<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE <![endif]-->
By Xánath Caraza
9th International Conference on Chicano Literature
En un par de semanas el 9o Congreso Internacional de Literatura Chicana se llevará a cabo y entre algunos grandes escritores chicanos que asistirán al congreso están los siguientes amigos y colegas, Norma Cantú con quien tengo la mesa de trabajo, Translating Gloria Anzaldúa: Language Mappings, en la que discutiremos y compartiremos nuestra experiencia al traducir a español Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza.
El destacado narrador y poeta, Daniel Chacón y yo participaremos en la mesa de trabajo, Las fronteras literales y literarias, where we will discuss how the urban landscape of border cities reflects on the themes of Chicano/a literature and how recent drug wars have manifest themselves within imaginative landscapes.
Una mesa de trabajo más en la que participaré será con Santiago Vaquera-Vásquez y Levy Romero, Street Scene: Stories and Poetry from the Chicana/o Borderlands.
Por supuesto que no somos los únicos que van a la conferencia. Otros destacados escritores que son parte de esta conferencia son Lucha Corpi, Helena Viramontes, Manuel Martín Rodríguez, John Nieto-Phillips y Gary Keller entre muchos más. No se pierdan mis siguientes columnas con fotos de este gran congreso de literatura chicana.
Beca Nebrija para Creadores 2014: Xánath Caraza
La ayuda está dirigida a autores de origen hispano afincados en los Estados Unidos, con al menos tres títulos publicados individualmente y que participen en el 9º Congreso Internacional de Literatura Chicana. Este año, 2014, tengo el honor de ser la ganadora de la Beca Nebrija para Creadores 2014 otorgada por el Instituto Franklin <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]-->de Investigación en Estudios Norteamericanos en España. Dicha beca consiste en $2,000 que cubren el pago del pasaje a España, un mes de residencia en <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]-->Alcalá de Henares, renta y alimentos, para trabajar en un proyecto literario, en mi caso, en mi segundo volumen de relatos y también cubre el costo del 9º Congreso Internacional de Literatura Chicana.
Premio Aztlán 2013: Ire’ne Lara Silva’s Flesh to Bone
The National Hispanic Cultural Center has chosen Ire’ne Lara Silva’s Flesh to Bone as the Winner of the Premio Aztlán for 2013.
The winner will be invited to participate in the Poets Conclave on May 31st at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico where the prize will be awarded.
The Premio Aztlán Literary Prize is a national literary award, established to encourage and reward emerging Chicana and Chicano authors. Renowned author, Rudolfo Anaya and his wife, Patricia, founded Premio Aztlán at the University of New Mexico in 1993. In 2008, upon Anaya’s request the prize was moved to the National Hispanic Cultural Center and the National Latino Writers Conference. The Prize award is $1,000.
The National Hispanic Cultural Center is a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.
Algunas presentaciones
 |
| Photo by Sonia Morgan Lee |
I had the honor to be the featured poet along with Juan de Dios García for the 2o Encuentro de Poesía in Puente Genil, Córdoba, Spain on Saturday, May 10. As part of el 2o Encuentro de Poesía, artist Adriana Manuela, inspired by my poems, has created a special series of paintings for a special exhibit at the Encuentro de Poesía. A continuación algunas pinturas por Adriana Manuela. This event was sponsored by Asociación Cultural Poética, el Ayuntamiento de Puente Genil and the Municipal Library.
 |
| Photo by Sonia Morgan Lee |
El Festival Internacional de Poesía Ciudad de Granada, Daniel Rodríguez Moya and Fernando Valverde, took place from May 12 -17. For this occasion, I read in Almuñecar, la Costa Tropical de Andalucía. Aquí van algunas fotos.
Encuentros Literarios
In Granada, Andalusia, Spain, I will be presenting my short story collection, Lo que trae la marea/What the Tide Brings (Mouthfeel Press, 2013) on Wednesday, May 21 at 8:30 p.m.. This event is sponsored by Encuentros Literarios. The presentation will be at La Qarmita, Calle Águila 20, 18002 in Granada, Andalusia.
The Metropolitan State College of Denver President's Office of Institutional Diversity and the Department of Chicana/o Studies present the
4th Annual Lalo Delgado Poetry Festival - "Man on a Mission" - April 25, 2011, 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM at St. Cajetan's Event Center, Auraria Campus.
Metro will celebrate Delgado’s life and career (he taught there for seventeen years) with a variety of events led by Chicano scholar
Joe Navarro and punctuated with appearances by Delgado’s family, Metro officials and Lieutenant Governor
Joseph Garcia, along with numerous readings and tributes from local poets. All events are free; for more information, call Metro’s Chicano Studies department at 303-556-3124.
