EL REFLEJO by el reflejo

El Reflejo 26 de octobre 2009

Volume 5, Issue 5

Board of Trustees

Broke Estudiante

El Reflejo/Sol y Canto was created as an alternative media outlet that covers news, politics, culture and the arts of the Chican@/ Latin@ community, providing a space for CSULB students to engage in dialogue.

/ contributors Yadira Arroyo is a queer Chicana feminist writer and blossoming anarchist from the clean streets of South Central Los Angeles. Audrey Silvestre is a passionate queer Chicana feminist activist. And she has pink hair. Pablo Ildefonso is a freelance writer and praxist from South Central Los Angeles. He occasionally rides the bus with Yadira. He wears brown frame glasses. Claudia Ramirez is a Chicana feminist and immigrant rights activist coming to us from el Distrito Federal de Mexico. Nadia Zepeda is half of the naranja from Orange County. She is a dedicated Chicana feminist and organizer. Liz Zepeda is the other mitad from el Condado de Orange. Her current focus is Chicana feminism and vulva theory. Robert Bernal is not related to Gael Garcia Bernal but he’s good at whipping up political cartoons. Julio Salgado is a talented (and broke) cartoonist, and journalist from the LBC.

el reflejo Layoffs and cutbacks are pretty much everywhere. The California State University system received an additional 10% fee increase this year, the second in 2009, making it a total of a 20% fee increase. This prompted two students to have a fantastic fundraiser for their education that brought out fellow students, familia, a faculty member who collected money on campus, and friends. This created a sense of solidarity that night, which is very much needed. Along with the cuts come the furlough days, or, paying more for school while getting less days in class. Will this mean more time for students to study or work? To go to the beach? Or perhaps more time to organize? What would happen if we as students met during the furlough days and began reflecting on our condition and begun to organize? What would happen if every student from this campus decided not to pay? What would happen? The measures taken by the CSU Board of Trustees and the Chancellor pushes us away from the 1960 California Master Plan for Higher Education, that is, of a free education. One of my professors mentioned that when he was a student in the mid-60’s, everything was paid for. By everything, he meant fees, housing, and books. How things have changed. As the price of higher education increases, public higher education looks more like a private university. Where does one go from here? So this issue of El Reflejo includes many more reflections about the cuts, one which includes a chicana’s reflection on a bus ride to campus. Also included is a day to day operation of a fundraiser. A variety of cartoons. A great outline of EZLN’s women’s revolutionary law. And there’s a questionnaire for you to think about. See you in the bus stop, pablo ildefonso

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////// “Elite sectors and centers of power want students to be passive and apathetic. One of the reasons for the very sharp rise in tuition is to kind of capture students. You know, if you come out of college with a huge debt, you’re gonna have to work it off. I mean, you’re gonna have to become a corporate lawyer or go into business or something. And you won’t have time for engaged activism. The students of the sixties could take off a year or two and devote it to activism and think, ‘Okay, I’ll get back into my career later on.’ Now, that’s much harder today. And not by accident. These are disciplinary techniques.” - Noam Chomsky studentactivism.net

Conciencia Femenil Maggy Lopez

n my way home I started to wonder why it is that the revolution never happened. Did I miss it? Was I asleep? Was I watching TV? Eating? Maybe I was online. Maybe I wasn’t there. I asked and no one answered. I kept asking. I asked my parents and they said “Just go to school, that way you won’t have to work as hard, and you will have a good job.” I asked again. I got some answers but never the full story, never my story. I could only seem to find small pieces that kind of fit my story. No one ever told me that I did have shared stories, many foremothers, a path to follow, and a job to continue. I had to go looking for the herstory of the revolution. What I mean is that as mujeres de color (las femenistas, las gays, las activistas, and really, anyone who isn’t white/middle class, tu sabes) have always had to literally pull, tug, search, fight, scream, kick and dust off our cuentos de revolución. If we don’t find that story that speaks to us and gives us a sense of belonging then it feels like we have to reinvent the wheel. Why do we always have to reinvent the wheel? The wheel is there already. I love and respect my professors (WGSS) and all those who have shared their knowledge with me. However, when the words “chicana feminism/t” are uttered, I only hear about la Güera y la Lesbiana, Moraga y Anzaldúa. Don’t get me wrong, I love and greatly

