Book Review: Nilda by Nicholasa Mohr

Nilda: Ground-Breaking Book by Nicholasa Mohr

Reviewed by Thelma T. Reyna

Nicholasa Mohr (b. 1938) has been described as the most prolific and renowned Puerto Rican-American novelist. Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, she represents the “Nuyorican” writers (“New York Puerto Ricans”), a group that first rose to national prominence for their considerable talents in the 20th century. Puerto Ricans officially became American citizens in 1917.

Mohr grew up in the 1940’s, with World War II a gauzy backdrop, and suffered the proverbial slings and arrows of prejudice and discrimination. With the well-received publication of NILDA in 1974, however, she cemented her place in American literature as one of the earliest American Latinos to publish her writings in English in the United States and one of the first to write a young adult book in English.

Mainstream America at that time had little interest in publications about Latinos. But Nilda successfully crossed the divide. Since 1974, Mohr has been the most productive and renowned Nuyorican novelist, earning major awards and publishing in a variety of genres: novels, short stories, novellas, and nonfiction. Her influence in other authors’ development has been significant, not just through her 15 published books, but also through her workshops and university teaching.

NILDA recounts the life of a Puerto Rican family in the Bronx from 1941 through 1945, as seen through the viewpoint of the only daughter in the family and the youngest child, Nilda. Her family is poor, large, and as diverse in personality and outlook as her neighborhood. But these nine people, with their varying degrees of dysfunction and tension, are the source of stability and love that enable Nilda to navigate her childhood intact. She, as well as other Puerto Ricans, regularly encounters naked racism and marginalization, often at the hands of teachers and other authority figures who should, paradoxically, be protecting and nurturing her. Through it all, Nilda is alternately petulant and carefree, defiant and obedient, aloof and moved to tears, frightened and resolute. She exhibits the resilience of her mother and moves forward.

Nilda, as a pioneering novel, captures the unique cultural experiences of New York’s Puerto Ricans in the 1940’s and thereby secures a solid place in the history of our literature. It still resonates decades later because its cultural depictions of family, love, individual pride, and resilience in the face of hardship still matter.

Order from Libromobile or the publisher.

https://artepublicopress.com/browse-and-order-books/?swoof=1&woof_text=nilda

[Note: Originally published in March 26, 2012, in a prior version, in Jesus Trevino’s  Latinopia, www.Latinopia.com]

Chicanonautica: Ernesto in Latinopia, Again

by Ernest Hogan

Suddenly, the phone rang. The antediluvian land line next to the dilapidated Rolodex that still has contact info for Ben Bova, Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury, among others living and dead . . . It flashed a name: JESUS TREVINO. I hadn’t heard from him in a while, so I picked up.

Jesús Salvador Treviño is the director of documentaries and television—including episodes of Star Trek Voyager. He asked what I’ve been up to. I rambled jagged fragments of the confusing situation, and, of course, mentioned Guerrilla Mural of a Siren’s Song: 15 Gonzo Science Fiction Stories.

He suggested we do a video interview for his website, Latinopia. I said yeah, let’s do it!

And if you haven’t visited Latinopia—I highly recommend it.

So, here is:

Note that it catches me in my frequent, agitated mental state where my brain goes so fast my mouth can’t keep up and I stutter while changing my mind about what I’m saying while I’m saying it. Some people find it amusing and entertaining, while others find it disturbing and frightening—especially if I’m speaking directly to them and making eye contact.

Jesús also asked me to explain the unlikely occurrence of a boy born in East L.A. becoming a sci-fi writer:

So, I hope these provide some entertainment, and maybe some insight into my work. Meanwhile, I’m suppressing the urge to be outrageous . . .

Ernest Hogan, the Father of Chicano Science Fiction, author of Guerrilla Mural of a Siren’s Song: 15 Gonzo Science Fiction Stories, is alive and well and living in a peculiar manner. Also, today, September 5th, is the last day to sign up for his Gonzo Science Fiction, Chicano Style class in the Fall 2024 Palabras del Pueblo Writing Workshop.

In the Room They Come and Go and Talk of Chicano Lit

Casa Reyna Hosts Backyard Floricanto

Michael Sedano

The fact my wife and I majored in English for our BA had a lot to do with Casa Sedano’s tradition of literary salons we dubbed the Backyard Floricanto. Also, the Living Room Floricanto.

Ordinarily, a Festival de Flor y Canto takes place across several days on a college campus supported by a nice budget. The whole idea of floricanto translates well to the intimate setting of your living room or back yard.

The most famous literary salon is the setting of “The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock,” the one where the women come and go talking of Michelangelo. At first, I considered inviting gente to a Tertulia at our house, but too many immediately asked “what’s a tertulia?” It’s a Floricanto. 

Anyone can, and should, hold floricantos in their own space. The process is elegantly simple: connect with a writer promoting a new book; invite friends for a reading and Open Mic; lay out snacks; welcome guests do the reading; kick back with the author. The fulness of the event promises a celebration of literacy, good food, and camaraderie.

