La Voz - Sept 2013

a publication of the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center

September 2013 | Vol. 26 Issue 7

San Antonio, Tejas

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2013 Vol. 26 Issue 7•

INSIDE! The importance of Latina/o Children’s Literature plus articles on SA environmental concerns, Texas’ Failure to Expand Medicaid, and more!

La Voz de Esperanza September 2013 vol. 26 issue 7

Editor Gloria A. Ramírez Design Monica V. Velásquez Editorial Assistance Alice Canestaro García Cover Photo Robin Jerstad

Contributors Ramiro Asebedo Jr., Itza Carbajal, Greg Harmon, Rogelio Saenz

La Voz Mail Collective

Alma & María Ávila, Marisela Candelaria, Diana de la Cruz, Patricia de la Garza, Arthur Doepke, Angela M. García, Ray Garza, Ida González, Gloria Hernández, Mildred Hilbrich, Stephanie Kern, Manuela C. Lewis, Josie M. Martin, D.L. McWhite, Denisse, Ricardo & Maria Medellin, Angie Merla, Mary Agnes Rodríguez, Cynthia San Miguel, Argelia Soto, D.L. Stokes, Rose Stone, Helen Suárez, Mario Tristán, Lucila Vicencio, y MujerArtes

Esperanza Director Graciela I. Sánchez

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2013 Vol. 26 Issue 7•

Esperanza Staff

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Imelda Arismendez, Itza Carbajal, Marisol Cortez, J.J. Niño, Melissa Rodríguez, Beto Salas, Susana Segura, Monica V. Velásquez

Conjunto de Nepantleras -Esperanza Board of Directors-

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

210.228.0201 • fax 1.877.327.5902 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Letters with intent to slander individuals or groups will not be published.

Esperanza Peace & Justice Center is funded in part by the NEA, TCA, theFund, Coyote Phoenix Fund, AKR Fdn, Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone Fdn, Horizons Fdn, y nuestra buena gente.

he first Littlest Free Library in San Antonio opened on June 21st, a wonderfully bright spot in an otherwise bleak summer of political and social retrogression. La bibliotequita, pictured on the cover of this month’s La Voz, is located at the Esperanza’s Rinconcito, 816 Colorado off of Guadalupe St. in the Westside. It offers children and adults a place to go “check out” books (in Spanish and English) for leisure reading. The books may be returned, replaced or kept –but rest assured with all the community donations we have had – the tiny library will always have plenty of books to choose from. It is our hope that the Little Free Library will be duplicated throughout San Antonio as it is being duplicated throughout the world –it now exists in at least 40 states and 20 countries in a variety of creative architectural styles. To see other bibliotequitas and for more information on the worldwide movement see: www.littlefreelibrary.org/ In this issue of Voz, we follow up on the topic of reading with a special article on the importance of Latina/o Children’s Literature by Esperanza staffmember, Itza Carbajal, who graduated from UTSA, recently. Another bright spot of the summer mixed in with environmental concerns is the field trip taken by community members to the Bracken Bat Cave in June. For me, an avid bat aficionado, it was a wonderous trip. The idea that real estate development can take priority over this world-class jewel is preposterous.

Read Greg Harman’s article on the bat cave’s significance for us and the environment in the article that follows. Another local writer, Ramiro Asebedo, reminds us that the Kelly Field clean-up has yet to be completed and still poses environmental dangers. Finally, in an effort to alert readers to upcoming changes in health insurance, Rogelio Saenz provides an article in Spanish and English about Texas’ failure to expand Medicare.

Learn how the The Affordable Care Act will affect you. Check sites like HealthCare. gov and CuidadodeSalud.gov – official sites of the Dept. of Health and Human Services.

The first-ever open enrollment period for individual and family health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) begins October 1, 2013 and ends March 31, 2014.

Sites like EnrollAmerica.org, a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization, also provide helpful information.

Getting back to the comment of “an otherwise bleak summer of political and social retrogression” – I would like to apologize for not covering the many issues that bombarded us this summer. I was hoping someone would step forward and write the definitive article that would connect all the issues: the set-back on the Voting Rights Act that has led to many kinds of immediate voter repression tactics throughout the U.S.; the repressive legislation affecting women’s reproductive rights that has devastated access to abortion clinics across the U.S.; the Trayvon Martin murder that seems to have had no impact on Stand Your Ground Laws and that led to the acquittal of George Zimmerman –further validating profiling actions; the lack of progress on ANY immigration legislation even in the face of courageous actions by the Dream 9; and the continuing attack on our environment with “fracking” taking place all over S. Texas and virtually getting Obama’s blessing. All of these repressive actions have occurred this summer. We can still write that definitive article.

Fifty summers ago, on August 28th, the 1963 March on Washington took place and Dr. King gave his now historic “I Have a Dream” speech. This anniversary will be commemorated multiple times throughout the next year – but will we be able to turn back the conservative tide of the summer of 2013? Wait! We did have one victory–The Defense of Marriage Act, DOMA, the law barring the federal government from recognizing samesex marriages legalized by the states, was declared unconstitutional in June. ¡Si se puede!

Write your articles and send them in to lavoz@esperanzacenter.org Adelante!

ATTENTION VOZ READERS: If you have a mailing address correction please send it in to lavoz@esperanzacenter.org. If you want to be removed from the La Voz mailing list for whatever reason please let us know.

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 ($100 for institutions). 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.

THREATENED: WORLD’S LARGEST BAT COLONY WAITS FOR LEADERS TO DIGEST THE SCIENCE

by Greg Harman · harmanonearth.com · June 22, 2013

A

s an estimated 10 million Mexican free-tailed bats — nursing mothers

and their young — began to form into a swirling gyre and rise on a gentle South Texas wind, a small crowd gathered on splitwood benches overlooking the slowly darkening Comal County cave for a lesson in bat ecology and political resistance.

With the San Antonio Water System management’s endorsement and an elected city leadership reluctant to intervene, one of the planet’s biological treasures is about to face its most significant eviction risk in its 10,000-year residency. San Antonio developer Brad Galo has plans for 3,800 homes on the south edge of Bracken Cave Preserve, directly beneath the colony’s massive flight path. While SAWS agreed in March to supply water lines to the site (and large enough ones to accomodate future tie-ins from piggy-backing development) so far only orange-ribboned survey stakes are in place.

Today, human bat allies cupped hands to ears to hear the jittery thrum of tens of thousands of mammalian wings in motion and inhale the equally impressive organic odor of this no-longersecret hideaway. Children stopped fidgeting, possessed by a marvel they hadn’t expected. The only sound is the throbbing of the wings and the occasional high whistle of a small furry body diving through the air like a bottle rocket back into the cave mouth.

Nearby air traffic controllers at Randolph Air Force Base were shutting down airstrip operations, says Fran Hutchins, Bat Conservation International‘s coordinator for Bracken Cave activities, as they do at 7 p.m. each night in order to avoid potentially costly collisions whenever the bats, which migrate seasonally between here and Mexico, are roosting at Bracken over the summer.

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Doppler radar will start picking up the snaking bat traffic as the enormous colony — which takes four hours or more to fully evacuate the cave — makes their nightly run deeper into South Texas, says Hutchins. There they will engage another cloud darkening Doppler readings: equally dense fields of corn-earworm moths rising off their favored row crops in a slow summer march north toward Canada.

