a publication of the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center
April 2012 | Vol. 25 Issue 3
San Antonio, Tejas
Health concerns of Texas women evident at the 2012 S.A. International Woman’s Day March
Inside this Issue: Gov. Perry leaves 130,000 Women without Health Care • Book Review: Violence Girl by Alice Bag • The Betrayal of the Syrian Revolution • People’s History of El Norte Mural y mas
La Voz de Esperanza April 2012
vol. 25 issue 3 © 2012 Esperanza Peace & Justice Center All Rights Reserved.
Editor
Gloria A. Ramírez
Design
Monica V. Velásquez
Contributors
La Voz Mail Collective Pam Bradley-White, Flor Herrera Castillo, Stephanie Cmielewski, Juan Diaz, Sally D. Duarte, Jo Flores, Juanita Gallardo, Susana Hayward, Gloria Hernández, Araceli Herrera, Mildred E. Hilbrich, Davina Kaiser, Gina Lee, Ray McDonald, Angelita Merla, Mary Agnes Rodríguez, Argelia Soto, Dave Stokes, Ines Valdez, Lucila Vicencio
Esperanza Director Graciela I. Sánchez
Esperanza Staff
Imelda Arismendez, Verónica Castillo, Monica V. Velásquez
Conjunto de Nepantleras
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 3•
-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 The Esperanza Peace & Justice Center 922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212 (on the corner of Evergreen Street)
210.228.0201 • fax 210.228.0000 www.esperanzacenter.org Inquiries/Articles can be sent to:
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 Letters with intent to slander individuals or groups will not be published. The Esperanza Center is funded in part by the TCA, Alice Kleberg Reynolds Fdn, Astraea Lesbian Fdn for Justice, the NEA, theFund, The Kerry Lobel & Marta Drury Fund of Horizon’s Fdn, Coyote Phoenix, Movement Strategy Center Fund, Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone Foundation y nuestra buena gente.
Cover Photo by Gloria A. Ramírez
The kickoff event for Esperanza’s 25th anniversary celebration was phenomenally successful – mostly because the community that supports the Esperanza Center, many of whom have been supporters for over 20 years, felt a sense of awe and inspiration at the concert. Former board member Martha Prentiss wrote in an email with the subject line, I’m in love, “...I am full-on enthralled. It was the best show I’ve been to in a long time. I wish I knew more of what the words were, but it didn’t matter. Just watching her move and the range of her voice kept me right there with her.” The legacy of an event such as Lila’s 2012 concert is the memory of the moment–a moment that had us “right there” all together with her, knowing we were of the same heart and mind. I sat mesmerized for a couple of songs knowing that Lila locked eyes with me and recognized me. She confirmed that, later. Then there was the moment we all stood in ovation recognizing the incredible rendition of Cucurrucucú Paloma. For every person at the concierto there were many other moments to remember. As the concert ended, I caught a glimpse of Verónica Castillo making a presentation to Lila on behalf of the Esperanza and the San Antonio community. I heard that Lila cried at that moment. I also heard that she acknowledged that in no other city has she been treated with such hospitality and reverence. Pués, somos Esperanza y apreciamos y sabemos el valor de personas como Lila Downs. An event such as this has so much meaning and cultural value for us. We cannot begin to name everyone that made this event possible but we’ll try. As the year progresses there will be more! Mil gracias querida buena gente y sponsors. . . Chinedum Abduah • Belinda Acosta • Nupur Agrawal • Teresita Aguilar • The Alameda Theater • Ruben Alcorta • Imelda Arismendez* • Marisela Barrera* • Janie Barrera • Rebecca Barrera • Jose Barrón • Bat • Jaskirat Batra • Maria Antonietta & Manuel Berriozabál • Dwayne Bohuslav • Penelope Boyer • Dudley Brooks & Tomas Ybarra Frausto* • Matt Brown • Khoa Bui • Jessie Burch • Mishelle Camacho* • Paulette Camero • Itza Carbajal • Elizandro Carrington • Antonia Castañeda & Arturo Madrid* • Veronica Castillo Salas & Beto & Alfonsina* • Joaquin Castro • Rosemary Catacalos • Celeste Cavazos* • Nelda Cortez • Teresa Cruz • Veronica Cruz • Gina Cuellar @ Madhatters Tea House • Teresa Czarobski @ the Drury Hotel • Esmeralda & Mario de los Santos • Sara DeTurk* • Sally Diaz Duarte* • John Dean Domingue • Sarah Dropek • Victoria Echeverri • Michelle Elms • Louis Escareño • Kathy Farias • Maria Felix-Ortiz • Fito • Jo Flores • Caitlin Gallagher • Eduardo Garcia • Graciela García • Cristal González* • Marisa González • Rosie González • Andrea Greimel* • Raphael & Sandra Guerra • Amanda Haas* • Susana Hayward* • Richard Hernández • Frances M. Herrera* • Venessa Hill Shahan • Gilberto & Gloria Hinojosa • Robert Huesca • Quang Huynh • International Students Assoc. at Trinity University • Shirley Jacinto • Rachel Jennings • José Jiménez • Dora Jones • KRTU • Amy Kastely* • Judith Cashin Lerma • MAS (Mexico, the Americas & Spain) at Trinity University • Raquel Marquez • Fanny Mayahuel Thompson • Ray McDonald* • Lynn McWhite • Leticia Medina* • Josie Méndez-Negrete • Luis Mercado* • Andrea Mota • . . . continued on pg 4 . . . Michelle Myers • Jorge Negrete • JJ Niño • Ron Nirenberg @ KRTU 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.
Photo: Alison Reynolds
Mariana Romo-Carmona, Mara E. Posada, Lori Rodriguez, Nadine Saliba, Yoly Zentella
certain sadness dwells after a wonderful event ends. Ya pasó el concierto de Lila Downs.
Governor Perry Leaves 130,000
Women without Health Care by Mara E. Posada
n Texas, one in four women is uninsured.
