Report on LA Times Festival of Books

[ Xispas staff writer Gina Ruiz attended the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on the UCLA campus, and she’s filed a report with photographs on the celebrations. Here’s what she wrote]

At the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books 2005 business was booming in spite of it being held during Passover weekend and the threat of rain. It was good to see so many people there again this year. I spent some time at the booth of Libreria Martinez Books and Art Gallery owned by Macarthur Fellowship winner Ruben Martinez, the barber turned bookseller that has done so much for our community. Mr. Martinez is also co-founder of the Latino Book Festival. Present at the booth for signings this Saturday were Xispas founder, Luis Rodriguez (Music of the Mill, Always Running, The Republic East L.A.), Alvaro Vargas Llosa (Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot, Liberty For Latin America: How To Undo Five Hundred Years Of State Oppression, The Madness of Things Peruvian, Democracy Under Siege), son of the renowned and beloved Mario Vargas Llosa (A Fish in the Water, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, The Feast of the Goat, In Praise of the Stepmother, etc), Benjamin Alire Saenz (Flowers for the Broken, Carry Me Like Water, In Perfect Light, Sammy and Juliana In Hollywood, The House of Forgetting, Vatos, Calendar of Dust, Dark and Perfect Angels), Alfredo Estrada (Welcome to Havana, Senor Hemingway), and Mary Castillo (Hot Tamara, Friday Night Chicas: Sexy Stories from La Noche).

Sunday's roster for Libreria Martinez' booth was no less impressive, boasting Yxta Maya Murray (The Queen Jade : A Novel, La Conquista, Locas, What It Takes to Get to Vegas), Victor Villasenor (Burro Genius, The Thirteen Senses, Rain of Gold, Macho, The People Versus Juan Corona, Walking Stars), Mayte Prida (A Difficult Journey: My Battle With Cancer), Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hector Tobar (Translation Nation, The Tattoed Soldier), Alfredo Estrada once more, and Carolina Garcia-Aguilera (Luck of the Draw, Havana Heat, Bitter Sugar, Bloody Shame, Bloody Waters, One Hot Summer).


I spoke for a few minutes with Mr. Martinez, who was, as always helpful and kind - lighting the booth with his smile and gracious demeanor. Muy caballero, el Senor Martinez who stopped in his busy booth to answer questions, give advice on what to buy and talk to me a little about his plans for the MacArthur Fellowship grant. I was extremely excited to learn that he plans on opening Libreria Martinez del Barrio here in my neck of my woods, East L.A., and another Libreria Martinez in the Logan Heights area of San Diego. I'll be heading out to both the minute I hear they're opening. I congratulated Mr. Martinez on his grant and he stated, "It's the community's grant. It belongs to them." Luis Rodriguez looked like he was having a great time, in his element and doing brisk business signing his long awaited first novel, The Music of the Mill and chatting away with his many fans and fellow authors. I was also lucky enough to have a quick second to speak with Benjamin Alire Saenz who has written a most remarkable novel that I would encourage everyone to read In Perfect Light (publication date: August 2005), which I have recently reviewed for Xispas. I've always been a fan of his and this novel exceeded my expectations. Mr. Saenz was gracious enough to sign my advance reader copy of it and I felt honored. Mary Castillo was also busy signing as was the dapper Alvaro Vargas Llosa.

While at the Libreria Martinez booth, I ran into Bobby Byrd, co-publisher and founder of Cinco Puntos Press. Cinco Puntos Press is an independent, literary press that specializes in publishing the literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and books for kids) from the U.S./Mexico border, Mexico and the American Southwest. They have recently published Mr. Saenz' book, Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood. He was kind enough to direct me to his booth after chatting a bit about Mr. Saenz's books. I had a great time at the booth and spent far too much money buying up some of their amazing books by great authors like Luis Alberto Urrea. Sorry DWP. After Cinco Puntos, my granddaughter Jasmine and I headed over to see Danza Azteca Xochipilli and they were as always, stunning and sinuous. As a danzante, it's odd for me to be a spectator and I always marvel at how beautiful the dancers are, the costumes, the headdresses and the amazing sound of the drums. Every time I see it, I want to get up there and dance with them and I would have if we had packed our trajes.