Tonight the Bracken bats will collectively consume 100 tons of agricultural pests. “That’s why they’re so important to the local farmers. If they weren’t eating these bugs – an average female corn-ear moth will lay about 10,000 eggs,” he said.

In fact, just this colony is believed to contribute to $800,000 in savings a year for South Texas growers by limiting the amount of pesticides needed and reducing crop damage. Nationally, bats are believed to save the agricultural sector $23 billion annually, he said. “And that’s at the low-end of the spectrum.”

“That kind of money doesn’t matter to politicians?” one woman, one of dozens who has come out on Friday’s summer solstice to learn how to fight off the development threat, asks.

“If you take it out of their pocket, it matters. But otherwise it’s out there in the ether,” said Hutchins.

But it’s not just the potential loss of economic aid to farmers that concerns BCI, human-bat interactions are sure to increase if the planned subdivision is built. Lights will attract insects to the homes, which will lure in the bats, particularly the young who tend to stay closer to home, leading to conflict. And curiosity seekers would become all-too inevitable as the distance between the bats and humans shrinks.

“You can imagine,” Hutchins tells us, “10,000 people — 4,000 9-year-olds? – we’re concerned with trespassing issues.

This colony of bats has been here for 10,000 years. The guano is anywhere from 30 to 60 feet deep in the cave. Um, guano burns. If

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UPDATE: Discussion moves to creation of a possible 5,000-acre park

B Fran Hutchins speaks to group at Bracken Bat Cave in June, 2013. Photo: Melissa Rodriguez

somebody was to come in and vandalize the cave, set it on fire, it’s going to burn for a long time. And we’re going to lose this roost space for this colony of bats and they’re not going to be able replace it quickly. There’s no other space in this area that large.”

San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro suggested to Texas Public Radio recently that he may be waiting on some kind of direction from the scientific community before getting involved. He said: “There is a science to figure out in terms of whether development would or would not actually harm the bats.”

Neither Castro nor any member of San Antonio’s city council have come out to view the bat emerHutchins said.

So far there is little indication that gence, A pair of state reps have, however, injected Castro or others in power see themselves into the Bracken Cave as conversation, with little success so far. As SAthat are based rep Lyle Larson told the Express-News already dismantling the planet’s earlier this month, “The very life-support system. bottom line is if we don’t do this right, we are setting up a really bad Johnny Depp movie,” he said. “The moral would be that humans did not understand the unintended consequences.”

And yet San Antonio has limited control, said Annalisa Peace, executive director of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, which is fighting the development for its position atop the porous karst limestone of the Edwards Aquifer’s recharge zone and potential to harm San Antonio’s drinking water.

What either SAWS or the City Council can do is immediately revoke the water deal, she said. And they can also push Galo, the lending agency, IBC Bank, and other parties toward a fair-market transfer of the Galo land for additional buffering around the preserve. So far, Galo has offered to sell 15,000 acres to BCI for the jaw-dropping price of $35 million, said Peace.

Still another danger is that the entire ordeal will be treated as if it were occurring in a vacuum. So far there is little indication that Castro or others in power see Bracken Cave as emblematic of global patterns that are already dismantling the planet’s very life-support system. In this era of interwoven global crises, it’s a prerequisite when it comes to understanding the value of nature and biodiversity in seemingly local development fights. And it’s a prereq for seeking higher office, too, Hutchins reminds us.

“If you believe the reports [Castro] has ambitions other than being a mayor,” Hutchins tells the group. “This is a minor problem compared to being president of theU.S.. So if you can’t deal with this minor problem compared to ecological problems dealing with the whole entire U.S. and the world, you might want to consider another job.“The science is right in front of us,” he says, gesturing after the cloud of fluttering blackness. “These bats are flying right in the direction of the subdivision. You can’t argue with it.” n

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emblematic of global patterns

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Bio: Greg Harman, an independent journalist based in San Antonio, has had articles in the Houston Press, Austin Chronicle, Texas Observer, Texas Climate News, The SA Current, and elsewhere. Visit www.batcon.org/savebracken for more on this issue.

at Conservation International has had multiple meetings with Galo Properties since this article was first published at harmanonearth.com, BCI’s Bracken Cave Coordinator Fran Hutchins told La Voz. The meetings brokered by San Antonio state Rep. Lyle Larson and Bexar Co. Commissioner Kevin Wolff have included discussion of a possible purchase of all of Galo’s 1,550 acres to create a 5,000-acre park straddling northern Bexar and south Comal counties.

The park, one of several options being examined, would include the Bracken Cave Preserve, 1,200 acres of Nature Conservancy property, and several other small, adjoining land parcels.“We haven’t gotten any prices down yet, but it’s going to take public and private investment to make it happen,” Hutchins said. “That’s one of the reasons we really need to talk to the mayor. All area residents will benefit from that.”

So far, the only city officials to visit the Bracken Cave Preserve and witness the bat’s emergence have been City Councilmembers Rebecca J. Viagran (District 3) and Ron Nirenberg (District 8).

In July, Annalisa Peace at the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance put out a release questioning the wisdom of extending city water service to Comal County for the project as San Antonio Water System’s board has pledged. And she accused SAWS officials of being “disingenuous in their statements” regarding their ability to deny service to Galo’s proposed Crescent Hills property.

“Spokespeople for SAWS have repeatedly said that ‘pursuant to the Texas Water Code, SAWS must serve every customer within its CCN so long as the customer follows SAWS rules,’ Peace wrote in a prepared release. “What they neglect to mention is that TCEQ only requires this because SAWS asked to be the sole service provider. GEAA’s lawyers and TCEQ staff have assured us that this could easily be remedied with a simple action from SAWS.This action merely involves SAWS submitting this request to TCEQ by filling out a form created for that purpose. Once this is accomplished, SAWS will be free to deny service, as they have done in the past, to projects that are incompatible with aquifer protection.”

Hutchins urged San Antonio residents interested in protecting the bat colony to contact their elected leaders at the city, county, and state level. “Anytime they hear from their constituents, they pay attention.” – Greg Harman

l a t n e m n enviro racism

ment Corp.)

J

lop (Wulfe Deve

uly 2013 marked the 12th anniversary of the closing of Kelly Air Force base on the city’s southwest side. Unfortunately, some of the businesses that are located near the former Air Force base are still contributing to hazardous living conditions that residents in the area are exposed to on a daily basis. One such company is

ing, jet engines lying on the ground in front of building parking lot, rolled steel used as fencing, a trash dumpster that is not screened, inappropriate zoning for outside storage and general operation as a salvage yard. The conditions described contribute to the 40 acre rat-infested property located just off of U.S. Hwy 90 that is well inside of the San Antonio city limits.

Some of the fire code violations visible from the street in accordance with the fire department include: high weeds, low lying branches, old wooden pallets, wooden box crates and over capacity storage in the warehouses.

The homes near Alamo Aircraft were constructed in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Alamo Aircraft has repeatedly used the excuse that residents should not have moved into the area knowing that it was a commercial site, but city records clearly indicate that the residential homes were present at least 20 years before Alamo Aircraft moved into the area.

Returning to the issue of cleaning up the 40 acre site; the 2 principle owners of Alamo Aircraft each have a house valued at $1.4 million according to Bexar Appraisal District Records and according to Alamo Aircrafts’ own website; they own 20 other warehouses that I was able to confirm on the Bexar County Appraisal District website. The principle owners obviously have plenty of money in the bank but they do not want to spend any money to clean up the code violations on their properties.