Texas women have one of the highest rates of cervical cancer in the country. Texas women need preventive health care.
government cannot change a decades-long law just because Governor Perry and his lawmaker friends do not like where women chose to get their health care. Despite being told by the Centers Medicare & Medicaid Services that the State’s application to continue WHP did not comply with federal law, Governor Perry has continued his efforts to sabotage the program. Perry’s claim that other providers can
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 3•
Enter the Texas Medicaid Women’s Health Program (WHP) which began in January 2007 as a five year pilot project designed to help lowincome women have access to family planning and preventive health screenings. Through WHP, women have access to: Pap tests that screen for cervical cancer, clinical breast exams, birth control, and screenings for sexually transmitted diseases, hypertension, and diabetes. The federal government pays for 90% of the program, i.e., for every $1 the state invests in WHP, the state 2012 International Woman’s Day March, San Antonio, TX | Photo: Venessa Hill Shahan receives $9 in return. Since its inception, the Women’s Health Program has been step in and serve the patients that rely on Planned Parenthood for a great success, helping Texas save millions in costs related to WHP is false: independent family planning providers, federally unintended pregnancy. Planned Parenthood health centers serve qualified health centers and hospital systems have been speaking more than 40% of the women enrolled in WHP. No WHP funds out in opposition to Perry’s claim because they don’t have the are used in health centers that provide abortion. capacity (especially after state budget cuts last year) to take in And yet, during the last Texas Legislative Session in 2011, these patients. members of the House and Senate who object to Planned Ultimately, Governor Perry would rather eliminate the program Parenthood’s participation in the program renewed the Medicaid altogether than allow Planned Parenthood to provide preventive Women’s Health Program in a way that excluded Planned health care to our patients. This is wrong. It’s worse than wrong, Parenthood. Why? Because Planned Parenthood uses separate, it’s cruel. Without WHP, more than 130,000 women will be left private funds in separate health without health care. centers, to provide women with access Governor Perry says he will find the funds elsewhere, that to abortion—a legal, constitutionally- the state will create its own women’s health program. The state protected procedure. would then reject the nine-to-one federal matching dollars, But, because WHP is a Medicaid leaving taxpayer funds on the table. He would rather pay more for Waiver, the program is protected by less care. But the larger question is where will the State find the the Social Security Act, ensuring that money? If the Governor has suddenly identified newly available patients have a provider of choice. state funding to support women’s health and birth control, we urge States cannot restrict providers simply him to immediately restore the $73 million for breast and cervical because they provide separate services cancer screenings, HIV tests, birth control, and health screenings that are not paid for by Medicaid. Simply that was eliminated from the state’s family planning program put: the State cannot tell women where on September 1, 2011. Texan women haven’t forgotten that just to get their health care, and the federal last year, Governor Perry eliminated two-thirds of the budget for
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LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 3•
women’s preventive health care for so-called budgetary reasons. He didn’t care about women’s health care then, so why should we trust him to suddenly care now? Governor Perry needs back off women’s health. He has done enough damage and has put millions of women across the state at risk for serious health problems, including undetected cancers, undiagnosed HIV infections, and other STDs. Planned Parenthood is a trusted provider in our community, and, as a community, we need more access to preventive health care, not less. We need policies that support the wellbeing of our mothers, sisters, and daughters. On February 23, the same day Texas announced its decision to sabotage the Medicaid Women’s Health program, Texas also filed a lawsuit to block the Obama administration’s new birth control benefit that ensures women have access to birth control with no costly copays, regardless of where they work. It is clear by his actions that Governor Perry is out of touch with Texan women.
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At Planned Parenthood, we see women every day who rely on us for their most intimate health care needs— women who might feel a lump in their breast and then have to worry about the cost of a doctor’s visit. We see young women who want to be educated about birth control so they can plan to be mothers when they are ready to be. We see women who need affordable care. We see women who are concerned about cervical and breast cancer. We check out lumps in breasts. We follow up on abnormal Pap tests. We even treat pre-cancerous cells and stop the progression of cervical
cancer. We test and treat sexually transmitted diseases, including Chlamydia, the most common STD in the U.S. We test for HIV, which still kills
too many.
This is what we do each and every day. And we do it for thousands of women right here in San Antonio. The health care services that our physicians and nurses provide are critical to our community who need access to high-quality, affordable family planning and sexual health care. So together, we must continue to fight back against Governor Perry’s agenda that would harm women’s health in Texas. Governor Perry may have turned his back on Texan women, but Planned Parenthood will never turn its back on the women, men, and teens who rely on us, and we will never stop standing up for women’s health care. Bio: Mara E. Posada is Director of Community Relations with Planned Parenthood Trust of S. Texas. To volunteer or for more information on Planned Parenthood email: publicaffairs@ pptrust.org
Lila Downs Thank You’s . . . continued from pg 2 . . .
• Dr. Maricela Oliva • Janice Olsen • Cristina Ordoñez • Elena Oviedo • Antonia Padilla • Felix Padrón • Penner’s • Beth Peré • Jose Piñeda Jr • Nasrin Piri • Angelina Pliego • La Prensa • Martha Prentiss • Ana Lucia Ramírez* • Gloria A. Ramírez* • Alison Reynolds • Caroline Rivera* • Rocoto’s Grill • Carol Rodríguez • Mary Agnes Rodríguez* • Melissa Ann Rodriguez* • Mike Rodríguez & Brad Veloz • Rene Rodríguez • Samuel Rodríguez • Margie & Alex Rodríguez • Rudy Rosales* • Terry Ruíz • Rebecca Rush* • René Saenz* • Liliana P. Saldaña • Maria Salazar & Jo Ann Castillo • Nadine & Iman Saliba • Bernard Sánchez* • Isabel & Enrique Sánchez • Graciela Sánchez*• Gustavo Sánchez • Leticia Sánchez • Jorge Sandoval •
Terry Schneider • Guadalupe Segura • Susana Segura* • Sexual Diversity Alliance at Trinity University • Larry Skwarczynski • Theresa Solis-Camero • José I. Sosa • Argelia & Lonnie Soto • Cynthia Spielman • Bill Stichnot • Carmen Tafolla • Stan Thomas • Jane & Charles Tuck • Janet Vásquez • Edward Vela @ Evergreen Garden* • Monica Velásquez* • Vero & Melissa @ Vero’s Café @ Market Place • Jon Watson • Matt Weissler • Liliana Wilson | *staff & buena gente planning group Also funded in part by: AKR Foundation, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, City of San Antonio Office of Cultural Affairs, Coyote Phoenix Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, theFund, y la buena gente de Esperanza Peace and Justice Center
in memoriam
Adriana
M. Romo by Mariana Romo-Carmona
t is with great sadness that the Romo family announces the passing of Adriana M. Romo, artist,
born in Chile, who chose San Antonio to live the last years of her life.
