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CHICANO SPY?

The first head of the Counter-intelligence Staff of the CIA had Chicano roots. His name was James Jesus Angleton and he was a core figure in U.S. espionage circles from World War II until his resignation in 1974. He was the son of the US-born James Hugh Angleton and Carmen Mercedes Moreno from Nogales, Mexico. It looks as though he never used his middle name later in life and that he didn't self-identify as a Chicano, so I won't go too far with the Chicano tag, but I thought this was an interesting historical footnote. (As Dr. Filipe de Ortego y Gasca has noted, Chicano is more of an ideological label than an ethnicity.)

A recent (2008) book explores Angleton's life and legacy: James Jesus Angleton, the CIA, and the Craft of Counterintelligence, Michael Holzman, University of Massachusetts Press, 2008. In a review of the book in the London Times Online, Terence Hawkes says:

By December 1954, a counter-intelligence staff within the Agency was created and Angleton was duly appointed its head: he became counterintelligence’s “chief theoretician”. It’s easy to condemn what followed. The American literary journal Ramparts was enthusiastically suppressed and any criticism of the government was automatically suspect. Huge lists were compiled of teachers and authors of socialist and even feminist persuasion. By 1967, the CIA began operation of the quaintly named CHAOS, which aimed to investigate the anti-Vietnam war press and the peace movement. The attack on universities was especially vigorous. Entire academic disciplines were sometimes shaped to the goals of the intelligence agencies, or were even initiated by them. All the members of Students for a Democratic Society were placed under surveillance, and most black groups were spied on. The end came for Angleton when the New York Times published Seymour Hersh’s story about CHAOS on December 22, 1974. It did not mince its words. “The Central Intelligence Agency, directly violating its charter, conducted a massive, illegal domestic intelligence operation during the Nixon Administration against the antiwar movement and other dissident groups in the United States.” This was bound to make a public figure of Angleton, who resigned in the same month.

Angleton considered himself a serious poet. He had ties to Ezra Pound, whom he helped capture in Italy; e.e. cummings, and T.S. Eliot. He was an avid fly-fisherman and orchid breeder. On the other hand he was infamous for his zeal and paranoia, and was forced to resign amid charges that he had almost destroyed the CIA. He cleared out the entire Russian Bureau of the CIA because he thought they were all Russian spies. Yet he was deceived for years by counter-spies such as Kim Philby. He helped create the present-day acceptance of Guantánamo, water-boarding, etc. in the CIA with his tactics and ideology. He may have called himself a poet but there's no evidence that he had a poet's sensibility. As my wife said once, even rapists ride bikes.

CHICANA COPS

On June 12, 2009, Conversations with American Heroes at the Watering Hole will feature a discussion with authors Sarah Cortez and Liz Martínez. The show airs at 9:00 pm (Pacific) at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement/2009/06/13/How-to-Undress-a-Cop

About the Guests
Sarah Cortez has been in law enforcement since 1993. During her career she has worked as a patrol officer, field training officer and sexual assault investigator. After her writing career began, she continued in law enforcement as a reserve police officer and has been assigned as a juvenile bailiff, worked undercover during alcohol stings and assisted with the service of civil processes. Sarah Cortez is the author of How to Undress a Cop: Poems and a coauthor/editor of Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery.

Liz Martínez’ short stories have appeared in the anthologies Manhattan Noir, Queens Noir, and Cop Tales 2000, and in publications including COMBAT: the Literary Expression of Battlefield Touchstones and Police Officer’s Quarterly. Her short story Kris Kringle was Orchard Press Mystery’s Christmas 2000 feature. She is also the author of the non-fiction book The Retail Manager’s Guide to Crime and Loss Prevention, and her articles about security and law enforcement have appeared in publications around the world. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, and the Public Safety Writers Association. She and Sarah Cortez are also co-editors of the anthology Indian Country Noir from Akashic Books (Brooklyn).

About the Watering Hole
The Watering Hole is police slang for a location cops go off-duty to blow off steam and talk about work and life. Sometimes funny; sometimes serious; but, always interesting.

