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JoAnne Pastel and Kakie Fitzsimmons are facilitating a featured break out session called: Following your Passion Around Education and Childhood Literacy at The 17th Annual Hubbs Children’s Literature Conference on February 28th. The conference is an annual event hosted by the University of St. Thomas and is for teachers, librarians, parents and anyone interested [...]
To read the article in pdf format please click here: MarineMax Magazine Interview with Author JoAnne Pastel, bring’s Bur Bur’s Boating ABC’s to a real life adventure By Betsy Clayton for MarineMax Magazine
Children and their imaginary friends get blamed for lots of things, But JoAnne Pastel’s son, William, and his made up buddy, Bur [...]
JoAnne Paste and Kakie Fitzsimmons, creators and co-authors of the award winning Bur Bur and Friends children’s book series were guests on St. Paul/Minneapolis 107.1 FM radio on the segment called; “Cool Women doing Cool Things” with Stephanie Hansen. Listen to the Podcast in the link below.
A New Chapter On Realism : JoAnne Pastel is creating children’s books that mirror social diversity. by Carolyn Will
Art imitates life, or so JoAnne Pastel thought until she went looking for books to read with her young son, William. “I didn’t find anything out there that reflected real-life characters living in [...]
Recently, Kakie Fitzsimmons, Farmer’s Hat Productions™ VP/Founding Partner and co-author of the award winning Bur Bur and Friends™ children’s book series, was interviewed by BusinessWeek Journalist, Jennifer Fishbein and quoted in an article titled “Readers Voice Their Workplace Problems Here are the six things that are driving BusinessWeek readers nuts about their jobs”
The magazine [...]
Local Burnsville-Eagan TV’s Access to Democracy, hosted by Barb Daily and Alan Miller, recently conducted a 28 minute interview featuring Farmer’s Hat Productions™ Leadership team, JoAnne Pastel and Kakie Fitzsimmons. The interview was conducted by Barb Daly.
Farmer’s Hat Productions Founder featured in the Minnesota Women’s Press.
Click here to read full article
“We want to show reality and what the world truly is like.”
- JoAnne Pastel
by Erica Marston: Minnesota Women’s Press
When JoAnne Pastel couldn’t find storybook characters that her 2-year-old biracial son could identify with, she decided to do something about it. [...]
Click here to read the full article with images:
Apple Valley Magazine - An interview with Kakie Fitzsimmons, an entrepreneur, single mother and co-author of the award winning children’s book series, Bur Bur and Friends.
By Valerie Tukey - Apple Valley Magazine
January, 2008
Seven years ago, when her son, Isaiah, was born, Kakie Fitzsimmons began to write. As [...]
By Kakie Fitzsimmons, VP and founding partner of Farmer’s Hat Productions, Co-author Bur Bur and Friends children’s book series, devoted mother
The other day, I received an email from Amy Bowllan at the School Library Journal. The School Library Journal is the worlds largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teenagers. On this [...]
For Immediate Release: Mar 21, 2008 – The Mom’s Choice Awards is an annual competition that recognizes authors, inventors, companies, parents and others for their efforts in creating quality family-friendly media products and services. These awards are designed to help teachers and parents choose excellent educational products for kids. For more information, go to http://momschoiceawards.com [...]
The School Library Journal recently featured Farmer’s Hat Productions in an article about the children’s book publishing scene in Minnesota. The article, titled: Land of 10,000 Publishers: Minnesota Children’s Book Publishing, dicusses the evolution of the industry throughout the state. Read the article below By Claire Kirch — School Library Journal, 3/1/2008
Minneapolis is a [...]
February, 2008
Welcome to the world of Bur Bur. In this award-winning new children’s book series “Bur Bur & Friends,” young readers wander through a potpourri of adventurous outdoor activities with either Bur Bur and his family or Bur Bur’s multihued friends and their families. The books offer an earnest look at biracial families from a [...]
By: Ann Hagman Cardinal,
on 2/23/2008
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I met author Evan Fallenberg at an MFA residency in Vermont earlier this winter. He was there to give a workshop on translation and is in fact helping the college set up a program in the art. After he left I was perusing the books the local bookseller was peddling at one of the open readings, and I saw his novel,
Light Fell among the titles. Curious, I bought it and proceeded to spend every free moment of the next few days completely absorbed in it.
Light Fell tells the story of Joseph Licht, a literature professor who is about to host a reunion with his with five sons and daughter-in-law for his 50th birthday. With him we look back at how Joseph arrived at the day of this event: his realization about his sexual orientation, his brief and tragic love affair with a married rabbi (I fell in love with Rabbi Rosenzweig too, I have to admit) and the repercussions these self-discoveries bring to his life. We follow Joseph through his struggles with identity, self-worth, spirituality and parenthood, and in the end we are lifted up with him as he achieves tremendous personal growth and rebuilds bonds with his sons.