Left: Tempera and Watercolor Figures, Right: Pastel Color Block Painting, both by Adriana M. Romo
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She is survived by her husband of 62 years, John D. Romo, also from Chile, and their children-- John David, a graphic artist; daughter, Mariana, a writer, and her partner, June; her grandson John Christian O’Neill and his wife, Jenny, and their two boys, great-grandsons, Jack and Charlie. Their middle daughter, Claudia Rosa, passed away in 2009. Adriana connected with the Esperanza Cultural Center and offered what support she could. She was looking forward to work with local artists, and participation in community and artistic events. Serious ailments including diabetes were constant obstacles all of her adult life, but she produced many paintings in oils and watercolors, book illustrations, pottery, photography, quilting, dolls and costumes, banners for human rights groups, pressed flower bookmarks, jewelry, and countless acts of kindness to family and friends. For Adriana M. Romo there were no strangers, all she met were friends. Adriana M. Romo was born in Santiago Chile, on December 12, 1929 and she passed from this world on February 29, 2012. She was an artist and a community organizer whose untiring energy touched the lives of people from Chile, north and south, to the U.S.-- in Connecticut, Florida, and New York City. In 2007, she chose San Antonio to live the last years of her life. Adriana was my mother, but she was also my teacher as an artist and an activist. She grew up in Santiago, Chile, in a quiet, working class neighborhood, northeast of Santiago’s downtown area. The oldest of five, her childhood was marked by many privations and struggles yet she always managed to find the energy to strive for a better life for her family and everyone around her. In 1939, while staying in the southern city of Chillán with her mother and younger sister, the night was rocked by a devastating earthquake.
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The family was buried under the rubble of the house; my mother pulled her sister Lorena out of bed, and they were both dragged to safety by my grandmother, a small woman who literally lifted the beams off them with her back. I know that the effects of this traumatic event stayed with her the rest of her life, making her always sensitive to the needs of others, and a believer in the need to organize a community of people to help each other. With my father as her partner in life, it seemed that wherever they went they were soon surrounded by artists, idealists, creative people of all kinds. She didn’t believe in idle chatter. She believed
I remember when she attended a meeting of the Latina lesbian group, Las Buenas Amigas with me. So many women were in tears because they’d never been able to speak to their own mothers about their lives as adults. She and my father helped us make a new banner for the group, made of multicolored fabric and paint, a banner which was proudly carried in Pride marches for years! She was then commissioned by other groups to make banners: The Astraea Lesbian Foundation, Lambda Legal Defense, and the LGBT People of Color Steering Committee. In 2000, she and my father attended workshops for parents of Latino LGBTs at the LLEGO conferences in Boston and New York. In 2003, my mother illustrated the book Felicia’s Favorite Story, by Lesléa Newman, about a little girl from Guatemala who is adopted by Lesbian moms. My mother was diagnosed with Type II diabetes at the age of 38, in her case a very severe condition. Even though she and my father loved the vibrant communities of New York City, my mother wanted to find a place where they could spend their retirement more quietly among friends, a growing city with rich cultural traditions, with ethnic diversity and with a strong Latino population of which they could become a part. She had already heard of the Esperanza Center and its work, of course, and she felt that as Chilenos who had lived and worked far away from family and community, this was the home for them. Here in San Antonio, my father has taught Mechanical Engineering at SACC, and he continues to produce work in aeronautics with his Next Generation Compact Helicopter project, named “ADRIANA”. He hopes to contribute his expertise to this city with its open skies that holds a promise for so many. As we grieve for my mother’s loss, I know I will always be connected to the place where she rests. A Memorial for Adriana will be held on December 12, 2012 at the Esperanza Center in San Antonio. To be on a mailing list for this event, email marianaromocarmona@gmail.com. In lieu of flowers, all who wish to remember her would gladden her spirit by making a contribution to Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, 922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212.
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A memorial will be held in Adriana’s memory on December 12, 2012 at the Esperanza.
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Oil Portrait of daughter Claudia who passed away in 2009
in action and in people taking responsibility for their community. In 1963 we moved to the north of Chile in search of a better life for my sister and me, a search that would take us to emigrate to the United States in 1966. In Calama, they founded El Taller del Desierto in 1964 with a group of poets and artists. She helped the Peace Corps build a clinic in a desert town, taught art to inmates in the prison, and organized the first Arts & Crafts Regional Fair of the Atacama Desert. This Art Fair recognized and included the artists from Indigenous villages in the desert for the first time in Chilean history. My brother, John David, was born in Connecticut. My father worked 7 days a week, while my mother raised the children, studied English, got her GED, and with my father opened a graphic arts firm. She earned her BFA from the UConn, Storrs, at the age of 52. However, times were hard, and the loss of their home in the 1980s took them to Florida, and finally to New York City, where my father earned his Bachelor of Engineering and Masters in Mechanical Engineering at the City University of NY (CUNY). Adriana taught art at Project Reach, a center for youth at risk in Chinatown, while John taught Math and Sciences at High Schools and Interboro College in New York City. As an activist and writer in New York City, my mother supported my efforts as part of the Latino and LGBT communities.
Bio: Mariana, a noted activist and writer in NYC, was an early member of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. She is now cofounder, author and translator of Ediciones Escritorial and teaches literature at the JSM Institute for Labor Studies/CUNY. A S.A. Express News article on Adriana can be accessed at www.mysanantonio. co m / o b i t ua r i e s / a r t i c l e / R o m o - l ove d -S a n Antonio-for-its-arts-community-3404177.php
El Norte: Fruit of Aztlan by Yoly Zentella
The People’s History of El Norte mural in Las Vegas, Nuevo Mexico was made possible by Casa de Cultura housed in the same predominantly Raza, rural, university town. In movable
Eurocentric, male dominated renditions of the southwest. While these can be considered marginalized histories, la gente have always had outlets for their stories, recording them for posterity in writing, song, dance, oral tradition, and art. Murals are a large scale variation of codices, indigenous texts that graphically recorded cultural and historic events, before, during, and after the European conquest of the Americas. Murals also reflect and absorb context. They reflect our historical experiences over generations and absorb our thoughts and emotions as we stand before them. Murals are like symbolic mirrors, inviting us in as we compare their images to our own contemporary lives. This interaction is continually reinforced as we pass them by on the bus, on the way to the tienda to buy ice or to have lunch with a friend - we smile, we nod at the Azteca images, the farm worker flags, the pachucos and the conjunto, playing our musica - yes, those images and us are intertwined. A form of testimonio, murals speak for us, giving a voice to those overshadowed by the dominant powers, but not silenced. Consider Rigoberta’s I, Rigoberta Menchu, a narrative painted with words, exposing before the world the Guatemala indigena experience of injustice, repression and genocide. The Las Vegas
continued on pg 10 . . .
