semester's horizon

One month and half to go til we break for the winter, ending the Fall semester.
Some students have left, some have fallen off and are trying to get back on, others are clueless, some are cruising through focused and determined. Pressure is building as term papers and final project deadlines are approaching fast.
With Thankstaking break being a week long break in many cases, students need to plan these final days with clarity in order to fulfill school, family and work needs.
I'm writing this in class as we do a peer review of an essay due this weekend. They are reading each others papers making notes on how to improve or what they liked about them. I've seen these students grow since this summer. Some really have blossomed and get it others are still dealing with the fog of teen needs like boyfriends and other commitments they believe right now are so important. One from this class is out taking care of their new born baby boy. She will have to do without peer reviews.
Some don't see the approaching end and will freak out on the last week wondering where did all the time they thought they had go. And so it is with life, no?

The Brown Hands of Gentrification

I haven't been blogging much, nor reading blogs as much as before because there has been this conversation in my head and with my peeps about what are we really doing with the blogs and most recently a new magazine/newspaper called Brooklyn and Boyle.

The conversation basically goes like this: What is our point in writing about Boyle Hts or our Eastside in general? To counter the false hipster Eastside? To tell people to come and visit/gentrify/move into our areas because we live here, we can write blogs, went to school and so now it is safe?

It really got me thinking that we are helping to gentrify and alter the fabric of our communities. Ooops there is the buzz word "community."

We live in this community, it has been here before us and we came to be a part of it.

Many have begun to write and think that we need to create a community because it's not here. Only when there are others who write, went to school, like the same art and music and we take up a space and hang out will we have a community. How colonizer is that???!!!

Some of the spaces are like forts, art outposts, so to say where the natives aren't welcome, kept out by big gates or overpriced beer I can get for $2 next door.

I read in the first Brooklyn and Boyle a piece by a woman saying to come 'discover' Boyle Hts. WTF??? DISCOVER!!! We have been here, just cuz you just got here we are discovered? How colonizer is that?

We seem to have a lot of colonizer thinking in us. I know I do.

Even Luis Rodriguez's piece in the same issue struck me as an Ethno tourist map. I love Luis Rodriguez but when you write about a living and breathing place in the past tense as if people can now feel safe and its ok to go there because he was there, it felt like yuck.

BH has been here doing fine without the art spaces, the galleries, the cafes, the hipster-o newspapers, as a community for Raza who work, raise kids, have parties on the weekends, eat at the great restaurants and go to the beautiful parks. Why do we feel we need to let the world know we are here? Do we need their approval? Are we lacking tourist dollars?

I'm at home here. I don't tell peeps what is in my kitchen, the art I have up, the people that visit me. Well maybe in a way that is what this blog has been.

I'm thinking instead of selling our area to fit into some idea of community, what we as writers from areas like BH need to do is start telling the world how we see the world around us. No one ever asks us what we think about Palestine's fight; Obama-landia, or right wing Christians. No one ever asked us if it was now safe to come and visit our home, yet we can't stop selling it.

(I'm going to visit some exotic area like Reseda and write about the cool stuff I discovered like the Vietnamese Vegan Pho spot on Sherman Way and how straight their streets are.)

I guess I'm repenting for writing in this blog about Al and Bea's and other spots I love around here, they are doing just fine without my pimping them.

The other day I went to a spot and the owner's son was chatting with me. I told him about the changes that are coming due to the trains and gentrification. He didn't even blink. He just looked around at his packed restaurant full of families with kids, viejitos and mariachis taking a break and said, "I'm not worried about it. We got our regulars."

Indeed maybe us writers/artists/community builders (more like blind to community) are making this bigger than it needs to be. The regulars will be here, all visitors will come and eventually go.

As Anzaldua wrote: "This land was Mexican once, Indian always and will be again." I guess I can say this land was/is colonized Chuppy once, Raza always and will be again.

To be or thought they'd be...

Lately I've been running across a similar question. It started with the LACMA "Phantom Sightings" discussions and today popped on my screen here.

It has to do with calling people Chicano or Latino or Raza whether or not they self identify with any of those terms.

