a publication of the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center
February 2013 | Vol. 26 Issue 1
San Antonio, Tejas
La Epoca de Oro
Homenaje a Eva Garza y las divas de la cancion Mexicana 23 de febrero, 2013
Todos de Acuerdo
La Voz de Esperanza February 2013 vol. 26 issue 1
Editor
Gloria A. Ramírez
Editorial Assistance Alice Canestaro-García
Design Monica V. Velásquez Contributors
Elliot Benjamin, Lupe Casares, Marisol Cortez, Rogelio Sáenz, Deborah R. Vargas,
La Voz Mail Collective
Bat, Juan Diaz, Alma R. Dueñas, María (Sylvia) García, Gloria Hernández, Amalia Ibarra, Rachel Ma rtinez, Margarita McAuliffe, Ray McDonald, Angie Merla, Mike Sánchez, Argelia Soto, Lucila Vicencio y MujerArtes
Esperanza Director Graciela I. Sánchez
Esperanza Staff Imelda Arismendez, Itza Carbajal, Marisol Cortez, Jennifer Niño, Jezzika Pérez, Melissa Rodríguez, Beto Salas, Susana Segura, Monica Velásquez
Conjunto de Nepantleras
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2013 Vol. 26 Issue 1•
-Esperanza Board of Directors-
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Brenda Davis, Araceli Herrera, Rachel Jennings, Amy Kastely, Kamala Platt, Ana Ramírez, Gloria A. Ramírez, Rudy Rosales, Nadine Saliba, Graciela Sánchez • We advocate for a wide variety of social, economic & environmental justice issues. • Opinions expressed in La Voz are not necessarily those of the Esperanza Center.
La Voz de Esperanza
is a publication of Esperanza Peace & Justice Center 922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212
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lavoz@esperanzacenter.org Articles due by the 8th of each month Policy Statements * We ask that articles be visionary, progressive, instructive & thoughtful. Submissions must be literate & critical; not sexist, racist, homophobic, violent, or oppressive & may be edited for length. * All letters in response to Esperanza activities or articles in La Voz will be considered for publication. Letters with intent to slander individuals or groups will not be published. Esperanza Peace & Justice Center is funded in part by the NEA, TCA, theFund, Astraea Lesbian Fdn for Justice, Coyote Phoenix Fund, AKR Fdn, Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone Fdn, The Kerry Lobel & Marta Drury Fund of Horizon’s Fdn, y nuestra buena gente.
Eva Garza fue una de las Diez Mejores Cantantes de México Por Carlos Montenegro, Excelsior, Mexico City, 1966. (excerpts)
Ayer nos dimos a la tarea de recabar opiniones sobre la jerarquía artística que la desaparecida cancionista norteña Eva Garza, llegó a alcanzar en el mundillo artístico de México e incluso con un crédito internacional... todos nuestros entrvistados sus compañeros de lucha, estuvieron de acuerdo en que Eva Garza, quedará incluída en la historia musical de nuestro país, como una de las “grandes”, entre las diez mejores cancioneras que ha tenido México... “Eva Garza, en sus cuarenta y ocho años de vida, dedicó treinta y dos a su vocación y profesión, distinguiéndose desde muy joven por lo cálido del timbre de su voz, por su temperamente sentimental para interpretar y por su gran versatilidad pues lo mismo cantaba boleros románticos, que canciones rancheras, corridos bravios, música tropical, que temas modernos; grabó en casi todas las marcas disqueras nacionales, unos doscientos números; actuó en todo tipo de escenario en México y el extranjero, recorriendo gran parte de la Unión Americana, todo Centro y Sudamerica, Las Antillas y El Caribe; fue una de las reinas de la radio, en la época de oro de la XEW, de la cual surgió a la popularidad y fue proclamada en Brasil, Argentina y Cuba, como la artista del año en 1940 y 1946.” [English translation below] Yesterday we undertook the task to solicit opinions about the artistic trajectory of the recently deceased Norteña singer, Eva Garza, who rose to the heights of the artistic world in Mexico as well as internationally... everyone that was interviewed, her companions in the same endeavor, were in agreement that Eva Garza, will be included in the history of music in our country, as one of the “greats” –among the ten best singers of México... Eva Garza, in her 48 years of life, dedicated 32 to her vocation and profession, distinguishing herself early on due to the warm timbre of her voice, her expressive interpetations and her great versatility in singing equally well –romantic boleros, rancheras, corridos, tropical music as well as modern tunes; recording with all the major national recording studios, some 200 in number; acting in all kinds of stages in Mexico and abroad, traveling throughout most of the United States, all of Central and South America, the Antilles and the Carribean; she was one of the queens of radio, in the golden age of XEW, from which her popularity surged. She was proclaimed artist of the year in 1940 and 1946 in Brasil, Argentina and Cuba.
The excerpts at left are a testament to Eva Garza, a monumental artist in the golden age of radio and cinema in Mexico, Latin America and the U.S. Many of the Divas of the time from San Antonio and South Texas; Chelo Silva, Lydia Mendoza and Rosita Fernández among others lived full lives, but Eva’s life was cut short at 48 years. She has been a virtual unknown in San Antonio –despite having grown up in the westside attending Lanier High School and making her singing and dancing debut in local theaters.As soon as Eva’s voice traversed the airwaves for CBS in New York City, she became an international sensation. On February 23rd, The Sweetheart of the Americas, La Cancionera de la Frontera (among other titles) –Eva Garza will be honored with musical tributes, an art exhibit pláticas and an evening of dance in an atmosphere reminiscent of the 40s emceed by Rita Urquijo-Ruiz. San Antonio divas, Las Tesoros del Westside –Rita Vidaurri, Beatriz Llamas, Perla Tapatia & Blanca Rodríguez will be paying musical tributes to Eva along with Azul, Leticia Rodríguez (Eva’s niece) and musicans George Prado, Aaron Prado and David González. Tomas Ybarra Frausto and Deborah Vargas will give brief presentations. Tickets are $20 each or two for $35. Call 210.228.0201 or come by Esperanza to buy your tickets. Limited seating!!!
ATTENTION VOZ READERS: If you have a correction you want to make on your mailing label please send it in to lavoz@esperanzacenter.org. If you do not wish to continue on the mailing list for whatever reason please notify us as well. La Voz is provided as a courtesy to people on the mailing list of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. The subscription rate is $35 per year. The cost of producing and mailing La Voz has substantially increased and we need your help to keep it afloat. To help, send in your subscriptions, sign up as a monthly donor, or send in a donation to the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. Thank you. -GAR VOZ VISION STATEMENT: La Voz de Esperanza speaks for many individual, progressive voices who are gente-based, multi-visioned and milagro-bound. We are diverse survivors of materialism, racism, misogyny, homophobia, classism, violence, earth-damage, speciesism and cultural and political oppression. We are recapturing the powers of alliance, activism and healthy conflict in order to achieve interdependent economic/ spiritual healing and fuerza. La Voz is a resource for peace, justice, and human rights, providing a forum for criticism, information, education, humor and other creative works. La Voz provokes bold actions in response to local and global problems, with the knowledge that the many risks we take for the earth, our body, and the dignity of all people will result in profound change for the seven generations to come.