The first Backyard Floricanto at Casa Sedano came out of a Pasadena Literary Festival whose organizers invited a single panel of chicana chicano writers. After the Q&A, I invited the panel and anyone within earshot and we had the first backyard floricanto. It was impromptu and it set the model.

The most recent Backyard Floricanto follows the model while establishing new standards.

 

As English majors, Barbara and I enjoyed the rich diet of arte and literary events that make Los Angeles a major center of world culture. Long before her diagnosis, Barbara’s Alzheimer’s Dementia had begun affecting our ability to get out. We stopped going out, and we started inviting cultura to our pad.

Jesus Treviño was on the guest list and he immediately recognized the opportunity to document the writers invited to Casa Sedano. Jesus, who directs the superb documentary site, Latinopia (link), partnered with Casa Sedano to keep a video record of the writers. 

Latinopia’s near-encyclopedic record of great raza writers comes to you free. Just click and explore.

Is It Too Early to Process the Pandemic? One Anthology Says No.

 Melinda Palacio

You may have seen this announcement on Tuesday, when the Gluten-free Chicano gave up his famous fried rice recipe. I'm honored to have a pandemic poem in this collection. When editor Thelma T. Reyna put out a call for pandemic poems on how Covid-19 has impacted our lives, I was skeptical about contributing to an event we were still experiencing as a global society. This was in the summer after just months of lockdown, when we thought we would be back to the same habits by the summer. Unfortunately, fall and winter and, all the wondrous holidays are off the table or on a zoom screen, along with all of our birthdays and weddings and baby showers and every kind of celebration. Pass the butter across your zoom Christmas dinner please. As if knowing the rest of the year is shot, a more sobering idea is that next year will also bring more isolation as the world scrambles to take back their lives and pick up where an unruly virus and global pandemic left off. 

I mentioned to Thelma T. Reyna that when she first asked me if I had a poem to contribute , I was hesitant. I kept thinking that I should mourn the time I had lost or that I should take several months to digest the trauma of the pandemic and to let the experience simmer, but that thought quickly floated away as I remembered my writing and publishing motto, "always say yes." Do you have something to contribute? The answer is always, Yes, whether you have to pull an all nighter to get the piece in on time or whether you just need to dust off a piece of writing that's in a drawer. That's the thing about us writers, we always have something in a drawer or file or notebook or an idea parked in our brain, such as the line I pulled out from a conversation with one of my musician friends who said, "I am not a prayer." I don't remember the context of the conversation, but I do remember the line and when I sat down to write my contribution to the pandemic, I gave the line to my poem that is now housed in the Thelma T. Reyna's anthology on the pandemic, When the Virus Came Calling. 

Yesterday, Jesus Trevino, interviewed a few of the contributors for segments on Latinopia. Thelma Reyna talked about how she curated the anthology and hand-selected the contributors. A renown business woman and writer, she was quick to realize if she wanted to be amongst the first to document life under a pandemic, she better act quickly. She produced a book that manages to put into words all of the emotions brought out by this pandemic with 120 poems and essays from over 46 contributors.  The book, When the Virus Came Calling, Covid-19 Strikes America, is a 2020 Golden Foothills Press book, available everywhere books are sold. Ask your favorite bookstore to order a copy for you. I will include my poem here for you to read. Stay tuned for information about Latinopia's archival zoom recordings. You'll be able to hear me read, "This Poem is Not a Prayer," on Latinopia. When you get your copy of the book, you'll be able to read Michael Sedano's essay, Richard Blanco's poem as well as the works of the other 43 contributors. 

This Poem Is Not a Prayer

Melinda Palacio

This poem cries on an empty street corner in blind daylight.

This poem doesn’t want a helping hand for fear of contamination. 

This poem loves isolation, but despises the box she’s confined to. 

This poem listens to finches, when they stop singing, she awaits a murder of crows.

This poem doesn’t want wide-eyed strangers to feel sorry for her, to tilt their heads as if they 

cared about what’s between the lines.

This poem wears an N-95 mask over her nose and mouth. The mask stolen from a young buck. 

This poem plays pandemic drinking games. 

This poem is not a prayer.

This poem sits six feet away from you, maybe six miles to be safe. 

This poem wears a tattered dress over bruised knees, her torn white-stockinged feet stuffed 

into scuffed black patent leather shoes.

This poem washes her hands while singing Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday Dear Dirty Hands, Happy Birthday to Me. Estas son las mañanitas.

This brackish green brown poem lives in a muddy pond, deaf to bird calls, she is indifferent to the lily eaten by golden frogs. 

This poem continues to cry alone, laughs when told touching is a thing of the past.

This poem says goodbye too many times and wonders when she may take your blue hand. 

This poem dies with you. 

To hear more poems from the anthology, zoom in on Sunday November 15. La Bloga’s Michael Sedano will also be sharing his work. 4 PM PST prose writers, mixed -genre writers

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81081122775?pwd=ZE1lcTk3MEx5TjhUaitUTS94aFJoZz09

Another preview from last month: hear the platica on Latinopia.

http://latinopia.com/latino-literature/latinopia-platica-when-the-virus-came-calling/

The Apprentice's Tale. Mailbag. On-line Floricanto.