Besides being beautifully written, the characterization is brilliantly rendered, and the conflicts are so realistic you can physically feel them as you rush to turn the pages. I was so drawn into the complexity of the parent/child relationships, that even after I put it down I continued to think about them, as if they were people I actually knew. In addition, I was impressed with the courage it took to write something that could be considered controversial. When I read the last word of the novel, I held it to my chest and said out loud, “I love this book.” There are few times in my middle-age life this has happened, and I knew I had to interview Fallenberg and help introduce people to this ground-breaking and gorgeous novel.
To give you some background,
Evan Fallenberg , is an Ohio-born writer and translator who has lived in Israel since 1985. In addition to being the author of
Light Fell, his recent translations include Meir Shalev's
A Pigeon and a Boy (winner of the 2007 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction), Ron Leshem's Beaufort, Alon Hilu's
Death of a Monk and Batya Gur's
Murder in Jerusalem. He is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and the MFA program in creative writing at Vermont College. He was a MacDowell Colony fellow in 2002 and is the father of two sons. I had the pleasure of communicating with Evan via email between our homes in sunny dry Israel and snow storm-ridden Vermont.
The father/son relationships in Light Fell are so realistic as to be almost painful. Is this parent/child relationship something you write about often in your work?I'm definitely intrigued by parent-child relationships – how we are shaped by our parents, how we accept and rebel and accept and rebel, how often we run as far as we can from our mothers and fathers only to smash right back into them, like children running circles in a forest. My characters have histories, which I always plumb, and whether or not I ultimately include what I learn about their parents and grandparents, I feel that I myself need to know where they came from in order to understand who they are and what decisions they will make.
Once I was grilling a novelist friend about her family. She knew very little about them and I found that astonishing. Then suddenly I realized that her five or six fine novels were bereft of family histories. Her characters are all very much of the present. Mine carry the past on their shoulders.
As a translator and a novelist can you speak to how the two different skills draw on you creatively?When I'm working on the translation of a very fine novel – and I have had the privilege of working almost exclusively on those in the past few years – then the parts of my brain and soul that I use are very close to the parts I muster for writing. It's the same creative excitement, the same feeling of discovery. For the very best of them I am pushed to my limits to come up with fresh new idioms and images. But there is a price to pay for this: so far I have been unable to translate and write during the same period of time. It's one or the other.
Have you translated your own work, or has it been translated by someone else?I cannot and will not ever be able to translate my own work. As good as my Hebrew is, I came to the language too late for it to feel natural when I write in it. And if I can't write in Hebrew, I can't translate.
As a child I was terribly jealous of people who were exposed to more than one language and could speak them with ease. I was sorry I hadn't been born in Europe, where I was certain I would have spoken three languages by the age of ten. But in the end, I'm thankful that now, as a writer and translator, I know a smattering of languages but have one that will always stand out, one that will always be richer and deeper than all the others and will always feel like the most home of homes. English will always be the language into which I translate and in which I write.
One day I hope to see my own works translated into Hebrew and other languages. I look forward to being involved in that process, much as I have sat and pondered words and sentences with the authors I've translated.
What is the biggest challenge of translation?Voice. I'm always obsessed with voice. Each piece has its voice, and when I begin a new translation I wonder how I'll find the comparable voice in English once again. It means becoming somewhat of a ventriloquist, really. Mostly I feel I've found it each time, in each new book, but there was one project I stopped very early on because it was clear to me at once that this voice was so far from my own experience and style that I was simply the wrong person to take it on. I could never have rendered it in a convincing and honest manner.
Your bio indicated you've lived in Japan, Switzerland, Paris and Israel. Just how many languages do you speak? Have you translated in all of them?When he was a little boy, my younger son used to add a language each time he told someone how many languages his daddy spoke. I put a stop to it at fifteen! In truth, after English I speak a good Hebrew, a very decent French, barely adequate Spanish and miserable Portuguese and Japanese. I translate only from Hebrew to English. Even with French I feel I would miss too many cultural references and have had too little exposure to French literature to be able to knead a text into another language. Anyway, I'm lucky – modern Israeli literature has come into its own, with a huge variety of voices and styles and stories, so I'm at no loss for wildly interesting work.
It is quite a challenge to write a love scene and find the balance between realism and tasteful without falling into graphic, yet you manage to render them artfully in Light Fell. Do you have any tips for those of us who struggle with this?
First of all: thank you thank you thank you. Writing about love is terrifying, because what can you possibly have to say that hasn't been said, and how can you render in words what leaves you absolutely speechless? But there it is, that most awesome, riveting, inspiring, humiliating emotion of them all, which wanders its way into every good book and every good life. There's no getting around it, and no reason to get around it other than fear.
So, as with all fears, the best thing to do is hit it head-on. Write that terrifying love scene first, before you've created all the backstory, before your characters themselves have realized they are going to fall in love. You'll come back to it again and again, but getting it out, on the page, as raw and terrible as it will be in that first draft, at least puts some perspective on it and you can get on with all the other writerly tasks at hand.