Recently, I witnessed some of the code compliance and fire violations addressed but the clean up so far has only been cosmetic and mainly on items that can be seen from the street. Alamo Aircraft has not addressed many of the code violations occurring inside their properties except for removing the hundreds of barrels, some of which were labeled Methyl Ethyl Ketone and the removal of some old wooden pallets that were a fire hazard.

A lot of cleanup remains at the Alamo Aircraft properties. The company has been hoarding aircraft salvage parts and other items stored outside for 40 years so the clean up cannot be expected to take place overnight, but I intend to follow the cleanup effort until all code compliance and fire hazard violations are addressed and the site is deemed safe for the surrounding communities by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

Soil samples were taken by TCEQ on July 11, 2013 near the storage site where the barrels were removed. The results of the test and a report by TCEQ are expected by September 11, 2013. n Bio: Ramiro Asebedo Jr. is a San Antonio native with strong roots on the city’s Westside. He graduated from UTSA with a Bachelor’s degree in Chicana/o Studies and is working towards a Master’s degree in Bicultural studies. He is a member of NACCS and the Brown Berets of San Antonio.

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Alamo Aircraft, owned by the Wulfe Development Corporation. According to the company’s website the aircraft parts supplier has an inventory of aircraft parts worth 7.5 million dollars but they do not allocate money in their budget to clean up their 40 acre combined site.

The company has been in its present location since the early 1970’s and has operated as a warehouse business with zoning for warehouse use only –but if you conduct an aerial view of the address at 2538 SW 36th St. and the surrounding properties owned by Alamo Aircraft you will see the extent of aircraft salvage materials stored there: aircraft fuel tank containers, hundreds of 55 gallon barrels, and hundreds of jet engine storage containers .

The code compliance violations that are visible from the street include the following: jet engine containers used as fenc-

by Ramiro Asebedo Jr.

Alamo Aircraft (Wulfe Development Corp.) is a multi-million dollar corporation that has benefited from the United States military complex.

They also sell aircraft parts to foreign governments –yet they do not allocate any money in their operating budget to clean up their properties and this creates hazardous living conditions for residents living in close proximity to their properties.

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Falta de Expandir MEDICAID

Dice Mucho de Texas

P

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por Rogelio Saenz

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rincipales porciones de la Ley de Asistencia Asequible (conocida como Affordable Care Act) estarán poniéndose en ejecución dentro de poco.

Esto será un regalo del cielo para muchos de los aproximadamente 50 millones de individuos sin seguro médico en este país. Y los residentes pobres de Texas, en particular, se beneficiarían porque el estado es líder en un par de categorías horrorosas.

Ellos ganarían, es decir, si al estado le importará su bienestar. Sin embargo, no parece que sea así.

Texas es uno de 21 estados que han indicado que no van a expandir Medicaid, según la Fundación de la Familia Kaiser (Kaiser Family Foundation; kff. org/medicaid/state-indicator/state-activity-around-expanding-medicaid-underthe-affordable-care-act/). Hay otros 6 estados que están indecisos (3 en los cuales su gobernador apoya la expansión y los otros 3 en los cuales su gobernador sigue sopesando opciones).

La decisión de optar contra la expansión de Medicaid le hará daño al segmento más vulnerable de las poblaciones de estos estados. Este sector consiste de ciudadanos estadounidenses entre las edades de 19 y 64 cuyos ingresos familiares están por debajo de la línea oficial de pobreza (11.945 dólares para una sola persona en 2012 o 23.283 para una familia de cuatro que incluye dos niños).

Tales personas pobres que viven en estados que se oponen a la expansión de Medicaid serán, en gran medida, incapaces de aprovechar de Medicaid o créditos fiscales que pudieran ayudarles a obtener cobertura de seguro de salud.

Además de Texas, los estados que hasta ahora no planean a expandir Medicaid incluyen Alabama, Alaska, Carolina del Norte, Carolina del Sur, Dakota del Sur, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, y Wyoming.

Estos estados no son una porción

aleatoria del país. Catorce de los 21 son estados rojos con gobernadores republicanos. Casi la mitad están en el Sur. Más importante aún, basado en datos de la Encuesta de la Comunidad Estadounidense (conocido como el American Community Survey) de 20092011, los 21 estados que no expandirán Medicaid contienen 45 por ciento de la población en el país sin seguro médico y la mitad de la población negra entre las personas ciudadanos estadounidenses que son clasificados como pobres.

A nivel nacional, la situación es algo más favorable para latinos pobres que son elegibles para seguro médico, ya que tienden de agruparse en muchos estados que ampliarían Medicaid. Pero Texas no está entre ellos.

Texas se destaca entre el elenco de 21 estados Scrooges en dos respectos.

Primero, Texas está a la cabeza entre estos estados con la mitad de sus ciudadanos pobres entre las edades de 19 y 64 sin seguro. Segundo, Texas reina con 55 por ciento de su población pobre que está trabajando que no tiene cobertura de seguro médico. En contraste, en Massachusetts—un estado que bajo el gobierno de Mitt Romney adoptó un programa muy parecido a Obamacare—sólo 9 por ciento de su población pobre y 12 por ciento de sus pobres que están trabajando no tienen seguro médico entre personas ciudadanas de 19 a 64 años en el estado.

Sin duda, numerosos trabajadores pobres sin seguro en Texas ocupan muchos de esos trabajos que forman parte del crecimiento enorme de empleo de que el Gobernador Perry se jacta. En realidad, la falta de seguro entre la gente de Texas que son pobres y trabajadores empobrecidos representa la carrera del estado al fondo. En estas dimensiones Texas sale peor que estados como Mississippi y Louisiana, los cuales están perpetuamente en el sótano en muchos indicadores sociales e económicos.

Hay mucho en juego para los estados que decidan ir contra la expansión de Medicaid. Esta acción será sin duda cos-

tosa para ellos y dará lugar a un aumento de muertes que podrían haberse evitado.

Un informe de la Corporación Rand sobre el impacto de no expandir Medicaid entre 14 estados con tal planes, incluyendo a Texas, indica que estos estados renunciarán a 8 billones de dólares en fondos federales y que esto significa que 3,6 millones más personas estarán sin seguro y gastarán aproximadamente un billón de dólares en atención médica que no será compensada en 2016.

Podemos aprender mucho de un

Podemos aprender mucho de un estado por la forma en que trata a sus ciudadanos más vulnerables. estado por la forma en que trata a sus ciudadanos más vulnerables. Estados como Texas y otros que elegirán ir contra la expansión de Medicaid han demostrado claramente que sus ciudadanos pobres sin seguro no son una prioridad.

El hecho que muchos de sus trabajadores son pobres con falta de seguro médico sugiere que Texas los ve más como mano de obra barata en lugar de como ciudadanos valiosos.

El fracaso de Texas a proveer seguro de salud asequible a su gente pobre sin seguro, retornará para impactar los cofres estatales mientras que aumenta tanto sufrimiento innecesario entre sus ciudadanos más vulnerables. n Bio: Rogelio Sáenz es un sociólogo y demógrafo. Él es Decano del Colegio de Políticas Públicas en la UTSA. Una versión anterior en inglés de este ensayo fue publicada en el SA Express-News.

