Bless Me, Ultima - the Movie

Today is the national release date for the much-anticipated movie of Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya's masterpiece. The movie has already been previewed in several places, and many of the reviews are excellent. To commemorate the movie's general release, I present a guest review done exclusively for La Bloga; a few sentences from other reviews; a re-post of a message from Mr. Anaya about the movie; and information about Denver venues for the movie. You can find out more about this movie on the movie's website:  http://www.blessmeultima.com/, and also on the movie's Facebook page.

Guest Review of Bless Me, Ultima

Michael Ramos

Luke Ganalon and Miriam Colón

Let me say this right up front, I enjoyed the movie.

The filmmakers succeeded in re-creating Rudolfo Anaya's great coming-of-age story filled with drama, mystery, violence, family - but mostly it's a story about a boy who is a witness to and a participant in powerful change and transition.

I admired the interaction between Antonio (played by young actor Luke Ganalon) and the curandera, La Grande (played by veteran actress Miriam Colon). They propelled the movie forward with a strong chemistry born not only out of the family bond but also of something more mysterious and spiritual. The story moves quickly with humor, tragedy, and Antonio's entrance into a dark and disturbing world of witchcraft and violence, healing powers and the imparting of La Grande's earthy wisdom. Alfred Molina's narration provides just the right touch of maturity that helps the viewer to an understanding of the storytelling.

The film's visual style is somewhat muted and I wanted a more dramatic flair to some of the scenes, but for the most part the cinematography worked for the time and place of the story. Overall, Bless Me, Ultima is a moving, layered story that reveals the Mexican-American culture of a time that has long since passed but still resonates today. This culture, this life, as seen in the story, serves as a powerful and pervasive character of its own. The traditions, the church, farming, family bonds and loyalties, and most of all, the old ways of healing and being connected to the earth are all represented and given their due. It's a movie well done and hopefully there will be more from Anaya's rich collection of stories.

I definitely recommend this movie for many reasons but especially to support and applaud good film making.

Michael Ramos

Michael Ramos
Born in Florence, Colorado a long, long time ago. Currently residing in Mesa, Arizona. In 2002, Ramos graduated manga cum laude from Arizona State University (BFA). Currently employed at Arizona Museum of Natural History - Museum Graphic & Multimedia Specialist. Ramos enjoys hanging out with the four grandkids and creating art in a variety of media.

Other reviews

"Although it was published only in 1972, Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima has achieved the iconic stature as such novels as The Grapes of Wrath and To Kill a Mockingbird. Now comes a movie to do it justice. Carl Franklin's film is true to the tone and spirit of the book. It is patient and in no hurry. It allows a balanced eye for the people in its hero's family who tug him one way and another." Roger Ebert - four stars (highest rating)

"Bless Me, Ultima succeeds at placing audiences inside the head of its young protagonist, who is more of an observer than a doer, and yet, because he manages to be present for all the narrative's key incidents, emerges the most transformed by them. With its sometimes-skeptical view of religion and willingness to confront adult themes -- from violence to the corrupting influence of alcohol and prostitution on supporting characters -- Anaya's novel has encountered its fair share of controversy over the years. The film will no doubt face similar criticism, and yet, for audiences young and old alike, both represent valuable coming-of-age tracts that reject formula in favor of big questions." Chicago Tribune

"The film won't disappoint fans of the book, although they may regret some of the adaptation's necessary condensation and/or elimination of narrative themes and events. ... Filmed in New Mexico, Bless Me, Ultima visually captures the area's distinctive geography and light. Director of photography Paula Huidobro makes the landscape appear to be an active element in the story. Although Bless Me, Ultima can feel a bit overstuffed, it's an honest and naturalistic kids' story about growing up Mexican-American." Orlando Weekly

Anaya on the movie of Bless Me, Ultima

Back in July, 2012, I posted a message from Rudolfo Anaya about the movie of his famous book. In honor of the national release of the movie, here's the message again.

_____________________________

The producers brought the Bless Me, Ultima movie to Alburquerque for a private screening for my family and friends. The movie is excellent, it captures the story and characters. Every single person attending the screening gave it fantastic, positive reviews.

I am positive la gente is going to love the movie. Like my friend John Nichols said, a novel becomes a short story when turned into a movie. Don't expect to see the full novel on screen. Everyone knows that.

Carl Franklin did a great job with the story and bringing characters together as familia. Except for Miriam Colón, the cast are actors that don't have big celebrity names.  I hope they do after their roles in the movie.  Everyone did excellent work.

Carl Franklin, the director, did talk to me and asked me questions, but the screenplay is his work. I approved his work.  Some themes in the novel are left out, but the story works.

Carl Franklin

I met the director several times here at our home. I was invited to play a role in the movie and attend all shooting events, but I stayed home. My feeling was to let them do their work. I don't make movies.


