Meztiza Rhetoric

"And a child shall lead them..."

2010-10-21T19:03:00.000-07:00

Living along the U.S. / Mexico border, just miles from Cuidad Juárez, which has been called the most dangerous city in the world, I hope and pray everyday that something happens to change the direction of this city and country in peril. I think the winds of change have begun to blow. Marisol Valles Garcia, a 20 year-old student majoring in criminology, married, and with one child, was offered a job that nobody else in Mexico wanted. After the mayor of Guerrero heard her plan on how to make the city safer, he offered her the job of police chief. Shortly after, Marisol was named the police chief of a small town called Praxedis G. Guerrero just 35 miles south of Juárez.

As the police chief, she refuses to carry a gun, but has been given two body guards. She says that her goal as police chief is not to go after the drug cartel but to focus on the community and help disapate their fear of all the violence that has been going on in around their community. Her plan also includes hiring more women to the force not as deputies to enforce the law, but as advocates of the community going door to door building the faith and confidence in the people that they can have a community again.

I have read all sorts of criticisms throughout the interent about how Marisol Valles Garcia is foolish, that she isn't thinking straight, that she isn't qualified, and that she is helpless against the power of the drug cartels. I respond to the naysayers by pointing out the fact that none of the men of Praxedis G. Guerrero applied for the job or have come forward with ideas on how to improve the social health of the community. In Spanish there is a phrase, "son sin verguenzas," which in English means "they have no shame." The men of Praxedis G. Guerrero have no shame in having a young woman step up to a leadership position. She is well aware of the situation she is going into, and sometimes it takes an act of courage, such as Marisol Valles Garcia's, to serve an example to the rest of the world that the only thing to fear is fear itself.

Dame la Mano: A Class Project

2009-12-06T19:53:00.000-08:00

I have been away from blogging for sometime now. Life has taken its course. I started my post-doctoral position as research and writing specialist with the Office of Strategic Initiatives at UTEP, and then a month and a half later I defended my dissertation, Claiming the Discursive Self: The Rhetoric of Mexican Women Journalists, 1875-1924, this July. Since then, I have been just trying to catch up on either sleep or time to read.

Now that I've caught up on life I want to report on my Spring '09 semester. I taught one section of 3355 Workplace Writing and Organizational Communication. The course includes a major project at the end of the semester that asks students to chose a company and write a recommendation analysis/report for upper management. The first part of the course, however, delves into the theoretical bearings of rhetoric and examining businesses through a rhetorical lens. We read Community Action and Organization Change by Brenton Faber, which explains through ethnographic naratives how businesses are discursive constructions, and that in order to alter the direction or reality of a business, that it first must be done through discourse. One of Faber's main critiques in his first chapter deals with the disconnect between academe and university courses and the real business world. Although the students from the Fall '08 semester seemed to have learned a great deal from conducting the analysis/report on the companies, I thought I would take this critique to heart.

Every Christmas Even when I was growing up, my mom and dad would take all of the kids out caroling to families who were less fortunate than us. We would take them food and tidings of good joy. Christmas Eve of 2008 was no different. I stopped by at my parent's house, and they were gathering what they could for an not-for-profit organization they had heard about on a radio announcement that needed food and clothing for battered and homeless women. I loaded myself along with several hams, canned food items, and clothing to take to the shelter. We drove through the lonely streets of Segundo Barrio, an old neighborhood in which mostly Mexican-Americans live and thrive. We found the shelter called Dame la Mano at the very end of the block. There were other good semaritans there loading the front room up with foods, treats for the children, and need toiletries.

The shelter seemed pretty well taken care of by the community of El Paso. I asked for a flier or a brochure that I could have to take home and share with others. The Director, Rose Arellano, handed me a newsletter. A newletter is the first impression of an organization, telling the reader who they are, what their mission is, and what activities are taking place. It should be sharp, well-written, containing vibrant pictures and design to convey the life of an organization. But Dame la Mano's newsletter was anything but. It had mispellings throughout the public document. The paragraphs were not well written and had little relevance to the audience. It only told of the first days of the organization, which had been over 15 years ago.

I asked my students if they were interested in substituting the major research project with a project that would not only get them involved in their community, but also teach them about how discourse shapes and can have transformative powers within organizations. On Cesar Chavez Day, we visited Dame la Mano, and met with the directors of the organization. My students asked what they would like to see in their brochures. What information would be helpful? In what language should they be written? What stories would you like to see in newsletter? These questions gave the students an idea of how to approach their projects.

Groups of students completed their brochures, newsletters, etc. and presented them to Dame la Mano on the last day of class. Beltran Printing here in El Paso donated over 500 brochures and newsletters to the organization. Dame la Mano was extremely appreciative of the class's efforts. This past May, Dame la Mano was invited to the White House to talk about their efforts to help people along the border with their non-profit organization. They were able pass out the brochures and newletters that my class had created to bring more funding and recognition to their work.

¡Esto es el trabajo de la mujer Latina!

In Memory of Petra Casas

2009-03-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

Today, I remember Petra Casas, grandmother of my best friend, Cythia Casas Bishop. I have known Cindy now for almost 18 years, and our friendship strengthens with each memory we share. We have a special connection in that that we both hold dear and love deeply our abuelas. Cindy was my friend when my grandmother, Ramona Gonzalez was alive. I know Cindy remembers coming over to my house where I lived with my abuelita to eat lunch, or take naps before we kept studying for the night. The fact that Cindy has in her memory images and recuerdos of my grandmother, connects this dear friend to my ancestrial past. In return, I have dear memories of Cindy's grandmother, Petra. (The picture above is from Cindy's wedding to Steve Bishop this past July in Albuquerque, NM. From left, Petra Casas, Cindy Casas Bishop, and Elvia Casas)

Nuestras abuelas nos dan los más dulces momentos y recuerdos de nuestras vidas. Nunca, nunca se nos olvidará de nuestras abuelas.

In Memory - Petra Casas September23, 1923 - February 24, 2009

Around El Paso on Martin Luther King Jr. Day

2009-01-20T12:08:00.000-08:00

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 19, 2009, is a time to remember one of the greatest African-American leaders of our time. But the day is also about commemorating what he stood for: freedom for all people. Monday afternoon I drove down to the non-profit organization, Dame la Mano, and saw some images that reflected the spirit of the day. As I was getting back into my car, I saw a group of children playing in the street. They weren't playing ball or some of the typical street games. They were gathered playing the traditional Mexican bingo game called LOTERIA. I couldn't resist. The sun danced perfectly off road warming the small breeze that blew down the street, and so I sat down next to Kimberly and said, "Yo quiero jugar." The looked at me kinda strange. I'm sure they thought, "Que hace esta señora?" But I played a couple of rounds of LOTERIA with Kimberly, Emmanuel, Caleb, Hillary, and Adan. "El pescado. La pera. El boracho. La dama. El diablito. La muerte. El arbol. La chalupa. El pajaro. El sol. La luna. La corona."

Getting in my car and driving north to go home, I came upon a group of students and community members who were painting a mural on the wall of small grocery store in Segundo Barrio. They are working on a series of murals in Segundo called Heroes de Segundo Barrio. This day, they were working on the mural of El Paso DJ, Steve Crosno. The muralists were Ruben Velez, Eddie Velez, Albert Calzada, Jesus, Jerry Calvio, and Kimberly.

Another Mexican Revolution in Juarez, Mexico

2009-01-17T15:43:00.000-08:00

The year 2008 found Juarez, Mexico in the grips of terror. It has been reported that just over 1600 people were murdered on the streets of Juarez, Mexico. (I wouldn't take this as the official count because I think that there were more!) Already in the first days and weeks of 2009, over 50 people have been killed in Juarez. I've seen the sad reports with the gruesome pictures of people being run over with vehicles to headless corpses hanging from city bridges for the better part of a weekday morning! The people in Juarez are victims of a lawless environment! First, the drug cartel conduct daily murders on the open streets of Juarez. They don't care who they kill, or how they kill. They are sending a message! One would hope that if your city were being terrorized by criminals that the law, the government, or the military would be there to protect them, especially since the people do not have the right to carry a weapon. BUT THEY ARE NOT PROTECTING THE PEOPLE! THEY HAVE TURNED A BLIND EYE TO THE TERRORISM AND HAVE SANCTIONED THE ACTIONS OF THE DRUG CARTEL! So what are the people to do, lay down and allow themselves to be held hostage? NO!

"Evil thrives when good people do nothing," is the phrase my husband, Alex, uses for moments such as the one brewing in Juarez. And good people are rising to the moment. This past week a group of business men released a public announcement telling the poeple that they would be financing a retaliatory movment. They call their group of vigilatantes Comando Cuidadano de Juarez or Citizen Comandos of Juarez or CCJ. They have declared, in so many words, that they are fed up with the terror in the streets of Juarez and are prepared to clean up their streets. They have posted a warning, a line in the sand has been drawn, "a criminal will be killed every 24 hours" until the streets of Juarez are once again safe.

Evil thrives when good people do nothing. There has been a Revolution every century since 1810 in Mexico; this one will make 3! Patria y Libertad!

Mayor Cook Vetos El Paso's Voices

2009-01-09T23:07:00.000-08:00

(Picture source, El Paso Newspaper Tree)
We've all heard the saying, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." This week, El Paso City Council member, Beto O'Rourke, laid the ground work for this journey to HELL! What started out as a resolution to extend EL Paso's solidarity with our sister city, Juarez, Mexico, that has been besieged by unchecked violence, has been converted into a major controversial issue. Beto O'Rourke added an ammendment to the resolution that called for a debate on the issue of the drug war being fought right here in our community. I have not been able to find a link to the resolution, but O'Rourke's two cents on the issue that called for "the encouragement of the U.S. federal government to start a "serious debate" on the legalization of drugs" (El Paso Times).

First, I'd like to commend the EL Paso City Council's Border Relation Committee on trying to bring attention to an issue that to me, seems like it has been swept under the table by the majority of America. But I have to agree with Mayor John Cook and Sylvestre Reyes, who commented on this ammendment, that legalizing the use of mariguana is not the solution to the drug war. Mayor John Cook used his veto power to keep the resolution from moving forward, but the resolution has now made major headlines in El Paso and elsewhere. Imagine what this would bring about in Mexico. The drug cartel, murders, terrorists, and money launders, would now become the agents with whom the governments deal with for access to this drug. And then, can you imagine, not only would out school teachers, doctors, airline pilots, mechanics, for that matter, our city council members, could now not only legally drink their woes away, but smoke a joint with that glass of booze. Is that the solution to all our problems, make the issue acceptable? You're 15 and pregnant, well, that's okay! You robbed a bank, well, that's okay. You cooked your books past the boiling point, well, that's okay. Just stay in your penthouse until we can figure out what to do with you. Ay NO!

First, Mexico needs to clean up their act. The government has been in bed with the enemy; for too long they have turned a blind eye to the issue of drug running. Greed has taken hold of the people in power, and the power of the government should be greater than one of human's weakness. But I'm wondering also, if government isn't the result of human weakness? Are we all to blame? Do we all have blood on our hands? Are we all complacent? "Not my children," we argue.

