It so happens that I considered watching ANGELS IN AMERICA (the HBO version on dvd) today, as I wondered why it is that we--as a nation--continue to relegate AIDS/HIV to the margins of our focus. The mumps outbreak in Iowa and other parts of the midwest is big news--this week--but AIDS, as epidemic, simmers on the media periphery. Anyway, here's the info about a Dallas production of the first section (Part One: Millennium Approaches) of Tony Kushner's epic work.
May 11-28, 2006
Risk Theater Initiative presents ANGELS IN AMERICA
PART ONE: Millennium Approaches, written by Tony Kushner and directed by Marianne Galloway
at the Bath House Cultural Center on White Rock Lake in Dallas.
For tickets or more information about this production, visit Risk Theater Initiative or call: (972) 943-8915. For more information about the Bath House, call 214-670-8749 or visit Bath House Cultural Center.
++++++++ another threat to public health ++++++++++++++
The owners of Rehobeth Ranch in Greenville, Texas, Robert and Nancy Hutchins, sent the following info about H5N1 aka avian virus, otherwise known as the bird flu.
There is much being said about the bird flu. Most of it is wrong and deliberately intended to lead you to the wrong conclusion for the benefit of the mega-producers. Following is some information that I thought would interest you since most all of our customers want the truth about their food supply.
Small-scale poultry farming and wild birds are being unfairly blamed for the bird flu crisis now affecting large parts of the world. A new report shows how the TRANSNATIONAL POULTRY INDUSTRY is the root of the problem and must be the focus of efforts to control the virus. The full briefing, "Fowl play: The poultry industry's central role in the bird flu crisis," is available here.
The spread of industrial poultry production and trade networks has created ideal conditions for the emergence and transmission of lethal viruses like the H5N1 strain of bird flu. Once inside densely populated factory farms, viruses can rapidly become lethal and amplify. Air thick with viral load from infected farms is carried for miles, while integrated trade
networks spread the disease through many carriers: live birds, day-old chicks, meat, feathers, hatching eggs, eating eggs, chicken manure and animal feed. (Chicken feces and bedding from poultry factory floors are common ingredients in animal feed)
"Everyone is focused on migratory birds and backyard chickens as the problem," says Devlin Kuyek of GRAIN. "But they are not effective vectors of highly pathogenic bird flu. The virus kills them, but is unlikely to be spread by them."
For example, in Malaysia, the mortality rate from H5N1 among village chickens is only 5 per cent, indicating that the virus has a hard time spreading among small scale chicken flocks. H5N1 outbreaks in Laos, which is surrounded by infected countries, have only occurred in the nation's few factory farms, which are supplied by Thai hatcheries. The only cases of bird flu in backyard poultry, which account for over 90 per cent of Laos' production, occurred next to the factory farms.
"The evidence we see over and over again, from the Netherlands in 2003 to Japan in 2004 to Egypt in 2006, is that LETHAL BIRD FLU BREAKS OUT IN LARGE-SCALE INDUSTRIAL CHICKEN FARMS and then spreads," Kuyek explains.
The Nigerian outbreak earlier this year [2006] began at a single factory farm, owned by a cabinet minister, distant from hotspots for migratory birds but known for importing unregulated hatchable eggs. In India, local authorities say that H5N1 emerged and spread from a factory farm owned by the country's largest poultry company, Venkateshwara Hatcheries.
A burning question is why governments and international agencies, like the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, are doing nothing to investigate how the factory farms and their byproducts, such as animal feed and manure, spread the virus. Instead, they are using the crisis as an opportunity to further industrialize the poultry sector. INITIATIVES ARE MULTIPLYING TO BAN OUTDOOR POULTRY, SQUEEZE OUT SMALL PRODUCERS, AND RESTOCK FARMS WITH GENETICALLY-MODIFIED CHICKENS. The web of complicity with an industry engaged in a string of denials and cover-ups seems complete.
"Farmers are losing their livelihoods, native chickens are being wiped out, and some experts say that we're on the verge of a human pandemic that could kill millions of people," Kuyek concludes. "When will governments realize that to protect poultry and people from bird flu, we need to protect them from the global poultry industry?"
The Price of Cheap Chicken is Bird Flu
CHICKEN HAS never been cheaper. A whole one can be bought for little more than the price of a Starbucks cup of coffee. But the industrial farming methods that make ever-cheaper chicken possible may also have created the lethal strain of bird flu virus, H5N1, that threatens to set off a global pandemic.
According to Earl Brown, a University of Ottawa flu virologist, lethal bird flu is entirely man-made, first evolving in commercially produced poultry in Italy in 1878. The highly pathogenic H5N1 is descended from a strain that first appeared in Scotland in 1959.
People have been living with backyard flocks of poultry since the dawn of civilization. But it wasn't until poultry production became modernized, and birds were raised in much larger numbers and concentrations, that a virulent bird flu developed. When birds are packed close together, any brakes on virulence are off. Birds struck with a fatal illness can still easily pass the disease to others, through direct contact or through fecal matter, and lethal strains can evolve. Somehow, the virus that arose in Scotland found its way to China, where, as H5N1, it has been raging for more than a decade.
Industrial poultry-raising moved from the West to Asia in the last few decades and has begun to supplant backyard flocks there. According to a recent report by Grain, an international nongovernmental organization, chicken production in Southeast Asia has jumped eightfold in 30 years to about 2.7 million tons. The Chinese annually produce about 10 million tons of chickens. Some of China's factory farms raise 5 million birds at a time. Charoen Pokphand Group, a huge Thai enterprise that owns a large chunk of poultry production throughout Thailand and China as well as in Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Turkey, exported about 270 million chickens in 2003 alone.
Since then, the C.P. Group, which styles itself as the "Kitchen of the World," has suffered enormous losses from bird flu. According to bird-flu expert Gary Butcher of the University of Florida, the company has made a conscientious effort to clean up. But the damage has been done.
THE SOUTHEAST ASIAN COUNTRY WITHOUT RAMPANT BIRD FLU IS LAOS, WHERE 90% OF POULTRY PRODUCTION IS STILL IN PEASANT HANDS, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. About 45 small outbreaks in or near commercial farms from January to March 2004 were quickly stamped out by culling birds from contaminated farms.
Some researchers still blame migratory birds for the relentless spread of the bird flu virus. But Martin Williams, a conservationist and bird expert in Hong Kong, contends that wild birds are more often victims than carriers. Last spring, for instance, about 5,000 wild birds died at Qinghai Lake in western China, probably from exposure to disease at commercial poultry farms in the region, according to Grain. The virus now in Turkey and Nigeria is essentially identical to the Qinghai strain.
Richard Thomas of Birdlife International, a global alliance of conservation organizations, and others dispute the idea that wild birds carried the flu virus from Qinghai to Russia and beyond. They point out that the disease spread from Qinghai to southern Siberia during the summer months when birds do not migrate, and that it moved east to west along railway lines,
roads and international boundaries -- not along migratory flyways.
What evidence there is for migratory birds as H5N1 carriers is contained in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers examined 13,115 wild birds and found asymptomatic bird flu in six ducks from China. Analysis showed that these ducks had been exposed earlier to less virulent strains of H5 and thus were partly immunized before they were infected with H5N1. On this slender basis, coupled with the fact that some domestic ducks infected for experimental purposes don't get sick, the study's authors contend that the findings "demonstrate that H5N1
viruses can be transmitted over long distances by migratory birds."
Even so, the researchers conceded that the global poultry trade, much of which is illicit, plays a far larger role in spreading the virus. The Nigerian government traced its outbreak to the illegal importation of day-old chicks. Illegal trading in fighting cocks brought the virus from Thailand to Malaysia in fall 2005. And it is probable that H5N1 first spread from Qinghai to Russia and Kazakhstan last summer through the sale of contaminated poultry.
Meanwhile, deadly H5N1 is washing up on the shores of Europe. Brown says the commercial poultry industry, which caused the catastrophe in the first place, stands to benefit most. The conglomerates will more and more dominate the poultry-rearing business. Some experts insist that will be better for us. Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm at the University of Minnesota, for instance, contends that the "single greatest risk to the amplification of the H5N1 virus, should it arrive in the U.S. through migratory birds, will be in free-range birds...often sold as a healthier food, which is a great ruse on the American public."
The truly great ruse is that industrial poultry farms are the best way to produce chickens -- that Perdue Farms and Tyson Foods and Charoen Pokphand are keeping the world safe from backyard poultry and migratory birds. But what's going to be on our tables isn't the biggest problem. The real tragedy is what's happened in Asia to people who can't afford cheap, industrial chicken. And the real victims of industrially produced, lethal H5N1 have been wild birds, an ancient way of life and the poor of the Earth, for whom a backyard flock has always represented a measure of autonomy and a bulwark against starvation.
+++++ Kendall McCook, organic farming, and the Trinity Uptown development scheme ++++++++++
My friend and fellow poet, Kendall McCook, believes it would be wonderful if the as-yet undeveloped acreage (he says it's about 60 acres) just north of the Trinity River, adjacent to Henderson Street and east of University, could be converted to organic farming land. I think that would be amazing, of course, and Kendall thinks that organic food harvests could be quite profitable without compromising either the quality of the land or the Trinity River waters. The farm site could feature a public/visitor component, which might draw tourists--including those who are committed to the SLOW FOOD MOVEMENT and those opposed to genetically-modified food aka frankenfood. I shared with Kendall my beginner's familiarity with the 100-MILE DIET, as conceived by two Canadian journalists just about a year ago (June 2005). Given that fuel prices are so high, and that agribusiness produces tasteless food tastelessly (working farmland for maximum yield, employing the use of majorly earth- and people-unfriendly chemicals), why wouldn't Fort Worthians get turned on to the idea of a prototype organic farm project in near northside, just off the banks of the Trinity? It's time for a critical mass of critically-thinking, earth-loving citizens to dream and plan, organize and realize.
BTW--I voted today. Two seats on the Tarrant Water Board Regional District were up for grabs, and there were many contenders. I voted for candidates who oppose the boondoggle and potential environmental fiasco that is referred to as the Trinity Uptown development project. Apparently, what happens on the Trinity, in the Trinity, and around the Trinity is a big deal--with plenty of voices chiming in about what they believe should happen in the downtown section of the river. Flood control and availability of public water are also critical issues.
Do you see how this is all connected? Animal-borne disease, factory farms, food choices, environmental degradation, and community will?
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Monday, May 08, 2006
Freeway blogger in the 817
Sunday afternoon i was driving a new friend home when we noticed some lettered signs on the Hulen Street pedestrian bridge over I-30. "Peace Now". We detected movement on the bridge as well--two guys were quickly moving about, affixing more signs to the chain-link fencing which enclosed the bridge.
We exited, just for kicks. We thought to meet these highway-blogging guys and maybe shoot some video footage, as i had a camera in the car. The guys were friendly enough, but we only got one name: Carl. He apparently had done this before, and seemed undeterred by the eventuality of getting "busted. We offered to help, but the work was pretty much done.
We thanked Carl and his companion and we left. Less than two hours later, driving home, i saw that the signs had been taken down.
The next day, Carl sent us this shot of the bridge work, with a report that the cops had been called by someone who complained about "Peace Now" being broadcast on that bridge. Yeah, actually.
Carl's report: "this one stayed up for about 2 hours before the police came and asked me politely to take it down. he said that he thought it was great, and that he agreed, but someone complained and he had to tell me to take it down. we shook hands, and then i went home. i still have the sign to use again... believe me i will."
I was glad to hear the cop was sympathetic, but what's up with the complainant? I mean, did somebody almost miss their freeway exit while reading "Peace Now"? geez.
The best online one-stop spot on freewayblogging.
666 - does it mean anything? - CALL FOR LIT for 6/6/06 event
Yeah, i know, this topic or theme may seem VERY insignificant or irrelevant in the greater scheme of things. After all, shouldn't i be creating something on the issue of the low-intensity war on the peasant and working class in Mexico (boycott Wal-Mart, perhaps?); or picking up yet another stick and shaking it at yet another oppressive regime, institution, political lackey, school board slimeball, __________ (fill in the blank with the name of the most annoying dominator-oppressor in your book this week)?
Well, i desist. I wanna play and have some freakin' silly fun too. I remember how deadly-serious i was (all work, no play) back in the mid-1990s. One night, i found myself cutting through a parking lot, late at night, hungry and exhausted from too many meetings. So, what did i do? I started singing. I made up a little "ditty" (really, i hate that word, but it works here) called "Sugar Pop Delight." And it's now one of my classic "hits"--about a breakfast cereal, country pop star, and a porn star. All in one. I wanted to perform this, rolling around on melted butter. Alas, i merely performed it with a trio of musicians, all country hillbilly-style (props to all hillbillies). I fluffed my hair big, put on a mess of eye makeup, and threw on my silver spurs over my favorite shitkickers. What a contrast to the typically-political serious me. ANY-way, think about the following CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS.
And submit to me.
Please.......
++++++++++++++++++++++++
666 - it's that weird number you don't want to be stuck with
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
new literary/creative PROSE, POETRY, MONOLOGUE, FICTION works which
treat, address, interpret, understand, and/or defy
all known (and unknown) depictions and definitions
of the numerical phenomenon
known as
666.
I, Tammy Gomez, am interested in receiving such submissions of writing for
probable public display and performance presentation
on the 6th day of June, in the year a.d. 2006 - a rare day indeed,
(at the Metrognome Collective Warehouse on E. Lancaster St.)
Any and all should diligently and prodigiously send their literary productions, treating this theme--however humorous, serious, theatrical, or philosophical--in the quickest haste to:
tammygomexican@yahoo.com
or
sound_culture@hotmail.com.
Am hoping for the most intellectually-broad treatments of this theme.
Questions? Please ask them via the addresses provided above, or post comment below.
(signed) Tammy the literary-thing-make-happener
Well, i desist. I wanna play and have some freakin' silly fun too. I remember how deadly-serious i was (all work, no play) back in the mid-1990s. One night, i found myself cutting through a parking lot, late at night, hungry and exhausted from too many meetings. So, what did i do? I started singing. I made up a little "ditty" (really, i hate that word, but it works here) called "Sugar Pop Delight." And it's now one of my classic "hits"--about a breakfast cereal, country pop star, and a porn star. All in one. I wanted to perform this, rolling around on melted butter. Alas, i merely performed it with a trio of musicians, all country hillbilly-style (props to all hillbillies). I fluffed my hair big, put on a mess of eye makeup, and threw on my silver spurs over my favorite shitkickers. What a contrast to the typically-political serious me. ANY-way, think about the following CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS.
And submit to me.
Please.......
++++++++++++++++++++++++
666 - it's that weird number you don't want to be stuck with
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
new literary/creative PROSE, POETRY, MONOLOGUE, FICTION works which
treat, address, interpret, understand, and/or defy
all known (and unknown) depictions and definitions
of the numerical phenomenon
known as
666.
I, Tammy Gomez, am interested in receiving such submissions of writing for
probable public display and performance presentation
on the 6th day of June, in the year a.d. 2006 - a rare day indeed,
(at the Metrognome Collective Warehouse on E. Lancaster St.)
Any and all should diligently and prodigiously send their literary productions, treating this theme--however humorous, serious, theatrical, or philosophical--in the quickest haste to:
tammygomexican@yahoo.com
or
sound_culture@hotmail.com.
Am hoping for the most intellectually-broad treatments of this theme.
Questions? Please ask them via the addresses provided above, or post comment below.
(signed) Tammy the literary-thing-make-happener
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Cara Mia Theater announces auditions: May 13th in Dallas
[Thanks to David Lozano, artistic director of the Cara Mia Theater company in Dallas, for sending the following anuncio!]
¡AUDITION NOTICE!
Cara Mía Theatre Company presents
"Martín" -- a stage adaptation of the book-length poem
by Jimmy Santiago Baca
to be directed by Jeffry Farrell
PRODUCTION DATES: September 1-17, 2006
"A voice in me soft as linen
unfolded on midnight air,
to wipe my loneliness away—the voice blew open
like a white handkerchief in the night
embroidered with red roses…"
* * * * *
Seeking actors with courage to explore voice/ movement/ rhythms/ and the creation of imagined space for the staged production of Jimmy Santiago Baca’s epic poem – "Martín". The cast will execute a physical/vocal style using traditions of the epic chorus, pioneered by the late Jacques Lecoq.
* * * * *
AUDITION DATE and TIME ::: Saturday, May 13th :::::: 2:30pm until 7pm.
Contact 214.946.9499 or info@caramiatheatre.net for details.
* * * * *
"All my life the constant sound of someone’s bootheels trail behind me—thin, hard, sharp sounds scraping frozen ground,
like a shovel digging a grave. It’s my guardian, following me through the broken branches of the bosque, to the door
of the Good Shepherd Home on south 2nd. Street, for a hot meal."
¡AUDITION NOTICE!