For example:
-Artist 'A' is in an art show percieved to be a Chicano art show, yet artist 'A' doesnt' identify himself as a Chicano.

-Actor 'A' has a last name that is Latino, and they look Latino, despite the constant hair dye to look blonde. Some folks want her to call herself Latino. She doesn't.

-Artist 'B' looks Chicano, grew up in a Chicano neighborhood, talks like a Chicano, does art that reflects Chicano icons and roots, but he doesn't want his art to be called Chicano art.

-Actor 'B' was born in Spain or France, has a 'typical' Latino last name and wants to be called Latino to make himself more marketable to the US Latino movie-going hoardes. Some agree he is Latino, others say he's European.

The questions are:
Why do we need to call people out to claim Chicano or Latino if they don't want to? Do we need them on our side so badly?
Is it because they are 'successful' or in the spotlight that we want them to represent us? Even though they don't want to represent us?
Isn't claiming who you are and what you want to be identified as a basic right? Is this the basis of Self Determination?
hmmmm......

LACMA's Phantom Sightings pt. 2

As you can read below I was at the April 2nd opening night of Phantom Sightings: Art After The Chicano Movement. I was also at the Saturday April 5th symposium titled Phantom Sites: Rethinking Identity and Place in Contemporary Art. I returned last Friday to check out the show at a casual pace and I have tried to read all the reviews, about the show which have been compiled by Harry Gamboa Jr.

A couple of issues that keep arising are the subtitle: Art after the Chicano Movement, and thus 'What then is Chicano Art?'

Some of the reviews have been gentle, others searing with their words, not about the art per se, but the spirit and thus the curatorial framework which aims to present art by Chicanos who don't necessarily see themselves as Chicano. This leads to a lot of questions as to why then even call it Chicano art?

In discussions at the symposium, about the symposium and in the hallways of the collective mental barrio, other questions or snipes have emerged such as: 'After the Chicano Movement? I didn't know it was over?' or 'What is this talk about post-Chicano, or post-race? Sounds like an Obama campaign tactic on the loose.' (I like that one in particular.)

I asked one of the panelists, after the symposium, out on the lawn, "Why did they think the curators left out any art that referenced the Zapatistas or indigenismo? Surely these two have influenced a lot of art and artists 'after the movement.' "

They claimed, without a pause, that it was not conceptual art and that it was claiming a lineage. (I'm using 'they' to hide their identity. They are well versed in the art world, I respect them, they were on the panel, I know they weren't one of the curators, but their opinion still matters.)

I replied with, "To be born in Boyle Heights, and to never have spent a moment in the Lancandon jungle, but still claim to support and be inspired by the lives of the Zapatistas is totally conceptual. As far as lineage, are you saying that an indigenous lineage, which has its own language, cosmology and theories behind it, isn't a valid lineage for this show? Does art have to follow a German abstract, plastic based, Dadist lineage to be considered?"

They couldn't say anything to that. I still want that answered from someone, por favor.

Overall I believe that this is another example of the institutionalization of Chicanos. Chicana/o Studies Depts. have become fairly institutionalized, concerning themselves too much with tenure, theories, funding and not offending the others. Many departments have sheepishly agreed or initiated changing the name to Latino Studies or falling under the Ethnic Studies umbrella. I know I am at the Chicana/o bubble that is CSUN, but wasn't it the original goal of all these programs and centers to become their own single standing full blown department like we have at CSUN? And not to cave in and become part of the system while settling for less?

We are part of the system at CSUN too, its not liberated Aztlan over there. We recognize there are students and faculty that would like to move into a post-Chicano world, but we ask "Have the issues that forced us to take a stand 30 plus years ago been eliminated? Have we stopped dropping out of sub par schools? Have we stopped being forced into a life and death in a military fighting an unjust war? Are our people who are crossing the border being treated like humans? Just because Raza are the majority in the LAPD, are we being treated any better? Does our brown mayor really work for us, or for the big money in the city?" How can we be post-Chicano or post-Race if the problems and issues are still with us and in some cases stronger and worse today than before?