Incidentally, getting it on the page early and coming back to it over and over also helps a writer tap into the honesty you need for such a scene. Readers are always particularly aware of phoniness in love scenes, and once you've stumbled over your own infelicitous word or image for the twelfth time you'll finally remove it and plunge yourself into that place where you go to find the realest, truest emotions. Once you've opened that up, you'll remove the artifice and be left with something pure and honest.
You also run writers' retreats in Israel, tell me about them...how does it feel to be a facilitator?Oh, the retreats are great fun. We get the most wonderful groups of 30 to 35 people each time, people who bring their rich life experience along with a desire to hone their craft. They are inspired and inspiring.
I am planning, with several prominent and excellent writer-friends of mine in Israel and abroad, to hold an international writing retreat in Israel in December 2009. It's only in the planning stages now, but the ideas are mouth-watering…
In the meantime, although I'll be abroad again several times this year for events related to Light Fell, I am hoping to create a writers' center close to home – that is, in a studio in my own back garden. The writing center I envision will offer workshops for writers at various stages in their writing lives as well as sessions with visiting writers and a host of other options I can only dream about at the moment.
Tell us something that's not on the official bio.I eat half a dozen bananas a day, they're sustenance for me and comfort food all in one. I've never recovered from owning a chocolate-brown Triumph Spitfire convertible in my early twenties (which I sold for $2000 when I moved to Israel) and am sorely tempted to buy a roadster now, even though my kids say they'll be too embarrassed to drive with me. I miss the four seasons of my Ohio childhood, but the Mediterranean beach near my house quite adequately dulls the pangs of longing. I studied ballet at the age of forty in order to understand a character in my second novel, and resumed piano lessons recently – after a thirty-year hiatus – because I felt it was time to progress beyond my abilities as a sixteen-year-old
Kakie Fitzsimmons is vice president and founding partner of Farmer’s Hat Productions, which recently was awarded for Bur Bur and Friends Product Line
By Katie Mintz, courtesy of Sun Newspapers
One Apple Valley woman is turning her passion for writing, and literally her son, into an award-winning venture.
Kakie Fitzsimmons is co-author of the “Bur Bur and Friends” [...]
Farmer’s Hat Productions founders featured in Momtalk Magazine:
JoAnne Pastel, a former stockbroker, who decided to stay at home when her son was born, realized she needed something else to do. She discussed this with a “life coach,” and together they realized there was a spark in JoAnne’s voice when she mentioned that she wanted to [...]
By Nancy Crotti, MinnesotaBusiness Magazine
JoAnne Pastel and Kakie Fitzsimmons couldn’t find books that featured young children of all ethnicities playing and learning together. So they decided to develop their own line of books, toys, children’s clothing and accessories that encourage diverse populations of kids to learn about sports and outdoor activities.
MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 27 /PRNewswire/ — Farmer’s Hat Productions(TM), a Minneapolis company created by two mothers of bi-racial children, has recently been nationally recognized by the renowned iParenting Media Awards. The company won the award in the “2007 Greatest Products” category for its first three books in the Bur Bur and Friends(TM) children’s book series.
You can purchase it on Amazon or at http://burburandfriends.com/products
Farmer’s Hat Productions is pleased to announce the release of their fourth book, Anna Goes Hiking. In this story, Anna goes on her first hiking experience with her mom and dad and learns many things along the way. During this adventure with her parents, she discovers nature [...]
Farmer’s Hat Productions is proud to announce that our Bur Bur and Friends children’s books have been named among the Greatest Products of 2007 through the iParenting Media Awards. The Bur Bur and Friends book series uses a group of multicultural characters who educate kids about sports and outdoor exploration. The series was created by [...]
DJ and her family are back in the sequel to one of my favourite books, Dairy Queen.
DJ is starting off her school year as the only girl on the boy's football team. She is getting some grudging respect from the guys, and school doesn't seem as hard this year as it was last year. Of course, Brian Nelson is helping DJ's view on things.
DJ and Brian are dating. Kind of. Brian is still coming out to the Schwenk farm to help out, and he and DJ are getting in some serious make-out time during day trips to the Mall of America, or during farm chores.
DJ's family is even communicating a little more. They sit down together every weekend to watch Win's and Bill's college football games on TV. During one of Win's games, the unthinkable happens. Win is grabbed by the face mask, hits the ground, and doesn't get up. Things are going to change for the Schwenks.
DJ is forced to be the family point person to fly out to Washington, and try to be there for Win. But Win doesn't want anyone there. Can DJ help Win fight his demons, and manage to slay a couple of her own as well?
Another great story from Catherine Gilbert Murdock. We watch DJ grow, and come into her own. She is learning that it's not always in her best interests just to be comfortable and stay silent.
