five grand a year". A girl's face pushed into the tiny screen. "There aren't too many of you."

"GPS? You asked for what?" Gus felt his chest tighten. He willed himself to relax.

"What do you want?"

"Well, we have this argument and we figured a guy with your profile could settle it." The boy's face pushed back into frame.

Gus furrowed his brow. The girl's voice came from off screen, "OK, here's the question: Was The Rolling Stones' 'It's All Over Now' the greatest rock ‘n roll song ever recorded, or was it 'Wooly Bully'?"

"Hey," the boy added, "did you know you have three CDs and Moony's Road to Hell overdue at the library?"

a little news...

from Daniel Olivas…

Just a little note to let folks know that my recent appearance on Pinky’s Paperhaus, the all literature music show, can be heard by going here. You can listen to a short version and, if you wish, the full 1 and ½ hour show. I brought along some new Latino tunes, a little bit of old school stuff, some Stevie Wonder and John Lennon, a bit of Elvis Costello, etc. Pinky asked wonderful questions about Chicano lit, the meaning of “pocho,” the power of blogs (La Bloga is prominently mentioned), etc.

SPOTLIGHT ON ARIEL ROBELLO

Monday’s post from Daniel Olivas…

Ariel Robello’s first book of poems, My Sweet Unconditional was released this spring by Tía Chucha Press. In 2002, she was awarded an Emerging Voices Rosenthal Fellowship with PEN West. She is the founder of Full Moon Phases, a multi-ethnic, multi-generational women’s poetry cipher. Robello has featured at the World Stage, the Los Angeles Poetry Festival, and Voz Alta. Her poems have appeared, or are forthcoming in Urban Latino Magazine, el Aviso Magazine, The Sense of Site Project produced by Writers at Work, Poetry Is Not A Luxury, an Anthology of Poems by Women of Color in Los Angeles, the Luna Xol Anthology cd and the Never Ending Battle (produced by 5th Battalion). Robello teaches poetry in local high schools with PEN in the Classroom and the HeART project. Her poetry has been featured in several issues of the online journal, poeticdiverstiy. Robello is based in Echo Park. This is her poem, “Window Shopping on Broadway, Downtown Los Angeles” which appears in the February 2005 issue of poeticdiversity:

she stares at her reflection in the window
a showgirl’s figure superimposed
on her own round silhouette
her huipil is stained with red clay
black birds dance across her chest
their caws fending off men
who lean in with mamacitas and bonitas
their accents and beer steaming the glass

there is no harvest of wool here
no poppy seed dye
crushed red grasshopper
no loom between her legs
here women’s feet press cold steel pedals
their sewing machines hidden
behind garage doors here women
dress their worn fingers with band-aids

at the ends of each arm
she sees the palms that once shuttled rainbows
the lines of yarn held tight to the loom
she remembers the rug underbid
by another weaver two stalls down
and her grandmother’s plum-stained hands
waving to clot the bleeding sky as her bus pulled out

betrayed by their own uselessness in this new world
her hands press up against the warm glass
beyond her reflection a rack of leopard print
and pants suits cut to hug a size six
calling on her to begin the day
in someone else’s body

REVIEWS: Rigoberto González reviews Salvador Plascencia’s debut novel, The People of Paper (McSweeney’s) for the El Paso Times. He observes that entering this novel “is like inhabiting a poem that tantalizes with its brilliant imagery and imaginative leaps. Although the novel's conceptual narrative and structure claim lineage to magic realism, it stands firmly on its own as an original book.” ◘ Speaking of Rigoberto, I give him a great review in the summer issue of the Multicultural Review for his new children’s book, Antonio's Card/La Tarjeta de Antonio (Children’s Book Press). I note that “González’s story teaches not only tolerance but also reassures children that a household filled with love is something to cherish.”

NUEVO NOMBRE: Due to a change in the structure of the company formerly known as Espresso Mi Cultura Books & Coffee, the owner and founder of the coffeehouse, Ramon Pantoja, has changed the name of his business to Sabor & Cultura Café. The old name, Espresso Mi Cultura, has been retained by Josefina Aguilar, former partner and founder of the bookstore. Josefina has moved on to pursue her own interests and intends to use the name Espresso Mi Cultura on a future venture. Ramon’s business still remains in the same original location in Hollywood: 5625 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028; (323) 466-0481.

All done. Until next Monday, enjoy the intervening posts from my compadres at La Bloga. ¡Lea un libro!

The Strange Cases of Danny Santiago and Amado Muro

Manuel Ramos

Last week, the Moorishgirl blog posted a link to an article by Margaret Drabble entitled Only Correct. The article provided a history of the road to publication of Drabble's novel, The Red Queen, and the author's defense of her book against "accusations of Orientalism and cultural appropriation, of ignorance, cynicism and plagiarism."

Drabble's essay got me to thinking about cultural appropriation in Chicana/o Literature, and that thinking eventually led me to reading again about the strange and sad cases of Danny Santiago and Amado Muro.