I think our MFAs, BAs, MAs and PhDs are blinding us and making us think that since me and mine got ours it must be all good in the 'hood. This art show is in a sense a result of the success of Chicana/o Studies. We got a lot of peeps into college and got them degrees, we just didn't think it would look like this.

At the symposium one of the panelists said "This art is for people that go to galleries and get all the references." OK then. So this art is geared to an art educated audience? Fine.

When I told my students they could get extra credit for going to this show I told them that they would see stuff that would make them think "That is considered art?"

I told them (they are all writing students) "When you think that, look for the description. It will be a paragraph somewhere near the piece. Try to read it. I know it may be confusing. It was written for curators and people who study art. That paragraph makes it art. If you can learn to write so only a few educated people will understand you, then you can make a lot of money putting stuff up in galleries that most people will go: 'That is considered art?'"

I'm sorry if that offends anyone.

In my first Chicano Studies class at CSUN I had Dr. Rudy Acu~a as my first teacher, my first day of school. He said that first day, "We are here to learn. We are here to learn to love to learn. We are here to learn not only what they want us to learn, but as Chicanos we have to learn about ourselves and our history. Once we learn everything we can, we need to be able to go back to our grandmother, who crossed the border to have your mom or dad be born here, and be able to explain to her what you learned and why it is important. If you can't explain what you know to your grandma, or your community, and have her or them understand its importance, then you really didn't learn anything important." I take that to the heart.

On Sunday May 4th Chicano artist Harry Gamboa Jr. and Sandra de la Loza will have a conversation about this much discussed show at LACMA's Brown auditorium. I can't wait to hear what he has to say about this show which features him so prominently. I know he won't let us down. He won't let us keep trying to make phantoms of ourselves.

__________________________________

Post Script:

Just got this email about this event featuring 2 of the curators of the show. This should be an informative evening that settles a lot of questions.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 7:00 pm

Please join us for a special LECTURE at the Hammer
Curating Race: A Conversation on Curating Ethnically Specific Exhibitions

Moderated by Chon Noriega, Director of the CSRC, Professor, UCLA Dept.
of Film, Television, and Digital Media; and Adjunct Curator at the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) on the occasion of One Way or
Another: Asian American Art Now at the Japanese American National Museum
(JANM) and Phantom Sightings: Art after the Chicano Movement (LACMA).

With Malik Gaines, Independent writer and performer; adjunct curator at
LA ART; Rita Gonzalez, assistant curator, Special Exhibitions, LACMA;
and Karin Higa, adjunct senior curator at Art, JANM.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 7:00 pm

Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024

(Located at the northeast corner of Westwood and Wilshire Blvds. in
Westwood Village, 3 blks. east of the 405 freeway’s Wilshire Blvd. exit.
Parking available for $3 under the museum for the first 3 hours).

This lecture is free and open to the public.

For more information: www.hammer.ucla.edu
or (310) 443-7000

Cesar E. Chavez Day

I have a few questions/issues regarding why Chavez is/was so venerated in the culture.

As a child, my dad took me to strike rallies where Chavez spoke and I felt how much people liked him. When I was in college I went to his funeral. In graduate school I began to question. Here are some thoughts:

Yes the corporate owned media and 'the man' would rather give a person using peaceful non-violence methods rather than self defense for self determination, but why did everyone else join in?

In that era, the late 1960's-early 1970's, EVERYONE was ready for a revolution. The civil rights movement fueled a conversation that had all colors, and most classes, demanding and willing to put their lives on the line for a plethora of issues: racial, sexual, class, the end to the Vietnam war, better education, police abuse, abortion rights, animal rights and the environment (yes even back then). Yet many chose to make sure that farm workers got better pay and treatment. Yes, they were being abused and exploited and deserved better, but in that era of cultural, social and political changes, asking for a raise and better treatment, just seems a tad myopic.