By: Lisa Alvarado,
on 8/15/2007
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Coco Fusco
In this series of essays,
Fusco concentrates on examining the work of Latino/a performance artists born in the U.S., and the themes of “otherness” and culture clash. Performers such as Andres Serrano, Laura Aguilar, and
Fusco’s longtime collaborator, Guillermo Gomez-Pena, are held up to the light for close consideration.
In the essay targeting her collaboration with Gomez-Pena, she details a performance done in public venues (museums, municipal buildings) where she and Gomez-Pena created a living exhibit, posing as “specimens” of a fictional indigenous tribe. They displayed themselves in a cage, with dress and talismans gleaned from Pan-Latino/a and popular culture. Her commentary on the experience, on being the observed ”other,” and what she saw as the fascination of the predominately Anglo audience as observer, underscored the themes of objectification and the blurring of public and private.
I had mixed feeling in reading about this performance. On the one hand, I think it was a bold and important artistic move to skewer the dominant culture's idea of 'preservation' and '
curation ,' to challenge it as a kind of pandering to that culture's fascination with they perceive as the 'exotic' indigenous. Never mind that in many cases, these exhibits are only possible as a direct result of colonialism, genocidal practices, and grave robbing. How different is
Fusco's and Gomez-Pena's living exhibit behind bars from the guided tours held on the the
rez, or in barrios, in farm worker camps?
I wonder to what extent the audience grasped that under the rubric of "Latino," there exists hundreds of complex societies, with a heterogeneity of language, practices, rituals. I'm concerned that the work only engenders the knee-jerk, superficial shudder of guilt in primarily white, middle-class audiences.
In the post-performance discussions of
Housekeeper's Diary, the comments from some middle-class people reveal discomfort and their own lack of knowledge as to how to even treat their own maids in a more real, humane way. But there are also comments about what is the vitality and vibrancy of working people--comments about the inherent dignity they sense, despite an external objectification. This, to me is the kind of dialog and engagement I find most satisfying as a performer.
While those points of divergence are significant, I felt I had read something that will challenge me to keep thinking about the political context of performance. One last reservation with this book was
Fusco’s tendency make referential comments about to different artists, without always placing them in context. This can make for a limited appreciation of the the work as a whole, as well as perpetuate an unfortunate tendency of performance artists conversing amongst themselves. (Particularly since
Fusco plumbs the legacy of imperialism, colonialism in her work, it strikes me as odd that she gears her writing to the art intelligentsia. ) It's a challenge, however, worth the effort of cross-referencing and research for the reader.
ISBN-10: 1565842456
ISBN-13: 978-1565842458
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Una Notita Del Teatro Luna (A Note from Teatro Luna)
Teatro Luna has a VERY exciting show opening in early November. It is called
Machos, and it is based on interviews with 50 diverse men nationwide. Our ensemble members will be performing as men (we have a movement coach and everything) talking about their lives, their work, and, of course, women. If you'd like to bring a group of students to see the show, please contact
[email protected]. We'd be happy to arrange a group rate, a post-show discussion, or even a classroom visit.
Volunteers Wanted!!!
We desperately need volunteers to help us transcribe the last few interviews. Transcription is a time-consuming, tedious process, but nothing could help us more as we work to finalize our script. We're looking for people who can dedicate 10-12 hours in the next week - a lot of ask, we know! In exchange, we will offer you your choice of $50, 4 tickets to
MACHOS, or 2 VIP tickets to a
MACHOS special event. And of course, a thank you in the program and our undying love. Well, at least MY undying love. I can't speak for everyone. if this sounds like something you can commit to, please e-mail Belinda at
[email protected].
Oye-Listen! Call for Submissions for September & November
So far,
OYE-LISTEN! - a new collaboration between
Teatro Luna and Jane Addams Hull-House Museum- has been a blast. Our June and July series had packed houses and vibrant performances from Yolanda Nieves, Sandra Santiago-Posadas, Lani Montreal, Francis Allende-Pellot, Gesel Mason, Toni Asante Lightfoot, Anida Yoeu Ali, Cristal Sabbagh, Andrea Wukitsch, Keiko Johnson and more. There's still time to join the fun! We are currently seeking performers for slots in September and November.
For submission guidelines or questions, please email to
[email protected].
Proyecto Latina - AUGUST 20thThe next
Proyecto Latina is on Monday, August 20th @ 7 p.m. Our August feature is Stephanie Gentry-Fernandez, she shares from her collection of poems. As always there will also be Chisme box and open-mic . Free. Join us at
Tianguis, 2003 S. Damen.
Stephanie Gentry-Fernandez A native of Chicago's South Side, has been involved with a number of organizations including
Teatro Luna, About Face Theater, and el
Cafe Teatro Batey Urbano. Stephanie has facilitated journaling and poetry workshops for young incarcerated women and adult female survivors of domestic violence. She moved back home to Chicago after a two and a half year stint in the hippy Bay Area. Her work addresses issues like anti-oppression, survival, healing, and hope. Stephanie is currently working as Associate Director of the Chicago Freedom School.