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 3•
panels, the mural describes the strong grass roots history of the proud people of el norte, including northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Such histories are rarely incorporated into
mural tells and reminds passersby, be they veterans of Movimiento days, the Chicano Movement of the late ‘60s, early ‘70s, university students, chavalitos, or out of town tourists, of what lies beneath the tierra of el norte. Our overarching Raza has a legacy of muralists, Mayas and Aztecas; Mexican muralists, Rivera, Siquieros, Orozco; Chicano artist/activists during the Movimiento; anonymous but celebrated collective barrio murals; and cultural graffiti that speak of pride and resistance. Attempts have been made to white wash, to erase our stories from walls and classrooms. Consider the opposition to Chicano studies in the past and currently, Arizona’s HB 2281, which launched the ban on teaching of ethnic studies in that state, impeding the right of our youth to know their history. Yet, memory, preserved in popular cultural form, is our power, and through the use of public murals, grassroots stories reach out across temporal and geographical boundaries. Murals are the siblings of literature, music, and dance, used for centuries to express thought and emotion. And, in this sense La Raza’s creativity is outstanding. There is little distinction between published and unpublished work - local or nationwide, existing in museums or on barrio walls, on academic shelves or in grass roots periodicals, in local dance halls, or concert stages - all are validated and embraced. We cannot be erased even in the face of gentrification and efforts to silence us; we are too large. Contemporary Las Vegas in el norte de Nuevo Mexico occupies a portion of the Las Vegas Grandes Land Grant, established in 1835 as an Hispano community grant, with a confirmed 431,653 acres. Most of the events connected to the conquest of New Mexico by General Kearney in 1846 occurred in northern New Mexican towns. Today Kearney’s occupation proclamation is memorialized in a plaque standing on one side of the Las Vegas plaza, a legacy of our colonized status. Currently, the land grant concept is still perceived by La Raza in el norte as a nuturing la tierra, the nurturing mother and the giver of life. Grants are historically characterized by overlapping collective and individual land practices and access to resources including water. Generational ties between family and community,
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book review by Lori Rodríguez of
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 3•
A
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by
Alice Bag lice Bag’s Violence Girl (2011) is a riveting by her upbringing as a working
testimonio chronicling Bag’s difficult childhood growing up as a working class Chicana in 1960’s and early 1970’s East Los Angeles, a convergent spatio-temporal site blending the influences of the Chicano movement and an emerging Hollywood punk scene. Through short, chronological vignettes often accompanied by photos, Bag (real name: Alicia Armendariz), uses vivid, detailed brush strokes to paint the story of her experience growing up as a social outcast and her path to becoming the lead singer of the punk band, The Bags. This unabashed, humor-infused truth-telling, told from a distinctly Chicana feminist perspective, begins by detailing her father’s horrific emotional and physical abuse of her mother, her difficult introduction to school as a Spanish-only speaker, and her painful elementary and middle school experiences as an overweight girl with “buck teeth, frizzy hair and glasses” (65). Finding it extremely difficult to make friends in school, Bag found herself spending much of her time alone. It was in this isolation that she found an escape in the “glitter” music scene characterized by the likes of Queen, David Bowie, and Elton John. Her obsession with the genre went so far as to prompt Bag, upon transferring to a new high school, to ask that her classmates call her as “Ziggy,” after David Bowie’s persona, Ziggy Stardust. This glitter scene would soon transform into the punk genre of the early 1970’s, during which Bag comes of age as a rebellious, yet critically conscious teenager.
While Bag’s story fits within the genre as a music autobiography, the significance of her narrative lies within in the mestizaje of her experience as a bilingual, first-generation U.S. born, sexually ambiguous Chicana whose “punk” identity and stage persona is equally influenced
class Chicana as it is by the U.S. and British punk scenes.
Growing up listening to her mother’s radio novelas, her sister’s Motown records, and her father’s rancheras, Bag’s own punk performances became influenced by this musical mestizaje. This theme of mestizaje runs throughout Bag’s narrative through her use of untranslated Spanish terms – gearing her writing toward a Chicana/o audience – and her distinctly Chicana analytical perspective of her own lived experiences. For example, in likening her
relationship with her abusive father to the themes found in lucha libre, Bags writes, “Through this seemingly vapid sport of lucha libre, I learned to understand the concept of duality at an early age. It was the same kind of duality that I experienced when I realized that I both loved and hated my father, that a rudo – a villain – could also be a good guy. It was as much a part of Mexican culture as eating a sweet apple with salt and chili or celebrating the bleak inevitability of death by making brightly colored sugar skulls with your name on them” (50). Bag’s multiple locations of cultural identity are also represented geographically through her travels both with her family, and later in life as a young adult. Bag describes some of her happiest childhood memories going on regular family trips to the racetrack in Tijuana and visiting her father’s family in Mexico City. These regular trips locate Bag’s identity as a Chicana with
“Seeing and hearing performances of such greats as Lucha Villa, Pedro Infante and José Alfredo Jiménez almost certainly influenced my own peculiarly emotive style of singing. . . Like latent hereditary traits, their stylistic influences just bobbed to the surface when my own moment on stage arrived” - Alice Bag deep ties to her family’s Mexican identity. While some might view Violence Girl as a “punk rock” autobiography, the heart of Bag’s narrative is in her testimonio as a Chicana bearing witness to hardship and telling a story of survival. These personal experiences include witnessing and interceding in her father’s regular violent rampages of physical abuse upon her mother, being the victim of constant bullying, having an abortion, and losing friends and acquaintances victimized by drug overdose, gang violence and murder by serial killers. However, rather than falling victim to these difficulties, Bag transforms this hardship into raw fuel during her visceral and violent musical
the-system aesthetic toward a more holistic understanding of spirituality, critical consciousness and action toward social change. Violence Girl, as a Chicana feminist narrative of resistance, critical consciousness and social change, therefore simultaneously fills a significant gap in both the mainstream and Chicano punk narrative while offering an important challenge to the definition of “Chicana punk” itself. n
Violence Girl reading/ book signing and plática with ALICE BAG at Esperanza
Friday, April 20 at 7pm
Free, Donations Accepted
For Info: 210.228.0201 • www.esperanzacenter.org • www.alicebag.com
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 3•
performances. Of her stage performance, Bag writes, “I hadn’t noticed the first time we played, but there was an intense anger inside of me that turned even the most trite lyrics into a verbal assault. I felt like a woman possessed, and the ritual of being onstage was my exorcism” (215). Bag’s unapologetic, aggressive, in-
your-face performance not only de-centers the male-dominated punk aesthetic, but also inverts traditional Chicana gender norms, becoming an embodied performance of Chicana feminist testimonio, bearing witness to and “exorcising” the demons of oppression. While Violence Girl focuses Bag’s involvement in the L.A. punk scene, largely characterized by her infamous, violence-infused performances which influenced the title of the song “Violence Girl,” the richness of this story is seen in the author’s coming to terms with the demons of her past while also coming to her own critical awareness of the world and her place in it. She shares the difficulty in forgiving her father as he succumbs to diabetes while coming into a new spiritual awareness outside of Catholicism. Bag also shares how her calling as a bilingual elementary school teacher led her to serve as a reading teacher in Nicaragua during Reagan’s Contra war against the Sandinistas. Bag’s critique of Catholicism as a patriarchal institution, the inept pedagogical practices of the U.S. educational system, and the oppressive U.S. foreign policy in Latin America therefore become an extension of “punk” resistance. It is here that the narrative moves beyond the angst-ridden, rail-against-
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El Norte, continued from pg 7 . . .