I met all the actors at the cast party. They had only positive things to say of the process. Miriam Colón visited me here at our home. She is lovely, a perfect Ultima. Her face shines in the movie, so does Luke (Ganalon) who plays Antonio.

Get it to Denver, the people will love it. Will there be critics? Of course.  All art is criticized if only by responding to it. Let the people enjoy and judge. I feel confident the movie will be around in 50 years.

tu amigo  Rudolfo Anaya

Bless Me, Ultima in Denver

These theaters have scheduled the movie. Check with them for show times. We all know how important the opening weekend is for any movie - if you have the opportunity, take your family and friends to Bless Me, Ultima.

UA Denver Pavilions Stadium 15

500 16th St.
Denver, CO 80202
(303) 454-9086

AMC Cherry Creek 8 

3000 East First Avenue Located in the Cherry Creek Mall
Denver, CO 80206
(303) 393-0530

Harkins Northfield 18

8300 E. Northfield Blvd.
Denver, CO 80238
 

Century Aurora and XD 

14300 E. Alameda Ave.
Aurora, CO 80012
(303) 363-0300

AMC Westminster Promenade 24 

10655 Westminster Blvd.
Westminster, CO 80020
(303) 439-7014

AMC Highlands Ranch 24 

103 W Centennial Blvd.
Highlands Ranch, CO 80129
(303) 471-6911

Later.

Manuel Ramos
Desperado: A Mile High Noir (Arte Público Press - March, 2013)

Las comadres y su libro (en español)

Cuenta conmigo es una colección de ensayos autobiográficos sobre el poder transformador de la amistad entre mujeres y los lazos que las unen.

Publicado a principios de mes en traducción al español, el libro presenta doce historias inspiradoras sobre el apoyo, comprensión y asesoría que se ofrecen las mujeres en sus amistades íntimas.

El libro reúne ensayos de 11 escritoras y 1 escritor, todos latinos, historias que ilustran el rol esencial de la amistad entre mujeres.

La idea del libro surgió tras el éxito de "Las comadrespara las Américas", organización sin fines de lucro que desde el año 2000 ha servido como punto de reunión para mujeres latinas en distintas ciudades de EE.UU.

Según las fundadoras, lo que surgió en Austin, Texas, hace 12 años como una reunión informal de latinas se ha convertido en una organización que abarca casi todo el país, ofreciéndole a la mujer latina un lugar donde discutir temas como educación, empleo, cultura y demás.

Nora de Hoyos Comstock, fundadora y directora ejecutiva de las Comadres, describe en el prólogo el bienestar físico, emocional y espiritual que ofrece la amistad entre mujeres.

"Estas amistades pueden traernos paz, satisfacer los vacíos emotivos de nuestras relaciones románticas y ayudarnos a recordar lo que tenemos en lo más hondo de nosotras mismas".

A medida que la mujer va pasando por las distintas etapas de la vida, como estudiante, profesional, madre, esposa, el tiempo que solía dedicarle a la amistad con otras mujeres suele limitarse.

Sin embargo, aclara de Hoyos, estas amistades proveen una importante fuente de energía que se transmite de mujer a mujer.

"A pesar de nuestras recargadas agendas, como mujeres necesitamos un espacio para descansar durante el que podamos sostener conversaciones profundas como las que tenemos cuando nos reunimos con otras mujeres", escribe.

Sin ese espacio, advierte, la mujer se debilita.

Además de las tertulias regulares, llamadas "comadrazos", la lectura compartida entre comadres ha sido un vehículo importante para la discusión de temas de peso en la comunidad.

"Un viaje a través de las palabras de un escritor y otras experiencias similares pueden ofrecer la mejor conexión con otro ser humano", explica de Hoyos.

Las comadres promueven la lectura en general y el trabajo de escritores latinos en particular.

"Queremos que la mezcla de lecturas incluya el trabajo de escritores latinos", dijo.

Y en efecto, Las comadres se ha convertido en un importante portavoz de la literatura latina en EE.UU.

Fue así que junto a la escritora puertorriqueña Esmeralda Santiago, de Hoyos refinó la idea de reunir en un volumen historias de escritoras latinas sobre la amistad.

Santiago misma contribuye la historia inicial de la colección, "Las comais", sobre el recuerdo de las amigas que acompañaron a su madre en momentos difíciles de su vida Puerto Rico durante la década del 50.

Entre ellos describe la hora del parto, en referencia a uno de los significados de "comadre", cuando las amigas de su madre tomaron las riendas como enfermeras, parteras y niñeras para ayudar a su amiga en ese momento de gozo y dolor.

En su ensayo "Mi maestra, mi amiga", Reyna Grande relata la amistad transformadora que le ofrece una maestra quien no solo la encamina para que curse estudios universitarios, sino también le ofrece un lugar donde vivir a salvo de la inestabilidad y el abuso de su casa.