I stopped for a bit at Maria Amparo Escandon's (Esperanza's Box of Saints) booth where she had a little Santitos altar set up. She too, like most of the authors you meet at the Festival was sweet and generous with her time. She took a few minutes to talk to my friend Elodia's daughter Ariana about her new book Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co. Ari asked her what the book was about as she wanted to buy it for her dad for Father's Day (their last name is Gonzales). Ms. Escandon said in her lovely, accented English, "well it's the story of a father and daughter who are truckers. They live in their truck and they keep everything in it. They read a lot but have no space to keep the books in the truck so, they throw them out the window when they are finished with them." She charmed us all and needless to say, Ari bought her signed book and I bought one too. Everywhere I went, people were buying books, telling stories, meeting authors and finding friends. One couple I was speaking with said that they met at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books five years ago and were now very happily married and never miss it. I attended this year with my son Bobby and his wife, Marissa my friend Elodia and her children Ari and Max and my two-year-old granddaughter Jasmine Coatlcitlamina. We all had a wonderful time and there was something for each and every one of us. It was good to see that so many Xicano and Latino authors were there but we need to see more, we need more writers and more readers and attendees of Festivals like these that promote literacy. It beats the heck out of Disneyland.

Reel Rasquache Latino Film Festival

[ Xispas contributors Hector & Miroslava Gonzalez wanted everyone to know about the Reel Rasquache Latino Film Festival, where their own documentary film about early Chicano rock ’n roll will be screened. Hector & Miroslava are musicologists who’ve written articles for Xispas on the history of Chicano rock. ]

The annual Reel Rasquache Latino Film Festival will feature the Musical Documentary Short Film, The West Coast Eastside Sound Story, featuring East Los Angeles Chicano rock legends of the 60's followed by live performance by Cannibal and the Headhunters. The group has a new line up with original founding member, Richard "Scar" Lopez who is celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the release of, Land of 1000 Dances - Naa, Na, Na, Na, Naa on Rampart Records, along with the anniversary of the 1965 Beatles 2nd USA Tour. This is a free event and is open to the public. Bring your family and friends! Please be there early since the show begins at 11:00 am and ends at 1:00 pm. The producers of the event are Hector & Miroslava Gonzalez, with Jimmy Velarde lending his talents as event director. This event is being sponsored by The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, SONY Pictures Entertainment and Metro. Don’t miss this musical celebration! Location: Luckman Intimate Theatre, 5151 St. University Dr., Los Angeles, Califas. When: Saturday, April 30, 11:00 am: For more information, call 323-343-4207.

Call For Artists!

[ We received this artist’ call from a companera at Southern California’s Pomona Art Colony ]

To Each Her Own Productions in conjunction with w.indy house and lunaxol productions are putting on an art exhibit in September, 2005 entitled She sex. We will be focusing on celebrating women's sexuality/sensuality. The show will take place at Galeria Rustica in the Pomona arts colony. We are currently accepting submissions for this upcoming exhibition. The deadline for submissions is July 1st 2005. Include an artist's statement in the e-mail for consideration. Please send all submissions via e-mail in .jpeg format to chief curator Laura Placencia at fridakahlo78@hotmail.com

Mexico: The Revolution and Beyond

Mexico: The Revolution and Beyond. Photographs by Casasola 1900-1940 is an important exhibition of photographs by Agustín Victor Casasola presented at New York's El Museo del Barrio. Just as photography began to come into its own as a way of reporting on events, Casasola was in the right place at the right time. He started a photo agency in 1912 with his brother and began documenting the turmoil of a Mexico in transition. He took photos of working people and farmers involved in everyday life, and came to document the Mexican Revolution with its guerrilla armies, soldaderas (the brave women who fought in the rebel armies), politicians, and revolutionary leaders -becoming one of the very first photojournalists of the Americas.