Portrait of the Apprentice with the Artist

Michael Sedano

Fortune smiles on the serendipitous photographer. In one of the busiest arts weekends of 2013, tough choices forced me to abandon plans for a big Saturday with the lens.

Poesia Para La Gente had commandeered a pedestrian tunnel in Cypress Park for a major poetry reading with art show and musical entertainment, scheduled for 6 pm. At 7, Avenue 50 Studio would be opening a pair of gallery shows, "Chispas" & "Mt. Washington Plein-Air Painters." I had plans to flit from event to event, camera in hand, continuing with my ongoing project to photograph writers reading to audiences, in search of the perfect public speaker portrait.

Six o’clock came and passed and I was homebound. Things cleared up and I was able to make a quick get-away and headed to Avenue 50. It was well past seven. As usual for late arrivers, parking was a challenge. As delightfully usual for the early or the tardy, Avenue 50 Studio was packed shoulder to shoulder.

The women’s show, “Chispas” hung impressive work. Priced in the thousands, collectors with the lana will be rewarded in a few years as artists like CiCi Segura Gonzalez gain added fame. Segura’s abstract work ranges from the sublime to the super intriguing. Margaret Garcia had a very large interpretation of a repeating figure from her oeuvre. Margaret was not present, she is mourning her mom’s death, qepd.

In the Annex gallery, the plein air show displayed dozens of masterfully rendered impressions of the bridges, craftsman architecture, river and mountain scapes that give Highland Park and Mt. Washington their visual character. My head was spinning at the quality in both exhibitions.

But the best element was serendipitous. I wandered into Two Tracks Studio where Pola Lopez and Heriberto Luna work. Pola was surrounded by admirers so I nodded her way and walked over to greet Heriberto. He stood in front of several works in progress, and next to him was a teenager. The girl stood quietly, drinking in the busy scene as artists and collectors exclaimed over the work. Luna introduced me to her with pride, telling me Catalina Bolivar “can draw you right now.” That’s how good she is already, at 15.

Catalina lives next door to Avenue 50 Studio, in a two-story stucco warren with no yard, no play area for all the kids growing up there. One day, 12-year old Catalina wandered into Two Tracks Studio looking to sell a drawing she’d produced. It didn’t sell, but Luna saw something in her work and in her determination. He invited her to hang out, learn art by doing studio chores.

Today, Luna praises Catalina's work, confiently assigning her layout and detailing tasks on Luna's magnificently intricate canvases, like those in progress being prepared for several major museums and galleries. Catalina’s is the classic apprentice tale. One day, she’ll return the favor as an accomplished artist and mentor other kids who wander in from the block looking for respite.

I love this foto of Catalina and Heriberto, their look of mutual respect and personal pride. The portrait stands as a reminder that, beautiful as all that art on the walls, the most genuine beauty is the love Pola Lopez and Heriberto Luna share with Catalina and, over the years, lots of neighborhood kids who’ve come to the studio, joined mural projects, prepped canvases, brainstormed ideas. Kids who learned that arte is not about the brush strokes or pallet, it’s all about love, and in fact, is puro alma for one’s gente and ideas.

E-mail Bag
Workshopping Writers

La Bloga friend Marcela Landrés, Cofounder of the 2013 Comadres and Compadres Writers Conference, reminds gente that Wednesday, August 14, is the cut-off date to receive an earlybird discount to attend the conference scheduled for Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn, NY on Saturday, October 5, 2013.

The conference provides Chicana Chicano Latina Latino writers access to published authors like the keynote speaker, Reyna Grande, as well as agents and editors with proven track records publishing Latina Latino books. Participants this year include Erin Clarke, Executive Editor, Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers; Adriana Dominguez, Agent, Full Circle Literary; Toni Kirkpatrick, Editor, Thomas Dunne Books; Nancy Mercado, Executive Editor, Roaring Brook Press; Andrea Montejo, Agent, Indent Literary Agency; Lukas Ortiz, Managing Agent, Philip G. Spitzer Literary Agency, Inc.; Jeff Ourvan, Agent, Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency; Diane Stockwell, Agent, Globo Libros Literary Management; Johnny Temple, Publisher, Akashic; and Stacy Whitman, Publisher, Tu Books.

The Pitch Slam, described in the program as “Writers will have thirty seconds or less and get instant feedback from agents and editors”, is the kind of on-your-feet training absent from many conferences. The session prepares a writer for the most important half minute of one’s career, a make-or-break first impression. A good 30 seconds makes the difference between “thank you for coming” and “tell me more.”

Landrés refers the eager, the curious, the prospective attender, to visit Las Comadres’ website for additional details and applications.

Absent from the Comadres Compadres program is training I think urgent for writers: a session on reading your own stuff. This is the big lacuna in a writer’s career training, and an achilles' heel of a writer's marketing efforts. Congratulations, you've been published. How are you going to sell those books? People hate to be sold, but they love being helped to buy. Reading your own stuff to that bookstore crowd is the key.