excerpts from
by Deborah R. Vargas. University of Minnesota Press, 2012. The following excerpts are from chapter 3 “Sonido de Las Américas: Crossing SouthSouth Borders with Eva Garza”
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2013 Vol. 26 Issue 1•
Following a fragmented archive that included family memories, scrapbooks, scattered discographies I compiled in U.S. and Mexican music registers, and various personal interviews, truth be told I was not very confident about what I might find. Garza’s story is not unlike that of other Chicana singers in this book whose sparse recollections and footnotes I have followed into more makeshift archives, Dairy Queen towns, and living rooms that I can remember. Unlike with Silva, for example, the more places I looked, the more I came across when it came to Eva Garza. I was continually amazed that her story had not circulated more. I found Garza’s elusiveness to be differently shaped, compared to other singers—with various beginnings and ends (including two different origins of birth), a subject in varied “official” music narratives, and partial discographies. As a researcher who prides myself in actively working against the positivist project of “data collection” as truth, I was nonetheless pleased to compile materials about Garza’s recording and radio presence in Havana. Her musical career and life trajectory impressed on me that the presence of Tejana/ Chicana singers lingers in seemingly contested spaces and temporalities. . . The various Cubanos I encountered in Havana, including Flora and Carmen, profoundly reminded me that a notion of locating Eva Garza according to points in space and time—about simply looking in the right places and asking the correlated questions—was incapable of deciphering the noncontiguous, nonlinear, temporal geographies of this dissonant diva; rather hearing Flora and Carmen and countless other Cubanos sing “Sabor de Engaño” (Taste of Betrayal) taught me a different methodology for locating Garza in Havana: listening to times past made present. In the spirit of Henri Lefebvre, I learned to listen to Havana “as an audience listens to a symphony.” Canonical music narratives work to uphold nationalist imaginaries in a nexus of music, nation, and “the” significant figures in a given genre. What is too often overlooked are inconsequential moments such as fan renditions of “Sabor de Engaño” that exemplify the ways a body recalls and how a song can locate someone like Garza that official or canonical discographies or biographies alone cannot. This is an example of what Pierre Nora distinguishes between memory as “a perpetual actual phenomenon” and history as the always problematic and incomplete representation of the past. Rather than locating the missing pieces of a unified history, my research in Havana revealed how Garza’s cultural production and lived experience must be understood through a different analytic in order to articulate her dissonant Chicana subjectivity. I argue that Garza occupies a “dissonant scale” in borderlands music, as a Chicana singer who dwells in a mingling of variant times and places. As “La Voz de las Américas,” for example, Garza cannot be located within a borderlands musical canon that relies on a U.S.-Mexico nationalist geography or a song repertoire that includes non-Mexican-origin music. Analysis of Garza’s “subject-in-process,” to employ Norma Alarcón’s term, requires a nuanced or complexly configured multiple spatial-temporal compass that can register bodily flow and musical migration in other than a linear, unidirectional south-to-north migration of Mexican-descent peoples or one that marks place according to family genealogy. (142-144).
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Tracing Garza’s musical trajectory has meant
trusting a transfrontera musical compass to lead
me through multiply situated soundscapes and
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disconnected narratives across the Américas.
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the rise of the
immigration Indu$trial Complex by Rogelio Sáenz
O
ing the last eight years (2004-2011). Additionally, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, CCA made political contributions in the amount of almost $2.2 million between 2003 and 2012 while the GEO Group paid out $3.1 million in politiPoster by Melanie Cervantes cal contributions during this period. Likewise, influential individuals are associated with each of these corporations, serving in a variety of capacities including as investors, board members, and lobbyists. For example, CCA has ties to Lamar Alexander, former governor and U.S. senator from Tennessee and whose wife (Honey Alexander) has invested in CCA; Phillip Perry, who lobbied for CCA before holding the post of general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security and who is also a son-in-law of former Vice President Dick Cheney; and Dennis DeConcini, who is a former U.S. senator from Arizona and who is a member of CCA’s board. The basis for the rise of the privatization of immigration detention facilities, as well as prison facilities, has centered on the supposed efficiency that is reported. Generally it is argued that the private sector can deliver services and facilities more efficiently than the public sector. Nonetheless, there are concerns that in the quest for profits such private corporations cut corners in the form of workers being ill-trained, paid low, and provided with limited benefits, resulting in high levels of employee turnover. Moreover, there has been a litany of complaints regarding the abuse of immigrant detainees in detention centers as well as prisoners in prison facilities operated by private corporations. In the last several years, headline titles such as the following have illuminated and warned of the abuses reported in such facilities: “ACLU Challenges Prison-Like Conditions at Hutto Detention Center,” “Allegations of Sexual Abuse at Krome Detention Center,” “Detention Centers for Undocumented Immigrants Fail to Meet Health, Safety Standards, Report Finds,” “Privatized Immigrant Detention Facilities for Families Revealed to be Modern-Day Concentration Camps,” and “Children Treated Like Criminals at Immigrant Detention Center.” Yet, one of the most fundamental dangers is that when there are so many powerful entities—persons in the governmental, business, and criminal justice/immigration enforcement sectors— benefitting handsomely from existing immigration policies, it is difficult to bring about immigration reform. Indeed, many powerful people who are part of the immigration... continued on pg. 12
... the average daily immigrant detainee population has expanded from 9,011 in 1996, to 20,429 in 2001, to 33,330 in 2011.