About the Host
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster was a member of the Los Angeles Police Department for 24 years. He retired in 2003 at the rank of Lieutenant. He holds a bachelor’s from the Union Institute and University in Criminal Justice Management and a Master’s Degree in Public Financial Management from California State University, Fullerton and has completed his doctoral course work.

Listen, call, join in at the Watering Hole:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement/2009/06/13/How-to-Undress-a-Cop

Program Contact Information
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA
[email protected]
909.599.7530


CHICANO WAR HERO

Here's the text of Senate Concurrent Resolution 22 from the Texas legislature, sent to the Texas Governor for signing on May 28, 2009. It tells the story of Marcelino Serna, a brave man who some think never got the recognition he deserved.

WHEREAS, The Medal of Honor is the nation's highest decoration for valor in combat awarded to members of the United States armed forces; generally presented to recipients by the president of the United States on congress's behalf, it is often called the Congressional Medal of Honor; and

WHEREAS, First authorized in 1861 for United States Navy and Marine Corps personnel and for United States Army soldiers the following year, Medals of Honor are awarded sparingly and bestowed only on those individuals performing documented acts of gallant heroism against an enemy force; and

WHEREAS, Since congress authorized the award, 70 Medals of Honor have been accredited to the State of Texas, yet other Texans have similarly distinguished themselves by acts of courageous gallantry in combat no less deserving of such recognition; one such individual is Marcelino Serna, a native of Mexico whose unflinching and selfless bravery and acts of uncommon valor on the battlefields of World War I made him one of Texas' most decorated heroes; and

WHEREAS, Born in the Mexican state of Chihuahua in 1896, he came to the United States as a young man in search of a better life, working various jobs in Texas, Kansas, and Colorado; and

WHEREAS, In 1917, Mr. Serna was working in Colorado when the United States, unable to remain neutral any longer while war raged in Europe, declared war on Germany; later that year, federal officials in Denver, Colorado, gathered a group of men and held them until their draft status could be verified; and

WHEREAS, Included in this group, Mr. Serna chose not to wait for such verification and instead volunteered for service in the United States Army; after only three weeks of training, 20-year-old Private Serna was shipped to England, where he was assigned to the 355th Infantry of the 89th Division, a unit that was to see action in some of the most arduous campaigns of the war; and

WHEREAS, By the time the unit arrived in France, Private Serna's status as a noncitizen had come to light, and he was consequently offered a discharge from the army; given the opportunity to return home, Private Serna refused the discharge, choosing to stay with his unit as it began its advance toward the Meuse River and Argonne Forest in northeastern France; and

WHEREAS, At Saint Mihiel, Private Serna’s unit was moving through thick brush when a German machine gunner opened fire, killing 12 American soldiers; with his lieutenant's permission, Private Serna, a scout, continued forward, dodging machine-gun fire until he reached the gunner's left flank; and

WHEREAS, Having come through a hail of bullets unscathed, despite being hit twice in the helmet, Private Serna got close enough to lob four grenades into the machine-gun nest, killing six enemy soldiers and taking into custody the eight survivors, who quickly surrendered to the lone American soldier; and

WHEREAS, This encounter was followed shortly by an even more astounding feat when, during his second scouting mission in the Meuse-Argonne campaign, Private Serna captured 24 German soldiers with his Enfield rifle and grenades, an episode that began when he spied a sniper walking on a trench bank; and

WHEREAS, Although the sniper was about 200 yards away, Private Serna shot and wounded him, then followed the wounded German's trail into a trench, where he discovered several more enemy soldiers; opening fire, Private Serna killed three of the enemy and scattered the others in that initial burst; and

WHEREAS, Frequently changing positions, Private Serna fooled the enemy into thinking they were under fire from several Americans, keeping up the ruse until he was close enough to lob three grenades into the German dugout; in about 45 minutes of furious action, Private Serna managed to kill 26 German soldiers and capture another 24, whom he held captive by himself until his unit arrived; and

WHEREAS, Enduring several months of combat action largely unharmed, Private Serna was shot in both legs by a sniper four days before the Armistice; while he was convalescing in an army hospital in France, General John J. Pershing, commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Forces, decorated Private Serna with the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest American combat medal; and