You’re on a panel of five authors. Fifty people are in their seats. One person in the audience is going buy all five books. Six people will buy one book, their friends’. How does a writer convert the forty-three nonbuyers into readers, buyers tonight? Do a “knock their socks off” reading and a writer achieves the purposes of the appearance: people notice your work and want more. Those are the gente who buy the book.

Latinopia Update
Francisco X. Alarcón On Poetry

In September 2010, the University of Southern California hosted el Festival de Flor y Canto. Yesterday • Today • Tomorrow, a reunion of poets who'd launched the floricanto movement in 1973, at the Festival de Flor y Canto, organized by Mary Ann Pacheco and Alurista, in association with El Centro Chicano de USC.

Joining the veteranas and veteranos from that day was a wonderful group of inheritors of that literary herencia, including La Bloga friend Francisco X. Alarcón, founder of Poets Responding to SB 1070 Poetry of Resistance and a leading light in contemporary bilingual poetry.

Latinopia creator Jesús Treviño filmed the three-day event. I am working with Jesús and the USC library to disseminate to USC's Digital Library those 2010 performances, in time for the anniversary of the 2010 reunion floricanto. I have initiated preliminary explorations to hold a third floricanto at USC, details to emerge.

Here's an interview Jesús and Francisco completed during Festival de Flor y Canto. Yesterday • Today • Tomorrow:

Reading Your Own Stuff: David A. Romero

Over the past few years, I've had the honor of conducting "reading your own stuff" workshops at the National Latino Writers Conference. As part of my preparation and followup from those, I've posted lecture notes for three oral performance topics, "Reading off the Page" for manuscript dependent events, "Memorization" as a strategy for improving effectiveness, and "Delivery"to address voice, posture, gesture, eye contact, confidence and poise.

From time to time, I'll be enlarging the scope of La Bloga-Tuesday's coverage of reading your stuff, principally through good examples of solid performances. Advice to writers: when you see a writer doing something you admire, copy and adapt what you see to your own work. 

La Bloga friend and poetry impresario David A. Romero’s video of his superb poem, Undocumented Football, stands as a model for poets who want to improve their own oral performance. The most important elements are Romero’s careful articulation and deliberate, but varied, rate. Every word, every phrase arrives clean and crisp, never a moment’s pause to ask “what did he say?” He’s not rushing through the words but gives each expression time to make its impact and fit into the fabric of the piece.

Note the poet’s use of vocal variety achieved through five- and seven-syllable phrasing, dispersing emphasis throughout the lines, sometimes hitting first words, sometimes the middle, often at the end of a line. That phrasing establishes a pleasing rhythm that sets up aural expectations. Approaching the climax, he abandons heavily accented syllables, adopts a conversational style that relies upon subtle emphasis while providing respite from expectations. This contrast heightens the impact when he repeats the opening spondee, “don’t. drop. the ball.” And segues smoothly to the closing phrases and its terminating molossus, “so. darn. hard.”

Significantly, Romero ends the recitation right. Instead of saying it, “thank you,” the poet nonverbally thanks the audience with his eyes and an acknowledging nod of the head. The technique honors the poem by allowing the last words their own space, free of the distraction of extraneous crap. Romero then pauses, a signal the performance has concluded, silence allowing the poem to sink in. In a live performance he would stand in silence, and only then walk off stage. Likewise the opening; in a live performance, the poet takes the stage, gets to the starting spot, polarizes the audience (I’m the speaker, you’re the listener) with eye contact and attitude, and only then begins to speak.

Sadly, You Tube ruins the effect of closing silence by tagging Romero’s video with an invading soundtrack from some other poet whom I did not choose to hear but is forced upon me by You Tube. How sad that You Tube ruins the impact and effectiveness of Romero’s reading with this irritating tag. It’s the media equivalent of walking off stage still talking, puro distraction and disrespectful to your art.

Meet the Poet
David A. Romero is a proud Pocho/Chicano spoken word artist from Diamond Bar, CA. He is the host of Between the Bars Open Mic at the dba256 Gallery Wine Bar in Pomona, CA. He is the second poet to be featured on All Def Digital, a YouTube channel from Russell Simmons. Romero has opened for Latin Grammy winning artists Ozomatli and Latin Grammy nominated artists La Santa Cecilia. His poetry has been published with poet laureates Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Hirschman and Alejandro Murguia.

Romero is the author of Diamond Bars: The Street Version and Fuzhou, two collections of poetry released by Dimlights Publishing. His forthcoming book, My Name is Romero, is due in spring 2014. Romero teaches writing and performance workshops on spoken word poetry.

Romero has led workshops for the Say What? Teen Poetry program of the Los Angeles Public Library, high school activists at the Santa Monica Mountains Peace Camp and students at the Juvenile Detention and Assessment Centers in San Bernardino, CA.

Romero is an artist affiliate of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) and a member of the Revolutionary Poets Brigade. "I enjoy performing funny poems, but I hope that after the laughs, people can stay and listen to the messages that I am spreading with my poetry against racism, against prejudice, against imperialism, against labor exploitation and against economic injustice. Romero is a graduate of the University of Southern California (USC), a double major in Cinema-Television and Philosophy.