Cara Mía Theatre Company presents
"Martín" -- a stage adaptation of the book-length poem
by Jimmy Santiago Baca
to be directed by Jeffry Farrell
PRODUCTION DATES: September 1-17, 2006
"A voice in me soft as linen
unfolded on midnight air,
to wipe my loneliness away—the voice blew open
like a white handkerchief in the night
embroidered with red roses…"
* * * * *
Seeking actors with courage to explore voice/ movement/ rhythms/ and the creation of imagined space for the staged production of Jimmy Santiago Baca’s epic poem – "Martín". The cast will execute a physical/vocal style using traditions of the epic chorus, pioneered by the late Jacques Lecoq.
* * * * *
AUDITION DATE and TIME ::: Saturday, May 13th :::::: 2:30pm until 7pm.
Contact 214.946.9499 or info@caramiatheatre.net for details.
* * * * *
"All my life the constant sound of someone’s bootheels trail behind me—thin, hard, sharp sounds scraping frozen ground,
like a shovel digging a grave. It’s my guardian, following me through the broken branches of the bosque, to the door
of the Good Shepherd Home on south 2nd. Street, for a hot meal."
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Anti-immigrant rally in downtown FW on May 6th
[The following announcement was found----this exact text---on the Stormfront White Nationalist Community website. I wanted you to know about this, but am in NO way 100% certain of what i want to do in regard to this. Would like to discuss this with a few of you---off- or online--if you care to respond. I don't want to be baited at a rally that these possibly racist haters will be dominating and organizing. What do you think....?]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
[from the Stormfront White Nationalist Community website]
AMERICANS FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM
"STOP THE INVASION"
FORT WORTH, TEXAS
SATURDAY, MAY 6, 2006
LOCATION AND TIME: We will meet and assemble at 3rd and Commerce between 8.0 and Flying Saucer sidewalk area. All protesters are expected to be present by 11:30am, as we will march to Tarrant County Courthouse at noon.
OBJECTIVE: It's time for Congress to hear from the voices that count! We must show them that OUR votes will unseat those who sell us out for big business and that we intend to take our country back from these criminals!
HONORED GUESTS: Veterans, Texas Minutemen, Texas motorcycle organizations, political candidates, student groups. See website for updates.
PARKING: FREE on weekends: 4th & Main Street, 4th & Houston, 4th & Throckmorton (SS Garage 3), Calhoun & 3rd (SS Garage 2), 3rd & Main Street (1/2 Flying Saucer Lot). Street parking and downtown buses are also free.
WEAR AND BRING: Think of this as "Independence Day in May." Wear and bring everything you have that is RED, WHITE, and BLUE including every American flag you have! Also, bring posters and signs that tastefully reflect our cause, but not hatred or racism. BYOW! Bring your own water!
CONTACT: Lisa@illegalimmigrantprotest.com for any questions, comments, or suggestions. Every idea is welcome and help spreading the word is greatly appreciated!!!!
Main website: www.geocities.com/ftwprotest/
__________________
61 - The sweet Goddess of Peace lives only under the protective arm of the ready God of War. -David Lane
[end of excerpt from the Stormfront White Nationalist Community website]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
[from the Stormfront White Nationalist Community website]
AMERICANS FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM
"STOP THE INVASION"
FORT WORTH, TEXAS
SATURDAY, MAY 6, 2006
LOCATION AND TIME: We will meet and assemble at 3rd and Commerce between 8.0 and Flying Saucer sidewalk area. All protesters are expected to be present by 11:30am, as we will march to Tarrant County Courthouse at noon.
OBJECTIVE: It's time for Congress to hear from the voices that count! We must show them that OUR votes will unseat those who sell us out for big business and that we intend to take our country back from these criminals!
HONORED GUESTS: Veterans, Texas Minutemen, Texas motorcycle organizations, political candidates, student groups. See website for updates.
PARKING: FREE on weekends: 4th & Main Street, 4th & Houston, 4th & Throckmorton (SS Garage 3), Calhoun & 3rd (SS Garage 2), 3rd & Main Street (1/2 Flying Saucer Lot). Street parking and downtown buses are also free.
WEAR AND BRING: Think of this as "Independence Day in May." Wear and bring everything you have that is RED, WHITE, and BLUE including every American flag you have! Also, bring posters and signs that tastefully reflect our cause, but not hatred or racism. BYOW! Bring your own water!
CONTACT: Lisa@illegalimmigrantprotest.com for any questions, comments, or suggestions. Every idea is welcome and help spreading the word is greatly appreciated!!!!
Main website: www.geocities.com/ftwprotest/
__________________
61 - The sweet Goddess of Peace lives only under the protective arm of the ready God of War. -David Lane
[end of excerpt from the Stormfront White Nationalist Community website]
Gringo, gringolandia...yeah, i said it.
My friend, Marco, who now teaches at Texas A&M-Kingsville, recently wrote to tell me about the stir that one of my little ole poems caused:
"...just to let you know, your section in Ray's film ("Voices From Texas") created quite the controvery before screening the film at Henrietta M. King HS. When the dust settled, 800 students viewed the film at the HS. It almost didn't take place due to your use of the word 'gingolandia.' Of all potentially questionable words, 'gringo' ruffled the district offices' feathers, sort of a reverse discrimination debacle ensued..."
Well, then.
How 'bout that for evidence that words are powerful things? And as a reminder that those in roles of authority will too often do what they can to silence those who dare to resist, reclaim, and rise...
In honor of Cinco de Mayo, let me now share the entirety of that "controversial" poem, with the "offensive" G word. Just to balance things out, lemme say that some Chicanas at prestigious Wellesley College (in Massachusetts) got me a gig to perform on their campus--based on this very poem.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On Language
No Spanish at home. No hablamos Spanish at home.
Even so, my English was deemed inferior,
incorrect, and irreverent. In school.
So off I was sent to speech class, singled out
in front of my classmates for special therapy...
sh instead of ch
sh instead of ch
ch en vez de sh
was my main problem. I couldn’t tell them apart.
If I wanted to sit, well then I would find a ‘shair’,
but if I wanted to compartir algo contigo, well that was ‘chairing.’
Because of this, I was poked fun of and embarrassed in front of my classmates,
so, after that, I vowed to speak it, English, better than anyone else.
I would no longer be singled out for intimidation.
Bee – geen – eeng ov thoe – row ah – seem – ee – laa – shun
Bee – geeneeng of tho – row ahseem – eelaa shun
Beginning of tho - rough assi – mila - tion
Beginning of thorough assimilation.
And so began my separation from my native tongue,
the family language—Spanish, no more, no mas,
the distance between me and my cultural heritage
grew larger and larger, as the ethnic roots of my familia
faded and blurred in the distance behind.
I was so keen on being blended in, whitewashed into the landscape
and not being discerned as diferente, me entiendes?
Because if you noticed that I was different, then you might treat
me different, and the way I viewed this, historically speaking,
different meant worse. Treating different means treating worse.
Yeah, I’ve been called nigger. I’ve perceived prejudice.
You can tell when the teachers don’t know how to talk to you,
how to pronounce your last name, your weird name.
How to act with a foreign species, illegal species.
You can sense their discomfort.
And a chota once told me, when we first met in person,
“Funny, but you didn’t sound MESKIN on the phone.”
So I tried, always tried, to keep myself invisible and mute,
be low-key. Don’t rise and shine. Lay low, be dull.
Don’t stand out, don’t risk the put-downs and humiliations.
But that’s hard when you’re also overcompensating
for your wrong history, wrong accent, skin color...
...to keep up with the rules of Gringolandia U--S--A, vato,
the biggest theme park in the world today.
Gringolandia, U.S.A.
So me, la over-compensating, over-achiever:
I made sure I had the cleanest hands
(They weren’t going to call ME a ‘dirty’ Mexican!),
I had the straightest posture and the straightest As
(You weren’t going to call ME a ‘lazy’ Mexican!).
Pretty soon, the kids in my class started to not like me
as much, because I was so good at playing the game,
their game, by their rules, that I made them look bad.
Oh, I retro-fitted so well, I must have assimilated too much.
I even sent myself to an uppity women’s college in the northeast.
Why? To prove again, as I never stopped trying to prove,
that I could toe the line with daughters of
wealthy white professional men.
I’m talking about
progressive whitening of Latinos.
The gradual whitening of Chicanos, Chicanas,
and eventual whitening of Tejana Mexicanas.
You start off speaking Spanish, coming in with shy,
but respectful, gentle nature. And as that gets stripped away,
you become more anglicized, speaking a baby’s English.
But don’t worry, you can take remedial classes.
You begin walking the American pace, with rigid posture,
always in a hurry, but never on time. All the time for work
and none for familia. Until one day, you glance in the mirror,
and you don’t even know who that person is looking back at you.
But hey, I don’t wanna think about that, I’m here to party.
I’m here to celebrate my AmericanISM.
I’m ready for the red, white, and blue.
I’m ready to be red, white, and blue.
So long, Mexico. Farewell, Cuba.
Never mind, Nicaragua. Piss off, Peru.
I’m WHITE now. I’m RIGHT now. I’m MIGHT now.
So, what has this cost?
And what have I lost?
Copyright - Tammy Gomez
(If you want to hear this poem accompanied by music--with my band La Palabra--check out RAZA SPOKEN HERE, VOLUME 2, an anthology which features not one, but two tracks i wrote. Some of my closest spoken word compas are also on this joint.)
"...just to let you know, your section in Ray's film ("Voices From Texas") created quite the controvery before screening the film at Henrietta M. King HS. When the dust settled, 800 students viewed the film at the HS. It almost didn't take place due to your use of the word 'gingolandia.' Of all potentially questionable words, 'gringo' ruffled the district offices' feathers, sort of a reverse discrimination debacle ensued..."
Well, then.
How 'bout that for evidence that words are powerful things? And as a reminder that those in roles of authority will too often do what they can to silence those who dare to resist, reclaim, and rise...
In honor of Cinco de Mayo, let me now share the entirety of that "controversial" poem, with the "offensive" G word. Just to balance things out, lemme say that some Chicanas at prestigious Wellesley College (in Massachusetts) got me a gig to perform on their campus--based on this very poem.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On Language
No Spanish at home. No hablamos Spanish at home.
Even so, my English was deemed inferior,
incorrect, and irreverent. In school.
So off I was sent to speech class, singled out
in front of my classmates for special therapy...
sh instead of ch
sh instead of ch
ch en vez de sh
was my main problem. I couldn’t tell them apart.
If I wanted to sit, well then I would find a ‘shair’,
but if I wanted to compartir algo contigo, well that was ‘chairing.’
Because of this, I was poked fun of and embarrassed in front of my classmates,
so, after that, I vowed to speak it, English, better than anyone else.
I would no longer be singled out for intimidation.
Bee – geen – eeng ov thoe – row ah – seem – ee – laa – shun
Bee – geeneeng of tho – row ahseem – eelaa shun
Beginning of tho - rough assi – mila - tion
Beginning of thorough assimilation.
And so began my separation from my native tongue,
the family language—Spanish, no more, no mas,
the distance between me and my cultural heritage
grew larger and larger, as the ethnic roots of my familia
faded and blurred in the distance behind.
I was so keen on being blended in, whitewashed into the landscape
and not being discerned as diferente, me entiendes?
Because if you noticed that I was different, then you might treat
me different, and the way I viewed this, historically speaking,
different meant worse. Treating different means treating worse.
Yeah, I’ve been called nigger. I’ve perceived prejudice.
You can tell when the teachers don’t know how to talk to you,
how to pronounce your last name, your weird name.
How to act with a foreign species, illegal species.
You can sense their discomfort.
And a chota once told me, when we first met in person,
“Funny, but you didn’t sound MESKIN on the phone.”
So I tried, always tried, to keep myself invisible and mute,
be low-key. Don’t rise and shine. Lay low, be dull.
Don’t stand out, don’t risk the put-downs and humiliations.
But that’s hard when you’re also overcompensating
for your wrong history, wrong accent, skin color...
...to keep up with the rules of Gringolandia U--S--A, vato,
the biggest theme park in the world today.
Gringolandia, U.S.A.
So me, la over-compensating, over-achiever:
I made sure I had the cleanest hands
(They weren’t going to call ME a ‘dirty’ Mexican!),
I had the straightest posture and the straightest As
(You weren’t going to call ME a ‘lazy’ Mexican!).
Pretty soon, the kids in my class started to not like me
as much, because I was so good at playing the game,
their game, by their rules, that I made them look bad.
Oh, I retro-fitted so well, I must have assimilated too much.
I even sent myself to an uppity women’s college in the northeast.
Why? To prove again, as I never stopped trying to prove,
that I could toe the line with daughters of
wealthy white professional men.
I’m talking about
progressive whitening of Latinos.
The gradual whitening of Chicanos, Chicanas,
and eventual whitening of Tejana Mexicanas.
You start off speaking Spanish, coming in with shy,
but respectful, gentle nature. And as that gets stripped away,
you become more anglicized, speaking a baby’s English.
But don’t worry, you can take remedial classes.
You begin walking the American pace, with rigid posture,
always in a hurry, but never on time. All the time for work
and none for familia. Until one day, you glance in the mirror,
and you don’t even know who that person is looking back at you.
But hey, I don’t wanna think about that, I’m here to party.
I’m here to celebrate my AmericanISM.
I’m ready for the red, white, and blue.
I’m ready to be red, white, and blue.
So long, Mexico. Farewell, Cuba.
Never mind, Nicaragua. Piss off, Peru.
I’m WHITE now. I’m RIGHT now. I’m MIGHT now.
So, what has this cost?
And what have I lost?
Copyright - Tammy Gomez
(If you want to hear this poem accompanied by music--with my band La Palabra--check out RAZA SPOKEN HERE, VOLUME 2, an anthology which features not one, but two tracks i wrote. Some of my closest spoken word compas are also on this joint.)
Monday, May 01, 2006
"The Sound is Brown" - Austin celebrates
Latino Music all during the month of May 2006 with this music series sponsored by ALMA (Austin Latino Music Association).
For more info, go to the ALMA website......orale, ya!
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Writer Doctorow on our current Prez
"An Essay on our President"
by E.L Doctorow
I fault this president (George W. Bush) for not knowing what death is. He does not suffer the death of our twenty-one year olds who wanted to be what they could be.
On the eve of D-day in 1944 General Eisenhower prayed to God for the lives of the young soldiers he knew were going to die. He knew what death was. Even in a justifiable war, a war not of choice but of necessity, a war of survival, the cost was almost more than Eisenhower could bear.
But this president does not know what death is. He hasn't the mind for it. You see him joking with the press, peering under the table for the WMDs he can't seem to find, you see him at rallies strutting up to the stage in shirt sleeves to the roar of the carefully screened crowd, smiling and waving, triumphal, a he-man. He does not mourn. He doesn't understand why he should mourn. He is satisfied during the course of a speech written for him to look solemn for a moment and speak of the brave young Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
But you study him; you look into his eyes and know he dissembles an emotion, which he does not feel in the depths of his being because he has no capacity for it. He does not feel a personal responsibility for the thousands of dead young men and women who wanted be what they could be.
They come to his desk not as youngsters with mothers and fathers or wives and children who will suffer to the end of their days a terribly torn fabric of familial relationships and the inconsolable remembrance of aborted life.... They come to his desk as a political liability which is why the press is not permitted to photograph the arrival of their coffins from Iraq. How then can he mourn? To mourn is to express regret and he regrets nothing. He does not regret that his reason for going to war was, as he knew, unsubstantiated by the facts. He does not regret that his bungled plan for the war's aftermath has made of his mission-accomplished a disaster. He does not regret that rather than controlling terrorism his war in Iraq has licensed it.
So he never mourns for the dead and crippled youngsters who have fought this war of his choice. He wanted to go to war and he did. He had not the mind to perceive the costs of war, or to listen to those who knew those costs. He did not understand that you do not go to war when it is one of the options, but when it is the only option; you go not because you want to but because you have to.
This president knew it would be difficult for Americans not to cheer the overthrow of a foreign dictator. He knew that much. This president and his supporters would seem to have a mind for only one thing --- to take power, to remain in power, and to use that power for the sake of themselves and their friends. A war will do that as well as anything. You become a wartime leader. The country gets behind you. Dissent becomes inappropriate. And so he does not drop to his knees, he is not contrite, he does not sit in the church with the grieving parents and wives and children....
He is the President who does not feel. He does not feel for the families of the dead; he does not feel for the thirty five million of us who live in poverty; he does not feel for the forty percent who cannot afford health insurance; he does not feel for the miners whose lungs are turning black or for the working people he has deprived of the chance to work overtime at time-and-a-half to pay their bills --- it is amazing for how many people in this country this President does not feel.
But he will dissemble feeling. He will say in all sincerity he is relieving the wealthiest one percent of the population of their tax burden for the sake of the rest of us, and that he is polluting the air we breathe for the sake of our economy, and that he is decreasing the safety regulations for coal mines to save the coal miners' jobs, and that he is depriving workers of their time-and-a-half benefits for overtime because this is actually a way to honor them by raising them into the professional class.