Por su parte, Fabiola Santiago describe en "Cartas de Cuba" una amistad de infancia que supera las barreras del exilio, alimentándose de cartas en la era antes de las comunicaciones electrónicas.

Uno de los ensayos más conmovedores es "Todos los días de su vida" de Carolina de Robertis, donde cuenta la amistad que la unió a una compañera de estudios de escritura que padecía de cáncer.

Tras la muerte de su amiga, de Robertis adopta el manuscrito de la novela de su compañera y lo cuida como si fuera un hijo que le ha dejado a su cargo.

Otras historias giran en torno a la comida, como "Lecciones de cocina" de Daisy Fuentes", los estudios, el trabajo y el compadrazgo, este último tema a cargo del novelista Luis Alberto Urrea, el único hombre que figura en la colección.

"Decidimos incluir a Urrea porque los compadres son una parte muy importante de nuestra experiencia", aclaró de Hoyos.

"Muchos hombres han contribuido a construir nuestra organización y han sido una enorme fuente de apoyo", dijo.

(CUENTA CONMIGO. Adriana López, ed. Atria. 304 páginas).

Tito Puente, Mambo King/Tito Puente, Rey del Mambo

Meet Tito Puente—the King of Mambo.

Tum Tica!

From musical prodigy on the streets of Harlem to five-time Grammy Award winner, Tito Puente's life was full of rhythm. Drums and claves, saxophones and tambourines were all part of the fun. 

Tac Tic!

Author Monica Brown and Illustrator Rafael López, the award-winning creators of the Pura Belpré Honor Book My Name is Celia/Me Llamo Celia, team up once again for another spectacular collaboration in this upbeat tribute to a musical legend.

Video trailer narrated by author Monica Brown and illustrator Rafael López.

"My father was an inspiration to many generations of Latin music fans worldwide. This book is a testament to that. Now his name and likeness will reach a brand-new group of young fans who will discover his genius and talent."
-Tito Puente Jr.

"A vibrant, reverent celebration of the godfather of salsa."
-Kirkus Reviews

More information can be found at: rafaellopez-books.com and monicabrown.net 

‪

Monica Brown and Rafael Lopez Interview: 

Tito Puente Mambo King Rey del Mambo‬ 

In this behind the scenes interview Monica Brown and Rafael López talk about the collaboration of writer and artist on a new children's book Tito Puente Mambo King/ Rey del Mambo. 

Tito Puente Mambo King/ Rey del Mambo [HarperCollins] will be available March 5, 2013.

The Scent of Acacia Blossoms

As Winter drags on with its cold, dark days and subdued landscapes, I long for the first scent of acacia blossoms. A spectacle of yellow tassels, acacia trees announce the changing season by permeating the air with a richly pungent aroma.

Acacias are scented before they’re seen, so, attuned to its unforgettable presence, I stroll up the inclined road, my eyes with a kindergartener balancing her way atop the cement curb as we walk into the zoo.

When I catch a remote whiff of acacia I look up and spot the tree, thirty or forty feet away, up the path, beginning to show splashes of yellow.

This young tree stands fifteen feet above the black pavement. The branches closest to the heat-retaining ground have almost fully opened their sprays of flower. Above, the branches sprout spikes lined with tightly-wrapped yellow balls that over the next few weeks will open into the fluffy softness of full bloom.

When ripe, the flowers release their pollen. Kids will shake branches to produce remonstrance along with copious dustings of yellow powder that covers the ground with gold dust and releases a faint echo of acacia perfume.

Spring is here, the Acacias are blooming.


Miraculous Manzanita Flowers

Last August, I stared glumly down the driveway of my family home in Redlands. Amid the blue-green coloration of wild buckwheat, cacti, jacaranda, and iceplant along the embankment, a reddish-brown shrub called attention to itself.

The two-year drought has punished the embankment--the apple tree died last year and some nopales have a sickly yellow tint--but most of the plants struggle along, stunted by thirst, but growing.

Except that sad brown mound. That day I declared my manzanita another casualty of the drought. I went into a dead plant funk.

Manzanita has long been a family favorite, the objective of many a weekend drive up into the San Bernardino Mountains. Once we'd locate a stand of manzanita we'd marvel at the gorgeous gnarled branches of old growth plants, stroke the smooth red bark that makes manzanita so delightfully different from the rough twisty branches of competing chaparral.

First wild mustard blossom of the Spring.

Then I as leave the front gate, I spot the first wild mustard blossom of the Spring. Mustard is another of those harbingers that makes my heart sing, so I stop.

Squatting to get a closer look at the bouquet of tiny blossoms a blurry splash of red-pink catches my eye in the background, up the slope where the sere brown manzanita carcass interrupts the green bank.

My eyes focus to discern clusters of whitish-pink bells growing at the end of red branches. My heart pounds as I recognize the shiny smooth redness of young manzanita. She has survived.