For booking, contact: davidaromero@gmail.com Visit www.davidaromero.com for more poetry and enjoyment.


La Bloga On-line Floricanto
Francisco X. Alarcón, Maritza Rivera, Irma Guadarrama, tara evonne trudell, Tina Subia

For this antepenultimate in August La Bloga On-line Floricanto, the moderators of the Facebook group Poets Responding to SB 1070 Poetry of Resistance send along six lovely pieces illustrating a rich variety of styles from  five poets.


"Borderless Blue / Azul sin fronteras" by Francisco X. Alarcón
"Stand Your Ground" por Maritza Rivera
"Our Birth Rite (for Gloria Anzaldua)" by Irma Guadarrama
"Untitled"  by tara evonne trudell
"What Do You See?" by Tina Subia


BORDERLESS BLUE
Francisco X. Alarcón

blue
like the sea
at dawn

blue
like the sky
at dusk

blue
like sadness
loneliness

blue
like hope
happiness

blue
like White
Black, Brown

bonding
borderless
blue

blue
like the little
blue dot

seen
from afar
in outer space—

Earth jewel
shinning
blue

amidst
the vast
darkness

AZUL SIN FRONTERAS
Francisco X. Alarcón

azul
como el mar
al amanecer

azul
como el cielo
al atardecer

azul
como la tristeza
la soledad

azul
como la esperanza
la felicidad

azul
como blanco
negro, café

azul
sin fronteras
unificador

azul
como el puntito
azul

visto
desde la lejanía
sideral —

la Tierra
joya reluciendo
azul

entre
la vasta
oscuridad

© Francisco X. Alarcón
July 28, 2013

Francisco X. Alarcón, award winning Chicano poet and educator, is author of twelve volumes of poetry, including, From the Other Side of Night: Selected and New Poems (University of Arizona Press 2002), and Snake Poems: An Aztec Invocation (Chronicle Books 1992)  His latest book is Ce•Uno•One: Poems for the New Sun (Swan Scythe Press 2010). His book of bilingual poetry for children, Animal Poems of the Iguazú (Children’s Book Press 2008), was selected as a Notable Book for a Global Society by the International Reading Association. His previous bilingual book titled Poems to Dream Together (Lee & Low Books 2005) was awarded the 2006 Jane Addams Honor Book Award. He teaches at the University of California, Davis. He created the Facebook page, POETS RESPONDING TO SB 1070 . http://www.facebook.com/pages/Poets-Responding-to-SB-1070/117494558268757?ref=ts







Stand Your Ground
Maritza Rivera

La poesía
alimenta el alma
dándonos fuerza.

MARITZA RIVERA (aka Mariposa) is a Puerto Rican poet who lives in Rockville, MD.  She has been writing poetry for over forty years and is the creator of a short form of poetry called Blackjack. Maritza is the author of About You; A Mother’s War, written during her son’s two tours in Iraq; Baker’s Dozen; Twenty-One: Blackjack Poems and her work appears in literary magazines, anthologies and online publications. Maritza is a contributor to Poets Responding to SB1070, a supporter of the Memorial Day Writers Project (MDWP) and participates in the Warrior Poetry Project at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.  She was the recipient of a 2012 BID International Writing Fellowship in Bahia, Brazil and has been accepted to attend the 2013 Bread Loaf Writers Conference in Sicily.  Maritza also serves on the Board of Directors of Split This Rock in Washington, DC and hosts the annual Mariposa Poetry Retreat at the Capital Retreat Center in Waynesboro, PA.





Our Birth Rite (for Gloria Anzaldua)
Irma Guadarrama

Pieces of earth puzzled into
mosaic revelations of
gaps and stops;
the human stride hampered
by a matching duo of
transnational bridge and border wall;
for every bridge a wall and still,
migration rebounds like
the ebb and flow of relentless
time and space, and
the rebirth cycle of
day and night. Never stopping:
like a lake that cradles
the spewing brew, or
a river that collects cascading water,
or fresh sprouting trees
fused with fossilized stumps.

Humans’ undeterred spirits
run their gamut like water flowing,
roots reaching, and rivers
morphing into oceans,
deep, vast, and free.

Featherless flying beings we are,
embracing the essence
of our birth rite.

Copyright 2013 Irma Guadarrama. All rights reserved.

Irma Guadarrama recently retired after a 44-year career of teaching and research, starting out as a bilingual teacher and finishing as a professor at various universities, the last ones being the University of Houston and the University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg, Texas. She received a bachelor’s degree from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Master’s degree from the University of Texas in San Antonio, and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Born in Cd. Juárez, México, Irma grew up in central and north Texas. She lives in Houston with her two children and works as a writer/researcher for Bilingual Frontera and Mujeres, Fronteras y Sus Historias/Women, Borders and Their Stories. 