And this litany of lies he will versify with reverences for God and the flag and democracy, when just what he and his party are doing to our democracy is choking the life out of it. But there is one more terribly sad thing about all of this. I remember the millions of people here and around the world who marched against the war. It was extraordinary, that spontaneously aroused oversoul of alarm and protest that transcended national borders. Why did it happen? After all, this was not the only war anyone had ever seen coming. There are little wars all over the world most of the time.
But the cry of protest was the appalled understanding of millions of people that America was ceding its role as the last best hope of mankind. It was their perception that the classic archetype democracy was morphing into a rogue nation. The greatest democratic republic in history was turning its back on the future, using its extraordinary power and standing not to advance the ideal of a concordance of civilizations but to endorse the kind of tribal combat that originated with the Neanderthals, a people, now extinct, who could imagine ensuring their survival by no other means than pre-emptive war.
The president we get is the country we get. With each president the nation is conformed spiritually. He is the artificer of our malleable national soul. He proposes not only the laws but the kinds of lawlessness that govern our lives and invoke our responses. The people he appoints are cast in his image. The trouble they get into and get us into is his characteristic trouble.
Finally the media amplify his character into our moral weather report. He becomes the face of our sky, the conditions that prevail: How can we sustain ourselves as the United States of America given the stupid and ineffective war making, the constitutionally insensitive lawgiving, and the monarchal economics of this president? He cannot mourn, but is a figure of such moral vacancy as to make us mourn for ourselves.
by E.L Doctorow
I fault this president (George W. Bush) for not knowing what death is. He does not suffer the death of our twenty-one year olds who wanted to be what they could be.
On the eve of D-day in 1944 General Eisenhower prayed to God for the lives of the young soldiers he knew were going to die. He knew what death was. Even in a justifiable war, a war not of choice but of necessity, a war of survival, the cost was almost more than Eisenhower could bear.
But this president does not know what death is. He hasn't the mind for it. You see him joking with the press, peering under the table for the WMDs he can't seem to find, you see him at rallies strutting up to the stage in shirt sleeves to the roar of the carefully screened crowd, smiling and waving, triumphal, a he-man. He does not mourn. He doesn't understand why he should mourn. He is satisfied during the course of a speech written for him to look solemn for a moment and speak of the brave young Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
But you study him; you look into his eyes and know he dissembles an emotion, which he does not feel in the depths of his being because he has no capacity for it. He does not feel a personal responsibility for the thousands of dead young men and women who wanted be what they could be.
They come to his desk not as youngsters with mothers and fathers or wives and children who will suffer to the end of their days a terribly torn fabric of familial relationships and the inconsolable remembrance of aborted life.... They come to his desk as a political liability which is why the press is not permitted to photograph the arrival of their coffins from Iraq. How then can he mourn? To mourn is to express regret and he regrets nothing. He does not regret that his reason for going to war was, as he knew, unsubstantiated by the facts. He does not regret that his bungled plan for the war's aftermath has made of his mission-accomplished a disaster. He does not regret that rather than controlling terrorism his war in Iraq has licensed it.
So he never mourns for the dead and crippled youngsters who have fought this war of his choice. He wanted to go to war and he did. He had not the mind to perceive the costs of war, or to listen to those who knew those costs. He did not understand that you do not go to war when it is one of the options, but when it is the only option; you go not because you want to but because you have to.
This president knew it would be difficult for Americans not to cheer the overthrow of a foreign dictator. He knew that much. This president and his supporters would seem to have a mind for only one thing --- to take power, to remain in power, and to use that power for the sake of themselves and their friends. A war will do that as well as anything. You become a wartime leader. The country gets behind you. Dissent becomes inappropriate. And so he does not drop to his knees, he is not contrite, he does not sit in the church with the grieving parents and wives and children....
He is the President who does not feel. He does not feel for the families of the dead; he does not feel for the thirty five million of us who live in poverty; he does not feel for the forty percent who cannot afford health insurance; he does not feel for the miners whose lungs are turning black or for the working people he has deprived of the chance to work overtime at time-and-a-half to pay their bills --- it is amazing for how many people in this country this President does not feel.
But he will dissemble feeling. He will say in all sincerity he is relieving the wealthiest one percent of the population of their tax burden for the sake of the rest of us, and that he is polluting the air we breathe for the sake of our economy, and that he is decreasing the safety regulations for coal mines to save the coal miners' jobs, and that he is depriving workers of their time-and-a-half benefits for overtime because this is actually a way to honor them by raising them into the professional class.
And this litany of lies he will versify with reverences for God and the flag and democracy, when just what he and his party are doing to our democracy is choking the life out of it. But there is one more terribly sad thing about all of this. I remember the millions of people here and around the world who marched against the war. It was extraordinary, that spontaneously aroused oversoul of alarm and protest that transcended national borders. Why did it happen? After all, this was not the only war anyone had ever seen coming. There are little wars all over the world most of the time.
But the cry of protest was the appalled understanding of millions of people that America was ceding its role as the last best hope of mankind. It was their perception that the classic archetype democracy was morphing into a rogue nation. The greatest democratic republic in history was turning its back on the future, using its extraordinary power and standing not to advance the ideal of a concordance of civilizations but to endorse the kind of tribal combat that originated with the Neanderthals, a people, now extinct, who could imagine ensuring their survival by no other means than pre-emptive war.
The president we get is the country we get. With each president the nation is conformed spiritually. He is the artificer of our malleable national soul. He proposes not only the laws but the kinds of lawlessness that govern our lives and invoke our responses. The people he appoints are cast in his image. The trouble they get into and get us into is his characteristic trouble.
Finally the media amplify his character into our moral weather report. He becomes the face of our sky, the conditions that prevail: How can we sustain ourselves as the United States of America given the stupid and ineffective war making, the constitutionally insensitive lawgiving, and the monarchal economics of this president? He cannot mourn, but is a figure of such moral vacancy as to make us mourn for ourselves.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Keep ARTS FIFTH AVENUE alive: Benefit tomorrow, Saturday, April 29th
I love that this special community-based performing arts and education venue is right in my hood. That stop sign on the corner of Allen & Fifth is where you'll find my bicycle on the nights I'm hanging out for a concert, theater performance, poetry event, or Wednesday night yoga.....! Highly recommended.
WANG DANG DOODLE: DEUX
BBQ, Blues, & Bohemian Art Sale
Benefiting Arts Fifth Avenue
SATURDAY APRIL 29, 2006
\wang dang dood'l\: an unrestrained & one-of-a-kind event.
to play music with wild abandon. the song & lyric by
american blues great, willie dixon.
featuring
James Hinkle
with special guests:
K. M. Williams, Holland K. Smith,
Cookie McGee,
Aaron Burton, & Cheryl Arena
$25 per person - 6 pm to Midnight
ARTS FIFTH AVENUE, an eclectic neighborhood arts center and home of MONDO DRUMMERS is located at the corner of 5th Ave. & W. Allen Ave.in the Fairmount Southside Historic District of Fort Worth. We are open to the public for events, performances, rehearsal, and meetings and offer a variety of classes in music, dance, art and theatre for children and adults.
Partial funding provided by the Arts Council of Ft Worth & Tarrant County, The City of Fort Worth, Garvey Texas Foundation, RadioShack Corporation, McAfee Security, the William C. Perry & Paul A. Nelson Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation of North Texas, Humanities Texas, and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
ARTS FIFTH AVENUE
1628 5th Avenue
Ft Worth, TX 76104
Ph: 817-923-9500
Email: artsfifthavenue@aol.com
WANG DANG DOODLE: DEUX
BBQ, Blues, & Bohemian Art Sale
Benefiting Arts Fifth Avenue
SATURDAY APRIL 29, 2006
\wang dang dood'l\: an unrestrained & one-of-a-kind event.
to play music with wild abandon. the song & lyric by
american blues great, willie dixon.
featuring
James Hinkle
with special guests:
K. M. Williams, Holland K. Smith,
Cookie McGee,
Aaron Burton, & Cheryl Arena
$25 per person - 6 pm to Midnight
ARTS FIFTH AVENUE, an eclectic neighborhood arts center and home of MONDO DRUMMERS is located at the corner of 5th Ave. & W. Allen Ave.in the Fairmount Southside Historic District of Fort Worth. We are open to the public for events, performances, rehearsal, and meetings and offer a variety of classes in music, dance, art and theatre for children and adults.
Partial funding provided by the Arts Council of Ft Worth & Tarrant County, The City of Fort Worth, Garvey Texas Foundation, RadioShack Corporation, McAfee Security, the William C. Perry & Paul A. Nelson Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation of North Texas, Humanities Texas, and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
ARTS FIFTH AVENUE
1628 5th Avenue
Ft Worth, TX 76104
Ph: 817-923-9500
Email: artsfifthavenue@aol.com
Monday, April 24, 2006
Medicine for the masses - herbs for protesters
Journalist and friend, Patrisia Gonzales, writes a monthly column on Mexican indigenous medicinas. The April 3rd column of "Patzin" ("venerable medicine" in Nahuatl) focuses on remedios para movimientos. So timely, so necessary.
For now, I'll just share an excerpt or 2 here. To read the column in its entirety, please go here. (BTW--each column is posted in both English and Spanish.)
[excerpts]
"As the people march in the millions, placing their bodies on the line to proclaim their rights to be treated justly, I uphold the right to our medicinal knowledge as a human right and as la comadre Sylvia Ledesma has said, part of our self governance.
Elders say the plants and the four elements of life are our relatives, our witnesses, and our protectors. While there is a backlash against the peaceful protestors, the anger needs to be countered by medicine -- or turned into medicine. My grandmother used to say that coraje can be used for good – as in defense of el prove -- or coraje can create bad medicine. I offer this herbal arsenal, or herbs for protest and times of great movement and upheaval.
For long term stamina, eat chayote, and if you can get the leaves, make a tea to strengthen the kidneys and pancreas. During stress we use up lots of vitamin Bs. Drink or eat chaya for energy, a beloved plant by those who perform great physical sacrifices and need immediate results. Drink juice with chia seed, which is recorded in the ancient stories as one of the original foods given to the Mesoamerican peoples. Spirulina (another ancestral food) will take away hunger, give you energy and lots of amino acids and minerals. Bay leaf tea will gently strengthen the kidney’s ability to move energy in our body. Wild ginseng or American ginseng will nourish our adrenal system, as will boraja. Romero with yerba buena will brighten the brain but relax you so that you can get a bit more work done.
For sore throats from too much chanting, drink slippery elm tea or take a teaspoon of linaja/flax seed and let it set in a warm cup of water and drink as a tea with honey. For sore feet, a good baño from these recetas will do.
Purify your bodyspirit of mal aires picked up along the marchas or caminos with a limpia of the plantas of your land.
© Column of the Americas 2006
Patrisia Gonzales, as well as her partner and co-writer Roberto Rodriguez, can be reached at: 608-238-3161 or XColumn@aol.com or Column of the Americas, PO BOX 5093 Madison WI 53705.
For now, I'll just share an excerpt or 2 here. To read the column in its entirety, please go here. (BTW--each column is posted in both English and Spanish.)
[excerpts]
"As the people march in the millions, placing their bodies on the line to proclaim their rights to be treated justly, I uphold the right to our medicinal knowledge as a human right and as la comadre Sylvia Ledesma has said, part of our self governance.
Elders say the plants and the four elements of life are our relatives, our witnesses, and our protectors. While there is a backlash against the peaceful protestors, the anger needs to be countered by medicine -- or turned into medicine. My grandmother used to say that coraje can be used for good – as in defense of el prove -- or coraje can create bad medicine. I offer this herbal arsenal, or herbs for protest and times of great movement and upheaval.
For long term stamina, eat chayote, and if you can get the leaves, make a tea to strengthen the kidneys and pancreas. During stress we use up lots of vitamin Bs. Drink or eat chaya for energy, a beloved plant by those who perform great physical sacrifices and need immediate results. Drink juice with chia seed, which is recorded in the ancient stories as one of the original foods given to the Mesoamerican peoples. Spirulina (another ancestral food) will take away hunger, give you energy and lots of amino acids and minerals. Bay leaf tea will gently strengthen the kidney’s ability to move energy in our body. Wild ginseng or American ginseng will nourish our adrenal system, as will boraja. Romero with yerba buena will brighten the brain but relax you so that you can get a bit more work done.
For sore throats from too much chanting, drink slippery elm tea or take a teaspoon of linaja/flax seed and let it set in a warm cup of water and drink as a tea with honey. For sore feet, a good baño from these recetas will do.
Purify your bodyspirit of mal aires picked up along the marchas or caminos with a limpia of the plantas of your land.
© Column of the Americas 2006
Patrisia Gonzales, as well as her partner and co-writer Roberto Rodriguez, can be reached at: 608-238-3161 or XColumn@aol.com or Column of the Americas, PO BOX 5093 Madison WI 53705.
Lick it up - free cone day is tomorrow, April 25th
Ben & Jerry's offers single-dip freebie cones once a year, and tomorrow's the day--no strings (apparently) attached. Look for the B&J's outlet nearest your neck of the woods...click here.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Who's watching the watchers?
"AT&T violated U.S. law and the privacy of its customers as part of the "massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications" without warrants, the EFF alleged."
"Uh-oh, Chango!" (distress call in episodes of "Danger Island"---1970s tv)
I love the EFF, which was born in Silicon Valley (well, yeah) in 1990. A year later, Steve Jackson and others created EFF-Austin, which is now a separate nonprofit organization. Both groups, however, cover the same issues with their digital rights advocacy work. My kind of brainiacs....for sure.
Electronic Frontier Foundation: they're "Defending Freedom in the Digital World".
"To Each His Own"
Cri Nobody performing in the June 2005 presentation of TRASHIN' FASHION on the Firehouse Gallery lawn.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
"Trashin' Fashion" show - SAVE THE DATE: Friday, April 21st
"TRASHIN' FASHION" - a post-millennial display of unfashionable garments made entirely from recycled/trash materials
Friday, April 21st, 2006,
as part of the
Trash Art :: REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE
art exhibit
at the ROSE MARINE THEATER
1440 N. Main St., in north Fort Worth.
The "unfashion designers", led by performance/conceptual artist Tammy Gomez, will unveil a wildly irreverent critique of mass consumerism and the fashion industry, with a runway show of their outlandish garments, which will be modeled by TRASHIN' FASHION krewe members Angelique, Zoe Pardee, Cri Nobody, Andrea Gonzalez, Jeremy, Natalia Dominguez, Shaggy, and others.
Tammy Gomez states that, for her, TRASHIN' FASHION is "about the desires, fears, and other compelling emotions 'stitched' into our clothes and emblazoned on our bodies. If we are what we eat, then we do how we dress."
If you miss this encore presentation of TRASHIN' FASHION it will be the fashion faux paus of the season!
Show starts at 7pm.
(When last we performed this show (June 2005), we made the FASHION SECTION of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS!)
Friday, April 21st, 2006,
as part of the
Trash Art :: REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE
art exhibit
at the ROSE MARINE THEATER
1440 N. Main St., in north Fort Worth.
The "unfashion designers", led by performance/conceptual artist Tammy Gomez, will unveil a wildly irreverent critique of mass consumerism and the fashion industry, with a runway show of their outlandish garments, which will be modeled by TRASHIN' FASHION krewe members Angelique, Zoe Pardee, Cri Nobody, Andrea Gonzalez, Jeremy, Natalia Dominguez, Shaggy, and others.
Tammy Gomez states that, for her, TRASHIN' FASHION is "about the desires, fears, and other compelling emotions 'stitched' into our clothes and emblazoned on our bodies. If we are what we eat, then we do how we dress."
If you miss this encore presentation of TRASHIN' FASHION it will be the fashion faux paus of the season!
Show starts at 7pm.
(When last we performed this show (June 2005), we made the FASHION SECTION of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS!)
"There is no hierarchy of oppression" - Audre Lorde
[The following, a response to an article that recently ran in the Advocate--a national LGBT magazine--is circulating around the net this week. Both Ari C and Maggie J sent this to me. I'm really glad to see this kind of thinking. Even if you're not LGBT, there're some important points herein about our need to coalesce in our shared struggle against injustice and oppression everywhere.]
April 10, 2006
An Open Letter to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community:
We are a group of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people of color who work in the LGBT movement. We are writing to you in response to Jasmyne Cannick’s article "Gays First, Then Illegals”, which ran in The Advocate, in which she, a black lesbian, argues that she cannot support the current battle for immigrant rights because LGBT people have not yet won the right to marry. We are writing to express our profound disagreement with her, and to offer alternative LGBT perspectives to the current immigration battles happening across the country.