Casasola photographed the dicator Porfirio Díaz, the first President of the Republic Benito Juárez (who was a Zapotec Indian), revolutionaries Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, even the exiled Soviet leader Leon Trotsky. The photographer captured street scenes and market places, raucous nightlife, demonstrations, performers, religious processions... in essence, the very life and spirit of Mexico. This is an exhibition not to be missed, but if you can't attend it you may be interested in purchasing the exhibit catalog, a 220-page book that contains all the stunning photos in the show -plus additional images. In the catalog, journalist and author Pete Hamill (who lived in Mexico for fifty years), details the life and times of Casasola, and essays by Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, Sergio Raúl Arroyo, and Rosa Casanova nicely fill in the gaps. The exhibition of 92 photographs by Casasola is currently running, and closes on July 31st, 2005. El Museo del Barrio is located in the Heckscher Building, 1230 Fifth Avenue (at 104th Street), New York 10029. Phone: 212-831-7272. For more information visit El Museo del Barrio website.

LA Times Festival of Books

Many Latino/Chicano authors will be present at The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. The two-day celebration of the written word is one of the country's premier literary events, and Angelinos come from all over to participate in the festivities. Xispas columnist and book reviewer, Rogina Ruiz, will be attending the event in the hopes of getting a few interviews and photos. We’ll be publishing her report later in the week, but for now we’d just like to urge everyone to come to the festival, which is free to the public. The festival also includes forums, lectures by celebrated authors, book reviews, writing workshops, storytelling at two stages in a children’s area, and Danza Azteca will be there to perform sacred dance. Respected judges from the literary world will be on hand to award the annual Book Prizes for outstanding offerings from the past year. The Festival promises something for everyone, from seemingly endless rows of booths to exciting events and demonstrations on seven different stages. The Festival of Books celebrates books as a valuable source of learning, so don’t miss the country’s largest literary event! The LA Times Festival of Books takes place on Saturday & Sunday at UCLA. Saturday April 23rd - 10:00 to 6:00 pm. Sunday April 24th - 10:00 to 5:00 pm. For more info, visit the Festival of Books website.

Our Lady of the Expressway

On Chicago’s northwest side, La Virgen de Guadalupe appeared on an underpass of the Kennedy Expressway… at least that’s what multitudes of the faithful believe. A stain formed on a section of the concrete wall, and it hardly could have been a more accurate silhouette of the Guadalupe than if an artist had painted it. According to the Illinois Department of Transportation, the stain is the result of “salt run-off”… but to the Guadalupanos the “stain” is divine. Since its appearance on Monday April 18th, hundreds of the faithful have visited the area to leave flowers and candles, as well as to tape sacred art to the walls. Believers in Tonatzin-Guadalupe, the brown skinned savior of the poor and downtrodden, gather around the image at the underpass to kneel and pray. With rosary beads in hand, in their eyes they have witnessed a miracle. Sturdy working men in their work clothes and mothers with their children stand solemnly before the image, entreating Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe for the strength to overcome their daily burdens. A steady stream of devotees flock to the expressway, so many that local police have begun to patrol the streets to monitor the traffic jams. The Illinois Department of Transportation says it has no plans to scrub the image off the wall. “We're treating this just like we treat any type of roadside memorial, we have no plans to clean this site.”

The Fists of La Raza

[ On April 17th, 2005, over 2,000 people turned out for a memorial march in Denver Colorado to mark the death of Xicano activist, Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales. On April 15th, Amy Goodman of Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now, conducted an interview with Roberto Rodriguez, who was Corky’s good friend. Along with his wife Patrisia Gonzales, Roberto writes the Column of the Americas, and we publish their latest article dedicated to Corky, titled The Fists of La Raza ]

He lived, wrote an epic poem, then died.

That seems to be the obituary that many observers have settled upon for many a 1960s-'70s-era icons. The latest icon to move on has been Denver's Rodolfo Corky Gonzalez. In the past 12 months, preceding him have been Lalo Guerrero, Octavio Romano, David Risling Jr., Lalo Delgado & Gloria Anzaldua. Many of these icons led full lives, yet their memories have been reduced to a song, a poem, a play, a book or but a single act or an idea. Typical of the era, they may never see the pages of a history book. Corky too lived, wrote an epic poem - Yo Soy Joaquin - then died. He was a boxer, a warrior, a husband, father and grandfather, and in his role in the Chicano movement, he strapped on a six-shooter (rather than a pen). He was a cross between Mohammed Ali and Malcom X. This is how he is being described by some. Many a commentator who are describing him were born after he splashed onto the world of Chicanismo. This is how history is generally written. Myths (sometimes distortions) often are created by those far-removed from the individuals or events being described. Truth is, he took part in hundreds of actions - often risking his life -- against a society bent on culturally assimilating or eliminating La Raza. Corky merits his own story (Message to Aztlan: Selected Writings , Arte Publico Press). To attempt to understand him through an obituary is akin to learning quantum physics through a book review. To learn his story is to learn the spirit of a movimiento. He and the Crusade for Justice developed what some term a militant brand of Chicano nationalism that was centered on the idea of the liberation of Aztlan.