Untitled

tara evonne trudell c/s 4 de agosto 2013

my strand

of beads

broke

the scattering

of life

in all directions

losing some

in the process

of loss

and self

recovery

relating

the load

man left

on me

alone providing

children

against all

odds

of surviving

a world

of broken

spirits

woman strand

of beads

rethreading

the brilliance

coloring life

clear

circular opening

reflecting luster

of light

weaving thread

the patterns

of together

the many colors

of sisterhood

relating heart

in homeland

trusting colors

breaking away

societal patterns

against

women

the abuse

of words

actions

mind

controlling

rape

the stress

of disease

of woman spirit

relating earth

the worth

of precious

offerings

beading colorful

needing

essential parts

of sisterhood

community

picking up

rolling beads

the restringing

empowering

of woman

tradition

alive

in beadwork

representing

onward energy

pressurized

in the eye

of the needle

sisters gathering

beads

to tell

stories

overcoming

being left

behind

the arc

of woman

despair

against

all odds

of brutal

man wars

on women

gathering around

earth circle

sisters

grandmothers

and daughters

sharing

bead talk

restringing

strands

of women

in this

story.

Tara Evonne Trudell, a mother of four, is full-time student at NMHU working on her BFA in Media Arts with an emphasis in film, audio, and photography. It is through this expression of art, combined with her passion for poetry that she is able to express fearlessness of spirit for her family, people, community, social awareness, and most importantly her love of earth.

What Do You See?

Tina Subia

What do you see,

When you look at me?

Do you see that I yearn for a better life?

That I am willing to risk my life?

Does the color of my skin tell you that I am insincere?

When you look closer, can you see my fear?

Fear for my family and their future?

You want me to make things right, 

To go through proper channels,

But will you help to clear the way?

The wait is long, 

the journey is worth taking,

Meanwhile, there is injustice and prejudice standing in the way,

I am not asking for favors, 

Just fairness, 

I am not responsible for American jobs that are taken overseas, 

Or the fact that the cost of living increases faster than the rate of pay,

I am not responsible for the crimes of my brothers,

I only want a better life for my family, 

I am stuck between a corrupt government,

And a home of the free,

Which would you choose?

I do not have the power to change my 

Place of birth,

And I may not have the power to change your mind,

But I hope and dream that I can at least give my family a better life.

My name is Christina M.Subia and I was born and raised in Morenci, Arizona. I am married and have two grown sons, a daughter in-law and one rambunctious grandson. I have been a nurse for twelve years and before that a hairdresser and real estate agent. Throughout the years I have enjoyed writing poetry in my spare time, but never really shared it with anyone. Facebook has allowed me to connect with people and also share my thoughts and art,  which have been received positively. 

When I wrote "What do you see?" I tried to express the feelings and emotions that I would feel if I were an immigrant trying to make a new and better life for my family.

Guest Column from Switzerland. Reading in the Park. On-line Floricanto for Mothers

Guest Columnist
Editor's Note: Sarah R. García is studying in Europe this summer. This is the first in a series of dispatches from the European front. mvs
Xicana Travelogue: Xocolate en Suiza

Sarah Rafael García

I cannot remember the last time this Xicana purchased chocolate for herself. I recall sipping on a Mayan Mocha a few years back in San Diego, but that was merely to taste the Mayan. There was also that time in 2008 that my chef friend made a chocolate mold of the Aztec calendar and Mexican chocolate truffles for my book signing, pero that was part of the event décor and to guilt la gente into purchasing my book.



Prior to my recent travels, I was not a chocolate person. I may have snacked on a Snickers bite or chipped off a piece from Abuelita’s chocolate in nostalgia, but really I was not a chocolate aficionado. Nevertheless, upon arriving to Spiez, Switzerland, I was greeted with a pound of the local, fancy chocolate. I smiled to show my appreciation but my taste buds nearly dried up at the sight. I must admit I was a bit disappointed, I was hoping to be gifted some of the local cheese instead.

The chocolate was nestled in an expensive gift bag embossed with the letters “Läderach.” I gently postponed the consumption by expressing that I was not hungry. The chocolate bearer frowned at my disinterest. And at what I perceived as a loss for the correct English words, he sat back in his chair, grabbed a meeker piece of chocolate from a mound sitting on his coffee table and scratched his head.

Later that evening, after watching him consume a third of the chocolate squares on the coffee table, I peeked into the “Läderach” bag. I pulled out a transparent bag tied with a pretty brown ribbon. The bundle contained twelve layers of chocolate; each cocoa sheet was quite different in color and texture. I compared each piece to the next and decided to break off a corner of the pink one with red specks, which sat at the top of the stack.

Now let me remind you, I was not a chocolate person, esta Xicana antes prefería enchiladas de mole o tacos al pastor. I would rather devour savory plates than nibble on processed cocoa beans. I figure if I’m gonna wear the calories on my Xicana hips, they better be spicy and robust like me.

So, with some hesitation I placed the piece of pink cocoa on my tongue. Immediately, my eyelashes batted with excitement and my mouth began to water. My host was in the kitchen, without thinking I shouted, “Oh my god, this is so good!” The silky substance melted on my tongue, introducing me to the mixed flavors of white chocolate and raspberries. I had never tasted a chocolate so rich and silky. I continued to break off a piece from each assortment, tasting all twelve blends, ending with the white chocolate and pistachios.

When asked, I could not choose one that I preferred more than the other.

