TODO Austin December 2012

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Inside

Tested.

Volume IV, 8 / December 2012 www.TODOaustin.com

Investing in Black Business p. 4 Global Austin Int’l Calendar p. 10 ‘Nutcracker,’ Teatro Vivo Season p. 11 Strong Start/Happy Endings p. 14

Top (L-R): Mario Zamora, Veronica Pomata, Mirta Marella, Anjanette Gautier, Karla Longnion, Monica Fossi. Seated (L-R) Diego Villareal (with hat), Barbara Mojica, Alfonso Gutierrez, Trini Martinez. Front: Juan Cuspinera. Photographer: Claudia Chavez

Apocalypse Not

feeling of accomplishment you’ll revel in will last you a lifetime, or in this case, will expire at the end of the Mayan calendar.

By Evelyn C. Castillo

This month, some of us are counting down the days left until the end of the year while others the last days of our very existence. If you’re of a fatalistic persuasion, you may believe the Mayans predicted an apocalyptic doomsday on December 21, and for arguments sake, let’s say they were correct. So with the end fast approaching, here’s a list of eight things you can realistically get accomplished from now until December 21.

1. Piss someone off. Because if you haven’t lately, you’ve probably been much too passive worrying about pleasing others and not yourself, or worse, not stood up for something you really believe in, in a long time.

2. Get off Facebook. Update your status to “Better things to do with my time before the world ends December 21.” If we’re still here December 22, delete your account.

3. Take a staycation. It took one guy 80 days to traverse the world, so you’re sure not going to do it in a few short weeks. So pack your bags, keep it local and explore your local horizons.

4. Learn something new. Keep this one simple too. It’s unlikely you’ll become a Beethoven or Picasso overnight, but the

5. Eat your favorite meal. Heck, eat it every day from now until doomsday.

6. Prank your best friend. They say making someone smile is priceless, but bringing them unbridled laughter will be worth every penny you spend on your elaborate scheme.

7. Karaoke. Akin to public speaking, something many people fear greater than death, you have to look this one straight in the eye and proceed to belt out the meanest rendition of bidi bidi bom bom ever.

8. Ride a horse. Come on, we’re in Texas! And it’s completely legal to ride a horse around Austin as a means of transportation, but just don’t over-indulge in adult beverages while doing so because you will get pulled over for drunk driving. And no one wants to be stuck in a county cell at the last curtain call.

I’m sure that the dinosaurs never saw their demise coming, but indeed it came. So who are we to deny the doomsayers their fatalistic prophecy?

In all seriousness though, even if you don’t believe the world is going to end on December 21, the end of 2012 is fast approaching. So start making time really count instead of letting it tick away.

TODOAustin.com Taking Austin’s multicultural message to the global stage, TODO Austin is proud to announce the launch of our new website, TODOAustin.com. The vibrant new site provides the content appearing in the current TODO Austin printed journal, along with outstanding multimedia features, enhanced event listings, special creative features and staff and community-led blogs. TODOAustin. com, developed by Mike Hernandez, also features links to archived past printed issues, where you can find stories and photos from TODO Austin’s past four years. Social media already connects the global web of Austin’s multicultural community.

With enhanced social media networks, TODOAustin.com users will enjoy sharing, re-tweeting, pinning and boasting directly from the website. We will continue to engage our melting pot of cultures in positive, community-building dialogue, while providing Austin its only multicultural media both online and in print.

Volume IV, Number 08 Publisher/Editor // Gavin Lance Garcia contact@TODOaustin.com • 512.538.4115 Art Director // Dave McClinton www.dmdesigninc.com MANAGING EDITOR // Evelyn C. Castillo web consultant // Mike Hernandez Contributing Editors // Katie Walsh, Erica Stall Wiggins Senior Editors // Güner Arslan, Cindy Casares, Sonia Kotecha, Esther Reyes, Lesley Varghese, Yvonne Lim Wilson 02 TODO Austin // December 2012 // TODOAustin.com

Associate Editors // Mia Garcia, Harish Kotecha, Alexandra M. Landeros, Callie Langford, Cristina Parker, Blake Shanley Contributing Writers/Photographers/Artists Mohammad Al-Bedaiwi, Heather Banks, Gonzalo Barrientos, Adriana Cadena, Roy Casagranda, Sirsha Chatterjee, Priscilla Cortez, Ruben Cubillos, Chi Dinh, Harmony Eichsteadt, Layla Fry, Briana Garcia, Monica Giannobile, Mark Guerra, Mari Hernandez, Ryan Hutchison, Yadira Izquierdo, Nandini Jairam, Chaille Jolink, Ryan Jordan, Richard Jung, Ramey Ko, Heather Lee, Julia Lee, Liz Lopez, Otis Lopez, David Marks, JoJo Marion, Valerie Menard, Crystal Moreno, Roberto Ontiveros, Preya Patel, Monica Peña, Paul Saldaña, Marion Sanchez, Hani Saleh, Azim Siddiqui, Elaine Stribling, Chris Summers, Corey Tabor, Blanca Valencia, Kristina Vallejo, Kuetzpalin Vasquez, Joseph P.A. Villescas, Bowen Wilder

Cover // ALTA director Alejandro Pedemonte’s “La PastoreNovela.” Photo by Claudia Chavez.

TODO Austin // Multicultural Media for All of Austin. TODO Austin is a free print and online journal for all of Austin highlighting our multicultural heritage and promoting the concept of community in an ethnically diverse city. Circulation throughout Austin, from the Westside’s Pennybacker Bridge to the Eastside’s Montopolis Bridge.

TODO Austin is published by Spark Awakened Publishing. © 2012 Spark Awakened Publishing. All rights reserved.

The views expressed here are the authors and should not be taken to represent those of Spark Awakened Publishing or of any of its associates or partners.

ADVERTISING/SUBMISSIONS/EDITORIAL: Contact@todoaustinonline.com, 512.538.4115 TODO Austin – 1400 Corona Drive - Austin, TX 78723

Notes from Hispanic Advocates and Business Leaders of Austin. By Paul Saldaña and Briana Garcia.

La Raza Roundtable // Common themes around the upcoming implementation of the Independent Redistricting Committee (IRC), the 10-1 Single Member Districts Plan and the AISD platica include a need for inclusion, transparency, to inspire trust and community voices. Beginning December 1, candidates will be narrowed from 60 to 14 to serve on the IRC and charged with drawing maps for the new 10-1 SMDs plan.

The process will be formally facilitated by the City Auditor. You may not be considered as a candidate for the IRC if you are currently a City employee, registered lobbyist, political consultant, and/or are considering a run for public office. Once the pool is narrowed down to 60 potential candidates, current council members will be allowed to each strike one candidate from the pool. This will be Council’s only participation. The 14 member IRC will be solely responsible for drawing the maps for the 10-1 districts. The approved maps will require a super majority approval of the IRC (i.e. 9 votes out of 14).

Maps will be reviewed and approved by the DOJ. Austinites will get the first opportunity to vote for 10-1 SMDs in November, 2014.

Impact of the Latino Vote // Pew Research Center states that minority groups that carried President Obama to victory with 80% of their vote are on track to become a majority of the nation’s population by 2050.

HABLA’s Alicia Perez said, “I am so proud to be Latino in this time when we witness the Browning of America. I knew it in the barrios, studied it in school, experienced it in the Chicano Movimiento and now to see it come to fruition is truly exciting. Eleven million Latinos cast a vote in the presidential election, 10% of the electorate … we are here.

I don’t adhere to the, ‘Well we just don’t vote,’ sentiment. There is strength in numbers and our numbers are such that our impact is evident and will change the face of America as we predicted. Many, for years, have viewed the browning of America as manifest destiny. I believe it is. I wish it did not scare some people because it is a beautiful thing to witness. It was nice to hear all the political pendants talk about the “Hispanic vote.” Even Rush Limbaugh referred to us as “La Raza” and said we should be grateful to Ronald Reagan for amnesty. Well Rush welcome to AMERICA, we have always been here; we are just coming of age. You will see more of us.

Viva La Raza!”

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Black Business Symposium an Investment in Community

By Corey Tabor

I grew up in Abilene, Texas during the 1980s and 1990s. I was not aware of many African-American owned businesses. I was so uninformed about the business world that I did not know you could earn a degree in business when I came to college.

I was in the Advanced Placement tracks of my school, served as Student Government President, chosen Homecoming King and co-hosted a local children’s television show. Yet, I did not know more than one black business owner in my community.

After arriving at the University of Texas at Austin and being exposed to the business world through courses, friends and business partners, I began to realize that my experience growing up was a problem that needed to be addressed.

According to James Clingman, Jr. in a 2010 article titled “Buying Black - the Ebony Experiment,” there is $850 billion moving through Black consumers’ hands each year, with 90 percent of that amount going to businesses owned and controlled by non-black businesses. That is a vast amount of revenue that never makes its way to the African American community.

There is a wonderful proverb that says, “To whom much is given, much is required.” We, as a community, have been given many resources that we need to steward more effectively to support our community. The day I heard Maggie Anderson speak, I began changing my investment in my community. I found a Black doctor, dentist, lawn care provider, pest control service, home improvement service and insurance agent. I cannot shop at a Black-owned grocery store or buy gas from a Black-owned gas station but I can make an investment in community that assist Black business owners in staying here. My passion for this cause allowed me to be featured in Maggie Anderson’s Book, “Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy.”

I started the History in the Making Community Development Center to focus on Education, Economic Development and Family Development in our community. As a part of this endeavor, we are hosting our first annual Austin Black Business Symposium (ABBS) designed to educate consumers to support Black-owned businesses while partnering with Black business owners to grow their businesses.