Here's what Joyce Carol Oates wrote about the Danny Santiago affair in "Success and the Pseudonymous Writer: Turning Over A New Self" in the New York Times Book Review, December 6, 1987:

"In 1984 the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters awarded one of its distinguished fiction prizes to a new and presumably young Chicano writer named Danny Santiago, for his first novel, Famous All Over Town. Subsequent to the award it was revealed, with some embarrassment, that the newly discovered Chicano writer was not Chicano at all: 'Danny Santiago' turned out to be the pseudonym of seventy-three-year-old Daniel James, author of several previously published books, and better known as a playwright and screenwriter; and a former Communist Party member who had been blacklisted by Hollywood in the 1950s. By his account, James wrote Famous All Over Town as a consequence of his experience doing volunteer social work in Mexican-American districts of Los Angeles in the 1950s and 1960s, and chose to publish it under a Hispanic pseudonym because he had lost confidence in his own writing ability. Yet it is plausible to assume that he chose 'Santiago' over 'James' because, while writing the novel which is narrated by the fourteen-year-old Chicano boy he felt closer to 'Santiago' than to 'James.'

(Though Famous All Over Town alone should have been the issue, and not its author's identity, the awards committee confessed that they might have had second thoughts about giving the novel their prize, had they known its author was 'Anglo' and not 'Chicano.')"

The Simon & Schuster editor who bought Santiago's book stated that the author had hidden his identity and masqueraded as a Chicano (using Chicano slang in his letters to the editor) and, even after his identity had been exposed, expressed his intention to continue writing as Danny Santiago. He died before he completed another book.

Famous All Over Town is still in print and still for sale.

Amado Muro presents a slightly different situation. Muro was really Chester Seltzer, Kenyon College educated and son of Louis B. Seltzer, editor of the Cleveland Press for a number of years. When Seltzer was not riding the rails, he lived in El Paso with his Mexican wife and his two sons, where he died suddenly in 1971. It was not until 1977 that The Collected Stories of Amado Muro was published.

Muro incurred the wrath of Chicano poet/icon Ricardo Sánchez. He wrote at least two articles that blasted Muro and Muro's pretense. In fairness, Sánchez delivered a good deal of criticism at "Chicano academics" who had embraced Muro as a shining star of Chicano Lit, when, according to Sánchez, it was obvious Muro was not a Chicano. Here's a bit of what Sánchez wrote:

"Chicano literature can only be written by Chicanos, for only Chicanos understand the nuance of the Chicano way of life from a living/feeling/existential/experiential perspective-others can write about how they observe us, but they cannot possibly know why and how we valuate life, for that is a cultural/linguistic process. Muro made cultural/ linguistic mistakes that any Chicano from the barrio-or even from academe should have heuristically picked up and exposed: in one of his better known short stories about Chihuahuita sitting down at breakfast to eat mondongo, which he alludes to as being a traditional breakfast for them. Any Chicano who knows something about Raza foods and regionalizations in regards to customs, language, etc., would immediately recognize that cultural fallacy-for mondongo is not Mexican nor Chicano, IT IS PUERTORICAN! Having traveled among Bori­cuas in New England in 1970, I had been introduced to mondongo, which is a stew. Now Seltzer née Muro (whose wife was Amada Muro, which is where he acquired the name) probably meant to talk about menudo, but figured that mondongo and menudo being stews and both had Spanish names, why no one would know the difference. Not too many in academia, which is the only place where he was widely read, realized that the great short story writer from El Paso was really another rip off artist passing himself as brown and trying to be just as greasy as us regular meskins. That was a real trip, a quemada maxima; the kind of trick that coyote/pí­caro types can appreciate."

Drabble certainly never hid her identity, nor did she pretend that she was Korean. In today's publishing world, the accusation of appropriation usually is not aimed at such blatant examples as Santiago and Muro. Now we are confronted with authors of all races and ethnicities who openly write characters from other races and ethnicities, often with some claim to sensitivity and accuracy, and, occasionally, as Drabble has done, as part of the fight against "American political correctness" and the "multicultural censor." Excellent and not so excellent writers have circumvented Dr. Sánchez's rules that "Chicano literature can only be written by Chicanos" and that "only Chicanos understand the nuance of the Chicano way of life."

My own view is that anyone can write anything he or she wants. Go ahead and include that ethnic character in your book so that it has the feel of authenticity. Throw in a couple of Spanish swear words and a bit of Caló. Make your protagonist a single, Latina female because your agent assures you that is what the NY editors are looking for - but be ready for heat if you get it wrong. Stereotypes, subtle racism, paternalism, and naiveté are products of bad writing. If one prefers, call the bad writing cultural appropriation or exploitation or simply "another rip off artist passing himself as brown and trying to be just as greasy as us regular meskins." Just don't call it Chicano Literature.

Is Chicana Chicano Literature "Ghettoized"?

michael sedano

Linked above is an interview with Salvador Plascencia in the Los Angeles Times (registration required). The interview will attract more readers to People of Paper. Felicidades, Salvador. A great P.R. coup.