August 2012, the manzanita in its death throes. Dead apple tree above, left.

"Love is in the Air" On-line Floricanto Penultimate Tuesday of February 2013
Javier Pacheco, Patrick Fontes, Sharon Elliott, John Martinez, tara evonne trudell

El Tao del Amo by Javier Pacheco
A Worn Out Pillow by Patrick Fontes
Love Song to Country Music by Sharon Elliott
My Only Beauty by John Martinez
hummingbird flight by tara evonne trudell


El Tao del Amor
Javier Pacheco

Lo que uno ama más,
Debe de dejarlo en paz.

¿Qué sé yo de tus capacidades y de tus talentos?

¿Qué sé yo de tu fuerza de carácter y poder de decisión?

¿Qué sé yo de tus cualidades, defectos, miedos, debilidades, etc.?

¿Qué sé yo de la altura de tus expectativas?

¿Qué sé yo de tus callos mentales e emocionales, o de los pensamientos opacos que más te perturben?

¿Qué sé yo de tu perplejidad y de las pesadillas que todavía nutres?

No estoy para ningún quebradero de cabeza,
ni para ser una espina en tu costilla, ni un chirrido en tu memoria.

No quiero tender el alma en un hilo para que me hagan pedazos después.

Son más que indiscretas ganas de vivir, es más que una búsqueda por la amorosa maga, ó de esperanzas agrias por un soplo de alegría que debe anidarse en el corazón.

Es una sabiduría muda, un impecable traje de seda/esencia naturaleza

Es trascender los fines del tiempo, es estar sumergido en la danza,

Es la calidez, la humedad y la turgencia del corazón,

Es la inmensa paz de la estima, de la unidad integrada, solidaria,
La melosa plenitud que desvanece sombras y pasados grises.



A Worn Out Pillow
by Patrick Fontes

Last night insomnia raged
hugging my pillow between my legs
tight pretending you were next
to my warm lonely body once more
chest to naked back squeezed
pressed thighs to your sensuous hips
embracing till the new day shone
untangled our knotted limbs free
this morning between wakefulness
and sleep that magic moment
when dreamers know wondrous dreams
are about to fade into mundanity
I wept watching your beautiful body
transform once again into a worn out pillow



Love Song to Country Music
Sharon Elliott

standing on the threshold
where the barn doors part
she hears the music
before she sees
the wooden dance floor
laid down between
hay bales

in the corner by the horse stalls
a make-shift bar
vends white lightning
to starry eyed fools
who gurgle liquid courage
down throats made mute
by toil and rage

when the fire hits their bellies
their bleary eyes
survey the room
choose partners for a wild stomp
boot heels thud
pelvis grinds
breath overcome by alcohol
seeks lips
willing or not
for momentary pleasure

she wants no part of
honky tonk courtship
semblance of love and misery
twanged into songs

she refuses to have compassion
for men who venture blind
into rage they use against her
such a constricted idea of coupling
holds no appeal or fantasy for her

she turns on her heel
shrugs off the fool
approaching from across the barn
protects her nostrils
from the rank fragrance of bootleg suffering
fills them with perfume
of sweet alfalfa and moonlit night
walks home across a field of damp grass
and chirping crickets
wraps herself in a thick brown shawl
gifted to her by the sheep behind the fence

warmer
softer
than any embrace
offered to her in that strange
misguided ballet



My Only Beauty
John Martinez

Para mi Rosa

In every measure
Of your skin,
I dream a rainbow,
A cloud waiting
For my brow.
I dream my dreams,
Sifting into yours,
I dream my bones,
Speaking the years
Of my ancestors,
Laying down
Next to yours
And becoming one,
And they did
Become one,
And this was not
A dream

In every note
Of your voice,
I hear my name
Scattering in a field
Of grass and dandelion,
I hear your heart,
That infinite drum;
You reached into
Mine and made us
Forever

Now the clock has spun
On the mantel,
And our eyes
Sink into the photos
Of the living
And of those
Who have
Passed,
Our tears,
Washed in the rain,
Dried in the yellow hills,
Our laughter, furled
In the swirl
Of the great Pacific,
Where we have often
Lost our gaze;
That cradle
We return
With no regrets,
With pressed lips,
Dressed in our best

When I think
Of everything
All at once, I find
You standing there
In the blouse you wore
On our second date,
Standing there,
A woman
With faith,
Not fear,
I see you now,
In your early fifties;
You’ve become
My only beauty,
Napping on the couch.
I want to kiss
You awake
And read you
This poem



hummingbird flight
tara evonne trudell

the sensual part
of flying
diving passion
seeking
lovers connection
briefness
in wholeness
needing
in being
together
making love
with care
feelings
free falling
fast touching
caressing
skin to skin
palms sliding
across
wanting belly
curving thighs
breaths releasing
hearts
with wings
hummingbirds
seeking love
in air
the sensual part
of remembering.