After visiting the Läderach store to explore all that they have to offer, I walked out with another pound of xocolate, which I sent to mis hermanas for Mother’s Day. I also bought six different truffles balls, one made with champagne, which I savored after visiting a Swiss cheese factory. The original twelve layers are now broken squares and triangles that reflect the Xicana that I am, a mixture of diverse flavors with a memorable past. Todos los sabores mesclados en una bolsa: pieces of pistachios, peanuts with dark, white and milk chocolate. Ironically, I still hesitate to eat the Swiss xocolate but only to make sure I have moments of pleasure at my fingertips throughout the rest of my trip. To my surprise, Suiza has turned this Xicana into a xocolate aficionado…


Reading in the Park, Floricanto in the Yard

Michael Sedano

Mothers Day weekend seems as good a weekend as any to schedule a local book fair, and that's what organizers of Pasadena LitFest decided, holding the second annual LitFest on Saturday before Mothers Day.

Daniel Olivas

The hundred-degree weather would have magnified the unpleasantness of navigating through shoulder-to-shoulder teeming crowds like those at the LA Times bookfair. Crowding wasn't a problem Saturday afternoon.

The exhibitor list included numerous small publishers, and book entrepreneurs like indie booksellers and Des Zamorano, who engagingly marketed her novel, Human Cargo. Organizers promised a smorgasbord of locally-flavored writing and writers, including the high-powered panel, Omnipresent: The Vibrancy of Latino Literature, where bloguera Melinda Palacio and blogueros Daniel Olivas and Manuel Ramos were sharing the Julia Child Stage with La Bloga friends Reyna Grande and Alex Espinoza.

Manuel Ramos

Melinda Palacio

Reyna Grande

Panel moderator Daniel Olivas put together a highly effective authors panel. The key idea was to keep it moving. Olivas allowed each writer a minimum of minutes to showcase their work.

Alex Espinoza

Olivas avoided the "any questions" approach to Q&A by offering his own set of well-considered prompts that turned the set of sequential remarks into a running conversation among the writers.

For a writer who's just given their all in a public reading, the book signing offers a measure of satisfaction that the oral presentation worked and gente lined up to have their copy signed.

Front: Manuel Ramos, Melinda Palacio, Reyna Grande, Alex Espinoza
Standing: Daniel Olivas, Manuel Urrutia, Concepción Valadez, Marrio Guerrero, Angel Guerrero

With this host of writers in town, we decided to have an open-air floricanto after feasting on chicano hot dogs and chicano hamburgers. That is, I cooked them.

The difference between a reading in the park on stage, and a reading for the camera while surrounded by relaxed listeners, makes for enjoyable readings. Latinopia's Jesus Treviño videographed the La Bloga Backyard Floricanto and will release the segments in upcoming updates at Latinopia.

Alex Espinoza

Xochitl-Julissa Bermejo was on an earlier poetry panel at LitFest and she was ready for an impromptu presentation of two poems. Treviño didn't need an applause sign to generate the enthusiastic response that erupted after Bermejo's reading.

Julissa-Xochitl Bermejo

Melinda Palacio

Manuel Ramos' Desperado, A Mile High Noir has enjoyed several weeks on the best-seller list in Denver. I'm sure Pasadena and all of LA will turn on to the chicano detective novel after enjoying the couple's engaging reading of a fictive tete-a-tete, as well as their spontaneous repartée after one of them got lost in the fun on the page.

Flo and Manuel Ramos

Flo and Manuel Ramos

La Bloga On-line Floricanto Celebrating Mother's Day

"Strong Women" By Rosalie Robles Crowe
"Madre árbol / Mother Tree" by Francisco X. Alarcón
"To My Working Mom, thank you (Mother's Day 2013)" by Patrick Fontes
“My Castle” by Ramon Pinero
"mama" by Iris De Anda


Strong Women
By Rosalie Robles Crowe

I stand on the shoulders of a long line of strong women
Who refused to accept artificial limitations
Imposed by "superior" men and restrictive society.

Great grandmother Ladislada adjusted to life
On the Texas frontier but insisted her daughters needed
To know more than cooking, cleaning and sewing fine seams.

She sent them to be educated in a convent school in El Paso.

Isabel assumed her mother's mantle of independence,
Becoming a teacher and ignoring strictures
From her husband's family when she was widowed.

She refused to cede responsibility to her father-in-law
And took in washing to support her children.

Amparo, my mother, wanted to join the tennis team in school
But the other girls wouldn't play with "the Mexican"
So she practiced with the boys.

She won a state mixed doubles championship.

Cecilia, my aunt and a teacher, was told her first-graders
Couldn't speak Spanish in school. On Friday afternoons
She locked the classroom door, turned the radio to Mexican music
And gave each child penny candy to eat during art class.

The legacy they passed on was this:

Live your life on your terms.
Don't let the whims or prejudices of others govern your actions.
Seek your own truth, your own beliefs and act with compassion.

This, then, is the legacy I pass on to my daughters,
My granddaughters and yes, to my son and grandsons.

Stand tall.
Believe in yourself.
Set strong personal standards
And hold to them — regardless of what anyone else says.