To begin with, Cannick fails to realize an obvious fact – the LGBT community and the immigrant community are not mutually exclusive. There are thousands of LGBT immigrants in this country. There are thousands of black immigrants. And there are thousands of black LGBT immigrants. To put forward an argument that says "we should get ours first" makes us question who exactly is the "we" in that analysis. In addition, we recognize the historically interconnected nature of the immigrant and LGBT struggles — such as the ban on “homosexual immigrants” that extended into the 1990’s, and the present HIV ban, which disproportionately impacts LGBT people — and we believe that only by understanding these connections and building coalition can we ensure real social change for all.
And we ask those who share the destructive views of this article to remember the immortal words of Audre Lorde when she said that “There is no hierarchy of oppression”. We reject any attempts to pit the struggle of multiple communities against each other and firmly believe that "Rights" are not in limited supply. We condemn the “scarcity of rights” perspective espoused by Cannick and other members of the LGBT movement, and are surprised to see members of our community trafficking in such ugliness. But then, one reason why it has always been so hard to shift power in this country is because the ruling class has successfully made us believe that there are only a few deserving groups to whom rights can be given. This strategy has always been used to divide oppressed groups from coming together to work in coalition.
We are painfully aware that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities still lack many basic protections under the law in this country, including the right to care for and support all of our families, in the various ways in which we construct family and kinship. Nevertheless, supporting immigrant rights, while we continue to work for LGBT liberation, does nothing to hurt our cause. In fact, we believe the opposite to be true, and want to work towards building powerful coalitions between immigrant and LGBT movements to work together for social justice.
We are also aware that many immigrant right advocates have (intentionally or not) used anti-black rhetoric to move their agenda forward. Arguments such as “Don’t treat us like ‘criminals’” or “We are doing work that ‘other’ Americans won’t do” have the effect of positioning immigrant narratives as subtly juxtaposed with American stereotypes of non-immigrant black communities. They leave native-born black Americans as among the only people who do not have access to the immigrant narrative, and so are in a permanent position of subordination, as the state consistently negotiates and redefines citizenship and “American-ness” for almost everyone but blacks. Nevertheless, the solution to this problem is not to abandon support for the struggle of immigrant communities. Rather, we call on immigrant movements and (non-immigrant) black organizations to work together for real racial and economic justice in this country. Together these movements can work to end the exploitation and targeting of both communities, and to ensure that black folks and immigrants do not end up having to choose between competing for low-paying jobs, or being targeted for detainment or imprisonment.
As lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of color, we support the current immigrant rights marches and rallies happening across the country this month, and we march too. We march because immigrants are among the most politically vulnerable, underpaid and exploited communities in the country, and are asking for basic human rights, including the right to live free from torture and exploitation, and the right to work. We march because we recognize the connections between the state attacks on immigrant and LGBT communities, and that LGBT immigrants in particular are disproportionately affected by much anti-immigrant legislation. We march because we oppose the heightened policing and criminalization of immigrant communities, including the increased militarization of the border, as mandated by HR 4437 and Senate bills. We march because we oppose indefinite and mandatory detention of noncitizens—as well as the mass incarceration of people-of-color-communities in the U.S. more broadly—and envision a society that ensures the safety and self-determination of all people, regardless of national origin, race, class, gender or sexuality. We march because we oppose the guestworker proposals, which would continue the exploitation of many low-wage workers. We march because we demand the repeal of the HIV ban. We march because our sexualities have been historically criminalized by this country, and we understand that “law” and “justice” are not the same thing.
It is our understanding that Jasmyne Cannick was writing as an individual, and not as a representative of either the National Black Justice Coalition (on whose Board of Directors she serves) or The Stonewall Democrats (for whose Black Caucus she serves as Co-Chair). As LGBT people of color, we call upon both of those organizations to publicly clarify their own positions in this ongoing civil rights discussion.
We also call upon our community to imagine how much more progress we could make if we all stopped thinking of social justice as a zero-sum game.
Sincerely,
Katherine Acey
Executive Director, the Astraea Lesbian Action Fund
Faisal Alam
Founder & Former Director, Al-Fatiha Foundation for LGBTIQ Muslims
Samiya Bashir
Board Member, National Black Justice Coalition
Communications Director, Freedom to Marry
Board Member, Fire & Ink
Noemi Calonje
Immigration Project Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR)
Noran J. Camp
Office Administrator, Freedom to Marry
Chris Chen
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
immigrant from Taiwan 1997
Alain Dang
Policy Analyst, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Debanuj Dasgupta
Board of Directors, Queer Immigrant Rights Project
Carlos Ulises Decena, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
Joseph N. DeFilippis
Executive Director, Queers for Economic Justice
Marta Donayre
Co-Founder, Love Sees No Borders
Andres Duque
Coordinator, Mano A Mano
Monroe France
Educational Training Manager, Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network
Board of Directors, Queers for Economic Justice
Eddie Gutierrez
Rep. for Christine Chavez, granddaughter of labor and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez
Priscilla A. Hale, LMSW
Executive Director, ALLGO
Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano
Director of Arts and Community Building, ALLGO
Kemi Ilesanmi
Surina Khan
Interim Vice President of Programs, The Women's Foundation of California
former Executive Director, International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission
Lee Che Leong
Director of Teen Health Initiative, New York Civil Liberties Union
Elizabeth Lorde-Rollins
Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center
Board of Directors, Queers for Economic Justice
Yoseñio Vicente Lewis
Board Member, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Latino, Trans Social Justice Activist, first generation U.S. Citizen
Glenn Magpantay
Steering Committee Member, Gay Asian & Pacific Islander Men of New York
Rickke Mananzala
Campaign Coordinator, FIERCE!
Gloria Nieto
National Latino Justice Coalition
Doyin Ola
Welfare Organizer, Queers for Economic Justice
Jesús Ortega-Weffe
Director of Community Organizing, ALLGO
Emiko Otsubo
former Board member, Queers for Economic Justice
Clarence Patton
Executive Director, NYC Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project
Donna Payne
Senior Diversity Organizer, Human Rights Campaign
Earl L. Plante
Development Director, National Minority AIDS Council
President-Elect, Board of Directors, National Black Justice Coalition
Achebe Powell
Betty Powell Associates
Lorraine Ramirez
Public Policy Committee, Queers for Economic Justice
Lisbeth Meléndez Rivera
Convener, the National Latino Coalition for Justice
Ignacio Gilberto Rivera
Founder, Poly Patao Productions
Board of Directors, Queers for Economic Justice
Russell D. Roybal
Director of Movement Building, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Shay Sellars
Major Gifts and Events Administrator, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Pedro Julio Serrano
Communications Associate, Freedom to Marry
President, Puerto Rico Para Tod@s
Sarah Sohn
New Voices Legal Fellow, Immigration Equality
Board of Directors, Queers for Economic Justice
Lisa Thomas-Adeyemo
Co-Coordinator, National People of Color Organizing Institute, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Director of Counseling, San Francisco Women Against Rape
Carmen Vazquez
Deputy Executive Director, Empire State Pride Agenda
Robert Vazquez-Pacheco
former Program Manager, Funders for Gay and Lesbian Issues
Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz
Capacity Building Project Director, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Andy Shie Kee Wong,
Coalition Manager, Asian Equality
Lancy Woo and Cristy Chung
lead Plaintiffs in the Woo vs Lockyer, marriage rights case
Miriam Yeung
Director of Public Policy and Government Relations, the LGBT Community Center
Mónica Taher
People of Color Media Director, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
Katina Parker
People of Color Media Manager - Communities of African Descent, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
[Organizational affiliation listed for identification purposes only]
April 10, 2006
An Open Letter to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community:
We are a group of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people of color who work in the LGBT movement. We are writing to you in response to Jasmyne Cannick’s article "Gays First, Then Illegals”, which ran in The Advocate, in which she, a black lesbian, argues that she cannot support the current battle for immigrant rights because LGBT people have not yet won the right to marry. We are writing to express our profound disagreement with her, and to offer alternative LGBT perspectives to the current immigration battles happening across the country.
To begin with, Cannick fails to realize an obvious fact – the LGBT community and the immigrant community are not mutually exclusive. There are thousands of LGBT immigrants in this country. There are thousands of black immigrants. And there are thousands of black LGBT immigrants. To put forward an argument that says "we should get ours first" makes us question who exactly is the "we" in that analysis. In addition, we recognize the historically interconnected nature of the immigrant and LGBT struggles — such as the ban on “homosexual immigrants” that extended into the 1990’s, and the present HIV ban, which disproportionately impacts LGBT people — and we believe that only by understanding these connections and building coalition can we ensure real social change for all.
And we ask those who share the destructive views of this article to remember the immortal words of Audre Lorde when she said that “There is no hierarchy of oppression”. We reject any attempts to pit the struggle of multiple communities against each other and firmly believe that "Rights" are not in limited supply. We condemn the “scarcity of rights” perspective espoused by Cannick and other members of the LGBT movement, and are surprised to see members of our community trafficking in such ugliness. But then, one reason why it has always been so hard to shift power in this country is because the ruling class has successfully made us believe that there are only a few deserving groups to whom rights can be given. This strategy has always been used to divide oppressed groups from coming together to work in coalition.
We are painfully aware that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities still lack many basic protections under the law in this country, including the right to care for and support all of our families, in the various ways in which we construct family and kinship. Nevertheless, supporting immigrant rights, while we continue to work for LGBT liberation, does nothing to hurt our cause. In fact, we believe the opposite to be true, and want to work towards building powerful coalitions between immigrant and LGBT movements to work together for social justice.
We are also aware that many immigrant right advocates have (intentionally or not) used anti-black rhetoric to move their agenda forward. Arguments such as “Don’t treat us like ‘criminals’” or “We are doing work that ‘other’ Americans won’t do” have the effect of positioning immigrant narratives as subtly juxtaposed with American stereotypes of non-immigrant black communities. They leave native-born black Americans as among the only people who do not have access to the immigrant narrative, and so are in a permanent position of subordination, as the state consistently negotiates and redefines citizenship and “American-ness” for almost everyone but blacks. Nevertheless, the solution to this problem is not to abandon support for the struggle of immigrant communities. Rather, we call on immigrant movements and (non-immigrant) black organizations to work together for real racial and economic justice in this country. Together these movements can work to end the exploitation and targeting of both communities, and to ensure that black folks and immigrants do not end up having to choose between competing for low-paying jobs, or being targeted for detainment or imprisonment.
As lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of color, we support the current immigrant rights marches and rallies happening across the country this month, and we march too. We march because immigrants are among the most politically vulnerable, underpaid and exploited communities in the country, and are asking for basic human rights, including the right to live free from torture and exploitation, and the right to work. We march because we recognize the connections between the state attacks on immigrant and LGBT communities, and that LGBT immigrants in particular are disproportionately affected by much anti-immigrant legislation. We march because we oppose the heightened policing and criminalization of immigrant communities, including the increased militarization of the border, as mandated by HR 4437 and Senate bills. We march because we oppose indefinite and mandatory detention of noncitizens—as well as the mass incarceration of people-of-color-communities in the U.S. more broadly—and envision a society that ensures the safety and self-determination of all people, regardless of national origin, race, class, gender or sexuality. We march because we oppose the guestworker proposals, which would continue the exploitation of many low-wage workers. We march because we demand the repeal of the HIV ban. We march because our sexualities have been historically criminalized by this country, and we understand that “law” and “justice” are not the same thing.
It is our understanding that Jasmyne Cannick was writing as an individual, and not as a representative of either the National Black Justice Coalition (on whose Board of Directors she serves) or The Stonewall Democrats (for whose Black Caucus she serves as Co-Chair). As LGBT people of color, we call upon both of those organizations to publicly clarify their own positions in this ongoing civil rights discussion.
We also call upon our community to imagine how much more progress we could make if we all stopped thinking of social justice as a zero-sum game.
Sincerely,
Katherine Acey
Executive Director, the Astraea Lesbian Action Fund
Faisal Alam
Founder & Former Director, Al-Fatiha Foundation for LGBTIQ Muslims
Samiya Bashir
Board Member, National Black Justice Coalition
Communications Director, Freedom to Marry
Board Member, Fire & Ink
Noemi Calonje
Immigration Project Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR)
Noran J. Camp
Office Administrator, Freedom to Marry
Chris Chen
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
immigrant from Taiwan 1997
Alain Dang
Policy Analyst, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Debanuj Dasgupta
Board of Directors, Queer Immigrant Rights Project
Carlos Ulises Decena, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
Joseph N. DeFilippis
Executive Director, Queers for Economic Justice
Marta Donayre
Co-Founder, Love Sees No Borders
Andres Duque
Coordinator, Mano A Mano
Monroe France
Educational Training Manager, Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network
Board of Directors, Queers for Economic Justice
Eddie Gutierrez
Rep. for Christine Chavez, granddaughter of labor and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez
Priscilla A. Hale, LMSW
Executive Director, ALLGO
Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano
Director of Arts and Community Building, ALLGO
Kemi Ilesanmi
Surina Khan
Interim Vice President of Programs, The Women's Foundation of California
former Executive Director, International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission
Lee Che Leong
Director of Teen Health Initiative, New York Civil Liberties Union
Elizabeth Lorde-Rollins
Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center
Board of Directors, Queers for Economic Justice
Yoseñio Vicente Lewis
Board Member, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Latino, Trans Social Justice Activist, first generation U.S. Citizen
Glenn Magpantay
Steering Committee Member, Gay Asian & Pacific Islander Men of New York
Rickke Mananzala
Campaign Coordinator, FIERCE!
Gloria Nieto
National Latino Justice Coalition
Doyin Ola
Welfare Organizer, Queers for Economic Justice
Jesús Ortega-Weffe
Director of Community Organizing, ALLGO
Emiko Otsubo
former Board member, Queers for Economic Justice
Clarence Patton
Executive Director, NYC Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project
Donna Payne
Senior Diversity Organizer, Human Rights Campaign
Earl L. Plante
Development Director, National Minority AIDS Council
President-Elect, Board of Directors, National Black Justice Coalition
Achebe Powell
Betty Powell Associates
Lorraine Ramirez
Public Policy Committee, Queers for Economic Justice
Lisbeth Meléndez Rivera
Convener, the National Latino Coalition for Justice
Ignacio Gilberto Rivera
Founder, Poly Patao Productions
Board of Directors, Queers for Economic Justice
Russell D. Roybal
Director of Movement Building, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Shay Sellars
Major Gifts and Events Administrator, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Pedro Julio Serrano
Communications Associate, Freedom to Marry
President, Puerto Rico Para Tod@s
Sarah Sohn
New Voices Legal Fellow, Immigration Equality
Board of Directors, Queers for Economic Justice
Lisa Thomas-Adeyemo
Co-Coordinator, National People of Color Organizing Institute, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Director of Counseling, San Francisco Women Against Rape
Carmen Vazquez
Deputy Executive Director, Empire State Pride Agenda
Robert Vazquez-Pacheco
former Program Manager, Funders for Gay and Lesbian Issues
Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz
Capacity Building Project Director, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Andy Shie Kee Wong,
Coalition Manager, Asian Equality
Lancy Woo and Cristy Chung
lead Plaintiffs in the Woo vs Lockyer, marriage rights case
Miriam Yeung
Director of Public Policy and Government Relations, the LGBT Community Center
Mónica Taher
People of Color Media Director, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
Katina Parker
People of Color Media Manager - Communities of African Descent, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
[Organizational affiliation listed for identification purposes only]
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Gabriela Anaya Valdepena in Fort Worth tonight - 7pm
"They call her Impetuous Delirious, Bride of Baudelaire, La Chacalaca, Goya's Maja, and by legal decree, Gabriela Anaya Valdepeña — Gabriela of Mexico City, of Texas, and of La Jolla. In coin bra and sequins, she reads and dances in library, theater, and college; in bookstores and salons by the sea. Read her poems in the air, in your dreams, in LanguageandCulture.net, Quill and Parchment, Megaera and Sauce Box. Her books, Exaggerated Gender Signals, Sun's Promise and Bride of Baudelaire, grace the clean and dusty shelves of the unruly and the well-groomed, the insane, and the lucid."
Gabriela Anaya Valdepeña,
Tuesday, April 11th, 2006
FORT WORTH COMMUNITY ARTS CENTER - formerly known as the Modern Art Museum - just S of the Amon Carter Museum
1300 Gendy Street (right off W. Lancaster)
Reception at 7p.m.
Performance at 7:30p.m.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
--------------------------------------
Gabriela Anaya-Valdepeña, the proud mom of a 17 year-old daughter, is a poet, artist, and dancer living in San Diego, California. Born in Mexico City, she spent much of her life in Texas. She is also an award -winning teacher, who taught poetry for the California Poets in the Schools and Border Voices programs.
"Pay me now for my dance, that I may eat the sins of trees,
that I may anchor sons, and teach the night's tongue to knot the cherry's stem.
My curses are involuntary.
I am as I was made, whilst heaven's scientists slept and the witches
of the bridge chanted 'round God's belly.
And on the eighth day, chewing jerky,
they rested their fat feet and saw that it wasn't bad."