Bios
El Tao del Amo by Javier Pacheco
A Worn Out Pillow by Patrick Fontes
Love Song to Country Music by Sharon Elliott
My Only Beauty by John Martinez
hummingbird flight by tara evonne trudell

Born in Palo Alto, CA, Javier B. Pacheco is a veteran published bilingual poet/musician living in the San Francisco Bay Area. His YouTube Channel is "Pachecure" where one can find over 95 videos of music, cultural events, and poetry readings.

Patrick Fontes is a PhD candidate in history at Stanford University. My research
involves border issues, Mexican religion, the Virgin Mary, immigration into the
Southwest, and the criminalization of Chicano culture.
I grew up in Fresno, in a working class Chicano home. My father was a
construction worker, my mom, a waitress. My father grew up in makeshift tent
communities, picking crops up and down California in the 1950s and 1960s.
During the Mexican revolution my great grandfather, Jesus Luna, crossed the
border from Chihuahua into El Paso, then on to Fresno. In 1920 Jesus built a
Mexican style adobe house on the outskirts of the city, it is still our family’s
home and the center of our Mexican identity today. Nine decades of memories
adorn the plastered walls inside. In one corner, a photo of Bobby Kennedy hangs
next to an image of La Virgen de Zapopan; in another, an imposing altar to
Guadalupe.

The smells, voices, sounds, hopes and ghosts of familia who have gone before me
saturate my poems.

Born and raised in Seattle, Sharon Elliott has written since childhood. Four years in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua and Ecuador laid the foundation for her activism. As an initiated Lukumi priest, she has learned about her ancestral Scottish history, reinforcing her belief that borders are created by men, enforcing them is simply wrong. Her chapbook, "Jaguar Unfinished", was published by Prickly Pear Publishing in 2012. She has been a featured poet at Poetry Express in Berkeley, CA, and has been invited as a featured poet by La Palabra Musical, March 2013, Berkeley, CA.

John Martinez studied Creative Writing at Fresno State University. He has published poetry in El Tecolote, Red Trapeze and The LA Weekly. Recently, he has posted poems on Poets Responding to SB1070 and this will be his 15th poem published in La Bloga. He has performed (as a musician/political activist, poet) with Teatro De La Tierra, Los Perros Del Pueblo and TROKA, a Poetry Ensemble (led by poet Juan Felipe Herrera) and he has toured with several cumbia bands throughout the Central Valley and Los Angeles. For the last 17 years, he has worked as an Administrator for a Los Angeles Law Firm. He makes home in Upland, California with his beautiful wife, Rosa America y Familia.

Tara Evonne Trudell, a mother of four, is working on her BFA in Media Arts with an emphasis in film and audio. It is through that art, combined with her passion for poetry that she is able to express fearlessness of spirit for her family, people, community, social awareness, and most importantly her love of earth.

Rigoberto González to receive Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award

It has just been announced that Rigoberto González is to receive a Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award at the Poets & Writers’ annual dinner, In Celebration of Writers, on Monday, March 18, 2013, in New York City. The other recipients are listed here.

Established in 1996, the Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Awards celebrate authors who have given generously to other writers or to the broader literary community. Nominations are solicited from past winners, other prominent writers, members of the publishing community, and Poets & Writers’ Board and staff. These nominations are reviewed and winners selected by a committee comprised of current and past members of the Board of Directors. Title of the award has been given to Barnes & Noble in appreciation of their extraordinary support of Poets & Writers.

Rigoberto González is an associate professor of English at Rutgers University - Newark. He is the author of thirteen books of poetry and prose and is the editor of Camino del Sol: Fifteen Years of Latina and Latino Writing. Next month, the University of Arizona Press will publish his book of essays, Red-Inked Retablos. He is the recipient of Guggenheim and NEA fellowships and a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts, and winner of the American Book Award, The Poetry Center Book Award, and The Shelley Memorial Award of The Poetry Society of America. He is a contributing editor for Poets & Writers Magazine and a member of the executive board of directors of the National Book Critics Circle.

He kindly agreed to answer a few questions for La Bloga regarding this honor.

DANIEL OLIVAS: The award is meant to celebrate authors who have given generously to other writers or to the broader literary community. How would you describe your particular role that resulted in this honor?

RIGOBERTO GONZÁLEZ: Well, the official citation in the press release is that I am receiving this honor “for championing Latina/o writers.” In the decade I wrote for The El Paso Times, I managed to write 206 book reviews, all Latina/o authors. This work opened other doors for me: editing the University of Arizona’s Camino del Sol anthology, and serving on the executive board of the National Book Critics Circle these last 6 years—two more years until my term ends! Through whatever opportunity presents itself to me, I make it a duty to put forth a Latina/o title that I believe has merit and warrants additional attention. It keeps me reading and expanding my respect for our cultured and creative community.