It seems like many of us chose to look out for a small minority of the population instead of fighting for the majority who lived in the city, were in screwed up schools, were being beaten by police, being sent off to war, discriminated against in jobs because of their gender or race, and some were even fighting over land. The American Indian Movement, Reis Tijerina's Allianza de Pueblos, and to a degree Corky Gonzalez's Crusade for Justice were fighting over land use/rights issues (and many other related issues) that cut to the core of many of the problems in the US.

Were we duped into fighting an easier battle and giving up the war? Chavez was an inspirational speaker, in an era of inspirational speakers. Why was his voice amplified the most by the media and then us? Was it easier to sit and fast than to pick up a gun for A.I.M, the Black Panthers, the Brown Berets, or any other group at the time? Did Chavez believe in Aztlan? Did he feel bad when he called the migra on strike breakers?

I know as a leader of a union Chavez had to be focused on his cause. Yet, when the spotlight was on him did he acknowledge and support the other causes and fights for justice going on at the time?

Today we are again being led to march and fight for a minority in the population_____________. Yes they need us to fight for them, but imagine if we could get everyone to march and speak out on the issues that affect the majority of us, such as____________? (Fill in your choices)

I'm glad we have a Chavez Day. He was positive and worked in and for light. His light touched and ignited other lights who went on to fight in other fronts. I await other days for other warriors that lived, fought and died for a cause that served others.

Pedo, blog: four letter words

Is blogging robbing me of the time to be writing something more significant?

Before I went on my very brief summer vacation, my mentor, homeboy Harry G. told me "You need to publish at least two things before you come back to teaching. It is the only thing that really seperates you in your job searches." I have a couple of things out but not of any big big value. I always take his words to heart. I admire his writing and manipulation of language as he said many years ago, more or less: "To turn the english lanuage into shards of glass and weapons to use against them."

At the beginning of my break I got offered a book review for the "LA Times," but because I had exchanged some emails with the writer of the book I was supposed to review, I couldn't be ojective, so they retracted their offer.

I have sat at my computer and thought of deep things to write about. Nada came to me. As you can read I've thrown up some things on here. Argued on others blogs. But I have done nothing to seperate me in the job searches.

Harry G. has told me many stories of writers and artists who came into their own later in life. He also told me about Chicano time, not that we are always late to things, but that we do function at a different pace in life, sometimes faster, sometimes slower. We get married and have kids too young sometimes. Take a vacation and see the world too late in life. We find our muse or cause and blow it up, only to be perceived as that is all we have to say for the rest of our life. We don't find our real muse or cause until we can only use our last breaths to get it out.

Is blogging like the silent farts that no one knows about? Only a few make a stink for those near. Gee I'd hate to be remembered for that one, but fuck it.

Another homeboy, Ese Rudy! (only I can call him that!) said this in an interview with Harry G.

So this makes me keep thinking about what good thing should I be trying to leave behind. hmmm
Let me get off this machine and keep looking. Keep making some footprints.
I'll be back

Monday mental overload...

Starting from Tony V's press conference about the May Day marches:
A) so dope to look at the TV screen and see all brown faces in suits, with some power, talking about making the LAPD pay and the only white guy there was the chief of police. It was Tony V., Fabian Nunez, Kevin De Leon, and Huizar? Hey sounds like a MAP party to me.
B) Gloria Molina is classic!
C) When Tony V. went over his whole speech in Spanish immediately after his english version, dope.
D) The talk was tough but no one said anything, ofcourse, if this was a plot by agitators. ? Too tough a question?

Later that night at First Fridays at the Natural History Museum, the band I AM ROBOT was jacketed as being Zapatista from a DJ who should know. Looking at this band, it is hard to imagine them in the jungles of Chiapas rocking out the EZLN. I know I am being superficial. They did have 'presence.'

Saturday :(
De la Hoya lost.
Is liking De la Hoya a lipmus test on Chicanidad? I know Chicanos who love him like the Dodgers or Raiders, win or lose. Then there are others who hate him for ... being De la Hoya.
It was a technical and strategy filled fight, which makes for a boring fight to watch. No one got whipped physically. Simply put two great fighters showed boxing can be an art.

Sunday
My Mac is sick : (
I hope I can heal it. I need it these last two weeks of the semester. I need it period. This is heavy.