The ABBS will be held on Saturday, December 1, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. on the Austin Community College Eastview Campus. Maggie Anderson will be our keynote speaker for this wonderful symposium.

She will share her journey of spending the entire year of 2009 buying from Black-owned businesses and the difference it made in their family and the community. She will also share insightful tips for Black-owned business owners to grow their businesses through self-help economics. We will have workshop tracks for consumers, aspiring business owners and current business owners.

Corey Tabor

In February, 2010, I attended an event hosted by the Austin Black Newcomers Association where I heard Maggie Anderson, founder and Executive Director of the Empowerment Experiment, share her experience. She discussed staggering statistics about the lack of self-help economics in our community. I have since read articles that affirmed her statements.

04 TODO Austin // December 2012 // TODOAustin.com

I challenge those who care about the health of the Black community in Austin to attend the conference, invite others to attend and to sponsor this great cause. Registration is $10 for adults and $5 for students (with ID). For more information go to www.himcenteraustin.org/abbs or www. austinbbs.eventbrite.com Corey Tabor is the Founder and Lead Pastor of Full Life Community Church. Founder and President of the History in the Making Community Development Center Founder and President of III Coaching, LLC. He is the author of “Being: A 30-Day Guide to Being Who God Created You to Be.”

Even in situations which still would require a search warrant, the proposed law would excuse law enforcement officers from obtaining a warrant (and being challenged later in court) if they claim an “emergency” situation.

Not only that, but a provider would have to notify law enforcement in advance of any plans to tell its customers they’ve been the target of a warrant, order, or subpoena. The agency then could order the provider to delay notification of customers, whose accounts have been accessed, from three days to “ten business days” or even postpone notification up to 360 days.

The U.S. Senate is Wiping Out Our Email Privacy

by Renato Ramírez Chairman of the Board and CEO, IBC-Zapata & James C. Harrington Director, Texas Civil Rights Project The U.S. Senate will soon vote on a law that would gravely undermine Americans’ privacy and give expanded, unbridled surveillance over people’s e-mails to more than 22 government agencies.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chair of the Judiciary Committee, has capitulated to law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Justice Department, and is sponsoring a bill, authorizing widespread warrantless access to Americans’ e-mails, as well as Google Docs files, Twitter direct messages, and so on, without a search warrant. It also would give the FBI and Homeland Security more authority, in some circumstances, to gain full access to Internet accounts without notifying either the owner or a judge.

Leahy’s bill would only require the federal agencies to issue a subpoena, not obtain a search warrant signed by a judge based on probable cause. It also would permit state and local law enforcement to warrantlessly access Americans’ correspondence stored on systems not offered “to the public,” including university networks.

Agencies that would receive civil subpoena authority for electronic communications include the Federal Reserve, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Maritime Commission, the Postal Regulatory Commission, the NLRB, OSHA, SEC, and the Mine Enforcement Safety and Health Review Commission. There is no good legal reason why agencies like these need blanket access to people’s personal information with a mere subpoena, rather than a warrant.

One might expect better of Leahy, given his liberal credentials; but he has been quite disappointing. In fact, he had a hand in making the Patriot Act bill less protective of civil liberties.

Nor has the Administration been helpful in this regard, quite to the contrary. Expectations of “law and order” types might not be as high in terms of protecting civil liberties, but they should not be as unsatisfactory as they are with proponents of constitutional freedoms.

The revelations about how the FBI perused former CIA director David Petraeus’ e-mail without a warrant should alarm us all, who have less power and prestige than he did.

If the Fourth Amendment is to have any meaning, it is that police must obtain a search warrant, backed by probable cause, before reading Americans’ e-mails or other communications. If we are to preserve our constitutional protection from warrantless searches, unreviewed by the courts, we need to let our U.S. Senators from Texas hear from us immediately and resoundingly.

We cannot allow the government to undermine our rights, bit by bit, even in the name of national security, which too often is the mantra it so casually uses. As Ben Franklin said, those who give up freedom in the name of security deserve neither.

This abridgement of our fundamental rights affects us all - conservative, liberals, and libertarians alike. Our allegiance to the Constitution must be non-partisan. Write or call your Senators - now.

IMMIGRATION

The Mandate is for Immigration Reform, Not More Enforcement By Cristina Parker Both political parties are on notice. Despite President Barack Obama’s dismal record on immigration, the promise of a self-deportation nation under Mitt Romney was enough to push Latino voters to break for Obama in the November election by 72%.

With immigration a top issue for so many Latinos, this is nothing less than a mandate for humane immigration reform.

The demographic shifts in the U.S. (and especially in Texas) spell a future where either party ignores this mandate at their peril.

For example, Republicans have a lot of ground to

gain back since the years of George W. Bush, who supported CIR in spite of his party and pulled a large percentage of the Latino vote in 2000 and 2004. At the same time, President Obama has to battle the fact that he is seen as an immigration promise-breaker and a hardliner on enforcement with a record of mass deportation.

“It’s very clear to me that the issue of immigration reform will be coming back to the forefront next year,” said Fernando Garcia, Executive Director of the Border Network for Human Rights in El Paso. “We’ve been promised immigration reform in the first year by this president twice.

It’s time he delivers.”

Protest for immigration reform during President Obama’s visit to El Paso on May 10, 2011.

U.S. Interests and Egyptian Aspirations for Democracy

By Roy Casagranda

When the Third Egyptian Revolution (1919 and 1952) happened in 2011 it was not merely a revolution against a single tyrant, it was also a

revolution against the U.S. and its $1.5 billion in support. Egyptians faced down the police and knew that they might possibly have to fight the military. But after 18 days, the Egyptian military acted like it had in 1952 and launched a coup against their own man, Mubarak. The 2011 revolution was carried out by socialists, liberals, union organizers, ultras (soccer fans), the youth, and the poor. The revolution took years to create and was accumulation of networking and lessons that resulted from union organizing in Mahala in 2007, the food riots in 2008, lessons learned from the failed Green Movement in Iran in 2009, the inspiration gained from the Tunisian uprising in December of 2010, and general strikes and protests across Egypt since 2007. The 2011 Revolution marked a serious change in tactics, strategies, and attitude. But perhaps no feature is more impressive than the fact that some variation of the Egyptian Revolution (a.k.a. the Arab Spring) took place on every continent in some 50 countries (e.g. Spain’s Indignado Movement and the U.S.’s Occupy Movement). At the start of the revolution, Egyptians had suffered 41 years of dictatorship and economic decline. Additionally, Egypt had gone through 41 years of sectarian divide-and-conquer tactics initiated by Sadat and continued by Mubarak as a means of control.

That all changed in 2011.

On January 1, 2011, a car bomb was detonated outside a church in Alexandria. That morning and for three days Egyptians responded by demonstrating, not against fundamentalist Islam, but against the Mubarak regime. Many Egyptians

For their part, some top Republicans and conservatives in the media experienced simultaneous immigration epiphanies on election night. Blowhard conservative radio and TV host Sean Hannity said he had “evolved” on immigration reform and as of November 7, 2012, he supports a “pathway to citizenship.” House Speaker John Boehner said he was “confident” that a deal was possible in 2013.

The pressure for immigration reform will only grow louder across the country and the fight will only get uglier. Soon after his reelection victory, President Obama made the promise again — immigration reform in the first year of his second term.

Predictably, they all said that “sealing,” “closing,” or “securing” the border was the first step in getting to reform. This trade-off scenario is not acceptable.

The threat of increased harsh enforcement being enacted as the trade off for the pathway to citizenship is very real. President Obama, in particular, has been willing to sacrifice the rights and dignity of immigrants and border residents to make this trade. His legacy is already defined by mass deportations as he has broken every previous president’s record. He is also the president who oversaw the rapid expansion of local immigration enforcement to every corner of the country with the S-Comm program. And border

residents now live under intense militarization and surveillance that would be unthinkable in other parts of the country.

“While we were watching the Latino vote decide this election, we were also listening as some state lawmakers taking about closing the border and bringing back the idea of trying to pass Arizona-style laws in Texas,” said Adriana Cadena, coordinator of the statewide Reform Immigration for Texas Alliance (RITA). “Frankly, they are on the wrong side of history.”

The fact is that harsh enforcement at the border and in the interior has gone far and wide enough.

The only thing left is the immediate, humane reform of a broken immigration system. Voters have demanded it.

Both parties have a lot to lose. In states like Nevada, Colorado, Florida and New Mexico, Latino voter turnout created a firewall that ultimately benefited President Obama. If this is ignored and more immigration promises are broken, Democrats will see that firewall turn against them. Likewise, if Republicans continue to pander to the nativists in their party and demand harsher and harsher enforcement, they will not be able to breach that firewall for decades.

Voters have spoken and the time is now for both parties to put aside vitriol about sealing the border and get serious about humane immigration reform.

believed that it was in fact the Mubarak regime which planted the bomb and then blamed it on extremists in order to legitimize the dictatorship.

Muslims were there demonstrating alongside Christians. Then on January 7 (Coptic Christmas) Muslims ringed themselves around churches with signs saying, “You cannot kill our Christians without killing Muslims.” Forty-one years of divide and conquer tactics were disappearing in an instant. The Revolution began 18 days later on a Tuesday. The following Friday Christians ringed themselves around praying Muslims. Eighteen days after that Mubarak was gone.

aftermath of the revolution, the Obama regime indicated that maybe supporting dictators was not a good idea after all.