DO: How did you find out that you were one of the recipients? Were you surprised?

RG: I was actually on the road, just coming home from the Latino Poetry Now event in Minneapolis last October. I had just said my goodbyes to Kristin Naca and I was waiting for a cab at JFK when I received the call from Elliot Figman, the executive director of Poets & Writers Magazine. I had to agree to keep quiet until the official announcement was made this many months later. I was overwhelmed because I had attended this event a few times as a table host and I got to see Junot Diaz, Maxine Hong Kingston and Kwame Dawes receive the honor. Those are folks I admire immensely so I was thrilled to be in that distinguished company.

DO: Are you going to write an acceptance speech or simply let the spirit take you wherever it may?

RG: I’m still debating it. I think folks in the audience appreciate the extemporaneous approach. I have a few thoughts. For example, I plan to dedicate this award to my mentors and other veteran writers who did the same kind of work I’m doing now but outside of the line of sight of New York City. The fruits of their labors is evident in those of us who have moved forward in the writing profession, stepping through doors they kept opened.

IN OTHER LITERARY NEWS…

◙ Sergio Troncoso, most recently the author of From This Wicked Patch of Dust (University of Arizona Press) which won the Southwest Book Award, reviews Matt Méndez's new book, Twitching Heart (Floricanto Press), which he calls “an evocative collection of stories set in El Paso that challenges the reader to explore the dynamics of relationships, gender roles, politics and faith. The prose is simple but true, and the stories are suspenseful and often without easy conclusions, which encourage the reader to ponder the layers of meaning in Méndez’s prose.”

◙ Ajay Singh, editor of Eagle Rock Patch, reviews and carefully analyzes Otto Santa Ana’s new book, Juan in a Hundred: The Representation of Latinos on Network News (University of Texas Press).

◙ I just discovered a new blog called Literanista that was created by Valerie M. Russo who describes herself as a “native New Yorker born to Puerto Rican & Sicilian parents in Spanish Harlem’s El Barrio...[who] is a Social Media Strategist, a published poet/writer, has worked at Hachette Book Group, Aol, Thomson Reuters and scouts the web for multicultural literary news, tech trends, innovation, working on her debut novel & about a million other things.”  Check it out.

Valerie M. Russo,
editor of Literanista 

◙ My short-short story, “Mamá’s Advice,” appears today in the new online edition of the lovely literary journal, PANK.  This story will be included in my collection-in-progress tentatively titled, The King of Lighting Fixtures and Other Stories.  PANK is edited by the talented (and patient) Roxane Gay and M. Bartley Seigel.

◙ All done! So, until next Monday, enjoy the intervening posts from mis compadres y comadres at La Bloga. And remember: ¡Lea un libro!

Critical Thinking: What an Ethnic Studies Class Looks Like

Amelia M.L. Montes (ameliamontes.com)

Colonialism is not satisfied merely with holding a people in its grip and emptying the native’s brain of all form and content.  By a kind of perverted logic, it turns to the past of the oppressed people, and distorts, disfigures, and destroys it . . . .  --Frantz Fanon

In this world it’s possible to achieve great material wealth, to live an opulent life.  But a life built upon those things alone leaves a shallow legacy.  --Cesar Chavez

A strong argument can be made that Chicanos have a long-standing connection to the American Midwest.  --Sandra M. Gonzales

Instead of posting a blog about those who have dismantled (or are presently trying to eliminate) Ethnic Studies, I wish to illustrate the excitement and joy I’m having right now in teaching an Ethnic Studies course and why courses such as this one are vital to all individuals residing in the United States (not just a certain group).  I invite you to read about what happens in my classroom, how we learn, and how “what” we learn becomes crucial for students to develop critical thinking skills, to acquire a complex and rich understanding of the world in which they are preparing to participate. 

I am presently teaching the following Ethnic Studies course at The University of Nebraska-Lincoln:  “Introduction to Latina and Latino Studies.”  My colleague, Dr. Joy Castro, designed the course a few years ago for our majors and minors in Ethnic Studies.  In this class, I have students from a variety of backgrounds.  Some are white and have grown up in small towns in Nebraska. Others grew up in Lincoln. A few are Chicana/Chicano, Latina/Latino, and African American.  One student identifies as Pacific Islander.  Another has spent time in Mexico and the U.S. and therefore claims a Mexican and a North American identity.  Some of the white students have already traveled or are hoping to travel to various Latin American countries in the near future.  They are an eager and interested group who have told me they are taking this class because they are working with or hope to enter a diverse work force and they want to be better equipped to understand people from various ethnicities and sections of the U.S.  They also want to understand themselves and their own ethnic backgrounds.  One student is most interested in drawing connections among her Swedish and German immigrant heritage (by interviewing her family and reading about these immigrants) and the Latina/Latino immigrant experience in our readings. 