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n his last day of office on January 17, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell speech warned the American public about the dangers of an expanding military-industrial complex. This complex illustrates the firm and symbiotic relationship between the interests of legislators, the armed forces, and the defense industry. Individuals who are part of the military-industrial complex often move fluidly across three sectors—government, arms, and defense—with their own interests overweighing those of the general public. The danger is that a quest for profits drives decisions involving the manufacturing of arms and the fortification of the defense industry regardless of the level in which arms and defense are needed. Just over a half century after President Eisenhower warned against the dangers of the military-industrial complex, today we have the establishment of yet another industrial complex—this one centered around the immigrant detention industry. A variety of policies over the last 25 years has led to the criminalization of immigrants—regardless of their legalization status—and the massive rise of detention centers to house them. According to data compiled by Alison Siskin, a specialist in immigration legislation at the Congressional Research Service, the average daily immigrant detainee population has expanded from 9,011 in 1996, to 20,429 in 2001, to 33,330 in 2011. This growth has occurred alongside record-breaking deportations during the Obama administration with 391,953 individuals deported in 2011 compared to only 280,974 five years earlier according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s 2011 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. With such growth and demand for detention facilities, increasingly the national government has farmed out immigrant detention centers to the private sector. Among a variety of corporations that have benefitted from the business of housing immigrant detainees and prisoners in general, none has profited more than Corrections Corporation of American (CCA) and the GEO Group, Inc., particularly after 9/11. For example, from January 2001 to the present, the value of CCA stock rose nearly 14-fold from 2.501 in 2001 to 34.1 today (December 4, 2012), while the value of GEO stocks increased approximately 9-fold from 3.293 in 2001 to 29.39 today. Both of these corporations have continued to prosper and grow as they have provided housing in the form of private immigrant detention centers and prison facilities. Today CCA owns and operates 66 facilities which house 91,000 beds while the GEO Group has 65 facilities and nearly 66,000 beds. Furthermore, according to its annual report in 2011, CCA recorded total revenues in the amount of $1.7 billion while the GEO Group generated total revenues in the sum of $1.6 billion. Moreover, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, CCA spent $17.2 million in lobbying activities in the last decade (2002-2011) while the GEO Group dispensed nearly $2.5 million in such type of activities dur-
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El Aumento del
Complejo Industrial-Migracion por Rogelio Sáenz
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n su último día en su oficina el 17 de enero de 1961, el Presidente Dwight D. Eisenhower en su discurso de la despedida advirtió al público americano del peligro de la expansión del complejo industrial-militar. Este complejo ilustra la firme y simbiótica relación entre los intereses de legisladores, las fuerzas armadas, y la industria de la defensa. Individuos quienes son parte del complejo industrialmilitar a menudo se mueven fluidamente a través de tres sectores—gobierno, armas, y defensa—con sus propios intereses teniendo más peso que los del público general. El peligro es que la búsqueda de ganancias impulsa decisiones involucrando la fabricación de armas y la fortificación de la industria defensora a pesar del actual nivel de necesidad de armas y defensa. A más de mitad de un siglo de cuando el Presidente Eisenhower advirtió del peligro del complejo industrial-militar, hoy tenemos el establecimiento de todavía otro complejo industrial—este centrado alrededor de la industria de la detención de migrantes. Una variedad de políticas durante los últimos 25 años ha resultado en la criminalización de migrantes—a pesar de estado de legalización—y el aumento masivo de centros de detención para alojarlos. Según datos compilados por Alison Siskin, una especialista en legislación migratoria en el Congressional Research Service, el promedio diario de población de migrantes detenidos se ha expandido desde 9.011 en 1996, a 20.429 en 2001, a 33.330 en 2011. Este crecimiento ha ocurrido junto con el récord de deportaciones durante la administración Obama con 391.953 individuos deportados en 2011 comparado con solamente 280.974 cinco años antes según el U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s 2011 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. Con tal crecimiento y demanda para instalaciones de detención, cada vez más el gobierno federal ha contractado centros de detención para migrantes al sector privado. Entre una variedad de corporaciones cuales han beneficiado del negocio de alojamiento de migrantes detenidos y prisioneros en general, ninguna ha tenido más ganancia que la Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) y el GEO Group, Inc., particularmente después del 11-9. Por ejemplo, desde enero del 2001 al presente, el valor de acciones de CCA subió casi 14 veces más de 2,501 en 2001 a 34,1 hoy (4 de diciembre de 2012), mientras el valor de las acciones de GEO aumentó aproximadamente 9 veces más de 3,293 en 2001 a 29,39 al presente. Ambas corporaciones han prosperado y crecido porque han provisto alojamiento en la forma de centros privados de detención a migrantes además de instalaciones penitenciarios. Hoy la CCA posee y maneja 66 instalaciones cuales alojan 91.000 camas mientras el GEO Group tiene 65 instalaciones y casi 66.000 camas. Además, según su reporte anual en 2011, CCA declaró ingresos totales en la cantidad de $1,7 billones mientras GEO generó ingresos totales en la suma de $1,6 billones. También, según el Center for Responsive Politics, CCA gastó $17,2 mil-
lones en actividades cabilderas (“lobbying”) en la última década (2002-2011) mientras GEO dispensó casi $2,5 millones en tal tipo de actividades durante los últimos ocho años (2004-2011). Adicionalmente, según el National Institute on Money in State Politics, CCA hizo contribuciones políticas en la cantidad de casi $2,2 millones entre 2003 y 2012 mientras GEO pagó $3,1 millones en contribuciones políticas durante este período. Igualmente, individuos influyentes son asociados con cada una de estas corporaciones, sirviendo en varias actividades como inversionistas, miembros del consejo, y cabilderos. Por ejemplo, CCA tiene vínculos con Lamar Alexander, antiguo gobernador y senador de E.U. por Tennessee y cuya esposa (Honey Alexander) ha invertido en CCA; Philip Perry, que cabildeó para CCA antes de tomar el puesto de abogado general del Department of Homeland Security y quien es yerno de Vicepresidente Dick Chaney; y Dennis DeConcini, quien es antiguo senador de E.U. por Arizona y quien es miembro del consejo de CCA. La base para el crecimiento de la privatización de instalaciones para la detención de migrantes, así como de instalaciones penitenciarias, se ha concentrado en la supuesta eficiencia que reportan. Generalmente se argumenta que el sector privado puede cumplir con servicios e instalaciones más eficientes que el sector público. Sin embargo, hay preocupaciones que en la búsqueda de ganancias tales corporaciones privadas realizan mecanismos cuestionables en la forma que son mal entrenados los trabajadores a quienes se les pagan sueldos bajos y se les brindan beneficios limitados, lo cual resulta en altos niveles de rotación de empleados. Además, ha habido una letanía de quejas con respecto al abuso de migrantes detenidos en centros de detención así como prisioneros en instalaciones penitenciarias manejadas por corporaciones privadas. En los últimos años, titulares de noticias como las siguientes han iluminado y advertido de los abusos reportados en tales facilidades: “ACLU Desafía Condiciones Penitenciarias en el Hutto Centro de Detención,” “Alegaciones de Abuso Sexual en el Krome Centro de Detención,” “Condiciones Deplorables . . . continúa en la página 12
he Rise of the immigration industrial com Part One
Cities as if Women Mattered: A Four Part Series
In the Shadow of the Pearl: Updates and Intros by Marisol Cortez
In August of 2012, I attended the city council meeting in which the council voted unanimously in favor of the Alamo Brewery project,
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pending its approval by the federal and state agencies that granted the funds used to restore the Hays Street Bridge. I went to that meeting to speak in support of the Hays Street Bridge Restoration Group in their fight to protect the bridge as both historic landmark and public right of way, and to preserve the open space around Bridge neighbors and community members gathered at the Hays St. Bridge in December, 2012 before boarding the bridge for development buses to City Hall to announce a lawsuit against the City of San Antonio. as a community park, as the Group had intended in its years of collaboration with the city. At that meeting, however, the house on East Mulberry, then exit Josephine, then right on Euclid. city voted to essentially give the land, originally donated to the Back then, in the 1980s, when the Pearl was still open as a major Restoration Group for the park idea, to brewery developer Eu- employer, the area was a mix of residential and commercial uses. gene Simor –offering him a grant in the amount of the land sale. Crossing the San Antonio River on Josephine, you would pass the In addition, Council voted to give Simor an incentives package leaning Liberty Bar, then Hawthorne Elementary, where my mom worth $794,000, and approved licensing agreements that would worked as a special ed teacher, then the Royal Crown bottling allow him to use the land beneath the bridge for events, to place plant, just a few blocks from my grandparents’ house. Driving tables and chairs on the bridge deck, and to attach a skywalk to past the plant, I