Perhaps one of the greatest ironies was that the Muslim Brotherhood and the U.S. were both slow to support the revolution. At first, in fact, the Brotherhood had told its people to stay away from the demonstrations. Eventually the Brotherhood and the U.S. realized that they were being left behind. The U.S. told Mubarak to step down and the Brotherhood began to encourage its people to join the Revolution.

The next day, a mere four months and 22 days after taking office, Morsi granted himself sweeping powers, effectively creating a new dictatorship.

It was as if Morsi was waiting for the opportunity to get the U.S. to owe him a favor before he seized power. Now the U.S. is deafeningly quiet on the issue of Morsi’s newly found dictatorial powers, while he ramrods through a new Islamist Constitution drawn up by Islamists. But in an act of amazing defiance, Egyptians returned to the streets, while in numbers smaller than those of February 2011, and after a week appear to be starting a fourth Egyptian Revolution.

So when the Brotherhood won the parliamentary and presidential elections that followed, there was a sense of disappointment amongst the Egyptian left and Christians. What had started out as a secular, leftist revolution had resulted in a conservative, theocratic electoral win.

The U.S. was quick to indicate that it would work with the Brotherhood. Secretary of State Clinton had reached out to the Brotherhood by July of 2011 even before the elections. And in the

Then on November 21, 2012, Morsi brokered a peace deal between Hamas and Israel. This is no small thing. Hamas is the Palestinian version of the Muslim Brotherhood. Moreover, the Brotherhood had promoted itself as an anti-Israel alternative to the corrupt pro-Israel Mubarak regime. Less than five months after taking power, the Brotherhood was keeping Egypt’s role as an Israeli ally and useful to the U.S.

Now the U.S. has a choice: do what is in its short term interests and support Morsi or do the ethical thing and support Egyptian aspirations for democracy.

Austin Community College Professor Roy Casagranda is an expert on politics of the Middle East.

TODO Austin // December 2012 // TODOAustin.com 05

Austin Indian Community Leaders Attend Diwali at White House On Tuesday, November 13, for the fourth year, the White House celebrated Diwali, a holiday observed annually by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and some Buddhist throughout India and across the world. Austin’s Harish Kotecha, founder of Hindu Charities for America, and Arunachala ‘Raj’ Nagarajan and his wife, Janki Nagarajan, founders of India Fine Arts, were invited to the ceremony as special guests.

Known as the “festival of lights,” Diwali offers time for both reflection and celebration. Its stories and rituals focus on the triumph of light over darkness and compassion over hatred. The day signifies the

renewal of life and the promise of prosperity for the year to come.

Bringing together some 150 South Asian American community leaders, elected officials, entrepreneurs, and Obama Administration officials, as well as Members of Congress and the Diplomatic Corps, the White House celebration culminated with remarks from Vice President Joe Biden.

In his remarks, the Vice President spoke of the universal resonance of Diwali and asked guests to recommit themselves to providing for those less fortunate. In closing, the Vice President expressed his wishes for a peaceful and prosperous Diwali and that the lights guide the guests safely home.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, a priest from a local Hindu temple draped a blue shawl around the Vice President’s shoulders as he lit the diya.

Harish Kotecha (second right) with Kamesh, Janki and Raj Nagarajan, and Ami Shah

African American Cultural & Heritage Facility Mural Installed Artist Reginald Adams of Houston has completed installation of a mosaic mural for the new African American Cultural & Heritage Facility on East 11th Street. The area referred to as the heart of the African American community in East Austin, once hosted some of the most famous rhythm and blues singers at the nearby Victory Grill and was integral in the civil rights movement. The mural depicts several vignettes featuring historical buildings, documents and a portrait of William Thomas Detrick, a field laborer thought to have been among the first freed slaves in Travis County and whose home at 912 E. 11th Street is now a part of the new facility. The mural, approximately 8’ x 25’, also includes 88 portraits of people who made a significant contribution to the advancement of the African American community in Austin. Look for the facility and mosaic dedication event in early 2013.

Austin History Center

Austin’s ‘Mexico’ A Forgotten Downtown Neighborhood

06 TODO Austin // December 2012 // TODOAustin.com

A new exhibit showcasing Austin’s culturally significant Mexican American community in downtown Austin is running now through March 10, 2013 in the David Earl Holt Photo Gallery at the Austin History Center (810 Guadalupe St.). Presented by the Center and Mexic-Arte Museum, “Austin’s ‘Mexico’: A Forgotten Downtown Neighborhood,” features photos from the Austin History Center’s extensive photograph collection. The Austin History Center is open from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

In the 1870s, Austin’s early Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans created a vibrant business and cultural community just west of downtown Congress Avenue to the banks of Shoal Creek. Republic Square Park, then known as Mexican Park, was the cultural heart of the area, with Mexican immigrants settling just west, southwest, and south of the square.

Diez y Seis celebrations took place at Republic Square Park from the 1870s until 1927. Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, the first Catholic Church to serve the Mexican population,

was established in 1907 just across from the square. On the other side of the square was Walker’s Chili Factory, a major employer for Mexicans in the neighborhood. Workers and their children spent leisure time in the park.

Mexican business enterprises were indicative of the surrounding area. In 1907, Ben Garza opened a meat market. Alberto Garcia, probably the city’s first Mexican doctor, opened his practice on Congress Avenue.

Crescenciano Segovia opened Austin’s first tortilleria, Austin Tortilla Manufacturing Company, in 1922. Women had informal businesses such as tamale-making.

Life was not always easy for many of the Mexicans in the area. Mexicans struggled with inadequate housing, poor sanitation, lack of city services, and racial prejudice.

This downtown Mexican community moved to Austin’s eastside in the 1930s, largely a result of actions taken after the 1928 City Plan for Austin, prepared by consultants Koch & Fowler, suggested that the city segregate minority communities, and specifically African Americans, to this area.

Asian Austin About Town GAACC Annual Meeting and Mixer // The Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce invites you to its Annual Meeting and Networking Mixer at the Holiday Inn Austin Midtown from 6-8 p.m., Thursday, December 13. Registration is free, but guests must RSVP to exec.admin@ austinasianchamber.org. For more info go to www.austinasianchamber.org A Gospel According to Jazz Christmas //

Kirk Whalum

Kirk Whalum and Amber Bullock are joined by world renowned pianist Keiko Matsui on Sunday, December 9, for two shows at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at One World Theatre. Whalum, a Grammy award-winning saxophonist known for his much-celebrated live recording series, “The Gospel According to Jazz,” brings his inaugural Christmas concert tour, “A Gospel According To Jazz Christmas,” to Austin. Whalum will share the stage with Matsui and gospel phenom vocalist, Amber Bullock, the season four winner of BET’s “Sunday Best.” Also featured will be Whalum’s brother, vocalist Kevin Whalum, keyboardist and vocalist, John Stoddart, and special guest, Austin’s own, trumpeter Fletch Wiley. “We will present the most creative, imaginative, meaningful and joyful Christmas celebration ever,” stated Whalum.

“Don’t miss it.”

APAHA Go Green Art Contest // The Asian/ Pacific American Heritage Association’s “Go Green Art Contest” is an excellent opportunity for Asian/ Vietnamese students to earn extra money for college. All Asian American middle and high school students are encouraged to participate. Lend a hand by contacting your local high school art teachers to have their Asian/Vietnamese students enter. The deadline to submit artwork is January 12, 2013. Please visit www.apahaart.org for more details. To sponsor, please call 713-784-1112.

Texas Music Office Touts Chinese // Casey Monahan and the good folks from the Texas Music Office, Governor’s Office, recently completed “Information Concerning Touring In China,” written by TMO intern (and Shanghai native) Liangchen “Helen” Zhang. The 28-page primer outlines the basics of performing in China, from visa completion to social media marketing to music festival and “live house” performances. Look for it on the web soon. “Amazingly, even though one in five people in the world live in China, there

Keiko Matsui

Amber Bullock

Dandia Draws Hundreds to Mexita’s

By Kathleen Fitzgerald

Blanton Museum of Art Public Tour: Into the Sacred City // Be among the first museum visitors to experience a selection of newly conserved Tibetan Buddhist thangkas and mandalas at the Blanton on Saturday, December 15, from 3 - 4 p.m. The works are from the Theos Bernard Collection at the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Included with museum admission; free to members.

Kotecha explained. “Again, the most basic version involves repeating five simple steps and is very easy to learn. Raas is also easy-come-easygo with the caveat that you have to leave/join in pairs so there isn’t an odd man out.”

Hindu Charities of America’s folk-dance event, “Dandia,” held Saturday, November 3 in East Austin at Mexita’s, brought hundreds of Indian community members out to enjoy live music performed by local artists, dance, food and fun.

The Dandia was highlighted by the music of local band, Jhankar Beats, and the Garba, an Indian form of dance that originated in the Gujarat region that is enjoying worldwide popularity.

“Garba is done solo and involves rhythmic steps in a circular form,” explained Harish Kotecha, Hindu Charities of America’s director and founder.

“There are simple versions that involve repeating a short sequence of steps, or more complex versions that require a little coordination.”

Raas is a dance performed in pairs with each participant holding sticks called dandia. “The dance involves hitting a partner’s dandia with one’s stick while following the beat of the music,”

Women wore chaniya cholis, colorful skirts and blouses to “Dandia,” many with hand embroidery and embedded mirrors and shells. Men wore kurtas, long, loose, collarless shirts, with tight pants called churidars. The event included snack food from sponsors Fasal and Man Pasand Grocers, and tea from Gandhi Bazar. Prizes were awarded for best dressed male and female and best dancers, male and female dancers.

“The participants thoroughly enjoyed the dandia,” said Kotecha, who promised more productions in the future.