(excerpt from Eve's Return)
"A Day Without A Mexican" - at TCU tomorrow, Wednesday, April 12th
John Singleton, who curates the KinoMonda (international) film series at TCU, announces that a screening of the 2004 film "A Day Without a Mexican" (directed by Sergio Arau), will take place tomorrow. A roundtable discussion featuring folks from campus (faculty and students) and the community (including John Hernandez, a lawyer who has worked within the Mexican government) will take place directly after the film. If you come early (or on-time), you can have FREE food as well, probably catered by a local Tex-Mex restaurant.
Wednesday, April 12th, 2006 - 6:30 PM
"A Day Without a Mexican" film screening & roundtable discussion
Location: Sid Richardson, Lecture Hall #1 on TCU's campus.
This event, sponsored by KinoMonda and the TCU Department of Spanish, is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the International Students' Office at 817.257.7292 or send me your questions and I'll get back to you asap.
Go to the TCU website for maps and directions to the event.
Please participate in the ongoing discussion about immigration and the place of Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, and immigrants in U.S. society.
Let's keep this momentum (towards rationale and just U.S. policies) up!!
Saturday, April 08, 2006
swell proud joy - march today!
Para Patricia y para todos que sienten orgullo de nuestra America:
Todos en Fort Worth y Dallas estamos preparando para la gran marchas que van a comenzar hoy (domingo) el nueve de April in Dallas.
Thousands and thousands of people are expected to march. I am getting excited and noticing an increasing feeling of pride: funny, but it is a feeling of pride of BEING AMERICAN--U.S. American. For it is particularly when I am expressing myself, in full knowledge of my rights and privileges of being born in this nation, that I feel that something which I suppose could be national pride. Or perhaps it's something bigger than that--beyond ethereal and concrete fences of nation-state delineations--perhaps what I'm feeling is more like HUMAN PRIDE. Feeling like I am empowered enough to take my rightful place in a classroom, a jury box, voting booth, a job interview office, behind a steering wheel, on a bicycle, raising my fist, holding my picket sign, signing a petition, gathering in a park, shouting my existence, remembering my roots.
I feel like I belong---that I am the honored citizen that the Constitution was designed and signed to protect and respect. One of the most memorable experiences I have ever had is when I crossed the threshhold, passing a military officer (the final test!), to enter the Casa Blanca---la mera mera White House. It was amazing to realize that even someone like me--protest marcher, in-your-face spoken word artist, unabashed community leader--could step upon that White House welcome mat and be received as a guest, warmly and respectfully. That damn House is my house too. For I am part of the American Dream, right? I am here to protest or protect, as we see it and as we call it, so that those slogans and sound-byte exhortations come to have meaning (once more): land of the free, home of the brave, america the beautiful, let freedom ring...
I've decided to participate in the Dallas marcha. This afternoon. Angelique, Machete, Violeta are also planning to go to Dallas. So are the professors (from Denton and Arlington) who I met yesterday at the all-day teach-in on UTA campus. Machete's going with a UNT-Denton student group called MUEVE. I hope to hear more from this group in the coming months.
I will stand in my colors, with my compas and others, proclaiming our rightful place on this tierra--our original home continent--and we will do so as we yell, drum, sing, dance, wave flags, and celebrate loudly.
For evolution and revolution needs to be about dancing and living without shame. When I return from what promises to be an ecstatic event in Dallas, I will be super-charged to (continue to) do the work that I need to do in forte wes (FW). I need the surge of love and unconditional acceptance that marching will make me feel, and I have a right to walk with the proud masses gathering from all over the country. (Yes, I've heard that folks from out-of-state are driving to Dallas to make that march a special and huge procession.)
We will march for you, Patricia, and any other Americanos from this continent who want an opportunity and a kinship with the U.S. that will cause truer bridges to be made than those overseen by the migra and border patrol officers.
Todos en Fort Worth y Dallas estamos preparando para la gran marchas que van a comenzar hoy (domingo) el nueve de April in Dallas.
Thousands and thousands of people are expected to march. I am getting excited and noticing an increasing feeling of pride: funny, but it is a feeling of pride of BEING AMERICAN--U.S. American. For it is particularly when I am expressing myself, in full knowledge of my rights and privileges of being born in this nation, that I feel that something which I suppose could be national pride. Or perhaps it's something bigger than that--beyond ethereal and concrete fences of nation-state delineations--perhaps what I'm feeling is more like HUMAN PRIDE. Feeling like I am empowered enough to take my rightful place in a classroom, a jury box, voting booth, a job interview office, behind a steering wheel, on a bicycle, raising my fist, holding my picket sign, signing a petition, gathering in a park, shouting my existence, remembering my roots.
I feel like I belong---that I am the honored citizen that the Constitution was designed and signed to protect and respect. One of the most memorable experiences I have ever had is when I crossed the threshhold, passing a military officer (the final test!), to enter the Casa Blanca---la mera mera White House. It was amazing to realize that even someone like me--protest marcher, in-your-face spoken word artist, unabashed community leader--could step upon that White House welcome mat and be received as a guest, warmly and respectfully. That damn House is my house too. For I am part of the American Dream, right? I am here to protest or protect, as we see it and as we call it, so that those slogans and sound-byte exhortations come to have meaning (once more): land of the free, home of the brave, america the beautiful, let freedom ring...
I've decided to participate in the Dallas marcha. This afternoon. Angelique, Machete, Violeta are also planning to go to Dallas. So are the professors (from Denton and Arlington) who I met yesterday at the all-day teach-in on UTA campus. Machete's going with a UNT-Denton student group called MUEVE. I hope to hear more from this group in the coming months.
I will stand in my colors, with my compas and others, proclaiming our rightful place on this tierra--our original home continent--and we will do so as we yell, drum, sing, dance, wave flags, and celebrate loudly.
For evolution and revolution needs to be about dancing and living without shame. When I return from what promises to be an ecstatic event in Dallas, I will be super-charged to (continue to) do the work that I need to do in forte wes (FW). I need the surge of love and unconditional acceptance that marching will make me feel, and I have a right to walk with the proud masses gathering from all over the country. (Yes, I've heard that folks from out-of-state are driving to Dallas to make that march a special and huge procession.)
We will march for you, Patricia, and any other Americanos from this continent who want an opportunity and a kinship with the U.S. that will cause truer bridges to be made than those overseen by the migra and border patrol officers.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Don't Hate the Media - Be the Media
Heads up, folks! A new grassroots community weekly program is coming to cable tv (channel 28) in Fort Worth. Fellow organizers and Green Party people Diane and Ramz are the brains behind this media-making initiative. Training sessions have been happening and at least four other folks have joined the production team. It's also likely that Tunde Obazee, programming director for community radio station (heavy on public affairs shows in the weekday mornings which are ever so rad and mind-opening) KNON--"The Voice of the People", will be contributing his skills to the tv program. In other words, a formidable team is coming together, and if you want to be involved and/or submit program ideas and news, just lemme know. (Post a comment here, or email me directly at tammygomexican@yahoo.com.)
The production team could also use some more video production-experienced folks to serve as consultants and advisors.
I hear that the show is likely to start as a 30-minute weekly and will be called "Grassroots Pulse." Netcasting the show is also a future possibility.
Check back here for more information and broadcast schedule details.
The production team could also use some more video production-experienced folks to serve as consultants and advisors.
I hear that the show is likely to start as a 30-minute weekly and will be called "Grassroots Pulse." Netcasting the show is also a future possibility.
Check back here for more information and broadcast schedule details.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
MY FORT WORTH: Thursday, April 6th - Chicano Luncheon
Thursday, April 6th at 12 noon, folks!
Please come out to the Chicano Luncheon scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, April 6th.
La Trinidad United Methodist Church
1300 Gould Ave., corner of Northside Drive and Gould Streets (about a 4 minute drive north of the Museum District)
Fort Worth, 76106 - (817) 924-1997
Specifically tomorrow, the focus will be on immigration legislation that is being forged on Capitol Hill; on community responses to this debate on immigration; and on the recent (and future) actions of resistance and opposition that are happening in the 817 (including last week's student walk-outs).
If you know ANY student who participated in a school walk-out last week and who MIGHT want to share his/her story at the Luncheon (on-camera for later multiple broadcast on cable tv), PLEASE share this invitation with him/her ASAP. Ask them to look for me tomorrow, as I will be there at the Luncheon.
Thanks and much love,
Tammy aka sunlit doorway
General info:
Hour-long luncheons first and third Thursday each month to discuss Hispanic community issues. Guest speakers featured. Guests can sign-up at each luncheon to make announcements, either on- or off-camera--as the entire public presentation is videotaped for later broadcast on Community Cable Television of FW (channels 7 and 31). Cost for the luncheon is $5.
For this week’s Community Cable tv broadcasting schedule, go to: www.cctfortworth.com/Schedule/
Please come out to the Chicano Luncheon scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, April 6th.
La Trinidad United Methodist Church
1300 Gould Ave., corner of Northside Drive and Gould Streets (about a 4 minute drive north of the Museum District)
Fort Worth, 76106 - (817) 924-1997
Specifically tomorrow, the focus will be on immigration legislation that is being forged on Capitol Hill; on community responses to this debate on immigration; and on the recent (and future) actions of resistance and opposition that are happening in the 817 (including last week's student walk-outs).
If you know ANY student who participated in a school walk-out last week and who MIGHT want to share his/her story at the Luncheon (on-camera for later multiple broadcast on cable tv), PLEASE share this invitation with him/her ASAP. Ask them to look for me tomorrow, as I will be there at the Luncheon.
Thanks and much love,
Tammy aka sunlit doorway
General info:
Hour-long luncheons first and third Thursday each month to discuss Hispanic community issues. Guest speakers featured. Guests can sign-up at each luncheon to make announcements, either on- or off-camera--as the entire public presentation is videotaped for later broadcast on Community Cable Television of FW (channels 7 and 31). Cost for the luncheon is $5.
For this week’s Community Cable tv broadcasting schedule, go to: www.cctfortworth.com/Schedule/
Join Cri (and others) at Saturday's 10th Annual "Victory Over Violence" foot race
This scheduled race is a benefit for the anti-violence programs of the Women's Center of Tarrant County (which recently benefited from the "Art of Music" festival at the Axis back in December 05).
My friend and fellow comrade, Cri de Coeur aka Cridom, sent me the following information, accompanied by a call for assistance. Cri has such bravado, and it's shown in such a warm, funny, & embracing style. No wonder so many people love him..
Cri says:
"Join me at the VICTORY OVER VIOLENCE race at the Trinity Park Duck Pond.
Saturday April 8th, 2006
The 1K Race Begins at 8am sharp!!! (The 5K Walk/Run begins at 8:30am.)
$18 goes to the Women's Center! (Registration for children is a mere 7 bucks)
I will be racing and creating some kind of visual spectacle to Illustrate the Necessity for Men to be Publicly Involved in Denouncing and Eradicating Rape and Sexual Violence in Our City, County, Region, Planet! Let it Echo through the Minds of Men Everywhere....
The Strength of a Man Exists For Respecting Women, Children, and Life! Our Might is For Bear Hugs Not Control! Denounce Violence Against Women!
The Race:
I will be racing dressed as an 'Old-Fashioned Weight Lifter Guy'. Remember those Bald Dudes in Leopard-Print Tarzan Outfits that would lift weights at the beach? Maybe you don't remember them personally, but you've seen cartoons with them! The weights I will be carrying will read:
RESPECT FOR WOMEN
RESPECT FOR CHILDREN
LOVE FOR MYSELF
LOVE FOR OTHERS
I hope to make more presence for this cause by handing out small packets of soil with a seed in them. Each packet will invite people to 'Overgrow the Systems of Oppression' by planting the seeds and giving them respect, love, consideration, and water! There will also be a statement enclosed to further the conversation about ending Rape and Sexual Violence.
PLANT A SEED TO OVERGROW THE SYSTEMS OF OPPRESSION!
How You can Help!
1. You can come to Run this weekend!
2. You can make your own sign or use something I've written and put it on a sign!
3. You can Donate Money to the Women's Shelter! http://www.womensshelter.org/givehelp.htm
4. You can Organize a Meeting about this topic at 1919! (I will come!)
5. You can pass this Message to others!
Thanks for Reading this Message, Cri Dom"
[For more info, you can reach Cri via these channels: cri@riseup.net and http://www.myspace.com/cri_nobody]
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Three truck accidents - in one day in FW
While eating my brunch today, I turned on the tube to watch the noon news. Not one, but TWO, truck accidents had happened in a single 12-hour period. And they were both in central FW, one on I-30 (at Forest Park Blvd.) and the other on I-20 (at McCart Ave.). Later in the day, while driving from Wedgwood MS (where i teach writing and performance), I heard about yet ANOTHER truck accident in the city. In one case, there had actually been a chemical spill.
If three truck accidents can happen in one inner city on a single day, what are the chances of a radiation exposure/spill happening in an accident involving a vehicle transporting radioactive waste? It might be a good idea to consider how freely we let haz mat-carrying vehicles traverse our inner city roads--where human population density increases the likelihood of mass exposure to harmful toxins. It might be a good idea to read this and this. One quote from the Lone Star Sierra Club report is pretty ominous: "...Texas does not have a good truck driving record - in fact, in 1993, was number one in the U.S. in total number of large trucks involved in fatal crashes."
To read more about the truck accidents that happened in Fort Worth today, go here.
If three truck accidents can happen in one inner city on a single day, what are the chances of a radiation exposure/spill happening in an accident involving a vehicle transporting radioactive waste? It might be a good idea to consider how freely we let haz mat-carrying vehicles traverse our inner city roads--where human population density increases the likelihood of mass exposure to harmful toxins. It might be a good idea to read this and this. One quote from the Lone Star Sierra Club report is pretty ominous: "...Texas does not have a good truck driving record - in fact, in 1993, was number one in the U.S. in total number of large trucks involved in fatal crashes."
To read more about the truck accidents that happened in Fort Worth today, go here.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Lorna dice y dice -- prolific Xicana poet in Dallas this weekend!! Don't miss her!
My grrl Lorna Dee's in town (Dallas) for the Writes of Spring confab. But you gotta know that she and i have quite a little history: back in 1988, when i was doing the Naropa Institute summer program, she excitedly approached me at some Boulder bar open-mic, insisting that i submit work to her (now-legendary) litzine RED DIRT. Of course, I never submitted poems cuz i just wasn't doing that back then--i was into performing and sharing my work live onstages throughout the southwest. After that, de vez en cuando we would cross paths, like the time when raulrsalinas of Resistencia Bookstore brought her (AND Jose Montoya of the "Royal Chicano Air Force") to do workshops and perform in Austin. Back in '96 or so. She did a slammin' performance of her classic poem "Coffee", wherein she passionately lists off every single person by name who was murdered (we know it was the Mexican gov) in the Acteal Massacre. Tremendously powerful. Several years later, Lorna Dee contacted me--from her office in the Creative Writing Department at UC-Boulder--about joining her for a new project in Mexico. She had the idea to start an annual summer writing workshop at Isla Mujeres (Women's Island) off the coast of Cancun (a four dollar ferry ride floats you to the 5-mile long by half-mile wide--at its narrowest--sleepy little island), and she wanted me to be there as co-facilitator (literary bar-back, if you will).
The workshop, dubbed Taller Ixchel--after the Mayan goddess--was an opportunity for Chicanas (and other women) to meet up for a week of writing, thinking, lit discussions, some impromptu performances (i'll never forget one cypher in a late-night cantina), and, of course, plenty of swimming, drinking, and eating (mmmm, barracuda...mmmmm, Pacificos). We did this for two summers in a row with about 15 different women joining us from the States. Lorna Dee made sure we had the sweetest digs for our island stay, but i'd say that the second summer at la Mera Mera Mansion, the super-deluxe rental with three floors, oceanside pool, and volleyball court was damn near too much. (Imagine Lorna Dee giving a short talk on poetics as we encircle her in the pool on/in our own separate floaties.)
Lorna Dee's a prolific writer, but she doesn't publish often. Poetry collections such as EMPLUMADA and CABLES OF GENOCIDE: POEMS ON LOVE AND HUNGER are two of her earlier releases. Prior to the 2006 release of DRIVE, her last book was published in 1991. That's a long time between books, and when it's a book by Lorna Dee Cervantes, that's like a long time between sips of sumptuous, mineral-laden, thirst-quenching, natural springs water. Drink up, folks. The water is fine.
From Publishers Weekly:
"One of the first Chicana poets to achieve wide U.S. recognition, Cervantes did so with just two books, Emplumada (1981) and From the Cables of Genocide (1991); this substantial, versatile follow-up consists (subtitle not withstanding) of five distinct collections, that can be considered as discrete works. All show fire and range, and all draw on Cervantes's life on the streets as a teen and on her left-wing activism as an adult. The first, How Far's the War?, comprises poems of activism and protest against a global spate of injustices, from Latin American dictatorships to shortages in Eastern Europe: "La plumage de justicia hangs from the broken/ arrows of palabras [words] breaking the media block/ Of Truth and Consequences of Free Trade Agreements." The last, Hard Drive, collects warmly convincing poems of erotic and parental love, remembered, promised and achieved: "Come,/ and let us eat/ up the hours/ between us." BIRD AVE, perhaps the strongest, concentrates on Cervantes's youth, recalling "what girls/ did in/ the barrio/ to get/ their 15/ minutes of fame." About 10 poems are abbreviated appropriations of very famous poems by Bishop, Williams and others, with new titles. But this five-in-one volume reestablishes Cervantes as a singular voice."