WHEREAS, Private Serna also received two French Croix de Guerre with Palm medals, the French Medaille Militaire, the French Commemorative Medal, the Italian Cross of Merit, the World War I Victory Medal, the Victory Medal with three campaign bars, the Saint Mihiel Medal, the Verdun Medal, and two Purple Hearts; and

WHEREAS, Discharged from the army in 1919, Marcelino Serna settled in El Paso, where he became a United States citizen, entered the civil service, and lived out his retirement years until his death in 1992; although he lived the most ordinary of lives after the war, Mr. Serna was, for a brief moment in time, an extraordinary hero whose remarkable feats of bravery under fire elevated him into the pantheon of American heroes; and

WHEREAS, In 1993, Texas Congressman Ronald D. Coleman introduced a measure in the 103rd Congress to waive certain statutory time limits on awarding the Medal of Honor and thus bestow on Marcelino Serna the proper recognition he so richly deserves; unfortunately, the measure did not receive a proper hearing, thereby denying the legacy of Mr. Serna its proper place in history; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to reopen consideration of this case to posthumously award the Medal of Honor to World War I hero Marcelino Serna and, be it further

RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.

The resolution leaves out the part of the story where Serna was told that buck privates couldn't get the Medal of Honor (not true) and that because he didn't speak English he couldn't be promoted. You can read more about Serna at this link, or this one, or this one. There may be some information about Serna in Hispanics in America's Defense: by Department of Defense; Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office (1990); ASIN: B000GWLOMU.

FLOWERS FROM FLO'S GARDEN
















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That was a bit different, no?

Later.

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As part of my ongoing efforts to spread the word about Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery, this week I have an interview with Sarah Cortez, one of the editors of Hit List. Sarah is quite an interesting person with a varied background, which we get into a bit in the Q&A below. Anyone who proclaims on her website that her two greatest loves are policing and poetry should be interviewed. I was intrigued about the idea of a cop also functioning as a poet and an editor, and Sarah responded quite well; I think you will find her answers informative and helpful, especially for someone considering a life in the literary world. You can find out more about Sarah, her books and her other projects on her website.

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You are a writer, poet, police officer, editor, and teacher. Quite a résumé. What kind of writer are you – how would you describe what you write? How did you get to the point where you said, “Yes, I am a writer”?

Even though I was first published in fiction, I consider poetry to be my métier. My poetry has been described as “tightly-muscled,” as well as, “Searing. Sexy. Stunning. Blunt.” by no less a poet than Naomi Shihab Nye. I am a devotee of concise language and precise visceral imagery. You ask how I arrived to the point of considering myself a writer. Well, I was fortunate to be mentored by two of the great contemporary American poets: Edward Hirsch and Naomi Nye. By taking classes with them and with other talented teachers, I furthered my craft and my practice. Of course, as with many other writers, I found the first book contract quite convincing. Winning prizes and awards also added to my sense of being a professional writer. However, I would be the first to insist on the “democracy of the blank page.” Whether one has had eight books published or none, in front of the blank page we’re all equal.

Yes, equal and fearful - nothing like a blank page to stir up insecurities.

It’s not unheard of, of course, that law enforcement people would segue into something creative such as writing. In your opinion, though, has the police background helped or hindered your creative urges?

The policing background greatly augments my writing practice, particularly in poetry. One of the poet’s greatest and most formidable tasks is putting the inexplicable into words. One must attempt to translate the unknowable onto the page. In policing, you are slammed with the inexplicable all the time. In fact, it rains down on you. I am most productive in my writing when working the streets as a cop. The negotiation (both internal and external) required due to the amazingly different roles and concomitant discursive spaces is impossible for a civilian to understand.


You recently helped put together Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery, along with Liz Martínez, your co-editor. What attracted you to becoming an editor? How would you describe editing in comparison with writing a short story or a poem?