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spirituality, and the Spanish language formed the cultural base of these ancestral lands. Through the grant system, relative self sufficiency and collective resilience to adversity was possible. The concept of the grant is linked to the collective ancestral, indigenous landed communities, existing when there were no borders between the native populations of the Americas. The beginning of the demise of the grants came in the form of land grabs during 19th century Westward Expansion. This loss accelerated with several events, the annexation of Aztlán, now the southwest, into the American Union, the infamous disregard of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848, the coming of the railroad that brought capitalism to the region, and the cordoning
created in Las Vegas during the Movimiento. For Rock the relationship of the mural to our fast disappearing lands is perceived as a way to promote awareness of the connection between past and present, prompting us to ask, “How did we lose our land and how have we kept the land we have?” “What patterns are being repeated? If you have no sense of your history then you can’t recognize when things are happening again.” With no sense of self or place there is no cultural clarity. Embedded in these musings is orgullo, a pride that encourages youth, our next generation of leaders, to “carry the torch,” continuing the pride of the older generations and the struggle for justice. In this part of Aztlán, as in southern Colorado, we are pridefully
off of lands by the Forest Service and environmental restrictions to access. Hispano poverty and economic hardship that came with the general collapse of the agrarian system left a wide playing field for real estate designs, and an influx of non-Hispano outsiders. Currently what remains of ancestral land legacies continues to fade. Much of this is attributed to monied gentrification that profits from land rich but cash poor Hispanos. In a recent interview Rock Ulibarri, artist and coordinator of the Las Vegas mural, writer, educator, people’s historian, and community leader, linked the Las Vegas mural to the continued people’s struggle to keep the land that remains. Litigation for lost lands and accessibility to resources continues. Painted by multicultural youth of the community and directed by Rock, the mural is a chronological people’s story of injustice and struggle, underlined by the disastrous Westward Expansion. Inspired by Howard Zinn’s approach to grassroots history, and based on a community survey taken to explore the most popular themes to be included in the mural, Rock described the creation of the latter as an educational tool, used to enlighten our youth about their history and culture. History becomes more relevant if it is about you. Because of this, he added, there appears to exist an ownership undercurrent on the part of the youth and the general community. To date the mural bears no markings of vandalism. The People’s History of El Norte mural validates the experiences of past generations, a counter to the Eurocentric textbook portrayal of el norte generally used in schools. The mural is a moveable collection, designed in this manner to prevent a repetition of the disappearance, through whitewashing and construction, of murals
empowered by a resilient history of struggle against land theft and injustice. This empowerment is enshrined in the activities of Las Gorras Blanca, Reies Lopez Tijerina and La Alianza Federal de Mercedes, and the Movimiento. Despite encroachment, empowerment in el norte means a sense of continuity, living in the home and on the land of your ancestors. A sense of historical place holds cultural memory and creates traditions and roots. Since the invasion of Mexico in the 16th century our values, culture, language and land have been relentlessly and systematically attacked by formal, informal, overt and covert colonization. This invasion propelled us from a communal approach to one of dependency on consumerism and individuation. We are seeing the consequences of this today in the downward spiral of our economy. Yet, Casa de Cultura, Rock Ulibarri, and the youth of the community have created, through the mural, a powerful sense of collective effort in Las Vegas and a teaching tool for tourists that come to our town. It may help the latter to understand that el norte is not embodied in the images of Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, ironically, icons in Las Vegas. La gente has their own dynamic story that speaks of resiliency in the face of past and present encroachment. Speaking of educational tools, why not use the controversial sleeping Mexican mural in San Antonio as an example of the racism and stereotyping of Mexicans that has existed from Westward Expansion days to the present? Bio: Yoly Zentella, is an independent scholar, clinician and faculty member focusing on the psychology of place and Chicano historical trauma. She has published on Northern New Mexican Hispano land loss in academic journals. Comments are welcome - yzentellnm@yahoo.com
“Bint Scheherazade” by Nadine Saliba
The Betrayal of the Syrian Uprising
Above: One says Homs, One says Gaza
It is Syria again
detained children, to have more children instead of them and if they can’t, to send them their wives and they will impregnate them. Darra boiled with anger and people could no longer remain silent. On March 15, 2011, protests broke out in that southern province that eventually evolved into a
Syrian uprising, which began as part of a wave of protest movements sweeping across the Arab world, turned out to be one of the most protracted and bloodiest of all Arab revolts.