My eye was drawn to the novelist's answer:

"There are many Latino culture collectives. Why did you publish with McSweeney's, home to an aesthetic associated with white writers such as Dave Eggers and David Foster Wallace?
The Latino imprints never called when it was going around. McSweeney's called. But I'm very happy because now the book doesn't get reviewed as a "Latino imprint" book, but as a book. As a writer, I align myself with aesthetics, not ethnicity. Why is Jonathan Safran Foer not published by a Jewish American press? Should John Edgar Wideman and Toni Morrison be published only by black presses? There is something comforting in the fact that these ethnic collectives exist, but they can also have a ghettoizing effect."

I'm a bit offended by the idea of a literary "ghetto," especially used to describe anything chicana chicano. Call it a barrio, ese, or call it a colonia. When I think of "ghetto" a couple of images come to mind. The Warsaw Ghetto and Watts. The Warsaw Ghetto constituted a large city, literally walled-in by the pigs running the city. An ugly place of desperation and history. During the Watts riots in 1964 or thereabouts, a racist joke made the rounds that the "solution" to the problem of Watts' unrest would be to build a big wall around the area and once a week toss meat over it.

More recently, scholars coined the concept of the "internal colony" to account for the daily lives of multicultural gente like imigrantes and chicanos. We go by day into the anglo-unitedstatesian economic culture where, chameleon-like, we don neckties and similar disguises, speak English, say stuff like "how nice," and "lovely," and take two-hour martini lunches. At 5:00 we return to our neighborhoods, kick back with una chelada listening to Freddy Fender and Los Tigres Del Norte, chow down on nopales bean sandwiches lavished with chile, and ogle the blondes on Televisa.

In other words, we are culturally different. Different doesn't imply deficient. Hence, the pejoration that attends the word and concept of "ghetto" strikes me as, if not a form of cultural misappropriation, then perhaps as a form of cultural submission.

Write, raza!

SPOTLIGHT ON JESSICA BARKSDALE INCLÁN

Monday’s post from Daniel Olivas…

Jessica Barksdale Inclán's debut novel Her Daughter's Eyes, published in 2001, was the premier novel published under New American Library's new imprint Accent. Her Daughter's Eyes was a final nominee for the YALSA Award for the best books of 2001 and best paperbacks for 2001 and has been published in Dutch and Spanish. Her next novel The Matter of Grace was published in May 2002 and was re-released in a mass market version in May 2004. Her third, When You Go Away, came out April 1, 2003. Her fourth, One Small Thing, was published April 2004, and is soon to be published in Dutch. Her fifth, Walking With Her Daughter, was published in April 2005. The Instant When Everything is Perfect will be published in 2006. She is a 2002 recipient of the CAC Artist’s Fellowship in Literature. Inclán teaches composition, creative writing, mythology, and women’s literature at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California, and on-line creative writing courses for UCLA extension. She has studied with Sharon Olds, Anne Lamott, Kate Braverman, Grace Paley, Marjorie Sandor, and Cristina Garcia. Her short stories and poems have appeared in Rockhurst Review, Hotwired, The Salt Hill Journal, Free Lunch, The West Wind Review, The Prairie Star, Gargoyle and many other journals and newspapers. Her short story Open Eyes was given first prize by Sandra Cisneros for El Andar magazine's 2000 writing contest. She co-edited a women’s literature/studies textbook Diverse Voices of Women (Mayfield Publishing, 1995). Inclán has degrees in sociology and English literature from CSU Stanislaus and a Master’s degree in English literature from SFSU. Inclán lives in Orinda, California and is currently at work on her next novel.

REVIEWS: Rigoberto González reviews Rose Castillo Guilbault’s new book, Farmworker's Daughter: Growing Up Mexican in America (Heyday Books). González calls it “a tender memoir about growing up in California's Salinas Valley in the 1960s.” He observes:

“As a testament of the politicized '60s as viewed through the lens of a budding Latina activist, Farmworker's Daughter is a quiet endeavor, but no less significant, since, in fact, this is a story of how the world viewed her. Everyone -- including the soldiers at Fort Ord, the working-class Anglos and the agribusiness bosses -- has a hand in defining parameters and boundaries of power. But from these encounters Rose learns about resistance.”

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Border Senses is about to begin accepting submissions for its Fall issue. Submission period: Aug 1, 2005 – Sep 30, 2005. Please read submission guidelines. Spring 2005 Volume XI was published on May 12, 2005 with a grand party. Read more. (Thanks to my compa RudyG for this notice.)

IN THE FLESH: Next Saturday, August 6, at 2:00 p.m., I’ll be signing my first children’s book, Benjamin and the Word / Benjamin y La Palabra (Arte Público Press) at Tía Chucha's Cafe Cultural, 12737 Glenoaks Blvd., Sylmar, (818) 362-7060. No need to buy! Just come and say hola, give me a big abrazo, and enjoy one of the best bookstores around (not to mention great coffee and other treats).

All done. Until next Monday, enjoy the intervening posts from my compadres at La Bloga. ¡Lea un libro!