And, finally, here's the exhortation (poem advertisement?) that exploded outta me the very night that i sipped from DRIVE for the first time:
drop everything (for lorna)
drop your underwear to your feet
drop your drawers to the floor
drop your quarters outta your pocket
forget to pick up the magic penny from the street
drop your lines on opening night
drop your knees as if to make things right
drop everything drop everything
drop the beat
drop the rhythm drop a beat, drop the music
if you have to , for a minute
even the tears that must be dropped
they must be, drop the rain, make sure you
let it go, let it drop
let the spills tranquil the rivers, make certain
song on the levee
but drop everything drop everything drop everything
drop mathematics
forget that subtraction scuffs the world
drop the fingers on the keys
drop the dripdry clothes
drop the coins into universal slots like eyes
newly-opened from the dark
drop the gumdrops, the cordial gems
that gum the teeth, drop even them,
drop all things lemon and cough and dew
drop the droppy droppping things
but drop everything drop everything drop everything
drop your people off at work
drop the names of all the fools
that forget to drop their egos at the door
drop the bop, drop the bebop, drop the flop and the flipflop
drop in, drop out, drop out and then drop back in again,
but i tell you, you gotta drop everything drop everything
drop everything i mean
everything, drop it drop it hard
drop it like it’s hot drop it like it’s hot
drop it like it’s hot
but drop it
and then let the other shoe drop
let everything drop
drop everything drop everything drop everything drop every---
thing---
and please,
(ya gotta)
read
lorna
dee
cervantes
now.
drop your bad english accent
drop all pretensions
drop even your i-n-g’s
drop kick your jesus through the
goalposts of life
drop the mail in the mail drop
drop the clothes off at the cleaners
drop the dollop of whipped cream
in the coffee cup
drop a penny in the blind man’s tin plate
but drop everything drop everything drop everything
drop drop drop drop
everything
drop the needle in the haystack
drop the pinprick in the hysteria
drop the pindrop so it’s noisy
drop the windchop so drop the sail
and drop the drama
with your egg soup
on your drop down menu
drop your shoulders
drop your weapons
why resist
drop your classes
drop the subject
and the object
drop the preposition
and drop the proposition
and all your plans,
yes, drop your plans,
drop acid and drop the charges,
drop the ball, fumble it even, just drop it/but drop it,
drop your hatcheck
drop the formality
drop the temperature
and drop your boyfriend,
drop it drop it drop everything
and please
read lorna dee cervantes
now
march 2-3, 2006
(wreck room to my room)
after reading DRIVE at the Wreck Room on a thursday night accompanied by a bottle of Rahr Blonde and to the beat of
African drum music on KNON-FM.
Advance yourself with your own DRIVE experience. HIghly recommended.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Chill w/ me over spoken word & drinks @ the Absinthe Lounge in Dallas
The first annual WRITES OF SPRING BOOK AND AUTHOR FESTIVAL happens in Dallas at Southside on Lamar this weekend. I will be leading a spoken word performance at the ABSINTHE LOUNGE at 9:30pm, as part of this festival.
Friday, March 31st -- 9:30-11pm or so
Joining me will be poets Cesar Hernandez, Patricia Greene, Claudia Acosta, and Rodney Garza (star-performer of the current hit "El Chuco y La Che" which plays through Saturday night). I am hoping that my dear poet-mentor and kick-ass Xicana movimiento mujer, Lorna Dee Cervantes, will make an appearance as well since she's in town for Writes of Spring. Vamos a ver.
See you at the Absinthe Lounge!
Friday, March 31st -- 9:30-11pm or so
Joining me will be poets Cesar Hernandez, Patricia Greene, Claudia Acosta, and Rodney Garza (star-performer of the current hit "El Chuco y La Che" which plays through Saturday night). I am hoping that my dear poet-mentor and kick-ass Xicana movimiento mujer, Lorna Dee Cervantes, will make an appearance as well since she's in town for Writes of Spring. Vamos a ver.
See you at the Absinthe Lounge!
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
MY FORT WORTH: Tuesday, March 28th student walk-out
So--A and I were looking over garments for our upcoming "Trashin' Fashion" encore performance in April. We head out to porch for some reason, and I notice hubub. Out of the usual noise, movement, something was in the air. Okay, well, there *was* a helicopter in the air (news station or cop chopper?), but then there was something else. Kids, alot of kids. Walking Chicanitos/Chicanitas on the street, streaming down my block, stepping lively on the sidewalk in front of my house. Then i notice cop cars--funny how the presence of po po can help contextualize a situ--and it dawns. The kids are all alright, the kids have walked out. Just to test, I ask a few striding past my house--A has snagged her ever-ready videocam and is shootin' the scene--"what are y'all doing?" Their responses: "We just walked out." "We're marching for our rights." "We can't just let them say this about Mexicans."
I phoned Ramz, as the squad cars--tailing many of the kids--were slowly heading in the direction of his place. I hoped that he would eyeball the situation and monitor for rights abuses. From my street corner, I couldn't tell exactly what the cops' intention was. After reaching Ramz and giving him the 411, me and A decided to follow the action. You have to imagine this: there were also more than the usual number of cars filled with boisterous h.s. youth passing to and fro. It reminded me of the flurry of animal activity in the moments before a storm--when they sense climactic shifts and know to scurry to their proper places. It was kinda like that, but what i wanted to know about these students was what WAS their proper place--like where were they headed?
We pieced together the story by getting quick sound bites from kids: apparently, they had walked out of their schools and converged downtown for a big shout-out to the powers that be, making their presence and their outrage (against some of the proposed anti-immigrant legislation being bandied about in the big house of Capitol Hill) known to any who would hear it. So, basically, these kids had done their bit and were proudly, surefootedly, hoofing it back to campus (in this case, Paschal).
Near the corner of Eighth and Morphy Streets, we happened upon a Star-Telegram Reporter interviewing two male students--both from Paschal. The most outspoken of the two, quite articulate and well-poised, told me that campus- and city-wide text-messaging campaigns had helped the highschoolers make their momentous decision to make today the day that Fort Worth high schools got emptied for marches in the streets. (Of course, not even a class clown in a hinterland school could have avoided hearing about the anti-immigrant hysteria getting whipped up in DC congressional sessions the past 2-4 months. It's increasingly become the talk of the town as it is of the nation.) Angelique kept shooting footage, as we listened to student Roberto describing his walkabout day. He told us that he knew that Northside, Trimble Tech, and South Hills, as well as Paschal students had joined in the walkout. He also mentioned that Paschal seems to have been the most tough school to leave, as administrators there (and security, i suppose) made the leaving rough.
A and I eventually got in my car and headed down towards Paschal, to see the situation there. Ramz had earlier indicated that larger numbers of kids were heading south on Eighth, so that's where we went. But first, i grabbed my "Who's the Real Alien, Pilgrim?" poster of an Aztec warrior. I wanted to show solidarity any way i could. (It was a bit of a challenge to drive while holding the poster out the window for students to see...) My heart was pounding, as somewhere on a visceral level, i guess i was conjecturing "this is what it might look like if we ever have to deal with martial law". A cop car was stopped in the turn lane of Eighth Ave.--just planted there between Texaco and Fiesta--and i wondered "are they going to make an arrest, or chase some of these kids?" After a few more seconds, i could tell that they were just watching, maybe with their own documentation camera gear... When three more squad cars started to encircle Cici's Pizza--for gawd's sake--we felt that someone might be "going down." There was a throng (never use the word 'mob' when we're talking about our own..) of students crowded near the entrance to the 'za parlor, and we hoped that this wouldn't give the cops reason enough to draw weapons, spray mace, and do all those AP photo moment things i've seen on too many front newspages and indywebsites. We also spotted this tableau, on a grassy knoll near the parking lot: 5-8 Chicanitas/os standing proudly together, with a five-foot Mexican flag held upright by one of the taller boys. Now i'm not into flags as much as maybe the next person, but in that moment those kids holding that flag symbolized something like cultural integrity and a steadfast refusal to be invisibilized by a xenophobic mainstream society. These Raza youth were not munchin' pizza.
Once we could tell that the cops' buzzard circling was not meant to draw blood, we pulled away from Cici's (who wouldn't?) and drove again towards Paschal. A few kids here and there, walking casually, but no big rallying location was seen. We concluded that the kids were just heading calmly back to campus and class. Responsible and accountable. After a pitstop at my place--where a message from Ramz directed us to go downtown to City Hall--we retooled and veered north, passing lots more students on foot, near Trimble Tech. In downtown, we parked near City Hall, though we could hear and see that the action was directly in front of the Traffic Court Building on Throckmorton. This was the corner where the students stationed themselves, yelling Raza pride chants and raising power fists when drivers honked to demonstrate solidarity. I was amazed to see that adults (parents?) actually were dropping students off at this site, facilitating the young people's participation in this thing called democracy. Cool. One day of missed high school to cry foul in the face of bigotry and ignorance is a small price to pay. A, never missing a moment, kept the camera tape rolling. We interviewed several students, letting them share whatever they wanted. Students had actually walked all the way from South Hills HS, which is down on Altamesa for gawd's sake...! I asked again, how did the organizing happen. Again, "cell phones", "text-messaging", "email". As they walked out of South Hills HS---according to one student--teachers and administrators taunted them, saying "You're going to get tired, your feet will hurt, you'll get thirsty, then you'll come back." And the living proof was that these bad-ass students walked their talk (a talk that many of us are not willing to hear because the voices are younger, from kids of color). I gave my "alien, pilgrim?" sign to a young woman who eagerly accepted it and pushed her way to the curb to hoist it in the air for passersby to read.
I stepped towards Chief of Police Ralph Mendoza, who was conversing freely with several people (students, reporters?). A turned the camera on us, and I began to ask Mendoza some few questions. He was very personable and notably NOT defensive. I looked past him, where a line-up of cops cast a severe edge to what otherwise seemed a laidback police presence. (I guess they were standing that way to keep students from rushing the entrance to the courthouse.) Mendoza said that he "respected the students' rights" to be out in the streets, marching and speaking up for what they believe in, and that the role of the police in this situation was primarily to make sure the students were safe and to make sure that no property was damaged. He smiled and surveyed the layout of the scene with what seemed to be at least a bit of cultural pride. I was glad, in that moment, that he is a Hispanic and that he was directly present there.
(I heard later---via local tv news--that the FWPD actually did arrest THREE students. I don't know what the charges or causes for action were in any of the arrests.)
Before we left the courthouse scene, we met another indie media person doing some taping, as well as a mom ("Angie") of three of the South Hills HS students. She basically drove the "sag wagon" for the students, providing water and adult supervision along the march route from Altamesa Drive in southwest FW. She told us that her son "text-messaged me that he was going to leave [the school]" at around 10:30 this morning. Angie drove to the school to meet with the principal(s), asking about any possibly punitive measures they might take against the students for leaving campus. To her relief, she was told that the students would not be punished. She said she was very proud of her three children--including one daughter who is 6 months pregnant!--for marching today.
Later, on my way in to Wedgwood Middle School--where i teach performance and writing in an after-school program--I asked a few Latino/a students if they had walked out too. The answer: no. The reason: "They turned the sprinklers on all around the school to keep us from going."
My niece, who attends J.P. Elder, which is predominantly Latino, did not walk out--though she did mill about on-campus debating the possibility. Campus monitors corraled students together, as best as they could, and a few kids who had run from campus were caught and hauled in to the principal's office. My niece told me that alot of kids wrote MEXICAN FOREVER and other pride slogans on their foreheads and arms. (One girl, afraid to draw attention from punitive faculty, merely wrote on the palm of her hand.) My niece had written MEXICAN in red ink on her arm. Wow. She's looking forward to Friday, the day after her UIL chorus competition. Friday, she says, is the day she will walk out.
[Note: According to a local newscast at 10 tonight, the DISD schools have now instituted a zero-tolerance policy for any students who walk-out: truancy arrests, and other punitive measures will be meted out (big boo hiss). BUT--in FW schools, students who walk-out will 1) get an "unexcused absence" on their record, and 2) will have to make up missed classwork (less boo hiss).]
I phoned Ramz, as the squad cars--tailing many of the kids--were slowly heading in the direction of his place. I hoped that he would eyeball the situation and monitor for rights abuses. From my street corner, I couldn't tell exactly what the cops' intention was. After reaching Ramz and giving him the 411, me and A decided to follow the action. You have to imagine this: there were also more than the usual number of cars filled with boisterous h.s. youth passing to and fro. It reminded me of the flurry of animal activity in the moments before a storm--when they sense climactic shifts and know to scurry to their proper places. It was kinda like that, but what i wanted to know about these students was what WAS their proper place--like where were they headed?
We pieced together the story by getting quick sound bites from kids: apparently, they had walked out of their schools and converged downtown for a big shout-out to the powers that be, making their presence and their outrage (against some of the proposed anti-immigrant legislation being bandied about in the big house of Capitol Hill) known to any who would hear it. So, basically, these kids had done their bit and were proudly, surefootedly, hoofing it back to campus (in this case, Paschal).
Near the corner of Eighth and Morphy Streets, we happened upon a Star-Telegram Reporter interviewing two male students--both from Paschal. The most outspoken of the two, quite articulate and well-poised, told me that campus- and city-wide text-messaging campaigns had helped the highschoolers make their momentous decision to make today the day that Fort Worth high schools got emptied for marches in the streets. (Of course, not even a class clown in a hinterland school could have avoided hearing about the anti-immigrant hysteria getting whipped up in DC congressional sessions the past 2-4 months. It's increasingly become the talk of the town as it is of the nation.) Angelique kept shooting footage, as we listened to student Roberto describing his walkabout day. He told us that he knew that Northside, Trimble Tech, and South Hills, as well as Paschal students had joined in the walkout. He also mentioned that Paschal seems to have been the most tough school to leave, as administrators there (and security, i suppose) made the leaving rough.
A and I eventually got in my car and headed down towards Paschal, to see the situation there. Ramz had earlier indicated that larger numbers of kids were heading south on Eighth, so that's where we went. But first, i grabbed my "Who's the Real Alien, Pilgrim?" poster of an Aztec warrior. I wanted to show solidarity any way i could. (It was a bit of a challenge to drive while holding the poster out the window for students to see...) My heart was pounding, as somewhere on a visceral level, i guess i was conjecturing "this is what it might look like if we ever have to deal with martial law". A cop car was stopped in the turn lane of Eighth Ave.--just planted there between Texaco and Fiesta--and i wondered "are they going to make an arrest, or chase some of these kids?" After a few more seconds, i could tell that they were just watching, maybe with their own documentation camera gear... When three more squad cars started to encircle Cici's Pizza--for gawd's sake--we felt that someone might be "going down." There was a throng (never use the word 'mob' when we're talking about our own..) of students crowded near the entrance to the 'za parlor, and we hoped that this wouldn't give the cops reason enough to draw weapons, spray mace, and do all those AP photo moment things i've seen on too many front newspages and indywebsites. We also spotted this tableau, on a grassy knoll near the parking lot: 5-8 Chicanitas/os standing proudly together, with a five-foot Mexican flag held upright by one of the taller boys. Now i'm not into flags as much as maybe the next person, but in that moment those kids holding that flag symbolized something like cultural integrity and a steadfast refusal to be invisibilized by a xenophobic mainstream society. These Raza youth were not munchin' pizza.
Once we could tell that the cops' buzzard circling was not meant to draw blood, we pulled away from Cici's (who wouldn't?) and drove again towards Paschal. A few kids here and there, walking casually, but no big rallying location was seen. We concluded that the kids were just heading calmly back to campus and class. Responsible and accountable. After a pitstop at my place--where a message from Ramz directed us to go downtown to City Hall--we retooled and veered north, passing lots more students on foot, near Trimble Tech. In downtown, we parked near City Hall, though we could hear and see that the action was directly in front of the Traffic Court Building on Throckmorton. This was the corner where the students stationed themselves, yelling Raza pride chants and raising power fists when drivers honked to demonstrate solidarity. I was amazed to see that adults (parents?) actually were dropping students off at this site, facilitating the young people's participation in this thing called democracy. Cool. One day of missed high school to cry foul in the face of bigotry and ignorance is a small price to pay. A, never missing a moment, kept the camera tape rolling. We interviewed several students, letting them share whatever they wanted. Students had actually walked all the way from South Hills HS, which is down on Altamesa for gawd's sake...! I asked again, how did the organizing happen. Again, "cell phones", "text-messaging", "email". As they walked out of South Hills HS---according to one student--teachers and administrators taunted them, saying "You're going to get tired, your feet will hurt, you'll get thirsty, then you'll come back." And the living proof was that these bad-ass students walked their talk (a talk that many of us are not willing to hear because the voices are younger, from kids of color). I gave my "alien, pilgrim?" sign to a young woman who eagerly accepted it and pushed her way to the curb to hoist it in the air for passersby to read.