I'm just wondering what SHOULD be done about the drug war. Is there any ONE solution? I'm going to say that the first step, as city council proposed, that the people on the border are NOT a divided people, and that their problem IS our problem.

Maybe it's time for a SUPER HERO!

Local County Commisioner, Anna Perez, Makes Progress

2009-01-06T00:10:00.001-08:00

I am sorry to say that I don't follow local El Paso politics. Too many times the citizens of El Paso hear only negative news on the politicians of El Paso from the sad news of fraud by Raymond Telles to the kick-back charges made toward Sal Mena, ex board of trustee in the El Paso Independent School District. Sadly, the list, and the investigations, go on. All too easily, a local El Pasoan can get discouraged and lose faith in our local government. (Picture above from Anna's website, www.annaperez2008.com)

But today, newly sworn in County Commisioner for Eastside Precinct 1, Anna Perez, caught my eye and positive attention. She is a local talent (and on top of being smart, she is Latina) that went to Texas Tech Law School, and has come back to serve and improve her community along the border. She has a long track record of working for the community from issues on mental health advocacy, to outreach for the disabled and elderly. She is the immediate past President of the Mexican American Bar Association of El Paso, and currently sits on the board of the El Paso Bar Association. But what caught my attention is her desire to get things done in El Paso.

The EL Paso Sportspark, a recreaction spot used by many EL Paso families, has been set aside as a project too big to tackle. But Anna Perez has made the park her priority. She is quoted in yesterday's El Paso Times,

"The Sportspark has to get resolved," Perez said.

"It's gone through several administrations, it's been tossed around, and I'm committed to finally getting it resolved for the families who use that park."

ALthough Anna is not my precinct representative, I will be following her, hoping that she can bring a positive air and noteworthy results to El Paso politics that has, of late, been dragged through the muck.

A Violent Christmas

2008-12-25T16:13:00.001-08:00

Millions of Americans lay tucked in their beds, while images of sugar plums danced in their heads. On this Christmas morn', I awoke at 1 am to to sounds of reverberating shot gun fire and small arms fire dancing in the air. As I lay tucked in my bed, I counted 12 shot gun blasts echo off the El Paso Franklin Mountains swooping down into the valley, my neighborhood, below. I knew these were not the traditional celbratory shots fired on Christmas eve, but the violent and deadly messages the drug caretel have been sending for months to those living along the border. How grim to know that at the end of each blast, a man or woman lay dead in the streets of Juárez. I closed my eyes and said a prayer for the families each of the shot gun blasts would effect. They will not be having a Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo.

I have been silent on my blog for months because I have been busy with writing and researching for my disseration, but equally as much, I have been speechless about what is going down just a stone´s throw from my home, the university, the place I call home.

For months, the violence has escalated to 12, 15, 21 murders EVERY weekend. The media quotes numbers at 1,400 or 1,500 people that have died in neighboring Juárez, but I believe that the number is much higher. Unmarked graves, a poor tracking system of the people, and an indifference for the Mexicans living on the border hinders an actual count of the people who have lost their lives. Just in the last two weeks, the cartel killed the chief of police of Juárez. The cartel has no respect, no care, no scrupels for the lives of anyone. This week, members of the cartel were throwing the decapitated heads of their latest victims from the window of their trucks! When will this end? The people of Juárez, Mexico cannot defend themselves because weapons in Mexico are illegal! Only the criminals have the guns.

I question the attention this issue has received from not only the American press, but also the American government. A war rages in a country neighboring the United States, and their response is to build a wall. The United States continue to take an indifferent stance toward the suffering and serious issues raging just across our borders. Many people feel may feel think "the killings and drug cartel are their problems." More than we know, the killings and drug cartel are our problems. Why? Fifty percent of the drug consumption in the world occurs here in the United States, for marijuana alone, there are 14.6 million drug user in the United States (www.medicalnewstoday.com). Yes, the killings in Juárez, a drug war fighting for the passage ways to sell their product in the United States, IS our problem.

Dr. Scott Lunsford's Dissertation Defense - Public Corrections: The Discipline of Lynne Truss

2008-07-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

On Monday July 14, Scott Lunsford defended his doctoral dissertation in Rhetoric and Writing Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso. Dr. Lunsford's excellent dissertation, Public Corrections: The Discipline of Lynne Truss, centered on the grammar book Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss. Truss, Lunsford argues, erroneously positions literacy as a narrowly defined universal skill, not allowing for alternative literacies. The following is from Scott's dissertation abstract: I look through two lenses to glean what many in popular and academic discourse say about several objects of study that the field of Rhetoric and Writing Studies takes on throughout its own scholarship and practice. First, by appropriating and synthesizing genre theories, I examine the generic function of the book: How does she characterize her own book? Who are Truss‟s intended readers? What does she intend for those readers to do with the book? What are her assumptions about various issues of writing studies, for example, literacy, grammar, and language standardization? Second, through critical discourse theory, I explore many of the reviews and other commentary by authors writing in popular newspapers and magazines, as well as those in academic journals: How do they characterize the book? How do they identify with Truss‟s call for better standards in English? What do they assume about various writing issues? I conclude by discussing some of thedisconnects that continue to separate public and academic attitudes toward writing issues such as literacy, grammar, and the like." Scott's presentation was informative, stimulating, and novel. More importantly, he represents the FIRST graduate of the rhetoric and composition program at UTEP. (His committe below from left to right: Stacey Sowards, Communications, Scott Lunsford, Rhetoric and Writing Studies (RWS), Kate Mangelsdorf, RWS, and Helen Foster, Director of RWS.)

Professional accomplishments aside, Scott and his wife Cecile have been a true asset not only to UTEP but the community of El Paso. Scott pulled off the two most difficult milestones in one's life during the doctoral process: get married and start a family! And then, add the third most difficult thing one could do in their life, get a Ph.D., and that spells all-out insanity. But Scott is a go getter and he accomplished this impossible feat. His wife, Cecile, worked hard with a local high school in the theater department putting on plays for the better of the community. Scott was a great supporter in all of Cecile's endeavors. She even recently completed her Masters degree. Yeah, Cecile. But Scott has compressed all of these milestones, challenges, and hidden opportunities together and created a polished diamond!

I had the privilege of taking some of the same classes with Scott (Dr. Foster's Post-modern class - man that was a tough one - I'm still tired from it..ugh), and learned a great deal from him. Scott is a scholar and an excellent person to boot! James Madison University is certainly lucky to be getting such an outstanding individual as Dr. Lunsford. We (and I feel I can speak for all the faculty and students in the rhetoric and composition program and English Dept.) are so proud of Scott. We know you will not only succeed, but excel where ever you go. We wish you and your family(Cecile and little Lexi) all the best in Virginia. Keep in touch, and you and your family will always have a place here in El Paso.

CONGRATULATIONS, DR. SCOTT LUNSFORD!

The Bhutan Connection in El Paso, Texas

2008-07-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

On my daily rides onto the University of Texas at El Paso's campus, I can sometimes take for granted the unique architecture that surrounds me. UTEP's architectural design is based on the simple yet elegant structure of the Bhutanese building with long slopping walls given dimension by the deep windows and over hanging roofs. The buildings are accented by colorful mosaics of tile along the facade of the building. (See the website below for pictures). Because of the heavy Bhutanese connection, UTEP has developed a close relationship with the people of Bhutan. This past Tuesday, July 8, El Paso was privileged to have the Bhutanese Royal Academy of Performing Arts present their cultural dances and songs. My husband and I went, and we were pleased to see such beautiful costumes and hear hauntingly sacred sounds in the music. The philosophy of the people, which places happiness in life at the center of their existence, is reflected in the colorful costumes and intricate dances. Some of the costumes even reminded me of the Mexican culture's costumes they use for such dance as "El Baile del Venado" and the skull figures from Dia de Los Muertos.

El Paso and the university are blessed to be connected to such an incredible part of the world.

Building a Better Future: Community Service

2008-07-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

Since Barack Obama began speaking to the American public, one of the messages to his audiences has been - giving back to our communities fortifies our nation. He has said on several occasions, "Through service, I found that my own improbable story fit into a larger American story. Through service, I found a community that embraced me, a church to belong to, citizenship that was meaningful, the direction I'd been seeking." Community service is not always easy because of our hectic and busy lives, but if we can substitute the time in front of the television for time with our fellow citizens, we just might find jewels waiting to shine.
Last night my YWCA leadership group, The Positive Gals, culminated our efforts to give away two $1000 scholarships at a local resteraunt. Rudy Chavez from San Elizario, Tx. and April Soto from El Paso, Tx. received their awards last night. Five hundred was given to them directly, and the other $500 goes directly to their school as credit toward classes. Student applicants to the scholarship had to write an 800 - 1000 word essay from the prompt "Be the architect of your life."

Rudy Chavez said that he heard about the essay contest from his sister who was taking Teresa Nevarez's class at El Paso Community College. She brought it home, and Rudy thought he would give it shot. His efforts paid off. Rudy shared with us some of the experiences that have been the building blocks of his life. When he was in the 8th grade, his father brought home an old 1967 truck that he paid $300 for. His dad told him that it was now his truck and he could drive it if he fixed it up. The truck became a several year project for Rudy and his dad. It's now a painted, classic truck that sits in their drive. People stop at their house, knock the door, and ask if he's willing to see his truck. He said, "I'd never sell it." He appreciates the time and effort he put into it too much to get rid of. This young man's attitude is in stark contrast to many of our youth today who are "given" everything, and were not required to work for what they have. Rudy plans to start in the fall at Western Technical to learn auto mechanics. He currently works days with his father at their new business, Ydur Tires, and at night he works at a Limosine Service. Congratulations, Rudy!!

April Soto heard about the scholarship through community outreach. As an ex-teacher at El Paso High, I was generously given access to some of the English teacher's classrooms. Mr. Denny allowed me some time in one of his classes, and April was one of the students in his class. The students in his class didn't seem so enthusiastic about possibly winning $1,000, but the prospect caught April's attention. She worked for several weeks on her essay never giving up hope that she would get the scholarship. Some of the building blocks of her life have come from visits to her grandmother in a small pueblo in Durango, images of sick children in poor communities on PBS, and giving of her time to elderly homes. She wrote in the conclusion of her winning essay, " I believe the best way to predict the future is to build and create it yourself. The experiences from Mexico and my grandmother’s place have contributed to my decision of becoming a nurse. Even the worst experiences like seeing an innocent child dirty and sick on the streets of Juarez have helped me create my future plans. I have chosen to not dwell on my helplessness in these situations, but use them for making me stronger and as the bricks, wood, and cement to build my future." April is currently working at Burlington Coat Factory, and will start classes in the fall at El Paso Community College at the Rio Grande campus. Congratulations, April!

As a group, we owe great thanks to Community Center Empowerment Systems here in El Paso, Tx. who matched our funds of $1000. A big thank you to all the people (more than I can mention here) who donated money to help make the scholarships a reality. Also, a big thank you goes to Karen Marasco at Sunland Park Barnes and Noble for donating $50 worth of school supplies, pens (really nice ones!), notebooks, and planners for April and Rudy.