Aztlan too can not be understood in but a few words, because it is loaded, charged and mostly misinterpreted. In his day, it was about a territory which had once belonged to Mexico… which purportedly had been the homeland of the ancient Mexica. Many people associate this idea with the poet Alurista and the 1969 El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan, yet Alurista has always maintained that it was a vision that perhaps emanated from the Crusade. His vision was that of a continent, not the U.S. Southwest, Alurista says. Accurate or not, the idea of Aztlan as the Southwest did take hold in that era. Yet it was never a single idea and it was always conflictive. About the only people that are crystal clear about Aztlan is the fanatical extreme right wing which is convinced that Chicanos - through MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan) - a student organization -- are plotting to “take back Aztlan” via “La Reconquista.”

It is tempting to want to rebut the extremists in depth here - for desecrating something they know nothing of, this while converting those who have lived the effects of racial, economic and cultural oppression - into caricatures or objects of fear. This is par for a nation that is being dismantled by other like-minded merchants of fear. Instead, here, it is a time of honoring and it should be recognized that Corky was human, with faults like anyone else. Yet, he will undoubtedly be remembered as a mythic figure - the Fists of La Raza - someone who personified the essence of resistance and defiance. What he symbolized is that the era of bowing down to the patron was over. Despite this mythic view, one can not forget that this era spawned a lot of internal conflict. Some of it was gender related. In effect, the nationalism of that era - which was characterized by male dominance and a culture of intransigence -- triggered the development of the Chicana movement. To be fair, this typified the whole era, not just nationalism.

While that era is now long gone, the struggles against racial oppression, anti-immigrant forces and against patriarchy continue. Today, Chicanos/Chicanas struggle to situate themselves within these movements and within this continent - an indigenous continent. And yet, that would not contradict Corky's views. Perhaps this points to the destructive role of the nation's intelligences services of that era. Activists then did not actually differ that much. It was the intelligence services (through infiltration) that magnified and manipulated differences for the expressed purpose of disrupting and destroying these movements. Petty differences aside, most people active in these struggles did have and do have something in common - the desire to uplift La Raza - the desire to uplift humanity. Corky Gonzalez, presente.

© Column of the Americas 2005. The writers can be contacted at XColumn@aol.com

2000 Years of Latin American Portraits

Retratos: 2000 Years of Latin American Portraits is an important exhibition of artworks created throughout Latin America over the centuries. Southern California’s San Diego Museum of Art will be the only West Coast venue for the exhibit. Retratos marks the very first time a comprehensive exhibition of Latin American portraiture has ever been assembled for a US tour. The artworks displayed cover various historic epics, starting with the art of indigenous cultures like the Maya of Mexico and the Moche of Peru. The astounding sculptures from the original inhabitants of the Americas explode the myth that Europeans brought civilization to this hemisphere. The ceramic portrait vessels from the Moche culture are the oldest works shown, and the pitchers dating from the years 100 and 800 are so strikingly realistic that it will take your breathe away. Art produced under Spanish colonial rule is on display, and the modern period is well represented by Fernando Botero of Columbia and Diego Rivera, José Guadalupe Posada, Frida Kahlo, and Rufino Tamayo of Mexico. Bold new paintings from contemporary Latin American artists are also presented.