The
nationwide uprising sparking what became a revolt across much of the country. The Syrian uprising, which began as part of a wave of protest movements sweeping across the Arab world, turned out to be one of the most protracted and bloodiest of all Arab revolts. According to the United Nations, more than 8,000 people have been killed in Syria. When the Arab uprisings erupted more
troduced neoliberal economic policies, dismantling state subsidies and welfare. These policies undermined the Syrian welfare state that had provided the basic needs of the majority of Syrians and aggravated already existing structural inequality and social discontent. Add to this the drought that hit Syria in the past decade and you have an already neglected countryside descending further into
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 3•
and I am writing these lines on the eve of the one year anniversary of the Syrian revolution. Perhaps a quick recap of how it all began is in order. Inspired by the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings, Syrians began demonstrating in solidarity with their Arab brethren and against their own government in January and February of 2011. Early protests were small. Political activists who organized these demonstrations were unable to convince large numbers of ordinary people to take part in an endeavor that was likely to result in their arrest and heavy reprisal in a tightly-controlled police state that does not allow its citizens to engage in any form of political dissent no matter how peaceful. And sure enough, even though the demonstrations were small and some would say ineffective, they were not spared the wrath of the government which sent its security forces to put them down by force, beating up and arresting participants. By March, 15 school children from Daraa were taken into custody and tortured for writing anti-government graffiti on their school walls. When their families and community elders went to ask for their release, a high-ranking government official taunted them. He told them to forget about their
than a year ago, Syrian president Bashar Assad smugly told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that his regime, unlike other Arab regimes, is immune because it is in tune with its people. He was referring to the Syrian government’s foreign policy that was indeed closer to the public mood in Syria and elsewhere in the Arab world than other Arab regimes because it supported resistance movements and was not subservient to US dictates. But the tyrannical Syrian regime’s anti-imperialist credentials were not enough to spare it the fate of other Arab regimes that were both tyrannical and quislings of the United States and Israel. Within weeks, Assad’s predictions were proved wrong as a protest movement swept across the country. Of course, Syrians did not wake up in March 2011 and decide to have an uprising. The causes for unrest were brewing beneath a deceptively serene façade for quite some time. The Syrian regime is nearly five decades old. For Syrians it has been five decades of oppression, countless political prisoners, humiliation, silencing and control through fear. When Bashar Assad took over in 2000 after his father’s death, the regime in-
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LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 3•
poverty and a massive migration movement from rural to urban areas in search of jobs. Under these circumstances, Syrians did not need a foreign conspiracy to tell them to protest as the Syrian regime and its supporters claim. All the combustible conditions were there. Combine authoritarian rule with government corruption, high unemployment, suppression of freedoms and violations of people’s basic rights and human dignity and you have every reason for the Syrian people to rise up. That does not mean that there aren’t outside forces like the United States, European countries, Saudi Arabia and Israel that have tried to ride this uprising, to use the Syrian people’s struggle and sacrifices for their own geopolitical reasons that have nothing to do with the Syrian people’s welfare but everything to do with these governments’ own foreign policy goals.
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has an impeccable anti-imperialist record, does that mean that its domestic repression should be excused? Many Syrians are resentful of the idea that the Syrian regime should be defended at any cost, even at their own expense because of its role in the resistance camp. They feel betrayed by some elements within this camp and some members of the Arab and global left who want them to give priority to the regime’s alleged anti-imperialism over their own
Defending the Syrian regime at the expense of the Syrian people’s rights and lives on the grounds that it supports resistance to imperialism gives resistance and antiimperialism a bad name.
This takes us back to the question of anti-imperialism and the Syrian regime’s role in the resistance camp in the Arab world. Defenders of the Syrian Above: Graffiti from Beirut. saying “Be with the Revolution” & “Freedom.” Below: Baba Amr, Homs neighborhood that was heavily bombarded by the army regime point to its support of resistance movements in Palestine and Lebanon against the Israeli occupation. But anti-imperialism has never been the Syrian regime’s priority. Like regimes all over the world, its priority is self-preservation and its support of resistance to imperialism is part of a strategy that enables it to extend its influence in the region, gives it legitimacy and serves as its raison d’etre. When it suits its interests however, the Syrian regime has proved that it is more than willing to side with the United States and Saudi Arabia as it did in the first US war on Iraq in 1990-1991 when Syria joined the international coalition under US leadership against Iraq. Also, at the beginning of the civil war in Lebanon in the mid 1970s, the Syrian government sent its military to Lebanon to support right-wing forces against the alliance of Leba- struggle for freedom and fight for survival. nese leftist forces with the PLO (Palestine Liberation OrganizaThe fact that today the US and European countries are calling tion), before switching sides later on. And let’s not forget that af- for the downfall of the Syrian regime does not make Syrians who ter 9-11 the US transferred detainees extra-judicially to Syria and support the uprising agents of imperialism. But Syrians should be other Arab countries to be tortured by proxy in a practice known wary of this Western support. As Syrian American poet Mohja Kahf as extraordinary rendition as happened with Canadian citizen of says in her article Syria’s Revolution: Created by Local Women and Syrian descent Maher Arar. Men Smoking Four Packs a Day: “We will also have to fight the Let’s say, for argument’s sake however, that the Syrian regime repercussions of the fact that the US seems to like this revolution.”
weakened regime but a weakened Syria. Most dangerously, a protracted confrontation might devolve into a civil war and a sectarian conflict that would destroy the Syrian social fabric. That scenario would not be in anyone’s benefit in Syria but it will sure please Syria’s adversaries. Events in Syria have defied most predictions making forecasts of the future difficult. From the beginning of the uprising, naysayers have claimed that the revolution will lead to sectarian strife. Some say the regime is pushing for sectarian fighting to discredit the revolution and show that it is not a movement for freedom and democracy but is an Islamist insurgency. And yes, there are Islamist elements in the revolution, some hard-line and some more moderate, but they do not represent the entire revolution. While there have been some sectarian incidents in Syria this past year, most of the Syrian people and those coming out to protest day in and day out are conscious of this danger and they have insisted from day one on the unity of the Syrian people as they have tirelessly chanted:
One One One, The Syrian People Are One One One One, The Syrian People Are One.
Some might say that verbal assertions of unity are hopelessly inadequate. But these assertions matter. As philosopher of language J.L. Austin argued, there are utterances – which he called a speech act or a performative utterance – that may not describe an existing reality but instead produce it. By invoking and asserting their unity, Syrian protesters are making a statement and that statement is perhaps a transformative action that contributes to bringing this unity, which is already part of the Syrian consciousness, further into existence. Bio: Nadine Saliba is an Arab American activist born in Lebanon who immigrated with her family to San Antonio. She writes the column, “Bint Scheherazade”, daughter of Scheherazade, exclusively for La Voz de Esperanza.