We wish April and Rudy all the luck

as they start their college and life careers!
Pictured above: Left to right: Maribel Villalba, Yolanda Alameda, Terry Valero, Lucia Dura, Claudia Cochran, Bonnie Apodaca, Rose Galindo, Cristina Ramirez, Terresa Nevarez.

Mestiz@ Scripts, Digital Migrations, and the Teritories of Writing

2008-06-01T11:17:00.000-07:00

Damián Baca´s book on mestiz@ rhetorics was just released this past week. I'm kicking back with a cold glass of jamaica and reading his book. He provides a history of the conquest of the indigenous peoples of mesoamerica. As well, he argues that the people were not a barbaric civilization in need of "civilizing." He shows how the people in mesoamerica before the conquest had established a highly complex system of governance and communication throughout the land. Challenging the main stream view of what accounts as rhetorical texts, Baca presents examples of indigenous dance and pictographs as rhetorical.

Buy the book here.

Researching at the Benson Collection for Writing, Rhetoric, and Latinidad

2008-05-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

This past week I was in Austin, Tx conducting research for my disseration on Mexican women journalists. I've geared the first chapter of my disseration to answer one of the main questions in the special call for paper submitted by Damián Baca and Victor Villanueva: How do we being to understand a broader history of rhetoric within the Americas? I am planning on answering this question through the discourses of Mexican women journalists and how they played into constructing a national Mexican identity in the years 1876-1920. Enjoy my pictures from Austin and the Benson Collection.

The Benson Latin American Collection in Austin is the largest collection of Latin American writings next to the Library of Congress. Doing research is not easy and be quite exhausting. When I arrived in Austin at 7:30 am I hopped on the Flyer 100, the .50 cent shuttle to downtown Austin. I checked in my hotel and headed to the archives. I was greated by a cool breeze of air conditioning. Austin was experiencing really hot and humid weather. Entering the library and getting oriented, I noticed how big the library really is. The wings of the library are separated into rare books and then regular books that can be checked out. On the third floor they have an extensive collection of microfilm. I located some great materials that will enhance my dissertation! I hope my research will make a difference!

College English -- Call for Submissions
Call for Submissions
For two special issues of COLLEGE ENGLISH, we invite submissions, which should be sent electronically to the journal’s office at cesubs@indiana.edu by July 1, 2008:

Lincoln in English Studies: In February 2009, historians will celebrate thebicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. Why and how should our disciplinestudy him, too? Besides his own rhetoric, contributors might examine how hehas figured in works of fiction, visual culture, English courses, orEnglish scholarship.

Writing, Rhetoric, and Latinadad (guest editors: Damián Baca and VictorVillanueva):

With Latinas and Latinos comprising the United States’ largestlinguistic and ethnic “minority,” this issue will consider the historicalknowledge that the field of rhetoric and composition needs to constructsocially relevant pedagogies. Particularly welcome are essays that defineLatina/Latino rhetorics in comparison to Greco-Latin ones. How do we beginto understand a broader history of rhetoric within the Americas, forexample? How can Latina/Latino rhetorics that pre-date the teaching ofEnglish in the Americas transform composition studies? How might resistantand de-colonial Latina and Latino rhetorics challenge Eurocentric historiesand historiographies of writing and writing instruction? How can greaterunderstanding of the unique historical trajectories of indigenous, Spanish,and English rhetorical ways affect our current attempts to include Latinoand Latina language experiences in our composition classrooms? What arehistoricallinks among AmerIndian rhetorics (i.e., those of Latin American andCaribbean indigenous peoples as distinct from their more Northern brothersand sisters)? How would these have affected, and been affected by, Spanishcolonial rhetorics?

Guest Blogger: A Rhetoric of Argument and Life

2008-05-14T08:03:00.001-07:00

Isaac Campos 05/09/2008

And so it is that the Spring 2008 at UT El Paso has come to a close. The time has finally come to take a deep breath and ask the ourselves “did we learn anything?” The answer is a straight yes when it comes to English.

One of the most notorious, and sometimes annoying, aspects of this writer is his tendency to be critical about just about everything. Almost in every action, almost, I usually like to take a few seconds and think, “why am I doing this?” This question has lead to many astonishing conclusions which sometimes denoted the lack of purpose I had while performing some activities; classes are not any different. When I’m sitting in my room memorizing for the third straight year in high school the same birth date of the same person, I have to wonder, “why am I doing this? And more importantly, “How is this helping me at all?” The answer is, that it is not helping at all.

Eventually the time came for me to wonder, “Why am I in this rhetoric class?” The answer, unlike the history classes in high school, lead me to realize just how much I was learning about writing and the forging of strong arguments. As I read my papers, they did not sound as just an unguided train wreck anymore, but as a real argument. The advantage of using the techniques taught in Mrs. Cristina D. Ramirez’s English 1312 class was clearly seen in my essays.

One of such techniques that bettered my writing was “Stasis Theory” which is a way in which to develop a conclusion. When I included it in my final paper, it was very notorious that the conclusion had greatly improved compared to the regular conclusion I developed for my essay. Stasis theory is only one of the many argument-strengthening techniques I learned in English 1312.

Besides improving my writing, the class also taught me to be more aware my surroundings. How so? Well, for one thing, it may be become more aware of the deluding arguments advertisers sue to convince us to purchase their product. Understanding these arguments allowed me to become nigh “immune” to their rhetorical techniques. Another aspect of the class that made the most impact on this writer would be the way in which rhetoric impacts and can impact our lives.

Back in the age of the Greeks, some of the wise ones of their time set themselves to propagate rhetoric throughout the land. They wanted to do so to provide the people of their time with the means to defend themselves in the everyday life. This class has accomplished so by providing the techniques that allowed this writer to canalize the feelings and sentiments inside of him and make them a convincing argument. This aspect is very much crucial for any conversation or form of writing; being passionate about a subject will only get you to a certain place, but not towards victory over the opposite side, which what we all want, right?

Besides all of the techniques, which already justified the class, I can most certainly attest that I greatly enjoyed the time I spent writing about the rhetoric of video games. The way the general consensus is right now, few if any teachers would have allowed me to write something about video games; I was allowed to do so in this class. What better thing to write about than my favorite hobby?

Hence, because of the ample amounts of useful information that I learned, and because of the great time I had all throughout the semester, let us conclude that the class was a success. 1312 not only changed my writing, but it also changed the way I looked at my surroundings. Hence, it is also possible to conclude that English 1312 was indeed rhetorical.

Guest Blogger

2008-05-05T14:51:00.001-07:00

Oscar Veliz. 05/05/2008
Already the end of the semester has come leaving some gladness and some sadness. Gladness being that I'll get my Saturdays back and will be able to sleep in after the long week. Sadness being that I'm going to miss Prof. Ramirez's unique English class.

It is not very often that I'm shocked at what is in my syllabus because normally they all read the same. Quiz this day. Paper due that day. Test in a week. And Final on whatever future day. This class had something that I did not expect out of the gate, a blog. At first I was apprehensive with creating my own blog, thinking "What am I going write about?" All I really needed to do though was take the plunge and set up an account on Google. Once I started using Blogger and realizing how simple it was to use, the blog pretty much wrote itself. Visit my blog here.

Of course we had class as well with some required readings. Most of all of which were about rhetoric. Go figure. An actual definition of the word is hard to nail down because I have my own that I'm used for my research paper, as does every other member of the class. As a whole, we created a working definition that stated "rhetoric is an epistemic art created by a rhetor for the purpose of change." As a class we learned about ethos, pathos, and logos; which we've all learned about in high school but not nearly the level that we utilized it in this class. The easiest element for me to grasp was logos/fallacy mainly because I'm a computer programmer so I use a lot of logic to solve problems and write programs. Pathos and Ethos I still mix up from time to time even though Prof. Ramirez hammered them into my skull.

I think that the part of the class that sticks out in my mind is that we always used technology. Whether it was the simple use of a projector for notes or posting syllogisms on WebCT, listening to NPR to analyze an article's rhetorical elements, reading New York Times articles, doing research for our research paper, etcetera. We each created a video essay representing the change in our topic over time, for our research paper, using PhotoStory.

Speaking of research papers, mine is on Sherlock Holmes and how he is rhetorical. Surprisingly, even though Sherlock Holmes is found in the world of fiction, he is very much real to many people all over the world from the United Kingdom to the United States to Japan to India to Russia. There are Sherlock Holmes societies everywhere devoted to studying Sherlock Holmes Canon and have scholarly discussions regarding him. In the US there exists the Baker Street Irregulars (BSI), who publish a quarterly journal with various scholars submitting articles. I selected one of the articles in this publication to analyze its rhetorical elements for this class.

After the middle of the semester I'd started noticing that almost everything I saw, read, or heard had some sort of rhetoric in it. Whether it be bottle water advertisements or segments I'd seen on the news. More often, I started to question if everything I heard is valid. Normally checking a statement for fallacies or one-sidedness. In fact, I think I've always done that, but now I have a term, a definition for this analysis and I've come to begin thinking more critically.

As the semester comes to it's conclusion, I realize that this class has grown on me and that I may have grown because of it. Even still, I'm going to like having my Saturday's back.

Dulce Recuerdos de mi Abuela: Ramona Gonzalez (Jan. 6, 1906 - May 5, 1994)

2008-05-03T22:38:00.000-07:00

May 5 marks the anniversary of my grandmother's passing from this physical world.

I lived with my grandmother the last five years of her life. Every morning right at 6:45, she would get up, boil some water, make a cup of instant coffee, and sit down and eat a pan dulce. While playing cards later in the afternoons, she would look at me, a wild eyed and energetic college student, and confess "You know I steal energy from you." Silence. The click from the edges of the cards being placed on the table would resonate through the kitchen. Not once did she look up from her game of solitare. I glanced at her, noticing the white curtains catching the morning breeze behind her. I would answer, "Ah, si, that´s nice, grandma." I thought that she was a bit strange for saying that, but then again, I felt like taking a nap every day at around 1 pm. Hmmm, maybe she was.

My husband, Alex, says that we live in a disposable society, and that we keep the crap and throw away the valuable stuff. He comments, "As an American society, we are in such a bad place because we throw away our old people letting them rot in old folks homes. Our actions are a sad commentary on our society." Our elders are our connections to the past, and we break that connection when we forget about our roots. I will never forget my abuela, Ramona. She had a gift of knowing how to use language, and could hold a group of people in suspense with her cuentos and chistes.

The sweetest memory I have of my grandmother is my 21st birthday. For my birthday, I wanted to have a get together with my friends at my house where I was staying with my grandmother. Worried that grandma would not want to stick around, I asked her if there was anything I could do to accommodate her. She said no, and that she wanted to meet my friends. The evening of my birthday arrived and my friends started to arrive. Perched in her regular seat at the head of the table, my grandmother was the focus of attention as my friends entered the small house. Each of them approached her and greeted her with the utmost respect. After the food, and after the singing of "Happy Birthday," I cut the cake.