Madre Árbol / Mother Three
Francisco X Alarcón

To My Working Mom, thank you (Mother's Day 2013)
by Patrick Fontes

No gold medal prize awarded to you
by cheering crowds at the end of those years
burdened by three jobs one for each child
waiting tables served a million grand slams
to strangers while your own yearned hungry
for you alone at home during sunset

Sacrifice is a word tribulations
teach us looking back at life’s worn tracks
by your feet years of waitressing hardened
but not your undying spirit flying above
greasy plates piled high to the Lord’s throne
you cried to each night I heard you weep
for strength as you rubbed your wearied heels

This morning a cool summer breeze blew
through your kitchen as you rolled tortillas
at dawn I sat in awe at your soul’s sinew
indomitable through long decades worked
back and forth your forearms created perfect
white circles then bubbled to perfection
moved my reverent heart to ovation
cheered your undying love's constant toil



My Castle
by Ramón Piñero

I live
in a
castle
surrounded
by an
estrogen moat
surrounded by
mothers
and sisters
daughters and
wives.

surrounded
by medicine
women
curanderas
santeras
dancers and
singers
teachers
and
lovers.

I live in a castle
surrounded
by an estrogen
moat

santeras protect me
La Caridad del Cobre
me lleva en
la mano
Santa Barbara
me canta
a dormir

in times
of worry
my grand
daughters
come running
full of
sunshine and
joy

My boys
and I
live in
a castle

surrounded
by an estrogen
moat and
protected
by love

© Ramón Piñero



mama
by Iris De Anda

querida madre
gracias infinitas
por darme la vida

you who wake early
to help me RISE
you who sleep late
to watch me DREAM

you who are my everything
from first breath to last
you hope for my future
& stood by my past

querida madre
sin ti no soy yo
te amo


Bios
"Strong Women" By Rosalie Robles Crowe
"Madre árbol / Mother Tree" by Francisco X. Alarcón
"To My Working Mom, thank you (Mother's Day 2013)" by Patrick Fontes
“My Castle” by Ramon Pinero
"mama" by Iris De Anda

Rosalie Robles Crowe, a third generation Arizonan, is a former newspaper reporter who has continued writing well after her retirement. She graduated in journalism from the University of Arizona and over her career has worked on Arizona’s major newspapers, including the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson Citizen, Arizona Republic and the Phoenix Gazette. In addition, she also has written numerous articles based on Arizona history, co-authored a monograph (“Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame”) with Diane Tod, and compiled and edited “Early Yuma: A Graphic History of Life on the American Nile.” Currently, she is a member of Sowing the Seeds, a collective of women writers in Tucson, and is experimenting with other writing styles, including poetry. As an STS member, she has written one of three monologues for Sowing the Seeds’ dramatic presentation “Celebrating Women’s Voices Past & Present,” developed originally in 2012 for Arizona’s Centennial Year. Its focus is on unsung women heroes in the state’s history. She and her late husband, Tommy Keith Crowe, have three children and five grandchildren.


Francisco X. Alarcón, award winning Chicano poet and educator, born in Los Angeles, in 1954, is the author of twelve volumes of poetry, including, From the Other Side of Night: Selected and New Poems (University of Arizona Press 2002), and Snake Poems: An Aztec Invocation (Chronicle Books 1992), Sonetos a la locura y otras penas / Sonnets to Madness and Other Misfortunes (Creative Arts Book Company 2001), De amor oscuro / Of Dark Love (Moving Parts Press 1991, and 2001).
His latest books are Ce•Uno•One: Poems for the New Sun/Poemas para el Nuevo Sol (Swan Scythe Press 2010), and for children, Animal Poems of the Iguazú/Animalario del Iguazú (Children’s Book Press 2008) which was selected as a Notable Book for a Global Society by the International Reading Association, and as an Américas Awards Commended Title by the Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs. His previous bilingual book titled Poems to Dream Together/Poiemas para sonar juntos (Lee & Low Books 2005) was awarded the 2006 Jane Addams Honor Book Award.
He teaches at the University of California, Davis, where he diurects the Spanish for Native Speakers Porgram. He is the creator of the Facebook page POETS RESPONDING TO SB 1070 that you can visit at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Poets-Responding-to-SB-1070/117494558268757?ref=ts

Ex Bay Area poet living in the buckle of the Bible Belt, aka Florida. Where good little boys and girls grow up to be republicans who vote against their own interest. Father of three and Grandfather to six of the coolest kids ever.
Nuff said...

Iris De Anda is a writer, activist, and practitioner of the healing arts. A native of Los Angeles she believes in the power of spoken word, poetry, storytelling, and dreams. She has been published in Mujeres de Maiz Zine, Loudmouth Zine: Cal State LA, OCCUPY SF poems from the movement, & online @ La Bloga. She is an active contributor to Poets Responding to SB 1070. She performs at community venues & events throughout the Los Angeles area. She hosted The Writers Underground Open Mic 2012 @ Mazatlan Theatre & 100,000 Poets for Change 2012 @ the Eastside Cafe. Follow her story @ http://irisdeanda.typepad.com/la_writer_underground/