Questioning and Contesting

Mainstream Children’s Books and the

Importance of

Latina(o) Children’s Literature

months before beginning my honors thesis, I encountered an article in December 2012 by Motoko Rich, writer for the New York Times, about the lack of Latina(o) children’s books in the classroom. Shortly after the article was published, an uproar could be heard from the education and Latina(o) community as they contemplated the reality that Latina(o) children did not see themselves reflected in the popular books found in their classrooms and mainstream retail stores such as Barnes and Noble.

This absence illustrates how mainstream children’s books reflect a very specific concept of “Americanism” and a specific “American” (hi)story.

Instead of a multiracial and multicultural American story, children’s books reflect the dominant Anglo-European white middle class culture ignoring or underrepresenting the other ethnicities and races such as the Latina(o) American population. As a result, I argue, Latina(o) children’s literature developed as a result of a long history of a people’s struggle for visibility in the United States political arena.

As a country heavily influenced by economics and the rules of demand –why did children’s book publishers of the late 20th century and early 21st century not produce or promote multicultural children’s

The children’s literature market strives to please middle and upper class families who possess the money to pump right back into the system that so willingly validates their existence and control over society.

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As I passed through the aisles of the summer favorites, picture books, young Barnes and Noble bookstore, a selec- adults and far off to the left in a corner, I tion of books under the headline “MUST could barely see the section, “Libros para HAVES” interrupted my excursion. A pho- Niños.” Despite the large educated Mexitograph of a young boy looking out into can-American community in San Antonio, the horizon while sitting cross-legged on only two bookcases out of some 30 booka moving freight cases in train occupied the area the cover of a h e l d Pulitzer Prize books that winning novel would be

by Sonia Nazario. The novel, Enrique’s Journey, recounts the tale of a young boy from Honduras traveling on the notorious train known as La Bestia as he heads towards the U.S. in search of his mother.

The story reflected almost entirely a creative story of my own – despite the fact Latinitas at the opening of the “Littlest Library”– June that I had never 21st at the Rinconcito de Esperanza, 816 S. Colorado come across in San Antonio, TX. – Photo by Gloria A. Ramirez Nazario’s novel.

Instead of shock at the fact that my unpublished chil- considered multiculdren’s story mirrored that of Enrique’s, tural children’s literI understood the importance of writing ature. The rest of the down stories that oftentimes are excluded books fell into the category of mainstream from mainstream literature. Stories such children’s literature with fancy redhead as Enrique’s and my fictional characters light-skinned princesses and black and of Smiley and Cristián remind the public white sketches of wimpy boys. of the past, the present, and the future of During my undergraduate studies at groups outside the U.S. mainstream. the University of Texas@San Antonio, After picking up Nazario’s novel, I I pursued my final honors thesis in the walked over to the children’s book section area of Children’s Literature. My interests that reminded me of the lack of diversity included the evolution of children’s literain children’s literature in chain book- ture, the formation of history and identity, stores. The children’s reading area was and how children’s literature can serve as broken into sections such as bestsellers, a tool for consciousness building. A few

by Itza Carbajal

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books about Latina(o)s concurrently with the growing Latina(o) population of the U.S.? Instead, the number of Latina(o)’s children’s books reached a climatic high of only 103 out of 3,600 books as cited by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the 1990s. After that –it slowly began to drop.

For many in the U.S., books serve as means of entertainment meant to fulfill human desires. Through this capitalist mentality, the market of children’s books for and about Latina(o)s suffers. The children’s literature market strives to please middle and upper class families who possess the money to pump right back into the system that so willingly validates their

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Latina/o voices.

The world of children’s books in the U.S. exists for the sake of creating a market and producing profits. Money drives the majority of well established publishing houses, book awards, and most of the advertisement that goes into children’s books and what eventually becomes children’s classic literature. My findings indicate that the root of the problem goes back to who can purchase books and thus who publishing houses cater to.

Instead of stopping at this grim realization, I decided to highlight the many struggles against this injustice through movements such as Multiculturalism as well as efforts from small publishing houses and minority community efforts to combat

Examples of Latino children’s literature by San Antonio author, Carmen Tafolla.

existence and control over society. Studies show that reading helps a child develop quickly and correctly, but when a working class or poor family manages to find a bookstore in order to purchase the keys to success for their child, they come across not only a heavy price tag–but also an indifference to their existence as Latina(o)s.

By underrepresenting the Latina(o) population, the children’s book industry silences the existence of Latina(o)s in U.S. history. This silencing can be attributed to various factors including a denial of the United States’ multi-ethnic and multiracial history and an economically driven agenda that leads to the lack of attention towards minority groups based on their power, or lack of power, as consumers.

The strong emphasis on a traditionally white middle-class national identity by well-known publishers also silences

this problem. By analyzing the history and current state of Latina(o) children’s books in the U.S., I argue that a counteraction to the historical exclusion of minority groups in the U.S. is underway.

Latina(o) children’s literature by definition means literature created by and for the Latina(o) population. This includes the three dominant and distinctive Latina(o) groups: the Chicana(o), Cuban, and Puerto Rican communities in the U.S. as well as the more recent Central and South American communities now establishing themselves in this country. In my thesis paper, I selected the term Latina(o) as a conscious effort to mobilize the rich diversity of Spanish speaking groups from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Mexico who now reside in the U.S. As a U.S. naturalized citizen with Honduran immigrant parents, I prefer the term Latina as a way

to affirm my Latin American background, indigenous roots, U.S. upbringing, and my multi-ethnic history.

Many roots can be traced to the true origins of the increased interest in Latina(o) children’s literature, but I will focus on what I consider to be the key predecessors to the actual culmination of the demand and supply of Latina(o) children’s books. By concentrating on a small portion of history between the 1950s to present day 2013, I can further understand the impact the Civil Rights movement as well as other disenfranchised people’s movements such as the Chicana(o) movement, the African-American movement, the Student movement and others would have on Latina(o) children’s literature.

Before the 1990s, the era I will refer to as the golden age of Latina(o) children’s literature, the literary pieces by or about Latina(o)s existed in a minuscule scale. Considering that even today, Latina(o) children’s literature continues to represent less than 5% of the total children’s literature market, pre-1990s that number appeared non-existent.

Latina(o) children’s literature was brought to the forefront of the U.S. political arena as a consequence of the Multicultural movement of the 1960s; Multiculturalism also being a consequence of the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. during the same period. The hotly debated term known as “multiculturalism” by definition signifies an argument towards “a healthy diversity that acknowledges the varied sources of the American people and its culture… [with] greater emphasis to the history and accomplishments of America’s racial and ethnic minorities.”1 Minorities fought for the inclusion of their stories, cultures, ideas, and beliefs in textbooks, popular literature, the media, and other informational outlets, including those addressed to children. Minority groups declared that as citizens and participants in the history of the U.S., their stories must be taught and acknowledged just as the history of colonial America.

Alma Flor Ada, writer and professor, described the early evolution of Latina(o) children’s books as a “slow process for Latinos…there was a language issue, because publishers in the U.S. did not

of English as the dominant language, a Protestant work code of self-reliance, hard work, and morality, and ideas of individualism–a very Anglo-Puritan mentality that runs counter to many Latina(o) cultures.

In turn, children’s literature plays an important part in the lives of children.