Long Beach who also put out a publication in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. The publication addressed the concerns of women and challenged sexism within the movement. We rarely hear about Las Hijas. Although a part of the revolution happened way before I was around, I also realize that my revolution will happen when we make it happen. Conciencia Femenil is a Chicana feminist organization formed in 2009 to address the ‘cycle of zero,’ or chronic erasure, of Chicanas on the CSU Long Beach campus. Conciencia Femenil is currently undertaking the task of cementing history and establishing the present. It is our goal that future generations of Chicanas and their allies will no longer have to ask the basic questions about Chicana history that in a validating environment would be long answered. We hope to aid ourselves and our compañeras in the acquisition of an informed and empowered identity, para que nunca más nos vuelvan a borrar.

Conciencia Femenil Meetings: Mondays at 12:30pm in FO4-262. Contact e-mail: hijascsulb@gmail.com

appreciate their work because it’s important, revolutionary, and much needed. If we are fortunate enough to hear about the Chican@ movement, we usually hear about the other tokens, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. And again, don’t misunderstand my words, but I know they are not the only revolutionaries de color. There are many, many, many more out there – pero they don’t tell us. ¿Para qué? If you are looking for your revolution and your cuentos, keep looking, never stop asking questions, and keep an eye out. I did and I found my revolution, mis cuentos, and my foremothers. All under my nose. You see, along with my compañeras, I discovered Las Hijas de Cuauhtémoc. Las Hijas de Cuauhtémoc was a group of Chicana feminists from Cal State

Panza Monologues

“Before you can get to the cho-cha, you have to talk about the panza.”

December 4th and 5th at CSULB

EZLN - Womens Revolutionary Law

l Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional [EZLN] is an autonomous collective of people living in Chiapas, Mexico. Desde 1994, in response to North American Free Trade Agreement [NAFTA], they have been part of a movimiento against globalization and neoliberalism. Within the movement they have been seeking to reclaim indigenous control of the land and other resources. In their just fight for the liberation of our people, the EZLN incorporates women in the revolutionary struggle regardless of their race, count of the situtation of the woman worker in Mexico, the revolution incorporates their just demands of equality and justice in the following Women’s Revolutionary Law.

First--Women, regardless of their race, creed, color or political affiliation, have the right to participate in the revolutionary struggle in any way that their desire and capacity determine. Second--Women have the right to work and receive a just salary. Third--Women have the right to decide the number of children they have and care for. Fourth--Women have the right to participate in the matters of the community and have charge if they are free and democratically elected. Fifth--Women and their children have the right to Primary Attention in their health and nutrition. Sixth--Women have the right to education. Seventh--Women have the right to choose their partner and are not obliged to enter into marriage. Eighth--Women have the right to be free of violence from both relatives and strangers. Rape and attempted rape will be severely punished. Ninth--Women will be able to occupy positions of leadership in the organization and hold military ranks in the revolutionary armed forces. Tenth--Women will have all the rights and obligations which the revolutionary laws and regulations give.

Solidaridad Nadia Zepeda

s crucial que tod@s ágamos nuestra parte para educar nuestra comunidad sobre las injusticias que suceden a nuestro. Estos tiempos se están poniendo difíciles y ahora más que nunca necesitamos solidaridad. La etapa de apatía tiene que ser eliminada de nuestr@s sistemas. Hagamos lo posible para unirnos como comunidad y solucionar los problemas internos para poder luchar contra lo que nos oprime. Como generaciones pasadas, tenemos que solidarizarnos para combatir las injusticias que nos afectan. Lo hacemos, no por, si no por el futuro de nuestros compañer@s. El moviento seguirá.

el reflejo

volume 5, issue 5/ cuts

october 2009

Cuestionario Heterosexual / Heteterosexuality Questionnaire

1. ¿Qué cree Ud. que causó su heterosexualidad?

1. What do you think has caused you to be heterosexual?

2. ¿Cómo y cuándo decidió Ud. que era heterosexual?

2. When and how did you first decide you were a heterosexual?

3. ¿Es posible que su heterosexualidad sea solamente una etapa de su vida y que la va a superar?

3. Is it possible your heterosexuality stems from a neurotic fear of people of the same sex?

4. ¿Es posible que su heterosexualidad surja de un miedo neurótico hacia los de su mismo sexo?