The exhibit of course focuses on portraiture, and so presents a dizzying history of Latin America’s indigenous leaders, Spanish conquerors, heroic revolutionaries, scholars, clergy, as well as portraits of the ordinary men and women who contributed to the history of the Americas. An illustrated overview of the exhibit can be seen here. Jointly organized by the San Antonio Museum of Art, El Museo del Barrio (New York City), and the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, the show is comprised of 114 works in different media, ranging from sculpture and photography to painting. Retratos runs from April 16th to June 12th, 2005. For more information on the San Diego showing, visit the San Diego Museum of Art website. (posted by Mark Vallen)

A Xicano Leader Dies

Time to carry on the torch! Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales was one of the Chicano Movement’s most vital and important leaders. On Tuesday, April 12, Corky passed away at his home in Denver, Colorado. He was 76. Much of what Xicanos have today as far as our civil rights, the maintenance of our heritage, and the betterment of our schools is a direct result of Corky’s tireless efforts on behalf of our gente. Corky participated in the major conferences, gatherings, and demonstrations for Xicanos in the 1960s and 1970s, including marching with Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King Jr. He is best known for the 1965 seminal Xicano poem I am Joaquin, which became a best seller and also the subject of a major film.

From information provided by his son Rudy Gonzales to various news publications, Corky Gonzales was a champion amateur boxer and a professional fighter with a 65-9-1 record before retiring in 1955. Corky founded the Crusade for Justice in 1966 as a cultural center dedicated to fight poverty and racial injustice. He also founded Escuela Tlatelolco – Centro de Estudio in 1970 as a not-for-profit school and health care facility.

Corky understood that we needed to establish our own institutions, schools, media and cultural outlets. He paved the way for self-determination in our own struggles while pressuring the government and policy makers for our rights and economic freedoms. Xispas Magazine sends our condolences to Corky’s family and the people of our community. He is someone we should all learn about and learn from. Que descanse en paz.

The Impending Cultural Crisis

[ Another Column of the Americas by our friends Roberto Rodriguez & Patrisia Gonzales, this one written by Roberto. The writers can be reached at XColumn@aol.com]

The cultural clash we are living - the one represented by Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Rice-Wolfowitz-Bolton vs. virtually the rest of the world is not so much a clash as it is a crisis. A cultural crisis - a cultural crisis whose epicenter is the United States, involving ethics and values, and the very vision of the future of humanity. This cultural crisis is being abetted by the very language being employed in this conflict. It involves a monumental struggle over the meaning of precepts and words, including those at the core of our very existence: peace, truth, democracy and life itself. The Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld vision is one of U.S. worldwide military and economic domination, yet outside of the Bush 2002 doctrine, this scheme has been painted more recently as a vision of worldwide democratization - this while this administration has been busy dismantling virtually every democratic institution, not only at home, but worldwide. Those associated with this vision, including the likes of Tom Delay and Newt Gingrich - are supported by a talk radio mindset that discourages checks and balances and dissent.

All this has come under the guise of the “war on terror” - a war so ill-defined that it is virtually a license for permanent worldwide war. Worse, this U.S.-led war is being waged with the assistance of some of the world's most unsavory military dictators. Yet combined, these despots (primarily from the Middles East and the former Soviet Union) weld nowhere near the same amount of power as the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld troika. Since 9-11, international law and all its institutions have been not just cast aside by this administration, but actively undermined. The International War Crimes tribunal (the administration insists on its soldiers being exempt from its jurisdiction), Guantanamo (it's prison was built specifically to be out of the reaches of U.S. courts) and Abu Ghraib (emblematic of the widespread use of torture by U.S. forces) are the most salient examples of the flouting of international law.

This doesn't even include the administration's ordering of secret mass (post 9-11) arrests (without charges or legal representation) of thousands, nor does it include the subsequent and even more draconian USA Patriot Act (anyone can be targeted and presumed guilty until proven innocent). Neither does it include the assertion that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to the United States (green light for secret indefinite detentions and widespread torture and abuse). All this amounts to the creation of a moated society based on fear - principally, the fear of outsiders - aided and abetted by a compliant media that has, in effect, succumbed to self-censorship. With this track record - this radical cultural shift is being promoted as part of that worldwide democratization effort. This is what is producing a cultural crisis to the point of reaching critical mass. The camel's proverbial back is on the verge of breaking.