“Kids do have a different kind of connection when they see a character that looks like them or they experience a plot or a theme that relates to something they’ve experienced in their lives,” Jane Fleming, an assistant professor at the Erikson Institute, strongly asserts.

My own childhood memories include bedtime stories and waterproof little mermaid bathtub books. At the same time, I remember struggling to come to terms with the fact that I could only “pretend” to be Pocahontas or Jasmine because of my skin, hair, and eye color. I grew up in the nineties- a period oftentimes called the Latino Golden Age–but not once did I come across a story that my child-self

Childhood stories help construct identities, experiences, perceptions, and overall concept of the self.

Illustration: Amada Irma Pérez’s, My Diary from Here to There.

could identify with.

I look at contemporary books such as Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Connor, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, the 1999 Newberry award-winning book, Holes, by Louis Sachar and the Harry Potter series

by J.K Rowling; all popular best selling and award wining books with white protagonists, the majority with middle class settings, with themes or motifs of hard work, honesty, self-reliance, and an emphasis on the individual. By highlighting books with white, middle-class characters, the children’s book industry established factors as to who belongs to society and how one can belong to society.

Those books that do not exhibit the traditional “white people” scenario are allowed to fall through the cracks as being different or outside the mainstream.

The structure in children’s literature and children’s books shows that popular and non-multicultural books display the desired attitudes and appearances for U.S. society while lesser known books such as Latina(o) children’s books serve as examples of what does not belong. Most notably, the power structures of children’s literature include capitalistic attitudes

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2013 Vol. 26 Issue 7•

see a need to publish children’s books in languages other than English, and many Latinos felt insecure about writing and publishing in English; [then] there was the social perspective towards Latinos, who suffered from the historical trend of conquering nations to put down conquered people.”2 In 1965, former president of the International Reading Association, Nancy Larrick, scandalously exclaimed the dangers of promoting a white supremacy approach to children’s books. Nancy warned that by producing mainly white-centered children’s books, “the white child learns from his books that he is kingfish.” Books such as the Jane and Dick series readers showed the existence of only blonde-haired, blueeyed children while other books such as Little Black Sambo displayed African Americans as picaninny wild children.3 Latina(o) children’s books did not exist, and the few children’s books in Spanish had been published in Spain. Just as the languages and cultures of minority children were dismissed, downplayed, or discouraged in the classroom, they were treated the same in children’s books. Multicultural children’s literature emerged as a result of the exclusion of minority children in children’s literature.

During this same period, small publishing houses such as Arte Público Press, Cinco Puntos Press and Children’s Book Press joined the movement towards a more Latina(o) literary awareness in the mainstream publishing world.4 These newly formed independent book publishers realized the lack of children’s books about people of color and set out to tap into that market. Children’s Book Press to this day sets out to “meet the need for stories that children of color can identify with and that all children can enjoy. In addition, [they] make a special effort to work with writers and illustrators of color.”5 Thanks to these independent book presses, I was able to find those slightly concealed multicultural bilingual books in the Barnes and Noble bookstore.

With the study of children’s literature, the problem arises as to who actually writes children’s literature. Adults create children’s literature and bring along their prejudices, politics, and agendas. I came across the reality of an adulterated children’s literature through the recurring use of a homogenized story line which mostly includes white characters or a white protagonist, middle-class settings, the use

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LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2013 Vol. 26 Issue 7•

towards purchasing power, an emphasis on Anglo-centric literary texts, and assimilationist attitudes towards non-white minority groups.

The discord here is that the ethnic and racial make-up of children in the U.S. does not match the make-up of popular mainstream children’s books. By excluding certain children based on their race, ethnicity, class, culture, etc., the market signals to those children that there is something innately wrong with who they are or who they are being raised to be. Identity formation and the concept of creating the self play a very important part in the

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lives of children. For many children, although not all, reading books allows those children to develop a sense of self through the stories that those books convey. For a child, a story could mean something from a fond memory to a recollection of a painful reality. Children react to books in numerous ways, and until recently, scholars had not placed emphasis on the different perspective children brought with them when first encountering a book.

Through writing, children learn to imagine a reality outside of that which she or he sees daily. Most importantly, children learn who, what, and how they are expected to be through words.

Literary texts accompany children through their first 18 years of education from picture books to classroom readers and finally to textbooks. The mechanism of imagining allows children to also create and imagine a future and identity for themselves beyond their immediate surrounding. For Latina(o) children, the lack of imagination through literature combined with oftentimes grueling realities can result in self-hate, pity, or disgust.

Childhood stories help construct identities, experiences, perceptions, and overall concept of the self. Children turn to stories to be entertained, to learn, and to experience similar situations that appear familiar. Parents turn to children’s stories to teach and introduce societal norms and expectations. Children’s literary stories open up doors to another world just as Julius Lester describes in his article, Re-Imagining the Possibilities: “...literature is the

royal road that enables us to enter the realm of the imaginative.

Literature enables us to experience what it is like to be someone else. Through literature, we experience other modes of being.

Through literature, we recognize who we are and what we might become.” 6 Not surprisingly, the inclusion of multicultural children’s literature does not end instances of discrimination or prejudice, just as the mere inclusion of African American and Mexican American children in all-white schools did not end racism. Now scholars, educators, librarians and parents find themselves in heated debates over the power or hazard of multicultural children’s literature in the lives of American children. Particularly, I call attention to renowned scholar Nathan Glazer and his declarations towards multiculturalism as a black agenda.7 By singling out the concept of a multiethnic approach as a single group schema, Glazer dismisses the term multiculturalism as a biased one-sided scheme rather than a collective effort from all minorities who feel invisible in United States society, including children.

On the other hand, multiculturalism in children’s literature serves a special function in that it can both be an educational tool as well as a tool to affirm.

A reality that many Latina(o) children experience comes in forms of identity confusion or alienation. As a country composed of many different ethnicities, Americans oftentimes struggle between living a sort of twoness in which two or more identities exist and struggle to coexist. W.E.B Dubois comments on this idea of twoness as a “‘double consciousness’ this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others… One ever feels his two-ness- An American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts…”8 Children are especially vulnerable to this two-ness in that they are merely beginning to understand who they are, how they are portrayed, and who they are expected to be. Just as adults struggle to come to terms with their chosen identities and the identities the outside world will try to impose, children face the same hardships of double consciousness, but do not engage in discussing this hardship in the ways adults do.

Children, meaning those still not considered adults –a term that varies according to customs and cultures– face the most difficult consequences of double consciousness in that they experience the confusion and pain, but lack the outlets to express their frustrations or come to term with their bewilderment. Children’s literature, if used appropriately, can serve as a mechanism for children to explore and reflect on the difficulties surrounding their multicultural identities.

Many of the children’s books I studied touched upon issues of immigration, historical migrations, new national identities, or themes of return, which many mainstream children’s books did not cover. Stories such as those written by Amada Irma Pérez cover issues of family migration and her recurring character’s own immigration to the U.S. In My Diary from Here to There, Amada, the story’s protagonist, reflects her upcoming trip to the continued on pg. 12 . . .

Failure to Expand MEDICAID

Says a lot about Texas

by Rogelio Saenz

M

very similar to Obamacare—only 9 percent of its poor and 12 percent of its working-poor lack medical insurance among the state’s citizens 19 to 64 years of age.