would fantasize about finding soda sitting outside the bridge approaches. in unopened glass bottles –cola or 7Up or Orange Crush –free for These details aside, what struck me at that meeting was a the taking. Other distribution centers dotted the modest working comment by one of the project’s proponents, who drew parallels class, largely mexicano neighborhood of my grandparents: there between redevelopment at the Pearl and Simor’s proposed mi- was the Borden bottler with its smiling cow logo, smelling sourly crobrewery project. Like the upscale breweries and restaurants at of milk as we would drive by; there was the fenced-in concrete the Pearl and Blue Star, she said, the Hays Street Bridge project pad that served as storage site for a local sign company, across the would stimulate the development of new residential living spaces street from where we would park on Myrtle Street. downtown, beautifying an area long neglected and blighted. The By the time of my own childhood, many of these businesses, logic feels impeccable when couched in these terms. Who doesn’t like the Pearl, were soon to close. Back in the 50s and 60s, when want to beautify what is ugly, to revivify what has been neglected my dad and his siblings were growing up, the area was something and underutilized? Yet I found myself feeling anger at her words. of a commercial corridor, some of it industrial scale and some of My father grew up in the neighborhood east of N. St. Mary’s it local. In addition to RC, PepsiCo also operated a bottler in the and south of Josephine, just north of downtown, in the shadow of neighborhood; in addition to Borden, there was Foremost. Besides the Pearl Brewery. As a child, when we would visit my grandpar- the milk companies, there was an ice cream factory. Across from ents, that’s where we would go: a short dash down 37 from our the RC bottler on Josephine St. was a large cleaners that spanned
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Cities as if Women Mattered: A Four Part Series
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the river. Across from my grandmother’s house stood a printing and electronics shop. One of their neighbors, a friend of my grandmother’s, ran the Tacoland before it became the music venue made infamous by Ram Ayala’s shooting death. Across the street from the Tacoland was a local BBQ place where workers from the area would go for lunch; everyday at 12 noon, the whistle would blow at the Pearl to announce the lunch break, a sonic stamp in the landscape of my father’s memory. He and his brothers would fish in the river and raid the dumpsters behind the ice cream factory for discarded five gallon tubs, amazed to discover so many free frozen treats. My father also remembers the sight of green discharge flowing into the river from one of the milk factories. Back then, the city had not yet constructed the diversion channels that steered the river clear of the central business district downstream in times of flooding. “It was just a plain river,” my dad remembers. “It went right through town.” At the end of the street was a little grocer on the corner of E. Myrtle and N. St. Mary’s, the Red and White where my grandmother would send my father and his siblings on errands, armed with a list. There is nothing necessarily scientific about these sights, these smells. They are just memories, just words relayed to me, the thread that tethers me to a sense of place: but this is what I think about when I hear the words of the woman at the council meeting. The coded ugliness creeping around the edge of her praise for the Pearl’s redevelopment –blighted, vacant, beautified– prising apart a gulf between her knowledge of the neighborhood and mine, what she thinks she knows and my memories. Just an ordinary neighborhood. Just people working, living, even after the factories began to board up and leave. How dare you suggest that what remains is blighted. How dare you say that what has replaced it now is an improvement on what was there. Who dares to say which lives and modes of living have more value and which have less. Who dares suggest that what and who came before were the wrong sorts. I want to tap her on the shoulder and tell her this. I want to look up her name and send her an email. But I don’t.
S
ince the land sale and bridge licensing
at that August city council meeting, much has happened in the fight over the Hays Street Bridge in a relatively short period of time. After the vote, we learned of a state law that protects public lands like parks –whether designated, used, or understood as such –from their sale to private developers without a prior public election. This is the same law the city is now trying to skirt in the case of HemisFair’s redevelopment, and it gives registered voters a way to petition local government for an election in the event that a city does sell park land. On the basis of this statute, the Restoration Group and supporters began a petition process calling for a public election on the land sale. In about six weeks, we collected over 2800 signatures, which we submitted to the city clerk’s office on October 1st. Around the same time, we learned that the Federal Highway Administration had weighed in against
Above: A press conference on the steps of City Hall announced the lawsuit against the City of San Antonio. Below: Gustavo Sánchez holds a sign at a press conference convened to submit petitions against the city’s land sale.
the project, stating that the city’s plans fell outside the scope of the funding’s original intent to restore the bridge as a public right of way, and that “the Federal government is not in the practice of funding projects for the benefit [of] a private developer.” Predictably, the city responded that the petition was invalid and that the statute did not apply, given that the land had not been officially designated as a park, despite its donation for that purpose and despite the long process of collaboration between the Restoration Group and the city toward developing the land to that
After several community discussions, we therefore decided in November to file a lawsuit against the
city –not only for its use of the letter of the law to betray the spirit of the law protecting public lands and public space, but for its breach of contract with
the Restoration Group, which raised funds and solicited the land donation in order to obtain the $2.89 million in federal matching funds used to restore the bridge.
Editor’s note: In the Shadow of the Pearl is the first installation in a 4-part series that will include: Thinking Hays St and Hemisfair in an Era of Neoliberal Urbanism (Mar 2013), Right to the City, Rights of Nature (Apr 2013) and Beyond Development: Alternatives & Tactics (May 2013). Bio: Marisol Cortez, Ph.D, attempts to inhabit the impossible interstices between academic and activist worlds. She works primarily on issues of environmental justice as a creative writer, community organizer and liberation sociologist. Email her at: cortez.marisol@gmail.com
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end. After several community discussions, we therefore decided in November to file a lawsuit against the city –not only for its use of the letter of the law to betray the spirit of the law protecting public lands and public space, but for its breach of contract with the Restoration Group, which raised funds and solicited the land donation in order to obtain the $2.89 million in federal matching funds used to restore the bridge. We filed this suit at the county courthouse in early December, accompanied by a lively press conference that began at the bridge –under a banner reading Private Hands Off Public Lands –and then traveled by bus to the courthouse downtown, where about 50 bridge neighbors and community supporters gathered to demand: Whose Bridge? Our Bridge! And, Whose Land? Our Land! Since then, we have been waiting for the city’s response and preparing to file an injunction to halt progress on the brewery project until the lawsuit is resolved. Once this injunction is filed, we will need to call on community to attend hearings with us and support what is sure to be a long-term effort. To do that, though, it is imperative that we understand the wider issues at stake. Press conferences and lawsuits are not ends in themselves, and they are useless if they do not serve the wider purposes of organizing and educating ourselves as community –so that we can more effectively educate those with the power to make decisions that impact our lives. As District 2 councilwoman Ivy Taylor herself said at the August 2nd city council meeting, the spectre of gentrification lurks behind the struggle over the bridge, and it is time for a more substantive, community-based discussion of this issue. For instance, the words of the woman at the council meeting suggest a number of ideas I have heard repeated throughout this campaign, and which suggest the need for a deep-
er historical and sociological analysis of these contests over urban space. Chief among these ideas are three: 1) Gentrification is a synonym for revitalization –taking a blighted area and making it beautiful and desirable again; 2) Gentrification is simply a neutral process of neighborhood change over time; as such, it is natural or inevitable; and 3) This struggle is simply about buildings; those who fight to preserve features of the built environment in historically neglected parts of town care more about buildings (or bridges) than people. It is my hope that this series can begin to explore these issues over the next few months, in tandem with what we hope can be a vibrant movement to preserve not just public spaces that belong to us, but the commons to which we belong. The argument I want to develop is that in the transformation of my father’s childhood neighborhood at the edge of downtown, and in the current transformation of neighborhoods like it –like Dignowity Hill where the Hays Street Bridge sits –we can see the outline of broad historical and global economic shifts rendered local. The shift from industrial bottling to boutique microbrewing and from stable working class neighborhoods to pricey downtown lofts speaks a global shift from monopoly to neoliberal forms of capital and governance, manifested before our eyes in the urban landscape. Through this series, I want to explore the deeper histories that have shaped these present-day contests over land, and their implications for our ability to construct more democratic and ecologically just relations to urban space as nature, a nature that has disappeared in plain sight. The ultimate horizon of this exploration is to question the concept of development itself as a taken for granted good, challenging the overly simple idea that the public subsidy of private investment brings benefits to working class communities –the very trickle down strategies critiqued by Mayor Castro on the national stage, even as they are implemented locally. We need to talk about the global and national histories that inform local decision making over land use, simply because these broader dynamics mean that the struggles we see in San Anto over water, land, and sky are not isolated or unique. That they are not means, too, that collective solutions are already underway that we might connect with –what many have called the movement to demand a “right to the city,” a right not only to “participate democratically in the production of urban space,” but also the right to produce space that prioritizes the needs of inhabitants. In the words of Gihan Perera and Connie Cagampang Heller, this means affordable housing, living wages, quality education, and universal health care; in other words, this means a “re-designing and running [of] cities as if women matter.” n