4. If you’ve never slept with a person of the same sex, how do you know you wouldn’t prefer it?

5. ¿Si Ud. nunca se acostó con una persona del mismo sexo, será posible que todo lo que Ud. necesita sea un buen amante homosexual?

5. Isn’t it possible your heterosexuality is a phase you may grow out of?

6. ¿A quiénes les reveló Ud. su heterosexualidad? ¿Cómo reaccionaron? 7. ¿Por qué razón los heterosexuales tienen la compulsiva necesidad de atraer a otros a su conducta heterosexual? 8. ¿Por qué insiste Ud. en hacer alarde de su heterosexualidad? ¿Por qué no puede ser lo que es, pero mantenerlo privado? 9. ¿Querría Ud. que sus hijos fueran heterosexuales, a pesar de los problemas que tendrán que enfrentar? 10. La gran mayoría de los abusadores de niños son heterosexuales. ¿Realmente considera adecuado exponer a sus niños a maestros heterosexuales? 11. A pesar de todo el apoyo que el matrimonio recibe de la sociedad, el porcentaje de divorcios aumenta considerablemente. ¿Por qué existen tan pocas relaciones estables entre los heterosexuales? 12. ¿Por qué los heterosexuales ponen tanto énfasis en el sexo? 13. Considerando la amenaza de la superpoblación mundial, ¿cómo podría sobrevivir la especie humana si todos fueran heterosexuales como Ud.? 14. ¿Podría Ud. confiar en la objetividad de un terapeuta heterosexual? ¿No tendría miedo de que él/ella se sienta inclinado a influenciarlo en la dirección de su propia orientación?

6. Isn’t it possible that all you need is a good homosexual lover? 7. If heterosexuality is normal, why are a disproportionate number of mental patients heterosexual? 8. To whom have you disclosed your heterosexual tendencies? How did they react? 9. Why do heterosexuals place so much emphasis on sex? Why are they so promiscuous? 10. Do heterosexuals hate and/or distrust others of their own sex? Is that what makes them heterosexual? 11. If you were to have children, would you want them to be heterosexual knowing the problems they’d face? 12. Your heterosexuality doesn’t offend me as long as you don’t try to force it on me. Why do you feel compelled to seduce others into your sexual orientation? 13. The great majority of child molesters are heterosexuals. Do you really consider it safe to expose your children to heterosexual teachers? 14. Why do you insist on being so obvious, and making a public spectacle of your heterosexuality? Can’t you just be who you are and keep it quiet? 15. How can you ever hope to become a whole person if you limit yourself to a compulsive, exclusively heterosexual lifestyle, and remain unwilling to explore and develop your homosexual potential?

15. ¿Cómo puede Ud. ser una persona completa si se limita a su hetero16. Heterosexuals are noted for assigning themselves and each other to narrowly sexualidad compulsiva, exclusiva y no desarrolla su potencial homosexu- restricted, stereotyped sex-roles. Why do you cling to such unhealthy role playal, saludable y natural? ing? 16. Parece haber muy pocos heterosexuales felices. Hay existen técnicas que le podrían ayudar a cambiar si Ud. realmente lo quiere. ¿Ha considerado la terapia de aversión? 17. Un número desproporcionado de criminales, de los que reciben asistencia social del gobierno (“welfare”) y de otro tipo de gente antisocial son heterosexuales. ¿Por qué alguien querría contratar a un heterosexual para un puesto de mucha responsabilidad? 18. ¿Por qué los heterosexuales son tan promiscuos? 19. ¿Insisten Uds. en atribuir la heterosexualidad a gente famosa para justificar su propia heterosexualidad?

17. Even with all the societal support marriage receives, the divorce rate is spiralling. Why are there so few stable relationships among heterosexuals? 18. How could the human race survive if everyone were heterosexual like you, considering the menace of overpopulation? 19. There seem to be very few happy heterosexuals. Techniques have been developed that could help you change if you really wanted to. Have you considered trying psychotherapy or even aversion therapy?