Undoubtedly, numerous uninsured working-poor in Texas hold many of those jobs that are part of the massive job growth that Governor Perry brags about. In reality, the lack of insurance among Texas’ poor and its working-poor represent the state’s race to the bottom. On these dimensions, Texas edges out such states as Mississippi and Louisiana that are perpetually in the basement on many social and economic indicators.

The stakes are high for states that elect to opt out of the expansion of Medicaid. This action will certainly be costly for these states and will result in an increase in deaths that could have been prevented.

A Rand Corporation report on the impact of not expanding Medicaid in 14 of the opt-out states, including Texas, indicates that these states will give up about $8 billion in federal funds, and this will mean 3.6 million more uninsured people and up to $1 billion more in spending on uncompensated care in 2016.

We can learn a lot about a state by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. States such as Texas and others that will elect to not expand Medicaid have clearly shown that its uninsured poor citizens are not a priority. The fact that many of its workers are poor and lack medical insurance suggests that Texas views them more as cheap labor rather than as valuable citizens.The failure of Texas to provide affordable health care insurance to its poor, uninsured people will return to haunt state coffers while creating much unnecessary misery for its most vulnerable citizens. n

Undoubtedly, numerous uninsured working-poor in Texas hold many of those jobs that are part of the massive job growth that Governor Perry brags about.

Rogelio Sáenz is a sociologist and demographer. He is Dean of the College of Public Policy at UTSA. An earlier version of this English-language essay was originally published by the San Antonio Express-News.

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2013 Vol. 26 Issue 7•

ajor portions of the Affordable Care Act will go into effect shortly. This will be a godsend for many of the roughly 50 million uninsured people in the country. And Texas’ poor residents, in particular, would stand to gain because the state leads in a couple of dreadful categories.

They would gain, that is, if Texas cared about their well-being.

However, it appears that it doesn’t.

Texas is among the 21 states that have indicated that they will not expand Medicaid, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (http://kff.org/medicaid/state-indicator/ state-activity-around-expanding-medicaid-under-theaffordable-care-act/). There are an additional six states that are undecided (three in which the governor supports expansion and the other three in which the governor is still weighing options).

The decision to opt out of Medicaid expansion will hurt the most vulnerable segments of the populations in each of these states. This sector consists of U.S. citizens between the ages of 19 to 64 whose family income falls below the official poverty line ($11,945 for a single individual in 2012, or $23,283 for a household of four that includes two children).

Such poor individuals who live in states that oppose the expansion of Medicaid will largely be unable to tap Medicaid or tax credits that can assist people in obtaining health care insurance coverage.

In addition to Texas, the states that so far have balked at expanding Medicaid include Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

These states are not some random portion of the country. Fourteen of the 21 are red states with Republican governors. Nearly half are in the South.

More important, based on data from the 2009-2011 American Community Survey, the 21 states account for 45 percent of the nation’s uninsured and half of blacks among U.S. citizens 19 to 64 years of age who are in poverty.

Nationally, the situation is somewhat more favorable for poor Latinos who are eligible for medical insurance because they tend to be clustered in many of the states that will expand Medicaid. But Texas is not among them.

Texas stands out in this cast of 21 Scrooge states in two respects. First, it leads all states, with half of its poor citizens between the ages of 19 and 64 being uninsured. Second, Texas reigns with 55 percent of its working-poor population being uninsured. In contrast, in Massachusetts—a state that under Mitt Romney’s gubernatorial administration adopted a program

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¡Felicidades!

The Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA) has announced the state lege has named San Antonio native

Rosemary Catacalos 2013 Texas Poet Laureate

Catacalos was director of Gemini Ink from 2003-2012, and is a Dobie-Paisano fellow, a Stegner fellow, and more. The Esperanza board, staff and buena gente congratulate Rosemary on this well-deserved honor.

The Esperanza board and staff extend thanks to Darlene Murnin for her donation to the Esperanza in memory of John Murnin who was a longtime supporter.

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2013 Vol. 26 Issue 7•

Also, many thanks to Jane Tuck who made a donation to Esperanza in rememberance of Michelle Myers, recently deceased member of the buena gente of the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center.

12

- El Rinconcito de Esperanza -

has been selected as a recipient of the 2013 City of San Antonio Green Building Awards The Green Building Awards, a commercial-privately funded award, celebrates building professionals and owners who have made significant strides in improving the performance of their buildings and specific construction projects.

Back row (from L): Brian Ulrich & Ian Vohwinkle, DBR, Inc. Engineering Consultants; Arnold & Maria Garcia, Sun City Enterprises; & Amanda Haas, Esperanza Center. Front (from L): Susana Méndez Segura & Graciela Sánchez, Esperanza Center; State Rep. Mike Villarreal & Mary Hammer, Interim Director of the City of SA Office of Sustainability

Latino(a) Children’s Literature, continued from pg. 10 . . .

U.S. from Mexico.

In the story, the reader also infers that Amada’s family has migrated to the U.S. in the past as seen by Amada’s father’s citizenship.

While the make-up of Latina(o)s in the U.S. varies greatly, many of the recent surges of immigrants and newer generations of Latina(o) s can identify with the theme of migration if not immigration directly.

The child reader, if an immigrant, a descendent of an immigrant, or a close friend to an immigrant, can witness the story of Amada and easily relate the worries and experiences of the characters in Pérez’s books. Through these types of stories, children learn to feel and imagine another life or to see their life written and illustrated in fantastic ways. It is through literature that a child can gain confidence as a person and learn to “analyze, synthesize, connect, and respond thoughtfully.”9 Through a constant exposure and immersion to literature, children can either see their life and experiences validated or the child can view the lack of familiar or relatable character and stories as sign of an invalidation of their identities or those of their fellow peers.

As far as my own experience, I did not grow up reading multicultural children’s books. I read stories about Disney princesses or Mother Goose tales about a white haired, light-skinned grandmother figure. I did not look like the Disney princesses; neither did my grandmother look like Mother Goose. In other stories, I read about children receiving puppies or kittens and being able to keep the animal in their beautiful two-story home. I lived in an apartment for the majority of my childhood and young adult life. I was never able to possess a pet, and frankly, I found those stories to be just as fictional as the ones about magic and super powers. Now as I study Latina(o) or other multicultural children’s books, I realize that a children’s story cannot touch every child’s life, but it can open up doors to understanding, self-awareness, respect, and consciousness.

A country with an ever-growing number of minority children from very diverse cultures requires equal representation in mainstream children’s literature rather than a selective one-dimensional perspective. The trend of producing books about folktales or food will not help create a well-rounded understanding of multiple cultures.

As CEO/co-founder of Children’s Book Press, Tom Low, stated that when he first began to publish “most of the titles were folktales about exotic people from distant lands. We felt strongly that it was important to have books with contemporary settings that reflect how people live today.”10 Producing children’s multicultural literature can potentially change older ideologies of what groups belong in the U.S. and which do not. Minority children’s books can create critical awareness “giv[ing] voice to their grievances; and to liberate themselves from the bonds of the imposed assimilation.”11 Through Latina(o) children’s books, children of color will understand their past histories as minorities, become aware of the injustices of this present racist society and realize that they can become agents of change through the acceptance of their multiracial identities.