We all sat down at the table and watched as my grandmother said to my Swedish friend Tina, "Give me your hand." She put down her fork piled with cake and extended her hand to my grandmother. She turned my friend´s hand over, palm up, and brushed her hand over it. My grandmother murmured, "Hmmm, muy interestante," and a hush fell over my friends. "What is it? What do you see?" Tina demanded, with eyes wide ready to peer into her future. Grandma preceded to read the lines zigzagging on her hand and fingers. That evening, each of my friends touched my grandmother's hands letting her smooth over their palm and tell them about their future. With each hand she touched, she told a story, and all my friends listened. I think they forgot that it was my birthday party. But that didn't matter. My friends enjoying my grandmother's wisdom was the greatest gift.

Esa noche viene a mi mente hoy dia.

Abuela
- Cristina D. Ramirez

The fragile days I spent with you
the last years of your days
rushed by like the currents of el Río Bravo.
No estas aqui.

Puedo oír tus cuentos y dichos
In my mind
Like echoes through a canyon.
The memories of your words mix with the smells of guiso y calavasas
cooking on the stove.
The knowledge you imparted with me
chases away my ignorance
like the first signs of spring's arrival
on a winter’s afternoon;
Your wisdom resides in me.
Pero tu, no estas aqui.

Before, I would not let the wisdom in,
I thought it to be old-fashioned,
A tattered book with yellowed edges,
abandoned on a shelf unread.

Abuela, me has dejado un gran plato
servido con palabras y memorias
De tu juventud.

Abuela, I feel you now,
Como el sol en las espaldas
De una mujer sin blusa.
I embrace my memory of you
Like a child embraces her mother
For the last time.
Abuela, si estas aqui.

Cinco de Mayo: Mexican History is American History

2008-05-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

Cinco de Mayo seems to be a day for people in America to get drunk, party, have sales at department stores, or take a day off from work. Do they really know what they are celebrating? I don't think so. In 1962 the Spanish, English and French had come to Mexico on the pretext to collecting debt from the Mexican government. While the Spanish and English left, (the Spanish had been defeated in 1810), the French decided to stay. Under Napoleonic rule, the French brought the Prince of Hapsburg, Maximilian and his wife, Carlota. Napoleon's French Army entered Mexico undefeated in 50 years, and invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion. The Mexican people wanted to create their own nation, their own identity; they were not going to stand idly by. On May 5, 1962, a Mexican army of 4,000 sliders faced an army of French soldiers and Mexican traitors who joined the French equaling about 8,000 men.

General Zaragossa ordered Colonel Díaz (who would later become president and dictator in Mexico) to mark with his cavalry, the best in the world, meeting the French flanks. In response to the confrontation, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Díaz and his men, who proceeded to butcher the undefeated French army. The French did not give up. The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through thick, slippery mud, created by an ensuing thunderstorm, and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes. By the battles' end, many French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Díaz's superb horsemen miles away. (Very interesting side note to history not many people know). The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon III from supplying the American Confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build the greatest army the world had ever seen. This grand army smashed the Confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of Puebla, essentially ending the Civil War. Could Mexico defeating the French have given unity to our American nation? Nothing is impossible.

The French were not kicked out by any means after the battle. A year later, they occupied Mexico, with Maximilian as ruler. In 1867, Benito Juárez, the first full blooded indigenous national, and his men defeated the French again and expelled them from the country.

So this is why people celebrate Cinco de Mayo. The history connects Mexico and America in a show of force and patriotism that shaped both of our histories, Mexican and American. If we could only do the same today we would be a strong nation and people.

Pictured above: A basketball hoop post. This picture was taken in a colonia of Durango, Mexico.

National Hispana Leadership Conference

2008-04-29T14:08:00.000-07:00

National Hispana Leadership Conference

Vision: Latinas as Ethical World Leaders

Mission: To develop Latinas as ethical leaders through training,

professional development, relationship building, and community and world activism.

Latina Empowerment Conferences

Camino Real Hotel101 South El Paso StreetEl Paso, TX 799018:00 AM to 12:30 PM

LECTURE 2008 Schedule

March 28
Tampa, FL
May 2 El Paso, TX
May 30
Detroit, MI
June 27
Jersey City, NJ
August 22
Seattle, WA

"The Harvesters" by Edward Gonzalez

This Friday I will be attending the National Hispana Leadership Institute. El Paso is lucky that NHLC will be stopping here. As a city situated right on theh border and so far west Texas, we usually get looked over and these conferences end up in places like San Antonio or Dallas. Thank you NHLI for supporting El Paso's Latinas! Thank you for the scholarship to attend the conference as well! ¡Ay nos vemos!

Please stay tuned, I will post pictures and analysis of the conference presentations.

Robert N. Gaines Scholarship Fund

2008-04-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

Checking email on Monday morning usually means opening reminders for meetings, possible bills that are sent electronically, lists of requirements for the next semester. But this past Monday, I got an email from Ned O'Gorman Ph.D. at the University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign saying, "Congratulations! You have been awarded a one-year membershp to the American Society of the History of Rhetoric through the Robert N. Gaines scholarship fund."

I don't know about you, but I love getting emails that say Congratulations! especially on a Monday morning. Dr. Carol Clark, our History of Rhetoric I professor at UTEP nominated me for this honor. Thank you, Carol. And a honest, warm thank you to Professor Gaines (pictured above) who teaches out of the Communications Department at the University of Maryland for starting the scholarship. I am truly honored and accept the one-year membership.

2008-04-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

The inspirational quote that appears daily in my google home space today read, "You are the sum of the five people you spend the majority of time with." If the sum of my being includes part of Anita August, author of Gut Bucket Blues, then my personage is blessed and augmented by her contribution। Anita came back to El Paso, Tx। this week from Washington, D।C। to promote her book giving interviews at KTEP with jazz expert Denis Woo (pictured above in sound room), and then presenting her book last night at a reading coupled with live jazz (book cover and program above)। I sat in on the interview she had with Denis, and her true spirit emerged। She talked about jazz music, art and her years at Cal State Art where she started the book. Unfortunately, Denis didn't read the book because it was sold out at the Barnes and Noble on the Eastside of town here, but he grasped the rythm and color of the book without reading a word.

In the interview, Anita spoke of where she gathered the inspiration for telling a story, and it wasn't from a grandmother or mother who told her stories of their past, but from the Bible. Growing up in a Christian household, she only had the Bible to read many times, and so she thumbed through its delicate pages. The story she recounts is the story of the the adulterous woman who was thrown in Jesus's path by men of religious standing. Jesus did not look up from the circle he was drawing in the sand, and asked the men that if they are without sin then they may cast the first stone. None could. And then Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more" (John 8:11). Her inspiration, Anita mentioned, came from stories of people who are not perfect, who are flawed, who are freaks. Those characters attract this author because just below the surface, we are all flawed creatures, at times even freaks to those who know us, and to ourselves.

Anita's reading at the Union last night danced. Accompanied by the sweet jazz of Marty Olivas '91 and QBIZM, the guitar of Rembrant Aaron came to life on cue. Her voice at times was drowned by the music, but that made the audience listen even more closely. People were on the edge of their seats. She read... "When Rebrandt finish beating on his guitar he twist half way on the sweet potato basket and signify with 'em vultures eyes to Diamond Dick and Fingers like he ready to pick some bones clean, "Let's get this funk flying in here.

"That's all Diamond Dick and Fingers was waiting on - The Call. Before Rembrandt twist back 'round to the audience, Fingers done already lower the tone with his harmonica. The sad moaning of it pull you from the Butt-Hutt and drop you smack in the middle of the cotton field. An dyou cain't help but see some old niggah pulling a cotton sack down a row of Delta Pine with a busted back, bleeding fingers, and a demon sun standing watch over him" (43-44).

Last night her friends, profressors, and literary buffs celebrated Anita and her very important accomplishment. Her reading flowed like the blues singin' of her inspiration, Bessie Smith. If you like the music of Bessie, buy the book and you'll be treated to language that sings, purrs, moans, and shrieks all at once.

Abriendo Puertas Cerando Heridas [Opening Doors and Closing Wounds]

2008-04-04T16:02:00.001-07:00

Have you ever had a dream, and the dream seemed impossible and too far away to reach? ¿Has una vez en tu vida tenido un sueno? Y el sueno se te hizo algo increible, algo imposible alcanzar? Two years ago I dreamed to going of Mexico and presenting my doctoral dissertation topic of Mexican women journalists at the turn of the century. My dream is on the road to becoming reality.

The second semester of my doctoral program, I was taking a class with Dr. Sam Brunk, an expert here at UTEP on the Mexican Revolution and Emiliano Zapata, leader of the southern movement. One day I get an email from Dr. Brunk, "I have a student who would like to write a paper on the women journalists during the Mexican Revolution. Could you help her out?" I write back, "Sure, send her over to me."

In the next couple of days, Celia walks into my life. I am showing her my research on Mexican women journalists from 1900. After I tell her about Juana Belén´s life she interrupts me, "I´m from Durango." At the end of 2006, I go down to Durango with her family and spend the week exploring and learning about Durango. I went completely unprepared...no digital camera, no computer with which to do research. I didn´t know I would find so much.

At the library where they house the Hemeroteca (newspaper archives), I found a newspaper called La Bandera Roja published in 1900. A communist leaning newspaper, the editors and contributors to the newspaper were all anonymous using names of past revolutionary liberalists from Mexico such as Ignacio Zaragoza and Melchor Ocampo. In the newspaper, I found a section where Juana Belén had written to the staff congratulating them for their contributions to the liberalist cause. On that same trip, I made it down to San Juan del Río, Durango, the town in which Juana Belén was born in 1875. During my one day visit, I found Juana Beléns baptizimal records which show she was not given the name of Juana Belén, but María Juana Francisca Gutierrez Chavez. This will be a significant find for my research. With that trip, the Rodriguez family opened doors for me by showing me the ins and outs of the city, and providing a free place for me to stay whenever I am there.

On my last trip to Durango, Mexico (Monday, March 31 - Thursday, April 4), I met with several people who will help me advertise the historical importance of Juana Belén. One the persons I met was totally by chance. On Wednesday afternoon as I was leaving the library, I ran into (literally) a much older caballero by the name of Gonzalo Salas. He was looking through his immense collection he had donated to the library years early for a picture of a Mexican politician on whom he is going to write an article. It turns out that Gonzalo Salas has had an illustrious career in Mexican politics under the PRI and is now the President of Cultural Studies of the city of Durango. He publishes a journal through his department and initiates presentations throughout Durango on history, cultural studies, and more. He invited me for a cup of coffee down the street in Durango. After I told him about my reason for being in Durango, he showed great interest in helping my cause. The next day he met with me with Maestro Óscar Luna, Ramiro Corral, and Miguel Ángel Ortiz. These gentlemen head the Festival of Culture they hold every year in February in Durango under the auspices of La Universidad Juárez de Durango. In our meeting, they expressed interest in publishing my dissertation as well, they would like for me to participate in the Festival de Cultura in February by presenting there at UJED and also in San Juan del Río, Durango. This is a fantastic opportunity to take my research beyond the walls of academe and to people who would truly embrace Juana Belén and her important history as an indigenous to their region. If this all does come to fruition, I would love for any of you come down to Durango for a couple of days and enjoy the beautiful pueblo of Durango.