Celebrating the Constitution & the Bill of Rights presented by the S.A. Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Saturday, April 28th • 1-4:30pm TriPoint, 3233 N St. Mary’s, 78212 Free and open to the public Keynote Speaker: Rev. Barry W. Lynn
Executive Director of AUSA
live music, info booths, activities For info: 210.732.6564 ausa.president@americansunitedsa.org www.americansunitedsa.org
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 3•
Defending the Syrian regime at the expense of the Syrian people’s rights and lives on the grounds that it supports resistance to imperialism gives resistance and anti-imperialism a bad name. To quote Kahf again: “Can the global left rearrange its pencils and rulers around the fact that Syrians just don’t want to live in a police state anymore?” Having asserted unequivocal solidarity with the right of the Syrian people to fight tyranny, one should nevertheless understand the ways in which the Syrian revolution is being used by world and regional powers such as the US, European countries, Israel and Saudi Arabia to achieve their own goals. What these powers have in their crosshairs is the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah alliance. Neutralizing Syria would weaken this alliance and would leave Hezbollah, the only Arab fighting force that was able to defeat Israel, bereft of a geographical link to Iran, its main supporter. The Syrian regime’s regional and world adversaries are no less problematic than the regime itself. The same hypocritical Western politicians who have supported the Syrian people in their struggle for freedom and cried their crocodile tears over the plight of Syrians condemn the Palestinian struggle for freedom and have supported Israel’s decades-long oppression of Palestinians. Western and NATO powers have little room to condemn the Syrian regime’s violence while they are the purveyors of untold violence from Iraq to Afghanistan. And the reactionary Arab governments of the Gulf like Saudi Arabia and Qatar with their anti-democratic and discriminatory regimes do not have much room to preach to the Syrian regime while they put down the Bahraini uprising by force and the Saudi government has suppressed peaceful protests in its own borders. The Syrian people are known for their nationalist and anti-imperialist political history and sympathies but the regime’s brutality since the outbreak of the uprising has created the conditions for increasing support for foreign intervention among Syrians to stop the killing, like a drowning man clutching at a straw. Military intervention however would be devastating for the country and the Syrian people as it will mortgage the future of the uprising and of Syria to outside forces. If the purpose is to stop the bloodshed and save Syrian lives then military intervention is counter productive as it will increase the death toll and the Libyan example is still fresh in our minds. NATO intervention in Libya which was supposed to protect Libyan civilians from Gaddafi’s forces ended up killing more civilians. The New York Times reported that there are scores of civilian casualties in Libya from NATO’s air strikes that NATO has refused to acknowledge or investigate. The Times added that Libya’s interim authorities whose rise to power was dependent in large measure on NATO’s air campaign have expressed no interest in examining NATO’s “mistakes.” In any case, world powers have shown a lack of willingness to engage in military intervention in Syria for many reasons. For one thing, unlike Iraq and Libya, Syria does not have enough oil to warrant a US or NATO war. Second, military intervention might drag other countries and forces into a military confrontation and the conflict might get out of hand affecting not only neighboring countries such as Lebanon and Israel but the region at large including the Gulf area. Some argue that Western powers are paying lip service to the Syrian revolution but in reality don’t mind seeing the conflict drag on to weaken the Syrian regime. The unfortunate and tragic outcome however is that a prolonged conflict means not only a
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* community meetings *
Amnesty International #127 meets on 4th Thursdays at 7:30 pm at Ashbury United Methodist. Call 210.829.0397. Anti-War Peace Vigil every Thursday (since 2001) from 4-5pm @ Flores & Commerce See: ivaw.org veteransforpeace.org 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. Fuerza Unida, 710 New Laredo, Hwy. 210.927.2297, www.lafuerzaunida.org Habitat for Humanity meets 1st Tues. for volunteer orientation @ 6pm, HFHSA Office @ 311 Probandt. LGBT Youth Group meets at MCC Church, 611 E. Myrtle on Sundays at 10:30am. 210.472.3597
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 3•
Metropolitan Community Church in San Antonio (MCCSA) 611 East Myrtle, services & Sunday school @ 10:30am. Call 210.599.9289.
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PFLAG, meets 1st Thurs @ 7pm, 1st Unitarian Universalist Church, Gill Rd/Beryl Dr. Call 210. 655.2383. PFLAG Español meets 1st Tuesdays @ 2802 W. Salinas, 7pm. Call 210.849.6315
Be Part of a
Proyecto Hospitalidad Liturgy each Thursday at 7 pm at 325 Courtland. Call 210.736.3579.
Progressive Movement
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 Communist Party meets on second Sundays, 3-5pm @ Westfall Branch Library, 6111 Rosedale Ct, 78201| Contact juanchostanford@yahoo.com for info San Antonio Gender Association. meets 1st & 3rd Thursdays, 6-9pm at 611 E. Myrtle, Metropolitan Community Church downstairs.| www.sagender.org SA Healthcare Now Coalition meets 1st Thursdays at 6:30pm @ National Nurses Organizing Committee office 7959 Fredericksburg Rd. 210.882.2230 or healthcarenowsa.org 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. The Society of Latino and Hispanic Writers SA meets 2nd Mondays, 7 pm @ Barnes & Noble, San Pedro Crossing. S.N.A.P. (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). Contact Barbara at 210.725.8329. Voice for Animals Contact 210.737.3138 or www.voiceforanimals.org for meeting times
in San Antonio
¡Todos Somos Esperanza!
Start your 2012 monthly donations now! 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 $3 and as much as $300 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
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Notas Y Más April 2012
The University of Cincinnati College of Law’s Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice seeks submissions for its 2012 conference Social Justice Feminism on October 26 & 27. Deadline: April 1st. Call 513.556.1220 or contact kristin. kalsem@uc.edu for information.