What attracted me to editing is much the same as what attracted me to teaching. While editing’s ultimate goal is producing an artistic whole that is publishable, the editor often helps the writer grow and learn. So, in both the teaching of creative writing and the editing, you are assisting the student/writer further his/her vision and craft. I would even go so far as to say that you can’t be a truly effective creative writing teacher without being an excellent editor. In terms of the differences between editing vs. writing your own work, I would say that in writing your own poem or short story you create from the get-go. Your primary excitement and joy is in the creative act, then later in the “revision” act. In editing, the editor has to totally enter into the author’s vision. The editor must carry inside him/herself a thorough understanding of the form, a keen eye for grammatical and syntactical snafus, and an exquisitely honed appreciation for the appropriate payoffs for the future reader, which of course, vary by form. Added to all of this is an impeccable ear for language and all those additional elements composing the standards of the form, e.g. in fiction, plot, characterization, dialogue, pacing, tone.

How did Hit List come about? Where did the idea originate? Who helped make the idea a reality? Why do you think it is important to have such an anthology

The original idea for Hit List came from Liz Martínez. She saw that while there were anthologies of short mystery for other ethnic or cultural groups that there wasn’t one for Latino authors. She came to me because I had the professional contacts to obtain a contract with a prominent publisher and I had the editing skills necessary to ensure a quality product. Plus we both had loved mystery since childhood.

Both Liz and I owe Dr. Nicolás Kanellos, the founder and director of Arte Público Press, an immense debt because he unhesitatingly and enthusiastically took on the project. You know, he is renown for being a brilliant visionary. He’s the publisher who started Denise Chávez, Ana Castillo, Gary Soto, Sandra Cisneros, and Pat Mora on their international writing careers.

It is important to have such an anthology for numerous reasons. First, the book showcases many excellent Latino/a writers. Secondly, the book lets the reader enjoy the widely varied applications of the mystery apparatus by Latino authors. Another important subtext for me as an editor is to let the multi-faceted cultures and sub-cultures of the characters shine forth. It is this richness, I believe, that may lead the reader to perceive that Latinos come from many different types of neighborhoods, different economic strata, etc. For instance, my story in Hit List, In My Hands, is set in an affluent Houston suburb and has only Anglo characters. I grew up in an Anglo neighborhood adjoining a ritzy enclave.

We don’t often hear about young people wanting to become an editor. Cop or writer, yes, but seldom editor. Give us a quick pitch as to why more students should look at editing as a way to become involved in literature or the arts in general, or even as a career path.

I would guess we don’t hear more about students becoming editors for two reasons. The first reason is that youthful dreams tend to lead the dreamer into starring roles. In the literary world, the starring role at this point in time is that of the author. The second reason is that if you take the general rule of thumb as true that it takes about ten years to become proficient writing in a form (and, BTW I believe that it is necessary to be extremely proficient in a form before you try to edit others’ writing in that form), then after those initial ten years, a young writer has to develop the eye and the ear for editing. Well, you can see how time-consuming the process will probably be.

When you read the submissions for Hit List, did your police experiences (your “real life”) “get in the way” of letting you escape into the stories, or maybe it was the other way around – because you have been a cop were you able to enjoy the stories at a certain level of reality that other readers might not recognize?

You ask if my experience as a cop interfered with my enjoyment of the Hit List stories, or help me enter the imaginative space of the authors. As a street cop, most of the calls for service don’t involve homicide, which is the preeminent crime of interest in mystery. However, a good cop is very intuitive and a master at reading body language and subtle shifts in minuscule details, e.g., breath, pupil dilation, hand movements, voice, etc. So, this eye for human behavior can really serve you well as an author, poet, or editor. I would say that the times when I would get pulled out of an author’s compelling fictional landscape would be when a tactical, ballistic, or equipment question came up. For instance, is that type of duty belt or nylon rig used that way, is the caliber correct, did that manufacturer make a weapon with that type of finish in that caliber in that year, etc. Fortunately, I have shot many of the weapons referenced by crime authors and ballistics fascinate me.

Your poetry was featured in the first issue of Lineup, a magazine devoted to crime poetry. What is crime poetry and how is it different from other kinds of poetry?