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by Elliot Benjamin, Ph.D. / December 2012
t has been nearly 2 weeks since the Connecticut elementary school massacre. Words still fail
to describe the horror I have been feeling. Gun control has become a hot political issue and I am certainly all for gun control. People are also talking about the dangers to our society of not giving adequate treatment to our growing epidemic of mental disturbance, and I am certainly all for improving and expanding our treatment of mentally disturbed individuals in the community, though in a humanistic treatment context [1]. There are undoubtedly many factors that led to this most recent tragedy, as there are undoubtedly many factors that have led to all the school shootings and other acts of deadly violence we have been witnessing. But I believe that a possible primary factor that should be taken very seriously, along with the primary factors of gun control and mental health issues, is media violence. Media violence is currently included as one of the possible factors that may have led to the recent Connecticut massacre: “The list of culprits include easy access to guns, a strained mental health system and the “culture of violence”—the entertainment industry’s embrace of violence in movies, TV shows, and especially, video games.” [2] The list of people concerned that video violence may be related to the tragedy of school shootings certainly makes for strange bedfellows, as it puts me in the same room as Wayne Lapierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association (NRA), Senator Joe Lieberman, and Donald Trump (cf. [2]). I do
not share the perspective of the NRA on their opposition to gun control, as I would like to see as much gun control as possible. But I do agree with anyone who cites violence in the media as a significant factor that may be involved in real world violence. Brad Bushman, professor of 2) communications and psychology at Ohio State University and one of the leading experts on video game violence, recently published an article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology which found disturbing links between playing violent video games and aggressive behavior and hostile expectations. “Violent video games are significantly associated with increased aggressive behavior, threats, and affect; increased physiological arousal, and decreased pro social (helping) behavior...they decrease feelings and empathy and compassion for our fellow human beings.” (cf. [2]) And yet in our culture-at-large, violent video games have become incredibly popular: “The vast majority of today’s best-selling games are violent ones. Eight of the ten most popular games listed in G4TV’s list of the top 100 are highly violent, including two from the simulated series “Call of Duty” and two games in the “Grand Theft Auto” series.” (cf. [2]) Media violence may generally be in the background in comparison with the major issues of gun control and mental health, but from my integrated perspective on the occurrence of killing sprees, it should be explored as a possible primary culprit. Therefore here I am focusing on media violence as a fundamental part of an integrated perspective on the occurrence of killing sprees and in particular on school shootings. During my recent transition from mathematics professor to psychologist, I worked in community mental health as a mental health worker for a little over 3 years, from 2007 to 2010. During this time I worked with children and teenagers, and developed my humanistic ideas about working with mentally disturbed people in the community (cf. [1]). Although my main job title was “behavioral specialist,” I felt that my primary mission was to establish an authentic caring bond of personal connection with the clients and families in my care, which is the basic 3)framework of humanistic psychology as formulated by Carl Rogers in the 1960s [3]. I thus found myself in the dubious position of forcing myself to spend time with some of my young clients through watching them play their violent video games. I knew that I needed to reach them, and that it was important for them to have a sense of me being part of their world. It was quite the shock to my sensitive artistic system to see the indiscriminate killing that took place in these video games, and how nonchalantly my teenagers were engaged in this indiscriminate killing. I remember how the teenager I worked with who spent the most time playing these violent video games soon brought a gun into his
school and threatened another student, and consequently he was removed from his home and sent to a juvenile facility. It always disturbed me seeing how much my young clients enjoyed all the violence they got to “virtually” engage in during this time, as it seemed to me that it was moving them one step closer to the possibility of committing a violent crime in the real world, especially with the common lacks of effective parental guidance that many of them were experiencing at very vulnerable ages. I had the same feelings and concerns about all the violence on TV and in the movies, but somehow the personalized active component of the violence in the video games seemed even worse to me. Then in 2010 I began teaching introductory psychology at a community college in Maine, and soon after that at a university in Maine. Consequently, I learned there is much research that confirms my feelings and concerns about the connection of killing sprees and media violence (cf. [2]). This research suggests that there may be a link between media violence, in particular violent video games, and real world violence. However, there is also research that suggests the opposite conclusion: which is that violent video games do not lead to increases in aggression and violence (cf.[4]). One argument that researchers have used to discount the connection between video game violence and real life violence can
few number of deranged individuals who are exceptionally susceptible to these violent “virtual” influences and may very well eventually act out their violent games in the real world. This, in fact, is my own best guess of what is going on here. I also think that violent video games do have the kind of 5) effects on aggression and hostility that have also been reported in a 2005 statement by the American Psychological Association [5], but whether they result in real world violence of the kind that we have been witnessing in the school massacres is a different question. To explore this question, I believe that it is relevant and appropriate to look at some narrative reports as well as some of the correlational and experimental research studies that have found various relationships of media violence to real world aggression [6]. However, it may very well be the case that the effects of playing violent video games on individuals with serious mental disturbances is very different from the effects on most individuals, especially if there is also a lack of effective parental guidance, which is often the case in children with serious mental disturbances (cf. [1]). In spite of the serious concerns about the possible connection of violent video games to real world violence, I know that any real solution to the problem of media violence is extremely unrealistic to ever take place, as our violent media culture is at the core of our
. . .Media violence surrounds us so completely in our U.S. society that we are like fish in water, not knowing that there is a different kind of life outside of the water. whole capitalistic marketplace, where the rich get richer, to the detriment of whomever and whatever it takes to enable them to get richer; thus I’m afraid media violence is here to stay. It is also a complicated legal issue to decide where one should draw the line on freedom of speech and how much the government should be involved in the affairs of people, and if it would be most effective to educate parents about the possible detrimental effects of allowing their children to play violent video games, without making laws prohibiting the sale of these games (cf. [4]). And some of the possible “beneficial” effects of playing violent games given by researchers who have concluded that violent video games do not have any significant effect on real world violence are certainly interesting and should be explored further. These include a vehicle to safely express hostility in a “virtual” environment, keeping adolescents off the streets and out of danger for long periods of 6) time while they are immersed in their video games, and enhancement of concentration and visual and manual dexterity skills (cf. [2], [4], [7]. [8]). It is indeed a strong argument—and one that needs to be explained, that youth violence has actually been decreasing while video game sales has been increasing (cf. [4]). However, as I have indicated above, I believe that what is most critical here are the possible effects of excessively playing violent video games on individuals who are mentally disturbed to begin with. There does not appear to be much research along these lines, but one preliminary research study that examined this to some extent is reported in 2010 with the following brief conclu-