Call for Papers: Women, Gender, & Families of Color // Women, Gender, and Families of Color is a new multidisciplinary journal that centers the study of Black, Latino/a, Indigenous, and Asian American women, and families with gender serving as the central analytical frame. Within this framework, the journal encourages theoretical and empirical research from history, the social and behavioral sciences, and humanities including comparative and transnational research, and analyses of domestic social, cultural, political, and economic policies and practices within the United States. The journal has a rolling submission policy and welcomes manuscripts, proposals for guest-edited special issues, and book reviews at any time. Authors and those interested in producing guest-edited special issues for Women, Gender, and Families of Color are encouraged to visit the journal website at www. womengenderandfamilies.ku.edu.

- Compiled by staff and Asian Austin at www.

AsianAustin.com, an online news source featuring news about Asian American people, organizations and events in Austin. Visit the Asian Austin website and “Like” us on Facebook for calendar and event details! Contact publisher Yvonne Lim Wilson at yvonne@asianaustin.com.

Fall Hindu Festivities Celebrated in Austin

By Harish Kotecha

This past fall, the Austin Hindu community enjoyed several cultural celebrations. October and November brought key events staged by various local cultural organizations including Navratri Festival (Festival of Nine Nights), wherein locals performed the traditional dance of Gujarat, called “Garba.” The festival is marked twice a year, being observed at the beginning of spring and again at the beginning of autumn, considered to be important junctions of climatic and solar influences.

The hour-long prelude event, “Bollywood Fiesta,” featured performances by Bandish Group, Siva Rai, a Bhutanese refugee Nepali singer, and Naga Valli, a rising performer of note. Mexita’s restaurant provided their bingo hall rent free for the Dandia fundraiser.

are no general interest guides in English offering a “How to …” on touring in the country,” said TMO. “It is our hope that Texas musicians have the information necessary to begin planning a China tour.”

These two seasonal periods are taken as sacred opportunities for the worship of the Divine Mother Durga. Originating as devotional Garba dances, which were always performed in Durga’s honour, this dance form is actually the staging of a mock-fight between the Goddess and Mahishasura, the mighty demon-king, and is nicknamed “The Sword Dance.” During the dance, performers energetically whirl and move their feet and arms in a complicated, choreographed manner to the tune of the music with various rhythms. The dhol is used, as well as complementary percussion instruments such as the dholak, tabla and others.

Next on the calendar is Diwali (Festival of Lights),

which signifies the triumph of good over evil.

Families, temples and cultural organizations across Austin celebrated Diwali with several include Melas (fairs), fireworks, and a variety of foods and cultural programs. President Barack Obama has been delivering Diwali messages every year—these can be found on You Tube— with celebrants wearing new clothes and sharing sweets and snacks with family members and friends.

The Diwali festival starts with Dhanteras, a period during which most Indian business communities begin their financial year. The second day of the festival is called the Naraka Chaturdasi.

Amavasya, the third day of Diwali, marks the worship of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. The fourth day of Diwali is known as Kartika Shudda Padyami. The fifth day is referred to as Yama Dvitiya (also called Bhai Dooj), and on this day sisters invite their brothers to their homes.

TODO Austin // December 2012 // TODOAustin.com 07

Austin Latino Theater Alliance:

‘La PastoreNovela’ La Pastorela is a “uniquely Austin” holiday tradition that has been entertaining audiences for 14 years. A traditional Yuletide play performed in Native American/Latino Communities since the late 16th century when Spanish missionary priests first introduced the act to Native Aztec Indians, the Austin Latino Theater Alliance’s production at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (600 River Street) retains elements of the original tradition with a lively, bilingual, contemporary theatrical twist.

The original script and music, passed on from generation to generation, recounts the shepherd’s journey to Bethlehem as they encounter manifestations of evil that attempt to keep them from reaching their destination.

Performed in Spanish with English surtitles, Miguel Angel Santana returns with an original, delightful script, this time in the form of a comedic Latin soap opera satire. Drawing from classic characters including shepherds, demons, angels and pilgrims, Santana’s script brings to life the Shepard family (familia Pastor).

The family goes through a series of entertaining entanglements and hysterical situations, and putting aside its differences, the passionate but disbelieving clan undertakes a special mission.

Bridge2Bridge From Montopolis Bridge to 360 Bridge, Everything Austin

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Under the direction of Alejandro Pedemonte, the ensemble of eleven actors include Mario Zamora, Karla Longnion, Diego Villarreal, Anjanette Gautier and Trini Martinez, and debuting with the company, Mirta Marella, Barbara Mojica, Veronica Pomata, Juan Cuspinera, Monica Fossi and Alfonso Gutierrez.

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The PastoreNovela, presented by ALTA and “El Taquito Sabor a Mexico,” is a comedy for the whole family and runs through December 15 every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Performances run at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; Saturday, December 8, includes a 4 p.m. matinee and an evening show, and on Wednesday, December 12, ALTA will join LupeARTE’s Posada celebration. Tickets, $18 general admission, $13 students/seniors/ groups of 10-plus, are available at all branches of El Taquito, Sabor Mexico, and online at altateatro.com.

12 TODO Austin // December 2012 // TODOAustin.com

TODO Arts

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The 2nd Annual St. David’s Downtown Posada, 301 East 8th Street, celebrates Hispanic culture and the Christmas season on Saturday, December 8, at 6 p.m. Led by children, followed by adults and the Travis High School Mariachi Band, the procession commemorates Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem in search of shelter prior to the birth of Jesus. Food, piñatas and more. Free admission. stdave.org • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • “A Smile on My Face: Fall Photographic Exhibition” opens with a reception from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, December 8, at the George Washington Carver Museum (1165 Angelina St.). The group exhibition, which runs through April 6, 2013, features the work of students from the Smile black and white photographic workshops, a free course offered by the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Based on a true story, “Mami Boricua” is a powerful theatrical tribute to the Puerto Rican women who contributed to union efforts to improve wages and working conditions for garment industry workers in New York in the late 1950s. Join Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance for Sembrando Herencia 2012, with live music, dance and theater at Texas School for the Deaf’s Davis Auditorium, Sunday, December 9, 3 p.m. prfdance.org • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Good Grief! The Austin Chamber Music Center brings the music from an animated television holiday classic to Antone’s in, “A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Music of Vince Guaraldi,” Sunday, December 9, with two shows, 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Based upon Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip, “Peanuts,” the concert features ACMC’s Michelle Schumann, Utah Hammrick and David Sierra. austinchambermusic.org • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Craig Hella Johnson adds new touches to this year’s Conspirare Christmas, an annual collage of music and poetry, perfectly mixed to contemplate and celebrate the season. This year’s special anniversary holiday concert on Monday, December 10, 8 p.m., at the Long Center’s Dell Hall, includes artists Charles Wesley Evans, baritone, and Kathlene Ritch, soprano, with Tom Burritt on percussion. conspirare.org • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • “Billy Elliot the Musical” is the joyous celebration of one boy’s journey to make his dreams come true. Set in a small town, the story follows Billy as he stumbles out of the boxing ring and into a ballet class, discovering a surprising passion that inspires his family and community. A big musical with an even bigger heart that is sure to enchant, the show runs December 11-16 at Bass Concert Hall. texasperformingarts.org • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Produced by Celtic Cultural Center of Texas, the annual Celtic Christmas at the Cathedral showcases the vocals of Brett Barnes, Danny Johnson and Stephanie Prewitt within the extraordinary Schola Cantorum of St. Mary Cathedral on Thursday-Friday, December 20 -21, 7:30 p.m. Led by award-winning director Jeffrey Jones Ragona, Irish and Scottish traditional music will surely entrance. celticchristmasaustin.com

Land Without Evil // Stateside at the Paramount // A narrative-driven aerial theatre and multimedia experience adapted from a novel by Matthew Pallamary, this collaboration between almost 50 artists, aerialists, dancers, contortionists, performers, singers, musicians, and actors tells the pan-cultural story of love, life, family and the assent to consciousness in the face of death. Presented by Sky Candy and Agent Red, December 8-16. skycandyaustin.com

The Manhattan Transfer // Bass Concert Hall // Celebrate the season with this twelve-time Grammy-winning jazz vocal group, performing an evening of familiar and well-loved holiday classics Wednesday, December 19, 8 p.m. The Manhattan Transfer delivers swingin’ holiday favorites from their two Christmas CDs, “An Acappella Christmas” and “The Christmas Album,” which remain among the best-selling holiday recordings of all time. texasperformingarts.org

Guy Forsyth - Carolyn Wonderland // Rollins Studio Theatre // Spice up your holidays with a little Austin soul as these musical forces return to the stage to perform new and old holiday classics, December 20-22. “Holiday Roast: Roast the Holidays, Toast the New Year” is a unique, irreverent interpretation of holiday classics, deliciously re-imagined. Wonderland’s equipped with soulful vocals and guitar slinging skills, and Forsyth, a rare talent as a songwriter and performer. thelongcenter.org

austin shop crawl black friday: nov 23 — dec 24 austinshopcrawl.com Shop more and spend less at local Austin boutiques, restaurants and entertainment venues all while benefitting Toys for Tots. Save 10-20% with a FREE Austin Shop Crawl Badge.

benefitting

Follow us on Twitter at @bellasartesa

Official Austin Shop Crawl Schedule of Events Merry Movie Night Under the Stars: A Christmas Story Food and Wine Crawl Bowl-a-thon and Brunch A Christmas in NY: Kid’s Holiday Fashion Show

E-Holiday Bazaar & Toy for Tots, Blue Santa & Brown Santa Charity Concert

Dec 1 Dec. 14-24 Dec. 15 Dec. 9 Dec. 15

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Good Times at Güero’s

For great tunes and great rita’s!