I stepped towards Chief of Police Ralph Mendoza, who was conversing freely with several people (students, reporters?). A turned the camera on us, and I began to ask Mendoza some few questions. He was very personable and notably NOT defensive. I looked past him, where a line-up of cops cast a severe edge to what otherwise seemed a laidback police presence. (I guess they were standing that way to keep students from rushing the entrance to the courthouse.) Mendoza said that he "respected the students' rights" to be out in the streets, marching and speaking up for what they believe in, and that the role of the police in this situation was primarily to make sure the students were safe and to make sure that no property was damaged. He smiled and surveyed the layout of the scene with what seemed to be at least a bit of cultural pride. I was glad, in that moment, that he is a Hispanic and that he was directly present there.
(I heard later---via local tv news--that the FWPD actually did arrest THREE students. I don't know what the charges or causes for action were in any of the arrests.)
Before we left the courthouse scene, we met another indie media person doing some taping, as well as a mom ("Angie") of three of the South Hills HS students. She basically drove the "sag wagon" for the students, providing water and adult supervision along the march route from Altamesa Drive in southwest FW. She told us that her son "text-messaged me that he was going to leave [the school]" at around 10:30 this morning. Angie drove to the school to meet with the principal(s), asking about any possibly punitive measures they might take against the students for leaving campus. To her relief, she was told that the students would not be punished. She said she was very proud of her three children--including one daughter who is 6 months pregnant!--for marching today.
Later, on my way in to Wedgwood Middle School--where i teach performance and writing in an after-school program--I asked a few Latino/a students if they had walked out too. The answer: no. The reason: "They turned the sprinklers on all around the school to keep us from going."
My niece, who attends J.P. Elder, which is predominantly Latino, did not walk out--though she did mill about on-campus debating the possibility. Campus monitors corraled students together, as best as they could, and a few kids who had run from campus were caught and hauled in to the principal's office. My niece told me that alot of kids wrote MEXICAN FOREVER and other pride slogans on their foreheads and arms. (One girl, afraid to draw attention from punitive faculty, merely wrote on the palm of her hand.) My niece had written MEXICAN in red ink on her arm. Wow. She's looking forward to Friday, the day after her UIL chorus competition. Friday, she says, is the day she will walk out.
[Note: According to a local newscast at 10 tonight, the DISD schools have now instituted a zero-tolerance policy for any students who walk-out: truancy arrests, and other punitive measures will be meted out (big boo hiss). BUT--in FW schools, students who walk-out will 1) get an "unexcused absence" on their record, and 2) will have to make up missed classwork (less boo hiss).]
Monday, March 27, 2006
"El Chuco y La Che" - held over 'til April 1st
Rodney Garza is a compa and fellow performance artist, who i've known since back in the day (or days) of mid-to-late 1990s Austin. He was always working on some project on another, but always keeping the vibe and the flow muy suave, sin ansia--no worries, homie. He went on to create/found an active Chicano theater company whose name deliberately (so we think) yielded an acronym so dear to the corazon: Teatro Humanidad Cansada. Killer theater, dude. Funny, rascuache, and of the times, for sure.
Now, my home bro has launched his own one-vato show: "El Chuco y La Che", which no--is not about shoes or Che Guevara. It's not even about gang violence and overwrought "Hispanic" stereotypes. It's un estory, historia muy cute, somewhat enlightening (for those of you who lack Brown people in your worldview), and purty damn clever. You see, the "Che" that is paid tribute is the "ch" of the Spanglish/Spanish language. You may think it's one long extended pinche punche line, but you gotta hand it to Rodney for shaking down the Spanglish dictionary to the chones to reap finely-rendered wordplay. I say, lay down your plumas y pencils, Raza. My man Garza done wrote the book on the "C-H", so charpen your Chicano/a poeta tongue on some other letra, y ya.
Chale, chulo, get cho butt down to the Latino Cultural Center this weekend to check out this churefire hit. For more infos, click here.
Now, my home bro has launched his own one-vato show: "El Chuco y La Che", which no--is not about shoes or Che Guevara. It's not even about gang violence and overwrought "Hispanic" stereotypes. It's un estory, historia muy cute, somewhat enlightening (for those of you who lack Brown people in your worldview), and purty damn clever. You see, the "Che" that is paid tribute is the "ch" of the Spanglish/Spanish language. You may think it's one long extended pinche punche line, but you gotta hand it to Rodney for shaking down the Spanglish dictionary to the chones to reap finely-rendered wordplay. I say, lay down your plumas y pencils, Raza. My man Garza done wrote the book on the "C-H", so charpen your Chicano/a poeta tongue on some other letra, y ya.
Chale, chulo, get cho butt down to the Latino Cultural Center this weekend to check out this churefire hit. For more infos, click here.
NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE - anthology book release/reception/booksigning this Friday, Mar.31st
March 27, 2006
Contact:
Tammy Gomez
817.924.9188
sound_culture@hotmail.com
Gracey Tune
817.923.9500
artsfifthavenue@aol.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
++++ Fort Worth-published NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE, anthology which commemorates Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda,
features local writers and scholars ++++
==> Reception and reading from the anthology, followed by booksigning, scheduled for Friday, March 31st--as part of
Spring Arts Goggle 2006--at 7pm at Arts Fifth Avenue in FW. (Free and open to the public.)
Arts Fifth Avenue, Inc. and Sound Culture/Tejana Tongue Press (community arts organizations in Fort Worth), announce the
release of the innovative anthology NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE, which was co-published by both organizations--with funding from Humanities Texas.
NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE, which features new poems and essays by local writers, is a tribute to the legacy and literary
influence of esteemed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda--whose 100th birth anniversary was celebrated worldwide from
2004-2005. As part of this anniversary celebration, Fort Worth organizations Sound Culture/Tejana Tongue Press and Arts Fifth Avenue, Inc. coordinated a year-long program of literary readings, documentary film screenings, and community lectures throughout Tarrant County.
The program culminated with the publication of the anthology, which features introductions by each contributing writer,
describing the influence and impact that Neruda has had on their own literary and/or personal life. The year-long program,
in fact, referred to Neruda as a “global citizen” whose experiences led him to write about the cultures and peoples he encountered around the world. In the “post-911 world”, writers cannot help but reflect the tenor and spirit of the times, and the anthology demonstrates this with poems evoking compassion and sensitivity to issues and concerns of this decade.
Gracey Tune, founder/director of Arts Fifth Avenue, Inc., is renowned nationally as an accomplished tap dancer and
promoter of tap dancing history and performance. Ms. Tune has one poem featured in NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE--her first publishing credential--which was inspired by Neruda’s BOOK OF QUESTIONS. Quoting Ms. Tune from the anthology: “His [Neruda’s] work encourages the poet within us...”
The anthology will be released publicly at Arts Fifth Avenue (1625 5th Avenue in the historical Fairmount district), on
Friday, March 31st, at 7pm. Contributing writers will read selections from the book, followed by a reception and booksigning.
There will be no admission charged for this event, but copies of NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE will be available for sale to the public.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE: poems, essays, testimonios
in tribute to Pablo Neruda
edited by Tammy Melody Gomez
contributors and titles
Gracey Tune - “Questions from the Lake”
Greg Johnson - “Improvised Tribute Poem”
m.m. harris - “I like not knowing” and “Ode to a Green Pen”
Jeannette L. Strother - “Ode to Honeysuckle”
Claudia Acosta - “Para nuestras perdidas muertas”
cesar hernandez - “My dear, Neftali!”
Geethanjali - “A Leader of World Literature”
Susan Vogel Taylor - “Mindlessness and Infinity” and
“Sisters of the Fertile Moon”
Marc Rains - untitled
Josh Khatena - “Neruda, a word”
Tammy Gomez - “in this love”
Helen S. Jones - “Pablo, Jr.”
Robert Wynne - “Ode to the Belt”
Patricia Greene - “Caracolas”
Dr.Teresa Marrero - “Pablo Neruda, ‘Global Citizen’”
Contact:
Tammy Gomez
817.924.9188
sound_culture@hotmail.com
Gracey Tune
817.923.9500
artsfifthavenue@aol.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
++++ Fort Worth-published NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE, anthology which commemorates Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda,
features local writers and scholars ++++
==> Reception and reading from the anthology, followed by booksigning, scheduled for Friday, March 31st--as part of
Spring Arts Goggle 2006--at 7pm at Arts Fifth Avenue in FW. (Free and open to the public.)
Arts Fifth Avenue, Inc. and Sound Culture/Tejana Tongue Press (community arts organizations in Fort Worth), announce the
release of the innovative anthology NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE, which was co-published by both organizations--with funding from Humanities Texas.
NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE, which features new poems and essays by local writers, is a tribute to the legacy and literary
influence of esteemed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda--whose 100th birth anniversary was celebrated worldwide from
2004-2005. As part of this anniversary celebration, Fort Worth organizations Sound Culture/Tejana Tongue Press and Arts Fifth Avenue, Inc. coordinated a year-long program of literary readings, documentary film screenings, and community lectures throughout Tarrant County.
The program culminated with the publication of the anthology, which features introductions by each contributing writer,
describing the influence and impact that Neruda has had on their own literary and/or personal life. The year-long program,
in fact, referred to Neruda as a “global citizen” whose experiences led him to write about the cultures and peoples he encountered around the world. In the “post-911 world”, writers cannot help but reflect the tenor and spirit of the times, and the anthology demonstrates this with poems evoking compassion and sensitivity to issues and concerns of this decade.
Gracey Tune, founder/director of Arts Fifth Avenue, Inc., is renowned nationally as an accomplished tap dancer and
promoter of tap dancing history and performance. Ms. Tune has one poem featured in NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE--her first publishing credential--which was inspired by Neruda’s BOOK OF QUESTIONS. Quoting Ms. Tune from the anthology: “His [Neruda’s] work encourages the poet within us...”
The anthology will be released publicly at Arts Fifth Avenue (1625 5th Avenue in the historical Fairmount district), on
Friday, March 31st, at 7pm. Contributing writers will read selections from the book, followed by a reception and booksigning.
There will be no admission charged for this event, but copies of NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE will be available for sale to the public.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE: poems, essays, testimonios
in tribute to Pablo Neruda
edited by Tammy Melody Gomez
contributors and titles
Gracey Tune - “Questions from the Lake”
Greg Johnson - “Improvised Tribute Poem”
m.m. harris - “I like not knowing” and “Ode to a Green Pen”
Jeannette L. Strother - “Ode to Honeysuckle”
Claudia Acosta - “Para nuestras perdidas muertas”
cesar hernandez - “My dear, Neftali!”
Geethanjali - “A Leader of World Literature”
Susan Vogel Taylor - “Mindlessness and Infinity” and
“Sisters of the Fertile Moon”
Marc Rains - untitled
Josh Khatena - “Neruda, a word”
Tammy Gomez - “in this love”
Helen S. Jones - “Pablo, Jr.”
Robert Wynne - “Ode to the Belt”
Patricia Greene - “Caracolas”
Dr.Teresa Marrero - “Pablo Neruda, ‘Global Citizen’”
Thursday, March 23, 2006
MY FORT WORTH: Rally/march, Rally/fest, and Alterna-skool this wk-end
It's gonna be a great weekend to BE ACTIVE in the comunidad aqui en Fort Worth ("forte wes").
Some events to attend this weekend:
1. Annual "SI, SE PUEDE" ("Yes, we can") marcha and rally in tribute to Cesar Chavez, movimiento activista and founder of the United Farmworkers Union (UFW).
FRIDAY, MARCH 24th - marcha at 6pm, rally afterwards in school cafeteria.
The march will start and end @ Cesar Chavez Primary School, located at 3710 Deen Rd, Fort Worth. The march begins at 6:00 p.m., & will travel through the area neighborhood for one mile. Cesar Chavez Primary School will host a carnival with games and food for parents, students, and the community. A rally will be held in the school cafeteria with speakers and entertainers.
In the spirit of Cesar Chavez, this is an event to bring the community and school together to celebrate the memory of the selfless crusader for justice and the importance of education.
[Note: I am on the slate of speakers for the rally. I will "speak" at approx. 8:15pm.]
2. "Free the Vote Rally and Performance Event"
SATURDAY, MARCH 25th - 12noon-7:30pm (or so) - Trinity Park Shelter, Fort Worth.
A day of festivities, music, spoken word, and info-sharing. Bring blankets, food. Sponsored by the Tarrant County Green Party. This event will launch the petition drive for the Tarrant County Green Party to obtain ballot access for November elections.
[Note: Both CodePink FW and Peaceful Vocations (PV) will be tabling at this event. Come on out; the weather should be warmer, with sunshine predicted.]
and
3. EXAMINED LIFE! - AFTER THE MARCH
This the latest in an ongoing series of "liberation school"-type days that the folks at 1919 Hemphill periodically coordinate.
SUNDAY, MARCH 26th - 2pm to 10pm (another long day!)
$10 donation (dinner is included) for all the learning you can eat. Don't let the money thing be a deterrent; no one will be turned away. Sessions and skill-shares on such topics as: comic book-making, menstral (sic) health, basic HTML for websites, DIY theater (with Zoe), yoga, and more! PV is scheduled to lead a session at 7pm. Childcare, apparently, will be provided.
hasta la victoria!
[post a comment if you have questions about any of these events...and i'll try to reply asap.]
Some events to attend this weekend:
1. Annual "SI, SE PUEDE" ("Yes, we can") marcha and rally in tribute to Cesar Chavez, movimiento activista and founder of the United Farmworkers Union (UFW).
FRIDAY, MARCH 24th - marcha at 6pm, rally afterwards in school cafeteria.
The march will start and end @ Cesar Chavez Primary School, located at 3710 Deen Rd, Fort Worth. The march begins at 6:00 p.m., & will travel through the area neighborhood for one mile. Cesar Chavez Primary School will host a carnival with games and food for parents, students, and the community. A rally will be held in the school cafeteria with speakers and entertainers.
In the spirit of Cesar Chavez, this is an event to bring the community and school together to celebrate the memory of the selfless crusader for justice and the importance of education.
[Note: I am on the slate of speakers for the rally. I will "speak" at approx. 8:15pm.]
2. "Free the Vote Rally and Performance Event"
SATURDAY, MARCH 25th - 12noon-7:30pm (or so) - Trinity Park Shelter, Fort Worth.
A day of festivities, music, spoken word, and info-sharing. Bring blankets, food. Sponsored by the Tarrant County Green Party. This event will launch the petition drive for the Tarrant County Green Party to obtain ballot access for November elections.
[Note: Both CodePink FW and Peaceful Vocations (PV) will be tabling at this event. Come on out; the weather should be warmer, with sunshine predicted.]
and
3. EXAMINED LIFE! - AFTER THE MARCH
This the latest in an ongoing series of "liberation school"-type days that the folks at 1919 Hemphill periodically coordinate.
SUNDAY, MARCH 26th - 2pm to 10pm (another long day!)
$10 donation (dinner is included) for all the learning you can eat. Don't let the money thing be a deterrent; no one will be turned away. Sessions and skill-shares on such topics as: comic book-making, menstral (sic) health, basic HTML for websites, DIY theater (with Zoe), yoga, and more! PV is scheduled to lead a session at 7pm. Childcare, apparently, will be provided.
hasta la victoria!
[post a comment if you have questions about any of these events...and i'll try to reply asap.]
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
"Legal experts say there is no law against using feces as a flag stand..."
"Police in Germany are hunting pranksters who have been sticking miniature flag portraits of US President George W. Bush into piles of dog poo in public parks. Josef Oettl, parks administrator for Bayreuth, said: "This has been going on for about a year now, and there must be 2,000 to 3,000 piles of excrement that have been claimed during that time."
The series of incidents was originally thought to be some sort of protest against the US-led invasion of Iraq. And then when it continued it was thought to be a protest against President George W. Bush's campaign for re-election. But it is still going on and the police say they are completely baffled as to who is to blame. "We have sent out extra patrols to try to catch whoever is doing this in the act," said police spokesman Reiner Kuechler. "But frankly, we don't know what we would do if we caught them red handed." Legal experts say there is no law against using feces as a flag stand and the federal legal experts say there is no law against using feces as a flag stand and the federal constitution is vague on the issue."
(My friend Hillary sent this via email last year, so who knows how many more Bush flags are dotting the German landscape by now?)