About Proyecto Latina:
Proyecto Latina is a collaborative between
Teatro Luna,
Tianguis, and
Mariposa Atomica Ink. We are excited about showcasing Latina talent and are always seeking outgoing Latina poets and performers for our monthly open mic series.
Proyecto Latina takes place the third Monday of every month. Its an open mic so everything's game: Poetry, spoken word, music, monologues, shorts y en el idioma que prefieras. And if you're too shy to get on stage come and be one of the lucky spectators.
Teatro Luna Upcoming Season!Get ready for a whole year of
Teatro Luna! We have three brand new shows coming up.
Machos, a new ensemble performance based on interviews with men nationwide, opens November 8th.
Solo Tu, a collection of four solo plays about four very different women, opens February 28, 2008.
Restaurant Spanish, an ensemble play about immigration and communication, opens late summer (dates TBA).
Visit us at
www.teatroluna.org or
www.myspace.com/teatrolunaLisa Alvarado
I, Carmelita Tropicana: Performance Between Cultures
Hello people, you know me, I know you.
I am Carmelita Tropicana.
I say Loisaida is the place to be. It is multicultural, multinational, multigenerational, mucho multi.
And like myself , you've got to be multilingual.
I am very good with the tongue.
"This book makes you cry in one eye and laugh in the other."
-John
Leguizamo, author of
Freak"Alina
Troyano's one-woman shows, plays, and essays have astonished audiences and readers with their creativity, humor, and crackling political energy. I, Carmelita Tropicana offers the first comprehensive collection of her work, from "
Memorias de la
Revolución" (with Uzi
Parnes) to "Your
Kunst is Your
Waffen" (with
Ela Troyano).
"The writing in this wonderful book is like
café Cubano: rich, strong, satisfying." -Steve
Buscemi"Dwellers of the Lower East Side have long known of the magic they call Carmelita Tropicana. Carmelita and her comrades-in-arms teach us that humor can have a subversive edge and that politicized performance can be hilarious. This book is a triumphantly tacky treasure trove of tropical delights." -
José Esteban
Muñoz, author of
Disidentifications"The inimitable Carmelita Tropicana is one of the queer world's wonders: sexy, outrageous, and insightful, her performances transform rooms full of strangers into communities of lovers, friends, and admirers."-Jill
Dolan, author of
Presence and Desire"Laughter is
Troyano's weapon, and she wields it expertly to send up stereotypes like the Latina spitfire and to push the limits of rigid identities. This long-awaited book will be a boon in any classroom studying performance, as well as in racially and gender-inflected queer and cultural studies." -Yvonne
Yarbro-
Bejarano, editor of
Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985Alina
Troyano, Cuban-born writer and performance artist, is the recipient of a 1999 Obie award for Sustained Excellence of Performance, and named by
el Diario as "
una de las mujeres mas
destacadas de 1998." She has presented her work nationally and internationally in both English and Spanish.
As a writer she has distinguished herself since 1985, when she was selected to participate in
Intars musical Theatre Labs under the direction of Graciela Daniele and George
Ferrencz.
She has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts for Performance Art, as well as for screenwriting and
playwriting. She has received a
CINTAS Foundation fellowship for her literary work, as well as a 2001 writing fellowship from The Mark Taper Forum, a 2002 writing fellowship from the Cuban Arts Foundation, and in 2003 the Plumed Warrior writing award from
LLEGO, a National Latin Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Organization.
In 2000, Beacon Press published
I, Carmelita Tropicana: Performing Between Cultures, a Lambda Award nominee for theatre. In the opening quote in this article, Alina is speaking as her Latin-bombshell persona, Carmelita.
Troyano has sampled the 'exotic other' archetype of Carmen Miranda, and put a queer, radical aesthetic spin to her. Hardly the palatable fantasy of the easy-conquered, not-too-bright Carmen.
This is a book that made me laugh out loud. It is part “diary”, part monologue, part cultural commentary by one Carmelita Tropicana, a.k.a. Alina
Troyano.
Troyano is a Cuban lesbian performance artist whose work skewers racial, cultural, and sexual stereotypes. Carmelita is my new patron saint.
In the preface there is a reference to
Troyano's use of 'innuendo, bilingual puns, double
entendre, burlesque, parody, political farce, biographical revisionism, and an irreverent appropriation and
collaging of popular culture.' She draws text from popular movies, past stereotypical icons, and popular music. While the style is irreverent, her themes are hardly light. In placing expropriated material in another context, it becomes reinvented, with layers of new meaning and ultimately a critique of the original manifestation itself.
In a piece entitled
Your kunst ist your waffen, Carmelita/Alina pokes fun at performance art and sexual stereotyping. In a monologue to the audience, she explains how a “fairy” godmother told her it was her destiny to sing and dance in the tradition of Carmen Miranda. The vaguely sexual title of the piece conjures up images of lesbian sex. In reality, it translates to ”Your art is your weapon.”