Along with award-winning history texts such as Juan Gonzalez’s Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America and Rodolfo F. Acuña’s Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, we are also reading a social science text published in 2011, edited by Rubén O. Martinez, entitled  Latinos in the Midwest.  These three texts give us a well-rounded background. 

I also include Latino Boom:  An Anthology of U.S. Latino Literature (edited by John S. Christie and José B. Gonzalez).  The students have commented that they enjoy reading the poetry, short stories, and essays in this anthology along with reading the history and social science writings.  The history/social science texts and this literary anthology gives them a solid context of various eras, a grounding of historical backgrounds which then make the creative writings much more relevant. 

For example, after reading sections from the Gonzalez and Martinez books on immigration, farmworker organizing, ICE raids in the midwest, the students read Norma Cantú’s short fiction piece, “Se me echina el cuerpo al oír tu cuento . . . “ (“I cringe and get goose bumps when I hear your story”) in Latino Boom.  The students’ lively discussion jumped from the fictional piece to the texts which allowed them to use the research, census reports, and various statistics to support their perspectives.  At the beginning of the semester, I also included a unit on logical fallacies.  After learning the various logical fallacies, their discussions steer away from generalizations, assumptions, false analogies and they develop a more sophisticated and logical framework for discussing complex topics.

The literary anthology, Latino Boom, provides students with Cuban-American, Puerto Rican, Nuyorican, Caribbean immigrant, Mexican American, Chicana/Chicano writings.  They learn authors’ names and their ethnic heritage.  In this way, their idea of “latinidad” becomes much more complex.  I often make connections to other, more well-known American authors, pointing out how Herman Melville’s novel, Moby Dick, draws from his Boston/New York background and his work as a surveyor on the Erie Canal.  His “American” sensibilities are vastly different from someone like the California writer, John Steinbeck, whose experiences working alongside migrant workers in Salinas inspired his novel, Of Mice and Men.  Students realize (on a more intricate level) the vastly different communities and ethnic groups we have in this country.  As one student told me this past week, “we don’t live in a ‘melting pot’—we are a mosaic of peoples.”  Indeed.  The “melting pot” metaphor does not at all describe the vibrancy of difference in this country, and instead the idea of a “melting pot” only generalizes and erases difference. Melville and Steinbeck produced literary texts illustrating very different ethnic, geographic, cultural, communal, and personal backgrounds set in two distinct areas of the United States. The contemporary Dominican-American writer, Junot Diaz, says he chooses to set most of his writings in New Jersey. New Jersey is the geographic landscape of his childhood, an area of the United States that continues to inspire him.  This is what makes our country so rich. 

 Students need to see themselves in what they read, in who they meet in their classrooms, who teaches them so they can be inspired, so they can make their own connections.  And a class like this gives them that opportunity at the same time that they are also honing their critical thinking and writing skills. 

I also include a mini-unit on Diabetes because of the high incidence of the disease in U.S. Latina/Latino communities (and how it is now at epidemic levels throughout the U.S.).  When I teach this mini-unit, I’m often having to assist students in working through the vast amount of misinformation surrounding this disease.  One of them is the idea that Diabetes is reversible.  One can certainly control the disease and maintain low glucose numbers.  However, if that individual were to have major stress in her or his life, a drastic change in lifestyle or diet, a sudden lack of exercise, glucose numbers easily increase.  As well, students often ask about the “best” diet for Diabetes.  There is no “best” diet that fits every person who has Diabetes.  And this is what makes the disease so difficult because, since it is a metabolic condition, each individual’s reaction to a food will be different.  The only way one can find out what foods to eat or not, is to learn to test your blood 75 minutes after the first bite.  Then the individual will know if that food is causing (or not causing) a spike in glucose levels.  Of course there are some foods all individuals with diabetes must be cautious about:  starchy foods like rice, potatoes, corn, as well as more known dessert foods like ice cream and donuts.  Each time I have included a unit on diabetes, I learn so much from the students because almost every student will know someone (friend, family member) with the disease and have much to say about their experiences. 

We have many enjoyable moments in the class discussing the various Latina/Latino American identities in the United States.  I feel so lucky to teach a class like this and the students often tell me how much they learn.  These students will be better prepared to navigate the next journeys in their lives within this vast North American country.  Let’s hope that courses like this will return to the Arizona schools and will also be introduced in other schools across the country which yet do not have such important courses. Sending you all, dear La Bloga readers, buenas energias for a superb week!  

p.s. Check your film theater listings--This Friday (February 22nd), the film version of Rudolfo Anaya's novel, Bless Me, Ultima will be, hopefully, at a theater near you!  Check out the official trailer: (click here).    

So kids don't breathe 400ppm - NO Keystone XL Pipeline!

NYC neighborhood after Hurricane Sandy

This post is about Chicano literature. But of necessity, it's about the rest of the humans and all human culture, too.