Brief notes to inform readers about happenings in the community. Send announcements for Notas y Más to: lavoz@esperanzacenter.org or by mail to: 922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212. The deadline is the 8th of each month. UTSA Downtown Campus, 501 César E. Chávez Boulevard, San Antonio, Texas. Contact:gloria.anzaldua.society@gmail. com or norma.cantu@utsa.edu for details. F2C: Freedom to Connect will be held on May 21& 22 at AFI Silver Theatre in Washington, DC. The Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition will present a major broadband conference immediately following F2C. For more email isen@isen.com or call 888.473.6266 or see: freedom-to-connect.net/ URBAN-15 is looking for outstanding short movies from students & filmmakers 21 years of age or younger for the 6th Annual Josiah Media Festival. Almost $2000 in prizes will be awarded in various categories. Deadline for submissions is June 1st. Call URBAN-15 at 210.736.1500 or email josiahfestival@urban15.org. The Mexico Solidarity Network offers summer programs June 3 to 30 in Mexico City (4 weeks, 6 credits) on Mexican Elections- A view from below and from July 1 to 28 in Chiapas (4 weeks, 6 credits) on Zapatismo and the Other Campaign covering the practice, theory and context of the Zapatista movement and the Other Campaign. Contact MSN at 773.583.7728 or msn@mexicosolidarity.org In solidarity with Librotraficante, The South End Press Collective made downloadable e-editions of two of the banned books: Zapata’s Disciple, by Martín Espada, and De Colores Means All of Us by Elizabeth Martinez. There is also a limited-time offer on the print edition of Feminism Is for Everybody by bell hooks. A sliding scale donation (starting at $20) ensures the availability of these books. Email South End Press at southend@ southendpress.org or call 718.874.0089 or visit www.southendpress.org Aztlan Libre Press of San Antonio has released a new publication, Indigenous Quotient/Stalking Words: American Indian Heritage as Future, by the awardwinning Chicano scholar from U.C.L.A., Juan Gómez-Quiñones. For a review copy write editors@aztlanlibrepress.com or call 210.710.8537. Info: aztlanlibrepress.com
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 3•
place April 19-22 in Mesilla, New Mexico with Curandera/healer/herbalist/ midwife Doña Enriqueta Contreras from Oaxaca, México, Dr. Marta Moreno Vega, Yoruba priestess from New York, Catalina Delgado Trunk, papel picado & altar artist, and Esther Yazzie-Lewis, Navajo Earth Activist. Contact 575.523.3988 or bbf@ Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio borderbookfesival.com for details. Social (MALCS) invites submissions for its 2012 Summer Institute, “Todos A two-day Encuentro organized by Somos Arizona”: Confronting the Attacks Agricultural Missions, Inc. (AMI) on Difference at UC–Santa Barbara. in collaboration with the Indigenous Submissions must be stamped by April 2, Women’s Network will be held at Alma 2012. Info: www.malcs.org/blog de Mujer Retreat Center, 13621 FM 2769, in Austin, Texas from Wednesday EntreFlamenco Company presents AIRE, April 25 at 5 p.m. through Friday, April a full-length dance on April 6 & 7, 2012 at 27 at 2 p.m. Contact Stephen Bartlett, 8:30 p.m. showcasing authentic flamenco AMI encuentro coordinator: en español o music and dance from southern Spain. inglés: sbartlett@ag-missions.org or call The Dance Space at West Loop II, 5407 502.896.9171 in Louisville, Kentucky. Bandera Rd. Suite 107 in San Antonio has Stephen will be available in Austin or San tickets or call 210.842.4926. See www. Antonio from April 23-24 for community entreflamenco.com for more. talks, workshops, etc. on Food Justice and The Smithsonian Latino Center (SLC) Food Sovereignty. sponsors the 2012 Latino Museum Studies Call for Papers for The 2012 Recovering Program (LMSP), The Interpretation of the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage in the Latino Visual and Material Culture, from United States Conference, “Literatures July 2 to August 10 with Smithsonian of Dissent, Cultures of Resistance” to be professionals, scholars from renowned held on October 19 & 20. Deadline for universities, and leaders in the museum abstracts (100 words) is April 30. Contact field. Visit www.latino.si.edu/programs/ Dr. Carolina A. Villarroel in Houston 713. programs_LMSP.htm for an application. 743.3128 or at artrec@mail.uh.edu Deadline: April 6th. The National Women’s Studies The Association of Mexican American Association (NWSA) Gloria E. Anzaldúa Educators (AMAE) Journal has a call Book Prize cites books that make significant out for papers, Spanish or English for The mutli-cultural feminist contributions to Politics of Latina/o Social Agency: Praxis women of color/transnational scholarship. & Policy in the Struggle for Educational It includes a $1,000 prize & lifetime Justice out in December 2012. Contact membership in NWSA. Next deadline to ehfuentes@usfca.edu or patricia.sanchez@ submit books for the award is May 1st. utsa.edu. Deadline: April 15, 2012. Visit www.nwsa.org/awards.index.php. The University of Pennsylvania invites The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s applications for Predoctoral Fellowships 31st Annual Tejano Conjunto Festival for Excellence Through Diversity en San Antonio 2012 will take place from supporting graduate students in final stages May 15-20 at the Guadalupe Theatre of their dissertation with a residency from and Rosedale Park. Check www. September to August. A stipend of $27,000 guadalupeculturalarts.org/ for schedules. plus benefits is included. Deadline is April 15th. Inquire at provost-fac@upenn.edu. Transformations–El Mundo Zurdo 2012: An International Conference sponsored The 18th Annual Border Book Festival by the Society for the Study of Gloria E. (BBF), The Shamanic Journey, takes Anzaldúa will take place May 17-20 at the
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LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 3• dos eventos con Azul en Abril
Wednesday, April 11th
pop pistol $5
Noche Azul de Esperanza
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toromata Mexico City
8pm @ Esperanza
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7
$ with DJ
El General
Saturday, 8pm April 14, 2012 @ Esperanza peace & justice ctr Call Isabel at 227.6868 or the Esperanza at 228.0201
a reading, book signing & plática for
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Prefer to read it online? Wrong address? From East L.A. Rage to Hollywood Stage, a Chicana Punk Story by
Alice Bag
book review & photos, pgs. 8-9
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Friday, April 20th @ 7pm, Esperanza Trinity University Press invites you to celebrate the publication of
In the country of Empty Crosses
Mother’s Day Sale handcrafted ceramics for mom!
by
Arturo Madrid Thursday, April 5, 2012
May 4, 5-8pm May 5 & 6, 10am-2pm
Public Reading 7-8pm The Great Hall, Trinity University
1412 El Paso St (210) 223-2585