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be seen from crime statistics which demonstrate that from 1996 to 2006, youth violence was declining while video game sales were increasing, and that in this same time period there has been no statistically significant increase in mass murders or school shootings (cf. [4]). Most of these studies, both the ones finding links between violent video games and real world violence—and the ones that do not find a link, are correlational, which means that there may or may not be a relationship but that no conclusion about causation can be reached. However, there are also some experimental studies that have formulated conclusions about violent video games possibly acting as a cause of violent behavior, but these studies—as well as many of the above mentioned correlational studies—have been criticized as having methodological weaknesses, such as not taking into account data that reflects the opposite conclusion that media violence is not connected to real world violence (cf. [4]). The situation is indeed very confusing and difficult to decide what is actually going on, as there apparently are good arguments and research on both sides of the issue. However, one possible way of resolving the contradictory research results is to separate the statistical data which represent populations, from the individual accounts of deranged individuals who have committed horrible crimes and have spent an excessive amount of time playing violent video games. It may be the case that although most young people who play violent video games will not act out their simulated game violence in the real world, there are a relatively
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sion: “Previous research has shown us that personality traits like psychotic-ism and aggressiveness intensify the negative effects of violent video games.” (cf. [2]). In a recent series of knife violence incidents in Australia, police commissioner Andrew Scipione voiced his opinion about the inciting of real world violence from playing violent video games, illustrating my main concern about the detrimental effects on mentally disturbed individuals, in particular on vulnerable adolescents who have mental health problems [9]. “How can it not affect you if you’re a young adolescent growing up in an era when to be violent is almost praiseworthy, where you engage in virtual crime on a daily basis and many of these young people do for hours and hours on end... You got rewarded for killing people, raping women, stealing money from prostitutes, driving cars and crashing and killing people... That’s not going to affect the vast majority but it’s only got to affect one or two and what have you got? You’ve got some potentially really disturbed young person out there who’s got access for weapons like knives or is good with his fist, who can go out there and almost live that life now in the streets of modern Australia.” 7) Media violence surrounds us so completely in our U.S. society that we are like fish in water, not knowing that there is a different kind of life outside of the water. A few months ago I went to hear ex-military peace activist Paul Chappell speak in Maine about his ideas for “peaceful revolution.” I felt inspired by what I heard, though it also sounded virtually impossible to me that Chappell’s ideas could ever happen. But as I ponder the horrendous killing sprees in schools that we have been witnessing over the years, Chappell’s ideas come back to me—for he touches the idealistic dreamer that
Immigration Industrial Complex cont’d from pg. 5
desde p.6
industrial complex profit from the presence of undocumented immigrants. Such profits and economic interests ensure that the immigrationindustrial complex prospers and grows with undocumented immigrants representing the cannon fodder for the machinery of greed. n Bio: Rogelio Sáenz is Dean of the College of Public Policy and Peter Flawn Professor in the Dept. of Demography at University of Texas at San Antonio.
is still alive in me. Chappell has an unswerving optimistic perspective that human beings are not naturally violent, as he says: “Our society’s obsession with media violence does not show that human beings are naturally violent. Instead, it demonstrates that our society is ill.” [10]. This “illness” that Chappell refers to in our society is described briefly and impactfully in a way that captures all its horror and absurdity, as quoted by Chappell in a passage from Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman’s book On Killing: “At the same time that our society represses killing, a new obsession with the depiction of violence and brutal death and dismemberment of humans has flourished. The public appetite for violence in movies, particularly in splatter movies such as Friday the 13th, Halloween, and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre; the cult status of “heroes” like Jason and Freddy; the popularity of bands with names like Megadeth and Guns N’ Roses; and skyrocketing murder and violent crime rates—all these are symptoms of a bizarre, pathological dichotomy of simultaneous repression and obsession with violence.” [11] In conclusion, I propose a multi-layered integrated perspective to explore the increase of killing sprees in recent years, utilizing in particular the highly relevant factors of gun control and 8) mental health, and the possible detrimental effects of media violence—and in particular the possible real-world violence effects on young people who have mental disturbances and spend an excessive amount of time playing violent video games. n Bio: Dr. Elliot Benjamin is a writer, musician, philosopher, mathematician & teacher residing in Maine. For article footnotes contact: lavoz@esperanzacenter.org
en Detención de Migrantes Detallados,” “Centros de Detención para Migrantes Indocumentados Fallan a Satisfacer Norma de Salud, Seguridad, Reporte Encuentra,” “Instalaciones Privadas de Detención de Migrantes Para Familias Reveladas Son Hoy en Día Campos de Concentración,” y “Niños Tratados Como Criminales en Centro de Detención de Migrantes.” Sin embargo, uno de los peligros más fundamentales es que cuando hay tantas entidades poderosas—personas en los sectores gubernamental, empresarial, y de justicia penal/ejecución migratoria— beneficiándose generosamente de las actuales políticas migratorias, es difícil realizar reformas migratorias. Ciertamente, muchas personas poderosas quienes son parte del complejo industrial-migración ganan económicamente de la presencia de migrantes indocumentados. Tales ganancias e intereses económicos aseguran que el complejo industrial-migración prospere y crezca con migrantes indocumentados representando la carne de cañón para la maquinaría de avaricia. n Bio: Rogelio Sáenz es Decano del Colegio de Políticas Públicas y Peter Flawn Profesor en el Departamento de Demografía en la Universidad de Texas en San Antonio.
by Lupe Casares, December 12, 2012
Remembering Jenni Rivera
1969-2012
he bad news came by phone as I was in hiding in Houston’s Woodlands trying to finish some
writing. “Oh no! Not again!” was my first reaction upon hearing of the tragic death of Jenni Rivera, my mind paddling frantically back to Selena. “You mean the Jenni Rivera? Are you sure? ” I asked in disbelief. “On a plane, somewhere in Mexico,” came the answer. For some odd reason, I felt a sense of relief.
“Is the pope Catholic?” I muttered. Her somber expression didn’t change. Pendejo!, I thought; you’re about to lose your blessing. I reacted quickly, “Si Señora, I would be very honored to interview La Diva, Jenni Rivera.” I had Jenni stand before me facing the camera alone. I had interviewed a number of big names before, but Jenny was different. My interest in her went beyond the dazzle of her stardom. I have to admit that at the beginning of her career, or at least when I first heard about her, I didn’t think much of her star quality. As far as I was concerned she was someone whom I thought would vanish from the public overnight, but as time went by her career seemed to snowball. I remember hearing that during one presentation in Mexico the public had been so negative they had actually thrown cans at her. Despite the challenges her tenacity paid off and she won them over. I began to take notice of her, too. She had been a topic I studied and eventually came to admire. Stuck on Houston’s congested freeways one day, I listened to an extensive radio interview with Jenni in Spanish. It wasn’t so much the details of the discussion that captured my attention, but what came across was her persistence and her intentional determination to live. Another day, I tuned in to her reality show, “I Love Jenny” and was soundly impressed with her performance. She was a true crossover artist! Those were some of my thoughts as I prepared to interview her this past October in California. She was clearly a person with a vision and a well-defined purpose in life. As a Mexican she had rid herself of doubt, fear of failure as the endgame, and that long-suffering syndrome peculiar to so many Mexicanos that Octavio Paz described in us so well. For her, it was not “Vengo a ver si puedo” but more so the fierce, “Porque puedo, VENGO!” Now that she’s left us, no doubt she will continue to be among us for a very long time. Stories about her life and death will continue to tweak public interest. A few will likely edge near scandal or controversy. People will continue to aggrandize or belittle her, speculate on the “what ifs” and engage in the various phases of mourning a celebrity. I have made my final judgment of her, and am convinced that mega stars such as Jenni, Selena, Pedro, and Javier are loaned to us so that we may enjoy what they bring in life and treasure what they leave behind. We lose their gift and purpose when we turn their lives into subjects of speculation and spectacle. I, for one, will cherish the brief moment I enjoyed next to Jenni, La Diva, Rivera. Que En Paz Descanse! Bio: Lupe Casares, the son of migrant farmworkers, followed the harvest throughout the US for 25 years entering school full time at age 15. He earned an M.A. from A&M, Prairieview in TX and is the founder of Padres Con Poder.