The title of this post "Abriendo Puertas, Cerando Heridas" comes from Gloria Estafan's song "Refranes" on her new album 90 Millas. She sings about finding her abuela's [grandmother's] notebook that was full of poems and refranes [sayings]. Her abuela's words inspired her to be a better person, to love eachother, respect eachother, visit our family members, etc. Mi abuela also left me words and her spirit has inspired me to cross borders and join cultures reminding each other that we have something special in each of us.

Research Trip to Durango, Mexico

2008-04-02T16:58:00.000-07:00

Durango is beautiful! I arrived early in the morning on Monday. Sleeping on a bus next to someone you don't know is never easy! It's all about personal space... Anyhow, as I got off the bus I was excited at the prospects of being here again. I was to have come last week, the week of March 23, but I learned at the last minute that the public library I needed access to was going to be closed due to extened holidays for Easter. My husband laughed at both my arrogance and ignorance as an American. We expect other cultures to conform to our ideas of business, and when it doesn't, we're put out of our ways and consider it an offense. But that's an issue for another blog!
On Tuesday I got up and went to the library, Biblioteca Central de Durango. They city had just come off of two weeks of vacation and were still asleep. Honestly, I did not come thinking to find something new in the archives to include in my dissertation, I wanted to make an effort to promote Juana Belén's voice here in her land among her people. As I was studying in the Hemeroteca (archive room), the director of the library El Maestro Óscar Jimenéz Luna came out to greet me. Let me here insert an cultural nuance about Mexico and its people. Contrary to American understanding, the people are VERY formal and polite. To be accepted in the circles of learning, one must present themselves as having knowledge about the culture and its everyday dealings. El Maestro (they address the director formally as the Teacher) came and greeted me inviting me into his office to speak about the completion of my dissertation. I wrapped up my studies and presented myself in his office.

El Maestro Luna certainly remembered me and my studies on Juana Belén Gutiérrez de Mendoza from the last time I had come to do research. In our meeting he proposed exactly what I had been hoping, to present next year here at la Universidad Juárez de Durango (UJED) during their Cultural Festival. Maestro Luna immediately got his secretary to call the director of the festival to set a lunch meeting for this Thursday at 12. I am hoping all goes well.

Festival de Cultura

Each year the UJED holds a month of cultural presentations from theater to music to poetry readings. I am hoping next year to reintroduce the city of Durango to their daughter, Juana Belén. Of course everyone, even outside of Mexico, know of Pancho Villa, born also in the same town as Juana Belén, San Juan del Río, Durango. But no one knows her name. I hope to change that sentiment. I hope to bring to light a forgotten history of Durango. I am going to propose several ideas at this meeting with these men of influence here in Durango. First, I am going to agree with Maestro Luna's invitation to present at next years Festival de Cultura. How exciting! (I hope that maybe some of you can come down with me... hgh huh...mom or dad!)Next, I am going to present to them another more lofty plan. As I was wondering through the Governor's Palace and taking pictures of the murals, I realized that Juana's painting as well should be on those walls. And then, another even loftier idea. I am going to suggest they have a bronze made of her and put somewhere in the city. I am going for broke. Tomorrow I will have the undivided attention of the men who move and shake this town. All they can say is no. But so far been very well received!

Be the Architect of Your Life Scholarship - Presented by The Positive Gals Leadership Group

2008-03-02T19:40:00.000-08:00

(An intimate view of two columns of El Paso High School designed by architect Trost and Trost)

Several months ago I was nominated to attend a leadership conference sponsored by the El Paso YWCA group. The theme of the conference: Eliminating Racism, Empowering Women. The conference brought together an extra ordinary group of women throughout the El Paso region to learn leadership skills and amplify those we brought to the program. Participation in the leadership program was not a passive occasion. As a group (Positive Gals), we were required to come up with a community based project and execute it within six months. We started meeting once every Thursday to brainstorm ideas. Our original plan of presenting several half-day presentations to young high school girls on topics such as college admission, self-esteem, successful dress habits, and career options faded in the face of standardized testing priorities. Back to the drawing board!

Next, the group forwarded the idea of raising scholarship money to award to a deserving graduating senior. We agreed. After our last meeting on February 28th, we discussed and edited the flier for the scholarship. The scholarship will total $1,000, and the application criteria is broad enough to get the attention of any high school senior.

Qualifications:

be a citizen or permanent resident of the US
graduate by June 2008 from an El Paso County high school
be accepted into a community college or university anywhere in the US
plan on attending full-time or substantial part-time (min. of 9 hours)
carry a min. grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 on a 4 point scale

Student applicants are required to write an 800-1000 word essay based on the theme: Be the Architect of Your Life.

Each of the ladies in the project (about 10 remaining) have been charged to raise $100 each for the scholarship. Since Thursday's meeting, I have been thinking of how to raise the money. A bake sale? Hmm, no. Can't compete with the Girl Scout cookies this time of year. A car wash? I teach on Saturday afternoons, so that's out of the question. Well, as a doctoral student in rhetoric and writing studies, I know that discourse can alter and shape realities. So I'm gonna put discourse to work!

This blog entry represents my part of the $100. Each graduating senior who participates in the scholarship contest by writing an essay will contribute not only to the discourse of their life by writing into reality their imagined futures, but to the greater discourse of the YWCA program of Empowering Women, Eliminating Racism. I'm asking you, the reader, to donate five bucks. Five dollars. Cinco dólares. That´s it.

Please send me an email to cvdever@gmail.com with your home or work address. In a couple days, you´ll receive a self-addressed stamped envelope from me, Cristina Ramirez. Take what ever amount of money you feel you can donate, and seal it in the envelope I send, and mail it to me. After I´ve received the money, I will send off an email letting you know that I received the donation. Please keep posted to my blog because I will be updating the progress of the project.

As well, with my teaching skills in writing, I hope to be given access to a senior class or two in the El Paso region to present the scholarship and help students get started with an outline and introductory paragraph to their essay.

Let's see what this blog's discourse can generate! Hope to hear from you!

Cristina Ramirez - a fellow blogger

Chicanas Con VOZ

2008-02-22T14:29:00.000-08:00

I´m always looking for contemporary Chicanas who have found their voice and are sharing it with others. Recently, I caught up with two Chicanas who are out there breathing life into their cultura. The first Chicana (at bottom), Candice "Chiquitita" Reyes, sings her heart out any chance she gets. I caught up with her a couple of Wednesdays ago at a sushi restaurant on the East side of El Paso, Texas where she sings with her ban "The Candice Reyes Quintet." I´ve known Candice "Chiquitita" for about 3 years now and has proven to be a chica with SOUL...con alma. One afternoon after swimming a couple of laps together, she insisted I go salsa dancing with her to an eastside joint. I expressed my concern, "Hijole chica, I´m not very good at salsa dancing. I´m more of a Tex-Mex kinda chic." And before I could say "otra vez," I had high heels on my feet and we were practicing salsa in my living room. At the dance hall/bar, her mom´s group, AZUCAR was playing some great salsa music. I didn´t dance much, but Chiquitita got out there and danced. Not only did she dance, she got on stage and sang a couple of songs with her mom.

Since I know she's into singing and performing, I asked her, "What do you think about the reality show American Idol?" (My take on American Idol is that it's a show in America that feeds our youth with the idea that people just show up to a try-out, sing a line or two from a popular song, and a couple months later be famous. This feeds the "anything worth going for can be accomplished in months...Wrong!). Candice answered by first telling me about the time she won the El Paso Idol and got a trip to San Diego to try out with Simon and his crew and represent El Paso. "What a crock.." she said about the show."It´s all political. It´s rigged. It´s a waste. People think that you can be a rock star without hard work." We continued our conversation. She stated how glad she was to have had the experience and learn that it's gonna take a lot more than a simple try out. This month, Candice will be applying at Southwestern State in Texas to the Jazz program to study music. She wants to be a BIG name someday, but she won´t fall for the lies of the American Idols. ¡Adelante, Chiquitita!

Next is Amalia Ortiz. She traveled from her home in California and presented her Chicana slam poetry at UTEP to raise money for women´s causes. Before the show, she had a writer´s workshop. It was more of a presentation about Slam poetry than a workshop, but Amelia presented her poem "Otra Esa of the Public Transit. " I went to the workshop just to meet her. Her presence as a poetisa is electrifying. Each word delivered during her poetry recital is carefully twirled, counted, and flung into the air with a true Chicana accent. She represents a voice in the world of Chicanas that lifts voices many times forgotten. In the video below, she presents her poem whose title I'm not sure of, but she repeats a line "Me acuerdo de mi hogar, la tierra, el aire, el mar..." Yo tambien me acuerdo, Amalia.

This poem carries a hint of Anzaldua and Little Joe! As well, it speaks of linguistic colonization! What theorists express in convolutions at times, Amalia expresses in poetry.

¡Adelante, Amalia Ortiz!

Nationwide spoken word sensation Amalia Ortiz remembers her South Texas roots.

Mi Vida Mestiza...

2008-02-11T18:20:00.000-08:00

"Indigenous like corn, like corn, the mestiza is a product of crossbreeding, designed for preservation under a variety of conditions. Like an ear of corn - a female seed-bearing organ - the mestiza is tenacious, tightly wrapped in the husks of her culture. Like kernels she clings to the cob; with thick stalks and strong brace roots, she holds tight to the earth - she will survive the crossroads."
Gloria Anzaldúa from the chapter of Borderland "La conciencia de la mestiza"

Memoria Mestiza

"¡Ya vamos ha comer! ¡Lávense sus manos!" my mother would yell from the back door of our house. Me and my brothers would come running in from outside ready to eat. We´d been running up and down the alleyways of San Angelo, Tx. on Tulane St. We played with kids named Trisha Holloway, Alex Tresler, Kim Cole, and Bret Miller. Running home each evening, I knew something was different about me and my brothers. As a young girl, I knew they didn't know the real me. I don´t ever remember telling them that my mom was Mexican and that we listened to Mariachi music like kids today talk about the Podcasts and music videos they watch. I don't ever remember wanting to tell them that we spoke Spanish at home, and that my favorite grandmother lived in El Paso, Tx, the Mexican border town. I knew some how that they would not understand. I knew somehow they wouldn´t think that it was "cool." We had the same skin color, but that was all me and neighborhood kids had in common. I just knew in my soul that I was different.

After serving the drinks and setting the table, we would sit down to dinner. My dad would choose one of just to bless the food. "Cristina," is all he would say and I knew to say the prayer on cue. "Nuestro bendito padre celestial te damos gracias por esta cena. Bendisela que de salud y fuerza a nuestros cuerpos. Te pedimos una bendicion para Gran´ma y Gran´pa Devereaux en California y tambien para Gran´ma Gonzalez en El Paso. Cuidalos y bendigalos. Tambien, bencie los hermanos y sus familias de la iglesia. Bendiganos mañana en escuela que nos valla bien. Te pedimos estas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo...Amen." As soon as I said amen, the hands would shoot forward to grab the best chicken leg or to sip the Koolaid. The talk at dinner would go from school to who we were playing with that evening and what time we should come back after the meal. Dinner time was spoken all in English.