She goes on, in a fictitious diary, to satirize Castro, boat people, Catholicism, traditional ideas of Latina femininity and family life. In her “diary”, Carmelita/Alina reveals that as as prison entertainer, she saw a group of nuns behind bars singing a rancher song entitled:
Prisoneros de Amor/Prisoners of Love. I admired and enjoyed
Troyano’s brashness, her satiric wit, and her willingness to take the starch out of some of our (Latin) sacred icons. There is also an inherent political act in lifting, deconstructing and
revisioning elements of popular culture in this way.
To better illustrate her work and style, I want to close with an excerpt from her performance at New York's New Museum of Contemporary Art.
Recipe for Carmelita's Bad Girls Show at the New Museum of Contemporary Art.
INGREDIENTS
1/3 Pingalito (Carmelita in male drag) recites
"Ode to the Cuban Man" from Milk of Amnesia
1/3 Carmelita delivers Performance Art Manifesto (which varies based on the audience, how Carmelita feels at any given moment, and the venue.)
1/3 The Art Quiz Show
HOW TO MAKE THE ART QUIZ SHOW
Sprinkle clues for the audience to guess the artwork
or artist recreated in live tableaux.
Add pinch of art commentary to taste and blend with 1 generous dollop of modern dancer Jennifer Monson (collaborator) whisked rapidly for Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase. Set aside.
IN A SEPARATE PAN MIX
1/2 cup Jennifer as Cupid with piercing arrow and 1/2 cup Carmelita moaning, hanging on museum fire escape.
Simmer to Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and stir until both harden into Bernini's sculpture The Agony of St. Theresa.
For skewering performance art's often ponderous images and general pomposity, and for giving queer aesthetics a decidedly Latina sabor....Que Viva Camelita!
ISBN: 0807066036
Lisa Alvarado
By: Lisa Alvarado,
on 6/13/2007
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I wanted to help La Bloga celebrate LGBT Pride month by profiling Amigas Latinas, an affinity group here in Chicago and one of its founders, Evette Cardona. I was lucky enough to meet Evette through her partner, Mona Noriega, both of whom have done groundbreaking work in the Latina and queer communities, with local and national impact. As a typical example of the kind of support the organization offers, when I, Ann Cardinal and Jane Alberdeston Coralin launched the release of Sister Chicas in Chicago in 2006, the Amigas were in full force at a reading they co-sponsored with a landmark Chicago independent bookstore, Women and Children First. With love and gratitude, I offer this post.
Find out more about this remarkable woman who is also an inductee in the City of Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame and this vital organization.
Evette CardonaEvette Cardona's lesbian activism began in 1993 when she came out "publicly" and became a founding member of WACT (Women of All Cultures Together), a gathering of lesbians, bisexual women, and heterosexual women allies taking advantage of Chicago's diversity to bridge racial, ethnic, and cultural divides. The group has held monthly potluck brunches throughout the Chicago area. During Cardona's tenure with WACT, over 70 brunches gathered suburban and city lesbians together.
As an organizer, she has helped to lead or found several community groups, including Women of All Cultures Together, Amigas Latinas, the
Lesbian Community Cancer Project, and the
Center on Halsted Steering Committee. As a philanthropic administrator, she has been especially helpful in funding organizations serving historically underrepresented community sectors.
In the summer of 1995, Cardona helped to found Amigas Latinas as an organization for Latina les/bi/questioning women. Through a model of monthly dining and discussion groups, the organization has provided a celebratory environment for English- and Spanish-speaking women to learn about the Latina community's diversity. The group addresses such issues as immigration rights, language barriers, and homophobia in special relationship to ethnic discrimination. In 1999, Cardona helped to create the Aixa Diaz Scholarship Gift Fund, named after an Amigas Latinas founder, to aid a Latina lesbian or bisexual student fighting high school homophobia and to aid children of Mozart Elementary School, where Diaz had taught first grade.
In 1997 Cardona became a member of the planning council of Color Triangle, a consortium of persons from various organizations who meet to discuss racism within the Chicago lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. She also co-chaired the Leadership Development Institute, designed to foster leadership in Chicago's LGBT community.
In 1998, Cardona joined the board of the Lesbian Community Cancer Project, which addresses lesbians' and women's health issues. In the autumn of that year, she aided in producing El Sexto Encuentro, the annual conference of LLEGO, the National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender Organization, which was hosted in Chicago.
Most recently, Cardona has become a member of the Center on Halsted Steering Committee, which in conjunction with Horizons Community Services is developing a community center that is anticipated to open in 2004. The committee is seeking community suggestions and involvement.
Professionally, as a Senior Program Officer at the
Polk Bros. Foundation, she co-chaired the Funding Lesbian and Gay Issues Group of the Donors Forum of Chicago, which is a regional association of grant-makers. She is a current board member of the national Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues and is an executive committee member of Chicago Latinos in Philanthropy. She received a master-of-arts degree from the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration in 1998. In 1997, Cardona received a Leadership Award for Community Service from Chicago's Association of Latin Men for Action (ALMA). In 2001, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois presented her one of its annual John R. Hammell Awards for her work in the LGBT community.