PROGRAM: Lalo: Man on A Mission
MC Adriana Duran-Hodge
9:00 - 9:15 a.m. Prayer, Jim Garcia
9:15 - 9:30 a.m. Blessing Ceremony - Azteca Groupo Chimaltonalli
9:30 - 9:45 a.m. Introductions - Amanda Duran
9:45 - 10:00 a.m. Lalo's Poem "La Llorona: Ronnie Ortega
10:00 -10:30 a.m. Guest Poet: Joe Navarro, Chicano Scholar
10:30 -11:00 a.m. Dr. Luis Torres, MSCD Deputy Provost Academic Affairs
Poetry Readings - Lalo's Great-Grandchildren: Lalito Ayala, Mariah Jo Bradley, Daniel Jugret, Evelyn Ramirez, Aliana Inez Velasquez, Michael Alexander Vidal
11:00- 11:15 a.m Poets-
11:15 - 11:30 a.m. Dr. Steven Jordan, President MSCD
11:30 - 11:45 a.m. Colorado Lt. Governor Joseph Garcia
11:45 - 12:15 p.m. Lunch - Grupo Folklorico Sabor Latino
12:15 - 2:00 p.m. Poets: Ricardo Lafore, Amadeo Miera, Dr. Ramon del Castillo, Ken Arkind,
Renee Bryant, Sarah & Ryan Jones
2:00 - 2:30 p.m. Award of Lalo Delgado Scholarships: Professor Steven Cantu In the spring issue of
AARP VIVA, Carlos Fuentes expounds on a wide variety of topics. Here are a few quotes from the magazine:
On retiring: “Retiring is the worst thing you can do for your mind. Then what? You ride around on a bicycle? You have to work until the very end.”
On his grandparents’ legacy: "They gave me two things. On one side was a severity, punctuality and discipline; the other gave me joy and creativity.”
On the importance of education: “Wit
After wishing them well, my husband and boys headed to Sierra Summit for their annual Christmas ski trip. That meant "girls-only" weekend with my daughter. What to do first???
Well, after returning a few gifts, dining out and getting our nails done, we were bored.
We returned home, stared at each other for a while then had a random thought. "Let's try that guitar thing Tate got for Christmas." Elly groaned. We had already "tried" it under Tate's tutorial but bombed. Neither one of us could get one freakin' note. Deciding that we hated it forever, we didn't think it would be much better this time around. But we were game to try.
But, alas, I struck a few notes and was hooked. Mind you I'm still on the beginner set, but I couldn't get off. The songs are from my rock and roll days...not that I ever had one, but you know, Pat Benatar, Kiss, etc.
Unfortunately, I rocked a bit too hard, scaring Elly with my strong vocals in "Hit me with your best shot". I gave it a rest...only to pick up something new Saturday morning.
Elly and I headed over to our craft store, picked up a few skeins of yarn. It was time to teach my daughter how to crochet. Not that I knew how. 
A quick google got me what I needed. Beginner crochet lessons. Memories of my grandmother teaching me how to make granny squares flooded back, and soon I was making my chain stitch, double crochet stitch and even a round thingy. Yoo-hew! I was on fire. Step back a bit. The Elly part of this equation was frustrated to no end. So after a few teary sessions, we got out her knitting needles and she started on a scarf.
So here we were, Saturday evening, crochet-ing and knitting wildly. We even had dinner, finger food style. Two rockin', knittin' chicks.
Can't say that they will be my new hobbies, but it was great learning something new, taxing my brain (in the guitar hero sense) and having fun with my daughter.
As with every year, no New Years Eve mantras or resolutions for me. I plan to keep doing what I'm doing, adding the occasional splash of color from a new yarn or belting out a new song.
NOTE TO SELF: DON'T JUDGE A WORM BY ITS LOOKS
A New Zealand inventor of the "wormorator" has been forced to defend the use of worms in a composting toilet he has developed after officials became concerned that the creatures might become traumatised by the procedure. Coll Bell was told to get an expert's report on the mental impact on the tiger worms being used after an official became concerned during a site visit.He says the official felt that the worms were being unfairly treated, being expected to deal with human faeces, and that it could affect them in a psychological way.Mr Bell was told he had to get someone with the necessary qualifications to say the worms were happy. A vermiculture consultant was called in and she has found the worms are in excellent health and breeding happily.
In Bell's invention, a colony of worms filters solids from the toilet waste and the leftover water is filtered into underground trenches.
When you think about it and some would rather not and for sure some don't care one way or the other (most likely the latter), the mere fact that they are turning...you-know-what into rich loam could be an indication that they i.e. the worms, enjoy the process. Or...on the other hand and we don't really know since the worms, can't express their true inner feelings, their action and end result could be a result of the trauma of having to deal with human feces. I mean - it's totally understandable.
So my next question is: just where does one find somebody with the right qualifications or indeed any qualification to deal with worm trauma? Can the testimony of a vermiculturalist be believed? What does she/he do to test out her/his theory? Pull a worm out of the earth and have a conversation with it?
"Hello worm," she would probably say. "How 'ya doin' today? I'm fine! So...how d'ya like dealing with all that sh**?"
How could the vermiculturalist know the difference between an unhappy and happy worm? More to the point, does a worm know if its happy or unhappy? Do worms suffer from depression?
Also, in as far as hygeine is concerned, who would sit on this compost toilet?
The Auckland Regional Council's concerns went down the pan after vermiculture consultant Patricia Naidu found the worms in excellent health and breeding happily. I guess one has to take her word for it.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/071216/oddities/nzealand_animals_offbeat_worms
25 pieces of a chicano mind is the first work of "chicano" literature i owned. sabes que? i'd love to see kids memorize and recite "stupid america" and "el inmigrante".