Source: Organización Internacional de Intersexuales

Pozole DIY “Due to the California budget crisis, the state has dramatically reduced funding to the California State University system. The Chancellor, Presidents, and Board of Trustees have been working very hard to find a balanced solution to this incredible challenge. One of the main goals has been to serve as many students as possible and continuing to provide them a quality education. In order to preserve as many classes and services as possible, the Board of Trustees voted on July 21, 2009 to approve a second State University Fee increase effective for the fall 2009 term as well as an increase in the Nonresident Tuition rate. In taking this action, it was noted that even with these increases, CSU fees remain among the lowest in the country and that the increases may be offset for many students by State University Grants as well as the Federal Stimulus package which increased Federal Pell Grants and education tax credits last spring.” - Nancy Eckhous University Bursar Tuesday, August, 18, 2009 • Who has a karaoke machine? • Road trip to pick up karaoke machine, in Burbank • Now, who has Rock band? • 8 calls or so later • Found one! • Pick up Rock Band, in Studio City. Good thing we were already in Burbank. • Look for someone that has a microphone. • Found one! • Drive all the way in La Mirada to pick it up. • PROMOTE! PROMOTE! PROMOTE! Wednesday, August 19, 2009 • Pick up stuff for photo booth: printer. paper. ink. • Terrified to shop for food, but we have to do it. • Find stuff to make pozole: meat, corn, condiments, tostadas. (Thank all the moms for letting us know the specials are on Wednesdays).

by Leticia del Rio • • • • • • • • •

Loteria Game: find cheap prizes. candy. photo paper. (Thank God for the 99 Cents Store). Should we buy these sodas? Received a scolding from mi ‘ama telling me that the 99 Cents Store would not have given us a good deal after all. Not so thankful for the 99 Cents Store after all? We pretty much realize that mothers are amazing! 4:40 P.M. running late to pick up mi ‘ama at work. Drop off mom at home Drop off fundraiser stuff at Julio’s house PROMOTE! PROMOTE! PROMOTE!

Thursday, August 20, 2009 • 5:00 A.M: drop off mom at work • 8:00 A.M: arrive at Chancelor Reed’s office (in Downtown Long Beach) to drop off a flyer and an invitation. • His guaruras tell us, “Oh yes, we’ll give it to him.” • 8:30 A.M: Walk into Brotman Hall to try to speak and or invite President Alexander. • He’s in Florida. They don’t tell us when he’ll be back. • 8:45 A.M: Walk next door to invite Douglas Robinson’s office. “He’s in a meeting,” they tell us. • We never did hear anything from either of them. • Borrow 3 tables from neighbor. • We are gonna need more tables. • 5 calls or so later • Go pick up more tables from: Whittier, Long Beach, and Cerritos. • Drive to Cerritos for the props for the photo booth • PROMOTE! PROMOTE! PROMOTE! Friday, August 21, 2009 • SET UP 7:00 p.m. until??? • Move all the furniture out of Julio’s house and into garage. • Set up tables • Food Labels: pozole, tamales, chips, candy bars, fudge, drinks. • 5 big Banners: “Graduate By May,” “Food Sale,” “Photo Booth,” “Karaoke,” “Game Room.” • Decorate Game Room • Decorate Photo Booth • Decorate the Living Room • Build the Loteria Game • PROMOTE! (I’m-too-sleepy-to-be-on-Facebook-right-now) • PROMOTE! • PROMOTE! Saturday, August 22, 2009 • Wake up early to finish setting up the food. • Call people to remind them of our event. • Promote! • If we make enough money for our first installment plan, we might be ok? • Promote!

This is only a brief description of what we had to do to raise money for our fees. Our Summer should have been different. We shouldn’t have had to organize an event in a short time. We shouldn’t have had to worry that our classes got cancelled because we couldn’t pay the fee increases. Unfortunately, we couldn’t count on financial aid or scholarships to help us. If we wanted to graduate by May, this was our only available option. Our Summer should have been different. Monday, August 29, 2009 he first thing that came out of my professor’s mouth was, “The priority will be given to all of the students that registered first. If you don’t make it into the class, you can always take it next semester. Actually, If you’re a senior you can simply register early and then you don’t have to worry about getting into the class anymore.” Right, because I like doing this every semester? I like having to petition for a class and having to wait around in uncertainty. Yes, that is exactly why I don’t register for classes on time.