Please join us for live music on our outside jardin stage, every Thursday through Sunday. Thanks to the fans & bands who support us!!! All outdoor shows are “weather permitting”

december Line-up

Taco Bar

1412 S. Congress Avenue • Austin, Texas 78704 Open Weekdays 11am-11pm; Weekends 8am-11pm

----------------------------------------------------------------SAT 12/03 EL TULE (6:30) SUN 12/04 THE RECOOPERATORS (3:00) ----------------------------------------------------------------WED 12/05 THE LARRY MONROE RADIO SHOW (6:00) THU 12/06 THE BOB FUENTES SHOW (6:30) FRI 12/07 LOS FLAMES (6:30) SAT 12/08 THE TEXAS TYCOONS (6:30) SUN 12/09 TRENT TURNER & THE MOONTOWERS (3:00) ----------------------------------------------------------------WED 12/12 THE LARRY MONROE RADIO SHOW (6:00) THU 12/13 THE FABS (6:30) FRI 12/14 LOS FLAMES (6:30) SAT 12/15 MIKE MILLIGAN & THE ALTAR BOYZ (6:30) SUN 12/16 MITCH WEBB & THE SWINDLES (3:00) ----------------------------------------------------------------WED 12/19 THE LARRY MONROE RADIO SHOW (6:00) THU 12/20 THE INVINCIBLE CZARS (Christmas Show) (6:30) FRI 12/21 LOS FLAMES (Dooms Day Show) (6:30) SAT 12/22 THE LEROI BROTHERS (6:30) SUN 12/23 MICHAEL GUERRA BAND (CD Release) (3:00) ----------------------------------------------------------------WED 12/26 THE LARRY MONROE RADIO SHOW (6:00) THU 12/27 THE LOST COUNTS (6:30) FRI 12/28 LOS FLAMES (6:30) SAT 12/29 MC & THE MYSTICS (6:30) SUN 12/30 CHICKEN STRUT (3:00)

www.GuerosTacoBar.com

GlobalAustin’s International Calendar Bringing it All Back Home

By Chris Summers

friends. The purpose of the calendar is to serve locals and visitors.

Global Austin E.D. Margie Kidd

Anna Katrina Davey of Across Cultures

Austin Intercultural Arts

By TODO Austin staff

Toys for Tejanitos // Wild Bill Entertainment/ Jacy Milicia and the Austin Tejano Coalition are hosting the 2nd Annual “Toys for Tejanitos” Toy Drive on Sunday, December 2, from 3-11 p.m. at Texas Club Bar and Grill (4919 Burleson Rd.) All proceeds ($5 at door or toy) benefit the River City Youth Foundation. Come out and help 2,500 East Austin kids and join artists music including Ruben Ramos, David Lee Garza, David Marez, Raulito Navaira, Los Texmaniacs, Calle Seis, Hugo Guerrero, Gilbert Alba, AT Boyz, Cacy Savala, Art Tigerina, Jonny Martinez, Ricky Valenz, Trampia, La Distancia, Palacio Brothers, Tanie Castaneda, Playa E, Nikki Lopez y Canonazo, Big Band Tejano, Joel Guzman & Sarah Fox, Mariachi Las Tejanitas, Mariachi Relampago y mucho mas.

Art With Heart // Saturday, December 8, 6:30-9:30 p.m., the Amala Foundation and 10 TODO Austin // December 2012 // TODOAustin.com

GlobalAustin has also partnered with the City of Austin’s International Office to track events and festivals and allows other groups to post activities, classes, events, and other gatherings on the calendar. “The International Austin calendar formalizes the knowledge we have about the international scene here, and encourages associations and citizens to be actively involved,” said GlobalAustin Executive Director, Margie Kidd.

The city will eventually scale down its monthly “FYI: International” newsletter in favor of the more dynamic and comprehensive on-line calendar.

GlobalAustin was founded in 1960 as the International Hospitality Council with the goal of matching international students at the University of Texas with Austin families for fun and fellowship.

Today, the organization hosts approximately 500 visitors through various programs each year, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, delivering educational and cultural programs to visiting international leaders, scholars, and students.

GlobalAustin is launching a new resource for anyone wanting more information about international-intercultural happenings in Austin.

The “International Austin” calendar is a project GlobalAustin coordinator, Catherine Crago, described as having a “goal to launch with 100 different international and cultural groups and rapidly expand to include the hundreds of other groups that we believe exist in Austin.”

While there are a number of local organizations that are ethnic or culturally-exclusive by design, many Austin groups wish to not only celebrate their heritage and uniqueness, keeping a bit of their native-land alive in the Capital City, but to share that love of home with their new neighbors and

in developing the new on-line calendar.

GlobalAustin’s motto is “Bringing Austin to the World and Bringing the World to Austin.” The group’s mission is citizen diplomacy. “Citizen diplomacy is the concept that, in a vibrant democracy, the individual citizen has the right– even the responsibility–to help shape foreign relations, one handshake at a time,” reads the organization’s website. GlobalAustin strives to strengthen international bonds and friendships by providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and cultural symbiosis through appropriate training programs, community activities and host families program.

Empower Art present an evening featuring local art, music, spoken word and community to benefit its youth programs as well as a joint mural project that will take place in late December. The art show will feature work for sale from some of Austin’s most talented artists. There will also be a silent auction featuring items and gift certificates from dozens of local businesses. Tickets are $15; students $10; kids free.

American Music Abroad Seeking Bands // American Voices, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is now accepting applications for the American Music Abroad 2013-2014 touring season. To represent the full spectrum of the American musical landscape, musical ensembles from around the United States that specialize in genres from Hip Hop to American roots styles are invited to apply for this international exchange program. The American Music Abroad program offers the opportunity to conduct musical exchange tours abroad, particularly to countries not often visited by American musicians, to foster

The organization formed a team to create the “International Austin” calendar, although the first attempt for the new venture actually began several years ago by way of an Austin transplant, Anna Katrina Davey, founder of Across Cultures.

Davey’s company helps businesses work and communicate more effectively across all cultures and nationalities. A native Italian, Davey—who speaks more than six languages—started work on an Austin international events calendar about four years ago as a way to keep track of all the various festivals and events. The task was a bit overwhelming at the time with the work demands and travel Davey faced to support her company.

“The original goal was to promote Austin’s cultural diversity,” Davey explained, “the richness and depth of its diversity, and to highlight the fact that Austin is more than cowboy boots and BBQ.” A vibrant culture evolves and changes with time.

Thirty years ago, Austin was noted for its liberal lifestyle, hippies and slacker college climate. That dynamic has changed, enriching and enhancing life for everyone in the city. Davey is currently one of the stakeholders assisting the GlobalAustin staff

cross-cultural engagement and understanding. amvoices.org/ama

The Michael Guerra Band CD Release Party // Enjoy some “Tex-Mex Fusion” at the Austin CD release party for The Michael Guerra Band on Sunday, December 23, at Guero’s Taco Bar, 3 p.m. The newest member of The Mavericks, Guerra’s debut release features the accordionista extraordinaire celebrating what indie music is all about, taking the craftsmanship of the legendary Doug Sahm, infusing the rollicking soul of Flaco Jimenez and the corazón de Los Lobos, then adding the talent of a Los Angeles Texican resulting in The Michael Guerra Band.

“Not only do we have thousands of international visitors each year for events like Formula One and SXSW, but the city is abuzz with international activity year-round,” stated Ben Ramirez, International Economic Development Manager at the City’s Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services Office. “Austin has fifth-generation Texans celebrating their diverse heritage; Austinbased expatriates from Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas; international students and scholars at our world-class universities, and business professionals seeking ties with foreign clients, partners and investors. This calendar is a crucial resource which will enable more individuals to participate in Austin’s growing international scene.”

According to project technical coordinator, Greg Goeken, the design of the calendar will have various tabs to help organize all the information.

“We want this calendar to be used, so we want navigation to be simple,” Goeken said. “We will have tabs for events, classes, discussions, presentations, international associations, resources, and of course, festivals.”

Business, professional, non-profit, and student organizations are also welcome to join the growing list of groups posting to the International Austin web site. The International Austin Calendar is set to launch in January.

The Long Center Announces Three New Resident Companies // The Long Center for the Performing Arts has granted Resident Company status to Austin Shakespeare, Pollyanna Theatre Company, and Tapestry Dance Company. This is the first time the Long Center has granted Resident Company status beyond the original Founding Resident Companies: Austin Symphony Orchestra, Austin Lyric Opera and Ballet Austin.

2012 Austin Music Memorial Inductees // The City of Austin Music Division inducted six honorees for the 2012 Austin Music Memorial on November 30, including Stephen Bruton, Connie Curtis Crayton, Manuel S. Limon, Sr., Robin Ratliff Shivers, Don Walser, and Nathaniel Williams, Sr. The Austin Music Memorial recognizes notable, deceased Austin musicians and Austin music industry professionals who made a positive, lasting impact on the Austin music community.

(Thanks to City of Austin Cultural Arts Division)

‘Cuento Navideño’ and the Ghost of Austin Present

productions that address critical social issues. In addition to engaging a variety of performance collaborations with other arts organizations, it produces several theatre workshops for traditionally underserved populations.

Ballet Austin Marks Fifty Years of ‘Nutcracker’ Magic

By Mia Garcia

By Otis Lopez

Written and directed by Rupert Reyes and inspired

by Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” “Cuento Navideño (A Christmas Story): Bah Humbug in the Barrio,” takes place on Christmas Eve in a modern, urban Latino community. The Teatro Vivo production runs two weeks (December 6 – 16, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday’s at 3 p.m.) at the Rollins Studio Theatre at the Long Center.