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What is Amigas Latinas, and what need did it meet for Chicago area Latinas?Amigas Latinas is a support, education and advocacy organization that provides safe spaces, educational opportunities and resources for Latina women who love and partner with women to explore, challenge and celebrate who they are as women, as mothers, as daughters, as comadres.
The need we fill is both to offer space for women to understand and explore their lives at the intersection of their identities - Latina and woman-loving-woman at the same time to just be in the same space as other women like themselves, speaking the same language and sharing
the same culture.
Can you talk about its constituency and the ways the organization is representational? What kind of outreach does Amigas do to meet its goals? Platicas? Events? Socials?
Our membership is close to 300 women from all Latina cultures and all ages. Our diversity spans the range from third-generation, monolingual English speakers to recently-arrived, monolingual Spanish immigrant women. Many are newly out, many have been out for years and years and seek us out for the friendships and affinity we provide. About a third have children from previous heterosexual marriages, some are still in heterosexual marriages, some have disclosed issues of domestic violence and struggles with alcohol/substance abuse.
In the past several years, we have seen a 50% increase in the number of immigrant monolingual Spanish-speaking women seeking services that are non-existent due to a chronic lack of bilingual, bicultural service providers that are sensitive to sexual identity issues.
We mail to our membership of nearly 300 once to twice a month to advertise our monthly platicas, workshops and events, we have a listserve with about 200 women on it that is a great way to advertise quickly and broadly. Our web site is increasingly becoming a way for women to find us, too. We also advertise somewhat in the gay rags especially around special events, but we rely a lot on word of mouth. We have linkages with other lgbt organizations and are present at public events be it LGBT or Latino events to ensure the Latinaqueer voice is heard.
Aside from social contact and support, what kind of community building is Amigas involved with in both the Latino and LGBT community?We spearheaded the development of the
Chicago LGBTQ Immigrants Alliance (CLIA) to look at the challenges, myths and realities that arise at the intersection of queer and immigration issues. (We're planning a town hall for CLIA on June 12). We also helped create Entre Familia, the first Spanish-speaking PFLAG in the Chicago area. It's been meeting for three years. We partner with
ALMA ( a gay Latino men 's affinity group) to do that work. We also partnered with
Center on Halsted to start the first Latinaqueer youth group that meets monthly at the Center's facilities.
This January we launched our
Proyecto Latina survey to gather information about who we are and what our needs, dreams and challenges are. That data will be used to inform our future work mobilizing the Latinaqueer community to inform and challenge policyholders and legislators to respond to and improve our lives.
Our biggest non-queer partnership is with
Mujeres Latinas en Accion (a social service/anti- domestic violence organization) and we have annually provided trainings and education sessions to help their staff better serve Latinaqueer victims/survivors of domestic violence.
Talk in depth about the organization's scholarship activities and it's significance.
In 1999, Amigas launched the
Aixa Diaz Scholarship Fund in memory of founding member, Aixa Diaz, who brought vision and commitment to the Latina lesbian/bisexual community through her organizing efforts, and knowledge and encouragement to Latino children through her dedication as a teacher. Over the last 7 years we have raised money to provide financial assistance to a young, lesbian/bisexual student activist of Latina heritage entering or enrolled in college who actively works to fight homophobia in high schools. Awards have also been given to gay-straight alliances (GSAs) in high schools with large Latino student populations and to the Mozart Elementary School where Aixa taught first grade, served on the Local School Council and was the Chicago Teachers Union delegate.
This work reflects the commitment Amigas has to education as a means of empowering women. We have awarded 12 scholarships ($1,000 - $2,000) to date and will award 3-4 scholarships this June. Our biggest success with the scholarships was last year when we brought on a 2004 Aixa Scholar, Zaida Sanabia, to head up our youth group efforts. She has been a wonderful addition to the Amigas family and is doing excellent work reaching out to Latinaqueer youth.
There are been much invisibility in the Latino community for women who love women. How would you describe the importance of LGBT reality to our people.Amigas is built on the philosophy that as Latinas who love and partner with women we cannot separate our identities and often are asked to do just that throughout our lives. Coming out is a life-long process and being able to successfully blend our identities to live as healthy and complete persons in our families, work environments and communities is the reality we strive for with every activity we provide. As our vision statement proclaims we "celebrate our lives with pride and acceptance, without boundaries or limitations, fearlessly and unapologetically."
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Take a look a some photos from Amiga's events!