Word usage fascinates me, something writers manipulate and craft in their literary works. It's not easy. Certain words carry unintended meaning.

Two phrases, "Ecological footprint" and "Save the Earth" have always bothered me for their inaccuracy. The first is a measure of the demands that humans put on Earth's ecosystems. Buying a package of junk food involves cutting trees for the box, processing oil used to produce the plastic, the consequent landfill or recycling needed to get rid of the trash, as well as our waste products from eating the junk. And that's just the tip of the melting iceberg.

What about footprint? To me, it's BS. Butt-print, something wider and bigger than a foot, would more accurately describe what our presence does to the planet. Footprint's an understatement of our negative impact, like we won't admit our bigger, even catastrophic, guilt.

Saving the planet sounds nice and ecological-friendly, but it too lacks precision, in an opposite way. Many of our ecological movements aren't so concerned about the whole planet as much as they are about preserving it so humans can thrive. Face up: we'd sacrifice umpteen islands and species if that paid for our continuation on top of the food chain.

350.org is a group that keeps count for us of the first phrase, footprint. 350 means climate safety, for all gente. To keep Earth fit for humans, CO2 in the atmosphere must be below 350 parts per million (ppm).

Polar cap melt

You don't have to be any scientist to appreciate that the current 392ppm of CO2 means we passed the limit, live on borrowed time. Plus, it's rising about 2ppm each year. For some years this has meant we're screwing ourselves like the dinosaurs never did. Forget about "saving the planet"; Chicanos, Anglos, Boricuas, vatos, Chinese, it don't matter--we're extinction toast.

A Lakota saying fits here: The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives, meaning that at least in one respect, today frogs display higher I.Q.s than us. When there's no more drinkable, livable pond, the frog dies.

As a writer, I'd like there to be great- and great-geat-grandchildren to read my writings one day. When the CO2 gets to 400 in my lifetime (knock wood), I might have to give up that expectation. I can understand and accept that.

That reminds me of a line in an article this week about Breezy Point, Queens, NY, a working-class beach neighborhood leveled by oceanic flash floods of Hurricane Sandy and subsequent fires. You can read people's accounts of the devastion, but what struck me about the residents' reactions was:

"They didn't want to believe what was happening."

Global warming weather, 350ppm, melting Greenland and polar ice caps, loss of polar bear habitat, rising ocean levels--some of what President Obama described this week--seem like abstractions, until we're directly affected by them, like Katrina and Sandy. We just don't believe. Don't believe us frogs can drink up our pond.

Obviously, there are many things each one of us can do to get our pond back to full and livable. Below are details about one of the most powerful opportunities to keep our species going. But the window of that opportunity comes quick and closes soon.

Sunday, Feb. 17th is the Forward on Climate rallies targeted nationally for sending President Obama one message:

Don't approve the Keystone XL Pipeline.

If the message is powerful enough, i.e., well-attended, with one signature he can effectively prevent 700,000 barrels of the dirtiest carbon oil on the planet going daily from Canada to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. And keep pollutants from raising the atmosphere's CO2ppm. [Read more here.] Congress doesn't approve/disapprove this because legislation isn't involved; only the President and his staff decide. Obama has asked for us to "push" him. If you believe that, here's one for you to put your shoulder behind. Without that, all kids of all nationalities will have to learn how to breathe 400ppm in their much filthier pond in the near future.

You can attend one of the demonstrations (below), send messages of support (or money), spread the word via Facebook and other social media, E-mail, text or call your President, congresspeople and anyone else you want to. And not stop until the message has gotten through. We owe something to our kids, grandkids and ourselves. Plus, there's the pond to consider.

Dozens of groups will demonstrate tomorrow, Sunday, Feb. 17th, 2013 on the National Mall in D.C. to take the message directly to the President. More will occur in L.A., Monterrey, San Francisco, San Diego, elsewhere in Calif., Chicago, Iowa, Michigan, Minn., Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Austin, Olympia & Seattle, Wash., and Denver, among others. Go here for details.

In Denver on Sunday, Feb. 17, at 11:30am, A student-led "Go Fossil Free" rally will beging at 11:20am, followed by a "human pipeline" march to Civic Center Park. Starts at the Auraria Campus' Tivoli Commons, 900 Auraria Parkway, Denver. (Please wear all black.) It ends at Civic Center Park, 101 W. 14th Ave. Pkwy. which you can join at 12:30pm.

If you think new jobs for us frogs are more important than a dirtier, unlivable pond, or that a lower price for a tankful in your butt-print car matters more than whether there'll be frogs even walking after 400ppm, you might not attend. Otherwise, I'll be joining you in some way.

  

Es todo, hoy, but tomorrow matters mucho más,

RudyG

BLESS ME, ULTIMA, the film opens in select markets next week on Friday, February 22nd, 2013. Go here for more info and check local listings.