After the meal, my brothers would rinse their dishes and run back outside. I would scramble into the living room, sit down next to my dad in front of his homemade stereo and watch him select the music album of the evening. My father served a Mormon mission in the early 1960's in Mexico, right at the end of the siglo de oro. My father fell in love with the music, people, food, and culture. He brought that love home to us. Some nights it was Barry Manalow, and we´d buggy down to Copacabana, or Perez Prado and do a bit of Mambo No. 5. "Dad, let´s listen to some mariachi." Quiero oír Beatriz, o Lola, or Los Mariachis Vargas or Vicente or un Trio. My dad had all the masters in his collection. With the evening sun streaming into our living room, I was learning all about la música Mexicana. La música mas apasionado en todo el mundo.

And then other nights with the music playing in the background, I would creep into the family room where my parents had built a study station from left to right up and down against the wall. The shelves were stacked with books from American Literature to Encyclopedia Britanica. My favorite books were full of poems by T.S. Eliot, e.e.cummings, and Robert Frost. Poems written about dark things, winter evenings, and love. Poems carrying an Euro-Anglo tint. In my innocence, I didn't know about the radical nature of listening to Mexican singers such as Beatriz Adriana, Lola Beltran or Vicente Fernandez playing in the background while I perused through the pages of great American Literature. The cultural mixings in the evenings of my childhood have made me who I am today. I love good Am. literature (I got my undergrad degree in Am. Lit. and minor in Spanish), and I believe that the Mexican people and their culture live in me and form part of who I am in my memory, each memory of an after dinner time with my father, el profe Devereaux.

Below: Listen to Lola Beltran sing "Paloma Negra." This music stirs my soul... What stirs yours?

Changing the Realities of Downtowns: Alleyway Rhetoric

2008-02-04T18:56:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I visited my hometown of San Angelo, Texas. With a population of about 88,000, it fell asleep for many years forgetting that it had such a rich downtown. Unfortunately, too many towns let their downtowns, the heartbeats of a city, fall into disrepair. Driving around, I pulled into some clean and inviting alley ways! Yes, alley ways. The rhetoric, both visual and verbal, the artists painted on the walls frame the downtowns in a new light. I found this alley way in a historic section of downtown that an artist or group of artists painted their view of what a downtown should look like. The picture with the leaning dilapidated bike shows street rhetoric at its best. The bright red wall reads, "More often than not, I would prefer to walk into the rear alley precisely for all those little hints of life, activity and transition which the placid visual arts of suburbia did their best to politely suppress or politely disguise." More and more, people are realizing that the continuous barrage of capitalistic competition in the form of commercials can wear on one's soul numbing them to life's beauty. And slowly, San Angelo is remembering that they don't have to look to Dallas, Texas for their inspiration and art and that they can grow as their own city.

As a young girl, I remember my father driving us through downtown San Angelo in our green station wagon. Out of the backseat window I saw nothing more than a sleepy central Texas town with tumbleweeds and dust blowing down the sidewalks. "Ugh! I live here?" I thought. "There's got to better," I thought plastering my cheek to the window and dreaming of some better place.

San Angelo Journalism Conference

2008-01-31T12:22:00.000-08:00

How better to honor former students by bringing them back to their alma mater to talk to current students on how they became so successful? On Thursday January 31, San Angelo State University held a Journalism Day for students to meet four former ASU graduates who have made a successful career for themselves in journalism and/or media. The former students invited were Dan Devereaux, NBC manager, Bhavech Patel a free-lancer audio-editor/producer in Los Angeles, Luis Rios, photo editor at the Miami Herald, and Satsha Pretto, a weekend host of Primer Impacto-Fin de Semana (First Impact -Weekend Edition) on Univision. As I type, all of them are up on stage in a panel answering questions from the faculty moderator and interested students. Each alumni presented power points and personal speeches individually and as pairs earlier to current university journalism and media students. The presenters covered issues of what it will take for current students to get jobs in the journalism or media field. The common thread touched upon by each of the presenters centers on the willingness to take risks. Risks to leave their comfort zones, risks to put themselves up for serious critique, and risks to loose. Each has their stories of sacrifice and hard work.

One of the most valuable assets of the panel rests in its ethnic diversity. Daniel Devereaux, although he has a French last name comes from a Hispanic family; Bhavesh Patel is from Indian descent, born in London and later coming to Colorado City, Tx.; Luis Rios is of Mexican descent also from Colorado City, Tx.; and Satcha Pretto came to the United States from Honduras. The diverse panel speaks to the success of minorities in the area of media and journalism as well as Angelo State University's effort toward promoting ethnic diversity. Bravo!

The panelist who struck me the most was Satcha Pretto. She left her home to attend Angelo State on the university's Carr Scholarship ready to learn and strive as an immigrant and a minority. Sasha listened on as an audience member the first time Dan Devereaux presented here many years ago. He remembered her because she was the only student who expressed serious interest and enthusiasm in a media career. Dan mentioned to Bhavesh years ago to "look out for an up coming talent of Sasha Pretto." And years later, today, she's hosting one of the most popular shows in the Latino market. As a Latina journalist and part time reporter, she holds her own with the three men on the panel bringing her own unique perspective to the struggle of making it in the world of media and journalism. Not only does she radiate beauty, but she also radiates confidence, articulates a mastered English, fearlessness, and a well-rounded education. I celebrate her accomplishments and hope they inspire other young Latinas/Chicanas to strive for their career goals... whatever they may be. ¡Si se puede chicas!

All the participants on the San Angelo Journalism Day panel are an inspiration for all who are searching to reach their goals and ideal positions in life. ¡Adelante!

Post-racial Era: I Want to Believe, But...

2008-01-29T07:31:00.000-08:00

I almost rear-ended the car in front of me when I heard Daniel Schorr of NPR use the term post-racial quoting several journalists from the New Yorker and several others use to surmise the state of political landscape as well as our current young generation. The journalists are referring to Obama's surge for the White House and by the looks of the polls and votes, people in America are putting aside their once strongly held beliefs on race and voting for Obama regardless of his color. Many American people see Obama as wise, committed, intelligent, pro-active, idealistic, and honest. They are not blind. I see the same values and nature in Obama, and I cheer on his push to get the nomination. But I strongly question the term "post-racial." I want to believe that racism has slowly been eradicated to be true, but it has not. The media jumps to conclusions without looking at their own publications, quotes, and anecdotes from recent history. Hurricane Katrina opened the curtain on the reality on the inequities of this country. Have the journalists using this term so easily forgotten the scenes? They must live in bubble. Just because we see people of different races mingle peacefully in public places, that does not mean that we are post-racial. It is what we do not see; it is what is not made salient by the press that confirms the fantasy of the term "post-racial." If the fantasy of post racial is seen by people as a reality, then we are living a farce! As a society, we are so ready to see our problems solved, and so when Obama stands in front of our nation asking for presidential votes, we want to interpret his presence as a nation that does not consider race as an obstacle. BUT IT IS. Even his wife, Michelle Obama, stood in front of the nation on the campaign in trail in Nov. of 2007 saying, "I am not supposed to be here" (Obama Speaks with MSNBC's Mika Brzenski). The implicit message there is: "I am a black woman who is educated, and I beat the odds of racism and sexism to get to my position, speaking to you today." She knows it exists. Her material reality speaks of the truth.

Let us not fool ourselves that we have now entered a post-racial era. If we believe that the post-racial era is upon just because Obama won the Iowa caucuses and North Carolina, and that he was won endorsements from Kennedy and other prominent forces, we are blinded by what we do not see in our communities and streets. I maybe a pessimist, but if I believe that we are post-racial, then I believe that I don't have to fight anymore for our students to be aware of the issue, and then I would be the fool.

See also Uzodinma Iwala comments from the Los Angles Times

En Memoria del Cumpleaños de Juana Belén Gutiérrez de Mendoza: ¡Por la Tierra y Por la Raza!

2008-01-26T23:12:00.000-08:00

Hoy, recuerdo a Juana Belén Gutiérrez de Mendoza. She wrote in her autobiography, "Nací en San Juan del Río, Durango, el nevado amanecer del día 27 de enero de 1875. Este dato debe ser importanitísimo porque lo han anotado con minuciosa escrupulosidad en los registros de la cárcel, cada vez que he estado allí.... Trans. "I was born in San Juan del Río, Durango on a snowy morning on the 27th of January of 1875. This date must hold great importance because it has been recorded with exact scrupulousness in the prison records every time I have been there...." Juana Belén spent her life writing and speaking out against the injustices suffered by her people, the indigenous people of Mexico. This is why her name was recorded in the prison books so many times...her voice threatened the status quo of those who believed it just to abuse the indigenous people for cheap labor. She also spoke out against the inequalities of women in Mexico being on the forefront of the Mexican feminist movement. She lived an extra-ordinary life by traversing the boundaries of possibilities that were socially inscribed for women in Mexico in 1900.

Leaving her beloved homeland and mountain air of Durango, she followed her instinct to start her own protest newspaper Vésper: Justicia y Libertad (Vésper means evening star) and write about the injustices she witnessed growing up among the campesinos y trabajadores mineros (farmers and miners), and which were still plaguing the poor. In am incredibly symbolic action and show of deep dedication, she traded her goat "Sancha" for printing supplies to continue her newspaper in Guanajuato. After almost being arrested in Guanajuato, she fled to Mexico City with her two children continuing her fervent fight on the liberal front of Mexico.

Her sarcastic tone of voice and relentless desire to tell the truth as she perceived it, drew her into the circle of the most influential liberal intellectuals of her time: The Magón Brothers, Juan Sarabia, Librado Rivera and others. Later, she was accused by Ricardo Flores Magón of not upholding to the liberal ideas of the nation, and in a response in her newspaper, she displayed her rhetorical astuteness. "Las palabras que como lema lleva mi periódico, no las he puesto allí como adorno: las he puesto para que normen la conducta de mi pulicación. ¿Puede Ud. decirme que hay algo injusto o antiliberal en Vésper, creo que no." The words that my newspaper holds as a motto, I have not chosen them as adornment: I have published them as a guiding framework of conduct for my newspaper. Can you tell me what is unjust or antiliberal about Vésper, I believe not." Juana Belén held presented her own thoughts and perspectives in a time when women were only to speak on domestic issues, not political issues, let alone critique and personally attack the govern and its dictator, Porfirio Díaz. Her greatest legacy though rests in that she never was swayed from her beliefs; she claimed her discursive space and did not give it up. Politicians tried to buy her silence; but she kept her honor intact and accepted no bribe. She would later fight for the cause of the Mexican Revolution under Zapata who gave her the ranking of Colonel. Later, she was to work with the famous philosopher José Vasconselos as maestra rural leading the charge to educate the indigenous people and to prove to the people of the city that they were people endowed with dignity and strength.