As the 2013 school year begins, I urge parents to continue reading to and with their children and to remember to make conscious choices when selecting books for their children – choices that include multicultural children’s literature and stories that reflect the true nature and history of the American experience. n Bio: Itza Carbajal recently graduated from UTSA with a double bachelor’s degree in History and English with a concentration in creative writing. As her final honor’s thesis, she wrote a short children’s story about the interwoven nature between U.S. naturalized children and immigrant children titled: Niños.

(Note: Email lavoz@esperanzacenter.org for complete footnotes)

CALL THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL, TODAY! ASK THEM TO VOTE FOR THE NON-DISCRIMINATION ORDINANCE FOR SAN ANTONIO!

of Los Angeles is offering a 6-8 hr autonomous/ community uterine health knowledge share

On September 5, City Council is scheduled to vote on adding sexual orientation, gender identity and veteran status as protected classes to our city’s non-discrimination ordinances.

Know Yo Self Workshop September 28th and/or 29th, 2013 @ Hojas de Servicio studio, San Antonio, TX Topics presented include: Eco-feminism, Reproductive Liberation, Radical & Feminist Anatomy, Non-Capitalist Uterine Medicine, Moonstrual Education, Self Exams, and more!

Workshop is made for people with a cervix or that have had a cervix at some point. We’ll be executing self-exams so the location has been secured as a safe space. No more than 20 people can partake at each session. Bilingual hand-outs and resource material will be distributed to participants.

Workshop is $65-$100 Two work exchanges for poor/working class undocumented womxn of color and poor/working class QTGNC people of color are available. Fundraisers are also being planned to help lower costs of workshop.

Info: Allis Ozornia @ 210.322.5433 aozornia@gmail.com http://acrascollective.tumblr.com

Please call and leave a message urging council members to vote in favor of the non-discrimination ordinance for San Antonio. This common sense proposal to amend the San Antonio city code will bring S.A. in step with other major cities such as Fort Worth, Dallas and Austin, each of which has included these protections in their city ordinances. CAUSA is facing serious opposition to these non-discrimination policies, and we need your help! Call today! Find contact information for the mayor and city council and sign the petition at:

www.gocausa.org.

Thanks, DeeDee Belmares and Dan Graney, Co-Chairs Community Alliance for a United San Antonio (CAUSA)

**********

CAUSA is a non-partisan coalition of groups and individuals whose mission is to ensure all persons in the City of San Antonio and Bexar Co. are treated equally and with dignity and respect by advancing laws and policies that protect and safeguard a person’s freedom from arbitrary discrimination. E-Mail: causasanantonio@gmail.com

on August 6, 2013 at the age of 56. Anna was an artist and a caring nurse, but most of all she was a beloved friend to all who knew her.

She is preceded in death by her brother Robert Sánchez and parents Ramón R. and Gladys S. Sánchez. She is survived by her loving children Lucina Garnica, Adriana Gamboa, Saul Garza; grandchildren Varian Reyes, Mila Reyes, Xadia Gamboa, Sasha Gamboa, Maximiliano Gamboa, Leila Gamboa; siblings Philip Sánchez, Andrew Sánchez, Christopher Sánchez, Patricia Bressler and beloved nieces and nephews. The artist community and Esperanza Center extends heartfelt sympathies on her passing. May she rest in peace.

I dance with the dead, changing partners until... the last dance.

–Ana Marie Sánchez

Longtime Bajo Sexto musician and Lerma’s aficionado, Guadalupe García, 82, passed away August 13th at a San Antonio nursing home. He was born in Runge, TX, to the late Perfecto and Marcella García. Mr. García had a great love of music that he enjoyed for several decades. He was preceded in death by his parents, 5 brothers: Francisco, Leonardo, Ramon, Donaciano and Perfecto García; and 2 sisters: Chila Maldonado and Maria García. He is survived by 4 sons: Rueben, Edward, Pete and Jesse García; one daughter Mary Escobedo and numerous grandchildren, nieces, nephews and friends.

Self Portrait

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to: SaveLermas.org c/o Esperanza Peace and Justice Center 922 San Pedro Ave., San Antonio, TX 78212 (checks can be made payable to Esperanza with “Save Lerma’s” in the memo line)

QEPD Guadalupe García (August 12, 1931-August 13, 2013)

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2013 Vol. 26 Issue 7•

Anna Marie Sánchez was called home to be with the Lord,

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* community meetings *

Amnesty International #127 info.

Call Arthur Dawes, 210.213.5919.

Anti-War Peace Vigil on Thurs. (since 9/11/2001) from 4-5pm @ Flores & Commerce. Contact Tim 210.822.4525 | timduda@aol.com Bexar Co. Green Party info@bexargreens.org or call 210.471.1791.

Celebration Circle meets Sundays, 11am @ JumpStart, Blue Star Arts Complex. Meditation, Wednesdays @ 7:30 pm @ Quaker Meeting House, 7052 Vandiver. 210.533-6767 DIGNITY S.A. gathering @ 5:15 pm, mass @ 5:30 pm, Sunday @ Beacon Hill Presbyterian Church, 1101 W. Woodlawn. Call 210.340.2230 Adult Wellness Support Group sponsored by PRIDE Center meets 4th Mondays, 7-9 pm @ Lions Field Club House, 2809 Broadway. Call 210.213.5919.

Proyecto Hospitalidad Liturgy meets Thurs. 7pm, 325 Courtland.

The Rape Crisis Center, Hotline: 210.349-7273. 210.521.7273 or email Drominishi@rapecrisis.com 7500 US Hwy 90 W. The Religious Society of Friends meets Sundays @ 10am @ The Friends Meeting House, 7052 N. Vandiver.

210.945.8456.

San Antonio’s Communist Party USA meets 3-5 pm on 2nd Sundays.

Contact:juanchostanford@yahoo.com or check Notas y mas for more.

S.A. Gender Association meets 1st & 3rd Thursdays, 6-9pm @ 611 E. Myrtle, MCCSA

Fuerza Unida, 710 New Laredo, Hwy. 210.927.2294 www.lafuerzaunida.org

The SA AIDS Foundation offers free HIV testing at 818 E. Grayson St. 210.225.4715|www.txsaaf.org.

S.A. International Woman’s Day March & Rally planning committee meets year-round. www.sawomenwillmarch.org or 210.262.0654

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2013 Vol. 26 Issue 7•

Parents of Murdered Children, meets 2nd Mondays @ Balcones Heights Community Ctr, 107 Glenarm | www.pomcsanantonio.org

Energia Mia meets 3rd Saturdays, 1pm @ Oblate School of Theology, 285 Oblate Dr. Call 210.849.8121

Habitat for Humanity meets 1st Tues. for volunteer orientation, 6pm, HFHSA Office @ 311 Probandt.

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PFLAG, meets 1st Thurs. @ 7pm, University Presbyterian Church 300 Bushnell Ave. 210.655.2383.

Metropolitan Community Church 611 East Myrtle services & Sunday school 10:30am. Call 210.472.3597 Overeaters Anonymous English meetings occur daily & Spanish on MWF. For locations/times: check www. oasanantonio.org or (210) 492-5400

The United Way Combined Federal Campaign is Here!

From Sept. 1 – Dec. 15, all federal and state employees will be able to donate through the combined federal campaign.

If you take part in the CFC workplacegiving campaign, please consider designating the Esperanza (#7773) as your organization of choice.