I’m glad you asked about Lineup, the chapbook series so wonderfully edited by Gerald So, with Patrick Shawn Bagley, R. Narvaez, and Anthony Rainone. The poetry featured deals with some aspect of criminal behavior whether from the victim’s, criminal’s, or another’s perspective. In trying to define what is different about crime poetry from other poetry, I would say that the subject matter focuses the poet’s eye very particularly. So that in trying to accomplish that “great” poetic task we talked about above – putting the inexplicable into words – the poet must unflinchingly hone in on physicality, whether the physicality of the crime scene, the victim, the suspect, and so on. What I see when I read poems from Lineup is the unremitting eye of each poet beginning in the sensory world of the crime’s occurrence. And, of course, the higher the emotional content of an event, the harder it becomes to write about it with elegance. Writers, especially fiction writers, joke about how hard it is to write love/sex scenes and have them turn out well. That’s because of the high emotional content and the enormous number of hackneyed clichés surrounding love/sex scenes. Well, crime scenes carry a lot of those same burdens for the writer/poet. The poets chosen for Lineup do a fantastic job.

I think Lineup is an innovation with much potential power to dramatically change the poetry/crime fiction scene. I hope more readers find it. I'm delighted to note that I have a poem in the upcoming second issue, due later this summer.

What other projects are you working on?

Thank you for asking about my current projects. I’m finishing up editing Indian Country Noir for Akashic Books, another of the projects that Liz Martínez and I have done together. I am also collecting essays by current or retired law enforcement officers for a collection of literary writing by America’s cops. I’ve been busy traveling to colleges and universities to show both composition teachers and creative writing teachers how to use Windows Into My World: Latino Youth Writer Their Lives in the classroom. You can tell people to contact me on my web site www.poetacortez.com if they’re interested in learning more about these projects. Thanks, Manuel. I’ve enjoyed talking with you!

Thank you, Sarah - I hope we meet in person one day, as long as you're not arresting me.


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BITS AND PIECES

TENTH ANNUAL NERUDA POETRY FESTIVAL

Thursday night 4/16, 7pm: A moving spoken word tribute to Flor Lovato and Margie Dominguez, featuring Su Teatro actors and local artists and scholars. $12, $10 student/senior

Friday night 4/17, 7pm: Barrio Slam competition—$500 grand prize attracts the best talent in the city. $250 for 2nd, $175 for 3rd, fun for everyone! Only $5

Saturday afternoon 4/18, 5:30pm: Tacos and Words Literary Salon featuring The Anaya Project. Creative responses to the work of Chicano literary legend and author of Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya. $12

This program features:
John-Michael Rivera, professor,writer and poet
Gabe Gomez, poet
Jennifer Rincon, playwright,writer, actor
Paul Flores, performance artist, writer
Maria Melendez, poet and teacher
Manuel Ramos, writer
Harrison Fletcher, professor, writer
J Michael Martinez, teacher, poet
Cecelia Aragon, playwright, professor, writer

Saturday night 4/18, 8:05pm: ¡Representa! featuring Paul S. Flores and Julio Cardenas. $18, $15 student/senior

For more information, or to purchase tickets, call El Centro Su Teatro at 303.296.0219 and check out our new and improved website: www.suteatro.org.
All events at El Centro Su Teatro, 4725 High Street, Denver, CO 80216


SUPER ESTRELLAS

Presenting the ultimate artistic extravaganza. artistes "super" estrellas features the ultra-cool urban art of: tony vecchio, gems, j.g. medina, jolt, josiah lee lopez a.k.a. zepol, and sev

n...

CHAC north gallery, 774 santa fe blvd., denver, april 1 - 25.

come one, come all, art to entertain the masses!

WESTWORD'S BEST
Best DIY Book With Local Ties
Day of the Dead Crafts Co-authored by Jerry Vigil
"We love local santero Jerry Vigil, having bestowed a previous Best of Denver award on him for his cocky Colorado Rockies muerto, a traditional bare-bones Day of the Dead calavera dressed up in a Rockies uniform. And now we get to laud him all over again for Day of the Dead Crafts: More Than 24 Projects That Celebrate Día de los Muertos, a book he co-authored (with Kerry Arquette and Andrea Zocchi) and contributed to as an artist. Vigil said last fall that he hoped to help impart a more sophisticated understanding of the cultural traditions behind the whimsical Day of the Dead art. And we say he succeeded, without taking away an ounce of the genre's personality."

Spring is cruising the blood, the tired winter gasps empty threats (warning - we have had blizzards in April, even May.) I'm getting my second wind for writing. Life is good.

Later.

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