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Stars, I‘ve always thought, once in the sky, never return to earth. Pedro Infante, Ritchie Valens, Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly… I’ve always avoided knowing the details of their final moments. To me they all stay up in the heavens somewhere free of distractions. “What did you ask her?” The voice broke in through the phone. By now my mind was navigating. Darn! How long has it been since Selena? “Ask? Who?” I asked distractedly.” “Didn’t you interview her in L.A?” Thinking back, “yeah, I did.” “Well, did she say anything that… you know, a sign?” I tried hard to recall the interview. Although it was only in midOctober 2012, I could not remember the content. It had all happened so quickly. I had not even reviewed the taped interview myself, so I decided to call the production team that went with me to Beverly Hills. Jacob was the first one I found. “My brother, do we have Jenny’s interview?” “Yep, it’s all there; what you need?” “Good, can I go over it?” “Sure thing, I’ll have it ready for you.” What was vivid about the interview was how it came about. The only reason I was in Beverly Hills on October 12, 2012, was because of the nomination for The Lupe Casares Story, A Story Without Borders, an autobiographical series that had been nominated for the IMAGEN Foundation awards. While there, I was asked by the president of Houston’s Mi Casa Broadcasting Network, Jonathan Gwyn, to conduct a series of as many interviews as I could schedule. Personally, I felt a lot more comfortable interviewing the stars parading over the red carpet, than walking it myself. Like the rest of the reporters I was waving and screaming trying to get the attention of some of the personalities. I thought luck had struck when Hector Elizondo and Lou Diamond Phillips stopped by me. Both were gentlemen and offered movie star quality statements. I had not completed my last question with Mr. Phillips, when a very business-like woman approached. Just as she was about to greet me, a young reporter for one of the two giant Latino networks abruptly stepped in front of me. “I’d like an interview with Jenni,” she ordered. Without hesitation, the businesswoman shot back “Well, not this evening!” “But señora, my boss requested an interview with Jenni,” said the young reporter. “Not tonight!” said the older woman, cutting her off. I don’t recall the rest of the exchange, but my intuition was that there was bad blood between the two women over a previous negative report on Jenni. At the same time the businesswoman looked me in the eye, as if to make a point. “Sir, would you like to interview Jenni?” I felt some guilt for the rejected reporter, but I sensed that my mother’s prayers were paying off, and the opportunities she had asked for me were lining up. I stood there with a wide grin, de oreja a oreja. “Well, sir?” The businesswoman was all business and she was waiting for a confirmation.
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* community meetings *
Amnesty International #127 meets at various sites during the year. Contact Arthur Dawes at 210213-5919 for details. Anti-War Peace Vigil every Thursday (since 9/11/2001) from 4-5pm @ Flores & Commerce Contact Tim Duda at 210.822.4525 or timduda@aol.com Bexar Co. Green Party info@bexargreens.org or call 210.471.1791. Celebration Circle meets Sundays, 11am @ JumpStart at Blue Star Arts Complex. Meditation, Weds @ 7:30 pm @ Quaker Meeting House, 7052 Vandiver. 210.533-6767 DIGNITY S.A. mass at 5:30 pm, Sun. @ Beacon Hill Presbyterian Church, 1101 W. Woodlawn. Call 210.735.7191. Energia Mia meets every 3rd Sunday, 4 - 5:30pm @ Oblate School of Theology, 285 Oblate Dr. Call 210.849.8121
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Fuerza Unida, 710 New Laredo, Hwy. 210.927.2297, www.lafuerzaunida.org
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Be Part of a
PFLAG, meets 1st Thurs @ 7pm, 1st Unitarian Universalist Church, Gill Rd/Beryl Dr. Call 210.655.2383.
Progressive Movement
PFLAG Español meets 1st Tuesdays @ 2802 W. Salinas, 7pm. Call 210.849.6315 Proyecto Hospitalidad Liturgy each Thursday at 7 pm at 325 Courtland. Call 210.736.3579.
in San Antonio
¡Todos Somos Esperanza!
Start your 2013 monthly donations now!
The Rape Crisis Center, 7500 US Hwy 90 W. Hotline @ 210.3497273. 210.521.7273 or email Drominishi@rapecrisis.com The Religious Society of Friends meets Sundays @ 10 am @ The Friends Meeting House, 7052 N. Vandiver. 210.945.8456. San Antonio’s Communist Party USA holds open meetings 3-5 pm 2nd Sundays at Westfall Branch Library, 6111 Rosedale Ct. Contact: juanchostanford@yahoo.com S.A. Gender Association meets 1st & 3rd Thursdays, 6-9pm @ 611 E. Myrtle, Metropolitan Community Church, downstairs. www.sagender.org
Habitat for Humanity meets 1st Tues. for volunteer orientation, 6pm, HFHSA Office @ 311 Probandt.
Shambhala Buddhist Meditation Center classes are on Tuesdays at 7pm, & Sun. at 11:30 am. at 1114 So. St. Mary’s. Call 210.222.9303.
S.A. International Woman’s Day March & Rally planning meetings are underway! Check www.sawomenwillmarch.org or 210.533.2729
The Society of Latino and Hispanic Writers SA meets 2nd Mondays, 7 pm @ Barnes & Noble, San Pedro Crossing.
LGBT Youth Group meets at MCC Church, 611 E. Myrtle on Sundays at 10:30am. 210.472.3597
S.N.A.P. (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). Contact Barbara at 210.725.8329.
Metropolitan Community Church in San Antonio (MCCSA) 611 East Myrtle, has services & Sunday school @ 10:30am. Call 210.599.9289.