This festive bilingual comedy play infuses Latino culture, Spanish language, and holiday traditions in a show designed to be enjoyed by the whole Austin familia.

Teatro Vivo’s productions have Latino roots that branch into every corner of human experience, exploring age-old themes and modern dilemmas.

In “Cuento Navideño,” which is set on Christmas Eve in a modern, urban Latino community, Evangelina Cruz plays the Latina-version of Ebenezer Scrooge, a selfish businesswoman who has lost touch with her culture, her family connection to her community.

An unexpected visit from the ghost of her former business partner, the once equally-greedy Teodora, sets Evangelina on a comical journey to contemplate on her life choices and regain her long-forgotten identity.

In addition to bringing back beloved characters from last year’s production, this year’s offering presents new surprises by way of cameo performances of Austin movers and shakers. Each performance of Cuento Navideño will feature a cameo performance by a married couple to kick off the party scene.

A bilingual theater company founded in 2000, Teatro Vivo has produced over two dozen full-length, culturally relevant, Latino-themed

photo by Tony Spielberg

“Cuento Navideño” is another in a series of stories which positively reflect on the Austin Latino community and uniquely celebrates the vibrancy of its culture and human experience. Rupert Reyes, cofounder and artistic director of Teatro Vivo, playwright credits include “Petra’s Pecado,” “Petra’s Cuento,” “Petra’s Sueño,” “Vecinos” (nominated for a B. Iden Payne Award for Best Original Script in 2008), “Two Souls and a Promise” and “Crossing the Rio.” In the same year, Austin Community College named Reyes one of 25 Most Influential Hispanics in Austin, and the University of Texas presented him the Community Leadership Award. Rupert has also received the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center Raza Award for Artistic Partnership, and the City of Austin Partners in the Arts and Humanities Award.

“Cuento Navideño” reflects the heart and soul of the Latino reality and provides a window into the Yuletide spirit carried by many this time of year. For more info on the play, go to teatrovivo.org

Ballet Austin’s annual production of “The Nutcracker” is not only the longest-running in Texas, it’s arguably the most distinctive, with a cast of over 200 and a curious ensemble of Austin personalities playing the role of Mother Ginger, including Jenna Bush Hager, Luci Baines Johnson, Sara Hickman and Leo Manzano.

As the company celebrates the production’s Golden Anniversary this month at the Long Center, with performances from Saturday, December 8, through Sunday, December 23, experience lavish fantasy and tradition as only Ballet Austin choreographer Stephen Mills can design, complimented by the Austin Symphony Orchestra performing Tchaikovsky’s cherished score.

Before you follow Clara into a dream world of dancing snowflakes, here are a few interesting facts about the Nutcracker to mull before the curtain rises: “The Nutcracker” debuted on December 18, 1892, in St. Petersburg, Russia, as the second part of a double bill with Tchaikovsky’s final opera, “Iolanta.” Though the premiere received lukewarm reviews (the marathon evening ended shortly after midnight), San Francisco Ballet’s performance—the first full-length American version—on December 24, 1944, staged by Willam Christensen, was a success. Ten years later, George Balanchine’s classic version with the New York City Ballet began its run.

Nutcrackers have been in existence since the fifteenth century, featuring wooden carvings in the form of kings and soldiers with large mouths.

Rural woodland Germans began the cottage industry, with the most famous nutcrackers crafted in Sonneberg and the Ore Mountains.

Yvonne Flores as Teodora and Mary Alice Carnes as Evangelina Cruz. photo by Sarah Williams

Twelve-year Ballet Austin company member Aara Krumpe is performing as the Sugar Plum Fairy this year. She brings her ballet bag, originally a diaper bag given to her by trainees, to and from work each day and then keeps a smaller, separate bag

in the studio for rehearsal. Her must-have dance bag essentials? A surprisingly small number of things: cheap White Rain hairspray (she is the “wispy tamer”); a tupperware of oatmeal for lunch each day – “I realized I’m not a protein person,” she states on the company website. “I need carbs. Oatmeal gives me enough energy and stays with me all day”; Emergen-C, “just in case”; at least one unsewn pair of shoes and her sewing bag; and a Thera-band for stretching and strengthening.

Ashley Lynn Gilfix, also performing in the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy, received an Austin Critic’s Table Award for Outstanding Dancer in 2009. She told AskMissa.com in 2011, “Dance is universal and cross-cultural. The way you dance is the way you are. Release the beast (within).” All praise Ashley!

In the second act of “The Nutcracker,” the Prince escorts Clara to the Land of Sweets where they are welcomed by the Sugar Plum Fairy. Various nationalities are represented by the dances of the sweets that follow, including the Spanish chocolate, Arabian coffee, Chinese tea and Russian candy. Foreign delicacies were rare when the ballet was created, as was world travel, so Clara’s fantasy world of bon-bons was easy on the eye.

Paul Michael Bloodgood, who’ll perform as Herr Silberhaus and as a Cavalier, released a debut album last April with his band, Floating Pockets, “Panacean Vacancy.” The lead vocalist and drummer also runs a photography, graphic design and film production company, Bloodygood Pictures, with his wife and fellow company dancer, Anne Marie Melendez.

“The Nutcracker” is a two-act ballet based on the story, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,”

by E.T.A Hoffman. The most famous ballet in the world is, of course, synonymous with the Christmas season as it’s set on Christmas Eve and includes a rousing party, a tree, and presents.

TODO Austin // December 2012 // TODOAustin.com 11

for a national non-profit called Southwest Key Programs, headquartered in East Austin. In December of 2010, Southwest Key, through their East Austin Children’s Promise initiative, partnered with the Capital Area Food Bank to become a mobile food pantry location on every second Friday of the month. The traffic to the Mobile Food Pantry at Southwest Key has increased slightly with every month that passes and, on November 9 of this year, they served 372 households and 1314 individuals—in two hours.

The Only Thing That Will End Hunger

By Cindy Casares

This time of year, many people are looking for an opportunity to help out the less fortunate.

I’m lucky because I have a job where I get to use my communications skills to help those people all year long. I provide communications support

Slippery When Wet Back

By Roberto Ontiveros So I have just survived the books and the booze that came along with the annual Texas Books Festival, and one thing that I have come away with is: however pronounced the Latino presence was at the Capital this year — and it was there for sure, from Gustavo Arellano’s hilarious “Taco USA,” to Domingo Martinez’s National Book Award nominated memoir about the menace of maleoriented tropes of Mexicano maturity, if not so much of all that murder that goes on along the border: “The Boy Kings of Texas” – things have sort of shifted around for Chicano writers.

Every second Friday, when I arrive at the office at 8:30 in the morning, elderly folks and parents with kids in tow are gathered outside to get on the list for the food pantry that doesn’t begin serving until 4 p.m. That is how great the need is in one of Austin’s poorest neighborhoods, the primarily Hispanic and African American Govalle/Johnston Terrace neighborhood.

Their visits are a regular reminder for me that hunger is around me all the time, but I just don’t know it. This is because the paradox of living in poverty is that, often, the food you can afford to buy is the kind that can lead you to gain extra weight. When your dollar stretches further at McDonald’s than in the produce aisle, the un-documented, the better … or the better toward the best seller list.

But what if you are working on something that is so underground it is not even out of the water yet.

With a panache for mashing up worlds of democratically focused machismo and a love of the movies, San Antonio native Rudy Ch. Garcia — who has previously had work in “Latinos in Lotusland” – offers up, in his first published novel, a haunting hallucination that links Lenny Bruce to Marilyn Monroe, and reads like a “Chico and the Man” version of Clive Barker’s “The Great and Secret Show.”

And here is the other thing: if you want dark people people sneaking over into some fenced up land of dreams (like everyone seems to want their Mexican characters to do these days – characters, not actual neighbors) you won’t get a more extreme and metaphorical example of this anywhere else but in “The Closet of Discarded Dreams” (Damnation Books / $19.99, 204 pages).

and you don’t have a working stove at home anyway because you couldn’t make the gas bill, McDonald’s is going to win out every time.

Dr. Juan Sanchez, CEO of Southwest Key Programs, has always set the mission for the company as “opening doors to opportunity so individuals can achieve their dreams.” The way Southwest Key provides those opportunities is to work for more social equity. People who live in East Austin, for example, experience three times the unemployment rate as the rest of Austin. In 2007, Johnston High, which was located less than a block away from Southwest Key headquarters, was the second high school in Texas to be closed by the state due to more than five years of underperformance. It now operates as Eastside Memorial, a co-opt of several technical high school programs whose senior class drop-out rate for 2011 was an abysmal 29%, not counting those who dropped out before their senior year. The neighborhood had no public middle school for 25 years, either, until East Austin College Prep was opened on Southwest Key’s campus in 2009. With statistics like these, it’s no wonder that so many in the neighborhood live in poverty and seek the help of the mobile food pantry.

Business Incubator Encourages New Latino Entrepreneurs

By Valerie Menard The entrepreneurial spirit shines brightly among Latinos. According to the U.S. Census, the number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States increased by 43.7 percent to 2.3 million, more than twice the national rate of 18 percent between 2002 and 2007. In Austin, there’s a business incubator that takes Latinos step-bystep through the process of starting a business, the Economic Growth Business Incubator (EGBI).

Launched in 2003 by the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the EGBI, located at 1144 Airport Blvd., suite 260, has been an autonomous non-profit organization since 2011, led by director Al Lopez.