The end of life summed up the gratitude that Mexico had for the efforts of women in the Revolution and social betterment. Juana Belén was forced to sell her printing press and ultimately her typewriter to buy medication for her young granddaughter. Eso no es la justicia ni la libertad. That ending is neither justice nor liberty. She has left us though with an abundance of words, knowledge, and history that on this day I celebrate and remember.

¡Viva México! ¡Viva!
¡Viva la mujer independiente! ¡Viva!
¡Viva el amor y bondad para el ser humano! ¡Viva! ¡Viva!
¡Viva la memoria de Juana Belén! ¡Viva! ¡Viva!
¡Que viva la raza, la jente de la tierra, y la jente que labora por lo bien! ¡Viva! ¡Viva! ¡Viva!

Pictures:
The pictures above: first to the left is a picture of Vésper´s title featured in the newspaper La Bandera Roja, the next picture is a skyline view of Durango, Mexico from the top steps of the public library, the picture furthest to the right is a mural at the Universidad de Juarez en Durango, and the bottom picture is a Día de Los Muertos altar that commemorates those who have passed.

2008-01-24T07:39:00.001-08:00

Thought I would share some of the books I´m reading and using for my dissertation prospectus! I recommend any of these books...especially Mestizo Democracy: The Politics of Crossing Borders. Burke uses Mexican philosopher Enrigue Dussel´s Philosophy of Liberation to further his ideas.

An Islamic Feminist Wave?

2008-01-22T09:19:00.000-08:00

As a Latina feminist scholar, I would be ignorant to ignore the struggles and successes of my other ethnic sisters. In celebrating other women rhetors, I celebrate the mestizajezation of rhetoric!

Listening to NPR this morning (as I always do) I heard the story of Seyran Ates, a German-Turkish Muslim women´s rights lawyer in Berlin who has been extremely vocal on the issues of Muslim women in Germany and beyond. In the past she has fought for Muslim women´s rights to be divorced from their husbands, all at the risk of her own life having suffered beatings and threats in the past. I wondered about the issue of women in Islam and how the world is beginning to deal with the brutal treatment of Islamic women that are no longer under the protection of an Islamic rule in an Islamic nation? I found several surprising internet sites that show Islamic women stepping out of their traditional roles, and asserting a new Islamic women's identity. At the same time, I found Islamic women reasserting their traditional roles, such as wearing the hijab in place such as England that has seen a surge in Islamic population. There are various websites and books out on Islamic Feminism. Shaheen Sardar Ali Human Rights and International Law: Equal Before Allah, Unequal Before Man? (2000); Nayereh Tohidi Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity Within Unity (1998). Is this a Feminist Wave that we are not noticing? Should we take note of these women and further their cause. Certainly, there will never be a true democracy in the Middle East nations if the government, local and global, doesn't take note of the suffering women are subjected to there.

The United States government seems to ignore the issue of human rights regarding women in the Middle East, where they merely see profits and oil. I hear very little from the main stream media about the women's suffering in the Middle East. It seems to me that the topic of women's suffering for many media outlets is a topic best left untouched because of the already tumultuous political situations.

América Ferrera: A Latina´s Vote

2008-01-19T09:11:00.000-08:00

Last night while watching Entertainment Tonight, (yes, we finally purchased a television after 5 years without one, but that's for another blog), I saw that America Ferrera, named in Time Magazine as one of the100 most influential persons for 2007, is out on the campaign trail with Hilary Clinton. I have heard several times through out the campaign in interviews with both Obama and Clinton, that they don't want voters to see their race or gender, but gender and race is at front and center in 2008. When candidates allow high profile celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and now America Ferrera to speak for them in public, it negates their statements that they don't want race or gender to be part of the issues. Having an influential white woman and black man standing before our nation and saying, "Vote for me!" there is definite change in the political air. It was only 40 years ago that Dr. King was fighting for the civil rights of the black community, and only 40 years or so ago that women declared the first wave of feminism. So how can this race NOT be about deeper issues of race and gender? Well it is. A Latina friend of mine asked me, "Why are you blogging on América Ferrera?" That's a good question my friend. I saw that she was part of the Clinton entourage and she caught my eye. I hadn't seen her on Ugly Betty because I didn't have a television at the time, and I usually don't watch sitcoms AT ALL. So I did some research on her, googled some of her pictures, and I was pretty impressed. First of all, her cultural roots are Honduran. But to focus on the surface stuff, she is not all glam that with so many stars is really a put on and a sham! Check her out! She's got carne on her huesos! She hasn't (and I hope she doesn't) gone out on these weight loss crazes to look anorexic or strung-out-on-drugs thin. She has stayed grounded. She knows who she is, a Latina (we are not toothpicks) and she's not going to change (again, I hope she doesn't). And what beyond her looks makes her a role model? She's not banking on her looks and Hollywood to carry her through life, she's studying International Relations at the University of Southern California (Miller, Estylo Magazine 35). ¡Adelante! América! More Latinos should take the example: stay in school and don´t get diverted by the false promise of flash and glam and the quick buck!
And so back to the issue of América Ferrera representing the Clinton campaign. Although I love América as a Latina, I have to agree with my husband (we discuss politics at home) and question the role of Hollywood in politicking. Should the movie stars be part of their campaigns? Should they represent a candidate trying to win over the votes just because promoter is famous a celebrity? Again, I have to agree with my husband, that that kind of celebrity representation makes the real issues invisible. What does América Ferrera really know about Washington and what´s going on in the world of politics and beyond? I may be sticking my foot in my mouth, but if she´s anything like most of my college students (or the typical American), not much. In the case of América supporting the Clinton campaign going door to door asking people to vote, it brings one issue front and center. The Hispanic, Latino, Chicano population (whatever you want to label us) has the strength in numbers to make a difference and politicians will do anything to get it! DO they know it? I hope so. But, once the lights are dimmed, and the votes are cast, will the Clintons, the Obamas, or the McCains remember those people they spoke to and shook hands with? Or will they be blinded by the temptation of large corporate giants and lobbyists and forget the people that this government was meant to serve? ¡Hay que ver! We shall see!

The Latino Vote!

2008-01-18T08:58:00.001-08:00

This weekend in Nevada Latinos will have a chance to have their voices heard before the 2008 Election! NPR said today , "All of the candidates will fight over the Hispanic vote. Latinos make up 25 percent of the state's population, although only half of them can vote due to age or immigration status." I wish I could go out there and caucus. I have never had that opportunity. The Latino population of Nevada will have that opportunity this weekend. I know that la raza will have a strong showing and will provide a positive image for the rest of the nation! Latinos will break the stereotype! We are educated, informed, and concerned citizens of our great Nation. In the words of Juana Belén, "Hemos venido ha ocupar nuestro puesto!"

The pictures above are from the El Paso, Texas region. The top photo is a group of Chicanas learning English at AVANCE, and the next two pictures down show people at La Feria de Cuidadania, or Citizenship Fair. ACORN, a national non-profit organization, hosted a day where immigrants could get help filling out their N-400 form before the fee rose from $400 (I believe) to $695.

Lydia Cacho: La Mujer Sin Miedo

2008-01-17T12:59:00.000-08:00

Over the summer and last semester (Fall 2007), I was embarrassed to only having recently found out about Lydia Cacho. Lydia Cacho is a Mexican journalist and human rights activist who has been persecuted and threatened by some of the most powerful politicians in Mexico. I was listening to Latino USA and it was the first time I heard of Cacho, as well, I learned that the Mexican Supreme Court had ruled that against her in her kidnapping case. She contested that the government of the Mexican state of Puebla wrongly arrested (but really kidnapped) and jailed her. All this stems from her release of her book titled Los demonios de Eden (The Demons of Eden:The Power that Protects Child Pornography). In the book she reveals the names and history of several powerful businessmen and politicians that have been running a Cancún-based pedophilia ring. In the book she names Lebanese-born businessman Jean Succar Kuri who allegedly is the ring leader. "Her work portrayed a mafia-esque cabal of politicians, drug traffickers and businessmen who supported and protected the operations, among them Puebla textile mogul José Kamel Nacif Borge. Although Cacho did not level any specific charges against Nacif, in naming him as a friend of Succar, she implied that he too might be involved in the criminal activities" (Council on Hemispheric Affairs). About 7 months after the release of her book, she was kidnapped in Cancún and taken to a jail in Puebla. She claims that on the frightening trip to Puebla, her arrestors taunted her by pointing a gun to her face and threatening to rape her. She has been charged with libel and slander against the men she accused of pedophilia. This case became a local, national, and international outrage. I can´t recall the whole account on my blog, but you read the entire story from the Lydia Cacho link.
My research revolves around Mexican women journalists from the turn of the century in Mexico. Radical journalists such as Juana Belén Gutiérrez de Mendoza suffered some of the same persecutions as Cacho. Yet Cacho is different in that she has an international support team such as Defendingwomendefendingrights.org . Juana Belén didn´t have a support team such as Cacho does today. I am certainly not claiming that Cacho is an activist because she has a support group and body guards. She was activist first, not the other way around! Cacho is doing what many people fear to do, and that is to expose the truth about the corruption in Mexican politics. They still rule under old machismo rule of law doing whatever they want, ruining people´s lives (in this case young girls), and thinking they can get away with it. They didn´t count on someone like Lydia Cacho to be looking over their dirty shoulders, someone to gather the innocent in their arms and listen to them speak, someone like Lydia Cacho to stand up to their machismo and untouchable attitudes! God bless those that expose and exposed (memory of Juana) the oppression of the victims of violence and those who continue to put their lives on the line for others. ¡¡Adelante, Lydia Cacho!!

Back on line!

2008-01-15T13:58:00.000-08:00

I've been away from my blog for a while now. Almost a year to be exact. Mi vida loca. Alice Walker says it best in "New Face," "The source appears to be be / some inexhaustible spring / within our twin and triple / selves; / the new face I turn up / to you / no one else on earth/ has ever/seen." I was in my last semester of a full load of doctoral classes and had doctoral qualifying exams ahead. I studied furiously all summer long. And at the end of it all, I received a high pass on the exams. Then the next semester started. I presented parts of my dissertation on Mexican women writers at the Feminist and Rhetorics conference in Little Rock, AK. When I came home around October 6, I collapsed. There is something that happens after one completes a long journey. Margaret Reckord, a poet from Jamaica speaks what I felt. "The Journey" Moon-soaked / she emitted / a cold radiance / that made all / who loved her / leave her alone / As well they might - / hers was the single silver track upmountain to the moon. I was exhausted, mentally drained from my studies. I had put everything I had into my doctorate. Has it given anything back? Well, that is left to be seen.
Right now, I'm checkin' in. I am back on-line and will be keeping up with my postings throughout the weeks. In this post, I'm leaving some pictures that are most dear to me. The first picture I am posing with Dr. Jacqueline Jones Royster at the Clinton Library in Little Rock, AK. When I saw her at the reception for the Fem. and Rh. conference, I made a B - line to her table to talk to her. Jacqueline is a wonderful person. She listened to me and my rambling. She has written several articles and books on African-American women of the nineteenth century. One of her books is Traces of a Stream: Literacy and Social Change Among African-American Women.
The second picture is of me presenting at the Literacy Center for Adults called AVANCE where I completed my internship for my Community Writing class. AVANCE teaches immigrants how to speak English and prepares them for jobs out in the community. My project connected my research of Mexican women writers to teaching critical literacy with the students. The students were mostly women, and they were all beautiful women. Beautiful Mexican women. I loved my experience there, as well, I loved working with Arturo Muro, the teacher at the Robert F. Kennedy school.