Voice for Animals Contact 210.737.3138 or www.voiceforanimals.org for meeting times
Esperanza works to bring awareness and action on issues relevant to our communities. With our vision for social, environmental, economic and gender justice, Esperanza centers the voices and experiences of the poor & working class, women, queer people and people of color. We hold pláticas and workshops; organize political actions; present exhibits and performances and document and preserve our cultural histories. We consistently challenge City Council and the corporate powers of the city on issues of development, low-wage jobs, gentrification, clean energy and more. It takes all of us to keep the Esperanza going. When you contribute monthly to the Esperanza you are making a long-term commitment to the movement for progressive change in San Antonio, allowing Esperanza to sustain and expand our programs. Monthly donors can give as little as $5 and as much as $500 a month or more. What would it take for YOU to become a monthly donor? Call or come by the Esperanza to learn how. ¡Esperanza vive! ¡La lucha sigue! Call 210.228.0201 or email esperanza@esperanzacenter.org for more info
Make a tax-deductible donation. $35 La Voz subscription
for more info call 210.228.0201
Please use my donation for the Rinconcito de Esperanza
Notas Y Más February 2013
A GLBT Wellness Support Group sponsored by PRIDE Center of SA, facilitated by Arthur Dawes and Margit B. Gerardi meets on 4th Mondays, 7 to 8:45pm, at the Lions Field Club House, 2809 Broadway in SA. The current topic is GLBT Spirituality: The Journey, The Resources. Call 210.213.5919. The SOMArts Cultural Center, Feb 1st through 28th, will present Mourning and Scars: 20 Years After the War, an exhibition about Salvadoran immigrant issues near the 20th anniversary of the Peace Accords. www.somarts.org/about/calendar San Antonio’s Communist Party USA meets Feb. 10th at Westfall Branch Library, 6111 Rosedale Ct. with Dr. Rudy Rosales speaking on Trans-Border Workers and Citizenship and John Champagne talking about how action by citizens can bring a change in the rules we live by –so that harmful acts by corporations will be made UN-profitable. Contact: juanchostanford@yahoo.com
Brief news items on upcoming community events. Send info for Notas y Más to: lavoz@esperanzacenter.org or mail to: 922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212. The deadline is the 8th of each month.
Domesticas Unidas ofrecen un entrenamiento sobre El cuidado de niños en casa, el 9 de febrero de las 2-4 pm en 922 San Pedro en San Antonio. Habrán bocadillos y bebidas, gratis. Llamen a Alejandra, 210.237.1140, Araceli, 210.310.6071 o Teresa, 210.434.9216 para informarse.
mnity-Based Pedagogies, Scholarship, and Activism,” will be held at U.T.-Pan Am in Edinburg, Feb. 21-23. www.naccs-tejas2013.blogspot.com Colin Higgins Foundation is seeking nominations of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Two-Spirit, Queer & Questioning youth activists (thru age 18) who have stood up to hostility & intolerance and triumphed over bigotry as they work for social justice. Nominations deadline is Feb. 28th 5pm PST. www.colinhiggins.org
The 6th annual self-guided 2 day tour of artist studios/galleries, On and Off Fredericksburg Rd, will be held on Feb 16 & 17 in S.A. beginning with a kick-off event at Bihl Haus Arts. Check out David Zamora Casas’ new works in American of Mexican Origin showing at the Clamplight Studio, F2C: Freedom to Connect, designed to 706 Fredricksburg Rd., on Saturday, Feb. bring under-represented people/issues into Washington, DC-based federal policy dis16th, 6-9pm. www.onandofffred.org cussion will be held March 4th & 5th in the The 2013 Lozano Long Conference, Re- DC area.See www.freedom-to-connect.net fashioning Blackness: Contesting Racism in the Afro-Americas will be held at UT– Are you positive you’re negative? San AnAustin February 20-22. Check: www.utex- tonio AIDS Foundation offers free HIV as.edu/cola/insts/llilas/conferences/2013- testing 6 days a week at 818 E. Grayson St. Tests are confidential & ready in 20 mins! Lozano-Long.php Hours: Mon-Thurs 8:30am-4pm, Fri 9amThe NACCS Tejas Foco Regional Con- 1pm and Sats 11am-3pm. 210.225.4715 | ference, “Chican@ Studies Ahora!: Com- www.txsaaf.org
age 75, entered into rest on December 19, 2012. Born on May 26, 1937 to Mr. Juan Alvarado and Lydia Mendoza Martínez, she attended J.T. Brackenridge Elementary and Sidney Lanier High School where she met her future husband, Fernando (Fanny) Hernández. She was a member of the Blue Jackets, the National Honor Society, the Royal Blue Collegiates and on the staff of the Los Recuerdos yearbook. She and her husband were also part of the “Fabulous 50 Club” alumni. She loved music and made it part of her family’s lives. She is survived by her husband, children, grandchildren, extended family and friends. Esperanza staff and board remember Yolanda as the loving daughter of Lydia Mendoza and extend our sympathies to her husband, family and friends. San Antonio’s 23rd Annual
Eliseo R. Solis Esperanza staff and board extend our sympathies to the family of Eliseo R. Solis, 66, remembered as a lifelong advocate for social justice. He served his country during the Vietnam War from 1969 to 1970 and worked in education in Crystal City. Elected the first Mexican-American county commissioner in Lubbock, in 1984, he was also active in the formation of La Raza Unida Party of Texas and was instrumental in voter registration statewide. He also participated in the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project in El Salvador. He was a member of MECHA, LULAC, GI Forum, Brown Berets, and West Texas Organizing Strategy (WTOS). Survivors include his wife, Josie Solis of San Antonio and his children and grandchildren –all of Lubbock, Texas.
Somos poder de luz, fuerza y lucha. We are power of light and strength in the struggle.
art by Kim Bishop
International Woman’s Day March & Rally Saturday, March 9, 2013
For info on route, rally, how to get involved y más check: www.sawomenwillmarch.org Facebook: Mujeres Marcharan or call 210.262.0654
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2013 Vol. 26 Issue 1•
Yolanda A. Hernández,
15
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2013 Vol. 26 Issue 1• BOLD SA 2013 presents
BIRTH,
a play by Karen Brody @ the Sterling Houston Theater at Jump-Start Performance Co.
Friday & Saturday, March 8th - 9th at 7 pm and Sunday, March 10th at 3 pm.
Birth is a documentary-style play that tells the true stories of 8 women painting a portrait of how low-risk, educated women are giving birth in America today. Birth is part of a global activist theater movement that has inspired audiences all over the world to start demanding a childbirth model of care that is compassionate and woman cenProceeds tered!! Learn more at www.boldaction.org
Tickets $20 | Online at Brown Paper Tickets Director Jan Olsen, Producer Suzanne de Leon La Voz de Esperanza
922 San Pedro San Antonio TX 78212 210.228.0201 • fax: 210.228.0000 www.esperanzacenter.org
benefit San Antonio Birth Doulas
Non-Profit Org. US Postage PAID San Antonio, TX Permit #332
Haven’t opened La Voz in a while? Prefer to read it online? Wrong address? TO CANCEL A SUBSCRIPTION EMAIL lavoz@esperanzacenter.org CALL: 210.228.0201
Join us for our monthly concert series with singer/ songwriter Azul
Saturday Feb 16th 8pm $5 más o menos @ Esperanza
La Epoca de Oro
Homenaje a Eva Garza
y las divas de la cancion Mexicana
Saturday, February 23rd, 2013 6pm @ Esperanza Peace & Justice Center Tickets: Individuals $20 or Two for $35 A velada cultural emceed by Rita Urquijo-Ruiz in an ambience curated by David Zamora Casas that will transport us to the golden age of radio, music and Mexican cinema of the 30s-50s when Eva Garza, from San Antonio’s Westside, became an international sensation known as the “Sweetheart of the Américas.”
Dance Reception Exhibit Musical performances Presentations by Deborah R. Vargas and Tomás Ybarra-Frausto Musical Tributes by Las Tesoros de San Antonio, Azul, José Rubén De León, George & Aaron Prado, David González, Leticia Rodríguez, y más