It’s an eerie and uncompromising immigration nightmare that confronts the presence of pop culture over any given persona and has as much to do with holding onto one’s heritage as it does usurping Hollywood holograms.

And it’s funny. And I’m just going to go ahead and tell everyone that it’s an underground classic waiting to happen.

The lit scene seems to love their tales of the undocumented, and, perhaps, the more demented 12 TODO Austin // December 2012 // TODOAustin.com

Because as far as pubs go (and that includes places to get your drink as well as print houses that will lend your first novel some ink) things get worse when things get weirder; but the wit, in the process, can get very dry.

Al Lopez, Executive Director of EGBI

The Arizona-native brings years of financial and technical experience in the corporate world as well as a passion for developing communitybased economic opportunities to the job. Initially

Until we address the social inequity that exists in our communities, we will not solve the problem of hunger. Hunger is a symptom of a society that does not value large groups of people enough to provide them with the same educational and economic opportunities it does everyone else.

When you see the faces of the people served by the Mobile Food Pantry at Southwest Key, perhaps you, too, will be motivated to do more to change the system which, for now, is stacked against those of color and those who are raised in poverty. To volunteer at the Mobile Food Pantry at Southwest Key, contact Kristan Silva at volunteers@swkey.org or 512-462-2181.

SW Key photo

begun with a focus on technical education and closing the digital divide, the EGBI now offers an eight-week business course that teaches participants business basics, e.g. budgets, financing, management, and marketing. “Many people consider money the biggest obstacle to starting a new business but no one will invest in your business until you put your own house in order, and that includes your personal finances, debt, and credit,” asserts Lopez.

Over the eight-week course that meets twice a week, from 6–9 p.m., the students’ progress through three modules, Business Boot Camp, TechSteps including training on Microsoft Office and social media, and finally, BizSteps where students create a basic business plan. The cost is $50 but that may increase next year to $100 including a $50 rebate for students who complete the course.

With a fully bilingual staff as well as some bilingual courses, the EGBI clients are 60 percent Latino and 55–60 percent female. Of the 100 graduates since 2010, two-thirds have gone on to launch a business, employing an average of 2.5 employees (including the owner).

Funded in large part by the Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA), the EGBI also recently won a $25,000 grant from the Futuro Fund.

Today, the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) announced that it named HACA the winner of the prestigious Award of Excellence in Program Innovation in Resident and Client Services for its support of the EGBI. For more information on EGBI and its resources, go to www.egbi.org.

must expose them to current events and issues

East Austin Prep Academy is Changing the Game in Education

As students blog and create their wiki sites,

By Elaine Stribling

play different types of games to get the feel

affecting them, not only in their community, but issues that have a worldwide scope.

teachers are able to help them with grammar and writing skills. Step by step, teachers begin the process of teaching game design. Students of what makes a game fun, challenging, and inviting to the player. They learn how to design vector spaces and draw in FLASH (words relatively unknown to this digital illiterate).

The program has many layers and the lessons never end.

I thought that after their first year in the program, East Austin College Prep

While many debate what it means for a student to be literate in the 21st century, a new term in education is emerging—“transliteracy.”

The term is not specifically defined but the essence of the term deals with the ability to communicate through a variety of medias, including more traditional medias such as reading, writing, print, TV and radio, to more emerging technologies such as virtual medias, digital medias and social networking. Now, with so many expectations on a teacher’s plate, how are schools supposed to rise to this new challenge to prepare our country’s students?

Become a Youth Mentor In 2013

By Crystal Moreno

Southwest Key’s Youth Mentoring Program is seeking Hispanic and African American male volunteers, ages 21 and up, to participate as mentors for youth between the ages of 10 and 17n for a minimum of one year. The program connects kids referred by the Travis County Probation Department in Austin with adults who can help them realize their full potential.

The goal of the program is to establish and support mentoring relationships that have a longlasting, positive impact on each participating youth. Ultimately, this program aspires to: reduce juvenile delinquency, criminal activity, and gang participation; improve academic performance; and reduce school drop-out rates for program participants. Youth are matched with mentors for a minimum of one year and meet in a community setting once a week for approximately one hour per visit, depending upon the scheduled mentoring

At East Austin College Prep, a relatively new charter school in East Austin, students are on the road to becoming “transliterate” through an incredible program called Globaloria. All students in grades six, seventh, and eighth spend fifty minutes daily in the Globaloria classroom.

The program starts with students researching a social issue that is of importance to them, followed by creating a wiki site, blogging with other students, and then designing and programming a game around this issue.

In its truest sense, it’s a “learn-by-doing” program that includes everything “transliterate.” activity. Types of activities undertaken during these structured visits vary and are determined by the mentor, youth, and family.

Every effort will be made to match the mentee with a mentor who matches the young person’s ethnicity or culture of choice, or may be based on shared personal history and background, skills, personality, and areas of interest such as sports, cultural arts, or education and other specific preferences.

All volunteer mentors are required to undergo screening and upon successful recruitment, will receive orientation and four hours of training, with future quarterly training. Monthly meetings are coordinated to provide a venue for mentors to exchange ideas, for peer support, and for staff to provide assistance. Southwest Key utilizes its extensive community network to recruit mentors from within the youth’s surrounding community reaching out to extended family, neighbors, teachers, coaches, religious and community leaders and employers. What great things have you done for kids today? Become a mentor and make a difference.

It doesn’t stop there. Students are learning to solve problems while gaining content knowledge which will ultimately prepare East Austin Prep students for college level studies and jobs in our technological world.

All of this may sound great on the surface, but having spent some time in several Globaloria classes, I realized how impactful the program truly is. Imagine walking into a middle school classroom where students are 100% engaged in learning day in and day out. In order for students to choose a social issue in which to devote most of their year’s focus, teachers

students would disengage and become bored with the structure, but after visiting with several in their third year of the program, that was not the case. Each year, student’s take their “games” to a whole, new level and some even enter national game design competitions.

East Austin College Prep Academy is trying to do all it can to prepare their students for a changing economy. So, as East Austin Prep students might say to others in the community, “Game On!”

CASA

(Court Appointed Special Advocates) of Travis County

Volunteer Spotlight Kathy and Ben Orgain grew up together in Beaumont and started dating after college. They have two sons and a daughter and they both love gardening and travelling. Ben, a retired banker, has used his career expertise to help CASA for years as a Board member for Texas CASA and CASA of Southeast Texas in Beaumont. The couple knew they wanted to become volunteer advocates someday, and now are working their first case with CASA of Travis County. Kathy’s career as a registered nurse has been a great asset in their advocacy. “An RN’s education is based on communication, assessment and evaluation,” she said. “Our basic education starts with human development, and that’s very helpful when working with children.” The Orgains volunteer as a couple on a case with a large family of children. “We both have different strengths and we try to play to those,” shared Kathy. “We spend time with all the children, but we may spend specific time with individual kids based on who connects best with who.”

Ben remarked that they “bring stability to the case, especially since we’re a husband and wife volunteering together. The family sees a married couple who’s concerned about them and wants to work with them.” Kathy loves seeing the kids’ “joy for life. Even though this is the worst time of their lives, so far, they can still giggle and run and play. You forget that as adults.”

TODO Austin // December 2012 // TODOAustin.com 13

Tengo Hambre

Holidays Picante The time has come, once again, for big family gatherings and home-cooked meals filled with cheer. When the holiday season comes around, many of us get locked into the same dishes we’ve known and shared for generations—but this year, why not spice it up? Here are two tasty variations on tried-and-true holiday classics.

Instead of sweet potato casserole with marshmallows...

Sweet Potato-Stuffed Anchos with Burnt Caramel Sauce Adapted from Nuevo Tex Mex (Chronicle Books, 1998) Yield: 6 servings Cook time: 2 hours

Strong Starts and Happy Endings: Local Family Gives Thanks for Support Services

By Monica Giannobile

After reading a book about turtles, E.H. (initials are used throughout this article to protect the family’s privacy), age three, turns to face his classroom. He has just two students – his parents – and they enthusiastically raise their hands.

EH’s older brother, V.H., age five, prefers to teach about chess. When he gets home from school, he’ll patiently show his mother, J.H., how to set up the game. She’ll nod as her son groups the pieces by color and lays them out on the board.

These teaching games are based on home activity instructions that the H family received from Strong Start, an Austin non-profit that prevents child abuse and neglect through intervention services including therapeutic 14 TODO Austin // December 2012 // TODOAustin.com

Ingredients: 1 large sweet potato, peeled, cut into 1” pieces 3 large garlic cloves, skin-on 2 tablespoons olive oil 6 dried ancho chiles 4 tablespoons butter 1/2 small onion, chopped (about 1 cup) 2 tablespoons piloncillo (raw Mexican sugar, available at Latino markets) 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt, plus more for garnish For the sauce: 3/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon water 1 cup coconut milk at room temperature 1 tablespoon flour 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 375˚F and cover a baking sheet with foil. Arrange sweet potato pieces and garlic cloves in a single layer on the sheet and drizzle with olive oil, using your fingers to make sure all

classrooms, home visits, parenting classes and individualized support.

Mother J.H., just 21, has been receiving Strong Start services since April, 2011, and can attest to how they help build successful and resilient children, strengthen parents and preserve families.

“Before, E.H. had a hard time expressing himself, and he and V.H. would fight over toys,” she said.

“They play together much more now. They’ll make up stories and have ideas.”

Strong Start has also helped J.H. learn coping mechanisms that equip her to interact with her family in a positive fashion, even when she’s stressed.

“Sometimes, if I’m feeling sad, I’ll talk to Hilary (a Strong Start Parent-Child Specialist), and she tells me that I have beautiful boys, and not to get down,” said J.H.. “She says that we should just go out and do something together.”