A culture built upon proven falsehoods (the need to rush to war because of the imminent threat Iraq posed to the United States and the free world) will eventually have to reconcile its moral scorecard with its children. The very meaning of truth is at stake. But there will never be reconciliation because admitting that the war was trumped up would be to admit not only to the war's illegality, but it would open up the administration to legal liabilities. And thus, the administration will instead continue to change its rationales as to why it went to war. Such a nation - with superpower status - that insists upon imposing its culture upon the world - will soon see its culture come under extreme scrutiny. And the verdict is in. The world is not clamoring to emulate that U.S. culture of domination. That's why the cultural crisis is at home, not abroad.

At a certain point, a lie, pedaled as truth, will eventually crumble. Time does not convert falsehoods into truth, not does it convert immoral and illegal wars into moral and legal ones. Militarism pedaled as peacemaking, while leaving death and destruction in its wake, will invariably cause dissonance or delusion. (Previously, mass delusion was winning hands down). Preaching about a culture of life (respect for the unborn and the dying), while spreading and promoting permanent worldwide war (or the expansion of the death penalty) will invariably cause the world to ask: What is it about this culture we are supposed to be embracing or emulating? Now, U.S. citizens are beginning to ask the very same question. This is what is precipitating this cultural crisis.

11th Annual Marcha por Zapata

On Sunday, April 10th, in East Los Angeles, there will be a mass demonstration to honor the memory, life, and work of Mexican Revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. In the spirit of land, justice, and liberty. the Marcha por Zapata has taken place each year in East Los since 1994. The march has as its demands, "Stop the recruitment of raza youth to fight in Iraq, documents and licenses for all, support indigenous rights and culture, defend the struggling workers, farmers, and indigenous all over the continent, and no to white supremacy." Xispas encourages everyone in Southern Cali to join this protest. People should gather at 9 am at the corner of Lorena Street and Cesar Chavez Ave. in East LA. The protestors will then march to Parque de Mexico (corner of Main Street, Valley Blvd & Mission Road - adjacent to Lincoln Park). A rally featuring socially conscious music and speakers will take place at the park starting at 11 am. ¡Viva Zapata!

Frida Kahlo’s Clothes

While renovating Casa Azul (Blue House), the home-turned museum of Frida Kahlo located in the Coyoacan neighborhood of Mexico City, administrators of the museum were surprised to make a remarkable find. When work began on restoring the private areas of the home/museum… a huge wardrobe of 180 articles of clothing were uncovered. Many of the costumes found were depicted in Kahlo’s famous self-portraits, and the collection includes shawls, shoes, and the indigenous jewelry she was so well known for wearing. Also found were the pair of earrings given to Kahlo as a gift from Pablo Picasso. Kahlo famously showed off Picasso’s offering in a self-portrait that featured the ornaments shaped like tiny hands.

Many of Kahlo’s trademark dresses are from the state of Oaxaca, where seamstresses in Tehuantepec patterned clothes following ancient Zapotec Indian traditions… a craft carried on in the present. Of course, Kahlo and her famous husband Diego Rivera, like many Mexican artists of the day, were extremely interested in and inspired by the Aztec, Mayan, and Olmec civilizations that once ruled the country. These progressive minded artists sought to break the ties to European culture and establish an authentic Mexican culture based on indigenous foundations. While today people may regard Kahlo’s hand-embroidered Indian dresses and pre-Columbian jewelry as fashionable… it is noteworthy to remember that when she wore her Tehuana dresses she was defying the bourgeois conventions of Mexico’s elites, who preferred European aesthetics over anything Mexican.

Despite the mainstreaming and commercialization of Frida Kahlo, she remains an important figure for many reasons. Her artistic creations came to be world renown, attracting the attention of artists around the world, including the founder of surrealism, André Breton. Kahlo was a fierce nationalist and a communist, and her militant politics led her to champion the poor throughout her life. Her last public act was to take part in a demonstration in opposition to the US backed coup in Guatemala, despite the fact that she was suffering from pneumonia. She died eleven days later in 1954 at the age of 47. Perhaps above all else, she is remembered for her inner strength and resolve, which has served as an inspiration to women all over the world. As her famous husband put it so eloquently, "She is the first woman in the history of art to treat, with absolute and uncompromising honesty… one might even say with impassive cruelty, those general and specific themes which exclusively affect women."