Make a Gift for the Future:

SGI-USA LGBT Buddhist discussion group meets 2nd Saturdays at 10am @ 7142 San Pedro Ave., Ste 117. Call Frankie or Ron @ 210.653.7755.

A bequest is one of the simplest ways to support the Esperanza. A bequest from a will or a trust distribution is fully deductible for federal estate tax purposes, and there is no limit on the deduction your estate can claim.

Shambhala Buddhist Meditation Center classes are on Tues. 7-8pm, & Sun. 9:30am-12:30pm at 1114 So. St. Mary’s. Call 210.222.9303.

S.N.A.P. (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). Contact Barbara at 210.725.8329.

Voice for Animals: 210.737.3138 or www.voiceforanimals.org for info

For more info: call 210.228.0201 or email esperanza@esperanzacenter.org

Make a tax-deductible donation.

La Voz Subscription $35 Individuals $100 Institutions

for more info call 210.228.0201

Please use my donation for the Rinconcito de Esperanza

Notas Y Más September 2013

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.

MALDEF’s 2013 San Antonio Awards Gala on Friday, Sept. 13th at The Westin Riverwalk will honor The Honorable Alicia Rosencrans Chacón of El Paso, San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro and Dr. María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel of Inkstravaganza celebrates Gemini Ink’s IDRA. Contact Stephanie Loera at sloera@ 20th anniversary honoring SA’s poet lau- maldef.org or call 213.629.2512, ext. 143. reate, Carmen Tafolla Saturday, Sept. 6th EntreFlamenco Company presents the @ 6 pm with music, art, food, a raffle & a last 2013 San Antonio show, TENDENreading by Carmen, herself. For tickets call CIAS, on Sept. 13-14 at 8:30 p.m at their 210.734.9673 or see info@geminiink.org space located at West Loop II, 5407 BanS.A. Communist Party, USA meets Sun- dera Rd. Suite 107. This new production day, Sept. 8, 3-5pm at the Bazan Library features Flamenco Masters Antonio Granon W. Commerce St. to screen “Against jero and Estefania Ramírez from Jerez de the Silence,” a portrait of women fight- la Frontera, Spain. Call 210.842.4926 for ing the injustice of their husbands, fathers tickets or visit www.entreflamenco.com and sons imprisoned in the US for 15 years now for crimes they did not commit. Con- The Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA) is soliciting workshop tact juanchostanford@yahoo.com. proposals for its annual conference to MOONDANCE: Sept. 12-19 @ Alma de be held in Irving March 9-13, 2014. The Mujer outside of Austin. The Moondance opening on Sept. 13th is open to the public theme is “Break the Box: Collective Acstarting at 3pm. Weekend camping is $10 tion Against Sexual Violence.” Deadline per day. Call Alma @ 512.258.3880 or for proposals is Sept. 15th at 5 p.m. Info: http://taasaconference.org/speakers/ email shamaria@grandecom.net Tata Polo, Mayan elder from Guatemala and a doctor in Naturopathic Medicine and Traditional Mayan Healing will be giving a presentation Saturday, Sept. 7th from 10am to noon at the Mission Branch Library.

Call Yvette for more info at 210.618.8189.

The San Antonio Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church & State (AUSA) will sponsor a workshop on The 1st Amendment on Sept. 21st from 125pm at TriPoint, 3233 N. St. Mary’s. Contact Eric Lane at 210.732.6564 or email Ausa.president@americansunitedsa.org As part of 350.org Draw the Line actions, a Climate Change Awareness event sponsored by 350SanAntonio.org, Energía Mia, Esperanza Center, and others will take place Sept. 21st, 10 am to noon at San Pedro Park with a piñata at 11am. Call Alice at 210.639.3622 for info.

The 3rd Biennial Policy Summit on Latino Higher Education presented by The Sereno Alliance for Higher Education, and the University of New Mexico takes place Oct. 2-4 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Check latinosummit.unm.edu The Indigenous Dignity Day Human Rights March is scheduled for October 12th assembling at Columbus Park at W. Martin & San Saba from 1-3:30pm. . Email Antonio at indigenousway@gmail.com or call 210.542.9271 for more.

will soon present:

“Eastside Stories:

Community Histories of the Hays Street Bridge.”

If you are interested in planning this event, or have stories about the bridge, call Marisol at 210.878.6751, or email cortez.marisol@gmail.com

Corazones de Casa de Cuentos Monthly Convivio Saturday, Sept 21st, 10am - 12pm @ Casa de Cuentos, 816 S. Colorado (near Guadalupe & Colorado St.)

The Esperanza seeks buena gente interested in planning a fotoexhibit for January 2014 that would make visible the impact of the South Texas fracking boom! The exhibit will solicit and display fotos taken by those concerned about or living in towns, neighborhoods and communities impacted by fracking. The exhibit will expand the dialogue on fracking in Tejas that is much needed. Call 210.228.0201 or email esperanza@esperanzacenter.org for meeting dates and details.

The Corazones come together for a convivio every 2nd Saturday to share historias, memories, coffee, dulce, and laughter at the Esperanza’s Casa de Cuentos. Come share stories, photos, or recipes of San Antonio’s westside neighborhoods from the ‘30s to the ‘60s at the next convivio on Sept. 21st (due to Diez y Sies events).

For more info call the Esperanza at 210.228.0201 or Cynthia at 210.396.3688.

Pictured at Left: Corazones, Angie Merla and Isabel Sánchez.

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2013 Vol. 26 Issue 7•

Puentes de Poder community school

15

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2013 Vol. 26 Issue 7•

Call for Calaveras & Ofrendas ¡Segunda llamada!

DEADline: October 1st

Vendor The 24th Annual Application Deadline Mercado de Paz/ Sept. 30 Peace Market Friday & Saturday Nov. 29 & 30, 2013

Accepting Calaveras (satirical death poems making fun of the living) and Literary Ofrendas (tributes to dearly departed) for the annual Día de los muertos issue of La Voz published every November. See past issues at www.esperanzacenter.org

www.esperanzacenter.org

FILM SCREENING:

La Voz de Esperanza

922 San Pedro San Antonio TX 78212 210.228.0201 • www.esperanzacenter.org

San Antonio

Four

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

dir. Deborah S. Esquenazi.

Join us for this work-inprogress screening of a new documentary about the case of four Chicana lesbians indicted for sex crimes that attorneys and advocates say never happened.

Friday, Sept. 20, 2013 7pm @ Esperanza + Q&A with special guests

mark your calendars

Noche Azul

de esperanza

now on Fridays!

@ Esperanza , 922 San Pedro $5 Suggested Donation Concessions Available Listen to Azul at www. soundcloud.com/azulbarrientos

Fuego del Caribe Lourdes Pérez and Irene Farrera Together in Concert!

Fall 2013 Calendar Sept 13 • Oct 18 • Nov 15 • Dec 13, 2013 Concerts start at 8pm

Saturday, October 26th @ 7 pm Sunday, October 27th @ 3 pm @ Esperanza, 922 San Pedro

When Lourdes Pérez and Irene Farrera met almost 20 years ago, it was only natural that they would want to perform together. Each had a distinctive soulful voice and passionate acoustic guitar style – writing music that honored their origins: Lourdes from Puerto Rico; and Irene from Venezuela. From 1996 to 1998 they performed concerts together including at the Esperanza. Experience them together, again!