This encouragement is well-received and appreciated since, like most Strong Start clients, J.H. is extremely taxed on a daily basis. In

pieces are coated. Roast for 30 minutes, then Cook time: 90 minutes remove and turn oven to 350˚F. ff Meanwhile, soak the anchos in a bowl of hot water until soft Ingredients: 6 slices bread of choice and lightened in color, about 30 minutes. Drain 5 tablespoons butter, divided and set aside. ff Over medium heat, melt butter 1/2 small onion, chopped (about 1 cup) in a skillet and cook onions until soft and brown, 1 bunch green onions, bulbs and lower 3/4 of about 12 minutes. Add piloncillo and stir until greens chopped (about 1 cup) melted and well combined. Remove from heat.

2 stalks celery, chopped (about 1 cup) 3 cups crumbled cornbread (about 2/3 of a pan) Combine onions and roasted sweet potatoes in a 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped (about 1/2 cup mixing bowl and squeeze roasted garlic out from packed) its skin into the bowl. Mash well, until potatoes 2 large jalapeños, seeded and chopped (keep are smooth. Stir in salt and Greek yogurt until well seeds for more heat) combined. Set aside. ff Use a paring knife to Juice of 1 lime slit softened chiles from stem to tip, taking care 1 teaspoon sea salt not to cut all the way through. Remove seeds 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and ribs—this is easiest done under a gentle 2 eggs, beaten stream of water. Shake away any excess moisture.

1 pint shucked oysters, drained, reserve 1/2 cup ff Spoon sweet potato mixture evenly among liquid chiles, smoothing the top and shaping as desired.

Arrange on a greased or foil-covered baking sheet and bake until heated through, about 10 minutes. Turn oven to broil and arrange bread slices on a baking sheet. Toast in the oven until golden Meanwhile, make the sauce. Combine sugar brown, about 15 minutes. Remove and adjust and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over oven to 350˚F. ff Break toasted bread into medium high heat. Allow to bubble, undisturbed, small pieces and place into the bowl of a blender until the edges begin to brown, about 3 minutes. or food processor. Process until broken into Then, whisk continuously until sugar begins to coarse crumbs, then empty into a large mixing deepen in color and just begins to smell burnt, bowl. Add crumbled cornbread. ff Heat 3 about another 4 minutes. ff Continue whisking tablespoons butter in a large skillet or cast-iron and slowly stir in milk (cold milk will cause caramel pan over medium heat. Cook onions, celery, to seize; make sure it’s room temp) until fully and jalapeños until softened, about 7 minutes. incorporated. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla Spoon mixture into the bread crumbs and mix and salt. ff To serve, top each chile with a small well. Add salt, pepper, and cilantro. ff Pour in dollop of Greek yogurt and drizzle generously beaten eggs, lime juice and oyster liquid and stir with caramel sauce. Chiles and sauce will keep, well, until all bread is moistened and ingredients are well incorporated. Gently fold in the oysters. refrigerated, for up to 1 week. ff Cut remaining butter into small pats. Empty stuffing out into a greased baking dish and dot Instead of boxed stuffing... with butter. Bake until the top is crisp and brown Oyster Cornbread Stuffing with Jalapeño, and the middle is set, about 45 minutes. Garnish Cilantro & Lime Adapted from Diana Rattray at with fresh cilantro and serve. ff A version of this content was originally published on www. southernfood.about.com WhiskedFoodie.com Yield: Serves 8-10 addition to caring for her two sons, she’s also the primary caretaker for her five siblings and, until recently, she hadn’t earned a high school diploma.

Strong Start encouraged J.H. to begin the process of earning her GED by getting in touch with her high school and inquiring about any outstanding coursework. When J.H. contacted the school, she was surprised to learn that she had fulfilled all course requirements, and that she was eligible to walk in a graduation ceremony.

“Everyone at Strong Start has really been there for me,” said J.H. “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have known that I graduated. They did a lot of beautiful things for me and my kids, and I’m really thankful.”

The H family is just one success story of many.

Strong Start is currently serving an average of 75 families per year, and the program works: parents who have completed the program have not had any substantiated cases of abuse.

Additionally, Strong Start participants show an increase in family functioning, social support,

concrete support, and parent/child attachment.

Strong Start is able to provide all of these benefits for only $4,000 per child and their family, per year. The state has to spend about $88,000 per child, per year, for a child who enters the foster care system after abuse or neglect has occurred. The prevention services that Strong Start provides are better for our pocketbooks, but even more importantly, it’s better for our community. No price can be put on the value of keeping a child safe.

To learn more, visit www.strongstartfamilies. org. Strong Start’s annual campaign is now underway, and Strong Start would welcome your donation to help continue to strengthen families and the safety of children.

Chronicles of Undercover Mexican Girl:

with lots of onion, and ensalada de noche buena with lots of fresh beets and jicama.

The Mexican Christmases of My Childhood

These days, as a grown up and without children of my own, I don’t put up a Christmas tree or buy presents. My family and I have a mutual understanding that I only give presents if I happen to see something I know they really need, or if I’m inspired to hand-make something (and vice versa.) In the past, I’ve personalized cigar boxes with découpage art and made home videos showing my life in Austin (since my family still lives in Los Angeles and we don’t see each other often).

By Alexandra M. Landeros

I was born in Los Angeles, but my parents moved back to Aguascalientes when I was three years old, so my first real memories of Christmas are from Mexico. Although we put up a tree with lights and ornaments and we got a few little trinkets on Christmas day, the true point of Christmas was to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Our good presents came the morning of January 6 - the day of the Epifanía (Epiphany), more commonly known as the El Día de los Reyes Magos (Day of the Three Wise Kings).

After moving back to Los Angeles when I was six years old, we continued the tradition of the Reyes Magos, but my family slowly phased it out, and by the time I was in middle school, we were writing letters to Santa Claus (mostly for my little brother’s sake, because I already knew the truth). No more shoes filled with hay. But there were other traditions we held on to.

We didn’t have turkey, ham, or egg nog.

We ate tamales (spicy ones and sweet dessert ones) with champurrado (thick hot beverage made with corn meal), romeritos (dried shrimp with sprigs of wild herb called “romerito,” similar to rosemary) in mole, bacalao (salted cod) in tomato sauce

By Blake Shanley

Sugar-free, fat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, vegan, low-carb, low-calorie, wheat-free, grain-free, oil-free...

This widely supported and accepted concept that the removal of a purported “culprit” in our foods, in and of itself, solves the problem that the culprit reportedly is creating, has thrown our instant-gratification, simpleanswer-craving society and its mass food suppliers and producers into a veritable “free” for all.

The problem is it is not necessarily solving any of the actual problems. But it is making people believe it is better and that they can carry on with that simple change without having to alter much else. Sorry, Charlie!

There’s more to it!

Removing sugar, but replacing it with artificial sweeteners, aspartame, Splenda, etc. is potentially just as, or substantially more, harmful. Removing “fat” (which your body actually needs in its healthy forms) and replacing it with artificial flavors, bulking agents and synthetic additives creates an even more imbalanced food that is empty and incomplete and confuses the body, but makes people believe they have removed the

Here’s how it worked. The night before, you put out a shoe from your favorite pair, and you filled it up with hay (or something similar), along with a letter to Los Reyes Magos. The letter contained your gift wish list, and the hay was for the camels to eat during their brief stop at your home. (Kind of like how you leave cookies and milk out for Santa Claus.)

The next morning, you knew the Reyes had been there because the hay was gone, except for a few stray bits strewn around (camels are messy, you know), and a little pile of presents next to your shoe.

I remember getting my first Barbie doll (golden disco queen) and a pair of roller skates. I remember posadas and piñatas filled with sugar canes, oranges, and peanuts. That was back in the day when it was still acceptable to make piñatas out of hardened clay.

Tiny Taiga Condensation

issue thereby rendering it ok to consume, often in mass quantities. Removing “gluten” but replacing it with random starches and processed flours, doesn’t render the food healthy, but rather renders it less likely to cause that particular reaction though likely to create a new imbalance or reaction.

Removing meat and dairy, and replacing them with wheat proteins, soy and other sustenance or “protein” additions, while continuing to eat other unhealthy, processed foods doesn’t alone make a person healthier.

Removing the bad stuff is a really good idea and will definitely make a difference in your system and overall health. But replacing the bad stuff with other bad stuff does not solve the problem, and in fact, will create new problems. Replacing the bad stuff with good stuff: whole, fresh, unprocessed foods, plants, veggies, herbs, greens, nuts, seeds, good grains, fruits, good fats and oils, and other necessary and delicious nutrient-rich foods in their most natural state does solve the problem and is the only option in the end.

Point being, take the bad stuff out. replace it with good stuff. Yay!

But

TINY TAIGA has a lot of that good stuff, just in case you’re interested.

1200 E. 11th St. #106 Austin, TX 78702 www.facebook.com/TinyTaigaAustin

Because I don’t always travel back home for the holidays, I’ve “adopted” new family – other friends, who for some reason or another, don’t get to see their families either. One year, I spent the holidays with friends in Redford, Texas (on the Rio Grande along the U.S.-Mexico border between Terlingua and Presidio), gathering around a campfire, singing and playing music, and watching the magical moon rise and the glittering stars. Last year, I invited friends over for pozole. I used my mother’s original recipe, made with chile colorado, shredded chicken (instead of pork) and diced radish, onion, and cabbage as toppings. I don’t know what I’ll do this year, but whatever it is, I promise it will have a hint of Mexican tradition.

TODO Austin // December 2012 // TODOAustin.com 15

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