Casa Azul is the house where Frida Kahlo was born and died. Diego Rivera arranged to have all of Kahlo’s possessions recovered in her home to remain on display there, making the recently discovered artifacts a part of the museum’s permanent collection. Today Casa Azul is one of Mexico’s most-visited museums, and its officials are looking to a special exhibit of the newly discovered clothes to take place a year from now. When that exhibit takes place, you can be sure that Xispas will be writing about it. (posted by Mark Vallen)

Living the legacy of Cesar Chavez

[ Xispas will be running the Column of the Americas by our friends Roberto Rodriguez & Patrisia Gonzales. The writers can be reached at XColumn@aol.com ]

"Like most campesinos, Cesar Chavez was the color of the earth. There's little doubt that history will one day look back on the United Farm Worker movement as an indigenous insurrection - a struggle for dignity and human rights for a people who have been here forever. It should also be seen as a green movement as the UFW has always warned consumers about their own exposure to toxic chemicals. When one hears the name of Cesar Chavez, it is usually associated with Martin Luther King Jr. or Mahandas Gandhi. The late Mexican American labor leader came into national prominence for his several historic fasts (1960s-1990s) that brought to light the plight of farm workers. Yet as we celebrate his birthday (March 31), we should always remember that he co-founded the United Farm Worker's of America with his wife, Helen Chavez, and Dolores Huerta and that their very first strike was in support of Filipino farm workers.

Perhaps one day, his name will also be associated with the likes of Zapata, Geronimo and Sitting Bull. On the day before Chavez died in Arizona in 1993, he was reading a book on Native Americans. At this, he told a colleague: “We need to work with our Native American brothers and sisters.” It's no secret that most campesinos are indigenous or Indian and many nowadays come directly from their pueblos in Mexico and Central America, speaking Zapotec, Otomie, Nahuatl or a variety of Maya languages. But even those who do not speak their ancestral tongue are indigenous; they have always had a special relationship to the land. Their hands tell us this. As Huerta has often said, farm workers do not hate their work… they're not all trying to escape the fields. They love the land. What they don't like is the low pay and the extreme exploitation. To this day, farm workers remain outside of the protection of the National Labor Relations Board. And they are treated as foreigners. In dictionaries, the word dehumanization should come illustrated with pictures of hunched-over farm workers. Chavez used to say that the UFW was born the day the Bracero program was abolished in 1964. The Bracero program, was in effect, modern slave labor. Workers had no rights, except the right to be exploited and shipped back home. In fact, many (of those still alive) are owed money withheld from their paychecks from the 1940s-1960s.

A generation later, and now, incredulously, there's a push for another bracero program, albeit with a different name. So desperate is the situation regarding the border that this new “guest worker” program is being touted as a solution. If Chavez were alive, he would say this legalized indentured labor is the problem, not the solution. The move to legally codify a category of humans with less rights and less pay is contrary to the march of history. It's a return to 19th century coolie labor; contract them cheaply (leave their families behind), subject them to inhumane working conditions, then ship them home. If they escape, sic the Migra on them. And if they have not given the patron any trouble (union organizing), they can return. This is seen as an alternative to dying in the desert and continuing to work in the shadows. Unless contested, this may become the future model labor for the United States. Perhaps a better alternative and interim solution can be found in Europe. There, workers from any of the 25 nations that make up the European Community are legally entitled to work in each other's nations. In North America - as a result of NAFTA -- jingoistic politicians treat human beings not as workers, but as criminals. Under this tri-national agreement, goods and capital generally flow freely, but not human beings.

To conveniently assuage America's fears, hard-working migrants are now conflated with terrorists, thus the push to further militarize the border. Some will not be happy until there's an impregnable 2000-mile wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, patrolled by trigger-happy vigilantes. The merchants of fear have done a great disservice to humanity by getting people to see the issue of migration within the context of criminality or “the war on terrorism,” rather than as part of a global economic phenomenon - one that could easily be resolved. If Chavez taught us anything, it was to appreciate the men and women who provide us our daily sustenance. This begins by accepting and treating all workers as full human beings." © Column of the Americas 2005

¡Libros Si! ¡Bombas No!