Amigas 11th Anniversary celebration
Aixa Diaz Scholarship Dinner invitation
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Other News:
Tianguis books|libros 2003 S. Damen Chicago, IL 60608 www.tianguis.biz
About Proyecto LatinaProyecto Latina is a collaborative between
Teatro Luna,
Tianguis, and Mariposa Atomica Ink. We are excited about showcasing Latina talent and are always seeking outgoing Latina poets and performers for our monthly open mic series. Proyecto Latina takes place the third Monday of every month. Its an open mic so everything's game: Poetry, spoken word, music, monologues, shorts y en el idioma que prefieras. And if you're too shy to get on stage come and be one of the lucky spectators.
Proyecto Latina -- Recent and upcoming performers/2007 Calendar --- Mondays at 7 p.m.
January 15th:
Diane HerreraFebruary 19th:
Luna Blues MachineMarch 19th:
Silvia RiveraApril 16th:
Sylvia ManriqueMay 20th:
Paloma Martinez-CruzJune 18th: Lisa Alvarado.........it's shameless self promotion, forgive me....more dates coming soon...
And, again, DO NOT MISS THIS READING:Please join PAGE in welcoming three outstanding writers
to our last reading of the season:
MIN JIN LEEFree Food for Millionaires(Warner)MANUEL MUÑOZThe Faith Healer of Olive Avenue(Algonquin)andHELENA MARÍA VIRAMONTESTheir Dogs Came with Them(Atria)*
Thursday, June 14, 2007
7:00 p.m.
The National Arts Clubfree and open to the public
open bar and refreshments
books sold at a discount
jacket requested
*
The National Arts Club * 15 Gramercy Park South * NYC 10003PAGE is directed by Fran Gordon and Wah-Ming Chang.
For more information,
please e-mail
[email protected]or go to
http://pageseries.wordpress.com.
*
Lisa Alvarado
Sayde and Demi are getting the heck out of Dodge (aka Brenton, OH)and going off to the fabu summer drama institute at Wildewood Academy. Before she met Demi, Sayde was plain old Sarah, and her life lacked razzle-dazzle. Now, on the way to Wildewood with Demi dropping his straight boy drag, Sadye is sure she is in for the time of her life.
She is partly right.
Wildewood has everything. Amazing productions, Broadway directors, students who have performed all over the country. There are even a few straight boys for Sadye to consider pouncing. She gets along fine on the surface with her roomies Nanette, Iz and Candie, but underneath it all, tall gawky Sadye still doesn't fit.
She wonders how all of these other kids can simply accept direction. Especially when it's obvious that better options exist. Even Demi starts to think that Sayde is being a downer.
Filled with all of the heartache and angst one expects at summer camp, E. Lockhart has written a superfun book about growing up and growing apart, that theater geeks as well as those who have never even heard of Guys and Dolls will eat up.
I am as far from a theater person as you can get. My high school didn't even have a drama option, and musicals give me a rash, but I truly enjoyed this book!
Angela has finally decided on her new name. Grady. Gender ambiguous and perfect. But when she lets her family know her decision, she is met with a distinct chill.
Angela had been homeschooled until she hit her sophmore year in highschool. She and Eve had been best buddies, and the fact that Angela never felt like she fit into a girl mode was not that big of a problem. Not until the uber-girliness comparisons of highschool. She had first come out as a lesbian, but that didn't feel right either. She doesn't feel like a girl who likes girls, she feels like a boy who like girls.
Enter Grady.
Imagine it. Imagine binding down your chest, chopping off your hair, buying some boys clothes. Imagine changing your whole identity...rather revealing your whole identity.
Grady is lucky in a way. He first reveals himself to classmate Sebastian. Sebastian is a geek, but has managed to be friendly with everyone. Sebastian's reaction to Grady's announcement is to exclaim, "Wow!...You're just like the stoplight parrotfish!" Not exactly the reaction Grady was expecting, but not the worst reaction either.
But all reactions to Grady are not so positive. Mean girl Danya has decided that Grady is a pervert and hatches a plan to embarass him infront of everyone. Some teachers refuse to call Grady anything but Angela. And then there are the logistics of where to go to the bathroom, and what to do with a crush.
Ellen Wittlinger has written a story about the search to fit in a world that is either male or female. Readers are forced to face their own stereotypes and opinions about gender identity. This is a book that will fill a large void in the YA lit world, and would make for an amazing classroom read (at least at the school I work in). I had a couple of problems with the way that Grady waxes poetic about Kita's ethnicity, but other than that, this is a solid novel with likable (and not so likeable) characters. You will be routing for Grady and loving Sebastian before you know it!
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Hello JoAnne – just wanted to drop you a line of congratulations on the nice article in the MARQ magazine for Oct/Nov. It was very nice to see the recognition that you and FarmersHat deserve. It continues to be a great concept. It’s nice to see Bill has become a part time author as well.
Good Luck in the future.
- Tom
Joanne,
I finally opened my copy of Marq that came with the Sunday paper. I was so pleased to see the article in it about you and what you have done with your life. I always thought that you were destined for bigger and better things, I am glad that you found and followed your dreams!
All my best,
Susan Pryce