After August 22nd, I thought my worries would be over, but they weren’t. I am still worried. Now, I am faced with an even bigger problem: How can I graduate when there are hardly any classes? Will next semester get worse? I wish my professors could have stepped inside my head for a bit. I wish all of the people that are cutting programs and classes left and right could try to understand an AB540 student’s anxiety in this crisis. Seven weeks into the semester and I keep thinking, “Why should we have to deal with any of this?” I am a student and I have rights! Right? I shouldn’t have to organize a fundraiser at a friends house to get an education, right? Education should be a right. To all of us. But sometimes I forget. Who am I kidding, sadly, I always forget that, yes, I can demand an education. You see, something happens when you’re in this situation y cuando te resignas por no hacer muchas preguntas. If I say something, people are going to start asking me all sorts of questions. Y despues que hago? When it comes to our education we should never settle for anything. Many of us have, but we shouldn’t. And by many of us, I’m talking not just to the AB540 population, but the entire student population. I am talking to all of the Latin@s out there! You! What are we going to do about our education? What are we going to do about the budget cuts? More importantly, how are we all going to work together to stop anymore budget cuts?

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California State University, Long Beach

March 18 - 20, 2010

Conciencia Femenil

Hosted by:

Workshops on the following topics: Las Hijas de Cuauhtémoc, education, queerness, sexuality, gender, labor, immigration, body image, and much more. Live entertainment!

www.myspace.com/hijascsulb hijascsulb@gmail.com

This is a conference to open a creative space for buiding bridges between the community and academy. Speakers will include community members as well as scholars, activists and artists.

Save the Date!

his three-day conference will explore and confront ways that globalization and borders shape Chicana Feminist identities. We are reclaiming our stories “para que nunca mas nos vuelvan a borrar.”

Chicana Feminisms:

by daniel coronel

Insignificant as it may appear, I will no longer flow with the current and conform. I will spread knowledge and inform as many as I can. Maybe someone will unite to the dreams of Martin Luther King, John Lennon, and myself, and spread the knowledge they know. We will become the multitude of dreamers who want change, and god willing, we will fight and stand against the current of indifference and ignorance.

We as a country have been manipulated by the government to think everything they do is “in the best interest of the American people.” Mexico’s Carlos Salinas de Gortari robbed Mexico of millions. Somehow we believe that corruption exists everywhere except in the U.S. We have been made to conform and bask in the commodities of the world at the expense of others. The people that died at the Alamo were remembered as martyrs in the U.S. Even though it was an invasion it is described and taught in classes as Manifest Destiny. I suppose it sounds better that way. We have become a wave of people, a current of indifference, a tsunami of ignorance crashing against the pillars of justice and against people who work for progress and “Justice”.

It’s hard to explain why you get goose bumps every time you hear the Star Spangled Banner, or why you love this country so much, at least what it stands for, but I suppose your heart can’t be denied. The same heart that feels hate for what such a beautiful country has become. Amongst other things, these atrocities are not just a reality, but a trend. I could easily blame the government, but instead I choose to blame myself. I am one of many who found comfort in my ability to buy a sweater for $10 dollars and not think that I got it cheap because the US plague called GREED has caused a 7 year old boy to work countless hours to make that sweater for .95 cents. I found comfort in paying $1 dollar for a burger and not think that someone else got the short end of the stick. (Some “illegal”) I wonder if I would feel the same, if one day I didn’t come home because the U.S. government kidnapped me and held me as a Prisoner of War because I look middle eastern, even though I’m Mexican. Would the Star Spangled Banner sound just as patriotic if they put a gun in the hands of my unborn child, and asked him to kill for what the government believes in. even if he’s only 12?

Fact: The United States government kidnapped innocent people for their political advancement Fact: The U.S “legally” murdered and displaced millions of Native Americans. Fact: The U.S. used the, now, dead people of the Alamo as bait to invade and steal half of Mexico. Fact: The U.S. government violated and continues to violate Citizens rights, and justifies it long enough for the people to blame the next group in office. Fact: The U.S. government trained 12 year old boys to wage war on its own country. Fact: The U.S. government depletes, the now, third world countries resources, and the citizens who risk their lives by crossing the U.S. border are labeled “illegal”. Honorable label if it means ever family member can eat everyday and not just when food is available.

Against the Current