Archive Diving in Mexico

2007-03-15T16:34:00.000-07:00

After 10 hours deep of sleep, I felt more than ready for a long day at the archives. Our morning started at Lucy Andrade's house with a breakfast for champions: steak, frijoles, ajuacate, ensalada, pan dulce, y orange juice. One the way to the library, we stopped in several places. The picture of the incredible mural of the hands weighed down by the heaviness of imperialism, I took at the university there in Durango, Universidad Juarez de Durango. Leaving from there, the clouds gathered lightly overhead the incredible catedral 1850. The cross screamed, "Take a picture of me." The grandure of the catedral echoed of times past, countless baptizms, funerals, celebrations, weddings, confirmations, protests... While taking the picture, the 10 o'clock bells chimed, drifting over the bustle of buses, taxis, and cars. I listened closely -

...bong..bong...bong..bong...bong..bong..bong..bong..bong..bong..!

Yes, ten o'clock. But then, other bells chimed; the tone changed, sounding a lower tone. To me, the rhetoric of the bells only gave the time, but to those indigenous of this area heard another story. What did it mean to the men shining shoes, the women selling tortillas, the pedestrians walk with their cell phones to their ears?

Again climbing the stairs to the library, (which are extremely rhetorical) I turned around just to soak in the incredible day I would mostly miss being buried in the archives. Out of breath, I walked to the Hemeroteca, the spanish word for archive. The workers there of the library were busy caring for the archived material. Another group of workers were busy downstairs archiving a tremendous personal collection of a respected lawyer from Durango. (Ugh, I didn't write down the name for gawking at the books.) The image above of a half covered library I took from above on the stairs leading to the basement archive. Hundreds of undiscovered books sit there quietly on the shelves. The public libray of Durango should be commended for taking on such a large project! Other pictures in this blog are of the newspaper archive. The other newspaper pictured, El Independiente, was far to frail to handle or even open. Currently, that newspaper is being microfilmed.

I pulled out the the archived newspaper I was looking for, La Bandera Roja, and started clicking away. (I captured over 300 pictures of the newspaper.) My very supportive husband, Alex, bought me a kick ass 10 mega pixel Canon camera and was able to capture picture after picture of the newspaper's articles. The newspaper, published in 1900 in Durango, Dgo., Mexico, immerged at the apex of the Porfiriato, and in the middle of the counter-movement against the positvist government. With Communist and Marxist leanings, it spoke of radical ideas, such as immancipating women from the Catholic religion, and even giving women the right to participate in Mexican politics. Most significant, I found an article that Juana Belen wrote to the newspaper praising their efforts in the liberal movement. In the letter dated some time around May of 1900, she also reminisced about her home town of Durango : "Para vosotros que traeis el perfume de mis recuerdos...para vosotros que sois para mi la tierra, el aire, el sol, los cantos de las aves, y el perfume de las flores alla, de la tierra mia." I also fell in love with the place. Orange trees growing wild. Sweaters pressed against my shoulders in the evening and the sun licking my neck in the afternoon. People smiling and kindly pointing the way. Tortilla stands and candy stores on every street. A starved Ph.D. student's heaven!

Not your typical Spring Break!

2007-03-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

When students say they are going on a trip for spring break to Mexico, it´s usually to some beach location to party all day and all night. But as a doctoral student that is passionate about their research topic, you can find me and my niece, my research assistant, in a archive taking notes and reading into the late hours of the afternoon.

Yesterday evening, my niece and I got on a bus in Juarez, Mexico headed for Durango, Dgo., Mexico. This past December I had taken the trip to Durango in search of Doña Juana Belén, journalist and activist. I found much more than I had ever dreamed. There was only one major problem, I didn't have the proper technology with me to take proper notes on the primary sources I discovered. Armed with my digital camera, my new computer, and a bottle full of nerves and daring, I came back to get the information I needed.

When I arrived at the library this morning and asked for the Marxists/Communist newspaper from 1900, La Bandera Roja, they informed me that they had lent it out. With that news, I just about died where I stood. "A twelve hour trip for nothing," I thought as my stomach churned. "No se precupe, lo consiguimos por Usted," they said trying to calm my nerves. The director of the archives directed me into the library director's office. After they assured me that I would have the newspaper, I decided to take another trip to the ICED, The Cultural Institute of Durango. While at the Instituto, I learned of another woman from Durango that wrote during her life, Olga Arias. A daughter of General Arias from the time of the Revolution, at an early age she new she wanted to write stories and poems. Throughout her life, she recieved some of the highest acolades a writer could recieve. But then I asked the museum director, "Conoces a Juana Belen Gutierrez de Mendoza, precusora y acatvista de la Revolucion?" She looked at me with a confused look, "No, no conosco a esta mujer?" No one in Durango, Dgo., Mexico seems to know who Juana Belen was, but I hope to some day change that fact.

Returning to the public library and the archive, they had for me the newspaper of La Bandera Roja. At that point in the afternoon, we were hungry, tired, and ready for some lunch and a beer. So today, I only took a couple of pictures of the newspaper, vowing to return tomorrow with a renewed frame of mind, ready to research all morning and afternoon.

This pictures you see above are from left to right: a dipiction of Juana Belen in a Mexican Feminist magazine and a picture of a mural at the Universidad de Juarez de Durango.

Tex-Mex Music: Hybridity of Culture and Class

2007-03-04T14:47:00.000-08:00

Although many Chicano artists are up and coming today, Little Joe y su familia remember a time when his music, Tex-Mex, was a genre floundering on the margins of the music industry. Little Joe's music is the epitomy of hybridity, bringing together two cultures and classes. Before there was Tex-Mex, Mexican-Americans had a choice of two kinds of music: orquesta Tejana, distinguished as an upper-class genre, and conjunto, considered a more lower-class style of music. Musician Beto Villa first combined the two playing ranchero music or "jaiton," a more high class music. But not until the early 1970's that Little Joe took hold of his roots, a Texan with strong Mexican heritage, and took hold of his identity, a musician that combined the two cultures, did the sound of his music evolve into what it is today: Tex-Mex. He is known in the music industry as the "Father of Brown Sound." Listening to the music, you can hear the Mexican influence through the beat that is "muy ranchero," but also the Texas influence comes through with the powerful signature jazzy brass section. Little Joe's singing versitility can be summed up in the comment made by the MC at Sat. night's concert. "Have you heard Little Joe belt out "New York, New York? Man, he has a set of lungs, que no? But you ain't ever heard Sinatra sing "Borachera." The crowd laughed and applauded with approval.

http://littlejoeylafamilia.homestead.com/ Little Joe's Official Website...

"I don't know. It just feels rights. If you're Mex-American, it takes your alma frontera and carries it back and forth over the musical boundaries," my husband Alex commented on the music after the concert. The concert we attended on Saturday night, March 3, 2007, was not a rock concert, a bash held in some dark auditorium (but don't get me wrong, he's played at his share of smokey, Texas, outback holes-in-de-wall bars throughout his career). Little Joe y La Familia played at the first class Plaza Theater in downtown El Paso. http://www.theplazatheatre.org/ Along with spotlight artist Little Joe, Ruben Ramos "El Gato Negro" and the Mexican Revolution opened the venue to an almost sold-out crowd. http://rubenramos.homestead.com/menu.html

More important than the glitz and glamour of the concert is the reason the concert was held. Over a year ago, Little Joe committed to this benefit concert at the Plaza Theater. The concert benefitted the non-profit organization Sin Fronteras Organizing Project established in 1983 promoting the betterment of the working conditions for the agricultural workers in the region. El Centro de Los Trabajadores Agricolas Fronterizos, which was estabilished in 1995 to provide educational and health services to the region farm workers, also benefitted from the efforts of Little Joe and the other Tejano Legends. These types of benefits are typical for Little Joe; he has not forgotten his roots. As a young boy, he also worked as picker, toiling long hours in the fields. Being in the industry for over 40 years, he has supported figures such as Cesar Chavez in their humanitarian efforts. His philanthropy, combined with his Tex-Mex music, infused with a passion for his culture and people, places this Chicano Emmy winning artist en su propio mundo.

Viva La Raza! Viva! Viva La Raza! Viva!

17th Century Mexican Women Journalists

2007-02-28T19:35:00.000-08:00

Although Juana Belen Gutierrez de Mendoza began writing and publishing her newspaper Vesper: Justicia y Libertad in the year 1900 in Guanajuato, Mexico, many Spanish and Mexican women laid the path for her radical journalistic steps. For example, in 1641 Dona Micaela Benavides de Calderon inherited her husband's printing press, which she operated for more than forty years after his death. Significantly, Benavide's was the first woman to have her name appear on a broadsheet. Her female decendents continued Benavide's love of publishing. Other women published their writings in the first periodical in colonial Mexico, La Gaceta de Mexico y Noticias de Nueva Espana [The Gazzette of Mexico and News of Spain] in the year 1722. The paper surfaced at the dawn of the modern newspaper in Mexico City, reporting on various colonial cities in Mexico, including news from Europe. Printing was halted for six years because of the lack of paper, but the paper was picked up again in 1728 running to 1739. Between the years of 1732-1737 La Gaceta de Mexico Gertudis de Escobar y Vera, the great-great granddaughter of Dona Micaela Benavides de Calderon published the paper. Father Sahagun de Arevalo helped with the editing of the paper. Sadly, the newspaper halted publication because of the lack of paper. For the next 47 years in the Viceroyality of New Spain, no newspaper reached the hands of the people until 1784 with the publication of Mecurio de Mexico [Mercury of Mexico]. It is not known for certain if women contributed to the paper; they would have done so anonymously. Little else is known of women journalists writing during this period. Those who did have the courage to write forged a path for the next generation of women in the next century.

Information from this posting came from the book Political Journalism by Mexican Women During the Age of Revolution, 1876-1940 written by Joel Bollinger Pouwels.

2007-02-24T12:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog, mextizarhetoric.

Mextiza, a hybrid term mixing Mexico and mestiza, captures the essense of who I am, and what my research is all about. The second part, rhetoric, covers the discipline that I am studying. More than just a discipline though, rhetoric is all around us! It shapes our view of the world.

Currently, I am a Ph.D. graduate student at the University of Texas at El Paso. My blog will cover my research in recovering rhetorics of Mexican women, my weekly or daily trials as a grad. student, and other observations. Please feel free to comment on my postings, or to send me a hello!

The picture in this post is from my research trip to Durango, Durango, Mexico from December 16-23, 2006. I am pictured in one of the arched walkways of El Instituto de Cultura del Estado de Durango. My plans are to return there this March; the archives were closed for the holiday. I hope you enjoy sharing my archival finds with me.