On April 2nd, over 3,000 people staged a 3 mile march through downtown Salinas in Central California’s fertile Salinas Valley to protest government budget cuts that will permanently close the city’s three public libraries. Demonstrators chanted: ¡Libros Si! ¡Bombas No! (Book yes! Bombs no!) ¡Si, Se Puede! (Yes we can!), and ¡Viva Chavez! as they snaked their way through poor neighborhoods to the Cesar Chavez Public Library. The libraries are the city’s community centers, where farm worker’s children can study, use computers, and wait after school until their parents come home from the fields. One marcher said, ‘When you close libraries, you are closing off opportunities. It is particularly wrong when you are closing them in a poor community. Where are the kids going to go to use a computer?’ Over 3,000 UFW Aztec eagle flags had been passed out to the demonstrators, so the march was a sea of red. All three of the public libraries in Salinas, the hometown of Nobel laureate John Steinbeck, will be closed on June 30th due to “lack of funds.” Salinas, known as “the Salad Bowl of the World”, is a city built on agribusiness where more than half of the population are native Spanish speakers.

The march not only included organized labor from the United Farm Workers (UFW), but also hundreds of poets, regional and local authors, artists, peace activists and library supporters. The marchers rallied in front of the Cesar Chavez library - one of the three branches scheduled for closure. The other two branches are named after Steinbeck, who took imagery from the Salinas landscape and it’s depression-era population when writing The Grapes of Wrath. The rally site included live bands on a stage sponsored by Radio Campesina, the UFW-owned station. The marchers joined with hundreds who had camped out overnight at the library to stage a 24-hour fundraising read-a-thon against the closings. The read-a-thon began with County Supervisor Fernando Armenta reading from Cesar Chavez’s Farm Workers Prayer, “Show me the suffering of the most miserable, so I will know my people’s plight. Free me to pray for others, for you are present in every person.” The readers were also joined by Salinas City Councilman Sergio Sanchez, who spent the night in a tent on the grounds and who noted that the read-a-thon never stopped throughout the night.

The shutdown would make Salinas the largest American city without a public library. UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta addressed the crowd, saying “This is not a poor community, this is a rich area. But the wealth… we know, is not in the hands of the workers, it’s in the hands of the growers. We want to get back some of the money we made for them to keep this library open!” Actor Hector Elizondo, best known for starring in TV’s medical drama Chicago Hope, told those assembled that libraries had been key to his own development, he called a library a sanctuary, “A place where you could be creatively subversive… and it changed my life because through books I started to question.” Elizondo also said that closing a library was like “putting a tourniquet around your mind.” The read-a-thon also attracted writers Anne Lamott and Maxine Hong Kingston. Poet and artist, Jose Montoya, one of the original members of the Culture Clash theater troupe, told the crowd that “It’s hard to comprehend why, of all things, you would want to close libraries… that’s so counterproductive.” Fernando Suarez, the father of a young US Army soldier killed in Iraq also spoke from the podium, and speakers repeatedly made the point that while hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent for war in Iraq… money cannot be found to keep libraries open at home. The libraries will close unless $500,000 is raised by June 30th, and even that amount of money will only keep the libraries open one day a week through 2005. At the march and rally thousands signed petitions asking Governor Schwarzenegger to keep the libraries open, and a much larger march is being planned for April 12th in the state’s capital of Sacramento where demands will be made for full funding of the libraries.

Lincoln Cushing, author of Revolution: Cuban Poster Art, came with a San Francisco Bay area delegation of the national Progressive Librarians Guild. Cushing told the crowd, “The Progressive Librarians Guild wishes to let the people of Salinas know that we see this issue as being at the forefront of public access in this country, and the labor community has a long history of resisting abuse, and one of the slogans is ‘An injury to one is an injury to all.’ Salinas may be taking the hit now, but we are all vulnerable!” Cushing’s remarks are in part verified by the American Library Association, who have been warning that hundreds of libraries across the country are reducing hours, eliminating staff, thinning inventories, and closing their doors due to lack of funding. The staff at Xispas understands this crisis in a historical context. The former dictator of Nicaragua, Anastasio Somoza, once said “I don’t want an educated population, I want oxen.” It seems that Somoza’s ghost now haunts our land, and a tourniquet is indeed being placed around the minds of working people. Compañeras y compañeros -it is time to resist. For more information, visit the Save Salinas Libraries website.