Nombre, Hombre
I often amuse myself by giving my cat (officially known as "grace"--named by my niece) names of the day. Tonight, she has become DESPERADO WITH FUR. Frequently, she becomes MONSTER MADNESS (like when she's chasing her tail or chewing on the corners of stacks of FW Weekly issues that i keep thinking i might actually wanna read sometime). I am amazed by my predilection for quick-name changes for my animal. I myself have taken on various tags or handles, depending on circumstance, mood, or public context. So far, i've been known variously as TEJANA TONGUE, TAMMYGOMEXICAN (which is the creative half of my yahoo email address), SUNLIT DOORWAY, and POCKET POET (thanks for that one, i guess, Enrique...). When i performed with star-spoken word performers Paul Flores (of Los Delicados---yes, named after the unfiltered Mexican cigarettes) and Marc Bamuthi Joseph aka Seeking) up in Madison a few years ago, they recommended that i take on some firecracker stage name. (I guess they thought Tammy Gomez is too staid or Nancy Drew for me...) Hmmm, i thought on this, and came up with a maybe future star handle of RELAMPAGOMEZ (which is a blend of the Spanish word for "lightning" and my last name). One can fantasize.
I remember the names me and my sister would give our fake Barbie dolls when we were kids. We let those dolls exemplify our imagined glamour life personas, becoming "Roxanne" and "Monique," and other queer-consonant-ed gold lame' names.
What have you nicknamed your kitty tonight?
I remember the names me and my sister would give our fake Barbie dolls when we were kids. We let those dolls exemplify our imagined glamour life personas, becoming "Roxanne" and "Monique," and other queer-consonant-ed gold lame' names.
What have you nicknamed your kitty tonight?
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
radio free tammy
KPFT-FM is Houston's best (and probably only) community radio station.
Check me out / listen live! Click me, please!
I'm being interviewed sometime between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. tonight by the good folks at Nuestra Palabra ("Latino/a Writers Having Their Say"). Their show airs weekly on Tuesdays.
FCC, watch out!
Check me out / listen live! Click me, please!
I'm being interviewed sometime between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. tonight by the good folks at Nuestra Palabra ("Latino/a Writers Having Their Say"). Their show airs weekly on Tuesdays.
FCC, watch out!
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Friday, March 10, 2006
Is there an evolving theme here?
This weekend's film at the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth, WHY WE FIGHT?, along with the April 7-9 selection JOYEUX NOEL (MERRY CHRISTMAS), addresses the realities of war and militarism. Hmmm, guess it must mean that the friggin THIRD GODDAMN anniversary of the U.S. INVASION of Iraq is right around the corner, huh?!!
WHY WE FIGHT - March 10–12, 2006 - Friday 6 & 8 pm; Saturday 5 pm; Sunday 2 & 4 pm.
From the Modern's website: "Winner of the 2005 Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, this new film by Eugene Jarecki is an unflinching look at the anatomy of the American war machine. (PG-13; 98 minutes)" For the Sony Classics webworld of info on this doc, click here.
And for more wartime cine, there's this offering:
JOYEUX NOËL (MERRY CHRISTMAS) - April 7–9 - Friday 6 & 8 pm; Saturday 5 pm; Sunday 2 & 4 pm.
Blurb on the Modern's website: "Recently nominated for an Academy Award, this heartwarming and heartbreaking French film recounts the true story of a Christmas Eve during World War I when soldiers from both sides laid down their guns and played football and sang Christmas carols together."
Tickets are $7.50; $5.50 for Modern museum members. Advance sales begin two hours prior to each show.
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is at 3200 Darnell Street, in the grand ole Museum District (i refuse to call it "cultural district" cuz "cultural" districts are everywhere throughout the 817, man...)
Phone 'em at 817-738-9215 (local) or toll-free 1-866-824-5566.
WHY WE FIGHT - March 10–12, 2006 - Friday 6 & 8 pm; Saturday 5 pm; Sunday 2 & 4 pm.
From the Modern's website: "Winner of the 2005 Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, this new film by Eugene Jarecki is an unflinching look at the anatomy of the American war machine. (PG-13; 98 minutes)" For the Sony Classics webworld of info on this doc, click here.
And for more wartime cine, there's this offering:
JOYEUX NOËL (MERRY CHRISTMAS) - April 7–9 - Friday 6 & 8 pm; Saturday 5 pm; Sunday 2 & 4 pm.
Blurb on the Modern's website: "Recently nominated for an Academy Award, this heartwarming and heartbreaking French film recounts the true story of a Christmas Eve during World War I when soldiers from both sides laid down their guns and played football and sang Christmas carols together."
Tickets are $7.50; $5.50 for Modern museum members. Advance sales begin two hours prior to each show.
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is at 3200 Darnell Street, in the grand ole Museum District (i refuse to call it "cultural district" cuz "cultural" districts are everywhere throughout the 817, man...)
Phone 'em at 817-738-9215 (local) or toll-free 1-866-824-5566.
Who's watching the watchers?
[My fellow poet-comrade, Maggie Jochild, sent the following. Saludos, Maggie!]
Hey, friends -- I encourage you all to make use of the Freedom of Information Act (while it still exists) to request any files that may have been gathered on you -- even if you can't imagine this would have been done (under this administration, it pays to imagine the worst). Go to this link sponsored by PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY to start the process. If enough of us do this, it will surely send a strong message that we are not just going to lie down and let them steamroll our civil rights. And pass this on to everyone you can. I'll let you know when I get an answer; I hope you'll do the same. -- Maggie Jochild
Part of what the link says:
"Make an FOIA Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), anyone has the right to request information from the government. Last strengthened by Congress in response to the Watergate scandal, FOIA gives citizens a way to demand transparency from the Administration -- and take the government to court if necessary.
Many Americans -- especially those with family and friends abroad -- are wondering whether government agents have been listening to their phone conversations or reading their email. If you're worried this has happened to you, you can use this site to help you find out.
We can't guarantee that the Bush administration will disclose all this information in compliance with the law, but we can help you through the process. By filing a FOIA request, you will send a strong signal that American citizens believe in the rule of law and aren't afraid to stand up to the President when he violates the Constitution!"
Hey, friends -- I encourage you all to make use of the Freedom of Information Act (while it still exists) to request any files that may have been gathered on you -- even if you can't imagine this would have been done (under this administration, it pays to imagine the worst). Go to this link sponsored by PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY to start the process. If enough of us do this, it will surely send a strong message that we are not just going to lie down and let them steamroll our civil rights. And pass this on to everyone you can. I'll let you know when I get an answer; I hope you'll do the same. -- Maggie Jochild
Part of what the link says:
"Make an FOIA Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), anyone has the right to request information from the government. Last strengthened by Congress in response to the Watergate scandal, FOIA gives citizens a way to demand transparency from the Administration -- and take the government to court if necessary.
Many Americans -- especially those with family and friends abroad -- are wondering whether government agents have been listening to their phone conversations or reading their email. If you're worried this has happened to you, you can use this site to help you find out.
We can't guarantee that the Bush administration will disclose all this information in compliance with the law, but we can help you through the process. By filing a FOIA request, you will send a strong signal that American citizens believe in the rule of law and aren't afraid to stand up to the President when he violates the Constitution!"
Thursday, March 09, 2006
XX Communicator is now 365 days old
I started this thing on International Women's Day last year--March 8th, 2005--and now look where it's gotten me. I am infrequent poster, so i might be called blogger imposter. I had the best intentions of being daily wit you, but being the typical Libra omni-where omnivore, I get distracted by other wants and whims.
I am, however, consistently a romantic (or romanticizing) dreamer.
International Women's Day 06 seemed to have passed without fanfare or incident. In the past, I have spent the day conviving with broads, chicks, womyn, cunts, and grrls--in performance, on the air, around pitchers and bottles of brew. One IWD, I performed at Stubb's BBQ in Austin--with a fistful of drink tickets in my future--with my all-girl spoken word group YONIVERSE. I'd asked cook and baker extraordinaire Julia Apodaca to do a cake for the show, and she showed up with the most beautiful baked depiction of a vaginal orgasm as anyone has likely seen. (It featured one long sparkler jutting out from the purple and pink "vag", which we ceremoniously lit to the gleeful whoops and hollers of all witnessing congregants.)
Last year, I did something at the Dog--women spoken word and performance. But this year, it was a day for gathering niece and feeding her and reassuring her sweet broken heart. It was a day for videotaping for an activist training session. It was a day for mellow crying and wishing the rain would hurry to join my tears. It was a no-yoga day. It was a listen (closely) to the first of a 4-cd collection of Quincy Jones tunes. It was a watch "Before Sunset" in its entirety even though I walked out of "Before Sunrise" due to sheer boredom and irritation, back in the 90s. Something is different this year. I am still a woman and desire to commemorate International Women's Day. Perhaps, in 06, I was supposed to commemorate by just merely being a woman.
I am, however, consistently a romantic (or romanticizing) dreamer.
International Women's Day 06 seemed to have passed without fanfare or incident. In the past, I have spent the day conviving with broads, chicks, womyn, cunts, and grrls--in performance, on the air, around pitchers and bottles of brew. One IWD, I performed at Stubb's BBQ in Austin--with a fistful of drink tickets in my future--with my all-girl spoken word group YONIVERSE. I'd asked cook and baker extraordinaire Julia Apodaca to do a cake for the show, and she showed up with the most beautiful baked depiction of a vaginal orgasm as anyone has likely seen. (It featured one long sparkler jutting out from the purple and pink "vag", which we ceremoniously lit to the gleeful whoops and hollers of all witnessing congregants.)
Last year, I did something at the Dog--women spoken word and performance. But this year, it was a day for gathering niece and feeding her and reassuring her sweet broken heart. It was a day for videotaping for an activist training session. It was a day for mellow crying and wishing the rain would hurry to join my tears. It was a no-yoga day. It was a listen (closely) to the first of a 4-cd collection of Quincy Jones tunes. It was a watch "Before Sunset" in its entirety even though I walked out of "Before Sunrise" due to sheer boredom and irritation, back in the 90s. Something is different this year. I am still a woman and desire to commemorate International Women's Day. Perhaps, in 06, I was supposed to commemorate by just merely being a woman.
Monday, March 06, 2006
Future U.S. Lawyers to be Proud Of
[Thanks to my compa, Rosa Maria Gonzalez--please, no relation to Alberto the civilrights slayer--for passing this along. She's kicking butt down in San Anto as a lawyer doing child rights advocacy. Love ya, Rosie!]
Alberto Gonzales spoke before law students at Georgetown today, justifying illegal, unauthorized surveilance of US citizens, but during the course of his speech the students in class did something pretty gutsy and brave. They got up from their seats and turned their backs to him.
To make matters worse for Gonzales, additional students came into the room, wearing black cowls and carrying a simple banner, written on a sheet.
Fortunately for him, it was a brief speech... followed by a panel discussion that basically ripped his argument in half.
And, as one of the people on the panel said,
"When you're a law student, they tell you that if you can't argue the law, argue the facts. They also tell you if you can't argue the facts, argue the law. If you can't argue either, apparently, the solution is to go on a public relations offensive and make it a political issue... to say over and over again 'it's lawful', and to think that the American people will somehow come to believe this if we say it often enough."
In light of this, I'm proud of the very civil civil disobedience that was shown here today." - David Cole, Georgetown University Law Professor
It was a good day for dissent...
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Women's Art - Women's History Month Exhibit @ the Public Library
The exhibit, once again curated by Jo Dufo, is titled "In My Life"
3rd Annual Woman's Exhibition - Fort Worth Downtown Central Library - 500 3rd St. in Fort Worth, Texas
Exhibition Dates:
March 4th - March 28th
"Paintings, sculptures, collages, mosaics, and photographs will highlight women, the roles they play, their accomplishments and their invincible spirits."
Participating artists:
Devon Wattier Amalia El Masre'
Sierra Dufault Amber Bailey
Brady Nichols Theresa Foster
Allie Regan Alicia Price
Tanya Sparks Kathy O'Brien
Alyssa Banta Jo Dufo
Letitia Eldredge Ameera Hallag
Glenna Janda Riki Johnson
Lori Thomson Rebecca Low
Grace Bolding Julie Hiltbrunner
Drucilla Perez-Tubens Tuba Koymen
Phyllis King Katrina Doran
Evita Tezeno Isabel Lopez
Joyce Martin Karen Weiss
Zoe Dufault Rhonda Haugabook
ElaRue Jennifer Bell Karen Stone
3rd Annual Woman's Exhibition - Fort Worth Downtown Central Library - 500 3rd St. in Fort Worth, Texas
Exhibition Dates:
March 4th - March 28th
"Paintings, sculptures, collages, mosaics, and photographs will highlight women, the roles they play, their accomplishments and their invincible spirits."
Participating artists:
Devon Wattier Amalia El Masre'
Sierra Dufault Amber Bailey
Brady Nichols Theresa Foster
Allie Regan Alicia Price
Tanya Sparks Kathy O'Brien
Alyssa Banta Jo Dufo
Letitia Eldredge Ameera Hallag
Glenna Janda Riki Johnson
Lori Thomson Rebecca Low
Grace Bolding Julie Hiltbrunner
Drucilla Perez-Tubens Tuba Koymen
Phyllis King Katrina Doran
Evita Tezeno Isabel Lopez
Joyce Martin Karen Weiss
Zoe Dufault Rhonda Haugabook
ElaRue Jennifer Bell Karen Stone
Friday, March 03, 2006
Townes Van Zandt doc at the Modern
Though it's about to released, dvd-format, on the 14th or so of March, you might appreciate seeing it on the nice screen, at the clean serene Modern Art museo acqui en Fort Worth. BE HERE TO LOVE ME: A FILM ABOUT TOWNES VAN ZANDT opens tonight at 6pm. I'll be going to the 8pm screening, cuz that's when Van Zandt son, John, intros the film and plays some of his (recently-deceased) father's songs. You may not know it, but Townes was raised, kinda money-well-off, in the Westside. I've been learning more of his life and his music (though "Pancho and Lefty" was popularized by Willie, "If I Needed You" was given starpower by Emmylou and is one of my Townes favorites) from friends who knew and played alongside this Fort Worth legend (what i mean is that Townes is a legend; what i don't mean--cuz fw is just stupid this way--is that Townes is famous in Fort Worth...) My friend, Lee Daniel, lent a hand with cinematography on the film, along with sculptor-artist Miguel, who lives in Arlington.
March 3–5, 2006 - Friday 6 & 8 pm; Saturday 5 pm; Sunday 2 & 4 pm - at the Modern Art Museum of FW.
(John Townes Van Zandt will introduce the Friday 8pm film and play some of his father's music for moviegoers.)
"A dignified and wistful look at the unusual life, difficult career, and lasting influence of singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt." (Eddie Cockrell, Variety.) This poignant documentary follows the life of Fort Worth native son Townes Van Zandt, the ultimate songwriter's songwriter who had a profound effect on a generation of musicians. Read more about the film right here.
March 3–5, 2006 - Friday 6 & 8 pm; Saturday 5 pm; Sunday 2 & 4 pm - at the Modern Art Museum of FW.
(John Townes Van Zandt will introduce the Friday 8pm film and play some of his father's music for moviegoers.)
"A dignified and wistful look at the unusual life, difficult career, and lasting influence of singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt." (Eddie Cockrell, Variety.) This poignant documentary follows the life of Fort Worth native son Townes Van Zandt, the ultimate songwriter's songwriter who had a profound effect on a generation of musicians. Read more about the film right here.
Claudia's theatrical baby opens onstage tonight!
My sweet and multi-talented compa, Claudia Acosta, is gearing up for her big debut tonight. Her original work, "Recuerdos de mi mama: la epoca de oro", is a project she's been dreaming of for over a year. So, tonight, Friday the 3rd, will mark the culmination of a major artistic achievement. Be glad for this creative drama-mama as she births her first full-length stage play. (Oh, and check out one of the spotlight operators: my niece, Breanna Her-Era.) The show plays for 3 consecutive weekends; I'll be in the audience tomorrow--cuz a big reception follows after the performance. Here are the detalles:
RECUERDOS DE MI MAMA: la epoca de oro - an original stageplay written and directed by Claudia Acosta.
Inspired by Mexico’s Golden Age of Cinema (La Epoca de Oro), when Resortes and Cantinflas were budding comedy kings; Maria Felix enraptured her audiences with her sultry looks, and when rumberas were the hottest ticket in town. A simple love story from a mother’s memory celebrates the generation who lived for mambo.
BILINGUAL - Rated PG 13
Individual tickets are $10 general audience, and $5 students and seniors
Inspirado por el Cine Mexicano de La Época de Oro cuando Resortes y Cantinflas se establecían como los Reyes de la comedia, Maria Felix deslumbraba su público con su belleza despampanante, y las rumberas daban la presentación más caliente de la ciudad. Esta historia celebra las memorias de una generación que vivía para el mambo.
BILINGUE – Rated PG 13
Los Boletos tienen un costo de 10 dolares en admision general y 5 dolares para estudiantes y ancianos.
Call Now For Ticket Info: (817)624-8333
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
